40 Days of Fasting

I was inspired a little over a month ago to make a challenge for a 40 day fast.  I decided this would be a good way for anyone, anywhere to experience what I did 4 years ago, when I started my transformation.

In case you've missed my story, here it is in a nutshell.  I was within striking distance of being 300 pounds, my son had just been born the previous June, and my wife was looking to lose the baby weight.  She happened upon an infomercial for Beach Body's "Hip Hop Abs" and pitched the idea to me.  I reluctantly agreed, saying that if we were going to pay the money, then we were going to do the program exactly as it was designed.

It was pretty simple: take pre-pictures, follow the exercise calendar plan, follow Michi's Ladder for what kind of foods to eat, create a calorie deficit (burn more than you eat), and don't eat anything 3 hours before you go to bed.  When finished with the first 30 day cycle, we took post-pictures.  When we were finished with the first 30 day plan, we bought level 2 and followed the 60 day plan.  When finished with this, we bought the third level (there was no calendar for this one so we just decided what to do when).  We chose a start date, February 6, 2008 (Ash Wednesday) and decided that this was going to be our Lenten discipline.  By the end of May, 2008 I was running regularly, and by October 2008, I was under 200 pounds for the first time since high school.

My challenge mirrors what my wife and I did.  Start on Ash Wednesday (February 22) and make a commitment for 40 days.  Give up at LEAST one unhealthy behavior and add at LEAST one healthy habit.

Examples:
1.) Give up soda, drink only water
2.) Give up fast food, bring your lunch to work
3.) Give up 1-2 TV shows, use the time to exercise
4.) Start a new video based exercise series
5.) Get a temporary gym membership and utilize the services of a personal trainer
6.) Get some friends together and start a morning/afternoon walking group
7.) If you are a parent, you can work with other parents in the community to take turns baby-sitting once during the week and consider your baby-sitting duty day as your day off
8.) Give up meat and find other, very good and healthy sources for protein
9.) Go 100% whole foods and give up processed white-flour based foods
10.) Give up all processed foods, learn to make your own variations of the same foods

I can't do all the thinking, but I hope you get the idea.  If you decide to accept the challenge, what might help you is to realize that you will either hate it and be thankful to return to your old ways after the 40 days; or you'll have developed a brand new, healthy habit.

40 days is almost 6 whole weeks- you can easily do a couch-to-5k plan in 40 days.  During my 40 day challenge those many years ago, I averaged 2 pounds a week- losing 12 pounds is a huge encouragement to keep going- so why not give it a try.  After all, it's only 40 days.

I will pray for you.