Hi Everyone,
First off, I wanted to thank you all for being such an inspiring subreddit.
A few years ago, through IF and Keto I dropped about 25 pounds (5’10 M, dropped from 222- 198). However, the pandemic hit, and I got really depressed and also eventually landed a really difficult job that required long hours, and basically ballooned back up to 230 at one point. In October I decided to get serious again and started hitting the gym 3-4x week (30-40 lift, 25-30 mins hard swimming + sauna). In October I was at 224. In December I was at 222, and while I definitely had strong muscle gains and felt my waistline come down, I wasn’t really seeing the scale move.
Since December I’m down to about 212. However, it definitley looks like I’ve lost more than 10lbs. I’ve gained a good amount of muscle in the meantime too, and my face looks a lot slimmer. My jeans are starting to feel very loose (and I might need to size down from a 34 to 33).
I’m doing a lazy IF to balance out a really stressful work schedule (I usually work 65+ hours/week). and still hitting the gym 3-4x per week.
Because of my schedule, my routine is:
Morning (2 Cups of coffee with a dash of oatmilk, 2 fish oil tablets, 2 ACV tablets, Multivitamin, and 4 collagen tablets).
I then usually eat about 1200-1400 calories between 12-4PM, and generally stop eating (I move this time frame around a bit to accommodate dinner commitments etc.). Also I might have a more ‘flex’ style on weekends just to make life a bit easier.
I also occasionally drink a Liquid IV (45 calories) just to quash hunger pings.
What I wanted to ask, is: is there a benefit to actually doing a hard 20:4. (I could do it, I’m almost there, but it just makes life like 40% more difficult). Would there actually be a substantial impact on the progress I’m seeing? If there is, I’m willing to do it, but just wanted to hear how others have done it?
Have you spent time reflecting on why you regained all the weight you previously lost, and what you can do long term to maintain the weight you are re-losing? I don’t see any benefit to “hardening” your fast except to satisfy your impatience for results, which is understandable but perhaps unwise.
You’re already sustaining a large calorie and consistent weight loss under the current system. Another month or two of consistent effort and you’ll be down to 190. You’ll be there in March! What’s a long term eating strategy look like for you? That’s a more important question than wether you should fast harder to lose fat more quickly. Of course you can do that, but what comes next?