Hi,
I've always thought of gastric bypass surgery (GBS) and all its cousins, as "Franken-surgery." The one and only good thing it does is force you to make the kinds of eating changes that make you lose weight. You simply can no longer eat the way you used to. You have no alternative. There are no more lies or head games. The unfortunate part of GBS type operations is that they can still eventually fail and you can still gain back the weight you once lost. About thirty years ago, my BFF at the time, did that.
I was her support for the entire year that it took her to lose her weight. I watched her throwing up. I witnessed the pain she was in. I saw the agony she went through and I decided that I was NEVER going to do that. I would rather be fat, than to do that. Within a year an a half she had stubbornly fought her way back to eating as she used to and put the weight back on again.
Please do not misunderstand. I am not judging people who have decided to
do GBS. It seems that many people are doing it and successfully losing weight from it. If that is the course a person has chosen and it has worked
for them, then I say "Hooray, you did it. Way to go!" It is just that,
for me, I don't see it.
But why not adopt that "mind set" of "accepting that you must eat less," and leave out the expense and trauma of Franken-surgery? If you think about it, the whole purpose of GBS is to make you stop eating so much. Why not just decide to "stop eating so much" without the major trauma to your body and your pocket book?
I think I am thinking about this because I am still struggling to lose weight. For a long time I thought it was the "kind" of food that caused the problem. So I cleaned up my eating by cutting out carbs and eating fewer processed foods.
I got my A1C back down to a normal place and my new doctor says that I am no longer pre-diabetic. I am excited about that. But I still have high blood pressure and have not made it past the 30-pound-lost marker. I am still obese.
I've tried the 16-hour per day fast for a few weeks and still not seen any real weight loss that lasted on my scale. After reading the "Anything Goes Diet" and focusing on it for a few days I think I really need to focus simply on eating less in a way that works for me. It now makes sense to me to eat, say, once day, and the rest of the time, just stop eating.
We don't come with a tattooed label on us that says we MUST EAT THREE MEALS A DAY, or even we MUST EAT FIVE SMALL MEALS A DAY. There are really no rules but the ones we or someone before us has made up.
I had been considering eating as I do now and trying a once a week 24-hour fast... and I may still do that. But I'm also thinking about just eating a nice normal meal once a day, with a protein snack thrown in sometime during the day, and the rest of the time, just not eating. I've discovered that I can go for long periods of time without eating which I had thought was not possible. And not only can I do it, I like doing it. I like the way it feels. I really don't like that "bloated" feeling that comes from eating large, especially carb-laden meals. It is so much more pleasant to have an empty stomach. It provides almost an odd sense of freedom.
Maybe I could do the opposite of the 24-hour fast. I could eat once a day for six days and on the seventh day, have two, perhaps even three meals. Then go back to the once a day meals. I could eat whatever I wanted. I know how important it is to me to eat healthy, so I would make sure my one meal had both protein and vegetables. I would still eat salads for the fresh raw veggies.
I could add to the salad a moderate size of animal protein (beef, pork, chicken, fish, or eggs) plus a serving of cooked veggies with some nuts or a fist-sized portion of some carb. A small portion of carbs. And I don't have to do the carbs each day. I wonder how long it would take me to begin to see a weight loss if I did that. I won't know if I don't try it.
I feel like trying it. I feel frustrated by all the things I've tried and not being successful at the one thing I really wanted: the weight loss. I am a human being, I should be able to lose weight just like other human beings are doing. I need to do something that I can do. I refuse to do Franken-surgery, (as my doctor suggested) but that does not mean I cannot focus on achieving the same kind of total calorie reduction in a way that makes better sense to me.
I am sure there are folks who will have objections to this idea. I'm sure that if someone had mentioned this to me a while ago, I would never have even thought of being open to the idea. But I've gone down the road and ended up somewhere else. I need to do something that works -- for me.
From my reading I know that cutting out food, as in fasting, does no harm to the body if done in a controlled manner. It has been scientifically proven that small daily fasting does not even lower the body's metabolism or reduce muscle. The body will only cannibalize itself after extremely long periods of time without food. I'm not talking about that. The fasting I'm talking about simply gives the body a rest. I'm not talking about fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. I'm talking about eating a good healthy meal once a day, plus a protein snack at some other time during the day.
I think this would accomplish the goal of reducing the daily caloric intake without all the fuss and measuring and counting and control. I hate the fuss, measuring and counting and the control. When I do that my whole day is spent focused on food. I'm not interested in spending my life being focused on food. I'm interested in eating a good meal and then moving on to other stuff. Thank God!!
Ok. It makes sense to me. I'm going to try it. I can drink unsweet tea, and water all day long. I suppose diet sodas would work, too, but I hate soda, so why even bring it up? The only juice will be watered down cranberry juice (with no sugar or other sugary fruit juice added) -- and that only when I feel it is "medically" necessary. So, water it is. And a cup of tea now and then. And that is my new plan.
I'll be back soon with any news flashes...
LOL
Hope you are well,
Marcia
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Appetite
Hi,
I was completely surprised when my Pastor pointed out this verse in his sermon last Wednesday night:
Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Until I heard him speak I did not realize that to covet and to lust were the same thing. I know. How odd that she did not know that.... I guess I just never put the two together. I've even read that verse before, more than once and did not see that aspect of it. I think I had a hard time with the word "covet." Any explanation or definition that I ever read still left me "in the dark." It was hard for me to "get."
I think it hit me like a brick while he was speaking because I had been thinking about "appetite" as it relates to food for a few days. With the fasting that I've been doing I've noticed that my appetite or desire for food has been altered. I feel as though I have more control, but that could just be a side effect of the fasting. I believe that if the circumstances were perfect for it, I would still crave the things I've always craved.
If I have a day in which I actually eat too lightly, then I start picturing food in my head before the next meal gets here. But the fasting has done something to how I feel about food and meals. I'm not sure I can put it into words, exactly, but I am aware of it and I like the change.
One of the things covered in AGD is "appetite" which is why I think it was on my mind. I really liked some of the ways the authors (John Barban and Mike Cecchin) have of looking at this subject. I believe the "voice" of the book is John so I will refer to him as the speaker. John says, "So we’re stuck with our desire to eat and our rational understanding that we need to eat less to lose weight."
Right after that he says he thinks the magic bullet to control appetite is exercise. Of course, I immediately remembered how hungry I get after a work out so I'll hold that particular thought with a little skepticism right next to it.
Concerning carbs he says: "The key is moderation. If you know that you can’t
control yourself around a bag of cookies, then don’t buy them. If you’ve got enough control to actually eat just one or two cookies at a time, then go ahead and have them." I know where I stand and have to use the "don't buy them" approach to carbs and sweets. "The devil is in the dose," meaning overdosing on carbs causes weight gain. He also points out that buying a $4 bag of chips is no bargain if the end result is weight gain.
One of the things he said that really opened my eyes was this: "You don’t have a relationship with food, you have an appetite for food."
Yes! That one is really true. A relationship involves beings, as in human beings, as in family and friends, or co-workers. Other people. Food is not people. Food is an object for which we human beings have an appetite -- desire. What I call "the eating machine" is actually lust. Coveting. Appetite that is not necessarily in conjunction with hunger. I can be completely full and still have an appetite! Surprisingly I have found that fasting seems to somehow tame that tiger. Who knew?
You know, I weigh myself every day and average it out at the end of the week so I've been weighing myself as I've fasted. Fasting does not necessarily reduce my weight immediately. The number on the scale can even be affected by whether or not my digestive plumbing is running smoothly, or extra fast, or is stalled. The 16-hour per day fasting that I've been doing has opened my eyes to a new "body reality" but I'm still not actually losing weight as I would like to. I'm still going up and down and hovering around a 27 lb loss.
I'm not stuffing myself with big meals in between fasts. I'm not over eating. I've reduced the amount of beef and pork that I eat, too. Today, for instance, I had two eggs for breakfast but they did not stay with me for very long. In only a couple of hours I was very hungry, so I opened a can of tuna, cut up some tomato, zucchini, and yellow pepper to make myself a large one-bowl salad which filled me nicely. Four hours later I wanted some beef and chili cheese fries, so I had some for the last meal of the day. I wanted to eat beef just to keep me full. I wanted the c-c-fries just because I wanted them. I was afraid that I would be hungry all night long -- which I had not experienced for a while.
