So I’ve always had a hard time losing weight. I can literally workout every day, and eat like salmon and spinach and barely anything else in a day. I just won’t budge one lb. However I’ve recently discovered with fasting, I lose a lot. I recently did a 3 day fast, lost 6 lbs. Then I did an almost 6 day fast, and I lost 10 lbs, only regaining 1 back. But I’ve been doing keto, not eating much at all, working out, and 8 days since my fast ended, I haven’t even lost 1 lb. I’m gearing up to do another fast, but why can I not lose anything unless I fast? I’m trying to get out of the 200’s. I’m at 214 now.
Because of the simplicity. If you’re eating less (and a type fo diet, like keto) you have to be razor sharp with knowing what you daily caloric expenditure is and what the ideal calorie amount to eat reflecting that is, and measuring out the food accordingly, etc… With fasting, you just don’t eat and the results come automatically. That’s it.
So then the key is just stick to fasting and eating normal when you get to your goal weight.
I’m the same way, by the way. I hate regular dieting.
I’ve had a similar experience. I can eat a healthy, low calorie diet while working out, but the best way for me to attack stubborn fat is to fast. It’s like reminding my body that it can still burn fat like it did when I was a teenager and young adult. I’ve even been increasing muscle weight. It’s like I’m a whole new person.
I’m the same. I used to able to lose weight through traditional diets. Then I developed a bunch of hormonal issues and no matter what I did, the weight wouldn’t shift. Fasting is the only way I lose weight and I lose it fast. I think it’s because fasting also balances the hormones and reverses things like insulin resistance (which can inhibit weight loss).
It takes a long time to see results when you are eating.
The easiest formula to know is 150lb is 1500 calories a day. 200lbs is 2000 calories a day.
If you’re on a 500 calorie deficit. You drop 1 lb every 7 days. Which is really every 8 days, because you have to factor in the 7th day 500 calories.
It’s really easy to mess up a 500 calorie deficit.
Even if at 1,000 calorie deficit. It’s only 2 lbs a week.
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If you’re fasting, and you’re 214 pounds, that’s a 2140 calorie deficit plus your activity level.
So, it would take 4 to 5 days of 500 calorie deficits to equal just 1 day of fasting.
My guess is that you’re insulin resistant and fasting is the only way to clear it from your system and get your body to burn fat. You might want to check out The Obesity Code by Jason Fung.
It’s also possible your basal metabolic rate is set very low from years of under eating. You might want to try eating a little more when you’re not fasting.
A plateau isn’t always a bad thing. You can think of it as your body getting used to that new weight and making it less likely you’ll quickly revert back. One meal a day worked for me to lose weight the first 4 months and then I hit a weight where it stabilized. I still have 15 lbs to go so I incorporated 48s into my schedule and I’m right back on schedule. I see OMAD as my future default eating frequency to maintain a healthy weight.
The best thing about fasting, to me, is the reset on your relationship with food and discovering just how much your unique self needs per day. You don’t need the long 6 day fasts for effective fat burning. OMAD, 48s, or even 72s (I haven’t needed this yet) are easier to stick to and make a habit.
Edit: re-reading your post, 15 lbs in 17 days? You may be looking too closely at the day-to-day. It’s natural for fluctuations to happen during the same day and day to day. Your average is ~7 lbs a week, focus on that incredible success. The numbers at the start are skewed with water weight, but celebrate this as working and try to be patient.
For those of us that have some form of metabolic syndrome, understanding insulin is the key. Losing weight while you have insulin in your blood is damn near impossible, and if you have any insulin resistance, you’ll hold on to your insulin far too long. When you do extended fasting, your body has extra time to get rid of the insulin, and all of a sudden, the weight starts to come off.
If you’re very insulin resistant, protein can cause your insulin to spike as well (look up gluconeogenesis). Multiday fasting is how you get control, OMAD is how you maintain.
