advice for overweight 18 year old son

[lu9months]

hi, my son who was always slim and active put on 14kg over lock down and wants to lose it . he has started intermittent fasting and watching what he eats. he has an 8 hour 'window'. he lost 1.5kg in the first couple of weeks but hasnt lost anything in the last couple of weeks and is getting a bit disheartened. he isnt very active but does do boxing once a week. ive never had any luck with IF but my feeling is he should just keep going, and check he isnt over eating in his window - do you agree? im surprised he isnt loosing more since he has so much to lose, but he feels its very sustainable which is important. any advice appreciated, i dont want him to give up .

Hi, maybe if he moves his window to earlier in the day I.e he finishes eating earlier in the evening. It works for some people who hit a plateau. Also maybe healthier choices fruit instead of choc, fill up on vegetables and plenty of water. Hope it works out for him!

thank you, ill suggest that

In order to lose weight you ultimately need to burn more calories than you eat. Having an eating window can help this because it stops mindless night time eating but it's not magic. Maybe he should try tracking how many calories he is eating within his window for a few days - I think the most probably thing he needs to do is eat fewer calories. There are many ways to achieve this the key is consistency.

Tell him to get down to the gym, buy him a bike and tell him to get out on it and put in the KM. He must have mates to go to the gym with, play football with, go cycling with etc. At his age, weight should fall off him if he sorts out his activity levels, gets fit and builds up lean muscle mass, which is what young men’s bodies are designed to do.

Calorie counting would be better.

IF works for some people but for others it becomes disordered - binge/fast cycles.

If he has plateaued it is likely he is no longer creating a calorie deficit. A few things he could try;

• tracking calories on a free ap such as my fitness pal. He can use a bmr calculator to give him and idea of how many calories he should be eating


• moving more, setting a daily step target is a great habit to get into. Or maybe looking at something social that he can just enjoy, bike rides, 5 a-side football etc