Everyone, Back on the Bus

Willpower I may have in ample supply, but my reserve of patience runs at a constant, unerring deficiency. This would be why I had to step away from the Science Experiment. To recap, I lost 8 pounds in the first four protocol days. I lost 3 pounds in the second six protocol days. And, 0 pounds in the third six days following the protocol. This disappointment sent me into a tailspin of aggravation. For the next week, while waiting on a response from the protocol's designer, I ate as I typically would and did Crossfit exercises and maintained the expected 2 pound gain.

I never did receive an answer from the protocol's designer. He passed the girl off onto his community, which seems to be littered with people who either don't read, or don't pay attention to the situation as it was described. Finally a shining light shown in the darkness, expressed his own experiences with the protocol, and restored hope that the science project would not be a bust.

As of Monday, I re-donned the lab coat and got back to work. Following some of Mr. Shining Light's suggestions, I'm fully back to ingesting white, off white, and yellow pills. And, come this next Eat Day, I will be consuming far more carbohydrate calories. As it was explained to me, I would pretty much need to make eating my "job" for Sunday. Again, this worries me. But I have to give it an honest shot to see this Science Experiment to its end. Thirty days in and I do not see that end. At this point I should have lost 30 some odd pounds. That simply is not the case. We will have to see how this slightly altered direction shifts the experiment. Let's cross our slide rules as a demonstration of hope.

Day thirty of 90. I would guess less than half the expected result.

Adjusting Parameters

After the net zero loss of day 18, I began day nineteen completely defeated. I went through most of the day before having a discussion with the girl that ended with me moving away from the experiment.

The plan is to step away only briefly. We've sent my exact schedule to the designer of the Bulletproof fat burning protocol to get his input on what could be going wrong. I personally think that, due to the amount of time I spent each day feeling hungry, I wasn't consuming enough to keep my body from moving into "starvation mode". That would completely shut my metabolism down and run counter to the point of the protocol. When Mr. Bulletproof gets back to us, I'll likely go back on the plan.

But rest assured, if you prefer to do so,  that I'm not just taking it easy on myself in the downtime. I'm eating healthy and doing Workout of the Day exercises from Crossfit.Com until we wait to hear back from Mr. Bulletproof.

Day twenty-two of 90. My arms and legs feel a bit like jelly.

Bulletproof?

The ideology behind this experiment is considered "bulletproof". That is to say, the expected result is indicated to be a pound per day on average. I was discouraged by last weeks result as it only yielded a 3 pound loss. Again, this is not a diet. But there has to be a quantifiable method of determining success. Total weight lost is that quantifiable determinant.

So I came into this week with an eye toward toughing it out. Peaks and valleys in the flow chart are to be expected. I stepped onto the scale to find a zero net loss for the week. I was, in a word, irate. After the minimal loss last week we cut some fats in the form of coconut milk from my daily intake. The result was that, for the first time in two weeks, I was feeling actual hunger from time to time.

My conclusion about why there was zero net loss this week was three fold. Hunger in this system is not ideal as a hungry body holds onto fat when it fears starvation. I consumed too much on my Eat Day. Though that is expressly detailed as the point of Eat Day. I consumed two cans of Mountain Dew throwback during our weekly gaming session (which is also my Eat Day). Those calories are empty. And though it's Natural Sugar, it's still a "Frankenfood". I knew better. But my craving for a flavored drink with my meal outweighed my over all sense of will. Each of those three issues could have impacted my body's ability to cope with this plan. But a net zero loss is still completely unacceptable.

Now, the designer of the plan says not to weigh yourself. Rather, he suggests, let the mirror be your scale. Well, this is a Science Experiment for me, quantifiable blah blah blah and all that. So the scale is part of the experiment. But I chose only to weigh myself first thing in the morning on Eat Day before breaking my fast. This week though, with the zero net loss, the amount I weighed after my Eat Day was also a valuable piece of information. How much of a weigh deficit and I working with. My assumption was "no more than the total weight of food I consumed" because, in a day, your body can't really process and store the food in a long term way. Therefore, I guestimated one maybe two pounds. The scale this morning bore that out. I hopped on and found myself to weight two pounds more than the day before. Now we know. It's unlikely I will conduct that particular sub-experiment again.


Despite my jaw clenching anger, I'm back on schedule while we discuss the problem with the plan's designer. His input should be invaluable; so, I'm willing to tough it out until he responds.


Day nineteen of 90. Discouragement is not valuable to the process.

The 5th Notch

I profess repeatedly that this is a Science Experiment, denying most vehemently that it is a "diet". But in actuality it's a test of resolve, pure will power.

