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!!!

2 hours ago, Sheribear68 said:

I hear ya on adding fats.
Some days I eat an astounding % from fats —like over 50%.
Problem is that fats are such an appetite suppressant for me that I have to be careful or I don’t meet Protein goals.

What does your therapist say about your present diet and physique? I think I would put my trust in them? Also, we've talked about this, that weight loss will not automatically, magically cease if we continue to eat at an extreme deficit. Right? And the beauty and the curse of IF is that on IF days it does exactly as it's designed to do: limit consumption both for timeframe, but also for overall volume. So it is a weight loss tool.

I still use it successfully, cuz it takes so little for me to maintain and I'd at least like to have 2 days + 1 meal where I can eat relatively freely (1200-1600 cals) even if it means I have 4 days + 2 meals at 700-850 cals, rather than eating 7 days at 1000-1100 cals. It works for me cuz I'm not heavily exercising, nor am I actively trying to stack or put on muscle--although I really should.

And I think the quality of the diet is way more important that high carb v. low carb. I average about 50-60g of whole carbs per day, but they are almost completely comprised of veggies, some dark berries and Granny Smith apple, some low fat dairy, some eggs, some nuts/seeds/nutbutters, pysllium fiber and oat fiber and some other fibers on occassion (coconut flour, etc).

It seems restrictive by some people's standards but it is simply-after 20 years-the way I eat. I feel tremendous diet satisfaction from it. Some days are higher fats, some days are lower fats, they are always a pretty consistent protein amount within a range. I see multiple doctors with a passle of tests and bloodwork every six months thanks to the cancer remission and I take imaging tests quite frequently also because of this. The test results reassure me and my oncologist, internist, cardiologist, pulmonologist, and gastro guy, that despite the fact that I'm NOT 100% perfect at this low carb, lower fat style of eating, I have not managed to contract any of the deadly maladies the NIH article hints at in that abstract.

I'm frankly shocked and surprised I still have either of my kidneys after 20 years of my "unhealthy" and dangerous low carb diet that is comprised of over 1lb of veggies per day (many of them raw), along with only the adequate amount of lean, dense protein, and healthy fats from great sources: avocado, olives, nuts/seeds/limited nut butters, and low fat dairy. And I'm shocked at my lack of osteoporosis, absence of cardiac arrhythmia or contractile function, shocked that my cholesterol and lipid profile is perfect, shocked that haven't grown three heads, etc...but then, I'm just an imperfect n=1 who can ONLY speak for the routine I follow and it's success.

The great thing, I am happiest about is that most people are successfully losing their excess weight to a level comfortable for themselves, regardless of my opinion of how they are doing it. The good news is that everyone else being unique is free and encouraged to follow what they know to be true and what works for them without judgement. Hurrah for free choice!!

My therapist actually doesn’t want me logging anything and she doesn’t think it’s a good idea to weigh myself.
Her opinion is that counting calories and macros and weighing didn’t prevent me from becoming MO to start with, and it won’t do me much good now that I’m in maintenance.

She also wants me to try to get in touch with more of my feelings than with scientific data.
I have a science brain and love to crunch numbers, which she thinks isn’t the best for me ATM.

I’m still unsure of that advice, TBH
She wants me to not log food and not weigh for 2 weeks and use how my body feels as a guide.
I get where she’s coming from, but she’s managed to maintain her size within 5-10 pounds for the last 28 years post WLS.

As far as my physique, she’s more along the lines of the weight loss clinic, which is there’s a lot of wiggle room and that I could lose 10 more pounds and be fine, or gain 10-15 and still be fine.
Her theory is that many times our bodies will naturally reset to a weight that we spent the most time in before MO started
For me, that weight would be in the 125-128 range as I was there during most of my 20’s until I got pregnant.
Since I did spend at least a decade of my life “underweight” she thinks my body is trying it’s best to get there again.

My cancer situation was unlucky/lucky.
Since I had TNBC, it was auto stage 3 with a 50% five year survival rate, but I don’t have to take the endocrine disrupters. And now that I’m 10 years out, my risk factors for recurrence are at zero.

16 minutes ago, Sheribear68 said:

Her opinion is that counting calories and macros and weighing didn’t prevent me from becoming MO to start with, and it won’t do me much good now that I’m in maintenance.

