Day 11 - Wednesday

Down 1.2 pounds from yesterday, 12.2 from the beginning, and 88.2 from my highest weight. 

I’m really tired of this pureed veggie soup.  I’m almost tired of fruit smoothies.  I’m ready to chew again.  One more week of liquids and then I can. 

Putting strawberries picked by my own hands into my smoothies helps!  J  I try to make them a little different each time and haven’t had strawberries in the last couple ones. 

Another outfit for the give-away pile. :-) and :-( It was one of my favorites and used to look really good on me, but size 20 jeans and size 1X tops just don't anymore! Thank You, God!  I was able to put the jeans on and take them off without unbuttoning or unzipping them and there’s no elastic!

Day 10 - Tuesday

Down 0.8 pounds from yesterday and 11 pounds from the beginning. 

I’m halfway done!  At first I felt torn being happy about that.   I thought I shouldn’t be happy to have this time end.  Eating is the way God provided for us to sustain life, though.  It’s meant to be the normal way.  I was just going too far in that direction and needed a course correction.  My course is being corrected and I’m looking forward to getting back to eating in a regular way without letting my taste buds overtake me. 

I walked only 1 mile today, but that’s all I attempted and it was on purpose.  I did 2 last week and was sorry later.  I feel fine now. 

From A Hunger for God by John Piper:

“…fasting is an expression of humility – that is, our sense of desperate, utter dependence on God for what we need.”

Day 9 - Monday

Down 0.2 pounds from yesterday and 10.2 pounds from the beginning. 

I sometimes miss running.  Now (Tuesday morning) I want to get back to it. 

I’ve known for several days that my first meal after the fast will be BBQ.  I want meat.  Smoked meat.  With a little sauce.  I’m not too concerned about the sides.  I just want meat. 

8:45 a.m.  Hungry now but have enacted 1-hour rule.

I miss eating.  I miss chewing. 

Glad to have Dee joining me!  My friend Dee started this same fast today.  Follow her blog at http://dee-lightfullmoments.blogspot.com/

Quotes from A Hunger for God  by John Piper

“…we are less sensitive to spiritual appetites when we are in the bondage of physical ones.” 

“I want the manifestation of You Yourself more than I want food.”

Day 8 - Sunday

Down 1.2 pounds from Saturday and 10 pounds from last Sunday, which was day 1.

No special revelations today. 

Day 7 - Saturday

I forgot to add to yesterday’s post that I was 1.6 pounds down from Friday and 8.2 pounds down from the beginning. 

This morning (Saturday) I was down 0.6 pounds from yesterday and 8.8 pounds down from the beginning. 

I don’t miss running.  That doesn’t mean I won’t return to it. 

I walked at the mall today for about 1-1/2 hours.  I did stop to look at things in some stores so I wasn’t walking constantly for that time, but I did walk the length of the mall upstairs and downstairs at least twice.  And when I was walking and not shopping, it was at a pace brisk enough that my hair was being blown back.  Yes, I walk fast! 

Day 6

I really can get by on a lot less food than I normally eat. 

I don’t have to have chocolate every day.  I usually keep Dove dark chocolate on hand but sometimes go a week without having any.  In my Christmas stocking Brianne put a package of fun-size caramel Twix, which I really like, and some Dove.  On a shopping trip I got myself a bar of dark chocolate with bacon just to try.  I had been having one piece a day since Christmas and thought I was being disciplined.  Now I see that I can stretch it out even more than that.  I considered adding powdered cocoa to my fruit smoothies for chocolate taste.  I even checked the ingredient list and there were no milk products, just cocoa.  Fine, right?!  God spoke to me and said it’s really not necessary to add it.  I can do without.  This is a fast to rein in my flesh, not to see how close to the edge I can get without violating the guidelines.   

A fast is a good way to find out what’s wrong in your thinking, like with the chocolate.  I just couldn’t understand why I wasn’t losing weight.  I don’t think the chocolate was the only factor, but it’s what was revealed to me just now.  We’ll see if there are other things.   

I was at a dinner book club with friends this evening.  Of course it was at a restaurant.  I took a container of smoothie and a container of broth. 

One of the other ladies set her piece of chocolate cream pie down in front of me. 

Not directly in front of me like she was offering it, but…it was in front of me.  (It's kind of hard to see the pie, but it's just in front of my silver container with black and blue circles on it. Brianne's not here or I would have her make the picture black and white but leave the pie in color.) The victory is that I wasn’t lusting after the pie.  I looked at it but felt no compulsion to eat it for several reasons:   

1. It wasn’t mine.  That would be extremely rude!
2. I don’t like pie.  If I eat it at all, I eat only the filling because I don’t like the crust.  And in most restaurants whipped cream tastes very “industrial.”  This probably would’ve too. 
3. If I’m going to have chocolate, I’m not going to get it from Piccadilly pie.  It’s going to be quality chocolate that’s worth every calorie!
4. I’m fasting.  Duh!  Eating that pie or anything else right now would be direct disobedience to God and therefore sin.  Eating it another time may not be.  But I’m fasting now. 

So I had a victory tonight.  Thank You, God!  It really wasn’t even that much of a battle.  As soon as I saw it I knew I wasn’t going to eat it.  My mind still went through the thought process, though.  I just realized two things as I read over this entry. 

1.  Today was quite the day for chocolate, huh? 
2. That piece of pie never got eaten.  I don’t know why.  She didn’t even take it home to have later.  It seems as if that pie’s only reason for being was to teach me something. 

Day 5

This is the report for yesterday, which was day 5 and one-quarter of the way through this fast. 

I lost 1 more pound from the day before for a total of 6.6 from the beginning. 

I took a walk on the Pinellas Trail while Brianne was in class.  I didn't even attempt to run, knowing that would be asking too much of my body.  I walked for about 40 minutes and a distance of 2 miles.  I felt great!  I did have a little bit of ankle pain so I slowed my pace but otherwise was fine.  I made sure I had something to eat drink before and after and I took a 1-hour nap as soon as we got home. 

When I woke up that's when the hunger hit.  I think I overcompensated by drinking too much smoothie and broth for the next few hours.  I won't be doing any walking today and will do only 1 mile tomorrow. 

In other news, the top I wore yesterday is one I got when I was doing this fast the first time.  When I bought it it was too snug for me to feel comfortable, but it was only $5 and I knew I'd eventually fit into it.  Besides, it had strawberries on it!  I've worn it these last two years and I put it on yesterday too.  It's too big! 

It drapes like a maternity top so I won't be wearing it again!  Time to make it into a pillow. 

Speaking of time, it's time to get today started and make it better than yesterday.  See you tomorrow.