Week 11 Summary

Day 80, Fast Day #37

I had another triple feast this weekend on account of a retirement party, dining out, and drinking with the future in-laws. Today was a needed fast day after my weekend bender of Mexican food, cured meats, and beer. About 1/3 of my calories on Saturday were from alcohol alone.  That is pretty gross. Alcohol is clearly one of the main reasons I gained so much weight over the last few years.

I was not hungry at all today. I ate a large handful of salted pistachios late in the morning after some black coffee, part of a grapefruit, a pack of roasted seaweed, kombucha, and my multivitamin for 245 calories total. I didn't feel hungry all day. I broke my fast with a good amount of food at happy hour with the office girls and indulged in a couple glasses of wine. 

I forgot to weigh myself his morning, since I was running late to work. I probably don't want to know the numbers anyway after so much feasting over the weekend plus some hormonal water retention. I feel like a blimp right now, despite the loose jeans and belt on the last notch. On to the numbers:

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)

While ADFing: 1,702 kcal or 90% of baseline calories
Baseline Days: 1,896 kcal

All Feast Days: 2,782 kcal or 147% of baseline calories
All Fast Days*: 471 kcal or 25% 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, 3 fast days*
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
*Includes faux-fast day that was my mama's birthday dinner.


I have been eating in this 80-something% of my baseline calories for awhile now. I hope that means I am leveling off in terms of my sky-high calorie feast days. However, this upcoming 12th week is likely going to bust through all previous feasting records because of my weekend bachelorette party and beach trip. It could end up just being a 5:2 week, but I may try to shortened my Thursday feast day so I can get in a 4:3 and still claim it as an alternate day fasting week. I feel like such a cheater with all of this weekend social eating. However, I am not going to let a diet stop me from having fun, so I am being flexible about special occasions.

Water Weight: A Dieter's Foe

Day 13, Fast Day #7

I stepped on the scale yesterday and saw another 2 lbs lost for a total loss of 9 lbs in less than two weeks.

Frankly, I would be a fool to think that while on this diet that I am just dripping pure fat off my body like a meatloaf in a hot oven. So how much of the weight I am losing is just water weight?

Based on my current diet so far, here has been what I am eating on average feast and fast days as a reference:

Carbs: 333 grams (feast), 64 grams (fast), 130 grams (USDA DRV) - I clearly love bread

Fat: 86 grams (feast),7 grams (fast), undetermined USDA DRV

Protein: 91 grams (feast), 31 grams (fast), 46 grams (USDA DRV)

Well, complex carbohydrates bond well with water. So it makes sense on my down days where I am fasting, that the water in my body has less to bond to by way of carbs, and therefore I lose the water. I have clearly had plenty of carbohydrates to bond to on feast days and prior to dieting.

My sodium intake on an average fast day is 2,272 mg while my feast day is a very naughty 4,367 mg. The USDA recommends no more than 2,300 mg a day for my age and sex, so I should work on that. We know sodium retains water in the body. So, it makes sense that when I am consuming less sodium on my fast days, I must also have the ability to drop more water weight.

A study by M. Yang was sort of useful in answering my question. (Mind you, his study is with obese men and the low-carb ketogenic diet he uses is more like the Atkins diet, so not perfect for me.) In his study participants on a ketogenic diet, of the weight loss subjects experienced (by weight): 60-69% water weight loss and 15-36% fat loss (depending on which study you look at). My point is, the rapid initial weight loss seems to be mostly water.

Luckily it looks like the lower carb diets in a longer period do end up "accelerating" fat loss and maintaining muscle mass after the initial water weight loss, as noted in this summary of papers on the topic. So hopefully I level off on the number of pounds soon and start burning off more fat.