Day Eight
Well I did it. One full week of intermittent fasting! Actually yesterday was actually the one week mark, but it was also my daughter's 10th birthday so we were too busy for me to jump online and post anything.
Where do I start? How about with my daughter's birthday. I ate the cake and the ice cream! It wasn't a huge piece, and I did put most of my two scoops back in the freezer to enjoy a little bit each day, but I ate it. And here's the biggest thing. I didn't feel guilty for eating it, and I didn't feel an urgency to finish it all off!
Something I have realized about myself and my relationship with food is that over the years as I bounced from plan to plan and diet to diet I have come to see certain unhealthy foods as 'cheat foods'. And the reason I think this perception hurt me more than it helped is two fold.
1. The word 'cheat' has a negative connotation. Calling that meatball sub a cheat meal implied to me that I should feel guilty and even ashamed of eating the meatball sub. Guilt and shame weren't about to help motivate me. When I feel bad... I eat!
2. If I were eating a 'cheat' meal on any of those numerous failed diet plans in my past, I would finish every last crumb and then go for seconds. I would eat well all week and the anticipation of that Saturday night pizza and wings cheat meal would build up in my mind until it was like waiting for Christmas morning.
Fast forward to Saturday's pizza Christmas and I would eat myself sick. After all I had earned it. Also, the thought of no junk food for a whole other week was always in my mind. I felt like I had to eat now while I could. So even if I felt sick I would eat whatever I could get my hands on.
Think about number 2 for a moment. I was eating until I felt ill! I was just accepting the fact that I would have stomach cramps all night and I might even be running to the bathroom. This was the price I was EAGERLY paying to be able to eat.
That is so very unhealthy. How did I not see how unhealthy that was until now? Last night I ate the cheat food. I had sushi (not the healthy stuff either, we love our shrimp tempura), cake, and ice cream. I put left overs in the fridge, and I slept well all night on a sated, but not full stomach. Tonight I will nibble on the left overs. No guilt, no shame, and no impulse to 'eat while I still can'. I felt no sense of this being my last chance at food! That is absolutely what I would call a non scale victory! (NSV)
Okay so I'm sure you are all wondering how did the scale enjoy my week of IF.
I weighed in yesterday at 254.2 lbs. That is 12.5 lbs down in 7 days!!! AND it is exactly halfway to my first milestone goal of losing 25 lbs before bridesmaid dress day.
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