55M 6’, SW:250, CW:220, GW:190
Putting this here as a sanity check and in case anyone here is older and experiencing similar issues.
Started IF about a year ago with 16:8. Dropped to about 230 in a couple of months. Then plateaued. Increased my fasting interval to 18:6 and dropped to about 225 and plateaued. Somewhere in there started having issues with concentration. Started taking my multivitamin, D3 and BP med with 1g of salt in about a cup of water. Things went back to normal. Increased my fasting interval to OMAD, 23:1 and dropped to just over 220. Now I have decided to try Two Meals in Two days with a very long interval, 32:1:14:1, 2M2D. Basically I plan to eat first thing in the morning. Fast for 14 hours. Eat before bed, Fast the entire next day. Start over again the third morning. Hopefully the extended fasting time will drop me below 220. My next anticipated step is OM2D, 47:1; I will eat lunch or dinner every other day.
I have read Jason Fung’s The Obesity Code before dropping to OMAD. I am pretty convinced of the The Hormonal Theory of Obesity.
I have been in pretty good shape as an adult before, but that was between wives with no kids and I easily had time to put 200+ miles on my bicycle in a week. In the course of raising two teenagers, I have become as big as I was when I was a traveling engineer, but do not have time to reverse it the same way as I did last go around. Taking something out of my schedule is a whole lot easier for me than figuring out how to add something to it, the original appeal of Intermittent Fasting.
So, I believe that my age, specifically how long I have been in homeostasis of slowly building fat, has made it more difficult for me to lose it compared to younger IFers. There are people out here in their teens and twenties. Just sticking to a schedule does not seem to burn the fat, but stretching my fasting period does.
The next interesting thing is if I do get close to 190, what should I try. I think a slow shrinking of fasting periods to the point where I am back at lunch and dinner, so I can eat with the family again. Maybe I end up skipping a whole day every now and then. Also, as the older one starts driving, my time will be freed up to do my own thing, like getting back on a bike.
Another option is one day of hiit a week.
Don’t overlook adding some acv to your diet.
Also…chromium when you wake up every now and then. That said, di your homework on chromium and/or speak to your doctor. Goal is thyroid boost late in fast
Thank you for the post, It’s nice to hear from the Freedom 55 crowd. Yes it’s a bit of a shock watching the Twenty Year old’s lose it so quickly and stay so active. It’s nice to hear from our perspective.
Fasting is not a magic bullet, calories still matter. You’re eating at maintenance if you aren’t gaining weight, and that’s actually a good sign, your hormones are balanced.
When I hit a plateau, I calculate daily carbs and drop some of them, works like a charm.