Wow. Another reason to fast.

From Scientific American:

Sometimes it’s not what you eat, but when you eat it. At least when it comes to longevity diets. For some time, scientists have known that animals kept on a strict diet live longer than their well-fed peers. But this Methuselah meal plan is no ordinary just-say-no-to-that-second-slice of pie kind of diet. To reap the life-extending benefits, some of these animals cut their calorie consumption in half. Such a diet might be do-able for captive mice and monkeys, but it would be a tough sell for people.

Then, five years ago, studies in mice suggested that intermittent fasting would work just as well. These mice abstained from eating every other day, and lived longer then their gluttonous comrades—without really skimping on the total calories they consumed.

Now, scientists at Kyoto University have found the same thing in worms that fasted every third day. And they found a gene that regulates the effect, results reported in the journal Nature. Like the mice, these fasting worms did not cut their total calorie intake. But they boosted their lifespan by 50 percent, and showed fewer signs of physical decline than their peers. So go ahead, enjoy that extra slice of pie. Because tomorrow’s another day. To not eat.

I've read about those extreme low calorie diets before, and have decided that longevity just isn't that important to me. But this finding, I'll admit, fascinates me. If I can get an extra, anti-aging, life-extending benefit from fasting—cool!

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Now playing: Gnarls Barkley - Going On
via FoxyTunes

Ringing out the old

I've discovered that shoveling lots of heavy snow is the best upper back workout I've ever done, and mighty effective for shoulders too. Yesterday my husband came home from work and hugged me, and everything was sore. I hadn't realized it until he began rubbing. A masseuse would really be appreciated right now—as if a rural-dwelling stay at home mother of seven could just toodle off for a massage!

Our family had a fun Christmas adventure last week. We packed up the Suburban and tow-along trailer with everything necessary for nine people for Christmas, and ventured 850 miles to a family cabin near the Canadian border. We had a fantastic time, it was a unique Christmas experience for us but certainly enjoyable and memorable. I fasted the day we drove up there (thereby missing all those greasy road trip foods, nice!) and the first day of our drive back, and it wasn't too bad at all.

But I did miss last week's weigh in. And though I wanted to, I was unable to fast yesterday. I was ravenously, insatiably hungry. And you wouldn't believe the huge box of sugary treats I have in the kitchen! *kicks leftover Christmas goodies* I'm so not good with resisting sugar.

Today is the last day of 2008. It has been a good year, has flown by so quickly; I'm amazed it's gone. But so many wonderful things have happened for me, and for my family. And I go into 2009 with hope and happiness, thanks to Eat Stop Eat. I began my "New Year's Resolution" months early, and I've already lost more than ten pounds. I've found lots of new ways to build strength (including snow shoveling :D ) and I will achieve my goals this year. And it won't take me all of 2009 to do it, either.

Thank you, 2008. You've been good to me.

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Now playing: Jason Mraz - I'm Yours
via FoxyTunes

The biggest problem so far with the fasting

The leftovers are piling up. I eat leftovers for lunch (the kids are fond of peanut butter and I overdosed on that long ago) and now that I'm not eating much lunch, the fridge overfloweth. All of it looks so good, now on my eating days I usually eat leftovers for breakfast and lunch! :) But still I can't keep up.

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Now playing: Kenny Loggins - Coventry Carol
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Joy to the Al :)

12.2 pounds in 10 weeks. Losing even though it's Christmas time! Can I tell you how great that is?

I feel Alyson's non-alcoholic version of a little hung over. I went to B's company's Christmas party last night and ate probably twice what I actually needed, including lots of sugar. I have a sugar headache today, sigh. Have a party tonight too, with friends, and I'd like to be strong and not eat any sugar (which will be very plentiful) so I don't feel even worse tomorrow. Sugar headaches totally suck because I know it's my fault I have them, and I feel somewhat guilty about eating sugar anyway (it should be a controlled substance for me, it's my brand of heroin!) without adding the headache in.

Anyway! W00T! I wore pants I haven't worn since last year to the party, and they were a little loose. :D

Eat Woot Eat!

I said in this post that particular fast felt "a bit like a pivot point—like this is the moment where I decide, 'I can do this, even if I don't always want to.'"

I've pivoted. I get it. I'm finally making it work for me. My fasts are now longer than 24 hours; I eat my last at dinner one evening, fast through the next day, and eat breakfast the following morning. Three meals, about 36 hours. Lots of water. The change is like night and day; the fasts are manageable, I don't bargain with myself that I can eat this much earlier or go this much longer, it just is what it is. And it's having an effect. Oh, yes, it's having an effect, which I'll document after my Saturday morning weigh in.

