Fast and Hike - the aftermath

It ended yesterday. I made it. Apparently everyone does, so that was nothing special, but I am sure they all have had a stash of granola bars and crisps in their rooms. I am awoken at 7am by the smell of boiling leeks. This is pretty repugnant and does not make me very excited about our departing meal at 10am. Stéphane turned up at 6.30 am to make this 'meal' for 2 of us. Jean Jacques and France are staying another week - God help them and whoever turns up to join them next week. Ania wants to keep fasting at home for 3 days - God help her husband as her breath must be pretty damn horrendous by now. I have no idea how anyone can take 3 and a half hours to prep any form of meal for 2 people.

We start with a juice that has a lot of lemon in it so I can't drink more than a mouthful before I get pains as if my stomach is trying to tie itself into a knot. I can't take lemon in the morning despite everyone on earth telling you how good it is for you. So I am already in a bad mood as I wanted a nice fresh juice. Badly.

Then we get a plate of boiled veg. It has been laid out very 'beautifully' according to the frogs, 'strangely' according to me. A piece of boiled broccoli, 2 pieces of boiled carrot cut into cute shapes, 5 pieces of boiled courgette, a folded little lump of boiled kale, a spoonful of the boiled leeks and in the middle a lump of mashed carrot with coriander and a lump of mashed sweet potato. I am quite looking forward to this, there is nothing I don't like (apart from the dreaded leeks, which I do like, but this mornings smell has put me off for a while).

There is a second smaller plate. With some slices of gherkin, some kimchi, some tapenade, 2 tiny slices of avocado, some germ sprouts, some chopped fennel and some other random pile of black stuff. Everything seems to be pickled and/or soaked in lemon juice.

I attack the veg. It's cold. Like sitting on a plate for an hour cold. Which is obviously why it took so damn long to make. Note to Stéphane - we haven't eaten for a week, sod the bloody pretty plate and give us some warm food! It's inedible, I pick at the mash but not even a weeks starvation can make me eat cold over-boiled broccoli. I eat nothing on the smaller plate, it's not disgusting, but my fragile empty stomach cannot take pickled anything, or lemon. Two hours spent last night lecturing us about a softly softly approach to eating again, and we get such harshness offered to us. Makes no sense.

Anais takes my veg and shoves it in the microwave and I eat it. It was worth a week of listening to tales of China just for that moment of saviour. This mornings pearl of wisdom was.... 'Did you know the Chinese don't eat mayonnaise, they put nothing on their frites!'. 🤦‍♀️

We get a little apple and mango puree for desert, it is delicious. I feel full, it's a nice feeling. I start sneezing. No idea why.

I say my goodbyes and shoot off home to the villa. I am infuriated that the gross taste in my mouth is still there, because I've had mush for breakfast. I WANT CRUNCH.

On the way I pick up my online order of fruit and veg and head home to eat. Problem is, I'm not very hungry. I eat an apple. For 50 years people have been telling me to eat an apple when I'm hungry and I have tried, but it doesn't cut the mustard. An apple does NOT curb my hunger. But today, the crunch and bite was exquisite. I savoured that apple. And my jaw ached a bit crunching into it.

I then have to race to Monaco to pick up Amy (the poodle), I have told my Mum of my weight loss and she greets me with a big smile and a well done. My father asks how much I have lost, I say 5 kilos. He replies 'oh that's a lot, you'll put it on again in a week'. Then tells of the health farm he went to in 1975 where he drank lemon juice, lost lots of weight and put it back on again. Thus proving his theory. Thanks Dad.

I make roast veg and rice for dinner. I savour every mouthful, I am enjoying filling my system back up. When I'm done. I sneeze. What is this? Post fast sneeze disease? Dr. Google tells me there is a condition called Gustatory rhinitis where you sneeze after eating. It is your body reacting to the stomach being stretched! Let's hope it's my bodies way of telling me to STOP eating in the future. Sneeze and stop.

