Thank you all for the long and thoughtful responses!
I guess I didn't make clear to everyone that taking communion in my church (inter-denominational Christian, not Catholic) involves bite-size servings of commercially baked bread and grape juice (I figure around 50 calories or so). There's no wine involved, and no wafers. (True story: My young son, when we first started attending, didn't know what communion was. But when he saw everyone else lining up to take a piece of bread and dip it in grape juice, he followed them. When I asked him later what he was doing, he said, "Well, everyone else was getting a snack, so I did too.")
What I'd noticed, though, was whether out of hunger or expectation, when services were over I was suddenly STARVING, and felt I HAD to eat. The problem is, being used to eating later in the day the rest of the week throws me off on Sunday -- because of course I want to continue to eat right up to my window.
I appreciate your responses, though, because what I got out of this was that `spiritual sustenance' is important, whether in or out of my window. I've found when I don't take communion, I definitely feel less comfortable. I'll experiment and let you know how I work it out!
I will also try drinking only water during my fast, to see if that keeps me from craving food until my window opens.
Last night I watched a pretty good video at www.thedietsolutionprogram.com. The nutritionist touting the program emphasized the importance of dropping the following from your diet: processed foods, artificial sweeteners, sugar (and everything that could turn into sugar -- this includes wheat products but not fruits or vegetables), and bad fats which she says are margarine, vegetable and canola oils, among others. (She says healthy oils like olive oil, real butter and others are good for you and actually speed up the fat-burning process.)
The point that got through to me was how terrible my current diet is (whether within my window or not). Though I know what good foods are, you wouldn't believe what I'm capable of eating! I've read about others on this list, who eat very healthy foods and seem very satisfied, and I really feel that the video last night helped point me in the right direction there. Not sure I can do it all at once, but at least I can cut out some of the garbage right away and hope to do the rest slowly.
I consider myself disgustingly lucky in that diabetes runs in my family but I don't have it; other family members have suffered strokes and heart attacks and breast cancer and I haven't; my energy levels (except after eating HUGE meals) is amazingly high, and most people guess, by looking at me, that I'm at least ten years younger than I am. None of that is really due to me -- but I also know unless I start taking better care of myself, my future won't be nearly as healthy as my past.
I'm so happy I found Fast 5. The only time I was able to sustain this really well was last fall, when I started a very busy phase of my job and found I didn't have time to eat, anyway, until I got home each night. The weight FELL off -- but once I adjusted to the job, things changed with my eating, and I've had trouble getting back on it since.
I'm still dealing with the weight I started putting on when I first met my husband (can't blame it all on babies). We met in the spring of 1993, moved in together in August of that year, and I immediately put on about 9 pounds -- which became 17 pounds very quickly. Got married a year later at 153, immediately got pregnant and had two babies in 3 years. By that time I was up to 170 or 175, way too much for my 5'1" frame. I would find a program, try it, lose a few pounds, get discouraged.
Then my thyroid basically quit on me, and I gained even more weight (up to 194 at my heaviest) -- until I finally joined Weight Watchers (again) in 2008. Lost 35 pounds -- felt a LOT better -- but this year has been stressful: In the same MONTH, I began managing a political campaign (something I'd never done before), AND continued on with my very stressful regular job AND separated from my husband.
Let's just say that little exercise plus bad food plus no time plus concern for my kids' happiness and stability has NOT added up to a healthy weight for me.
I'm at about 175 right now and have just rejoined WW (inspired by people here who say they've combined WW principles with Fast 5). I want to cut out the really bad food, bring in the really good food, and see if doing that, along with Fast 5, will make a significant difference. Would love to hear from others on the list about how they may have changed their food choices through Fast 5 and how that impacted them.
Thanks to all for reading a REALLY LONG POST -- sorry -- I'm a writer by profession and it's an occupational hazard!
Susan
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