I wonder if it could be the unsweetened cranberry juice that I've been drinking to treat a UTI. That is the only change that I think could cause the eating machine to start rumbling again. I'm going to have to put up with it for a while, I guess, because I need to handle the UTI.
I also think it must be time to move to the once a week 24-hour fast and try that out. I will wait a couple of days to start on that. It might be better to wait until the UTI is cleared up, but that is the next thing I want to try.
I'm also beginning to incorporate some of the hints and tips from the "Anything Goes Diet," that I wrote about yesterday. I filled out the lists and signed the form to make it official. I will be re-reading the "Thinking Thin" and the "Social Settings" advice again to refresh my mind and my resolve.
I'm not really going to be changing what I eat so much as paying attention to portions. I don't think I'm eating "too large" portions but I'll be more observant of the matter. I don't know what else I can cut out. I rarely eat sweets. I rarely eat starches. The fries today were the first in a rather long time. I don't even remember when the last time I had a starchy carb was. I suppose it was when I went to Golden Corral with a friend about two weeks ago. I still believe a cheat meal is necessary but don't have them every week.
Maybe just using smaller plates and bowls will help as suggested in AGD. I already use my smallest plate, but the bowl I use for salad is like a small serving bowl. I think it probably holds about four cups. Most diets tell you that fresh raw veggies are unlimited so I did not think I needed to cut down on lettuce. I don't eat as many avocados as I used to. I eat a more modest amount of tomato on my salads, too. I sometimes have other raw veggies as toppings (zucchini or yellow peppers, etc.) but my salads are mostly greens. I can't see why I'm not losing weight.
Perhaps the once a week 24-hour fast will turn the trick. I'll still be doing the normal 12 to 14 hour daily fast but not the 16-hour while I'm doing the 24. Even after having fasted and rather enjoying the experience, I'm still a little afraid to start the 24-hour thing. Logically it does not make any sense that adding a few hours to the fast, especially since it is only once a week, should be that difficult. So I will try it and see how it goes.
I am having people remark about how much smaller I'm looking, though. I think I can see it in the mirror too. I noticed it today that my face seems slimmer. I like to put on a blouse that I used to wear, just to pull it out in front of me to see the big difference in my belly size. I'm buying clothes that are a size or two smaller (depending on the cut), but I'm really not seeing the kind of change I want on the scale.
Well... as I combine the Anything Goes Diet hints and tricks, and include the Eat Stop Eat fast, I'm hoping to see a downward trend on the scale. I'm still "swimming" three times a week, so maybe I'm building muscle which weighs more. I recently upped my routine by 10 reps per set, so, I guess something is happening.
My blood sugars are pretty good with only occasional highs (due to the UTI, I think). My blood pressure is moderately high still and that is not dropping any more either. I guess I'll just keep plugging along and see where I end up.
Be back soon,
Marcia
I was completely surprised when my Pastor pointed out this verse in his sermon last Wednesday night:
Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Until I heard him speak I did not realize that to covet and to lust were the same thing. I know. How odd that she did not know that.... I guess I just never put the two together. I've even read that verse before, more than once and did not see that aspect of it. I think I had a hard time with the word "covet." Any explanation or definition that I ever read still left me "in the dark." It was hard for me to "get."
I think it hit me like a brick while he was speaking because I had been thinking about "appetite" as it relates to food for a few days. With the fasting that I've been doing I've noticed that my appetite or desire for food has been altered. I feel as though I have more control, but that could just be a side effect of the fasting. I believe that if the circumstances were perfect for it, I would still crave the things I've always craved.
If I have a day in which I actually eat too lightly, then I start picturing food in my head before the next meal gets here. But the fasting has done something to how I feel about food and meals. I'm not sure I can put it into words, exactly, but I am aware of it and I like the change.
One of the things covered in AGD is "appetite" which is why I think it was on my mind. I really liked some of the ways the authors (John Barban and Mike Cecchin) have of looking at this subject. I believe the "voice" of the book is John so I will refer to him as the speaker. John says, "So we’re stuck with our desire to eat and our rational understanding that we need to eat less to lose weight."
Right after that he says he thinks the magic bullet to control appetite is exercise. Of course, I immediately remembered how hungry I get after a work out so I'll hold that particular thought with a little skepticism right next to it.
Concerning carbs he says: "The key is moderation. If you know that you can’t
control yourself around a bag of cookies, then don’t buy them. If you’ve got enough control to actually eat just one or two cookies at a time, then go ahead and have them." I know where I stand and have to use the "don't buy them" approach to carbs and sweets. "The devil is in the dose," meaning overdosing on carbs causes weight gain. He also points out that buying a $4 bag of chips is no bargain if the end result is weight gain.
One of the things he said that really opened my eyes was this: "You don’t have a relationship with food, you have an appetite for food."
Yes! That one is really true. A relationship involves beings, as in human beings, as in family and friends, or co-workers. Other people. Food is not people. Food is an object for which we human beings have an appetite -- desire. What I call "the eating machine" is actually lust. Coveting. Appetite that is not necessarily in conjunction with hunger. I can be completely full and still have an appetite! Surprisingly I have found that fasting seems to somehow tame that tiger. Who knew?
You know, I weigh myself every day and average it out at the end of the week so I've been weighing myself as I've fasted. Fasting does not necessarily reduce my weight immediately. The number on the scale can even be affected by whether or not my digestive plumbing is running smoothly, or extra fast, or is stalled. The 16-hour per day fasting that I've been doing has opened my eyes to a new "body reality" but I'm still not actually losing weight as I would like to. I'm still going up and down and hovering around a 27 lb loss.
I'm not stuffing myself with big meals in between fasts. I'm not over eating. I've reduced the amount of beef and pork that I eat, too. Today, for instance, I had two eggs for breakfast but they did not stay with me for very long. In only a couple of hours I was very hungry, so I opened a can of tuna, cut up some tomato, zucchini, and yellow pepper to make myself a large one-bowl salad which filled me nicely. Four hours later I wanted some beef and chili cheese fries, so I had some for the last meal of the day. I wanted to eat beef just to keep me full. I wanted the c-c-fries just because I wanted them. I was afraid that I would be hungry all night long -- which I had not experienced for a while.
I wonder if it could be the unsweetened cranberry juice that I've been drinking to treat a UTI. That is the only change that I think could cause the eating machine to start rumbling again. I'm going to have to put up with it for a while, I guess, because I need to handle the UTI.
I also think it must be time to move to the once a week 24-hour fast and try that out. I will wait a couple of days to start on that. It might be better to wait until the UTI is cleared up, but that is the next thing I want to try.
I'm also beginning to incorporate some of the hints and tips from the "Anything Goes Diet," that I wrote about yesterday. I filled out the lists and signed the form to make it official. I will be re-reading the "Thinking Thin" and the "Social Settings" advice again to refresh my mind and my resolve.
I'm not really going to be changing what I eat so much as paying attention to portions. I don't think I'm eating "too large" portions but I'll be more observant of the matter. I don't know what else I can cut out. I rarely eat sweets. I rarely eat starches. The fries today were the first in a rather long time. I don't even remember when the last time I had a starchy carb was. I suppose it was when I went to Golden Corral with a friend about two weeks ago. I still believe a cheat meal is necessary but don't have them every week.
Maybe just using smaller plates and bowls will help as suggested in AGD. I already use my smallest plate, but the bowl I use for salad is like a small serving bowl. I think it probably holds about four cups. Most diets tell you that fresh raw veggies are unlimited so I did not think I needed to cut down on lettuce. I don't eat as many avocados as I used to. I eat a more modest amount of tomato on my salads, too. I sometimes have other raw veggies as toppings (zucchini or yellow peppers, etc.) but my salads are mostly greens. I can't see why I'm not losing weight.
Perhaps the once a week 24-hour fast will turn the trick. I'll still be doing the normal 12 to 14 hour daily fast but not the 16-hour while I'm doing the 24. Even after having fasted and rather enjoying the experience, I'm still a little afraid to start the 24-hour thing. Logically it does not make any sense that adding a few hours to the fast, especially since it is only once a week, should be that difficult. So I will try it and see how it goes.
I am having people remark about how much smaller I'm looking, though. I think I can see it in the mirror too. I noticed it today that my face seems slimmer. I like to put on a blouse that I used to wear, just to pull it out in front of me to see the big difference in my belly size. I'm buying clothes that are a size or two smaller (depending on the cut), but I'm really not seeing the kind of change I want on the scale.
