This is a flash from my past:
Have you ever heard the phrase “but I pummel my body and lead it as a slave?” It was actually written by the Apostle Paul and though he was not speaking about fasting it truly is at the heart of every person who wishes to fast successfully.
Leading your body as a slave, commanding obedience to YOUR will. Our body certainly will comply in any manner of speaking as long as we lead it. So where is the dilemma? Is it not the mind over the body? Have we not all decided we will fast only to find that our mind convinced us to quit so that we may satisfy our immediate need to eat?
Can you prepare yourself to fast? I did not know I was doing just that. Starting in January I embarked on KETO and OMAD. OMAD was challenging and I found I “cheated” by eating before my eating window, but over time I mastered the ability to quiet the thoughts that demanded I eat before 5 PM. I began to relish 5PM, because I knew at that time I would have a most delicious meal. I “trained” in this way from January to August! From June to August I hit a plateau. I changed nothing but kept hoping for change. They say if nothing changes then nothing changes.
August 20th I started my water fast. I didn’t know how long I wanted to fast so I just started an open fast. I did a lot of reading, I learned I needed to have electrolytes, something I did not know. I never asked how much to take, I just guessed… PROBLEM! I began to experience blurred vision. I approached group, they said increase SALT. I did, upping it to 1 teaspoon a day having three servings and that totally fixed the blurred vision. I also took Potassium 3x a day, and Magnesium before bed.
Early on I learned that Dr Fung said you could have FAT on your fast, and not interfere with Autophagy, not knowing it was supposed to only be a teaspoon I put 2 tablespoons. From Day 2 to 10 I was actually doing a FAT FAST not a water fast. I had no clue. My interest was in weight-loss and Autophagy. But when I learned I was not going a water fast I quit the fat.
Only on those days that I had severe mental struggles that I caved to breaking Autophagy and had bone broth with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in it and salt. OMG, it was so amazing. The hot drink it, every time, reset my mind mentally and kept me going on my extended fast.
I did have plain black coffee, unsweetened carbonated flavored water and H2O. I got sick of black coffee so I quit it all together. From day one to 16 I was averaging one pound loss a day. Awesome! On day 16 to 20 I lost NO weight at all. I was hoping I would have a WHOOSH but it never happened. On day 21 I lost .6 of a pound. From day 16 onward the mental game of my fast changed. I realized my fast was only half over, CRUSH! My fast then became a mental struggle.
At first I avoided all thoughts of food, but WOW did that take such effort and energy to do, so quit avoiding thoughts about food. It seems more exhausting to avoid those thoughts than to just allow myself to think about food. Then the oddest thing happened. I really wanted to watch my husband eat so I started watching him eat. I don’t know why but it comforted me tremendously to be around food and to look at it and even touch it but I never ate any of it. I would ask to go to different restaurants and I would sit across from him with my large ice water and watch every bite! SO odd!
After day 20 I was so mentally exhausted from fasting that there were a couple of days where I literally just started crying because I wanted the fast to be over. I had committed to 30 days and I could not see myself quitting. The scale was a huge motivator in the beginning but now that was gone. Though other things moved me to press on I definitely could see a major change in my face, in my clothes, and in my appearance, so though the scale didn’t move I was encouraged.
When you’re fast gets hard it’s actually not the time to quit but FOR YOU, you need to keep going especially if your body is handling the fast really well, which my body was. I did not have any adverse effects, other than blurry vision which was fixed. All my woes were mental.
One thing I found very hard was the cold that I suffered. I was freezing all the time and it felt as though somebody put about 15 lb of weight on my body, so whenever I needed to get up and do anything it felt like I was waking in deep water with extra weight, I just felt tired. Don’t get me wrong I didn’t feel that way all the time. Some times I felt absolutely normal, I had energy. Other times I was over the moon, full of energy, cleaning, talking fast, laughing, going on long walks. I love feeling that way but I didn’t feel that way enough.
Fasting is a test of the mind and wanting what the reward is over the immediate satisfaction of a meal is what will push you to deal with hunger, heart burn, sleepless nights. Because though we feel all these things THEY ARE TEMPORARY! They are temporary because YOU WILL EAT, its just not now… you have to give yourself that time to heal, to use body fat as fuel. Even when the scale stops moving, your body is in Autophagy (self-eating process and cellular cleaning) which I can not do if you eat. I lost over 10 inches of body fat. How m any, many months did it take me to put on 10 inches of fat? Yet in 30 days with patience, and endurance those inches melted off.
You, my friend, can do literally ANYTHING you set your mind to. Nothing can stop you, only YOU can stop you. So don’t fall short on your dream and desire to lose weight. You HAVE a tool, it is effective at weight loss, USE IT. And what helps tremendously is YOU ARE NOT ALONE! There are others pushing towards that goal with you, you do not have to pioneer the road alone, go with someone and reach your goals together!
I am always here if you have questions!
You CAN do it! Do it!!! No one can stop you. Remember that!
August - September 2017.
End of Flash Post
I am doing a 40 day fast. Today is day 4.5.
