#BlogLife544 - Fasting, dieting or starving yourself?

I guess it depends on the real reasons you want to fast? Health, weight loss? Peer pressure? Keeping up with the Joneses? Religion?

Have you tried it before? I think the first time I recall doing it was for religion. As a former Seventh Day Adventist there was always a cause.

There always seemed to be something. One time it was a meeting to stay awake all night in Church and everybody was falling asleep.

If you want to do that as an adult, then fine, but being dragged into it as a child, bored stiff and craving my bed, is ridiculous!!

When you're fasting, all you can think about is food and I remember overeating because I was so happy a meal was on the table.

Then as a teenager it was a whole different experience. I was talking to L and she is constantly finding new ways to be healthier, so intermittent fasting works for her.

Although she confessed she pushed it too far this time and was near fainting and dizzy but she recognised it and broke her fast.

I recall wanting to eat less because of peer pressure, family, my own self esteem and being compared to everyone skinny around me.

I didn't call it fasting, I referred to it as skipping meals.

I just always loved food and started off, not seeing anything wrong with having a healthy appetite but it kept being pointed out to me, that it was wrong.

So eventually that became ingrained into me and I started backing off.

At school towards the end, maybe the last year or two, I stopped eating lunch. I didn't eat breakfast either so by dinner time I was famished.

But I stopped having an appetite and I saw the puppy fat being far less, so that encouraged me to become more and more extreme.

I would skip breakfast, go out all day, not eat lunch, come home and slashed my portions in half.

Bin half and eat the rest. Sometimes it was easy not to eat, other times I really struggled and went on a binge.

But as L remarked excitedly. going a long time without eating had become a glorified challenge..

Which is the danger. To be honest, I fainted a hell of a lot, while I was out. I frequently felt dizzy but I ignored it.

Whereas L never felt like that and this is probably the first time she was affected by it.

I convinced myself that I was alright and then exercising all the time, pushed me even harder.

I had violent stomach/foot cramps, could not concentrate and just felt off.

I had no energy at all, physically I was drained but mentally I thought I was doing well to last this long.

I was foolish and it's not sustainable at all and this is my own experience.

I'm not saying don't fast, as an adult you know your body best. I'm saying be careful, keep hydrated and watch yourself or have someone else check in to make sure you're being safe.

Even now I wouldn't trust myself to fast. If I'm not hungry, I can skip a meal and not derail myself, that I can cope with.

But anything more than that, unless I'm very ill. I don't trust myself to not exceed the safety limits.

Here's a quick review on the San Pellegrino drinks. The cherry and pomegranate was sparkling water.

That was so sour and bitter yuckity. It did have a faint taste of the above fruits but the tang was too much.

Eventually I just mixed it with vimto and apple and blackcurrant to ease the tartness, otherwise I would have binned it and wasted money.

The same goes for the Orange. I don't know why it has to taste so strongly sour.

It's a light citrus flavour and horribly bitter. I'm glad I had some lemon and orange sugar free squashes to blend it with.

I can't drink them on their own. I don't expect full sugaryness but yeesh some would be nice.

I'm fully used to the sugar free drinks but even they have some natural sweetness to them.

I still feel a bit bloated but I might skip this months period too, woop.

Tomorrow if I remember I will have been taking Perfectil for exactly 2 weeks.