I have been on the 800 calorie fasting diet for the since mid December (9.5 weeks) and have lost 1st 11 lb which i’m happy about but for the last 3 weeks I have lost nothing even though I have stuck rigidly to my 800 calories mostly low carb/high protein.

I keep thinking that tomorrow the scales will catch up but they are not budging! I have heard of a plateau lasting around 2 weeks but after 3 weeks it’s wearing a bit thin, I can’t go lower than 800 calories a day at this stage as I still have 2.5 stone to lose!

I can’t give up because there’s nothing else to do other than starving myself or giving up completely which I really don’t want to do.

Any support and advice would be most welcome.

Hi peachcake4me! I can really relate to your circumstances, because it happened very much the same for me
when I began this WOE in june of 2016. Two months in, and then an 18 day plateau! I did additional
research, recognized that I was insulin resistant, and dropped my carbs down to 20g. After that, it was clear
sailing at losses of 3.5lbs per week, until I reached my goal. I’ve also noticed that you report on high protein?
This lifestyle is low carb, MODERATE protein, high healthy fat. Excess protein gets stored as fat, much the
way carbohydrates do. There are at least 2 different formulas that routinely appear on these threads, which
offer assistance on establishing ideal macro levels. These are the possibilities that immediately come to mind,
and others no doubt will have opinions as well. You’ve done splendidly so far, so don’t give up! Probably all
that is necessary is a few tweaks 🙂 Best,

Allie

Hi,
The rule of thumb for the macros is between 20g and 50g of carbs a day depending on how insulin resistant you are.
For protein its 0.6g to 0.8g of protein per kg of TARGET weight. A higher level of protein can also trigger insulin production.
With the rest of the calories coming from healthy fat.

————-
I notice you mention that there is no change in the scales, but have you checked for any inch loss. – Its not uncommon for the scales to stay the same but body shape change. – The reason is that when our insulin levels are consistently low it enables other hormone systems to work as designed. High insulin levels block the production of growth hormone. Growth hormone is responsible for maintaining bone density and repairing muscles after exercise. – So you can have a situation where your body is healing, building up stronger bones and muscle and burning fat which means the scales do not change but body shape is changing. –
Over the last few weeks I have replied to similar concerns on the same issue, in which I have provided links to articles which explain in more detail the importance of focusing on body composition rather than the reading on the scales. If you use the options on the forum for searching for posts by a particular individual you should be able to locate them easily.

“when our insulin levels are consistently low it enables other hormone systems to work as designed. High insulin levels block the production of growth hormone. Growth hormone is responsible for maintaining bone density and repairing muscles after exercise. – So you can have a situation where your body is healing, building up stronger bones and muscle and burning fat which means the scales do not change but body shape is changing. –
Over the last few weeks I have replied to similar concerns on the same issue, in which I have provided links to articles which explain in more detail the importance of focusing on body composition rather than the reading on the scales”

Thank you JGwen this is very useful information. I’ll look up the papers

Well I have to report that I have taken the advice given by you all and stuck to the carb and protein percentages that you recommended and have finally shifted 4lbs this week!

I’m ectastic and keeping the faith now to continue with my weight loss journey using these methods which I hope will enable me to go on to lose my next 2 stone.

I can’t thank you all enough for taking the time to reply and advise me. I’m so grateful.

Hi all. Just wondering how you manage to drop to 20g carbs. An apple has 25 and a pear has 15. I too am on a plateau but can’t work out how to drop to 20g of carbs per day. Please help.

Hi jodyq, might sound as though I am making light of it, but dont eat the apple. Seriously, I have a Low Carb Ploughmans once a week and I share an apple with my hubby, because I know how many carbs are in it and also because I cant manage a whole apple with all the rest of the food i.e. celery, ham, cheese. I dont seriously keep to 20g carbs, that is the extreme low, but aim to be under 50g, which is much more do-able.

Hello JodyQ! I’;m sorry to hear that you’ve run into a plateau. Dropping your carbs is the most reliable way
to break it! Many BSDers here manage very well at 20g. of carbs, and I’m sure they will be along to share
their menus with you. Even vegetarians manage it, but it does make it more challenging. Here are a few
suggestions…Avoid all fruit with the exception on 8-10 raspberries if you enjoy them with yogurt. Eat only
above ground vegetables. I relied heavily on spinach, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, courgette, any
dark greens bell peppers, mushrooms, napa cabbage, dark greens and salads. Tomatoes are actually a
fruit and as such, quite carby. Stir fries are great for using up bits and pieces. Alcohol is like a stealth bomber,
so avoiding it will keep you under 20g carbs. Porridge is also a no-no. I kept things VERY simple, greek yogurt
with berries and chia seeds for breakfast, hard boiled egg and 1/3 avocado for lunch, and 4 oz of protein plus
1 1/2 c. of assorted veg. for dinner. If I needed a snack, it was 8-10 almonds. During our hot New England summers,
salads appeal, so I just made a big one with vegetables thrown in, and pre cooked protein. Are you relying on the
recipes in the book? The calories are often underestimated by 100+ calories, so be careful there. Things like
beetroot falaffal are very carby. By keeping it simple, I found IT simple to stay just under 20g carb for 10 con-
tinuous months. I also replaced milk in coffee or tea with unsweetened almond milk. Hope this helps 🙂