I said in this post that I can't eat "whatever I want" on non-fast days and still have success. But now I get it. I can! I can eat whatever I want. I just have to eat less of it. Monday was an eating day, and I had a little bit of chocolate, a little cup of Silk Nog (non-dairy soy nog), a bit of candy cane, a couple of pretzels; my meals were controlled portions of all of my favorite foods—curry rice, avocados... The trick was that my daily intake was still overwhelmingly made of whole, healthy foods, and I stayed in control with the little bits of other things. I don't have to go through the Christmas season without Silk Nog or christmas cookies; I can eat whatever I want, as long as I don't go nuts. (Why didn't I see that before?) And fasting really boosts the willpower: if I can go without everything but water, I can certainly limit myself to one small candy cane or one square of chocolate.

Anyway—very optimistic today. It's working, people. Don't be afraid to try Eat Stop Eat, and to try different variations of it, until you make it work for you.

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Now playing: Josh Groban & Mormon Tabernacle Choir - O Come All Ye Faithful
via FoxyTunes

Brad Pilon is brilliant

Alright, I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love food. I don't particularly like being hungry, and I'd much rather eat food (yum!) than fast. Sometimes my fasts are easy, and I hardly think about food or feel a pang. I think this would be the norm if I were outside the house or could avoid the kitchen during the day. But some fasting days I struggle more than others, because I am here all the time, home raising and schooling my children, and whether I'm fasting or not I'm preparing three meals every day.

• Thanksgiving dinner, made of yum and awesome.
  
• Five lovely meals of Thanksgiving leftovers, including desserts.
  
• My favorite dinner at P.F. Chang's Saturday after Christmas shopping.
  
• Party at church with a fantastic meal, Christmasy desserts (cookies, oh noes!), and hand-dipped chocolates.
  
• My 5YO daughter's birthday cake.

All of that in six days, people.

So I'm (1) feeling a little like food is controlling me instead of me controlling food, and (2) feeling a little like I'd rather eat than not. I needed inspiration. I spent a long while yesterday evening reading Brad Pilon's nutrition help blog, and it was just the thing. Seriously, don't we all need someone who has faith in us, and in our bodies? Who believes that losing fat is a simple process? Not easy, maybe, but simple—there's a difference between the two. After years of armchair research into nutrition and health and—yes—weight loss, I'll say that for me it's refreshing to read someone who says it is doable, it is adaptable, it isn't restrictive or compulsive—and who has the good research to back it up. It isn't a secret club to join, it isn't a formula so arcane and complex we'll never understand it. It's life. It's eating what we want (focusing on the healthy and whole more than the other), it's fasting twice a week, and it's strength training. Simple.

Fasting today. Feels a bit like a pivot point—like this is the moment where I decide, "I can do this, even if I don't always want to." Because I do want the results. And I feel like I've finally found The Truth, the owner's manual to my body, the way to unlock what I want.

It just all comes down to me, and doing it. Not always easy.

But simple.

A last note on Brad Pilon: I got an email from him on 11 November, filled with personal advice and encouragement. He said, "I have been following Eat Blog Eat," and "I’ve read every post." And then he quoted passages from my posts. He became my personal cheerleader for the day, at a moment when I badly needed one. I know he's got lots of people to cheerlead, but he got me through that day, which was another pivot point. A huge thanks to Brad for the research, for making the facts available to all of us, and for the personal note.

Rah rah!

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Now playing: Sia - Soon We'll Be Found
via FoxyTunes

On top of the world!

I have had a fantastic week so far.

• On Monday, I organized a field trip for our homeschool group. When I got dressed in my skinnier jeans and a clinging sweater, even I thought, "Wow." No delusions, I could see a difference. When my husband saw me (he met us at the museum) he said, "Oh my gosh I hadn't seen you wearing anything like that yet. You look so good." And he grabbed my butt. :)
  
  
• One of the moms who participated in the field trip was my first real friend when we moved to this area ten years ago. We've since moved into a different house further away from her and I don't see her very often anymore, though we always have a great chat when we do see one another. While I was walking around making sure everyone had arrived, this friend pulled my husband aside and said, "Every time I see Alyson, she gets more gorgeous. She looks better, every time I see her."
  
  
• Yesterday all eight of us stopped by my husband's office when we were passing by. We're almost never passing by, and if we are usually we're headed somewhere urgently; yesterday we had time so I said, "Let's go see Dad!" One of his coworkers, whom I hadn't seen in several months said, "You're looking good. All that healthy living is treating you right."
  
