I seem to have plateaued

This topic contains 13 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by Jon Walsh 9 years, 9 months ago.

Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

JayArras

8:23 pm
12 Dec 13
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I started my Fast Diet back in June, 2013 after trying the “8 Hour Diet” promoted by Men’s Health Magazine which didn’t work. My goal was to lose 25 lbs in 6 months.

Well, I made good progress from June to about November 1st, losing 18 lbs, but my weight loss rate seems to have leveled off. I weigh myself about 3 x week when I work out at the gym, and find that I go +/- 2 lbs at the same weight, going on 4 weeks now. What do you think is happening? I’m basically still following the same routine I have been for the prior 5 months. Maybe I need to step up something?

Stef.

9:05 pm
12 Dec 13
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JayArras, first of all congrats on loosing 18lbs. What a superb succes!!!
I believe it is quite common to hit a plateau at some point. While you should start again at some point to continue loosing weight, you might want to do 3:4 for a week or so? Also did you re-calculate your new TDE? As you probably know this has to be done each time you loose weight.
Best of luck
Stef.

JayArras

10:24 pm
12 Dec 13
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Good point about recalculating the TDEE Stef, but I am taking in far less than the maximum 600 calories to begin with on my fasting days.

After I posted my original question, I did find that there were other posts about plateauing, and it appears that it’s not unusual. I guess your body is readjusting to what you have been putting it through and starts packing away energy stores again.

I’m not going to worry about it for now. With the holidays coming up, and spending time with family, I’ll probably suspend fasting for those two weeks and pick it back up in earnest after New Years Day.

Xenos

9:58 am
13 Dec 13
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Hey JayArras,

Good job on losing the 18 pounds. Your post title drew my attention because I’ve wondered about reaching a plateau too. Haven’t yet after losing 14.5 kg (32 lbs) in a little over six months and 3.5 kg (8 lbs) short of my goal. Like you, I’ll take a much deserved holiday break, start following the plan again after January 1st and might just keep going once I reach my goal in 2014 to see when it happens to me. I’ll keep an eye on this thread to look for updates.

Happy holidays!

Nika

7:13 am
16 Dec 13
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Hey Jay!
I may be stepping on ants here, but you say “I am taking in far less than the maximum 600 calories to begin with on my fasting days”. How do you do on normal days though? You may have been eating under your TDEE on normal days, but if your TDEE lowers and you keep eating the same on normal days you may at some point start eating over it. Couldn’t hurt to check 🙂

Did you take measurements? Maybe you’re losing inches but not weight, it’s quite common and a lot of people on the forum have experience with that. Maybe you’re building up more muscle lately and the loss of fat balances your weight out (seeing how muscles are heavier than fat).

Kickstarting weight loss again… There are many options. Besides just waiting a bit longer until it starts again (at least you’re not gaining, right? 😉 ) there are some things.
– Do more exercise (but I think you’ve got that station covered to be honest)
– Cut some calories on your normal days
– Try 4:3 for a few weeks, or even ADF
– Cut carbohydrates on fast days
– Cut carbohydrates completely for a week
– Fast for an extended period of time.
This last one means that, on fast days, you don’t eat until evening – so no calories during the day! Then have your daily calories (600- in your case 😉 ) in one go at night. It didn’t say whether you do this already, so I just put it in there anyway 🙂

Hope some of this helps!

JayArras

2:30 pm
16 Dec 13
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Wow, Nika! You certainly give me a lot to ponder. Thanks! I’ll have to try some of those suggestions after the holidays. I HOPE that some of the lack of weight loss is due to muscle building. My belly is starting to recede.

Nika

8:09 am
17 Dec 13
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Well that’s a good sign isn’t it? ^^ That’s why some people take measurements.

Let me (us) know what you tweak / change and the effect!

Stef.

4:27 pm
17 Dec 13
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JayArras, that is what some people report. The scales sometimes do not show any change but the waist does! So congratulations on your receding belly!
Stef.

RoBa

2:45 am
18 Dec 13
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I rule the plateau! I got stuck at 73kg for ages after losing 10kg in about 6 months. I think I got a bit slack. I think hit a point where my smaller body needed less and I didn’t make the necessary adjustment.

My eventual response was to say ‘ho hum, I’m doing this for the long term health benefit as much as the weight loss, and I quite enjoy fast days, so I’ll keep going whatever.” And, sure enough, eventually I’ve started losing again, very slowly but inexorably.

Good luck – all plateaux have a boundary so when you come to the edge only go forward if it is in a downward direction 😉

JayArras

3:03 am
18 Dec 13
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Thanks for the encouragement everybody!

JandA

3:41 pm
18 Dec 13
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Hi – I too started in Sept – my fast days are pretty much 0 calories – I find I can handle this – the amazing part is after loosing 10 pounds my weight doesn’t change 1 gram even with a complete zero calorie fast twice per wk. I even started running a couple miles and cycle at least 21 miles once per wk. I find this very odd that the weight stays the same?

Stef.

4:45 pm
18 Dec 13
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JandA, congratulations on losing 10 pounds! This is the same as a big bag of potatoes! Pick them up in the supermarket and you know what you have to lost!!!

Have you recalculated your new TDE? On non-fast days do you stay within your TDE? If you are still on 5:2, you might want to go for one week on 4:3 to shake things up a bit?

I am doing a combination of 5:2, 4:3 and most days 16:8, where I fast for 16 hours before eating something. This seems to work for me so far.

Sometimes the scales do not show your weight-loss but your clothes get looser. Also if you do a lot of sports muscles weigh more than fat!

Anyhow lot’s of luck and I hope that things get going again.
Stef.

fmacandr

10:12 pm
28 Jul 14
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I too have plateaued but was originally 150 lbs and have lost 30 lbs in less than 6 months. i was thinking perhaps my body wants to be 120 lbs … after all I have dropped to a size 8 which I was for about 30 years. I’m happy but will take up the tips about doing 4:3 too and recalculating my TDEE, etc and see if I manage to lose the remaining 8lbs I have my eye on ….. I feel fantastic and full of energy…. Can even climb a local hill with no bother whereas before I was wheezing and stopping on the way up. The new energy is not from extra exercise as I have only started that in the past few weeks… so it seems to be just from the weight loss!
I love this diet!

Jon Walsh

2:02 pm
29 Jul 14
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I am no scientist, but I wonder whether it might be possible that when your body weight stays the same for a prolonged period (despite taking on the same amount of calories as when you were losing weight) you have reached your natural weight and your body is happy with it. I accept however that the problem with this theory is that if you have plateaued when you are still a couple of stone overweight this may not be good for you (in both ways) – but overweight/obese evaluations are by their nature subjective and maybe forcing your body to lose more weight might not be the best idea – just a thought – be interested in others.