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Thoughts on Intermittent Fasting Post Op



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So I was looking into nutrition tips and diets I could ease into to help me get past my latest/current stall and I came across this video on YouTube.
Longevity & Why I now eat One Meal a Day

It talks about fasting and eating just once a day forcing the body to a state of Ketosis. What is Ketosis you might ask, well "Ketosis is a normal metabolic process. When the body does not have enough glucose for energy, it burns stored fats instead; this results in a build-up of acids called ketones within the body. Some people encourage Ketosis by following a diet called the Ketogenic or low-carb diet." Some of the information talked about in the video below made some sense to me. And when you think about it in the grand scheme of things, when some of us were put on the pre-surgery liquid diet, this was basically what was happening to us. The post -op for those first 4 to 6 weeks were most of caloric intake was Proteins and forcing the body to burn reserved body fat.

Now around this time last year I did The Pouch Reset deal where I kinda went back on the first 90 days post-op diet for an aggressive week. It was basically all of the same post-op stages but instead done in 8 to 10 weeks, everything is done in 8 to 10 days. I found that when I did it by day 3 I was having some wicked headaches and over all groggy/foggy feeling. After doing it I did slightly break my then stall and dropped about a 3lbs. But it wasn't nearly as good as when I did the stuff pre,and then immediately post surgery. Hell, pre-surgery just on 10 days with liquids alone I dropped almost 50lbs.

So I'm bringing my question on this here. I wanna get some feed back from some on here who may have tried this Intermittent Fasting and how it helped, or didn't help you with weight loss or weight maintenance post surgery. I know the one this I may be worried about is the possibility of feeling weak, especially now that I'm regularly lifting weights. Although I am lifting for strength and not really to build muscle, since I still wanna try and lose weight. Am I over thinking this, or is this something that is too risky to try?

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Not sure about intermittent fasting, however I am fasting now for Ramadan and am on day 27. Had been going through a stall for the last 3 months before Ramadan, since the fasting started I am down 3 kg. No food or Water from 3:30 am till 6:30 pm. I have 2 small meals between 6:30 and 11 pm. I am not stopping myself from eating anything I want but I try to focus on Protein first and getting enough water in during those hours. I used to exercise in the hour before breaking my fast in previous years but have not had the energy to do so this year. Not sure if that helps but good luck and all the best :-)

Sent from my SM-G900FD using BariatricPal mobile app

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There are a lot of different ways to intermittent fast.

I keep it simple with 16:8 Just because it is suitable to my lifestyle.

All intermittent fasting does is help you keep your calories controlled. It also teaches discipline.

I think one meal a day is a very bad bad idea for recovering food addicts. It basically enforces binging. WLS patients can never get their Protein goals with one meal.

A lot of the best that used to post here did 5:2 fasting in maintenance.

I think fasting is great and having a sleeve makes it super easy but 16:8, 5:2 are better options for WLS patients than some of the other extremes.

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3 hours ago, OutsideMatchInside said:

All intermittent fasting does is help you keep your calories controlled. It also teaches discipline.

Absolutely this. I did 16:8 before considering wls. I was doing weights during my fasting as well and had great results. Why I didn't stay on, just like everything else, I wasn't disciplined enough, or I am sure I injured myself somehow. (That always gets me off my track). But anyhow, I do love IF, and when or if I decide to adopt it as a lifestyle and stay disciplined, then I'd go back to it. I agree with Outside, one meal a day isn't reasonable for wls patients.

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I recently started intermittent fasting, two meals a day within a 6-7 hour window. I'm really finding it works well for me, but I'm 6 years post-op, so I have a bit more capacity to get good nutrition in those two meals. I read about it from others on this forum several years ago but it sounded too hard. Turns out I adjusted fairly rapidly so I'm not really hungry when I'm fasting, and it's really helped with disciplined eating.

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Thanks for all the input so far. I am almost 3 years out and I can tolerate consume a lot more than I could right after the surgery was done. I don't think I have a problem meeting my Protein intake in one or two meals since I am more of an meat eater anyway. My concern was more to do with it causing weird issues like what had happen to me when I did the pouch reset. Weird body aches and itching, along with the massive head aches. But it sounds like quite a few of you that posted in here so far have had some success with intermittent fasting. What is the difference between the 16:8 and 5:2?

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There are a lot of different ways to intermittent fast.
I keep it simple with 16:8 Just because it is suitable to my lifestyle.
All intermittent fasting does is help you keep your calories controlled. It also teaches discipline.
I think one meal a day is a very bad bad idea for recovering food addicts. It basically enforces binging. WLS patients can never get their Protein goals with one meal.

A lot of the best that used to post here did 5:2 fasting in maintenance.
I think fasting is great and having a sleeve makes it super easy but 16:8, 5:2 are better options for WLS patients than some of the other extremes.

I don't understand 5:2 and 16:8...? Can you explain?


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