Three years of ADF

On April 6, 2016 I celebrated three solid years of 4:3 ADF.  If you’ve been reading my posts, you’ll see I kept my DDs (down or fasting days) below 200 calories for the first two years, then changed up to zero calorie DDs because of extended plateaus.  I started off as a size 20-22 at 238 lbs.  I am 5’8″ tall.  I now weigh 151 lbs. and wear a size 10, although in the old days that would have been a 12 and in the horse and buggy days of the 70s I’d be a 14.  But anyway, I’m wearing size 10 Lucky Brand skinny jeans as I write this post.  I still do 4:3 fasting on black coffee and seltzer water only on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

The spousal unit has joined me on the ADF bandwagon, finishing his first full year of 5:2 on Mothers Day.  He’s lost about 25 lbs, the first time in his life he has ever attempted to lose weight.  He does the Michael Mosley version of 5:2 with his DDs on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I am so frigging lucky he likes this stripped down toastada/taco salad thing I make for him for his DD dinners.  He gets 28 grams of organic white corn tortilla chips crunched up with homemade “taco meat” sparingly atop, heated in the microwave and then topped with heaping piles of organic dark green salad mix and homegrown/home canned salsa.  (See previous post about the bitchin’ salsa.)  I drizzle the teeniest dots of Bolthouse Avocado and Cilantro dressing on it and it comes in at about 350-400 cals.  He raves about how yummy and satisfying this bi-weekly DD meal is every time he eats it.

So ahem, it is time for the befores and afters of yours truly.  I was a big fat tub of blubber with no neck, no waist, and ill fitting tents for clothes.  It truly sucked wads.  There are 87 lbs. missing from me now.  Yay.

I had only a few fat shots to pick from as I made it a mission not be in pictures (sort of hard when you play in a band that people take vids and pics of every time we play).  Here I am on a recent picnic over at Long Lake. The shirt is a men’s medium and it’s a tad too big, as are most of my shirts.  I wear size 32 jeans and womens size medium tops, pants, and skirts, down from the starting size of 2x.  Ugh.  2x.

I hope to come back with one more post here in the next year.  Not sure how long of doing 4:3 with zero cal DDs will take to get me to my 135 lb goal, but I’m 15 lbs and one dress size away from goal at age 58.  We shall see what my permanent ADF way of eating will bring as far as a final goal weight.  I will do this for the rest of my life and take what I get.  Here’s a parting shot of my Steve tending his salad greens destined for the garden.  Cheers!

Long time No Post

OK I know it’s been over a year since I’ve put up a post here.  To be honest I doubt the spammers even notice, but if there’s anyone out there who is honestly into ADF as a LIFESTYLE then I’ve probably run into you over on that closed group Facebook page.

When I last posted I was down 50 lbs. and into a size 16.  That was eleven months ago.  A lot has happened and not happened since then.

The orthopedic surgeon said I need to walk more, so I started pushing a little further every day.  By May I was up at the Selkirk Crest on a six mile hike to Trout Lake.  I worked up from short bike rides to long rides with lots of hill climbing.  The lighter I got, the further I could go.  Since I am allergic to nickel I can’t get conventional knee replacements.  If I do get them they will be the old fashioned titanium orthotics from the 80s that wear out in less than ten years.  The Dr. says better to get nice and light and keep the old ones as long as possible.

Long and short of it I’m down 85 lbs. and only 20 lbs away from goal.  I still do 4:3 with down days (DDs) on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.  I’m currently a size 12 and still shrinking.  At goal I should be an 8-10 like I was before mean ol’ menopause dumped out my cheese.

My primary care doc is astounded and says she is amazed, that very few people actually find a way to lose this much weight and rehab themselves on their own like I did.

I didn’t pay for special diet food.  I didn’t get hypnotized.  I didn’t get my stomach stapled or an intestinal bypass mutilation.  I didn’t hire a personal trainer.  No Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, TOPS, Positive Changes, or Fat Farms.  I just keep it under 400 calories three days a week.  And I go out walking with the dogs, or over in the State Park where the hills make me sweat like a pig, or I ride my bike around on our lonely country roads.   To help my knees I use trekking poles for going downhill.  Because I can’t squat, I have a “she pee” thing for that little problem.  And I’m doing this “plank challenge”.  Wow.  It is hard to hold a plank for any length of time.   It uses every muscle in your body, pretty much, especially your “core”.

