Okay so in the vein of getting a veterans forum active again with veteran issues....

Talk to me about 5/2 people! I've read the past threads back before I really needed the info and have read a lot on the interwebs.... But anyone actively doing it?

At 2.5 years out I'm no longer at my bottom weight... I'm still below goal but I miss being where I was and would like to drop the regain.

Part of me knows it's vanity pounds and says don't even bother... I still run 30 miles a week finished my second marathon and fit in my size 4's but another part of me just prefers where I was before.

So... Any advice on 5/2 or advice on whether those vanity pounds are even worth it? I have to work for those pounds while I can rather easily stay here.

Thanks for this post @@jess9395 @@CBT and I have been exchanging messages about 5:2 and we're both interested as well.

I think the challenge for sleevers with 5:2 is that most of us are already eating many fewer calories per day than most people, so the question is what do you do on the 2 fasting days? I have to exercise every day to lose or even maintain my weight, I don't know that I could do a complete fast and still work out.

Any input from people who have been doing 5:2 and have had sucess or failure or somewhere in between would be greatly appreciated!

I've been doing intermittent fasting. It has sped up my weight loss since I started. I do 16/8. My eating window is from 12pm-8pm. I still stay in a calorie deficit during my 8 hours. I had considered 5:2 at first but decided to try this first. I'm now 9lbs away from my lowest weight. 4 years post op sleeve

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Thanks @@Wolfgirl78 Interesting, can you explain a bit more about the 16/8--sixteen hours no eating/eight hours eating? You do this every day? How many calories do you eat during the 8 hours? Are you able to work out in the morning?

It means you fast for 16 hours and eat for 8. Right now I'm consuming between 1100-1200 calories a day in my 8 hour eating window. As a single, working mom I really don't have time work out on the weekdays. I do most of my workouts on the weekends, such as hiking and working in my lawn. When I am physically active on the weekends I usually will take in about 1350-1400 calories, but still only during my 8 hour eating window (I chose 12pm until 8pm for my window) And I do this every day.

I use myfitnesspal pal to log my food and exercise. I read about intermittent fasting on their forums and decided to give it a whirl. It's been working really well for me.

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I am very interested but I think I have a lot of research to do. I have no idea what the 5/2 is????

Not yet dealing with regain (I'm only 22 months post-op).

But this topic is of great interest to me ... especially the intermittent fasting stuff, which I've heard is effective. I'd love to see links to more detailed and reliable descriptions of intermittent fasting.

Thanks in advance.

Doing some digging on Google Scholar, came across this recent analysis of 9 different intermittent fasting studies. Conclusion is that intermittent fasting may not be better than continuous calorie restriction, but it appears to be at least as good and possibly easier to do long term that restricting your calories 24/7.

http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/8/6/354/htm

Interestingly, another study also finds that intermittent fasting is as good as continuous dieting, but it also found that people who had two liquid meals per day + a dinner of 400-600 calorie dinner for 6 days a week and fasted one day lost more weight than people who had three meals a day with the same number of calories for 6 days and fasted one day a week. I guess we may never escape those protien drinks after all!

https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-11-98

I have not yet come across any study that establishes which type of intermittent fasting works best--they are all over the map from the 16/8 that @@Wolfgirl78 follows, to the 5:2 method to even fasting every other day. They all seem to work.

Ann- Old vet threads have a ton of links.

Jess- I think 5:2 or similar is great. Just wanted to suggest Keto as an option as well. Low carb, moderate fat is working for me currently. I'm certain the first 5 lbs were water but I am now at a new low weight at almost 3.5 years out. Lastly, since your 4s still fit, you may want to focus on recomposition- a diet specific to leaning out and add resistance training to your exercise. I plan on reversing out of my current diet at the end of next month to focus on recomposition, specifically to add muscle.

Thanks for chiming in all! Would love to hear even more from others already doing it or a form of it!

@oakparklorena @@Wolfgirl78 and @@CBT would love to discuss more and perhaps start an accountability group for anyone trying a form of modified intermittent fasting!

I tried my first day yesterday and what it looked like for me was an 8 hour window (slightly less actually) from 12:30pm-7:15pm where I are just over 700 calories EXTREMELY low carb. Included one Protein shake in there for the first meal (can't really call it Breakfast I suppose?).

I can typically maintain well on 1800-2000 calories a day (yeah I'm lucky but lots of running and yoga helps!) so this was a big cut from my typical daily calories. I did a three mile run in the morning fasted and didn't seem to notice any problems with my energy level. We shall see if my energy level is down on today's run the day AFTER the 700 calorie day.

@oakparklorena thank you for those links! My understanding is intermittent fasting started because they noticed that societies that did fast (for food supply issues perhaps? Can't remember) actually lived longer so 5/2 was supposed to increase longevity. Of course the study was correlational so the fasting could not be the cause of the longevity it could be a different external factor, but that's how it got started.

Yeah I'm sure I could attain the same results by eating 1000-1200 calories daily instead of my 1800 and then two days of 700, but I think this is more achievable for me. I've dropped and regained 5 several times since January by deciding to just go back to 1000-1200 calories a day and then stopped. I like eating 1800, LOL!

If I had a lot of regain to drop I might want a different approach, but it's basically 10-15lbs (like I said I keep losing and gaining 5) I gained over the holidays and now that it's summer I've chosen to drop (vanity as I said--bikinis and crop tops and bodycon tanks and dresses). I feel like for that amount intermittent fasting is completely do able!

