Do the scales matter if you look and feel lighter?

I must say I am more motivated to lose weight by the thought of getting into smaller clothes than seeing a smaller number on the scales! The difficulty is that we use mostly just use the scales to monitor progress.

I am starting the fast beach diet today and have measured my waist as part of my starting measurements so I can see more than results on the scales.

There are a few things that could be happening:

The TDEE number is just an average. Some people need to eat less than their TDEE calories to maintain. Most of us also over-estimate the activity category we belong to. So I pick one level less active than I think I am and use that level as a guide.

According to research, most people, including dieticians and experienced dieters, underestimate the amount of calories they eat. By a lot. Keeping an accurate record of intake for a week and then working out what the calories were can sometimes yield surprises, things we decide we want to change.

Some people are apparently sensitive to gluten and/or carbs in a bad way. Carbs can increase insulin levels which can increase hunger. Gluten can increase hunger in another way. So then the amount that we seem to need to eat goes up. Also insulin tells the fat to stay in the fat cells instead of coming out and getting burned for energy. So if you adjust your TDEE and measure your caloric intake and it’s still not making sense, you could decide to try going off gluten and/or carbs for a month and see if that makes a difference.

All of which is a lot more work than just doing 5:2, I know, so it may sound discouraging. It’s great when 5:2 works easily in all its simplicity, but some of us have to work a little harder to get the weight off. There are probably some ideas in the new Fast Beach book.

For myself, I discovered that the portions I was serving myself were larger than I thought they were. Now I measure out my portions of certain things, at least from time to time. There were also a couple of foods that I was not aware of how calorific they were.

Also for me, if I walk a lot, it helps more than it should according to how many calories I burn. Not sure why. But the first thing I do when my weight loss stalls is increase my walking, and that usually helps.

The one thing about intermittent fasting is, at least it has great health benefits in addition to weight loss, so, even when we’re not losing weight, at least it’s not wasted effort 🙂

I’m glad you’re going to stick with it. For myself, daily calorie restriction meant being hungry almost all the time to lose a pound a month. At least with 5:2 I’m only hungry some of the time, and with 5:2 + walking, I’ve been averaging a pound a week — 39 pounds down this AM, over 38.5 weeks. But it’s still hard work. I know some people find it easy, I’m not one of them.