F; 5’11”; Age: 30s; SW: 206 CW:205 GW:165
I’ve been fasting 16:8 and working out (cardio and strength/weight training) 30 mins a day for 3.5 weeks.
A typical day:
12 pm - 2 pm: Break my fast by drinking coffee with 1/2 cup of 2% milk added + slice of toasted Ezekial Bread (Cinnamon Raisin) with 1 or 2 TBS of natural peanut butter
4 pm: Coffee with 1/2 cup of 2% milk added
6:30 pm - 7 pm: Workout (HIIT with weight lifting two 10 lb dumbbell weights incorporated)
7:30 pm: Eat dinner which is usually pan-fried salmon, rotisserie chicken, or air-fried skinless chicken thighs with Brussels sprouts, Mediterranean salad, or cooked kale and maybe a little quinoa or a small baked potato.
This is about 1000 calories daily.
I haven’t lost any weight. What am I doing wrong? I plan on incorporating more cardio in the morning or after dinner, eating dinner earlier (6 pm), and eating 1200 - 1300 calories a day during the week and 2600 calories during the weekend (based on my results from the calorie calculator). Maybe eating 1200-1600 calories on a typical eating schedule (starting the day with breakfast soon after I wake up, lunch at 1 pm, and dinner at 6 pm) would be better for me?
I am looking to lose at least 25-30 lbs by May or June. I appreciate any advice!
Are you measuring or weighing your food? Are you drinking a lot of water? Is the exercise new? If any of those issues is off, it could be affecting the scale or possibly weight loss.
Also you shouldn’t dip below 1200 calories, and likely more if you are exercising. Your body will think it is starving. I have similar stats and lost over two pounds this week. I ate 1600 calories most days and burned about 2600 total. I eat lunch, a snack, and dinner, but have had chocolate, pizza, coffee with creamer at lunch, and even a beer! No need for starvation to lose weight.
First, I’d measure hips, waist and bust and measure that once a week.
Second, workout before your first meal - even if you have to cut it down to 15 min. I was doing only 15 min, 3 times a week only with weights or kettlebells and no cardio and I lost weight. However I did it before my first meal. (I’m also female).
Not scientific and I believe everyone’s body reacts differently but I can say that scales lie and measurements are a better indicator. Try an earlier workout and see if it changes anything.
Someone else mentioned that you might not be getting enough calories. I find that plausible too.
You might be gaining muscle volume from working out, if you’ve just started resistance training you might be retaining water.
I second the suggestion not to dip under 1200 calories, and even that is quite low.
Just a few things to maybe shake things up.