Hunger Games

I am on a journey of my version of "Hunger Games". This is the plan.

24 hour fast every other day.
Once every six months, a week long fast.

The reasoning? Primal man was at the mercy of nature, which at times did not always provide. Meals were inconsistent. I believe this is the way we have evolved. What is unnatural now is we have food on demand with very little effort to obtain it.

I want to simulate the homo sapian natural state of feast and famine.

Added to this, I read the scientific research on fasting. It boils down to this. When fasting healthy normals cells go into survival mode. This actually is a boost to the immune system. On top of this, the body starts to target the harder to get rid of fat cells (yes, the do exist. Think belly fat) which it starts to use as fuel.

What is really interesting is that normal cells go into survival mode. Recent and still inconclusive research involving cancer patients going through chemo have found that fasting prior to a round of chemo improves their well being after. They do not feel as tired or beat up. The reason is cancer cells do not go into survival mode and are always "on". Chemo targets all cells, healthy and unhealthy. So, while the healthy cells are in survival mode cancer cells are still just looking to divide and spread making them still more vulnerable to the poison of chemo. At least that is the theory.

My thinking is with an on/off switch of fasting every other day, the healthy cells will be in a constant state of protection/normalacy. Fasting will be like a suit of plate mail armor for my healthy cells worn every other day. My bet is I will experience far less illness and reduce my odds of even getting cancerous cells will be cut in half. This is important as I still do naughty things like smoking.

Mission Impossible - Done

Any any man in my age group knows, we hit the time of our lives where we become invisible to anyone of the opposite sex that are between the ages of 20 and 30. In public they see right through us. Which is fine... all a part of aging. Blah blah blah.

But, yesterday what was impossible was made possible by Primal Living!

A very attractive 24 co-worker not only noticed I am down loads of weight, she mentioned it to me and then proceeded to, if I am not mistaken, flirt with me.

Of course, being out of the loop for so long this scared me and I ran away.

Still, thank you Primal.

Checking In

Wow, it has been a while since I last checked in. Well, I am doing well. Holding steady between 210 and 215. Seemed to have halted for some reason. No worries. The difference can be seen in the mirror.

My afternoon run and now included a new motivation tool. Middle school is now in session. Boy, those kids can be brutal. Today it was "jiggle, jiggle, jiggle" followed by some snickering. Little do these little brats know but 7 out of 10 of them will wish in 20 years to look half as good I as I getting to. Most will be fat, some already are. Anyways, the new motivation is to see if I can make the negative comments cease by the end of their school year.

I am getting close to putting a new set of pics. Would like to hit 200 first.

Work out.

Today's lunch work out was good. 2 times around the park at a jog, 1 time at a walk. Threw in some sprint intervals (modified, 10 seconds on/20seconds off). Also did not arm and shoulder work on the park bench. Weights are really not needed for the strength training days. I watched a couple moves on YouTube by Mark Sisson for no weight strength training. They work good. Just got learn a few new ones to throw into the mix.

Oh, still holding at 18 pounds lost as of yesterday. Will weigh out this afternoon. I fasted a bit yesterday so I am expecting a good number. Shooting for the 20 mark!

Another week, another 5 pounds...

... I hope. Held steady all last week. Doing over time last week and this week. That might've had something to do with it. It'll be a nice check right in time for vacation.

Shooting for 100% Primal this work week. No cheating. Which means no beers at night and no Dew to wake up.

Checking In

Okay, it has been a while since my last post. I've been very busy at work and my routine eats up my time at home. The good news is I am down 18 pounds and holding steady for about a week. I have muscles again in my arms and legs. Even starting to see the beginnings of some definition in the abs and chest. Still a ways to go to lose the beer belly, so the abs wont show for a while.

Anyways, keeping at it and staying true to the Primal Life. Still drinking beer though. But, Sam Adam's Summer Ale season is almost over. Should see great results once I am not drinking a 12 pack a week.

End of week odds & ends

Down a 1.2 pounds between Thursday and today. That puts me at 224.4. So far a total of 9.2 pounds over 13 days. I bet I hit the 10 mark tomorrow. That'll make an average of 5 pounds per week. Conventional wisdom says 1 to 2 pounds per week loss is healthy. Any more is unhealthy. But, going by CW's past track record I am not at all worried about it. In fact, by not adhering to CW I feel I am on the right track.

Beer is slowing down my progress I think. In the past 7 days I have consumed 19 beers (1 was at least gluten free). The weight loss speed is fine by me, but it is the cigarette cravings when having a beer that is the real problem. I drink, I smoke. Not good. Not sure if I am hard core enough to give up Mountain Dew, cigarettes (when not drinking at least) and beer.

If it were not for the 6 pack of Sam Adam's Summer Ale last night on the patio my calorie count for the day was astronomically low. Barely above 500 for the entire day. I did not feel hungry at all, but when I added up what I had eaten for the entire day I was shocked at how low it was. Even with the 6 pack, I did not even come close the 2400 calorie CW says man should consume per day. Maybe I am missing something when calculating calorie count. So, today I am writing down and doing a running total through out the day.

With the enormous deficit in caloric intake per day that I seem to be comfortable with, I should be hitting between 3000 and 4000 difference on intake and burned. That should be 1 pound per day. I am not getting that. Have to look into this more.