Intro
Thirty seven days ago, I sat with my mother in the gathering twilight after I’d prepared a feast at her table. These are her pictures of me, taken with her Grandpad. Grandpad is Consumer Cellular for SENIOR Senior citizens. I hate them. Not seniors, the pictures and I knew when she took them that I’d hate them. I didn’t say so. I could have erased them without her knowledge but now I want to memorialize them.
My mother’s table has always been about feasting. My mother’s kitchen has always been about love and abundant food. We all learned to cook more than adequately at her apron strings. I’d been cooking my heart out for her all week, making bright, vibrant, delicious food a 91-year-old would love. I didn’t know it that day, but on the very next one, I’d made a decision that would not only change my life but come with startling but not entirely unintended consequences.
30 for 30–I Make a Deal with Myself
The short version of my story is that knowing I’d require painful knee surgery in September, I decided to stack the odds of recovery in my favor. I would fast for 30 days. 30 for 30. At 65 year of age I would create a sustainable journey toward health and longevity rather than obesity and all the illnesses the obese are at risk for.
I recommend this radical step to positively nobody.
You’re going to hear/see me say this several times. I don’t know your medical state. I don’t know if you’re bulimic. Diabetic. Have a weak heart. Take medications. What you weigh. Your mindset. Consult with your doctor or HCP before you attempt anything as drastic as what I’m about to lay out for you. All I can tell you is that if they give you the go-ahead, you just might have an incredibly positive experience like me. So on that chance I want to share it mine with you.
The day before this picture was taken I’d confirmed my second knee replacement operation date. September 28th. And then my mind got chewing on that date and I determined I wasn’t going to climb on that operating table, a fat-bellied carbohydrate burner near 275 pounds. A victim. Destined to grow ever fatter, less mobile and profoundly unhappy.
I didn’t put a lot of research into it at the start. It just felt like something my body told me it needed me to do. I comforted myself driving home to Philadelphia that I would have the goodies I brought back with me. Pasta, veggies, cheese, chocolate cake from my second birthday party. And the next day I’d fast. I didn’t know how long I’d do it for but I knew I had two milestones. One our trip to Montreal which I figured I’d break the fast for. The other is the operating table. Would it be hard or easy? I didn’t know. I didn’t really care. I was both desperate and determined. I knew the following:
- I am a hot mess of inflammatory processes.
- The fat in my belly is fuel for said inflammatory processes.
- In fasting the body burns fat if told to do so and has less fuel for inflammatory processes.
- The only thing you need to do is stop eating.
And that, I was pleasantly surprised to discover, was surprisingly easy. And if you’ve got a lot of belly fat like I do, it’s something you can maintain for a long time.
Check out Angus Barbier’s world record for fasting.
In comfort. At a high energy level. With the most amazingly positive mental and physical side effects. In fact, I’d suggest that most of the things you think you know about fasting range from inaccurate to wholly wrong. Most people won’t do it because they think it demands unreasonable willpower. I’m here to tell you that eating an RC *restricted calorie or IF intermittent fast takes far more willpower.
Read about the weight loss of one of my least favorite politicians.
I recommend this path I’m about to take to positively nobody.
I insist you read this statement twice before going on. I have not consulted a doctor. I am not monitoring my sugars. I will be getting an HbAlc test later in the month. Calorie restriction is hard, the results are slow and offer you no better longterm results. Fasting IS easy. You just have to be healthy enough to do it. But if you are and you, like me have generous stores of gorgeous belly fat and it’s only your preconceptions that keep you from doing something positive about it, read on and maybe something I say will be of interest or value to you.
Day 1.
It’s a Monday like any other except today, I have gone 24 hours without food.
I have 62 days before total knee surgery.
My knee is in pretty constant torment when I exercise it. The brace helps but it is only a temporary fix.
My body is ravaged by inflammations. From the arthritic pain in many joints to my enlarged prostate to the cartilage crumbling in my right knee, it has taken a toll. This is not to mention the diabetes which I’ve battled for 25 years. The only control I have over the inflammatory process is to deny it fuel. I have a basketball for a gut. Neuropathies in fingers, toes and spine.
All of these are the inevitabilities of decay. But I will not go passively. I will mount an offensive. This is my battle plan:
I will continue this fast for at least a month. Afterwards, I’ll eat approximately 800-1000 calories up until the surgery. After the surgery, I will continue to fast as the diminished activity level would almost certain cause weight gain.
I will no longer use food for comfort. I will seek it other places and in other ways. My love of food is killing me. It will be controlled.
