On the first of January I decided to dive into a vegan diet that, along with cutting out any animal product, also cut out sugar and it is referred to as "The Daniel Fast". I picked up a copy of this book and used recipes from the book and this website. The Daniel Fast is a 21 day "fast" from animal products (meat, eggs, cheese, milk, etc.) but also from sugar and all drinks except water. I ended up setting my goal for 20 days but ended up doing 19 since I WAY cheated on the last day.
My original goal when starting this was strictly to lose weight, but after reading through the book it became much, much more. I began a journey in my faith that I have never taken before and that was diving feet first into the Bible and actually trying to understand the scripture I was reading. I have set out before to read my Bible but it wasn't to read it and understand, it was just to read it from cover to cover. I failed miserably at that! But by devoting my morning to the Bible and a relationship with the Lord, I have grown so much in the past 30 days. I say 30 because though my "fast" ended, my devotion to grow as a Christian did not.
In the book that I purchased, there is a 21 day devotional to go along with the 21 days of the fast. I decided to use the daily devotional, but I also started reading Proverbs. I chose to read one chapter of proverbs each day and then I would have Proverbs finished after 31 days. On the first devotional I had an "ah ha" moment, (as Oprah would put it) she talked about first fruits and how God wants the best of everything we have, including our time. He doesn't want to be second to anything or anyone. Seeing that my morning routine was to roll out of bed and immediately workout and then begin my day as mommy, I decided that I would roll out of bed and spend what time I needed to read and then use what time I had left to workout and then allow my day to begin after that. Though there were mornings that I didn't get to workout, I was able to grow spiritually and it set in motion a new way of thinking.
This was a wonderful way for me to grow, gain knowledge, gain understanding and find focus on what truly matters. I see myself taking this journey whenever I start feeling a need to focus on prayer or when I feel that I am drifting away.
As for the weight loss, in the 19 days that I cut out all the stuff I cut out, I lost 8 pounds and 7 3/4 inches!! Plus, I now have a whole bunch of go-to recipes to eat vegan/vegetarian. I plan to continue eating that way 3-5 day a week because I feel my body was in far better health when I was eating so many fruits, veggies and grains.
My running total for weight and inches lost since starting to workout and track starting in September: 14 pounds and 21 inches! I learned that the best way to see a difference is to cut out sugar (at least hone it in a little!) because I cut out sugar in October and lost 9.5 inches and 3 pounds. Therefore, October and January were my two biggest loss months. Bye, bye to my daily sugar fix and hello healthier lifestyle.
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