Well... as I combine the Anything Goes Diet hints and tricks, and include the Eat Stop Eat fast, I'm hoping to see a downward trend on the scale. I'm still "swimming" three times a week, so maybe I'm building muscle which weighs more. I recently upped my routine by 10 reps per set, so, I guess something is happening.
My blood sugars are pretty good with only occasional highs (due to the UTI, I think). My blood pressure is moderately high still and that is not dropping any more either. I guess I'll just keep plugging along and see where I end up.
Be back soon,
Marcia
No Rules About the Food... Who would have thought?
Hi,
I'm still curious about other "diet" programs and I found one that is chock full of really practical advice about losing weight. I mean REALLY practical. It is one of those reads that continually turns on the light bulb above my head. It is almost hard to put down, it is that good. It is called: The "Anything Goes Diet," and was written by John Barban and Mike Cecchin,
(Here is a link to their blog, but it is not as good a read as the AGD system, itself: http://www.anythinggoesdiet.com/blog/ -- once you get there click on "AGD System" near the top of the page and view their commercial -- try leaving the page for a better offer, too.)
I found out about AGD from an e-mail from the guy who wrote "Eat Stop Eat" (Brad Pilon) who said that if he had written the food side of his "fasting" program it would have been the AGD system. You know me, I'll bite, just to see what gives and I am really glad I did.
Their premise is that there is no "bad food." It does not really matter whether you eat low carb, high carb, low fat, or high fat, high protein, vegan, carnivore, five meals a day or three.... What matters is less calorie intake all together. But they don't advocate "counting calories" either, they recommend "calorie guessing."
They propose that it has been proven that people always underestimate how many calories they consume in a day or week, and overestimate how many calories they burn through exercise. They couple that with the fact that the calorie counts on processed food labels have to be "at least" what is listed on the package, but could be more, and often are. So no one really knows exactly how many calories they consume anyway -- there are just too darn many variables to know -- so calorie guessing is as close as a person can get.
Then they start with the hints and tricks that might actually help you cut down on your calorie intake without depriving yourself of any particular food group or food that you enjoy eating. You also do not have to eat any food that you do not personally like.
They share dozens of tips and practical ideas, but I am only going to reveal this one as an example of how far out of the box they think: They recommend that you buy your gas at the pump. Why? Because if you never go inside the quick mart, you are not tempted by all the calories that line the walls and shelves. Out of sight. Out of mind. -- Out of mind. Out of mouth. -- Out of mouth. Off the waist. Period.
So what about those of us who know they cannot have a bag of cookies in the house because the whole bag will be inside the stomach before it gets a chance to actually "be" in the house? They show you a method that will help you address this problem yourself. If you actually do as they suggest, it is bound to work. You do not have to follow someone else's meal plans and eating guides. They help you make your own.
They show you how to actually eat less food and give you plenty of guidelines to make this happen for yourself. There are no imposed rules. They help you figure out what works for you, so you can actually DO what works for you. You eat the food you love, in smaller, more practical portions and you begin to lose weight.
What you get when you buy their program is five different PDF books of various sizes that help you to understand the program, and also apply it to your life. I was especially attracted to their "Thinking Thin" and their "Social Eating Guide" pamphlets and I was not disappointed with their very practical methods. I was, in fact, quite amazed.
Look. I know this sounds like I'm selling their program, but, again, as you know, they don't know me, and I have no affiliation with them. I am simply excited to have found something that I think might actually work for me. As usual, I will have to try it out, to find out for sure, but so far, it looks very good to me and I'm excited about it.
I have discovered that I can do 16 hour daily fasts for many days in a row without too much hassle. I did not know that before. I've discovered that fasting is natural and is nothing to be afraid of. I'm actually beginning to prefer the feeling of fasting more than the feelings I get after having eaten -- but, if during the eight hours a day that you eat, you over eat, like a Sumo Wrestler, you will continue to look like a Sumo Wrestler. So, it is not as much about the fast, as it is about the quantity of consumption in between the fasts. But, you also do not have to starve yourself. You just need to eat a little bit less, to see results that make you smile. That is my take on the matter.
In the AGD they help you figure out how many calories per day will create a calorie deficit (and weight loss) for you, personally. The only thing I had a problem with was their generic metabolism charts. I've actually had my resting metabolism measured at my doctor's office and discovered that I burn 2400 calories every day, just laying around breathing so if I were to consume 2200 or even 2000 calories, I should lose weight. If I had not known that, I would have been stuck trying to live on 1400 calories per day. I know me. I need more food than that and cannot stick to a diet that is 1000 calories less per day. I really do begin to feel like I'm starving and in a very short time I will abandon that program.
So here is what Marcia recommends: Don't use their generic charts. Go to your doctor and find out what your actual resting metabolic rate (RMR) is for real and then base your program on a calorie deficit that you can live with. If you can't live with it, you won't do it. Plain and simple. My doctor had a machine that I stood on in my bare feet, while I placed my hands on two electrified handles (don't worry, I did not feel a thing). It then printed out all kinds of information about me that I did not know before.
If your doctor does not have this kind of a device, then find a place that does. There are some health clubs and weight-loss centers that can do this, but I don't know how much it might cost. They often have an apparatus that you breathe into as you sit in a chair which will give you an accurate reading of your own RMR.
Changing your weight will be so much easier to do if you base your caloric intake count on real information and not those generic charts that only take your gender and your height into consideration. There are equations that can be done that are based on your gender, your height, and your weight but they are formulated for "normal" sized people and may not be accurate for the obese.
I feel very confident in saying that I think the AGD system has lots of useful stuff that will help you accomplish the task you've so long desired to accomplish: losing weight and keeping it off.
They have a 365-day money back guarantee, too. So... try it and see if they don't have a system that works for you. If not, then get your money back.
They even recommend that you eat as they suggest, and add to that a once a week 24-hour fast to really speed up your progress.
I'm hoping it works for me.
I'll be letting you know.
Be back soon,
Marcia
I'm still curious about other "diet" programs and I found one that is chock full of really practical advice about losing weight. I mean REALLY practical. It is one of those reads that continually turns on the light bulb above my head. It is almost hard to put down, it is that good. It is called: The "Anything Goes Diet," and was written by John Barban and Mike Cecchin,
(Here is a link to their blog, but it is not as good a read as the AGD system, itself: http://www.anythinggoesdiet.com/blog/ -- once you get there click on "AGD System" near the top of the page and view their commercial -- try leaving the page for a better offer, too.)
I found out about AGD from an e-mail from the guy who wrote "Eat Stop Eat" (Brad Pilon) who said that if he had written the food side of his "fasting" program it would have been the AGD system. You know me, I'll bite, just to see what gives and I am really glad I did.
Their premise is that there is no "bad food." It does not really matter whether you eat low carb, high carb, low fat, or high fat, high protein, vegan, carnivore, five meals a day or three.... What matters is less calorie intake all together. But they don't advocate "counting calories" either, they recommend "calorie guessing."
They propose that it has been proven that people always underestimate how many calories they consume in a day or week, and overestimate how many calories they burn through exercise. They couple that with the fact that the calorie counts on processed food labels have to be "at least" what is listed on the package, but could be more, and often are. So no one really knows exactly how many calories they consume anyway -- there are just too darn many variables to know -- so calorie guessing is as close as a person can get.
Then they start with the hints and tricks that might actually help you cut down on your calorie intake without depriving yourself of any particular food group or food that you enjoy eating. You also do not have to eat any food that you do not personally like.
They share dozens of tips and practical ideas, but I am only going to reveal this one as an example of how far out of the box they think: They recommend that you buy your gas at the pump. Why? Because if you never go inside the quick mart, you are not tempted by all the calories that line the walls and shelves. Out of sight. Out of mind. -- Out of mind. Out of mouth. -- Out of mouth. Off the waist. Period.
So what about those of us who know they cannot have a bag of cookies in the house because the whole bag will be inside the stomach before it gets a chance to actually "be" in the house? They show you a method that will help you address this problem yourself. If you actually do as they suggest, it is bound to work. You do not have to follow someone else's meal plans and eating guides. They help you make your own.
They show you how to actually eat less food and give you plenty of guidelines to make this happen for yourself. There are no imposed rules. They help you figure out what works for you, so you can actually DO what works for you. You eat the food you love, in smaller, more practical portions and you begin to lose weight.
What you get when you buy their program is five different PDF books of various sizes that help you to understand the program, and also apply it to your life. I was especially attracted to their "Thinking Thin" and their "Social Eating Guide" pamphlets and I was not disappointed with their very practical methods. I was, in fact, quite amazed.
