Steady Weight Increase

This topic contains 8 replies, has 10 voices, and was last updated by Fruitcake3 5 years, 9 months ago.

Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

Ifast4life

1:53 pm
9 Feb 15
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Hi,
I’m new to this forum, so I apologise if this question has been raised before.
I’ve been a dedicated 5:2 faster since August 2012 and I’ve had great success losing over 40 pounds in the first 12 months. I plateaued to my ideal weight/BMI to around 10st 11 pounds and this remained constant every week, for a further 12 months. Approximately two years into my fasting diet plan, I noticed the start of a very slow increase in my weight. Despite no change in my eating or life style pattern?? I fast strictly every Monday & Tuesday, with every other Friday thrown in for good measure. I also exercise on a regular basis and have found that what ever I do, it has little effect on my weight. Over the past six months I’ve gained about 14 pounds. So I’m getting worried that long term fasting is having some adverse affect on me?? Should I stop, or change pattern may be?

Amazon

2:01 pm
9 Feb 15
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You must be eating more than you need, and it may only be a little over your TDEE but it is obviously enough to make you gain weight. Why don’t you continue as you are for a couple of weeks but count calories on your non fasting days and see what they add up to.

Ifast4life

3:13 pm
9 Feb 15
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Thanks Amazon, that does make sense and I will follow your advise.
It just seems odd that after two years of not calorie counting on non-fasting days, the balance is going the other way? I’m concerned that may be this diet is affecting my metabolism, slowing it down too much perhaps??

HappyNow

5:48 pm
9 Feb 15
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I’m no expert, but you don’t hear about the long term CRON-ies gaining weight after a time so I would suspect something else is going on.

As Amazon suggests, doing a calorie audit might prove illuminating. You might be eating over TDEE. Perhaps a gradual portion size increase over time? Or if eating exactly the same calories as 3 years ago, aging could be a factor (your TDEE has decreased with age, but you haven’t adjusted intake). Could you have lost muscle bulk (you think you’re exercising the same, but it’s lower intensity/ less in reality).

Or perhaps a medical reason? Menopause or thyroid or medication?

I hate to say it, but I hope it is you and not fasting 🙂

Amazon

6:00 pm
9 Feb 15
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I would say that it is extremely unlikely that fasting has had a negative effect on your metabolism. We often think we are doing the same as we’ve always done, but on closer inspection that is not the case, and I’m 99% sure that too many calories is the culprit.
I hope that is the reason as it is the easiest problem to solve and means that you are fit and well.

Ifast4life

6:58 pm
9 Feb 15
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Many thanks HappyNow and Amazon, for your responses and good advice. I’m going to carefully monitor my intake over the next few weeks and I’ll post back with my results.

Sylvienchen

10:02 pm
24 Feb 15
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Hi, I have been fasting for nearly 2 years now with pretty stable weight and slight loss at the beginning. Since about a year I also find that I gain weight more easily and I have to try harder to keep it the same. In my case we are talking of a maximum of 1-2kg though over time. I believe that our metabolism adjusts and if you are near your “perfect” weight, BMI etc it tries to put “reserves” because the body now expects you to fast. I have started skipping lunch on other days and I wouldn’t be surprised if your weight gain is not entirely caused by increased calorie intake on your non-fasting days. I would also recommend to anyone who is fasting to maintain weight only and get health benefits to continue doing it for 2 days per week and not switch to a 6:1 diet as you are likely to have less benefits from it and your body will stop loosing weight and adapt.

NickiS83

12:58 pm
6 Jan 16
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Maybe it’s not your diet – maybe its your exercise. Was just reading this article about how your body adapts to your workout regime so that you no longer respond to the same exercise in the way that you used to – I have definitely noticed this recently and therefore try going to different classes every so often to mix things up a bit:

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=874

It says that “Someone who does the same activity all the time is likely to plateau much sooner than someone who varies her workouts. Just as you can get bored by always doing the same exercises, your body can also adapt to these exercises so that they don’t offer the same benefits that they once did. A little variety might be just the thing you need to get the scale moving again or bust through that strength plateau.”

susan25

4:21 pm
4 Feb 16
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Hey. Just 3 years ago I had the same problem as you. I didn’t really changed my diet habits and I still did sport but I was gaining weight like every hour. Here unintentional weight gain.I found why it happened to me and eventually I got rid of this huge problem

ayurvedaindia

11:45 am
20 Jun 18
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weight gaining is common problem now a days…you just need to exercise regularky…walk every day

ayurvedictr

11:48 am
24 Jul 18
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Diet and Lifestyle: You need to follow a lifestyle as prescribed by the experts.

Avoid high carbohydrates like potato, polished, rice.
Increase intake of fruits and salads
Avoid oily and spicy foods drink of lukewarm water with lime
Use of powdered cum seeds, coriander leaves salt and ginger powder with outer milk should be recommended.
Yoga: Following that, specific yoga postures can give you good results in reducing body weight. They have to done under the supervision of yoga gurus initially.

Dhanurasana
Bhuyangasana
Ardhamasiendraysana
Trikonasana
Surya Namaskar

fasting_me

6:53 pm
24 Jul 18
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lfast, I’ve been doing this for 5 years and kept the weight off. Once in a while I’ll gain 3 pounds, then hold on to it for a week or two, then lose it again. It is all about how much you put in your mouth and what TYPE of food you eat. Some foods put more weight on for me than others.

Fruitcake3

3:31 am
25 Jul 18
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Hi @ifast4life !

Although I find exercise can make gain some weight, I think it’s impossible it makes you gain that much. Unless you’re really dedicated to building muscles, like bodybuilding style, I doubt that weight gain due to exercise can be as high as 14 pounds. When I gain because of exercise, it’s usually 1-1.5 kg and mostly due to the fact that I’m hungrier and therefore eating more calories overall. Maybe there is a muscle gain contribution too, but minimal.

I would like to check with you the following:

– Did you adjust your TDEE to your current weight or using the old one?
– Are you calculating TDEE adding physical activity? I find that the best way to calculate TDEE is to use the “sedentary” physical activity input. It’s easy to overestimate the impact of exercise.
– Are you counting calories on non-fast days? I suggest you count calories every day, at least for a while. I find that when I diet for a long time it’s easy for me to start getting a bit looser on my intake: slightly bigger portions, a forgotten snack…
– Are you subtracting calories burned by exercise from your daily calories? When I was doing so, I was gaining weight. When I stopped counting exercise in my calories, I started losing again. Again, it’s very easy to overestimate calories burned during exercise. Do not factor exercise in your calories and TDEE, consider it as an extra

Good luck! And don’t give up exercising, it’s good for you!

EDIT: I just realized that the original post was from 2015 :p Hope you managed to lose those pounds in the meanwhile Ifast4life!