This post may come a little long but I want to share a few things that I learned/noticed while I started fasting seriously.
I just think its amazing to have it as a tool in the box. I was trying to lose weight basically all my life, doing all sorts of restrictive diets, exhausting workout challenges and all I get from that was low self esteem (not only because of my looks, but I was also thinking like “just eat less and move more, its so easy and it seems you can’t even do that if you’re not losing weight”) and fucked up picture of food (and nutrition in general) in my brain.
Now, after a year of fasting (yay!) I noticed that I am more confident, because NOW I KNOW that I can accomplish literally everything that I set my mind to, and I am proud of myself and things I’ve accomplished (there’s still some work to do, but I’m going smash it lemme tell you!). Also I love the fact that i am not obsessing over food like I used while doing “classic” 5 meals a day every three hours or so.
Another really cool thing is that It allows me to be more flexible with my diet, because I know that when I maybe eat a little too much (like Christmas, birthdays etc.) I can enjoy yourself and don’t feel guilty after that. I’ve noticed its quite hard to gain weight if you incorporate fasting regularly anyway, at least for me. And I appreciate my favourite food a lot more now, I don’t take it for granted and I enjoy even simplest meals and it’s amazing. When it comes to stuff like sweets or fast food, I noticed that I don’t crave it that much now, but I still incorporate them into my diet occasionally and now I think I finally found something that works for me.
>Now, after a year of fasting (yay!) I noticed that I am more confident, because NOW I KNOW that I can accomplish literally everything that I set my mind to
Great point - the effects of fasting really do reverberate throughout the rest of your life and help you become a more disciplined person.
I’m on year 4 and maintaining at my healthy weight, but still continue to fast since it’s a habit now. Developing this habit has helped me develop other healthy habits like a proper sleeping schedule (fall asleep at 10pm every night and wake up at 6am every day) and it’s completely eliminated all of my procrastination - I’m so much more productive in general.
Happy to hear it’s going well for you!
yeah it’s amazing how many ups and down there are in our mood and cognition with regular eating, especially during periods of poor diet. And the quitting or “kick” of carbs is always profound for me. It’s gotten better but during the first few fasts I would have these 2 different layers of gnarly headache for the first 3 days: caffeine and carbs! Carb sugar is like crack or heroin heh.
I do OMAD but on a cruise right now. So not fasting and I feel mentally bad. I always try to do better but it doesn’t work out so well. After every sailing I have to do a 72 hour fast then OMAD then another short fast to get back to weight. Two more cruises coming up. I love cruising but I don’t like the 8 pounds I gain. Oh well at least I know fasting will be me back on track
I feel exactly the same. I recommend it to everyone I come into contact with, even if they don’t ask. 🤣 I call it my golden ticket. It’s given me so much confidence. Next time I see my doctor I might cry thanking him for giving me this tool. I saw him in December, I think. He said “who knows, next time I see you you might be 25 pounds down”. I laughed because I honestly thought there was no way in hell I would have lost that much weight by March. Nothing ever worked. I started 16:8 on January 5th, and I am currently 17 pounds down. Congratulations on your journey! ❤️
I so agree. I love not being hungry all the time. I’m 60 hours into an 84 hour fast and am not hungry at all. Years back I let my BMI reach 25. Not a tragic BMI just a bit overweight according to most. But the hunger I experienced once my BMI got to 24 propelled me to a BMI of 25 and it was not going to stop there. Being overweight left me hungry all the time. I rarely ate breakfast for all of my life. With a BMI of 24 I craved food starting in the morning and lasting throughout the day. I started eating breakfast. Not satiated I would snack and crave a big lunch, snack and crave a high cal dinner and snack before bed. Since I used to fast often when I was younger I started again, lost the weight and have not been overweight since, and it has been years. I really believe once you become overweight a switch is flipped that leaves you feeling hungry quite often. Fasting and losing weight can flip that switch back off.
100% agree with you! I noticed that all other goals in my life became 10x easier to achieve once I started fasting. I’ve been self-teaching full-stack web development and since fasting I’ve tripled my speed of progression. I’m way more confident, have more energy, and don’t crave fast food anymore.
Fasting is literally the cheat code to life!
Yeah, I can’t believe how many people can’t even consider the thought of fasting. They seriously think they will die, or they won’t be able to resist food. No offense to them, but it is quite a weak and stupid mindset to have, as we all are capable of fasting for the most part.
Easier to get the body you want…check
Clearer mind…check
Higher self confidence and esteem (in all areas of life)…check
more time to focus on other things (no thoughts of food/what to cook before 4/5pm ish, at least for me)…check
Improving pretty much all your biomarkers…check
More flexibility to really GO IN once you hit that eating window (as opposed to holding back calories many times throughout the day)…check
Yeah I think I’ll stick with IF for life…
Does it start off like this for your all or do you have some difficulty in the beginning? A lot of what you said sounds like me but I give in every time I try to fast and sometimes it makes me obsess over food more.
Wow!
I be inspired of this post….
Coz after a week of no fasting, I started the timer and determined to say NO to food, bec it was again consuming my mind, the experience of eating, cooking, etc
I been overweight all my life bec eating was my vice and entertainment….
3 hours after I started the timer
Food arrived.
Lots of food
10 pcs fried chicken1 whole chickenNoodlesAnd many more
It was testing me
But I said NO tho it’s hard
And this post has reminded me, how GOOD it feels to be disciplined.
This reddit sub offers me support I dont have in a gluttonous house … THANK YOU !!
I ❤️ Fasting!