I swam competitively for 12 years. I could eat upwards of 3 to 4000 cal and maintain a six pack. Even years later it’s really hard for me to control my eating. I go through phases of fasting and/or counting calories, and then phases of just eating whatever I can get my hands on. When I don’t eat I get lethargic, I feel depressed, and get very irritable. When I do fast I’m able to lose a lot of weight and it also helps my Crohn’s.
Any advice on maintaining a healthy fasting schedule?
I’m 29, 6‘2“, and weigh 285. When I was a senior in high school with a six pack I weighed 220.
I do CrossFit 4 times a week and I’m around 30% body fat. I really want to get to 12% as fast and healthily as possible.
If you have Crohn’s, I suggest you consider a carnivore or nearly carnivore diet. This will also help control your hunger, allow you to eat to satiety, and feel fuller for longer. It anecdotally seems to help people with Crohn’s and colitis (we don’t have the exact science on why but many think it’s because it acts as an elimination diet or even a fasting-mimicking diet but either way, so many people seem to say it’s done wonders). Dr Berg on YouTube has lots of great content on this way of eating. It goes hand in hand with fasting as well since when you eat a lot of meat in one sitting, you end up not wanting to eat again for a WHILE and you naturally end up skipping meals. Hopefully, it helps.
This may seem like generic advise, but what I do to help with my cravings is I only really buy foods required to make fairly healthy meals and I don’t buy lots of snacks. Then the only food available to me I either have to prepare like a meal, or potentially left over healthy meals that are ok to eat my fill of. This advise may not be possible if you have kids however.
Could drink two cups of water before a meal. May make you feel a little full.
Don’t want to overdo it though… peeing out too much will leave one dehydrated… or could cause a dangerous water buildup in the brain.
Also could try chewing gum or suck on a lollipop.