Here we go again.

Wow, been a while since I posted.  On the surface it seems not much has changed, still facing the challenges I had 5 months ago.    I'm 1.4lbs heavier than then, but the same waist measurement (187lbs and 35").  The holidays were a train wreck and there was a good bit of travel for work which were not helpful, but here we are.  I believe you only fail when you stop getting up again.

Let's see, have made good progress by eliminating some personal bad habits, sticking with keto eating, periodic fasting (22.5 hours in right now) and have completed my first 31 days of yoga in a row after like 6 failed attempts.  Currently on day 33!

So making small changes every few weeks seems to help.  Daily walking has been a long time habit and I feel like daily yoga and 3 day a week fasting are pretty much dialed in now as well.  Last week I added 3 days of Les Mills Combat 30 and 3 days of /r/bodyweightfitness's recommended routine.  I'm looking forward to the weather getting better and will then add 3 days of barefoot running and 3 of greenway cycling.  This should take my exercise time to around 2 hours a day.

So here's to an arbitrary restart, of the blogging anyway - it's good to see you again Dear Reader.

48 hours in, lost 5.4lbs to 185.6.  Waist is 35".  Today has been fine, couple of sessions of being cold and a little tired, kept it at bay with coffee and tea.  Not particularly hungry.  Fast continues.

Extended Fast

191lbs, 35.5" waist.  Bloated from birthday party yesterday, today is day 1 of this fast.  Acetone is 74.

8pm
Today's been fine, lots of water/coffee/La Croix.  Rebooted 30 days of yoga and completed day 1 of that.  Walked the dog twice today.  Not particularly hungry but am getting tired, probably go clean up and then read a bit before bed.

Thanks for sticking with me here Dear Reader, keep me honest.

Failure doesn't happen when you fall down. Failure happens when you stop getting back up.

Hello Dear Reader,
Outside life got the best of me over the last two days.  Well that's probably not the responsible way to put it - I gave into outside life temptations.  But I'm back today, a Thursday, and I'm ready to rock.

I've gotten up, let's do this.

9 weeks left until my deadline.  I've decided I must log everyday to stay on track.

35", 187 lbs, Acetone 67
Taking a page out of Tiny Habits, I'm adding a shortenedpushup/pullup/squat workout to each day based on startbodyweight progressions, also kicking off another 30 day yoga challenge and a 30 day meditation challenge.

Started water fast at 8pm yesterday, right about 24 hours in now.  Ran 1.6 miles today and walked 3.1

22 years

I met my wife 22 years ago today.  Seems like a good day to get this train back on track.

35", 188.8 lbs
Taking a page out of Tiny Habits, I'm adding a shortened pushup/pullup/squat workout to each day based on startbodyweight progressions, also kicking off another 30 day yoga challenge and a 30 day meditation challenge.

Game on.

Seven day Island experiment

Okay, last week was a practice run and I fleshed out some better ideas for handling a few things, there's more to nail down though.  I'm impatient however so I'm going to jump into a week of this and see how it goes.  Some of questions I'm toying with:

How do we exercise on the island?
How do we sleep and when?
How do we entertain ourselves (avoid boredom)?
Grooming?
Am I taking this too far?

Anyway, this morning I rolled a 1, so I get three island meals today.  Weighed in at 186.2 and 35", going be be interesting to see how the body reacts to this.  I would expect good results, we're basically going low cook paleo/keto with intermittent fasting.  Probably won't up and die anyway.

On the island, when do we eat? how much?

So let's set three meal times a day and make a rule of absolutely no snacking in between them.  Now, we need to work in the randomness of being able to successfully hunt or gather while we're on the island, so before bed at night (or first thing in the morning) we're going to roll a die and subtract one from the result to determine how many meal times to skip.

Roll:
1, skip no meals for the day
2, skip the breakfast meal
3, skip the breakfast and lunch meal
4, skip eating today
5, skip eating today and breakfast tomorrow
6, skip eating today and breakfast and lunch tomorrow

Okay, now the question of how should we eat and how much of it?   When we eat we need to make the meal it's own focus and do nothing else except enjoy the food and the company during the meal.  We should eat mindfully, paying attention to tastes and textures, chewing slowly and completely and putting the food down between bites.  Serve small plate portions and eat until satisfied not engorged.

On the Island, what do we eat?

Day 50
190.8 this morning, 35.5 on the waist.  Acetone is down to 60.

I've been thinking about being stranded on an island again.  That is, I've never been stranded on an island, but I've thought about it before.  Specifically eating like I was stranded on an island.

We'll assume there is plenty of fresh water and fire for cooking and we'll assume there are fish, birds, wild game, nuts and other plant matter in abundance.

But that's it.

So the idea is, before putting anything in our mouth we ask ourselves if that item could be found on the island and if not then don't eat or drink it.

I started this morning.  First challenge?  Coffee.  Coffee is not on the island.  Ho boy.

Day 46
I've been sloppy with my eating for the last few days and it shows this morning. 191.6 and 36" on the waist.  Twelve weeks until Insight.  Time to engage Monk Mode.

