Health and Fitness

I currently have a cold and I'm feeling under the weather.  I've not stuck to my fasting routine but have generally stuck to my maintenance level of calories so my weight is about the same albeit with a few ups and downs.  I've started the EASA2 90 day program on hard level so it will be interesting to see if I get any results from that.  I have not had the time or felt up to doing the UFC training, it is really demoralising when it tells you that you are not completing reps that you are doing more than double on.  Likewise, it really does focus on speed over form but at the same time, if you go too fast, it fails you.  It really is frustrating.  I'm glad I only paid £7 instead of £39.99 as paying full price would have really annoyed me.  It may be that this is better on the Xbox using the Kinect but from what I have read, it is not much better.  I think the next step will be from using bands to using weights.  I remember that the EASA2 issue was that you set the weight that you would use in the menu however I can use heavier weights for some exercises but not for others e.g. I can Hammer Curl far heavier than I can fly or kickback.  The options open to me are that I can either just say "blow it" and leave the weight in the menu at the lowest denominator and chop and change my weights depending on the exercise;  use the lowest common denominator for all exercises and accept that things like curls will be far easier and less effective; or use the highest denominator and have mid set rests for the exercises I'll struggle with at that weight e.g. 2 sets of 5 reps instead of 1 set of 10 reps.  I have set the new programme to have days off on Saturday and Sunday, so not to interfere with Jo's days off and to have Tuesday off so that I'm not working out on Christmas day.  I need to keep an eye out for a second set of sensors so that I can exercise with Ellie.

The Ubisoft's My Fitness Coach Club will get more use when I have got over this cold.  Likewise, the Just Dance 4 will get a hammering too.  We have downloaded Gangnam Style which Ellie is itching to get me doing and should be a lot of fun.  It would be nice to get adept at it in time for Christmas.  Doing the Duets with Ellie is a great laugh for all concerned.

My Fitness Coach:  So, I've had a change to look at this properly now and the one thing that I notice as lacking and it is a biggy, there is no long-term program to follow.  It has a calendar that allows you to see what workouts you have done on a specific day but no way to plan ahead.  The workouts themselves are fun, shifting from one exercise to the next quickly and seamlessly but after each workout there is a good 5 minutes of cool-downs, which if you are looking to do more than one workout in succession, you don't really want a five minute cool-down in between.  It uses the Playstation Move Controller which, as previously discussed adds an extra £40-£50 to the cost of the game however it is possible to use the game without the controller.  Also missing is the ability to work out with a friend which is available on both EASA2 and UFCPT albeit EASA2 would require an extra set of sensors.  This lack of an extra player does not affect me in any way because our lounge is tiny and two people doing kick-boxing in it could possibly end with casualties.  The sensor on MFC seems pretty accurate but then the trainer doesn't appear to care less if you are doing it wrong, just as long as you are making an effort.  MFC is ideal for those that want something that they can pick up or put down as and when their life-style dictates, there are no commitments here.  I think, with a separate calendar, you could plan your workouts and stay motivated.  I think I can use this to top up my workouts when I have the time which will mostly be when I am off work.  There are no built in on-line features with this so it is on par with EASA2 and UFC however there does appear to be DLC available.  Whilst not as motivating as EASA2 and not quite as much fun as JD3 or JD4, it is entertaining and quick to get into.  The only other gripe is that the weight is in metric only which is no big deal but I had to google my weight to work out what it is in Kilos and I'll have to do this each time I lose more weight.

Diet and Exercise

It's 04:37hrs GMT and I currently can't sleep so I thought it might be about time for an update.  I'm now 187lbs so I have done well since my September update.  I plateaued at 191lbs and thought I needed to do something a little more extreme to get my weight-loss started again.  I was in Smythes toy store with Jo and Ellie and I stumbled upon UFC Personal Trainer for the PS3 reduced from £39.99 to just £7 and I thought "Why not?"  This has also motivated me to get back on the EA Sports Active 2 and hammer the Just Dance 4.  I've done about a week on them and my weight loss has started again.  With just 12lbs to get to my ideal weight, I'm now considering the possibility of getting as low as I can without being "under-weight".  I also thought that this would be a good time to review the different products:  Just Dance 3 & 4; EA Sports Active 2 and UFC Personal Trainer.  To follow shortly will be the My Fitness Coach comparison.  I think it is important to note that these are all on PS3.  Our Wii is in need of repair so I can't give any accurate comparison of the Wii fit products at this time but may follow this up when we get it fixed.

