Weight: 73.9kg / 11st 9lb
BMI: 26.8
Weekly weight loss: 0.6kg / 1.32lb
Total weight loss: 4.4kg / 9.68lb
Plot of variation, including suspected outliers:
Same plot, but this time with suspected outliers removed:
Friday, 19 October 2012
Week 9 Weigh In
Week 9 Stats:
Weight: 73.9kg / 11st 9lb
BMI: 26.8
Weekly weight loss: 0.6kg / 1.32lb
Total weight loss: 4.4kg / 9.68lb
Plot of variation, including suspected outliers:
Same plot, but this time with suspected outliers removed:
Weight: 73.9kg / 11st 9lb
BMI: 26.8
Weekly weight loss: 0.6kg / 1.32lb
Total weight loss: 4.4kg / 9.68lb
Plot of variation, including suspected outliers:
Same plot, but this time with suspected outliers removed:
Week 9 Fasting Days
FASTING DAY #1
Three eggs scramble for lunch. Poached salmon with garden salad dressed in a little olive oil and lemon juice for dinner.
Total calories today: 620
FASTING DAY #2
Damn you vending machine coffee! You don't even taste that nice!
One small plastic cup of coffee in the morning as a small pick-me-up. Not sure it worked to be honest.
There were only two eggs left over, so I ate less scrambled egg for lunch than I usually do. I made up for it by making it with a small knob of butter. As it turns out, two eggs is sufficient, so I have extra calories to use up at dinner! Which I did: a tin of yellowfin tuna with garden salad dressed in olive oil and lemon juice, with a tablespoon of yummy Hellmann's mayo! I even had a couple of very small pieces of milk chocolate in the evening.
Total calories today: 588
I've not eaten a huge amount all week to be honest. Salads for lunch on two other days, rather than sandwiches, for example. On the other hand, I had a small beer after work on Thursday and Friday :-)
Three eggs scramble for lunch. Poached salmon with garden salad dressed in a little olive oil and lemon juice for dinner.
Total calories today: 620
FASTING DAY #2
Damn you vending machine coffee! You don't even taste that nice!
One small plastic cup of coffee in the morning as a small pick-me-up. Not sure it worked to be honest.
There were only two eggs left over, so I ate less scrambled egg for lunch than I usually do. I made up for it by making it with a small knob of butter. As it turns out, two eggs is sufficient, so I have extra calories to use up at dinner! Which I did: a tin of yellowfin tuna with garden salad dressed in olive oil and lemon juice, with a tablespoon of yummy Hellmann's mayo! I even had a couple of very small pieces of milk chocolate in the evening.
Total calories today: 588
I've not eaten a huge amount all week to be honest. Salads for lunch on two other days, rather than sandwiches, for example. On the other hand, I had a small beer after work on Thursday and Friday :-)
Week 8 Weigh-In
What? How can this be?
I've put weight back on!
Could it be due to the above-average intake of alcohol this week? Has my body adjusted to its new calorie regime, and is fighting back? Or is this just normal process variation at work?
I still don't have enough data points yet to be able to draw any hard and fast conclusions, but I have had a bit of a play with the data I do have, to see if I can make any sense of it.
First off though: the weekly results.
Today, I weigh 74.5kg / 11st 10lb
Last week, I weighed 73.9kg / 11st 9lb
My weight gain this week is 0.6kg / 1.32lb
My BMI has been increased from 26.88 to 27.0
I decided to plot the weight variation, to see if there's a pattern. As I say, there are only eight data points, which is about 22 points short of a statistically useful sample.
This is what it looks like if all the data points are included:
On the face of it, it seems as though all is lost! The trend line clearly shows that I'm going to start gaining weight again, until in about eight weeks I'll weigh the same as I did before I started fasting!
This must be nonsense of course. At least, I bloody hope it is!
Looking at the data, it seems to me that the first and last data points (representing a 1.6kg weight loss and a 0.6kg weight gain respectively) are unusual; let's assume that they're outliers, so we can exclude them from the analysis.
The trend line looks quite different now:
I prefer this one! It shows a trend of increasing weight loss. However, I must stress that there aren't enough data points to draw any firm conclusions at this stage.
I think from now on, each week, I'll keep track of overall weight, BMI, and weight variation.
I've put weight back on!
Could it be due to the above-average intake of alcohol this week? Has my body adjusted to its new calorie regime, and is fighting back? Or is this just normal process variation at work?
I still don't have enough data points yet to be able to draw any hard and fast conclusions, but I have had a bit of a play with the data I do have, to see if I can make any sense of it.
First off though: the weekly results.
Today, I weigh 74.5kg / 11st 10lb
Last week, I weighed 73.9kg / 11st 9lb
My weight gain this week is 0.6kg / 1.32lb
My BMI has been increased from 26.88 to 27.0
I decided to plot the weight variation, to see if there's a pattern. As I say, there are only eight data points, which is about 22 points short of a statistically useful sample.
This is what it looks like if all the data points are included:
On the face of it, it seems as though all is lost! The trend line clearly shows that I'm going to start gaining weight again, until in about eight weeks I'll weigh the same as I did before I started fasting!
This must be nonsense of course. At least, I bloody hope it is!
Looking at the data, it seems to me that the first and last data points (representing a 1.6kg weight loss and a 0.6kg weight gain respectively) are unusual; let's assume that they're outliers, so we can exclude them from the analysis.
The trend line looks quite different now:
I prefer this one! It shows a trend of increasing weight loss. However, I must stress that there aren't enough data points to draw any firm conclusions at this stage.
