The discrepancy can be explained very well by one theory.. the set point lipostat theory.
The basic principle is that everyone's body has a 'set weight' point at a given time that the brain targets(just like a thermostat targets a certain temperature). And body functions are highly regulated to meet this target, just like the thermostat turns on the heat furnace or AC to keep temperature constant. So if you eat more, the body burns more calories and makes you less hungry to meet the goal, and if you eat less the body burns less calories and makes you hungry to put you back. Not just those two but a lot more, like converting calories to fat or not.
In your case your body seems to have decided that your weight is lower than your set point, so that's why you're not losing weight even with fasting. You need to sustain that lower weight for a while before your set point is automatically lowered.
Using keto and intermittent fasting techniques I've successfully ping-ponged my weight between 72 and 62kg (that's the _normal_ BMI range for my height) precisely 15 times starting late May.
First three times did not feel great. Felt like getting poisoned again, but mildly, no vomiting all night for three days straight and all that jazz.
I am currently on the way to 53kg, so that I get rid of all that muscle mass acquired in menial jobs and rebuild to something flexible.
In that time my eyesight improved from -2.25 to -1.75
I exist, am real, and did really do all that.
Ask me anything.
On OMAD or fasting days you can feel the added energy in motivation, the added processing in the enjoyment you get from living your life.
On the days where you don't follow a strict diet you feel the food, eh, very much. The joy of it, and the weight of it.
It is definitely worth it to, come winter, evaluate how happy or not you are with your body, and just do what is required. I regret not having the clarity on that subject before my hand was forced.
But you learn, that's why there's reflexion on past experience. You wouldn't need memory if it weren't for that.
I said alertness, as in mental alertness, not energy levels. I doubt I would be able to perform physically as well while fasted. Cortisol levels slowly increase the longer you faster to mobilize stored energy and maintain blood glucose levels. Cortisol is also implicated in alertness.
> I barely lose any fat, half a pound over 3 days if lucky.
Not sure if you mean half a pound after fasting for 3 days, or half a pound after fasting intermittently for 3 days. Either way, you don't want to lose weight any faster than 2 lbs per week, tops. Adverse health effects are possible if you go any faster, so it sounds like you're on a good trajectory.
Don't feel magically better. Don't feel hungry after the first 12 hours. Just feels the same. Hopefully, all the magical stories about autophagy, HGH, eth aren't COMPLETELY exaggerated.
I hate reading about fasting, meditation, cold showers, contrast baths, ketosis, etc because it's always made out to be this magical thing, and as far as I can tell, it's just not, and the "science" turns out to be made up eventually.