Water Fast Day #21

Wednesday – Water Fast Day #21
10:30 AM
I’m back in the office today; I took yesterday off to do some errands and to go for a spa day, I really needed. Today I don’t feel doing much; I’m not sure if I am weak or just bored and unmotivated. In any case, I don’t feel hungry and fasting does not bother me much, I just like cooking and eating so I kind of miss that. Sometimes I feel a bit worn down, sort of weak but not exactly, I don’t know how to define it, I might be depleting my electrolytes and some vitamins I guess, I should do a blood test to check, but I’m lazy.
My weight is going down very slowly, as I already said hundreds times I guess, but this is my biggest concern at the moment, I’m not sure I can handle, physically, more than 50 days without food, I should take something, like Sodium, Potassium but I don’t know exactly what’s the best way to do it. Is drinking salt and water enough for my Sodium intake? How much Potassium should I take daily? My stomach gets upset if I take supplements. This morning I took a B complex pill and right after I was burping on B vitamin! I really don’t know what to do for this issue; it might compromise my ability to continue the fast.
My Ketosis is staying stable at 80mg/dL, which is good, it means I’m burning fats on a good rate; I still cannot fit in all my dresses though, but I guess is normal since I’m still way overweight and far from my target goal weight.
I did not have any BM lately, apart from the coffee effect on Monday, so this morning I was thinking that I should do an enema, not that I really feel I need it, but as prevention and cleaning measurement.
One thing I was thinking about today, that I believe I do not have Candida anymore; after these 2 past prolonged Fasts I think the level of Candida in my system went definitely down to normal values, which is a good news.
For the rest I’m doing ok I guess; days are passing, I’m already on over 20+ days, I’m trying to go to the gym as much as I can, without doing strenuous exercises; but I register good losses when I’m more active during the day. A lot of people say that after 30 days something changes in the body and we become weaker and weaker; I’m wondering if this is the case for me too; I mean last time it was definitely true for me; I felt very weak after day #30 and I wanted to break the Fast, but this time around this is not in my plans, so I hope I don’t have to deal with this – since I still have a long journey ahead of me.

Water Fast Day #19

Monday – Water Fast Day #19
9:30 AM
My Fast is proceeding well, it seems very slow but days are passing by and my weight is going down, helping me feeling better and fitting in some of my clothes without breaking any zip!
This past weekend I was working, but my part-time job does not require any strenuous activity, so I was mostly sitting on the couch watching TV. This morning my Ketosis was less than usual, at 40mg/dL; it’s been stable at 80mg/dL since I started the Fast, I’m not sure why, I still have plenty of fat on me to burn. I want to check it tomorrow – since this afternoon I’ll be going to the gym for my usual swimming workout; but overall I think I’ll be more active today.
So far I feel ok, for the first time, since I started this Fast, this past weekend I felt a bit weak and tired, not sure if it could be that I wasn’t being very active. For me, if I don’t get moving during a fast, I tend to become weak and without desire of doing anything. But at the end, I completed everything I was supposed to do, without major issues. I must to say though, that the night before I didn’t have much sleep so it could be that too; last night in fact I slept without waking up once, which is uncommon for me when I fast.
This morning I had a big decaf coffee and now my tummy hurts; I went already once to the bathroom, and whatever BM I had was mostly coffee I think. I should not drink coffee so quickly, especially in the morning, my stomach is very sensitive. I still have my period, this thing is very odd for me that I usually miss my period for months, who knows what’s happening with my hormones?!
My tongue is still coated, it gives me the usual terrible taste, it makes me feel thirsty when I’m not, but I’m learning to live with it, there’s nothing I can do about it anyway.
I’m losing an average of 200gr per day, which is very little I know; it seems my body is getting used to fasting an d it holds on my fat longer than previous fasts, well at least that’s how I feel but I might be wrong; every fast is different after all.
I hope I can be done by mid of December, although is not looking good as a date – since I still have at least 20 pounds to lose and they will not be gone overnight; I also believe I will be losing less and less going forward so there’s that too. Well let’s see I’ll figure out with the weeks, hopefully not too many weeks!

