Friday, July 15, 2016

THE 2016 CHALLENGE - WEEK 28 RESULTS

Rebecca on July 10, 2016


Today is the end of Week 28.


In the past week I have:
Lost 0.8 pounds
Lost 0" around my neck
Lost 1/4" around my waist
Lost 1/8" around my hips
Body fat from 31.7% to 31.2%
Lean mass from 68.3% to 68.8%
Feasted 4 days and fasted 3 days
Lifted weights 1 time
Did treadmill HIIT 1 time
Walked 1 mile 2 times

Since January 1, 2016, I have:

Lost 19 pounds
Lost 5/8" around my neck
Lost  3 3/4" around my waist
Lost 3 1/4" around my hips
Body fat from 39% to 31.2%
Lean mass from 61% to 68.8%
Feasted 125 days and fasted 71 days
Lifted weights 12 times
Did treadmill HIIT 16 times
Walked 3 miles 8 times
Walked 1 mile 4 times


THE RULES OF THIS CHALLENGE

Each day, I lower my goal weight by 0.2 pounds until I reach my goal of 130 pounds.

I weigh in each morning on the bathroom scale.  If my weight is at or below my goal for the day, I feast.  For me, that means a ketogenic diet - high fat, sufficient protein and very low carb.  If my weight is above my goal for the day, I fast.  For me, that means that all I will have that day is water, coffee, or tea, all without caloric sweeteners or fat.  

I'm posting every week to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.


HOW IT WENT THIS PAST WEEK

It was a bouncy week.  I did well until my grandkids came for a visit and I needed to have a restaurant meal. Oh, well.

THE BIG DOCTOR VISIT

Bill and I leave tomorrow to see Dr. Jeffry Gerber near Denver Colorado.  Starting today, I have to take a week off my challenge to eat higher carb so that I can be assessed for diabetes.  This should be fun.  Not.


MY CHARTS

I made a few charts to track my progress.  On the first two charts, the grey line is my long term goal. The blue line is my actual weight.  I am showing two charts so I can see my progress since the beginning of the year, and also to get a close-up from the time I started again after my husband's heart attack in May 2016.

The third chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after. Click on any chart to enlarge it.



Below is my chart for the Body By Science "Big Five".  It shows the exercises I am doing, along with the weight, reps and TUL, which stands for Time Under Load.




This is my chart for treadmill HIIT, which shows that I am now up to 7.3 mph during the running portion.  I am going to keep pushing that up by 0.1 mph each time to see how fast I can go.  I will stop increasing the speed when I go flying off the treadmill!




This is my chart for walking:



There are three weeks remaining for this new challenge.  If I achieve my goal of 130 pounds with 25% body fat, I'm not sure where I will go from there.


This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading, and don't forget to check out my closed Facebook group, where a growing group of individuals are using my Fasting Protocol to lose weight, lower blood glucose and raise insulin sensitivity.



Friday, July 8, 2016

THE 2016 CHALLENGE - WEEK 27 RESULTS


Today is the end of Week 27.

In the past week I have:
Gained 0.6 pounds
Lost 0" around my neck
Gained 5/8" around my waist
Gained 1/8" around my hips
Body fat from 30.8% to 31.7%
Lean mass from 69.2% to 68.3%
Feasted 5 days and fasted 2 days
Lifted weights 0 times
Did treadmill HIIT 0 times
Walked 1 mile 2 times




Since January 1, 2016, I have:

Lost 18.2 pounds
Lost 5/8" around my neck
Lost  3 1/2" around my waist
Lost 3 1/8" around my hips
Body fat from 39% to 31.7%
Lean mass from 61% to 68.3%
Feasted 121 days and fasted 68 days
Lifted weights 11 times
Did treadmill HIIT 15 times
Walked 3 miles 8 times
Walked 1 mile 2 times


THE RULES OF THIS CHALLENGE

Each day, I lower my goal weight by 0.2 pounds until I reach my goal of 130 pounds.

