I must have mentioned this recently because someone who has never posted PMd me and asked me how I did it. It's a reasonable question to ask, so I thought I'd do a little post for all to see.

OK, back in the autumn of 2007, I was a mess. I weighted 18 stone 8 pounds, that's 260 pounds, or 118Kg. I was Body Mass Index 42.3, that's what's called "morbidly obese". I hurt my knee getting out of the car and that dragged on for months, I could hardly walk sometimes. My feet were swollen up and I was wearing 2 shoe sizes larger than what I am now. I couldn't buy clothes that fitted me. I couldn't get out of bed without using my arms to assist. I couldn't bend at the knees. But, I was happy, because there is this little something inside me that likes life. I was just resigned to the fact that "this is all there is for me".

To cut a long story short I accidentally discovered water fasting by reading Fastinggirl31's video called "Long but worth it" or something. Christina is a good researcher, I think she used to post here. The video that autoplays when you click that links is basically along the same lines that my thinking has developed today, but I think I have read more than her, maybe 200 - 300 hours of reading.

Then I found this forum, and was given confidence to fast by chrisb1 here and fonty, who no longer visits. The loss of my weight was well documented, you can find most posts by checking out my R messages. I won't type it all again.

About a year ago I thought water fasting was great for weight loss, and joined the "You can do it" brigade, that encourage others to fast regardless. But I started to get PMs from people asking for (th)inspiration etc. I soon discovered that many had eating disorders. In simple terms the difference is that people with EDs put weight loss before health. Quite frankly I think a few people that used to post here are now pushing up the daisies.

Anyway, the big surprize about fasting for me was that it reset my appetite. Yes, people were saying "my god, Steve's eating an apple". Look through my old posts again.

Eventually I found (I believe) that my weight loss was more to do what I was eating between fasts than through fasting itself, and I discovered "nutritarianism". That in itself upset some people, and those regulars here know the crap I have had to put up with for that.

My current situation is that I am 53 years old, and I now know how to get another 50 years of healthy living. Now everything has changed, which has caused new problems. I have ambitions, I need lots of money etc. That is why my attention has turned away from this forum, which is occasionally visited by despicable failures who want to drag others down. Sorry, I digressed, will get back on track.

These days, I know what do do. I'll put it in big red letters with hyperlinks:

1. Eat a nutritious and plant based diet
2. Drop your body fat to 11% or 12%

That's all there is to it. Water fasting has it's place too, but mainly for healing. For weight loss it acts as a catalyst in resetting your appetite.

Now, it's not that easy. You have to do a lot of reading.

Look at what this lady says below, it's an Amazon book review. She did a lot of reading, and I'll end my message on that because I have to get back to stuff I am doing. But I hope this goes some way towards answering the question of how I lost 103 pounds. I'll PM the person who asked me the question in a few days, and I wish her well on her journey. Bye for now, I'll leave you with the book reviewer's words.

Steve

"It was somewhere in the mid-90's when I first was introduced to a Dr. McDougall book. I now own all of the books he and Mary have written. I remember how I reacted, upon the first reading of this book. It wasn't good. The diet regimen described frightened and depressed me. I, like so many Americans, was raised in my mother and grandmother's kitchens and learned to nurture through food, ahem! through the Standard American Diet. I loved the tastes of our S.A.D. diet! But, included in the SAD diet we did eat fresh salads, we ate the more substantial breads, we ate the best cuts of meat, we ate a lot of cooked vegetables and fresh fruit. We even ate oatmeal and did not eat cold cereal for breakfast. However, we ate and drank dairy products at every meal and, of course, we ate eggs and meat, poultry or fish every day, except on Fridays during Lent. And, we were all crazy about home baking. We loved our desserts.

I was a smoker. Consequently, I developed allergies, asthma, ongoing and severe sinusitis. In my mid-twenties, I began to be plagued with every cold and flu virus that came around. I developed chronic bronchitis. I took a medication called, Respaire, daily, to unblock my sinuses. The medication was so hard on my heart that I developed severe and frequent palpitations and underwent both a cardioversion (my heart was stopped to return it to a normal sinus rhythm) and a cardio-ablation to correct the areas on my heart causing the palpitations. I also underwent sinus surgery. I also had shortness of breath where I would become dizzy in the warm and humid weather. I stayed away from mammography because the first time I had one performed, it was done incorrectly and brutally. A couple of decades later, I had an area of suspicion on my breast and underwent 18 mammograms and calcifications were found. Then I had to have an open biopsy.

Well, I didn't have to. I didn't have to go through any of the above IF I had eaten the way Dr. McDougall prescribes. I am a retired R.N. and I witnessed enough of the criminality of the medical community to never want to return. But, now knowing of the life saving diet that they could be prescribing instead of horrible (and often cancer causing) medications and invasive (and, often cancer-causing) procedures...well, I know I would never want to be a part of that community again. I kept coming back to that first McDougall book and finally, knew this was the only way to go.

I wasn't perfect. I cheated through the years. But, every year I become more committed and, now I don't cheat at all. I don't even eat birthday cake or holiday food. I want to live long and vibrantly until I die and to die when I am very, very old. I have lost 43 lbs through the years and now I have a new goal. There is a chart for what we should weigh in one of Doc MdDougall's books and I want to get down to the low end of the parameter of weight for my height. I will lose the last 12 lbs. now.

I cannot tell in words what this program has done for my life. I feel better than I ever felt. My mind is clear, I have boundless energy. I am no longer an allergy sufferer, I don't have asthma, my abdomen is flat, my sinuses are clear, I never experience bronchitis, I haven't smoked in 17 years, I am 58 and I don't need glasses, I run up stairs and never experience shortness of breath, my total cholesterol, at the last testing, was 112. I work out 2 hours per day and feel great doing so.

I am not on any medication and when I think of the possibility of going to a doctor, I experience the same kind of fear I would if someone were to tell me I had to meet Satan. My last comment might appear insane to those who have not witnessed what I have witnessed or who have not experienced the things I have from the medical community. I could write my own book on those things alone.

Please, read Dr. McDougall's books and summon up your strength and challenge yourself to do this, for yourself and your loved ones. Try it. Ponder the material and the consequences of NOT changing your ways. Then, if your still not convinced, go on the VegSource.com website and read the discussions there, maybe get into purchasing and sharing the DVDs they provide from the yearly health conferences they hold, featuring speakers like Dr. McDougall, Caldwell Esselstyn, John and Ocean Robbins, T. Colin Campbell, Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. Joel Fuhrman and too many other big names to mention here. Go on to read The China Study, Dr. Dean Ornish's newer books, John Robbins' books, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn's book, Dr. Neal Barnard, Dr. Joel Fuhrman's books. Visit the websites of these doctors and researchers. Learn the truths that are being, actively, hidden from us.

Oh, and above all, get a copy of Mike Anderson's DVD's EAT and Curing Cancer from the Inside. The DVD Eat is included, for free, with the purchase of a copy of his book The R.A.V.E. diet and lifestyle book. If you don't have a lot of time to read then these DVD's are a must and what an education is to be had, on many levels, through these DVD's. Go for it...this is your life and that is what you have to lose or gain...it's all up to you. This is long but I know it can help to encourage. Thank you."