I sleep like a baby in MY bed with nice sheets, comfy pillows and a couple of hounds to keep me warm.

Today is the day that counts as my weigh-in. My intestines are full again, I'm back to relatively normal function. I expect to have put back on half a kilo at least.

But NO - hallelujah I made it to 6 kilos. I am overjoyed. I HAVE to keep this off.

But of course, this wasn't just about weight loss (it so was, but hey).

Allergies - well that one's tough, I haven't felt my usual allergies (dust, mites, cats etc) but I have had a few rashes and of course the random sneezing. So am not sure whether this has worked or not, but for the moment I'm not taking anti-histamine - it's been a week.

General health - yes I am perkier. My morning jog with the dogs was a little more energetic, apparently my eyes should be sparkling but that's hard for me to judge. And maybe I had some dreaded nasty things growing in my body that have disappeared. I'll never know.

Menopause - I still had hot flushes in the retreat, despite continuing with my hormones. But not as many and I don't seem to have the continual feeling of heat emanating from me at all times.

Booze - well I haven't felt like it. There is the 6pm auto reaction of wanting to go to the fridge and grab a chilled Chablis, but it's not as luring as it was. I will continue a while longer without alcohol. Probably until I end up in a restaurant where temptation will win.

Snacking - I'll still be the person with their hand in the Nik nak bowl as soon as it appears, but I will try to go longer between meals and I will buy fruit for the office.

Mentally - I organise a hike at midday with a friend and her dog and notice a change. I have had a juice for breakfast but not eaten anything. It is 11.45 and I won't be back till 2.30. Rather than 'oh I should eat something now because I'm going on a long hike', I was thinking, hey as long as I have water with me, I'll be fine, I can eat when I get home. Let's hope that mentality sticks with me for more than a week. (unlikely).

6kgs in 6 days? People are going to say it's too much, it's not healthy. I disagree. But we ALL have differing opinions and different diets that work for them. Personally, I am not a fan of high protein type diets. I believe our generation eat too much meat, too often and in too large quantities. I'm not convinced our digestive systems can cope, especially with the processed stuff. But it's about finding what works for you and letting others find what works for them and not dissing them for not agreeing with your diet. I get SO fed up of people telling me - cut the carbs - it'll drop off, KETO - a miracle, Paleo is the most natural way.... do what you want, but don't tell me that I'm fat because I don't follow the same diet as you.

There isn't one all round solution. I have been to 20 different spas and health resorts and this one, as scruffy as it is, is the first where I have achieved above average results. In ALL the others, I lose half of what other women with a similar build and age lose. To name a few that I have been to: Canyon Ranch (both US sites), Buchinger Wilhelmi, SHA, Kamalaya, The Mayr Clinic (3 times), Birkenhof, Grayshott Hall, Champneys, Longevity Algarve, Shanti-Som, and so many more that I can't remember the names of. These places have fantastic results for lots of people, but never me. Fasting is drastic, but I believe there are health benefits for the body and mind and it didn't hurt our ancestors who fasted often (not by choice), so there's no reason why it should hurt us. The biggest hurdle I had to get over? The fear of not eating, the fear of being starving hungry. It didn't happen. I was fine. Grumpy, but fine.

I am still very overweight, my BMI (which I hate as a measurement as it is so unrealistic) says that if I weighed 47 kgs, that would be 'healthy'. I beg to differ. The last time I wore a size 27 jeans (that's very tiny for non jean savvy people) and was buying dresses in the teen department, I weighed 62kg. I have large bones, and big fat muscles. Which isn't taken into consideration in BMI. As of today, I am officially obese. Fair enough, I'm not going to disagree. However, even to get into the 'healthy' range, I have to lose 15 more kilos which seems a little exaggerated.

Today some pics appeared on fb of an event I went to 8 days ago at the Yacht Show. I think I look horrendous, bloated and flabby and that was despite being dressed up and out! I am fanning my menopausal sweats away. Today I took some pics after the hike (hence scruffy clothes). Here they are - my before and after.

8 days.