DAY 60 - 2016 WEIGHT LOSS AND BLOOD GLUCOSE CHALLENGE

Christmas Eve 2015

Today is Day 60

Weight goal - 142.2 or lower
Actual weight - 141.8 - NEW LOW

Blood glucose goal - 84 or lower
Actual blood glucose - 81

Today is a Feast Day!



For me, that means a ketogenic diet - high fat, moderate protein and very low carb.  Each day, I will weigh in, check my fasting blood glucose, find out if I will feast or fast that day, update my chart and post it here on the big blog. I'm posting it to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.

Well, I hoped that I would be able to finish my challenge just as it was written originally, but I have made little changes here and there.  And now I am making another one.

I don't have a problem trying to hit a goal of losing an average of 0.2 pounds per day on the scale.  If my weight is higher than it should be on any given day, I have no problem fasting.

My blood glucose is another matter.  I am beginning to think it is not realistic to have a fasting blood glucose of 78 or lower, at least not yet.  I hope to achieve this someday, but I think I am pushing myself too hard, and my body is not capable of doing that right now.

It has been discouraging, not to mention disruptive to family life, to fast three and four days out of seven.  So far, I have not been able to meet that fasting blood glucose goal after a feast day, even if I eat just what I am supposed to.

This morning was the last straw.  I was supposed to fast yesterday, but I had a special occasion, so I decided to eat.  I ate nothing until noon, then ate Eggs Benedict without the bread, and three thick slices of bacon at a restaurant.  I fasted for the rest of the day, and even with this one meal followed by a 18-hour fast, my fasting blood glucose was still above my goal of 78.

In the past 14 days, I have fasted 8 1/2 days.  That comes out to 61% of the days that I fasted in the past two weeks.  It's hard knowing that I'm eating right, and still have to fast because a) maybe I didn't sleep well, b) I have a cold, or c) I am under some sort of stress with work or finances or life in general.

So here is what I am going to do:

My goal for weight will continue to be 0.2 pounds lower per day.  This morning, the number to match was 142.2, and I weighed 141.8, which is a new low, by the way!

My goal for fasting blood glucose will now be 0.25 points lower per day.  If you look at the chart, you will see that straight line, and that is what that is.  This morning, the number to match was 84, and my blood test gave me an 81.

On both counts, I get to eat today.  If I get to a point where it is obvious that my fasting blood glucose just won't go any lower, I may have to settle for what I can get.  Same for weight, I guess.  We'll see what happens.

Oh, and one more slight change:  No more having to fast two days in a row.  If fasting one day does not bring my weight and fasting blood glucose down far enough to warrant a feast day, tough.  Eating every other day is somewhat reasonable.  Fasting two out of three days is not.  

On a happier note, I am realizing that I am feeling better and better in my own skin, saggy though it may be!  When I look in the mirror, I recognize myself again.  My clothes fit, and some are even too big.  When I stand in from of the mirror and look at my profile, I see that my belly no longer sticks out further than my bosom.  My face has slimmed down and I don't mind having my picture taken.  And speaking of pictures, here is one of me that was taken yesterday at the restaurant, where I spent some time with Donna and Carol, two girls I went to grade school with.  I think we look darn good for three senior citizens.  I know for a fact that our grandmothers didn't look like this when they were 60!

 

59 DAYS DOWN AND 32 DAYS TO GO

42 FEAST DAYS AND 18 FAST DAYS - FASTING 30% OF THE DAYS

12.2 POUNDS GONE AND 5.8 POUNDS TO GO

68% OF THE WAY TO MY GOAL AFTER 66% OF THE DAYS

7-DAY AVERAGE WEIGHT - 143

7-DAY AVERAGE FASTING BLOOD GLUCOSE - 83

I made a few charts to track my progress.  The yellow lines are my long term goals. The blue lines are my actual results.  The grey lines are my 7-day averages. The last chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after.

This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.

DAY 59 - 2016 WEIGHT LOSS AND BLOOD GLUCOSE CHALLENGE

Christmas Eve 2015

Today is Day 59

Weight goal - below 142.4
Actual weight - 143.4

Blood glucose goal - below 79
Actual blood glucose - 83

Today should be a Fast Day, but I'm having a Feast Day for a special occasion.



