Well THAT didn't work!! Not because there is anything wrong with ADF (Alternate Day Fasting) but because my eating machine was on and I could not accomplish the fasts!! I know that I can turn the eating machine off with a three-day carb fast so I started looking for motivation. This is what I wrote on the lowcarbsite.com forum that I joined:
This time: LCHF by the book
Hi all!!It has now been five days since I started the LCHF and I am amazed that this morning I woke up and was not stiff. I could actually simply get out of bed without sitting on the edge for from 10 to 20 minutes, then standing, holding on to the dresser, and then slowly beginning to walk until the stiffness sorted itself out. I simply woke up and got up. I felt young again! Since I've done LC in the past I knew this would happen but it always took six days, not five, which surprised me.
I feel like I am beginning fresh. I now have one day of LCHF under my belt and I am psyched. Yes, I'm craving a little, but, I'm OK with drinking lots of cold cold water. It is only day one. I know I am going to be compliant this time because I can see that all of my "doing my own thing" has only caused me to put on weight.
I got discouraged the last time I was doing "my version" of LC because it took so l-o-n-g to accomplish even the smallest weight loss. It took me three years to lose about 50 lbs. My blood sugars did improve and my blood pressure did get a tiny bit better. I did at one point even reverse my pre-diabetes -- at least my physician's assistant told me I had because I got my A1c down to 5.4. But later I was so discouraged about it taking so long and being so hard to do, I threw up my hands and quit.
I recently was trying to use fruit, veggies and nuts (per instructions from an internet guru)... I loved eating all the fruit, dropped out the veggies and powered down on the nuts. But it did not work for me, like it worked for the guru. I could feel my body getting fatter. Oh no, the tell tale signs were telling tales. The blobs under my arms were getting bigger. My stomach began to wrap around the bottom of the steering wheel in my car. I knew that if I did not find a way out soon, it would be really uncomfortable and maybe dangerous to drive my car!! So I found a better solution. You know: one that works.
So... I was all primed and ready to start ADF (alternate day fasting), I shared in a blog about it. My first fast day was a bust. At the end of the day I was ready to eat everything I could get my hands on -- and did. OK. Next day eat regularly and just go on. Second fast day was a smaller repeat of the first and then it dawned on me that I was battling "the eating machine."
"The eating machine" is what I call the non-stop food craving/eating that I was experiencing from eating all that fruit. It came over me so slowly I didn't notice it. But eventually I got to the point where I just couldn't stop eating. Nothing filled me up. I would eat and within an hour or two I would be ready for another meal. It is puzzling and pushy and compulsive at the same time. That is the eating machine!!
Fortunately I was praying for God's help and visiting the ADF group on facebook and someone posted a link to Butter Bob Briggs video called "Butter makes your pants fall off."
Here was this guy just a few years younger than me who had conquered his obesity by eating LCHF and making sure he ate lots of butter and other fats, like lard for cooking. I was glued to his story. He had a unique way of explaining how the body used fat (I had never heard his perspective before) and, he himself was evidence that it worked.
As I listened I began to remember about LCHF. I took his suggestion and watched another video by Dr. Eric Westman called "Implementation of Plan of LCHF Eating". I also bought and read his book: "Low Carbohydrate, Ketogenic Diet Manuel." After that I had the tools I need to get back on the LC train but this time I'm doing LCHF and following the plan as outlined (by both of them).
I think my unwillingness to follow any LC plan to a "T," before, may be what got me in trouble. I ALWAYS thought I knew better and could get away with my own little "adjustments." I was always looking for the way out of the discipline!! Let me tell you.... that is the HARD way to do things, even though at the time it seemed like it made things easier for me. Looking back, I can see it did not work.
I'm hoping to get support here in this group as soon as I figure out how all the posts on this site work. I'm used to FB but this setup is not exactly clear to me. I'm also hoping to give support to others having "been there and done that" on a lot of this stuff.
Sometimes I just need to be reminded that it really is possible for obese people (like me) to lose weight. It really is possible for me to follow someone else's plan -- meaning I can be obedient/compliant -- but mostly I need the help of my Lord, for the strength to do this -- and the support of others. I'm used to DIY but I finally figured out, "that don't work." Period. I need to get the program in mind, and just stick to the plan.
One thing that is really helping me right now is knowing that if I do LC for three days, by the third day the cravings (the eating machine) will turn off. I know this because I've done it many times before! But this time I'm sticking to the plan. Then I can do the IF (intermittent fasting) combined with LCHF and really start losing this weight (just as Butter Bob suggests in one of his companion videos). I now weight 355 lbs. But not for long.
I wondered if I had lost any weight so I got on the scales and kept my fingers cross. Five days in and I've lost 2.75 pounds. That is a step in the right direction. One of my friends said she thought I looked like I had lost weight. This kind of surprised me, because, as big as I am, most people don't notice that I've lost any weight until I've dropped about 30 pounds. She pointed out that my face was not as "swollen" and my neck seemed narrower. I checked it out in the mirror and she was right. I could actually see the difference myself. Man this LCHF seems to be really working.
My blood sugars have dropped from an average post meal 124-130 to 105-111 when I checked. That is so nice to see those numbers again! Thank you Lord!!
The eating machine has completely calmed down and I'm eating sanely again. I do seem to be craving water though. Cold filtered water from the fridge just tastes so delicious and refreshing that I am drinking more of it. I'd say I average about three 32-oz bottles per day -- some days more, some less and I am happy with that.
As soon as I feel I am completely adjusted to this new way of eating, I'm hoping to begin doing intermittent fasting but maybe not ADF. I think I'll return to "Eat Stop Eat" methods from Brad Pilon's book -- which, by the way, is the method that Butter Bob recommends. This would be fasting twice a week on separate days for a 24-hour time period each time. One of them suggested that it actually takes two weeks for the body to settle into the new program so, for now, I'll observe and decide at the proper time.
(If you're sqeamish about lavatory talk, you might want to skip this next paragraph.)
I've got one other improvement this time from all the other times I've done LCHF and that is in the bowel department. I've not (yet?) experienced the hard as a brick and equally hard to pass stools as in the past. This time, I seem to have something more akin to the runs. That does now seem to be slowing down but they are still easy. I'm thinking that may be a result of my having consumed a double dose of pro-biotics twice a day for the last year or so which completely relieved my former constipation. It seems to be carrying over to the protein, too. I'm actually kind of glad of that. That is much easier to deal with than the former "slow down." Sorry if that is TMI.
Well, at least I now have some overall good news to report and I'm pleased with that.
Praying for God's continued grace!!
Be back whenever,
Marcia