EA Sports active:  It should come with three sensors, one for each arm and one for your right leg.  The left arm sensor has a built in heart-rate monitor.  I noticed on Ebay the software being sold without the sensors.  Unless you already have the sensors, avoid buying the software only because you cannot use it without the sensors and it would appear that the product is just as cheap if not cheaper with the sensors than without.  The other thing that I need to add at this point is that the EA servers for this product have now been shut down permanently.  This means that currently (and probably for ever) there is no DLC available for this product on the PS3 and the on-line features of groups are gone forever.  If you need an on-line community to motivate you, there are other web-sites but there is no-longer automatic updates of your work-out data.  Being generally unsociable, this does not affect me but may be important to some people.  Now, the activities are a mixture of fun sport related activities such as goal-keeping, mountain-biking, basketball etc and standard exercises such as weight lifting, skipping and Oh Ye Gods Mountain Climbers!  So, the activities like goal-keeping gets you doing lunges and squat jumps as part of the game with a fair rest in between each one so your heart-rate doesn't go through the roof.  However, activities like the skipping, split-jumps and foot-fires allow you to absolutely hammer your heart-rate if you want.  Now is a good time to point out that the heart-rate monitor sends the info to the PS3 which displays the data on the screen and logs your HR throughout the work-out so that you can evaluate your workout and see where you work the hardest.  There are preset workouts of different intensities and programs that take you through these workouts over several weeks.  There is also the ability to create your own work-outs so that you can tailor the exercises to your exact needs.  What appears to be added as an after thought is the built-in surveys with regard to extra activities which allows me to add my cycling and time spent on the Just Dance and nutrition survey to help raise your awareness as to how well you eat and drink (or don't in my case).  When it asks you how many fruit or veg you have eaten today and the answer is a big fat zero, I think you are supposed to be guilted into eating more the next day (but not in my case;)  The sensors are accurate which is good in respect that it does not tend to miss reps however, there are some exercises which if you start at one extreme of the movement it will struggle to recognise that you have returned to that position.  I'll try to explain - there is an exercise, tricep extensions where you start with your elbows up and your arms near the centre of your back as if trying to scratch in between your shoulder-blades.  You then raise your arms so that you are pointing at the ceiling.  Now, when you return to start, you need to force your arms as far down your back to get it to register that you have returned to start.  What I really like about these sensors is that they leave the hands free for either weights or resistance bands.  On resistance bands, one is included in the pack but you may want to upgrade this one because it is a bit weak, making it a bit too easy.  On weights, you set the weight in the options menu but this does not take into account that I would use different weights for different exercises e.g. hammer curls are far easier for me that tricep extensions  thus I would use different weights.  This would be a good point to talk about loading times.  The time in between exercises is not long, you can get a quick drink from a glass or feeder bottle but you won't have time to undo a bottle lid, drink and replace the lid.  In summary, this is a fun game, a good workout and is more motivating if you use one of the programmes rather than just using a set routine each time.

