Life Enough For Love

One more Weight & Waist Calculator
32 Weight Loss Tips for a Slimmer, Healthier You (Marelisa Fábrega)

Why I want to live longer and stay healthy. (Yes, that's me too.)

The series:

Eat, Drink & Be Merry for Tomorrow We Diet: Seven Weeks In

"All Diets are Extremely Boring" (Week 16)
Nine Months - Tuscany on 500 Calories a Day

“All Diets are Extremely Boring.” (Week 16)

2010-07-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

“All diets are extremely boring.”

Thus remarked a friend who’s been on this alternate-day diet longer than we have.

I’ve begun to share his view. In the early weeks, there was enough change to keep my interest: learning how to manage the low-calorie days, watching the pounds disappear, wondering what to do with our extra time. But there is sameness in deprivation, however it’s cloaked. A dish of Heavenly Hash ice cream begins to sound exciting.

This couldn’t have come at a worse time. After weeks of steady weight loss, we had both stalled. No change in two weeks. Were we doing something wrong? Was our diet less healthy on the non-fasting days? “Keep an eye on this!” I said.

I needed motivation. Since a growing number of friends had joined us on this diet, I thought their experiences might inspire, so I checked in with as many of them as I could. I started by asking: why diet? And why this diet?

“I want to look like a teenager, like your wife.” Hmmm, that sounds like a good start; another friend accused me of ‘cradle-robbing’, only partly true. “I hope to shed some pounds before my trip to Europe in a few weeks.”

“I tried it because it sounded pretty easy to do. And it seems to work so my wife and I will continue with it. The 500-calorie days are not as tough as I thought they’d be.”

“Your wife’s looking pretty hot. Maybe I’ll try it.” She’s right, too.

“I started the diet today! Did a little research last night. It seems very natural to me.” Another friend compared it to a caveman diet: a mammoth feast one day might be followed by a hunt day subsisting on acorns. He thought the human body might be adapted to such variability.

“Sounds like this is one of the better diets and I have passed it on to a couple of friends.”

“All diets are extremely boring.” However, even this friend admitted that this one was less boring than most. And that made it work.

Although I now had more interest in keeping my non-fasting days under control, everyone starts out working out their 500-calorie day menus. Typical for us is breakfast: a very large cup of coffee with a lot of skim milk, a quarter of an avocado or a boiled egg; lunch: a very small fruit smoothie and a tablespoon of home-made hummus; dinner: a salad made from greens with skinless chicken breast or smoked salmon and a vinaigrette dressing. A friend reported her version, “I am mostly living on congee with plenty of low calorie nutrient rich flavourful additions.”

People follow different strategies. Mine is to start with a little avocado or protein, and then try and save half my calories till after 2pm; once over that hump, I can usually wait till dinner time. Another friend reports, “My wife is looking for calorie-conscious recipes so we can have a good meal while minimizing calories. Our strategy is largely to eat very little during the day, leaving most of the calories for one meal in the evening.” He suggested two glasses of V8, a small granola bar, a biscuit, and a cup of tea. “The other day we had enough left for a tasty dinner of corn, a little rice and sautéed shrimp.”

Another reports, “For me, that's 3 slices of turkey bacon (105) for breakfast, then a small soup for lunch, another soup at dinner with whatever extras I've got left on my 500. Variations can be a V8, a small piece of cheese, etc. My wife finds the power bars help at work - some green tea and a bar seem to keep her going. To paraphrase John Lennon, ‘Whatever gets you through the day is alright, is alright.’”

Early experiences and later results seem consistent. Typical is this comment: “Day six of the diet and I have lost seven pounds so far. My wife started yesterday.” A week later, “I lost seven pounds very quickly and it is hovering at that level. But we’re sticking to it.” Those who have stuck with it for three months report drops of 20 pounds or more.

A common challenge is synchronizing the low-calorie days with life and exercise schedules, as we found ourselves. Three full days, three fast days, and a “half assed” day every week is the usual solution. Like us, others save their heaviest exercising for their “up” days.

Social rhythms count too. “It's a little hard traveling and doing an intense workshop on the fast days. I knew it was coming up in my week but I decided to start when I did anyways. The diet makes sense to me and helps me appreciate food more.” And appreciate it she did! “Had two potlucks and therefore two half-assed days in a row and a very hungry day today! Got used to eating again I guess. Oh well, tomorrow is an up day again.”

