:drinker:

Hello everyone, my name is Derek.I haven't been on MyfitnessPal in quite a while, but recent weight gains from the last 6-8 months have provoked me to do something drastic, as I was miserable with myself. I was in the habit of eating and drinking LARGE quantities of food a day (and not quality foods either). Somehow I went from 210 earlier this year to 233.6 as of last Wednesday, September 10th. Well, my 42nd birthday is later this month and I do not want to be 233.6 on my birthday (or even higher!).A brief description of myself: I am Male, 41 years old, 6'2" tall, and approximately 45 lbs overweight. I was a semi-pro tennis player in my 20's and played at a weight of 165 lbs. Over the years I put on weight and simply got thicker (as age makes us do). I also have had my stints in the gym putting on muscles that I never had as a tennis player. I have been yoyo dieting for the past few years. Generally going from 225 to 205...never reaching my ultimate goal of weighing 185-190. With my current musculature, 190 would be a perfect weight for me and I'd be wearing 32" shorts, etc. However, I have struggled bad lately and been on an eating rampage with no gym. Last October (2013) I was 210 lbs; September 10th I weighed 233.6 lbs...A far cry from my goal of 190! Something needs to be done. Something drastic to change my mindset of my current day-in day-out routine of fast food, pizzas, Chipotle, desserts, and liquor. I decide to do a 1 day fast (or 36 hour fast to be exact). Wednesday Sept. 10th's nights food intake would be my last food until Friday, Sept. 12th breakfast...PRE-FAST WEIGHT: 233.6 lbs.DAY #1: I wake up Thursday morning deternined to not be a fat and miserable. I relish in the decision to not eat today. I'm never hungry that much in the mornings so its a breeze getting myself to about 2pm, about an hour past my usual lunch binge. I'm feeling hungry now.There is a big void in my day for what to do with myself, when I am normally going out to fast food or cooking myself something, or making turkey sandwiches. I decide to clean the house instead to keep busy (I work from home by the way). I make it through the afternoon just fine, and then dinnertime arrives. I feed the dog and am a bit jealous-lol. I stick to my guns and watch movies to keep myself occupied. Again, the void is HUGE as I feel compelled that it's simply time to go to the fridge and get food to eat, because its that time of the night. I am hungry, but persevere. I go to bed early to make it easier on myself. Laying in bed I think to myself..."I did it, I will wake up tomorrow and have completed it!". All of course to hopefully shrink my stomach a bit and start my healthy eating choices and lower quantities the next day. I fall asleep proud, only to wake up about 6 hours later at 4am wired. Too early to get up I reach for my phone to troll the internet about what I've just accomplished. I start reading about fasting... During my readings, covering water fasting for detox and benefits of it all I make the decision that I already have one full day under my belt..."Why stop there?". I make the mental commitment to turn this into a 3-day fast.DAY #2: Friday, WEIGHT 228.0 lbs WOW! I've dropped 5.6 lbs in only 1 day (essentially 36 hours). I am excited and yet knowledgable enough to know that probably 5 lbs of that may have been water weight. Day #2 starts off just like the first except my body simply feels a little run down, or weaker. By the way, I'm not exersizing at all during this. Not much to report on day #2. I do my thing and simply drink water the whole day. If I get hunger pangs, I drink a large glass of water. I never measured the amount of water I was drinking, but I had a glass with me at all times. I probably took in between 100-150 oz a day? Again, bed early to avoid thinking about food. I fall asleep...success.DAY #3 Saturday, WEIGHT 224.4 lbs OMG! I've dropped another 3.6 lbs, for a total of 9.2 lbs. Two full days have gone by, actually 60 hours since my last meal. This in itself is enough to inspire me and feel good about what I am doing. Tonight is a yearly poker tournament in my neighborhood. It starts at 6pm, and will be catered with Pizza Hut pizza and wings and alcohol (all FREE by the way!). I get to the tournament and immediately I smell what looks to be about 15 large pizza hut pizzas and a pile of wings so big it could feed a small army (and it did with approx. 