Question:
Can fasting help break a plateau??

I am 5 months out from open RNY, and my weight loss is really slowing down. I have lost almost a 100 pounds, but lately I keep having a lot of plateaus. I still have at least 50 more pounds to lose. Can fasting for 24 hours once a week help? I read somewhere that it might. I am also finding out that I can eat a lot more than I used to. ( I was transected and given the ring) I can actually eat 4 chicken nuggets at one sitting now! I feel so bad about that. Can fasting shrink your pouch back down a little...at least temporarily?? I am exercising, and getting all my water and most days come very close to getting all my protein in. I dont understand why my weight loss is starting to slow down so much! Will fasting occasionally hurt me or help me? Thanks for any advice! (open RNY 7/23/02 -95 lbs)    — Shawnie S. (posted on December 22, 2002)

December 22, 2002
Shawnie - I can totally relate to being frustrated with plateaus, but if this is your first one, relax because if you are 100% of your water, exercise, and protein, it's probably your body has hit a set point; one that is where your inches are catching up with the weight loss. Have you been measuring yourself once a month? If you are, then you'll notice that you are probably losing inches. Also, if you are at weight that you used to weigh for a long time, it's also possible that is where you'll stay for a little bit and then the weight loss will continue to go down. Be patient. Also fasting is not a good idea because then you are not getting any protein in at all and that's not a good thing. Are you a distal or proximal RNY? How many proteins are you drinking and how much food are you eating and what kinds? Carbs are a bad thing and will also slow down the weight loss because you are getting in lots of sugars. My surgeon's guidelines are to avoid milk and sugar all together. What about your's? I hope these help you. You can also email me privately and I'll help as much as I can. Good luck on the 100 lbs in 5 months!! (08/28/01 60" distal RNY starting weight 230 lbs weight now 125.)
   — trtorrey

December 22, 2002
Plateaus do suck, don't they? I don't think fasting will hurt you but I'm not sure it will help you either. Your body already thinks you are trying to starve it and thats why it plateaus, so if you deny it more food, it may try to slow the metabolism down further and hold onto the weight even harder. The best advise I have heard to get over plateaus is to recheck your pouch rules: protein first, lots of water, lo carbs and sugar, no or little snacking, exercise. If you are sticking to all this, I would suggest perhaps adding a protein shake a day to your current diet, mixing up your exercise pattern and increasing the water. As for eating more, don't feel bad, it is supposed to happen. Our pouches do stretch over time-again, they are supposed to. We can't survive on the little bit we eat the first few months. We cannot continue to lose large amounts of weight every month and not become anorexic. We eat more which slows down the loss- slows it, not stops it- so that eventually the body will stop losing and end up at a reasonable weight.
   — Cindy R.

December 22, 2002
I would definitely *not* start fasting. Fasting could do one of two things: (1) Cause your body to believe it's starving, so the plateaus get worse; and (2) Cause you to miss the opportunity to learn the most important lesson of this surgery, which is how to live successfully with the pouch (not be tempted to go back to the funky or extreme diet tricks that helped make all of us obese in the first place). The one thing fasting is highly unlikely to do is help you achieve permanent weight loss.<P>You have done wonderfully to lose 2/3 of your excess weight in the first five months (and that's 100 pounds! Woo HOO!!). Since you're exercising, and getting in the water, and you're hip to your protein needs most days, it sounds like you're on track. You probably already know that it's not realistic to expect to keep dropping 20 pounds a month like you have been so far, and that exercise builds muscle, and all that good stuff. Maybe you should even be eating even more (four chicken nuggets don't strike me as a particularly huge meal, but if they're from a fast food restaurant, you wouldn't want to eat 'em too often because of the fats & carbs). It's hard to say without more info, but please be gentle to your system and let it heal -- don't starve it! :D
   — Suzy C.

December 22, 2002
Up your protein, lower your carbs, eliminate sugar and up or/and change your exercise. This will help, but remember 100 pounds in 5 months is AWESOME and above average. Your body does need time to catch up. Good Luck!
   — ZZ S.

December 22, 2002
I did alot of fasting PRE OP... and got so that after 7-10 days of fasting I could'nt lose even a pound of weight! As for my body, fasting put me in survival mode and I could'nt lose "any" weight.
   — Danmark

December 22, 2002
hi there :) dont panic, youve done so well! :) i had lost 120 lbs at 6 months out and that is when i noticed i could eat a bit more food too. ive lost 170+ now but wow i have platues and it goes very slow now but like other posters have said, although the lbs are not coming off or they are coming off slow, i continue to notice my cloths getting baggier and baggier so the inches are still going which is cool! i would love to lose another 50, i wish all of us the best of luck!!! hang in there girl!
   — carrie M.

December 23, 2002
I recently had to have a colonoscopy and instead of having to drink that gallon of horrible stuff, I requested to only have clear liquids for three days. And then drink the 4 oz phososoda. It was great because although it was very difficult to go back to clear liquids, I lost 7 lbs and I had been plateauing for about 3 mos! Now, I dump on everything again and can only eat a little bit. Much less than I did before the clear liquid fast. I am losing again! It works!
   — Mylou52