Today I am officially at my goal weight. My desire was to weigh between 105 -110 pounds. This morning I weighed 109.8 pounds after eating normally yesterday. My BMI is 20.1 -- which is healthy, normal and within the acceptable range. I will post some before and after photos soon.
I have been alternate day fasting just one week shy of 11 months and I have lost 45 pounds. It has been relatively easy. I feel better and healthier than I have in over 10 years. I really enjoy the way that alternate day fasting makes me feel, so I will continue to do it even though I do not need to lose any more weight. I'll start adding higher calorie foods on my eating day so that I don't lose any more weight. That should stabilize my weight where it is.
My mother is here visiting from Oklahoma. I've been discussing alternate day fasting with her. She brought up a very good idea. Why not use alternate day 'whatever' to help eliminate bad habits? For instance, a smoker who is having a difficult time quitting, could try quitting every other day. Surely that would be possible. Maybe they would just smoke twice as much on their normal smoking day, but maybe not. It would be worth a try.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Fasting Day 161 - 110.2
Has anyone else noticed that humans aren't the only animals on the planet that are having weight problems lately? Didn't anyone else think that the article a couple of weeks ago about the pot-bellied dolphins was a bit peculiar? The trainers said that the dolphins put on weight in one summer even though their diets had not changed. They blamed the weight gain on the mackerel in their diet having a higher fat content. It is normal for the fat content in mackerel to change seasonally. There isn't enough information in the article to answer my questions, but if this was indeed caused by the higher fat content of the mackerel then shouldn't this have happened before? Was this the first year they had the dolphins? Are these just lazy dolphins? Perhaps they were watching too much television or playing video games when they should have been swimming? Maybe they have just been "bellying up to the buffet with both fists"? (Which, in a discussion that I read recently, was what one eloquent ass said was the real reason people are fat.)
Reading about the dolphins made me wonder if there are other examples of animals getting fat. I ran across an article that said that they had to create a feeding device for bats in captivity, because the bats were getting fat and lazy when they didn't have to fly to get their food. And yet another article that said wild bears living close to human populations are getting overweight and have stopped hibernating in the winter. I'm sure there are many other examples that could be found with a quick search. Maybe I'm seeing connections where none exist, but then again, maybe there IS some indeterminate agent behind this obesity 'epidemic' and it is spreading.
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Reading about the dolphins made me wonder if there are other examples of animals getting fat. I ran across an article that said that they had to create a feeding device for bats in captivity, because the bats were getting fat and lazy when they didn't have to fly to get their food. And yet another article that said wild bears living close to human populations are getting overweight and have stopped hibernating in the winter. I'm sure there are many other examples that could be found with a quick search. Maybe I'm seeing connections where none exist, but then again, maybe there IS some indeterminate agent behind this obesity 'epidemic' and it is spreading.
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Monday, October 13, 2008
Fasting Day 160 - 110.6
Some people try alternate day fasting and they quit because they feel like they are over compensating on their eating day or they are gorging themselves. First of all, in at least one study that I read, the participants were instructed to consume double their normal amount of calories on their eating days and yet the participants still lost weight.
Secondly, I've noticed that it depends on what I eat. It's like we have 2 separate mechanisms that entice us to eat. One of these is the normal body cues we associate with hunger (growling stomach, weakness, shakiness, etc...) . The other is in our head. It is the one in our head that causes the problem. The one in our head can easily overpower any bodily cues. Even if we are stuffed Thanksgiving style, if our head tells us we're hungry --- we will continue to eat. I've experienced that myself on a few separate occasions, I had eaten so much that my stomach was full, but I still felt hungry in my head. It's difficult to describe the sensation. For me, it manifested like I was trying to 'wake-up' my brain. It was as if my body was unable to utilize the energy in the food. My brain (for lack of a better description) felt sluggish like it was not receiving the energy from the food. My body was bloated to the point of vomiting, but "I" was still desperately trying to get that energy to wake up my head. ( I know this is a terrible description, but I just can't find the right words.) It's like when you finally get enough sleep, your brain no longer feels 'sleepy'. Until you get the right amount of rest, you will feel tired. You know when you have reached the correct amount of sleep, because you can't sleep any more. You wake up -- you are refreshed. You don't need any more. Well, there is a similar mechanism in our heads for food. When you have eaten enough nutrients, your brain will feel "full" not just your stomach. You will be satisfied. Sometimes, this mechanism just doesn't get triggered. I don't know why, but I have found the solution -- it is organic food.
Eating every other day has made me acutely aware of how foods affect me. It has made patterns in my diet much simpler and clearer to find. Keeping a food log and a food journal to record how you felt and what was going on at the time also helps, as does writing a blog about one's diet. I can't say what is in our food (or environment or whatever) that is causing this 'switch' in our heads to malfunction, but it seems to be becoming a more common occurence in people. Is their a chemical additive(s) causing this? I don't know. However, I have found that eating organic food WILL still switch it off. I've noticed that it works so well, that I ALWAYS eat ONLY organic foods in the morning of my eating day. Organic fruit, organic oatmeal, organic milk or organic rice milk. It makes an incredible difference in how much food that it takes for me to feel full -- not just in my body but also in my head. My boyfriend, who is not on a diet, commented that he noticed he eats less when he eats organic food. He brought it up on his own -- through his own observation -- one day when we were talking about organic foods. I said that I noticed that too about myself.
