Does anyone know about Fast-5 or currently doing it?
Here's a link to the summary: http://www.fast-5.com/content/summary
It's actually not a "diet" in the sense that it tells you what to eat. It's more a behavior modification approach for those of us who eat too much of the right things too often. It's a type of "intermittent fasting" where you eat for 5 consecutive hours. For example, my 5 hours are something like 1-6 pm. I usually break my fast with a light "break-fast" at around 1. This is usually a green smoothie (made in my Vitamix with plain coconut Kefir, ice cubes, a banana and whatever other fruits and greens I happen to have on hand, plus a shot of Davinci sugar free strawberry syrup for added flavor), or greek yogurt with fruit, i.e., something light. Then I go about my afternoon activities, errands, grocery shopping, picking up kids at school, whatever. I start making dinner at around 4, and we usually eat dinner pretty early. My eating "window" closes at ~6 pm. Before 1 pm and after 6 pm I limit myself to non-caloric beverages, usually tea, coffee, water with some lemon and ginger, seltzer with sugar free flavored syrup. I usually exercise mid-morning (Yoga or weight training), so I find that curbs my appetite during the long, morning portion of my fast.
That's about all there is to it. Easy peasy!
Here's what I like about it:
1) 19 hours of freedom from thinking about "what to eat" because from 6 pm to 1 pm the next day, I eat nothing. This works for me because the bulk of that time is spent sleeping anyhow. We tend to go to bed pretty early here, 9 pm latest on most weekdays, so a reasonable dinner will cover me until bedtime.
2) I eat whatever I like for my main meal, and I eat until I'm comfortably full. I eat with the family and don't need to plan any kind of "diet" menu for myself. I feel very free to cook a variety of things rather than feeling restricted to a low-fat or low-carb regimen. Yesterday, for example, I made a polenta dish (which would have been unheard-of in my Atkins days...oh the horror!). Today I'll probably roast a chicken and some veggies, including sweet potatoes (an abomination of a menu during my Eat to Live stint).
This just feels like a really "sane" way of living. It's not a quick weight-loss solution because at the end of the day, what you eat and how much you eat still matters. But it's more about "how" rather than "what", and I've always felt that most approaches to weight loss tend to focus more on "what" than "how". The behavioral piece hardly ever gets addressed, and if it does, it doesn't take individual variation into consideration. This approach can be applied to any other "diet", be it low-carb, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, or a combination of all of them, which is what I do.
The original plan says to open the eating window at 5 pm. That would not work for me because my days start very early. I'm usually up at 5 am, and waiting 12 hours to eat doesn't make sense, especially if I'm in bed by 9 anyway. So, I usually open my eating window at around 1, so about 8 hours after waking up, and close it at 6, three hours before sleeping. This gives me adequate time to digest before going to sleep.
Anyhow, I just wanted to start this thread and see if there are any other mamas interested in trying this out and sharing ideas, lending support, etc.
Here's a link to the summary: http://www.fast-5.com/content/summary
It's actually not a "diet" in the sense that it tells you what to eat. It's more a behavior modification approach for those of us who eat too much of the right things too often. It's a type of "intermittent fasting" where you eat for 5 consecutive hours. For example, my 5 hours are something like 1-6 pm. I usually break my fast with a light "break-fast" at around 1. This is usually a green smoothie (made in my Vitamix with plain coconut Kefir, ice cubes, a banana and whatever other fruits and greens I happen to have on hand, plus a shot of Davinci sugar free strawberry syrup for added flavor), or greek yogurt with fruit, i.e., something light. Then I go about my afternoon activities, errands, grocery shopping, picking up kids at school, whatever. I start making dinner at around 4, and we usually eat dinner pretty early. My eating "window" closes at ~6 pm. Before 1 pm and after 6 pm I limit myself to non-caloric beverages, usually tea, coffee, water with some lemon and ginger, seltzer with sugar free flavored syrup. I usually exercise mid-morning (Yoga or weight training), so I find that curbs my appetite during the long, morning portion of my fast.
That's about all there is to it. Easy peasy!
Here's what I like about it:
1) 19 hours of freedom from thinking about "what to eat" because from 6 pm to 1 pm the next day, I eat nothing. This works for me because the bulk of that time is spent sleeping anyhow. We tend to go to bed pretty early here, 9 pm latest on most weekdays, so a reasonable dinner will cover me until bedtime.
2) I eat whatever I like for my main meal, and I eat until I'm comfortably full. I eat with the family and don't need to plan any kind of "diet" menu for myself. I feel very free to cook a variety of things rather than feeling restricted to a low-fat or low-carb regimen. Yesterday, for example, I made a polenta dish (which would have been unheard-of in my Atkins days...oh the horror!). Today I'll probably roast a chicken and some veggies, including sweet potatoes (an abomination of a menu during my Eat to Live stint).
This just feels like a really "sane" way of living. It's not a quick weight-loss solution because at the end of the day, what you eat and how much you eat still matters. But it's more about "how" rather than "what", and I've always felt that most approaches to weight loss tend to focus more on "what" than "how". The behavioral piece hardly ever gets addressed, and if it does, it doesn't take individual variation into consideration. This approach can be applied to any other "diet", be it low-carb, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, or a combination of all of them, which is what I do.
The original plan says to open the eating window at 5 pm. That would not work for me because my days start very early. I'm usually up at 5 am, and waiting 12 hours to eat doesn't make sense, especially if I'm in bed by 9 anyway. So, I usually open my eating window at around 1, so about 8 hours after waking up, and close it at 6, three hours before sleeping. This gives me adequate time to digest before going to sleep.
Anyhow, I just wanted to start this thread and see if there are any other mamas interested in trying this out and sharing ideas, lending support, etc.
