It sounds like we have had similar experiences with dieting in the past. I wish you all the best in trying this out. Please post your progress/experiences--I'd be very interested!

Official one-week result: 6.75 pounds lost, while dieting only every other day and enjoying my favorite foods the rest of the time.

Awesome!

Congratulations on the loss, Beth!

I did some research in PubMed and on Google for more papers and articles re intermittant fasting. You can see the links here, if you're interested.

I have to say I'm really intrigued. Based on what I've read, I think I will shift to IF once I reach my goal weight.

Oh, thank you for that website, Shiny. I'll enjoy browsing through them.

Hi Beth,
I was looking for more info on the up day down day diet and found your forum.
I have been following it for the last few days and I am doing my first down day today. It has been a little difficult to only stick to the shake when there is food all around, but so far so good. It would help to have someone else going through it to communicate with. Like you I have been on so many of the diets out there with very little to show for it and have even gained on a few. I am encouraged by your progress and it helped me to start. Thanks for your influence. Wish me luck and I will keep in touch with my progress.

I just found this forum while I was searching for info on the Up Day Down Day Diet. Good going Beth N. and good luck Monna! I'm on my 5th down day and have lost 5 pounds. I think I wasn't eating enough on the first few up days. (Never thought I'd ever be saying [b]that![b]) I had lunch out yesterday and had dessert for the first time in years, a really decadent chocolate fudgy cake and was down a pound this morning. After years of WW and Atkins and Jenny Craig and Slim Fast, blah blah blah, this diet is amazing. Cool forum.

Monna and Ann, thanks so much for sharing--I am thrilled for your successes (and for mine!).

I am doing a down day today. Had a WalMart generic version of the SlimFast shake around noon, along with a sliced zuchinni. Had my midday shake around 3:30, and one more to go this evening.

I hope you ladies will continue to post and let us know how things are going--I would love to know.

Hello everyone. On my 1st DOWN day I lost 4 lbs,but after the next UP day they came right back. Whats up with that? Im doing 30 to 35%of around 1800 cal.

Hmm, I don't know. I just found out about this diet myself, so I am no expert!

I didn't weigh until after I had been on it a few days, because I don't have a scale at my house. So I don't know what my result would have been on my first "up" day. I am shooting for the 20% calorie level on my down days. Did you try the calorie calculator at:

http://www.johnsonupdaydowndaydiet.samsbiz.com/pag e/1ed7e/Home.html

to see what amount of calories to eat? Also, did you eat food you prepared yourself, or did you have shakes with the calories pre-figured for you?

I do that, because then I know exactly what I am getting. I noticed on the website that Dr. Johnson recommends 20-25% of normal calories for the best result, and he also recommends using shakes for the first two weeks, or using other prepackaged items, so you are accurate in counting your calories. I'm not wild about frozen diet dinners, but the meal replacement shakes aren't too bad, really.

I think one reason I am able to do the down days is because I'm not in cooking/eating mode--I can just be in the kitchen long enough to grab my shake, or refill my water glass. On an up day last week, I made enough of our evening meal to carry over into leftovers for the following day, so I did not have to cook for my family on a down day and feel tempted to nibble. I also wait to have my first shake until lunch time and that's easier for me.

I hope you have a better day tomorrow! Good luck to you!

Hi Beth!! Saw the same article and i'm into day four. yesterday i was 2 pounds down (it was my down day..and i think i'll only weigh in on those days)
I love this plan.. wow.. its so cool to be totally set free with the eating.

my question is do you eat until you are full? or overeat?? I know you shouldn't intentionally overeat..I've had a lot to eat today because i felt RAVENOUS. my last up day i ate all healthy and probably didn't eat enough so on my down day i was soo hungry. so i'm guessing its good to get nice and full (not overly so) on an up day.

oh hey I'm a christian too! I have 3 littles so far..hoping God blesses us with more. my hubby is not saved though...yet! God bless!

Alyssa

Well, I have to admit after seeing your first post on the subject I was intrigued enough to try it myself. After one week I realized it's not for me. My down days were truly down and it affected my attitude and ability to have strength to make it through the day.

