Intermittent fasting

[JessicaM321]

Hi

I am needing to lose some weight and wondered if the 5:2 or 16:8 is ok to do with having cirrhosis?

J

[Fabrica10]

The usual advice is to eat little and often. Not sure 5:2 or 16:8 would be suitable but ask your dietitian.

[Kristian]

Hi Jessica,

Intermittent fastinguis just another fad diet. It's just another way of getting you to take in less calories, just in a more extreme way. Will you lose weight, yes, but no shit sherlock, if you only take in less than a thousand calories a day you're gonna lose weight. You don't need to line the pockets of some so called diet guru to find that out. (I think you can tell I'm not a fan, lol).

Intermittent fasting it's no more beneficial than taking in the same amount of calories by any other method. Indeed, given its so extreme it will almost be impossible to sustain long term and that means any effects will not be sustained long term and you'll end up back where you started.

With cirrhosis, getting sufficient nutrition in to meet your bodies needs is hard enough. There's no need to make it harder by starving yourself.

Having a weight loss goal is useful though. Both for general fitness and especially if the cause of your cirrhosis is NAFLD. But you can achieve more manageable and sustainable results without resorting to such extremes. Be sensible with your approach. The NHS website has plenty of good advice on this subject. Follow that and you'll lose weight in a way that is manageable, and more importantly sustainable. The simple way to lose weight is just to use more calories than you consume. It really is that simple. The good thing is, your body uses quite a lot already just keeping you alive everyday. You can then just supplement that with a bit of extra activity, for example 30 mins walking uses up roughly 200 calories.

What you eat will very much depend on where you are in your liver cirrhosis journey. If you are well compensated than a normal approach to dieting as described on the NHS website should be ok. However, as you get towards the later, towards more decompensated stages, then it becomes a bit more complex and nuanced. At that stage it's more about just get stuff in, lol.

Getting some advice from your gp practice will also be a good idea. We are all different in our journeys and what is right for one may not be for another. I think most now have weight loss advice available and they'll be more than happy to help, even if you have to wait a little for an appointment.

Hope thats helpful and good luck with your journey.

[BritishLiverTrust8 Moderator British Liver Trust]

Dear JessicaM321

Here are the links to information about cirrhosis on our website, which you may find useful

britishlivertrust.org.uk/in...

britishlivertrust.org.uk/in... (including a suite of publications towards the bottom that are downloadable or can be posted)

If you would find it useful to talk things over, our nurse-led helpline is open Monday 9am to 3pm and Tuesday to Friday 9am to 4pm on 0800 652 7330 excluding bank holidays.

Best wishes

British Liver Trust