Did not read your whole post (going to chaperone my high school's prom!), but I've looked into EOD and IF. Many programs warn that it doesn't work well for people who have a history of compulsive overeating or gorging as a reaction to dieting, though there are EXCEPTIONS.
Fasting may help people learn to tolerate hunger, but it doesn't necessarily help people tolerate the desire to eat when they aren't actually hungry, especially when they are told they don't have to moderate their eating on non-fast days at all.
The Blessings of Simplicity
Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating
oolala53,
How fun to chaperone a prom! One of my father's favorite sayings was, "Parenting is the great adventure of life." It sure is!
I appreciate the warning. What I have tried in the past has not worked, and this is different. My father had many sayings, and what I have come to consider my favorite is this: "If something isn't working, try something else -- anything else!"
My Dad is in his 90s now. He actually worked on the Manhattan Project. He was brilliant, getting a Ph.D. in Chemistry at age 21. Now, after several strokes, he usually knows my name. The research into IF that most intrigued me was from Mark Mattson about how it can reduce the likelihood of strokes and Alzeimer's Disease.
I am desperate. My father was never overweight, and I've been over 200 pounds for more than a decade. Where am I headed if I don't get my weight under control?
Kathleen
How fun to chaperone a prom! One of my father's favorite sayings was, "Parenting is the great adventure of life." It sure is!
I appreciate the warning. What I have tried in the past has not worked, and this is different. My father had many sayings, and what I have come to consider my favorite is this: "If something isn't working, try something else -- anything else!"
My Dad is in his 90s now. He actually worked on the Manhattan Project. He was brilliant, getting a Ph.D. in Chemistry at age 21. Now, after several strokes, he usually knows my name. The research into IF that most intrigued me was from Mark Mattson about how it can reduce the likelihood of strokes and Alzeimer's Disease.
I am desperate. My father was never overweight, and I've been over 200 pounds for more than a decade. Where am I headed if I don't get my weight under control?
Kathleen
I'm not a parent. I went because the venue was close to where I live and I do enjoy seeing the kids dressed up.
The more important focus about your body, I think, is where will you be if you don't get your EATING under your control? Actually, it is under your control, more so than your weight is. You control everything that goes into your mouth. You are the one who says yes and you are the one who says no. No book or diet can do it for you, and you will likely have to say no many times when it is hard to do so for you to get the health benefits you want. NO healthy culture eats on whims.
WHAT is worth eating less even if you sometimes want to eat more? Is ANYTHING more important than being able to eat just because you have a desire to? If nothing is more important than giving in just because you have a desire, or this or that seems like a good excuse to eat, then the odds of ever losing weight without some dire health condition forcing it aren't very high.
I agree that IF has many positive benefits. I've been experimenting with it myself and not for weight loss, as I succeeded with No S to get from the low obese range to the high normal range over a few years. (BTW, in doing that, I actually went through some inadvertent IF on S days, actually eating less often and sometimes "fasting" for 16 hours or more overnight just because I knew I would enjoy my food more if I waited longer.) I won't tell you all about it now because I hope you will have your own experience, but I will say that it hasn't made the desire for too much food on non-fast days go away for me, no matter what Varady says. I still have to use some measure of reasonable restraint on up days, but that's worth it to me. I trade one kind of "deprivation" for another. If I eat just because I get an urge or feel a twinge of being hungry, which actually happens often during the day, I deprive myself of a feeling of lightness and of truly enjoying my meal later. if I just eat. I know it is also likely I will be depriving myself of the benefits the body gets when it is not fed every few hours, specifically not having surges of insulin all day long. If I keep justifying eating more at meals or more food more often, which is VERY easy to do, I will never get those benefits.
It seems you have even more reasons to say no, as you have a husband and children whom your ill health would impact more than any person would be affected in my life. I hope all your reasons become clear and strong enough to allow you to take full advantage of this new program.
The more important focus about your body, I think, is where will you be if you don't get your EATING under your control? Actually, it is under your control, more so than your weight is. You control everything that goes into your mouth. You are the one who says yes and you are the one who says no. No book or diet can do it for you, and you will likely have to say no many times when it is hard to do so for you to get the health benefits you want. NO healthy culture eats on whims.
WHAT is worth eating less even if you sometimes want to eat more? Is ANYTHING more important than being able to eat just because you have a desire to? If nothing is more important than giving in just because you have a desire, or this or that seems like a good excuse to eat, then the odds of ever losing weight without some dire health condition forcing it aren't very high.
I agree that IF has many positive benefits. I've been experimenting with it myself and not for weight loss, as I succeeded with No S to get from the low obese range to the high normal range over a few years. (BTW, in doing that, I actually went through some inadvertent IF on S days, actually eating less often and sometimes "fasting" for 16 hours or more overnight just because I knew I would enjoy my food more if I waited longer.) I won't tell you all about it now because I hope you will have your own experience, but I will say that it hasn't made the desire for too much food on non-fast days go away for me, no matter what Varady says. I still have to use some measure of reasonable restraint on up days, but that's worth it to me. I trade one kind of "deprivation" for another. If I eat just because I get an urge or feel a twinge of being hungry, which actually happens often during the day, I deprive myself of a feeling of lightness and of truly enjoying my meal later. if I just eat. I know it is also likely I will be depriving myself of the benefits the body gets when it is not fed every few hours, specifically not having surges of insulin all day long. If I keep justifying eating more at meals or more food more often, which is VERY easy to do, I will never get those benefits.
It seems you have even more reasons to say no, as you have a husband and children whom your ill health would impact more than any person would be affected in my life. I hope all your reasons become clear and strong enough to allow you to take full advantage of this new program.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
oolala53,
It is very odd, but I believe my overeating in response to any restraint at all is actually a healthy reaction to the starvation mode I put myself in with all those years of dieting.
Still, being this fat, I see that my body is starting to fall apart. I really cannot hear well. Why? Well, part of it is genetic, but what part is obesity? My stomach was literally 24" when I was single, and now it is over 40" and expanding. It's disgusting.
What I have done with this diet is try to figure out what works on fasting days first. I have found that I get really grumpy as soon as I eat, so I am pushing back when I eat to fairly late. Last night, I did not eat until 8:30 PM. Also, it doesn't really matter what I eat, so I'm going to have milk and 1/2 cup of walnuts. Varaday lists all these options for 500 calorie meals. She promotes Lean Cuisine in particular as something people have found satisfying. I went years eating Lean Cuisine. I made a promise to myself that I would never eat Lean Cuisine again.
The feast days cannot be over the top. Today was. My stomach is stuffed. I won't eat for another 24 hours, but I bet I had more than 2 days worth of food today.
Am I bothered by that? No. I'm not going to weigh myself tomorrow, and I have a plan for dealing with over the top eating. We are going on a family vacation starting on Friday. Tom is happy that I'm going to fast three days per week because he's already concerned about how much food will cost. We have all four kids with us, and the youngest is 15. We could easily top $300/day in food costs if we were not careful, so we are bringing a cooler, and we are bringing a coffee pot and plastic bowls, plates, and cutlery. We'll try to buy food from grocery stores for breakfast and lunch.
That said, I'm going to be eating a lot on feast days during the trip, but there will be a certain restraint that I did not have today because only Katie was home most of the day today and she was off making a costume for a theme night where she will be a counselor.
From June 3 - 14, I'll be on the Yellowstone vacation. June 15 and 16, I'll be with Katie, delivering her to camp by way of an all day trap event. June 17 is a fast day. June 18 I'll be with Ellie at a camp in the Boundary Waters.
That gives me three weeks of not having over the top eating because I would be way too embarrassed to eat like I did today.
My hope is that three weeks is enough of an adjustment. My hope is I'll be over the driving desire to eat in response to having fast days.
It is very odd, but I believe my overeating in response to any restraint at all is actually a healthy reaction to the starvation mode I put myself in with all those years of dieting.
Still, being this fat, I see that my body is starting to fall apart. I really cannot hear well. Why? Well, part of it is genetic, but what part is obesity? My stomach was literally 24" when I was single, and now it is over 40" and expanding. It's disgusting.
What I have done with this diet is try to figure out what works on fasting days first. I have found that I get really grumpy as soon as I eat, so I am pushing back when I eat to fairly late. Last night, I did not eat until 8:30 PM. Also, it doesn't really matter what I eat, so I'm going to have milk and 1/2 cup of walnuts. Varaday lists all these options for 500 calorie meals. She promotes Lean Cuisine in particular as something people have found satisfying. I went years eating Lean Cuisine. I made a promise to myself that I would never eat Lean Cuisine again.
The feast days cannot be over the top. Today was. My stomach is stuffed. I won't eat for another 24 hours, but I bet I had more than 2 days worth of food today.
Am I bothered by that? No. I'm not going to weigh myself tomorrow, and I have a plan for dealing with over the top eating. We are going on a family vacation starting on Friday. Tom is happy that I'm going to fast three days per week because he's already concerned about how much food will cost. We have all four kids with us, and the youngest is 15. We could easily top $300/day in food costs if we were not careful, so we are bringing a cooler, and we are bringing a coffee pot and plastic bowls, plates, and cutlery. We'll try to buy food from grocery stores for breakfast and lunch.
That said, I'm going to be eating a lot on feast days during the trip, but there will be a certain restraint that I did not have today because only Katie was home most of the day today and she was off making a costume for a theme night where she will be a counselor.
From June 3 - 14, I'll be on the Yellowstone vacation. June 15 and 16, I'll be with Katie, delivering her to camp by way of an all day trap event. June 17 is a fast day. June 18 I'll be with Ellie at a camp in the Boundary Waters.
That gives me three weeks of not having over the top eating because I would be way too embarrassed to eat like I did today.
My hope is that three weeks is enough of an adjustment. My hope is I'll be over the driving desire to eat in response to having fast days.
June, 2016: The Blessings of Simplicity (starting May 27, 2016)
Weight Summary
Day 1 - May 27, 2016: 225.0
Day 1 - May 27, 2016: 219.2
Number of pounds lost: 5.8
Weight
Day 6 – Wednesday, June 1, 2016: 219.2
Day 7 – Thursday, June 2, 2016:
Day 8 – Friday, June 3, 2016: 220.6
Day 9 – Saturday, June 4, 2016:
Day 10 – Sunday, June 5, 2016:
Day 11 – Monday, June 6, 2016:
Day 12 – Tuesday, June 7, 2016:
Day 13 – Wednesday, June 8, 2016:
Day 14 – Thursday, June 9, 2016:
Day 15 – Friday, June 10, 2016:
Day 16 – Saturday, June 11, 2016:
Day 17 – Sunday, June 12, 2016:
Day 18 – Monday, June 13, 2016:
Day 19 – Tuesday, June 14, 2016:
Day 20 – Wednesday, June 15, 2016: 217.4
Day 21 – Thursday, June 16, 2016:
Day 22 – Friday, June 17, 2016:
Day 23 – Saturday, June 18, 2016:
Day 24 – Sunday, June 19, 2016: 219.0
Day 25 – Monday, June 20, 2016: 221.4
Day 26 – Tuesday, June 21, 2016: 220.8
Day 27 – Wednesday, June 22, 2016:
Day 28 – Thursday, June 23, 2016: 222.4
Day 29 – Friday, June 24, 2016:
Day 30 – Saturday, June 25, 2016:
Day 31 – Sunday, June 26, 2016:
Day 32 – Monday, June 27, 2016:
Day 33 – Tuesday, June 28, 2016:
Day 34 – Wednesday, June 29, 2016:
Day 35 – Thursday, June 30, 2016:
Journal
Day 6 – Wednesday, June 1, 2016: 219.2
I fasted for two days straight. That means I had very little to eat and only at night. On Monday, I had about 500 calories at about 8:30 PM. Last night, I had about 500 calories at about 7 PM.
I sailed through the day with no problem, went to sleep right at 10, and woke up hungry at 3. It was pretty bad. I could not sleep at all, finally getting up at my normal time of 5:30 AM. Next time, I'll wait until 8:30 to eat.
Here's my favorite line from the Every Other Day Diet: "There's only one easy-to-follow rule on Feast Days that alternates with the 500-calorie modified fast of Diet Day: "Eat all the food you want, and eat any kind of food you want." I could sail through yesterday knowing I could eat whatever I want today. Sunday's gorging and Monday's pain informed me that I do want to moderate my eating. Some people never do learn that getting drunk isn't worth a hangover. Maybe some people never do learn that a binge isn't worth feeling sick. I hope I do learn.
Day 7 – Thursday, June 2, 2016:
I feel less awful today than I did two days ago because I ate less during yesterday's Feast Day than I did during the Feast Day on Monday. This is how the diet works: it teaches me what is overeating. It is noon, and I feel just fine without any food.
6 PM: No food yet today. I put on my wedding ring. It hurts a bit, but I plan to wear it.
7:30 PM: I think I can wear it! One more hour until I can eat...
Day 8 – Friday, June 3, 2016: 220.6
This is the last time I am 220 or above because I won't be able to weigh myself again until June 15th. My weight went up because my last weigh-in was after a two-day fast and this weigh-in was after a one-day fast. OK. What is encouraging is that I woke up and my ring finger did not hurt from having my wedding ring on it. It's been about five years since I've worn my wedding ring, and my husband has teased me about wearing it. I refused to re-size it, and it hurt to wear it. If I get discouraged about speed of weight loss, I can always look at that ring. Varaday recommends daily weigh-ins, but I hesitate: there may be more of a tendency on my part to expect results every time I weigh myself. Maybe I should look to limit myself to weighing myself after every two-day fast.
Day 12 – Tuesday, June 7, 2016:
Today I am driving while everyone else walks a 5 mile hike around the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Yesterday, I did well, walking more than 14,000 steps at a high elevation (above 7,000 feet) and only eating at 7:30 pm, when I had Fage yogurt, 1/2 cup walnuts, and an apple.
Before I left, I got the book The Fasting Cure by Upton Sinclair, and in it he talks about the benefits of long term fasting (he aims for 12 days of water only). He uses rather colorful language to describe fasting as necessary to clean out your bowels. What he said about fasting that was most consistent with my experience is that it is a rest, not an ordeal.
I found it very easy yesterday to not eat when everyone else was eating. Still, yesterday one hike up a hill really exhausted me. Was the exhaustion due to fasting or could it be that I am obese, middle-aged and out of shape?
I chose to let the others hike so that I wouldn't be a drag on the trip, plus then they have a one-way hike about both rims of the canyon.
Day 14 – Thursday, June 9, 2016:
I am in Jackson doing laundry. Going into this diet, I wondered if it was a good idea to have coffee and not eat until 8:30 PM. I got my answer yesterday morning at Old Faithful Inn when the thought of coffee just turned my stomach. Walking the geyser path in the morning was fine, but by afternoon I had a caffeine withdrawal headache and Tom was encouraging me to have coffee. He got upset when we got into the hotel and I went straight to bed. I actually threw up and had nothing to eat. Tom took the kids out to dinner.
This morning,we went to breakfast and I explained this was not my plan at all. I had expected coffee might be a problem but what happened was I was suddenly revolted by the thought of coffee.
My wedding ring fits fine, and that fact alone gives me the desire to push on. I find it somewhat easy to fast whereas it seemed impossibly hard to limit portions. Why? The answer may be in that French proverb that food creates appetite. Fasting may teach the difference between hunger and appetite.
Day 19 – Tuesday, June 14, 2016:
I am up early and using the hotel computer on this, our last day of the trip. We had terrific weather and got along well, so I would account the trip a success. It was easy to follow my diet. Tom said it saved money for me not to eat. The only surprise was that I woke one morning and just could not face having coffee. Maybe it was the acid in an empty stomach, but I did not have coffee and had caffeine withdrawal by night, even throwing up.
Fasting is not an ordeal; it is a rest. This is according to Upton Sinclair in his book, The Fasting Cure. It is beyond my being able to describe, just like seeing an image of the Milky Way on the Internet does not compare to seeing it in reality.
Day 15 – Friday, June 10, 2016:
We took the Tetons Village tram to the top of Rendezvous Mountain this morning. They had spiked hot chocolate. Anne got one, and then I decided to get one and came out and said, "Either this means the diet will work, or it means the diet won't work." Alternating fasting with eating whatever I want means I lose my fear of going hungry. I have yet to experience hunger during fasting.
Day 20 – Wednesday, June 15, 2016: 217.4
Last December, after three days of fasting, I got down to 217.6. With this diet, I fast every other day. Because I am not fasting on Sundays, I will fast three days one week and four days the next.
Am I disappointed that two weeks of dieting produced so little weight loss? Yes. It does, however, feel sustainable. I'm not sure I should pay too much attention to this diet and instead just do it. My plan is to fast three days per week one week and four the next, sometimes switching weeks depending on what I am doing. My weight today was after two fast days in a row, and that makes it a good comparison to my weight of 219.2 two weeks ago. As a result, it is fair to say I lost 1.8 pounds in two weeks.
It is encouraging that I can wear my wedding ring for the first time in about five years. I just need to do it, not think about it, and go on with my life. We drove just over 3,000 miles since June 3, and I will put about 1,000 miles on the van in next two days driving Katie to a trap competition and to camp where she will spend the summer as a camp counselor. A diet that allows me to live my life and not focus too much on it is what I need.
Day 23 – Saturday, June 18, 2016:
I have now completed another fast day, making four for this week. My goal is to average seven fast days over a two-week period.
Part of the reason for my desperate choice of this diet is that my hearing loss is driving me crazy. In doing Internet searches, I only found that fasting and exercise that raises the heartbeat might help reduce hearing loss. Over the past month, my tinnitus has increased so my hearing has actually decreased. The encouraging thing here is that my ears are being affected by the fast. The analogy that comes to mind is that my ears feel like something is coming unstuck inside. I literally hear clicking noises. The sound is like clicking but the experience reminds me of ice cracking in the spring when the air is getting warmer and the ice is going off the lakes.
The Upton Sinclair book on fasting made four mentions of people being cured of deafness catarrh. It seems like catarrh could be equivalent to inflammation. Has obesity caused inflammation which has led to deafness? Who knows? I went to two audiologists, one at Mayo Clinic, and both said that my condition is genetic and irreversible. I'd rather take a leap and see if fasting can help.
Day 24 – Sunday, June 19, 2016: 219.0
I woke up this morning and thought of two things: how I suddenly was revolted at the thought of coffee and abruptly stopped drinking coffee, and how -- last Wednesday -- I was eating fudge from Wall Drug at 5:30 am. When I stopped drinking coffee, I did not know if the revulsion would continue, but it has. Now, I don't know if revulsion at the thought of overeating will continue, but it may. Overeating is like an addiction that needs to be broken, and fasting can be the means to break that addiction.
I actually think this idea of fasting is a more extreme version of No S. With No S, the weekends are the feast days, but the weekdays are much less restrictive than with fast days. That approach did not break the desire to eat and eat and eat. Maybe fasting has had its effect.
I'd like to just fast M,W, F as is women do in the Greek Orthodox tradition. If indeed my lack of desire to overeat continues, then that can be my diet.
3 PM: It was glorious to wake up and not desire to eat. That feeling did not last. I think fasting might be the means to end food addiction. Maybe I should set my goal at averaging fasting four days per week and allowing myself to eat whatever I want the other three days of the week, including Sundays.
Day 26 – Tuesday, June 21, 2016: 220.8
I was totally bummed yesterday. It was the day of my annual physical, and I weighed 1.6 pounds less than I did last year. I also was above 220 despite following the alternate day diet in fasting half of the days.
Last night, I ate more than 500 calories but did not eat until after 5:30. There are different types of intermittent fasting. I think I need to find the type that works for me. There is one type that has you eat every day in an eating window of different hours. Some diets have it as an eight hour window, and others have it as four. I think I'm going to try to eat in a one-hour window.
This is some sort of addiction. I'm convinced fasting is the way to address it.
Day 28 – Thursday, June 23, 2016: 222.4
I am sold on intermittent fasting, just not the alternate day diet. It got to be way too hard to skip dinner with the family.
I printed off Greek Orthodox regulations for fasting, and they are very complex. I read through information on different types of fasting. I considered the Catholic Church's approach to fasting which was one meal on Wednesdays and Fridays, with restrictions for meat at least on Fridays.
What comes closest to the Catholic fasting approach is Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat. You fast for 24 hours one or two times per week. I've had my turn at that diet and remember one thing clearly: the 24 hour period should end at dinner at the earliest. You need a 36 hour period of limited calorie intake. If you eat a lot one morning, fast for 24 hours, and eat a lot the next afternoon, you accomplish nothing. Heck, even with the severe calorie restrictions every other day on the alternate day diet, I managed to regain weight once I got back from vacation and had ready access to food all the time.
Very frustrating. I had my annual physical on Monday and was talking with the doctor about how 40% of American women are obese -- obese, not just overweight. That is incredible! What happened?
As of right now, I think I'm going to take it month by month, count the number of days that are Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays in the month, work on fasting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and attempt to get to a certain percent of those days that are 24 hour fasts. The percent is TBD.
Day 29 - Friday, June 24, 2016:
I don't know how to say it, but I just plain feel good. Yesterday, I met with my personal trainer and told her, yes, it is disappointing that my weight is above 220, but I feel like I have been on a hamster wheel and finally got off. The alternate day dieting method did not work for me because it was too disruptive of my family, and I could eat enough on the feast days to make up for the fasts.
Intermittent fasting, however, is the way to go. I picked up a book yesterday called Fasting for Life. It is a simple book that covers the physical and spiritual aspects of fasting. Sometimes I think my problem is wholly spiritual because the problem is not when I eat or how much I eat but rather why I overeat.
At any rate, I decided to work on fasting M, W, F every week except for social reasons. Today is a Friday, so I am fasting. When I visit my parents in July, I won't fast.
I'll also follow my SET habits:
Sit down to eat.
Eat without distraction.
Take hands or utensil away from mouth while chewing and swallowing.
My personal trainer wanted 1/2 hour session early next month to see how this goes.
Weight Summary
Day 1 - May 27, 2016: 225.0
Day 1 - May 27, 2016: 219.2
Number of pounds lost: 5.8
Weight
Day 6 – Wednesday, June 1, 2016: 219.2
Day 7 – Thursday, June 2, 2016:
Day 8 – Friday, June 3, 2016: 220.6
Day 9 – Saturday, June 4, 2016:
Day 10 – Sunday, June 5, 2016:
Day 11 – Monday, June 6, 2016:
Day 12 – Tuesday, June 7, 2016:
Day 13 – Wednesday, June 8, 2016:
Day 14 – Thursday, June 9, 2016:
Day 15 – Friday, June 10, 2016:
Day 16 – Saturday, June 11, 2016:
Day 17 – Sunday, June 12, 2016:
Day 18 – Monday, June 13, 2016:
Day 19 – Tuesday, June 14, 2016:
Day 20 – Wednesday, June 15, 2016: 217.4
Day 21 – Thursday, June 16, 2016:
Day 22 – Friday, June 17, 2016:
Day 23 – Saturday, June 18, 2016:
Day 24 – Sunday, June 19, 2016: 219.0
Day 25 – Monday, June 20, 2016: 221.4
Day 26 – Tuesday, June 21, 2016: 220.8
Day 27 – Wednesday, June 22, 2016:
Day 28 – Thursday, June 23, 2016: 222.4
Day 29 – Friday, June 24, 2016:
Day 30 – Saturday, June 25, 2016:
Day 31 – Sunday, June 26, 2016:
Day 32 – Monday, June 27, 2016:
Day 33 – Tuesday, June 28, 2016:
Day 34 – Wednesday, June 29, 2016:
Day 35 – Thursday, June 30, 2016:
Journal
Day 6 – Wednesday, June 1, 2016: 219.2
I fasted for two days straight. That means I had very little to eat and only at night. On Monday, I had about 500 calories at about 8:30 PM. Last night, I had about 500 calories at about 7 PM.
I sailed through the day with no problem, went to sleep right at 10, and woke up hungry at 3. It was pretty bad. I could not sleep at all, finally getting up at my normal time of 5:30 AM. Next time, I'll wait until 8:30 to eat.
Here's my favorite line from the Every Other Day Diet: "There's only one easy-to-follow rule on Feast Days that alternates with the 500-calorie modified fast of Diet Day: "Eat all the food you want, and eat any kind of food you want." I could sail through yesterday knowing I could eat whatever I want today. Sunday's gorging and Monday's pain informed me that I do want to moderate my eating. Some people never do learn that getting drunk isn't worth a hangover. Maybe some people never do learn that a binge isn't worth feeling sick. I hope I do learn.
Day 7 – Thursday, June 2, 2016:
I feel less awful today than I did two days ago because I ate less during yesterday's Feast Day than I did during the Feast Day on Monday. This is how the diet works: it teaches me what is overeating. It is noon, and I feel just fine without any food.
6 PM: No food yet today. I put on my wedding ring. It hurts a bit, but I plan to wear it.
7:30 PM: I think I can wear it! One more hour until I can eat...
Day 8 – Friday, June 3, 2016: 220.6
This is the last time I am 220 or above because I won't be able to weigh myself again until June 15th. My weight went up because my last weigh-in was after a two-day fast and this weigh-in was after a one-day fast. OK. What is encouraging is that I woke up and my ring finger did not hurt from having my wedding ring on it. It's been about five years since I've worn my wedding ring, and my husband has teased me about wearing it. I refused to re-size it, and it hurt to wear it. If I get discouraged about speed of weight loss, I can always look at that ring. Varaday recommends daily weigh-ins, but I hesitate: there may be more of a tendency on my part to expect results every time I weigh myself. Maybe I should look to limit myself to weighing myself after every two-day fast.
Day 12 – Tuesday, June 7, 2016:
Today I am driving while everyone else walks a 5 mile hike around the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Yesterday, I did well, walking more than 14,000 steps at a high elevation (above 7,000 feet) and only eating at 7:30 pm, when I had Fage yogurt, 1/2 cup walnuts, and an apple.
Before I left, I got the book The Fasting Cure by Upton Sinclair, and in it he talks about the benefits of long term fasting (he aims for 12 days of water only). He uses rather colorful language to describe fasting as necessary to clean out your bowels. What he said about fasting that was most consistent with my experience is that it is a rest, not an ordeal.
I found it very easy yesterday to not eat when everyone else was eating. Still, yesterday one hike up a hill really exhausted me. Was the exhaustion due to fasting or could it be that I am obese, middle-aged and out of shape?
I chose to let the others hike so that I wouldn't be a drag on the trip, plus then they have a one-way hike about both rims of the canyon.
Day 14 – Thursday, June 9, 2016:
I am in Jackson doing laundry. Going into this diet, I wondered if it was a good idea to have coffee and not eat until 8:30 PM. I got my answer yesterday morning at Old Faithful Inn when the thought of coffee just turned my stomach. Walking the geyser path in the morning was fine, but by afternoon I had a caffeine withdrawal headache and Tom was encouraging me to have coffee. He got upset when we got into the hotel and I went straight to bed. I actually threw up and had nothing to eat. Tom took the kids out to dinner.
This morning,we went to breakfast and I explained this was not my plan at all. I had expected coffee might be a problem but what happened was I was suddenly revolted by the thought of coffee.
My wedding ring fits fine, and that fact alone gives me the desire to push on. I find it somewhat easy to fast whereas it seemed impossibly hard to limit portions. Why? The answer may be in that French proverb that food creates appetite. Fasting may teach the difference between hunger and appetite.
Day 19 – Tuesday, June 14, 2016:
I am up early and using the hotel computer on this, our last day of the trip. We had terrific weather and got along well, so I would account the trip a success. It was easy to follow my diet. Tom said it saved money for me not to eat. The only surprise was that I woke one morning and just could not face having coffee. Maybe it was the acid in an empty stomach, but I did not have coffee and had caffeine withdrawal by night, even throwing up.
Fasting is not an ordeal; it is a rest. This is according to Upton Sinclair in his book, The Fasting Cure. It is beyond my being able to describe, just like seeing an image of the Milky Way on the Internet does not compare to seeing it in reality.
Day 15 – Friday, June 10, 2016:
We took the Tetons Village tram to the top of Rendezvous Mountain this morning. They had spiked hot chocolate. Anne got one, and then I decided to get one and came out and said, "Either this means the diet will work, or it means the diet won't work." Alternating fasting with eating whatever I want means I lose my fear of going hungry. I have yet to experience hunger during fasting.
Day 20 – Wednesday, June 15, 2016: 217.4
Last December, after three days of fasting, I got down to 217.6. With this diet, I fast every other day. Because I am not fasting on Sundays, I will fast three days one week and four days the next.
Am I disappointed that two weeks of dieting produced so little weight loss? Yes. It does, however, feel sustainable. I'm not sure I should pay too much attention to this diet and instead just do it. My plan is to fast three days per week one week and four the next, sometimes switching weeks depending on what I am doing. My weight today was after two fast days in a row, and that makes it a good comparison to my weight of 219.2 two weeks ago. As a result, it is fair to say I lost 1.8 pounds in two weeks.
It is encouraging that I can wear my wedding ring for the first time in about five years. I just need to do it, not think about it, and go on with my life. We drove just over 3,000 miles since June 3, and I will put about 1,000 miles on the van in next two days driving Katie to a trap competition and to camp where she will spend the summer as a camp counselor. A diet that allows me to live my life and not focus too much on it is what I need.
Day 23 – Saturday, June 18, 2016:
I have now completed another fast day, making four for this week. My goal is to average seven fast days over a two-week period.
Part of the reason for my desperate choice of this diet is that my hearing loss is driving me crazy. In doing Internet searches, I only found that fasting and exercise that raises the heartbeat might help reduce hearing loss. Over the past month, my tinnitus has increased so my hearing has actually decreased. The encouraging thing here is that my ears are being affected by the fast. The analogy that comes to mind is that my ears feel like something is coming unstuck inside. I literally hear clicking noises. The sound is like clicking but the experience reminds me of ice cracking in the spring when the air is getting warmer and the ice is going off the lakes.
The Upton Sinclair book on fasting made four mentions of people being cured of deafness catarrh. It seems like catarrh could be equivalent to inflammation. Has obesity caused inflammation which has led to deafness? Who knows? I went to two audiologists, one at Mayo Clinic, and both said that my condition is genetic and irreversible. I'd rather take a leap and see if fasting can help.
Day 24 – Sunday, June 19, 2016: 219.0
I woke up this morning and thought of two things: how I suddenly was revolted at the thought of coffee and abruptly stopped drinking coffee, and how -- last Wednesday -- I was eating fudge from Wall Drug at 5:30 am. When I stopped drinking coffee, I did not know if the revulsion would continue, but it has. Now, I don't know if revulsion at the thought of overeating will continue, but it may. Overeating is like an addiction that needs to be broken, and fasting can be the means to break that addiction.
I actually think this idea of fasting is a more extreme version of No S. With No S, the weekends are the feast days, but the weekdays are much less restrictive than with fast days. That approach did not break the desire to eat and eat and eat. Maybe fasting has had its effect.
I'd like to just fast M,W, F as is women do in the Greek Orthodox tradition. If indeed my lack of desire to overeat continues, then that can be my diet.
3 PM: It was glorious to wake up and not desire to eat. That feeling did not last. I think fasting might be the means to end food addiction. Maybe I should set my goal at averaging fasting four days per week and allowing myself to eat whatever I want the other three days of the week, including Sundays.
Day 26 – Tuesday, June 21, 2016: 220.8
I was totally bummed yesterday. It was the day of my annual physical, and I weighed 1.6 pounds less than I did last year. I also was above 220 despite following the alternate day diet in fasting half of the days.
Last night, I ate more than 500 calories but did not eat until after 5:30. There are different types of intermittent fasting. I think I need to find the type that works for me. There is one type that has you eat every day in an eating window of different hours. Some diets have it as an eight hour window, and others have it as four. I think I'm going to try to eat in a one-hour window.
This is some sort of addiction. I'm convinced fasting is the way to address it.
Day 28 – Thursday, June 23, 2016: 222.4
I am sold on intermittent fasting, just not the alternate day diet. It got to be way too hard to skip dinner with the family.
I printed off Greek Orthodox regulations for fasting, and they are very complex. I read through information on different types of fasting. I considered the Catholic Church's approach to fasting which was one meal on Wednesdays and Fridays, with restrictions for meat at least on Fridays.
What comes closest to the Catholic fasting approach is Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat. You fast for 24 hours one or two times per week. I've had my turn at that diet and remember one thing clearly: the 24 hour period should end at dinner at the earliest. You need a 36 hour period of limited calorie intake. If you eat a lot one morning, fast for 24 hours, and eat a lot the next afternoon, you accomplish nothing. Heck, even with the severe calorie restrictions every other day on the alternate day diet, I managed to regain weight once I got back from vacation and had ready access to food all the time.
Very frustrating. I had my annual physical on Monday and was talking with the doctor about how 40% of American women are obese -- obese, not just overweight. That is incredible! What happened?
As of right now, I think I'm going to take it month by month, count the number of days that are Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays in the month, work on fasting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and attempt to get to a certain percent of those days that are 24 hour fasts. The percent is TBD.
Day 29 - Friday, June 24, 2016:
I don't know how to say it, but I just plain feel good. Yesterday, I met with my personal trainer and told her, yes, it is disappointing that my weight is above 220, but I feel like I have been on a hamster wheel and finally got off. The alternate day dieting method did not work for me because it was too disruptive of my family, and I could eat enough on the feast days to make up for the fasts.
Intermittent fasting, however, is the way to go. I picked up a book yesterday called Fasting for Life. It is a simple book that covers the physical and spiritual aspects of fasting. Sometimes I think my problem is wholly spiritual because the problem is not when I eat or how much I eat but rather why I overeat.
At any rate, I decided to work on fasting M, W, F every week except for social reasons. Today is a Friday, so I am fasting. When I visit my parents in July, I won't fast.
I'll also follow my SET habits:
Sit down to eat.
Eat without distraction.
Take hands or utensil away from mouth while chewing and swallowing.
My personal trainer wanted 1/2 hour session early next month to see how this goes.
Last edited by Kathleen on Sat Jun 25, 2016 3:13 pm, edited 21 times in total.
-
librarylady
- Posts: 137
- Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 10:57 pm
Hi Kathleen --
I remember reading your posts when I was last on this forum. Can I just make a kindly meant comment? Read the title of your thread - "The Blessings of Simplicity" -- that is a very wise thought and one that brought me back to No S, after I let myself modify it beyond recognition. That is what you tend to do - you seem to always want to make losing weight more complicated - to overthink it. Try sticking to Vanilla NoS and give it time - more than a few days or even weeks. It worked for you before and it will work again. And it has the simplicity you want.
As to stuffing yourself to the point of stomach pain on "S" days - add that extra "S" - sometimes to the three "s" points. Then plan a nice treat that doesn't have weekday leftovers. Throw out the treats you have in the house - the ice cream bars, etc. They are equivalent of the "near occasion of sin" of our shared Catholic faith. Just as you don't put yourself in a situation that could lead to sinning, don't put yourself near food that can lead to "n" day failure - at least not until your habit is strong. I am not saying that eating ice cream bars is "sinful" btw. I am just drawing an analogy.
I hope I am not being presumptuous - I can see you are unhappy with the state of things now. Good luck to you!
I remember reading your posts when I was last on this forum. Can I just make a kindly meant comment? Read the title of your thread - "The Blessings of Simplicity" -- that is a very wise thought and one that brought me back to No S, after I let myself modify it beyond recognition. That is what you tend to do - you seem to always want to make losing weight more complicated - to overthink it. Try sticking to Vanilla NoS and give it time - more than a few days or even weeks. It worked for you before and it will work again. And it has the simplicity you want.
As to stuffing yourself to the point of stomach pain on "S" days - add that extra "S" - sometimes to the three "s" points. Then plan a nice treat that doesn't have weekday leftovers. Throw out the treats you have in the house - the ice cream bars, etc. They are equivalent of the "near occasion of sin" of our shared Catholic faith. Just as you don't put yourself in a situation that could lead to sinning, don't put yourself near food that can lead to "n" day failure - at least not until your habit is strong. I am not saying that eating ice cream bars is "sinful" btw. I am just drawing an analogy.
I hope I am not being presumptuous - I can see you are unhappy with the state of things now. Good luck to you!
Librarylady,
You are not being presumptuous. I live in a household with five other people, at least until mid June when the number goes down to four. If I don't buy sweets, my husband does. What I have started to do is focus on home-cooked treats. It may seem like there is no difference, but homemade Toll House cookies are better than Oreo cookies; banana bread is better than doughnuts; ice cream is better than store-bought cakes.
I love my father very much, and the physical decline he is in saddens me very much, but he still lives very much in me. I often think of sayings he would repeat over and over. One comes to mind right now: "If you find that you've dug yourself a hole, the first thing you do is: stop digging."
My husband has literally gone to McDonald's to buy hamburgers rather than eat something too healthy for his taste. I'm adjusting. Last night, I made a meal from a terrific Website I found, called gatheredtable, and everyone liked it!
I did stick with No S for many months and hit a plateau that lasted 9 months at just under 200 pounds. That's why I went looking for alternates.
Kathleen
You are not being presumptuous. I live in a household with five other people, at least until mid June when the number goes down to four. If I don't buy sweets, my husband does. What I have started to do is focus on home-cooked treats. It may seem like there is no difference, but homemade Toll House cookies are better than Oreo cookies; banana bread is better than doughnuts; ice cream is better than store-bought cakes.
I love my father very much, and the physical decline he is in saddens me very much, but he still lives very much in me. I often think of sayings he would repeat over and over. One comes to mind right now: "If you find that you've dug yourself a hole, the first thing you do is: stop digging."
My husband has literally gone to McDonald's to buy hamburgers rather than eat something too healthy for his taste. I'm adjusting. Last night, I made a meal from a terrific Website I found, called gatheredtable, and everyone liked it!
I did stick with No S for many months and hit a plateau that lasted 9 months at just under 200 pounds. That's why I went looking for alternates.
Kathleen
June, 2016: The Blessings of Simplicity (starting June 25, 2016)
Weight Summary
Day 1 - June 25, 2016: 221.0
Day 1 - June 25, 2016: 221.0
Number of pounds lost: 0
Weight
Day 1 – Saturday, June 25, 2016: 221.0
Day 2 – Sunday, June 26, 2016:
Day 3 – Monday, June 27, 2016:
Day 4 – Tuesday, June 28, 2016: 224.0
Day 5 – Wednesday, June 29, 2016:
Day 6 – Thursday, June 30, 2016: 222.4
Journal
Day 1 – Saturday, June 25, 2016: 221.0
I have my plan. Yesterday, I fasted until 4 PM but then ate a lot and did not follow the SET habits, which are critical for navigating the end of a fast.
Here are the SET habits:
Sit down to eat.
Eat without distraction.
Take hands or utensils away from food while chewing and swallowing.
I will try to fast on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays until 6 PM and then follow the SET habits and eat what I want, with the expectation that the SET habits will keep me from eating everything in sight.
If it is inconvenient to fast, I won't. I will track percent of these days that I fast on a monthly basis.
Next month, I fly to California to visit my parents from a Saturday to a Thursday. I won't fast the Monday and Wednesday that I am visiting them, and that is OK.
My hearing has gotten worse since I started fasting, and the tinnitus is particularly bad on fast days. It is optimistic to speculate, but I wonder if tinnitus isn't some sort of a repair mechanism that occurs when the body is fasting. If my hearing eventually improves beyond my baseline, I will be very happy!
The book Fasting for Life, which I picked up at Barnes & Noble, gives clarify to the benefits of fasting, including allowing the body to repair itself rather than focus on digestion.
Day 4 – Tuesday, June 28, 2016: 224.0
My wedding ring came off last night because it was starting to hurt my and. This is classic diet backlash. Rather than give up, I am going to focus on the SET habits and fasting but now only on Wednesdays and Fridays until 3.
4:30 PM: I'm going to add the habit of taking a sip between bites when I am above a certain weight -- above 215 for the month of July, 210 for the month of August, etc.
Day 5 – Wednesday, June 29, 2016:
This continues to be a roller coaster ride. I fasted until 4:30 today and then ate a lot but not an unreasonable amount. I did not follow the SET habits. Could it be that alternate day dieting is too much? Monday and Wednesday fasting only is exactly what Catholics did for hundreds of years. Whether it is actually the best approach or not, I'm figuring out that I think it is.
Day 6 – Thursday, June 30, 2016: 222.4
I lost my way. I must think in terms of sustainable habits. The SET Habits are sustainable. 10,000 steps per day is sustainable. Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays is sustainable if I give myself permission to not fast for social reasons. These are my three July goals. At the end, I'll see what weight I am. I need to decided on habits and then see the results. If I just adjust the goals once per month, that would be terrific.
Weight Summary
Day 1 - June 25, 2016: 221.0
Day 1 - June 25, 2016: 221.0
Number of pounds lost: 0
Weight
Day 1 – Saturday, June 25, 2016: 221.0
Day 2 – Sunday, June 26, 2016:
Day 3 – Monday, June 27, 2016:
Day 4 – Tuesday, June 28, 2016: 224.0
Day 5 – Wednesday, June 29, 2016:
Day 6 – Thursday, June 30, 2016: 222.4
Journal
Day 1 – Saturday, June 25, 2016: 221.0
I have my plan. Yesterday, I fasted until 4 PM but then ate a lot and did not follow the SET habits, which are critical for navigating the end of a fast.
Here are the SET habits:
Sit down to eat.
Eat without distraction.
Take hands or utensils away from food while chewing and swallowing.
I will try to fast on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays until 6 PM and then follow the SET habits and eat what I want, with the expectation that the SET habits will keep me from eating everything in sight.
If it is inconvenient to fast, I won't. I will track percent of these days that I fast on a monthly basis.
Next month, I fly to California to visit my parents from a Saturday to a Thursday. I won't fast the Monday and Wednesday that I am visiting them, and that is OK.
My hearing has gotten worse since I started fasting, and the tinnitus is particularly bad on fast days. It is optimistic to speculate, but I wonder if tinnitus isn't some sort of a repair mechanism that occurs when the body is fasting. If my hearing eventually improves beyond my baseline, I will be very happy!
The book Fasting for Life, which I picked up at Barnes & Noble, gives clarify to the benefits of fasting, including allowing the body to repair itself rather than focus on digestion.
Day 4 – Tuesday, June 28, 2016: 224.0
My wedding ring came off last night because it was starting to hurt my and. This is classic diet backlash. Rather than give up, I am going to focus on the SET habits and fasting but now only on Wednesdays and Fridays until 3.
4:30 PM: I'm going to add the habit of taking a sip between bites when I am above a certain weight -- above 215 for the month of July, 210 for the month of August, etc.
Day 5 – Wednesday, June 29, 2016:
This continues to be a roller coaster ride. I fasted until 4:30 today and then ate a lot but not an unreasonable amount. I did not follow the SET habits. Could it be that alternate day dieting is too much? Monday and Wednesday fasting only is exactly what Catholics did for hundreds of years. Whether it is actually the best approach or not, I'm figuring out that I think it is.
Day 6 – Thursday, June 30, 2016: 222.4
I lost my way. I must think in terms of sustainable habits. The SET Habits are sustainable. 10,000 steps per day is sustainable. Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays is sustainable if I give myself permission to not fast for social reasons. These are my three July goals. At the end, I'll see what weight I am. I need to decided on habits and then see the results. If I just adjust the goals once per month, that would be terrific.
Last edited by Kathleen on Fri Jul 01, 2016 11:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
July, 2016: The Blessings of Simplicity (starting July 15, 2016)
Weight Summary
Day 1 – Friday, July 1, 2016: 222.0
Day 2 – Saturday, July 2, 2016:
Day 3 – Sunday, July 3, 2016:
Day 4 – Monday, July 4, 2016:
Day 5 – Tuesday, July 5, 2016: 218.6
Day 6 – Wednesday, July 6, 2016:
Day 7 – Thursday, July 7, 2016:
Day 8 – Friday, July 8, 2016: 219.6
Day 9 – Saturday, July 9, 2016: 216.6
Day 10 – Sunday, July 10, 2016:
Day 11 – Monday, July 11, 2016:
Day 12 – Tuesday, July 12, 2016:
Day 13 – Wednesday, July 13, 2016:
Day 14 – Thursday, July 14, 2016:
Day 1 – Friday, July 15, 2016: 220.0
Day 2 – Saturday, July 16, 2016:
Day 3 – Sunday, July 17, 2016:
Day 4 – Monday, July 18, 2016:
Day 5 – Tuesday, July 19, 2016: 218.8
Day 6 – Wednesday, July 20, 2016: 220.0
Day 7 – Thursday, July 21, 2016:
Day 8 – Friday, July 22, 2016:
Day 9 – Saturday, July 23, 2016:
Day 10 – Sunday, July 24, 2016:
Day 11 – Monday, July 25, 2016:
Day 12 – Tuesday, July 26, 2016:
Day 13 – Wednesday, July 27, 2016:
Day 14 – Thursday, July 28, 2016:
Day 15 – Friday, July 29, 2016:
Day 16 – Saturday, July 30, 2016:
Day 17 – Sunday, July 31, 2016:
Journal
Day 1 – Friday, July 1, 2016: 222.0
The reality is that I don't know what will work for me to lose weight without regaining it due to diet backlash. I think I should set habit goals that I follow for a month and then alter gradually. My start is this:
1. Follow SET habits of sitting down to eat, eating without distraction, and taking hand or utensil away from food when eating, if socially possible.
2. Fast until 5 PM on Wednesdays and Fridays.
3. Average 10,000 steps per day Monday through Saturday.
Day 6 – Wednesday, July 6, 2016:
I am trying not eating on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Nothing on those days. It is possible I am so far gone with obesity that this is the severity I must practice in order to train my body to eat appropriately.
Day 7 – Thursday, July 7, 2016: 219.6
I don't know what I am doing. Maybe I should just try to stay within the 215 - 219.8 pound range for the month of July and focus on exercise, which has really dropped off since we went to Yellowstone. I'm going to follow my SET habits (sit down to eat, eat without distraction, take hand or utensil away from food when eating) so that I don't binge, since binge-eating by definition means fast eating.
Day 8 – Friday, July 8, 2016:
I am going to not eat anything on Fridays. Repair Day. Intermittent fasting gives the body a rest from digesting so it can turn to repairs in the body.
I listened to an interesting youtube podcast yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orjHUjDeDgM
Day 9 – Saturday, July 9, 2016: 216.6
A 36 hour fast got to be hard at about 1:30 AM this morning. We had breakfast out. It is now almost 9:30, and I have had a veggie omlette, toast, a banana, some frozen strawberries, and a Haagen Dazs bar. I made it, though, and now I am done eating for a time.
Fasting is like hitting the reset button on the computer. It may not solve every problem, but it does affect your eating after you end the fast.
My plan now is to follow the SET habits and have one 36 hour fast per week, preferably on Fridays. I was telling Tom this, and he said he thought it was a bad idea -- that I need to exercise. I countered that I can exercise, just not so much on Fridays. My goal is a five pound weight range per month. This month's range is 215 - 220. If, by next Friday, I fall below that range (unlikely), then I'll do a 24 hour fast instead of a 36 hour fast.
Tom chuckled at my concern of losing weight too fast. It is funny, I admit, but I think that setting a five pound weight range and adjusting fasting accordingly is something I need in order to assure myself that I won't fall into extreme fasting.
Tonight, I fly to California to see my parents. My father had a cardiac event. This may be the last time I see him. Life is short. Life is precious.
Day 4 – Monday, July 18, 2016:
On Friday, I resolved to eat within a one hour window of time per day. By Saturday afternoon, I did not feel so well. I ate between 1 PM and 8 PM. On Sunday, I ate within a four hour time window. Today, I started eating at 3.
This seems like a crazy idea, but I think I know why it works: you can hold on for a few hours. By the time you eat, you want to eat a lot but don't eat as much as if you ate all day.
9 PM: I am uncomfortably stuffed, to the point of not wanting a repeat tomorrow. My judgment is that I should stay off the scale and give this approach time because, feeling as I do now, I'm going to eat less tomorrow.
My approach is to take the weekends off, just like with No S. I might switch around days, meaning I will have a four hour eating window on Saturday if I don't make the window one weekday.
Day 5 – Tuesday, July 19, 2016: 218.8
So much for not weighing myself. I am still stuffed from last night and have no desire for food. If I am going to fast until 4 PM on weekdays, it's a good thing I'm not pouring something as acidic as coffee into my system every morning.
Day 6 – Wednesday, July 20, 2016: 220.0
I followed the diet yesterday but ate a lot. My four hour window for eating is 3 - 7 PM. Why did I gain weight? I think the reason may be that I can eat in four hours as much as in 24 hours. Am I going to continue? Yes. This is the diet followed by Dr. Mark Mattson who is a research scientist with the National Institute on Aging. Also, I believe that I need to adjust to this way of eating. Sooner or later, I'm not going to want to eat so much in a four hour window because I find the physical result of too much food in my stomach to be unpleasant.
There's a podcast on an interview with Dr. Mattson here:
https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalk/episode007/
The other, bizarre reason why I'm going to try this approach is that my hearing got worse when I was on the alternate day diet, and now I can just barely hear the tone that was the marker for my hearing loss. I can once again hear 30 db at 1K.
Day 14 – Thursday, July 28, 2016:
Here is another indication that the experts don't know what they are doing:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/2 ... the-heart/
Tom has high blood pressure and is supposed to follow a low salt diet. I've been after him for years to not eat chips.
I think I need to follow a "let it be" approach and just let my body decide what it wants to eat, how it wants to eat, when it wants to eat, etc.
Weight Summary
Day 1 – Friday, July 1, 2016: 222.0
Day 2 – Saturday, July 2, 2016:
Day 3 – Sunday, July 3, 2016:
Day 4 – Monday, July 4, 2016:
Day 5 – Tuesday, July 5, 2016: 218.6
Day 6 – Wednesday, July 6, 2016:
Day 7 – Thursday, July 7, 2016:
Day 8 – Friday, July 8, 2016: 219.6
Day 9 – Saturday, July 9, 2016: 216.6
Day 10 – Sunday, July 10, 2016:
Day 11 – Monday, July 11, 2016:
Day 12 – Tuesday, July 12, 2016:
Day 13 – Wednesday, July 13, 2016:
Day 14 – Thursday, July 14, 2016:
Day 1 – Friday, July 15, 2016: 220.0
Day 2 – Saturday, July 16, 2016:
Day 3 – Sunday, July 17, 2016:
Day 4 – Monday, July 18, 2016:
Day 5 – Tuesday, July 19, 2016: 218.8
Day 6 – Wednesday, July 20, 2016: 220.0
Day 7 – Thursday, July 21, 2016:
Day 8 – Friday, July 22, 2016:
Day 9 – Saturday, July 23, 2016:
Day 10 – Sunday, July 24, 2016:
Day 11 – Monday, July 25, 2016:
Day 12 – Tuesday, July 26, 2016:
Day 13 – Wednesday, July 27, 2016:
Day 14 – Thursday, July 28, 2016:
Day 15 – Friday, July 29, 2016:
Day 16 – Saturday, July 30, 2016:
Day 17 – Sunday, July 31, 2016:
Journal
Day 1 – Friday, July 1, 2016: 222.0
The reality is that I don't know what will work for me to lose weight without regaining it due to diet backlash. I think I should set habit goals that I follow for a month and then alter gradually. My start is this:
1. Follow SET habits of sitting down to eat, eating without distraction, and taking hand or utensil away from food when eating, if socially possible.
2. Fast until 5 PM on Wednesdays and Fridays.
3. Average 10,000 steps per day Monday through Saturday.
Day 6 – Wednesday, July 6, 2016:
I am trying not eating on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Nothing on those days. It is possible I am so far gone with obesity that this is the severity I must practice in order to train my body to eat appropriately.
Day 7 – Thursday, July 7, 2016: 219.6
I don't know what I am doing. Maybe I should just try to stay within the 215 - 219.8 pound range for the month of July and focus on exercise, which has really dropped off since we went to Yellowstone. I'm going to follow my SET habits (sit down to eat, eat without distraction, take hand or utensil away from food when eating) so that I don't binge, since binge-eating by definition means fast eating.
Day 8 – Friday, July 8, 2016:
I am going to not eat anything on Fridays. Repair Day. Intermittent fasting gives the body a rest from digesting so it can turn to repairs in the body.
I listened to an interesting youtube podcast yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orjHUjDeDgM
Day 9 – Saturday, July 9, 2016: 216.6
A 36 hour fast got to be hard at about 1:30 AM this morning. We had breakfast out. It is now almost 9:30, and I have had a veggie omlette, toast, a banana, some frozen strawberries, and a Haagen Dazs bar. I made it, though, and now I am done eating for a time.
Fasting is like hitting the reset button on the computer. It may not solve every problem, but it does affect your eating after you end the fast.
My plan now is to follow the SET habits and have one 36 hour fast per week, preferably on Fridays. I was telling Tom this, and he said he thought it was a bad idea -- that I need to exercise. I countered that I can exercise, just not so much on Fridays. My goal is a five pound weight range per month. This month's range is 215 - 220. If, by next Friday, I fall below that range (unlikely), then I'll do a 24 hour fast instead of a 36 hour fast.
Tom chuckled at my concern of losing weight too fast. It is funny, I admit, but I think that setting a five pound weight range and adjusting fasting accordingly is something I need in order to assure myself that I won't fall into extreme fasting.
Tonight, I fly to California to see my parents. My father had a cardiac event. This may be the last time I see him. Life is short. Life is precious.
Day 4 – Monday, July 18, 2016:
On Friday, I resolved to eat within a one hour window of time per day. By Saturday afternoon, I did not feel so well. I ate between 1 PM and 8 PM. On Sunday, I ate within a four hour time window. Today, I started eating at 3.
This seems like a crazy idea, but I think I know why it works: you can hold on for a few hours. By the time you eat, you want to eat a lot but don't eat as much as if you ate all day.
9 PM: I am uncomfortably stuffed, to the point of not wanting a repeat tomorrow. My judgment is that I should stay off the scale and give this approach time because, feeling as I do now, I'm going to eat less tomorrow.
My approach is to take the weekends off, just like with No S. I might switch around days, meaning I will have a four hour eating window on Saturday if I don't make the window one weekday.
Day 5 – Tuesday, July 19, 2016: 218.8
So much for not weighing myself. I am still stuffed from last night and have no desire for food. If I am going to fast until 4 PM on weekdays, it's a good thing I'm not pouring something as acidic as coffee into my system every morning.
Day 6 – Wednesday, July 20, 2016: 220.0
I followed the diet yesterday but ate a lot. My four hour window for eating is 3 - 7 PM. Why did I gain weight? I think the reason may be that I can eat in four hours as much as in 24 hours. Am I going to continue? Yes. This is the diet followed by Dr. Mark Mattson who is a research scientist with the National Institute on Aging. Also, I believe that I need to adjust to this way of eating. Sooner or later, I'm not going to want to eat so much in a four hour window because I find the physical result of too much food in my stomach to be unpleasant.
There's a podcast on an interview with Dr. Mattson here:
https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalk/episode007/
The other, bizarre reason why I'm going to try this approach is that my hearing got worse when I was on the alternate day diet, and now I can just barely hear the tone that was the marker for my hearing loss. I can once again hear 30 db at 1K.
Day 14 – Thursday, July 28, 2016:
Here is another indication that the experts don't know what they are doing:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/05/2 ... the-heart/
Tom has high blood pressure and is supposed to follow a low salt diet. I've been after him for years to not eat chips.
I think I need to follow a "let it be" approach and just let my body decide what it wants to eat, how it wants to eat, when it wants to eat, etc.
Last edited by Kathleen on Tue Aug 02, 2016 1:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
August, 2016: The Blessings of Simplicity (starting August 1, 2016)
Weight Summary
Day 1 – Monday, August 1, 2016: 223.2
Day 2 – Tuesday, August 2, 2016: 222.6
Day 3 – Wednesday, August 3, 2016: 223.8
Day 4 – Thursday, August 4, 2016: 222.8
Day 5 – Friday, August 5, 2016: 221.4
Day 6 – Saturday, August 6, 2016:
Day 7 – Sunday, August 7, 2016:
Day 8 – Monday, August 8, 2016: 220.4
Day 9 – Tuesday, August 9, 2016: 220.4
Day 10 – Wednesday, August 10, 2016: 220.2
Day 11 – Thursday, August 11, 2016: 219.6
Day 12 – Friday, August 12, 2016: 219.2
Day 13 – Saturday, August 13, 2016: 220.4
Day 14 – Sunday, August 14, 2016: 222.0
Day 15– Monday, August 15, 2016: 221.6
Day 16 – Tuesday, August 16, 2016: 222.4
Day 17 – Wednesday, August 17, 2016:
Day 18 – Thursday, August 18, 2016: 220.6
Day 19 – Friday, August 19, 2016: 221.0
Day 20 – Saturday, August 20, 2016: 221.0
Day 21 – Sunday, August 21, 2016:
Day 22 – Monday, August 22, 2016:
Day 23 – Tuesday, August 23, 2016: 220.4
Day 24 – Wednesday, August 24, 2016: 220.0
Day 25 – Thursday, August 25, 2016: 219.4
Day 26 – Friday, August 26, 2016: 219.8
Day 27 – Saturday, August 27, 2016:
Day 28 – Sunday, August 28, 2016:
Day 29 – Monday, August 29, 2016: 220.8
Day 30 – Tuesday, August 30, 2016: 219.6
Day 31 – Wednesday, August 31, 2016: 219.2
Journal
Day 1 – Monday, August 1, 2016: 223.2
How did I get all the way up to this weight again? Well, it was "Last Supper" eating as I figured out what to do next. I have bought into the general category of intermittent fasting but have been trying to figure out what of many forms of fasting I should try.
And the winner is -- meal timing. I will try to eat within an average of five consecutive hours per day. There is a program called Fast5, and I have ordered all the books associated with it.
Do I feel like a fool? Yes, I do. My body seems to be falling apart. I have lost a lot of energy. My waist has expanded to beyond 40 inches. It is all around disgusting!
Today, I ate between 3 and 7. I started eating chocolate covered pretzels from Trader Joe's at 3:01, and by dinnertime, my stomach was hurting. Is this a good start? Maybe. Today's experience is unlikely to be repeated over and over, although people get drunk knowing a hangover is on the way, so maybe I just won't adjust to the fact that overeating after fasting leads to stomach pain.
I return to California on September 24 and want to follow this diet at least until then and see what happens.
Day 2 – Tuesday, August 2, 2016: 222.6
I got an idea from the Fast5 blog, and that is that I am going to track the total number of consecutive eating hours in a month and calculate an average. My goal is an average of 4 or 5. This is a similar approach to tracking steps and calculating average number of steps with a goal of 10,000 steps per day.
5 PM: I wasted a beautiful summer day, doing little or nothing all day. Why? The adjustment to the idea of eating only within a five hour time every day is difficult. I watched a video of the Fast5 doctor who said he just sticks with eating within a five hour time between 5 and 10 PM each night and doesn't worry if he eats outside of that time.
That approach seems more practical to me. Today, I bought some ice cream drumsticks (request of Tommy) and had them in the van on the way home from Costco at about 2 PM. I considered having one and just moving the eating window earlier by an hour. Then I thought just how stupid that idea was: ice cream drumsticks would not make the top 200 of foods I would like to eat.
I think it may be better just to set a window for eating, and mine is 3 - 8 PM. If I eat only within that window, I checkmark the day. At the end of the month, I hope to reach a certain percent of days that are successes.
Some people lose a lot of weight quickly on this diet. I think I'll set a floor. If, this month, I fall below 210, then I'll go to just Wednesday and Friday fasts. Next month, the floor will be 205.
So much concern about losing weight too fast -- quite funny!
Day 3 – Wednesday, August 3, 2016: 223.8
I get why this works: you have a guarantee of Last Supper eating for five hours every day, so why stuff yourself today? I have my annual mammogram at the Mayo Clinic today. My mother, still alive at 90, had metastic breast cancer before she was 50, when I was a junior in high school, and I am sought out the very best care for myself. Being obese is a risk factor for breast cancer. I have had very good motivation to be thin but have not succeeded.
My father's saying comes to mind: "If something isn't working, try something else -- anything else!" The fast except for five consecutive hours of eating per day is my something else.
While disappointed by the increase in the number on the scale, I don't really think it is significant. I'm not eating as much today as I did yesterday because I don't want to feel afterwards the way I felt last night.
Day 4 – Thursday, August 4, 2016: 222.8
Results are not spectacular thus far. My eating window shifted by 1/2 hour yesterday because I did not get to the van (where I had a nectarine and walnuts waiting) until 3:30 and when I got home I had to run dry cleaning to the dry cleaners so I could get the Wednesday senior citizen discount. I had asked Anne to bring in the dry cleaning, but she had grabbed Tommy's clean and pressed shirts. Life happens. I'm going to count as a success a day in which I ate between 3:30 PM and 8:30 PM, but generally I want to stick to a five hour eating window of 3 to 8.
How did I feel? Just fine except when I was waiting for the results of the mammogram -- which were clear.
My desire for food to break the fast has shifted from something really sweet, like ice cream, to fruit or milk. Actually, last night, after I got home from the dry cleaners, what I really wanted was milk.
Tomorrow morning, early, Ellie and I head out to stay at the camp where Katie is a camp counselor. She is a counselor where families of Scouts stay. I have no worries whatsoever about driving without first having eaten. It's funny, but this diet is so counter to what is taught about healthy eating. I had a few hours to kill between getting my mammogram and hearing the results, so I went to hear a lecture at the auditorium. The lecture was on good sleep habits, and one thing they emphasized was the importance of structure in your day -- getting up and going to bed at the same time, having breakfast every morning, etc. The assumption that you don't really wake up unless you have had breakfast is just embedded in our culture.
But I'm desperate. Following standard thinking got me into this body, so I'm trying non-standard thinking.
Day 5 – Friday, August 5, 2016: 221.4
Wow.... I still ate a lot yesterday but my body seemed to send it through my system very quickly. This morning I have no desire for food whatsoever.
Day 8 – Monday, August 8, 2016: 220.4
My son got a chuckle out of the book I got on dieting. The package arrived with no contents, and I had him take pictures of it to send to the wife of the author who apparently takes care of mailing and asked if I could send pictures to prove to the post office that the package had come open in the mailing. My son has a smartphone which made it easier for him to take a picture so I could mail it.
Well, he is mistaken to think that contents of the book are incorrect just because this is a new book by someone whose ideas are not widely accepted.
It's a very good book, and I've only read a few chapters so far. The book is called AC: The Power of Appetite Correction.
The author defines different types of hunger, and one that I long ago defined as a problem for me he has defined as limbic hunger, the tendency to eat until full once starting to eat. "Portion control" approaches to dieting fight against limbic hunger.
Anyway, in a chapter on myths, the first myth covered is "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." How many times have I heard that, including last week at the Mayo Clinic?
Well, maybe, just maybe, the world-famous Mayo Clinic which is rated #1 in the country for healthcare and which operated on my father 12 years ago when he was 80 years old for colon cancer when he had failing heart values, maybe this superb organization is wrong on dieting even though it gave me 12 more years of having my Dad. He's doing poorly now, but he was able to have a lot more time with children and grandchildren because of the Mayo Clinic.
Maybe the doctor whose wife is responsible for mailing out his book is right and the Mayo Clinic is wrong.
I'm going to find out.
What really gets me is that fasting is such a part of religious tradition, including my own. The Fast5 diet has you limit your eating to a five hour window every day. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to look at a movement from the Fast5 Deit over time to either the Catholic tradition of fasting until 3 PM every Wednesday and Friday or the Greek Orthodox tradition of women fasting until 3 PM every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (men fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays).
This part week, I ate within a five hour window Monday through Saturday. I did not fast yesterday, which was a Sunday.
How hard was it? Not hard. Back in June, I gave up coffee because I was concerned about all the acid in an empty stomach. I could drive. I had no trouble sleeping, although I did get up to see the night sky at about 3 PM when I could see the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. It is so stunning to see the night sky.
The nice thing about a five hour window is that there is a lot of time in that window to eat, so you don't have to be concerned about delays in having meals.
I also appreciate the black and white nature of this diet. There is no estimating calories or relying on the calorie count on the package. There is no weighing food. I did not consider how much fudge I was eating on Saturday. I just ate what I wanted. Unlimited eating of fudge so long as it is within a five hour window? Does that sound sane? Nope.
Last week, my daughter got a chuckle out of my sitting down at 3 PM to have an ice cream drumstick. I said I was eating it because I could eat it. She thought this diet would end badly.
There is a better gauge of how much and what I should be eating, which is my body. I have had some stomach aches from overeating. It may be that my body cannot handle as much food if there is a fast period which preceeds eating.
Who knows? I'm not following standard thought at all by trying this idea of intermittent fasting.
Day 9 – Tuesday, August 9, 2016: 220.4
Last night, at 7:57 PM, I realized that my eating window would be closing in 3 minutes, so I quick wolfed down some mueslix. Was I hungry? No. Why did I eat? I didn't want to get hungry this morning. Wow -- is that ever silly. I blame my gullibility. I have bought into the viewpoint that you need to eat three meals a day in order to avoid starvation.
The author, Herring, says that there is a three-week adjustment period during which time people may even gain weight. After that period, people tend to lose one pound per week.
Well, right now, I'm in the weight range where I've been gaining and losing weight for at least five years, so it looks pretty attractive to get out of that range in a few weeks.
Day 10 – Wednesday, August 10, 2016: 220.2
You are supposed to follow this diet for three weeks without any expectation of weight loss as your body adjusts to the new schedule. I consider 220 my low-normal weight and really the starting point for any actual weight loss, and I'm just above that number now.
I told myself I would stick with this diet at least until September 24 which is when I fly out to California to see my parents, most probably my father for the last time since he is in failing health. Life goes on... except it doesn't. Seeing my parents failing in health really gives me a perspective on life, especially as I have become so deaf and realize my care of my physical health will lead to poor health in later years (which are coming soon!) I tried. I really tried. I just think that there is something I believe that wasn't true and maybe that something is that you should always have breakfast.
9 PM: I ate between 3 and 8 and found that I did not want sweets. Instead, I had fruit and salad and cheese. I did still wolf down some food just before 8 PM which indicates to me that I am still afraid of getting hungry. Did I get hungry before 3 PM today? No. I have yet to feel hunger on this diet.
Day 11 – Thursday, August 11, 2016: 219.6
That's encouraging!
3:34 PM: I started eating at 3 PM and now have stopped. I am unlikely to eat again today because of going to a meeting. What did I eat? Yogurt, salad, blackberries, 1 blueberry pancake, walnuts, dinner of chicken and tomatoes from last night, some cheese, two buttered bread, 1 slice of bread, and milk. Did I eat a lot? Yes, and very fast. There was ice cream in the freezer. Why didn't I have that? I did not want it. My taste in food is shifting. I'm still eating a ton.
The title of the book that I am reading is Appetite Correction. I think there may be a time of appetite going more towards better foods and then towards lower quantities. It's hard at this point to survey what I ate in the last 34 minutes and think that I am eating less, but on the other hand, that is all I am eating for the entire day. Maybe it is less. The scale will tell. If I fall below 215, which I haven't for a few years at least, then I would say this diet will work for me.
Day 12 – Friday, August 12, 2016: 219.2
I think I would have stopped by now if I had not seen the evidence to support fasting. For one thing, my tinnitus is worse which makes my hearing worse. It turns out that tinnitus can be made worse by stress, and fasting is a type of stress that makes your body stronger. For another thing, I don't feel all that energetic. Maybe this is the adjustment phase, and I'll feel better after a few weeks.
Day 13 – Saturday, August 13, 2016: 220.4
I woke up this morning thinking that I should not have eaten so much yesterday because I am not fasting due to our having breakfast out with some other people. Then I considered that the book said there is an adjustment period of about 3 weeks. I realized that my adjustment period is over. I don't need to pig out every afternoon because I can pig out every afternoon. The problem with diets is you are always craving more. With this approach, you just have to wait for the afternoon.
I have had a constant problem of switching diet approaches and engaging in "Last Supper" eating before starting the new diet. As the Intuitive Eating book put it -- to paraphrase -- Rice cakes one day. Haagen Dazs ice cream the next day." Now what? I can eat whatever I want in the afternoon, and now I'm at the point that I don't need to eat everything in sight. Maybe. We'll see. But I think this is the key to success in this diet. You have to go through the process of pigging out to come to the realization that you can pig out and so you don't have to pig out because that ability will never be taken from you.
6 PM: I have eaten a lot today and for no particular reason. It seems as though I have created a binary approach to eating -- eat until you are stuffed, or don't eat at all. There was something positive in how I ate today: I did miss the feeling that I had when fasting. IT's hard to describe. There isn't hunger. There is something missing and that may be best described as food in stomach. I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. Maybe I will fast until 3 PM tomorrow instead of today. My goal is to be thin with only one or two days per week of fasting until 3 PM, so at some point I need to be able to eat with moderation. One step at a time. A once per week break in fasting is a good way for me to learn how to eat with moderation.
Day 15– Monday, August 15, 2016: 221.6
Clearly, it was a mistake for me to have breakfast on Saturday, but I'm glad I am holding to taking Sundays off. Fating is training for moderate eating, but I'm so deep in the weeds with overeating that it is going to take a lot for me to get detangled. I need patience and realistic expectations. Back to fasting until 3.... While I ate a lot yesterday and on Saturday, as evidenced by my weight this morning, there wasn't the urgent "pigging out" that is almost characteristic of my eating. I just enjoyed the food.
8 PM: On other nights, I have eaten just because it was getting close to 8 PM. Not tonight. My stomach is already full, and my reaction to my eating can be summarized in one word: disgusting. I am not as able to handle seeing how I eat. What did I eat that was sweet today? Nothing. My taste in food is changing. I have noticed that I want dairy products, so I have had milk and cheese.
Day 16 – Tuesday, August 16, 2016: 222.0
I will give this diet an award for being easy to follow. It did not occur to me until now, but I did not eat until after church on Sunday. My body is adjusting to not eating in the morning. It's still a bit difficult to refrain from having lunch, but it isn't that difficult! Now what? Am I going to lose weight? The adjustment period was supposed to be three weeks, and I am on Day 16. Time will tell. I am losing patience. The Alternate Day Diet did result in losing weight, but the problem was that it really had an impact on my life. There isn't much impact with this diet.
Day 17 – Wednesday, August 17, 2016: 222.4
It is easy to follow this diet, but why am I gaining weight? I think I'm still in the mentality of "eat everything you are allowed" and need to switch to a different mentality, but what? Maybe I can come up with a saying that I can use on myself during my eating window.
2:49 PM: In 11 minutes, I can eat what I want. Why have I been eating everything in sight? The author, Herringer, says this is "limbic hunger", the hunger which primitive humans had to eat everything they could when food was available. Why did my limbic hunger become so strong? I believe the answer is the dieting I did for so many years -- portion control, portion control, portion control... How do I get out of eating everything I am able to eat? I am not sure. Could time cure this?
9 PM: I ate until I was stuffed at 4:30 PM and almost ate until I was stuffed at 7:30 PM. Really, what is the point of stuffing myself? Maybe all I need is time, time for my body to not want to get stuffed.
Day 19 – Friday, August 19, 2016: 221.0
I always thought that the defining characteristic of most obese people today is gullibility: the increase in the rate of obesity is due to people following the wrong-headed advice of experts. Guess what? I found a podcast that said exactly thatL
https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalk/episode-18/
The good doctor has the second edition of his book Misguided Medicine, and I'm ordering it today!
The very first chapter of this book is "The War on Fat". We had skim milk in our house until last year. It makes me mad, but what can I do? I followed the advice of the experts!
And, am I guilty of relying on experts and not listening to other opinions? Oh yes... On October 20, 2010, BrightAngel sent me a message asking me to read about Fast-5, the very diet I am now following. I did read some of the books she recommended, like Gary Taubes book Good Calories, Bad Calories. It seemed like so much nonsense. You need to eat a healthy breakfast. Low carb is dangerous... I bought the expert advice hook, line, and sinker, and could not see past it to actual results of someone on this site who had actual success!!!
My favorite line in parenting that I have created is, "Some things are best learned the hard way." Oh, am I feeling the pain of learning the hard way!
Still, am I confident this approach will work? Yes. My taste in food is changing, slowly but perceptibly. When I first fasted, I'd go for ice cream. Yesterday, I had split pea soup -- homemade!
Day 20 – Saturday, August 20, 2016: 221.0
Today is the last day of the three week period where you are not to expect to lose any weight. Yesterday, I wolfed down food from 3 to 3:13. The author of the book has a concept called Study of 1: you need to customize your diet to you. I think that the bottom line requirement I have for a diet is that there is no restriction on what I eat. I do think following what I have called the SET Habits is a good idea for me, and I plan to begin either today or Monday when week 4 begins. These are the SET Habits:
S: Sit down to eat, when possible.
E: Eat without distraction, if possible.
T: Take hands or utensils away from food when eating and swallowing, if possible.
Following these guidelines would eliminate the possibility of wolfing down food. I remember reading once that the best way to eliminate a bad habit is to create a new habit which is incompatible with the bad habit.
Thanks, BrightAngel, for exposing me to something that I wish I had considered five years ago!
Day 23 – Tuesday, August 23, 2016: 220.4
Today, I was at the grocery store and decided to buy some very expensive Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream. Then came the crushing realization that maybe that purchase could not be justified. I've been in the habit of "Last Supper" eating, overeating and overindulging because a diet is just around the corner. With this diet, "Last Supper" eating is not justified because I can eat whatever I want and as much as I want every day in a five hour period.
Happily, the ice cream was on sale, so I bought it. This is yet another example of a change in my thinking that is giving me confidence this diet will work.
I decided against pairing this approach with anything else. Yesterday I broke my fast with a McDonalds snack wrap because that was all I wanted (was bringing my middle daughter home from being a camp counselor all summer). For dinner, I ate with a friend and had a salad. That was all I wanted. There was no willpower involved. I ate exactly what I wanted and as much as I wanted. Just before 8 last night, I had 1/2 peanut butter sandwich because I think I was concerned about getting hungry before 3 today.
Today I was too busy to eat right at 3, had a nice dinner made by my youngest child, enjoyed some of that coffee ice cream, and then forgot to eat just before the window closed at 8. Maybe I am losing that fear of hunger that has been ingrained in me so much by all the years of trying different diets. Who knows? Time will tell.
My dear Dad, 91 and mostly out of it, had a saying, "If something isn't working, try something else -- anything else!" For years, I have tried different things. I am hoping this diet is the "sweet spot" that works!
Day 24 – Wednesday, August 24, 2016: 220.0
I have spent most of the last several years between 220 - 225 with perhaps 25% of the days below 220. 220 is a good "starting" weight. I want to be realistic about how much I actually lose following this diet.
Yesterday I met with my personal trainer who said my weight last month was 219.8. Given that I have allowed myself as much of what I want, she thought it was good I had not gained weight. She wasn't openly skeptical of my approach. I think she's just tired of my trying one thing after another and nothing working. So am I!
Day 25 – Thursday, August 25, 2016: 219.4
There may be something to the few paragraphs in the Appetite Correction book on how eating this way makes you less tolerant of clutter, or I just do not want Katie to return to old habits after being able to live like a slob in a tent with another slob! The last two days have been a marathon of washing at home and at the laundromat. Literally everything she took that could be washed was -- and she had buckets of stuff! I did the extra rinse so it took a lot of wash time. Is this a reaction due to the diet? Maybe, but then again, maybe not.
Day 26 – Friday, August 26, 2016: 219.8
Yesterday, I had Katie and Ellie in an afternoon driving class from 1 -5. I brought a peanut butter sandwich and banana to eat in the car on the drive home. Then I had to drive to a dinner meeting. I arrived at 6:50 PM, having given notice that I would be late. I ate to such an extent that rude people would have made a comment but no one did. The last thing I ate was a large cookie, and I got to the last bite satisfied with how much I had eaten.
Am I embarrassed? Do I feel guilty? NO! It felt great!
I am glad that I made a commitment to this diet, with the variation of having no limit to eating on Sundays. This commitment lasts until September 24. By then, I should see some results. On September 24, I will be flying to stay with my parents for a week, as my father is in failing health and my sister who lives close by will be out of town. For that week, I'm going to try the 16/8 schedule. My mother, I think, would be concerned about my following a five hour window, and she has enough on her plate.
How I admire her for how she is taking care of Dad! When I look at my life, my deepest regret is my weight, particularly because Anne and Katie are also overweight. Being overweight zaps you of energy, takes up time with trying to figure out what to do, and makes you look bad. Those are not things I had wanted to pass on to children.
I'll never give up and hope to pass on what I have learned to my children.
I have thought for many years that the defining characteristic of fat people is gullibility, and now I think I have found what fat people believe that is not true: "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."
No, it's not. In fact, it is healthy to SKIP breakfast!
Day 28 – Sunday, August 28, 2016:
I just spent a weekend with Tom, our three daughters, my brother in law, his wife, their daughter, and a friend of their daughter's. We were at their cabin. I skipped breakfast and lunch yesterday, and nobody noticed! Seriously, I think people care what I eat -- and they don't!
