RE: IF Diary Day 49 - Successes and Binging (Intermittent Fasting 16:8 Protocol)
Well done, and keep at it! I lost 31lbs last year on the 5:2 "diet". There was another factor for me - my thyroid had become underactive, and I'd gained about 31lbs very rapidly. I was unable to lose a single ounce on any diet until the thyroid malfunction was treated, and I did this by taking high doses of iodine.
Once my thyroid started to improve, I started to do the IF, on April 4th 2017. I found it quite easy to do, as long as I allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted on the non fast days. Initially I would eat lots on NFDs, sometimes treating myself with doughnuts. I still lost weight steadily, especially from my waist, which was a joy. Many people seem to lose weight from the waist area on this diet, which is why it's so wonderful.
But after a couple of months the weight loss began to plateau a bit. I noticed that I seemed to be addicted to sugary treats, so I decided to cut out sugar completely for six weeks - while keeping the IF going, of course.
I was astonished at how difficult it was to keep away from sugar. My sugar cravings drove me crazy! Eating loads of bread, and sometimes croissants - but the sugar-free kind - was the only way I could keep the cravings at bay. I'm not sure if it was because of giving up the sugar, but my weight loss resumed and I started to allow myself a sugary treat once or twice a week, but only after doing a hillwalk or other strenuous exercise.
It was fantastic losing the weight, as my fitness soared too. It's much easier to get up a mountain or a climbing wall when you're not carrying the equivalent of a 2-year-old child around your middle!
I found the 5:2 Intermittent Fasting Diet group on Facebook fantastically helpful and lots of fun, sharing recipes etc.
I also have underactive thyroid issues! I have been on thyroxine for years but it hasn't worked as I have a T4/T3 conversion issue, so now I have to self source T3 online because the NHS don't prescribe T3 here in the UK. Luckily my doctor supports me in as much as he does my blood tests to keep a check on my T3 levels to make sure i am not taking too much or too little, but it is a pain having to buy your medication online.
I have to lose about another 2 stone if I am honest with myself, but I can't envisage it happening because my thyroid makes it so hard. I will keep with the IF diet though because I feel better on it and my weight is reducing and as you say, so is my stomach which is the most important area to lose the weight from. Well done on losing the kg's! :D
Thanks! I really feel for you with the thyroid problem, as I know several people who are suffering from this. I did a lot of research into it when my own problems started. I'm also from the UK. Did you know that the UK is listed as the 6th most iodine-deficient country in the world, according to WHO stats? It's partly because the UK is one of the few countries that does not iodise salt. Iodine is very erratically distributed in the soil - that's why seafood is an important source of it. There are several medical practitioners in the UK campaigning for better iodine education and supplementation.
If you have an autoimmune condition, you might be reluctant to take high doses of iodine, as I did. It is a potentially risky and controversial treatment, and it doesn't work for everyone, but it did work wonders for me. If you're interested, I would recommend reading The Iodine Crisis by Lynne Farrow. That's the book that got me started!
Good luck with the IF anyway. I generally hate "diets", but this one really seems to work!
Thank you, I will definitely have a read of that book! I did not know that we are so iodine deficient here in the UK, that would explain a lot. Did you have your iodine boost done at a hospital?
No, I just did it myself. I was very careful about starting low and building up over several weeks. It's a controversial treatment, so you really have to read up on it first, but there's a lot of help online - Facebook groups etc, so you can get feedback from other people who have tried it. There are very few practitioners in the UK who have even heard of high dose iodine. I only know of one, Dr Sarah Myhill, but she has such a heavy workload that she doesn't take on new patients. I read Lynne Farrow's book first, and then David Brownstein's book on Iodine, before I started to experiment with high doses of iodine.