Thursday:
I turned 50 a couple of weeks ago. Chronological age doesn't really bother me, I like to think of it as an achievement, going up levels. +2 Wisdom, -2 Dexterity. Tim and the kids took the day off and we went to a lovely "High Tea" in North Sydney with gorgeous views of the harbour. It was lunch for us, rather than afternoon tea, with plenty of food; they gave us (each) eleven different dainty foods - a tiny quiche, macaron, cheesecake, arancini ball, little sandwiches, scones with jam and cream etc. And pots of tea, of course. We chose the kids' version for Jasmine and Aiden even though they are teenagers - more sugar, less 'fancy'. None of us got through everything!
Afterwards we went for a short walk down (then back up) a very steep path, not far because the day before I had slipped on our steep mossy driveway, hurting my hip and jarring my hand and shoulder, and I was still a bit sore; also the view was heavily obscured by thick foliage and everything was a bit damp. That night I felt a sudden stinging burning pain in my neck, and investigation revealed a tick! I've never had one before. I assume it got into my hair on the walk. Tim got it out with no lasting ill effects, but I still have a small lump there two weeks later. Maybe the universe didn't want me to get past 49.
Obviously no big party, we just had some family over on Sunday for dinner and board games.
Yesterday I had my colonoscopy. I'd noticed some bleeding months ago, but Covid-19 delayed hospital stuff for non-urgent cases until now. Luckily I got the all-clear straight away, no cancer, although they want to check again in a year. It wasn't the most fun I've ever had - I was unconscious for the actual procedure but you have to fast for a couple of days beforehand; liquids only for 24 hours then nothing for about 6 hours, and you have to drink a weird liquid that prompts your body to eliminate everything in a hurry. It made me feel both nauseated and bloated so I certainly didn't feel any of the magical purity some people get with fasting. And I was headachy because I don't like tea without milk and had some caffeine withdrawal. Oh well, it was an important test to have and well worth doing.
I haven't heard from work yet about term 3. We had almost got back to normal here but are starting to have a second wave of Covid so everything is still uncertain. It is the second week of the winter school holidays now, kids back to school next week. Tim took a week off but we didn't go anywhere or do anything much. Weather is cold and mostly bleak.
Showing posts with label fast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fast. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Over the bridge
Sunday:
I got myself out for a walk this morning. I walked up the street to this pedestrian bridge I'd noticed, it looks a bit like the Sydney Harbour Bridge in miniature.
Up and over.
The shady path on the other side.
Through to the park where we went for Christmas carols.
Then home through twisty little back streets. It took 45 minutes in all, partly because I couldn't get through where I thought I would be able to. I walked slowly, but was still a bit tired by the time I got home. Body-tired, rather than sleepy. The best thing about it was getting it done. For all the rest of the day, I knew that my exercise for the day was already completed.
Home for breakfast of chicken, cucumber and tomato, grapes, and tea.
The extra food yesterday didn't do my weight loss any harm, nice drop in the scales. I should relax my intake more often! Actually that is a possibility to consider as a valid part of the plan. Some people protest against "cheat days" or "cheat meals" because if you are eating properly then it's a sustainable lifestyle and if you want to "cheat" then your diet isn't properly sustainable. I hate the word cheat for that reason, even if the diet includes "cheat meals" it makes it sound like you are doing something wrong. A planned indulgence is different, and I do think a healthy relationship with food can include them. They are part of the sustainable lifestyle, not outside it. Problem is, once you ease up the tension on the reins the appetite can bolt.
The Mediterranean plan I am following is based on a book by Michael Mosley, and is designed as an 8 week strict period to stabilise blood sugar levels. He has also written a book on intermittent fasting called the 5:2 diet or the Fast diet where you eat "normally" - healthy food but more calories - for 5 days and "fast" - only around 500 calories - on two days a week. Just like interval training in exercise (where you exercise really hard for short periods interspersed with recovery periods), this on/off method is supposed to have greater health benefits than steady diet or exercise. Dr Mosley suggests moving on to the 5:2 diet after the 8 week plan for continued weight loss at a slower rate as well as all the health benefits of intermittent fasting. I'm thinking about it - but 500 calories is so low! I suppose it's better than a total fast. It would be nice to be able to eat more on the other days and still lose weight. He still doesn't promote indulgence meals, the extra food from the Mediterranean Diet of low carb, lots of vegetables, moderate protein and fat, almost no processed food. Why isn't there a cake diet?
