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!!!

Just now, sillykitty said:

As I mentioned last night, I had a good, no hunger IF day yesterday.

I only had one meal, some leftover Kofta Kabab and rice. I took pics, but then realized it looks like the weight Fluffy just lost , so I'm not gonna post it! I was planning to top up with a Protein Shake. But I just had that nice, satisfied full feeling for the longest time. I didn't want to ruin it by washing it away. So didn't meet Protein goals yesterday ( @FluffyChix will be so disappointed w me )

The only negative is I've been in a stall for a week now, up and down a little every day. Not unexpected considering the big drop I had after my vacay. But a little frustrating, none the less.

I don't believe one or two days of not meeting our protein goal will kill us. It's the long-term under eating protein that does damage. At least IMHO - as a backseat, un-educated, un-accredited doctor on the internet. hehehe I am now playing with the not eating if we're not hungry a la @GreenTealael and @sillykitty!! See how we influence each other?

The stall thing is very disappointing! Maybe your body is just doing the stealth thing where the fat cells re-fill with water until they're sure you aren't gonna send anymore fat deposits their way and finally give up the ghost--releasing the stored water in a whoosh? ((hugs)) and stay the course!!

7 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

The stall thing is very disappointing! Maybe your body is just doing the stealth thing where the fat cells re-fill with Water until they're sure you aren't gonna send anymore fat deposits their way and finally give up the ghost--releasing the stored water in a whoosh? ((hugs)) and stay the course!!

I'm just putting it down to out behavior and the scale act independently of one another in the short term, and only align over the long term. At least I keep telling myself that

Awfully quiet in here ....

So, I'll start with the good news ... yesterday was a good IF day, ate within a 6 hr window and hit protein and supplements, but not fluids. I even went grocery shopping while fasting and stayed strong. (I rarely grocery shop anymore, either quick TJ's run, or have them delivered)

So for the bad ... I'm just going to throw this weekend out the window. Met a friend for lunch, I had Fried Dumplings, Noodles w Black Bean Sauce (Jajangmyeon), Fried Shrimp w Chili Sauce & Cheese Corn (yeah, really called that). I'm currently making Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers for a Fight Night/Mexican Independence Day party tonight. There will be a taco guy there that makes authentic El Pastor, on the spit. There will be lots of alcohol, unsure if I will have any. And then tomorrow I have brunch plans, and am craving a Michelada. So basically, this weekend is f'd

Oh, and I went grocery shopping, again (ran out of bacon for the poppers), and was not so strong. Combo of interesting items and cheap prices are my downfall, thanks Aldi!

4 hours ago, sillykitty said:

Awfully quiet in here ....

So, I'll start with the good news ... yesterday was a good IF day, ate within a 6 hr window and hit Protein and supplements, but not fluids. I even went grocery shopping while fasting and stayed strong. (I rarely grocery shop anymore, either quick TJ's run, or have them delivered)

So for the bad ... I'm just going to throw this weekend out the window. Met a friend for lunch, I had Fried Dumplings, Noodles w Black Bean Sauce (Jajangmyeon), Fried Shrimp w Chili Sauce & cheese Corn (yeah, really called that). I'm currently making Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers for a Fight Night/Mexican Independence Day party tonight. There will be a taco guy there that makes authentic El Pastor, on the spit. There will be lots of alcohol, unsure if I will have any. And then tomorrow I have brunch plans, and am craving a Michelada. So basically, this weekend is f'd

Oh, and I went grocery shopping, again (ran out of bacon for the poppers), and was not so strong. Combo of interesting items and cheap prices are my downfall, thanks Aldi!

I love Aldi's lol, enjoy your weekend, live life... Cry while you're frantically doing lunges in Monday lol

Let me tell you all:

I was born to be a vegetarian. I had to do a cleanse just to set my system right... I will still be cleansing for a few more days, thanks Smooth Move tea! Lol That's why I was a no show... it was a shorter fast for me because , well it's the weekend and I don't usually fast on Saturdays. Today I had oatmeal (rare) and yogurt together, the salad below and a mini kind bar (something else but I can't remember) & banana protein shake in iced coffee (really good) thanks @FluffyChix

MPF says I had 1000 cals, 92g protein, 70ish of carbs, I ignore fats, I eat enough nuts to know it high...

So here's my salad.

Black bean and avocado salad. Water tea coffee on repeat...

Edited September 16, 20187 yr by GreenTealael

@FluffyChix wow wee lady, I’m happy to see you’re going strong! Been a long time since I’ve logged in. Glad to see an IF thread that is pretty active too. Based on how much I can eat (which is way more now that I’m 1 yr and 4mo out), doing IF is definitely easier. Trick for me is a cup of coffee in the mornings and lots of water. I’ll do my utmost best to chime in and share, but I won’t promise I’ll be by most everyday like I used to. ?