  
• Last night while he was holding me in bed B said, "You even feel smaller."

Now, the compliments from my husband meant the most, because he's the one I want to look good for.

But the other two comments were pretty mood-lifting too. They weren't about weight loss. Who knows but what my own confidence, inspired by the nine pounds I've dropped, was sufficient to make me look different to both of them? But I can't help being thrilled with positive feedback like that.

And it has helped me stay on track a bit this week. The Thanksgiving feasting is already starting to trickle in—special treats here, little get-togethers there, taking the kids and eating out because we're on break—and because I know that in some way my efforts are already visible, I want to be sure that I preserve the headway I've already made.

Had a wonderful morning with my husband, and I can't wait for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Excellent workout this morning, too. All my happy hormones are just flowing like crazy, making me feel like I can fly. :)

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Now playing: Coldplay - God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
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Now we're cooking with gas...

So excited about 147! I guess I have less need to write when I'm not whining about not losing weight or how difficult it is to fast. :) Stops aren't much of an issue—my hunger isn't severe, it's mentally fairly easy to avoid food of all descriptions. And working out is going great. I'm really focusing on strength training, and I've scaled back the cardio a lot—this last week I didn't do any. It's amazing the results I'm getting from just the strength training. I'm finding new ways to work my muscles, even just here at home, and though I am mostly well past the point where a workout makes me sore at all, I still manage occasionally to really get my hamstrings or my triceps or my quads and have soreness the next day, just enough to know it's having an effect. I feel stronger. I'm either delusional (which is possible, alas) or there's a visible difference in the way my arms and legs look.

And my clothes fit differently than they did seven weeks ago. My birthday was on 23 September, and I used a gift certificate to purchase new jeans in a larger size. I only had Old Navy size 8s (which are really mislabled 10s IMO) and I just wasn't comfortable—they were too tight, I was too muffintoppy, my thighs looked enormous and needed more fabric camouflage. I wanted something to wear while I lost weight, so I could look cute during the process.

My new Old Navy size 10s were, you guessed it, real 10s. They've changed the sizing. So they were identical to the 8s I already had—too tight, too muffintoppy. I took them back and dithered about what to do while I continued with my weight loss efforts. I'm happy to report, these weeks later, that the 8s (which should be 10s) fit me fairly well, and I no longer need a larger size. I'd like them to be a little looser yet, but they'll do.

I can see a difference in the curve of my waist, in the thinness of my face. My thighs don't strain the seams of the jeans and I can wear clothing in smaller sizes. Slim-fitting shirts have less blubber beneath them. All in all, I feel happy and optimistic. It's working! Let's hope I can hold on during this Thanksgiving week because I'm not going to lie, I love Thanksgiving food. Why else would I spend all day long cooking the equivalent of six full suppers and three desserts for one family of nine if I didn't want bites of every single thing?

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Now playing: Muse - Darkshines
via FoxyTunes

*shiver*

Long ago, when I went to a Weight Watchers meeting early one winter morning, I noticed I was trembling and shivering and couldn't get warm. I kept my coat on the entire meeting.

Side notes: Yes, I've done the WW program, twice. The second time I got my Lifetime. I don't think I ever went back, but I theoretically could—and for $9 per meeting! And it's important to note that I went to the early morning meetings, and I went without having eaten or drunk anything at all because I had to weigh in.

Back to the tale. So, I was freezing. So cold. Someone told me that it was because I hadn't eaten, so I wasn't burning fuel the same way, and was having a harder time maintainting my own personal comfortable body temperature.

I have no idea how true this is; but I've noticed since when I fast (which I've always done, once a month for religion) that I'm colder that day. And now that the weather here is turning and it's colder, I find I have a harder time feeling warm on my fasting days. Of course my computer right here is situated in a cold corner, nestled between two drafy windows. But I didn't feel quite as chilly here yesterday as I do today. Brrr.

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Now playing: Jean-Yves Thibaudet - Your Hands Are Cold
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Bright, sunshiny day

Am wearing my skinnier jeans today, the ones that are a size smaller. :) I haven't worn them yet this autumn because I thought my thighs looked too poured-in, but today I slipped them on and gave them a thumbs up.

I did manage 20 hours of fasting yesterday, though I thought I wouldn't. It was painless, I didn't suffer—managed it physically as well as mentally. Back in the saddle!

And from now on I absolutely must weigh in only once per week. The tiny little shifts up and down through the week are playing headgames with me. Who cares about ounces here and there? It's the overall trend I'm worrying about. So I'll be back tomorrow with a real weigh-in. Crossing my fingers that 150.6 is behind me for good. ;)

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Now playing: Jimmy Cliff - I Can See Clearly Now
via FoxyTunes

A brilliant Wednesday morning

Had a fabulous butt/thigh workout today. I'm still trembly. Was sweating and breathing hard, yay. Noon addition: And I got in a great uphill walk and downhill run before lunch!

