And the busy-ness goes on! All the visits we've paid, and the visits paid us.... All the new restaurants we've tried.... All the coming and going and stress with our backyard makeover.... ALL THE DIETARY CHEATING I'VE DONE ... and i haven't gained! As the man said in "High Spirits": there IS a god!
Yes, i've been pretty "bad" this spring and summer. I ate things i usually eschew. I even took in more grains than i usually allow myself (before, about one serving per month), protected by the hint i got from Dr. Kharrazian to double-down on my glutathione supplement* and also the generous daily portion of gelatin/collagen i take religiously.
One thing i do "right" consistently, though, is minimize meal numbers and eliminate snacking. That boils down to drinking black coffee for breakfast, having one good-sized meal, and having another usually smaller. Therefore, i end up with one long fast, and another 6-8 hour one, every single day. It's been working.
Yesterday i put on a pair of jeans for the first time in quite awhile -- i've been almost living in shorts all summer. And since i'm not a fan of shopping, these were shorts i've had several seasons, a size larger than my jeans (which are also a couple of years old). To my absolute delight, they didn't require sucking-in to get fastened. No muffin-top action going on, either. :-) There HAVE been times in my life when i've had to lie on my back over the bed to get jeans zipped ... but not now. Them size sixes jus' FLOWED on.
It has to be the fasting. And it shows that even such a metabolic train-wreck as i CAN reprogram my body to pretty effortlessly switch fuels like a normal person. Indulge myself, have nothing but coffee and water for 18 hours, and go back to normal....
Don't misunderstand: I didn't eat the FOUR HUNDRED grams of carb that some people advocate, but there were days when i certainly ate over ONE hundred. And if i did it every day, the results wouldn't be pretty -- i'd definitely be retraining my body to operate off glucose to the detriment of my fat-burning ability. I also think it would be dangerous to try, for a person prone to diabetes.
I'm absolutely the LAST person who would claim that "if i can do it, anyone can." I reject that notion utterly! But the power of fasting as a metabolic and hormonal regulator seems to have an almost-magical effect on fat storage, as Dr. Fung has been insisting for quite awhile now.
_________
* It DOES seem to help protect the gut, but i'd be surprised if it would work if i hadn't already healed.
I'm having the same effect...a long fast evening to morning....lunch is normal and not only feeling better but losing inches. We'll see how this turns out. ;)
ReplyDeleteIndeed! :-) My experiences seem to confirm that historic eating-patterns as well as food-stuffs were significant to previous generations' tendency to stay lean. People just didn't sit at a desk and nibble all day, then go home to the sofa and nibble some more. Many bloggers have lovely charts showing that obesity started taking off here when O6 oils or HFCS became more prominent, but I seem to recall that was ALSO around the time when people were starting to be told that 5 or 6 "mini-meals" would keep their energy up better.
DeleteI am afraid to sound repetitive, but I want to share one extra time the experience of my naturally lean lady-friend, who reversed a middle-age-middle-section spread with IF alone. She ate two times a day anything she wanted at 11 am and 4:30 pm, drinking green tea in-between.She followed an advice of her husband-biochemist who never heard about Atkins, but thought such regiment would cause her body to be a low-insulin state more than 50% of the day. She started to do it almost 15 years ago, way before I discovered for myself LCarbing. I couldn't follow her example then because I couldn't fast.
Deletei can't eat ANYTHING i want, but i can be a little more generous with some things, like rice. :-) On the cruise, Jackie Eberstein (Atkins' nurse-assistant) said, as time goes on, even she has to continue dropping total carb in her diet; i don't believe she was ever anything but slim.
DeleteFor a person eating everything, just changing to IF is a big improvement. I do think my friend would benefit from eating less bread and sugar, but it is harder for a naturally lean person to get convinced. it is why I try to say as often as possible that measuring after meal BS from time to time should be done for all members of population, not only diabetics. My friend doesn't have much energy, suffer from anxiety and catches flues too easily and it takes her a lot to recover. In a way we are in a more favorable position - the diet which is needed for preserving a better body shape is what provides a better mental health, less allergies and a better resistance to all sorts of infections. May be it is Jan's luck to be forced to eat Eddie's diet (which is very tasty and nutritious) - it is quite likely it is preventing the development of Alzheimer which her family members suffered from.
DeleteI have no doubt that Eddie's diet will be a godsend for the whole family!
DeleteI haven't exactly been fasting, but eating a lot less, and not my normal food. I am moving to Indiana and it's been stressful. Happy, but stressful.
ReplyDeleteJob change? Well, whatever the reason, I hope the "stressful" evaporates quickly and the "happy" keeps going strong! :-) I hear Indiana can be beautiful....
