N = 1, Warrior Diet Fun

[reepicheep]

FAQ

1. What's happening right now????

I'm going to do 30 days of the Warrior Diet + Paleo(ish).

2. What's the Warrior Diet?

In a nutshell, eating a lot once a day, at night. Not eating very much the rest of the day. OK foods during the rest of the day include fruits and veggies, tea, coffee, vegetable juices, that sort of thing. Sticking to Paleo(ish) foods. Technically the diet doesn't call for 100% strict Paleo, that's just me.

There's a book:
http://www.warriordiet.com/

I haven't read it.

3. What's Paleo?

Meat, seafood, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds. Fats like coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil. Some people do dairy; I eat butter and cheese but don't make a habit of them.

4. What's Paleoish?

In my case, some rice and some corn (in the form of corn tortillas). Some dairy.

5. Are either of these diets/lifestyles/torture tools scientific?

Depends on who you talk to and what their agenda is. "Intermittent Fasting" is generally the more scientific name for the WD.

6. Why?

Because I'm a masochist. And because I ate a lot of junk food on my bike trip. And because I'm getting married soon, and I am your proto-typical female who wants to look good in her wedding pictures. And because if I'm not eating breakfast I can sleep later in the morning. And because it appeals to me because it uses the word "warrior". And because being hungry sometimes is a stoical thing to do. And because I'm apparently a weakling who needs public accountability to follow through on goal setting.

7. How much do you weigh?

I don't know and don't care. I don't own a scale. I'll probably take some before/after photos though.

8. How fast do you run?

Slow.

9. How much can you lift?

Dunno.

10. Will you work out?

Yes. Primarily with my bike commute and kettle-bells. Frequency TBD.

10. What are the rules?

NO ICE-CREAM ALLOWED
No processed sugar of any kind
Eating processed sugar in any form results in a 50 burpee penalty. Boo.
Paleoish exceptions include rice, corn tortillas, butter, cheese in small quantities. And a small piece of Challah w/ wine if I go to services on Friday.
Tea w/ a small amount of honey (local for my allergies) is the only thing allowed before noon. After noon, salad-food, small amounts of protein (hard-boiled eggs), and nuts are the only things allowed before dinner. Time for dinner is going to vary with the day.
Edit: Penalty for eating before noon is also 50 burpees.

11. When does this start?

July 2, because I wanted one last bowl of ice-cream.

12. You're so weird.

Pot, kettle.

[GandK]

Good luck, reepicheep!

[henrik]

(How) does alcohol fit into this?

[reepicheep]

Oh, good question. I drink so rarely it didn't occur to me to list it. I keep a six pack around just to trade favors (usually people who are driving me places).

No alcohol, other than the aforementioned small cup of wine on Shabbat.

[enigmaT120]

I didn't know I followed the warrior diet. On days off I prefer to have one or two cups of tea (with local honey, like you said) then I just work all day until about 4:00 in the afternoon, then eat what is usually a fairly large meal. But I don't get hungry all day, so I don't think it's stoic.

Do you get light-headed if you fast for a while?

[reepicheep]

I didn't know I followed the warrior diet. On days off I prefer to have one or two cups of tea (with local honey, like you said) then I just work all day until about 4:00 in the afternoon, then eat what is usually a fairly large meal. But I don't get hungry all day, so I don't think it's stoic.

Do you get light-headed if you fast for a while?

If you do a search on Reddit for Warrior Diet you'll find other people who just sort of fell into it naturally--usually because they were intensely engaged in their work, or it just "felt right."

I think if you aren't getting hungry it probably doesn't meet the threshold for stoicism, but the general idea (as I understand it) is that your body adapts--I might be hungry the first few days, but it goes away. If my main reason for switching my diet was stoicism, post-adaptation I would likely need to up the ante somehow. However, I do find a relatively slim and muscular physique both functional and attractive (I'm sure my husband would agree) and so I'm fairly unlikely to drop my total calories to a point that wouldn't sustain some level of daily exercise. Plus, I gotta take fitness tests and stuff to keep my job.

I'm not sure what the physical impact of fasting will be. The last time I "fasted" I was at survival school as a teenager, and there was a lot more going on there that kind of distracted me from being hungry all the time (like being "lost", and cold, and the 20 lb rock I was carrying, and my wet socks, and the very angry boonie hat that was making me do push-ups, and the gravel embedded in my palms, and...).