Look. I know this sounds like I'm selling their program, but, again, as you know, they don't know me, and I have no affiliation with them. I am simply excited to have found something that I think might actually work for me. As usual, I will have to try it out, to find out for sure, but so far, it looks very good to me and I'm excited about it.
I have discovered that I can do 16 hour daily fasts for many days in a row without too much hassle. I did not know that before. I've discovered that fasting is natural and is nothing to be afraid of. I'm actually beginning to prefer the feeling of fasting more than the feelings I get after having eaten -- but, if during the eight hours a day that you eat, you over eat, like a Sumo Wrestler, you will continue to look like a Sumo Wrestler. So, it is not as much about the fast, as it is about the quantity of consumption in between the fasts. But, you also do not have to starve yourself. You just need to eat a little bit less, to see results that make you smile. That is my take on the matter.
In the AGD they help you figure out how many calories per day will create a calorie deficit (and weight loss) for you, personally. The only thing I had a problem with was their generic metabolism charts. I've actually had my resting metabolism measured at my doctor's office and discovered that I burn 2400 calories every day, just laying around breathing so if I were to consume 2200 or even 2000 calories, I should lose weight. If I had not known that, I would have been stuck trying to live on 1400 calories per day. I know me. I need more food than that and cannot stick to a diet that is 1000 calories less per day. I really do begin to feel like I'm starving and in a very short time I will abandon that program.
So here is what Marcia recommends: Don't use their generic charts. Go to your doctor and find out what your actual resting metabolic rate (RMR) is for real and then base your program on a calorie deficit that you can live with. If you can't live with it, you won't do it. Plain and simple. My doctor had a machine that I stood on in my bare feet, while I placed my hands on two electrified handles (don't worry, I did not feel a thing). It then printed out all kinds of information about me that I did not know before.
If your doctor does not have this kind of a device, then find a place that does. There are some health clubs and weight-loss centers that can do this, but I don't know how much it might cost. They often have an apparatus that you breathe into as you sit in a chair which will give you an accurate reading of your own RMR.
Changing your weight will be so much easier to do if you base your caloric intake count on real information and not those generic charts that only take your gender and your height into consideration. There are equations that can be done that are based on your gender, your height, and your weight but they are formulated for "normal" sized people and may not be accurate for the obese.
I feel very confident in saying that I think the AGD system has lots of useful stuff that will help you accomplish the task you've so long desired to accomplish: losing weight and keeping it off.
They have a 365-day money back guarantee, too. So... try it and see if they don't have a system that works for you. If not, then get your money back.
They even recommend that you eat as they suggest, and add to that a once a week 24-hour fast to really speed up your progress.
I'm hoping it works for me.
I'll be letting you know.
Be back soon,
Marcia
Friday, June 15, 2012
Less Beef, More Tuna and Eggs
Hi,
I am finally seeing some weight loss progress. I actually made two changes. The first being the 16-hour fast per day and the second, about a week and a half later, was to begin to eat a couple of lighter meals during the 8-hour feed time. That Sumo Wrestler's Diet really stuck in my mind. I realized if my weight loss has stalled, then, I'm eating too much. Plain. Simple.
For a long time a thought has been sitting at the back of my mind that I did not want to really investigate. I've been wondering if all the beef and pork that I have been eating is the reason I stalled. I went back and looked at my journal over the time period in January that I was losing weight and I noticed that at that time I ate eggs and tuna for the majority of my protein. It does appear that when I started including more beef, my weight loss stalled. I had not wanted to admit that to myself because I thought beef was a good protein source that I did not have to worry about. Perhaps it is because I did not feel I could afford the grass fed variety, and was using standard beef.
So in this last week I, again, went to eggs and tuna for my protein, with a little pork, and left off the beef and in about three days I noticed a lot of water coming off of me. Don't get ahead of me... the water was coming off but my weight had not changed on the scale. I know. I was baffled, too. Then after that the scale made a five pound drop in one day. Then a three pound drop the next day. I've now gone up a pound, but I give that over to normal every day fluctuations. I am planning on doing more of the eggs and tuna again to see if I make progress on the scale, again. I'll have beef no more than once a day and since I'll be consuming less of it, maybe I can get the grass fed beef to improve that area, too. The pork does not seem to be a problem, but I'm a little tired of pork for now.
It has occurred to me that I probably could do more chicken, but, ya know, I'm just not a real fan of chicken. I don't hate it, but if I buy it, it sits in my freezer for months before I eat it. I choose everything and anything else before choosing that. I should probably make some chicken soup. That is my favorite way to have chicken.
The daily 16-hour fasting has been going well. There are times when I have to remind myself that the feeling of hunger means my body is actually using the fat stores for energy. This seemed to happen a little more after I cut down on the beef, which may be the reason I did not want to stop eating it. It is very satisfying and for a very long time.
If you've been reading my blog at all you must know that I adjust things on the fly. I have a plan, but if things happen in life, I adjust to make it work as I go. This has a good side and a bad side. The good side, is that if I notice something is not working, I can quickly adjust to make it work. The bad side, is that if I happen to let things get over into craving ville, life can get pretty wacky and my weight loss will probably stall.
I know what foods to avoid ninety percent of the time. That means that for about ten percent I can allow in a few starchy carbs. Now that I am doing the fasting I've discovered that I can have an occasional higher carb meal without as much worry.
There is still the option of doing one or two 24-hour fasts during a week instead of doing a 16-hour fast every day. I've not tried that, yet. I did not want to have way too many variables to factor in. If I make too many changes then I can't tell which one worked or didn't work.
The fasting really does not seem to be that hard to do. I have the time periods written down in my journal and I look forward to breaking the fast, but it is not like starvation when you don't know when you will be eating again. Thank God, I know when my next meal is. That alone, makes it much less stressful than those who are in situations where they don't know where their next mouthful is coming from.
If you've read "Eat Stop Eat" ( http://eatstopeat.com/ ) you know that there are some myths out there about dieting, metabolism, starvation mode, fasting, and other things that are just not proven by the science. ESE is a must read for anyone who struggles with their weight and wants to know the science behind fasting.
There is also very good information about the actual experience of fasting at "Intermittent Fasting, Ch. 6" ( http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting/chapter-6 ). This one introduces other forms of fasting that ESE does not cover. This one is a free downloadable PDF, too.
I'm still on the journey and happy about the recent weight losses. Hope all is well with you.
Be back soon,
Marcia
I am finally seeing some weight loss progress. I actually made two changes. The first being the 16-hour fast per day and the second, about a week and a half later, was to begin to eat a couple of lighter meals during the 8-hour feed time. That Sumo Wrestler's Diet really stuck in my mind. I realized if my weight loss has stalled, then, I'm eating too much. Plain. Simple.
For a long time a thought has been sitting at the back of my mind that I did not want to really investigate. I've been wondering if all the beef and pork that I have been eating is the reason I stalled. I went back and looked at my journal over the time period in January that I was losing weight and I noticed that at that time I ate eggs and tuna for the majority of my protein. It does appear that when I started including more beef, my weight loss stalled. I had not wanted to admit that to myself because I thought beef was a good protein source that I did not have to worry about. Perhaps it is because I did not feel I could afford the grass fed variety, and was using standard beef.
So in this last week I, again, went to eggs and tuna for my protein, with a little pork, and left off the beef and in about three days I noticed a lot of water coming off of me. Don't get ahead of me... the water was coming off but my weight had not changed on the scale. I know. I was baffled, too. Then after that the scale made a five pound drop in one day. Then a three pound drop the next day. I've now gone up a pound, but I give that over to normal every day fluctuations. I am planning on doing more of the eggs and tuna again to see if I make progress on the scale, again. I'll have beef no more than once a day and since I'll be consuming less of it, maybe I can get the grass fed beef to improve that area, too. The pork does not seem to be a problem, but I'm a little tired of pork for now.
It has occurred to me that I probably could do more chicken, but, ya know, I'm just not a real fan of chicken. I don't hate it, but if I buy it, it sits in my freezer for months before I eat it. I choose everything and anything else before choosing that. I should probably make some chicken soup. That is my favorite way to have chicken.
The daily 16-hour fasting has been going well. There are times when I have to remind myself that the feeling of hunger means my body is actually using the fat stores for energy. This seemed to happen a little more after I cut down on the beef, which may be the reason I did not want to stop eating it. It is very satisfying and for a very long time.
