Fasting day 15 Oct 28 2008-182 lbs.

Looks like my weight came back off. Nice to be back on track. Not much to report today. Will not cook tonight...just heat up some stuff for the fam. It got cold here in NYC today. So that means I was extra cold b/c I'm fasting. Got to remember to bundle up on fasting days. Especially for the office.

One thing about fasting is you tend to think about food and what you will be cooking for the next meal. It is not a "longing" for food like you are starving to death. Just thinking about what you will eat next and trying to decide on a menu. Like food becomes more interesting of something. Its more fun to plan and prepare meals now I guess.

So along those lines I am thinking of cooking a roast chicken with pan ju and vegetables tomorrow. Sounds good right now. If it comes out good I'll take a pic and post it.

Oh yea, yesterday we had meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I cooked the meatloaf in the pressure cooker. It only takes 20 minutes for a 1 pound meatloaf. You just make a meatloaf according to your favorite recipe and put in the PC on an insert to keep it off the bottom Add maybe a 1/2 cup of water and bring to pressure for 20 min and voila its done.

I'm likin' this ADF as a lifestyle or way of eating (WOE) and not just a diet.

Fasting day 14 Oct 26 2008 185 lbs

Ok so I gained 2 pounds over the last two days of eating. Today was a good fasting day, however. No problem. I actually wanted to fast after eating all that food Friday and Saturday.

I made potato-leek soup and spaghetti bolognese for dinner for the family. Use homemade vegetable broth, made in the pressure cooker, for the soup. These are common recipes so I won't list them in detail but I do have pictures.



I like cooking while fasting for some reason. Especially dinner. By that time I am so into the fast that I don't have a problem resisting the urge to eat.

Fasting day 13 Oct 23 2008 183.5 lbs

So it is a double fasting day. It is Thursday around noon and I haven't eaten since Tuesday night. So far so good. Actually feel great today. Mental acuity is high. A little hungry but am used to it by now. Hunger is not worse than what I experience on the one-day fast. Will check-in at the end of the day.

UPDATE: 728 p.m. Still okay. 2 day fast is no more difficult than one day fast. Making dinner for kid right now and not a problem not to eat. Felt high energy all day...a little wired and loopy however, but I enjoyed the edginess. I think my brain works better on fasting days than on eating days.

I made homemade mac and cheese for J for dinner. Here is what I did:
Sauce:
1.5 cups whole milk
1 cup of grated longhorn cheddar
1 by 2 inch block of velveeta
2-3 tablespoons of Wondra flour
2-3 tablespoons butter.

Put milk, butter and wondra in saucepan. Bring to boil while stirring constantly. Boil for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and cool for 1 minute. Add cheeses and stir until melted. Cook 1/2 box of elbow macaroni until just under done. Mix with sauce, put into a baking dish and top with a little cheese and some bread crumbs. Before baking pasta should be fairly wet with the sauce. Sauce will dry out upon baking so don't be afraid to use a high sauce:pasta ratio. Bake for 20 minutes until a nice crust if formed. Take out of oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with a little paprika for color.

This is a great recipe b/c I used exactly half of the elbows and the cheeses. That way I can make it again without going to the store ( as long as I have milk and butter and Wondra on hand). Oh yea, get Wondra..it is great for sauces and gravies.

This stuff smelled GOOD. I will have to reheat some tomorrow and taste it.

UPDATE #2: Slept like a baby...woke up feeling rested. Ate a bowl of Kashi/Rice dream to break fast. Was like rocket fuel. Now for 2 days of eating...

Fasting day 12 Oct 22 2008-184.5 lbs.

So we have company coming for Friday night and therefore Friday and Saturday will be eat days. So....I am thinking to fast today AND tomorrow so that I can be in synch. We'll see about that but I will definitely fast today.

In anticipation of a two day fast I ate big time yesterday. Pancakes, eggs, bacon (turkey kind) for breakfast, two slices of pizza for lunch, a few chunks of grilled chicken after work, and a steak and baked potato and salad for dinner. Had a bunch of bowls of Kashi puffed grain cereal with rice milk as a late night snack. So I think I have eaten enough for a two day fast. Its funny that I now eat lots of meat and dairy but still retain an affinity for "vegetarian" foods such as rice milk and Kashi cereal. These were foods that I ate on the McDougall plan. I still like them but I really crave MEAT now.

Part of the difficulty of fasting is fear of future hunger but not the actual experience of hunger. For example, when you are fasting you think "I am getting a little hungry and its lunch time. How can I possibly make it for the entire day? I will just be even hungrier later. It will be impossible to fast all day, I should just eat now." Fear of future hunger is what drives us to overeat, I believe, at least sometimes. Perhaps this was an evolutionary mechanism to get as many calories and nutrients as possible when food is available, in anticipation of food being scarce. Once you conquer this fear, fasting is easy. You learn that you don't keep getting hungrier and hungrier as the day goes on and that hunger is manageable. Hunger comes and goes.