Water Fast Day #16

Friday – Water Fast Day #16
10:30 AM
It’s been a bit more than 2 weeks now into this Fast and so far I’m ok I guess. This morning for the first time I felt very weak with my arms, contrary on how I’ve been feeling in the past days; I had lots of energy and I feel very positive. I’m managing to go to the gym/swimming pool 3 times a week; it’s been nice so far and not heavy on my muscles for sure. Strangely my period came back, just after 2 weeks or so, it never happened before, but I’m not worried – I’m sure this fast is messing up a bit my hormones so I guess is normal. Because of TOM I’m not going to the pool this afternoon but instead I’ll go to the gym to do some exercise on the machines, I don’t want to miss it anyway, it’s good to have a routine.
My tongue is still heavily coated, it makes my mouth feeling awful; this is one thing that I really hate of a fast; it makes everything harder, it gives me this constant feeling that I’m thirsty or something, which is not true; but there’s no relief for that, I tried many thing…the coating will always be there as long as I fast.
My weight loss is still slow but I noticed bigger losses when I go to the gym and I’m more active during the day; that’s another reason why I want to keep on going – until I have energy to do it, since I assume I’ll be weaker in the following weeks. But again, every fast is different from another, so I might not experience the same weakness as before. I’m also taking some vitamins here and there, trying not to take too many since they upset my stomach. I’m also drinking black decaf coffee, and I assume there is a small percentage of caffeine in it, so maybe it is helping me somehow with my energy – total assumptions though. I did notice though that the decaf coffee does not upset my stomach as the lemon water does, maybe the lemon acidity is bad while fasting?

Water Fast - Day #13

Tuesday – Water Fast Day #13
10:00 AM
Today begins my 13^th day of this Fast; I would say every fast is different from another, in the way I feel, the way I lose weight and also the way I drink. So far I feel very good, the high feeling of the Ketosis is fully in and I feel very energetic. I’m going to the swimming pool every other day and I hope I keep on doing it, it’s a very light exercise but helps me a lot with the mood and how I feel in general. This morning I did the terrible mistake of taking some vitamins all together, I was almost throwing up after 10 minutes. I will never do it again, that’s it, when fasting I cannot take any supplement; I just hope my lack of electrolytes will not force me to stop the fast further during the next weeks.
One new thing for this fast is that I’m drinking instant decaf coffee with a couple of drops of stevia; it is not affecting my Ketosis – which is still constant at 80mg/dL – and I would say even the weight loss is not hugely impacted; unless I Dry Fast I never see large losses on a daily basis anyway.
Yesterday I was trying to do some estimation, in terms of time, on how long I should fast to reach my weight goal; well the “estimation” was definitely depressing, it might take 60 days or more! I’m just concerned that I would be in the middle of my refeeding process for my January vacation South; I would like to avoid it though, since I will want to enjoy my trip without thinking on how my asleep stomach feels – ok, mostly because refeeding means that I need a bathroom trip every time I eat or drink something. Well I guess the weeks will tell how long this Fast will need to last.
The weight loss is very slow, some days I lose just 200gr, some others a bit more; but as long as I am in Ketosis I guess I’m ok. I don’t really care what the scale says, because I can see it in the mirror how I look, how my clothes fits; it doesn’t fit anything yet so I’m not losing much; but it’s been only 12/13 days so I’m not complaining.
My tongue is heavily coated, and my mouth has the usual bad taste; if I drink coffee it tends to go darker of course, but I can still feel the tick coating; I hope it will get better with the days.
Another thing I noticed this time around is that my period started and took so long before it ended; somehow when I fast the hormones get messed up and I guess my period too; but I think it’s also a chance of cleaning so it’s not a negative thing after all.
Yesterday was a busy day for me, I had to do lots of errands so I walked a lot around during lunch time, plus I went to the gym for half hour in the pool and 10 minutes in the sauna. Moving and exercising helps me a lot with my weight loss, and till I have such a great energy I should take advantage of it and try to be as much active as I can, because as soon as I stop and lye on the bed to “rest”, I will not find again the same energy.

