Graham's Daily Check In

Counting carbs/calories is a drag. Obsessive scale stepping is a recipe for despair. If you want to count something, "days on habit" is a much better metric. Checking off days on a calendar would do just fine, but if you do it here you get accountability and support. Here's how. Start a new topic in this forum called (say) "Your Name Daily Check In." Then every N day post a "reply" to that topic as to whether you stayed on habit. A simple "<font color="green">SUCCESS</font>" or "<font color="red">FAILURE</font>" (or your preferred euphemism if that's too harsh) is sufficient, but obviously you're welcome to write more if you want. On S-days just register that you're taking an S-day. You don't have to do this forever, just until you're confident you've built the habit. Feel free to check in weekly or monthly or sporadically instead of daily. Feel free also to track other habits besides No-s (I'm keeping this forum under No-s because that's what the vast majority are using it for). See also my <a href="/habitcal/">HabitCal</a> tool for another more formal (and perhaps complementary) way to track habits.

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Graham
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Graham's Daily Check In

Post by Graham » Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:57 am

Male, 59, height 5' 7", waist 40 1/2" weight 166lbs (11 stone 12lbs) BMI 26.1 WHtR 60.4% Body Fat 33.8% (calculated stats courtesy of http://clymer.altervista.org/bmi/)
*11/4/2011 I really should have checked my height - nearly one year on and I actually tried to measure it, using the same tape measure I use for my waist. Near as I can judge, I'm actually 5' 7 1/2" - so all my WHtR, BMI and Body Fat %'s are off by @0.75%. I have a nerdy desire to go back and correct every figure - but life's too short and this diet/body/me obsession has got boring. (it wouldn't be boring if I was succeeding dammit!)

This is like writing a diary - only on-line, and anyone could read it so I should remember to not let it get too personal...

This is Thursday, week 2. I am doing ok on this diet, unlike the rest of my life - I am wondering if order in this area might leak out into other areas?

Background:

I haven't dieted much in my life - I have dieted voluntarily twice before, and whilst the first time (late teens) seemed to set me on a good path (cut down on biscuits and bread and potatoes and sugar, increased other veg and protein) it was partly propped up by smoking instead of snacking - and that eventually turned out badly.

EDIT 18/9/10: Re the above: depends on what you call dieting. I have been interested in nutrition most of my life, since that first diet in my teens, later I was an Adelle Davis fan, read all her books. I've taken vitamins, also ginseng, I've been vegetarian, vegan, then back to vegetarian and back to omnivore again, which I remain to this day, though my sympathy with animals means I'm a guilt-ridden meat, fish, poultry egg and dairy product eater. So take the paragraph above, and those that folllow, with this qualifying information in mind. END EDIT

My second diet (@2years ago) was Weight Watchers - which worked, but drove me crazy and it was expensive. I gave up and the weight crept back.

Then came weight-loss via exercise alone - that too worked for a while but I had emotional issues doing that - had to quit the rowing machine after I started getting so angry every time I used it, switched to cycling but that wasn't so effective at burning calories.

Week 1 No S

After initial panic over anticipated feelings of deprivation, I was fine. I did get hungry sometimes despite massive plates - especially on the day I did manual labour.

I felt very odd on the weekend, couldn't get easy with not doing the the 3 plates/no sweets/no snacks/no seconds at all. Wished the weekend would end soon, to get back to the clarity and simplicity of N days.

Week 2

Going OK except yesterday when I only ate 2 meals and I think that was in an odd way a sort of lapse, though I marked it green on the habitcal as I didn't snack.

WHY was I able to skip a meal? is it SUGAR in my frequent teas and coffees? (I've let the sweeteners slide a bit after reading Reinhard's thoughts on the subject)

So, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday all went fine No S wise - and other issues in my life, not for public consumption, are going to hell. I do so want to be in a better place in ALL areas of my life, but this is a place to start, it is better than letting everything be bad.
Last edited by Graham on Thu Jun 18, 2015 11:06 am, edited 7 times in total.

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Post by Graham » Fri Apr 30, 2010 11:43 am

FAILURE

Did I fail yesterday? I was with Hedy. Her style of eating cooking doesn't fit me and especially not No S me. She snacks, has no weight problem isn't sympathetic to my efforts - can't see why I can't just be natural...

I was having 2 meals with her in the same day.

Soup twice. 1st was ok, it was thick veg soup with hearty bread

Second soup after allotment gardening, I had been digging, I was hungry and had a bowl of a thin soup then pasta/cheese in same bowl, but it was more than a bowlful of food, it was like 2 bowlsfull - I don't think I overeat, given the work I did and my being male and that it was my second low-ish protein/calorie meal in a day, far less than I would have had at home. So I sort of failed and I feel IT'S NOT FAIR! NOT MY FAULT! THE WOMAN MADE ME DO IT!

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Post by Graham » Sat May 01, 2010 7:48 am

Friday was a FAILURE too dammit!

I did a post about this, it was "technical" - i.e. I had 2 glasses of LEMONADE instead of a second glass of white wine - though the calories were identical.

I do mind about failing - but the failures have been minor

I AM JUST AS FAT! 2 weeks of this and I weigh the same. This is miserable news - and the weekend is supposed to be the SAFETY VALVE? What safety valve do I need?

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Post by Graham » Sun May 02, 2010 11:55 am

Can't fail on a Saturday. Had a sweets/nuts/chocolates/biscuits binge for an hour or so on Saturday morning and then I stopped. It was ok, it limited itself.

Evening meal at Asakusa with Andi, Masayo, Jeanne and Hedy, breakfast at Hedy's - then walked home to feed the cats. PC is getting worse - I can't create new Open Office documents and save them, though I can modify ones that already exist. Blast it - it stops me writing my health journal.

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Post by Graham » Tue May 04, 2010 7:56 am

Success on Monday. But not expected. I have to think and get clear about whether it is ok with me to feel hungry/needy, to exercise and feel like I want food but NOT eat it...

I also have to keep re-editing my first posting as I remember things - I wrote I only ever dieted twice before in my life, for example: not true, I now recall a very significant diet called T Factor - the one where I nearly fainted! I only did it for about a week, it was way too scary to persist with but it made me so mad, the book never said a word about exercise tolerance being affected.

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Post by Graham » Wed May 05, 2010 8:49 am

SUCCESS on Tuesday: I FELT THIN - and was OK with it. I know that is an issue. I could do stuff (EFT for example?) about the feeling side.

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Post by Graham » Thu May 06, 2010 9:21 am

Wednesday was a success - but I felt some real temptation to snack, had floating fantasies of biscuits, jelly-babies, nuts, raisins, ANYTHING, in fact. I didn't do it, but I ate a massive evening meal - fish and chips. I did a round trip of about 6 miles (on my bicycle) to get it, but the scales tell me that I'm just neither gaining or losing.

Weight 11stone 10 1/2 lbs, waist 40 1/2" - so I've felt hungry, struggled, fought with my significant other, reduced exercise and consumption of fruit and salads (because I don't feel OK about either of those things while I'm restricting my food intake) - I'm just running on the spot, it seems.

Looks like No S works for some people, perhaps very overweight people, crap food snackers etc. - but for me? I am probably about 25 lbs overweight with a fairly sound diet, and No S is demanding yet not particularly rewarding (YET)

I will give it time, but I think I need to address how I FEEL about losing weight, I think that is the key, rather than making too many rules, apart from "DON'T EAT CRAP!"

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Post by ShannahR » Thu May 06, 2010 12:35 pm

Hi Graham,
I was reading over your thread and it looks like you've been doing a great job with this new way of eating. I know you've hit some rough spots but I think that happens to all of us at first ( I had some food fantasies the first week too). I recently looked back over my posts from that time and it took me until week 5-6 for it too get "easy." I just want to encourage you to stick with it for at least a month or even better 3. The reason I say this is just because you haven't seen any results in 1 week doesn't mean you won't see any over a month. I started at about the same place you are...approx 30 lbs to lose and I've lost weight with this method (16lbs in 4 months). My fiance also is trying to adopt the No S lifestyle..I'd say he needs to lose about 20-30 lbs and he lost 3 his first month. This can work for people who only need to lose "moderate" amounts of weight, it just takes time and patience.
This version of myself is not permanent, tomorrow I will be different. --BEP
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Post by Graham » Thu May 06, 2010 5:20 pm

Hi ShannahR - it may not be apparent, because I didn't start posting daily check-ins till Thursday of week 2, but I am half way through week 3 and that's why I'm a little disappointed at the static weight.

However, I have noticed some conflict about dieting, because if I don't eat a lot but do exercise a lot I start to feel strange, my vision starts to go, I think I would actually faint if I didn't stop what I was doing - it's a bit of a catch 22.

I am thinking that my last real weight-loss success was last spring, and summer when I didn't diet - but I used a rowing machine at least 5 days a week for an hour a day - it was hard work, but I lost about a pound a week and a couple of inches round my waist.

Why did I quit? Strange thing - I used to get intermittently angry while I was rowing - I was having a difficult time in my life and exercising in my sitting-room just seemed to remind me of it. I switched to a daily bike ride, was much calmer, but it didn't take the pounds off like the rower.

And now I'm here, trying to come to terms with my desire to lose weight without feeling weak and hungry while I do it.

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Post by Graham » Fri May 07, 2010 9:34 am

Thursday 6th May was a success - I actually forgot to eat 1 meal! Well, not forget exactly: huge meal on Wednesday night led to late breakfast Thursday - more or less at lunch-time, so I had an early evening meal and felt no need for a 3rd meal. That is so strange after feeling SO tempted to snack on Wednesday.

Now I'm 1/2 lb lighter - but over 1 day it really doesn't mean much, my weight has fluctuated over the whole time I've been on No S - up a bit, then down a bit, up a bit again, waist size too, goes up a bit then down, but there is no TREND up or down, the trend is steady weight and steady waist. (11stone 10lb today, but waist 40 3/4")

I read on another thread of someone who started introducing 24 hour fasts a couple of times a week. I wonder how I would cope with that? Or how about trying to up the exercise? I don't feel I could combine No S with a daily hour on the rower - yet, that would give the sort of calorie deficit required to start actually losing weight - but what kind of weight would I lose? I don't want to lose muscle - just fat.

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Post by Graham » Fri May 07, 2010 9:22 pm

I will go to bed soon. Tomorrow, I am really looking forward to SWEETS, SNACKS and no fixed meal size.

I only had 2 meals again today - but I was sluggish, drifting, achieving nothing. (except some robust discussions on this forum)

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Post by Graham » Sat May 08, 2010 7:11 am

A Saturday. Can't fail today, but that isn't the point just now.

Here is the point: I weigh 11stone 10lb, waist 40 5/8" despite a second day on which I had only 2 meals in the same week.

Both low-food days were also low-exercise days - looks like it just balances out, no virtue in less of both, no prize, but it is disappointing nevertheless.

So this is my 3rd week of No S, and I seem to be getting nowhere. I have "better" habits - I comply with 3 meals with no snacks, no sweets, no seconds (that's a tricky one at times - there's this almost unconscious tendency to shave just a little extra off that piece of cheese and nibble it absent-mindedly at the end of a meal, I don't exceed the filling of my virtual plate, but is that what no seconds means?

I think a smoothing out of blood sugar highs and lows might be valuable - but it is all artificial. I am not working just now, I can always manage my eating and exercise better when I'm not working - what happens when I return to work if it's not a bike-commute?

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Post by LoriLifts » Sat May 08, 2010 9:55 pm

Hi Graham,

I enjoy reading your blog and notice that you might want more information on intermittent fasting.

Check out Brad Pilon's website Eat Stop Eat. He's a really interesting and informative writer ( second only to Reinhard).

Lori
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Post by Graham » Sun May 09, 2010 2:03 pm

Hi Lori, and thank you for the tip about the Brad Pilon website. I am intrigued, yet I find what he's charging rather steep. Reinhards' book which is a real one you can carry around and show to people is only $14 - how come Brad P is charging $40 for an ebook?

I am intrigued - especially the promise that fasting won't cost you muscle. I have been reading your blog and see how fit you are - but you must have a very different metabolism to me - you eat far less than I do, yet exercise far more. When I try to exercise without eating enough I get faint - so I can't just cut calories and exercise at the same time - in the past I've had to choose to do one or the other, rather than both simultaneously.

I guess we aren't all the same metabolically.

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Post by Graham » Sun May 09, 2010 2:29 pm

It's Sunday, and my 3rd week of No S draws to a close.