Another common concern is remembering to drink enough water on fast days. With little eating there’s less water from food and thirst declines as well. I’m learning to drink a glass of water with every “micro meal” and every time I feel hungry. I’ve also been tempted to drink diet colas on the fast days, something I rarely did before. I doubt this is a good thing. Others also report diet colas as a staple, but as a replacement for the sugared kind. Probably an improvement. But there’s more water in my future.

What lies ahead?

A friend asks, “My wife wants to know what you do when you reach the weight you want. By my calculations, if I lose two pounds a week and stay on the diet for two years, I should have disappeared completely by then.” My own wife suggests I’ve reached a good weight although I still have four more pounds to shed to reach my final target in the middle of my recommended range. Even then, I'll still be fifteen pounds up from my college weight.

I started the week wondering why I’ve stalled with those four pounds yet to go. I can’t really complain. I recently moved from the heavyweight to lightweight rowing class – less competition there! I feel lighter on my feet – no surprise: I’m carrying 35 fewer pounds than I was last summer, most of it lost during this diet, the rest by eating smarter. And so I resolved to return to my old healthy habits on my “up” days.

Even before I could put the resolution into practice, the results were in. My wife and I both lost weight again this week. When I reviewed our progress, I noticed that we’d had these plateaus before. Perhaps it’s just the way of it. A little excitement to keep our interest. Because, when you come right down to it, “All diets are extremely boring.”

Resources:

Dr. Johnson's UpDayDownDay Diet™

Calorie Restriction (Wikipedia)

Why I want to live longer and stay healthy. (Yes, that's me too.)

The series:

Eat, Drink & Be Merry for Tomorrow We Diet: Seven Weeks In

Week Ten: Soaring over the Weight-loss Goalposts
"All Diets are Extremely Boring" (Week 16)
Nine Months - Tuscany on 500 Calories a Day

Week Ten: Soaring over the Weight-loss Goalposts

2010-05-31T09:50:00.000-07:00

I passed a milestone this week. I should celebrate more, but it seems too easy in hindsight.

Two months before embarking on this diet I created my first “bucket list”. Along with visiting all those “see before you die” places, and soaring in a glider, I also added a weight-loss goal that seemed as remote as Katmandu. Despite consistent aerobics and numerous attempts at culinary restraint, I hadn’t seen such numbers on the scale in decades.

Ten weeks later I have touched down in the Lost World!

At the start of Week 11, I reached the initial weight goal I had set for myself – and ticked off another item on my bucket list. That's 18 pounds in 10 weeks.

Along the “weigh”, I have picked up some fellow travelers. Since my last post, two more friends announced their commitment to try the diet and started their treks. Fare well! This series had its start in the growing interest coming from my circle. Several more may sign on before summer. Saturday at a dinner party, I heard a lot of interest – as we lounged around a table laden with roast beef au jus and chocolate ganache torte!

On the home front, we’ve recently learned that the advancing years have made rising blood pressure more of a concern. It was a relief to hear that losing weight is one of the most recommended non-drug approaches to reducing hypertension. But how much weight? I did a little research looking for a more scientific end goal.

The most important thing I learned? There is disagreement among experts about “ideal weight”. I don’t claim to have resolved these differences – only enough to pick a realistic final target for myself, and to help my wife do the same. In the end, we’ve both chosen values just below the middle of the ranges of the various experts. I’ve got another ten pounds to shake off!

Meanwhile, achieving my bucket-list weight has boosted my morale. And the compliments my wife and I have both been getting of late – and giving each other – are sweeter than any ganache!

Next: All Diets are Extremely Boring (Week 16)

Resources:

Dr. Johnson's UpDayDownDay Diet™

Calorie Restriction (Wikipedia)

Why I want to live longer and stay healthy. (Yes, that's me too.)

The series:

Eat, Drink & Be Merry for Tomorrow We Diet: Seven Weeks In

"All Diets are Extremely Boring" (Week 16)

Nine Months - Tuscany on 500 Calories a Day

Week Eight: The Guilt-free Diet

2010-05-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

“I really enjoy this diet!”

My wife blurted out these singular words a few days back.

I decided to subject her to a mini-interview. Here’s a little of what she had to say about our experiment in alternate-day dieting these past two months.

There’s no guilt! If you go over on a “down day”, you get a brand new chance the day after tomorrow. In between you get a day off – without penance – after which you can start fresh.

