IF.. it really might be the answer

I'm EJ, 49 y/o, fem, mom of 3. Battled weight my whole life, but after kids i really put on my heaviest weight. I was 299 when i had my first child! (21 yrs ago) and it was devastating. I then did liquid diets, shakes, bars .. lost weight (and gallbladder), gained weight .. and was always miserable. I had sleeve almost 6 yrs ago and i was 285 surgery day, and got down to 227 and the loss just stopped. (about 8 mos). I was happy for a while, but then i wasn't. i did gyms, trainers, WW, 1200 cal diets, i don't drink alcohol or soda. coffee black .. no bread .. still nothing. (had thyroid checked .. all of that) always told i'm normal.. lol
Then a friend said she lost 40# doing IF. I started watching jason fung on youtube .. and an learned about Gin Stephens "delay don't deny" highly recommend! I started my version of IF 3 weeks ago by eating breakfast at 11, sometimes noon .. and over the course of 2 weeks i lost 2 pounds. This past week i've been opening my window closer to 2:pm and i'm 219 as of this morning! I haven't seen the 2-teens in years .. i have more chapters to read.. but i really do think IF is the key to healing/ correcting hormones which is the key to weight loss ð?'? I feel like after all of these years of dead ends and feeling like something was wrong with me .. it's really wonderful to have something finally click

It does work for some people. But it does not work any better than regular dieting. The only way to weigh less is to eat less than you burn.

Hi there!

I've been doing IF for almost 3 years now, and it's been a game-changer. I'm about 13 years out from my RNY.

I've read Gin Stephens' "Delay Don't Deny", "Fast Feast Repeat", and "The Obesity Code" by Jason Fung.

Currently, I am maintaining a 60lb weight loss doing 16:8. When I was actively trying to lose, I was doing 18;6.

For me, I have gotten the clear from my internist and team of docs from my surgeon's office. As a matter of fact, they even put out a flier encouraging IF.

There is no need to "diet" when doing IF, as it is not a diet. It is a lifestyle. I do eat a vegetarian diet, no meat, no milk. I occasionally eat cheese. However, I do enjoy bread, grains, and the occasional small amount of sweets as I am able to tolerate (I have RH). In discussing this with my primary physician, I remember almost crying and telling him I wish I had discovered IF in my 20s. It may have saved me from doing every diet from Atkins to the cabbage soup diet to the three-day diet, and even from having RNY!

I drink water and hot black coffee until I am ready to break my fast. I feel better at 47 than I did at 27.

Here is where I will disagree with White Dove, in the post above. And that's okay because life is not one size fits all. It is not about calories in calories out with IF. I haven't counted calories in years. This is explained in much more detail than I could do, by the insulin response, glycogen depletion, etc. that happens when fasting. For me, I simply eat until I am satisfied and then, I'm done. A beautiful thing happens when you are doing IF. Your body starts to really crave healthy food. It's almost as though you know you have this time frame in which you need to feed your body well.

For me I've seen a huge difference in my inflammation in my joints, my weight is down to my lowest adult weight ever, and there are just so many other changes it's been amazing. Happy to talk about it more with you, and share my experiences. I'm excited for you!

That is a wonderful testimony. So glad it did work for you and you shared your story.

I honestly wish I had known about it sooner. It's been the biggest life changer for me, and the only thing I've ever been able to be consistent with, aside from not drinking anything for 30 minutes after meals. At 13 years out I really can eat almost anything, but thankfully I still have restrictions and a small pouch from following the rules. But regain happens, and I was creeping up to 185. I'm back down to 130, hoping to hit 125 again. At almost 48 years old, that's no small feat with a slowing metabolism.

I do like being able to switch it up every now and then if I need to break it early and then adjust the next day. I do know if I ever stop fasting I will have to watch calories religiously and I just don't ever want to go back to it. I know it's not for everyone, but I'm so thankful it's worked for me when nothing else did. Even my RNY only got me down to 150 or so. Isn't it crazy?

I also made other changes to be fair. No alcohol made a huge difference too.

Christina135...Hi..Im one of the many lurkers on this site...i love OH...I'm intrigued by your IF journey... Well actually very interested ..do they have an IF site at OH or...??? I really enjoy your thoughtful enthusiastic post on IF...

I know this can be a hot button topic but here's my 2 cents worth.

Prior to my RNY last year, I practiced IF with 48 hr fasts and up to 7 day fasts in my attempts to reverse the Stage 3-4 NASH affecting my liver. I lost about 35 pounds all together and then had a Fibroscan which showed no improvement in my liver. That is when I said yes to RNY and now my fatty liver is 100% reversed though the scarring is still very, very advanced. The specialist said it takes up to 5 years after RNY for significant improvement (which she said could be reversal to stage 2-3).

Anyway, that being said, I loved IF. I ate a low-carb protein forward diet just like the dietician wanted but I added IF back into the mix prior to surgery. When I had the RNY, I felt ready to eat as my surgeon's program wanted. But I do miss IF b/c I felt so good on it. I feel really good following my current program having lost nearly 110 now.

Eventually, probably after all my weight is off, I've had skin surgery for my abdomen (I already meet the criteria for that) and my lab consistently show I get enough protein regularly, I will talk to my dietician about it. I'm sure it won't look like b4 when I was trying to lose weight to save my liver, but probably 1 or 2 days of 24 hr IF. Currently, based on the Dr. Fung protocols, most of us already do follow a form of IF. I eat all my meals in about an 8 hour window and that is 16:8 IF. I don't snack or eat outside of that window.

