Hi all! I started fasting back at the beginning of April and was really successful for a while. I did some OMAD and rolling 36’s/72’s, but I found that I really struggle with keeping to a schedule. This ended up with me going back and forth on fasting patterns, which meant I never formed habits.
This is super frustrating. My biggest weakness is if I have an off day it turns into an off week which turns into an off month. I’m not good at sticking to anything I already do, let alone creating new habits/life choices. I haven’t lost weight in about 2-3 months due to this inability to stick to something.
For reference, I am 5’8”, female, my starting weight was 119kg, my current weight is 112kg, and my initial goal weight is to get under 100kg, and then to go from there. At my lowest since beginning fasting I was 110, so I haven’t gained back more than water weight in the meantime (I go back to 110kg after a 48hour fast at the moment).
If you have advice, examples, or suggestions for me, please share. I’m very aware of the difficulty of fasting, and I’ve read the wiki. My number one goal is weight loss and I do believe this is the right way for me. I just need help choosing a fasting pattern that I can stick to for sustainable, long term weight loss. Thank you all so much!
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What helped me was weekly goals! Like - this week 20:4Next week add 2 36hour fasts etc. and then repeat however I feel it needs to be sometimes I gotta take it easier and I go to 16 or 18hrs only and its okay my brain is still thinking “this is intermittent fasting” but physically its easier and less demanding mentally so I never feel like “i let myself down”
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I have had trouble sticking to my plans too, first I worked up to 5 days and tried doing that every week, eat on weekends. It worked for a while, then I started breaking my fasts early, and I took a break from that, did a bit of OMAD/20:4 a few days a week. I decided to push to get back into it and do some 3 day fasts. I don’t like ridged schedules too much so I don’t mind changing it up to see what works for me. Now I’m doing 3 days every week, this is my 3rd week in a row. Some days are tough, and I don’t eat too well during the weekend, but it’s getting better. I’ll take any progress really. Have you tried alternate day fasting? That one sounds pretty appealing to me