I have learned a few things, but I haven't lost weight (well not exactly)

To be precise, I did weigh 2lb more on The day I started No S - it was a rather odd situation - I'd just finished a period of work where I'd been riding to and from work every day, and it was the weekend, so I was still eating for the bike, but I had stopped biking, so I'm thinking tht weight was sort of a blip. Looking over the month before No S my weight rose and fell like 11 9, 11 10, 11 11, 11 12 - so there isn't any sense that No S'ing has changed my weight.

I have discovered, after initial anxiety, that sticking to the No S rules is mostly enjoyable provided I LIMIT EXERCISE and AVOID LOW-CALORIE FOODS (like salads and fruit, sadly). That isn't really a good long-term strategy for me - BUT - now I'm gaining some confidence in the basic pattern, am I ready to start sneaking the salads in?

Whatever I figure out, I feel I don't have a snowball in hell's chance of keeping it good once I start working again unless it's somewhere I can ride to work. I think I get a little too stressed. OMG! time to go shopping or I'll have no mushrooms and grapefruit for tomorrow's breakfast, never mind cat litter/!

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Post by LoriLifts » Sun May 09, 2010 3:20 pm

Hi Graham,

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Fasting isn't for everybody...my husband hates it. On the other hand, he likes to write down everything he eats, along with calorie counting. I hate doing that! Different strokes for different folks..

If you want more information on fasting, check out Fast-5. I can't remember the doctor's name who started it, if you can't find it, let me know.

Fast-5 is different from Eat Stop Eat. In a nutshell, you fast for 19 hours, then have an eating window of 5 hours per day. The best thing about this program is that the you can download the doctor's book for free on the Fast-5 website. It's about 60 pages and has lots of information.

I'm doing Fast-5, it's a good fit with No S.
Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.

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Post by Graham » Sun May 09, 2010 4:58 pm

Thanks again Lori: I've found the fast-5 website, I like it! Good people, really admirable perspective, I've downloaded the ebook and now I'll read it.

I'm not sure yet which way to go then - incorporate it with No S, or do the ESE thing, or do it instead of No S or do ESE instead of No S - or maybe I'll just wait a while, no rush after all AND I didn't get round to adjusting No S in the way I meant to:

My plan was to gradually incorporate the foods I've left to one side as "not filling enough" - like salads and fruit. Also to gradually up the exercise. So many choices...

Graham

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Post by Graham » Mon May 10, 2010 10:28 am

I may write a lot here - my PC isn't working properly, I can't keep my usual health journal which I've been using to track weight/exercise for a year or two. I don't have a steady job, I have financial issues (stress! Cortisol! Waist Fat accumulation!) so I'm reluctant to pay to get it fixed, I'll try DIY repair first.

I got scared reading about fasting! And excited/intoxicated. Now, I'm thinking, before I get into any of that stuff, I should just see whether I can be calm on No S. I am both attracted to fasting methods and wary of my own extremist tendencies - plus the relationship fallout likely if I go down something like ESE or Fast-5 - it would certainly push me into conflict with Hedy, and I'd rather not be fighting my habits and her at the same time.

Anyway, I just wanted to write about a BREAKTHROUGH - well, it was for me, at any rate - I ATE LESS THAN MY ENTITLEMENT AT BREAKFAST!

Why the fuss? Last week, on 2 separate N days, I only ate 2 meals (without any snacking). They were days when I did virtually no exercise either so it doesn't maybe mean much - I'm still 11stone 10lb after all...

Thing is the FEAR is DIMINISHING. Oh yes, fear is a big thing with me - not on the surface - but a silent menacing presence, only speaking when provoked and I'm so ashamed of my servitude I rarely provoke it. Oh how strange to write of that here! I have NEVER expressed that anywhere before!

I was talking about the fear of going hungry, but I have stumbled into something bigger - something hidden, shame-ridden, perhaps the force behind my comfort-eating and a host of other self-medicating/self-stifling behaviours.

Somewhere in me is this feeling that I'm being watched over by someone who's job it is to see that I get punished when I drop my guard, who's job is to wait, for decades, centuries if need be, just to leap in and crush me if I should dare to drop my guard and trust in life and happiness.

Perhaps it's not so strange to be writing that here - maybe it is perfect.

Back to food: I had porridge - my bowl wasn't full, and I thought - "better boil an egg and toast some bread to go with that or I'll feel hungry later" - and as the water boiled, and I eat my porridge, I turned the pan off. I recognised I didn't have to have it, that I could wait, that I might feel a little hungry by lunch-time and maybe that too could be OK, maybe feeling a little needy might be acceptable. (or even welcome?)

Can't tell you (should anyone else care to read this) exactly why this feels like such a big f****ing deal, but it really is, and I'm pleased (partly: another bit says "I'm going crazy in here! I will binge! You try and stop me!") Yes, yes, crazy me, yes, yes.

Further thought - as I read about fasting, remembering reading about the lions at London Zoo - how they don't feed them on at least one day a week, their metabolism actually benefits from it. Also, what of the Mormons? I seem to recall they (or was it 7th Day Adventists?) who regularly fast on the Sabbath and some of their health as a population has been linked with that. (googling, can't find that Mormons fast 1 Sabbath per month) Would S days be better/more traditional if they incorporated a 24 hour fast instead of just being Treat days?)

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Post by Graham » Mon May 10, 2010 12:53 pm

Graham wrote:Anyway, I just wanted to write about a BREAKTHROUGH - well, it was for me, at any rate - I ATE LESS THAN MY ENTITLEMENT AT BREAKFAST!

Back to food: I had porridge - my bowl wasn't full, and I thought - "better boil an egg and toast some bread to go with that or I'll feel hungry later" - and as the water boiled, and I eat my porridge, I turned the pan off. I recognised I didn't have to have it, that I could wait, that I might feel a little hungry by lunch-time and maybe that too could be OK, maybe feeling a little needy might be acceptable. (or even welcome?)

Can't tell you (should anyone else care to read this) exactly why this feels like such a big f****ing deal, but it really is, and I'm pleased (partly: another bit says "I'm going crazy in here! I will binge! You try and stop me!") Yes, yes, crazy me, yes, yes.
I SPOKE TOO SOON. As I sat typing here I kept thinking I'd do a Bullworker workout (Isometric Exercise) as I was feeling perky - got it done but then started to feel REALLY SHAKY AND HUNGRY. I felt like I could eat a horse!

All I actually had was: 1/2 a grapefruit, a fried egg, 2 thin rashers of bacon, 3oz mushrooms and 2 pieces of thin buttered wholemeal toast with marmalade, with a mug of instant coffee with milk, 1 sweetener and 1 teaspoon of sugar - but I felt like, had it not been for the "no seconds" rule, I would have liked a couple more rashers of bacon, and maybe another egg, maybe another slice of toast!

Pre No S I wouldn't have felt any sorrow over that - unlike how I'd feel after a biscuit, chocolate or sweets binge, as it was all "real" food. Seems like that idea I had that I "needed" an egg and toast as well as my porridge was actually correct (If my current feeling of hunger is any guide).

I am now still slightly hungry, but I'm just going to let the hunger be - still got a question though - how am I going to lose weight if I can't exercise and cut calories? For me that combination seems to be impossible (unless there's a sneaky/artful way like alternate day fasting and exercising on the day I eat?)

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Post by Graham » Tue May 11, 2010 9:16 am

9:16am After all the issues Monday ended as a SUCCESS./GREEN day. I had a lot of grated cheese with Hedy's offer of pasta/bulgur wheat, vegetables and a smidgeon of quorn on her biggest plate (she doesn't get the one plate thing, it is so irritating to have to explain this "silly" rule to her over and over - "why can't you use a small plate and re-fill it?" - good bloody question, of course, it is silly of course - and yet it's a discipline, an aid to restraint - why do I have to keep fighting her over this - I'm so fed up of that!

Stayed, rose early, got too hungry to wait for her to wake up, home to bacon, egg, mushrooms, 1/2 grapefruit, buttered toast with marmalade, 2 mugs of coffee with milk and 1 sugar 1 sweetener. I will last till lunch-time now - but what if we go to the allotment? The digging makes me famished.

2:45pm It isn't just feeling hungry - it is anxiety about a future feeling of neediness - minding about that discomfort more than the discomfort itself.

SAUCE: I struggled to eat my lunch: the salad was fine, but then the minced beef with spaghetti - a bit too greasy and bland, and so much of it! I added a bit of ketchup and kept eating when I might have quit. Again, why did I do that, why more or less FORCE THE FOOD DOWN? I think the sauce helped me do it, but the ANXIETY made me WANT to do it


3:20pm Right now I feel STUFFED why did I do that? because it was there? I felt compelled to EMPTY MY PLATE.

5:30 did a whole hour's bike ride just to try to digest some of the massive lump of food in my gut! How stupid was I?

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Post by Graham » Wed May 12, 2010 8:59 am

9:53am Tuesday, for all it's insanity, was a success. I so overdid it at lunch that I could be a model of restraint at Hedy's table, leaving some uneaten pasta on my plate at the end of the meal. And I'd not only bicycled but also done 2 hours of tango.

Let's see how today goes. Here at Hedy's I brought supplies: bacon, mushrooms, grapefruit. She has eggs and bread for toasting here so I can fix the kind of breakfast that keeps me satisfied till lunch-time.

HUNGRY DAY INSIGHT: WAS PORRIDGE THE MISTAKE? I wanted it, yet, my porridge made with milk, some nuts and raisins, sweetened with golden syrup - did it PROVOKE HUNGER? Compare to my bacon etc. breakfast - I then feel ok for hours, or even if I'm hungry it isn't that desperate, ravenous hunger, it is mild and tolerable, and I don't feel weak.

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Post by ~hf » Wed May 12, 2010 3:20 pm

Hi Graham, I just thought I'd stop by for a minute but I got to reading and now I'm all caught up with your posts. I can relate with lack of support (and sabotage even) from SO. That's not an issue for me know as I dropped those 200lbs of dead weight a few years ago! but it sure can take it's toll.

I takes some time to figure out what kinds of meals hold you over, how to space your meals so as to ensure satisfaction with out risking low blood sugar and your exercise tolerance. I see you've been reflecting on these issues. I know I have sure learned a lot about myself lately most of which is not pretty, but it's progress non the less.

Anyway, I have enjoyed getting to know you.

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Post by Graham » Thu May 13, 2010 6:00 pm

Wednesday was Successful. I had some confusing, upsetting things happening in my life, maybe to write about another day.

I feel confused about my body today. This morning I felt thinner, thought I was thinner, then later I thought I looked fat, not sure what the truth is (not at home, couldn't use my scale or tape measure before eating as I normally would)

I looked at my distended abdomen and felt helpless anger and disgust. It is hell feeling like this - I find it very hard to be patient about weight-loss at such a moment, or to be relaxed - I want a solution.

I feel very anti-social. Sorry, I wanted to write something nice to Heidi who visited this thread yesterday and wrote nicely, but I feel very pained and cold today, sorry to say. Bad timing.

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Post by Graham » Fri May 14, 2010 7:50 am

Thursday/ success. This morning I was home, weighed myself - and guess what? after 4 weeks No S, nearly 2 weeks of perfect compliance - I have lost FOUR OUNCES! yes 1/4 lb - after a whole damn month! And my waist is the same obscene bulging pus-filled catastrophe it was when I started. I am getting pretty sick of waiting.

I don't have forever to get this right - the No S way of moderation is maybe good for some people, enough for some people, a haven, a solid base - but I could have a stroke or heart-attack tomorrow - how would I feel knowing that I could have maybe taken more stringent measures to shed those dangerous pounds and didn't?

It is not OK with me. The science says visceral fat is the dangerous kind, I have way too much of it - despite my "nearly normal" BMI my waist is in the "most dangerous" range - and I'm only 5' 7" tall! (and 59 and I've had one heart-attack already)

My waist fat shouts my stress and distress and misery out loud at a deaf world, and turns inwards to kill me, the maladaptive part of the body social. I don't have a good answer to this today beyond my rage at my predicament, this is my only weapon - but can I turn my rage into WILL? Into ENDURING ACTION? COMMITMENT? RESULTS?

Can I maybe endure vanilla No S for another week? But if I don't start to see a solid weight-loss trend, even if slow, I will HAVE to consider FASTING at least one day a week - and there is more than the weight-loss to attract me to that: there is the anti-inflammatory effect of fasting - this has separate distinct benign implications for the risk of heart disease and might help my chronic chest mucus as well.

9:08am And I'm digging into old archives on this forum and recognising how I give away my power such a lot! I mean things like "oh I can't cut down how much milk and eggs I order from the milkman or he'll be sad/poor/deprived and it will be my fault, I can't do that to anybody"

It is OK for me to be that gentle with the world - but not if I'm waiting for "them" to notice and reciprocate. I have waited long enough for that to notice that it just ain't happening, surely?

