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!!!

6 hours ago, AZhiker said:

How many weeks post op are you? Personally, I could never get enough calories into a 4 hour period, as my volume is fairly limited, still.

7 weeks

5 hours ago, AZhiker said:

So I see from another post you are 15 months out. So why only 500 calories per day, or is that your Alternate Day plan? As for Protein, I try to get at LEAST 60 gm per day, and sometimes up to 80. I had to give up IF temporarily while training for the triathlon, because I needed the morning to add more calories. I just couldn't keep the weight on.

I am now trying out a whole food plant based eating plan, which I am finding is wonderful. I feel great. But the volume of food is so large, that I had to go back to a morning smoothie to get in the nutrition. I am stuffed, literally, all day long. And still losing weight, even with the higher level of whole grains and starchy veggies. It takes me over a hour to eat a small "Budda bowl." But I do feel great. Daily IF is not going to work for me at this point, so I think I will just do a weekly 24 hour fast. The beauty of IF is that you have so many options and tools to use as your situation changes.

I am not 15 months out I am 7 weeks out. That might be a typo can you link it? My surgery was sept 4. Maybe there is a poster with a similar name?

Okay so for me to get in 44 gm protein, it takes mixing diff kinds of protein, but doable.

I start with 1 packet bariwise cream of chicken soup mix and add in 1 scoop beef bone broth powder.
I then add in 3-4 ounces warm water, then add in 3 ounces canned (or shredded rotisserie) chicken.
Sprinkle on a pinch of shredded cheddar and it’s delish!

On 10/24/2019 at 1:29 AM, Serengirl said:

7 weeks

You are not ready for IF, or even TRE. You need to let your tool work for you and follow your doc's plan. You won't be ready for this until at least 7-9months out and only then if you are freely able to satisfy your protein requirements with real foods and can also get in your daily water amounts.

Congrats on surgery.

At 7 weeks, you just need to concentrate on getting your protein and water in each day and taking your vitamins.

6 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

You are not ready for IF, or even TRE. You need to let your tool work for you and follow your doc's plan. You won't be ready for this until at least 7-9months out and only then if you are freely able to satisfy your Protein requirements with real foods and can also get in your daily Water amounts.

Congrats on surgery.

At 7 weeks, you just need to concentrate on getting your protein and water in each day and taking your Vitamins.

yeah its not working for me though. I am only down (somehow I gained a 1.5 lbs ???) 19 lbs since my surgery. Which is absurd on the amount of calories i eat and exercise. I get in my water and protein no problem. Ive actually never had an issue getting in all of my protein since week 2. And i could drink all my water and i mean 64 oz since day 5... Its nuts but i can actually chug water .... the past two days i have hit a gallon of water. So no issue there and yet the weight loss is slower than a snail. its taking every ounce in me to not want to give up and scream to the gods, the inequity of it all. So yeah now i am trying IF. That what help me lose the weight pre surgery (and i didnt even count calories I ate what I wanted and i was OMAD). i cant be OMAD now bec no way can get in all of my calories but I'm going to try eating them all within 4-5 hrs... and then water the rest of the day... and my DR is useless. he just says stick to 500 calories and the weight will come off. well i have- and it hasn't so.... here we are.

On 10/25/2019 at 12:27, Serengirl said:

yeah its not working for me though. I am only down (somehow I gained a 1.5 lbs ???) 19 lbs since my surgery. Which is absurd on the amount of calories i eat and exercise. I get in my water and protein no problem. Ive actually never had an issue getting in all of my protein since week 2. And i could drink all my water and i mean 64 oz since day 5... Its nuts but i can actually chug water .... the past two days i have hit a gallon of water. So no issue there and yet the weight loss is slower than a snail. its taking every ounce in me to not want to give up and scream to the gods, the inequity of it all. So yeah now i am trying IF. That what help me lose the weight pre surgery (and i didnt even count calories I ate what I wanted and i was OMAD). i cant be OMAD now bec no way can get in all of my calories but I'm going to try eating them all within 4-5 hrs... and then water the rest of the day... and my DR is useless. he just says stick to 500 calories and the weight will come off. well i have- and it hasn't so.... here we are.

Okay so 19 pounds down in 7 weeks isn’t all that bad.
I was down 24 in the same time period.
Start measuring if you haven’t already. The measurements will show you losing in ways that the scale won’t at times.

