You see, I really do try to keep up with comments and visit your blogs and what not but it is difficult for me to actually reply to everyone or give out my e-mail and phone number to tons of people. I will try in the near future to update the "Ana Buddies" page so that everyone who has commented in the past since my last update will be added to the list. MAKE SURE you put if you are from the united states/united kingdom or any other country so I can put that on the list as well; it helps me stay organized and others in your country looking for an ana buddy will be able to find you quicker! :)
Well I broke my fast this morning around 7 am with cabbage soup, I had one bowl and was fine; I had absolutely no desire to binge nor did I feel any ravenous hunger pangs... Later around 9 am I began to get the overwhelming need to binge, but I didn't I had a few squares of this natural chocolate [made with like milk chocolate, tree nuts, and soy milk etc.] and then I had more cabbage soup and some homemade chicken salad.
I made myself sick :(
I planned on SLOWLY returning to a normal diet but after that and my body purging everything I had just ingested in like 30 minutes, I decided I am going to restart my fast, because food is just not worth it and I am absolutely not worried about Christmas feasts coming up.
A bit of a springer, I am on day 2 of my water fast, which will be day 3 in like 3 to 4 hours, and I am just so excited because I finally have the determination and will power to get through it this time.
I have also realized, and I will put it here in case it is something you've been wondering too, that you can only take what people say about their fasting experiences and weight loss with a grain of salt because... most won't mention the fact that they did not continue post-fast with a healthier lifestyle than their previous one pre-fast.
I really liked this video because it shows exactly what water fasting can do, and what it will not do; in the video she posts after this she states "I ended up going to taco bell and binging" and a few minutes later says that she would not recommend fasting to anyone because she gained all the initial weight back anyway. ONCE YOU LOSE FAT, IT IS GONE FOR GOOD! IT IS NOT STORED SOMEWHERE TO BE PUT BACK WHEN YOU TREAT YOURSELF. If you fast and then fall back into old habits then of course you will gain all the weight back and then some!
Please do not be scared of water fasting because of all the horror stories of "I gained it all back" or "I weigh more now than before I started"
You all are smarter than that!
Just do NOT pick up old habits of binging on junk food or eating sugar; yes, you can have a food-favourite like maybe a cheese hot-pocket if that is your thing, but don't do it every day or weekend.
This is my favourite video because of the gigantic amount of weight this amazing girl has lost through a mere 21 days/3 weeks of fasting! Truly, I mean what else in the world can you do that will get you the same results?
More unnecessary TIPS:
Have a set goal in mind to motivate you [weight loss, health, spirituality]
Have an accountability partner to keep you honest if you mess up or struggle
Drink LOTS of water [distilled is the best]
prepare yourself mentally for the future lifestyle changes
For me the hardest part is not seeing good food, like cabbage soup, being cooked and eaten without me or seeing chocolate and wanting some, but rather it is knowing that when I finish this fast I will not be able to eat the same foods [like pizza, chocolate etc.]
I mean, I can eat it on occasion but when you essentially reset your body, and get it to prime optimization where it no longer desires fatty foods or craves sugar... why would you want to put it back in? So I think that I really do struggle with that a lot and coming to terms with giving up 80% of the foods that my body loves to binge on.
have a reward for when you finish fasting to look forward to
For most this would be clothes or a piercing or tattoo [or bikini maybe?], and I won't lie, it has always been that way for myself but now I feel that in giving up my past life I really just want boiled eggs and purple cabbage soup [yes, it is that good] for a reward. I mean, if I try to promise myself something like that then I know it will only discourage me later because it is not substantial, it will only get me through the first few days and then I start thinking, "well what if I am not skinny enough to get it?" and other things along the lines of that.
I am not saying your reward needs to be your favourite meal [and it shouldn't if your favourite meal is something like dairy, meat or anything else that is heavy on the digestive system] but it should definitely be something that you want DURING your fast... not something that you will be able to get if you are satisfies post-fast, and for most this will end up being a certain food or drink.
stay warm, get lots of rest
don't spend every waking moment desiring to eat and hating your fast
enjoy your fast, because it only lasts as long as you set it up for and that will not be forever. Any anxieties you feel will only be the body that you have created from sugar dependency and fat dependency in which is trying to get you to eat because it thinks it will starve.
No matter how good something may look or smell, or how fast it will disappear during your fast, that food will still exist when you finish fasting. You can still cook it again or buy it again or whatever; there is no need to break a fast over something so silly as food that, just like your fast, will be over and done with before you even got to enjoy it.
let me tell you, fasting is SO worth it because it really does make you CRAVE healthy foods like tomatoes [I HATED tomatoes by themselves, and still do now that I haven't fasted in so long, but when I fast they taste soooo good!!] and you will no longer desire things like sugar, cheese, meat, or unhealthy fatty foods that I know you so desperately want to expel from your diet.
Lastly,
Preparing is great, but not a necessity
If you have a generally unhealthy lifestyle of fried foods, then yes, you need to prepare physically pre-fast with a few days of juice fasting or something like that otherwise the detoxification stage of the water fast will be quite unpleasant.
Now on the other hand if you live a generally okay lifestyle of low fat and sodium then you can just dive right in if you want, like me.
I got the overwhelming notion that I needed to fast on 14th of December and at 2 am on the 15th [it would have been midnight but I had some chicken salad with grapes] I decided that I would and, without any mental or physical preparation, have been fasting since.
The thing that got my butt up and moving was... I wore my mother's shirt to the movies because I had nothing to wear and my sister said "well I don't think I have anything that will fit you."
How depressing is that!! Granted, my mother's shirt was big on me and is tight on my mother, but still, who dreams of sharing clothes with their tubby mother instead of their stick thin sister?
So.. that was my motivation to start, and the videos of "before and after" for 21 days keeps me from getting discouraged and the reward of cabbage soup is what keeps me from binging or taking a small bite of anything because it reminds me this won't be forever, I will eat again and it will be my favourite food of all things so I can do this!
and so can you. <3
[I just felt like that ending was very "flowery" and cheesy]