[reepicheep]

Day 1 (Yesterday): Slept late, laid around in bed all day and watched Youtube videos. Had a tomato/cucumber salad around 1300 and ate a rice/veggie/hot-dog dinner (courtesy of my landlords...if it's free, it's for me) around 1500. Couple of olives here and there. I put frozen blueberries and grapes into water in an attempt to cool it down--no ice-cube tray, and it's hot here.

Didn't experience much, if any, hunger-related discomfort. Had a pretty serious headache late in the day and again this morning when I woke up. Took some Tylenol. I've been drinking A LOT of water--probably 2 or 3 times what I would normally drink in a day, just because of the heat (no A/C). No real hunger to speak of, but I was a lazy fuck all day so that's not surprising.

Day 2 (today): Tea and water this morning. It's 11, I've been up since 530, I'm hungry. I didn't really bring much food to work--some cherries--so I could remove temptation from myself. I'll eat after work. Headache is intermittent. No Tylenol as of yet, since I haven't eaten and don't want to take any meds on an empty stomach.

Possible flaw in the "don't bring food to work plan:" If the SHTF, I'm going to probably be stuck with Almond Joys and Top Ramen as my primary dietary staples. But if I do bring food...I'll eat it.

Heat: I'm considering sleeping in the basement. I wonder what my landlord would think...

[vexed87]

I'll be interested to hear how you manage with the diet alongside your DH (who I presume isn't doing it with you?) My SO was my main excuse for abandoning the diet as she constantly brings home tasty treats in the form of chocolate, cakes and sweets. I know I shouldn't eat it, but it tastes so good! I need to lose a few pounds after my recent holiday so maybe I'll start a fresh on Monday...

but this heat...

[reepicheep]

Vexed, hubs and I don't live together. He's in the U.S. right now. But when he's around it's certainly more difficult to do weird stuff like this. He's pretty accommodating for my paleoness, but I think only eating once a day would probably impact our dates/external social life.

Maybe try to make it just a short term experiment and get her on board to not inadvertently sabatoge you just for 30 days?

[vexed87]

Sadly for me SO has categorically stated that the WD is crazy and she will never try it! So I suspect her sabotage is deliberate. Nevertheless, with the correct discipline, it wouldn't matter what she brings home, so I have clearly just been making myself excuses!

I know If I stuck with it I would really miss my food rituals. I live for my weekend breakfasts with SO, bacon & eggs, or pastries etc(forbidden in WD!!! ).

I know food strictly isn't for fun/social interaction, in theory I could carry on the ritual with just coffee even if she still wants to eat, but where's the pleasure in that!

I'll be following closely, and maybe join you for attempt number two at WD on Monday. Always helps to have a buddy!

[reepicheep]

You're more than welcome to join, Vexed. I think that'd be awesome.*

*Yeah, I know. Everything is awesome.

[jacob]

There's no need to force/convince SO into joining the WD in order to do it. The only difference is that you eat dinner for 3 people and SO eats the same three or six meals spaced out throughout the day. It's a lot easier to combine WD with factory or fitness schedule than it would be to combine vegetarian and paleo diets because it's easier to cook more of the same meal than two different ones all the time.

Also, you can be as hardcore or easy as you want. Ori is not handing out achievement awards for sticking to the diet. For example, once a week, my company provides free lunch. I usually pig out. Once a month, they provide free donuts in the morning. Ditto. In order to actually "have room", I simply eat less the night before or the night after. This also solves the "social issue" e.g. the "let's get together for breakfast" no longer has to be Debbie Downered with "Uh, I'll just have a black coffee".

Breaking the consistency of the WD actually means that the body remains confused wrt pre-injecting insulin. This means that it's even harder to get hungry or go into a sugar coma.

[vexed87]

OK, in that case I'll start tomorrow (I'm having a few beers later so can't start today )

I read in a peer reviewed paper that anticipation of meals is a risk factor of type II diabetes too. More motivation to get my act together!

The donuts sold me though.

[reepicheep]

Vexed, what I meant was "get her on board to stop sabotaging you", not "get her on board with the WD so she stops sabotaging you."

Rule Numero Uno for me with Paleo is that I don't keep non-Paleo stuff in the house. Doesn't mean I'll never eat it, but I buy more ice-cream than I keep eat in a sitting maybe twice a year. I just know I'll sit there and eat the whole tub if I buy it.

And also, you're going to start on July 4th? Nice.

So, end of the day yesterday did not go so hot.

Ate cherries all afternoon, which is probably not quite in the spirit of fasting but OTOH...this was the last day the cherries were going to be edible.

