Ive fasted before.I was overweight in 2020 and came across fasting+low carb and it was the first thing that worked for me AMAZINGLY primarily because as time went on during the fasted period I felt more and more amazing and found any junk food gross and hence ate more healthy.lost a lot of weight that way and was the happiest I’d ever been. Even brain fog id had cleared. But then I got hit with COVID and ended up binging when I was sick and gained back most of the weight. Now no matter how long I fast or eat good, I can’t get back into that state anymore.So I tried extended fast, but around 27 hours for some reason I felt so fucking depressed and low and felt like I was gonna die(mentally) and the thought of food was the only thing that brought some semblance of happiness and so.. I binged. I’ve tried everything and I’m unable to enter the fat burning stage that used to feel so good. Idk if it’s intolerances or what. It’s like, for my mind at a certain point during the fast, the idea of eating and suffering is better than fasting further and prolonging the current suffering. I hope that made sense. Please help. I know it’s a combination of issues with my body and mind both. But I don’t know what to do
Fasting doesn’t need to be hard. If you make it hard by picking a fasting protocol you are not prepared for it is certainly more likely to suck and you are less likely to stick with it.
Plus you do not need to ‘diet’, as in eating too little of food you don’t even like. You do need to clean up your regular diet and make sure you don’t over eat. If you eat clean and don’t snack it is actually hard to over eat.
Take OMAD as an example. You are slashing 66% of your meals. Eating a full maintenance meal still have your body tapping your fat reserves for 66% of your caloric requirements, without lowering your metabolism. Eating meal and a half still have your body tapping your fat reserves for 50% of your caloric requirements. Eat a double meal, and you are still at a 33% deficit. Attempting to “diet” while fasting is asking for your body to shut down on you.
Forget about dropping the weight quickly, focus on cleaning your diet while working your way up the fasting ladder. That will make it as easy as possible, in turn making you happy and putting you in a path to success.
Maybe you have a sugar addiction. My first few fasts I didn’t use supplements and felt horrible after 4-7 days and ended up breaking fast by just eatting something and when I could eat solid foods again in a few days I drank pop again. This time I’m on a extended fast I think day 8 no food and it was very easy with supplements. But the first few days without sugar when your body is use to it everyday was awful.
I feel the same. Fasting never made me binge before but it has been doing it lately. So it is my guess that it made us feel good because it was something new and different.. and, it isn’t any longer.
So we have to go for a long period of time doing different things.
Not fasting.
Having foods we haven’t been eating.
I still plan on using fasting to make sure I don’t gain weight – 1 day fasting should do it… but I want to spend a long period of time being different.
Maybe you’re pushing yourself too hard. I had to drop back to 16 hour fasts. Weight loss is much slower but I no longer feel overwhelmed. I pushed myself hard with 36-48 hour fasting and eventually burnt out from it. Adopting this change as a lifestyle of daily fasting instead of large sprints can be a bit easier.
You need to be mentally prepared to enter a fast. I was a pro at OMAD and suddenly gained 4 dress sizes in the last 2 years (pandemic weight). I’m only mentally getting back there and now giving myself the next 8 weeks for OMAD. Take it slow, and remember no one else can lose your weight for you.