Monday & Tuesday, August 12 - 13, 2013

While I hope I can find more time for daily updates, this first week of school has been hectic. First, I felt a little off Monday morning (Fast Day #2 for the week), but I put it aside and went about my job. The first sign that something was truly out of sorts was on the drive home... when the shoulder grooves in the road may have been the only thing that stopped me from dozing off and wrecking during one alarming moment. I made it home and slept for two hours. Now, if you know me very well, you know I'm not a sleeper. I run on six to seven hours of sleep (less if I must) and I haven't slept during daylight hours (light sensitive) in a long time. Anyway, I woke up feeling for all the world like I had the flu (without the fever). I broke the fast at about 7 PM because I felt so weak (of course, this was purely psychosomatic... it didn't make me feel any better).

The next day, I went on about my usual eating schedule (breakfast and dinner) teaching thanks to walls (that is, I propped myself up against them) and the students were mostly respectful of the fact that a Dead Man Teaching was in their midst. One doctor's visit after work confirmed a virus, but at that point, I was feeling a little better. I was still weak, but I felt like I could run. I made it 2.75 at a roughly 8:20 pace. I was okay with it, given that I was recovering from a virus and hadn't run distance in two years (only hill sprints).

I decided against fasting today (it would make fasting tomorrow difficult), although I did try to adjust my calories down for Tuesday, and plan to do the same for Wednesday.

Things to Ponder

Running. I'm not one of those guys who will tell you "running isn't all it's cracked up to be". You can certainly find (even talented, credible) trainers who peddle their services by advertising against "slow, boring cardio". They're referring to "steady state running", which is a roughly steady pace done for distance. Is it the most time effective means of burning calories? No. Is it proven to interfere with strength gains if done frequently? Yes. Can it lead to a host of injuries? Well, so can sneezing. So, why all the hate? First, online trainers, especially, can't advertise their "steady state running" program. There just isn't much to such a program. Second, it is true that steady-state running is less time-effective. Third, you won't get ripped by running distance (unless you're an ultra marathoner... and even then, you're likely to just get skinny). What most of the trainers either overlook or are forgetting is that most people simply cannot (or are in no physical condition) to push themselves in the kind of workout they would have to do to achieve the calorie burn they can get by jogging for an hour. It's true. Most people don't want the pain. So, anyway, why am I running?

Goals. I'm beyond trying to be "as strong as possible". I doubt I'll ever know what my genetic potential is, because I've passed my prime in some ways and I don't intend to sacrifice my family and career for wieghts. I've talked a lot about goals on this blog because I have come to realize that goals really are the most important factor to consider when you're designing your fitness and nutrition. It took me a long damn time to figure that out, so take my word for it. Thus, if I want to mix in the distance runs (I doubt I'll ever top six miles, anyway) with my regular workouts and my hill sprints, I don't think I'm doing much harm. In fact, the 350 calories or so that I burned while running won't magically become "runner's fat", which is the kind of paranoid bro-science you can find if you look online hard enough. My goal at this point is to be healthy, look good in or out of clothes, and not suffer and agonize over what I'm eating.

My Plan. I'll continue the heavy lifting. For one, I love it above all other exercise programs. For another, I want to be muscular more than I want to be "ripped". I've done the ripped thing and it didn't do much for me in terms of self-esteem. My wife was suddenly more attracted to me. I wasn't a better dad. I like being strong and muscular. When I went to the doctor, he had me re-weigh because he couldn't believe I weighed 185 (he guessed 170ish). I'll also continue to do hill sprints, hopefully once a week. I enjoy doing them and they're good for my heart. And finally, I'll run three to six miles every now and then. Maybe once a week, maybe less often. Whatever I do, I won't worry over "losing my gains". And you shouldn't either. What are your goals, really? If you don't want to live the life you have to live to look like you want to look... you don't really want it. And that's okay. The beauty of fitness and nutrition (when seen through an ESE lens) is that it's about being healthier and living a more fulfilled life.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday August 09 - 11, 2013

What a busy weekend! Besides getting ready for the first full week at a new school, we spent all of Saturday cleaning and organizing in preparation for friends coming over. As it was, I didn't have time to track my calories, but that is not necessarily a bad thing with ESE- at least, not as much as it would be on other programs. As I noted, I fasted Thursday (which starts my "new week", by the way), so I came into the weekend with a positive start. I plan to fast again Monday and (perhaps) Tuesday lunch to Wednesday dinner. Why a third fast in the week? A couple of reasons (that happen to illustrate the beauty of ESE's flexibility):

• this weekend was an active one (six hours of constant movement, lifting, etc.), including a solid Back workout on Sunday before lunch, but it was also probably higher in calories than my goals call for. While I may have leveled out some of the calories with activity, an additional fast can help even more;
• this coming weekend is my birthday weekend, which means that I'll have a birthday dinner on Sunday, not to mention the general celebrating- it's generally a better idea to "save up" for big celebrations, rather than "pay it back" with a planned fast after the celebration;
• I've been doing this for a while, so I have a good sense of where I am with my calories and, as I have learned from reading and experience, the "starvation mode" everyone fears is really overblown, especially if you're having large meals every week (which I usually do).