I started TRE at about 8 weeks PO, because I was making myself physically ill trying to eat breakfast and then struggling to get water in. It’s still been a struggle some days to get in enough protein and I sometime turn to shakes to make up the difference.

Once I decided to not struggle to force food into my sleeve (I mean the whole point of this thing was to reduce intake and here I was trying to eat to conform to some “norm” I thought I needed to chase after) and once I decided to not break fast most days til after 11am, my loss really started to take off.
So if you really can get in all of your protein at 7 weeks, then try 16:8 TRE. Use the fasting times to get in as much water as possible and I think you’ll be fine.

I mentioned a while back my mom (non WLS) was basically following a post bariatric diet + IF to control hunger. She has found it to be the easiest "diet" she has ever been on, and has been wildly successful. She is non transitioning to mostly just IF, without the VLC diet in order to maintain. She is down 40 lbs in 6 months, and now is the same weight/BMI as I am (we are the same height).

Here we are today!

Me on the left, mom on the right

Wow!!! Huge congrats!!!!! So happy for you both. Y'all rock!!

I'm getting "the band" back together!

Doing an IF week this week with my complicated ADF routine EOD and an 18:6 TRE thrown in for razzle dazzle.

Mr. F. is gonna get in on the action too. Woooohoooo! He's been doing OMAD and has dropped 7lbs in the last 2 weeks, but wants to see if he can turbo charge it with the ADF with caloric restriction.

I'm so proud of him. So I thought I would do it too since I haven't been doing any IF lately. After a big weekend of food and a big week of food last week, I'm actually looking forward to today and taking a break. I'll shoot for eating sometime between 3 and 4pm then we'll have a simple light dinner around 7pm. Then that's it lights out til tomorrow!

Here are my beginning stats:

Maintenance: 5'4" | 57y | F | 20mo PO RNY | 131.8lbs | 18:6 | Goal 500cals | <20g protein | <50g carbs from veggies/berries

Good luck!
I’ve gone back to some 16:8 lately as I’m thinking I want to go on a very slight losing trend (5-7 pounds between now and Jan 1st) and we’ve got thanksgiving next week, followed by vacation the week after that.
I was just commenting to hubs that I was wanting to do a OMAD Tuesday and Wednesday this week and next.

15 hours ago, Sheribear68 said:

Good luck!
I’ve gone back to some 16:8 lately as I’m thinking I want to go on a very slight losing trend (5-7 pounds between now and Jan 1st) and we’ve got thanksgiving next week, followed by vacation the week after that.
I was just commenting to hubs that I was wanting to do a OMAD Tuesday and Wednesday this week and next.

Yay girlie!! Sounds like a plan! I had wanted to drop sub 130lbs before Fatsgiving next week, but it is beginning to look like that is never gonna happen lol. Which is fine too. Either way. I just want to be sure I'm not up at the top of my weight window of 135lbs.

So we'll see. I am pretty sure you will make your goal!

Yesterday went very well. It's so interesting how quickly it is to ease in and out of IF. I'm doing another back to back one today and will have a regular day tomorrow. Cuz the schedule works out better for me this way.

On 11/19/2019 at 13:12, FluffyChix said:

Yay girlie!! Sounds like a plan! I had wanted to drop sub 130lbs before Fatsgiving next week, but it is beginning to look like that is never gonna happen lol. Which is fine too. Either way. I just want to be sure I'm not up at the top of my weight window of 135lbs.

So we'll see. I am pretty sure you will make your goal!

Yesterday went very well. It's so interesting how quickly it is to ease in and out of IF. I'm doing another back to back one today and will have a regular day tomorrow. Cuz the schedule works out better for me this way.

Okay so had to work late and didn’t get dinner eaten until 7pm. Today was rough. Had to have half a PP and some iced coffee to get through midday as I was about to snap at work.
However, the coffee and the teensy bit of calories (about 80) got me through.
Not sure if half a PP is as approved as salted bone broth, but that’s what I went with and I’m not trying to be a complete purist, ya know?

Tomorrow will be the same except I just found out hubs has a last-minute business trip that will take him out of town until Friday, and he will have to entertain while he’s out.
So.... my challenge is to stay “on plan” while I’m finding for myself and hubs is out wining and dining clients.
Honestly I’m going to take an extra Pilates class, because I have tomorrow off and run 3 miles on the TM

Excellent information. It's not all about calories - rather the KIND of food eaten and the TIMING.