Day Eleven

After yesterday's low fasting blood glucose level, today's was a return to normal for the experiment at 5.1mmol/l (92mg/dL). There's not a lot more to report really. I've decided that I won't continue posting a message every day. I'll now post weekly or if something out of the ordinary happens. I'll continue updating the progress chart, though I suspect that I'm not going to see much change. It does appear that my FBG numbers are sticking around the 5.0mmol/l (90mg/dL) mark.

Day Ten

Ah, a return to normal. Or is it? Actually this morning's fasting blood glucose level was much lower than it has been; it's actually the lowest FBG I've ever had, at 4.3mmol/l (77mg/dL). That's the kind of number I'd be over the moon to see every day. However, I suspect that this is unlikely.

Still no hunger but I have noticed a large change in my sleeping. Over the period of the experiment I've been sleeping less each night. Last night was a particularly extreme example though, as I found I was unable to sleep until late into the morning and, so far today, I have been operating normally on just one hour of sleep. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Day Nine

I wonder if I'm being punished for my slight indiscretion yesterday or if today's fasting blood glucose is just a weird result. This morning's reading was the highest of the experiment and one that I would have been disappointed with even if I was not trying this diet. I scored 5.8mmol/l, which is 104mg/dL. I'm guessing that this isn't bad for some type 2 diabetics (some may even think it's a good value) but I'm not happy with it at all.

I hope it's a one-off and that this lowered calorie intake is not affecting my glucose tolerance in the wrong direction. I would normally eat double the calories that I did yesterday and not expect to see a poor result in the morning. However, I can't see it as too significant as there are lots of reasons why I could get one high reading other than a problem. It may be because I am not taking the readings at the exact same time every day, I'm not eating or waking at the same times either. It could also have been due to the error allowance of the meter. My meter gives an accuracy of +/- 10% at this range, so my actual blood glucose was between about 5.3mmol/l (95mg/dL) and 6.3mmol/l (113mg/dL). It's a shame they can't be more accurate.

So I'm not going to dismiss this high reading but I am not going to worry unduly yet. Only if I see more high numbers will I become concerned.

Day Eight

I have to confess that today I ate more than 600 calories. After two miles of running and a three sets each of eight weight-training exercises I needed some protein so had some nuts and an extra whey protein shake, bringing my total calorie intake to around 900. Not too bad but not the target I was really aiming for. I'll be doubling my efforts for the rest of the week.

Today's overeat (if that's a sensible thing to say about 900 calories) made me think about the way that I want to approach this experiment over the coming weeks. I've been losing weight too quickly, and some of that has been muscle. I've also been finding it more difficult to concentrate occasionally, which is not a good thing in my job. I've therefore decided that the remainder of my two week break from work will continue as planned, eating 600 calories per day. I had previously considered continuing this for a further four to six weeks. I've decided instead that I will increase my calorie intake after the second week.

I'm not sure what target I'll aim for but I expect that it will be around the 1,000 calorie mark, perhaps 1,200. This will still leave me with a large calorie deficit so I should continue to lose fat but hopefully I'll be able to maintain muscle. The aim of this experiment is to try to lose visceral fat, which the original study suggested allowed the liver to have improve insulin sensitivity, hence "fixing" the type 2 diabetes. Hopefully a slightly increased calorie count will allow me to lose any remaining visceral fat and reap the benefits.

Today's numbers: fasting blood glucose was 5.2mmol/l (94mg/dL). The highest yet since the starting Saturday but still lower than my previous average.

Week One

Week one is now over. I probably should have monitored more information than just my fasting blood glucose and weight. However, that's the only data I have so it seems worth reporting on.

During the first week my average fasting blood glucose, including the Saturday where no change had been made before the FBG reading, was 5.1mmol/l (92mg/dL). I've gone back through the readings from the week before the experiment and found that my average FBG was 5.6mmol/l (101mg/dL). So that's an improvement of 0.5mmol/l (9mg/dL). Not a huge jump but my starting numbers were pretty good.

