Little bit of context. I lost 20 lbs doing a 5 day water fast. I ended it because my stomach kept having this terrible pain (not the im hungry pain but the somethings wrong pain, kept having acid reflux). Fast forward after that I restart my current fast since the first one went so swimmingly. My body seems to have hit like a plateau where it refuses to fall beneath a certain weight. I have weighed myself 3 days in a row and I stay the same. Yet I keep doing what I normally do, not eat. Drink water when felt necessary and go for a 45 min sprint everyday. I restarted my fast on Dec 4. So I assume my body has to naturally get back into the fasted state the first 3 days. Now it’s dec 10 and I feel as though despite no calories coming in and constant pushing my self to sprint up a hill and walk down a hill, are not resulting in any weight loss. On the plus side, im full of energy and I feel better than ever especially my legs. Some of my muscles are getting more defined. Also unlike my first fast my stomach feels no pain and feel like I can keep going like this for days. Im just wondering if the plateau is normal? How long should it theoretically last? (Sorry if already asked before or too long)
Answer
The weight you lost from the first fast was mostly water weight. Most of it came back afterwards, right? It is impossible to lose 20 pounds of fat in 5 days unless you weigh something like 2000+ pounds. Your expectations might be too high. Probably the most actual fat you can lose while fasting is around 1 pound per day if you are a larger person. Water weight (retention or loss) can obscure this so you might not see a corresponding change on the scale right away. You have to look at trends in weight over time to see the real results. Your current fast is doing what it’s supposed to do even if you don’t see any changes on the scale.
Answer
It’s totally normal. For whatever reason, your body weight, as reflected on your scale, will jump all over the place even when you’re losing fat. It’s annoying, but be more concerned with longer trends.
It sounds like you’re doing well, though.