I apologize if this post is common but I could use some advice.
I’ll keep this short. I am around my 400th day of IF. Since Dec of 2020 I have been fasting a minimum of 16 hours a day but my avg tends to be 18-20.
I don’t gorge during that time, but I do not count calories. About half the week I end up unintentionally doing OMAD and try to get more protein in my diet. I don’t tend to watch what I eat but I’m pretty sure I am not over 2k cals a day. When I stated I was at 260 and I am currently at 220.
Throughout the last year I was running 4-5 days a week and I had dropped 45 pounds during the first half of 21. I decided to introduce weight lifting into the mix and quickly stopped losing weight. I have since been lifting 4 days a week and run a bit less now. I have since gained back 5 pounds and been hovering at 220 for the last few months.
I have been pretty demoralized over this. I fear eating less will put me at risk of losing lean mass and I’m not sure how to continue losing fat to get back to my target weight.
Any ideas what I could be doing wrong? Any tips to break the plateau?
It’s likely you’ve just gained weight in the form of lean mass. Since lean muscle is more metabolically active, this should aid your metabolism. I would keep doing what you’re doing and you should adjust. So you’ve been lifting for the last six months? Anything else change in your routine/diet?
Take measurements of yourself and focus more on those over what the scale says. You’re probably losing fat and replacing it with muscle if the scale stopped moving right when you started to incorporate strength training into your routine.
Weight lifting will definitely mean less ‘weight’ loss as lean muscle weighs more than fat. I had a nurse tell me I was ‘overweight’ when I was at my fittest and strongest; because I’m only 5ft 2 ins my BMI said this, but my waist measurement was less than half my height, which is what I use for ‘healthy’. I agree with others, use measurements and see what is really happening.
>I fear eating less will put me at risk of losing lean mass and I’m not sure how to continue losing fat to get back to my target weight.
As long as you’re getting sufficient protein, are not in too extreme a deficit, and continue to lift you should see little to no reduction in muscle mass.
>Any ideas what I could be doing wrong? Any tips to break the plateau?
By your own words you “don’t count” and “don’t tend to watch what I eat”. Putting on muscle is hard work even harder work in a deficit. Is it more likely that you’re packing on pounds of additional muscle or that you’re eating more than you think and are at maintenance? Cause I know I suck at guessing calories.
That said, I also don’t count calories, but there’s a spectrum from unrestricted eating and weighing everything out meticulously. Turn the dial a bit. Make some good substitutions, incorporate more high quality protein, eat out only once a week, etc.
I’d recommend reducing the weightlifting a lot and do much more running and walking. Try doing as much running and walking as you can without getting injured. Try finding a long hill on a trail that takes over 5 minutes and do lots of reps walking up and down for workouts.
I’m in almost the same boat. After new years I decided to cut out added sugars during my eating time like honey in my tea and my little after dinner desert. Weight seem to have slowly started moving down again.
You did great with the weight loss. Now if i was you I’ll count my calories intake now to see if I’ll drop. You say you don’t go pass 2k calories? So if that’s true start counting it at 1500 calories until you reach your goal. If you don’t want to do that try 23hr fast with a little more activity