And again….

melaniewilliams1980
melaniewilliams1980 Posts: 1 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Starting from now ha ha. Anyway, after being such a pig and reflecting on how much I comfort eat whether happy sad etc, now is the time to get back on it. Does fasting work?

Replies

  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    ANYTHING will work that will put you in a calorie deficit. You pick.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,203 Member
    edited April 2023
    If fasting makes it easier for you as an individual to stick with a sensible calorie goal happily and relatively easily, fasting will work. If fasting makes it harder or less pleasant for you than some other timing of eating, then probably fasting won't work.

    I figure any reasonably healthful tactics that make weight management easier are a good thing. Which exact tactics those are will differ from one person to the next, IMO.

    I don't know about you, but if I had to sustain willpower or motivation every minute of every day for the rest of my life in order to do difficult things, I'd fail at weight management. Finding eating/activity habits enjoyable enough - or at least tolerable enough - to continue long term, almost on autopilot, has kept me at a healthy weight for 7+ years so far, after previous decades of obesity. Will that last forever? I can't know. So far, so good, though.

    For me, fasting seems to be unnecessary, and doesn't sound pleasant. YMMV. Some people love it.
  • Sinisterbarbie1
    Sinisterbarbie1 Posts: 711 Member
    Fasting might work, or it might not - but It sounds like you are also struggling with emotional issues around eating and fasting in and of itself won’t cure those. It is good that you are aware that you are an emotional eater, but you are beating yourself up - the “being such a pig” comment stands out- and that likely doesn’t help. what about trying to treat yourself the way you would a close friend - with compassion and grace and instead of punishing yourself and commanding strict diets you must adhere to to “get back on it”, just keep track of what you are doing, get the data you need to start making better choices, and start making those choices. If you think fasting might be worth trying later you can add it in.
    One of the things that might help is keeping track of what you are feeling/ your triggers for eating more than you feel actually hungry (rather than snacky) for. See if there is a pattern there too. See if you can start to develop strategies to avoid those triggers and situations as a first step.
    In terms of goals, rather than an open ended goal like I will fast, try to set short term, meaningful, achievable, realistic goals. So perhaps something like that you will go for a 15 minute walk right after dinner every evening for the next 90 days. And that for this first week you will keep an accurate record by weighing and recording everything you eat in your mfp diary regardless of whether you go over the suggested calories mfp has set for you.
    Then you can look at your eating patterns and your triggers - emotional or otherwise - and make an informed plan with equally incremental changes in week two. Maybe add a glass of water before every meal or before eating something that you haven’t planned for in order to fill you up/distract you from the craving. And look at the foods in your diary that come with the biggest calorie hit and thee least pleasure and see if you can limit those/switch for something else more satisfying and less caloric in week 2. Then slowly tweak things as you feel up to it as you go along, but keeping the basic behaviors you;ve set in place - the recording, etc. in place.

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