When I start my fasts itās always strong mental willpower I can do this! But as soon as that hunger hits I start to negotiate WITH MYSELF??? I just think itās absolutely crazy how much our hormones, brain chemistry, and discipline levels trumps logic so often.
āIā (logic) normally come out on top until around hour 23 ish. Then I always cave.
Obviously I have enough stored on me that I KNOW Iām not actually āwasting awayā or starving, but it gets really hard to convince yourself of that when youāre in the moment.
Just a rant about nature vs. Nurture š
One things that helps me is I set a reminder on my phone to go off when I think I will start to cave that says āItās just ghrelin. Go for a walk, drink some water, have some tea or coffee. This will pass.ā
Hormones are everything. Itās bleak but itās true. We are not gods or angels. We are no different from the mammals that lurk about beyond our cities. All of us are but biochemical negotiation and interactions trying to maintain harmony. Our will power is dependent on hormones, our focus, our sense of love and attachment, our faith, belief in a reward later on, everything, is determined by hormones.
Getting fat adapted helps with this. I just finished a three day fast and needed significant help from drugs (I have prescriptions do not take this as an endorsement).
I ate yesterday around now (skipped dinner) and today food is meh. Iām like I probably should eat but eh. So itās already been 23 hours and I feel much better today than I did 23 hours into my last fast.
Oh my gosh yes. I saw a phrase once, somewhere, and it said āDonāt believe everything you think.ā I think this is so true when it comes to fasting and just our whole relationships with food. How we cajole, extol, and just generally dig a holeā¦.all over food! Not even nourishment or vitaminsā¦literally just food. What have you discovered about yourself in these moments, before and after āthe Hunger Bullyā strikes? (Dr. Jason Fung, ftw!!)
So true. You really get into full on debates with yourself. More times than not, my mammalian animal brain has won out when it comes to food and breaking fasts. But ever so often I emerge victorious. Lol.
The beauty of it all is if you can stay the course your body/brain will adapt. For me the first 2-3 days are usually the hardest. Especially day 2. The 4-5 days can be difficult too. But once Iām past those? Itās usually smooth sailing. Now, easier said than done. In the several extended fasts Iāve attempted Iāve been past 2 days a handful of times (including this fast). Iām nearing the half way point of day 6.
The most horrifying thing for me - that there wonāt be any āmeā left, If my brain gets stripped off of his ādopeā. There was an experiments, when mice got injected with strong dopamine blockers, and then they just died of starvation, lying on the floor and doing nothing, despite having food and water in mere steps near them. Of course our conscious is more conplex, but that thought of us being nothing more than a hormone junkies haunts me every day.
I learned this when i was quitting masturbation, i always tell myself āYou wont feel better after you do it, youll just feel worst that you failedā Its still a whole different beast though comparing to fasting, because masturbation is something you didnt always do, Eating is something weāve done every day since we were born. But with quitting fapping, the best teacher is failing over and over again and getting back up and doing it more. To get past 2 weeks of no fap took 100 failures, but to get to 4 months it only took 101. Maybe fasting works in the same way (Still not there yet, usually cave alot around the 60+ Hour mark)
Mind over matter- the hunger will pass. When I feel like caving I remind myself there are so many people- children- that experience hunger their whole lives. It makes it very humbling and personally, makes me so grateful that this is my choice, for my health.