UFC Personal Trainer:  This uses the Playstation Eye and one or two Move Controllers.  I have the two controllers which I would see as essential for the kick-boxing routines but this has to be seen as a potentially added cost to the game and not a cheap one at that.  A Move starter kit will set you back about £40-£50 and an extra Move controller another £30-£40 so if you don't already have them, you are looking at an extra £70-£90 on top of the game.  However, considering how much use we get out of the Move Controllers and the Playstation Eye with games like Just Dance 3 and 4 together with other games like Ellie's Ipet and LBP2 and My Fitness Coach which I will go into later, it is a good investment.  One thing I do need to add at this point is that because you have the controllers in your hands, this makes using weights or resistance bands extremely difficult verging on impossible leaving you with the option of doing bicep curls using wind-resistance and imagination or very cack-handedly trying to hold the handles of your resistance bands and the controller in each hand without inadvertently pressing any of the buttons on the controller.  The game comes with a leg holster for the controller for when you are doing ground exercises such as leg-lifts and push-ups, which I will come back to in a moment.  So, like EASA2, it is a combination of workouts and exercise programs geared mainly around the kick-boxing style of fitness and I must say that this side of it is great.  I've started on the programme which the condescending software decided after a fitness test that I should start on as a beginner.  So be it.  The warm ups are the same each time and are not really as impressive or varied as EASA2 or even P90X leaving you thinking that it was too easy.  The exception to this is the mountain climbers which I hate with a passion.  So far, the routines seem to focus mainly on floor exercises such as leg-lifts, V-ups, Leg-wipers, bicycle crunches and crunches with punches, and this is where the software falls down.  It does not recognise the reps all the time which means that you can be working like a trojan and still fail the set despite having done twice the required reps which is very demotivating and demoralising, and there is no feedback as to where it is going wrong.  When compared to EASA2 which will coach you through things that you are getting wrong and allow you to keep going until you either get it right or skip the exercise, UFCPT will simply register it as a fail and move on to the next exercise.  The game seems to focus on the celebrity fitness coaches which, if you are into UFC, you probably recognise and are motivated by.  However, to me, they are simply athletes that are reading the same script as each other which become monotonous and lacklustre.  It has to be said that the kick-boxing is what is likely to keep me coming back to this product but apart from that it is too shallow to drive me and lacks the fun element.  When I reach my ideal weight, I can imagine this collecting dust.

Just Dance 3 & 4:  These are fun.  This cannot be stressed enough.  Whether you decide to play on your own or with up to three other players, it is enjoyable and you can expect to break a sweat.  So, the original play mode icludes about 40 songs from varying genres and dates from modern to about 60's swing.  Some are simply set dances where everyone has the same moves, some are duets where two will have different but complementing moves and some are groups where all four will have different moves.  Doing the time-warp with Ellie was outstanding fun with much merriment and mirth for those fortunate enough to witness it and to date, there has been no casualties.  Now, with JD3 you could set up a weekly challenge which on the highest level would see you doing about an hour of dancing each day for 7 days which can be a bit tricky to fit into your day if, like me, you have to go to work and can't always guarantee an hours play with other commitments and if you miss a day, whilst you can make your 7 day target, you fail that day.  This is what I like about JD4.  You can choose your category which features a random set of dances from that catergory and you then decide if you can do 10, 25 or 45 minutes, adding to this 5 minutes of cool-down time.  This is a really basic concept so I can't really add much more to this but as a motivation to get up and get dancing, these games hit the mark.  And unlike EASA2 and UFCPT, these titles will come out and keep coming out when you have friends over.  I think it is worthy of addition that I suppose some people may be self-conscious about dancing in front of their TV and whilst I get some ridicule from Jo, you very quickly get absorbed into the game and the music that you do just crack on with it and have fun.  On a final note however, I do need to add that I am coming to the conclusion that I hate Justin Bieber's music.  I'm not saying I can do better, just that it appears virtually the entire music industry can.  I may be doing him a grave injustice and will have to look into this further.

Today, Jo wants to be picked up from work at 13:00 so I had to go to the gym early.  I struggled a bit on my workout but I'm not sure if that is because I was rushing, because I used extra weights or because I have reached a point of overtraining on those muscles.  No work tomorrow, so I may drop the weights to those I did on Monday and see what results I have.  I'm not suffering from any delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) which is quite strange considering that I am doing weights which are heavy for me and generally doing 6 sets of between 9-11 reps with very little breaks inbetween sets.  I pretty much just take the time to write down my results before going straight onto the next set.

I seem to be waking a couple of times during the night but I'm falling back to sleep without issue and I'm waking in the morning feeling refreshed.  My muscles do not feel painful at all so I will go to the gym today and see how my performance is compared to yesterday.  I need to map out my nutritional values for today because I need to be strict with my diet to try to shift myself under 200lbs.

If I'm currently not overtraining, I wonder how hard I can actually push myself before I am overtraining.  I shall try to keep it up for a week and see what the effects are and then adapt accordingly.

