This is the diary of my ramadan experience. We love Morocco, we go there all the time and have a lot of good friends there. Our friends are always telling us that ramadan is good for all kinds of things: it cleanses your body and your mind, and reminds you to be grateful for all that you have. Great!
Full discIosure: That is actually Cami in the photo from last year. I wish I was in Morocco doing it with everyone else and breaking the fast with friends. But I am not. I am in Denmark, still working from home, and still with some corona restrictions. And I did think Cami and I would be in this together, but we are not. I think because she was in Morocco last year, it will be too depressing doing it alone in Denmark this year. But not for me, I need all the distractions I can get from this lockdown situation. First things first: The rules: I am doing the fasting bit, so no food or drink from sunrise to sunset. I won't be praying 5 times a day and I am going to follow Moroccan time. Today is day one, I will update this page as we go, so stay tuned.
Day one: this Sunday Morocco changed the time. I thought they would follow us in the daylight saving time. But they went the other way. So when the Sun rises at 6.15, it will be 8.15 here. But that also means that when the Sun sets at 7 it will be 9 here. I decided to follow Moroccan time, But I couldn’t really figure out if I should follow the acctual time of day or if I should work with the timedifference so I was doing everything in real time if that makes sense. I still haven’t compleetely decided what is most “right” as both are technically wrong...
Anyway day one went really well. I got up early to eat breakfast and drink a lot of water and then I didn't really get hungry. When it was time for dinner I could have waited even longer, which is quite surprising for someone who usually snacks a lot during the day. But I was really tired in the evening. So let's see in the upcoming days.
Day two: I had a little bit of difficulty waking up to eat breakfast, so I had to be really quick, but I got some and a lot of water, and the day went well. it wasnt until my normal dinnertime that my stomach started making noises. So far so good. But I was already starting to worry about about tomorrow.
Maybe I am a little too easy to convince if you call something a challenge. Amanda and I are following this training program 3 times a week as a challenge for 12 weeks. We are at week 8, so obviously I want to finish it. But i can’t do the workout and not drink water. I can’t do the workout after a full day of fasting. And I can’t do the workout on a full stomach. So the only way to do it is to wake up super early to do the workout, drink water and get some food. so tomorrow will be an early one.
Day three: imagine this scenario: it is ramadan. You get up really early so you can do your workout and drink water before sunrise. It’s a killer. You go back to your appartment turn on the tap - nothing comes out!!
This was my morning! I had two small bottles in my fridge luckily. And I will admit there was some water in my nespresso machine from the day before. I drank that too!
Day four: I went to Copenhagen to visit the girls. This is their blog too after all, so they waited for me so we could have dinner together (well, almost) and kept me distracted until it was time, But I have to say, so far so good. It hasn't felt that difficult yet. I guess that is one of the good things about working from home - you don't have to look at or smell everyone elses lunch.
Day five: My breakfast at the girls house was white bread and that didn't quite work as well as the porridge I have been eating the other mornings, so A few hours before dinner-time I was pretty hungry. And wow did that dinner taste ekstra good!
Day six: New week and back to my routines. Up early, do the workout, eat breakfast, work from home, out in the sunshine.
Week 1: The first week has gone by and I can happily report that I have succeeded in getting up every morning to eat breakfast and drink water. I have also done the planned workout three days a week - but last friday I only did half - in my defense it was REALLY hard. I will also say that I can definitely feel that i am low in energy. My corona walks are slower and I am tired - really fall-asleep tired in the afternoon. I am surprised that I am not thirsty or have had headaches, because I know that happens on a normal day if I am very busy. It helps to be home as well I guess. No temptations and no long drives or physical meetings where it would be frowned upon to lay down on the floor or take a walk around the room. Tonight I am visiting my parents and they have graciously agreed to have a late dinner with me.
I think in the future I will update every week. This corona life is not really interesting enough to share everyday.
Week 2: This week has felt long. The restaurants opened here in Denmark, and while it was nice to not have to stand in line for the required test, it did look really nice with all those outdoor brunches, lunches and beer.
And i also have a confession to make: i drank water today. Here is what happened: Monday night I fell - like, cartoon style with both feet completely disapearing under me and i landed on my back and I didn't know if I hit my head on the ground. It sounded a little like it, but I didn't feel it. So I waited to see how I felt and eventually just went to bed (completely irresponsable I have been told) The next morning when I woke up my neck was really really tense and sore, but I felt nothing in my head and also couldn't feel any tenderness in the back of my head, which I would have expected if I had bumped my head. But the day after - today, I woke up with a giant headache and still a pretty stiff neck.
So I went to see a chiropractor, who was pretty genious. He checked everything and agreed that my neck had been strong enough to save the head and then he cracked my neck and my back and told me to take painkillers, put ice on it and come back on monday. So you see it was doctors orders really, i need water to take the pills. So all in all the second week was harder than the first. All my stored energy is spent, I am tired and a little envious of alle the restaurant guests, but still not bad enough to give up. Half way done! Bring on the last half!
Week 3: This week was easy and I also felt like I had more energy. I am now in a good habit of getting up and eating and drinking as much water as possible, and in the evening I even start dinner too late sometimes because I forget. One reason for the energy, could be that I haven't done the last three workouts beacuse of my neck. The neck wil be fine and I will start doing the workouts agan for the last week, so we will see.
I have made sure to make great plans with good friends when ramadan ends so it will be nice and cozy and lots of good food eventhough I won't be going to Morocco to celebrate with my friends. 56 countries are still banned from entering, so I will have to wait and see.
Week 4: This is the final week of ramadan. So what have I learned? Well, I am probably not really hungry most of the times when I think I am. Mostly it’s just habit. I also definitely don’t need as many snacks as my brain would have me think. But I do have a clear sense that my body needs fuel, to do things like workouts and long walks and staying awake. Another thing I have noticed is that my brain needs fuel. I got a lot of inspirational quotes about the benefits of fasting in the first week. It was a lot about how fasting gives you spiritual clarity…. I don’t know. I don’t think I have found any spiritual awakening, I feel like I have become a little slower all around actually. I tried meditation, as my neck made me slow down the workouts. But it was harder than usual to concentrate and if I lay down, I would just fall asleep. I have thought a lot about what it must be like to not have enough food or not know when you will eat again. I have also thought about how lucky we are to have super clean delicious drinking water coming straight out of the tab in Denmark. And I have definitely enjoyed my dinner much more this month. So a little bit of contemplation, sure, but nothing big or new.
And now to the only question I have gotten again and again about this experience: did you loose weight? Nope! not at all. So if that is your motivation. I would say: eat healthy food and work out. Don’t do this.
The ending of Ramadan is the eid celebration. The only upside to being in Denmark is that Thursday is a holy day here and we have forced holiday on Friday, so I have a long weekend and have made sure to make great plans with friends to celebrate and eat all day long. I will let you know on Sunday how my body reacts to this. Stay tuned.
Eid: First thing that happenned when I arrived at my friends house on Thursday afternoon was that a bottle of chapagne was opened! And when her husband came home, ccktails were served! We also had a pretty early dinner and pancakes for dessert, so I would say that was perfect. We didn't stay up all night eating, but I did drink coffee all of next day. And my other friend and I didn't really do anything besides cook, eat and chat for the next two days, so all in all this Danish version of Eid was prettu good! But I don't think I will try it again - except maybe if I can do it in Morocco with my true ramadany friends! We will see.
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