So…I woke up on Saturday morning April 1st and I jumped on the scales and I was 124.5 kilograms and 35.6% body fat.
I decided that April Fools Day was a perfect day for me to do something about my fatness.
So what I am going to do is to improve my health…and I am going to do this primarily by decreasing my body fat.
I am unsure how much detail I am going to go into but I figure instead I would post some videos that are in all likelihood just going to describe essentially the background to what I am doing.
I will post each week of April and include some videos explaining/describing what i am doing. Rather than detailing it all myself I will just find videos on the ‘subject’ of fasting describing the methodology and all the why’s and wherefore’s and you can take from it what you will.
Week One
01.04.23 – 124.5kg and 35.6%
Did 20mins/10.45km on the Echo bike.
Had a double shot of coffee and drank as much water (soda water) as I wanted I also had 6 boiled eggs with salt in the morning.
02.04.23 – 122.9kg and 34.6%
Did 20mins/10.37km on the Echo bike.
Had a double shot of coffee with milk and drank as much water (soda water) as I wanted and also had 6 boiled eggs with salt in the afternoon. I also consumed a sachet of LMNT electrolyte supplement.
03.04.23 – 120.8kg and 34.4%
Had a double shot of coffee with milk to start the day. Then a couple more shots of espresso with milk during the day. Drank soda water and a sachet of LMNT.
Did 20mins/10.41km on the Echo when I can home from work.
04.04.23 – 118.4kg and 34.6%
2 single shots of coffee a little later than usual…i.e rather than immediately upon waking…I had a cup at 9am and another at 11.30. This month I am also going to see if I can ween myself off coffee over this month as well…not for any other reason other than that I want to have some time to ‘cleanse’…and that is in brackets because I hate the word and am only using it because I can’t think of another. I am obviously not drinking this month…but what I would like to do is the last week without coffee as well. I just know that it is going to give me withdrawal headaches…so want to minimise those while I am also fasting.
I am actually thinking about trying to do some ‘dry fasting’ also for no other reason that because I want to see what happens and to see what it feels like. Perhaps a day without consuming water…I am thinking next week when I’ve days off so I can do it at home without any risk.
I also had 3 eggs today. I am soft boiling them and just having them with salt. I had them at about 12ish. I am in a phase of really preparing myself for a ‘full on’ fast and by full on I mean…no coffee, no cream, no bone broth no nothing. I would like to fit a week in somewhere…I am thinking this Thursday (06.04) till the following Thursday (13.04) where I basically just do water and electrolytes and see where that gets me.
At 4pm I had 3 more soft boiled eggs. Then had a drink of soda water with the juice of one small lemon and 2 tablespoons of organic apple cider vinegar and a sachet of stevia.
05.04.23 – 117.3kg and 34.6%
Feeling good. Interesting that the body fat hasn’t moved. I have a set of FitBit Aria scales. It will be interesting to see when the reading starts moving on the scales.
Had a single shot of coffee and milk and a tin of tuna mixed with some garlic mayo.
Lunchtime a lemon juice and apple cider vinegar drink. I am going to have this drink in the morning and in the evening…just because…it might do some good…I am relatively certain it will do no harm and because it is a treat.
I am also going to have a tablespoon of Metamucil in the morning just to make sure I have some fibre in my guts.
I am going look to use April to develop some healthy habits. I haven’t ‘dialled’ everything in but I will work towards it.
I am too fat, too unfit and not as healthy as I should or I could be…and I don’t need to let it continue…so I have decided that I won’t let it continue.
Another beverage with lemon, apple cider vinegar and stevia and soda water.
I will also try to ‘log’ my nutrition and training a bit better once I actually get a bit better at doing what I am doing.
Did 20mins/9.97km on the Echo bike. Noticeably lower on energy.
06.04.23 – 115.8kg and 34.9%
So…what I am trying to make a routine is getting up. Weighing in. Then a tall glass of Metamucil. Delaying my coffee with a little milk and cream. Like I said previously, I would like what I am thinking now will be the last week of April to be caffeine free and that is for no particular reason that I am thinking now that the last week of April or the 22nd till the 28th to be a water fast where all I will consume is water and electrolytes (LMNT) with a view to easing out of my fast with a gentle and systematic re-feeding over the 29th to the 2nd of May. I am going to put some serious thought into my re-feeding to make sure I take care of myself and optimise the bounce back from the month of calorie restriction.
So this morning after my coffee I took my partners car into town for a service and then walked the 6km home in about a hour. It is a beautiful morning and I enjoyed the walk. Came home and had a lemon, apple cider vinegar and stevia with soda water drink and am now cooling down and recovering.
Had a tin of tuna because I was feeling flat as a tack and have a bit to do today and tomorrow.
So walked another 6km into town to pick up the car. Then while I was driving home the bike garage called and told me that my bike was ready to pick up. So drove the car home and dropped it off and walked 2.5km…26,403 steps in total for that day…18.3km in all.
I came home and had 6 7 minute eggs with a sprinkle of fried shallots and some Japanese dressing. Today was not a normal day…I needed the tuna and definitely needed the eggs.
07.04.23 – 115.6kg and 35.2%
So coming up on a week now…I am down 8.9kg and according to the electrical impedance body fat measurement on the Aria scales…I am just as fat as I was when I started the week. I strongly believe this not to be true.
Of the 8.9kg loss there will be portion that is water, muscle glycogen and also some lean muscle mass loss but absolutely and certainly there is a portion of it that is fat.
As always when fasting…not that I am really even fasting yet in the absolute sense…the first few days are the worst with regards hunger. I don’t actually feel hungry anymore and in fact my appetite has really diminished to the point that eating those 6 eggs yesterday was an effort. I had about 3 and felt like it was enough but ate the rest for the protein. With yesterdays physical expenditure I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t cannibalising any muscle tissue in recovery.
I actually feel better than expected today in that I don’t have any soreness in my legs and the only place that it is sore is up along my spine, my erectors.
Had a small piece if barramundi and some greens with oyster sauce. Working tonight and just uncertain how my energy levels were going to go. Didn’t feel like I needed it, wasn’t hungry but thought what the hell it won’t kill me.
Had 2 venison cheeseburgers in the evening and they were great.
08.04.23 – 116.7kg and 34.4%
So have had a little re-feed yesterday and today and I really feel good. I think I am going to keep cycling different extended fasts of varying lengths from 24hrs to 72hrs while keeping my food quality high and portion size small. Fasting most definitely blunts my appetite and I want to use that to my advantage. Worked overnight had a hot cross bun and some other half muffin half croissant (overrated) around 12 when I first woke up and then some stir fried honey chicken and a weird potato, carrot and cucumber mash at around 1800hrs before I went to work along with 2 coffees. Drank plenty of water and had a few small chocolate and caramel chocolate eggs overnight at work because they were offered and it would have been rude to say no…well that is my story and I am sticking to it.
I started the week at 124.5kg finished it at 116.7kgs down a total of 7.8kgs. For whatever it is worth my body fat reading at the start of the week was 35.6% and at the end it was 34.4% down 1.2%. As I have intimated, I don’t put too much credence in it because in general I don’t think it is particularly accurate and I am really throwing off the readings with my varied states of hydration and my varied fasted and un-fasted state really all it is telling me is that I am too fat…and that is why I intend to fix it now.
…and now next week has already begun.
Will Heffernan 