I have tried fasting by skipping breakfast and I have mostly failed because I am unable to endure when hunger strikes. I am interested to learn the mental methods you use to over that struggle.
I recently did a significant amount of caloric restriction, from probably 2500/day down to more like 1500/day. The first day was awful. The second day wasn't so bad. By the fourth day this new amount of calories feels fine. I had to give myself permission to do basically nothing for several days though because I just didn't have it in me.
Whatever you need to do or narrative to tell yourself why you don't need to eat, do it. Keep busy, work, clean the house or volunteer. By keeping occupied, the mind will not seek food out of boredom and ritual.
Eat once a day. Typically I "reward" myself with the evening meal after fasting through the day. There are different kinds of fasts but the one which seems to work best for me is 1-big-meal a day type fast. The rest of the day, I can drink water or black coffee.
1) Remove from your mind the idea that huner is suffering. It's all in your head. It's merely a mild discomfort.
If you ate last night and woke up in the morning, you are not hungry. You are just used to eat in the morning. Your body will not suffer any thing from skipping breakfast. It alerady has more than enough energy storage. It was designed to tap into it.
2) Surround yourself in a virtual environment where fasting and accepting hunger is the norm and expcted and obvious thing to do.
Read blogs about fasting. Watch youtube videos about fasting. Read books about fasting. Watch how people who consistently fast are healthy and fit.
3) Understand that there are two types of pleasure. Fleeting pleasures, and lasting pleasures. The fleeting pleasure are the sensual. They are momentary and quickly go away. If you spend your life chasing fleeting pleasures, you will be miserable.
Lasting pleasures - if you can call them so - are mental states. Contentment. Feeling in control of your life. These don't come from things. They come from what you value and the way you conduct yourself in the world. If you have no value, you will be controlled by your desires.
Some people think this is freedom: to do whatever you desire. To me, it's slavery. Because when you follow this path your life will be miserable.
Some people try to cheat by pretending that their misery is actually happiness. You see it in the people who insist that fat is healthy and beautfil and hot!
4) Understand that your mind is distributed. Even if you resolve to fasting, there will be some component of your mind that really really wants to just keep eating. Sometimes it might come out and win. Accept that such a thing could happen. When it does happen, don't be too hard on yoruself. Try to understand why it's happening. But anyway, go back right away. Understand that many other components of your mind want to continue doing the right thing.