OK – I suppose this is it. I am starting this coming monday and I actually look forward to it.

I must admit – I am sceptical. It almost sound too good to be true. But then again – if it is true it is truly magical. I am very excited to find out.

I saw the program on Norwegian TV this evening (we tend to be a little late here…) and I believe many Norwegians will join in in the coming days and weeks.

OK – here are the vitals: I am 58 years old. I weigh in at around 105 kgs. I am 186 which puts me at a BMI of around 29,99 or something (OK – 30 …) My goal is to drop weight and thus get healthier. It would be wonderful to get below 100 and stay there – but my long term goal is a permanent 90. I´ll keep you updated.

One of the reasons I actually believe in this is that I have seen another program which involved the Italian (don´t remember his name now.) In that, he spoke of the benefits of (long term) fasting on the treatment of cancer. Very interesting, and convincing.

OK – I´ll stop raving. I have one question, though: My first day of fasting will be coming Monday. I will probably fast on either Wed or Thu as well. Question is: Can I shift the fasting days within the week? Sometimes social events make one day difficult whereas other days are easier. I understand that practicality deems regular days, but is there other reasons to stick to the same days?

I will keep you informed of how I get on, and I will take some photos. Hopefully I can send them in as “before” photos 🙂

I to am starting my first fast day on Monday. A little unsure as what to eat at the minute. What calories does veg have. Followed weight watchers and they have no points you can eat veg freely. Can anyone help as was hoping to make a veg soup to eat

So I have read the book from cover to cover and I have seen the proof, my sister in law looks great after 12 months of the 5:2. Tomorrow is the day. My first day back at work in 2014. I have bought a diary to log my days and journal my progress, I have been weighed and will be measured today. I am looking forward to my first fasting day after all the excesses of Christmas and the new year!! I am hopping that not only will I lose weight I will reduce some of my pain.

Hi there, I am looking to start next week. I have spent the last week re-training myself from continual eating (yes I mean it) to eating only at meal times. I am proud to say I am doing well and have lost 2lb.
I am a seriel dieter – I have tried lighterlife – lost three stone put on four. Did Tony Fergusen – lost four and a half stone but I have put on two and a half. I have to get a grip and be kind to myself.
My brother looks AMAZING on this plan as my brother-in-law. So next Monday will be my first fast day. In the meanwhile I will stick to meal times, drink water (trying to work up to 2 litres a day) and start moving a bit more.

Good luck everyone

Lis

Hi – I’m just at the end of my first fast day, so thought I would get involved with the forum for support and tips. I am quite surprised by how much I have eaten. First time I have properly weighed out my food, and 100g of spinach is surprisingly satisfying!
I usually drink lots of water through the day, so this has been ok. I have substituted all but my morning cuppa with green tea, which isn’t as bad as I expected.
I’m 33, 11stone, but would like to be 10, as this is where I feel healthiest. I am also interested to find out about the health benefits. I have suffered with Nephritic syndrome and lots of complications due to taking steroids to treat it. This included high BP and cholesterol which I never had before.
I am pretty fit, and take part in classes or gym at least 3 times a week.
Will be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow, and whether I wake up feeling ravenous or not!
Hope everyone is getting on ok – good luck! Sally x

@trnw2 ….first of all – DON’T OBSESS!! The whole point of 5:2 is that there are NO strict rules. So the book says ‘portobello mushroom’ – you could substitute a smaller different variety of mushroom or just eaten the whole thing. 20g of portobello mushroom is 5 calories so even if you had eaten a 60g mushroom it would only have added an extra 10 calories which is neither here nor there. You do NOT need to follow ‘day 1’, ‘day 2’ etc. that’s only there as a guide.

If you obsess or try to follow to the letter it will become a chore and you will not keep going.

It’s about eating WHAT you want up to a 600 (for males) calorie limit on fast days and up to your TDEE – you can calculate that using the link in the right hand column of this page ‘helpful site links’ – on the other days. You do NOT have to eat exactly what the book says, on the day it says – it’s only to give you an idea for meals.

To help you with calories you might want to use http://www.myfitnesspal.com or http://www.loseit.com for a few weeks – you can record your foods and the calorie value will be calculated for you. A good way to use it to begin with is to enter what you would LIKE to eat for a meal and the quantities and see what the calorie total is you can then add or subtract food/quantities to suit. This will give you a good idea of portion sizes for both fast and non fast days.

