Life Enough For Love: Intermittent Fasting: Three Weeks In

An Irishman was terribly overweight, so his doctor put him on a diet.

"I want you to eat regularly for two days, then skip a day, and repeat this procedure for two weeks. The next time I see you, you should have lost at least two pounds."

When the Irishman returned, he shocked the doctor by having lost nearly 60 pounds!

"Why, that's amazing!" the doctor said, "Did you follow my instructions?"

The Irishman nodded... "I'll tell you though, by jaesuz, I t'aut I were going to drop dead on dat t'ird day."

"From the hunger, you mean?" asked the doctor.

"No, from all that darn skippin'!"

So reads the story in my inbox this morning. Word has gotten around.

Here on the frontlines, we're having second thoughts. During the first two weeks, my wife had only dropped a pound, and she seems to be tired a lot -- she's a bit discouraged. I don't think she'd been quite as rigourous as I have. It's much harder when you're a manager at work, with those frequent working lunches. I'm hoping we can stick with it long enough to get over the hump, and both see some progress. It would be harder if it were just I alone. I feel the worst is behind me -- although yesterday was a fast day after a "half-assed" day, and that was harder than usual. Despite pulling out all the stops for dinner, I only had about 1000 calories the day before. Today I'd used up most of my calories by noon. Another reason to hate Mondays.

I've noticed a desire for calorie-rich foods on the full-day morning after a fast day. I think it's going to be important to have some healthy choices available to fill this need. A handful of mixed nuts early in the day seems to slake my desire to eat so often. At about 165 calories an ounce, nuts are pretty much off-limits for the fast day, but a nice way to break it the next morning. Another option is a bit of avocado -- at 70 calories for a quarter medium fruit, I've also found it helpful to start my fast day with a few slices. It seems to help me get by much longer with the same intake. Research suggests that breakfast may be the healthiest time of day to get your necessary fats. I've never tried it before, but perhaps a little smoked salmon with my fruit smoothie?

There was great news at the end of week three. I'm 44% of the way there and my wife almost 30%. My wife says she'll save the smoked salmon for a dinner-time spinach and salmon salad. She makes a nice one with a little low-fat boursin cheese in the vinaigrette dressing -- about 150 calories for good-sized salad made with the best ingredients. One good thing about 500 calories a day. You can buy the best quality and still not blow the budget. Anyone know where I can get a good Italian truffle? I've never had one before. Only 30 calories for a cup -- and about 100 Euros.

Next: Intermittent Fasting: Four Weeks In