Some friends of mine went on an extremely strict diet for a while, I'm not sure exactly what the rules were other than being super low carb, but it had one indulgence day a week when you could eat anything you wanted. It was supposed to shake up their metabolism so they didn't go into starvation mode (or something like that). They lost a lot of weight, the first time I'd ever seen my friend quite slender, so restricted eating 90% of the time then binging every Sunday did work, but the husband fainted once (or was it twice?) at work and hit his head on the wall and had to go to hospital. So that sounds a bit extreme to me.
Lunch was two bowls of tomato soup (saving a few calories for afternoon tea).
Then I made time for my meditation Headspace, which I haven't been doing every day.
We had some visitors for afternoon tea, I offered a mix of healthy and unhealthy and had a bit of each myself. A few grapes, one biscuit (cookie), one mini chocolate.
Then family over for dinner, roast leg of lamb and mixed tomatoes (pictured) plus roast potato, pumpkin, carrot, zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower.
Ice cream and raspberries for dessert. I served myself a half-size portion but then my sister-in-law asked if she could have that one. Instead of dividing up one I'd already dished out, or just eating half, I ate a whole portion. If I had no ice cream at all, I would have been good for the day. So I ended up a bit over.
I got myself out for a walk this morning. I walked up the street to this pedestrian bridge I'd noticed, it looks a bit like the Sydney Harbour Bridge in miniature.
Home for breakfast of chicken, cucumber and tomato, grapes, and tea.
The extra food yesterday didn't do my weight loss any harm, nice drop in the scales. I should relax my intake more often! Actually that is a possibility to consider as a valid part of the plan. Some people protest against "cheat days" or "cheat meals" because if you are eating properly then it's a sustainable lifestyle and if you want to "cheat" then your diet isn't properly sustainable. I hate the word cheat for that reason, even if the diet includes "cheat meals" it makes it sound like you are doing something wrong. A planned indulgence is different, and I do think a healthy relationship with food can include them. They are part of the sustainable lifestyle, not outside it. Problem is, once you ease up the tension on the reins the appetite can bolt.
The Mediterranean plan I am following is based on a book by Michael Mosley, and is designed as an 8 week strict period to stabilise blood sugar levels. He has also written a book on intermittent fasting called the 5:2 diet or the Fast diet where you eat "normally" - healthy food but more calories - for 5 days and "fast" - only around 500 calories - on two days a week. Just like interval training in exercise (where you exercise really hard for short periods interspersed with recovery periods), this on/off method is supposed to have greater health benefits than steady diet or exercise. Dr Mosley suggests moving on to the 5:2 diet after the 8 week plan for continued weight loss at a slower rate as well as all the health benefits of intermittent fasting. I'm thinking about it - but 500 calories is so low! I suppose it's better than a total fast. It would be nice to be able to eat more on the other days and still lose weight. He still doesn't promote indulgence meals, the extra food from the Mediterranean Diet of low carb, lots of vegetables, moderate protein and fat, almost no processed food. Why isn't there a cake diet?
Some friends of mine went on an extremely strict diet for a while, I'm not sure exactly what the rules were other than being super low carb, but it had one indulgence day a week when you could eat anything you wanted. It was supposed to shake up their metabolism so they didn't go into starvation mode (or something like that). They lost a lot of weight, the first time I'd ever seen my friend quite slender, so restricted eating 90% of the time then binging every Sunday did work, but the husband fainted once (or was it twice?) at work and hit his head on the wall and had to go to hospital. So that sounds a bit extreme to me.
Lunch was two bowls of tomato soup (saving a few calories for afternoon tea).
