Day 29 --- The beginning of the final day.
It is early morning and today is the final day of my fast. Some would say, wait, that can't be right. Today is only day 29. Yes that is true. But I'm not quitting early, like really? Would I really go this long to end only one day early? Of course not. Truth be told, I know that I could easily do this for another 10 days and if I was really obese, I could do this for another month if I knew that the doctor was ok with it and if I really needed to lose the weight. At this point, it's pretty easy. I'm just cruising along now.
So why end now? Tomorrow I leave at 5:30 AM for the Northeast and will be traveling all day. It would be very difficult to do this and travel but that said, I could do it. It's not impossible. Just a bit of a challenge. It's all about will power. I could really do it. So then why not wait a day?
As you might have noticed, if you read yesterday's blog post, my wife and I are very close. I would like to be able to celebrate this culmination with her. So tonight we go out to dinner to live it up, well, sort of.
Apparently, according to the doctor, it is critical that I not jump back into regular food immediately. It is definitely a transition. So day 30 won't be like burger and fries at all. Dr. Scott Saunders has instructed me to take a period of days to eat only high fiber foods. Nuts, seeds, vegetables, lentils, and some other items. Note that hot fudge Sundae is not on the list. This is of the utmost importance to avoid major digestive issues.
This point was struck home by my dear friend, Pastor Ray. He's been a friend for many years and is a dear man. He was on a five day fast. To celebrate the breaking of the fast he went to breakfast with some friends and had an apple fritter. He said that his digestive system was badly out of whack for a week. Now, I'm not sure that I am craving an apple fritter right now, but I'm sure that there are plenty of foods that could "mess me up".
Consequently, and as I have from the beginning, I am following the advice of my medical doctor. Speaking of him, I meet with him today for a visit to wrap up the fast. I'm really looking forward to this and hearing his thoughts about the future of my diet, exercise, and nutritional supplements.
I'm sure that I will write more as a follow up to this especially where the transition time and the future diet will be so important. After all, I didn't do this to continue as I was, overweight and unhealthy. I did this to jump start my life and make a new me before my 50th birthday.
I'll write more later after visiting the doctor and my first dinner tonight!! How exciting!!
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Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Day 28 --- Wrapping it up, into the homestretch
Day 28 --- Into the homestretch I go
Today is day 28. I felt great today. It probably also helped that I had a lot to do today.
I was up early, 5:30, so that I could start to adjust to the East Coast time zone. I leave on day 30 for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Rochester, New York. I need to hit the ground running and with a three hour time difference and meetings starting at 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning, I felt it was a good idea to get a jump start.
Before I start into all of this, I was pretty stoked that the chicken soup that I made turned out so well. I knew that it was going to taste great. I first realized this when a few hours after making the soup, Suzy and I returned from a little shopping trip out to Costco. When we got home it was near dark, if not dark already. When we walked into the front yard, I could smell something delicious. I thought that there was no way that this could be the soup. But sure enough, the closer that we got to the open windows on our home, the better and stronger the scent was. We opened the door and Bamm there it was. The delicious aroma of home made chicken soup. I couldn't wait to have a mug. So, of course I did. And yes, it was delicious. It had that old home made flavor. But to kick it up a bit, I added a dried Pasilla chili pepper for some rich, smokey spiciness to the broth. It totally worked. Suzy even had a cup with me.
The day was a whirlwind. A haircut early, a short school visit, meeting with two contractors, running back out to Costco pharmacy, shopping for my Suzy, and then home. All in all, it was a blur until about 6:00 PM when I got home and sat down with Suzy for a nice warm cup of soup broth. Delicious. So savory.
Then the packing began, and preparations for my two week trip to work with schools in the East. Suzy started laying out some clothes for me and I worked on car rentals and planning hotels, etc. I so appreciate her help in getting me ready to go. I know that many other spouses wouldn't help, but perhaps it is that attitude of hers, and hopefully mine, that makes our marriage strong. She has been such a support to me throughout this whole month long journey. Really, she was in a very high degree my motivation for doing this. Now at the risk of sounding way to mushy, here is what happened at the end of the night.
Finally at the end of the day, we sat down to watch an episode of a great TV show on Netflix called "Friday Night Lights". The two of us love this show and we are watching the first season right now. It is a great and wholesome show that is so rarely found any more on any small or big screen. Well, we finished the episode and snuggled into the covers and began to reflect on our day, the last month, and plans to finish the fast tomorrow just before my trip back East. I was struck by how much my wife loves me and how supportive she has been to me, certainly for the last 30 days but truly from day one of our marriage. We are so blessed but it does take effort but the effort seems unnoticeable compared to the blessing. Perhaps I'm not building the emotion well, but if you have ever had that "Ah ha" moment in a relationship when you realize how special what you have really is, you'll get it. So with tears in my eyes, I thanked my bride of nearly 15 years for her love and support, daily.
Tomorrow is the big day. Looking forward to it. And here's the link!! Click here for DAY 29
Today is day 28. I felt great today. It probably also helped that I had a lot to do today.
I was up early, 5:30, so that I could start to adjust to the East Coast time zone. I leave on day 30 for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Rochester, New York. I need to hit the ground running and with a three hour time difference and meetings starting at 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning, I felt it was a good idea to get a jump start.
