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:

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

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:

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.

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!

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!

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!

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.