I only eat one day a week. The other six days are filled, from sun up to sun down, with pills, oils, supplements, and various other crap I can barely pronounce. Food is a visceral experience that most people take for granted. I know I did. We use every sense at our disposal to consume it. We take it in with our eyes; we can smell it, hear the sounds it makes as we tear it, cut it. We take it in our hands, finally taste it as we corral it into our mouths, and chew. For six days out of the week I am denied that. I hold little tasteless, white, off-white, and yellow capsules. I pop them ask quickly as I can into my mouth and wash them down with water. It's the antithesis of eating. I'm left wanting, longing. But it's not hunger. I crave the experience. I lust after flavor. All the while I'm surrounded by delicious food, the smells of cooking, people eating.

In the first few days of this experiment I found myself walking, quite absently, to the refrigerator. I wasn't hungry. But I wanted texture and taste. This is undoubtedly a pitfall of many a determined weight-loser. Each time though, I caught myself at the threshold to the kitchen and turned back around shaking my head.

Don't get me wrong here, there is some flavor in my day. Unfortunately, to a one, they make me a bit queasy. I power through them, shake violently while I will myself to move past the flavor, and come out the other side no worse for the near retch. But, I'm stubborn. I'm going to keep pushing this experiment until it's just not constructive to keep doing so. And since I'm now using the last hole in my belt, it's still constructive.

Day eighteen of 90. Tomorrow I eat.

Eat Day + 3

It's been three days since my Eat Day, and I'm feeling a bit annoyed. You see, in the first three days, there was a noticeable change. You could see that I'd lost a few pounds even though it wasn't a lot. These past three days, nothing. It doesn't feel or look like anything is changing at all. If the two pounds a day thing was still happening, minus Sunday and Monday... I should be down at least 10 pounds. And it just doesn't feel like that to me at all.

Now I'll admit here the loss is probably just subtle and I'll never really be able to see something significant, like the first 3 days, again. You have those hopes though. But right now, the only real change I seem to be able to gauge since last Friday is that I'm suffering from a lot more pimples. The woman says it's the body expelling toxins; and, I get that. But, it doesn't frustrate me any less. It makes me feel (and look) ridiculous.

So how did the Eat Day go? Well a minor cold crept in (probably because my body is busy trying to deal with this fasting scientific system and didn't really have the resources to keep my typical high immunity in tact). So I couldn't really taste the food to the extent I would have liked. My fears about over eating were quickly dismissed though, as the size of my stomach, and thus my ability to consume mass quantities, had significantly decreased. I did manage to get in one more meal before my self-imposed cut off time of midnight. That extra meal could have possibly had a direct impact on my weight loss over the next two days. I dunno. I just don't feel like the last three days have been successful. There are a boatload of other factors that probably apply here as well. You know, the usual: stress, frustration, a cold.

We'll just have to wait and see though as I don't intend to weigh myself again until Sunday morning before I break my fast.

Day eight of 90. Feeling a bit "success"-less.

The Feedening

Today is the day I eat. Unfortunately, it seems I've come down with a bit of a stuffy nose. Meaning? I can't taste stuff very well. It's left me a bit sad, but I have no intention to let it stop me from devouring tasty things. I actually planned my meals days ago. Keep in mind that for this scientific fasting, your eat day is loaded with carbohydrates. It should also be noted that the chicken and eggs are all free range. The other meats are all pastured, grass fed. And, the pasta is just almond flour and eggs. There's no point spending 4 days detoxifying your body if you're just going to consume crap on your eat day.

So for breakfast: Bacon, eggs, and potatoes.
Lunch: Bacon Cheeseburger with sweet potato fries.
Dinner: Fettuccine Alfredo with grilled chicken.
And throughout the day I can eat as much bacon, and beef sticks as I like. (without gorging myself)

Two pounds a day is interesting; it's good to see results so quickly. But, I have some doubts that it will last. I expect at some point to drop to a pound a day, then a pound every other day. Let's hope that happens closer to my goal than not.

Day five of 90. Hoping it lasts.

Mouth by Erlenmeyer

I knew the first few days were going to be rough but right now I'm hungry, my head hurts, my stomach hurts, my throat hurts, I'm sleepy constantly, I'm not thinking clearly, and apparently I don't smell great. Every time I move I can smell Lipoceutical Glutathione. Which, if you're not acquainted with it smells, to me at least, like rotten eggs.

Out of curiosity, I stepped on the scale this morning. 6 pounds in the first three days. I can also see the difference in how the fat around my midsection is being held. It's softer, not so round.

I eat tomorrow, and I have some reservations about that. With the weight loss I mentioned above though, I'm committed to the program for at least another week.

Day four of 90. Interesting visible result.