Weight loss has stopped! Any advice please?

This topic contains 4 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by CalifDreamer 7 years, 4 months ago.

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PurpleWendy

8:45 am
1 Jul 17
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Hi everyone, I’ve been doing 5:2 since September 2016 and I was hoping for some advice as I’m struggling!

When I first started 5:2 I was delighted – I dropped from 58kg to 53kg over a 3-month period, with my target being 50kg. However, having regained 3kg over Christmas, I’ve not been able to reduce my weight to below 54kg subsequently – my waistline is stuck stubbornly at 27″ too, so it’s not that I’m losing fat and gaining muscle.

My weight today is 56.7kg – it fluctuates between 54 -57 kg, despite the fact that I’m sticking rigidly to my fasts. My fast-day dinner is a small tuna steak with broccoli and celery, and milk in tea brings me up to my 500 calories. On non-fast days I try very hard to stick to a very low-carb regime, eating mostly eggs, meat, fish, vegetables and berries. Once a week I have sweet potatoes, which I’ve added in recently, as I’m finding that the low-carb regime is leaving me feeling exhausted. At weekends I usually have a couple of small treats – a small piece of cake, an ice cream and some chocolate, but I don’t go mad, and it’s the only thing that gets me through the week of otherwise strict dieting! I also work out 2-3 days per week – I’d like to do more, but I’m usually exhausted and starving by the time I come home from work!

I’m getting married next month, and I’ve been so desperate to lose the weight that over the last few weeks I’ve been doing 16:8 on my non-fast days.
I don’t know what else I can do to lose my excess fat, and I’m beginning to become quite despondent about the whole thing. Can anyone help?

lmrenfrey

10:38 am
1 Jul 17
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I’m sure lots of people will have tips to share. I know there are a number of people with experience of long plateaus. How is your liquid intake? I now generally drink around 3-4l per day, and when I don’t I generally have a weight increase.

Do you calorie count on your non fast days and have you calculated your TDEE? You say you are low carb, but are you actually counting carbs, or just reducing them to what your diet was? If you’re exhausted and starving then it sounds like the balance is not quite right.

Slogan15

10:45 am
1 Jul 17
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Hi purpleWendy

Whu don’t you try mixing up what you eat? I’ve been doing B2B fasting which has helped me. But I do one day 500 then next 800 next day.

Next week I’m going to have my main meal at lunch time when I’m fasting I’m hoping that will speed my weight loss

Some weeks I put an extra day in so it’s 4-3. I’ve only been doing it for 2 months and I’ve lost a stone which I’m really pleased about,

Are you doing exercise? It helps to do it on FD’s apparently speeds up metabolism.

Try joining the challenges as well they really help keep me motivated.

Good luck with the wedding plans and I hope you get better advise.

Big_Bill

3:04 am
2 Jul 17
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The only things I could suggest would be trying to extend your fasts a little. If you can’t do 2 full days back to back, maybe try extending your fast until your evening meal on the day following your fast (just have a light breakfast or lunch that day, around 250 or 300 calories.

And to try introducing some of the things you’ve learned on your fasting days into your non-fasting days. I find myself packing a filling and low-calorie lunch for work on most non-fasting days.

Most importantly, remember that eating well is not a one-size-fits-all thing. If this way of eating is making you unhappy and not working for you, try something different.

Mogaman

3:56 am
2 Jul 17
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@purplewendy You’ve gotten lots of tips. Here’s my 2 cents. I’ve used the 5/2 off and on since 2013 with good results. I did put weight back on in 2016 after a death in the family. I started 5/2 seriously again in January and it’s been slow going even with strict compliance. Finally now, I’m getting off a plateau. It’s not clear whether you
Use an App to record everything you eat in measured quantities. That is necessary for me. I also figure my TDEE on my goal weight, not what I am now. I don’t fast on consecutive days and I weigh in once a month. This WOL should work for you, even if it’s taking longer than you had hoped. Best of luck!

CalifDreamer

4:32 am
2 Jul 17
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I have a lot more experience with low calorie diets since I’ve only been doing 5:2 since May 10. But on low cal diets what always broke plateaus for me was to eat whatever I wanted one day per week, not even thinking about calories, but not stuffing myself. The next couple days weight would be up 2-4 pounds, but then after a few days of calorie counting it would drop below the plateau weight.

I think eating too little on NFD could possibly slow down your metabolism and make it more difficult to lose.