AIBU to be worried by this PT's advice to fast every day

[Whatisgoingonheredear]

Sorry to post in AIBU but I couldn't find the right topic.

DH used to have an eating disorder which he only told me about in recent years and I was devastated to never have noticed. He'd make himself sick after eating, regularly.
He stopped doing this a couple of years ago.

He has recently hired a PT because he is struggling with weight loss. DH is NOT in any way obese, he exercises daily and just wants to be a bit more slender so you can actually see the muscle he's worked hard to gain. Fair enough.

He acknowledges his family traumatised him about food/exercise as a child and this likely contributed to his previous eating issues. He's recently got a lot better with all of this but just wants to drop a few kilos in a healthy way. He's asked the doctor for blood tests as he struggles to lose weight despite eating well and exercising regularly, closely tracking his fat intake etc. The doctors brushed it off.

He followed the PTs plan and hasn't shifted anything. The PT has now told him to stop eating, basically. They've said he shouldn't eat anything until 3pm every day except protein shakes. They use a colour coding system for processed food and prior to telling him to stop eating, he got a "red" day for having one biscuit bar and a slice of bread.
Prior to signing him up, DH told this person he had an eating disorder previously, to which the person said sort of "we all have eating disorders mate" and skimmed over it. Didn't ask any questions.

I've expressed my concerns to DH but I'm really worried about this.
I understand the purpose of fasting but you shouldn't have to fast daily to lose weight and personally I think the PT should be sending DH to the doctor and not have ignored his history with food.
I just want to see if anyone knows if this is common practice? I have a PT myself but she promotes loving your body for what it is capable of and doesn't make it about weight. This other one promotes weight loss, dropping dress sizes, and I've even seen him use the pig emoji on his socials...

I don't want to over react if fasting in this way would be considered standard to kick start somebody's metabolism but I'm worried.

Hi,
Given your DH’s history, fasting is v bad advice. Many, many PT’s are v poorly trained. What is this PT’s qualification in nutrition? Probably FB or TikTok!
What is your husband’s BMI? If it is in the normal range, he shouldn’t be trying to lose weight. Is it that he wants to look cut & have a visible six pack? Difficult to do, esp if he is over 35.

I would quietly contact the PT and explain DHs situation and why you are concerned.

Fasting is very bad for EDs... I know from experience. It encourages obsessive thoughts about food. TBH, I think that most if not all diets and eating plans are bad for ED sufferers... Even the super healthy, food positive nutritionists encourage a preoccupation with food.

Fasting is very bad for EDs... I know from experience. It encourages obsessive thoughts about food. TBH, I think that most if not all diets and eating plans are bad for ED sufferers... Even the super healthy, food positive nutritionists encourage a preoccupation with food.

I think very few people in real life can achieve that ripped look without some form of disordered eating tbh, unless they already had the genetic predisposition to it. All the ones i know seem to live solely on chicken and eggs!

I've had eating disorders in the past and anything that gives me rules around food is a sure fire way to trigger a relapse I'm afraid.

When fasting I just slide into an inevitable state where I'm trying to push the 'window' further and further into very unhealthy patterns. If any food becomes 'red' or banned I take it to the extreme and develop an obsession with removing every single trace.

Yes UPFs are bad and it's sensible to r REDUCE them but trying to eliminate them all together with a history of EDs is very dangerous territory I'm afraid. This will likely set up a cycle where DH eventually starts to binge on the banned foods and / or binge during the eating window which then triggers the vomiting. Equally, the behaviours were so ingrained in me that I even managed to binge regularly on the allowed food!

Trust your instincts and try to suggest that DH changes PT and looks instead for a dietitian or even a therapist who has experience with EDs. If he's 'struggling' to lose weight (when he sounds like he's at a healthy weight anyway?) then I'd be worried that regardless of this PT he's in the danger zone for kicking off an ED anyway.

Like everything some PTs are better than others. Some promote severe restriction to get results, which is fine for people who have a good relationship with food. But it doesn’t sound like the right fit for your husband.
Some promote healthy sustainable ways to lose weight which would probably work better. Most PTs aren’t really taught anything about nutrition. In fact the qualifications to become a PT are actually really basic and if that’s all you’ve done you don’t really know anything about anything.

Id suggest he finds another PT with a more balanced view. Weight loss is not linear and takes time and patience

I’m a PT. I think he should sack his PT, he sounds bloody awful, his advice and strategy is a total red flag.

It’s likely that your husband is still eating a bit too much, so he is in calorie maintenance rather than a deficit, lots of people struggle with this.

Regardless, if he’s had an eating disorder before, it is well beyond the scope of practice for a PT to support with, his PT shouldn’t be advising him at all regarding nutrition. If he wants to lost body fat and wants support with it, a dietician is the way to go.

