I've stopped being so meticulous about my records. I am less concerned about going the full fast day without eating, usually eating normally at dinnertime. I haven't had a full 36 hour fast in a few weeks now. But I'm still trending downwards, albeit more slowly.
There are a couple reasons for that. For one, now that I have been doing this for 12 weeks, I have a better understanding of what I'm eating, and how energy dense it is. I don't eat dessert that often, and if I'm planning on eating out, I usually fast the rest of the day. I know about how much I should eat to stay close to my calorie counts. I don't beat myself up for what I eat - I just am careful and course correct the next day if needed. I also have very rarely felt uncomfortably full (one of my downfalls in the past), because I don't overeat / have multiple servings of something if I'm satisfied.
Another reason is psychological - I hit the 20 lbs down mark (yay!), so I'm feeling much more confident in myself and my body at this point. I am looking much better than I did 12 weeks ago, and feeling better too. So I feel a little less need to do the full fast, instead opting more for an OMAD (one meal a day) option on those fast days.
The last reason is more personal. Last week, my grandfather passed away. It was not unexpected - he was 94 years old and has fought Alzheimer's for the past few years - but it's still hard losing someone you love and who has been such a big part of your life for so long. He was a pretty cool guy - take a look at his obituary to get a better idea of who he was. But having that happen made me focus a bit less on other things, like tracking all my calories.
I haven't stopped ADF as a result of all of these factors, but it's just lessened the importance of the tracking and weight loss aspects of it for me. The maintenance is still important, but I'm not as concerned with hitting that magic 155 number by Thanksgiving like I mentioned earlier.
Anyway, for those following my journey, it's still a journey. I'm still on the path, and I hope you're on your own path. It's about being a little better each day, and getting back on the bike each time you fall off. In whatever that may be.
First of all, I want to talk about my successes. In Week 9, I lost 2 pounds, but only 1.6 in Week 10. Thus far I have lost 19.6 pounds - I am so close to hitting that 20 pounds down. That is going to be a pretty cool milestone to hit, and I should get it in the next couple days.
Though some days I see the scale go up and get a little disheartened, I've come to realize that the fluctuations up and down are normal, and over time, the scale is trending downward. The best thing about my number is that it is the lowest number I've had in almost 10 years!
Over the past 10 years, I've periodically (including on this blog) tracked my weight and other body measurements (i.e. waist, arms, legs, etc.), and when I started ADF, I pulled all of those into a single location. I'm still about five pounds away from the lowest weight I have recorded, which was 10 years ago on October 26, 2010.
Today I want to take you through my journey over the years. I don't have everything, but I'll do my best. Let's start with one of my earliest attempts to "get healthy," which I don't actually have any records of:
P90X (2010)
Kristen and I did this together. If you're unfamiliar with P90X, it is a series of workout videos, along with a meal plan. I tried to do the meal plans, but for the most part just did the workouts. This was early on in my marriage, and I think we got to about day 82 before we said we were good. The workouts helped me get into reasonable shape, but I don't think my body changed much.
Insanity Rounds 1 & 2 (2010)
Next was Insanity (another series of workout videos and meal plan). This was a two-month course, of which I completed about half. At that point, I got sick, and Kristen and I were in a play that was pretty physically demanding, and the workouts fell by the wayside. I talked a little bit about it in the inaugural post on this blog. Over the course of that month, I lost about 8 pounds (starting around 173, ending at about 165, I think).
The first round was over the summer - then I started it up again in September, and went through October sometime. I managed to lose about 5 pounds in that second round, going from 164.6 to 159.8. That is the lowest recorded weight I have, from Oct. 26, 2010.
Atkins/Low Carb (2012-2015)
Low carb diets have their place, and I have utilized them periodically over the years. They have one major problem though: carbs taste good. Okay, two major problems - low carb diets are hard to meal prep for. When you are used to "normal," non-low carb diets, you try to make low/no-carb versions of your favorite foods, like bread, dessert, noodles, etc. And the low/no carb versions are not nearly as good, leaving you ultimately dissatisfied.
So though I had some success with low carb diets, they were always temporary solutions. I think the longest I went on a low carb diet was three weeks - more typical was about two weeks. In that time period, I usually lost around 10 pounds, so they can give results, for sure, but just not a long-term solution for most people. Documented times I did Atkins (though it may have been more): Feb 2012, Mar 2013, Aug 2013, and Oct 2015.
