72 Hour Fast Complete

Fasting is a mindset – a positive habit to jump-start natural healing process in the body and mind. It triggers autophagy, the cellular self-cleansing process. ― Amit Ray, Peace Bliss Beauty and Truth: Living with Positivity

72 hours and 22 minutes my fast came to an end just after 6pm tonight.  I broke my fast with a tasty homemade split-pea soup.

This fast has been tricky in places, not least because I couldn’t get enough sleep which has been triggered by naughty Romanian rescue pups who want to jump on the bed in the early hours because they want a cuddle and a snuggle.

Usually, when that happens with Moo I’m able to get back to sleep but over the course of the last three nights it’s proven to be more difficult and I’m not sure if my fasting caused that.

On top of that, I’ve found that my rumbling stomach never really went away which was annoying although I suspect this was because I was drinking tea and coffee.

There have been plenty of positives though.  I haven’t craved food, nor thought about it even.  Although when planning how I wanted to break my fast I was thinking about naughty, carb-like food.  Instead, I wanted to cook something wholesome from scratch.

My energy levels through the day have been fantastic.  Even with lack of sleep I’ve not felt tired in the afternoons.  And my running sessions have gone well this week.

And in terms of weight loss, I’ve ended up losing 5lbs so that was a nice bonus.

So taking it all into account these last three days have been interesting.  It’s certainly been a challenge, as these fasts always are.  But in a good way.  And if nothing else the time did seem to go pretty quickly.

Would I do it again?  Yes but probably not until next year.  Once a year is quite enough.  Do I feel better for having done the fast?  I’m pleased I completed the fast but the feeling better bit will only happen if I not eat clean and keep drinking plenty of water.  For now, my body is just adapting to eating again and I feel really tired now I have a full stomach of soup.  I’m hoping for a better nights sleep, something which is equally important for a healthy life.

Would I recommend it for weight loss?  In a word no.  Everyone would react differently from undertaking a 72 hour fast.  Some would lose more weight than me and others less, it would all depend on how much water you’re carrying and how overweight you are, to begin with.  Do it for more than weight loss.  Do it to understand your body more, appreciate food and eating, spend time not thinking about food or what to eat.  There are loads of reasons to fast but mostly do it just to learn that you can do it and you won’t faint from not eating for 72 hours.  That while food keeps you alive, there is much food to chose from and we don’t always make the best choices when it comes to eating.  So spend the time while fasting allowing your body to appreciate what it can’t have for once.

Thanks for reading.

Healthy Habits – January

Doesn’t January feel like it went on for a year?  It was never-ending, or so it seemed.  But we’ve finally made it to February which can only mean one thing, I can start to review my habits.

As you know, I’m a bit of a nerd when it comes to stats.  I love being able to track metrics and study them and habits are no different.

Building on from the habits I started last year I’ve started to track them again – and have added a few too.

Here they are:

I’ve tweaked early mornings because last year I tried something slightly different.  I started getting up early – according to the season.  So depending on how early the first light arrived (and where it fitted in with work), that would be my wake up time.  This ranged from 7:15am in the height of winter to 4:45am in the height of summer.

And yes, while all the evidence would say you need to get up at the same time every day to embed a habit I felt this was quite difficult when my body was telling me otherwise.  So I decided that instead of fighting it, what would happen if I worked with it?  Well, turns out that for me at least this works really well, it feels much more natural to follow the sun closely than to spend too much time in the mornings battling with the dark and cold.  While I love early mornings, if I’m not going to use it constructively then I’m better using that time for rest (which seems to be so underrated these days).

I feel like I got a good start to my habits in January.  In all but one habit, I’ve increased it not only compared to last month but from January last year as well.

The blanks merely indicate that they are new for 2019 so I cannot compare them until next month.

I want to increase my step count and be more consistent about it.  Last year I averaged about 6,500 steps a day but it was no-where near a daily habit.  I’d end up doing 12k steps one day be knackered the next and not do any followed by the odd 2k and 4k steps.

January I consistently completed 7k steps which I’m chuffed about and already feel better for it (in fact my average step count was actually 8,414 which is exceptionally chuffing great!).  While the weather hasn’t always been on my side I haven’t let that be my excuse.  Instead, I’d do the steps indoors and it works just as well.

This year, instead of monitoring my alcohol intake I feel like I can trust myself a little more to just record when I don’t have any alcohol that day.  While there will most certainly be an occasion to have a drink – I know it’ll be a sensible one or two drinks only.  I’ve no wish to give up completely but I do want the “no alcohol” days to be more than the days I do have a tipple.

All these habits have been set up with weight-loss as a major goal this year (as previously posted).  But they have also been chosen to create sustainable living too.  Yes, I am overweight but rather than a quick diet fix I want to do this over the longer term so that every pound I lose is done via a healthy way of living not from an overnight success plan otherwise I know, from experience, it’s just going to come back at me – twofold!

February is another month and as the days get lighter for longer I intend to make positive healthy choices while enjoying it at the same time.

See you next week.  Have a great green weekend.

