My first week on intermittent fasting

Week one down for Intermittent Fasting! I was pretty worried the first day and how it would go- it was certainly a mental game. I kept thinking about the fact that I wasn't eating and I just kept chugging water. I thought that I would have to slowly ramp up to 16 hours over a few days so my original goal was 13 hours, but I drank my Hi Caf black tea for caffeine and ended up lasting 17 hours! By the time it was time to eat, I really wasn't even that hungry.

1/23 17 hours

Through some research, I learned of an app called LIFE and it has been really helpful! I can keep track of my fasts and there is a place to post messages if you have a question, need support, etc.

I'm realizing that IF is great for not snacking after dinner! 

1/24 16.5 hours

1/25 17 hours

Saturday morning was the first day I worked out while fasting (the first couple days I would wait until the afternoon after I ate). I thought that I would be woozy or slow, but I ended up doing two MM100 workouts and I felt fine.

Saturday night we had a party at a friend's house for the Lunar New Year so I fasted Friday night through Saturday during the day but knew that I wouldn't be able to fast after drinking. Sure enough, we ended up going out to breakfast Sunday morning and there was only 9 hours between meals.

1/26 No fasting

1/27 19.5 hours

Today was my first day that I was FREEZING during the day. I had a blanket on my legs and a wrap around my shoulders, but still ended up increasing the temperature on the second floor so that I could work. 

1/28 19.5

Making lunch around 2 or 3 is super easy- eggs! I love not having to think about making an elaborate lunch other than scrambling some eggs and eating fruit.

1/29 20 hours

I weighed in this morning and had lost 3 pounds since the previous Wednesday!

1/30 19.5 hours

I ended up making banana bars with chocolate chips out of very ripe bananas for the kids and then ended up eating one close to 9:45pm when they came out of the oven (they were for the kids). It tasted delicious, but I was sort of mad that I ate something so late because then it pushed my fast back.

1/31 16.5 hours

According to the app, I have fasted for 118 hours and have spent 40 hours in ketosis (basically the LIFE app says that you are in ketosis after 12 hours of not eating). This is EXTREMELY easy and I really think that it is something that I can do for better health and to lose weight. I haven't been hungry and my caffeine intake has decreased as I haven't really needed it. Win win!

Have you tried IF?

Ski trip

On Monday CP and I decided to take the kids skiing for the first time at Wilmot. We put Izzy in a full day ski school class, Wes into a 1.5 day class. We figured that we could go down some runs together and then would have to take turns watching Wes all afternoon long as he would refuse to ski. At first Wes didn't want to put on ski boots but I found some red ones and told him that he would look like Iron Man. (eye roll)

Ready for ski school!

CP and I had a great time for about an hour with not many lines and short runs. The blue (intermediate) and black (difficult) runs were fairly laughable compared to what we are used to in CO, but it was really nice to get out after 9 years (!!) of not skiing. 

Around 11 we went to see how Wes was doing and found out that he was in the ski school building, refusing to participate in the last 30 minutes of the lesson. CP got him out and we asked him to show us what he had learned. He went down the short hill and then as he was trying to shuffle towards us on his skis, he fell and refused to get up without help.

Refusing to get up

Surprisingly, after asking him if he wanted to ride the magic carpet and ski with us, he was excited to do so. So we did a few runs of going up the magic carpet and then each holding a hand down a small hill. After lunch I got to do a few runs and then caught up with the boys. CP had Wes going down the small hill by himself and then catching him at the end because Wes had no idea how to stop. 

Magic carpet ride

We ended up taking Wes on the "lifting chair" (his words) and down two runs. On his second ride on the lift chair, he realized halfway up that he had to go to the bathroom and started yelling. All of the chairs around us started laughing and we kept telling him that there was nothing we could do (he ended up holding it until we got down the hill and into the bathroom). That afternoon he didn't want to leave and ended up falling asleep within a minute of getting into the car.

Sleepy Wes

Meanwhile, Izzy had a fantastic day on the slopes. She started out in a basic level but moved up quickly as she caught on. During one of my runs I saw her in the chair lift in front of me so I guessed at which run she was on and surprised her. She was SO excited to see me and I was able to watch her ski long S curves down the hill. On the way home Izzy let us know that she wants to come back every weekend!!

