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How I Got To This Place

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I have spent most of my career working 9-5 (well, typically 8:30-6 in fact - if I'm lucky). I've made effort and spent more to be able to live close to where I worked. I don't accept the idea that I should lose precious hours of my life to the commute. I'm willing to forgo income for that. The ultimate expression of that sentiment is of course to work from home. This has never quite been possible for me, working as I have in the financial industry - one of the most conservative. But entrepreneurship (I co-run ProfitView ) and Covid-19 suddenly made this not just possible but necessary for me. One positive aspect of this, or so I thought, was that I'd have better control of my time and therefore be able to live more healthily. I wouldn't be going to cafés or the work cafeteria for high energy, rapidly eaten lunches. I'd be able to schedule exercise. To my consternation and shame this did not happen. For some years I'd researched recent theor...
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Phase Deux

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Today is the last day of the Very Fast 800 diet. My last two weighings were 78.8Kg and 78.9Kg about 1 week apart even though I have been consistently on the diet in that time.  I will do one more weighing tomorrow morning but anyway end the diet at that time. By those measurings I have lost over 29Kg.  I believe it is within error of my target of "over 30Kg".  Certainly it is well below the maximum "normal" BMI weight for my height of 82Kg. So, given that, and based on this calorie calculator , I should now move to 1993 kcal/day to maintain weight. My plan is to work up to this level, following, broadly, Mosley's Mediterranean Diet  - so still keeping attention on approximate caloric intake.  I will check my weight weekly.  Possibly, I will go to 800 kcal/day again if my weight seems to be spiking. In the short term I will allow myself some luxuries - and, for instance: a beer.  I feel that reward is in fact appropriate. I do not see this as the end of...
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Kool and The Ketones

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This last week - and it will be my last of the diet proper - is the first that I've unambiguously felt the mental  effects of ketosis. It's quite profound. It's been very clear: a drug-like effect.  Searching through my youthful experiences, during which, at various times, I sampled most mind-altering drug/chemical types, the closest similarity would be Betel nut .  Betel nut (consumed in Taiwan and other places in East and South East Asia) gives a significant and pleasant euphoria.  Such is Ketosis for me this week. According to some research  the Ketosis mechanism has similarities to the date-rape drug GHB!  Betel nut's active ingredient is  Arecoline  - it's brain chemistry is likely not much related to the Ketosis effect in fact.  My experience resembles it however. It's a pleasant fairly continuous positive mood that is quite noticeable.  Others notice it too: my wife says that I speak and move more slowly.  As an adaptation to...
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How To Lose 30 Kilos in 16 Weeks

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This post is a sort of TL;DR for the whole blog thus far - I'll dispense with most of the discussion.  Some of this includes corrections from what I actually did with the benefit of hind-sight.  I'll briefly note those parts. Fundamental Rule : eat very low carbohydrate food.  So cut out bread, rice, pasta, most fruit.  Check the ingredients lists and avoid anything with a carbohydrate level above 10% by weight. You should : Drink great amounts of water.  An effect of the diet (part of ketosis) is to dehydrate rapidly.  You must drink many litres of water per day. Add salt - a significant amount.  Another ketosis effect. Take vitamin pills. You should not : Change your activity level.  If you don't exercise much - don't suddenly start doing so in conjunction with the diet.  You will lose weight more rapidly if you do add exercise - but will likely regain it afterwards.  You can start extra exercise after the diet has concluded.  You...
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The Last Grams

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I was pleasantly surprised that my weight loss proceeded linearly for the first few weeks - not just the first days of the Very Fast 800.  After those weeks however it did  taper - so I took the decision to reduce calories to 700, which did have the desired effect and my weight loss rate has basically been maintained. Now, however as I come to being within (based on BMI) normal weight range, but wish to continue weight loss to be closer to the middle of that range, my body seems to be reacting again and restraining my weight loss.   The exact mechanism for this is interesting - it must, basically, be that I'm using less energy.  Therefore one solution is to voluntarily use more  energy - to exercise.  However I prefer not to do that since it requires me to change my normal habits and it will potentially destabilize the next phase of the diet process (in which I come progressively out of the diet).  I should counter the lower energy use by trying t...
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What I've Learned

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Cons Possible headaches - remember, drink very large  quantities of water.  Moseley states that you should "urinate 6-7 times per day" as a result of your water consumption.  I found that if I didn't drink to that quantity, headaches were likely - and that I saw the skin of my fingers start wrinkling and I would use that as a cue to drink more.  I took to drinking sparkling water - it's become an expense! Mild mental effects - probably due to ketosis . If you check " Adverse effects " there you'll see there aren't many.  Specifically, what I've found is some sense  of dizzyness - or something like it - but without an actual  loss of coordination or balance.  And again a sense  of confusion - without actually losing my train of thought or misunderstanding anything (I've been able to work effectively throughout).  Occasionally I've felt light-headed after getting up quickly - low blood sugar? Overall, these "negative" effects ar...
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Oil Power

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Early on in this diet as I was experimenting with different foods, I took the lead from the Fast 800 book.  The recipes quite reasonably are for low-calorie attempts to duplicate pre-diet meals.  Typically, there'll be a trace of high calorie foods.  I tried putting together similar meals myself, until I realised just how high in energy some foods were.  Cheese - especially hard mature cheeses - are often over 400 kcals per 100g.  But they're very flavoursome so I tended to add a little to many meals.  I entirely dispensed with butter.  I would occasionally add nuts - but with energies approaching 700 kcal/100g I could throw in only a few! But the biggest shock that I avoided entirely, even though it contributes so well to salads, taste-wise: oil.  At nearly 900 kcal/100g olive oil had to be rejected entierly.  Better to add greater quantities of meat or cheese. But, the astoundingly high energy oil contains gave me an idea.   In th...
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Smörgåsbord Mosaic

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The following photos represent 1 recent week of meals.   No other intake of energy besides these meals was consumed.  The total energy intake was 4900 kilocalories, that being 700 kilocalories per day.  Therefore each of the meals shown was about 350 kcal.  
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