Debbie Cousins's Journal, 25 Mar 21

Hi Debbie, lovely to see what God has done for you, joining you in praising Him. 🙏🏽 May you continue to blessed on your weight loss journey 🌻💫 

good morning Debbie. just wanted to say how awesome it is to see your posts. very encouraging. first great job going 12 days. I blacked out after 14 and broke my nose 😝😝 wife was super mad. but it reminded me my flesh has no control other than what I give it. it quits talking after a week or so. your desire for the things of God is refreshing. I pray His abundant blessings upon you. super encouraging. thank you again.  

Awww, thank you so much @hebrews10:30 and @Ettenauj. It's so good to be able to connect with fellow Christians on FS. Support and encouragement and great, but nothing compares with the prayers of God's people! I am blessed by you both.  

12 days is amazing! I can only last 1 or 2 days fasting. Now my biggest challenge is not to eat in-between and portion control. So far so good :-) 

Well done Debbie. Hoping that the journey down that mountain now has a clearer path to follow on. God has been with you all the way. 

Wow congrats that’s a great fast! 👍🎉 12 days that’s awesome! Great focus and determination on your to our goal. Good luck on your healthy lifestyle journey. Stay strong, focused and healthy. 😊🌈🌻🍀 

OH GOD, Good Luck to you, I'm around food all the time, so it makes it VERY difficult to not eat !! You got this !! 

👍👍👍 Good for you Debbie. I am now compelled to go back at look at your journals during the 12 days as mindset is EVERYTHING. Thanks for sharing your journey. 

fasting is actually very bad for you.. now after you break your fast all the food that you eat is going to be stored as fat. good luck to you of course but just stating facts:) 

@bebe1604, thank you for your "good luck" wishes. As with everything in the medical field, there are contradicting "experts" to support both sides of the arguments. I don't, however, feel the need to argue the the points. After having just read 8 books on fasting, I've made an informed decision. @AnnaBear, thank you, as always, for your continuing support. @chesgreen, yes, mindset is important. You won't get much from going back to read my Journal entries, however, because I didn't post anything for the first ten days, because I didn't want to hear any disparaging comments. @DO N OK, yes, it IS very hard to resist when the temptation is always before you. @damablack13, I can't take the credit for focus and determination, because it was only by the strength of God that I was able to accomplish this feat. @JMA312, Yes, most people can only fast two days because the first 2-3 days are when hunger is the strongest. By day four, though, the hunger subsides, and it's smooth sailing after that. Again, thank you also to all the folks who read my post and clicked SUPPORT. I feel all that encouragement and it helps to buoy me up for the journey. 

Well done Debbie! Thank you Jesus. Praying this brings the metabolic reset you wanted too. I like the idea of the 24 hr fast/OMAD twice a week. Also letting go of snacks; that's made a huge difference for me too. I'd still love to know the names of the books you read. 

Truly excellent work. - Setting high goals. Having a plan. Taking personal responsibility when it failed. Crafting a new path forward. Educating yourself. Taking super aggressive positive action. Going dark for grindtime. Treating the naysayers with respect while staying true to your path. And, of course, delivering a 15# loss. - Perfect. Anybody looking for the playbook for excellence, in any endeavor, need look no further. You and your ilk are the reason I come to FS. Let's go! #inspiring  

You were too kind to bebe1604 Debbie! She really contributes nothing to this site! Very proud of you!!!  

This seems really unhealthy, for your body and your mind. 

I Agree with Imabunny, be very cautious of doing that...  

Congratulations! The longest water fast I have been able to do was 11 days. Still trying to get the mental energy to do it again. 

Imabunny, that's what the food industry and the sugar industry has been telling us too for decades. Oh, and "eat snacks," "never go more than 3-5 hours without feeding your body some carbs." "Eat 3 meals and 3 snacks," or "6 small meals everyday." "If you need to, carry some granola or a piece of candy with you at all times to keep your sugar from getting low." "Eat carbs all day and you'll never be hungry! Just cut out all the fat!" Yeah, that's the ticket! "You can eat 3000 calories a day and as long as there is zero fat you won't gain weight." I remember those actual words written in a fitness magazine in the 1990s. All lies!! It set so many of us up for a lifetime of obesity leading to Insulin Resistance, Diabetes, High blood pressure, Heart disease and arthritis. What a paradigm shift it was for me when I learned about Dr. Atkins. But that didn't go far enough; I lost, reversed and regained following just his low carb plan. More than a decade later I learned about Dr. Fung. "To lose weight just don't eat." That was a revelation. Seeing the fat on my body as fuel for my body was a paradigm shift! Fasting is something homo sapiens have been doing forever, until the 1970s-2000, and even today, when so many so called health professionals still teach to never go without eating something, and set up 2/3rds of the people in the US and many around the world to live lives frustrated by being overweight (1/3 of those into morbid obesity) and unable to lose it long term. Fasting is unbelievably healthy for body and mind, and it's been proven to be very safe too--with exception of some people on certain medications or with certain health restrictions. It really is a matter of mind over misinformation. "With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Start by watching Dr. Jason Fung on Youtube, and let him show you his way.) 

Good luck Debbie! It'll be a shift but I hope it all goes well. Take care. 

How much did u loose in the 12 days? 

@DLynneGarner: Fast This Way; Life in the Fasting Lane ;Intermittent Fasting; Intermittent Fasting: The Beginners Guide; Fast, Feast, Repeat (my favorite); The Power of Prayer and Fasting; The Complete Guide to Fasting; and Water Fasting. Eight books in 12 days! @JeffMinthorn and @imabunny - See DLynneGarner's defense of fasting. It pretty much says it all. The only thing I would add that children, teens, pregnant and nursing women should not fast because of their increased nutritional means. @adefwebserver, you'll get there. Eleven days is a GREAT accomplishment! @jimmiepop, WOW, such words of encouragement and affirmation! I can't thank you enough! @Dennymau, it took a little bit of restraint, but I decided when I started this that I wasn't going to argue about it or cave to peoples fears, misinformation and lack of education about fasting. If anybody gets really nasty with me, I will simply delete their post. No sense in getting my feathers ruffled.