Combined Dry and Water Fast - Day #24

So today is the 24^th Day of my Combined Dry/Water Fast, never did a Fast longer than 24 days, so from tomorrow on I’ll have reached a new goal. I’m aiming for 40 days though, let’s see how I feel in the coming weeks.
My weight loss really slowed down, I barely lose half pound every other day; yesterday I did an enema, I felt something was negatively affecting my mood and I thought it can be related to bacteria stuck in my colon, I didn’t want to take the chance, so I did it but not much came out. This morning I registered a loss though, I was 59.9Kg – glad to see the number 5 on the scale!
I spent all weekend being lazy and what I learnt so far from my fasts is that being lazy is counterproductive if you want to lose weight; I don’t care what they say that you have to rest and blah blah, for me doesn’t work like that; I need to move to consume calories, to keep the body running. This morning the first 10 minutes, while I was walking, I felt very weak and dizzy, it got better after few minutes but I’m sure it was because I was in bed all weekend and not used to stay outside. I tried to take a deep breath when I was out but, living downtown has its negative sides, the pollution is high but what was bothering me and not letting me take a deep breath was the stink of dogs’ pee and poop, everyone has a dog in my neighborhood, and although I love animals, they stink like hell.  
So far I’m not hungry, I often watch videos of Raw Vegan recipes, what to eat, what to prepare, I dream about eating something delicious, but I don’t feel weak that I’m going to break my fast; I’m really committed on reaching my target weight so I’ll keep going till I do, I hope God will help me in my journey and give me the strengths to not given up.
Physically I feel my arms very weak, I was drying my hair yesterday and I had to take breaks here and there, the air dryer felt too heavy; I don’t have issues with my legs though, I can walk – slowly maybe, but for long time. I was thinking on going to the gym from today on, just to do some light exercise, to keep the lymphatic system moving and facilitate my weight loss a bit more.
My tongue feels still awful but it’s not that white-coated anymore, I’m wondering if this is a sign that my detox process is going well. My sleep is still very bad, I sleep and wake up during the night constantly, I know my body has high levels of cortisol at the moment, so sleeping deeply is not going to happen, but after all I don’t feel much tired in the morning anyway; I would rather sleep all night though, I have to admit it.
During this past weekend, I took some supplements: Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium + D3, Vitamins B100 Complex, Vitamin E, Probiotics and Omega 3, not all in once, spread during the 2 days. I was concerning if, all this drinking, can affect my electrolytes and create a vitamin deficiency; also my eye lids were twitching, which is usually not a good sign. I will take some more tomorrow too, maybe every other day or so, it depends on how I feel. During a prolonged Fast you really need to listen closely to your body, how you feel is extremely important, especially if the Fast is not medically supervised, it can be very dangerous if anything happens.
Yesterday evening I was watching a video of a girl (most probably with an eating disorder), that was doing 3 Water Fasts of 40 days each, one after the other one, with just 4 days of refeeding. She became bone and skin eventually, but one thing that shocked me was that she was mentioning on breaking her 40-days fast with a steak! A steak! That’s just crazy for me, how come people cannot understand that the digestive system needs to wake up again after 40-days being dormant? How can you possibly expect that a steak will be digested normally, when nothing was in your stomach for 40 days?! Just crazy, if I can give my opinion, people are gambling with their health and it’s unfair to our bodies.

Day #4 - No Solid Food Fast

Fourth day of my liquid-base type of Fast, I would no rather call it Water Fast anymore since today I had a cup of green juice (organic mix of apple, cucumber, romaine, lemon, kale, spinach and green pepper), and also I’m having my mud pudding every day so that counts too.
I feel good so far though; most of my days are just with water & lemon juice so my digestive system is still chilling anyway. I did an enema this morning, since I didn’t feel quite right with my BMs, and taking the pudding makes me always wondering if it can have a constipate effect on me. But it was good, we’re back on the mucoid plaque shape since I’m eating psyllium husk, but colour wise is not that black like when I was drinking grape juice, which it makes perfect sense. I’m sure my “mucoid plaques” would have been green if I was drinking vegetable juice instead of grape!
I managed to go another 20 minutes to the gym yesterday, today I feel my legs sore but I’m not complaining, as my man says half of the battle is actually going to the gym, and I’m trying to build some discipline around my workouts routine.
I also checked my Ketosis this morning and I had only some traces, which it means that my carbs intake is enough not to produce too many ketones; I’m still not 100% sure though if this is the right way to go, but for now I don’t want to give up my mud pudding, I look forward to it every day, so maybe when I’m Fasting on Bone Broth I won’t eat it.

