V's Fasting for 40

VKat · October 19, 2020, 5:05pm

Intro
Hello! I’m Vasara, but most people just call me V, and I’m about to turn 40! Which seems crazy to me. Where did the years go? That realization is waking me up to want to really get into a healthier life. I’ve let bad habits take hold for a few too many years now, and it has left me unconfident, overweight, and with the onset of health issues.

Why
I am doing this because it just feels like time. I’m tired way too much, have low energy, poor focus, and just feel generally crappy all the time. I want to feel more confident and comfortable in my body. I want to be able to be more active and regain some fitness. And of course I’d like to fit back into all my old favorite clothes too

Long term goals: Get fit, be healthy and happy. (I’m not sure what my goal weight will be yet. I want to say 120 lbs, but that may not be realistic. So I’m going to focus more on getting started and feeling better first)

Short term goals:

Lose 20 pounds
Reduce my waist and strengthen my core muscles
walk 5 miles daily

What are some struggles you face or you have faced in the past
I have an unhealthy relationship with beer and salty snacks. I used to joke that potato chip and beer is one of my favorite food groups. I still often comfort eat or boredom eat. It leaves me feeling gross and never satisfied, yet I’m often craving more junk.

What is your game plan?
I am hoping to give myself a 21 day fast leading up to my big 40th birthday as the best possible present ever. That will mean starting my fast either on or just before November 1st and fasting up to or just before November 21st.
Leading up to that, I am planning to try a smaller fast or two, and focus on cleaning up my diet.

How do I feel right now?
I feel pretty hopeful and excited to have found this group! I think everyone can do better with some support and accountability.

How will I feel once I achieve my goal?
I will have more energy and ease of movement which will make me so much happier and reinforce my being more active. I can’t wait to just take my dog on walks and runs more without having to worry about the stress on my joints. Fitting into clothes again will be a big confidence boost. I will feel younger and healthier even though I’m 40.

Daily Affirmation
Ummmm… Gotta get back to you on that

VKat · October 28, 2020, 3:58pm

Day One!
Okay starting a little later than I originally expected, but that’s okay because I feel ready and in a better place to start.
It is Wednesday October 28, and I am counting my fast start time from midnight. So I am about 12 hours in
This is a short, modified fast to get me started. Hoping to go until Halloween! But honestly if I can make 3 days, I will be really proud of myself.

I am allowing myself the following things:

coffee with a serving of creamer
bone broth
miso broth
naturally flavored seltzers
herbal tea
liquid vitamin supplements

I know, most of those have calories so they technically break a fast. But I’m coming at this thinking that a fluid fast will help me ease into stricter fasting. I had considered allowing some juices with no added sugars, but the natural sugars in those I think may trigger feelings of hunger since it will take the body out of metabolic ketosis.

Feeling pretty positive and kinda excited about finally starting.

VKat · October 29, 2020, 3:41pm

Day 2
I’m nearly 36 hours in, making this my longest fast to date!
I noticed my hunger signals didn’t really kick in until late evening which would have been the time to eat if I were doing OMAD which is the length of any previous fast for me.
I did have a small cup of bone broth last night. So my total intake of calories for yesterday is:

coffee with creamer 35
liquid am vitamin 30
bone broth 40
liquid pm vitamin 30

I’m not thrilled at a 135 total since it does include sugars. I do wonder if this negates some of the real health benefits from fasting. If weight loss were my only goal, I’d be happy, but I’m interested in autophagy too. Still, any progress is good so I’m happy enough, but aware for improvements to think about.

Having a stressful day regarding work, and that’s suddenly when a feeling of hunger started today. Hello emotional eating?
Having a zero calorie, zero sodium seltzer to see if that helps.

VKat · October 31, 2020, 3:58pm

Day 3
Well, I didn’t make it to my optimistic goal of 3-5 days fasting, but I did complete 44.5 hours and I feel pretty good about it. It’s over twice as long as any previous fasting I have done, and I’m working on emotional health along with the physical. The old all-or-nothing attitude I used to have is something I’m working on too. In the past I would have taken falling short way too hard and given up and eaten junk. But now I’m looking at it as a small win and a decent start to build from. Made sure dinner was a healthy and enjoyable.

