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!!!

3 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

*Usually* you only eat within your window and drink cal free items outside of it. That's the hardcore approach. So how you divide up your meals are totally up to you (e.g. BF 12noon, L 3pm, D= 6pm or BF= 11am, L= 2pm, D=5pm) Sometimes you may miss a meal because you're not hungry (dare to dream)

But WLS folk , especially early on, strive to hit the right amount of Protein macros. (I didnt care so much as i could easily get it all from food if I wanted)

Some YT Gurus also question if timing matters

But totally choose a window that works well with your life otherwise it will be hard to sustain.

Here are a few helpful videos (about timing of meals and if it matters)

These three put out a lot of material so check out their other stuff too

OK I get the intermittent fasting method burns better than regular eating. My problem is I’m confused on whether to do the fasting during the day or at night. So confused I don’t know what to do. I am 10 weeks out from a revision from sleeve to bypass should I be trying this fasting right now or is it only during maintenance?

1 hour ago, traeleo said:

OK I get the intermittent fasting method burns better than regular eating. My problem is I’m confused on whether to do the fasting during the day or at night. So confused I don’t know what to do. I am 10 weeks out from a revision from sleeve to bypass should I be trying this fasting right now or is it only during maintenance?

Your fasting time is up to you/your lifestyle but people usually find fasting late evening- overnight- into the late morning easiest because youre sleeping most of those hours and not focused on any activities/food

BUT

Beginning IF so early after your surgery (for anyone really) maybe tricky

Here are a few questions that may help guide you to some answers? (Others please chime in/correct me if I'm wrong)

1. What were the reasons for your revision?

*Poor habits that lead to regain: no, not yet. You may need fix this aspect first (You may not need to use IF for weightloss at all if this is resolved ?) - go by your Team's plan first then discuss when it no longer works/weightloss slows/stops

*GERD and you're at goal: Maybe if you are looking for inflammation reduction - discuss with team first and go slow

*Other: discuss with Team first

2. Do have significant regain to lose?

*Yes: Go by your Teams plan first then try IF when it doesn't work anymore (under their supervision of course)

*No: you may lose more than you want so use mildly

3. Are you getting all of your nutrient/macros/cals in easily/too easily?

*No: I wouldn't try yet- it may just make it harder.

*Yes: If you over eating, go back to just dense proteins only for a bit to see if it helps, if not discuss with your Team the prospects if IF for hunger reduction/calorie reduction

Hope that helps ?

Edited August 9, 20197 yr by GreenTealael

7 minutes ago, GreenTealael said:

Your fasting time is up to you/your lifestyle but people usually find fasting late evening- overnight- into the late morning easiest because youre sleeping most of those hours and not focused on any activities/food

BUT

Beginning IF so early after your surgery (for anyone really) maybe tricky

Here are a few questions that may help guide you to some answers? (Others please chime in/correct me if I'm wrong)

1. What were the reasons for your revision?

*Poor habits that lead to regain: no, not yet. You may need fix this aspect first (You may not need to use IF for weightloss at all if this is resolved ?) - go by your Team's plan first then discuss when it no longer works/weightloss slows/stops

*GERD and you're at goal: Maybe if you are looking for inflammation reduction - discuss with team first and go slow

*Other: discuss with Team first

2. Do have significant regain to lose?

*Yes: Go by your Teams plan first then try IF when it doesn't work anymore (under their supervision of course)

*No: you may lose more than you want so use mildly

3. Are you getting all of you nutrient/macros/cals in easily/too easily?

*No: I wouldn't try yet- it may just make it harder.

*Yes: If you over eating, go back to just dense Proteins only for a bit to see if it helps, if not discuss with your Team the prospects if IF for hunger reduction/calorie reduction

Hope that helps ?

I appreciate any information that you can share with me because I do not have a team. Right now my doctors office does not have a nutritionist or dietitian. My surgeon actually said he was not concerned about weight loss but more concerned with my Gerd. So I’m kind of new at this. I’m just going by the directions that I got from my sleeve surgery. But I think that there is a difference and I have no one to ask but everyone on here. So I really really appreciate your response and any other little tidbits you can share.

