It's not working!

[pennyfest]

I'm on week 3 of 16:8. (I've followed it loosely for ages but really sticking to it now.)

So I'm drinking lots of water in the morning. (Never hungry in the mornings anyway so haven't had breakfast in years and don't miss it.) A small lunch at work eg potato salad and a boiled egg, sandwich, wrap, vegetable soup. Then a coffee in the afternoon (a bit of milk and a small sugar- I've tried black with no sugar and I can't do it!) and a normal tea- pasta bake, jacket potato, chilli, curry, stew etc. I'm careful with potion sizes.

No snacks, no puddings, only treat really is a couple of boiled sweets early evening sometimes.

This is at least 6 days a week. I visit my grandparents one morning a week for coffee which breaks the fast but I don't really want to have to give that up.

Last week I stayed the same, this week I gained 1lb!

What next?! Where am I going wrong?

In itself it isn't a diet. Weight loss can occur, but it often isn't enough. It's still a very well evidenced good way to eat. So you need to look at calories and tdee and exercise. That said, I lost a stone quickly through a very low fat diet, have since returned to having fat but in a much more educated way and I've maintained the loss. I do the 16:8 and have benefited loads, i love it, but it isn't a diet.

I agree it’s surprising you haven’t lost anything after 3 weeks of 8:16. If you had v little to lose then it might be because the margins are narrow.

If you were on your period the week you gained weight that might be the cause of it.

If neither of these things are the case it might be worth investigating your hormone levels. Thyroid, testosterone etc.

I do feel better in myself, I definitely have more energy. I'm not great with exercise but I'm on my feet all day at work so I am moving a lot.

No idea about periods, I'm on the pill and haven't had a period in nearly 10 years. I'm stopping this at the end of the year and praying that makes a different to my weight!

Definitely not a small amount to lose- NHS calculator) I know it's not the best tool) says I'm at least 4 stone overweight.

To lose, you need to be in a calorie deficit. If you are not losing, you are eating too many calories.
Fasting is one of the many ways people can lower their intake of calories without having to count them. By skipping a meal, you naturally , or at least should, eat less over a 24h period. Other will have success by restricting a macro, be it carb or fat, however at the end of the day, it all comes down to calories.

Try to avoid bread at all times and cut down on pasta too if you can, as @User8743 says its ultimately down to calories. Checkout Cronometer if you're not already on it, it works for me, you get to see how much fat is in everything. Lentils and beans during the week instead of potatoes works for me too, and a brisk walk in the morning before eating anything ( if you have time ). Hope it goes well 😊

I was listening to Gin Stephens talking about this very point on her podcast recently. She said you often do put weight on in the first month, and to stop weighing yourself.

She said a better measure of whether IF is working for you is if your clothes feel looser and you feel generally better in yourself.

Joe Wicks calls the scales the sad step! And yet I still weigh myself, but know I shouldn't.

overall you need to be in a calorie deficit.

IF is a great tool and it obvs has benefits which aren’t weight loss related but if it’s fat loss you want then you do still need to be fairly strict with your calories across the week.

Pasta can be really easy to overeat in terms of portion size if you’re not weighing it out for example.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a nice large portion of pasta but if you’re not accounting for it then it’s really easy to be over your ideal calorie deficit level by 200/300. Do that a few days a week then you run the risk of cancelling your deficit entirely.

Agree with PPs, sometimes you just need to stick to something for a good few weeks, carry on as you were for another week or two. If you don’t see any movement then try monitoring your calories for a week and then reducing them just by 100 a day if still no movement.

Something that works very well with IF is opting for more protein and less carbohydrates, so swap out sandwiches once or twice a week for a protein rich salad (tuna, eggs, seeds, bit of cheese etc). You don’t need to cut ALL carbs but focusing more on protein will fill you up more and helps to stabilise blood sugars.

there are lots of things you might need try before finding exactly what works for you!

Why not add in a couple of days of 5:2 to kickstart your weight loss @pennyfest ? 500 calories (or 650 if you do two consecutive days). If you don't lose weight after a couple of weeks of combining that and 16:8 I would suggest a GP visit to get thyroid etc checked.

Thank you all.

I'm focusing on protein, I can try to cut down carbs (it'll be a challenge! Bread and pasta are my favourites!) I can also try calorie counting too.

I've considered protein shakes for lunch as a bit of a kick start.

I'm not ready to give up yet!

and what happened @pennyfest