The Ward family has been in Virginia spending Thanksgiving with my sister's family this week. Since I enjoy running, that is one of the things I look forward to when I come down here to the mountains. The first run is brutal. I feel like I'm going to die by the end and a few times in between.
I just finished up run number four (which will be my last since we leave for home tomorrow). It felt great! As I was climbing up the final hill to reach the house, the thought popped in my head how much easier this run was compared to my first run on this trip. My legs and lungs (and probably other body parts) adjusted to the terrain in a relatively short amount of time.
The same adjustment of body seems to occur with fasting on the alternate-day diet. The first fast was tough mentally and physically. The seventh fast-day I'm currently on is down-right enjoyable! When Trina had me return an item to Target early this afternoon and I picked up an item in the food section, I didn't even feel that tempted to throw every food item in the store in my cart.
I even feel different after my runs, too. Before we started this alternate-day diet lifestyle, I would think and feel like I would need to eat everything in the house immediately upon completion. Over the last two weeks I've noticed that this need has essentially disappeared. I am typing this blog entry immediately after returning from a run. I did grab a banana to eat purely out of knowing I'd need nutrients it provides after my run. I feel like now I'll be able to wait until the rest of the family eats supper to have my soup and salad. That banana brings me up to 300 calories for today. I would easily eat more than 500 calories in my post-run snacks before this diet/lifestyle change. Makes me think of how I used to think I would perish if I didn't immediately eat breakfast upon rising. Sacred cows are dying left and right with this lifestyle! *grin*
I had to laugh because I just realized I had another paradigm shift on this trip. I was whining to Trina that our feast-day will be our travel day home. I was thinking it would suck since sitting all day wouldn't make me very hungry to eat very much. The underlining assumption in that whine is that feast-days are better than fast-days. That assumption is no longer valid. A little while after my whining, Trina asked if I wanted to switch things around so Saturday would be a fasting-day. I told her that I now realize I was wrong to complain and that whine is not even valid any longer. Pretty cool shift in thinking.
Realizing the body is remarkably adjustable has been a great discovery over these two weeks. It is something that will definitely shape my thinking in the future. I'm off to finish a great fasting day!
I just finished up run number four (which will be my last since we leave for home tomorrow). It felt great! As I was climbing up the final hill to reach the house, the thought popped in my head how much easier this run was compared to my first run on this trip. My legs and lungs (and probably other body parts) adjusted to the terrain in a relatively short amount of time.
The same adjustment of body seems to occur with fasting on the alternate-day diet. The first fast was tough mentally and physically. The seventh fast-day I'm currently on is down-right enjoyable! When Trina had me return an item to Target early this afternoon and I picked up an item in the food section, I didn't even feel that tempted to throw every food item in the store in my cart.
I even feel different after my runs, too. Before we started this alternate-day diet lifestyle, I would think and feel like I would need to eat everything in the house immediately upon completion. Over the last two weeks I've noticed that this need has essentially disappeared. I am typing this blog entry immediately after returning from a run. I did grab a banana to eat purely out of knowing I'd need nutrients it provides after my run. I feel like now I'll be able to wait until the rest of the family eats supper to have my soup and salad. That banana brings me up to 300 calories for today. I would easily eat more than 500 calories in my post-run snacks before this diet/lifestyle change. Makes me think of how I used to think I would perish if I didn't immediately eat breakfast upon rising. Sacred cows are dying left and right with this lifestyle! *grin*
I had to laugh because I just realized I had another paradigm shift on this trip. I was whining to Trina that our feast-day will be our travel day home. I was thinking it would suck since sitting all day wouldn't make me very hungry to eat very much. The underlining assumption in that whine is that feast-days are better than fast-days. That assumption is no longer valid. A little while after my whining, Trina asked if I wanted to switch things around so Saturday would be a fasting-day. I told her that I now realize I was wrong to complain and that whine is not even valid any longer. Pretty cool shift in thinking.
Realizing the body is remarkably adjustable has been a great discovery over these two weeks. It is something that will definitely shape my thinking in the future. I'm off to finish a great fasting day!
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