Hey fatties. I’ve been fasting for almost two months now and been suffering with food/carb addiction since forever, I believe I’m obsessed with food. On fasting days I get this extreme sadness that nothing makes sense, there is no happiness and keep obsessing over food. I don’t feel like doing anything, just watch time pass by until I can eat, nothing excites me besides eating. I feel like if I could just sleep for days until I could eat, it’d be the best thing ever. Will this obsession ever end? Tbh on refeed days I eat sugar and sometimes binge. My new goal is to eat low carb and healthy from now on, could this misery be caused by sugar withdrawal? Thanks
Do you stay indoors/inactive when fasting? I’ve had a similar thing when I’ve been fasting during lockdown in the winter months. When I fast on a day where I go for a long walk, hang out with friends or just do anything that has me outside and occupied, I found I didn’t have the low feeling when I was eventually home by myself fasting
> Tbh on refeed days I eat sugar and sometimes binge. My new goal is to eat low carb and healthy from now on, could this misery be caused by sugar withdrawal?
Depression is a symptom of sugar withdrawal so that’s probably it.
Not sure what you can do except eliminate it from your diet and wait it out. I find eating unprocessed food helps, if you limit your binges to natural foods like paleo or a keto kind of diet then I think you’d be able to handle it better as well since it’s low carb and any natural sugar you take in will be bundled with some fiber, and I find it fills you up very quickly and it’s not very calorie dense so you’d have to work hard to overeat on it.
I doubt it’s sugar withdrawal. Do you have any hobbies, interests, or social groups you take part in? It sounds like you need another outlet besides food in order to get your dopamine pathways adjusted to something besides eating.
Honestly, if you’re refeeding on refined sugar, that’s kind of pathetic and you need to stop doing it. Fast for at least 48 hours and refeed on food that isn’t processed. Eat meat, veggies, some fruits, whatever. Just don’t eat processed junk that’s full of added refined sugar. Natural unprocessed food is not only nutritious but contains fiber that limits uptake of sugars and lowers glucose spikes. Refeeding on refined sugar is just going to feed your addiction. Would you tell a recovering meth addict to sniff a megadose of meth every few days? Have a treat sometimes once you’re lean, but until then you’re on your way to yo-yo’ing back into weight gain unless you cut out the source of your fat problem.
If after cutting out refined sugar and processed foods that you are having depression that the fasting is exacerbating, then you can do things like cut back on the fasting, only fast for a few days a week rather than doing rolling fasts, or stop doing it if that doesn’t work. Depression is no joke and can be really dangerous. At the very least, just stop it with the god damned sugar if you’re fat.
I just got back into fasting and am experiencing this exact thing. Literally cataclysmic depression where I’ve felt more or less fine otherwise.
I really think a large part is lacking the dopamine I get from food! I was IF/OMAD but always looked forward to stuffing myself. Brain has to adjust.
Just try and do other things to give yourself a boost. Have to force yourself sometimes! And clean up the diet because you’re setting yourself up to fail after you hit your goal by not changing your habits with sugar overall.
Best of luck!
My family has noticed this. My mom says I look empty and defeated lol I think it’s because I have lower energy, especially the first few days. I just look out of it. Still though there are so many benefits that I love.