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!!!

23 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

We miss you!!!

Ahh ..

Well this week is completely f'd for both IF, and any kind of reasonable eating!

For example, I've been gifted, and have sitting in my room a duffle bag (duffle bag!) of delicious treats! And I know my dinner plans tonight will have even more delicious edible gifts given

These are my lunches from the last 2 days

Mixed Plate, Japanese Beef Curry (top) & Hamburger Steak (bottom) w rice in the middle

Mixed Plate, Fried Noodles & Hamburger Steak w rice & mac salad

Today I have breakfast, lunch & dinner meetings, and also the start of Mai Tai weekend.

So, I'm super scared of the scale come Monday morning

Holy fu*k!!! The meals in and of themselves...well I'd like to roll in them. LOL. But the DUFFEL (am I yelling--it really feels like I am!) full of choco mac treats? Dayum...

What did you bring them for pressies?

1 minute ago, FluffyChix said:

Holy fu*k!!! The meals in and of themselves...well I'd like to roll in them. LOL. But the DUFFEL (am I yelling--it really feels like I am!) full of choco mac treats? Dayum...

What did you bring them for pressies?

I know

For pressies, lol, nothing except my presence, and my company credit card, commissions and funding!

Aloha, baby.

28 minutes ago, sillykitty said:

Ahh ..

Well this week is completely f'd for both IF, and any kind of reasonable eating!

For example, I've been gifted, and have sitting in my room a duffle bag (duffle bag!) of delicious treats! And I know my dinner plans tonight will have even more delicious edible gifts given

These are my lunches from the last 2 days

Mixed Plate, Japanese Beef Curry (top) & Hamburger Steak (bottom) w rice in the middle

Mixed Plate, Fried Noodles & Hamburger Steak w rice & mac salad

Today I have Breakfast, lunch & dinner meetings, and also the start of Mai Tai weekend.

So, I'm super scared of the scale come Monday morning

Your meals look untouched as usual lol but I'll give you my secret for when I buy a bag of something (it's always nuts who am I kidding) that's too large for me:

A. I usually eat it while walking

B. I pour most of it out without looking so whatever is left is what I can have

(And all of the squirrels, racoons and possums think I'm Cinderella)

So I win!

The scale doesn't own you!!!!

Hawaii does lol

2 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

Your meals look untouched as usual lol but I'll give you my secret for when I buy a bag of something (it's always nuts who am I kidding) that's too large for me:

A. I usually eat it while walking

B. I pour most of it out without looking so whatever is left is what I can have

(And all of the squirrels, racoons and possums think I'm Cinderella)

So I win!

The scale doesn't own you!!!!

Hawaii does lol

Or is that Snow White...

Which one feeds/loves animals?

Just doing a 16:8 today and a calorie restricted day. I'm pretty exhausted today. I think that's from the leftover gunk from the cold and I didn't sleep well last night, so I don't know if I will walk or not.

TGIF everyone! How are y'all doing?

Well, it is Saturday here, and beautiful spring.

Over three days this week, my weight went to 135, then jumped to 137 and now back to 136 - maybe the salt in the salty chilli and lime cashews I have been having to lift my calorie intake. Feel very relieved to have my surgeon say ‘don’t bother, 800-1000 calories is fine, you’ll stop where you will

stop’.

Bought great tan coloured trousers at a second-hand shop yesterday, and a couple of work trou too at end of winter specials. You’re right @GreenTealaelthe ‘normal sized’ clothes sales are amazing (and used clothing availability too) - big girls are seriously hampered in these! Clothes shopping, jogging days and and gym for developing bits that are starting to look like muscles - my three new obsessions!

Tonight, making smoked chicken, leek, mushroom and pea pie with cheese-stuffed jalapeños for dinner. Good protein - doc says I need to up it, so tried a milk/peanut butter/cocoa/vanilla protein shake. Nasty... but good protein!

Thanks for this thread. My wife has lost about 5kg (10lb) since my surgery, wants to lose another 3-5lbs so is trying IF following you all. No dietary change (except no late-night snack like muslei) but no food after 7pm, or before 10am.

Hope it works for her.

Edited October 6, 20187 yr by Biddy zz

8 hours ago, Biddy zz said:

Well, it is Saturday here, and beautiful spring.

Over three days this week, my weight went to 135, then jumped to 137 and now back to 136 - maybe the salt in the salty chilli and lime cashews I have been having to lift my calorie intake. Feel very relieved to have my surgeon say ‘don’t bother, 800-1000 calories is fine, you’ll stop where you will

stop’.

Bought great tan coloured trousers at a second-hand shop yesterday, and a couple of work trou too at end of winter specials. You’re right @GreenTealaelthe ‘normal sized’ clothes sales are amazing (and used clothing availability too) - big girls are seriously hampered in these! Clothes shopping, jogging days and and gym for developing bits that are starting to look like muscles - my three new obsessions!

