Ūruz's fitness journal: losing weight and getting in shape

Thanks, but I don't think I have lost 15 pounds just yet. That's way too generous. Weight? Sure! Fat? No way. I'm deep in the 3rd day of my water fast right now, and pretty depleted from glycogen and sodium, so I am not holding much water. During my refeeds I have went up to almost 10 pounds in weight, cos I eat lot's of carbohydrates and salt during these days, which bloats you up with lots of water weight. I think my real fat loss is closer to maybe only 8 to 10 pounds max right now; definitely not anywhere near 20 pounds—maybe by the end of the month though!

 

Day 4 of 5 day water fast in progress...
Daily morning weight in: 253.75 lbs (115.1 kg).
4k walk done.

 

Day 5 of 5 day water fast in progress...
Daily morning weight in: 250.66 lbs (113.7 kg).

 

5 day water fast completed!
Refeed day 1/3 in progress...
Daily morning weight in: 249.34 lbs (113.1 kg).

Fast went well. Physical hunger pretty much nonexistent (or if it does exist I can't tell, cos like I wrote in one of the posts above, the body usually can not tell the difference between hunger and thirst, and I just drink water when I am thirsty). Psychological hunger way less than last time; urges to eat and fantasies around food way smaller and less frequent—food addiction reboot it working!

Did drink another extra liter of water this time, like I said I will. So that's 2 liters of tea and another two liters of water on top of it: 4 liters of liquids a day! Forgot to drink 5th liter at the day 4 as I wanted to, but did not matter, cos just as I expected, the pressure in my head was also completely gone this time and no headache in sight! Almost certain now that the issue was indeed dehydration. Still want to do one experiment though in my next fast (cos why the hell not, I find it fun, and fasting is boring as hell, so why not make it more fun by experimenting with my body...): I will go back to only 2 liters of tea again and wait for headache. The reason I want to do this is just to be sure that it indeed was dehydration, and not just headache going away because my body was getting used to fasting more—if it comes back then it was not adaptation to something else, and if it doesn't then it was not dehydration! But since I think it probably was dehydration I should have no issue just binging on water and rehydrating over a course of half a day or so, without braking my fast. Might need to tolerate some headache, but since I know I can get rid of it by just hydrating it won't be a big deal.

There was a problem on day 5 though: I felt extremely weak! I did feel slightly weaker than last time on day 4, but nothing major. But it really kicked in on day 5! My knees were weak, I felt nauseous, my heart was racing when I stood up and I felt like I was gonna pass out, even when just sitting—obviously electrolyte loss from that large amount of water I was drinking (probably good I forgot to drink that extra liter during day 4 lol)! So I made myself some salt water and started sipping on it. I felt better after merely 15 minutes, and couple mouthfuls, and completely fine after about 2 hours or so. But I kept sipping it for the next 6 hours or so anyways. After that switched to tea again.
I made a 2 liter water bottle with 2 tablespoons of pink Himalayan salt and also about two tablespoons of sodium free potassium salt (finished only 1 liter though, will probably finish the rest during one of my next fasts, cos I expect this to repeat if I keep drinking so many liquids). When it comes to electrolytes it's all about the equilibrium between sodium and potassium; if you get too much sodium and not enough potassium, or too much potassium and not enough sodium, you will kick your electrolytes out of balance, which can lead to swollen ankles, arrhythmia, muscle cramps, tingling and numb arms and legs, hear palpitations, diarrhea, chest pain, stomach pain and whole host of other problems. Now obviously it does not matter on short fasts—drinking some salt water for electrolytes when you feel like shit is fine, cos you gonna refeed soon anyways—but on longer fasts of 10, 20, 30 days, etc it becomes extremely important to not just get your electrolytes from pink Himalayan salt but also add some sodium free potassium salt as well.

I did a short fast though, so probably was not required. But the reason I did it was that: 1. I felt that having some potassium with sodium in my water will give me more of a boost than just sodium alone; 2. In theory it should keep my water retention more balanced when I refeed next day, potentially avoiding things like headache from too much salt in my system (still these 2 are theories though, I need to look into it and if it really works that way).

