Howdy, checking in here, in case anyone was worried. Fasting has not killed me, haha! I have been intermittent fasting daily- ranging from 18-24 hours. Most days I eat within a 3 to 4 hour period, like 4-7pm. I feel great most of the time doing this! I lost 3 lbs in the first 3 days, then started bouncing around a lb or two. Last Sunday-Tuesday I did a 48 hour fast. I had a headache on Monday, which was my first negative feeling since I started. It was gone on Tuesday. Feelings of hunger would come along, but go away quickly; showing a lot of the struggle is mental. The experts say that if you can make it two days, you might as well go longer because the hunger pangs disappear and you get more energy as your body is set to live on body fat. I am planning on going 3 days/72 hours, so from dinner last night (Sunday) to dinner Wednesday. I am prepared with my water, coffee, tea, salt if needed, and being at work during the day helps keep me distracted. At home, I have some books to read, will do light yoga/meditation and happy to go to bed early!

April goals: I came in under my $330 budget for Groceries!!! Finally! I came close, about $327. For May, my goal will be $300; it should be doable since I've been fasting and am not buying food all the time. I did buy some clothes from Old Navy, using a gift card from previous clothing returns. No spending on cosmetics/skin care. Next month I will have to replenish my face moisturizer, which costs $15.

(Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional nor offering advice to anyone. This is my experience alone and hope that someone might find it interesting or prompt them to do their own research, as I have.)

Hello! For various reasons, I led myself down the path to experiment with Intermittent Fasting. Basically, it’s voluntarily not consuming food for a period of time- it can be hours or days. I have been practicing a form of this for years- “Skipping Breakfast”. I was operating with an eating window of 11-7 most days. For me, even when I eat ‘clean’ during the time frame, I will only be full for a couple hours and then the cravings hit. I was snacking all afternoon. After dinner (whether it was high protein/low carb or lots of veggies and big portions, whatever method I tried), I HAD to have something sweet or salty. Or both. I’m not overweight, but have gained 5-10 lbs in the last couple years (I’m a small person) and have a belly pooch. I need to get a handle on this before perimenopause!

My research led me to many sources. The most exciting to me is finding Dr. Jason Fung. He has many You Tube videos and podcasts. He has had success treating diabetics with fasting to get their blood sugar under control. There are many others- Michael Mosley made a documentary on fasting using the 5:2 method, for example. Of course, fasting has been done for thousands of years, as part of religion and healing- Hippocrates and others, so it's not really 'new' but it's been all but forgotten by the medical profession. There are a lot of different programs for fasting. I think that’s what is cool- one can do their own research and figure out the best way for them as an individual.

I’m currently in a 38 hour fast. I stopped eating at 7pm on Sunday night. I’ve only consumed water, coffee with a splash of heavy cream, herbal tea and homemade chicken broth with extra sea salt. (There are differing opinions on whether consuming anything other than pure water is a ‘real fast’). Last weekend I fasted for 24 hours and 22 hours with no issues, other than some tummy grumblings which passed in a few minutes. I had a harder time on this longer fast - major headache, fogginess, white-coated tongue. Pretty sure my body was detoxing and repairing yesterday. I slept great last night and woke up tired, but no headache. I meant to stop the fast at the 36 hour mark (7am) but now that the worst is over, I’m getting more energy and mood is great. I’m going to play it by ear and see how I feel during the day. I do have a smoothie and nuts if I need them, and all kinds of food in the work café.

I’m excited to see how this goes for me. So far I’m enjoying this process and learning about myself and what I am capable of. I am finding that it’s more mental than physical. I will make more posts on this subject soon, along with new insights. I’d love to hear your experiences if you have tried fasting.

Hmmmm today I logged on and see my new avatar loaded, the one that wouldn't work last week! Weird! So now I'm showing my 'beach cat' body! (Do you see a cat on a beach? Or the cat with purple wig, which was my original picture?)

