Hello team,
I am not sure what I am doing wrong with following IF. I am a 46M, former military, in decent shape but want to lose weight. I have been following an 18/6 plan with a “cheat day” on Sunday. I mainly keep the cheat day so I can enjoy making and eating breakfast with my kids. During my normal IF days, I break my fast anywhere from around 12-1pm, depending on when we had dinner the night before. I ride my peloton about 4-5 days a week with a variety of workouts. Occasionally I will do tabata, some arms and intervals and then some longer endurance rides. I try to mix it up. Sleep used to be an issue, but over the last couple of months, I have really improved the amount and quality of sleep I am getting.
So far so good. I do enjoy the occasional beer with some nights having more than 2. I have one diet soda a day. I see both of those as not helping, for sure. I just don’t get how, given the reduced eating window, not going crazy with the amount/type of food I eat, and working out, I am not losing weight. In some ways, I feel like I am putting on the weight. Now I am not looking to become a fitness model, but I would like to have less of a “dad bod” than I do now.
What are your thoughts? I am trying to avoid CICO and stepping on a scale. There have been times when I have obsessed about those things and the resultant stress and obsessiveness is counterproductive, I feel.
Thanks in advance for any and all assistance.
Your whole post is about exercising, but you don’t go into detail about what you’re eating (macros, fibre, vitamins and minerals) Eating strategically alongside IF should be your priority, and then the weight should fall off.
Based on your posts, it sounds like while you’re doing a lot right, your nutrition is still not great. ‘Several beers multiple days a week.’ ‘3 nights of take out.’ Even homemade food doesn’t necessarily mean food that’s going to help. This is absolutely what’s keeping you from your goals.
>I am trying to avoid CICO and stepping on a scale. There have been times when I have obsessed about those things and the resultant stress and obsessiveness is counterproductive, I feel.
As someone who also doesn’t count, something I tell folks is that there’s a spectrum between unrestricted eating and meticulously weighing everything. Find a few dials you can tweak. Maybe that’s subbing out all simple carbs for complex carbs. Start going down to drinking only on special occasions. Have a meal prepped for yourself if the rest of the fam needs take out. Replace a meal with a specifically prepped one. Etc.
I think the lowest-hanging fruit is to cut way back on the beer. I too very much enjoy a good beer, but I just can’t drink 2-3 every night anymore. It’s not good for my health in a lot of different ways. For weight loss, it’s just a big source of empty calories. I’ve gone down to 1-2 drinks per week.
The second lowest-hanging fruit is to eat less sugar and starch. Shift towards more “Mediterranean diet” style meals — emphasis on protein, vegetables, and healthy fats. Cut back on bread, pasta, rice, potatoes. Make dessert a very rare occasion. This makes it harder to overeat, since protein, fats, and vegetables are more filling than starches.
The third step is to work on portion control. Serve yourself maybe 20-25% less than you think you want — you can always get more if you really need it, but you may find that the smaller portion is really enough. Stop eating when you no longer feel hungry, not waiting until you feel very full.
The fourth step would be to shorten your eating window — go to 20:4 or OMAD. I don’t want to count calories either, and OMAD is the only way I can make that work. However, I’m a not-very-active average-height woman in my late 30s, so my TDEE is likely much smaller than yours. So you may not need to go to OMAD. The previous steps to eat less may be enough.
(I personally like OMAD — it feels natural and easy for me. It’s not necessarily “extreme.” But it’s also not necessarily the best schedule for everyone. It sure does make it harder to overeat, though.)
I would look at the sum of food per week, rather than each day. Between the cheat day and take-out (which is frequently more than one portion), I bet you’re not having enough deficit per week.
We are sometimes getting meals from a health food place. The calories listed seem reliable based on my experience. The portions are good, but by no means big. I can only imagine how many calories I used to get from regular take-out when I ate quite a bit more. I would cut back on take-out for a while and see what happens.
OP, we changed up the pattern of special weekend time to playing with the kids - kick around a soccer ball, go for a hike or family bike ride, alternatives to sugar fests and helps build good health and healthy habits for all.
Regardless of when your eating window is, what you eat is more important. Try eating 1G of protein for every pound you weigh. If you track that, I promise you, you will see results. It’s what body builders use and it works. On everybody. I do this and my body fat begins to reduce and my muscle builds. And if you focus on some strength training (meaning, trade two of your riding days with Pelton’s strength/resistance programs), you will see results.