It is Monday!

This past weekend was Father’s Day weekend. My wife finished up her course she was doing then we went to get her nails done, then went to the Chinese Buffet for dinner. I had not eaten since breakfast so I was not too worried about eating over my limit for the day, but I knew that the salt in the food would really work me over. And yes my weight showed a gain on Sunday morning, not a lot but it was disappointing. Then Sunday my wife fixed me my favorite breakfast which is not a bad choice of a spinach omelet. Then I only had about a quarter cup of nuts before dinner which is my wife’s homemade meatloaf, I enjoyed that of course, and like normal I ate nothing after dinner. This morning my weight is down from yesterday but still a little higher than before eating out Saturday afternoon. Also, I am now following the recommendation of apple cider vinegar and water in the early morning and evening, I know this helps my digestion, and even my blood pressure because I have been doing it for a long time, and it was something that my grandmother use to do way back when I was very young. My blood pressure was up a little this morning and yesterday morning due to the salt but still in the very good range. It has been 14 hours since I have eaten and I am still not hungry. The longest I have ever gone was when I was in the service or back when I was working and could not get away to eat was about 24 hours. I have not gone that long in a long time now, but I have managed to go about 17 to 18 hours, but about 14 to 16 seems to be my normal fast times. I will be extending that the first week of July when my wife is away on her trip. 

So what is my goal in doing this, only good health, if I can manage to lose more of my belly fat that will be great and it will help my health also. I just do not want to do what I have so many times before and regain my weight. I am willing to except the fact that at my age I am going to have a harder time not gaining, but I believe that fasting can help me control my weight better. I also know that I feel so much better when I have eaten just enough to feel like I am not hungry but at the same time I do not feel like my stomach is full and  I am not bloated. 

Since I started my experiment of not counting calories my weight is up just a little on average but still below the weight my doctor set for me of 200 pounds. Now I would like to lower that if possible to 185 to 190 and I have expressed that to my doctor and he smiled and said that would be great. Do I believe I can do it? Yes I do but I also know that my body will be fighting it all the way due to my body’s set weight being around 205 for such a long time while I was younger. But I also dream of maybe reseting my weight more in line of what it was at the time I turned 21, and that was 168 pounds. I know it may be a pipe dream but it is something to think about and work for. 

Slowly seeing the truth

I am reading the book “The Obesity Code” by Jason Fung, MD. Being someone that was raised to research and also trained by the Navy to be a researcher and troubleshooter, I know that most internet research just leads me down a rabbit hole or on a wild goose chase. But I am also someone that has been keeping a journal since I was about 6 years old and I still have all of my journals. I was a skinny kid and skinny teenager. I did not gain my weight until I left home and joined the Navy. So I have not only been reading and researching why I am heavier than I want to be and need to be, but I am looking back at why I was a skinny kid and teenager. What I am finding is that we did not eat refined carbs or for that matter any fast foods, or factory created so called foods. I am also finding that I did not eat snacks, and I had 3 meals a day, with each meal being about 5 hours a part. We also did not eat after dinner(supper), but we did have desserts with each evening meal. We also ate bread with each meal, but the bread we ate was always homemade and it was cooked fresh for each meal. Our meats were mostly smoked or salt preserved. We only ate fruits and veggies that came out of the garden. Breakfast was normally well before daylight and it was always, biscuits, eggs, and bacon or ham. My dad and grandpa would make sausage out of the hogs with butchered, and mixed that with old meat for deer, so we made the sausage only in the fall and early winter when it was hunting season. 

So what was my key to being skinny? 1. I was always very active. 2. We ate 3 meals a day at the dinning room table. 3. We did not snack between meals. 4. We did not eat after dinner or at bedtime. 5. We did not eat refined or factory made so called foods. 6. We did not drink soft drinks, but I did drink sweet tea with my lunch and evening meals. 

So what was the key to being skinny? 1. It was giving each meal time to be fully digested before eating again. 2. It was giving my body a chance to get over the insulin spike and also time for my body to burn off some of the extra that I had eaten before eating again. 3. And this is the important piece of the puzzle, it was never allowing my insulin levels to stay elevated. If insulin levels stay elevated then we become insulin resistant and that leads to insulin being converted to fat, and if it stays that way too long we can become diabetic. 

So what am I doing to change myself. 1. I am cutting back as much refined carbs as I possibly can. 2. I am going to stop eating snacks between meals. 3. My snacks will be good fats, in other words nuts. 4. I will not be eating after the even meal, no bedtime snacks. 5. No soft drinks including diet ones. 5. I will only eat fruits that are in season, why. Fruits have sugar and they cause insulin spikes. 

