The FastDay Forum

Hi BettyB4, you have my sympathies! My husband started 5:2 in January and kept urging me to do 5:2 as well. He is the household chef, and it makes his meal planning easier for one thing! Eventually I reluctantly joined in on 21 Feb, convinced I would (a) not be able to concentrate on work on fast days and (b) not be able to sleep at the end of the day. I am amazed to find that neither (a) nor (b) happened and that I have now lost 7 lbs after 6 weeks! BUT my husband hasn't lost anything - he just zigzags up and down around his start weight. Very puzzled, as we seem to be eating roughly the same things on fast and feed days.

[carorees]

That is interesting. Have you worked out your respective TDEEs may I ask? (links in FAQ).

Hi apart from the weight loss ( weigh day tomorrow) I just feel so much better. And I so wish I had measured at the beginning - I started this 2 weeks ago and am amazed at how my tummy has shrunk...this is more encoraging than stepping on the pesky scales... We are all going to reap the health benefits which is just fab!!

Stick with it everyone. My weight is slow 9.5 lbs in 8 weeks so just over one pound a week but it is a manageable way of life that does allow me within reason to eat what I like. I also have not put on any weight since starting & eaten out many times. I keep an eye on my calories on non fast days but not slavishly & it is so much easier than having to count calories everyday. Since Christmas I have lost 19lbs & I was calorie counting prior to starting this WOL at the end on January.

Thanks for the suggestion about TDEEs, Carorees. I have now worked them out for both of us. His: 2658. Mine: 2182. On fast days he eats 600, I eat 550. One thing we have now tried is he is logging his weight on Libra as well as me. My trend line is downwards about 1lb per week. His trend line is going up! But the helpful bit was that the Libra analysis shows that his trend indicates he is eating about 350 cals too much per day. Before Xmas he was buring about 500 cals most days on an 8 mile bike ride. He hasn't done that during the cold weather. So his plan is to go back to that - which he really enjoys anyway. We both find 5:2 a good way of eating/living even apart from the weight loss though.

Just a quick update on my progress as I haven't been on here for a while. My weight loss slowed right down, I think this may have been due to eating too much on normal days So I decided to try a couple of weeks of 4:3 and that seemed to get things moving again. I now have 10 lbs left to reach my goal weight and 20 lbs lost so far. So 2 thirds of the way there.
I am going on holiday in 12 weeks and really want to reach goal by then, therefore I will mix up 5:2 with some weeks doing 4:3 where I can.
I only managed 5:2 last week on Sun and Tues and am fasting today after 4 days of overeating due to lots of different things.
Still loving this WOL...

Thanks for posting this, it is really encouraging.

You're welcome, I don't post much but like to let others know if something is working for me. I know it has been mentioned that there is not a lot of difference in weight loss between 5:2 and 4:3 but perhaps mixing it up a bit helps.

Hi
I started the Fast Diet at the beginning of February and whilst I have stuck to it religiously, I have only lost 1 or 2lbs at the most. I am not overweight and only want to go from 8st 13lbs to around 8st 3lbs or so. I have stuck to the 500 cals on a fast day and have been eating around 1500 to 2000 cals on a non-fast day.

I've been reading all the various posts - some suggest the lack of weight loss is down to not eating enough on non-fast days and some suggest that it may be over-indulging on the non-fast days that are not allowing me to shift my weight.

I am exercising around 2 times a week - hour long kettlebells classes which are a great workout and I lose around 450 to 550 cals per session. Even though some say look at inches lost rather than weight, my clothes fit me in exactly the same way.

I know folks are losing weight with the 5:2 but what am I doing wrong? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[carorees]

Hi Anitappatel and welcome!

How tall are you please? Have you been dieting before starting 5:2? Do you have any problems with your thyroid or have fibromyalgia or poly cystic ovary syndrome or are you taking steroid tablets?

How are you arranging your fast days? Do you wake up, eat 500 cal during that day, go to sleep and then next morning eat normally? Our some other arrangement?

My guess is that your daily calorie requirements are lower than you think. This might be because your body is resisting losing weight or perhaps you are petite. If you are not losing with having 1500-2000 cal on feed days, you could try reducing to 1200-1700 on feed days or adding another fast day.

If you can give us a bit more info though we may be able to give you more tips.

Hi there,

I started the 5:2 diet 4weeks ago (I'm now starting the 5th week) and I haven't lost anything. I weighed myself at the beginning and was 72kg. I went down to 71.500 a week ago but this morning was at 73kg.
I've also mesured my waist, where I have a lot of fat to lose. It was 78cm when I started. Now 77cm but could be that I didn't properly take the mesurements at the beginning, or that I'm just slightly less blotted. Tends to come back to 78cm when I'm tired or have a bigger meal. Hips stayed 99cm, and so did breasts area. So no change at all really.
I'm 28 and I'm 1.75m, so my BMI is ok and I just wanted to lose a few kilos (a stone or less), to go back to my original weight from a few years ago.

On fast days, I eat around 500 calories. I usually have muesli in the morning with skimmed milk (250cal) and nothing during the day until I have an omelette for dinner (200/250cal).
On feast days, I don't overeat. Here and there I have a big day (like a birthday or celebration, once every other week), when I have a big roast or fish&chips type of meal with alcohol and desserts, and I guess I then arrive around 2.200 calories, but it's a one-off, and the other days I would be more around 1800calories.

The thing is I actually struggle to eat the full amount of calories unless I eat crisps and cakes, which I don't naturally do. I struggled losing weight in the last couple of years as I've actually put my body in starvation mode for months, turning around 1000 calories a day. I've managed to increase now but really struggle to go above 1200 calories.
I've been attracted by the 5:2 diet because I thought this would be the ideal way to progressively get my food intake back to a normal level on feast days, but without putting on more weight thanks to fast days. So I guess I was right and that's what's been happening. Although I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get 2000 calories from healthy food, and I'm not sure getting 500calories from a brownie is the right thing to do...
My question is: what do you think I should do from now on,
1. to keep my fast days intake at 2.000 calories
2. to finally, one day, lose weight.

I don't look fat, but I have fat around my tummy and am generally one size bigger than I was five years ago.
I'm not very active as I don't have the time to go to the gym anymore unfortunately, but I still exercise. I walk to work several times a week (brisk 30min walk) and do hikes (10miles) on Sundays in the summer months. I also do 10min of fitness at home a few times a week (plank, crunches, push-ups, squats, etc.)

Sorry for the looong email. And thanks for any piece of advice you could give me
Taby

Tabyrea I started on this journey after reading the 5:2 fast diet book and watching the Horizon program. With that knowledge I tried to get my head around the most food I could eat fitting under 500 calories and that meant learning what the low but nutritious foods were. I love good food so I thought that would be the best approach.
13 weeks in I still think that is the key for me. Best of luck and enjoy eating healthy nutritious little meals your body will love you for it

Hi Taby, from the information you've given ie. you're not overweight and have had a relatively lowish calorie consumption to maintain that weight before you started on 5:2 - it is likely that you will not see dramatic results. If you keep plugging away at it though, you should see some gradual change in the right direction over time.

You probably have lost 0.5 - 1 kg judging by what you are doing but the natural body weight fluctuations due to water/ women's stuff is masking things.

Give it another month or two at least.