I weigh in each morning on the bathroom scale.  If my weight is at or below my goal for the day, I feast.  For me, that means a ketogenic diet - high fat, moderate protein and very low carb.  If my weight is above my goal for the day, I fast.  For me, that means that all I will have that day is water, coffee, or tea, all without caloric sweeteners or fat.  

I'm posting every week to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.


HOW IT WENT THIS PAST WEEK

I had something really weird happen this past week.  First of all, I had company staying at my house for four days, making it difficult to fast.  So I didn't while they were here.  After the first day, I gained 2.2 pounds.  grrr.  The next day, I gained 1.4 pounds.  GRRR.  And the day after that, I gained a whopping 4.6 pounds!  This happened from eating what appeared to be a low carb meal at a restaurant, but it must have been filled with hidden sugars and LOTS of sodium.  Within one hour of leaving the restaurant, my ankles were swollen, and by the next morning, my face, hands and belly had joined the bloat party.  Obviously, this was all water, not fat, and certainly not muscle!

So I gained 8.2 pounds of water weight in three days.  The last day of my company's visit, I fasted for the first half of the day, ate a sensible dinner (and was able to turn down the ice cream that everyone was having!), and then I fasted two days in a row.  In those three days, I lost exactly 8.2 pounds.  Phew!

This morning, I am 0.6 pounds above my goal, so I'm fasting again, but I feel totally back on track.


MY CHARTS

I made a few charts to track my progress.  On the first two charts, the grey line is my long term goal. The blue line is my actual weight.  The red line is my 7-day average.   I am showing two charts so I can see my progress since the beginning of the year, and also to get a close-up from the time I started again after my husband's heart attack in May 2016.

The third chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after. Click on any chart to enlarge it.



Below is my chart for the Body By Science "Big Five".  It shows the exercises I am doing, along with the weight, reps and TUL, which stands for Time Under Load.


This is my chart for treadmill HIIT, which shows that I am now up to 7.2 mph during the running portion.  I am going to keep pushing that up by 0.1 mph each time to see how fast I can go.  I will stop increasing the speed when I go flying off the treadmill!


This is my chart for walking:



There are four weeks remaining for this new challenge.  If I achieve my goal of 130 pounds with 25% body fat, I'm not sure where I will go from there.


This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading, and don't forget to check out my closed Facebook group, where a growing group of individuals are using my Fasting Protocol to lose weight, lower blood glucose and raise insulin sensitivity.


Thursday, July 7, 2016

MY LOW CARB ROAD IS NOW ON FACEBOOK

A few days ago, I started a closed Facebook group to give support to individuals who want to try the fasting protocol that I designed back in January 2016.

This blog will continue as always, but you can also find me on a daily basis on Facebook.


Friday, July 1, 2016

THE 2016 CHALLENGE - WEEK 26 RESULTS


Today is the end of Week 26.

In the past week I have:
Lost 4.4 pounds
Lost 0" around my neck
Lost 3/4" around my waist
Lost 3/8" around my hips
Body fat from 32.2% to 30.8%
Lean mass from 67.8% to 69.2%
Feasted 4 days and fasted 3 days
Lifted weights 1 time
Did treadmill HIIT 1 time
Walked 3 miles 2 times




Since January 1, 2016, I have:

Lost 18.8 pounds
Lost 5/8" around my neck
Lost  4 1/8" around my waist
Lost 3 3/4" around my hips
Body fat from 39% to 30.8%
Lean mass from 61% to 69.2%
Feasted 117 days and fasted 66 days
Lifted weights 11 times
Did treadmill HIIT 15 times
Walked 3 miles 8 times


THE RULES OF THIS CHALLENGE

Each day, I lower my goal weight by 0.2 pounds until I reach my goal of 130 pounds.

I weigh in each morning on the bathroom scale.  If my weight is at or below my goal for the day, I feast.  For me, that means a ketogenic diet - high fat, moderate protein and very low carb.  If my weight is above my goal for the day, I fast.  For me, that means that all I will have that day is water, coffee, or tea, all without caloric sweeteners or fat.  

I'm posting every week to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.