My weight has plummeted from the lack of food (hardly surprising!) At the start of the experiment I weighed 11 stones, which is 154 pounds or 69.9kg. After just one week I have lost 6 pounds to reach 10 stones and 8 pounds, which is 148 pounds or 67.1kg. My BMI has fallen from 23.4 to 22.5, both of which are in the "healthy" range. My body fat percentage, measured using electronic scales and some form of magic, dropped from 20.1% to 18.6%.

On the body fat percentage, a starting point of 154 pound in weight and 20.1% body fat suggests that total fat used to have about 31 pounds of fat and 123 pounds of other "stuff". With the new weight and body fat percentage I now have 27.5 pounds of fat and 120.5 pounds of stuff. That means that I've lost 2.5 pounds of something that isn't fat. Assuming that my brain and bones haven't shrunk, some, if not all, of that must be muscle, which is concerning.

Day Seven

Seven days of the experiment now complete. A full week of "starvation" and I still don't feel hungry. It's starting to feel like I'm cheating as this is far too easy so far. I do feel like I want to eat something nice but it's more from boredom with my current diet, rather than actually feeling any hunger pangs.

One thing I have noticed is that my ability to concentrate for long periods is suffering slightly, but not much. I'm getting restless when I do one thing for more than an hour or two, wanting to do something else instead. Having said that, that is pretty usual for me when I'm not at work.

Fasting blood glucose was 5.0mmol/l (90mg/dL) this morning so about average for this experiment. I didn't do any specific exercise as I spent the day doing DIY (tiling) and also went for a four mile walk.

Week two starts tomorrow. I'm not sure whether this will be the final week of my experiment or not. If my concentration remains affected I'll have to start eating normally again before I return to work. If my concentration is OK, I may continue further.

Day Six

Day six and still no hunger. I'm starting to come around to the idea that the hunger won't arrive.

I had a blood test today and it happened that the person taking the blood was the surgery's nutritionist. I had a little chat with her about a friend who managed to reverse his type 2 diabetes following a similar process to my experiment (I've asked him to write a guest post about this). I didn't mention my experiment as I wanted to avoid a lecture.

I expected the nutritionist to tell me that eating so little was a bad idea and to give me the usual information about eating low fat foods and lots of complex carbohydrates, and that curing type 2 diabetes was not possible. It was a pleasant surprise when she nodded enthusiastically and said that the best diet for type 2 was the Cambridge diet. I don't know much about this diet so I won't recommend it (or link to it). She said it was a very low calorie plan based around milk shakes. She even went as far to say that people who followed this plan and lost weight through it had been cured. Unfortunately, she said it wouldn't be suitable for me as I'm too thin.

Today's food was a change. No salad today (though maybe later for a snack as I've got 53 calories spare). Instead a plain two-egg omelette and a couple of slices of vegetarian "bacon". This food caused a peak blood glucose of 5.0mmol/l (90mg/dL), which was actually lower than my fasting blood glucose today, which was 5.1mmol/l (92mg/dL).

Day Five

Five days in and still no hunger. Surely it will come eventually! The only effect I noticed today was that I felt tired this afternoon during a walk. However, I had been for a run before the walk so it could just be that. It was nothing serious, I just found that after the first couple of miles I became fed up and wanted the walking to be over.

Fasting blood glucose was a little lower again this morning at 4.8mmol/l (86mg/dL), which is the lowest I've ever recorded. I've created a chart now that there are a few results so you can see the progression. My fasting levels are definitely lower than they usually are, by an average of about 0.5mmol/l (9mg/dL). I'm not sure how significant this is in terms of improved health but every decrease is a bonus.