Day 29 – Monday, August 29, 2016: 220.8
It looks like I am holding steady at about 220, which is not a good feeling. I am tempted to give up, since I have now gone a full four weeks. Is there something I can do to make this approach more effective? Shortening the window is not a good idea. Restricting food intake is not a good idea. I may stay the course and see what happens.
Day 30 – Tuesday, August 30, 2016: 219.6
I am glad I stuck it out from yesterday's disappointing weight to today, when I got below 220 pounds. Last night, having dinner, I realized that I did not want to eat until I was stuffed.
Now, thinking about how I looked at the chicken and thought I could eat it but would not enjoy eating it, I wonder what happened. In retrospect, trying to diet by limiting how much I ate created an eating pattern that I remember being described in the book Intuitive Eating as: "Rice cakes one day. Haagen Dazs the next day." That's a paraphrase, but that's the idea.
This diet is set up as having an eating pattern like that: "No food until 3 PM. Whatever you want and however much you want until 8 PM."
Day after day after day, I have eaten until I literally could not eat one more bite. There is a point before the "not one more bite" point that is the point when enjoyment of food ends.
Why have I continued eating after I have stopped enjoying eating? To prepare for the next food restriction.
This diet has similarities to No S Diet in that you have food restrictions during the week and none during the weekend. I did get to just above 195 pounds following the No S Diet, but then I stalled.
Maybe this diet of fasting with a five hour eating window is what I needed to get to the point when I did not want to eat until stuffed even if I could eat until stuffed.
Day 31 – Wednesday, August 31, 2016: 219.2
Yesterday afternoon, I ate until almost stuffed and then had no dinner. What did I eat? As I recall, it was about 6 oatmeal cookies, yogurt, at least 2 apples, and at least 2 glasses of milk. Two hours later, dinner held no appeal. I am beginning to have an aversion to food at times. This has not happened previously. It's not that I decided not to have dinner. It's that the thought of having dinner repulsed me.
When has this happened previously? When I suddenly gave up coffee back in June. My husband was very unhappy with me because I've given up coffee previously and ended up with a migraine headache and throwing up. It's understandable that he was so unhappy because I gave up coffee when we were at Old Faithful Inn and was sick and in bed by the time we got to Jackson. If I was going to give up coffee, why not at home? Why ruin what was probably our last family vacation? As it turned out, I felt was sick that night but felt fine starting the next morning.
What he didn't understand was that giving up coffee wasn't a choice I made. I did not think about it until the morning when I did not have coffee. The thought of having coffee that morning absolutely repulsed me. I read in the Fast-5 information that there is a lot of discussion about coffee. For me, coffee on an empty stomach feels like acid burning through my stomach. I didn't feel quite that repulsed by the idea of dinner last night, but it was more than unpleasant to consider dinner. It was painful.
Now what? The author of the Fast5 book emphasizes that you need to have a study of 1 because people are different. In my particular instance, being a coffee drinker is incompatible with fasting. Do I miss it? Generally no. I miss the social aspect so I do have tea at times, but I do not miss having to have coffee as soon as I get up in the morning or fearing having a headache if I get coffee to late. Who needs that hassle?
Weight Summary
Day 1 – Monday, August 1, 2016: 223.2
Day 2 – Tuesday, August 2, 2016: 222.6
Day 3 – Wednesday, August 3, 2016: 223.8
Day 4 – Thursday, August 4, 2016: 222.8
Day 5 – Friday, August 5, 2016: 221.4
Day 6 – Saturday, August 6, 2016:
Day 7 – Sunday, August 7, 2016:
Day 8 – Monday, August 8, 2016: 220.4
Day 9 – Tuesday, August 9, 2016: 220.4
Day 10 – Wednesday, August 10, 2016: 220.2
Day 11 – Thursday, August 11, 2016: 219.6
Day 12 – Friday, August 12, 2016: 219.2
Day 13 – Saturday, August 13, 2016: 220.4
Day 14 – Sunday, August 14, 2016: 222.0
Day 15– Monday, August 15, 2016: 221.6
Day 16 – Tuesday, August 16, 2016: 222.4
Day 17 – Wednesday, August 17, 2016:
Day 18 – Thursday, August 18, 2016: 220.6
Day 19 – Friday, August 19, 2016: 221.0
Day 20 – Saturday, August 20, 2016: 221.0
Day 21 – Sunday, August 21, 2016:
Day 22 – Monday, August 22, 2016:
Day 23 – Tuesday, August 23, 2016: 220.4
Day 24 – Wednesday, August 24, 2016: 220.0
Day 25 – Thursday, August 25, 2016: 219.4
Day 26 – Friday, August 26, 2016: 219.8
Day 27 – Saturday, August 27, 2016:
Day 28 – Sunday, August 28, 2016:
Day 29 – Monday, August 29, 2016: 220.8
Day 30 – Tuesday, August 30, 2016: 219.6
Day 31 – Wednesday, August 31, 2016: 219.2
Journal
Day 1 – Monday, August 1, 2016: 223.2
How did I get all the way up to this weight again? Well, it was "Last Supper" eating as I figured out what to do next. I have bought into the general category of intermittent fasting but have been trying to figure out what of many forms of fasting I should try.
And the winner is -- meal timing. I will try to eat within an average of five consecutive hours per day. There is a program called Fast5, and I have ordered all the books associated with it.
Do I feel like a fool? Yes, I do. My body seems to be falling apart. I have lost a lot of energy. My waist has expanded to beyond 40 inches. It is all around disgusting!
Today, I ate between 3 and 7. I started eating chocolate covered pretzels from Trader Joe's at 3:01, and by dinnertime, my stomach was hurting. Is this a good start? Maybe. Today's experience is unlikely to be repeated over and over, although people get drunk knowing a hangover is on the way, so maybe I just won't adjust to the fact that overeating after fasting leads to stomach pain.
I return to California on September 24 and want to follow this diet at least until then and see what happens.
Day 2 – Tuesday, August 2, 2016: 222.6
I got an idea from the Fast5 blog, and that is that I am going to track the total number of consecutive eating hours in a month and calculate an average. My goal is an average of 4 or 5. This is a similar approach to tracking steps and calculating average number of steps with a goal of 10,000 steps per day.
5 PM: I wasted a beautiful summer day, doing little or nothing all day. Why? The adjustment to the idea of eating only within a five hour time every day is difficult. I watched a video of the Fast5 doctor who said he just sticks with eating within a five hour time between 5 and 10 PM each night and doesn't worry if he eats outside of that time.
That approach seems more practical to me. Today, I bought some ice cream drumsticks (request of Tommy) and had them in the van on the way home from Costco at about 2 PM. I considered having one and just moving the eating window earlier by an hour. Then I thought just how stupid that idea was: ice cream drumsticks would not make the top 200 of foods I would like to eat.
I think it may be better just to set a window for eating, and mine is 3 - 8 PM. If I eat only within that window, I checkmark the day. At the end of the month, I hope to reach a certain percent of days that are successes.
Some people lose a lot of weight quickly on this diet. I think I'll set a floor. If, this month, I fall below 210, then I'll go to just Wednesday and Friday fasts. Next month, the floor will be 205.
So much concern about losing weight too fast -- quite funny!
Day 3 – Wednesday, August 3, 2016: 223.8
I get why this works: you have a guarantee of Last Supper eating for five hours every day, so why stuff yourself today? I have my annual mammogram at the Mayo Clinic today. My mother, still alive at 90, had metastic breast cancer before she was 50, when I was a junior in high school, and I am sought out the very best care for myself. Being obese is a risk factor for breast cancer. I have had very good motivation to be thin but have not succeeded.
My father's saying comes to mind: "If something isn't working, try something else -- anything else!" The fast except for five consecutive hours of eating per day is my something else.
While disappointed by the increase in the number on the scale, I don't really think it is significant. I'm not eating as much today as I did yesterday because I don't want to feel afterwards the way I felt last night.
Day 4 – Thursday, August 4, 2016: 222.8
Results are not spectacular thus far. My eating window shifted by 1/2 hour yesterday because I did not get to the van (where I had a nectarine and walnuts waiting) until 3:30 and when I got home I had to run dry cleaning to the dry cleaners so I could get the Wednesday senior citizen discount. I had asked Anne to bring in the dry cleaning, but she had grabbed Tommy's clean and pressed shirts. Life happens. I'm going to count as a success a day in which I ate between 3:30 PM and 8:30 PM, but generally I want to stick to a five hour eating window of 3 to 8.
How did I feel? Just fine except when I was waiting for the results of the mammogram -- which were clear.
My desire for food to break the fast has shifted from something really sweet, like ice cream, to fruit or milk. Actually, last night, after I got home from the dry cleaners, what I really wanted was milk.
Tomorrow morning, early, Ellie and I head out to stay at the camp where Katie is a camp counselor. She is a counselor where families of Scouts stay. I have no worries whatsoever about driving without first having eaten. It's funny, but this diet is so counter to what is taught about healthy eating. I had a few hours to kill between getting my mammogram and hearing the results, so I went to hear a lecture at the auditorium. The lecture was on good sleep habits, and one thing they emphasized was the importance of structure in your day -- getting up and going to bed at the same time, having breakfast every morning, etc. The assumption that you don't really wake up unless you have had breakfast is just embedded in our culture.
But I'm desperate. Following standard thinking got me into this body, so I'm trying non-standard thinking.
Day 5 – Friday, August 5, 2016: 221.4
Wow.... I still ate a lot yesterday but my body seemed to send it through my system very quickly. This morning I have no desire for food whatsoever.
Day 8 – Monday, August 8, 2016: 220.4
My son got a chuckle out of the book I got on dieting. The package arrived with no contents, and I had him take pictures of it to send to the wife of the author who apparently takes care of mailing and asked if I could send pictures to prove to the post office that the package had come open in the mailing. My son has a smartphone which made it easier for him to take a picture so I could mail it.
Well, he is mistaken to think that contents of the book are incorrect just because this is a new book by someone whose ideas are not widely accepted.
It's a very good book, and I've only read a few chapters so far. The book is called AC: The Power of Appetite Correction.
The author defines different types of hunger, and one that I long ago defined as a problem for me he has defined as limbic hunger, the tendency to eat until full once starting to eat. "Portion control" approaches to dieting fight against limbic hunger.
Anyway, in a chapter on myths, the first myth covered is "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." How many times have I heard that, including last week at the Mayo Clinic?
Well, maybe, just maybe, the world-famous Mayo Clinic which is rated #1 in the country for healthcare and which operated on my father 12 years ago when he was 80 years old for colon cancer when he had failing heart values, maybe this superb organization is wrong on dieting even though it gave me 12 more years of having my Dad. He's doing poorly now, but he was able to have a lot more time with children and grandchildren because of the Mayo Clinic.
Maybe the doctor whose wife is responsible for mailing out his book is right and the Mayo Clinic is wrong.
I'm going to find out.
What really gets me is that fasting is such a part of religious tradition, including my own. The Fast5 diet has you limit your eating to a five hour window every day. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to look at a movement from the Fast5 Deit over time to either the Catholic tradition of fasting until 3 PM every Wednesday and Friday or the Greek Orthodox tradition of women fasting until 3 PM every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (men fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays).
This part week, I ate within a five hour window Monday through Saturday. I did not fast yesterday, which was a Sunday.
How hard was it? Not hard. Back in June, I gave up coffee because I was concerned about all the acid in an empty stomach. I could drive. I had no trouble sleeping, although I did get up to see the night sky at about 3 PM when I could see the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. It is so stunning to see the night sky.
The nice thing about a five hour window is that there is a lot of time in that window to eat, so you don't have to be concerned about delays in having meals.
I also appreciate the black and white nature of this diet. There is no estimating calories or relying on the calorie count on the package. There is no weighing food. I did not consider how much fudge I was eating on Saturday. I just ate what I wanted. Unlimited eating of fudge so long as it is within a five hour window? Does that sound sane? Nope.
Last week, my daughter got a chuckle out of my sitting down at 3 PM to have an ice cream drumstick. I said I was eating it because I could eat it. She thought this diet would end badly.
There is a better gauge of how much and what I should be eating, which is my body. I have had some stomach aches from overeating. It may be that my body cannot handle as much food if there is a fast period which preceeds eating.
Who knows? I'm not following standard thought at all by trying this idea of intermittent fasting.
Day 9 – Tuesday, August 9, 2016: 220.4
Last night, at 7:57 PM, I realized that my eating window would be closing in 3 minutes, so I quick wolfed down some mueslix. Was I hungry? No. Why did I eat? I didn't want to get hungry this morning. Wow -- is that ever silly. I blame my gullibility. I have bought into the viewpoint that you need to eat three meals a day in order to avoid starvation.
The author, Herring, says that there is a three-week adjustment period during which time people may even gain weight. After that period, people tend to lose one pound per week.
Well, right now, I'm in the weight range where I've been gaining and losing weight for at least five years, so it looks pretty attractive to get out of that range in a few weeks.
Day 10 – Wednesday, August 10, 2016: 220.2
You are supposed to follow this diet for three weeks without any expectation of weight loss as your body adjusts to the new schedule. I consider 220 my low-normal weight and really the starting point for any actual weight loss, and I'm just above that number now.
I told myself I would stick with this diet at least until September 24 which is when I fly out to California to see my parents, most probably my father for the last time since he is in failing health. Life goes on... except it doesn't. Seeing my parents failing in health really gives me a perspective on life, especially as I have become so deaf and realize my care of my physical health will lead to poor health in later years (which are coming soon!) I tried. I really tried. I just think that there is something I believe that wasn't true and maybe that something is that you should always have breakfast.
9 PM: I ate between 3 and 8 and found that I did not want sweets. Instead, I had fruit and salad and cheese. I did still wolf down some food just before 8 PM which indicates to me that I am still afraid of getting hungry. Did I get hungry before 3 PM today? No. I have yet to feel hunger on this diet.
Day 11 – Thursday, August 11, 2016: 219.6
That's encouraging!
3:34 PM: I started eating at 3 PM and now have stopped. I am unlikely to eat again today because of going to a meeting. What did I eat? Yogurt, salad, blackberries, 1 blueberry pancake, walnuts, dinner of chicken and tomatoes from last night, some cheese, two buttered bread, 1 slice of bread, and milk. Did I eat a lot? Yes, and very fast. There was ice cream in the freezer. Why didn't I have that? I did not want it. My taste in food is shifting. I'm still eating a ton.
The title of the book that I am reading is Appetite Correction. I think there may be a time of appetite going more towards better foods and then towards lower quantities. It's hard at this point to survey what I ate in the last 34 minutes and think that I am eating less, but on the other hand, that is all I am eating for the entire day. Maybe it is less. The scale will tell. If I fall below 215, which I haven't for a few years at least, then I would say this diet will work for me.
Day 12 – Friday, August 12, 2016: 219.2
I think I would have stopped by now if I had not seen the evidence to support fasting. For one thing, my tinnitus is worse which makes my hearing worse. It turns out that tinnitus can be made worse by stress, and fasting is a type of stress that makes your body stronger. For another thing, I don't feel all that energetic. Maybe this is the adjustment phase, and I'll feel better after a few weeks.
Day 13 – Saturday, August 13, 2016: 220.4
I woke up this morning thinking that I should not have eaten so much yesterday because I am not fasting due to our having breakfast out with some other people. Then I considered that the book said there is an adjustment period of about 3 weeks. I realized that my adjustment period is over. I don't need to pig out every afternoon because I can pig out every afternoon. The problem with diets is you are always craving more. With this approach, you just have to wait for the afternoon.
I have had a constant problem of switching diet approaches and engaging in "Last Supper" eating before starting the new diet. As the Intuitive Eating book put it -- to paraphrase -- Rice cakes one day. Haagen Dazs ice cream the next day." Now what? I can eat whatever I want in the afternoon, and now I'm at the point that I don't need to eat everything in sight. Maybe. We'll see. But I think this is the key to success in this diet. You have to go through the process of pigging out to come to the realization that you can pig out and so you don't have to pig out because that ability will never be taken from you.
6 PM: I have eaten a lot today and for no particular reason. It seems as though I have created a binary approach to eating -- eat until you are stuffed, or don't eat at all. There was something positive in how I ate today: I did miss the feeling that I had when fasting. IT's hard to describe. There isn't hunger. There is something missing and that may be best described as food in stomach. I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. Maybe I will fast until 3 PM tomorrow instead of today. My goal is to be thin with only one or two days per week of fasting until 3 PM, so at some point I need to be able to eat with moderation. One step at a time. A once per week break in fasting is a good way for me to learn how to eat with moderation.
Day 15– Monday, August 15, 2016: 221.6
Clearly, it was a mistake for me to have breakfast on Saturday, but I'm glad I am holding to taking Sundays off. Fating is training for moderate eating, but I'm so deep in the weeds with overeating that it is going to take a lot for me to get detangled. I need patience and realistic expectations. Back to fasting until 3.... While I ate a lot yesterday and on Saturday, as evidenced by my weight this morning, there wasn't the urgent "pigging out" that is almost characteristic of my eating. I just enjoyed the food.
8 PM: On other nights, I have eaten just because it was getting close to 8 PM. Not tonight. My stomach is already full, and my reaction to my eating can be summarized in one word: disgusting. I am not as able to handle seeing how I eat. What did I eat that was sweet today? Nothing. My taste in food is changing. I have noticed that I want dairy products, so I have had milk and cheese.
Day 16 – Tuesday, August 16, 2016: 222.0
I will give this diet an award for being easy to follow. It did not occur to me until now, but I did not eat until after church on Sunday. My body is adjusting to not eating in the morning. It's still a bit difficult to refrain from having lunch, but it isn't that difficult! Now what? Am I going to lose weight? The adjustment period was supposed to be three weeks, and I am on Day 16. Time will tell. I am losing patience. The Alternate Day Diet did result in losing weight, but the problem was that it really had an impact on my life. There isn't much impact with this diet.
Day 17 – Wednesday, August 17, 2016: 222.4
It is easy to follow this diet, but why am I gaining weight? I think I'm still in the mentality of "eat everything you are allowed" and need to switch to a different mentality, but what? Maybe I can come up with a saying that I can use on myself during my eating window.
2:49 PM: In 11 minutes, I can eat what I want. Why have I been eating everything in sight? The author, Herringer, says this is "limbic hunger", the hunger which primitive humans had to eat everything they could when food was available. Why did my limbic hunger become so strong? I believe the answer is the dieting I did for so many years -- portion control, portion control, portion control... How do I get out of eating everything I am able to eat? I am not sure. Could time cure this?
9 PM: I ate until I was stuffed at 4:30 PM and almost ate until I was stuffed at 7:30 PM. Really, what is the point of stuffing myself? Maybe all I need is time, time for my body to not want to get stuffed.
Day 19 – Friday, August 19, 2016: 221.0
I always thought that the defining characteristic of most obese people today is gullibility: the increase in the rate of obesity is due to people following the wrong-headed advice of experts. Guess what? I found a podcast that said exactly thatL
https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalk/episode-18/
The good doctor has the second edition of his book Misguided Medicine, and I'm ordering it today!
The very first chapter of this book is "The War on Fat". We had skim milk in our house until last year. It makes me mad, but what can I do? I followed the advice of the experts!
And, am I guilty of relying on experts and not listening to other opinions? Oh yes... On October 20, 2010, BrightAngel sent me a message asking me to read about Fast-5, the very diet I am now following. I did read some of the books she recommended, like Gary Taubes book Good Calories, Bad Calories. It seemed like so much nonsense. You need to eat a healthy breakfast. Low carb is dangerous... I bought the expert advice hook, line, and sinker, and could not see past it to actual results of someone on this site who had actual success!!!
My favorite line in parenting that I have created is, "Some things are best learned the hard way." Oh, am I feeling the pain of learning the hard way!
Still, am I confident this approach will work? Yes. My taste in food is changing, slowly but perceptibly. When I first fasted, I'd go for ice cream. Yesterday, I had split pea soup -- homemade!
Day 20 – Saturday, August 20, 2016: 221.0
Today is the last day of the three week period where you are not to expect to lose any weight. Yesterday, I wolfed down food from 3 to 3:13. The author of the book has a concept called Study of 1: you need to customize your diet to you. I think that the bottom line requirement I have for a diet is that there is no restriction on what I eat. I do think following what I have called the SET Habits is a good idea for me, and I plan to begin either today or Monday when week 4 begins. These are the SET Habits:
S: Sit down to eat, when possible.
E: Eat without distraction, if possible.
T: Take hands or utensils away from food when eating and swallowing, if possible.
Following these guidelines would eliminate the possibility of wolfing down food. I remember reading once that the best way to eliminate a bad habit is to create a new habit which is incompatible with the bad habit.
Thanks, BrightAngel, for exposing me to something that I wish I had considered five years ago!
Day 23 – Tuesday, August 23, 2016: 220.4
Today, I was at the grocery store and decided to buy some very expensive Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream. Then came the crushing realization that maybe that purchase could not be justified. I've been in the habit of "Last Supper" eating, overeating and overindulging because a diet is just around the corner. With this diet, "Last Supper" eating is not justified because I can eat whatever I want and as much as I want every day in a five hour period.
Happily, the ice cream was on sale, so I bought it. This is yet another example of a change in my thinking that is giving me confidence this diet will work.
I decided against pairing this approach with anything else. Yesterday I broke my fast with a McDonalds snack wrap because that was all I wanted (was bringing my middle daughter home from being a camp counselor all summer). For dinner, I ate with a friend and had a salad. That was all I wanted. There was no willpower involved. I ate exactly what I wanted and as much as I wanted. Just before 8 last night, I had 1/2 peanut butter sandwich because I think I was concerned about getting hungry before 3 today.
Today I was too busy to eat right at 3, had a nice dinner made by my youngest child, enjoyed some of that coffee ice cream, and then forgot to eat just before the window closed at 8. Maybe I am losing that fear of hunger that has been ingrained in me so much by all the years of trying different diets. Who knows? Time will tell.
My dear Dad, 91 and mostly out of it, had a saying, "If something isn't working, try something else -- anything else!" For years, I have tried different things. I am hoping this diet is the "sweet spot" that works!
Day 24 – Wednesday, August 24, 2016: 220.0
I have spent most of the last several years between 220 - 225 with perhaps 25% of the days below 220. 220 is a good "starting" weight. I want to be realistic about how much I actually lose following this diet.
Yesterday I met with my personal trainer who said my weight last month was 219.8. Given that I have allowed myself as much of what I want, she thought it was good I had not gained weight. She wasn't openly skeptical of my approach. I think she's just tired of my trying one thing after another and nothing working. So am I!
Day 25 – Thursday, August 25, 2016: 219.4
There may be something to the few paragraphs in the Appetite Correction book on how eating this way makes you less tolerant of clutter, or I just do not want Katie to return to old habits after being able to live like a slob in a tent with another slob! The last two days have been a marathon of washing at home and at the laundromat. Literally everything she took that could be washed was -- and she had buckets of stuff! I did the extra rinse so it took a lot of wash time. Is this a reaction due to the diet? Maybe, but then again, maybe not.
Day 26 – Friday, August 26, 2016: 219.8
Yesterday, I had Katie and Ellie in an afternoon driving class from 1 -5. I brought a peanut butter sandwich and banana to eat in the car on the drive home. Then I had to drive to a dinner meeting. I arrived at 6:50 PM, having given notice that I would be late. I ate to such an extent that rude people would have made a comment but no one did. The last thing I ate was a large cookie, and I got to the last bite satisfied with how much I had eaten.
Am I embarrassed? Do I feel guilty? NO! It felt great!
I am glad that I made a commitment to this diet, with the variation of having no limit to eating on Sundays. This commitment lasts until September 24. By then, I should see some results. On September 24, I will be flying to stay with my parents for a week, as my father is in failing health and my sister who lives close by will be out of town. For that week, I'm going to try the 16/8 schedule. My mother, I think, would be concerned about my following a five hour window, and she has enough on her plate.
How I admire her for how she is taking care of Dad! When I look at my life, my deepest regret is my weight, particularly because Anne and Katie are also overweight. Being overweight zaps you of energy, takes up time with trying to figure out what to do, and makes you look bad. Those are not things I had wanted to pass on to children.
I'll never give up and hope to pass on what I have learned to my children.
I have thought for many years that the defining characteristic of fat people is gullibility, and now I think I have found what fat people believe that is not true: "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."
No, it's not. In fact, it is healthy to SKIP breakfast!
Day 28 – Sunday, August 28, 2016:
I just spent a weekend with Tom, our three daughters, my brother in law, his wife, their daughter, and a friend of their daughter's. We were at their cabin. I skipped breakfast and lunch yesterday, and nobody noticed! Seriously, I think people care what I eat -- and they don't!
Day 29 – Monday, August 29, 2016: 220.8
It looks like I am holding steady at about 220, which is not a good feeling. I am tempted to give up, since I have now gone a full four weeks. Is there something I can do to make this approach more effective? Shortening the window is not a good idea. Restricting food intake is not a good idea. I may stay the course and see what happens.
Day 30 – Tuesday, August 30, 2016: 219.6
I am glad I stuck it out from yesterday's disappointing weight to today, when I got below 220 pounds. Last night, having dinner, I realized that I did not want to eat until I was stuffed.
Now, thinking about how I looked at the chicken and thought I could eat it but would not enjoy eating it, I wonder what happened. In retrospect, trying to diet by limiting how much I ate created an eating pattern that I remember being described in the book Intuitive Eating as: "Rice cakes one day. Haagen Dazs the next day." That's a paraphrase, but that's the idea.
This diet is set up as having an eating pattern like that: "No food until 3 PM. Whatever you want and however much you want until 8 PM."
Day after day after day, I have eaten until I literally could not eat one more bite. There is a point before the "not one more bite" point that is the point when enjoyment of food ends.
Why have I continued eating after I have stopped enjoying eating? To prepare for the next food restriction.
This diet has similarities to No S Diet in that you have food restrictions during the week and none during the weekend. I did get to just above 195 pounds following the No S Diet, but then I stalled.
Maybe this diet of fasting with a five hour eating window is what I needed to get to the point when I did not want to eat until stuffed even if I could eat until stuffed.
Day 31 – Wednesday, August 31, 2016: 219.2
Yesterday afternoon, I ate until almost stuffed and then had no dinner. What did I eat? As I recall, it was about 6 oatmeal cookies, yogurt, at least 2 apples, and at least 2 glasses of milk. Two hours later, dinner held no appeal. I am beginning to have an aversion to food at times. This has not happened previously. It's not that I decided not to have dinner. It's that the thought of having dinner repulsed me.
When has this happened previously? When I suddenly gave up coffee back in June. My husband was very unhappy with me because I've given up coffee previously and ended up with a migraine headache and throwing up. It's understandable that he was so unhappy because I gave up coffee when we were at Old Faithful Inn and was sick and in bed by the time we got to Jackson. If I was going to give up coffee, why not at home? Why ruin what was probably our last family vacation? As it turned out, I felt was sick that night but felt fine starting the next morning.
What he didn't understand was that giving up coffee wasn't a choice I made. I did not think about it until the morning when I did not have coffee. The thought of having coffee that morning absolutely repulsed me. I read in the Fast-5 information that there is a lot of discussion about coffee. For me, coffee on an empty stomach feels like acid burning through my stomach. I didn't feel quite that repulsed by the idea of dinner last night, but it was more than unpleasant to consider dinner. It was painful.
Now what? The author of the Fast5 book emphasizes that you need to have a study of 1 because people are different. In my particular instance, being a coffee drinker is incompatible with fasting. Do I miss it? Generally no. I miss the social aspect so I do have tea at times, but I do not miss having to have coffee as soon as I get up in the morning or fearing having a headache if I get coffee to late. Who needs that hassle?
Last edited by Kathleen on Wed Aug 31, 2016 2:25 pm, edited 21 times in total.
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BrightAngel
- Posts: 2093
- Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 4:22 pm
- Location: Central California
- Contact:
I believe that we each have to find our own way;that it's not a one-size-fits-all-world;
people are different from each other;
and although every diet works for SOME people,
no diet works for ALL people.
I think it's great that you are willing to keep trying new things.
BrightAngel - (Dr. Collins)
See: DietHobby. com
See: DietHobby. com
I've read Herring's book and seen him on videos. It's an interesting idea but it might take more than three weeks to adjust. I've been on another forum for longer than my 6.5 years here and I've seen so many people lose heart because they expect things to get easy in 21 days. Also, I really wonder if Herring even with all his years of experience really knows how much and how often a binger can pack away tremendous amounts of food and do it over and over. I doubt he could stand to do it and imagines no one else can. But it's not true.
It seems you are often derailed by two major ideas. One is that you believe you almost HAVE to overeat because you were denied in the past and it's a knee jerk reaction to any whiff of denial in the present. Nearly ALL previously failed dieters who eventually lose weight get over that issue. Their DESIRE not to live with eating overages and their effects helps them overcome that tendency. The second is that you often make exceptions for social reasons. Herring (and others) implies that that will be a major impediment. The forces to eat at all hours of the day are very powerful. Fast5 is even more restrictive in time than No S. But if a person is committed and starts feeling some benefits, it could turn the tide. Remember, thin people turn down food all the time, and people get over it with them. People prize more in us than whether we eat the way they want us to. And it isn't as if you have to be really picky what you do actually eat, unless you choose to.
I humbly suggest in addition to Fast5- which I actually think is a workable plan preferable to many diets out there-, you also get a book called The Triggering Event: The true key to long-term weight loss, by Beth Duffus. With all due respect, I don't think you've have your triggering event yet, but you are definitely doing the "scanning" the author refers to. I can't vouch for her strategies to bring about such an event because I mine came to fruition when I came upon No S (and is still unfolding), but in my experience, her ideas ring true.
I believe if you REALLY surrender to the process, and be willing to put up with some discomfort at times while you get over the urges to overdo compensatory eating, you will be a different person in a year. You deserve to have some peace.
It seems you are often derailed by two major ideas. One is that you believe you almost HAVE to overeat because you were denied in the past and it's a knee jerk reaction to any whiff of denial in the present. Nearly ALL previously failed dieters who eventually lose weight get over that issue. Their DESIRE not to live with eating overages and their effects helps them overcome that tendency. The second is that you often make exceptions for social reasons. Herring (and others) implies that that will be a major impediment. The forces to eat at all hours of the day are very powerful. Fast5 is even more restrictive in time than No S. But if a person is committed and starts feeling some benefits, it could turn the tide. Remember, thin people turn down food all the time, and people get over it with them. People prize more in us than whether we eat the way they want us to. And it isn't as if you have to be really picky what you do actually eat, unless you choose to.
I humbly suggest in addition to Fast5- which I actually think is a workable plan preferable to many diets out there-, you also get a book called The Triggering Event: The true key to long-term weight loss, by Beth Duffus. With all due respect, I don't think you've have your triggering event yet, but you are definitely doing the "scanning" the author refers to. I can't vouch for her strategies to bring about such an event because I mine came to fruition when I came upon No S (and is still unfolding), but in my experience, her ideas ring true.
I believe if you REALLY surrender to the process, and be willing to put up with some discomfort at times while you get over the urges to overdo compensatory eating, you will be a different person in a year. You deserve to have some peace.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
oolala53,
I believe I am already starting to get over the idea that I have to eat as much as I am allowed.
The words in my mind when overeating are something like "You have to get it while you can."
On Saturday, as I was eating away, I thought to myself, "This will taste better later."
Big change.
Kathleen
I believe I am already starting to get over the idea that I have to eat as much as I am allowed.
The words in my mind when overeating are something like "You have to get it while you can."
On Saturday, as I was eating away, I thought to myself, "This will taste better later."
Big change.
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen,
I've been following Fast-5 for several years. I may fall off and on No S (those pesky sweets), but I rarely stray from Fast-5.
I've tried many forms of IF, this approach works best for me. I hope you like it too.
If I can be of any help, feel free to reach out. In the beginning, I did overeat, like Dr Herring warns. However, eventually your appetite will correct itself. It may take longer than 21 days, but it will happen.
Good luck, I'm rooting for you!
I've been following Fast-5 for several years. I may fall off and on No S (those pesky sweets), but I rarely stray from Fast-5.
I've tried many forms of IF, this approach works best for me. I hope you like it too.
If I can be of any help, feel free to reach out. In the beginning, I did overeat, like Dr Herring warns. However, eventually your appetite will correct itself. It may take longer than 21 days, but it will happen.
Good luck, I'm rooting for you!
Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.
Hi Walkerlori,
There seems to be some movement to appetite correction. Today, I was driving Katie home from being a camp counselor and stopped right at 3 at McDonalds and had a chicken snack wrap. No pop. When we got home, I had some cheese and grapes. Dinner was out with a friend, and I had a chicken salad. Just before 8, I had a glass of milk and 1/2 peanut butter sandwich. That was a reasonable amount for a day. I made no attempt whatsoever to limit portions. I ate exactly what I wanted to eat.
I've experimented off and on with IF. The alternate day diet was effective but very intrusive into my life. Eat Stop Eat was easy but ineffective. I think this approach may work and intend to give it at least until September 24th when I fly out to visit my parents.
Thanks for the encouragement!
Kathleen
There seems to be some movement to appetite correction. Today, I was driving Katie home from being a camp counselor and stopped right at 3 at McDonalds and had a chicken snack wrap. No pop. When we got home, I had some cheese and grapes. Dinner was out with a friend, and I had a chicken salad. Just before 8, I had a glass of milk and 1/2 peanut butter sandwich. That was a reasonable amount for a day. I made no attempt whatsoever to limit portions. I ate exactly what I wanted to eat.
I've experimented off and on with IF. The alternate day diet was effective but very intrusive into my life. Eat Stop Eat was easy but ineffective. I think this approach may work and intend to give it at least until September 24th when I fly out to visit my parents.
Thanks for the encouragement!
Kathleen
hi, kathhleen
i have a question, cant seem to google the answer to... what is the difference between fast 5 and 16:8 intermittent fasting styles? any links out there?
intermittent fasting (only 16:8 version!) was the first diet/eating style i have tried, it cleared me of night eating (while surfing or watching movies/series)... i still stick to it 90%of the time... calorie counting was the second diet (but in addition to established IF habit)... got me to my goal, but i didnt want to stick to counting all my life so i was lucky to find noS and im maintaining beautifully...
but i think that biggest effect in appetite control was done by 16:8...
i have a question, cant seem to google the answer to... what is the difference between fast 5 and 16:8 intermittent fasting styles? any links out there?
intermittent fasting (only 16:8 version!) was the first diet/eating style i have tried, it cleared me of night eating (while surfing or watching movies/series)... i still stick to it 90%of the time... calorie counting was the second diet (but in addition to established IF habit)... got me to my goal, but i didnt want to stick to counting all my life so i was lucky to find noS and im maintaining beautifully...
but i think that biggest effect in appetite control was done by 16:8...
Age:40
BMI: 18.8
Body Fat %: 17.6
in it for maintenance and, more importantly, sanity!!
BMI: 18.8
Body Fat %: 17.6
in it for maintenance and, more importantly, sanity!!
thank you, katleen... i got that much that it is 5 hours eating window as opposed to 8 hours... but i didnt get what is the difference, meaning - more health benefits (growth hormone, insuline sensitivity...)? or is it just better addressing the possibility of binge eating during the eating window of time...?
i would expect significantly more health benefits for the price of socially more awkward window of 5 hours, whereas 8 hours is barely noticeable as a "diet"... i hope that makes sense...
in any case, this is just a curiosity question, if you know the answer to... if i ever start thinking of doing it (when im old, possibly, and reduce to 2 meals a day) i will read the book, nice that it is for free...
i would expect significantly more health benefits for the price of socially more awkward window of 5 hours, whereas 8 hours is barely noticeable as a "diet"... i hope that makes sense...
in any case, this is just a curiosity question, if you know the answer to... if i ever start thinking of doing it (when im old, possibly, and reduce to 2 meals a day) i will read the book, nice that it is for free...
Age:40
BMI: 18.8
Body Fat %: 17.6
in it for maintenance and, more importantly, sanity!!
BMI: 18.8
Body Fat %: 17.6
in it for maintenance and, more importantly, sanity!!
Kaalii,
I think the answer is in the category of "what works for you". I have been testing different IF approaches for a few years. What I have found is categories of extremely unpleasant (alternate day diet, four hour per day fast) and ineffective (one or two 24 hour fasts per week). The five hour fast is, for me, the "sweet spot". It's not too difficult, and while I have not lost weight yet, I am cautiously optimistic that weight loss is in my future. Thanks,
Kathleen
I think the answer is in the category of "what works for you". I have been testing different IF approaches for a few years. What I have found is categories of extremely unpleasant (alternate day diet, four hour per day fast) and ineffective (one or two 24 hour fasts per week). The five hour fast is, for me, the "sweet spot". It's not too difficult, and while I have not lost weight yet, I am cautiously optimistic that weight loss is in my future. Thanks,
Kathleen
-
Whosonfirst
- Posts: 538
- Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:32 pm
Hi Kathleen, I think there is much to learn by reading back thru(most) your posts. I salute your staying power. Thank you.
https://twitter.com/SipeEngineering
Current weight(9/2020)-212 lbs.
Goal Weight- 205 lbs.
NoS Goal: >= 80% Success days
Current weight(9/2020)-212 lbs.
Goal Weight- 205 lbs.
NoS Goal: >= 80% Success days
September, 2016: The Blessings of Simplicity (starting September 11, 2016)
Weight Summary
Day 32 – Thursday, September 1, 2016: 219.0
Day 33 – Friday, September 2, 2016: 220.2
Day 34 – Saturday, September 3, 2016:
Day 35 – Sunday, September 4, 2016:
Day 36 – Monday, September 5, 2016:
Day 37 – Tuesday, September 6, 2016: 221.2
Day 1 – Wednesday, September 7, 2016: 222.0
Day 1 – Thursday, September 8, 2016: 220.2
Day 1 – Friday, September 9, 2016: 221.4
Day 2 – Saturday, September 10, 2016: 219.8
Day 1 – Sunday, September 11, 2016: 220.0
Day 2 – Monday, September 12, 2016:
Day 3 – Tuesday, September 13, 2016:
Day 4 – Wednesday, September 14, 2016: 214.4
Day 5 – Thursday, September 15, 2016: 216.6
Day 6 – Friday, September 16, 2016: 217.2
Day 7 – Saturday, September 17, 2016: 218.2
Day 8 – Sunday, September 18, 2016: 218.0
Day 9 – Monday, September 19, 2016:
Day 10 – Tuesday, September 20, 2016: 218.4
Day 11 – Wednesday, September 21, 2016:
Day 12 – Thursday, September 22, 2016:
Day 13 – Friday, September 23, 2016:
Day 14 – Saturday, September 24, 2016:
Day 15 – Sunday, September 25, 2016:
Day 16 – Monday, September 26, 2016:
Day 17 – Tuesday, September 27, 2016:
Day 18 – Wednesday, September 28, 2016:
Day 19 – Thursday, September 29, 2016:
Day 20 – Friday, September 30, 2016:
Journal
Day 32 – Thursday, September 1, 2016: 219.0
I announced I had lost 1 pound on this diet. Anne's comment: "That's a rounding error."
What is encouraging to me about this diet is not how much I have lost. What is encouraging is what is happening to my appetite. Interestingly enough, the title of the book I am following is "Appetite Correction."
Yesterday, I had to drop Katie and Ellie off at work at 3. I brought an apple to eat in the car right at 3. Then I went to Target and bought some groceries, including pretzels. In the car on the way home, I had many pretzels. It's somewhat of a blur what else I had to eat yesterday, but I know I had milk and an ice cream drumstick. Dinner prep was somewhat hectic because I had to get to the school for open house night. I ended up just not being hungry enough to eat dinner, but I had a salad.
Except for the salad, my choice of foods yesterday was poor. I chose the salad because I wanted it. In other words, I am choosing whatever I want to eat, even if it is an ice cream drumstick, and I am eating however much I want, even if I become stuffed to the point I cannot take one more bite. The fasting period is correcting my appetite. How quickly this happens and how quickly I lose weight is to be determined.
While I think I could sustain this diet indefinitely, my hope is that I will lose weight and gradually drop the number of days I fast down to the medieval Catholic tradition of fasting during Lent, Advent, and Wednesdays and Fridays of the year except for the Easter week and the week between Christmas and New Years. It may seem implausible to think this, but I am wondering if the Catholic approach to fasting actually has some scientific benefit.
The scientific idea behind fasting, as stated by Mark Mattson, a researcher for the National Institute on Aging, is that the body gets stronger when having to deal with mild stress. What I understand from my personal trainer is that it can be a good idea to mix up physical activity or else the body gets accustomed to the same exercise day after day and does not benefit as much. Taking these two ideas together, I think it might be more beneficial to mix it up with fasting: having weeks you fast every day but also weeks you fast two days per week and days you don't fast at all.
At this point, however, I need to just fast every day to help correct an appetite that is way off.
Day 33 – Friday, September 2, 2016: 220.2
Very discouraging. We are going camping this weekend, so that will cheer me up. I am finding it not pleasant to eat but am still eating. What I need to do is focus on enjoying my food so I don't eat if I'm not enjoying it. Why am I eating when I don't enjoy the food I am eating? I don't know.
Day 36 – Monday, September 5, 2016:
Discouraged, I ate all day on Friday and Saturday. By Saturday night, I had recovered and decide to widen my eating window to 12 - 7 and then revised it again to a window of 12 - 8.
How does it make sense to widen the eating window when I had not lost weight with a narrower eating window? I think I need mild stress and there was too much stress with a five hour window.
I saw a video of this Dr. Mark Mattson from the National Institute of Aging, and he looks haggard. He fasts until dinner four or five days per week until dinnertime and runs three or four miles several times per week. Maybe he is overdoing it. Also, there is some indication he is something of a grump.
When I widened the window yesterday, I ended up starting to eat at almost 2, due to hiking around and getting somewhat lost. I ended up finishing eating about 6:15 because that is when we finished eating dinner.
An 8 hour eating window doesn't mean I'll start eating at 12 and finish at 8. It just means I am committed to 16 hours of fasting per day.
Right now, it is 3:30 PM, and I ate starting at 12. I have munched somewhat but not with the intensity of eating starting at 3. I also decided to try to walk 12,000 steps per day on average, up from 10,000 steps six days per week.
Day 37 – Tuesday, September 6, 2016: 221.2
I was so discouraged that I ate a lot between 9 AM this morning and now, which is 1 1/2 hours later. It made me realize that fasting is the only way I am going to lose weight. I'm returning to the five hour diet with more humility and wisdom. I'm going to weigh myself less because weighing myself gives me an opportunity to reconsider the diet.
Day 1 – Wednesday, September 7, 2016: 222.0
Yesterday, I was reading in Colin Champ's book Misguided Medicine about vegetable oils. Sometimes, what is promoted as healthy gives me pause. I never did buy margarine because it was fake, and it turned out to be trans fat instead of saturated fat. The same has been true of "healthy" canola oil. It was invented 20 years ago.
It turns out that canola oil has a low smoking point and can lead to lung cancer. I have read that lung cancer rates have increased without a known risk factor like smoking, and now it has hit close to home: the mother of Tommy's oldest friend was diagnosed with lung cancer and given about 15 months to live because it has spread to her bones.
Reading this book is slow-going because it is so full of information. Yesterday, I threw out the vegetable oil we had at home and went and found one of the recommended oils, which is avocado oil.
I've already switched to butter from grass-fed cows. It is Irish butter available at Costco.
My goal with regard to what we eat is to gradually switch to better foods. I mix in old favorites, heavily pasta-based, with new recipes. Last night was an absolute hit from a Website called gatheredtable.com. I've bought countless containers of raw spinach from Costco, only to throw out most of it. Last night's meal was liked even by fussy Ellie: Your New Favorite Pork And Orzo With Spinach.
It is a slog to learn to cook a whole new way when you are in your late 50s but Tom wants me home so he can concentrate on his job, and this has become a new hobby.
Now the issue of weight. I have tossed the idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Having an eating window of 8 hours I think is a good idea. The only problem is I don't think I'll lose weight with this window. This is a maintenance window.
What I need is a weight-loss window, and what I am going to try is either one hour or one meal for that window.
Here's another catchy idea that I think may be wrong: You should not be on a diet. You should have a lifestyle change.
Yes, it is true, in part. I need to change what I eat. As for quantity eaten, maybe it is better to diet, lose a few pounds, maintain, lose a few pounds... For many years, I would go on 1,000 calorie per day diets for nine days and then maintain. There was a dramatic difference in eating. I'd eat prepared foods with set calorie counts, and I got so I could not eat one more Lean Cuisine.
With this newly-conceived approach, I can switch readily between diet and maintenance modes just by narrowing the eating window from 8 hours to 1 hour.
Here's another thing I learned from Colin Champ's book: endurance exercise isn't necessarily good for you. What you need is lots of walking with some high intensity interval training. Great! I love to walk the dog or walk around stores and have lots of steps on my pedometer, but I don't like to sweat. Maybe I could just do interval training on the exercise bike that is not used at all downstairs.
A new Day 1. A deep breath and sigh. I keep telling the kids that there just was not much obesity when I was growing up, and now it is everywhere! What has changed? According to Colin Champ's book, we were given eating guidelines that were way off mark.
Day 1 – Thursday, September 8, 2016: 220.2
Yesterday was miserable. I ate within a one hour window and was miserable. What have I learned? Like the Every Other Day Diet, the one hour diet is miserable. With a five hour window, you eat a lot right at 3 if you are able. With an eight hour window, you barely notice.
That's what I've learned. I'm going with the eight hour window on the theory that your body must access fat stores at about 16 hours of fasting because it has run out of food in your belly. My focus needs to switch to exercise and healthier food choices.
Yesterday, I worked on organizing the refrigerator so that I can have salad, carrots, and fruit readily available. Seriously, I've been trying to lose weight for years and it never occurred to me to set up my refrigerator for healthier eating. I bought a second Pyrex mixing bowl which can be used for salad. I also got some Rubbermaid FreshWorks for storing carrots and celery. Duh!
To my credit, I am trying to move towards identifying ingredients in food that are better for you and then looking for ways to use those ingredients. It's a slow process. I like the periodic magazines put out by America's Test Kitchen when they are on a specific topic like Slow Cooker Meals. I'm also looking at allrecipes and gatheredtable.
Day 1 – Friday, September 9, 2016: 221.4
I put on my wedding ring. It may hurt to wear it, but I'm going to wear it. I've been putting off living to lose weight, and this has got to stop.
Fasting -- I ate only in a five hour window yesterday and still gained weight. Why? I binge eat when I am allowed to eat. Fasting exacerbated the problem.
Now what? I think I need a direct hit on binge behavior, and that is the SET Habits;
S: Sit down to eat, when possible.
E: Eat without distraction, if possible.
T: Take hand or utensils away from food while chewing and swallowing.
These habits make binge behavior impossible, since binge eating by definition is fast eating.
I'm going to try the Eat Stop Eat approach to fasting but only getting there very, very slowly. Friday fast. I fasted until 8 AM.
Anything else? 10,000 steps per day. Continued strength training. I'm going to continue healthful eating and possibly try some high intensity exercise.
The foundation is those SET Habits.
Day 2 – Saturday, September 10, 2016: 219.8
I have no idea why I tend to binge eat, but fasting made it worse. Yesterday, I found it easy to eat all day, but other things competed for my time. Did I want to take the time to sit down and eat? Often, the answer to that was "No."
Day 1 – Sunday, September 11, 2016: 220.0
If half of solving a problem is defining it, I think I just found the definition of my problem:
http://www.bertherring.com/not-hungry-v ... ight-gain/
I eat until stuffed. If I don't change that habit, nothing else matters.
Day 2 – Monday, September 12, 2016:
Day 3 – Tuesday, September 13, 2016:
Day 4 – Wednesday, September 14, 2016: [cuolor=red]214.4[/color]
On Sunday, afternoon, I went to the UPS store and got laminated the page from the above Website "Dr. Bert's Appetite Scale". Have I seen something similar in the past? Yes, I have. Intuitive Eating. I Can Make You Thin.
The trick, I thought, was to transition
from: starting to eating when full and eating until stuffed
to: starting to eat when hungry and eating until a first feeling of food int he stomach
How could I do that? I didn't even feel hungry after fasting for 36 hours straight! It was a very discouraging thought.
The answer came, I hope, with an illness that I acquired from Katie. She came home from a football came on Friday with a hoarse voice from all the yelling, and then I had to pick her up from work early on Saturday because she wasn't feeling well. She seemed OK to me, but she didn't eat much and lay around looking at the computer. On Sunday, she slept a lot, and on Monday afternoon, I took her to the pediatrician who checked her for pneumonia or bronchitis. She was diagnosed with a cold.
By the time I took her to the doctor, I wasn't feeling too well, either. Yesterday, I stayed in bed all day, and had an orange and part of a banana. I threw away the rest of the banana as soon as I felt some feeling of fullness. This was not deliberate on my part. It was more of a revulsion.
My nephew who lives in London brought his girlfriend to the states, and they had a tour from LA to Minnesota. We could have met them last night, but I was afraid they would catch whatever we had. It's sad.
So now what? I'm up at least a little. On Monday, I bought ingredients for chicken noodle soup and think I'll be up and down all day and can at least make that.
Katie won't go to work today because she would be around children, but she was told she could go to school.
I hope that this illness will help me reset my appetite. We shall see.
Day 5 – Thursday, September 15, 2016: 216.6
I ate some yesterday and have already had an egg, orange, and tea this morning. That was quite an illness. I think maybe all I need to do is stop eating when I have a feeling of food in my stomach. My habit has been to eat until stuffed.
We shall see.
Day 6 – Friday, September 16, 2016: 217.2
When we are driving in remoter parts of the state or in ND, I tend to want to have the gas filled up. Part of the reason for that is one of our vans would go from indicating 1/4 full to indicating almost empty in about five miles.
That same mentality is what has led to excessive eating when I have eating windows with fasting. That is why I did not lose weight with a month of five hour eating windows. I literally stuffed myself during those windows.
Now what? I can realize that I will not stop if I become hungry. I can use the stored fuel that is evident in my body.
2 PM: Something personally traumatic happened to me on September 11, 2001, as a direct result of the terrorist attack. Like all Americans over the age of 20 or so, that day is seared in our memory. I never would have chosen that date as my Day 1. Looking back, however, that is when I realized what was causing me to be obese. I just went out and came back and realized -- hey, I didn't head directly to the kitchen to eat. There is no more obsession to eat as soon as I get home.
Day 7 – Saturday, September 17, 2016: 218.2
Last night, I wanted to eat until I was full. I did not want to stop at 'no longer hungry.' It was a shock to me because the sickness took away my desire to eat until full. I now know I need to apply self-discipline to this problem. Today, I had a lot of grape cherries and baby carrots to fill me up, but ultimately I need to learn to like not being full.
Day 8 – Sunday, September 18, 2016: 218.0
I'm in some sort of no man's land between hunger and fullness. I still don't experience hunger but now I am no longer eating to fullness. This means dissatisfaction. Eating provides no satisfaction.
I am thinking that people who eat when they are hungry eat until they are no longer hungry and the change is what provides satisfaction. If you start eating when not hungry and stop before becoming full, there is no sense of change and so no satisfaction.
What do I do? I don't know. I need some guideline for eating now when I am still not experiencing hunger. Also, being so obese, I may not feel hunger for a long time because my body can just tap into a large source of energy.
So -- I need some sort of guideline for now, for when I should eat.
Day 10 – Tuesday, September 20, 2016: 218.4
I'm thinking. I don't have a plan for how to eat to less than fullness. There is no indicator to stop eating. Right now, it is morning, and I am not hungry. Do I eat? Yes, I will, but I then go into a no man's land past no longer hungry because I start eating at no longer hungry.
Day 11 – Wednesday, September 21, 2016:
I ate a fair amount yesterday and did not want to weigh myself. This afternoon, as I was snacking myself through the shopping experience at Costco, it occurred to me that I don't need to be in a no man's land. I can find an intermediary point between stuffed and not hungry. What could that be? It occurred to me that one point could be the feeling of food in my stomach. What I can do is cultivate an aversion to feeling food in my stomach. It is now 4:40 PM, and I feel food in my stomach. I'll still eat dinner, but this approach holds some promise.
Weight Summary
Day 32 – Thursday, September 1, 2016: 219.0
Day 33 – Friday, September 2, 2016: 220.2
Day 34 – Saturday, September 3, 2016:
Day 35 – Sunday, September 4, 2016:
Day 36 – Monday, September 5, 2016:
Day 37 – Tuesday, September 6, 2016: 221.2
Day 1 – Wednesday, September 7, 2016: 222.0
Day 1 – Thursday, September 8, 2016: 220.2
Day 1 – Friday, September 9, 2016: 221.4
Day 2 – Saturday, September 10, 2016: 219.8
Day 1 – Sunday, September 11, 2016: 220.0
Day 2 – Monday, September 12, 2016:
Day 3 – Tuesday, September 13, 2016:
Day 4 – Wednesday, September 14, 2016: 214.4
Day 5 – Thursday, September 15, 2016: 216.6
Day 6 – Friday, September 16, 2016: 217.2
Day 7 – Saturday, September 17, 2016: 218.2
Day 8 – Sunday, September 18, 2016: 218.0
Day 9 – Monday, September 19, 2016:
Day 10 – Tuesday, September 20, 2016: 218.4
Day 11 – Wednesday, September 21, 2016:
Day 12 – Thursday, September 22, 2016:
Day 13 – Friday, September 23, 2016:
Day 14 – Saturday, September 24, 2016:
Day 15 – Sunday, September 25, 2016:
Day 16 – Monday, September 26, 2016:
Day 17 – Tuesday, September 27, 2016:
Day 18 – Wednesday, September 28, 2016:
Day 19 – Thursday, September 29, 2016:
Day 20 – Friday, September 30, 2016:
Journal
Day 32 – Thursday, September 1, 2016: 219.0
I announced I had lost 1 pound on this diet. Anne's comment: "That's a rounding error."
What is encouraging to me about this diet is not how much I have lost. What is encouraging is what is happening to my appetite. Interestingly enough, the title of the book I am following is "Appetite Correction."
Yesterday, I had to drop Katie and Ellie off at work at 3. I brought an apple to eat in the car right at 3. Then I went to Target and bought some groceries, including pretzels. In the car on the way home, I had many pretzels. It's somewhat of a blur what else I had to eat yesterday, but I know I had milk and an ice cream drumstick. Dinner prep was somewhat hectic because I had to get to the school for open house night. I ended up just not being hungry enough to eat dinner, but I had a salad.
Except for the salad, my choice of foods yesterday was poor. I chose the salad because I wanted it. In other words, I am choosing whatever I want to eat, even if it is an ice cream drumstick, and I am eating however much I want, even if I become stuffed to the point I cannot take one more bite. The fasting period is correcting my appetite. How quickly this happens and how quickly I lose weight is to be determined.
While I think I could sustain this diet indefinitely, my hope is that I will lose weight and gradually drop the number of days I fast down to the medieval Catholic tradition of fasting during Lent, Advent, and Wednesdays and Fridays of the year except for the Easter week and the week between Christmas and New Years. It may seem implausible to think this, but I am wondering if the Catholic approach to fasting actually has some scientific benefit.
The scientific idea behind fasting, as stated by Mark Mattson, a researcher for the National Institute on Aging, is that the body gets stronger when having to deal with mild stress. What I understand from my personal trainer is that it can be a good idea to mix up physical activity or else the body gets accustomed to the same exercise day after day and does not benefit as much. Taking these two ideas together, I think it might be more beneficial to mix it up with fasting: having weeks you fast every day but also weeks you fast two days per week and days you don't fast at all.
At this point, however, I need to just fast every day to help correct an appetite that is way off.
Day 33 – Friday, September 2, 2016: 220.2
Very discouraging. We are going camping this weekend, so that will cheer me up. I am finding it not pleasant to eat but am still eating. What I need to do is focus on enjoying my food so I don't eat if I'm not enjoying it. Why am I eating when I don't enjoy the food I am eating? I don't know.
Day 36 – Monday, September 5, 2016:
Discouraged, I ate all day on Friday and Saturday. By Saturday night, I had recovered and decide to widen my eating window to 12 - 7 and then revised it again to a window of 12 - 8.
How does it make sense to widen the eating window when I had not lost weight with a narrower eating window? I think I need mild stress and there was too much stress with a five hour window.
I saw a video of this Dr. Mark Mattson from the National Institute of Aging, and he looks haggard. He fasts until dinner four or five days per week until dinnertime and runs three or four miles several times per week. Maybe he is overdoing it. Also, there is some indication he is something of a grump.
When I widened the window yesterday, I ended up starting to eat at almost 2, due to hiking around and getting somewhat lost. I ended up finishing eating about 6:15 because that is when we finished eating dinner.
An 8 hour eating window doesn't mean I'll start eating at 12 and finish at 8. It just means I am committed to 16 hours of fasting per day.
Right now, it is 3:30 PM, and I ate starting at 12. I have munched somewhat but not with the intensity of eating starting at 3. I also decided to try to walk 12,000 steps per day on average, up from 10,000 steps six days per week.
Day 37 – Tuesday, September 6, 2016: 221.2
I was so discouraged that I ate a lot between 9 AM this morning and now, which is 1 1/2 hours later. It made me realize that fasting is the only way I am going to lose weight. I'm returning to the five hour diet with more humility and wisdom. I'm going to weigh myself less because weighing myself gives me an opportunity to reconsider the diet.
Day 1 – Wednesday, September 7, 2016: 222.0
Yesterday, I was reading in Colin Champ's book Misguided Medicine about vegetable oils. Sometimes, what is promoted as healthy gives me pause. I never did buy margarine because it was fake, and it turned out to be trans fat instead of saturated fat. The same has been true of "healthy" canola oil. It was invented 20 years ago.
It turns out that canola oil has a low smoking point and can lead to lung cancer. I have read that lung cancer rates have increased without a known risk factor like smoking, and now it has hit close to home: the mother of Tommy's oldest friend was diagnosed with lung cancer and given about 15 months to live because it has spread to her bones.
Reading this book is slow-going because it is so full of information. Yesterday, I threw out the vegetable oil we had at home and went and found one of the recommended oils, which is avocado oil.
I've already switched to butter from grass-fed cows. It is Irish butter available at Costco.
My goal with regard to what we eat is to gradually switch to better foods. I mix in old favorites, heavily pasta-based, with new recipes. Last night was an absolute hit from a Website called gatheredtable.com. I've bought countless containers of raw spinach from Costco, only to throw out most of it. Last night's meal was liked even by fussy Ellie: Your New Favorite Pork And Orzo With Spinach.
It is a slog to learn to cook a whole new way when you are in your late 50s but Tom wants me home so he can concentrate on his job, and this has become a new hobby.
Now the issue of weight. I have tossed the idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Having an eating window of 8 hours I think is a good idea. The only problem is I don't think I'll lose weight with this window. This is a maintenance window.
What I need is a weight-loss window, and what I am going to try is either one hour or one meal for that window.
Here's another catchy idea that I think may be wrong: You should not be on a diet. You should have a lifestyle change.
Yes, it is true, in part. I need to change what I eat. As for quantity eaten, maybe it is better to diet, lose a few pounds, maintain, lose a few pounds... For many years, I would go on 1,000 calorie per day diets for nine days and then maintain. There was a dramatic difference in eating. I'd eat prepared foods with set calorie counts, and I got so I could not eat one more Lean Cuisine.
With this newly-conceived approach, I can switch readily between diet and maintenance modes just by narrowing the eating window from 8 hours to 1 hour.
Here's another thing I learned from Colin Champ's book: endurance exercise isn't necessarily good for you. What you need is lots of walking with some high intensity interval training. Great! I love to walk the dog or walk around stores and have lots of steps on my pedometer, but I don't like to sweat. Maybe I could just do interval training on the exercise bike that is not used at all downstairs.
A new Day 1. A deep breath and sigh. I keep telling the kids that there just was not much obesity when I was growing up, and now it is everywhere! What has changed? According to Colin Champ's book, we were given eating guidelines that were way off mark.
Day 1 – Thursday, September 8, 2016: 220.2
Yesterday was miserable. I ate within a one hour window and was miserable. What have I learned? Like the Every Other Day Diet, the one hour diet is miserable. With a five hour window, you eat a lot right at 3 if you are able. With an eight hour window, you barely notice.
That's what I've learned. I'm going with the eight hour window on the theory that your body must access fat stores at about 16 hours of fasting because it has run out of food in your belly. My focus needs to switch to exercise and healthier food choices.
Yesterday, I worked on organizing the refrigerator so that I can have salad, carrots, and fruit readily available. Seriously, I've been trying to lose weight for years and it never occurred to me to set up my refrigerator for healthier eating. I bought a second Pyrex mixing bowl which can be used for salad. I also got some Rubbermaid FreshWorks for storing carrots and celery. Duh!
To my credit, I am trying to move towards identifying ingredients in food that are better for you and then looking for ways to use those ingredients. It's a slow process. I like the periodic magazines put out by America's Test Kitchen when they are on a specific topic like Slow Cooker Meals. I'm also looking at allrecipes and gatheredtable.
Day 1 – Friday, September 9, 2016: 221.4
I put on my wedding ring. It may hurt to wear it, but I'm going to wear it. I've been putting off living to lose weight, and this has got to stop.
Fasting -- I ate only in a five hour window yesterday and still gained weight. Why? I binge eat when I am allowed to eat. Fasting exacerbated the problem.
Now what? I think I need a direct hit on binge behavior, and that is the SET Habits;
S: Sit down to eat, when possible.
E: Eat without distraction, if possible.
T: Take hand or utensils away from food while chewing and swallowing.
These habits make binge behavior impossible, since binge eating by definition is fast eating.
I'm going to try the Eat Stop Eat approach to fasting but only getting there very, very slowly. Friday fast. I fasted until 8 AM.
Anything else? 10,000 steps per day. Continued strength training. I'm going to continue healthful eating and possibly try some high intensity exercise.
The foundation is those SET Habits.
Day 2 – Saturday, September 10, 2016: 219.8
I have no idea why I tend to binge eat, but fasting made it worse. Yesterday, I found it easy to eat all day, but other things competed for my time. Did I want to take the time to sit down and eat? Often, the answer to that was "No."
Day 1 – Sunday, September 11, 2016: 220.0
If half of solving a problem is defining it, I think I just found the definition of my problem:
http://www.bertherring.com/not-hungry-v ... ight-gain/
I eat until stuffed. If I don't change that habit, nothing else matters.
Day 2 – Monday, September 12, 2016:
Day 3 – Tuesday, September 13, 2016:
Day 4 – Wednesday, September 14, 2016: [cuolor=red]214.4[/color]
On Sunday, afternoon, I went to the UPS store and got laminated the page from the above Website "Dr. Bert's Appetite Scale". Have I seen something similar in the past? Yes, I have. Intuitive Eating. I Can Make You Thin.
The trick, I thought, was to transition
from: starting to eating when full and eating until stuffed
to: starting to eat when hungry and eating until a first feeling of food int he stomach
How could I do that? I didn't even feel hungry after fasting for 36 hours straight! It was a very discouraging thought.
The answer came, I hope, with an illness that I acquired from Katie. She came home from a football came on Friday with a hoarse voice from all the yelling, and then I had to pick her up from work early on Saturday because she wasn't feeling well. She seemed OK to me, but she didn't eat much and lay around looking at the computer. On Sunday, she slept a lot, and on Monday afternoon, I took her to the pediatrician who checked her for pneumonia or bronchitis. She was diagnosed with a cold.
By the time I took her to the doctor, I wasn't feeling too well, either. Yesterday, I stayed in bed all day, and had an orange and part of a banana. I threw away the rest of the banana as soon as I felt some feeling of fullness. This was not deliberate on my part. It was more of a revulsion.
My nephew who lives in London brought his girlfriend to the states, and they had a tour from LA to Minnesota. We could have met them last night, but I was afraid they would catch whatever we had. It's sad.
So now what? I'm up at least a little. On Monday, I bought ingredients for chicken noodle soup and think I'll be up and down all day and can at least make that.
Katie won't go to work today because she would be around children, but she was told she could go to school.
I hope that this illness will help me reset my appetite. We shall see.
Day 5 – Thursday, September 15, 2016: 216.6
I ate some yesterday and have already had an egg, orange, and tea this morning. That was quite an illness. I think maybe all I need to do is stop eating when I have a feeling of food in my stomach. My habit has been to eat until stuffed.
We shall see.
Day 6 – Friday, September 16, 2016: 217.2
When we are driving in remoter parts of the state or in ND, I tend to want to have the gas filled up. Part of the reason for that is one of our vans would go from indicating 1/4 full to indicating almost empty in about five miles.
That same mentality is what has led to excessive eating when I have eating windows with fasting. That is why I did not lose weight with a month of five hour eating windows. I literally stuffed myself during those windows.
Now what? I can realize that I will not stop if I become hungry. I can use the stored fuel that is evident in my body.
2 PM: Something personally traumatic happened to me on September 11, 2001, as a direct result of the terrorist attack. Like all Americans over the age of 20 or so, that day is seared in our memory. I never would have chosen that date as my Day 1. Looking back, however, that is when I realized what was causing me to be obese. I just went out and came back and realized -- hey, I didn't head directly to the kitchen to eat. There is no more obsession to eat as soon as I get home.
Day 7 – Saturday, September 17, 2016: 218.2
Last night, I wanted to eat until I was full. I did not want to stop at 'no longer hungry.' It was a shock to me because the sickness took away my desire to eat until full. I now know I need to apply self-discipline to this problem. Today, I had a lot of grape cherries and baby carrots to fill me up, but ultimately I need to learn to like not being full.
Day 8 – Sunday, September 18, 2016: 218.0
I'm in some sort of no man's land between hunger and fullness. I still don't experience hunger but now I am no longer eating to fullness. This means dissatisfaction. Eating provides no satisfaction.
I am thinking that people who eat when they are hungry eat until they are no longer hungry and the change is what provides satisfaction. If you start eating when not hungry and stop before becoming full, there is no sense of change and so no satisfaction.
What do I do? I don't know. I need some guideline for eating now when I am still not experiencing hunger. Also, being so obese, I may not feel hunger for a long time because my body can just tap into a large source of energy.
So -- I need some sort of guideline for now, for when I should eat.
Day 10 – Tuesday, September 20, 2016: 218.4
I'm thinking. I don't have a plan for how to eat to less than fullness. There is no indicator to stop eating. Right now, it is morning, and I am not hungry. Do I eat? Yes, I will, but I then go into a no man's land past no longer hungry because I start eating at no longer hungry.
Day 11 – Wednesday, September 21, 2016:
I ate a fair amount yesterday and did not want to weigh myself. This afternoon, as I was snacking myself through the shopping experience at Costco, it occurred to me that I don't need to be in a no man's land. I can find an intermediary point between stuffed and not hungry. What could that be? It occurred to me that one point could be the feeling of food in my stomach. What I can do is cultivate an aversion to feeling food in my stomach. It is now 4:40 PM, and I feel food in my stomach. I'll still eat dinner, but this approach holds some promise.
Last edited by Kathleen on Mon Oct 03, 2016 2:04 pm, edited 23 times in total.
The trick is to act determined when you don't feel determined. It's when you are most tempted that you will get the most benefit from not giving in.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
I love avocado and coconut oil. I also love to cook but after years of cooking, I've found a way to make it so much more enjoyable. I'm memorizing the basics of our favorite recipes and then cooking them without referring to the recipe. It's so freeing and less exhausting.
Sorry if I missed something but what made you decide to ditch vanilla NoS? No weight loss or just too hard to stick to?
Anyway best of luck with whatever you decide!
Linda
Sorry if I missed something but what made you decide to ditch vanilla NoS? No weight loss or just too hard to stick to?
Anyway best of luck with whatever you decide!
Linda
SW: 210 lbsCW: 172
GW:160
Love this! After all, how will we learn to stop giving in to temptation if we keep giving in to temptation?oolala53 wrote:The trick is to act determined when you don't feel determined. It's when you are most tempted that you will get the most benefit from not giving in.
We ought to have a list of inspirational quotes, etc...on our fridge.
"Never go back for seconds. Get it all the first time." - Garfield
October, 2016: The Blessings of Simplicity (starting October 2, 2016)
Weight Summary
Saturday, October 1, 2016:
Sunday, October 2, 2016: 219.4
Monday, October 3, 2016: 218.6
Tuesday, October 4, 2016:
Wednesday, October 5, 2016: 217.4
Thursday, October 6, 2016:
Friday, October 7, 2016: 217.0
Saturday, October 8, 2016:
Sunday, October 9, 2016:
Monday, October 10, 2016:
Tuesday, October 11, 2016: 218.6
Wednesday, October 12, 2016:
Thursday, October 13, 2016:
Friday, October 14, 2016:
Saturday, October 15, 2016:
Sunday, October 16, 2016:
Monday, October 17, 2016:
Tuesday, October 18, 2016:
Wednesday, October 19, 2016:
Thursday, October 20, 2016:
Friday, October 21, 2016:
Saturday, October 22, 2016:
Sunday, October 23, 2016:
Monday, October 24, 2016:
Tuesday, October 25, 2016:
Wednesday, October 26, 2016:
Thursday, October 27, 2016:
Friday, October 28, 2016:
Saturday, October 29, 2016:
Sunday, October 30, 2016:
Monday, October 31, 2016:
Journal Summary
Monday, October 3, 2016: 218.6
I had a wonderful time with my mother last week, but she did stuff me! I realized last month that a lot of my problem has to do with when I stop eating. I eat until I am full, not until I am no longer hungry.
How can I correct that behavior? Correcting my appetite by eating within a five hour window daily sure did not work. What I am now trying is eating only within a two-hour window, from 5 - 7 PM, but having that restriction only apply for part of the month starting on the 2nd of the month. I'm going to try to eat within a two-hour window 15 days per month. There will be days that I take off. For example, next Monday Katie and I will be touring University of Iowa, and I'll have lunch with her at the college. I'm not going to watch her eat that day!
This approach gives me flexibility while allowing me to eat breakfast and/or lunch when it would be awkward not to do so.
The big question: Can I lose weight and sustain the weight loss by eating within a two-hour window on some, but not all, days?
Tuesday, October 4, 2016: 217.4
Two days of failure, but my weight went down, so I'm expanding my eating window to three hours. Two days ago, I ate from 2 - 3:30 and then about 8 - 9. Yesterday, I ate from 3:30 to 6:30. I may just do this for today and tomorrow and skip until Tuesday due to a get-together, a breakfast, and lunch on Monday when I take Katie to visit U of Iowa. I need to be flexible. My goal is to be under 215 by the end of the month, and I have a good start.
Thursday, October 6, 2016:
I'm stumbling around, creating a plan as I go. It seems to be developing into a hybrid of eating within a window of time and alternate day dieting. Yesterday, I started eating at 3:30 PM and finished at 9, not eating the entire time of course. I did not weigh myself today because I want to weigh myself after days when I eat within a two hour window of time. Today I started eating at 5:08 and finished within two hours. I was not very hungry at all all day. I made homemade wild rice soup and had that for dinner.
Tomorrow I am not sure what I am doing. We are going to a party that starts at 5:30. On Saturday, we have breakfast with two other couples. On Sunday, Katie and I drive to Iowa. On Monday, we will spend the day at University of Iowa. I won't want to eat within a two hour window on Saturday or Monday, so I may try to eat within that window tomorrow and on Sunday.
This diet may come down to eating within a two hour window three times per week.
Friday, October 7, 2016: 217.0
I think I'm going to try an eating window of two hours per day for three days per week, with the aim of those fast days being Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. It turns out Greek Orthodox never fast on Sundays but Catholics can. My faith has watered down fasting rules and maybe to our detriment.
Anyway, I'm also trying High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), and I can try to do that on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I am going as fast as I can on the exercise bike and am now up to 9 minutes with each minute including 10 seconds of intense biking and 50 seconds of recovery biking. That does not sound like much, but I will add one minute each time to get to 30 minutes and then start increasing the seconds per minute that I do intense exercise.
I got a diagnosis from an ENT that at least part of my hearing problem is due to middle ear dysfunction, and she said it was considered genetic. I feel like you do when on an airplane, with ears needing to be popped. My theory at the moment is that I got this condition due to lack of HIIT because my middle ear needs the exercise that comes from facial expressions when doing HIIT.
Wednesday, October 12, 2016:
I am suffering from "diet backlash", which is the term used in the book Intuitive Eating to describe that dieters tend to become binge eaters. I got an insight into what to do about "diet backlash" from an unusual source, the book Sloughing Towards Gomorrah which was written in 1996 by the lawyer Robert Bork. He was a nominee to the Supreme Court but was "borked" for his conservative views.
Some of those views were given in this book, and one area was affirmative action. He drew out the natural consequences of this policy, including the expansion of the definition "minority" (he did not anticipate transsexuals specifically but did anticipate a move towards people claiming minority status in order to get special benefits).
What most interested in me in his argument against affirmative action is that it hurts those whom it tries to help. What is needed is time and an emphasis on non-discrimination, not affirmative action.
What does this have to do with weight loss? Well, like with affirmative action, I think I may be pushing things too hard. I'm now going to try fasting twice per week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, and move slowly and slowly to fasting all day.
Today I fasted until 9:30 AM.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016:
I had "diet backlash". Years ago, I met a woman who had lost 40 pounds on Weight Watchers. This was her third time losing those same 40 pounds on Weight Watchers. To me, her story is proof that dieters have willpower.
My weight got up to 222.2 pounds one of the days in the last week. It's down slightly from that now, but I was up and out the door before 5 AM so I didn't record my weight today.
This isn't glamorous. This isn't something that is going to result in dramatic weight loss. I have a new theory built on the book "Appetite Control" which promotes eating during a five hour window every day.
My theory is that you cannot directly affect weight in the long run. All you can do is do things that indirectly affect weight. Counting calories or any other type of portion control inevitably leads to diet backlash.
What you need to do is form habits which lead, eventually, to eating fewer calories which then leads to weight loss.
So -- what habits can I form? I think fasting is one, but I dived in too hard and too fast and experienced diet backlash. I'm going to try the Eat Stop Eat method of a fast one or two days per week, and I'm going to just try fasting some on Fridays. If I cannot fast on a Friday, then I don't fast.
I tried to increase steps per day from 10,000 to 12,000 with a big failure of my falling below 10,000 steps, so I'll stick with 10,000.
I'm also doing High Intensity Interval Training. I'm using a program from a book I found, watered down to suit my desire to be very cautious especially in light of the fact that I have not engaged in any form of high intensity exercise for a lot of years. What I am doing is working towards 30 minutes of exercise on the exercise bike we own downstairs, with 10 seconds of each minute given to biking as hard as I can and 50 seconds being a relaxed pace. One I get to 30 minutes, I'll increase the time per minute of high intensity exercise until I engage in 30 seconds of high intensity biking per minute. Where am I now? I'm up to 12 minutes, and I'm increasing my exercise each time by 1 minute. I'm doing this 3 times per week.
I'm also back to the SET Habits which do seem like a form of appetite control. They are:
S: Sit down to eat.
E: Eat without distraction.
T: Take hands or utensil away from food while eating.
It's discouraging. There is one good thing out of this. I do think my hearing may improve from the HIIT. A characteristic of middle ear dysfunction is you feel like you need to pop your ears like when going up in a plane. My ears are popping during my exercise routine on the bike. I'm back to what level I could hear from before June. We shall see. If my hearing improve even more, my theory is correct.
Thursday, October 27, 2016:
Friday, October 28, 2016:
Saturday, October 29, 2016:
Sunday, October 30, 2016:
Monday, October 31, 2016:
Weight Summary
Saturday, October 1, 2016:
Sunday, October 2, 2016: 219.4
Monday, October 3, 2016: 218.6
Tuesday, October 4, 2016:
Wednesday, October 5, 2016: 217.4
Thursday, October 6, 2016:
Friday, October 7, 2016: 217.0
Saturday, October 8, 2016:
Sunday, October 9, 2016:
Monday, October 10, 2016:
Tuesday, October 11, 2016: 218.6
Wednesday, October 12, 2016:
Thursday, October 13, 2016:
Friday, October 14, 2016:
Saturday, October 15, 2016:
Sunday, October 16, 2016:
Monday, October 17, 2016:
Tuesday, October 18, 2016:
Wednesday, October 19, 2016:
Thursday, October 20, 2016:
Friday, October 21, 2016:
Saturday, October 22, 2016:
Sunday, October 23, 2016:
Monday, October 24, 2016:
Tuesday, October 25, 2016:
Wednesday, October 26, 2016:
Thursday, October 27, 2016:
Friday, October 28, 2016:
Saturday, October 29, 2016:
Sunday, October 30, 2016:
Monday, October 31, 2016:
Journal Summary
Monday, October 3, 2016: 218.6
I had a wonderful time with my mother last week, but she did stuff me! I realized last month that a lot of my problem has to do with when I stop eating. I eat until I am full, not until I am no longer hungry.