Ironically, that is how families generally ate when I was growing up. Get up, have breakfast, go to work or school and then have lunch, back to work or school and then home with supper at 5 or 6 p.m. No snacking either. No one thought you had to keep eating throughout the day to prevent hunger (the old eat more-weight less approach). On Friday or Saturday night, we would have popcorn with each of us getting one cereal bowl full along with a bottle of soda (16 oz) split between all four of us kids. Not sugar-free either. It was pretty much the same with my friends though each kid might get one 12 oz soda. I can remember all three (yes, 3!!) kids who were overweight in my school (not class, but school) between 1st and 6th grade.

Thank you US government for SAD and all the diabetes, liver disease, thyroid disease and obesity that has followed it anywhere it has been picked up around the world.

Okay, off my soapbox.

PS During the time that I was working on reversing my liver disease, I became part of Dr. Fung's formal program. It was an excellent program and they helped me a lot. It was pricey, though.

Sue999, I am sure you know this, because you had medical guidance for IF/Liver issues, but others beginning their weight loss journey may not. The liver is required to clear all fat of weight loss and it needs to be as healthy as possible to begin this journey.

There are other things that may help- including drinking more water and less coffee(am working on that one),and reducing personal stress, food/herbs-ginseng,dandelion, licorice root, garlic, ginger and turmeric are included in a short list...of a herbal search.

Herbalist Practitioners would be able to give a prescription and often do consultations over the phone/with your specific information in hand.THEY are Licensed to do so.

In my searches for answers to my issues, diet/health related, I found...there are specific herbals that assist in the removal of toxins:even fats, and heavy metals.Those serious medical issues should not overlook this aspect of care...and it is often overlooked.

Hepatic specialists do recommend milk thistle to help,( in end stage liver failure, for a neighbor.)...and our choice/amount of fats play a large part in the storage of fats. For instance in informational reading this last few weeks, I found...When seed oils are heated in microwave, they become transfats, the answer to this , for me, has become to use these for non heated, and low heated-stove-top uses.

Eating cleanly and avoiding as many chemicals in our life as possible, also assists our internal organ health- it puts less stress on our filters...kidney/liver... ie... Boiling water, Vinegar, baking soda and Peroxide clean and sanitize almost everything in the home.Aluminum is in many ingested /topical products- antacids and deodorants..can you say... alzheimers anyone-

Hope these things ill give you some more ideas to assist you and others n their journey to desired health..I have been on this road a long time and am still learning and chasing rabbit trails...to improve my health. (edited for missed letters).

Hi Sweet Potato:

Thank you for sharing this information. It sounds like you have been on your own personal health journey, too!

Just an FYI, but coffee is actually recommended for people who have liver disease. Here is one article from the Hepatic Research Journal:

https://hrjournal.net/article/view/3696

This one is from the NIH:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5440772/

Coffee has a lot of health benefits and is no longer the goblin it was once thought to be. My liver specialist has me drinking 3 cups of coffee per day and said decaf or high octane, it doesn't matter. Coffee is good for the liver. One theory is that it interferes with fibrosis formation which is the scarring aspect of liver disease though the actual mechanisms have yet to be determined. Studies show a decrease or slowing in advancement of the scarring which is what leads to cirrhosis and liver cancer. The biggest issue for many, I think, is for people who get GERD or reflux from coffee. Fortunately, that has not happened for me as I had RNY. No GERD since.

While the preop diet does decrease the amount of fat in the liver and thus shrinking it (which gives the surgeons more room to work and the liver overlies the stomach), it is the weight loss after bariatric surgery which will clear the liver of excess fat. There is always some fat in the liver, just a small amount.

Probably the overall worst food for the liver is sugar. Table sugar is 50% fructose and HFCS is 55% fructose. This sugar is metabolized in the liver and stored in the liver as fat. So many convenience and canned foods contain one or both of these. Yes, fruit sugar is fructose, but we also get a bit of protein and fiber in the fruit, too. The canned and convenience foods are highly processed whereas the fruit is a whole food which apparently makes quite the difference. The office of the surgeon who did my RNY had done a surgery on me a few months earlier (I fell headfirst down a flight of steps breaking my back and doing some internal mischief, too). That is when they found the liver disease. They immediately said I needed to have bariatric surgery to lose significant weight ASAP. When I asked what caused this liver disease, they said sugar and starchy carbs (too much of them). Anyway, that horrible fall has prolonged, and possibly saved, my life. If not for that, I simply would have woken up in liver failure one day. So literally today is extra time! That was quite the 180 in how I think about that fall.

I do take ACV each day as well as turmeric. Vitamin E was suggested but I have low platelets due to the liver disease and choose not to add that in since it can contribute to bleeding. Research on milk thistle finds it may be helpful in early liver disease but that ship has already sailed for me. It certainly is a slap upside the head when you run into unanticipated health issues, isn't it?

There is new research every week, and I try to stay up on it RE liver disease issues. My liver specialist really knew very little about the effects of bariatric surgery on liver disease. For my last checkup (I have a liver US every 6 months as well as platelet monitoring every 3), she surprised me with her new knowledge. She was quite excited about it's ability to reverse NASH in earlier stages and later emailed me a link to the study showing potential reversal back to about stage 2-3 for my scarring which would make a huge difference in the level of risks I live with. So it felt good to think I had a part in triggering a doctor's curiosity in this direction. Perhaps she is suggesting it for some of her patients whose disease isn't as advanced.

Sorry for being so wordy. Covid has my social outlets so limited that I find I'm Abby Gabby when I get someone's ear, LOL!

Sue999, appreciate your wordy response., i often find people do not want to listen to natural things.since i am not a doctor, and no longer a practicing nurse.I have hd much experience with various health issues and learn from many available resources...including info-mercials