Hey, Wanna FAST? Sounds Like FUN, Yes?

As you know, our Erica is doing a 10-day fast in preparation for surgery. Her post today made me feel a little crabby with her husband, who is being unsympathetic to the difficulty of this—and yet I notice he’s not exactly volunteering to join her for emotional support.

And I can’t BELIEVE I didn’t think of this earlier, but WE could join her for emotional support. We’ve already missed the first three days, which is too bad, and my “do it perfectly or not at all” personality resists even bothering: why start now, if it can’t be EXACTLY LIKE ERICA? How can we be supportive if we’re THREE DAYS BEHIND? But that is not the way things actually are, is it? It is possible to do things half-assed (or in this case, 7/10ths-assed) and still have it be worth doing, yes? And so I’m going to give this a try.

Erica has promised me (okay, I am making that up, but I plan to EXTRACT a promise) that she will do a post about what is allowed on her fast: it’s not a literal “no calories” fast (it’s something like 800 calories/day), so we will not actually be starving to death. And when that post is up, I’ll link to it.

In the meantime, I’m going to start first thing tomorrow (Monday) morning. It is FULLY POSSIBLE that within 10 minutes of The Start there will be a fudgesicle in one hand and a muffin in the other, but it is my intention to suffer mightily and bitch about it, here and on Twitter, because Erica is making it look like so much fun.

I feel as if I should issue some sort of disclaimer here. I mean, what Erica is doing is medically-supervised and medically-approved. What anyone joining in would be doing is flinging themselves into the unknown. A lot of us are not going to be ABLE to participate in this even if we want to. If your health is shaky, or if you’ve struggled with an eating disorder, or if you’re pregnant or nursing, or if you have a health issue, or if you exercise a lot, or if you’re very thin, or if you’re not supposed to screw around with what you eat for any other reason, you can still offer emotional support without actually fasting. You can do this by cheerleading from the sidelines, and by refraining from waving your food at the participants.

If you DO decide to fast, email me (swistle at gmail dot com) so I can make a link list of people who are going to be joining in on the suffering and bitching.

20 thoughts on “Hey, Wanna FAST? Sounds Like FUN, Yes?

  1. Caitlin

    I can’t even believe this shit. Here I am, jobless and on a health-kick and it would seriously be NO BETTER time to do this — except that I actually just scored a freelance project that will be taking up all of my time over the next few days, and I am afraid that something this drastic messing with my body and mind might make me screw it up big time and also screw my chances at future work.

    So maybe I will start on Thursday, when it’s over.

    That is, if you’re not all dead by then.

    Reply
  2. Jess

    I was JUST over at her blog, reading about this and about that comment her husband made, and I was TRYING to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I was frustrated with his comment too.

    I think you are amazing for starting this. I am not sure that I am strong enough to participate. Weight Watchers is kicking my ass pretty badly as it is. But I will try to at least deprive myself a bit more than usual out of solidarity.

    Reply
  3. Swistle

    Caitlin- Maybe a fast will hone and clarify the mind! …Yeah, no, you’re probably right.

    Jess- I’ve wondered if this might be the key to getting me back on my own diet: something different and interesting to do.

    Chraycee- Adding you to the list!

    Reply
  4. Jill

    Oooh this could be fun considering none of my pants are fitting…but um, that’s most likely a side effect of being all newly pregnant. (!) But I look forward to reading about everyone’s experiences.
    /trudges off to Erica’s to catch up

    Reply
  5. d e v a n

    I can’t even imagine how hard this is!! Kudos to those of you who are going to join her. I don’t think my 2 mo old would like his food supply cut off so I’ll just cheer from the sidelines.

    Reply
  6. Omaha Mama

    I will definitely look at her post to see what’s allowed. I’ve researched fasting more than once. I have always been drawn to the idea of “starting over” with my digestive system. The timing would be good right now, what with my current popsicle and M&M addictions.

    Reply
  7. nicole

    Being Catholic, I have discussed fasting lots of times. And having been pregnant more than once during Lent (typical fasting time) I have learned about other ways to fast. So, if someone can not do a food fast, they can do something else to offer support. Like maybe fasting from TV. Or fasting from tabloid TV if that seems less extreme. Or they could fast from eating crap and eat something good for the next 7 days. Not the same as your friend, but still fasting and thinking supportive thoughts for her. Just an idea.

    Reply
  8. artemisia

    I shouldn’t fast since I am hypoglycemic, but how about if I fast from all the “extras” like chocolate, alcohol, caffine, treats and the TV?

    Reply
  9. Kelsey

    Nursing disqualifies me, which might be good, because just reading about that made me almost start crying.

    Which makes me think I am perhaps not finished dealing with residual food issues. Harumph.

    Reply

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