PhatPhrog's Journal

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16 May 2023

I'll call this an accountability post, since I haven't weighed in in a while (and I'm not weighing in now) but I wanted to touch base with this record, to support my intention and continued action. I took a little break (4 days) from my semi-regular fasting schedule, but should be back with a weigh-in in the next couple of days. I'm very happy with my weight loss so far (let's call it 10-15 real pounds, over and above water weight, in just over a month), and look forward to continuing my progress. I'm about 44h into my current fast.

Fitting exercise in has been a challenge for me for some time now, but, on the basis of something being better than nothing, I'm walking more -- aiming for a dedicated walk most days, outside of any movement that's just part of my day -- and going for short runs here and there (as I did this morning, luckily before the Calgary skies got too smokey). I think resistance training is very beneficial as well (and should really be treated as a major health pillar) but I've had more theoretical intention than action on this front lately. Something to work on in the coming days.

(2 comments)

09 May 2023

I'll take it.

That said, it didn't quite go according to plan. A few days ago I said that a 2:2 fasting schedule (instead of 36:12) would make me more likely to have shed any transient water weight etc. by the end of my fast, and that I didn't think I'd have to extend my fast beyond 60h to see a weight drop by the end of it. But lo and behold, by yesterday morning, after 60h of fasting, I was still heavier than at my previous weigh-in, triggering my rule to add 24h. And now, here I am this morning, at 84h fasted (my longest so far), almost 2 lb down overall since the end of the last fast -- and also since yesterday! And as there's no way that I lost 2 lb of fat (or muscle, for that matter) in one day, it looks like it was mostly transient weight that was still hanging on at 60h.

One thing I do is have plenty of fluids during the day, and then quench my thirst for the last time not too late in the evening before cutting off fluid intake so that my body has a chance to regulate itself over the night before I weigh in. But I guess there are too many other variables, such as when I last had caffeine, what my electrolyte levels are, etc.

Edited to add:

The website just gave me a yellow bar, which is encouraging -- though I'm only now at my starting weight from 4 years ago!

Weight:	Lost so far:	Still to go:	Diet followed:
87.4 kg	7.9 kg	8.9 kg	Not Applicable

(3 comments) Losing 1.1 kg a Week

04 May 2023

Another slight change in plans. I've noted previously that:

1. My plan for this (final!) round of weight loss was to do 36:12 fasting (ADF), but I wasn't seeing clear weight loss after each subsequent fast, and didn't want to be wasting effort or prolonging my weight loss, a particular risk without counting calories, even with fasting involved.

2. So I made a rule that if I wasn't lighter at the putative end of my current fast than after the previous fast, I would add 24h to the length of the current fast, which, according to the numbers on the scale, was shaping up to mean that I would be on a continuous 60:12 fasting schedule.

3. However, a couple of times on the day after an eating day, I found myself breaking what I had expected to be a 60h fast (or, with luck, a 36h fast) at about the 24h mark, without having yet weighed in lighter. I'd get (and give in to) the overwhelming urge to have a little snack, and then, no matter how disciplined I'd intended to be, the floodgates would fly open.

I was okay with the early fast-breaking overall (I want to stay flexible on this health journey and not stress over it too much, which would be counterproductive), but it required me to start the 60h over -- not for the sake of merely forcing myself through an unbroken 60h, but for the sake of abiding by my weight-loss rule and actually moving the scale with the fast, to ensure I was progressing and not wasting time and effort. I was then happily surprised to find the next 60h of fasting to be much easier, after the initial unintended break.

Currently:

For a third time, I broke a fast at 24h, turning a third consecutive two- or three-day cycle into a four-day cycle, and I've decided to lean into it. It seems that my body wants two days of eating between 60h fasts, so my "official" new routine will be 2:2, i.e. alternating two days of fasting with two days of eating, with a bit of a taper on the second eating day. Theoretically I'll still extend my fast even after 60h if I don't see a drop, but if things go as they have been, I won't need to.

Alternating on a 2d:2d schedule instead of my original 1d:1d (36h:12h) schedule shouldn't be all that different in terms of average calorie intake. However, so far I do tend to eat less on the second eating day, and also two days of fasting allows more time for glycogen depletion and for voiding of waste, so the comparison of my weights after each 2d fast is presumably more accurate, because the most likely confounding factors are more completely shed away.

