Mark’s Alternate Day Fasting Blog

Thursday 30th October 2008

Today was almost going to be another fasting day. Tomorrow I am going out to lunch, so I wanted to fast today instead. However, I was invited to lunch today, so that was the end of that.

For lunch it was a 250g rump steak with pepper gravy, chips & salad.

After work I went to the gym and burned 450 calories, and then attended a yoga class.

For dinner, I just had a light snack - some water crackers with tomato and cheese.

I also had a couple of beers while watching top gear on tv.

Wednesday 29th October 2008

Today I ate three apples during the day, but other than that, nothing but water, coffee & tea.

After work I went to a pilates class and then did a quick weights workout at the gym.

Tuesday 28th October 2008

Today I made the mistake of having a huge late lunch. I went to the gym after work, but even 5 hours later, I still felt bloated and ended up getting a cramp in the guts. I did managed to burn about 450 calories and go to a pilates class though.

Monday 27th October 2008

I’m starting to lean towards the idea of “alternate day calorie reduction” rather than fasting. Today I ate three medium sized apples during the day at 10am, 12pm and 2pm. This is around 900 kJ (215 calories), which is about 10% of the daily energy needed for an average adult. While it breaks the concept of fasting, it certainly helps take the edge off.

Also, I am consciously trying to increase the amount of water I drink. I’m probably consuming 3-4 litres per day and it shouldn’t be too hard to up that to 5+.

After a four day break, I went to the gym today. I managed to burn about 1600 kJ (400 calories) before going to a Yoga class. I would have liked to do double that, but it’s better than nothing.

Sunday 26th October 2008

It’s been one week since I started alternate day fasting. Last Sunday morning I weighed in at 83.8 kg, today it’s’ 81.4 kg - a reduction of 2.4 kg.

If I do the sums for the week, assuming normal daily energy requirements are 9,000 kJ and 1 kg of fat is equal to 37,000 kJ, I get:

Normal energy intake (7 days eating): 63,000 kJ
Actual energy intake (3 days eating): 27,000 kJ
Exercise at the gym: 10,000 kJ

Energy provided by burning fat: 63,000 - 27,000 + 10,000 = 46,000 kJ

1 kg = 37,000 kJ, therefore 46,000 kJ of energy = 1.25 kg of fat

It’s a rough estimation, but probably not too far off. I’m happy to assume that I’ve reduced my body fat by about 1kg this week, and that the other 1.4 kg in weight reduction is due to normal fluctuations such as body fluid etc. Also, if I look at the trend line in the Weight Log Graph, it shows a drop of about 1kg since last Sunday.

I ate quite a lot today - three good sized serves of pasta throughout the day.

Saturday 25th October 2008

It’s nice to see my weight didn’t go up too much after eating and drinking lots yesterday.

Today is a Saturday, and I definitely am having a hard time keeping my mind off my hunger. During the week it’s not so bad as I’m busy with work. To keep myself occupied, I made some pasta sauce - 12 litres actually. I didn’t eat any of it, but did nibble and taste test. That took the edge off.

I drank lots of mineral water and black/herbal tea - about 3 litres all up.

Friday 24th October 2008

Breakfast: a small bowl of pasta bake
Lunch: Rump Steak, chips & salad
Dinner: 2 bowls of pasta bake & 4 cans of beer

I ate quite well today - on Friday’s I go to the local pub for lunch with others from the office. After work, I didn’t go to the gym - just ate more and drank some beer.

Thursday 23rd October 2008

My weight has gone up 1.6 kg after what I thought was quite a moderate eating day.

Today I’ve had nothing but water, black coffee & green tea.

I was planning to go to a yoga class after work, but it’s cold and wet and I’ve already done two classes this week, so I decided to be lazy and stay at home.

I felt hungriest for a couple of hours around 8pm. I’ve found that drinking sparkling mineral water helped quite a bit and have drank a whole 1.25 litre bottle this evening.

