PhatPhrog's Journal, 21 December 2020

Weekly 36-hour fast number 12 complete.

I almost didn't fast this week. I've had a lingering cold. Thankfully it's not covid-19 (confirmed by testing), and the symptoms are tolerable (especially with some Sudafed), but it's been pretty long-lasting.

In the end I didn't feel I needed to skip my fast, but I'm not so hell-bent on fasting that I wouldn't have skipped it if I needed to. While I do think this weekly fast is somewhat ritualistic, I'm not fanatical about it, and it's also very much purpose-driven, with that purpose being to support my goals of losing weight, being healthy, and being mindful.

On a similar note of non-fanaticism, during my fast (and in general) I now add a little blackstrap molasses to my coffee (~ 1/3 tsp) and a touch of unsweetened fortified almond milk, both of which for the little bit of vitamins and minerals they afford, though I've discovered that I also very much enjoy the taste. The calories are negligible relative to a day of not eating, and as I say, I'm not fanatical about fasting.

Like my fasts for the previous two weeks, this week's was actually 40+ hours, and preceded by a super-low-calorie day. (More on this below.) This time, with that combination, I was down 4.4 lb in two days.

Once again I'm down 1.8 lb over the previous week at the same time, which means that I beat my 1-lb weekly goal. Next week's number to reach is 181.8.

Last week before my fast I mentioned the Stoic practice of "futurorum malorum præmeditatio", visualizing the likely or potential challenges you might encounter, and preparing yourself not to let them push you off center. I was a moderately good Stoic this week. In fact I was a pretty good one until Friday night. For days the technique helped me avoid eating any of the cookies that had arrived in a Christmas care package from my mom, and I still haven't had any. However, when my partner ordered a pizza on Friday after an exhausting week, and they first delivered the wrong one and had to come back again with the right one, _somebody_ had to eat the extra pizza. :-) Luckily it wasn't a big one.

The rational, in-control side of me doesn't endorse that sort of thinking at all. Food that will go to waste if we don't overeat is still wasted if we do, and in a more detrimental way. But I did enjoy the pizza while I was eating it, though the enjoyment was tempered by the knowledge that I was going to be able to eat a lot less food the next day if I was still going to hit my weekly goal, and the knowledge that the kind of meat on a delivery pizza isn't the kind of meat I want to be eating to be healthy.

Anyway, here I am, ready to start another week with renewed intention. I might have a cookie or two this week, but I'll try not to feel compelled to.

Onward and downward.

182.8 lb Lost so far: 17.4 lb.    Still to go: 7.8 lb.    Diet followed N/A.