Intermittent fasting...weight loss stalled?

[MWestie]

I've been intermittent fasting for about 5 weeks now and have lost around a stone.

But this last week any weight loss seems to have stalled and my weight hasn't changed at all.

Is this usually what happens, for anyone who's done this before?

I was feeling so motivated when all was going well, but now, not so much!

[Littlemisssunshine123]

I’ve been doing the 5:2 since may and have now lost 2 stone. The first stone fell off in about 6 weeks but it’s slower now. I definitely feel I consolidate my losses regularly and stall for a few weeks. I’ve had many many weeks where I’ve felt I’ve plateaued but my overall trend looks distinctly downwards, and my fat percentage according to fit bit is even more dramatic. Stick it out, keep fasting, make sure your not overeating on your non fast days and you’ll keep going down. I am now in it for the long haul and I’m ok with that. But that mentality took a few months to get to. Well done on your weight loss so far. 👏👏

[TheListeners]

You need to keep your body guessing. So if you have been doing 18:6 do 20:4. If 5:2 try 4:3. Do one meal a day or build up to 36 or 42 or 48 hours of fasting. But whatever you do you have to keep changing it because as soon as it's routine your body works it out and adjusts accordingly.

The other thing to do is reduce carbohydrates. If you read up on how your body gains and looses weight you realise why reducing carbohydrates which in turn reduces insulin can be effective for weight loss.

[MWestie]

Thank you both so much for your replies.

Littlemisssunshine that's a fantastic weight loss, I hope I can get there too. I'm definitely not overeating as I've cut right back, but as you say, there are bound to be times when it stalls, sometimes for no apparent reason.

TheListeners I started doing 16:8 and loved the concept but have had to go low carb and also low calorie to get where I am. In the past week or so I've been trying one meal a day, or shortening the eating windows as you've also suggested, so it's good to know I'm on the right track with that.

I'm so surprised when I read of some people doing 16:8 or similar, losing weight but eating normally in their eating window. Not possible for me!

Fingers crossed I can keep going. Thanks again for your support.

[Estrellente]

I’m stalled as well.
Have lost two stone eating 1200 a day in a 16:8 pattern but my body really doesn’t want to go any further (and I’m still overweight so it needs to!)

[MWestie]

Estrellente it's so infuriating isn't it? I sometimes feel as if my body is teasing me, or in the huff . Your two stone loss is absolutely fantastic though.

[Mixitupalot]

Keep going, I’ve lost 20lbs with fasting. After about 5 weeks I stalled for almost 3 weeks! I kept going & exercising & eventually it started to shift again.

[TwentySixPointTwo]

It's rough but 1 week is not a stall. It's a natural expectation during any weight loss process. Some weeks you lose more, some less, some not at all.

If you plotted your start and end point you'd still get something close to the loss you expect for your intake/outake but it just won't have happened nice and regular. Which is a shame, because we humans like nice and regular

If it stalls for a month or more, then something's amiss. But otherwise, just keep on keeping on and the scales will shift again...

[hamstersarse]

Where are you in your cycle?

Days 21-28 are usually not great for weight loss

[MWestie]

Thanks for the additional replies, am carrying on and trying not to be so impatient!

Am either peri menopausal or in menopause itself, haven't had period for ages, so can't blame my cycle unfortunately.

[Howmanysleepsnow]

I tend to stick at a weight for a week or 2 then lose 3-4lb over the course of a week. I’m doing 16:8, low carb, low cal.
If I desperately want to break the plateau I find moving calories around helps. So instead of say 1200 a day I’ll do 1500 one day and 900 the next for example.
Also I read that as each fat molecule is taken from a cell it’s replaced with a water molecule (so you lose fat but not weight) until the fat cell is empty then you lose the water hence the sudden loss. That certainly makes sense in terms of what my body seems to do.

[Estrellente]

I like that concept, about the fat and water. I’ve read about the “whoosh” before which is similar.

Well I broke through my plateau and lost 2lbs... now just to hang on to that or even keep going!

[Howmanysleepsnow]

I’m on day 5 of my plateau, so I reckon it’ll break in the next 7-10 days...