For the month of November, I have been working on creating a habit of intermittent fasting. I had heard about this practice before, but didn't know much about it until ClassFit. It's no secret that I need to eat better, but the challenge this month is to just establish the habit, not to worry about what I'm eating. So, I am to choose an 8-10 hour window in which I eat all my food. The only items I can consume outside that window are water, green tea, and black coffee (which I am not a fan of).
Since my planning period at school is first thing in the morning, I decided to start my window at 10 a.m., which would put me closing the window at 6 p.m., with a little wiggle room for later dinner. Usually by 9 a.m. I am ravenous and eating junk that I can find in the teacher's lounge, but this month, I am planning what snacks I will break my fast with, and really trying to choose better overall. Weekends are challenging, but I have been making it work...until this last weekend.
On Sunday morning, I woke up insanely early and piled the kids in the car to drive to Atlanta for an Irish dance competition in which my oldest two children were competing. By 4:15 CST, I was in the van with four sleeping children, headed up I-85. It was my job to stay awake and get us there safely before competition began at 8 a.m. EST. Unfortunately, waiting six hours to eat was not ideal because in order to drive in the dark, I need to keep my mouth busy, and would definitely be hungry after 1 p.m. (when my window would close, even with wiggle room). So, I blew my fasting that day in order to survive the drive.
On Monday night, the kids wanted to watch Harry Potter 3, so after the baby was in bed we put the movie on, and then the kids wanted popcorn, so I popped enough for everyone, and then before I knew it I was halfway through a bowl of popcorn when I realized that I was waaaaay outside my window. Drat.
On Tuesday morning, we dropped the little girls at daycare so that we could do some pre-holiday cleaning without their "help" and the big kids wanted to stop at Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. Of course I said yes.
My history with Dunkin' Donuts is long and sad. Through no fault of my own I had to start driving the "long way" to take the girls to daycare in the morning before heading to work, and that took me right by Dunkin'. What was once a "sometimes" habit of going out of my way and grabbing a medium French Vanilla iced coffee with cream only (and two glazed Munchkins for the toddler...pretty sure they knew me as the "two glazed munchkin lady" since sometime the guy would put three or four in there) turned a couple years later, when the bridge near my house closed, into a full-fledged daily routine, assisted by the app on my phone and the military discount that I found out they offered. Oh, and the coffee became a size large. One of my former students worked there, and she recognized my voice through the speaker, so she would hook me up with the military discount before I even got to the window. And then her counterparts learned me and my order. In fact, one time the drive-thru line was so long that I went in to order. One of the ladies from the back came up to help fill drinks, she took one look at the cup and the sticker on it and looked up, searching for me, and said, "You came inside today!" Yeah. Sad.
I did have a break from Dunkin' after I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in December of 2016 (baby was born in March 2017) until I started school again in August 2017; they probably wondered where I went, but they didn't miss a beat when I returned. My husband was deployed that school year, so I was in total survival mode. Total morning flavor addiction, and I would bring one to a co-worker as well. I stopped getting donuts and started getting their Wake-Up Wraps. I figured it was at least better for me to have protein than sugar?
This school year started with one a day as well. My students noticed. My plastics recycling bin was full of Dunkin' Donuts iced coffee cups. I had a real problem.
When I started ClassFit and intermittent fasting, I quit DD cold turkey. I wasn't going to eat anything until 10 a.m., so I didn't need to stop and would actually be saving money by not stopping. I was doing well.
Then the kids wanted to go on Tuesday when we were off school. Early in the morning. After I had blown my fasting for two days already. Do you know that the conversation that I had with myself was basically, "Well, if you're going, you have to get something." And, "I mean, you've blown fasting for two days; what's another day?"
I was in line, and I realized that they had hot green tea (and it was so nice to see "0" under the calorie column...I decided not to look at what my regular coffee was) and I decided right then and there that I could, in fact, maintain my fast. That I could do it! That I didn't have to buy something just because I was there and it all looked and smelled so fabulous but was, in reality, terrible for me. I persisted. I won.
The kids were really perplexed that I wasn't getting a donut or a wrap, and that I got tea instead of coffee, but it didn't matter what their expectations were. I can make adult choices for myself and I'm allowed to change what they think they know about me. I don't have to get those things just because I have set them up to expect me to get those things. It's the mental game. Boom.
Taking baby steps, giving myself grace, and rewriting the mental story I tell myself--those are going to be the keys to this lifestyle transformation where Erin Gets Moving.
Side note: When I started with ClassFit on November 5, I weight 183 pounds. (Yeah...probably more than my husband.) I have lost five pounds in two-ish weeks from intermittent fasting, exercise, and dropping DD and sodas from my daily diet. I went up to the school yesterday to use the same digital scale (for consistency) and it read 178. My ideal, I think, would be 138. Still a long way to go, but how great to see progress!
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