(TW: ED) I, 21F 5’8”, have been struggling to lose weight my whole life post-puberty. In high school I was on keto (influenced by my patents) but often would go without eating because it was easier to eat nothing than to find something to eat that fit the diet. This never changed my weight, I stayed 180 throughout high school and gained 30 pounds when I started eating 3 meals a day again.
After my ex made some comments about how he wouldn’t mind if I lost weight, I started alternate-day fasting 24:24 and went from 210 to 190. Then left that relationship and found someone better, now I’m married but put on marriage weight. I gained all the weight back and then some, I’m now sitting at 220. I started counting calories and realized I was naturally only eating 1200-1300 a day, but never losing weight, most likely due to a low metabolism. I want to fix that.
So, I just started doing 20:4 fasting because I plateued on 24:24 due to overeating which is the main reason I stopped when I met my husband. I work out now more than I used to. I have hand weights and a stationary recumbant bicycle, which I do light workouts with almost every day. I’m working my way up because of how inexperienced I am.
Is there any way I could do better? My main goal is raising my metabolism, building my strength, and to feel better about my body.
The Fasting Method (podcast) episodes 1-10, go through a lot of the things that can cause a lack of progress on IF. Even as a long time practitioner, I learned a lot. They also offer very good info on female specific issues in some of their later episodes.
I expect very good results for you going forward with IF, given that you are so young and already possess the skill set required to do OMAD and beyond.