Lost 27 on intermittent fasting, gained 18 back :(

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yoilnits
yoilnits Posts: 14 Member
in Health and Weight Loss

Last year I lost 27 on intermittent fasting, going from 187 to 159.8, then added exercises, and started having more appetite, ended up slowly going off the fasting schedule, to eating like everyone else in the house, 3 meals a day, mostly healthy, but probably more calories than needed, causing me to gain 18 back in the last 6 months. I am now 176 :( Can’t believe I let it loose these last 6 months. So ready to get back on track, but have a week long trip to Europe next week, so can’t start a restrictive diet now, but really hope my weight, at least doesn’t go up. Feel discouraged… :(

Replies

  • yoilnits
    yoilnits Posts: 14 Member

    Thank you @yirara trying to figure it out of what will work this time. I feel like as long as I stick to something, it will work.

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,802 Member

    Intermittent fasting works if it causes you to eat less.

    Just eat less.

    How were you accounting for your food when on IF? I mean, the 27 pounds you lost - was it fast because you under-ate? That's common with IF because people tend to restrict as much as possible and try to get by on one meal or use a lot of caffeine to keep their energy up when all that is needed is a reasonable daily calorie deficit and then go up just a couple hundred when you reach goal.

    Are you willing to learn about calories and to some extent macros, and log your food?

  • yoilnits
    yoilnits Posts: 14 Member

    I was eating between like 9am and 3pm. No sugar, flour or potatoes. Ate very healthy and under calories, so I kept loosing, until I started eating dinner again and then on top of that started to add the white carbs here and there. Once before I was successful at calorie counting, but as soon as I stopped counting, weight went up again. Recently I’ve tried to start again, and I do it in the morning but then get carried away. I wish I could get back on track, then it’s easy to keep going.

  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 2,036 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48693711#Comment_48693711

    I think it's important to consider why it's not working for you. Are you getting too hungry? Are you unhappy/unsatisfied with the food you are eating? It's ok to change what you're doing to work with your body and lifestyle. I don't believe we should have to be white-knuckling it through our day until we're allowed to eat (or even worse, have all the joy sucked out of the food we are eating). Sure, we can't eat whatever, whenever we, however much we want... but it's important to find ways to make it sustainable for you.

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,802 Member
    edited 1:38AM

    Well, full disclosure - I've been on this site since 2007 logging food. I lost a bunch of weight and I've kept it off within a few pounds. I eat "white carbs" including sugar, potatoes and pasta. Not every day and not every meal but I do work them in. I cannot maintain my weight loss without logging food. I don't have to weigh every bite (though I do when I'm at home) and I can look at a meal and guess within a couple hundred calories how many calories that meal contains. That comes from having logged for a consistent amount of time. For me, I HAVE TO see those numbers in front of me - daily. Otherwise I start eating more, forgetting what I've had, eating bigger portions, tossing out all my personal food rules (there aren't many, but still..)

    Even if you only log when you start to put on a few pounds, that is likely better than nothing.

    Were you weighing yourself regularly while you were putting on those 16 pounds? It's not out of control, you can lose that again. Just a tad more discipline for a few months. The bad news is that the last 15 pounds are the most difficult to lose because the margins for error and balancing the numbers are so small.

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