DeleteMostly, I'm taking advantage of the difference in the price of real estate between here and there.
DeleteYes, Indiana is lush and green and beautiful, whereas the prairie of "colorful Colorado" is dry and brown nine months out of the year. The part of Denver I see on my hour-long commute is full of pot shops, used car dealers, and buildings whose owners are either too hip or too cheap to care about maintenance. Houses in a twee, high-end neighborhoods start around half a million bucks. I'm buying a cute 1930s bungalow in Indianapolis, close to downtown and all the amenities, for a fraction of that. Besides, my best friend is there.
YEA! :-) Yes, really -- you have to get INTO the mountains for the green-and-gorgeous aspect of Colorado (and of Utah, too) to really kick in. Salt Lake City's view of the mountains is also very brown until snow flies.
DeleteExactly--people in Denver sometimes GO TO the mountains as the city is not IN the mountains, but on the prairie. Western Colorado is mostly mesa, a fancy name for "desert." If you don't care for any of it, it's a plane ride or a two-day car trip to go somewhere that's any different.
DeleteLori ... hi
DeleteJust 'butting in' to wish you all the best with your move.
Hope all goes well
Jan
:-) it's not butting in -- you're joining friends for a nice conversation!
DeleteThanks, Jan! I'm really looking forward to moving, even though some people think I'm nuts to leave wonderful Colorado for boring Indiana. That's fine--I'm happy to let someone else take my place here.
DeleteWow, moving is exiting, but not easy, as I noticed. I wish you a happy re-settling. It is nice to live in the area which is not pricey, also less expensive place is usually less densely populated for obvious reason, which is conductive to a less stressful life.
DeleteI went to Colorado couple times for skiing and found mountains very beautiful, but the flat area where Denver was left an impression on me to be slightly on a depressing side. I guess it is typical for arid places.
I wish I was living close to mountains.
The Denver metro area is now at close to 3 million people. It takes me an hour to get home from work--and it's only a seven-mile trip. I could get home sooner if I were willing to pay almost $200 a month to park in the building where I work. If I want to get away, it's now a 2.5-hour drive to get to the airport through morning traffic, or else a one- to two-hour drive each way to get away from it all. A nice thing about Indianapolis is how quick and easy it is to get around even in "rush hour traffic." And I am looking forward to going canoeing (around town! no hour-long drive!), strolling through wooded parks (close to home!) and trying snow-shoeing.
DeleteThe Denver life in your description sounded like a very stressful one.Small everyday annoyances indeed may chew away a lot from life enjoyment. I live now close to nature, there is even small preserve in my backyard, ocean is 10 minutes drive away, even in a rush hour cars are not jammed on roads. I wish it wouldn't be so many hot months in a year.
DeleteThat sounds nice.
DeleteWhat gets me is how people prattle on about the quality of life in Denver. Maybe it's great for people who have SAD or like to ski. And it is pretty safe here. But with the traffic, inadequate public transit system (the light rail and buses are often standing room only and the lots get completely full), $1000 a month for a studio apartment, and roasting summers that are too hot to enjoy anything outdoors, I just don't see it. But if you're just into hiking, biking or running, can't you do that anywhere?
I grew up in a city with 8 million population, but the underground public transportation in Moscow provided an opportunity to move fast from place to place. It is not issues-free, but in rush hours trains arrive every minute. In many parks in Moscow one cab country-ski, I also miss Moscow theaters and endless variety of events in my close to nature current location.
DeleteIt sounds like an interesting place and I envy people who can hop on a bus or train every few minutes. It's every 30 minutes here, and I'm in a pretty central area.
DeleteThere's a wonderful park near my house, but parking around it is so bad I don't bother to try. (I picked up my car from a garage near the park last night, and between crossing an interstate ramp and a busy street on foot, it was tricky getting there.) Culture? The symphony hasn't changed some of their programs in over 20 years and I didn't care to see the museum exhibit of toys from the 60s. And while it's very nice to have a lot of sunny winter days here, it melts the snow and makes cross-country skiing impossible.
Someday, i hope to visit Moscow (and St. Petersburg). :-) I haven't been on the Continent very much, but my experiences in Britain only serve to show that America's public transportation is disgraceful.
DeleteSure, having only minuses of a big city without pluses sucks. Weather-wise, I think having snow on and off is the worst case winter weather scenario - everything is dirty and outside looks like a black/white photo. In a russian language it is called a rotten winter.
DeleteSt,Petersburg is beautiful and architecturally way more coherent than eclectic Moscow, and I can't judge fairly my beloved city. It is very crowded, but pedestrian friendly and compact. The price for a good public transportation and walkability - tiny apartments, high population dencity and very little elbow space and diminished privacy - Americans wouldn't agree to suffer it easily.