If you've been reading my blog at all you must know that I adjust things on the fly. I have a plan, but if things happen in life, I adjust to make it work as I go. This has a good side and a bad side. The good side, is that if I notice something is not working, I can quickly adjust to make it work. The bad side, is that if I happen to let things get over into craving ville, life can get pretty wacky and my weight loss will probably stall.
I know what foods to avoid ninety percent of the time. That means that for about ten percent I can allow in a few starchy carbs. Now that I am doing the fasting I've discovered that I can have an occasional higher carb meal without as much worry.
There is still the option of doing one or two 24-hour fasts during a week instead of doing a 16-hour fast every day. I've not tried that, yet. I did not want to have way too many variables to factor in. If I make too many changes then I can't tell which one worked or didn't work.
The fasting really does not seem to be that hard to do. I have the time periods written down in my journal and I look forward to breaking the fast, but it is not like starvation when you don't know when you will be eating again. Thank God, I know when my next meal is. That alone, makes it much less stressful than those who are in situations where they don't know where their next mouthful is coming from.
If you've read "Eat Stop Eat" ( http://eatstopeat.com/ ) you know that there are some myths out there about dieting, metabolism, starvation mode, fasting, and other things that are just not proven by the science. ESE is a must read for anyone who struggles with their weight and wants to know the science behind fasting.
There is also very good information about the actual experience of fasting at "Intermittent Fasting, Ch. 6" ( http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting/chapter-6 ). This one introduces other forms of fasting that ESE does not cover. This one is a free downloadable PDF, too.
I'm still on the journey and happy about the recent weight losses. Hope all is well with you.
Be back soon,
Marcia
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Same Dedication, Different Goal
Hi,
I got an e-mail today that set me to thinking. The e-mail was from a guy doing some selling of a weight-loss program from another guy. Actually I have already bought both of them, but sometimes after you get on their mailing lists they send out information that is useful.
What they were talking about was the Sumo Wrestler Diet and how "not to eat." They proposed the idea that since Sumo wrestlers have a goal to weigh about as much as humanly possible for an athlete it makes sense that if you do not want to be as fat as a Sumo, you should do the opposite of what they do. So I went looking around to see what Sumo's do.
What I found is that it appears that Sumo wrestlers, who are fantastic athletes, only eat two times a day, but when they eat, they consume gargantuan amounts of food. When they are first starting out and are still thin, they practice increasing the size of their meals, but they may end up throwing up from forcing all that food into their gullet, because their bodies are not used to it, yet.
So this points out something to me. The size of our meals is a habit. We tend to eat in whatever way we learned to eat at some time in the past. We tend to eat amounts that are comfortable for us and "acceptable" to our brains. It could be based on "serving size" like a restaurant or fast food serving. It could be based on what mom and dad gave us to eat. It could be based on whether our parents monitored our eating as a child, or simply let us eat what we wanted when ever we wanted it. It does not really matter how we got our current habit. What matters is realizing that what we eat is based on familiarity and habit, or what we have grown accustomed to.
That might be the simplest explanation for why people eat the way they do. Whether a person follows a diet plan from a doctor or diet guru, or family eating habits, or religious eating habits, or cultural eating habits, we eat according to the familiar or acceptable plan in our heads.
So, what if, the plan in our head is distorted in some unhealthy fashion and we are not aware of it? We comfortably think we are eating OK but we have a tire around our middle and our blood glucose levels are in the danger zone. The only way to know if our own eating habits are "distorted" is to examine our health and our body. If you are not happy about the state of your health or body size, and you are sure that it comes from your eating habits, then approaching the subject from the point of view of changing a habit makes it easier than thinking there is "something wrong with me." We really don't have to change who we are, we just need to change what we do.
Sumo wrestlers only eat two times a day but they consume as many as 20,000 calories every day. They also exercise every morning before eating. In between exercising and eating they rest, nap, or sleep. So they get up at 5 a.m., and fast during the mornings hours. They also work out during this fasting period because it is easier to move around when the belly is empty. Then at about 11 a.m. they eat an amazingly huge lunch, then take a nap. When they wake up they eat another meal as huge as the first one, and then go to bed for the night.
Sumo wrestlers do not eat junk food. They eat many bowls of good healthy meat, chicken, and fish, boiled into a stew with vegetables from an ancient Japanese recipe (with the usual individual variations) along with as many as five bowls of rice and six bottles of beer to wash it all down. As they eat, the bowls begin to stack up in front of them, and are taken away by those who are serving. When they are done eating, the wrestlers go to bed.
I can understand that. All that eating is hard work. Remember how you felt after a Thanksgiving feast? They eat more than that two times a day, every day. Hard work, indeed. Wow.
Sumo wrestlers work hard at exercising and eating. As odd as it sounds we need to be as dedicated as they are to the exercise and eating plans that we think are the right ones for us. Most of us normal people do not have a goal of being fat. We already know that eating fabulously large amounts of food makes a person fat, so those of us who want to be thin, need to choose a different eating plan. Oddly enough, a healthy weight loss plan does not have to be any different from a Sumo Wrestler's except for the size of the meals.
Getting up at 5 a.m. and exercising until 11 a.m. is what many modern trim athletes do. Eating healthy protein and vegetables is a good idea for normal people, too. Even fasting for part of the day and eating only two meals could be a plan that works to lose weight -- just as long as you don't eat 10,000 calories per meal. If you want to cut down on the carbs, then don't eat any rice or beer with your meals, but one bowl of that same stew might be an excellent choice.
This has all been on my mind because I have had trouble with losing weight. I want to find the perfect eating habits for my body. This new habit I am trying out of fasting for 16 hours a day was easy to do the first two days but seems a little harder today. I have to remind myself of why I am doing this. I have to remember that during the hours I am not eating my body is working hard to keep me going. I am burning the fat from my body because I am not giving it food to burn during this time period. I also need to be a little careful when I eat, to make sure, I'm eating food that is good for my body and also will not start packing on the pounds.
It seems odd to think that a person could fast every day and pack on the pounds, but that is exactly what Sumo Wrestlers do. They have that as their goal. If I have a different goal, the one about losing weight, then I need to eat enough to sustain me without packing on the pounds when I break my fast. A salad and a pork chop would be a good meal for me.
Getting used to the feelings that I feel while I'm not eating, without succumbing to my old habits will help to build a new habit. Beginning Sumo wrestlers have to work hard to learn to eat gargantuan meals. I need to work hard at fasting and then consuming meals that will get me to my goals. Here's to new habits!!
Be back soon, Lord willing,
Marcia
I got an e-mail today that set me to thinking. The e-mail was from a guy doing some selling of a weight-loss program from another guy. Actually I have already bought both of them, but sometimes after you get on their mailing lists they send out information that is useful.
What they were talking about was the Sumo Wrestler Diet and how "not to eat." They proposed the idea that since Sumo wrestlers have a goal to weigh about as much as humanly possible for an athlete it makes sense that if you do not want to be as fat as a Sumo, you should do the opposite of what they do. So I went looking around to see what Sumo's do.
What I found is that it appears that Sumo wrestlers, who are fantastic athletes, only eat two times a day, but when they eat, they consume gargantuan amounts of food. When they are first starting out and are still thin, they practice increasing the size of their meals, but they may end up throwing up from forcing all that food into their gullet, because their bodies are not used to it, yet.
So this points out something to me. The size of our meals is a habit. We tend to eat in whatever way we learned to eat at some time in the past. We tend to eat amounts that are comfortable for us and "acceptable" to our brains. It could be based on "serving size" like a restaurant or fast food serving. It could be based on what mom and dad gave us to eat. It could be based on whether our parents monitored our eating as a child, or simply let us eat what we wanted when ever we wanted it. It does not really matter how we got our current habit. What matters is realizing that what we eat is based on familiarity and habit, or what we have grown accustomed to.
That might be the simplest explanation for why people eat the way they do. Whether a person follows a diet plan from a doctor or diet guru, or family eating habits, or religious eating habits, or cultural eating habits, we eat according to the familiar or acceptable plan in our heads.
So, what if, the plan in our head is distorted in some unhealthy fashion and we are not aware of it? We comfortably think we are eating OK but we have a tire around our middle and our blood glucose levels are in the danger zone. The only way to know if our own eating habits are "distorted" is to examine our health and our body. If you are not happy about the state of your health or body size, and you are sure that it comes from your eating habits, then approaching the subject from the point of view of changing a habit makes it easier than thinking there is "something wrong with me." We really don't have to change who we are, we just need to change what we do.