I'm glad it's working for you, and I truly hope you succeed in reaching your goals. For me, I'm going to stick with "grazing" and eating healthier. Less ups-and-downs (no puns intended) in my blood sugar, and therefore my moods, etc. But for me it's about getting exercise since my eating habits are pretty good.

Good luck to all!

Oh, and I see following this diet has turned you into a cat, Beth. You need to talk to your doctor (or vet).

Hi Beth,

I was very interested to read about your progress on the UpDayDownDay Diet - congratulations! I am also interested in trying it, but am concerned about sticking to my exercise program on the DownDays. I have recently commenced cycling for approx. 1hr. per day, and as I am not very fit yet, I'm finding it quite strenuous. I wonder if the extremely low calorie intake on the down days would result in a lack of strenght and/or energy? confused:

Hi, Christi,

Speaking for myself only, I seem to have plenty of energy on my down days. I have felt alert and happy. I have been able to accomplish all my usual tasks.

LOL--umm, you noticed! I Googled the diet and when my posts were the first thing at the top of the list, I suddenly felt very . . . exposed. I thought I would feel more comfortable posting a picture of my cat, Spanky.

I wish you the best on your eating and fitness plan!

That's great!




Well, I eat until I feel satisfied and I eat the things I want to eat. I don't like the feeling of being overstuffed. I would have to say my eating pattern on the up day has been regular meals with snacks in between if I feel like it. I feel free to have a taste of something if somebody offers. Sorry to be kind of vague! I don't deliberately try to overeat.



Well, we have a lot in common--I'm glad you posted. I hope you will post again to let us know of your experiences.

I am assuming that my week one results are not what I should expect on a weekly basis. (I don't think it would be healthy to lose about a pound a day for very long!) I assume some of the first week loss was excess fluid.

In the past, whenever I start a new diet, I usually experience a similar dramatic weight loss the first week. Of course, what made this loss particularly satisying was the fact that I dieted only every OTHER day.

Anyway, I am hoping I could see a weekly loss of a pound or two in the coming weeks. AND, I am eagerly hoping for an improvement in my asthma symptoms as well!

Down day challenge: to fearlessly go to a restaurant to celebrate birthdays with several friends on Sunday.

I am not going to follow the typical advice given to dieters, which is to eat something sensible before going to a party, so that you're not ravenous by the time you get there and end up eating too much. Here's my thinking:

On my other down days, I noticed that I wasn't all that hungry when I awoke. If I forced myself to drink a shake for breakfast (because you are "supposed" to eat breakfast), it seemed to kick in the eat/get hungry cycle early in the day.

However, if I waited until around noon to have a shake, while I did experience that same eat/get hungry cycle, it didn't start until the afternoon.

On my down days I do best if I drink a shake around noon, around 3, and around 6. By 8 p.m. or so, when I might feel hungry once more, I can have a drink of something non-caloric and then pretty soon it's time for bed. In addition, I drink calorie-free beverages whenever I feel thirsty.

Hunger-wise, it's really not so bad at all--mostly just the psychological desire to eat. I have the same psychological battle no matter what diet I'm on--but at least on the Johnson diet I am *not* fighting cravings all day--that makes it a lot easier. I'm not experiencing the 4:00 p.m. slump at work, where I would give anything for something sweet to keep me going.

So, getting back to my restaurant experiment tomorrow, I think that if I drink my shake in the morning before I go to the restaurant at noon, I will be that much hungrier the rest of the day.

I plan to visit the salad bar and eat the "free" type veggies such as cucumbers, lettuce, celery, sprouts--very low calorie stuff; if they have some red wine vinegar or something very low calorie as a dressing I will include that. Even a salad of "free" veggies has some calories, but not many. I will avoid the garbonzo beans, nuts, croutons, cheese etc. I will drink either water or tea--something with no calories. I will focus on enjoying the company and taking my time eating the veggies. When I get home, I can have a shake.

