How To Fix An Intermittent Fasting Weight Loss Plateau (In Just 3 Weeks!)

Imagine this…

So you just started a new weight loss program and the weight was flying off.

It seemed like every few days, the scale was moving farther and farther to the left, and you thought you’d finally made it.

Then boom. One day everything stopped.

You thought “oh it’ll probably pick back up in a few days.”

Then you wait… and wait… and wait…

Nothing.

At first, you were a little annoyed, but shrugged it off and kept going.

But after a week or two you figured the fun and games were over.

Yup – you just hit the dreaded weight loss plateau, and you don’t know what to do.

Sound familiar?

That happened to me not too long ago, and I was pissed.

But instead of giving up completely (like I always had before,) I went a different route.

Read on to learn more.

 

weight loss plateau intermediate fasting

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I Hit An Intermittent Fasting Plateau

In the beginning, intermittent fasting was working wonders!

Just in case you don’t kno what that is, it just means you only allow yourself to eat within a certain window.

For me, I was eating only beween noon and 8pm every day. So I lost a ton of weight still eating mostly whatever I wanted because I was only eating a few hours a day.

I lost like 12-15 pounds really fast while still eating fast food – it was great!

But one day the scale just stopped moving, and it never picked back up again!

In retrospect that makes sense because I guess your body gets used to what you’re doing and that becomes “normal”.

Anyway, so fasting stopped working.

 

I Considered Juicing For Weight Loss

Originally I thought about juicing for weight loss.

I had friends who had decent results from it, but they said it was really hard not to eat anything for days on end.

And it always took them multiple times to finally nail it.

That turned me off completely, because… I mean… I didn’t want to struggle with something, fail spectacularly, and have wasted all that time and money (and energy) on something that wouldn’t work for me.

And that’s when I found the 21-Day Smoothie Diet.

 

What Is The 21-Day Smoothie Diet?

The 21-Day Smoothie Diet is a 3-week program by a popular health coach named Coach Drew.

Inside the program, you get 36 smoothie recipes, grocery lists, meal plans, recipes, and exact instructions for how to lose the most weight.

The way it works is you replace two meals per day with specific smoothies from the program.

Drew tells you exactly which smoothies to drink, and in what order. That way, you get the best combination of nutrients for weight loss.

You’re allowed to have one solid meal per day, provided it comes from one of the whole foods recipes included in the program.

To be honest, I used some of the food recipes but not all of them. I chose my own meals some of the time, but I included similar ingredients as those on the approved foods list.

You also get one day a week where you eat three solid meals. That was a nice break!

 

How To Do The Smoothie Diet With Fasting

So, the 21-Day Smoothie Diet is probably effective all by itself.

But, the thing about intermittent fasting is that it works SO well.

I knew that I’d want to continue fasting after the 21-days, and that it would be easier to just continue fasting with the smoothie diet. So that’s what I did.

What you do is pick your fasting window. Like I said, I ate from 12pm to 8pm each day. So I kept that same schedule.

I’d have only water, tea and coffee in the morning before 12, then have a smoothie and snack on some fruits and veggies until I was full.

Then for my second smoothie, I’d eat that around 3 or 4, and drink a TON of water all day as well.

I’d finish the day with one of the recipes from the program, cut off sometime between 7 and 8, and that’s it!

 

How To Handle Hunger While Breaking A Plateau

So you might wonder what happens if you feel hungry on the diet.

Honestly, I ate!

Since I was used to intermittent fasting for weight loss, my body never really got hungry before noon.

I imagine if you’re not used to fasting you might have an issue with that.

That’s why I think it’s easiest and works best if you combine the diet with fasting.

After noon if I had my smoothie and I was still hungry, I would snack on weight loss-promoting low-calorie foods. Apples, carrot sticks, celery.

I was very disciplined in that I didn’t get too fancy with it. I knew it was for a short time commitment, so I just kinda hunkered down and did what needed to be done.

 

What I Liked Most About Fasting + 21-Day Diet

fasting 12 hours before after

I really liked combining fasting with the 21-Day Smoothie Diet because, well… it worked!

It helped me break out of that dreadful weight loss plateau, and I couldn’t be happier!

Furthermore, I loved how “clean” and light my body felt.

If you’re looking for a true detox, this is the one!

I also enjoyed all the new smoothie recipes I learned! I never knew there were so many different kinds, that they’d be so easy to make, and how much I’d grow to like them.

Finally, I loved how I didn’t have to worry about calorie-counting or macronutrients.

It’s super easy to follow!

 

 

What I Didn’t Like About Fasting + The 21-Day Diet

To be honest, this diet isn’t super easy at first. It was okay, but the first few days were weird.

Like I said before, it was a lot easier, I think, because I was already fasting.

I can’t imagine how I’d have felt if I wasn’t waiting until noon to eat.

Having your first smoothie at 8am, then your second around noon for lunch, would mean you’d be hungry literally all day!

Plus, with fasting, you cut off eating at 8pm. I think it would get hard to go from being the type of person who is used to snacking in front of the TV until 11pm, to having only 2 smoothies and one clean meal per day and that’s it!

So in my case, while I didn’t love the challenging first few days, it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Our bodies adapt quickly to change, so I got used to it pretty fast.

And fasting DID help!

 

Should You Try The 21-Day Smoothie Diet With Fasting?

Whether or not you should try the 21-Day Smoothie Diet with fasting depends on where you are in your journey.

I do not think trying fasting and the smoothie diet both for the first time at the same time would be a good idea.

They are both challenging in their own ways, and that’s just setting yourself up for failure.

But if you’ve been intermittent fasting but hit a plateau and are no longer losing weight, it might help. It helped me break my plateau so that’s what I think it’s good for.

Also, if you’re at a good point with weight loss and fasting already but you want to detox or cleanse your system, it could also be a good fit for you.

But truly if you have strong commitment and resolve and need to lose a bunch of weight really fast, you could give it a try anyway.

It would be harder, but it would be worth it!

 

You Can Break Your Fasting Plateau

intermittent fasting weight loss plateau

I hope you learned something about how to break out of a weight loss plateau with intermittent fasting!

In the beginning it seems like nothing can stop you. Intermittent fasting really does work!

But I think we all come to a point where things slow down.

This 21-day diet helped me get out of a funk. And it just might help you too!

 

One Word About Pricing

Oh… I wanted to leave you with a quick word about pricing!

So, when I first saw the diet it was $47. I thought I might want to try it, but wasn’t sure.

By the time I made up my mind and went back to start fresh at the beginning of a new month, the price was higher!

I waited a week and the price was still high, so I bought it at the higher price.

Now, I do think it was 100% worth what I paid for it (and even more,) so I’m not complaining.

But I’m saying all of this to tell you if you even think you want to do it and see it at $47 or below? BUY IT.

It’s worth that and more, but why spend extra money that you don’t have to?

Buy it if you can catch it at a good price, and start losing weight straight away!

 

Good luck on your weight loss journey! I hope you give it a try so you can see what I mean!

Alex from Eat Those Plants
Alex from Eat Those Plants

My name is Alex and I'm a passionate advocate of a whole food plant-based lifestyle. Since losing over 40 pounds on a vegan diet I've created the Eat Those Plants website to help you look good and feel great by putting more plants on your plate!