Final Update

Although those of you who have been reading this may have hoped for a post on Saturday, the last day of my 14 day hiatus from food, I refrained for two reasons. One, I forgot. Two, I thought that if I waited a few days I could also - in one fell swoop - cover the after effects of my return to food.

So, after much drum rolling....
(Please, drum roll, for your sake)





Final Weight: 155 lbs.
Total Loss: 25 lbs.

(just a quick note on this one: I haven't weighed 155 since middle school and due to my extreme loss in body mass I've received three comments in reference to "Cast Away" and Tom Hanks.)

First Meal: Tomato Soup and soft bread

(note: I was still full on Sunday at lunch and only had a light salad and green beans for lunch. Dinner I ate a few slices of frozen pizza that our sisters made for us but that's it.)

Final Analysis?

This is one of the hardest things I've done, but at the same time I know that two weeks is only a series of moments in which I repeatedly denied myself and made conscious decisions towards my goal. This has fostered within me a new love for discipline and a renewed love for food. I've lost a lot of fat, which I plan to keep off, and I've learned what it means to be truly hungry. I think that aside from the discipline, this lesson of hunger is the best thing I've learned in a long, long, long time.

Whenever a preacher talks about poverty it seems inevitable that he'll mention that we westerners don't know hunger. That we don't know what it truly means to feel the agony of an empty stomach. Now I do. O, I know that for those in poverty there is a psychological aspect too. They're not choosing hunger and in all reality they probably don't know when it is they'll eat again. While there was an abundance of food around me that chose not to eat there is absolutely nothing around them to refuse. But at lease physically now, I have seen a little clearer into that kind of pain and suffering.

Energy. Let me just say quickly that it is a joy to have energy. A friend warned me at the outset of this endeavor that food is a mood stabilizing substance that I won't understand the effect of till I don't have it and he was right. But I don't think he could have guessed how I changed. Knowing myself, I too would have guessed that without food I would have become irritable, ornery, and grumpy. But instead I became (at the testimony of others) more calm, reserved, and gentle. I credit that to the lack of energy and think I just shut down. But for whatever reason, I was more and more warm spirited and I thank the Lord for that.

Regardless, having energy is phenomenal and I thank the Lord for the way that he made us, the fact that we're dependent on his creation, on him, to be sustained, and that he is such an amazing provider giving us so much to eat and drink and enjoy!

Lastly, I never would've guessed how inspiring it is for other people. I've had five friends talk to me seriously about what it takes to do this diet/fast and seriously contemplate it. One friend started a 10 day fast this morning and as soon as I give some other friends the details I think they're going to consider it too. How sweet is that.

Well, now that I'm clean on the inside and energetic on the outside, I thank you all for reading and enjoying this fascinating time with me.

Peace.
Jon Carr.