Stats: M | 5’10” | SW: 331.6 lbs | CW: 289.6 lbs
I’m genuinely at a loss here. At the start of December, I posted my November water fasting update where I was losing weight at a pretty good pace (accounting for water weight). I’ve been doing the same in December but have been stumped by what’s going on.
For the past 2 and a half weeks, I’ve been consistently somewhere between 289 and 293 pounds when fasting. I’m doing 5 day water fasts a week and on eating days eat between 1200 and 1600 calories, sticking to keto. My diet is mostly chicken or egg based foods, with a salad thrown in for some veggies. Under 10g of carbs. Even selecting “sedentary” on this site, my TDEE is just shy of 2800 calories, so I’m absolutely in a deficit even on the days I eat. This makes absolutely no sense to me even from just a thermodynamics point of view.
However, when I do eat, I go up to 296 to 299, which I’ve been assuming is water weight/glycogen refilling, but during the subsequent 5 day fast I never end up really going under 290. It feels like I’m losing the same few pounds over and over again. Unfortunately I haven’t been taking photos to see if I’m getting smaller in the mirror. I haven’t gone down any clothing sizes and the only real difference I’ve seen in this period is being able to tighten my watch by one notch.
What I’m doing is water fasting w/ electrolytes from Monday to Friday, going for 2 walks a day that total to at least 2h time spent walking per day. The rest of the time I am sedentary at my desk, couch, or bed. The changes since my November update are:
When it was just one week of plateau, I thought it was the same kind of thing people experience in weight loss subreddits and I would get a “whoosh” eventually where I would dump a lot of weight at once, but after 2 and a half weeks of this pattern repeating I want to reach out because there has to be something I’m missing.
Does anyone have any advice on how to get through this plateau? Is there something I’m messing up? Have you experienced this and gotten through it with enough persistence? Should I take a break from fasting for a few weeks to try and “reset”? Should I try to do a longer fast? Is my scale broken 🤣? It’s very frustrating as I’m doing the same thing I did last month but have been getting no measurable results since the first week of December.
I am not an expert at all but I have found that when I plateau for more than 2 weeks, taking a break from whatever I am doing and eating at maintainance for a few days seems to help. If nothing else, it’s a break from the monotony. The challenge however is not to let it become a weeks long binge-fest in which I regain all the weight lost.
All that said, I do think you will see results. It is just not possible that you are fasting for 5 days a week and not losing weight especially since you are in a deficit even on your eating days. Sometimes our bodies can be just stupidly stubborn for weeks together and I know it can be incredibly frustrating. My longest plateau was for 2 months. Just don’t rage quit and undo all your good work.