I’ve attempted IF many times. My main issue with IF and why it’s hard it’s hard to stick with is my anxiety when I get hungry.
Whenever I feel hunger while fasting my anxiety is through the roof. I wind up breaking my fast because because that’s the only thing that calms me down.
Anyone have any tips on overcoming hunger anxiety? I really want to use IF for weight loss because my only other option at this point is weight loss and my insurance doesn’t cover that.
Perhaps getting more knowledgeable about fasting and hunger can curb your anxiety. Once you realize that hunger pains will pass and being hungry won’t kill you, IF becomes easier. Read The Obesity Code and Fast, Feast, Repeat. These books definitely help me!
What do you usually eat? This sounds 100% like my experience when I break my habit of healthy eating. I used to call it eating anxiety, but it’s more like extreme eating urges that resemble anxiety a lot but are solely focused on “I absolutely need to eat right now or else”.
Essentially, in my case, it’s caused by food addiction coming from junk food. It completely goes away only a few days of strict healthy nutritious eating (only whole foods).
Not sure if this is the same that you’re experiencing, but it definitely sounds like it. If it’s not and you already eat whole foods mostly, then I’d suggest seeking medical help for your anxiety, cause it sounds like you may not have much control to break out of it (like most mental health issues).
Do you have an anxiety disorder? I find low fat/low carb used to peak my physical anxiety symptoms. Since starting low dose meds (was very anxious to do this), I don’t have that issue as much anymore.
I was similar. I failed MANY times fasting for an entire day. In the end I cracked it the first time by eating an insanely large meal close to bedtime, that caused me to not feel any appetite for next 24 hrs. Soon after, I could manage with a slightly smaller insanely large meal. And so on.. Also, at first sign of hunger, I would chug a full cup with some pure coca powder dissolved in hot water (a known hunger suppressant.) I would also chug a liter of water sometimes for similar effect.