New to IF and EF - how to tell friends about IF and not sound like a wacko?

(Donna ) #1

Hi, All :wave:t2:

I’m new here. Hope I’m posting in the right spot.

I’m a LC’er of 4.5 years, who initially lost 27 lbs on LCHF, gained about 10 lbs back but maintained the rest for 4 years. Along came the Great Flood of 2016 in Baton Rouge – had the extreme drama of relatives living with us while rebuilding their home combined with menopause and I started having wine and popcorn every night and gained it ALL back.

In an effort to renew my LC resolve, I was reading LC articles online and ran across Dr. Jason Fung’s videos and had an aha :point_up:t2: moment. I started IF 19:5 last Tuesday, and liked it so much I started an EF on Sunday night.

It’s Tuesday morning, I’m 39 hours into an EF and I’m down 8.5 lbs, feeling great. (Pink Himalayan salt is SO helpful!) I plan on doing IF/EF and Feast/Fast with Keto as my ongoing weightloss and management program. I want to lose 30 lbs.

Here’s my question: I wanted to go longer on this first EF, but l will wrap it up at 45 hours because I have a Ladies Group dinner to attend tonight, and then going to a Ladies Bunco (which also serves dinner.) I’m going to break my fast at the Ladies Group dinner, as it’s at a restaurant that I know I can order a good Keto food dish. I don’t WANT to eat, but I don’t feel prepared to field ‘why aren’t you eating’ questions.

I have tried to explain IF/EF to one friend, and I felt like I sounded like a cray cray person. I’m thinking leaving out IF and just saying ‘I have a 5 hour eating window’ would sound less alarming, and I think I’ll just say that from now on and not even mention EF until much later.

I know that my friends love me and anything derogatory they might say would be out of concern for me ‘starving myself.’ But, trying to explain IF/EF to (high carb, low fat) friends doesn’t seem like something I’m capable of doing at present.

I’m really excited about this missing piece of the puzzle I’ve discovered. I really think Keto/IF/EF will work for me. Of course I want to ‘help’ my friends who are struggling to lose weight, but I think I should resist the urge to tell them about IF/EF, at least until I’ve shown that I’ve lost weight and can keep it off.

How do you all deal with it?

(Liz ) #2

The first rule of fasting is, you don’t talk about fasting LOL

Yes I keep it to myself, ugh. I can hear myself talking about it and it really sounds like I am embracing an eating disorder. If you haven’t heard Dr Fung explain it, it does sound drastic. And if you aren’t eating Keto, you would be so hungry and hangry and all those things we used to feel if we didn’t eat for a couple of hours.

And I totally relate to wanting to let people know about this miracle I’ve found called Keto but that hasn’t worked out either, heh.

It sounds like a good idea, if you have to say anything at all, to say ether you aren’t hungry right now, or you ate earlier, or yeah, you restrict your eating to a window of time.

(Allie) #3

Don’t, it’s nothing to do with them and unless they’re knowledgeable on the topic, they’ll only criticise you.

(Donna ) #4

LOL! This is exactly how I felt when I was trying to explain it to my friend. LOL

(Liz ) #5

It’s really awful, right? haha! Oh well. Until mainstream culture embraces low carb high fat we are going to have to remain in an exclusive little club even though we want to invite EVERYONE to join.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #6

It isn’t really anyone else’s business what or when you eat. You don’t have to provide anything more than “I am just not hungry right now, thanks but no thanks.”
But here are somethings that have worked for me.

For IF, I just tell anyone who asks, “I don’t like eating breakfast, so I skip it.” If you are challenged with lunch, say,
“My breakfast was so satisfying, I am just not that hungry now.” (And it was, even though it was only water, salt, coffee or tea.)

Also people don’t really pay that much attention to how much you are eating. At family dinners let them dish out whatever, shove it around on the plate a few times. Enjoy the conversation, and take your plate into the kitchen and dump the carbage.

It is your life, your health, and your body, take care of it and don’t bother with what someone else thinks.

#7

Seconding (well, thirding because Allie said the same thing, but I don’t know how to do multiple quotes!).

My husband knows that I fast, and our kids know that sometimes we just have buttered coffee for breakfast. That’s it.

(MooBoom) #8

Don’t worry about what the sugar burners think. They are trapped in a constant need for fuel poor things and would probably struggle with the concept of EF/IF as going without food would be hard hard hard for them.
If questioned try politely saying ‘I only eat when I’m genuinely hungry and right now I’m still really full from lunch/breakfast/snack, thanks.’ To placate the asker you can always add ‘I’d love a drink though!’ And order a tea/coffee/mineral water etc.
this is what I do and usually I’m met with comments such as ‘good on you! I wish I was as tuned into my body as you are!’ or they turn the conversation around to how much they love food and by then you’re in ‘safe’ territory again.