44-year-old woman, finding IF very difficult: should I persist? page 3

[dboxing]

Just don’t eat. It’s a fast. Don’t eat. It doesn’t matter if you are hungry or not, don’t eat. Could you go without food for 24hrs if someone would give you $1 million? What about if it would save the life of someone you care about? If the answer to either of those is yes, then you can do this. You just have to decide to do it.

[Apex Predator]

You all are so awesomely helpful, thank you! So I'm thinking I'll try this for the next week:

7am: wake up
9am: Bulletproof Coffee (for me this is 1 TBSP Kerrygold, 1 TBSP coconut oil, with 2 lungo pulls of espresso)
1pm: eat protein heavy lunch
5pm: workout
7/7:30pm: eat a BIG dinner with lots of protein and some carbs

Then no food until my next BPC at 9am the next morning.

If I am absolutely needing something before bed, a few berries + a few nuts? Eliminate the dairy.

Sounds good, though I'd eat dinner leftovers for a snack- for lack of a better explanation, don't "reward" the hunger with something novel/sweet/crunchy.

[@lex]

Now,I can only speak from my experiences,but I never try to fast, it just naturally happens. I eat my last meal of the day and go to bed 5 or 6 hours later then get a solid 8 or 9 hours of deep and restful sleep.I regularly go 15-16 hours between dinner and my next meal,it just seems to be the natural pattern that I've fallen into while eating paleo. I'm not sure if this is because my metabolism isn't as damaged as some people,or if I'm eating the right stuff and amount of calories in my meals,or what the reason may be. My honest suggestion is to not push the fasting and slowly ease into it.Try to cut back on the snacking and get the bulk of your calories in your daily meals instead of grabbing stuff between them, trust me when I say that those little handfuls here and there can add up shockingly fast. Above all,listen to your body,it'll tell you more about what you need than any of us ever could. If your body tells you that you aren't ready to fast then don't force the issue,just continue eating healthy and you'll eventually be ready to do it without any issues.

[gempdx44]

Thanks @lex - I am definitely going to focus on real meals instead of grazing all the time as has been my way of eating for years now. I am optimistic this will help me get over the "never quite satisfied" feelings that I experience when I'm grazing.

[Sue]

I understand listening to your body but sometimes you have to ignore it. If you are used to eating breakfast then your body will send you signals to eat at breakfast. If you want to fast for breakfast you have to ignore the signal until your body no longer sends you signals to eat at breakfast, as an example.