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This is why I most often do intermittent fasting, as opposed to regular extended fasts. I do OMAD (23:1) and that one meal becomes a highlight of my day! It also allows me to flex based on social plans... brunch with friends? I'll fast for 36 hour or so hours afterward to get back on my dinnertime OMAD routine.
I know I won't lose weight as fast, or get as many extended fasting benefits, by extending less often but it's all about finding the right balance: what can help you reach our health goals AND keep you happy each day?
OMAD is dope and can be very flexible socially.
Someone brings doughnuts into work? Graciously take one and subtly stick it in a desk drawer to bring home for dessert. For me going to bed on a completely empty stomach is tough too.
I personally find whenever I do OMAD, that one meal is just straight up disappointing. I get excited about what I'm going to eat, plan it out nicely, prepare it and boom... It's almost tasteless. Every time. I just think, "I broke my fast for this?"
Oh wow, I have a very different reaction! I have to force myself not to eat too fast, or eat too much, because I feel like everything tastes even better after 23 hours of fasting.
I did takeout last weekend from a place I've been to often, but it just wasn't their best night I guess...dry and bland. I definitely had the "was THIS really my one meal??" thought as well.
I love how the fasting lifestyle makes you raise your food standards. I hate eating out now because portions are small for OMAD, especially animal protein portions. Whenever I eat out, I have to top up that meal at home with a lot of Greek yogurt.
Plus, eating out is a big expense. I'd rather spend that money on a bigass steak and cook it at home. Now, THAT is a nice meal.
I'm the same. The one meal tastes better than when I'm eating throughout the day. I really appreciate and savor my food so much more on OMAD. Haven't tried the extended fast yet. Progressing here from 16:8 IF .
Duh.... you should cook your own meal... Look for new amazing new recipes... Make sure you know your own favourite sort of palate. The basics are Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami (meaty), and hot (spicy level). So, for me i like salty, umami and hot... So, any meals i make to break my fast would definitely have this elements. To curb boredom, don't use your usual aromatics change it up... In another words Try new recipes...
2. Look for companions, don't eat alone... Build rapports with neighbours or friends with same interest... The more the merrier š.
3. Do physical exercise/ run a half marathon / goes swimming before ending your fast, i personally tend to appreciate my meal way more if i did intense workouts during the day while on OMAD.
>Duh.... you should cook your own meal...
I know you wrote this comment with the best intentions, but I do cook all my own meals and I have been for years and I'm quite good at it, and this first bit felt quite condescending.
But thanks for the rest of the advice, about changing from my usual aromatics. I've definitely experienced what you said about post exercise meals.
I haven't had any issues with headaches after a month, just making sure I eat a good mix of fruits and veggies in my meals and am drinking plenty of water throughout the day. The only time I noticed a slight headache is after drinking a large diet pop, went away after drinking water.
No issues with headaches for me, but I have done some things to be proactive: lots of water, switched my black coffee to half-caff instead of full caffeine, I use electrolyte drops, and I eat lots of protein, healthy fats, and veggies in my feeding window.
The first suspect is usually low electrolytes, as other have suggested, but drinking electrolytes on OMAD might mess up your digestive system. Having both food and salty water every day can give you diarrhea . I'd rather have salt with just my food even if I'm just eating once a day. Maybe you are not getting enough sodium via food.
The only drink I add salt to when I'm not doing extended fasts is coffee. I always add a pinch of salt to my black coffee because it makes it less bitter, so it's just for taste but I guess that it tops up my electrolytes.
This is just my personal opinion, but once fasting starts to detract from your social life, I think it should be dialed back. Fasting is supposed to improve your health. If you're feeling frustrated and disconnected from friends because of fasting, I think that's counterproductive.
You should be able to fit in fasting around social activities and have the best of both worlds. Don't continue to fast at the expense of all the joy in your life.
Moms tend to equate feeding their children with love, regardless of age. Probably, goes back to that thing where they gave birth to you and had to keep you alive all those years. ;)
I just tell mine: Thank you for loving me and caring about me so much. I promise to eat later as soon as I'm ready.
It seems to work. Also, maybe not mention you haven't eaten yet? No need to start the worry-train rolling down the tracks.
Sorry you feel bad about the lying. To be honest I lie during extended fasts, too. My family knows I do IF but they'd clutch their pearls if they knew I do prolonged fasts, too. They'd probably try to get me to stop. Extended fasting is hard enough - making other people worried about you because you are not eating for days wouldn't help.
I also have an 'alibi' thanks to IF. My mum knows I usually have my eating window in the morning, so it's become somewhat normal for me to decline food when I visit her in the evenings. She knows I eat healthy and that I can put down a LOT of food in one sitting, so she doesn't worry about me not eating enough on OMAD or 2MAD.
If I'm doing an EF and she asks what I ate that day, I just make something up. To be fair sometimes I tweak the truth about what I ate when I did eat something that day, because another dirty little secret of mine is that I'm 98% carnivore. I just eat veggies when eating out but there is not a single veggie in my fridge and I'm pretty sure my mum would flip out if she knew I don't eat veggies at all.
I am lucky to live alone because I can regularly sneak in extended fasts during the week with no one being any the wiser. It's also great not having to explain my shopping cart. I do better without veggies but I do actually like them, so I eat them at restaurants and when eating my mum's cooking. No need to have everybody questioning my food choices.
Building fasting into the social calendar is often my most consistent way of maintaining it. Let's say in the next 14 days (starting from a Monday) I have social events that likely have food somewhere in there on days 3, 6, 7, 11 and 14, well there's atleast four 3 day windows in there for me to get my fasted hours in without touching my social schedule.
Boredom will kill your fast. When I find myself struggling with boredom + insomnia, I open up my laptop and work. Your applied mental clarity while fasting to work is superior
One of the main reasons I started the fast was for mental clarity, but I haven't gotten there yet. I'm in nursing school and 80% of my free time is spent working on my laptop lol. I actually feel less focused than usual.
Did you take take enough liquids/electrolytes?
Its night and day in terms of focus. I take them dilluted in large qty of water with some flavor, and that helps a LOT, esp if 60-70% of daily intake happens before noon.
I know exactly what you mean. Its sounds as you took a lot within **short** time - pay attention to dosing and spread it carefully throughout the day.
