Day 15

Morning weight 241.

Breakfast was a fried egg, 3 B&S sausage (I'm a sausage fanatic, even bad sausage like B&S) toast & coffee.
Packed lunch is a bowl of Z-P soup (hey, it's good!)

Thanks Jen for the comment yesterday! I started to reply, then thought I'd just post my thoughts here.

I did WW years ago... like 20 years ago! Yikes! Did pretty good with it too for the few months I kept it up. Anyway, I seem to recall similar advice. (Jen mentioned that WW advises clients to not weigh themselves in between weekly weigh-ins because daily fluctuations could be discouraging to folks expecting a continual loss.) If my posts seem a bit dramatic in this regard, well, I probably am playing it up just a touch. I expect daily fluctuations, but am surprised at the directions they occur, not if. The scientist in me is rather curious about the correlation between when I'm eating and what my weight is. I find it interesting that after a down day, I typically won't lose anything, but after the following feast day, I'll have dropped a pound or two. A part of me is already considering, if this observed trend keeps up, modifying ADF to something like AMF - alternate meal fasting. Rather than skip eating for a complete day, just alternate meals: breakfast, dinner, lunch, breakfast..., etc. If, ultimately, the goal is to reduce caloric intake, (and in my case, also modify my diet to smaller portions and healthier food choices) then that could still work if you did it 7 days a week.

Of course, after having started to form those ideas... I come off a famine day losing 3 lbs! Haha! Individual data points are totally nuts!

So, while I started this blog as a typical diet journal and a tool to help my resolve, it's also sorta become a lab notebook on my current dieting attempt.

Day 6

A feast day, which is good, as I'm headed to a massive 4th of July picnic / party later today. I just need to keep control... but I am looking forward to all the typical summertime cookout foods!

This morning's weight was at 246 lbs. Again, a no-loss after a famine day. I commented to S, and she replied that the body, no getting any nutrition, is going into conservation mode. I guess that makes sense. She has a Ph.D. in biology, so she might know what she's talking about. Thing is, I had the salad for lunch, and made a WW zero-point soup last night and had a nice bowl of it. So I did eat yesterday. And while I was proud of myself for not snacking during last nights gaming fest, I wasn't exactly hungry either. The snacking is just habit, and one I need to break.

Here's the other blog that got me inspired:

My 21 Days by Jen. She's doing it 'hardcore', and I wish her the best. She commented that she too started off slowly, and that now doing the hardcore route is a self-challenge. Go Jen! Stay strong!

Inspiration

Here's a link to the blog that got me inspired:

21 Days of Jake

He was inspired by someone else, whom I'm also hoping to link to.

I'll add these links, and other food & diet related stuff, to the sidebar as I find 'em. I found a zero-point food list and added that too.

As an update of my progress, lunch time was upon me before I knew it, and I wasn't really hungry at all. Still ate the salad I packed though. I think, for me, I'll be relying on the crutch of the zero-point foods to get me through the famine days. At least for now. Who knows... maybe after a while, as my body adjusts to reduced calorie intake, I'll be able to go all day without food and just swig water or low-cal sports drinks. I know a lot of this is going to be a mental game, and I really salute those folks that can quit eating cold-turkey... mmmmm... cold turkey sammich.... wait, what!? Oh, yeah, I really admire those folks that can just make up their mind and do something.

My biggest problem, food-wise, is I just never stop thinking about it. I love it so. I already have plans to make one of those zero-point soups from the link.

I'm obsessed.

Day 5

Famine day #3. Not too worried about it really.

Morning weight @ 246 lbs.

So I didn't lose anything from famine day 2, but lost 2 lbs from feasting. Hmmm. The human body is weird and amazing. After having the chowder last night, I munched on some grilled kielbasa that S had done for herself and her folks. And I'm not talking a bite or two... I ate probably a friggin' half a pound or more of the stuff as little nibbles between 7 and 10 PM. So much for a battle of will.

I'm not really doing all that well, compared to others, with sticking to this process. On both my famine days so far, I've caved and eaten salad, which is allowable, but not as strict as a few folks I've read about have done. My willpower is shit, and I've always known it. I'd hoped I'd be as strong as those other folks. Maybe I still can be. I know that if the weight keeps coming off, it will stiffen my resolve. In diets past, I've found strength in myself as the weight dropped. I've just always lacked the will to keep those diets going. I don't really consider this a diet, per se, as I'm continuing to eat all the regular (read delicious) food I normally would. I'm just skipping or postponing eating by a day on alternate days. I've only skimmed a couple of blogs about this plan, and they both made it a point to set a goal for doing it for 21 days. I'm afraid of setting that same goal however since I always seem to fall off a diet after 3 or 4 weeks. So instead, I'm gonna set a goal date for Labor Day. That'd be something I've never done before, follow a diet/eating/whatever plan for 10 straight weeks.

I admit that I'm not exactly full of confidence that I can stick to this ADF (alternate day fasting - I just learned this term yesterday) plan all the way through. The actual DF part, that is. There does seem to be some consensus that days, even meals, are flexible. The main point is to reduce calorie intake by postponing eating for stretches at a time. So while the plan is commonly referred to ADF, fasting for a complete day is not exactly set in stone and the ADF cops won't bust down your door and shoot your dogs if you have some crackers and cheese on a Wednesday night. That, I think I can do. If it's supposed to be a famine day and I completely cave in and scarf down a hot dog or something, I'll just go extra light on the meals the following feast day, or even skip a meal entirely. (I still think of eating 3-squares a day. I know a lot of nutritionists say it's better to graze all day on healthy food than sit down to 3 full meals. But I was raised on 3-squares and it's how I frame the day.) So, we'll see. My battle of will, will actually be following this plan for another 9 weeks. Wish me strength.

Mmmm

If I may blow my own horn for a moment... damn I make a good NE clam chowdah!

Tummy growls

Feeling somewhat hungry. Been countering it with water, but I'm really looking forward to lunch!

So, yeah

Starting a blog for the hell of it. Actually, I got the idea from a forum I frequent where a guy started a simple blog to document his attempt at dieting. After reading through his blog, I got inspired to copy him... so I am, by blogging about my umpteenth attempt to diet.

His plan, which he got from somewhere else, sounds almost too easy to be true. Simply put, skip eating 3 days a week. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, don't eat anything and only drink water. Although further delving into this plan reveals that you are allowed to consume "no points" food, a Weight Watchers classification, on your 'famine' days. On 'feast' days, you eat what you normally would. The idea is to reduce calorie intake by simply postponing eating for a day, three days a week.

So I'm giving it a go. Details to be posted here. Maybe post other random thoughts and observations too.