I’m sorry if this offends anyone here, I am genuinely not trying to and absolutely give all the respect to those who have lost weight and gained confidence doing intermittent fasting. My question is, how is IF not related to eating disorders? When I read things about people wishing they could go 36+ hours without food, and others commenting they can do it/they need their mind to be stronger than their stomachs, I can’t help but relate it to a time where I was struggling with an eating disorder and only allowing myself one meal a day which consisted of a couple hundred calories. Again, I am not intending any disrespect with this question, I am just genuinely curious how people walk the line between health intermittent fasting and a full out eating disorder? Serious responses only, please. I have been considering doing IF but I am worried it will lead me down that dark path again of hating food and being scared of every calorie I consume.
Funny, I had this exact conversation with a female colleague who was interested in IF for longevity.
She is already very very slim and she is porbably the healthiest eater I have ever come across.She admitted that in her youth she had faced eating disorders. Even though I am very pro IF, I actively put her off as I felt it could be a trigger for her.
> I can’t help but relate it to a time where I was struggling with an eating disorder and only allowing myself one meal a day which consisted of a couple hundred calories.
The main difference is those last 3 words. A main benefit of IF is for people who tend to have 3 large meals AND snacks in between to put guardrails in place saying something like “well if I can only eat in an 8 hour window then most likely I will be eating less than I was before”. There are potential other benefits to IF but that’s not for here.
People who do OMAD successfully have a huge meal likely consisting of over 1200 calories, not a couple hundred calories.
Personally, my calorie goal is 2200 per day. I find that this is so much easier to hit if I skip breakfast and stop eating after 8pm. Other people are successful at eating less at each meal to lose weight.
So the big difference between healthy intermittent fasting and an eating disorder is having a healthy daily caloric intake goal and making sure you are staying as close to that goal as possible.
EDIT: “not for here” in first paragraph
Any “diet,” i.e., a planned regimen of eating behavior, can be related to or become an eating disorder. To be a disorder, a behavior just needs to negatively affect a person’s physical or mental health.
Most EDs are centered around obsessions/compulsions or body dysmorphia. I’m sure there are people who use IF to mask their anorexia, just as there are people who claim to have IBS to mask their bulimia. But that doesn’t make it inherently problematic.
If you feel like IF would lead you to problematic behavior, then you should probably avoid it.
Also, I think you’re asking the right questions and I doubt many if any would take offense to this. The fact that you’re asking means you care enough to approach from the right mindset of not letting this devolve into bad behaviors.
It’s definitely adjacent. Lots of people who have eating disorders use intermittent fasting.
I think the difference is outcome. Does it make you sick? Does it make your life worse? That’s really the thing that makes it a disorder. Whether or not it causes harm.
As someone prone to binge eating, IF has helped me overcome that by giving me a period of time where I don’t have to think about food.
I pre plan what I’m going to eat in my 4 hour window, then go about my day without obsessing over food.
As someone who’s struggled with ED ideation/behaviors in the past but also someone who is currently highly insulin resistant, I look at it this way. I am giving my liver a chance to rest and my body a chance to stop pumping insulin. I am giving my body a chance to get rid of the visceral fat around my organs that would inevitably lead to T2D and heart conditions, because I’m not constantly pumping it full of sugar. I am curving my bad habits (developed to try and get rid of the ED behavior) that somehow equated my need to eat with eating ALL THE TIME, which turned to grazing bad foods, which turned to insulin resistance. But most importantly, I am not depriving myself of food. I am consistently eating 2-3 full, well rounded, healthier meals a day. Healthier meals than I’d ever had. If I try for a longer fast (of which I have only done a few times in the past), it is with the understanding that once I am done fasting there is a good, healthy, filling, nutritionally dense MEAL waiting for me. It’s not fasting 36hrs on end because “i want to be skinny and from my lips to my hips.” It’s “I am taking control of my health, letting biological processes happen that my body desperately needs, and then fueling when I need to.” If anything, it has improved my relationship with food from an emotional crutch/bandaid/enemy, to seeing it as a source of fuel and as healing medicine for my body. I don’t have to wonder when my next meal is coming, I know exactly what schedule it falls under.