It’s self-correcting! If you celebrate with dinner out on an “up day”, and feel like you’ve had a little too much to eat, you know you’ll climb right back onto the wagon the very next day. It’s like New Year’s Day every other day.

There’s no drudgery! You can always make it through that one day on the wagon. And savour those special meals on the other days.

It’s fun to see it work! Ten pounds off so far, and no suffering. My wife tells me she hasn’t seen these numbers in years. And she’s looking good!

Yes, we’re counting a success for both of us so far. Eight weeks in, and we’re both almost 60% of the way to our final goals. I pulled a couple pounds ahead of her in the early weeks, but she’s set to overtake me in the coming weeks if I don’t buckle down. Let’s see if my new resolve not to “stock up” the night before can give me back the edge.

Next: Week Ten: Soaring over the Weight-loss Goalposts

Resources:

Dr. Johnson's UpDayDownDay Diet™

Calorie Restriction (Wikipedia)

Why I want to live longer and stay healthy. (Yes, that's me too.)

The series:

Eat, Drink & Be Merry for Tomorrow We Diet: Seven Weeks In

Week Ten: Soaring over the Weight-loss Goalposts
"All Diets are Extremely Boring" (Week 16)
Nine Months - Tuscany on 500 Calories a Day

Eat, Drink and Be Merry, for Tomorrow We Diet

2010-05-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

In 2002, researchers at the University of Toronto published a study that claimed to show that “merely planning to go on a diet can trigger overeating in restrained eaters, reflecting the dynamic connection between dieting and overeating.” Seven weeks into the alternative day diet, I’ve rediscovered that myself. It’s a tendency I must learn to check.

On some non-fasting days, I feel an urge to “stock up”, especially near day’s end. I’m not hungry. I’m satisfying tomorrow’s hunger in advance. For a while, I tolerated this, but I see it will work against me and have vowed to focus on actual appetite.

It’s ironic that this tendency has surfaced now. In many ways the diet has grown easier in recent weeks. On fasting days, I usually find that the last felt need for food is about two in the afternoon. Once I make it that far, thoughts of food vanish for the rest of the day. If I make it to mid-afternoon on only half my 500-calorie ration, the evening’s menu seems epicurean.

My wife and I both feel we could keep this diet up for as long as we need to. Many nights we drift asleep or awaken, not quite sure whether we’ve just had our “down day” or are about to begin it. “Breaking the fast” on an “up day” never tempts us to gorge. (I might make an exception for Tuesday, which follows half-fast Sunday and a down-day Monday.)

Physical weakness during fasting days no longer plagues us, although we still save our most strenuous exercise for times when we have some carbohydrates available. But I do notice the cold weather more on “down days”. I’ve kept my sweater in service longer this spring.

While we might have to pay more for heating and clothes, we’re banking the savings on food. 500-calorie days rarely require much in the way of meal preparation. Leftovers from other days last almost twice as long. Our college-age boys give us a hard time about the paucity of food on the table on diet days, but they pretty much manage their own mega-meals anyway. Now that we know we only have three or four good evening meals a week, we try harder to make them family occasions.

And that’s something else I’ve experienced directly: the huge role that food and eating plays in our lives, beyond providing physical sustenance. We socialize around food. We eat for the pure pleasure of the experience. We structure many habits and rituals around food, like ice cream at the beach, or Eggs Benedict for Mother’s Day brunch. And sometimes we eat just for something to do. Eliminating all these on fasting days leaves us with far more time on our hands – and the opportunity to take on new challenges.

Seven weeks into this diet, we know we can reach our original goals. My wife “came clean” on her starting weight – with this revision, she is now half-way to her target weight. In order to qualify as a lightweight rower, I decided to push my ultimate goal down a little further, and I’m 57% of the way there. Almost three-quarters of the way to my original destination, I will report when I slide past it. Those regions on the bathroom scale I won’t have toured in almost 30 years.

Next: Week Eight: The Guilt-free Diet

Resources:

Dr. Johnson's UpDayDownDay Diet™

Calorie Restriction (Wikipedia)

Glycemic Index (home)

"Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we diet: effects of anticipated deprivation on food intake in restrained and unrestrained eaters." by Urbszat, Herman, Polivy (Department of Psychology, University of Toronto).

Why I want to live longer and stay healthy. (Yes, that's me too.)

