Fasting friends, after losing 104lbs in around 9 months, I haven’t lost anything the last 3 weeks. I would love any supportive words or advice you can share.
What changed in the last 3 weeks?
I am still overweight by BMI standards and would like to lose another 24 lbs to get to a normal BMI.
Stats: Late 30s F. 5 ft 2 in. Highest weight: 265 lb (Oct 2021). IF starting weight: 253 lb (Dec 2021). Current weight: 161 lb (August 2022).
IF protocol: OMAD first 4.5 months. Rolling 30-48 hour fasts for next 4.5 months. OMAD last 3 weeks (alternating lunch and dinner).
1500 calories. 100g of carb. 100g of protein. Everything is weighed on a food scale.
Burn 2400 calories per day according to my Apple Watch. 1 hour of jogging in place + 30min of light walking/biking per day. 10 min of body weight training 3x per week.
Thanks so much for any words of support or advice you can share.
First of all, holy shit girl, you have lost so much weight!! Please, right now, give yourself a big hug and tell yourself what a badass you are! Second, I’m almost exactly where you are and those last pounds can be a real bitch to drop. It sucks because progress from here will likely be slower and we tend to be more motivated when we can see the results more quickly.My best advice for you, especially considering your hair loss, is to temporarily focus on body recomposition which it sounds like you have already started doing with your increased squats and activity. Eat healthy, nutritious food while keeping your calories at or slightly below maintenence for a little bit and enjoy your new body while you’re at it. Then when you are feeling ready, start your rolling fasts again and you should see a nice drop as you shock your body out of the plateau.You got this!!
Wow. Congrats on what you have accomplished
I would take the hair loss as a sign that you aren’t getting the right foods. Maybe it’s time to take a break from fasting and just focus on good nutrition and eating correct portions. You can still lose weight that way, just not as rapidly. You have come so far but I want you to be healthy and get that hair back
I am 5’0” so I get the 1500 calories. What I’m concerned with is how much you are burning compared to how much you are taking in. That is what I consider as starvation.
Since you upped your workout, you should up your calorie intake. You can still be in a deficiency by upping it some on your workout days. I’m not sure how much you should up it, but I do know there is a a formula you can use found online
Congratulations on the weight loss! That’s amazing!!A couple things probably happening. First metabolic adaptation to a lower weight and lower caloric intake. I’m guessing your tdee is not 2500 anymore either . I’m your height and mine is around 1400-1500 but I’m older and a bit smaller. You might want to get a dexa scan. I did and it was helpful to see body fat and basal metabolic rate.’Secondly l concur with the rest of the answers. Time to take a break. I would eat two meals a day, bumping calories up slowly,maybe eating 1600-2k alternating days. Also get thyroid and blood panel. Dieting can induce hypothyroid response. Happened to me in my 20s on mine orthopedic exercise heavy regime. Hypo plus anemia . Finally while others may disagree if your fixed your insulin sensitivity there no real no need for 30 hr fasts. I would try 18/6 or close to it. While inducing some stress is good for the body extended dieting and exercising can also increase cortisol etc. you may also want to switch up your diet when adding moreCalories; I’d suggest more fat and maybe more lifting less cardio for a while.’
Please eat WAY more. 1500 calories is a starvation diet, as another comment suggested. You’re excercising a lot to be eating so little. You can be overweight and starving. You can be overweight and still underfuel yourself. Please go to the doctor and ask about the hair loss and body temperature changes. These are serious symptoms and signs of a larger problem. Get a blood panel.
This is your body telling you to stop. This is a sign that your body needs more nutrients and food. This is a sign that your deficit is no longer working for you. Please please please go to the doctor–I know people who have fainted/been hospitalized for nutritional deficiencies and you do not want your body to go through that. Please PM me I am really worried about you, and I’m in your corner OP.
Congratulations on losing 104 pounds! That is amazing, there are few people who can say they’ve accomplished that feat but MANY who wish they could!
I also plateaued for about a month in May. I gained weight in early May because I wasn’t fasting and then lost it back in late May. I think these things happen to most everybody and we just have to accept it. Since then, I’ve been focused mainly on two things, weight loss and creating a lifestyle that I can live with for the rest of my life. .
I really believe that as long as you incorporate fasting as part of your normal routine that eventually you will get to your goal weight, it just may take longer than you thought or had planned. I thought I would get there by July but it’s now getting close to September and I’m still not there, though I am less than 10 pounds away. Better still, I know what works for me much better than I did in May and what I will have to do to maintain my weight, and I think that is just as important as losing the weight.
You might try to scale back to IF for a week or two and eat the amount of food your body desires and then resume fasting. It sounds like your work outs are pretty intense and perhaps your body is not getting enough protein to sustain itself. A different way to tackle this would be to increase your fasting length and decrease your exercise routine. I feel like I’ve lost the most when I do extended fasts of 2 - 3 days. Also, I no longer count calories, I just make sure I’m getting plenty of fat and protein in my diet. I know I eat a lot more on some days than I do on others, but that’s just the way my body is and I accept it. This works for me, but I realize everybody is different.
Anyway, you will do this, you are obviously super motivated and it will come! Happy fasting!
I would try changing up the work out regimen. Try Spin classes instead of running, and do some squats and deadlifts instead of body weight training. At your age though, it may be a good to get blood work done like another person suggested. It could be something hormonal. Those calorie numbers are crazy to me, but I’m a tall man.
Hi first of all well done on what you’ve done so far but you need to start eating more calories simple as. You’ve correctly identified that you needed to up the exercise intensity but you’ve kept calories the same. It had stopped working before and now you’ve added more stress onto your body.
It’s a simple fix but I think you’re just in the phase where weight loss will be slow and honestly the weight lost won’t matter to you as much as the change you’ll see in your body- all best
Congratulations, You have a great deal of discipline and do be proud of your accomplishments I have been down the same road as well. A few things that workedfor me are these Try to remove all sugar and carbs. Go back til walking not running. Do 1hr a day at slow pace. The faster the worse for burning fat. Try to do at least 3 day extended fast once a month. And last, do more resistance training. Try this, im willing to bet you’ll break out of the rut in no time!!!!
Best wishes
Great job so far!! I would try a reverse diet to help reignite your metabolism for at least four weeks. You have to be super diligent and weigh yourself daily, but it sounds like your body has stopped because you have lost so much
The scale is a tricky bitch, as is water retention. If you don’t lose any weight for 2 months, the we’ll talk stalls. Sorry but 3 weeks is not enough time.
And according to the Minnesota Starvation study. 1500 calories is a starvation diet. You may want to eat more.