75 people in attendence). I instantly walk by all the food with my bottled water in hand and sit at my table and wait for it to start. This is temptation people, for me this is it. The other players sit at the table with me (9 to a table) and 7 of them are eating pizza, one guy is chomping down wings. I can't even look at them. Pizza never looked so good. ONe guy says..."this meat lovers is great!" I look over and the amount of toppings were so robust that its almost comical. This is like a Monty Python skit...they were all trying to temp me by eating away. I steadfast and stuck to water...so proud. about 3 hours into the tournament (it lasted until midnight) I began to get a headache, that just got worse and worse. This headache lasted until the next day afternoon. From what I read about water fasting, this is typical. By 11:30pm, my headache is making me numb to where I'm not even paying attention to it. I'm not only still in the tournament, but I'm the leader. Maybe not drinking has kept me sharp. Another half hour or so later, the tournament is over. I stuck to my guns and drank only water. Better than that, I actually was the winner of the tournament. 1st place. No money was awarded, however I won over $700 in gift certificates and other prizes. How happy am I? Great night, great day, and the end of my 3 Day fast. I go to bed with a huge smile on my face, and sleep for what feels like a long time, only to be about 3 hours. 4 am and I'm wired again. Once again I reach for the phone and read about water fasting. In short, the majority of the detox benefits only begin to occur after the 3rd day. I'm feeling so good (for the exception of the headache) about everything that I decide to lengthen my fast. Besides, with 3 days under my belt...I'm nearly halfway there (and I surely dont want to go through this torture again). Its final and I've decided, this will be a 7 Day Fast.DAY #4: Sunday, WEIGHT 222.6 lbs. Down another 1.8 lbs, for a total of 11.0 lbs. I'm ecstatic and excited about continuing on this fasting journey, which from what I read is supposed to clean your head, your insides, your toxins, and perhaps your soulThis is the first day that it is not bothering me at all not to eat. My hunger seems to have dissapated. By 3 or 4pm my headache is gone and I feel sharp...really sharp (mentally). Hyper sensitive kind of sharp. My memory feels better as well (previously diminished by years of too much hard liquor perhaps). Although sharp in mind, I'm not overdoing anything because I feel weak in general, not weak, but run down. I can feel my skin in my arms and legs. I feel thinner and my shorts that I previously were tight on me are already fitting nicely, properly. I have a successful day, without much urge to have to eat anything at all. Out of the blue I have my first bowel movement during this fast, it was normal. I just thought to myself (where did that **** come from? lol). I go to bed and keep reading about fasting.DAY #5: Monday, WEIGHT 221.0 lbs. Another 1.6 lbs dropped for a new total of 12.6 lbs goneThis morning I wake up quite abruptly and cough up a small ball of yellow mucous (about an ounce). It was quite awful and almost made me feel like puking, however with nothing in my stomach I don't know how that would be possible. The day goes by uneventful, until nighttime, when I start fantasizing about food. I'm not physically hungry at this time, but my mind sure as heck is! I start imagining all the great foods that I love. Its almost like a kind of high comes over me as I comfort myself with thinking about Pizza, chinese, fast foods, etc. I indulge my mind for a short while, mentally planning what I'd enjoy most when I start eating again. Perhaps the pizza night at my poker tournament has been ingrained in my brain? I persevere again, sticking to my water and knowing that the weight is just falling off of me. From what I read online, after the 1st 2 days of fasting your body stops looking for nourishment from glycogen stores and muscles, when your body goes into ketosis (Atkins people will know about this term), and your body is now into muscle sparing mode...only feeding on your own fat. This comforts me and I feel good; a little weak, but good. The only exersize I got today was about a 20 minute dog walk.DAY #6: Tuesday, WEIGHT 218.2 Super-duper! another 2.8 lbs gone, for a total of 15.4 lbs! That is impressive and inspiring. I wake up feeling really great. I forgot to mention that on days 4 and 5, my mouth was kinda slimy and my tongue felt like it was nasty. It was a feeling that did not go away with any amount of teeth brushing or mouthwash. Again, from what I read, that this was a normal release of toxins. Low and behold, Day #6...that was all gone away. I truly feel good this day. Sharp, alert, energized, and no more nasty mouth going on. I also had a bit of diarrhea this day. Other than that, I'm thinking to myself this is easy. Well, I thought too soon. Because day #7 was coming...DAY#7: Wednesday, and the last day of my fast. WEIGHT 217.0 lbs Yet another 1.2 lbs gone and I've lost 16.6 lbs thusfar. I wake up early to get ready for my weekly golf outing. I'm reluctant to tell my group that I haven't eaten anything since