I’ve actually lost a client over this before, she had previously been hospitalised with anorexia in her teens, and as a 30 something yr old, she wanted to lost fat (was already a very healthy weight). I explained why I couldn’t help her with that side of things and she went to someone else who didn’t care about ethics.

Anyway, sack the PT. There are really great PT’s out there, this isn’t one of them.

The only accurate thing he said is ‘we all have eating disorders’ because if his business is mostly with bodybuilding competitors they mostly do have eating disorders

My dh did this for a long time. It did nothing for him. When his fasting time was up he'd just eat twice as much. I think occasional fasting has benefits if you're trying to clean house so to speak, but doing it daily doesn't improve metabolism, mentality, or anything else ime. It will just sharpen your focus on food and create more problems I'd think.

I don’t think fasting per se is bad, it’s actually very healthy for the body.

However, fasting but with protein shakes is not fasting, and will offer zero benefits other than less calories, and many protein shakes are highly processed and full of rubbish!

Re wringing disorder and fasting, I actually find it helps me. But I’ve also done a lot of work on myself both emotionally and physically and so am in control of what I eat.

Id just keep the communication open between you and DH and perhaps both start researching various healthy diets and lifestyles.

But basically only having protein shakes till 3pm then eating normal food really isn’t extreme or shocking and unless the person really hasn’t recovered from an ED shouldn’t cause any problems.

A doctor is not the right person to give advice on achieving what is effectively a vanity weight.

The "ripped" look is very, very hard to achieve if you are not genetically predisposed to extreme leanness. Photos of ripped men are deceiving and are often achieved by extreme measures who are not sustainable in the long term. Frequently they own more to steroids and airbrushing than a healthy diet and safe training.

Sounds like your DH has replaced one unhealthy habit/obsession with another. Also, the PT is shit.

Not an expert but I think restriction like this is surely a bad plan for someone with a history of eating disorders.

Whats your OHs view?

I reckon this advice did not come from a PT.

Don't do this. You don't call and make decisions like this for another adult, especially if you haven't tried actually talking first.

Oh for god's sake bin this prick. Say I, as a PT. 'we all have eating disorders mate' - he needs reporting for that comment. I wouldn't usually criticise another PT but for me this is terrible unprofessionalism that could re-establish dangerous eating habits.

You can't not eat until 3pm. That's literally disordered eating. And good PT worth their salt is very careful with clients who have a history of eating disorders. The goal is to build a healthy relationship with ones body as well as meeting fitness goals over time, setting lifelong behaviours that are healthier and more productive.

That's shit advice from a PT. Fasting isn't meant for every day. Its increasingly causing heart problems because of those who see it as a way of life and certainly not for people who have disordered eating. People think it's a healthy way to live. It really isn't.

The look he wants is solid to get and it can't really be sustained.

@kittylovesbiccies oh no, don’t do that! He’s not a child. Astonishingly bad advice.

How is it fasting when you’re having protein shakes?
Anything that sets rules though is likely to be triggering for someone with an ED.
Your husband was wasting the GP’s time with his question about why he can’t lose weight, and should instead have been asking about ED services. It rarely goes away.

There is nothing wrong in principle with fasting daily but that PT sounds ignorant and dangerous and is perpetuating ridiculous food myths. Not good. However for your DH the only way he will lose weight is if he's in calorie deficit. I'm sure he can work out a way to achieve that without some dubious plan from a PT.

I agree with this.

Plus, it's not fasting anyway if he's still having the shakes?

Its not fasting is it if he's having protein shakes, which are highly processed and full of artificial sweeteners. I'd feel dreadful if I lived like that.

Shorter periods of fasting can have excellent results but its best to do the longest part of the fast overnight, e.g. have an "eating window" that closes at say 5.30pm and then don't eat anything else until breakfast the next day.

Get a different PT.

The reason DH wanted to go to the GP was incase he has thyroid problems or similar. I have a BMI that is considered obese (I don't look it) and it turns out I have multiple health conditions rather change the way my body responds to food. For a long time I was told it was poor food choices, over eating or not enough exercise but everyone was wrong.

DH has fasted before a couple of days a week and it hasn't done a great deal for his weight. My concern is that this guy hasn't asked enough questions about DHs history to avoid triggering him.

I encouraged DH to go to a nutritionist instead of a PT but this person won him over.

The PT clearly knows nothing at all about eating disorders (and barely anything about nutrition in general). I'd therefore not trust him to have a good understanding of any of the rest of his job.

Do everything you can to persuade your husband to bin him and get proper advice from a new PT for training, and for the weight from a registered detitician or registered nutritionist (not thr same as just 'a nutritionist', who can be someone without any qualifications) with specific expertise in eating disorders.

He is in a calorie deficit every day. This is why he wanted to get his thyroid and testosterone levels checked.