How can I correct that behavior? Correcting my appetite by eating within a five hour window daily sure did not work. What I am now trying is eating only within a two-hour window, from 5 - 7 PM, but having that restriction only apply for part of the month starting on the 2nd of the month. I'm going to try to eat within a two-hour window 15 days per month. There will be days that I take off. For example, next Monday Katie and I will be touring University of Iowa, and I'll have lunch with her at the college. I'm not going to watch her eat that day!
This approach gives me flexibility while allowing me to eat breakfast and/or lunch when it would be awkward not to do so.
The big question: Can I lose weight and sustain the weight loss by eating within a two-hour window on some, but not all, days?
Tuesday, October 4, 2016: 217.4
Two days of failure, but my weight went down, so I'm expanding my eating window to three hours. Two days ago, I ate from 2 - 3:30 and then about 8 - 9. Yesterday, I ate from 3:30 to 6:30. I may just do this for today and tomorrow and skip until Tuesday due to a get-together, a breakfast, and lunch on Monday when I take Katie to visit U of Iowa. I need to be flexible. My goal is to be under 215 by the end of the month, and I have a good start.
Thursday, October 6, 2016:
I'm stumbling around, creating a plan as I go. It seems to be developing into a hybrid of eating within a window of time and alternate day dieting. Yesterday, I started eating at 3:30 PM and finished at 9, not eating the entire time of course. I did not weigh myself today because I want to weigh myself after days when I eat within a two hour window of time. Today I started eating at 5:08 and finished within two hours. I was not very hungry at all all day. I made homemade wild rice soup and had that for dinner.
Tomorrow I am not sure what I am doing. We are going to a party that starts at 5:30. On Saturday, we have breakfast with two other couples. On Sunday, Katie and I drive to Iowa. On Monday, we will spend the day at University of Iowa. I won't want to eat within a two hour window on Saturday or Monday, so I may try to eat within that window tomorrow and on Sunday.
This diet may come down to eating within a two hour window three times per week.
Friday, October 7, 2016: 217.0
I think I'm going to try an eating window of two hours per day for three days per week, with the aim of those fast days being Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. It turns out Greek Orthodox never fast on Sundays but Catholics can. My faith has watered down fasting rules and maybe to our detriment.
Anyway, I'm also trying High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), and I can try to do that on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I am going as fast as I can on the exercise bike and am now up to 9 minutes with each minute including 10 seconds of intense biking and 50 seconds of recovery biking. That does not sound like much, but I will add one minute each time to get to 30 minutes and then start increasing the seconds per minute that I do intense exercise.
I got a diagnosis from an ENT that at least part of my hearing problem is due to middle ear dysfunction, and she said it was considered genetic. I feel like you do when on an airplane, with ears needing to be popped. My theory at the moment is that I got this condition due to lack of HIIT because my middle ear needs the exercise that comes from facial expressions when doing HIIT.
Wednesday, October 12, 2016:
I am suffering from "diet backlash", which is the term used in the book Intuitive Eating to describe that dieters tend to become binge eaters. I got an insight into what to do about "diet backlash" from an unusual source, the book Sloughing Towards Gomorrah which was written in 1996 by the lawyer Robert Bork. He was a nominee to the Supreme Court but was "borked" for his conservative views.
Some of those views were given in this book, and one area was affirmative action. He drew out the natural consequences of this policy, including the expansion of the definition "minority" (he did not anticipate transsexuals specifically but did anticipate a move towards people claiming minority status in order to get special benefits).
What most interested in me in his argument against affirmative action is that it hurts those whom it tries to help. What is needed is time and an emphasis on non-discrimination, not affirmative action.
What does this have to do with weight loss? Well, like with affirmative action, I think I may be pushing things too hard. I'm now going to try fasting twice per week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, and move slowly and slowly to fasting all day.
Today I fasted until 9:30 AM.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016:
I had "diet backlash". Years ago, I met a woman who had lost 40 pounds on Weight Watchers. This was her third time losing those same 40 pounds on Weight Watchers. To me, her story is proof that dieters have willpower.
My weight got up to 222.2 pounds one of the days in the last week. It's down slightly from that now, but I was up and out the door before 5 AM so I didn't record my weight today.
This isn't glamorous. This isn't something that is going to result in dramatic weight loss. I have a new theory built on the book "Appetite Control" which promotes eating during a five hour window every day.
My theory is that you cannot directly affect weight in the long run. All you can do is do things that indirectly affect weight. Counting calories or any other type of portion control inevitably leads to diet backlash.
What you need to do is form habits which lead, eventually, to eating fewer calories which then leads to weight loss.
So -- what habits can I form? I think fasting is one, but I dived in too hard and too fast and experienced diet backlash. I'm going to try the Eat Stop Eat method of a fast one or two days per week, and I'm going to just try fasting some on Fridays. If I cannot fast on a Friday, then I don't fast.
I tried to increase steps per day from 10,000 to 12,000 with a big failure of my falling below 10,000 steps, so I'll stick with 10,000.
I'm also doing High Intensity Interval Training. I'm using a program from a book I found, watered down to suit my desire to be very cautious especially in light of the fact that I have not engaged in any form of high intensity exercise for a lot of years. What I am doing is working towards 30 minutes of exercise on the exercise bike we own downstairs, with 10 seconds of each minute given to biking as hard as I can and 50 seconds being a relaxed pace. One I get to 30 minutes, I'll increase the time per minute of high intensity exercise until I engage in 30 seconds of high intensity biking per minute. Where am I now? I'm up to 12 minutes, and I'm increasing my exercise each time by 1 minute. I'm doing this 3 times per week.
I'm also back to the SET Habits which do seem like a form of appetite control. They are:
S: Sit down to eat.
E: Eat without distraction.
T: Take hands or utensil away from food while eating.
It's discouraging. There is one good thing out of this. I do think my hearing may improve from the HIIT. A characteristic of middle ear dysfunction is you feel like you need to pop your ears like when going up in a plane. My ears are popping during my exercise routine on the bike. I'm back to what level I could hear from before June. We shall see. If my hearing improve even more, my theory is correct.
Thursday, October 27, 2016:
Friday, October 28, 2016:
Saturday, October 29, 2016:
Sunday, October 30, 2016:
Monday, October 31, 2016:
Last edited by Kathleen on Wed Oct 26, 2016 6:34 pm, edited 6 times in total.
One thing that's amazing is that in the 8 years that you've been on this site, through all the experiments and honestly, much failure to adhere to much for any length of time, you've gained only about ten pounds, which I would bet is actually better than the average for your age and weight.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
I didn't read into the text from that first day. I was going by days when I first saw weights, which was a few months later. In any case, it's still pretty stable, though you do say you were lighter in 2004.
Onwards.
Onwards.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
November, 2016: The Blessings of Simplicity (starting November 27, 2016)
Weight Summary
Tuesday, November 1, 2016:
Wednesday, November 2, 2016:
Thursday, November 3, 2016:
Friday, November 4, 2016:
Saturday, November 5, 2016:
Sunday, November 6, 2016:
Monday, November 7, 2016: 223.0
Tuesday, November 8, 2016:
Wednesday, November 9, 2016: 222.0
Thursday, November 10, 2016:
Friday, November 11, 2016:
Saturday, November 12, 2016:
Sunday, November 13, 2016:
Monday, November 14, 2016: 224.0
Tuesday, November 15, 2016:
Wednesday, November 16, 2016:
Thursday, November 17, 2016:
Friday, November 18, 2016:
Saturday, November 19, 2016:
Sunday, November 20, 2016:
Monday, November 21, 2016:
Tuesday, November 22, 2016: 226.0
Wednesday, November 23, 2016:
Thursday, November 24, 2016: 224.4
Friday, November 25, 2016: 224.8
Saturday, November 26, 2016: 225.6
Sunday, November 27, 2016: 224.8
Monday, November 28, 2016:
Day 1 - Tuesday, November 29, 2016: 225.0
Day 2 - Wednesday, November 30, 2016: 224.2
Journal
Monday, November 7, 2016: 223.0
Very discouraging. I went through a few weeks of "diet backlash" from fasting, and now I am back above 220. Last night, I went to bed comfortably stuffed. Why? Being stuffed means being comfortable to me. The internal compass is what is off. I see ads that say "1 in 5 children face hunger" and think that the society has made hunger a problem instead of a natural way to know you should eat.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016: 222.0
Yesterday, I was sick. Why? Was it this election? Perhaps. I did not eat at all until after 3, and I ended up deciding to try Fast5 again. You try to eat within a five hour window each day. My window is 3 - 8 PM. This isn't always possible, and that's OK.
I went the entire month of August following this approach and did not lose weight. Why am I trying it again? I think I understand it better. The point of not eating for a period of time is to give your body time to appreciate a change in fullness. Because I just stuffed myself every afternoon back in August, I did not get to experience actual hunger. This time, I will try to be more moderate in my eating. I can still eat whatever I want, but I will try to eat better foods at least initially. Instead of starting out with cookies, I'll try apples or carrots. This was a recommendation from the book that I did not follow in August.
Friday, November 18, 2016:
As of Monday, I decided to cut back on weighing myself since my daily weight tends to lead to changes in how I diet.
Yesterday, I had my monthly personal training session, and Kayla wanted me to consider eating disorder therapy. I certainly understand why and admire her courage for suggesting it. I have a new approach which I would like to try. Fasting led to diet backlash, so I am wondering what would happen if I just fast a little. My goal is to fast until noon on Mondays and Wednesdays without having any binge behavior either before or after the fast. This seems really silly, but I think my pattern is to overeat both before and after any food restriction. The book Intuitive Eating has the terms "Last Supper eating" for overeating before a diet and "diet backlash" for overeating after a diet. I'm not even dieting. I do this as a result of stepping on the scale.
My problem is binge eating. I don't actually enjoy all this eating. I do have a tendency to eat as a way to procrastinate on unpleasant tasks like raking leaves, and Kayla appropriately called it laziness. Fasting won't address laziness so I'll have to think about what I can do to change the habit of eating as a way to delay doing things like raking leaves.
It's Minnesota, and finally the snow is coming. It's rain right now but should be snow by the end of day.
Thursday, November 24, 2016: 224.2
Wow... The diet backlash from fasting has been ferocious. On Tuesday night, I took a Toblerone chocolate bar into our bedroom and ate it and thought, disgustedly, why did I do that? Why did I buy the bars at Costco in the first place -- because they were so inexpensive? What the heck am I doing?
There have been times in my life when I have made a sudden change in behavior and it has stuck. An example was giving up coffee in June. I have not had coffee since then. I keep looking for a sudden change in eating habits and hope Tuesday night was it. When I gave up coffee in June, I did not know it would last, but it did. Giving up coffee was not about making a decision. It was about coming to a realization, a realization that being so dependent on coffee was making me miserable. I literally have had to had a specific amount of coffee before a specific time or end up with a migraine headache. In June, I had a migraine headache and was throwing up that night. By then, we were in Jackson, WY, and it was a clear night. We drove around at about 11 when it was still somewhat light out, so I missed the most beautiful sight on earth -- the night sky in a dark place. All because of giving up coffee. We were in Jackson three nights but the other two nights were cloudy. I want to go back there someday.
What happened on Tuesday night? I realized dieting was making me miserable. Why couldn't I just give up all these guidelines and fasting and everything else and become an intuitive eater?
Yesterday I tried it. I waited for hunger. At about 2, my stomach growled, but I was too busy to eat. I had to take Katie to work (1/2 hour there and back) and also do some Thanksgiving shopping. My stomach growled one more time but mostly I felt no hunger at all.
I did not get home until about 5 pm and immediately had a custard cup full of homemade beef barley soup, a meal I just love but Katie detests. I felt satisfied and even thought of the term "last bite thresshold" from Intutive Eating. I could have been happy to have nothing more.
Wednesday nights are usually chaotic for dinner because Katie does not get home until 7:30 and Anne picks her up. As a result, the rest of us eat before they get home. We had more chaos than usual because Tommy was coming home from college and we were dogsitting a big puppy. No one would have noticed if I had not eaten other than that custard cup full.
Did I stop eating? No. I couldn't believe that was all I needed to eat. I could have waited but instead had watermelon, milk, lots more beef barley soup, and more Toblerone chocolate. I ate to full.
So here I am midday on Thanksgiving, having eaten nothing. Football is on, and I have time to think. Maybe I can be satisfied eating to last bite threshhold or stuffed/full but not to something in between. Maybe I just need to wait for hunger and then eat to last bite threshhold.
8:30 PM: We got home about 1/2 hour ago. I did not eat until we got the my sister in law's. The food was tasty, but I barely tasted it because I never got to hunger and so never ate to last bite threshhold.
I need to get to hunger.
Sunday, November 27, 2016: 224.8
Thanksgiving was lovely, but the aftereffect wasn't so lovely. My brother in law and his wife have two children. One is in college and living with a girl. The other graduated high school last year, decided against college, got a job at a Holiday Station Store, and moved into an apartment with her 23 year old boyfriend.
I was oblivious to the meaning of her dreadlocks or the leaf on her ginger bread house. Pot. She's become a pothead.
Katie is 15 months younger. She loves to spend money, and I've been setting aside 20% of her earnings for college. She went down to working just 4 hours a week and a few weekends with the Boy Scouts where she is a weekend counselor to Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. She earns $53/weekend, not enough to support her desire for things. Yesterday, she was all excited because she asked one of the "elves" at the Santa visit place at the mall if they needed help. "Yes!" "Warm body!" She'd be perfect for that job because she has a lot of experience working with kids -- tutoring, camp counselor, volunteering with children's programs at the library and church....
Why do I write this? Well, I wonder how my niece gets out of the hole she is in. The best way really is to stop. A favorite saying of my father's is, "If you find that you've dug yourself a hole, the first thing you do is: stop digging."
So, with regard to my weight, I see two broad choices: eating by internal cues or eating by external cues. No S is a way to eat by external cues. I don't see how this would work. I think I need to look on overeating as my drug. Like with coffee, I just cannot do it. Not once.
There is something so pathetic and poignant about a teenager making a frosting pot leaf on her Christmas gingerbread house. I could cry. I am crying.
At this point, there is nothing her parents can do. There is nothing we can do. There is nothing her cousins can do, although Katie did get together with her when she and her friend went out for a smoke this summer, and she said, "If you smoke anything illegal, I'm leaving."
I'm just rambling. I'll stop.
3:30 PM: I need a definite way to distinguish between eating and overeating. Unlike with giving up coffee, I have to eat. I tried waiting for a stomach growl today but it wasn't enough because I overate after that. I tried intuitive eating in the summer of 2007 and called it The Hunger Satisfaction Diet. It was the worst diet ever. I waited for a stomach growl and then ate what I wanted. Now I know why it didn't work. I need to get hungry enough that I can feel the last bite threshhold when I eat and then I need to stop eating. With waiting for a stomach growl and then eating, I wasn't hungry enough to feel the last bite threshhold and so I continued eating until I was full.
What can I do? I can wait for two stomach growls. I actually felt the last bite threshhold on Wednesday when I was running around, so all I have to do is figure out definite signs that allow me to get hungry enough. Maybe two stomach growls is enough. I remember that is how many I felt before I ate on Wednesday, but I don't think I ate right after experiencing the second one.
Day 1 - Tuesday, November 29, 2016: 225.0
I remember reading somewhere that a good way to achieve success in an area of your life where you are not successful is to look at areas of your life where you are successful and see how you can apply the knowledge from the successful area to the unsuccessful area.
Exercise. I'm doing fairly well with exercise. Why?
I have a simple method to record what I am doing which is motivating for me. I have one sheet of paper which goes in my planner, and I record:
- daily walking totals from Monday through Saturday, with Sunday off: Goal is 10,000 steps/day.
- daily strength training, broken up into three parts (I do poorest on one part, and I can see glaring at me how I am doing with that part)
- weekly high intensity training, which I detest: The trick here is I limit myself to at most three times per week between Monday and Saturday, with never doing two days in a row. I was in the bike yesterday morning which gave me a reprieve to tomorrow. It's not as if I am doing anything really great. I am up to 16 minutes on the bike with 10 seconds per minute being HIIT.
So, in thinking about what with NoS didn't work for me, it was my monkeying around with exception days. I tried all sorts of different things. I also had a hard time with the one plate rule because it is disgusting to put fruit on a plate right next to anything else. For example, this morning I had red grapes and blueberry pancakes. Grapes next to pancakes? No thank you.
What can I do to modify the No S rules so they line up with what I am doing for exercise?
1. Eliminate the one plate rule. Instead have three meals per day. I can tell a meal is over when I turn around my claddaugh ring. I haven't worn that ring in a long time, and I pulled it out of the box where my wedding ring is stored. I tried on my wedding ring, and it fits! I think it's the HIIT exercise, as limited as it is, that gave me the ability to wear my ring. Anyway, I wear a ring that I can turn out when I am eating and turn back when I am not eating.
2. Eliminate exception days. I can just count compliance days Monday through Saturday the way I count steps Monday through Saturday. If I don't get all the way through the day, oh well... no big deal. I can still remember having one Tic Tac because my breath stank and debating about whether to take an exception day. With this approach, it doesn't really matter. It's in the spirit of "mark it and move on." My goal can be 20 compliance days per month with Sundays always off.
Exercise is now built into my life. I tend to walk in parking lots because I don't worry about getting the closest possible space, and I even park between two stores when I am going into both. The pedometer is a gentle reminder, although the dog does a good job of reminding me of the importance of walking as well.
Sanity. I think that's what most appeals to me about returning to No S. Do I want to spend any more time fiddling with dieting? Do I want to live my life feeling like I'm at the edge of a cliff -- that my diet is ruined with one non compliant action especially if that action is based on an assessment of hunger or fullness? I think it would drive me nuts.
There's more to life than this. Katie heads off to college in one year, and Anne will be out of the house (grad school as the hoped-for and worked-for aim, but an apartment if that doesn't work). We have three kids at home for the next 8 months. I need to enjoy them and not worry about my weight.
Day 2 - Wednesday, November 30, 2016: 224.2
Tom noticed immediately that I was wearing my wedding ring. I really think it's the HIIT because my weight is up and I've been somewhat inconsistent these last two weeks with walking because of fiddling around with dieting.
Yesterday was a success but it also brought new knowledge. One plate a day did not work for me because I'd load up my plate and then eat it all! I wouldn't stop at full. I'd stop at too stuffed to take another bite. With this approach, I eat until I feel like stopping. This morning, I had an apple and scrambled eggs. I could have gone back for more if I'd wanted, but I didn't want. Had I loaded up my plate, I would have eaten more than I did this morning!
It's a silly concept to turn around my ring but what it does is tell me -- heh, you were satisfied an hour ago. You can WAIT for lunch! You'll can be satisfied at lunchtime, too. Just wait...
Right now is a great example of a time I would eat to procrastinate. I hate that exercise bike but it is clearly doing good things for my body. Had I the option, I would have taken time to eat as a way to delay exercising. Now I must face the bike. It's tolerable because I will do it one more time maximum between now and next Monday.
Weight Summary
Tuesday, November 1, 2016:
Wednesday, November 2, 2016:
Thursday, November 3, 2016:
Friday, November 4, 2016:
Saturday, November 5, 2016:
Sunday, November 6, 2016:
Monday, November 7, 2016: 223.0
Tuesday, November 8, 2016:
Wednesday, November 9, 2016: 222.0
Thursday, November 10, 2016:
Friday, November 11, 2016:
Saturday, November 12, 2016:
Sunday, November 13, 2016:
Monday, November 14, 2016: 224.0
Tuesday, November 15, 2016:
Wednesday, November 16, 2016:
Thursday, November 17, 2016:
Friday, November 18, 2016:
Saturday, November 19, 2016:
Sunday, November 20, 2016:
Monday, November 21, 2016:
Tuesday, November 22, 2016: 226.0
Wednesday, November 23, 2016:
Thursday, November 24, 2016: 224.4
Friday, November 25, 2016: 224.8
Saturday, November 26, 2016: 225.6
Sunday, November 27, 2016: 224.8
Monday, November 28, 2016:
Day 1 - Tuesday, November 29, 2016: 225.0
Day 2 - Wednesday, November 30, 2016: 224.2
Journal
Monday, November 7, 2016: 223.0
Very discouraging. I went through a few weeks of "diet backlash" from fasting, and now I am back above 220. Last night, I went to bed comfortably stuffed. Why? Being stuffed means being comfortable to me. The internal compass is what is off. I see ads that say "1 in 5 children face hunger" and think that the society has made hunger a problem instead of a natural way to know you should eat.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016: 222.0
Yesterday, I was sick. Why? Was it this election? Perhaps. I did not eat at all until after 3, and I ended up deciding to try Fast5 again. You try to eat within a five hour window each day. My window is 3 - 8 PM. This isn't always possible, and that's OK.
I went the entire month of August following this approach and did not lose weight. Why am I trying it again? I think I understand it better. The point of not eating for a period of time is to give your body time to appreciate a change in fullness. Because I just stuffed myself every afternoon back in August, I did not get to experience actual hunger. This time, I will try to be more moderate in my eating. I can still eat whatever I want, but I will try to eat better foods at least initially. Instead of starting out with cookies, I'll try apples or carrots. This was a recommendation from the book that I did not follow in August.
Friday, November 18, 2016:
As of Monday, I decided to cut back on weighing myself since my daily weight tends to lead to changes in how I diet.
Yesterday, I had my monthly personal training session, and Kayla wanted me to consider eating disorder therapy. I certainly understand why and admire her courage for suggesting it. I have a new approach which I would like to try. Fasting led to diet backlash, so I am wondering what would happen if I just fast a little. My goal is to fast until noon on Mondays and Wednesdays without having any binge behavior either before or after the fast. This seems really silly, but I think my pattern is to overeat both before and after any food restriction. The book Intuitive Eating has the terms "Last Supper eating" for overeating before a diet and "diet backlash" for overeating after a diet. I'm not even dieting. I do this as a result of stepping on the scale.
My problem is binge eating. I don't actually enjoy all this eating. I do have a tendency to eat as a way to procrastinate on unpleasant tasks like raking leaves, and Kayla appropriately called it laziness. Fasting won't address laziness so I'll have to think about what I can do to change the habit of eating as a way to delay doing things like raking leaves.
It's Minnesota, and finally the snow is coming. It's rain right now but should be snow by the end of day.
Thursday, November 24, 2016: 224.2
Wow... The diet backlash from fasting has been ferocious. On Tuesday night, I took a Toblerone chocolate bar into our bedroom and ate it and thought, disgustedly, why did I do that? Why did I buy the bars at Costco in the first place -- because they were so inexpensive? What the heck am I doing?
There have been times in my life when I have made a sudden change in behavior and it has stuck. An example was giving up coffee in June. I have not had coffee since then. I keep looking for a sudden change in eating habits and hope Tuesday night was it. When I gave up coffee in June, I did not know it would last, but it did. Giving up coffee was not about making a decision. It was about coming to a realization, a realization that being so dependent on coffee was making me miserable. I literally have had to had a specific amount of coffee before a specific time or end up with a migraine headache. In June, I had a migraine headache and was throwing up that night. By then, we were in Jackson, WY, and it was a clear night. We drove around at about 11 when it was still somewhat light out, so I missed the most beautiful sight on earth -- the night sky in a dark place. All because of giving up coffee. We were in Jackson three nights but the other two nights were cloudy. I want to go back there someday.
What happened on Tuesday night? I realized dieting was making me miserable. Why couldn't I just give up all these guidelines and fasting and everything else and become an intuitive eater?
Yesterday I tried it. I waited for hunger. At about 2, my stomach growled, but I was too busy to eat. I had to take Katie to work (1/2 hour there and back) and also do some Thanksgiving shopping. My stomach growled one more time but mostly I felt no hunger at all.
I did not get home until about 5 pm and immediately had a custard cup full of homemade beef barley soup, a meal I just love but Katie detests. I felt satisfied and even thought of the term "last bite thresshold" from Intutive Eating. I could have been happy to have nothing more.
Wednesday nights are usually chaotic for dinner because Katie does not get home until 7:30 and Anne picks her up. As a result, the rest of us eat before they get home. We had more chaos than usual because Tommy was coming home from college and we were dogsitting a big puppy. No one would have noticed if I had not eaten other than that custard cup full.
Did I stop eating? No. I couldn't believe that was all I needed to eat. I could have waited but instead had watermelon, milk, lots more beef barley soup, and more Toblerone chocolate. I ate to full.
So here I am midday on Thanksgiving, having eaten nothing. Football is on, and I have time to think. Maybe I can be satisfied eating to last bite threshhold or stuffed/full but not to something in between. Maybe I just need to wait for hunger and then eat to last bite threshhold.
8:30 PM: We got home about 1/2 hour ago. I did not eat until we got the my sister in law's. The food was tasty, but I barely tasted it because I never got to hunger and so never ate to last bite threshhold.
I need to get to hunger.
Sunday, November 27, 2016: 224.8
Thanksgiving was lovely, but the aftereffect wasn't so lovely. My brother in law and his wife have two children. One is in college and living with a girl. The other graduated high school last year, decided against college, got a job at a Holiday Station Store, and moved into an apartment with her 23 year old boyfriend.
I was oblivious to the meaning of her dreadlocks or the leaf on her ginger bread house. Pot. She's become a pothead.
Katie is 15 months younger. She loves to spend money, and I've been setting aside 20% of her earnings for college. She went down to working just 4 hours a week and a few weekends with the Boy Scouts where she is a weekend counselor to Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. She earns $53/weekend, not enough to support her desire for things. Yesterday, she was all excited because she asked one of the "elves" at the Santa visit place at the mall if they needed help. "Yes!" "Warm body!" She'd be perfect for that job because she has a lot of experience working with kids -- tutoring, camp counselor, volunteering with children's programs at the library and church....
Why do I write this? Well, I wonder how my niece gets out of the hole she is in. The best way really is to stop. A favorite saying of my father's is, "If you find that you've dug yourself a hole, the first thing you do is: stop digging."
So, with regard to my weight, I see two broad choices: eating by internal cues or eating by external cues. No S is a way to eat by external cues. I don't see how this would work. I think I need to look on overeating as my drug. Like with coffee, I just cannot do it. Not once.
There is something so pathetic and poignant about a teenager making a frosting pot leaf on her Christmas gingerbread house. I could cry. I am crying.
At this point, there is nothing her parents can do. There is nothing we can do. There is nothing her cousins can do, although Katie did get together with her when she and her friend went out for a smoke this summer, and she said, "If you smoke anything illegal, I'm leaving."
I'm just rambling. I'll stop.
3:30 PM: I need a definite way to distinguish between eating and overeating. Unlike with giving up coffee, I have to eat. I tried waiting for a stomach growl today but it wasn't enough because I overate after that. I tried intuitive eating in the summer of 2007 and called it The Hunger Satisfaction Diet. It was the worst diet ever. I waited for a stomach growl and then ate what I wanted. Now I know why it didn't work. I need to get hungry enough that I can feel the last bite threshhold when I eat and then I need to stop eating. With waiting for a stomach growl and then eating, I wasn't hungry enough to feel the last bite threshhold and so I continued eating until I was full.
What can I do? I can wait for two stomach growls. I actually felt the last bite threshhold on Wednesday when I was running around, so all I have to do is figure out definite signs that allow me to get hungry enough. Maybe two stomach growls is enough. I remember that is how many I felt before I ate on Wednesday, but I don't think I ate right after experiencing the second one.
Day 1 - Tuesday, November 29, 2016: 225.0
I remember reading somewhere that a good way to achieve success in an area of your life where you are not successful is to look at areas of your life where you are successful and see how you can apply the knowledge from the successful area to the unsuccessful area.
Exercise. I'm doing fairly well with exercise. Why?
I have a simple method to record what I am doing which is motivating for me. I have one sheet of paper which goes in my planner, and I record:
- daily walking totals from Monday through Saturday, with Sunday off: Goal is 10,000 steps/day.
- daily strength training, broken up into three parts (I do poorest on one part, and I can see glaring at me how I am doing with that part)
- weekly high intensity training, which I detest: The trick here is I limit myself to at most three times per week between Monday and Saturday, with never doing two days in a row. I was in the bike yesterday morning which gave me a reprieve to tomorrow. It's not as if I am doing anything really great. I am up to 16 minutes on the bike with 10 seconds per minute being HIIT.
So, in thinking about what with NoS didn't work for me, it was my monkeying around with exception days. I tried all sorts of different things. I also had a hard time with the one plate rule because it is disgusting to put fruit on a plate right next to anything else. For example, this morning I had red grapes and blueberry pancakes. Grapes next to pancakes? No thank you.
What can I do to modify the No S rules so they line up with what I am doing for exercise?
1. Eliminate the one plate rule. Instead have three meals per day. I can tell a meal is over when I turn around my claddaugh ring. I haven't worn that ring in a long time, and I pulled it out of the box where my wedding ring is stored. I tried on my wedding ring, and it fits! I think it's the HIIT exercise, as limited as it is, that gave me the ability to wear my ring. Anyway, I wear a ring that I can turn out when I am eating and turn back when I am not eating.
2. Eliminate exception days. I can just count compliance days Monday through Saturday the way I count steps Monday through Saturday. If I don't get all the way through the day, oh well... no big deal. I can still remember having one Tic Tac because my breath stank and debating about whether to take an exception day. With this approach, it doesn't really matter. It's in the spirit of "mark it and move on." My goal can be 20 compliance days per month with Sundays always off.
Exercise is now built into my life. I tend to walk in parking lots because I don't worry about getting the closest possible space, and I even park between two stores when I am going into both. The pedometer is a gentle reminder, although the dog does a good job of reminding me of the importance of walking as well.
Sanity. I think that's what most appeals to me about returning to No S. Do I want to spend any more time fiddling with dieting? Do I want to live my life feeling like I'm at the edge of a cliff -- that my diet is ruined with one non compliant action especially if that action is based on an assessment of hunger or fullness? I think it would drive me nuts.
There's more to life than this. Katie heads off to college in one year, and Anne will be out of the house (grad school as the hoped-for and worked-for aim, but an apartment if that doesn't work). We have three kids at home for the next 8 months. I need to enjoy them and not worry about my weight.
Day 2 - Wednesday, November 30, 2016: 224.2
Tom noticed immediately that I was wearing my wedding ring. I really think it's the HIIT because my weight is up and I've been somewhat inconsistent these last two weeks with walking because of fiddling around with dieting.
Yesterday was a success but it also brought new knowledge. One plate a day did not work for me because I'd load up my plate and then eat it all! I wouldn't stop at full. I'd stop at too stuffed to take another bite. With this approach, I eat until I feel like stopping. This morning, I had an apple and scrambled eggs. I could have gone back for more if I'd wanted, but I didn't want. Had I loaded up my plate, I would have eaten more than I did this morning!
It's a silly concept to turn around my ring but what it does is tell me -- heh, you were satisfied an hour ago. You can WAIT for lunch! You'll can be satisfied at lunchtime, too. Just wait...
Right now is a great example of a time I would eat to procrastinate. I hate that exercise bike but it is clearly doing good things for my body. Had I the option, I would have taken time to eat as a way to delay exercising. Now I must face the bike. It's tolerable because I will do it one more time maximum between now and next Monday.
Last edited by Kathleen on Wed Nov 30, 2016 3:10 pm, edited 23 times in total.
How do you think people who do manage to eat less permanently get around diet backlash? I can guarantee you that the majority of them have intense times when they want to go back to overeating. They cannot wait until they never feel the desire to overeat. People who claim it got easy or their appetite was magically changed are usually forgetting the times they had to hold out in order to learn the new habit. If not, they were just exceptions.
Don't let the promotional materials to the contrary sabotage your efforts.
Don't let the promotional materials to the contrary sabotage your efforts.
Last edited by oolala53 on Sat Mar 11, 2017 6:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Exactly. They do it IN SPITE of the tendency to go back to previous habits. They keep their eyes on the reasons they want to beat the odds, not why the odds are so strong against them. You must start believing you can be one of them, no matter what. What reasons do you have to change your habits? Is there anything important enough for you to reduce your eating by 10%? You don't have to starve and you don't have to get thin.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
I really never get to the end of a meal without wishing I could have more. If I let my desires have control over me I would be heavy. Maybe some are fortunate enough that they don't have to try but a lot of us do. If you wait for it to be easy to make the right choice, it probably won't happen. You have to decide to not hand over your control to your wants, decide that you want the kind of happiness that comes from not overeating instead of the happiness food brings.
I read about a woman who felt God wanted her to quit smoking. She lashed out & said there is no way, that if God expected her to do that he was going to have to help. She never smoked another cigarette.
I read about a woman who felt God wanted her to quit smoking. She lashed out & said there is no way, that if God expected her to do that he was going to have to help. She never smoked another cigarette.
-
LifeisaBlessing
- Posts: 337
- Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2016 1:08 pm
This is absolute gold! Jen, you nailed it!!Jen1974 wrote:I really never get to the end of a meal without wishing I could have more. If I let my desires have control over me I would be heavy. Maybe some are fortunate enough that they don't have to try but a lot of us do. If you wait for it to be easy to make the right choice, it probably won't happen. You have to decide to not hand over your control to your wants, decide that you want the kind of happiness that comes from not overeating instead of the happiness food brings.
I read about a woman who felt God wanted her to quit smoking. She lashed out & said there is no way, that if God expected her to do that he was going to have to help. She never smoked another cigarette.
I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
~Jimmy Dean
The second you overcomplicate it is the second it becomes the thing for which it is a corrective.
~El Fug, on the NoS Diet
~Jimmy Dean
The second you overcomplicate it is the second it becomes the thing for which it is a corrective.
~El Fug, on the NoS Diet
-
Apprentice1981
- Posts: 56
- Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2016 6:48 pm
- Location: California
Kathleen, just fast between three one-plate meals on weekdays for six months. That can be your offering to God. If you are tested, so be it. It won't be every hour of every day.
And you can have Thanksgiving off. (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are already on weekends)
And you can have Thanksgiving off. (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are already on weekends)
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Dang, Jen! That could be applied to just about any temptation/situation. I need to tattoo this on my hand so I read it every time I'm getting ready to bring the fork to my mouth!Jen1974 wrote:If you wait for it to be easy to make the right choice, it probably won't happen. You have to decide to not hand over your control to your wants, decide that you want the kind of happiness that comes from not overeating instead of the happiness food brings.
.
It's also a gift of God to be able to enjoy the fruits of our work, and food itself is a gift from God. It's fine to enjoy it tooKathleen wrote:LifeIsABlessing,
I don't eat for pleasure, but I certainly need to ask God's help. Fasting is recommended in the Bible. It's not only recommended; it is assumed. Christ says, "When you fast..."
Kathleen
.Homeschool Mom and No S returnee as of 11-30-15.
2 years and counting on No-S.
29 lbs. down, 34 to go. Slow and steady wins the race.
Respect Moderation
2 years and counting on No-S.
29 lbs. down, 34 to go. Slow and steady wins the race.
Respect Moderation
Here, here! Food is meant to be pleasurable--it helps ensure our survival. Just like ahem...other pleasurable activities necessary for our survival.Merry wrote:
It's also a gift of God to be able to enjoy the fruits of our work, and food itself is a gift from God. It's fine to enjoy it too
SW: 210 lbsCW: 172
GW:160
"It's also a gift of God to be able to enjoy the fruits of our work, and food itself is a gift from God. It's fine to enjoy it too."
In moderation and SOMETIMES more for celebration. That's why we're here on this site, right?
In moderation and SOMETIMES more for celebration. That's why we're here on this site, right?
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
In six months? A year? What percentage loss did that represent? Obesity doctors are often ecstatic if patients maintain a 5% loss. Why torture yourself over expecting more if you really believe that making bigger efforts will only backfire? Can you say the way you'r living now is better?
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
-
LifeisaBlessing
- Posts: 337
- Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2016 1:08 pm
Kathleen - I think you mistakenly thought I commented on fasting above? I was just agreeing with Jen1974 about her thoughts/feelings over wishing that you could have more at the end of a meal, and never really getting over that desire. Case in point: Thanksgiving yesterday!!! Boy, did I want seconds, more cookies, more pie, more nut roll, more poppyseed roll, etc. But like Jen said, I chose to go for the happiness that comes from not overeating versus the food happiness. This is the "gold" moment.Kathleen wrote:LifeIsABlessing,
I don't eat for pleasure, but I certainly need to ask God's help. Fasting is recommended in the Bible. It's not only recommended; it is assumed. Christ says, "When you fast..."
Kathleen
Regarding your foray into Intuitive Eating: I think there is plenty of good that comes from looking into how your body reacts to foods, timing of eating, quantity of said foods, etc. When/if you return to NoS, IE will have given you invaluable information on what foods suit your biology the best, which you then can incorporate into planning your meals NoS-style.
In any case, good luck with your decision!
I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
~Jimmy Dean
The second you overcomplicate it is the second it becomes the thing for which it is a corrective.
~El Fug, on the NoS Diet
~Jimmy Dean
The second you overcomplicate it is the second it becomes the thing for which it is a corrective.
~El Fug, on the NoS Diet
I do not understand why you aren't returning if it's the best diet you've had. You have tried IE before. Has it ever netted as good of results as No S?
I didn't get over wild S days for TWO YEARS! So what? I was still eating better consistently 20 days a month than I had been for the previous four decades, despite some short stints of "ideal" eating thrown in there. And my weight drifted downwards, but honestly, even if it hadn't, it was still an improvement in eating quality and life quality. I've never gotten really thin; on the other site I use, there are plenty of women who consider my present weight their "before" weight. But I don't measure, weigh, or record my food, something I will NEVER do unless I develop a disease that absolutely necessitates such measures. (I will consider recording my food on S days in the future.)
I know it sounds defeatist, but isn't having 20 days a month of reasonably moderate, "orderly" eating better than what you have now? Especially if it takes you to your lowest weight in years? Why discount the improvement just because it doesn't fit the image of daily moderation? So what?
Which is better:
A) a woman who loses nearly 10% of her weight with some overeating, even rather hefty overeating, or
B) a woman who loses nearly nothing for years on end while striving to find an alternative that will somehow get her to eat even less and lose even more?
I didn't get over wild S days for TWO YEARS! So what? I was still eating better consistently 20 days a month than I had been for the previous four decades, despite some short stints of "ideal" eating thrown in there. And my weight drifted downwards, but honestly, even if it hadn't, it was still an improvement in eating quality and life quality. I've never gotten really thin; on the other site I use, there are plenty of women who consider my present weight their "before" weight. But I don't measure, weigh, or record my food, something I will NEVER do unless I develop a disease that absolutely necessitates such measures. (I will consider recording my food on S days in the future.)
I know it sounds defeatist, but isn't having 20 days a month of reasonably moderate, "orderly" eating better than what you have now? Especially if it takes you to your lowest weight in years? Why discount the improvement just because it doesn't fit the image of daily moderation? So what?
Which is better:
A) a woman who loses nearly 10% of her weight with some overeating, even rather hefty overeating, or
B) a woman who loses nearly nothing for years on end while striving to find an alternative that will somehow get her to eat even less and lose even more?
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Why do you assume you won't be on again and off again on IE?
You did realize that versions A and B I was talking about was you, right?
You did realize that versions A and B I was talking about was you, right?
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
oolala53,
I don't assume I won't be on and off IE. I was on and off coffee for decades, and now I've been off it since mid-June. It takes a decision, but this one is tricky because it isn't so clear cut when you are overeating. It is very clear cut if you are having coffee.
Yes, I know you were talking about me. The truth stings. If I cannot stick to IE, then No S is probably my best bet, but I know that No S will provide sanity even if I am not thin.
Kathleen
I don't assume I won't be on and off IE. I was on and off coffee for decades, and now I've been off it since mid-June. It takes a decision, but this one is tricky because it isn't so clear cut when you are overeating. It is very clear cut if you are having coffee.
Yes, I know you were talking about me. The truth stings. If I cannot stick to IE, then No S is probably my best bet, but I know that No S will provide sanity even if I am not thin.
Kathleen
How will you deal with the holidays without having established yourself with IE? Are you really going to be willing to forgo eating at events just because you are not hungry? Are you going to be willing to stop eating at what will probably be a rather small amount of food, if you are even hungry enough to start? If you start making exceptions for this and that, you won't really be doing IE.
What about considering combining the two? No S during the week and IE on weekends? Or vice versa?
The main times I lost weight, I did something akin to IE on weekends, actually eating less often and less volume of food, but richer food and sweets.
I'm just trying to understand. You want to find a way to lose more weight than you did no No S? Which means you would have to end up eating less overall forever. You think you will end up eating less food overall and over time on IE than you did in your nine months of No S because you will virtually never have permission to go overboard, as you feel you did on S days.
What will actually stop you from overeating when you get the urge, which will almost undoubtedly happen? Your commitment to the concept of stopping at full? How will you know if you are full? (You don't have to answer me, just yourself.)
Are you reaching out for any help from the IE community, and I mean people who have been successfully using it for two years or more, not people in the honeymoon stage, living on the the hope and promises? And not people who've never had a weight problem, as they just can't relate. Successful IE-ers are just as hard to find as those who've succeeded at counting calories, perhaps even more so, because they aren't as public. But it would be worth the effort to find a coach of some kind, if you really want this to work. It's not the normal way human societies keep slim, especially where food is abundant. Get help! Just as you would get a piano teacher, most likely, if you were going to learn to play.
What about considering combining the two? No S during the week and IE on weekends? Or vice versa?
The main times I lost weight, I did something akin to IE on weekends, actually eating less often and less volume of food, but richer food and sweets.
I'm just trying to understand. You want to find a way to lose more weight than you did no No S? Which means you would have to end up eating less overall forever. You think you will end up eating less food overall and over time on IE than you did in your nine months of No S because you will virtually never have permission to go overboard, as you feel you did on S days.
What will actually stop you from overeating when you get the urge, which will almost undoubtedly happen? Your commitment to the concept of stopping at full? How will you know if you are full? (You don't have to answer me, just yourself.)
Are you reaching out for any help from the IE community, and I mean people who have been successfully using it for two years or more, not people in the honeymoon stage, living on the the hope and promises? And not people who've never had a weight problem, as they just can't relate. Successful IE-ers are just as hard to find as those who've succeeded at counting calories, perhaps even more so, because they aren't as public. But it would be worth the effort to find a coach of some kind, if you really want this to work. It's not the normal way human societies keep slim, especially where food is abundant. Get help! Just as you would get a piano teacher, most likely, if you were going to learn to play.
Last edited by oolala53 on Sat Dec 03, 2016 6:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
oolala53,
You have a point. Several points. It's painful to admit, but I am recalling now why I considered IE the worst diet ever. Yesterday, I got to 5 pm without my stomach growling once, and I was off... Did I feel hunger? Maybe. Maybe not. I can't tell.
Trying to do IE when you cannot really tell if you are hungry or not is a lost cause.
OK. I'll try a modified version of No S. Sanity is a great benefit of No S. Also, 196.6 is almost 30 pounds less than where I am today.
Kathleen
You have a point. Several points. It's painful to admit, but I am recalling now why I considered IE the worst diet ever. Yesterday, I got to 5 pm without my stomach growling once, and I was off... Did I feel hunger? Maybe. Maybe not. I can't tell.
Trying to do IE when you cannot really tell if you are hungry or not is a lost cause.
OK. I'll try a modified version of No S. Sanity is a great benefit of No S. Also, 196.6 is almost 30 pounds less than where I am today.
Kathleen
Just to say:
Here’s an excerpt from a book review just after an explanation of how serving sizes in America got so big.
Now, you might think people would stop eating and drinking these gargantuan portions as soon as they felt full, but it turns out hunger doesn't work that way. Citing studies in the ''growing field of satiety'' -- the science of human satisfaction -- Critser writes that people presented with larger portions will eat up to 30 percent more than they otherwise would. Human hunger is apparently quite elastic, which makes excellent evolutionary sense: it behooved our hunter-gatherer ancestors to feast whenever the opportunity presented itself, thereby storing reserves of fat against future famine. Researchers call this trait ''the thrifty gene.'' The problem is that in an era of fast-food abundance, the opportunity for feasting now presents itself 24/7.
from Greg Critser.
This is one reason I believe that IE is untenable for most people. One can, of course, even overdo it on No S. After all, there are one-plate meals at some restaurants that offer a modest eaters' entire day's worth of calories on it. NO whole society thrives on IE.
You made it 9 months before. Consider not allowing yourself to even think about quitting until a year from January.
IMHO.
Here’s an excerpt from a book review just after an explanation of how serving sizes in America got so big.
Now, you might think people would stop eating and drinking these gargantuan portions as soon as they felt full, but it turns out hunger doesn't work that way. Citing studies in the ''growing field of satiety'' -- the science of human satisfaction -- Critser writes that people presented with larger portions will eat up to 30 percent more than they otherwise would. Human hunger is apparently quite elastic, which makes excellent evolutionary sense: it behooved our hunter-gatherer ancestors to feast whenever the opportunity presented itself, thereby storing reserves of fat against future famine. Researchers call this trait ''the thrifty gene.'' The problem is that in an era of fast-food abundance, the opportunity for feasting now presents itself 24/7.
from Greg Critser.
This is one reason I believe that IE is untenable for most people. One can, of course, even overdo it on No S. After all, there are one-plate meals at some restaurants that offer a modest eaters' entire day's worth of calories on it. NO whole society thrives on IE.
You made it 9 months before. Consider not allowing yourself to even think about quitting until a year from January.
IMHO.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
If you've read any of my posts in the past, you know I LOVE soup. I have soup for lunch nearly every day all year.
In February I saw this article. I followed all the links and The Splendid Spoon appealed to me. It combines IF with "souping." There is one day dedicated to eating soup (soup fast), 5 days of replacing one meal with soup, and one "anything goes" day. So there's a little No-S in there, too. The creator of the program, Nicole Centeno, has also written a book. There's a lot of useful information in the blog, especially if you start at page 10 and work forwards.
Because I'm older, smaller and less active, I really don't need a lot of calories on a daily basis. Having soup for one meal helps me control the number of calories I eat while providing nutrition.
In an attempt to reduce calories I'd experimented with various forms of IF -- 5:2, alternate day fasting, and eat, stop, eat. I can't say they didn't work, but none of them ever felt natural and normal. Souping feels normal to me. The only change I had to make was adding a day of soup only, which was no big deal for me. If I feel like I've overdone it one day, like Thanksgiving, I can do an extra soup day the next day. The best thing about soup day is that I'm not hungry.
I'm not vegan or even vegetarian and I don't follow a gluten-free diet, but most of the soups I make are vegan and gluten-free. If there's a non-vegetarian ingredient in my soups, it's usually chicken stock.
In February I saw this article. I followed all the links and The Splendid Spoon appealed to me. It combines IF with "souping." There is one day dedicated to eating soup (soup fast), 5 days of replacing one meal with soup, and one "anything goes" day. So there's a little No-S in there, too. The creator of the program, Nicole Centeno, has also written a book. There's a lot of useful information in the blog, especially if you start at page 10 and work forwards.
Because I'm older, smaller and less active, I really don't need a lot of calories on a daily basis. Having soup for one meal helps me control the number of calories I eat while providing nutrition.
In an attempt to reduce calories I'd experimented with various forms of IF -- 5:2, alternate day fasting, and eat, stop, eat. I can't say they didn't work, but none of them ever felt natural and normal. Souping feels normal to me. The only change I had to make was adding a day of soup only, which was no big deal for me. If I feel like I've overdone it one day, like Thanksgiving, I can do an extra soup day the next day. The best thing about soup day is that I'm not hungry.
I'm not vegan or even vegetarian and I don't follow a gluten-free diet, but most of the soups I make are vegan and gluten-free. If there's a non-vegetarian ingredient in my soups, it's usually chicken stock.
"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed but our power to do it is increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."
"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."
wosnes,
That is very interesting! i love soup! In trying to cook, I have found three soup recipes to my liking: beef and barley soup, split pea soup, and chicken noodle soup.
My time on No S lasted one day. I ate before I remembered to turn my clauddaugh ring and realized just how silly my approach was.
For years, I have thought that the basic problem of the obese was gullibility, and now I have found a video that says just that. It is called The Aetiology of Obesity and features Dr. Jason Fung.
Using my approach to taking steps as a guide, I am going to try just counting the number of days when I eat within a 5 hour window between 3 and 8 pm. No Sundays.
I have done that for three of the past six days and weigh exactly today what I weighed on December 1: 225.0 even. Is that a hopeful sign or not? I think it may be. I should be able to fast a higher percentage of days than that but did not due to a brief return both to No S and Intuitive Eating and due to having lunch with a friend.
Could this work for me? Possibly. Fasting to me seems like a rest. It is not difficult.
Kathleen
That is very interesting! i love soup! In trying to cook, I have found three soup recipes to my liking: beef and barley soup, split pea soup, and chicken noodle soup.
My time on No S lasted one day. I ate before I remembered to turn my clauddaugh ring and realized just how silly my approach was.
For years, I have thought that the basic problem of the obese was gullibility, and now I have found a video that says just that. It is called The Aetiology of Obesity and features Dr. Jason Fung.
Using my approach to taking steps as a guide, I am going to try just counting the number of days when I eat within a 5 hour window between 3 and 8 pm. No Sundays.
I have done that for three of the past six days and weigh exactly today what I weighed on December 1: 225.0 even. Is that a hopeful sign or not? I think it may be. I should be able to fast a higher percentage of days than that but did not due to a brief return both to No S and Intuitive Eating and due to having lunch with a friend.
Could this work for me? Possibly. Fasting to me seems like a rest. It is not difficult.
Kathleen
Last edited by Kathleen on Wed Dec 07, 2016 9:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
December, 2016: The Blessings of Simplicity starting December 2, 2016
Weight Summary
Thursday, December 1, 2016: 225.0
Day 1 - Friday, December 2, 2016:
Day 2 - Saturday, December 3, 2016: 223.0
Day 3 - Sunday, December 4, 2016:
Day 4 - Monday, December 5, 2016: 225.2
Day 5 - Tuesday, December 6, 2016:
Day 6 – Wednesday, December 7, 2016: 225.0
Day 7 – Thursday, December 8, 2016: 224.2
Day 8 – Friday, December 9, 2016: 223.6
Day 9 – Saturday, December 10, 2016: 223.2
Day 10 – Sunday, December 11, 2016: 224.0
Day 11 – Monday, December 12, 2016: 223.2
Day 12 – Tuesday, December 13, 2016: 223.0
Day 13 – Wednesday, December 14, 2016: 221.4
Day 14 – Thursday, December 15, 2016: 222.4
Day 15 – Friday, December 16, 2016: 222.4
Day 16 – Saturday, December 17, 2016:
Day 17 – Sunday, December 18, 2016: 223.2
Day 18 – Monday, December 19, 2016: 223.0
Day 19 – Tuesday, December 20, 2016: 221.2
Day 20 – Wednesday, December 21, 2016: 222.6
Day 21 – Thursday, December 22, 2016: 222.0
Day 22 – Friday, December 23, 2016: 222.4
Day 23 – Saturday, December 24, 2016: 222.8
Day 24 – Sunday, December 25, 2016:
Day 25 – Monday, December 26, 2016:
Day 26 – Tuesday, December 27, 2016:
Day 1 – Wednesday, December 28, 2016:
Day 2 – Thursday, December 29, 2016:
Day 3 – Friday, December 30, 2016:
Day 4 – Saturday, December 31, 2016:
Journal
Day 6 – Wednesday, December 7, 2016: 225.0
The Obesity Code; author: Dr. Jason Fung; publication date: March, 2016;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J9DfeOYBKs
Strategies: "cutting out a lot of the sugars and the refined grains and intermittent fasting"
My diet: eat within a 5 hour window 3 - 8 pm pm on a goal of 20 days per month. No fasting on Sundays.
Day 7 – Thursday, December 8, 2016: 224.2
Anne is living at home while she works at a low level professional job, pays us back for the car we bought her in August, and applies to grad school. She is gone a lot because her boyfriend is still at the U and so it is just a 20 minute drive to see him. She just went to a yoga class at the Y and came home to have some cottage cheese before leaving. She is counting calories and very happy that she is losing weight.
I am saying nothing. I can only be a role model for her, and who would look to me for information on dieting?
I ordered the Fung book "The Obesity Code" and will get it on Tuesday. From what I see with the videos this doctor has produced, my approach may be insufficient, so I am open to having some occasional 24 hour fasts. For example, I ate early tonight because I'm headed out and all the kids are out. It is now 5:15. Maybe I can stretch to 24 hour fast for tomorrow. Maybe I can try a maximum of 2 24 hour fasts per week.
Something tells me some variability is good, and it may be that the Christian fasts were balanced by feasts.
The program of 20 days of eating within a 5 hour window mirrors what I am doing successfully with walking, having flexibility to not walk a certain amount on a certain day.
Anne is going to fail at counting calories to lose weight in the long run, as Dr. Fung and many others have said. Obesity is a hormonal problem. It's not a matter of too many calories.
Day 8 – Friday, December 9, 2016: 223.6
Ugh. I always want to tweak and tweaking brings complexity. I last ate at 5:15 PM yesterday and was planning on waiting until 5:15 today to eat. Instead, I'm just going to stick with the goal of eating within a five hour window 20 times per month.
Day 9 – Saturday, December 10, 2016: 223.2
Gary Taubes wrote an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal about how he believes sugar is killing us. I think he may be right. What am I doing about limiting sugar in my diet? Absolutely nothing. It showed yesterday because I had several candy canes. My theory is that fasting changes what you want to eat. We shall see about that. I've seen some small indication personally that that may be true, especially when breaking a fast. Who wants to have dessert first thing in the morning? I don't want sugar when I break a 19 hour fast. I want something like milk or eggs.
I have over the past couple of years made a great effort to learn to cook. Yesterday I made lentil soup. It's not that great, but the split pea soup I've made is really good.
8 PM: I have been binge-watching Jason Fung videos and realize that I failed on this diet in August because I was binge eating during my five hour window due to a fear that I would get hungry when I was fasting. Now I realize that having some feeling of hunger means I'm eating my fat stores. There is nothing to fear.
I got to video three of his aetiology of obesity. He was explaining how the American Heart Association promoted a low-fat diet and how they would label some foods as heart healthy based on their low fat content. He actually produced a slide where he said, in 2009, Cocoa Puffs and Frosted Mini Wheats were labeled as heart healthy.
Oh, I remember that... I had told the kids I would buy anything with the heart healthy label, and Katie was super excited to find it on Cocoa Pulls!
I'm gullible. I bought low fat. I bought breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I bought eat less, exercise more. I bought all these falsehoods.
My life is more than half over. I spent 40 years fighting doing what proscribed in the Bible: "WHEN you fast..."
My head is in my hands. What a struggle. It's over. I've found the problem. The problem is I took bad advice and followed it religiously. Fasting is the answer.
That is not to say NoS is without merit. I think it can work for people who are not as far gone as I am. I have a big problem from years and years of weighing more than 200 pounds. Jason Fung diagnoses obesity as being due to insulin resistance. Maybe my walking kept me from diabetes, but it sure did not keep me from a significant waste size.
The doctor says in another video that he usually fasts about 2 times per week for 24 hours and another three days of a shorter period of fasting.
Day 10 – Sunday, December 11, 2016: 224.0
This is a really interesting video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG89j432w-Y&t=1509s
I don't have diabetes, but this doctor says metabolic syndrome (big waste size) is due to insulin resistance just like diabetes is. Fasting is recommended because the body does not adjust the metabolic rate lower when the food intake is inconsistent: fasting followed by normal eating.
I think I'm going to try for 8 24-hour fasts within the 20 days that are eating within a five hour window. That is the absolute maximum. I can't be tweaking and tweaking.
9:30 PM: I actually started fasting on December 2 but at that point was looking at a 3 hour window from 4:30 to 7:30. I then tweaked to a 5 hour window on December 7 which is when I thought I would say I started the diet, but now I'm looking at adding 24 hour fasts. I went back to say this diet started on December 2.
I stopped eating at 4:31 today so I will try to wait until 4:31 tomorrow to eat. My window will be 4:30 to 8 tomorrow.
This feels like the limit of what I can sustain, just like I figured out 10,000 steps per day is my limit.
Day 11 – Monday, December 12, 2016: 223.2
I am frankly devastated by what I am learning from this series of lectures by Dr. Fung called The Aetiology of Obesity. In a nutshell, those who follow the conventional wisdom of "portion control" try to maintain a lower caloric intake than their body desires, and their body responds by increasing hunger signals and decreasing metabolism. Even after the diet inevitably ends, the metabolism continues to be lower because the body is staying prepared for what might be another famine. In contrast, with fasting, the body has periods of no eating but does not lower the metabolism because eating soon occurs and the person eats as much as he/she wants. When the person is fasting, the body simply uses stores of body fat.
So I, gullible and desiring to do the right thing, followed the advice of "portion control" until my body rebelled in about 2001. Then I went on a hunt for a better approach. No S was the best approach I found. It did bring sanity but not enough weight loss. Since giving up on No S, I've been on the hunt and tried all sorts of things. I've mostly tried different approaches to fasting for the past year but with the fear that I was doing my body harm. Now, with these lectures, I know that the body actually needs fasts as a type of self-cleansing.
What kills me is that I never looked to the Bible. Christ himself said, "When you fast..." It was a given that people fast.
Instead, I looked to medical experts who put American Heart Association heart healthy eating labels on Cocoa Puffs... Seriously, look at 1:16-48 to 1:18:48 of The Aetiology of Obesity Part 3 of 6: Trial by Diet. He ends by saying, "The only person you can trust is yourself." Here is where self-education is so important. I need to understand. Fasting is easy now because I know that it is good for me because I have become educated.
Day 12 – Tuesday, December 13, 2016: 223.0
I managed a 24 hour fast yesterday but oh am I grumpy! Is it because of the fast or because my daughter won't drive her sister to work if I have to go pick up her brother from college? I am definitely overreacting, so I think it is the fast.
Maybe I need to accept that a 19 hour fast is my limit.
11 AM: I think I need to just stick with 20 fast days per month that are eating within a five hour window 3 - 8 PM. It's very simple and easy to follow. Last week, I picked up Katie after 8 PM (when her job ended) and we stopped by Trader Joe's. She had the taste test; I did not. She has pestered me a couple of times about what diet I am following because she knew I must be following a diet or I would have had the taste test. I told her I'd tell her when I've lost 10 pounds. Other than that, no one has detected that I am fasting.
I'm keeping it that way. It will be harder to do when the kids are off school. On Saturday, Katie, Ellie, Tommy and I will be together all day, so I'll have lunch.
It is more important for me to keep fasting on the down-low than it is to get to 20 fast days in a month, so I may fall short.
As for weight loss, I am finding as of today that my stomach seems to be getting smaller. This may be an illusion. Time will tell, but I think fasting alone could solve my obesity problem.
I got Fung's book The Obesity Epidemic yesterday and have read a couple of chapters. The information in it is something that makes me ill. I can remember back when I was in high school that people still said, "Bread makes you fat." That was 40 years ago. It was about that time that "Fat makes you fat" came into vogue. Like lemmings to the sea, I followed the medical wisdom of politicians supporting the corn lobby.
I cannot go back in time. I can be a lesson learned to my children, but the best way to do that is by example and not by preaching. The fasting needs to be undercover until I have lost a lot of weight.
Day 13 – Wednesday, December 14, 2016: 221.4
I told Tom that this book debunks the theory that you can lose weight with "Eat Less, Exercise More." He scoffed. It's OK. He's lived with me on one diet after another since we got married. The only thing that will convince him is my losing weight that he can see, and it will take time.
Day 14 – Thursday, December 15, 2016: 222.4
Anne, Tom and I talked last night about how both Anne and I could have handled better my asking Anne to take Katie to work. I did handle it poorly as did she, and I think it may have been to fasting for 24 hours.
Yesterday, I again did not eat until after 3 PM, making that 9 days this month. There was a problem, however. I really ate for about 45 minutes, and all I did was stuff myself with a peanut butter sandwich, milk, banana bread, whatever was at hand...
Today, I am making split pea soup and may also make chicken noodle soup, since Katie is home sick. I think I should be very careful about how I break my fast. That was the lesson learned from yesterday, but it also was discussed in Fung videotapes and the Herring book.
The Obesity Code is creating strong positive and negative feelings in me. One is regret and anger that I had tried so hard to do what was the wrong thing. I may not have bought into Cocoa Puffs being heart-healthy, but I did buy breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I did buy that low fat was the way to go.
Thinking back to my childhood, I remember my boisterous father who was good at repeating something memorable, would say, "Bread makes you fat." He changed, however, to "You cannot deny the First Law of Thermodynamics."
I struggled with my weight since I was in high school, and here I am staring at weight over 195 pounds for about the last 15 years. Why? I have drive and commitment. Why?
I was following bad advice.
The second emotion I have is relief. I finally understand. The doctor systematically destroys the conventional wisdom of:
- A calorie is a calorie is a calorie.
- Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
- The way to lose weight is with "portion control."
- Eat low fat foods.
- Avoid saturated fat.
These particular bits of wisdom aren't just wrong. They are actually counterproductive.
"Portion control" is really destructive because your body isn't getting what it wants and so slows down its metabolism. I sensed that years ago and have had several discussions with my personal trainer about how I won't ever try "portion control" again.
Since I am posting on the No S website, I thought I'd say something about that diet. The Obesity Code gives me insight into why it is successful for some people. It does promote fasting but just not as long as 19 or 24 hours. You fast between dinner and breakfast when you give up snacks.
No S also helps with going lower carb because you give up sweets.
Finally No S does not result in a lower body metabolism because of the S Days.
I also think I understand why No S did not work for me. The basic argument of the Fung book is that obesity is a hormonal problem due to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is something that builds over time. Because I have been obese for so long, the No S approach to weight loss was insufficient for me. In fact, what I am doing now may be insufficient for me, but it is more rigorous than No S.
I read somewhere on this blog someone observing that No S seems to work for the mildly to moderately overweight, and maybe that is why: the insulin resistance is too high for a moderate approach like No S to work.
Fung has another book, just released, called The Complete Guide to Fasting. I've got that on order.
Maybe fasting 20 days per month for 19 hours will work for me, and maybe it won't, but it is what I can handle right now.
Tomorrow I may driving to UND to pick up Tommy, and there is a winter storm watch. It is -17 this morning in Grand Forks and -7 this morning in Minneapolis. With Tommy home and Katie and Ellie off school after next Wednesday, I won't have much time for thinking about this diet. I'm just going to do it. I'm not even trying to reduce the amount of carbs I eat. My goal with what I eat is to avoid processed foods. I am doing a lot of experimentation with food, so I am looking for recipes with fewer carbs or trying to add vegetables to pasta dish favorites. Still, my family needs to eat what I cook. Last night, for example, was Swedish meatballs, and it was a hit.
Day 15 – Friday, December 16, 2016: 222.4
So happy my son got a ride home from college. I am home with nothing much to do except make dinner and get Katie to work at 4. I read back through my journal for August and came to the conclusion that I was too impatient with this diet working.
I am trying to cook more and see from The Obesity Code that that is a good thing to do because sugar and preservatives are in almost all packaged foods. Yesterday, I made split pea soup and that is what I ate to break my fast at 3. Then I went out to dinner. I had no interest whatsoever in dessert. I do believe that, at least for me, the fasting changes my taste in food. We shall see. I don't want to restrict what I eat at all and will stick just with the five hour eating window and see what comes of it.
In 17 days, I am down more than 2 pounds. That is good.
Day 19 – Tuesday, December 20, 2016: 221.2
Anne got engaged on Saturday. It should not have been a shock but it was. She's living at home. Can they manage if they marry next summer? Absolutely. They are both smart and both work hard, but still it is a shock.
Meanwhile, what am I doing? I'm still continuing with the five hour fasts but then am trying to have one 24 hour fast per week. I get super grumpy and now realize I have to watch it. Last week, I got upset with Anne; this week, with Katie. I think my body may be reacting to a change that is so far outside my norm as to be disturbing. The five hour eating window is easy but the 24 hour fast is not.
The theory of Dr. Fung is that obesity is the result of high insulin levels and fasting reduces insulin levels quickly and drastically.
I can now fast 19 hours fairly easily.
I wish I had read The Obesity Code 40 years ago (it was published this year) but what I can do is follow the fasting protocol now and model for my children what they can do to maintain a normal weight.
It just kills me to realize I thought I was doing the right thing to feed them The Breakfast of Champions: high carbohydrate breakfast cereals.
Day 20 – Wednesday, December 21, 2016: 222.6
I always get some tidbit that helps me when I meet with my personal trainer, Kayla. This time around, I set out my very unusual criteria for a diet:
- Sustainable: I can follow it indefinitely
- Measurable: Success or failure to follow the diet is very easy to determine.
- Fits on one sheet: I track my exercise and wanted to track my eating. I literally added a column to my tracking sheet before I figured out what I would track. Right now, I put in a number if I ate within the 3 - 8 PM window, and I circle the number if I ate after a 24 hour fast. Right now, I have eaten within the 5 hour window 14 times this month, twice after a 24 hour fast.
- With no portion control or restriction on what I eat: This criteria is very strange, but it comes down to not wanting to trigger binge eating. One thing I told Kayla is I have noticed that I am not having sweets as much and pointed out that you rarely want a dessert right away in the morning and it's the same thing with fasting.
- Sundays free: This is partly religious. Sundays should be special.
- Successful: This is the one criteria that might not be met by the diet. I may end up not losing sufficient weight to say it is successful, so I was toying with the idea of not eating at all on Wednesdays when our dinners are messed up anyway due to Katie working until 7.
Well, talking with Kayla, I concluded maybe I should wait on that. I need to be solid in the 24 hour fasts first.
We also discussed having whole grains, and Kayla gave me a tidbit that whole grains tend to be tan rather than white.
Day 21 – Thursday, December 22, 2016: 222.0
When I talked with Kayla yesterday, I was somewhat uncertain whether this approach would work. Thinking it over and reading through my journal for August on this site, I realized that there have been a couple of things that give me more confidence that this just might work:
- My desire to binge eat has lessened. If I can eat as much as I want between 3 and 8 PM, do I really need to stuff myself right at 3? No.
- My taste in food is shifting away from sweets, especially right when I break my fast. Earlier this month, as I told Kayla in response to her question about what I eat, I said that I had numbers of candy canes. Now what I desire is chicken noodle soup. Yesterday, I stopped at the bank with Tommy. He grabbed a lollipop. I did not. It was just after 3 PM, and I had not eaten anything all day, but I had zero desire for a lollipop. No willpower was involved.
After thinking about it, I think that I should just stay the course and keep the goal of 20 days of eating within a 5 hour eating window and not worry about having 24 or 42 hour fasts in addition to this singular goal.
If Fung's theory is correct that my desire to overeat is due to insulin resistance, then fast days are cumulative: any fasting will reduce insulin resistance, and I won't just binge eat on those days when I can eat whatever I want.
My kids are grown up or growing. I think the worst mistake we have made with them has been modeling poor care of our bodies, and sadly it wasn't our fault. As Fung says, we took bad advice. We did try.
You cannot go back in time. I love the poem by St. John Newman, "Lead, Kindly Light", and I need to remind myself of it, especially "one step enough for me." I did my best, and now I am changing course because the advice was bad.
Here is Lead, Kindly Light:
Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom,
lead thou me on;
the night is dark, and I am far from home;
lead thou me on.
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
the distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
lead thou me on.
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
pride ruled my will: remember not past years.
So long thy power hath blest me, sure it still
will lead me on,
o'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
the night is gone,
and with the morn those angel faces smile,
which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.
Day 22 – Friday, December 23, 2016: 222.4
Wow! I had several cookies yesterday and a light dinner but this morning I feel lousy. I can actually tell that the extra sugar made me feel worse! This adds to the sense that I'm on the right track.
Today is a non compliant day, and I don't have much interest in breakfast. I have zero interest in binge eating. This is great!
Anne came to me last night to inform me that she is getting married in six months. She, Tom, and I got into a discussion about it, and then I told her a story. I told her that I was telling her father that I was concerned that Katie wouldn't get paid for working at the Santa house because it will just close up on Christmas Eve. His response: "Another thing I'm not going to worry about..."
I told Anne it is in my nature to worry but we will support her as she builds her own life.
Meanwhile, Tom's job is being cut. So -- in one week, we've had two major events (Anne's engagement and Tom's job being cut) and one major family decision (Katie got into the school most acceptable to her that we would fund: we wouldn't let her attend a school which graduates 12 English majors a year, since she is planning on majoring in English). According to Fung, cortisol is associated with stress, and stress does cause weight gain.
I don't think it's stress in my case. I think it's low fat that led to excessive sugar intake.
The best wedding gift I could give to Anne is to model a path out of obesity.
1:30 PM: So now Anne, Tom, and I are going to have a weight loss contest with the beginning weight today (tomorrow for Tom) and the ending weight on January 31. I will likely lose it for that month but keep it off unlike the other two who are practicing "Eat less, exercise more".
Day 23 – Saturday, December 24, 2016: 222.8
Katie and Ellie are dogsitting, but Katie was sneezing when the dog was in their room, so we got the dog who woke up Tom t 4 AM by licking him! As a result, I also was awake. I did not feel great -- too many sweets from last night.
After realizing that, I also realized -- hey! how often have I felt not that great from downing a lot of sweets? Not often! The fasting, I believe, is shifting my tastes away from sweets.
I'm slogging through a book on fasting co-written by Dr. Fung called The Complete Guide to Fasting, and there is an emphasis that fasting is insufficient, that you need to change what you eat by moving towards more natural foods and less sugar and processed grains.
Well, I'm not sure that is true. I think it may be that fasting changes your tastes over time.
I remember many years ago looking at a picture of stout Henry VIII and wondering if his leaving the Church and perhaps no longer fasting is what made him so fat. Maybe.... There's an assumption that it is only during the modern era that food has become abundant, but that is just not so. During the high middle ages, there was a little warming period when grapes could be grown on Greenland, and food was abundant. Maybe it was the Catholic practice of fasting which made obesity rare.
9 PM: Whoa... I have little to no idea what has happened but it reminds me of when I suddenly stopped drinking coffee after years and years of drinking coffee. I went to the 3 PM to 8 PM eating schedule today and mostly enjoyed healthful foods like halos, split pea soup, and a dinner that was a simple penne pasta with a vegetable and ground beef sauce. After dinner, I had the smallest slice of pie and didn't really want more. I may want to fast tomorrow, and it is Christmas Day! We shall see, but I have eaten past the point of comfort and that is an usual feeling indeed.
What is going on? What does fasting do to impact appetite?
Day 24 – Sunday, December 25, 2016:
It's only 2 PM, and I've eaten like a pig all day even though I felt no hunger. Why? I think that maybe the non compliant festival day two days ago just led to making today either a return to my pre-fasting norm or a return to the fasting norm. It's hard to describe, but I wasn't comfortable in either place. I was in an in-between place and now I'm squarely back in the comfort zone of high insulin levels. Lots of candy and coffee cake.
What to do now?
Day 25 – Monday, December 26, 2016:
I didn't want to weigh myself today for fear of what the weight was, but it was easy to sail through to 3 PM before eating since I was so stuffed yesterday. In fact, I ended up not eating until almost 5 PM. I sense this is like a pendulum swinging. If you swing too far to overeating, you end up swinging to not eating. Fasting disrupts the sense of what is normal.
I have toyed with the idea of fasting 24 hours despite the fact that I got really grumpy the two times I previously did it. I also toyed with the idea of skipping the New Year's Eve weekend visit to my mother in law's house so I could fast, but really... she's 92. How selfish can I be?
I can definitely sustain a habit of eating only within a 5 hour window for an average of 20 days per month. The remaining question is if I can lose weight by doing this, and I need to be patient and give it time.
Day 26 – Tuesday, December 27, 2016:
Of course, weight gain is to be expected with the indulgence from Christmas holidays. I did fast until 3 yesterday, making a count of 18 for number of days I ate within a 3 - 8 PM window. What was my weight today? I got up so late that I am not recording the weight, but it was 223.6.
Something has to change. I have a conjecture on why I am not losing weight and it is that my insulin is not coming down enough. I need to up the ante, so to speak, and I'm looking at the Every Other Day Diet which I followed back in June.
All I have to do is go back in my journal here and see that I was successful but it was way too hard to miss dinner with the family. Well, it is way too hard to be this fat. I'm just going to have to do it.
I don't think I'm going to try having whatever I want on one day and then 500 calories on the next day, alternating indefinitely. Instead, I'm going to try nothing 3 days per week but never on Sundays.
Day 1 – Wednesday, December 28, 2016:
Go figure. It is 10 PM, I have not had anything except tea, and I feel fine. A 24 hour fast was awful: I got upset with one daughter one week and with another daughter another week. A 36 hour fast seems way easier. Why? As far as I can figure, when I break the fast is key.
Day 2 – Thursday, December 29, 2016:
The kids are off school, and I rolled out of bed too late to weigh myself. I was not all that hungry even after 36 hours of fasting.
4 PM: Tom, Anne, and Tommy are working, Ellie is at a party, and Katie and I are home with two dogs. It is quiet, and I have time to think.
I was determined this month to go 20 days of eating within a five hour window of 3 - 8 PM, and yesterday was my 20th day when I did not eat outside that 3 - 8 PM window. In fact, I ate nothing yesterday.
In fact, I realize now, it was the start of a new diet, one that does not thrill me and would not continue once I got down to a decent weight. Eat nothing three times per week. Like with my bike exercise, I won't do two consecutive days. Also, if it isn't possible to fast three times in one week, that's OK, too. In the couple of months that I have been on the exercise bike, there has only been one time that I have biked only twice in a week.
What is great about biking is it is three times and then I am done. I don't strive for four times. That will be my goal for fasting as well.
Like with my diet for this month, I'm making a commitment to myself to complete at least one month of this diet before giving up. My next appointment with my personal trainer is January 31, and I can debate with myself about whether or not to continue after January 31.
Day 3 – Friday, December 30, 2016:
Once again, I rolled out of bed too late to record my weight, but it was 222.8 at 7:30 AM.
Day 4 – Saturday, December 31, 2016:
Weight Summary
Thursday, December 1, 2016: 225.0
Day 1 - Friday, December 2, 2016:
Day 2 - Saturday, December 3, 2016: 223.0
Day 3 - Sunday, December 4, 2016:
Day 4 - Monday, December 5, 2016: 225.2
Day 5 - Tuesday, December 6, 2016:
Day 6 – Wednesday, December 7, 2016: 225.0
Day 7 – Thursday, December 8, 2016: 224.2
Day 8 – Friday, December 9, 2016: 223.6
Day 9 – Saturday, December 10, 2016: 223.2
Day 10 – Sunday, December 11, 2016: 224.0
Day 11 – Monday, December 12, 2016: 223.2
Day 12 – Tuesday, December 13, 2016: 223.0
Day 13 – Wednesday, December 14, 2016: 221.4
Day 14 – Thursday, December 15, 2016: 222.4
Day 15 – Friday, December 16, 2016: 222.4
Day 16 – Saturday, December 17, 2016:
Day 17 – Sunday, December 18, 2016: 223.2
Day 18 – Monday, December 19, 2016: 223.0
Day 19 – Tuesday, December 20, 2016: 221.2
Day 20 – Wednesday, December 21, 2016: 222.6
Day 21 – Thursday, December 22, 2016: 222.0
Day 22 – Friday, December 23, 2016: 222.4
Day 23 – Saturday, December 24, 2016: 222.8
Day 24 – Sunday, December 25, 2016:
Day 25 – Monday, December 26, 2016:
Day 26 – Tuesday, December 27, 2016:
Day 1 – Wednesday, December 28, 2016:
Day 2 – Thursday, December 29, 2016:
Day 3 – Friday, December 30, 2016:
Day 4 – Saturday, December 31, 2016:
Journal
Day 6 – Wednesday, December 7, 2016: 225.0
The Obesity Code; author: Dr. Jason Fung; publication date: March, 2016;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J9DfeOYBKs
Strategies: "cutting out a lot of the sugars and the refined grains and intermittent fasting"
My diet: eat within a 5 hour window 3 - 8 pm pm on a goal of 20 days per month. No fasting on Sundays.
Day 7 – Thursday, December 8, 2016: 224.2
Anne is living at home while she works at a low level professional job, pays us back for the car we bought her in August, and applies to grad school. She is gone a lot because her boyfriend is still at the U and so it is just a 20 minute drive to see him. She just went to a yoga class at the Y and came home to have some cottage cheese before leaving. She is counting calories and very happy that she is losing weight.
I am saying nothing. I can only be a role model for her, and who would look to me for information on dieting?
I ordered the Fung book "The Obesity Code" and will get it on Tuesday. From what I see with the videos this doctor has produced, my approach may be insufficient, so I am open to having some occasional 24 hour fasts. For example, I ate early tonight because I'm headed out and all the kids are out. It is now 5:15. Maybe I can stretch to 24 hour fast for tomorrow. Maybe I can try a maximum of 2 24 hour fasts per week.
Something tells me some variability is good, and it may be that the Christian fasts were balanced by feasts.
The program of 20 days of eating within a 5 hour window mirrors what I am doing successfully with walking, having flexibility to not walk a certain amount on a certain day.
