Archive for the ‘Food and Diet’ Category

Weekly Change #1: no alcohol except on social occasions

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

And no, “social occasions” don’t include going to my family’s for dinner, or having friends or family at home who are not currently drinking.

As I said last post, I’ve already started this one, last Monday. This should be mostly easy… for a while.

The problem is not that I “crave” alcohol, as an alcoholic would do; the problem is that I seem to have got it into my head, since years ago, that a great meal needs a great wine (or an average one, if a great one is not affordable), and that I need alcohol in my system to enjoy several types of situations — typically social ones.

Of course, that’s a dependency — even if not a physical one –, which makes it a very, very bad idea. I must be able to both enjoy a good meal and enjoy myself with either friends or strangers without having to drink a couple of glasses first.

Besides, without drinking I sleep much better, and feel much more awake during the day. The days even seem longer — which may actually have been one of my reasons for drinking, since I often feel like time passes too slowly, which obviously causes boredom. But making the days “become” shorter is absolutely the wrong way to solve that; if I need more things to do so that I don’t get bored, that’s what I should search for — or create.

Day 17: below 80 kg at last!

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

This morning, for the first time in at least 5 years, probably more, I weighed less than 80 kg (79.7 kg, in fact). Also for the first time, Wii Fit labeled my BMI as “ideal” instead of “overweight”, since it went below 25.0.

Intermittent fasting (IF), so far, works. And the best part is that, for the rest of the week, I can eat normally.

Like the previous two times, after 24 hours of fasting I wake up not feeling hungry; in fact, it’s 11 AM and I haven’t eaten anything solid yet (I will do so at lunch, of course).

I’m beginning to agree with the IF advocates when they say that the food and diet industry has convinced most of the Western world that “you need 6 meals a day”, that “being hungry is unbearable and bad for you”, that “if you go more than a couple of hours without eating you’ll feel weak and light-headed”, that “no way I could go an entire day without food; I’d faint”, and so on. I’m no expert (far from it – I’m a computer guy, not a nutritionist or a doctor), but, like I’ve said before, I have the “soul of a scientist”, and a scientist doesn’t take things on faith, or on “everybody knows”; I wanted to test things out for myself, and, so far, the results have been exactly the opposite of what “popular wisdom” tells me. In fact, they almost sound too good to be true.

As I said, I test things out; this is just my second week of IF, and my plan was to try this out for a month (until the end of April); if, in the end, I don’t feel as good as I do now, or I develop some health problem, I’ll stop, of course. But if I hadn’t done this, I’d never know, so, even if the test went badly, it would still have increased my knowledge, which is always a good thing. But, so far, so good.

Just for fun: have you thought about what would happen to the world’s economy if everyone in the world started eating just 5 days a week? Now that would be a crisis… so, naturally, there are vested interests in perpetuating the “need 6 meals a day, can’t ever feel hungry” belief.

Day 16: down, then up again

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Fasted last Tuesday, then ate (and drank, which I shouldn’t have done) normally yesterday. 1.0 kg down from the fast, then 0.7 kg up from yesterday. It’s something, but it’s slow. Today, after breakfast (leftover scrambled eggs and bacon from yesterday’s dinner), I’m fasting again until tomorrow.

Since I have no plans for next Sunday except staying at home, I’m considering a third day of fasting this week, as an exception; the added free time should allow me to both exercise and play more video games (a side of my life I’ve been ignoring far too much, recently).

By the way, an interesting fact that I’ve discovered by fasting is that, completely separate from food, hunger and all those aspects, I also enjoy the meal time; that is, the sitting down, with a good book (I usually eat alone, because, well, I live alone), and nothing to worry about, with no feeling of “wasted time”. During the two times I fasted, I often felt like I wanted to go to the kitchen and sit down to read, not because I was hungry, but because that’s a “ritual” I enjoy so much.

Of course, nothing prevents me from picking up a book and reading for an hour or so (though it’s better not to do it in the kitchen, as it can give me ideas), but, somehow, that’s not something that my mind naturally comes up with.

Day 14: a setback, but not a huge one

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Weight: 81.1 kg, or 1 kg more than Friday. Not too bad; I was expecting more from my “debauchery and sin” weekend. :)

Didn’t have much time for exercise today, so just a few sit-ups. Breakfast was a cream cheese, as usual, and my next meal will be tomorrow’s breakfast. I don’t anticipate any problems, since I’ve done it successfully and with little difficulty last week. Next day of fasting will probably be Friday (it was supposed to be Thursday, but I have a birthday dinner that day).

I need to focus on other parts of my “personal development”, other than exercise, health and weight loss, though. More about that later.

