The toughest thing about IF for me has definitely been coming to terms with this psychological dependency I have on food. Thinking about my meals, shopping for my meals, cooking my meals and eating my meals were all such big, enjoyable parts of my daily life and now I feel like I’ve lost this since starting IF.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m super glad to be doing it in terms of weight loss, better health, better sleep, etc, but it’s hard to fill that time with other things when there aren’t many other things that bring me as much joy as food does.
I find myself just sitting around waiting for the day to end so I can start eating again with no desire to engage in any other activities.
Anyone else relating to this?
Figuring out an issue and admitting it’s a problem is a great first step. Consider it mental rehab/detox - it can get better.
Work on it, keep going and with a little time you will develop new habits (mentally and physically), fond new sources of joys and develop a better relationship with food. If it’s too hard then go slower (OMAD may not be for you). Just be careful not to replace a dependency with an obsession, which could turn into an eating disorder.
Now, you can still enjoy planning, shopping, and most importantly cooking and eating on IF. I know I do. With IF, I find myself way more intentional about what I eat, and that means I actually enjoy my meals a lot more than I used to. I also rediscovered the joy of cooking and shopping for food. Just happens less often.
Seriously struggling with this as well. Been trying to find something I can reward myself with for achieving a goal or whatever - and all I can think of is food treats. Most other things people seem to suggest like shopping trips or spa days etc feel like chores to me. Not only that, but it seems like I’ve lost the interest in things I’ve used to enjoy before too, no idea if it’s food-related or not though. If you find any kind of solution let me know lol.
How many hours are you fasting? You still get to plan meals, right? Let the meals you do plan be good and healthy. :) Maybe you might start eating earlier in the day, I do that sometimes, have my main meal at 2:30 or 3.
I have this problem. It’s compounded by the fact that the dopamine response I got from food was one of, and one of the few, joyous parts of my day. When I took that away I had to reckon with how miserable I was in my life–my job was stressful, I didn’t really have hobbies, I was just unhappy. I’m trying now to solve the unhappiness problem but it’s difficult.
I spend much more time meal prepping. I enjoy the cooking, planning and researching aspect of food and eating. I find it helps to channel that energy into more involved recipes I wouldn’t typically try. Still gives me the enjoyment of preparing and shopping for food.
One reason I love IF so much is BECAUSE I love food. That omad or meal I get at the end of a 48 is so much tastier and feels earned. I feel sorry for people with “normal” eating schedules never getting to experience a full palette cleanse.