http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LessIsMore/message/8914 (after signing-in): Message 8914 of 12768 From: David MacClement Date: Sun Apr 20, 2003 11:52 am Subject: Re: [LessIsMore] fasting / prayer vigil ˇ Well done, Molly; I agree, fasting is good for the soul. If you did what we in NZ (including high-schoolers) call the 40-hour-famine, you will have been drinking water and/or fruit juice. IMO, standard tea (slightly-milky but no sugar) is somewhat better. At 10:31 AM 2003-04-19 -0400, Molly wrote: >All, > >I just finished a 40 hour fast and am feeling really weak. Probably did not help that I did my regular hour-long pilates workout yesterday and walked with a friend (who is fasting about 20 hours more than I am) for about 1.5 hours on the beach yesterday. We were both a little lightheaded. > >I have never intentionally fasted for this long before ... >The reason I fasted was primarily to support my friend who was doing it from Maundy Thursday sundown to Easter morning. > >Tonight I am doing prayer vigil at church from 11 p.m.-1 a.m. and possibly later as no one had signed up for 1-3 a.m. by last night's Good Friday service. Yesterday I read Thomas Merton essays on love and on being a solitary, both of which were very affirming for me. > ˇ Did you choose to do the 2-hour extension? ˇ When your fasting is to give yourself "body knowledge" {which can include a somewhat altered state of mind ("I feel so _good_!")}, I would frown on the continuation of high-energy-usage activities like a lot of heavy lifting or (probably) your hour-long pilates workout. AFAIK your muscle-mass will be eaten-into, which, besides being a waste, can put unusual (or larger than usual amounts of) breakdown products into your blood, and possibly strain your kidneys. ˇ And even if that isn't significant, the _rapid_ use of _both_ kinds of stored fat may dump too much fat-soluble pesticide into your blood and poison you, to some extent. Doing it over (say) a month causes little effect ˇ I am very much in favour of a once-a-year fast, whether for religious or mundane reasons, but it has to be done properly; not a fast fast. > ... when I have felt ill and couldn't eat for over 24 hours, I know the reentry to food has been rough, taking days to accomplish without a lot of gastrointestinal upset, even for the blandest foods in the smallest amounts. I am hoping it goes better this time. I just had some cream of wheat and a serving of soy sausage. > By fasting, I became more aware of how habitually and without thought I reach for something to eat. I am also aware of how I eat just enough generally to support my active and exercise-filled lifestyle, so that I don't have much in reserve. > I had already lost about 7 lbs. in the last 3 weeks due to walking, working out, generally eating a bit less (mostly unintentionally); I lost 3 more lbs. in the last 40 hours and am feeling too skinny at about 127 lbs. and 67.5 inches (an online converter tells me that's 171 cm and 58 kg, with a BMI of just under 20, although I don't see how BMI makes any sense as it doesn't know what percent of weight is due to muscle and what to fat). > I know I will gain it back fast because my body is in starvation mode and will metabolise very slowly for a while. I hope I haven't knocked it completely out of whack. > >~ Molly > ˇ This is IMO a suitable rate to use for taking weight off: "7 lbs. in the last 3 weeks due to walking, working out, generally eating a bit less". In contrast to fasting. You're right that a _really_ fit person, close to being an athlete, cannot gauge their body condition by the Body Mass Index. {ref my PF post: BMI (Body Mass Index): weight divided-by height-squared, in metric units": http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/pfvs/2003I/msg00564.html }. ˇ Still on "taking weight off", not fasting: we have a great array of drinks here (herbal teas, cereal beverages like malt and INKAŽ, 6000-ft Ceylon tea and many other organic and non-organic teas). So if someone wants to satisfy their mouth but knows it's not yet time to eat, a suitable drink is available. That's what I do every spring, to take my winter fat off. ˇ I'll never again do that "starving myself to death" thing though; in the low point of my depression in 1992-3, I was 121 lb (and 182 cm): BMI=16.6 - skeletal. That took me about 8 months (at 4 lb. per 3 weeks). David. (David MacClement) Civis Mundi davd @ ihug.co.nz http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/ ZL1ASX