Anne is going to fail at counting calories to lose weight in the long run, as Dr. Fung and many others have said. Obesity is a hormonal problem. It's not a matter of too many calories.
Day 8 – Friday, December 9, 2016: 223.6
Ugh. I always want to tweak and tweaking brings complexity. I last ate at 5:15 PM yesterday and was planning on waiting until 5:15 today to eat. Instead, I'm just going to stick with the goal of eating within a five hour window 20 times per month.
Day 9 – Saturday, December 10, 2016: 223.2
Gary Taubes wrote an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal about how he believes sugar is killing us. I think he may be right. What am I doing about limiting sugar in my diet? Absolutely nothing. It showed yesterday because I had several candy canes. My theory is that fasting changes what you want to eat. We shall see about that. I've seen some small indication personally that that may be true, especially when breaking a fast. Who wants to have dessert first thing in the morning? I don't want sugar when I break a 19 hour fast. I want something like milk or eggs.
I have over the past couple of years made a great effort to learn to cook. Yesterday I made lentil soup. It's not that great, but the split pea soup I've made is really good.
8 PM: I have been binge-watching Jason Fung videos and realize that I failed on this diet in August because I was binge eating during my five hour window due to a fear that I would get hungry when I was fasting. Now I realize that having some feeling of hunger means I'm eating my fat stores. There is nothing to fear.
I got to video three of his aetiology of obesity. He was explaining how the American Heart Association promoted a low-fat diet and how they would label some foods as heart healthy based on their low fat content. He actually produced a slide where he said, in 2009, Cocoa Puffs and Frosted Mini Wheats were labeled as heart healthy.
Oh, I remember that... I had told the kids I would buy anything with the heart healthy label, and Katie was super excited to find it on Cocoa Pulls!
I'm gullible. I bought low fat. I bought breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I bought eat less, exercise more. I bought all these falsehoods.
My life is more than half over. I spent 40 years fighting doing what proscribed in the Bible: "WHEN you fast..."
My head is in my hands. What a struggle. It's over. I've found the problem. The problem is I took bad advice and followed it religiously. Fasting is the answer.
That is not to say NoS is without merit. I think it can work for people who are not as far gone as I am. I have a big problem from years and years of weighing more than 200 pounds. Jason Fung diagnoses obesity as being due to insulin resistance. Maybe my walking kept me from diabetes, but it sure did not keep me from a significant waste size.
The doctor says in another video that he usually fasts about 2 times per week for 24 hours and another three days of a shorter period of fasting.
Day 10 – Sunday, December 11, 2016: 224.0
This is a really interesting video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG89j432w-Y&t=1509s
I don't have diabetes, but this doctor says metabolic syndrome (big waste size) is due to insulin resistance just like diabetes is. Fasting is recommended because the body does not adjust the metabolic rate lower when the food intake is inconsistent: fasting followed by normal eating.
I think I'm going to try for 8 24-hour fasts within the 20 days that are eating within a five hour window. That is the absolute maximum. I can't be tweaking and tweaking.
9:30 PM: I actually started fasting on December 2 but at that point was looking at a 3 hour window from 4:30 to 7:30. I then tweaked to a 5 hour window on December 7 which is when I thought I would say I started the diet, but now I'm looking at adding 24 hour fasts. I went back to say this diet started on December 2.
I stopped eating at 4:31 today so I will try to wait until 4:31 tomorrow to eat. My window will be 4:30 to 8 tomorrow.
This feels like the limit of what I can sustain, just like I figured out 10,000 steps per day is my limit.
Day 11 – Monday, December 12, 2016: 223.2
I am frankly devastated by what I am learning from this series of lectures by Dr. Fung called The Aetiology of Obesity. In a nutshell, those who follow the conventional wisdom of "portion control" try to maintain a lower caloric intake than their body desires, and their body responds by increasing hunger signals and decreasing metabolism. Even after the diet inevitably ends, the metabolism continues to be lower because the body is staying prepared for what might be another famine. In contrast, with fasting, the body has periods of no eating but does not lower the metabolism because eating soon occurs and the person eats as much as he/she wants. When the person is fasting, the body simply uses stores of body fat.
So I, gullible and desiring to do the right thing, followed the advice of "portion control" until my body rebelled in about 2001. Then I went on a hunt for a better approach. No S was the best approach I found. It did bring sanity but not enough weight loss. Since giving up on No S, I've been on the hunt and tried all sorts of things. I've mostly tried different approaches to fasting for the past year but with the fear that I was doing my body harm. Now, with these lectures, I know that the body actually needs fasts as a type of self-cleansing.
What kills me is that I never looked to the Bible. Christ himself said, "When you fast..." It was a given that people fast.
Instead, I looked to medical experts who put American Heart Association heart healthy eating labels on Cocoa Puffs... Seriously, look at 1:16-48 to 1:18:48 of The Aetiology of Obesity Part 3 of 6: Trial by Diet. He ends by saying, "The only person you can trust is yourself." Here is where self-education is so important. I need to understand. Fasting is easy now because I know that it is good for me because I have become educated.
Day 12 – Tuesday, December 13, 2016: 223.0
I managed a 24 hour fast yesterday but oh am I grumpy! Is it because of the fast or because my daughter won't drive her sister to work if I have to go pick up her brother from college? I am definitely overreacting, so I think it is the fast.
Maybe I need to accept that a 19 hour fast is my limit.
11 AM: I think I need to just stick with 20 fast days per month that are eating within a five hour window 3 - 8 PM. It's very simple and easy to follow. Last week, I picked up Katie after 8 PM (when her job ended) and we stopped by Trader Joe's. She had the taste test; I did not. She has pestered me a couple of times about what diet I am following because she knew I must be following a diet or I would have had the taste test. I told her I'd tell her when I've lost 10 pounds. Other than that, no one has detected that I am fasting.
I'm keeping it that way. It will be harder to do when the kids are off school. On Saturday, Katie, Ellie, Tommy and I will be together all day, so I'll have lunch.
It is more important for me to keep fasting on the down-low than it is to get to 20 fast days in a month, so I may fall short.
As for weight loss, I am finding as of today that my stomach seems to be getting smaller. This may be an illusion. Time will tell, but I think fasting alone could solve my obesity problem.
I got Fung's book The Obesity Epidemic yesterday and have read a couple of chapters. The information in it is something that makes me ill. I can remember back when I was in high school that people still said, "Bread makes you fat." That was 40 years ago. It was about that time that "Fat makes you fat" came into vogue. Like lemmings to the sea, I followed the medical wisdom of politicians supporting the corn lobby.
I cannot go back in time. I can be a lesson learned to my children, but the best way to do that is by example and not by preaching. The fasting needs to be undercover until I have lost a lot of weight.
Day 13 – Wednesday, December 14, 2016: 221.4
I told Tom that this book debunks the theory that you can lose weight with "Eat Less, Exercise More." He scoffed. It's OK. He's lived with me on one diet after another since we got married. The only thing that will convince him is my losing weight that he can see, and it will take time.
Day 14 – Thursday, December 15, 2016: 222.4
Anne, Tom and I talked last night about how both Anne and I could have handled better my asking Anne to take Katie to work. I did handle it poorly as did she, and I think it may have been to fasting for 24 hours.
Yesterday, I again did not eat until after 3 PM, making that 9 days this month. There was a problem, however. I really ate for about 45 minutes, and all I did was stuff myself with a peanut butter sandwich, milk, banana bread, whatever was at hand...
Today, I am making split pea soup and may also make chicken noodle soup, since Katie is home sick. I think I should be very careful about how I break my fast. That was the lesson learned from yesterday, but it also was discussed in Fung videotapes and the Herring book.
The Obesity Code is creating strong positive and negative feelings in me. One is regret and anger that I had tried so hard to do what was the wrong thing. I may not have bought into Cocoa Puffs being heart-healthy, but I did buy breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I did buy that low fat was the way to go.
Thinking back to my childhood, I remember my boisterous father who was good at repeating something memorable, would say, "Bread makes you fat." He changed, however, to "You cannot deny the First Law of Thermodynamics."
I struggled with my weight since I was in high school, and here I am staring at weight over 195 pounds for about the last 15 years. Why? I have drive and commitment. Why?
I was following bad advice.
The second emotion I have is relief. I finally understand. The doctor systematically destroys the conventional wisdom of:
- A calorie is a calorie is a calorie.
- Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
- The way to lose weight is with "portion control."
- Eat low fat foods.
- Avoid saturated fat.
These particular bits of wisdom aren't just wrong. They are actually counterproductive.
"Portion control" is really destructive because your body isn't getting what it wants and so slows down its metabolism. I sensed that years ago and have had several discussions with my personal trainer about how I won't ever try "portion control" again.
Since I am posting on the No S website, I thought I'd say something about that diet. The Obesity Code gives me insight into why it is successful for some people. It does promote fasting but just not as long as 19 or 24 hours. You fast between dinner and breakfast when you give up snacks.
No S also helps with going lower carb because you give up sweets.
Finally No S does not result in a lower body metabolism because of the S Days.
I also think I understand why No S did not work for me. The basic argument of the Fung book is that obesity is a hormonal problem due to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is something that builds over time. Because I have been obese for so long, the No S approach to weight loss was insufficient for me. In fact, what I am doing now may be insufficient for me, but it is more rigorous than No S.
I read somewhere on this blog someone observing that No S seems to work for the mildly to moderately overweight, and maybe that is why: the insulin resistance is too high for a moderate approach like No S to work.
Fung has another book, just released, called The Complete Guide to Fasting. I've got that on order.
Maybe fasting 20 days per month for 19 hours will work for me, and maybe it won't, but it is what I can handle right now.
Tomorrow I may driving to UND to pick up Tommy, and there is a winter storm watch. It is -17 this morning in Grand Forks and -7 this morning in Minneapolis. With Tommy home and Katie and Ellie off school after next Wednesday, I won't have much time for thinking about this diet. I'm just going to do it. I'm not even trying to reduce the amount of carbs I eat. My goal with what I eat is to avoid processed foods. I am doing a lot of experimentation with food, so I am looking for recipes with fewer carbs or trying to add vegetables to pasta dish favorites. Still, my family needs to eat what I cook. Last night, for example, was Swedish meatballs, and it was a hit.
Day 15 – Friday, December 16, 2016: 222.4
So happy my son got a ride home from college. I am home with nothing much to do except make dinner and get Katie to work at 4. I read back through my journal for August and came to the conclusion that I was too impatient with this diet working.
I am trying to cook more and see from The Obesity Code that that is a good thing to do because sugar and preservatives are in almost all packaged foods. Yesterday, I made split pea soup and that is what I ate to break my fast at 3. Then I went out to dinner. I had no interest whatsoever in dessert. I do believe that, at least for me, the fasting changes my taste in food. We shall see. I don't want to restrict what I eat at all and will stick just with the five hour eating window and see what comes of it.
In 17 days, I am down more than 2 pounds. That is good.
Day 19 – Tuesday, December 20, 2016: 221.2
Anne got engaged on Saturday. It should not have been a shock but it was. She's living at home. Can they manage if they marry next summer? Absolutely. They are both smart and both work hard, but still it is a shock.
Meanwhile, what am I doing? I'm still continuing with the five hour fasts but then am trying to have one 24 hour fast per week. I get super grumpy and now realize I have to watch it. Last week, I got upset with Anne; this week, with Katie. I think my body may be reacting to a change that is so far outside my norm as to be disturbing. The five hour eating window is easy but the 24 hour fast is not.
The theory of Dr. Fung is that obesity is the result of high insulin levels and fasting reduces insulin levels quickly and drastically.
I can now fast 19 hours fairly easily.
I wish I had read The Obesity Code 40 years ago (it was published this year) but what I can do is follow the fasting protocol now and model for my children what they can do to maintain a normal weight.
It just kills me to realize I thought I was doing the right thing to feed them The Breakfast of Champions: high carbohydrate breakfast cereals.
Day 20 – Wednesday, December 21, 2016: 222.6
I always get some tidbit that helps me when I meet with my personal trainer, Kayla. This time around, I set out my very unusual criteria for a diet:
- Sustainable: I can follow it indefinitely
- Measurable: Success or failure to follow the diet is very easy to determine.
- Fits on one sheet: I track my exercise and wanted to track my eating. I literally added a column to my tracking sheet before I figured out what I would track. Right now, I put in a number if I ate within the 3 - 8 PM window, and I circle the number if I ate after a 24 hour fast. Right now, I have eaten within the 5 hour window 14 times this month, twice after a 24 hour fast.
- With no portion control or restriction on what I eat: This criteria is very strange, but it comes down to not wanting to trigger binge eating. One thing I told Kayla is I have noticed that I am not having sweets as much and pointed out that you rarely want a dessert right away in the morning and it's the same thing with fasting.
- Sundays free: This is partly religious. Sundays should be special.
- Successful: This is the one criteria that might not be met by the diet. I may end up not losing sufficient weight to say it is successful, so I was toying with the idea of not eating at all on Wednesdays when our dinners are messed up anyway due to Katie working until 7.
Well, talking with Kayla, I concluded maybe I should wait on that. I need to be solid in the 24 hour fasts first.
We also discussed having whole grains, and Kayla gave me a tidbit that whole grains tend to be tan rather than white.
Day 21 – Thursday, December 22, 2016: 222.0
When I talked with Kayla yesterday, I was somewhat uncertain whether this approach would work. Thinking it over and reading through my journal for August on this site, I realized that there have been a couple of things that give me more confidence that this just might work:
- My desire to binge eat has lessened. If I can eat as much as I want between 3 and 8 PM, do I really need to stuff myself right at 3? No.
- My taste in food is shifting away from sweets, especially right when I break my fast. Earlier this month, as I told Kayla in response to her question about what I eat, I said that I had numbers of candy canes. Now what I desire is chicken noodle soup. Yesterday, I stopped at the bank with Tommy. He grabbed a lollipop. I did not. It was just after 3 PM, and I had not eaten anything all day, but I had zero desire for a lollipop. No willpower was involved.
After thinking about it, I think that I should just stay the course and keep the goal of 20 days of eating within a 5 hour eating window and not worry about having 24 or 42 hour fasts in addition to this singular goal.
If Fung's theory is correct that my desire to overeat is due to insulin resistance, then fast days are cumulative: any fasting will reduce insulin resistance, and I won't just binge eat on those days when I can eat whatever I want.
My kids are grown up or growing. I think the worst mistake we have made with them has been modeling poor care of our bodies, and sadly it wasn't our fault. As Fung says, we took bad advice. We did try.
You cannot go back in time. I love the poem by St. John Newman, "Lead, Kindly Light", and I need to remind myself of it, especially "one step enough for me." I did my best, and now I am changing course because the advice was bad.
Here is Lead, Kindly Light:
Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom,
lead thou me on;
the night is dark, and I am far from home;
lead thou me on.
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
the distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now
lead thou me on.
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
pride ruled my will: remember not past years.
So long thy power hath blest me, sure it still
will lead me on,
o'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
the night is gone,
and with the morn those angel faces smile,
which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.
Day 22 – Friday, December 23, 2016: 222.4
Wow! I had several cookies yesterday and a light dinner but this morning I feel lousy. I can actually tell that the extra sugar made me feel worse! This adds to the sense that I'm on the right track.
Today is a non compliant day, and I don't have much interest in breakfast. I have zero interest in binge eating. This is great!
Anne came to me last night to inform me that she is getting married in six months. She, Tom, and I got into a discussion about it, and then I told her a story. I told her that I was telling her father that I was concerned that Katie wouldn't get paid for working at the Santa house because it will just close up on Christmas Eve. His response: "Another thing I'm not going to worry about..."
I told Anne it is in my nature to worry but we will support her as she builds her own life.
Meanwhile, Tom's job is being cut. So -- in one week, we've had two major events (Anne's engagement and Tom's job being cut) and one major family decision (Katie got into the school most acceptable to her that we would fund: we wouldn't let her attend a school which graduates 12 English majors a year, since she is planning on majoring in English). According to Fung, cortisol is associated with stress, and stress does cause weight gain.
I don't think it's stress in my case. I think it's low fat that led to excessive sugar intake.
The best wedding gift I could give to Anne is to model a path out of obesity.
1:30 PM: So now Anne, Tom, and I are going to have a weight loss contest with the beginning weight today (tomorrow for Tom) and the ending weight on January 31. I will likely lose it for that month but keep it off unlike the other two who are practicing "Eat less, exercise more".
Day 23 – Saturday, December 24, 2016: 222.8
Katie and Ellie are dogsitting, but Katie was sneezing when the dog was in their room, so we got the dog who woke up Tom t 4 AM by licking him! As a result, I also was awake. I did not feel great -- too many sweets from last night.
After realizing that, I also realized -- hey! how often have I felt not that great from downing a lot of sweets? Not often! The fasting, I believe, is shifting my tastes away from sweets.
I'm slogging through a book on fasting co-written by Dr. Fung called The Complete Guide to Fasting, and there is an emphasis that fasting is insufficient, that you need to change what you eat by moving towards more natural foods and less sugar and processed grains.
Well, I'm not sure that is true. I think it may be that fasting changes your tastes over time.
I remember many years ago looking at a picture of stout Henry VIII and wondering if his leaving the Church and perhaps no longer fasting is what made him so fat. Maybe.... There's an assumption that it is only during the modern era that food has become abundant, but that is just not so. During the high middle ages, there was a little warming period when grapes could be grown on Greenland, and food was abundant. Maybe it was the Catholic practice of fasting which made obesity rare.
9 PM: Whoa... I have little to no idea what has happened but it reminds me of when I suddenly stopped drinking coffee after years and years of drinking coffee. I went to the 3 PM to 8 PM eating schedule today and mostly enjoyed healthful foods like halos, split pea soup, and a dinner that was a simple penne pasta with a vegetable and ground beef sauce. After dinner, I had the smallest slice of pie and didn't really want more. I may want to fast tomorrow, and it is Christmas Day! We shall see, but I have eaten past the point of comfort and that is an usual feeling indeed.
What is going on? What does fasting do to impact appetite?
Day 24 – Sunday, December 25, 2016:
It's only 2 PM, and I've eaten like a pig all day even though I felt no hunger. Why? I think that maybe the non compliant festival day two days ago just led to making today either a return to my pre-fasting norm or a return to the fasting norm. It's hard to describe, but I wasn't comfortable in either place. I was in an in-between place and now I'm squarely back in the comfort zone of high insulin levels. Lots of candy and coffee cake.
What to do now?
Day 25 – Monday, December 26, 2016:
I didn't want to weigh myself today for fear of what the weight was, but it was easy to sail through to 3 PM before eating since I was so stuffed yesterday. In fact, I ended up not eating until almost 5 PM. I sense this is like a pendulum swinging. If you swing too far to overeating, you end up swinging to not eating. Fasting disrupts the sense of what is normal.
I have toyed with the idea of fasting 24 hours despite the fact that I got really grumpy the two times I previously did it. I also toyed with the idea of skipping the New Year's Eve weekend visit to my mother in law's house so I could fast, but really... she's 92. How selfish can I be?
I can definitely sustain a habit of eating only within a 5 hour window for an average of 20 days per month. The remaining question is if I can lose weight by doing this, and I need to be patient and give it time.
Day 26 – Tuesday, December 27, 2016:
Of course, weight gain is to be expected with the indulgence from Christmas holidays. I did fast until 3 yesterday, making a count of 18 for number of days I ate within a 3 - 8 PM window. What was my weight today? I got up so late that I am not recording the weight, but it was 223.6.
Something has to change. I have a conjecture on why I am not losing weight and it is that my insulin is not coming down enough. I need to up the ante, so to speak, and I'm looking at the Every Other Day Diet which I followed back in June.
All I have to do is go back in my journal here and see that I was successful but it was way too hard to miss dinner with the family. Well, it is way too hard to be this fat. I'm just going to have to do it.
I don't think I'm going to try having whatever I want on one day and then 500 calories on the next day, alternating indefinitely. Instead, I'm going to try nothing 3 days per week but never on Sundays.
Day 1 – Wednesday, December 28, 2016:
Go figure. It is 10 PM, I have not had anything except tea, and I feel fine. A 24 hour fast was awful: I got upset with one daughter one week and with another daughter another week. A 36 hour fast seems way easier. Why? As far as I can figure, when I break the fast is key.
Day 2 – Thursday, December 29, 2016:
The kids are off school, and I rolled out of bed too late to weigh myself. I was not all that hungry even after 36 hours of fasting.
4 PM: Tom, Anne, and Tommy are working, Ellie is at a party, and Katie and I are home with two dogs. It is quiet, and I have time to think.
I was determined this month to go 20 days of eating within a five hour window of 3 - 8 PM, and yesterday was my 20th day when I did not eat outside that 3 - 8 PM window. In fact, I ate nothing yesterday.
In fact, I realize now, it was the start of a new diet, one that does not thrill me and would not continue once I got down to a decent weight. Eat nothing three times per week. Like with my bike exercise, I won't do two consecutive days. Also, if it isn't possible to fast three times in one week, that's OK, too. In the couple of months that I have been on the exercise bike, there has only been one time that I have biked only twice in a week.
What is great about biking is it is three times and then I am done. I don't strive for four times. That will be my goal for fasting as well.
Like with my diet for this month, I'm making a commitment to myself to complete at least one month of this diet before giving up. My next appointment with my personal trainer is January 31, and I can debate with myself about whether or not to continue after January 31.
Day 3 – Friday, December 30, 2016:
Once again, I rolled out of bed too late to record my weight, but it was 222.8 at 7:30 AM.
Day 4 – Saturday, December 31, 2016:
Last edited by Kathleen on Fri Dec 30, 2016 2:42 pm, edited 42 times in total.
A program that millions of people live with that keeps them slim is silly? Yeah, I guess you're right. A program that only a percentage of sick people have used successfully is a much better idea. Not silly at all.
Whatever you do, don't quit it just because you feel like eating or forget to turn a ring or whatever.
"There are no shortcuts! No matter how hyped up you get, the adrenaline will fade. When it fades, this is where exceptional people separate themselves from the norm. You must have persistence to go the distance. Yes we need motivation but what is your motive!!! You must have a big enough "why" so that you can endure the naysayers & endure almost anything!"
You keep getting hyped by reading a new book in which people are paid to get you excited. Fung is no different.
Find a program that you can MARRY. You don't cheat on your husband because you believe in marriage and he deserves your loyalty. You work out the details. Don't even start a program that you don't think you could be that faithful to.
Stop looking for the program that is never going to make you say NO when you feel like eating. That is like trying to find someone to marry who will never annoy you or disagree with you. You didn't leave after the honeymoon was over, and I'm sure it was over at some point.
Whatever you do, don't quit it just because you feel like eating or forget to turn a ring or whatever.
"There are no shortcuts! No matter how hyped up you get, the adrenaline will fade. When it fades, this is where exceptional people separate themselves from the norm. You must have persistence to go the distance. Yes we need motivation but what is your motive!!! You must have a big enough "why" so that you can endure the naysayers & endure almost anything!"
You keep getting hyped by reading a new book in which people are paid to get you excited. Fung is no different.
Find a program that you can MARRY. You don't cheat on your husband because you believe in marriage and he deserves your loyalty. You work out the details. Don't even start a program that you don't think you could be that faithful to.
Stop looking for the program that is never going to make you say NO when you feel like eating. That is like trying to find someone to marry who will never annoy you or disagree with you. You didn't leave after the honeymoon was over, and I'm sure it was over at some point.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
oolala53,
Yes, I agree with the part about being faithful to a diet. I think that the approach of eating within a 5 hour window 20 days per month could be something I could be faithful to for the rest of my life.
Gullible, yes. Looking to an expert, yes. I am guilty. It appears that Fung shies away from giving an exact prescription for fasting because it has to fit your life.
Thanks for sticking with me through all of this and not being totally annoyed when I stayed on No S for one day.
Kathleen
Yes, I agree with the part about being faithful to a diet. I think that the approach of eating within a 5 hour window 20 days per month could be something I could be faithful to for the rest of my life.
Gullible, yes. Looking to an expert, yes. I am guilty. It appears that Fung shies away from giving an exact prescription for fasting because it has to fit your life.
Thanks for sticking with me through all of this and not being totally annoyed when I stayed on No S for one day.
Kathleen
You think you could be faithful to Fast-5 on weekdays for the rest of your life? I really can't understand why you think you will be able to negotiate real life with all its offerings of food, many of which have derailed you countless times, eating a meal basically once a day. Because THAT is really what the author meant for Fast-5. He does NOT mean a person can eat for five hours straight. Eventually, it's once a day. He doesn't advertise it that way. He doesn't call it calorie restriction but it is extreme. Do you have any concept of how few people are cut out for that? Probably even fewer than the true CR people, and they are rare.
And what will you do when the first inkling to eat outside the 5 hours happens?
You CANNOT wait for a program that will take away all the urges to eat when the diet says you aren't supposed to. You would have a better chance of winning $1,000 in Las Vegas.
Kathryn Hansen, who wrote Brain Over Binge, said it took about NINE MONTHS of total, 100% success before the urges to binge (and purge) completely went away. For some people, the lower brain is so sensitized, they never completely disappear. But guess what is even more able to make new connections and become more powerful? Your prefrontal cortex. IF you stop letting the thoughts created by your lower brain run the show.
And what will you do when the first inkling to eat outside the 5 hours happens?
You CANNOT wait for a program that will take away all the urges to eat when the diet says you aren't supposed to. You would have a better chance of winning $1,000 in Las Vegas.
Kathryn Hansen, who wrote Brain Over Binge, said it took about NINE MONTHS of total, 100% success before the urges to binge (and purge) completely went away. For some people, the lower brain is so sensitized, they never completely disappear. But guess what is even more able to make new connections and become more powerful? Your prefrontal cortex. IF you stop letting the thoughts created by your lower brain run the show.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
oolala53,
I appreciate the challenge. I think I can be faithful to a diet that has as its goal eating within a five hour window 20 times per month.
On Tuesday, I went to a friend's house and had lunch and dessert while watching a movie. This friend had lung cancer which has spread to the bone. She has been given 15 months to live. I asked her what I could do for her other than bring food, and she said she needed company since she no longer is working.
Was I going to say -- sorry, I can't eat because I'm fasting? No. She wanted to thank me by giving me lunch.
There are more important things in life than following a diet 100% of the time. My goal is to have a goal similar to my goal for walking an average of 10,000 steps/day. Do I make it? Often not, but my number of steps averages around 8,500 vs. 3,000 when I started tracking.
Kathleen
I appreciate the challenge. I think I can be faithful to a diet that has as its goal eating within a five hour window 20 times per month.
On Tuesday, I went to a friend's house and had lunch and dessert while watching a movie. This friend had lung cancer which has spread to the bone. She has been given 15 months to live. I asked her what I could do for her other than bring food, and she said she needed company since she no longer is working.
Was I going to say -- sorry, I can't eat because I'm fasting? No. She wanted to thank me by giving me lunch.
There are more important things in life than following a diet 100% of the time. My goal is to have a goal similar to my goal for walking an average of 10,000 steps/day. Do I make it? Often not, but my number of steps averages around 8,500 vs. 3,000 when I started tracking.
Kathleen
This is what I mean. You set these situations up and then find reasons they can't work, especially social situations. Why couldn't the lunch fit in the 5 hour window? Our lives are filled with reasons to eat for more hours in the day than five.
What reasons ARE there to stick to a diet and not eat just because there is desire or opportunity?
Obviously, your weight and your eating is not very painful since changing it takes a back seat to nearly everything else. Actually, that seems fine to me. Most people will actually never change their eating and permanently lose weight by their own efforts and just create suffering for themselves by dickering over it.
I do the same thing with my temper. I keep saying I will act calmly at work even if I feel very irritated or even angry, but most days I have some rather heated exchange with at least one student. I say I don't want to act that way, but I always have good reasons for it. Maybe I'll never reduce that considerably. I saw a source recently that said people can actually be addicted to anger or anxiety. I'll have to mull that over.
What reasons ARE there to stick to a diet and not eat just because there is desire or opportunity?
Obviously, your weight and your eating is not very painful since changing it takes a back seat to nearly everything else. Actually, that seems fine to me. Most people will actually never change their eating and permanently lose weight by their own efforts and just create suffering for themselves by dickering over it.
I do the same thing with my temper. I keep saying I will act calmly at work even if I feel very irritated or even angry, but most days I have some rather heated exchange with at least one student. I say I don't want to act that way, but I always have good reasons for it. Maybe I'll never reduce that considerably. I saw a source recently that said people can actually be addicted to anger or anxiety. I'll have to mull that over.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
oolala53,
I am serious about losing weight. What I have come to realize is that trying for 100% compliance will not work for me, but I can strive for compliance that is sufficient for me to lose weight. I am hoping that a goal of 20 days per month of eating within a five hour window only will lead to weight loss.
Why didn't I shift my window on the day I had lunch? I had dinner that nigth with my family. I would have had to skip lunch with my friend or dinner with my family.
Kathleen
I am serious about losing weight. What I have come to realize is that trying for 100% compliance will not work for me, but I can strive for compliance that is sufficient for me to lose weight. I am hoping that a goal of 20 days per month of eating within a five hour window only will lead to weight loss.
Why didn't I shift my window on the day I had lunch? I had dinner that nigth with my family. I would have had to skip lunch with my friend or dinner with my family.
Kathleen
Are you saying that you believe in the month of December, you are going to have 20 days on which you won't have multiple social reasons to eat outside a 5-hour window? How many compliant days have you had so far? What will you do when you are non-compliant enough that there will be no way to get to 20 days this month?
BTW, did you eat in between the lunch and dinner with the family? or after dinner?
BTW, did you eat in between the lunch and dinner with the family? or after dinner?
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
oolala53,
Six compliant days so far this month, and I didn't start until 12/2. The only non compliant days were Sunday (planned) and Tuesday, when I had lunch with a friend. This morning, we had breakfast with another couple, and I just had tea. It is 11:09 AM, and I plan to fast until 3.
Yes, I eat outside of mealtime. What is nice about the five hour window is I don't have to worry about eating right at 3 or ending eating right at 8 because the window is so large.
I had lentil soup at 3:30 and several mini candy canes. I had a candy cane at 7:30 but nothing after that. I'm still a bit afraid of getting hungry during a fast so I have eaten right up to 8 but last night I had to pick up Katie from work.
In addition to fasting being easy, it seems to change my taste in food. I am having a lot of sugar but am also interested in other foods.
Time will tell.
Tomorrow is not a fast day because it is Sunday. I may not make it to 20 this month because of the holidays, and that's OK.
Kathleen
Six compliant days so far this month, and I didn't start until 12/2. The only non compliant days were Sunday (planned) and Tuesday, when I had lunch with a friend. This morning, we had breakfast with another couple, and I just had tea. It is 11:09 AM, and I plan to fast until 3.
Yes, I eat outside of mealtime. What is nice about the five hour window is I don't have to worry about eating right at 3 or ending eating right at 8 because the window is so large.
I had lentil soup at 3:30 and several mini candy canes. I had a candy cane at 7:30 but nothing after that. I'm still a bit afraid of getting hungry during a fast so I have eaten right up to 8 but last night I had to pick up Katie from work.
In addition to fasting being easy, it seems to change my taste in food. I am having a lot of sugar but am also interested in other foods.
Time will tell.
Tomorrow is not a fast day because it is Sunday. I may not make it to 20 this month because of the holidays, and that's OK.
Kathleen
I'm glad you see the issue with the holidays. It sounds like you can still have a fair number of compliant days this month even with the likely extra days of social eating. Even if you fall short of 20, the compliant experiences have had value.
Enjoy your holidays!
Enjoy your holidays!
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Hi Kathleen.
Merry Christmas.
You wrote:
“Anne is going to fail at counting calories to lose weight in the long run, as Dr. Fung and many others have said. Obesity is a hormonal problem. It's not a matter of too many calories. “
Well, there are many others besides Dr. Fung who say that calorie counting is effective in the long run. I’m one of them-I lost my last 30 pounds eighteen months ago and have kept them off.
It’s simple, but definitely not easy. I used an online calorie calculator to track my calories. I knew how many calories I needed from an online calorie calculator. I tracked almost daily for about a year, and now I only track if my weight is up. I probably weigh myself 4/7 days.
I put your stats into the calculator, and it came up with 1955 calories/day to maintain your current weight. To lose a pound a week, you would need to drop 500 calories/day to 1455. https://tdeecalculator.net/. If this calorie intake is too low, you could up it a bit and take a little longer to lose.
I think that the reason you couldn’t continue counting calories to lose weight (I’m thinking of your Novena Diet) is that 1000 calories are far too few. I’m almost 100 pounds lighter than you, and I couldn’t manage on 1000 calories per day.
I don’t know too many professionals in the field of nutrition who say that numbers of calories/day are irrelevant. I personally tried all sorts of different diets, including intermittent fasting, without any notable success. ONLY counting calories worked. I could never figure out why, with a good, healthy diet, I could never get rid of these 30 pounds. With NoS, I did drop weight, but then stalled at around 170 pounds. I now know that my activity equaled my intake at that weight, so I stayed the same.
Yesterday, after several high-calorie days because of Christmas, I stepped on the scale and just about screamed. I was around 5 pounds up. Now, some of that is undoubtedly fluid and so on, but that’s irrelevant. I immediately started tracking again, and I’ll weigh myself tomorrow. It should only take a few to several days before the scale will show that my weight is back to normal. I am not unique by any means. NoS itself is a means of controlling calories. I just needed more precision to lose than I got on NoS.
Think about it. Many countries such as Japan, China, and Italy have a high intake of carbs but a low % (by global standards) of obesity. What is their secret? They eat less than we do. If calories don’t matter, why do people become dangerously thin (anorexic)? They drastically restrict their food. Why do people become fat? They eat too much for their needs.
There was an interesting project done by Dr. Mark Haub, a professor of Human Nutrition at Kansas State University. He lost 27 pounds in ten weeks. About 2/3 of his intake came from junk food. Even HE doesn’t recommend a diet of junk food, but he did it to prove a point, that calories in/calories out are what determines weight loss, and not the quality of the food. Much to his surprise, other markers of health improved as well, in spite of his atrocious diet.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/tw ... professor/
I know that you dislike calorie counting, but try to keep an open mind. You’ve tried fasting before, and it hasn’t worked, likely because you have eaten much more than your body needs when you aren’t fasting. It could work if you fast and then track your calories for non-fasting periods.
Anyway, good luck, whatever you do, and have a Happy New Year. Also, congrats on your daughter’s engagement.
Merry Christmas.
You wrote:
“Anne is going to fail at counting calories to lose weight in the long run, as Dr. Fung and many others have said. Obesity is a hormonal problem. It's not a matter of too many calories. “
Well, there are many others besides Dr. Fung who say that calorie counting is effective in the long run. I’m one of them-I lost my last 30 pounds eighteen months ago and have kept them off.
It’s simple, but definitely not easy. I used an online calorie calculator to track my calories. I knew how many calories I needed from an online calorie calculator. I tracked almost daily for about a year, and now I only track if my weight is up. I probably weigh myself 4/7 days.
I put your stats into the calculator, and it came up with 1955 calories/day to maintain your current weight. To lose a pound a week, you would need to drop 500 calories/day to 1455. https://tdeecalculator.net/. If this calorie intake is too low, you could up it a bit and take a little longer to lose.
I think that the reason you couldn’t continue counting calories to lose weight (I’m thinking of your Novena Diet) is that 1000 calories are far too few. I’m almost 100 pounds lighter than you, and I couldn’t manage on 1000 calories per day.
I don’t know too many professionals in the field of nutrition who say that numbers of calories/day are irrelevant. I personally tried all sorts of different diets, including intermittent fasting, without any notable success. ONLY counting calories worked. I could never figure out why, with a good, healthy diet, I could never get rid of these 30 pounds. With NoS, I did drop weight, but then stalled at around 170 pounds. I now know that my activity equaled my intake at that weight, so I stayed the same.
Yesterday, after several high-calorie days because of Christmas, I stepped on the scale and just about screamed. I was around 5 pounds up. Now, some of that is undoubtedly fluid and so on, but that’s irrelevant. I immediately started tracking again, and I’ll weigh myself tomorrow. It should only take a few to several days before the scale will show that my weight is back to normal. I am not unique by any means. NoS itself is a means of controlling calories. I just needed more precision to lose than I got on NoS.
Think about it. Many countries such as Japan, China, and Italy have a high intake of carbs but a low % (by global standards) of obesity. What is their secret? They eat less than we do. If calories don’t matter, why do people become dangerously thin (anorexic)? They drastically restrict their food. Why do people become fat? They eat too much for their needs.
There was an interesting project done by Dr. Mark Haub, a professor of Human Nutrition at Kansas State University. He lost 27 pounds in ten weeks. About 2/3 of his intake came from junk food. Even HE doesn’t recommend a diet of junk food, but he did it to prove a point, that calories in/calories out are what determines weight loss, and not the quality of the food. Much to his surprise, other markers of health improved as well, in spite of his atrocious diet.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/tw ... professor/
I know that you dislike calorie counting, but try to keep an open mind. You’ve tried fasting before, and it hasn’t worked, likely because you have eaten much more than your body needs when you aren’t fasting. It could work if you fast and then track your calories for non-fasting periods.
Anyway, good luck, whatever you do, and have a Happy New Year. Also, congrats on your daughter’s engagement.
Eurobabe2,
I think calories do count but the key issue is: "Why do I want to eat so many calories?"
Fung's theory is that I have high, persistent insulin resistance, and fasting will reduce it quickly.
It beats me why it is easy to fast but hard to limit calorie intake. Again, Fung's theory sounds interesting, but I'm not much of a scientist. I don't really understand any of this, but from personal experience, restricting calories leads to binge behavior.
I hauled Katie out of town 10 times to visit colleges, and where did she end up? Across the river at the U of Minnesota. She didn't even want to apply, but I said just do it, and now that is where she has chosen to go. She, the outdoors girl...
It's like this fasting with me. 36 hours? Are you kidding? And yet, that is what is easy and (based on my experience in June) actually works.
FYI, I'm not telling Anne anything. Heck, she got engaged, and I'm keeping my mouth shut! Anne has to figure this out, and calorie counting does produce short-term results. It's just that it never seems to be sustainable.
Kathleen
I think calories do count but the key issue is: "Why do I want to eat so many calories?"
Fung's theory is that I have high, persistent insulin resistance, and fasting will reduce it quickly.
It beats me why it is easy to fast but hard to limit calorie intake. Again, Fung's theory sounds interesting, but I'm not much of a scientist. I don't really understand any of this, but from personal experience, restricting calories leads to binge behavior.
I hauled Katie out of town 10 times to visit colleges, and where did she end up? Across the river at the U of Minnesota. She didn't even want to apply, but I said just do it, and now that is where she has chosen to go. She, the outdoors girl...
It's like this fasting with me. 36 hours? Are you kidding? And yet, that is what is easy and (based on my experience in June) actually works.
FYI, I'm not telling Anne anything. Heck, she got engaged, and I'm keeping my mouth shut! Anne has to figure this out, and calorie counting does produce short-term results. It's just that it never seems to be sustainable.
Kathleen
Eurobabe2,
I have continued to think about your post and think that one of the dreadful aspects of calorie counting is you can't let go and feast. I know it was silly, but I took Katie and Ellie to the restaurant where Tommy works (and has an employee discount) and let them have lunch together on us. Why? To celebrate the end of the college search for Katie, which involved several boring out of town trips for Ellie as well.
The medieval Catholic world as well as Greek Orthodox religion today have times of feast and times of fast. There is something compatible with the human spirit in having both feast and fast.
Will I lose weight fasting three days per week? I'm confident I will, but it remains to be seen how difficult it will be.
Kathleen
I have continued to think about your post and think that one of the dreadful aspects of calorie counting is you can't let go and feast. I know it was silly, but I took Katie and Ellie to the restaurant where Tommy works (and has an employee discount) and let them have lunch together on us. Why? To celebrate the end of the college search for Katie, which involved several boring out of town trips for Ellie as well.
The medieval Catholic world as well as Greek Orthodox religion today have times of feast and times of fast. There is something compatible with the human spirit in having both feast and fast.
Will I lose weight fasting three days per week? I'm confident I will, but it remains to be seen how difficult it will be.
Kathleen
January, 2017: The Blessings of Simplicity starting January 12, 2017
Weight Summary
Day 1 – Monday, January 2, 2017: 223.0
Day 2 – Tuesday, January 3, 2017:
Day 3 – Wednesday, January 4, 2017: 223.0
Day 4 – Thursday, January 5, 2017: 218.4
Day 5 – Friday, January 6, 2017: 222.2
Day 6 – Saturday, January 7, 2017: 218.4
Day 7 – Sunday, January 8, 2017: 222.4
Day 8 – Monday, January 9, 2017: 223.4
Day 9 – Tuesday, January 10, 2017: 221.4
Day 10 – Wednesday, January 11, 2017: 221.8
Day 1 – Thursday, January 12, 2017: 222.0
Day 2 – Friday, January 13, 2017: 222.2
Day 3 – Saturday, January 14, 2017: 222.4
Day 1 – Sunday, January 15, 2017: 221.0
Day 2 – Monday, January 16, 2017: 223.0
Day 3 – Tuesday, January 17, 2017: 222.4
Day 4 – Wednesday, January 18, 2017: 222.6
Day 5 – Thursday, January 19, 2017:
Day 6 – Friday, January 20, 2017:
Day 7 – Saturday, January 21, 2017:
Day 8 – Sunday, January 22, 2017:
Day 9 – Monday, January 23, 2017:
Day 10 – Tuesday, January 24, 2017:
Day 11 – Wednesday, January 25, 2017: 221.8
Day 12 – Thursday, January 26, 2017:
Day 13 – Friday, January 27, 2017: 221.4
Day 14 – Saturday, January 28, 2017:
Day 15 – Sunday, January 29, 2017:
Day 16 – Monday, January 30, 2017:
Day 17 – Tuesday, January 31, 2017:
Journal
Day 1 – Monday, January 2, 2017: 223.0
Last month's diet attempt was to eat within a five hour window between 3 and 8 pm 20 times per month. This month's diet attempt, which I tried twice last week as an experiment, was to eat within a 36 hour window up to 3 times per week but never on Sundays and never two days in a row.
This mirrors what I am doing with the exercise bike, although I will use the exercise bike on Sundays.
Will this work? I don't know. I will give it until January 31 when I meet with my personal trainer to see what happens.
The book that is the basis for this diet is The Complete Book of Fasting by Dr. Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore. One of the diets is a 36 hour fast, although they have recommendations for what you do when you are eating that I will not follow. I am letting myself eat whatever I want when I am not fasting with the hope that the fasting will affect what I want to eat and how much I want to eat.
Dr. Fung follows a schedule of fasting from dinner to dinner two to four days per week. I tried fasting dinner to dinner twice with the result that I got upset with one daughter one time and with another daughter another time. I seem to be able to power through a day of fasting with no problem if I eat late. Last night, we were driving back from my mother in law's house and I ended up having a Burger King whopper with fries and Dr. Pepper at about 7:30. I also had a Dove chocolate bar. That would not be what is recommended.
The really big drawback of this approach is that you miss three dinners per week with your family. I don't expect to continue this diet for the rest of my life, and it appears from the book that people don't continue on the diet after they lose weight. Unfortunately, the book does not say what they do instead.
One step at a time. One month at a time. I'm focusing on following this diet this month and seeing what happens.
Day 2 – Tuesday, January 3, 2017:
Here is the book that gives practical ideas on fasting:
The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting
by Jimmy Moore and Dr. Jason Fung
Publication date is October 18, 2016.
I find it more interesting than The Obesity Code which is too scientific for my taste and which can be summarized this way: You are fat because your insulin has become persistently high and your body wants to maintain that high insulin level. A fast way to lower insulin level is by fasting.
The guide to fasting gives several options, including eating within a five hour window, 24 hour fasts, and 36 hour fasts.
I rolled out of bed at 8:30 AM this morning and weighed under 220. Tomorrow Katie and Ellie return to school, so my life returns to normal.
Day 3 – Wednesday, January 4, 2017: 223.0
I managed to eat enough yesterday to make up for 36 hours of fasting. It wasn't pleasant. I ate to stuffed. What I think I need to do is eat to satisfied, fully satisfied. That is not stuffed.
Anne now has a wedding date -- this July. I'm in shock. I should not be as she and her fiance have been dating for more than 3 years.
Day 4 – Thursday, January 5, 2017: 218.4
That was quite a drop in weight for one day, and I weighed myself at my usual time of 5:30 AM. Last night, I looked up how to break a fast (in my fasting book), and the recommendation is to go slow. Two days ago, I started by having Frosted Mini Wheats (which we had bought for the weekend at Grandma's house) and then went on to Christmas candy. No wonder I didn't feel so great by end of day!
So far today, at close to 9 AM, I've had oatmeal, cheese, and a hard boiled egg.
I still believe that a key success factor is "no portion control". If I don't allow myself to eat as much as I want, I'll be gorging when I allow myself to gorge. Running through my mind is a variation of a snippet of Bruce Springsteen's song "Born to Run". The words are "We gotta get out while we're young". My mind has these words in replay: "We have to get it while we can" with that tune from "Born to Run". I overeat as a constant response to the preachy message inside of me to control portions.
Nope. No portion control. Fasting. When I eat, I allow myself to eat as much as I want. When will my portions become reasonable? When I am confident there will never again be restrictions on how much I eat.
Day 5 – Friday, January 6, 2017: 222.2
I woke up feeling stuffed and was only too happy to not eat today. This will pass. The glutted feeling this morning is not enjoyable and neither is the feeling of eating when not close to hungry. I need to give this time.
Meanwhile, I am happy that today's weight is than the 223.0 weight from two days ago.
Day 6 – Saturday, January 7, 2017: 218.4
It is easy to fast. I woke up this morning for the first time thinking that something for the good had changed with my body. Maybe I am detecting lower insulin levels. Anyway, I'm a bit concerned about having two days in a row of eating, so I may delay the start of eating. We are going out tonight, so I don't want to fast straight through to tomorrow.
2 PM: I started eating at 12:30 and ate and ate and ate: two Haagen Dazs bars, 1/2 peanut butter sandwich, 3 or 4 cups of chili, a big block of cheese, some almonds, two halos, two cups of yogurt and who knows what else? What is really interesting is there is no change whatsoever in my hunger level. I wasn't hungry when I started eating, and I am neither hungry no stuffed now.
Am I discouraged? No. I think I need to eat something very filling when I finish fasting. Maybe I can set it up so I have some soup. I'm making some homemade beef barley soup tomorrow.
One step at a time. I'm learning.
Day 7 – Sunday, January 8, 2017: 222.4
Just dandy. I can eat in a couple of hours enough to more than make up for not eating for 36 hours. This runs counter to the fasting idea. However, I can try to go back to the Every Other Day Diet where I ate very little every other day so that I don't pig out, or I can try those SET guidelines to reduce the likelihood of so much overeating. I'm going to try the SET guidelines first:
S: Sit down to eat, when possible.
E: Eat without distraction, if possible.
T: Take hand or utensils away from food while chewing and swallowing.
11:30 AM: I realized that the Every Other Day Diet was less restrictive than the 36 hour diet. I don't eat anything for an entire day vs. having up to 500 calories. That means I need longer fasts, which scare me, or something in addition to fasting, such as the SET guidelines.
Day 8 – Monday, January 9, 2017: 223.4
It is not at all shocking that my weight is above my weight from last Monday even though I ate nothing on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I get it. After recording what I ate when I broke my fast on Saturday, I got it. The problem with obesity is your body is used to high and persistent insulin. It is not my imagination that I am eating way more when I break my fast. It is reality.
So now what? I'm not sure but think I'm on the right path. If I look back to medieval times and the Catholic practice of fasting during Lent, there were 40 days of fasting between Ash Wednesday and Easter: you had Sundays off. The Fung books give a solid presentation of why you want breaks in fasting because otherwise your body thinks there is a famine. You need intermittent fasting. What I have been doing is breaking fasts four times per week with exorbitant intake of calories. Why I think I'll do now is limit fast on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays and significantly limit food intake on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Sundays are still a day to eat whatever I want so my body doesn't perceive a famine and power down.
Wedding planning is going to be stressful. It's already started! Still, my weight seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with stress. I dug myself a hole following bad advice to eat lots of carbs and avoid fat. Now I'm following what makes sense and also is remarkably similar to medieval Catholic fasting tradition.
I could at this point try eating one meal per day which is the actual tradition for Lent, but it's actually easier to fast all day than to eat. The hard part will be the days of restriction instead of fast, but I will just have to see how hard it is.
I'm giving up my 10,000 step per day goal for the simple reason I want to make life as easy as possible for me. What most scares me is that I get nasty like I did the last time I tried a 24 hour fast starting at 4 pm.
Day 9 – Tuesday, January 10, 2017: 221.4
The 36 hour fast is not sustainable for the long term and is disruptive to my family. The 5 hour window didn't work Christmas week. What? How could I have missed that no diet works when it is a holiday unless you are a real Scrooge?
I'm done. I'm taking the 20 day per month eating within a 5 hour window 3 - 8 PM and sticking with it.
Today's weight was a little low because I got up an hour later, at 6:30. I spent the night facing the fact that Anne planned long ago to marry this guy and even told me so but I assumed they would get married after they had figured out basic things like where they were going to live and how they were going to earn a living. The girl who earned a summa cum laude with honors in a science field from a major state university has a boyfriend of equal or greater intellectual firepower. We can be an obstacle or a support, and we choose to be a support.
Day 10 – Wednesday, January 11, 2017: 221.8
Driving home from leaving the kids off at school, I heard on Catholic Radio the sentence (a possible paraphrase): "It takes thoughtfulness to make things simple." True.
I read back through my writing for August and for December to find that a slight increase in weight led me to change from the diet to eat within a five hour window.
I think I've found my diet approach and just need patience. Minor weight fluctuations, especially around holidays, should not cause me to change diets.
Fasting is good for you. Unbelievable. I constantly see that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It was even in the Scouting magazine this last issue!
Come on... it is not true. I believed something that was not true and followed it to my detriment. I loaded our kids up on cereal. We have a very small galley kitchen with about five shelves for food, and one entire shelf used to be used for breakfast cereal. I even bought plastic cereal containers which now are being used for birdseed. Sad. Sad. Sad.
I cannot go back in time. It is easy to eat within a five hour window 20 days per month. Easy. It was not easy to fast for 36 hours at a time. My steps per day dropped from about 9,000 per day to about 3,000 per day in less than a month.
OK. I'm done thinking about this. It is time to follow it.
Day 1 – Thursday, January 12, 2017: 222.0
On January 3, Anne gave us her wedding date of July 22, and since then Tom and I have had a focus on what to do to help her. She found a reception hall that gave a 10% discount on food if a contract was signed and $4,000 deposit given by the end of this week. I ended up telling her I wouldn't sign the contract because the only thing that was crystal clear was you never ever get back any deposit money. We could have worked through the contract to clarify costs, but the costs turned out to be high -- more than $100/attendee for the wedding. I worked through the numbers for a wedding, thinking they would be starting married life with not having money for a good mattress or other start up expenses. We decided to give them a set amount of money to be used as they see fit and encouraged them to look past the wedding to living expenses.
Why am I writing this? Well, it has to do with changing the perspective. We wanted Anne to pull back from a focus on the wedding to see past the wedding to the marriage. She is living at home. He is in a furnished apartment. What happens after the wedding?
Now how does this relate to dieting? It doesn't really. I'm focused on Anne and not my diet, but I can use lessons from this to apply to my diet.
I've been focused on weight loss. Weight loss is good, just like a nice wedding is important. BUT there is much more to healthful living than a good weight. With a 24 hour fast, I was grumpy. With the 36 hour fast, my steps per day sank to about 3,000. All this experimenting has become a major hobby to an obsession.
It is a real wake up call to see that my daughter is marrying. Life moves on. I've spent tons of time weighing myself daily, trying to figure out how to lose weight and keep it off... What about my husband? What about my children?
So -- I'm done. Anne, Katie, Tom, and I are all overweight. How did this happen? What effect will this have on our lives? I'm more concerned about Tom's health than I am the fact that his product is being discontinued so he needs to find another position internally or externally. It is a very big deal with very significant health consequences to be overweight.
What is my conclusion? I'm going to stay with the diet of eating within a five hour window from 3 - 8 PM 20 days per month, and I'm going to commit to this plan through the end of this year. Katie heads off to college in the fall and likely will be a camp counselor all summer. Anne plans to be married and in grad school. What is certain is she won't be living with us: she wants to be on her own. I don't have any more time this year to deal with weight loss when two of our four children will be out of the house by the end of summer.
Yesterday, I picked up a bag of my favorite chocolates, Dove milk chocolates. In the van on the way home, I opened the bag and started eating them. When I got to the third one, I asked myself: "Why am I eating these?" The answer was: "Because I can." I realized that eating these chocolates was ridiculous if I can eat anything I want every day between 3 and 8 PM. I did eat more of the chocolates, but there are still plenty left. There was no drive to eat all of them, what the authors of the book "Intuitive Eating" call "Last Supper Eating."
This diet is actually very similar to No S in that you have times when you can eat what you want and you have times when you restrict eating. I prefer the eating window approach because I don't have to fret about exception days being appropriate or whether I should take an exception day. What stands out in my mind is the day I had a few tic tacs because I did not have access to a toothbrush and my breath was so bad. The other advantage for me is I don't have any portion control, even portion control which is that you have to fit everything on a plate. What I would do is load up the plate and eat everything on it no matter how unappealing. It actually was a debate in my mind whether I should have cheese which turned out to have some mold on it but I had not realized that when I put it on the plate. I also did not like the idea of putting fruit on a plate, and I love fruit like oranges and apples.
Finally, after much research, I am convinced that fasting is actually good for you. It's a rest for the body. I'm just about to go use the exercise bike even though I have not eaten since last night and won't again until 3 PM. That is not a problem. All this angst about what you eat before and after exercise is nonsense. Maybe it is important if you run a marathon or engage in hard core exercise, but anything I would do does not require a lot of exercise.
There it is. I tried this diet in August and in December with some weight loss but did not continue due to limited weight loss. Now I'm committed to following through the end of this year, and we shall see what happens.
5 PM: I put away my fasting and diet books and think I need to step away from here as well, maybe just reporting in once per month. The die is cast. I've made my decision. I no longer need to think about it and in fact just undermine the decision whenever I think about it. It was easy to sail through today eating within a five hour window. I'm already up to 6,000 steps so I think that the 36 hour fast was causing me to slow down.
Whatever... I just don't want to think about this anymore. I want to do, not plan, not fret, not worry, just turn my attention to other things and people...and there are many other things and people needing my attention.
Even for a stay at home Mom, life can get busy. This is the diet for people who are busy.
Day 2 – Friday, January 13, 2017: 222.2
Quiet day. Katie was home sick, so I stayed home and made biscotti and muffins. I broke my fast at 3 but realized during the day that a five hour eating window will not lead to weight loss unless I get rid of the fear of hunger.
Maybe I do need to keep thinking about this even though I am committed to the five hour eating window concept. When I talked with Kayla the last two times, she wanted me to consider an eating disorders clinic. No thanks. She thought I had an emotional problem with food, and I did tell her I had a fear of hunger. The difference between our views is that I think this fear is about as bizarre as being afraid of a grizzly bear. The fear comes from years of low calorie dieting, even though those years were long in the past. It also comes from the media drumbeat that you need to eat before you starve or you will binge. I am gullible and took the entire approach to eating as presented by the government and media as gospel truth when the truth was in the gospel!
Fasting is the answer. I think it will help for me to spot and write out about articles I see that run counter to the idea of allowing yourself to get hungry and fasting.
Tomorrow I'm having breakfast out. Next Wednesday I'm having lunch out. That's OK. I think what I'll do is not worry so much about a count of days that I eat only within a five hour window. Instead, I'll try to eat outside that window only for social reasons that involve socializing outside the family. Next weekend, Katie and Ellie are paying part of the way to Harry Potter World. I can fast there -- saves money!
Day 3 – Saturday, January 14, 2017: 222.4
This diet is insufficient, but I think I am close. I had oatmeal for breakfast and then came home and ate much more, including some biscotti. Why? Because I could.
Maybe I shouldn't wait to tire of "because I could". Maybe I can restrict eating more. I'm not sure how much it would bother me to restrict more. It may not bother me at all!
so -- my big concern is social outside the family. Fine. That can be accommodated. I can eat socially when the need arises and then just not eat at home afterwards. I can count that day as a success.
Also, maybe the five hour window is not necessary. What I need is a habit that allows me to not think about food. It just so happens I forgot about almonds in the downstairs freezer, and they will have to be tossed at the end of March. Maybe I can have 1/2 cup of some sort of nut (almonds, walnuts, pecans) at 3 PM and then have a maximum of one plateful plus one salad plus one fruit plus milk at dinner. Sundays are a free for all, but I won't be facing a free for all for five hours on every other day.
Closer... closer. I'm on the right track with daily fasting.
5:41 PM: Epic fail. I'm going to stick with 20 days per month of eating within a five hour window no matter what happens with my weight. I can work on exercise if I want to make changes.
Day 1 – Sunday, January 15, 2017: 221.0
I was so restless last night that I slept until 8:30 AM which is why my weight is so low. It was an even pound weight (ending in .0) and that fact was my inspiration to start at Day 1 because yesterday I decided this is it, no more tweaking, no more time-limited commitments, this is my diet.
Period.
I need to trust it will work. I need to accept the weight that results from it.
Trust.
Yesterday's binge was the typical binge of "eat now because who knows what you will permit yourself to eat later" variety. I'm done with that.
Trust.
Because it is mid month, I will have a goal to have 10 days of eating only within the 3 - 8 pm window between now and the end of the month.
Day 5 – Thursday, January 19, 2017:
I did fairly well the past few days. My measure of success is sticking with the plan. On Tuesday, I decided I needed to restrict calories in some way during my 3 - 8 PM eating window, but I changed my mind by the time it was 3 PM.
This morning, I had my monthly personal training appointment. My personal trainer is patient but frustrated with me. She says I don't listen to her at all. I told her Tom says I don't listen to him, either. What I have told her is she is a great sounding board for me. I think about what she asks me after I leave and come up with good insights.
Her best question today was very simple: "Why do you think you will succeed in the future when you have not in the past using the eating window approach?" I told her that I seem to have more energy as indicated by how my steps per day are naturally going up, and I also said that the fear of hunger seems to be declining, as indicated by two examples:
1. On Sunday morning, I did not eat before church even though I could. I wasn't hungry, so I didn't eat. Because I was going to church, I could have gotten hungry during church, but I still did not engage in preventative eating before church.
2. Last night, I was going to eat before 8 PM but got involved in something else and went out in the kitchen at 8:13 PM. Kayla asked if I ate anyway, and I said no.
Now it is 1:36 PM, and I am somewhat hungry and eager for the next 100 minutes to pass, but I know I can handle being hungry until 3 PM because I know I can eat as much as I want as of 3 PM.
Kayla still wants me to restrict portions and thinks I will get nowhere until I do. I told her that the fasting will eventually result in my not wanting to eat as much. She said that is portion control, and I said it was not because no willpower is involved.
After the appointment, I realized that my optimism about this approach is due to the fact that the impact of fasting seems to extend beyond fasting. The key word here is: cumulative. There seems to be a cumulative impact on me of fasting. I am finding it easier to fast, I am become adverse to having breakfast even when I can, and I am finding that I am losing very bad habits, like eating just before I walk out the door even if I am going to be gone only a few minutes. Do I really need to eat before I take the dog for a walk or drive down to the bus stop? As I said to Kayla, "That is nuts!" Why would I be so afraid of getting hungry that I would eat every time just before leaving the house?
Still, the proof is in the pudding. I am fasting to lose weight, and my weight has not gone down. Kayla goes on maternity leave after next month, so I will see her on February 21 and then not again until June. I told her I may not lose any weight by February but would expect to be down by June.
2:23 PM: I now am really interested in eating but only have to wait less than 40 minutes and then can have as much as I want. I am exercising willpower now but don't have to exercise willpower at 3 PM. Why does this matter? With dieting, you must exercise willpower constantly. That is not possible. People need to rest.
I think I feel particularly hungry now because I missed out on eating last night. The time I spend now dealing with the desire to eat (I'm not even sure it is hunger) is what I need to do in order to lose weight eventually.
We are headed to Harry Potter World tomorrow through Tuesday, and I am packing several snack bags of pecans and almonds to eat as soon as it is 3 PM. It makes sense for me to carry that food when I may not have ready access.
Day 6 – Friday, January 20, 2017: 222.6
After my conversation with Kayla, I am convinced this will work and only needs time. I got on the exercise bike this morning and will only lose one time of exercising due to the four day trip.
Day 8 – Sunday, January 22, 2017:
Last night, we ate at Hard Rock Cafe, only to have the food arrive at 8:15 PM. I ended up not eating. Tom got upset at first, but I told him I can eat all day tomorrow (Sunday) and didn't feel at all hungry. Being around Tom all day while fasting, I realized just how much you focus on food if you don't fast. Tom got grumpy when Katie and Ellie were in a long line for a ride, so it was almost 2 when they ate. I sat with them and didn't eat, but that was no problem. I just ate at 3, having some almonds and cashews that I had brought for home.
I later had 1/4 pound of totally disgusting chocolate fudge. Why? Because I could. Katie and Ellie were off by themselves, Tom was exercising at the hotel, and I was wandering around Seussical Land (for Dr. Seuss). I wanted something sweet and settled on fudge. It was terrible but I ate it anyway because I could and because I had spent $4 on it. My weight won't go down until I am no longer eating so much when I allow myself to eat, but I am determined to exercise no willpower to limit food intake. In fact, my willpower is needed to fast. It would be easy to tell myself that fudge is a lot of calories and I should not have it. There is an expression, "Don't should on me." I need to wait for my body to say, "Enough!"
7:30 PM: I ate a lot tonight -- a plateful of spaghetti with meatballs and then a yogurt parfait. Why? I think it was feeding before the fast. This just has to be played out.
Day 10 – Tuesday, January 24, 2017:
I'm with the luggage now while everyone else gets breakfast at Starbucks. As were were walking in the hotel lobby, Katie remarked, "I'm really hungry." Well, I wasn't -- not at all, even though I had not eaten anything since 4:30 PM yesterday. This reminds me of that French saying that is something like, "Food creates appetite.":
I also still feel the effects, at last psychologically, of having 1/4 pound of fudge two days ago. I am reminded of having Taco Bell something like 6 or 7 Tuesdays in a row several years ago -- and never since. Now, instead of reacting against memories of not having enough to satisfy me because I exercised willpower to limit portions, I am reacting against memories of having too much. Last night, I considered eating right before 8 but was satisfied and had nothing even though I knew I would not eat again until 3 PM today.
Day 11 – Wednesday, January 25, 2017: 221.8
We are home. The kids are at school, and I am spending less time -- but still a lot of time -- thinking about my eating habits. I have made a commitment to myself that I will keep this fasting schedule at least until Kayla returns from maternity leave in June because I won't know it works unless I actually do it for a few months!
I put on my wedding ring when I started this fast commitment on January 12th, and I am still wearing it. It is tight but doesn't hurt. That makes me happy. I think my finger might be thinner from the high intensity exercise. I am now up to 30 minutes of exercise which includes 10 seconds per minute of biking as fast as I can.
Day 12 – Thursday, January 26, 2017:
I think I figured out why this works. I had to trust it works even though I didn't understand, and now I think I understand. When you eat with no portion control, you can overeat. Last night, I sure did! This morning, I am not feeling well. Part of the reason is getting up at 4 to get Anne to the airport, but part is that I ate way too much last night. I got three bags of candy and had several of each -- caramels and chocolate. Now all I want is tea.
There was a rhythm to life back in the middle ages, a rhythm of feast and fast. There even is a book by that title that I got and read at one point. A diet of constant portion control leads to panic and a focus on food. A diet of feast and fast gives the body assurance that a feast is just around the corner even though there is a fast right now. There is something called the reptile brain that controls things like the reaction to a grizzly bear attack: you cannot control your reaction. If you are being charged by a grizzly bear, your heart rate will go up. That reptile brain, I believe, reacts to constant portion control by creating a drive to binge.
Except I am binging now.. Why? I think it will stop. I cannot explain why I think so, but I do. Maybe it is because the reptile brain eventually realizes that a feast is just around the corner.
This was the Facebook post from the Fast-5 group that got me to try it again: "I haven't been this slim for 40 years! It's official I've now lost 82 lb" The post was created on January 8th by Yvonne Clark.
12:15 PM: I thought that I might have too much weight to lose to be able to lose weight following the Fast-5 Diet, but the Facebook post gave me hope that I may be able to succeed following the diet. I have modified it from eating every day within the five hour window to eating only 20 days per month within the five hour window, but the effect of the diet seems to be cumulative so I don't think that is a problem. The '20 days' guideline is only a guidelines. I may eat within that window more days in a month or less, depending on what I am doing. What I am trying to do is eat within that five hour window unless I am socializing with people outside my immediate family and it would be awkward not to eat.
10 PM: The most memorable time of our trip to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons last summer was when Tom and I went to a roadside stop and looked across a river at a grizzly bear stalking an elk herd. We were perhaps 1/2 mile away from that bear, but I was absolutely terrified as I thought I had backpacked in the Wind River Canyon just south of there about 25 years ago. I had no idea the sheer size and power of a grizzly bear.
That terror I felt seeing that bear is reminiscent of the fear I have developed over not getting enough to eat, after years and years of portion control. I gave up long ago on portion control but not really -- the No S Diet has limits; most things I have tried have limits. Fasting has no portion control. I need to overcome that fear, that atavistic fear of starving.
It is possible. I do think it is possible that allowing feasting within eating windows will allow me to overcome that fear of starvation.
It is not possible to overcome the fear of a grizzly bear. I hope I never see one again. It took me awhile to not have nightmares after seeing that bear. Black bears in the wild in MN are scared of humans. Grizzlies -- no. They fear nothing.
Day 13 – Friday, January 27, 2017: 221.4
I decided not to fast today. I am going to stick with 20 fasts per month. Because I started on January 15, my goal for this month is only 10 fasts. I'm up to 8 or 9 fasts so far since then, so I'm in good shape. And, besides, there were blackberries on sale at the grocery store!
Day 14 – Saturday, January 28, 2017:
I got up late and didn't want to weigh myself anyway because of how much I ate yesterday. This diet disrupts the bad habits that make me fat, but it will take a long time for me to lose weight. I can look back to last month and see that I was 225 on December 1. There is a lot of random movement up and down. I do, however, weigh less than 225 and don't expect to return to that weight
I have eaten within a five hour window for nine days since January 15, so I only need to do this one more time until February 1. This should be easy.
1:45 PM: I feel pretty darn hungry right now but will hang on until 3 PM so I can count this day as a my last required fast day for the month. Why am I so hungry? I don't know. I did go on the exercise bike for 1/2 hour but have done that while fasting previously. I slept well. Last night, I ate right up until 8 PM. It's a puzzle, but it doesn't matter. I hang on until 3 PM and then eat what I want.
Day 15 – Sunday, January 29, 2017:
I rolled out of bed at 8:30 to a weight of 220.8, meaning I have lost .2 pounds in two weeks. I am sticking with this diet. This morning, I saw in the Star Tribune an article that questions whether eating breakfast is associated with weight loss:
http://www.startribune.com/can-breakfas ... 411820306/
This is literally the first time I have seen in a periodical that breakfast might not be "the most important meal of the day". Good for the Star Tribune!
11:30 AM: The feeling of hunger continues from yesterday, and I have already had an entire grapefruit, a hard boiled egg, some mueslix, and some coffee ice cream. I am allowing myself to eat whatever I want since it is a Sunday.
Two clarifications on this diet:
1. I eat between 3 and 8 PM in the time zone I am in.
2. I can eat anytime on Sunday right up to midnight, although the preference is to stop at 8 PM.
Right now, I have met my goal of 10 fast days from January 15 to January 31, and I am not sure what I am going to do for the rest of the month, except haul up to U of North Dakota on the 31st because Tommy is getting his wisdom teeth out.
The nice thing about this diet is the flexibility. The potential downside is it does not work! I am committed to it no matter what until Kayla returns from maternity leave in June, although I may not make 20 fast days in March because I am spending a week with my parents and don't want to alarm my mother (my father is "out of gear").
57 years old, and I still have both my parents. What a gift! I hope to be around for my kids as they have kids who grow up and go to college, but my expectation for longevity has been lowered because of my obesity.
Oh, well. I cannot go back to the past. I cannot change what has already occurred.
10 PM: Today I ate and ate and ate. I ended up resorting to foods with high volume per calorie -- grapefruit and popcorn. It was so odd, but I let myself eat as much as I wanted.
Also, my knee started to hurt. I'm going to have to stay off the exercise bike for a period of time which upsets me.
Tomorrow, will I be brave enough to weigh myself? Probably not. I think there is a spiritual component to fasting which is that it teaches detachment from food: you realize that you don't have to eat something RIGHT NOW! My overeating today was perhaps a backlash against all the fasting, but that is OK. Eventually, I will get used to it.
Day 16 – Monday, January 30, 2017:
Totally bizarre. I did not weigh myself and did fine until 3 PM, so today was a fast day. It is now 4:30 PM, and I have had two grapefruit, a banana, some split pea soup, a hunk of cheese, and lots and lots popcorn -- perhaps 3/4 cup of unpopped popcorn which was popped and eaten with melted butter.
I have a lot of driving tomorrow and the next day and think I should just eat normally -- not fast.
6:30 PM: I get it. You have to get to the point of disgust. Here I am, shoveling cooked rice into my mouth while watching a video on the Devonian Period while Katie watches videos and Ellie does homework and the dog suffers from lack of attention. Really? Have I spent years eating everything my diet allows and now this?
Done. I can eat what I like. I don't need to shovel. Food will be available tomorrow, too.
Day 17 – Tuesday, January 31, 2017:
I stepped on the scale at 4:30 AM and it looks like it was about 222.4, which was way lower than I expected given that I have eaten so much in the past few days.
I concluded that what matters is to follow the fasting protocol, and that's it. The effect is cumulative. I will lose weight, but weight loss will be slow especially at first.
Over the past couple of years, I have worked to learn how to cook and to find good recipes. A few months ago, I started laminating recipes. Yesterday, I laminated recipe #77, a Mediterranean chickpea salad. Everyone liked the salad, and it only had good ingredients in it. Many of the ingredients I already had at home, including olive oil, red wine vinegar, olives, garlic, cumin, yogurt, and lemon. I am slowly switching from pasta-based meals to meals that have more fruit and vegetables. This effort also is cumulative, and that Mediterranean chickpea salad was the first time that adding a good recipe was really easy.
Weight Summary
Day 1 – Monday, January 2, 2017: 223.0
Day 2 – Tuesday, January 3, 2017:
Day 3 – Wednesday, January 4, 2017: 223.0
Day 4 – Thursday, January 5, 2017: 218.4
Day 5 – Friday, January 6, 2017: 222.2
Day 6 – Saturday, January 7, 2017: 218.4
Day 7 – Sunday, January 8, 2017: 222.4
Day 8 – Monday, January 9, 2017: 223.4
Day 9 – Tuesday, January 10, 2017: 221.4
Day 10 – Wednesday, January 11, 2017: 221.8
Day 1 – Thursday, January 12, 2017: 222.0
Day 2 – Friday, January 13, 2017: 222.2
Day 3 – Saturday, January 14, 2017: 222.4
Day 1 – Sunday, January 15, 2017: 221.0
Day 2 – Monday, January 16, 2017: 223.0
Day 3 – Tuesday, January 17, 2017: 222.4
Day 4 – Wednesday, January 18, 2017: 222.6
Day 5 – Thursday, January 19, 2017:
Day 6 – Friday, January 20, 2017:
Day 7 – Saturday, January 21, 2017:
Day 8 – Sunday, January 22, 2017:
Day 9 – Monday, January 23, 2017:
Day 10 – Tuesday, January 24, 2017:
Day 11 – Wednesday, January 25, 2017: 221.8
Day 12 – Thursday, January 26, 2017:
Day 13 – Friday, January 27, 2017: 221.4
Day 14 – Saturday, January 28, 2017:
Day 15 – Sunday, January 29, 2017:
Day 16 – Monday, January 30, 2017:
Day 17 – Tuesday, January 31, 2017:
Journal
Day 1 – Monday, January 2, 2017: 223.0
Last month's diet attempt was to eat within a five hour window between 3 and 8 pm 20 times per month. This month's diet attempt, which I tried twice last week as an experiment, was to eat within a 36 hour window up to 3 times per week but never on Sundays and never two days in a row.
This mirrors what I am doing with the exercise bike, although I will use the exercise bike on Sundays.
Will this work? I don't know. I will give it until January 31 when I meet with my personal trainer to see what happens.
The book that is the basis for this diet is The Complete Book of Fasting by Dr. Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore. One of the diets is a 36 hour fast, although they have recommendations for what you do when you are eating that I will not follow. I am letting myself eat whatever I want when I am not fasting with the hope that the fasting will affect what I want to eat and how much I want to eat.
Dr. Fung follows a schedule of fasting from dinner to dinner two to four days per week. I tried fasting dinner to dinner twice with the result that I got upset with one daughter one time and with another daughter another time. I seem to be able to power through a day of fasting with no problem if I eat late. Last night, we were driving back from my mother in law's house and I ended up having a Burger King whopper with fries and Dr. Pepper at about 7:30. I also had a Dove chocolate bar. That would not be what is recommended.
The really big drawback of this approach is that you miss three dinners per week with your family. I don't expect to continue this diet for the rest of my life, and it appears from the book that people don't continue on the diet after they lose weight. Unfortunately, the book does not say what they do instead.
One step at a time. One month at a time. I'm focusing on following this diet this month and seeing what happens.
Day 2 – Tuesday, January 3, 2017:
Here is the book that gives practical ideas on fasting:
The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting
by Jimmy Moore and Dr. Jason Fung
Publication date is October 18, 2016.
I find it more interesting than The Obesity Code which is too scientific for my taste and which can be summarized this way: You are fat because your insulin has become persistently high and your body wants to maintain that high insulin level. A fast way to lower insulin level is by fasting.
The guide to fasting gives several options, including eating within a five hour window, 24 hour fasts, and 36 hour fasts.
I rolled out of bed at 8:30 AM this morning and weighed under 220. Tomorrow Katie and Ellie return to school, so my life returns to normal.
Day 3 – Wednesday, January 4, 2017: 223.0
I managed to eat enough yesterday to make up for 36 hours of fasting. It wasn't pleasant. I ate to stuffed. What I think I need to do is eat to satisfied, fully satisfied. That is not stuffed.
Anne now has a wedding date -- this July. I'm in shock. I should not be as she and her fiance have been dating for more than 3 years.
Day 4 – Thursday, January 5, 2017: 218.4
That was quite a drop in weight for one day, and I weighed myself at my usual time of 5:30 AM. Last night, I looked up how to break a fast (in my fasting book), and the recommendation is to go slow. Two days ago, I started by having Frosted Mini Wheats (which we had bought for the weekend at Grandma's house) and then went on to Christmas candy. No wonder I didn't feel so great by end of day!
So far today, at close to 9 AM, I've had oatmeal, cheese, and a hard boiled egg.
I still believe that a key success factor is "no portion control". If I don't allow myself to eat as much as I want, I'll be gorging when I allow myself to gorge. Running through my mind is a variation of a snippet of Bruce Springsteen's song "Born to Run". The words are "We gotta get out while we're young". My mind has these words in replay: "We have to get it while we can" with that tune from "Born to Run". I overeat as a constant response to the preachy message inside of me to control portions.
Nope. No portion control. Fasting. When I eat, I allow myself to eat as much as I want. When will my portions become reasonable? When I am confident there will never again be restrictions on how much I eat.
Day 5 – Friday, January 6, 2017: 222.2
I woke up feeling stuffed and was only too happy to not eat today. This will pass. The glutted feeling this morning is not enjoyable and neither is the feeling of eating when not close to hungry. I need to give this time.
Meanwhile, I am happy that today's weight is than the 223.0 weight from two days ago.
Day 6 – Saturday, January 7, 2017: 218.4
It is easy to fast. I woke up this morning for the first time thinking that something for the good had changed with my body. Maybe I am detecting lower insulin levels. Anyway, I'm a bit concerned about having two days in a row of eating, so I may delay the start of eating. We are going out tonight, so I don't want to fast straight through to tomorrow.
2 PM: I started eating at 12:30 and ate and ate and ate: two Haagen Dazs bars, 1/2 peanut butter sandwich, 3 or 4 cups of chili, a big block of cheese, some almonds, two halos, two cups of yogurt and who knows what else? What is really interesting is there is no change whatsoever in my hunger level. I wasn't hungry when I started eating, and I am neither hungry no stuffed now.
Am I discouraged? No. I think I need to eat something very filling when I finish fasting. Maybe I can set it up so I have some soup. I'm making some homemade beef barley soup tomorrow.
One step at a time. I'm learning.