Wednesday 22nd October 2008

My weight’s gone down another 1.2 kg to 80.8. This is really encouraging, and if this keeps up, I’ll make my target in no time! But, I have been pushing pretty hard at the gym the last few days and felt quite tired today, so I decided to take it a bit easier.

Breakfast was a couple of slices of toast & cheese. I had a coffee and two pieces of sponge cake at work - one for a birthday and one for a farewell. Lunch was two wholemeal rolls, two tomatoes and a small Lebanese cucumber with wholegrain mustard and pepper (no butter).

After work I nibbled on a few olives and a bit of cheese. I did go to the gym, but only went to the pilates class and didn’t do any weights or cardio.

For dinner I made a pasta bake - 3 onions, 2 cloves of garlic, lots of chilli powder, a dash of pepper corns, one tin of kidney beans, one tin of corn kernels, one large tin of Italian tomatoes, one large tin of tuna, a jar of pasta bake sauce and 500g of penne pasta. This turned out to be an enormous amount of food. Normally I would stuff myself full (I really like pasta), but this time I just had a small serve - about half a bowl - enough so I didn’t feel hungry.

I’ve also discovered an unplanned benefit to this diet. I only have to do the dishes every other day!

Tuesday 21st October 2008

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my weight had still gone down a bit after my eating day. I guess that’s due to working out at the gym and eating moderately (sort of).

My fasting day started out well, but hit a bump when the training facilitator specially organised two salad sandwiches on wholemeal bread for me for lunch after I had complained about the burger yesterday. I was too embarressed to decline and ate them both. Other than that, I’ve had nothing but water and black tea. I’m getting a bit bored with the black tea and will get a range of herbal teas for a bit of variety.

I felt pretty guilty about breaking only my second fast day, so it was off to the gym again after work. This time I did some weights training, attended a pilates class and burnt 800 calories on the cardio equipment.

Monday 20th October 2008

My weight has dropped 1.4kg since yesterday, but having kept track of my weight for about a month now (see the Weight Log Graph Page), I know that doesn’t mean I’ve lost 1.4kg of body fat. It’s a good sign though, and the fasting combined with the workout yesterday has got to be a step in the right direction.

I woke up with the same empty feeling in my gut as last night. Normally I don’t eat breakfast, but today I was definitely having some. Along with a glass of tomato juice, I had two slices of wholemeal toast with margarine and vegemite and a slice of tasty cheese on top. Once I got to work, I had a cup of white coffee (no sugar).

I attended a training seminar for most of they day and for lunch they gave me one of the most horrible greasy beef burgers & the worst chips I’ve ever had. The burger was fairly small, so I managed to get it down, but the chips ended up in the garbage. So much for eating well balanced healthy meals! I’m attending the seminar again tomorrow and I’m almost glad I’ll be fasting so I don’t have to eat that again.

After work I had a glass of orange juice and then went to the gym. I only managed to burn 500 calories on the treadmill before my yoga class started, but I did have a good workout. Today I managed a sprint at 15 km/h for 45 seconds - it’s the first time I’ve tried to run that fast. Not bad seeing as I could barely jog at 6km/h for that long six weeks ago.

I didn’t feel like eating when I got home, but I knew I wouldn’t be eating tomorrow, and I had already prepared a small vegetarian pizza. So I cooked it up and ate the lot - I estimate around 1000 calories.

Sunday 19th October 2008

Today’s my first “official” day of alternate day fasting. It’s been ok. I’ve had nothing but tap water, sparkling mineral water and three cups of black tea (no milk or sugar of course).

This morning I washed the car.

In the afternoon I went to the gym for a few hours. Spent 30 minutes on the cross trainer (400 calories), 20 minutes on the treadmill (200 calories), 15 minutes on the cycle (100 calories), 20 minutes on the rowing machine (200 calories) and finally another 10 minutes on the treadmill again (100 calories). My goal was to burn 1000 calories. I felt pretty tired after this but a Yoga class was starting, so I decided to go to that - I’m glad I did - it was quite re-energising.

It’s quite late now. I don’t really feel hungry - there’s just this empty feeling in my gut, certainly nothing I can’t deal with.