If you’re wondering why I’ve chosen the full-on fasting route vs portion control to lose weight and stave off cravings, a review of my food log will answer why.

Portion control only works if I stay disciplined throughout the day to stave off cravings. Unfortunately, my day consists of long gaps of inactivity where I am tempted and distracted by food, which sets me up for failure at the end of the day. No matter how hard I work out, I’m "rewarding" myself in the evening with an out-sized dinner meal that destroys my early day efforts to stay on track.

I’ve tried intermittent fasting as well, where I allocated the majority of my portions within a certain window of time to keep down my consumption. But that too only incentivized me to reward my "good behavior" with more food.

Now I’m trying the full-day fast to reprogram my brain of these deprive-reward cycles that lead me to over-indulge. I realize most of the weight-control literature and research suggests that this is the least recommended method of achieving results, due to relapse. However, growing up poor I knew feast or famine food cycles that likely shaped my adult eating behaviors. When it was economical, my family ate abundantly;  when money was tight, we ate sparsely or not at all.

That all changed when we arrived in America, the land of plenty and super-size-me meals. Availability meant we ate anything and everything, and knowing this kind of prosperity, we kept eating just in case, you know, one day the food might run out. (I’m sure guilt played a role in there somewhere–my parents were likely ashamed for being so poor that they made sure we cleaned our plates to make up for all those lean years.)

Well, the food hasn’t run out and as I’ve grown older, my metabolism of course slowed down, but my consumption didn’t. That’s where the insidious weight and fat gain crept in, along with all the afflictions that comes with it: emotional instability, hormonal imbalances, hypertension and pre-diabetes…and oh yeah, I was overweight.

MFP, accountability and busting my ass in fitness activities helped me dropped the weight, but I had problems with adherence. Without a coach keeping tabs on my diet, it was hard to stay on track for long. I tried other methods of curing my sugar-addicted brain by doing Whole30 and Paleo/Primal diets, but eventually, I relaxed my food prohibitions and occasionally indulged, which led to the inexorable climb back up the weight scale. No amount of exercise, macro-balancing and calorie counting helped me attain the recomposition I was looking for. And it certainly wasn’t killing the cravings.

So I’ve arrived at full day fasts to help me meet my calorie budget for the week. I can’t say that it’s curing my cravings; it might be worsening my deprive-reward behavior. However I can count on the scale and my clothes fitting that I’m achieving the desired results. 

So in a sense I’m increasing the duration of my IF windows to span days, not hours, to control portion sizes and at the same time jump-start my metabolism into fat loss mode.

I hope to continue this experiment every 2 weeks to see how it goes and will report back on my progress. 

Day 6 started out good, got out of bed around 8:30a and readied to work on the garden. I spent 9a to 1p weeding in high 80s-low 90s weather. Took a break, grabbed coffee, then returned to finish the job between 3 and 6p. With the extra caffeine later in the day, I stayed up later than intended gaming with the family (about 1am). I was tired from the day’s labors, but I was alert and had to force myself to bed.

Of course this good feeling reversed itself early Sunday morning when my doxie started crying and would not let up. Between 4a-5a I keep getting up and letting her out and she just would not shut up. My man, fed up with whining let them out once and then let them stay uncrated. Of course that was the just needed freedom for my dog to share her diarrhea with the fam.

As soon as I got out of bed I stepped in it and instantly I was awake, irritated, and disgusted. Nothing like a sick furkid to start your day off wrong. Poor dog was miserable until she cleared out her system and had breakfast, then we were back to sleep until nearly noon. At which point, I just too weary and decided to break fast.

On our way to garden shop, we stopped for coffee and an Indian buffet, and I surprised myself by only having one plate of food. I was actually very happy with my meal of curry cauliflower, fried fish, goat curry, biryani, and spicy braised jalapeno pepper dish. In retrospect, Indian food is probably a good way to break fast due to the seasonings and spices used which will help keep digestive issues at a minimum. 

During mid-afternoon, we indulged in some ice cream–and yeah, corn ice cream is da bomb! I had a big scoop in a dipped nutty cone, and it was the best possible way to break fast. We then picked up some groceries at Trader Joes, before stopping to pick up some Thai food on the way home. At this point, my body jettisoned lunch, and I had more space to stuff food in.

Worst. Thai Food. Ever. And yet, I still ate the entire paltry portion of beef broccoli that I ordered, despite that it was awful. I think I ate because I was sooo tired and sore that I needed a distraction from my achiness. But I think the weekend’s exertions and lack of sleep finally caught up to me because I hit the sack early.

Weight on Saturday was 141. Glucose at 75. And my bp was 124/90, well within normal tolerances. 

Day 5 started out wretchedly as I awoke to a stomach ache and I felt like I hadn’t gotten any sleep at all. Kitties pouncing on my tummy all morning prolly did not help things. I was stooped over in pain and having to take deep breaths just  to get ready for work. I sat down constantly just to put a little pressure on my gut.

As I headed out for work, I succumbed to Starbucks and got a Venti Skinny Mocha with coconut milk. As soon as I started drinking it on the drive, I started feeling enormously better. By the time I got to the office, I felt almost normal.

Almost. My stomach started talking for the rest of the day, rumbling and gurgling noisily. The upshot of all this is my cravings were lessened considerably–prolly because I was self-conscious of my chatty colon (and the coffee worked to suppress my appetite). I had fleeting pangs of cravings throughout the day, and while I was still planning what bingefest I’d be breaking my fast with, I was a little less enrapt with the notion.