I’m in same boat as you. But I have also started losing weight again with alternate day fasting(ADF). I still eat mostly low carb/keto on my eating days. My fasting days usually last between 38-42 hours. In my case I think I reset my metabolic rate lower. I also fast 3 days every few months. (Since I started I’ve been able to decrease my A1C from 6.9 down to 5.) ADF is easier for me because I’m able to eat in a 10 hr window on my eating days too.
I have this same issue. It’s physically impossible for me to not be losing weight. I think my body adjusts my metabolism based on the calories I take in. I have to exercise to get my metabolism higher.
How’s your blood sugar levels? I used to be able to do keto and would shed weight. Then I had metabolic syndrome and later type 2 diabetes and then was unable to lose any weight with keto alone.
I switched to fasting which lowers your blood sugar and more importantly your insulin levels and then I am able to lose weight again.
How about not thinking about the weight and instead think about body composition.
You can lose fat weight and gain muscle weight.
So I lost about 30 lbs in the last year but put 10 lbs back on but added not an inch to my waist because it’s mostly muscle in my arms chest and thighs. So I’m down from 250 lbs 40 inch waist to 220 lbs 36 inch waist and back up to 230 lbs with 36 inch waist.
Losing body fat is far more important than just weight.
I would rather a heavier gal with sub 23% body fat than a lighter gal with 35+% body fat.
Because obesity is a hormonal disease. For many people it’s not about calories and exercise, it’s about their body’s thermostat for weight being set too high and it’s regulated through hormone insulin. Fasting reduces insulin and that allows the fat to be released. Read Obesity Code by Dr Fung. There’s also research that shows that forever chemicals act like hormones in our bodies so it’s possible our weight thermostats are broken due to pollution. You may lead a healthy lifestyle but still not be able to lose weight through just diet and exercise alone because of having hormonal malfunction.
Disregarding medical issues for now, if you’re not losing weight outside of fasting, you’re intaking more calories than you’re burning. Weight loss really is just a matter of simple math. You may say that you’re eating a very healthful diet in general, but let’s look at a common missteps:
Just because the food is healthful for you, it does not mean you can eat an unlimited amount and not be affected, calorically speaking. Olive oil, for instance, is a very healthful ingredient and a common dressing people will use when on a diet. I absolutely love it and encourage people to use it daily, but keep in mind that a tablespoon olive oil is 130 to 150 calories. One single tablespoon.
You want a quick snack before you step out for the day. You figure you’ll eat a bag of nuts. Nuts are healthful and contain many vitamins and minerals that are necessary for our bodies to function. However, a small bag of cashews can hit close to 400 calories. While a better and more healthful option than, say, a Big Mac, it’s still a lot of calories and isn’t too far from the calories in the latter. Best option is to just have 10 cashews (100 calories) as a snack.
Fruit juices are seen as a great alternative to soda. It’s given to little children, many people drink it in the morning and while it’s incredibly delicious, it is not generally healthful to drink. Fruit juice should be treated like soda and candy: drunk infrequently or not at all. The calories in a cup of fruit juice can range anywhere from 110 calories 130. That’s in the same range as most sodas. Drink water. Drink carbonated water. Drink unsweetened teas.
Calorie counting is very important when you start losing weight. It gives you an idea, after a while, of what and how much you can eat without going over the amount of calories you burn in a day. Begin to familiarize yourself with foods and portions, so you begin to make more informed food choices. After a while, you won’t have to count calories as you will just naturally know, it’ll be almost reflexive, as to what you should and shouldn’t eat. You’ll realize that eating a chicken salad tossed in an olive oil dressing with sliced almonds is about a 1000 calories. Whereas four regular sized tacos (using corn tortillas) with carne asada and a robust salsa will be about 550 calories. Now, I can still have a chicken salad, but I need to cut in half the amount of olive oil used and nuts in the salad. If you’re only burning 1500 calories a day and you’re eating 650 calories per meal, you’re not going to lose weight, you’re going to slowly put on weight over time. Weight loss is a game of simple arithmetic; addition and subtraction. Always keep that in mind when you’re having a meal.