Finally, fasting has been done across many many cultures for THOUSANDS of years. This is not a new practice, and just because it’s been repackaged for Western consumption as of late doesn’t mean it’s the same as an ED or that it’s dangerous /unless/ you treat it the same as an ED. Just something to think about.
>how is IF not related to eating disorders?
It certainly can be. It’s all about why you’re doing it.
But that’s no different than almost anything else really. Having a beer? Fine. Having a beer because you can’t function without a beer? Not fine. Having sex for fun? Great. Having sex because you need to feel value? Not fine.
I assume you are talking about anorexia, not overeating or binge eating, right? I have dealt with restrictive eating disorder and have in general had good results with IF and no relapse.
For me, regular dieting, measuring calories is much more likely to give me the anxiety around eating.
Have been doing fasting of one sort of another for a few years now (for health and maintenance of weight not reducing) and can count on one hand the times that eating “out of schedule” gave me anxiety or icky feeling, when that happens I try to logic my way out of it and then don’t limit my hours the next couple of days.
Disordered eating is a mental thing, not really anything to do with how you actually eat.
Bottom line for me - are you doing this out of love for your body, to care for it and keep it in good shape? Nourishing your body with good food, and feeling good when you do eat? Then it’s good.
I think if you have ever had issues with eating then you probably shouldn’t IF.
I do think some people could be using IF as a cover for true eating disorders. Which is unfortunate. But then there are others who use it as a tool and aren’t obsessing over food.
IF actually helps me to lose weight without having to count calories which I hate.
I have zero desire to go 36 hours without food. Lol. The most I will do is 20 or maybe 24. I’m gonna eat everyday.
The big difference here is that you are not trying to deprive yourself, you’re trying to retrain the way your body processes / consumes food. It is not supposed to be a form of punishment.
There was actually an episode of Arthur (“Is That Kosher”) that
perfectly covered the topic of fasting, albeit in a religious context. Francine is trying to fast, but she ends up feeling so hungry and ill that she caves and has some pizza at a party. She feels terrible about it until her grandma (who is also breaking her fast early by eating a sandwich) explains to her that you should never fast under certain circumstances, like if it endangers your health. Feeling ill/faint/ect is an endangerment to your health.
I think, especially at the beginning, there’s a level of kindness you have to have for yourself while fasting. You can’t just snap into this new extreme form of eating. It’s something you have to adjust to over time, going easy on yourself, having snacks or meals when you need them and making sure your nutrition is right. And of course, living your life and enjoying a slice of pizza when your friend is having a party.
It’s all about the mindset. I’ve done IF while having a healthy relationship with food, I’ve fasted unintentionally because I had an eating disorder, and I’ve picked IF as a diet because of my eating disorder.
Tw for talking about anorexia and poor mental health going forward:
For me, the difference is intention. When I was fasting because I was anorexic, my thoughts were completely consumed by food. I thought about it all the time and was basically in a constant state of hunger, despair, and shame whenever I would give in and finally eat. When I was using IF as an outlet for my eating disorder, I was viewing it as a challenge and constantly comparing myself to others on this sub in order to either get a weird little high for being “better” by fasting longer or punish myself for being “worse”. Again, super unhealthy and I had zero thoughts about health or wellness during this period
When I’m doing IF in a healthy way, it keeps me from ruminating on food all day long. I eat on a schedule, and I can treat food as nourishment and not something that’s morally good or bad. It helps when I do this in conjunction with lifting because that pushes food further into “this is a healthy tool for my body” territory which is good for me. I stop thinking about it outside of my eating hours and feel good most of the time, but granted I don’t do long fasts anymore. I hope that makes sense. It really just comes down to how my relationship with food is
I believe the difference is the care, effort, and planning going into it. With intermittent fasting, you should have done some research into it, which I think proves a person is doing it for some good reasons. Additionally with that research, you should hopefully have an understanding of what your body needs to enable you to fast safely, whether that’s making sure you’re hydrated, what electrolytes to take, etc. Then when it comes to your eating window, you are making sure you’re hitting certain nutrition goals and calories to ensure proper nourishment to refuel your body. With an eating disorder, I assume none of those steps are being taken, and it’s just about having as few calories as possible as you seemed to describe.
