Week 1 - Day 5

Breakfast: Half a green apple

Lunch: Boloco teriyaki bowl with tofu, a few chips, half a cookie.

Dinner:  Cardboard pizza

Thoughts:  Blah.  Not happy about my food today.  Super tired and worn out from the week. Just feeling completely lazy and didn't even care by dinner.  Ate what was served and that was that.

Tomorrow is a new day.

Week 1 - Day 4

Breakfast: Salad with peaches in place of strawberries. Very good.

Lunch: French fries and bites of the crust of David's calzone, carrots sticks and broccoli.

Dinner:  Out to dinner with two of my dearest friends.  Olive Garden salad, breadstick, and Ravioli di Portabello

Thoughts:

Not a perfect day, by any means.  The lunch thing really through me off.  David brought home some lunch to have with his parents who had stopped by for a visit.  I just went with it.  I told him to get me french fries because it was the best I could come up with on a short notice from the pizza place.

Out to dinner, I had intended to just have soup and salad. But then I realized I was out to CELEBRATE and I wanted to have something just a little bit special.  The mushroom ravioli was quite good and I'm really happen I ordered it.

And I got in a walk today! Unexpectedly, but my friends and I headed to a park after dinner and took a short stroll on a nature trail there.  That was really nice.  Especially after spending all day buried in piles and messes in my house. So refreshing to get outside and enjoy some great company and the beautiful evening.

Heading to bed early tonight, if I can.  Day two of my cycle and I'm feel pretty tired.  I'm glad to report that I'm not struggling as much as I was a few months back. My cycles are shorter by a few days and I'm not getting as heavy a flow as I was before.  I'm also not having to stay in bed for the first two days because of fatigue.  All good things. I'm quite confident that cleaning up my diet is helpful in this as my body is learning how to regulate.

Week 1 - Day 3

Breakfast/Lunch: Breakfast salad

Dinner:  Kung Pao Vegetables with a bowl of frozen mixed fruit and decaf coffee for dessert.

Thoughts:

Just a quick update today because I'm sooooooooo sleepy.

Woke up early and headed to the store. Got home and got to work on the house.  Lots of projects to work on, more shopping, and our date night spent in our freshly painted basement enjoying a new show and resting before bed.  The house is coming along so nicely and I'm so grateful for David's help in getting it in order before school begins.

That said, all my walking I did today happened at Walmart, Home Depot, and a few other stores.

I did well with my food choices, though. Chinese food isn't the best, but I stuck with veggies, so at least I was able to get in some nutrition under all that oil and salt.

Week 1 - Day 2

Breakfast:

Salad at the lake!  Really nice way to enjoy a meal.

Lunch:

Medium bowl of romaine topped with indian spiced lentils, 2 corn on the cob, half a green apple, peanut butter and jelly sandwich. (NOT a great choice, that was an emotional deal)

I was hungry. Not sure why. I guess my salad was smaller than usual and I did get in a walk, but I didn't think I would be that hungry.

Dinner:

Black bean soup, green smoothie, green tea, carrots & broccoli (though I haven't finished the carrots and I was given way more than I could ever eat in one meal anyways.)

Thoughts:

Today was another not-so-stellar day.  A lot of emotion coupled with a headache. My family has been battling a cold for a week and I think my body is really working hard to fight it. My head just hurt today so I spent the afternoon lying down.  The evening too.  I just hope the extra rest can help me shake this before it gets worse.

I didn't have a perfect plan day. Too much bread/starches. I'm also on fats, now that my daughter just brought me a few date balls that they just made. How can I resist my favorite chocolate date balls?? I can't.

I got in my walk today. :)

Another 6 Week-er

I joined in with some friends for some accountability for the next 6 weeks.  I already know I do better in groups, and I do better when I have to report, so here I am for my daily breakdown.

First, my goals:

1. Dr. Furhman's 6 week plan, paying close attention to hunger cues, likely sticking with 2 meals each day.

2.  Blog my food, exercise, and thoughts each day.

3.  Daily prayer walk, daily floor exercises

4.  No snacking (see #1), especially when dealing with the high stress of my days and/or the afternoon slump.

5.  Rest. I'm adding this in because I'm really strung out right now. It's been a rough year and some good, quality rest on a consistent basis would really do me a world of good in healing and equipping me for an even more intense season ahead.

6. Reward for a week well done (still undecided on the reward)
Week 1: Day 1

Breakfast: Cofee with cream (not ETL),  Big breakfast salad (chopped raw kale, strawberries, green apple, frozen blueberries, raw oats, cocao powder, ground flax) at the lake while watching my girls at swim lessons.

Lunch:  A small bowl of chopped romaine topped with a black bean veggie taco soup type thing.