HOW IT WENT THIS PAST WEEK

In the past three days, my weight has stayed stable even though I have been feasting.  Today is three feasts in a row!  I keep waiting for the customary bounce up, but it hasn't happened yet.  It would be great if this trend continued!


MY CHARTS

I made a few charts to track my progress.  On the first two charts, the grey line is my long term goal. The blue line is my actual weight.  The red line is my 7-day average.   I am showing two charts so I can see my progress since the beginning of the year, and also to get a close-up from the time I started again after my husband's heart attack in May 2016.

The third chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after. Click on any chart to enlarge it.



Below is my chart for the Body By Science "Big Five".  It shows the exercises I am doing, along with the weight, reps and TUL, which stands for Time Under Load.


This is my chart for treadmill HIIT, which shows that I am now up to 7.2 mph during the running portion.  I am going to keep pushing that up by 0.1 mph each time to see how fast I can go.  I will stop increasing the speed when I go flying off the treadmill!


This is my chart for walking:



There are five weeks remaining for this new challenge.  If I achieve my goal of 130 pounds with 25% body fat, I'm not sure where I will go from there.


This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

Friday, June 24, 2016

THE 2016 CHALLENGE - WEEK 25 RESULTS


 Today is the end of Week 25.

In the past week I have:
Gained 3 pounds
Gained 0" around my neck
Gained 3/8" around my waist
Gained 1/2" around my hips
Body fat from 31.4% to 32.2%
Lean mass from 68.6% to 67.8%
Feasted 6 days and fasted 1 day
Lifted weights 1 time
Did treadmill HIIT 1 time
Walked 3 miles 0 times


Since January 1, 2016, I have:

Lost 14.4 pounds

Lost 5/8" around my neck
Lost  3 3/8" around my waist
Lost 2 7/8" around my hips
Body fat from 39% to 32.2%
Lean mass from 61% to 67.8%
Feasted 112 days and fasted 63 days
Lifted weights 10 times
Did treadmill HIIT 14 times
Walked 3 miles 6 times

TRYING TO GET BACK TO NORMAL AND BACK ON TRACK

As you know by my last post, things have been really weird, what with my husband having a heart attack and all.  I have not been blogging, but I have been trying to get back on track by doing some longer fasts.  The fasting was pretty easy and the weight loss was great, but as soon as I started eating again, I would just gain it all back.  Here is what happened when I tried the longer fasting:

Fasted 4 days - Lost 7 pounds
Feasted 4 days - Gained back 6.8 pounds
Fasted 3 days - Lost 7.4 pounds
Feasted 5 days - Gained back 6 pounds
Fasted 1 day - Lost 2.2 pounds
Feasted 2 days - Gained back 3.4 pounds

That's a lot of big bouncing around, and I'm not happy with the results.  I started out the above at 138 pounds, and ended up, after a lot of deprivation, at 139.6 pounds.  I'm thinking my body does not respond to the longer fasts, and so I have decided to reset my goals once again and do what worked for me before, which is trying to lose an average of 0.2 pounds per day, and feasting on the days I meet my goal and fasting on the days I don't.  I estimate that it will take me till around August 4, 2016, to reach my new goal of 130 pounds with 25% body fat.

I made a few charts to track my progress.  On the first two charts, the grey line is my long term goal. The blue line is my actual weight.  The red line is my 7-day average.   I am showing two charts so I can see my progress since the beginning of the year, and also to get a close-up from the time I started again after Bill's heart attack.

The third chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after. Click on any chart to enlarge it.



Below is my chart for the Body By Science "Big Five".  It shows the exercises I am doing, along with the weight, reps and TUL, which stands for Time Under Load.


This is my chart for treadmill HIIT, which shows that I am now up to 7.1 mph during the running time.  I am going to keep pushing that up by 0.1 mph each time to see how fast I can go.  I will stop increasing the speed when I go flying off the treadmill!


This is my chart for walking:



There are six weeks remaining for this new challenge.  If I achieve my goal of 130 pounds with 25% body fat, I'm not sure where I will go from there.


This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.

Monday, June 6, 2016

AS SERIOUS AS A HEART ATTACK!