Today is Christmas Eve.  For Christmas I gave myself a new/old body…healthy, mobile, and best of all NOT FAT!!!  And I’m getting something I wished for when a teenager–big boobs.  For some reason the girls have hung on so instead of being straight up and down flat chested like I was at 135 lbs. I’ll be straight up and down with a D cup.  They are kind of in the way but whatever.

I’ll have the spousal unit do a glamour shot when I reach goal.  I won’t be 38 with dark hair like I was in the picture above, but I will be that slim!

How about them apples?

Down the Scale or Shrinking over here, boss!

Looking back fondly at our ’71 VW Bus that came in second place in Car Talk’s photo contest lamenting that VW is no longer making them in Brazil or Mexico.

I have emerged from the Holidaze five pounds lighter!

Having joined a Facebook group, “Alternative Day Fasting, or ADF” I’ve been getting tips from more experienced ADFers, some that have lost hundreds of pounds and now maintain themselves at BMIs of less than 19!

My weight loss sped up again when I forced myself to eat midday on on down days and added a bit more food to down days, sometimes exceeding the 400 calorie cap.  I had been starving and eating nothing on down days and that stalled my system and caused another plateau in November.  My weight loss also sped up when I skipped two down days (Christmas Eve and New Years Eve) so as not be “unsociable”.  Who knew?

This is counterintuitive.  How in blazes can I lose weight faster by eating more?  I can’t say, but I am willing to add a few calories on down days in the form of a pinch of Parmesan cheese to my Caesar salad or a bite of hubby’s dinner.  And my routine has suddenly changed from sewing and crafting alone at home every day to driving to town on our icy country roads to town each day to the county courthouse.

I have been summoned to sit on a lengthy jury trial as a juror with a group of very sociable folks.  Our “breaks” in the jury room sound like a cocktail party with everyone visiting and noshing on all the snacks that are arrayed every day on our big conference table.  Last year I would’ve been the “fatty” of the group, but thanks to ADF, I am now AVERAGE!!  I’m in between a size 14 and 16, down from a size 22 since April.  It is tough to get dressed as most of my clothes are just too damn big.  But digging around in bags of old clothes I have stashed away (and forgotten about) I found four pairs of jeans and some shirts.  Three pairs of jeans are already too big, but one pair fits great with a belt to keep them from falling down.

I’ve made myself some clothes, but not enough to call a wardrobe.  I might have to break down and go buy a pair of skinny jeans since the ones that fit are bell bottoms and pretty much out of style.  At least they’re not “mom” jeans.  And I’m back in my old bras that are comfortable, and getting looser kind of fast.

And last of all, and maybe most of all, I am scheduled to see the Orthopedic Surgeon on the 20th (a holiday, so no jury duty that day) to begin the process of getting both knees replaced.  So my blog will have the added dimension of a shrinking old lady becoming a hundred thousand dollar old lady with new legs as well.  Wish me luck and my best to all of you in 2014 fellow fasters!

Weigh Day #7 or what in the hell am going to wear now?

Down another five lbs!

My pants won’t stay up.  I dug out the next size down from the bags of clothes I have stashed away and found three pairs of jeans I must have bought about three years ago when I worked downtown and hadn’t eaten my way up past 200 lbs yet.  They fit, but they stretch out after little while and then won’t stay up.  This droopy drawer syndrome is part of having a too-fat tummy, as the thing pushes down as hard as I pull up.

My tummy is MUCH SMALLER than it was, but it is still a force to be reckoned with as far as clothing goes.  Clothes just don’t fit well over fat.  Ever.  Jeans are designed to sit on the hips, but they can’t with this muffin spud gut spare tire pushing down on them.  I will have to get back to the size 8-10 I should be to not have this stomach pooch problem I guess.  My arms are smaller.  All of me is smaller now, like the air is slowly being let out of a balloon.  And I can wear bras again that have languished in the underwear drawer for at least three years!

I found a Facebook group for ADF, comprised of people from the UK and a few of us Americans.  Everyone on the page is on a different fasting regimen and at different stages.   They talk about new books about ADF coming out, and I’m finding that ADF is all over the map.  I am sticking to my 3/4 as they call it, fasting three days and eating four days each week.  I go by the day of the week, and marvel at some of these people that truly go every other day on their 3/4 plan.  I couldn’t do that.  I have to be able to eat on Fridays and Saturdays if I’m to have any semblance of a social life.  And the Americans are debating what to do for the upcoming Holidays.