Dinner:  Mushroom stroganoff sauce served over green beans, about 1/4 cup whole wheat egg noodles (not ETL), two corn on the cob, and a medium salad (romaine, roasted chickpeas, raisins, raw sunflower seeds, dijon mustard).


Thoughts:

I feel really good about my day. I acknowledge that I wasn't 100% on plan, but I sure was close. And, considering how close I was compared to how far I've been lately, I'm extremely happy.

 I won some great victories today:

1. Beat the emotional eating while out at the store today, resisting the desire to treat myself just because I was out of the house.

2.  Beat the false hunger cues by hydrating my body and easily chasing away those fake cravings.

3.  Beat the emotional eating several times throughout the day while dealing with many parenting struggles including, but not limited to: sleep deprivation, screaming, whining, never-satisfied toddler, unexpected guests, necessary corrections for multiple children, and...worst of all...insolence and a crushing realization with a young man that I pray truly does have his heart broken over these issues and finds the Lord's grace...SOON. :(

With all of that, I have to tell you, resisting the ice cream that David brought home for dessert is HUGE.  Insert Your Candidate for Presidency here _________  HUUUUGE.

So, there's my day one. I'm off to bed with my glass of ice water, praying for deep, sweet sleep, the bags under my eyes to one day disappear, the ache in my heart to be lifted, and The Lord to keep showing Himself strong to me during this time of weakness.

So grateful for Him and who He is.  I can be sure I never am without HOPE.

Daniel Fast - Finale

So, the fast is complete.

Truly, I learned a lot about myself.  Reading Piper's book, Hunger for God, was remarkable. So much there for me to meditate on in the days ahead.

A few key points for me:

I want to embrace God's gift of food as a GIFT rather than abuse it or replace the Giver with the gift.

I am free from the coffee addiction once more and feel SO MUCH BETTER without it.  I don't even crave it like I used to.

I am challenged FAR BEYOND my own petty struggles with stress eating, food triggers, and binges.  There is much...much...much more that the Lord wants to do in me through prayer and fasting that reaches outside of my small little world.  Learning to think and act beyond my reach will help me lose this daily obsession with food and weight struggles.

Fasting needs to be a regular part of how I learn to worship and hunger for my loving Savior.



The nitty-gritty on some physical changes I noticed:

I was losing about 1 pound a day for the first week and a half or so. Then I guess I stalled. Not sure what happened. I did stop the morning walks.  It seemed after my cycle ended the weight loss ended too. That wasn't why I was fasting, but I find it interesting to note.

As I mentioned above, my taste for coffee and cravings are gone.  Even with the freedom to enjoy the gift as I choose, I find that I don't choose it as a treat or reward for myself.  I'm seeing it as more of a way to enjoy the company of another, savoring it's warmth and flavor while soaking up a good friend.  I prefer it like that.

I really feel better eating less.  Skipping a meal each day rarely felt like a hardship.  I feel lighter and my day is less hectic without having to stop and feed myself so often.

Now I'm on to making some choices about where I go from here. I like sticking with two meals a day. That has been a great help to giving me more time to rest, read, and just feel less rushed in my day.  I'm still working on making wise choices because I continue to give in to eating food that is empty as far as nutrition goes.  I don't want to keep putting things in my body that aren't meant for good. Hopefully, as I learn to point my heart upwards and outwards, this will become less difficult.

In the end, I'm grateful for another fasting time with the Lord. He's challenged me once again to see myself in new ways and draw closer to Him and His truths. So much to reflect on and ponder as I move forward in the days ahead. I guess my primary focus is this:  How can I continue to increase my hunger for the Lord and serve him whole-heartedly?

My end of fast pic.  Again, not really seeing any big changes, but I sure do FEEL great and free from many of the things that have been weighing me down.

Daniel Fast: Week 1

My first week of this Daniel Fast has been wonderful.  Of course, I'm struggling to keep up with the early rising and morning walks due to some late nights and a head cold that came to visit at our home.  BUT, the time with the Lord has been essential to rebooting my wrongful habits and "life-rut".

That's my new term to describe what I've been living.  It's not a life-style...as that sounds like it should be productive, pleasing, attractive, fulfilling.  I've got a life-rut going on.  Slow, sluggish, lazy, cluttered, chaotic,stuck.  A life-rut.

But that is starting to change, and I'm so grateful. Right now, it's just this time of seeing it for what it is. Seeing what's causing it.  I'm praying in the weeks to come I'll keep learning how to change it so it move from "rut" to "style".  Style sounds so much better.

Here's my one week selfie.  The left is the start of the first week, the right is the start of the second week.

Not sure I'm seeing any huge difference, but I feel it. My clothes are looser, my energy is growing, my head is starting to clear, and I'm even starting to find some of that long lost motivation that is so helpful in accomplishing at least some of the never-ending list that stares at me each day.