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Comment by ty6853 | Hacker News Reader

Even cutting back a couple hundred calories a day can leave you absolutely exhausted, in my experience. Even just increasing exercise by a couple hundred calories a day without eating more is also incredibly exhausting, after a few weeks it becomes thought dominating second-by-second.

Hunger is truly a powerful driver.

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If you're going to fast, especially extended fasting, it would serve a person well to drop carbs and sugar and get into ketosis, at least for a while, so your body can start burning fat more effectively. If you've never done this before, it can be an uncomfortable process, with a lot of headaches, mood swings, etc. Making sure you take in enough electrolytes (sodium, magnesium, and potassium) will help a lot during all this, and during longer fasts.

I cleaned up my diet about a month ago, and have accidentally done some 24 hour fasts when I was busy and it's been fine. By the time I do eat, I'm really not even hungry, though my stomach may be growling a bit. The first time I ever did this, I had horrible headaches and felt miserable for a while, but subsequent times have been easier.

Good sleep maters too. Bad sleep will throw your hormones out of whack. I'm extremely hungry when this happens, and crave all the wrong things. Knowing what's going on helps a little.... just a little.

I find all this much easier than just trying to cut back by 200 calories with what I normally eat. It's all about hormones.

This sounds like a diet problem. You eat till your stomach is full. That because your food is not actually feeding you.

Long story short: meat and vegs + fruits. It takes a while.

and that’s when you’re doing it willingly :)

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