Weekend “progress”

Monday, March 30th, 2009

I’d like to be able to report that I’ve continued to be disciplined and lose weight during the weekend, but unfortunately I can’t, having spent it in debauchery and sin1. :) I did exercise, but as to food and drink, I could have done better. On the other hand, is life really worth living without a good cozido à Portuguesa from time to time?

I had to leave for work earlier than usual, so I didn’t have time for exercise, and since I use the Wii Fit balance board to weigh myself as well, I don’t know how much weight I’ve put on since last Friday. It’s something to find out tomorrow morning, I guess.

Tomorrow, by the way, will be my second day of fasting. I still haven’t decided whether I’ll eat breakfast tomorrow and then nothing else until Wednesday’s breakfast (like I did last time), or whether I will do it from today’s dinner to tomorrow’s.

  1. not really; I’ve just been wanting to use that expression ever since I saw it in the intro to Princess Maker 2 []

Initial thoughts on Intermittent Fasting, after one day

Friday, March 27th, 2009

It’s much too early to speak about results, of course. But, so far, my impressions are positive.

As I write this, I haven’t eaten anything for about 14 hours (since breakfast; it’s now half past midnight), and have only drank water and a little Diet Coke. How do I feel?

In terms of hunger, I’m hungry (as in “I could eat something”), but not starving in any way. I haven’t been thinking about food during the day, except an hour or so after lunchtime, when my body was clearly expecting something; after it “understood” that food wasn’t forthcoming, my sensation of hunger actually diminished, and, as I said, I’m not “craving” food. Indeed, if it doesn’t get worse than this (I still have a night – about 8 hours – to go before next breakfast, when I’ll eat again, but I’ll be asleep during that time), then fasting is easy, at least for me. After hearing so many horror stories about people feeling starved, slow-minded, and unable to think about anything except food, I’m discovering that those are just that – horror stories. At least until now.

One weakness, though: if I smell food, I really get a craving for it. It goes away quickly after I leave the smell’s range, though. :)

Incidentally, I haven’t felt myself “slowing down” or anything like that. On the contrary, I think I’ve actually felt more awake and active than I do most of the time. Being full often makes you sleepy, and I guess that digestion also takes some energy from you, which I haven’t spent today.

One interesting fact not related to nutrition at all: this day felt much longer. At least 3 hours longer than usual. I felt that I spent much more time both at work and at home, and, indeed, had to come up with things to do; I’m used to much shorter days, with two interruptions of 60-90 minutes each; by removing those interruptions, it felt as if I had a “27-hour day”, so to speak. Having so much more time to do things can be a big difference in one’s life; our daily routine tends to grow up to fill the “vacuum” of the day, and suddenly it’s as if some days become much longer, with more free time than you know what to do with.

It remains to be seen how I’ll be feeling tomorrow just before breakfast. But, so far, so good – and I intend to try this out for the entire month of April; hopefully two days each week. If this is as “bad” as it gets, I know I can do it. As for my health, we’ll see. I’m not worried, as many religions have, for centuries, included fasting as part of their rituals, and people in general don’t die from it. Not to mention that, compared to how long humans have existed, agriculture (and, therefore, regular meals) is a very recent invention; the human race has existed for most of its “life” without it.

By the way, with one exception, everyone I told about what I’ve been doing today was alarmed: “are you crazy? you mustn’t do that! you’ll ruin your health!”. While I appreciate that my friends care for me, it’s interesting to note how they almost panic, as if I was endangering my health or even my life merely by not eating for about 24 hours. Are people taught to be so terrified of ever feeling hunger? Or are we all so brainwashed by the media that we think it’s a “sin” against our bodies to ever go more than 2 hours (sometimes even less than that) without eating? Really, people, I’m OK. I feel fine. Don’t worry. ;)

“You should have many small meals each day”… no, thanks.

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

I know it’s what popular wisdom tells you – including most nutritionists, diet books, personal trainers, and so on. I can accept that it’s probably the best thing to do for most people. But I want to try out alternatives, because I really don’t like the idea of interrupting my day every hour or so to eat.

It always reminds me of this conversation in the first Lord of the Rings movie:

Aragorn: Gentlemen, we do not stop till nightfall.
Pippin: What about breakfast?
Aragorn: You’ve already had it.
Pippin: We’ve had one, yes. What about second breakfast?
[Aragorn turns and walks off in disgust]
Merry: I don’t think he knows about second breakfast, Pip.
Pippin: What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? He knows about them, doesn’t he?
Merry: I wouldn’t count on it.

Nope, that’s really just not me. To me, that’s spending most of your waking hours either eating, deciding what to eat, or preparing meals. Really, eating isn’t “fun”. I love a good, long meal (lunch or dinner) of at least one hour if I’m either having a fascinating conversation with someone, or reading a book; but just eating and doing nothing more? Even just for 5 minutes? To me, that’s like spending 5 minutes staring at a brick wall. (Note the “to me” qualifier; I’m not criticizing those who enjoy 6 or 8 meals a day; I’m just explaining my own problem with that.)