I wanted to put up this post in case anyone was wondering how things are going with my "kinder, gentler" challenge.

I am taking a break right now from weighing, measuring and tracking because on May 15, 2016, my dear husband, Bill, had a heart attack.  We had no warning, and did not even know that he was at risk.  Plus, he has been eating a healthy low carb, optimal protein, healthy fat diet for over seven years.  What the heck?

I want to write out the sequence of events, and I am hoping that this blog post might prevent someone else from going through what we went through.  So let me start at the beginning:

In September 2015, Bill had sudden onset vomiting and chest and abdomen pain.  We rushed to the ER, where he had an EKG and was told that his heart was fine.  The doc in the ER said it was probably just a stomach bug or food poisoning.  We understood that the normal EKG meant that his heart was healthy.  It was not, but no one at the ER told us that a normal EKG does not equate to a normal heart.

Four weeks later, in October 2015, it happened again.  Another ER visit, another EKG, and another clean bill of heart health.  This time, the ER doc suggested that Bill see a gastroenterologist.  Bill decided not to.  The ER doc did not mention seeing a cardiologist, even though Bill presented with chest pain and vomiting.

It happened again four weeks later in November, then four weeks later in December, then four weeks later in January.  Three more ER visits, three more normal EKGs, three more docs telling us to see a doc for the stomach, but no mention of seeing a doc for the heart.  In January, Bill finally decided to see a specialist, and after a few tests, was told he had GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease).  He was given a pill to take and he started taking them.

Bill had slowly been gaining a little weight, even though his diet had not changed, and when he gained even more after starting the GERD medicine, he decided to stop taking it.  He had not had a stomach issue for several weeks.  He stopped taking the pills, and had another vomiting episode on May 10.  We called his GI doc, and he said to just start taking the pills again and everything would be fine.

On May 14, he fell ill and told me that he was tired and felt like he had been hit by a truck.  No chest pains, but just all over muscle aches.  In the evening, he had a headache and all his bottom teeth hurt.  I decided that if he was still not feeling well after the weekend, I would take him to the doctor.

On May 15, I went to lift weights at the gym, but Bill decided to stay home.  He said he felt better, but was very tired.  At 3 pm, he started having chest pains and difficulty breathing.  HE DID NOT FEEL THE NEED TO TELL ME THIS!  He thought he was having some sort of muscle spasm.  He spent the night sitting up in a chair, unable to lie down.

On May 16, as I was headed out the door at 4:30 am, Bill stopped me and told me he was having chest and back pain and trouble breathing.  We immediately got in the car to take the 10 minute drive to the hospital.  Neither of us thought it was a heart attack, or I would have called 911.  We told them in the ER that he was having chest pains, and after an EKG, things got pretty dramatic.

Within a few minutes, we were told that Bill was having a heart attack and needed immediate surgery.  He never clutched his chest and passed out.  It did not seem like a heart attack.  But standing in an ER room and listening to "Code Blue, Room 9!" over the PA system is something I never want to live through again.  Watching several medical persons run into my husband's room and start working on him was so frightening!  For the second time in my life, I felt like I was part of a TV show, the first time being when my daughter was in the ER after her fatal car accident in 1997. After an angioplasty and two stents, he was taken to the ICU, where he spent three days.  We found out that he had three blocked arteries in his heart.  One was completely blocked and that's where the two stents were placed.  Another one was 85% blocked, but the doctor said we would wait seven to ten days to put in a stent there, because putting in a stent can sometimes cause a heart attack, and the doctor did not want him to have two heart attacks so close together.  The other artery was only around 30% blocked, so no need for treatment on that one.

The cardiologist told me that if I had gone to work that morning and left Bill at home, he would have been dead in an hour or so.  He said that Bill did not have a "close call".  He had "THE call".

On May 17, Bill had an echocardiogram done to see what damage was done to his heart during the 18 hours that he was having a heart attack but did not seek treatment.  We were surprised to learn that there was no damage to the heart.

