Noryungi's Journal: Personal Diet Project

All right, there goes nothing...

First of all, I am NOT a diet expert, so take everything I am going to write in this Journal entry with a big grain of salt, OK? Before you start doing something stupid, please consult a doctor, don't try this at home, for internal use only, etc.

I have been overweight for many years now. Too much good food, not enough exercise, not enough energy, etc.

Then it really dawned on me the other day: my goodness, I am HUGE. A quick step on the scale: 114 Kg (approx. 228 lb). Fat percentage off the scale. Sh*t sh*t sh*t. Sure, I am 192 cm (6ft 29inches) but this is still way too much.

No wonder I have all the aches in my legs and knees, and no wonder the missus is complaining about the rolls of fat and the absence of pecs and abs. Something had to be done.

And something I am doing is this, following the advice of my D.O.:

1) No red meat. Repeat: NO RED MEAT. That stuff is 100% fat.
2) No dairy / milk based products. No cheese, no milk, no ice cream.
3) No processed sugar, not even brown sugar. Meaning: NO SODA, no fizzy drink or carbonated - most of these are loaded with sugar.

Anything not on this list is fair game - that means white meat (poultry), fish, veggies and fruits are definitely "targets". Moderate intake of starchy food (rice/pasta) in all their forms (white/brown). Moderate intake of honey (= natural, unprocessed sugar, can be used to sweeten tea, my caffeine intake of choice).

And here are the secret ingredients I am adding to this already potent list:

1) At least 6 hours of sleep per night.
2) Drink at least 1.5 liter of water per day (helps with my back problems as well).
3) DO NOT EAT AT NIGHT.

Yes, you read that last one well: DO NOT EAT AT NIGHT. Essentially, everything you eat at night is going to be digested pretty quickly and transformed into fat, fat and more fat. Eating very little (my typical dinner usually is a couple of bananas and an apple at night) allows you to lose weight a lot faster than otherwise. And I do mean mush faster.

Drinking a lot of water (1.5L is a large bottle) helps A LOT with my back problems. Also, not sleeping enough has been proven to make you fatter as a lack of sleep is interpreted by your body as a sign of stress, and stress may require you to have stores of energy to be able to cope - hence, the fat.

Results so far? Pretty good!

Monday, March 12th = 113.6 Kg
Tuesday: 112.3 Kg
Wednesday: 112.8 Kg
Thursday: 112.2 Kg
Friday: 111.6 Kg
Saturday: 112.3 Kg
Sunday: 111 Kg

Yup, 2.6 Kg lost in one week! Yes, there has been ups & downs, and these can be explained by the things I ate the evening before, but the general trend is unmistakable: DOWN.

I think next week is not going to start very well, since I have had way too much food today, especially food of the wrong kind, but this first week is so encouraging I am going to continue. Once I have reached a below-100 Kg weight, I am going to turbo-charge that diet by going out and exercising like heck, going swimming and maybe going all sweaty with these people.

And no, eating very little or even nothing at night is not that challenging, as long as you remember that rest is often more important than food. In fact, sleeping 7 hours or more, I wake a lot clearer-headed and not especially hungry. I just have a nice breakfast, and nice lunch, and as soon as I am back from work, off to bed I go!

I'll keep you posted if future results are as encouraging as this first week. I expect the law of diminishing returns to hit me pretty quickly, which is why exercise is (hopefully soon) going to be an integral part of that diet.