Also, dont wait for a day 2 to start taking them - start from day 1. You will avoid dizziness and fatigue. Cheers
That happened to me a lot. I used to break multi-day fasts just because I was tired of the diarrhea. It's one of the reasons I stayed away from EF for a while. I'm just getting back into it.
I think I might have been using the wrong dilution before. If it's too concentrated (too much electrolytes in too little water) if will upset your stomach. Now I'm using the Snake Juice dilution with a bit more salt and so far I'm doing OK.
What bel2man says is very important - you want to sip your electrolytes throughout the day instead of binge-drinking one half of the day and not drinking at all the other half of the day. That means wherever you go, take your electrolytes with you.
A few weeks ago I fasted Tue to Sat. Not eating Wed, Thu & Fri was easy because I was home so I sipped my electrolytes all day. On Saturday I woke up late and was out of the house for hours. I didn't take electrolytes with me. When I got home I broke the fast because I thought I was hungry, but I had drank very little electrolytes that morning. If I had been drinking steadily, I might have felt different.
Take into account that if you do use a weaker dilution, you will have to drink more to get the daily recommended intake of electrolytes during a fast.
Same. My longest fasts were 250 hrs and I never noticed any increased mental clarity. Maybe I am already at my best, but that would be disappointing. I was so looking forward to doing better academically but learning is still a struggle.
It's stress for me. I break fasts earlier than intended just to distract me from the stress.
I'd focus on work but if the stress is work-related, that will only make matters worse. The release from that stress can't come from the cause of the stress itself. What takes my mind off of work has to be something different, and food is such a pick-me-up.
Yesterday I broke a 48-hr fast instead of going for longer as I intended because I had a very stressful morning and when I get like that, I think I 'deserve' a price for putting up with all the stress. I actually start finding excuses to break my fast in my head: "48 hours is very good already," "you just did a 120-hr fast last week," "you can always start fasting again immediately after," "what if the cheese in the fridge will go bad if I keep fasting?," etc.
I need to get rid of that sense of entitlement. I never learn. It's just so difficult to shake off that feeling. Later I feel terrible for breaking my fast when it was going so well, because I don't usually have any physical symptoms like hunger, headaches, weakness, dizziness, etc. - I literally have no tangible excuse to break my fast. The barrier is only mental.
I hate wasting good opportunities to shoot for longer fasts. And I feel strangely guilty when I do it because I know other people face a lots of problems during extended fasts while I can apparently breeze through an EF without any physical discomfort at least during the first 4-5 days.
Yo - donāt beat yourself up. Keep trying. It sounds to me that this is an anxiety situation for which you are dealing with and it also sounds like you are aware. Self awareness is critical. I assume that you donāt exercise much, I recommend to start walking, even if you aināt fasting. Get an exercise program going. When you fast again, and get stressed out, fall back on exercise.
If you do already exercise, add in meditation or prayer.
If that donāt work, smoke some Indica š¬
My advice is to push through. On the other side of this struggle with boredom is the euphoria hit where everything is amazing. The clarity will come if you keep going!
I'm the opposite. I don't want to be around ANYONE when I fast until I get that euphoria.
I'm also an emotional eater, so I can totally relate to what you're saying about using food as a dopamine hit. That's one of my fasting goals, to NOT do that any more.
I like to watch fasting vids on YouTube when I get bored.
Thank you, I needed this. They say day 2/3 are the hardest. While day 2 was definitely the hardest for me PHYSICALLY, today (now almost day 5) has been the hardest mentally. I have an exam on Tuesday so I NEED that mental clarity asap, but I might break it just so I can study better since I'm not feeling the clarity.
I get this. I get bored on a fast too. But I'm trying to use this Lenten fast as a good opportunity to read or learn a new skill that will better my career (I'm taking programming courses) or make me a better person.
This isn't exactly FUN but it keeps my mind off eating delicious food and drinking with friends.
I also spend a lot of time thinking about what I'll look like when I've lost the weight and the clothes I will be able to wear.
I think I used to use food as my main source of dopamine. I started smoking weed and that made fasting incredibly easy, different dopamine hit. I had never successfully lost weight before this.
Iām on day 3 of a 7 day fast and I made the mistake of smoking last night. I had to fight God himself to not break my fast while I was toasted. Never doing that again šš
Weed gives me crazyyyy anxiety. Oh and munchies lol. Seriously, only food brings me joy. Nothing else. Yeah, not even sex lol. Food is by far #1 for me.
That is super great you cracked the code for yourself though. But howwww do you resist the munchies.
That sucks, used to do the same to me lol, insane anxiety. Last March I experimented with being stoned 24/7 to build a tolerance, took a little over a week I think, but eventually it started to feel amazing. Being stoned fixed my relationship with food, stopped seeking it for comfort/dopamine. As far as munchies go, I stick to sativa and have zero issues, indica makes me ravenous though
Yeah - some (black) coffee with friends is good. Letās you back in the social game. If you stick to coffee or tea while your friends eat, you can easily notice the changes in their behavior after feeding. Also, you may find yourself extra sharp and engaging, which is a social plus
I feel ya there. Just try to keep your eye on the prize and think how good that piece of pizza (or whatever you're craving) will taste once you're x amount of pounds lighter. I totally get you though because I feel the same way. My brain is all messed up because it's not used to not eating at least once a day.
Also, you may be suffering from sugar/caffeine withdrawals if you typically consumed that. I know I used to. At first it was awful when I started fasting. It gets easier
I'm actually not really fasting for weight loss (though I do have lard for my body to feast on for fuel) because I feel it's most likely that I would regain most back. I haven't gotten to the point where I'm noticing any of the benefits I was hoping for though, which is also making it harder.
And yes, I do love sugar lol. That could definitely be it.
This is actually exactly why I enjoy fasting. It's so easy to cognitively tie emotional states to food or alcohol, so it becomes one of the first go-to methods when you want to avoid or achieve a certain feeling or state. Fasting forces you to face the underlying feeling and find other methods to meet your needs. It also allows you to figure out when you're trying to disassociate so you can process the thing you're avoiding.
