Intermittent Fasting: Lose 3lbs in 2.5 Days with Diet Change

[skyshrimp]

I'm 41 and have had quite a bad diet. Lots of beer and fried chicken. I'm thin but have a bit of a pot belly

I saw some vids on YouTube regarding intermittent fasting, where people skip breakfast to burn fat quickly. I think the idea is that you burn fat for energy during the morning instead of food. It's supposed to take about 6 weeks to see an effect. There is a more aggressive fast called dry fasting, but I thought I'd try the intermittent version for fun to see what happens. I'm 6'2" and was about 195 lbs 3 days ago.

I started 2 days ago on Monday 16th on only fruit and peanuts. I skipped breakfast and ate 4 fruits and some peanuts (50g) at 6pm. I weighed 194.6 lbs so was 0.4 lbs down. I haven't done a 'no 2' since Sunday morning.

Tuesday I ate 4 fruits and peanuts (50g) at 6pm and weighed 193.4 lbs. That 1.2lbs down. Today I weighed myself at 2pm and was 193.4 lbs. An extra 1.8lbs down. Each time I weigh myself I only wear the same jogging pants and nothing else.

Where did that 3lbs physically go in 2.5 days?

 

[Orodruin]

Where did that 3lbs physically go in 2.5 days?

When you burn fat it becomes carbon dioxide and water. The main loss therefore occurred in the form of exhaling CO2 and getting rid of water through urinating, sweating, and humidity in your breath.

Edit: CNN also had a recent article on the subject.

 

[Bandersnatch]

Lots of beer

I just wanted to note that 3 lbs is the weight of approx 3 pints of beer. Even if you haven't had any beer, specifically, remember that it's easy to lose a few pounds just by taking in less fluids.

 

[skyshrimp]

Thanks. I'll have a read Orodruin!

Bandersnatch,

I haven't had a beer in April, but I stopped drinking soda on Monday. I was drinking over a litre a day of lemonade so that might account for some of that 3lbs. I actually started this thread in off topic (moved to biology and medical) as it wasn't supposed to stay strictly on topic, as it's more of a random thought. I felt very dizzy at work this morning so ate at 2pm today instead of 6pm. I was talking to a friend today that predicted I would lose muscle mass before losing any belly fat. In fact he said my belly would get larger like you see on starving third world children. The various YouTube results show otherwise. I walk a good 7 miles a day according to the Heath app on my phone.

 

[jim mcnamara]

We really are not able to give you good medical advice here at PF. You really should consider getting advice from a medical professional. Stop listening to friends.

From a pure science point of view:

1. if your energy expended is less than your caloric intake, regardless of chicken, beer, or time of day (all nonsense), you gain weight, eat fewer total calories and you lose weight. Deep fried foods have horrible ratios of good/bad fats, plus they have huge numbers of calories. Fries included. There are such things as good fats.

2. if you actually walk 7 miles per day you expend your BMR (base or resting metabolic rate) in calories plus what you burn walking. Let's do some calculations:
I assume you are 41 years old, your weight = 195. There are approximately 3600 calories in one pound of human fat tissue. Walking uses roughly 100 calories per mile.
Using this formula for BMR, (you can do this for yourself), I guess your height at 73 inches, ran a program I wrote:

// 655 + (4.35 X mass in pounds) + (4.7 X height in inches) - (4.7 X age in years). women  NIH data for US
// 66 + (6.23 X mass in pounds) + (12.7 X height in inches) - (6.8 X age in years). men

$ ./bmr
Help: calculate your BMR basal metabolic rate
usage: bmr pounds height age sex(M or F)
Actual example
         bmr 120 64 70 F
for a woman weighing 120 lbs, 64 inches tall, and 70 years of age

$ ./bmr 195 73 41 M
 For a man weight=195.00 height=73.00  age=41 your BMR (in calories per day)  1929

You need to eat way less than 1929 + 700 = 2629 calories per day. Period.
Example:
2 12 oz beer has ~320 calories
3 pieces of fried chicken (breast: 390 leg: 130 thigh:230) from KFC has 750 calories.
Total 1070 calories just for a "small" dinner, with no bread, no fries.
--- per their nutrition guide: https://www.kfc.com/nutrition

Try to eat 2000 calories max, and you will lose 1 pound per week. Keep walking.
Find other lower calorie foods you like, eat them. Do NOT listen to your friends or youtube.

I am going to close the thread because you need to ask a physician, not PF people, okay?