My highest blood glucose readings today were both 6.1mmol/l (110mg/dL). The first time I got this reading was immediately following my morning run. This is the first time that running has increased by results; normally a run lowers my BG significantly. The second was ninety minutes after my evening salad. I won't bore you with the details of my food; they are pretty much the same as the previous four days: whey protein shake, vitamin supplements, salad and some nuts.

My concern at the moment is my weight loss. In four days I've lost four pounds. I'm still at a good weight for my height but if this continues for too long I won't remain that way. I'm hoping my weight stabilises somewhat, though on such a calorie-restricted diet this is unlikely. If the weight loss slows a little I'm be happier.

Day Four

Four days into the experiment and I've now consumed a total of 2,400 calories. That's 100 calories fewer than the recommended intake for a single day. And yet, I still do not feel hungry.

My fasting blood glucose was a little higher than yesterday at 5.0mmol/l (90mg/dL). That's about as low as I would normally see before the experiment but slightly disappointing after yesterday's lower number. I guess there's a range that my body likes to be in and it's doing its best to stay within that range with the limited fuel I'm giving it. Certainly I'm not at risk of hypoglycaemia at present.

Reporting on my food intake is going to be quite repetitive. Vanilla protein shake, coffee and salad. Today Lisa prepared me some delicious garlic mushrooms using 8 calories-worth of mushrooms and 15ml of olive oil infused with garlic. There's little to tell on the food side because there's not a lot of food to talk about.

I spent four hours cleaning, polishing and waxing my car today so not much time left for exercising. I did some weight training afterwards, fitting in five exercises with three sets for each. One of the exercises seemed more difficult than normal and I couldn't finish the third set. I'm not sure if this is due to lack of energy from the diet, if I was fatigued from all of the car polishing or if I'm getting a little bit weaker; I hope my body isn't starting to use my muscles for food instead of that nasty visceral fat. I've read that you should be able to fast for a long period without losing muscle mass as long as you keep exercising. I hope that's true - only time will tell.

Day Three

This is getting confusing now. Three days into the experiment and I'm feeling no adverse effects. Despite only five hours of sleep last night, and just 1,800 calories eaten in three days, I feel fine. I've been slightly tired but I'm pretty sure that that's the lack of sleep, rather than the deficit of food. I haven't felt hungry today at all.

I started the day with a blood glucose reading that was within the "normal range", at 4.9mmol/l (88mg/dL), which matches my lowest ever fasting blood glucose reading. No headache this morning and no hungriness. I have lost two pounds of weight in just two days, which is a bit of a worry. Hopefully that's fat from my liver and around my pancreas, which the original study suggests may be one of the problems that causes type 2 diabetes.

My food intake was essentially the same as yesterday. A vanilla shake for breakfast, some coffees (I needed those today) and a large salad for an evening meal. With today's salad I had a couple of soya sausages, which meant slightly less olive oil. I've had another few peanuts to take my total up to the magic 600 calories.

No specific exercise today. Instead I went to the seaside with my wife, Lisa. A day at Scarborough in North Yorkshire gave us the opportunity to walk down the coast and back for a total of around five miles. Half way through this walk I checked my blood glucose. The level was 4.4mmol/l (79mg/dL). This would be an excellent reading for me normally but I think signifies nothing except that I'm not eating a lot.

I got to see a very tall, metal chap who I may have mistaken for Santa on his day off. (I asked for a new bike for Christmas but I don't think I'll be lucky - he looked grumpy). Still, I got to sit on his knee for a minute half way through our walk whilst Lisa took a snap (inset).

The image to the left shows the first mile and a half of our route. It was the perfect day for walking. Quite warm and dry and the tide was out so we didn't get splashed.

The cliff in the distance isn't the end of the journey. The road continues round for another half mile or so before reaching the town centre, the amusement arcades and the many tempting food outlets. These sell chips (the British kind that you eat with fish), donuts, ice cream and some of the biggest, sweetest sweets you can imagine.

