I just fasted for five days and lost basically nothing. In the past, five days without food would have knocked off seven or eight pounds, but something has changed in my body. I don’t know what it is, but it’s pissing me off. Fasting is how I got down to the low 140s last year, then a return to high-test insulin in the spring piled 20 pounds back on.
Before you get all excited about how “dangerous” fasting is, please read my post called A pain in the pants. It explains why I have to take this route to deal with insulin-induced weight gain.
We’re expecting a change in weather this week on the West Coast, so this morning I loaded up the kayak and went for a paddle. I needed the quiet tranquility to consider my next steps.
My immediate reaction is to plan another fast in a week or so, but history tells me I’ll postpone it even further. Those first two days are difficult, and not something I enjoy. It could be a couple of weeks before I try again. I have to be realistic.
So the other option is to dive back into another fast, the day after I broke the five-day fast and ate a veggie/bacon stir-fry. That’s today. I’m sure my body is somewhat stressed, but I feel annoying fine. If I get marooned on a desert island with a group of normal people, I’ll be sipping coconut milk and enjoying the view as the others die off from starvation.
I do drink at least two litres of water a day while on a fast, and this time I switched to Smart Water in the expectation it would keep my electrolytes in balance. I doubt the switch in water had anything to do with the poor results.
My body is telling me to eat. But I have to weather through its whining. Enough of this crap. Oh, and right on cue, my body-weight scales died. I had to go out and buy a cheap replacement to get the news of no weight loss. It may be a hint that I should forgo the daily weighing and just go by the fit of my clothes. I tend to be driven by data so avoiding weigh-ins would be hard.
Speaking of weigh-ins, I remember a long time ago when my then-husband and I joined Weight Watchers. He lost 15 pounds in two weeks while I lost less than two.
“If I hadn’t seen what she ate, I’d suspect she was cheating,” he cheerily said to the WW staffer.
He didn’t even give up beer. So annoying.
What I don’t want to hear is some medical person telling me that the diabetes is progressing and even the short-term insulin I use now will prevent me from losing weight. I don’t want to hear I have no options. I don’t want to hear I have to succumb to continuous weight gains. No.
I overcame a huge load of resistance to write this post. Fasting isn’t a subject one brings up in ordinary conversation, but I figure you guys can handle it.
Oh, and thanks for reading. Being heard really helps.
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