So much of my hunger is related to me thinking about being hungry or thinking about food. When I’m busy, I can go a long time without eating, but when I’m sitting at my desk at work and feel the first twinge of hunger, I can’t think of anything else.
So how do you power through it? Do you eventually stop being hungry during your fasting time?
Something that helps me (in addition to drinking water etc) is that I schedule 5-6 cheat days a month. I’ve been on IF for about a year, and maintaining weight for about 6 months. I always have a cheat day “around the corner” mentally to look forward to.
My body is IF- adjusted, so when those cheat days actually come, they’re pretty mild. But the thought of “just wait a couple more days and you can go nuts on that” does help me get through stretches where I’m tempted to eat something.
Hunger comes in waves so sometimes just patiently waiting for half an hour is enough. Sometimes you need a glass of water. Sometimes you need to promise yourself some treats (not food related) like, “if I fight this wave well, I’ll buy that big scented candle I wanted”. (Generally, spoiling yourself helps a lot, as you get those extra endorphins you used to get from food so you don’t feel denied little pleasures.) But most importantly, remember that hunger comes and goes, you don’t need to eat every time it hits, you wait a bit and it recedes.
Cold water or green tea with a small dose of Stevia/Monk Fruit does wonders in helping hunger pains. I also go for walks to take my mind off of food, but that’s during the weekends if I don’t have anything planned. I can fast all day during the work week and eat dinner in the evenings with ease. It’s only during the weekends when you have a lot of time on your hands. Try to stay busy as possible 😛
Drinking fluids and riding the hunger wave. Hunger hormone spikes and then drops the same if you eat or not.
Hot beverages like Black coffee with salt or green tea really help too. I used to have cream and sweetener but slowly dropped those. The salt takes away bitterness in black coffee, and green tea by itself is fine. You can easy tailor the tea by how long you leave the bag in. BTW I never drank tea before this, now I enjoy it.
Mentally it’s just telling yourself that the hunger is a wave that passes, physiologically it always does. And the more you fast, the less it spikes (at least for me… I am almost done with a 48 hr fast right now and I have no desire to eat). Staying busy always helps, but you already know that. Maybe listen to some podcasts at your desk, it’s something to pay attention to.
Here’s what I’ve developed as a mental mindset.
First, I remove as much emotion as I can from getting to eat after a fast and in terms of thinking about how long until I can eat. I never figure out how many hours left until I eat. By removing the emotional reward of getting to eat, it becomes mechanical.
I am merely either “in a fasting window” or “in an eating window.” It’s just fact. The hunger is my amenable companion when I’m fasting. I know it’s there, but I don’t have to acknowledge it. If I’m in a fasting window, it is irrelevant. The foundation to this is knowing, 100%, that I’m not going to break my fast early no matter what. If you lock that in, you can more easily ignore the hunger.
I realize this may sound stupid or unattainable, but IF was pretty rough for me for several weeks and, with practice, I was able to change my mindset. Now I’ve worked up to rolling ADF (36:12) and it’s not bad at all. I just finished a 60 hour fast (36 + 24) to move my eating days to accommodate a birthday party today. No issues.
I don’t suggest this works for everyone, but you asked, so I gave you my approach.
I just keep occupied. Don’t think about it. Play a video game or read a book etc. While not a mental thing invest in some apple cider vinegar. A tiny bit in water is fine the calories are negligible and does not break a fast. It’s proven to hold back hungry.
I plan my next day’s meals. If I’m really craving a certain thing, I’ll promise myself I can have it for my meal the next day if I’m still craving it. Knowing I will eventually get what I am hungry for seems to help. That, and a cup of hot tea.
This isn’t going to help while you’re hungry, but I find that I only get ravenous in the morning when I had calories too late the previous night. If I stick to my noon-8pm eating window, I almost always feel fine the next morning until it’s time to eat. Sometimes I go an extra hour, hour and a half because it feels easy to.
I just started but do weekdays while I’m busy at work and can easily blow through my lunch period working.
On weekends I ease up and stay low carb but not get hung up. I usually still end around 14/10 even though I’m not actively timing.
After a few weeks,I’m adjusted to 16/8 weekdays with quite a few 17/7 and 18/6 days mixed in.