I think as long as you are having good and honest conversations about IF to you doctor, and you are getting the necessary calories you need in a day, then no, it is not an eating disorder. I am a 5’5 female who only has a 2 hour eating window. I started at 155 and now I am 140 pounds. I have a healthy BMI and I always eat around 1800-2000 calories, and I try and make sure I am getting the correct amount of nutrients. I do not believe long fast that last more than one day are inherently bad either. If you have a lot of weight to lose, and you have talked to you doctor about it, it can be a great way to lose weight.I love IF. I am full from my 1800 calories, and I never find it difficult to count them, because when I am done eating, I am not hungry anymore. Regular calorie counting left me feeling like I was always hungry.
Not a doctor but from personal experience - I think it has a lot to do with insulin. Typically binge and purge behavior alters insulin in dramatic ways and people are sort of getting high off of spikes in insulin and then crashes in insulin to bring calmness. By regulating insulin levels, during eating windows eating high fat and keeping insulin low but also getting full, it is maintaining a consistency in low insulin levels regulating emotions as well as hormones.
A big difference in behavior is that when you eat after fasting you feed fully - get to satisfied and fill your body with what it needs. The pattern with ED usually looks something like the eating period is a nimble or bite or fat free and does not get to the sensation of fullness or satisfaction and leaves your body actually needing more nutrients creating a cycle of more ED.
I think if you’re worried about it leading you down that path, it’s one you should stay away from. Eating disorders are notoriously difficult to recover from and easy to relapse into. Please take care of yourself and stay healthy. Sending you love.
If you are afraid to eat or drink anything then that is when it becomes a problem. If you are obsessively spacing out your meals because you binged carbs for example (which would likely be caused by the previous fact), then that is a problem, too.
IMO when you do IF you need to rebuild your relationship with food. If you binge eat carbs or have multiple snacks one day, it does not mean you failed. That is one meal or one day out of many and you can continue your fasting regimen since it didn’t go anywhere. This might be a challenge if you have a perfectionist mindset, and if you have this then you need to need to evaluate how you see food/dieting and rebuild your relationship with them.
When I did OMAD, I wasn’t hating food or scared about calories. It was the first time I actually appreciated my meals, planned healthy ones and had a good relationship with food.
I think it is situational and depends on where you are coming from. For me, limiting my time spent eating was way easier than trying to limit the amount of food or type of food I was eating, and, thankfully, the limited time eating really helped me make better choices regarding amount and type of food. I didn’t overeat when it was time to eat (other than once or twice) and I craved healthy foods when I did eat.
You could try just establishing an eating window and see how it feels. You will know if it’s triggering something else.
Reality check for me; I use the term IF to justify my ED towards others, just to look normal. I know I’m just IF to keep my calorie intake below 1200 a day throughout the week. So I can binge on fastfood and alcohol in the weekends. IF gives me the control and strenght to start my workweek again every Monday.
Physician here. Great question. Eating disorder usually stems from psychological trauma in the past causing a general sense of “not good enough” or “loss of control”, and/or anxiety. ED sufferers control food intake as a way to gain control over one’s life and deal with these hidden anxieties. (Side note: According to the DSM, ED falls under anxiety category).
People with a history of ED should not try intermittent fasting without initially consulting with a physician or mental health professional as this can quickly get out of control and move into very unhealthy ways of eating/living.
I have worked with people with a history of ED who has done well with IF. But this is usually after they have dealt with their underlying anxiety triggers and past trauma that led to ED symptoms in the first place.
I think this is an important discussion. I’m very confused by the people who do extended fasts on here.
The important distinction here is intermittent fasting is allowing your body to correct your insulin response. This way, your body manages its sugar response. This leads to feeling more awake, having more even energy levels. Less insulin also may lead to less fat storage. This comes from 16 to 18 hour fasts. I personally don’t think one meal a day is appropriate, but it’s not my place to judge other people’s experiences.