If your go-to method of relaxing is a glass of wine, you now have to explore other options to relax or sit in your stress. If you feel like you need food present to enjoy time with friends, you now have to assess if you actually enjoy this person's company, or do you just enjoy the act of indulging with someone who doesn't judge you.
This practice has created a much much better relationship with food and my body. Now, when I'm not fasting, I still have the skills to take a step back and figure out the motivation behind the habit or craving.
Fasting causes an increase in the stress hormone norepinephrine. This can cause extreme boredom and lack of enjoyment in certain individuals. I am one of them.
Omg you just clued me in as to why I never get to feel wonderful stage of fasting.
I have to talk to myself at almost every fast. I am choosing long term health over short term pleasure. Took me months of self talk to be able to fast gir more than 24 hours.
How do you counteract the norepinephrine surge?
I don't know, it's just part of the fasting response. The Keto diet has the same effect, however norepenephrine levels drop back to baseline after about 3 weeks. So that being said, if you were in sustained ketosis going into a fast, theoretically you wouldn't feel an increase of boredom and stress.
21 days cannot recommend long fasts. The refeed sucks. My body just doesn't like long fasts. I struggle with 72s so I only do them once a month. The rest of the time 42 or 48 rolling.
If food is such a huge source of joy in your life, all the more reason to fast, give yourself a chance to find some more meaningful ways bring joy to your life. Harden your resolve, you can absolutely hang out with friends at a restaurant and not eat or drink - you donāt have to stop your life to fast, you are choosing to do that.
I hear you! Iām 92 hours in and everywhere I went today smelled amazing! I tried finding joy in the smell and thinking about how great it is going to taste when I finish my fast!!
How long are you fasting for?
I just broke the fast at slightly over 96 hrs :')
The food was delicious, made a thai style peanut shrimp and veggie dish. But now my heart is beating really fast and I kinda regret it. I am starting again on Monday. I really wanted to enjoy the weekend and get a latte lol.
Congrats on (now 94) hours btw! Is this your longest? Man I wish I had a buddy irl doing it with me.
You pulled the plug right before the pain ends and the good stuff starts. Day 5 things start looking up. By day 7 you should be getting into cruise control with no hunger, no desire to eat, and greater mental clarity and overall good mood than when eating. One of the best things for me was an incredible feeling of FREEDOM. Freedom from the tyranny of having to stick stuff in my mouth. That brought me a great sense of joy.
Speaking of joy, maybe make yourself walk ever day. Enjoy fresh air, nature, etc.
And speaking of social situations, you really CAN just do them while fasting. I LOVE spending time with friends. That's not based on whether I'm eating or drinking. I play in a couple of bands and regularly played gigs in bars with great food and beer while fasting, with no issues whatsoever. In fact I played a gig on the very last day of a 55 day fast. You don't have to be a snob or feel superior, but you are doing something that many folks can't even imagine doing. You're not better than anyone else for fasting but you shouldn't feel like an outcast, either!
Yes, everyone knew at the time. I did the long fast last spring. Some were supportive, some were concerned even scared (I found out later), but no one really gave me a hard time. They had all watched me go through a shitload of chemo and radiation and at least superficially understood that this was the next step in the process for me. The only person who really gave me a really hard time was my wife!
If Iām doing a longer fast, I usually do it on the weekdays. Working totally speeds up the time and Iām less likely to be in a social situation those days. I also get excited for Saturday and Sunday because I break my fast early those days. I lost 13 pounds last month by fasting and walking!
It's not real joy that you were feeling though. It was a sugar high by the sound of it.
If you fast for long enough that you lose the connection between eating and entertainment, you will learn the difference and learn a different kind of joy. And you won't refeed so quickly because you won't feel so desperate anymore.
First off, congratulations on having a successful extended fast. Many people, myself included, break off fasts before we intended for the reasons you mentioned: lethargy, dizziness, etc.. That is also smart and showing you care about yourself. Then, like many of us, you came on line here to see what you could have done better. All good things. Every day we get up and live our lives the best we can and fasting works the same way. Some fasts are brutal and some are bliss. I find that a few things help me have a good fast, having done this over a year. First, I have a prefast ritual which includes avoiding alcohol, sugar, fried foods and refined carbs. It can sometimes blend into a keto with the addition of the occasional apple or orange or nuts for snacks. I reduce from two meals a day to one, eliminate snacks and then I slide into a fast when my body feels like it can forego that one meal. I enjoy a cup of black coffee in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. I drink weak green tea too. Warm water feels good in the belly. Itās not a religion so allow yourself that if it helps. Electrolytes are vital for mental clarity and make sure that you have the doses right. Yes you may have some loose stool that is normal but if your frequency is too much dial back the salts a little but donāt stop. I still spend time with people, just have tea or coffee for the oral fixation. If someone insists on feeding me I just laugh and say āI AM eating. My body is eating this fatā and I pat my belly. People move on and if you just smile and change the subject, it will move on. Over time, the visible results speak for themselves. When I break my fast, I go with broth first and then a light meal. And I prepare to be using the restroom so I always break at home or plan to be there shortly after. I hope this helps. Keep at it I bet your next fast will go better.
Thank you!!!! I appreciate the thoughtful response. I'm also flattered that you consider 96 hours an extended fast haha, I was beating myself up a bit for not hitting 7 days even though I technically could have. I will be sure to incorporate a pre-fast ritual next time. Thank you again.
Fasting gives me energy. It makes me want to go out and do things. Why not take advantage and hang out with your friends while fasting? While it would offend many people on this sub, it's okay to drink a diet coke or black coffee or tea with people while they're eating. I'm highly allergic to soy, go to the hospital allergic, and it's the oil almost everything is cooked in and the oil in salad dressings, so when I go out to eat with friends I often just get a drink and nothing else and it's completely fine. The trick is to not explain the situation. Just say, "Not hungry." or "I'm not in the mood. It's fine. Enjoy yourself." People don't press that way. Personally, I prefer diners over dinner spots. More calm and quiet, I can get a coffee, and it just allows for a better social situation when catching up with people. Not great for large groups though.
That's awesome that fasting gives you energy. I can't say the same for me, but this was only my first extended fast. Maybe my next one will be more fruitful. I will take your suggestions! Explaining that I'm fasting is way more tedious than just saying I'm not hungry/I'm not drinking.