Beachbody - Hard Corps (2015)
In 2015, I had a friend from college post an announcement calling for anyone who wanted to join a fitness challenge group for a month (she was a Beachbody coach - same company that does P90X and Insanity). I was at a point that I really wanted to get in shape, so said sure, I'd do it. I paid some money, got some new fitness videos (Hard Corps - done by the same guy who did P90X) and nutrition shakes, and was pretty good about exercising every day. I even did it when I was on a work trip, in my hotel room. I lost almost four pounds over the course of a month, going from 178.2 to 174.6. Though I didn't see a lot of weight loss or change my diet much, I did see some changes in body measurements, which was good.
2015-Today
Periodically, I have exercised at home (utilizing all those workout videos I have) or at work (we have a fitness center there with group classes), but the longest I ever steadily exercised was a couple months at a time, followed by months and months of saying how I needed to get back into it. Even during the pandemic, when we have so much time at home, you would think it would be easier to exercise and eat healthy, but just the opposite has happened. That is, until 10 weeks ago, when we started ADF.
And you know about ADF. Still going strong - it's the easiest plan I've ever done - you could even say it's the lazy man's diet plan. No - the BUSY man's diet plan. Now that this is down, my next steps are to figure out how to start doing some exercise.
I wanted to share some before/after photos (though it isn't really "after" - I still have a ways to go).
I've been taking photos every couple of weeks, after my weigh-in, and I wanted to show the difference the past 8 weeks have made in my body. Remember, with my "baby steps" plan, I have not actually changed anything except how I am eating. I haven't changed what I'm eating, how much activity I'm doing, or anything else. I just am not eating 3 days a week (or really, eating a lot less 3 days a week, since many of my fast days I still eat dinner).
It's not a huge change, but it's noticeable. Old clothes are starting to fit better - after almost two months, I am down 16.6 pounds. I still have a ways I want to go. I am at 168 pounds as of today, but I think I would like to be around 155. I say "I think," because I don't have a "goal weight." I have a weight at which I remember feeling good about my body. But I also want to add in strength training and yoga to get more muscle, tone, and definition, which could increase that weight. The weight isn't what I care most about - it's how my body looks and feels. But if I keep steady with my ~2 pounds per week, I should hit the 155 range in about 6 more weeks, around Thanksgiving. Here is a chart of my progress since I started in August:
Challenges
Though I have some challenges, as I said in my last post, the great thing about this program is that I can "fail" and still be successful. It's easy to start back up again. I recently (in week 7) went to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in northern Minnesota. I started on a Wednesday (a fast day), and went through Saturday. I completely threw everything out the window as soon as I was on the road. On Wednesday I had road snacks and ate at a restaurant, and then Thursday-Saturday, ate what everyone else had. We were canoeing, hiking, and camping, and ate the food we brought in.
I did not fast on Friday (or all of Wednesday), and ate three meals a day plus snacks the whole time we were out. I weighed myself on Wednesday before leaving, and Sunday when I was back home, and had remained weight-neutral. Even though I was eating more food more often, I was also expending a lot more energy, so it was not entirely unexpected, but was still a relief. Overall in Week 7, I gained 0.2 pounds.
Another challenge was at the end of week 5 and beginning of week 6. For 6 days in a row, I weighed in within about 0.2 pounds of the same weight every day. I was worried that I had hit a plateau, and wouldn't be able to lose more weight. But on day 6 of the same weight, I fasted all day (didn't even do a small dinner like I tend to), and was back on track the next day, with slow and steady weight loss. I'm not sure why it happened, but plateaus are fairly common with lots of fitness, diet, and lifestyle changes. You usually just need to make some adjustments to start making progress again.
Week 8 Reflection
Overall, things are going well. I am still loving this lifestyle change. I love that I am losing weight and am feeling better about myself. I like how it's not been up and down, but has been fairly consistent. At this point, I am at a weight I haven't been in about seven years, and it's feeling pretty good. On to Week 9!
First off, this is a GIF of my daughter taking some "baby steps" - get it?? Anyway, all too often in an effort to "get healthy," I try to do everything at once. I try to change my diet, my sleeping patterns, how much activity/exercise I do on a regular basis, etc. And inevitably, I fail. The main reason is a lack of motivation, which as we all know, is garbage. It's virtually impossible to will yourself to do something long term. Watch this video to learn more (it's fairly long, but a good watch).