I hope I can do it . . . :-O

Today was an up day. I ate what I enjoy, and I enjoyed what I ate. I didn't overstuff myself, nor did I deprive myself. I feel ready to do a down day.

Um my only question is, are you losing water weight??
and how long are you suppose to carry out the diet for?
can you go back to your normal lifestyle and calorie intake once you've lost that weight or is your body all weird cuz of the diet?

oh and can you tell me what the division of down day and up day is? cuz the site doesn't tell you .. is it like 1 down day, 3 up days?

I might give it a try, I litteraly need to lose 5 pounds that I've been dragging around for years, that's all I need to get that "perfect body" I've been trying to achieve for years, it's quite fustrating because it's so little weight and I appear to have a nice body

I've been eating well and exercising 3times/week for a month now, and I think I've only lost a pound, and that's just cuz I weighed myself at a different time of the day cuz the inches on my waist is the exact same!

I'm sure some of it is water weight, just like on any new diet.

I'm sorry, but I don't know enough to answer those other questions with authority. I did notice a suggested maintenance plan on the website, which means that it would help you maintain your weight loss and stop losing more weight, so that suggests that the person who developed the diet intended it as a permanent lifestyle change. For maintenance, the website suggests that down days are 50-60% of normal calorie intake.



You alternate up and down days. 1 up day, then a down day, then an up day, and so on.



Well, I would certainly encourage you to continue to eat well and exercise--that's great! If you have just a small amount of weight you would like to lose, the last few pounds are pretty tough. However, if you look nice and feel well . . . maybe you're okay just the way you are. I am far away from my goal at this point, so I'm probably not the person to ask!

Good luck!

well I feel great cuz of my lifestyle change, not that I was eating bad before, and exercising, however exhausting it is

it's not the last few pounds I want to lose.. it's all those pounds, I was always fine, weight wise, I'm in the normal range, bla bla bla but it's for me, it's just that tiny bit of blubber covering what would be my nice abs or whatnot, so wow one day up one day down.. gee that seems like it might be difficult, I'll still give it a try

you think that if I alternate 2 days up (but actually 1420 which is what traineo says I should eat to sort of lose weight) and one down day (what the website told me) it'll still work? I'm thinking it might not...

Have you been eating other stuff than shakes? cuz I really hate the shakes.. not to mention if I bring that to school, everybody starts telling me I'm fine and everything! so I need to do this somewhat secretly

as long as I follow the calories I should be fine no? with the help of fitday.com (thanks to another user for introducing this website to me)

and I just realized you keep saying that there's science to back it up, didn't Atkins have science to back it up?

and apparently he had a bunch of health problems and now Atkins (the company) is bankrupt and I think Dr. Atkins himself is dead? um...

I was starving myself when I tried the Atkins diet, I did it only for a week and was miserable!

I'm chinese so eating rice is an everyday thing, to cut that out of my diet was like cutting my lifestyle out, it was close to impossible for me!

Like you, I tried the Atkins diet and I couldn't stick with it, either. I know it works for some people, but I didn't enjoy it.

I encourage my own teen daugthers to drink milk (for calcium) and eat a variety of foods to get all the nutrients they need. They stay physically active every day doing things they enjoy, which I think help keeps them looking fit and trim.

You mentioned that your weight is in the normal range, but that you are still a little unhappy with the way you look. I know there is a lot of pressure to look a certain way when you're at school. However, there are probably a lot of girls at your school who would love to have your figure!

I'd encourage you to talk to your parents and your family doctor about this and see what they think before you make any big changes.

well I'm not planning to look like a stick figure, I like to have some meat on me, but I'm in the normal range, a bit on the higher end though

I'm not doing anything drastic, don't worry, it's just those couple of pounds I've been lugging around and it's time for a change, I figure if I don't get this done now, I'll never get it done! and I'm in that right mindset you know

but I figured this would be a faster solution since.. the working out and eating well has only gotten me 1 pound slimer in a month.. which I would say is very slow results, I'm going to Greece in about 3 months so I would like to trim down before swimsuit season...

