My Monthly Fatloss Report.....

Today's post:  Monday, 3-20-2017

A.  Here's the key news:

Fat Loss Report, measured on Saturday, 3-18-2017

Gained 3.9 pounds from 164.4 last month to 168.3.

Gained half inch on chest to 37 & a half.

Gained half inch on waist to 41.

Gained quarter inch on hips to 37 & a half.

1.  Since last month I gained almost another 5 pounds.

All of my measures went up with my hips a bit less.  Some of the gain on my chest may have been from muscle gain.

But it’s clear I gained belly fat and likely most of the almost 5 pound gain was fat only.

Some of this may be a continued rebound effect from being sick AND fasting early in the year.. 

Some of this was from stress quite clearly. 

But most of it was from a change in my food intake.  Twice before I added a food with high calories almost every day.  THOSE times I promptly gained six pounds.

This time I added about a half tablespoon to tablespoon of coconut oil to a drink twice a day.

Coconut oil only added 5 pounds.  But since I saw the reading Saturday, I no longer do this!

Paradoxically, that may be good news twice! 

*Based on my experience last time with the other two things, by stopping the way too high intake of coconut oil almost completely, I expect to lose that 5 pounds by next time.

*I was consuming at least half that much coconut oil during my fasts and my recovery right after them.  That might mean that consuming a bit less during my fasts and none just after them, I might have netted out a fat loss instead of gaining it all back.

2.  I was able to lose weight and lose inches not once but twice with a 5 day fast.  But both times the weight and inches came back when I began my normal eating again.

In my case, I now know there were FOUR likely reasons for this:

*Allowing myself too much coconut oil during the fasts and right after them!

*Stress

*Lack of muscle mass

*A few too little calories burned per week from my current set of exercises.

*Stress.  I have that triple because without having a reliable increased income, I owe more money than is wise and don’t yet have a way to turn off that threat.  Second, I have some help but not yet enough to relieve this stress.  Third, my body tends to over-react to threat and not recover after it’s been stopped. (This over-reaction does get better when I have enough money to relieve the financial threat.  It does get better when I have help.  So the first step is to do the first two things.  Once I have those, there are some ways now that I can use to turn off this third problem for future temporary stress.)

Long ago I found a study on Medical News Today that found that stress tends to lock down fat and resist its removal.  Fasting may remove the lock but only if the stress is gone.  This may mean in my case that when I fast, it removes less fat.

I just found out that stress ALSO tends to add as much as 11 pounds a year by reducing the calories you burn if you are always under stress.

Stress directly reduces the calories y 213ou burn even if you avoid comfort foods!!

Somehow I saw this from a study written up by Women's Health initially:

"....new research sheds some light on how exactly anxiety may lead to weight gain: Women burn fewer calories in the 24 hours following stressful events, according to a new study from the journal Biological Psychiatry.  

For the study, researchers from Ohio State University interviewed 58 healthy women about the stressors they'd experienced in the previous 24 hours, then served them a high-fat meal that included eggs, turkey sausage, biscuits, and gravy (the meal came to 930 calories and 60 grams of fat). 

Afterward, researchers tested the women's metabolic responses -- how quickly they burned calories and fat -- for the next seven hours.

Although all of the women simply rested after eating, those who struggled with stressors the previous day expended significantly less metabolic energy than those who reported no stress; on average, they burned 104 fewer calories. 

At this rate, they could gain 11 extra pounds per year without changing any other diet and exercise habits.

Why? In addition to slower post-meal energy expenditure, women who reported more stressors also experienced lower fat oxidation and higher insulin production. The less fat your body oxidizes, the more fat you store and the higher your risk is for obesity; high insulin levels also enhance fat storage."

This suggests that, in my case, fasting may remove fat but will do so only if I turn down my stress levels.  And, it may do so better than now once I can add a way to turn off temporary stress faster once it’s gone.

*Lack of muscle mass.  When I was doing heavy weight lifting with barbells once a week at the gym AND running a total of 7 fast miles in four parts, I weighed 161 pounds – 3.4 pounds LESS than now; and my waist was about 5 inches smaller.

Once I get back to a gym with the heavy barbells even once a week I will have enough calories burned by regaining at least some of the muscle I had then that I believe I’ll regain less of any weight and fat I remove when fasting.

*It’s likely that adding that hour a week of heavy strength training will increase my calories burned by 400 calories a week.  By training hard during that hour my body may burn as much as another 200 calories a week to power the recovery of my muscles from the work.

*Very promising new information!  There’s a new way to increase the gains from strength training AND boost recovery AND by getting both the gains can be faster too.  This DOES tend to remove fat because people using it have their metabolism go up 12%!

It gets better!  I can build muscle as well or better in the early stages AT HOME as I can by going to the gym by using this device. 

AND when I can go to the gym once a week 3 or 4 weeks a month, also using this device means I can make as much progress as a younger man who goes two or three times a week and has longer workouts!

(The information on this device was in part in my post last Thursday, 3-16 and even better news will be in my post on Thursday, 3-23!)

Conclusion:

For now, focusing on adding the income and the team of people to help create it will be my focus because it will reduce my excess stress and enable me to resume working out in the gym.

AND, that may happen sooner and the fasting and adding muscle may well work better by using this new device!!

So, these reports will be focused on a summary of that and my work to add muscle until it looks likely that fasting will remove fat for me that stays off afterwards.