On the "Bear Maintenance Plan," I can now say I found the best and most workable maintenance plan of all. It utilizes OMAD, but limits it to only certain days of the week.

What, to me, seems extra fascinating is the hibernation cycles of bears. It may surprise you to know that different animals have different types of hibernation. The black bears and grizzlies are very different from the polar bear. The polar bear does NOT hibernate except in the sense of what is called walking hibernation, where normal bodily processes slow down, but the bear stays lightly active throughout the winter months. Black bears and other bears stay in a cave and in a sleep-like state all winter, neither excreting, eating, or drinking. Other animals, like certain types of rats and various other warm-blooded creatures, hibernate to more or less a degree than the bears.

I found that "tanking up" on the multiple splurge days a week I had been taking advantage of, my body naturally went back into a kind of "walking hibernation." I would be full, kind of over-satiated, like I was sick of food, but not stuffed. It was as if my blood was filled to the brim with all the nutrients it would need. Come 24 hours following two or more splurge days, I was still finding it easy to push the next meal away. By going two to three days with only eating strict OMAD and then resuming an active "foraging for food" like our friends, the bears, I soon found my happy medium.

After over a month of experimentation, I came to notice some things...

My body temperature and heart rate would increase on the third day of splurging. It was like I had taught myself to enter back into "summer." I got puffier and my weight would jump up to about 194-196. I also got stronger and felt more active. My sleep times were shorter and my mental alertness at its peak. Bowel movements became frequent (it is not uncommon on prolonged OMAD eating to have bowel movements revert to once every two to three days or longer).

After the 4th day of eating (not gorging, but regular, mildly indulgent eating), I felt ready to not eat anything. 24 hours would pass and the next meal would consist of my usual healthy stuff, around 1,200 to 1,500 calories. After the meal, it was strict OMAD; calorie-free liquids only. My body loved it! My skin quickly sticks to me, the water weight vanishes in about 30 hours and I am showing 185-187 on the scale numbers. My sleep becomes longer and my mind a peaceful and calm sea of reflection, but still sports a productive perusing forward to doing what I need to do. I naturally stay active when it comes to things like walking and moving around, but the serene feeling of peace and satisfaction stays with me with a steadfastness that is hard to describe.

Some 2 to 3 days later, I am revving up for a nice, big meal to signal another feasting period. Sometimes a simple drive to San Antonio with a trip to a Mexican joint will do this, but other times, just smelling some Granzin's sausage boiling on mom's stove will be good enough. And as a bigger meal can signal this response in my body, a smaller meal following the feast period seems to get me ready for the next famine period.

So far, it's been nearly six weeks and I love this maintenance phase more than anything else--with the re-adoption of normalcy I didn't see coming. I use as feast days occasions with the family, but if I need to stay eating big longer to account for an unusual schedule, my body cooperates nicely.

This has been an amazing journey for sure. I felt guilty eating as often as I now eat at first, but one thing I have solidified in my mind is that even when you "feel fat", that does not mean you are getting fat. Like a lot of things, it's all in your head. My weekly weigh day is still observed. That nearly always marks the beginning of the next famine period. Our bodies evolved to go between feast and famine in an endless cycle, and that is the way I find myself eating. I can't see that changing at any point in time.