For a while when I just started Intermittent Fasting years ago, I remember many people accusing me of starving myself. A lot of people said it wasn’t good for the body and it could cause ulcers and stomach issues. The I Intermittent Fast I encounter no problems. After my body fell into a rhythm I stopped losing weight and no matter what I ate I wasn’t gaining much weight. As long as I stuck with eating during my eating window and choosing healthier options 70% of the time, I found my weight was pretty stable.
However for the past few weeks I have been struggling with anxiety and depression, though I look fine on the outside and I’m fully functioning. I was fighting many internal battles, I was tired and stressed out. I fell off my journey, and I hadn’t exercised in weeks. I no longer stay on a schedule for intermittent fasting I’ve been eating at random intervals and starving myself unconsciously for hours at a time. My stomach would consistently make the most embarrassing noises at the most inappropriate times and I was so tired. I was an organized, uncoordinated I wasn’t even monitoring what I was eating.
I started getting stomach pains, this is because I went from having a schedule an organized eating pattern to just being a complete and utter chaotic mess. So no intermittent fasting is not the same as randomly starving yourself.
Many people always say oh yeah I eat very late, or sometimes I skip breakfast and I don’t eat until 1 or 2. See that’s the problem and that’s why my body was yelling at me.
We are creatures of habit and we like structure as much as we don’t want to admit it. Your body is like a factory, every part of you is connected to another part to function.
The little workers in your body need to know what time food is coming so they can run efficiently, if you eat randomly and there is no order you will be in chaos. For three days last week, I barely ate, what happened was at the end of those three days I gained weight. Why? Because my body was storing the fat because it was uncertain food would come again. I was no longer reliable so my body was taking things into its own hands.
Intermittent Fasting relies on a schedule of some sort, a system a structure. My usual set up was workout first thing in the morning drink a lot of water and break my fast with matcha chai and then eat a massive lunch between 1pm and 2pm and sometimes stretching as far as 3pm. I was very in tune with my body back when I was more organized , I listened to it and it spoke to me. These days I can not hear my body, we no longer speak to each other like we used to.
From personal experience and what has been going on, I have decided to go back to my system and structure. Fasting on time and at the same time everyday. I want to hear my body again, I want to feel like myself. Another thing I’ve been doing is just eating randomly, I no longer cook or prepare a lot of food and have been eating out a lot. Needless to say all of this has been making my anxiety and mental health a lot worst.
I am fully ready to take action and get back on track. I enrolled myself into my own program that was created to help with just this type of behavior - “The Big D” or The Big Detox.
The Big detox is a six week program I created when I was feeling completely out of it last year. I knew I wasn’t the only person who felt annoyed, miserable and demotivated. This system was probably not the answer, but it can help you find it. Sometimes just knowing where to look makes a big difference. Thanks for giving this post a read and I will see you soon.
Check out my favorite package - The Rose Detox Here
Xoxo Lauren