I think from now on, each week, I'll keep track of overall weight, BMI, and weight variation.
Week 8 Fasting Days
FASTING DAY #1
Another usual day: three eggs scrambled for late breakfast, followed by a delicious tuna salad with mayonnaise. No snacks in between.
Total calories today: 548
FASTING DAY #2
I went round to see a mate on Thursday evening. He's made some sort of wine from fermented orange and grape juice. It's really delicious, and is about 14% ABV, so I was a little bit tipsy (read: quite pissed) afterwards!
Not too much of a hangover the next day fortunately, which is just as well, because Friday is to be fasting day #2 this week.
With a small amount of will power, I made it up to dinner time before eating. Just beforehand, I realised I felt like I was starving! I did have an espresso coffee with a small teaspoon of brown sugar and a splash of milk around mid-afternoon, which I needed to stay awake!
Dinner was 150g poached salmon, greens stir-fried in a little butter, with steamed courgette and peas. I ended up eating a couple of small slices of cheddar later on too, which are surprisingly calorific at approx. 40 each slice!
Total calories today: 540
Another usual day: three eggs scrambled for late breakfast, followed by a delicious tuna salad with mayonnaise. No snacks in between.
Total calories today: 548
FASTING DAY #2
I went round to see a mate on Thursday evening. He's made some sort of wine from fermented orange and grape juice. It's really delicious, and is about 14% ABV, so I was a little bit tipsy (read: quite pissed) afterwards!
Not too much of a hangover the next day fortunately, which is just as well, because Friday is to be fasting day #2 this week.
With a small amount of will power, I made it up to dinner time before eating. Just beforehand, I realised I felt like I was starving! I did have an espresso coffee with a small teaspoon of brown sugar and a splash of milk around mid-afternoon, which I needed to stay awake!
Dinner was 150g poached salmon, greens stir-fried in a little butter, with steamed courgette and peas. I ended up eating a couple of small slices of cheddar later on too, which are surprisingly calorific at approx. 40 each slice!
Total calories today: 540
Friday, 5 October 2012
Week 7 Weigh-In
Today, I weigh 73.9kg / 11st 9lb.
My total weight loss (so far) is 4.4kg / 10lb.
My BMI has been reduced from 28.5 to 26.8.
According to the print-out from the scales in the Doctor's surgery:
"Your ideal weight for a BMI between 20 and 25 is:
55.1kg (8st 9lb) to 68.8kg (10st 12lb)."
I'm still on track to hit my target weight of 11st by end of November!
My total weight loss (so far) is 4.4kg / 10lb.
My BMI has been reduced from 28.5 to 26.8.
According to the print-out from the scales in the Doctor's surgery:
"Your ideal weight for a BMI between 20 and 25 is:
55.1kg (8st 9lb) to 68.8kg (10st 12lb)."
I'm still on track to hit my target weight of 11st by end of November!
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Week 7 Fasting Days
FASTING DAY #1
So far, so good. It feels like I could go on doing this forever!
A bit more tricky than usual today, as I was at a client's until lunchtime. I hadn't brought any food with me, as I didn't know that food wasn't going to be provided! I ended up having a small egg mayo and rocket sandwich on brown bread from a certain supermarket chain, which contained only 384 calories.
Dinner was poached salmon, with garden peas (oops, quite a few calories in peas!) and tender stem broccoli, yum!
Total calories today: 736
FASTING DAY #2
I was off-site again today, this time a trip up to the Leicester office. I didn't have any water to drink on the way, so I arrived very hungry indeed! A couple of cups of water saw me through 'til lunch, when I had a simple egg salad roll: not much butter and no mayonnaise. I guessed at around 300 calories.
Dinner was a tin of yellow fin tuna with a lump of mayonnaise, and five baby tomatoes. Probably no more than 260 calories.
Total calories today: 558
So far, so good. It feels like I could go on doing this forever!
A bit more tricky than usual today, as I was at a client's until lunchtime. I hadn't brought any food with me, as I didn't know that food wasn't going to be provided! I ended up having a small egg mayo and rocket sandwich on brown bread from a certain supermarket chain, which contained only 384 calories.
Dinner was poached salmon, with garden peas (oops, quite a few calories in peas!) and tender stem broccoli, yum!
Total calories today: 736
FASTING DAY #2
I was off-site again today, this time a trip up to the Leicester office. I didn't have any water to drink on the way, so I arrived very hungry indeed! A couple of cups of water saw me through 'til lunch, when I had a simple egg salad roll: not much butter and no mayonnaise. I guessed at around 300 calories.
Dinner was a tin of yellow fin tuna with a lump of mayonnaise, and five baby tomatoes. Probably no more than 260 calories.
Total calories today: 558
Friday, 28 September 2012
Week 6 Weigh-In
The weight loss appears to be slowing, which is interesting.
I wonder if my metabolic rate is compensating for the reduced calorie intake; or perhaps the fact that I'm getting less exercise right now is affecting the results?
Or perhaps it's just some common-cause variation within the measurements?
We'll see what happens next week. I can report though, that some clothes which were too tight to wear are now baggy again, and my trousers are all a bit loose around the waist!
Weight: 74.6kg / 11st 10lb
BMI: 27.2
New chart:
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Week 6 Fasting Days
FASTING DAY #1
Once again, I didn't eat my scrambled eggs until lunchtime. I got a bit peckish around 10:30 / 11:00am, so I drank some water and felt absolutely fine. I could have eaten even later than I did (about 12:45pm), but it's easier to eat at work during my lunch break than afterwards.
No afternoon snack again, just a yummy dinner of tuna and salad with olive oil and mayonnaise!