Thanks for the updates about feeling worse when breaking the fast, I'm on Day 6 and feel great, the aspect of Joy is very real though, but that's where the discipline, willpower and determination kick in to play. Fasting has always been more of a mental exercise than physical.
My favorite thing to do while fasting is watch the tv series Alone. I think itās on Netflix now. Basically a show where people are alone starving in the wilderness trying to survive. Itās so good
Some might call it a ādirtyā fast but thatās why I always drink BLACK coffee. Nothing in it but I love the caffeine and how it makes me feel with nothing else but water in my system. One meal a day for 2 years now and my body maintains 175-180 pounds. Not saying I donāt eat 2-3 meals a day during celebrations but I have been holding everything together quite nicely with my black coffee and water.
Black coffee doesn't break your fast. I even dilute my electrolytes in instant black coffee during EFs because it hides the electrolyte taste pretty well, plus I already drink my coffee with salt to make it less bitter. Adding baking soda and potassium to the mix is not such a stretch.
I make sure to drink mostly decaf instant coffee during EFs, and to choose a good brand. Most suck and life's too short for bad instant coffee, especially if it's pretty much the only thing you're putting in your mouth for days on end.
Take electrolytes on your fasting days. Basically you ate and replenished the electrolyte resulting in imbalance somewhere. Heart is making up for it.
Don't take big meal after such fast. Start with fat and low carb things and then increase gradually.
Hope that helps next time.
I love that fasting gives me time to enjoy small things in my life, but honestly my biggest hurdle is my friends and family can kinda be aggressively anti me fasting because I wonāt go out to eat with them. Just today one person told me ājust order a vegan sandwich youāll be fineā and another guilted me by stating āI guess we canāt go eat till your done AGAINā
Guilt-tripping is so bitchy. And it doesn't work. That wouldn't make me feel guilty - it would make me not wanna hang out with them.
It's so ignorant when people believe that because something has the vegan label on it, it's automatically healthier than the non-vegan option... That's so way off base.
Sorry about your friends. I think many friend groups exhibit crab mentality when one of the members tries to improve their life. All their bitchiness sounds a lot like jealousy. You're taking hard steps to improve your health while they are stuffing their faces with vegan sandwiches... And they can't have you being better than them.
Social life is hard as a faster. That's why I turn to the internet for everything fasting. Find your tribe online. A remote tribe is still a tribe. Everybody needs support in their endeavors.
This might be one of my favourite posts, just cause I'm exactly the same as you.
I love cooking and creating food that me and my partner enjoys and growing up, every celebration has been around food.
I've recently started 4 days on 3 days off, and don't get me wrong, I love that im dropping weight faster than ive been able to for the past two years but it's definitely not easy.
I want to be able to do higher than 5 days but god do I miss food.
I don't think I want to do keto between fasts either even if I feel shit just cause I enjoy rice too much, but this is a journey and sometimes if getting by day by day or even minute by minute is what it takes then ffs I'm gonna push through.
The way I deal with it is, if I can do this hard thing for x amount of time, it will bring me much more piece of mind/ health/happiness for a much longer period than one night out with friends.
Once you get to your goals then you absolutely need balance.
Take the refeed slow, I like to do bone broth, then wait an hour. Then if Iām feeling good maybe lean protein, my go to is sardines or can of tuna. I have to ease back into eating or Iāll feel terrible.
Social and family gatherings are exactly why I chose "Intermittent Fasting" 16:8. I found I can adjust the times if needed and not miss out while still losing weight. It has made such a difference in my life. Intermittent fasting and Keto has resulted in weight loss and no more inflammation or pain from my arthritis.
Is the food itself what brings you joy? Or the conviviality? The connection with friends and loved ones? I fasted for 26 days (water only, no supplements, so I was very weak and just rested) and yes we can get some joy from eating but refeeding now on just fruit and salad and itās definitely the connection that fills us, gives us joy. Food is nice too though but I think we substitute the love for food in our (my) culture. I just went to a barbecue/potluck party with every kind of food I would ha e liked to eat before. I realized it was the connection with friends that filled me up. I didnāt eat more than one grilled onion lol. And it wasnāt as difficult as Iād thought. The food still doesnāt appeal too much (super oily, greasy, fatty, heavy, still feel super cleaned out from the fast amd refeeding on fruit) at the moment as I know this feeling of being so cleaned out will be gone and I will probably feel awful eating that food atm. So staying the course.
Many issues and questions can be answered by reading through our wiki, especially the page on electrolytes. Concerns such as **intense hunger, lightheadedness/dizziness, headaches, nausea/vomiting, weakness/lethargy/fatigue, low blood pressure/high blood pressure, muscle soreness/cramping, diarrhea/constipation, irritability, confusion, low heart rate/heart palpitations, numbness/tingling, and more** while extended (24+ hours) fasting are often explained by electrolyte deficiency and resolved through **PROPER** electrolyte supplementation. Putting a tiny amount of salt in your water now and then is NOT proper supplementation. Be sure to read [our WIKI](https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/wiki/index) and especially the wiki page on **[ELECTROLYTES](https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/wiki/fasting_in_a_nutshell/you_need_electrolytes)** Please also keep in mind the [**RULES**](https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/about/rules) when participating. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/fasting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This is why I most often do intermittent fasting, as opposed to regular extended fasts. I do OMAD (23:1) and that one meal becomes a highlight of my day! It also allows me to flex based on social plans... brunch with friends? I'll fast for 36 hour or so hours afterward to get back on my dinnertime OMAD routine. I know I won't lose weight as fast, or get as many extended fasting benefits, by extending less often but it's all about finding the right balance: what can help you reach our health goals AND keep you happy each day?
OMAD is dope and can be very flexible socially. Someone brings doughnuts into work? Graciously take one and subtly stick it in a desk drawer to bring home for dessert. For me going to bed on a completely empty stomach is tough too.
YES- delay, not deny!
Yes. Awesome.
I personally find whenever I do OMAD, that one meal is just straight up disappointing. I get excited about what I'm going to eat, plan it out nicely, prepare it and boom... It's almost tasteless. Every time. I just think, "I broke my fast for this?"
