Hey y'all! Anyone and everyone is welcome to jump in and join us.

This is the Intermittent Fasting DAily Menu/Results/Accountability Thread. It's where a few of us (or many) are going to log in and encourage each other while we experiment with our own IF plans. You can list or talk about anything--not just your food. I look forward to adding in HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and core exercises to my walking plan while practicing IF. So expect to hear about that too. hehe I expect some of us will talk about the known IF side-effects like insomnia, circadian rhythm disturbance, etc. It's all good! Let's hack this IF mofo! mkay?

There is not any 1 specific IF plan--there are so many to choose from, so this is a BYOIFP (bring-your-own-IF-plan) and join the fun! This is the thread where we'll post our daily menus and maybe some piccys at times! We can discuss progress, issues we might notice, look at how we may want to refine our own personal plans. I do think you should be healed from surgery and have your doctor's and RD's blessings to try something like this and you should do a ton of research and reading about Intermittent Fasting.

IF isn't only about weight loss, it's about taking specific measures to limit either quantities, calories, macros, or sometimes only consciously altering eating windows/schedules in order to effect metabolic change and reduce inflammation and improve health markers.

Ok, let's do this thang!!!

Coffee does it for me. Wasn't a huge coffee drinker before surgery, but now I notice it does keep things moving.

No IF for me this week.

Free breakfast included, then late dinners, so, yeah. Thankfully I only figured out on the last day you could sub arroz con leche for the yogurt parfait in the free breakfast, ignorance has it's benefits!

I should be on board for the January Challenge and IF once I return home.

2 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

Creamsickle "semi-homemade" MOM. (I didn't make the MOM, just flavored it up from unflavored zero carb version...) ?

(so so so sick of having interruptions to the #2 train schedule...just sayin'...)

No offense, but I'll let you ride this train alone. A few nuts a day keep me on the tracks!

3 minutes ago, sillykitty said:

Thankfully I only figured out on the last day you could sub arroz con leche for the yogurt parfait in the free breakfast

Ooooh, you are soooo bad! ?

13 hours ago, sillykitty said:

No IF for me this week.

Free Breakfast included, then late dinners, so, yeah. Thankfully I only figured out on the last day you could sub arroz con leche for the yogurt parfait in the free breakfast, ignorance has it's benefits!

I should be on board for the January Challenge and IF once I return home.

Ignorance is bliss baby!! Ride that wave! Arroz con leche...dulce de leche...all the leches...

Have fun girlie!

Ok, it's official. Back to ticker weight and I'm claiming it. It happened yesterday but I felt it might be a fluke, but since it held and even went down further, I'm gonna say it. 148lbs baby!!!! Yeah! That's what I'm tawkin' about! TY IF and Atkins! (And shhhhh, I know it's only fluid loss...be gentle.)

It's official. Today says it is. Best day to weigh is Wednesday so it must be true!

https://www.today.com/series/one-small-thing/weigh-yourself-day-week-most-accurate-reading-t87046?fbclid=IwAR3gP6dPHldDrGp8E7WH7jFgMum7y_WyyEmY5LCNXXebfXQRX5f8fsOY84A

Last night I made sure to eat something very proteiny just before my 8pm cutoff, and it feels like that might have taken the edge off last night and this morning (well, that and I'm still drinking a coffee with cream in the mornings). Any advice on what to eat in that last hour? For that matter, how do you deal with the balance between having 6-8 hours to eat, but only being able to eat a half cup of food at a time?

17 minutes ago, sideeye said:

Last night I made sure to eat something very proteiny just before my 8pm cutoff, and it feels like that might have taken the edge off last night and this morning (well, that and I'm still drinking a coffee with cream in the mornings). Any advice on what to eat in that last hour? For that matter, how do you deal with the balance between having 6-8 hours to eat, but only being able to eat a half cup of food at a time?

You know, you guys have a difficult deal with the whole 1/2c food restriction. So personally? I would not bother about the cream in the coffee until much much further down the road! Keep it! You need it (unless you can replace it with protein shake to get your protein for the day up). For the last hour, I'd do a protein shake (a few ounces), or some lunchmeat, a cheese stick, an ounce of almonds (or a 1/2oz), a tbsp peanut butter...that sort of thing. Small and <100cals but with at least 6-7g of protein.

Once you get through about a week of this, you will no longer fear hunger and caving. You will realize that hunger is a cycle that ends in 20mins or less and does best when you drink water in response to the cue to eat. You will realize that you have fewer and fewer hunger events and are satisfied fully with your meals. It's a pretty free-ing and amazing thing to experience!

I am kinda back sharing a bit of that angst you feel about getting all your protein in.