Overall, the day was a big success!

Currently....

Reading:  I read the Washington Post every day (especially the Daily 202). Other than that, I am reading Eviction: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond.

Watching: Nothing amazing right now. CP and I finished "Living with Yourself"- the Netflix/Paul Rudd series a few weeks ago and we LOVED it. I have watched a few episodes of the first season of You and continue to be intrigued so I will probably continuing watching.

Listening: To the Scene On Radio podcast series Seeing White. Highly recommend (I'm currently on episode 2)!! 

Drinking: Black coffee with Coffee Mate Sugar Free Peppermint Mocha. It's a flavor that is only out for a few months before Christmas so any time I saw it, I stocked up on it. At one point I think that I had 10 bottles in our extra fridge. LOL. I'll be sad when I finish that last bottle....the sugar free French Vanilla is simply not as good.

Eating: Nothing for another 40 minutes. One of my goals this year was to try Intermittent Fasting and so I stopped eating at 7:10pm last night and my first meal will be lunch at 12pm (17 hours- whoop whoop!). All I have had so far is water and a cup of black tea. I really can't believe that I was able to do it.

Wearing: My Cubs World Series Championship sweatshirts and a pair of super comfortable Columbia hiking pants. It's snowing outside and I work from home. :-)

Loving: Not having to dress up to go to work every day. It's glorious.

Anticipating: A fun weekend as one of the kids' Christmas presents was tickets to Disney on Ice. We took them last year and they LOVED it. Surprisingly enough, we had a great time too.

Hoping: That I can get my plantar fasciitis under control this year. I'm sick of the constant pain every day and want to get back to running. I would say that I'm done with anything over 5 miles, but it would be nice to run at 5K with Izzy in 2020.

Worrying: That the orange cheeto that is currently our President will somehow cheat his way into 4 more years.

Planning: Fun activities for our trip to Maui next month.

What are you currently doing? 

2020 goals

Goals for 2020

1. Eat one vegetarian dinner a week.

I am mindful of how terrible meat is to our environment. We certainly eat more chicken and turkey than red meat these days, but it still has an effect. I generally don't control what we eat but will push for this change in 2020. I would even be okay if the meal is fish. :-)

2. Lose 25 pounds this year.

I am feeling reinvigorated in my goal to lose weight again. I had a goal before I turned 40, I met that goal, but then have slowly gained 10 pounds after I had to stop running in June. I'm back in the Weight Watchers app, tracking my food and paying attention again. I'm not happy in my clothes or my skin so it's time to get back on track.

3. Finish Morning Meltdown 100 by February 21st.

As of today I have completed 72 out of the 100 workouts- this is the LONGEST I have lasted on any Beachbody program! I love this program. I mean, I hate some of the days, but I push play anyway and then celebrate the days where I feel strong and I love the program. It took me 70 days to complete the first 50 workouts....I have exactly 52 days in 2020 to complete the last 50 workouts. I had two work trips already this month and I stayed dedicated but I really want to finish this workout before we leave for Hawaii on February 21st!

4. Get rid of my plantar fasciitis.

I should have known better than to run the 5k on Thanksgiving after I hadn't run since September. Continuing to do MM100 has not exactly helped but I really scale down my jumping- especially on cardio days. I'm just really sick of heel pain that lasts for months on end. My new Hoka One One shoes help, but I desperately need to do something. There is something called the "strechlab" coming to my town in March, so maybe I need to try that out?

5. Spend at least one day knocking on doors on a get-out-the-vote effort. 

I want to make sure that I have done absolutely everything to get the orange asshole out of office. It's no longer enough to write a postcard or contact elected officials (which I will still do). I need to step up my level of effort in 2020, even if it makes me nervous. 

6. Practice tennis with Izzy. 

We have two tennis courts a few blocks away from our house...I just need to stay patient with her and remember that she will only get better with practice.

7. Try at least one day of Intermittent Fasting.
I've read some articles on the benefits and at a minimum it should keep me from snacking at night. I figure it can't hurt!

I should have more goals, but this seems like a good number since it is already almost the end of January. :-)