Good luck, Jessica! I hope you reach your goal!

I survived a social occasion while on my down day--yay! I didn't eat anything until about 12:30 p.m. I ate salad at the restaurant, had a shake when I got home, and instead of eating birthday cake, I asked for a slice to take home--because of course I CAN have it tomorrow.

The amazing thing was that nobody else at the table realized what I was doing except my own family!

I thought it would be torture to sit at the table with people eating all kinds of potatoes, rolls, roasted meats, and desserts, and I was fully prepared to escape to the ladies' room if necessary to get away from the temptation. But I think the strategy of fasting all morning really worked, and of course I had my plate of salad greens and other freebie veggies to munch on. It really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

wow that must've been hard! Good for you, keep us posted on your diets, do you feel tired or even more energetic??

Thank you, Jessica, for your encouragement--I appreciate that!

It was not as hard maintain my down day yesterday while socializing as I was afraid it was going to be! That was a pleasant surprise. I feel really motivated by my success last week to continue the diet. I've also been looking through catalogs at clothing and styles I'd like to try--that's motivating, too.

It's interesting that I actually feel just fine physically on the fasting days. I really do. I feel clear-headed, energetic and happy in general. No headaches or anything. I have been able to be at work without experiencing the usual tiredness and "slump" feeling I usually get in the late afternoon.

I think the fact that it's only an every *other* day thing helps me to have a little extra willpower--if I really want something or wish I could have something, I know I can have it the very next day if I want to. Knowing that nothing is forbidden helps me feel less desperate. I can wait a day. Ironically, by the time the up day rolls around, I don't necessarily want the item as much.

I don't experience the feeling that I have "blown" my diet at any point, the way I feel on other diets. There is some interesting psychological benefit to this way of dieting and I am still trying to find words to describe it.

One thing I noticed is that on fasting days I don't think I remember to drink enough water, so I'm going to try to do better at that this week.

This is about the halfway point of my second week on the diet and the fasting days are no longer scary to me--as in, "I wonder if I'll be able to survive the day without cheating?" I really can do it! I hope I lose some more weight this week--we'll see . . . !

WaHOOOOO!

12 days on this diet and I am down 11 pounds! Yes! I can NOT believe this! I am dieting every OTHER day, and losing weight like I never have before. This is INCREDIBLE! I wish you could see me jumping up and down !!

I feel great, not tired, not cranky. My clothes fit better. I've even lowered my BMI! I am assuming the speed of the weight loss will slow down eventually, but I don't care--I could do this the rest of my life if I had to.

Wow--this is just SO fantastic!! I am not kidding!!

I am down a total of 14 pounds since January 4. It took me three weeks of counting calories every day and exercising to lose the first three pounds. Those three pounds did NOT come off easily.

However, the last 11 pounds have literally fallen off in just under two weeks. The down days are not bad at all for me, now that I have done it a few times and know what to expect. But even if the down days were a lot worse, it would be worth it to FINALLY see some results with dieting after a lifetime of dieting failures.

I still don't have anything to report in the way of a change in my asthma/allergy symptoms, but I think it's a little too soon for that.

Anyway--thanks for letting me share my excitement. I am just beside myself with joy!

p.s. This morning I had some of that birthday cake I brought home from the party yesterday (because I had to save it for my up day)--it was delicious! :-d

wow Beth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yipeeeeeeeeee!!! I've only lost 3 pounds total. blah. i'm ravenous on my up days and may be eating too much?? i don't feel like i overeat.
and i eat prepackaged food on my down days..not shakes..so i will be switching to that because i may be overeating there as well. i really want this diet to work. but i guess the bottom line is..i lost weight. not as much as i hoped .. but with these little switches hopefully i 'll see the same results as you.

i guess my other question is do you find you eat less on your up days?? for example i had fries and an ice cream yesterday..and that seemed to be enough for the whole day . although i snacked on 3 small quasadilla triangles. still full feeling today. (down day obviously)

anyway i'm going to give this diet a full shot not giving up