Fasting Day 4 -- 152.4, 34" Waist

Today is the 4th day of my alternate day fast. I'm chewing a piece of sugarless gum and waiting on the coffee to finish brewing.

I read the FAQ on Jason's blog and really liked the quote he shared on question 5.

Q5: I've heard that if you starve your body of food, it will go into a defensive mode and your metabolism will slow down to a level that makes it impossible to lose weight.

A5: Dr. John Daugirdas' book The QOD Diet states:
"[This diet] solves the problem of having to fight against the body's internal survival programming by not triggering "red alert". You see, it takes a few days for the body to "notice" that it isn't getting its regular quota of fuel in the form of food. So when you sneak in a quick fast lasting only a day (your OFF day), you get all the benefits of reducing calories, but you don't cut off the fuel long enough for the alarms to go off, or to send your body into defensive mode." - Chapter 3, pg 11.

That is fabulous! I've done long water and/or juice fasts in the past only to experience my metabolism slow down. It would be great to find a diet that doesn't screw up your metabolism so bad that you gain weight even easier than you did before the diet.

Also Jason mentioned that his hunger eventually eased up on fasting days after he was on this diet for a few months. I want to thank him again for sharing his story because it is really helping to keep me motivated.

I wonder if this diet will enable me to return to what I weighed most of my life before I got fat (between 105-110 pounds). I hope so! I would be ecstatic just to reach 114 pounds.

The last time I weighed myself--during the summer--my weight was fluctuating between 140-150 pounds. Today, I will muster the courage to face the scale and see what I weigh. This is the best way to see if this diet is actually working. I know that I could wait and see if my pants started fitting looser, however my jeans are at least a size too small already, I would be waiting a long time.

Okay, I did it -- 152.4 pounds and my waist measures 34" around. Now I am depressed. Depression makes me want to eat, but I'm going to give this diet a chance!

The First Few Days -- 155 Pounds

The first day of the fast, November 24, 2007, I made some fresh pressed juice consisting of pineapple, strawberries, papaya and mango. I diluted a tablespoon of fresh juice into a glass of water and consumed a glass throughout the day whenever I felt weak. I also drank plain distilled water.

I followed each fasting day with a non-fasting day. I didn't record what I ate on those first few non-fasting days, however I ate normally. On the fasting days I drank water, tea or black coffee. I started a formal record on the 4th day of fasting.

I didn't have the courage to weigh myself until the 4th day of fasting. I would guess that my initial weight was around 155 pounds. The charts say that normal weight for my height is between 100 -135 pounds. Although I know from experience that I develop a double chin at anything above 112 or so.

Alternate Day Fasting

This began as a simple one day juice fast. I had been meaning to go on the longest fast I could muster in order to lose weight. However after a few days the temptation to eat became too strong and I caved. This wasn't doing much for my self-esteem.

I knew from experience that the body switches over to using ketones for fuel after fasting for about 3 days. I also knew that my will power was greatly reduced from trying and failing so many times lately. "So, how about a one-day juice fast?" I though to myself. "Surely, I could manage that."

The one day fast was quite easy and I resumed my normal eating schedule the next day and decided I would like to do another one day fast. I was concerned that this might really screw up my metabolism. I googled "every other day fasting" to see what I could find and not really expecting to find much information. What a surprise. From the studies completed thus far, Alternate Day Fasting appears to be an excellent, healthy choice for weight loss.

I ran across Jason's blog, and decided to start tracking my progress as well. Thank you Jason for sharing your encouraging story!

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This is the requisite disclaimer for any nincompoops reading this. I am not a doctor nor am I offering medical advice to another person. This is merely a record of my personal progress towards better health.