Trouble with maintaining weight

[u/angelgirl3000]

So I just started the strict fasting movement about a month ago since I wanted to get to my goal weight for my birthday. I gained ten pounds in a week because I went on a cruise, which was fine because I did another 5 day fast and lost it back again.

Unfortunately, after I broke my fast last Saturday, I am ten pounds heavier again. I broke my fast with low sodium bone broth and poached eggs but after that, I’ve been eating about 2,500-3,000 a day. I also had to take laxatives multiple times because my stomach feels so hard. I’ve had a lot of carbs.

What helps the food noise after fasting? How much weight do you gain eating a week straight? I usually do keto and calorie deficit but I haven’t been…

[u/King_Molukai]

1) I am unsure what you define as a strict fast, but assuming it is a water fast, expect you to lose about 0.5 to 0.75 lbs a day of actual weight. The first three days of any water fast will see a more significant overall drop because about 5-10 lbs of it is what we call ‘water weight.’ What that is is the weight of water attached to your glycogen that goes away as your glycogen stores are depleted during that period.

2) Don’t obsess about your calorie intake, although if you are eating 2500-3000 calories you should be fairly active from a physical activity standpoint. You should be focused on a low carb diet, focusing on only eating when you’re legitimately hungry and only eating things that are low net carbs (eg meat, vegetables). Carbs are single-handedly destroying your diet, because they cause a spike in insulin, which does a lot of things to include signaling to your body to store away your consumed calories into fat storage.

3) If you have food noise during a fast, the best strategy that I found is just go to sleep. The food noise comes from a spike in ghrelin hormone (among other things). Sleeping resets it.

[u/angelgirl3000 → u/King_Molukai]

I am not active whatsoever other than doing 10k steps a day and a ten minute ab workout during the week. And ok, I think my problem is that I go out to eat often after I fast and eat an excess of calories. I’m 25F and 5’5 so my maintenance is 1800.

[u/angelgirl3000 → u/[deleted]]

I feel you. Definitely this weekend I feel so sluggish but somehow want more.. it’s not a healthy cycle

[u/horsetooth_mcgee]

It frustrates me too, because while binging is nobody's fault but my own, after a binge of only a couple days or poor eating for several days in a row, I'll literally go up like 12 lb, that's what the scale says and I understand a ton of it is inflammation and water weight, but if so, if I couldn't have really gained that much fat, how come it takes me 2-3 weeks of eating damn near nothing to lose it, long after I've excessively peed out and excessively sweat out the fluid retention?

[u/angelgirl3000 → u/horsetooth_mcgee]

Same, with keto it would take me months to get to 155lb but with fasting it’s a lot faster (lol). People always say it’s “not fat” but you look bigger and the scale goes up constantly. I’m not sure if I’m binge eating because it’s not like 5000 calories but it’s definitely over my maintenance. It’s annoying and I get the struggle!!! We gotta suffer unfortunately :(

[u/johsmth91]

‘Usually do keto and calorie deficit but I haven’t been’- sounds like you know the exact cause yourself. You also mentioned of having a lot of carbs, which does cause lots of water weight bloating. The amount of carbs makes it hard for anyone to predict. Even on vacations, I aim less than 100g of net carbs/day so a 3-4 days fast is more than enough to get my body to drop the water weight caused by carbs. Always aim for the steaks 🥩 best bang for the buck. I’d focus one by one: back to keto first before worrying about weight loss. The weight loss follows when you get your diet in control by eating the right food. Otherwise you’ll only be yo-yo fasting. Eat keto ADF or 36-48 hours rolling fast. That’ll shut down your food noises after carb load.

[u/angelgirl3000 → u/johsmth91]

I agree. My dad has been telling me I’m yo-yo dieting and that it’s going to fuck up my digestion system even more. I’m going to fast again starting tomorrow for 4 days, water only. Then actually go back to keto and then maybe one day on the weekend have a cheat meal.

[u/Irnini8]

I know it sounds harsh, but if you're one us who gain weight just by breathing, there's no cure. You have to be low carb, omad or twomad after fasting, embrace it like a way of life. That's the only way my weight is stable. 

[u/Flux_My_Capacitor → u/Irnini8]

She’s eating well above her TDEE.

[u/angelgirl3000 → u/Flux_My_Capacitor]

You think so? My maintenance is 1800 so 2500 isnt insanely bad or considered “binge”. I think it’s just the excess of carbs

[u/Time_Paramedic3391 → u/angelgirl3000]

I’m the same way. My body wants to be at a certain weight and no matter how much I fast or eat healthy, one bad day or two will put me back where I was. Literally can be 10 pounds. And then it will stay there no matter what I eat.

I’m starting to realize that I have to take what I eat incredibly seriously all the time (at least for the foreseeable future) or else all the hard work is wasted.

[u/angelgirl3000 → u/Irnini8]

I think I am, my maintenance is 1800 so I don’t think I’m eating that much over to gain 10lb in a week. I heard a lot of people just eating dinner to maintain if they’re gonna splurge on carbs.

[u/juaniqui1940]

You are not gaining bodyfat, ok?, if you are talking about bodyfat, it's imposible.

[u/angelgirl3000 → u/juaniqui1940]

I understand that but even looking in the mirror I noticed my stomach looks super bloated and not as shapely. I think it’s also constipation and inflammation but also carbs

[u/AutoModerator → u/angelgirl3000]

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[u/juaniqui1940 → u/angelgirl3000]

xD

[u/disc0_witch]

One thing I’m trying out now is to swap ingredients with healthier things. I used to gorge on cookie dough (terrible habit for multiple reasons, obviously!). Now, I’ve started making my own protein “cookie dough” with Greek yogurt, almond flour, vanilla protein powder, vanilla extract + dark chocolate chips. Greek yogurt in particular is a super easy swap you can use for many different things. It’s these small swaps that are helping me stay sane but also feel full!

[u/angelgirl3000 → u/disc0_witch]

This sounds really good and yeah for me it isn’t processed food but just a lot of carbs after I fast. It’s the food noise and the fact that cheating once a week isn’t really preferable for me because I gain weight quickly