I am 42 y.o. Female, history of PCOS and had gastric bypass surgery 10/2019. I have lost and maintained -85 lbs since then. I am not yet my goal weight, but am in a much healthier range. I am not looking for recommendations or opinions on my surgery status, just giving some history.
However, I am at a stall and have been for almost the last year. I began 18:6 IF a month ago, went down 9.6 lbs and felt amazing. But then the cravings started again about 1 1/2 weeks ago, this has been my struggle since day 1 even after surgery. I cannot control my mind hunger, it absolutely takes over. I eat healthy in my eating times, but struggle with the fasting times. I am also currently menstruating, so I am hoping I can overcome this by next week.
In the meantime, how do you control the cravings when you are in your fasting periods of time? I try so hard, but I have broken the fast with unhealthy foods a few times now and I feel so defeated. Every time it happens, I feel myself just slipping back and I want to cry!
Any ideas or recommendations are welcomed! Thank you!
Urgh this is so tough! Trying to identify patterns of when the hunger happens had helped me. Is it before bed, in the morning, etc? You might be able to shift your eating window a bit to mitigate the power of the cravings. If it’s something you’re comfortable with, tracking macros for a bit could be good too, to make sure you’re eating enough fat and other satiating things during your eating window. And then, of course, the standard advice applies: distract yourself, keep your hands/mind busy, drink hot or iced unsweetened tea, chew gum, mindfulness/meditation, etc. Also, I’ve heard its best not to beat yourself up when you mess up - self forgiveness is huge because a small mistake is not the end of the world in the grand scheme of things. Not sure if any of this is helpful or revolutionary but I hope it helps!
Cravings are hard. Esp during your period. I like to remind myself that “hard” is part of process. If thin and healthy could be bought there would be no over weight ppl. Look at all the celebs who have have endless cash and still struggle with weight. So give yourself a break. Also when I have a craving I remind myself that that I have XYZ event/ party/ wedding coming up. And at that event there will be plenty of time for cake, or wine or salty foods whatever. Lastly Distract yourself. Clean out a closet. Go on a walk. Cravings never last forever. But sitting with Netflix might only make it worse. Hope that helps.
i would say “fail forward”. When the event happens, do not beat yourself up too much and move on. I think it is also a process and you get better with it over time. Also drinks loads of water when you start feeling the pangs and look for things you like to occupy your mind. It goes away after some time (my experience).