Healthy Habits 2019

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. – Oprah Winfrey

This time last year I set about deciding and sticking to a few healthy habits that I thought would help me lose weight.  You can read about how that went here.

I have found that habits, more than anything have created the most positive and beneficial change in my life.  Being human I don’t always stick to them but I have got much better sticking to them.  Like everything it’s about development which requires small, changes which add up to big things over time.

This year I’m building on those habits already started and adding a few more too.

1 Pound a Week

I’ve also set myself a goal – to lose 1lb (0.45kg) a week and a total weight loss of 26lbs by 30th June 2019.

Why only 1lb a week?  Because it needs to be tiny.  Trying to lose weight in the past has been unsuccessful because I’ve set the desired outcome I wanted to achieve (last year I wanted to get to 135lbs) but didn’t really break that down.  I had no metrics to measure it by.  I’d lose 2lbs one week, gain 3lbs the next and possibly lose 5lbs the week after with no rhyme or reason.  I knew what habits would help me lose that weight but if I went up or down on the scales I would become despondent and frustrated that the weight loss wasn’t consistent.

I’m serious about losing 26lbs so I need to know how much and by when.  Then I can monitor (hopefully much more effectively) when I go wrong.  Eating crisps on a Saturday but losing weight one week and gaining the next doesn’t really tell me much.  I need to focus on cutting out the bad foods, replacing with the whole foods and seeing what (and in some cases if any) change it makes.

I’m no scientist but I don’t believe calories in versus calories out always equals weight loss/gain.  As much as I’d like it to be this simple my recent experience tells me differently.   Water consumption (and retention), the time you eat and how you burn calories all play a part before you even start on what you eat.

I’m convinced that when I step on the scales at 7am Monday morning, and I see an increase, they are not telling me I ate too much yesterday (because I didn’t), they tell me that Saturday’s chocolate and wine are having an effect (which didn’t show on Sunday).  Time and again what I eat (or how much) tends to affect my weight 48hrs not 24hrs but it’s only my theory and I can’t prove it.

Like all big changes I need it to start so small that it’s impossible to fail.  1lb is the smallest metric I can possibly go for.  It’s also much easier to monitor with a target of 1lb (0.45kg) a week.

I’ll share my results on this blog so I hold myself accountable because I’m committed to losing the weight (again, unfortunately, I have to admit).

The third week in and it has become all-consuming – for the better.  Or in other words, getting to a healthy weight has finally become a priority for me.  That does, of course, mean other things are now further down on the rung of importance because if trying and failing has taught me anything – if I can’t give a goal 100% commitment then I can’t complain when I don’t reach it.  95% doesn’t cut it.

Metrics

I’m using three items to monitor my weight:

• Scales
• Fitness tracker watch and software
• Google fit
• Coach.me

An example of my coach.me

I’m not into fancy gear – all the above is about as basic as you can get.  I’m using google fit to track my metrics although it doesn’t seem to always sync with the fitness tracker and I continue to use coach.me because it’s great habit tracking tool.

My “official” (as I like to call it) weigh in day will be a Monday morning.  However, I continue to weigh myself daily just because I’m curious to see what happens during the week.  I don’t want to get obsessive over the scale numbers because ultimately life is bigger than that but it’s useful as a guide.

So far, even drinking too much water after getting up from sleep doesn’t help the scales go in the right direction.  Eating big portions of whole foods (stews and soups made from lentils and beans) can affect my weight.

However, like last year, for me, it’s more about implementing and maintaining good healthy habits.   Walking, cutting out ready meals, cutting down chocolate, strength exercises – or any exercise for that matter every single day.  Most importantly cutting down my stress and anxiety levels and getting quality sleep.

Blue Zones

I’ll go into this in more detail in another post that I plan to write on this subject but essentially a small bad of dedicated scientists and researchers discovered fives zones, in five different countries around the world- pockets if you like, where people live far longer (and in better health) than anywhere else.  These areas, often little more than a town or a suburb contain residents that live over 100.  The studies have shown that these people often eat and do the same types of things which may (or may not) help them live well into their 100’s.

I’m absolutely fascinated by this study and having read The Blue Zone by Dan Buettner three time over already I’m curious to see if I can apply some of the research findings to my life – here on the little banks of the Humber.  So, some of the habits this year will be influenced by this book.

Healthy Habits for 2019

I’m tracking 25 habits this year:

• 16 relate to health
• 6 relate to productivity
• 4 relate to self-development
• 1 relates to gardening

I won’t be tracking them all on this blog this year, only those relating to health (don’t want to bore my readers too much!).

I’m also going to have a go, for the first time, to track my daily state of mine using a new app I’ve found called Daylio.  I’m going all holistic but ultimately while the scales say one thing my mind may be in another place – and usually is.  Working as hard for my brain as well as my body might actually be the key I was missing all along.

I’ll be back here to share an update at the end of the month.

Health Habits – the End of the Year

2018 has certainly been an eventful year.  Not one I’d wish to repeat if I’m honest just because of the sheer amount of work that went into getting things completed to get back to the level where I was back in 2017.

