Calorie Restriction
Ahh yes, calorie restriction vs part time dieting. What’s the difference? Basically, the calorie restriction approach is every other diet you’ve tried, ever. It restricts all calories, all the time. Which tends to result in over-active hanger, lettuce leaf lunch sadness, and water-in-a glass-that-should-be-rightfully-be-holding-wine social despair. We’ve all been there. In fact, we’ve explained the difference between calorie restriction and intermittent fasting before. But never quite in this way.
Intermittent Fasting
Instead of restricting all calories, all the time, like calorie restriction, intermittent fasting only restricts you some of the time. We like to call it part-time dieting. Because you only diet part of the time. Here are two the two very different approaches, side by side.
Compare the Pair
1200 calories, 7 days a week | 2 day part-time diet |
|---|---|
| Day 1 Okay, horror weigh in yesterday | Day 1 Okay, horror weigh in yesterday but I’m sick of my old diets so I started this part-time diet thing today. Bit nervous about only having 500 calories all day but armed myself with lots of lo cal snacks and beverages and I got through. Feeling a bit proud of myself, actually. Can’t wait to eat what I like tomorrow. |
| Day 2 Second day in and I almost slipped up and had cake at work for bosses birthday. Was tempted to lick the plates as I washed up but somehow resisted. Sat and ate a celery stick afterwards. Genetically blessed intern next to me spoke about the cake’s icing for a full ten minutes. | Day 2 Non-fast day today so I ate cake at work for bosses birthday without any guilt! Had my normal lunch and chatted to the young intern about how much we love icing. Felt great to know enjoying cake is all part of my new diet/way of life. I love cake. |
| Day 3 Broke my heel running for the train that I missed, left my tin of tuna behind and had to live on rice cakes and celery all day, came home and hubby had forgotten about my diet and ordered pizza. I made a salad and had the tuna. Then I opened an overdue electricity bill. Then the cat threw up on my one good shoe. I drank two glasses of wine and ate three Tim Tams. | Day 3 Second fast day. Got through absolutely swimmingly but came home to hubby having ordered pizza. Decided to transfer my fast day to tomorrow instead and tucked in. Love how flexible this is! Even had a wine or two and a Tim Tam. #unbreakable |
| Day 4 I hate tuna. Hate celery too. Too starving to care anymore when I got home and ate leftover pizza and had more wine. And the rest of the Tim Tams. Will start again tomorrow. | Day 4 Did my fast day today and it was so easy, especially as I haven’t dieted the past two days so I wasn’t feeling fed up or deprived. Smashed through it! Happy face. |
| Day 5 Met BFF for Friday night drinks and Indian food. Figured I’d be good and not have the butter chicken or the garlic naan. Unfortunately tasted both and gorged myself stupid. There’s a big orange stain on my only still-fitting blouse. But it was so worth it. | Day 5 Met BFF for Friday night drinks and Indian food. Ate the butter chicken and the naan without guilt but didn’t feel the need to gorge. Just feeling happy and content. Best week of dieting I’ve ever experienced. |
| Day 6 Can’t do my jeans up. Wasn’t worth it. Oh well, no use crying over | Day 6 My jeans are loose! And I had a bacon and egg roll at the footy. With sauce. Hope this worked on the scales too – will find out tomorrow. |
| Day 7 Weighed myself. Cried. Ate everything in the fridge and binged on Netflix. Dieting sucks. Will try again tomorrow. Sigh. #hatemyselfnow | Day 7 OMG – 1.4kg down!!! Happy dance around the room. Can’t wait to do another week of this and see what I weigh next Sunday! #proudofmyself |
Calorie restriction vs part-time dieting? No comparison.
Wanna give it a shot? Join the Super Squad here. Still need a little convincing? Check out what Dr. Penny Adams has on her part-time diet.
