I’m trying to lose weight and that’s because I’m overweight obviously… And this is the first time for me to follow our diet so i’m eating anything i like but at the same time i’m following calorie deficit all under the 1600 calories. Because i do not work out at all and that’s because my I’m a college student and nearly 90 percent of my time is studying.
–>> What I’m asking is if I ate 2800 calories every other day; for example:
Monday 2800 calories Tuesday 0 calories Wednesday 2800 calories Thursday 0 calories Friday 2800 calories Saturday 2800 calories Sunday 0 calories
Would that help me lose weight too? That’s in advance.
How much you lose depends on your gender/weight/size/age.
If you are a short, small build woman, your BME can be as low as 1500 kcal. That would mean a daily deficit of 100 kcal, and it would take you around 5 weeks to lose a pound.
If you are a large 20 years old man, your BME could be as large as 3000 kcal (unlikely, but let me make a point), and you would be losing almost one pound every two days.
My advice: Estimate your BME and active calories (just going to and back from campus could add to 500 kcal).
Fundamentally weight loss is simple. We become overweight when we eat more than we need. That is the whole truth of it.
The reason losing weight is so hard is because the reasons why we eat more than we need are more complicated and often ignored.
So can you lose weight if you eat 2800 kcal every other day, leading to an average daily calorie intake of 1400 kcal?
Yes, if your daily caloric need is on average greater than 1400 kcal / day.
Should you do it?
Well that depends. The best way to lose weight is to do so in a way you can maintain. Alternate Day Fasting won’t help you long-term if you’re unable to keep doing it.
You might risk falling into a pattern of restrict/binge eating.
​
>so i’m eating anything i like but at the same time i’m following calorie deficit all under the 1600 calories
This to me sounds like you might be setting yourself up for failure. Anyone can go on a diet for 3 months and lose weight, but its your habitual eating that made you overweight in the first place.
So once you’ve put in all the work to lose weight, you’ll stop counting calories, and still eat the foods you habitually ate before and you’ll go right back to gaining weight.
Going on a diet to lose weight is fine, but you also need to change your habits so you can maintain your weight loss.
The only way to lose weight and keep the weight off without changing the type of foods you eat, is to never stop counting calories. It is far more maintainable to change your diet habits.
So to summarize