You don't have to eat 100% organic foods all day. But give it a try for your first meal. I'm curious to see if your experience is the same as mine, that you don't need to eat as much food and you actually reach that point of fullness in your body and your head.
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Secondly, I've noticed that it depends on what I eat. It's like we have 2 separate mechanisms that entice us to eat. One of these is the normal body cues we associate with hunger (growling stomach, weakness, shakiness, etc...) . The other is in our head. It is the one in our head that causes the problem. The one in our head can easily overpower any bodily cues. Even if we are stuffed Thanksgiving style, if our head tells us we're hungry --- we will continue to eat. I've experienced that myself on a few separate occasions, I had eaten so much that my stomach was full, but I still felt hungry in my head. It's difficult to describe the sensation. For me, it manifested like I was trying to 'wake-up' my brain. It was as if my body was unable to utilize the energy in the food. My brain (for lack of a better description) felt sluggish like it was not receiving the energy from the food. My body was bloated to the point of vomiting, but "I" was still desperately trying to get that energy to wake up my head. ( I know this is a terrible description, but I just can't find the right words.) It's like when you finally get enough sleep, your brain no longer feels 'sleepy'. Until you get the right amount of rest, you will feel tired. You know when you have reached the correct amount of sleep, because you can't sleep any more. You wake up -- you are refreshed. You don't need any more. Well, there is a similar mechanism in our heads for food. When you have eaten enough nutrients, your brain will feel "full" not just your stomach. You will be satisfied. Sometimes, this mechanism just doesn't get triggered. I don't know why, but I have found the solution -- it is organic food.
Eating every other day has made me acutely aware of how foods affect me. It has made patterns in my diet much simpler and clearer to find. Keeping a food log and a food journal to record how you felt and what was going on at the time also helps, as does writing a blog about one's diet. I can't say what is in our food (or environment or whatever) that is causing this 'switch' in our heads to malfunction, but it seems to be becoming a more common occurence in people. Is their a chemical additive(s) causing this? I don't know. However, I have found that eating organic food WILL still switch it off. I've noticed that it works so well, that I ALWAYS eat ONLY organic foods in the morning of my eating day. Organic fruit, organic oatmeal, organic milk or organic rice milk. It makes an incredible difference in how much food that it takes for me to feel full -- not just in my body but also in my head. My boyfriend, who is not on a diet, commented that he noticed he eats less when he eats organic food. He brought it up on his own -- through his own observation -- one day when we were talking about organic foods. I said that I noticed that too about myself.
You don't have to eat 100% organic foods all day. But give it a try for your first meal. I'm curious to see if your experience is the same as mine, that you don't need to eat as much food and you actually reach that point of fullness in your body and your head.
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Sunday, October 12, 2008
Normal Day 159 - 108.6
My weight after fasting has finally dropped below 110 pounds, but my weight after eating still has not. I'm really, really getting close though! This has been the easiest diet I've ever been on. Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been easy, it's just been the easiest. If you are considering trying alternate day fasting, I say, "Go for it!" Medical studies say it is good for you health-wise. The studies suggest it prevents cancer, heart disease, diabetes, alzheimers, huntington's, it improves asthma conditions, it improves insulin sensitivity, slows down aging, plus, you'll feel great. You won't starve to death or drop dead if you go without eating for one day. You'll have more free time to do something else besides preparing dinner or cleaning up a messy kitchen. Write a journal. Go see a movie. Take a walk. Learn to draw or paint or how to play a musical instrument. Take up a new hobby.
I know that a lot of people have a problem with loose skin after losing weight. When I first started losing weight the skin on my forearms got a bit wrinkly and loose. However, it eventually snapped back and tightened up again. I don't know if the skin eventually tightening back up is unique to this diet or if that is something that happens on all diets eventually. The media has lots of stories of people requiring surgery to correct loose skin after rapid weight loss. Maybe it's because the weight loss on this diet has been so gradual that loose skin has not been an issue for me? Many fasters comment on how great their skin looks when they are fasting, perhaps there is something to this? Maybe the life extending properties of caloric restriction and/or alternate day fasting are doing more than slowing down aging and actually can slightly reverse the aging of some body tissues? I guess we would have to alter the theory of aging that claims that once an RNA error is introduced -- it is permanent. Just speculating ...
Just ran across a newsclip video on alternate day fasting.
http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/alternate-day-fasting/11727410/
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I know that a lot of people have a problem with loose skin after losing weight. When I first started losing weight the skin on my forearms got a bit wrinkly and loose. However, it eventually snapped back and tightened up again. I don't know if the skin eventually tightening back up is unique to this diet or if that is something that happens on all diets eventually. The media has lots of stories of people requiring surgery to correct loose skin after rapid weight loss. Maybe it's because the weight loss on this diet has been so gradual that loose skin has not been an issue for me? Many fasters comment on how great their skin looks when they are fasting, perhaps there is something to this? Maybe the life extending properties of caloric restriction and/or alternate day fasting are doing more than slowing down aging and actually can slightly reverse the aging of some body tissues? I guess we would have to alter the theory of aging that claims that once an RNA error is introduced -- it is permanent. Just speculating ...
Just ran across a newsclip video on alternate day fasting.
http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/alternate-day-fasting/11727410/
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