Modified Water Fast - Day #3

I’m in the third day of this modified Water Fast and so far I feel good, not many cravings or hunger and I always look forward to my mud pudding so I can be rewarded with something healthy at the end of my days.
Yesterday I managed to go in my building’s gym for just half hour, that was different of what I planned but keeping consistency might do the trick down the road and make me feel better on going to the gym for a class, well at least I hope so.
I’m having daily BMs as today but I was thinking to do enemas regardless, not sure if it could be beneficial for the Candida and avoid any leftover food in my colon for too long. Also the pudding is not helping the BMs in general so I need to keep an eye on it or I could get constipated.
Today I will increase the probiotics that I take every day, in addition to my morning 80 billion one, I’ll have 2 pills of 10 million during the day, I thought I should have a good probiotics plan attack if I want to fight my Candida; plus I’m having still my supplements and the tinctures.
I planned to check my Ketosis tomorrow that’s Thursday, as well as my weight – that doesn’t seem changing much if I base on my clothes, but it requires time I’m sure. Today I want to go the gym again, yesterday I went for only half hour but I can feel the sore already in my legs, just a little ok but in any case something started to work! I can build up resistance and strengths with the time, going forward.
I was also thinking on changing my social life, to see more friends and maybe to make new ones. There’s a girl on my floor that I see always by herself, and we lived in the building long time so we once introduced each other. I don’t know if she will be up to hang out with me, but I have nothing to lose anyway, and if she likes the idea, will be nice having a friend so close.

Bone Broth Fast - My results after successfully completing 4.5 Days

So I completed successfully 4.5 Bone Broth Fast Days. I cannot say it was a pleasant experience I have to admit it, but after finding the low sodium Bone Broth at the store downstairs my office, it was definitely easier keep going. Overall I did not feel sense of hunger or weakness during the Fast; it was easy to compensate my cravings with a mug of warm broth – that might sound gross I know, but I always added so much water I could barely feel I was drinking the broth of dead animals bones.

At the end of the fast I did not feel miraculously younger, neither my skin looked different, so I thought that for me it was just a chicken soup, nothing to look forward to do again. I did not feel any mental clarity during the fast; nothing improved comparing to other regular days. However something different happened to me after 2/3 days of completing my Bone Broth Fast. My mental clarity came back, my cravings too ok…but slowly I felt lots of energy and motivation that brought me to exercise 4 days in a row without feeling tired or sore after that (maybe the L-Glutamine supplements that I'm taking helped too).

Yesterday TOM came back, regular period – after just a month! It didn't happen since at least 2 years – so I'm wondering if this could be due to the Bone Broth I drunk in those 4.5 days. It might be only a coincidence by all means, but I feel good so far, I gained some weight during the refeeding, trying to eat less fruits, mostly blueberries and half persimmons but my sugar addiction is still there unfortunately.

I usually start very well my refeeding process, I eat slowly, very clean, portion controlled; and then a bit more fruits, a bit more shredded coconut, maybe a couple of dates….maybe more, and on and on – out of control on everything, even my salads look for a 5-people meal! Good thing though is that the refeeding process for a Bone Broth Fast is not so drastic as the Water Fast or worse like the Dry Fast. I still needed to go easy on what I was eating but I didn't have 5 watermelons as the other Fasts!

During my Bone Broth Fast I had lots of BMs, maybe helped by the probiotics I was taking regularly twice a day, it was mostly liquid of course but I felt that definitely helped in my cleansing process, I did an enema only once during the 4.5 Day of my fast – just to give a cleanse to my colon. So far I'm not 100% negative on the Bone Broth Fast but I might need to try it again to collect more results.

A New Water Fast - Cleansing and Detoxing

I just want to start on saying: thank goodness the holidays are over! I gained enough pounds to feel like a balloon on my mid-section.

Today is my Day #3 in my newly started Water Fast, so far so good, this morning I registered high traces of ketosis with 80mg/dL. I'm planning to keep going for at least 7 days, hopefully a bit more than that. My weight this morning was 57.9Kg, which is way higher than a month ago when I was between 53 and 54Kg. I'm also trying to go to the gym as much as I can, and I believe that slowly is somehow working. This coming Friday I have my first Colonics, I'm actually excited on doing it, I think it will be very beneficial for my cleansing and detoxing process. During a Water Fast is essential doing a colon cleanse, either Colonics or enemas, especially important during fasting since the BMs are really not easy to have and it could be very painful if nothing is used to help the bowel movements. So keep in mind that if you're starting a Water Fast you need to buy few packages of enemas – or whatever product you prefer for this type of procedure.

So my Raw Whole Food Plant Based Diet is going well so far, I had some cooked food during these holidays, but always vegan, no animal products, just roasted nuts or seeds, a veggie burger, deep fried or roasted tofu and some steamed vegetables. But overall I eat all raw if I'm cooking at home, those episodes were mostly when I didn't have much choice while going out with friends.

