Monday, April 13, 2009

It's been an amazing journey


Last Thursday’s blogflection was about my 2009 Lenten intermittent fasting journey. In case you missed it, you can read it here:

My intermittent fasting journey

A fit and lean middle-age man client of mine who read this blogflection shared these comments with me:

“Okay I think monitoring my diet or what I eat is really appropriate. But denying my meals to two hours a day? I am surprised you don’t fall over. I eat five to six times a day – small controlled and clean (veggies, fruits, complex carbs, proper fat and non-red meat protein including soy). The fitness dimension is critical – agreed. Keep it up, not only do you feel and look great – you will be able to keep working to refill retirement and pay taxes. Take care.”

Here was my reply:

“Something surprising about my fasting journey has been the discovery that I was not denying myself, after the first couple days of adjustment. In fact, it was very liberating and created so much time not devoted to thinking about food, preparing food, eating it, cleaning up, thinking about how good or bad it was, and, finally, thinking when I was going to do it again. So the unexpected discovery was how much more time I had available during the daytime hours to work during my busy tax season.

Again, the first couple of days were an adjustment but it has been an amazing journey.”

My intermittent fasting journey began on Ash Wednesday, February 25th, and ended yesterday on Easter Sunday, 46 days later and 15 pounds lighter. On Easter Sunday I ate an apple at 1:00 p.m., enjoyed an authentic Mexican food dinner single serving of Chili Colorado, rice, beans and tortillas at 4:00 p.m., and another apple at 8:00 p.m. I thought about eating more but my body and brain kept telling me nothing else was needed.

I’ll have more to share next week when I’m not so busy with my work, but until then I’ll repeat that it’s been an amazing journey.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

4 comments:

Charles Long said...

This has been interesting. I'll be looking forward to the rest of the story.

Anonymous said...

Wow, Pierini, it must be very liberating not to think about food constantly. My husband is always asking "what's for supper, lunch, etc...." He says food is one of life's great pleasures. I'm not too sure about that.

I saw this quote on a workout video and typed it out and posted it on my fridge: "He who would eat much must eat little, for by eating little he will live longer and so be able to eat more" - Luigi Cornaro

So, think of the years that you've added to your life :) and how much money that you've saved--extra benefit.

I "tried" the fast-5 approach (thanks Tom for your advice), but I'm sorry to say that it went out the window after a couple of weeks. Being a woman and hormonally challenged at certain times of the month, I could not fight off the constant feelings of hunger. I guess I'm just weak-boohoo :(

Have a great day,
Donna

Charles Long said...

Donna, I don't know about weak. Everybody is different and I don't think there's a one size fits all approach to diet and nutrition.

Pierini Fitness said...

I believe the best way to eat and train healthy is the way that you can do it today and each and every day for the rest of your life.

Intermittent fasting might not pass that test for many, but I do believe that it can be a lifelong way of eating. I'm sure I'll stray from it gradually but I definitely practiced it yesterday because I was so darn busy with my work that there wasn't time to eat. I eventually ate around 7:00 p.m. last night.

I'll definitely be eating this way today.