Blessings to all of you doing IF. It’s a great lifestyle to adapt. Not about what you eat (which of course we need to be mindful) but of when to eat. Happy IF-ing!!!

6 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

Let me tell you all:

I was born to be a vegetarian. I had to do a cleanse just to set my system right... I will still be cleansing for a few more days, thanks Smooth Move tea! Lol That's why I was a no show... it was a shorter fast for me because , well it's the weekend and I don't usually fast on Saturdays. Today I had oatmeal (rare) and yogurt together, the salad below and a mini kind bar (something else but I can't remember) & banana Protein Shake in iced coffee (really good) thanks @FluffyChix

MPF says I had 1000 cals, 92g Protein, 70ish of carbs, I ignore fats, I eat enough nuts to know it high...

So here's my salad.

Black bean and avocado salad. Water tea coffee on repeat...

More beautiful meals .....

6 hours ago, sillykitty said:

More beautiful meals .....

I literally threw everything in the bowl

hahahahahahahhahah

10 minutes ago, GreenTealael said:

I literally threw everything in the bowl

hahahahahahahhahah

Then you're an artist by nature!

Good morning lovely peoples!!! Gosh where to start?!! Lemme recap so far. And I just want to confess right now, that my birthday is Tuesday and so the official "birthday weekend" celebration began Friday night--which was "barely" a DD of 500 cals. OMG. Yesterday let's just use @sillykitty declaration and say, it was a wipe-out. I do not claim anything IF about it. LOL. Not the eating time, nor the food, nor um, anything else. There was bad behavior everywhere. And if you called it anything, I would call it an UUAD (Up Up Andaway Day) LOL. Probably 1500 legitimate calories or more--the most I've had in a single day since before surgery.

We started the day with me going to my support group meeting and actually eating breakfast around 10am. I was on track there! Yay me! Had 1 boiled egg, 1 boiled egg white and 1/2 of the second yolk and about 3oz of cantaloupe with a bite of honeydew and black coffee.

Then lunch I actually made a better choice! But I ate the entire guts of the sandwich and I can only guestimate that it was about 4oz of grilled salmon. I had a Greek burger made with grilled salmon instead of hamburger, but it had lots of feta and olive mix (like you get on a muffaletta sandwich). I didn't intentionally eat the bun, just used it as a delivery device and peeled off the bread as I ate. I'm sure I still got a tiny bit of the bread that stuck places, but maybe the equivalent of a small bite--so I did count that. And I did have 4 french fries. Ommmmmmmmmmm!!!! Bad, bad, fluffy!

Then it pretty much went to the Hells. We did our errands and then went to the Groove Festival that had these Beatles and 70s cover bands and we met our friends at our little wine bar. Gosh we had so much fun and the music, laughter and visiting was great! (And I had 2 glasses of wine. We were there for several hours, so it was over about 4 hours or more.)

Then we finally went to dinner and I had 1 1/2 meatballs, half of a small salad with Greek dressing, a couple of bites of rolls and about an ounce of chicken. (And another glass of cabernet.) The bad news is I did not practice eating within 20-30minutes--dinner took about 2 hours and I drank the wine with my food. Soooo bad, bad, behaviors.

The only thing good about it is that there was room for me to be sooooo much worse and that I did make a few small good choices, but it's scary to see how things add up so quickly and even in 1 or 2 meals. No wonder I made it to the MO Ball. *le sigh*

So today I'm having a DD, very pristine and by-the-book. No wine shall appear on the horizon! I do have one last birthday dinner tomorrow with my fam and I am going to try to have iced tea rather than lift a glass. Don't know what that day will look like, but will try to make it as abstemious and IF as possible. Then Tuesday, my actual BD, will just be a normal day (DD) again.

The only other good thing to come out of this, is that I'm still fluctuating between 160 and 161lbs. So it's not as if I'm getting those 4-6lb shifts. So there is that. I will take comfort in that.

Once this weekend is over, I will be back to business as usual and really pushing to break into the 150s. My RD is very pleased with my progress and with my food choices and told me again yesterday that she really wanted me to consider whether or not I needed to lose anymore weight. I told her I should take her to the woodshed and rip off my pants so she could see the fat still hangin on my derriere and thighs (aka my elephant scrotum). Then she would encourage me to continue losing. LOL! I won't lie--hearing these words from people is dangerous ground for me...I'm not at my goal. And I'm afraid I will let rationalization in that will keep me from pushing myself to achieve my goals for once in my life. Oh well...gotta go exercise like a semi-invalidic beast. Ha!

5 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

Probably 1500 legitimate calories or more--the most I've had in a single day since before surgery.