Allie

Very interesting advice on this thread.. thank you all, looks like we have the tools ready to break a plateau if it hits and as peachcake4me can attest, it works! Hope you manage to beak your plateau too JodyQ, we be interested to hear if it has also worked for you. Really hope so as no fun otherwise! Let us know 💚

Hey all I’m several weeks into 800 a day 6:18. I enjoy eating the food and don’t really suffer hunger pangs.

I’ve plateaued now tho and I’m wondering what to do. I understand that on the current routine my metabolism will have slowed. It’s probably time to break with the fast and go 5:2. Still avoiding the carbs as much as possible.
That seems counter intuitive, to eat more to lose more weight.
I’d much prefer a fixed routine like I’ve been on. I did try a 24 hour just water fast and that shifted a few pounds. I’m worried that I’m not doing myself any good.
Any advice please?
Thanks you guys.

I wouldn’t assume any lack of weight loss is an indication of metabolic slow-down. I did the Fast800 for 14 months until I reached my goal. Sometimes weeks would go by without significant loss, especially as I left obesity behind. Bodies adjust and do strange things. All you can really do is ride it out.

Do you count your carb grams or just avoid certain types of them? You might find that you need to drop your daily carb counts to low rates of around 20-50 grams to drop your basal insulin levels low enough to keep burning fat.

I keep a check on carbs to keep them below 50 grams yes. As far as I understand it metabolic slowdown is pretty much guaranteed with lowered calorie intake. In the fast 800 book MM cites studies where 5:2 dieters beat 24/7 dieters in weight loss. It seems a given. Not saying it’s not possible it’s just going to take longer.

I’m sorry FrOdO, but metabolic slowdown does not happen when your carb levels are pulled down very low. 50g a day
is the upper limit on the Fast800, and many of us here go considerably lower than that. There is a whole community of
maintainers here that can attest to no metabolic slowdown, so I don’t believe it’s “a given” at all. For many of us, reading
MMosley’s books are just a departure point. You will find more studies that will expand your base of knowledge on
the “TAKE A LOOK AT THIS” thread. Just type it into the search box, and you will find it. I recommend podcasts by
Bikman, Jason Fung, and Gary Taubes as a solid starting point. How long have you been in maintenance and how
many weeks did you complete on the Fast800?

Hey

I’m not saying that low carbs = metabolic slowdown. But that <800 calories daily does. To me that’s a given. Can you point to an acceptable study (by MMs standards) that concluded otherwise?

I’ve studied widely around the subject too.

I’m not in maintenance mode. I’m still fasting since February.

I’m looking into advice on coming out of fasting mode beneficially.

Hello All
I came across this article ‘How to break a weight loss plateau on a low carb diet’ on the Virta Health site the other day and thought it might be useful reading on this thread. https://blog.virtahealth.com/break-weight-loss-plateau-low-carb/ –

If you ignore the sales pitch for the Virta ‘treatment’ – its own low carb programme – there are some useful articles on there.

Jennie

Thank you Jennie that was a good read

Hi Fr0d0

Yes, it’s no different than a lot of what people advise on the forum but it’s useful as it puts a lot of those tips in one document.

Anyway, I know you’ll get lots of info on the forum about coming out of fasting from others, but I just wanted to say some of the Jason Fung and Megan Ramos (who manages their IDM programme and who I find is quite practical in her advice on fasting) videos/interviews have useful info on how to break a fast well. There was a good Q & A with Megan Ramos on the Obesity Code podcasts which I’ve accessed previously but now it looks like you have to subscribe to iTunes to access those podcasts – if you have iTunes might be worth a listen.

Also, Jason Fung’s ‘Complete Guide to Fasting’ book is really good (as is the Obesity Code and the Diabetes Code for anyone with Type ii)

Jennie

FrOdo, I have a name, and it’s not “Hey”. My experience with metabolism was shared with the community on this very
thread 3-4 days ago. See above. It might be helpful to you 🙂 Good luck to you in reaching maintenance.

Allie

Hey you

Thanks for sharing xx