For me, that means a ketogenic diet - high fat, moderate protein and very low carb.  Each day, I will weigh in, check my fasting blood glucose, find out if I will feast or fast that day, update my chart and post it here on the big blog. I'm posting it to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.

Today I should be fasting, but I'm not.  I just knew that I would be fasting today, then I got a phone call from a grade school friend asking me to go out to breakfast today with her and another grade school friend.  So I am feasting today!

You may think that I am breaking my own rules, but I'm not.  If you look here, you will see that I allow an exception if there is a special occasion.  I could have fasted yesterday to prepare for it, but I only found out about it after a full day of eating.  At any rate, I probably would not have fasted yesterday anyway because that would have been the third day of fasting in a row, and I was really ready to eat!

I'm still making lower highs on both weight and fasting blood glucose, so I'm happy.  It is pretty slow going, but that doesn't matter.  Onward and downward!

58 DAYS DOWN AND 33 DAYS TO GO

41 FEAST DAYS AND 18 FAST DAYS - FASTING 31% OF THE DAYS

10.6 POUNDS GONE AND 7.4 POUNDS TO GO

59% OF THE WAY TO MY GOAL AFTER 65% OF THE DAYS

7-DAY AVERAGE WEIGHT - 143.1

7-DAY AVERAGE FASTING BLOOD GLUCOSE - 82

I made a few charts to track my progress.  The grey lines are my long term goals. The blue lines are my actual results.  The orange lines are my 7-day average using a trailing stop. The last chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after.

This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.

I'M FAMOUS, ONCE AGAIN

I was mentioned in an article by my friend Marty Kendall.  Here is the link.  It is a very interesting take on How to Use Your Glucose Monitor as a Fuel Gage.

DAY 58 - 2016 WEIGHT LOSS AND BLOOD GLUCOSE CHALLENGE

Christmas Eve 2015

Today is Day 58

Weight goal - below 142.6
Actual weight - 142.2 - BACK TO LOW

Blood glucose goal - below 79
Actual blood glucose - 70

Today is a Feast Day!



For me, that means a ketogenic diet - high fat, moderate protein and very low carb.  Each day, I will weigh in, check my fasting blood glucose, find out if I will feast or fast that day, update my chart and post it here on the big blog. I'm posting it to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.

I was not happy to have to fast two days in a row again.  I was really, really happy to find that today is a feast day!  I sometimes wish that I had made it a rule from the beginning that I would not have to fast two days in a row.

Yesterday, only broth and water all day.  No artificial sweetener.  This may become a new rule for me.

57 DAYS DOWN AND 34 DAYS TO GO

40 FEAST DAYS AND 18 FAST DAYS - FASTING 31% OF THE DAYS

11.8 POUNDS GONE AND 6.2 POUNDS TO GO

66% OF THE WAY TO MY GOAL AFTER 64% OF THE DAYS

7-DAY AVERAGE WEIGHT - 143.3     7-DAY AVERAGE BLOOD GLUCOSE - 82

I made a few charts to track my progress.  The grey lines are my long term goals. The blue lines are my actual results.  The orange lines are my 7-day average using a trailing stop. The last chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after.

This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.

DAY 57 - 2016 WEIGHT LOSS AND BLOOD GLUCOSE CHALLENGE

January 11, 2016

Today is Day 57

Weight goal - below 142.8
Actual weight - 143

Blood glucose goal - below 79
Actual blood glucose - 88

Today is a Fast Day.



For me, that means that all I will have today is water, coffee, tea, or broth, all without caloric sweeteners or fat.  Each day, I will weigh in, check my fasting blood glucose, find out if I will feast or fast that day, update my chart and post it here on the big blog. I'm posting it to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.

I guess I am just going to have to get used to the fact that artificial sweeteners raise my blood sugar.  Sigh.  I know they are not healthy, but I figured that on the days that I fast I could get away with it.  From now on, I am only going to use Stevia and not have any diet drinks or sugar-fee Jello.

Fasting two days in a row is not fun.

56 DAYS DOWN AND  35 DAYS TO GO

39 FEAST DAYS AND 18 FAST DAYS - FASTING 32% OF THE DAYS

11 POUNDS GONE AND 7 POUNDS TO GO 

61% OF THE WAY TO MY GOAL AFTER 63% OF THE DAYS

7-DAY AVERAGE WEIGHT - 143.5     7-DAY AVERAGE BLOOD GLUCOSE - 83

I made a few charts to track my progress.  The grey lines are my long term goals. The blue lines are my actual results.  The orange lines are my 7-day average using a trailing stop. The last chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after.

