It’s just not working.

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Has anyone found fasting counterproductive for weight loss?

I started trying to lose weight the first week in August and eat smaller portions of low cal food for a week-ten days and lost the half a stone I had gained from the week previous when I’d been in holiday (mostly water, I know).

I started to not feel hungry in the morning so went to lunch before eating (two meals per day). I ate the same meals and calories as I had eaten the previous week but with one meal missing and the weight loss stopped. I thought that being a woman, it may be my cycle etc. I maintained two meals per week for another week and then over the last few weeks, went to one meal per day some days with two meals on other days. My overall calories were tracked meticulously and yet I’ve lost nothing at all in four weeks.

I am three stone over my maximum weight so have lots to lose. I’m also very tall (5ft 11) and have gone between 1500 calories and down to as low as 1150 some days.

It’s really making me so frustrated as I keep hearing ‘calories in, calories out’ and I know I am 100% not overeating. People say if you were a child who was starving in Africa, you’d lose weight so you’re doing something wrong (family saying this) but it just won’t shift.

Any advice?

Hey there,
for a really interesting discussion on the "calories in/calories out" theory, I can really recommend all of Gary Taube's books. If you are shorter on time, there are a lot of discussions with him on YouTube.

The short version is, if you reduce calories in, the body reduces calorie expenditure, via the basal metabolic rate and voluntary movements, in order to maintain current weight. Yippee.
So, as counter intuitive as it seems, upping the calories can in some cases help with weight loss.

Best of luck, and hope you find something that works for you.

I'm 5'6 and 11stone, have lost 3 stones in the past then recently lost half a stone and looking to lose another half.

I do OMAD and probably eat 2000 calories, basically starter, main and dessert of non diet food.

I do wonder if you need to eat more. Have you considered every other day fasting? Eat 3 reasonable meals one day then a single low calorie meal then next day or even nothing at all. It is supposed to help your body realise that it's not starving .

Also, what are you eating? Is it nutritious? Your body needs protein and fat but if you're watching calories you may be eating lots of carbs.

I love fasting but I'm not sure it works for everyone. We're all different, our gut bacteria and our insulin response to individual foods can make a huge difference. I would try changing what you eat and your patterns and if that doesn't work consider something else.

Try 5:2 and also take your clothes fit into account as well as the scales. I have lost more inches than the scale would suggest to me.

counting calories twice a week is much more sustainable than having the food noise and calorie worry 7 days a week. 2 days of really feeling hunger (I try to acknowledge it and like it as “evidence” that I’m melting the pounds off) is satisfying and also you can socialise or cook for yourself without any fear of “ruining your diet” the rest of the week.

if you can weigh weekly too, that evens out fluctuations (however you’re eating) which helps.

Exercise can help but personally anything more than walking makes me ravenous so I do cardio more on non fast days.

Drink lots of water. Those meal replacement diets that sound so depressing always tell their customers to drink 3L of water a day. It’s a lot but it does reduce water retention, aid a sluggish bowel and improve any accidental dehydration. Food contains lots of water and if you’re down to 1050 a day, you could do with more water perhaps.

I would look for Jason Fung talking about calories on YouTube, or a blog post on The Fasting Method website. If you’re calorie-counting, and calorie restricting, you’re not optimising your fasting.

It will be what you're eating for those 2 meals. If you adjust your eating to even just eating majority vegetables you'll lose weight, by doing this you can eat a LOT of food and still lose weight. For lunches I generally have the previous nights dinners which means I only have to think about one meal a day which makes it all so much easier.