Feeling Good

I have been feeling pretty good lately. Even though I am still sitting here on my plateau, I am feeling comfortable and happy with how I look so far. I recently went out to a club with some friends for a birthday party. I used to go to this place when I was in my 20s. I thought for sure I would feel really uncomfortable in my skin with all the young girls around. But I held my own and felt good, even though I think we were the oldest people in there!

It was fun! Here is a pic I took of me and my husband there.

Tonight we are going out to a Halloween Party. My hubby and I are dressing as 70's Bikers. We have big bushy wigs, leather outfits and fake tattoo arm sleeves to wear. It should be really fun. We are taking our exchange student from Japan with us. He has never experienced Halloween before so I am sure he will have a laugh.

I have been doing really well with intermittent fasting and just being patient and trying hard not to eat too much in my eating window. Tonight will probably include some halloween candy but I will try to keep it to a minimum. Yesterday at work was a challenge. Our office had a pumpkin carving contest in the morning and then in the afternoon they set out a HUGE candy and chocolate buffet! It was a bit crazy. There was cookies, sour candies, gummies, chocolate bars, liquorice, and candy apples for the winner of the pumpkin carving contest. (thank goodness it wasn't us!) It was a sugar smorgasbord.

A bunch of the staff had their children come in the afternoon to trick or treat, wearing the cutest costumes, so they got to enjoy the candy too. There was a baby dressed as a strawberry, a two year old in a cupcake costume, a two month old in a skeleton costume and twin newborns who cried in stereo. It was a fun day, but hard to resist all the goodies.

Still can't break into the 160s!

I am still hovering around 172...I had a brief moment where I was 169 after a long fast, but that went away very quickly and I have been the same for over a week now.

Over eating is still the enemy. I know that the reason intermittent fasting works for me is because I find it easier to eat nothing than to just have a little and stop. Even when my window has closed I find it hard to stop and have to really fight the urge to eat.

Thankfully I am not overeating three times a day anymore so that is why I have lost all this weight but what is making my progress slow now is my overeating in my eating window.

Maybe I should make my window smaller. 5 hours is a long time to eat one meal, which is pretty much what I do anyway. I could cut it back to three, then I will just be able to eat my meal and hopefully avoid all the little munching that happens after my main meal.

I know that Brad Pilon says if you are overeating in your eating window, then make your window later in the day so that you don't have time to consume too much. I really prefer eating lunch so a smaller window may help. Once I have finally stopped eating, and have finished wrestling with myself that my eating window is closed, I usually have no problem eating nothing. Before my eating window opens, absolutely no problem. I RARELY break my fast before the scheduled time. I can do 2 40 hour fasts in a week with no effort...So my only issue is once I start, I find it hard to stop.

Is there some kind of brain surgery that I can get to make me realize that when my stomach is full it is time to STOP EATING!

My body craves what it needs

I have noticed since I began fasting back in January, that I crave way more fruits and veggies than ever before. I really believe that once my body was not stuffed full of everything under the sun ( and very few fruits and veggies by the way) it had the time to actually asses what it needed and ask for it.

I regularly WANT a big salad and I always WANT fruit. I eat 100% more of these things now than before and not because I have said to myself that I should or that they are good for me etc. It is because my body asks for them.

I don't ever remember eating a salad before and thinking, man this salad is SO GOOD. It was always something I ate grudgingly...

I find it so amazing how the body works and I know that intermittent fasting is not only helping me lose weight, it is also helping me get healthy!

Barriers

Well all that talk about not being able to break the barrier and I forgot that I did break a barrier not long ago here.

So it can't be all that bad. I was really happy to get into the 170's so not doing too bad I guess. The only thing that bothers me sometimes is seeing that pic on the left of my blog, the before and after pic. In May I was 178...Well, now it is almost Oct. and I am only at 171, only 7 Lbs in almost 5 months! That is really slowing down.

Obviously I need to kick it up a notch. I thought that doing the 2 long 40 hour fasts per week would help but maybe I am still eating too much in my eating window.

I know I still eat when I am not hungry. I have to stop that. I will bring less food with me to work Mon-Fri. Hopefully that will help some. The only problem is the vending machine...when my head tells me to eat and there is nothing there, the vending machine looms. So, NO CASH!