Fasting day 11 Oct 20 2008-184.5 lbs

Made a good dinner last night. I like the way my spanish rice is coming out. Here is what I did.

1 cup brown rice
1 can chicken broth
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes, strain out the juice.
Cumin, turmeric, chili powder, salt, pepper.
a little oil.

Put oil in sauce pan and heat up. Add rice and toast it a little, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. You should start to smell it getting toasty. Add chicken broth and tomatoes and seasonings. Don't put too much turmeric in, just a little to color it. Add a half cup of water. Cover, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until rice is done. You can stir it occasionally. If it gets dry before rice is tender then add more water and keep cooking.

I ate this with some grilled chicken breasts marinated in margarita mix, tequila, olive oil (equal parts each), garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder and cumin. Oh and some extra lime juice. I marinated them in a food saver canister for 1 hour under vacuum.

Looking forward to a good fasting day although a little groggy this AM.. gee I wonder why.

Fasting day 10 Oct 18 2008-185 lbs

Fasting days are not so bad anymore. Anyone who wants to lose weight and get healthier can do ADF. It is better than dieting because you don't have to hold back on portions or watch what you eat. I cannot believe that I made it to 10 fasting days.

I notice people who munch on junk food and not even think twice about it. Individuals who are clearly overweight. For example, those who snack on chips and stuff while standing in the elevator or on the subway. People are ALWAYS eating. And the stuff they get at the supermarket. ALL packaged junk. The production and packaging of this crap must take tremendous resources. Think of all the energy and money we would save if everyone would just buy a whole chicken and cut it themselves instead of frozen chicken nuggets. Or a potato and cut it and fry up your own fries instead of the packaged kind. Make your own mac and cheese. Make a pot of beans in a crock pot instead of canned refried beans. All you have to do is learn to cook and you will enjoy much fresher and healthier foods. I guess I shouldn't criticize others, I have my weaknesses too. But one thing is clear, our family ate relatively whole foods before I started this crazy ADF routine. Now we eat even better whole foods. And I don't have to eliminate fats or meats like before.

I bought a bathroom scale at Target. Never had one before. So now I will be weighing myself and posting every fasting day. Maybe I'll make a running graph and display it on the page. It will be nice to see the downward trend in my weight. My goal weight will be 170 so I have 15 pounds to go. Shouldn't be too hard.

Yesterday I made the best beef stew in my pressure cooker. If you don't have one of these....get one. I use mine all the time for pinto beans, chicken or vegetable stock, stews, etc. It takes a fraction of the time to cook these things in a PC. Here is the recipe for beef stew.

1 lb. stew meat.
One medium potato peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
Two or three carrots peeled and sliced
Two celery stalks sliced
One medium onion diced.
McCormicks Stew Seasoning (okay so I cheated a little)

Dredge meat in flour and brown on all sides in pressure cooker in oil. Once brown add 1.5 cups water and half packet of seasoning and put on lid. Bring to pressure and cook for 25 minutes or so. Release pressure and add vegetables. Bring back up to pressure and cook for 20 minutes more. Release pressure and serve. This was enough for 3 people easy.

I like ADFing b/c usually i woun't eat beef stew as it was not part of any particular diet plan I happened to be on. For example, on low carb you can't have potatoes. On McDougall you can't eat meat or oil. Now I can eat it. Pizza also. There is NO diet plan that allows that!

Fasting day 9 Oct 16 2008

Fasting for a whole day is getting easier. Got to remember to bring a sweater to work b/c you get COLD while fasting esp your hands and feet.

Fasting day 8 Oct 14 2008

So far so good. Getting used to this fasting stuff. Yesterday I ATE huge quantities of food. I may be the only person to ever GAIN weigh on ADF. Not really but it sure felt like it yesterday.

Food smelled good today but it is possible to dissociate hunger from the need to eat. Water helps.

One thing that concerns me is what if a fasting day falls on a day that I must eat for social reasons. One remedy would be to plan ahead and switch fasting and eating days by fasting two days in a row. May have to do it at some point.

UPDATE: Was irritable in the late eve. However, not sure that food would have been the cure.

Fasting day 7 Oct 12 2008

Missed a couple of posts but its not about the posts its about the fasts. Fasting day 6 and eating day 6 went fine. I think I ran out of things to do on the last fasting day and thought about food a lot. You must keep yourself busy on fasting day. I cannot emphasize this enough. If you stay busy the day just rolls by and you never even think about the fact that you have had no food that day.

The urge to just munch on stuff mindlessly is starting to subside on eating days. Also you fill up quickly and feel incredibly full after a complete meal. We went to en Indian restaurant last night and I ate heartily.

