Home from Spain. Here is the final count.
24 days: 3 days fasting, 4 days @ 2 meals, 17 days OMAD.
New weight 183.0 => Loss of 2.8 pounds
(Should have lost more. But old friends and wine seem to go together ...)

My knee did not hold out as well as I hoped it would. However, on the final day, DH went out into the mobs in Barcelona - during a general strike called by the local unions, called because the people were very angry that Madrid (the Federal government) had sent in troops to try to stop the Catalonian independence vote. The Federal troops had been told to shut down all the voting places and they used force to do so, injuring hundreds of voters. On the day of the general strike, DH found a department store open - which wasn't easy, because the roving (mostly) students were shutting down stores that tried to open. Here is a picture of some of the demonstrators on the day of the strike.

Our hotel in Barcelona was in the district that was shut down by police because of so many people in the streets, so we had up-close views of all this. It was very safe, mostly the people were just marching back and forth between the Federal police station and the university plaza. I walked around some, but not as much as I wanted because the knee was very swollen and it hurt to walk. All tourist venues, all museums, all churches, etc, were closed because of the strike. Quite a few restaurants were open, thank heaven. I had a piece of quiche from a small café next door to our hotel. It was smooth and silky and custardy and slight jiggly - heavenly. I will soon be on a mission to learn to make quiche the European/French way.

DH bought me a single sturdy hiking pole, and I used that to hobble through the airports on the way home. I found that the walking stick helped immensely because I could use it to take some of the weight off my right knee. This meant I could walk without the 'click' I often feel in the knee, and without as much pain. Getting some of the weight off also meant that the knee didn't swell up so much overnight. I now am sure that losing more weight will help immensely. I'm aiming for another 20#. This will take me back to my lowest weight since I was 50.

OMAD group I LOVE YOU because you make it so easy to get the job done! Thank you everyone for support! I will be back in two days to begin supporting others again. First though - get the hot water back on, do a ton of laundry, clean the fridge and then go shopping in the garden. See what has survived.

@blambo61 Knee problems due to arthroscopy in July 2016. I went to Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) - one of 2 best places in the country for knee surgery. I was not a candidate for total knee replacement because I could still walk, but had a torn meniscus (dancing injury) that kept me from running, jumping, cross-country skiing, etc. Opted for arthroscopy. Dr told me 40% chance it would help, 50% chance no change, 10% chance worse. It is worse. I am now doing a 1-year (self-imposed) attempt to avoid total knee replacement. My knees are worn out from years of skiing and other things. I have now had 3 arthroscopies, one in left knee, two in right. Both knees are bone-on-bone. Both swell with fluid when used extensively, and have done so for years, but they did not hurt previously and I could run, jump, ski, etc. I have seen the pictures of the inside of my right knee after the 2nd arthroscopy. I have only 2 small pieces of cartilage left, and both pieces are only attached at one end - the two other ends dangle. Quite simply, I am willing to try (via extensive fasting) to induce new cartilage to grow. This has proved to be possible in young knees, but never in a knee as old as mine. However, there are very few trials at fasting. And no trials for oldies like me. It seems to be scientifically true (i.e. research, which is the only thing I trust because I am a PhD scientist) that fasting for as long as a week will induce stem cells to begin regeneration. That is what I am going for. I will be fasting for approximately 1 week at a time each month for the next year. I still need to set up a program that will test my knee to see whether there is any improvement. I really need to do that this week!!!

I am willing to spend up to a year doing this in order to avoid knee replacement. There are just too many things that can go wrong during knee surgery. For instance, the probability of serious infection (bone infection) is 2-3%, depending on the hospital. The probability of needing to redo the replacement is as high as 10% in my little community, and is not negligible anywhere - although that probability is greatly reduced by going to a specialist hospital like HSS where I will go. I do not know the probability of brain confusion due to general anesthetic - but I do know that it is not zero and that it gets bigger for people my age. Now I simply cannot afford any mental confusion from general anesthetic. I run a business where we develop mathematical software for instrument manufacturers. So, my decision is to go for the long shot. Can I get this knee to the place where I no longer ski, no longer run, but I can walk for 3-4 hours, and I can bicycle (will soon buy an electric-assist bicycle because I live on a big hill, but that is another story) without pain so that I can travel a lot, and go on bicycle tours, with my family? That's my goal.

This trip to Spain was planned before I decided to give myself 1 year to avoid total knee replacement. It was a great trip with old friends but it set my schedule back a month or two. Today is my second day home. After I finish the laundry, all the banking crap that has piled up, and getting all my computers back up and working -- or maybe before, first, as a priority? - I will sit down and make a plan. The sticking point on the plan right now is how to measure progress. I am thinking that a combination of (a) how far I can walk without pain, (b) how far I can walk without the knee swelling (and how do I measure swelling), (c) how far/long can I cycle without pain or swelling, etc. OK, just writing this is helping, because I have a really good way to measure swelling. When my knee swells, I cannot straighten my leg. So I could measure the angle of straightening. Also I am pretty stoic - can withstand a lot of pain by just ignoring it - so I need to decide on a pain scale. As for the cycling, this hill I live on gives me a great measurement scale. How far up can I get on my current manual no-electric-assist bike? I will also hire a trainer at my gym to help me set up strength and fitness goals. Sounds to me like I'd better put down the computer and get going!!

Any and all suggestions for measuring improvement are welcome.