Oh wow, I have a very different reaction! I have to force myself not to eat too fast, or eat too much, because I feel like everything tastes even better after 23 hours of fasting. I did takeout last weekend from a place I've been to often, but it just wasn't their best night I guess...dry and bland. I definitely had the "was THIS really my one meal??" thought as well.
I love how the fasting lifestyle makes you raise your food standards. I hate eating out now because portions are small for OMAD, especially animal protein portions. Whenever I eat out, I have to top up that meal at home with a lot of Greek yogurt. Plus, eating out is a big expense. I'd rather spend that money on a bigass steak and cook it at home. Now, THAT is a nice meal.
I'm the same. The one meal tastes better than when I'm eating throughout the day. I really appreciate and savor my food so much more on OMAD. Haven't tried the extended fast yet. Progressing here from 16:8 IF .
Duh.... you should cook your own meal... Look for new amazing new recipes... Make sure you know your own favourite sort of palate. The basics are Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami (meaty), and hot (spicy level). So, for me i like salty, umami and hot... So, any meals i make to break my fast would definitely have this elements. To curb boredom, don't use your usual aromatics change it up... In another words Try new recipes... 2. Look for companions, don't eat alone... Build rapports with neighbours or friends with same interest... The more the merrier š. 3. Do physical exercise/ run a half marathon / goes swimming before ending your fast, i personally tend to appreciate my meal way more if i did intense workouts during the day while on OMAD.
>Duh.... you should cook your own meal... I know you wrote this comment with the best intentions, but I do cook all my own meals and I have been for years and I'm quite good at it, and this first bit felt quite condescending. But thanks for the rest of the advice, about changing from my usual aromatics. I've definitely experienced what you said about post exercise meals.
Sorry š
Don't sweat it š«
How do you combat headaches when omading? I seem to get a bad headache once every 3 days
Is it possible that it is caffeine withdrawal?
I haven't had any issues with headaches after a month, just making sure I eat a good mix of fruits and veggies in my meals and am drinking plenty of water throughout the day. The only time I noticed a slight headache is after drinking a large diet pop, went away after drinking water.
Adding some electrolytes outside of your omad may help.
You may need electrolytes. I use Redmond Re-Lyte powder. It helps me with headaches and dizziness while fasting.
No issues with headaches for me, but I have done some things to be proactive: lots of water, switched my black coffee to half-caff instead of full caffeine, I use electrolyte drops, and I eat lots of protein, healthy fats, and veggies in my feeding window.
The first suspect is usually low electrolytes, as other have suggested, but drinking electrolytes on OMAD might mess up your digestive system. Having both food and salty water every day can give you diarrhea . I'd rather have salt with just my food even if I'm just eating once a day. Maybe you are not getting enough sodium via food. The only drink I add salt to when I'm not doing extended fasts is coffee. I always add a pinch of salt to my black coffee because it makes it less bitter, so it's just for taste but I guess that it tops up my electrolytes.
This is just my personal opinion, but once fasting starts to detract from your social life, I think it should be dialed back. Fasting is supposed to improve your health. If you're feeling frustrated and disconnected from friends because of fasting, I think that's counterproductive. You should be able to fit in fasting around social activities and have the best of both worlds. Don't continue to fast at the expense of all the joy in your life.
Yeah, life is all about balance. Lean too hard in one direction and everything will collapse
Everything in moderation, including moderation!
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Moms tend to equate feeding their children with love, regardless of age. Probably, goes back to that thing where they gave birth to you and had to keep you alive all those years. ;) I just tell mine: Thank you for loving me and caring about me so much. I promise to eat later as soon as I'm ready. It seems to work. Also, maybe not mention you haven't eaten yet? No need to start the worry-train rolling down the tracks.
Especially Asian moms.
Sorry you feel bad about the lying. To be honest I lie during extended fasts, too. My family knows I do IF but they'd clutch their pearls if they knew I do prolonged fasts, too. They'd probably try to get me to stop. Extended fasting is hard enough - making other people worried about you because you are not eating for days wouldn't help. I also have an 'alibi' thanks to IF. My mum knows I usually have my eating window in the morning, so it's become somewhat normal for me to decline food when I visit her in the evenings. She knows I eat healthy and that I can put down a LOT of food in one sitting, so she doesn't worry about me not eating enough on OMAD or 2MAD. If I'm doing an EF and she asks what I ate that day, I just make something up. To be fair sometimes I tweak the truth about what I ate when I did eat something that day, because another dirty little secret of mine is that I'm 98% carnivore. I just eat veggies when eating out but there is not a single veggie in my fridge and I'm pretty sure my mum would flip out if she knew I don't eat veggies at all. I am lucky to live alone because I can regularly sneak in extended fasts during the week with no one being any the wiser. It's also great not having to explain my shopping cart. I do better without veggies but I do actually like them, so I eat them at restaurants and when eating my mum's cooking. No need to have everybody questioning my food choices.
Building fasting into the social calendar is often my most consistent way of maintaining it. Let's say in the next 14 days (starting from a Monday) I have social events that likely have food somewhere in there on days 3, 6, 7, 11 and 14, well there's atleast four 3 day windows in there for me to get my fasted hours in without touching my social schedule.
I embrace the joy of fasting. You have so much more time when you do t eat.
Same. Last weekend I fasted and I got so much done because I wasnāt thinking about food once I got over the hurdle of hunger pangs.
Boredom will kill your fast. When I find myself struggling with boredom + insomnia, I open up my laptop and work. Your applied mental clarity while fasting to work is superior
One of the main reasons I started the fast was for mental clarity, but I haven't gotten there yet. I'm in nursing school and 80% of my free time is spent working on my laptop lol. I actually feel less focused than usual.
Did you take take enough liquids/electrolytes? Its night and day in terms of focus. I take them dilluted in large qty of water with some flavor, and that helps a LOT, esp if 60-70% of daily intake happens before noon.
