How I'm Doing

Well, hellooo!

I've been sick all week, even sicker now, unfortunately – what I thought was something low level last week ended up blowing up over the weekend with a relentless cough and sore throat. So, I didn't get to run again like I'd planned. It seems like it'll be at least another few days before I do, which is a huge bummer, but at the same time I think I will be able to make up for lost time pretty well if I employ interval training like I've been talking about. I'm optimistic!

When I left you last Friday, I had decided to fast for the day. It ended up being a 36-hour fast total and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. So much so, in fact, that I plan to keep doing it on a weekly basis until it doesn't seem to serve me well any longer. In addition, I'm giving the 16:8 fasting the rest of the time a try – 16 hours fasting, 8 hours for a window of eating.

On Saturday morning, I awakened from the fast and started the day with the most delicious ham and cheese omelet and buttered toast. Let me tell you – it truly was the most delicious thing. One thing I love about fasting is that when you finally do eat, the food tastes so freaking good. I mean, sure, I make a mean omelet (It's a skill I learned just recently, in fact!), but man, it was delish! I logged my calories as normal for the rest of the day and stopped eating by 8pm.

(Oh! And by the way, I finally got to try the Swedish Fish Oreos I ordered, because guess what? I reached my weekly goal of 289! Finally below 290, hurrah! The Oreos are good, but let me just put it this way: the three packages I have will last me a long, long time.)

It was on Saturday afternoon that I started to feel more crappy, unfortunately, and I didn't feel a whole lot better Sunday when I woke up. But I had a paid thing to do in the morning (art consultant stuff for NYFA) and a fun thing to do in the afternoon that had been planned for weeks (a visit with friends in Toronto!). I felt OK-ish for the two+ hour drive up and glad I went, but I probably should have stayed home. Well, anyway, I waited until noon to eat anything, ending my first 16-hour fast and beginning my 8-hour window to eat. I had snacks from the consultancy, lots of water, and then Detroit-style pizza (!) and cake (!) with my friends in Canada. I basically kept a calorie tally in my head, and I was done eating by 8pm as planned.

I'm getting used to waiting to eat until noon now with the 16:8 way of eating. I like not having to worry about breakfast and I like to divide my daily calories among two meals, which allows for bigger meals and feeling way more satiated when I do eat. I really like the eating "window" – I am mentally set and prepared to not eat outside it. I am programming myself not to want to eat outside the window. So far I feel like I am far less obsessed with food than I ever have been, which is so, so nice. It is a huge relief, actually. I also feel like when I do have the window to eat, I'm not all bingey, but I feel motivated by the fast to eat better and to eat within my caloric framework. Interesting.

The other thing I am doing, of course, is gradually letting go of sugar for a while. Today is day two of that, and on day four I'll be adding on the elimination of fruits as sweets, and obvious carbs like pasta and grains. So far, so good – I haven't felt too many cravings. It's funny, though, today I went to have an apple after dinner and even spread about a tablespoon of peanut butter on the slices, when I remembered that the PB would definitely fall under "obvious sweets", so I actually wiped it off the apple and threw it away. (I know, wasteful. I hated doing it but I couldn't really do anything else with it!) It was just this habit I had.

In a nutshell, despite being sick, I'm pretty excited about how my plan is going. I don't know, maybe more restriction IS better for me after all... at least in the short term. I don't know how long I could or would continue to do the no sweets/fewer carbs thing, but like everything else I'm going to wait and see how it all goes, how well it serves my particular needs.

Remember, one size does not fit all! You have to keep searching for the things that will help you most, and give up the things that don't.