Tonight, making smoked chicken, leek, mushroom and pea pie with cheese-stuffed jalapeños for dinner. Good Protein - doc says I need to up it, so tried a milk/peanut butter/cocoa/vanilla Protein Shake. Nasty... but good protein!

Thanks for this thread. My wife has lost about 5kg (10lb) since my surgery, wants to lose another 3-5lbs so is trying IF following you all. No dietary change (except no late-night snack like muslei) but no food after 7pm, or before 10am.

Hope it works for her.

Hiya!!! You inspire me so much girlie!!! Congrats on the 135lbs. Def vote that the weight uptick is the salt in the chili/lime cashews but man do they sound delightful!!! Yum! Love your new obsessions! We go thrifting almost every Saturday. I feel such satisfaction to walk out with regular size clothes for $1-$3!! Ha!!!

Love your developing bits. Is it very hard working with a trainer? I seriously could not take the Biggest Loser trainer screaming crap. Stressful!

Dinner sounds good! LOL your shake sounds complicated. Why is it nasty? JAPB. LOL. If you hate the taste of your shake your clearly are NOT adding enough peanut butter. Ha! I heart my Vitacost Peanut Butter Slim. For only 4g of the powder by weight, it masks a miriad of shake sins.

Welcome Biddy's Wife!!! Woot!!! And congrats on your 10lb loss so far. That's OUTSTANDING! You can totally do 3-5lbs more with IF and probably more. Hope you'll come hang here with us--both of yas!! Yeah...make your own low carb muslei if you absolutely must eat late at night. But try to only have decaf coffee or decaf tea plain no sweetener or milk/cream.

Here's a YouTube explaining more on IF by Dr. Fung that I just saw yesterday. Fascinating stuff! Gosh I hope the science on this doesn't turn out to be bogus cuz it sure sounds miraculous!!!

Therapeutic Fasting on YouTube by Dr. Jason Fung

Ok, well got my exercise in today. Yay!! I can breathe a little better, but it's definitely still goopy in my chest when I get my heart and respiration up there! And boy am I much more tired afterward. Like shattered. Completely shattered. Part of tiredness/exhaustion after exercise/exertion is common for me. I had hoped it would go away completely with weight loss and surgery, but it is looking like I'm stuck with the after-effects of chronic fatigue post-chemo/radiation. It sucks, but I've learned to manage it somewhat even though it does limit what I do. It's still MUCH better than when I weighed 287lbs that's for sure. Everything in life is relative.

Today is an UD. I am doing a 16/8 IF and will have my first meal around noon, but am trying hard to get around 1000-1100cals in for the day with really strong protein at around 70g. I'm looking forward to eating lunch! LOL. I found these hatch chile turkey burgers at the HEB last week, so Mr. F had grilled hamburgers and ugly broccoli last night, and I had a hatch chile turkey burger with pico de gallo and ugly broccoli. Dang! It was delish!!! I felt like I was sinning, but instead, I kept the day under about 575cals and got in my protein too while doing a 16/8 IF. (Yesterday I did a DD.) And the best part about it? I didn't get nauseated within 30 minutes after eating like I probably would have with the higher fat beef. (I do pine for my beef, but it is not liking me so much these days...yet I still tough it out with occasional ribeyes with all fat trimmed away...)

Lemme repeat for anyone stumbling upon this thread. IF is NOT difficult. As Dr. Fung says it's about what you DON'T eat, rather than what you eat (in it's purest form). But I like jackin' around with things and I combine about 3 different protocols during the week cuz it keeps things mixed up and lively round heah. And it amuses me. It's also still working for my weight loss. I'd been stuck and stalled when I tried to increase my cals to around 800-850ish area and now I'm having days where I'm eating 1000-1200 cals and I'm still losing. So it's a win win.

Menu for Today: 1130cals; 73g protein; 52g fat; 39g carbs; 11g fiber; 28g net carbs; 17g naturally occurring sugars

L-hatch turkey burger with BH lacy Swiss, applewood smoked bacon, avocado, greens, tomato, onion, cilantro and baby carrots on the side. (I'm using the turkey patty as the "bread" and sandwiching everything inside of it.)

AS-yogurt/cott cheese/blueberries/walnuts/fiber cereal threads

D-grilled salmon, asparagus, chopped salad with evoo dijon vinaigrette (homemade)

Thanks for the link. We are enjoying it. We are half way through - but heading off to early-Sunday-morning-gym - full upper body, lower body and core workout today - and modest-HIIT (MIIT?) on the elliptical in the middle.

What to do about the non workability of the persistently failing of the ‘eat less and exercise more’ school of advice - which is pretty much every single school of advice, is the take home from Dr Fung - who, I must say, is very believable, authentic. Other famous doctors, like Dr Gundry, when I watch I feel like he is a bit of a shyster just selling a mystery ‘secret herbs and spices’ product. Fung isn’t selling anything (that I have seen yet) but his facts and figures on metabolic rate so fit my 40 years of annual weight-loss/weight-gain cycle.