8am, 11hours fasted - completed DDP YRG Wake up routine, felt great.  Acetone reading was 75 which was a surprise.  Drank 16oz of black coffee, will switch over to tea if I feel like something else, been drinking too much coffee lately.

9am 12 hours in, walked the dog with wife, 1.8 miles.  I'm pretty sick of summertime.

9pm 24 hours in, some waves of uncomfortable empty stomach but no big deal.  Fasting continues.

Day 45
Last week completed 72 hour fast, thinking I'd like to do a 7 day next, kicking off after dinner tonight.  Will keep keto today.

Not really feeling the Fightmaster 90 day program, think I'll switch over to Diamond Dallas Page's program for the rest of my time remaining.

Day 41 (or 2 or part II)
Down 5lbs today fo 184.4, walked 5 miles and completed day 2 of the 90 day yoga.  47 hours into this fast.  Not feeling super but not bad either, fast will continue.

Day 40 or Day 1 of Part II

So here we go again, this time with gusto!  There are 90 days, 90 days remaining!  Don't panic, there's time but we're going to have to use all of it.  Weighed in at 189.4 today, 35.5 on the waist.  My week off and travel and decadence and high living took a toll, but I'm back in the saddle now.  Acetone reading was 80 this morning which seemed unusually high considering my diet over the last few days.  Began another fasting period, restarted the 90 day yoga problem, completed a modified body-weight workout, walked the dog and got a 2 mile run in. Run was supposed to be 4 miles but I underestimated how hot and how barefoot I was today.
Second acetone reading was 59.

Day 32
189 this morning, same 35 on the waist.  1.6 miles walked with the dog and day 2 of the 90 day yoga challenge is done.  Acetone level was 67 indicating low level of ketosis and I'll be focusing on getting that number up and keeping it elevated moving forward.  Started the fast at 10am after breakfast with our visitors, I'm thinking this is going to be a multiday fast as I'm feeling like I've been a lot more slack over the last two weeks than I'm comfortable with.  Countdown clock says I've got 14 weeks left to get done whatever I can for this challenge.  Overall I'm pleased with how things are going, just want to make sure I'm minding my diligence and not letting my eyes slide off the goal.  I've been guilty of fading away in the past which is why I picked this particular time and approach - just need to stay focused on working the plan day after day.

Day 31
Started Lesley Fightmaster's 90 day Fix yoga, it was pretty heavy duty.  Only got the dog walk in today, had visitors and spending time with them was more important.

Day 30
3 mile barefoot run today that I really enjoyed. Temperature was nice and it just felt good to run.  187 today, 35 in waist.  Good body weight workout today and completed Fightmaster's 30 day beginner challenge.  Tomorrow we start the 90 day deal.

Day 29
Doing well with all the fitness initiatives, getting stronger, etc, weight keeps bouncing around between 184 and 187 and waist is holding steady at 35.  Have covered 146 miles since we started, ran about 10 of those.  It's been cooler this week.  I'll post again when something interesting happens.

Day 25
Weight is up, no surprise, to 187.6.  Waist stays at 35 inches.  Morning acetone reading was down to 62.  I expect it will be up in the evening.  Walked 5.7 miles and completed day 25 of yoga.

Day 24
Work casualty at 6am on a Saturday morning and then took Daughter to try driving.  Pretty sure I used up a month's worth of adrenaline today.  Only walked 1.8miles, day 24 of yoga, but didn't do a great job with eating.  Fasting tomorrow, will get back on track after this trainwreck of a week.

Day 23
183.2 and 35 inch waist, walked 6.1 miles, day 23 of yoga.

Day 22
Ugh.  Another crazy, busy, HOT day.  Got 4.7 miles walked but by the time I got a chance to workout and do yoga I didn't have any juice left in the tank.  Day 22 of yoga was lackluster at best, may try today's body weight workout again tomorrow, we'll see.

Day 21

Waist maintained at 35, weight was down to 184.2.  As expected supper yesterday knocked me out of high ketosis as indicated by a acetone reading of 49.  Ran two miles and walked another 5.2, had a decent workout and completed day 21 of yoga.  Evening acetone is back up to to 77.  Food log is here.  That's all for now.

Day 20

Fasted most of this crazy busy day and then blew it with too many carbs at supper.  Ah well.  Waist was down to 35 and weight down to 185.8.  Acetone levels were  79 and 80 for the morning and evening, only got 3.2 miles walked and day 20 of yoga was lackluster.  Will hit it harder tomorrow.

Day 19

Up again to 186.6, weekend with visitors has me off schedule a little.  Ran for the first time in a while, 2.5 miles and 2.7 walked. 95.5 so far.  Day 19 of yoga is done.  Morning and evening acetone levels were 69 and 70 respectively.  Yesterday I put together a schedule to get to half marathon distances before the all hands company event in Nov.  What I put together is based on Jeff Galloway's plan found here.  Schedule is to hit it at 6am, seems to be the coolest time of the day.

Today's food diary is here.