Total calories today: 578
FASTING DAY #2
Scrambled eggs for lunch, and poached salmon with steamed greens for dinner.
I did have a couple of mouthfulls of my son's pasta with pesto though!
Total calories today: 610
Once again, I didn't eat my scrambled eggs until lunchtime. I got a bit peckish around 10:30 / 11:00am, so I drank some water and felt absolutely fine. I could have eaten even later than I did (about 12:45pm), but it's easier to eat at work during my lunch break than afterwards.
No afternoon snack again, just a yummy dinner of tuna and salad with olive oil and mayonnaise!
Total calories today: 578
FASTING DAY #2
Scrambled eggs for lunch, and poached salmon with steamed greens for dinner.
I did have a couple of mouthfulls of my son's pasta with pesto though!
Total calories today: 610
Week 5 Weigh-In
The trend downwards continues, toward my notional target weight of 11 stone.
Weight (without shoes this time!) is 74.9kg / 11st 11lb.
BMI is now 27.1
Progress is steady!
The (corrected) chart now looks like this:
Weight (without shoes this time!) is 74.9kg / 11st 11lb.
BMI is now 27.1
Progress is steady!
The (corrected) chart now looks like this:
Week 5: Fasting Day #2
I managed, fairly easily it has to be said, to hold out until lunch to eat my first meal, which was scrambled eggs (again). I ate it at about 12:45pm.
Today though, I didn't eat a snack before dinner: we have no bananas today!
Dinner was a luxurious tuna salad, dressed with olive oil and mayonnaise!
Total calories today: 578
I'm going to try to repeat this new regime next week, to see if it can be sustained.
A slightly negative point: the extra energy that I felt I had seems to have gone. I'm not tired or anything, so perhaps it's still there but just not as noticeable as before.
Today though, I didn't eat a snack before dinner: we have no bananas today!
Dinner was a luxurious tuna salad, dressed with olive oil and mayonnaise!
Total calories today: 578
I'm going to try to repeat this new regime next week, to see if it can be sustained.
A slightly negative point: the extra energy that I felt I had seems to have gone. I'm not tired or anything, so perhaps it's still there but just not as noticeable as before.
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Week 5: Fasting, and New Information
Well, you get the idea by now. My fasting days have settled into a manageable routing that works for me, and it probably won't change much for the time being.
Calories on week 5, fasting day #1 - 615
Interestingly though, Helen (my wife) came across an article about fasting, that provides some pointers as to how to get the most benefit out of it.
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/09/14/intermittent-fasting-benefits.aspx
In summary:
Eating one meal a day (and snacking on whey protein and berries) gives maximum benefit, because your body is actually fasting for a much longer time between meals (around 15 hours).
Now I'm not prepared to try this (because I want to keep on enjoying fasting!), but as it turns out, my new regime of skipping breakfast goes some way towards it: the gap (fast) between finishing digesting my evening meal from the night before, and eating my first meal, is about 8 to 9 hours. If I had eaten breakfast before I went to work, it would only be about 4 hours.
On Thursday, I'll try to hold out eating my scrambled eggs until the afternoon and see how I get on!
Calories on week 5, fasting day #1 - 615
Interestingly though, Helen (my wife) came across an article about fasting, that provides some pointers as to how to get the most benefit out of it.
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/09/14/intermittent-fasting-benefits.aspx
In summary:
Eating one meal a day (and snacking on whey protein and berries) gives maximum benefit, because your body is actually fasting for a much longer time between meals (around 15 hours).
Now I'm not prepared to try this (because I want to keep on enjoying fasting!), but as it turns out, my new regime of skipping breakfast goes some way towards it: the gap (fast) between finishing digesting my evening meal from the night before, and eating my first meal, is about 8 to 9 hours. If I had eaten breakfast before I went to work, it would only be about 4 hours.
On Thursday, I'll try to hold out eating my scrambled eggs until the afternoon and see how I get on!
Saturday, 15 September 2012
Week 4: Fasting Day #2
I seem to have fallen into a routine of sorts; I'm sticking with the same foods, which a) I enjoy eating, and b) get me through the day with the minimum of hunger pangs.
Today was a little different though: I had a small coffee with a splash of milk and 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar! It did take me slightly over my target of 600 calories though.
Breakfast, 11:00am in my friend's cafe (Slice Sussex on New Church Road in Hove - shameless plug):
Scrambled eggs (3 eggs); no butter - 300 calories.
Cup of coffee mid-afternoon: espresso with splash full fat milk and 1/2 teaspoon sugar - 30 calories
Afternoon snack, 3:00pm:
100g banana - 95 calories.
Dinner, 6:45pm (pretty hungry by this point):
One can of drained Yellow Fin tuna - 128 calories.
Rocket and lettuce leaf salad, no dressing - 10 calories.
1/2 tablespoon Hellmans Mayonnaise - 50 calories.
Total calorie intake today - 613
Slice Sussex
Fresh locally sourced ingredients, a fab menu, great coffee and friendly efficient service!
Slice Sussex
Fresh locally sourced ingredients, a fab menu, great coffee and friendly efficient service!
Friday, 14 September 2012
Mass / BMI Chart Updated
I weighed myself between fasting days this week (no particular reason): I weigh the same this week as I did last week.
This is of no particular importance; however, the reason I mention it is that while I was weighing myself, I realised that I still had my trainers on. Trainers add height, and they weigh almost a kilogram!
I have since measured the thickness of the sole of my trainers, weighed them, and made corresponding adjustments to the Mass/ BMI chart.
