Ok, so let’s say you make some bad choices during your eating window one day. We all do it, can’t change it after the fact, etc…what is your process after that day? Do you do a longer fast the following day or so to compensate? Can you compensate? I’m only a couple of months into IF so just seeking advice for those times when my choices get the better of me.
Plan ahead for tomorrow. Like have a strategy all mapped out!
You can’t control z but you can set yourself up for success for tomorrow.
Way better than guilt. Ruminating on past mistakes is only so helpful – you already have negative habits on lock. Good job with self awareness.
It’s better for habit building to recognize the backslip, not freak out, and then go forward to practice and reinforce positive behaviors going forward.
You don’t need to undo the fries with the longer fast (though you can if you want) you need to get behaviors that help you mitigate that kind of impulsivity going forward.
I’ll set a goal to compensate the next day by eating less. And if that fails, I’ll fall back to normal diet. This way even if I ‘fail’ the goal, I still eat according to my diet. Creates a win-big/win situation.
I just let it go and think about how delicious the food was! No need to compensate and drive myself crazy the next day. I find sometimes people don’t account for their mental health when IF, if you beat yourself up about 1 “bad day” when you’ve had so many days where you met daily goals, then you’re going to be miserable. I also don’t like using the phrase “bad days” because I’m sure it was delicious and you really enjoyed it in the moment. Thoughts like this can lead to an unhealthy relationship with food. One day isn’t going to ruin all your progress!
Try not to “punish” yourself with harder/stricter fasting afterward. Don’t associate fasting with feelings of shame or guilt. That mindset can lead to disordered thought patterns around food.
Instead, focus on eating real, natural food the next day, and ease back into your typical IF routine :) You got this!
Don’t stress over food you eat or a ‘bad day’ of eating. Why is it a bad day because you ate, say, 5 donuts worth of calories over your tdee? It’s not that big of a deal and stressing over something as small 5 donuts is not worth it, especially if it happens infrequently.
You’re looking for consistency, not perfection.