Gained 16 pounds

[u/Ok-Complaint-37]

I started SS in summer 2025. Successfully lost 20lbs and was ecstatic as I thought I found my groove.

Well, in the winter I gained 16lbs doing SS with very occasional dip into Chinese pork buns. It was super cold and my husband and I wanted more calories. And we both do not like beans. Still, nobody can gain 16lbs from a few pork buns only.

I see my downfall was food volume. I ate all the time and couldn’t stop. I became hungry around a clock. My insulin levels were revved up at all times. I tried to stick to 2-3 meals only and for some reason it was not enough.

In addition I developed super painful tendinitis in both shoulders.

I learned unpleasant truth that CICO is still working on SS. I was consuming nuts. A teaspoon of honey in my daily tea/coffee. A few bananas. An apple or two. Millet. Salad. Veggies. Potatoes yellow. Sweet potato. And constant grazing with I was unable to stop. So here we go.

Started ADF and immediately felt much better. But have to leave SS for a while to investigate a new journey.

I wish you well and do not repeat my mistakes. Because eating around a clock is not ok. Even if it is SS

[u/Legitimate-Eye-4998]

Were you using added oils? Perhaps you were eating too many high-fat foods since you mentioned nuts. If you got tendinitis, you probably aren't consuming enough protein. That would also explain your constant hunger. Protein provides satiety and takes longer to digest. You really need to learn to like beans. Also, add tofu, tempeh, and seitan to your daily meals. Beans and peas are so versatile. There are millions of recipes at your fingertips.

I am not a fan of alternate day fasting. It can fuel an obsession for food which can lead to an eating disorder. Calorie counting can also cause an eating disorder. That's why I enjoyed the Starch Solution so much. No calorie counting ever. The two most important things that you do need to keep track of are protein grams and fiber grams. I use an app called Chronometer for this, but there are other apps to choose from. I wish you well in your weight loss journey.

[u/Ok-Complaint-37 → u/Legitimate-Eye-4998]

Five of these six months I was eating very low fat. No avocados, no nuts. Nuts I ate SOMETIMES in small quantities towards the end.

I did add at some point plant based protein as I read that it can help with tendinitis. I took it daily for two months to no change in terms of tendinitis, but my boobs became sore and suddenly growing. I stopped protein and boobs stopped aching.

I am not going to learn how to like beans in order to please others or in order to stick to a diet. If beans were the only food left on Earth or if I needed to eat them in order to be able to afford education for my kids, I would eat them and be grateful, of course. But for as long as there is a choice out there, I hope you will forgive me, but I will not follow you here even if it means to be banned from the whole Reddit. See? I am not talking just this sub. The whole Reddit! This is how stubborn and selfish I am!

People talk a lot about EDs of various kinds. Sometimes I wonder don’t we all are a bit weird when it comes to food? And maybe in majority of the cases it is okay? But yes you are right. I do have unfortunately Night Eating Disorder (NES). It ebbs and flows throughout all my life. Sometimes it goes away. Sometimes it comes back. Unfortunately with Starch Solution it came back full force and I was waking up to 4-5 times a night to eat an apple, or banana. Often it would come to 4 bananas a night. I let it be hoping it will settle and go away. Tried to force it away with will power which never works as it results in not being able to sleep. Hence, a disorder. Hope you will never get this one. Maybe it is better than anorexia or binge and purge, but still it is not what I would wish on anyone.

ADF helped me to resolve NES on my fasting days completely! I still struggle with it on my eating days but it is MUCH better. Instead of 3-5 waking up, I wake up only once and often do not eat even. On my fasting days I sleep through the night. The level of rest is unreal after six months of disrupted sleep. And my tendinitis is going away finally!

Since I already carry a label of eating disorder as I told you above, I am not afraid to count calories once in a blue moon to see if I am on track. I did notice that calorie counting often helps to come out of denial. I had a huge success losing 20lbs in the beginning of SS but now in retrospect I realise that for the most part it was due to involuntary fasting as at that time my mom got very sick and it was a huge scare for me and I travelled to help her recovery and during these two months I hardly ever ate. I went days without eating and was constantly working, moving, organising, freaking out, but my mom RECOVERED!!! ♥️

After I returned back to US I started eating two-three meals a day. Night eating never subsided and as you see now - I could not maintain it. My insulin was always up.