I've found two schools of thought with regard to exercising the same muscle group daily.  Some have said that without proper rest between workouts, you will over-exercise that musclegroup which will be detrimental.  Others have pointed out that Olympic athletes will exercise for long hours daily without negative effects.  The general retort is that Olympic athletes have been doing it for longer.  So, I'm thinking that the only real way to tell is to try it and see what the results are.  There are of course some important variables.  Mainly, sleep.  My sleep appears to be generally better quality than it has been in a long time with my body waking fully after 7 hours indicating that either I only need 7 hours or that my body only allows me to have 7 hours.  It will be interesting to see if working a muscle group excessively causes my sleep to increase to cope with the strain.  The next important variable is nutrients.  I need to keep my protein up but I also fully understand that there is no point in overloading on protein because I know that my body simply will not be able to metabolise it and will use it as fuel instead.  With this in mind, I'm going to keep my diet pretty much the same and ensure my sleep is kept in order but I'm looking to work on my upper body strength.  I'm using moderate weights for now but I'll be looking to increase my weights as and when I can.  I am looking to work the muscles without overloading them and keeping my weights within safe limits as I see little point in risking injury.

So, on the 9th I did an upperbody workout focusing on chinups, pullups, dips and bench-presses.  On the 10th I did pretty much the same but my phone did not record my previous workout and so I cannot see how I performed in comparison.  On the 10th, I recorded it on paper and in the morning I will transfer my results onto the computer and do the same workout again and see how they compare.  If I'm overworking my muscles, I should see a decrease in my capabilities whereas is I see an improvement, I know that I'm not overworking.  And of course, by recording my progress here, I will get to see who is right and who is wrong with regard to overworking muscle groups.

So, I've seemed to plateaued at around 201-202lbs but I have increased my exercise with gym work.  I'm satisfied that the IF has helped regulate my sleep patterns.  My next goal, which should help getting down to a healthy weight, is to improve my upper-body strength.  With this in mind, I'm focussing on my upper-body in the gym and not worrying about my cardio.  I cycle pretty much every day anyway.  I've still got far too much belly but it is starting to trim down.  I've started looking up how daily exercise will effect me and it's a bit of a mixed bag with some saying that it will be acceptable if you get enough rest with others saying that you realistically need 48hrs to have enough rest.  So I will try to do daily workouts and see how this affects me and try to record my findings.

My body woke up at mid-day as per expectations but I managed to sleep on and off for the following three hours.  My breakfast is at 16:00 so I'm considering going to the gym before breakfast.  I'm having a quick coffee whilst I decide.  So, again, I'm feeling awake, more so than I would normally on nights.  I'm feeling a little stiff which is probably from the gym workouts so far but now that I'm getting back into it, that should lesson each day.  I'm not feeling excessively hungry really in fact I wouldn't say I was hungry at all which is a really weird feeling.  Yes, I think I will get my arse into gear and get down the gym.

Today will be the big test for IF setting body-clock.  I have just finished a night-shift.  I haven't eaten since midnight and I'm hoping to go to bed in a minute and hopefully wake about 4pm.  I am slightly peckish but not extremely hungry.  I am tired and feel ready to sleep.

I have to take time to record the single most surreal moment since starting IF.  I had recorded a packet of Jaffa-cakes that were going to be eaten today, and I almost forgot to eat them.  WTF!  Cy forgetting to eat something?  Two weeks ago, I was constantly hungry.  Now, I'm forgetting to eat.  I'm having to set myself meals to ensure I get my calories for the day.

Woke up at 07:25.  Sore from yesterday's gym session but awake, alert and energized.  Feeling peckish but got myself to the gym before breakfast.  It is strange because I feel that I am eating better now than before IF.  I am having a hearty breakfast each morning and a decent lunch yet I'm still pretty much hitting my target calories.  It's 10:30 now, so I'll wash up my breakfast things and I'm off out.  I've got my ingredients ready for making some Chilli con Carne so I think I need to be back in by about 14:00.  Today's fasting starts at 16:00.  I weighed in at 203 this morning.  I could do with losing a couple of pounds in the next three days to achieve my goal of 4lbs a week.  Not sure if that will even be possible but we will see.

Had my walk this evening which (according to my pedometer) burned 458 calories and covered 6.5Km (4.03miles).  Just about to go to bed, but sorting out my workout for the morning first.  I think that during work days, I will have to try to fit my walk into my schedule before I go to bed and gym when I awake.  This may not work too well when I'm looking after Ellie during the school summer holidays and Jo has to go to work and may need tweaking a bit.  If I can fit the walk in every day, that will be an extra pound of fat burned every 10 days.  Likewise, if I do a gym session each day, I should burn an extra pound every 10 days.  The more effort I put in, the quicker I should reach my goal.  Right, off to bed now.