The series:

Eat, Drink & Be Merry for Tomorrow We Diet: Seven Weeks In

"All Diets are Extremely Boring" (Week 16)
Nine Months - Tuscany on 500 Calories a Day

Intermittent Fasting: Four Weeks In

2010-04-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

Stroke! Stroke! Stroke! Eureka!

This week I came close to setting a new yearly record for my 30-minute row. I'm confident that the loss of strength I experienced in the first two weeks is passing now that my metabolism seems to be adjusting.

I'm also getting used to the rhythm of the diet. It's a little like rowing: first put everything you've got into the stroke, then relax through the recovery. I've learned to pace myself better during the fast days. Having a few "slow release" 100-calorie meal choices, and having learned it helps to start off with a little healthy fat in the morning, I can now look forward to four or five little meals on a typical fast day. I'm enjoying it more too. One hundred grams of fresh juicy strawberries -- 32 calories -- seem to taste better every week. Savour with a tablespoon of my high-garlic homemade hummus -- about 25 calories -- licked slowly off the spoon. Decadent! The full days aren't so bad, either. We really appreciate our meals a lot more. That delicious feeling of "I can have anything I want today, now what will it be?" Surprisingly we are not pigging out. Rather we're looking around for healthy tasty choices that we can enjoy, ... and enjoy looking forward to on a future fast day.

When it comes to dieting, I'm beginning to conclude, psychology is everything. This past week the diet has felt very "psychological". The best and most challenging aspect of the fast days is that I have an extra couple of hours I didn't have before. It's great to have more time for other activities. But I'm also acutely aware that if I don't fill those hours with absorbing activities, I'll start thinking of food, and the game will be lost.

So, in the spirit of not thinking so much of food, I'm no longer going to report on our progress every week. I will report back from time to time when anything significant occurs. It seems a fitting time to switch gears: four weeks in and I'm exactly half way to my weight loss target. Stay tuned!

Next: Eat, Drink and Be Merry for Tomorrow We Diet: Seven Weeks In

Resources:

Dr. Johnson's UpDayDownDay Diet™

Calorie Restriction (Wikipedia)

Why I want to live longer and stay healthy. (Yes, that's me too.)

The series:

Eat, Drink & Be Merry for Tomorrow We Diet: Seven Weeks In

"All Diets are Extremely Boring" (Week 16)
Nine Months - Tuscany on 500 Calories a Day

Intermittent Fasting: Three Weeks In

2010-04-13T07:54:00.000-07:00

An Irishman was terribly overweight, so his doctor put him on a diet.

"I want you to eat regularly for two days, then skip a day, and repeat this procedure for two weeks. The next time I see you, you should have lost at least two pounds."

When the Irishman returned, he shocked the doctor by having lost nearly 60 pounds!

"Why, that's amazing!" the doctor said, "Did you follow my instructions?"

The Irishman nodded... "I'll tell you though, by jaesuz, I t'aut I were going to drop dead on dat t'ird day."

"From the hunger, you mean?" asked the doctor.

"No, from all that darn skippin'!"

So reads the story in my inbox this morning. Word has gotten around.

Here on the frontlines, we're having second thoughts. During the first two weeks, my wife had only dropped a pound, and she seems to be tired a lot -- she's a bit discouraged. I don't think she'd been quite as rigourous as I have. It's much harder when you're a manager at work, with those frequent working lunches. I'm hoping we can stick with it long enough to get over the hump, and both see some progress. It would be harder if it were just I alone. I feel the worst is behind me -- although yesterday was a fast day after a "half-assed" day, and that was harder than usual. Despite pulling out all the stops for dinner, I only had about 1000 calories the day before. Today I'd used up most of my calories by noon. Another reason to hate Mondays.

I've noticed a desire for calorie-rich foods on the full-day morning after a fast day. I think it's going to be important to have some healthy choices available to fill this need. A handful of mixed nuts early in the day seems to slake my desire to eat so often. At about 165 calories an ounce, nuts are pretty much off-limits for the fast day, but a nice way to break it the next morning. Another option is a bit of avocado -- at 70 calories for a quarter medium fruit, I've also found it helpful to start my fast day with a few slices. It seems to help me get by much longer with the same intake. Research suggests that breakfast may be the healthiest time of day to get your necessary fats. I've never tried it before, but perhaps a little smoked salmon with my fruit smoothie?