Remember there is NO list of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food; NO strict daily ‘diet plan’ – eat WHAT you want just NOT HOW MUCH you want

The main thing is – you do what works for you!! 5:2 is not a ‘quick fix diet’ it’s a complete change to your Way Of Eating which is sutainable indefinitely.

If you read through the forums, FAQ link at the top of the page and Mimi’s post at the top of this thread you’ll find loads of help and tips to get you on your way.

Good luck and please keep us posted on your progress x

started today and finding the evening hunger quite bad, also think i have gnome over my calorie allowance but i’m not gonna beat myself up about it, just plan to do better next time, am very afraid that this hunger ill bring on a migraine, that will be hell.

Very excited about this diet. Donated a kidney to my husband 5 years ago and need to find a healthier lifestyle for life! This is the first forum I have been on so I hope to be inspired by others. Good luck all. Emma

Day 1 has gone very well, was so busy at work, it was easy to fast…and I didn’t have any headaches, feel fine. Looking forward to tomorrow and a regular day, really nice part of this diet. Onward and upward. Carrie

Hi fellow newbies
Started 5:2 this week and currently in first fast day.
I’m doing ths for a second time as last time I over ate on my nn fast days thinking I could eat anything. The result was weight gain.
So even on my non fast days I’m gong to enter everything I eat onto my fitness pal calorie counter so. Don’t go over the 2000 calories .
I’m excited as I love my wine and weekend treats so I am feeling confident x

Hello and welcome Juliet (and everyone – so many new people, how fantastic!!)! The great thing about this diet is you don’t need to wait for the book to arrive! Start tomorrow! Plan out 500 calories of food (I recommend sticking to vegetables, lean protein and a bit of dairy – nothing starchy or carbohydrate rich, but everyone has something different which works for them), and how you want to divide it, and do it! Then when the book arrives you can read it and get extra information, ideas and motivation having already started!
When I started I had an egg and some veges for breakfast as late as I could, and then an early dinner. Now I make 500cal of food in the morning and put it in the fridge to eat when I like. Sometimes I don’t eat any of it, sometimes I eat some, sometimes I eat it all. It is amazing what a giant saucepan of soup or wok of food can be made with yummy vegetables and chicken breast / lean pork fillet!!
I think lots of people are really conscious of drinking plenty too, to stave off hunger pangs – I drink one or two cups of black coffee and lots of water and herbal tea.

I didn’t weigh myself for the first month so I didn’t get upset about fluctuations. It put my mind into a long term mindset for the first time ever, and seeing as it was so simple to follow, when I lost weight, I knew I just had to continue what I had been doing. Previously I would have 1-3 ‘good’ days then a few bad days, then good days then bad days etc etc so even if I lost weight I didn’t have the belief that I could keep on doing so because it had been such a rollercoaster.

Hope this was a bit helpful 🙂
Good luck, I look forward to hearing of your progress! And yes, you can do it, because it is only two days a week, and you will find out that the hunger comes and goes, some days are easy, some days are a bit of a challenge, but tomorrow is always not far away.

Hi everyone. I have just woken up after my first day of fasting and can’t believe how I feel. I thought I would be running for the fridge but instead have had the energy to do a few household chores before having breakfast at 10am! I had no hunger pangs yesterday and (apart from the constantly rumbling stomach)felt good throughout the day. I read the book over Sunday and Monday cover to cover and felt I had to start fasting the very next day. I split my day with the 200/300 calories for breakfast and dinner, but I think in future will wait until dinner time and use the full 500 calories then. I’m not much of a breakfast person but do enjoy a decent night meal. I felt so motivated I have put my husband on it also, he often only has a fruit day and often feels better after it so it keen to try it also. Oh, and an added bonus is that I appear to have “lost” 2lbs overnight somewhere! Brilliant!!:)

Ahhh. finished my second fast, a little hungry, but nothing I can’t management until tomorrow. “I can do anything for one day” gets me through, that and being so busy at work that it’s afternoon before I even have time eat. It’s nice to read this blog, best wishes to all the other newbies…we can do this thing!

