Hello everyone, I’m looking for help in continuing to lose my weight through IF which so far has been great for me. Disclaimer, I do not live in America/UK, and I’m 169 cm high, male, 25 years old.
So, my ultimate goal is to lose weight up until abs show, and then maintain it. But as of recent, I’ve been stuck on a plateau at 75-76kgs and am seeking advice on how can I continue to lose those kgs. My regular fasting schedule is that I fast between the days when I go to gym. I do strength training(without cardio), while fasted, 3 times a week with fasts of 24h and 48h once respectively, and then in about an hour and a half I eat my one meal. I’m really used to fasting for at least a day no problem(and it works the best for me too unlike 16:8 and 20:4), even did 7-day fasts twice (at the start of IF and somewhere in the middle after New Year), I stopped eating sugar/fast food at all, and I’ve been achieving great progress with this schedule: starting from november 2021 I’ve been shoving weight off pretty consistently from 94kg down to 76kg. But now, weight has been stuck at around 75-76kgs for a whole month, and I even switched my fasting days so that I only eat once in two days (been doing this for the last two weeks) before going to gym and having a meal, to not much progress.
Meals I do consist of(“/“ means “or”): protein intake (chicken/turkey breast), moderate carbs (pasta/buckwheat/brown rice), vegetables (tomato+cucumber+sweet bell pepper salad/broccoli/brussel sprouts/green salads) and fruit (oranges/grapes/tangerines/bananas(rarely)/pomello) with nuts(mostly cashews). I consider my one meal to be pretty big, since I eat protein, carbs and vegetables together, with fruits afterwards. I eat my general meal and fruits in a window of 4-5 hours, but always before 7pm, after which I fast again.
During my fasting days, I only drink 2-3 cups of coffee mixed together with whole milk, sometimes I just drink the whole milk itself which helps a bit with hunger. Of course, I stay hydrated and drink 1-2 litres of water every day. I get my sleep starting at around 12am - 1am, getting 8-9 hours of sleep consistently.
What changes can you recommend for me that would help break through my plateau, as well as maybe diet improvements in regards to foods? Maybe I should cut down on carbs and fruit during my regular meals, and milk during fasting days? Any advice would be highly appreciated, I genuinely want to see those abs!
If you’re close to your normal weight, it can be harder to loose. Also you would generally need to eat less than in the beginning to account for the lower weight.
However, you already don’t eat everyday, and on the other days you’re eating one meal? I would look at your weekly calories, calculate your TDEE with those free calculators, and follow the recommended deficit. I wonder if you are not eating enough.
Muscles weigh more than fat. So while working out, you don’t loose if you are turning fat into muscles.
Good luck and don’t get discouraged.
Great job. Seems like you’re just about there.
Could be the carbs, could the the fruit(s) if plural per day. I’ve seen that Dr Jamnadas seems to recommend only one fruit serving per day as they’re still sugar heavy even when properly shared with fiber.
Seems like your fasting schedule is close to where I’ve ended up. What works best for me is 4 OMADs and then 1 extended typically 48h fast.
Curious what your plan for maintenance is when you get to your goal.