So, so far so good, and we'll see what the future holds with this new plan.

Weight:	Lost so far:	Still to go:	Diet followed:
88.2 kg	7.1 kg	9.7 kg	Reasonably Well

(4 comments) Losing 1.3 kg a Week

30 April 2023

Today's a social eating day and tourtière is on the menu. I won't regret it.

Weight:	Lost so far:	Still to go:	Diet followed:
88.9 kg	6.4 kg	10.4 kg	Not Applicable

Add Comment Losing 1.0 kg a Week

26 April 2023

Spring Weight Loss Redux -- The Yo-Yo Drops Again

Many of us start or resume our weight-loss journeys in the spring, and this seems to be my own preference too. Undoubtedly I'm influenced by the fact that I'll be less layered up or hidden under clothing as the weather warms, but mid spring also seems to be when I try to get around to doing something about the Thanksgiving-to-Easter weight-gain season.

About a month ago I started my fourth try at weight loss in the last few years (though the third was pretty much a throwaway). And I noticed that with each successive attempt, I've started a few pounds heavier, even if I did reach or approach my target weight a couple of times between the highs. Apparently I'm a classic example of yo-yo dieting.

But this time, I'm determined to break the yo-yo's string.

My first weight loss was achieved with calorie counting using FatSecret, following a 12:12 schedule (no eating between 7 PM and 7 AM). It was successful, and for a while, it was even sustainable. But later, with COVID-19 and a kid arriving at the same time, and with working from home, I no longer had the bandwidth for calorie counting, or the environmental control to keep my diet generally in check.

The second time around, I didn't bother to try and count calories, but I still ate as closely to when I was counting as I could muster, while also adding in a weekly 36h fast (usually starting after dinner on Saturday night and ending at breakfast on Monday morning). This combination of moderation and regular fasting was reasonably successful, albeit less strictly controlled than detailed calorie counting. However, it apparently still required more self-control than I could sustain under the circumstances -- I gave it up.

Fast-forward to my current attempt, after an interim throwaway try, now with kid #2 having arrived and about 37 pounds to lose. As delusional as it may sound, I felt I needed something more effective, but requiring even less sustained effort. For me this was more fasting. I decided to try alternate-day fasting, and more specifically 36:12, which is 12h of eating followed by a 36h fast, repeated indefinitely. Some people who do this eat about a quarter of their normal calorie intake on the fasting day, but others consume next to no calories, which is my approach.

However, I soon found that I could apparently still compensate for the fast on eating days. I noticed this by getting to the end of a fast only to weigh in a bit heavier than at the end of the previous fast. This may not have been a true weight gain (it could have been due to waste that hadn't yet been voided, for example), but it was alarming to think that I could exercise such restraint and not lose weight. To borrow a phrase, ain't nobody got time for that!

Thus was born my new fasting-length rule: if I get to the presumptive end of a fast and I'm not lighter than at the end of the previous fast, I add 24h to the length of the fast. I don't have to lose a lot -- it could be as little as 0.2 pounds, which is the minimum increment on my scale -- but it has to be something, before I get another eating day. Maybe this method will balance out as I get used to it, so that I don't eat too much extra on eating days, and can eat on almost as many days as not while still losing weight. (Once I reach my goal weight, I plan to use a fast here and there when -- I almost wrote "if" -- my weight starts creeping up, which I'd planned to do before, but life had other ideas.)

Because I'm guaranteed to lose weight by sticking to this fasting plan (even in spite of inevitable hiccups, as long as I get back on track), I won't be bothering to post weight fluctuations while on my way down (and I've deleted the previous upticks from my chart). Going forward, I'll post a new weight only when I'm lighter than at the last post (at least until I achieve my goal weight). So, see you again when I'm lighter.

(And if I never post another weight, you can assume I've abandoned all hope forever -- though I don't plan on doing that!)

Weight:	Lost so far:	Still to go:	Diet followed:
89.4 kg	5.8 kg	11.0 kg	Not Applicable

(4 comments) Losing 0.8 kg a Week

PhatPhrog's Weight History

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