Updated chart is here:
http://fastalex.blogspot.com/2012/09/weight-bmi-time-chart.html
From now on, I will be weighing myself sans-footwear!
This is of no particular importance; however, the reason I mention it is that while I was weighing myself, I realised that I still had my trainers on. Trainers add height, and they weigh almost a kilogram!
I have since measured the thickness of the sole of my trainers, weighed them, and made corresponding adjustments to the Mass/ BMI chart.
Updated chart is here:
http://fastalex.blogspot.com/2012/09/weight-bmi-time-chart.html
Week 4: Fasting Day #1
After a Chinese takeaway meal shared with friends and family on Saturday, and managing to eat most of the leftovers as well, I was looking forward to my fasting day.
As usual, it was pretty straightforward; no massive hunger pangs or wobbles. Although, my wife and I went out to a concert that evening, and afterwards I was tempted to hoover up the leftover chocolates that the babysitters didn't eat! In the end, I managed to resist; I ate them all the next day instead.
Breakfast, 11:00am:
Scrambled eggs (3 eggs); trace of butter - 300 calories.
Afternoon snack, about 4:00pm:
100g banana - 95 calories.
Dinner, 6:00pm:
140g Scottish loch trout fillet - 275 calories.
Lettuce and onion salad; trace olive oil / lemon juice dressing - 20 calories.
Total calorie intake today - 690
A bit over my limit again, but it's a target of 600 not an absolute maximum (well, for me anyway).
As usual, it was pretty straightforward; no massive hunger pangs or wobbles. Although, my wife and I went out to a concert that evening, and afterwards I was tempted to hoover up the leftover chocolates that the babysitters didn't eat! In the end, I managed to resist; I ate them all the next day instead.
Breakfast, 11:00am:
Scrambled eggs (3 eggs); trace of butter - 300 calories.
Afternoon snack, about 4:00pm:
100g banana - 95 calories.
Dinner, 6:00pm:
140g Scottish loch trout fillet - 275 calories.
Lettuce and onion salad; trace olive oil / lemon juice dressing - 20 calories.
Total calorie intake today - 690
A bit over my limit again, but it's a target of 600 not an absolute maximum (well, for me anyway).
Saturday, 8 September 2012
Week 3 Weigh-In
Weight loss! In my opinion, outside the range of normal variation:
6lb / 2.6kg total weight lost so far!
I've updated the Weight / BMI chart with new values and trend line (BMI / height variation not corrected):
My target weight is 69.7 kg (11.0 stones), and target BMI is 25.0 (for now). At this rate, I'll fit into my very old clothes by the end of November!
More later.
Alex.
6lb / 2.6kg total weight lost so far!
I've updated the Weight / BMI chart with new values and trend line (BMI / height variation not corrected):
My target weight is 69.7 kg (11.0 stones), and target BMI is 25.0 (for now). At this rate, I'll fit into my very old clothes by the end of November!
More later.
Alex.
What To Eat On Non-Fasting Days?
Assuming that you've persevered with this blog, you might be wondering what I eat between fasting days.
The answer is, pretty much anything I want! In truth, it's definitely less than before I started though. I'm not snacking between meals; without meaning to, I seem to have trained myself to eat breakfast later in the day, and I can't eat big portions without trying to eat through the feeling-absolutely-stuffed-barrier.
I'm still drinking the odd beer and glass or two of wine when I feel like it too. Having said that, I had a pint of organic perry (pear cider) out in town last Friday (following a fasting day) and felt so full I couldn't move!
I'm off to weigh myself this morning, so more later.
The answer is, pretty much anything I want! In truth, it's definitely less than before I started though. I'm not snacking between meals; without meaning to, I seem to have trained myself to eat breakfast later in the day, and I can't eat big portions without trying to eat through the feeling-absolutely-stuffed-barrier.
I'm still drinking the odd beer and glass or two of wine when I feel like it too. Having said that, I had a pint of organic perry (pear cider) out in town last Friday (following a fasting day) and felt so full I couldn't move!
I'm off to weigh myself this morning, so more later.
Friday, 7 September 2012
Week 3: Fasting Day #2
Well, thanks to an unplanned meeting, I didn't get to eat breakfast until 12:45pm today. Which is lunch, technically.
I got hungry about 11:00am, and there was no water to drink so I couldn't stave off the hunger pangs until about 11:45, when I got a chance to excuse myself from the meeting a grab a glass from the tap!
Lunch, 12:45pm:
Scrambled eggs (three eggs this time!) with the smallest amount of butter to grease the pan - 300 calories.
Snack, about 4:00pm:
100g banana - 95 calories.
Evening meal, about 6:30pm:
100g salmon - 200 calories.
Green leaf salad with fresh beetroot and onion - 40 calories.
2x small organic fish cakes from Abel and Cole - 100 calories.
Total calorie intake today - 735
Okay, so I'm over-budget today. But the fish cakes looked so tasty! Funnily enough, I regretted it as soon as I ate them, they just tasted wrong and filled me up instantly...
http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/fish/fishcakes
Still feeling full of energy, and bearing in mind I drank 3/4 of a bottle of Sangiovese last night and went to bed at 1:30am, I shouldn't have!
No hangover either. Which is weird.
I got hungry about 11:00am, and there was no water to drink so I couldn't stave off the hunger pangs until about 11:45, when I got a chance to excuse myself from the meeting a grab a glass from the tap!
Lunch, 12:45pm:
Scrambled eggs (three eggs this time!) with the smallest amount of butter to grease the pan - 300 calories.
Snack, about 4:00pm:
100g banana - 95 calories.
Evening meal, about 6:30pm:
100g salmon - 200 calories.