On May 18 we left the hospital and went home.  Bill was told to do a lot of nothing, to lift nothing, and to take a three to four month leave from work at the golf course.

On May 20, we were back in the ER because Bill was still having trouble breathing.  When we came into the ER, the same doctor was there.  He told us that Bill no doubt had congestive heart failure, and that his heart enzymes during the attack were the highest he had seen.  But the cardiologist said he did not have congestive heart failure, because there was no damage to the heart.  He did decide, however, to go ahead and do the surgery to insert the other stent, as long as we were there.  The surgery went well, and Bill was released from the hospital again the next day.

On May 23, I took Bill in to see the cardiologist in his office because he still could not breathe.  He was examined by the nurse practitioner, who told him that because his heart had suffered no damage, it must be lung disease brought on by fifty years of smoking (he quit ten years ago), and Bill was referred to a pulmonary specialist.  We made the appointment, but could not be seen for a couple of weeks.

On May 25, we were back at the ER because Bill could not breathe and was having head, neck and shoulder pain and was going back and forth between chills and hot flashes with extreme sweating.  The ER doctor told us that Bill had congestive heart failure.  Tests showed fluid around his heart and fluid around and in his lungs.  After he was admitted, the cardiologist ordered another echocardiogram, and this time it showed that there was damage to the heart.  So now the cardiologist concurs with the ER doc and Bill has been formally diagnosed with congestive heart failure.

Bill was put on a pretty high dose of a diuretic, and started losing water weight right away.  He was checked out by the stomach doc and the lung doc and got a clean bill of health from both, so it's all about the heart at this point.

On May 27, Bill was released from the hospital and sent home again.  He has a followup appointment today with the cardiologist, and next week he starts cardiac rehab.  In the ten days following his release from the hospital, he lost over 13 pounds of fluid.  His breathing is normal.  He sleep apnea is gone.  His energy level is good, but he does get tired a little bit after walking around.  He is not working, but we do take short walks around the block and such.  His mood is much improved and he is back to his normal, cheerful self.

But, enough about Bill!  I'm sure you are wondering how I am doing.

During the twelve days that we were going in and out of the hospital, I was stress eating and not sleeping.  I stayed with Bill at the hospital, sleeping on a futon next to his bed, and ate three meals per day in the hospital cafeteria.  The food was surprisingly good, with lots of low carb options.  I did eat a few high carb things, like I had a cookie twice during that time, and I had fruit and yogurt.  I was no nervous that I felt the emotional need to eat every couple of hours, and I gained several pounds during that time.

Needless to say, my plan for getting down to 130 pounds flew out the window when Bill's heart attacked him.  It has been three weeks since then, and I am now ready, emotionally and physically, to start taking care of myself again.  I fasted two days ago, and I am fasting again today, and may fast tomorrow as well.  This morning, I weighed 140 pounds.  I'm going to try to get on the fast track to getting rid of the weight I gained since May 15 and go on from there to my goal.  I took a break from the gym to take care of Bill, but I have started back again and have been lifting weights and making progress.


THE BIG QUESTION:  WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?

According to everything I know to be true, Bill should not have heart disease.  He has been eating low carb for over seven years.  He quit smoking over ten years ago.  He is active.  What has happened does not seem right, and I need to get to the bottom of it, and also find out if I am at equal risk.

From what I have learned, the cause of heart disease is not high cholesterol, but systemic inflammation, as these articles explain.  All of Bill's inflammation markers are high.  Maybe mine are, too.  I don't know.  And if he, and possibly me, too, have serious inflammation, what is causing it?  Is it the feedlot beef that is high in Omega-6?  Has a sensitivity to eggs been developing?  Is too much dairy causing inflammation?  I have no idea, but I intend to find out and stop this thing in its tracks so that Bill can recover, live long, and prosper.

In the third week of July, Bill and I are traveling to see Dr. Jeffry Gerber in Denver.  I have been following him for a while, and his understanding of heart disease is on the cutting edge of current research.  Bill will be tested and evaluated, and so will I.  If you would like to get an idea of Dr. Gerber's views on the subject, check out this great youtube video.