I have to say that I ate a lot of bananas recently and for the amount of fruits or in general raw food I was having, my weight did not go crazy as it used to go, I believe is due to the raw food and my exercises that help me to keep my weight under control. After my Colonics, when I break my Water Fast I want to be more disciplined with my food intake. I'm planning to have a mono-fruit breakfast in the morning, like papaya, mango or watermelon, some fruits to snack during the day and for lunch a spinach salad with tons of fruits as I used to have, which I really love; only for the evening I will have a salad with some sort of fats. Fats are the culprit of my weight gain, I get addicted very easily so I promised myself not to buy anymore nuts, only seeds and avocados to provide the 10% of fats that I need, but I'll take it slowly after the end of this Water Fast.

This evening I have a ping pong game with my new boyfriend, not sure if I can say boyfriend yet since it's not even 2 months that we're dating, but for the matter of this post I'll use this label for him. I really hope I won't fall in food temptations, he loves food and he cannot really understand being on a water only diet and not even drinking anything but water! Being around friends eating is really hard while fasting; I would suggest avoiding those types of situations, at least until few days into a fast, like after 7/8 days. At that stage you can feel strong enough to avoid any food temptations.

I often think about food, I'm not into the full fast yet I guess, the idea of quitting and eating something comes often into my mind, but I'm trying to be strong, I know this is normal, we're humans and food is one of the pleasure of the life, well at least it is for me. I would also add that for me is an expression of family love, the way I was raised so it becomes very tough denying myself of this comfort. But I know I will be super happy in few days and even more after successfully completed this Water Fast.

Tomorrow I'll try to go to the gym for a noon class, 45 minutes of my favourite Body Attack class, it's tough usually when I'm eating, let's see tomorrow if I can complete the whole 45 minutes, I won't push myself too much if I feel weak during the class, I've been doing things very slowly in the past 2 days so I can't tell really if part of my energy will be back tomorrow since the Ketosis is high now.

This time around for my Fast I'm having hot water with some lemon juice, so far it's not destroying my lips, which I'm really happy for it. For my personal taste I guess – I have to say that nothing is better than real lemon squeezed into a hot cup of water, all those 100% organic pure lemon juices are a scam, stick on real fruits and you will never regret it!

Water Fasting and Exercise

I started to go to the gym again since last week and I really didn't want to stop for my 3^rd Water Fast, so I have planned on keep on going, trying to listen to my body if I feel good or too weak to exercise. This morning I took really 20 minutes and went upstairs for a quick walk on the treadmill and few reps for my abs, it was late though so I left pretty soon to start to work. For some reason I don't enjoy waking up early in the morning anymore, not sure if I'm having a lack of Vitamin D lately, I should take some blood tests after this fast.

I did some researches regarding exercising during a fast, mostly are referring to the IF – Intermitting Fasting, which is a different thing if compared with Water Fast. I do believe that for prolonged Water Fast – like more than 15/20 days – it's almost impossible keeping an exercise regimen, too weak to barely walk so not in discussion strenuous activities. But overall for short fast I don't think is so negative keeping a moderate physical activity, without going crazy obviously. One thing that I found though, that was interesting, is that in terms of body response a fast is very similar to a workout, for the glucose level and things like that, the body reacts similarly; I'm not a doctor though so I can't comment on this for sure, what I believe though is that we should always listen to our bodies, without stressing it too much. Even in the past men were supposed to have strengths to hunt and get food, those strengths might have been required in situations when food was scarce so similar to a fast.

I didn't feel going more than those 20 minutes today though, I will try again tomorrow early in the morning – since I have an interview during lunch time I won't be able to take the usual break, but as long as I do a decent workout in the morning I am happy; I still have the lactic acid in my legs from Sunday class!

Raw Vegan Diet - Too many snacks

Today I've been fasting all day, my last meal was yesterday at around 8:30pm or so – a huge bowl of banana ice cream with dates and powdered peanut butter. I find myself always indulging in sweet fruits and nuts and I firmly believe that this is what jeopardies my weight maintenance, together with a lack of a strict eating plan.

Good news though is that in the past 3 days I've been going to the gym every day, actually twice a day. Since I worked from home, I had the chance to wake up a bit later and go to the gym in my building for half hour of thread mill and weight machines, nothing crazy but I'm trying to be disciplined with my exercise routine, I even went once to GoodLife gym for my favourite class and 10 minutes of steam room – it was great I'd admit it.

