Kipper Week Update.

[MikePollard]

Glad to be back on a varied diet after a week on nothing but a tin of kippers and coffee and cream (plus a few prawns!)

I settled on this unusual regime as it kept things simple. I could have just as easily made it any no carb, protein and fat such as an egg and bacon and varied it, the results would have been the same.

I was never ravenously hungry, rather it was like an itch you couldn't scratch.

What I did learn is that day on day eating very low calorie is entirely doable so long as your mind is in the right place and you do not eat ANY carbohydrate!


Weight at the start 164.7lb


Weight this evening 159lb

Weight loss 5.7lb

So where do I go from here?


Well, essentially I did the same today and had a bacon and cheese wrap from Aldi (18gm carbs) plus a bit of cheese a few nuts and a tablespoon of fruit and cream this evening. Calorific content under 1000 calories.

Essentially what I’m doing is fine tuning to get where I want to be and this will be like a warm down after a marathon, but this will become entirely unsustainable. My body is happy to accommodate me getting rid of the last few pounds as I approach my natural set point but I cannot continue to eat so little, as there will come a time when I HAVE to eat between 2500 and 3000 calories a day to maintain my ideal weight, and eating that much in one go is an ask too far.
 For now I will carry on and shoot for 154lb and I think that will be an ideal I’ve been looking for for many years and then make sure it doesn’t creep up.
 I am now 2lb under my weight when I was a young man.

By the way, there may be some people thinking ‘Ah, but a lot of that weight loss will be water weight as glycogen is depleted.’ You may be right, but myself I demur, for when that glycogen has gone and you are burning fat, at some stage your emergency energy store has to be replaced. I am sure this occurs as time in ketosis goes on via gluconeogenesis (from protein) and to make sure I had a carb heavy evening yesterday, so I’m sure the weight loss is fat loss. I will post my weight next Monday on a varied diet as a follow up of the follow up.

[Icicles]

Well done Mike, do you mind me asking,

1- how many grams of fat and

2- how many grams of carbs do you think that you were consuming

a- before the start of the week and

b- during the week

Many thanks

[MikePollard in reply to Icicles]

Probably 46gm fat, 18gm protein, zero gms carbohydrate, however I've just read that off the carton/tin and wasn't in the least concerned about amounts.

Don't know how many gm of carbs before, but maybe 60 and more when I go to my mother in laws on a Tuesday which tends to be carb heavy. I'm not fanatical about watching carbs, but my attitude has changed over the last week and I'm keeping them as low as possible without making a martyr of myself.

It's the results that matter and I'm happy with mine.

[MTCee]

I’m terribly impressed with your goals and your strength of will. I did a 36 hour fast a few months ago and I know what you mean about an itch you can’t scratch. Even if you’re not hungry, your body misses the act of eating. As long as you keep yourself busy it’s ok though. Good luck with losing those last few stubborn pounds.

[Subtle_badger]

Thanks for sharing.

I found every time I have fasted, my weight will bounce back up a bit, but then start going down again (I used fasting to get past stalls).

Did you measure your waist or take a photo beforehand? I find fasting and low calorie targets belly fat, and I am curious if you found the same.

(note: presumably there would have been traces of carbohydrates in the cream 🤔)

[MikePollard in reply to Subtle_badger]

Yes got before (a year or two ago) Will post before and after when I reach aesthetic goal (or thereabout).

[Cosmo501]

Hi MikePollard I'd be very interested to read a follow-up of your follow up! Wondering how your energy levels/weight-loss/general well-being settled down after a few days. I'm considering doing something similar, for perhaps aiming 5 days, 2 weeks in a row - as I'm not sure I could achieve 7 days including over a weekend, but week days should be manageable. Looking to push myself off a bit of a weight-loss plateau. Most days at the moment am fasting instinctively around 16 - 18 hours a day, so hopefully it shouldn't be too much of a push. What do you think.. would you recommend giving it a go?

[Subtle_badger in reply to Cosmo501]

An alternative plan you could try is ADF (alternate day fasting). So over the two weeks you eat nothing on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays fasting for 36 hours between (for example) dinner on Sunday to breakfast on Tuesday.

I used a similar plan to break through my final stall.

[Cosmo501 in reply to Subtle_badger]

That’s a really interesting suggestion, thanks. I’m unsure of fasting beyond 24hours these days, but I could get prepared and just give it a serious go at least!

[MikePollard in reply to Cosmo501]

What I was mimicking was what our ancestors did on a regular basis when they couldn't get round to the supermarket. I was doing a full days physical graft with no issues whatsoever. I don't think it's necessary to go hard core and 16 hours daily should be more than enough to achieve your aims.

[Professor-Yaffle]

Just back from holiday. I was keen to see how kipper week went! Ever so pleased you didn't turn into a kipper MikePollard 🐟😊. Well done for sticking with it.