Sumo wrestlers only eat two times a day but they consume as many as 20,000 calories every day. They also exercise every morning before eating. In between exercising and eating they rest, nap, or sleep. So they get up at 5 a.m., and fast during the mornings hours. They also work out during this fasting period because it is easier to move around when the belly is empty. Then at about 11 a.m. they eat an amazingly huge lunch, then take a nap. When they wake up they eat another meal as huge as the first one, and then go to bed for the night.
Sumo wrestlers do not eat junk food. They eat many bowls of good healthy meat, chicken, and fish, boiled into a stew with vegetables from an ancient Japanese recipe (with the usual individual variations) along with as many as five bowls of rice and six bottles of beer to wash it all down. As they eat, the bowls begin to stack up in front of them, and are taken away by those who are serving. When they are done eating, the wrestlers go to bed.
I can understand that. All that eating is hard work. Remember how you felt after a Thanksgiving feast? They eat more than that two times a day, every day. Hard work, indeed. Wow.
Sumo wrestlers work hard at exercising and eating. As odd as it sounds we need to be as dedicated as they are to the exercise and eating plans that we think are the right ones for us. Most of us normal people do not have a goal of being fat. We already know that eating fabulously large amounts of food makes a person fat, so those of us who want to be thin, need to choose a different eating plan. Oddly enough, a healthy weight loss plan does not have to be any different from a Sumo Wrestler's except for the size of the meals.
Getting up at 5 a.m. and exercising until 11 a.m. is what many modern trim athletes do. Eating healthy protein and vegetables is a good idea for normal people, too. Even fasting for part of the day and eating only two meals could be a plan that works to lose weight -- just as long as you don't eat 10,000 calories per meal. If you want to cut down on the carbs, then don't eat any rice or beer with your meals, but one bowl of that same stew might be an excellent choice.
This has all been on my mind because I have had trouble with losing weight. I want to find the perfect eating habits for my body. This new habit I am trying out of fasting for 16 hours a day was easy to do the first two days but seems a little harder today. I have to remind myself of why I am doing this. I have to remember that during the hours I am not eating my body is working hard to keep me going. I am burning the fat from my body because I am not giving it food to burn during this time period. I also need to be a little careful when I eat, to make sure, I'm eating food that is good for my body and also will not start packing on the pounds.
It seems odd to think that a person could fast every day and pack on the pounds, but that is exactly what Sumo Wrestlers do. They have that as their goal. If I have a different goal, the one about losing weight, then I need to eat enough to sustain me without packing on the pounds when I break my fast. A salad and a pork chop would be a good meal for me.
Getting used to the feelings that I feel while I'm not eating, without succumbing to my old habits will help to build a new habit. Beginning Sumo wrestlers have to work hard to learn to eat gargantuan meals. I need to work hard at fasting and then consuming meals that will get me to my goals. Here's to new habits!!
Be back soon, Lord willing,
Marcia
Friday, June 8, 2012
Two Books on Fasting and My Own Experiment
Hi,
I've tried out a couple of fasting ideas and found some more useful information on the subject of intermittent fasting.
I was in the process of beginning to do 16 hour fasts with 8 hour eating periods when, on day three, an appointment got in the way of ending my fast. I had been reading about doing 24-hour fasts once or twice a week and I decided to just let the appointment have its way and continue to fast.
It was quite interesting to me. I did not feel stressed out as I would have, had I not been reading about fasting and realizing that missing a meal or two is not the end of the world. I decided to just observe what it was like to do the fast. It ended up that I did only 21 hours but, hey, I think that was pretty good, considering that I am a newbie, and this was a spur of the moment decision.
My plan had been to continue to eat what I am now eating which means the only change I was introducing was the amount of time between meals rather than anything about the content. The actuality was not quite that.
It ended up that at about 4:30 when I decided to end the fast I felt this compulsion to get a pizza and eat. I tricked myself! I should have eaten a real meal, but instead, I ordered a medium pizza and for some odd reason, I felt compelled to eat the whole thing, even though I had to force the last half of it down. So odd. But that is what happened.
I had one more meal and a snack after that before going to bed -- the snack came first because I was still feeling stuffed from the pizza. But I began again the next day. I finished my last meal at about 1 a.m. that night, and did not eat again until about 4:30 p.m. the day following. That turned out to be a 15.5 hour fast. Again I was really hungry at the time I ended the fast, but I was more sane this time. I really did not want to experience the compulsive stuffing again so I thought about how I was going to end the fast in a better way.
I decided to go to Panda Express. I still could not wait to eat so decided on fast food rather than prepared at home food. ( I was hungry NOW.) If I had had a salad already made that would not have happened. I ordered the Shanghai beef, green bean chicken, and mixed veggies, plus one chicken egg roll. Wonder of wonders I could only eat half of it. Actually the same thing had happened the day before but I ignored my body and ate the pizza, but today, I did not ignore my body. When I felt full I stopped eating. Yeah! That felt better!!
I actually put on about 3 pounds overnight with the pizza stuff! But I'm not stopping the fasting experiment, just yet. I need to give it some time and see what really happens after I get settled into it.
I've been really impressed with two sources of information I found on the internet which are:
1. http://eatstopeat.com/ -- which is a book you have to buy [$37] (but the infomercial part has a lot of good information about the author and fasting) even if you don't buy it. I bought it because I wanted to get as much information as I could. This plan advocates the 24-hour, once or twice a week fast, and has a ton of just good information about fasting, itself.
2. http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting -- which is a free book-sized PDF -- this one has a more "this is my story" approach but still backs everything up with research. This one also advocates more of a DIY fasting with instructions on how to fast according to your life style and goals. This one recommends a daily 16-hour fast/8-hour feed for men, daily 14-hour fast/10-hour feed for women or newbies of either gender, and also the 24-hour once a week fast just like number one above suggests. Dr. Berardi makes it perfectly clear that you can choose to do a 12-hour fast/12-hour feed, too -- or any combination that you are able or willing to try -- with guidelines.
I got a lot of good information out of both of them. The "Eat Stop Eat" has much more of the science and reasons and background of fasting and how the body responds over differing fasting time periods. It gave me enough proof to believe that fasting will end up actually being good for me health wise and also help me lose weight. The author, Brad Pilon, shares his own education background and I really do recommend his book to anyone else who is interested in an excellent basic primer on fasting.
The second one "Experiments with Intermittent Fasting" by Dr. John M. Berardi with Dr Krista Scott-Dixon and Nate Green will give you all the information you could ever use about how to incorporate the fast neatly into your life. It will help you figure out which one to start with and how to go about it. I highly recommend this one, too. And of course number 2 is FREE which is always a plus!! They are both PDF downloads, too, so you get the information instantly, which I always like.
So far, for myself, I'm enjoying the new experience of feeling what hunger really feels like. It does not come with pictures in my head, which is a sure sign of "mental hunger" and addiction rather than actual physical hunger. There is a particular feeling that shows up in my stomach area and since I now know that fasting for a few hours is actually healthy, I embraced it and enjoyed the new experience!!
Of course, I have actually felt this before, but now that I am better educated on the subject of fasting, I did not feel alarmed or compelled to go and get something to eat right this very minute. I could wait and knew that it would not cause trauma or injury, of any kind, to me. The new "fast" information set me free from the fear that I might injure myself if I missed a meal or two or three in a row! It is so funny that we actually fear missing a meal. We don't think about that. We just feel it and eat, but once you begin to notice it, and have backed up the experience with education, then it is simply NBD (No Big Deal).
I kind of like it. Of course, what you eat in between the fasting hours is also important. Both of these men suggest that you not change "what" you eat, just "when" you eat to begin with. Especially if you are already following a particular eating program. Brad Pilon even suggests that you don't have to diet at all, if you follow his program of twice a week 24-hour fasting. The fasting will be the thing that reduces your caloric intake and you won't have to weigh, measure, and count what you are eating the rest of the time. You should eat sensibly meaning healthy kinds of food, in healthy amounts when you eat, and simply stop eating for a short time and then eat again. That is why his book is called "Eat Stop Eat." You eat good food, not junk food, then fast, then eat good food again.
I'm still not exactly sure which one I will end up doing. I would like to do the 16/8 but since I am a woman maybe I should do the 14/10. So far it is not so bad. I'll let you know how it goes.
Be back soon,
Marcia
I've tried out a couple of fasting ideas and found some more useful information on the subject of intermittent fasting.