Overall I feel great, the scale went up almost every day since I completed my 7-Day Water Fast. Something might be a normal reaction of ending the fast, something else is due to the extra snacks I'm having here and there for sure. In my defense I would say that being home bored all day doesn't actually help on staying strict on diet. Even if I'm working I should find an activity that keeps me busy in the moment my cravings are hard to control, I should do proactive things like cleaning or knitting, that might help.

I was debating of having a fruit salad today for lunch, but I'm glad I didn't so I can save those calories for tonight's supper and dessert. I'm thinking to do a similar thing tomorrow, since I'm supposed to have a dinner date in the evening. Yesterday for breakfast I prepared some wraps using the one I bought at the healthy store last week, I think I ate 6 of them including a seaweed one, it was too much for breakfast; although delicious the amount of calories for each one was excessive for a single meal.

Few days ago I soaked some cashews thinking on doing a creamy sauce for my salads but I still didn't use it, I'm afraid they will go bad if I don't do anything with it. There are a lot recipes with cashews, I can even do some energy bars with dates and a pinch of pink salt; but really I don't need any extra snacks that I don't have already in my overly full cabinet! Most likely I'll do a sauce and use it for dinner tonight.

HCG Diet - VLCD #45 Exercising during P2

Again this morning I registered a gain, I know it's my fault and for all the candies I had yesterday, sugar-free but not sugar-alcohol free, plus I had an extra portion of asparagus before going to my Kung-Fu class. I knew this morning, during my usual weigh-in that I will see a gain, I still had hopes though, I always do anyway.

It's becoming a really long round this one, it's been already 45 days on the diet, and although I've seen people doing longer than that, I must to say: motivation tends to bend down after so many weeks. This morning I had my large apple with a tbsp of cacao powder, not sugar only a bit of stevia but this for me is a sign that my cravings are taking over me. I also had already 3 candies but I promised myself I won't buy any for now, I finished the package within a day, I'm obviously out of control.

Sometimes I think this is due to my binge eating habits but I don’t' think it is, I'm just hungry, I want something sweet, but having it under HCG would be a big mistake, my fat/carbs content should stay as low as possible during P2.

I'm also not that busy at work, since I'll be transitioning in a new role by the end of the month, so motivation is all over the place and being bored is a diet-killer let's face it, we often eat for boredom, well at least I do.

Yesterday I went to my first Kung-Fu class, apart from the unfriendly instructor that didn't even look my face, overall was not that bad. I was surprised to see that in terms of strengths I had no issues, I didn't faint, I felt normal, sure I'm out of shape, but that's another problem. I need practice to build my core, to become stronger. I've paid for 10 classes so I'll take all of them and after I'll decide on what to do, if I want to keep going or not. It's been a good test for me that I wanted to understand if I was able to handle a full hour class…without feeling weak or dizzy. I'm positive I can start slowly to go back to the gym and get back into my body attack classes to consume extra calories and enjoy the health benefits of exercising!

HCG Diet - VLCD #40 How can I break my weight loss slowdown?

Today is my VLCD #40 in this Round #3, so far I lost roughly 7 Kg (15.5lb) – it seems a lot but really is not a good number on a HCG Diet; with 40 days of injections I should have seen losing at least 25lb/30lb. Disappointing and definitely not encouraging results. But I knew that every round is different, and let's admit that my decaf coffee addiction is not helping either. Now I have the feelings that my body is getting used to the amount of food I have every day, I'm not hungry most of the day, my mood is good, but sometimes I would like to see the scale going down quicker. Today I also ordered another vial of HCG, apart from the money I really didn't want to go to this path, on staying so long with such a small amount of Calories, but if I stay where I am right now, is like didn't diet at all on this round, this morning I registered a gain and I'm back on 61.4Kg.

One of my fellow dieters on FatSecret was pointing that whatever I gained should not be fat but body food or water, which I agreed thinking about the logic of it; I don't eat much fat during the day anyway, and I'm often constipated lately.

One thing I decided to do is increase my exercise routine, maybe slowly though. I know that with only 500/660 calories per day is not advisable to exercise, plus sore muscles are definitely going to retain some water. But I'm thinking to build up a routine slowly, I also purchased a groupon offer for 10 classes in a Kung Fu school, unbelievable I know! Me doing Kung-Fu? I can barely walk and chew a gum at the same time, but I love challenges and if I don't learn I rarely get hooked in anything.

