Bernard.Sg's Journal, 26 Apr 21

Of the 20kg dropped, 6kg was through calories counting & restriction to 1500kcal daily for 6 weeks. The other 14kg was dropped through a combination of 16:8, OMAD, Extended Fasting and low-carb eating. Yes, I have a cheat meal once or twice a week 😋😄 

20kg in half year, averagely around 1kg per week. It seems that you lost weight pretty fast, but still in healthy phase. I wish you won’t return to your old diet and get fat again like most people who lost weight. Unfortunately most obese people don’t accept that fact that once they lose weight and then return to their old diets they will return to be fat again too. 

Thanks Nate for your wishes & warnings. After 20 years of failed attempts to lose & maintain weight I finally 'discovered' the real, truly effective & efficient way to do it: Fasting. It is not something I struggled to do but something I enjoy & had embraced in my daily life. I had been fasting at least 16hours everyday the past 3 months in fact: By skipping the most redundant meal of the day aka Breakfast. On the diet aspect, I have a stringent list of things to eat everyday, eat weekly and to avoid/minimise to just monthly. Although I'll be 42 this year, I just embarked on calisthenics and aim to achieve feats like pistol squats, handstand pushups and human flag etc. Thus maintaining fats to a practical minimum is crucial. 

For me, I don’t think fasting and exercise should be in the same day. Endurance training and fasting have the same effects to body, and each stresses the body a lot already. Callisthenics seems to be resistance training, I guess. 🤔 And sport nutrition is not the same as weight loss nutrition. It’s best to eat in caloric surplus, primarily carbohydrates, separated into many small meals through the day, so fasting is not advised for optimising exercise performance. Stronger bones and stronger muscles come from harder resistance training, so to train much harder I don’t think fasting is good for that goal. That’s one of the main reason why I separated my weight loss period from weight gain period. That’s what I think. 🤔 

Yes, resistance training with only my own bodyweight at my current Level 1 (out of 10) for each of the 6 movements. No pullup bars used yet. Prior to this I was walking up stairs, another form of bodyweight training too. No fees to pay, no equipment to wipe down, no concerns of receptionists remarking that my clothes stink etc LOL. As mentioned before, working out during fasting is to experience challenging scenarios so that I have the confidence during food shortages and crisis situations. Not just about training the Body but also the Mind & Fighting Spirit ⚔️ 

https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/no-weights-no-limits-an-interview-with-paul-wade.html 

Callisthenics is not a bad training, but it’s hard to be progressive. Unlike free weight and machine in gym, which you can track your progress more noticeably. I will try swimming after the gym open, since last summer I wanted to go to beach to swim but until now summer again I still don’t go. Now I have to make sure that I will look good in swimsuit 😤 … Good joke about the clothes stink 😓 

Nate, it sounds like you didn't read the Paul Wade article. He addressed your thoughts about 'callisthenics is hard to be progressive'. Below is a quote from the 5-minute article. "Using progressive techniques, an expert can take any bodyweight exercise from a ridiculously easy rehab level all the way up to the limit of human power and ability, a "holy shit" level. Pull-ups are a good example. Most coaches only know about regular two-arm pull-ups, but what about easier versions like jackknife pull-ups, or leg-assisted pull-ups? And what about harder pull-ups?" 

For looking good in swimsuit, here's what Paul Wade (author of Convict Conditioning) said in the article: "In reality, bodyweight training and serious muscle gain go hand-in-glove. You just have to take a look at an Olympic gymnast to see that. These guys only use bodyweight, but they often have physiques which would see them winning natural bodybuilding shows. And they don't even train to gain mass. Imagine what they would look like if they did!"