remembering to breathe

or perhaps breathe deeply?

I am getting ready for vacation and everything is very full of stuff, both work and personal life. Wrapping up projects, sorting packing questions and arranging pup care are a needed yet stressful parts of the preparation. 

My success at work-travel, fasting and eating aside. I find that a 2 week vacation is raising a different set of questions. Do I want to take my meter to measure glucose and ketones occasionally?  (yes) Is it worth it to buy a small traveling scale as I feel that helps my overall awareness level? (probably) Am I ready to interact with food and eating on vacation in a new way? (um...sure?) Can I relax and reach for more intuitive eating patterns? (that would be nice) Can I accept that I can not make concrete plans as a lot of travel to a new place deals with facing the unknown? (yes, fortunately I don't have to like it) 

So ... I am going to do my best. Focus on relaxing more than fasting. Focus on awareness of the new and wonderful more than worrying about all the stuff I don't know or can't plan. Focus on pleasure and light.  Focus on trusting my body.

And remember to breathe deeply as often as possible!

more work travel success

My business trip was one day shorter this week and I got a 44.5 hour fast in along with a 34 hour fast. There was a long of flight delay with stress/boredom flying out so the fact I didn't eat was a major victory for me. 

I also forgot that when you are in the south and you order smothered pork chops they will be breaded even if the menu doesn't say that. As per usual when faced with the unplanned I defaulted to eating. (I would love for this to change some day) They were extremely yummy and my blood glucose and ketones bounced back well. However they may be the reason why I was actually hungry for breakfast Friday morning -- that's why the second fast was only 34hours.

My wife laughed herself silly when I told her about it ... of course they would be breaded.

This coming week is busy and has no travel so I am going for a 72 hour fast midweek. 

Then there will be tons of vacation travel so that will be the next challenge.  I wonder if post-vacation things will be a bit calmer. I may be kidding myself.
 

fasting while business traveling

I kept on thinking all year that I 'should' be able to fast while traveling for business. Thinking but not doing.

Finally last week I managed it. I got a 48 hour fast in and a 40 hour fast in during a travel week. It makes me very happy that I managed to do this. Now I have another work travel week and I will repeat my success.

I wish I could put my finger on why I was able to do it. I got more comfortable with saying no....I had a bacon stash for emergency boosts... I kept trying trip after trip.

I suppose the "try, try again" was really the key thing. No new lows this month yet, maintaining in a narrow range with downward trend. Feeling committed and healthy and I believe the stress levels are also trending down.

pretty sure my cravings aren't hormonal

In yet another attempt to calm my cravings I tried two things last month.

I stopped drinking flavored waters, tea and coffee during my fasting hours. The theory was that the flavors (even though 0 calorie) were somehow triggering insulin and/or cravings.

It didn't make any difference.

I also did 3 weeks in a row of routine ADF on MWF. Just finishing up the last Friday fast now. Again no change in cravings. 

In fact as I came home from walking dogs just now I realized I wanted to eat. I was craving eating. I am still physically stuffed from last night. I literally don't know where I would put it and it would probably make me feel sick. Still want to put food in my mouth and chew it.

I think I need to accept that right now my cravings are purely mental/emotional/stress-based.  I don't want that too be true but it seems that it is.

Oh well. More reason to meditate.

On the bright side: I lost another half inch on my chest, my body seems to be doing that re-composition thing, more fat getting squishy and I feel committed and motivated to keep on with my health journey.

 

stretching out fasting experiences

I have played around with alternate days fasts at times. I don't find them harder or easier then other fasting patterns but many people swear by the consistency and routine of them.

The week after my last work trip I fasted MWF at least 36 hours and ate T,T, S,S. It wasn't easy but I did it. 

Then I did it for another week. First time to put 2 ADF weeks together back to back!

Now I am in the midst of my third ADF week. Not really easier but I am enjoying the challenge. Come Saturday I hope can report success and give an April health wrap up. 

My seven day moving weight average is trending down this month but no new lows to report. I feel like I am in a consolidating pattern and the high levels of work stress aren't helping anything. 

Fasting and Trips

I had a solo car trip to make for work this week, seven hours one way. I like driving and car trips. I was hoping since I would be on my own with no kitchen that I would be able to fast easily but that did not happen. I fasted 20 hours the first day and 17 hours the second. I had no issues eating on plan when I ate. Although the coleslaw I had tasted rather sweet so I didn't finish it.

I am still trying to learn from this experience to see what I can change in the future. When I am on a work trip I find it hard to turn down 'free' food. I did not bring things to distract me, perhaps a knitting project would have been helpful. Also although I like driving, it still makes me tired, when I am tired I want food energy...

I am not sure what I can change in order to fast 24h+ while on a work trip. 

I have 2 work trips by plane and not solo coming up in May and I may plan on eating one meal a day on both of them in order to decrease stress levels around work trips. Maybe at some point in the future I will be able to avoid restaurant food while traveling. 

As always I am a work in progress.

No travel for the rest of April but many, many deadlines to meet.  I plan to eat the foods that make me feel healthy, meditate, fast at least 16 hours every day, eat plenty of protein to see if it helps me feel more satiated and continue my weekly slow strength training.

April Ease

The first week of April has been good to me.  

I had some big NSVs.  

My waist measurement took a dive and I am at 33 inches.  Nine inches off my waist since August.  Since I use the waist/height ratio as a proxy for hyperinsulemia this is a very important metric for me.

One NSV was mental. I acknowledge that I didn't give up last month when things were so hard. I kept on putting one foot in front of the other even though I wasn't feeling it. I have since heard from one of the IDM educators that March is a typical time for people to have a slump. I do think that is the perfect word to describe it. I felt like I was in a slump.

I did a 3 day fast this past week and it was good. It felt 'normal' and enjoyable. I focused on the good parts of fasting. I love that light, my digestion is resting, feeling. I also started measuring my GKI in the evenings. Seeing those low numbers at that point of my day was motivating. Except for an evening fasting booster when needed, the rest of my hours were clean - unflavored water and black coffee and tea. I also made my own version of 'ketoaid' morning and night to keep my electrolytes as happy as possible. My weight was within a half pound of my last low. All in all a great week.

This upcoming week I am traveling solo for work. I am hoping to fast during that trip. I will see how it goes.