Weigh-In & The Role of Meat in Fasting - Intermittent Fast 3

Drum roll please... The results of my first week of Intermittent Fasting are in...

I have lost 0.75 of a pound!

This is the first loss in a while, so I am pleased. While it doesn't seem a lot, if I lost that every week for 52 weeks, I would lose 39 pounds. So I am not 'sniffing' at it. If I lose between 1/2 to 1 pound per week, it would be ideal really as it gives my skin a chance to catch up!

I don't really want to end up like this:

Picture credit: http://www.news.com.au/news/loose-skin-what-you-can-do/story-fnejnnxf-1226479027462

On to the second part of this blog post:

For several years I was a pescetarian - eating only fish and ovo-lacto vegetarian. A while ago I deiced to trial eating some red meat as I was starting to crave it, and I believe in listening to my body. Previously there was no way I could have eaten any meat as the mere thought of it totally turned my stomach, but suddenly I actually wanted to eat it and did not feel grossed out by the texture/taste and thought. I have been trialling eating it for a while now, and generally have probably had meat maybe once or twice a month for the past 3 or 4 months. I am hoping this may have helped my iron and vitamin B12 levels.

Now I am questioning the role of meat in fasting. I am on my third Intermittent Fasting cycle. I found the first two quite challenging because of the dreaded tummy rumblings and hunger pangs (they were actually quite painful!). Now on the first two fasts I had not eaten meat anywhere near them; however, unintentionally I ate some meat yesterday, and I noticed that last night I was not hungry at all while fasting - not one tummy rumble. In addition, today has been less bad than those first two. When I woke up this morning, I was not hungry. I am unsure if this is pure coincidence and nothing to do with meat consumption - as in, I have done two fasts, my stomach is shrinking, and I therefore am getting used to fasting and eating less.

After breaking my 16 hour fast with a cup of tea at 10 a.m., around 11.15 I ate a poached egg on a toasted English muffin. I am not sure if this is also helping me because it's protein rich and eggs are quite sustaining, but I don't even feel much hunger this afternoon. I do not feel all-consumed and like I am counting the minutes down to my 2nd meal at 5 p.m, which I definitely did feel last week!

I am going to see how I do on Friday and report back.

Moving on to something new...

I am moving on...

I am about the same size in terms of measurements as when I last posted. Last week I started overhauling my eating. I am now eating a gradually increasing proportion of raw food (vegetables and fruits). I have always eaten some raw, but now I am aiming for about an average of 50 per cent raw per day. I haven't quite got there... some days I am probably doing that and others not so much.... I will have to start keeping note and tallying up to get a better idea of it. In the long-term, I would be happy with eating 60% raw.

Part of this decision comes from this: I am really conscious that in order to deal with my weight, I need to deal with my WHOLE body - holistically... I have been doing a lot of research into how I can facilitate this and I realised that I need to find a way to improve my overall health. I am leaning towards the Hippocrates 3 week eating plan/Ann Wigmore's diet. The Hippocrates Institute in Florida (and many other similar and cheaper clinics/retreat centres) have amazing results in helping people with diseases (especially cancer). I don't have the money to go to a clinic or the Institute. If I am to have any chance at achieving any results, I need to do it by myself. So I am making strides in that direction.

In other news, I have been somewhat more active, but I am so stiffled and frustrated by the fact that I am so stiff and swollen, in a lot of pain, and have little stamina to do anything whether it be physically or cognitively (even going out of the house is a major event for me).

One thing this journey so far has taught me is that whereas I thought it was all about my weight, it's actually very little about my weight and very much about my whole. That is to say that regardless of whether I weigh what I weigh now or slightly more or slightly less, if I am still this unwell, I am still going to be unhappy. Health is pretty much everything in this world and for so many years I have not had the blessing of healthiness... I am going to try to get it back or as much as I can.

Wish me luck!

Relationship With Food - Feeling The Best I Have In Ages!

The decision to give up on this hyper-focus has probably been one of my better decisions of late. I am in the best place I have been regarding food for an extremely long time.

1. I am enjoying food
2. I am eating what I feel I want
3. I am not feeling bogged down by restrictions 
4. I am not going crazy & eating with abandon

Today I actually logged because I wanted to and I was hovering around the 1,600 mark. My BMR (how many calories I would burn if I just lay in bed all day not moving) is around 1,515-1,555 depending on which calculator is used, so seeing as I am actually moving around, I think this is okay. My maintenance is probably around 1,700-1,800. If I up the exercise, I can get away with more calories for maintenance (and weight loss too) so would probably be maintaining around the 1,900 to 2,100 mark.

