Friday, July 12, 2013

299 and falling.....and Yes, it is a big fucking deal.

It has taken little over a year to get my weight from 356 down to 297.

That makes it a little over a pound a week on average. Pretty much the prescription for losing weight that you want to keep off. I have been careful not to lose too fast. (not sure careful is the right way to put it. Lucky to lose it but not so fast that my body's hard wired calorie preservation mode was activated. I know people who have used long term calorie restriction and ended up having to run miles a day just to keep the weight off. That's not to say everything I have tried has worked. Most of my schemes are in earlier posts. Here's a recap:

The cookie diet was pretty much a bust. It did do the one thing I really needed it to do plus an extra. Break the ice and get me on the road to finding better plans. 

Low Carb, High Fat, medium protein (AKA Atkins) worked mostly in theory. On the one hand I did lose a few pounds and it lead me to other plans. On the other hand; Who the fuck can eat that much fat everyday? Gee-Zus. 

Gluten free via the book "Wheat Belly" Just cutting out wheat and all the easy calories in pasts, bread and most processed/fast food lost me 30 pounds. Not to mention that stopping gluten has given peace to my bowels they haven't had in decades. I'm still learning to bake gluten free but I don't crave it like I thought I might. So a loaf of bread every couple of weeks.

This lead me to learning about what is generally referred to as the "Paleo Diet". This is the idea that we evolved to eat what we could hunt or gather. Foods like grains and legumes that require cultivation and most processing are foreign (toxic) to our system and should be avoided. The people that follow this concept quickly become self righteous and even more shrill than staunch vegans. Some are also vegans. Some also shun the cooking of food all together. While a certain amount of raw food is a very good thing there is too much solid science against more than a couple of servings a day being of benefit. However many of the "Paleo diet" concepts are more than a morsel to chew on. 

As a side note the book "Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality" also bases a new look at sexuality on paleolithic humans. Many of my preconceived notions are in shambles and I am
still rebuilding what little I know about such things.

The week I spent in hospital for pancreatitis changed lots of things for me. In the weeks that followed my weight did technically get to 293 or something. It quickly went back up to 318 so I don't count that as a win. Like I was saying about slow and steady. 
Got me to thinking. The cure for pancreatitis is fasting. My nutrition diva was talking about the positive effects of short fasts. I had a feeling that that was what I wanted to do. I liked what she had to say on the topic but it lacked a framework I could feel comfortable using. Then . . . 



Eat, Fast & Live Longer HD by limoslight

I ended up getting the audio book that followed up the documentary. It turns out that this too is based on a concept from the way our paleolithic ancestors lived and evolved. They only ate when food was plentiful. Other times not so much. Far from being a bad thing, times of little or no food are when the body does housekeeping. Scientific studies have boiled it down to 600 calories a day (500 for women) taken as 2 small meals. You do this 2 days a week and don't worry about what you are eating the other days. (AKA 5:2) If you do this, what you end up with is fasting for 12 hours twice on those 2 days. 

I have just completed my first 6 weeks today. I was so taken with this idea that I started another blog.* 

I knew that besides losing weight that other improvements would occur. I was as surprised as anyone that the veil of depression that has plagued me all these years has begun to fade away. More and more I am seeing stark reality and am okay with it. Clearer thinking in general and more energy.

At some point I'll go on and on endlessly about this. For now I'd like to share the 5:2 thing with other people. A little group that can share our experiences. It's easy enough to do on your own but some commiseration would be nice too. 

I want to thank you too my gentle readers. Some have offered kind words others have just followed along. I know that it isn't easy to slog through some of my ramblings. It has been a comfort that someone out there has an idea of what I'm up to. 
Thanks!

The plan is to continue as I have been. if the 5:2 fast works as it should I will keep with it forever. Why not? 
If it stops working even with adjustments I'll move on to something else.

As this is my 56th birthday I should reach sub 200 pounds by my 58th birthday if not before. If that surgery where they cut off the excess skin is required, time to figure out financing for that will be needed. 
199 here I come,
Full steam ahead!
*I didn't want the whiney personal journal tone of this blog to flavor that one. I wanted to try Tumblr too. It turned out fairly up beat. Tumblr is okay and has a couple of significant advantages but I prefer the way blogger works. I'm used to it and it offers more control of text. I have no easy way to know if anyone is reading the Tumblr. I have only 1 follower.