Then I made time for my meditation Headspace, which I haven't been doing every day.
We had some visitors for afternoon tea, I offered a mix of healthy and unhealthy and had a bit of each myself. A few grapes, one biscuit (cookie), one mini chocolate.
Then family over for dinner, roast leg of lamb and mixed tomatoes (pictured) plus roast potato, pumpkin, carrot, zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower.
Ice cream and raspberries for dessert. I served myself a half-size portion but then my sister-in-law asked if she could have that one. Instead of dividing up one I'd already dished out, or just eating half, I ate a whole portion. If I had no ice cream at all, I would have been good for the day. So I ended up a bit over.
Overall a pretty good day. And feeling much more optimistic.
Friday, October 24, 2014
Longest fast ever
Saturday:
Still plodding along, having good days and bad days with my eating and exercise.
My sleep all week has been horrible. It is really wearing me down. The last two nights I have tried really hard to keep my CPAP on, which means lying awake (drifting briefly into sleep then waking again) for nearly four hours before giving up each time. But even without the CPAP I've found it hard to get to sleep, and of course I wake frequently and don't have restful sleep without it.
One of my problems with the CPAP is that it has warmed up here, and having plastic stuck to my face and warm humid air blowing up my nose makes my face sweat and itch. It is really unpleasant. I've turned down the humidity twice and the temperature once over the past week, I'm turning down the temp again today so we'll see how tonight goes. I can't turn the humidity down too far or I get sore dry nose and throat.
The heat has only been the last couple of days so I don't know why I've been sleeping so badly all week. Unless it is the hay fever medication? I did switch to this better antihistamine nine days ago. Supposed to be non-drowsy but the chemist said it wouldn't stop me sleeping. Don't tell me I have to choose between bad days and bad nights.
No exercise for the past couple of days. No energy.
I've often wondered if obese people would survive a fast longer than a thin person, it makes sense that they would; that is why our bodies store fat, right? I looked it up and one guy in 1965 who weighed 207 kg (455 pounds) fasted for a year and 17 days and lost more than half his bodyweight. He told hospital staff that he was going to do it anyway so they might as well monitor him. They gave him electrolytes and yeast. I'm not sure why yeast doesn't count as food in this example, it does have calories - mainly protein but some fat and carbs. I think they gave it to him for the potassium.
Fasting can be dangerous for reasons other than starvation, heart attacks and impacted bowels for example. But it can be done, this guy basically lived off his body fat for a year. The human body is a fascinating thing.
Still plodding along, having good days and bad days with my eating and exercise.
My sleep all week has been horrible. It is really wearing me down. The last two nights I have tried really hard to keep my CPAP on, which means lying awake (drifting briefly into sleep then waking again) for nearly four hours before giving up each time. But even without the CPAP I've found it hard to get to sleep, and of course I wake frequently and don't have restful sleep without it.
One of my problems with the CPAP is that it has warmed up here, and having plastic stuck to my face and warm humid air blowing up my nose makes my face sweat and itch. It is really unpleasant. I've turned down the humidity twice and the temperature once over the past week, I'm turning down the temp again today so we'll see how tonight goes. I can't turn the humidity down too far or I get sore dry nose and throat.
The heat has only been the last couple of days so I don't know why I've been sleeping so badly all week. Unless it is the hay fever medication? I did switch to this better antihistamine nine days ago. Supposed to be non-drowsy but the chemist said it wouldn't stop me sleeping. Don't tell me I have to choose between bad days and bad nights.
No exercise for the past couple of days. No energy.
I've often wondered if obese people would survive a fast longer than a thin person, it makes sense that they would; that is why our bodies store fat, right? I looked it up and one guy in 1965 who weighed 207 kg (455 pounds) fasted for a year and 17 days and lost more than half his bodyweight. He told hospital staff that he was going to do it anyway so they might as well monitor him. They gave him electrolytes and yeast. I'm not sure why yeast doesn't count as food in this example, it does have calories - mainly protein but some fat and carbs. I think they gave it to him for the potassium.