Now it's gonna be a 3 day refeed, then another water fast starting Saturday. I plan to go for 6 days now! Like I said, gonna have my dehydration experiment during it too lol. So that means I will be able to eat on December 2nd. Then another 3 day refeed after that and gonna start the new month with a 7 day water fast! Am excited about it, cos it's a round number—a one whole week! But I am getting ahead of myself.

Did not do the 4k walk yesterday cos felt too weak due to electrolyte loss. Gonna do one later today.
Edit: 4k walk done.

 

Refeed day 2/3 in progress...
Daily morning weight in: 253.31 lbs (114.9 kg).
4k walk done.

 

Refeed day 3/3 in progress...
Daily morning weight in: 259.70 lbs (117.8 kg).
4k walk done.

 

@Cirilla I am a human pufferfish!

 

Yes! Join me! Fasting together motivates me also. Let's do this!

You want potassium chloride, I use this potassium chloride powder from food supplement brand "NOW". But there are other brands too: Salt Substitute by Nu-Salt, Salt Free by Windsor, Sodium-Free Salt Alternative by NoSalt, etc. They don't stack these in grocery stores here, but they usually do in the US, so check locally before you buy online, cos they usually way cheaper there from what I gather. Really any brand will do, as long as it's potassium chloride. Just make sure to look at ingredients list, cos some of them also add amino acids to enhance taste, and that might kick you out of the fasting state.

You want to balance salt and potassium properly, so that's roughly 5000mg of potassium chloride (usually 2 teaspoons, but depends from the brand) per 4000mg of sodium (roughly 2 teaspoons of pink Himalayan salt)—that's on 2 liters of water. It's not that important to have exact milligrams match, few hundred more or less no big deal, just don't be off by thousands lol.
My 8oz bottle of NOW will last for about 40 days of fasting, assuming I drink whole 2 liter bottle every day of fasting, which I don't, at least not yet, but I might when I do a longer fast eventually, like 10 days maybe.

Just note that if you make potassium water too concentrated you will mess up your stomach! And you probably know this, but if you make sodium water too concentrated (or drink it too fast) you will cause yourself an accidental colon cleanse. So above mentioned dosage on 2 liters of water is generally fine; I sip it slowly, to not give myself an accidental salt water flush!

 

Day 1 of 6 day water fast in progress...
Daily morning weight in: 264.11 lbs (119.8 kg).
10k walk done.

 

Day 2 of 6 day water fast in progress...
Daily morning weight in: 257.49 lbs (116.8 kg).
6k walk done (didn't quite make it to 10k, a little bit lazy today, maybe recent relapse to porn drained me, I don't know).

 

Day 3 of 6 day water fast in progress...
Daily morning weight in: 253.53 lbs (115 kg).

 

Day 4 of 6 day water fast in progress...
Daily morning weight in: 250 lbs (113.4 kg).
4k walk done.

 

Day 5 of 6 day water fast in progress...
Daily morning weight in: 247.79 lbs (112.4 kg).

 

Another 4 day water fast done!
So I did fail my goal again, I ate on day 5...
I don't know what was the issue this fast, I just felt so hungry! Not physically, but psychological hunger, aka urges to eat for fun. I was so extremely bored with everything! I tried to play a video game, but could not force myself to load it up! I tried to watch movie or a TV show but I could not force myself, they seemed so boring! And my ADD–like mind was racing too; I could not focus on it, so I switched it off. I did watch some Youtube shorts and they did keep me focus and calm for a while (I guess my ADD–like mind's frequency matched that of shorts lol), but then I forced myself to stop watching them, cos they could be triggering for nofap.
I felt kind of depressed and just generally super anxious too these days! All I could think of was food to distract myself, even when I was not actually physically hungry...

