An update.
I have kept my fast intact. Two times I finished my bowl of cereal and one of the clocks in the kitchen said it was a couple of minutes after 7:00, but that's not really my point. I have been able to keep my food and drink intake restricted to 7:00 pm to 7:00 am. I have kept the fast in all other ways as well, except swearing. Maybe for Lent I'll forgo bad language.
That would be a sacrifice.
Back to the diet aspect...I have not been hungry, really. I have found a
few times that I would normally have a lunch or early dinner that I would like to have been able to eat. Not really hungry, but the rest of the cues were all present and I felt the (pavlovian) urge to do my part, to eat. I am really enjoying the new power I have over my habits.
And even more, I am enjoying the weight loss. Serious weight loss, well, serious for me. I will give some specific figures. I went to the doctor on 27 September 2005 for my regular annual physical exam, including my weight. In street clothes, no shoes, on their beam scale I weighed 256 pounds. Actually down two pounds from the previous year, a welcome surprise! I have another appointment at the same doctor's office this Thursday for a follow up on the Hepatitis A/B immunizations I got at the first visit. I will get weighed again. Ask me Thursday (or Friday) what the weight is. We have a plain old bathroom scale at home and I have been in the habit of weighing myself in the morning as part of my morning ablutions, and although I realize the two scales are different and I don't (yet) have a way to reconcile them with confidence, I plan to weigh myself Thursday morning at home too. So when I get weighed at the doctor's office, I can compare the two numbers. Cause I can feel the difference in my clothes, I know I've been eating less and my home scale this morning reported 238 pounds.
I don't think I can attribute the whole 20 pound difference to clothes and calibration delta. *Some* of that has to be fat. At least I hope so.
And speaking of eating less, the portions with which I find myself satisfied are very small. Like kiddie meal small. The other night I had a cup of soup, and two slices of garlic bread, some juice and some water. And I was pleasantly full. If I ate as much as I used to, I think I would pop! And my snacking has dropped to zero. My junk food consumption has dropped to zero. My eating out of the house has dropped to zero. No McDonalds. That has been a big change, I used to go a couple three times a week. These all contribute to the weight loss.
When the time of fasting is over, I know my habits will change. I am thinking now of how they'll change. I expect I will start drinking coffee again. And water during the day will be nice. (Although the only time I have been really thirsty was a couple of weekends back when I did some serious yardwork pruning raking hauling sweeping digging etc. At 7:00 I was really thirsty. I downed a couple of liters of water then started dinner.) I think I'll eat lunch again. But what I have for lunch is critical. I'm thinking carrots and celery, which I liked before and I still do like. But I think change in diet that will have the most impact that I expect I can maintain indefinitely will be in portion control and pace of eating. Smaller portions, and eating more slowly. I can remember I sometimes "felt so hungry" that I bolted my food. Munch ahh chomp ahh gulp gulp aaaahhhh. Bad idea. Smaller and slower. I have proved to myself over a reasonable time that I can live, thrive with those habits. I am going to bar the door to the old ones.
When it comes to cooking, I have felt a little crippled. I am not a strict recipie follower (which says a lot as to why I am only an amateur baker--cooking may be an art, but baking is a science). But I am an artistic and competent cook. But cooking while strictly fasting has been like painting while blindfolded. I think I remember where I put that red and that green paint, let's just swipe some over here, and let's put some of this over there...all on faith.
I tried a couple of new recipies this weekend and both failed to live up to my expectations from the tv show. I made kettle corn. It was...digestible, but not really tasty, nor was it attractive. A loss, maybe the dog will want some. I made some cheese puffs (lost the dingdang name bonboules or something like that....grr ) and although they didn't "puff" up, they were delicious. They were like cookies in size, appearance and texture, but tasted like smoked gouda. Once again, not being able to taste as I go along was a handicap. On the other hand, I made some delicious clam chowder without tasting and it was delicious. I put up five pints of the soup. And the pesto turned out ok too. But it is more difficult and less enjoyable to cook without tasting.