On Monday, I went to the retina specialist for my 3 month checkup. My retina is healed and still attached, woo hoo. Now it's time for the second surgery, to remove the silicon oil. The earliest available is May 9. I was hoping it could be sooner, but it's fine. He is going to perform a laser procedure on my other eye at the same time, as that retina is thinning, so I won't have an emergency later. I'm excited to get two things done at once.

I'm doing great on groceries. As of yesterday, spent $93.21 out of $330. It's time to cook more food, so going to Safeway to get a special on rotisserie chicken (saving bones and carcass for broth), plus some frozen broccoli and hamburger patties. I bought the small bowl of fruit at the work cafe. Pineapple, green grapes, orange segments, honeydew and cantaloupe. Plus some pumpkin seeds! I got a bangin' deal last weekend on a small piece of halibut. It was marked 50% off but rang up 75% off.

MONEY: Chase paid me the $300 bonus for my new checking account, but not the $200 for savings yet. Which is weird, because I fulfilled the savings requirement right away, but not the checking yet. Hopefully I won't have to make a stink about it... I have some mature savings bonds to cash next month, so I will visit my local branch and complain if I haven't received it by then. I still have not been able to get a focus group gig, or any online surveys worth anything. I wonder if I pretended that I made minimum wage and had 3 small children, if I would generate more interest? But why aren't any companies interested in a middle age woman with no debt and a lot of disposable income??

It's been a good weekend, although the weather is crappy. Very rainy. At least I wasn't motivated to spend money on plants.

Yesterday I went to the movies. It's been awhile- at least a year. My BF wanted to see "Ready Player One". I enjoyed it, although I'm not really into video games and avatars and all the artificial/computer generated characters.... it had a lot of great 80s music. We had theatre popcorn, but i brought in beverages.
For dinner, we had bacon cheeseburger sliders and potato and radish salad.

Today I cooked: rice in instapot (have frozen veggies to add to it), chicken and mushroom alfredo with bowtie pasta, and zucchini & almond butter brownies. That should last us lunch and dinner for a couple days. Tuesday or Wed night will make a quiche and a big green salad. I have my coffeemaker set to brew coffee in the morning!

For March, I exceeded my grocery/food goal by $29.00. Most of that was due to taking my BF out for a birthday dinner ($26 with tip). It was worth it!

My food goal for April is $330. So far, I've spent $53. That included getting a new bottle of EVOO and raw almond butter which are staples of the pantry and should last awhile. On Monday, after my retina appointment, I am treating us to our favorite pizza from Shakeys. A medium runs $20, but they are generous with the toppings so it will last two meals.

I did well this week regarding meals. Everyday I had plenty of food options at work, so I didn't spend a penny in the work cafe. Usually my big bowl of fruit is a wise purchase because it's a tremendous value, but I haven't been eating much fruit since doing my cleanse. Quiche is my go-to for lunch. This week I use grated parmesan cheese as a crust, then for the filling I used crumbled bacon, feta and jarred bell peppers. YUM! I also made basmati rice in my Instapot. Some of it was turned into Cilantro Lime rice.

One thing I'm stoked about: I pulled my coffee maker out of the pantry (after 4+ years) and brought my own coffee to work two days in a row! It's pretty good; much better than the weak stuff in the breakroom. I already had beans I bought from Amazon, and two bags of my favorite Kona coffee from my last vacation. I combine the organic decaf, organic regular beans and the pricey Kona stuff as I please and grind it fresh! I even have a couple cups left over in the fridge to heat up on the weekend.

What else... I have been saving my squeezed lemon/lime halves in a ziplock in the freezer. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet... maybe blend them up in the vitamix this summer to make lemonade? I can also thaw and zest them for recipes. I already have a bunch of citrus peels in vinegar for cleaning.

Happy Weekend!!

Can anyone tell me how to delete and add a new profile picture? I can delete it, but when I upload the new file and click "update", it's either blank or the old one is there!!!