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!!!

Not every coffee tastes good black. Did you test different brands already?

Honestly IF still works for me even though I have protein coffee in the am because I have to have it- life is too sad without it so this is what I do. (I am trying to have lemon water when I wake and then coffee but we’ll see). I have either coffee with premier shake as a creamer or I make a latte and add genepro protein to it and some collagen. I sip that over the morning and don’t eat anything until about 2-3 pm ish and then I try to get all of my food in within 4 hours and then rest of the day it’s water... before surgery in order to lose enough weight to get approved for surgery I did the above routine too but the difference is on some days I ate one giant salad/ lunch - whatever I wanted - within 60-90 min and still had AM protein coffee and I lost a big chunk of weight. Right now I exercise and weight list so much I’m struggling between not knowing if I am having too few calories especially since my IF window feels short considering how hard it is to get my cals in within that time. Anyway I think IF still works even if you have your coffee in AM with stuff in it. IMHO

Just now, Serengirl said:

Honestly IF still works for me even though I have Protein coffee in the am because I have to have it- life is too sad without it so this is what I do. (I am trying to have lemon Water when I wake and then coffee but we’ll see).

Me3!!! Color me IF/ADF/EF and I have PP in my coffee over about a 3 hour or so period. #working #barihealthylife!

Congrats to you girlie!!!!

Are you still in WLM or are you now in maintenance? I'll be honest, a 20:4 schedule is hard for me to follow to get my protein in.

In the process of trying IF so last time I ate was about midnight last night. I had a coffee with 1.5 oz milk (28cals) 5:45 am (6 hours into fast). NOBODY WANTS TO KNOW ME IF I DONT HAVE MY COFFEE LOL. I had nothing else until now 6:00 PM. I had a coffee with milk so basically 18 hour fast. Thankfully I survived and feel fine. I still have to see how the rest of the day goes... so I have some questions
#1 is it ok that I had my 1.5 oz milk?
#2 what's the best way to break a fast (which foods do you eat? Do you eat a lot right away...)
#3 how often do I need to do this for it to be effective? Is once a week good enough?

Following thank you

Definitely did something wrong my fast resulted in projectile vomiting and diarrhea

Okay guys, I’m trying to decide if I need to change anything.

I’ve IF’d since month 3 PO.
The main reason I chose the 16:8 fasting style is I would be in pain and my water intake would suffer if I tried to eat a meal before 11-11:30 in the morning and it didn’t matter if I woke up at 5am or at 9am. Before 11am HURT to put solids in.
I’m very good at protein first, anything else second during my eating window, so I never really stressed the protein. If I fell short, i drank a cup of milk between meals and make it up.

All of this has contributed to my smashing success in losing above and beyond all expectations set by my doctors and by myself.
I’m truly an outlier at well >100% excess fat lost.
Honestly though, my 16:8 fast almost every day has become a source of comfort and routine and I love the lifestyle. I’ve never before in my life been more comfortable managing hunger and getting in healthy nutrients that my body needs and thrives on.

That being said, I decided to abstain from the scale for a month back on December 14.
On that date, I had successfully taken off my 4 pound regain from thanksgiving/vacay and I felt ready to conquer the rest of the holiday “doing my usual” with the exception of several cheat days. My thought process was to not stress myself out during the holidays— enjoy life, weigh a few weeks later, and assess the damage.

Well yesterday am I woke up and it dawned on me that I was visibly looking “skinner” and I actually could feel that I was lighter (not a normal feeling for me) so I decided to get on the scale about a week early.

Guys, I went from 146.4 down to 140.6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was completely by accident bc I had a few hedonistic days in there.

Now I’ve starts training for a half later this year and I’m a bit worried about all of the cardio I’ll be doing to get ready.

Yet I DO NOT want to give up my IF. It’s my comfort zone and my security blanket.

what’s a girl to do?

I think you must eat more. I don't know if your caloric density can go up in your eating window from very deeply healthy foods? (i.e. Full fat yogurt and other dairy, real eggs rather than egg whites, chicken thighs rather than breast, real bacon rather than turkey, real salad dressing on salads with olive oil, fattier cuts of pork/beef/fish/caviar, nuts 1-2oz per day, more avocado, nutbutters).

I think you can also shift to a more "maintenance-style" IF where it's basically x number of days you do IF with our without caloric restriction and the other days you eat a "normal" diet with all the calories you need to adjust for those IF days. I'm talking about something like a 5:2 rotation. Also, you will need to configure how much more nutrition you need for training. But honestly, if you've been doing 2-3 pilates classes per day, your running might balance out...dunno...haven't looked at it.

But I honestly think you need to eat or you will quickly find yourself in trouble...either bonking or not being able to train to your full max VO2 threshold, or even losing too much weight/muscle.

I'm not saying stop IF, cuz it is also my security blanket. But for my still-broken metabolism, I'm maintenancing brilliantly while doing about 3 or 4 days in IF/ADF and the balance of days eating between 1200-1400 cals. Averaging about 1100cals daily.