I have also wasted half year of my gym membership not going at all, I want to try to get back into this good habit, I always loved my Body Attack classes, so Sunday there's one at 11:00AM and I usually go to take a long relaxing sauna after (steam room), so I will try to go this weekend; I might not be able to complete the whole hour since I'm out of shape, but I will try to do my best.

With these exercise activities I am planning on "shocking" my body, consuming more calories and proteins and see if my stalls reduce and I see some good weight losses. In addition to that I will benefit in terms of health and I'm hoping to stay away a bit more from the decaf-coffee-madness that I'm experiencing lately.

Since I'm becoming really desperate on what is happening with my HCG Diet slowdown, I'm also trying to avoid as much as I can supplements in these days. I took lots of probiotics in the past few days; I even bought some strong one: 80 billion strength but nothing is happening anyway, so I will let my body rest from all those bacteria and see if I see any change.

 This coming weekend I'm also going to try an Intermittent Fasting day(s) – I've lots of things to do Saturday and volunteering to the Ukrainian beer festival (I deeply hate beer) – so it will be a good chance for me not to eat or drink anything, just working at the bar and meet people.

Sunday I've my Body Attack class planned in the morning (with steam room in the plan as well), and in the afternoon I have a first date with a friend of a friend, just going for a walk or coffee, let's see if I can fast that day too or I'll have 6 eggs so I can do a protein day to help my muscles after the gym. But, of course, all this is my ideal world plan…that I screw up every time with my insane lack of initiative. In my defense I have to say that I never been like that, I've been always super active, I guess I'm getting old!

Confession of a Food addicted

As I was mentioning in one of my previous posts, when dieting some days are better than others. Some mornings I see big losses and I get motivated, some others my cravings are killing me so much that I would rather be fat for the rest of my life and indulge in all the chocolates and cookies I want. But I must to say I do crave not only sweets but food in general. I would love to have a huge bowl of broccoli in Alfredo sauce, or just steamed broccoli and lemon, I'd love a lettuce salad with some roasted chicken breast. Anything that I like, in terms of food, would be good when my cravings strike up so strongly. I guess someone can say that this is a Binge Eater talking; food is my weakness, something rather scaring when dealing with diets basically whole my life. Sometimes I feel like to eat all I want like there's no tomorrow, some days I look at myself in the mirror and I can see the progress I made, I don't want to go back on being overweight and being stressed with another strict diet again. Maybe now is time for me to go back to the gym, since my maintenance is completed (in terms of P3 but I'm now in P4), I should think about on doing some exercises, not to consume any calories, I never believed in those silly equations of Calories consumption vs Calories burned; the gym would help - if anything - to stay away from the fridge!

I didn't have my period this month, so unless the angel Gabriel will come on the 25^th for another annunciation….I should assume my strict Calories consumption put me in starvation mode in the past weeks, considering on how I'm eating in these days, my TOM should come back regular very soon.

I'm not sure what is causing my cravings, I want to eat all the times, even if I'm not hungry, I feel thinking only about which nice and healthy recipe I can prepare, I'm scared for this binging thoughts. These days have been tough on me; my weight is going to be up for sure tomorrow, way too many boiled eggs and proteins. I'm giving away my cat tomorrow, and although he will be much happier with them I'm sure, I feel a terrible person, incapable to commit in anything that could alter my deeply insane habits. My aversion against mess and dirt is so strong that I'm sure could be classified as a pathology for some psychotherapist! My work is getting busier and busier; the past weekend was the first one free since January. I'm still single looking for the non-existent perfect man that will commit to a woman incapable of commitments.

Crazy me, some people say that there could be an emotional reason why we eat or why we crave certain type of food. For me I think is true the vice versa, I believe there's a specific binge episode for any emotional irrational reaction that I've every day. The way I deal with food and the scale changes completely my mood in seconds…or is the opposite?!

Going back to the Strict Diet?

Being on a strict Diet is realistically never an easy thing to do. Ups and downs are part of the game – a mandatory learning curve, almost impossible to avoid. This is my experience so far, I'm learning what I want for my health, my body, for myself to feel comfortable with how I look (that not necessarily is the same as the one perceived by others).

My Dr. Bernstein Diet has been inspiring to me, very helpful; I learned beyond my expectations, also about myself and my weaknesses.

