Three Full Meals a Day has SERIOUSLY Messed Me Up...
 

I am trying to break my habits with food... and see food as a means to live... instead of a focal point of my life.

So... I am attempting to do so by doing IF. So far... ehh... not the greatest. I AM going longer than before without eating and not feeling bad for doing so... so that's good. But so far... I've been doing it for three days... and I've eaten breakfast twice. :dizzy:

Not thinking about it... because it's habit.

URGH... I know parents want you to eat and grow healthy. But three full meals a day... plus snacks at special occasions... plus the fact that I can't leave the table unless I finish ALL of my food... that mindset for the first 12 years of my life. Then the next six years are spent trying to understand why I'm gaining weight and why I eat so much... and trying to forcibly cut back on my eating... which makes me want to eat more in rebellion.

Yeah... not working.

I just... it's frustrating trying to break these habits that have been in place since before I could really think about whether or not something tastes good.

TRUST ME I GET IT! I was raised the same way..to eat until done whats on the plate.. I was overfed my whole life..which developed into me eating way beyond what i needed..and here at 294 pounds. Now im trying to reverse that weight and that mindset..im on IP and only allowed eating shakes and one meal and so i feel hungry(but not) cause i feel like i should be cramming stuff into my mouth to feel full..im not used to the empty feeling of not being so stuffed i cant move..

ditto ditto.
IF is working fabulously for me, alongside my diet plan.
For he first time i feel in control of my eating! (or non eating)

You don't have to do IF every day for it to work for you. Some folks IF 3-5 days a week (if you're doing the IF version of a 5-8 hour "eating window" each day), and eat normally the other days. Others eat normally 6 days, and fast an entire day on the seventh. There are lots of IF variations.

I've found that I need coffee to keep my mind from hunger in the mornings. The hot liquid (and probably the caffeine) give me a "normal" habit to cling to until IF itself becomes normal for me (I've only been doing it for a few weeks).

Don't beat yourself up over the days you DIDN'T IF. Celebrate the days that you have! Slowly, they will become more numerous.

OH, and the eating in rebellion? I SO understand that. A couple times the first week I did IF I ate much more during my eating time than I would have otherwise on a whole "normal" eating day. But part of it is training yourself to enjoy and accept the limitation on eating time. I find myself much less likely to overeat now, a couple weeks into it.

The trick for me has been to really feel satisfied when I do eat. When I ate three meals and two snacks, I was never satisfied because I had to eat so little to eat so many times within the calories I had for the day. Does that make sense? Now, I only eat twice, but I can eat more for my meals, and I actually feel satisfied. I don't feel deprived like I did when I was trying to spread out the same calories among three meals and two snacks.

Breakfast is a pretty sensible habit. If you're a natural breakfaster, then I don't see any reason to stop yourself from breakfasting. IF works for some people and not others, and as far as I can tell, it's the people who are not natural breakfasters who get on with it the best. It's not so much about which diet is best, it's about finding the eating plan which works the best for you personally. Maybe pick something lower-calorie for breakfast? How about calorie counting, would that be something you're comfortable with? Particularly with planning the meal before you eat it, so that yes, you're not leaving a half-full plate, but that's because you put the right amount on your plate to start with.

I hear you. I was raised the same way. You must clean your plate, their were no ifs, ands or buts about it. It has only been the last couple of years that I have given myself permission to leave something on my plate and, horrors of horrors,to actually throw something out.
I now count calories and I do eat 3 meals and 3 snacks, just remembering to stay within my calorie allowance.

I was kinda the opposite, big family no money. Food was a privilege we sometimes did not have. I didn't get fat until I moved out of my parents house, when I discovered the joys of having money for myself and being able to eat whatever i wanted. Went from hungry all the time to stuffing myself all the time.

I suppose no matter how we got to that mentality, it is an important mindset to break if we are to have continued success. It's all about not eating food just because it is there, or to not "waste" it. It is a much larger offense to dump food into my body for no reason than to dump it in the trash.

I actually have noticed in the past that I have felt a MILLION times better when I ran out the door and forgot to eat breakfast. Like... crazy better. Apparently I got my Grandma's genes in that... but I eat breakfast because it's habit to. Breakfast is when I got all the yummy food... the french toast, the cereal, the sausage, the muffins, etc etc.

So yeah... I'm not beating myself up about the days I've "failed". They were learning experiences... and that's fine. :)

Today's a new day... I have gone down two pounds since starting this on Tuesday... though that could have also been from the days before... I really don't know. I'm just taking everything a day at a time... and constantly asking myself my new mantra: "Is it worth it". :p

Glad to know I'm not the only one in this boat.