Fasting MWF, eating 3500 cals T,THR,SAT. One meal Sunday.
Been on this for 3 weeks and the scale hasn’t moved, I weigh daily with a smart scale. And they’ve all been within 5lbs.
I’ve read you should eat 10%-30% over maintenance on eating days when doing ADF. I’m 6’4 245lbs so BMR is 2200/sedentary 2600, I lift on eating days and do cardio on fasting days, so TDEE is about 3300 ish.
Do I just need to eat less on my eating days? The past month I’ve been trying to make sure I’m not eating too little since I’m new to ADF. I’ve adjusted and feel pretty good throughout the week, but I’m just not losing weight.
Have you noticed any changes other than scale moving? Clothes fitting looser, stomach getting flatter, changes in pictures? Maybe your body is making changes inside before weight starts dropping. You said you are feeling better, so maybe just focus on that and give it more time and assess yourself in another week or so? Also taking measurements especially if belly is helpful to track progress. And pictures. Good luck! Sounds like you’re doing great! :)
Three weeks is just getting started. Be patient. You’re still getting the hang of it.
This is my second trip on ADF. I eat TDEE + 20% on eating days. No off days, just rolling 36:12. Lost well the first time but gained it back (COVID, Heart attack, open heart surgery). It’s working well for me this time too. Here are some things I’ve learned while doing this.
I can plateau or even gain while doing ADF within my calorie targets if I eat simple carbs. Bread, cake, sweets, fries, etc.
In fact, On Sat/Sun Feb 12/13 I went overboard a bit on carbs but not terrible. Had chips, some B-day cake. I would estimate I ate about 1,000 calories over my target. By the numbers, I should have recovered in about 3-4 days worst case. Here is my chart of the rolling 10 day average over that period of time. I was on rails with the weight loss to day 22. It has taken almost 10 days to get the fat burning engine moving again despite being perfect since that weekend. It defies the calorie numbers completely. I have no explanation, it’s just how it works for me. I’m not saying you’ll be the same, but it’s something to think about.
Here’s the other thing I’ve learned. Exercise makes no improvement in calorie burn / weight loss for me. I’ve heard this from others too. I tend to keep meticulous records that I can refer back to. Both ADF projects I’ve done I’ve waited about a month before adding exercise. Both times I kept to the exact same calorie targets when I added exercise and I actually saw a mild slowing of weight loss. Opposite of what I might expect. Somebody else here suggested not eating for exercise calories. I second that. I just keep eating at the same levels and gradually increase exercise.
Those are two major things I’ve learned that may or may not be at play in your case. The calorie math only gets you so far and it definitely breaks down sometimes. I’m sure really smart medical types could tell me what’s going on, but that’s not all that important to me. The important part is finding a path that works and sticking with it.
One suggestion would be to cut back on calories to a non-exercising TDEE and cut the exercise completely for 2 weeks. Then add it gradually back in without changing calories so you can get used to it. I’ll bet you see the scale start to move.
Hey im similiar to you loll, been doing adf for 3 months and once my scale was stuck at 65kg for good three weeks, i didnt stress over it cuz when you lift, you stress ur muscles, and muscles recover from that by retaining water,
Lately, ive been stuck at 63kg again lol, and again, it was like that for two weeks but thenI wokeup this morning and immediately lost 2kg so dont overstress and keep going