When: Intermittent fasting my way

The more I'm reading about intermittent fasting the more I am learning. This is a great basic building block to being healthy and losing weight for me because 1. It's easier to not do something than it is to do something, 2. It assists in the rest of my plan and 3. It's a great ancient spiritual practice.

When I am fasting my goal is to fast for 18 hours and eat during a 6 hour period but I give myself a 2 hour buffer because life happens and creating some flexibility only helps me get wins. Getting wins helps me get more wins. Additionally, from what I understand as long as you are fasting for 16 hours you are starting to get the most benefit out of the fast. So by setting my goal a bit higher but letting myself go outside of that goal by a bit, I am most likely to achieve the minimum of what I am shooting for. So I aim to eat between 4 pm and 10 pm each day. I allow myself to eat as early as 2 if I need to, or eat until midnight. Either way. as long as I stop at 10 or begin at 4, I'm good.

A good way to ease into this is to start with a 12 hour fast and when that becomes pretty easy go for 13 and so on. If you do it gradually you will train your body to expect food later and your body actually seems to enjoy the fast. This is just my opinion, it's how I feel. I'm not a doctor, so be sure to always research stuff for yourself. Even if I were a medical doctor, I would give you the same advice.

UPDATE

Feb. 13, 2018         this week           total           to next goal           to total goal
Weight: 302 lbs      -2.6                    -13             -2                          -102
Body Fat: 40.6%    -.2                      -.8              -.6                         -20.6%
Water: 43.9%         +.2                                        +17.1
Muscle: 34.0%       +.1                     +.5              +1                         +16%
Bone Mass: 35.0     -.2                      -1               +2                         +5
BMI: 43.2               -.4                      -1.8             -3.2                       -18.2
BMR: 2283             -763 maybe the last reading was off

Phase 1: When

The 5 W's of Journalism are: Who,What, When, Where, Why (and "How" but really then there are 6 and it doesn't start with a W, plus How is really a part of What if you are answering it fully). At some point I decided to become a journalist about my health. If I address each W gradually and strategically, I should be able to ease into having control over my health rather than letting circumstances control me and how I feel. As you can see by my blog this has been a long journey. I hope that I have weighed the most that I will ever weigh in my life. Hopefully this is the last time I have to write about this stuff. But writing helps. And your support helps. And if what I have been through and what I'm discovering can help other people, that makes this even more important than it already is.

I figure that if I actively do 5 things even if I mess up 1 or 2 I'm still being healthy. It provides what musicians call head room, or a cushion that provides some room for error and adjustment. Because this is difficult I will start with the one that's easiest for me.

When: Intermittent fasting is something that I've been getting into lately. It is the easiest of the healthy behaviors for me because it is about not doing something rather than doing something. It's super easy to not do something for me... the hard part is to change behavior because then you have to stop doing one thing and start doing another all while you are getting used to not having the original thing. So if I start by not eating outside of a 6 or 8 hour window, it's the easiest way to start. I'm not going to explain what all goes into IF (intermittent fasting) because there is all sorts of info by people that know way more than me. Do your own research... but I will tell you what I'm doing based on research that I've done. For a good into to IF check this out... https://jamesclear.com/the-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting

This is the first thing that I am focusing on and I will advance from a somewhat easy goal until I get to where I want to be. I will explain more about my plan in the next post.

UPDATE
Feb. 7, 2018             this week      total         to next goal        to total goal
Weight: 304.6 lbs       -4.2              -10.4         -4.6                       -104.6
Body Fat: 40.8%        -.2                -.6            -.8                           -20.8%
Water: 43.7%             +.2                                +17.3                 
Muscle: 33.9%           +.1               +.3            +1.1                       +16.1%
Bone Mass: 35.2         -.2                -.8             +1.8                      +4.8
BMI: 43.6                   -.6                 -1.4           -3.6                       -18.6
BMR: 3046                 +732 this is good news!