I've discovered the key for me is flexibility. Our schedule is pretty irregular, but I found out that if I eat when it's convenient, I do just fine. When I'm home all day with no big source of stress, I don't eat. When I'm out of the house, I don't eat. If I don't feel like eating, I don't eat. But if I'm home and there's a million things going on, and it's making me hungry, I eat whenever I feel like it. It actually works very well.

I rarely make it up to 19 hours. I did manage that a couple times this past week, but on the weekends I tend to eat more often. My parents are visiting right now and this morning I made bacon for everybody, so I had some. I also have a bit of a cold, so I'm eating anything that feels like it might help (kimchi, raw liver, bentonite clay, ghee, kombucha, ginger, and taking a day off from coconut products).

I usually eat in the evening, even if I've already eaten earlier. That's become the time when I'm hungriest. I also plan to be inactive after any meal - if I know I've still got a lot to do, I'll skip a meal or only have a light snack.

I am so disgusted with myself. I think I would rather be an alcoholic then a food-oholic. You don't have to have booze to live. But you do have to eat. Once I start eating thats all I do. Nothing gets done, my only thoughts are (what else can I put in my mouth. My whole life is center around food.

starting tonight I will have my supper, and then fast until super the next day. I just don't want to deal with food anymore. I am so tired of being sick to my stomach, bloated, tired, and consumed about eating. I played around with the one meal a day and felt great, but like with an alcoholic one slip up and I get food drunk and don't care, until I pass out from all the sugar.

The doc told me a few years ago that I suffer from Reactive hypoglycemia, which causes me to feel like I starving, then gorge, sleep and do it again. I burn up my insulin real quick. He suggested 6 small meals a day to keep my insulin level throuh out the day. Will needless to say 6 meals have turned into One continues day long feeding. Not Working.

Sorry to dump, but I just feel so helpless, I Have always looked to this site and saw so may people overcome there eating issues and gain control. I feel happy for them and yet Im so envyous. Again don't mean to dump my load, and I am hopeful that this will be my way back to a normal life.

I've been there... more than once. Things got better, but it took a long time. Usually each improvement involved discovering another food sensitivity and eliminating more things from my diet. It was painful, but there were real rewards. And I discovered new things that I can eat, too.

Oh yeah, I make it all the time. I especially love it for Thanksgiving. I was being sarcastic because my mom did not use cauliflower this way until she went on dialysis. I think that if she ate like me, she wouldn't be on dialysis in the first place. She's been diabetic since 1983. I don't even think that she would have been diabetic if she ate llike me.

Cheryl, JMHO, no one should just jump in on this and do it cold turkey. You are setting yourself up for failure. Continue eating as you are but instead of have breakfast at your usual time, wait an hour then eat breakfast. Then the next day put off breakfast time another hour, then another hour until you can make it to lunch without eating. I take a ketogenic cocktail ( Brain Trust Program ) to dull hunger pangs and keep up my energy. When you can make it to lunch try eating just at lunch and eat dinner at 4:00 or 5:00. These meals should not be whimpy meals...they should be filling low carb and adequate fat/protein meal.

Hi.

I never knew this before, but I think I'm an IFer. I'm not an LC IFer, though.

I have been doing CAD (Carbohydrate Addict's Diet), which I had done a few years ago and lost 20 lbs. on. CAD recommends fewer meals in general than other plans and it's all tied into the insulin dealio. However, with CAD you get one meal a day where, within one hour, you can eat carbs, any carbs, as long as they are in balance with a protein and a vegetable. The other day's meal or meals is/are strictly LC. I love CAD.

Anyway...although today I did three meals, typically I do two. Usually I eat dinner at 5:00-5:30 or so, and then I have my next meal the following day at noon. So that's an automatic 18-19 hour fast.

So I just wanted to jump on here and say "hi".

Hi glendora

Yesterday / today i did a 24 hour fast 2pm til 2pm! I started really hungry but then it disappeared which was great....i'll continue to do regular 24 hour fasts 2-3 times a week And i'll skip meals here and there if i dont need them....makes sence to only eat when you are truly hungry

I am planning to eat one meal today. Yesterday I went so long without eating I could have made it as a one meal day. Today is our anniversary so I am going to plan a big meal, unless DH wants to go out tonight although I doubt it...he has a business trip in the morning and he may not feel like going out. Regardless, I am going to have just one meal today.

185.6 this morning, nearly 30lbs gone with IF.

Now, I wish I would just start losing it in my midsection--not that I mind the reduction I've seen in my upper arms/thighs-butt--so I can actually start fitting into the next set of clothes.

Cheryl, ya gotta stop beating yourself up, Babe! Dont think for a single moment that any successful LC/IF'er woke up one morning and decided " Today I am going to start eating Low-Carb and combining it with Intermittant Fasting and do it PERFECTLY! " At least in my case, it took a lot of practice-- and I am still "practicing."

