We have been fasting on Mondays and Thursdays since October. The many books on Amazon and elsewhere about our way refer to the 5:2 diet or sometimes the fast diet. It surprises me what has happened. Neither of us has lost all that much weight. Lynn has lost more and I have lost less, mostly because she is more rigorous in following the idea. The idea is that a woman gets 500 calories on a fasting day and a man gets 600.
I was heavier than I should be if I accept the idea that a Body Mass Index of 25 is ideal. I am older than many people. It isn't that easy to find a recent number of Americans 75 and older. Many figures and charts squeeze everyone over 65 into a single, undifferentiated category. For me, 65 is a decade ago. There are government web sites that give those over 65 a higher optimal body mass index of between 25 and 30. You can look up a body mass index calculator. If you do, you will find quite a difference between BMI of 25 and 30.
I have found that my pants fit more loosely and that matters to me. Who doesn't like loose pants? But my main experience with dieting and weight loss/monitoring before this project was making the weight for my position on a high school and college wrestling team. I have never before had a partner who was also hungry and also putting up with the presence of fine food that could easily be eaten.
The most surprising aspect of the fasting has been the freedom we have on fasting days. No breakfast or lunch to cook. Lynn is less tempted by food if she waits until dinner time and eats a large dinner. But each fasting day is like a holiday. The whole day is different. Our lives usually center around food preparation, presentation, eating and cleaning up to a surprising degree.
We watched a YouTube video just before we started on this project and it emphasized the value of not eating, for a while. Mark Mattson of Johns Hopkins said it would be good for our brains. He also said fasting would be good for our livers. We have noticed especially nice livers in us lately and I bet you have noticed an intellectual quickness and vibrancy in my posts since October. If you haven't, try fasting a bit. It will sharpen your perception and give you a glow, besides.
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