The fast will start after dessert tonight (blueberries, raw almonds, red grapes, if you're curious) and will last until breakfast Tuesday day morning. This seems like a long time (~32 hours), but I will (hopefully) be asleep for 16 hours of the time. I like this sort of fast at the start of the work week because (a) it lets me focus on getting off to a good start, (b) gives me motivation to keep on track, and (c) lets me start Tuesday with a "regular" eating pattern, which I will follow Wednesday and Thursday (until lunch, which will probably start Fast #1 for Week #2).
I skipped breakfast this morning. Why?
- I wasn't sure whether we'd do the "family lunch" thing. If we had, I would have eaten and I wanted some "buffer" calories. Brad talks about this on his blog in terms of finances- don't borrow (I will fast after I eat too much), save (I will fast before I eat too much).
- Sundays are a lot of work in the yard: mowing, trimming, sweeping the garage/driveway/sidewalk; playing with the girls in the pool (a game that mainly involves me throwing them and treading water while getting pummeled); and moving stuff. I try to stay at about 1700 calories total, but a conservative estimate would be around 500 calories burned (not including the workout). Combine that with the ~250 calories I freed up by skipping breakfast and I can rest easy with dinner (which will shuttle me full and happy into my fasted state).
- I didn't feel like eating. And this is the important one. Too many times, we eat because we're supposed to eat: pre-workout, post-workout, to fuel our day, because we "don't know when we'll eat next" (this is in reference to being busy, not being poor- totally different issue). I admittedly am having to make myself eat breakfast right now because I spent two years NOT doing it... it isn't easy to change, even when it comes to eating.
- Poverty and America. How absurd that we live in a society in which we purposefully avoid eating because we generally eat too much and can't do anything to avoid it. Absurdist Level: Camus.
- Dessert. You'd be surprised how easy it is to satisfy dessert cravings. I used to think that I would be resigned to some form of ice cream. However, I discovered that I'm really just after something flavorful: cinnamon toast and blueberries; raw almonds and berries; 1/4 bar of dark chocolate and raw almonds. I stick to almonds and dark chocolate (weekends) or blueberries (if the price isn't exorbitant because they have more health benefits.
- Zen and the Art of Eating. I suppose it seems somewhat complex- "Oh, well, I may eat a family lunch, so I won't eat breakfast, then again..."- and I agree, it can be. But I've been doing this for a long while. Even during my LeanGains (16/8 fasting) days, I was still making such considerations. Now, it's second nature to me. Besides, it's TWO days out of seven that such a thing is even on my radar. The rest of the time, I'm thinking more about calorie totals. And when I get to my goal, I won't even worry about that (see Next).
- Next. Too many people never consider what comes next. Hitting a goal size/weight isn't something you achieve and it's always there; it isn't the Hall of Fame. You can easily regain everything you lost- and then some. In fact, many people do. You need to think about what comes next NOW. How will you eat? Will you see the benefit in eating "maintenance" most days and being able to overeat every now and then? The beauty of ESE is that it can follow you into Next. Continue doing it. If you want to live it up Friday and Saturday, you could DOUBLE you maintenance calories (which, honestly, I think I'd feel awful if I managed that) and still stay at a stable weight if you did two fasts during the week: Friday (5500 calories) + Saturday (5500 calories) + (0 x 2) = 11000 calories... which you divide by 4, and you get 2750 (my rough maintenance) total. I could even slip in a couple sub-2000 days to give myself some wiggle room. The key is to stick with what works. I didn't, and I regret it.
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