I'm conscious this thread seems to be evolving to be mainly those who have been doing it a while, and who find it easy.
I'm more concerned with those who don't find it easy and would welcome more of them to post to see what the problems are and whether there are solutions that would help them.
For example, is it snacking
Is it late dinners because of work times
Is it because partners aren't supportive etc etc
Hi there. Been thinking about this since it was posted - and always interested in what MrsA2 has to say, for sure.
Yeah, I've been doing this a while, but there is no '
and who find it easy' my bold). I'm sorry if it sounds like that's what I thought and felt?
For me, intermittent fasting, (IF) and fasting has absolutely never been easy. For me, I have very active involved hunger signals. It doesn't correlate with how much I am eating, or what I am eating, I have discovered since diagnosis and much experimenting - it's just a given.
I found the daylight to sunset IF regime (similar to your 'eat nothing after 7pm) the easiest - relatively speaking. Not to be confused with finding it easy!
I got inspired to write this last night, when I ate a hearty lamb and veg 'linner' (mid to late afternoon meal to replace lunch and dinner). I was really hungry come the usual dinner time - 6ish, but I did not want to eat more of what I had at linner (the only thing I have pre this week's food shop), so I didn't eat, and drank a couple of herb teas (which I have always said - I would be lost IFing on any regime, without herb tea), and just 'sat' as the Buddhists say, with the hunger.
I have no snacks in the pantry, and my no sugar jelly was frozen in the back of the fridge. As happens with this IF regime - I usually have a nice long bath with a good book, sipping the herb tea, and go to bed early. Particularly noticeable during winter. (Which it is not for me now - high summer in my part of the world.)
When/if I am working long hours - the work and fatigue deals with that! (it helps that I have always loved breakfast and am happy to look forward to it).
Which brings me to - like any addict (and we are ALL food addicts! We'd be dead mammals if we weren't), it helps not to have snacks around, if one's issue is snacking. Or, only snacks in pre measured lower carb amounts? If low-carbing. (This is what I do with my popcorn, and carrot and lentil chips, which are both really easy to go higher carbing on!) And snacking can be super enjoyable - I love my two days off the no eating (and drinking calorific drinks) of an evening/after night fall.
I can do that as I share households with high-carbers, but we don't touch each other's food. I buy what I can and do eat, and shop for others, but their food is theirs.
But, I do
not have gorgeous blood glucose levels or a healthy - considering the T2D - HBA1cs. (last test - 61.) I can't imagine what they would be like (well, I can, I guess as I have been there) if I wasn't doing this IF regime, or low-carbing. So - easy? Not at all!
And it's how I remind myself that I do still want to live as long as I can - that I endure the periodic hunger that such a long term IF regime entails for me.
Living with some hunger is a funny kind of way to remind myself I like being alive - but there you are!