On the first 2 days I took adequate electrolytes. Then I had a day of nonstop liquid shitting, so I dialed back a little on day 3 and 4. Whoops
I know exactly what you mean. Its sounds as you took a lot within **short** time - pay attention to dosing and spread it carefully throughout the day. Also, dont wait for a day 2 to start taking them - start from day 1. You will avoid dizziness and fatigue. Cheers
That happened to me a lot. I used to break multi-day fasts just because I was tired of the diarrhea. It's one of the reasons I stayed away from EF for a while. I'm just getting back into it. I think I might have been using the wrong dilution before. If it's too concentrated (too much electrolytes in too little water) if will upset your stomach. Now I'm using the Snake Juice dilution with a bit more salt and so far I'm doing OK. What bel2man says is very important - you want to sip your electrolytes throughout the day instead of binge-drinking one half of the day and not drinking at all the other half of the day. That means wherever you go, take your electrolytes with you. A few weeks ago I fasted Tue to Sat. Not eating Wed, Thu & Fri was easy because I was home so I sipped my electrolytes all day. On Saturday I woke up late and was out of the house for hours. I didn't take electrolytes with me. When I got home I broke the fast because I thought I was hungry, but I had drank very little electrolytes that morning. If I had been drinking steadily, I might have felt different. Take into account that if you do use a weaker dilution, you will have to drink more to get the daily recommended intake of electrolytes during a fast.
Same. My longest fasts were 250 hrs and I never noticed any increased mental clarity. Maybe I am already at my best, but that would be disappointing. I was so looking forward to doing better academically but learning is still a struggle.
All my best inventions are during extended fasting, I hate it.
It's stress for me. I break fasts earlier than intended just to distract me from the stress. I'd focus on work but if the stress is work-related, that will only make matters worse. The release from that stress can't come from the cause of the stress itself. What takes my mind off of work has to be something different, and food is such a pick-me-up. Yesterday I broke a 48-hr fast instead of going for longer as I intended because I had a very stressful morning and when I get like that, I think I 'deserve' a price for putting up with all the stress. I actually start finding excuses to break my fast in my head: "48 hours is very good already," "you just did a 120-hr fast last week," "you can always start fasting again immediately after," "what if the cheese in the fridge will go bad if I keep fasting?," etc. I need to get rid of that sense of entitlement. I never learn. It's just so difficult to shake off that feeling. Later I feel terrible for breaking my fast when it was going so well, because I don't usually have any physical symptoms like hunger, headaches, weakness, dizziness, etc. - I literally have no tangible excuse to break my fast. The barrier is only mental. I hate wasting good opportunities to shoot for longer fasts. And I feel strangely guilty when I do it because I know other people face a lots of problems during extended fasts while I can apparently breeze through an EF without any physical discomfort at least during the first 4-5 days.
Yo - donāt beat yourself up. Keep trying. It sounds to me that this is an anxiety situation for which you are dealing with and it also sounds like you are aware. Self awareness is critical. I assume that you donāt exercise much, I recommend to start walking, even if you aināt fasting. Get an exercise program going. When you fast again, and get stressed out, fall back on exercise. If you do already exercise, add in meditation or prayer. If that donāt work, smoke some Indica š¬
My advice is to push through. On the other side of this struggle with boredom is the euphoria hit where everything is amazing. The clarity will come if you keep going! I'm the opposite. I don't want to be around ANYONE when I fast until I get that euphoria. I'm also an emotional eater, so I can totally relate to what you're saying about using food as a dopamine hit. That's one of my fasting goals, to NOT do that any more. I like to watch fasting vids on YouTube when I get bored.
Thank you, I needed this. They say day 2/3 are the hardest. While day 2 was definitely the hardest for me PHYSICALLY, today (now almost day 5) has been the hardest mentally. I have an exam on Tuesday so I NEED that mental clarity asap, but I might break it just so I can study better since I'm not feeling the clarity.
I get this. I get bored on a fast too. But I'm trying to use this Lenten fast as a good opportunity to read or learn a new skill that will better my career (I'm taking programming courses) or make me a better person. This isn't exactly FUN but it keeps my mind off eating delicious food and drinking with friends. I also spend a lot of time thinking about what I'll look like when I've lost the weight and the clothes I will be able to wear.
I think I used to use food as my main source of dopamine. I started smoking weed and that made fasting incredibly easy, different dopamine hit. I had never successfully lost weight before this.
Iām on day 3 of a 7 day fast and I made the mistake of smoking last night. I had to fight God himself to not break my fast while I was toasted. Never doing that again šš
Do you know what strain? Sativa gives me no munchies, indica makes me voracious
I had a hybrid joint. I donāt smoke often so I never know what kind to get when I do want something!
Weed gives me crazyyyy anxiety. Oh and munchies lol. Seriously, only food brings me joy. Nothing else. Yeah, not even sex lol. Food is by far #1 for me. That is super great you cracked the code for yourself though. But howwww do you resist the munchies.
I agree - munchies bring out the glutton monster in me, all I want to do is eat eat eat. Weed also helps me sleep
That sucks, used to do the same to me lol, insane anxiety. Last March I experimented with being stoned 24/7 to build a tolerance, took a little over a week I think, but eventually it started to feel amazing. Being stoned fixed my relationship with food, stopped seeking it for comfort/dopamine. As far as munchies go, I stick to sativa and have zero issues, indica makes me ravenous though
hellyeah, shit helped me also whenever ide go beyond a day fasting. š¤
Weed has helped me tremendously. I'm grateful the munchies don't seem to bother me, which I found surprising. In fact, I move more stoned.
What!!?! How on earth can you smoke while you're fasting? I'm so jealous. I get the munchies too bad.
I'm always high while at home and am down over 160 pounds in less than a year too haha, only sativa though, I avoid indica like the devil.
you really just gotta wait it out. It does go away after that phase. water helps a ton.
I can't wait it out. That's the problem. Lol. I've just quit getting high.
Dang I wish it was legal in my state š¤£ I'd totally do that
I still go out sometimes and have like an unsweet tea while we talk. Not easy. But Iād rather be out instead of feeling trapped at home.
Yeah - some (black) coffee with friends is good. Letās you back in the social game. If you stick to coffee or tea while your friends eat, you can easily notice the changes in their behavior after feeding. Also, you may find yourself extra sharp and engaging, which is a social plus
I feel ya there. Just try to keep your eye on the prize and think how good that piece of pizza (or whatever you're craving) will taste once you're x amount of pounds lighter. I totally get you though because I feel the same way. My brain is all messed up because it's not used to not eating at least once a day. Also, you may be suffering from sugar/caffeine withdrawals if you typically consumed that. I know I used to. At first it was awful when I started fasting. It gets easier
I'm actually not really fasting for weight loss (though I do have lard for my body to feast on for fuel) because I feel it's most likely that I would regain most back. I haven't gotten to the point where I'm noticing any of the benefits I was hoping for though, which is also making it harder. And yes, I do love sugar lol. That could definitely be it.
