Summer has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest, and it certainly was a long time in coming this year. Between a worn out pair of shoes with holes in the soles letting my socks get soaked daily from record rainfall, some pretty big bouts with seasonal depression, and some employment ambiguity, it has been a rough spring. But with 75-degree temperatures and mostly sunny skies, a new pair of hole-free shoes, and the kids out of school for the summer, things are looking up.

An Opportunity in the Making

One of the summer activities we have planned is to go camping with my wife’s extended family in mid-August. Her family has an annual family camping reunion each summer, and it generally involves lots of activities during the day, a fair bit of lounging and visiting, and not just a little food and drink. We always have an absolute blast, but I remember last year how it really would have been so much nicer to be a little thinner when we’re hiking around the mountains or swimming in the rivers.

With all of that on the roadmap, it occurred to me that this is one of those golden opportunities to use an imminent event to my weight loss advantage. Some folks will recall that I lost about 20 lbs at the beginning of the year using a combination of intermittent fasting (IF), whole foods, and reasonable indulgences. But the biggest motivator? An event – a weekend getaway trip with my wife to central California. I used that event as a focal point to lose weight, and it worked. Couple the food plan with exercise, and I was able to lose that weight pretty quickly.

Once the event was over, I wondered how well I would do with keeping the weight off. And to my surprise, I have kept most of it off since then. I say surprise because a) I wasn’t sure whether the quick loss of 20 lbs with IF would be a permanent thing, and b) I’ve taken my eye off the ball exercise and moderation-wise for the last few months. I think what is saving me here is that I’ve developed better food habits over the last couple of years, so my default foods are now whole foods rather than the junk I ate when I was younger. I have crept back up on the scale between 3 or 4 pounds from my low this year, but I can guarantee that its a direct result of a few too many craft beers combined with a lack of an exercise plan, and a whole lot of stress (stress and boredom eaters of the world, unite!).

But that ended earlier this week, with a conscious decision to make some changes to meet my family camping trip goal.

The Plan

With a little planning, I have already started to get my weight loss goals recharged. I would really like to be about 25 lbs thinner by the time family camp comes around, which is roughly 7 weeks. That would bring my year’s total to 40 lbs lost. And if I’m successful with this push, that will leave a final 35 lbs for the fall to reach my goal of 75 lbs for the year.

So how am I going to do it? This is the basic idea:

My Personal “Lose 25 lbs for Camping” Plan

Minimums per day:
6 glasses water
50 push-ups
30 crunches
5 minutes of “wall sit” strengthening exercises
30 minutes walk/run/cycle outside per day

Eating guidelines:

There are a few things I should clarify: First, this plan starts by using the principle of using minimums rather than goals for my basic daily habits. One of my usual reads is a site called Dumb Little Man, where they recently posted an article on this concept. The article was “Thinking Small without Guilt: Setting Your Minimum Goal Standards“, and it made a lot of sense to me. Rather than making success contingent on reaching a higher goal, view it as a bare minimum that must be met. Is 6 glasses of water enough to maximize my weight loss? Probably not – but it is certainly more than I drink on average, and a good minimum with which to start. And that is the idea – are 50 pushups enough after two weeks to really tone up? I doubt it, but it doesn’t matter. As long as I’m hitting my minimums, anything I do above that is cake. Mmm. Cake.

And once the requirement becomes comfortable and habitual, I’ll likely raise the minimums. I also have a set of exercise options to try for fun, but I am not making that a requirement – yet.

Second, you’ll notice that there is no calorie counting in this plan. My objective is to generally reduce my intake on a weekly level and not drive myself insane trying to account for every crumb (which for me has never worked). The plan is simple: eat reasonably on non-fasting days by eating whole, seasonal foods while limiting my sugar intake (including natural sugars). You might have noticed that there’s no “carbohydrate” day, and that is primarily because with my love of carbs I could easily undo the work of two or three other days if I ate bread all day. I’m generally keeping the carbs to a minimum, replacing them with vegetables, protein, fats, and some complex carbs/whole grains.