My challenge, then, is to find a way to become healthier, lose weight and look better, without surrendering to the “it’s been 30 minutes since your next meal, go eat something” life imprisonment. And I’ll exhaust all the possibilities before I ever give up.

But if you really enjoy eating a small amount of food every hour or so, never ever knowing the sensation of “hunger”, no matter how mild… well, good for you. :)

Ninth day: first fasting attempt

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Today I woke up with the alarm clock, which is always a sign that my body needed more sleep. Why, oh, why are those Savage Sword of Conan comics so hard to put down? :)

Breakfast was cream cheese (again), and exercise was brief: a bit of Wii Sports boxing, and some sit-ups. Weight: 81.2 kg (0.2 kg lower than 2 days ago).

Since I’m an impatient fellow, I decided to anticipate playing with fasting (not eating for about 24 hors) today. The term “fasting” suggests not eating for a whole day, which of course I’ve already done today, but my challenge is now to eat nothing and drink only non-caloric liquids until tomorrow’s breakfast. I believe I can do it, but it won’t be easy, since our bodies are used to having regular meals and never being really hungry. Supposedly, however, our species spent millennia as hunter-gatherers, who would eat just when they had a successful hunt or found berries or other fruit – much like, in fact, wild animals still do. Regular meals are a social construct, not a biological need. At least, that’s the theory. I’m not believing or disbelieving in it; I’m simply going to try it out. The real trial begins next week, though; today is just a preliminary test, simply because I feel like it. :)

Eight day: the beginning

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Had to leave home earlier than usual today, so I didn’t have time to exercise; I’ll do that this evening. Forgot to have breakfast too, so I went to a café just minutes ago and had a small Portuguese cake, a “bolo de arroz” (literally “rice cake”, though it doesn’t remind one of rice at all, in terms of taste). I wasn’t hungry, but, well, a trial is a trial. :)

Yesterday evening was my sister’s 20th birthday (and I will have to, shamefully, admit that I had forgotten, and just went there to have dinner and exchange cars with my father, as I had left my own there for repairs and was using his to go to work), so dinner was more “special” than usual, both in terms of food and in terms of being with my family.

Not good for my diet, but one should have a decent sense of priorities; I’ve always thought that being fanatically faithful to a diet in an important social occasion with the people you love makes you a self-centered, fun-spoiling jerk.

I don’t mean that, of course, if you, really, strictly can’t eat or drink something due to being under doctor’s orders, or, say, if you’re a vegetarian; however, in all other cases, if you don’t feel a loved one’s birthday is reason enough for you to go a bit “crazy”, it’s almost as if that person doesn’t mean anything to you at all. Quoting Ayn Rand (quick, run!), “love is the exception-making”.

Objectives: March 24 to March 29, 2009

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Not really that changed from last week’s, so you may check that link if you forgot what they were. :) The main change is that now I have a weight goal: 80 kg or less, by next Sunday. Which means losing 1.4 kg – not that much, but I can’t slack off either.

I’ll have to keep paying special attention to what I eat; whenever I get distracted, my two bad habits come to the fore: too much food in the plate, and eating everything on it, even if I feel satisfied before. What I leave in the plate doesn’t help any starving children whether I eat it or not, and there’s no point in eating more than I really need.

Seventh day

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

No, I’m not resting today. :)

Weight: 81.4 kg. I hadn’t weighed myself for three days (since last Friday), and I slacked a bit during the weekend, even drinking wine at meals (not going against my goals, as I was not doing it alone), so having my weight rise by 0.5 kg doesn’t come as a surprise; in fact, I expected worse. I’ll have to try harder this week; I’d love to reach 80 kg before the weekend, but it won’t be easy.

Breakfast today (and yesterday): cream cheese. Just a small one. Followed by the usual coffee and soy milk, of course. I’ll keep having those for breakfast until I go through them all; I have 6 more in the fridge.

Exercise: the usual sit-ups, and a little Wii Fit jogging. I also tried the boxing event from Wii Sports, but my wiimote began to complain about batteries, so I had to stop in the middle, and put the batteries in the charger. More of it tomorrow, hopefully.

Trial #1 extended

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

As my previous post suggested, I’ve decided to extend my “have breakfast” trial until next Sunday, making it last almost two weeks.

So far, I haven’t noticed any positive difference, although at least I don’t feel bloated and indisposed during the morning, like in the beginning of the trial. I’d guess that my body really doesn’t need breakfast, at least with the life I lead.

Trial #2 will start in the beginning of April, and will be based on fasting one or two days every week. Now that should be a big change… we’ll see if it works or not.