Day 13

Good Day to everyone! Had to take my 4 year old daughter to the dentist, she had her first cavity. This is not one of those firsts that you look forward to! Poor little thing, but the dentist was very gentle. She will need to go back a few times to handle this issue. Oh Well.

Still have gout today, not a badly as yesterday, but it is still there.

The big issues that I wanted to heal during this fasting stage are:

Gout completely gone.
Significant bodyweight and bodyfat removed.
Chronic sinus infection and accompanying left eye light response healed.
Knees and Achilles tendons healed from the effects of gout.
Deposits cleared out of my cardiovascular system.
My right leg circulation returned to normal and the leg back to normal size.

So far, all of these issues are better, but none of them are completely gone yet...so the fast continues.

Feel decent today. Took my usual lime water and added 1/8th of a multivitamin and 1 flax oil tablet. I think it helped.

Weight today...330 lbs. 30 lbs. of weight removed since Monday, March 19th, 2007.

Day 12

Gout is flaring up today in my feet. That is great! It reminds me of why I am absolutely going to do what it takes to remove this excess bodyweight and bodyfat and get back into awesome shape.

Wow, I really do hate gout. Called the rich man's disease, because it was typically a plague for royalty in the old days. Only the rich could afford enough protein to drive the gout and eat enough calories to be fat!

So, what causes gout?

Genetics...you must have the genes to allow this affliction.
Fat...you must be significantly overweight.
Protein...you must eat a diet high in protein.
Drinking...heavy drinkers can actually get gout while ignoring the being fat part...but I barely drink at all.

Well, that's it for today. Maybe more than you wanted to know about gout.

Weight today: 332 lbs. No loss of weight since yesterday. 28 lbs. of weight removed since Monday March 19th, 2007

Day 11

I am feeling pretty perky today. Went out for breakfast with some friends and business associates and just watched them eat. I watched them eat and just sipped at a little herbal tea. That felt really powerful to me, the ability to watch others eat while making the conscious choice to continue my fast and continue my healing.

Water. You must drink lots of water each and every day while on a fast. Your kidneys are trying to get rid of toxins as fast as they can. Make this easier and drink lots of water. Do not drink: diet soda, coffee, green teas, juice or anything that contains any calories at all. Calories are not your friend on a fast and caffeine and other chemicals in coffee or tea or soda will not help you at all during a fast.

I do recommend drinking the juice of one lime per day. I get a 32 ounce glass and squeeze in the juice of 1/2 of a lime and sip away. This settles my stomach and gives me just a little bit of nutrients with only very minimal calories. Then I have the other half of the lime later in the day. I have found this very soothing.

Weight today 332 lbs. 28 lbs. of weight removed since Monday, March 19th, 2007

Day 10

Starting to feel thinner today. I am going to start posting, as soon as I can figure out how, pictures of me once a month. That will be motivating and hopefully not too scary for myself and you my readers.

I have become hyper sensitive to smells. Very interesting. I have had a sinus infection on and off for a couple of years now, antibiotics of limited use, and it is finally healing now that I am losing weight and fasting. Temporary side effect is that I smell everything, at a level that I cannot ever remember. Dish soap, new carpet, new cars...I have been looking at these with my elder daughter, shampoo and even toothpaste have an overpowering smell now. This is a very temporary phenomenon I am sure, but a great sign of healing.

333 lbs. this morning. 27 lbs. of weight removed since I started on the way back Monday, March 19th, 2007...bye for now...Jack

Day 9

Dreamed of bacon and eggs last night. Felt great eating them, but then I was bummed out because I had broken my fast before my committed time. I am glad it was only a dream, but it did taste good! I expect bacon and eggs will be on my post fast menu somewhere in the first 2 weeks!

I was feeling kinda lousy yesterday and found myself mentally complaining, to myself and the universe, about how I was feeling. Then I remember my father going thru chemotherapy to attempt to kill the cancer that was killing him. The process failed, my father died, but he did have 18 more months of life than he would have had otherwise. And I know he would not have given up even one day of those 18 months, even though he felt like utter crap most of the time. And complain? Never.

I am taking his lesson to heart. I am going to feel less than my best for just a handful of days and I am giving myself perfect chemotherapy, chemotherapy designed by my body for my body. I am adding untold years and vitality to my life and if I feel lousy for awhile, well what a trivial price to pay for the benefits I will experience.

So, no more complaining. Beautiful day here in Colorado...hope you are enjoying your day.

Weight today: 335 lbs. 25 lbs. of weight removed since I started on the way back Monday, March 19th, 2007.

Day 8

I have fasted for 7 full days. Good for me! Feeling a little better now. I thought it would be good for me and my readers to review the positive results in just 7 days.

My gout, the condition that finally convinced me I needed a long fast, is in complete remission.
Gout related improvements:
My feet have reduced in size nearly a full shoe size.
My Achilles tendons are much more flexible and I can walk up and down stairs without pain.
My knees have stopped popping and hurting.

Other improvements:
My ongoing sinus infection, another major worry, is the best it has been in more than a year.
The swelling of my right leg, caused by overweight and old damage, is nearly gone.

There are the easily seen improvements. Inside my body many other beneficial changes are being created. More about those later.

Weight this morning...336 lbs. 24 lbs. of weight removed since Monday morning, March 19th, 2007. In other words, 24 lbs. of weight removed in 7 full days. A great start.