Never mind that I might want to experiment with having black tea or herbal tea between meals (preparing for a possible shift to no-calorie drinks for Fasting days)

I have given away control of this bit of my behaviour to the way I imagine someone else is going to feel if I do - and I really might disappoint him - but what is it doing to me to make myself go on consuming, to make myself solely responsible for his happiness and the future of the organic UK dairy industry? Do they give a shit about me? Come on! Graham!

Graham
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Post by Graham » Sat May 15, 2010 12:13 pm

Friday: was it a success or a failure? I am a little confused on a detail of the No S rules: the "no seconds" rule. I had space on my plate for 4 toasts and yet thought I might only need 3, so I didn't want to make 4 and waste one OR get into that "eating because it's on the plate" thing so I had it in mind but only toasted 3 and, as I neared the end of the meal, realising I did want/need the 4th piece, I took, toasted and ate it. - but it felt slightly "naughty".

The silly thing was I could have just decided to have it right off and that would't have been seconds - so where's the difference? It isn't a difference in calories, it is a difference in compliance and getting good at guessing how much to put on one plate - but that in itself isn't much of a useful skill in my opinion - it is a skill of value only within the context of No S, which isn't a value in itself.

2:42pm S day, eating: breakfast was normal, but then an apple, and later came some biscuits just because it's S day - I sort of like them, but not really - I think I need to get better class biscuits - the cheap ones just aren't very nice, hardly worth a binge. Now, I've shifted to nuts and raisins, much nicer - but I feel very tired, wondering whether to blame the biscuits or just too little sleep?

Graham
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Post by Graham » Sun May 16, 2010 6:34 am

11 stone 11 1/2 lbs this morning! SHIT. What did I do so wrong on Saturday?

I had a good breakfast, a good evening meal - I snacked during the day, not massively (no tummy-ache). Had biscuits (about 8 biscuits? not a whole pack, maybe 6 wafer biscuits, 4 ginger biscuits (2 with a little butter on them!) and maybe 4 hobnobs?

Only, mainly, because I had them, it's an S day, and they were there. And I felt a bit spaced out and really tired after eating them, quite a strong suspicion that they were WHY I felt tired. Also salted nuts - pistachios and also cashews with raisins - I guess there were plently of calories in there to replace the midday meal I skipped - had an apple too, and in the evening a salad with fish fingers and mashed potato, really a nice meal - but this weight gain is just too depressing.

If this isn't water weight I am going to be driven to the conclusion that No S is a good for some people but might not be the strategy for me to LOSE on, only to MAINTAIN.

I feel so punished by the weight-gain, just when I'd been feeling that I really was getting calmer about food, that the pressing sense of absolute necessity to never let myself eat so little that I feel hunger before my next meal was easing off, that I was ready to let go of that feeling, and the many pounds of fat that go with it - and now, here I am, feeling I have been deceiving myself.

I feel a failure - this is just so troubling - DAMN this S day nonsense - it's not like I feel I HAVE to have them - certainly I don't HAVE to have BISCUITS: they are just cheap and nasty trash, factory food.

I do like being more flexible over seconds and snacks - naughty stuff like a mid-morning apple - and a dessert of fruit yoghourt but perhaps the nuts just have too many calories in them to graze on?

I feel like I'm fighting an invisible opponent who is beating me. I have been pretty good on No S compliance and I'm confronted by what looks like a total failure. If moderation just isn't in me any more, or cannot be accessed by this method, then I can decide to take action.

Fasting is not the way of the moderates - but I answer to myself in the end. Moderation isn't my god.

BeingGreen
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Post by BeingGreen » Sun May 16, 2010 5:29 pm

Hi Graham,

I hardly ever post responses but I feel I must chime in here. Please don't weigh yourself after an S day! I can guarantee that you won't have lost weight, and I can guarantee that you'll end up feeling discouraged. I usually weigh myself after a whole week of N days (Fridays generally). I figure that's my best chance for a loss on the scale. I also feel more optimistic about heading into the weekend--I try keep maintaining that loss in the back of my mind when I make food choices. Don't give up on No S yet!

Best,
OlderandWiser

P.S. I'm an athlete too and I feel confident when I say that No S can fit into an athletic lifestyle. Good luck to you!

Graham
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Post by Graham » Mon May 17, 2010 7:35 am

OlderandWiser: thanks for the kind contribution. I do appreciate the support, the best thing about No S has been this forum and so many wise and friendly people here. That being said I'm near 100% compliance and have been at a weight plateau since the end of week 2, and I have a serious waist fat issue with a poor health record and I don't feel I have forever to sort this out.

I start my 5th week weighing 11 stone 11 lbs, waist 41" I am almost 100% compliant with No S rules. I weigh 1lb less than when I started, but I lost @ 2lbs in the first 10 days and since then, plateau.

I have more or less gone back to using sweeteners or sometimes unsweetened beverages, sugar seems not to be a good idea.

S day biscuits also seem to have been a bad idea - eating rubbish on any day of the week, S or N, is a bad idea. Oddly felt like the whole S day idea actually encouraged me to eat badly - something in me hasn't felt peaceful since I started No S, I have thought I was getting calmer about the whole diet thing but DAMN IT, I'M NOT LOSING WEIGHT SO WHAT IS THE POINT?

I lost 2lb in the first week, since then my weight has just orbited around the same figure - 11 stone 10. It goes up to 11stone 11, was down to 11stone 9 3/4lb for just one day - up to 11stone 11 1/2 on Sunday morning, now back to 11stone 11.

I read of other people achieving weight-loss on just "85 % compliance" (bluebunny : but he's 38 and much bigger than me) - I can't shift anything on 100% compliance.

I'm not sure that I'm eating so well either: I've eaten less fruit and salads. If I put in more fruit and salads and stick to one plate, I will get hungrier AND my tolerance for allotment gardening and bike rides will diminish - I'll be tempted to snack, or get faint - so what kind of an answer is this for me?

I need a strategy that works for me and my life - just staying at this weight and waist measurement isn't it. How to get beyond this point?

Is this diet just not suitable for someone of my age and metabolism? The good results seem to come to younger people with far more weight to shed. I seem to be stuck in a place where No S may not do anything for me (apart from driving me nuts over niggly rules that, even when followed 100% aren't causing me any weight loss)

12:17pm Emotions are running high today - I just took a look at my gut in the mirror. I feel so awful - helpless, angry, disgusted, disappointed - impotent rage. This just won't do. This isn't working for me - it is a hassle and is unproductive. It works for other people, but it isn't working for me, my scales and tape measure tell the story, the rest is bullshit.

There are sound ideas in No S - perhaps if you start in your '30's or earlier? I am not 30, or 40 - I'm approaching 60 and have to face facts - I want to reduce my waist measurement and weight NOW.

Because of my health history I have no idea how long I have to get on top of excess visceral fat, but I'm pretty certain I don't have forever, and how long I have may depend on how soon I get the issue sorted.

If getting Hedy to cooperate with No S has been a problem, getting her on board with intermittent fasting will probably present challenges too - but what if it WORKS? I will bear some pain, if only I can see progress. Just now I'm getting the pain, but without the pay-off. Bum deal.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Wed May 19, 2010 8:34 am

So: it's Wednesday, I'm at home and I STILL weigh 11 stone 11lbs with a 40 3/4" waist despite having only an apple for lunch on Monday and working for several hours at the allotment as well as a Tango class on Tuesday.

I remain 100% compliant - to no avail. I'm wondering, would today be the day to try fasting? I'm going to be doing something unusual: child-minding.

I won't be at home, might find cooking a decent meal inconvenient, so might this be the day? Or will I be so stressed that it is NOT the day? I am fed up with stagnating. I might easily fall into snacking, many caring for kids with only limited opportunities to fix food fall into eating easy crap.

10am - here's a puzzle: it's only @ 1hour since breakfast : 2 eggs scrambled with a little milk, salt and pepper on 3 small pieces of buttered white toast - followed by a coffee with milk - and I'm still hungry! In fact, breakfast didn't quite hit the spot, and I'm now beginning to wonder about the fasting thing: do I do it or not? I think I want to try it - but that's easy to say only 1 hour after breakfast: what about at noon, or 6pm, or when I try to sleep?

Yet there is a sense of adventure about it, the chance to feel like I'm actually TACKLING my weight issue. I want to see RESULTS. No S alone doesn't deliver, I'm not a jaded multi-dieter with lots of short-lived diet successes and rebounds behind me

If No S has taught me not to fear hunger, and Brad Pilon's emails make a case for having no fear whatsoever about fasting, why not?

I will need non-caloric but entertaining drinks to get me through the next 24 hours. Oh - looks like a decision...

10:18pm - Nothing eaten for @ 13 hours. I feel a bit weak and lacking in mental acuity. I will go to bed soon, I wonder if I'll sleep well and long? I have food but breakfast isn't scheduled till 9am.

Oh, get this - I weighed myself and I was 2 1/2 lbs lighter than I was this morning. What KIND of weight-loss is it? Water? Fat? Not muscle I hope.

Wish I'd had some Celestial Seasoning's Teas and Sparkling water - maybe Perrier? I will try to get that for next time.
Last edited by Graham on Wed May 26, 2010 9:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Thu May 20, 2010 8:16 am

9 am Woke very early - before 5, slept again till @ 5:30, had to get up.

I weighed 11 stone 7 1/2 lbs! (minus 3 1/2lbs in 21 hours!)
Waist 40 1/4" - lost 1/2" around my waist in that time.


By 12 hours I was feeling tired and, after I woke and weighed myself at 6am I did think maybe I should end the fast right there and then, I felt tired and unlikely to do anything useful with the time.

I held out for a while, washed a load of dishes, drank black tea - but by 8 I'd really had enough, prepared grapefruit, fried 3 sausages, onion, mushroom and 2 slices of buttered toast, with a mug of coffee.

I'm beginning to feel normal again. I didn't try to exercise beyond riding my bike to get around, it wasn't a problem but that was within the first 8 hours.

So, a fast starting after breakfast yesterday "worked". It was bearable for @10 hours and after that got tedious and I felt a bit off-colour and even wondering if I might do myself harm. Maybe just fearful interpretation of an unfamiliar experience?

The bottom line is what I weigh tomorrow morning, and will I stick to No S today? I certainly intend to eat wholesome food, but do I want, after yesterday's privation, to refuse myself extra food today? My metabolism is unique, and comparing myself with others here may not give me the right answers.

Today was Saraswati's birthday so I went and snacked a bit on an Exempt day. didn't overdo it at all, yet home, weighed self at 11stone 10 1/2 lb.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Fri May 21, 2010 1:47 pm

Yesterday was exempt as I was going to what I thought would be a party - in the end it wasn't but it would have been very awkward to make it a straight N day, so I had cake, and strawberries and some rice with sweetcorn and onions. Hardly a blowout but not all on one plate, and with a feeling that I could have more goodies - but none were offered.

11stone 8lbs (162lbs) Waist 40" After the bathroom but before consuming anything.

What can you lose 3 1/2 lbs of in 21 hours? Whatever it was, I've got 1/2lb of it back. Tomorrow, will I have another 1/2lb gained?

4:20pm Will I get lunch at any point? (child-minding makes timing my own meal difficuot - no wonder mothers end up perma-snacking) I had such a filling breakfast it doesn't bother me much - the pressure is off just now.

A thought: fasting must get easier each time you do it: as you lose weight your maintenance calorie needs decrease, so your deficiency must decrease with each succeeding fast of similar length.

8:36pm. tired early again. Is this still an after-effect of Wednesday's fast? I recall I was tired a lot when I was losing weight by exercising, just doing so much and at such intensity. Maybe, for me, there is no easy way.

I can get the weight off and then maybe I'll have more energy?

Graham
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Post by Graham » Sat May 22, 2010 12:08 pm

I kept to the rules. Difficult discussions with SO, also fatigued - is it her, the hot weather, the fast sequel? Whatever. 5th Week of No S draws to a close.

Thinking of doing fast No.2 starting Sunday night after my evening meal. Would that be ok?

Does the start and stopping time have any effect on how many pounds you shed? Was my choice of breakfast to breakfast important in that regard?

Would 2 fasts in a week be a strain ?

LoriLifts
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Post by LoriLifts » Sat May 22, 2010 4:16 pm

Hi Graham,

I do 2 fasts a week, from 6:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Sounds like you did well from breakfast to breakfast. Do whatever is easiest for you. Maybe experiment with different hours to see what you like best. I tried noon to noon once and hated it. I don't like to go to bed hungry.

As long as you stick to 24 hour fasts, I don't think it effects how much weight you lose.