That is the main issue, my head telling me to eat. Once I open the eating window, my old self is released, eating everything in sight. I may have found a way to lower my weight but I haven't really found a way of fixing what was wrong in my head in the first place...that is the hard part.

I will try to be more aware of my intake and think hard about why I overeat...I want to fix this, I want to get to my goal, and stay there!

Can't break the barrier

For some reason my body really, really wants to stay in the 170's. I can't get on that 169 number! The closest I have gotten was 170.6 but that only lasted a day and back up and down between 174 and 170...

I have been doing two 40 hour fasts per week for three weeks now and still, staying in the 170's. I am going to the gym too, and still, staying in the 170's. I am trying to be patient...knowing that all the way there it has been like this. 3 Lbs down, 2 Lbs up, 3 Lbs down, 2 Lbs up...slowly but surely.

My weight tracking chart may go up and down, but the main trend is down, so I just have to wait. Remain consistent and wait.

I will get there, one pound and a time (hopefully!).

2 Long Fasts this week!

I was finally able to do two long fasts in one week. I am on another plateau lately (174-171) up and down, up and down all within the same range. SO, I am trying to kick start my weight loss with two long fasts per week rather than just one.

I usually fast everyday in Fast-5 style, 19 hours per day. Once per week I skip my meal entirely and so fast between 40-48 hours. This usually keeps me in balance calorie wise for the week but in an effort to knock myself off my plateau I added another one this Thursday.

It went really well, I felt great and hopefully the scale will show the results and I will finally break into the 160's!!!

Once I hit 165Lbs, I will have lost 50Lbs! Right now I am at 44Lbs lost, still really good but only a little more than half way there. My goal is to lose 80Lbs total so I need to change it up a bit now as my progress is slowing down.

I am also going back to the weights. I have taken a couple week break because I sprained my ankle. But I am just going to focus on upper body and core and keep the momentum going! I really enjoy the weights and this should also help me to keep moving in a downward direction.

Words from Brad Pilon

Below is one of my favourite emails from Brad Pilon. You can sign up to receive his emails at bradpilon.com

"What should I say when people disapprove of my fasting?"

It's a question I get on a daily basis.

Now, the old me would have advised to explain all the wonderful
benefits of fasting. To defend your choice with the examples of
fasting all throughout history, from all different parts of the
world.

But that's not my answer anymore.

My answer is that you shouldn't care.

At all.

You are doing this for you, not for them.

You are fasting once or twice a week because you know it's

working for you...

Because getting that extra fat off of your body makes you feel
awesome.

And you know that most of the nutrition rules everyone else blindly
follows are mostly useless (or at least their effectiveness is
greatly exaggerated).

The point is that you have to OWN your goals.

If your goal is to lose weight then you really have to ignore
everyone who is trying to steer you off track, by questioning your
methods.

If something is working for you then you don't need to defend it,
especially to negative people who are simply trying to rain on your
success, or your choice to be different.

So when it comes to weight loss and how you eat, remember, it's
your goals, your choices and your approval that you should worry
about, not the goals, choices and approvals of anyone else.

So when people ask you why you are fasting, just answer

"because it's awesome"*

*That last line will only make sense if you've read this ==>
http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/how-to-be-awesome/

Constantly Revolving Wardrobe

I have a problem. A good problem, but a problem none the less. I keep out shrinking my clothes.

I start looking really dumpy in my pants that used to be tight. This is great news, but also kind of a challenge when money is tight and my clothes are not.

I am now on my third round of clothes a size smaller. So far I have gone from a size 20 to a size 14. That is really amazing! I love how intermittent fasting has helped me continue to shrink.

Thankfully, I am happy shopping at our local thrift store and it is a really great location that always has tons of selection and nice items to choose from. I usually go there and get a new mini wardrobe of several pairs of pants and several shirts every time I shrink down another size.

Today I went and spent $120 and got:

1 pair of jeans

1 pair of cords

3 pairs of dress pants

1 pair of casual pants

1 T-shirt

2 satin dress shirts

5 cotton dress shirts

1 sweater

Not bad for $120!

And it feels so good to put on pants that FIT. I instantly look thinner. Much nicer to see the shape of my bum rather than just a big baggy mess at the back.