Which sounds like I’d be going backwards really.   I’m not going back. If anything this year has taught me a lot and now I’m even further ahead, and with more experience under my belt which puts me heading into 2019 in a very nice place.

Along the way my habits have kept me both grounded and focussed and while I haven’t always achieved 100%, the habits I started at the beginning of this year have kept going.

But, I never lost weight and you may be wondering why if I wasn’t losing anything did I bother to keep going?  That after all was the number one reason for starting this.

Because while this started off as a simple weight loss recording tool it has turned into so much more.  For one thing, it’s made me more accountable for my bad habits.  Every day I ticked off a good habit felt good and those days I didn’t made me think about why I didn’t.  And there are many reasons why, and those reasons made me think more – which has been exceedingly beneficial.

When things have been difficult or I’ve had a long day it’s so much easier to eat badly or do little exercise.  But when I have done that it hasn’t been long before I’ve rectified it again.  Unfortunately, this year did not allow for a constant routine to be followed.  As soon as I found a solid foundation from which to carry on something else would happen and I’d feel myself back to square one, and that happened again and again.  And you can’t be consistent without a routine, good or bad – it’s just easier for that routine to involve excuses and making bad choices.

But that is of course life.  The key, I have discovered is to adapt as quickly as possible.  And I think that is what my habits have shown me.  Days can be tough.  They can be long and wearing.  But it doesn’t mean to say I can’t have ownership of it.  And they are the time when I achieve the most – and feel most satisfied.  The days I wake up early and get a head start on the day, get my exercise in (and enjoy it), I eat well and drink plenty of water.  Those are the days I tick off the most habits.

So, in the end, I might not have lost weight but I have gained new strength and health through my habits.  I haven’t had a cold in over a year, I’ve not eaten any meat for 12 months, created new plant-based meals and more have stayed focussed and committed to my goals as much as I could.  This went far beyond my habits.  Achieving much in both work and home life which I believe was helped by my daily habits and dedication to achieve that much-needed structure.  In other words – always striving to achieve better.  And I think I have done that.

Here’s to 2019, and eating less chocolate!

May I wish all my readers a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Healthy Habits – September Update

Opps, it’s nearly November now but never mind.  I’m still holding myself accountable to all the habits I set myself to follow on a daily (rather than the odd day) earlier this year.  September was a tricky month but in the end, it wasn’t as bad as I had feared in my head.

Because the format of WordPress isn’t so good for showing tables with multiple columns I’ve reduced it to show the past six months only.  That way it’s a little bit easier to read.

Healthy Habit	No of days achieved in Jan	No of days achieved in Feb	No of days achieved in Mar	No of days achieved in Apr	No of days achieved in May	No of days achieved in June	No of days achieved in July	No of days achieved in Aug	No of days achieved in Sep	% Difference	Longest Streak So far
Wake up at 06:30am or earlier	19	18	16	14	19	14	15	15	23	53.33%	5 days
Yoga or stretching	5	5	6	11	15	9	11	1	5	400.00%	4 days
Be grateful or give gratitude to others	14	4	16	16	26	15	17	24	21	-12.50%	14 days
Strength training	0	5	8	8	7	5	10	7	11	57.14%	5 days
Eat a plant-based whole food breakfast	11	19	17	17	22	22	22	19	21	10.53%	13 days
Eat a plant-based whole food lunch	13	17	19	15	23	20	17	16	19	18.75%	7 days
Eat a plant-based whole food dinner	10	8	13	12	14	9	6	17	18	5.88%	6 days
Walk at least 6,000 steps	13	17	22	19	29	28	18	17	21	23.53%	25 days
No alcohol or moderate drinking	31	28	31	30	31	30	31	31	30	-3.23%	273 days
Drink 750ml of water	12	16	22	22	26	28	21	21	23	9.52%	18 days
No Chocolate	0	13	5	7	17	13	14	11	15	36.36%	7 days

As you can see, waking early was good, as was my ability to eat a healthy breakfast, walk 6,000 steps a day and drink water.  In fact all but one of my habits had increased since August.

I would say though that while on paper it looks good in reality I’m getting slightly disheartened that it’s not making any difference to my weight.  Yes there are still ways these habits could have an impact (stop eating chocolate already) but I think I need to do something that will create more impact.  Or at least an impact on a quicker timescale.

I guess I had hoped I’d lose at least 16lbs by now but I haven’t.  I haven’t lost anything really.  My weight just hovers at the same – or+5 lbs every day.  And it’s really annoying.  It’s hard to keep going with the little things when you don’t see the changes you’re looking for.

I’m not sure at this stage if it’s what I am eating , or when I eat it, or how much I eat or a combination of all three!

I do know that I am missing jogging.  The exercise I am doing is pretty consistent.  But again, am I pushing myself enough to burn the fat off?  Clearly not.

I will endeavour to keep going through in the hopes I can see these life long, and sustainable habits, change my weight and body into something half resembling a healthy and fit 39year old.