Day 7 – Sunday, January 8, 2017: 222.4
Just dandy. I can eat in a couple of hours enough to more than make up for not eating for 36 hours. This runs counter to the fasting idea. However, I can try to go back to the Every Other Day Diet where I ate very little every other day so that I don't pig out, or I can try those SET guidelines to reduce the likelihood of so much overeating. I'm going to try the SET guidelines first:
S: Sit down to eat, when possible.
E: Eat without distraction, if possible.
T: Take hand or utensils away from food while chewing and swallowing.
11:30 AM: I realized that the Every Other Day Diet was less restrictive than the 36 hour diet. I don't eat anything for an entire day vs. having up to 500 calories. That means I need longer fasts, which scare me, or something in addition to fasting, such as the SET guidelines.
Day 8 – Monday, January 9, 2017: 223.4
It is not at all shocking that my weight is above my weight from last Monday even though I ate nothing on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I get it. After recording what I ate when I broke my fast on Saturday, I got it. The problem with obesity is your body is used to high and persistent insulin. It is not my imagination that I am eating way more when I break my fast. It is reality.
So now what? I'm not sure but think I'm on the right path. If I look back to medieval times and the Catholic practice of fasting during Lent, there were 40 days of fasting between Ash Wednesday and Easter: you had Sundays off. The Fung books give a solid presentation of why you want breaks in fasting because otherwise your body thinks there is a famine. You need intermittent fasting. What I have been doing is breaking fasts four times per week with exorbitant intake of calories. Why I think I'll do now is limit fast on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays and significantly limit food intake on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Sundays are still a day to eat whatever I want so my body doesn't perceive a famine and power down.
Wedding planning is going to be stressful. It's already started! Still, my weight seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with stress. I dug myself a hole following bad advice to eat lots of carbs and avoid fat. Now I'm following what makes sense and also is remarkably similar to medieval Catholic fasting tradition.
I could at this point try eating one meal per day which is the actual tradition for Lent, but it's actually easier to fast all day than to eat. The hard part will be the days of restriction instead of fast, but I will just have to see how hard it is.
I'm giving up my 10,000 step per day goal for the simple reason I want to make life as easy as possible for me. What most scares me is that I get nasty like I did the last time I tried a 24 hour fast starting at 4 pm.
Day 9 – Tuesday, January 10, 2017: 221.4
The 36 hour fast is not sustainable for the long term and is disruptive to my family. The 5 hour window didn't work Christmas week. What? How could I have missed that no diet works when it is a holiday unless you are a real Scrooge?
I'm done. I'm taking the 20 day per month eating within a 5 hour window 3 - 8 PM and sticking with it.
Today's weight was a little low because I got up an hour later, at 6:30. I spent the night facing the fact that Anne planned long ago to marry this guy and even told me so but I assumed they would get married after they had figured out basic things like where they were going to live and how they were going to earn a living. The girl who earned a summa cum laude with honors in a science field from a major state university has a boyfriend of equal or greater intellectual firepower. We can be an obstacle or a support, and we choose to be a support.
Day 10 – Wednesday, January 11, 2017: 221.8
Driving home from leaving the kids off at school, I heard on Catholic Radio the sentence (a possible paraphrase): "It takes thoughtfulness to make things simple." True.
I read back through my writing for August and for December to find that a slight increase in weight led me to change from the diet to eat within a five hour window.
I think I've found my diet approach and just need patience. Minor weight fluctuations, especially around holidays, should not cause me to change diets.
Fasting is good for you. Unbelievable. I constantly see that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It was even in the Scouting magazine this last issue!
Come on... it is not true. I believed something that was not true and followed it to my detriment. I loaded our kids up on cereal. We have a very small galley kitchen with about five shelves for food, and one entire shelf used to be used for breakfast cereal. I even bought plastic cereal containers which now are being used for birdseed. Sad. Sad. Sad.
I cannot go back in time. It is easy to eat within a five hour window 20 days per month. Easy. It was not easy to fast for 36 hours at a time. My steps per day dropped from about 9,000 per day to about 3,000 per day in less than a month.
OK. I'm done thinking about this. It is time to follow it.
Day 1 – Thursday, January 12, 2017: 222.0
On January 3, Anne gave us her wedding date of July 22, and since then Tom and I have had a focus on what to do to help her. She found a reception hall that gave a 10% discount on food if a contract was signed and $4,000 deposit given by the end of this week. I ended up telling her I wouldn't sign the contract because the only thing that was crystal clear was you never ever get back any deposit money. We could have worked through the contract to clarify costs, but the costs turned out to be high -- more than $100/attendee for the wedding. I worked through the numbers for a wedding, thinking they would be starting married life with not having money for a good mattress or other start up expenses. We decided to give them a set amount of money to be used as they see fit and encouraged them to look past the wedding to living expenses.
Why am I writing this? Well, it has to do with changing the perspective. We wanted Anne to pull back from a focus on the wedding to see past the wedding to the marriage. She is living at home. He is in a furnished apartment. What happens after the wedding?
Now how does this relate to dieting? It doesn't really. I'm focused on Anne and not my diet, but I can use lessons from this to apply to my diet.
I've been focused on weight loss. Weight loss is good, just like a nice wedding is important. BUT there is much more to healthful living than a good weight. With a 24 hour fast, I was grumpy. With the 36 hour fast, my steps per day sank to about 3,000. All this experimenting has become a major hobby to an obsession.
It is a real wake up call to see that my daughter is marrying. Life moves on. I've spent tons of time weighing myself daily, trying to figure out how to lose weight and keep it off... What about my husband? What about my children?
So -- I'm done. Anne, Katie, Tom, and I are all overweight. How did this happen? What effect will this have on our lives? I'm more concerned about Tom's health than I am the fact that his product is being discontinued so he needs to find another position internally or externally. It is a very big deal with very significant health consequences to be overweight.
What is my conclusion? I'm going to stay with the diet of eating within a five hour window from 3 - 8 PM 20 days per month, and I'm going to commit to this plan through the end of this year. Katie heads off to college in the fall and likely will be a camp counselor all summer. Anne plans to be married and in grad school. What is certain is she won't be living with us: she wants to be on her own. I don't have any more time this year to deal with weight loss when two of our four children will be out of the house by the end of summer.
Yesterday, I picked up a bag of my favorite chocolates, Dove milk chocolates. In the van on the way home, I opened the bag and started eating them. When I got to the third one, I asked myself: "Why am I eating these?" The answer was: "Because I can." I realized that eating these chocolates was ridiculous if I can eat anything I want every day between 3 and 8 PM. I did eat more of the chocolates, but there are still plenty left. There was no drive to eat all of them, what the authors of the book "Intuitive Eating" call "Last Supper Eating."
This diet is actually very similar to No S in that you have times when you can eat what you want and you have times when you restrict eating. I prefer the eating window approach because I don't have to fret about exception days being appropriate or whether I should take an exception day. What stands out in my mind is the day I had a few tic tacs because I did not have access to a toothbrush and my breath was so bad. The other advantage for me is I don't have any portion control, even portion control which is that you have to fit everything on a plate. What I would do is load up the plate and eat everything on it no matter how unappealing. It actually was a debate in my mind whether I should have cheese which turned out to have some mold on it but I had not realized that when I put it on the plate. I also did not like the idea of putting fruit on a plate, and I love fruit like oranges and apples.
Finally, after much research, I am convinced that fasting is actually good for you. It's a rest for the body. I'm just about to go use the exercise bike even though I have not eaten since last night and won't again until 3 PM. That is not a problem. All this angst about what you eat before and after exercise is nonsense. Maybe it is important if you run a marathon or engage in hard core exercise, but anything I would do does not require a lot of exercise.
There it is. I tried this diet in August and in December with some weight loss but did not continue due to limited weight loss. Now I'm committed to following through the end of this year, and we shall see what happens.
5 PM: I put away my fasting and diet books and think I need to step away from here as well, maybe just reporting in once per month. The die is cast. I've made my decision. I no longer need to think about it and in fact just undermine the decision whenever I think about it. It was easy to sail through today eating within a five hour window. I'm already up to 6,000 steps so I think that the 36 hour fast was causing me to slow down.
Whatever... I just don't want to think about this anymore. I want to do, not plan, not fret, not worry, just turn my attention to other things and people...and there are many other things and people needing my attention.
Even for a stay at home Mom, life can get busy. This is the diet for people who are busy.
Day 2 – Friday, January 13, 2017: 222.2
Quiet day. Katie was home sick, so I stayed home and made biscotti and muffins. I broke my fast at 3 but realized during the day that a five hour eating window will not lead to weight loss unless I get rid of the fear of hunger.
Maybe I do need to keep thinking about this even though I am committed to the five hour eating window concept. When I talked with Kayla the last two times, she wanted me to consider an eating disorders clinic. No thanks. She thought I had an emotional problem with food, and I did tell her I had a fear of hunger. The difference between our views is that I think this fear is about as bizarre as being afraid of a grizzly bear. The fear comes from years of low calorie dieting, even though those years were long in the past. It also comes from the media drumbeat that you need to eat before you starve or you will binge. I am gullible and took the entire approach to eating as presented by the government and media as gospel truth when the truth was in the gospel!
Fasting is the answer. I think it will help for me to spot and write out about articles I see that run counter to the idea of allowing yourself to get hungry and fasting.
Tomorrow I'm having breakfast out. Next Wednesday I'm having lunch out. That's OK. I think what I'll do is not worry so much about a count of days that I eat only within a five hour window. Instead, I'll try to eat outside that window only for social reasons that involve socializing outside the family. Next weekend, Katie and Ellie are paying part of the way to Harry Potter World. I can fast there -- saves money!
Day 3 – Saturday, January 14, 2017: 222.4
This diet is insufficient, but I think I am close. I had oatmeal for breakfast and then came home and ate much more, including some biscotti. Why? Because I could.
Maybe I shouldn't wait to tire of "because I could". Maybe I can restrict eating more. I'm not sure how much it would bother me to restrict more. It may not bother me at all!
so -- my big concern is social outside the family. Fine. That can be accommodated. I can eat socially when the need arises and then just not eat at home afterwards. I can count that day as a success.
Also, maybe the five hour window is not necessary. What I need is a habit that allows me to not think about food. It just so happens I forgot about almonds in the downstairs freezer, and they will have to be tossed at the end of March. Maybe I can have 1/2 cup of some sort of nut (almonds, walnuts, pecans) at 3 PM and then have a maximum of one plateful plus one salad plus one fruit plus milk at dinner. Sundays are a free for all, but I won't be facing a free for all for five hours on every other day.
Closer... closer. I'm on the right track with daily fasting.
5:41 PM: Epic fail. I'm going to stick with 20 days per month of eating within a five hour window no matter what happens with my weight. I can work on exercise if I want to make changes.
Day 1 – Sunday, January 15, 2017: 221.0
I was so restless last night that I slept until 8:30 AM which is why my weight is so low. It was an even pound weight (ending in .0) and that fact was my inspiration to start at Day 1 because yesterday I decided this is it, no more tweaking, no more time-limited commitments, this is my diet.
Period.
I need to trust it will work. I need to accept the weight that results from it.
Trust.
Yesterday's binge was the typical binge of "eat now because who knows what you will permit yourself to eat later" variety. I'm done with that.
Trust.
Because it is mid month, I will have a goal to have 10 days of eating only within the 3 - 8 pm window between now and the end of the month.
Day 5 – Thursday, January 19, 2017:
I did fairly well the past few days. My measure of success is sticking with the plan. On Tuesday, I decided I needed to restrict calories in some way during my 3 - 8 PM eating window, but I changed my mind by the time it was 3 PM.
This morning, I had my monthly personal training appointment. My personal trainer is patient but frustrated with me. She says I don't listen to her at all. I told her Tom says I don't listen to him, either. What I have told her is she is a great sounding board for me. I think about what she asks me after I leave and come up with good insights.
Her best question today was very simple: "Why do you think you will succeed in the future when you have not in the past using the eating window approach?" I told her that I seem to have more energy as indicated by how my steps per day are naturally going up, and I also said that the fear of hunger seems to be declining, as indicated by two examples:
1. On Sunday morning, I did not eat before church even though I could. I wasn't hungry, so I didn't eat. Because I was going to church, I could have gotten hungry during church, but I still did not engage in preventative eating before church.
2. Last night, I was going to eat before 8 PM but got involved in something else and went out in the kitchen at 8:13 PM. Kayla asked if I ate anyway, and I said no.
Now it is 1:36 PM, and I am somewhat hungry and eager for the next 100 minutes to pass, but I know I can handle being hungry until 3 PM because I know I can eat as much as I want as of 3 PM.
Kayla still wants me to restrict portions and thinks I will get nowhere until I do. I told her that the fasting will eventually result in my not wanting to eat as much. She said that is portion control, and I said it was not because no willpower is involved.
After the appointment, I realized that my optimism about this approach is due to the fact that the impact of fasting seems to extend beyond fasting. The key word here is: cumulative. There seems to be a cumulative impact on me of fasting. I am finding it easier to fast, I am become adverse to having breakfast even when I can, and I am finding that I am losing very bad habits, like eating just before I walk out the door even if I am going to be gone only a few minutes. Do I really need to eat before I take the dog for a walk or drive down to the bus stop? As I said to Kayla, "That is nuts!" Why would I be so afraid of getting hungry that I would eat every time just before leaving the house?
Still, the proof is in the pudding. I am fasting to lose weight, and my weight has not gone down. Kayla goes on maternity leave after next month, so I will see her on February 21 and then not again until June. I told her I may not lose any weight by February but would expect to be down by June.
2:23 PM: I now am really interested in eating but only have to wait less than 40 minutes and then can have as much as I want. I am exercising willpower now but don't have to exercise willpower at 3 PM. Why does this matter? With dieting, you must exercise willpower constantly. That is not possible. People need to rest.
I think I feel particularly hungry now because I missed out on eating last night. The time I spend now dealing with the desire to eat (I'm not even sure it is hunger) is what I need to do in order to lose weight eventually.
We are headed to Harry Potter World tomorrow through Tuesday, and I am packing several snack bags of pecans and almonds to eat as soon as it is 3 PM. It makes sense for me to carry that food when I may not have ready access.
Day 6 – Friday, January 20, 2017: 222.6
After my conversation with Kayla, I am convinced this will work and only needs time. I got on the exercise bike this morning and will only lose one time of exercising due to the four day trip.
Day 8 – Sunday, January 22, 2017:
Last night, we ate at Hard Rock Cafe, only to have the food arrive at 8:15 PM. I ended up not eating. Tom got upset at first, but I told him I can eat all day tomorrow (Sunday) and didn't feel at all hungry. Being around Tom all day while fasting, I realized just how much you focus on food if you don't fast. Tom got grumpy when Katie and Ellie were in a long line for a ride, so it was almost 2 when they ate. I sat with them and didn't eat, but that was no problem. I just ate at 3, having some almonds and cashews that I had brought for home.
I later had 1/4 pound of totally disgusting chocolate fudge. Why? Because I could. Katie and Ellie were off by themselves, Tom was exercising at the hotel, and I was wandering around Seussical Land (for Dr. Seuss). I wanted something sweet and settled on fudge. It was terrible but I ate it anyway because I could and because I had spent $4 on it. My weight won't go down until I am no longer eating so much when I allow myself to eat, but I am determined to exercise no willpower to limit food intake. In fact, my willpower is needed to fast. It would be easy to tell myself that fudge is a lot of calories and I should not have it. There is an expression, "Don't should on me." I need to wait for my body to say, "Enough!"
7:30 PM: I ate a lot tonight -- a plateful of spaghetti with meatballs and then a yogurt parfait. Why? I think it was feeding before the fast. This just has to be played out.
Day 10 – Tuesday, January 24, 2017:
I'm with the luggage now while everyone else gets breakfast at Starbucks. As were were walking in the hotel lobby, Katie remarked, "I'm really hungry." Well, I wasn't -- not at all, even though I had not eaten anything since 4:30 PM yesterday. This reminds me of that French saying that is something like, "Food creates appetite.":
I also still feel the effects, at last psychologically, of having 1/4 pound of fudge two days ago. I am reminded of having Taco Bell something like 6 or 7 Tuesdays in a row several years ago -- and never since. Now, instead of reacting against memories of not having enough to satisfy me because I exercised willpower to limit portions, I am reacting against memories of having too much. Last night, I considered eating right before 8 but was satisfied and had nothing even though I knew I would not eat again until 3 PM today.
Day 11 – Wednesday, January 25, 2017: 221.8
We are home. The kids are at school, and I am spending less time -- but still a lot of time -- thinking about my eating habits. I have made a commitment to myself that I will keep this fasting schedule at least until Kayla returns from maternity leave in June because I won't know it works unless I actually do it for a few months!
I put on my wedding ring when I started this fast commitment on January 12th, and I am still wearing it. It is tight but doesn't hurt. That makes me happy. I think my finger might be thinner from the high intensity exercise. I am now up to 30 minutes of exercise which includes 10 seconds per minute of biking as fast as I can.
Day 12 – Thursday, January 26, 2017:
I think I figured out why this works. I had to trust it works even though I didn't understand, and now I think I understand. When you eat with no portion control, you can overeat. Last night, I sure did! This morning, I am not feeling well. Part of the reason is getting up at 4 to get Anne to the airport, but part is that I ate way too much last night. I got three bags of candy and had several of each -- caramels and chocolate. Now all I want is tea.
There was a rhythm to life back in the middle ages, a rhythm of feast and fast. There even is a book by that title that I got and read at one point. A diet of constant portion control leads to panic and a focus on food. A diet of feast and fast gives the body assurance that a feast is just around the corner even though there is a fast right now. There is something called the reptile brain that controls things like the reaction to a grizzly bear attack: you cannot control your reaction. If you are being charged by a grizzly bear, your heart rate will go up. That reptile brain, I believe, reacts to constant portion control by creating a drive to binge.
Except I am binging now.. Why? I think it will stop. I cannot explain why I think so, but I do. Maybe it is because the reptile brain eventually realizes that a feast is just around the corner.
This was the Facebook post from the Fast-5 group that got me to try it again: "I haven't been this slim for 40 years! It's official I've now lost 82 lb" The post was created on January 8th by Yvonne Clark.
12:15 PM: I thought that I might have too much weight to lose to be able to lose weight following the Fast-5 Diet, but the Facebook post gave me hope that I may be able to succeed following the diet. I have modified it from eating every day within the five hour window to eating only 20 days per month within the five hour window, but the effect of the diet seems to be cumulative so I don't think that is a problem. The '20 days' guideline is only a guidelines. I may eat within that window more days in a month or less, depending on what I am doing. What I am trying to do is eat within that five hour window unless I am socializing with people outside my immediate family and it would be awkward not to eat.
10 PM: The most memorable time of our trip to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons last summer was when Tom and I went to a roadside stop and looked across a river at a grizzly bear stalking an elk herd. We were perhaps 1/2 mile away from that bear, but I was absolutely terrified as I thought I had backpacked in the Wind River Canyon just south of there about 25 years ago. I had no idea the sheer size and power of a grizzly bear.
That terror I felt seeing that bear is reminiscent of the fear I have developed over not getting enough to eat, after years and years of portion control. I gave up long ago on portion control but not really -- the No S Diet has limits; most things I have tried have limits. Fasting has no portion control. I need to overcome that fear, that atavistic fear of starving.
It is possible. I do think it is possible that allowing feasting within eating windows will allow me to overcome that fear of starvation.
It is not possible to overcome the fear of a grizzly bear. I hope I never see one again. It took me awhile to not have nightmares after seeing that bear. Black bears in the wild in MN are scared of humans. Grizzlies -- no. They fear nothing.
Day 13 – Friday, January 27, 2017: 221.4
I decided not to fast today. I am going to stick with 20 fasts per month. Because I started on January 15, my goal for this month is only 10 fasts. I'm up to 8 or 9 fasts so far since then, so I'm in good shape. And, besides, there were blackberries on sale at the grocery store!
Day 14 – Saturday, January 28, 2017:
I got up late and didn't want to weigh myself anyway because of how much I ate yesterday. This diet disrupts the bad habits that make me fat, but it will take a long time for me to lose weight. I can look back to last month and see that I was 225 on December 1. There is a lot of random movement up and down. I do, however, weigh less than 225 and don't expect to return to that weight
I have eaten within a five hour window for nine days since January 15, so I only need to do this one more time until February 1. This should be easy.
1:45 PM: I feel pretty darn hungry right now but will hang on until 3 PM so I can count this day as a my last required fast day for the month. Why am I so hungry? I don't know. I did go on the exercise bike for 1/2 hour but have done that while fasting previously. I slept well. Last night, I ate right up until 8 PM. It's a puzzle, but it doesn't matter. I hang on until 3 PM and then eat what I want.
Day 15 – Sunday, January 29, 2017:
I rolled out of bed at 8:30 to a weight of 220.8, meaning I have lost .2 pounds in two weeks. I am sticking with this diet. This morning, I saw in the Star Tribune an article that questions whether eating breakfast is associated with weight loss:
http://www.startribune.com/can-breakfas ... 411820306/
This is literally the first time I have seen in a periodical that breakfast might not be "the most important meal of the day". Good for the Star Tribune!
11:30 AM: The feeling of hunger continues from yesterday, and I have already had an entire grapefruit, a hard boiled egg, some mueslix, and some coffee ice cream. I am allowing myself to eat whatever I want since it is a Sunday.
Two clarifications on this diet:
1. I eat between 3 and 8 PM in the time zone I am in.
2. I can eat anytime on Sunday right up to midnight, although the preference is to stop at 8 PM.
Right now, I have met my goal of 10 fast days from January 15 to January 31, and I am not sure what I am going to do for the rest of the month, except haul up to U of North Dakota on the 31st because Tommy is getting his wisdom teeth out.
The nice thing about this diet is the flexibility. The potential downside is it does not work! I am committed to it no matter what until Kayla returns from maternity leave in June, although I may not make 20 fast days in March because I am spending a week with my parents and don't want to alarm my mother (my father is "out of gear").
57 years old, and I still have both my parents. What a gift! I hope to be around for my kids as they have kids who grow up and go to college, but my expectation for longevity has been lowered because of my obesity.
Oh, well. I cannot go back to the past. I cannot change what has already occurred.
10 PM: Today I ate and ate and ate. I ended up resorting to foods with high volume per calorie -- grapefruit and popcorn. It was so odd, but I let myself eat as much as I wanted.
Also, my knee started to hurt. I'm going to have to stay off the exercise bike for a period of time which upsets me.
Tomorrow, will I be brave enough to weigh myself? Probably not. I think there is a spiritual component to fasting which is that it teaches detachment from food: you realize that you don't have to eat something RIGHT NOW! My overeating today was perhaps a backlash against all the fasting, but that is OK. Eventually, I will get used to it.
Day 16 – Monday, January 30, 2017:
Totally bizarre. I did not weigh myself and did fine until 3 PM, so today was a fast day. It is now 4:30 PM, and I have had two grapefruit, a banana, some split pea soup, a hunk of cheese, and lots and lots popcorn -- perhaps 3/4 cup of unpopped popcorn which was popped and eaten with melted butter.
I have a lot of driving tomorrow and the next day and think I should just eat normally -- not fast.
6:30 PM: I get it. You have to get to the point of disgust. Here I am, shoveling cooked rice into my mouth while watching a video on the Devonian Period while Katie watches videos and Ellie does homework and the dog suffers from lack of attention. Really? Have I spent years eating everything my diet allows and now this?
Done. I can eat what I like. I don't need to shovel. Food will be available tomorrow, too.
Day 17 – Tuesday, January 31, 2017:
I stepped on the scale at 4:30 AM and it looks like it was about 222.4, which was way lower than I expected given that I have eaten so much in the past few days.
I concluded that what matters is to follow the fasting protocol, and that's it. The effect is cumulative. I will lose weight, but weight loss will be slow especially at first.
Over the past couple of years, I have worked to learn how to cook and to find good recipes. A few months ago, I started laminating recipes. Yesterday, I laminated recipe #77, a Mediterranean chickpea salad. Everyone liked the salad, and it only had good ingredients in it. Many of the ingredients I already had at home, including olive oil, red wine vinegar, olives, garlic, cumin, yogurt, and lemon. I am slowly switching from pasta-based meals to meals that have more fruit and vegetables. This effort also is cumulative, and that Mediterranean chickpea salad was the first time that adding a good recipe was really easy.
Last edited by Kathleen on Thu Feb 02, 2017 2:14 pm, edited 60 times in total.
Yes, you can feast when you calorie count. You just have to account for the calories. On special feast days, like Christmas, I cut my calories for a few days before and a few days after, and I end up at my normal weight. But I've noticed that even on my feast days, I'm quite selective about what I eat, because every calorie counts, so I only spend them on food I really want.
The dry cleaner I go to is a really friendly lady, and she asked me what I did to lose and maintain the 30-ish pounds I've lost. Did I do a low-carb diet?
I told her no, that I eat everything, just not all on the same day.
Some people count calories per week, and spend more or less on different days, depending on their needs. For me, the key to losing was having a reasonable number of calories per day to avoid hunger and boredom, to only eat food I liked (and nothing just because it's good for me-I can always find healthy food I like), and to increase my calorie needs by exercise. That extra 250-300 calories a day that I can eat because of exercise is really nice to have.
The dry cleaner I go to is a really friendly lady, and she asked me what I did to lose and maintain the 30-ish pounds I've lost. Did I do a low-carb diet?
I told her no, that I eat everything, just not all on the same day.
Some people count calories per week, and spend more or less on different days, depending on their needs. For me, the key to losing was having a reasonable number of calories per day to avoid hunger and boredom, to only eat food I liked (and nothing just because it's good for me-I can always find healthy food I like), and to increase my calorie needs by exercise. That extra 250-300 calories a day that I can eat because of exercise is really nice to have.
Due respect to all, remember not to be too taken with examples who have not maintained for two or more years. The world abounds with people who in the beginning stages of this or that program lost and say they will never go back to their old habits who eventually did go back and gain all their weight back, too. I've seen a couple of exceptions at my job, but it's basically held true where I've been working for 14 years and we have a staff of about 130. One guy lost over 100 lbs. over several months. I talked to him a few months later and asked if the new lifestyle seemed routine, and he said yes. He now about three years later weighs the same or more than when he started.
I gently suggest that for you the key is what seems easiest. I wasn't there for your nine months of compliant No S when you got to your lowest weight, but so far, you've been more compliant with this fasting regimen than you have been with anything else for quite awhile, or so it seems. If it continues, but you aren't losing, you might consider recording your calories (without necessarily aiming to limit them) on ONE eating day a week for a month. The research on recording food seems to show that just recording even without setting calorie limits reduces intake over time. That would provide a release valve for the pressure and might be all it takes to spur some curtailing at other times. What we all need is whatever it takes for us to be SATISFIED with a lifestyle that gets us to eat less of the foods that do the most damage.
The majority of slim people IN THE WORLD, however, do not count calories or record their food, nor do they totally fast for long periods of time . They DO stick to moderate eating mostly at meals.
But if short-term fasting will lead you to sufficient moderation over the course of a year, mazel tov. I do follow some info on total or modified fasting and it looks like the ones who are successful at weight loss after a year or more are ones who end up feeling satisfied with a lot less food on their eating days than they used to eat, even though theoretically, it wouldn't have to change. But few successful ones are still way overeating on up days. Varady claimed it wouldn't happen because it didn't in her tests, but it is well known in research that the mere fact of being in a studied group affects people's behavior.
I gently suggest that for you the key is what seems easiest. I wasn't there for your nine months of compliant No S when you got to your lowest weight, but so far, you've been more compliant with this fasting regimen than you have been with anything else for quite awhile, or so it seems. If it continues, but you aren't losing, you might consider recording your calories (without necessarily aiming to limit them) on ONE eating day a week for a month. The research on recording food seems to show that just recording even without setting calorie limits reduces intake over time. That would provide a release valve for the pressure and might be all it takes to spur some curtailing at other times. What we all need is whatever it takes for us to be SATISFIED with a lifestyle that gets us to eat less of the foods that do the most damage.
The majority of slim people IN THE WORLD, however, do not count calories or record their food, nor do they totally fast for long periods of time . They DO stick to moderate eating mostly at meals.
But if short-term fasting will lead you to sufficient moderation over the course of a year, mazel tov. I do follow some info on total or modified fasting and it looks like the ones who are successful at weight loss after a year or more are ones who end up feeling satisfied with a lot less food on their eating days than they used to eat, even though theoretically, it wouldn't have to change. But few successful ones are still way overeating on up days. Varady claimed it wouldn't happen because it didn't in her tests, but it is well known in research that the mere fact of being in a studied group affects people's behavior.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
oolala53,
I totally agree that the key result desired is satisfaction with the amount of food eaten. How can you go through life thin but feeling dissatisfied all the time? What I did notice this last week is that I got to a point where I felt physically satisfied but kept eating because I could. There are now two distinct levels of satisfaction -- one is physical satisfaction, and one is stuffed to the point of not being able to eat one more bite. I hope that, over time, I stop at physical satisfaction.
Kathleen
I totally agree that the key result desired is satisfaction with the amount of food eaten. How can you go through life thin but feeling dissatisfied all the time? What I did notice this last week is that I got to a point where I felt physically satisfied but kept eating because I could. There are now two distinct levels of satisfaction -- one is physical satisfaction, and one is stuffed to the point of not being able to eat one more bite. I hope that, over time, I stop at physical satisfaction.
Kathleen
Are you thinking that that tendency to keep eating has to go away on its own, just like you don't have to exert much effort to fast?
Fung implies this is not true when he says on p. 264 "Don't binge. After you have fasted, pretend it never happened. Eat normally, as if you had never fasted." And his "eat normally" is above that on the page: "Intermittent fasting is not an excuse to eat whatever you like....stick to a nutritious diet low in sugars and refined carbohydrates," and previously in the book when he said not to snack, but to stick to three meals or fewer. He wouldn't make these pronouncements if these things happened naturally from fasting. People have to choose them. In this way, he differs from a lot of proponents of IF. I admire that.
Are you hoping these will seem more doable, even with some effort, after more time just successfully fasting?
Good luck with January! Another month should yield some interesting results, though many of the beneficial ones (possibly reduced insulin, lowered A1C, autophagy of inferior cells) you won't even be able to see, unfortunately.
Fung implies this is not true when he says on p. 264 "Don't binge. After you have fasted, pretend it never happened. Eat normally, as if you had never fasted." And his "eat normally" is above that on the page: "Intermittent fasting is not an excuse to eat whatever you like....stick to a nutritious diet low in sugars and refined carbohydrates," and previously in the book when he said not to snack, but to stick to three meals or fewer. He wouldn't make these pronouncements if these things happened naturally from fasting. People have to choose them. In this way, he differs from a lot of proponents of IF. I admire that.
Are you hoping these will seem more doable, even with some effort, after more time just successfully fasting?
Good luck with January! Another month should yield some interesting results, though many of the beneficial ones (possibly reduced insulin, lowered A1C, autophagy of inferior cells) you won't even be able to see, unfortunately.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
oolala53,
Yes. I am ignoring both Fung's admonition and Brad Pilon's in Eat Stop Eat that you cannot deliberately increase your eating when you are not fasting. I did exactly that last night, eating a chocolate bar after having a Whopper meal from Burger King, including a second glass of Dr. Pepper.
Why? Am I trying to sabotage my diet? No. I'm focused right now on getting through a 36 hour fast.
It actually scared me how nasty I was to Katie and Anne and especially Anne. Where did that come from? I think I was at the end of what I could tolerate by fasting 24 hours from 4 PM or 5 PM on a Sunday to Monday same time. My reason for choosing a 36 hour fast rather than 24 is I'd rather be obese and even diabetic than treat my children in a nasty way, and I think that those two episodes came of my body not being able to take a fast at a time when I was trying to tolerate it.
With this approach, I'm fairly full right until dinner and later which is wind down time anyway. On Saturday, I tried not eating until afternoon (resulting in a 40 hour fast) and had no trouble. Why? I think it is because I am very strongly a morning person with most energy right away in the morning.
Anyway, I sailed through last Wednesday and Friday with not eating at all and was in good spirits.
Fung says the most important thing in trying to find a fast that works for you is to find one which fits in your life, and that is what I am doing.
Your questions are very helpful for me to sort out why I am doing what I am doing. Thank you.
Kathleen
Yes. I am ignoring both Fung's admonition and Brad Pilon's in Eat Stop Eat that you cannot deliberately increase your eating when you are not fasting. I did exactly that last night, eating a chocolate bar after having a Whopper meal from Burger King, including a second glass of Dr. Pepper.
Why? Am I trying to sabotage my diet? No. I'm focused right now on getting through a 36 hour fast.
It actually scared me how nasty I was to Katie and Anne and especially Anne. Where did that come from? I think I was at the end of what I could tolerate by fasting 24 hours from 4 PM or 5 PM on a Sunday to Monday same time. My reason for choosing a 36 hour fast rather than 24 is I'd rather be obese and even diabetic than treat my children in a nasty way, and I think that those two episodes came of my body not being able to take a fast at a time when I was trying to tolerate it.
With this approach, I'm fairly full right until dinner and later which is wind down time anyway. On Saturday, I tried not eating until afternoon (resulting in a 40 hour fast) and had no trouble. Why? I think it is because I am very strongly a morning person with most energy right away in the morning.
Anyway, I sailed through last Wednesday and Friday with not eating at all and was in good spirits.
Fung says the most important thing in trying to find a fast that works for you is to find one which fits in your life, and that is what I am doing.
Your questions are very helpful for me to sort out why I am doing what I am doing. Thank you.
Kathleen
I don't believe in the concept of sabotaging one's efforts, as if you are purposely wanting to fail. I'm surprised that Fung seems to contradict himself by claiming at one point that people end up eating less after being very hungry and then warning people not to binge, which means that some must do it. I've been on multiple IF sites and it is actually quite common for SOME of the participants to feel driven to overeat when they eat again. However, I do believe it is not only not harmful to resist that urge, but will actually reprogram it over time if the cycle is interrupted by not giving in when the urge is strong. But I agree that for your purposes at this point, that is secondary to consistent IF for awhile. Work from your strong points.
It's possible how you acted with your daughters was actually unrelated to fasting. It's easy to miss other factors when the focus is on eating changes.
It's interesting that you are aware that you would prefer to be obese and possibly even seriously sick than treat your children in a nasty way. That at least is honest. I hope those aren't your only two options! Do you think they know that? Do you think the girls have any part to play in having things go smoothly between you? It's true that in the end each of us is responsible for how we behave no matter how uncooperative the other person is, but in relationship, it does seem fair for both parties to think there might be different ways to behave that would still get everyone's real needs met, if their intention is closeness.
Warmest wishes.
It's possible how you acted with your daughters was actually unrelated to fasting. It's easy to miss other factors when the focus is on eating changes.
It's interesting that you are aware that you would prefer to be obese and possibly even seriously sick than treat your children in a nasty way. That at least is honest. I hope those aren't your only two options! Do you think they know that? Do you think the girls have any part to play in having things go smoothly between you? It's true that in the end each of us is responsible for how we behave no matter how uncooperative the other person is, but in relationship, it does seem fair for both parties to think there might be different ways to behave that would still get everyone's real needs met, if their intention is closeness.
Warmest wishes.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23
There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)
oolala53,
I was really nasty. My daughters didn't deserve it. They got past it because it was not characteristic of me. I also apologized to both of them and said I thought I had been so nasty because I had tried to fast an entire day.
We get along fairly well. My oldest, now engaged and living at home, has the freedom she deserves to come and go as she pleases. She just got home from seeing her boyfriend. My husband and two younger daughters just finished up a game of Scrabble.
Fung has his priorities and he says the most important thing is to fit fasting into your life. I'm trying to do that. I had no trouble getting through today without eating, and it is 9 pm. Maybe I'll overeat less on non-fasting days as I learn I can go through an entire fasting day without any difficulty either in mood or in energy.
One thing Fung also says is you can take up or drop fasting without much planning. When I return to California in March to visit my parents, I won't be troubling them with fasting. I'll eat normally that week. My preference would be to be on a diet that is not obvious to my family, and the diet with a five hour window was that, but it did not result in weight loss.
Kathleen
I was really nasty. My daughters didn't deserve it. They got past it because it was not characteristic of me. I also apologized to both of them and said I thought I had been so nasty because I had tried to fast an entire day.
We get along fairly well. My oldest, now engaged and living at home, has the freedom she deserves to come and go as she pleases. She just got home from seeing her boyfriend. My husband and two younger daughters just finished up a game of Scrabble.
Fung has his priorities and he says the most important thing is to fit fasting into your life. I'm trying to do that. I had no trouble getting through today without eating, and it is 9 pm. Maybe I'll overeat less on non-fasting days as I learn I can go through an entire fasting day without any difficulty either in mood or in energy.
One thing Fung also says is you can take up or drop fasting without much planning. When I return to California in March to visit my parents, I won't be troubling them with fasting. I'll eat normally that week. My preference would be to be on a diet that is not obvious to my family, and the diet with a five hour window was that, but it did not result in weight loss.
Kathleen
February, 2017: The Blessings of Simplicity starting January 12, 2017
Day 1 - Sunday, January 12, 2017: 0 cumulative fast days; 221.0 pounds
Day 19 - Wednesday, February 2, 2017: 11 + 0 = 11 cumulative fast days; 222.6 pounds
Weight Summary
Weights below 221.0 (lowest weight from 1/12/17 to 1/31/17) are in red.
Day 18 – Wednesday, February 1, 2017:
Day 19 – Thursday, February 2, 2017: 222.6
Day 20 – Friday, February 3, 2017: 220.2
Day 21 – Saturday, February 4, 2017: 221.4
Day 22 – Sunday, February 5, 2017:
Day 23 – Monday, February 6, 2017:
Day 24 – Tuesday, February 7, 2017: 221.4
Day 25 – Wednesday, February 8, 2017: 221.0
Day 26 – Thursday, February 9, 2017:
Day 27 – Friday, February 10, 2017: 221.2
Day 28 – Saturday, February 11, 2017: 220.8
Day 29 – Sunday, February 12, 2017:
Day 30 – Monday, February 13, 2017:
Day 31 – Tuesday, February 14, 2017: 222.6
Day 32 – Wednesday, February 15, 2017: 221.2
Day 33 – Thursday, February 16, 2017: 219.8
Day 34 – Friday, February 17, 2017: 219.8
Day 35 – Saturday, February 18, 2017: 220.6
Day 36 – Sunday, February 19, 2017:
Day 37 – Monday, February 20, 2017: 221.6
Day 38 – Tuesday, February 21, 2017:
Day 39 – Wednesday, February 22, 2017: 222.0
Day 40 – Thursday, February 23, 2017: 223.0
Day 41 – Friday, February 24, 2017:
Day 42 – Saturday, February 25, 2017:
Day 43 – Sunday, February 26, 2017:
Day 44 – Monday, February 27, 2017:
Day 45 – Tuesday, February 28, 2017:
Weight Summary
Day 18 – Wednesday, February 1, 2017:
"They also serve who only stand and wait." That is a favorite line of mine from Milton, and it applies to what I am doing now, waiting for my son to wake up. He had wisdom teeth extracted yesterday, and he did pass out at the restaurant where we went after his surgery, so I'm sure glad we didn't rely on his roommate to take care of him! I wonder how single mothers manage.
Driving up yesterday, I had Mountain Dew to keep me awake, and today I won't fast either because of the drive back. That is what is nice about having a goal of 20 fasts per month: I can be flexible.
This fasting protocol is about waiting, too. I have to wait for results. I have to slog along, knowing that my initial reaction to being able to eat what I want during the eating window is to eat everything in sight but also knowing that, over time, that drive will diminish in strength as my body realizes I really am allowing it to eat whatever it wants.
It's as if there are two people within me, only I realize it is what the author of The Instinct to Heal calls the reptile brain. You simply don't have control over some aspects of your body, like the reaction to being attacked by a bear. A "portion control" approach to weight management, I'm convinced, activates that reptile brain so that you binge-eat. It's not a psychological disorder. It's a perfectly natural reaction to the threat of starvation.
And so I wait...
I wait for my body to calm down, realize I am done with "portion control", and adapt to a fast/feast cycle so that I lose weight.
Day 19 – Thursday, February 2, 2017: 222.6
I have to be patient and give my body time to calm down so that I am no longer engaging in preventative eating -- eating to prevent the future occurrence of hunger.
1 PM: I have sailed to 1 PM with no problems and think that the desire to eat during the eating window may vary, with waves of significant overeating occurring. It doesn't matter what happens, however. I'm going to follow this diet until Kayla returns from maternity leave in June. I cannot tell what will happen unless I actually follow the diet.
Day 20 – Friday, February 3, 2017: 220.2
Yesterday was a bit of an unusual situation. I had no problem fasting until 3 but then had to leave the house by 4 to attend an evening senior driving class from 5 - 9 PM in order to get a discount on car insurance.
As a result, all I had yesterday was some split pea soup, grapefruit, and cottage cheese. That's why my weight is so much lower today. It's only 8 AM, but for the moment I feel fine. I suspect now that the desire to eat a lot will come in waves that are unpredictable, and I just have to ride them, trusting that my body will eventually tire of overeating. I need to trust that this approach will work. I'm repeating myself but think that I have finally uncovered the truth about "portion control": it is counterproductive.
9:30 PM: Picked up Ellie from a friend's house. Was offered cake that she and her friend had made. Checked my watch: 7:20 PM. Ate cake.
What if it had been after 8 PM? I'd have eaten the cake and not counted today as a fast day.
That is the beauty of this approach. It is very clear. Oh, those days of counting calories... egg 81 calories...raisin about 1 calorie each... grapefruit 120.. Lean Cuisine... ugh I hated Lean Cuisine but could take the calorie off the package.
That was all so counterproductive. I learned to eat packaged foods. I ate rice cakes. I measured out food in measuring cups. I switched to skim milk.
Those days are gone.
No portion control.
Day 21 – Saturday, February 4, 2017: 221.4
I have a really bad cold and can't hear very well, so I am not fasting today but am instead having tea with lemon and honey, which our pediatrician said was a good drink for a cold. I already have hearing loss, so this added to that is really troubling.
I have no interest in eating whatsoever and just want to have that hot drink.
8 PM: I ate a fair amount today even though I am still not feeling well. I think you need a certain percent of days to be fast days in order to lose weight, and I'm not sure 20 is enough. It's my number, however, and I'm sticking with it. Weighing myself daily may be counterproductive, since I can choose how much I eat based on how much I weigh.
Day 22 – Sunday, February 5, 2017:
Tom and I are both sick. Tom spent Thursday in a hotel room in Baltimore because he was too sick to go to work even when he was on a business trip. This morning, I told him I was really concerned that this was the second serious illness I had this winter, the first being in September. He told me he is concerned about my health because of my weight, and I said this diet was going to work or at least I was going to stick with it until June.
I am drawing an analogy to learning how to cook which seemed to have no positive outcome for a long time. I did not know what a chef's knife was. Our meals were typically pasta-based with chicken or beef, or we had hamburgers. Now, finally, I have a lot of the equipment needed for cooking and have some solid recipes, but it took two years of effort and lots of dead ends.
I get cooking information from Cook's, but I get recipes, generally, from the Internet or from Simple & Delicious magazine. There is still quite a limit to the number of meals I have, but I can try new things on a regular basis. Tonight is a new meal. It took a long time.
The fasting approach, I believe, will show results by June and then will be a healthy way of life for the long haul. I have to no longer fear starvation because I am no longer controlling portions. This morning, so far, I had some cheese and tea with lemon and honey, and I've been up over an hour. There is no driving desire to eat just because I can, a desire I fought and which was fed by the decision to control portions.
5:30 PM: I am repeating myself because I have no new thoughts on this matter and think I will continue on my way without posting much, but I will keep on this diet until June.
Day 23 – Monday, February 6, 2017: 221.4
I had Nyquil last night and decided it was an acceptable exception to not having calories outside the 3 - 8 PM window. Today, I'm not doing much to get over this cold quickly, and I listened to a video on Bright Line Eating. The idea behind Bright Line Eating is you establish a strong habit with no exceptions so that you don't need to use willpower to follow it. She had the example of brushing your teeth as a habit. I have thought that exact same thing, that I want to have a diet which is so ingrained you don't exert willpower.
Only "No Exceptions" is a no-go for me. What about being offered cake by your daughter and her friend? Pass that up for a diet? No!
It seems more sensible to me to plan on exceptions and accept them, like with the No S Diet. For me, it is just easiest to have an eating window daily and have a goal of 20 fast days per month.
This diet is really easy. I have looked back to December and see that I have come down in weight since then but am still in the band of my normal weight between about 217 and 225. If I get below 215 following this approach, I'll think it works.
Day 24 – Tuesday, February 7, 2017: 221.0
I was in the kitchen last night, looking at the clock reading 7:59, and thought "No". No, I did not want anything more. The drive to eat just before 8 is tapering off.
I believe that fasting is a cure for food obsession or addiction and a "portion control" approach to eating is a way to increase food obsession. When have I counted the number of raisins I eat except when counting calories?
Day 25 – Wednesday, February 8, 2017:
I got up before 4 to drive Anne to the airport and then slept until 7 and took the girls to school. My schedule revolves around the schedules of others in my family, since I am often the driver. That is why a five hour window is important: make it too short, and I don't have the flexibility I need.
Yesterday, I ate way too much and had a stomach ache at 2:30. I wonder if fasting eventually makes it unpleasant to overeat.
Day 27 – Friday, February 10, 2017: 221.2
The weight on the scale is steady, but there is something going on internally. It is almost as if I am being freed from food obsession. Yesterday, for example, at 3 my highest priority was not to eat. It was to figure out something that was asked of me by someone on the board of the organization for which I do volunteer work. Then I promised to take Katie to the mall. I squeezed in having some homemade chicken noodle soup and an orange between the time I finished that task and the time I took Katie to the mall.
It's almost as if something is being taken out of me, or I am being cured of a disease.
Day 28 – Saturday, February 11, 2017: 220.8
No fasting today, and I'm having ice cream at 8:30 AM. I get why this works. Sooner or later, it becomes not a big deal to have ice cream at 8:30 AM.
Day 29 – Sunday, February 12, 2017:
Tom rarely comments on my eating, but he sure did yesterday, telling me how gross it was to see how much I ate. I still maintain that I see where this is going, and I am happy about it. I took a medieval history course in college, and part of their life was the cycle of fasts and feasts. When they feasted, they sure feasted! At the time, I thought that the fasts were the cause of the feasts, but now I think otherwise. Now I think this is the normal human condition. Maybe it's because food was not always readily available so humans ate when they could. I don't know. I just don't know, but I know that trying to eat only when hungry or measuring out portions every time you eat makes you into a belly-gazer, constantly focused on me me me.
Which IS NOT what I want! I believe that daily weigh-ins can also be counter-productive. Why weigh myself if I am sticking to this plan no matter what at least until June? My last personal training appointment with Kayla before she goes on maternity leave is on the 21st, and I owe her the courtesy of weighing myself then, but -- other than that -- why weigh myself?
This morning, I have no interest in food. Do I know why? Not really. I bought a lot of oranges yesterday and after dinner took one. At that point, Tom asked if I was hungry, and I said no. I ate it anyway. This morning, I'm looking at that same fruit bowl filled with oranges (minus the one I ate yesterday) and I have absolutely no interest in having one. I'm not hungry now, either. Why have an orange last night but not this morning? No idea.
Day 30 – Monday, February 13, 2017:
Over the weekend, I read an article from the 1843 magazine put out by The Economist. It was titled: "Two Women, One Cause" and was about Amal Clooney and her teaming up with Nadia Murad to fight against the Islamic State. Nadia is a Yazidi woman whose village was invaded by ISIS. On that day, six of her brothers and stepbrothers and her mother were murdered. She was raped daily and escaped, eventually seeking asylum in Germany. Later in the article, she is asked about her future, and here was what was written: "She yearns to return to her village, to see the family farm and the sheep and to enjoy Yazidi festivals, when people paint their houses white and follow fasting with feasts." After all the horrors of what she has endured, what she remembers that she most enjoyed from her past life was the cycle of feast and fast.
I cannot comment. Her life, what she called "easy and simple", was so different from mine, and yet there is something there, universally human, in the desire to have seasons, to have times of feasting and times of fasting. I just wonder if this idea of portion control has turned out society into a dull grey of always watching what you eat.
4 PM: By 12:30 PM today, I felt hungry but knew I could eat whatever I wanted as of 3 PM so I could stick it out. Contrast that with what it means to be a on diet, always hungry and never able to fully satisfy yourself. It would drive me nuts! I did last until 3 and then ate a fair amount and realized I had not had dinner last night because I ate so much before then. I was hungrier than normal at 3 because I had not eaten anything since about 6 PM last night.
Day 31 – Tuesday, February 14, 2017: 222.6
I ended up weighing myself to see just how much I have gained since I started eating so much on Saturday. Why did this happen? I have no idea, but I think it has now abated at least for the moment.
Day 32 – Wednesday, February 15, 2017: 221.2
"The tide is going out." That is a phrase I remember from years of being able to spend a week at the ocean every summer when I was a child. Finally, I have found an analogy that fits with this diet. When you are a child playing in the sand as the waves come up and recede, sometimes the waves come up more than you expect and you get hit with water. For a period of time as the tide is changing, the waves seems to be coming up the same amount but there is always a lot of variability. It is only after 30 minutes or so that it is clear that the tide has changed and the waves are consistently coming in less and less.
Ah...nature... ever changing. When I would sleep at night, I could still feel those waves coming in and going out because I would spend two hours at a time in the water.
Here I am, with a diet like the ocean. My first task has really been to adjust to the fasting schedule, and I do think I have done that at least to the point that I can carry on with my day without watching the clock for 3 PM.
My second task now is to be patient and wait, just like I would wait for the tide to go out. Just because a large wave comes up doesn't mean the tide is still coming in, and just because I have a spike in weight doesn't mean that I'm not on the path to permanent weight loss.
I don't have a goal weight. I have a process. The process is to fast (eat only between 3 and 8 PM) 20 times per month but not ever fast on Sundays. Why between 3 and 8 PM? This was the best time and best length of time that worked for me. I tried fasting a certain number of hours but that didn't work because I was always tempted to move the time forward. Fasting a shorter period of time didn't work because my schedule varies so much. Fasting a longer period of time would be easier, but five hours is the limit that I can manage easily.
Why 20 times per month? I can manage that number, just like I can manage a goal of an average of 10,000 steps per day. When I have attempted to walk more steps per day, I've ended up walking fewer.
Day 33 – Thursday, February 16, 2017: 219.8
Tom got sick early this month and spent last weekend sleeping. I thought he was stressed due to his job situation. No... He got sick, I caught it, and now I'm sleeping all day. I went to the doctor two days ago and got antibiotics. The last time I went to the doctor because I was sick was on Anne's fourth birthday in 1998 and I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. This seems similar. It's encouraging to me that Tom said he was going to exercise today. Maybe I will get better in a few days, too. He never went to the doctor, so I'm not sure if antibiotics is helping or if all I need is rest.
Does this affect my weight? Probably. Do I care? No. I am sure glad I did not impose a portion control mentality on my weekend eating even though I was tempted to do so. I am curious if this approach will work and won't know unless I actually follow it.
One thing that happened this week was I was flipping the radio dial while driving and heard talk of fasting on Catholic radio. It turns out the speaker was saying that fasting was eating small meals through the day. Wrong! I may see if I can find that show in archive and find out all that he was saying. Fasting is no food for a period of time.
12 PM: I found the show -- just before noon CST on relevant radio. Someone called in to say he skipped breakfast and lunch and only had dinner and wondered if that was a religious fast. The priest said that his fast was to have small meals through the day and not have a big meal at the end of the day because that is the healthy thing to do. Ugh...The expert, secular ideal of six small meals throughout the day may well be the cause of the obesity epidemic.
Day 34 – Friday, February 17, 2017: 219.8
I woke up this morning feeling comfortably not stuffed. Maybe the whole point of fasting is that you learn to be comfortable with and even enjoy a little bit of hunger. I can remember way back to childhood when I would feel hungry before dinner and then really enjoy the taste of the food. Now all is bland...
Day 35 – Saturday, February 18, 2017: 220.6
Yesterday, around 1:45 PM, I felt uncomfortably hungry. I know this type of hunger: it's the type that would drive me to binge when I was trying to control portions. I would hang on as long as possible, fearing this feeling would last the rest of my life if I continued to control portions. Yesterday, I knew that that uncomfortable feeling would last one hour and fifteen minutes. When I was free to eat after 3 PM, I sure did. Then, last night, we arrived back home at five minutes to 8 PM, and I had a slice of ice cream cake (from Ellie's birthday). Today, my weight is understandably up from yesterday's weight, but I'm also well-positioned to fast until 3 PM. I think the success of this diet approach comes from a ratcheting down of appetite due to being willing to fast when hungry even if it is only for an hour and fifteen minutes and even if it is followed by indulgent eating. When we were in the car yesterday with Katie, Tom brought up what he had eaten that day as a way to explain why he wasn't hungry, and then I listed what I had eaten in about 30 minutes: a taco, a taco shell, a slice of ice cream cake, applesauce, milk, homemade chicken noodle soup, cheese and possibly more that I cannot remember. Last night, after dropping Katie off for work, we stopped at McDonald's, and I had a cheeseburger happy meal. So, I had all that plus the slice of ice cream cake just before 8, and right now at 6 AM, I feel quite full.
This pattern of overeating is something I expect will naturally subside over time as I become used to less food from the fasting. A willingness to "cut back" and judge that maybe I don't need to eat so much during my eating window would make it way harder to fast, and I'm not interested in living a life of constantly using willpower to manage what I eat. Fasting is easy because it is willpower for 19 hours at a time, and you intermittently need to use willpower to not eat. The only time this diet was hard yesterday was for an hour and fifteen minutes. On most days, it isn't hard at all.
One positive aspect of this diet is I don't feel like a failure all the time. I used to feel like a failure if I failed to lose weight from one day to another or if I did not stay within the bounds for portion control. Now I am a success if I just fast until 3 PM 20 times per month. Even if I fall short of 20 days, I've made progress in fasting any times per month. In other words, I always feel like a success with this diet!
Day 36 – Sunday, February 19, 2017:
The title of Dr. Bert Herring's book is Appetite Correction. If you commit to fasting, your appetite will correct. Last night, I ate too much, and the feeling was unpleasant: I had a stomach ache. I am used to a feeling of unpleasantness being associated with eating too little, not too much.
I weighed 219.8 when I rolled out of bed at 8, with most of the popcorn I had last night still weighing down my stomach. I have no interest in eating at the moment.
Fasting followed by eating with no portion control leads to moderation in eating. Who would have thought that? Why overeat if you can eat what you want when you do eat and you eat every day?
This pattern of overeating will eventually moderate as I learn to avoid how I feel right now.
On Tuesday, I have my monthly personal training session, and then Kayla will be off for three months for maternity leave. I promised myself I would stick with this diet until she returns, so there doesn't seem to be much value in my recording these ups and down. In fact, it would be easier on me if I just ignored them and stuck with focusing on getting 20 fast days in.
I may try to make a concerted effort to only write here once per week after I meet with Kayla on Tuesday. Last month, she asked me if I would see success by this month with this diet, and I demurred. I said that I should see success by June.
I'll be bringing in three month's of weight recordings.
Day 37 – Monday, February 20, 2017: 221.6
Like with No S Diet, Monday weights are the highest. I had a couple of slices of ice cream cake from Ellie's birthday yesterday.
10 PM: I bought caramel macademian chocolates from Costco and had perhaps 10 this afternoon. Tomorrow, I am not weighing myself! Am I sad? No. I stopped because of the concern about how I will feel tomorrow.
Tomorrow, I have my last personal training session with Kayla before she goes on maternity leave, and I'm giving her Sunday's weight. Going forward, I think I may just weigh myself once per month, perhaps on the first Friday of the month. This diet has to become background music.
It's the most I can do to lose weight. The most. I've fiddle around with dieting for half my life and want to stop focusing on it. My family needs my attention. I can't be spending all my time focusing on my weight.
Am I confident my weight will go down? Yes. It will be slow, but it will go down. Will it go down to an acceptable weight? Yes, because I'm accepting the weight that results from following this diet.
So far this month, I have fasted 13 days. That isn't great, but I still have time to make 20 for the month. If I fall short, I won't be upset. The goal of 20 is just a goal.
Day 38 – Tuesday, February 21, 2017:
Last month, I put away my diet books. This month, I think I need to back away from writing about dieting. It has helped, there is no doubt, for me to sort through what is working and (mostly) what is not. I have to be patient, and I'll more easily be patient if my focus changes from dieting to other things.
11:40 PM: I had a nice, quiet conversation with Kayla. She is actually due in the next week. She wanted to pin me down on what I would consider successful with this fasting approach. I said that I would be happy if I get below 215 in the two to three weeks before I meet with her after she returns from maternity leave in June. At this point, my low weight is 219.8.
8 PM: One thing I brought up to Kayla today is that all Catholics in medieval Europe fasted until 3 PM twice per week, and she scoffed... I said maybe there was wisdom in that.
Thinking through that tonight, I think maybe that is all I need, just to fast twice per week as a reminder that -- hey -- I don't need food every second of the day, I don't need food the second my stomach growls... I can calm down about all of this...
Day 39 – Wednesday, February 22, 2017: 222.0
I realized last night that what I am doing is not losing weight; what I am doing is letting food obsession fade, not fade away but fade. Fasting gives me the confidence that I can manage just fine without eating for several hours at a time.
I ate just a ton over the last two days but only got up to 222 and think that this is the high water mark, so to speak. The tide is going out, albeit slowly.
11 AM: It turns out I am going to have lunch with a friend rather than breakfast. Usually, when we get together, I just have tea. Now I'll have to eat. So no fasting today.... As a result, I took advantage of a no fast day to eat a lot -- and I mean a lot -- already today. What have I learned? Fasting is the way to overcome binge eating.
Day 40 – Thursday, February 23, 2017: 223.0
Yesterday was totally stupid. I ended up having lunch with my friend but only had tea because I was so stuffed from eating yesterday morning. Did I continue eating later in the afternoon and evening? Yep. Why? I am clueless. I am putting my head down and finishing out the month with 20 fast days, so I have to fast every day today, tomorrow, on Saturday and next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in order to get to 20 fast days.
Is this working? Based on the scale, it sure doesn't look like it is, but I need to do it and see. One of two outcomes will become evident. Either, like the alcoholic who keeps drinking despite hangovers, I continue and never learn from the negative effects a fast/binge cycle, OR I learn and slowly start to lose weight.
Day 1 – Sunday, March 1, 2017:
How mortifying. I stopped fasting and just ate and ate. I am done with any sort of diet program and instead will try to live as a slim person, someone who enjoys getting hungry before eating, someone like me as a teen.
Day 1 - Sunday, January 12, 2017: 0 cumulative fast days; 221.0 pounds
Day 19 - Wednesday, February 2, 2017: 11 + 0 = 11 cumulative fast days; 222.6 pounds
Weight Summary
Weights below 221.0 (lowest weight from 1/12/17 to 1/31/17) are in red.
Day 18 – Wednesday, February 1, 2017:
Day 19 – Thursday, February 2, 2017: 222.6
Day 20 – Friday, February 3, 2017: 220.2
Day 21 – Saturday, February 4, 2017: 221.4
Day 22 – Sunday, February 5, 2017:
Day 23 – Monday, February 6, 2017:
Day 24 – Tuesday, February 7, 2017: 221.4
Day 25 – Wednesday, February 8, 2017: 221.0
Day 26 – Thursday, February 9, 2017:
Day 27 – Friday, February 10, 2017: 221.2
Day 28 – Saturday, February 11, 2017: 220.8
Day 29 – Sunday, February 12, 2017:
Day 30 – Monday, February 13, 2017:
Day 31 – Tuesday, February 14, 2017: 222.6
Day 32 – Wednesday, February 15, 2017: 221.2
Day 33 – Thursday, February 16, 2017: 219.8
Day 34 – Friday, February 17, 2017: 219.8
Day 35 – Saturday, February 18, 2017: 220.6
Day 36 – Sunday, February 19, 2017:
Day 37 – Monday, February 20, 2017: 221.6
Day 38 – Tuesday, February 21, 2017:
Day 39 – Wednesday, February 22, 2017: 222.0
Day 40 – Thursday, February 23, 2017: 223.0
Day 41 – Friday, February 24, 2017:
Day 42 – Saturday, February 25, 2017:
Day 43 – Sunday, February 26, 2017:
Day 44 – Monday, February 27, 2017:
Day 45 – Tuesday, February 28, 2017:
Weight Summary
Day 18 – Wednesday, February 1, 2017:
"They also serve who only stand and wait." That is a favorite line of mine from Milton, and it applies to what I am doing now, waiting for my son to wake up. He had wisdom teeth extracted yesterday, and he did pass out at the restaurant where we went after his surgery, so I'm sure glad we didn't rely on his roommate to take care of him! I wonder how single mothers manage.
Driving up yesterday, I had Mountain Dew to keep me awake, and today I won't fast either because of the drive back. That is what is nice about having a goal of 20 fasts per month: I can be flexible.
This fasting protocol is about waiting, too. I have to wait for results. I have to slog along, knowing that my initial reaction to being able to eat what I want during the eating window is to eat everything in sight but also knowing that, over time, that drive will diminish in strength as my body realizes I really am allowing it to eat whatever it wants.
It's as if there are two people within me, only I realize it is what the author of The Instinct to Heal calls the reptile brain. You simply don't have control over some aspects of your body, like the reaction to being attacked by a bear. A "portion control" approach to weight management, I'm convinced, activates that reptile brain so that you binge-eat. It's not a psychological disorder. It's a perfectly natural reaction to the threat of starvation.
And so I wait...
I wait for my body to calm down, realize I am done with "portion control", and adapt to a fast/feast cycle so that I lose weight.
Day 19 – Thursday, February 2, 2017: 222.6
I have to be patient and give my body time to calm down so that I am no longer engaging in preventative eating -- eating to prevent the future occurrence of hunger.
1 PM: I have sailed to 1 PM with no problems and think that the desire to eat during the eating window may vary, with waves of significant overeating occurring. It doesn't matter what happens, however. I'm going to follow this diet until Kayla returns from maternity leave in June. I cannot tell what will happen unless I actually follow the diet.
Day 20 – Friday, February 3, 2017: 220.2
Yesterday was a bit of an unusual situation. I had no problem fasting until 3 but then had to leave the house by 4 to attend an evening senior driving class from 5 - 9 PM in order to get a discount on car insurance.
As a result, all I had yesterday was some split pea soup, grapefruit, and cottage cheese. That's why my weight is so much lower today. It's only 8 AM, but for the moment I feel fine. I suspect now that the desire to eat a lot will come in waves that are unpredictable, and I just have to ride them, trusting that my body will eventually tire of overeating. I need to trust that this approach will work. I'm repeating myself but think that I have finally uncovered the truth about "portion control": it is counterproductive.
9:30 PM: Picked up Ellie from a friend's house. Was offered cake that she and her friend had made. Checked my watch: 7:20 PM. Ate cake.
What if it had been after 8 PM? I'd have eaten the cake and not counted today as a fast day.
That is the beauty of this approach. It is very clear. Oh, those days of counting calories... egg 81 calories...raisin about 1 calorie each... grapefruit 120.. Lean Cuisine... ugh I hated Lean Cuisine but could take the calorie off the package.
That was all so counterproductive. I learned to eat packaged foods. I ate rice cakes. I measured out food in measuring cups. I switched to skim milk.
Those days are gone.
No portion control.
Day 21 – Saturday, February 4, 2017: 221.4
I have a really bad cold and can't hear very well, so I am not fasting today but am instead having tea with lemon and honey, which our pediatrician said was a good drink for a cold. I already have hearing loss, so this added to that is really troubling.
I have no interest in eating whatsoever and just want to have that hot drink.
8 PM: I ate a fair amount today even though I am still not feeling well. I think you need a certain percent of days to be fast days in order to lose weight, and I'm not sure 20 is enough. It's my number, however, and I'm sticking with it. Weighing myself daily may be counterproductive, since I can choose how much I eat based on how much I weigh.
Day 22 – Sunday, February 5, 2017:
Tom and I are both sick. Tom spent Thursday in a hotel room in Baltimore because he was too sick to go to work even when he was on a business trip. This morning, I told him I was really concerned that this was the second serious illness I had this winter, the first being in September. He told me he is concerned about my health because of my weight, and I said this diet was going to work or at least I was going to stick with it until June.
I am drawing an analogy to learning how to cook which seemed to have no positive outcome for a long time. I did not know what a chef's knife was. Our meals were typically pasta-based with chicken or beef, or we had hamburgers. Now, finally, I have a lot of the equipment needed for cooking and have some solid recipes, but it took two years of effort and lots of dead ends.
I get cooking information from Cook's, but I get recipes, generally, from the Internet or from Simple & Delicious magazine. There is still quite a limit to the number of meals I have, but I can try new things on a regular basis. Tonight is a new meal. It took a long time.
The fasting approach, I believe, will show results by June and then will be a healthy way of life for the long haul. I have to no longer fear starvation because I am no longer controlling portions. This morning, so far, I had some cheese and tea with lemon and honey, and I've been up over an hour. There is no driving desire to eat just because I can, a desire I fought and which was fed by the decision to control portions.
5:30 PM: I am repeating myself because I have no new thoughts on this matter and think I will continue on my way without posting much, but I will keep on this diet until June.
Day 23 – Monday, February 6, 2017: 221.4
I had Nyquil last night and decided it was an acceptable exception to not having calories outside the 3 - 8 PM window. Today, I'm not doing much to get over this cold quickly, and I listened to a video on Bright Line Eating. The idea behind Bright Line Eating is you establish a strong habit with no exceptions so that you don't need to use willpower to follow it. She had the example of brushing your teeth as a habit. I have thought that exact same thing, that I want to have a diet which is so ingrained you don't exert willpower.
Only "No Exceptions" is a no-go for me. What about being offered cake by your daughter and her friend? Pass that up for a diet? No!
It seems more sensible to me to plan on exceptions and accept them, like with the No S Diet. For me, it is just easiest to have an eating window daily and have a goal of 20 fast days per month.
This diet is really easy. I have looked back to December and see that I have come down in weight since then but am still in the band of my normal weight between about 217 and 225. If I get below 215 following this approach, I'll think it works.
Day 24 – Tuesday, February 7, 2017: 221.0
I was in the kitchen last night, looking at the clock reading 7:59, and thought "No". No, I did not want anything more. The drive to eat just before 8 is tapering off.
I believe that fasting is a cure for food obsession or addiction and a "portion control" approach to eating is a way to increase food obsession. When have I counted the number of raisins I eat except when counting calories?
Day 25 – Wednesday, February 8, 2017:
I got up before 4 to drive Anne to the airport and then slept until 7 and took the girls to school. My schedule revolves around the schedules of others in my family, since I am often the driver. That is why a five hour window is important: make it too short, and I don't have the flexibility I need.
Yesterday, I ate way too much and had a stomach ache at 2:30. I wonder if fasting eventually makes it unpleasant to overeat.
Day 27 – Friday, February 10, 2017: 221.2
The weight on the scale is steady, but there is something going on internally. It is almost as if I am being freed from food obsession. Yesterday, for example, at 3 my highest priority was not to eat. It was to figure out something that was asked of me by someone on the board of the organization for which I do volunteer work. Then I promised to take Katie to the mall. I squeezed in having some homemade chicken noodle soup and an orange between the time I finished that task and the time I took Katie to the mall.
It's almost as if something is being taken out of me, or I am being cured of a disease.
Day 28 – Saturday, February 11, 2017: 220.8
No fasting today, and I'm having ice cream at 8:30 AM. I get why this works. Sooner or later, it becomes not a big deal to have ice cream at 8:30 AM.
Day 29 – Sunday, February 12, 2017:
Tom rarely comments on my eating, but he sure did yesterday, telling me how gross it was to see how much I ate. I still maintain that I see where this is going, and I am happy about it. I took a medieval history course in college, and part of their life was the cycle of fasts and feasts. When they feasted, they sure feasted! At the time, I thought that the fasts were the cause of the feasts, but now I think otherwise. Now I think this is the normal human condition. Maybe it's because food was not always readily available so humans ate when they could. I don't know. I just don't know, but I know that trying to eat only when hungry or measuring out portions every time you eat makes you into a belly-gazer, constantly focused on me me me.
Which IS NOT what I want! I believe that daily weigh-ins can also be counter-productive. Why weigh myself if I am sticking to this plan no matter what at least until June? My last personal training appointment with Kayla before she goes on maternity leave is on the 21st, and I owe her the courtesy of weighing myself then, but -- other than that -- why weigh myself?
This morning, I have no interest in food. Do I know why? Not really. I bought a lot of oranges yesterday and after dinner took one. At that point, Tom asked if I was hungry, and I said no. I ate it anyway. This morning, I'm looking at that same fruit bowl filled with oranges (minus the one I ate yesterday) and I have absolutely no interest in having one. I'm not hungry now, either. Why have an orange last night but not this morning? No idea.
Day 30 – Monday, February 13, 2017:
Over the weekend, I read an article from the 1843 magazine put out by The Economist. It was titled: "Two Women, One Cause" and was about Amal Clooney and her teaming up with Nadia Murad to fight against the Islamic State. Nadia is a Yazidi woman whose village was invaded by ISIS. On that day, six of her brothers and stepbrothers and her mother were murdered. She was raped daily and escaped, eventually seeking asylum in Germany. Later in the article, she is asked about her future, and here was what was written: "She yearns to return to her village, to see the family farm and the sheep and to enjoy Yazidi festivals, when people paint their houses white and follow fasting with feasts." After all the horrors of what she has endured, what she remembers that she most enjoyed from her past life was the cycle of feast and fast.
I cannot comment. Her life, what she called "easy and simple", was so different from mine, and yet there is something there, universally human, in the desire to have seasons, to have times of feasting and times of fasting. I just wonder if this idea of portion control has turned out society into a dull grey of always watching what you eat.
4 PM: By 12:30 PM today, I felt hungry but knew I could eat whatever I wanted as of 3 PM so I could stick it out. Contrast that with what it means to be a on diet, always hungry and never able to fully satisfy yourself. It would drive me nuts! I did last until 3 and then ate a fair amount and realized I had not had dinner last night because I ate so much before then. I was hungrier than normal at 3 because I had not eaten anything since about 6 PM last night.
Day 31 – Tuesday, February 14, 2017: 222.6
I ended up weighing myself to see just how much I have gained since I started eating so much on Saturday. Why did this happen? I have no idea, but I think it has now abated at least for the moment.
Day 32 – Wednesday, February 15, 2017: 221.2
"The tide is going out." That is a phrase I remember from years of being able to spend a week at the ocean every summer when I was a child. Finally, I have found an analogy that fits with this diet. When you are a child playing in the sand as the waves come up and recede, sometimes the waves come up more than you expect and you get hit with water. For a period of time as the tide is changing, the waves seems to be coming up the same amount but there is always a lot of variability. It is only after 30 minutes or so that it is clear that the tide has changed and the waves are consistently coming in less and less.
Ah...nature... ever changing. When I would sleep at night, I could still feel those waves coming in and going out because I would spend two hours at a time in the water.
Here I am, with a diet like the ocean. My first task has really been to adjust to the fasting schedule, and I do think I have done that at least to the point that I can carry on with my day without watching the clock for 3 PM.
My second task now is to be patient and wait, just like I would wait for the tide to go out. Just because a large wave comes up doesn't mean the tide is still coming in, and just because I have a spike in weight doesn't mean that I'm not on the path to permanent weight loss.
I don't have a goal weight. I have a process. The process is to fast (eat only between 3 and 8 PM) 20 times per month but not ever fast on Sundays. Why between 3 and 8 PM? This was the best time and best length of time that worked for me. I tried fasting a certain number of hours but that didn't work because I was always tempted to move the time forward. Fasting a shorter period of time didn't work because my schedule varies so much. Fasting a longer period of time would be easier, but five hours is the limit that I can manage easily.
Why 20 times per month? I can manage that number, just like I can manage a goal of an average of 10,000 steps per day. When I have attempted to walk more steps per day, I've ended up walking fewer.
Day 33 – Thursday, February 16, 2017: 219.8
Tom got sick early this month and spent last weekend sleeping. I thought he was stressed due to his job situation. No... He got sick, I caught it, and now I'm sleeping all day. I went to the doctor two days ago and got antibiotics. The last time I went to the doctor because I was sick was on Anne's fourth birthday in 1998 and I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. This seems similar. It's encouraging to me that Tom said he was going to exercise today. Maybe I will get better in a few days, too. He never went to the doctor, so I'm not sure if antibiotics is helping or if all I need is rest.
Does this affect my weight? Probably. Do I care? No. I am sure glad I did not impose a portion control mentality on my weekend eating even though I was tempted to do so. I am curious if this approach will work and won't know unless I actually follow it.
One thing that happened this week was I was flipping the radio dial while driving and heard talk of fasting on Catholic radio. It turns out the speaker was saying that fasting was eating small meals through the day. Wrong! I may see if I can find that show in archive and find out all that he was saying. Fasting is no food for a period of time.
12 PM: I found the show -- just before noon CST on relevant radio. Someone called in to say he skipped breakfast and lunch and only had dinner and wondered if that was a religious fast. The priest said that his fast was to have small meals through the day and not have a big meal at the end of the day because that is the healthy thing to do. Ugh...The expert, secular ideal of six small meals throughout the day may well be the cause of the obesity epidemic.
Day 34 – Friday, February 17, 2017: 219.8
I woke up this morning feeling comfortably not stuffed. Maybe the whole point of fasting is that you learn to be comfortable with and even enjoy a little bit of hunger. I can remember way back to childhood when I would feel hungry before dinner and then really enjoy the taste of the food. Now all is bland...
Day 35 – Saturday, February 18, 2017: 220.6
Yesterday, around 1:45 PM, I felt uncomfortably hungry. I know this type of hunger: it's the type that would drive me to binge when I was trying to control portions. I would hang on as long as possible, fearing this feeling would last the rest of my life if I continued to control portions. Yesterday, I knew that that uncomfortable feeling would last one hour and fifteen minutes. When I was free to eat after 3 PM, I sure did. Then, last night, we arrived back home at five minutes to 8 PM, and I had a slice of ice cream cake (from Ellie's birthday). Today, my weight is understandably up from yesterday's weight, but I'm also well-positioned to fast until 3 PM. I think the success of this diet approach comes from a ratcheting down of appetite due to being willing to fast when hungry even if it is only for an hour and fifteen minutes and even if it is followed by indulgent eating. When we were in the car yesterday with Katie, Tom brought up what he had eaten that day as a way to explain why he wasn't hungry, and then I listed what I had eaten in about 30 minutes: a taco, a taco shell, a slice of ice cream cake, applesauce, milk, homemade chicken noodle soup, cheese and possibly more that I cannot remember. Last night, after dropping Katie off for work, we stopped at McDonald's, and I had a cheeseburger happy meal. So, I had all that plus the slice of ice cream cake just before 8, and right now at 6 AM, I feel quite full.
This pattern of overeating is something I expect will naturally subside over time as I become used to less food from the fasting. A willingness to "cut back" and judge that maybe I don't need to eat so much during my eating window would make it way harder to fast, and I'm not interested in living a life of constantly using willpower to manage what I eat. Fasting is easy because it is willpower for 19 hours at a time, and you intermittently need to use willpower to not eat. The only time this diet was hard yesterday was for an hour and fifteen minutes. On most days, it isn't hard at all.
One positive aspect of this diet is I don't feel like a failure all the time. I used to feel like a failure if I failed to lose weight from one day to another or if I did not stay within the bounds for portion control. Now I am a success if I just fast until 3 PM 20 times per month. Even if I fall short of 20 days, I've made progress in fasting any times per month. In other words, I always feel like a success with this diet!
Day 36 – Sunday, February 19, 2017:
The title of Dr. Bert Herring's book is Appetite Correction. If you commit to fasting, your appetite will correct. Last night, I ate too much, and the feeling was unpleasant: I had a stomach ache. I am used to a feeling of unpleasantness being associated with eating too little, not too much.
I weighed 219.8 when I rolled out of bed at 8, with most of the popcorn I had last night still weighing down my stomach. I have no interest in eating at the moment.
Fasting followed by eating with no portion control leads to moderation in eating. Who would have thought that? Why overeat if you can eat what you want when you do eat and you eat every day?
This pattern of overeating will eventually moderate as I learn to avoid how I feel right now.
On Tuesday, I have my monthly personal training session, and then Kayla will be off for three months for maternity leave. I promised myself I would stick with this diet until she returns, so there doesn't seem to be much value in my recording these ups and down. In fact, it would be easier on me if I just ignored them and stuck with focusing on getting 20 fast days in.
I may try to make a concerted effort to only write here once per week after I meet with Kayla on Tuesday. Last month, she asked me if I would see success by this month with this diet, and I demurred. I said that I should see success by June.
