Fasting & Feasting Follow-Up - 3 Weeks Later and Goals for September

My deepest apologies that I didn't do a final "fast-breaking" post; with school back on in session, blogging while on-duty with ten kids in the house and homeschooling Emily is nearly impossible.  I feel like I ended it well, and had great results from the doctor with my lab work.  My glucose fasting level is back to normal, and my A1C came down from a 6.1 to a 5.9.  Yay!  My next set of lab work will be done in February and my goal is to try to get my A1C below a 5.7, which would put it back beneath a pre-diabetic level.

So after 3 weeks of liquid feasting, my final results were thus:

Starting Weight: 224
Week 1 Weight:  219.4
Week 2 Weight:  216.2
Ending Weight:  215.4
Total Difference:  - 8.6 pounds

Since then, I've lost a bit more and am now down to 213 pounds.  I'm looking forward to September!  We are having a short vacation back to the Savannah area at the end of the month, and while we are there, I'm running a 5K.  I hope to have an new PR for this one for under 40 minutes.  I'd also like to lose 5 more pounds before the end of the month, which I think is very doable.

This is going to be short, but hopefully I will post more again on my next off-duty shift!

Lab Work is Done - The Joys of Feasting & Fasting - Day 16

Hard to believe I'm already past two weeks into this thing - it's a bit crazy to me!  Some days it seems super long, some days it feels like it is a normal part of my regular routine.  Hard to believe it is nearing an end, though I have been considering extending it one more week to make it a 30 day fast, but I don't know yet if I will.

Lab work was done easy-peasy this morning, and I will get results next Thursday.  Praying for good news - and good blood sugar numbers!  A big answer to pray was that it only took two sticks to draw blood today (I'm a horrible stick) and no veins blew or collapsed.  Yay!

I realized that I hadn't done a weigh-in post when I hit week two, so here is where things stood after two weeks: 

Starting Weight: 224
Week 1 Weight:  219.4
Week 2 Weight:  216.2
Total Difference:  -7.8 pounds

Physically, I'm feeling good - a bit tired mid-day at times, but my energy level is actually pretty good.  I've also started exercising more strenuously again (besides just walking) and am working out about an hour every other day and have had no problems with being light-headed or dizzy.  In fact, my energy level has been pretty high.

Emotionally and spiritually, these past few days have been trying.  My female hormones are singing in high octave, so I'm dealing with that, and God is working mightily in my heart.  Also, Jonathan and I are praying over several areas specifically (some which are a bit terrifying for my security-loving heart), and I hope to see change there soon - either in our hearts or our situation that our prayers pertain to.  However, I am loving the extra time with my kids and the homeschooling lifestyle - I love it!

Speaking of homeschooling, it's time to get started!  I think we may school down in the pavilion today; got to enjoy these low-80's days while we can!  :)

Days 13 - 15: The Joys of Feasting & Fasting

Tomorrow is a big day for me!  It's my six month check-up since I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, and so it is up early in the morning to get lab work done (I will get the results next week).  Pray they are good numbers!

The fasting and feasting continues to go well; I honestly struggled a lot these last couple of days, but I think it was more from boredom (we were off duty) and hormones.  Now back at work, I hardly think about it - we are pretty much on the go all the time, so I don't have time to think about.  My biggest thing is that I have to remember to drink, drink, drink!

This is short tonight because it's been a long day and I have to get off to bed; I will try to post more tomorrow!

Days 11 & 12 - The Joys of Feasting & Fasting

It's hard to be believe I am at the end of Day 12.  Days and meals are pretty much falling into a standard routine - I start and end each day with two cups of warm lemon and cinnamon tea, then green juice for breakfast, a veggie broth soup or smoothie for lunch, a fruit-based drink mid-afternoon, and another veggie broth soup or smoothie for supper.  I can tell my stomach has shrunk - about two cups of liquids is about all it takes to get me to full point.  Since I am off-duty this week, I did weigh myself this weekend (I keep the scale at the off-duty house, so I don't obsess over weighing myself at the main house - something I've struggled with in the past.).  I've lost a tad over three pounds over the last five days, so I'm continuing to stay on the same weight loss track of a little over half a pound a day.

At this point of the game, I'm starting to think and pray about the best way to break the fast without going off the deep-end!  This is the area I've always struggled with and truly, what I've found is that breaking the fast is the hardest part of the journey.  It will be five-to-six day journey to break the fast and hopefully, I'll be able to keep up my new and healthy eating habits.

This week, I've also adding back in more exercise besides walking.  Tonight, I walked a mile, interval jogged/walked two miles, and then walked a fourth with very little problems.  No weight-training at all (not advisable during fasting), but I want to get back in the habit of regular exercise, so walking, jogging, and yoga is what it is going to be for the next two weeks.  Truth be told?  Tonight's hour of exercise was wonderful.  Upbeat praise and worship music blasting and a great time of communion with Him while enjoying the twilight and sounds of crickets and frogs while disciplining my body.  For the first time in a long time, fellowship with God and prayer is coming and flowing all day long.  In and out, just like breathing or a heartbeat.