Green leaf salad with fresh beetroot and onion - 40 calories.
2x small organic fish cakes from Abel and Cole - 100 calories.
Total calorie intake today - 735
Okay, so I'm over-budget today. But the fish cakes looked so tasty! Funnily enough, I regretted it as soon as I ate them, they just tasted wrong and filled me up instantly...
http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/fish/fishcakes
Still feeling full of energy, and bearing in mind I drank 3/4 of a bottle of Sangiovese last night and went to bed at 1:30am, I shouldn't have!
No hangover either. Which is weird.
Eliminating Height Variation From BMI Values
A quick glance on the intertubes reveals that the mathmatical calculation for BMI is so simple, a simpleton could do it. Shouldn't be too difficult for me then, as I am slightly cleverer than the average simpleton.
Metric formula (using kg and m):
BMI = Mass / (Height x Height)
( I would have used the mathematical symbol for "squared" if I could work out how!)
Imperial formula (using inches and pounds):
BMI = (Mass / (Height x Height)) x 703
Now that I know how to calculate my own BMI, I can eliminate the variation in BMI caused by the variation in the height values, as measured by the weighing machine at my Doctors' surgery.
If I take the mean of my height over several weighing sessions (from the weighing machine print-out), and assuming that the accuracy of the weighing scales is linear, I can use the mean height value to recalculate my BMI for each of the weighing sessions. Voila! More accurate BMI values.
I'll update the Chart when I've done this.
More later.
Alex.
Metric formula (using kg and m):
BMI = Mass / (Height x Height)
( I would have used the mathematical symbol for "squared" if I could work out how!)
Imperial formula (using inches and pounds):
BMI = (Mass / (Height x Height)) x 703
Now that I know how to calculate my own BMI, I can eliminate the variation in BMI caused by the variation in the height values, as measured by the weighing machine at my Doctors' surgery.
If I take the mean of my height over several weighing sessions (from the weighing machine print-out), and assuming that the accuracy of the weighing scales is linear, I can use the mean height value to recalculate my BMI for each of the weighing sessions. Voila! More accurate BMI values.
I'll update the Chart when I've done this.
More later.
Alex.
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
Week 3: Fasting Day #1
Tuesday 4th September 2012
I find that I'm eating less between fasting days now. I'm not snacking so much (although I did eat three mini pork pies after dinner last night, norty!), and smaller portions seem to fill me up where they didn't before. Having said that, the portion of pasta and salad I had tonight was a bit too small, hence the pies later on!Breakfast around 11:00am:
Scrambled eggs (two eggs) with a knob of butter - 300 calories.
Snack around 2:30pm:
100g banana - 95 calories.
STARVING! Another snack at 5:00pm:
100g banana - 95 calories (just as well I have an emergency food stash in my drawer at work, shhhh!).
Dinner as soon as I get in, around 6:30pm:
Tin of drained yellow fin tuna - 128 calories.
Whole bag of rocket - 6 calories.
Olive oil and fresh lemon juice dressing - 40 calories.
Total calorie intake today - 664
Most difficult day so far. Still feeling good though, so I thought I'd walk down to the Doctors' surgery and get weighed!
Hmmm. No real weight loss, and a slight increase in BMI, due no doubt to the fact that I'm 2cm shorter than last time I weighed myself!
There's obviously some variation in the measurement system too.
Week 2: Fasting Day #2
Friday 31st August 2012
I took sandwiches into work on Wednesday, then didn't eat them because I got taken out to lunch by a customer. We went to a carvery, where normally I would pile a load of food onto my plate and scoff the lot. Today, I chose a smaller portion than usual, and found I was getting full towards the end. I didn't quite finish the meal, which is unheard of!It feels like something is starting to change. I have a smaller appetite now, and I notice that I feel full towards the end of the meal so I stop eating. These are new behaviours.
The upshot of the client meal on Wednesday meant my sandwiches were left over. Not wanting to waste them, I had them for lunch on Thursday, meaning that Friday is now my second fasting day this week. It was very strange to finish work this week, then come home and not crack open some wine or a couple of beers, DOH!
Breakfast, around 10:30am:
Scrambled egg (two eggs) with a knob of butter - 300 calories.
No lunch today!
Afternoon snack around 3:30pm:
100g banana - 95 calories.
Dinner around 7:00pm (and my god was I hungry by then!):
Tin of drained yellow fin tuna - 128 calories.
Garden salad with a little olive oil - estimated 50 calories.
Mayonnaise! Just half a tablespoon - 50 calories.
Total calorie intake today - 623
I feel full of energy. This is new too.
I feel slimmer and want to weigh myself, but don't get the opportunity.
Week 2: Fasting Day #1
Tuesday 28th August 2012
Splitting the fasting days over Tuesday and Thursday seems to be working so far, so I'll try to stick to it.This is my first fasting day at work though, as I've been on leave for the past two weeks. Ah well, here goes.
Breakfast around 10:30am:
Small apple - 53 calories.
Eating an apple for breakfast turned out to be a massive error: apples don't fill me up! I was hungrier after I finished it than I was before I started it.
Now I have to try to hold out until lunch time...
Lunch around 12:30pm:
Scrambled eggs (two eggs) with a knob of butter - 300 calories.
Dinner around 6:30pm:
190g ling (fish) fillet, poached in foil with garlic and lemon - 209 calories.
100g green beans - 25 calories,
50g samphire (never tried it before, it's delicious!) - 12 calories.
Total calorie intake for today - 599
WEIGHT & BMI / TIME CHART
Chart now corrected for height variation and footwear error (DOH!).