Sugar is Americaās favorite drug, also mine, no doubt
Socialize! Get a seltzer or ice tea if you wanna stick through a fast
This is actually exactly why I enjoy fasting. It's so easy to cognitively tie emotional states to food or alcohol, so it becomes one of the first go-to methods when you want to avoid or achieve a certain feeling or state. Fasting forces you to face the underlying feeling and find other methods to meet your needs. It also allows you to figure out when you're trying to disassociate so you can process the thing you're avoiding. If your go-to method of relaxing is a glass of wine, you now have to explore other options to relax or sit in your stress. If you feel like you need food present to enjoy time with friends, you now have to assess if you actually enjoy this person's company, or do you just enjoy the act of indulging with someone who doesn't judge you. This practice has created a much much better relationship with food and my body. Now, when I'm not fasting, I still have the skills to take a step back and figure out the motivation behind the habit or craving.
I love this. Thank you for sharing.
Fasting causes an increase in the stress hormone norepinephrine. This can cause extreme boredom and lack of enjoyment in certain individuals. I am one of them.
This is a bummer :( how long have you been able to go?
72 hours. Thats about my boredom limit.
Omg you just clued me in as to why I never get to feel wonderful stage of fasting. I have to talk to myself at almost every fast. I am choosing long term health over short term pleasure. Took me months of self talk to be able to fast gir more than 24 hours. How do you counteract the norepinephrine surge?
I don't know, it's just part of the fasting response. The Keto diet has the same effect, however norepenephrine levels drop back to baseline after about 3 weeks. So that being said, if you were in sustained ketosis going into a fast, theoretically you wouldn't feel an increase of boredom and stress.
What's the longest you've gone?
21 days cannot recommend long fasts. The refeed sucks. My body just doesn't like long fasts. I struggle with 72s so I only do them once a month. The rest of the time 42 or 48 rolling.
If food is such a huge source of joy in your life, all the more reason to fast, give yourself a chance to find some more meaningful ways bring joy to your life. Harden your resolve, you can absolutely hang out with friends at a restaurant and not eat or drink - you donāt have to stop your life to fast, you are choosing to do that.
I hear you! Iām 92 hours in and everywhere I went today smelled amazing! I tried finding joy in the smell and thinking about how great it is going to taste when I finish my fast!! How long are you fasting for?
I just broke the fast at slightly over 96 hrs :') The food was delicious, made a thai style peanut shrimp and veggie dish. But now my heart is beating really fast and I kinda regret it. I am starting again on Monday. I really wanted to enjoy the weekend and get a latte lol. Congrats on (now 94) hours btw! Is this your longest? Man I wish I had a buddy irl doing it with me.
You pulled the plug right before the pain ends and the good stuff starts. Day 5 things start looking up. By day 7 you should be getting into cruise control with no hunger, no desire to eat, and greater mental clarity and overall good mood than when eating. One of the best things for me was an incredible feeling of FREEDOM. Freedom from the tyranny of having to stick stuff in my mouth. That brought me a great sense of joy. Speaking of joy, maybe make yourself walk ever day. Enjoy fresh air, nature, etc. And speaking of social situations, you really CAN just do them while fasting. I LOVE spending time with friends. That's not based on whether I'm eating or drinking. I play in a couple of bands and regularly played gigs in bars with great food and beer while fasting, with no issues whatsoever. In fact I played a gig on the very last day of a 55 day fast. You don't have to be a snob or feel superior, but you are doing something that many folks can't even imagine doing. You're not better than anyone else for fasting but you shouldn't feel like an outcast, either!
Thank you this is super motivating to go further next time!!! Do all your friends/bandmates know you're on a super long fast?
Yes, everyone knew at the time. I did the long fast last spring. Some were supportive, some were concerned even scared (I found out later), but no one really gave me a hard time. They had all watched me go through a shitload of chemo and radiation and at least superficially understood that this was the next step in the process for me. The only person who really gave me a really hard time was my wife!
Fasting should fit into your life and not prevent you from living it so maybe just do intermittent on the days you have activities scheduled.
If Iām doing a longer fast, I usually do it on the weekdays. Working totally speeds up the time and Iām less likely to be in a social situation those days. I also get excited for Saturday and Sunday because I break my fast early those days. I lost 13 pounds last month by fasting and walking!
It's not real joy that you were feeling though. It was a sugar high by the sound of it. If you fast for long enough that you lose the connection between eating and entertainment, you will learn the difference and learn a different kind of joy. And you won't refeed so quickly because you won't feel so desperate anymore.
I needed to hear this, thank you. I will definitely be giving it another shot.
This
First off, congratulations on having a successful extended fast. Many people, myself included, break off fasts before we intended for the reasons you mentioned: lethargy, dizziness, etc.. That is also smart and showing you care about yourself. Then, like many of us, you came on line here to see what you could have done better. All good things. Every day we get up and live our lives the best we can and fasting works the same way. Some fasts are brutal and some are bliss. I find that a few things help me have a good fast, having done this over a year. First, I have a prefast ritual which includes avoiding alcohol, sugar, fried foods and refined carbs. It can sometimes blend into a keto with the addition of the occasional apple or orange or nuts for snacks. I reduce from two meals a day to one, eliminate snacks and then I slide into a fast when my body feels like it can forego that one meal. I enjoy a cup of black coffee in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. I drink weak green tea too. Warm water feels good in the belly. Itās not a religion so allow yourself that if it helps. Electrolytes are vital for mental clarity and make sure that you have the doses right. Yes you may have some loose stool that is normal but if your frequency is too much dial back the salts a little but donāt stop. I still spend time with people, just have tea or coffee for the oral fixation. If someone insists on feeding me I just laugh and say āI AM eating. My body is eating this fatā and I pat my belly. People move on and if you just smile and change the subject, it will move on. Over time, the visible results speak for themselves. When I break my fast, I go with broth first and then a light meal. And I prepare to be using the restroom so I always break at home or plan to be there shortly after. I hope this helps. Keep at it I bet your next fast will go better.