Good luck
Lori

PS..if you feel like 2 fasts are too taxing, just do 1 a week. I think you'll still see results, especially combining it with No S.
Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Sun May 23, 2010 1:48 pm

Weight 11stone 9 1/4 lb, Waist 40 1/2"

Sunday's an S day as was Saturday - but S day or not, Saturday was not nice for me. I had a lot of biscuits, and I put on 1 1/4lb in that one day. I didn't feel like I was binging, and I would have eaten a little better if my shopping had been better planned, but anyway, live and learn.

Now there's a discussion thread on Fasting and No S - I made what little comment I could, lets see how it comes out.

I am having a difficult time with my SO and that and the heat and family problems make me want so much to at least succeed in weight-loss. Stagnation is not acceptable.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Mon May 24, 2010 8:39 am

Weight 11stone 10lbs Waist 40 1/2"

Didn't feel like I was eating so crazily. I was around H and the allotment which meant snacks and late eating, but look at the weight gain!

No surprise, then, that I am fasting again today. I could hardly not, but I have this horrible suspicion that I'm working against a very powerful inner tendency to get fatter, a senseless urge to eat myself back into hospital or the funeral parlour, an urge utterly insensible to the insane danger - like a mad voracious baby.

This feels like addiction - shameful, disgraceful, despicable. At least I think I know at least one major Achilles heel for me is BISCUITS - especially when available without restriction and I'm already hungry and they're the tasty ones with cream in the middle.

2:04pm: I have a mild headache, but my mood is good. Somehow fasting without having had breakfast seems easier than last time when I did have breakfast Of course, I have now got a little experience under my belt. Anyway, it is now at least 14 hours since I last eat. Oh dear - I have an ETERNITY to wait! I did a workout with my Bullworker this morning, that was fine, and did I mention how well I slept last night?

6:20pm I am hungry but ok in mood. Low level of physical effort today makes my state hard to evaluate. Soon I'll be out on my bike, that may clarify my reflections on today's efforts. Still got 5 hours to go though...

Graham
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Post by Graham » Tue May 25, 2010 7:12 am

Weight: 11 stone 7 3/4lb (161.75lb) Waist 40 1/8"

This was an easier fast, from late meal Sunday to a late meal on Monday. I had no problems with my bike riding either, though I had to do 2 fast rides and one more leisurely, none were longer than 15 minutes.

I wasn't hungry at the start this time, I was less bothered by hunger, I got virtually no unpleasant side effects (not worried about my health or how I'd recover)

I note this : at the end of the fast I weighed 1/4 lb MORE than I did at the end of my previous fast - but I also weigh 1/4lb LESS than I did on the morning of the first post-fasting day.

Part of my weight loss will have been glucose/water, but hopefully some will be fat. When will I do it again? Maybe Thursday? Friday?

Breakfast was: fried bacon/egg/mushroom + 2 buttered toast with marmalade - and tea. And now I feel tired - and I'm wondering, if I had chosen a different type of breakfast - fruit? Veg? or just not fried, would I feel energy? Now I feel a little fatigued, as though wearied by having eaten. On the fast I was actually rather lighter - I'm thinking how to work in salads without feeling deprived or threatened by No S rules.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Wed May 26, 2010 9:17 pm

Weight 11 stone 8 1/2lb Waist 40 1/8"

Yesterday was a failure: I had the old salad/soup/not enough to fill my tummy problem - I needed more than the one plate rule would allow. And of course there was the post-fast need for a few extra calories. So, later on I had the rest of the pancake mix from the fridge. I sort of felt regretful yet so frustrated by the No S rule and the discomfort of complying with it.

I really would rather be "eating" or "not eating" - and not "mess with Mr In-between".

And today? Breakfast was ok-ish, lunch? Green smoothie can't fit on a plate And it isn't a meal on it's own to me. So then I had a little couscous and stewed vegetables. Not much, as I had a baby to feed at the same time - but is that another technical fail? Sod it! Evening meal was modest, salad and then quorn fillets with couscous and vegetables - again not really filling, but I don't think I broke the 2 plate thing. It is a pain though. I want a system that works for me.

Would ESE without No S work for me? I do want to keep away from factory food, snacks and sweets - but the No Seconds seems to be a problem - try it when you're digging for 3 hours...

Graham
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Post by Graham » Thu May 27, 2010 8:20 am

Weight 11stone 6 3/4lbs ! Waist 40" !

And the day was a No S Failure (sort of) - so who cares? I do. I want to be good. I want to be right. I want to belong. I want everyone to like me.

The weight loss? Small breakfast, small lunch and small supper but supper was salad and then veg, couscous and quorn fillets. It was more than one plate - LETTUCE TAKES LOTS OF SPACE! I want to keep eating lettuce, even if I have to break the No S rules to do it - so I'll never join the 21 day club or get a gold medal in the personal Olympics. Damn.

I was also extra active: extra bike rides and hedge-trimming. Felt hungry and this time it really was the truth.

8:38pm strange day 11stone 5 3/4lbs now! (but waist 40 1/2") I had a good breakfast - bacon, egg and mushroom fried with garlic, 2 pieces of toast. Lunch, though, was a joke - a green smoothie and a cheese sandwich - then an hour pushing a child in a push chair, feeling nauseous - too little food for the efforts of the day, I think.
Last edited by Graham on Thu May 27, 2010 7:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

shandy
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Post by shandy » Thu May 27, 2010 5:31 pm

Graham, I only skimmed through all your posts so forgive me if I missed important stuff, but I wondered if you, like me could be hypoglycemic? With all the dizziness and almost fainting. Thats exactly what I go through and one reason why I felt sure I'd never be able to do no s. I'm only my 3rd day in so can't toot my horn yet but I found giving up sugar and taking chromium helps.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Thu May 27, 2010 8:30 pm

shandy wrote: I wondered if you, like me could be hypoglycemic? With all the dizziness and almost fainting. Thats exactly what I go through and one reason why I felt sure I'd never be able to do no s. I'm only my 3rd day in so can't toot my horn yet but I found giving up sugar and taking chromium helps.
Hello Shandy, thanks for your thoughts. I've wondered the same thing myself. I'm hoping weight loss and especially IF might improve this issue - ask again when I've got my waist down to at least 34".

Graham
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Post by Graham » Fri May 28, 2010 5:50 am

Weight 11stone 5 3/4lbs Waist 40 1/16" Some nausea yesterday. Slept early, now up early. Hope today goes well. I won't do a second fast this week probably - I'm having to do so much extra physically demanding stuff I don't think it would be appropriate - and probably uncomfortable. Oh, and it was a No S "Success" thanks to fish and chips supper.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Sat May 29, 2010 7:14 am

11 stone 9lbs 40 1/8" So what was the "weight loss" then? Hot weather? I worked so hard yesterday, had to eat big meal but compliant anyway - and look where I am today! Pity I didn't go for the 2nd fasting day. Now I'll have to wait till Monday.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Sun May 30, 2010 6:40 am

11stone 10 1/4 lb Waist 40 1/4" Yesterday was an S day, no biscuits - but seconds and snacks - and work - gardening. And I felt very fatigued - and now?

I don't want to get upset. I can say I have an ambition for myself which is contradicted by my behaviour. I have one method that seems to work to reduce my weight - but one fast a week isn't enough, it must, it seems, be two. Now just got to incorporate that.

9pm I thought of fasting today, but didn't - I may start after supper tonight - I certainly don't feel like I need yet another S day!I had a filling breakfast today and felt full and unhappy with myself.

Worked hard at gardening, felt my energy was low - and wondered, if I have to eat so much, why don't I have more energy? Then I had more biscuits as I gardened at the allotment, and my mood rose a little - but energy was still poor - why doesn't food energise me? What's the point in it if it doesn't enliven me?

Either I'm eating wrong or just too much - but if it's too much why am I so often TIRED?

Graham
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Post by Graham » Mon May 31, 2010 10:21 am

11stone 9lb 40 1/2" I fast today. I wish I had fasted a day or two ago. I feel a little depressed just now, a little sad, like I've got out of that mood of really looking forward to the next fast which would have made it very easy.

I could do some gardening but SO is worried that I should attempt it when fasting. (It would be heavy stuff, perhaps 30 wheelbarrows full of compost pushed up a hill)

A thought arises: fasting is clean and simple, in a world that is dirty and complicated.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Tue Jun 01, 2010 9:37 am

11stone 7 3/4lb Waist 40 3/16" Well - I've been here before! - last Tuesday, same weight as today.

Differences? Yesterday's fast was shorter: only 19 hours. Tricky - I had visitors in the evening so I ate earlier than 24 hours. I then felt very tired - but I had some voluntary work to do from 11 to 1am so I couldn't go to sleep as I wished - and so I snacked way more than I would have - and the scales this morning are including all that - not too bad when you include those factors.

I am very glad that I fasted though - it is a challenge, I'm not really comfy with it yet, especially the after-effects and this conundrum: how to lose weight yet feel energetic.? But I feel I have a chance to succeed at least with my weight and waist loss.

I may feel crushed if this too fails - and I am secretly assuming that losing the weight/waist will also bring a host of benefits not only to my arteries but also my general well-being - making me feel more youthful and energetic, for example - what if it doesn't? What will I tell myself then?

Oh - yesterday - if I don't call it exempt because of the visitors, it was a FAIL. I guess I'm gradually accepting that No S with 100% compliance alone won't lose me weight. I note members like Connorcream "failed" on No S - except, if she was 100% compliant it wasn't her who failed, but No S.

The psychology of No S may not be as ironclad as some assume. It was devised by a man in his 30's - the rules don't seem to be as effective for women/older people/smaller-framed people. It can't be said that applying the No S rules to people with some or all of the above constraints will feel equally sane and do-able - indeed it may not be the universal answer I took it to be.

For me, now, the question is this: given that standard No S probably won't get me the weight loss I want, how do I want to relate to it?

Graham
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Post by Graham » Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:14 am

11stone 5 1/4lb Waist 39 7/8" Lightest I've been since mid January, when I watched holiday laissez-faire destroy 9 months of weight-loss effort in a matter of weeks.

Last week I made the mistake of slackening my efforts, intimidated by apparently shedding weight "too quickly" only to see nearly every ounce of it reappear by Sunday morning! This week I'll hold my nerve and do the second fast ESE suggests. I can't go through that disappointment again.

On the other hand - I felt rather strange after breakfast today - I wondered had I eaten too muich or the wrong stuff? I felt really odd after 3 small buttered rolls with 3 rashers of bacon and 3oz of fried mushrooms, coffee and a handful of my favourite supplements (multi-vit, magnesium, selenium, B vitamins, Co Q10, fish oil) I think the fish oil doesn't agree with me. I need to get krill oil again, that was no problem to digest at all. So either that or the dreaded thought that fasting might not agree with me - that would be too awful to contemplate..

If I weighed 1lb less this Monday than the previous Monday, as a result of one day's fast, would it be excessive to do more? I am impatient after so many weeks of stagnation AND I actually enjoy fasting! It is a strange sort of fun - perhaps I taste the intoxication that addicts the anorexic?

10:37pm I will fast tomorrow

Graham
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Post by Graham » Thu Jun 03, 2010 10:29 pm

I did fast, then had a No s fail = seconds, then. later, sweets.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Fri Jun 04, 2010 11:23 am

11stone 6lbs Waist 39 3/8"

So, for the first time, two fasts in a week. Again it was a little shorter than the ESE norm: about 22 1/2 hours, or, if you count my milky coffee, only 20 hours - anyway, I broke the fast with a biggish meal - with seconds, and though I never had the chocolate icecream I rather fancied, I did later have chocolate.

Result? I wake this morning having slept very well, unusually well for me, and I weigh 11stone 6lb and I feel quite good - well and strong - so I think I probably did the right thing. For now, I don't expect to be 100% compliant with standard No S - yet, in general, I rather like No S, the sense of old-fashioned orderliness - there's something sad about totally random eating times - like being a permanent teenager who's parents are no longer providing any structure - abandoned, neglected.

Of course I'm not just fasting - I spent at least two hours walking with a 14lb baby in a sling, I travel everywhere either on foot or by bicycle, and I do isometrics for strength trraining/muscle retention at least 3 days a week.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Sat Jun 05, 2010 9:06 am

11stone 6lb Waist 39 3/4" and my seated resting BP: 109/75 pulse 53

I feel a little lethargic. No big deal on a Saturday, but I wonder sometimes if it's a sign I'm not eating the right things. What my mouth wants, or my stomach wants, might not be what my muscles or brain need to feel energetic.