Anyway, it's time to get back to the lesson planning.

Thursday, August 08, 2013

Fasting Day, 0 calories

Week 1 Stats

• Two fasted days
• 3 days below 1700 calories
• 1 unmeasured day (2700 calories assumed)
• 1600 calories/day average

Happy Birthday to my oldest/second-oldest friend and cousin, Mason!

A note about weekly stats: I thought it would be useful to keep a weekly summation that included the daily average and the three goals I have for myself. Since I have one unmeasured day, it's obviously not hard science, but the truth is, measuring any food ingested is guesswork on some level, even if you weigh every gram. That said, I'm assuming 2700 calories (maintenance calories) on unmeasured days, feeling pretty confident I will come in under that number. If I don't lose weight, I'll know I'm wrong!

Fasted Day, so nothing to report. I decided to not work out today and double up Shoulders/Legs tomorrow so that I could get this updated, finish lesson plans, and hang out with the girls.

Things to Ponder

• Supplements and Fasting. When I fast, I don't take any supplements. Fish Oil, Vitamins, etc. Nada. For one, vitamins have ALWAYS made me nauseous on an empty stomach. For another, Brad has written about the low amount of nutrients needed to break you out of the fasted state. If you're using ESE solely for caloric control and you don't care about possible benefits from fasting, be my guest and ingest any low-calorie supplements you like (fiber pills, fish oil, etc.) For me, it comes down to what most doctors have told me: if you're eating right, supplements aren't that crucial, they're just a safety net. Also, how many times I have forgotten to take them and yet not suffered? It seems like a silly thing to obsess over. I just skip them now, no ill effects noticed.
• Cleansing is Not Fasting. I have had three friends all start a cleanse of some sort in the past week. Weird coincidence, as these three don't know each other. I posted some advice on each friend's wall and ended up speaking with them about what they were doing. My opinion on cleansing (based on what I have read):
• there isn't any science behind their effectiveness
• your body was designed to rid itself of "toxins", so if you're doing it for that reason, don't
• cleansing is usually not fasting, as most cleanses want you to eat specific foods or drink nasty concoctions
• cleansing can be very unsafe, even if you follow a program, including causing heart problems
• Keli and I once considered a cleanse, but it was so horrible that I went looking for other solutions, stumbled onto Turbulence Training, and wound up finding Eat Stop Eat through TT
• Nutrient Timing. If you read the interwebs, occasionally someone will come along and tell you WHEN to eat. Actually, LeanGains does just that. However (and so many people miss this when they're studying LG), LeanGains doesn't claim the 16-hour window is a magical fat burning roller coaster- Martin is clear that the fasted training is about getting your hormones to help you get bigger and stronger. LG can be used to bulk or cut... the amount of calories determines how much you gain or lose. So, if you want to back load your calories, be my guest. If you want to front load, go ahead. If you want three evenly partitioned meals, right on. Some simple guidelines:
• alcohol will affect nutrient absorption, so if you only eat in the evening and you're drinking more than one drink most evenings, you're depriving your body of nutrients
• you can't go 18 hours without eating, go ad libitum, and expect to seriously lose fat... if only because you will not be able to sustain that kind of eating (one of the benefits of back loading is that you can make up for a bad night by eating less the next night, which is impossible if you gorge yourself)
• enjoy what you eat and make smart choices about portion size
• let yourself have some fun
• track what you eat five or six days and be honest.

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Total Calories: 1800

This was one of those tricky days that would have foiled me on most other plans. For one, it's difficult to know exactly what serving size I'm getting when I'm eating something like a casserole (even though Keli does a great job of staying in limits when she measures things out) or when I'm eating, even when it's a place like Subway, that is conscious of its nutritional profile. For another, it's difficult to quantify the "activity level" I have because of teaching and cleaning house. Since I'm on ESE, my only real goal is the fasting. My secondary goal is 1700 calories four days per week. My tertiary goal is one day without measurement during which I also don't go ad libitum nuts. ESE promotes stress-free relationships to nutrition, though, so it's a lot easier psychologically to not freak out if I miss one of the other goals. For Week #1, which concludes with Wednesday night, I feel rather satisfied with myself.

