TL/DR: Curious how IF minimizes and/or creates anxiety for you (because it’s doing both for me!)?
I know in my heart IF is the way for me; it’s the only way I’ve ever been able to lose weight. I was doing 16:8 and lost 40 lbs. I went through a personal trauma, fell off the IF wagon, ate whatever felt good, and gained back 20. I am determined to get back to it and not let my ex ruin this for me.
I had my first “restart” day yesterday and realized some things while journaling this morning. IF reduces a ton of anxiety for me. I felt a lot of calmness because I know I am going to have a very filling lunch at 11 AM and a very filling dinner at 6 PM, and that’s it. No point in thinking about what fun foods I could eat for breakfast or having guilt about putting sugar in my coffee, etc. That kind of stuff is not on my plan, so I’m not going to do it, so no point in worrying about it.
However, I realized something weird I did after I ate dinner. I was scouring the pantry for something fun to eat before my window closed at 7 PM. And I ate 6 Jolly Rancher hard candies that I didn’t even want. I ended up chewing them just to make sure I got them all in on time.
Overall, it is OK & I am OK with what I did, because I was also tracking calories and still came in under 2,000. That’s high for me (I am a short, older woman), but at the same time, it’s a lot better than what I have been doing the past several months (I had some \~3,400 cal days!!!). Since I do like rules and having things spelled out, I wonder if I should make another rule for myself, like IF 16:8 and only one dessert item per week. Or something like that.
I don’t know. Anyway, how about you? Anxiety & IF? Thank you to everyone who shares here. It really helped me a LOT to read your stories, and I am confident it is going to keep helping me!
For me, it actually triggers anxiety. Food was my psychological coping mechanism (literally “burying” anxiety in my body with food), and IF takes that away during the fasting period.
However, it is a process by which an unhealthy mechanism is taken away and I’m being forced to consciously replace it with something else. And actually face my anxiety and ride it out. So still a really positive result in the end.
Take this with a grain of salt because it is a work in progress. I did I.F. alone and lost 20. Then I did Keto and I.F. and lost 50. I tend to go hard core and I read books , made charts and notes, collected inspirational quotes and health facts, lurked on forums practically every day and tracked every calorie and macro. However, after a year of that and some changes in my circumstances, which include eating out almost every day and not knowing where or when, my anxiety became much worse and I just couldn’t cope with practicing Keto and had started vacillating between Keto and bingeing.
For my own sanity, I am currently just doing I.F. while keeping in mind that I want to make lower carb and portion-controlled choices. However, I don’t track or count macros and my I.F. varies between 20/4 and 18/6. If I eat something I regret, next time I will try to do better. No guilt, no pushing myself beyond what I.F. requires, which in itself reduces my anxiety.
I.F. itself corrects a lot of bad habits for me . Still, it is tempting to eat too much or something I don’t really want, just because I have time left in my feeding period. Instead, I am trying to focus on topping off my feeding period with some protein or going without if there are no good choices. As I said, a work in progress, but one that I feel is most sustainable for me.