Intermittent fasting and haven't lost a pound!

[Lilifer]

What the hell am I doing wrong??
For the last ten days have done 18/6, 17,7 and 16/8 everyday - NOT ONE POIND LOST

I AM LOSING MOTIVATION 😥

It's better to combine it with focusing on high protein, high fibre nutritious foods with some fats so you are satiated and don't end up in the cycle of glucose and insulin spikes from high amounts of carbs.

It should be a way of naturally reducing calories if you don't compensate in the eating window.

As the metabolism slows as women go through middle age, women can end up with depressingly low levels of calorie intake to maintain/ lose weight. Building/ maintaining muscle mass can help and has its own health benefits. It doesn't necessarily help the numbers on the scales, but it does help the body to have a healthier composition.

Sean Casey on Facebook gives really good solid weightloss advice. I like him. He says fasting is BS and it all depends on being in a calorie deficit. He lives in the real world and gives solutions that are sustainable in our daily lives. I'd definitely check him out if I was you.

Yes I am gonna look at reducing what I eat in the window - but I thought I was being good.
For example fasted 18 hours till 1pm yesterday, had bowl of porridge for lunch and nothing again till 6 when I had steak, broccoli and a couple of small potatoes - doesn't seem like a lot to me and that the sort of eating I've been doing for 13 day/ granted I've a desk job so don't expend much energy throughout the day

I will do thanks!

• it didn't work

It was a link

I lose weight on 1600/day - I'm 5'10" and 61. But you have to weigh your food to make sure your calorie count is accurate. A scrape of butter, a bite of a cookie, a teaspoon extra salad dressing and boom that's another 150-200 calories added to your total. So weigh everything, put every morsel that passes your lips into an app like My Fitness Pal (do not add back exercise calories as these are way overestimated).
I'm also doing 14:10 or 16:8 but that's because eating in a tighter window lets the reduced calories make me feel fuller than if they were spread out.
I've also given up alcohol which has had no effect whatsoever! But I'm sure my liver is happier!

Do the original 5/2 fasting.

500 calories on 2 days, normal eating on the others.

I draw the line at weighing my food, if that's what I have to do, count every morsel and every bit of salad dressing then I'm not prepared to do that. I have a lot of Will power but at this stage in my life I would rather live with the extra pounds than count calories. I maybe have an attitude problem to thud weight loss business but my committment stops short of that 😅

I found when I first did this I felt great but not weight lost at all. Tried again a few months after with a different eating window and suddenly it worked and significant weight loss.

Have you tried that?? Does it really work and how the heck do you manage on 500 cals in a day 😞

What eating window did you pick the second time?

Then there's your answer.

I'll give it another two weeks, maybe reduce my dinner portions a bit and see what happens 🙏😅

It took a good two weeks for me to see any change. When I do it I do the 18/6. Suddenly two weeks later I had a massive empty and I started loosing - almost like it was working it all out inside then a big loss. Water and fat perhaps suddenly had a drop. I prefer it than other diets as it gives me energy which I need at my age. It also seems to reduce my sugar cravings.

Introduce an extra walk if you can (lunchtimes if home too late) little exercise changes seem to help , just to crunch a few extra calories a week which add up.

Agree.

im not sure what you’re thinking op. Just not eating for a certain amount of hours doesn’t make you loose weight, if you’d rather have the calories and keep the pounds then that’s what you should do.

The reality is this - if you eat more calories than you utilise you will not lose weight.

It took a good 4 months for the lbs to drop off. I've lost just over a stone. I do 6pm - 10am. I have a day off at the weekend. I think I've lost it because I don't smack after 6pm.

Yes it is brilliant, felt amazing and lost a good amount and kept it off.

It takes a couple of weeks to adjust but you stop feeling hungry on the fast days and you can move the days around to fit in life events, just never concurrent.

The other types of fasting are far less effective for me.

I preferred to eat my 500 calories in one meal in the afternoon/evening but others do several smaller.

I just had a Coke Zero (guilty pleasure) in the morning and water to drink all day. Then a big in size but low calorie meal. Something like an enormous stir fry, lots of veg and protein but no noodles or rice.

Normal food and normal portions on other days. I found it really easy to get through a fast day by promising myself I can want whatever I want tomorrow - but in reality on normal days I usually didn’t eat anything really daft. Just enjoyed normal meals.

I think the obvious answer is that you are eating too much in the time when you are eating (binging because you're hungry?) and not being active enough. Honestly, I gave up alcohol and did absolutely nothing else in terms of changing my diet and only slightly increased activity (though I'm quite active anyway) and I lost over a stone without trying - I assume because no alcohol meant none of the empty calories that were keeping weight on. It was that simple.

I’ve been IF since the end of July and I’ve lost 20lbs an average of about 2lb a week. Although I’d say it’s more skipping breakfast. I am making sure I am eating between 1200-1600 cals by logging everything in MyFitnessPal. Maybe try weighing and tracking for a week to see how much calories you’re eating each day.

This makes my heart sing!

5:2 for me was really successful. But you do have to be conscious about not overeating the non fast days. Food on a fast day-a can of soup for lunch and a plate of veggies (not potatoes) for dinner. Early night on fast days!

So fast days have to be together or split up during the week?

I am perfectly cognisant of the calories on calories out formula. I suspect that the issue is that my portions are too large. I eat really good nutritious food, but simply too much of it in my eating window. I shall address that and reduce accordingly but if no loss after another 2-3 weeks I shall try 5/2 and if that doesn't work then to hell with it, I'll live with the extra weight 🤷‍♀️

Another one coming on to say that 5:2 is better. I lost 3 st in 3 months on that about 5 years ago. Have put some back on now and am losing nothing to speak of on 16:8.

Re 500 cals day.
Huge bag of stir fry vegetables with added prawns and soy sauce was my Monday meal and chicken breast and vegetables or Annabel Karmel fish pie was Thursday's. Lunchtime was a wafer thin ham or prawn salad. I took two Bel-vita breakfast biscuits with me to work to nibble on before lunch if I was desperate. I didn't count cups of tea.

The family had left home by the time of my dieting so it was easy to have an early evening meal then go to bed at 7 to stop me thinking about food!

On normal days, I stuck with the breakfast biscuits and a lightweight salad for lunch and just used c. 1000 calories on an evening meal. It goes without saying that cakes, crisps, chocolate should be kept to a minimum. After a couple of weeks I really got into it and looked forward to the 500 cal days! Bit sad I know. Good luck!