10 day (almost) fast
Wow. I've been gone for a minute. I got down to my lowest weight 207. Then, tragedy striked my life. My father had a stroke and passed away. My world was rocked so hard. And still is. I stopped fasting. I was eating whenever it was convenient and I didn't hold back. Fast forward a few weeks later and I had already shot up to 220. Now, a month after that I am at 227 this morning (with some water retention) .. enough is enough!!!! My number 1 thing before my dad died was losing weight! And fasting! It's been 2 months, and even though my life will be challenging for a while, right now I need to go back to prioritizing losing weight before I end up back at my highest weight (247) ... eating doesn't make my life better! Neither does smoking! ( I smoked about 20 packs of cigarettes in about a month and a half after my dad died but I quit a little over a week ago) smoking n eating doesn't fix anything! It's temporary relief but life remains the same. If I lose weight it can actually make my life better! I would be healthier and I would be able to deal with my challenges more gracefully. I would have the energy I need to be a full time mom and also settle my Dads estate all while running a household and caring after my little sister who is developmentally disabled. It's a lot on my plate but when I try to imagine doing it all while gaining weight, potentially at my highest weight- I know I simply won't be able to do it!!!
This leads me to my ten day cleanse, aka (almost) fast that I made up as a specialized program for me since
--I don't have the strength to fast hardcore right now. I'm the emotional equivalent to a wilted flower. I need some leniency.
--I want to do this for a while, and for ten days I know I wouldn't be able to completely fast for all that time.
So for ten days I'll be eating only when I feel the need to, snacks spread out at least by 2 or 3 hours. I'm hoping that for at least into the early afternoon I could just be enjoying beverages like herbal tea or some zevia. I am also allowing tea and coffee with cream whenever I want it within reason. I read about an older woman who fasted for several months who only had tea with cream every day. I would obviously not want too much cream bc of calories .. but I tend to sip on those drinks for a while.
My guidelines for eating are simple: unlimited lettuce and cucumber- restrict myself to 1 TBS of olive oil, unlimited red wine vinegar, and spices like oregano basil salt pepper
Snacks limited to 150 calories or less, at least 2 or 3 hours apart. My exception is a protein shake which I will allow to be up to 300 calories. The protein shake is whey protein, fresh spinach, half n half, water and vanilla. This will help with nutrition during my cleanse. Since I am not initiating many hormone process through strict fasting, I want to ensure my body is still digesting high nutrient foods. I don't need to have it every day, but I think I probably will have it towards the evening to help with hunger while going to sleep.
I will be taking my vitamin supplements as well as making a home made electrolyte drink. especially for the days when I eat very lightly.
I would love to throw in a fasting day in the middle of the 10 days if I can. Also throw in 12-4 hours dry at a time if I can! I wanna take charge of my weight! I wanna stop this weight gain in it's tracks. I simply can't wait any longer. I don't want to gain one more pound. It's not worth it! I quit smoking and to b honest I feel like being fat is more dangerous to my health than smoking is!!!! Now I can get to being a healthy weight AND not smoke cigs! I'll be coming back to the blog throughout the ten days to keep myself accountable. My hardest time will be 6 pm and beyond. I will probably benefit from coming on the blog at night in bed and reiterate my goals and how I feel.
Until next time 🤘🏻