Is there anybody out there?

Hello?

*tap tap*

Is this working?

It’s been a while…

This time a year ago I was at my lowest weight in I don’t know how long. The intervening 12 months have been pretty full on, and fasting was not a priority. In fact, most of the time it wasn’t even on the To Do List. The last time I posted here, in September, I had regained around 5kg (9lb) of the 13kg (28lb) I had lost.

I’d spent most of the summer of 2014 incapacitated after the surgery on my ankle, having just moved house. I was just getting back on my feet (quite literally) when I found out I was having to up my hours and responsibilities at work, with a corresponding increase in stress. By the time I got to January I was in pure survival mode, getting though one day at a time, battling depression and anxiety as I went along.

My last crazy work day was Thursday 16 April, when the big project completed and my life could start returning to something approaching normal. On Monday 20 April I stepped on the scales, and I wished I hadn’t. Not only had I regained all the weight I had lost before, I’d added another 7lbs for good measure. That would explain the constant pain in my knees, as my poor joints struggled to support my increased weight.

I was faced with a horribly familiar decision. I could accept where I was and learn to live with it, I could try alternative methods to lose weight, or I could start 5:2 again. Having failed to keep off what I had lost on 5:2, I didn’t exactly feel like a poster child for its success. My few attempts at fasting over the previous 6 months had been abject failures, resulting in nausea, panic attacks and tears.

But somehow, having survived the insanity of work, the decision didn’t seem so tricky after all. I didn’t eat that day, and completed a second fast later that week, while in the office. I was craving sugar and having to stop myself picking at food that had easily re-established itself as habit, but I wasn’t that hungry, I wasn’t feeling sick, and I was feeling so much happier.

That was 3 weeks ago. I didn’t fast last week due to a number of social engagements, but I got back on track with a full fast yesterday, which was even easier than before. I reckon I’ve dumped the extra 7 lbs by now, and my knees are already thanking me. Just another 28 to go… it’s hard not to be disappointed about having to go over the same ground again but it would be worse to let things go the other way.

So here I am again, onwards and downwards.