Day 28 242.8 30 by 30 goal achieved

Two inches off the waist, at least. BMI drop from 38 to 34. Frankly one of the more useless calculations as the progress it shows is hard to parse in pounds and inches. Table 1 represents a goal. At 28.0 BMI I’ll weigh a nice even 200 lbs. But that still puts me in the overweight category. Maybe I have it in me to lose another 25 pounds to get just into the “Normal Range.” I’ll see when I get there.

That’s 30 lbs bitches. I take a break from my fist-pumping awkward victory dance to inform that I’ve walked 4 days in a row without the brace. Challenging my right knee and bone on bone contact and there’s been NO pain. Nothing beyond a tiny twinge.

The ironic thing is that the surgically cured (TKR) knee hurts more. Neuropathies don’t disappear overnight. If ever I think. You cut a body like that and nerve damage happens. You introduce diabetes into a body for 30 years and nerve damage happens. The idea is to go forth and sin no more.

Pain equation. I knew it was right time to get the surgery was when I had near unbearable pain in daily activity, which for me, as you know includes walking. Pain before surgery=pain after surgery. Actually it can be worse, but eventually, six months down the line when your pain after surgery slowly ebbs, is noticeably less than your pre-pain surgery, then you’re on your way.

I don’t have that equation handy this time. This time is different. Fuck me.

Today’s walk to the angels, 3.4 miles, back and forth, guess which knee hurt more at the end. My wife guess right. It’s my TKR knee. Surgery makes less and less sense now. And if I need it six month from now but I also happen to weigh another 30 pounds less, how much better will my recovery be?

Day 29 241.2

Going under 240 into the 230 zone is so tantalizing. With only 48 hours of fast left, it’s a tossup if I’ll get there. I plan to put my thumb on the scale a little by engaging in what is probably close to a 4.6 mile walk today to visit my favorite watch repair shop for a new battery. I still don’t think I’ll get there, but every day is a surprise. These last months, they’ve all been pleasant ones.

And here in my note to my orthopedic surgeon is the most shocking and pleasant one:

Dear Craig:

A funny thing happened on the way to your operating table. Last month, I scheduled you for September 28^th and told myself it was up to me whether I climbed onto your table a fat, unhappy 272 pound man or finally did something about losing weight. I embarked on a regimen of fasting and stepped-up exercise. I embraced the brace your PA had me fitted with. The brace was cruel but effective. It cut into my skin. I hated it, loved it and then hated it again. Then a week ago I discovered I didn’t need it. In fact, I am now able to entertain my 3,4,5 mile walks with none but the slightest pain. As of today, I’ve lost 32 pounds. Besides feeling phenomenal all over, I have none but the occasional twinge from the right knee.

When I did my first TKR with you, there was a clear equation of pain prior to surgery being equal to or greater than the post-surgical pain over time. But what if there is little to no pre-surgical pain? Yesterday I climbed the stair in our house after my 5 mi. walk and asked my nurse wife to guess which of my knees hurt more. She correctly guessed the TKR knee. So knowing that how can I submit to a surgery which I likely will need eventually but definitely don’t need right now?

And if and when I do need TKR, but have managed to lose another 30-40 pounds, how much better will my outcome be? I would still like to meet with you to discuss my findings and seek your advice. I know you’re very much on the side of letting me tell you when I need the surgery, but I’m hoping to glean any kernel of advice you can offer. This has been a very complex, at times challenging and exciting development. I’d love to hear what you have to say. Warm regards, Your once and future TKR patient.

Day 30 242.0

What the scale giveth it often taketh back. So goes the quantum mysteries of measuring, margin of error and just plain old hydration. I weigh myself at the same time of day. Meaning, when I get up, am at my most dehydrated, I step on the scale. I know I’ll weigh as much as 5 pounds more after a day of nothing more than drinking clears “plumps” me up again. And I’ve been hydrating like a mofo.

Last night I had another veggie broth with a beef bullion cube dissolved in it. I make really yummy broths and stocks it seems. A pinch of ancho-flavored sea salt and fennel seeds; man you’re talking about brothy satisfaction. This is a lesson not to forget.

And today, like yesterday, another couple microscopic poops. Cute little things. Some of you might find my scatological fixation a trifle disgusting. Don’t be put off. It’s important if you’re considering your own fast. What’s the difference between what I’m doing and colonoscopy prep? Well, I’m not trying to flush my system out. I’m giving it a staycation. Letting it take life a little easier. But the feedback I get from it says that I am helping, not harming my body. As you can tell, the “chute” plays an integral part of any diet considerations.