I find it inspiring to read how ADF has got several of these people down to and even below their goal weight!  One guy has lost almost 300 lbs!  (He uses the term “stones” because he’s a Brit, but I figured it out.  He must have been HUGE and destined to be buried in a piano case until he tried ADF.  Now he’s in maintenance mode a tad below his goal weight, fasting only two days a week.  I can’t wait to reach goal and start modifying the regimen to maintain.  The leaner and lighter I am, the longer I’ll live.  Fat predisposes me to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, lung ailments, and just looking and feeling terrible.  It also makes certain clothes never fit right, causing the tug of war with bras, jeans, swimsuits, and anything else that’s form fitting.  Thank heavens for tee shirts, skirts,, and loose pants!

Weigh Day number 6

Happy to report that the “plateau” thingy seems to be receding in the rear view.

Harvest and “putting up” the harvest season is in full swing.  Check out the bitchin’ salsa I’m canning (and chowing down fresh).

I am down now to a weight I can actually write down without wanting to dig a hole and pull the hole in after me to cover my shame.  After six full months of alternate day fasting, 400 calories or less on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays without exception or cheating, I now weigh 188 lbs.  I’m sure, gentle reader that you can do the math and compute my starting weight, but since since that heavy number is now history, we can move on and just say that I’ve lost a cool 43 lbs!  I have not suffered (much), and I have a new skill.  I can plan, cook, and serve a meal to others without eating any of it, not even to taste.  This new skill was my number one doubt about going on a permanent weight loss lifestyle.  (Note I didn’t say DIET.  This is not a diet; this is forever.)  I didn’t think I could do it.  I have gone to parties, events, etc. and managed to not cheat.  I am used to sticking to the fast knowing I will eat tomorrow.  I now arrange my life around the alternate day fasting, because being a healthy weight is THAT IMPORTANT.

When I was a young gymnast and figure skater, I controlled my weight through fasting.  But the only fasting routine I knew was a three day, zero calorie liquids fast–coffee, tea, water, diet soda, and what I jokingly called “bowls of air”.  A teenager can handle this because they are made of youthful energy and vigor.  But my old post menopausal self?  Not so much.  I get dizzy and feel really weird on day two of a full fledged monk’s fast, and by day three I’m sure my electrolytes and blood sugar levels could be dropping too low.  One day fasting, on the other hand, goes by quickly especially if I keep busy, and despite the growling guts, I feel perfectly fine all day, (just a little jealous of others tucking into the terrific food I cook up for them.)

I am nearly halfway down to goal–my former normal weight of 130 lbs.  I should be having the two big surgeries this winter, about three months apart.  If I keep losing six pounds a month (and I might not and that’s OK), I should be approaching goal weight in about ten months, just in time for bathing suit season!  Woot!  Hopefully, I will be both slim and ambulatory enough to do some awesome swimming and diving next summer!

Weigh Day Five and how I broke through the “plateau”.

I feel almost brave enough to list some numbers now that I’ve slipped under my personal “shaming” number by a full six pounds.  (Hint:  This number implies the “two tons of fun” in fat shaming, as very few women look anything other than FAT when they exceed this number on the scale, unless they are Olympic shot put and weight lifting athletes.)  But no scale readings today other than to document another five lbs. lost. I have yet to go in the wrong direction, despite the slow progress.

Fat shaming aside, I still look pretty fat for losing thirty lbs., and only a couple of people have noticed the weight loss.  But I fit better in the 70s cars (VW Bug, 240Z) that I was getting too big to ride in.  In the Volkswagen, my butt and billowing thighs spilled over the sides of those narrow seats, and my caboose pushed me forward so far that I felt like I was falling out of the seat into the leg area.  Now the seatbelt isn’t tight and my butt is even with the seat (18″).  This is within the range of “normal”  Yay!  I can get on an airplane again without spilling over into the seats on either side, except for my arms, which still seem to be too big to fit anywhere.  I’m waiting for those arms to start shrinking.  I hope they’re listening and on board with the program.

I’m down a full dress size now, and having dilemmas with too big jeans that tend to slide down like gangsta saggers.  My stomach has really gone down!  I can bend over and tie my shoes without feeling like I have a yoga ball between my lap and chin.  My rear end is not sticking out as far either.  (The beeper is getting quieter…)

In late July I hit the plateau so many experience in their weight loss continuum.  At first I was dropping almost ten lbs. a month but in July I barely lost two lbs.  Now when you are going three days a week watching everyone else pig out at parties (both the 4th of July and Memorial Day landed on fast days), fixing food to feed others, and going through the day with a growling gut, losing only two lbs. is a real pisser.  Lucky for me, Labor Day is ALWAYS on a Monday!  But this fasting has to continue in some form for the rest of my life to counteract my Ni’Puu “feast or famine” metabolism.  So I will be content with the “two tons of fun” number going away and having cheeseburgers on Labor Day.

