In the late 70’s I lost 60 pounds, but had ten more pounds to lose to reach my goal weight of 165 pounds. That is the weight I was at when I completed basic training in the Army at the age of 19. I used the low-fat diet which was the fad at that time. I was really struggling to get the last 10 pounds off when I noticed my hair was getting brittle and funny looking and then started falling out! In horror I went back to my old ways and, of course, gained it all back and then some.
In 2002 I lost 60 pounds again out of 90 I wanted to lose, but this time on a low-carb diet. I had a fat percentage of body weight test done at the beginning, but had thirty pounds to go when I was tested again. At the time I did not know that the standard caliper metrology was a flawed way to measure body fat and was told that my 60 pound loss was only 25 pounds of fat and 35 pounds of lean muscle mass. I went back to normal eating and gained the weight back and hovered around 260 pounds for the next 15 years.
Then I took an interest in fasting. This ancient ritual could be useful I thought and in January 2017 decided to educate myself. I have a penchant for extreme behavior in my eating habits and the extreme nature of fasting appealed to me. I read 12 books and each one made me more interested in gaining more knowledge. The real appeal for me was the simplicity. Fasting is to do nothing. A lot of people tend to clutter the experience with lots of do’s and don’ts, but at its core fasting is the only health and weight loss tool that requires nothing of us beyond some discomfort for the first few days. There are no special meals, no counting calories or carbs, there is no exercise required unless you want to, no special hoops for the server to jump through at a restaurant, and it is free of cost.
Now that I have integrated fasting into my lifestyle it is now and always will be easy to maintain weight loss and to keep the autoimmune diseases I’ve gotten rid of at bay. The fat to lean muscle loss ratio is 97% to 3% respectively which is a trade I’ll make all day long. My hair, as a previous health meter, which I have a lot of for a 68 year-old man, has never looked better. My confidence that I’ll reach my weight loss goal (35 pounds to go) and keep it off is equal to my confidence that the sun will rise tomorrow. My life is great and my health future looks greater, because with fasting, nothing is easier than doing nothing.