Weighed myself this morning. 149.0. I'm not counting it as an official weigh-in, but I'm cheered at least.

But! I haven't fasted this week. Monday after lunch through Tuesday lunchtime was supposed to be a Stop, but I didn't. As I blogged that night, my heart just wasn't in it. No results, no impetus to feel that deep level of hunger. I ate a very small supper that night and a little breakfast the next morning. In fact, I've been eating little meals all week, and "fasting" between. I know, you're like, "Duh, we all fast between meals." Yes, I agree. But here's what I mean: I haven't been snacking at all, I've avoided all treats (still have birthday cake floating around, and oodles of pudding and frosting in the fridge), and between meals—because my meals are smaller than I'm accustomed to—I do get to feeling extremely hungry, about the same level as if I were fasting. And that very feeling gives me the strength to keep it up until my next smallish meal.

The Stops have given me willpower. If I can make foods I love for my kids and not take a nibble, if I can go 24 hours without food of any kind despite my inclinations to the contrary, then I can certainly keep my meals smallish and not eat a bite between.

Have been working out well, too. Revamped my exercise schedule last week—I love making tables and spreadsheets and schedules. I like making them more than I like following them :P but I've been following it to the letter and truly, I can feel my strength and endurance improving.

So, squee. I feel happy and optimistic. (Makes a nice change from the whining, doesn't it?)

I may not fast at all this week. But I'm not giving it up altogether, especially as Thanksgiving and Christmas approach. I'm so serious about this and doing so well, and I know that serious weight-loss effort is, for me at least, a limited-time offer. I'd hate to have Thanksgiving or Christmas throw off my groove and undo whatever I've accomplished by then.

Onward and downward!

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Now playing: The Black Ghosts - Full Moon (favorite non-Muse song on the Twilight Soundtrack)
via FoxyTunes

Diminishing returns

Fasting.

Am really struggling tonight—mentally far more than physically. Having trouble keeping my head in the game. Why fight the impulse to eat a healthy meal if fasting (more difficult) isn't performing any better than portion control (more manageable)?

No results = no incentive = no self control.

Fighting with self.

I'm starting to feel like I'm doing something wrong.

Eat Stop Eat first week loss: 4 pounds.

Second week: gained .2 pounds.

Third week: stayed the same.

I'm not joking when I say the fasts are not as hard as they used to be, that I'm handling them better; but given the choice between fasting and eating, I'll choose eating. I mean—food, nom nom. Want. Love. The only reason to continue on with fasting twice a week is to see some serious weight loss. Serious. Not just a pound or so a week, the sort of weight loss that one can achieve simply by eating a little less and moving a little more. I'm eating a lot less. And the needle on the scale is not moving.

If you visit the Eat Stop Eat website, you can sign up for periodic emails from Brad Pilon. I'd say they come at least three times a week, and they're very educational. The one that came to my inbox today was titled "How many calories should you eat per day to lose weight?" Here is a partial quote from that email, and I really hope Brad doesn't mind me sharing this here.

It doesn't matter at all how you get to this [calorie] deficit. It just
matters that by the end of the week you have eaten less food than you needed to stay the same weight. That's it.

The real trick is finding a way to do this consistently. Most popular diets give you a set of rules to follow every day, every time you eat, taking all the fun and spontaneity out of eating. These diets are doomed to fail because they are too restrictive.

Food is supposed to be fun, and social, and nobody wants to be told they can't eat their favorite foods or that they can't go out and eat when everyone else is and enjoy the same foods and not feel guilty about it.

So back to the original question: how many calories should you eat per day to lose weight?

Answer: It doesn't matter, and it is too difficult to monitor how much food you eat on daily basis. Instead set your goal to be less food over a week, not a day. This will take the guilt away on days when you go out and eat socially, or just want to have some ice cream and burgers. So the new question is this; How do you do this? And I think I have the answer.

This is precisely why so many people are having tremendous success with Eat Stop Eat. It is an extremely easy way to achieve a weekly caloric deficit that produces lasting weight loss and does not restrict you from eating any of the foods that you like to eat or when you can or can't eat them!

So far, I'm not having tremendous success. And it isn't so easy for me, I guess, to eat "normally" on non-fasting days and have the fasting days create the calorie deficit. I'm not gorging on non-fast days, I'm still avoiding so much, and I certainly can't have a candy bar or cookies or "eat whatever I want." *heavy, dramatic sigh*

Am I somehow doing something wrong? Or—and this would be interesting—am I proving that starvation mode actually does exist?