Day 4
fasted 20 hours 40 min. To complete a OMAD day
My morning started off great, I felt really good fasting. Great energy. Great mood. The afternoon was a super stress filled, and I was really feeling it so I went for a walk and was thrilled to notice that I could walk longer than I usually do before having pain in my hip and/or knees. Fitbit clocked me at 7.7 mile total for the day. I love non-scale victories! and being more able to enjoy walks is happy for my partner in crime here too

The scale had good news for me too!
I’m down 2.6 pounds
and half an inch off both my waist and hips

VKat · November 7, 2020, 5:24pm

Day Zero
I’m struggling to put myself back together.
My little parrot died very suddenly and horribly, and I’ve been having a really hard time with grief and guilt and sadness and shock. We had a very close bond. I hand fed him when he was still little. He was the sweetest bird and very smart. He learned so many words and phases. He loved training and was even play practicing training on his own and then tell himself good boy. My husband and I don’t have any children, so my dog and my parrot are like my kids. My heart is devastated. and the stress I have not coped with well. Drinking alcohol, eating junk and takeout because I was too depressed to cook dinner. I feel like crap inside and out
Really need to pull it together and remember some goals. It won’t change anything but at least I will feel less awful.
I’m fasting for the first time in a while (not sure how many days it has been) today. Going to try to do OMAD today and tomorrow of healthy home cooked food.
For additional motivation for myself, I joined a step bet and diet bet. Figure having any extra push is okay since my personal feelings and motivation are very low right now.

VKat · November 16, 2020, 5:52pm

5 Days until 40
After some major setbacks I’m finding a routine that works for me for now.
Been doing 22 hour Intermittent Fasting with a 2 hour window to have one meal a day as dinner. OMAD feels sustainable for me for now. During my fasting window, I allow myself a single coffee in the morning, and then it’s just water.
One great NSV is that it’s making me more aware of how foods make my body feel which is pushing me to want cleaner meals. I thought I’d still be craving pizza and junk, but no- I want fruit and fresh salads, nourishing colorful things.
Tonight I am planning my own meal to be exactly what I want. My dear husband has agreed to fend for himself at dinner since he isn’t on board with clean eating (yet).
Planning grilled chicken breast, creamed spinach, and a salad of romaine, cucumber, onion, fresh parsley, and lemon juice with olive oil as dressing, and a big bowl of fresh raspberries.
I feel like emotionally I’m in a better place than I was, and the combination of losing weight and starting to feel more comfortable with that journey is a big win for me. I had wanted to fast for longer fasts, and I still have that to look forward to… and probably have a better chance of success now that I’m starting to build this healthier more stable foundation first.
I am on track to win the diet bets I joined late that end on my birthday so that’s a plus.

VKat · November 17, 2020, 9:55pm

4 Days to 40th
As of my morning weigh in, I’ve lost 4.6 pounds since I got back on track with doing OMAD.
Not measuring myself right now due to where I am on the whole monthly torture cycle. The fact I can even lose weight this week is kind of amazing.
I have 2.1 pounds left to lose just to win the diet bets that end on the 21st. Feeling very confident that goal will be met

I wrote lists of things to help me stay on track too
ways to stay busy

make soap
make mugs
make candle holders
check house chores list
re-organize closet & dresser
walk Griffin
work in illustrator on new labeling
window shop online for rewards
treadmill
garden maintenance
music and dance
plan home improvements
do a workout video

And starting lists for treats for making goals like home improvement stuff, a necklace I have been admiring, etc.
I think these lists combined with my Motivation reasons list is really helpful, and they help reinforce each other.
My first goal for now is to win diet bet. For making that goal, I’m going to splurge a little on paint for the half bathroom. I get to feel good and have another way to stay busy and make my space happier. It’s a win all around.

VKat · November 23, 2020, 5:48pm

Update
I did meet my weight loss goal for winning the dietbet
I’m still fasting 21 to 22 hours daily and enjoying the OMAD style, having my food at dinner time as a nice way to relax and end the day.
My birthday had some major unexpected setback and stressors. The kind of things I would previously fall apart over, but somehow now I feel more resilient and more able to take things in stride and find my gratitude and other ideas to be positive about. I think fasting may be a part of that new outlook. So that’s an amazing non scale victory.