Aug 15: 78.3kg, BMI 28.4
Aug 23: 76.7kg, BMI 27.8
Sep 4 : 76.6kg, BMI 27.8
Sep 8 : 75.7kg, BMI 27.5
Sep 13: 75.8kg, BMI 27.5
Sep 21: 74.9kg, BMI 27.2
Sep 28: 74.6kg, BMI 27.1
Oct 05: 73.9kg, BMI 26.8
Aug 15: 78.3kg, BMI 28.4
Aug 23: 76.7kg, BMI 27.8
Sep 4 : 76.6kg, BMI 27.8
Sep 8 : 75.7kg, BMI 27.5
Sep 13: 75.8kg, BMI 27.5
Sep 21: 74.9kg, BMI 27.2
Sep 28: 74.6kg, BMI 27.1
Oct 05: 73.9kg, BMI 26.8
First Weigh Day Since Starting Fasting
Back to the Doctors' surgery I go, for a weigh-in.
I actually end up going there on the morning of my second fasting day, as my son is feeling poorly. While I'm there, I decide to jump on the whizz-bang scales.
A surprise result: I appear to have lost weight already!
Now, I'm a quality manager, and I understand a little bit about variation. All processes contains variation, and the human body's processes are no exception. It's quite possible that my first weighing was on a day when my body was a bit heavier than the process mean, and this time I'm on the lighter side of the mean.
No matter: I have definitely lost weight! My BMI has correspondingly decreased also.
All this despite an apparent gain of 1cm in height. Not too shabby.
I decide to start plotting my weight on an Excel spreadsheet, to see what's really going on.
Now, I'm a quality manager, and I understand a little bit about variation. All processes contains variation, and the human body's processes are no exception. It's quite possible that my first weighing was on a day when my body was a bit heavier than the process mean, and this time I'm on the lighter side of the mean.
No matter: I have definitely lost weight! My BMI has correspondingly decreased also.
All this despite an apparent gain of 1cm in height. Not too shabby.
I decide to start plotting my weight on an Excel spreadsheet, to see what's really going on.
Week 1: Fasting Day # 2
Thursday 23rd August 2012
Breakfast around 9:30am:Medium banana - 95 calories.
Lunch around 12:30pm - my son wants poached eggs on toast.
Two poached eggs (no toast for me!) - 200 calories.
Dinner about 6:30pm:
Tin of drained yellow fin tuna - 128 calories.
100g broccoli - 30 calories.
Salad leaves with a little olive oil - 40 calories.
A few small slices of red pepper - 20 calories.
One small new potato - 10 calories.
1/2 a home-made fish cake - 50 calories.
Total calorie intake for the day - 573
Very few hunger pangs at all today. If anything, even easier than day one.
I feel like I have more energy than usual.
All calorific values are approximate.
Week 1: Fasting Day #1
Tuesday 21st August 2012
Breakfast at around 11:00am:Scrambled eggs (2 eggs) with a knob of butter - 300 calories.
Made it until about 4:00pm, when I had a snack:
Small apple - 53 calories.
Dinner at about 6:00pm:
100g salmon fillet, poached in foil in the oven - 100 calories.
100g broccoli, steamed - 30 calories.
100g courgette, steamed - 18 calories.
Total calorie intake for the day - 601
And I feel OK. Not hungry, just OK. That was much easier than I thought it would be.
I wonder if it's always going to be this easy?
All calorific values are approximate.
Friday, 24 August 2012
Thursday, 23 August 2012
What To Eat?
According to the research I've read, it's OK to eat whatever you like on non-fasting days.
Mainly thanks to my lovely wife, I eat pretty healthily. We tend to eat home-cooked meals prepared using organic vegetables and grains, and eat only sustainably sourced seafood. My wife and son don't eat other kinds of meat, so I don't eat it at home either. We all tend to avoid sugary snacks and drinks, preferring instead to drink filtered water. I love my coffee, and take it with a single spoon of brown sugar. I enjoy drinking beer and wine, but tend not to over-indulge very often (at least, not these days).
I consider my diet to be generally pretty healthy really. I don't really exercise though, and this is the biggest lifestyle change in the last few years. The lack of exercise has probably been my undoing, to be honest.
Deciding to begin intermittent fasting is a big deal to me: it's a major change, but with a relatively minor impact on my general diet. All I need to do is to continue eating and drinking as I do now, for five (or maybe six) days a week; on the other two (or one), I need to restrict my eating to a maximum of just 600 calories.
According to various online calculators, a man of my age living the sort of lifestyle I lead (sedentary...) needs to take in just under 2000 calories a day to maintain his weight. Reducing it to 600 calories a day for two days a week is obviously a big change. But what is happening to your body when you starve it like this?
According to Dr Mosley's Horizon documentary, an insulin-like growth hormone called IGF-1 is responsible for making our bodies grow, by producing new cells. When the body is ingesting plenty of calories all the time (which is what the modern Western lifestyle encourages), levels of IGF-1 are high, and new cells are constantly being produced. Starve it however, and IGF-1 levels fall to a level where, instead of producing new cells, the body begins to repair its existing ones. Do this twice a week, or on alternate days, or three days a month, or whatever, and the net effect is that you lose weight. Importantly, you're doing this by reducing the amount of abdominal fat you have; excess abdominal fat in the shape of those love handles and beer bellies is a risk indicator for cancers and coronary heart disease.
Sounds good doesn't it? But what can I eat on a fasting day?
I found a few online resources to help me work out what I could get away with eating, whilst staying under the 600 calorie limit (the limit is 600 calories for men, but its 500 for women).
