This may be motivational for the people in this sub (and again for myself), which is why I’m sharing this.
About 8 years ago, I went through a very emotional and uncertain time in my life. I had broken up with my boyfriend I lived with, moved to a new residence, and started my own business from scratch in a city I wasn’t familiar with. I had almost no support system, very little funds, and felt very much alone. But I was HELLA motivated to pull my life together because the alternative (moving back to my tiny hometown) was absolutely something I was not willing to do.
During the months following my break up, I was grinding harder than I ever had before trying to get my business off the ground. This entailed getting up in the morning, showering, taking my medication with a bit of water, and running out the door. Sometimes I remembered to bring a water bottle with me but MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, I would go the whole day without eating or drinking (other than my morning pill). This was NOT intentional. One could argue that since I didn’t plan ahead to bring my food and drink, that it was. But really, I was just overwhelmed and stretched too thin. When the evenings rolled around, I would eat whatever I wanted and drink whatever I wanted, alcohol included if I felt like it. There was no dieting, calorie counting, no protein goal, no carb restriction, no food off limits…. I was not exercising what-so-ever. Only the steps I walked during the day. I also didn’t own a scale so unless I was at the doctor’s office, I didn’t focus on my scale weight.
During this time, UNINTENTIONALLY, the weight shed off my body like crazy!!! I had to dress nicely daily, and my nice dress clothes were just hanging off of me. People I saw frequently were beginning to notice and commenting on it. I was even getting that nice area of the lower stomach (not sure what it’s called). When I had been with my ex, who was heavy set and loved to eat, when he would eat (which was frequently) I would join in. I got to my heaviest weight ever. So, from my heaviest to my “new” weight, I lost almost 58lbs! Without trying!! Without effort!!!
It wasn’t until years later when intermittent fasting and dry fasting piqued the interest of the masses that I even heard about fasting. But this very fasting is what got my body back down to a very normal and healthy weight for someone of my height!
But wait, there’s more!!! ;)
In these following years, I have really not struggled with my weight. It wasn’t 58lbs that I lost and then immediately gained back and then some.
It was 58lbs that seemed to be gone for good.
Since all that time ago, I have gained and lost the same 10lbs near my “new weight” several times but I never really struggled the way most overweight people struggle with gaining weight back.
I guess the reason I’m sharing this story, is that now I understand the reason I lost the weight the way I did and the fact that it didn’t come back, was because I was unknowingly taking part in dry fasting. My dry fasting wasn’t perfect. I was showering in the mornings and taking a bit of water in the AM with my pill. I was also eating at least once daily. I didn’t have any perfect hard dry fasts or any extended dry fasts. Just imperfect dry fasts frequently enough for my body to incinerate the excess fat and to kill off my fat cells so they couldn’t be easily refilled.
Hopefully someone on reddit reads this and it gives them the motivation to keep going when things aren’t going perfectly. Results will come even without perfection. Give it a try, screw up, and then come back again. That’s how most successful people actually reach their goals.
This is such a wonderful story, thank you for sharing. People often get so caught up in the expectations of dry fasting that they forget it’s okay to just let yourself dry fast as it happens and not stress if it’s not “perfect.” This whole life is a journey and we are meant to explore it ourselves rather than follow strict schedules and beat ourselves up when we “fail” them.