I was in the process of beginning to do 16 hour fasts with 8 hour eating periods when, on day three, an appointment got in the way of ending my fast. I had been reading about doing 24-hour fasts once or twice a week and I decided to just let the appointment have its way and continue to fast.
It was quite interesting to me. I did not feel stressed out as I would have, had I not been reading about fasting and realizing that missing a meal or two is not the end of the world. I decided to just observe what it was like to do the fast. It ended up that I did only 21 hours but, hey, I think that was pretty good, considering that I am a newbie, and this was a spur of the moment decision.
My plan had been to continue to eat what I am now eating which means the only change I was introducing was the amount of time between meals rather than anything about the content. The actuality was not quite that.
It ended up that at about 4:30 when I decided to end the fast I felt this compulsion to get a pizza and eat. I tricked myself! I should have eaten a real meal, but instead, I ordered a medium pizza and for some odd reason, I felt compelled to eat the whole thing, even though I had to force the last half of it down. So odd. But that is what happened.
I had one more meal and a snack after that before going to bed -- the snack came first because I was still feeling stuffed from the pizza. But I began again the next day. I finished my last meal at about 1 a.m. that night, and did not eat again until about 4:30 p.m. the day following. That turned out to be a 15.5 hour fast. Again I was really hungry at the time I ended the fast, but I was more sane this time. I really did not want to experience the compulsive stuffing again so I thought about how I was going to end the fast in a better way.
I decided to go to Panda Express. I still could not wait to eat so decided on fast food rather than prepared at home food. ( I was hungry NOW.) If I had had a salad already made that would not have happened. I ordered the Shanghai beef, green bean chicken, and mixed veggies, plus one chicken egg roll. Wonder of wonders I could only eat half of it. Actually the same thing had happened the day before but I ignored my body and ate the pizza, but today, I did not ignore my body. When I felt full I stopped eating. Yeah! That felt better!!
I actually put on about 3 pounds overnight with the pizza stuff! But I'm not stopping the fasting experiment, just yet. I need to give it some time and see what really happens after I get settled into it.
I've been really impressed with two sources of information I found on the internet which are:
1. http://eatstopeat.com/ -- which is a book you have to buy [$37] (but the infomercial part has a lot of good information about the author and fasting) even if you don't buy it. I bought it because I wanted to get as much information as I could. This plan advocates the 24-hour, once or twice a week fast, and has a ton of just good information about fasting, itself.
2. http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting -- which is a free book-sized PDF -- this one has a more "this is my story" approach but still backs everything up with research. This one also advocates more of a DIY fasting with instructions on how to fast according to your life style and goals. This one recommends a daily 16-hour fast/8-hour feed for men, daily 14-hour fast/10-hour feed for women or newbies of either gender, and also the 24-hour once a week fast just like number one above suggests. Dr. Berardi makes it perfectly clear that you can choose to do a 12-hour fast/12-hour feed, too -- or any combination that you are able or willing to try -- with guidelines.
I got a lot of good information out of both of them. The "Eat Stop Eat" has much more of the science and reasons and background of fasting and how the body responds over differing fasting time periods. It gave me enough proof to believe that fasting will end up actually being good for me health wise and also help me lose weight. The author, Brad Pilon, shares his own education background and I really do recommend his book to anyone else who is interested in an excellent basic primer on fasting.
The second one "Experiments with Intermittent Fasting" by Dr. John M. Berardi with Dr Krista Scott-Dixon and Nate Green will give you all the information you could ever use about how to incorporate the fast neatly into your life. It will help you figure out which one to start with and how to go about it. I highly recommend this one, too. And of course number 2 is FREE which is always a plus!! They are both PDF downloads, too, so you get the information instantly, which I always like.
So far, for myself, I'm enjoying the new experience of feeling what hunger really feels like. It does not come with pictures in my head, which is a sure sign of "mental hunger" and addiction rather than actual physical hunger. There is a particular feeling that shows up in my stomach area and since I now know that fasting for a few hours is actually healthy, I embraced it and enjoyed the new experience!!
Of course, I have actually felt this before, but now that I am better educated on the subject of fasting, I did not feel alarmed or compelled to go and get something to eat right this very minute. I could wait and knew that it would not cause trauma or injury, of any kind, to me. The new "fast" information set me free from the fear that I might injure myself if I missed a meal or two or three in a row! It is so funny that we actually fear missing a meal. We don't think about that. We just feel it and eat, but once you begin to notice it, and have backed up the experience with education, then it is simply NBD (No Big Deal).
I kind of like it. Of course, what you eat in between the fasting hours is also important. Both of these men suggest that you not change "what" you eat, just "when" you eat to begin with. Especially if you are already following a particular eating program. Brad Pilon even suggests that you don't have to diet at all, if you follow his program of twice a week 24-hour fasting. The fasting will be the thing that reduces your caloric intake and you won't have to weigh, measure, and count what you are eating the rest of the time. You should eat sensibly meaning healthy kinds of food, in healthy amounts when you eat, and simply stop eating for a short time and then eat again. That is why his book is called "Eat Stop Eat." You eat good food, not junk food, then fast, then eat good food again.
I'm still not exactly sure which one I will end up doing. I would like to do the 16/8 but since I am a woman maybe I should do the 14/10. So far it is not so bad. I'll let you know how it goes.
Be back soon,
Marcia
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Surprise!! It's Not the Food. It's the Fast!!
Hi,
That old saying: "Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise" went through my mind as I began to think about some information I just came across. I wondered what affects that information might have on my life if I put it into practice.
I've been looking at fasting-type diets and I think I've found a useful method in an article that was printed in the Los Angeles Times. It was written by Melissa Healy who reviewed a study that was done on mice at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California and printed in the journal "Cell Metabolism."
(Here's a link to her LA Times article if you are interested in reading the whole thing: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/18/science/la-sci-fasting-diet-20120518 .)
The conclusion reached was that if you simply do your eating in the early part of the day and time sixteen hours between your last meal of the day and your first meal of the next day, your body will not only be leaner, but stronger, healthier and have more endurance, too.
This boils down to having an eight hour period when you eat (preferably healthy and not junk or processed foods) and twice that amount of time when you don't eat. Of course about half that "no eating time" is used up while you are sleeping so what you are really doing is eating for one third of the day, sleeping for one third, and fasting for one third of every 24-hour period. It seems to me that if you also finish your last meal by the time your "fast" begins you will feel full up to bed time, hopefully, and then simply go to bed. That is, I think, what our ancestors did. They ate in the day time and slept at night. The kitchen closed after dinner and that was it. You did not eat after that.
If your first meal is at 8 a.m. then your last meal would have to be finished by 4 p.m. in order for there to be 16 hours between the last meal today and the first meal tomorrow. That would allow for three very nice sized meals, which, theoretically should be enough to keep you feeling fed. I don't know if you could adjust that later or earlier. If you moved breakfast to 10 am, then dinner would need to be done by 6 pm. with any number of meals and snacks you could fit in between. Hopefully three meals should "do it."
Of course, I've had the thought that humans are not mice, so, what if we made the fast for 14 hours... would we still get the same effect? That would allow breakfast at 8 and last meal finished by 6 pm. with nothing after that, which is, I think, a more normal schedule.
I've often read, without paying attention to, people who have suggested that not eating after 7 pm helps you to lose weight. I never really believed them. Some people state a similar principal as "not eating for three hours before bed," so this is not a new idea. It was simply presented in such a way that it finally seemed believable to me.
I suppose going for the full 16 hours might possibly promote better and faster weight loss, too. So it would have to be up to the individual what they are willing to try and how desperate they are. Perhaps going for the 14 hour fast could be a "first step" into going for the full 16 hours, later. Sometimes we humans need an adjustment space. I'd love to hear from anyone who tries out either of these methods to see how it went for them.
You know, as I think about it, it was at about the time the TV was invented and people began snacking in front of it before going to bed that our obesity epidemic started. The "going to the movies" popcorn and candy habit got transferred to the living room in front of the TV. It went from once a month, to once a day. After that, we all started getting fatter. What if that were the real reason our nation has become obese? I'm not blaming TV, but the eating in front of it. "Looking for solutions in all the wrong places," comes to mind.
The study in the Times article was led by a man named Satchidananda Panda, who is a regulatory biologist at the Salk Institute. What he and his team did was to divide a bunch of mice into different groups and record the results after one hundred days of testing.