Back to the gym.

First time back in the gym in ages and I really struggled.  It was probably because I haven't been for so long but could be partly because of the fasting.  Normally, my fitness returns really quickly when I start to get back into the gym so it will be interesting to see how the fasting affects the return of my fitness.  I woke up naturally at 07:00.  I find it astounding that just by changing my eating pattern, I can have such a dramatic effect on my sleep and hunger and subsequently  my weight.  I'm still getting to eat pretty much what I want so I still have cookies etc. but because I'm not having a large evening meal, I'm having to find the extra 800 calories in a more convenient yet healthy source.  I'm supplementing with just multivitamins.  I can't be doing the whole creatine/amino acids BS.  I want to be slim but not skinny however I don't want to bulk either.  Fussy, aren't I?  I think the Daniel Craig/Special Forces physique is inspiring.  If I can end up looking like Daniel Craig's evil twin, I'll be happy.  We have 7 weeks until we go on holiday.  How awesome would it be to be at my ideal weight for when we go on holiday?  At 4lbs a week, I would be almost there.  However, it would be reasonable for me to expect my weight-loss to slow, the nearer I get to my goal.  I don't think I have been 175lbs since I was 18.  It has taken me 20 years to get to my current weight, is it reasonable to think that I can get back down in just a few weeks?  Probably not, but why not try?  My mother always instilled in me honesty and always trying your best.  I think it is safe to say that she made me the monster I am today with laying those foundations.  Of course, I'm hoping that if I have success with IF, it will help to inspire others to follow suit.  If I end up really fit and healthy, then great.  If I end up looking malnourished and ill, then it is no hardship for me to put weight back on (if anything, it is too easy).  Well, I've just finished my breakfast.  I really need to work out how to make the perfect omelette, because low heat with a lid on just didn't work and I'm going to have to scrub my omelette pan now:(  I always like my eggs cooked through, I don't like them snotty, yeuck!  I could just do scrambled eggs in the microwave but even then it's a B to clean the bowl afterwards.  Why are cooked eggs so sticky when cooking?  I wonder what happens when you cook eggs on baking parchment;)  I might just get some of those silicon poachers.  I need to get all my weird experimental S out of the way before Jo comes back from her holiday, there's only so much quirkiness that she can cope with.

Back on topic.  I still feel great, even better now that I've got some energy back after the gym.  It's only 09:40 and I have no pressing business.  I might be cycling into Broadstairs later.  It's folk-week which doesn't really interest me that much but I might be able to get some photography done and I get to try to be sociable which is a bit of a struggle for me.  Fasting starts at 16:00 so I need to get my calories before that which shouldn't be too difficult considering I got a load of Jaffa-cakes to chow down on.  Might struggle to get my protein up to target but we'll see.

Adding Exercise

A good start to my second week.  I'm still feeling absolutely fine.  Not excessively hungry or tired but then I do have ample fat storage to get through.  I have made a friendly bet with my friend Robbo.  The wager is prestige, the bet is to see who can get a six pack first.  He already has a head-start weighing in at 13st (182lbs) and states that he already has 4 of his six but this gives me the incentive to work harder.  With this in mind, I took a walk this evening which was 5.38km (3.34miles) burnt 397 calories and took be just over an hour (according to my pedometer).  It will be gym in the morning before breakfast.  I will be focusing on upper body strength.  My legs are fine from all the cycling I do and I really do not want my thighs any bigger or I'll never get trousers that fit.  I think it will be either walking or just dance (or both) mid fast and a weight/resistance workout pre breakfast I think from now on.  Whilst I am already seeing phenomenal results, adding the exercise should improve this even more.

203.5lbs.  I wasn't actually expecting my second week to start to well.  Many people see dramatic weight-loss in the first week due to cutting back on sugars and the subsequent loss of water that involves however, I'm still having sugar in my coffee and chocolate chip cookies for my snacks.  I've pretty much balanced my proteins with my carbs.  I don't particularly like vegetables but I've thrown some peppers and mushrooms into my omelette this morning and will take some multivitamins as well.

