Have faith in the diet. Trust in the process.Calm your mind and focus on what you have to do. Currently on day 586 of OMAD and I am a quadriplegic in a wheelchair with MS & Graves. The one meal a day helped me with everything!
I’ve struggled on and off with anxiety for 16 years. Been doing IF the last few months and losing weight. You’re going to have to work on your anxiety and get comfortable with being uncomfortable at times. I was and might still be pre diabetic, I can definitely feel when my sugar is low but it’s never been dangerously low and I’ve never passed out. If you’re worried of collapsing carry a snack like a protein bar or a piece of fruit.
I failed at my IF attempts the first couple of times. Seems a lot easier this third time but I also did a lot to control my anxiety. Good luck to you! Confident you you can do it.
I sometimes get food/health anxiety while I’m fasting so in those cases I allow myself fruit. I’ll have an apple or a banana to calm down. If I have the clarity to make something I will have a Mag Calm drink instead but if I’m in full on panic mode, an apple or banana is easiest to grab and eat. I also use my regular anxiety relieving techniques (legs up the wall pose, call a friend, go outside, take a hot bath, listen to a tried and true YouTube video, take vitamin c). As the weeks and months go on, the food related anxiety did wane for me.
I used to do omad 23 hours fasting a day, at a very physical job for 10 hours a day after the first 2 weeks you adjust conpletely start on your off day that way you have a few days to get used to it before you work. Also you can do 16 hours of fasting an eat 8 hours at you job if that helps You can do this just focus on why you wanna do it and don’t quit.
Start with shorter fasts, like 12 or 14 hours, then work your way up to 16. Drink plenty of water and you can also have black coffee. You won’t collapse. I do a one hour workout near the end of my fast and I’m fine.
I also feel anxiety in the later hours of an 18 hour fast. It usually means I’ve been slacking on electrolytes, which my body is 100% committed to pissing out as fast as it can while I’m fasting. When your body has low sodium levels in your blood, it literally starts pumping out adrenaline to try and compensate. Take some salt (and potassium and magnesium while you’re doing it anyway) and boom, feel better.
I completely disagree with the shorter fast advice, but to each his own. Unless you’re a brittle diabetic, you’ll be fine with 16:8. If you have a true psychological disorder such as hypochondria, address this with a therapist. But otherwise, drink water & zero calorie beverages. Choose a day you have lots of distractions and not easy access to food. After doing it one day, you’ll realize it’s possible. After doing it 2 days, you’ll know it’s not just a one off success. After a week, you’ll feel successful & proud of yourself. You Can, you can do this. And the only way you’ll see this is jumping right in. If you start with 12:12, or 14:10 you’ll probably not see much difference, get discouraged & give up. Bluntly, It’s not super difficult but if it were as easy as falling out of a chair everyone interested would be at their goal weight. If It’s important to you it’s worth working for, even if it’s a bit uncomfortable, even emotionally, for a few days.
Do you have any reason to believe something like that will happen? If so, best you check with your doctor first. If not, I feel like the millions of people doing IF around the world and not collapsing from low blood sugar should make you feel quite confident you won’t either :)