Feeling shitty about my progress as I keep fasting, getting results, feeling amazing.
Then some life stuff happens, like a break up or work stress… So I reach for food for comfort and gain all weight back again.
Been through it 5 times in the last 2 years. Not extreme but +- 10kg = 20lbs fluctuations. Or maybe it is extreme. Im a female, and these fluctuations have been around 10-15% of my total body weight.
Im still optimistic that I’ll reach my target weight and maintain it. BUT MAINTAINING IS THE HARDEST!
Any tips? Or at least similar yo yo cases.
A lot of this stuff is psychological. You already know you can do the hard stuff. You already know you can change habits. You already know you can successfully do what many (most) can’t. You need to take this knowledge and use it to push through the hard times when you want to fall back in to old habits.
In recovery people use a technique called Urge Surfing. Read up on it. You can apply this to all areas of life. Another recovery tool is “playing the tape forward” where you talk yourself through what will happen if you give in to your urge to comfort eat.
You know you can do these things, you just have to believe you can also do these things when it’s hard.
FWIW fasting has helped me be mindful of what I eat outside of my fasting times. Last week I didn’t fast and I missed the routine of doing it. Instead of beating myself up for missing a week, I instead looked forward to picking up where I left off. I tend to be my own worst critic but I didn’t let a week derail me.
I’ve been intermittant fasting since September 1st but I view it as a lifestyle, not a diet. This helps me put things in perspective. I’ve lost 6 lbs so far, so I don’t know what taking off 10 lbs is like yet with fasting.
Weigh yourself regularly, I recommend weekly so that when you see your body gaining weight you can immediately recognize it and do something about it. It’s been proven that people who weigh themselves regularly are more successful at maintaining the weight loss, compared to someone who never weighs themselves and wakes up one day 20 lbs heavier.
Hard to fall back on addictive foods and bingey snacks when you’re full and satiated. Eat meat. An astounding amount of people have put into remission their disordered eating leveraging a carnivore (re: ancestrally appropriate) diet.
https://www.paleomedicina.com/en
I resolved my food addictions this way. Maybe it can help you.