I generally like OMAD or 20:4… my problem is I tend to eat at night and I end up having a long eating window because I am afraid I will be hungry at night… do you have any strategies/distractions? One time I had broth just to tell myself I had “eaten”. It feels like a psychological fear of being hungry.
I set the fasting timer on an app, and then I don’t put food in my mouth.
I don’t mean that in a snarky way either. Something about setting the fasting timer on the app gives me the strength to turn down evening drinks, dessert, snacks, etc. It seems really stupid, but for me it works.
I usually stop eating around 5 or 6 pm and don’t turn in until 11-12. When hunger hits I drink water and tough it out. It goes away. For me, hunger comes on super strong but after a little bit of time it goes away completely. It comes in waves but there’s long periods of time in between.I’ve been doing IF for 4 months now with very few cheat days, and at this point the sensation of being hungry isn’t really a big deal.
I’ve grown accustomed to feeling hungry, having the cravings and just letting it go. I know I’m not starving or in actual need of food. This may not work for you but I wanted to throw it out there as something to try.
And usually it passes with time or distraction (like chores or something).
I started IF because eating at night was my problem. Mindless snacking on chips and sweets. Now, I can have treats occasionally, but they have to be in my eating window and I stop before 5:00pm unless I am dining with friends.
I need discipline in my life and IF helps with that. It isn’t always easy but I have to keep soldiering on. Hot baths and keeping my hands busy help.
Yeah could be. You need to eat enough at your meal to satisfy you through the night (until you go to sleep anyway). Remind yourself that you’re not going to starve to death if your stomach grumbles a bit.
I used to struggle with this myself, but I’ve found ending my eating window with a nice big smoothie packed with fibre (oats, chia) and protein (whey) keeps me good and full, especially if I follow up with a decent amount of water.
The other thing is boredom can lead to wanting to eat, so keeping occupied at night time is important.
I find I’m a lot more comfortable and sleep better with my eating window being far away from my bed time.
It probably is a psychological fear of being hungry. For that, the best thing I’ve found is to approach it with curiosity, as an experiment. Try fasting at night just for one night, as an experiment, just to see what happens. Pay attention to how your body feels and what your mind is doing. Write it down like a scientist keeping a log.
Reassure yourself that if anything really bad happens, you can always break your fast. But also, remember that hunger usually goes away after an hour or so. It is actually interesting to watch how hunger starts, increases, then decreases and disappears, all while you are fasting.
For me, these kinds of experiments usually calm my anxiety. It is just a one-time experiment. If I’m miserable, I am not forced to repeat it. In that case, I have learned something useful: something that doesn’t work for me.
But almost always, it turns out that I’m not miserable at all. It usually turns out that I am completely fine, and it was much easier than I’d imagined. In that case, I’ve also learned something useful: this does work for me, and I am totally capable of doing it.
I read this book called “Two Meals A Day” by Mark Sisson. In the book he talks about ghrelin the hormone that causes your stomach to growl. We get a spite in ghrelin that tells us to eat but it only last 10-15 minutes then it passes. So after reading about it and seeing how my body works whenever I get that annoying growl I tell myself it’ll pass in a few minutes and that keeps me from obsessing over it. I drink some water and in a few minutes it passes.
I generally eat at 5 or 6 am and do omad…on weekends that often shifts to 6 or 8 pm if going out. I’d day it’s moderately harder eating early…but becomes easier over time. I can, at this point, tell if im getting a bit hungrier later in the day and think…ehh…I might need to shift this in a day or 2. I then up my protein and / or fiber for a day or 2. When I up my protein, I try to do a 20/4 ish that day….more because there is an understudied but believed notion that when you go over a given limit of protein that you don’t absorb the benefits very effectively
Long story short…consider upping protein (longer/more energy to digest) or fiber (ie chia)
at first, that is the hardest time, especially if you like to snack just before bed for a few years.
distractions is what works for me when i am feeling weak. it sucks when you watch or tv show and you see people feasting on the screen.
also, you might be dealing with some dopamine with drawl. i am not an expert, but i see this sense of wanting something as a small little battle to get your head and body headed back in the right direction.
the desire to eat really will pass. you will be amazed once you get this feat accomplished.
what i like is how good i feel during this phase, it kinda sucks going into it, but after a few days i feel light, energetic, smarter, and i sleep better which in turn makes me feel sharper the next day.
it also becomes very liberating to know you get to have a little more control over your emotions and body.
when i have having a weak moment i try my best to ignore it and if i feel the urge to snack growing, i just remind my self that i can do nothing, literally nothing and get through it. i can just start a movie and lay on the couch and loose weight. its easier than going for a walk or hoping on my bike and going for a ride.
It’s exactly that fear of hunger. Really good to get through it and realise it’s manageable. It usually peaks around meal times for an hour or so, then subsides.
That said, if it’s too rough one day, I’ve found that a big glass of plain soda water relieves the hungry tum feeling a bit.
Brushing my teeth and getting in bed early to read before bed. Sitting on the couch watching TV just made me want to mindlessly eat snacks. I end up going to bed earlier and getting much better sleep. Sometimes I’ll read books or listen to podcasts about IF to help keep me motivated :)
I tried this and it was a very bad idea in my case. It also feels unnatural.
There is supposedly research saying you should not eat late, but I suspect it is just statistics. (Statistics very often tell the opposite of the truth. E.g. people who dont eat late are probably health fanatics to begin with, so no wonder the statistic is skewed when dividing groups based on that.)