I have heard that after losing your first few pounds, your body regulates to your new diet fairly quick and the weight loss slows down or stops altogether for a while. Would eating in a calorie surplus(basically just having a “cheat day”) on some days prevent the body from getting too familiar with your eating habits?
This is purely from experience and not medical advice - after I stopped losing and plateaued, I took a week off. I was still mindful of what I was eating and didn’t splurge, but I ate a healthy breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner every day for a week. I maintained my current weight for the week, and as soon as I did my first fast again, I dropped 1.5 pounds overnight! So I’m my case, yes, that did work for me 😊 good luck!
I have always found success in this. I never approached it scientifically so I can’t say there weren’t other factors involved. Maybe I was cheating a little more here and there on my diet, so going off for a bit allowed me to “get it out of my system” so I could come back stronger. :) Regardless, any time I have seen a plateau, going off for a few days and get back on seemed to disrupt it.
There is some evidence that switching things up can help keep you from a plateau. Even switching up your window or doing the occasional 24 hour fast can work too. If you think about how we evolved, the idea of calories whenever we want them is a pretty modern concept.
A lot of the Podcasts I listen to say to do weightloss in phases. I currently adjust my diet according to my weight training phase. I have 8 weeks of a cutting phase with 18-6 fasting in hypertrophy style of weight training, then in my 4 week strength phase I usually eat in a slight surplus with a 16-8 fasting regime (nothing over the top maybe 200-300 calories)
Yes, keep switching it up. I got through every one of my plateaus by stabilizing my weight with a few healthy meals then fasting again when my body was used to it. Never let your body adapt or you will not lose any weight.