|
Well, I just finished fasting from midnight on Monday to around 10am today which is about 106 hours. I went from a high of 193.5 to today's weight of 184.5 which is a loss of 9 lbs. I broke the fast by eating a mango and after weighing in again I went up 1.1 lbs. LOL! It just shows you how numbers can be so deceptive and that increasing them can be so easy. It made me think that I should not worry so much about the number, but rather how I feel. Your weight can increase by retaining water, bloating, etc. I think what is more important after this fast is how you feel inside and if you are please with what you see in the mirror (in a realistic sort of way). Before I would have been quite upset that I spend almost 5 days fasting and lost all this weight only to gain back 1.1 lbs by eating a mango. Now I look at it in a different light in that I feel so much better, the bloating is dramatically down from all of my sugar intake, and I really do feel much trimmer. The most important thing now is not to go on a sugar binge and I am committed to not doing so. For lunch I am going to have edamame tofu and a cup of miso soup as both of these are fermented foods they are great for gut health. After that, I am going for a walk in the local mountain for about 8km and my goal today is to walk 10km. I have a fantastic new Casio watch that counts steps, calories and distance. It is really motivating and helps me reach my minimum 10,000 steps. For dinner, I a making a very yummy gnocchi with fresh veggies (I am vegetarian) and maybe a glass of red wine. I don't want to totally deny myself everything as I feel it is this all or nothing attitude that gets me into trouble (extremes). I did not do the fast for religious or fanatical health obsessions (although fasting is very good for your health if done properly), but rather to give my body a rest from all of the abuse of consuming huge amounts of sugar to self-medicate my emotional struggles right now. Oh yes, I also started going back to my clinical psychologist to help me deal with these struggles as of yesterday. It was really great to release a lot of these pent up emotions. The next step for me is to keep up with fasting, but transition to IF (intermittent fasting), which I have done in the past. For me, I am not a breakfast person so skipping it is easy until lunch which I usually eat around 1-2pm. This means that I will fast about 16 hours each day. Of courses, the most important thing is not to overeat during these periods. I will also incorporate one or 2 low calories days or around 800-1,000 calories and perhaps one day will be a 24-hour fast. Not sure yet as I will see what works best. In addition, I will keep my caloric intake between 1,500-1,800 (I am 5'9" and have a large frame with moderate exercise of walking 8-15km/day). Due to knee injuries, I am not able to do running or more intensive sports. I am planning on starting biking again along with yoga if my knees can handle it. I also want to start eating a lot more salads and being a vegetarian you would think this would be easy, but I love my cooked foods and really crave sugar (emotional eater), so having fresh salads will fill me up quicker. I also must be more mindful of what I am eating, why, and what my long term goals are instead of just eating unconsciously. It is time for change. Although I am not massively overweight (in my estimation about 15 lbs to reach my ideal weight). I was about to approach the 200 lb mark if I kept going the way I was going (massive sweet fixes on a daily basis). The fast was to stop everything that I was doing wrong with my eating and lifestyle and to give me time to think and rest my body, and I think I have accomplished this. I felt really overweight at 193 lbs and have been near 200 lbs and felt obese in my mind. Now at around 184 lbs I feel good, but definitely not satisfied (even though my friends say I look fine at 193 lbs I did not feel fine) and my ultimate goal is to reach between 170-175 lbs. I will see what happens after I get into the mid 170 lb range and then make a decision on what is a good weight range for me. I feel much better into my journey now compared to my massive sugar binge Monday evening which really depressed me and I could feel I was going to go on a self-hate rampage, so my fast really helped me in so many ways. I am ready to now make a long-term commitment to myself and as a result get to a weight that is healthy both physically and mentally. I am also living in another country right now (Asia) which is very different from Canada and this also causes me stress, but as a wonderful write Kabat-Zinn book title states "Where ever you go, there you are". In other wards, no matter what city, state or country you live in your personality follows you and even though you think you will be someone completely different living abroad in a foreign world you are still the same person. For me, it is now time to accept the good and bad parts about my character and to stop beating myself up so much. I got enough of the extensive abuse when I was a child and it is now time to heal and to accept myself for who I am (with some changes) and celebrate the fact that I grew up without a father, in poverty, and with a high violent mother who had mental health problems. I think it is time to be proud of myself as I am a resilient and to stop abusing and self-harming myself with all the continual, every present highly negative self-critic who is my worst enemy in enjoying life and being happy. Well, that's about it and time to start on a more positive life journey right now! I hope that everyone on this site can also start a positive journey and truly respect themselves and accept themselves for who they are.
|
184.5 lb
Lost so far: 13.5 lb.
Still to go: 5.5 lb.
Diet followed reasonably well.
|
Diet Calendar Entries for 23 July 2016:
|
1887 kcal
|
Fat: 69.36g | Prot: 55.25g | Carb: 191.53g.
Breakfast: Mango, Whole Milk, Coffee (Brewed From Grounds). Lunch: Trader Joe's Tahini Sauce, Kane Masa Mild Shiro Miso Soy Bean Paste, Nasoya Silken Tofu. Dinner: Trader Joe's Tahini Sauce, Hershey's Kit Kat Minis, Olive Oil, Cabernet Sauvignon Wine, Great Value Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Asparagus, Garlic, Tomatoes, Eggplant, Tomato Sauce, Trader Joe's Mini Pearl Grape Tomatoes, Wild Harvest Mixed Greens & Spinach Salad, Mushrooms, Sweet Red Peppers, Onions, Rizzo's Gnocchi. more...
|
|
2771 kcal
|
Activities & Exercise:
Hiking - 1 hour and 40 minutes, Resting - 14 hours and 20 minutes, Sleeping - 8 hours. more...
|
steady weight
|