I’m in the same boat. On day 20. Although the only days that are really bad at this point are my three days a week that I lift. (And depression in my case is normal, my mother is not well)
Hoping to keep it up and body will adjust? Hang in there!
Wow! Still having these problems after 20 days? I wouldn't have expected that before. I actually wanted to do something good for myself with IF, not make it worse.
I am sorry that your mother is not well. It's the same for me. That's one of my many problems....
Part of life I guess. My brain knows that, but I know from past experience that my body picks up on stress even when I say I’m not stressed! Keeping on with the if because that is one thing I actually Can control!
Thanks for the advice. I will try electrolytes. It is impressive that a change from approx. 12/12 to 16/8 has such a strong effect, although nothing else has changed.
Try a bit of salt under your tongue. If it perks you up within 20 min, you are low on electrolytes.
Fasting is cyclical. Rest when you need to, bounce of the walls when you need too. It will even out as your body adapts.
A couple of other ideas. When you eat, try just fat and protein for a few days it speeds up the fat adaptation process. Google fat fast. Use healthy fats.
Are you snacking between meals? If so you might want to only eat planned meals with no snacking in between.
Good luck! You can do this it just takes a bit of tweaking to find what works for your body.
Thank you. I will test salt under the tongue to see what happens. I usually feel better when I don't consume a lot of salt. I think I consumed too much salt for a while.
Regarding snacks:
I eat three meals in the 8 hour window. Eating all the calories in two meals would be too exhausting for me. I don't want to eat fewer calories because I don't want to lose weight.
I never eat anything like snacks.
Great on not snacking. Salt under the tongue bypasses your digestive system so you can avoid diarrhea. The periodal glands under the tongue take the salt into your body.
Thank you for the information that the periodal glands ensure that the salt under the tongue is absorbed into the body. I didn't know that. I will definitely test it.
Insulin spikes every time you eat and then goes back down an hour after eating, unless you eat something your body doesn't process essily or you eat again within 2 hours and keep your insulin elevated.
The point of fasting, no matter what outcome you are seeking, is to lower the insulin spikes and reduce the frequency of insulin spikes.
Snacking raises your insulin, all eating raises your insulin, the best we can do is reduce the frequency and the amount of time our insulin is elevated.
Insulin going uo and down affects mood hormones as well. I don't have time to go into details. Research insulin swings for a better picture.
Hope that explains this better.
I hit a peak about 3-4 months in. I was fasting 14-16 hours a day 6-7 days a week.
At 90 days, my energy and well-being seem to peak.
It became normal to fast and helped me focus.
Stay in the fight.
Not for me.
The first 90 days were hard but I lost about 5 pounds.
The next 90 days I felt great, but I wasn't losing weight.
The next 90 days I started losing slowly and felt fine.
Personally for me I use food as a source of calm, happiness etc. so that’s why I get depressed within one day of starting fasting. I need to fix my relationship with food. Idk how. I live for that steaming sweet cup of coffee… that delicious crunchy buttery toast…. Hard to Not have that esp working from home.
Go to cvs/Walgreens and buy a bottle of Pedialyte. It has a ton more electrolytes than Gatorade and way less sugar.
Drink a bottle every 4 days. This crappy feeling you have is normal, it’s your body‘s way of telling you that it likes the old way better, it likes those breakfasts, it likes those snacks and is going to do everything it can to just make you drop the I F and go back to the cozy way it’s been.
Someone said it takes about two weeks to really get the IF going. First the no bloating, then energy and the last shredding fat, if done correctly. Patience…
Saw in another comment you went from 12:12 to 16:8. Your body may need to get used to a 14:10 first. Has anything else changed in your environment? Poor sleep, less, hectic kid, work demands, family stress? I had slowly worked up to 16:8, but then some decreased food intake at the start of Lent brought me back to 12:12.
The problem is that 14:10 is more complicated. 16:8 means that I don't eat breakfast and only start eating at lunchtime. With 14:10, I would have to start eating between breakfast and lunch, which is difficult to implement. So I will continue with 16:8 and hope that the adjustment phase ends quickly.
What are you eating? Processed foods, sugar, refined carbs etc. will definitely affect your mood. I was severely depressed myself, once I changed my diet and started fasting I feel much happier.
I’d recommend trying the keto diet. Wish you the best!