Must I take into account that I've stayed at the same weight despite experiencing, in a single 10-day period, Halloween (chocolate nom nom) and two birthdays with three homemade cakes?

Not giving up yet.

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Now playing: Iron & Wine - Flightless Bird, American Mouth from the Twilight Soundtrack
via FoxyTunes

What do you do for protein?

When we became vegetarian a decade ago we had a 4YO, a 2YO, and a breastfeeding infant. We didn't come from vegetarian stock; our families and most of our friends were convinced we were committing child abuse by inflicting a vegan diet on the young 'uns. "But what will you do for protein?" and "What do you eat?" are probably the most frequent questions we still get.

Now, ten years later, I can tell you I went through four pregnancies as a vegan or ovo-vegetarian, and I not only survived, I did just fine. I breastfed five babies who thrived and grew and were healthy. And all seven children have grown just fine and are, and always have been, mighty healthy. We get along nutritionally.

But somewhere at the back of my mind, I wondered if we were getting sufficient protein. I tracked calories over at sparkpeople.com and discovered that most of the time I'm only getting 15% of my daily calories from protein. I have a few days where I'm able to get a higher percentage, but 15% is about the usual, and some days I have to specially add in a protein snack (tofu cubes, yum!) to get up that far.

So most popular weight loss programs insist I have to load up on the proteins, which, without animal sources, is really a trick for me. I eat plenty of beans, but beans have more grams of carbohydrates than of protein. Ditto every other plant source.

And this is where an email from Brad Pilon set his program apart from others for vegetarian me:

In a really interesting study published back in 1996, 43 men who were experienced weight lifters took part in a study that involved exercise and weekly injections of testosterone enanthate for 10 weeks. Yep, these boys were on steroids for the benefit of science!

They were divided into 4 groups.

• The first group performed no exercise and didn't get any steroids.
  
• The second group performed exercise but didn't get steroids,
  
• The third group didn't exercise but received the weekly injections
  
• The fourth group exercised and received the injections.

After 10 weeks of lifting weights 3 times per week, the group that was receiving the steroid injections gained over 13 pounds of muscle. The group who were just working out (no steroids) didn't do too bad either, packing on almost 4.5 pounds of muscle in only ten weeks.

The guys who sat around doing nothing for 10 weeks but received the steroid injections still had an increase in lean mass (almost 6 pounds), while the group who received no steroids and didn't workout did not see any change in their lean mass.

So what does a study on steroids have to do with nutrition? Well, all four groups were on the same diet. They were all consuming about 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight and about 16 Calories per pound of body weight.

What this shows is that for a group taking steroids while exercising, 120 grams of protein per day was enough to supply the amount of protein needed to allow for a 13.5 pound gain in lean mass!

It was also the same amount of protein the the exercise only group ate to gain 4.5 pounds, and the other groups ate to see their gains,(or lack thereof).

So for the groups who saw less gains in lean mass then the steroid group, the amount of protein that they ate was not what determined how much muscle they gained. The workouts (and the steroids) did that.

Obviously, the steroids played a huge role in this muscle building effect. But the important point I want to get across to you is that the relatively normal protein intake of 120 grams per day did not hinder the steroids muscle building effects. 120 grams was enough protein to allow for relatively HUGE gains in muscle.

In the end, protein is important, but as this study shows, 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight is enough daily protein to allow for a 13.5 pound increase in lean mass in 10 weeks. It's also enough to allow for a 4.5 pound increase in people not taking steroids, which is still very impressive muscle growth for a ten week period!

For those of us who are not 'pharmaceutically enhanced' this study helps support the idea that your workout is the most important part of your muscle building journey.

.7 grams per pound of body weight for me would be 105 grams of protein. I think I get about half that on a good day. So I cannot, maybe, expect the same sorts of gains they get. Luckily I'm not looking at adding pounds of lean muscle tissue each week. But I did like his conclusions—the important part is working the muscle, not loading the proteins.

Eat STOP Eat

Just finished another Stop, my...sixth? And I can say it's getting easier and easier. The hunger is not as it was in the first couple, it's quite bearable. Ignorable. Even—dare I say it?—absent. It's very easy to resist food because mentally, I know I'm on a fast. I'm cooking dinner for the kiddles, I'm making food (even dessert!) and I simply know it isn't for me, and I don't eat. I'm drinking plenty of water, and I'm not suffering. And I also can say that my energy level isn't suffering, either. I exercise every time I fast, and it simply isn't an issue. I have plenty of fuel to get me through any workout I can fit into my day.

