I’ve been doing IF for 2 years and it was fantastic. But in the last 3 months I’ve gained about 15lbs back. Nothing has changed in my routine. 16:8 with about 1800cal a day.
I think my body has adapted to the caloric deficit and IF and is not burning them BUT rather storing them up. Anyone have any suggestions?
I’d wager the problem lies precisely in the fact that your routine hasn’t changed. My lay guess is that your metabolism has been shifting for a while, significantly longer than three months, just as a natural consequence of having a steadily changing human body
One reason IF can help lose weight is that it breaks old eating habits that don’t serve us. But after two years, you’ve likely adopted new habits that you developed in the context of fasting. But, you’re two years older than you were when you started. Your body might have changed such that it would be better-served with new habits
If you’re engaging in mild exercise such as a daily walk, try to increase that walk by 50-100 Calories’ worth of activity per day. Shorten your window by perhaps an hour or two, just enough to cause you to change how far apart your meals are. See if you’d be happy eating just 1700 or 1600 a day rather than 1800
Perhaps most importantly if this is a natural metabolism change, start going to the gym or engaging in bodyweight exercise if you aren’t already, especially if you’re over 35. Just a few days a week can be enough. Many bodies become more comfortable losing muscle later in life, if they aren’t given any reason to keep the musculature. This contributes to a decrease in metabolic activity over time. A habit of resistance exercise can be a great way to let your body know that you want to keep your muscles for now. Just enough to be a little uncomfortable or strenuous, and consistently enough that your body understands the work isn’t a fluke
This happened to me. I went from 280lb (6’2” M) to 175lb in about 1.5 years with serious determination, but it was really hard for me to maintain. I ended up going back up to 220lb for a couple of years and finally got back down. I basically just do OMAD now instead of 8:16. Sometimes I have a wider window, like 4 hours.
what is 1800cal relative to your TDEE? 1800 is just barely under maintenance for me, but I’m relatively short and female. I didn’t start seeing any weight loss success until I started restricting to 1400-1500/day and counting very carefully. .
This! This is the reason you need to understand that weight loss isn’t about fad diets or dpecial fasting but changing your habits completely. Sure IF will help you loose weight but deciding to change how you live your life will, I.e join a football team or make daily walks….