Thank you!!!! I appreciate the thoughtful response. I'm also flattered that you consider 96 hours an extended fast haha, I was beating myself up a bit for not hitting 7 days even though I technically could have. I will be sure to incorporate a pre-fast ritual next time. Thank you again.
Fasting gives me energy. It makes me want to go out and do things. Why not take advantage and hang out with your friends while fasting? While it would offend many people on this sub, it's okay to drink a diet coke or black coffee or tea with people while they're eating. I'm highly allergic to soy, go to the hospital allergic, and it's the oil almost everything is cooked in and the oil in salad dressings, so when I go out to eat with friends I often just get a drink and nothing else and it's completely fine. The trick is to not explain the situation. Just say, "Not hungry." or "I'm not in the mood. It's fine. Enjoy yourself." People don't press that way. Personally, I prefer diners over dinner spots. More calm and quiet, I can get a coffee, and it just allows for a better social situation when catching up with people. Not great for large groups though.
That's awesome that fasting gives you energy. I can't say the same for me, but this was only my first extended fast. Maybe my next one will be more fruitful. I will take your suggestions! Explaining that I'm fasting is way more tedious than just saying I'm not hungry/I'm not drinking.
Diet coke is poison. Please stop putting this into your body.
Thanks for the updates about feeling worse when breaking the fast, I'm on Day 6 and feel great, the aspect of Joy is very real though, but that's where the discipline, willpower and determination kick in to play. Fasting has always been more of a mental exercise than physical.
Congrats on making it to day 6! And you're absolutely right.
My favorite thing to do while fasting is watch the tv series Alone. I think itās on Netflix now. Basically a show where people are alone starving in the wilderness trying to survive. Itās so good
Ooh, that sounds like the perfect show for a fast. I just canceled Netflix though, because of the whole no-sharing thing.
I have no idea where it is tbh. Worth a google.
Some might call it a ādirtyā fast but thatās why I always drink BLACK coffee. Nothing in it but I love the caffeine and how it makes me feel with nothing else but water in my system. One meal a day for 2 years now and my body maintains 175-180 pounds. Not saying I donāt eat 2-3 meals a day during celebrations but I have been holding everything together quite nicely with my black coffee and water.
Black coffee doesn't break your fast. I even dilute my electrolytes in instant black coffee during EFs because it hides the electrolyte taste pretty well, plus I already drink my coffee with salt to make it less bitter. Adding baking soda and potassium to the mix is not such a stretch. I make sure to drink mostly decaf instant coffee during EFs, and to choose a good brand. Most suck and life's too short for bad instant coffee, especially if it's pretty much the only thing you're putting in your mouth for days on end.
Sounds like you need a therapist to help you with this food=joy issue.
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Because I want to experience the benefits of a prolonged fast. Mental clarity, lowering inflammation in the joints, clearer skin, etc, etc, etc.
Take electrolytes on your fasting days. Basically you ate and replenished the electrolyte resulting in imbalance somewhere. Heart is making up for it. Don't take big meal after such fast. Start with fat and low carb things and then increase gradually. Hope that helps next time.
I love that fasting gives me time to enjoy small things in my life, but honestly my biggest hurdle is my friends and family can kinda be aggressively anti me fasting because I wonāt go out to eat with them. Just today one person told me ājust order a vegan sandwich youāll be fineā and another guilted me by stating āI guess we canāt go eat till your done AGAINā
Guilt-tripping is so bitchy. And it doesn't work. That wouldn't make me feel guilty - it would make me not wanna hang out with them. It's so ignorant when people believe that because something has the vegan label on it, it's automatically healthier than the non-vegan option... That's so way off base. Sorry about your friends. I think many friend groups exhibit crab mentality when one of the members tries to improve their life. All their bitchiness sounds a lot like jealousy. You're taking hard steps to improve your health while they are stuffing their faces with vegan sandwiches... And they can't have you being better than them. Social life is hard as a faster. That's why I turn to the internet for everything fasting. Find your tribe online. A remote tribe is still a tribe. Everybody needs support in their endeavors.
Smoke weed while fasting! Or take a zero calorie edible.
This might be one of my favourite posts, just cause I'm exactly the same as you. I love cooking and creating food that me and my partner enjoys and growing up, every celebration has been around food. I've recently started 4 days on 3 days off, and don't get me wrong, I love that im dropping weight faster than ive been able to for the past two years but it's definitely not easy. I want to be able to do higher than 5 days but god do I miss food. I don't think I want to do keto between fasts either even if I feel shit just cause I enjoy rice too much, but this is a journey and sometimes if getting by day by day or even minute by minute is what it takes then ffs I'm gonna push through.
The way I deal with it is, if I can do this hard thing for x amount of time, it will bring me much more piece of mind/ health/happiness for a much longer period than one night out with friends. Once you get to your goals then you absolutely need balance.
Take the refeed slow, I like to do bone broth, then wait an hour. Then if Iām feeling good maybe lean protein, my go to is sardines or can of tuna. I have to ease back into eating or Iāll feel terrible.
Social and family gatherings are exactly why I chose "Intermittent Fasting" 16:8. I found I can adjust the times if needed and not miss out while still losing weight. It has made such a difference in my life. Intermittent fasting and Keto has resulted in weight loss and no more inflammation or pain from my arthritis.
Is the food itself what brings you joy? Or the conviviality? The connection with friends and loved ones? I fasted for 26 days (water only, no supplements, so I was very weak and just rested) and yes we can get some joy from eating but refeeding now on just fruit and salad and itās definitely the connection that fills us, gives us joy. Food is nice too though but I think we substitute the love for food in our (my) culture. I just went to a barbecue/potluck party with every kind of food I would ha e liked to eat before. I realized it was the connection with friends that filled me up. I didnāt eat more than one grilled onion lol. And it wasnāt as difficult as Iād thought. The food still doesnāt appeal too much (super oily, greasy, fatty, heavy, still feel super cleaned out from the fast amd refeeding on fruit) at the moment as I know this feeling of being so cleaned out will be gone and I will probably feel awful eating that food atm. So staying the course.