So post RNY our basal metabolism is lower. Sure. My resting heart rate has dropped from 58/59 to 50/51 this year. I am always cold. Always. My question is - after two, three, four years - does it start to lift? If our calorie intake lifts to say 1200 or 1400 does our metabolism lift too? Does anyone know?

Edited October 6, 20187 yr by Biddy zz

Ok, finished that link. Most excellent. A couple of questions for my missus.

1. She gets ‘the shakes’ when she goes a few hours without food. I have never had that, but I see it in her hands, knees - and she responds by eating a snack. Although she thinks ‘the shakes’ is a response to high carbs food she used to eat - bagel, bread etc. which she eats less of now, so she has less shakes anyway. Will she just ‘get over this’ with IF in time?

2. Dr Fung talks of whole day (alternate day) fasting. Does anyone have a link about the ‘stop eating at 7pm, start eating later - say 10am’ fasting that she is trying? How long does insulin take to break down! Will 12 hours fasting be good? 14? 16?

Thanks!

2 hours ago, Biddy zz said:

Ok, finished that link. Most excellent. A couple of questions for my missus.

1. She gets ‘the shakes’ when she goes a few hours without food. I have never had that, but I see it in her hands, knees - and she responds by eating a snack. Although she thinks ‘the shakes’ is a response to high carbs food she used to eat - bagel, bread etc. which she eats less of now, so she has less shakes anyway. Will she just ‘get over this’ with IF in time?

2. Dr Fung talks of whole day (alternate day) fasting. Does anyone have a link about the ‘stop eating at 7pm, start eating later - say 10am’ fasting that she is trying? How long does insulin take to break down! Will 12 hours fasting be good? 14? 16?

Thanks!

Ok so I'm oncell right now and will answer more tomorrow. It's more complicated for her. ? U should buy his book the complete book of fasting. I'm reading it now.

@Biddy zz and @GreenTealael Your question about Mrs. Biddy getting shakes refers to hypoglycemia. You need to get a blood glucose meter and monitor it. I think Dr. Fung says some of this is to be expected in the early days (shakiness), but am not quite sure? One thing for sure is that she is a sugar burner by virtue of her long-standing vegetarian lifestyle--as most SAV diets are defined here. But it may be diff in NZ.

Funny, my observation of a large portion of Americans who claim to be "vegetarian" are posers. What they are REALLY and TRULY claiming is a myth and the reality is that most of the so-called vegetarians are really just "pasta and rice, bread, crackers, chips and cheese addicts who don't eat meat protein". I know that sounds harsh but I've seen it in action here and these people are MO. I eat more veggies and berries than they do even as a RNY post-surgery patient. And example of a bonafide vegetarian would be @GreenTealael. Her menus and food choices are beautiful, well-rounded and balanced (and are also lower carb to the point of keto).

So I would think the easier route which she may not want to do would be to go low carb for a while first. Which will also take those 3-5lbs off of her in a hurry. You can still do that with vegetarian lifestyle, you just have to be very tricky about where the protein comes from...is she vegan or vegetarian? Does she eat eggs or fish or dairy of any kind? Do y'all have quorn protein there?

Then once she is used to having cut out all "white stuff" and most grains, it gets WAY easier to IF for longer periods of time.If she doesn't want to do that, then she needs to try IF in baby steps. And that would be slowly delay breakfast for an hour longer each morning, but it's a slow walk down. Keep the nightly food curfew and try to get her to cut out sugar and white flours, subbing for whole grains, legumes, etc and slower acting carbohydrate while adding in LOTS of varied leafy greens, cruciferous veg, brassicas, onion/garlic/leek/green onion, and great herbs., and limiting the serving sizes of root veg and winter squashes.

But again, please get Dr. Fung's book on The Complete Book of Fasting and don't take dietary advice from me. I'm just a schmoe on the internet and only can say what works for me according to my super-messed up metabolism!!!! ((hugs))

Edited October 7, 20187 yr by FluffyChix

Thanks fluff

She has been low carb for most of this year, as I moved to a low(ish) carb life following the surgery. That said I mean under 50 a day - her was a little higher (largely because she is physiologically attached to her morning granola, although she has given up the pre-bed granola helping!), but gone are chips, crackers, pasta, rice and most bread. That is how she has dropped down to 60.5kg - the lowest in the 18 years we have been together.

And exploring it with her yesterday after we watched the video (and have bought the book) she is pretty sure the shakes have become a much less frequent thing, which all fits.

So today she is moving from 14:10 to 16:8 fasting. In fact, last food by 7pm and then missing breakfast all together, and starting her day with an 11am lunch is the idea.

Q - does 1/2 sweetener in evening tea stimulate insulin production? You say avoid sweetener, and I just wondered why...