I don't know what happened, my last 5 day fast was so effortless, I didn't even wanna brake it, I just broke it cos I planned to brake it, but I could have went for 6 days easily I feel! And now, during this fast, I struggled on day 3—I have no idea how I even made it through day 4! My mental state is shit; is it because I relapse to porn few days ago? I guess so, cos nothing else really changed. No motivation to exercise either; I did not finish my 10k on Sunday and did nothing on Monday and yesterday.
I do not think I can fast for now, I will wait like a week or so before I build my nofap streak back up to like 7 to 10 days at least and then I will resume fasting. Meanwhile I will just refeed for couple days on multiple meals a day and then go on super clean, whole foods plant based OMAD—I am still gonna keep myself in a decent calorie deficit though—and that's assuming that I will even be able to do that. Then maybe another extended water fast starting December 10th or something. I hope my sexual energy is back up by then, so I can transmute it again properly.

My experiment about dehydration also failed. Some slight pressure in head on day 3 and 4, once in a while, but then it went away and did not come back. I did not drink any more water, just 2 liters of tea a day, but still there were no headache. But I realized that I did not exercise as much as last time I had headache, so maybe I was not as dehydrated cos of it (and exercise not only dehydrates you but also depletes glycogen and electrolytes, so there are a lot of variables there). So if I am gonna experiment with my body I need to keep all the variables the same; the next time I will make sure to do at least the same amount of exercise as last times when I had headache/pressure, then we will repeat the experiment properly.

Refeed day 2/?? in in progress...
Daily morning weight in: 250.66 lbs (113.7 kg).
Don't think I'm gonna go for a walk today either...

 

One month of weight loss recap; 18.55 pounds (8.4 kilograms) lost in 33 days!
Ok, so since I have been on this weight loss journey for the whole month of November now, and it's already the beginning of the December (1 month since I started my weight loss) I figured it's time for a review. Technically this is supposed to be last month's (November) recap, but since I started my weight loss at October 28th, and did not do October recap, cos it was only couple days and I felt there was no point, I figured I would also include these couple extra days into this recap, cos I did some fasting then—doesn't matter if it's 30 days or 33 days, it's still more or less one month.

Overall this month I did:

• One 1 day water fast: 1 day water fast Nr.1
• One 2 day water fast: 2 day water fast Nr.1
• Two 3 day water fasts: 3 day water fast Nr.1; 3 day water fast Nr.2
• Two 4 day water fasts: 4 day water fast Nr.1; 4 day water fast Nr.2
• One 5 day water fast: 5 day water fast Nr.1

I also did:

• Cardio exercise (walking) for 26/30 days of November, minimum 4k (50 minutes)!
• Eight 10k walks in the month of November!

In total I counted that I have fasted for 19/30 days of November! So I have not consumed any food for more than half a month! No wonder extended water fasting works for weight loss, AHAHAHA! Imagine not eating for almost a month! And the best part about it is that it is not only safe an effective for weight loss but also super healthy! I am excited!

As per usual, I made sure to weight myself and take all my measurements on empty stomach in the morning, cos I do not want them to be inaccurate due to me being bloated after a meal. But at the same time I also wanted to wait a couple days after I broke the fast, so I would be deeper in the refeed, so it would reflect my real stats and not the extreme depletion state, which would also be inaccurate representation of what's normal. That is why I am only posting this today.

My original stats, in my original post, a "one month" ago (October 28th) was:

• Hight: 6'4 (194 cm)
• Weight: 274.5 lbs (124.5 kg)
• BMI: 33.5 (according to the body mass index calculator on CDC website), which did put me officially in obese category.
• Goal weight (aiming for lower end of healthy BMI): 152–160 lbs (68.9–72.6 kg)—18.5–19.5 BMI respectively
• Weight left to lose: 122.5–115.5 lbs (55.6–52.4 kg)

My current stats now, after a month of weight loss, are:

• Hight: still 6'4 (194 cm); not shrinking, that's good lol!
• Weight: 255.95 lbs (116.1 kg); -18.55 lbs (-8.4 kg)
• BMI: 31.2; -2.3 BMI points (still in the obese category though)
• Goal weight: still 152 lbs (68.9 kg); that's 18.5 BMI
• Weight left to lose: 103.95 lbs (47.1 kg); -18.55 lbs (-8.4 kg)