When we left the hospital, we were given a set of instructions that included the recommendation to eat 7-10 servings of grains per day, along with starchy vegetables, very low fat, virtually no animal products contained saturated fat, and low salt.  Basically, they want Bill to become a vegan.  This will happen over my dead body.  I know too much to ever let that happen.

And, all the doctors we saw told Bill that he needs to go on a statin drug.  Statins cause so many side effect, including damage to the heart muscle, damage to other muscles and memory loss.  Statins are bad, and Bill refuses to take one.  I have heard Dr. Gerber say that he does prescribe statins, but not very often, so we are hoping that Bill will not have to take them.  I trust Dr. Gerber, and if even he says that Bill should be on a statin, we will have to seriously consider it.

We will be depending heavily on Dr. Gerber to bring us through this mystery and out the other side.

I'm not sure when I will post again.  I will give an update when I can, and I will definitely let my readers know the results of our testing with Dr. Gerber.

Thanks for reading!



Friday, May 13, 2016

THE KINDER, GENTLER CHALLENGE - WEEK 19 RESULTS

                               Today is the end of Week 19.  In the past week, I have:

Rebecca in size 6 jeans on May 13, 2016
Lost 0.4 pounds on the scale
Gained 1 pound of body fat (est.)
Lost 1.4 pounds of lean mass (est.)
Gained 1/8" around my neck
Gained 5/8" around my waist
Gained 1/8" around my hips
Body fat from 30.3% to 31.1% (est.)
Lean mass from 69.7% to 68.9% (est.)
Feasted 6 days and fasted 1 day
Lifted weights 1 time
Did treadmill HIIT 1 time
Walked 3 miles 1 time

Since January 1, 2016, I have:

Lost 18.6 pounds on the scale
Lost 18.0 pounds of body fat (est.)
Lost 0.6 pounds of lean mass (est.)
Lost 1/2" around my neck
Lost  3 5/8" around my waist
Lost 3 3/8" around my hips
Body fat from 39% to 31.1% (est.)
Lean mass from 61% to 68.9% (est.)
Feasted 82 days and fasted 52 days
Lifted weights 5 times
Did treadmill HIIT 9 times
Walked 3 miles 5 times

Size 6 jeans, come to Mama!  Five and a half months ago, I was wearing a very tight size 12, and now I am wearing a properly fitting size 6.  It feels great!

I made a few charts to track my progress.  On the first chart, the grey line is my long term goal. The blue line is my actual weight.  The red line is my 7-day average. The second chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after. Click on any chart to enlarge it.


I have to admit that I broke my rules a few times this past week.  On Mothers Day, I was over my goal weight for the day, but I ate anyway because it was a holiday.  On Monday and Tuesday, I was over my goal weight for those days, but I was having a hard time mentally getting back in the swing of things.  I was back on track fasting on Wednesday, and have been following my rules since.

I did gain a little bit in inches, but I am not concerned.  Weight and inches naturally fluctuate up and down.  Improvements in body composition are never linear.  I'm looking forward to a good week!


Below is my chart for the Body By Science "Big Five".  It shows the exercises I am doing, along with the weight, reps and TUL, which stands for Time Under Load.


This is my chart for treadmill HIIT, which shows that I am now up to 6.6 mph during the running time.  I am going to keep pushing that up by 0.1 mph each time to see how fast I can go.  I will stop increasing the speed when I go flying off the treadmill! 


This is my chart for walking:



There are seven weeks remaining for this kindler, gentler challenge.  If I achieve my goal of 130 pounds with 25% body fat, I'm not sure where I will go from there.


This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.