Talking about exercise, this is going to be my focus for a bit. I think I shall keep an eye on my calories and try to aim for around 1,600 on my higher days, but I am not going to sweat it and get all tangled up in labels and numbers. I really want to concentrate more of my efforts on getting this body moving. I remember earlier in the year I was really enjoying doing yoga and some TurboJam and ballet workouts and fun stuff like that. I lost my way a bit due to not feeling well and also concentrating so hard on the food aspect of this journey. I really need to figure out more of a balance if I can. So focusing on the exercise part is a good start. I did a walk yesterday with the dog. I did keep my walks up as much as possible, which wasn't all that much at times due to the weather, but I do feel I made an effort, which is more than I can say for other things.

My exercise plan is to get kick-started with something different. I don't fancy doing TurboJam for some reason (mainly all the jumping around) so I think it's time to dig out Leslie Sansone and start Walk Away The Pounds again. Most of Leslie's workouts that I have looked at are PERFECT for people who have joint and muscle problems or who are very overweight/unfit/deconditioned as they are not focused on leaping around so much. They usually have good modifications. In terms of movement they are more of a power-walk than a run. Yet, in the past I have found them incredibly useful for burning calories and increasing my stamina. I do have one that is a bit more intense because it is intervals of strength training mixed with cardio, but the rest seem okay. So I shall start with the 3 mile one and see how I get on.

Given Up - Focusing on my relationship with food

I have been physically quite 'extra' unwell the past few weeks and I am mentally struggling. I have a lot of things I am processing in my mind about my life that have nothing to do with my weight. I need to change so many things and make decisions about situations in my life and I find that all takes guts and time and energy. I am very tired and pretty fed up with the situation as it stands and I don't really know what to do, where I am going or how to get there. As a result, I feel quite depressed.

I am still conscious of my food intake and what I am eating, so I am keeping somewhat of an eye on it. I reckon I am eating about 1,500-1,600 a day on my 'looser' days and 1,250-1,450 on my more controlled days. I have logged on and off over the past month. I haven't lost more weight since I last posted weight loss. Exercise is still challenging due to the not feeling well and I have only managed walks here and there. If anything, I would love to change this aspect - if the weather was nicer and the sun was shining, I could imagine myself getting outside... but it's been flooding here and so grey (am sure this does not help my mindset).

At the moment, I am aiming to either stay the same weight or perhaps lose if I can get a deficit. I am logging on the days when I feel like it and not bothering on the days when I don't. I am not going to waste time and energy on worrying about logging when I could be using that energy to do something else. I am hoping that being kind to myself and being less obsessive about the whole 'diet' and 'exercise' regime will actually allow me to revisit a more structured regime  in a few weeks or a month or two. I don't know when, but I want to get back there.

AIMS -

So my biggest aim is to not gain.
To be able to be comfortable with what I eat and not to be so hung up on everything.
I don't want the emotional state to result in comfort eating or eating without thinking.
I want to deal better with my situation from a food perspective... perhaps to focus on repairing my relationship with food, so it is not the enemy and neither is it the friend - it just is... fuel, that I enjoy, but that I eat because I need it, not because my life is a mess and/or I feel down.

Lesson Learned & 5 Things

What did having a few days off from calorie counting and logging teach me?

It taught me that my one free day off a week is fine - it's too short to make me fall off the wagon and I slide back into calorie counting quite easily. However, a few days is way too long. I can break a habit (the calorie counting/logging) in a few days, whereas in one day, the habit is still there.

I try to view situations, events and occurences in life as happening for a reason; whether that be to enlighten you or help you move forward etc. In this case, while I struggled with the situation of going back to calorie counting and logging and feeling somewhat out of control, I do see that I have learned a lesson. I have learnt that at this point in time, I cannot take more than one, or at a push two, days off. So until I have reached my goal, I plan on not doing that again - it wasn't really my choice to do it in the first place, but if it happens again, I am going to have to figure out a better way to be accountable.

I have also learnt that I need to constantly think of ways to motivate myself...

So, I did 5 things I have learnt about myself since starting this 'diet and exercise change'. Now I must do the 5 things I have learned about myself and my relationship with food (much harder!!) -

1. TTOTM = crazy cravings for sugar. I give in to PMS cravings. I have mentioned this before, but I really need to figure out a way to address this.
2. I am starting to be really hungry for breakfast. I enjoy breakfast now.
3. I can eat less than I think I need and still feel satisfied. My stomach is shrinking. My eyes are bigger than my stomach!
4. I sometimes eat to make other people happy. E.g. eating a slice of cake or an extra 'thing' because someone else thinks I should, when actually I don't want it and/or am not hungry. Or even eating a course at a restaurant so the person does not feel left out!
5. I can still enjoy eating even when I have to stick to a certain amount of calories. This is something I struggle to realise... even now. I need to remind myself of this. Eating 1,200 or 1,400 calories doesn't mean you can't don't enjoy the food you eat. It just means that you have to make better choices about what you eat so that the food is really satisfying and nutritious.

