Intermittent Fasting

I'm really excited for you, and happy you're interested in trying! I can only speak for my experience, that it's been a game changer for me.

Hi Christina! I know this is an old post of yours, but I wanted to reach out. I had sleeve almost 6 yrs ago.. and i was 285, now 221 (stuck there for 3+ years) i recently "discovered" IF, Dr Fung and Gin Stephens. I've been trying hard to stick to 11am to 6, sometimes 7. I've been black coffee, low carb, low cals for years. i'm positive i've destroyed my metabolism. I've been working hard to kill my fat girl brain. So my questions are: you said you now do 16:8: has it always been that? Do you go longer? If so.. how? ( i get hangry by noon) i'm really just curious about the eating schedule.. and "fitting in" the protein and daily diet of food. Thanks so much for listening!

Can't wait to try this! Think I'm gonna try to ease into it this weekend. I think I'm gonna try having my 8 hour eating window from 12-8. It's going to take some getting used to because I'm used to eating breakfast at 6am on the weekdays. I wake up hungry. So it's going to be tough to get into the swing of things. But as long as I have my coffee, tea and water I think I'll be fine. I've just recently started drinking my coffee black. I do chew a lot of SF gum which helps with my hunger. Not sure if it would be ok to chew gum during the fasting hours though since each stick of gum technically has 5 calories? I'm excited to get started though and see what kind of results I get!

There's two schools of thought to it. Dirty fasting and clean fasting. Honestly, I clean fast because I'm older and I want the autophagy. HOWEVER. If you are already drinking black coffee, and sugar free gum helps you get through your fasting window, it is considered dirty fasting but shouldn't affect your weight loss.

I would eventually try to wean off of it, but in your first 3-6 months of fasting, if it helps you get into the groove, sugar free gum along with hot teas, black coffee, etc. can really help you get over the hump.

I use fasting apps (two of them, both free). Zero and Fast Habit. I love them both. I just set my timer when I have my last bite of dinner (or snack at night) and go. And you can tailor it to whatever time frame works best for you. When I first started I also did 12-8. I will tell you now, 12-8 seems like a LUXURIOUS long time to eat! And I do sometimes enjoy that long eating window on the weekend!

Thank you for the great info!!! I'm excited to get started! When is your eating window?

I do 12P-6P (eating window), most days. (18:6) Even on the weekends! One of the things that really resonated with me was that weekends aren't special occasions, so I do fast even on Saturdays and Sundays. I wake up and start my day with a glass of water (it helps wake me up) and then have a couple of cups of black coffee. When it was cold, I would sometimes have "emtea" which was just ho****er, which surprisingly was really good too and took the chill off.

Sometimes, I will break it early if I feel hungry, and sometimes, I stretch it out if I'm not. That's my favorite part of IF. I have even done 24 hour fasts (once a month usually) just because I wasn't hungry and it helped me get over the hump. The next day when I broke my fast, I started with something gentle and low on the glycemic index like watermelon, berries or veggie broth (some use bone broth).

You will find the longer you fast, the more you will adapt to it and can tailor it to what fits you best!

Wow that's awesome! I think the first few days are going to be rough for me because I'm so used to having breakfast at 6 and then a snack around 9 or 10. However, I know that if I start my fast earlier than 8 at night then that will also be a struggle for me since I like to snack at night too, but that's the habit I'm trying to break! I may switch it up once I get the hang of things and it's not so hard anymore. Good thing is I've already been avoiding not eating anything after 8PM so that part should not be too hard. At that point I'm about ready for bed anyway. It's going to be the morning that's gonna suck for awhile, but I'm determined to stick with it so that I can hopefully see some results and get out of this weight stall I've been in!

I would love more information on IF as it would apply to gastric bypass patients.

My biggest issue lately is U can't sleep, I take sleeping meds and I wake up multi times and I am hungry, so I eat cookies or chips, whatever.

I am 16 years post op and at a goal weight but still want to lose a few and maintain.

Thanks so much.

Oh my!

At 16 years out, (few years over me) we are pretty much able to eat almost like a "normal person".

I absolutely get where you're coming from. The cookies, the chips. You know those are what we refer to as slider foods. For me, those are emotional foods. They feel so good, hit me immediately. I know I reach for those because as soon as they are in my mouth, they start dissolving and I get that instant gratification.

If you're at goal weight, that is amazing! IF is no different for gastric bypass patients than it is for anyone else. I would recommend reading through this post, and there's a couple of books I have read that I really really enjoyed and learned a lot from.

Delay, Don't Deny and Fast, Feast Repeat (both by Gin Stephens).

The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung.

If I told you I don't reach for chips or cookies ever, I would flat out be lying. I just don't do it upon waking. I usually have them in my window. What I have really enjoyed is the appetite correction that has happened with the IF. Because my eating window is 6 hours, it's like my body has naturally started making me focus on feeding myself with nutritiously dense food. I don't know how else to explain it.

The sleeping meds you are taking, that can absolutely be adding to your waking up starving and reaching for whatever is closest. I dealt with that when I was prescribed ambien. I was literally sleep eating. I dealt with that for 8 years, anti-depressants, sleep aids, etc. I don't take anything for sleeping any longer, (prescribed). Now, I do drink herbal tea, and the occasional valerian root/melatonin supplement and that seems to work just fine for occasional insomnia (dr. approved).

Thank you so much for reaching out. I am interested for sure and will look into these books.

my sleep meds are Lunesta, and yes I think I sleep eat. I have tried melatonin 6 -10 mgs

but just doesn't work for me.

Thank you so much