Ah, but darling. You are labeling what you experience right now as maintenance. But the scale is singing a different tune. The scale still shows you continuing to lose (albeit slower). So you are still in WLM, my love. And if you don't track while still actively losing (with the scale at least), how do you know how many more macros to add so that you actually ARE in maintenance.

So we can call a pizza a football, but it's still gonna be a pizza.

18 minutes ago, Sheribear68 said:

My cancer situation was unlucky/lucky.
Since I had TNBC, it was auto stage 3 with a 50% five year survival rate, but I don’t have to take the endocrine disrupters. And now that I’m 10 years out, my risk factors for recurrence are at zero.

This is a beautiful thing! And as far as dietary fat goes, I vaguely remember my onc telling me that dietary fat only was linked to TNBC. Being on the thinner side as a cancer patient is where my onc wants all of his patients. He wants them to do whatever it takes to make it happen. He's very upfront about that.

So glad you are 10 years out and at zero chance of recurrence!

I had less than a 50% chance of 5 year survivor at 3C with the # of pos lymph nodes and the breach of one. But at 8 years, he keeps telling me how my survival rate is improving. I think I'm at 75/25 now? And we hope for 10 years with also the same risk of recurrence as someone who never had BC. (As long as I maintain a normal weight with zero regain.) But I think he's gonna want me on letrozole for life. He keeps some of his patients on it for life, especially if they had a buttload of nodes positive and still active at surgery.

Do you all ever fast as a group?

5 minutes ago, AnewAngela said:

Do you all ever fast as a group?

Not formally like they do in Fung's group or with Resetter's on FB. But some of us announce our fast and others join in on that day. I think we all do it a bit differently.

Welcome to the group though! What forms of IF do you practice?

I follow 18:6. I just started a 24hr fast after dinner last night. Right now I feel like I may go until lunch tomorrow. Fingers crossed. And I’m excite to find this group. You all are great

Interesting convo with my NUT yesterday.
I weighed in at the office at 138.8 (forgot to weigh at home, but later in the day and with clothes on it’s about a 1.5-2 pound difference)

My NUT is an athlete and she’s quite trim and fit.
Here are the takeaways from my convo with her.

1. She doesn’t think I’m in any way underweight. In fact, she told me it’s probable I could lose another few pounds and not to panic if that happens.
2. She still wants me under 40gm carbs (total, not just net) daily. Any extra calories she wants coming from fats
3. Speaking of calories, she says it’s not uncommon at all to still be under 1,000 daily at a year out. She told me to try to at least get in 800, but that if I wasn’t hungry and was getting my protein In, then don’t sweat it.
4. Re IF: she’s not a proponent of IF, but she’s not against it either. Again, as long as I can get in 800 calories and at least 65gm protein and 96oz water, then she said I can eat in whatever interval works best for me.

It was a good appointment and I really needed to hear those things.

New to this thread, and to IF. Today is my first day of 18/6 eating. Anyway, during your fasting hours, do you eliminate ALL calories or is it ok to have coffee with half and half? Do the calories from the cream mess with the benefits of IF?? Thanks.

On 02/20/2020 at 11:35, Briswife15 said:

New to this thread, and to IF. Today is my first day of 18/6 eating. Anyway, during your fasting hours, do you eliminate ALL calories or is it ok to have coffee with half and half? Do the calories from the cream mess with the benefits of IF?? Thanks.

I’m not a purist, so I don’t count an ounce of milk, protein shake, or cream.
Some people do, so I’m not entirely sure what the right answer is.

@Sheribear68 Are you working tonight?

Just ate some cake and feeling guilty.... I think I need this thread ?

I’m not a purist, so I don’t count an ounce of milk, protein shake, or cream.
Some people do, so I’m not entirely sure what the right answer is.

Thanks! Appreciate your answer!

On 02/20/2020 at 13:45, FluffyChix said:

@Sheribear68 Are you working tonight?

Yup. Till 9pm. ?

I have a question. Sorry if it’s been asked already - I haven’t read through the entire thread yet. If I choose a 20-4 fast schedule, am I able to drink protein water during the fasting time? It has 70 cals, 9 fat, 2 carbs (no sugar) and 15g of protein. Otherwise, I won’t be able to hit my daily goal of 60g of protein because I can’t eat or drink enough in that 4 hour window.

Will the drink ruin the fasting results? And if not, is it better to stretch drinking the protein water out over a few hours or drink it quickly?