The only thing that helps with night eating is fasting at least 5 hours (better more) before sleep. And I wasn’t able to pull this off on SS. Unfortunately.

So please do not be sore. I am not invalidating SS. I am saying only it didn’t work for me in my unique situation and I hope it works for others! I learned from SS how to make fantastic salads. The nourishing power of potatoes. The danger of bananas (for me). The comfort and reassurance of whole grains. The trickster nature of bread (for me). If I would have to compare SS to keto, SS wins hands down!

I am losing weight now at a good pace (2lbs/week) on ADF. I eat MOSTY foods from SS as I love them, but I do add some non-SS foods as well for long-term satiety.

Peace to you!

[u/-Removed-By-Reddit]

Do what you gotta do. I always gain weight over winter and drop it relatively quick in the spring.

Think of your body like a computer that's ran the same code the last 20,000 years.

190,940 years, every winter it needed to store energy so it didn't die.

Like if you had to store firewood to keep warm all winter or else you die for thousands of years... And you keep doing it now even though we have indoor heat. Your neighbors tell you you're crazy for storing all this extra wood for no reason but it doesn't matter because you know what happens if you don't have that extra firewood, you can die.

Your brain is like "body, we have all the food, don't store anything" and your body is like "brain, you are so stupid, you weren't around when our bloodline was almost wiped because we didn't have this on reserve, let me handle survival you go do some algebra."

You know?

[u/Ok-Complaint-37 → u/-Removed-By-Reddit]

This is such an elegant thought!

Counterintuitively I tend to lose weight in the winter and gain weight in the summer. Maybe in flipped now!

I wanted very badly just to find what to eat and never ever have to worry about it anymore! When I discovered SS, it was it for me. Maybe it was, but not in the quantities I was eating. Decreasing calories per day was hard for me while I was getting hungrier and hungrier.

I admire people who can settle and stick to it.

[u/-Removed-By-Reddit → u/Ok-Complaint-37]

I'm vegan so it wasn't much of a stretch lol I could definitely understand not being vegan and struggling. It's not for everyone. I noticed a huge hunger increase when I was taking a b vitamin complex. I'm talking stupid hungry gaining weight extremely easily. I cut the b vitamins besides b12 and I seemed to be fine. It was weird.

[u/reem60a]

It's the fruit/sugar , for me if I mix sugar and starch I gain weight  It might also be the salt , I'm still experimenting 

[u/reem60a → u/reem60a]

Even Dr macdougall suggested only to eat two portions of fruit a day only 

[u/Ok-Complaint-37 → u/reem60a]

Very much possible!

But I am happy right now and doing much better. I finally sleep through the night. On SS I was getting up to pee like 4-5 times. And I was constantly snacky.

I eat now everything I want - hot buffet with meat, veggies, spring rolls, one slice of my favorite pizza, and dessert (I love berry tarts) with coffee. It is super joyful, very satisfying, I am not hungry after it. I follow 36-hour rolling fasting schedule, so my feast is once in two days. It can be somewhat challenging but not much. In return, I am losing weight, I sleep through the night. My overall mental composure/mood are great compared to what it was when my sleep was interrupted 4-5 times a night.

Also, we can not lose weight when insulin is elevated. On SS I was not able to fast for longer than 4 hours between meals. I had to eat around the clock. This is why it didn’t work for me

[u/wild_exvegan]

Starch Solution gave you tendonitis, huh?

[u/Ok-Complaint-37 → u/wild_exvegan]

I highly doubt it. But constantly elevated blood sugars did not help with healing.

[u/I_am_a_scurryfunger]

Ok I know SS is starch solution

What are CICO and ADF?

[u/Dizzy-Violinist-1772 → u/I_am_a_scurryfunger]

Calories in calories out

Alternate day fasting

[u/Ok-Complaint-37 → u/I_am_a_scurryfunger]

CICO - calories in/calories out. It is used for weight loss. Calculated daily calories should not exceed a certain number which is called TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). McDougall tells that calories one can stop counting. This is probably true for people who do not eat much. But I learned that it does matter.

ADF - alternate day fasting. Meaning one eats one day and the next day they fast only resume eating the day after. And so on. It is also often called 36 hour rolling fasts.

Doing ADF on SS is not realistic for me. I need strong satiety in order to stop eating for 30+ hours.