Third, the core of this plan in many ways is Intermittent Fasting. I enjoy fasting for a variety of reasons, though I know it’s not for everyone. This approach worked well for me in January, but this time I’m adding a little more structure to make planning easier.

Finally, on weekends I’m not going to worry too much about what I eat. I’ll still maintain my habits of moderation and real food, but if I want to have a beer with friends, I’m having that beer. Dessert? Definitely – just not 3 of them.

There are of course a lot more details involved, like what exactly I will eat on each day – but you’ll have to wait for the next few posts to find out. Will it work? Stay tuned.

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• Year goal: Complete at least one major running event this year.

Sub-goal: Beat my aversion to running in the Oregon rain.

Milestone for January: Return to running 3 miles 3 times per week, with one 5 mile run by the end of January.

• Year goal: Lose 75 lbs this year – and if I lose it early, keep it off.

Milestone for January: Lose 10 lbs this month.

• Year goal: Start writing at least one meaningful post per week for Almost Fit.

Milestone for January: you guessed it – 5 Almost Fit posts.

So how am I doing so far?

Return to running

Grade so far: A-, but satisfied

What I’ve done so far: Running has been going really well for the most part. As you may know if you’ve been reading Almost Fit for a while, I am a big fan of interval training particularly for those of us who are overweight. It’s a great way to safely increase your workouts without as much risk of injury.

This month so far I’ve completed:

• Five 3-mile runs
• One 3-mile speed walk (recovering from a mild heel injury after my last run of 2009 on New Year’s Eve)
• One 5-mile run

By my count I should be at a total of 9 runs so far this month (including the one recovery walk), but I’m only at 7. And yet I’m satisfied. Why? In a word, illness.

Down for the count

I’ve been sick this week with what started as minor chest congestion and sore throat, but concluded the week with a major asthma and fever attack. Without exaggeration, Friday night was nearly a visit to the emergency room. In fact I’m writing this post from bed, where I’ve stayed by direct order from my amazing and wise wife for the last two days. So the fact that I’m a little behind on the number of runs doesn’t bother me at all. It’s the smart thing to do not to push it too hard. I’m starting to feel much better today, but I’m going to lay low for a couple of days to be sure.

Oh and my sub-goal of beating my aversion to running in the rain? Check. Most of those runs were in rain and wind, and believe it or not I actually enjoyed the stormy Pacific Northwest winter weather on my 5-mile run. There is something thrilling about jamming out with your ipod while the world rages wind and rain around you – I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Weight loss progress

Grade so far: A+

My goal this month was to lose the first 10 lbs, which for me have always been the easiest. So how am I doing?

As Gary Vaynerchuk says, I am CRUSHING it.

Weight loss so far this month: 16.2 lbs, and counting

How am I getting there? Two things:

• First of all, I have a specific objective for the end of the month. I am surprising my wife with trip (she knows we’re going somewhere, but I’ve kept the destination a secret), and I’m using that to fuel my motivation. When we head out in whatever transportation fashion we are taking (sorry love, no clues here ) I want to feel as good as I can feel. Losing weight is the principal way for me to achieve that.

• Second, I am controlling what I eat, but in a slightly unusual (I think) way: I’m trying out what I’m calling the “keep my body guessing” technique. I’m using a combination of eating methods: I’ll practice intermittent fasting (IF) one day, then eat primal foods the next, then eat all things moderately the next, then have an IF day with an evening of indulgence – in good, real food, including on one night, (good heavens) beer.