Friday, May 6, 2016

THE KINDER, GENTLER CHALLENGE - WEEK 18 RESULTS

Today is the end of Week 18.  In the past week, I have:

Lost 0.8 pounds on the scale
Lost 1 pound of body fat (est.)
Gained 0.2 pounds of lean mass (est.)
Lost 1/8" around my neck
Lost 1/4" around my waist
Lost 1/4" around my hips
Body fat from 30.8% to 30.3% (est.)
Lean mass from 69.2% to 69.7% (est.)
Feasted 3 days and fasted 4 days
Lifted weights 1 time
Did treadmill HIIT 2 times



Since January 1, 2016, I have:

Lost 18.2 pounds on the scale
Lost 18.9 pounds of body fat (est.)
Gained 0.7 pounds of lean mass (est.)
Lost 5/8" around my neck
Lost  4 1/4" around my waist
Lost 3 1/2" around my hips
Body fat from 39% to 30.3% (est.)
Lean mass from 61% to 69.7% (est.)
Feasted 76 days and fasted 51 days
Lifted weights 4 times
Did treadmill HIIT 8 times

I made a few charts to track my progress.  On the first chart, the grey line is my long term goal. The blue line is my actual weight.  The red line is my 7-day average. The second chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after. Click on any chart to enlarge it.




Below is my chart for the Body By Science "Big Five".  It shows the exercises I am doing, along with the weight, reps and TUL, which stands for Time Under Load.


This is my chart for treadmill HIIT:




This is my chart for walking, which I did not do any of this week, for various reasons:



There are eight weeks remaining for this kindler, gentler challenge.  If I achieve my goal of 130 pounds with 25% body fat, I'm not sure where I will go from there.


This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.

Friday, April 29, 2016

THE KINDER, GENTLER CHALLENGE - WEEK 17 RESULTS

Today is the end of Week 17.

It hasn't been quite a week yet since I started my kinder, gentler challenge, but I need to catch up so that my charts line up with a week ending on a Thursday.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have taken a month off and am now engaged in my next challenge, which is to reach a weight goal of 130 pounds and a body fat goal of 25%.

I'm not sure I am going to be able to accomplish this, but I am giving it my best effort!



 Here are my rules:

Rule #1. I will lower my weight goal by 0.12 pounds per day, which comes out to less than a pound per week.  Each morning, I will weigh on my bathroom scale, and if I do not exceed my goal for the day, I will feast.  If I exceed my goal for the day, I will fast until the next morning.  This time, I will not be using my fasting blood glucose as a rule.  As long as I eat right, my blood glucose is stable, so I am only going to check my BG occasionally.

Rule #2.  Stay active, as outlined below.

I will have two ways of eating, and they will look like this:

FEASTING

Eating ketogenic diet, which means high fat, moderate protein and very low carb.  What does that mean for me?

First of all, I have come to agree with those that believe it is a mistake to eat high fat when there is already excess fat on your body.  In my case, High Fat Low Carb means that I will be "eating" high fat from my body and low carb from my plate.  Dr. Stephen Phinney explains this concept quite nicely in this video, where he shows the following graphic:

 
As you can see, even in the first phase, when a person has excess body fat, it is still a high fat diet, with 25% of the needed daily fat coming from what you eat, and an additional 50% coming from your own body.  This body fat needs to be taken into account when determining if a diet is "high fat" or "low fat."  According to what you are eating alone, it appears to be low fat, when, in actuality, it is still a high fat diet.  As body fat is "eaten", the percentages change until all of the fat needed is being eaten off the plate because there is no more excess body fat to "eat."

So, for the time being, I am eating the majority of my needed daily fat from my own body fat stores.  Research has shown that the body needs at least 30g of fat per day to supply the body's needs, for brain activity, vitamin absorption and gallbladder function, to name a few.  I will be attempting to keep my fat intake between 68g and around 80g.

For protein, I will be following the advice of Jonathan Bailor, who I mentioned here, to keep nutrient-dense protein at 1 gram per pound of body weight.  For me, that would mean around 136g of protein per day for my current weight, and 125g of protein when I get down to my goal weight of 125 pounds.  Pretty simple, huh?  This also is in line with the recommendations of the Optimal Ketogenic Living Facebook Group (also mentioned in that same blog post) that is between 91g and 136g for a woman my height.