Each time, I go through my closet and get rid of all the clothes that are too big. I used to keep them, knowing deep down that some day I would probably need them again. But not this time. This time I KNOW that I will never need them again. Luckily I have a friend who is also losing weight and she can make use of my old clothes as she also shrinks from size to size. So the constantly revolving wardrobe is alive and well.

Three more mini wardrobes to go and I should be in my goal size of size 8!

Can't wait!

That CRAZY diet

Last night I was at a BBQ with a bunch of people Ihaven't seen for several months. It was really nice to have so many compliments on how I look. I even overheard a conversation where two people were saying, "Have you seen how amazing Jenna looks. Wow she is beautiful." That felt really nice, for a very long part of my life I certainly didn't feel beautiful at all.

One of my friends said to me, "Are you still on that CRAZY diet?" I had to laugh at that one. I told him, it isn't crazy, and you know why? Because I am still doing it.

Crazy diets are not possible to maintain long term. It has been 8 months since I started this "crazy" way of living and there is no way I could ever follow a crazy diet that long. No one can.

Society is not always on mark for what is the best for you...take a look at what society has told us to do in the past.

“For a better start in life, start cola earlier!

How soon is too soon? Not soon enough. Laboratory tests over the last few years have proven that babies who start drinking soda during that early formative period have a much higher chance of gaining acceptance and “fitting in” during those awkward pre-teen and teen years. So, do yourself a favor. Do your child a favor. Start them on a strict regimen of sodas and other sugary carbonated beverages right now, for a lifetime of guaranteed happiness. PROMOTES ACTIVE LIFESTYLE, BOOSTS PERSONALITY, GIVES BODY ESSENTIAL SUGARS!"

"Why we have the youngest customers in the business.

This young man is 11 months old-and he isn't our youngest customer by any means. For 7-up is so pure, so wholesome, you can even give it to babies and feel good about it. Look at the back of a 7-up bottle. Notice that all our ingredients are listed. (That isn't required of soft drinks, you know - but we're proud to do it and we think you're pleased that we do.) By the way, Mom, when it comes to toddlers-if they like to be coerced to drink their milk, try this: Add 7-up to the milk in equal parts, pouring the 7-up gently into the milk. It's a wholesome combination - and it works! Make 7-up your family drink. You like it...it likes you! Nothing DOES IT like a 7-up!"

"Enjoy an ice cream cone shortly before lunch. Sugar can be the willpower you need to undereat.

When you're hungry, it usually means your energy's down. By eating something with sugar in it, you can get your energy up fast. In fact, sugar is the fastest energy food around. And when your energy's up, there's a good chance you'll have the willpower to undereat at mealtime. How's that for a sweet idea? Sugar...only 18 calories per teaspoon, and it's all energy."

"No diets, no baths, no exercise, FAT, the ENEMY that is shortening your life, BANISHED! How? with Sanitized TAPE WORMS, jar packed. Friends for a fair form. Easy to swallow. No ill effects!"

Everyone who stays thin is essentially on a diet

I was thinking about intermittent fasting and how it has become part of my life and engrained in my routine. It has really just become my lifestyle. It is helping me lose weight and I know that once I reach my goal weight it will be what helps me to stay there. It is not a diet but it is how I will stay thin.

That is true with everyone who stays thin. People who have never been overweight and those who have lost weight and kept it off. They are all technically on a diet I suppose, they just don't realize it. Whatever it is that they do to stay thin is just a part of their lives, it is how they go about their day, they exercise and eat right and live a balanced lifestyle. (of course there are some people out there who eat like mad and don't gain weight thanks to good genes)

Each of them probably do it in their own way. They eat six small meals a day, they eat small portions, they avoid those high calorie sweets, they exercise regularly, they incorporate fasting or cleanses. Whatever it is, that is what keeps them looking the way they do, their lifestyle.

Anyone who has ever dieted, lost weight and re-gained it plus some more, knows that it was a failure because the diet was too difficult to incorporate into their lifestyle long term.

I guess I am starting to really feel confidence and relaxation because I have found something that has become a part of my daily routine that I can do for life. I can just live and put my efforts to something else, because for me, intermittent fasting no longer requires any effort, it is just as much a part of my routine as getting up and going to work.

So, when I look around and see those people who always seem to be in great shape, I no longer wonder how in the world they do it when it is so difficult for me. I now know that once you find what works for you, it just comes naturally, and the weight goes away, and stays away.