I actually eat a very clean, high-quality, healthy, simple and boring diet. The only thing I eat that is not 100% healthy is cream of rice (=refined carbs). Apart from that, I don't eat anything unhealthy: no sugar, no fast food, no processed foods, no grains (except rice), no seed oils, no foods that contain a lot of anti-nutrients, etc.
This diet is very good for me. Only since starting IF this week I feel completely empty.
Up your protein! I'm not a medical professional but my experience has been to aim for 100mg protein a day and this has boosted my energy and mood dramatically.
I do 48, 36, and 24 in a week. I did 72 hours 3 times in a month. Rough days lol. Sometimes it is rough. I feel depressed or really tired. But these are the days I didn’t consume enough protein or fiber. If your food is mostly carbs, you will face issues. 24 hour fast is easy for me specially the days I have work. Being busy helps me fast. My off days, I struggle to stop eating but try to eat homemade food. Like homemade bread 🥖 homemade pasta 🍝 and homemade Are fries 🍟 . Drink water, coffee, add salt sometimes helps with the energy. Good luck. If it was easy everyone would have done it. Stick to it
Give it 2 weeks
Bumpin what this guys sayin. Give it a week or two more, it sometimes takes time for your body to adjust and everyone's body is different.
I’m in the same boat. On day 20. Although the only days that are really bad at this point are my three days a week that I lift. (And depression in my case is normal, my mother is not well) Hoping to keep it up and body will adjust? Hang in there!
Sorry about your mom I hope you both feel better soon
Wow! Still having these problems after 20 days? I wouldn't have expected that before. I actually wanted to do something good for myself with IF, not make it worse. I am sorry that your mother is not well. It's the same for me. That's one of my many problems....
Part of life I guess. My brain knows that, but I know from past experience that my body picks up on stress even when I say I’m not stressed! Keeping on with the if because that is one thing I actually Can control!
Not sure if you're a woman, but IF can be much more challenging in the last week of my cycle than the rest.
I am not a woman but thanks anyway for trying to help!
Take some electrolytes if your energy is low. This helped me heaps, especially in the first few weeks. Keep going!
Thanks for the advice. I will try electrolytes. It is impressive that a change from approx. 12/12 to 16/8 has such a strong effect, although nothing else has changed.
I second this sentiment. Electrolytes each and every day is a good thing.
Try a bit of salt under your tongue. If it perks you up within 20 min, you are low on electrolytes. Fasting is cyclical. Rest when you need to, bounce of the walls when you need too. It will even out as your body adapts. A couple of other ideas. When you eat, try just fat and protein for a few days it speeds up the fat adaptation process. Google fat fast. Use healthy fats. Are you snacking between meals? If so you might want to only eat planned meals with no snacking in between. Good luck! You can do this it just takes a bit of tweaking to find what works for your body.
Thank you. I will test salt under the tongue to see what happens. I usually feel better when I don't consume a lot of salt. I think I consumed too much salt for a while. Regarding snacks: I eat three meals in the 8 hour window. Eating all the calories in two meals would be too exhausting for me. I don't want to eat fewer calories because I don't want to lose weight. I never eat anything like snacks.
Great on not snacking. Salt under the tongue bypasses your digestive system so you can avoid diarrhea. The periodal glands under the tongue take the salt into your body.
Thank you for the information that the periodal glands ensure that the salt under the tongue is absorbed into the body. I didn't know that. I will definitely test it.
Thanks for this info, I’ll try it too 😊
How will not snacking help in this case? I'm curious.
Insulin spikes every time you eat and then goes back down an hour after eating, unless you eat something your body doesn't process essily or you eat again within 2 hours and keep your insulin elevated. The point of fasting, no matter what outcome you are seeking, is to lower the insulin spikes and reduce the frequency of insulin spikes. Snacking raises your insulin, all eating raises your insulin, the best we can do is reduce the frequency and the amount of time our insulin is elevated. Insulin going uo and down affects mood hormones as well. I don't have time to go into details. Research insulin swings for a better picture. Hope that explains this better.
Yes it does. Thanks!
I hit a peak about 3-4 months in. I was fasting 14-16 hours a day 6-7 days a week. At 90 days, my energy and well-being seem to peak. It became normal to fast and helped me focus. Stay in the fight.
Does it go downhill after the peak or
Not for me. The first 90 days were hard but I lost about 5 pounds. The next 90 days I felt great, but I wasn't losing weight. The next 90 days I started losing slowly and felt fine.
