…or is it just me?
Last year, I was killing it! I was really enjoying water fasting and did a bunch of 5-day fasts throughout the year. Then the holidays hit me hard and I went crazy.
All the food dependencies I thought I had recalibrated with fasting came flooding back. This year has been super stressful with a load of changes in my job, home, and social life. I stress ate the house down and for the past 4 months I’ve tried to get back into long fasts to no avail!
This time I feel differently, though. I finally have the motivation to push through, but I was wondering if anyone else here experiences this, and if you do, how do you get back into it?
Lack of novelty which your brain feeds off of. Sometimes you can trick yourself by planning a 24 hr fast wear the refeed is during an inconvenient time, like when you’d normally be asleep. And then push to 36 hours. I find if I can do 36 hours, about half the time I can go to 48 hours or more.
But you have to figure out how to gamify it otherwise to reintroduce novelty.
Yeah I think the comment earlier about novelty is true. Gotta keep it fresh and exciting! I’m suuuper tired today and it’s only day 2. The thing about ‘fasting muscles’ is so true. Day 2 used to be a cinch. Now it’s like I’ve never fasted and having to get used to everything from scratch. 😱
I play a game with my grey matter. I time how long I fast on day one and then allow up to 12 hours of eating, then add one hour every time I start a fast til I’m back up to 5-7 days at a time. I’m starting this cycle back up because, I too fell hard off the wagon the last 3 months. On a good note my A1C is still 5.6! And I was diabetic 1 1/2 yrs ago, but no more, no more!!!
I’m worried about exactly this! I haven’t done as many extended ones– my longest so far is 40 hours– but I’m going on vacation next week and I’m worried that I won’t be able to get back into IF and EF after a week of not restricting. I know I could keep relatively strict windows over the break, but I just need a mental break from my job and my diet. I’m going to try and make smart choices and just get back on track afterwards, but we’ll see!
I go through periods where keto and IF feels easy and natural, and then all of a sudden, nothing feels right and I can’t stop feeling hungry. My guess is that it’s hormonal, even though none of it has matched up with my period.