Don’t get me wrong, I love fasting and IF and I completely understand the benefits of IF both physically and psychologically. But I just can’t stop feeling once in a while that IF takes away some of the fun and spontaneity of life - a glass of wine with your SO in the sunny afternoon, an impromptu dinner with friends,…
Also, it does feel isolating when I have a window to eat that might not match up with family so you eat alone, and eat weird stuff sometimes - breakfast for dinner, etc.
Not giving up IF of course, just wanted to get some perspectives on how you make IF “work” with social interactions with family and friends. Of course we can say FU and focus on our individual goals.
Sometimes I relax my fasting window or move it around to accommodate social or holiday occasions. I don’t stress about doing this once a month or so. Weight loss is about long-term habits; not every single day has to be perfect. I usually fast 22-23 hours; if one Saturday this month I only fasted 16 hours because I met up with friends, so what? It doesn’t happen every day or even every week.
I also picked my eating window to allow me to eat dinner with my husband every night, because that’s important to me. Picking a schedule that fits your lifestyle is important — including meals with family. The social aspect of eating is legitimately important. If your schedule leaves you feeling lonely and isolated at mealtimes… then change it, because that makes it much harder to stick to IF long-term!
Idk I guess for me eating isn’t a social thing and social life isn’t centered around eating.
I can still have a good relationship without having to have food involved. If I’m eating something different or at a different time it has no bearing on my relationships. I can spend time with others while they are eating and just enjoy that time regardless of if I’m eating too.
>Not giving up IF of course, just wanted to get some perspectives on how you make IF “work” with social interactions with family and friends.
Not being obsessed about fasting/feeding windows.
Not being obsessed about fasting/feeding windows.
Choosing a protocol that’s compatible with my social life most of the time so I don’t need to remind myself of 1) and 2) all too often.
I don’t feel those things. I find IF (specifically the ADF that I am doing) to be super flexible. If something is coming up, I put that on my calendar as an eat day and then make the other days whatever they need to be to make it work. No, I can’t just go out to dinner on a whim, but I’m ok with that. The alternative is staying fat and unhealthy forever. You have to make yourself a priority and tell the person that wants to eat with you right now when your next available window is. It can be simple or it can be complicated, it’s up to you.
Ever on other protocols, you have to decide whether you want to flex your eating schedule or flex your social schedule, but the choice is always yours.
I just pick the meal I want to eat that day. If im having dinner with friends then I’ll eat that as my meal. If I want Beverage with my SO on a sunny afternoon I fit that into my window (I do 20:4). If I have brunch with friends that’s my meal that day. It’s a roving time so sometimes im at 16 hours one day and 24 the next but it all evens out and keeps my body guessing. It works for me as I’m in the stage of life where there are not that many spontaneous dinners and that sort of thing. If there were I’d probably eat and hooray go back to IF the next day or just order an americano or something.
I’ve been trying IF for about three week now, 16:8. Last meal ends at 20-21, then lunch at 13 the day after. It’s not that bad. I have been avoiding drinks because of fat liver for a few years now, so social drinking was not a thing for me anymore already. Sure, I get annoyed when a dinner with friends ends later than 21 (I live in Italy, to start dinner at 21 is not unusual), but I try to see it as an incentive to skip dessert, which I should not eat anyway (btw, for me IF means mostly avoiding junk food at random hours, so skipping dessert, candies, sweets etc is actually the main reason for doing it).The main source of annoyance is, when I explain IF, that my friends are very suspicious of it and insist that I should see a nutritionist. Which in general is a good suggestion, but it’s stupid that people think that eating junk (because that is what I would eat otherwise and what some of them actually eat) is better than not eating for a few more hours…