2.5 weeks into it, and everything about Eat Stop Eat feels very manageable.

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Now playing: Queen - We Are The Champions
via FoxyTunes

Bleh.

I ate a lot more than I should have yesterday. I ate gingersnaps dipped in soymilk (yum!) and a fun-size candybar from Halloween. (Okay, two fun-size candy bars.) I was hungry, so I ate four meals instead of three. Not four full-size meals, but more than I should have eaten anyway. And it was my son's birthday, so I ate cake even though I wasn't hungry for it. And to top it all off, I didn't do my scheduled cardio! *sticks out tongue* Neener neener!

Why do people fall off the diet wagon?

I can tell you why I did yesterday. Because fasting twice per week takes more effort than I've ever put into losing weight before, and I entered it with the "understanding" that the weight would fall off me. (Insert knowing snicker here.) I am not making up the fasted calories on non-fast days (well, except yesterday) and I figured that something this intense and efforty would pay off. Like, regularly, every week, in reasonably exciting increments.

Because seriously, if fasting twice per week doesn't deliver better/faster results than just eating three sensible meals per day, why go to all the effort and struggle? If it gives me the very same results as scaling back calories but eating every day, well, I'd like to eat every day.

After two 24+ hour fasts last week, I gained .4 pounds?! As I wrote in my last post, I know that there may be things going on internally that I can't see and I can't measure. I'm not giving up yet. But I did fall jump fly off the wagon a bit at times over the weekend because I figured it just wouldn't make any difference whether I was perfectly controlled or whether I ate all the Halloween loot myself. The scale tells me it doesn't matter.

Today I'm back. I can do this. I can stick it out for more than two weeks and see what happens next. One foot in front of the other. Onward and downward.

It's a body, not a math equation

After my stellar results of last week I was expecting really big things. I thought that I could count on two pounds loss per week, minimum, if I were fasting twice a week. (I mean, more like four pounds, right? But conservatively estimating to manage my own expectations.) I was projecting forward how long until I reached my goal weight...

It's Thursday, and I haven't lost an ounce this week. In fact I'm up four tenths of a pound. And mathematically, that doesn't make sense at all. Because even on my eating days I'm eating reasonable portions. I'm not making up for calories I didn't consume during Stops. I'm drinking lots of water. I'm exercising every day faithfully—cardio, strength training. And I'm already stalled in week two of the new program.

But I'm not disappointed. I'm not discouraged. I know that it's a body I'm talking about, not a math equation. The math says I should drop fat at a steady rate. But the body is doing what it does. Possibly it's trying to catch up with the renewed emphasis on strength training: I've been faithful with it at times, and I've slacked at times. I'm just coming off a few months of almost no strength training, but with a history of good strength training. Maybe the muscles are rejoicing in my diligence and in my new heavier weights. Or maybe I just have to wait a little longer. Though we all want instant results, sometimes the body takes a while to catch up to the new behaviors.

Besides, my harshest critic (that would be me) could see a difference in the flatness of my belly this morning—a visible change!—and my pants are fitting differently. I can be encouraged by other indicators of change, if the number hovers unmovingly.

I'm in the last four hours or so of my fourth Stop. I feel fine. And I'm willing to wait for the results, and not panic because they're not instant. Onward and downward!

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Now playing: Crowded House - Something So Strong
via FoxyTunes

It's not so bad

Finished my third Stop an hour ago. Nothing really to report this time—it was pretty manageable. Did strength training again this morning. Was quite hungry by the time 24 hours rolled around, but not ravenous. I ate a little snack and I'll have lunch in another hour.

Once upon a time when B went in for one of his many GI tests to figure out why his intestines were so wonky, he had to do a clear liquid fast for 48 hours before so his colon would be empty. I remember the second 24 hours well, and the effect the all-liquid diet had on his bodily functions. I've been sort of waiting for something similar because all I do is drink and drink and drink and drink water for 24 hours. I figured this has to have some cleansing effect, on top of the weight loss. I probably won't keep you up on that part of it (yes, I hear the choir singing hymns of thanks) but I thought I'd mention that I was right.

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Now playing: Oingo Boingo - Just Another Day
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End second Stop

This time I made it 26 hours.

I ate an early lunch yesterday about 10:30 a.m., and then started my Stop. (Hee.) The first few hours, until about 5:30 or 6:00 p.m. were ROUGH. I really struggled, and just about posted ten or more times saying, "This isn't an easy method of weight loss, anyway! Much sacrifice involved! Difficult!" I hadn't had enough sleep the night before which made me sort of spacey in the head—I couldn't concentrate, and I was even a little dizzy. Plus I was very faintly crampy and felt drained. It made it difficult for me.