Fasting can be dangerous for reasons other than starvation, heart attacks and impacted bowels for example. But it can be done, this guy basically lived off his body fat for a year. The human body is a fascinating thing.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Fast or slow?
Saturday:
The general received wisdom is that it is better to lose weight slowly, that you are more likely to keep it off. I saw Michelle Bridges (trainer from Australia's Biggest Loser) talking about this in relation to the extremely rapid weight loss on that show, and she argued that EVERYONE struggles to keep weight off, whether they lost it quickly or slowly, and that people who lose slowly don't have a better record of keeping it off. In fact, losing weight quickly can be very motivating. (Although I suppose that doesn't make any difference once you get to maintenance.)
I was thinking about that this morning so I found Gretchen Rubin's post today about habits very apposite. She says:
Sometimes, counter-intuitively, it’s easier to make a major change than a minor change. When a habit is changing very gradually, we may lose interest, give way under stress, or dismiss the change as insignificant. A big transformation creates excitement and energy and a sense of progress, and that helps to create a habit.
Anyone want to weigh in (pun intended) on this issue? Fast or slow?
Of course there are other factors to consider when it comes to losing weight fast or slow. Skin elasticity. Getting enough nutrients in a low calorie diet. Not injuring yourself exercising excessively. Taking up so much time and energy it interferes too much with the rest of your daily life.
I've mentioned carb cycling a couple of times over the past two weeks, but I haven't managed to get it going yet. Being sick has had a lot to do with that - I find simple carbs (like toast) are all I want to eat when my stomach is upset. (My weight is down to 81.7 kg today from 82.5 kg last Monday, which is nice, although I didn't enjoy the process!) My husband likes scrambled eggs when he is sick, which I don't understand at all. Yuck. When I am sick, eggs are the last things I want to smell. Stomach-turning.
So anyway, I've done a lot more reading about carb cycling (mainly from the website of Chris Powell "Choose to Lose") and I'm giving it another go starting tomorrow. I'm not starting today because I haven't been shopping yet, we're going out to dinner tonight before Jasmine's big dance concert, and Saturday is going to be my "free" day anyway. But I'm not waiting until Monday, first day of spring, either! Sunday will do just fine, and fits in with how I want the low carb/high carb cycle to run. And don't worry, I'm not doing a last hurrah binge today either.
I plan to copy Sean Anderson and take photos of all my food to keep me accountable. I'll talk a lot more about carb cycling as we go along, I imagine, but the basic premise is you have some low carb days (starchy carbs/fruit only at breakfast) and some high carb days (starchy carbs/fruit with every meal) so that you get the benefits of a low carb diet without the problems. There are different ways to alternate the days in different amounts. You also eat lots of non-starchy vegetables, and it's low fat especially on the high carb days. In the past I have found I lose weight when eating low carb, but couldn't handle the misery and crankiness - and wasn't much fun for my family either! I'm hoping this method will work for me without messing with my emotional health, if not obviously I'll stop it. You also get one free day, Saturday for me, or else three free meals throughout the week if you prefer, so you still get to eat whatever you like sometimes. Without going overboard, of course, if you want to lose weight!
I'm in that lovely excited state just before starting a new diet. Yay for honeymoon periods! As long as it lasts past the first morning.
To relate this back to the start of this post, I don't really intend to do carb cycling for the rest of my life. Unless I love it and it makes me feel great; there are modifications for maintenance, I think. I've downloaded Chris Powell's iPhone app which has a 12 week transformation challenge, and that is my current plan and goal. I want some fairly quick results to keep me motivated. If/when I get to my goal weight, I'll worry about how to vary my diet for maintenance then.
I will also be exercising, of course. Six days a week (Saturday off), walking and dance.
If you're wondering about where my professed love of cognitive therapy went, well I still plan to use that. Cognitive therapy isn't a diet, it helps keep you on your diet. I feel it did help me stick to my last one a lot longer than my usual record. So I'll be reading my flash cards again, reminding myself of all the reasons I want to lose weight.
The biggest reason? To get rid of my CPAP. Sleep without it by Christmas.
