Stalled on weightloss

[Discombobulation2020]

I’ve been doing the 4:3 since the start of lock down and am now 30 pounds down and into the normal bmi range (a few pounds lighter than I’ve been since 2014!), but I’ve been stuck at the same weight for two months. I’m pretty good on the fasting days though was getting greedy on the non fast days, but I’ve stopped that now.

I think the stall has happened for two reasons:

1. I’ve started exercising again, having done nothing while the weight fell off. I’ve not lost any weight since I stopped being a couch potato! Anyone else find that? It’s just a one hour PT session and one or two short runs a week, and lots and lots of walking to and from the school gate/football/hockey with kids etc.
2. I don’t calorie count at all - never have. It’s too hard as we eat almost all home cooked so impossible to work out calories when dishing up for whole family. On fasting days I just don’t eat until dinner then have a kids size portion of whatever I’ve cooked for the family. Pretty sure I’m not going over 500 calories, but can’t be 100%. How do others manage calorie counting when eating from a big family homemade casserole pot?

Will give up all unhealthy food on non fast days again too. But still given that I barely eat 3 days a week, can’t work out why the weights not falling off like usual!!! I’m not changing shape either - jeans and belt still the same and big belly still sitting there, refusing to budge!

Gosh that's hard, 2 months is a big stall when you are doing the more 'extreme' 4:3 - I'm not an expert and it might be worth venturing into the 'big' 5:2 thread where the likes of bigchocfrenzy are super helpful with questions about fasting. I can only assume something may be going on with the type of food you are eating if you are reasonably sure you are sticking to 500cals on FDs and at or near your TDEE on NFDs - are you getting enough fruit, veg and protein? Are you drinking enough? Water retention and constipation are common reasons for big weight loss stalls?

Re how to calorie count for family meals, I sometimes use MFPs recipe tool for our common family meals- so I put in every that's gone into the meal - 500g meat, 1 onion, 200g beans, 200g tomatos, 1tbsp of oil for instance (I don't bother with herbs and spices as these don't really add anything). Then work out how many portions the whole pot should make and MFP will tell you the calories providing you don't take too large a portion - you could weigh your portion just once or twice to make sure your 'eye' isn't out? But like you I'd be surprised if a child size portion of a family meal like casserole has more than 500 cals unless it's got a lot of carbs or cheese in or on it? There should be no need to calorie count on a regular basis with a fasting diet but as you've had this stall it might be worth keeping a full honest food diary for 1-2 weeks to check whether there are any obvious areas of concern?

If you are in the healthy BMI range then weight-loss will always be slow. Are you sure you even need to lose more weight?

If you are determined to then I think you need to calorie count and weigh your food. You might well be eating more than you think. How many alcohol free days do you have a week? I find drinking really stalls my weight-loss.

Also I tend to sit at a similar weight for a few weeks then suddenly drop a lot when I'm losing weight so you could be in for some weight loss soon.

Regarding excercise, your muscles retain water while they are repairing themselves and becoming stronger so you might have lost fat but weigh the same due to water retention.