been struggling recently would love some encouragement
Not sure exactly how long you’re trying not to eat for, but when I am fasting and struggling a little I like to plan my next meal. Which is really odd for me - I’ve never enjoyed cooking until I started fasting. Now I like to plan something that I might normally eat, but a fancier version of it (not sure if I should put details or an example in here so I will refrain). I tuck that into the back of my brain, then when it’s close to eating time I plan a walk to grab the required groceries.
99% of the time it’s mind over matter. Hunger comes and goes… it’s not a permanent state. You can do this!!
My grandma, a child of the Depression, had a saying: “use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.” I like to think of my stored fat being “used up”. I have enough stored energy that I can “do without.” That little saying has become my fasting mantra.
I watch YouTube videos on fasting sometimes for motivation.
On one I learned that the hunger hormone comes and goes whether or not you eat. So you can be hungry, eat, and then not hungry. Or you can be hungry, not eat and meet your goals, then not be hungry. Ones better than the other!
I typically do ADF. I don’t really start getting hungry until about 24 hours in, so dinnertime on my fasting day. I drink some water and count how many hours until I get to go to sleep. Typically it’s 5 or 6 hours. Then I just tell myself that I only need to fast for 6 hours until bedtime. Not 6 MORE hours, just 6 hours. Seems to make it much easier to get through. Then when I wake up in the morning, I’m not hungry anymore. Works for me!
I’ve noticed if I’m in the middle of a long-term fast and I’m tempted to break it, it usually means I’m exhausted. So I usually just go to bed now. I use a mantra though that if I take the first step and even eat something like a handful of sauerkraut I know that I’m not going to stop there so I’ve made it so my subconscious basically insults the s* out of me and makes me feel like a dumbass if I take that first step.
Took several mess ups though too have that memory backlog of knowing how bad I’ll mess up if I give in. Sometimes it takes a lot of mess ups before you can have a solid foundation to have a mindset to back you up. I know I’m going to mess up and give in during some fast in the future, but I’m not going to mess up as bad then as the last time I did. That’s the key. Just don’t beat yourself up too much when you do mess up even if you gain weight back if that’s your goal of fasting. Figure out what you did wrong to not repeat it. Keep figuring out new mental tools to add to your portfolio.
Example: Broke a 4-day fast last night with several eggs and broth with a baked spinach wrap to have some kind of crunch. I did that right before bed though because I knew if I didn’t I was going to keep on eating. Was super full but again knowing myself from past actions if I don’t go to bed pretty much right after my planned meal I know I’ll start binge eating. Makes it much easier to jump back into my regular OMAD everyday after, and eat responsibly because I have the added knowledge that I didn’t binge eat right when I came off my fast.