To fully commit, my 75 flaccid:
1. Diet, OMAD. Pescatarian. No alcohol.
2. I'll exercise an hour and a half or more daily, at least 45 min outside. Might do it all in one block, climbing, hiking, or walking, at the minimum.
3. I'll drown my troubles in a gallon of H2O daily.
4. I bought a 700 page book, and have another 150+ e-book I've been halfway through for a while.
5. Two selfies: Before and After.
Gonna be tough in July and August, as I have a couple vacations with friends planned. June should be fine.
Well that was fun. As described above, I completed my 75 largely to the letter of the law. Between covid, traveling, and dealing with eating/digesting enough calories, it was certainly challenging.
To review my performance, and what I’ve learned:
Starting weight: 168 BMI 24.1
End weight: 145.8 BMI 20.9
1. OMAD is a crazy diet. From a hunger perspective, fasting most of the day, every day, wasn’t as hard as I imagined. I was rarely “starving”, except the days following long periods of exercise, like full day hikes. Being hangry is completely avoidable imo, once you attune your body to eating less often - which is probably a good idea anyway, health wise.
Really the hardest part was resisting social pressure to eat. I missed out on some good restaurant meals, a couple parties, and fresh catch due to poor timing. But you can’t expect everyone else to work around your dietary restrictions.
Eating enough calories was tough, within the confines of a largely plant-based diet, whilst exercising consistently. After losing too much weight, I ended up adding a lot of gratuitous desserts and calorically dense foods, such as cheese. That was kinda fun, but not great for the digestive process. I overate to the point of vomiting once (I blame water bloat), was constipated a few days (usually quite regular), and then had a couple explosive bowel movements, resulting from compensatory fiber-rich meals.
Avoiding alcohol was easy. That said, I made the same mistake as
@BassNBrew, foolishly taking a sip of beer from a flight at a Seattle microbrewery. This was particularly egregious, considering I loathe beer, and the pretense of orchestrated alcohol tastings in general. Stupid peer pressure.
Anyway, my compliance was 99.9%. Difficulty 4/10. Moving forward, I‘ll skip more meals, and probably settle on 2 a day in a restricted window, eliminating snacking. This will allow enough time to metabolize sufficient protein, while still getting IF benefits. As an aside, both longevity books I’ve read extol the virtues of calorie- and time-restricted eating, while acknowledging the practical limitations of being overly restrictive. One guy also mentions the benefit of limiting some amino acids, which runs contrary to many contemporary, protein-rich diets. And for the bro scientists, he was even on Joe Rogan!
2. Exercising 1.5 hours daily and getting outdoors was easy. Breaking it into two 45-minute blocks was much harder, especially with the caveat of separating sessions by at least 3 hours. I frequently failed to comply with the latter, but disagree with potentially sacrificing sleep to be strict, if establishing healthy habits is the ultimate goal of the challenge.
I learned walking/hiking hills is great exercise, as it’s simple to ramp up the exertion level, by going faster or carrying weight, while being easier on the joints than long distance running.
Ignoring the 3-hour rule, 100% compliance, 3/10 difficulty. With that rule, compliance more like 75%, 6-7/10.
I‘ll continue exercising daily, 30-60 minutes of variable intensity (with high exertion as much as possible, ~80% max heart rate). Leisurely walks can occur on “rest” days, as a way to clear my mind or spend QT with the wife. On top of that, I‘ll get strength/balance/flexibility by climbing 3-4x/week.
3. Effing water. Remained miserable throughout the challenge. 100% compliant, 8/10 difficulty.
Moving forward, I’ll try to drink 1/2 gallon daily, including a liter first thing in the morning, to stave off hunger.
4. Reading was easy, once I found enjoyable subject matter. 100% compliant, 2/10. Thanks again,
@Sand.
I’ll complete a couple more longevity books. Not sure I’ll make it a habit thereafter.
5. Selfies remain stupid. 2.7% compliant, 10/10 difficulty (for me). Attention,
@AAABatteries!
Day 1
Day 76
Overall impression?
It was really instructive, and taught me to live more purposefully. Discipline and time management are important for just about everything worth doing, and this challenge certainly put those skills to the test.
I‘ve also learned a lot about longevity, and will adapt my behavior accordingly, starting with the diet and exercise mentioned above. Will need to figure out something to improve sleep, which is a work in progress.
I’ve reframed my goal weight, after realizing 51-year-old me doesn’t carry nearly the same muscle mass as 21-year-old me. Despite all the BMI poo-pooing, it provides a healthy target for the vast majority of people, and seems reasonable for me to use. Even though 150 sounded obscenely thin at the start of the challenge, I really feel better at this weight. I’ll drop my old target from 165 to 150-155, for a BMI between 21 and 22.
Thanks
@gruecd for starting the thread, and great job to all those who participated. It will be interesting to see how much sticks.