Changed my mind. Funny what a good night sleep will do.

So for the next few weeks I’m going to do 5 days fasting and 2 day refeeding. The reason is essentially the problem with going in and out of ketosis. Part of the reason why a 52 intermittent fast works is that you are reducing the number of calories. So its not really the fasting portion that is working but rather the restriction of caloric intake so that net-net by the end of each week you are taking in less calories than you are expending. You never actually get into ketosis however unless you are eating that way to begin with.

For an R52 intermittent fast to work however, you need to be in ketosis more than you are out of it. Having 2 non-fasting days that are not sequential means that you are depriving yourself of the maximum number of days in ketosis as compared to not. That requires essentially 3 days in order to obtain the necessary benefits. 

That being said – there is really no point in doing the whole non-sequential thing. For maximum impact using an R52 approach means maximizing the amount of time you are in ketosis. That implies that any non-sequential days fasting is just delaying the possible benefits since you aren’t in ketosis on the non-fasting days and you are losing out on half the fasting days.

So decided to fast during the week and then refeed on the weekends but also by keeping to maximum caloric intake (i.e. in my case about 3000 calories per day). Also, to keep carb loading down, unlike what I did last week. 

Lean Muscle Mass

What I have noticed now for the second week in a row is that refeeding seems to be doing two different things. I’m seeing a relatively large decrease in percentage of body fat and an up tick in lean muscle mass compared to the days where I am fasting. 

This is now the second week in a row where this has occurred. If it happens again next weekend then there is definitely something to this. Comparing last week to this week muscle mass has been going up. Now to be fair I have been including some basic weights but really nothing that would make the pages of muscle magazine. 

Sagging Skin

The other thing I’m looking at doing starting tomorrow is adding collagen to my daily routine. I’m going to be including broth again and this time adding about 2 tablespoons of collagen in an attempt to regain some elasticity in my skin.  While it is not there yet, the amount of weight I have already lost is significant enough that there is some loose skin starting to develop. 

From what I’ve been reading, this is a common side effect of losing 100 or more pounds after prolonged weight gain and especially in older adults. 

While I’m not in the 100 lb category yet, I am definitely headed in that direction. Since collagen takes time to build up, and you can only build up collagen from the inside out, I’m going to see whether, over time, this helps with firming up areas that are going to need help. Especially in the abdomen. 

From what I’ve been reading, there is a lot of negative side effects from people that go in for surgery to have that problem looked after. Its also mostly a one and done type of deal. Meaning that once you have it done once, the opportunities to have that process repeated if necessary are not healthy.

So better to try to find a more natural way to improve from the inside rather than resorting to something more drastic. 

Daily Progress

The scale today was saying 293 lb, 37.7% body fat, and 27.4% lean muscle mass. So here is hoping that by the end of this week that I’m down below the 290 mark which is my first psychology hurdle. If I can get by that than the rest of the road to 270, which is where I want to be before starting the medically supervised program, should hopefully be more than doable.

— Kevin