The need to feel energetic? Those who have it dominate those who don't. If I don't want others to dictate the rules of life to me, I would do well to secure my ability to feel energetic.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:01 am

11stone 8lbs 39 3/4"

Graham
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Post by Graham » Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:23 am

GUS DIED
Sad news: one of my favourite cats, Gus, died this morning. He had a large growth in his abdomen, only detected when I took him to the vet for an eye problem about a week ago. He was a somewhat difficult cat - jealous and prone to costly maladies - but he was a lovable bugger and I'll miss him - he was a real character. I have 3 other cats still living, but none have his vivid character - it seems a pattern in my life, the most lovable die first, the less exciting ones go on.

11stone 6 3/4lbs Waist 39 3/4" BMI 25.2, WHtR 59.3%, Body Fat 33.2%

I am fasting today, since 10:30 last night, I'll probably finish in less than 24 hours, it will be whenever Hedy and I arrange to eat our evening meal together.

I feel hungry but it is bearable, at just over 12 hours done. I have my fizzy water (supermarket brand at 1/3 the price of Perrier this time), my herb teas, fruit teas that I won't use as they have 5 calories each - but is 5cals enough to set off the digestive mechanisms? I don't want to chance it, I might ask one of the "experts" ( Lori or OT)

I suspect there are some calories in coffee anyway - it has oil in it, so there must be some energy in there. Tea might be lighter yet, but water is the only certain 0 calorie drink, and flavourings that have no calories must be artificial chemicals - is that good to consume when fasting (or any other time?)
Last edited by Graham on Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:18 am, edited 2 times in total.

idontknow
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Post by idontknow » Mon Jun 07, 2010 9:07 pm

Hi Graham,
Really sorry to hear about your cat - it's horrible to lose an animal that you love. They leave a big hole when they're no longer around.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Tue Jun 08, 2010 7:13 am

11 stone 6lbs 39 5/8"

Thanks for the sympathetic thoughts idontknow.

My PC is messed up, have to use someone else's pc to actually post anything here now, keyboard support is going, must go to repair shop I suppose.

Yesterday's fast was really hard in hunger terms, though I thought I was ok with it - not feeling bad about feeling bad. Yet, later, either through hunger or Hedy's subversion, I overate at my meal, and then, even worse, went home and ate sweets and crisps. I did feel the need, yet, today, at 11stone 6, I wondered what my weight might have been if I'd not had the extra food.

Still, there is another issue - was I pushing myself too hard? Ignoring my extra hunger which maybe indicated that I shouldn't try quite so hard?

Though I'm wanting to shed many lbs a week, perhaps that's really not kind or harmonious? What's the rush, provided I'm making solid progress?

I'm thinking I have had this problem before: I thought I was ok with eating less, then I fell into desperation a few hours later. I guess I'm only aware of part of what is true inside, other processes/voices go unheard, yet they drive my behaviour rather than alerting my consciousness - rather a common "blokey" pattern now I come to think of it.
Last edited by Graham on Wed Jun 09, 2010 7:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Wed Jun 09, 2010 10:24 am

11 stone 6 1/4lbs W 39 3/4"

Graham
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Post by Graham » Thu Jun 10, 2010 12:28 pm

late weigh/waist (after some water and coffee and short bike ride) 11stone 6 1/4lb waist 39 3/4" I felt slimmer. And I'm fasting. I am hoping this time will be better than the last, my new theory is that the SWEETS I ate so many of on Saturday and Sunday (and Monday night :oops: ) were what made that fast much harder to stick to and recover from.

So, since last night at 10pm, fasting. Long sleep. Felt some reluctance to actually do it this morning, but I thought not doing it would feel way worse - I'd feel disappointed with myself. I've biked, (2X 8min), drunk some fizzy water, some black coffee, some black tea - and thinking from time to time about how I'll enjoy eating when I do it - but I'm feeling pretty confident it will be a No S meal - with no excess.

5:08pm - the 19th hour. I'm not finding it too easy: better than on Monday, but still not easy: I'm glad, in a way, that I will break my fast early, at 7pm, there's a good reason, I need to be somewhere from 8 to 11 and H didn't want me eating at 11, so we agreed on 7, just before I go out. That will be 21 hours then.

I ate late last night because of time spent in my garden burying Gus, the dear cat who died on Monday. Otherwise I'dve eaten earlier. Had I done so, I suppose I'd then be feeling hungrier than I do now!

No, not only hunger, that is part of it, also a bit restless, a very mild headache, and wishing I had my bathroom scales here to boost my morale by telling me that I've achieved some wonderful fat-loss - but realistically, how likely is that? Not much. This is a long game requiring patience and persistence. The flashy weight-loss of my first fast is probably impossible to repeat.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Fri Jun 11, 2010 8:10 am

11 stone 5 1/4 lbs Waist 39 1/2" BP 95/72 pulse 48 bpm

So, a No S success and a fasting success - however, I was tired last night. By the time I had the chance to sleep, it came but wasn't prolonged. I have had a sensible breakfast, the sense of some sort of desperation receding, compliance should present no great challenge today: the next big hurdle is the weekend.

I am not sure how to handle these S days. In the spirit of "necessary safety-valve" I indulged last weekend, as on many previous weekends - literally like a kid in a sweetshop - I was a grown-up in a sweetshop. I was moderate in spending, yet, by eating nearly everything I bought over 2 1/2 days, I gained some strange experiences, possibly educational.

I have had 2 problem periods since starting No S that I now associate with SUGAR. My first was a breakfast that left me feeling not just hungry but ravenous, desperate. I'd eaten porridge with nuts and raisins - but I'm thinking it was the GOLDEN SYRUP on top that may have triggered my reaction (presumably a blood-sugar spike, Insulin over-production and blood sugar drop)

The second period was this weekend & Monday's fast - all affected by a nostalgic trip to a pick&mix sweetshop where I bought small quantities of a great many old favourites, and managed to consume them over the weekend and, shamefully, on Monday night after an unsatisfactory post-fast meal experience.

It seems sugar is rather problematic for me, though I love the taste. If I could just stick to sweet foods, maybe I'd be fine?

1:17pm I can't rejoice much over my most recent weight-drop. It was too little for the effort, especially as I do not trust it - how much of it is actual fat loss, indicative of lasting change and progress?

Though in principle I agree with the notion that 1lb a week is perhaps the maximum one should strive for as a sustainable weight-loss, I am eager to shed weight far quicker than that. What would satisfy me now? 5lb a week? (that would be very hard for someone with only perhaps 40lbs to lose in total)

Actually the weight is NOT the issue - it is the WAIST! The one good thing about my hideous body fat, clumped around my abdomen as it is- it is very closely related to my weight - as one reduces, so does the other.

Not completely true about the fat being all around my waist: ironically, my sub-cutaneous fat (the stuff that makes me look younger) is shed far more readily than my visceral fat (the stuff that makes me look hideous and shortens my life with every passing second that I carry it!)
Last edited by Graham on Thu Jul 15, 2010 7:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

LoriLifts
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Post by LoriLifts » Sat Jun 12, 2010 3:15 pm

Hi Graham,

Thought I'd stop by and see how you're doing with No S and Eat Stop Eat.

Looks like you're doing great!

Lori
Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Sun Jun 13, 2010 11:39 am

11stone 6lbs waist 39 3/4" Is this good or bad? same as Tuesday - but 2lbs lighter than last Sunday. Woken too early by noise, went for a long-ish bike ride - 1 1/2hours, my stamina was excellent!

That was very encouraging, and so too your words, Lori, thanks for that.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:31 am

11st 7lb w 39 7/8" not good

Graham
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Post by Graham » Thu Jun 17, 2010 5:40 pm

Tuesday: 11st 5 1/4lbs W 39 7/16"
Wednesday 11st 4lbs W 39 7/8"
Today 11st 3 3/4lbs W 39 1/2"
And I'm fasting again. Second time I've seen this pattern of weight loss carrying on for at least a day after a fast, probably to do with being very strict with No S, so the deficit state actually goes on for more than one day.

It's 6:30, 22 hours since I started last night's meal and circumstances will permit me to keep the fast going till 8:30. It is fairly easy, easier than I expected given the foregoing speculation - I've had about 40 minutes of bicycle journeys, an hour's walk with a 15lb baby in a sling and done a complete isometric (Bullworker) strength training session, feeling pretty good.

I am a little confused - for the last 2 days I was rather tired and I thought that was just the consequence of being in calorie deficit - yet today, I'm in calorie deficit to an even greater degree, but without the sense of fatigue. Perhaps it will arrive when I start eating again?

Graham
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Post by Graham » Fri Jun 18, 2010 11:22 am

11stone 4 1/2lbs Waist 39 1/2" Yes, it's the day after a fast and I weigh MORE..... Apart from fluctuations driven by unaccountable phenomena (I think I have lost or gained at least 2lbs in a day without any discernible cause, perhaps weather-related?) I can only suppose that my fast-ending meal was so calorific (despite fitting on one plate) that it entirely erased and overcame the fasting deficit.

Checking the packet last night's steak pie came in, I discover the portion I had (half, seemed to hit the spot) contained 900 calories - then there were the peas and home-made chips ("french fries" to many readers) that went with it (@600calories) - plus about half a litre of milk I drank while I was waiting for it to bake - 335calories - so let's say the meal with drink comes to about 1800 calories - that might explain it.....

No, hold on, - I now read a calorie counting website that tells me I probably need between 2250 and 2550 cals a day for maintenance.. so that should still be 450 cal deficit - so that is still a puzzle..

Graham
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Post by Graham » Sun Jun 20, 2010 4:46 pm

11stone 5 1/4lb W 39 9/16" Life's been hectic. I haven't had a silly weekend, yet I am far from harmony with myself and the world. I long for my next fast, and wish there were some way to make it more effective without any unhealthy consequence. I am having to be patient and just now I want change to happen rapidly, I am weary of my ugly state, I want it over SOON!

Graham
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Post by Graham » Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:49 am

11stone 6lb waist 39 5/8" Fasting. I gained 3/4lb a day over the weekend, this is quite typical. I have been more moderate - I had no sweets binge - nor any biscuits at all I now realise!

I see a trend over the last 4 weeks, despite ups and downs, losing 1lb and nearly 1/4" off my waist per week. Do I want to go on like this? I'm losing during the week and then putting quite a bit back on the weekend. It is the S days.

This weekend was different - I felt a little crazy - but some of the craziness turned into shopping instead, which was a bit disturbing - I'm not wealthy, and I hate waste/plastic things/packaging. I did get my PC fixed - but that was horribly costly - £100 for a new psu and graphics card, Windows reinstalled and all files and settings lost. It will take me ages to get it back online, so I'm not back online at home yet.

Yeah, the S day thing: can I change it? Do I want to? I want the freedom without the weight-gain. Can't see the answer yet. I do notice I'm wanting to get much clearer about whether I REALLY want the things I'm eating, the sense of how costly each pound shed is makes me want to be more careful.

Yet I do like the odd pie, and strawberries with cream, an icecream here and there, and the freedom to graze my way through the day on Saturday.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Tue Jun 22, 2010 1:05 pm

11st 4 3/4lbs 39 9/16" That was a slightly strange fasting day - i just didn't feel like it was doing anything. i thought I would't lose any weight at all! In fact I did, but very little waist loss - virtually imperceptible. I ate a very substantial post-fast meal - it was less calorific than the one i had last Monday, but more sound: fried pork chop, onion, apple, mushroom with broccoli and new potatoes and a slice of buttered bread.

I didn't feel like I was really likely to shed much weight - perhaps because I ate a very substantial meal just before fasting, and another just after. If I hold to No S between fasts, I must succeed, mustn't I?

Graham
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Post by Graham » Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:08 pm

11stone 5lbs, waist 39 3/4" Waist gain disappointing. Too much wrong with my life, lots of emotional stress yesterday though I stuck to No S rules.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Thu Jun 24, 2010 2:55 pm

11st 5 3/4 lbs 39 5/8" What difficult days - I can't see the way ahead. Here, check-in pared down to headline numbers - and it looks like the plan is going to fail.

I can eat enough between fasts, even with No S compliance, to virtually erase all effects of fasting as I now do it. Well, I will let tomorrow's stats tell their own story (if I can access measuring equipment at the right time)

I am eating good food - just more than needed for weight loss.

Is it time to consider some new strategy?

Graham
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Post by Graham » Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:18 pm

11stone 4 3/4lb Waist 39 1/4" Measurement is tricky - if I wait a few minutes my waist increases slightly to 39 3/8" I guess there is a postural element involved when I've just got out of bed.

If it weren't for the waist measurement I'd think I was just running on the spot - I think I weighed the same last Friday. Tomorrow is the weekend. If typical, it will lead to a gain of 1 1/2lbs, and if so, I'd be heavier on Monday than the previous week. A grim fact.