Progress/Lessons Learned

• I do best these days by completing a regular, calendar day of fasting. Although one of the benefits of ESE is that Brad shows you how to be able to eat every day while still fasting for 24 hours at a time, I have found that my current schedule works better in many ways when I have my usual dessert at night and fast until the morning of the second day (so, stop eating at 10 PM, eat again roughly 32 hours later). It sounds rough, but in doing it this way, I'm getting almost half of my fasted time in during sleep. Other set-ups have worked for me, but when I get home around four or five in the afternoon, it's psychologically easier to keep the momentum I've built up (I don't want to waste the entire day of fasting) than it is when I have eaten lunch and am planning on skipping dinner.
• I still prefer to backload my calories. I switched to LeanGains (which includes 16/8 Fasted/Fed protocol) because (a) I prefer to eat big meals and (b)... I don't know why. ESE was working. But I did switch. And if I learned one thing about myself, it's that I do like backloading calories. My strategy is
• to keep breakfast to 100 - 200 calories, bland food (omelet, scrambled eggs, milk, etc.) that is also high protein
• to keep lunch to 100 - 300 calories, some flavor is okay (leftover dinner from night before) but keep the portion small and the protein high.

Things to Ponder

• Protein and Satiety. I can't recall if I have pointed it out or not, but protein fills you up and helps you stay that way. High fat content can have the same effect, but you're also looking at a smaller portion (fat has 9 calories per gram and protein has 3 calories per gram, so a 25g protein meal would equal a 75g fat meal in terms of calories!)
• Questions from Friends. I have had some of you message me about nutrition. First, I'm not an expert. I'm well-read, and I am conscientious about reading opposing points-of-view. Second, my focus is on fasting: I believe it works for almost everyone; I believe it will eventually be shown to have health benefits beyond weight loss; and I believe that most of us eat way too much food, whether we're slender or not. That said, you're welcome to ask me questions here or via Facebook, but understand that I can't speak to Paleo-, low-carb-, low-fat-, Warrior-, etc. eating protocols. I have a basic knowledge of them, but I have not followed them for myself, not in any meaningful way. I can talk to you about what macro-nutrients do to your body, which is information everyone should know and understand, but my advice will likely come back to "Hey, you should try fasting." Still, feel free to ask me questions, and I will do what I can to answer them.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Calories: 1700, ~170g protein
Workout: Bench Press (8 x 210, 8 x 190); Inclined Press (10 x 155, 8 x 135)

I'm adjusting to breakfast and lunch better than I thought I would. I'm keeping them high protein and bland (i.e. low sugar, nothing that will make me want a piece of cake): scrambled eggs (from Eggbeaters) and skim milk, sometimes with turkey bacon, sometimes with pre-grilled chicken mixed into the eggs. Lunch was going to be my favorite meal (chicken enchiladas that Keli makes (about 400 calories for 1/8 of a pan) but I forgot them at home, so I had a grilled chicken salad. The main lesson is that being careful about your food is more than just the calories- it is also about the nutrients (high protein is more filling than high carb, for instance) and about knowing how food affects you (flavorful food, even low calorie, makes me want MORE MORE MORE).

Things to Ponder.

Quick Workout, Bro? This is a trick I learned from (you guessed it) Brad Pilon. He was blogging about taking some time off from certain exercises while he focused on others because he liked where he was at with certain parts of his physique. I don't that anyone would necessarily want any part of my physique, but (for my size) I have broad shoulders and a broad chest. It's difficult to find shirts (especially the button-ups) that fit me well. So, following Brad's example, I have cut down on the volume of chest and shoulders. This is also practical because I have some old injuries (right wrist and elbow) that could use the lessened volume.

Brotein. I already mentioned the protein issue, but since I'm almost hitting 1 gram per pound of bodyweight, I thought I'd point out that the main function of the protein is to keep me filled up, not to magically make my muscles larger.

Why Do You Eat? A lot of people would say they eat because they're hungry. Sometimes, that's true. One way to test whether you're truly hungry is to think about a very bland food- e.g. broccoli, celery, tuna (although I like tuna), etc.- and decide if you'd be willing to eat that. If you would, you're probably actually hungry. This isn't to say that you sometimes just want that steak, or that hamburger, or whatever else is available, and you're also hungry. But if you ate something tasty in the last couple days, ate at all within the last six hours, and you've been drinking water, you're probably not hungry so much as wanting food. Don't take this to mean that you shouldn't eat. It's just a way of thinking about what you're eating. Go back to my breakfast and lunch choices... I chose to keep the meal high in protein and blandness because I was actually hungry (I had last eaten 32 hours earlier), so that satisfied me.

Alcohol and Food. I mentioned this, but it bears repeating, and repeating with an additional thought: if you're going to drink alcohol, why not place it an hour or so after your meal? This allows your body to digest some of the meal, get the nutrients shuttled off, and lessens the overall volume of alcohol. That simple step can shave off enough calories (depending on how often you drink and how much you drink once you get started) to cut some more pounds (or speed up the process).