"Animals in two of the groups dined on high-fat, high-calorie chow. Half of them were allowed to eat whenever they wanted, and nibbled on and off throughout the night and day. The other mice had access to food only for eight hours at night, when they were most active."
In human terms this would probably mean no snacking as you watch TV before bed. Not even a glass of warm milk. I would think that drinking water might be OK, but they did not mention whether that would be effective or not. And, as I think about it, the word "fast" means no food and no drink. So if a person were hardline about it, it really means to fast before bed. No food. No drink. No thing in the mouth before bed. If you were not "hardline" then maybe drinking water would be OK. A person would have to test it out to see what works for them.
This quote from the article really perked up my attention: "The difference was astonishing. Even though they ate a high-fat diet, the mice who wrapped up their eating day early and were forced to fast for 16 hours were lean — almost as lean as mice in a control group who ate regular chow. But the mice who noshed on high-fat chow around the clock became obese, even though they consumed the same amount of fat and calories as their counterparts on the time-restricted diet."
It was not the quality or the quantity of the food. It was not the timing of the meals that made the difference. It was the fasting every night that made the difference. WoW! If you notice, it also said the two groups both ate the same amount of fat and calories (and it was also labeled "high-fat", too) so the fasting mice were not deprived of food during their eating time. They were not on a low-fat diet. I don't know if they were on a low-carb diet. It appears they had plenty to eat and a short time to do it. It sounds like their meals might have been larger because that is, logically, the only way you could consume exactly the same amount of food in a shorter period of time.
It seems that bodies must need time to digest, and metabolize the food we eat. It appears that if we eat without giving our bodies enough fasting time to use the food properly, we are just clogging up the works and slowing things down. Like digestion. Like metabolism. Like hormones. Like weight.
Not much was said about the control group of mice -- the ones who remained healthy on lower fat food. I don't know if they were given food with no restrictions or not. I suppose if I read the original article I could find that out. I don't know if that information is vital to my purposes.
Miss Healy went on to say: "Extra weight wasn't their only problem. The obese mice developed high cholesterol, high blood sugar, fatty liver disease and metabolic problems. The mice who ate fatty food but were forced to fast showed hardly any signs of inflammation or liver disease, and their cholesterol and blood sugar levels were virtually indistinguishable from those of mice who ate regular chow. When put on an exercise wheel, they showed the most endurance and the best motor control of all the animals in the study."
She quoted Mr. Panda as having said: "The results of daily fasting were "phenomenal."
I tell you what, that daily fast sounds good to me. I realize it will take some discipline in the beginning to cut off the late night meals and I don't really know how that will go but I want to try it out. I have also thought about my exercise days when I really seem to need to eat afterwards. I will have to make sure my exercise periods are timed so that I can eat afterwards and still stop eating at the right time to accomplish my weight loss and health goals.
I am really excited about this because, frankly, I have been fussing and adjusting the content, the quality, and the quantity of food for ever and no longer losing weight. I was about at my wits end. If making this one change, while continuing to eat what I now do, will make the difference, then I am all for it.
So this is the next step for me. I'll be letting you know what my plan is and how it goes as I go along.
Be back soon,
Marcia
Saturday, June 2, 2012
BPDown Answers from Barry Shore
I contacted Barry Shore, the creator of the BPDown program to ask him some questions about how to do the program properly and he got back to me today with the answers I needed. Here is my letter and his response below:
Hi
Barry,
Thanks for your nice e-mail and for shipping my BPDown so quidkly. I do have three questions about the BPDown exercises if you have time to answer them.
1. I find the CD goes along at a pretty fast clip and I have trouble speeding my breathing up that fast to keep up -- would it still be effective if I slowed the breathing part down to fit my personal breathing pattern which is deep and slow (I am a singer) -- or should I speed up and use shallow breath's to keep up with the pace of the CD? Which is most effective in your experience?
2. I've only been using it in the evening for a few days but find when I measure my blood pressure immediately afterwards it is pretty high -- actually higher than usual. Is this normal? (I had been practicing long slow deep relaxing breathing exercises on my own which always immediately lowers my blood pressure for the moment, but not for any continued length of time, that I noticed -- so this seems odd to me.)
3. I have noticed a good response in my morning numbers -- they appear to be at least 10 points lower on both upper and lower than I've recently been getting... so I'm taking this as a sign that it is working. Is this also normal?
Thanks for your nice e-mail and for shipping my BPDown so quidkly. I do have three questions about the BPDown exercises if you have time to answer them.
1. I find the CD goes along at a pretty fast clip and I have trouble speeding my breathing up that fast to keep up -- would it still be effective if I slowed the breathing part down to fit my personal breathing pattern which is deep and slow (I am a singer) -- or should I speed up and use shallow breath's to keep up with the pace of the CD? Which is most effective in your experience?
2. I've only been using it in the evening for a few days but find when I measure my blood pressure immediately afterwards it is pretty high -- actually higher than usual. Is this normal? (I had been practicing long slow deep relaxing breathing exercises on my own which always immediately lowers my blood pressure for the moment, but not for any continued length of time, that I noticed -- so this seems odd to me.)
3. I have noticed a good response in my morning numbers -- they appear to be at least 10 points lower on both upper and lower than I've recently been getting... so I'm taking this as a sign that it is working. Is this also normal?
answers from Barry...
1. don’t speed up your breathing. natural pace is best.
2. best results come after a few hours. prolonged lower blood pressure
usually comes after a few weeks.
3. low morning numbers is a sign that BPDown is working.
good luck
Barry Shore
Here is a link to his website if you are interested in his program: http://www.bpdown.us/ (This is completely unsolicited -- I'm not getting a thing to share the program with you. In fact, I never do. Anything I share on my blog is completely from my desire to share fully with others who are in need, as I have been, or interested in reading the info for themselves.)
I really appreciated his getting back to me with good answers that I can use. I now feel much more confident about what I am doing and will not try to speed up my breathing to match the CD. As Barry says: Natural pace is best.
I needed a timer in order to accomplish that task so I went online to www.download.com from c/net and searched for a free one. I've used this web site for years to find free and even unfree software. I only recall one time, a long time ago, where my download became a problem, but it was easy to fix. For the most part I've not had any other problems with their downloads. They have a group of programmers and editors who go over the programs and they also have a rating system so I feel that makes it easier and safer to find and choose what I need.
I chose the one called "Free Countdown Timer" and set it up for a three-minute interval for doing my BPDown program. It waits until I put a check in the box next to the 3-minute time that I set up and then it simply counts down until it reaches zero. I've chosen the bird chime as the alarm because it seemed more peaceful to me as I practice my isometric hand exercises and the deep breathing exercises. The program works in four segments of three minutes for a total of 12 minutes spent either squeezing and breathing or breathing to the patterns that Barry has recommended in his instructions.
Like I said before, there are other similar hi-tech devices for sale but they cost between $300 and $400 dollars each and only cover one aspect of the techniques for lowering blood pressure. They incorporate either the breathing or the isometric hand exercises but not both. The BPDown program at $49 with free shipping, is a steal in comparison.
What you are paying for with your $49 is Barry's experience and instructions on how to do it. You could get the "squeezy" balls nearly anywhere, but they might not be the right density. Barry provides the tension that is precisely needed for the program to work.
The CD is plain and simple. It immediately gives you the pace you need to do the exercises, too. If you are a shallow breather it may be perfect for you, but, if you are a slow breather like I am it is useful as a guide to show you how to do the program properly. Barry has taken all the "guess work" out and hands over to you a complete, inexpensive program, that he created and uses himself to keep his own blood pressure at the numbers our doctors love.
Of course, I am still at the beginning stages but I am doing it diligently. So far a few morning numbers have been an improvement but I still get some of my same normal numbers too. I am hoping that by the time my next doctor's appointment rolls around on the 28th of June that I will be seeing good results with better BP numbers and my doctor won't have to try to force me to take some BP lowering medication that I really don't want to take.
I've been trying to lose weight for a long time now with only what I call minor success so I've needed to find some other way to deal with the blood pressure issue while I continue on the path of trying to lose weight.
I've been thinking about how to improve my eating program so I begin to lose weight again. I'm exercising regularly. I'm eating the right things most of the time. I only have cheat meals about once a week, which is proper, but I'm not losing. It has occurred to me that I have not tried the opposite of a cheat meal which would be a fasting meal and I'm wondering how that might work. I recall reading that some people incorporate weekly fasting into their program. I think I'm going to be doing a little reading about that and see what I come up with.
On to better health...
Hope you are well!
Be back soon,
Marcia
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