UPDATE: Still fasting today (8:28 pm). Today was a nearly effortless fast even though it is a Sunday. Keeping busy is the key. Cleaned up the apartment nicely today. Went outside to the park with the kid. Took a little nap. Even cooked dinner without temptation. My new mantra should be "Fast and get more done". Is it getting easier? Will know next fasting day.

Eating day 5 Oct 9 2008

Breakfast:  Raisin bagel nothing on it.

Lunch 1:  Eggplant dish from middle eastern place.  Way too oily.  Rice.  Didn't eat all of it.

Lunch 2:  Cucumber avocado roll sushi.

Dinner:  Grilled up some more marinated chicken from last eating day.  Opened a can of fat free refried beans.  Put it all on corn tortillas with some salsa.

Late night snack: 1 bowl wheaties with real milk.

All in all a good eating day.  Didn't feel overstuffed.  Had good energy all day.  Lighter food is good for ADF.  You don't have to eat huge and rich meals on eating days to make up for the fasting days.  Just like its not that big of a deal to fast....its not that big of a deal to eat either.

Some Levi's 501 (preshrunk dark blue) that I bought about a month ago that seemed tight are now fitting well.  I read some internets about people who are really into raw denim.  They buy brand new jeans that have never been treated or washed and wear the heck out of them for months without washing them.  They develop stress marks over time and when they are finally washed they have these nice wear patterns.  I had been washing my jeans after every wear.  So now I will wear these new jeans without washing them at least until they start to smell.  I think this helps them fit your body better..  I like the dark blue look.  Looks like a biker's jeans.

Fasting day 5 Oct 8 2008

Was a so-so fasting day.  Kind of low energy.  I think the previous night's meal has a lot to do with how you feel on fasting days.  I must pay attention to it more.   Other than that not difficult. Hunger is manageable.  I like not having to worry about food on fasting days.  Also like the flatter stomach and not having food in my belly all the time.  It feels good to let your digestive system "return to its ground state" before you bombard it with more food it has to process.  There really is something to this ADF business.

This weekend I will get a bathroom scale to start measure my weight loss progress.  I figure that I was about 195 pounds when I started and am probably about 190 now.  Much of that is due to water loss no doubt.  I expect to lose about 5-10 pounds a month in real fat loss.  I know that it doesn't happen overnight from reading the other ADFer's blogs but the weight does seem to come off in a slow be steady fashion.

Eating day 4 Oct 7 2008

Breakfast:  Two bowls Wheaties with Rice dream.

Midmorning:  Bagel with cream cheese.

Lunch:  Chicken gyro.

Midafternoon:  Peanuts and crackers.

Dinner:  Mexican chicken breast (same kind of marinade as before except it was boneless breast and cooked on a grill pan), rice and beans, salad.  Margaritas.

I seem to be craving meat more and eating more food at each meal overall.  Not worried about it too much.  I used to be semi-vegetarian eating meat only rarely.  Now I don't try to restrict meat in my diet.  However, like some of the previous ADF bloggers (here and here), that have inspired me to follow this plan, I am finding that I want to make each meal a good one and not waste the eating opportunity on junk.  I hope to do better next eating day and lay off the crackers and peanuts.

Fasting day 4 Oct 6 2008

A low energy day.  I think that steak shocked my system.  Will eat lighter fare on eating days from now on.  

Still it wasn't that bad to fast.  I sure like how I sleep after fasting all day.  Another plus: a twelve pack of Bud lasts much longer in my fridge.  Saving $$$$!!!!!

I must keep this up....

Eating day 3 Oct 5 2008

Breakfast:  Corn Flakes (2x), Egg, turkey bacon, cheese wrap.

Lunch: Homemade chicken soup.

Dinner: Rib eye, potato, butter, salad.

After dinner: Corn flakes.

Ate too much today.  My belly was uncomfortably full after dinner.  Maybe steak is too much for my system.  Actually looking forward to fasting???!!!!

Took left over chicken stock and froze in tupperware containers.  Tomorrow I will take out the frozen stock and put into and foodsaver bag and "foodsave it".  That way, whenever I have some leftover chicken, I can thaw a little stock and make fresh homemade soup.  Foodsaving makes stuff last much longer in the freezer.  No freezer burn.

Fasting day 3 Oct. 4, 2008

Not too bad....there were times here and there I got hungry but it goes away.  I'm telling you, energy is good on fasting days, even more so than eating days.  

Made food for wife and kid all day and didn't eat it.  Fettuccini Alfredo for the son.  Leftovers for wife.  Prepared some chicken stock in my pressure cooker with the chicken backs and wings that I saved up from my previous two cut up chickens.  Will make some chicken soup with it tomorrow.