There was great news at the end of week three. I'm 44% of the way there and my wife almost 30%. My wife says she'll save the smoked salmon for a dinner-time spinach and salmon salad. She makes a nice one with a little low-fat boursin cheese in the vinaigrette dressing -- about 150 calories for good-sized salad made with the best ingredients. One good thing about 500 calories a day. You can buy the best quality and still not blow the budget. Anyone know where I can get a good Italian truffle? I've never had one before. Only 30 calories for a cup -- and about 100 Euros.

Next: Intermittent Fasting: Four Weeks In

Resources:

Dr. Johnson's UpDayDownDay Diet™

Calorie Restriction (Wikipedia)

Why I want to live longer and stay healthy. (Yes, that's me too.)

The series:

Eat, Drink & Be Merry for Tomorrow We Diet: Seven Weeks In

"All Diets are Extremely Boring" (Week 16)
Nine Months - Tuscany on 500 Calories a Day

Intermittent Fasting: Two Weeks In

2010-04-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

"Hey, Honey! Why don't we head out to the movies. We've got 200 calories each left today. Maybe we can split a small bag of popcorn for our dinner. I'll check the calories on the Internet." Yikes! That's when I discovered that a medium bag of movie popcorn, even without the extra "buttery-flavoured topping", could supply both of us with our entire daily allowance!

Five hundred calories is not a lot! About 80% of a quarter-pounder with cheese, or about half a medium bag of movie popcorn with no extra butter, or about two pounds of raw carrots, or about two hundred sugar-free chiclets, or a little more than half a litre of red wine. (I'm not recommending any one of these as the best way to meet the fasting-day totals.) I continue to look for more filling ways to construct a 125-calorie meal.

For now, I have another challenge. I row regularly on a Concept2 rowing machine, but my rowing times have been increasing all week. I'm going to have to try and reverse that trend this week. Our new schedule avoids my wife's exercise days altogether. Mine tends to be daily but less intensive. I may try to do less on the fast days and more on the others, but I really miss it if I don't do some every day. Fortunately, I usually exercise first thing, so I can power off the calories from the day before, with a top-up of small glass of fruit smoothie -- 152 calories. Additionally, we tend to do more exercise on weekends, so having the down days during the week will be good. Still I'm going to have to push myself more to see if I can get my exercise intensity back to the pre-fasting level.

I'm beginning to feel less deprived on the fast days as I build up my repertoire of 100-calorie "meals". Foods with a low glycemic index seem to be good choices: a meal consisting of a tablespoon of my homemade hummus and a medium apple -- total calories 97 -- becomes one of my fast-day staples. Another good choice is my mostly-vegetable-and-legume slow-cooker stews, with just a little meat flavouring -- about 75 to 125 calories per small ladle, depending upon the recipe. If only the kids didn't like them so much! Cleaned out again!

The week was punctuated with my wife's birthday -- fortunately it was an Up day. The boys made us a five-course Thai dinner -- they're accomplished cooks -- topped off with ganache torte. Afterwards, my wife said she was looking forward to her fast day!

Five-course meals and all, at the end of Week Two, I'm 28% of the way towards my goal. That definitely provides motivation. And as our friend who went first says: "You can do anything for one day." That's sort of true, and we hope it's enough.

Next: Intermittent Fasting: Three Weeks In

Resources:

Dr. Johnson's UpDayDownDay Diet™

Calorie Restriction (Wikipedia)

Why I want to live longer and stay healthy. (Yes, that's me too.)

The series:

Eat, Drink & Be Merry for Tomorrow We Diet: Seven Weeks In

"All Diets are Extremely Boring" (Week 16)
Nine Months - Tuscany on 500 Calories a Day

Intermittent Fasting: One Week In

2010-04-13T07:34:00.001-07:00

A week ago, my wife and I embarked on an alternate-day diet, a regime of intermittent fasting: 500 calories one day, no restrictions the next. It's now been one week since the first fasting day.

We now have a spreadsheet of over 100 foods that we think we may eat on fast days. The first shock is that our vitamin pills and other supplements constitute about five percent of our fast-day total calorie intake! And my coffee -- already cut back from before -- is another ten percent. My "light" breakfast has used up half the day! Apparently, once our weight targets are achieved, we can close to triple the fast-day totals. But for now, it's looking a little more challenging than I'd anticipated. Had I really once gone five days with no food at all in my crazy college days?