Even so, I would try to get up earlier, exercise longer, or eat food that I didn't want to eat and wouldn't eat normally. Then I would get sick, and stop getting up to exercise, or be tired and not want to prepare a no-carb meal, etc. And after not doing something once (something you really don't want to do anyway), it's really easy to not do it twice, three times...
This time is different for four specific reasons. First, I'm not doing it alone. Both Kristen and I are doing it together. Second, it's not changing EVERYTHING at once. Third, it's simple, and isn't drastically changing what I'm already doing. It may sound extreme, but it's just an extension of what I've already done a million times. I'm just codifying it and tracking it this time. And fourth, if I "fail," it's really easy to get back on track. Let me explain what I'm doing.
About a month ago, Kristen did a bunch of research and presented the idea to me to participate in intermittent fasting. I'd heard about it but was skeptical, so I looked into it. As it turns out, there is a lot of legitimate research on it and its effectiveness, and it seemed like something I could do long-term. (If you're interested in learning more, I am going to put some resources down at the bottom of this post.)
Alternate-Day (Intermittent) Fasting
So what I've been doing is called alternate-day intermittent fasting or just alternate-day fasting (ADF). That means that every other day, I fast - that is, I go without food all day (I still drink plenty of water). The next day, I eat normally for my age, body weight, and activity level. Technically, I don't actually even do full-on alternate day fasting. I fast MWF, and eat normally the rest of the week (so I have two days in a row of eating normally on the weekends).
There are some caveats here. First, remember how I mentioned that I can fail? Well, it's built in. If at all possible, I try to fast the entire day. But if I'm just really hungry, I can eat up to 500 calories on a fast day. In fact, because we have kids at home, we usually try to eat dinner with them anyway. In the past five weeks of alternate day fasting, I have only ever gone a whole day without eating five times, or only once a week on average. The other caveat is that when I eat, I eat normally, but I keep track of what I eat. For a downloadable copy of my tracker, click here.
Every morning I step on the scale, put it on my spreadsheet, and use an online calculator to figure out my basal metabolic rate (BMR) and my total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). These numbers are essentially how many calories your body needs to maintain your current body composition/weight. Based on my (currently fairly sedentary) lifestyle, my body uses about 2000 calories per day to keep me going. That means on average, I want to eat fewer than 2000 calories a day to lose weight. So if I eat 2000 calories one day and 0 calories the next day, that's an average of 1000 calories per day.
The chart I use to track what I weigh and eat every day
How I've Changed
First off, the major question - have I lost weight? Yes. So far, without doing a shred of physical exercise (which I really should do too, but like I said, baby steps/changes), I've lost 11.8 lbs in 5 weeks. This has been fairly consistent at 2-2.5 lbs per week, rather than huge drops and then leveling off. Based on my BMR, TDEE, and my caloric intake, I've run a deficit of ~5300 calories a week. If a pound of fat is about 3500 calories, that's 7.6 lbs. That means that some of that 11.8 lbs is probably water weight, and some of it is just that my metabolism is a little higher than the averages the BMR/TDEE calculators use. But the point is that it's been consistent.
I've also changed my relationship with food. I love food - seriously, I love to eat. But I have used food as THE thing that I look forward to in a day. Often filled with sugar, or deep fried, or both (mmm, donuts). My wife and I would often use food as our bonding time - eating out after the kids are in bed, making dessert (again, after they're in bed). So this has forced me to change how I see food, and also look for other things that bring value and meaning to my life (oh the horror). But I've rediscovered my love for books, working on projects, and just talking with my wife.
Before ADF, I don't think I ever really understood how many calories were in the food I ate - how much I was consuming on a regular basis. ADF has changed how I look at food. To know how much we're eating, we look up the nutritional information that is available from restaurants and on packaged foods, and use this food calculator for the meals and desserts we make. This has helped us estimate the calories in our food we make. Two of our "regular" quick desserts (which we liked to make at least once a week) were 1000-1500 calories per person! The problem with empty calories (like sugar) is that they don't make you feel as full (think drinking all those calories in a soda), so you don't realize how much you're eating. With those desserts, I was eating almost my body's entire daily caloric needs as a late-night snack. Now that we know that, we are more hesitant about making them, and the desserts are, as Cookie Monster says, a "sometimes food."