Oh - yesterday was a definite No S FAIL. I had 5 champagne truffles. Considering the box had 15 in it, I was saintly.

idontknow
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Post by idontknow » Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:17 pm

champagne truffles were my downfall last week so have decided to buy some tomorrow as an s-day treat. They are fantastic, aren't they? I'm impressed you stopped at 5 - well done!

Graham
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Post by Graham » Mon Jun 28, 2010 11:27 am

Saturday 11stone 4lb Waist 39 1/4"
Sunday 11 stone 7lb Waist 39 7/8"
Monday 11 stone 6 1/2lb Waist 39 13/16"


I don't feel upset, particularly, by this set-back. I had unusual circumstances to contend with, a meal out with friends - I think the beer encourages me to over-eat - seems to trigger a false neediness for food (alcohol is reputed to provoke all excesses) which could explain why I went home after the meal and snacked on cheese on toast before going to bed. Then there were 10 chocolate truffles to absorb - 450 calories worth.

I want S days to be different from this - I'm not sure I can be moderate about some things: especially after half a litre of Kirin lager. Champagne truffles - once I start eating them, I feel, especially on an S day, no reason to stop till they are all gone or I feel sick. Which is fine, except I'm trying to lose weight, and the two don't go together.

As I say, I'm not particularly upset - I don't feel like I'm losing the battle, I am fasting right now, I know I can do that and gradually shed the weight - S days are an issue, but not insurmountable. Maybe I have to spend some time using EFT to address whatever in me might NOT want to let those excess pounds go.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:23 am

11stone 6 3/4lb waist 39 1/2" Don't want to say stuff now. I had a big fast-breaking meal - only it wasn't satisfying and I ended up snacking later, but I assumed I'd still eaten less than maintenance needs and was disappointed by what the scales said, though the waist came down a bit.

I have things to learn about myself.

This did occur to me : If I didn't BUY the snacks, they wouldn't be there for me to EAT. I should look at my shopping - it all starts there.

6:35pm another difficult day. Here at SO's offered a multi-course meal - a bit of salad, a bit of soup, some veg, a fried egg, a morsel of cheese - really hard to fit it onto an imaginary plate. i did decline dessert (fresh fruit from our own plants, with cream and a little sugar) but I'm not sure whether I kept the No S rules or not - which is very frustrating. SO can't make herself fit the No S rules all the time for me, and I can't figure out an answer to this issue.

It really matters on a post-fasting day: if that meal isn't satisfying within No S limits, I'm liable to snacking, overeating, disappointment and the loss of self esteem - it's hard to get across to her just how much it matters (and why I might rather cook for myself, but then I'll cause offence.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:28 pm

11stone 5lb Waist 39 3/8" (weight estimated - it was 11st 5 3/4 lb after breakfast beans on toast, a mug of coffee before and a mug of tea after, then a bike ride)
Another day of failure - though I may have eaten less than on many compliant days - the vegetarian/piecemeal servings problem yet again - it was dessert that did it, fruit with cream and sugar, not too sweet, but I think I had a little cream afterwards, and that would be a snack or seconds, wanted it, needed it, so it felt, but a fail.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Thu Jul 01, 2010 10:51 am

11stone 4lb W 39 1/4" Fasting today, but unusual timing. Decision to go to a milonga tonight meant trying to avoid post-fast-breaking fatigue by eating earlier, so i started yesterday at 3pm (time of my late lunch).

Sleep was very fitful. I have exercised OK but I don't feel so strong, I'm preoccupied with thoughts of food - especially planning how to have better S days - the weekly weekend weight-gain is a nuisance, when weight-loss is so darned hard!

12:05. Oh this is wearing - I'm counting the hours, 3 to go. My first fast was a breakfast to breakfast affair and that was hard going too - though amazingly effective (3 1/2lbs drop in one day). I wonder if the level of subjective difficulty is reflected in the amount of weight lost?

4:50pm. I did 23 1/2 hours - ate at 2:30. Ate lots, took it slow, then found I was wanting the extra fruit that I couldn't easily have fitted on my plate without making a mess. A fail then? yet it was good food, I would have been the poorer without it, fresh from my own allotment, raspberries, strawberries, redcurrants, with some added sugar to blunt the sourness and cream for the pleasure of it. If that was a fail, I must forgive myself for it.

8:41pm Downside of Fasting: I get tired. I thought I'd be ready to dance by now, but I was wrong. Ate big meal at 2:30, by 5pm I was feeling the need to rest, ended up having a nap around 7, slept for an hour, now up but groggy, also I think I have a virus - immune system temporarily lowered too?

If I want to go dancing on a Thursday night, I think I can't fast on a Wednesday to Thursday, unless I did breakfast to breakfast and managed a nap sometime after my catch-up meal - and I know breakfast to breakfast is tougher than evening to evening.

Also an issue - lunch to lunch or breakfast to breakfast means sleeping fasted, which so far means poorer sleep for me, another fatigue factor.

I need to re-think the timing if I'm to do 2 24-hour fasts a week without writing off Thursday night dancing.
Last edited by Graham on Wed Aug 04, 2010 12:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Fri Jul 02, 2010 12:24 pm

11stone 3 3/4lb Waist 39 3/8" I might have weighed and measured a little less if I hadn't given in to SO's offer of something to eat - and then a follow-up at home of cheese on toast.

I had a feeling of need, and the food was sound/wholesome - yet, it clashes with my goal of weight/waist loss and increased lifespan. (or at least, if I do have another heart-attack one day, it won't be because I just sat and waited for it to happen)

I felt a bit drained as I recovered from the fast, and embarrassed because I was supposed to be going dancing and I didn't feel up to it - also i had a recurring virus problem I associate with being "run down" - yet, what is my alternative?

When I look back on what happened over the first month of No S - it was a weight plateau, and given my history and my distress at my own physical state, that just wasn't acceptable.

I now do something more difficult and demanding, it takes something out of me, but it also moves me where I want to go - SLIMMER. Heart disease has it's own imperatives, it's a stealthy menace, like the build-up to a stroke - no warning, no way to know when it might happen.

Prevention is the way ahead, do what you know to be effective - and weight/waist loss is statistically supported as effective in those areas, and fasting is a way for me to achieve that, even though it isn't sitting perfectly with No S for me at the moment.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Sat Jul 03, 2010 9:44 am

11stone 2lb Waist 39 1/4" LIGHTEST WEIGHT OF THE WHOLE YEAR!

1:58pm After the Thursday night fail/cheese on toast snack, I felt less hungry on Friday, ended up not having breakfast, but a large (yet 1-plate compliant) late lunch and solid evening meal - and look! Today I get my reward!. (and Holland knocked Brazil out of the World Cup!)

I've had a boiled egg and 2 slices of toast for breakfast, then the Ferrero Rocher Chocolate I've had waiting since I was given it 3 weeks ago. Didn't taste that nice - a little cheap and chemical tasting - nothing like they say in their adverts.

I don't know how I'll eat the rest of the day, should I make pancakes or not? Today or tomorrow? I'm so attached to my new weight that I'm really reluctant to spoil things - how long till I get to 11 stone 0lb? and <39" waist?

My progress to date: 5'7"tall, started at 11stone 12lb/166lb waist 40 1/2" BMI 26.1 Waist to height ratio (WHtR) 60.4% Body fat 33.8% BMR 1556 kcals/day
Now 11stone 2lb/156lb waist 39 1/4" BMI 24.5 WHtR 58.6% body fat 33.1% BMR 1493 kcals/day (Willoughby Athlete weight 158lb/waist 30.7")

"Safe" BMI <25 - so now I'm OK? No: Healthy WHtR <50% would be <33 1/2" for me, 5 3/4"less than now, about 20% less! :I'm in the range described as "substantially at risk" by the WHO! Healthy body fat: 15 to 18% for men (I'm Double that!)

About the waist measurement: to get to a safe level, I'd need to shed about 6" and that equates roughly to a loss of 24 to 30lbs! - I'd then weigh, say, 130lbs (9stone 4lbs - sounds so skinny! I don't think I was ever that slim! - I think when I weighed under 140lb my waist was under 30") with a BMI of 20.4, WHtR 50%, body fat 23% BMR 1331 kcals.

Those are just calculations, projections, I had to make up a waist and weight to generate these projected figures: let's see how it actually works out - I'm looking forward to knowing.

All calculated figures and normative data from http://home.fuse.net/clymer/bmi/ a very useful free web-site.
Last edited by Graham on Wed Jul 07, 2010 6:37 am, edited 2 times in total.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Sun Jul 04, 2010 8:20 am

11stone 4lb waist 39 3/8" I think I may have been a bit dehydrated yesterday owing to the heat, and it flattered my progress. I am also, for the second day in a row, using my SO's bathroom scales, which are much harder to read accurately than mine at home. I can't focus well on them and they aren't readable to anything beyond the nearest lb, so take today with a pinch of salt.

Yesterday's eating was fairly good: light breakfast followed by light-ish late lunch, then 6 biscuits (I do voluntary work at a centre where biscuits, tea and coffee are in constant supply) and later a substantial late supper. So, I wasn't "an idiot" but I didn't resist the opportunity to eat biscuits, I was glad that there weren't more of the sort I like most, that would have been difficult to resist.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Mon Jul 05, 2010 10:10 am

11stone 4lb Waist 39 3/8" Fasting, but with less enthusiasm than usual.

It all started to go wrong yesterday: I had to deal with visitors, the evening meal was late and I nearly snacked at midnight - just saved myself from that with a sliver of remaining consciousness and purpose.

Yes, it was the usual thing - I had alcohol and it messed me up. One tiny glass of red wine - nothing I would even bother with myself - haven't had a beer since last week's meal out, drink weakens my resolve, provokes my neediness, ghastly stuff - why do I do it - why do any of us do it? I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I had a drink and thought afterwards "I'm really glad i did that, I had a great time"

Anyway, "mark it and move on" - how sensible. Since I started intermittent fasting in conjunction with No S I have lost an average of 1lb a week. I don't want to lose momentum, or self-respect by starting to skip fasts. I do need to listen to my body, but I have to choose which messages to attend to, and to what extent. I can't go on listening to "More biscuits, please" forever, can I?

So I will try to be kind to myself in as many ways as possible today, apart from eating before the evening. I will be busy 11pm to 1am so I'll have to try to work eating in before that - after would be too silly and probably too stressful.

6:09pm - 20 hours done. I have resigned myself to a short fast today, I would eat now if it was on offer, as I'd expected. I was wrong. Not sure when I'll eat, but I'm sure ready for it! Just took my belt in another notch - such a silly thing to be so pleased about - but I am.

10:20, going out soon. Been through the mill with SO once again, I think we're reaching the end of the road. Hard to say, hard to let go, but I can't see any way out. Fast ended, and I have got my PC back online again, it's like being reborn!

Graham
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Post by Graham » Tue Jul 06, 2010 7:52 am

11stone 1 1/2lbs Waist 39 1/8" BMI 24.4 WHtR 58.4% Body Fat 32.9% Despite a No S fail - (someone left some very high quality chocolates for me to eat... Then, having blown it, I had a late night snack of 2 ham sandwiches... But the fast-breaking meal had been pretty light, so it didn't do too much overall damage.

Damage was elsewhere - me and SO reaching the end, she wants clarity, forcing issues, no time for gentle mending any more.

Now my PC is working again, I'm able to trawl through previous year's weight/waist figures - I can see I weighed at least 12stone 6lbs (174lb) at one point - and I'm calculating I need to lose at least another 16lbs - so I'll have lost over 30lbs from my peak - yet my BMI was never "obese". I'm still in the high risk category per my waist and waist/height ratio, yet my BMI is now in the normal/healthy range - just shows what a limited metric BMI is.

Another odd thing - it looks like my waist was much more variable than expected - sometimes lighter than now but fatter/bloated. Can't understand why just now. This can be said - I'm lightest I've been all year yet still 3/8" fatter than I was in January. These factors ought to be more aligned surely?
Last edited by Graham on Sat Jul 10, 2010 6:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

Graham
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Post by Graham » Wed Jul 07, 2010 6:34 am

11stone 2 1/2lbs, Waist 38 3/4" BMI 24.6, WHtR 57.8% Body fat 31.7% Resting BP/pulse: either 102/68/47 (wrist) or 115/76/52 (biceps cuff) Both BP monitors are supposed to be accurate - what to think? Measurement is interesting but not to be taken too seriously.

Finally - waist back to January 3rd measurement. I have waited so long to see that. Not surprsed the weight is up a bit, I had a meal just to please my palate last night - sausages with onion, apple, mushrooms and mashed potatoes. Wonderful. Anything less and I'd've been snacking again.