We had started the diet with a "half assed" day, followed by a full fast, and by the end of the first full day, I had 78 calories left for dinner. Two ounces of plain canned tuna and five capers later, and supper's over. With lots of time left for evening activities!

As my friends had reported, we had no desire to binge the day following a fast day. If anything, we ate less to start, although we had to eat more often during the morning. For the first few days, I felt a curious urge to binge at the end of a full day. I have no idea why that would be!

Meshing the diet with our work, exercise and social calendars has proven to be one of the more challenging aspects. My wife is part of a large management team, and lunch-time meetings are common. It's hard to sit and chew sugar-free gum -- three calories per chiclet -- when the Indian buffet -- calories unknown -- is laid out in front of you!

For our first week, Saturday was a scheduled fast day. But after starting the day with some exercise, followed by shopping expeditions and spring yard-work, we crashed completely long before it was time for our 100-calorie supper. We quickly adjusted the schedule for the following week so that we could eat well most of the weekend, as well as the days we exercised most heavily. We spent Saturday evening sprawled on the living room rug, dreaming of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

At the end of one week, I've achieved six percent of my target weight loss. Despite the challenges, I'm beginning to feel this is workable. I'm taking comfort in field reports that the fast days get easier. We're looking forward to those feted higher-calorie fast days, once we achieve our targets -- about 10% weight loss.

Next: Intermittent Fasting: Two Weeks In

Resources:

Dr. Johnson's UpDayDownDay Diet™

Calorie Restriction (Wikipedia)

Why I want to live longer and stay healthy. (Yes, that's me too.)

The series:

Eat, Drink & Be Merry for Tomorrow We Diet: Seven Weeks In

"All Diets are Extremely Boring" (Week 16)
Nine Months - Tuscany on 500 Calories a Day

Intermittent Fasting - a Report from the Field

2010-04-13T07:21:00.000-07:00

In the wake of Thanksgiving dinner, I read some reports on the benefits of intermittent fasting. In addition to weight loss, there were some claims that alternate-day calorie restriction might have some of the life-extension, health-enhancing benefits of permanent low-calorie regimes. I passed them on to a few friends and thought no more about it over Christmas.

Then, early this year, one of those friends announced that he and his wife had picked up on my suggestion, had now been on the plan for a few months, and had already lost 20 pounds. He continued, "We are psychologically content knowing that a 'famine' day will soon be followed by a regular day... as soon as we wake up in the morning. This is the first plan that we've been able to follow without feeling deprived." Even better news, my friend had just received good results from his last tests for cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

I decided it was time to take a closer look. My friends were following a plan developed by Dr. James Johnson as a result of research he had been doing on calorie restriction. Their progress sounded promising. And besides, how hard could it be? In my college days, I'd once gone over five days with no food, just to see what it would be like. Compared to that, a single-day fast seemed like a piece of melba toast.

I had had some success over the previous six months by switching to a more vegetable-rich, lower-starch diet. Quite effortlessly, I had lost a little over a pound a month since the change, and was feeling good. But I still wanted to lose another 20 pounds or so, and was looking for an edge. This seemed like it might be the ticket.

I had a feeling my wife might be attracted to the structure of the diet. Eat next to nothing one day; throw away the calorie counter the following day. When I approached her, my suspicions proved correct. On top of the attraction of the diet itself, there was the appeal of not having to think about food at all on the "down" days. She generally took on meal planning for the family, and the thought of fewer meals to plan proved irresistible.

So, we decided to try it out. The rules were pretty simple: limit calorie intake to 500 calories on day, relax all restrictions the next, repeat in two-day cycles. At our friends' suggestion, we made one change. To better fit the fast days to our weekly schedules, we ran the cycle for six days, followed by a "half fast" day on the seventh -- this last day soon came to be called the "half assed" day. As it turned out, we would soon have to make an adjustment.

I also started accumulating calorie counts for some of the smaller servings, dishes and snacks that I figured we'd have to focus on during the fast days.

My wife and I both took some measurements and set some targets for ourselves. Independent of one another, we both had set goals of losing exactly 10% of our current weights. The race was on!

Next: Intermittent Fasting: One Week In

Resources:

Dr. Johnson's UpDayDownDay Diet™

Calorie Restriction (Wikipedia)

Why I want to live longer and stay healthy. (Yes, that's me too.)

The series:

Eat, Drink & Be Merry for Tomorrow We Diet: Seven Weeks In