14 minutes ago, traeleo said:

I appreciate any information that you can share with me because I do not have a team. Right now my doctors office does not have a nutritionist or dietitian. My surgeon actually said he was not concerned about weight loss but more concerned with my Gerd. So I’m kind of new at this. I’m just going by the directions that I got from my sleeve surgery. But I think that there is a difference and I have no one to ask but everyone on here. So I really really appreciate your response and any other little tidbits you can share.

Pose the question directly to your surgeon.

He may know some info on if Fasting would exacerbate your GERD/help promote healing.

I would start there because first and foremost protect the possibility of this new surgery working well & lasting a lifetime.

Edited August 9, 20197 yr by GreenTealael

1 hour ago, traeleo said:

OK I get the intermittent fasting method burns better than regular eating. My problem is I’m confused on whether to do the fasting during the day or at night. So confused I don’t know what to do. I am 10 weeks out from a revision from sleeve to bypass should I be trying this fasting right now or is it only during maintenance?

I would suggest NOT doing IF until you are much farther out post op and able to eat more with each meal. It's so important right now to get all your protein in, and as much nutrition as you can. That could be very hard to do in a small window of eating time. I was doing IF long before surgery, but I still waited until closer to 5-6 months post op when I started again. You are already in a pretty extreme caloric deficit, simply due to the surgery. IMHO, it is best to work on trying to get all your protein and food groups in for now. IF will always be there as an additional tool.

Thank you ladies. Both great advice. I’ll try and track my surgeon down although it is very difficult to reach him.

I think a rule of thumb, is to follow your doc's progression plan for you that includes any special thing for the GERD and esophagus healing.

And, after 6-9 months when you are safely able to easily consume your daily protein in 1-3 meals per day, start looking at compressing your eating window. If it were me, I'd start by only eating 3 meals (will all/most protein coming from food sources and not protein drinks) and start with doing an 13/11 TRE (13 hours fasting/11 hours eating, time restricted eating). Then when comfy, I'd move to a 14/10, then to a 16/8, then to an 18:6). Within those later frames consider if you are easily able to consume most of your protein from food sources rather than protein drinks.

The purpose of fasting is not only to have weight loss, but to tighten up your health by not eating "less" rather, eating less frequently so your body and mitochondria have time to properly process the food you do put in. And that the food you put in is as nutritionally dense and healthy as possible. (ie clean food). Cuz that's when you not only get weight loss, but you also get a reduction in cravings, appetite, meal sizes normalize, and you get a whole slew of health benefits!!

I'd say, just spend the next few months healing and reading here on this thread and in books to educated yourself and learn about IF.

Welcome btw!

Thought this was very insightful.

Today is an IF day for me. I ate horribly and drank quite a bit the last few days, so I need to counteract that at least a little bit.

I'm going to push my first meal as far out as I can today. Might try to do OMAD again. It will be a laaate dinner though, so that is iffy. The rest of my weekend I will be out of town, so no more IF until potentially Monday, we'll see. My weight is where I'm comfortable at, so no need to push it IMO.

Okay so yesterday I experimented with shortening my IF window. Previously the most restricted I had ever tried was 18:6. In fact, I’ve been doing 18:6 since Monday and was feeling great about it, but here’s what happened yesterday when I tried to go 20:4.....

1. 8am— Got up, felt great. Got on the scale for the first time since Tuesday and I was down 1.8 pounds.
Awesome bc I’ve now dropped 9.8 pounds in the last 30 days and I’m feeling great about it.
My IF tool is helping me lose more this month.

2. 10am— after drinking two 17 ounce bottles Water I made my morning coffee (1 ounce plain fairlife milk, 1 Kcup). Also took my morning meds (PPI, probiotic, Calcium chews). I don’t do multi or Iron early bc I don’t eat yet. Still feeling great and I spent most of that time working on my closet reorg project. Also did some laundry.