There’s lots of calculators online that can help you figure this out, but if you don’t know what your metabolic rate or don’t keep track of the calories you burn a day you can’t do the simple arithmetic to figure out how much you should be eating in terms of calories a day. It’s like feeling your way in the dark. It’s unnecessary, just flip a switch and turn on the lights. Knowing your metabolic rate is the switch.
Meal planning and meal prepping doesn’t mean that you don’t get any flexibility during the week as to what you eat, rather, you’re going to have a healthful option available to you daily. If someone at work decides to make a run to go get some fast food and they invite others to place an order for pickup, I’m less likely to take them up on that offer. I’ve already got my meal in the office fridge, which I know has a good calorie count, homemade, delicious and filling. Meal planning and meal prepping also means that you know something will always be available to eat every day of the week. You plan everything on a Sunday and you try to make as much as you can for the week that same day. You can eat the same thing every day for the week which can make meal prepping extremely easy, or you can make something different each day of the week. Either way and do what’s most suited to you just make sure you include a variety of vegetables and different meats every few days or every week. You also don’t have to plan and prep for all your meals. I just find it helpful to do this for my lunches. I don’t really do breakfast and I typically have a light dinner. So really, I’ll only prep my lunches for the week. You can adjust this to your needs.
Sometimes, we don’t include a variety of vegetable, proteins and fruits into our diet, which would help our bodies absorb and synergize essential nutrients properly. Keeping that in mind, sometimes it pays to supplement your diet with a multivitamin that’s appropriate for your age range and gender. I take a multivitamin and during the weeks where I don’t have to e to make chicken broth (I drink it for the collagen, which helps my hair nails and joints exponentially), I’ll drink hydrolyzed collagen powder supplement in tea or coffee. If you’re on any medications, make sure to check with your doctor and pharmacist as to what vitamins and minerals you should be mindful about or not take at all.
No one likes exercising but you got to look at it this way: it gives you more breathing room in terms of the number of calories you can eat a day. If my metabolic rate is 1500 calories a day and I burn 700 calories a day, I’m burning 2,200 calories a day. That’s a nice big leap from 1500. Even just doing 200 more calories a day–,in some sort of movement or exercise–is 200 more you did not have. Also feel better if you move your body more frequently. You’ll be less prone to anxiety, you’ll be able to release stress, you’ll be less likely to fall into depression and while it’s not a solution for it, you’ll be able to better manage depression as well.
Sometimes people have this irrational belief that they should be losing 5 lb in a week. And while some individuals who are very heavy can initially do this just by the sheer math of their caloric intake and their metabolic rate, most of us will lose weight slowly and that is the best and most healthful way to lose weight. Gradual weight loss allows your body to reconfigure itself more slowly, but more efficiently. Ever seen somebody who lost a lot of weight in a very short amount of time? How loose and sagging their skin is? How much older they look in the face? Losing weight at a slower pace, at a more healthful pace, can keep this from happening or keep it to a minimum. It can also prevent heart issues from arising with rapid weight loss (some are more susceptible to this than others.
While I certainly love the results of fasting, the reality of it is that we’re going to have to come back from fasting into the world of food. Fasting can help you along the way but it’s not going to solve your problems. What’s the point of losing 8 lb fasting when you’re not managing your weight loss and food intake outside of it?
Good luck.
I was thinking about this the other day too. I can be so mindful of what I’m eating (and how much) during my eating windows or when I’m just generally not fasting… but the scale just does NOT care. At least at 38, the only way I seem able to make consistent progress on losing weight is through multi-day fasts.
10 or 11 years ago, I actually lost a good amount of weight on Weight Watchers… all I had to do was keep within my point recommendation for the day and I’d like between one lb a day or two. Then they changed their formula, I think… and, well, I assume my metabolism has slowed as I’ve gotten deeper into my 30’s anyway. Either way, the weight slowly crept back on over the years. WW has never been as successful as it was that first time I utilized it.