The great thing is that I can look at this eating pattern and see that it is doable.  I look at my weight-loss goal and see that it is achievable.  I imagine that some time soon my weight-loss will slow down but if it doesn't, I will reach my goal in just 7 weeks.  As I get closer to my goal, I will want to up my exercise, running at 12.5 stone is so much easier than running at 15.5 stone.

I don't know if I have fully repaid my sleep debt or not but I'm getting about 7-7.5 hours sleep at night and waking up naturally before my alarm goes off.  It may be that my body-clock's morning is set to just before I break my fast but either way, I'm feeling far less tired than I used to.

My fasting period will be later today, starting at 16:00 with a view to swinging my body-clock for an 08:00 start.  I might just take an extra cereal bar ti work to eat just prior to 16:00 in case I am late off.  I am going to a friend's house after three to help her with her computer but she won't mind me chowing down on a cereal bar.

I need to look at what exercise I'm going to do at the gym Wednesday and Thursday.  I might just pull off the P90X workouts to work through.  It will be interesting to see how well I can perform in the gym because both sessions will be on the end of 16hr fasts before food.  I want to be looking at the 5 sets of 5 but we'll see how well I can get on with that.

Start of second week.

Today is the start of my second week of IF.  I'm still feeling full of energy, despite eating far less than I should.  I have been adding soft-bake bars to my breakfast and 4 chocolate chip cookies snack to up my calories.  I'm eating plenty of protein and taking multivitamins.  My fasting period for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday starts at 15:00 to get my body-clock set for my rest-days.  Friday, my fasting starts at midnight which will hopefully set my morning to be 16:00.  That will be the big test for IF to see if it will help swing my body-clock around.  I'm still not as hungry as I thought I would be.  I think I will make a concerted effort to go to the gym on my rest-days, so I may need to tweak my fasting period accordingly.  If what I have read is true, I should really go to the gym before I have my breakfast so it will be a case of cycling to the gym, having a workout and cycling home to have breakfast.  I need to look at what exercise I'm going to do when I get there so that I get the best results.  I feel a visit to youtube coming on...

4lbs in 7 Days

Weighed in at 205lbs this morning.  So, in my first week of IF, I've lost 4lbs.  It appears that my body-clock can be set by diet.  I'm waking at 05:00 with only background sleepiness that soon dissipates.  I'm feeling far more awake and have much more energy than I've ever had before.  I'm achieving far more in my day than I did before IF.

Could it be purely psychological?  Yes, I suppose it could be.  Is there enough study done in IF?  No, I don't think there has.  The information that is available on the internet all points to IF being beneficial and those that have done it appear to have experienced similar effects to me.

What does the future hold?  So far, I'm very impressed with the results but I know that it has only been a week.  Can I do this as a life-style change?  I think I can.  Will it need tweaking occasionally to fit in with social events?  Sure it will.  Is rapid weight-loss bad for me?  It certainly doesn't feel like it.

IF is a simple tool that helps reduce the calories that I am consuming and appears to be useful in setting my body-clock.  If it has other benefits other than those found in not being over-weight, then great.  If I become ill, I think I will quickly notice because I generally don't get ill.  I think only time will tell.

Day 6

It's 18:22, so I have about three hours until I have to go to bed.  I've done some house-work and have got some chicken cooking in the oven for snacks over the rest of the week.  I will portion this into 100g portions so that I know what I'm eating.  I've bought some more eggs because omelette for breakfast was great.  I have some frozen peppers in the freezer so I might defrost some for tomorrows breakfast.

I can't get over just how well I feel.  I feel so much more alert and whilst I have mild hunger in the back of my mind, it is not as consuming as I was expecting it to be.  Before I started IF, I would have laughed at anyone who suggested I go 3 hours without food let alone 16.  Tomorrow will be one week on IF and so far I have seen an improvement to my body-clock and a reduction in my weight.  I'm not sure how much of the feel-good factor is psychological and how much is physiological but so far I am very impressed.

Because of my shift patterns, I am struggling to get a healthy amount of calories.  Myfitnesspal.com keeps reminding me that I should be eating more.  With this in mind, I will try to get a larger breakfast and will take some cereal bars with me to work.  I need to keep above 1000 calories ideally.

