Not quite sure how I feel about today. Sunday I did a full refeed (3000 cal) and was expecting to put on some weight on Monday, which I did, today’s weight in however after going back on the fasting yesterday wasn’t as dramatic as what I was hoping. 

It looks like I will need 2 days of fasting for every one day of refeeding to get below where I was.

Now to some extent this shouldn’t be a surprise as there are some big contributing factors that may be responsible for this, and in fact the weight loss may be considered to be more ‘normal’

• Intervention 1 – Day 1 weight loss: 6.6 lbs (with food poisoning)
• Intervention 2 – Day 1 weight loss: 5.2 lbs
• Intervention 3 – Day 1 weight loss: 3.0 lbs
• Intervention 4 – Day 1 weight loss: 2.2 lbs
• Intervention 4 – Day 6 (after refeeding) weight loss: 1.2 lbs

I’m thinking to some extent the dramatic weight loss in the first 4 scenarios is due to water weight and bile production resulting from food consumption. By day 5 of this time around most of that water weight had already disappeared so after refeeding there wasn’t a lot of ‘water weight’ accumulation to expel. 1.2 lbs might be more normal. 

I’ll get a better sense of this tomorrow.

In the meantime, however, I’ve been accepted into the Ottawa Weight Management Clinic Core Program starting September 5. I’m going to see what the initial few weeks are like compared to what I’ve been doing the past 3-4 months and what I’m doing in terms of this R52 program I’m developing at the moment. 

I really want to be below 280 lbs before starting the program. I think that is achievable over the next two months using either the 10% fasting program or the R52 approach combined with exercise and weight training.

My ultimate goal is to get down to my 18% body fat target weight of 203 lbs. I’m hoping that as more of the weight comes off I’m going to see a greater reduction in body fat that what has been happening the last several weeks. 

As an example (Starting Weight 340 lbs)

So while both the US Navy and BMI are showing a decrease in body fat percentage, my overall percentage of body fat resulting from the Omron measurement is not going down as quickly. While this is still the lowest measure of the three (hence the reason why I take a weighted average of those three values), and there is fat loss happening, the goal is not just fat loss but also reduction of the percentage of body fat.

I’m not certain however why that is. The US Navy formula is based on multiple measurements with the most significant one being waist circumference of which I have clearly lost 2 inches around the gut. So my feeling is that there is something else going on with the Omron monitor and possibly hydration that accounts for why on some days I’m below 41% body fat and other days I’m above it. 

There is also this article that references a British Journal of Nutrition study indicating that these types of monitors are not completely accurate and are subject to differences resulting from eating, drinking, bathing, exercising or bathroom breaks.

I am hoping that the weighted average approach provides a better indication of true body fat as none of these indicators are truly accurate for various reasons. And that is notwithstanding other popular methods of calculation including the use of calipers which has its own formulas and ratios. 

Fortunately, the trend line does appear to be going in the right direction albeit the trendline itself is misleading as it shouldn’t be straight as shown but more of an exponential or power curve. There simply isn’t enough data here at the moment however to properly calculate what that curve is in my case. 

Hence the reason I’m using lean body mass and factoring up by 18% to determine my target weight (currently 203 lbs). Hopefully with more current data I can get a better sense of where it is I need to land in terms of my ideal body mass.

— Kevin