Not losing weight

[margaritasbythesea]

I have been doing the 5:2 for a month. In the first two weeks I lost 2 kilos; in the second two I have lost nothing. I haven't changed what I am doing at all. I am also not eating too much on NFDs. What is going on?

There are lots of things I like about it but it is too hard a diet if there is no weight loss!

How much weight do you have to lose / what's your current BMI? The slimmer you are, the slower the weight loss is likely to be. 2kg in a month works out to be about a pound a week, which is a recommended rate for sustainable weight loss although I understand it's frustrating to put the work in and not lose quicker!

Have you calculated your TDEE?
It's possible you're eating back the calorie deficit from FDs on NFDs.

Have you read the main thread?

It has tons of useful advice and BigChoc is fabulous with advice.

If you do the TDEE calculator and tick the sedentary box (regardless of your activity level) this should kickstart weightloss.

Hi Margharita Some folk lose in fits & starts, not linearly. Averaging around 1lb loss per week is typical, unless you have a few stone to lose.

In most diets, 25% of the weight lost is muscle, not bodyfat. The loss in crash diets can be up to 50% fat. In contrast, Intermittent Buffered Fasting (like 5:2) has been proven in scientific studies to preserve muscle far better.
So, some other diets may have a higher total loss than 5:2, but then your body shape & body composition are worse.

Did you take your waist & hips measurement, to monitor ? Sometimes the fat loss shows there before on the scales.

I always recommend people start 5:2 by calculating TDEE for sedentary and using that, at least until you can judge the speed of weight loss.
btw, do NOT eat back exercise calories on FDs or NFDs. Most folk & gadgets seriously overestimate calories burned. Exercise usually only helps weight loss if you don't eat more.

Also, are you judging your NFD intake or have you actually logged calories with say mfp, to check if you average above sedentary TDEE ?

Sorry not to get back before. I suddenly had to deal with a lot of unexpected stuff. I will have a proper look at your ideas tomorrow. Thanks for replying.