DONE! Once and for all!

[Christa_Briggs]

I am turning 40 in a little less than 6 months. I have been yo-yoing up and down the same 5 - 10 lbs for years and am just OVER IT! Quarantine made the scale go up even more, but have since, gone back down a little. But the cycle hasn’t ended. It causes such severe anxiety and takes up so much mental energy. I can’t do this anymore. I have been rewatching Yas’s video on bingeing and fasting and have been in many of her weekly fasting groups this summer which have helped IMMENSELY! This next one (started tonight) will be a minimum of 14 days and I feel like I am SO mentally ready for a proper refeed and then right back into a fast. That is my biggest problem, not going crazy during refeeds. I am a very healthy eater and follow a low carb lifestyle, but I love wine, and cheese gets the best of me as well as keto treats. So as I type this, I’m eating my last bit of keto chocolate in the house and getting ready for a serious 6 months of fasting, tracking ALL of my refeeds, and giving up dairy and nuts (both awful for me.) Excited to start using this journaling tool for this next venture and feeling confident and not out of control when I head “over the hill!”

My why: To stop the vicious cycle and turn 40 in my right-sized body and have my changed my set point
Goals: My short term goal is to get back to my normal weight of 112 and then go about 10 lbs below to allow for regain. My long term goal is to maintain that weight for 6 months so it is my new normal.
Struggles: Triggers…stress from kid stuff, family events that last more than one meal/day, inlaws, body image thoughts, and wine or cocktails can trigger me to eat things that cause inflammation like dairy and/or nuts which make me binge.
Game Plan: 14 day fast, 4 day refeed, 4 5-day fasts (during the week) while refeeding on the weekends), then onto adf or rolling 48 - 72’s. My focus will be mostly on proper refeeds, OMAD or 2MAD in 5 hours.
I fell SOOO excited and ready!
And when I reach my goal, I KNOW I will feel super accomplished, but just healthier inside and out!!! And I will begin to believe in myself wholeheartedly

[Christa_Briggs]

Ok, I haven’t kept up with this very well at all!!! I had a fewe good days and a few not so good days, but I am back on track!!! Halfway through day 4 and feeling good! I have been exercising daily and have had plenty of energy. My parents are vising right now and I am making the entire family 3 meals a day, but still in my zone, it is just not my time to eat and there will be a time in the future. I will be able to enjoy all of these nutritious foods in the future! Right now it is about rewiring my brain to say no when I’m fasting, and yes when it is an eating time. Getting rid, changing bad habits of snacking, just having a bite, etc…fasting certainly helps with that!

[Christa_Briggs]

Day 5…had cream in my coffee and a little pre workout since I’ve been doing high-intensity workouts. I need them for my sanity right now and pre workout gets me thru them. My pan is to keep using the pre workout through day 7 and then use the extra fasting energy! Fingers crossed lol. If that doesn’t work, I’ll scale back the workouts to low impact and no HIIT until I feel like I’m ok to do them or until I refeed. Everyone is gone now, my parents, my husband, even my daughters, so it should be a pretty easy few days with just my little guy and I. Next week I anticipate a few difficulties…my inlaws will be arriving Wed evening with my husband, both triggers. So I have preplanned a menu of things I don’t care for and have things occupying my time around dinner so there aren’t weird comments, much less them even noticing I am not eating. We are also catering a dinner at our home next Saturday, so guests, cooking, and all the stress of hosting, but I think I will be so far in and busy that it won’t be an issue. Plus, we are serving a plated dinner, not family-style, so the food will be enough for the guests, not the cooks There will be wine, which could be difficult to say no to especially after everyone is finished and just wants to hang out and talk, but I’m committing to my bubbly water in a champagne glass!!! Or maybe in a cocktail glass and I can say it has vodka in it lol. I have an important weigh in on Sunday morning, so I need to keep my eye on that prize, which is actually $$$, so it IS truly a prize! Looking forward to our group call tonight! And getting through my list of to-dos today and getting to bed early since I’m not hosting anyone!!!

[Christa_Briggs]

In our group challenge yesterday, a few of us decided to all go 21 days together, so I broke on Day 6 and had dinner. It was planned, thought out, and I felt really good about it. I never went back into the kitchen, and I didn’t binge after my meal. I went to bed satisfied and ready for this next phase.

Day 1 today. Decided instead of doing anymore HIIT training, I’m going to focus on fasting without any extras and just do some walking and barre (low impact) until I start refeeding. Already hit my first snag and almost broke, but reminded myself that the part of my brain that was trying to convince me to eat was the “animal brain”, not my logical or higher brain. Once I heard myself say that (and maybe tell the animal brain off a bit, I was able to get over the moment immediately and give away the food I had quickly prepared to someone else.

I still have to do before pictures and weight, but I was out the door as soon as I got up this morning and have been busy today. So I will do them on Wednesday, when I am back to my house (heading out for the night tonight.)

[Christa_Briggs]

It has been a hot minute since I have checked in!! Whoops! Had a pretty easy week of coasting last week, a few moments of dire hunger that passed apon shutting down that animal brain, but otherwise, not too bad. It seems to get easier with each fast. I chose to break for a party Saturday night and jumped right back on. And I was pretty impressed, I didn’t binge or even want to. I enjoyed the food I had and was satisfied. A little better each time is what I’m going for and so far, that is what is happening, so I’m happy about that! My clothes are fitting better each day and that is always a good thing too!!