I do not suggest fasting to lose weight. If you wanted to try fasting, it can succeed but should be done under doctor supervision.
I say all this when I am actually doing an intermittent fast starting in the hospital. The story goes as follows.
On Nov. 11, 2019 I went into the hospital because of difficulty swallowing. I couldn’t eat or drink. If I tried to swallow it went into my lungs – not good. They put me on a no food or liquid diet when I was admitted. The next day they came to put a line through my nose down to my stomach and hooked it up to an IV to supply me with food in liquid form. Putting the line in through my nose was terrible – the nurses had to hold me down while I yelled, “Stop!”
They didn’t stop and the line went into my stomach. I was fed food and liquid through this line for eight hours per day while in bed. For 16 hours I was not fed. This is intermittent fasting in its rarest form in the hospital. The next day they took the food line out from my nose and fed the food line directly into my stomach
I had multiple choices for which fasting system I wanted to get fed, such as:
– food every two hours, then nothing every two hours, repeated six times every 24 hours; or
– food for four hours then nothing for every four hours, repeated three times per 24 hours; or
– food for eight hours, then nothing for 16 hours, repeated for once per 24 hours.
The schedule for fasting was up to me and the doctors didn’t care, only that I get eight hours of food into my stomach per 24-hour period.
What I selected was food for four hours, nothing for four hours, food for another four hours then nothing for 12 hours. This worked out to being fed from 8 a.m. to noon, nothing noon to 4 p.m., then food from 4-8 p.m., then nothing until 8 a.m. Total of eight hours food and 16 hours no food. Intermittent fasting. It was interesting; while I was on stomach feed I was not hungry at all. This worked out well in the hospital for one month and at home for another 2.5 months, or until I could eat and drink normally. This was fasting the hospital way.
After one month I came home still on stomach feed. During the 3.5 months with stomach feed, I retained my 140 lbs and was not hungry or thirsty. After I started eating and drinking by mouth, in 2.5 months, my weight slowly increased to about 170 lbs. I had regular meal times plus small snacks. I went into the hospital at 180 lbs. and came out at 140 lbs.
Controlled feeding and fasting has kept me at 170 lbs. A week ago, I started exercising four times per week. I lost three pounds.
At home, the cancer pills that I take are three pills in morning, with empty stomach for one hour and two hours empty stomach after taking the pills. In the evening I take two cancer pills with an empty stomach for one hour before the pills, and two hours empty stomach after the pills. The pill requires a fast – no food in the stomach for three hours.
This amounts to three hours in morning with no food and three hours in the evening with no food, for a total of six hours eating.
Therefore, every day I fast for six hours per day. With the stomach feed I only had food for eight hours per day – almost the same except I can get in two more hours of food during the cancer pill’s six hours.
My message is that when you are being treated for serious illnesses, intermittent fasting is best. Should you lose weight by intermittent fasting or counting calories? Many tests have shown counting calories is quickest because you eat better with less sweets and fat building foods. But the doctors require a fast when controlled medicine is required. I don’t like counting calories.
The best to me is a balanced diet with regular exercise. Presently, I am on a controlled fast. Food from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Only water, and lots of it, the other times. This is what I will be doing next to get to 160 lbs for the next month while I am still on cancer pills.
Hope you can understand all this. Fasting requires discipline.
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Bob Murray is retired from the graphic communication (printing) industry and has been living in Seaforth since 2015. Murray was diagnosed with Dementia in 2013 and works hard to stop the progress of the disease. Follow him on his blog entitled Voyage with Dementia – https://myvoyage553264702.wordpress.com.
