So, after I finished up my earlier post today I decided to go play basketball to take my mind off of not getting much sleep. Well, I decided to weigh myself for fun. I’ve hovered around 175 for the last decade of my life, never varying by more than 2 or 3 lbs. Guess what it was today? 165. In only 7 days I’ve unintentionally dropped 10 lbs., which, since it stems completely from malnutrition, couldn’t be the happiest news possible. Consider:
3500 calories= 1 lb. (appox.)
10 lbs. = 35000 calories
I have been averaging 500 calories a day for the last 7 days, so I’ve only had an intake of 3500 total calories, creating a 35000 calorie deficit.
I’ve been doing some reading about what’s to come- my body is going to begin to go into starvation mode, meaning that it will begin to lower metabolism to compensate for the lack of caloric intake. Since muscle contains more nutrients than body fat, my body will begin to lose muscle mass to try and make up for the lack of caloric intake. This will in turn further degrade the metabolism rate, which may eventually level out to allow me to get by on such a lower amount of calories. But the end result would be devastating long-term.
To be honest, today I woke up and felt pretty light-headed, and it wasn’t just because of waking up at 3:30 am. It wasn’t until I ate breakfast that I actually felt well enough to function for the day.
I proposed shifting the strategy of food I was going to eat, but it may be too late for that- the damage is already done, and potentially doubling the calories isn’t going to magically make everything better. It’s only been a week, and isn’t too late to get back to normal. But it would have to be now.
What do you all think? It’s clear to me from weighing myself this morning that to continue this experiment has already taken a pretty heavy toll on me. I don’t necessarily feel that bad, but rationally it’s obvious. If I had started off the 30 days with this newer strategy, I think things would have been better. I could have more slowly eased myself down on calories.
As I think about what the future inevitably holds if I continue down this path, to keep it up seems downright reckless and irresponsible. As exist-dissolve originally said: I’m screwed.
If this is going to stop, it needs to stop today. One of my co-workers has already advised me to stop. Chime in and let me know what you think.
May 8, 2008 at 10:45 am
I really respect the idea behind the project, and I think that, in just one week, you have already done a lot and shown how much you care. And, because I (and plenty of others reading this blog) care about you, I definitely don’t want to see your health go downhill by continuing for the rest of the month. It’s totally your call, but I support your decision to stop. Your well-being is important, and I think that doing damage to your body would be counterproductive to the purpose of this project. Also, Andrew made a good point in his comment from the previous post about the $1/day not factoring in the cost of living in the U.S.
This weekend I’m selling in a neighborhood garage sale a lot of the stuff I have around the house that I really don’t need (I have a lot); therefore, in solidarity with your idea here of less materialism/consumerism, I’ll donate a decent percentage of what I earn from that to World Vision.
May 8, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Oh, I see how it is. Liz gets to be a friend, but I’m just a co-worker.
Well, you know that old saying, “Co-workers don’t let co-workers starve themselves to death.”
I feel an Italian grandmother coming out in me. I want to stuff you with pasta… but only while you’re alive… not like taxidermy.
May 8, 2008 at 11:35 pm
I would support the decision that would not lead to the “I’m screwed” conclusion. Which may mean calling an early end to the experiment…
May 9, 2008 at 9:53 am
I would ask….will this experiment result in limiting or expanding your overall ministry? I think this is very admirable, yet very ambitious. I would suggest bringing the current experiment to an early end.
I can see your delimma though. There are a lot of people that don’t have the ability to just ‘end the experiment’ and that is a terrible reality. I think it is important for people to become aware of what is happening and to truly know what hunger is and how rampant it is, even in the US.
But I feel that you already possess that awareness and putting your physical well-being in jeopardy unnecessarily may not be the best use of the gifts and talents God has given you.
Plus…your friends don’t want to see you hurt yourself.
May 9, 2008 at 3:53 pm
My apologies in advance, but I’d like to add yet another (long) stream of thoughts to this and pretty much geek out with this comment. Such a shocker, I know. ;-P
Anyhow, as we all know from basic science classes, an experiment/research project begins with curiosity about an idea, which turns into a question/hypothesis. Depending on the research, this may involve several questions, which are often at least somewhat open-ended, especially in the social sciences, where there would be little point in doing a research project if you already know exactly how it’s going to turn out before you even begin collecting the data.
And then the data-collection phase begins, allowing room for unexpected results and adaptations based on whatever findings may come up, which are then analyzed, interpreted (objectively and/or subjectively), added to the collective knowledge, and fine-tuned for future experimentation.
In the process of all of this, I believe that a good, successful (and interesting) experiment will open even more curiosities and research questions than what we had to begin with, which is exactly what I see happening here. So, even though this may not be what you were expecting when beginning this experiment, ending your eating plan now is not necessarily “the end.” What you have here is useful data, and, quite frankly, I think this turn of events makes your experiment all the more compelling than it would have been had it run its course without any detours.
Like I said before, I believe a good research project will conjure up even more relevant questions for the original researcher and for others reading his/her research, which can then be developed into opportunities for further research. With that in mind, from the time since you’ve started this experiment, it seems that some interesting findings and considerations are already at hand, based on what you’ve said so far and several comments to your posts.
I know this has certainly stirred my curiosity and creativity just from reading about it, and now my mind is full of questions and ideas prompted by this turn in your experiment. Either this is the mark of a successful experimental endeavor on your part or I’m a total geek (or both, most likely). But, I think this could very well continue on in different, unexpected ways. . . ways that don’t involve you continuing to put your well-being at risk.
It sounds like perhaps you’re thinking that the main goal behind this experiment–to only spend $30 on 30 days of food and donate the difference to charity–could be fine-tuned to incorporate more calories, overall, and therefore actually be doable without the serious health risks. And that may very well be possible. If so, you could try again another month, once your body has fully recovered (which won’t take long at all if you’re stopping now).
Or you might come up with another way to fine-tune this into a new approach, which I know your creative mind is fully capable of doing. Regardless, I look forward to seeing what you have in store.