What I'm experiencing since going back to meals consisting of 1 total cup of volume: 2oz of meat by weight = 1/2c by volume and 1-2oz of veg by weight = 1/2c by volume is that I'm still full when it's time to eat my next meal! Oy! So I am forcing myself to eat during this eating window and I don't think that's necessarily healthy. If you're not hungry at this stage, then don't eat. Right? So last night I forced myself to eat dinner when I was still full from lunch and forced myself to drink a cup of decaf with 2 1/2 oz protein drink to get my protein in. I'm having some deficiency issues, so I was told I need to eat my full target if possible...

Theoretical schedule for me in a 16:8 scenario:

10am Protein drink in coffee (1/4-1/2 of a bottle; then a repeat of the this meal for a second cup)

12-1pm 2nd Brekky (2oz meat + 2oz veg)

4pm Lunch (2oz meat + 2oz veg)

7:30pm Dinner (2oz meat + 2oz veg)

8pm If necessary, the second drink from the morning to get in any lost protein for the day.

If I do a 18:6, then I delete 2nd brekky which makes it even harder. Yesterday was an 18:6. It was hard as hell to get everything in but I did it.

Edited January 4, 20197 yr by FluffyChix

4 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

Ok, it's official. Back to ticker weight and I'm claiming it. It happened yesterday but I felt it might be a fluke, but since it held and even went down further, I'm gonna say it. 148lbs baby!!!! Yeah! That's what I'm tawkin' about! TY IF and Atkins! (And shhhhh, I know it's only Fluid loss...be gentle.)

Woo Hoo! Congrats!

1 hour ago, FluffyChix said:

Once you get through about a week of this, you will no longer fear hunger and caving. You will realize that hunger is a cycle that ends in 20mins or less and does best when you drink Water in response to the cue to eat. You will realize that you have fewer and fewer hunger events and are satisfied fully with your meals. It's a pretty free-ing and amazing thing to experience!

@sideeye I agree with this. Once you get past the hunger, and out of the habit of eating at certain times, it really does become so much easier, and freeing!

If I am mentally or physically occupied, then I'm distracted and don't think about eating. So any new Netflix series to binge in the evenings, or book to dive into? (Or FWB for some cardio?) If I must munch, I aim for something super low cal, like sf jello or carrots, or coleslaw made with vinegar. I also cannot watch any cooking shows, or travel shows that feature food. My head hunger is a beast, and I can't handle the triggers of food based TV.

6 minutes ago, sillykitty said:

@sideeye I agree with this. Once you get past the hunger, and out of the habit of eating at certain times, it really does become so much easier, and freeing!

If I am mentally or physically occupied, then I'm distracted and don't think about eating. So any new Netflix series to binge in the evenings, or book to dive into? (Or FWB for some cardio?) If I must munch, I aim for something super low cal, like sf Jello or carrots, or coleslaw made with vinegar. I also cannot watch any cooking shows, or travel shows that feature food. My head hunger is a beast, and I can't handle the triggers of food based TV.

OH gosh! Yes! Great ideas! And I can't watch cooking shows either unless I've just eaten and am full! I even close my eyes and mute the TV when food commercials come on!

With all that said above ... I am STRUGGLING today!

Back home from my mini break. The scale was kind to me, I'm at 137.2, so about a 1/2 lb lighter than when I left. I didn't eat more terribly than my current normal (which says something in and of itself), but I did have a couple of beers everyday, which I is not my norm. So I got lucky.

This morning I am trying to push back my first meal, but, it's a struggle. I had a late dinner last night, think midnight. Dinner got delayed for some reunion cardio . I'm hydrating, already at about 48 oz, which is some sort of miracle for me. White knuckling it, trying to get my body out of the frequent eating habit I established while I was away.

WB, we missed you!!! It's too quiet around here when you're gone! Wooooohoooo on late night dinner delays due to cardio!! You know, when you're 56, that statement takes an alarming (much less charming) turn. LOL!

Yay on being at 48oz already. Kitty! You're a drinker!!! Does black tea of coffee help kill hunger? If a bottle of water won't kill it (head hunger)--for some weird reason, a hot unsweet/bitter beverage does it for me every time!

So happy you're down a little from pre-vaca. That's an enormous victory!

8 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

Yay on being at 48oz already. Kitty! You're a drinker!!! Does black tea of coffee help kill hunger? If a bottle of Water won't kill it (head hunger)--for some weird reason, a hot unsweet/bitter beverage does it for me every time!

I'm not drinking water ... did you know a Double Gulp is 64 oz?

I'm unfortunately neither a coffee or tea drinker. I find both completely intolerable unless they are sweet and creamy, like milky chai, or vietnamese coffee. Since protein is one of my January goals, I might start making faux Vietnamese coffee again with PP caramel, but I'll try to do it in my non fasting window, since I need a lot of PP to get it sweet enough for me.