It's been 10 weeks since I started my own body transformation diary and it's time to make another transformative report. In my last report I was planning to further reduce my weight and I hoped to achieve the landmark of 40 pounds of total body weight loss. Let's take a look at what was done and what was achieved.
What did I do in the past 2 weeks?
I started with simply following my nutrition plan and kept increasing the intensity of workouts as planned. My caloric intake was low - around 1,100-1,200 kCal per day. I must say that in the first several days I didn't observe any change in terms of total body weight of body fat percentage. Normally, I would recommend just sticking to the same routine and to be patient - it's consistency that brings us results, not some short-term "crush" dieting. But since I'm reporting my transformation progress bi-weekly, I felt compelled to do a couple of new things and see if they advance me further.
First of all, I tried extending my fasting periods from 20-22 hours to 36-44 hours while keeping the same daily average caloric intake. I tried it for several days and, unfortunately, I didn't see any improvement. Maybe one needs to do it for longer periods of time, but as of now, I'm growing more skeptical about intermittent fasting as a weight loss tool.
Then, I tried something different - I had a refeed day. I had a good workout and I had a protein shake with it and afterwards in addition to my regular low-calorie low-carb meal I went to McDonalds and had a Big Mac combo (with Coke Zero). Though I didn't like the meal as I'm not used to carbs anymore, it felt very nice as I had 126 g of carbs that day - my mood changed, I felt more energetic and jovial. And, surprisingly, my weight dropped the next day - I lost around 2 pounds overnight. Notably, I still remained in ketosis - it became slightly less intense several hours after the meal, but returned to higher intensity the next day.
Then I returned to my routine of low-calorie, low-carbohydrate dieting and having just one meal per day. My average caloric intake over the course of 2 weeks was 1145 kCal per day and my average carbohydrate intake was 18 g/day except for one refeed day. Effectively, I was in caloric deficit and following a low-carb diet with one refeed day.
What are my results of the past 2 weeks?
Overall, I lost 4.7 lb in the past 2 weeks and 38.7 lb in total - just 1.3 lb shy of my goal of 40 lb of total body weight loss. Still a good result and I'm quite close to 40 lb, I will definitely achieve it in the next several days. My body measurements continued to decrease, I've lost half of an inch in my waist and in my hip circumference and there were no changes in my arms and legs girth. I kind of gave up of tracking my body fat percentage using my scales, though they show a slow, but steady decrease in BF% and increase in fat-free mass percentage (FFM%). To have an accurate estimate of my body composition I booked a DEXA scan and will let you know the results when it's done.
What's the plan and what are the expectations?
The plan is to stick to calorie restriction and potentially, I will have 1-2 refeed days as long as my average caloric intake is low and I'm in caloric deficit. Actually, tonight I'm going to attend a wedding and I'll have some wedding cake, so that will be the first refeed day. I'll see if I'm still in ketosis or not. I will keep training as planned, gradually increasing the intensity and preparing to the next phase of my body transformation, which will focus primarily on gaining muscle while still losing weight. In terms of numbers I expect to lose several more pounds and to cross the 40 lb mark. As always, I will keep you posted as I proceed - you help me to stay accountable and you are my inspiration so wish me luck! Please, leave comments and ask questions - I'm always happy to answer them and to share my experiences. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and leave comments there too. I hope that you find the information I share useful and it helps you with your goals!