When you do break your fast and eat, you should eat a healthy amount of calories. Only eating a couple hundred calories is not enough calories to fuel your body and will lead to adverse health consequences.
Intermittent fasting seems to be working for me, but if you think it will trigger prior eating disorder, there are other healthy alternatives
I would say is a disorder if you don’t eat but I do want to eat really bad and I have to use a lot of brain power to push through and then I enjoy my nice healthy meal and go about my life eating 2 or even 3 times depending on what I want . I guess you can say that we have full control vs not having control which makes it a disorder
I think the difference is in the person, a “normal” person with no disordered habits/tendencies can look at it objectively and truly use IF for health benefits. A common saying in ED treatment is “it’s not really about the food, but it is.” Engaging in ED behaviors is a symptom of a mental illness. I struggled with ED for my entire teens and a good majority of my adult life and am now finally at a healthy place with food where I can adjust my diet for my needs (I have hormonal issues and use IF to help.) TLDR: it’s all about having a healthy relationship with food/self.
I spent two years in ED recovery and just recently started IF under the supervision of my provider due to high fasting insulin levels and pre diabetes concerns. If someone has an untreated ED then IF can definitely be triggering, maladaptive behavior. Now I am in a very very healthy place. I don’t weigh myself. I don’t binge. I don’t obsess over my food or weight. I honestly don’t care about what my weight is or what my body look likes. I want to be healthy. Prevent diabetes. Prevent NAFLD. Etc. Just because someone is IF does not mean they have disordered eating patterns or body dysmorphia. Just because they don’t IF doesn’t mean they don’t lol. So many ways of being.
For me, IF has more ORDER than any other eating plan.
I do OMAD, and I can tell you when and precisely what I’ll be eating to the minute of any day.
You can ask me what I ate on a random day in 2022, and I can tell you.
What I’ll be eating on the thrid Tuesday of June? I got you.
That’s the exact opposite condition of a DISorder. This is *highly* ordered.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t do IF that has this much order in their nutrition.
In my case, IF is the help I need to mitigate my ED. I would binge and binge, eating so much food but never being satisfied. IF has helped me know when I’m really hungry and helps me regulate the portions I can eat in my eating window.
It’s also definitely the mindset going into it that differentiates it from ED.
If I am completely honest, IF for me has turned into disordered eating. I avoid the question or anything related to eating but my therapist knows I have been Body dysmorphia I’m suddenly the next time I see her I’m very thin so she can put two and two together. Over the last year I’ve lost 20kg and I just found out I need to have surgery for gallstones which is very likely a result of losing weight rapidly and my stomach bile levels going out of whack. I really applaud those who don’t have the tendency to obsess and are absolutely crushing IF in a healthy way, but I guess if you were to ask yourself what your goal is before you start IF, and being honest with yourself, would you say for health, or would you say to lose weight? I think that’s probably why I’ve ended up where I am.
I am no expert, but my sort of guideline is how I feel about breaking my fast. I started IF a bit over three years ago and currently do OMAD most of the time. But: I always look forward to ending my fast. I enjoy my meal and don’t regret eating afterwards. I don’t mind taking a day off every once in a while and don’t think “You know what, I should skip this meal too” when my eating window comes. As I’ve already lost enough weight, it’s now about maintaining it instead of losing more. If it goes up a little, that’s fine, as long as it doesn’t keep going up. Obviously I can’t speak for all people with eating disorders, but I have a friend who struggled with this in the past, and their feelings towards each of these aspects would have been very different during that time.
36 hour fasts should not be a regular thing.. please look up some studies done with Harvard medical and mayo clinic. A 72 hour long fast has many health benefits the biggest of which is that it rids your body of dead immune cells and aids in generation of new immune cells. It’s also used as a “reset” when plateaus are reached to mix it up. Some stories I read they are also used as a cleanse to get the mind and body kick-started into moving into a healthier lifestyle. You can focus on references to a 36 hour fast and assume that’s what everyone does or what people do regularly. There is a lot of science behind them as occasion