Week 15 Summary (& America's Fried Food)

Day 107, Fast Day #46

I had a really epic feast day between Friday night and Saturday afternoon. I broke my fast at the Bite of Seattle, which is a weekend event at Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is) celebrating local restaurants, standard greasy American county fair-type foods, music, and canine athletic events. My heart is still beating despite the heaps of trans fat that are flowing in my veins.

For all of my readers outside of the USA, the stereotype is true that most Americans will just about eat anything they can deep-fry. Typical deep-fried foods in the American diet include "French" fries (aka frites/chips) or any type of cut, sliced, diced, or shredded potatoes, fried chicken, whole fried-turkey, fried shrimp, chimichangas (deep-fried burritos), Americanized Chinese food entrees (sweet and sour pork, General Tso's chicken, orange chicken, etc.), corn dogs (battered and deep-fried hot dogs on sticks), jalapeno poppers, egg rolls, fried dough covered in sugar (doughnuts, elephant ears, etc.), onion rings, and mozzarella sticks. The repertoire of American fried food creations goes well beyond this. Some venture into eating deep-fried pickles, fried macaroni and cheese, chicken fried steak, fried tofu, fried green beans, fried clams, fried mushrooms, chicken-fried bacon, fried cheese curds, and deep-fried ice cream. 

But the American love of deep-fried junk food goes beyond the normal American diner, Tex-Mex joint, and Chinese American restaurant. Deep frying is basically a culinary art best expressed at our state and county fairs, which are full of carnival rides and games, livestock competitions, and food that can send you into a diabetic coma. Some "fair foods" are deep-fried butter, deep-fried Twinkies, fried Oreos, fried ravioli stuffed with beer, fried batter flavored with soda syrup or Kool-Aid drink mix, deep-fried candy bars and jelly beans, deep-fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and more. You can understand why some of us Yankees are irritated that Mexico has taken our title of the most obese country in the world. India also better not get too comfortable with its #1 rank for the largest population with diabetes either. We are coming for your title! U-S-A!

I myself enjoy eating novelty deep-fried food on occasion (I do not eat like this normally  because I feel like this is an opportunity I may only have in America, where it is easy and legal to obtain calorie dense, nutrient poor, sugar coated balls of fat and more sugar on sticks, which are likely fried in the oil of GMO corn. In the past I have eaten some exotic deep-fried dishes like fried alligator, Rocky Mountain Oysters (calf testicles that are battered and deep-fried), and fried frog legs. Yes, I ate testicles and they taste and have the mouthfeel of fried mushrooms. On Friday, I scratched off deep-fried lasagna and a deep-fried peanut butter cup sandwich from my bucket list of fried foods.

America is the land of freedom to fry and eat whatever you want, expect sassafras oil, unpasteurized cheese that is aged less than 60 days, and haggis. Photo from the Telegraph.

I am glad that alternate day fasting does not interfere with my bucket list of American fried foods (which may cause many in my country to kick the bucket early). I am also glad that I have managed not to gain any weight after my deep-fried calorie extravaganza on Friday. This past week I lost a total of 2 lbs. I think this is likely due to stopping the antibiotics that had me gaining and retaining weight. My total loss is now 23 lbs (10.4 kg) over 15 weeks. This averages to 1.5 lbs lost per week (or 0.7 kg per week). Again, this is not accompanied by changes in exercise or the cessation of any habits or substances.

Calories
Week 1: 1,437 kcal or 76% of baseline calories (-3,213 kcal/week)
Week 2: 1,938 kcal or 102% of baseline calories (+294 kcal/week)
Week 3: 1,680 kcal or 89% of baseline calories (-1,512 kcal/week)
Week 4: 2,196 kcal or 116% of baseline calories (+2,100 kcal/week)
Week 5: 1,829 kcal or 96% of baseline calories (-469 kcal/week)
Week 6: 1,531 kcal or 81% of baseline calories (-2,555 kcal/week)
Week 7: 1,954 kcal or 103% of baseline calories (+406 kcal/week)
Week 8: 1,196 kcal or 63% of baseline calories (-4,900 kcal/week)
Week 9: 1,638 kcal or 86% of baseline calories (-1,806 kcal/week)
Week 10: 1,637 kcal or 86% of baseline calories (-1,813 kcal/week)
Week 11: 1,681 kcal or 89% of baseline calories (-1,505 kcal/week)
Week 12*: 2,108 kcal or 111% of baseline calories (+1,484 kcal/week)
Week 13*: 2,649 kcal or 140% of baseline calories (+5,271 kcal/week)
Week 14: 1,882 kcal or 99% of baseline calories (-98 kcal/week)
Week 15: 1,280 kcal or 68% of baseline calories (-4,312 kcal/week)

While ADFing: 1,776 kcal or 94% of baseline calories
Baseline Days: 1,896 kcal

All Feast Days: 2,830 kcal or 149% of baseline calories
All Fast Days: 450 kcal or 24% of baseline calories

For reference
Week 1: 3 feast days, 4 fast days
Week 2: 4 feast days, 3 fast days
Week 3: 4 feast days, 1 medium day, 1 fast day
Week 4: 4 feast days, 3 fast days
Week 5: 4 feast days, 3 fast days
Week 6: 3 feast days, 4 fast days
Week 7: 4 feast days, 3 fast days,
Week 8: 3 feast days, 4 fast days
Week 9: 4 feast days, 3 fast days
Week 10: 4 feast days, 3 fast days
Week 11: 4 feast days, 3 fast days
Week 12: 5 feast days, 2 fast days*
Week 13: 5 feast days, 2 fast days*
Week 14: 4 feast days, 1 medium day, 2 fast days
Week 15: 4 fast days, 3 feast days
*Includes days during my bachelorette party weekend.

What a difference a 4:3 week makes to my numbers compared to a 3:4 or 5:2 week. In case the deep-fried peanut butter cup sandwich or deep-fried lasagna didn't tip you off, I have also not been successful in keeping wheat products out of my mouth. It is a new day, so I will try once more to not eat wheat.