Lisa had a tray of chips (photo to the right). I used to eat chips quite often but I had a meal with just six chips soon after I had got my blood glucose levels under control and found they spiked my BG badly. At first I missed them but nowadays I don't really care any more as my tastes have changed drastically. I did like the smell of the vinegar though.

I had a black coffee and no food. Ha ha!

Day Two

I thought day two would be a problem but actually it was another pretty easy day. I started the day with a minor headache; nothing too bad, more of a niggle than a real pain. Not sure if it's because of the dietary changes or because of a late night last night. My fasting blood glucose was 5.2mmol/l (94mg/dL), which is on the low side of average for me.

Breakfast was another chocolate flavoured protein shake made with soy milk. I think I'll have to restock on almond milk for a bit of a change another day. I've also got some vanilla flavoured whey protein to mix it up a little.

Because of the late night I had my breakfast shake pretty late too so didn't bother with one at lunch time. Instead I went for a walk for an hour, after which my blood glucose had lowered to 4.5mmol/l (81mg/dL). I'm quite pleased with that, though not surprised as my calorie intake at that point was 730kcal in 36 hours.

Evening meal was salad again. As I had over 450 calories to play with I had a huge salad of lettuce, cabbage, peppers, tomato, onion and jalapenos, with 75 calories worth of quorn thrown in. Adding 15ml of olive oil brought the calorie count to 327. Subtracting the calories from a couple of cups of coffee left me with approximately 125 calories for the small bowl of nuts I'm currently munching as my last snack of the day.

During the day I've taken my BG reading several times. The highest value I've had was the fasting level this morning of 5.2mmol/l (94mg/dL). One hour after my main meal I had the same value again. Two hours after eating this was just 5.1mmol/l (92mg/dL).

Surprisingly I haven't felt hungry or tired today at all. I suspect this may change tomorrow.

Day One

Well, that was quite easy actually. I didn't expect it to be otherwise (I've done some intermittent fasting a little in the past and that included 24 hour periods with no food). Today I spread my 600 calories throughout the day to stave off hunger and it seemed to work. It's now 10:15pm and I've just finished a snack. Throughout the day I've had only one bout of hunger and it went away after twenty minutes. I suspect that tomorrow and the following few days will be harder.

For breakfast today I had a bunch of supplements with a whey protein shake (chocolate flavour). Mixed with light Alpro soya milk it gave a total of 130 calories. I've had these shakes for breakfast quite often as they stop me from being hungry and don't seem to affect my blood glucose levels too badly. That's important because I seem to be the most insulin resistant in the morning. Today, one hour after breakfast my BG level was 5.9mmol/l (106mg/dL). Before breakfast it was 5.5mmol/l, which is 99mg/dL. That fasting level is about average for me.

Lunch was another protein shake and a decaffeinated coffee for a total of 138 calories. Before lunch I'd also popped in to a local coffee shop and had an Americano. Handily, Starbucks shows the calorie content of its drinks so that was measurable: 11 calories (though on the web site it says 10 calories). That's a total of 279 calories at the day's midpoint.

For my evening meal I had my first solid food. A salad of lettuce, peppers and tomato with pickled jalapenos, onions and red cabbage. To treble the calorie count I added 10ml of extra virgin olive oil. For something more substantial, and hot, I also had a small Indian selection. This was a vegetable pakora, a vegetable samosa and an onion bhaji. The total for all of this food was 242 calories, giving me 71 to play with. I finished that off with a 12g portion of chilli-flavoured peanuts.

My liver has been doing its job today though, so my blood glucose isn't low. Before my last meal I went for a run, which turned into a half run, half walk of two miles. Before the exercise my BG was 5.1mmol/l (92 mg/dL). Afterwards it had only gone down a tiny amount to 5.0mmol/l, or 90mg/dL.

That's it for today. I've got two exercises to do from my weekly round-up before the day ends. Some tricep extensions and Pec Deck Flies. So I'll be off now.