Well, I need to go and sort out my chicken.  Will be back in the morning.

206.5lbs this morning.  Had trouble getting to sleep but that could be because my body-clock wasn't set for a 21:30 bed-time.  However, I awoke at 05:15, not feeling too bad at all.  I've just had an omelette and toast for breakfast and totalled up the food I'm expecting to eat today before my fast at 13:30 and currently I fall way short of a healthy amount, so I will need to try to eat an extra 300-400 calories before my fast.  Although this is easily achieved with just one bar of chocolate, I think a dose of carbs would be more beneficial.  I may just take some cookies to work with me to balance the protein that I will be eating.  It's now 05:55 and I feel really good.  I'm alert and satiated after my breakfast and ready to take on the world. I may do another post when I get in from work.

I'm going to bed in an hours time so that I can get up for 5.  Jo and Ellie are away for the week so I should be able to get a lot more done around the house and my fasting will be much easier.  Still not suffering with hunger or tiredness.  Weight-loss has been steady so far and my sleep pattern appears fine at the moment.  Will see how the early mornings of a set of early shifts affects me.

Half Nine and Alls Well.

I found that my body woke up about 9:20.  I had stopped eating at 18:00 yesterday so I still have 25 minutes to go before breakfast.  Today's fast starts at 13:30 which gives me just three and a half hour window to eat something nutritious.  Jo and Ellie will be off on their holiday probably about 15:15 which means I will be left to my own devices for the week which will make the fasting that much easier.

So, I'm not excessively tired and I'm not excessively hungry.  I am however thirsty so I'm going to make myself a coffee in a minute.  I watched an interesting video/presentation detailing that IF helps you differentiate between physical hunger and psychological cravings however I am finding that whilst I have a sort of back-ground hunger which is pretty much constant, I don't have an impactive "You know what, I'm feeling hungry" thought.  Likewise, although I feel "I've just woken up and am still sleepy", I don't feel "Oh Ye God's I'm tired."

It is thought that the average person carries a sleep debt of about 20 hrs, which would explain the background tiredness that I feel.  It may be that by regulating my sleeping and eating patterns, I may be able to recoup this debt.  For the next two months, I will try to be in bed at the right time, if not half hour earlier when possible.  This should help me recoup 15 hours and limit the fatigue caused by any instance where I am late off work and can't get to bed on time.

Six and half.

It was pretty much 12:00 when I managed to drag myself out of bed.  Six and a half hours sleep is not good but it's one of those things really.  So, I got up two hours later than I would have hoped for and I need to swing my body-clock around so that I don't spend all my rest-day in bed and have my clock ready for 05:30 starts Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  The only real impact IF will have on my family is that with my shifts the way they are, there are very few times that I will be having an evening meal with them but then even without IF, there are very few times that I get to have meals with them anyway.  Weight is down to 207lbs.  Still a considerable distance from my goal of 175lbs but it is coming down slowly.  I'm still using http://www.myfitnesspal.com to record my daily intake of food.  Because I had a busy shift yesterday, I fell quite short of the desirable amount of food to eat.  I eat just under 1000 calories which is kinda frowned upon but I don't think will adversely affect me if it is done only occasionally and I can make up for it the following day.

So, Yesterday, I had less than optimum amounts of food and I do not feel excessively hungry and I had less than optimum amounts of sleep yet I do not feel excessively tired (Although another cup of coffee wouldn't go amiss).  In myself, I feel good.  I feel much better than I normally do.

Friday's fasting starts at 13:00 so whether I start today's fasting at 16:00 as planned or 18:00 to give me extra time today, my window for eating is quite small on Friday so I could do with planning Friday's lunch so that I get the calories I need within a short period.

Oh Ye Gods, That could have gone better.

I've just finished a 14hr shift that should have been 10hrs!  It's 05:30 and I was tired at 01:30.  I've not felt excessively tired although I am feeling peckish now.  I'm going to bed now and will do a fuller update when I awake.

IF Initial results.

