Leaf me some salmon – a fasting day story

On our fasting days, things happen around here.  We get creative with our meals and beverages.  And together we embrace hungry moments, not hangry ones either, just hungry.  We enjoy the clarity of thought we experience as we focus on not being hungry.

I thought that fasting would make me distractible, unable to concentrate.  What I’ve discovered is that it sharpens my senses and my brain. – The Fast Diet Book

We fill our bellies with water, tea, coffee, and matcha between meals.  Staying hydrated keeps headaches away.  Excess fluid consumption enhances the weight loss by increased trips to the bathroom.  Those trips qualify for calorie burning activities.

We eat two meals on fasting days.  Breakfast and supper (aka, dinner if you call it that instead).  We just started the intermittent fasting routine (again, yesterday was day 2) so I’ll wait to write more about any weight loss successes later.  I’m sure you fans want to know if the diet works, and more importantly, if it enhances the Dubious Minimalist Skinny Jeans Diet ^TM, you know – important stuff like that.  Wearing skinny jeans on a fasting day is a must.

Surprisingly perhaps, fasters report that they don’t wake up ravenous and run for the fridge as soon as the alarm goes off.  Hunger is a subtle beast, and your appetite will soon find its rhythm. – The Fast Diet Book

Suffice it to say, if you want to lose weight, the 5-day / 2-day diet is effective and has lots of health benefits as well.  You eat normal 5 days out of the week and 2 days you fast.  For us the normal days this past week consisted of extra calories so the weight loss part may be skewed a tad??  After we ate the whole pizza we looked at serving sizes, 2 does not equal 4 slices – just in case you’re wondering?

On fast days you are to consume 500 calories for women and 600 calories for men.  WebMD says the diet is not recommended for those with diabetes though, so read up on it before starting.  We have an older version we bought in 2014, here’s the link to the updated book.

(Funny side note…I found my old post-it note in the book, listing my measurements and weight when we first started it back in 2014.  Umm…I’m exactly the same today?  So, maybe the diet works for maintaining weight, too??!?!  I did lose weight back then, to fit into a Jamaican swimsuit for my 50th birthday – I was fearless and wore it one week.  But it’s been sitting in the drawer ever since…waiting like me for another trip?  Skinny jeans have more coverage as you age, and elastic doesn’t hold up to storage, so we’ll see what happens.)

Where was I?  Oh yeah, lost in a dream about going back to the beach!

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Back to reality and the diet.  Anyhoo, the intermittent fasting meals are low glycemic, low-calorie, and high in protein.  Once we got the meal plan down, holding our appetite at bay in between meals isn’t as hard as we thought it would be.

Willpower is the key to success!

Again, I’m spoiled, the Mr. is able to mix up perfect meals – even within the restrictions of the fasting requirements for the day.  I can do the breakfast no problem.

See!

But for supper, I prefer to let Mr. do his magic.  Look what he cooked up yesterday: Broken salmon fillet, with cucumber and dill sauce (257 calories per serving, Source:  Get the Gloss).  Mr.’s salmon served on a bed of leafy green spinach and romaine lettuce version turned out eye appealing, didn’t it??  It was tasty, too.

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Not only were we excited to eat the meal, the other superman of the house was very interested in the smell of the salmon versus his canned food dumped on the floor (I have no idea where he learned salmon was potential dog food, but he did somehow…someone must have given him scraps before??).  Copper didn’t want to eat his own food.  He sat on the floor and stared up at us.

We, of course, being extra hungry, ignored him until our bowls were empty.  As I finished, I looked down at him and said, “Sorry pup – I ate every tiny morsel, nothing left for you.”  He looked pathetic, so I picked him up, and let him perch on my lap.  He was content, looking out the window.  I had a premonition while he sat on my lap pretending he wasn’t hurt by not getting any scraps.

He was calm until he saw an intruder in the yard.  He started to growl a low, deep, growl.  Low enough I thought it sounded like hunger pangs, but, it grew more intense.  He stiffened up, stood up on all fours, and started barking – “Get out of my yard!”

I looked out the window and saw the huge intruder dancing around the yard.  With the help of the wind, it did look scary no doubt.

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I guess doggy imagination got the best of him.  The leaf blew away and Copper eventually calmed down enough to eat his own meal.  All was well in our little corner of the world once again.  We survived another adventuresome intermittent fasting day.

#GFTH-GFTB

Have you tried the 5-2 day fasting diet?  Do you have recipes or links to share, we’d love to give them a try?  Have you tried the diet and it didn’t work for you?  What are your thoughts about it?  Does your dog chase leaves too??