The key is to give your digestive system time to rest between meals. When you eat it takes up to 5 hours for your digestive system to process what you have eaten. If you do not give it time to rest then you are putting more fat on your body. So far what I am saying is just to prevent weight gain.

Now lets talk about losing fat. To lose fat we have to give our bodies time to start using up some of that stored fat, and turn it into energy to fuel the body. To do so we have to go without food long enough that we no longer have it in our digestive system and it has to pull from the reserves, which is our body fat. To do so is where longer periods between meals come into play. Yes I am talking fasting. The research shows that our bodies can go days and even weeks without food, most of it depends on the fat reserve that we care around all the time. So what is required amount of fat we should have, that depends on the gender, the age and some other factors. Most men need around 10% body fat to be safe. And from what I have read most women that are not of childbearing age needs about 20% and it is a little more for the childbearing age women. Lets be honest here I am not the expert here at all I am just pointing out what I have picked up from reading information from the research of scientist that should know and not from the BS that is mostly on the internet now. But fasting will force your body to start processing your body fat for energy and before you scream that it will cause muscle loss let me say this that is bull. From my own experience if you do your fasting correctly you will gain muscle, due to your body’s growth hormones kicking in to protect your body. I have lost a few inches around my belly and I have not lost any real amount of weight. My should measurements have even increase due to my resistance workouts and my working and lifting in the process of my move this year. 

So have I lost inches in my belly as I said, and also in my hips and thighs. 

Also my blood pressure is down, I am sleeping better. And to top it off I have more energy. 

I do not have that much weight that I need to lose, but the research say that you will lose the weight too, but it takes longer fast than what I am doing. So far my longest time between meals is about 18 hours and most days it is about 16 hours between the evening meal and the breakfast. I do plan to try longer fast but I will wait for that for when my wife is away on her trip so she does not worry about it. She does not need to fast and she really should gain some weight. But her issue is medical seeing back in 2013 they had to take out most of her stomach due to it twisting and dying. 

I will have more on my progress as I have it. 

It’s Friday

It is a beautiful day, they call it hot but to me it is just a spring day. The temperature here so far is for less hot than what I was use to. Sure if you are out in the sun it is hot, but there is so much shade here due to the trees that it does not feel near as bad. And yes the humidity is high. 

My weight is down just a very little this morning, but more importantly my blood pressure is down a lot 107/70, and I have not been taking my medication either. My percent of body fat is at 17.2%. My stress level is also very low. I feel my stress is low for a few reasons. First I start my day with a prayer, and reading my devotional. And secondly I am not stressing over ever last calorie, instead I am eating what I feel I need, and to be honest I am eating less calories and more real food. Yes, I am eating some sugar and yes I am eat some carbs, but I am also eating more nuts, veggies, and less meat. I am also fasting at times, not really trying to just doing so because I really do not want to eat. Dinner is by 6pm and breakfast is not normally until about 9:am so that is about 15 hours of not eating, and now I am not eating after breakfast until I eat dinner. Also, my breakfast is less than what it use to be. And to be honest my dinner is less also. I do expect that if I can keep my salt level down I will begin to lose a little more weight. My wife will be gone the week of the 4^th of July and I plan on trying a couple of 24 hour fast, to see if I can do it and to see if it will help me drop my belly a little bit more. 

I do feel better and I am sleeping much better. While I am not getting out and forcing myself to do the long walks I am on my feet and moving most of the day. I am doing resistance workouts with resistance bands, dumbbells, and a curl bar. With the new puppy I am also taking her for walks to get her use to walking on a leash. 

It has now been 25 days without counting calories and I am not gaining weight and maybe dropping just a little. I have not really started a true fast so I will not say that is really helping. I do eat at least 2 meals every day. My brain is clearer and my thinking is better. I am not waking up with headaches, and I am not have as many issues with my allergies. 

I believe what is helping me is that I have had the 7 years of habits of counting calories to get me use to the amount of food to eat. Also, in that time I have learned what to eat and what not to eat. To me it is more of what not to eat together is also important. There are some foods that just react badly for me if I eat them together. Most of those things are carbs that do not set well together for me. 