I'll be bringing in three month's of weight recordings.
Day 37 – Monday, February 20, 2017: 221.6
Like with No S Diet, Monday weights are the highest. I had a couple of slices of ice cream cake from Ellie's birthday yesterday.
10 PM: I bought caramel macademian chocolates from Costco and had perhaps 10 this afternoon. Tomorrow, I am not weighing myself! Am I sad? No. I stopped because of the concern about how I will feel tomorrow.
Tomorrow, I have my last personal training session with Kayla before she goes on maternity leave, and I'm giving her Sunday's weight. Going forward, I think I may just weigh myself once per month, perhaps on the first Friday of the month. This diet has to become background music.
It's the most I can do to lose weight. The most. I've fiddle around with dieting for half my life and want to stop focusing on it. My family needs my attention. I can't be spending all my time focusing on my weight.
Am I confident my weight will go down? Yes. It will be slow, but it will go down. Will it go down to an acceptable weight? Yes, because I'm accepting the weight that results from following this diet.
So far this month, I have fasted 13 days. That isn't great, but I still have time to make 20 for the month. If I fall short, I won't be upset. The goal of 20 is just a goal.
Day 38 – Tuesday, February 21, 2017:
Last month, I put away my diet books. This month, I think I need to back away from writing about dieting. It has helped, there is no doubt, for me to sort through what is working and (mostly) what is not. I have to be patient, and I'll more easily be patient if my focus changes from dieting to other things.
11:40 PM: I had a nice, quiet conversation with Kayla. She is actually due in the next week. She wanted to pin me down on what I would consider successful with this fasting approach. I said that I would be happy if I get below 215 in the two to three weeks before I meet with her after she returns from maternity leave in June. At this point, my low weight is 219.8.
8 PM: One thing I brought up to Kayla today is that all Catholics in medieval Europe fasted until 3 PM twice per week, and she scoffed... I said maybe there was wisdom in that.
Thinking through that tonight, I think maybe that is all I need, just to fast twice per week as a reminder that -- hey -- I don't need food every second of the day, I don't need food the second my stomach growls... I can calm down about all of this...
Day 39 – Wednesday, February 22, 2017: 222.0
I realized last night that what I am doing is not losing weight; what I am doing is letting food obsession fade, not fade away but fade. Fasting gives me the confidence that I can manage just fine without eating for several hours at a time.
I ate just a ton over the last two days but only got up to 222 and think that this is the high water mark, so to speak. The tide is going out, albeit slowly.
11 AM: It turns out I am going to have lunch with a friend rather than breakfast. Usually, when we get together, I just have tea. Now I'll have to eat. So no fasting today.... As a result, I took advantage of a no fast day to eat a lot -- and I mean a lot -- already today. What have I learned? Fasting is the way to overcome binge eating.
Day 40 – Thursday, February 23, 2017: 223.0
Yesterday was totally stupid. I ended up having lunch with my friend but only had tea because I was so stuffed from eating yesterday morning. Did I continue eating later in the afternoon and evening? Yep. Why? I am clueless. I am putting my head down and finishing out the month with 20 fast days, so I have to fast every day today, tomorrow, on Saturday and next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in order to get to 20 fast days.
Is this working? Based on the scale, it sure doesn't look like it is, but I need to do it and see. One of two outcomes will become evident. Either, like the alcoholic who keeps drinking despite hangovers, I continue and never learn from the negative effects a fast/binge cycle, OR I learn and slowly start to lose weight.
Day 1 – Sunday, March 1, 2017:
How mortifying. I stopped fasting and just ate and ate. I am done with any sort of diet program and instead will try to live as a slim person, someone who enjoys getting hungry before eating, someone like me as a teen.
March, 2017: The Blessings of Simplicity starting March 10, 2017
Weight Summary
Day 1 - Friday, March 10, 2017: 225.8 pounds
Journal
Day 1 - Friday, March 10, 2017: 225.8 pounds
I am so thoroughly mortified by my increase in weight that I don't want to go out in public. The amusing thing is this: no one has noticed! I am fat now, and I was fat back when I was 219.8 a couple of weeks ago.
I've somehow gotten on an email list for a kid (maybe 30 years old?) with a smarmy demeanor trying to sell his book and a video series. I ended up buying the book because what he said sounded interesting. The book is "Master the Day". Reading it, I realized that this kid has hit the nail on the head. In summary, what he has said is that you fail at something because your life has been set up for you to fail. It's not one big thing that holds you back. It's thousands of decisions you make every day. What you need to do is create a process that leads to success.
So -- more or less, I have struggled with the idea of following a process vs. achieving a goal, and I've settled on following a process as what you should do. I thought fasting was the way to go, BUT for me fasting has led to more and more binge behavior.
This week, I resolved to eat when hungry except for social reasons or for meals. It took a few days only to recognize the foolishness of that approach: you can argue your way into eating. Did you know, for example, that taste tests at Costco are social with the person giving you the food? Give me a break... Self-deception is pathetically evident in that justification.
So -- where does that lead me? The smarmy kid suggested a checklist of habits that you work on creating and you actually check off the habits. I found that fairly intriguing. It's how I've managed to keep up an exercise habit that works for me.
What about eating? What could I do? Oh... maybe No S.... I cannot believe it. After all these years of writing my thoughts on this Website, where do end up but back at No S...
With modifications. Modifications that have worked for me with exercise.
I track. I have goals but don't fret too much if they aren't met.
I record success.
I treat Sunday differently.
Actually, I ended up not treating Sunday differently because Tom started exercising and we can go to the gym before church. Exercise has now become somewhat social.
So -- here we go:
I am going to record days when I eat up three meals a day with no snacks and no sweets. Instead of no seconds, I'll just have everything in front of me before I take one bite. Why? I never could get over having fruit on a plate. Apples... grapes.... oranges.... Not next to meat or eggs.
I won't follow this on Sundays.
I'll just record success. My goal will be about 20 days per month of success.
And then I'll let it ride and see how that affects my life.
My big problem is binge eating. I eat as a break or before leaving the house or for a number of other reasons. If I limit my eating to meals, that is an improvement.
Frankly, I've spent way too much time on this diet thing. It's important. It's critical. I don't have diabetes but could in the future. I am tempting fate, as the saying goes, by being so fat.
Oh for the days when I was below 200 pounds, when I followed No S. Why did I stop? Impatience. I need to follow this diet and let the chips fall where they may.
Weight Summary
Day 1 - Friday, March 10, 2017: 225.8 pounds
Journal
Day 1 - Friday, March 10, 2017: 225.8 pounds
I am so thoroughly mortified by my increase in weight that I don't want to go out in public. The amusing thing is this: no one has noticed! I am fat now, and I was fat back when I was 219.8 a couple of weeks ago.
I've somehow gotten on an email list for a kid (maybe 30 years old?) with a smarmy demeanor trying to sell his book and a video series. I ended up buying the book because what he said sounded interesting. The book is "Master the Day". Reading it, I realized that this kid has hit the nail on the head. In summary, what he has said is that you fail at something because your life has been set up for you to fail. It's not one big thing that holds you back. It's thousands of decisions you make every day. What you need to do is create a process that leads to success.
So -- more or less, I have struggled with the idea of following a process vs. achieving a goal, and I've settled on following a process as what you should do. I thought fasting was the way to go, BUT for me fasting has led to more and more binge behavior.
This week, I resolved to eat when hungry except for social reasons or for meals. It took a few days only to recognize the foolishness of that approach: you can argue your way into eating. Did you know, for example, that taste tests at Costco are social with the person giving you the food? Give me a break... Self-deception is pathetically evident in that justification.
So -- where does that lead me? The smarmy kid suggested a checklist of habits that you work on creating and you actually check off the habits. I found that fairly intriguing. It's how I've managed to keep up an exercise habit that works for me.
What about eating? What could I do? Oh... maybe No S.... I cannot believe it. After all these years of writing my thoughts on this Website, where do end up but back at No S...
With modifications. Modifications that have worked for me with exercise.
I track. I have goals but don't fret too much if they aren't met.
I record success.
I treat Sunday differently.
Actually, I ended up not treating Sunday differently because Tom started exercising and we can go to the gym before church. Exercise has now become somewhat social.
So -- here we go:
I am going to record days when I eat up three meals a day with no snacks and no sweets. Instead of no seconds, I'll just have everything in front of me before I take one bite. Why? I never could get over having fruit on a plate. Apples... grapes.... oranges.... Not next to meat or eggs.
I won't follow this on Sundays.
I'll just record success. My goal will be about 20 days per month of success.
And then I'll let it ride and see how that affects my life.
My big problem is binge eating. I eat as a break or before leaving the house or for a number of other reasons. If I limit my eating to meals, that is an improvement.
Frankly, I've spent way too much time on this diet thing. It's important. It's critical. I don't have diabetes but could in the future. I am tempting fate, as the saying goes, by being so fat.
Oh for the days when I was below 200 pounds, when I followed No S. Why did I stop? Impatience. I need to follow this diet and let the chips fall where they may.
Last edited by Kathleen on Sat Apr 29, 2017 5:51 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Hi Kathleen- It's good to read this. Hope you can fight whatever thoughts come to side-track you and stick to this for a good period of time (a year?) without diverting. That would be so good!!Kathleen wrote:Oh for the days when I was below 200 pounds, when I followed No S. Why did I stop? Impatience. I need to follow this diet and let the chips fall where they may.
-Sonya
No Sweets, No Snacks and No Seconds, Except (Sometimes) on days that start with "S".
No Sweets, No Snacks and No Seconds, Except (Sometimes) on days that start with "S".
-
Strawberry Roan
- Posts: 1208
- Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2010 10:51 pm
Kathleen,
Hi - another longtime poster here. I think I first came about the same time as you, 2008, but had to re-register once due to some glitch (although more of a reader now as I have decided that I am really a "faster" at heart, my lifestyle loves that way of eating and my weight has been below goal for a long time now.) I have never, in my entire life, been a three meals a day eater.
I have always loved your style of honesty in your writing but, as I have said in the past, have just been amazed at the hours - now years - analyzing new ways to deal with your issues. I continue to wish you well on this journey to better health.
Why I am writing is that I went back to page one of your thread and so loved reading about your busy, active family - all the swim meets , music lessons and school activities - often four trips a day to pick up and deliver kids and friends of kids. Back in the Haggen-Daz bars era. haha. You were (and I am certain still are) such a caring, giving mother. Just wondering if I could get an update on how the kids and Tom are doing today?
Thanks, Linda
Edited to add, went back and read some more of your posts. I noticed that over the years you mentioned that your husband was mocking about your weight and weight loss attempts. Not very supportive. Do you think that has played a part in your lack of success? Or is that just his nature?
Hi - another longtime poster here. I think I first came about the same time as you, 2008, but had to re-register once due to some glitch (although more of a reader now as I have decided that I am really a "faster" at heart, my lifestyle loves that way of eating and my weight has been below goal for a long time now.) I have never, in my entire life, been a three meals a day eater.
I have always loved your style of honesty in your writing but, as I have said in the past, have just been amazed at the hours - now years - analyzing new ways to deal with your issues. I continue to wish you well on this journey to better health.
Why I am writing is that I went back to page one of your thread and so loved reading about your busy, active family - all the swim meets , music lessons and school activities - often four trips a day to pick up and deliver kids and friends of kids. Back in the Haggen-Daz bars era. haha. You were (and I am certain still are) such a caring, giving mother. Just wondering if I could get an update on how the kids and Tom are doing today?
Thanks, Linda
Edited to add, went back and read some more of your posts. I noticed that over the years you mentioned that your husband was mocking about your weight and weight loss attempts. Not very supportive. Do you think that has played a part in your lack of success? Or is that just his nature?
Berry
April, 2017: The Blessings of Simplicity starting April 16, 2017
Month 1: April 16, 2017 - 223.8
Weight Summary
Day 1 – Wednesday, April 5, 2017: 225.0
Day 2 – Thursday, April 6, 2017: 224.8
Day 3 – Friday, April 7, 2017: 224.6
Day 4 – Saturday, April 8, 2017:
Day 5 – Sunday, April 9, 2017:
Day 6 – Monday, April 10, 2017: 223.4
Day 7 – Tuesday, April 11, 2017: 223.4
Day 8 – Wednesday, April 12, 2017:
Day 1 – Thursday, April 13, 2017: 225.0 pounds; 2:45
Day 2 – Friday, April 14, 2017: 2:45
Day 3 – Saturday, April 15, 2017: 2:50
Day 1 – Sunday, April 16, 2017: 223.8 pounds
Day 2 – Monday, April 17, 2017: 2:55
Day 3 – Tuesday, April 18, 2017: 3:00
Day 4 – Wednesday, April 19, 2017: 3:05
Day 5 – Thursday, April 20, 2017: 3:00
Day 6 – Friday, April 21, 2017: 3:00
Day 7 – Saturday, April 22, 2017: 3:00
Day 8 – Sunday, April 23, 2017:
Day 9 – Monday, April 24, 2017: 3:05
Day 10 – Tuesday, April 25, 2017: 3:10
Day 11 – Wednesday, April 26, 2017: 3:15
Day 12 – Thursday, April 27, 2017: 3:15
Day 13 – Friday, April 28, 2017: 3:15
Day 14 – Saturday, April 29, 2017: 3:15
Day 15 – Sunday, April 30, 2017: 3:20
Journal
Saturday, April 1, 2017: 224.8
Strawberry Roan, I made the commitment to myself to not go back online until I was below 220, but right now I am on the computer waiting for registration to open at noon for a Scuba diving class Ellie wants to take. I'm going back and forth waiting. There are only six openings, and I want Ellie to get in. It seems a good time to answer your question.
Anne is getting married this summer. She started dating a guy she met at the beginning of sophomore year. He is finishing up getting a teacher's license. She has been living at home and applying to grad school. She has one possibility left and will know by April 15th if it will work out. I'm not concerned about their being able to make it financially, but she seems too dominant in the relationship. She's the boss. How long will it take before her husband rebels? We both see it but can say very little. The only thing we have said is that, if things get difficult and you aren't treating each other very well, the best thing to do is separate. That does not mean the marriage is over, only that you won't tolerate poor treatment.
Tommy is now a junior in college. He has barely cleared a 3.0, but he is personable and on track to graduate in five years. I hauled him around recruiting firms during spring break so he could get a low level office job during the summer and built towards a career where he can benefit from being such a considerate and humorous kid. Maybe he can be an account executive.
Katie got into the U of M - Twin Cities campus, which is a very good college located less than 1/2 hour from us. She is an outdoors girl, but the college was the best fit for her given her interest in English. She really wanted to go to North Dakota State University in Fargo, but they only have 12 students graduate in English per year. We told her no.
Ellie is in 10th grade and I was able to register her just now for a scuba diving class this summer. She will miss Katie who again will be a camp counselor this summer. I have spent several Saturday stuck inside a building while she took a blacksmithing class. She may want to study materials management when in college.
Tom and I have had to trust things would work out with his job. He is a product manager whose product got discontinued in mid-December, the same week he got calls from consulting colleagues to let him know of an opening. It was shocking to say the least that he got a bonus this year, and it was the equivalent of six months of my pay two years ago. Then, yesterday, he got a verbal offer.
As for Tom and me discussing my weight, he makes snide comments but I have been all over the place trying one thing after another to lose weight with no success.
So -- here is my assessment. It is a short-term strategy only to try to control what you eat. Over time, you just cannot stand it anymore and you binge eat. I lasted 10 years. 10 years of dieting. The guy who wrote the book on fasting called "Appetite Control" had the right idea that you need to control your appetite: you need to do things which make you want to eat less. I tried fasting. The author said that 90% of those who try fasting except during a five hour eating window succeed in losing weight, so I was hopeful. I ended up concluding that I was in the 10% when my weight went from 219.8 back up into the 220s. Then there was a period of overeating that got me up to 227.8 as the highest weight.
I stepped backed and regrouped. What else could possibly work? I remember reading once that people who lost a lot of weight tended to walk a lot -- like 26 miles per week. Then I decided to try walking an average of 10,000 steps per day, including on Sundays. I started on Monday. I had already started walking to replace biking for high intensity interval training, and I started at one minute of HIIT.
I also decided maybe I had fasted too long, so I would try to fast until noon on most days of the month.
On Tuesday, I read an article in Scouting magazine on a Scout executive who lost more than 100 pounds, and how did he do it?
He walked more than 15,000 steps every day, and he tried to do some exercise in a fasted state (exercise before breakfast). He also promoted HIIT as an effective way to lose belly fat. That sounded good to me. I've been wearing lace tops from JC Penney for more than a year and am sick to death of them. They do a better job of hiding rolls of belly fat but look like old lady tops. Yuck.
The Scout executive seemed to have learned lessons I was trying to learn. On Tuesday, I decided on the goal of a rolling average of 15,000 steps per day, with continued increase in HIIT. I was up to 2 minutes 25 seconds today and am adding 5 seconds at a time. My goal is 15 minutes of HIIT 5 times per week.
That's it. This week I did average 15,000 steps per day, and it was a shock to my system. I also today measured my waist, sucking in my gut as much as possible and using a no-cheat measuring tape which makes it more accurate. I was at a 40" waist today.
Here is part of the Scouting magazine article:
http://scoutingmagazine.org/2017/02/pic ... belly-fat/
Here is the profile that inspired me:
http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2016/1 ... inia-camp/
Day 1 – Wednesday, April 5, 2017: 225.0
Note made on 4/29/17: If you are reading this because you have gone back to my Day 1, please go back and read this entire month to get a better understanding of where I have been and how I have approached dieting.
I was really flagging yesterday in my hour long walk at the gym, and last night I was sick. I even took Nyquil and slept in this morning. 15,000 steps per day was too much.
Now what? I believe that I should monitor steps but also record what I eat. That will help me to identify when the calories are going into my mouth so that I can reduce consumption. Sad. I have tried to avoid this.
Day 2 – Thursday, April 6, 2017: 224.8
Yesterday, I went and bought about 8 polo shirts from Land's End. I have been wearing lace tops which I thought did a good job of hiding my rolls of fat. Suddenly, I did not want to be comfortable hiding rolls of fat.
Recording what I eat is not going to help. I need a way to keep me from overeating in the moment. I am back to the SET guidelines:
Sit down to eat.
Eat without distraction.
Take a sip between bites.
There were two variations of the T guideline, one of which was to take a sip between bites and the other of which was to take hand or utensil away from food while eating. I think I need the stronger version.
Day 3 – Friday, April 7, 2017: 224.6
I drank so much yesterday that I had to get up at midnight. I decided I also should take a sip of a liquid before having one bite of food. This all seems so silly, but I don't think it is. Taking a sip forces me to sit down which forces me to take time to eat which is a deterrent to eating. Time will tell. I've said that before...
Day 4 – Saturday, April 8, 2017:
My weight is down, but I don't know how much because I got up so late -- 8:30 AM. Anyway, I also had to get up to go to the bathroom in the night because I drank so much water yesterday.
The diet itself seems absurd, but I am going to walk through my reasoning using three quotes (or paraphrases of quotes):
1. "A problem well stated is a problem half solved." Charles Kettering
2. "The best way to create overcome a bad habit is to create and follow a good habit which is incompatible with the bad habit." I think I got this idea from Dr. Phil's diet book.
3. "If something isn't working, try something else -- anything else." This is a favorite quote from my father, and similar quotes can be found on google. I always liked the idea that you try different things. A similar sentiment is in something else he would say: "If you find that you've dug yourself a hole, the first thing you do is: stop digging!" I have tried many things over the years to lose weight. Maybe I didn't stick long enough with things. Maybe I've tried the wrong thing.
"A problem well stated is a problem half solved"
So what is my problem? Binge eating. I'm not a gourmand. I eat large quantities of food in a short amount of time, often alone. Why? Heck if I know. Maybe it's stress eating. Maybe it's just habit. Maybe it's even an addiction. Pinpointing the problem to binge eating makes it easier to solve. Yes, I eat too many calories, but mostly I eat normally except for the binge eating.
"The best way to create overcome a bad habit is to create and follow a good habit which is incompatible with the bad habit."
The SET guidelines make binge eating literally impossible. They may seem silly, but I cannot eat a lot in a short amount of time if I am taking a sip of water between bites.
"If something isn't working, try something else -- anything else."
"If you find that you've dug yourself a hole, the first thing you do is: stop digging!"
I've tried a lot of things, and now the source for this diet is two diet books:
"The Weigh Down Diet" and "The 7 Secrets of Slim People".
From "The Weigh Down Diet", I got the idea of taking sips between bites. It would be hard to identify a more unlikely source for a diet idea, since this was a Christian based diet book that was popular back in 2000 until the author cast doubt on the idea of the trinity. Buried in the book, with all its theological undertones, was the idea of taking a sip between bites.
Form "The 7 Secrets of Slim People" I go the idea to sit down to eat and eat without distraction.
These are not the greatest, most reliable sources of information on dieting, although the authors were nurses who overcame weight problems. However, I've already tried looking at more reliable sources of information and came up obese. It really makes me mad all those years I either didn't drink milk or drank skim milk -- from when I was in college until about 2 years ago, over 40 years. And it turns out that full fat milk is a great way to satisfy hunger. No wonder I got all messed up!
Look up images of Kelly Brownell, one of the leading researchers on obesity and a man who is at least 300 pounds. That says something....
Day 5 – Sunday, April 9, 2017:
I got up at 7:30 this morning and believe I weighed 223.2, but it was too late for me to record the weight. I prefer keeping consistency in when I weigh myself. The diet is easy, really easy. It does slow me down. For example, we got some buns from the church bake sale, and I had about 1/2 of one because I wasn't interested enough in the bun to sit there and take a sip, take a bite, etc. There is no anxiety about having enough to eat because I could right back to the table right now to eat the other 1/2. I just have better things to do with my time.
Anxiety... maybe that is why I binge eat. I'm perpetually afraid I won't get enough to eat.
Day 6 – Monday, April 10, 2017: 223.4
This diet is annoying. I am continuing to refine it:
- I can have caloric drinks without following the guidelines.
- When I eat, I sip before I start to eat and end with a sip. I don't just sip between bites.
- I can have taste tests without following the guidelines.
Currently, I am reading the classic trilogy by Sigrid Undset on Kristen Lavransdatter, set in medieval Norway. There is a lot of ritual around eating, and I wonder if ritual is what kept people from being gluttons. When you follow rituals, you aren't constantly thinking about food. I realized this yesterday when at Costco and did not immediately think to go have a taste test, although I later did. Eating standing up without a liquid almost seemed out of context, like visiting North Dakota in winter without a jacket. I ended up going ahead and having a taste test anyway, but it seemed strange.
8 PM: I was home all day with Katie and Ellie who are on break because our van with 209,000 miles on it was making some noises, so it had to go to the shop. I ate pretty much all day but right now am strangely dissatisfied. Why? i don't know, but I suspect that there is something satisfied by being an automatic eating machine that is not satisfied by taking a sip between bites. This is totally absurd, but I think there may be a reason that I will figure out by continuing to do what I am doing.
Day 7 – Tuesday, April 11, 2017: 223.4
No one has noticed that I am taking a sip between bites. No one. I'm even getting used to it. Could this possibly be an effective way to gently reduce food intake? Yes, I believe it is, when I also add in sitting down to eat and eating without distraction. In a choice between a magazine and food, I may choose the magazine. Eating is a way to take a break, just like reading is. My preferred way to take a break has been eating paired with another activity. Why? Why can't I just take a break? I think that comes down to the culture of always having to be busy.
I have not felt great this past week and stopped exercising and now my wedding ring has had to come off. It must be that the exercise makes my finger smaller. Maybe there is better circulation with HIIT because I could not wear my wedding ring when I was walking 10,000 steps per day and not doing HIIT.
It is embarrassing to go through Amazon seeing all the diet and exercise books I have bought, but I am now convinced that one I bought in September had some really good insight and practical exercise ideas:
HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training Explained
Driver, James
The exercise bike worked until I hurt my knee. Now I am trying HIIT with walking. I walk and then walk as fast as I can for several seconds to 20 seconds. Then I walk a more normal speed. As of last week, I had gotten up to 2:40 seconds of fast walking per day. How can so little fast walking have such a big effect that I could wear my wedding ring? I may have already donated the book, so the answer may be in the book, but what I do remember is that HIIT is critical to good health. I'm feeling better so I will be back to HIIT.
This winter has been terrible for me for getting sick. I remember being sick a lot in the winter of 1998 - 1999 but not since then. Maybe my body just could not take all the stress of Tom's job situation (now resolved, happily, with his return to work he loved with former colleagues he respected but with less travel) and Anne (her life is coming together: they will marry in July, and head to Indiana University where she will attend grad school with a "starving grad student" stipend and he will get a job).
11 AM: Last night, I had for dinner what can only be described as a teenager's rebellion to being told what to do. Katie and Ellie were at Mall of America, and Anne was at her fiance's. Tom wasn't feeling well and just wanted a hamburger. I had a hamburger and two glasses of Bailey's Irish Creme.
So far today, I've had tea with lemon and honey and an orange. I think my body needs to test I really will allow it to have whatever it wants. This insight was from Intuitive Eating.
Day 1 – Sunday, April 16, 2017: 223.8
Happy Easter! I went to the gym yesterday and was up to 2:50 of fast walking and came home and was so exhausted I went to bed. I got up at 8 pm and then went to bed at 11 pm.
HIIT is having quite an effect on me.
I wonder.... I wonder.... Back in December, 2001, I had surgery due to problems from childbirth and was told that I could never again lift more than 30 lbs. (preferably 15, but I had a baby born in February, 2001). I could never again run. I could never again use my full body weight in anything like jumping or skipping rope or anything.
I weighed 150. By the end of 2002, I weighed 180. Two years later, I was above 200.
Was it all because I never did HIIT? Who thinks of doing fast walking?
Things have been going fairly well with HIIT, but yesterday I really felt the effect.
Maybe I've been tracking the wrong things all along. Maybe all I need to track is HIIT exercise. 2 minutes 50 seconds had an effect on me.
My goal is 15 minutes per day five days per week. What effect will that have?
12:30 PM: To explain my HIIT exercise, I go to the walking path at the Y which I share with other people. I walk until I am in the clear and then walk fast for up to 15 seconds at a time. I use a stopwatch to track the total time of fast walking, and yesterday I got up to 2 minutes 50 seconds of fast walking. My total number of steps yesterday was 3,509.
Day 2 – Monday, April 17, 2017:
Looking back in this journal, I think I started back to HIIT on either Wednesday or Thursday of last week, and yesterday I could put my wedding ring back on. This is absolutely shocking. I just got home from 2:55 HIIT at the gym. I don't feel like I did on Saturday when I was completely wiped out. This same thing happened when I was on the exercise bike for 7 minutes of which 70 seconds was HIIT. I recovered and went on.
I found the HIIT book and am now going to read it. Before, I just skimmed it and came up with the idea of working my way to an exercise bike routine of 30 minutes of exercise with 30 seconds per minute of HIIT. Now, with walking at the gym, I am following the "fartlek" mode in which "you simply manage the intensities according to how you feel during the moment." That is not exactly what I am doing. Instead, I am going into HIIT mode when I can be courteous to other people on the Y's walking track.
What about my eating yesterday on Easter? Ah, my sister in law's cooking... I did not weigh myself today. I decided about two days ago that maybe fasting is also a way to correct appetite, so I am planning on eating only during an eating window of 3 - 8 PM 20 days per month, as was my plan before I gave up on fasting. Fasting is a maybe. HIIT is a definite. I can easily fast this week but then am spending the next week visiting my parents. My father is losing weight, a sign that he is getting close to death, and my husband starts his new job on May 1, so I am very likely to have this one last visit with him. Such a wonderful father... He does not understand much now, so I tell him story after story of why he was such a great father...
But I digress... My father started to lose his hearing back when he was about 60, and both my older brother and older sister are hard of hearing. I started having problems about two years ago when I was 56. What is really scary is I wonder if my father's dementia is correlated with hearing loss. My mother thinks his dementia was stroke-induced, but I am not so sure. The audiologist who assessed my hearing told me that hearing loss leads to dementia if you don't get hearing aids right away, and I did some studying and believe that is not the case at all: hearing loss does not cause dementia; instead, the same thing that causes hearing loss also causes dementia. But what? If I don't do something different from my father, I may end up like him, living in a time long gone. Recently, he told my mother when she woke him up that it's time to milk the cows. He hasn't been on the farm for more than 70 years....
Maybe I can do nothing about my hearing loss. I consider that to be likely, but I am going to try. I also had my hearing assessed at the Mayo Clinic and was told my hearing loss was genetic, permanent, progressive, and irreversible. The Mayo Clinic never did mince words, and I appreciate that, but my response was, "I don't believe you."
Now I am wondering if lack of circulation is the cause of both hearing loss and dementia. Now I am wondering if my wedding ring fitting means circulation has improved and perhaps HIIT will help with hearing loss.
It's a stretch.... Nothing like having virtually no scientific background to allow me to come up with theories that no trained professional would have.
Day 3 – Tuesday, April 18, 2017:
Simplicity. Simplicity. Simplicity. I think weighing myself daily may be a distraction. I'm sticking with tracking HIIT minutes and fasting days. I can record steps per day but it won't be something I have as a goal.
Yesterday was a fast day. Today is a fast day. Yesterday I had 2:55 minutes of HIIT, and today it was 3:00.
Fasting allows me to become used to having a less stuffed stomach without having a driving desire to eat everything in sight because I'm afraid that food restrictions will result in my being hungry. I'm feeling slightly hungry now. It feels kind of pleasant.
Day 4 – Wednesday, April 19, 2017: 3:05
Pacing. I am not pacing myself. HIIT is the opposite of pacing. A couple of people on the walking path have made comments to me, including one who suggested I try a running club so I can learn to pace myself. They are trying to be helpful. A year ago, I would have looked at wonder at this idiot who doesn't seem to be learning that she has to pace herself.
The impact on me is incredible. I feel it. However, my wedding ring had to come off yesterday because I woke up and it hurt. Maybe with more HIIT, I can put it back on.
I am changing my tracking sheet, taking off tracking of weight. I can track steps, since I have the habit of wearing a pedometer, but the two key measurements for me will be number of fast days (eating only between 3 and 8 PM) and minutes of HIIT.
Wow.... It dawned on me one day, maybe on Thursday, that what I have been taught is dead wrong. Pace yourself.... Always have breakfast....
Day 5 – Thursday, April 20, 2017:
I woke up today feeling terrible. Katie needed a ride to school at 6:30 for a school trip, and Ellie got a ride a 7:30. Then I went back to bed. I was wiped out.
Why? I have experimented with 10,000 steps per day plus fasting, and that combination did not have that effect. I am no longer too concerned about steps per day, but the last two days have been 11,764 and 11, 993. No, what wiped me out was the 3:05 of HIIT yesterday morning.
Wow. I do feel its effect. I have pushed beyond my limit.
Now what? I think I am going to drop fasting and just do 3:00 minutes of HIIT walking at least 5 times per week. I'll weigh myself on May 1.
Day 6 – Friday, April 21, 2017:
The experience of HIIT is far different from the experience of regular pace walking. I do fast walking for 20 seconds and am sweating..
I do not like this type of exercise at all!
So why do it? I believe it can do for my body what regular pace walking cannot. I believed that you should find exercise you like.
The problem I have is I need time to build up sufficient stamina to do enough HIIT. I spent over a year experimenting with fasting. This year will be a year of experimenting with HIIT.
Day 11 – Wednesday, April 26, 2017:
"The trouble our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so." This is a famous quote of Ronald Reagan's from 1964, and I thought of it because I knew it was bad to push yourself too hard. Tom has told me many times: "You have to sweat." He was right.
I decided to add 15 seconds of HIIT to my daily goal for each week. On Monday, I had 3:05 of HIIT; on Tuesday, 3:10; today, 3:15. I will sat at 3:15 for the rest of the week.
Day 12 – Thursday, April 27, 2017:
Tomorrow I return home. My father has had two good days. He can recite most of the first two stanzas of Longfellow's poem on Paul Revere but does not know my name.
Death comes to us all, but I am very motivated to avoid my Dad's fate of severe dementia. We used to laugh when he would call out our names, mixing us up. It was a real hoot once when I was in high school and he called the dog to go out in the appropriate tone but used his wife's name...Betty! Outside!
It is not so funny to me now. I am calling Tommy the name of my brother (they'd have similarities), Anne the name of my sister (they'd have similarities) and Ellie the name of our dog (Ellie was my pint, at 15th percentile of height until just the last couple of years).
Is mixing up names an early sign of dementia? Is hearing loss an early sign of dementia?
Can HIIT help? It turns out there are some inconclusive studies, but the problem I see is they are too short. It takes a long time to build the stamina for HIIT.
Day 14 – Saturday, April 29, 2017:
I kept such a detailed journal in case I actually hit upon a weight loss idea that worked, and now I am facing that I may have found something (HIIT) but I cannot tell when I started. I believe I started in mid-March because I started with 1:00 of HIIT and added 5 seconds each time. A couple of times, I remember, I stayed at the same length of HIIT, but mostly I added 5 seconds until I hit exhaustion.
There was too much else I was trying -- taking a sip between bites; 15,000 steps per day; etc -- for me to track the HIIT, but I think that is what is making changes to me.
Recently, I sucked in my gut and used a MyOTape to measure my waist at 40". Today it was 39"!
I just naturally slipped into HIIT and then realized, on Easter, that maybe surgery I had in 2001 resulted in my never doing anything strenuous so maybe that was why I gained so much weight. After four babies in 7 years, I weighed 150. After the surgery which kept me from HIIT, I was above 200 pounds in 2 years.
Maybe my true Day 1 is Easter Sunday, the day I connected that surgery and resulting lack of HIIT to my weight problems. I'm changing Easter Sunday to Day 1.
I am so glad that I spent the week with my parents -- so glad. Life goes on until it doesn't. I hope that my children learn from me how to take care of their bodies. I hope that HIIT and learning how to cook are the answer.
Day 15 – Sunday, April 30, 2017: I googled HIIT and appetite, and look at what I found:
http://www.chatelaine.com/health/fitnes ... -appetite/
Here is an excerpt:
"A small study by researchers at the University of Western Australia determined that when a group of overweight men chose to perform 30 minutes of high-intensity interval training versus performing the same amount of moderate intensity exercise, they consumed fewer calories. And it wasn’t because they were showing an excess of discipline when it came to eating."
I am noting a decrease in appetite.
9 PM: I ate a lot today and think that the cause may be to gain weight before I weigh myself tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure why I would do that, but I think it would be best if I just weighed myself once per month.
Month 1: April 16, 2017 - 223.8
Weight Summary
Day 1 – Wednesday, April 5, 2017: 225.0
Day 2 – Thursday, April 6, 2017: 224.8
Day 3 – Friday, April 7, 2017: 224.6
Day 4 – Saturday, April 8, 2017:
Day 5 – Sunday, April 9, 2017:
Day 6 – Monday, April 10, 2017: 223.4
Day 7 – Tuesday, April 11, 2017: 223.4
Day 8 – Wednesday, April 12, 2017:
Day 1 – Thursday, April 13, 2017: 225.0 pounds; 2:45
Day 2 – Friday, April 14, 2017: 2:45
Day 3 – Saturday, April 15, 2017: 2:50
Day 1 – Sunday, April 16, 2017: 223.8 pounds
Day 2 – Monday, April 17, 2017: 2:55
Day 3 – Tuesday, April 18, 2017: 3:00
Day 4 – Wednesday, April 19, 2017: 3:05
Day 5 – Thursday, April 20, 2017: 3:00
Day 6 – Friday, April 21, 2017: 3:00
Day 7 – Saturday, April 22, 2017: 3:00
Day 8 – Sunday, April 23, 2017:
Day 9 – Monday, April 24, 2017: 3:05
Day 10 – Tuesday, April 25, 2017: 3:10
Day 11 – Wednesday, April 26, 2017: 3:15
Day 12 – Thursday, April 27, 2017: 3:15
Day 13 – Friday, April 28, 2017: 3:15
Day 14 – Saturday, April 29, 2017: 3:15
Day 15 – Sunday, April 30, 2017: 3:20
Journal
Saturday, April 1, 2017: 224.8
Strawberry Roan, I made the commitment to myself to not go back online until I was below 220, but right now I am on the computer waiting for registration to open at noon for a Scuba diving class Ellie wants to take. I'm going back and forth waiting. There are only six openings, and I want Ellie to get in. It seems a good time to answer your question.
Anne is getting married this summer. She started dating a guy she met at the beginning of sophomore year. He is finishing up getting a teacher's license. She has been living at home and applying to grad school. She has one possibility left and will know by April 15th if it will work out. I'm not concerned about their being able to make it financially, but she seems too dominant in the relationship. She's the boss. How long will it take before her husband rebels? We both see it but can say very little. The only thing we have said is that, if things get difficult and you aren't treating each other very well, the best thing to do is separate. That does not mean the marriage is over, only that you won't tolerate poor treatment.
Tommy is now a junior in college. He has barely cleared a 3.0, but he is personable and on track to graduate in five years. I hauled him around recruiting firms during spring break so he could get a low level office job during the summer and built towards a career where he can benefit from being such a considerate and humorous kid. Maybe he can be an account executive.
Katie got into the U of M - Twin Cities campus, which is a very good college located less than 1/2 hour from us. She is an outdoors girl, but the college was the best fit for her given her interest in English. She really wanted to go to North Dakota State University in Fargo, but they only have 12 students graduate in English per year. We told her no.
Ellie is in 10th grade and I was able to register her just now for a scuba diving class this summer. She will miss Katie who again will be a camp counselor this summer. I have spent several Saturday stuck inside a building while she took a blacksmithing class. She may want to study materials management when in college.
Tom and I have had to trust things would work out with his job. He is a product manager whose product got discontinued in mid-December, the same week he got calls from consulting colleagues to let him know of an opening. It was shocking to say the least that he got a bonus this year, and it was the equivalent of six months of my pay two years ago. Then, yesterday, he got a verbal offer.
As for Tom and me discussing my weight, he makes snide comments but I have been all over the place trying one thing after another to lose weight with no success.
So -- here is my assessment. It is a short-term strategy only to try to control what you eat. Over time, you just cannot stand it anymore and you binge eat. I lasted 10 years. 10 years of dieting. The guy who wrote the book on fasting called "Appetite Control" had the right idea that you need to control your appetite: you need to do things which make you want to eat less. I tried fasting. The author said that 90% of those who try fasting except during a five hour eating window succeed in losing weight, so I was hopeful. I ended up concluding that I was in the 10% when my weight went from 219.8 back up into the 220s. Then there was a period of overeating that got me up to 227.8 as the highest weight.
I stepped backed and regrouped. What else could possibly work? I remember reading once that people who lost a lot of weight tended to walk a lot -- like 26 miles per week. Then I decided to try walking an average of 10,000 steps per day, including on Sundays. I started on Monday. I had already started walking to replace biking for high intensity interval training, and I started at one minute of HIIT.
I also decided maybe I had fasted too long, so I would try to fast until noon on most days of the month.
On Tuesday, I read an article in Scouting magazine on a Scout executive who lost more than 100 pounds, and how did he do it?
He walked more than 15,000 steps every day, and he tried to do some exercise in a fasted state (exercise before breakfast). He also promoted HIIT as an effective way to lose belly fat. That sounded good to me. I've been wearing lace tops from JC Penney for more than a year and am sick to death of them. They do a better job of hiding rolls of belly fat but look like old lady tops. Yuck.
The Scout executive seemed to have learned lessons I was trying to learn. On Tuesday, I decided on the goal of a rolling average of 15,000 steps per day, with continued increase in HIIT. I was up to 2 minutes 25 seconds today and am adding 5 seconds at a time. My goal is 15 minutes of HIIT 5 times per week.
That's it. This week I did average 15,000 steps per day, and it was a shock to my system. I also today measured my waist, sucking in my gut as much as possible and using a no-cheat measuring tape which makes it more accurate. I was at a 40" waist today.
Here is part of the Scouting magazine article:
http://scoutingmagazine.org/2017/02/pic ... belly-fat/
Here is the profile that inspired me:
http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2016/1 ... inia-camp/
Day 1 – Wednesday, April 5, 2017: 225.0
Note made on 4/29/17: If you are reading this because you have gone back to my Day 1, please go back and read this entire month to get a better understanding of where I have been and how I have approached dieting.
I was really flagging yesterday in my hour long walk at the gym, and last night I was sick. I even took Nyquil and slept in this morning. 15,000 steps per day was too much.
Now what? I believe that I should monitor steps but also record what I eat. That will help me to identify when the calories are going into my mouth so that I can reduce consumption. Sad. I have tried to avoid this.
Day 2 – Thursday, April 6, 2017: 224.8
Yesterday, I went and bought about 8 polo shirts from Land's End. I have been wearing lace tops which I thought did a good job of hiding my rolls of fat. Suddenly, I did not want to be comfortable hiding rolls of fat.
Recording what I eat is not going to help. I need a way to keep me from overeating in the moment. I am back to the SET guidelines:
Sit down to eat.
Eat without distraction.
Take a sip between bites.
There were two variations of the T guideline, one of which was to take a sip between bites and the other of which was to take hand or utensil away from food while eating. I think I need the stronger version.
Day 3 – Friday, April 7, 2017: 224.6
I drank so much yesterday that I had to get up at midnight. I decided I also should take a sip of a liquid before having one bite of food. This all seems so silly, but I don't think it is. Taking a sip forces me to sit down which forces me to take time to eat which is a deterrent to eating. Time will tell. I've said that before...
Day 4 – Saturday, April 8, 2017:
My weight is down, but I don't know how much because I got up so late -- 8:30 AM. Anyway, I also had to get up to go to the bathroom in the night because I drank so much water yesterday.
The diet itself seems absurd, but I am going to walk through my reasoning using three quotes (or paraphrases of quotes):
1. "A problem well stated is a problem half solved." Charles Kettering
2. "The best way to create overcome a bad habit is to create and follow a good habit which is incompatible with the bad habit." I think I got this idea from Dr. Phil's diet book.
3. "If something isn't working, try something else -- anything else." This is a favorite quote from my father, and similar quotes can be found on google. I always liked the idea that you try different things. A similar sentiment is in something else he would say: "If you find that you've dug yourself a hole, the first thing you do is: stop digging!" I have tried many things over the years to lose weight. Maybe I didn't stick long enough with things. Maybe I've tried the wrong thing.
"A problem well stated is a problem half solved"
So what is my problem? Binge eating. I'm not a gourmand. I eat large quantities of food in a short amount of time, often alone. Why? Heck if I know. Maybe it's stress eating. Maybe it's just habit. Maybe it's even an addiction. Pinpointing the problem to binge eating makes it easier to solve. Yes, I eat too many calories, but mostly I eat normally except for the binge eating.
"The best way to create overcome a bad habit is to create and follow a good habit which is incompatible with the bad habit."
The SET guidelines make binge eating literally impossible. They may seem silly, but I cannot eat a lot in a short amount of time if I am taking a sip of water between bites.
"If something isn't working, try something else -- anything else."
"If you find that you've dug yourself a hole, the first thing you do is: stop digging!"
I've tried a lot of things, and now the source for this diet is two diet books:
"The Weigh Down Diet" and "The 7 Secrets of Slim People".
From "The Weigh Down Diet", I got the idea of taking sips between bites. It would be hard to identify a more unlikely source for a diet idea, since this was a Christian based diet book that was popular back in 2000 until the author cast doubt on the idea of the trinity. Buried in the book, with all its theological undertones, was the idea of taking a sip between bites.
Form "The 7 Secrets of Slim People" I go the idea to sit down to eat and eat without distraction.
These are not the greatest, most reliable sources of information on dieting, although the authors were nurses who overcame weight problems. However, I've already tried looking at more reliable sources of information and came up obese. It really makes me mad all those years I either didn't drink milk or drank skim milk -- from when I was in college until about 2 years ago, over 40 years. And it turns out that full fat milk is a great way to satisfy hunger. No wonder I got all messed up!
Look up images of Kelly Brownell, one of the leading researchers on obesity and a man who is at least 300 pounds. That says something....
Day 5 – Sunday, April 9, 2017:
I got up at 7:30 this morning and believe I weighed 223.2, but it was too late for me to record the weight. I prefer keeping consistency in when I weigh myself. The diet is easy, really easy. It does slow me down. For example, we got some buns from the church bake sale, and I had about 1/2 of one because I wasn't interested enough in the bun to sit there and take a sip, take a bite, etc. There is no anxiety about having enough to eat because I could right back to the table right now to eat the other 1/2. I just have better things to do with my time.
Anxiety... maybe that is why I binge eat. I'm perpetually afraid I won't get enough to eat.
Day 6 – Monday, April 10, 2017: 223.4
This diet is annoying. I am continuing to refine it:
- I can have caloric drinks without following the guidelines.
- When I eat, I sip before I start to eat and end with a sip. I don't just sip between bites.
- I can have taste tests without following the guidelines.
Currently, I am reading the classic trilogy by Sigrid Undset on Kristen Lavransdatter, set in medieval Norway. There is a lot of ritual around eating, and I wonder if ritual is what kept people from being gluttons. When you follow rituals, you aren't constantly thinking about food. I realized this yesterday when at Costco and did not immediately think to go have a taste test, although I later did. Eating standing up without a liquid almost seemed out of context, like visiting North Dakota in winter without a jacket. I ended up going ahead and having a taste test anyway, but it seemed strange.
8 PM: I was home all day with Katie and Ellie who are on break because our van with 209,000 miles on it was making some noises, so it had to go to the shop. I ate pretty much all day but right now am strangely dissatisfied. Why? i don't know, but I suspect that there is something satisfied by being an automatic eating machine that is not satisfied by taking a sip between bites. This is totally absurd, but I think there may be a reason that I will figure out by continuing to do what I am doing.
Day 7 – Tuesday, April 11, 2017: 223.4
No one has noticed that I am taking a sip between bites. No one. I'm even getting used to it. Could this possibly be an effective way to gently reduce food intake? Yes, I believe it is, when I also add in sitting down to eat and eating without distraction. In a choice between a magazine and food, I may choose the magazine. Eating is a way to take a break, just like reading is. My preferred way to take a break has been eating paired with another activity. Why? Why can't I just take a break? I think that comes down to the culture of always having to be busy.
I have not felt great this past week and stopped exercising and now my wedding ring has had to come off. It must be that the exercise makes my finger smaller. Maybe there is better circulation with HIIT because I could not wear my wedding ring when I was walking 10,000 steps per day and not doing HIIT.
It is embarrassing to go through Amazon seeing all the diet and exercise books I have bought, but I am now convinced that one I bought in September had some really good insight and practical exercise ideas:
HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training Explained
Driver, James
The exercise bike worked until I hurt my knee. Now I am trying HIIT with walking. I walk and then walk as fast as I can for several seconds to 20 seconds. Then I walk a more normal speed. As of last week, I had gotten up to 2:40 seconds of fast walking per day. How can so little fast walking have such a big effect that I could wear my wedding ring? I may have already donated the book, so the answer may be in the book, but what I do remember is that HIIT is critical to good health. I'm feeling better so I will be back to HIIT.
This winter has been terrible for me for getting sick. I remember being sick a lot in the winter of 1998 - 1999 but not since then. Maybe my body just could not take all the stress of Tom's job situation (now resolved, happily, with his return to work he loved with former colleagues he respected but with less travel) and Anne (her life is coming together: they will marry in July, and head to Indiana University where she will attend grad school with a "starving grad student" stipend and he will get a job).
11 AM: Last night, I had for dinner what can only be described as a teenager's rebellion to being told what to do. Katie and Ellie were at Mall of America, and Anne was at her fiance's. Tom wasn't feeling well and just wanted a hamburger. I had a hamburger and two glasses of Bailey's Irish Creme.
So far today, I've had tea with lemon and honey and an orange. I think my body needs to test I really will allow it to have whatever it wants. This insight was from Intuitive Eating.
Day 1 – Sunday, April 16, 2017: 223.8
Happy Easter! I went to the gym yesterday and was up to 2:50 of fast walking and came home and was so exhausted I went to bed. I got up at 8 pm and then went to bed at 11 pm.
HIIT is having quite an effect on me.
I wonder.... I wonder.... Back in December, 2001, I had surgery due to problems from childbirth and was told that I could never again lift more than 30 lbs. (preferably 15, but I had a baby born in February, 2001). I could never again run. I could never again use my full body weight in anything like jumping or skipping rope or anything.
I weighed 150. By the end of 2002, I weighed 180. Two years later, I was above 200.
Was it all because I never did HIIT? Who thinks of doing fast walking?
Things have been going fairly well with HIIT, but yesterday I really felt the effect.
Maybe I've been tracking the wrong things all along. Maybe all I need to track is HIIT exercise. 2 minutes 50 seconds had an effect on me.
My goal is 15 minutes per day five days per week. What effect will that have?
12:30 PM: To explain my HIIT exercise, I go to the walking path at the Y which I share with other people. I walk until I am in the clear and then walk fast for up to 15 seconds at a time. I use a stopwatch to track the total time of fast walking, and yesterday I got up to 2 minutes 50 seconds of fast walking. My total number of steps yesterday was 3,509.
Day 2 – Monday, April 17, 2017:
Looking back in this journal, I think I started back to HIIT on either Wednesday or Thursday of last week, and yesterday I could put my wedding ring back on. This is absolutely shocking. I just got home from 2:55 HIIT at the gym. I don't feel like I did on Saturday when I was completely wiped out. This same thing happened when I was on the exercise bike for 7 minutes of which 70 seconds was HIIT. I recovered and went on.
I found the HIIT book and am now going to read it. Before, I just skimmed it and came up with the idea of working my way to an exercise bike routine of 30 minutes of exercise with 30 seconds per minute of HIIT. Now, with walking at the gym, I am following the "fartlek" mode in which "you simply manage the intensities according to how you feel during the moment." That is not exactly what I am doing. Instead, I am going into HIIT mode when I can be courteous to other people on the Y's walking track.
What about my eating yesterday on Easter? Ah, my sister in law's cooking... I did not weigh myself today. I decided about two days ago that maybe fasting is also a way to correct appetite, so I am planning on eating only during an eating window of 3 - 8 PM 20 days per month, as was my plan before I gave up on fasting. Fasting is a maybe. HIIT is a definite. I can easily fast this week but then am spending the next week visiting my parents. My father is losing weight, a sign that he is getting close to death, and my husband starts his new job on May 1, so I am very likely to have this one last visit with him. Such a wonderful father... He does not understand much now, so I tell him story after story of why he was such a great father...
But I digress... My father started to lose his hearing back when he was about 60, and both my older brother and older sister are hard of hearing. I started having problems about two years ago when I was 56. What is really scary is I wonder if my father's dementia is correlated with hearing loss. My mother thinks his dementia was stroke-induced, but I am not so sure. The audiologist who assessed my hearing told me that hearing loss leads to dementia if you don't get hearing aids right away, and I did some studying and believe that is not the case at all: hearing loss does not cause dementia; instead, the same thing that causes hearing loss also causes dementia. But what? If I don't do something different from my father, I may end up like him, living in a time long gone. Recently, he told my mother when she woke him up that it's time to milk the cows. He hasn't been on the farm for more than 70 years....
Maybe I can do nothing about my hearing loss. I consider that to be likely, but I am going to try. I also had my hearing assessed at the Mayo Clinic and was told my hearing loss was genetic, permanent, progressive, and irreversible. The Mayo Clinic never did mince words, and I appreciate that, but my response was, "I don't believe you."
Now I am wondering if lack of circulation is the cause of both hearing loss and dementia. Now I am wondering if my wedding ring fitting means circulation has improved and perhaps HIIT will help with hearing loss.
It's a stretch.... Nothing like having virtually no scientific background to allow me to come up with theories that no trained professional would have.
Day 3 – Tuesday, April 18, 2017:
Simplicity. Simplicity. Simplicity. I think weighing myself daily may be a distraction. I'm sticking with tracking HIIT minutes and fasting days. I can record steps per day but it won't be something I have as a goal.
Yesterday was a fast day. Today is a fast day. Yesterday I had 2:55 minutes of HIIT, and today it was 3:00.
Fasting allows me to become used to having a less stuffed stomach without having a driving desire to eat everything in sight because I'm afraid that food restrictions will result in my being hungry. I'm feeling slightly hungry now. It feels kind of pleasant.
Day 4 – Wednesday, April 19, 2017: 3:05
Pacing. I am not pacing myself. HIIT is the opposite of pacing. A couple of people on the walking path have made comments to me, including one who suggested I try a running club so I can learn to pace myself. They are trying to be helpful. A year ago, I would have looked at wonder at this idiot who doesn't seem to be learning that she has to pace herself.
The impact on me is incredible. I feel it. However, my wedding ring had to come off yesterday because I woke up and it hurt. Maybe with more HIIT, I can put it back on.
I am changing my tracking sheet, taking off tracking of weight. I can track steps, since I have the habit of wearing a pedometer, but the two key measurements for me will be number of fast days (eating only between 3 and 8 PM) and minutes of HIIT.
Wow.... It dawned on me one day, maybe on Thursday, that what I have been taught is dead wrong. Pace yourself.... Always have breakfast....
Day 5 – Thursday, April 20, 2017:
I woke up today feeling terrible. Katie needed a ride to school at 6:30 for a school trip, and Ellie got a ride a 7:30. Then I went back to bed. I was wiped out.
Why? I have experimented with 10,000 steps per day plus fasting, and that combination did not have that effect. I am no longer too concerned about steps per day, but the last two days have been 11,764 and 11, 993. No, what wiped me out was the 3:05 of HIIT yesterday morning.
Wow. I do feel its effect. I have pushed beyond my limit.
Now what? I think I am going to drop fasting and just do 3:00 minutes of HIIT walking at least 5 times per week. I'll weigh myself on May 1.
Day 6 – Friday, April 21, 2017:
The experience of HIIT is far different from the experience of regular pace walking. I do fast walking for 20 seconds and am sweating..
I do not like this type of exercise at all!
So why do it? I believe it can do for my body what regular pace walking cannot. I believed that you should find exercise you like.
The problem I have is I need time to build up sufficient stamina to do enough HIIT. I spent over a year experimenting with fasting. This year will be a year of experimenting with HIIT.
Day 11 – Wednesday, April 26, 2017:
"The trouble our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so." This is a famous quote of Ronald Reagan's from 1964, and I thought of it because I knew it was bad to push yourself too hard. Tom has told me many times: "You have to sweat." He was right.
I decided to add 15 seconds of HIIT to my daily goal for each week. On Monday, I had 3:05 of HIIT; on Tuesday, 3:10; today, 3:15. I will sat at 3:15 for the rest of the week.
Day 12 – Thursday, April 27, 2017:
Tomorrow I return home. My father has had two good days. He can recite most of the first two stanzas of Longfellow's poem on Paul Revere but does not know my name.
Death comes to us all, but I am very motivated to avoid my Dad's fate of severe dementia. We used to laugh when he would call out our names, mixing us up. It was a real hoot once when I was in high school and he called the dog to go out in the appropriate tone but used his wife's name...Betty! Outside!
It is not so funny to me now. I am calling Tommy the name of my brother (they'd have similarities), Anne the name of my sister (they'd have similarities) and Ellie the name of our dog (Ellie was my pint, at 15th percentile of height until just the last couple of years).
Is mixing up names an early sign of dementia? Is hearing loss an early sign of dementia?
Can HIIT help? It turns out there are some inconclusive studies, but the problem I see is they are too short. It takes a long time to build the stamina for HIIT.
Day 14 – Saturday, April 29, 2017:
I kept such a detailed journal in case I actually hit upon a weight loss idea that worked, and now I am facing that I may have found something (HIIT) but I cannot tell when I started. I believe I started in mid-March because I started with 1:00 of HIIT and added 5 seconds each time. A couple of times, I remember, I stayed at the same length of HIIT, but mostly I added 5 seconds until I hit exhaustion.
There was too much else I was trying -- taking a sip between bites; 15,000 steps per day; etc -- for me to track the HIIT, but I think that is what is making changes to me.
Recently, I sucked in my gut and used a MyOTape to measure my waist at 40". Today it was 39"!
I just naturally slipped into HIIT and then realized, on Easter, that maybe surgery I had in 2001 resulted in my never doing anything strenuous so maybe that was why I gained so much weight. After four babies in 7 years, I weighed 150. After the surgery which kept me from HIIT, I was above 200 pounds in 2 years.
Maybe my true Day 1 is Easter Sunday, the day I connected that surgery and resulting lack of HIIT to my weight problems. I'm changing Easter Sunday to Day 1.
I am so glad that I spent the week with my parents -- so glad. Life goes on until it doesn't. I hope that my children learn from me how to take care of their bodies. I hope that HIIT and learning how to cook are the answer.
Day 15 – Sunday, April 30, 2017: I googled HIIT and appetite, and look at what I found:
http://www.chatelaine.com/health/fitnes ... -appetite/
Here is an excerpt:
"A small study by researchers at the University of Western Australia determined that when a group of overweight men chose to perform 30 minutes of high-intensity interval training versus performing the same amount of moderate intensity exercise, they consumed fewer calories. And it wasn’t because they were showing an excess of discipline when it came to eating."
I am noting a decrease in appetite.
9 PM: I ate a lot today and think that the cause may be to gain weight before I weigh myself tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure why I would do that, but I think it would be best if I just weighed myself once per month.
Last edited by Kathleen on Mon May 01, 2017 2:16 pm, edited 20 times in total.
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Strawberry Roan
- Posts: 1208
- Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2010 10:51 pm
May, 2017: The Blessings of Simplicity starting May 21, 2017
Month 1: May 21, 2017 - 226.0
Weight Summary
Tuesday weights are in red so that I can more easily appreciate that progress is being made. There is a general downward trend from week to week that is not present from day to day.
Day 1 - Monday, May 1, 2017:
Day 2 - Tuesday, May 2, 2017: 3:25
Day 3 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017: 3:30
Day 4 - Thursday, May 4, 2017:
Day 5 - Friday, May 5, 2017:
Day 1 - Saturday, May 6, 2017: 226.2
Day 2 - Sunday, May 7, 2017: 224.2
Day 3 - Monday, May 8, 2017:
Day 4 - Tuesday, May 9, 2017: 225.0
Day 5 - Wednesday, May 10, 2017: 222.6
Day 6 - Thursday, May 11, 2017: 223.6
Day 7 - Friday, May 12, 2017: 223.4
Day 8 - Saturday, May 13, 2017: 223.4
Day 9 - Sunday, May 14, 2017: 223.6
Day 10 - Monday, May 15, 2017:
Day 11 - Tuesday, May 16, 2017:
Day 12 - Wednesday, May 17, 2017:
Day 13 - Thursday, May 18, 2017: 223.6
Day 14 - Friday, May 19, 2017: 222.6
Day 1 - Saturday, May 20, 2017:
Day 1 - Sunday, May 21, 2017: 226.0
Day 2 - Monday, May 22, 2017: 224.6
Day 3 - Tuesday, May 23, 2017: 225.8
Day 4 - Wednesday, May 24, 2017: 224.6
Day 5 - Thursday, May 25, 2017: 225.6
Day 6 - Friday, May 26, 2017: 224.6
Day 7 - Saturday, May 27, 2017: 224.6
Day 8 - Sunday, May 28, 2017: 224.6
Day 9 - Monday, May 29, 2017: 223.8
Day 10 - Tuesday, May 30, 2017: 224.2
Day 11 - Wednesday, May 31, 2017: 224.0
Journal
Day 1 - Monday, May 1, 2017:
Today is our wedding anniversary and also the first day of Tom's work at his new company, which is a class act through and through. He worked for the company for two years about 10 years ago.
I figure it is fitting to restart the count because last month was an entire month of changing my mind on what to track. i came to the belief that I had been tracking the wrong thing. Tracking steps per day is nice but it is HIIT that most matters. Tracking weight is nice but it is measurements that matter. I'm giving up on tracking steps; I've done it so long that it feels weird not to have the pedometer in my pocket. I'm no longer tracking weight except for once per month and only because measurements aren't always exact.
On Saturday, I peaked and stepped on the scale to see 222.4. What happened in two days? There may be some stress that I bring on myself by weighing myself, and when I am stressed I tend to eat. So -- reduce stress by weighing only once per month.
For sure, I will be healthier by focusing on HIIT. Yesterday, I did not get up early enough to go before church, so I went after lunch. By 1 minute, I wasn't sure I would make it because I was sweating so much. I got to 3:20 only by promising myself I would take today off. My goal is five times per week, and I've gone every day for more than a week, so today is a well-deserved rest.
What got me to this point is described fairly well in last month's posts. Last night, I went back to the book that clued me in to the importance of HIIT. The book is called "Misguided Medicine" and HIIT was mentioned in one three-page section entitled "What the History of Humanity Reveals Regarding Exercise". Much of the three-page section went right over my head.
HIIT increases
- "muscle oxidative potential and endurance capacity",
- "synthesis of glutathione peroxidase",
- "intramuscular amounts of mitochondria", and
- "cellular content of sirtuin"
What I know now from personal experience is walking 10,000 steps per day has much less effect on my body than walking as fast as I can for 3:20 seconds in about 3,000 steps.
In all these years of struggling with my weight, I went from trying to lose weight to trying to figure out why I had such an oversized appetite. Why did I want to eat so much in the first place?
It may be that I eat so much because I have done no -- and I mean no -- HIIT.
Day 2 - Tuesday, May 2, 2017:
For years, Tom has told me, "You have to sweat." The other day, I asked him how he knew that. He looked at me with a stunned expression and then Katie piped up and said, "Logic". Honestly, I am shocked by the change in me. Today, I walked fast 3:25 minutes, and it was way easier than it was yesterday. I think I'll stick with fast walking in the morning.
Day 3 - Monday, May 3, 2017:
I was briefly tempted to walk fast for a full four minutes today but decided that I need to be patient with myself and my body. My goal for this week was 3:30 and now that is what I will do for the remainder of the week. Next week, the goal is 3:45. I do believe my appetite has been affected by the walking, but I will need to walk fast for a longer period of time per day before I see weight loss. That's OK. This does seem like a healthy habit for me to follow, which is the exact opposite of what I thought. I thought it was bad for you to go above Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) for your age.
Day 1 - Saturday, May 6, 2017: 226.2
Life hit hard this week. Tom needed to sell or donate some stock as a condition of employment, and we had some in certificate form. One of my father's caretakers hurt his back, so now my mother had to scramble yet again to find a new caretaker. She has now faced she needs to put my father into an assisted living place, so from MN I was calling San Diego County and looking on their websites to figure out where he could be placed. That situation is now stabilized. I had to be home on Thursday to get trees planted and home yesterday to get a new air conditioner. What does this have to do with anything? I could not get to the gym.
I faced last night this singular focus on HIIT is not going to work. Today I am stuck all day in a building where Ellie is taking a blacksmithing class.
What to do? I think I need a way to avoid eating due to stress, and I had a lot of stress this week. What comes to mind? Well, NoS, to be honest. I am going back to my modification of NoS, which is:
- Sundays off plus a rolling average of two exception days per month
- Guidelines are: three meals per day with a meal being everything in front of me before I take one bite, exceptions for liquids and tasting food while cooking, no snacks, no sweets. I will allow myself sugared pop, which I have when driving long distances (Mt. Dew) or when not feeling well (ginger ale).
I also am going to be open to fasting until dinner on Wednesdays and Fridays, if possible.
To these NoS guidelines, I will add trying to do HIIT three times per week and walking an average of 10,000 steps per day.
I have been all over the place. Maybe I just need to combine these good ideas. Walking is good. NoS is good. HIIT is good. Strengthening exercises are good. I can do all of them easily but not every day. A rolling average (for exception days on NoS) and a monthly average (for steps) and a weekly goal (for HIIT) seems very doable.
Things should calm down now. The big stress was Tom's job, and he landed on his feet with a fantastic job with a great company.
Day 2 - Sunday, May 7, 2017: 224.2
Slight revision: I'm not going to have a rolling average of anything. I'm just going to count on a monthly basis. Maybe my goal for NoS days per month is something like 25. It is Sunday, and so today is a non S, but I've been through the over the top eating on non S days that I don't think I'm going to go quite as overboard as I have previously.
So I'm back to No S. I got a book on organization for people with ADHD (I have never been diagnosed with ADHD but had read about the book online) and starting reading it and lo and behold it is helping me. What is one of the traits of a person with ADHD? A tendency to make things overly complicated. It is important to simplify, simplify, simplify... There also was the recommendation to focus on one area of life at a time. I've done that in the last two years with learning how to cook and organize recipes. I've also done that with tracking expenses. Now I am focused on retirement planning. Through the years with my weight and exercise, I've modified over and over one sheet of paper to track weight, walking and exercise on a monthly basis. Now I'm going to have one more column to track NoS days on a monthly basis. One sheet of paper will track steps per day walking, No S Days, HIIT minutes, and weight.
5:30 PM: I am feeling good. I went to the gym and walked fast a total of 3:35, and I am up to almost 9,000 steps so I will easily make 10,000 steps by the end of the day. One thing I have noticed over the past 18 months or so is that I can have dark circles under my eyes. This morning, they were really dark. I wonder if my not doing HIIT since last Tuesday means less circulation in the head means dark circles. This is something I will monitor. There is no indication that HIIT will help with hearing loss, but I am going to build my time for walking fast and then see. Maybe the Mayo Clinic is right that my hearing loss is both permanent and progressive, but hope springs eternal in fools who don't know much.
Day 3 - Monday, May 8, 2017:
I took Tom to the airport and just out of habit went to the gym to do fast walking. I think I should not have goals but just should track what I am doing. I'm almost to 11,000 steps today without any effort. I had three meals and no snacks or sweets without much effort. I did not weigh myself today, in part because I ate a lot yesterday and in part because a daily weigh in is a daily cause of stress.
Day 4 - Tuesday, May 9, 2017: 225.0
There is a weekly rhythm to this diet, with Sundays as feast days and Wednesdays and Fridays as fast days. I think I'll avoid the HIIT exercise on Wednesdays and Fridays. I also think I may try to weigh myself just once per week, perhaps on Tuesdays.
Day 5 - Wednesday, May 10, 2017: 222.6
Yesterday, I had to take Katie over to the U of M for an oral exam in Spanish, so I got to the gym to walk at noon instead of 8 AM. I walked fast 3:45 and was wiped out. After coming home, I had to get dinner ready and take her to trap. When we got back from trap at 5 PM, I was so wiped out that I sent them to the grocery store for take out Chinese and went to bed. We will have tonight what I planned for last night. For dinner last night, I had a hunk of cheese and an apple.
I am going to be swamped the next six weeks, with all four kids home starting next Monday. I don't want to be coming home wiped out, so my goal is to get to 4 minutes flat and stay there probably through the summer.
Today I did not go to the gym but am fasting until dinner. I am trying to walk fast or fast every day, if possible.
5:30 PM: I have not even walked 5,000 steps today. I took it easy as I tried to fast until dinner. It was easy especially as compared with fasting walking 3:45 minutes.
8:15 PM: I decided to eat at 6:30 since the dinner was not yet ready, and I just ate and ate. Now I am stuffed. Fasting is off the table for the moment. I will just focus on fast walking, walking, and NoS. Maybe in a year, I'll try fasting...
Day 6 - Thursday, May 11, 2017: 223.6
I'm up a pound from yesterday but down from my Tuesday benchmark weight for the week. It may be that stress eating has been exacerbated by dieting. What I can do is make this diet the least stressful possible. For breakfast, I made French toast. While Katie's French toast was cooking, I ate a banana. I then decided I can just decide ahead of time what I'm eating for a meal and that counts as eating a meal and no snacks. This morning's breakfast was a banana and French toast.
I now feel a mild hunger. Great. Maybe I remember how this feels from my childhood, but I've veered over the years between stuffed and starving. Mild hunger between meals is what I want. As a child, I remember my mother saying not to spoil my appetite before dinner. The goal was mild hunger so you really enjoyed your food.
Day 7 - Friday, May 12, 2017: 223.4
I am going to try just fasting until noon on Fridays and not doing fast walking as a way to make it less likely that I am exhausted by the combination of fasting and exercise. Last night, Tom asked me if I had lost weight, and I said no. Kayla will be back from maternity leave next month, and I weighed just under 220 the last time I saw her. I told her my goal was 215 by the time she got back from maternity leave. Well, it is what it is. I think I now have a nice combination of fast walking, walking, mealtime eating, strengthening exercises, and fasting. I was always looking for the one magic answer to weight loss. Maybe it is just a combination of habits that are not that difficult to follow.
Day 8 - Saturday, May 13, 2017: 223.4
It definitely helps to be comparing today's weight to Tuesday's weight instead of to be looking at today's weight compared with yesterday's weight and the weight from the day before yesterday. I fit in 3:45 minutes fast walking today. I like the variety in this diet. It all seems so doable. Today is Katie's prom, and tomorrow I drive to UND to pick up Tommy for the summer. I can fit this approach into my life very easily.
Day 9 - Sunday, May 14, 2017: 223.6
I'm liking this approach to weight management because it is so relaxed. I'm just tracking what I am doing. Today, I went to the gym and walked fast 3:50 minutes. Then I went to church. Then Tom and I took Pepper for a walk. Then I drove to Grand Forks to pick up Tommy. My pedometer battery is low so it stopped tracking steps at 7,031. Fine. Not a panic. I won't count today's steps or tomorrow's steps in my average for the month because my pedometer isn't working. No big deal. My weight has been stable for four days and today was a day when I could eat whenever I want. No big deal. Weight management has to fit in my life. Sure, it is a priority, but so is getting Katie ready for prom, picking up Tommy from college, getting Ellie to a blacksmithing class, etc., etc., etc. One thing I really, really did not like about my diet of counting 1,000 calories per day for nine days straight is that the entire focus of my life for those nine days was food. With this approach, I can fit everything in because there isn't anything remarkable about what I am doing. Walking fast for 3:50 minutes took less than 1/2 hour, and my goal is to increase minutes but then decrease the number of times I do this to perhaps 3 - 4/week. Walking 10,000 steps per day is easy; you just have to break up the steps into manageable parts like taking the dog for a walk, going shopping, etc. Fasting until noon on Wednesdays and Fridays means skipping breakfast wo days per week; that saves time. Eating only at mealtime also saves time.
I'd say the program I now have is sustainable. It remains to be seen how much weight I will lose. The good news is that I did get below 200 pounds with just following NoS. I suspect NoS with 10,000 steps/day and some fast walking and some fasting will get me to an even lower weight.
Day 13 - Thursday, May 18, 2017: 223.6
I spent hours and hours since I came back from California researching assisted living facilities for my father out of fear my mother would suffer a stroke from all the stress of arranging caregivers for him. It's been so stressful I lost my month-old glasses in ND when picking up Tommy and forgot to get Katie to her annual physical. Happily, my sister put down a deposit on what I think may be the best assisted living arrangement near my mother. That's done, but life is going to be very busy for the next several weeks. I need to pare down what I am doing. I am just going to try fast walking 3 times a week, walking 10,000 steps per day, and trying to follow my version of NoS rules. That's it. I doubt I'll be able to do much as far as writing here until after Katie goes to camp on June 14. We have less than a month of all four kids home and then it is unlikely they will all be home again to live. We had our last family vacation last summer. I need to savor the moment.
Day 14 - Friday, May 19, 2017: 222.6
I was happy with this slight decrease in weight. i went to the gym and walked fast 4:00 minutes. Yesterday, I read this article:
https://www.outsideonline.com/2181151/w ... nt-fasting
I decided to give myself a break and just try to walk fast a minimum of three times per week (increasing time by 15 seconds per week) and eat only between 8 AM and 8 PM, making this a 12 hour fast daily. I can record steps per day as well. Then I will see how this plays out.
Day 1 - Saturday, May 20, 2017:
It is just after 11 PM, and I am writing because I changed my diet again. Today, Katie went for a run in the rain, and I ended up picking her up at the library. On the way home, we talked about exercise. I told her that HIIT actually decreased my appetite, and I explained why: my body got too tired to digest food. I also have been mulling about that intermittent fasting article I read and believe that it might make the most sense for me to fast from 7 PM to 11 AM each day, when possible, with a goal of 25 days per month. I do HIIT best in the morning which means I will routinely be exercising in a fasted state, something that some people in the intermittent fasting world seem to think is a very good idea, a kind of double whammy of benefits.
With fasting, I believe that your body learns to enjoy not being stuffed. I just got into bad habits, really a vicious cycle of starving and binge eating.
Now I told Kayla, my personal trainer, that I would be down to 215 by the time she returned from her three months of maternity leave. She is setting up PT starting in early June, but I put her off until after Katie goes to camp on June 14. I saw her in the gym and the word that came to mind is "pufferfish". She has been a big advocate of counting calories. She looks like she may still have 40 pounds of weight above her pre-pregnancy weight. What happened to her is what happened to me: the body just gives out. I actually think that sort of significant weight gain is an indication of just how much food restriction she had. It doesn't show lack of self-discipline. It shows years and years of self-discipline that just suddenly stopped working.
To clarify, what I am doing is:
- fasting from 7 PM to 11 AM for a goal of 25 days per month
- walking fast at least 3 times per week, increasing the number of minutes of fast walking by 15 seconds per week (currently at 4 minutes per time with eventual goal of 15 minutes per time)
- counting an average of 10,000 steps per day
Day 1 - Sunday, May 21, 2017: 226.0
Wow! Weight up over 3 pounds in 2 days. Why? I was looking at what I was doing and saying something needed to change. This approach is actually way easier than what I have been doing, so why do I think it might work? I won't overeat when I can eat. I will find pleasure in a stomach that is not over stuffed. I will appreciate that digestion takes work for my body so I won't overeat. That is my theory.
Day 2 - Monday, May 22, 2017: 224.6
I am a morning person. Most of the work of this diet is done in the morning. I fast from 7 PM to 11 AM and can check off a fasting period of 16 hours as of 11 AM. I do fast walking in the morning. Today, I was up to 4:10. Now, nearing 9 AM, I just have to fast another two hours and walk 6,500 more steps. This diet is simple and specific. I know if I am doing it.
As for my weight, it is a silly roller coaster. I was happy today that I was down 1.4 pounds form yesterday but still I am up 1 pound from Friday. I need to focus on following my plan and not worry so much about the ups and downs of weight.
Day 3 - Tuesday, May 23, 2017: 225.8
I place way too much emphasis on comparing yesterday's weight to today's, so today I am unhappy. Maybe I should just weigh myself once per week.
Day 4 - Wednesday, May 24, 2017: 224.6
This diet is easy and sustainable, and I am gradually increasing the time for fast walking. I just have to be patient. That is the hardest part. If this diet results in sustainable weight loss, it will be slow.... sloooooowwwww.
Day 5 - Thursday, May 25, 2017: 225.6
Up and down. Up and down. I just set up my first personal training with Kayla after her maternity leave -- June 20th. My goal was to be at or below 215. I was below 220 the last time I saw her. Well, that is water under the bridge. Yesterday, something interesting happened. I was preparing food to eat and suddenly asked myself why I was eating this. I wasn't hungry at all. At dinner, I actually felt stuffed. Why was I eating? The more important question is: Why was I asking myself this question? What changed? Does fasting actually reduce appetite? If so, am I going to naturally eat less because I'm not hungry? There is no doubt that my appetite is messed up. Is it because I've gotten into the habit of eating all the time? Can this be changed by simply eating whatever I want and as much as I want between 11 AM and 7 PM? Right now, I should head to Costco, and it is 10:53. I'll wait so I can eat something, but I would not have waited if it was 10. The time span of 8 hours for eating means I don't have to eat right after 11 or just before 7. That is what was happening when my eating window was 3 - 8 PM.
Day 6 - Friday, May 26, 2017: 224.6
I believe my problem has been lack of HIIT which has led to increased appetite. The cure is to build HIIT into my weekly routine. I am building it 15 seconds per week, so it will take time for me to lose weight. Lots of time.
Day 8 - Sunday, May 28, 2017: 224.6
Yesterday was a bridal shower for Anne with her finance's extended family. What a lovely family. I often told the kids "Marry young", and Anne followed my advice. We were 33 and 34 when we got married.
Day 9 - Monday, May 29, 2017: 223.8
What is nice about this approach is I don't have to panic with the unexpected. Last night, the Twins game lasted 15 innings, and we out after 7. I could have gone and had a brat for $8, or I could have waited until we got home. I waited. That means that today I can fast until 11 but still not count today for fasting.
Here are my criteria for a diet: simple, flexible, sustainable, specific, and successful. The only question mark is successful. I need time to see how this approach will work.
10 PM: I realized that NoS didn't work for me because it wasn't specific enough. I could argue that a plateful was actually a serving bowl full. I could put one plate on top of another. I could argue that fruit shouldn't be next to meat. I could argue that one Tic Tac should or should not be an Exception Day.
With intermittent fasting, it's easy: eat within the hours of 11 AM and 7 PM.
The only ambiguity is which clock to use, and I usually rely on either my phone or the stove clock.
