24 hour fast - hour five

11pm, The Kitchen is Closed.  On hundreds of other nights during the year this is when I'd go for that late night snack.  I don't need to read journals or articles about how late night snacking leads to weight gain.  I'm living proof!  Maybe one more post tonight, if not then after waking.

24 hour fast - hour four

4 down, 20 to go.  I've never run a marathon but I imagine I feel similar to the novice marathoner that just finished his or her fourth mile.  They're moving along, confident in their training and preparation, and not anticipating the rough seas ahead.  I've run enough half marathons and 25K races to know that tomorrow will be difficult.  Today at work I learned of a concept called "attitude regardless of circumstances".  I know  I've created circumstances with years of poor eating habits.  Tomorrow my attitude will be paramount.

24 hour fast - hour three

After that nap I decided to go out for a walk with the family.  I no longer feel bloated and now am in the state of being neither hungry nor completely full.  This usually a danger period for me because my mind thinks about food before I do.  What snacks and drinks am I going to have later?  A rum and coke with chips?  Or a healthier choice of a bowl of cereal?  Tonight it will be neither.  Getting to the state of hunger is what I think is the key to losing weight.  When I force myself to feel hunger I only eat two meals a day, which is theoretically cutting my caloric intake by 33%.

24 hour fast - hour two

I spent the better part of this hour napping.  The big dinner is still being digested.  One of the reasons I'm doing this is to experience fasting firsthand .  Possibly like you, fasting is just something I've investigated on the internet.  There is no shortage of stated benefits and dangers of fasting online.  I'll tell it to you straight.  I'm 39 years old and am 50 lbs. away from a "normal" BMI.  I am very active physically but do not lose weight because of my eating habits, which I'm convinced is predictive of so many of our health factors.  I'm occasionally sluggish and have trouble concentrating at work.  There more posts to come.

24 hour fast - hour one

It's just past 7pm and I've completed the first hour of a 24 hour fast.  It was quite easy to do as I ate spaghetti and meatballs for dinner before 6 o'clock.  I have some experience fasting in the past year.  Occasionally on a Saturday I'll see how far I can go.  Usually at about the 16 to 18 hour mark I succumb to hunger.  This time I'm going to blog about the experience as a way to crash through that mythical wall.  More to come soon.

invisible to others

At the workplace I'm often going to and fro for water, bathroom relief, and food among other things. It is rare that I don't pass a handful of people on the way. Two years ago when I relocated to a new office area I made the conscious decision not to say hello to anyone. I don't discriminate and just say hello to pretty women or friendly men. I ignore any stranger I come upon. I had been about a week in this location and did some nodding and some quick pleasantries and I found the experience to be frustrating and tiresome. There were just too many people, even if they were friendly. Besides, the majority have no interest in acknowledging others. Some read their phones, others stare straight ahead, and some do this glance and either make a pathetic attempt at a smile or do nothing. They may be lost in thought or just disregarding you. This is what I call "invisible to others". We all do it whether we realize it or not. If someone is poorly dressed, walks without confidence, or is unattractive for various reasons (short, fat, bald are three that come to mind quickly) they are usually roundly ignored by most people, even people like themselves. These split second decisions that we make all day long are necessary for us to prevent information overload. We only leave our sensory doors open a crack for people that we know and like and attractive members of the opposite sex. My recommendation is to follow your heart if you are sensitive enough to even debate 'to nod or not to nod'. The photo gives an example of two people in greeting limbo. They're quickly deciding whether the other is worth looking at.

odd curiosity - Cosmos Hotel Moscow

While recently returning from a business trip in El Salvador, I ran short of reading material. To counteract the boredom, I decided to read the Delta Sky magazine. In there they had a feature on Moscow. One of it's recommendations was to dine at the Cosmos hotel only, and they stressed only, for the panoramic view of Russia. This piqued my interest. The Cosmos hotel opened in 1979 in time to be used for the 1980 Summer Olympics. It was over 1700 rooms. Some of the online reader comments, many in broken English, state that it's massive, easy to get lost, the food and service horrible, doesn't include climate control, is sorely outdated, and has 'working women' roaming about. It sounds like just the sort of place I'd like not to stay but wouldn't mind taking a look around. The idea of someday visiting Moscow was been growing on me, and the Cosmos Hotel may be worth an hour or so, if only to remind myself to be thankful.