@@VSGAnn2014 I am gonna do more research and if I find some good links will definitely share

@@erp I do eat low carb/moderate fat/high protein as a rule. I don't eat Pasta, bread, rice, etc at all anymore. But I don't eat low enough for ketosis. My understanding is you have to do that all the time 24/7 right? I may decide to do that if this doesn't work, but since I don't have much regain to deal with I don't want to go that extreme at this point.

I have let more carbs back into my daily diet in the form of fruits and oatmeal and the occasional "treat" (and yeah I do mean real treat like fig Newton Cookies or some crackers or even Fritos!) and am definitely cutting those on both my fast days and my non fast days.

Can you explain to me what you mean by focusing on recomposition? (My dang autocorrect keeps wanting to tell me I mean decomposition!). Do you mean my diet or my body composition? When I last had my body fat done (DXA scan--just before this gain) I was at 17%, athletic for a female. My activity level hasn't changed so I really believe other than this extra 10-15 my underlying composition is similar. I didn't mention that I also do hard yoga--vinyasa and Asthanga--about 4-5 hours a week. It's body weight, so not exactly resistance training but I am very happy with the muscles I have (yay yoga arms!) and between that and my running I'm putting in about 10 hours a week (more when marathon training) exercising which is about my limit.

If it's diet recomposition I would love to hear more input! Yesterday on my fast day I was at 58% protein (101g), 14% carbs (22g) and 30% fat (23g). How does that look?

Finally no one has touched on whether or not I should lose those last vanity pounds. Honestly it's a matter of I'd like to revisit seeing my ribs and hip bones more clearly. Is that ok? I just have gained a bit of "softness" there that I prefer not to have over my bones and muscles. (To be completely honest, my husband prefers this to how I was "boney" before and I don't want to tell him I am trying to lose it again!)

I am very conscious of another member of our community who took things too far and wound up in treatment for anorexia. I don't THINK that's what I am doing here, but want a reality check which I seem to remember her getting and ignoring. Please, give it to me straight, I can handle it!!!

@@Wolfgirl78 - I love the 16/8 plan! Are you doing a protein drink for one meal?

I have about 10-15 more to lose and cant seem to move the scale.

@@jess9395

I am feeling the exact same way!!! I loved being 135 and I just feel soft and puffy at 150. I never in a million years thought I would say that since I could never imagine being 150But I just felt better at 135-137. your description of them being vanity pounds sounds very accurate. But I really do want to loose them too. I just prefer it. It feels better and I think looks better.

Today I am doing a fasting day, and will try out the 5/2 plan. see if I can finally get the scale moving again. it has been stuck for over 6 months.

There is alot of info in this thread:

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/291240-52-links-and-info/

I was very successful with 5:2, but I couldn't keep doing it as I realized it was contributing to mood swings. I found out that happens to some people, so I really couldn't stay with it. However, I still use some of the basic concepts such as allowing a "long" overnight window of letting the digestive system rest. Also, of eating lighter on some days to make up for the higher days.

All in all, I thought it was easy to follow and effective - except for giving me an uneven mood which I didn't like at all.

@@jess9395

I am feeling the exact same way!!! I loved being 135 and I just feel soft and puffy at 150. I never in a million years thought I would say that since I could never imagine being 150But I just felt better at 135-137. your description of them being vanity pounds sounds very accurate. But I really do want to loose them too. I just prefer it. It feels better and I think looks better.

Today I am doing a fasting day, and will try out the 5/2 plan. see if I can finally get the scale moving again. it has been stuck for over 6 months.

Right?!? When I started this journey I thought I would be thrilled to get to 165 where I had been comfortable before and 155 (the lightest I had even been as an adult and where I had worn bikinis) was a pipe dream!

Which is exactly why I wanted a reality check about whether it was crazy of me to want to get back down to 135!

Good luck to you on your fast day! Lemme know how it goes!

@@jane13

No, I'm not doing a Protein drink for a meal. I try to avoid them unless I'm in a hurry. I do still keep a supply in my fridge

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Edited June 29, 201610 yr by Wolfgirl78

@@jess9395

I am feeling the exact same way!!! I loved being 135 and I just feel soft and puffy at 150. I never in a million years thought I would say that since I could never imagine being 150But I just felt better at 135-137. your description of them being vanity pounds sounds very accurate. But I really do want to loose them too. I just prefer it. It feels better and I think looks better.

Today I am doing a fasting day, and will try out the 5/2 plan. see if I can finally get the scale moving again. it has been stuck for over 6 months.

Right?!? When I started this journey I thought I would be thrilled to get to 165 where I had been comfortable before and 155 (the lightest I had even been as an adult and where I had worn bikinis) was a pipe dream!

Which is exactly why I wanted a reality check about whether it was crazy of me to want to get back down to 135!

Good luck to you on your fast day! Lemme know how it goes!

I tried on wedding dresses this weekend and it has a huge shocker. I know wedding dresses run small but crap! I was in a 0 or 2 now I am in 4s. So I was expecting my wedding dress size to be a 6 or 8. She said I was a damn 12-14!!! I was pissed to be in double digits. So I know I felt better at 135 and I am only 5'4.75" so I think it is not that far off.