Day 10 - Tuesday, May 30, 2017: 224.2
Think about this: I don't restrict what I eat at all when I am in my eating window. Last night, I bought some Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream. Why do I think this approach can work? Well, it is five minutes to 10 AM, and I have done fast walking of 4:20. I feel a slight amount of hunger but won't eat for another hour. Because the hunger is slight, and I will first eat when it is still slight, I will avoid the binge reaction that comes from almost a survival mechanism: Must eat! Must eat! There is none of that with this approach. I know that I can eat what I want in an hour, so why be concerned about not eating right this second?
12:30 PM: When I got home from shopping about an hour ago, I realized I wasn't yet hungry but ate anyway -- some cottage cheese, 1/2 peanut butter sandwich, some cashews, and some Haagen Dazs ice cream. Then I took the dogs for a walk and realized that I mostly eat in anticipation of not being able to eat. I leave in about 15 minutes to take Katie for her annual physical and then to trap and then back home before a band banquet. Somewhere in there, I will make dinner, but it will be a rushed affair tonight. My body is braced for the next diet so I cannot enjoy food in the present. I think this fear of starvation will dissipate with a diet that involves eating anything you want for 8 hours every day and allowing yourself to eat outside that eating window for any number of reasons, including that the Twins game ran to 15 innings!
Day 11 - Wednesday, May 31, 2017: 224.0
"A problem well stated is a problem half solved." Charles Kettering
I have stated my problem well for years, and here it is again in my post yesterday: "I mostly eat in anticipation of not being able to eat" in the future. I added the phrase "in the future" to yesterday's post as a way to clarify, but there it was. My eating is not from hunger but out of fear that I will get hungry in the future when I cannot eat. The 19 hour, 24 hour, and 36 hour fasts were all so long that I would eat a lot just before the eating window closed. With this diet, all I have to do is last until 11 AM without eating, and then I can eat whatever I want. That is easy, especially since I am a morning person. All those years I have followed the advice "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" were 100% counterproductive for me.
What else is easy for me is I don' t have to worry when I mess up somehow. This morning, I dressed in gym clothes, dropped off the girls at school, and arrived without my stopwatch for fast walking. I came home. There is too much for me to do today to go back. And that is OK. With most diets, I always felt like I was on the edge of failure. With this diet, I just track what I am doing and keep in mind generally where I would like to go. There is no pressure.
7:30 PM: I didn't eat right before 7. There was no point. I can eat as much as I want tomorrow at 11.
Month 1: May 21, 2017 - 226.0
Weight Summary
Tuesday weights are in red so that I can more easily appreciate that progress is being made. There is a general downward trend from week to week that is not present from day to day.
Day 1 - Monday, May 1, 2017:
Day 2 - Tuesday, May 2, 2017: 3:25
Day 3 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017: 3:30
Day 4 - Thursday, May 4, 2017:
Day 5 - Friday, May 5, 2017:
Day 1 - Saturday, May 6, 2017: 226.2
Day 2 - Sunday, May 7, 2017: 224.2
Day 3 - Monday, May 8, 2017:
Day 4 - Tuesday, May 9, 2017: 225.0
Day 5 - Wednesday, May 10, 2017: 222.6
Day 6 - Thursday, May 11, 2017: 223.6
Day 7 - Friday, May 12, 2017: 223.4
Day 8 - Saturday, May 13, 2017: 223.4
Day 9 - Sunday, May 14, 2017: 223.6
Day 10 - Monday, May 15, 2017:
Day 11 - Tuesday, May 16, 2017:
Day 12 - Wednesday, May 17, 2017:
Day 13 - Thursday, May 18, 2017: 223.6
Day 14 - Friday, May 19, 2017: 222.6
Day 1 - Saturday, May 20, 2017:
Day 1 - Sunday, May 21, 2017: 226.0
Day 2 - Monday, May 22, 2017: 224.6
Day 3 - Tuesday, May 23, 2017: 225.8
Day 4 - Wednesday, May 24, 2017: 224.6
Day 5 - Thursday, May 25, 2017: 225.6
Day 6 - Friday, May 26, 2017: 224.6
Day 7 - Saturday, May 27, 2017: 224.6
Day 8 - Sunday, May 28, 2017: 224.6
Day 9 - Monday, May 29, 2017: 223.8
Day 10 - Tuesday, May 30, 2017: 224.2
Day 11 - Wednesday, May 31, 2017: 224.0
Journal
Day 1 - Monday, May 1, 2017:
Today is our wedding anniversary and also the first day of Tom's work at his new company, which is a class act through and through. He worked for the company for two years about 10 years ago.
I figure it is fitting to restart the count because last month was an entire month of changing my mind on what to track. i came to the belief that I had been tracking the wrong thing. Tracking steps per day is nice but it is HIIT that most matters. Tracking weight is nice but it is measurements that matter. I'm giving up on tracking steps; I've done it so long that it feels weird not to have the pedometer in my pocket. I'm no longer tracking weight except for once per month and only because measurements aren't always exact.
On Saturday, I peaked and stepped on the scale to see 222.4. What happened in two days? There may be some stress that I bring on myself by weighing myself, and when I am stressed I tend to eat. So -- reduce stress by weighing only once per month.
For sure, I will be healthier by focusing on HIIT. Yesterday, I did not get up early enough to go before church, so I went after lunch. By 1 minute, I wasn't sure I would make it because I was sweating so much. I got to 3:20 only by promising myself I would take today off. My goal is five times per week, and I've gone every day for more than a week, so today is a well-deserved rest.
What got me to this point is described fairly well in last month's posts. Last night, I went back to the book that clued me in to the importance of HIIT. The book is called "Misguided Medicine" and HIIT was mentioned in one three-page section entitled "What the History of Humanity Reveals Regarding Exercise". Much of the three-page section went right over my head.
HIIT increases
- "muscle oxidative potential and endurance capacity",
- "synthesis of glutathione peroxidase",
- "intramuscular amounts of mitochondria", and
- "cellular content of sirtuin"
What I know now from personal experience is walking 10,000 steps per day has much less effect on my body than walking as fast as I can for 3:20 seconds in about 3,000 steps.
In all these years of struggling with my weight, I went from trying to lose weight to trying to figure out why I had such an oversized appetite. Why did I want to eat so much in the first place?
It may be that I eat so much because I have done no -- and I mean no -- HIIT.
Day 2 - Tuesday, May 2, 2017:
For years, Tom has told me, "You have to sweat." The other day, I asked him how he knew that. He looked at me with a stunned expression and then Katie piped up and said, "Logic". Honestly, I am shocked by the change in me. Today, I walked fast 3:25 minutes, and it was way easier than it was yesterday. I think I'll stick with fast walking in the morning.
Day 3 - Monday, May 3, 2017:
I was briefly tempted to walk fast for a full four minutes today but decided that I need to be patient with myself and my body. My goal for this week was 3:30 and now that is what I will do for the remainder of the week. Next week, the goal is 3:45. I do believe my appetite has been affected by the walking, but I will need to walk fast for a longer period of time per day before I see weight loss. That's OK. This does seem like a healthy habit for me to follow, which is the exact opposite of what I thought. I thought it was bad for you to go above Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) for your age.
Day 1 - Saturday, May 6, 2017: 226.2
Life hit hard this week. Tom needed to sell or donate some stock as a condition of employment, and we had some in certificate form. One of my father's caretakers hurt his back, so now my mother had to scramble yet again to find a new caretaker. She has now faced she needs to put my father into an assisted living place, so from MN I was calling San Diego County and looking on their websites to figure out where he could be placed. That situation is now stabilized. I had to be home on Thursday to get trees planted and home yesterday to get a new air conditioner. What does this have to do with anything? I could not get to the gym.
I faced last night this singular focus on HIIT is not going to work. Today I am stuck all day in a building where Ellie is taking a blacksmithing class.
What to do? I think I need a way to avoid eating due to stress, and I had a lot of stress this week. What comes to mind? Well, NoS, to be honest. I am going back to my modification of NoS, which is:
- Sundays off plus a rolling average of two exception days per month
- Guidelines are: three meals per day with a meal being everything in front of me before I take one bite, exceptions for liquids and tasting food while cooking, no snacks, no sweets. I will allow myself sugared pop, which I have when driving long distances (Mt. Dew) or when not feeling well (ginger ale).
I also am going to be open to fasting until dinner on Wednesdays and Fridays, if possible.
To these NoS guidelines, I will add trying to do HIIT three times per week and walking an average of 10,000 steps per day.
I have been all over the place. Maybe I just need to combine these good ideas. Walking is good. NoS is good. HIIT is good. Strengthening exercises are good. I can do all of them easily but not every day. A rolling average (for exception days on NoS) and a monthly average (for steps) and a weekly goal (for HIIT) seems very doable.
Things should calm down now. The big stress was Tom's job, and he landed on his feet with a fantastic job with a great company.
Day 2 - Sunday, May 7, 2017: 224.2
Slight revision: I'm not going to have a rolling average of anything. I'm just going to count on a monthly basis. Maybe my goal for NoS days per month is something like 25. It is Sunday, and so today is a non S, but I've been through the over the top eating on non S days that I don't think I'm going to go quite as overboard as I have previously.
So I'm back to No S. I got a book on organization for people with ADHD (I have never been diagnosed with ADHD but had read about the book online) and starting reading it and lo and behold it is helping me. What is one of the traits of a person with ADHD? A tendency to make things overly complicated. It is important to simplify, simplify, simplify... There also was the recommendation to focus on one area of life at a time. I've done that in the last two years with learning how to cook and organize recipes. I've also done that with tracking expenses. Now I am focused on retirement planning. Through the years with my weight and exercise, I've modified over and over one sheet of paper to track weight, walking and exercise on a monthly basis. Now I'm going to have one more column to track NoS days on a monthly basis. One sheet of paper will track steps per day walking, No S Days, HIIT minutes, and weight.
5:30 PM: I am feeling good. I went to the gym and walked fast a total of 3:35, and I am up to almost 9,000 steps so I will easily make 10,000 steps by the end of the day. One thing I have noticed over the past 18 months or so is that I can have dark circles under my eyes. This morning, they were really dark. I wonder if my not doing HIIT since last Tuesday means less circulation in the head means dark circles. This is something I will monitor. There is no indication that HIIT will help with hearing loss, but I am going to build my time for walking fast and then see. Maybe the Mayo Clinic is right that my hearing loss is both permanent and progressive, but hope springs eternal in fools who don't know much.
Day 3 - Monday, May 8, 2017:
I took Tom to the airport and just out of habit went to the gym to do fast walking. I think I should not have goals but just should track what I am doing. I'm almost to 11,000 steps today without any effort. I had three meals and no snacks or sweets without much effort. I did not weigh myself today, in part because I ate a lot yesterday and in part because a daily weigh in is a daily cause of stress.
Day 4 - Tuesday, May 9, 2017: 225.0
There is a weekly rhythm to this diet, with Sundays as feast days and Wednesdays and Fridays as fast days. I think I'll avoid the HIIT exercise on Wednesdays and Fridays. I also think I may try to weigh myself just once per week, perhaps on Tuesdays.
Day 5 - Wednesday, May 10, 2017: 222.6
Yesterday, I had to take Katie over to the U of M for an oral exam in Spanish, so I got to the gym to walk at noon instead of 8 AM. I walked fast 3:45 and was wiped out. After coming home, I had to get dinner ready and take her to trap. When we got back from trap at 5 PM, I was so wiped out that I sent them to the grocery store for take out Chinese and went to bed. We will have tonight what I planned for last night. For dinner last night, I had a hunk of cheese and an apple.
I am going to be swamped the next six weeks, with all four kids home starting next Monday. I don't want to be coming home wiped out, so my goal is to get to 4 minutes flat and stay there probably through the summer.
Today I did not go to the gym but am fasting until dinner. I am trying to walk fast or fast every day, if possible.
5:30 PM: I have not even walked 5,000 steps today. I took it easy as I tried to fast until dinner. It was easy especially as compared with fasting walking 3:45 minutes.
8:15 PM: I decided to eat at 6:30 since the dinner was not yet ready, and I just ate and ate. Now I am stuffed. Fasting is off the table for the moment. I will just focus on fast walking, walking, and NoS. Maybe in a year, I'll try fasting...
Day 6 - Thursday, May 11, 2017: 223.6
I'm up a pound from yesterday but down from my Tuesday benchmark weight for the week. It may be that stress eating has been exacerbated by dieting. What I can do is make this diet the least stressful possible. For breakfast, I made French toast. While Katie's French toast was cooking, I ate a banana. I then decided I can just decide ahead of time what I'm eating for a meal and that counts as eating a meal and no snacks. This morning's breakfast was a banana and French toast.
I now feel a mild hunger. Great. Maybe I remember how this feels from my childhood, but I've veered over the years between stuffed and starving. Mild hunger between meals is what I want. As a child, I remember my mother saying not to spoil my appetite before dinner. The goal was mild hunger so you really enjoyed your food.
Day 7 - Friday, May 12, 2017: 223.4
I am going to try just fasting until noon on Fridays and not doing fast walking as a way to make it less likely that I am exhausted by the combination of fasting and exercise. Last night, Tom asked me if I had lost weight, and I said no. Kayla will be back from maternity leave next month, and I weighed just under 220 the last time I saw her. I told her my goal was 215 by the time she got back from maternity leave. Well, it is what it is. I think I now have a nice combination of fast walking, walking, mealtime eating, strengthening exercises, and fasting. I was always looking for the one magic answer to weight loss. Maybe it is just a combination of habits that are not that difficult to follow.
Day 8 - Saturday, May 13, 2017: 223.4
It definitely helps to be comparing today's weight to Tuesday's weight instead of to be looking at today's weight compared with yesterday's weight and the weight from the day before yesterday. I fit in 3:45 minutes fast walking today. I like the variety in this diet. It all seems so doable. Today is Katie's prom, and tomorrow I drive to UND to pick up Tommy for the summer. I can fit this approach into my life very easily.
Day 9 - Sunday, May 14, 2017: 223.6
I'm liking this approach to weight management because it is so relaxed. I'm just tracking what I am doing. Today, I went to the gym and walked fast 3:50 minutes. Then I went to church. Then Tom and I took Pepper for a walk. Then I drove to Grand Forks to pick up Tommy. My pedometer battery is low so it stopped tracking steps at 7,031. Fine. Not a panic. I won't count today's steps or tomorrow's steps in my average for the month because my pedometer isn't working. No big deal. My weight has been stable for four days and today was a day when I could eat whenever I want. No big deal. Weight management has to fit in my life. Sure, it is a priority, but so is getting Katie ready for prom, picking up Tommy from college, getting Ellie to a blacksmithing class, etc., etc., etc. One thing I really, really did not like about my diet of counting 1,000 calories per day for nine days straight is that the entire focus of my life for those nine days was food. With this approach, I can fit everything in because there isn't anything remarkable about what I am doing. Walking fast for 3:50 minutes took less than 1/2 hour, and my goal is to increase minutes but then decrease the number of times I do this to perhaps 3 - 4/week. Walking 10,000 steps per day is easy; you just have to break up the steps into manageable parts like taking the dog for a walk, going shopping, etc. Fasting until noon on Wednesdays and Fridays means skipping breakfast wo days per week; that saves time. Eating only at mealtime also saves time.
I'd say the program I now have is sustainable. It remains to be seen how much weight I will lose. The good news is that I did get below 200 pounds with just following NoS. I suspect NoS with 10,000 steps/day and some fast walking and some fasting will get me to an even lower weight.
Day 13 - Thursday, May 18, 2017: 223.6
I spent hours and hours since I came back from California researching assisted living facilities for my father out of fear my mother would suffer a stroke from all the stress of arranging caregivers for him. It's been so stressful I lost my month-old glasses in ND when picking up Tommy and forgot to get Katie to her annual physical. Happily, my sister put down a deposit on what I think may be the best assisted living arrangement near my mother. That's done, but life is going to be very busy for the next several weeks. I need to pare down what I am doing. I am just going to try fast walking 3 times a week, walking 10,000 steps per day, and trying to follow my version of NoS rules. That's it. I doubt I'll be able to do much as far as writing here until after Katie goes to camp on June 14. We have less than a month of all four kids home and then it is unlikely they will all be home again to live. We had our last family vacation last summer. I need to savor the moment.
Day 14 - Friday, May 19, 2017: 222.6
I was happy with this slight decrease in weight. i went to the gym and walked fast 4:00 minutes. Yesterday, I read this article:
https://www.outsideonline.com/2181151/w ... nt-fasting
I decided to give myself a break and just try to walk fast a minimum of three times per week (increasing time by 15 seconds per week) and eat only between 8 AM and 8 PM, making this a 12 hour fast daily. I can record steps per day as well. Then I will see how this plays out.
Day 1 - Saturday, May 20, 2017:
It is just after 11 PM, and I am writing because I changed my diet again. Today, Katie went for a run in the rain, and I ended up picking her up at the library. On the way home, we talked about exercise. I told her that HIIT actually decreased my appetite, and I explained why: my body got too tired to digest food. I also have been mulling about that intermittent fasting article I read and believe that it might make the most sense for me to fast from 7 PM to 11 AM each day, when possible, with a goal of 25 days per month. I do HIIT best in the morning which means I will routinely be exercising in a fasted state, something that some people in the intermittent fasting world seem to think is a very good idea, a kind of double whammy of benefits.
With fasting, I believe that your body learns to enjoy not being stuffed. I just got into bad habits, really a vicious cycle of starving and binge eating.
Now I told Kayla, my personal trainer, that I would be down to 215 by the time she returned from her three months of maternity leave. She is setting up PT starting in early June, but I put her off until after Katie goes to camp on June 14. I saw her in the gym and the word that came to mind is "pufferfish". She has been a big advocate of counting calories. She looks like she may still have 40 pounds of weight above her pre-pregnancy weight. What happened to her is what happened to me: the body just gives out. I actually think that sort of significant weight gain is an indication of just how much food restriction she had. It doesn't show lack of self-discipline. It shows years and years of self-discipline that just suddenly stopped working.
To clarify, what I am doing is:
- fasting from 7 PM to 11 AM for a goal of 25 days per month
- walking fast at least 3 times per week, increasing the number of minutes of fast walking by 15 seconds per week (currently at 4 minutes per time with eventual goal of 15 minutes per time)
- counting an average of 10,000 steps per day
Day 1 - Sunday, May 21, 2017: 226.0
Wow! Weight up over 3 pounds in 2 days. Why? I was looking at what I was doing and saying something needed to change. This approach is actually way easier than what I have been doing, so why do I think it might work? I won't overeat when I can eat. I will find pleasure in a stomach that is not over stuffed. I will appreciate that digestion takes work for my body so I won't overeat. That is my theory.
Day 2 - Monday, May 22, 2017: 224.6
I am a morning person. Most of the work of this diet is done in the morning. I fast from 7 PM to 11 AM and can check off a fasting period of 16 hours as of 11 AM. I do fast walking in the morning. Today, I was up to 4:10. Now, nearing 9 AM, I just have to fast another two hours and walk 6,500 more steps. This diet is simple and specific. I know if I am doing it.
As for my weight, it is a silly roller coaster. I was happy today that I was down 1.4 pounds form yesterday but still I am up 1 pound from Friday. I need to focus on following my plan and not worry so much about the ups and downs of weight.
Day 3 - Tuesday, May 23, 2017: 225.8
I place way too much emphasis on comparing yesterday's weight to today's, so today I am unhappy. Maybe I should just weigh myself once per week.
Day 4 - Wednesday, May 24, 2017: 224.6
This diet is easy and sustainable, and I am gradually increasing the time for fast walking. I just have to be patient. That is the hardest part. If this diet results in sustainable weight loss, it will be slow.... sloooooowwwww.
Day 5 - Thursday, May 25, 2017: 225.6
Up and down. Up and down. I just set up my first personal training with Kayla after her maternity leave -- June 20th. My goal was to be at or below 215. I was below 220 the last time I saw her. Well, that is water under the bridge. Yesterday, something interesting happened. I was preparing food to eat and suddenly asked myself why I was eating this. I wasn't hungry at all. At dinner, I actually felt stuffed. Why was I eating? The more important question is: Why was I asking myself this question? What changed? Does fasting actually reduce appetite? If so, am I going to naturally eat less because I'm not hungry? There is no doubt that my appetite is messed up. Is it because I've gotten into the habit of eating all the time? Can this be changed by simply eating whatever I want and as much as I want between 11 AM and 7 PM? Right now, I should head to Costco, and it is 10:53. I'll wait so I can eat something, but I would not have waited if it was 10. The time span of 8 hours for eating means I don't have to eat right after 11 or just before 7. That is what was happening when my eating window was 3 - 8 PM.
Day 6 - Friday, May 26, 2017: 224.6
I believe my problem has been lack of HIIT which has led to increased appetite. The cure is to build HIIT into my weekly routine. I am building it 15 seconds per week, so it will take time for me to lose weight. Lots of time.
Day 8 - Sunday, May 28, 2017: 224.6
Yesterday was a bridal shower for Anne with her finance's extended family. What a lovely family. I often told the kids "Marry young", and Anne followed my advice. We were 33 and 34 when we got married.
Day 9 - Monday, May 29, 2017: 223.8
What is nice about this approach is I don't have to panic with the unexpected. Last night, the Twins game lasted 15 innings, and we out after 7. I could have gone and had a brat for $8, or I could have waited until we got home. I waited. That means that today I can fast until 11 but still not count today for fasting.
Here are my criteria for a diet: simple, flexible, sustainable, specific, and successful. The only question mark is successful. I need time to see how this approach will work.
10 PM: I realized that NoS didn't work for me because it wasn't specific enough. I could argue that a plateful was actually a serving bowl full. I could put one plate on top of another. I could argue that fruit shouldn't be next to meat. I could argue that one Tic Tac should or should not be an Exception Day.
With intermittent fasting, it's easy: eat within the hours of 11 AM and 7 PM.
The only ambiguity is which clock to use, and I usually rely on either my phone or the stove clock.
Day 10 - Tuesday, May 30, 2017: 224.2
Think about this: I don't restrict what I eat at all when I am in my eating window. Last night, I bought some Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream. Why do I think this approach can work? Well, it is five minutes to 10 AM, and I have done fast walking of 4:20. I feel a slight amount of hunger but won't eat for another hour. Because the hunger is slight, and I will first eat when it is still slight, I will avoid the binge reaction that comes from almost a survival mechanism: Must eat! Must eat! There is none of that with this approach. I know that I can eat what I want in an hour, so why be concerned about not eating right this second?
12:30 PM: When I got home from shopping about an hour ago, I realized I wasn't yet hungry but ate anyway -- some cottage cheese, 1/2 peanut butter sandwich, some cashews, and some Haagen Dazs ice cream. Then I took the dogs for a walk and realized that I mostly eat in anticipation of not being able to eat. I leave in about 15 minutes to take Katie for her annual physical and then to trap and then back home before a band banquet. Somewhere in there, I will make dinner, but it will be a rushed affair tonight. My body is braced for the next diet so I cannot enjoy food in the present. I think this fear of starvation will dissipate with a diet that involves eating anything you want for 8 hours every day and allowing yourself to eat outside that eating window for any number of reasons, including that the Twins game ran to 15 innings!
Day 11 - Wednesday, May 31, 2017: 224.0
"A problem well stated is a problem half solved." Charles Kettering
I have stated my problem well for years, and here it is again in my post yesterday: "I mostly eat in anticipation of not being able to eat" in the future. I added the phrase "in the future" to yesterday's post as a way to clarify, but there it was. My eating is not from hunger but out of fear that I will get hungry in the future when I cannot eat. The 19 hour, 24 hour, and 36 hour fasts were all so long that I would eat a lot just before the eating window closed. With this diet, all I have to do is last until 11 AM without eating, and then I can eat whatever I want. That is easy, especially since I am a morning person. All those years I have followed the advice "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" were 100% counterproductive for me.
What else is easy for me is I don' t have to worry when I mess up somehow. This morning, I dressed in gym clothes, dropped off the girls at school, and arrived without my stopwatch for fast walking. I came home. There is too much for me to do today to go back. And that is OK. With most diets, I always felt like I was on the edge of failure. With this diet, I just track what I am doing and keep in mind generally where I would like to go. There is no pressure.
7:30 PM: I didn't eat right before 7. There was no point. I can eat as much as I want tomorrow at 11.
Last edited by Kathleen on Fri Jul 07, 2017 1:58 pm, edited 54 times in total.
That's interesting, Kathleen. I'll be interested to hear about your results. Somebody was telling me about Tabada workouts, which I'd like to try. I'm sorry you walk so much and still have trouble with your weight. Do you find that avoiding snacks helps with the munchies? I've noticed good improvement in the "hungry even though my stomach is full" problem which I have decided is an insulin regulation issue.
Larkspur,
Tabada exercise is exercising as hard as you can for 60 seconds and then exercising for 30 seconds and repeating that cycle several times. I'm walking as fast as I can for a total of 3:20 seconds over a period of 20 - 30 minutes. Trust me: I am just hanging on to do this much fast waking in 20 - 30 minutes. My goal for the week is to ramp up to 3:30 seconds fast walking in a day.
I am not trying to control my eating at all. I'm no longer aiming for any sort of steps per day. The only thing I am doing is trying to walk as fast as I can for a total period of time.
It's astounding how much different it is. I sweat so much doing this that I will soon have to resort to exercising before bathing, which is a problem during the school year.
Kathleen
Tabada exercise is exercising as hard as you can for 60 seconds and then exercising for 30 seconds and repeating that cycle several times. I'm walking as fast as I can for a total of 3:20 seconds over a period of 20 - 30 minutes. Trust me: I am just hanging on to do this much fast waking in 20 - 30 minutes. My goal for the week is to ramp up to 3:30 seconds fast walking in a day.
I am not trying to control my eating at all. I'm no longer aiming for any sort of steps per day. The only thing I am doing is trying to walk as fast as I can for a total period of time.
It's astounding how much different it is. I sweat so much doing this that I will soon have to resort to exercising before bathing, which is a problem during the school year.
Kathleen
June, 2017: The Blessings of Simplicity starting May 21, 2017
Month 1: May 21, 2017 - 226.0
Month 2: June 1, 2017: 223.2
Weight Summary
Tuesday weights are in red so that I can more easily appreciate that progress is being made. There is a general downward trend from week to week that is not present from day to day.
Day 12 - Thursday, June 1, 2017: 223.2
Day 13 - Friday, June 2, 2017: 223.0
Day 14 - Saturday, June 3, 2017: 224.2
Day 15 - Sunday, June 4, 2017:
Day 16 - Monday, June 5, 2017: 224.2
Day 17 - Tuesday, June 6, 2017: 223.8
Day 18 - Wednesday, June 7, 2017: 224.6
Day 19 - Thursday, June 8, 2017: 224.6
Day 20 - Friday, June 9, 2017: 224.8
Day 21 - Saturday, June 10, 2017: 224.2
Day 22 - Sunday, June 11, 2017: 223.8
Day 23 - Monday, June 12, 2017: 224.6
Day 24 - Tuesday, June 13, 2017: 223.8
Day 25 - Wednesday, June 14, 2017:
Day 26 - Thursday, June 15, 2017:
Day 27 - Friday, June 16, 2017: 222.4
Day 28 - Saturday, June 17, 2017: 221.8
Day 29 - Sunday, June 18, 2017: 221.6
Day 30 - Monday, June 19, 2017:
Day 31 - Tuesday, June 20, 2017:
Day 32 - Wednesday, June 21, 2017:
Day 33 - Thursday, June 22, 2017:
Day 34 - Friday, June 23, 2017:
Day 35 - Saturday, June 24, 2017:
Day 36 - Sunday, June 25, 2017:
Day 37 - Monday, June 26, 2017: 224.2
Day 38 - Tuesday, June 27, 2017: 224.4
Day 39 - Wednesday, June 28, 2017: 223.8
Day 40 - Thursday, June 29, 2017: 223.4
Day 41 - Friday, June 30, 2017:
Journal
Day 12 - Thursday, June 1, 2017: 223.2
So much for the wisdom of those people who think obese people have given up. The real problem is we have tried too hard! We triggered a starvation reaction to food restriction.
4 PM: Today I decided to ask Tom if he wanted to know what I was doing to lose weight. He said No but Tommy said Yes, so -- as I was dishing out Haagen Dazs ice cream -- I explained that I "between 11 AM and 7 PM, I can..." and then Tom interjected "anything I want". Tommy then said, "What else?" I said "nothing else" and then explained "except" and Tom said "except on days that end in YS". I literally howled with laughter.
The last laugh will be on me. I seem to not be able to eat a lot of sweets. It becomes sickening. And I'm not as hungry. Why? I don't know.
Day 13 - Friday, June 2, 2017: 223,0
This diet is going to fade pretty quickly into being background music. It is so easy to fast from 7 PM to 11 AM the next day that I now am going to mark exception days only (when I don't fast) instead of success days.
5;30 PM: I am so tired. Katie's graduation was last night, and then there was a senior party that lasted until 4 AM, which means I was at the high school at 4 AM. I slept a good part of the afternoon and was driving kids around in the morning. Katie has college orientation next Tuesday and Wednesday, and I drive her to camp the following Wednesday. Between now and 12 days from now, she needs to be prepared both for camp and for college. What do stay at home Moms do all day?
I see in my role as mother the role of model for healthy behaviors, and I have failed miserably in weight management. I realized that there was something I was being told that wasn't true that was messing me up, and now I see it was that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Today, I did not eat until after noon because I was running around. Did I suffer? No. I hardly noticed. What I have noticed is that my taste in food seems to be changing. The freezer contains my all time favorite food, coffee ice cream from Trader Joe's. I just cannot seem to eat as much of it as I was before I started skipping breakfast. And I am munching on pickles. Pickles? I never eat pickles! What gives?
I do think that I will continue to track when I succeed in my fast until 11 AM because it is fun to write down another day of fasting, but it is so easy it doesn't seem like it should be considered a success. It seems normal now to not eat until 11 AM.
Day 14 - Saturday, June 3, 2017: 224.2
Today's weight was disappointing, but I feel a lot of good coming from this approach. I had not realized how much stress weight management was causing me. the muscles in my shoulders and jaws seem to be less tense.
Day 16 - Monday, June 5, 2017: 224.2
My body seemed to have a mind of its own and just craved lots of food. I'm frankly surprised I'm only at 224.2. The entire carton of Trader Joe's coffee ice cream is gone. So is the block of cheddar cheese from Costco. Is it being weak-willed to just allow my body to eat all this stuff? No. I think I have a problem with what is dubbed "food insecurity". The online definition of food insecurity is "the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food." Change your diet every day, and suddenly your body cannot tell the difference between self-imposed and externally-imposed lack of reliable access to food, so you eat when you can because you can.
Day 17 - Tuesday, June 6, 2017: 223.8
I thought my problem with obesity was due to not having exercise which involves sweat. I now no longer think that is the case. The fast walking is important, even necessary, but it is not the key factor in my obesity. I walked 4:35 minutes yesterday and will get to 5:00 minutes by the end of next week and maintain that through the end of the summer. Fast walking is hard, and I need time to adjust to even 5:00 minutes.
No, the key factor is fasting. The good Lord himself said, "When you fast..." Fasting seems like such an antiquated idea. So dangerous... And not eating breakfast? The most dangerous idea of all...
I am back to California at the end of the month to stay with my mother through July 4th. We averted a crises by getting my father into assisted living just in time. Five days later, my mother had a 102 degree temperature. She has held up well taking care of my Dad, but she could no longer handle it. They are both 91 years old. He has dementia and cannot walk or even feed himself. She still drives. She has asked me about her driving, and I told her last time she drives better than anyone in our family except Tommy, only Tommy drove right over a curb when I was with him, so maybe no.
I think about my Mom now because I was thinking of not eating breakfast when I was out there at the end of April. I brought it up to her, and she thought it was a terrible idea.
This time, I'm bringing my tracking sheet. I'm down from 226.0 pounds (which is a high weight for me) to 223.8 (which is a normal weight for me). Nothing really is solid that I can continue to lose weight following this approach, except for the fact that I really am allowing myself to eat whatever I want and as much as I want in the 8 hour window of 11 AM to 7 PM. I even am allowing myself to eat outside that window for social reasons, such as on Saturday. The fasting period acts like a depressive on my appetite. It is hard to explain. Because I know that I can eat whatever I want soon, it is not a problem to not eat right now.
7:46 PM: I got home almost exactly an hour ago, having called ahead to have Tommy buy me a Big Mac. I wolfed down the Big Mac with milk and had some cottage cheese as well. Then I had some plain yogurt with blueberries. It was 6:56 PM. I could still have another cup of yogurt with blueberries. What did I say to myself? Why? This is kind of disgusting. I ate so fast I had no time to taste the food, much less enjoy it. Besides, I can eat again at 11 AM tomorrow. So -- what did I do? I took Pepper for a walk. Fasting depresses appetite. Unrestricted eating means no panic about fasting. Alternating fasting with unrestricted eating is the path to normal weight for those of us who spent years dieting and messing up our body's trust that food is available.
Day 18 - Wednesday, June 7, 2017: 224.6
Ugh. I feel lousy. I feel like there is a brick in my belly. That is good. The feeling of eating so much is not pleasant. It's not being thin that will drive me to eat less over time. It is how I feel with eating. I don't know how to describe this, but restrictive eating I believe triggers a survival instinct to eat while you can. My body feeling that this overeating is not pleasant may lead to my body not wanting to eat so much, but I have to give it time.
The house is a mess. Katie leaves for camp in six days. I'm going to exercise three times this week and that is it. I believe I will try for three times over the long haul but have been going more often because the amount of time I've been fasting walking has been so little. I'm aiming for 4:45 minutes of fast walking per time I go. Fast walking, I believe, is good for your health, but the key to weight loss is fasting.
Interesting article:
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles. ... -on-Empty/
Day 19 - Thursday, June 8, 2017: 224.6
I was so busy yesterday that Tommy and I picked up pizza at Costco. Mistake. It is disgusting -- or my taste in food is changing with age or with fasting. Maybe all three reasons apply. At any rate, this morning, the last thing I want to do is eat. I have a day of cleaning ahead of me plus still so much to do with Katie before she goes to camp. She just got set up with a Wells Fargo account only they now require a $1,500 balance in order to avoid a service fee. Right -- a college kid with that sort of money? I've forced Katie to save 20% of her savings since she started working, and she has $1,600 from that plus her non forced savings of about $800 plus about $2,000 she will earn this summer at camp. She won't have $1,500 at the end of the year. She has yet to learn to save.
5 PM: Another busy day today. I had to eat early because I will be out and proceeded to have too much -- a pot pie, a Haagen Dazs bar, milk, cereal, a nectarine... Now I don't feel so great. At what point will I stop eating so much?
Day 20 - Friday, June 9, 2017: 224.8
Last night was another night of too much food, but I did not enjoy it. At some point, I'll stop. I am not going to decide to stop. That is the key. I am going to let my body decide to stop.
Day 21 - Saturday, June 10, 2017: 224.2
This is all discouraging except for the fact that I do detect a decrease in the frantic drive to eat. Last night, I ate less because I felt like eating nothing. Fasting decreases appetite. This is the opposite of the French saying that food creates appetite.
9 AM: I just got back from 4:45 minutes of fast walking and realized while exercising that my taste in food is definitely changing. Haagen Dazs bars don't seem to appeal to me as much. I could have had one last night and did not. This is probably the most encouraging sign that fasting can work. The second most encouraging sign is that my appetite seems to be decreasing which means I am getting less pleasure from eating. Current weight is a discouragement, but I believe I will lose weight over time so long as I don't panic and try something like a several day fast. I need to stick with this.
My inbox this morning contains an email on losing 37 pounds in 20 days with a soup detox. Tempting... Anne's wedding is next month... NOOOO...
3 PM: I ate just now until stuffed. Eating any more would be a negative experience. It is very rare that I eat to this point, but I don't think I ate all that much. In other words, my perception of fullness appears to be changing: I can get to a sense of fullness with less food.
Day 22 - Sunday, June 11, 2017: 223.8
This morning, I told Tom I think this diet is going to work. "You've said that before." My response: "My taste in food is changing." He said, "You've said that before." My response: "I can understand your skepticism."
I sure wish I could lose weight faster, but I think I have to stick to using self-discipline only to fast between 7 PM and 11 AM, not to limit what I eat or how much I eat between 11 AM and 7 PM.
It has become so routine to fast 16 hours that I'm just going to circle a date when I don't fast.
11 PM: I am not sure what happened tonight. I may have eaten leftover cheesy potatoes that made me feel not so great, or I ate so much my body rebelled, but I ended up sleeping from 4 to 6, going to church, and then sleeping again until just before 10 because I had to pick up Tommy from work. My body perhaps cannot take a lot of food if I fast for 16 hours at a time. I'm not sure.
If, in fact, my body rebels at eating too much because I am fasting, then I am right that I will lose weight even if I exercise no self-discipline whatsoever except to fast.
This is a theory. The theory is that all I need to do is fast 16 hours most days, and my body will take care of making sure I eat moderately the rest of the time. The only way to figure out if this theory works for me is to fast 16 hours per day most days and see what happens. It's frustrating. I want to see result but need to wait.
Day 23 - Monday, June 12, 2017: 224.6
I am back to being able to wear my wedding ring, which must be due to the fast walking because it sure isn't due to weight loss. I am feeling much better which means I likely either got sick to eating food that should have been refrigerated or eating just plain too much. I believe fasting may make it so you can't eat as much. There were stories of Holocaust survivors who gorged on food after being freed and died. That may seem like a ridiculous comparison, but even a 16 hour fast may have an effect.
What am I doing today? I'm going to work on changing my philosophy of eating from "Eat as much as you can because you don't know what diet you'll be following in the next minute" to "Eat as much as you want because you can eat as much as you want every day between 11 AM and 7 PM".
Day 24 - Tuesday, June 13, 2017: 223.8
Today I drive Katie to camp. It's been tough to get her ready both for college and for camp in such a short time. It's done. Meanwhile, I have been tempted to go on a longer fast, but that is my problem: I never settle into anything, so my body thinks starvation is just around the corner. I have to stick with this.
The conventional wisdom is that you need constant portion control, but then the body is never fully satisfied. It does make sense logically compared with fasting and then feasting, but it doesn't work.
Day 26 - Thursday, June 15, 2017:
Yesterday, I took Katie out to breakfast before driving her to work, and I left camp about 2 PM, having not eaten. I just decided not to eat at all yesterday and see how I felt. After all, I would have just eaten on the road anyway, since I would not get home until after 7. I felt fine this morning, although I did not want to push it and try to exercise. It may be OK for me to fast for an entire day so long as I allow myself to start eating at 11 AM. I have always been a morning person and think that I cannot fast well in the afternoon. Anyway, this morning when I got up, I stepped on the scale and was below 220. That won't be the case tomorrow, since I am eating today.
6 PM: I ate a fair amount today, so I'm not sure what my weight will be tomorrow; however, there was no sense that I was binge eating. Instead, I just ate as I pleased. Did I eat as much as I would have eating in two days of eating from 11 AM to 7 PM? We shall see. One thing is clear: it was easy to fast 7 PM to 11 AM the following day. That is a total of 40 hours with the fast being broken at 11 AM. Back in December and January, I tried fasting 36 hours, and it was a disaster. I just binge ate when I could. Scrolling back in my notes, I don't see where I say when I broke the fast, but I believe it was at 3 PM. Here's the difference: I'm a morning person. I can wake up fresh and not eat. Breakfast is bad for me. But fasting into the afternoon is difficult when there is a 36 hour fast. We shall see. I tried 24 hour fasts -- dinner to dinner -- that didn't go so well, either, so I'm not sure I've hit upon what works for me yet. I do know that today and yesterday went well psychologically (except for missing Katie and wishing I could spend the summer at that beautiful place). Yesterday, I felt fine fasting all day yesterday, but I was in the car for the entire afternoon. We shall see.
Day 27 - Friday, June 16, 2017: 222.4
I am encouraged by this weight, since it was easy for me to fast all day Wednesday and eat 11 - 7 yesterday. I now recall my eating approach from late December into January of this year. I ate 3 - 8 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Sunday was a free day. During my eating windows, it was like a feeding frenzy. With the bigger eating window, I ate a lot yesterday but not like a feeding frenzy. Given the drop in weight from Tuesday of this week, I am encouraged.
12 PM: I decided not to make too many changes at once, so I'm just going to try to fast all day one day per week.
7 PM: Mistake. I sailed through until today when I really ate. No. I'm returning to the 11 AM - 7 PM window and looking at how I can change my exercise routine.
Day 28 - Saturday, June 17, 2017: 221.8
It was a surprise that my weight went down given what I ate yesterday. I ate just after 7 PM not realizing it was so late, and I decided I'm just not going to record it. What I'm going to do is try to eat within the 11 AM to 7 PM window and not worry if I don't.
Also, I'll be open to an all day fast if I get stuck at a plateau. Maybe I should have a goal of being below 220 by July 1 and then losing 5 pounds every month after that. If I don't make that weight, then I'll look at skipping food on a day.
Day 29 - Sunday, June 18, 2017: 221.6
I am somewhat disgusted this morning. I believed one thing: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Look at the damage it has done to me!
Day 30 - Monday, June 19, 2017:
I am really upset with myself because, for some hare-brained reason, I decided yesterday I would try an extended fast up to 5 days, and the immediate effect was I ate a ton yesterday. Today, I feel just gross. I don't want to go to the gym. I don't want to do anything. What am I going to do? Commit to myself that the one limitation on my eating is to try to eat within an 11 AM to 7 PM window. There will be no all day fasts if I don't make a specific goal weight. I need patience. I have figured out the falsehood that made me fat, and it is: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Now I need to do what is appropriate and stick with an eating window, if possible, day in and day out. No one cares what I eat. It is surprising that no one care, but no one cares. Almost always, under any circumstances, I can just eat within that window. The window includes the dinner hour which is most important.
11:30 AM: Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I triggered binge behavior just by the decision to fast longer. It is now 11:30 AM, and in 30 minutes, I have eaten cherries, yogurt, soup, and a peanut butter sandwich. That is it.
It occurred to me that I have managed my retirement savings very well by what Tom has called "benign neglect". I threw everything in a Vanguard S&P 500 account and left it there, not even bothering to check it during the big downturn in 2008. I have not put a dime in since quitting work when Katie was born 18 years ago, and it is still more than what Tom has saved for retirement.
Benign neglect. I think I'm taking that approach with dieting. I'll stick with the 11 AM - 7 PM eating window when possible and turn my attention elsewhere. Maybe I should just report in once per month. Next month, I'll be with my parents June 30 - July 5, so it would be July 6 or 7 when I would check in.
We met with a financial planner last month, and next month will get information on cash flow for our particular situation, given our assets and expenditures. I told Tom I think this guy might be one of those people who siphons off 1 - 2% of assets yearly just to manage our money. Benign neglect is a better approach. We may have more fluctuations in assets but overall the asset level is higher.
So similarly with dieting. Does it really matter if my weight fluctuates up or down? What matters is if, over time, my weight is lower.
Day 31 - Tuesday, June 20, 2017:
Today was my first personal training session with Kayla since she went on maternity leave in March. She really is like a sounding board for me, although she gets frustrated because I don't follow her advice. She asked me why I changed my diet, and I did not tell her the truth, which is I saw her a month ago looking like a pufferfish and had the opposite reaction of what I suspect most people have had. My reaction was that she must have exerted quite a bit of self-discipline to stay thin before this last pregnancy. I suspect most people thought she did not have enough self-discipline to stay thin. Who can keep up feeling semi-starved all the time? Kayla looks now like she is 25 - 30 pounds over her pre-pregnancy weight. She is about 5'2". It is very noticeable. I said nothing about her weight, but seeing her a month ago made me consider the possibility that I was asking too much self-discipline of myself in losing weight. The end result was that I decided to widen the eating window to 11 AM - 7 PM.
I did talk through with Kayla why I think this 8 hour window for eating might have better results, and here are the reasons:
1. I don't binge (except the two times I changed my mind about this diet in the last month).
2. I am not eating right when the window opens and right when it closes. That was the case with my five hour eating window form 3 - 8 PM. I would be eating right at 3 and then be eating at 7:59 PM.
3. I have occasionally noticed a preference for healthier foods. When there was both a Haagen Dazs bar and frozen grapes in the freezer, I chose frozen grapes.
4. It's easy to follow this approach, which means it is sustainable.
Day 32 - Wednesday, June 21, 2017:
Well, well, well... I realized just now that there was some truth to the intuitive eating approach of allowing your body to eat whatever it wants. I binge eat as a preventative measure against future stupid diets, of which I have had many. Fasting dampens appetite, but fasting won't work without a commitment on my part not to go into some stupid fast that is different from what I have. A stupid diet is still around the corner for me.
We have a major life event in one month, the wedding of our oldest child. I've been dealing with dieting since I was a teen. It's time for it to end. It's time for me to trust that an approach of fasting 7 PM to 11 AM is sufficient for me to get to a decent weight.
If I take away the fear of starvation from stupid diets, then I'll eat to feel good. And that means eating less. Eating to stuffed is not pleasant.
7 PM: A new day. I fast 7 PM to 11 AM to depress appetite, and I eat whatever I want and as much as I want 11 AM to 7 PM to avoid binge eating as a way to get through periodic self-imposed periods of starvation.
Day 33 - Thursday, June 22, 2017:
I fast walked for 5 minutes today and now am on the phone trying to straighten out a complicated problem with our finances. Meanwhile, I am thinking I should not weigh myself except perhaps once per month. It feels so good not to be tempted to binge eat. There is no point, no point at all. I am committed to not going on stupid diets and that is what caused the binge eating.
Day 34 - Friday, June 23, 2017:
I ate a lot yesterday, and I'm not exactly sure why. Perhaps my body is testing that I really will allow it to eat whatever it wants. Something else is kicking in, and I think it is called the "contrast effect". Fasting gives me a non-threatening way to experience my body in a state that is not stuffed or near stuffed, and I feel better this way.
Day 35 - Saturday, June 24, 2017:
I had breakfast out this morning and came back and had some more food but then stopped. To eat more would be unpleasant -- not neutral -- unpleasant. I am back to the words "contrast effect".
Here is the Wikipedia definition: "A contrast effect is the enhancement or diminishment, relative to normal, of perception, cognition or related performance as a result of successive (immediately previous) or simultaneous exposure to a stimulus of lesser or greater value in the same dimension."
What does that mean? It means that my body has a daily comparison of a state of being stuffed or overfull with a state of not being so stuffed or overfull. What state is preferred?
With dieting, there is the constant restriction of food and it is a relief when you break the diet and binge eat. There are two states in dieting: starvation and stuffed. Which state does the body prefer? Well, starvation can lead to death, so stuffed is preferred.
With a daily fasting period, the daily eating to stuffed becomes less and less enjoyable moving towards downright disgusting. I don't want to eat anymore. I want to go to the gym to do fast walking. Even coffee ice cream is not appealing.
3 PM: Once again, I ate way too much today. I feel disgusted. At some point, I will not eat so much so I stop feeling disgusted. The big temptation for me is to try to directly affect how much I eat by restricting portions. No, my body has to decide it is not a good idea for me to eat so much. I have to want to not eat as much. It's not good enough that I decide not to eat so much and exert willpower to not eat so much. You cannot use willpower constantly to restrict the amount of food you eat. You fail. Look around at all the fat people who have failed to constantly restrict food intake.
Day 38 - Tuesday, June 27, 2017: 223.8
Ugh. I am reminded of my stupidity in pulling all our stock out of the market after 9/11, only to put it all back after the stock market rebounded. That is the last time I touched my retirement money, and it has gone up nicely since then despite the collapse in 2008 which I totally ignored.
Why am I bringing this up? Fasting will have its ups and downs with weight, too, and I need to stay the course. I understand philosophically why it works -- the contrast between overeating and fasting makes it so that you think moderate eating is the best -- but I will still be tempted to overeat when I don't see the number on the scale move as I would like.
My wedding ring is back on. I think I've reached a point in fast walking that I have less of something, maybe less of inflammation. Beats me. What I am doing right now is fast walking 5 minutes for 3 times per week. That does not seem like a lot, but I bathe after I go because I get so sweaty.
I have been welcomed into the 21st century because Tom got a cell phone with his new job and I got his old iPhone 6. I downloaded an app called Way of Life which allows me to track how I am doing with fasting, strengthening exercises, and fast walking. I've read that people post on Facebook and get dopamine rushes from the number of likes they get. That is an awful way to live because you are depending on other people. I much prefer the dopamine rush I get from clicking a green for doing a fast walk.
Now I have to find apps for tracking my weight and steps. Both of those tracking systems are still in my Franklin Planner.
Day 39 - Wednesday, June 28, 2017: 223.4
I am tempted to fast for a longer period of time per day (24 hour fast), and it's a temptation. I have to stay the course and see what happens. It is very encouraging that I can wear my wedding ring.
I found a nice app for weight called Happy Scale and a good app for tracking steps called iSum.
8 PM: I have to look on adjusting this diet as a temptation. Tonight I decided to fast for the next two days but thought better of it and instead took the dog for another walk.
Month 1: May 21, 2017 - 226.0
Month 2: June 1, 2017: 223.2
Weight Summary
Tuesday weights are in red so that I can more easily appreciate that progress is being made. There is a general downward trend from week to week that is not present from day to day.
Day 12 - Thursday, June 1, 2017: 223.2
Day 13 - Friday, June 2, 2017: 223.0
Day 14 - Saturday, June 3, 2017: 224.2
Day 15 - Sunday, June 4, 2017:
Day 16 - Monday, June 5, 2017: 224.2
Day 17 - Tuesday, June 6, 2017: 223.8
Day 18 - Wednesday, June 7, 2017: 224.6
Day 19 - Thursday, June 8, 2017: 224.6
Day 20 - Friday, June 9, 2017: 224.8
Day 21 - Saturday, June 10, 2017: 224.2
Day 22 - Sunday, June 11, 2017: 223.8
Day 23 - Monday, June 12, 2017: 224.6
Day 24 - Tuesday, June 13, 2017: 223.8
Day 25 - Wednesday, June 14, 2017:
Day 26 - Thursday, June 15, 2017:
Day 27 - Friday, June 16, 2017: 222.4
Day 28 - Saturday, June 17, 2017: 221.8
Day 29 - Sunday, June 18, 2017: 221.6
Day 30 - Monday, June 19, 2017:
Day 31 - Tuesday, June 20, 2017:
Day 32 - Wednesday, June 21, 2017:
Day 33 - Thursday, June 22, 2017:
Day 34 - Friday, June 23, 2017:
Day 35 - Saturday, June 24, 2017:
Day 36 - Sunday, June 25, 2017:
Day 37 - Monday, June 26, 2017: 224.2
Day 38 - Tuesday, June 27, 2017: 224.4
Day 39 - Wednesday, June 28, 2017: 223.8
Day 40 - Thursday, June 29, 2017: 223.4
Day 41 - Friday, June 30, 2017:
Journal
Day 12 - Thursday, June 1, 2017: 223.2
So much for the wisdom of those people who think obese people have given up. The real problem is we have tried too hard! We triggered a starvation reaction to food restriction.
4 PM: Today I decided to ask Tom if he wanted to know what I was doing to lose weight. He said No but Tommy said Yes, so -- as I was dishing out Haagen Dazs ice cream -- I explained that I "between 11 AM and 7 PM, I can..." and then Tom interjected "anything I want". Tommy then said, "What else?" I said "nothing else" and then explained "except" and Tom said "except on days that end in YS". I literally howled with laughter.
The last laugh will be on me. I seem to not be able to eat a lot of sweets. It becomes sickening. And I'm not as hungry. Why? I don't know.
Day 13 - Friday, June 2, 2017: 223,0
This diet is going to fade pretty quickly into being background music. It is so easy to fast from 7 PM to 11 AM the next day that I now am going to mark exception days only (when I don't fast) instead of success days.
5;30 PM: I am so tired. Katie's graduation was last night, and then there was a senior party that lasted until 4 AM, which means I was at the high school at 4 AM. I slept a good part of the afternoon and was driving kids around in the morning. Katie has college orientation next Tuesday and Wednesday, and I drive her to camp the following Wednesday. Between now and 12 days from now, she needs to be prepared both for camp and for college. What do stay at home Moms do all day?
I see in my role as mother the role of model for healthy behaviors, and I have failed miserably in weight management. I realized that there was something I was being told that wasn't true that was messing me up, and now I see it was that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Today, I did not eat until after noon because I was running around. Did I suffer? No. I hardly noticed. What I have noticed is that my taste in food seems to be changing. The freezer contains my all time favorite food, coffee ice cream from Trader Joe's. I just cannot seem to eat as much of it as I was before I started skipping breakfast. And I am munching on pickles. Pickles? I never eat pickles! What gives?
I do think that I will continue to track when I succeed in my fast until 11 AM because it is fun to write down another day of fasting, but it is so easy it doesn't seem like it should be considered a success. It seems normal now to not eat until 11 AM.
Day 14 - Saturday, June 3, 2017: 224.2
Today's weight was disappointing, but I feel a lot of good coming from this approach. I had not realized how much stress weight management was causing me. the muscles in my shoulders and jaws seem to be less tense.
Day 16 - Monday, June 5, 2017: 224.2
My body seemed to have a mind of its own and just craved lots of food. I'm frankly surprised I'm only at 224.2. The entire carton of Trader Joe's coffee ice cream is gone. So is the block of cheddar cheese from Costco. Is it being weak-willed to just allow my body to eat all this stuff? No. I think I have a problem with what is dubbed "food insecurity". The online definition of food insecurity is "the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food." Change your diet every day, and suddenly your body cannot tell the difference between self-imposed and externally-imposed lack of reliable access to food, so you eat when you can because you can.
Day 17 - Tuesday, June 6, 2017: 223.8
I thought my problem with obesity was due to not having exercise which involves sweat. I now no longer think that is the case. The fast walking is important, even necessary, but it is not the key factor in my obesity. I walked 4:35 minutes yesterday and will get to 5:00 minutes by the end of next week and maintain that through the end of the summer. Fast walking is hard, and I need time to adjust to even 5:00 minutes.
No, the key factor is fasting. The good Lord himself said, "When you fast..." Fasting seems like such an antiquated idea. So dangerous... And not eating breakfast? The most dangerous idea of all...
I am back to California at the end of the month to stay with my mother through July 4th. We averted a crises by getting my father into assisted living just in time. Five days later, my mother had a 102 degree temperature. She has held up well taking care of my Dad, but she could no longer handle it. They are both 91 years old. He has dementia and cannot walk or even feed himself. She still drives. She has asked me about her driving, and I told her last time she drives better than anyone in our family except Tommy, only Tommy drove right over a curb when I was with him, so maybe no.
I think about my Mom now because I was thinking of not eating breakfast when I was out there at the end of April. I brought it up to her, and she thought it was a terrible idea.
This time, I'm bringing my tracking sheet. I'm down from 226.0 pounds (which is a high weight for me) to 223.8 (which is a normal weight for me). Nothing really is solid that I can continue to lose weight following this approach, except for the fact that I really am allowing myself to eat whatever I want and as much as I want in the 8 hour window of 11 AM to 7 PM. I even am allowing myself to eat outside that window for social reasons, such as on Saturday. The fasting period acts like a depressive on my appetite. It is hard to explain. Because I know that I can eat whatever I want soon, it is not a problem to not eat right now.
7:46 PM: I got home almost exactly an hour ago, having called ahead to have Tommy buy me a Big Mac. I wolfed down the Big Mac with milk and had some cottage cheese as well. Then I had some plain yogurt with blueberries. It was 6:56 PM. I could still have another cup of yogurt with blueberries. What did I say to myself? Why? This is kind of disgusting. I ate so fast I had no time to taste the food, much less enjoy it. Besides, I can eat again at 11 AM tomorrow. So -- what did I do? I took Pepper for a walk. Fasting depresses appetite. Unrestricted eating means no panic about fasting. Alternating fasting with unrestricted eating is the path to normal weight for those of us who spent years dieting and messing up our body's trust that food is available.
Day 18 - Wednesday, June 7, 2017: 224.6
Ugh. I feel lousy. I feel like there is a brick in my belly. That is good. The feeling of eating so much is not pleasant. It's not being thin that will drive me to eat less over time. It is how I feel with eating. I don't know how to describe this, but restrictive eating I believe triggers a survival instinct to eat while you can. My body feeling that this overeating is not pleasant may lead to my body not wanting to eat so much, but I have to give it time.
The house is a mess. Katie leaves for camp in six days. I'm going to exercise three times this week and that is it. I believe I will try for three times over the long haul but have been going more often because the amount of time I've been fasting walking has been so little. I'm aiming for 4:45 minutes of fast walking per time I go. Fast walking, I believe, is good for your health, but the key to weight loss is fasting.
Interesting article:
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles. ... -on-Empty/
Day 19 - Thursday, June 8, 2017: 224.6
I was so busy yesterday that Tommy and I picked up pizza at Costco. Mistake. It is disgusting -- or my taste in food is changing with age or with fasting. Maybe all three reasons apply. At any rate, this morning, the last thing I want to do is eat. I have a day of cleaning ahead of me plus still so much to do with Katie before she goes to camp. She just got set up with a Wells Fargo account only they now require a $1,500 balance in order to avoid a service fee. Right -- a college kid with that sort of money? I've forced Katie to save 20% of her savings since she started working, and she has $1,600 from that plus her non forced savings of about $800 plus about $2,000 she will earn this summer at camp. She won't have $1,500 at the end of the year. She has yet to learn to save.
5 PM: Another busy day today. I had to eat early because I will be out and proceeded to have too much -- a pot pie, a Haagen Dazs bar, milk, cereal, a nectarine... Now I don't feel so great. At what point will I stop eating so much?
Day 20 - Friday, June 9, 2017: 224.8
Last night was another night of too much food, but I did not enjoy it. At some point, I'll stop. I am not going to decide to stop. That is the key. I am going to let my body decide to stop.
Day 21 - Saturday, June 10, 2017: 224.2
This is all discouraging except for the fact that I do detect a decrease in the frantic drive to eat. Last night, I ate less because I felt like eating nothing. Fasting decreases appetite. This is the opposite of the French saying that food creates appetite.
9 AM: I just got back from 4:45 minutes of fast walking and realized while exercising that my taste in food is definitely changing. Haagen Dazs bars don't seem to appeal to me as much. I could have had one last night and did not. This is probably the most encouraging sign that fasting can work. The second most encouraging sign is that my appetite seems to be decreasing which means I am getting less pleasure from eating. Current weight is a discouragement, but I believe I will lose weight over time so long as I don't panic and try something like a several day fast. I need to stick with this.
My inbox this morning contains an email on losing 37 pounds in 20 days with a soup detox. Tempting... Anne's wedding is next month... NOOOO...
3 PM: I ate just now until stuffed. Eating any more would be a negative experience. It is very rare that I eat to this point, but I don't think I ate all that much. In other words, my perception of fullness appears to be changing: I can get to a sense of fullness with less food.
Day 22 - Sunday, June 11, 2017: 223.8
This morning, I told Tom I think this diet is going to work. "You've said that before." My response: "My taste in food is changing." He said, "You've said that before." My response: "I can understand your skepticism."
I sure wish I could lose weight faster, but I think I have to stick to using self-discipline only to fast between 7 PM and 11 AM, not to limit what I eat or how much I eat between 11 AM and 7 PM.
It has become so routine to fast 16 hours that I'm just going to circle a date when I don't fast.
11 PM: I am not sure what happened tonight. I may have eaten leftover cheesy potatoes that made me feel not so great, or I ate so much my body rebelled, but I ended up sleeping from 4 to 6, going to church, and then sleeping again until just before 10 because I had to pick up Tommy from work. My body perhaps cannot take a lot of food if I fast for 16 hours at a time. I'm not sure.
If, in fact, my body rebels at eating too much because I am fasting, then I am right that I will lose weight even if I exercise no self-discipline whatsoever except to fast.
This is a theory. The theory is that all I need to do is fast 16 hours most days, and my body will take care of making sure I eat moderately the rest of the time. The only way to figure out if this theory works for me is to fast 16 hours per day most days and see what happens. It's frustrating. I want to see result but need to wait.
Day 23 - Monday, June 12, 2017: 224.6
I am back to being able to wear my wedding ring, which must be due to the fast walking because it sure isn't due to weight loss. I am feeling much better which means I likely either got sick to eating food that should have been refrigerated or eating just plain too much. I believe fasting may make it so you can't eat as much. There were stories of Holocaust survivors who gorged on food after being freed and died. That may seem like a ridiculous comparison, but even a 16 hour fast may have an effect.
What am I doing today? I'm going to work on changing my philosophy of eating from "Eat as much as you can because you don't know what diet you'll be following in the next minute" to "Eat as much as you want because you can eat as much as you want every day between 11 AM and 7 PM".
Day 24 - Tuesday, June 13, 2017: 223.8
Today I drive Katie to camp. It's been tough to get her ready both for college and for camp in such a short time. It's done. Meanwhile, I have been tempted to go on a longer fast, but that is my problem: I never settle into anything, so my body thinks starvation is just around the corner. I have to stick with this.
The conventional wisdom is that you need constant portion control, but then the body is never fully satisfied. It does make sense logically compared with fasting and then feasting, but it doesn't work.
Day 26 - Thursday, June 15, 2017:
Yesterday, I took Katie out to breakfast before driving her to work, and I left camp about 2 PM, having not eaten. I just decided not to eat at all yesterday and see how I felt. After all, I would have just eaten on the road anyway, since I would not get home until after 7. I felt fine this morning, although I did not want to push it and try to exercise. It may be OK for me to fast for an entire day so long as I allow myself to start eating at 11 AM. I have always been a morning person and think that I cannot fast well in the afternoon. Anyway, this morning when I got up, I stepped on the scale and was below 220. That won't be the case tomorrow, since I am eating today.
6 PM: I ate a fair amount today, so I'm not sure what my weight will be tomorrow; however, there was no sense that I was binge eating. Instead, I just ate as I pleased. Did I eat as much as I would have eating in two days of eating from 11 AM to 7 PM? We shall see. One thing is clear: it was easy to fast 7 PM to 11 AM the following day. That is a total of 40 hours with the fast being broken at 11 AM. Back in December and January, I tried fasting 36 hours, and it was a disaster. I just binge ate when I could. Scrolling back in my notes, I don't see where I say when I broke the fast, but I believe it was at 3 PM. Here's the difference: I'm a morning person. I can wake up fresh and not eat. Breakfast is bad for me. But fasting into the afternoon is difficult when there is a 36 hour fast. We shall see. I tried 24 hour fasts -- dinner to dinner -- that didn't go so well, either, so I'm not sure I've hit upon what works for me yet. I do know that today and yesterday went well psychologically (except for missing Katie and wishing I could spend the summer at that beautiful place). Yesterday, I felt fine fasting all day yesterday, but I was in the car for the entire afternoon. We shall see.
Day 27 - Friday, June 16, 2017: 222.4
I am encouraged by this weight, since it was easy for me to fast all day Wednesday and eat 11 - 7 yesterday. I now recall my eating approach from late December into January of this year. I ate 3 - 8 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Sunday was a free day. During my eating windows, it was like a feeding frenzy. With the bigger eating window, I ate a lot yesterday but not like a feeding frenzy. Given the drop in weight from Tuesday of this week, I am encouraged.
12 PM: I decided not to make too many changes at once, so I'm just going to try to fast all day one day per week.
7 PM: Mistake. I sailed through until today when I really ate. No. I'm returning to the 11 AM - 7 PM window and looking at how I can change my exercise routine.
Day 28 - Saturday, June 17, 2017: 221.8
It was a surprise that my weight went down given what I ate yesterday. I ate just after 7 PM not realizing it was so late, and I decided I'm just not going to record it. What I'm going to do is try to eat within the 11 AM to 7 PM window and not worry if I don't.
Also, I'll be open to an all day fast if I get stuck at a plateau. Maybe I should have a goal of being below 220 by July 1 and then losing 5 pounds every month after that. If I don't make that weight, then I'll look at skipping food on a day.
Day 29 - Sunday, June 18, 2017: 221.6
I am somewhat disgusted this morning. I believed one thing: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Look at the damage it has done to me!
Day 30 - Monday, June 19, 2017:
I am really upset with myself because, for some hare-brained reason, I decided yesterday I would try an extended fast up to 5 days, and the immediate effect was I ate a ton yesterday. Today, I feel just gross. I don't want to go to the gym. I don't want to do anything. What am I going to do? Commit to myself that the one limitation on my eating is to try to eat within an 11 AM to 7 PM window. There will be no all day fasts if I don't make a specific goal weight. I need patience. I have figured out the falsehood that made me fat, and it is: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Now I need to do what is appropriate and stick with an eating window, if possible, day in and day out. No one cares what I eat. It is surprising that no one care, but no one cares. Almost always, under any circumstances, I can just eat within that window. The window includes the dinner hour which is most important.
11:30 AM: Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I triggered binge behavior just by the decision to fast longer. It is now 11:30 AM, and in 30 minutes, I have eaten cherries, yogurt, soup, and a peanut butter sandwich. That is it.
It occurred to me that I have managed my retirement savings very well by what Tom has called "benign neglect". I threw everything in a Vanguard S&P 500 account and left it there, not even bothering to check it during the big downturn in 2008. I have not put a dime in since quitting work when Katie was born 18 years ago, and it is still more than what Tom has saved for retirement.
Benign neglect. I think I'm taking that approach with dieting. I'll stick with the 11 AM - 7 PM eating window when possible and turn my attention elsewhere. Maybe I should just report in once per month. Next month, I'll be with my parents June 30 - July 5, so it would be July 6 or 7 when I would check in.
We met with a financial planner last month, and next month will get information on cash flow for our particular situation, given our assets and expenditures. I told Tom I think this guy might be one of those people who siphons off 1 - 2% of assets yearly just to manage our money. Benign neglect is a better approach. We may have more fluctuations in assets but overall the asset level is higher.
So similarly with dieting. Does it really matter if my weight fluctuates up or down? What matters is if, over time, my weight is lower.
Day 31 - Tuesday, June 20, 2017:
Today was my first personal training session with Kayla since she went on maternity leave in March. She really is like a sounding board for me, although she gets frustrated because I don't follow her advice. She asked me why I changed my diet, and I did not tell her the truth, which is I saw her a month ago looking like a pufferfish and had the opposite reaction of what I suspect most people have had. My reaction was that she must have exerted quite a bit of self-discipline to stay thin before this last pregnancy. I suspect most people thought she did not have enough self-discipline to stay thin. Who can keep up feeling semi-starved all the time? Kayla looks now like she is 25 - 30 pounds over her pre-pregnancy weight. She is about 5'2". It is very noticeable. I said nothing about her weight, but seeing her a month ago made me consider the possibility that I was asking too much self-discipline of myself in losing weight. The end result was that I decided to widen the eating window to 11 AM - 7 PM.
I did talk through with Kayla why I think this 8 hour window for eating might have better results, and here are the reasons:
1. I don't binge (except the two times I changed my mind about this diet in the last month).
2. I am not eating right when the window opens and right when it closes. That was the case with my five hour eating window form 3 - 8 PM. I would be eating right at 3 and then be eating at 7:59 PM.
3. I have occasionally noticed a preference for healthier foods. When there was both a Haagen Dazs bar and frozen grapes in the freezer, I chose frozen grapes.
4. It's easy to follow this approach, which means it is sustainable.
Day 32 - Wednesday, June 21, 2017:
Well, well, well... I realized just now that there was some truth to the intuitive eating approach of allowing your body to eat whatever it wants. I binge eat as a preventative measure against future stupid diets, of which I have had many. Fasting dampens appetite, but fasting won't work without a commitment on my part not to go into some stupid fast that is different from what I have. A stupid diet is still around the corner for me.
We have a major life event in one month, the wedding of our oldest child. I've been dealing with dieting since I was a teen. It's time for it to end. It's time for me to trust that an approach of fasting 7 PM to 11 AM is sufficient for me to get to a decent weight.
If I take away the fear of starvation from stupid diets, then I'll eat to feel good. And that means eating less. Eating to stuffed is not pleasant.
7 PM: A new day. I fast 7 PM to 11 AM to depress appetite, and I eat whatever I want and as much as I want 11 AM to 7 PM to avoid binge eating as a way to get through periodic self-imposed periods of starvation.
Day 33 - Thursday, June 22, 2017:
I fast walked for 5 minutes today and now am on the phone trying to straighten out a complicated problem with our finances. Meanwhile, I am thinking I should not weigh myself except perhaps once per month. It feels so good not to be tempted to binge eat. There is no point, no point at all. I am committed to not going on stupid diets and that is what caused the binge eating.
Day 34 - Friday, June 23, 2017:
I ate a lot yesterday, and I'm not exactly sure why. Perhaps my body is testing that I really will allow it to eat whatever it wants. Something else is kicking in, and I think it is called the "contrast effect". Fasting gives me a non-threatening way to experience my body in a state that is not stuffed or near stuffed, and I feel better this way.
Day 35 - Saturday, June 24, 2017:
I had breakfast out this morning and came back and had some more food but then stopped. To eat more would be unpleasant -- not neutral -- unpleasant. I am back to the words "contrast effect".
Here is the Wikipedia definition: "A contrast effect is the enhancement or diminishment, relative to normal, of perception, cognition or related performance as a result of successive (immediately previous) or simultaneous exposure to a stimulus of lesser or greater value in the same dimension."
What does that mean? It means that my body has a daily comparison of a state of being stuffed or overfull with a state of not being so stuffed or overfull. What state is preferred?
With dieting, there is the constant restriction of food and it is a relief when you break the diet and binge eat. There are two states in dieting: starvation and stuffed. Which state does the body prefer? Well, starvation can lead to death, so stuffed is preferred.
With a daily fasting period, the daily eating to stuffed becomes less and less enjoyable moving towards downright disgusting. I don't want to eat anymore. I want to go to the gym to do fast walking. Even coffee ice cream is not appealing.
3 PM: Once again, I ate way too much today. I feel disgusted. At some point, I will not eat so much so I stop feeling disgusted. The big temptation for me is to try to directly affect how much I eat by restricting portions. No, my body has to decide it is not a good idea for me to eat so much. I have to want to not eat as much. It's not good enough that I decide not to eat so much and exert willpower to not eat so much. You cannot use willpower constantly to restrict the amount of food you eat. You fail. Look around at all the fat people who have failed to constantly restrict food intake.
Day 38 - Tuesday, June 27, 2017: 223.8
Ugh. I am reminded of my stupidity in pulling all our stock out of the market after 9/11, only to put it all back after the stock market rebounded. That is the last time I touched my retirement money, and it has gone up nicely since then despite the collapse in 2008 which I totally ignored.
Why am I bringing this up? Fasting will have its ups and downs with weight, too, and I need to stay the course. I understand philosophically why it works -- the contrast between overeating and fasting makes it so that you think moderate eating is the best -- but I will still be tempted to overeat when I don't see the number on the scale move as I would like.
My wedding ring is back on. I think I've reached a point in fast walking that I have less of something, maybe less of inflammation. Beats me. What I am doing right now is fast walking 5 minutes for 3 times per week. That does not seem like a lot, but I bathe after I go because I get so sweaty.
I have been welcomed into the 21st century because Tom got a cell phone with his new job and I got his old iPhone 6. I downloaded an app called Way of Life which allows me to track how I am doing with fasting, strengthening exercises, and fast walking. I've read that people post on Facebook and get dopamine rushes from the number of likes they get. That is an awful way to live because you are depending on other people. I much prefer the dopamine rush I get from clicking a green for doing a fast walk.
Now I have to find apps for tracking my weight and steps. Both of those tracking systems are still in my Franklin Planner.
Day 39 - Wednesday, June 28, 2017: 223.4
I am tempted to fast for a longer period of time per day (24 hour fast), and it's a temptation. I have to stay the course and see what happens. It is very encouraging that I can wear my wedding ring.
I found a nice app for weight called Happy Scale and a good app for tracking steps called iSum.
8 PM: I have to look on adjusting this diet as a temptation. Tonight I decided to fast for the next two days but thought better of it and instead took the dog for another walk.
Last edited by Kathleen on Thu Jul 20, 2017 6:11 pm, edited 3 times in total.
July, 2017: The Blessings of Simplicity starting May 21, 2017
Month 1: May 21, 2017 - 226.0
Month 2: June 1, 2017: 223.2
Month 3: July 6, 2017: 222.0
Weight Summary
Day 42 - Saturday, July 1, 2017:
Day 43 - Sunday, July 2, 2017:
Day 44 - Monday, July 3, 2017:
Day 45 - Tuesday, July 4, 2017:
Day 46 - Wednesday, July 5, 2017:
Day 47 - Thursday, July 6, 2017: 222.0
Day 48 - Friday, July 7, 2017: 222.2
Day 49 - Saturday, July 8, 2017:
Day 50 - Sunday, July 9, 2017:
Day 51 - Monday, July 10, 2017: 222.2
Day 52 - Tuesday, July 11, 2017: 221.8
Day 53 - Wednesday, July 12, 2017:
Day 54 - Thursday, July 13, 2017:
Day 55 - Friday, July 14, 2017: 222.8
Day 56 - Saturday, July 15, 2017:
Day 57 - Sunday, July 16, 2017: 223.4
Day 58 - Monday, July 17, 2017: 222.8
Day 59 - Tuesday, July 18, 2017: 222.2
Day 60 - Wednesday, July 19, 2017: 221.2
Day 61 - Thursday, July 20, 2017:
Day 62 - Friday, July 21, 2017: 224.4
Day 63 - Saturday, July 22, 2017:
Day 64 - Sunday, July 23, 2017:
Day 65 - Monday, July 24, 2017: 221.4
Day 66 - Tuesday, July 25, 2017:
Day 67 - Wednesday, July 26, 2017:
Day 68 - Thursday, July 27, 2017:
Day 69 - Friday, July 28, 2017: 219.4
Day 70 - Saturday, July 29, 2017:
Day 71 - Sunday, July 30, 2017:
Day 72 - Monday, July 31, 2017: 222.4
Journal
Day 47 - Thursday, July 6, 2017: 222.0
Yesterday, I had a big bowl of Quiznos at the airport, and I got about 1/3 of the way through it before I felt less pleasure in eating. Did I stop? No. I ate about 2/3 of the bowl before tossing it. Why do I eat past satisfaction? I think I am eating mostly to prevent hunger in the future. After all, I got on a plane and all I had for the rest of the day was two cups of ginger ale and three little packages of pretzel sticks courtesy of Delta. This morning, i am not hungry, but it is 6 AM. Will I get hungry by 11? Maybe. Will it be tolerable to get hungry? Yes, because I know that I can eat as much as I want of whatever I want within my 11 AM to 7 PM window.
My mother was rather awful about my not eating breakfast. She told me I was famous within the family for crazy diets, she told me I was doing something wrong because my whole family was fat, she made me French toast while I was out on a walk and then was insulted and upset when I refused to eat it, and she even predicted I would faint if I didn't eat breakfast. She also told me she always hated oatmeal because she was forced to eat oatmeal before going to school even if she had tears running down her face. Holy crap. What if the conventional wisdom that you have to eat breakfast is the cause of the obesity epidemic? I actually feel better not having breakfast. My problem with being obese is that I'm a gullible rule-follower. There is nothing physically wrong with me. I think I may have found the rule that should not be followed: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
I did, by the way, mostly hold out against not having breakfast except when a nephew came over to visit and we had breakfast with him. Yes, for social reasons, I will eat outside the eating window.
Day 48 - Friday, July 7, 2017: 222.2
An interesting article on fasting:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... iabetes-ms
I realized that when I suddenly felt satisfied two days ago at lunch, I was experiencing what the Intuitive Eating authors called "last bite threshold". I was tempted to wait to eat until this afternoon rather than until 11 but realized I need to stay the course.
Day 49 - Saturday, July 8, 2017:
I went to Costco two days ago and had none of the taste tests because none appealed to me. Last night, we were on the road and did not get McDonald's take out at 7. I ate by 7:15 and then waited until 11:15 this morning to eat.
6:30 PM: I ate too many cookies and ended up with a stomachache. I believe that fasting makes overeating unpleasant.
Day 50 - Sunday, July 9, 2017:
Today in the car I had almost 1/4 pound of fudge. My stomach is upset. I just had some Cheerios with milk to try to counter all that sugar, but I don't feel well at all. I have something of a headache, too. Why did I do that? Beats me. However, with fasting, the unpleasantness of doing that is magnified. I'm happy to fast until tomorrow at 11 and it's not even 5 yet.
Day 51 - Monday, July 11, 2017: 222.2
I have been so chatty on this blog because I figured that, sooner or later, I would stumble on something significant without realizing it. Sure enough: I did. My post for June 24, 2017 sums everything up. Now all I need is to be patient. I did realize yesterday that I cannot tolerate a lot of sugar any more. Maybe this is due to age, and maybe it is due to fasting.