Interesting to look at weight/waist since yesterday: it suggests I've regained some weight, but it wasn't belly fat.

If I'm now back on track after a week or two where I seemed to be in danger of plateauing even with two weekly fasts, I think there is just one reason: control of S days. I have to be so careful, my progress is precious, sweets and biscuits just aren't worth the distress of failure, never mind how I'd feel if I had another heart-attack and couldn't say "I did my best to avoid this"
Last edited by Graham on Sat Jul 10, 2010 6:30 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Post by Graham » Thu Jul 08, 2010 7:21 am

11stone 4lb, waist 39 1/8" Seems like I'm going backwards or running on the spot. Fasting feels tiring at times and I've thought of interrupting it for a while - yet I so want to get the fat off. Now, today (and it is just one day) I feel like I'm toiling in vain.

I'm fasting, but that too was sort of spoiled by a mindless choice of a sip of milk before bed-time when I should have been choosing a no-calorie drink of any sort.

Why this problem? I feel it is partly the result of eating with SO again - the food is both excessive yet unsatisfying - vegetarian/starch diet is NOT suitable for me - never was, hardly likely that it ever will be. When I feel like I'm eating but not being nourished, I overeat. I felt the need of either meat, poultry or fish - Quorn is nice, but it's not real, not to my body.

9:49 am I just did a Bullworker session and feel a little better about my body and my diligence. Also I was thinking, last night's meal, it was a Chinese-style stir-fry - it may have been salty and perhaps that helped put the lbs on?

3pm. Up too late last night: got caught up in installing updates on my pc since it got repaired/wiped - every update since the creation of Vista has to be reinstalled. And, up late, fasting, adds up to stress today, and the disappointing weight this morning. I can hold out, ensuring I don't have breakfast or lunch, but this isn't my best fasting experience - more of a "have to" than a "want to" - the fear of what happens if I don't do it - I've gained 2 1/2lbs in the past 2 days!

8:17pm I will probably end up eating around 9pm. I feel better now, somehow past the difficult emotions, for now - but No S combined with fasting isn't easy for me, and I wouldn't have chosen it had there been any credible prospect of weight-loss on No S alone. If I were a few years younger, I might have been willing to wait longer to see - and a faster metabolism might have given better results - but I am where I am, and chose what I chose, maybe wrongly, maybe impatiently, but I chose.

I feel some regret that I didn't give No S regular more time to work for me. I am very much in sympathy with such a gradual approach, it seems very respectful, patient and measured - was I just too headstrong to wait and see? I am impatient, and perhaps I'm now suffering a bit because of that - I will be observant, I will try to learn my limits and possibilities.

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Post by Graham » Fri Jul 09, 2010 7:29 am

11stone 2 1/2lbs Waist 39" Not bad, but compared to earlier in the week, it's not exactly progress either. Strange, this fast just seemed to not quite recapture ground gained earlier in the week. The best to say, I don't feel depleted today, I feel in better shape.

I'm thinking there must be reasons for the uneven progress I make with IF, but I don't know what they are. What I do know is sometimes it feels more difficult than other times, sometimes my weight goes down without obvious effort, other times the effort is obvious but the results are scant.

I have a busy day ahead today, but I feel ok about it. Yesterday, or the day before, I was stressing about today, feeling I was too depleted to cope, and now that feeling is gone.

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Post by Graham » Sat Jul 10, 2010 6:23 am

11stone 2 1/2lbs, Waist 39" BMI 24.6 WHtR 58.2% BF 32.3% (W)95/68/48 (B)108/77/53 Is this good or bad? I weigh same as yesterday, which is OK, but still 1/2lb heavier than last Saturday. That week was a little strange, I had one of those "unearned weight drops" that seems to happen sometimes, inexplicably.

If I look at the overall trend over a longer time span, I'm doing no worse than I have over previous weeks, there are highs and lows around a gradually decreasing mean value for weight and waist.

The plateau periods are puzzling, but there again,, the overall trend is discernible - it is as though the body suddenly drops a few pounds after many days of unresponsiveness, perhaps there are other processes masking the downward trend?

There is a meal out scheduled for this evening - I can't really avoid it, but I'm dreading the scales on Sunday - especially after a week where I weigh more than the Saturday before, the timing is infelicitous. Could I just say "No" to the beer? Would that solve the problem? Too dull.

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Post by Graham » Sun Jul 11, 2010 3:56 pm

11stone 3lbs (approx) Waist 39" The weight is by subtraction: at home after breakfast and coffee I weighed 11 stone 3 3/4lbs, I think 3/4lbs might be roughly the weight of the coffee, bread, egg and grapefruit I had. The waist measurement is exact.

It is very hot, I had a meal out again last night, just like last week, but I was more restrained. I had a sip of my SO's cocktail but had no drink myself, and shared a dessert. Breakfast had been a whole stack of pancakes with sugar and lemon, no lunch, a chocolate ice-cream in the afternoon and then the evening meal out. I think did OK.

Heated debate about my habits and their effect on SO: how inconsiderate I am with my fasting and my meditating and don't I know how I affect other people who have to work round my habits? There is this to the complaint - I don't have so much energy on a fasting day or after I've had the fast-breaking meal - so that does interfere with planning things like an evening dance, If its on a fasting day.

This week I've agreed to fast on Monday and Friday, so we can go to a milonga (social tango) on Thursday night. Not sure that I feel too good about it, but I did promise to try the Thursday place and I was in no state to dance post-fasting on Thursday 1st, I really wasn't up to it.

I think part of me would like to put everything else non-essential on hold till I've got my waist down to a respectable size where I begin to feel pleased with how I look once more, but that is more than my SO is able to tolerate.

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Post by Graham » Mon Jul 12, 2010 7:04 am

11stone 2 3/4lb Waist 39 1/4" Waist measurement was tricky today. I try to keep consistent about it, but there is an element of variability, perhaps postural. I measure after visiting the bathroom but before eating or drinking, yet, I can measure ten minutes later and find my waist has increased by 1/4" as it did today. So, what's the correct figure? 39"? (I re-measured because it was "39-ish" - maybe 39 1/8"? but re-measured to 39 1/4".

And what the hell anyway, I'm at my lightest recorded Monday weight for the whole year. I was again moderate on my weekend eating, helped in large measure by the heat - neither I nor the cats eat much when its like this.

Fasting, of course. Unsweetened black coffee. I could use sweeteners but I read that they could fool the system into producing insulin and that would be unproductive - part of the fasting rationale is that it gives the digestive system, pancreas and liver included, a rest. Sweeteners might interfere, so I'll be restrained and quaff my bitter brew as is.

Taste-bud protest aside, I am content to be fasting today. I am sometimes reluctant, pitying myself, wondering if, having adopted this regime, I will ever be able to stop? SO was wondering how long to the happy day when I can "get back to normal eating"? I suspect "normal" in the sense she means it is forever beyond me - I was a fat child, a fat teenager, until I did my first diet - which, combined with smoking, made my weight and appearance good enough for several decades - but, latterly, fat and getting fatter has been my "normal".

My only proper concern should be that I don't become malnourished. Eating less means less calories - and less vitamins, minerals, essential fats, protein etc. As I find S-day moderation becoming more appealing, I am naturally improving the nutrient profile of what I do eat - less empty calories, but I used to be an avid supplement taker, and I'm far less regular with any of them now. It seems intrusive to be taking supplements on a fasting day, for example, and some other days I just forget.

5:30pm The fast is going smoothly - yet I've made a surprising discovery: I don't altogether want to lose weight! I make graphs to track my progress, and I was looking at how much space I'd have to leave for where I'd be at a loss of 1lb a week over the next 5 weeks - and I realised it made me feel really uncomfortable!

Something in me wasn't saying "Oh Goody" but "No way!" I've been trying to tune in to that feeling - whether it was "I just can't do it" or "I don't want to do it" or "I'm afraid something bad will happen if I do it". I'm using EFT to address this feeling, a deep unease aroused by the thought of reaching 10stone 10lb. Oh, just realised - I probably won't get to 10st 10lbs, more likely 10stone 12lbs or thereabouts - still, there's a big "NO" in me that I have to come to terms with, or my weight/waist loss attempts will come to naught.

There is a conflict within about letting this weight go, really letting it go for good. It feels like all loss is bad, and even losing weight is sad, regrettable - and to create it deliberately is some kind of self-violation, a crime against myself. Certainly against my fat self! I am conflicted about being diminished.

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Post by Graham » Tue Jul 13, 2010 8:42 am

11stone 2 3/4lbs Waist 38 3/4" Yes, another strange-ish fasting result: I haven't lost an ounce but shed half an inch off my waist!

I can say that the fast was easy, that I ate moderately when I broke the fast, I had about half a pint of milk in the hour before bed-time, but I was pretty restrained overall, and here I am, heavier than I was for several days of last week, and only just as slim as my slimmest during the same period.

How can I call that progress? I am, however, not feeling strained * the way I did last week, and that IS progress.

Yesterday's figures: BMI 24.6 WHtR 58.6% Body Fat 32.9%
Today's figures: BMI 24.6 WHtR 57.8% Body Fat 31.6%

I am feeling OK, and wondering how this works: can I lose weight and feel energetic at the same time?

* 7:28pm Feeling tired, with a dance class to come. I am not sleeping well enough, perhaps its just the hot weather, let's see how it goes. (and if this is the price I'm paying to lose @ 1lb a week, I guess I'll just have to stick it out till I get to my goals - but that will be at least another 4 MONTHS! - is this rate of progress sustainable with less inconveniently timed fatigue?)

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Post by Graham » Wed Jul 14, 2010 9:26 am

11stone 0 3/4lbs Waist 39" So, after a day of No S compliance and moderate eating, with one day's delay, the weight-loss I might have expected to see on Tuesday - but with waist regain. Funny business. And two whole pounds dropped! Goodness!

BMI 24.3, WHtR 58.2%, Body Fat 32.8%

1:37pm About yesterday and ENERGY . I got to the class and I perked up once there, it was a short class anyway, I felt tired again afterwards and had an early night. One of my cats keeps meowing and waking me up at unearthly hours, which is partly why I'm getting too little sleep and getting tired during the day.

Today again woken far too early, but my energy level is fairly good at the moment, bicycling from home to Tottenham, then to the dentists, then back here, all brisk, about half an hour, with a deflating front tyre, I'm fine.

The plan is that I don't fast tomorrow, but Friday, so I've the best chance of being in good form for the milonga in Dalston. Let's see how it goes.

4:12pm yawning. Grabbing rolls of fat round my middle as I sit here wondering, "How did I let it get this bad?" When I get brief moments of feeling light and energetic, I'm so pleased - yet I let all that slide. I took my eye off the ball, despite being aware, since my teens, how good it felt to be slimmer. I want to feel that way again. Even though it isn't so easy to shed the lbs now, I can still do it.

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Post by Graham » Thu Jul 15, 2010 7:24 am

11stone 0 1/2lbs Waist 38 3/4" Not fasting today, I was conscious of choosing to have a little less food than I could have yesterday. Partly obliged by dental work, but even in the evening, restraint (and salad, and beans and naan)

BMI 24.2, WHtR 57.8%, Fat 32.2% And, according to my wrist BP monitor: 97/69 pulse 48

SCALES GO ROGUE: 10:41am post bathroom visit, weighed "10stone 11lbs"! - apparently I'd just lost 3 1/2lbs! - How often have mysterious weight-losses been a result of such a presumably mechanical quirk? (Re-weighed exactly the same figure, waited @ 1/2 hour, and I was back to a more plausible 11stone 0 3/4lb)

4:49pm I haven't eaten well today. I was offered a cooked lunch by SO - she wouldn't normally bother with a cooked lunch for herself but "did it for me" - only she cooked food that SHE likes, not food that I like - so how is that "for me"?

I ate the salad, the few slivers of smoked salmon on offer, 2 small bread and butter, and that was it. I didn't want the stewed veg and polenta - it was too early for me to have a proper appetite (late breakfast) yet it was my lunch-opportunity, wasted on a meal with far too few calories in it. Now I'm hungry, restless and grouchy, fed up with stupid compromises.

It wouldn't matter a damn what was in lunch except that I can't do No S on low calorie s***! I can't do her food on No S - I can't do both together.

Better if SO catered for what she needs and left me to cook what I want when I want it, then we'd both get what we need, it's nobody's fault that we thrive on different diets, then she wouldn't be undermining me achieving my goal without even intending to.