The general received wisdom is that it is better to lose weight slowly, that you are more likely to keep it off. I saw Michelle Bridges (trainer from Australia's Biggest Loser) talking about this in relation to the extremely rapid weight loss on that show, and she argued that EVERYONE struggles to keep weight off, whether they lost it quickly or slowly, and that people who lose slowly don't have a better record of keeping it off. In fact, losing weight quickly can be very motivating. (Although I suppose that doesn't make any difference once you get to maintenance.)
I was thinking about that this morning so I found Gretchen Rubin's post today about habits very apposite. She says:
Sometimes, counter-intuitively, it’s easier to make a major change than a minor change. When a habit is changing very gradually, we may lose interest, give way under stress, or dismiss the change as insignificant. A big transformation creates excitement and energy and a sense of progress, and that helps to create a habit.
Anyone want to weigh in (pun intended) on this issue? Fast or slow?
Of course there are other factors to consider when it comes to losing weight fast or slow. Skin elasticity. Getting enough nutrients in a low calorie diet. Not injuring yourself exercising excessively. Taking up so much time and energy it interferes too much with the rest of your daily life.
I've mentioned carb cycling a couple of times over the past two weeks, but I haven't managed to get it going yet. Being sick has had a lot to do with that - I find simple carbs (like toast) are all I want to eat when my stomach is upset. (My weight is down to 81.7 kg today from 82.5 kg last Monday, which is nice, although I didn't enjoy the process!) My husband likes scrambled eggs when he is sick, which I don't understand at all. Yuck. When I am sick, eggs are the last things I want to smell. Stomach-turning.
So anyway, I've done a lot more reading about carb cycling (mainly from the website of Chris Powell "Choose to Lose") and I'm giving it another go starting tomorrow. I'm not starting today because I haven't been shopping yet, we're going out to dinner tonight before Jasmine's big dance concert, and Saturday is going to be my "free" day anyway. But I'm not waiting until Monday, first day of spring, either! Sunday will do just fine, and fits in with how I want the low carb/high carb cycle to run. And don't worry, I'm not doing a last hurrah binge today either.
I plan to copy Sean Anderson and take photos of all my food to keep me accountable. I'll talk a lot more about carb cycling as we go along, I imagine, but the basic premise is you have some low carb days (starchy carbs/fruit only at breakfast) and some high carb days (starchy carbs/fruit with every meal) so that you get the benefits of a low carb diet without the problems. There are different ways to alternate the days in different amounts. You also eat lots of non-starchy vegetables, and it's low fat especially on the high carb days. In the past I have found I lose weight when eating low carb, but couldn't handle the misery and crankiness - and wasn't much fun for my family either! I'm hoping this method will work for me without messing with my emotional health, if not obviously I'll stop it. You also get one free day, Saturday for me, or else three free meals throughout the week if you prefer, so you still get to eat whatever you like sometimes. Without going overboard, of course, if you want to lose weight!
I'm in that lovely excited state just before starting a new diet. Yay for honeymoon periods! As long as it lasts past the first morning.
To relate this back to the start of this post, I don't really intend to do carb cycling for the rest of my life. Unless I love it and it makes me feel great; there are modifications for maintenance, I think. I've downloaded Chris Powell's iPhone app which has a 12 week transformation challenge, and that is my current plan and goal. I want some fairly quick results to keep me motivated. If/when I get to my goal weight, I'll worry about how to vary my diet for maintenance then.
I will also be exercising, of course. Six days a week (Saturday off), walking and dance.
If you're wondering about where my professed love of cognitive therapy went, well I still plan to use that. Cognitive therapy isn't a diet, it helps keep you on your diet. I feel it did help me stick to my last one a lot longer than my usual record. So I'll be reading my flash cards again, reminding myself of all the reasons I want to lose weight.
The biggest reason? To get rid of my CPAP. Sleep without it by Christmas.