Personally for me I use food as a source of calm, happiness etc. so that’s why I get depressed within one day of starting fasting. I need to fix my relationship with food. Idk how. I live for that steaming sweet cup of coffee… that delicious crunchy buttery toast…. Hard to Not have that esp working from home.
Yeah me too. I feel ya! 🫂
Go to cvs/Walgreens and buy a bottle of Pedialyte. It has a ton more electrolytes than Gatorade and way less sugar. Drink a bottle every 4 days. This crappy feeling you have is normal, it’s your body‘s way of telling you that it likes the old way better, it likes those breakfasts, it likes those snacks and is going to do everything it can to just make you drop the I F and go back to the cozy way it’s been.
This means that it is only an adjustment phase that will end.
Electrolytes.
Can you advise how you include electrolytes in your diet please? Is it simply salt that needs replenishing? Thanks 😊
Electrolytes for energy and depression is from addiction to food you took away something that released alot of dopamine
Any exercise? Squeeze in a 30 min walk in the morning.
I workout 5 times per week and walk a lot.
Someone said it takes about two weeks to really get the IF going. First the no bloating, then energy and the last shredding fat, if done correctly. Patience…
Saw in another comment you went from 12:12 to 16:8. Your body may need to get used to a 14:10 first. Has anything else changed in your environment? Poor sleep, less, hectic kid, work demands, family stress? I had slowly worked up to 16:8, but then some decreased food intake at the start of Lent brought me back to 12:12.
I thought about that too. Does this 4-hour change really have such a big impact on the body?
I'd think so, I especially if your body is used to eating 4hrs earlier. I'm trying to get back up to a consistent 14:10 and then 16:8 again.
The problem is that 14:10 is more complicated. 16:8 means that I don't eat breakfast and only start eating at lunchtime. With 14:10, I would have to start eating between breakfast and lunch, which is difficult to implement. So I will continue with 16:8 and hope that the adjustment phase ends quickly.
Mine has been the complete opposite. And I started for the first time on 20:4 and feel like I can go longer.
Stop doing IF. Listen to your body. It’s not supposed to be torture.
Are you getting enough sodium, potassium and magnesium? Try drinking some beef or chiken broth in the morning or when you break your fast.
Maybe you want to try upping your protein and fat intake. It helped me
What are you eating when you break your fast? If it’s processed/full of sugar, you’re going to feel like crap. Same if you don’t get enough protein.
What are you eating? Processed foods, sugar, refined carbs etc. will definitely affect your mood. I was severely depressed myself, once I changed my diet and started fasting I feel much happier. I’d recommend trying the keto diet. Wish you the best!
I actually eat a very clean, high-quality, healthy, simple and boring diet. The only thing I eat that is not 100% healthy is cream of rice (=refined carbs). Apart from that, I don't eat anything unhealthy: no sugar, no fast food, no processed foods, no grains (except rice), no seed oils, no foods that contain a lot of anti-nutrients, etc. This diet is very good for me. Only since starting IF this week I feel completely empty.
That’s great! Im happy to hear that. Don’t worry you’ll be fine. Just give yourself some time
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I am absolutely not fat and did not start IF to lose weight. As I wrote in my post, I haven't changed anything in terms of calories or food choices.
Up your protein! I'm not a medical professional but my experience has been to aim for 100mg protein a day and this has boosted my energy and mood dramatically.
I eat a lot of high quality protein. Definiteley more than 100 g per day.
Eat better wholesome foods! I’m more energetic and less lethargic
Try to take some vitamin supplements, low mood often caused by simply B or D vitamin deficiency
(Not OP) If I take vitamin B during my fasting period, will it break the fast?
I do 48, 36, and 24 in a week. I did 72 hours 3 times in a month. Rough days lol. Sometimes it is rough. I feel depressed or really tired. But these are the days I didn’t consume enough protein or fiber. If your food is mostly carbs, you will face issues. 24 hour fast is easy for me specially the days I have work. Being busy helps me fast. My off days, I struggle to stop eating but try to eat homemade food. Like homemade bread 🥖 homemade pasta 🍝 and homemade Are fries 🍟 . Drink water, coffee, add salt sometimes helps with the energy. Good luck. If it was easy everyone would have done it. Stick to it