Back home

We had a lot of fun on our weekend trip. Friday was a day of travel, which I thought was a long day but yesterdays drive was even longer as we traveled through Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. We went and picked up rescue puppy in Camden, Arkansas, and the best route to get there from where we where at the time we found out we would get her was to travel into Louisiana and up into Southern Arkansas. It was a good trip and I got to see places I have never seen. Beautiful country all the way but mostly back country roads, and we were pulling our camp trailer all of the way. 

The puppy is a terrier, hound mix. She is about 9 or 10 weeks old. We are calling her Sandy due to her color. The group we got her from, found her due to the fact she was going to be as stated taken to the river and dumped. None of God’s creations should just be dumped, killed, or aborted.  So we decided to take her in and become foster parents, but to be honest I believe she has found her forever home. 

We traveled to Austin area on Friday so we could go to the family reunion on Sunday. We stated at an RV Park in Taylor, Texas that we stated out back in April. Saturday we got a new hitch setup for our Jeep, which we had hoped to make pulling the trailer better, and it really did make it much better. By the way even pulling the trailer we averaged 20.5 miles per gallon of gas. Also on Saturday we had dinner at Logan’s Roadhouse, and my wife and I shared a plate of ribs. Sunday at the reunion I had roasted chicken and potato salad, maybe not the best meal  choice but it was good. 

Monday we ate at the RV park, just cereal, and had a chicken sandwich from the leftover chicken for lunch. By the time we got home it was after 8:00 pm so my dinner was a few mixed nuts and a shower and bed. 

My weight this morning was the same as Friday morning I really feel good about that. Since eating out most of the weekend normally leaves me with a salt overload. 

Sandy is here in the office with me laying on the floor sleeping I will post a few pictures of her.

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Did I forget to say she needs to fatten up a little bit, she looks like she was not fed very much. Sandy is very sweet and just wants to be noticed and loved. 

It has been a very long day

This morning started early before the alarm went off. Just wake up before the alarm. 

My weight was down again now down to 195.2. But may be up in the morning due to eating out at Cracker Barrow for lunch. Dinner to night is fish, and Cole slaw. Also the last two days I have had what feels like withdrawer symptoms from what I believe is a sugar overload over the past week or so. I hate to admit that I have been eating too much ice cream. I am still thinking about and believe I will try intermittent fasting along with the intuitive eating. I would like to see if it would help me burn off some of this belly fat that just sticks around.  

We spent the day running around to Benton, and Hot Springs, went to Linda’s sewing center, then Home Depot. Then to Hot Springs to Hobby Lobby, then to Cracker Barrow to eat. Then on to Livingston RV to get our camp trailer. Then on to the storage unit to put the trailer away. We will be leaving on Friday morning, headed to Taylor, Texas to camp and go to the family reunion on Sunday then back home on Monday. 

Well it is Monday

My weight is down this morning to 196.4, that far from my normal of about 194-195. What is changing with my eating? Nothing really, but I am looking at intermittent fasting. I see that it has benefits for me as well as a lot of other people. What I am looking at is the 16/8 fasting where you go 16 hours of the day without eating and you feed yourself in the other 8 hours. I am not there yet I am close at about 15/9 and even that seems to be helping me. I am still following the intuitive eating, but I am writing down what I am eating and still not counting calories. 

Another note is needed my blood pressure is down nicely to below the 120/80 that every doctor pushes. I am down to about 115/75. I am still taking the half pill that I have been. But I seem to have times that I do feel weak and when that happens I check my BP and it will be in the low range for me. 

Saturday evening we had a few storms in the area and it became a hell storm. We are looking that it did not last long and we had no real damage. There were leaves knocked out of the trees, and that was it. Sunday was a very nice day, with Church early, then out to breakfast at about 11:00 am this gave me almost 16 hours of not eating before breakfast. I do not see this being about to happen everyday see my wife is a hardcore believer in breakfast. I may have to just do my best to work around it. 

After we ate we explored around the area finding out new ways in and out of the Village. We are looking for a better way to get the camp trailer in and out of the Village without having to take the long way that we were doing. We believe we found a way in and out that is much closer to the storage unit that we keep the trailer in. 

Sunny and very warm day

They are saying it is hot today but it really isn’t, at least by what I have been use to. 

The front yard is not redone, and it looks great I will post some pictures. 

My weight was up a pound this morning, but my blood pressure was really good.

Went to Hot Springs, and got a haircut, then checked on the camp trailer, it will be ready for our trip back to Texas next weekend. 

 This is a picture from the end of our drive way to the west. 

We have a wind chime too. 

We did get our Diamond Doves.

These are drift roses that are like ground cover.