This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.

DAY 56 - 2016 WEIGHT LOSS AND BLOOD GLUCOSE CHALLENGE

January 11, 2016

Today is Day 56

Weight goal - below 143
Actual weight - 144

Blood glucose goal - below 79
Actual blood glucose - 91

Today is a Fast Day.



For me, that means that all I will have today is water, coffee, tea, or broth, all without caloric sweeteners or fat.  Each day, I will weigh in, check my fasting blood glucose, find out if I will feast or fast that day, update my chart and post it here on the big blog. I'm posting it to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.

I had a full day of eating yesterday.  My weight and my fasting blood glucose went up.  I am hoping that the more I fast, the lower my after-feast FBG will be.

For the past eight days, I have been fasting every other day.  I see that, even though my weight went up, it is still slightly lower than the last after-feast weight.  So I have another lower high.  This is a good trend.  I also see that my FBG is NOT lower than the last time I feasted.  In the big picture, it is still trending down, but I would like my next after-feast FBG be 90 or lower to get that short term trend heading down again.

I was pleased yesterday that after I washed my size 10 jeans, I was still easily able to get into them even though they were tightened by the wash and dry.  And no muffin top!

55 DAYS DOWN AND  36 DAYS TO GO

39 FEAST DAYS AND 17 FAST DAYS - FASTING 30% OF THE DAYS

10 POUNDS GONE AND 8 POUNDS TO GO 

56% OF THE WAY TO MY GOAL AFTER 62% OF THE DAYS

7-DAY AVERAGE WEIGHT - 143.5     7-DAY AVERAGE BLOOD GLUCOSE - 84

I made a few charts to track my progress.  The grey lines are my long term goals. The blue lines are my actual results.  The orange lines are my 7-day average using a trailing stop. The last chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after.

This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.

DAY 55 - 2016 WEIGHT LOSS AND BLOOD GLUCOSE CHALLENGE

Christmas Eve 2015

Today is Day 55

Weight goal - below 143.2
Actual weight - 142.2 - NEW LOW

Blood glucose goal - below 79
Actual blood glucose - 78

Today is a Feast Day!



For me, that means a ketogenic diet - high fat, moderate protein and very low carb.  Each day, I will weigh in, check my fasting blood glucose, find out if I will feast or fast that day, update my chart and post it here on the big blog. I'm posting it to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.

I had a good day fasting yesterday.  I had plenty of water, a cup of beef broth, two cups of chai sweetened with Stevia, a glass of Diet Pepsi and two servings of sugar-free Jello.  The last time I had Jello, I had four servings and the next day my fasting blood glucose did not hit its usual low.  Yesterday, I decided to go ahead and have it again, but this time I would only have two servings.  And my FBG was still higher than it usually is after a day of fasting.  If it had been one point higher, I would have been fasting again today. I still have two servings left in the fridge, so if I fast again tomorrow, I will just have one serving and see if it still keeps my FBG too high.  If it does, no more Jello for me!

As you can see by my Feast/Fast heat map below, now that I am getting close to my goal, I am fasting a lot more often.  In the past week, it's been every other day.  I'm not really happy about that, and I'm hoping that it is not going to turn out that I need to do that from now on to maintain a healthy weight and fasting blood glucose.  I know that Dr. Jason Fung has suggested that to his diabetic patients, and so has Dr. Krista Varady, who wrote "The Every Other Day Diet" (2013).  There is also a plan by Dr. James Johnson called The Up Day Down Day Diet, which has the person eating normally one day and eating only 300-500 calories the next day. For a while, back in 2013, I tried this version and belonged to the JUDDD forum at Low Carb Friends.  I did this for 44 days and then stopped.  When I was doing it, I was also doing zero carb, and I think the combination of zero carb and only eating every other day was too much for me to handle.

During that time, however, I lost 5.9 pounds of body fat and only lost 0.7 pounds of lean mass.  My body fat went from 36.6% to 34.1% in only 44 days.  I was within 6.4 pounds of my goal body fat.  So it does work.