It’s Friday, and I have today and tomorrow to EAT!  I think I’ll have this:

Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Zucchini topped with Melted Cheddar, Bacon and an Avocado Blue Cheese Dressing

Every fast day has it’s reward the next day!  That’s why Alternate Day Fasting WORKS!!

Happy Fasting All!

Weigh Day Four

I slipped below a significant figure on the scale, but just. My weight loss is slowing, and apparently this is normal as my metabolism adjusts to the reduced calories and becomes more “efficient”. It also sort of sucks because I think I’m going to either have to add another fast day or drop my daily intake on eating days, which isn’t rewarding at all after a day of tummy rumbling and smelling my hubby’s yummy meals I cook for him.

But my consolation prize is dropping a pants size. That’s progress! Pants don’t lie.

 

Off topic, but cute:  Baby Layla, the day we brought her home.

Weigh Day III

It’s the first Friday in July, and I managed to entertain and feed guests for the 4th by the pool here at the farm without breaking the Thursday fast.  (Believe me, I was tempted.)

The menu was simple, but interesting:  Gyros with hummus, tzajiki, cukes, falafil, and feta with a fresh from the garden spinach Greek salad.  I seasoned the meat and let it soak up all the flavors of onions, garlic, rosemary, marjoram, tarragon, oregano, and savory for about three hours in the fridge.  Then it all went in the food processor until it became a fragrant paste.  This I packed onto a skewer like a long tubelike loaf, wrapped in foil, and put in the freezer until grilling time.

Needless to say, after searing over the coals and then cooking through off the coals for an hour and fifteen minutes the gyro meat was  to die for, and I had to watch all of them eat it.  And I havent’ even tasted it yet, but now that I’ve weighed, I can go get that stuff and make a gyro for breakfast!

I have lost a total of 26 lbs. now.  It doesn’t show much yet to others, but I can feel it.  By August weigh day, I think it will start to show, and I will have dropped below the century mark on the scale that has made me disgusted with myself for quite some time.  Just one more pound lost puts me over that hurdle and that “2” turns to a “1”, territory I can much better live with!

Weigh Day #2

I just stepped off the scale.

For the last five years I’ve shied away from the scale as the pounds piled on.  At the highest point I felt so buried and encased that movement was impaired, as if a giant elephant sat on me.  Rolling over in bed became an effort, getting up out of a chair, and of course walking.  Walking is the key to the weight gain in the first place since my knees are completely shot.  They shake, they buckle, they HURT like hell.  Clothes seemed to shrink, and the tops riding up and the pants riding down grew worse and more annoying.  My blood pressure soared and I was always hot.

In the back of my mind, I knew the last straw would be bras and underwear.  I was up to the largest size in the only bras I could find that are comfortable and wearable.  If I got any bigger I’d have to go without a bra!  There is no way I could do this, and I’m sure the “bra police” would bust me if I tried.  (No pun intended.)  Is it me, or are the plus size unmentionables the cheapest, most poorly made, ill fitting Chinese made crap out there?  I tried all of them, and none of them fit.  I have a whole drawer full of Hanes and “Just My Size” (which I now call “Just Too Small”) panties where the leg openings are gigantic, yet the hip is too narrow, as if made for a Martian.  So they migrate right up the crack in four strides and are thus unwearable.

And why are the neck openings gaping and huge in plus sized tops, while the arms seem kind of tight creating a rumpled look on the shoulders?  For the love of Mike it’s hard enough to cover up all this fat without the clothes taking on a life of their own and conspiring to twist and deform with every move I make, making me even more dumpy looking.  And jeans.  Oh, jeans.  To get the butt and thighs to fit, the waistband is about four inches too big.  So I take in darts on each side in the back.  But that pinches my fat “Venus of Willendorf” stomach when I sit down pushing all that blubber right into my diaphragm so I can barely breathe.

The problem isn’t the clothes, it’s my misshapen, obese body.  I’m short waisted and narrow shouldered, and very long legged, and being fat on top of this is a fitting nightmare.  I HAVE TO GET THIS WEIGHT OFF!

