Hi Nemaste, I’m glad you are on the mend, and I hope you are well enough to enjoy your trip to Venice.

I am water fasting today. I tend to mix nearly zero carb/high fat days with water fasting and Stillman’s days. I guess I need the variety. I do think I see health benefits from fasting (especially relief from joint pain). Very interesting that you have experienced better fat loss with Stillman’s over fasting.

Hey NHSB
Do you ever go for more than a day water fasting? It’s true, eating the Stillman way has produced better fat loss for me in the past. It’s a strange phenomenon. I’m looking in to autophagy and hoping that fasting might be the answer to healing. I have a back issue and lots of inflammation. My blood results are often out of whack. The longest I’ve ever fasted is 5 days and as I mentioned before this last go was 3 days. Apparently, I need to fast more frequently or do much longer fasts to see results or better results.

Hi Nemaste.

I fasted 5 days once last fall. But so far, I do better on 1-3 days at a time. I’m trying to be more consistent, working my way back to 3 days fasting every week (though not necessarily 3 days in a row). I probably get health benefits (and pain relief) from less than that, but I’m hoping 3 full days a week will help with fat loss too. Its not quite as quick as 5 days a week of Stillman’s, but it adds variety. The pain relief with fasting is more dramatic for me than simple low carb (though very low carb does help me with pain). If I could do it, I would combine fasting days with Stillman’s days each week - might give really good fat loss plus pain relief. But I don’t think I could keep that up.

Fasting for a few days a week seems like a good plan. The benefits are really interesting. I’ve had some blood tests recently so I think after my next fast, I’ll have another test just to see what changes and how.

Have you seen that guy on YouTube that has a channel called Snake Diet? Often starts his videos with “hey fatty”, I shouldn’t laugh really but it seems this guy is getting a lot of attention. His snake juice diet is basically a water fast with added salts etc. If you haven’t heard of him, it might be worth a look for inspiration when trying to hold out on a water fast but be prepared he likes to shout, especially in his Fat Pig Weight loss System video.

I decided to finish some carb laden food I had yesterday rather than throw it out so today is my first day high fat. The plan is to do a few days high fat then either a fast or Stillmans or combination of the latter for the remaining four days I have before I leave for Venice. I’m thinking I’ll do Keto whilst I’m away which should be easy enough. I’m not big on sweet stuff so I won’t miss the ice cream🍦and I’m only gone for 5 days.

I didn’t weigh this morning, gotta admit to being a little fearful. I definitely haven’t put a lot of weight back on but I doubt I’ve kept it all off. I’ve had breakfast already and it’s not far off lunch so I’ll commit to weighing in tomorrow morning and updating my stats then.

Hope you’re having a good day

I’m glad to hear you feel well enough to go to Venice - it sounds wonderful.

I have run across the Snake Diet guy - he is amusing (though I too feel a bit guilty laughing).

Hope scale is kind!

I’m back from Venice, it was absolutely wonderful. I’m exhausted but I have to say it was worth it. Venetians are very fit people on the whole. There are no motor vehicles and I learned there was a no elevator rule so climbing lots of stairs is the norm. The elderly there seem to take walking in their stride. In fact, our hotel manager informed us his 90 year old mother has no problems climbing the 4 flights of stairs in his hotel. It made me realise how horribly unfit I am. I have a step box in my cupboard and I plan to dig it out tomorrow and use it in small bouts to see if I can improve my fitness levels. It’s hard living with fatigue, it really is.

So, I confess to eating what I wanted when I was away. Who was I kidding thinking I’d stay on plan.

Anyway, here we are in February and I feel like I’m procrastinating. I’ll be back tomorrow with a weigh in and will begin day 1 of Stillman’s. I’ve stayed away from the scale but I do believe I’ve kept at least some of the weight I lost previously off as my clothes aren’t as tight as they once were.

Ugh, I just lost my post. It’s late here and I’m now in bed so I’ll update again in the morning. Had a good day 1.

So a quick run down on the post I lost yesterday... I put on close to 4lbs in all the time I was off plan but managed to maintain a loss of 7... not too bad, I honestly think it’s just water.

Breakfast was a Lo-dough wrap (around 3 carbs and 39 cals) with turkey rashers, a small amount of reduced fat cheddar and a lettuce leaf (I fancied some crunch). I squirted a little Heinz no added sugar or salt ketchup on it which was no more than a carb. I won’t be having any cottage cheese today so I reason that the amount of carbs I would have got had I eaten it, can be used on other things, hence the wrap and lettuce leaf. Of course this isn’t true Stillman but this works for me and it allows me to keep things interesting.

Lunch will be Turkey breast mince (I have some leftover, it was cooked in the croc pot with rosemary, thyme, garlic, chives and chicken stock) fried (using 1 cal spray) with a few slices of mushrooms (remember my cottage cheese alternative allowance ) egg whites and a handful of spinach. I’ll probably add some Tabasco and maybe even a small amount of low fat cheese.

I’ve not yet decided on dinner but it could be a couple of venison steaks or cod with lemon and thyme, we shall see...

Almost forgot to mention that I’m down 1.6 this morning.

Down 2lbs this morning!

Breakfast was bacon (all fat removed) with an egg in a Lo-dough wrap with low carb ketchup and a slice of low fat hard cheese. Lunch was roast chicken breast with some Laughing Cow style cheese. Dinner will be two loin pork chops (all visible fat removed) with Dijon mustard. 0% Greek yoghurt (in place of cottage cheese) mixed with SF strawberry jelly powder or jello as you call it in the US.

Hi Nemaste

I’m finally ready to really start Stillman’s.

Plan for today:
Breakfast - farmers cheese with eggs, plain tea
Late Lunch - lean ground beef

8 glasses of water, Magnesium and Potassium

Day 2

No loss, but I had fasted and dropped a pound the day before starting, so I’m not really surprised by the lack of scale change. I also had 1/2c nonfat greek yogurt in addition to the lean ground beef in the afternoon. I only had 5 glasses of water, plus tea (which I don’t think counts).

Plan for today:
Breakfast - tea (fasting 23 hours)
Late lunch - skinless chicken thighs

8 glasses water, Magnesium, Potassium

I ended up at a steak restaurant yesterday and shifted to Keto (steak, plain lettuce, and broccoli). I’ll stay Keto today and be back on Stillman’s tomorrow. I did see another 1/2 pound scale drop, which is nice.

Gained 1 pound over Keto weekend - “water”.

Plan for today:
Breakfast - tea (fasting 23 hours)
Late lunch - skinless chicken thighs, ground 90% lean bison if I need it for hunger.

8 glasses water, Magnesium, Potassium

Stillman Days completed: 1
Total loss: 0.5 pounds

Plan for today:
Breakfast - eggs with farmer’s cheese
Late lunch - ground 90% lean bison with taco seasonings

8 glasses water, Magnesium, Potassium

Stillman Days completed: 2
Total loss: 1.75 pounds

I allowed myself to get too hungry last night with no lean meat to turn to. I ate cheese and even a few bites of “worse” stuff. Sigh. Going back to Keto for a few days. Stillman’s works really well when I can do it, but...