40 Day Detox

Weight rose by 0.3kg to 68.3kg. Body Fat rose 0.9% to 18.1%. Body Water dropped to 56.3% and Body Muscle dropped 0.5% to 42.6%. 

Its time to get serious. I'm declaring jihad on my body fat

Can you see how unfair my body is? Can you see what I’m up against? I’ve spent the last three weeks exercising pretty much everyday, restricting what I eat, cutting out no less than eleven types of food. My progress has been painfully slow getting to the leanest I’ve been (yesterday) since this experiment started to reach a body fat of 17.2%. Yet in just one day my Body Fat has gone back to where it was a week ago. In one day my Body Fat has risen almost a whole 1%! That’s it. If my body wants to pick a fight with me, I’m taking it on! No more pussyfooting around. If I have an extreme body that leans towards being a fat bastard then I’m going to take extreme measures to tame it. Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to go onto a liquid only diet during the day and have only one solid meal in the evening which will be chewed so thoroughly that it’ll pretty much be liquid by the time it gets to my stomach. I’m not sure how long I’m going to do this for. I may lose muscle mass as a result. So be it! This is a war and in war there is always collateral damage. If my muscles are going to have to take a beating, then let it be. It’s a sacrifice I may well have to make.

So to clarify: filtered water; fresh fruit and vegetable juice; smoothies; vegan protein shakes; soups and caffeine-free, dairy-free, sugar-free and artificial sweetener-free hot drinks are all in during the day. After about 8pm I can consume one solid meal and some detox-allowed snacks (e.g. fruit, nuts and seeds). 

I also need to make my new goals crystal clear so that I know when I have won the battle. Before, I wanted to build muscle while burning fat. It seems I was slowly but surely managing to do that. But progress was far too slow as far as I am concerned especially as I’ve managed to undo a week’s worth of work in a single day. 

Body fat percentage

So what’s the ideal body fat percentage? This depends on age, sex etc. For a 31 year old male it also depends on who you ask. According to Weight Loss for All the healthy range is 8-19%. According to them I am currently just within the healthy range. 

According to the American Council of Exercise for all men: Obese is 25%+, Average is 18-24%, Fitness is 14-17%, Athletes are 6-13% and essential fat is 1-3%. 

According to the National Institute of Health and World Health Organisation: 0-8% is Underfat, 8-20% is Healthy, 20-25% is Overfat and 25%+ is Obese.

Based on these guidelines I shall aim to achieve a Body Fat of 8%. That’s just over 10% away. I’m not sure how long it will take to get there, nor am I sure how I’m going to achieve it in the long term. But for now I shall attempt to kick start the process by going onto a liquid only diet during the day and have one solid meal in the evening. I could seriously do with a decent blender right now! 

I had no lemons in the flat so I started the day with grape juice. 

Quinoa with oat milk and agave nectar

Delicious Oatly oat milk

For breakfast I had quinoa with oat milk fortified with calcium and vitamins and agave nectar. Oat milk tastes a lot better than soy milk. I only used a little bit of quinoa so my breakfast was soup like. 

Through the day I had tomato juice, decaf coffee, yogi tea and a detox tea. 

Through the later part of the day I snacked on lentil and whole grain basmati rice soup that my wife made for me. 

In the evening my dad and my sister came round to break their fasts. I ate kala chana and mung dal chilka with wholegrain basmati rice with salad. I also treated myself to some fresh Iranian dates (which are terribly addictive) and a Pakistani Anwar Retol mango. 

I also snacked on a handful of mixed nuts. 

Though I hadn’t eaten any solids until the evening, it seems quite probable that I’ve eaten as much as I would in a normal day, just in a shorter space of time. I’ll see tomorrow morning if any good came from this new approach! It’s possible that it hasn’t! 

I didn’t do any exercise today. This is partly due to being busy all day, heavy rain outside and I am partly wanting to see the effects of my new diet on my fat and muscle without exercising.