Fasting Day 36 - 134.4

Okay, I may have ate more yesterday than I normally do, but I certainly didn't eat enough to gain THIS much weight. Maybe it was the sodium content in the bouillon cube -- I don't know.

I have several potentially diet sabotaging events coming up this month, my boyfriend's birthday, my son's birthday, and a 5-day outing with my boyfriend's family. I need to take some proactive measures to ensure that my diet stays on track. I've come up with an altered plan on my regime. I'm calling it the "NFL Diet".

The NFL Diet will consist of a NORMAL day, followed by a FASTING day, followed by a LOW calorie day. In honor of the superbowl, I will start tomorrow and instead of having my "normal eating day" I will consume low calorie protein shakes. If it goes well, I may incorporate one low calorie day per week into my routine of alternate day fasting. Maybe some pattern like:

Normal Day -- Fasting Day -- Low Calorie Day --
Normal Day -- Fasting Day --
Normal Day -- Fasting Day -- Low Calorie Day --

Hopefully, this will speed up my weight loss. I'm feeling discouraged from gaining weight so easily--I didn't consume THAT many calories yesterday. Maybe my metabolism is already messed up from years of trying to lose weight. If it is, I'll have to deal with that problem down the road. Right now my focus is on losing this weight and regaining my health. Yes, I know that their is a greater risk of regaining weight after rapid weight loss; however, my problem was that I was unable to lose ANY weight at all. I am confident that I will be able to keep the weight off once I lose it -- I have found a wonderful tool that works for me now. I was able to maintain my weight for most of my life until about 10 years ago when I suddenly and inexplicably began rapidly gaining weight. And, no, it was not easy for me to stay thin -- I wasn't a naturally thin person. My grandparents were severely obese and it is very easy for me to gain weight compared to most people that I know including other overweight people.

I have read several studies showing that people lose less lean muscle tissue from a modified fast where they consumed low calorie protein shakes compared to those who fasted without any additional protein supplementation. I know that I am losing some lean tissue from my one day of fasting -- to me, this is a tolerably acceptable loss in order to lose weight. (I can always regain the muscle once I have lost the excess fat. In my opinion it is easier to gain muscle than it is to lose weight.) However, I'm not comfortable with the thought of repeatedly fasting 2 days and eating one day -- and I haven't found any research on it. Therefore, I think the supplemental protein day might be a safer alternative than two straight days of fasting. (I'm just feeling my way here -- whatever works for me is what I'm going to do.)

Exercise:
Walked/Ran -- 30 minutes (The majority of the time I was walking.)