Two months ago I embraced a weight loss strategy I could live with for the rest of my life, and I am glad I can step on the scale and for the second time, whoop with victory.  Fasting on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays is bearable because I know I can eat whatever I want on Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays, and Wednesdays.  This is working for me!

I’m only weighing once a month, on the “First Friday” of each month.  Today is June’s first Friday.  The pool is up and the weather is warm and beautiful.  When I stepped on the scale I was pleased to see I’d lost another eight pounds for a total of eighteen since I started the alternate day fasts.

I’d have lost a full ten like the first month, I’m sure, if I’d refrained from pigging out on a fast day that fell on Mother’s Day.  We took my mother in law to the all you can eat Asian buffet (she’s diabetic).  If you’re going to eat in a restaurant and you have “issues”, make it Asian.  Asian cuisine is the lowest in fats and the highest in nutrition to calories because they use so many veggies.

Today is the big eating day, the celebration day.  My reward will be Death by Chocolate!

YUM!

Tuesdays are Fast Days

Tuesdays are the Wednesdays, the ‘hump days’ of my food life.  The week starts on Monday, and Mondays rock because Mondays are “eating” days and I can eat and drink anything I want.   Yesterday, I fixed something from the category of food both my husband Steve and I both really like–hot and hearty sandwiches ala “Sandwiches that You will Like”.

I made an Texas/American twist on Stromboli, Hoagies with garlic chicken/mozzarella sausages smothered in home made, home canned BBQ sauce (more on the homemade goodies later) with caramelized onions and Swiss cheese on the grilled hoagie halves, and served with sweet mesquite seasoned oven fries.   Nom nom nom.

But every yummy Monday is followed by a fasting Tuesday.  I can eat NO MORE than 400 calories, and believe me that isn’t much.

I weigh everything I eat on Fast days.  Like wine.  Did you know that a glass of wine (103 grams) has exactly 74 calories?  I drink two of those on Fast days and spend 150 calories just on wine.  Most green veggies (except avocados, are they a fruit?) are about 35 calories per cup.  You can eat a lot of greens before you hit 250 calories, but watch out for what you put on them!  Salad dressings vary, and Ranch is the WORST at 350 calories per two tablespoon serving.  O/V is lowest at 36 per tablespoon.  And these are naked salads–no croûtons, tomatoes, crunchy nuts, fruits, or cheese.  Just the green stuff.  I’ve also been enjoying fresh asparagus from the garden on fast days, so this is not a living hell.

But right now I am utterly empty, stomach growling.  It is one thirty in the afternoon and my last food was the hoagie and oven fries yesterday at 5:20 p.m..  So I am in full fast mode and my mitochondrial DNA has shifted into “repair” mode.  My blood chemistry is on the mend, my blood sugar dropping like a stone, my triglycerides turning into ATP–all according to the plan.  And the best part is I’m shedding about 8 lbs a month fasting three days out of seven every week (for the rest of my life).  When I get all those blood tests done again I expect to see a lot of improvement.

In about two hours I will get the scale out and tipple my first glass of wine.  It’s a localish vintage, from the Columbia Valley (where I was raised) in eastern WA.  What used to be rattlesnakes and sand dunes peppered with old growth sage brush and a light dusting of Cesium 14 is now miles and miles of vineyards growing Cabernet grapes just for me.

The reason I can handle not eating on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays until my telomeres get too short and I croak is that tomorrow is Wednesday, and I can eat WHATEVER I WANT!!!  Thus, Alternative Day Fasting is the doable eating lifestyle that will enable me to not eat myself to death, waddle around overweight and butt ugly, and fix my “issues” from within.  Plus, those telomeres should last longer according to many studies on calorie restriction.

I got over the worst hurdle in the first month, that of cooking for and feeding Steve, since he isn’t big and fat with high blood pressure and needing double full knee replacements.  He just has a “normal” beer gut, and not an ounce of fat anywhere but his belly.  The only place I don’t have fat is my hands and feet, and if I hadn’t started the Alternate Day Fasting in April, I think I’d have at least one fat finger by now.  I was gaining every month.  180. 190.  200.  210.  220!  Good frigging CHRIST I got up to two hundred and twenty frigging pounds!

But I can fix him food and flee while he eats it.  I am a very good cook and he om nom noms his food, raving about how good it is.  I was so surprised I could handle this by swigging good wine and telling myself:  “Tomorrow you can have ANYTHING you WANT!”