RESULTS: I lost 7.4 kg (16.3lbs) in 31 days (August 2020) eating only breakfast and lunch and nothing after 12 noon but water.

I had some down days where I ate too much but overall, I was able to exercise more control over what I was eating. Basically, I’ve lost my “pandemic 15”. I’m going to continue as I would love to loose another 5kg (10lbs). Look below for more thoughts on how to try your own “monks diet”.

Okay, I admit that my last two attempts at intermittent fasting didn’t really give me the results I hoped for. But I’ve decided to work at it at a different angle this time.

Eating like a Monk

When I lived in Thailand, every morning, monks would wander through the village and people would donate food and recieve a blessing. Then the monks took it all back to the temple to have a meal. For the most part, that is the only time they ate. It wasn’t to loose weight. It was just one of the rules that have been handed down to Buddhist monks since the time of the Buddha.

So, I have decided to take a vow to not eat after lunch for the month of August. I know this is possible. It won’t kill me. I hope it will lead to some weight loss, but in the end, it’s more about improving my self-dicipline that should help my long range healthy diet for years to come.

Buddha’s Diet

Tips from the “Buddha’s Diet: The Ancient Art of Losing Weight Without Losing Your Mind” by Tara Cottrell and Dan Zigmond, that can help you get lean and stay healthy the Buddha’s way.

1. Go ahead, look at the scale: The author urges dieters to weigh themselves every day. Tracking your weight is a way of taking control of your diet and health.
2. Eat what you want (just not junk): View food as either “useful” (healthy fats, fiber, and protein) and what’s not (sugar, processed foods).
3. Exercise for its own sake: Do exercise if you enjoy it, not to burn calories (it burns less calories than you think).
4. Quit the clean plate club: Learn to be more attentive to your own hunger and satiety clues (in other words, eating more mindfully), you’ll be able to right-size your portions, meaning less surplus food going into the trash or into your belly.
5. Say grace: Take a moment to be grateful for the food you eat.
6. Pay attention: If you’re paying more attention to you body and it’s needs, you might begin to realize how much we eat when we’re not actually hungry.

My Weight Loss Journey

Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	loss/wk
[1] 91.1kg start	[2] 90.1kg -1.0 kg	[3] 89.7kg -0.4 kg	[4] 89.3kg -0.4 kg	[5] 88.5kg -0.8 kg	[6] 88.5kg 0	[7] 88.1kg -0.4kg	3.0 kg (6.6lbs)
[8] 87.5kg -0.6kg	[9] 87.2kg -0.3kg	[10] 86.8kg -0.4kg	[11] 86.7kg -0.1kg	[12] 86.4kg -0.3kg	[13] 86.7kg +0.3kg	[14] 86.4kg -0.3kg	1.7 kg (3.7lbs)
[15] 85.7kg -0.7kg	[16] 85.6kg -0.1kg	[17] 85.1kg -0.5kg	[18] 85.0kg -0.1kg	[19] 85.1kg +0.1kg	[20] 85.3kg +0.2kg	[21] 85.3kg 0	1.1 kg (2.4lbs)
[22] 87.0kg +1.7kg	[23] 85.8kg -1.2kg	[24] 85.4kg -0.4kg	[25] 85.6kg 0.2kg	[26] 85.2kg -0.4kg	[27] 85.6kg +0.4kg	[28] 84.6kg -1.0kg	0.7 kg (1.5lbs)
[29] 84.2kg -0.4kg	[30] 84.3kg 0.1kg	[31] 83.7kg -0.6kg					0.9kg (2.0lbs)
							Total 7.4 kg (16.3lbs)

• chips and salsa are my kryptonite
• after about the 3rd or 4th day, I stopped being hungry at dinner time
• never leave the table “stuffed” and don’t be afraid to save leftovers, no matter how small
• don’t multitask while eating – focus on your eating, don’t eat mindlessly
• I weigh every morning as soon as my alarm goes off after I’ve been to the bathroom.
• The 2nd week was much harder to control overeating at lunchtime.
• Sometimes I woke up in the middle of the night feeling really hungry
• Aug 21st: really bad day, re-injured my right knee which is really bad news for my half-marathon training. Depression had me eating anything and everything. Will try to regroup.
• Bad fourth week, enough said. 😦

Some Ideas to Try

I didn’t restrict what I was eating but I was more aware, especially when it came to calories. So for those things that were definitely high calorie (or that I might indulge in), I gave myself the “three bites” rule. I could eat anything ‘special’, but only three bites – like ice cream, brownies, my brother’s awesome guacamole, Oreo cookies, etc – just three bites, not three spoonfuls, not a quantity of three, just 3 bites. I think we have these cravings, not to fill our stomachs, but just for the taste. So, it seemed to work for me.

Along those same likes – the body really wants the ‘taste’, not to fill up – I also experimented with different snack flavors, trying to move away from ‘sweet’. For example, I put a bunch of sweet carrots into the juice of a jalapeños jar, and the sweet-spicy taste was pretty awesome. So, whenever your sweet-tooth is having a craving, try a different taste – sour, spicy, salty or a combination.

Recommendations:

• It is easier if you just eat your ‘normal’ breakfast and lunch. If you are consistent, you can see more where calories are coming from. If you try new foods/recipes, it’s harder to see why you might have gained one day and lost another.
• Don’t worry too much about the days you gain. They’ll happen. Just look at what you ate the day before and you’ll probably see where you might have gone overboard a bit on your calories. Just learn from it and move on.
• During dinner time, especially if you have others in the house who are not fasting, go for a walk or bike ride. Not only are you skipping calories, but you’re burning them. And getting outside is better for your mental health too.
• Use this time to become healthier, not only in your eating habits, but in all aspects of your life.
• And in the future, whenever the scale starts tipping upward again, you know you can just cut back and fast a day or two because you know you have done it before.

Other Resources

I’m not a nutritionist. But we are fortunate to have access to so much information on the internet. So, take advantage of that. I’ve collected a few recently published articles on the internet to pass on to you if you’re interested in more information about ‘intermittent fasting’.

Buddha’s Diet by Tara Cottrell and Dan Zigmond

• Buddha’s Diet: The Ancient Art of Losing Weight Without Losing Your Mind (Amazon)
• The Buddha Diet Will Help You Lose Weight With Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science
• The Buddha’s Diet (Tricycle Magazine)
• The Buddha Diet – Is It Worth Following?
• The Chart That Could Help You Lose Weight
• A Strict Eating Rule that the Buddha Prescribed for Optimum Health

Intermittent Fasting for Runners

• What’s the Deal With Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss?
• Is intermittent fasting good for runners?
• How to Start Intermittent Fasting As a Runner

Other Information about Intermittent Fasting

• How to begin intermittent fasting – Medical News Today
• Intermittent Fasting: 4 Different Types Explained – Cleveland Clinic
• Intermittent Fasting: Beginner’s Guide
• Intermittent Fasting: Transformational Technique – TEDx