With eating however, there are three significant undercurrents:

• I am only eating real food, meaning well-sourced proteins and fats, moderate whole grains (with the occasional whole wheat English muffin), lots of vegetables, and some fruit, though I keep that to a minimum. Also no more half and half in my morning coffee (but that is more for digestive reasons). I’m also very water conscious, and have eliminated juices.
• I’ve all but eliminated refined sugar from my diet. Here’s an article at one of my favorite sites, Mark’s Daily Apple on why this is crucial to good health: The Definitive Guide to Insulin, Blood Sugar & Type 2 Diabetes (and you’ll understand it)
• I’ve limited indulgence in alcohol to one evening out this month (so far), and occasionally a small glass of wine with dinner (particularly on IF days).

For me, sugar is one of my worst addictions. Even fruit sugars (meaning the sugars in a piece of real fruit) activate strong cravings for more and more sugar, so I am keeping fruit consumption to a minimum. Literally an apple a day, if that.

I love this approach so far, partly because I’m rapidly growing fond of intermittent fasting-but don’t want to overdo it. By eating moderately across the board (sans sugar) on non-fasting days, I ensure that I’m getting the nutrition I need, I’m getting food satisfaction, and the pounds are dropping. And as I mentioned in the previous article, fasting brings a whole different set of benefits that I am increasingly enjoying.

Third goal: Writing regularly to stay motivated

Grade so far: B+

By my count, this is article number four of five for this month. Whether this particular piece is meaningful or not (part of my goal) depends on your perspective of course; but for me, it’s personally important, so I’ll take it.

Preview of coming attractions

I’ve been having some interesting conversations about calories, fats, and so forth (thanks Jen for the inspiration) via Facebook that have challenged me to dig deeper into the science of calories, so look for a post soon on that. I’ve also been studying more on the science and lore of primal and paleo eating, which I find interesting as well.

I also have an upcoming guest post from a friend who is on his way to losing 80 lbs by his birthday in just a few days, which is incredible considering he is a gourmet chef. Definitely stay tuned for that.

One more post this month and I’ve reached my goal for five in January. That said, I have room for improvement as I feel that its gone a bit too long between this post and my last. I’ll get there.

Wrapping it up

So far, January of 2010 has been a great, great start to reaching some major life goals. I hope you are finding success as well. Have you had success with fitness goals this year so far? What has worked? What hasn’t?

Thanks for reading.

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On Saturday I decided that it was the right time to try intermittent fasting (IF). As I explained in part 1 (“20 hours without eating: the intermittent fasting experiment“), IF is essentially giving your body a break from food for a set period of time, and then eating the calories and nutrients you need during a specific window. If you are trying to lose weight, the key is during your eating times you take in the appropriate nutrients while maintaining a reasonable and healthy caloric deficit.

In my case I chose to fast for 20 hours, starting at 9PM the previous evening and having only water (and a cup of coffee) until 5PM the next day. I also asked my wife to make dinner for the family to be ready at 5 or so, just so that when the fast was over I could actually eat something substantial and more importantly, planned (in my mind, no plan might equal disaster food-wise). I also asked her to make something extra tasty .

Of course, I wasn’t sure if I could even make it that long mentally. Could I actually last 20 hours without giving in to cravings of, well, anything? How would I do physically and more importantly, emotionally? I decided to go for it, knowing that if things got too out of hand I could always stop. The results were pretty surprising.

Play by play experience of 20 hours of intermittent fasting

These are some of the highlights of how I felt throughout the day. To be fair, I did write this after the fact, but this is what I remember.

9AM: The morning went well, but I discovered right off that bat that the smell of toast makes me instantly hungry. Even burnt toast, which is what happened when I was making some toast for my 5-year old. However I resisted the urge to make a piece for myself and moved on. Small victory, but victory nonetheless. Other than the momentary desire for buttered toast, hunger was no problem. Reasonable energy, and my head was on straight.

10AM: Stomach was definitely starting to grumble a bit, mostly stimulated by the breakfast we made available for the kids (papaya slices, apples, and whole grain toast). Emotionally I was doing OK with it; no desperation for food at all. But I also realized I needed to get busy with the day’s work to take my mind away from food.

