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overwhelmed with starting.

Hi everyone, I'm (35f) fairly new to IF. I have been doing it for three weeks and see no difference. I'm doing 16/8 and tracking my food intake (1500-1700calories) and water. I work three very physical jobs (where I burn more than I consume) and I've cut out alcohol. Am I doing something wrong or is this a stick it out and see kind of situation? Is it too early for results? Any tips and advice would be helpful. I'm feeling lost and overwhelmed. Thank you.

Answer

Likely it’s too early. There’s about 3500 calories in a pound of body fat. Given the deficit you’re likely at I would guess that you should have lost maybe a couple pounds by now but you wouldn’t likely see much in the way of visual changes.

Answer

Sounds like you’re doing great! Try to be patient; especially for women the scale can be deceiving in the short term. Your results may not show up in a linear fashion, especially depending on where you are in your cycle. Alternate ways of feeling progress are logging your fasts, (I like the zero app), logging measurements (sheets or excel or paper) or paying attention to how things fit. Keeping your calories dialed in and your fasts consistent will yield results, but they may elude you on the scale for awhile and then give you a whoosh of several pounds falling away later.

Best of luck - I have absolutely been there! 🤞🏻

Answer

Put the scale away! For at least a month, preferably 2. Your body is saying “what the &;$:$ is going on!” Give it a chance to heal. If you have fatty liver or excessive amounts of visceral fat, that will come first, and make little difference on the scale. But in the long run, will make you much healthier. BE PATIENT! Only good things are happening. Take pictures, take measurements (Google how to do properly), but stay off the scale, it’s a liar.

Answer

Prob depends what you are eating, try cutting down carbs and sugars as well as IF. I do 18/6 IF and try to stick to eating meat, veggies, salad (ketoish) most days. Went from 297 on 8/1 to currently 237 lbs