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Our Frequently Asked Questions topic will answer many of your fasting & weight loss questions!
If you're new and have a question or need some advice, please give us as much information as you can about your situation in order for us to be able to help you as best we can. For example, it's helpful to know your BMI/weight, how much you want to lose, any medical conditions which might affect your weight and (if you've started fasting already) how you do your fasts in terms of splitting up your calories, what you eat etc. Thanks!
Well, first things first - know that the weight didn't come on in a month and won't come off in a month. There is no magic bullet. There is no miracle. I'm sorry about that.
5:2 is a great way to lose weight if you need to free yourself from constant restriction. BUT (1) it's not fast weight loss. Expect to lose about 1/2 to 1 pound a week. and (2) you will have to exercise some moderation for the other five days. You can fast diligently two days a week, but the weight loss is predicated to eating "normally" the other five days -- which means eating the calories your body needs and no more than that. It's also called your TDEE - Total Daily Energy Expenditure. You can google that and there are many online calculators that can help you estimate roughly how much your TDEE is.
Now 5:2 is a great method for many reasons. A number of us have lost weight on it. And many more had to tweak it a bit to get it to really work. I'm down 62.4 pounds right now (after far too much eating over the holidays). But it's taken quite a while and I've had to modify the way I did 5:2. I would say the first 30 came off with 5:2 alone, but it took a while and I was very heavy to start.
Many forumites have gone a lower carb route - not necessarily cutting them completely or drastically, but reducing intake. When I'm behaving and losing weight, I aim to only have carbs with one meal per day - by that I mean anything with flour or sugar. Reducing carbs really works, sadly.
In any case, the best program is the one you can actually stick with. I have been doing 5:2 or some variation for about 4 years now, and I'm down 62 pounds. So I'm definitely a lot happier than I was before I found 5:2 and this forum
and yeah, scales are a must for me. I weigh daily. I also wear a fitbit.
I started with 2 days a week ( not consecutive ) eating about 500 calories those days. I would have an egg for breakfast and then a supper that would keep me within the 500 calories. the "Fast Diet" book by Mosley and Spencer has good advice and also meal suggestions for low cal meals. Sometimes in food supermarkets you also find meals where the calories are calculated. When I fasted the first time I thought I was going to die, but your body WILL get used to the idea and it gets easier every time! there is a lot of helpful info on this forum.
I fasted intermittently before Christmas. Then Christmas time is my one time a year of indulgence. So I put on a couple of kilos.
But because of this 5:2 system, I only now weigh about 58 kg. so that's OK.
Good luck and all the best to you!
My one advice is not to go overboard on non fast days and stick to the TDEE guidelines on those days. Favourite motto is "I can always have it tomorrow".
Good luck
Lots of good advice already. Do read through the "LEARN" pages on this site as there is lots of useful information there.
I agree with rawkaren that you don't need to have scales, that the tape measure and how clothes fit are good guides to how you are going - as well as your own awareness of what you are, and aren't, eating! Scales can be a mixed blessing - although it is lovely to see the numbers going down, it can also be easy to get a little obsessive or worried over small changes - remember that 2 glasses of water weigh about a pound/ half a kilo.
I would suggest starting with the basic 5:2, and initially not making any other changes to your way of eating, but gradually look to eliminate or reduce ways of eating that are not helpful (eg biscuits with a cuppa, late night snacks), or foods that are less nutritious (soft drink, most processed foods (!), non-whole foods) - providing you expect that these changes can be sustainable. What are your eating challenges?
Best wishes and good luck, and do use the forum to share your experiences!
Some people here do a true fast on their fast days, but I always ate between 400-500 calories. I started almost every fast day, and eventually non fast days, with a soft-boiled egg. For dinner, on fast days, I very often had a chicken and vegetable stir fry. This was a good easy option because I could change up the vegetables a lot for variety. I could fit a lot of vegetables into my remaining calories so it didn't seem like a small meal. Also, it meant I had loads of healthy foods around that needed to be used up on non fast days, and I'm sure that made a big difference to my weight loss.
In the beginning, I didn't count calories at all on non fast days. The fast/low cal days, though, seemed to shrink my stomach, because it got to where I couldn't eat so much even on non fast days. I didn't restrict any food type or alcohol on my non fast days, but I tried to avoid carbs and alcohol on fast days. (Note: On various plateaus during the weight loss phase and during maintenance, I started calorie counting, reducing sugar, etc., on non fast days when I felt it was necessary to get back on track).
One other thing I would point out: it is important to have some sort of maintenance plan ready for when you reach your goal weight. It was for me, at any rate, since I had often easily lost weight on various diets only to put it back on again. I felt a lot less deprived on 5:2, so that was less of a problem, but I still regularly fast, if not quite as strictly as I did before. I reached my goal weight over 3 years ago, and its definitely working!)
There's a lot of really great advice if you click around on this site, even if it isn't so active now. There are great recipe ideas and lots of tips for getting through fast days, for example.
Like you, I'm a beginner as well - I've done the first two weeks as a combo of 5:2 and 16:8 and lost about 5lbs.
Also.. like you, I LOVE my wine, but found that with this way of living, I'm able to restrict myself to 1 or 2 glasses on non-fasting nights and not 1 or 2 bottles, haha!
I'm still learning as I go - as you will probably too - and experimenting with all the different ways of fasting, so I don't have any solid advice yet, other than - YOU CAN DO IT, DON'T GIVE UP! Promise yourself to stick to it for at least 2 months, and I trust that by that time it'll be part of your life and the weight will keep coming off.
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