Bye for now...Jack

Day 7

I feel better this morning. Still lots of skin eruptions, but they are starting to heal or at least become smaller. I know that they will be gone soon.

So what is it like to fast for 6 days? There is a sense of pride that you can do this, it is a voluntary action. There is a sense of excitement that weight is coming off so quickly. There is a really powerful sense of caretaking and nurturing...I am doing something great for my body and my future. There are lots of feeling of discomfort and sickness, especially in these early days. My stomach is upset a lot of the time. I don't have my normal energy. My mouth tastes constantly bad, even right after brushing my teeth. I can easily get dizzy if I stand up very abruptly. I have lots of acne like skin outbreaks. My sense of smell is getting so acute that even teas or other flavored drinks are just too much for me.

So, the good and the bad. I expect this will be the last really long fast in my lifetime. I will certainly fast in the future, but for shorter periods of time. I will never again allow myself to get this out of shape or toxic.

Weight this morning...338 lbs. 22 lbs. of bodyweight removed since Monday, March 19th.

Bye for now...Jack

Day 6 of The Way Back

Still sick to my stomach this morning. Energy level is low and I have lots of skin breakouts. All normal. Not pleasant, but normal. The early days of a fast are much like being a teenager again, at least as far as skin is concerned. I have acne like breakouts on my face and neck and back and then randomly just a little bit. I am not sure of the exact cause here, it could be massive toxin levels in my blood, it could be my body using my skin, the largest organ of cleansing I have, to clear out even more toxins, or something I don't even know about. What I do know, from study and past experience is this, when the skin eruptions end, then my body is mostly cleansed.

Every day that a fast continues, the percentage of bodyfat burned to muscle burned goes up. The first few days of a fast, your body is mostly burning stored glycogen and muscle. As the days continue, the glycogen is gone and stored fat is used as fuel along with muscle. Day by day, less muscle is burned and more fat is burned. This is how the process works.

Worried about the muscle loss? Don't be. It comes back after the fast...it must! If you do even moderate exercise after the fast and eat a great diet, more about that later, the muscle will almost literally jump back onto your body. It is amazing.

Bodyweight this morning...340 lbs. 20 lbs. of bodyweight removed since Monday morning, March 19th, 2007.

Day 5 of The Way Back

This is my fifth day of fasting. I have decent energy but I am a little sick to my stomach today. Not unusual. My body is taking this opportunity to dump all sorts of toxins out of my body. Additionally, the almost certain yeast overpopulation that was running around in my body causing so much loss of energy...well, they are dying right now. Within just a few more days, virtually all of the yeast, in my bloodstream and my gut, will be dead. That is the good news. The only bad news, and I know it will pass, is the sick feeling that I will have while this process is going on.

Fasting is about cleansing, cleansing at a level that most people never experience. Fatty deposits will be cleaned out of my cardiovascular system...burned as fuel or just dumped. Old injuries will heal. When your body does not have to spend time on digestion, it can focus on lots of other great housekeeping...housekeeping that in a normal American life will never happen. How many people do you know personally that have ever fasted?

Bye for now...and my weight this morning...343 lbs. 17 pounds of bodyweight removed since Monday morning. Wowsers! Jack

Fasting

When I was in college, I was fortunate to take a course in human biology that dealt with fasting. The instructor had studied fasting extensively and fasted herself twice per year for two weeks at a time. She spoke of great health benefits that her studies of human biology had helped her to uncover and quite frankly, to my 18 year old eyes, she looked incredible. She was in far better shape than most of the girls my age that I was sitting next to in class. Wow! Here was some information to store away for future use.

I never really used this information, how to fast and how long, until I was injured on my summer job working on the railroad in Chicago. Some equipment failed and I was thrown from the elevated service areas to the tracks below, probably some 10 feet. I landed badly with my then thin and trim waist hitting the track first. The pain was incredible and within a couple of hours my waist had grown from 33 inches to nearly 40 inches with internal bleeding. I was saved of course, but I ended that summer with a lopsided waist and extensive scar tissue in the right side of my body. Here is where fasting entered the story. More on this story next time.

My weight today, Wednesday, March 21st, 2007...348 lbs.
My weight starting, Monday, March 19th, 2007...360 lbs.
My ultimate goal, Monday, May 5th, 2008...195lbs. again and fit and vital!

bye for now...Jack

The Beginning

This blog is my public commitment to restoring my health. In high school and college I was an athlete and I played tennis and football competitively. For many years I exercised 3 to 4 hours per day and I stayed in wonderful shape. When I graduated from college, I made little time for exercise and I had never worried about my diet. So, I was in awesome shape in March of 1974.

Now let's fast forward to today, or yesterday to be more precise. (Since yesterday was the day that I decided that I had finally had enough!) It is now March of 2007. 33 years have passed. My elder daughter is 25, my first marriage is ancient history, and despite my best efforts, my weight is now 360 lbs. Wow! Amazing to even think about. In college I weighed 195 lbs. and my waist was 33 inches. Now, at 360 lbs., my waist is 48 inches (the part that doesn't hang over my belt!) and I do not even recognize myself in the mirror.

Worst of all, I am a public speaker, I speak in front of groups for a living and I teach them how to change their lives! Wow! Talk about feeling like a fraud! My material is great, and people love what I do, but I know that many people are wondering why in the heck this guy they are watching is so large.

I had a dream last week that gave me the answer, or at least the beginning. I dreamed that I attended my own seminar and actually applied what I was teaching to my own life! What a concept!

More to come...bye for now...Jack