These are the websites I'm starting off with:
http://www.caloriecounting.co.uk
http://commonsensehealth.com/Diet-and-Nutrition/food_calorie_chart.shtml
I like the sound of scrambled eggs with butter, and grilled fish and steamed vegetables!
More updates soon.
"Eat, Fast and Live Long".
Alex.
Mainly thanks to my lovely wife, I eat pretty healthily. We tend to eat home-cooked meals prepared using organic vegetables and grains, and eat only sustainably sourced seafood. My wife and son don't eat other kinds of meat, so I don't eat it at home either. We all tend to avoid sugary snacks and drinks, preferring instead to drink filtered water. I love my coffee, and take it with a single spoon of brown sugar. I enjoy drinking beer and wine, but tend not to over-indulge very often (at least, not these days).
I consider my diet to be generally pretty healthy really. I don't really exercise though, and this is the biggest lifestyle change in the last few years. The lack of exercise has probably been my undoing, to be honest.
Deciding to begin intermittent fasting is a big deal to me: it's a major change, but with a relatively minor impact on my general diet. All I need to do is to continue eating and drinking as I do now, for five (or maybe six) days a week; on the other two (or one), I need to restrict my eating to a maximum of just 600 calories.
According to various online calculators, a man of my age living the sort of lifestyle I lead (sedentary...) needs to take in just under 2000 calories a day to maintain his weight. Reducing it to 600 calories a day for two days a week is obviously a big change. But what is happening to your body when you starve it like this?
According to Dr Mosley's Horizon documentary, an insulin-like growth hormone called IGF-1 is responsible for making our bodies grow, by producing new cells. When the body is ingesting plenty of calories all the time (which is what the modern Western lifestyle encourages), levels of IGF-1 are high, and new cells are constantly being produced. Starve it however, and IGF-1 levels fall to a level where, instead of producing new cells, the body begins to repair its existing ones. Do this twice a week, or on alternate days, or three days a month, or whatever, and the net effect is that you lose weight. Importantly, you're doing this by reducing the amount of abdominal fat you have; excess abdominal fat in the shape of those love handles and beer bellies is a risk indicator for cancers and coronary heart disease.
Sounds good doesn't it? But what can I eat on a fasting day?
I found a few online resources to help me work out what I could get away with eating, whilst staying under the 600 calorie limit (the limit is 600 calories for men, but its 500 for women).
These are the websites I'm starting off with:
http://www.caloriecounting.co.uk
http://commonsensehealth.com/Diet-and-Nutrition/food_calorie_chart.shtml
I like the sound of scrambled eggs with butter, and grilled fish and steamed vegetables!
More updates soon.
"Eat, Fast and Live Long".
Alex.
Pre-Fasting Preparations
The general concesus of opinion among medical professionals, is to seek advice from your GP before you start a diet.
The diet I was planning to start is quite experimental, as in not mainstream (yet), so I duly told my GP what I was about to do. Dr Varma looked me up and down, checked my medical history, and said go right ahead! On my way out, I got a token from reception and weighed myself on the spangly machine with flashing lights in the waiting room.
I was shocked (and slightly disgusted) to discover that I'd cracked the 12.5 stones barrier. It turns out that not changing my lifestyle whatsoever, hadn't resulted in a reversal of my recent (ish) weight gain, as I'd hoped. More incentive to fast, then.
Here's the print-out from the machine, pre-diet:
My personal goals:
1. Reduce my weight from 79.2 kg to 69.7 kg (11.0 stones);
2. Reduce my BMI from 28.3 to 25.0.
More later.
"Eat, Fast and Live Longer".
Alex.
The diet I was planning to start is quite experimental, as in not mainstream (yet), so I duly told my GP what I was about to do. Dr Varma looked me up and down, checked my medical history, and said go right ahead! On my way out, I got a token from reception and weighed myself on the spangly machine with flashing lights in the waiting room.
I was shocked (and slightly disgusted) to discover that I'd cracked the 12.5 stones barrier. It turns out that not changing my lifestyle whatsoever, hadn't resulted in a reversal of my recent (ish) weight gain, as I'd hoped. More incentive to fast, then.
Here's the print-out from the machine, pre-diet:
My personal goals:
1. Reduce my weight from 79.2 kg to 69.7 kg (11.0 stones);
2. Reduce my BMI from 28.3 to 25.0.
More later.
"Eat, Fast and Live Longer".
Alex.
An Introduction
I've just embarked on a five-week diet. This is unusual, because until quite recently I hadn't ever thought of myself as someone who need to watch what they eat.
In my twenties and early thirties, I ate and drank whatever I wanted to. I weighed in at somewhere between 10 to 10.5 stones (63.6 to 66.8 kg) and was the proud owner of a 28" waist! I was active and fit, lithe even. Those days are now a distant memory, a golden-hued halcyon blur; I'm in my early forties, and in the last eight years or so my lifestyle has become more sedentary: I've been slowly but steadily gaining weight.
I now sport a comfortable trouser with a 34" waist, and I have a drawer full of old tee-shirts that I fear would split open at the seams if I tried to put them on! But still, I can't bear to throw them out in case one day they miraculously fit me once more. But as I said, until now I haven't felt the need to diet, and I still haven't managed to work out a way of getting a thorough work-out while sitting at my desk.
And then two weeks ago, something changed. My wife and I watched a Horizon documentary entitled "Eat, Fast and Live Longer" (note crucially placed punctuation mark), made by British journalist, producer and TV presenter, Dr Michael Mosley.
