2014-07-03
in
4 min read
A Muslim friend of mine pointed out to me that I should try fasting like they are doing right now for Ramadan. I actually have informally been doing that periodically, but have looked at doing that once I hone down what my personally optimal diet is. But once I started eating I didn’t want to stop. At least being on Paleo without any Paleo-labeled (so not really Paleo) junk food around the house, it was highly nutritious eating.
Without the shake to get me going in the morning I would have had to whip up some eggs or eggs and bacon. I really had time for neither so ended up bailing on breakfast altogether. At the same time I also decided I would try to bail on snacks either. I would just eat some lunch then go right to dinner. Worst case scenario I’d have a little snack before the gym if I decided to go rather than take a free day.
By the time lunch rolled around I had been immersed in lots of tasks so it sort of crept up on me. I had had some tea but that was about it. I wasn’t famished but I knew that it was a good idea not to push it much longer. I had a hearty Paleo Salad Bowl from Chipotle with an extra helping of chicken. After eating the Moe’s steak and realizing how much more tender it was compared to Chipotle’s I decided I just didn’t want to deal with the chewy cubes of meat that they put out. Maybe someday Chipotle will figure out how to do their steak as well as they do their chicken.
Within a couple of hours of eating that I was feeling a bit hungry again, but I decided against having an afternoon snack. I hadn’t packed one but there were some bananas and a bowl of cherries and grapes that I could have gotten a generous helping from. Instead I just made myself some seltzer water and got back to work. Because of tasks backing up and having a good solid few days of working out I decided to take that free day after all. Which was an even better idea since by the time I got home around 5:30 I had already decided I really wanted to eat dinner as soon as possible.
A day of only eating one meal wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t been in such a calorie hole from the day before. Exercise and calorie restriction are a bad combination, especially when it was upwards of 700 calories in one day. At the same time in a non-experiment world I would have probably bumped that up by just having a bowl of ice cream or maybe some “treats”. I decided I would eat until I was full at dinner and then maybe have another snack later.
Dinner was a half serving of ribs from Famous Daves with a side of broccoli. Yeah, I said I wouldn’t order from there again since my system doesn’t like it as much as homemade, but I guess the convenience of making up for poor dinner planning outweighed the downsides. Before I even went to get the ribs I made a big salad of kale, chard and collards with peppers, carrots and avocado added to it. I figured I would have that waiting in the wings for either that snack or if the original dinner didn’t do it for me. About ten minutes after starting eating I was done with the ribs and broccoli and not so much as a dent in my hunger, so I started working through the salad. Once I finished that I could still have eaten more, but I held off.
Throughout the rest of the night I snacked on watermelon, fresh cherries and brazil nuts. By the end I ate more than my calorie burn by the day, but I was certainly feeling well fed but not full or overstuffed. If I had gone to the gym I probably would have needed to get even more down, but with a stressful day and night I figured it was best to give my body that extra bit of rest.