Despite the tummy talking, I felt more energized for the rest of the afternoon. I suspect the caffeine had a more potent effect on me now that I’ve "detoxed". I hate that word btw…our bodies (as long as we’re relatively healthy) have its own mechanisms for detoxifying. The modern usage of "detox" has come to refer to new age rituals, cleanses, purges, and all sorts of strange concoctions and services that people undergo to rid themselves of perceived poisons.

it would be better to say that my body was functioning in a more natural, pure octane state, since I haven’t consumed anything to promote inflammation, suppress my metabolic function and otherwise have an adverse effect on my body. Despite that I felt a little fatigued all day, my outlook was positive, full of energy. I had plenty of Yelping done and I wasn’t bothered by the barrage of dining suggestions and food porn on the site.

TMI: Well I was surprised to have a movement today, given that I had thought my system emptied on Day 2. 

My weight training turned out pretty good. I did squats, bench presses and rear delt rows and wasn’t wiped out afterwards. I even had the TV on watching Food Network, and while I was captivated by some of the recipe ideas, I didn’t feel like rushing out to buy a ton of food and snarf it all down in one sitting. I was certainly hungry, but I wasn’t craving in a way that took over my thought processes and steered me into a collision course with an large thin crust pizza spinach chicken alfredo with extra garlic, anchovies and 2 dozen wings on the side. Even writing about it remotely triggered some cravings, but not as urgent as it used to be.

After playing with kitties, getting in a game of Diablo 3, I realized I still had plenty of energy at 12 midnight. A complete 180 from when I woke in the morning. But knowing there could be dire consequences the next day I hustled myself into bed at 1a. I planned on weeding the garden on Saturday. 

My ending weight was 143 lbs. My blood pressure started within normal range in the morning, about 100/70. After arriving home from work, it was in the 140/70 range. I’d like to see more improvement with my bp. 

I suspect it is the reCAPTCHA plugin that’s breaking the MFP blog. Or that there is an initial limit to how big an entry I can enter before trying to add a new post.

Day 4 seemed to progress the same way Day 3 went. I was a little fatigued throughout the day, but I was mobile without too much effort. I did take 2 acetaminophen earlier in the day, so I was pain-free throughout.

That escalation meeting I was dreading during first half of my day turned out okay, with most of my frustration targeting the project manager of my account. For the most part I was happy that none of the blame fell on me, but I ultimately I’m glad I didn’t experience any anxiety or emotional rollercoasting.

Cravings still came and went during the normal times. I made it worse by looking at Yelp, and planning a bingefest post-fast. Which is not the proper thing to do, given my stomach will be thoroughly empty once I break the fast. One of the activities I wanted to do which happens on Day 7 is attend a showing of Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka at a dine-in theater. I’m still debating whether I’d like to break my fast early and see the movie. BTW: Dine-in theaters are big in Texas, and that’s the only way I watch new movies now.

I had a chance to funnel some creative energy at the oil change station while waiting for my truck to get worked on. I was sketching some wall decor/catification ideas in a sketchpad that I brought with me. Focusing on this endeavor, I was able to forget about my cravings for about 15-20 minutes. But the close proximity of restaurants brought them back in full force once I was on the drive home again. 

When I got home from work, I skipped the workout due to my weariness. I hit the game and found that I was doing okay with reflexes and alertness. I did get frustrated when I died on a few occasions, but I was playing on higher difficulty levels and pushing progression. However I hit my limit about an hour and half, especially when a little nausea crept in at the end. I suspect sitting down for so long and the onset of bedtime was telling me sleep was in my immediate future. Looking at my step counter, I only logged slightly over 1k steps in total for the day; in others very low activity.

My ending weight was 144.4lbs. I still didn’t get a chance to check my BP, but if the fasting literature is correct, it will be back to normal and I can stop taking my meds. 

Really frustrated that MFP blogging is broken…it takes several attempts to post an entry.

Day 3 started much easier than Day 2. I had taken some acetaminophen in the early morning, but the heaviness and achy feeling was sufficiently reduced to allow me a little more clarity in thinking.

Cravings started about the usual time, between 12p and 9p, though less intense as I tried to steer clear of triggers, such as smells, imagery, and blogging about food.

Work provided occasional distractions to keep my mind off food, and with an escalation meeting looming on Thursday, I focused on keeping emotionally balanced. One of my worries about fasting is staying in touch with my moods and remaining stable.

Another thing that has occupied my thoughts are creative endeavors related to home improvement. While I haven’t applied pen to paper enough, I’ve been mulling ideas about little craft projects around the house.

Energy-wise, I do feel that I am still dragging slightly, though when I take a short walk, I get a short boost of stimulation. I did head out to my fave clothing store and bought a few pieces to buoy my spirits.

For my Wednesday workout, I completed a 5×5 squat-bench-deadlift routine, though the 145#s deadlifts really sapped my energy. I had attempted to do straight leg deadlifts at 155#s but found it too much, so I scaled back. I am thinking of adding some yoga or bodyweight routines to Thursday’s program just to help with the fat burn.

One thing I should be checking is blood pressure, as I am still taking the meds during the day.

I am also taking supplementation during the evening, though literature about supplementing during fasting suggests that taking them is more potent with meals.

I did experience a brief bout of nausea post workout when I sat on the couch, playing with the kitties. But I got up and walked around a bit, and the nausea passed. 

I did not do any gaming, so I didn’t get a chance to assess my reflexes.

Got to bed a little earlier.

I ended day 3 at 146.4 lbs. Not as exciting a difference between Days 1 & 2, but it’s still a downward trend, so I’m satisfied.