I actually LOVE multi-day fasts - and I feel so energetic and clear-headed while doing them. It’s just getting past the 18-20 hour mark on day one that’s the toughest. After that? It just feels so easy.
Keep fasting, try to do longer ones of up to 5- 7 days. Get your body to go into ketosis and keep it there ; your metabolism will speed up and become adapted to burning fats.
Once you train your body to burn fats and not glycogen, your whole life will change for the better. I 100% guárantee it.
A doctor can tell you more specifics, but the general guess I can give is that you are either gaining muscle while losing fat which can make you stay or even increase in weight, you are burning equal or less than the calories you are taking in, or your scale might not be entirely accurate.
Just something to take into consideration- when I eat very few calories, as in under 1000 for some reason my body takes much longer to show any weight loss on a scale. I know it makes no sense scientifically, but it seems to just hold onto it. When I fast or make sure to eat 1200 or so, it does come off eventually
How many calories do you take in? If you’re too low that can really screw things up. I started losing weight when I hit the 250 mark and I found that if I ever went under 1600 I would stall. Eating about 1800 was a good spot for me. But if you’re just eating barely anything you’re probably stressing your body and shutting down your metabolism. Fasting is great because it takes that out of the equation but you do still need to eat properly when you aren’t.
Pants!! Pants pants pants!!! I was barely budging on the scale too but I have “goal pants” from before I got pregnant and gained all my weight back and it’s crazy how within 2 weeks of dieting they began to fit but on the scale I was showing 5 pounds down only. The scale has been my nemesis recently so I’ve put it away and will only check my weight after a fast of 5+ days.
Don’t take this as gospel, but I read that fasting for extended periods can mess with your gut biome. I had a lot of success with my first fasting period. Then, a year later, I had less success. Now for my third time, I introduced some simple probiotics along with my fasting regime and I can see the number going down again.
You probably are not estimating your calories in/calories out correctly. Also, weight can fluctuate by a few pounds from day to day, so you shouldn’t assume that weight staying the same or fluctuating up means you aren’t losing. Since the signal to noise ratio is so low you shouldn’t expect to see immediate results from day to day.
You could be lying to yourself. Are you accurately recording exact consumed food and calories?
If so, and that’s not the problem then you need to see a doctor. You might have a hormonal problem. You surely already have an insulin resistance problem. There are tests to show your baseline insulin, which if it’s higher than acceptable means you have higher insulin resistance. But there is a more involved test called an insulin assay or insulin tolerance test. It determines your insulin sensitivity.
If that’s normal, then you might have a thyroid disease.
So if you’re not lying, then go see the doctor and figure out what’s wrong with your hormones.
You don’t even have to say it but, it’s called being white XD, white people (me being one of them 🥲) have the genetic advantage when it comes to gaining and storing fat, due to having to adapt to the winter, but we have a genetic disadvantage when it comes to losing weight, compared to black people who’s bodies are genetically designed to rapidly burn fat to keep the body cool and lean in the heat of the Savannah, where so much fat isn’t really needed to survive. Winter genetics seem like a disadvantage in the modern world but if society collapses in the future we are going to live the longest :) hurrah for fat
If you want to lose weight without fasting, in a calorie deficit, you need to be a bit scientific about it. Counting your calories (or at least estimating it really closely), and weighing yourself every day and looking at your moving weekly averages.
It’s a bit annoying, but I’ve done that before and it works. But fasting is just easier.
During a 3 day fast, if you’re BMR is around 2k a day, that’s about 1.5 pounds of fat lost. The rest is water weight. That’s not sustainable long term. Some of that water will come back.
Weight loss isn’t linear. Sometimes I have gone weeks where my weight would stay the exact same, and then one week I would have 7 pounds melt right off. If you truly aren’t losing weight, you aren’t counting calories correctly. Put yourself in a deficit, be consistent with it, and in time you will lose the weight.
I think its because its easier. With fast, no need to calculate every calories everyday and its a big calorie deficit all in a sudden. 0 cal is easy math, no chance to miscalculate the deficit like traditional diet that you have to track every bite you take.