This week I had the challenges as usual:


1. Only 1 weigh-in - CHECK
2. 90 minutes of cardio or walking - NOPE... managed to do 55 cardio, 40 Yoga
3. 2 sessions of weights or strength training exercises of your choice - NOPE... none!
4. 3 blog entries - CHECK
5. List 5 or 10 things you have learnt about yourself and your relationship with food since you started your recent weight loss journey (this can be 1 blog entry) - CHECK

I am getting tired of challenges. Though, to be honest, they do actually work to some extent. If I hadn't had the challenge at the back of my mind, I wouldn't have done the yoga!

Weekly Challenges

My friend set this week's challenges:

1 - One weigh-in this week.
2 - Eat at least 1 serving of fruit per day with some fiber or protein to lower GI.
3 - Get 60 mins of exercise in the week, broken down however you prefer.
4- Take the dog for 2 walks, if the weather allows it. If not, play with her at home.
5 - Write a blog post on why you think you got overweight.

I am not feeling good. I did manage to do #2 today by eating 1 serving of fruit (banana) with multigrain bread (fibre) and peanut butter (protein). The weather is awful, so no walking for me. I am hoping to get in some exercise towards #3 tomorrow; we'll see. As for #5, that will take some thinking!!

Today, I did do one good thing.. I made the dough and sauce for wholewheat pizza. I have put 1 portion of dough and 1 portion of sauce to be frozen, so I can quickly make a pizza another time/day when I don't have time to do it all from scratch. The remaining dough and sauce will be used to make a pizza tomorrow for me and the family. It will be around 12 inches across, so I will have a third of it with some salad. Toppings will be mozzarella and vegetables (probably mushrooms, tomatoes and sweetcorn). Hopefully it will be nice and a little healthier than the usual store-bought pizza we have.

Food Addiction & The Value of Sharing

I met with a lady I see once every so often in a situation where I am her client. I was talking to her about my journey with weight loss, eating, calorie counting and exercising. It was a good chat because this lady was also going through a similar situation and has been on a similar journey. I can really see the value of sharing your thoughts and feelings with other people going through the same thing. It takes away some of the isolation that you can feel when you, in some ways, find yourself excluded from freely eating along with other people (see my Social Food's blog post). It can also help to take away some of the negative feelings that one may have about one's body and fatness.

Anyway...

The conversation turned to food addiction. This is a term and concept I became familiar with a couple of years ago when I started watching the television show: Ruby. The show features the journey of a lady named Ruby Gettinger, who has struggled with obesity (morbid obesity) for many years. You can find more information on Ruby's show here: http://www.mystyle.com/mystyle/shows/ruby/index.jsp. As part of her journey to losing weight and become fit, Rub has been confronting the fact that it is likely she has food addiction as an issue underlying much of her over-eating and consequent weight gain.

The lady I was talking to, was explaining that she felt she now understood 'addiction' (of any form) because she felt that some or much of her weight struggle was related to an addiction to using food incorrectly. By that, I mean that she did not eat and intake food purely for nutrition and energy, but partly due to uncontrolled urges and as a reaction to certain events/thoughts & feelings.

How many of us who struggle with our weight have some form of food addiction? I do wonder... I am exploring whether this is an issue for me.

I think I need to look up more information about food addiction to know what the criteria is for having this issue.

As a result of starting to think about this issue, I have come to the following conclusions:

I think that part of my problem stems from eating food when I don't actually need it... because I didn't really understand how much I truly needed. It's not that I was outright pigging - I have never eaten a whole bar of chocolate or a whole packet of biscuits or multiple bags of crisps/chips etc - but more that as someone whose health issues have included metabolic issues and have also caused great periods of pretty much complete sedentary lifestyle, I was consuming more than my body was burning up.

I also am not very mindful of food intake unless I am actively dieting. By that I mean that, when I am counting calories and hoping to drop some pounds, I am hyper conscious and vigilant about exactly what I am eating and what is going into my body in terms of both nutritional value and portion size. Yet despite changing my way of eating in the past and successfully losing weight and doing exercise, I have stopped and completely abandoned/forgotten the lessons I have learnt and thus find myself back here going through this all again! That realisation mildly depresses me. If I had learnt 1 or 2 times ago, I wouldn't be here again...

The thing I am not sure about is comfort eating. I am pretty certain I have done this on and off for years... I need to think more about it before I write about it... from the people I have talked to, it seems a common issue for those of us struggling to lose weight or to maintain a desired weight. However, I do wonder whether this is a behaviour that people at a lower weight engage in, but perhaps their bodies are naturally a lower weight or they somehow accommodate the comfort eating into their daily intake by lessening the amount of other food they eat during the day? Interesting thoughts!