I’d been told by someone close that fasting was extremely difficult and I’d not be able to last more than a day or two. So my initial plan was for one meal a day (breakfast) and fruit in evening from Monday morning to Friday afternoon; a friday dinner.

I did this for Monday, then on Tuesday I skipped the evening fruit.

At this point I was feeling very good, still not sure why I was doing it, but good all the same. So good that didn’t feel it was hard enough. I’d spoken to another friend who was going hardcore; he hadn’t eaten since Sunday night, so I was inspired…

Wednesday I didn’t eat at all; just water. I didn’t sleep very well Wednesday night; just dozing, no deep sleep.

Thursday I had a peach. It was the most delicious peach I’ve ever had. I mean it was a nice ripe peach and I do have a thing for peaches, but the added emphasis of not having eaten for 48 hours made it the greatest peach i’ve ever experienced.

It was about this point that I realised I’d stopped wondering why I was bothering and was actually praying. Not the usual kind of prayer, “Hi God, here I am today…” but a continual conversation with God, picking up where we left off an hour or less ago. I think that’s when I made this post.

On Friday I had to meet a client, so I had another peach in the morning. It was amazing how much of a lift I could get from a single piece of fruit! After the meeting, as it went well, I celebrated with a coffee. Again, I gotta tell you it was the single most delicious coffee I’ve ever tasted. Again, it was actually good coffee, but the with the experience I really appreciated just how good it was. I swilled it around in my mouth savoring every last drop. I held onto the empty cup for a full half hour in remembrance.

That night I went to a friends BBQ. Thankfully, when it came to eating, we did it help yourself style, so I was able to discretely go last and just put a spoonful of potato salad and half a sausage on my plate with some big lettuce leaves hiding the emptiness. I didn’t want to have to reveal to everyone there about the fasting. The half sausage was indeed a meal; it took me long enough to get it down that the guy next to me gulped down his own second helping before I’d finished it. I thought how that would be me any other day; mostly swallowing before I’d even tasted what was in my mouth.

I was unsure how to continue now as the Friday had come and gone. I resolved to push through on bits of fruit till the Sunday night, and did so.

On Sunday night I overdid it. I had a steak and chips and felt ill… in fact I was ill. Steak and chips went into the toilet bowl about 3am Monday morning. I’ll heed the “ease back into eating” advice more seriously next time.

I recently started putting all kinds of little reminders in my calendar, so maybe I’ll finally get around to fasting a day every week or two.