The only thing I do not like about a few of these plans is that they give "permission" to eat whatever you want on your feast days, and that includes junk and carbage.  So if you want to eat fast food, cake and candy on your feast day, go ahead!  I can't imagine what that is doing to people's blood glucose.  When I have feasted, I have made sure that it was real, whole food, high in fat, moderate in protein and low in carbs.  I do this because I care about my health and do not want to suffer from the effects of diabetes.

When I belonged to one of the groups, I was asking people who were gorging on sweets on their feast days what they thought it was doing to their blood sugar, and weren't they concerned about diabetes.  Everyone pretty much told me to shut up about diabetes, and none of them, that I know of, were checking their blood sugar.  Their weight was going down and that's all that concerned them.

Anyway, back to the point.  Am I willing to fast every other day in order to maintain normal weight and normal non-diabetic blood glucose?  I hope I am.  It has not been too hard so far.  The last time I did it, my husband was getting grouchy about it, because he had to be on his own for dinner every other day.  This time, I have not seen a bad attitude, which is helpful to me to keep me motivated.  His resistance to the way I was eating (and not eating) was a large part of why I stopped it back in 2013.  If he stays positive, it will help me.

54 DAYS DOWN AND 37 DAYS TO GO

39 FEAST DAYS AND 16 FAST DAYS - FASTING 29% OF THE DAYS

11.8 POUNDS GONE AND 6.2 POUNDS TO GO

66% OF THE WAY TO MY GOAL AFTER 60% OF THE DAYS

7-DAY AVERAGE WEIGHT - 143.5     7-DAY AVERAGE BLOOD GLUCOSE - 82

I made a few charts to track my progress.  The grey lines are my long term goals. The blue lines are my actual results.  The orange lines are my 7-day average using a trailing stop. The last chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after.

This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.

DAY 54 - 2016 WEIGHT LOSS AND BLOOD GLUCOSE CHALLENGE

January 11, 2016

Today is Day 54

Weight goal - below 143.4
Actual weight - 144.2

Blood glucose goal - below 79
Actual blood glucose - 91

Today is a Fast Day.



For me, that means that all I will have today is water, coffee, tea, or broth, all without caloric sweeteners or fat.  Each day, I will weigh in, check my fasting blood glucose, find out if I will feast or fast that day, update my chart and post it here on the big blog. I'm posting it to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.

Every once in a while, when I am in weight loss mode and doing really well, I hit a day where all I want to do is eat all day.  Even if I eat a normal breakfast, lunch and dinner, I still want to snack in between.  Yesterday was one of those days.  Everything I ate was high fat, moderate protein and low carb, but it was still too much food.  So, I broke my no-snacking rule and today I am paying th price by fasting.

Even so, I am still making progress.  If you look at the charts below, you will see that every time my blood glucose spikes up, it is lower than the last time it spiked up.  And each time my weight spikes up, it is lower than the last time it spiked up.  So I am making lower highs, which is good.  Just a glance at the charts will tell you that I am still on a down trend.

53 DAYS DOWN AND  38 DAYS TO GO

38 FEAST DAYS AND 16 FAST DAYS - FASTING 30% OF THE DAYS

9.8 POUNDS GONE AND 8.2 POUNDS TO GO 

54% OF THE WAY TO MY GOAL AFTER 59% OF THE DAYS

7-DAY AVERAGE WEIGHT - 143.6     7-DAY AVERAGE BLOOD GLUCOSE - 81

I made a few charts to track my progress.  The grey lines are my long term goals. The blue lines are my actual results.  The orange lines are my 7-day average using a trailing stop. The last chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after.

This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.

DAY 53 - 2016 WEIGHT LOSS AND BLOOD GLUCOSE CHALLENGE

Christmas Eve 2015

Today is Day 53

Weight goal - below 143.7
Actual weight - 142.6 - NEW LOW

Blood glucose goal - below 79
Actual blood glucose - 70

Today is a Feast Day!



For me, that means a ketogenic diet - high fat, moderate protein and very low carb.  Each day, I will weigh in, check my fasting blood glucose, find out if I will feast or fast that day, update my chart and post it here on the big blog. I'm posting it to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.

I had a decent day fasting yesterday.  I decided to have only one cup of coffee sweetened with Stevia, one cup of beef broth with sea salt and six 8-oz. glasses of water evenly spaced throughout the day.  I was bound and determined to get that water weight off!  And I did, and then some, hopefully fat! 