But after I got dinner cooking I caught a very short fifteen-minute nap, and then I was busy all evening with a church meeting and other things. It made the rest of the fast last night much easier. I slept fine, woke fine, jogged this morning—no problems whatsoever with energy levels, I went as far and as fast as I ever do—showered, got ready, and though I could have had a quick snack at the 24-hour mark before we headed off to homeschool drama group I still felt fine so I kept going. We got home around noon and I ate lunch at 12:30.

So it was a hard beginning, but a breezy, easy end. Yesterday I was wondering if I could keep this up twice a week, today I'm saying, "Not so bad!"

Official weigh in tomorrow morning. :)

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So Fast (har har)

I'm on my second Stop now. Today is only day four of the program for me, but I've already gained something from doing this: self control. It has been so much easier for me to eat proper portion sizes, and (even better) to resist sweets. Yes, I have some in the cupboard. But if I can skip three meals, I can just keep myself to one cookie. Or no cookies. It's a fabulous, powerful feeling.

Had a good strength training workout this morning. I can feel a difference with my [wimpy] heavier weights. I almost couldn't do 12 reps of overhead presses. Heh, take that puny muscles! I shall make you lean and mean!

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Now playing: Sheryl Crow - Strong Enough
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Couldn't wait :)

Stepped on the scale this morning though I weigh in only on Saturdays (said very sternly to self).

152 pounds.

Halfway through the week. Have already lost two pounds.

SQUEE.

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First Stop

I didn't quite make it 24 hours.

And I'm okay with that.

I fasted dinner last night and breakfast this morning, and snacks. I did a strength training workout today—and despite the fact that I haven't done weights in a while, it went well. I bought new weights last Saturday, so I was lifting heavier for some of the exercises than I ever have. (New weights = 8 pounds. Yes, I'm wimpy! I also have 10-pounders which actually weigh 11.6 pounds. That's my heaviest. *blows nails*)

Around 11:00 am, which was the 20 hour mark, all I could think of was what I'd eat when I broke my fast, and what I'd eat after that, and what I'd make for dinner... So rather than fixate and obsess, I decided I'd just have a small but healthy meal—one cup (measured) of the vegetable soup I made for the family last night, and one small whole wheat roll. I'm actually still hungry, so I'll have lunch in an hour or so.

I was mentally very much hungrier than I was physically. I drank plenty of water (almost a gallon) in that 20 hours, and I was able to handle the physical very well. But my mind was tapping me on the shoulder so to speak, reminding me that if I weren't fasting, I could eat this or do that.

I'm not going to lie, one of the best parts of the Stop was the religious. I decided, as long as I'm not eating, I may as well make it count for something. So it was a great 20 hours on two levels. I consider it a successful first Stop. I managed a full workout on an empty stomach (which author Brad Pilon promised I could), and I'm not at all discouraged. Quite the opposite. We'll see what effect it has Saturday, on the number on the scale.

I plan to do my second Stop for the week on Thursday afternoon/Friday morning, after 48 full hours of eating healthy foods.

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The next jog along the path

I'm starting my first fast today, and I'm really pretty excited about it. I've been excited since I found this, because it feels sort of like the missing link in everything I've read/learned/done. This is definitely more extreme than anything I've done in more than a decade to lose a few pounds, I've been a slow-and-steady sort of girl who doesn't even label my efforts a "diet". Even this I look on as a personal science experiment, willingly undertaken because the claims and backing data were so intriguing. Because we have regular monthly fasts as part of our religion, and because I don't want to set an unhealthy example for the children if this experiment turns out to be a bust, I'm going to call my fasts "Stops" for the time being, to differentiate. I just finished a 100-calorie snack, and now I'm on a Stop until about 3:00 tomorrow.

Introducing: Eat Stop Eat (and me!)

Hi. I'm Alyson. I am:

• 40 years old (born September 1968).
  
• a stay at home mom, to
  
• seven fabulous (intelligent, handsome, delightful...) children (products of seven full-term pregnancies), and I
  
• homeschool the K-8 graders. My eldest went to high school this year.

This is the story of my weight, so I guess I'll let it all hang out (ahem).

• I gained about 20-30 pounds every pregnancy.
  
• Sometimes I lost all the weight postpartum, sometimes I kept 10 or so pounds.
  