2 PM: I think people who get into the cycle of starve and binge are those who are basically good people, not selfish gluttons, and I do not point to myself. I observe. There are a lot of Boy Scout leaders who are unusually obese. These are guys who give up weekends and sometimes vacations to be with their sons. They are some of the nicest people you could ever meet. Why are so many of them really, really fat? I speculate that they try portion control more vigorously than most and end up triggering a survival mechanism in the form of binge eating. They keep trying because they believe medical experts that you need to control portions.
So -- I long ago stopped thinking portion control was a good idea. What is new for me is pairing no portion control with 16 hour fasts. I ate almost 1/4 pound of fudge yesterday, fasted 16 hours with no problem, and now have no interest whatsoever in anything sweet. Fasting paired with unrestricted eating during an eating window is the path out of obesity. It will take me time, but it will get me there.
Day 52 - Tuesday, July 11, 2017: 221.8
I think back to the book "Misguided Medicine", the book that confirmed my suspicion about canola oil, like margarine, being presented as good for you but actually being bad for you. (Canola oil has a low smoke point, and the fumes may lead to lung cancer. There has been an increase in lung cancer among women.) This book also got me interested in fast walking and was another indication that fasting is good for you. The book has a great title: misguided medicine. The medical community didn't want to create the obesity epidemic. Well-meaning people figured out that calories do count, so the logical approach was to restrict calories. No one figured human nature into the equation. Those who took medical advice to restrict portions were rule followers who believed the experts. I don't think every fat person is a rule follower. There are obese people who are self-indulgent. Most obese people today, however, I think followed misguided advice. I think back to a woman I met at work long ago who was losing 40 pounds on Weight Watchers -- she had lost those same 40 pounds twice before! She was dedicated! She was also misguided.
I have often felt like I was in some sort of trap and, try as I might, I could not get out of it. Or I have felt like I was in weeds in water. The more you struggle, the more stuck you get. Now I feel like I am getting free of this.
12:15 PM: I ate a lot starting right at 11, in part because all I have to do today is clean. I have been out of the house since July 1, including yesterday when I left at 11 and returned at almost 7 for an annual check up at Mayo. I eat to procrastinate. That is OK. What I think I should do now with this diet is a bit of benign neglect. I follow it but don't think much about it.
Day 53 - Wednesday, July 12, 2017:
I think I understand why a five hour eating window did not work for me: my schedule is just too erratic. That is not my fault. I am the support for five other people, and we want me to be that support.
I also have concluded that weight loss is going to be like the stock market: up and down, up and down, but going up over time. I don't want to be looking at that up and down. I plan to weigh myself next when I see my personal trainer which is on the 18th.
8:30 PM: Interesting article on fasting:
http://myscienceacademy.org/2017/07/09/ ... ign=buffer
I think I need to stick with 16 hour fasts. Even so, this is interesting.
10 PM: Tonight, I did what I could think of as an ultimate self-indulgence. I bought Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream and had a cupful just before dinner while looking at a news show on the computer. I did not have to resist at all. I had exactly what I wanted just because I wanted it.
Right now, I have the feeling of slight hunger, something I rarely experience. Why? Did I eat less than normal? I don't know. If this diet just kept me at my current weight, I think I'd be tempted to follow it because it eliminates all the drama of binge eating and setting rules and parameters and guidelines, etc. There is more to life than this. It is always very sobering to visit my parents and realize just how short life is. My once-boisterous father now cannot hold up his head and keeps bobbing it. He can still recite some of Longfellow's poem on the midnight ride of Paul Revere, but much is lost. I'm not sure he knew who I was, but he could say he was happy to see me. All those years I have wasted in trying to control my weight -- it is sad. My only conciliation is I hope that I can model behavior I would want my children to follow, and I believe that I have discovered two big lies -- You need to control portion sizes, and you need to eat breakfast -- that have led to the obesity epidemic. Ellie and Tommy would have been considered overweight in my day, but Anne and Katie are overweight even by today's standards. All four weigh more than is good for them. I am sad about that, but what can I do? I did try, for many years, for forty years. Seeing Kayla as a pufferfish back in May is what made me realize is that the obese who diet are not undisciplined; instead, they are so disciplined they triggered a survival mechanism that led to binge eating.
How I wish I could go back in time, but I cannot. This has been the greatest battle of my life. I am finally winning it. To my credit, I never gave up.
Day 54 - Thursday, July 13, 2017:
Last night, as I was going to sleep, it occurred to me that perhaps the end of overeating can come quite suddenly, as soon as the reasons for overeating are no longer valid. My main reason for overeating has been to stockpile food against the inevitable restrictive diet to follow. Last night, without any guilt whatsoever and instead with a sort of triumph, I ate a cup of coffee ice cream before dinner while watching a TV program on the computer. There was a sort of liberation to this.
For years and years, from my freshman year of college until last year, I struggled with coffee. I was instantly addicted when I had my fbirst coffee and had stretches of giving it up, including one four year period and during all my pregnancies. Still, the desire remained.
Last year, while on our vacation to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, I tried to fast with the alternate day diet in which you eat whatever you want one day followed by 500 calories the next and those calories mostly in the evening. On one of those days when I was to eat 500 calories, I woke up and just could not bring myself to have coffee. I had a revulsion towards having coffee. It felt like acid in my stomach to have coffee on an empty stomach. Unfortunately, we were at Old Faithful Lodge when I could not bring myself to have coffee. By evening, we were in Jackson, WY, and I was sick. Tom was really upset with me, understandably. Why did I choose then to give up coffee? He'd seen my give up coffee many times before, and the predicable result was that I would get sick and have to sleep. That night, in Jackson, I had to sleep. By morning, I was fine, but I missed an evening. It was the only clear evening in the three days we were there, and I went out for a bit at 11 to see dark sky. It still wasn't dark, but I could see the darkness of the sky against the darkness of the mountains. Oh, how I wish I could have stayed up! About thirty years ago, I went backpacking just south of Grand Tetons and, to this day, the most beautiful sight I have ever seen was the night sky reflected in Titcombe Lake in the Wind River Range. There was a lost opportunity that night to see the night sky against the Grand Tetons...
I do drink tea now but, ever since then, I have had a feeling of revulsion towards drinking coffee. I have a couple of times had two pots of tea and gotten a similar feeling of a caffeine high from the experience and so I don't drink more than one pot of tea.
What is most amazing to me about the experience of giving up coffee is I didn't know that the last cup was the last cup. There have been many, many times when I resolved to give up coffee and went out and had a vanilla latte at Starbucks. My last cup at Old Faithful Inn last year was plain old Italian Roast from Starbucks made with the Mr. Coffee coffeemaker I had brought from home.
What does this have to do with my eating less? I hope that my giving up overeating may be sudden like giving up coffee. Maybe, perhaps, with much hope, that eating of coffee ice cream last night was a last time of overeating. Wouldn't that be fantastic? Could it actually be?
9 PM: That was a wishful thought that I would abruptly stop overeating. I am sitting in the high school parking lot waiting for Ellie, and I realized this diet only works if I am committed to it no matter what I end up weighing. I am committed. This is the path to sanity -- never mind health. I am done with searching for the perfect diet. I do not want to waste any more time in a search for an acceptable diet. I believe my desire for food will decrease in fits and starts. I will not know without just committing to this and sticking with it. I have lasted almost 2 months. The diet is easy.
Day 55 - Friday, July 14, 2017: 222.8
What I have been missing is a commitment to stick with this diet. If I am simply experimenting, my body will want to continue gorging. I missed the obvious.
Day 56 - Saturday, July 15, 2017:
Fasting is the natural way to regulate appetite. To regulate how much you eat, constantly and over a lifetime, is a fool's errand. I made red lentil stew last night, and it was so filling that I commented on it. Of course, Tom had a snarky comment about how my eating chips before dinner might have contributed to my feeling full. This morning, I woke up and something was different. I have a revulsion towards the thought of food. Fasting is easy, but I never felt like it would be revolting to eat. Maybe this is just a wishful feeling that I will feel revolted towards overeating like I suddenly was revolted about drinking coffee.
9 AM: Correction. Some people with willpower like steel can manage to lose weight and keep it off indefinitely, but all the studies I have read indicate that those who practice restrained eating feel like they are starving all the time. Imagine the willpower involved in having food available but not eating it when your body feels like it is starving! This cannot be good for the body because it is so stressful.
Day 58 - Monday, July 17, 2017: 222.8
It dawned on me like a smack in the face that this diet is actually a terrific and easy way to maintain current weight, but I need to do something more to actually lose weight. Very disappointing. I'm going to try one hour eating windows as a way to lose weight before. I tried this previously and got very cranky, but maybe I can do better this time because I'm so accustomed to missing breakfast. My Way of Life app has three states for each habit: red for no, blank for skip, and green for yes. I am going to make green be one hour eating windows, blank be eight hour eating windows, and red be more than eight hour eating windows.
Day 59 - Tuesday, July 18, 2017: 222.2
I fasted until almost 3:30 PM yesterday and then decided that was enough. I think I need to make changes in increments, not all at once. With fast walking, I am up to 5:40 minutes as of today. My plan is to get to 6 minutes by the end of next week and then hold steady until at least Labor Day.
I feel better. My taste in food is definitely changing more towards fruits and vegetables. Yesterday, I made a goulash dinner with a side of a salad with tomatoes, quinoa, peas, and carrots. I definitely preferred the salad.
2:30 PM: Kayla still looks like a pufferfish. It must be really hard for a personal trainer to get business when she is perhaps 30 pounds overweight. I feel for her. I know what it feels like when you just cannot bring yourself to control portions anymore.
She gave me some interesting advice: she recommended I stick with the 8 hour window for eating and focus on exercise and food choices. I'm already doing very well with food choices, but I'm going to add to exercise.
Day 60 - Wednesday, July 19, 2017: 221.2
I think I'm going to follow Kayla's advice to stick with an 8 hour window. It's not that my diet is going to matter much in the next week. There have been a very few times in my life when I was so emotional that I lost my appetite, and I think Anne's upcoming wedding might be one of them. Today is Wednesday. Tonight I drive to a hotel near Katie's camp, and I bring her home tomorrow. The wedding is Saturday.
Day 65 - Monday, July 24, 2017: 221.4
Anne's wedding was just beautiful. It was simple and elegant. They were married at a Catholic Mass, and the reception that followed was a dinner for aunts, uncles, immediate family and friends. There is plenty of money left over from the wedding to pay for start up costs, of which they will have many starting with buying a mattress.
I have been on the road, getting Katie to the wedding and back. I decided to go back to my Novena Diet of 1,000 calories/day for nine days. That lasted less than a day, so I am back to the 11 AM to 7 PM window.
There is not time right now to worry about dieting.
Day 67 - Wednesday, July 26, 2017:
I continue to notice a change in taste in food. Maybe this is due to aging, and maybe this is due to fasting. Yesterday, with Tommy at work, Anne on her honeymoon, and Katie and Ellie at camp, only Tom and I had dinner. We decided to go to Hy-Vee. Tom ordered some sort of fried chicken dish, and I decided on sushi. My taste is moving away from these fried meats to food that is lighter. I attribute this move to fasting.
Another interesting development with fasting is I no longer am eager to eat as soon as I can. I just got out of my appointment for results of my annual mammogram (completely clean) and am sitting here typing my thoughts rather than running down to eat lunch. It is already noon. I'm just not driven to eat the way I have been. I think fasting makes me realize that "hunger is not a crises" as I used to tell the kids.
Day 68 - Thursday, July 27, 2017:
I had a Wendy's kid meal last night and then still felt hungry so I went to Panera Bread to have a sandwich. My only concern was cost. I allowed myself to eat what I wanted without guilt. It's terrific.
11:45 AM: I had another Mayo appointment this morning, and now I am going to take a free class on meditation. It can't hurt! I don't think I have ever seen how much stress is caused by dieting, and stress is very bad for the body. The No S Diet has the appeal that you can eat what you want and that the limitation on quantity (one plate) is not exactly starvation level. This approach, however, of eating within an 8 hour window is even more stress-free. If it actually results in my losing weight, it is a real winner.
At 11, I went down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I had seen the sushi yesterday, and the sushi either had that fake crab which I don't like or it had sauce already spread. Ick. As a result, I went to look at the offerings and settled on an egg salad sandwich. When I got up in the line to the sushi, I saw a vegetarian one and decided to take that. I also got some yogurt with fruit and granola. I got to choose exactly what I wanted. If I feel hungry later on the way home, I'll get something then. Because I don't need to worry about fasting between meals, I can eat exactly what I want right now. That approach sounds like intuitive eating except that I fast for 16 hours at a time which is training for not eating so much. Heck, I realize that I can feel great without feeling stuffed, and I never have to feel stuffed because I can eat whatever I want for 8 hours every single day. This is a no stress diet.
Day 69 - Friday, July 28, 2017: 219.4
I am below 220! Yesterday, on the way home, I grabbed a Mountain Dew and a Skor candy bar because I was tired. Then I was out to dinner with a professional group and had salmon and lots of bread. This morning, I am hungry but I know I can eat whatever I want in two hours so I am not stressed by that. We'll be on the road in an hour so I'll bring a sandwich to eat after 11.
Yesterday at the meditation seminar, the presenter showed parts of the brain including the amygdala and brought up the term "amygdala hijack" as a term to describe a stress response. I looked up the term on Wikipedia and this is what I found:
"Amygdala hijack is a term coined by Daniel Goleman in his 1996 book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.[1] Drawing on the work of Joseph E. LeDoux, Goleman uses the term to describe emotional responses from people which are immediate and overwhelming, and out of measure with the actual stimulus because it has triggered a much more significant emotional threat
Part of the thalamus's stimuli goes directly to the amygdala, while other parts are sent to the neocortex or "thinking brain". If the amygdala perceives a match to the stimulus, i.e., if the record of experiences in the hippocampus tells the amygdala that it is a fight, flight or freeze situation, then the amygdala triggers the HPA (hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal) axis and hijacks the rational brain. This emotional brain activity processes information milliseconds earlier than the rational brain, so in case of a match, the amygdala acts before any possible direction from the neocortex can be received. If, however, the amygdala does not find any match to the stimulus received with its recorded threatening situations, then it acts according to the directions received from the neocortex. When the amygdala perceives a threat, it can lead that person to react irrationally and destructively.[3]
Goleman states that emotions "make us pay attention right now—this is urgent—and gives us an immediate action plan without having to think twice. The emotional component evolved very early: Do I eat it, or does it eat me?" The emotional response "can take over the rest of the brain in a millisecond if threatened."[4][5] An amygdala hijack exhibits three signs: strong emotional reaction, sudden onset, and post-episode realization if the reaction was inappropriate.[4]
Goleman later emphasised that "self-control is crucial...when facing someone who is in the throes of an amygdala hijack"[6] so as to avoid a complementary hijacking—whether in work situations, or in private life. Thus for example 'one key marital competence is for partners to learn to soothe their own distressed feelings...nothing gets resolved positively when husband or wife is in the midst of an emotional hijacking.'[7] The danger is that "when our partner becomes, in effect, our enemy, we are in the grip of an 'amygdala hijack' in which our emotional memory, lodged in the limbic center of our brain, rules our reactions without the benefit of logic or reason...which causes our bodies to go into a 'fight or flight' response."[8]
What I find most interesting about this description is that the response described comes from the early humans being in a situation in which the question is: "Do I eat it, or does it eat me?"
What the heck does this have to do with weight loss? I think everything. The binge response to dieting is an amygdala hijack. Dieting is a state of perpetual starvation -- you never get enough because you are always restricting what you eat. The most primitive part of your brain takes over in a binge.
Fasting is different. It does not result in an amygdala hijack because I can eat whatever I want when I allow myself to eat. I haven't lost much weight in two months of following this approach because first my body had to be assured that I was done with food restriction. I think my willingness to eat coffee ice cream before dinner was very reassuring to a body that had been stressed for years by diets.
This is all starting to make sense to me.
Day 70 - Saturday, July 29, 2017:
Yesterday, I had Polish sausage for lunch, and it went right through me. We had to stop twice on the way to camp. My taste in food is changing but so is my tolerance for certain foods.
Last night, we could see the Milky Way. We have a cabin right on the lake. So beautiful...
Day 71 - Sunday, July 30, 2017:
If I were to give an analogy to my weight loss quest, it would be like going through thousands of puzzle pieces to create one small puzzle of only a few pieces. I have searched through so many theories of weight loss and tested many of them with poor long-term results.
Now I feel like I am at the end of my search. The key to solving the puzzle was to realize that the question at hand was, "Why do I want to eat so much?" The answer was in a French saying that translates roughly to "Food creates appetite." Fasting is the key to depressing appetite, and you eat less if you have a less robust appetite.
In the end, it is so simple. I remember reading that thin people actually dislike overeating. Now I know why. Their body has been acclimated to less food intake. It's like living in Minnesota and not minding the cold. You are used to it.
Day 72 - Monday, July 31, 2017: 222.4
Back home until I pick up Katie from camp on August 21. I am totally sick of McDonald's, Dairy Queen, Wendy's, etc.
9:15 AM: I am using a phone app called Happy Scale, and one thing it does is split your goal into 10 and then shows you how much weight you have lost towards your first goal which is 10% of your ultimate goal. I put in 132 as my ultimate goal because that was my high school weight, not because that is my actual goal. When I get to a new low weight, it shows me that much closer to the interim goal. My first milestone is 216.6. As of what I weighed three days ago (219.4), I was 70% to that goal. The problem is that today I am at 222.4, above my weight at the beginning of the month. I was so affected by these large fluctuations in weight that I would become discouraged and change my diet. Now I am sticking with the 16:8 diet and seeing that the up and down of weight is natural even when the overall trend is down. The Happy Scale app helps me to realize that. My overall rate of loss is .45 pounds per week, so a gain of 3 pounds in three days seems shocking. It's just fluctuation, however. I need to shrug it off.
Month 1: May 21, 2017 - 226.0
Month 2: June 1, 2017: 223.2
Month 3: July 6, 2017: 222.0
Weight Summary
Day 42 - Saturday, July 1, 2017:
Day 43 - Sunday, July 2, 2017:
Day 44 - Monday, July 3, 2017:
Day 45 - Tuesday, July 4, 2017:
Day 46 - Wednesday, July 5, 2017:
Day 47 - Thursday, July 6, 2017: 222.0
Day 48 - Friday, July 7, 2017: 222.2
Day 49 - Saturday, July 8, 2017:
Day 50 - Sunday, July 9, 2017:
Day 51 - Monday, July 10, 2017: 222.2
Day 52 - Tuesday, July 11, 2017: 221.8
Day 53 - Wednesday, July 12, 2017:
Day 54 - Thursday, July 13, 2017:
Day 55 - Friday, July 14, 2017: 222.8
Day 56 - Saturday, July 15, 2017:
Day 57 - Sunday, July 16, 2017: 223.4
Day 58 - Monday, July 17, 2017: 222.8
Day 59 - Tuesday, July 18, 2017: 222.2
Day 60 - Wednesday, July 19, 2017: 221.2
Day 61 - Thursday, July 20, 2017:
Day 62 - Friday, July 21, 2017: 224.4
Day 63 - Saturday, July 22, 2017:
Day 64 - Sunday, July 23, 2017:
Day 65 - Monday, July 24, 2017: 221.4
Day 66 - Tuesday, July 25, 2017:
Day 67 - Wednesday, July 26, 2017:
Day 68 - Thursday, July 27, 2017:
Day 69 - Friday, July 28, 2017: 219.4
Day 70 - Saturday, July 29, 2017:
Day 71 - Sunday, July 30, 2017:
Day 72 - Monday, July 31, 2017: 222.4
Journal
Day 47 - Thursday, July 6, 2017: 222.0
Yesterday, I had a big bowl of Quiznos at the airport, and I got about 1/3 of the way through it before I felt less pleasure in eating. Did I stop? No. I ate about 2/3 of the bowl before tossing it. Why do I eat past satisfaction? I think I am eating mostly to prevent hunger in the future. After all, I got on a plane and all I had for the rest of the day was two cups of ginger ale and three little packages of pretzel sticks courtesy of Delta. This morning, i am not hungry, but it is 6 AM. Will I get hungry by 11? Maybe. Will it be tolerable to get hungry? Yes, because I know that I can eat as much as I want of whatever I want within my 11 AM to 7 PM window.
My mother was rather awful about my not eating breakfast. She told me I was famous within the family for crazy diets, she told me I was doing something wrong because my whole family was fat, she made me French toast while I was out on a walk and then was insulted and upset when I refused to eat it, and she even predicted I would faint if I didn't eat breakfast. She also told me she always hated oatmeal because she was forced to eat oatmeal before going to school even if she had tears running down her face. Holy crap. What if the conventional wisdom that you have to eat breakfast is the cause of the obesity epidemic? I actually feel better not having breakfast. My problem with being obese is that I'm a gullible rule-follower. There is nothing physically wrong with me. I think I may have found the rule that should not be followed: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
I did, by the way, mostly hold out against not having breakfast except when a nephew came over to visit and we had breakfast with him. Yes, for social reasons, I will eat outside the eating window.
Day 48 - Friday, July 7, 2017: 222.2
An interesting article on fasting:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... iabetes-ms
I realized that when I suddenly felt satisfied two days ago at lunch, I was experiencing what the Intuitive Eating authors called "last bite threshold". I was tempted to wait to eat until this afternoon rather than until 11 but realized I need to stay the course.
Day 49 - Saturday, July 8, 2017:
I went to Costco two days ago and had none of the taste tests because none appealed to me. Last night, we were on the road and did not get McDonald's take out at 7. I ate by 7:15 and then waited until 11:15 this morning to eat.
6:30 PM: I ate too many cookies and ended up with a stomachache. I believe that fasting makes overeating unpleasant.
Day 50 - Sunday, July 9, 2017:
Today in the car I had almost 1/4 pound of fudge. My stomach is upset. I just had some Cheerios with milk to try to counter all that sugar, but I don't feel well at all. I have something of a headache, too. Why did I do that? Beats me. However, with fasting, the unpleasantness of doing that is magnified. I'm happy to fast until tomorrow at 11 and it's not even 5 yet.
Day 51 - Monday, July 11, 2017: 222.2
I have been so chatty on this blog because I figured that, sooner or later, I would stumble on something significant without realizing it. Sure enough: I did. My post for June 24, 2017 sums everything up. Now all I need is to be patient. I did realize yesterday that I cannot tolerate a lot of sugar any more. Maybe this is due to age, and maybe it is due to fasting.
2 PM: I think people who get into the cycle of starve and binge are those who are basically good people, not selfish gluttons, and I do not point to myself. I observe. There are a lot of Boy Scout leaders who are unusually obese. These are guys who give up weekends and sometimes vacations to be with their sons. They are some of the nicest people you could ever meet. Why are so many of them really, really fat? I speculate that they try portion control more vigorously than most and end up triggering a survival mechanism in the form of binge eating. They keep trying because they believe medical experts that you need to control portions.
So -- I long ago stopped thinking portion control was a good idea. What is new for me is pairing no portion control with 16 hour fasts. I ate almost 1/4 pound of fudge yesterday, fasted 16 hours with no problem, and now have no interest whatsoever in anything sweet. Fasting paired with unrestricted eating during an eating window is the path out of obesity. It will take me time, but it will get me there.
Day 52 - Tuesday, July 11, 2017: 221.8
I think back to the book "Misguided Medicine", the book that confirmed my suspicion about canola oil, like margarine, being presented as good for you but actually being bad for you. (Canola oil has a low smoke point, and the fumes may lead to lung cancer. There has been an increase in lung cancer among women.) This book also got me interested in fast walking and was another indication that fasting is good for you. The book has a great title: misguided medicine. The medical community didn't want to create the obesity epidemic. Well-meaning people figured out that calories do count, so the logical approach was to restrict calories. No one figured human nature into the equation. Those who took medical advice to restrict portions were rule followers who believed the experts. I don't think every fat person is a rule follower. There are obese people who are self-indulgent. Most obese people today, however, I think followed misguided advice. I think back to a woman I met at work long ago who was losing 40 pounds on Weight Watchers -- she had lost those same 40 pounds twice before! She was dedicated! She was also misguided.
I have often felt like I was in some sort of trap and, try as I might, I could not get out of it. Or I have felt like I was in weeds in water. The more you struggle, the more stuck you get. Now I feel like I am getting free of this.
12:15 PM: I ate a lot starting right at 11, in part because all I have to do today is clean. I have been out of the house since July 1, including yesterday when I left at 11 and returned at almost 7 for an annual check up at Mayo. I eat to procrastinate. That is OK. What I think I should do now with this diet is a bit of benign neglect. I follow it but don't think much about it.
Day 53 - Wednesday, July 12, 2017:
I think I understand why a five hour eating window did not work for me: my schedule is just too erratic. That is not my fault. I am the support for five other people, and we want me to be that support.
I also have concluded that weight loss is going to be like the stock market: up and down, up and down, but going up over time. I don't want to be looking at that up and down. I plan to weigh myself next when I see my personal trainer which is on the 18th.
8:30 PM: Interesting article on fasting:
http://myscienceacademy.org/2017/07/09/ ... ign=buffer
I think I need to stick with 16 hour fasts. Even so, this is interesting.
10 PM: Tonight, I did what I could think of as an ultimate self-indulgence. I bought Haagen Dazs coffee ice cream and had a cupful just before dinner while looking at a news show on the computer. I did not have to resist at all. I had exactly what I wanted just because I wanted it.
Right now, I have the feeling of slight hunger, something I rarely experience. Why? Did I eat less than normal? I don't know. If this diet just kept me at my current weight, I think I'd be tempted to follow it because it eliminates all the drama of binge eating and setting rules and parameters and guidelines, etc. There is more to life than this. It is always very sobering to visit my parents and realize just how short life is. My once-boisterous father now cannot hold up his head and keeps bobbing it. He can still recite some of Longfellow's poem on the midnight ride of Paul Revere, but much is lost. I'm not sure he knew who I was, but he could say he was happy to see me. All those years I have wasted in trying to control my weight -- it is sad. My only conciliation is I hope that I can model behavior I would want my children to follow, and I believe that I have discovered two big lies -- You need to control portion sizes, and you need to eat breakfast -- that have led to the obesity epidemic. Ellie and Tommy would have been considered overweight in my day, but Anne and Katie are overweight even by today's standards. All four weigh more than is good for them. I am sad about that, but what can I do? I did try, for many years, for forty years. Seeing Kayla as a pufferfish back in May is what made me realize is that the obese who diet are not undisciplined; instead, they are so disciplined they triggered a survival mechanism that led to binge eating.
How I wish I could go back in time, but I cannot. This has been the greatest battle of my life. I am finally winning it. To my credit, I never gave up.
Day 54 - Thursday, July 13, 2017:
Last night, as I was going to sleep, it occurred to me that perhaps the end of overeating can come quite suddenly, as soon as the reasons for overeating are no longer valid. My main reason for overeating has been to stockpile food against the inevitable restrictive diet to follow. Last night, without any guilt whatsoever and instead with a sort of triumph, I ate a cup of coffee ice cream before dinner while watching a TV program on the computer. There was a sort of liberation to this.
For years and years, from my freshman year of college until last year, I struggled with coffee. I was instantly addicted when I had my fbirst coffee and had stretches of giving it up, including one four year period and during all my pregnancies. Still, the desire remained.
Last year, while on our vacation to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, I tried to fast with the alternate day diet in which you eat whatever you want one day followed by 500 calories the next and those calories mostly in the evening. On one of those days when I was to eat 500 calories, I woke up and just could not bring myself to have coffee. I had a revulsion towards having coffee. It felt like acid in my stomach to have coffee on an empty stomach. Unfortunately, we were at Old Faithful Lodge when I could not bring myself to have coffee. By evening, we were in Jackson, WY, and I was sick. Tom was really upset with me, understandably. Why did I choose then to give up coffee? He'd seen my give up coffee many times before, and the predicable result was that I would get sick and have to sleep. That night, in Jackson, I had to sleep. By morning, I was fine, but I missed an evening. It was the only clear evening in the three days we were there, and I went out for a bit at 11 to see dark sky. It still wasn't dark, but I could see the darkness of the sky against the darkness of the mountains. Oh, how I wish I could have stayed up! About thirty years ago, I went backpacking just south of Grand Tetons and, to this day, the most beautiful sight I have ever seen was the night sky reflected in Titcombe Lake in the Wind River Range. There was a lost opportunity that night to see the night sky against the Grand Tetons...
I do drink tea now but, ever since then, I have had a feeling of revulsion towards drinking coffee. I have a couple of times had two pots of tea and gotten a similar feeling of a caffeine high from the experience and so I don't drink more than one pot of tea.
What is most amazing to me about the experience of giving up coffee is I didn't know that the last cup was the last cup. There have been many, many times when I resolved to give up coffee and went out and had a vanilla latte at Starbucks. My last cup at Old Faithful Inn last year was plain old Italian Roast from Starbucks made with the Mr. Coffee coffeemaker I had brought from home.
What does this have to do with my eating less? I hope that my giving up overeating may be sudden like giving up coffee. Maybe, perhaps, with much hope, that eating of coffee ice cream last night was a last time of overeating. Wouldn't that be fantastic? Could it actually be?
9 PM: That was a wishful thought that I would abruptly stop overeating. I am sitting in the high school parking lot waiting for Ellie, and I realized this diet only works if I am committed to it no matter what I end up weighing. I am committed. This is the path to sanity -- never mind health. I am done with searching for the perfect diet. I do not want to waste any more time in a search for an acceptable diet. I believe my desire for food will decrease in fits and starts. I will not know without just committing to this and sticking with it. I have lasted almost 2 months. The diet is easy.
Day 55 - Friday, July 14, 2017: 222.8
What I have been missing is a commitment to stick with this diet. If I am simply experimenting, my body will want to continue gorging. I missed the obvious.
Day 56 - Saturday, July 15, 2017:
Fasting is the natural way to regulate appetite. To regulate how much you eat, constantly and over a lifetime, is a fool's errand. I made red lentil stew last night, and it was so filling that I commented on it. Of course, Tom had a snarky comment about how my eating chips before dinner might have contributed to my feeling full. This morning, I woke up and something was different. I have a revulsion towards the thought of food. Fasting is easy, but I never felt like it would be revolting to eat. Maybe this is just a wishful feeling that I will feel revolted towards overeating like I suddenly was revolted about drinking coffee.
9 AM: Correction. Some people with willpower like steel can manage to lose weight and keep it off indefinitely, but all the studies I have read indicate that those who practice restrained eating feel like they are starving all the time. Imagine the willpower involved in having food available but not eating it when your body feels like it is starving! This cannot be good for the body because it is so stressful.
Day 58 - Monday, July 17, 2017: 222.8
It dawned on me like a smack in the face that this diet is actually a terrific and easy way to maintain current weight, but I need to do something more to actually lose weight. Very disappointing. I'm going to try one hour eating windows as a way to lose weight before. I tried this previously and got very cranky, but maybe I can do better this time because I'm so accustomed to missing breakfast. My Way of Life app has three states for each habit: red for no, blank for skip, and green for yes. I am going to make green be one hour eating windows, blank be eight hour eating windows, and red be more than eight hour eating windows.
Day 59 - Tuesday, July 18, 2017: 222.2
I fasted until almost 3:30 PM yesterday and then decided that was enough. I think I need to make changes in increments, not all at once. With fast walking, I am up to 5:40 minutes as of today. My plan is to get to 6 minutes by the end of next week and then hold steady until at least Labor Day.
I feel better. My taste in food is definitely changing more towards fruits and vegetables. Yesterday, I made a goulash dinner with a side of a salad with tomatoes, quinoa, peas, and carrots. I definitely preferred the salad.
2:30 PM: Kayla still looks like a pufferfish. It must be really hard for a personal trainer to get business when she is perhaps 30 pounds overweight. I feel for her. I know what it feels like when you just cannot bring yourself to control portions anymore.
She gave me some interesting advice: she recommended I stick with the 8 hour window for eating and focus on exercise and food choices. I'm already doing very well with food choices, but I'm going to add to exercise.
Day 60 - Wednesday, July 19, 2017: 221.2
I think I'm going to follow Kayla's advice to stick with an 8 hour window. It's not that my diet is going to matter much in the next week. There have been a very few times in my life when I was so emotional that I lost my appetite, and I think Anne's upcoming wedding might be one of them. Today is Wednesday. Tonight I drive to a hotel near Katie's camp, and I bring her home tomorrow. The wedding is Saturday.
Day 65 - Monday, July 24, 2017: 221.4
Anne's wedding was just beautiful. It was simple and elegant. They were married at a Catholic Mass, and the reception that followed was a dinner for aunts, uncles, immediate family and friends. There is plenty of money left over from the wedding to pay for start up costs, of which they will have many starting with buying a mattress.
I have been on the road, getting Katie to the wedding and back. I decided to go back to my Novena Diet of 1,000 calories/day for nine days. That lasted less than a day, so I am back to the 11 AM to 7 PM window.
There is not time right now to worry about dieting.
Day 67 - Wednesday, July 26, 2017:
I continue to notice a change in taste in food. Maybe this is due to aging, and maybe this is due to fasting. Yesterday, with Tommy at work, Anne on her honeymoon, and Katie and Ellie at camp, only Tom and I had dinner. We decided to go to Hy-Vee. Tom ordered some sort of fried chicken dish, and I decided on sushi. My taste is moving away from these fried meats to food that is lighter. I attribute this move to fasting.
Another interesting development with fasting is I no longer am eager to eat as soon as I can. I just got out of my appointment for results of my annual mammogram (completely clean) and am sitting here typing my thoughts rather than running down to eat lunch. It is already noon. I'm just not driven to eat the way I have been. I think fasting makes me realize that "hunger is not a crises" as I used to tell the kids.
Day 68 - Thursday, July 27, 2017:
I had a Wendy's kid meal last night and then still felt hungry so I went to Panera Bread to have a sandwich. My only concern was cost. I allowed myself to eat what I wanted without guilt. It's terrific.
11:45 AM: I had another Mayo appointment this morning, and now I am going to take a free class on meditation. It can't hurt! I don't think I have ever seen how much stress is caused by dieting, and stress is very bad for the body. The No S Diet has the appeal that you can eat what you want and that the limitation on quantity (one plate) is not exactly starvation level. This approach, however, of eating within an 8 hour window is even more stress-free. If it actually results in my losing weight, it is a real winner.
At 11, I went down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. I had seen the sushi yesterday, and the sushi either had that fake crab which I don't like or it had sauce already spread. Ick. As a result, I went to look at the offerings and settled on an egg salad sandwich. When I got up in the line to the sushi, I saw a vegetarian one and decided to take that. I also got some yogurt with fruit and granola. I got to choose exactly what I wanted. If I feel hungry later on the way home, I'll get something then. Because I don't need to worry about fasting between meals, I can eat exactly what I want right now. That approach sounds like intuitive eating except that I fast for 16 hours at a time which is training for not eating so much. Heck, I realize that I can feel great without feeling stuffed, and I never have to feel stuffed because I can eat whatever I want for 8 hours every single day. This is a no stress diet.
Day 69 - Friday, July 28, 2017: 219.4
I am below 220! Yesterday, on the way home, I grabbed a Mountain Dew and a Skor candy bar because I was tired. Then I was out to dinner with a professional group and had salmon and lots of bread. This morning, I am hungry but I know I can eat whatever I want in two hours so I am not stressed by that. We'll be on the road in an hour so I'll bring a sandwich to eat after 11.
Yesterday at the meditation seminar, the presenter showed parts of the brain including the amygdala and brought up the term "amygdala hijack" as a term to describe a stress response. I looked up the term on Wikipedia and this is what I found:
"Amygdala hijack is a term coined by Daniel Goleman in his 1996 book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.[1] Drawing on the work of Joseph E. LeDoux, Goleman uses the term to describe emotional responses from people which are immediate and overwhelming, and out of measure with the actual stimulus because it has triggered a much more significant emotional threat
Part of the thalamus's stimuli goes directly to the amygdala, while other parts are sent to the neocortex or "thinking brain". If the amygdala perceives a match to the stimulus, i.e., if the record of experiences in the hippocampus tells the amygdala that it is a fight, flight or freeze situation, then the amygdala triggers the HPA (hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal) axis and hijacks the rational brain. This emotional brain activity processes information milliseconds earlier than the rational brain, so in case of a match, the amygdala acts before any possible direction from the neocortex can be received. If, however, the amygdala does not find any match to the stimulus received with its recorded threatening situations, then it acts according to the directions received from the neocortex. When the amygdala perceives a threat, it can lead that person to react irrationally and destructively.[3]
Goleman states that emotions "make us pay attention right now—this is urgent—and gives us an immediate action plan without having to think twice. The emotional component evolved very early: Do I eat it, or does it eat me?" The emotional response "can take over the rest of the brain in a millisecond if threatened."[4][5] An amygdala hijack exhibits three signs: strong emotional reaction, sudden onset, and post-episode realization if the reaction was inappropriate.[4]
Goleman later emphasised that "self-control is crucial...when facing someone who is in the throes of an amygdala hijack"[6] so as to avoid a complementary hijacking—whether in work situations, or in private life. Thus for example 'one key marital competence is for partners to learn to soothe their own distressed feelings...nothing gets resolved positively when husband or wife is in the midst of an emotional hijacking.'[7] The danger is that "when our partner becomes, in effect, our enemy, we are in the grip of an 'amygdala hijack' in which our emotional memory, lodged in the limbic center of our brain, rules our reactions without the benefit of logic or reason...which causes our bodies to go into a 'fight or flight' response."[8]
What I find most interesting about this description is that the response described comes from the early humans being in a situation in which the question is: "Do I eat it, or does it eat me?"
What the heck does this have to do with weight loss? I think everything. The binge response to dieting is an amygdala hijack. Dieting is a state of perpetual starvation -- you never get enough because you are always restricting what you eat. The most primitive part of your brain takes over in a binge.
Fasting is different. It does not result in an amygdala hijack because I can eat whatever I want when I allow myself to eat. I haven't lost much weight in two months of following this approach because first my body had to be assured that I was done with food restriction. I think my willingness to eat coffee ice cream before dinner was very reassuring to a body that had been stressed for years by diets.
This is all starting to make sense to me.
Day 70 - Saturday, July 29, 2017:
Yesterday, I had Polish sausage for lunch, and it went right through me. We had to stop twice on the way to camp. My taste in food is changing but so is my tolerance for certain foods.
Last night, we could see the Milky Way. We have a cabin right on the lake. So beautiful...
Day 71 - Sunday, July 30, 2017:
If I were to give an analogy to my weight loss quest, it would be like going through thousands of puzzle pieces to create one small puzzle of only a few pieces. I have searched through so many theories of weight loss and tested many of them with poor long-term results.
Now I feel like I am at the end of my search. The key to solving the puzzle was to realize that the question at hand was, "Why do I want to eat so much?" The answer was in a French saying that translates roughly to "Food creates appetite." Fasting is the key to depressing appetite, and you eat less if you have a less robust appetite.
In the end, it is so simple. I remember reading that thin people actually dislike overeating. Now I know why. Their body has been acclimated to less food intake. It's like living in Minnesota and not minding the cold. You are used to it.
Day 72 - Monday, July 31, 2017: 222.4
Back home until I pick up Katie from camp on August 21. I am totally sick of McDonald's, Dairy Queen, Wendy's, etc.
9:15 AM: I am using a phone app called Happy Scale, and one thing it does is split your goal into 10 and then shows you how much weight you have lost towards your first goal which is 10% of your ultimate goal. I put in 132 as my ultimate goal because that was my high school weight, not because that is my actual goal. When I get to a new low weight, it shows me that much closer to the interim goal. My first milestone is 216.6. As of what I weighed three days ago (219.4), I was 70% to that goal. The problem is that today I am at 222.4, above my weight at the beginning of the month. I was so affected by these large fluctuations in weight that I would become discouraged and change my diet. Now I am sticking with the 16:8 diet and seeing that the up and down of weight is natural even when the overall trend is down. The Happy Scale app helps me to realize that. My overall rate of loss is .45 pounds per week, so a gain of 3 pounds in three days seems shocking. It's just fluctuation, however. I need to shrug it off.
Last edited by Kathleen on Mon Jul 31, 2017 2:22 pm, edited 12 times in total.
Thank you, Merry. It was just so beautiful. I had expressed concern to Anne and Tony about going ahead with the wedding when he does not have a job and she will be a starving grad student, but the wedding was very reassuring. The memory I most will have of that wedding is how Tom looked walking Anne up the aisle. He was just overjoyed. She was nervous until after the vows. The reception was casual, friendly, and stress-free. It was a small wedding because they need cash for start up costs! We both are very confident that Tony is a good match for Anne and will be a good husband to her.
Kathleen
Kathleen
I have two dogs to walk! When I take Pepper for a walk, I stop at a neighbor's house and get Max who is always overjoyed to see Pepper and me! We live a block from a nature preserve, so I get a little bit of nature almost every day. Just since the Mayo talk two days ago, I have been thinking how important it is to reduce stress and how much dieting contributes to stress. For me, being in nature is key to reducing stress but so is settling on a weight management approach. Now off to get Ellie after her week of getting scuba certified...We will pick up Katie when she is off work at noon. I thank God for this beautiful place.
Kathleen
Kathleen
August, 2017: The Blessings of Simplicity starting May 21, 2017
Month 1: May 21, 2017 - 226.0
Month 2: June 1, 2017: 223.2 (month high: 224.8; month low: 221.6)
Month 3: July 6, 2017: 222.0 (month high: 224.4; month low: 219.4)
Month 4: August 1, 2017: 222.8 (month high: 224.2; month low: 221.0)
Weight Summary
Day 73 - Tuesday, August 1, 2017: 222.8
Day 74 - Wednesday, August 2, 2017:
Day 75 - Thursday, August 3, 2017: 221.2
Day 76 - Friday, August 4, 2017:
Day 77 - Saturday, August 5, 2017: 222.8
Day 78 - Sunday, August 6, 2017:
Day 79 - Monday, August 7, 2017:223.0
Day 80 - Tuesday, August 8, 2017: 221.0
Day 81 - Wednesday, August 9, 2017: 221.8
Day 82 - Thursday, August 10, 2017: 223.4
Day 83 - Friday, August 11, 2017: 222.8
Day 84 - Saturday, August 12, 2017: 223.4
Day 85 - Sunday, August 13, 2017:
Day 86 - Monday, August 14, 2017: 223.4
Day 87 - Tuesday, August 15, 2017: 222.8
Day 88 - Wednesday, August 16, 2017:
Day 89 - Thursday, August 17, 2017: 222.2
Day 90 - Friday, August 18, 2017:
Day 91- Saturday, August 19, 2017:
Day 92 - Sunday, August 20, 2017: 224.2
Day 93 - Monday, August 21, 2017:
Day 94 - Tuesday, August 22, 2017: 223.4
Day 95 - Wednesday, August 23, 2017: 223.6
Day 96 - Thursday, August 24, 2017: 223.0
Day 97 - Friday, August 25, 2017: 222.4
Day 98 - Saturday, August 26, 2017: 222.0
Day 99 - Sunday, August 27, 2017:
Day 100 - Monday, August 28, 2017:
Day 101 - Tuesday, August 29, 2017:
Day 102 - Wednesday, August 30, 2017: 222.8
Day 103 - Thursday, August 31, 2017: 221.2
Journal
Day 73 - Tuesday, August 1, 2017: 222.8
My weight goes up and down in waves. I believe I am now at the top of a wave.
Day 74 - Wednesday, August 2, 2017:
I have been doing some retirement research online, so of course I am getting calls and invitations to talk with people. Yesterday, someone called, and I said we aren't ready yet. I told him we had never talked about retirement savings. I stopped saving when Katie was born 18 years ago, and I just threw everything in the S&P 500. The investment guy said I have done well, but did I know there are overseas investment vehicles that deliver twice what you get in the S&P 500.
What? Was I going to trust money to someone who got to decide how to invest our money for the potential to do better than the S&P 500? Then I asked the guy if he had ever heard the terms "satisfier" and "maximer." He hadn't so I explained a satisfier is one who gets to a point where what is purchased is acceptable. A maximizer wants the absolute best.
I told him I am a satisfier when it comes to investment. I don't want to be scouring the world for the best possible investment. I'd prefer to keep investments clan and simple and minimize fees. Well, of course, this guy wants to have a meeting set up with someone who lives in the Twin Cities. Fine, I said, call me after school starts.
Talking with him gave me some insight. I sometimes want just to reach acceptable level with purchases and sometimes want the best. Clothing generally is an acceptable category; so is make up. Shoes -- maximize. I want the best.
How about diet? I've been trying for the absolute best and have gone from one idea to another. I've also, I realized, tried to maximize food consumption. Is that ever an idiotic idea for someone trying to lose weight! What I need, I think, is to have the goal to satisfy hunger and maximize -- what? I think maximize simplicity. This diet sure maximizes simplicity. All I have to do is look at the clock.
Still, I need to switch from maximizing food consumption to satisfying hunger.
Day 75 - Thursday, August 3, 2017: 221.2
Just texting Tommy now as he ends his 2 AM to 8 AM shift.... My family thought he was lazy. I was convinced he was drifting. He got an opportunity for a summer temp position that showed he is resourceful and hard-working. His hours have been something else.... Yesterday he worked 6 AM to 3 PM. He is supporting a project for overnight installs in retail stores. He got an opportunity that seemed unlikely to be anything but sketchy when he got a call at 3:30 PM to see if he could work 9 PM to 9 AM for that night and the next night, but he was willing to do it and it turned into a five week project with lots of hours. Providentially, his hours at the deli at the local grocery store were cut back, so he has been working both jobs.
Meanwhile, I'm looking at lots of time on my hands. I considered, briefly, going to a one meal a day approach because of the fact that my weight last month was lower than my weight this month, but I have to keep in mind that my weight fluctuates a lot and I need to concentrate on the overall trend. I'm also asking myself if the only reason I'm eating something is because I can. It's the old diet mentality that, when on a 1,000 calorie per day diet, you eat right up to but not over 1,000 calories. You count raisins.
Wow. I remember those days like a traumatic event. It is so much easier to just eat within certain hours.
I'll be happy when my weight is always below 220. That day is coming!
Day 76 - Friday, August 4, 2017:
The app Happy Scale has given me a good idea of how my weight goes in waves - up and down, up and down. Do I really need to monitor those waves? No. Weighing myself is just an opportunity for me to change my mind about this diet.
And do I want to do that? No. Even the thought of having a restriction can trigger a binge. No, I need to stick with what I have right now. Last night, we had dinner out and did not finish until almost 8 PM. Instead of saying that I will first eat at 11 AM, I'll move it to noon. There will still be a 16 hour fast. The latest I will eat in the morning is noon even if I eat later the evening before.
I think for the rest of the month I'm just going to concentrate on keeping up my steps and learning some basic yoga moves. That's it. I have my next personal training session with Kayla on the 15th, and I'm going to try to stay off this site until then. At some point, overthinking a diet becomes a problem.
Day 77 - Saturday, August 5, 2017: 222.8
Well, that didn't last. Yesterday, I ate a lot, and this morning I feel stuffed. I believe I am at the top of a wave. I am going through clothing and throwing out fat people clothing. I bought belts. I did feel that a pair of pants was looser, and I can still wear my wedding ring. Being this fat this long is going to be a slog to get over. I just have to be patient and stick with my plan.
Day 80 - Tuesday, August 8, 2017: 221.0
I thought I was at the top of the wave on Saturday, but I actually was yesterday morning. I'm beginning to recognize a trend which is that I eat to satisfy appetite but -- with fasting -- my stomach cannot handle the food: it goes right through me. Yesterday was the day the food went through me, and today my weight is down two pounds.
It is not impressive to be down 5 pounds in 80 days. It is impressive that I did not restrict eating during an 8 hour window every day and still I lost 5 pounds.
I am going to start tracking the highest and lowest weight in each month so I can see the downward trend and also the variance which is about 3 - 5 pounds.
Day 81 - Wednesday, August 9, 2017:
Tonight, Tom observed a rush of eating before 7 PM and commented that starvation was coming. I chuckled. Yes, I was eating to last until 11 AM tomorrow. This diet, if ultimately effective, will take a lot of time.
Tom told me that he can see a lot of stress from Anne leaving. I am happy for them, but it is sad that they will be so far away -- Bloomington, IN.
Day 82 - Thursday, August 10, 2017: 223.4
Sabotage! I have been considering fasting for a longer period of time, and that lead to overeating. I need to stick with this diet.
Day 83 - Friday, August 11, 2017: 222.8
When the kids were young, I sometimes said, "Hunger is not a crises." I was thinking about that this morning because yesterday Tom again remarked on how much I was eating before I left for a meeting. He thought it was a dinner meeting, but I explained that it was appetizers and I was running late so there probably would be none left. We needed to pick up a van from the shop which is why I was running late.
Still, his comment got me thinking. I was eating to prevent hunger before my eating window opens at 11 AM today. Why?
I think I've bought into the widely publicized myth that hunger is a problem. I hate those billboards that say: "One in 5 children face hunger." Face hunger? Are you facing lions? Everyone should face hunger. It's what makes food taste good!
I am looking back and seeing something of a domino effect. Being a little chubby (5'6 1/2" and 132 pounds) in high school led to my restricting eating which led to binge behavior which has led to a permanent state of eating before getting hungry.
Only now I have pieced together what happened and why. The solution is to trust that hunger is not like facing the lions. It's just hunger, and hunger comes and goes and builds over time. There is no need to fear hunger. It is not painful.
I heard an 84 year old priest, who sounded like he was in his 60s, talking about caring for tuberculosis patients in North Korea, and he was asked if he was scared. He said he was not because he trusted.
Well, it would be reasonable for him to be afraid, but he trusted. I think I could use a little trust in dealing with what is clearly an unreasonable fear. I'm not going to starve to death. I'm not even going to change my eating window.
Day 84 - Saturday, August 12, 2017: 223.4
Tightening the eating window will do no good. I need to face hunger. Hunger. I do have some vague childhood memories of hunger actually feeling good because it meant it was almost time for dinner. I need to experience hunger again, not as a threat to my life but as a pleasant prelude to a meal.
Day 85 - Sunday, August 13, 2017:
Last night, I put on the ring I wore when I followed my Novena Diet (9 days of 1,000 calories/day) and I decided that the ring would be my reminder to eat only when hungry. I wonder if I end up eating anything today. It is 8:22, I just got back from the gym, and I am not at all hungry. Of course, my body has become acclimated to not eating before 11. In fact, yesterday we had breakfast out, and it seemed strange to be eating so early.
Day 88 - Wednesday, August 16, 2017:
Until we get back from Boston on September 5, I am going to be just swamped, but I think I've drilled down to the real reason for my obesity: fear of starvation. It's laughable, of course, but I've changed diets quickly and frequently for decades. On Monday, I decided to follow the Novena Diet again, and that thought lasted until noon. At this point, I am finding success in sticking with the diet, and I think the bodily fear that I'll be starving soon will eventually dissipate. It seems strange that the body has a mind of its own, so to speak, but I am realizing it does. Logic does not come into play when you are feet from a grizzly bear. What I have done is trigger a survival reaction from all those years of dieting.
And what else has this done to my body? I'm trying to figure out my hearing loss, although the Mayo Clinic says it is genetic and my older siblings' hearing loss is evidence of that view. I'm thinking that hearing loss and dementia (which my father has) both come from the same source, poor blood circulation in the head. I believe that stress can contribute to the poor blood circulation because people tend to have tinnitus when they are stressed or have hearing loss. What I am now trying is face yoga, and buried in all the charges from the last month associated with Anne's wedding and move to Indiana is $150 for an online facial yoga program.
Why am I writing this? I think dieting may be very, very bad for health. It causes stress. Stress is bad for the body.
Fasting is not stressful because there is a known end time to not being able to eat what you want.
Am I distressed that my weight loss is pathetically little? No. I still can wear my wedding ring and the drive to change my diet program is occurring less and less frequently. Once my body knows I'm going to fast and not diet, I think I'll lose weight.
Anyway, that is the theory. I had no problem rescheduling my appointment with Kayla, my personal trainer, to Friday. I bet she has lost a lot of business because she is downright porky now. She tried too hard. Her body rebelled.
It's always good to talk with her because I get good insight.
Day 89 - Thursday, August 17, 2017: 222.2
The numbers don't tell the whole story. One encouraging number is that my highest weight last month was 224.4 and the highest weight so far this month is 223.4. Other than that, the general trend in weight is up.
Am I discouraged? No. I'm not sure if I can explain why or even if I know why. It may be that I am paying less conscious attention to what I eat as I learn to trust my body. I'm also beginning to notice that I eat for reasons that have nothing to do with any sort of physical hunger or emotional drive to eat due to past diets. I eat as a way to break up my day. I take a break by sitting down to read and eat. Today, I'm going to think about other ways to take a break. Maybe I can just read. Bad habits need to be recognized before they can be broken.
Day 90 - Friday, August 18, 2017:
It's always a pleasure to talk with Kayla, and I almost always walk away with some nugget of information that is helpful to me. This time, I talked with her about my hearing loss and the fact that both my older brother and sister are so hard of hearing. She suggested it was genetic, and I said I knew that, but what could I do about it? Also, my father has dementia and had hearing loss when in his early 60s. Is that where I am headed?
Could be.... What do I do about it? I have explored hearing loss and found an interesting fact that tinnitus is associated with stress and hearing loss. Well, maybe tinnitus is a clue. I'm totally speculating and not a doctor, but the Mayo Clinic told me I had no options, so I can explore wild theories. Maybe restricted circulation in the brain causes tinnitus, and the restricted circulation can be caused by stress or age-related decline in circulation.
What do I do about it? I can reduce stress, for one thing, and dieting has over the years been a huge source of stress. This settles me into fasting and only fasting as a way to lose weight. If I don't lose weight, so be it because I'd rather be obese than have dementia.
What can I do now to improve circulation in the head? Facial yoga. That is what I am working on.
Day 93 - Monday, August 21, 2017:
Katie is getting a pedicure while I wait. She just got back from camp and this was urgent!
I realized that hunger is not a problem for me so long as it ends. Starvation is the problem. What to do? I decided that waiting is an acceptable activity but enduring is not. I am going to try fasting plus moderate eating.
For this week, my plan is to continue the fasting but add moderate eating on Monday 11 AM - 1 PM.
What was the first thing that went into my mouth during my two hours of moderate eating? A milk chocolate and caramel truffle. Katie had purchased it for me at a candy shop near her camp. That was OK. I can accept that a habit even as it is being formed does not always have to be followed, especially when you are accepting a gift. After having the truffle, I had a moderate lunch of a 6" roast beef and Swiss cheese sandwich from Subway.
Next week, I will work on moderate eating for two additional hours, from 11 AM to 3 PM on Monday. Each week, I will work on moderate eating for an additional two hours of my eating windows until I have moderate eating Mondays through Saturdays with Sundays having no restrictions. I can eat as much as I want on Sundays. I do not have to endure. I just have to wait for Sunday.
Day 94 - Tuesday, August 22, 2017: 223.4
I have only tried moderate eating with the No S Diet, and I gave up on that long ago. Moderate eating pretty much means no snacking, but I won't restrict myself to one plate and will allow myself to have a truffle offered by a daughter. I'm easing into this approach slowly because it will take time to figure out. What shall I have for lunch today? Although I am not committing myself to moderate eating, I am going to test it out. Would an egg salad sandwich be good?
5:44 PM: Wow. I had a surprise. I took Katie for a haircut and did not get back to the house until quarter to 12, and we needed to leave for the dentist by 12:15. I managed to eat a ton in that half hour.
What has fasting done for me? It's given me license to be a pig! It will be hard to add moderate eating to fasting, but I now think both are necessary.
8 PM: I think I need to add moderate eating to my fasting, but what that means I don't really know. I've let my eating go wild so long as I fast, and that has not resulted in weight loss.
Day 95 - Wednesday, August 23, 2017: 223.6
Yesterday was awful, and today I feel even worse. I think I may be having some sort of reaction to all the sugar I ate in caramel corn. Ick. I do think that fasting does something for me and will result in weight loss over a long period of time, but I'm discouraged especially since I had to take off my wedding ring the other day because it was hurting.
It is a real rush to get Katie ready for school, but today is a pause because Katie and Ellie are at an amusement park this afternoon into night and I'm home doing Katie's laundry. We knew this week would be a rush, and we piled on by deciding to take the girls camping before Katie heads to college because we did not have one camping trip this year.
Now what for me? Kayla chuckles that I use her as a sounding board but it is helpful. I'm trying to build habits. The habit of not eating until 11 and then not eating after 7 helps me to realize that hunger, indeed, is not a crises. I can last just fine 16 hours at a time without food.
What else can be a good habit? I think back to my SET guidelines which seem like a form of appetite control. They are:
S: Sit down to eat.
E: Eat without distraction.
T: Take hands or utensil away from food while eating.
Can I tack these habits on to the fasting habit? Yes, I think I can easily, especially since I can eat within an 8 hour window every day.
Day 96 - Thursday, August 24, 2017: 223.0
I definitely have a tendency to eat fast and a lot right after my eating window opens at 11 and sometimes even before it closes at 7 PM, so adding these SET guidelines could help. I started following them yesterday afternoon about 2 PM.
Day 97 - Friday, August 25, 2017: 222.4
I tried following the SET guidelines right when I started fasting, and I just could not manage. Now I can manage. The SET guidelines are slowing down my eating so I don't eat a ton right at 11.
Day 98 - Saturday, August 26, 2017: 220.0
It is a bit of a challenge to follow the SET guidelines, but I am managing. If I had to restrict portions or count calories, it would just be too much. I don't know how people do that for years on end: it must be miserable. I suppose being obese is miserable, but there just has to be a better way than the false choice of portion control or obesity. Yesterday, I had some fudge Katie had bought when we brought her home from camp on Monday. I can enjoy fudge and still lose weight.
I am not fooling myself. This will work. It will take a long time, but the weight will be lower and stable.
Day 102 - Wednesday, August 30, 2017: 222.8
I tell myself this will work because I am not sure it will work. Yesterday, I neither followed the SET guidelines nor stayed within my eating window. What gets me back on track is that I would not give up; instead, I would try to find another diet, and I do not -- absolutely do not -- want to try another diet. Maybe when we get back from Boston next week, I will try to increase my steps.
10 PM: I veered off course again today, eating a hot dog at 8:30 PM. I need to stay the course.
Day 103 - Thursday, August 31, 2017: 221.1
When I eat too much, I get loose stools. This has happened many times since I started fasting and is not something I usually get. It is possible I have had loose stools more since I started this diet than in my entire previous life. It is as if my body is rejecting the food. Maybe fasting is nature's way of keeping appetite under control. The Catholic Church mandated that every adult except the very old or the sick fast until 3 pm twice per week all year long except the week after Easter and the time between Christmas and New Year's. Maybe there was some wisdom regarding the human body in that mandate.
We are in Boston from tonight until Tuesday for a big celebration that was supposed to be a wedding of a niece. The wedding was delayed but the party is on because so much was pre-paid. A future wedding will be modest, so we aren't invited to any future wedding. There will be lots of food, and good food, too - lobster dinner on Saturday, for example. My stomach just churns right now at the thought of overeating.
Month 1: May 21, 2017 - 226.0
Month 2: June 1, 2017: 223.2 (month high: 224.8; month low: 221.6)
Month 3: July 6, 2017: 222.0 (month high: 224.4; month low: 219.4)
Month 4: August 1, 2017: 222.8 (month high: 224.2; month low: 221.0)
Weight Summary
Day 73 - Tuesday, August 1, 2017: 222.8
Day 74 - Wednesday, August 2, 2017:
Day 75 - Thursday, August 3, 2017: 221.2
Day 76 - Friday, August 4, 2017:
Day 77 - Saturday, August 5, 2017: 222.8
Day 78 - Sunday, August 6, 2017:
Day 79 - Monday, August 7, 2017:223.0
Day 80 - Tuesday, August 8, 2017: 221.0
Day 81 - Wednesday, August 9, 2017: 221.8
Day 82 - Thursday, August 10, 2017: 223.4
Day 83 - Friday, August 11, 2017: 222.8
Day 84 - Saturday, August 12, 2017: 223.4
Day 85 - Sunday, August 13, 2017:
Day 86 - Monday, August 14, 2017: 223.4
Day 87 - Tuesday, August 15, 2017: 222.8
Day 88 - Wednesday, August 16, 2017:
Day 89 - Thursday, August 17, 2017: 222.2
Day 90 - Friday, August 18, 2017:
Day 91- Saturday, August 19, 2017:
Day 92 - Sunday, August 20, 2017: 224.2
Day 93 - Monday, August 21, 2017:
Day 94 - Tuesday, August 22, 2017: 223.4
Day 95 - Wednesday, August 23, 2017: 223.6
Day 96 - Thursday, August 24, 2017: 223.0
Day 97 - Friday, August 25, 2017: 222.4
Day 98 - Saturday, August 26, 2017: 222.0
Day 99 - Sunday, August 27, 2017:
Day 100 - Monday, August 28, 2017:
Day 101 - Tuesday, August 29, 2017:
Day 102 - Wednesday, August 30, 2017: 222.8
Day 103 - Thursday, August 31, 2017: 221.2
Journal
Day 73 - Tuesday, August 1, 2017: 222.8
My weight goes up and down in waves. I believe I am now at the top of a wave.
Day 74 - Wednesday, August 2, 2017:
I have been doing some retirement research online, so of course I am getting calls and invitations to talk with people. Yesterday, someone called, and I said we aren't ready yet. I told him we had never talked about retirement savings. I stopped saving when Katie was born 18 years ago, and I just threw everything in the S&P 500. The investment guy said I have done well, but did I know there are overseas investment vehicles that deliver twice what you get in the S&P 500.
What? Was I going to trust money to someone who got to decide how to invest our money for the potential to do better than the S&P 500? Then I asked the guy if he had ever heard the terms "satisfier" and "maximer." He hadn't so I explained a satisfier is one who gets to a point where what is purchased is acceptable. A maximizer wants the absolute best.
I told him I am a satisfier when it comes to investment. I don't want to be scouring the world for the best possible investment. I'd prefer to keep investments clan and simple and minimize fees. Well, of course, this guy wants to have a meeting set up with someone who lives in the Twin Cities. Fine, I said, call me after school starts.
Talking with him gave me some insight. I sometimes want just to reach acceptable level with purchases and sometimes want the best. Clothing generally is an acceptable category; so is make up. Shoes -- maximize. I want the best.
How about diet? I've been trying for the absolute best and have gone from one idea to another. I've also, I realized, tried to maximize food consumption. Is that ever an idiotic idea for someone trying to lose weight! What I need, I think, is to have the goal to satisfy hunger and maximize -- what? I think maximize simplicity. This diet sure maximizes simplicity. All I have to do is look at the clock.
Still, I need to switch from maximizing food consumption to satisfying hunger.
Day 75 - Thursday, August 3, 2017: 221.2
Just texting Tommy now as he ends his 2 AM to 8 AM shift.... My family thought he was lazy. I was convinced he was drifting. He got an opportunity for a summer temp position that showed he is resourceful and hard-working. His hours have been something else.... Yesterday he worked 6 AM to 3 PM. He is supporting a project for overnight installs in retail stores. He got an opportunity that seemed unlikely to be anything but sketchy when he got a call at 3:30 PM to see if he could work 9 PM to 9 AM for that night and the next night, but he was willing to do it and it turned into a five week project with lots of hours. Providentially, his hours at the deli at the local grocery store were cut back, so he has been working both jobs.
Meanwhile, I'm looking at lots of time on my hands. I considered, briefly, going to a one meal a day approach because of the fact that my weight last month was lower than my weight this month, but I have to keep in mind that my weight fluctuates a lot and I need to concentrate on the overall trend. I'm also asking myself if the only reason I'm eating something is because I can. It's the old diet mentality that, when on a 1,000 calorie per day diet, you eat right up to but not over 1,000 calories. You count raisins.
Wow. I remember those days like a traumatic event. It is so much easier to just eat within certain hours.
I'll be happy when my weight is always below 220. That day is coming!
Day 76 - Friday, August 4, 2017:
The app Happy Scale has given me a good idea of how my weight goes in waves - up and down, up and down. Do I really need to monitor those waves? No. Weighing myself is just an opportunity for me to change my mind about this diet.
And do I want to do that? No. Even the thought of having a restriction can trigger a binge. No, I need to stick with what I have right now. Last night, we had dinner out and did not finish until almost 8 PM. Instead of saying that I will first eat at 11 AM, I'll move it to noon. There will still be a 16 hour fast. The latest I will eat in the morning is noon even if I eat later the evening before.
I think for the rest of the month I'm just going to concentrate on keeping up my steps and learning some basic yoga moves. That's it. I have my next personal training session with Kayla on the 15th, and I'm going to try to stay off this site until then. At some point, overthinking a diet becomes a problem.
Day 77 - Saturday, August 5, 2017: 222.8
Well, that didn't last. Yesterday, I ate a lot, and this morning I feel stuffed. I believe I am at the top of a wave. I am going through clothing and throwing out fat people clothing. I bought belts. I did feel that a pair of pants was looser, and I can still wear my wedding ring. Being this fat this long is going to be a slog to get over. I just have to be patient and stick with my plan.
Day 80 - Tuesday, August 8, 2017: 221.0
I thought I was at the top of the wave on Saturday, but I actually was yesterday morning. I'm beginning to recognize a trend which is that I eat to satisfy appetite but -- with fasting -- my stomach cannot handle the food: it goes right through me. Yesterday was the day the food went through me, and today my weight is down two pounds.
It is not impressive to be down 5 pounds in 80 days. It is impressive that I did not restrict eating during an 8 hour window every day and still I lost 5 pounds.
I am going to start tracking the highest and lowest weight in each month so I can see the downward trend and also the variance which is about 3 - 5 pounds.
Day 81 - Wednesday, August 9, 2017:
Tonight, Tom observed a rush of eating before 7 PM and commented that starvation was coming. I chuckled. Yes, I was eating to last until 11 AM tomorrow. This diet, if ultimately effective, will take a lot of time.
Tom told me that he can see a lot of stress from Anne leaving. I am happy for them, but it is sad that they will be so far away -- Bloomington, IN.
Day 82 - Thursday, August 10, 2017: 223.4
Sabotage! I have been considering fasting for a longer period of time, and that lead to overeating. I need to stick with this diet.
Day 83 - Friday, August 11, 2017: 222.8
When the kids were young, I sometimes said, "Hunger is not a crises." I was thinking about that this morning because yesterday Tom again remarked on how much I was eating before I left for a meeting. He thought it was a dinner meeting, but I explained that it was appetizers and I was running late so there probably would be none left. We needed to pick up a van from the shop which is why I was running late.
Still, his comment got me thinking. I was eating to prevent hunger before my eating window opens at 11 AM today. Why?
I think I've bought into the widely publicized myth that hunger is a problem. I hate those billboards that say: "One in 5 children face hunger." Face hunger? Are you facing lions? Everyone should face hunger. It's what makes food taste good!
I am looking back and seeing something of a domino effect. Being a little chubby (5'6 1/2" and 132 pounds) in high school led to my restricting eating which led to binge behavior which has led to a permanent state of eating before getting hungry.
Only now I have pieced together what happened and why. The solution is to trust that hunger is not like facing the lions. It's just hunger, and hunger comes and goes and builds over time. There is no need to fear hunger. It is not painful.
I heard an 84 year old priest, who sounded like he was in his 60s, talking about caring for tuberculosis patients in North Korea, and he was asked if he was scared. He said he was not because he trusted.
Well, it would be reasonable for him to be afraid, but he trusted. I think I could use a little trust in dealing with what is clearly an unreasonable fear. I'm not going to starve to death. I'm not even going to change my eating window.
Day 84 - Saturday, August 12, 2017: 223.4
Tightening the eating window will do no good. I need to face hunger. Hunger. I do have some vague childhood memories of hunger actually feeling good because it meant it was almost time for dinner. I need to experience hunger again, not as a threat to my life but as a pleasant prelude to a meal.
Day 85 - Sunday, August 13, 2017:
Last night, I put on the ring I wore when I followed my Novena Diet (9 days of 1,000 calories/day) and I decided that the ring would be my reminder to eat only when hungry. I wonder if I end up eating anything today. It is 8:22, I just got back from the gym, and I am not at all hungry. Of course, my body has become acclimated to not eating before 11. In fact, yesterday we had breakfast out, and it seemed strange to be eating so early.
Day 88 - Wednesday, August 16, 2017:
Until we get back from Boston on September 5, I am going to be just swamped, but I think I've drilled down to the real reason for my obesity: fear of starvation. It's laughable, of course, but I've changed diets quickly and frequently for decades. On Monday, I decided to follow the Novena Diet again, and that thought lasted until noon. At this point, I am finding success in sticking with the diet, and I think the bodily fear that I'll be starving soon will eventually dissipate. It seems strange that the body has a mind of its own, so to speak, but I am realizing it does. Logic does not come into play when you are feet from a grizzly bear. What I have done is trigger a survival reaction from all those years of dieting.
And what else has this done to my body? I'm trying to figure out my hearing loss, although the Mayo Clinic says it is genetic and my older siblings' hearing loss is evidence of that view. I'm thinking that hearing loss and dementia (which my father has) both come from the same source, poor blood circulation in the head. I believe that stress can contribute to the poor blood circulation because people tend to have tinnitus when they are stressed or have hearing loss. What I am now trying is face yoga, and buried in all the charges from the last month associated with Anne's wedding and move to Indiana is $150 for an online facial yoga program.
Why am I writing this? I think dieting may be very, very bad for health. It causes stress. Stress is bad for the body.
Fasting is not stressful because there is a known end time to not being able to eat what you want.
Am I distressed that my weight loss is pathetically little? No. I still can wear my wedding ring and the drive to change my diet program is occurring less and less frequently. Once my body knows I'm going to fast and not diet, I think I'll lose weight.
Anyway, that is the theory. I had no problem rescheduling my appointment with Kayla, my personal trainer, to Friday. I bet she has lost a lot of business because she is downright porky now. She tried too hard. Her body rebelled.
It's always good to talk with her because I get good insight.
Day 89 - Thursday, August 17, 2017: 222.2
The numbers don't tell the whole story. One encouraging number is that my highest weight last month was 224.4 and the highest weight so far this month is 223.4. Other than that, the general trend in weight is up.
Am I discouraged? No. I'm not sure if I can explain why or even if I know why. It may be that I am paying less conscious attention to what I eat as I learn to trust my body. I'm also beginning to notice that I eat for reasons that have nothing to do with any sort of physical hunger or emotional drive to eat due to past diets. I eat as a way to break up my day. I take a break by sitting down to read and eat. Today, I'm going to think about other ways to take a break. Maybe I can just read. Bad habits need to be recognized before they can be broken.
Day 90 - Friday, August 18, 2017:
It's always a pleasure to talk with Kayla, and I almost always walk away with some nugget of information that is helpful to me. This time, I talked with her about my hearing loss and the fact that both my older brother and sister are so hard of hearing. She suggested it was genetic, and I said I knew that, but what could I do about it? Also, my father has dementia and had hearing loss when in his early 60s. Is that where I am headed?
Could be.... What do I do about it? I have explored hearing loss and found an interesting fact that tinnitus is associated with stress and hearing loss. Well, maybe tinnitus is a clue. I'm totally speculating and not a doctor, but the Mayo Clinic told me I had no options, so I can explore wild theories. Maybe restricted circulation in the brain causes tinnitus, and the restricted circulation can be caused by stress or age-related decline in circulation.
What do I do about it? I can reduce stress, for one thing, and dieting has over the years been a huge source of stress. This settles me into fasting and only fasting as a way to lose weight. If I don't lose weight, so be it because I'd rather be obese than have dementia.
What can I do now to improve circulation in the head? Facial yoga. That is what I am working on.
Day 93 - Monday, August 21, 2017:
Katie is getting a pedicure while I wait. She just got back from camp and this was urgent!
I realized that hunger is not a problem for me so long as it ends. Starvation is the problem. What to do? I decided that waiting is an acceptable activity but enduring is not. I am going to try fasting plus moderate eating.
For this week, my plan is to continue the fasting but add moderate eating on Monday 11 AM - 1 PM.
What was the first thing that went into my mouth during my two hours of moderate eating? A milk chocolate and caramel truffle. Katie had purchased it for me at a candy shop near her camp. That was OK. I can accept that a habit even as it is being formed does not always have to be followed, especially when you are accepting a gift. After having the truffle, I had a moderate lunch of a 6" roast beef and Swiss cheese sandwich from Subway.
Next week, I will work on moderate eating for two additional hours, from 11 AM to 3 PM on Monday. Each week, I will work on moderate eating for an additional two hours of my eating windows until I have moderate eating Mondays through Saturdays with Sundays having no restrictions. I can eat as much as I want on Sundays. I do not have to endure. I just have to wait for Sunday.
Day 94 - Tuesday, August 22, 2017: 223.4
I have only tried moderate eating with the No S Diet, and I gave up on that long ago. Moderate eating pretty much means no snacking, but I won't restrict myself to one plate and will allow myself to have a truffle offered by a daughter. I'm easing into this approach slowly because it will take time to figure out. What shall I have for lunch today? Although I am not committing myself to moderate eating, I am going to test it out. Would an egg salad sandwich be good?
5:44 PM: Wow. I had a surprise. I took Katie for a haircut and did not get back to the house until quarter to 12, and we needed to leave for the dentist by 12:15. I managed to eat a ton in that half hour.
What has fasting done for me? It's given me license to be a pig! It will be hard to add moderate eating to fasting, but I now think both are necessary.
8 PM: I think I need to add moderate eating to my fasting, but what that means I don't really know. I've let my eating go wild so long as I fast, and that has not resulted in weight loss.
Day 95 - Wednesday, August 23, 2017: 223.6
Yesterday was awful, and today I feel even worse. I think I may be having some sort of reaction to all the sugar I ate in caramel corn. Ick. I do think that fasting does something for me and will result in weight loss over a long period of time, but I'm discouraged especially since I had to take off my wedding ring the other day because it was hurting.
It is a real rush to get Katie ready for school, but today is a pause because Katie and Ellie are at an amusement park this afternoon into night and I'm home doing Katie's laundry. We knew this week would be a rush, and we piled on by deciding to take the girls camping before Katie heads to college because we did not have one camping trip this year.
Now what for me? Kayla chuckles that I use her as a sounding board but it is helpful. I'm trying to build habits. The habit of not eating until 11 and then not eating after 7 helps me to realize that hunger, indeed, is not a crises. I can last just fine 16 hours at a time without food.
What else can be a good habit? I think back to my SET guidelines which seem like a form of appetite control. They are:
S: Sit down to eat.
E: Eat without distraction.
T: Take hands or utensil away from food while eating.
Can I tack these habits on to the fasting habit? Yes, I think I can easily, especially since I can eat within an 8 hour window every day.
Day 96 - Thursday, August 24, 2017: 223.0
I definitely have a tendency to eat fast and a lot right after my eating window opens at 11 and sometimes even before it closes at 7 PM, so adding these SET guidelines could help. I started following them yesterday afternoon about 2 PM.
Day 97 - Friday, August 25, 2017: 222.4
I tried following the SET guidelines right when I started fasting, and I just could not manage. Now I can manage. The SET guidelines are slowing down my eating so I don't eat a ton right at 11.
Day 98 - Saturday, August 26, 2017: 220.0
It is a bit of a challenge to follow the SET guidelines, but I am managing. If I had to restrict portions or count calories, it would just be too much. I don't know how people do that for years on end: it must be miserable. I suppose being obese is miserable, but there just has to be a better way than the false choice of portion control or obesity. Yesterday, I had some fudge Katie had bought when we brought her home from camp on Monday. I can enjoy fudge and still lose weight.
I am not fooling myself. This will work. It will take a long time, but the weight will be lower and stable.
Day 102 - Wednesday, August 30, 2017: 222.8
I tell myself this will work because I am not sure it will work. Yesterday, I neither followed the SET guidelines nor stayed within my eating window. What gets me back on track is that I would not give up; instead, I would try to find another diet, and I do not -- absolutely do not -- want to try another diet. Maybe when we get back from Boston next week, I will try to increase my steps.
10 PM: I veered off course again today, eating a hot dog at 8:30 PM. I need to stay the course.
Day 103 - Thursday, August 31, 2017: 221.1
When I eat too much, I get loose stools. This has happened many times since I started fasting and is not something I usually get. It is possible I have had loose stools more since I started this diet than in my entire previous life. It is as if my body is rejecting the food. Maybe fasting is nature's way of keeping appetite under control. The Catholic Church mandated that every adult except the very old or the sick fast until 3 pm twice per week all year long except the week after Easter and the time between Christmas and New Year's. Maybe there was some wisdom regarding the human body in that mandate.
We are in Boston from tonight until Tuesday for a big celebration that was supposed to be a wedding of a niece. The wedding was delayed but the party is on because so much was pre-paid. A future wedding will be modest, so we aren't invited to any future wedding. There will be lots of food, and good food, too - lobster dinner on Saturday, for example. My stomach just churns right now at the thought of overeating.
Last edited by Kathleen on Thu Aug 31, 2017 1:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.