Seems like a common thread for my life and writing here, periods of being good about my health and fitness followed by periods of sliding backwards.
In August I was back up to 250lbs and not in a great spot. Since then I’ve been doing fairly well with eating well and exercising. But I’ve had a few periods where I’ve really let the eating get back out of control.
They’ve typically been fairly short lived and seem to have started with trips where I’m away from home and out of routine. But they’ve carried over once home for a while. I’ve been able to get back on track pretty quickly.
This last one felt different. I was away with my team for a work trip and I did pretty darn well with my eating habits and even out for some good runs in the morning most days away. It was once I got home from that I really broke routine.
Meals were still pretty good but snacking got out of control. It was of course all mental. I didn’t need the food. I wasn’t really hungry, but for some reason I’d grab something, then another something, then another. Night time was especially rough.
I decided I needed to do something to maybe try to get a handle on it and increase my mental toughness. What if I did a multi day fast? That would prove I can resist the urge to stuff my face even when I’m hungry. A challenge I could look back on the next time it’s after supper and I want to grab something from the cupboard.
So last Wednesday night I decided I wanted to give a three day fast a try. Break the bad cycle I was in and build some mental toughness. I drank only water, coffee, herbal tea, and some bone broth for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It went way better than I thought it would.
I expected to feel really hungry, be really tired, and maybe even not be able to concentrate, but none of those things really happened. There were times, especially when cooking for others in the family, or when I grabbed my son a fast-food burger that I started to feel the pang, but overall it went smooth.
My energy levels were still pretty good as well. Friday I went for a 5k run and Saturday I was out doing yard work all as normal.
This morning I got up and it felt good to eat but also a little weird. I’m going to try hard to use this as something to reach for the next time I start to slip.