I made it through the 8 weeks, enjoyed all the food, wasn’t hungry and lost 1st 10lb. Thoroughly pleased with myself. But I have more to lose and am continuing with Fast 800. But weight loss has slows to 1 lb a week and, if anything, I am eating less and exercising more. Calories average 680, keeping carbs low at 20g and doing some intermittent fasting – two days this week with 24 hour fast and one with 36 hours.

Could I be doing too much? Is it just a natural plateau?

Advice very welcome from all you experienced BSDers x

Hi you are lucky to have got this far without a plateau, some people hit it and dont lose any weight for days or even a couple of weeks. It is a period when you body needs to rest and catch up with what has been happening to it. One pound per week is not too bad but less is not better and you could really do with more calories, especially fat, fat burns fat. You are bound to slow down at some point, some of us take a bit of a break, usually planned like for a holiday and keep to low carbs but go up a bit on calories. I dont know about fasting, it is not something I would ever do. Not because it is wrong but because I have diabetes and would be on the floor in a coma, so I am not saying there is a problem with it. Some people do the fasts and I am sure someone else will come on to give their view. All advice is welcomed. Ho, and well done on your 1 st 10 lbs loss.

That doesn’t sound enough food to me. Perhaps have faith and follow the recipes scrupulously. It will happen,

If you are still losing, even at a reduced rate, it’s not really a plateau. Dropping your calories too low, will cause your body to go into starvation mode, so rather than dropping weight rapidly, it will hang on to it’s reserves in case the next sustenance is a long way off. I’d suggest reviewing your meal plans and try bring the calories to the 800 mark and take a look at the carbs too, to be sure you are pitching them at the right sort of level too.

Try not to be disheartened by a pound a week loss. For some of us, that’s a goo week and every little helps – at least the scales are heading in the right direction for you and 1st 10lb is a good loss to date – a good foundation to build your continued loss on.

Good luck going forward and hope to be reading some positive results from you soon.

Reiterating that if you’re steadily losing weight each week, that is not a plateau and that lowering your calories will not necessarily lead to weight loss. Did you log all your food during the eight weeks? Why not go back to what you were eating then, see if it makes a difference. If it doesn’t, this is just how your body has decided to shed pounds, slowly and consistently. As someone who has experienced many plateaus over the past six months, reliable and steady weight loss every week sounds like a dream to me.

Thank you everybody for your encouragement and advice. You make a good point about it it being a plateau and I am going to up my calories this week. While I was walking the dogs his morning I also wonder whether I have been drinking too many sugar free soft drink and not enough water. Will try that too!

There is some evidence that sweeteners, artificial ones like aspartame as well as ostensibly natural ones like stevia, can inhibit weight loss. I still drink the occasional sugar free soda, but it’s a treat, not the source of hydration. I think it’s an excellent idea to replace the soda with water, especially since you’ve increased your exercise.

If you’re looking for a change from plain water, why not try a fruit tea – you can drop a bag in hot or cold water, as you fancy.

Be sure to check the ingredients on any fruit teas. I discovered a few months back that my favorite peach tea uses candied peaches in the mix. Once I started looking at the labels, I found hidden sugar in a lot of herbal teas, fruit or otherwise.

I’m a fan of sparkling water with added fruit flavors. No sugar. No sweeteners. LaCroix is the most popular brand around here, but Dasani also makes them. At first they taste like watered down fruit juice or soda, but by the time you finish the can, that light flavor becomes very appealing. It definitely fills the void of soda for me.

You are right Essnecca, it’s important to check what’s in anything you are going to consume. I’m not aware that either LaCroix or Dasani are available in the UK and unfortunately pretty much all the fruit waters here have added sweetener of some description. Conversely, I don’t recall finding candied ingredients in teas here (I read ingredient lists on teas avidly, as I hate the ones that include liquorice and there are a lot that contain it). The Twining ones here don’t have candied ingredients, so these would be a good option, FairHero.

Dasani is something of a damaged brand in the UK 😉

+1 for Twinings – decent teas at a reasonable price. If you’re in the UK I tend to avoid the Whittards ones due to some of the strong almost chemical flavourings, which can be unpleasant especially if you’re after cold or iced teas.