Background I’m 5’3″ and weighed at one point 168.8 pounds. Lost 5 of those pounds in one week doing a 500 calorie diet and the week after I started 4:3 ( wanted to lose faster) in August of 2015. For about 2 1/2 to 3 months I was losing a pound a week. Got down to 153.2 at one point. I ate only once a day and pretty much what I wanted on my “non fasting” days and ate 500 or nothing at all on fasting days. Even on the holidays I was perfect on protocol however I noticed I wasn’t losing that I platuead at 154.4. Even though I was eating even less foods on my non-fasting days a great feeling.

October rolled around still stayed the same 154.4, same in November, December, January, February, up until March then I started gaining. I caught the flu in March and figured the weight gain was from my body trying to recover. I stayed on protocol as much as I could hoping it would subside after a while. Well….here it is April and I’m a whomping 158.4 pounds…..I’m very upset. I have a strong will power and know I’ve stayed underneath my calorie content if not lower. I even started upping my calories more just once a week thinking I wasn’t refeeding my body enough. That didn’t work either I stayed the same or gained even more. I’m really lost I cook ALL my foods from scratch, I measure everything, I only eat once a day on my non fasting day. Half a glass of milk in the morning, lunch a banana or nothing, then dinner I eat what I feel like which is usually grits, 2 strips bacon, with butter and cheese added. All measured of course. Followed by another glass of milk then water for the rest of the night. If I eat out its literally once in a blue moon and even so its only that one meal then I don’t have anything else to eat for the rest of the day. The last 2 weeks I’ve tried eating a spinach/kale salad with cheese added ( I HATE vegetables) and a chicken breast. Thinking it would jump start the loss nope still nothing.

Is there anything I need to do? I’m thinking about lowering my calories again to 500 to see if anything will help.

Thanks for responding, I read the posting before quite a few times. TDEE is all over the place some say mine is 1600-1700 the mayo clinic is a bit high which is why I didn’t use it. Even the 1600 calorie is still too much for me to eat. I know that I stay within calorie range because I eat pretty much the same things every time I eat. I usually hit about 1300 calories on fasting days.

Would fat burners help?

Someone told me they were trying a fat burner at a vitamin store thought that would help the progress more.

Yes I count calories. Before when I first started 4:3 I didn’t really although I just checked once in a while. When I plateaued after the first month I started being more concerned. My TDEE from two different sites is around 1750 give or take so I eat around 1300 to 1400 for faster loss.

@coldpizza

The butter I use is KerryGold 1 Tablespoon is 100 calories.

Thank you for the kind words I hope so too, even if it slow just seeing something on the scale would be nice. I was upset at seeing 154 now that’s like a dream. I’m 30lbs overweight I have PLENTY to lose lol.

@amazon I already do those things, I have a food scale, keep a journal, etc. In the beginning I lost even though I did not count calories or measure food. As time went on my appetite actually decreased and I was eating less than what I originally started doing. When the weight stopped coming off I started weighing trying to figure out what was going on I also don’t do 5:2. I alternate between 4:3 and ADF.

@apricot its possible I didn’t remove dairy because I’ve always had good loses with it. As for the banana its not something I eat all the time some fasting weeks my body has I guess cravings for weird things normally I don’t eat anything ( no chips, soda, or other snacking that people graze on) Literally nothing but water until I get home, but there are some weeks that I will run to the store on my lunch break and grab a banana. Its very random.

I have plenty of fresh eggs even though I don’t eat them very often they hinder my losses, but I will try a boiled egg instead and see if that helps.