I also retook tape measurements of the size of my body. The previous measurements were:

• Neck: 16.53 inch (42 cm)
• Upper arm (biceps area): 15.55 inch (39.5 cm)
• Chest: 46.85 inch (119 cm)
• Waist: 50 inch (127 cm)
• Hip (buttocks): 49 inch (124 cm)
• Thigh: 30.70 inch (78 cm)
• Calf: 18.11 inch (46 cm)

And the current measurements are:

• Neck: 16.14 inch (41 cm); -0.39 inch (-1cm)
• Upper arm (biceps area): 14.76 inch (37.5 cm); -0.79 inch (-2 cm)
• Chest: 45.27 inch (115 cm); -1.58 inch (-4 cm)
• Waist: 46.45 inch (118 cm); -3.55 (-9 cm)
• Hip (buttocks): 47.83 inch (121.5 cm); -1.17 inch (-2.5 cm)
• Thigh: 28.34 inch (72 cm); -2.38 inch (-6 cm)
• Calf: 18.11 inch (46 cm); (no change in calf, apparently I don't store much fat here)

I also recalculated my body fat percentage, by using the same online calculator as last time. My previous body fat percentage was 36.3% and my current is 32.4%; -3.9%! The calculator says that ideal for my age is 12.9% and that I need to lose 49.82 lbs (22.6 kg) to reach that. There is no way that's right, I have a feeling it's inaccurate as fuck, cos it grossly overestimates how much muscle mass I actually have lol.

I also wanted to upload some weight loss progress pictures. But all the pictures I took were shirtless, and as far as I understand that's against NoFap's rules, despite the fact that this is not a sexual context and even if I write a trigger warning beforehand, put it in the spoiler tag and keep it in my own person journal, it's still not permitted? So I guess I can not do it; I could not find any fat pictures with a shirt on haha. Shame though, cos I notice some change: my gut is not bulging out as much as it used to a month ago, the fat around my love handles are less and there is some change in chest area as well.

But o well, I guess no "before" picture, but what I want to do is to to upload my current picture and then compare it with a picture a month from now, because I do want to get into a habit of uploading weight loss progress pictures.
My t–shirt size right now is XL and due to being fat I've downgraded to Regular Fit instead of Slim Fit, but I found like 5 or 10 year old Slim Fit t–shirt in my closet from H&M, which is size M. I only wore it like 2 or 3 times, so it just mostly sat there, but now it's way too small for me. So the idea is to post one picture a month in the same t–shirt until it fits me properly!

This is me in the t–shirt now:

Spoiler: Now

And this is a picture of a model from official H&M website, wearing a similar Slim Fit t–shirt, just for comparison of how Slim Fit is supposed to fit you:

Spoiler: The goal

As you can see I am long way off from having it to fit right!

This is my weight loss chart for the past 4 weeks:

The bumps are obviously my refeed days where I eat lot's of carbs and sodium, so I bloat up with water weight quite a lot during these days! And the lows are my fasting days, where I am extremely depleted of electrolytes and carbs, pretty much full keto, so I lose tons of water; if I would not be fasting but rather be in a steady calorie deficit I am sure the jumps would not be so extreme.
As time progresses highs become lower and lows also become lover, so the overall trend is consistent weight loss.
I weight myself every morning on empty stomach, so the first bump–point is actually morning of day 2 of refeed and last low point is actually morning of day 1 of refeed, before I have started eating.

Goals for the month ahead:

• Refeed for the first 3 days on multiple meals a day, not counting calories.
• Start a month with with few days of OMAD (One Meal A Day), on WFPBD (Whole Foods Plant Based Diet), while still being in calorie deficit.
• Resume fasting once I build up decent nofap streak again—I need it, cos when I am drained of my sexual energy my discipline is low.
• Complete a 7 day water fast!
• Complete a 10 day water fast!