How I Use Intermittent Fasting to Stay Productive When Working from Home
I’ve been doing intermittent fasting on and off since 2016. I even wrote an article about it and shared how it’s not a diet but more of a lifestyle.
Eight years later, and I’m an even bigger fan of it.
It definitely doesn’t work for everyone. If you have busy days, if you are a morning person and need breakfast, or if you really struggle with fasting and it costs you too much willpower, you can find other ways to stay fit.
But now, I want to share a bit more about how it fits into my work-from-home life and it helps me maintain my weight with little effort.
I used to be chubby back in the days. I do go to the gym (sometimes 4-5 times a week), and I do love carbs. But my lifestyle is still pretty sedentary. I had to find something that gives me discipline, takes my mind away from food so I can get things done, and also a way for me to not eat too much or all the time so I can avoid gaining weight.
I also want to maintain a good relationship with my body and food, and self-love is always a priority. I believe these are the basics and it might not be a good idea to do any diet before you have them covered.
Love everything about yourself the way it is now first, and with that mindset, approach upgrading it with love.
So, if you too are working from home, tend to get lazy, are tempted by food, and need something to keep your productive, here’s how intermittent fasting might be the answer.
Intermittent Fasting When Working from Home
Not thinking about food until the early afternoon.
There are many versions of intermittent fasting you can do. You can pick any window of time to eat in (popular ones are 4, 6 or 8 hours in the day) and decide when the eating period begins based on your daily schedule.
One of my friends wants to lose baby weight after pregnancy. As a mom of 2 young kids, she wakes up at 5 or so and ends her day pretty early too. She now started doing intermittent fasting (she’s done it before and it works for her) and has her last meal around 2pm. She fasts for the rest of the waking hours of the day.
For me, it’s the opposite. I don’t have kids, can wake up whenever I want to, and am definitely not a breakfast person. So I can easily train my body to not crave any food until 1-2pm.
My ideal fasting routine would be to eat from 2pm to 8pm. I’m not that disciplined and don’t do it that strictly. But I still start eating later in the day.
If I wake up earlier, have to go out before noon and need some energy, I will have actual breakfast at 10 or 11. But that’s an exception.
The rest of the time I’d have my first meal at 1 or 2 pm.
One thing I want to make clear, though, is that I have tea and coffee before that, and the coffee is with oat milk. That itself contains calories and is like a snack, and technically gets the metabolism going. Some would say that’s when the food intake begins. But as I said, I’m not that strict about intermittent fasting.
I still eat less overall thanks to it, my whole day has more structure, and I’m more productive with work. I also maintain my weight easily with this ‘diet’.
But the main benefit that comes with it is that I don’t think about food in the first part of the day. I don’t need to decide what to eat or when, or worry it will make me feel lazy and sleepy and affect my work negatively.
Instead, I just know the food comes later and before that, work feels easier. Focus can be found without the distraction of food and without the laziness it usually causes me, and I’m happy about that.
I know what my body wants.
I tested many versions of intermittent fasting since I started it back in 2015-2016. And as my lifestyle changes, this can change too.
For example, back then, I was going to the gym in the early afternoon, and could have my first meal only after that.
Now, I wouldn’t really do that. I train in the evenings (mostly joining group lessons in the gym), and have dinner after that.
I also don’t wake up as early as I did in the past. I have to say, I wouldn’t mind bringing some of the discipline I had back then back. Now I got pretty comfortable with my lifestyle and don’t push myself. But I want to grow the business, so I actually want to push myself.
I’d like to wake up earlier and invest more hours into work, just like I did back then when I was still living in my home country and had the vision in mind of the business I wanted to build and where it could take me.
But now and also then I did listen to my body. That’s why intermittent fasting isn’t for many people. They just don’t feel good with it. They are often hungry, or grumpy, or overeat during the period of the day for food intake. I don’t do that, I don’t have any of that.
I feel at ease, I got used to it and so did my body, and I don’t even get hungry until it’s time to eat. I don’t miss breakfast. And I also don’t feel full anymore, unless I have a really big dinner.
Things are just more under control, and that lets me structure my day the way I want, and have high energy levels and be productive in the first hours of the day.
I don’t obsess over it.
I think obsession is good when it comes to goals, but not when it comes to things like dieting, or anything else that is directly related to your health.
Because then you don’t think clearly, you might do it for the wrong reasons, you might starve yourself. And this simply isn’t sustainable.
But I see intermittent fasting as a lifestyle change. It’s just what I do, and it’s the norm. Exceptions can happen even weekly, it’s not a big deal. As long as I come back to intermittent fasting on normal days. And by this, I mean days during which I don’t have big things going on, or am traveling or being outside the whole day, or when there’s a social event or a brunch or dinner with others. Then I eat normal, so to say. Or, I eat less the rest of the day so I can actually eat more during that meeting.
Others don’t need to know about my intermittent fasting, I don’t need to bother them with it. But it’s what my average day involves and I feel good about it.
If you try this, keep an eye on your attitude towards it. Do you love it, or do you hate it? If it feels like an obligation, it won’t be enjoyable.
And yes, it might take some time, and then you might start getting used to it and it will feel easier. But it might continue feeling like a torture. Then it’s better to pick other eating habits to change.
Also, I’m not doing this to lose weight. Maintaining weight is just a nice bonus.
My main goal here is to:
- have productive days;
- not depend on food;
- not let it control me;
- not crave it;
- have more discipline;
- and with this, to be able to work on my goals and on my business almost every day with more focus and determination.
So make sure you have a strong enough reason whenever you make a lifestyle change.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you’ve ever experimented with intermittent fasting or are willing to try it. Also, how you plan to make it work for you if you work from home?
