Dear Kayla,
I have yo-yo dieted since I was a teen (aged 47 now). I am 5’8″ and weigh 165lb. I would love to lose some weight. I recently started 16:8 and have let myself eat what I want. Perhaps too much – as I haven’t lost weight. Do you think over time I will naturally end up eating more moderately and lose weight or I should adjust my fasting? I am so sick of dieting / restricting / tracking. I love the idea of eating freely, within a fixed time period.
I appreciate your thoughts,
Fleur
Dear Fleur,
Thanks for your question! Based on your height and weight, your BMI is 25.1. According to that scale, a normal weight range for you would be 123-164. You’re only one pound outside of that range. Yay!
According to this study, there is not a significant difference in all cause mortality between a person who has a BMI of 27.7 versus 20.8. If we apply that to your case, we find that whether you weigh 182 or 137, your chances of dying from any cause are about the same. So if your motivation for wanting to lose weight is to decrease your risk of death, you’re already in a good place. Yay again!
But, in your letter, you said you would love to lose some weight. A question that will be helpful here is, how much do you want to lose, and why? Let’s assume after some soul searching, you decide you want to lose some weight, and you have a clear motivation. Let’s first talk about reasonable expectations. Based on my experience, once your body gets near a normal BMI, the weight loss slows down to a snail’s pace or stops. This sounds like what is happening to you.
You can expect any weight loss from here on out to be slow. Perhaps fractions of a pound per week, on average. Even when you’re doing everything right, there will be weeks when you lose nothing. Other weeks you might lose a half a pound. And with water weight fluctuations, you’ll also likely have weeks when your weight goes up.
In my second bout of weight loss, I went from a BMI of 25.5 to 22.9. I ate OMAD 6 days a week, walked 6 miles a day, and took a cheat day every Sunday. It took me 11 months to hit my goal. My average rate of loss was one third of one pound per week. If you’d like to see what my daily weights and seven-day averages were for that 11-month period, you can click here to download the spreadsheet. Weighing daily, keeping track of my seven-day average, and watching my seven-day average over six weeks of time kept me on track.
With expectations out of the way, let’s talk about your options. The way you’re practicing a 16:8 is keeping you in maintenance, which is a fine place to be. To switch to weight loss mode, you need to make a tweak. Here are some options:
- Decrease portion sizes
- Decrease the number of times you eat
- Cut out snacks
- Increase fasting window time
Fair warning: none of these are surefire bets. Our bodies compensate when we make a change. Let’s say you decrease your portion sizes at meals. Likely, you’ll feel like snacking a little more frequently. You might cut out snacks, but start eating a bit more at meals. The scale will show you if your tweaks are working, and it’s going to take time, patience, and trial and error to find that right combination.
One last parting thought: begin with the end in mind. Before you make any tweaks, ask yourself this question: What are you willing to do for the rest of your life? Permanent weight loss is about permanent lifestyle change. Make tweaks you can stick with, and Yo-Yo-ing will be a thing of the past.
Sincerely,
Kayla
Originally published June 21, 2023.
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