Im on 16:8 and on deficit but the weight refuses to budge. I wonder if I need to shorten the eating window. Do you have a window that worked best for you to lose weight? (I cannot do OMAD ever)
I was doing v well on OMAD but I’ve suddenly lost all motivation. I hadn’t realised how much time I would have once I started fasting. I need a new hobby! And my family eat at traditional times - I’m getting major fomo. I like the structure of OMAD (I eat big meal at lunch) but the evenings are not fun. Also I don’t really need to lose anymore weight so I’m not sure what to do now as I think I’ll overeat if I go back to 3 meals or even 16:8.That’s not much help is it? Sorry!
If you’re not dropping weight at all you prb need to cut out some calories as well.
If you don’t want to fast for longer periods (understandable, usually i also don’t want to) best i can recommend is cutting out in between meals snacks. Maybe 2 big meals on start and end of the fast, and any snack you are craving you just move to that period. I found it worked great for me since i wasn’t denying myself anything and after a big meal i would naturally eat less of the snack.
Doing that i ended up with a big stash of snacks that just kept getting bigger. Kinda surprised me how much i was snacking. (Ps: it grew so much since more ppl in house buy snacks and i always have to “take my share” :p )
I dabbled my way up between 16:8 and OMAD, but ultimately found just returning to 16:8 to be the most consistent for me.
There’s lots of dials to tweak if you’re not getting the results you want but would prefer not to fast longer.
I’m mainly 16:8->18:6 with a daily deficit of 500 cals, but just started adding in a 36h once per week too.
I cycle my daily cals though to keep my metabolism varied, so what I keep my eye on is my 7-day average via mfp..
I’m over 40 and I found eating very clean and fasting water only plus 20:4 helped push me through a plateau. Also, clean fasting water only for 72 hours one a month helped too. As I get closer to my goal weight things are getting more difficult and I’m having to be stricter. Clean water fasting and no more than 1000 calories during feed and whole foods only no processed foods.
SW: 192 CW: 154 GW: 135. 5’4”. 49F
I only do 20:4- 6pm till 10pm, I eat everything my family does, still have a drink etc. But I watch the calories to 2k and under. I also do a minimum of 5 k steps a day.
It works great for me, I’m 50 and could eat like this for the rest of my days..I’ve continued to lose weight and my blood work is better each time.All the best!
Eat less food, eat less sugar.
Don’t try to do anything herculean. Jump to 17’s and clean up what you eat. If you try to make some giant leap you might end up off the track.
Than, once 17’s are established, you can work down.
How long have you been on a deficit, and do you know for sure that you are on one? TDEE calculators are a good baseline, but nothing more. They don’t have direct access to your metabolic processes and are just a somewhat close guess.
A pound of fat lost works out to (very approximately) something like a 3500cal deficit, and water weight can easily fluctuate by a few pounds in a single day. However, if you’ve been on something like a calculated (average) 500 cal/day deficit for a month and had no weight change, then I would readjust your calculated TDEE down a couple calories.
You can also step up your actual TDEE with exercise. It doesn’t have to be intense cardio, but just getting more steps in wouldn’t hurt.