3. Noon and I think about eating, because I’ve now had coffee plus another bottle water.
Not hungry though so this is when I get the idea that I’m just gonna try to roll into a 20:4 day because I’m feeling zero hunger (physical or head)

4. 2pm. Hubs gets back from work and starts to make himself a lunch.
I too decide to make myself some lunch and break my fast for the day.
Still not really hungry, but hey....it’s 2pm and I’ve had zero Protein (unless you count the coffee milk)

5. Ate about 2/3 of the lunch I made. Weird bc I know what my sleeve can carry and I didn’t come close to holding what I normally do. I had some leftover pork stir-fry which consisted of lean pork, wilted greens, water chestnuts, peppers, and mushrooms. Probably about 3/4-1 cup food altogether and ran just over 200 cal.

6. After running some errands, back home at 4:30. Was actually feeling a bit hungry (in retrospect I was probably dehydrated— it’s 100+degrees and most of our running around was in the heat.). Ate a small snack of some kimchi, 5 small pepperonis, and 1/4 ounce Brie.
Felt completely FULL afterwards and was slightly nauseous.

7. Was supposed to have dinner at 6pm, told hubs there was NO WAY my body could hold food.
Drank another 2 bottles water (took forever bc of fullness) and finally pushed dinner back to almost 8pm.
Had my normal appetite by then and I ate 1/2 burger patty with 3/4 cup salad mix. This is a typical dinner for us and a typical serving size.

Lol, so even though I pushed first meal back 2 hours, I still had a 6 hr eating window.
Guess I’m going to have to be further along on this journey before I can go any more aggressive ATM.

Probably didn’t even get in 50gm protein and had considerably less than normal calories. Anymore I try to keep those between 650-800 and my food log shows under 450.
Oops.

It will be noon soon here and I’m yet again not one jot hungry but I’m going to try because I’ve GOT to eat dinner earlier tonite

Ok, so I am trying to break this 6 month stall - sooooo close to goal, but just keep gaining and losing the same 3 pounds. I have been doing 16/8 IF for over a month and doing fine on that. But I am going to tweak it this week and add alternate day IF, as well. Today I had 500 calories. Tomorrow I will have about 1100. Wed will be back to 500, Thurs will be over 1000, etc, until the end of the week. I know when I consistently cut the calories - like to 500-600/day, my weight loss grinds to a halt. I then get hungry (or stressed) and tend to overeat or eat compulsively the next day or so. Interestingly, when I have done that, I actually lose pounds. Soooo...…. I just need to control the ebb and flow of the intake - making it healthy and disciplined - writing everything down, and alternating the restriction with more than I usually eat. I am also upping my exercise just a bit - adding 30 more min. of either walking or elliptical, along with my usual 20 flights of stairs, 10,000 + steps ,and leg and arm routines daily instead of every other day.

I watched the You Tube of Dr. V that someone posted, about mindful eating. Very good. I am going to practice that , as well. It took me half an hour to eat just my salad at lunch today!

So I am asking for some accountability partnering here. I will follow this plan and then report back next Sunday with the results. I feel much better with a definite plan of attack that is objective and measurable. I've been struggling with head hunger a lot recently, and I think this new plan has already helped with that. Thanks to you all, for the support and encouragement you have given me and everyone else. This is such a good forum.

I'm not IFing today, but I am back on full liquids/puree/soft-mushies with low fiber for the next 2 weeks per my RD. I'll probably push starting food out as long as possible today though. Having bad intestinal issues and cramping again. Ugh.

On at , FluffyChix said:

I'm not IFing today, but I am back on full liquids/puree/soft-mushies with low Fiber for the next 2 weeks per my RD. I'll probably push starting food out as long as possible today though. Having bad intestinal issues and cramping again. Ugh.

Ack. Hoping you feel better soon!

20 minutes ago, ummyasmin said:

20 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

I'm not IFing today, but I am back on full liquids/puree/soft-mushies with low Fiber for the next 2 weeks per my RD. I'll probably push starting food out as long as possible today though. Having bad intestinal issues and cramping again. Ugh.

Ack. Hoping you feel better soon!

Ty! I'm sure it's just a little hiccup. Nothing major. (But I'm just hard headed enough to use this time as an excuse to finally reach Goal #3! hehehe)

I'm not IFing today, but I am back on full liquids/puree/soft-mushies with low fiber for the next 2 weeks per my RD. [emoji20] I'll probably push starting food out as long as possible today though. Having bad intestinal issues and cramping again. Ugh.

Hope things turn around quickly!!!?