273.0: Not That Fast-Thoughts at Noon

I'm posting during lunch today because I'm fasting. I'm not laughing, relaxing, de-stressing with my friends. I'm drinking 5 calorie broth and updating my blog. Kinda grumpy about that--I'll be honest.

The Friday fast ended well. I did go to dinner with friends, but I had a broth based chicken posole soup and a side salad. I also had several bites of a flourless chocolate cake. Still, the day ended well and I had lost a couple of pounds when I weighed on Saturday morning.

Saturday went fairly well with food except I grazed all day. You ever have those days? Not a huge problem with calories, but I felt food was managing me instead of the other way around. Still, not too bad. I decided after my dinner to begin my next fast. That was 8:30 p.m.

So I fasted from 8:30 p.m 'til after church at 12:30 p.m. which gave me 16 hours of no food. The goal is 12 hours or longer and it's okay to combine sleeping hours to achieve that. At 12:30 I ate 200 calories of a caprese salad (tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarela cheese). At 1:30 I ate another 200 calories of garlic toast and peanuts. At 4:00 I ate 130 calories of popcorn, unbuttered and tasteless. At 9:00 p.m. I thought I was going to die, so I went to bed. By 10:00 p.m. I had eaten about 700 calories of tomatoes on toast, mixed nuts, peanut butter and chocolate chips. REALLY. Not a successful fastdiet day.

Today I'm following the original plan. I had a 100 calorie breakfast at 7:30 and plan to eat a 400 calorie dinner at 7:30 tonight. I'm looking forward to it--spaghetti casserole, cottage cheese and garlic bread. Yum, huh? We'll see how the rest of the night goes. I'm hoping a later dinner will combat the 'go to bed muchies' that I fought on Sunday.

The spaghetti casserole is a Paula Deen recipe. Here's the link:
http://thedeenbros.com/index.php/recipes/recipe_detail/mamas_spaghetti_casserole_with_baked_garlic_herb_bread/

Here's a picture:


This is my last FastDiet day for the week. For the rest of the week I'm committed to 1) drink 132 ounces of water, 2) track my food, 3) eat 4/5 veggies or fruit and 4) make a plan for every day.

Hope you're well! Thanks for following...

274: Eat, Fast, and Live Longer

For a year now I've been 272. Most of the time. I dipped to 259 (once), stayed 264 for several weeks, but I seem settled at 272. The absence of long term, sustained loss is frustrating.

Until I remember I was in the 290's when I began. Twenty pounds down is significant--especially when that involved reversing a gain pattern. I had to halt, reverse and lose. So I celebrate those twenty gone.

And I yearn for twenty more.

So I'm trying something different. During one of my pre-surgery sleepless times, I watched a show on PBS hosted by Michael Mosley "The Truth About Exercise" http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cywtq which led me to another show hosted by him: "Eat, Fast and Live Longer" http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01lxyzc. (In case my links don't work, just google Michael Mosley and you'll get a bunch of references.)

In brief and without giving any of the heaps of scientific research that supports it, you fast for 2 days of every week. In some places it's called 'alternate day fasting.' The days don't have to be back to back, and you actually eat 500 calories on those days. The idea is to go for 12 hours without food.. So, 200 calories for breakfast at 7:00 a.m, then 300 calories for dinner at 7:00 p.m. Or 500 calories at dinner after a day of fasting (which is what I'm doing today merely because I have a dinner planned with friends and want all my calories to use for it). The other five days? Eat normally. Like I said, there's more in depth stuff to read...I'm just giving an overview.

That's what I'm doing. Not sure if you know it, but members of my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or Mormons)) fast the first Sunday of each month. So I figure on that day I get a two-fer. Yay for me!

Anyway, I'm fasting today. I had 10 pumpkin seeds on the way to work after physical therapy, ate 8 almonds 20 minutes ago, and have had 88 ounces of water. I'm heading for some beef bouillon in a bit. It's been a busy day and my normal lunch buddies aren't around so I didn't have to decline a lunch invitation. It hasn't been that bad, really. And I get to eat tomorrow. I can do almost anything for one day. That's the simple beauty of it.

I'm planning to Medifast on my non-fast days.

271.4: Pinteresting Temptations

Yay! I've lost weight. I am happy about that! Big pat on the back cuz it wasn't easy!

Pinterest can be dangerous to a diet. Very. Dangerous. I decided to make some freezer meals to have on hand (friends are having babies or are busy and a quick meal might be just the thing), so I jumped onto my Pinterest board, Recipes To Try, to pick some, well, recipes to try. In doing so, I found brownies, cakes, cheesecakes, dips...oh so many lovely things.

I caved. Not bad, but I caved.

You're going to laugh, I promise. I ran across a recipe for carb 'free' pancakes - one mashed overripe banana and two eggs. I had eggs. I had an overripe banana. I made pancakes. They were nasty. I added 2 tablespoons of gluten free flour, some salt and vanilla and made some more. They were good. I ate 7 pancakes. With butter. And syrup. Yum!

So the battle continues. My main goal is to log every bite in Fitbit. I have a SU event in September and I would like to be 10 pounds thinner by then. Wait! My goal is to see 259.8 before I leave on September 17. There, now that's a goal.

How are you doing? Everyone happy? Good! You deserve it. Remember to eat for fuel, eat often, and eat enough. Your body, spirit and mind will all be happy.