Carbs will probably always be very low, because I find that I can manage my blood glucose quite easily when I stay low carb.  Jonathan Bailor says to eat 10 servings of vegetables per day, but I'm not sure if that would be a good idea for me, so I will probably stick with the OKL recommendation of 23g of net carbs per day, which is total carbs minus fiber.  If I am eating that all in green vegetables, that is still quite a lot of vegetables, so I think I'm doing good in that department.

I am still sort of tracking my food.  I am getting used to how many grams of protein, fat and carbs I need to make a nice meal, so I am doing the math until I have a better handle on it.

FASTING

On the days that I don't meet my weight goal, I will be fasting.  Although some fasting gurus say that a fast is only water, others say that incorporating very low caloric liquids is okay.  I have decided that fasting for me will include water, coffee, tea and broth, all without added caloric sweeteners or fat.  I do allow myself to have a few drops of liquid Stevia extract in my coffee and tea.  It does not affect my BG, and I like it.  And you can't stop me.  I did it this way in the first three months of this year, and I suffered no ill effects.

My weight loss goal is now at a slower pace (about 50% slower), which should translate into more feasting and less fasting.  In this past few days, I ate two days in a row, which was not that frequent as time went on in the last challenge.  Since starting this, I have not fasted more than one day in a row, although that could certainly start to change again as I get closer and closer to my new goal.

I made a few charts to track my progress.  On the first chart, the grey line is my long term goal. The blue line is my actual weight.  The red line is my 7-day average. The second chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after. Click on any chart to enlarge it.



As for Rule #2,  part of this challenge is that I have also made some commitments to build muscle and increase insulin sensitivity.  I have committed to one day per week of heavy, slow motion weight lifting, using Body By Science as my guide.  I have committed to HIIT twice per week on the treadmill at the gym.  I have committed to taking 3-mile walks as often as I can, maybe twice or three times per week.  The weight lifting should take care of the "gaining muscle" portion of my new challenge, and the HIIT and walking should continue to help with my insulin sensitivity.  Notice that I am not trying to "burn calories" with my exercise.  I'm done with that nonsense.  It's not a problem of too many calories that need to be "burned off".  It is a problem with hormonal imbalance that keeps body fat trapped and unable to be used for energy.  The solution for that is to balance hormones, not to eat less and move more!

Below is my chart for The Big Five.  It shows the exercises I am doing, along with the weight, reps and TUL, which stands for Time Under Load.  The system is to lift weight very slowly up and down, and to attempt to exceed one minute and thirty seconds on each exercise.  Each time that goal is reached, you increase the weight by at least another 5% for the next session.  As you can see, I did not exceed 1:30 this past week, so there was no increase in weight.  One of the great things about lifting this way is that the whole thing takes about 15 minutes and you only do one set on each machine.  No more being in the gym for hours and doing multiple sets on each of twenty different machines!  In and out fast, with the same or better results.  My kind of workout!




Twice per week, once on the same day as weight lifting, and once a half week later, I do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on the treadmill at the gym.  I begin by walking at 1.5 mph with 0 incline for about 2.5 minutes, then ramp up to a run for 30 seconds at over 6 mph (I keep increasing it each time) with an incline of 3.  After the run, I go back to the walk for 2.5 minutes, then back to the run for 30 seconds.  I do three of these intervals, ending with a walk, then a 5 minute cool down.  I am on the treadmill for a total of 17 minutes, including the cool down.


The last activity I am doing is walking, at a leisurely pace, around my neighborhood or other beautiful places, or, if it is yucky outside, I will get on the treadmill at the gym.  I would like to do this at least twice per week.  I found a cool app for my phone that tracks my route, along with miles per hour and total distance.  When I walk, I aim for around three miles in one hour.  Here is what a normal walk looks like, and below that is my walking log:


 



There are nine weeks remaining for this kindler, gentler challenge.  If I achieve my goal, I'm not sure where I will go from there.  Technically, my doctor wants me to weight 122 pounds with around 22% body fat.  At my age, I'm not sure that is possible, or even desirable.  It's fun to think about, but not if it means I have to live a life of deprivation.  I will be more than happy to reach my current goal.  Heck, if I stay where I am now, it will be a big health improvement from where I started, which, in case you forget, was here


This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!