DeleteLori, I'm a Hoosier native now living in SoCal. I long for the green and the cheap housing and good commutes. But I also had allergies and no ocean beach. I think you'll enjoy downtown Indy. I worked there the first 7 years of my career in the late 80's and early 90's. Excited you can make the change and be near friends.
DeleteCongratulations. Do you think it's from eating less in that window or do you feel it's better fat burning from the hours of non-eating. I really did well on 20/4 but struggled somewhat with morning feelings of deprivation (missing my copious cups creamy coffee). You've given me the motivation to try again. Thanks
ReplyDeleteI don't really think i'm eating less, but I haven't been taking the time to keep a food log. I've really been eating what calls my name -- for example, yesterday evening we decided to go to a new tavern we found which has an "oyster happy-hour" and segues into dinnertime; I had a dozen oysters on-the-halfshell, and then got braised lamb-shank served with lentils. I'm quite fond of lentils, but for a long time avoided them. Besides that, i'd only had a handful of pistachios during the day, and when we got back home after dinner, we had a piece of chocolate. Besides the solids, there were also coffee and wine involved. WHAT a terrific food-day it was! :-) I think of one period, twenty years ago when I was doing low-fat eating, and no matter how many bushels of salad and pounds of pasta I ate, I was always hungry! Thank the gods for Atkins, et al!
DeleteMaybe your ideal pattern of eating starts earlier in the day than you were doing before? Lagakos insists that substantial early eating is beneficial for weight-loss/control, and Stanton documents how a high-fat protein breakfast sets the body's fuel-burning pattern for the rest of the day. Maybe a make-ahead quiche or breakfast-casserole that could provide a hearty start to the day...?
Or maybe you're one of those who would prefer doing alternate-day "fasting" ... which isn't fasting so much as eating very lightly one day and being generous on the next? :-) When I have a REALLY self-indulgent day, my practice is essentially to do that -- I'll usually coffee-fast for 24 hours, then have a moderate meat-and-green-veg-or-mushroom meal, and my body gets back into its usual groove.
Have you experimented with the different styles of fasting? Obviously, not everyone thrives on the same pattern....
Thanks to you Tess I've competed my 6th day of 20/4! I gave myself a 14 day trial..if it doesn't work I know I have tried and it's not for me. I think my problem in the past was not sticking long enough at it. Anyway it does get easier! It's regulates my hunger which is probably the best reward, even if I don't lose weight the freedom from head hunger/habit is worth it.
DeleteOne thing though, after my main meal I am bloated..like 6 months pregnant. It's good in that I can go for rest of the night with no hunger but it's darn uncomfortable. I feel like a beached whale, no energy. I'm sure I'm not eating any more than normal. I have snack at 2pm when I break my fast and then dinner at 5-6. Did you get this bloating and if so, did it get better down the line?
As I noticed, the later the last meal, the more prominent the after-meal dip in energy. However, it may be not practical to have your last meal ended at 4:30. I guess it may be reasonable in your situation to divide your last meal in two parts and eat it with one hour break.
DeleteHi Tess ... always interesting to read views and comments.
ReplyDeleteI do like to start the day with a good breakfast and it usually contains eggs ... keeps the energy levels going well and I don't feel hungry until much later in the day.
We do have to find what suits us, our lifestyle. Some days are busier than others but planning obviously helps and I do think for many a daily journal can help with food choices.
All the best Jan
Oh, yes! Not only journaling, but actually MEASURING for awhile is very enlightening for people -- when our foods are spread out over a plate, it can be kinda tricky to know how much we're eating! After awhile our eyes get "calibrated" and we don't have to measure anymore. That's one of the problems with huge restaurant portions, we get to thinking it's an appropriate serving-size.
DeleteInteresting, how some people are hungry in the morning, and some aren't! Our metabolisms can be so different....
I'm so glad this is working for you. I think IF works for me, but I have to modify the parameters. Eating in an 8 hour window two times a week screwed up my hormonal hunger signals (where was this idea when I was morbidly obese).
ReplyDeleteI typically eat 2-3 emails in a 12 hour window, but I'm now experimenting with my lunch being some coconut butter and coffee. I did this on my trip in St. Louis with great results.
My commute and work schedules lend themselves to the 12 hour window for me. Weekends are sometimes variable. There's got to be some good cellular clean up going on there. I'm a big fan of getting rid of dead cells invitro, too. ( long time flow cytometrist here and apoptosis will really junk up our gates and create a lot of background fluorescence) .
I still fast from time to time. Glad you are sharing what works. Having jeans that fit well. Pure Awesomeness.