A buddy of mine is flying through here on their way to war, so I had dinner with zer around 7. Totally forgot both about the no-alcohol, no-processed sugar rule in my excitement to see zim (it's been 2.5 years).

So, at some point between today and tomorrow I owe you all 50 burpees. Oops.

Otherwise head a headache all of yesterday afternoon and did finally cave and take a Tylenol. Not sure if it can be attributed to diet or hydration at this point, may just be the heat.

Today--due to my little alcoholic misadventure yesterday I ended up sleeping on the floor of my buddy's hotel room here on base (OMG. air conditioning). I don't have a headache; I also don't really have any food other than the leftover fish from last night. So no snacks today.

[jacob]

So, at some point between today and tomorrow I owe you all 50 burpees. Oops.

Pffft! Surely, you owe more than that.

The exchange rate is 100 burpees per honor point unless you're using the Romulan exchange rate

Then again, I'm having a beer right now, because one can't have rules without tasty exceptions(!)

[vexed87]

Yes I started today . We don't celebrate the US's deceleration of independence in the UK though so not particularly taxing! It would be tantamount to treason to celebrate that... however I'm not much of a royalist. What the heck, maybe I'll join jacob with a beer later

This morning went well, I ate a few blueberries as SO was in a hurry to get out of the house so wasn't bothered about breakfast. I then spent most of the most of the morning working on my bike, tending my veg patch and building a website for my SO. Lunch time came and went without me thinking about food. Started to get hungry again around 3 PM so ate half a handful of cashew nuts, are nuts permitted in WD? I'll need to brush up on the rules again...

Had some friends over for a BBQ this evening so ate plenty, basically ate 50% meat, 50% salad, perhaps not the most balanced meal, but a tasty start nevertheless. Starting to feel hungry again now (23:30), maybe I didn't eat enough. I was full at the time though. I might have a quick banana or something before I head to bed.

Hoping tomorrow will be as easy as today has been.

[Ego]

Tim Ferriss interviews General Stanley McChrystal. In the beginning he talks about eating only one meal a day. He goes on to talk about mental toughness.

http://ec.libsyn.com/p/c/f/9/cf983c3d1f ... id=9351120

[7Wannabe5]

I wonder whether this is the best diet for a 50 year old woman? I have low blood pressure, low blood sugar, very low resting pulse and my waist-to-hip ratio is .725. I engage in moderate (not extreme!) exercise for at least an hour most days. For reasons mostly having to do with pure vanity, I would like to get my WHR back to .699999999 , but I'm not sure if an anti-estrogenic diet would not be counter-productive since I don't necessarily want to lose any gluteal-femoral fat or muscle? I fasted for Ramadan a couple years in solidarity with my recent ex, so the Stoic aspect of the challenge doesn't seem too daunting. Maybe if threw in more yogurt and tofu? I guess I could just give it a shot and judge proof by pudding.

Okay, I'm in.

[reepicheep]

Welcome, Wannabe!

So, a bit strange of a few days:

I've stopped getting hungry before noon, but I do find that I want to eat a bit more robustly than is probably called for. I've ended up having a fairly sizeable lunch most days and then a smaller snack sometime in the early evening (except for yesterday, in which I had a pretty sizeable salad at lunch and a steak dinner to send off the buddy who has been letting me sleep on the floor of his air conditioned hotel room for four days. Alas, no more AC.

Doing this makes me kind of sleepy in the afternoons.

I'm going to try to shift the time I eat back gradually in order to move the larger meal closer to the evening. So now, no food before 1 (starting tomorrow).

[7Wannabe5]

Day 1 went well. I decided to follow the plan but also dose myself with OTC herbal estrogen support blend. Plain yogurt with frozen mulberries and roasted pumpkin seeds for small mid-day meal and roasted chicken with mixed garden greens, vinegar and oil for large later meal. Did an hour of water aerobics class ,which is really more like water strength-training class, followed by 40 minutes of lap swimming. Immediate measurable results on both scale and tape (obviously mostly water loss), but no improvement in WHR. I have free access to the weight training room also, so I might add a routine from "Strong Curves" by Bret Contreras to my challenge since that is my preferred aesthetic. At my age, thinner starts to look a little too much like more dessicated or fragile around the wrists and collar-bone. Also, I am robbing the cradle and meeting a 41 year old hip-hop fan for coffee this weekend and I know that I look somewhat younger and thicker in photos