I hope this is the right flair. I’m also a newbie asking questions. It’s a big ole rant. This could lead to a discussion. I went with Tips/Tricks/Advice. I apologize if I was incorrect in that assessment.
So… I have questions. I was doing 12:12 with results. I moved to 14:10, because I could - I noticed that the hours I was actively eating were essentially the same, so I moved to 14:10 on the app I was using. I had some progress; the scale didn’t say much but my clothes did. My coworkers did, and my neck did. I had made it to under 200 lbs and I was thinking, “I can do this. This is getting easier. I could probably go for a OMAD occasionally to try to break into that.” Long story short, IT WAS WORKING.
​
Notice all the past tense? I had a bad day, a really emotionally stressful day, and I’m an emotional eater, so I justified going to McDonalds and buying… well… let’s just say enough for a family. I ate most of it. I might be embarrassed by the bulk but the sundae was worth it, no matter what anyone says. One bad day turned into a HARD time getting back on the path. I KNOW what I need to do. I know it was working, but I’m just unmotivated. I was getting motivated by seeing everyone’s gains, but even now I’m like, “wow, good for them,” and I leave it at that.
​
I looked at my neck the other day and the frog look is back in style. I made a comment, and my partner said, “I noticed, I didn’t know how to tell you.” I weighed myself yesterday and I’m 204.3. The good news is, I weighed myself today and it’s the same, so at least I didn’t go up. I opened the app for the first time in MONTHS and my last posted weight was 202, so I guess I didn’t gain as much as I thought I did, but my pants and clothes DEFINITELY hurt to fasten, and I see lumps in the wrong places. Even just a few lbs is such a difference on my frame. I don’t feel… well. I feel sloppy. And it just makes me feel more helpless.
​
My questions to this sub are: Did you ever get unmotivated? Did you fall off? How did you get back on? Can you get the momentum back? Was it hard for you? Is this motivation or discipline? How did you continue when you didn’t want to anymore?
I’m honestly not in a place to hear therapy/relationship advice, and reading back this post I can see that happening. My intention was to give personal context for the questions. I really just want to know if it’s as simple as getting back on track, or if there’s more than that. Thank you in advance.
I have ADHD and as such I forget and fail ALL THE TIME. Hell, my last NSV post was about making a cake during my fasting period without breaking my fast. That being said ADHD has taught me resilience so let me ask you this…
If you fell down on the way to walking to your car would you just give up and lay there for the rest of your life or would you find a way to crawl back up and continue to your car? Why is this any different?
It’s as simple as getting back on track. Start today not tomorrow. Do not rationalize another fast food meal. Make something healthy for dinner tonight and start getting your water in. You are halfway there! If I fall off the wagon….which I do….I just get my shit together and get back on that wagon the next day!
Nothing is easy or without setbacks. Every journey has failures and down days. Everyone here has gone through moments of sadness and disappointment.
You just have to take the step, know that you don’t want to, but take it anyway.
Push yourself to take initial action, right now. Start a new fast. Make it happen. Don’t think, just do it.
You will never regret doing this for yourself. You got this!
Yes, have fallen off, have lost all progress and have felt absolutely terrible about it with all the emotions associated with that.
While getting back on the wagon had seemed impossible and something I didn’t WANT to do to be honest because I just did not trust myself to stay on it for any length of time.
So what made me get back on it?
Forgiving myself. Looking at the bigger picture (this is a blip, not a U-turn) and I stopped wanting to be perfect. I stopped focusing on long fasts because those had made me feel validated and I went back to fasting 12:12, and walking 30 mins.
I found when I went chasing for more I fell further and stayed off longer. If the wagon is trundling along at a slow pace, it’s easy to get back on it.
This has been my experience and I hope it’s helpful.
Let’s do this.
I totally believe in planned cheats, and this allows you to have the cheat, and yet not lose all the gains by going overboard.
Once a week, I eat an eggplant parmesan sandwich (with all that white bread and breading) with my daughter. Looking at myself in the mirror this morning, I don’t appear to have gained any weight, and I did not have stomach upset. I did feel a little hungrier, which I believe was the result of the unhealthy carbs, but went right back to drinking tea to conquer that.
Today I will eat salmon and salad for my OMAD and be right back on schedule. So if you have to cheat, plan it, and plan what you will eat.
Write down your intentions, that has helped me. Use a pen and notebook, don’t type it in your phone. When you physically write the words and read them aloud it tends to flip a switch inside you. Don’t be afraid to fail. Challenge yourself with a couple of days of OMAD and you will see it’s not that hard. Tighten up your fasting time, drink more water, make sure your sugar free gum isn’t kicking you out of your fast. Good luck, we all struggle with momentum, have a plan for those days you don’t feel motivated.
For me, this has happened more than once. I have to start back at the beginning and go for 12 hours. Which is a challenge because I feel best at 20 but I can’t jump right to 20 after falling off the wagon. So I have to cut myself some slack and suck up the pride and just do the darn thing from the beginning. I’ve found the piece of it of being good to myself to be the hardest one. I’m good at criticism, but not as expert at self care/love. I have to make the small choices to think ahead, buy better foods, find some way to avoid reaching for binge foods. It’s a whole process and I have to be able to see what trips me up.
There may have been one rock in the road that upset the apple cart. It sometimes takes a lot of small actions to set it right again.
You can do it. Focus on being good to yourself and let go that you messed up. You can do this.
When I fell off. I tried to find ways other than fasting, for example different diets, different eating frequencies opposite of fasting. None of it worked. Maybe for a short while but nothing that made me feel as good as IF did.
The one thing that kick started me back into fasting is nothing short of inspiration. I dive deep into topics on anything I am interested in. When I resumed I started watching videos, reading more about the science of it and seeing success stories. All of it motivates me but the discipline part comes with time. It’s normal to fall off every once in a while but the reason why we feel like we can’t get back on is because we forget why we started in the first place. Keep photos of your old self, journal how you feel when you don’t want to feel that way, and focus on the little things in life that are happening around you more and honestly recognize that this is a life, not a day not a week not a month nor a year, but a life(style). You have all the time in the world to move forward no matter how slow, just keep moving forward, even if it means you sometimes have to go backwards 😉
Progress is never linear and setbacks are part and parcel of this journey. Get back and start small. Eat a healthy meal and go for a long walk, start with 10 or 12 hour fast. Build from there and move forward. Good luck!
Of course. The goal is to fight the bad days best you can. Works for out of five tries. On that fifth try…do what you have to do. When you wake up the next day…don’t beat yourself up. Let it be okay. Move forward right then. In the long run, you are still moving forward with improving your life
well the beauty of IF is that you can do it whenever you want.
falling off for a day or two doesn’t REALLY have health ramification like say dropping off of keto. Short or long term.
What makes IF a great management utility is it’s flexibility and ease of adherence. Your body’s not going to blow up if you do 10 hours one day after doing 16 hours the previous 5.
Please believe that as you continue your body will adjust and it will become easier. Honestly not so much a matter of self control as much that you just won’t feel like eating as much bad stuff. I think you will only accomplish this by concentrating on eating high quality unprocessed food for your main meal(s). When your body is getting what it needs and gets more used to fat burning during fasting periods I think you’ll find that your fasting window will get longer without much hardship and you will feel better overall