In that, I am content.

Days 9 & 10 - Gearing Up to Halfway!

It is hard to believe that I'm pressing up on the halfway point on this season of fasting.  Truth be told, I let pride get to my head a bit after I finished the first week; yesterday and the first part of today were very hard.  Pride and a.s I look back, I know I was drinking enough, either - neither of which made a hard, long, stressful day any better. 

Due to the fast, I am cold all the time, and have been avoiding juices (cold) and favoring hot soups, broths, and teas (hot).  However, the juices have more nutrients and so today, I've tried to me proactive in getting the juices in my system.  For supper tonight, I even got creative with fruit - sauteed peaches and raspberries in cinnamon and coconut oil, then threw them in the blender with some vanilla and a bit of almond butter.  My word, it was delicious!  I ate every single bite with a spoon and savored it.  After supper I got the best rest (I'm not calling it a nap, because I didn't sleep); just stretch out on the bed on top of the overs, pulled my throw over me, and just "was" with God for a bit - a time of mental praise and prayer.  Warm covers on a soft bed with a full and warm belly - I was very content.  But it made me sad - how many people tonight went to bed with empty stomachs?  No roof over their heads, let along warm blankets and beds?  Children?  Mothers?  Families?  Today was a huge reminder of how blessed I really am.

A nice touch this weekend is that Jonathan is juicing with me this weekend - yay!  Makes this four-day off shift more pleasurable.  Pray for the both of us tomorrow, as Jonathan leads our church's Awana training, and I am prepping lunch for everyone.  I will have juices with me, but I still anticipate it to be a bit difficult.  In light of that, I'm off to bed; busy day tomorrow!

Day 8 of Feasting & Fasting

It's hard to believe I've been on this journey for a week now and 1/3 of the way through this season.  In so many ways, life feels so normal - the back-to-school run-a-round, cleaning and organizing of the house, lesson planning for our first year of homeschooling.  Yet in so many ways, it's been very different - I feel like a huge part of my heart is waking up again.  A yearning for God, a yearning to read and study and learn... in reality a learning to find ME again, if that makes any sense.  As a wife, a mom, a minister's wife, a house-mom, it is very easy to lose your identity, to bury your own loves and dreams for the sake of everyone else.  I feel like this hibernation stage is coming to an end and I love it.  I'm excited to share it, too - I don't know who is more exciting about learning and learning to learn this year, me or Emily!  Jonathan and I are studying a book together for the first time in a very long time and I've missed that with him.

In the meantime, I continue to deal with some of the unpleasant side effects of a body in healing mode.  I've popped up a cold sore, have digestional upset from time-to-time, am forgetful, get tired a bit more easily, and sometimes get annoyed more quickly that I usually would.  But other things are great - my sense of smell is sharpened (I can smell every flower and crape myrtle in bloom), my ingrown toenail is healing, and a nagging pain in my lower abdomen at an incision site that I've had since my appendix and gallbladder were removed is completely gone.

Truthfully, it's been a bit harder day today than the last couple, though I'm not sure why.  More irritable, rougher food cravings (though I did a lot of cooking for the house today), I've been cold all day, and when I got home from church, I was really craving salt, so I drank two mugs of warmed broth, and that seemed to help.  It's also 10:30 and I'm WIDE awake - sleep isn't coming any time soon.  I guess that is my payback for an 8 hour night last night!  So I'm off to work on lesson plans for next week... and maybe watch a new episode of Continuum on Netflix.  ;)

First Week Accomplished!

Sorry for Day 7's post happening this morning, not last night.  I'd been fighting a headache with my residual toothache all day and was FREEZING cold, so I curled up into bed in a light sweatshirt, socks, and an extra blanket over the comforter and went to sleep.  Slept great, too - first 8 hours in a VERY long time.

Even though this juice feasting and fasting is NOT centered around weight loss, I did do a weight and measurement check-in after seven days of just liquids.  The results?

Starting Weight: 224
Week 1 Weight:  219.4
Difference:  -4.6 pounds

Losing at an average of .65 lbs a day is pretty good on a liquid fast, and I'm fine that it's not more.  Means I'm drinking enough and I'm very happy with that.  I've also lost anywhere from .5 inch to 1 inch all over, which I already knew from the way my clothes have been fitting.  Thank you, sweet Lord, for every pound  and every inch struggled for and lost this week.

However, I was really please to see I was under 220.  220 is pretty much my weight plateau that I bounce around at regularly.  Last time I was in the teens was a year and-a-half ago and I'd really hoping (and yes, I'll admit, praying) I can stay under it for good now.  It is time to get back to ONE-derland (under 200 pounds) again - I haven't been there since 2007.  It's time to get there again!