11AM: Definitely starting to feel hungry. Oddly I had forgotten until this point that I was allowed to drink water, so I had a large glass and that instantly helped the hunger. Emotionally I was definitely starting to get grumpy, but to my surprise the water also helped with that almost instantly.

Noon: Hungry, but staying busy and drinking water. A little bit of sweating, but I believe it was more from the work I was doing than from blood sugar, though I could definitely feel some jitters from either the cup of coffee I had (first thing in the morning before I decided to fast), or from lack of food – truly not sure. Energy was good otherwise. The rationalization head games tried to take hold (“just one cracker?” kinds of thoughts), but I just kept moving and drinking water.

1-2PM: Similar to noon, but I remember clearly thinking a lot about the fact that I only had 4 hours to go until I could eat. Having a solid goal helped quite a bit. Energy was fine, and emotions had settled a little. No desperation feelings surprisingly.

3PM: Feeling a bit lightheaded once or twice. A little foggy mentally, but not bad (it could be that I was simply more focused on it – I’m probably foggy normally ). Energy was up however, and a perceived feeling of calmness was also very distinctly present. I had to run to the local home supply store to pick up a few things, and was able to navigate the checkout aisle with no interest at all in the junk food that normally tries to jump into my cart (another small victory).

4:00PM: Time for my run. Energy was excellent – I would go as far as to say abundant – and motivation was high considering I only had an hour to go before eating (I was definitely looking forward to that).

The run (4:15-5:15 or so): Before running I wondered if I would experience any physical effects from having not eaten all day. Cramping, lightheadedness, lack of energy? None of the above. In fact, the run went really well. I finished and did a handful of crunches and push-ups for good measure.

5:30PM: Time to eat. I gave myself a one hour window to eat for the evening so that I didn’t overdo it, and that seemed to work. I had promised myself that I could eat as much as I wanted at dinner as long as I started with a large salad. Fortunately my wife was prepared with a great salad of greens, dried cranberries, her excellent vinaigrette, a little blue cheese, and some chopped hazelnuts. Salad never tasted so good. And that was actually a good point – my lack of food all day really sharpened my enjoyment of the salad – I had two servings. After that, a family recipe of thick cut lean pork chops (from a local sustainable farmer) with vegetables was dinner, with a small glass of white wine and a large glass of water. Finally I had a cookie for dessert – and although this was refined sugar, it was a limited indulgence.

by 6:30, I was finished eating for the day, I was stuffed, and felt a strong sense of accomplishment.

Evening/Post-fast: On a normal eating day, by suppertime I am generally really, really tired. I sometimes feel like I could fall asleep at the table. Today it was the opposite. In fact, by 7:30 I had exceptional energy – possibly from the run, and possibly from the experiment – I can’t be sure. I did the dishes and was energized to write this post.

All in all a great day.

Takeaway on IF

This was certainly not easy, yet not nearly as difficult as I thought either – especially on the emotional front. Hunger was there without question, but the water really helped. A few mental tricks also worked (like keeping in mind that I could eat anything I wanted at 5, thinking about the positives of getting back in shape) to keep going. I was feeling so good by the end of the day that I considered doing it again the next day, but I would rather use it as an intermittent motivational tool rather than a daily routine at this point. Instead I’ll practice “clean” eating habits by focusing on whole foods for a few days – and then possibly another fast. We’ll see.