208lbs this morning.  Still feel really good (apart from my annoying cough and shortness of breath)  Slept quite well last night so it could be that my body-clock is getting under control.  I think that daily IF is achievable and will help me reach my goals.  Once I have got a consistent pattern to my daily routine, I will then have to look at what extra exercise I can do but my weight and body-clock are my two main goals at this time.  Work are talking about returning our shift patterns to normal which will be gratefully embraced, making the IF and body-clock setting a little easier.

Daily intermitant fasting?

I've just got in from work and whilst it was not my original plan to fast each day, I might see how far I can do it.  It is simply a case of fasting for the eight hours before bed and of course, I won't be eating whilst I'm asleep.  The theory is that this will reduce my overall calorific intake and if it sorts out my body-clock at the same time, well, that can't be a bad thing.  I'm resisting the urge to eat the chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen that keep calling me and I'm also resisting the urge to read my emails too. I can sort both of them out in the morning.  There is not a whole lot more to add other than I am quite tired now which would indicate that maybe yesterday's fasting has set my morning to 10am.  I can see the fasting being problematic when we want to eat out with friends but it doesn't have to be a hard and fast rule (no pun intended).  We will see over the next month how impactive it is to my life-style and see how that weighs up to the impact on my weight and bodyclock.  There are mixed views on the internet with some saying that it is unhealthy to do long-term and others saying that it is a way of life for them.  Preliminary results from studies show good health benefits but that may be more to do with reduced bodyweight than the actual act of fasting itself.  If I fast tomorrow (technically today, wednesday) it will leave me with a quite narrow window for food consumption on Thursday and an even narrower window on Friday as I prepare my body-clock for early shifts on Saturday.

Resetting My Body-Clock

Everything went pretty much to plan yesterday.  I finished eating at 18:00.  I didn't get to sleep until about 3am, an hour later than I was hoping to because I got tied up replying to an email.  I think tonight I will have to force myself not to read my emails before bed.  I did somewhat gorge myself before 18:00 which was difficult considering that I was working and trying to snack at the same time.  It may be worth me simply eating to a normal routine and stopping that routine during the fasting period.

So I got up at 10:30 although I was awoken by the postman with parcels at 09:30.  I went back to bed for an extra half hour but woke up an hour later, whoops.  So, in theory, my morning should now be reset to 10:30 and we shall see how well that has worked over the next couple of days.  I then have a couple of rest-days followed by four early shifts which I will be looking to set my morning to about 05:30.  In reality, it is the night-shifts that I want to be most successful.  At present I sleep for about 4 hours when I get in from work and my body just wakes up so I get up and do stuff but by 15:00 I'm tired again and go back to sleep for another 4 hours.  If I can set my morning to be 8 hours after I go to sleep, it may help me to sleep through.  We will have to see. 

It Starts.

So, I currently weigh 209lbs.  My eating window for today is between 13:00 and 18:00 which theoretically, if all goes to plan means I finish work at 01:00, get myself to bed at 02:00 and have my alarm set for 10:00 which is when I can start eating again.  This gives me the 16 hours fasting between 18:00 and 10:00 which, if the science is correct, should reset my body-clock's morning to 10:00.

I'll be looking to try this prior to any significant change to the time I want set as my morning.  I have marked out two months worth of fasting times but I'm hoping to see some effect either for better or worse within the first month.

So far, it is 11:00 and I don't feel remarkably hungry considering that I haven't eaten for 14 hours so far.  It should not be any big deal to hold out the next two hours.

Oh Ye Gods, Has it really been that long?

Luckily, I don't think anyone actually reads this apart from me.  So, November last year, work changed my shift patterns and it has royally screwed my body clock.  The other day, I read an article that shows that you can reset your body clock by fasting so I thought, what the heck, I'll give it a go.  The other benefits of intermittent fasting include things like reduced chances of diabetes so that can only be a good thing.  Some have argued that there are health risks involved so I thought it would be prudent to keep a record of how I get on.  I will weigh myself in the morning and see if fasting does have an impact on my weight.  I know that I am about 2 and a half stone overweight.  I will see how I feel overall.  I have had a cough for just over two weeks now which is very unusual for me as I don't feel unwell and unlike other coughs I have had, it does not get worse at night, just comes out of the blue.  I am feeling short of breath but this would be expected if I have a chest infection of similar.  I shall do another update tomorrow morning with my current weight and I will have to see if I can update via text.