For the next two weeks my goals are

to maintain the OMAD intermittent fasting
reach 155
make my step counts to win stepbet
add in some core workouts
add in some arm workouts
practice tuning in with myself and honoring genuine needs

Cindy · November 24, 2020, 6:12am

Hi V and Happy Belated Birthday! Congratulations on meeting your weight loss goal for the dietbet! I’m a newbie to this forum and reading other people’s journals and journeys right now. I like the specific steps you are/have taken to help you reach your goals. I’m rooting for you and hope you have a great week

VKat · November 25, 2020, 2:27pm

Hi Cindy! Thank you so much!
I hope you are feeling good about setting steps and goals too.

VKat · November 25, 2020, 3:20pm

Staying on track and it’s really helping build my confidence.
Today I had a new NSV- I am wearing a pair of pants that I couldn’t button before! I also feel like I’m starting to see subtle changes in my face.
I haven’t done calendar sticky notes, although I love the idea I don’t have any post it notes LOL. Instead to help motivate myself, I’m drawing a little on my wall calendar at the end of every day I maintain my daily goals. It’s nice to have that visual and see then adding up. I might try to calculate how much money I’m saving right now by consuming less. Then those little hearts will tally up into a savings sum that I can think about putting towards a project or reward.

VKat · November 30, 2020, 6:29pm

I’m making my step goals every day, and maintaining the 21-22 hour fasting window every day. The weight loss is steady and gradual which is exactly what I want.
Sometimes I’m not sure if I’m genuinely hungry/ready for food when it’s time to eat. Some days I certainly am. Thinking this is a good thing though, because it’s setting me up to see a 42 hours fast as the next step up the ladder being something my body is ready for.
One thing that continues to surprise me is what I want to eat when it’s time. I do get the feeling like I’m craving something, but it’s not the unhealthy comfort/habitual snacks or foods I used to always crave. (things I used to basically be low key addicted to were cheese and crackers, chips, pizza, cheap burritos, basically salty crispy fatty junk) But I didn’t want anything like that. Having no idea what I want I just poke around the cabinets and fridge until I realized I wanted a fresh salad as soon as I saw a jar of no sugar added mandarin oranges in juice.
Ended up putting together a bowl of chopped romaine lettuce, fresh cilantro, mandarin orange slices, dash of sea salt, and drizzled lime juice over the whole bowl. It was really satisfying!
I now have an additional goal to start trying to get more in touch with what fresh foods are going to satisfy, nourish, and keep me going and plan meals ahead accordingly. Yes to more fresh, and I need to focus on getting enough quality protein.

VKat · December 7, 2020, 4:32pm

My weight has plateaued, but I feel good about it. I’m about 12 lbs less than the last “set point” and I feel like losing weight gradually and experiencing some small plateaus between steps down is a healthy and normal thing. Pretty sure people who lose weight too fast are much more likely to gain it back because the body needs time to adjust. Meanwhile, a fantastic non-scale victory! My partner said he noticed my waist is smaller. This was so great to hear because I was thinking I look smaller to myself even though the number on the scale has stalled for a few days.
I did not fast my usual OMAD very day this past weekend, but my weigh was still not gaining, so that’s probably a victory too.
Today, I am back into my 21-22 hour IF goals. There’s certainly plenty to keep me very busy this time of year! I barely have time to update or be social with my current work load which I am very grateful for.

VKat · December 15, 2020, 1:39pm

Eeeek! A lot has happened in the past week.
I broke that plateau, dropped BMI points enough to be in a new category according to my fancy scale app, and was generally feeling great.
But then… STRESS happened.
It’s super busy this time of year, and I think the combination of stress and not feeling like I had any time or energy left to prepare food ended up with me basically sabotaging myself. We got take out of the worst kind, drank beer, and then felt like crap the next day. Which resulted in not feeling like fasting, eating, feeling like crap, and you can see exactly where this is going…

Okay so Things I Have Learned I really need to address my stress:

Plan better
Running out of energy is a big thing with me. If I know I’m going to be crazy busy, I gotta pre plan easy healthy meals or maybe even make ahead stuff to reheat. Or ask my partner for help.
Break the cycle
of reaching for junk as comfort eating. This stuff is super high in bad sat fats, sodium, and who knows what else doing damage to your gut biome and putting stress on your gallbladder and more. Yes, it is highly palatable, that’s by design. But it also makes your body physically feel gross. You are sluggish and unhealthy feeling like bogged down by it the next day. Which only leads to feeling MORE STRESS and negativity. Plus the more you eat this garbage, the more you crave it. It’s addictive. It’s unhealthy. The farther we get away from this, and let our system clear out the effects of it- the less we will crave it and the better we will feel.
Stress less
by creating a more realistic outlook on how much you can and should take on in a day. I am famously bad at this, and constantly over estimate how much I think I can/should complete today. This leaves me feeling exhausted, emotionally let down by myself sometimes, and fails to leave any time in my day for activities that help mitigate stress. So a great goal for me would be to work on what my daily structure looks like to include room for things to help my resilience to stressors. Things like walking Griffin, doing an active stretching video, getting a quick jog on the treadmill in, finding a new healthy recipe to be excited about trying, etc. Anything that is a boost to feel good neurotransmitters in a healthy way.

Well now I have regained weight to lose, and very little time to lose it in to win the next dietbet that I joined. I may lose this round, but I’m still glad I have something extra to hold me accountable. I’m not going to be mad at myself since I am on a learning curve, provided I take these observations to heart and really work on applying them to going forward.

Kristy · December 15, 2020, 2:45pm

What an awesome plan of attack! Sounds like you are taking constructive and reasonable steps to reaching your goals and you know what’s best for your body!

I’m wondering if you’ve ever tried meditating to help reduce stress?

I completely empathize with this type of self-destructive work ethic. It does nothing but set us up for what we consider “failure.” You are not alone! There are so many ways to be mindful to help reduce stress and manifest radical acceptance of oneself, as we are, without judgement. I couldn’t recommend this book more: Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food by Jan Chozen Bays.

Keep up the stellar work and keep us posted!

VKat · December 22, 2020, 1:43pm

Thank you! I will check out that book!
Meditation is a very mixed bag for me. I have CPTSD pretty bad, and most of the time when I try to clear my mind of distractions, really horrible past experiences come rushing in. So instead I have been working on something more like active meditation, or ways to feel more present physically in my body. It’s really common for people with trauma to feel disconnected from the present and their body. So I’ve been trying to find stress relief and meditative like moments in movement like on my treadmill, or following an active stretching video. I know that’s not really the same thing, and maybe as I continue to improve myself both mentally and physically, I will get to a place where I can find zen in stillness.

VKat · December 22, 2020, 2:02pm

Update
This past week I have been hitting all my goals. Fasting for OMAD a minimum of 21 hours each day, keeping meal time healthy, pushing water during the day, and walking/jogging a minimum of 5 miles according to the fitbit tracker. It feels really good! Very confidence building. Work was not as busy, and that also helped me practice breaking down what needs to be done into more manageable chunks. Now hopefully I can try to do this until it becomes a regular habit- a reasonable amount of work each day vs periods of slacking off and crunch times. Break it down, spread it out, and plan ahead so things are already set up. I’m not the best as staying organized, but maybe that’s something one can strengthen like a muscle.

I’m down a total of 17.8 lbs since starting
dropping 2.8 points off my BMI
and 4.2% body fat
I’m happy with this, and I can see and feel a difference for sure. I still have a ways to go for both weight loss and toning up/gaining strength back. But this approach feels right, and the progress is proof positive.

Goals for this week- maintain course, and get some core strengthening moves in. It’s going to be tempting to slack off with less work now that the holiday rush is over. Must not let myself stagnate!

Kristy · December 22, 2020, 2:19pm

Movement meditation is an integral part of the Zen tradition. I think it’s one of the reasons I love exercising so much! I am not going to preach about what meditation is or isn’t because your experience is where you are and is part of YOUR journey! Though I will say, it’s absolutely essential to have a support system in place with any meditation practice. I had extensive therapy to go along with my practice when I first started out. Otherwise it could have been a hot mess. You are so wise to know your boundaries and respect them! You are spectacular and obviously putting so much awareness into developing a disciplined practice and self worth. Keep us posted and congratulations on all your hard work!