The reality is that when you approach this type of Diet, it's really hard to succeed the very first time. You try, you lose weight and you feel fantastic. But then you crave food, you want to be rewarded for such privation…and you gain back – if not all, some. It's here that you realize that you have to try again, that this is part of the learning process on how to make your everyday diet better, healthier and how to stick with it.

I found myself gaining weight only having 2/3 tbsp of peanut butter with my celery, I noticed on how my body complaints every time I eat processed food. I'm thirsty all day long and I learnt how to drink big amount of water in less than 60 seconds!

But me too, with all my love for sweets and chocolate, I'm going back to the strict diet. Sometimes I think that I'll be paying like $100 per Kg that I want to lose, is it worth it? Why I can't do it myself?

The answer is only one for me: no I can't, I might be able to maintain what I have, struggling on what I eat but I'm not able to lose 5 Kg by myself.

My experience so far is positive at the end. My love for cooking is hyperbolically increased and I'm craving organic fruits and vegetables every day. I don't even consider the idea to go back on eating junk food, and if I do – seriously – my stomach hurts like I'm dying!

My biggest challenge so far then it was, not the junk food, but the portion control; being in maintenance with this unlimited-vegetables pattern really did not work for me, switching between the different week of Maintenance program it's just a stupid thing. This is the only negative part I can tell about the Dr. Bernstein Diet plan; they should re-visit Maintenance – unless it's a marketing idea to have customers coming back for the strict diet!

I'm still going to the gym, like 3 times a week, I'm wondering if I will be able to still do it when I'll be back on the strict Diet, but I really hope so. Building muscles and exercising is a boost for the mood and the scale. Everything requires time, my job, my age surely doesn't help my weight loss program; but hey what can I do?!

I recently signup on one of those Organic Delivery Programs that some company/farmers do here and there, it's really nice and the taste of the fruits and vegetables is amazing; but the weekly family basket lasts only 2 days for me…and I'm single. This is because – at the end- the whole I eat are vegetables and fruit, with small amount of proteins to compliments my vegetables. I don't have any processed food in my apartment; in the freezer I only have my fish and some frozen vegetables, in the fridge tons of vegetables and some whole wheat/grain bread. I don't even remember what I used to store in my fridge when I was eating junk food? Maybe a frozen pizza? Maybe real eggs instead of my egg whites cartons.

But I do have my weaknesses now and then; I believe that a life without chocolate is not life at all. So sometime I buy the dark chocolate chips and I add them to my Plain 0% Greek Yogurt – it's super delicious – but again what's not delicious with chocolate in it?

Gaining weight

So this morning I weighted myself home and – believe it or not – I gained 400g! I know it's nothing and it could be just small water retention but still. I'm having less than 600 Calories per day, I'm not losing any weight, and I even gain pounds! WTH is happening I don't know.

I'm hungry often during the day; if anyone tells you that you don't feel hungry with Dr. Bernstein Diet, it's not true. Yes you could feel that a meal is a lot after a while, but I'm not happy about that, I mean this could be just because my metabolism is slowing down. My body is protecting itself trying to store everything it can.

The nurse this morning suggested me to change something in my food list, like eating asparagus, never been a fan of it but I guess I will try, for the cause. I'm having broccoli today and I'll try to avoid anything that is processed for this coming weekend. If I'm not losing weight by Monday I'll be in serious depression!

I had another abdomen injection today; she was telling me that it's better to stick for a month on the same spot for the injections, to see results. I personally would like to end the Diet within a month and then go on maintenance. Obviously I planned all that when I thought I would have done with the losing weight part by then. Let's see how things will proceed in the next days. I should not evaluate my weight loss based on a single day. I'll try to recap the overall Diet by the end of the week.

I'm thinking of joining a gym soon, possibly close to where I live so I will not find excuses when I have to go and exercise. Considering that I've the gym in my building and I never go, it's a sign on how much disciplined I am in this matter. But I'm always worried about my knee injury to be honest; joining a gym could give me the chance to exercise in classes where the impact on my knee is different compared running.  The only annoying part is the until-you-die-membership type of thing that they have here in Canada. Only for that I avoided the gyms in the past years, don't you think they lost money for that? I think so. I would be willing to pay month by month, maybe a bit more but I'd prefer it, rather than a long year of membership that you cannot withdrawal unless you pay an unfair fee.  Oh well, I'll give it a try and evaluate the pros and cons.