Thanks Antonio. You're right of course - fasting is a great thing to do and it is amazing how hunger is not a problem once you've set your mind to doing a long fast.
Speaking of such matters, the MLCMM bod is in better shape now thanks to a new diet sensation sweeping the MLCMM man cave - the NBNB diet, which is quite simply the No Bread No Booze diet. In two weeks using this seemingly drastic weight-loss craze I shed a touch over 5 kilos (11 pounds) just by eliminating bread, alcohol and avoiding carbs until the evening.
And how do I feel? Well, to be honest, the last three days were pretty awful, as I continued my running throughout and fairly conclusively busted out of all my glycogen stores, i.e. I was running on empty. So last night I had a carb binge and replenished my stores somewhat, and was able to put in another sixty minutes of hard running this afternoon.
Physically, I am back to the weight, body fat and muscle mass percentages I was at for the P2P last November. Something has changed fairly fundamentally however with my phsyiology, and the body is much slower to respond to the training at present. I'm still not capable of the pace or distances I was churning out last year, and I really don't know why. However, I am running consistently and have weight and so on under control again, so from here it can only improve.
As for the bread part of it all, well I really do feel better for not eating wheat at all and have no intention of really taking it up again. It hasn't so much to do with a gluten intolerance or anything, but more to do with keeping my blood sugar levels at an even keel. Although
yes the diet (which was effectively low carb/low cal) saw me tired after a week or so, my energy levels did stay at a remarkably even keel throughout the day because the bread and so on that I usually eat wasn't spiking my sugar levels. And with a shift toward more protein to replace the carbs, I really had no problems with hunger, either.
So now I'm slowly increasing my daily carb intake to overcome the tiredness resulting from several days of low carbs, but I will still avoid bread which was always for me the main culprit.
Alcohol is another matter. After two weeks on the wagon, Mrs MLCMM and I celebrated with a nice bottle of red, which we shared with a friend, and weirdly, that was enough for us. So it seems cutting down significantly isn't going to be such an issue. Well, time will tell on that score of course.
So for now, it's slow and steady sailing, all in the right direction and with a stiff breeze of confidence at my back.
A total of five runs since my last post: 3h45m on my feet, 35km covered. Slow, modest but at least I'm out there again!
Track du jour: An old favourite by Chris Rea ... a bloody marvellous running track, especially when training for a marathon (which I'm not, but never mind).
Marching right along 2014
