Week 7: I'm a Halloween Survivor!

This past Saturday was Halloween, and though we didn't give out any candy, that doesn't mean that we didn't buy any. 

In fact, the day after Halloween, my husband came back with bags of candy, all half off. We filled a giant bowl with goodies, most of them being chocolate-covered. My favorite kind!

There were also fruit-flavored ones as well, and I have to say, the cache of candy was colossal. 

Image by pixel1 from Pixabay 

In previous years that bowl would become a decimated pile of wrappers within a week, and I admit I had more than my share of the goodies once they hit that bowl- one of each, just to see if I really still liked them.

Surprise! I still did!

But something odd happened. I didn't have a desire to finish off the bowl as soon as possible. Once I'd had my mini-binge, I was able to walk away from it without another thought, guilt, or regret. That's an incredibly powerful feeling!

No guilt for eating more than I thought I should.

No regret at losing control- because I didn't.

No feeling like I need to eat it all before it's gone- because it's okay to let others finish off the bowl. 

And when I started feeling that way? I took a little sandwich baggie and put in a few treats I really wanted to save for later, and put it on the snack shelf with my name on it. No more anxiety over not getting special treats because someone else ate them all. I had my small stash to eat when I wanted to eat it, whether that be a few days from now or in January. I can eat it long after that bowl is empty.

No guilt about that, either!

So how about the rest of the week prior to Halloween? I did really well.

Holding off breakfast for an extra thirty to sixty minutes did a body good. I'm still eating a bit too much on occasion, but only felt a few bites too full twice, so there's an improvement. I notice now that I'm more energetic in the fasted state, and found myself holding off eating if there was something strenuous to do. I did the hard stuff first, then ate. I'm stunned at how much effort it takes to digest food, and how little energy I have during my eating window!

Lightbulb moment- All those gurus that say you need to eat a big breakfast to get energy, drink this energy drink or eat that before exercise...it's all bunk, at least for me and many other IFers. All these years I've been eating myself into a literal stupor, wondering why my energy levels are decreasing, not increasing. I was in a constant state of digestion- no wonder I was so tired all of the time!

I'm almost at a point where I don't want to eat until I get home from work because I want to keep my vim and vigor up and running until the workday is done. Then I can go home, relax, and eat while resting. 

Almost.

I'm not quite there yet, but I'm considering changing what my first meal will be. Every fast-breaking meal was breakfast oriented- I love scrambled eggs with ham, sausage, tomato, spinach, and cheese- but this is not the most portable thing to eat on the run at work. It's not great at room temperature either. 

I'm still trying to avoid bread for the most part because I feel sluggish afterward, but I might try making a homemade cheese-and-egg-based chaffle sandwich instead. Chaffles are a low-carb version of a waffle, and though many low-carbers use almond flour to make them, I'd like to try a savory version without using specialty ingredients. If this turns out well, I might have a chaffle sandwich as my first meal from now on. Different fillings will keep food boredom at bay. 

Next week I weigh and measure myself again! I wonder what the results will be after that past month of adding more food to the menu- I feel good, but I don't feel like the weight is falling off me either- those leggings I spoke of before still went on, but with the same or a tiny bit more effort than before. 

Of course, five to ten pounds of weight loss isn't much on a frame dealing with over three-hundred pounds of person, but any loss is still a win! See you next week!