Intermittent fasting stopped working for me … time to try again?

Stats: 33 yo F, 5’5” and 165 lbs. Hello! Here’s a little history: I did intermittent fasting for a solid 2 years, 16:8. I was very strict about it and never missed a day. The first 6 months were great - my hunger was more level, I lost a lot of weight. I went from 175 to 150 in several months. But then after some time something changed and the opposite was happening - I was hungry ALL the time. I was having these uncontrollable binging episodes. No amount of food could satisfy me after breaking my fast, I was an empty well. My energy level was all over the place. My period was more irregular than before. I was lightheaded and shaky during the fasting period, despite electrolytes and magnesium. I was almost passing out at work. And I started GAINING weight. I did not make any drastic diet changes, I’ve been eating mostly the same foods for many years (whole foods, unprocessed, lower carb, low dairy, avoid grains). With all of those symptoms, I decided to stop IF and eat 3 meals a day and see what happens. I eat from 8-8, giving me 12 hours if no eating. My hunger is overall better, no more binging or uncontrollable cravings. Energy levels more even. Period is more regular. But the damn weight has increased and I’m not happy. I am active most days of the week (yoga, dance class, walking, weights). I stand for most of the day at my job, minimal sitting. I would say I’m overall a fairly healthy person, but definitely have some extra weight to lose. Part of me is disappointed I never achieved this nirvana-like fasting state where you are never hungry and feel energized and great all the time (based on what the Internet says). I see all the great and inspirational testimonials on here and don’t know why I couldn’t reach that level. But I did lose weight at first, so something was working. With pounds creeping up again I’m wondering if I’m doomed to be chubby forever unless I try fasting again. Any insight or thoughts? Has anyone had a bad experience with intermittent fasting (particularly women)? Is it worth it to try again? Thank you advance :)

Answer

Same happened to me many years ago. I lost so much weight my body fat was probably close to zero.

Anyway, my doctor basically said you need fat on your body because fasting for more then 12 hours forces your body to use body fat as energy and if you don’t have any fat or close to zero you’ll go on mad eating sessions, uncontrollably.

The body is annoying to work with since it doesn’t have a brain of its own, it just works from millions of years worth of evolution. That is unfortunately, gain fat for the winter so you can survive.

I’d say just find a target weight you are happy with and consume enough calories so you don’t gain or lose weight.

Don’t know if that’ll help you but what happened to you sounds almost what happened to me.

Answer

Just to touch on the uncontrollable hunger.. not sure if this is the same but when I was training a lot for cycling/racing, there was a period where I got caught in body issues (not driven by looks but by performance).

Even knowing everything about fuelling and recovery nutrition, I still fell into the trap of thinking I could lose more fat.

Eventually my body basically broke down. One day at an event my power numbers were literally half what they should have been. This is when I realised what I had done. I was incredibly skinny.

Over the next few weeks I allowed myself to eat whatever and however much I wanted. And damn did I eat a lot. More than I’d ever eaten before. Weight came back on and I felt good again.

I know you said you’re not at that kind of level, but it might still be an under fuelling kind of issue if you are active.

Answer

Have you tried changing things up?

Like, really changing them?

Try different schedules, ADF, a monk fast here and there, etc. More ketoish, less ketoish, other methods?

There’s simply not enough information to really say much more than “try something else.”

Were you getting enough calories during your window? Did you take into account your activity level? Did you start or stop any medications?

There’s just so many variables.

Answer

I am new to fasting so I don’t have much experience. I started 18:6 in late December and moved to OMAD on Monday (today is my 6th OMAD in a row). Binge eating has always been a problem for me. I like OMAD because I get to binge for one meal. I start with a healthy, whole foods meal (xl serving) then let myself eat whatever I’ve been craving for the past few days. All within an hour or less. It satisfies my binge need because I get to be stuffed. I’m down about 6lbs since late December. Lost about 2 this week during OMAD.

Answer

Is your thyroid okay? Are you sleeping sufficiently? Are you getting enough vitamins and minerals (particularly iodine and copper)?

Are you eating a more carbohydrate/sugar rich diet?

Personally find that if I overindulge in sugar (particularly fructose) it will nullify a lot of the effect of fasting.