Hello!
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I’ve been intermittent fasting for about 7 months now.
At first I started with 12 hours and slowly transitioned to 16 hours which I do at the moment (10 PM to 2 PM).
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I’ve always had trouble with sleep, but lately I’ve been getting worse and worse sleep, have gained weight, felt less energetic and more emotionally sensitive.
I’ve always had a positive outlook on intermittent fasting - a lot of the time it made my bowels feel better in the beginning and reading all the positiveness associated with it made me continue it and feel like I am doing something right!
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I was talking to my therapist and trying to figure out why my sleep/weight have been degrading and it seems like they both started to go downhill since I started intermittent fasting. I’ve also been having more and more sugar cravings the longer I waited for the first meal.
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_Important note:_ I never actively thought about this until now - I was on the mindset that IF makes me feel better, until now I realized that for the past 7-ish months, I’ve been feeling worse.
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The obvious question is: should I stop? Has anyone else experienced this?
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Thanks!
>slowly transitioned to 16 hours which I do at the moment (10 PM to 2 PM).
If IF is something that you’d like to continue to incorporate into your life, what time are you going to bed? You might just be eating too close, my understanding is that digestion can mess with sleep cycles in some folks. I would try getting at least 2 hours between eating and sleeping if possible.
I do a similar fast pattern to yourself. I cannot sleep if I’m hungry and it’s been an issue I had when starting fasts at 9pm. Now I have a bowl of cereal and a banana or porridge before my fasting window starts and I usually go to beds out 12:30/1 so my stomach isn’t mega full when trying to sleep. I only learned this through changing my diet around along with the fast eating cleaner meals when breaking the fast. Definitely try look at what your eating. Also if your like mega craving sugar have you had any diabetes tests or general health checks
Why are you eating at 10 pm? This might sound contrdictory, but I would say increase your fasting time to 18 hrs (stop eating by 8pm). I do an 18 hr fast every 2nd day, and a 36 hr fast once a month just to prove I can.
It’s not great to do IF every single day, because eventually, at some point, your body plateaus and thinks “this is the way it is now.” IF is meant to be a “shock” to your system, so that you burn more calories and fat during your fasting period.
I recommend doing intermittent fasting 3-5 times a week, not every single day, so that you can have the best results. On the days when you’re not fasting, stick to a lower-carb, healthier food diet. That might help?
What time are you going to bed and getting up? Sounds more of a combo of a sleep timing issue that doesnt match well with IF. I think IF is a great tool but if you have a lot of other life issues it isnt going to be a miracle cure or weight loss thing. Health is a full life measure, not just what you and when you eat. IF may not fit your life right now but you could try switching things around to see if that helps