The basic premise of the documentary was that Dr Mosley, himself at "the foothills of old age" as he put it, wanted to find a way that would help him to reduce the risk of falling prey to age-related diseases such as cancers, heart disease, diabetes and even Alzheimers. The answer, it turns out, is to restrict the number of calories that you eat on certain days: in fact, to fast.
Dr Mosley tries varous different ways of fasting, before finally settling on one that he thinks he can manage to keep up for a reasonable length of time: first he fasts for three days and four nights (hey, why not start with the toughest one! He's allowed a few Cup-A-Soups though), then he tries alternate day fasting (eat what you like on one day, then fast the next), then finally he tries five days of normal eating with two fast days, each week, for five weeks (according to Dr Mosley's Twitter feed, he split the two fast days, fasting on Tuesdays and Thursdays most weeks).
The results were quite startling: he lost about a stone in weight, and reduced his percentage body fat from 27% to less than 20%, in just five weeks. He felt healthier, and tests showed that he'd significantly reduced the risks of contracting age-related diseases. As far as I'm aware, Dr Mosley has kept up the intermittent fasting (as it's known), although he found that he needed to fast for just on day per week from time to time, in order to slow down the weight loss (it was just too fast, pun intended).
So, short story long and all that, I thought it would be a good idea to document my progress. Partly because I thought it might be useful to other people, but (if I'm honest) mainly because I'm an anally-retentive type, and tend to record such things anyway.
Over the next few days and weeks, maybe months (who knows really), I intend to update my blog with the gory details of fast days, including meals that I've eaten with approximate calorific values, and how I'm feeling (fine/hungry/starving/unconscious etc). I also hope to post the results of a weekly weigh-in at my doctors' surgery: weight and BMI (Body Mass Index).
I did go to see my doctor before I started, and not only did he give me the green light to go ahead, he'd also watched the Horizon programme and asked me to check back in from time-to-time and let him know how things were going!
If you've read this far, chances are that you might be interested in Dr Mosley's experiment, so here are some useful links.
The Horizon page:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lxyzc
BBC News article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549
Daily Telegraph article, with recipe ideas!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/9480451/The-52-diet-can-it-help-you-lose-weight-and-live-longer.html
Dr Mosley's Twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/DrMichaelMosley
More updates to follow.
"Eat, Fast and Live Long".
Alex.
In my twenties and early thirties, I ate and drank whatever I wanted to. I weighed in at somewhere between 10 to 10.5 stones (63.6 to 66.8 kg) and was the proud owner of a 28" waist! I was active and fit, lithe even. Those days are now a distant memory, a golden-hued halcyon blur; I'm in my early forties, and in the last eight years or so my lifestyle has become more sedentary: I've been slowly but steadily gaining weight.
I now sport a comfortable trouser with a 34" waist, and I have a drawer full of old tee-shirts that I fear would split open at the seams if I tried to put them on! But still, I can't bear to throw them out in case one day they miraculously fit me once more. But as I said, until now I haven't felt the need to diet, and I still haven't managed to work out a way of getting a thorough work-out while sitting at my desk.
And then two weeks ago, something changed. My wife and I watched a Horizon documentary entitled "Eat, Fast and Live Longer" (note crucially placed punctuation mark), made by British journalist, producer and TV presenter, Dr Michael Mosley.
The basic premise of the documentary was that Dr Mosley, himself at "the foothills of old age" as he put it, wanted to find a way that would help him to reduce the risk of falling prey to age-related diseases such as cancers, heart disease, diabetes and even Alzheimers. The answer, it turns out, is to restrict the number of calories that you eat on certain days: in fact, to fast.
Dr Mosley tries varous different ways of fasting, before finally settling on one that he thinks he can manage to keep up for a reasonable length of time: first he fasts for three days and four nights (hey, why not start with the toughest one! He's allowed a few Cup-A-Soups though), then he tries alternate day fasting (eat what you like on one day, then fast the next), then finally he tries five days of normal eating with two fast days, each week, for five weeks (according to Dr Mosley's Twitter feed, he split the two fast days, fasting on Tuesdays and Thursdays most weeks).
The results were quite startling: he lost about a stone in weight, and reduced his percentage body fat from 27% to less than 20%, in just five weeks. He felt healthier, and tests showed that he'd significantly reduced the risks of contracting age-related diseases. As far as I'm aware, Dr Mosley has kept up the intermittent fasting (as it's known), although he found that he needed to fast for just on day per week from time to time, in order to slow down the weight loss (it was just too fast, pun intended).
So, short story long and all that, I thought it would be a good idea to document my progress. Partly because I thought it might be useful to other people, but (if I'm honest) mainly because I'm an anally-retentive type, and tend to record such things anyway.
Over the next few days and weeks, maybe months (who knows really), I intend to update my blog with the gory details of fast days, including meals that I've eaten with approximate calorific values, and how I'm feeling (fine/hungry/starving/unconscious etc). I also hope to post the results of a weekly weigh-in at my doctors' surgery: weight and BMI (Body Mass Index).
I did go to see my doctor before I started, and not only did he give me the green light to go ahead, he'd also watched the Horizon programme and asked me to check back in from time-to-time and let him know how things were going!
If you've read this far, chances are that you might be interested in Dr Mosley's experiment, so here are some useful links.
The Horizon page:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lxyzc
BBC News article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549
Daily Telegraph article, with recipe ideas!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/9480451/The-52-diet-can-it-help-you-lose-weight-and-live-longer.html
Dr Mosley's Twitter feed:
http://twitter.com/DrMichaelMosley
More updates to follow.
"Eat, Fast and Live Long".
Alex.
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