I biffed my first EF yesterday, because I'm mentally dependant on food?

I've always known I use food to "treat" discomfort. Belly feels funny? Eat something. Tired? Maybe eat something. Cranky? Try a snack. But my attempts at fasting has made something so clear to me, I have a mental dependency on food. 99% of what I thought were justified snacking is just me trying to deal with my mental discomfort. Yesterday I was perfectly set up to roll into my first full 24+ hours, and I broke it...not because my body wanted food, but cuz my brain was throwing a tantrum. And the feeling was weirdly akin to when I quit smoking 6 months ago. Like my body didn't need cigarettes, my mind wanted them. But for smoking, I had a pill that took the choice to smoke away from me. I don't think they make that for food. I've gotta do this the hard way...any tips? I think I have the physical side down pretty well, but how do i work thru the mental self-medication side of eating? Maybe I should read up on methods for breaking addictions.... Edit: I've been doing omad and 18:6 for the last four weeks. If I'm at work, I have no problem not eating. At home is a different story. So I need to figure out how to not use work as a crutch cuz I can't work all the way thru an EF like I can an IF though I wouldn't say I haven't tried 😜

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I do OMAD and have found that the daily fasting period really helped me with emotional eating, for two reasons:

I know I will get to eat soon, so my brain does not go into panic mode.
While waiting for my eating period to start, I have time to sit with the desire to eat without immediately acting on it. I get to sit with it long enough to learn about it.

While sitting with the desire to eat, I check in with myself physically and mentally/emotionally. Physically, I check on how my stomach feels; how my muscles feel; whether I feel faint or dizzy; whether I feel hot or cold; whether I feel pain anywhere. I even bought a blood glucose meter so I can actually check a number.

Mentally, I notice my thoughts and feelings — am I confused about how to handle something; am I frustrated/angry with something or someone; am I bored; am I tired or sleepy; am I sad; am I scared/worried?

The physical check lets me know whether my body actually needs fuel. If I feel physically OK, then my desire to eat is probably not about my body actually needing food. Or maybe I do have a bit of physical discomfort, but if I pay attention, it’s something that food won’t fix — like a muscle cramp from sitting in an awkward position.

The mental check lets me know whether I need to self-soothe. Food will soothe me for the few minutes that I’m actually eating it… but then I’ll go right back to being stressed and upset. Maybe it would be better to step outside for a few minutes and walk around the block to clear my head. Maybe I need to take a power nap or just outright go to bed, depending on what time it is. Maybe I need to talk to a friend. Maybe I need to put on a TV show or read a book to entertain myself.

Basically — I recommend trying this kind of check-in with yourself to better understand exactly what you’re feeling, and asking yourself “Will food really fix what I’m feeling?”

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I just started easing into fasting by doing basically alternate day OMAD, and by the second OMAD day I realized that I’ve had a lifelong fear of hunger, and I’ve never really been food insecure, so it’s not based on some past trauma. And I’m the same way, I don’t have a problem with binging, but any time something felt off my first reaction was to eat something, that’s just how I was raised. Idk I don’t have a solution just noticing a similar feeling. I’m sure it’s normal human behavior and you can train yourself to overcome the mental block eventually.

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Contrave may be a solution for you. The naltrexone and bupropion kill the “food as a reward” pleasure center thing. It can be pricey, but you can get it through helloalpha or found with or without insurance.

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Well, I tried again yesterday goal 24, and hopefully with a push overnight to 35 hrs. But I started to feel…depressed? Like all my old depression symptoms came back. It was cool to realize I haven’t felt that way in a while, but also feeling that way is unacceptable. Kinda scary. Not going back to that mental state. This was after giving up and sitting with my phone for four hours cuz I was so uncomfortable. So I called it and ate.

My body is pretty happy with 18:6 and omad, so I think I’ll continue with that. A 3-5 day fast will always be my pie in the sky, but I cant force it.