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Post by Graham » Fri Jul 16, 2010 7:13 am

11stone 1lb Waist 39" Fasting. A slight slip last night - I had a sip of milk before going to bed because I "forgot" I was fasting! How much does it matter? It delays the "rest phase" when the stomach, liver, pancreas stop having to work to process food.

Fasting does 2 separately useful things: 1. it creates a calorie deficit which leads to weight-loss 2. It rests the digestive system, sharpening things like insulin sensitivity and reducing inflammation. I'm not sure that just creating a calorie deficit without the fast would be so beneficial, so my slip-up does matter, it won't stop me losing weight, it might reduce the benefit of rest for my internal organs.

Waist measurement again difficult: first it looked like 38 5/8", then it's as though it starts to inflate, or the muscles start to relax and it just swells to 38 3/4", then all the way to 39". Strange. Anyway, viewed side on, it still looks utterly obscene and enormous and it does just one good thing: it makes me want to go on, to crush any self-pity that might make me ease up on my efforts to get this obscenity off my body - if I live long enough, this will be gone, it is an ugliness I can overcome.

7.58pm time to eat. 10:14: sipping milk, soon I'll turn in, I'm tired following my post-fast meal, I've managed 9 days without No S fail, despite 2 fasts a week.

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Post by Graham » Sat Jul 17, 2010 4:42 am

11stone 1 3/4lbs Waist 38 3/4" Seemingly pointless fast. What would I weigh now if i hadn't done it? My only comfort. Can't weigh less if I'd skipped it, surely, though my evening meal was substantial it was on one plate, a sip of milk later on, but I wouldn't say I'd been gorging.

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Post by Graham » Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:26 am

11stone 0 3/4lbs Waist 38 1/4" BMI 24.3 WHtR 57.1% Fat 30.8%

7:18pm I am on track, I am succeeding, yet I have so far to go. I am a bit fed up with this journey, it is a tedious business, it requires my attention yet it isn't very interesting.

I see the figures today, I see how, for a moment at least, I was slimmer - but still over 38". The mirror shows I am still corpulent, swollen, inflated - it so distresses me to have let myself get into such a disgraceful state, which will take so many months to reverse, and I can only succeed if life permits me the time to do it.

Until I lose this weight and graceless obesity, how will I know what it has been costing me? Are my hopes realistic? How much better will everything be if I get slim? Will I really be "10 years younger"? Or is that a vain hope?

OK, on reflection - no matter how dissatisfied I am with myself right now, this is one area of life where it seems like I really can make a difference, can be effective. I can be slimmer. Boring efforts may be required, but I have the time to pay sufficient attention to get it done.

Another 2 1/4" off my waist would get me to <36" (which means another 12lbs or so off) to get myself out of the "increased risk" waist measurement category. That means as much weight as I've lost already, again!, and another 3 months to do it!

OK, here's a reality check - about a year ago, using my rowing machine, I had almost exactly this same weight and waist - then I got a job and it all went downhill pretty quickly! (the rowing stopped)

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Post by Graham » Mon Jul 19, 2010 7:38 am

11stone 3 1/2lbs waist 39 1/4" Attended a conference yesterday, free food, tasty sandwiches, crisps, I know I had more than one plate but. I'd breakfasted modestly (apple & banana). Then I ate well in the evening, (grapefruit, orange juice, sausage, onion, carrots, broccoli, mashed potatoes) I didn't sense this level of excess. The figures are a bit of a shock. Fasting today.

I do wonder, when I gain 1" round my middle in one day, what is it made of? What is in there? So strange.

1:13pm. 16th hour since the start of my last meal. I'm about to do my isometric work-out, haven't done it for days, I've got habitcal tracking it: Days I do it are green, up to 3 days not doing it would be yellow, beyond that would be red. It is helpful to use HabitCal for that, also for meditation (twice a day is green, once is yellow, not at all is red) and EFT: if I do it at all, or SET, a simplified variant, it's green, even if only for a few minutes. I'd like a system that graded my efforts - but just seeing I don't forget is a help.

5:57pm It's been a pretty easy day, fasting-wise, sunny and warm, with a fresh breeze. My pre-fast eating perhaps prepared me for it - that would be interesting, if I was subconsciously altering my pre-fast eating to reduce it's impact. I read the gut has an extensive neural network - a thinking apparatus of it's own - so why wouldn't it try to outsmart my head?

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Post by Graham » Tue Jul 20, 2010 7:37 am

11stone 2 1/4lbs Waist 38 7/8" My energy level was good yesterday, and I feel ok so far today too. (woke early, but I went back to bed and I'm glad of it)

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Post by Graham » Wed Jul 21, 2010 7:10 am

11stone 0 1/4lbs Waist 38 3/4" BMI 24.2, WHtR 57.8%, Body Fat 32.2%

Yesterday's energy level was good, breakfast was almost OTT but lunch wasn't possible, evening meal moderate after dance class - then @ 1/3pint milk before bed-time. Life calls, must move on to being able to diet without devoting so much of my mind to it.

Today it seems possible to say "I am calmer about food, and being a little hungry at times, than I ever was." only I know pride goes before a fall - and I've been mistaken about where I was, and how stable my state so frequently that I'm wary of celebrating it.

When I misunderstand my metabolism I become again a sort of "addict", feeling rather desperate and dishonest as I eat some trash to excess. And I DO blame the people who make the trash, not me - they are like drug-pushers, preying on the vulnerability of others, and without a conscience about it. I have my strategies for avoiding falling into their clutches again, but why have a business that makes harmful crap? Crap should at least be taxed heavily, according to how tempting and worthless it is.

10:29am A bit late with breakfast - and I feel very weak and shaky. I had exercised before eating, but now I've had orange juice with brewers yeast, and a sausage & onion sandwich, but I feel wobbly. Hopefully it will wear off really soon - I've laundry to hang out on the line and a bike ride ahead of me in the next 20 minutes.

No S failure. Snack - a tiny apple from my own tree. Then 2 shreddies (I was in "what the hell" mode by then) and a meal that may or may not have fitted on one plate, as I was already going to fail today, what was the point in trying to work it out? Ended 13 days compliance.

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Post by Graham » Thu Jul 22, 2010 6:59 am

11stone 1 1/4lb waist 38 3/4" I got caught up once again in the multi-plate meals environment at SO's. Not only her, its the plate size, a meal cooked by someone from Pakistan doesn't fit the one-plate model easily, it would have felt boorish to try to select a large plate and fill it when others were taking repeated smaller portions, the fresh naan bread too was taken bit by bit, not whole - it was politeness and culture, and I couldn't easily measure how much I had, but I probably went over the limit, anyway I'd already done the snack crime earlier, so the day was a fail.

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Post by Graham » Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:23 am

11 stone 1 1/2lbs waist 38 3/4" Fasting today. Yesterday's food intake was modest - I wasn't expecting to see my weight up, but I guess 1/4lb this way or that isn't that significant.

9:14am Tracking more and more things with HabitCal. It is very helpful. I am now tracking No S, Isometrics, meditation, Yoga, EFT. I am more likely to make progress when I do this. I wonder, should I include Tango too? Green would mean I practiced some tango or tango-related skill (balancing on one foot for example - a key skill)

9:06pm That was too hard. I hadn't eaten much the night before, and then danced for 3 hours. Today went to allotment while fasting. Felt weak even on the way there, digging not sustainable beyond an hour. Eating wasn't too pleasant either, started well, but the meal not balanced, too little protein, ended up having seconds of blackberries with cream and sugar, Delicious, but a fail

The annoying thing: If I'd been cooking for myself, at home, I would have chosen a more satisfying meal, and it would have been a successful No S day.

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Post by Graham » Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:31 am

11stone 0 3/4lbs waist 38 1/2" BMI 24.3 WHtR 57.5% Body Fat 31.4%

That was a tough fasting day. Now, back, roughly, to where I was a week ago, before I threw so much hard-won progress away when confronted with FREE FOOD. It was good stuff, I can't identify any key behaviour to change apart from hoping not to get invited to too many conferences.

I enjoyed myself with delightful flavours, and the pleasure of having as much as I could of nice things. The degree of weight-gain was a shock, though it didn't cling to me, it wasn't all fat by any means.

12:30pm Feeling a bit slimmer, a moment to celebrate. Breakfast of generous proportions: orange juice and brewers yeast (was a health kick once, but now I really like it!), bacon, mushrooms, fried egg, then pancakes.

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Post by Graham » Sun Jul 25, 2010 7:25 am

11 stone 0 lbs Waist 38 5/16" BMI 24.2 WHtR 57.2% Body Fat 31.1% Blood pressure: wrist: 98/73 pulse 44 or biceps 108/65 pulse 50

So! 11stone 0lbs - and, for all the senseless variability of what the scales may say, this is a milestone for me. The fact my waist is also just a shade over 38 1/4" tells me the weight is probably an accurate reflection of continuing progress.

My energy level wasn't too good yesterday, I ate pancakes (sweet and later savoury) nearly the whole day, no fruit or veg passed my lips after breakfast mushrooms and orange juice. I bought a lettuce for a salad I imagined I'd eat, but was too lazy to prepare. There's a low mood prevailing.

I look slimmer, I feel slimmer (handy for Yoga classes I just started recently) but I feel no particular joy. Life goes on, the difficulties remain, losing weight doesn't fix everything. I am doing this for my heart, for longevity, for my appearance and self-esteem, there may be emotional fall-out as I do it.

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Post by Graham » Mon Jul 26, 2010 8:19 am

11stone 0 1/2lbs Waist 38 5/8" BMI 24.2, WHtR 57.6% Body Fat 31.8%

Only 2 meals and a small snack while digging on the allotment yesterday but the macadamia chocolate did for me! Fasting today.

5:17pm Here is something NOT to do while fasting: read the "my favourite recipe" thread. How I suffer, how I yearn! Those simple tasty recipes, so comforting, so tempting. Bah!

Failure The post fast meal was sabotaged by well-meaning SO. She thinks I must need a BIG meal and contrives to get me to eat one. I could have one-plated - but I'd've needed to eat meat or other dense protein source. Still no solution to this sabotage with a hurt look if I question her actions. She doesn't seem able to see sabotage as evidence of insincere support.

It was a hard day, and I am tired now.

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Post by Graham » Tue Jul 27, 2010 3:06 pm

Waist 38 3/4" Weight 11stone 0 1/2lbs

So the *first fast with a negative outcome - weight static but I gained 1/8" waist. More of a mystery than any preceding Monday. And I suffered enough, didn't I?

11:51pm No S Failure, again. This was a smaller fault: I was curious to know whether Farley's Rusks still tasted like they did when I was little. So I ate half of one to find out. Didn't, but it wasn't meal-time, so that was a No S fail. Remarkable was that, despite it being a fail day, I stuck to the rules for the rest of the day.

* Wed 28 July - I'm wrong - weight gain after a fast happened once before, June 18th.
Last edited by Graham on Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:38 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Post by Graham » Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:17 am

10 stone 13 1/4 lbs Waist 38 5/8" BMI 24.1, WHtR 57.6%, Body Fat 32.2%

This pattern of seeing the effect of a fast after a day's delay seems fairly well established now. I don't understand it. It is recurrent and I've come to expect it, though I don't yet trust it. I felt nervous as I weighed myself today. "What if I've gained this time? What will I DO?"

Another mystery, looking over my weight loss graph, all the way back to when I started intermittent fasting, is how jagged the line of progress has been. Nevertheless, I have now lost 11 3/4 lbs in 10 weeks. My waist loss has also been uneven, another squiggle to puzzle over between one fast and the next.

I believe the addition of the brewers yeast/orange juice combination to my diet has been very helpful with my energy levels: I have to monitor them as well, slim but exhausted is not the goal!

Examining my weight-loss history here I see in fact I have twice now experienced a gain after a fast. Record keeping is good for my morale.

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Post by Graham » Thu Jul 29, 2010 7:14 am

10 stone 12 1/2 lbs Waist 38 1/2" BMI 23.9, WHtR 57.5%, Body Fat 32%

Another 3/4lb dropped, and another 1/8" reduction - but it is all an oscillation around a waist measurement I've had for a few weeks. I can't much enjoy this while my waist remains so f******g ugly.

How can I forgive myself for the mess I let myself get into? Dreadful appearance and damaged health - and SO SLOW TO CHANGE.

I am impatient, frustrated, angry. And, at the same time - I feel my better body, and enjoy the sensation. Where, precisely, do I feel that betterness? Round my middle. I think BREWERS YEAST has been a real help this week, I sense my energy level is better than it would otherwise be as I shed the lbs.

1:25am The world got to me today, and brought me down. Tango class was a miserable ordeal. Worries oppress. Let's see what sleep has to offer, fasting tomorrow.

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