• Baby number seven was born 1.5 years before my 20-year high school reunion. I managed (quite easily) while I was breastfeeding him to lose all the weight, and was back to my pre-seven-pregnancies weight about six months before the reunion. *face-cracking grin*
  
• I lost it primarily through food diaries and tracking calories. Because I was breastfeeding a baby I added 500 calories per day to all the recommended amounts, and I lost steadily and well. (Huge thumbs up for all the tools at SparkPeople.com, without which I never would have counted calories or learned so much about my eating habits.)
  
• I've always been an exerciser—mainly walking, aerobics, a little weight training. Not long after baby seven, I took up jogging for the first time.
  
• After the reunion (June 2007) I gained a few, maybe three, pounds on a family vacation. Then weight started creeping on last November (2007) around Thanksgiving time, and by January I had gained a total of ten pounds.
  
• I didn't lose it, mainly because I didn't cut back on portions or cut out yummys. I made halfhearted attempts here and there, and one good attempt that was thwarted by yet another family vacation. Darn road trip snack foods!
  
• Then I decided to stop weighing myself and go with other indicators of weight loss. (Bad idea. Five more pounds gained, woohoo.)

So that brings me to present day. Well, it brings me to two weeks ago. I was looking at pictures and didn't like what I saw, especially when compared to how I looked at my high school reunion. It was time to get serious. I attacked my cardio (a combination of walking and jogging) more faithfully and more regularly, and I started the difficult process of gathering my willpower into a cloak around me so I could resist evil cookies and treats. I have such a sweet tooth.

And then I found Eat Stop Eat, just crazily came across it one day. I have somewhat of a hobby of reading information about diet and exercise. I feel pretty well informed, though I still occasionally come across something "new" that revises my opinions a little, or gives them more depth. Years ago research might send me off my path in a wide zig, only to head back toward the path later on another zag; but but the longer I've studied and read the more my path has narrowed and my philosophy has developed. I believe in a healthy, varied diet (meat-free in my case, my reason for being vegetarian is another topic), not too high in fat. And after multiple pregnancies I believe, very strongly, that there is no magic bullet in weight loss. It comes down to burning more than I consume, whether that deficit is created by eating less, exercising more, or some combination.

In the last year I've discovered a few zigs which were not in line with the adages and pat advice one usually hears in the magazines or talk shows about weight loss. We're always cautioned against eating too little lest we trigger "starvation mode" where the body clings to every cell of fat and every calorie consumed; but I don't think that starvation mode is as easily entered as the dire warnings, and I don't believe metabolisms are as easily destroyed. We're told to start with an easy amble, and to work our way up to longer and more strenuous walks or other heartrate-sustaining exercise finally adding in a little strength training; a week's worth of intense research convinced me that strength training is far more important for burning fat (and only fat, not muscle) in weight loss than cardio/aerobics is.

But the difficult thing for anyone who wants real results in weight loss is the whole, well, food thing. How often do we hear, "You've got to EAT to LOSE WEIGHT!" and our brains think, don't we have to not eat? Eat less? Cut out certain things?

So quite by accident I stumbled on Eat Stop Eat, which advocates (1) periodic fasting, 24-hours twice a week, to create a calorie deficit, and (2) strength training, to preserve muscle mass and keep the metabolism stimulated. I can't cite all of the studies and sources I've read (I never keep those sorts of paper trails, I just learn and keep it in my brain and add to it without being able to deliver proof), but Eat Stop Eat is right in line with what I currently believe. Eat less. Exercise more. Metabolism isn't in dire danger. Self control is imperative.

So here's the new plan:

• Healthy, controlled eating, with
  
• Two 24-hour fasts per week.
  
• Cardio 3 days per week (I love it!), two days of intervals and one of steady-state probably (that's always open to how I'm feeling and my inclinations).
  
• Strength training 2-3 times per week.

You see, I'm just an average gal. I'm no gym rat. I don't even have a local gym—I'd have to drive 40 miles to get to one, and due to money and time restraints that just ain't happening. So I have my running shoes, I have my system of keeping warm in the autumn and winter outdoors, I have cardio DVDs for when the weather sucks too much, and I have hand weights and this fabulous DVD for strength training. (Seriously, read the reviews on that thing. Overwhelmingly positive, and I add my five stars. So worth the $10 to get six workouts.) I can only give it 30-45 minutes per day, that's all I have. It has to be good enough.

Problem: I haven't been able to actually buy the Eat Stop Eat e-book yet. I've just had to stitch together from the free emailings I signed up for at the site, an audio interview, and reviews of other people following the plan what the program is, until the next paycheck. Ack, $30 is holding me back.

But! I am not holding me back anymore!

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