Yeah, like everything else, there’s an app for that. But I don’t need it. Intermittent doesn’t work for me. I’ve been trying for over a year. The best time interval for me won’t be measured in hours, but in days, weeks, possibly months.
Day 2 tried to poop.
Not very hard. Didn’t. Hunger barely there. I can deal with this for a long time. Staying hydrated, burning my fat stores until they’re gone, gone, fucking gone. Arthritis is a nasty thing you don’t have any control of. Or do you? The fat stores. My body will want to hoard them and I should force all to burn. Now we all need a little fat, but I was overboard. Preaching one way eating another. Weight. 271.4
I feel alert and energetic. The idea of finally losing weight after all these years is exciting. I have a virtual PowerPoint card deck of images that feature me having hard times. Hard to dress, hard to walk, clothes that never fit right, the belly in the mirror. The belly right below my field of vision. The self-loathing I feel when I confront myself. I’ve been through all this before. I’ve been defeated before. But that doesn’t matter.
So much energy devoted to food. So many accumulated bad habits, oversizing portions. It’s funny, tonight while walking when thinking about things that upset me I also flashed on “food cards” But it was brief and balanced by my ability to move past the stressor. Then the food card went away and I was in bliss again.
Surprisingly very mild little somatic hunger (true hunger pangs.) It’s the weird limbic flashes of foods that accompany thoughts of unpleasant family issues I’ve been dealing with. The unpleasant emotion, the flash of food imagery. Funny how that works.
Day 3.
With a little effort a poop the size of a magnum stogie came out. It was solid and had a twist on the end. I’m surprised that it’s been sitting in my colon for almost 72 hours, but I’ve got a lot of guts to get through. I’m shocked that it was hiding out for this long, but for the foreseeable future the colon gets a rest👌. I do not feel at all weak or hungry. Last night I drank a 30 calorie “probiotic” drink and a 4 oz glass of V8. Maybe they’re what spurred on the 💩 action.
I’m approaching 72 hours without food. I’ve dropped 2 lbs and have walked an average of 3.8 mi every day since returning from PGH. Today I started incorporating free weights because I don’t want to look like Popeye below the waist and Olive Oyl above the waist.
I’m weighing myself when I get up and after I’ve easily peed out 2-3 lbs of water weight. Last night I was 273 lbs. Yesterday afternoon I was 271. This afternoon I’m 269.2.
My troublesome prostate requires that I now carry a “chamber pot” aka urinal to bed with me. Getting up several times a night, I have maybe 30 seconds to get to the toilet before I lose the urgency battle. The urinal takes care of that, plus it gives me a real good idea how many pounds of water weight I lose every night. Lo and behold a liter of water weighs 2.2 lbs which makes sense.
Being fit obese has taken its toll in physics of it. You know one pound up top equals 4 below. I’ve been crushing my knees. F=ma is killing me.
Day 4
7/30 Fast, coming up fast on day 4. Weight has dropped to 262.8. Incredible 9 lbs. Yes, water weight is a factor, but I weigh in at the same time, when I’ve pissed myself dry through the night. Have started free weight regimen 3x daily 12-15 reps with 20 lb barbells. Easy to do while watching tube or computer screen.
3-4 mile walk every day. Spirits are high, hunger is totally gone
92 hours post last meal. Still amazed that there was 💩left in the old colon. When they say humans have long digestive tracts, believe it. I’m hoping this is my last one.
Day 5
I’ve been thinking a lot about the impending surgery. The pain endured at the very beginning. How long it takes to recede. How hard I worked with the left knee to get it “street worthy” again. Back on my birthday, I’d ratcheted the unloader brace to its max setting. I’ve had to wear it on all my walks. It works but it cuts into my skin so I’ve rigged a surgical mask (removing the metal part) to serve as an under brace surface. The notion that I’ll have to wear it every time I walk is frankly depressing.
Day 6 262.8
Every day, I wake up and touch my belly. The guilty part on Body Weiss. It is the only source of excessive fat on my body. Fat is known, not just as an excreter/creator of inflammatory compounds. I’m surprised after a long walk yesterday and 2x lifting, that my weight has not budged. But the great thing about fasting is that you know it will. Oh, my cheat last night was 10z of freshly squeezed watermelon juice.
Last night is the second night I’ve given off Omeprazole. There’s no need for an antacid if you aren’t eating I think. That in itself is a benefit. (Later found out I need the Omeprazole anyway.)
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