First ever diet! Help please.

[Namechanged127865]

So as the title says I'm on my first ever diet. Was always very slim and underweight. Had Ds and kept a bit of baby weight so was a good healthy bmi (size 10/12).

Over lockdown I have piled the weight on and now my bmi has edged into overweight. I hate it. Hate that none of my clothes fit (I cant afford to buy any new ones) and I hate seeing myself in the mirror. So I've gone on the 16/8 diet after reading good reports.

Just got weighed after 2 weeks of 16/8. Calories of less than 1200 a day, no booze during the week and only a few drinks at weekend, started doing 2 cardio activities a week and I have lost nothing! Not even a lb ............

Feeling so deflated. Could anyone tell me how long it took to see some results? I've got about 1.5/2 stone to loose.

Thank you

Ah. Same problem here. I'm afraid I don't have the answer (hopefully someone else will come along ...) but we can moan together in the meantime.

My DH and I have just completed the first week of the Fast 800 diet. We've been eating 800 calories a day every day to kickstart everything, as per the plan.

We've followed recipes outside the book to the letter and weighed / counted EVERYTHING.

This morning, he has lost 9 pounds. I have lost a big fat zero.

And and and .... he has been sitting on his arse all week, and I've been to the gym four times and cycling everywhere on top of that (I don't drive). He's been a bit more liberal with carbs, whereas I've cut pretty much everything out.

Can you tell I'm cross?! ;)

He has quite a bit to lose (current BMI 35 ish, needs to lose at least 4 stones), and I have about 2 stones to lose (current BMI 26). Perhaps I should be drinking much more water?? I reckon I'm drinking about 2 litres a day.

I hear you. Hopefully someone will come along and tell us what we can do to shift things!

I found that when I did exercise at the same time, the weight took a bit longer to come off but stayed off. I imagine it was because I was making muscle at the time and when that kicked in, it helped burn more calories.

Last time I dieted it took 6 weeks to start losing weight - I honestly nearly cried and nearly gave up. But once it started coming off, it came off v quickly.

I also think it depends on your age. I'm late 40s and unfortunately it definitely takes longer as you get older!

I've read Feast Fast Repeat by Gin Stevens. She has worked with thousands of intermittent fasters and says not to expect any weightloss for the first month, in fact so.e women put on a couple of lb. But to take measurements and photos and use those to track progress. Two things are going on. Body recomposition - where you lose inches, but it doesn't show on the scales due to the additional release of human growth hormone during fasting. The second thing is healing. Inflammation subsides. The body prioritises healing over weightloss and releases visceral fat first, which is another reason why you see a change in your waist measurement before scales.
People with a lot to lose, lose more initially, as do people with a lot of inflammation or water weight.
The magic happens in month 3 and 4. Your glycogen stores have been depleted for a while. You've been in a keto fat-burning zone for many hours over the period (whether you give up carbs or not with intermittent fasting). You have lost visceral fat and your body relaxes, knows it isn't starving and let's go of weight.
You may see non scale improvements, such as better sleep, mental clarity, feel calmer.
I recommend that you listen to Gin Stevens Intermittent Fasting Stories podcasts. They are free.

If you do 5:2 instead, nearly everyone loses in the first couple of weeks

That's whether exercising or not.

It's likely that the big contrast between fast days and normal days gives the body a sharper kick, to start burning its fat

that's very interesting Diana

When you kick start a healthy lifestyle with excersise, it's not muscle weight that you add. You damage your muscles (which is actually a good thing) but they then store lots of water in a bid to repair them which means you can see no weight loss or even a slight gain. It will even itself out eventually, you just have to stick with it.

Thank you @Farcry66. That may apply to me. I've lost one measly pound so far.