When you fall off the wagon, just say to yourself that you will try again and just keep trying and not give up no matter how long it takes. A lot of us have had to do it and then one fine day, something "clicks" and it works.

Dont be impatient with yourself and just try always to keep in mind that you are cursed with a chemical imbalance in your body and it has nothing to do with willpower or character, or being good or bad. I have faced a similar situation (altho not as severe as yours) and a lot of others here at ALCF have probably done that, too.

Eventually, eating "clean" will feel so good that it will get easier to ignore the temptations and eating urges and you will stop and think before you start abusing your body again.

One thing that has helped me a lot is that I have been reading the IF threads for a long time--actually, several months. (My screen name ought to be Lurker Girl) I went all the way back to the beginning of the IF threads and began to read and read and read. These threads are fascinating and I became almost obsessed with reading and learning from those who have been successful with this WOL. I look at the original weight readings of some of these people and am just blown away by their success and their dedication. (In fact I have spent so much time here with Ottawa and Stuart and jessperth and gwynne 2 and the others that I fear my husband may start wondering if he ought to sue me for desertion.)

This whole board is my security blanket and my "college education" in healthy living. Just read and read and read and stay here with people who can help you back to the road to good health. That's what they are doing for me. And it is working! I eat better, I feel better, and my clothes fit better--what more could I ask. Hmmm, maybe a piece of 3 minute chocolate cake or some of Cleo-chatra's goodies--but they will come all in good time. (And by the way, if you suffer from a really wild and crazy sweet tooth, check out some of the recipes for goodies that wont get you going down the Road To Carb Ruin)

Good luck, and Stick With Us, Kid!--we wont steer you wrong or let you give up!

Sallyannie, that was a really nice post.

Sallyannie Thank you so much, It feels like being stuck on a merry go round with no way to get off. I am a lurker too, and have really started going back through the older threads, and reading the articals about Ifing.

Until the doc told me what was going on, I thought I was going nuts (liturallyl) Have done Lc off and on felt great when I could manage to stay on it. Then one sm small slip (even Af sweetener) would send my body into the god allfullest cravings. Then the cycle would start again.

In reading About If, I have great hope that it well be my answer. So far today I have fasted since 8:30pm yesterday and will break the fast at 7:30 or 8:00 when dinner is ready.

You are so right that I need to keep trying when I mess up.

losing 10 more lbs would be nice, but it is now secondary to getting my eating under control. Thank you again

surfnmom, I may not have the same sensitivities as you (artificial sweetener), but I was just plain hungry all the time, overate most of the time, and obsessed about food constantly. This was true whether I was eating lowcarb or junk food or anywhere in between. IF is the only thing that has ever freed me from all that. I still enjoy my food, I just don't spend all my time planning the next thing I will put in my mouth.

Wow I just read this in an older thread

here's a tip for fellow hypoglycemics: at least for me, pretty much putting anything in your stomach will set off ravenous hunger versus just sticking to water during fasting. if i were to take my vitamins or drink a noncaloric tea or something, i would become untolerably ravenous. if i truly fast, then hunger is limited to literally a few minutes or rumbling every couple hours or so. i find carbonated water is excellent for squelching serious hunger.

Here was her question to Dr Eades and his answer

i have read a lot about this and have always wanted to try it but because i have tended toward hypoglycemia, i have hesitated.

my question is, if i should start to feel the manic ravenous crazy state that i can sometimes fall into, is it best to break the fast and try another day or gut it out. will the hypoglycemic body eventually adapt to the fasting. it sounds like this way of eating should eventually improve such a condition.

great article, the 6PM thing is genius, never occurred to me and makes it a lot easier. i will probably pick 8PM because i like to eat and watch my tv show. susan

Hi Susan--

I would probably try to gut it out until dinner on the fasting days. The hypoglycemic state should respond nicely. One of the most potent stimuli to feed is a rapid drop in blood sugar. If you're not eating, the body makes plenty of blood sugar keeping levels from falling rapidly. So, once you get started you should do okay.

8 PM until 8 PM is fine if that works for you. I hope the TV show you're watching is Low Carb CookwoRx

Let me know how you do.

Cheers--

MRE

Wow there are others, and this surly gives me hope

i really think this is the answer for me. when i wait to eat until mid afternoon i feel so much better and so much more in control. what i'm learning is i have to know, definitely, what i'm going to eat when i break my fast. otherwise i sometimes hit whatever is first available, which is rarely something i should have. but i'm finding that i'm really not hungry and often break my fast just because i know things are coming up that will stop me from eating when i might get hungry (i babysit and eating while they are napping in the afternoon is a good time). maybe i need to try waiting and see what happens.

anyway, i'm definitely a carb addict and can tell the difference when i eat too many. not only do i feel worse physically, i'm crabbier, more tired and just feel off. eating lc gives me more energy and i'm always in a much better mood. i've also been reading through the older threads and learning so much. thanks to all who've posted over the years!