Friday, July 25, 2014
TGIF
Friday:
Woke exhausted again, not sure why, and was still sitting down to breakfast when the kids had to leave for school so they went without me. Thor wasn't too happy about that. But when I was ready I took him for a good long walk and tracked it with Runkeeper. I was curious about how fast we were going, I knew it was faster than was comfortable for me. In fact today I had a cramp in my left shin nearly the whole time. And it turns out we were going about 5.5 km/ph (3.7 mi/ph). I don't know about you, but for me that is practically jogging! I would have said 5 km/ph was about as fast as I could walk, pushing myself, so it's amazing what a body can do when dragged along by a small dog. And that speed incorporates all the stops before crossing roads, and for Thor to say hello to people, and for me to try to stretch out my sore shin, so it was actually faster in places.
I was pretty tired after half an hour of that. I felt like I'd been in a race.
After lunch I went out and did various shopping errands. My mum gave me some money for my birthday that I haven't spent yet, I bought a book today but not sure what else I will get. I bought lots of healthy groceries. I did have a look at a small tub, individual portion size, of chocolate ice-cream. My husband and son don't like chocolate so usually we get other flavours, and I don't care much for ice-cream anyway compared to other things (especially in winter), but today I just felt like it. I was a bit surprised that such a small tub was 265 calories. Then I realised that it was 265 calories per serving, and that according to the manufacturer that little one-scoop tub had nearly two servings in it! So over 500 calories. Definitely not worth it.
I was out for two hours, and by the time I got home I was dead on my feet. I sat with Thor on my lap and watched some TV but I couldn't let myself go to sleep because we had to walk up to meet the kids at school in about 15 minutes. It was a real struggle to keep my eyes open and my head upright. Thor snoozes with abandon in perfect trust, on his back with all legs splayed out.
So another quick walk then I could sit down and collapse. Until I had to cook dinner. But yay for Friday! No commitments this weekend, except the kids swimming lesson tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to relaxing and family time and virtual farming. I work from home with no official time constraints so I have to be careful not to just do nothing all day, but weekends I turn off the "should be working" soundtrack.
Have a great weekend!
Woke exhausted again, not sure why, and was still sitting down to breakfast when the kids had to leave for school so they went without me. Thor wasn't too happy about that. But when I was ready I took him for a good long walk and tracked it with Runkeeper. I was curious about how fast we were going, I knew it was faster than was comfortable for me. In fact today I had a cramp in my left shin nearly the whole time. And it turns out we were going about 5.5 km/ph (3.7 mi/ph). I don't know about you, but for me that is practically jogging! I would have said 5 km/ph was about as fast as I could walk, pushing myself, so it's amazing what a body can do when dragged along by a small dog. And that speed incorporates all the stops before crossing roads, and for Thor to say hello to people, and for me to try to stretch out my sore shin, so it was actually faster in places.
I was pretty tired after half an hour of that. I felt like I'd been in a race.
After lunch I went out and did various shopping errands. My mum gave me some money for my birthday that I haven't spent yet, I bought a book today but not sure what else I will get. I bought lots of healthy groceries. I did have a look at a small tub, individual portion size, of chocolate ice-cream. My husband and son don't like chocolate so usually we get other flavours, and I don't care much for ice-cream anyway compared to other things (especially in winter), but today I just felt like it. I was a bit surprised that such a small tub was 265 calories. Then I realised that it was 265 calories per serving, and that according to the manufacturer that little one-scoop tub had nearly two servings in it! So over 500 calories. Definitely not worth it.
I was out for two hours, and by the time I got home I was dead on my feet. I sat with Thor on my lap and watched some TV but I couldn't let myself go to sleep because we had to walk up to meet the kids at school in about 15 minutes. It was a real struggle to keep my eyes open and my head upright. Thor snoozes with abandon in perfect trust, on his back with all legs splayed out.
So another quick walk then I could sit down and collapse. Until I had to cook dinner. But yay for Friday! No commitments this weekend, except the kids swimming lesson tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to relaxing and family time and virtual farming. I work from home with no official time constraints so I have to be careful not to just do nothing all day, but weekends I turn off the "should be working" soundtrack.
Have a great weekend!
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