the last day we played golf (last wednesday). One person comments that I look like I've lost weight...Jackpot! I play my round of golf (quite badly compared to usual I might add) and then go home to get some work done. About 4pm I go out to run some errands and go to the grocery store to search for healthy food options for my return to the world of the eaters. Now I've been reading about weening yourself back into eating after a fast, and depending on how long your fast is determines how long you have to ween yourself back into eating food again. My 7 day fast is going to be about 3 days of weening, starting off with fruit juices, perhaps a piece of fruit..then yogurt, moving onto veggies...etc. Then day 4, its straight to the all-you-can-eat chinese buffet (just kidding!). Before I even reach the grocery store, my mind is ravenous with thoughts of food...great foods that are all probably bad for you. My mental thoughts of these foods send signals to my body and now I think I might be hungry...very hungry. I am frustrated that I know I cannot jump right back into eating and that this 'weening process' must take place. Time is going very slow the last 2 days. Walking around the grocery store, everything looks fantastic! I spend $150, but to my credit I bought healthy foods (the kinds of foods that a bodybuilder might eat). Lots of vegetables, grilled chicken breasts, brown rice, green beans, zuchinis, squashes, yogurts, etc. A bag of tostitos is about the only 'cheat' thing in my cart. I'm proud of myself for choosing good, however the thoughts of food and wanting to eat are stifling. I just cant shake it. I put the groceries away and feel like time has stopped. Its going to be forever before I can eat. I suddenly wish I'd stopped the fast yesterday and I was on my way to a meal shortly. Besides, yesterday I felt great, surely I must have been done detoxing by then? My mental war until I go to bed was literal torture from 4pm to 10pm. It was brutal. I think it was even worse than watching all those people scarf down 15 extra-large Pizza Hut pizzas. Finally I get to sleep.DAY #8: TODAY September 18th, 2014 Thursday. WEIGHT 214.8 lbs THAT IS ASTONISHING! I'm down another 2.2 lbs for a grand total of 18.8 lbs!I wake up after probably my best nights sleep yet. Its 8am, but I'm very comfortable. I fall back asleep and sleep in until 11am. This is quite the different experience to the 4-6 hours of sleep I had been getting. At this time I realize....I'm not even hungry at all. All my panic from yesterday is gone. Thoughts of food are gone and I feel good. After my weigh-in I feel REALLY GOOD. Sure I probably had a lot of water weightloss, but I surely didn't have 18.8 lbs of water in my system! I know I've lost inches, but I do not know how many. I just know my clothes already fit much better (shorts are loose even) and I notice my gut is much smaller in the mirror. My dilemma...I'm doing great and dropping serious weight each day...AND I'm not hungry. Do I dare keep going? Or do I start my weening process back to the land of the eaters? After much thought, I decide to start my weening process. As I write this chronicle now of my 7 day experience, I sip on a very healthy juice that is 50% juice and 50% water. I used about 6 oz of juice that is of the highest quality. Its basically what you get from using a juicer with real apples, pineapple, pomegranites, and kiwis. It is expensive stuff, but I wasn't liking the taste from my real juicer (or the hassle) You can buy whole fruit juices already. Calories in this glass are about 90. Its not the greatest tasting thing in the world (even after not eating for 7 days) and I don't even really want it. But I have to start sometime. I do not want to have another evening like yesterday with my mind battles over needing to eat something. Its taken me well over an hour to write this and I still haven't finished my glass, but I will. I hope to get my stomach working again and back to real foods by the weekend, at which point I will be striving to eat healthy options with a much shrunken stomach allowing me to get full with much smaller portions. I then plan on going back to the gym the following week to get my strengths back and turn myself around. I still have goals of getting under 200 lbs. I'm proud I was able to finish the week and I realize that initially I may put back about 3-5 lbs of water weight, hopefully staying under 220 from here on out.I welcome your comments about my experience or any questions you may have. I do believe this was the BEST option for me, as I was in a terrible rut of eating that I just couldn't gather any willpower to break free of. I tend to be an all-or-nothing personality, so I know this dicipline was my only way out of bad habits. I just hope I succeed in my future plans and progress.-Derek