Before I start into all of this, I was pretty stoked that the chicken soup that I made turned out so well. I knew that it was going to taste great. I first realized this when a few hours after making the soup, Suzy and I returned from a little shopping trip out to Costco. When we got home it was near dark, if not dark already. When we walked into the front yard, I could smell something delicious. I thought that there was no way that this could be the soup. But sure enough, the closer that we got to the open windows on our home, the better and stronger the scent was. We opened the door and Bamm there it was. The delicious aroma of home made chicken soup. I couldn't wait to have a mug. So, of course I did. And yes, it was delicious. It had that old home made flavor. But to kick it up a bit, I added a dried Pasilla chili pepper for some rich, smokey spiciness to the broth. It totally worked. Suzy even had a cup with me.
The day was a whirlwind. A haircut early, a short school visit, meeting with two contractors, running back out to Costco pharmacy, shopping for my Suzy, and then home. All in all, it was a blur until about 6:00 PM when I got home and sat down with Suzy for a nice warm cup of soup broth. Delicious. So savory.
Then the packing began, and preparations for my two week trip to work with schools in the East. Suzy started laying out some clothes for me and I worked on car rentals and planning hotels, etc. I so appreciate her help in getting me ready to go. I know that many other spouses wouldn't help, but perhaps it is that attitude of hers, and hopefully mine, that makes our marriage strong. She has been such a support to me throughout this whole month long journey. Really, she was in a very high degree my motivation for doing this. Now at the risk of sounding way to mushy, here is what happened at the end of the night.
Finally at the end of the day, we sat down to watch an episode of a great TV show on Netflix called "Friday Night Lights". The two of us love this show and we are watching the first season right now. It is a great and wholesome show that is so rarely found any more on any small or big screen. Well, we finished the episode and snuggled into the covers and began to reflect on our day, the last month, and plans to finish the fast tomorrow just before my trip back East. I was struck by how much my wife loves me and how supportive she has been to me, certainly for the last 30 days but truly from day one of our marriage. We are so blessed but it does take effort but the effort seems unnoticeable compared to the blessing. Perhaps I'm not building the emotion well, but if you have ever had that "Ah ha" moment in a relationship when you realize how special what you have really is, you'll get it. So with tears in my eyes, I thanked my bride of nearly 15 years for her love and support, daily.
Tomorrow is the big day. Looking forward to it. And here's the link!! Click here for DAY 29
Day 27 --- Ok, I'm back on track
Day 27 ---- Back on track, feeling better
As you read yesterday, I was feeling pretty bad, lethargic and sad most of the day. My guess was that my reduction in antidepressants might have caused this. Since I have been on this broth fast, I have reduced my intake three times over the last month. Each time I experienced the same feelings. A day or two of "blueness" and then I was ok again. There was a lag from when I made the reduction to when I felt poorly of about four days. Each time that I reduced my intake, I had the same result. Feeling bad for a day or two then bouncing back pretty well. All of this fit.
Today I felt a whole lot better, not perfect but really pretty darn decent. I had plenty to do to keep me busy, which was good. One thing that happened that meant a lot to me today was a friend sent a text message to me to say that she read that I wasn't doing the best and asked if I wanted to talk. That was so kind. But I wouldn't expect any less from her, she is a high quality friend. We spent about a half an hour on the phone talking about the fast and more importantly the America's Cup, which thankfully will be here in America for another three years at least. So this news certainly raised the spirits of this sailor.
I also met with the parents of triplets that I know pretty well. They were asking for some counsel about colleges for their kids. I love being helpful and this was a great opportunity to do so.
All of these things gave a boost to my day, but the real fun was that I awoke to find that I have now officially lost 25 pounds. Pretty cool.
PS: My sweet wife loves this and it's always a good thing when your spouse likes how you look.
Here's the link to day 28 >> http://30daybrothfast.blogspot.com/2013/10/day-28-wrapping-it-up-into-homestretch.html
As you read yesterday, I was feeling pretty bad, lethargic and sad most of the day. My guess was that my reduction in antidepressants might have caused this. Since I have been on this broth fast, I have reduced my intake three times over the last month. Each time I experienced the same feelings. A day or two of "blueness" and then I was ok again. There was a lag from when I made the reduction to when I felt poorly of about four days. Each time that I reduced my intake, I had the same result. Feeling bad for a day or two then bouncing back pretty well. All of this fit.
Today I felt a whole lot better, not perfect but really pretty darn decent. I had plenty to do to keep me busy, which was good. One thing that happened that meant a lot to me today was a friend sent a text message to me to say that she read that I wasn't doing the best and asked if I wanted to talk. That was so kind. But I wouldn't expect any less from her, she is a high quality friend. We spent about a half an hour on the phone talking about the fast and more importantly the America's Cup, which thankfully will be here in America for another three years at least. So this news certainly raised the spirits of this sailor.
I also met with the parents of triplets that I know pretty well. They were asking for some counsel about colleges for their kids. I love being helpful and this was a great opportunity to do so.
All of these things gave a boost to my day, but the real fun was that I awoke to find that I have now officially lost 25 pounds. Pretty cool.
PS: My sweet wife loves this and it's always a good thing when your spouse likes how you look.
Here's the link to day 28 >> http://30daybrothfast.blogspot.com/2013/10/day-28-wrapping-it-up-into-homestretch.html
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