How to overcome plateaus?

This is probably the most common question I see with people who have been doing intermittent fasting for a while. What are your tips and techniques?

Answer

The short answer catchphrase that I tell myself: “Just keep doing the right thing”

What “the right thing” is, to me:

Keep eating in my target calorie range. If I must go over, keep it at or under my maintenance calories.
Keep eating enough protein.
Keep eating healthy food with lots of nutrition (emphasize vegetables & berries).
Keep exercising. I walk a lot and weight train.
Drink even more water (for me, 3-5 liters a day depending on how much exercise)
Remember that 2-3 weeks that look like you are stalled is likely just water weight due to carbs or sodium.

Answer

I continued reducing my eating window.

I didn’t make any progress from 14h up to 17-18h of fasting. Switching to OMAD (one meal a day, around one hour and fasting the rest) was a game changer. But even then, I have to focus on eating the right things and not overeating within that time.

Answer

Honestly I think most “plateaus” are just people fasting while forgetting that calories matter too. You can have 100% perfection with your fasting windows, but if you’re still eating at or above your TDEE, it won’t make the scale drop!

Not to mention other things can trick the scale, i.e. water retention due to other factors like menstrual cycles, particularly salty meals, sickness, etc.

The fact is: if you’re consuming less calories than you’re burning, you ARE losing weight. It’s a fact of basic mathematics. So ignore the scale and keep going. Just my two cents.