I think you're average is gonna come in closer to the 1800-2000 mark and that's a LOT of food for us. That means if you IF some days, you will end up having to have closer to 2500-3000 cals per day to average to 1800-2000. That sounds great...unless you're getting those cals from booze and sub-par (questionable) nutritional value. Then I think you might be playing roulette with your health down the road.

And BTW! Huge congrats on surpassing everyone's expectations! I never doubted you would do that for a minute! Doesn't it feel amazing?!!!!! Wooot!!!

Thanks.
Wow, I seriously dunno how I’m going to start eating before 11am.
I’m thinking of some sliders (maybe mixed nuts?) and hummus and veggies (which are slider-ish for me) to compensate.
So now I’m thinking I do IF on work days, which are typically 4-5 day/week now that our overtime for the holidays is over. The days I’m off work, I can try to fit in extra food.
Lol, somehow I’m absolutely certain I’m gonna dip down into the 130’s.

On my 5’7” frame, that’s gonna look a bit dramatic, but I keep telling myself I’m fit, I’m able to live a very active lifestyle, and I’m good about taking my supplements, and I’m doing great on protein and water so it should even out

On 01/08/2020 at 19:07, Sheribear68 said:

Thanks.

Wow, I seriously dunno how I’m going to start eating before 11am.

I’m thinking of some sliders (maybe mixed nuts?) and hummus and veggies (which are slider-ish for me) to compensate.

So now I’m thinking I do IF on work days, which are typically 4-5 day/week now that our overtime for the holidays is over. The days I’m off work, I can try to fit in extra food.

Lol, somehow I’m absolutely certain I’m gonna dip down into the 130’s.



On my 5’7” frame, that’s gonna look a bit dramatic, but I keep telling myself I’m fit, I’m able to live a very active lifestyle, and I’m good about taking my supplements, and I’m doing great on Protein and Water so it should even out

I added high calorie granola cereal to a cup of yogurt. It added calories, good fiber, vitamins etc but also still slide down easy. I can get about a 1/3 c of granola in the yogurt. I started with just a tablespoon.
To up calories I had peanut butter then later added nuts. Pumpkin seeds are good to up good fats too.
I added graham crackers occasionally since they are sliders for me but we’re not too tasty to start craving carbs.
Even eating a couple walnuts helped up the calories.
I started cooking eggs with olive oil vs the spray too. I still lost from 128 to 125 but that took months and had I not pushed calories I feel like I would have slipped too low too quickly.

6 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

That sounds great...unless you're getting those cals from booze and sub-par (questionable) nutritional value.

I. feel. attacked. ?

Seriously @Sheribear68, this is a pattern we have seen over and over, where many of us slide under goal. You'll have to find a way to up your calories. I also rarely eat in the am, I'm just a "get things done" morning person, busy, and not hungry. I still get plenty of calories in the rest of the day, so it is doable. Just don't be afraid of adding more calories, you need them

On 01/08/2020 at 20:26, sillykitty said:

I. feel. attacked. ?

Seriously @Sheribear68, this is a pattern we have seen over and over, where many of us slide under goal. You'll have to find a way to up your calories. I also rarely eat in the am, I'm just a "get things done" morning person, busy, and not hungry. I still get plenty of calories in the rest of the day, so it is doable. Just don't be afraid of adding more calories, you need them

Yeah, well tonite as I was doing dinner prep for our Cobb salad, I grabbed a handful of pecans and ate them.
Then I ate a second palm-full.
Lol, guess who was only able to eat half her salad? ????

This is gonna be a live-and-learn process for real.

On 01/08/2020 at 18:59, 2Bsmaller18 said:

I added high calorie granola Cereal to a cup of yogurt. It added calories, good Fiber, Vitamins etc but also still slide down easy. I can get about a 1/3 c of granola in the yogurt. I started with just a tablespoon.

To up calories I had Peanut Butter then later added nuts. pumpkin seeds are good to up good fats too.

I added graham crackers occasionally since they are sliders for me but we’re not too tasty to start craving carbs.

Even eating a couple walnuts helped up the calories.

I started cooking eggs with olive oil vs the spray too. I still lost from 128 to 125 but that took months and had I not pushed calories I feel like I would have slipped too low too quickly.

Might have to try the granola idea.
I’ve been avoiding yogurts all along because those are big-time sliders for me and they make me crave carbs (I only really like the flavored ones) but maybe I can test out adding some honey and granola and see where it takes me.
It would have to be lunch though bc anything thicker than protein shake in the am “sticks” and gives me stomach cramps. Can’t be productive if I’m feeling like I wanna lie down and die for an hour in the morning.
I tried peanut butter once a few months ago— didn’t sit well but I can try it again I suppose.
Eggs are still an epic struggle for me. They used to be one of my fave foods of all time and now they don’t like me. ???

14 hours ago, Sheribear68 said:

Lol, somehow I’m absolutely certain I’m gonna dip down into the 130’s.

Do you top secret BDG Goal want this to happen in your heart of hearts?