Leigh's 'Get Less Fat' Challenge

[Leigh]

Weight
15/3/19: 90.7kg
25/3/19: 88.5kg
1/4/19: 88.7kg
8/4/19: 88.35kg
15/4/19: 87.6kg
23/4/19: 87.35kg
29/4/19: 86.95kg
6/5/19: 86.85

Bodyfat Percentage
15/3/19: 26.7%
25/3/19: 24.7%
1/4/19: 24.8%
8/4/19: 24.5%
15/4/19: 24.3%
23/4/19: 24.2%
29/4/19: 24.0%
6/5/19: 24.1%

Interesting week. I really got to see the impact of breaking my diet has. I didn’t do it intentionally, but still felt it all the same.

I went out to a local Thai restaurant and ordered something I thought was keto-compatible – a chicken stir-fry with cashew nuts. No rice. I didn’t count on the amount of sugar that was obviously in the sauce. Granted, I wouldn’t have even noticed it 3 months ago, but this time, I was BUZZING. I felt jittery and weird. It was definitely the most sugar I’ve had since I started this challenge.

The comedown was intense as well. I felt sloppy, lethargic, and fat. When I jumped on the scales the next morning, I’d put on 1.8kg (I was at 88.8kg). Obviously, this was water weight to deal with the sugar, but it was a good reminder of what happens when I break my diet, even unintentionally.

Diet
As normal (except for the day above), so now I’m going to add something new in: intermittent fasting. I’m starting with a 10 hour eating window (8:30am – 6:30pm) for this week and then going to reduce that down as I become more accustomed to it. My wife’s also joining in so it should be far easier with both of us on the same routine.

Exercise
I was only at the gym twice this week but surfed a bunch. Had two 2-hour+ sessions because, well, I could. It’s been a while since we had good swell. Going surfing this morning and there’s swell around a few days this week so I should be able to get more hours in the water.

Focus
The intermittent fasting is obviously the challenge for the week. I just need to remember not to eat before 8:30 and not snack before going to bed. That’ll be the focus.

[Leigh]

Ok, so just an example of how much one meal of breaking my diet impacts my weight.

I just weighed myself and I’m 86.30kg and 23.7% body fat. There’s no way I lost half a kilo and 0.4% body fat yesterday. I would have had to have burnt 16,500 kilojoules more than I consumed, which would be pretty hard. I did surf for about 45 minutes but nowhere near enough to do that.

[Leigh]

Weight
15/3/19: 90.7kg
25/3/19: 88.5kg
1/4/19: 88.7kg
8/4/19: 88.35kg
15/4/19: 87.6kg
23/4/19: 87.35kg
29/4/19: 86.95kg
6/5/19: 86.85kg
13/5/19: 86.35kg

Bodyfat Percentage
15/3/19: 26.7%
25/3/19: 24.7%
1/4/19: 24.8%
8/4/19: 24.5%
15/4/19: 24.3%
23/4/19: 24.2%
29/4/19: 24.0%
6/5/19: 24.1%
13/5/19: 23.7%

Still just rolling in. Interestingly, I feel fatter today than I have over the last few weeks (which may have something to do with drinking about 2L of milk over the last 3 days) so I have a feeling that my weight my drog significantly over the next few days when the water associated with processing that sugar flushes out of my system

Diet
My diet was basically keto, with the exception of milk. I have started to get a bit lazy testing my son’s food as I’m making instead of spitting it out so I might go back to that.

I tried to get into intermittent fasting this week but my sleep patterns really made it tough. I can push through to not eating before 9am when I’m waking up at 6am, but there were a few days this week where I woke up around 3am, which just made it really tough and I caved.

My sleep is out already this week and I might add it in, but I also might not. I’m doing well without it so I’ll just have a think about it.

Exercise
I didn’t exercise much this week due to my sleep issues. When I don’t sleep, it’s pretty hard to find the energy to get out and work out. I was at the gym once and surfed 3 times, so it still wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t what it normally is.

Focus
I think for this week, I’m just going to go back to diet basic and eliminate carb-creep. I’m not paying as much attention as I should and it’s time to get refocused.

I don’t know how well this is going to go considering it’s my birthday this week and my family is flying in for it so I’m guessing there’ll be at least one day my diet is off track, but I’ll make sure that’s the only one.

[Jimmy]

Intermittent fasting is a bitch.  Nothing is worse than feeling hungry dude.  Seems like you’re making progress.  Keep it up.

[Leigh]

[quote quote=22835]Intermittent fasting is a bitch. Nothing is worse than feeling hungry dude.[/quote]

This is a really interesting point that I’ve been thinking about. What percentage of human history had we had the luxury of not feeling hungry? How many years have we been this privileged?

I would guess not very many. And even now, it’s not everyone who is this lucky. There are still millions of people not only in developing countries but is western, developed countries as well, that don’t have this luxury.

Being hungry, whilst tough, it a luxury. And even then, I’m hungry with the full knowledge that if I decided to, I could just go to the fridge or cupboard or any number of the shops around my house and end that in a second. For almost everyone else who’s hungry, that’s not an option.

I don’t know where I’m going with this, it’s just something I’ve been thinking about lately.

[Leigh]

Weight
15/3/19: 90.7kg
25/3/19: 88.5kg
1/4/19: 88.7kg
8/4/19: 88.35kg
15/4/19: 87.6kg
23/4/19: 87.35kg
29/4/19: 86.95kg
6/5/19: 86.85kg
13/5/19: 86.35kg
20/5/19: 86.80kg

Bodyfat Percentage
15/3/19: 26.7%
25/3/19: 24.7%
1/4/19: 24.8%
8/4/19: 24.5%
15/4/19: 24.3%
23/4/19: 24.2%
29/4/19: 24.0%
6/5/19: 24.1%
13/5/19: 23.7%
20/5/19: 24.0%

My first backwards week. I did expect it, though. It was my birthday on Friday and my family flew in for the occasion. They brought rice noodles down from Sydney and my mother in law made my favourite cake in the world – baked cheesecake.

I didn’t want to be the arsehole and tell them I wasn’t going to eat them so I cooked them and ate them both. To be honest, it was fucking excellent 🙂 I love it. I just won’t do it again.

I also got an insight into the struggles other people might face staying Keto. I went to the pub last night to watch a friend’s band and there was temptation everywhere. There were bowls of chips and everyone’s meal had some kind of carbs they were more than willing to share. I forget how easy my life of just sitting around at home makes it until I got back into the real world.

Diet
Outside of my birthday, the diet is still going well. I still drink a litle too much milk, but if that’s my biggest vice, then I think I’m going to be ok.

Exercise
I didn’t exercise that much this week. I was out of town for two days and have been spending time with my family on the others. I made it to the gym twice and surfed once, but that was it.

Focus
Get my shit back on track. I’m slipping. I’m going to cut down my milk consumption so that it’s only a treat, not a staple. That’s about it.

[Author]

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