Hi, I am looking for some advice. I started my new diet one week ago. The goal was 1200 calories a day, and intermittent fasting for 16 hours each day. I am female, age 38, and weighed 239 pounds at the start of the week. I was regularly eating 2500-3000 calories a day, if not more, generally two large meals that made me feel very full, and generally processed foods high in carbs, with extra cheese. Not a lot of physical activity.
For the first three days, I lost weight with each weighing. I weighed myself the same time each day, around the time I finished eating for the day and started fasting:
- 6/16: 237.6
- 6/17: 236.2
- 6/18: 234.2
Then on the fourth day, I gained 1.4 pounds, despite no change to the habits of the first three days, and eating generally the same kind of food.
- 6/19: 235.6
I freaked out that my metabolism had crashed, and it coincided with a day I had taken off work, so I decided to allow 1600 calories a day. I did this for the next three days, and then today, starting the new week, dropped down to 1200 calories per day again.
- 6/20: 235.8
- 6/21: 235.6
- 6/22: 235.6
- 6/23: 235.8
As you can see, I haven't lost any more weight and seem stuck at 235 despite eating half the calories I was before. As you can imagine, I feel pretty discouraged to be eating so much less and not losing. If eating half of what I was eating before (maybe even less) wasn't working, will anything work? Even 1600 calories a day should be a deficit at my current weight.
I was eating mostly packaged stuff, and pretty much only estimating with fruit, so I think my counts were accurate enough.
I realize that dropping down to 1200 calories a day with intermittent fasting is a bit extreme and more than recommended, but I actually found the week quite manageable, and was feeling very optimistic about calorie counting long-term. However, it doesn't appear to be working. I know one week isn't very long in terms of statistics, but it's pretty early for a plateau, right? So what happened? My metabolism slowed down? Already? What's the solution? Alternating high and low calorie days? Stopping fasting to boost my metabolism with frequent snacks? Exercise? Or am I freaking out too soon, and I just need to stick with it?
I got a fair amount of exercise on several of these days, which is supposed to boost metabolism, but I didn't see any significant differences.
I know that a diet of avocado, broccoli, and nuts would probably do the trick, but I would quit that faster than you could blink. Saying certain foods were off limits is what has derailed me every time in the past. Foods I want in moderation seems to be much for sustainable for me.
Thanks for sharing any thoughts you have!
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/1lj4l3g/advice_for_calorie_counting_not_working/
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