225 Essays on Infinite Lifespans   Shannon Vyff that life extension diet I’d heard of back in high school. That is how I picked up the book Beyond the 120 Year Diet by Roy Walford, M.D. when my third baby was four months old. As I was still breastfeeding and still had the post-pregnancy slimming hormones, I did lose weight more rapidly than is recommended for CR. I lost 85 pounds in six months, but a much more gradual decrease is recommended. One should consider losing large amounts of weight (perhaps over 40+ pounds) over 2–4+ years or consider losing weight no faster than a pound per month. This is because the release of toxins stored in the bodies fat tissues and the stress of the weight loss on the system could foil extending life span in one’s final years. [5] When I was beginning the diet I used software to help me balance what nutrients I needed. I started making mega-muffins for my family to eat (like human lab chow with organic chocolate chips thrown in for my kids to eat them). [6] I found that as my weight came off I had more energy and clearer skin. Usually, by now, people want to know why I want to follow what they see as an extreme diet. Saying that it is the only scientifically  proven  way  to  extend  my  life  [7],  hormones, anti-oxidants, exercise or high carb/low carb diets – generally are not enough. Usually people express that I must have iron will power and torture myself with hunger, something they could never do. I assure them that for me it is easy; there is great support from the CR Society. People do it many differ- ent ways. I recommend The Anti-Aging Plan by Roy & Lisa Walford for an easy to read beginners introduction, though Beyond the 120 Year Diet [5] has better detail & more current science references. As I became enamored with the science of CR, and embarked on it as a way of life, I started seeing more references to it in popular culture. [8] The ongoing experiments in primate & human studies also made it very real for me. The National