By keeping track of my food intake, in addition to becoming more aware of what I eat, I pay more attention to how it affects me and what my body actually needs. For example, I learned that I am most likely lactose intolerant, so now before eating dairy, I take a lactase enzyme pill first. As a result, I am much more comfortable later on. You probably think I starve myself or deprive myself all the time, but I don't. We still eat out about once a week (date night), eat dessert occasionally, etc. But the difference is that I don't gorge myself anymore - I don't eat until I'm uncomfortable. I just eat a regular portion of food, and then I'm done (with maybe a little tiny helping afterward). I still indulge in sweet treats sometimes, but it isn't four donuts. It's one. It's not three sugar cookie bars - it's one (maybe one and a half).
This journey has been eye-opening, and I'm excited to continue to share it with you. If you're looking for more information about intermittent fasting or my experiences with it, take a look at this FAQ I made (though no one has actually asked me any questions yet, so I am just assuming that these would be the questions asked most frequently).
FAQ
Are you really hungry all day? No, actually. When I first started, it was harder to go all day without eating. But I've learned (and noticed) that hunger tends to come in waves. It peaks around our usual meal times, and then subsides, regardless of whether we eat (mostly). And like I said, it's okay to "fail" a fast day and have something to eat. This is a long-term change - not a quick fix.
Can you drink while fasting? There are different meanings for "fasting" depending on who you're talking to. Some people don't eat or drink at all when fasting (usually for religious reasons), but when doing intermittent fasting, it's important to drink lots of water. I actually find that sometimes water even helps keep cravings at bay when fasting. You can also have other zero-calorie beverages (even diet sodas), but it's best to primarily drink water if possible. It's the best for you, and is sure not to mess with your metabolism (jury is out on artificial sweeteners) or make you hungrier.
Won't your body go into starvation mode and your metabolism will drop to compensate long-term? This is a big question from a lot of people, and what initially concerned me about IF. I've read about the Biggest Loser contestants, how their metabolism permanently dropped, and how even if they eat what should be a normal amount of food, their body turns it into fat instead of burning it. But the answer to the question is NO. This is actually a myth/misconception about intermittent fasting, and about eating in general. Our bodies aren't designed to eat a steady amount of food all the time (ever hear the myth about how you should eat five 300-calorie meals a day to "keep your metabolism up?"). We evolved to eat big meals sometimes, and then have to go a while before our next meal. Going longer between meals is actually more optimum for our body. Your body won't go into "starvation" mode (or muscle breakdown) until you drop to around 4% body fat. To learn more about why Biggest Loser contestants have lower metabolism, read this article.
Isn't this the same as just cutting calories (calories-in<calories-out)? No, actually. Research has shown that intermittent fasting, while certainly reducing your average calorie intake (similar to calorie-restrictive diets), actually is better at helping people lose weight and fat. Going back to that starvation mode question - in the most recent study on the topic, calorie-restricted diets did lower basal metabolism, but intermittent fasting did not. Also, the failure rate of the "Eat Less, Move More" weight loss method is 99%. To learn more about calories-in-calories-out vs. intermittent fasting, read this article.
Won't you just gain the weight back when you start eating normal again? Here's the thing - I don't plan to "eat normal" anymore. This is a lifestyle change for me. When I get to the point where I feel better about my body, I will just lower the length of time I'm fasting until I reach the maintain phase, and eat to my "maintain" BMR/TDEE numbers. I feel fine missing a few meals here and there - my body doesn't need food all the time. I was eating for the taste of the food, not for energy. I was eating until I was uncomfortably full, or eating things that had lots of "empty calories" - calorie-dense foods that don't actually make you feel full, like sugar and processed foods. I will still eat them, but now I have a better awareness of how many calories I'm taking in so I'll be more careful. But to answer the question: I don't know, but I don't think so. As long as I am not overeating / eating more calories than I need to maintain my current weight (BMR/TDEE), even if I went back to "eating normal," I should stay around where I end up.
Further Reading
If you really want an in-depth understanding of fasting, Dr. Jason Fung (a nephrologist, or kidney doctor), is actually one of the leading experts on intermittent fasting. He is not peddling the latest fad diet routine. He is trying to help people prevent and fix type 2 diabetes, the leading cause of which is obesity. So his focus is on diet and nutrition. He has a ton of video clips, lots of research cited, and makes a lot of sense. Learn more at his site here.
Also, check out this woman's Instagram/YouTube. She has a fairly long (23 min) video about intermittent fasting, but if you want to learn more, she is a good resource:
