Week 16 Summary

Day 116, Fast Day #50

This post is late, my bad. My mother and my future mother-in-law were in town this weekend for my bridal shower and staying at my apartment, I had my bridal shower, and then dealt with a little family drama which luckily doesn't revolve around me. It was both a busy and stressful weekend.

This morning marked a new milestone. I dropped another pound, bringing me to 25 lbs (11.3 kg) lost total over the last 16.5 weeks. My weight loss is so far 1.5 lb (0.7 kg) loss per week. I was feeling so confident, I ordered a bikini. I'm not sure if that was a good decision even at 30% off of clearance prices (I should probably consider doing some ab exercises and buying some self-tanner), but the point is that is how confident I have been feeling about my slimmer figure. I don't think I have worn a bikini in several years. Plus I will be spending quite a bit of time on the beach in the next month and I am scared the swimsuits I wore last year will fall off with one good dive or wave. A swimsuit malfunction in front of my in-laws would be way more mortifying than a little beer belly showing.

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)
Week 16: 1,861 kcal or 98% of baseline calories (-245 kcal/week)

While ADFing: 1,781 kcal or 94% of baseline calories
Baseline Days: 1,896 kcal

All Feast Days: 2,842 kcal or 150% of baseline calories
All Fast Days: 442 kcal or 23% 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: 3 feast days, 4 fast days
Week 16: 4 feast days, 3 fast days
*Includes days during my bachelorette party weekend.

Today I had one main lunch meal of 372 calories, so I have some calories left for an evening snack if I want them:

• pistachios, 1/2 cup (measured with shells on) ~170 kcal
• Kroger Cow Pals light mozzarella string cheese ~50 kcal
• 35 blueberries ~27 kcal
• 1 bell pepper, sliced ~45 kcal
• 10 baby carrots ~35 kcal
• 1 tbsp edamame hummus ~45 kcal

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.

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.

Week 5 Summary

Day 37, Feast Day #20

Getting calories down on feast days has proved difficult with trips to bars, breweries, and birthday parties with friends. Here are the numbers:

Calories
Week 1: 1,437 kcal or 76% of baseline calories
Week 2: 1,938 kcal or 102% of baseline calories
Week 3: 1,680 kcal or 89% of baseline calories
Week 4: 2,196 kcal or 116% of baseline calories
Week 5: 1,829 kcal or 96% of baseline calories

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

All Feast Days: 2,942 kcal or 155% of baseline calories
All Fast Days*: 473 kcal or 25% of baseline calories

For reference
Week 1: 4 fast days, 3 feast days
Week 2: 3 fast days, 4 feast days
Week 3: 3 fast days*, 4 feast days
Week 4: 3 fast days, 4 feast days
Week 5: 3 fast days, 4 feast days
*Includes faux-fast day that was my mama's birthday dinner.

Obviously, our feast days are still too feasty. As usual, this is due to overindulging when eating out, particularly when it comes to a calorie-packed cocktail or beer. I also discovered this weekend while at a friend's 30th birthday bash that not only is mead (honey wine) incredibly delicious, but it is over 220 calories for a 5 oz. glass. It is a good thing I don't have easy access to mead regularly. Luckily his week's social calendar is looking less hedonistic, so hopefully I can make some progress on the following goals:

• Reduce the sugar I am eating. I was eating 57 grams/day this week. This is below both my original sugar consumption and below the 5-week average of 63 grams. I still would like to cut this down even further since I have a family history of diabetes.

• Reduce overall carbohydrates eaten. My carb gluttony has me at 196 grams of carbs/day this past week. This is still below what I have been averaging, but again the USDA DRV is 130 grams. That is over a 50% reduction I am aiming for, so this could be tough.

• Eat more potassium-rich foods. I am still struggling to get even close to the DRV of potassium. Last week I only ate about 1807 mg/day on average, which is lower than the previous 5 weeks. The daily recommendation is 4700 mg/day, to put things in perspective. We bought some mushrooms this week and are still working on using up a bunch of tomatoes. More of our meals need to revolve around potassium. I think eating more legumes might tackle the potassium deficit plus providing iron, which I have also been running low on (55% of DRV).

Week 4 Summary

Day 30, Fast Day #14

Fasting today felt great after putting my body (especially my liver) through a bit of hard labor this weekend. I found I was not very hungry today and craving mostly fresh, raw produce after  eating a bunch of grilled meats, pastries, and fried foods over the last couple of days. I had a ton of energy today, got a lot of sleep, and was enjoying the great and unusual summer-like weather we have been having in Seattle.

Zach and I added in an additional feast day this past week because friends visited us from out of town and there was lots of celebrating with friends to be had. I weighed myself again this morning and I am still holding steady at 13 lbs lost in total despite two consecutive days of going out, day drinking, night drinking, and eating lots of rich foods.

Calories
Week 1: 1,437 kcal or 76% of baseline calories
Week 2: 1,938 kcal or 102% of baseline calories
Week 3: 1,680 kcal or 89% of baseline calories
Week 4: 2,196 kcal or 116% of baseline calories
,
While ADFing: 1,856 kcal or 98% of baseline
Baseline Days: 1,896 kcal

All Feast Days: 2,952 kcal or 156% of baseline
All Fast Days*: 498 kcal or 26% of baseline

For reference
Week 1: 4 fast days, 3 feast days
Week 2: 3 fast days, 4 feast days
Week 3: 3 fast days*, 4 feast days
Week 4: 3 fast days, 4 feast days
*Includes faux-fast day that was my mama's birthday dinner.

It was the most calorie-heavy week since starting alternate day fasting. I ate well over the calories during my baseline days. How did I manage to consume so many more calories than the previous few weeks? One word: Alcohol. Between Friday and Saturday, the consecutive feast days, I consumed about 39% of my calories within just 29% of the week. On Friday, 41% of my entire day's calories where in alcoholic beverages and on Saturday, 33% of my day's calories were in alcoholic beverages. Don't worry, this is NOT my typical drinking behavior and the booze was not all consumed within the same window of time.

What I find most interesting about looking at my numbers from the last month is that my total calorie consumption, as of now, is not significantly less than my baseline calorie consumption. However, I still am down the 13 lbs of weight. 

It is possible the baseline calorie consumption I am using for myself is lower than the number of calories I actually ate on average in the past, since I only tracked two days worth of eating prior to Zach declaring the third day a fast day. (Again, this is not a scientific experiment I am doing, this is just me trying to figure out how intermittent fasting effects my body). My level of physical activity has not changed, so I doubt that is a factor. If my average calorie intake was much higher than my baseline, it is possible my calories are more reduced than I know and this is why I have not regained the weight this week.

The only noticeable nutritional difference that I know of between my eating now and 4 weeks ago, is that my sugar consumption (but not total carbohydrates) is 42% lower. I am not eating much less in overall calories or carbs, so I don't think the lower amount of sugar is a factor in preventing my overeating. However, there is research that suggests that blood sugar levels and glycemic response are related to fat storage. One theory could be that I am not storing fat in the same way because of the large reduction of in sugar in my diet. I have also been eating foods lower on the glycemic index since starting ADF, and therefore explains how I am eating carbs, but not as many of the simple sugar ones. I figured all of those Marie Osmond infommericals selling Nutrisystem was all gimmick, but perhaps there is science behind eating lower on the glycemic index to lose weight.

My only other theory is that the pattern in which I am eating on it's own is changing how I metabolize food. That I will explore this theory on another night, since it is past my bedtime.

What I Wish I'd Known Before Starting ADF

Day 25, Fast Day #12

This morning I woke up hungry, so I had a feeling it would be a tougher fast day. Since eating a lunch of a reduced fat string cheese (50 calories), my low-calorie tuna salad (72 calories), a can of Progresso Light soup (120 calories), and a whole cucumber (45 calories) and celery stalk (9 calories) with Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette Lite (45 calories), I feel quite full. I also have some calories left for an evening snack. 

Despite almost eating half of a pepperoni pizza for breakfast yesterday (haters gonna hate), I have somehow managed to defy physics and stay at a total of 12 lbs lost.

I am quickly approaching a month into this ADF adventure and we all know hindsight is 20/20. This is why I have some words of advice for my past self who was considering jumping into alternate day fasting, and anyone else thinking about radically changing their eating pattern through intermittent fasting:

1) Make sure fasting is appropriate for you - If you have diabetes, have an eating disorder, are pregnant, are underweight, or are under 21 you should not fast. If you have any other known medical issues or are on medications, you should also be cautious before doing any diet not prescribed by your doctor. If given the option, I probably would have done this first instead of deciding with Zach one day before running errands that today is now a "fast day."

2) Know what and how you are eating normally - I was not trying to eat healthy at all prior to starting ADF, so the transition was pretty rough for me. I would recommend prior to fasting to start tracking your caloric and nutrient intakes. Calorie tracking alone has been an eye-opening realization for me as to how I ate and what my diet was missing to begin with.

3) Make a plan - Come up with a plan on how you are going to get in as many nutritional requirements as you can on both fast days and feast days. If you can't reach them just through food alone, figure out supplements that are effective and safe that you can take. For me, the struggle is always calcium since I have issues with dairy. I also usually plan out and prepare (if necessary) my food for fast days in advance. I feel like if I have a plan and the food is ready, I can stick to the 500 calorie limit and avoid temptation and slip-ups easier.

4) Prepare your gut -  I also highly recommend getting your body used to a lot of fiber if you aren't already. You will be eating a lot of veggies alternate day fasting. A lot of people have bowel movement issues (too much or lack thereof) when starting alternate day fasting. I think this is largely due to the change in the amount of fiber, if you didn't eat enough before. I also take probiotics supplements regularly (which I did before ADF) since it helps me with dairy and consequent tummy troubles. Probiotics are awesome.

5) Accept the fact that hunger is uncomfortable and you will be hungry - Since fasting involves not eating for longer periods than a lot of people are used to, or not as much food as people are used to in a day, you will more than likely experience hunger. Hunger is not fun. Your body will become more accustomed to the eating schedule if you stick with it though. Start a hobby (for me, blogging) or catch up on to-dos on fast days. Staying busy keeps your mind off of being hungry. Drink lots of fluids and eat food with lots of fiber to stay fuller, longer. Remind yourself on fast days that in 24 hours you can eat bacon if you want.

6) Be prepared for side effects of hunger - Zach says he never experienced any side effects from ADF. However, I know I did early on. I had a nagging headache on my feast days for the first week. I have read that other people, when starting ADF, also have gotten these headaches on fast days. They are most likely a side effect of hunger. If you get migraines, you should probably have any medication you take for them handy, or maybe start fasting on non-work days so you can lay in the dark for awhile if you need to (or whatever else you need to for migraines). Hunger might also make you light-headed and irritable. I know I can feel "hangry" at times. You also might feel tired or fatigued from fasting. Some people even get nauseous. I felt a little dizzy my late in my first couple of fast days and was tired. But now I am usually more productive and usually at least as energetic on my fast days as my feast days, if not more so.

7) Be okay with a little failure - Failure is human. A lot of us are used to the feeling of failure since "lose weight" is often on the New Year's resolutions list (this has been on my list since college). I have already failed a lot. I have missed fast day and feast day calorie goals (eaten way too much on both). I have also eaten junk food, had to totally guesstimate portions to track calories, and have probably forgotten to include here and there to add to my food diary. This is okay. I have accepted I will fail, do fail, and am not getting disappointed about it. It is important to keep long-term health goals in mind and just keep working on them.