If we all had terrible weekends like this, we'd never have met on these forums! I agree that comments like your NUT made are very damaging. It is so easy to become complacent and say, it's good enough. And if that's what your goals are, that's great. But if your goals are bolder, that seeps away your resolve, imo. Even though you've lost a lot of weight and your health is much improved, I completely understand your desire to lose more. Especially with the links that have been shown between fat and breast cancer. Go for it, girlie!

19 hours ago, sillykitty said:

Awfully quiet in here ....

So, I'll start with the good news ... yesterday was a good IF day, ate within a 6 hr window and hit Protein and supplements, but not fluids. I even went grocery shopping while fasting and stayed strong. (I rarely grocery shop anymore, either quick TJ's run, or have them delivered)

So for the bad ... I'm just going to throw this weekend out the window. Met a friend for lunch, I had Fried Dumplings, Noodles w Black Bean Sauce (Jajangmyeon), Fried Shrimp w Chili Sauce & cheese Corn (yeah, really called that). I'm currently making Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers for a Fight Night/Mexican Independence Day party tonight. There will be a taco guy there that makes authentic El Pastor, on the spit. There will be lots of alcohol, unsure if I will have any. And then tomorrow I have brunch plans, and am craving a Michelada. So basically, this weekend is f'd

Oh, and I went grocery shopping, again (ran out of bacon for the poppers), and was not so strong. Combo of interesting items and cheap prices are my downfall, thanks Aldi!

Yay on having an awesome IF day girlie!!! Six hour window AND hitting your protein goals is super!! (Spanking with a wet noodle for not getting your fluids. hehe Bad kitty. )

Your day (and food) sound so frickin delish. Love the poppers, sids, al pastor AND fight night! And Micheladas used to be one of my favorite summer drinks!

Ugh to Aldi's AND TJs! So. Dang. Hard. It's like running the gauntlet!!!

2 minutes ago, Orchids&Dragons said:

If we all had terrible weekends like this, we'd never have met on these forums! I agree that comments like your NUT made are very damaging. It is so easy to become complacent and say, it's good enough. And if that's what your goals are, that's great. But if your goals are bolder, that seeps away your resolve, imo. Even though you've lost a lot of weight and your health is much improved, I completely understand your desire to lose more. Especially with the links that have been shown between fat and breast cancer. Go for it, girlie!

Wish we had a kissy emoji to Like something and a huggy emoji!!! ((hugs)) Thank you ladybug!!! I agree. I just MUST force myself to continue despite the fact that I "feel" good in my body (other than the pain from and deficits from treatment that are always gonna be a part of my life--I'd hope some of it would be weight-related--but it doesn't appear to be the case...)

15 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

Let me tell you all:

I was born to be a vegetarian. I had to do a cleanse just to set my system right... I will still be cleansing for a few more days, thanks Smooth Move tea! Lol That's why I was a no show... it was a shorter fast for me because , well it's the weekend and I don't usually fast on Saturdays. Today I had oatmeal (rare) and yogurt together, the salad below and a mini kind bar (something else but I can't remember) & banana Protein Shake in iced coffee (really good) thanks @FluffyChix

MPF says I had 1000 cals, 92g Protein, 70ish of carbs, I ignore fats, I eat enough nuts to know it high...

So here's my salad.

Black bean and avocado salad. Water tea coffee on repeat...

Honey. I'm really glad to see you going back to embracing your vegetarian/vegan roots. I think you have to do you. I honestly do. Taking that other stress away is infinitely important!!! Maybe you will explore and find room there for some tiny bit of compromise--maybe things like eggs or fish -- and maybe not. Meh. You will figure it out. You are one smalrt cookie and you know your body best!!! (Maybe I'll lift a cup or two of Smooth Move in your honor today! )One thing I do know from reading the current studies--is that fiber, especially prebiotics/soluble fibers appear to be very important. Today. hehe--that could change tomorrow. And the other thing I know is your meals are beautiful!!! I'm a died in the wool omnivore--but I would love to join you at your table any day. GORGEOUS food. Love the marinade. I'm going to try that soon!!! Love that salad!

1 minute ago, FluffyChix said:

Wish we had a kissy emoji to Like something and a huggy emoji!!! ((hugs)) Thank you ladybug!!! I agree. I just MUST force myself to continue despite the fact that I "feel" good in my body (other than the pain from and deficits from treatment that are always gonna be a part of my life--I'd hope some of it would be weight-related--but it doesn't appear to be the case...)

((BIG HUG)) My best friend has the type of breast cancer that is very estrogen sensitive, so even though she's quite thin, she is almost entirely vegetarian since most meat products and dairy have at least some estrogen. When we go out to lunch I research new places for vegetarian food. She will occasionally eat fish, but she doesn't really care for it. Her cancer is in remission and she's working hard to keep it that way.