Fasting update - one month later
I did succeed in resetting my appetite
About 60% of my food is raw fruits and vegetables now. For example, I’ll have a smoothie for breakfast, a grain salad for lunch and more salad plus soup with a ton of vegetables in it for dinner. And this satisfies me, it feels like a normal and desirable way to eat. My current weight loss program is strict six days a week, with one day of eating whatever I want to. And I find that I don’t really overindulge on that seventh day. One bite of ice cream, or one cookie, is enough. And if I don’t get enough fruits and veggies to “leaven” what I’m eating, I feel kind of sick.
The lost weight did not come back the way I had expected it to
I expected that after a week or so I would have gained back all ten of the pounds that I shed during the fast. This has proven not to be the case. I only regained about five of the ten pounds and seem to be slowly in the process of shedding them again, probably because of the new diet.
There was a period about a week or two ago, where I was hungry all the time despite eating more than I would have needed to usually. If Gay hadn’t been here to observe me, I would not have realized this. I figure: if I’m hungry, that means I didn’t eat enough. Once I realized what was going on, I started paying more attention and eating less, which was hard because I was hungry. But after about a week or so of this, my appetite changed. I was happy with less food, much of it raw veggies, and my weight started to go down. It’s like there’s these different modes my body can go into.
The fast made my eczema worse, not better.
Although it had pretty much gone away by the end of my fast, I developed even more severe and extensive rashes once I began eating again. For example, on day two of recovery, I had orange wedges for lunch and by dinner time had developed a rash around my mouth where the orange juice had touched me. Currently, I am battling eczema as bad or worse as before the fast - and I am off alcohol for Lent*, which is what I used to associate with breakouts so I know that is not a factor. It’s possible that by constantly eating the things I am allergic to, I’ve actually been maintaining some immunity. It’s also possible that I reintroduced the foods too quickly and freaked my body out. I plan to be more careful about this next time.
This project has made excellent dinner party conversation
One of the unexpected benefits of doing this project (and blogging it) is that it has given me something to talk about. People are amazed and fascinated when they hear I lived on nothing but water for ten days.
I still plan to do another, longer fast
I’m not sure when I’m going to be able to do this, and I think at least not until May and possibly even September. Since it takes 4 days to get through withdrawal, I’d like to go at least 2-3 weeks. One of the nice things that I learned during this fast is that weight loss slows after a while, so while I still wouldn’t do this during a thinner phase, I no longer need a pound a day of reserves, which is quite a lot for somebody my size.
* although no longer a practicing Catholic, I’m apparently deeply programmed from having been raised that way and I’ve learned I can harness this conditioning to abstain from (or do) just about anything
About 60% of my food is raw fruits and vegetables now. For example, I’ll have a smoothie for breakfast, a grain salad for lunch and more salad plus soup with a ton of vegetables in it for dinner. And this satisfies me, it feels like a normal and desirable way to eat. My current weight loss program is strict six days a week, with one day of eating whatever I want to. And I find that I don’t really overindulge on that seventh day. One bite of ice cream, or one cookie, is enough. And if I don’t get enough fruits and veggies to “leaven” what I’m eating, I feel kind of sick.
The lost weight did not come back the way I had expected it to
I expected that after a week or so I would have gained back all ten of the pounds that I shed during the fast. This has proven not to be the case. I only regained about five of the ten pounds and seem to be slowly in the process of shedding them again, probably because of the new diet.
There was a period about a week or two ago, where I was hungry all the time despite eating more than I would have needed to usually. If Gay hadn’t been here to observe me, I would not have realized this. I figure: if I’m hungry, that means I didn’t eat enough. Once I realized what was going on, I started paying more attention and eating less, which was hard because I was hungry. But after about a week or so of this, my appetite changed. I was happy with less food, much of it raw veggies, and my weight started to go down. It’s like there’s these different modes my body can go into.
The fast made my eczema worse, not better.
Although it had pretty much gone away by the end of my fast, I developed even more severe and extensive rashes once I began eating again. For example, on day two of recovery, I had orange wedges for lunch and by dinner time had developed a rash around my mouth where the orange juice had touched me. Currently, I am battling eczema as bad or worse as before the fast - and I am off alcohol for Lent*, which is what I used to associate with breakouts so I know that is not a factor. It’s possible that by constantly eating the things I am allergic to, I’ve actually been maintaining some immunity. It’s also possible that I reintroduced the foods too quickly and freaked my body out. I plan to be more careful about this next time.
This project has made excellent dinner party conversation
One of the unexpected benefits of doing this project (and blogging it) is that it has given me something to talk about. People are amazed and fascinated when they hear I lived on nothing but water for ten days.
I still plan to do another, longer fast
I’m not sure when I’m going to be able to do this, and I think at least not until May and possibly even September. Since it takes 4 days to get through withdrawal, I’d like to go at least 2-3 weeks. One of the nice things that I learned during this fast is that weight loss slows after a while, so while I still wouldn’t do this during a thinner phase, I no longer need a pound a day of reserves, which is quite a lot for somebody my size.
* although no longer a practicing Catholic, I’m apparently deeply programmed from having been raised that way and I’ve learned I can harness this conditioning to abstain from (or do) just about anything