52 DAYS DOWN AND 39 DAYS TO GO

38 FEAST DAYS AND 15 FAST DAYS - FASTING 28% OF THE DAYS

11.4 POUNDS GONE AND 6.6 POUNDS TO GO

63% OF THE WAY TO MY GOAL AFTER 58% OF THE DAYS

7-DAY AVERAGE WEIGHT - 143.7     7-DAY AVERAGE BLOOD GLUCOSE - 79

I made a few charts to track my progress.  The grey lines are my long term goals. The blue lines are my actual results.  The orange lines are my 7-day average using a trailing stop. The last chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after.

This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.

And just for fun, I always think that because I don't get more than a couple comments here and there that it means no one is reading.  It is very motivational to me to know that there are a lot of people reading - according to my site meter, in the past week there have been around 1,900!

DAY 52 - 2016 WEIGHT LOSS AND BLOOD GLUCOSE CHALLENGE

January 11, 2016

Today is Day 52

Weight goal - 143.8 or lower
Actual weight - 145.2

Blood glucose goal - 82 or lower
Actual blood glucose - 87

Today is a Fast Day.



For me, that means that all I will have today is water, coffee, tea, or broth, all without caloric sweeteners or fat.  Each day, I will weigh in, check my fasting blood glucose, find out if I will feast or fast that day, update my chart and post it here on the big blog. I'm posting it to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.

After a normal day of eating yesterday, I noticed near the end of the evening that I was ravenously thirsty.  I drank 24 oz of water with ReaLime and Stevia and then 18 oz of water right before bed.  I pretty much did not urinate after that.  I woke up this morning barely urinating, and my eyes are so puffy that I can see the puffs under my eyes when I look straight forward.  Also, there is no way that I can get my rings on my fingers. And you can see what happened to my weight, which is up two pounds of water in the past 24 hours.  No ideas.  I am fasting today.

51 DAYS DOWN AND  40 DAYS TO GO

37 FEAST DAYS AND 15 FAST DAYS - FASTING 29% OF THE DAYS

8.8 POUNDS GONE AND 9.2 POUNDS TO GO 

49% OF THE WAY TO MY GOAL AFTER 57% OF THE DAYS

7-DAY AVERAGE WEIGHT - 144.1     7-DAY AVERAGE BLOOD GLUCOSE - 83

I made a few charts to track my progress.  The grey lines are my long term goals. The blue lines are my actual results.  The orange lines are my 7-day average using a trailing stop. The last chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after.

This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.

DAY 51 - 2016 WEIGHT LOSS AND BLOOD GLUCOSE CHALLENGE

Christmas Eve 2015

Today is Day 51

Weight goal - 144 or lower
Actual weight - 143.2 - NEW LOW

Blood glucose goal - 82 or lower
Actual blood glucose - 79

Today is a Feast Day!



For me, that means a ketogenic diet - high fat, moderate protein and very low carb.  Each day, I will weigh in, check my fasting blood glucose, find out if I will feast or fast that day, update my chart and post it here on the big blog. I'm posting it to motivate myself not to give up, and if I think that anyone is looking at this, it will help to keep me accountable.

It never ceases to amaze me that I go to bed on a day that I have fasted really wanting to eat something and looking forward to breakfast, and then when I get up I don't have an appetite.  And even after I make a nice, big breakfast, I take one bite and think, "I'm full."  I eat it anyway, but it's weird how I don't want to eat after a fast.

Yesterday was only bad in the evening.  I went to bed really hungry.

50 DAYS DOWN AND 41 DAYS TO GO

34 FEAST DAYS AND 14 FAST DAYS - FASTING 27% OF THE DAYS

10.8 POUNDS GONE AND 7.2 POUNDS TO GO

60% OF THE WAY TO MY GOAL AFTER 56% OF THE DAYS

7-DAY AVERAGE WEIGHT - 144     7-DAY AVERAGE BLOOD GLUCOSE - 83

I made a few charts to track my progress.  The grey lines are my long term goals. The blue lines are my actual results.  The orange lines are my 7-day average using a trailing stop. The last chart is a little heat map to show at a glance how often I have actually had to fast to achieve the results I am after.

This is a personal challenge just for me, but if anyone reading would like to join me, please talk to your doctor and make sure that it will not conflict with your current medical condition or medications.  If you are taking the challenge, please be sure to let me know how you are doing!  Thanks for reading!

To find out more about this challenge - the rules and how it started - click here.