There’s a mental shift that happens when you begin an intermittent fasting diet, and it’s the key reason why I’ve been successful. Instead of telling myself “no” to foods I love, I began saying “not right now”.
Me: “Wow, that donut looks amazing, should I eat it?”
Not right now.
Me: “Meeting my husband for lunch today sounds like fun.”
Not right now.
Me: “I really want pizza for dinner tonight.”
Not right now.
We all have these internal conversations with ourselves, right? Studies have shown that the average person makes over 200 food-related decisions per day. When you’re dieting, you are all the more aware that food is EVERYWHERE – tempting us All. Day. Long.
When I tell myself “not right now”, what I’m really saying is this:
This food is not restricted from my diet. I am just choosing to wait until after my fasting period to eat it.
When the answer became “not right now” instead of “no”, dieting became a whole lot easier. I could look forward to eating foods that I wanted after my fasting period was over. I only needed to have the willpower to follow my diet for one day.
That’s why I call it a part-time diet. Not every day feels restrictive, and half of the time I can eat whatever I want.
This is also where a little bit of magic happens. Usually, when my fasting period is over, I don’t even want the chocolate chip cookies anymore. I am #OverIt.
But why?
When you practice IF and foods aren’t restricted from your diet any longer, you don’t fixate on them as much. You eat them when you want to (for me: candy), but you no longer feel the need to binge.
There is another mental component to fasting that I will dive into further in the future:
GUILT
When your diet allows you to eat whatever you want (every other day, of course), you don’t feel guilty anymore!
There are so many negative emotions that come with overeating that can easily spiral out of control. Intermittent fasting takes away all of your guilt about eating junk foods. You ate a donut and it doesn’t matter! You are definitely not cheating.
It is totally and completely freeing!
Today is another fasting day for me. I’ll stay busy with a few household projects and keep on dreaming about tomorrow’s food. Hopefully tomorrow’s weigh-in will show another new low.
Blessings on your day ahead.
XOXO
P.S. Don’t forget – the LOSS is worth the WAIT