Those Following. I have heard from some people that they're dipping their toe into the fasting pool. Just a reminder: you can't fast for ____ hours and then gorge yourself. All you've done is shifted when you overeat!

Monday, August 5, 2013

There isn't much to say about today because I didn't work out and I have been fasted since 10:30 PM last night. I'll break the fast with breakfast tomorrow morning, around 6 AM. I used to prefer eating dinner and then fasting until the next night's dessert, but so far (having done a lunch-to-dinner and a dessert-to-breakfast fast) I am finding that I enjoy these last two methods. I may continue to switch the timeframes, just to keep things interesting.

Something to Ponder

The Beauty of It. When you get into a rhythm, the beauty of the 24-hour fasting (especially if you do it my way, which truly eliminates two days of eating) is that it is really difficult to out eat your fasting (if you're moderating yourself sensibly).

Lifting and Fasting. I generally try to only lift on days that I am going to be eating. While my current goal is to maintain, not gain, muscle, I want to maximize my efforts, so trying to get some food in pre- or post-workout seems like a good idea. As always, if it doesn't work out that way, I won't worry too much about it.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Workout: Back (Deadlift, Pullups, Bentover Barbell Row)

The fast will start after dessert tonight (blueberries, raw almonds, red grapes, if you're curious) and will last until breakfast Tuesday day morning. This seems like a long time (~32 hours), but I will (hopefully) be asleep for 16 hours of the time. I like this sort of fast at the start of the work week because (a) it lets me focus on getting off to a good start, (b) gives me motivation to keep on track, and (c) lets me start Tuesday with a "regular" eating pattern, which I will follow Wednesday and Thursday (until lunch, which will probably start Fast #1 for Week #2).

I skipped breakfast this morning. Why?

1. I wasn't sure whether we'd do the "family lunch" thing. If we had, I would have eaten and I wanted some "buffer" calories. Brad talks about this on his blog in terms of finances- don't borrow (I will fast after I eat too much), save (I will fast before I eat too much).
2. Sundays are a lot of work in the yard: mowing, trimming, sweeping the garage/driveway/sidewalk; playing with the girls in the pool (a game that mainly involves me throwing them and treading water while getting pummeled); and moving stuff. I try to stay at about 1700 calories total, but a conservative estimate would be around 500 calories burned (not including the workout). Combine that with the ~250 calories I freed up by skipping  breakfast and I can rest easy with dinner (which will shuttle me full and happy into my fasted state).
3. I didn't feel like eating. And this is the important one. Too many times, we eat because we're supposed to eat: pre-workout, post-workout, to fuel our day, because we "don't know when we'll eat next" (this is in reference to being busy, not being poor- totally different issue). I admittedly am having to make myself eat breakfast right now because I spent two years NOT doing it... it isn't easy to change, even when it comes to eating.

Things to Ponder

• Poverty and America. How absurd that we live in a society in which we purposefully avoid eating because we generally eat too much and can't do anything to avoid it. Absurdist Level: Camus.
• Dessert. You'd be surprised how easy it is to satisfy dessert cravings. I used to think that I would be resigned to some form of ice cream. However, I discovered that I'm really just after something flavorful: cinnamon toast and blueberries; raw almonds and berries; 1/4 bar of dark chocolate and raw almonds. I stick to almonds and dark chocolate (weekends) or blueberries (if the price isn't exorbitant because they have more health benefits.
• Zen and the Art of Eating. I suppose it seems somewhat complex- "Oh, well, I may eat a family lunch, so I won't eat breakfast, then again..."- and I agree, it can be. But I've been doing this for a long while. Even during my LeanGains (16/8 fasting) days, I was still making such considerations. Now, it's second nature to me. Besides, it's TWO days out of seven that such a thing is even on my radar. The rest of the time, I'm thinking more about calorie totals. And when I get to my goal, I won't even worry about that (see Next).
• Next. Too many people never consider what comes next. Hitting a goal size/weight isn't something you achieve and it's always there; it isn't the Hall of Fame. You can easily regain everything you lost- and then some. In fact, many people do. You need to think about what comes next NOW. How will you eat? Will you see the benefit in eating "maintenance" most days and being able to overeat every now and then? The beauty of ESE is that it can follow you into Next. Continue doing it. If you want to live it up Friday and Saturday, you could DOUBLE you maintenance calories (which, honestly, I think I'd feel awful if I managed that) and still stay at a stable weight if you did two fasts during the week: Friday (5500 calories) + Saturday (5500 calories) + (0 x 2) = 11000 calories... which you divide by 4, and you get  2750 (my rough maintenance) total. I could even slip in a couple sub-2000 days to give myself some wiggle room. The key is to stick with what works. I didn't, and I regret it.