Benefits:

• True sense of accomplishment: By the end it felt really, really good not only to demonstrate to myself that I had the willpower to do it, but it really kickstarted a week of healthful eating.
• A distinct feeling of serenity late in the fast: This really surprised me, but was a tangible benefit. I felt as though I was flowing through the day rather than fighting my way through it.
• Abundant energy: I have not felt that much energy in a while, particularly without caffeine being involved.
• No ill effects on exercise: No cramping, great energy, and the will to keep running until my goal was reached.
• Greater enjoyment of the foods I ate after the fast: The foods I ate tasted incredible, from the salad to the wine. The lack of food during the day I felt really sharpened my enjoyment of the meal. Granted, my wife’s meals are always excellent, but the fasting really accentuated her cooking (yes, that was a shameless suck-up. Never hurts. ).
• Hydration was excellent. I estimate I drank easily 12 glasses of water, particularly with the run.
• [Update: I had very little soreness from the run, which is a good sign. I also did a mild fast the next day, limiting my eating window from 2-6. I also successfully said no to pizza and cake on Sunday in favor of waiting for better food later - another victory.]

Downsides:

• I will leave room for the possibility that it could have had some adverse effect on my metabolism, but I doubt it. Time will tell.
• Required mental focus: It did require a fair bit of focus to make it through, but I would say no more than it does to prepare 6 meals for a single day (a common approach to healthful eating). I also think that it had a lot to do with trying to be very conscious of the experience to track how I was doing. I have a feeling that the next time will require much less mental energy having one under my belt.
• Some occasional lightheadedness, and possibly a blood sugar low early in the day (not sure). On blood sugar however, if that was the case, I suspect that has more to do with my body expecting sugars (because I’ve trained it to expect excess sugar) than an actual need. More research however is in order.

A few things learned:

• Do NOT work on your food journal while you’re fasting. I tried this for a few moments, and not only did it make me feel hungry, but I could feel the groundswell of emotion coming up. Yikes.
• Set a goal: When fasting, use the simple strategy of reward when the fast is over. Know what time you are shooting for, as that marker will help pull you through.
• Avoid food aromas that turn on your hunger switch if possible.
• When you return to eating, take it slow. You might be inclined to scarf down your food, but don’t – it may make you feel ill.
• Likewise, when you start eating for the day, make sure you are getting the nutrients you need.
• Take natural supplements if that is right for you. In my case I’ve been taking whole food supplements from Whole Food Nation (thanks Robin), and I experienced no nausea or ill effects from taking them only with water, though your experience may be different.

Healthwise I also tend to think there is nothing wrong with occasional fasting. [Warning: Soapbox alert] In this country especially our food-obsessed pendulum really swings toward hyperfocus on eating in my opinion. The idea that the body needs to be fed all day long seems a little extreme to me, and says more about a culture of abundance than actual science (yes, them’s fightin’ words, I know). There are plenty of studies to prove either view; but for me, I don’t really want to be that food-focused with every aspect of life. Not to mention, obsessing over every crumb and calorie is an approach which for me has never worked.

Likewise I don’t subscribe to the “a calorie is a calorie” or “food as fuel” mentalities either. Food should be pleasurable, not just raw energy. It is one of the most meaningful ways that we communicate across cultures, and it says a lot about the spirit of a person and their home. When I eat a meal, I want to enjoy it thoroughly as a sensory experience that satisfies not only caloric or nutritional needs, but is a true experience in the pleasure of eating. And ultimately that is the mission of Almost Fit: figuring out how to enjoy food without it being to the detriment of health. Seems simple enough. [end Soapbox]

The bottom line? I loved it, and I’m definitely going to do it again between days of eating normally. I may also adopt a more moderate fasting style, where I limit my daily eating window to 6 hours. I’m not sure yet, but it sounds like another great experiment.

Oh and one last thing: What was the result weight-wise, considering my goal of losing 10 lbs this month? You’ll have to wait until the next post to find out.

Ed note: Thanks for reading Almost Fit. If you enjoyed this series, please consider sharing it with one of the buttons below.

And one more time with the Heavy disclaimer: Note that I am not a doctor, and this is not a recommendation as such. If intermittent fasting is something that interests you, you should do your research, talk to your doctor, etc. Fasting is certainly not for everyone, particularly people with known or underlying health conditions, eating disorders, and so forth, so use caution and think it through. Thanks again.

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