In order to succeed with your intermittent fast, you first need to be able to embrace those feelings of hunger. Be aware that feeling hungry or wanting to eat aren't true feelings of hunger or deprivation. Your mind is merely telling your stomach to feed because that's what your mind is used to doing.
Being able to develop the fortitude to forego food for a short amount of time is incredibly important because only when you stop eating can you go from a fed state to a fasted state and reap all the wonderful benefits of fasting.
If you have never fasted before, being hungry can be very uncomfortable. If you attempt to fast too long on your first couple of tries, you run the risk of breaking the fast by gorging on unhealthy foods, instead of eating healthful and nutritious foods that will help take advantage of the fast that you just completed.
When you first start an intermittent fast, you may want to set shorter fast periods, such as fasting for 12 hours, and then increasing the duration each time you complete a fast until you've reached the full recommended 24-hour fast period. Doing so may take several weeks, which is okay.
You'll have more confidence in your abilities if you set a shorter fast period and succeed rather than trying to go for the full 24 hours on your first try and failing.
Embarking on a new diet or fitness regimen may feel novel and exciting, but oftentimes that novelty wears off and you find yourself having difficulty sticking to it, and you begin searching for something new. If you find yourself in this situation, make a promise to yourself to stick with fasting for one full month before deciding to try a different approach.