Eating day 2 Oct. 3, 2008

A good eating day....

Breakfast:  Corn flakes x2 bowls.  With milk-like soy beverage.  Coffee.

Lunch:  Some stuff from a salad bar deli type place.  Chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, a salad with corn, beans, chopped onion, etc.  Asparagus.  A mountain dew to drink.

Dinner:  Mexican chicken.  Used a cut up chicken.  Here is the marinade.  Used my food saver to marinate the chicken for 1/2 hour.  It draws a vacuum to speed up the process.  Bake chicken pieces for 45 minutes at 375.  Chicken came out good.  Also made McDougall style beans.  Just put a 1/2 bag of pinto beans in crock pot.  Cover with water 2 inches over bean surface.   Add cut up onion and some whole garlic cloves.  Turn on low all day.  Come home and mash them up a bit and add seasonings such as cumin, tabasco sauce, salt, pepper, a little olive oil, chili powder, etc.  Made some spanish rice that was good too.  Brown rice in oil a little, add canned tomatoes, chicken broth, seasonings and cook.  When done stir in some canned vegetables.  I drank several glasses of wine with dinner.

After dinner snack:  Corn flakes with rice dream.

I don't like drinking milk.   A little cheese is okay with me but regular milk I don't like too much.  The milk industry would have you believe that you would die of malnutrition if you don't drink the stuff.

Fasting day 2 Oct. 2, 2008

Looks like I'm going to make it for the second no eating day.  This is not as hard as I thought it would be although it is not easy either.  There is some effort involved.  Hunger issues do come up but if you keep yourself busy you soon forget about it.  Energy levels not bad and concentration is good perhaps better than when well-fed.

I'm noticing physical changes:  my hair is different, maybe a bit drier and bushier, also my skin feels smooth and is less splotchy.  Stomach is flatter.  I think I'm losing a lot of water weight already which can only be good for blood pressure.  I no longer hear the pulsing sound in my head when I lay on my side in bed.

I heated up the leftovers from last night and made fresh orzo for the troops (wife, son).  Was not too difficult not to eat it.  Smelled good though.

Todays consumption:  Black coffee, water, seltzer, and one 16 oz diet pepsi (which was good and satisfying).  I may included one diet soda on my fasting days for now on.

Looking forward to breakfast...will try to eat as healthy as I can tomorrow and keep the "adult beverages" to a minimum.

Eating day 1 Oct. 1, 2008

Woke up a little light headed but not too hungry.  Made coffee.  

Breakfast:  Ate two bowls of corn flakes with soy "milk".  I don't like the term soymilk.  Soybeans do not give off milk.  It should be called soy "juice" or something.  

Lunch:  "Maklooba" (from the local middle eastern take out place) which consists of rice, califlower, potatoes, chickpeas.  Includes salad.  

After work snack: 3 bend-over turkey sandwiches (3 slices bread and about 5-6 oz turkey, total).  I made the roast turkey breast myself.  Just get a half turkey breast, take out the bone and roll in up and tie with  butcher twine.  Roast for 45 minutes to an hour.  Keeps in fridge for 1 week or so. 

Dinner: made this .  Used a whole chicken, cut up.  Ate a 1/2 breast.

Adult beverages:  Plenty.  Okay, another reason to ADF.  Will only drink 50% of usual amount.

Late night snack:  Corn flakes, soy "milk"

Overall felt like normal day.  Not overly hungry b/c of yesterday's fast.  Felt a little different overall, however.  A little "detached" perhaps.  But not in a bad way.  Just kind of go-with-the flow feeling.  If ADF promotes this, I would not be unhappy.  Lets hope tomorrow's fast goes well.  A little nervous about it.

Fasting day 1 Sept 30, 2008

This is my first post for my new alternate day fasting blog.  So I am about 195 pounds and would like to get down to 170 or so.  I also have a history of high blood pressure and possibly other health problems that could come up down the road.  So I want to lose weight and lower my blood pressure without taking medication.  

I have tried other diets in the past with some success.  One is the McDougall plan which is low fat vegetarian food.  This works quite well but I have a tendency to stray from it.  Low carb plans also seem to work but who wants to eat bacon and eggs every day for breakfast.

So ADF seems to be the ticket.  I plan to fast on water and black coffee on the fasting days and eat fairly healthy non-processed food on the eating days as much as I want. 

Fasting day 1 experiences:  Ate cereal 11:30 the night before.  Woke up, made coffee.  Went to work.  Work went well.  From my previous day-long fasts I found that if you keep moving you actually ignore the hungry feeling.  Energy was high with good concentration.  After work, made dinner for the wife and son without the urge to eat.  Late night seemed to get better with less hungry feeling.  Slept only so-so but it was not the hunger that kept me awake.  My brain was wired from fasting I think.