Next time I might try a pure water fast but for markedly less than 30 days.  For this one, I’ve just sworn off solid foods, taking in only clears and an occasional broth, but there at the bottom of the bowl, little baby poops are a message sent from my #2 tract, just reminding me, that “Yeah, I’m still on the job and ready to do your bidding whatever you put down your gullet. Just be gentle when you go back on solids.”

The point to all this is that we humans have very long digestive tracts which the fast and poop record shows abundantly and mine has been on the job without fail, packaging and purging waste, no matter how small. Am I cleansed? Well, I wouldn’t put it that way. But I’m a $hitload cleaner than when I started. Even in my ketotic state. It was a surprise. Remember I thought Herr Colon would be asleep after 30 days of no solids, but chalk it up, another medical curiosity.

Other thoughts on this last day. It won’t be long before I engage my “honey mechanism” again. It’s too good, too effective to not take it to the next step. And the next. And the next after that until I get down to a healthy weight.

I have no idea how much I’ll regain after I stop fasting, even if I managed to adhere to a strict reduced calorie diet. To those of you who say, just focus on not regaining, don’t try to lose more, I say if you have any doubts, just grab the love handles and spare tire I’m still carting around. You don’t have to bother. I’ll grab them myself. Give them an affectionate squeeze. I don’t hate them anymore. I for the first time in two decades, feel good in my skin. This first fast has done that for me. I just promise to myself that this time next year, they will be shadows of their former selves.

I’m going to miss not eating. Weird, huh?

The :90-2:00 every day expended on eating. The money I’ve saved. The garbage I haven’t made. Having my skin feel slightly cool to the touch even on the hottest days we’ve had this month. Comfortable in this crushing heat. I’m going to miss the total lack of depressive feelings, the slight physical buzz, the mental clarity, the gradual reduction of some of the more infuriating oxidative processes in my extremities. I’m certainly going to miss the need to clear my throat upon rising.

What I’m not going to miss is the bonus I feel with my knee. The near total reduction in pain. The ability to get out of a chair or up the stairs more easily. The reason I started fasting. The reason I postponed the total knee surgery. Wasn’t it ironic that the very culprit which was crushing my knees into powder is being used to rehabilitate them. This is too early to make any definitive statement. But I am employing a new rule. Any weight gain approaching 10 pounds will trigger an automatic refasting. That means if I gain 10 pounds before my trip to Montreal, I go fasting. Won’t let that happen. Won’t let the weight gain happen. I’ve finally found, after a half century of thinking myself helpless, of thinking my body only wants to accumulate and not burn fat, yes the key that unlocks the door to my future health. My future plans look something like this.

My next fast will probably be for a shorter duration. 10 days. 20 days. See what happens. Just to see what happens. In 2018, my body became a science project in pain mitigation after the Total Knee Replacement. Here is 2022, my body has been my science project in 30 days of rapid weight loss and I have to label the experiment wildly successful. So time to tweak the experiment.

And if my metabolism wants to mess with me, if the weight loss is more stubborn, as Doug MacArthur, I shall return (to fasting). I will not be fucked with. Maybe like Jesus Christ, I can be tempted to stretch it out to 40 if needed to burn serious fat.

I will also at some point check in with my doctor. She’s a good sort but the staff she’s surrounded herself with have proven themselves to be incompetent ninnies. I finally lost it over yet another mixup about getting bloodwork.

Things I realize about myself now that I didn’t before:

• We have hoarded way too much food and too many food storage containers. I could make a year’s worth of meals from what we have in the house right now. And I could store it all in mammoth handy stackable Chinese takeout container collection.

• I’m always the last person to finish at the table. It’s not because I eat slow. It’s because I eat large. I’m hoping that the past 30 days have taught me something about portions. Because THAT HAS BEEN MY UNDOING. Humbling.

• I make more garbage than my wife does. Even with her affinity for packaged meals. That’s humbling.

• Don’t be like me and let a spat with your PCP alter your resolve to bring your doctor in on any fast you undertake. For you to take my experience as an endorsement to enter into your own fast without serious self-assessment combined with medical supervision would be crazy.

• I don’t know your diet history, your cardiac state, your meds, pre-existing complaints. I don’t know if you have an eating disorder. I’m not a doctor. I just write what they say on TV. And they tell me what to write.

• Finally, I have the power to “edit” my body. To tell it to burn the yummy fat it’s been storing for a time when it will need it. I just had to understand the language. How to turn on the reservoir. I had no idea it would be so simple and effective.

If you like what you’ve read, please leave comments here or on my Facebook page. If you have questions, I’ll be happy to answer them based on my experience, which incidentally does not include medical school or nutritionist training. My experience is my own. I’m moving forward, continuing to observe, document and report. This won’t be my last “science project.” Till then.