Big Pete that is so hard when family members bring in the temptations, sadly postponing fast day dinner won’t work so good decision, lesson learned.. Since your doc has recommended you to do 5:2 can you enlist your family members support–it is about your health and your life, you are only asking them to ‘play the game’ 2 days a week. All the very best

pjbatch – You’ll find on some older threads some folk who are regularly doing a ‘full fast’ on their fastdays rather than the 500/600 calories. It’s one way to do it and seems to work for them but I think it probably has more to do with the fact that it’s easier for some people to forego food all day rather than have a little bit and then deal with increased feelings of hunger afterwards. I know for myself that I need to wait as long as I possibly can before I have my 500 or I will start to feel distractingly hungry when I’m trying to get to sleep. Most fastdays (especially after exercise) I think I could probably more easily manage if I just didn’t eat anything at all BUT I’ve put one of my favourite foods aside for fastdays only, so I never want to do without it 🙂

I don’t think it will make much difference to your weight loss if you do zero calories on a fastday vs your 500/600 allowance. Basically it just means that you’re eating 1000 – 1200 calories less than you would do in that week, so it equates to maybe a third of a lb weight wise. If that’s worth it to you and you think not eating at all might be a comfortable way to do it then try it out and see.

Big Pete – I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble getting support from family members. I just want to say that it will get easier the longer you stick with this way of life. You will get to the point where you can have someone offering you chips or cupcakes or whatever floats your boat and just say “Not today thank you!” You CAN say “No!” to anything for just one day and that is all you are doing at the end of the day. One day at a time with plenty of ‘normal’ days in between, where you can have chips if you still feel like you want them and can fit them into a ‘normal’ day’s eating.

Good luck all

Hi its my first day too and its really not been that hard. I do wonder how I will loose weight though as won’t the good I have done today be undone by eating for the next 3 days?
agghh I really want this to work.
Sarah

I am new to the 5:2 diet but saw the bbc program when aired in Australia last year or 2012. It seemed very appealing. I have just finished reading the ‘fast diet’ three times and experienced my first one day fast. I couldn’t believe how easy I found it. I am mildly over weight with a BMI of 25.5 I’ve just turned 60 and have high cholesterol and osteoporosis. It’s hot in Melbourne right now, so summer salads and berries are plentiful. I’d like to drop 6-10 kgs so we’ll see how it goes. I find fasting all day very easy. Is it okay to fast from 2pm to 2 pm? Or is this cheating?

Hello
I am in my second week of 5:2. I am feeling very despondent. I lost 4lbs on my first week but this morning (a week later) I found I had gained 3lbs! However I have worked out why – I was adding vegetable juices on fast days which took my calorie intake up to about 700. In addition I was overcompensating on the feast days. I have two stone to loose as I am currently 13stone 10lbs and have a bmi of 29.
I am going to carry on but am going to be more careful about my calorie intake on faast days. I’m also going to carry on wearing my pedometer every day (my exercise levels are actually pretty good)and am now going to keep a food diary to check my consumption on normal days. I am going to try alternative dqay fasting for a week but am not sure i can manage it as fasting actually makes me very tired and low in energy the next day.
What are people’s opinions on weighing every day? would it help or is it obsessing?
Thanks!

I am starting my second fasting day today. Feeling confident after managing the first fasting day. I like the Monday and Thursday fasting schedule because Monday is after the weekend when I have generally eaten more than in a weekday and by the time I get to Thursday, I am ready to get back to the fasting.

Good luck to every body

I am re-starting the 5:2 diet. I took it up after the BBC Horizon programme and did really well. I felt great physically an emotionally. Towards the end of last year I got chicken pox and I seemed to have lost my motivation to keep to the diet. Hoping that the support from this forum will help me get back on track

Just signed up and am now up and running.
I am 61 years old, 161 cm high and have been heavy on and off for 15 years.

Started my first fast yesterday, no probs. I consumed 174 calories (wasn’t hungry for any more) and am planning to keep my off-fast days below my recommended 1300 cals. I am also planning (2 days done already) to combine the fast diet with the 20 seconds-of-pain method (20 seconds high intensity training per day) as described by the Mosleys. I am hoping to get a double advantage. My weight is 74.5 kg (that is 164 lbs or eeekk!! 11.73 stone – I have never converted that before, bit of a shock) and since my son is getting married in Oslo at the end of July, my goal is 65 kg, which is still 1.5 stone heavier than from my younger days, but I will accept any reduction at this stage.

This is a last ditch attempt to get the fat off, and keep it off. I have tried every diet plan known to western man… Montignac (precursor to Atkins), low-carb, high-protein, Bailine, South Beach, Caveman, Danish Rikshospitalets diet — aka the protein diet from hell — grethe roede, weight watchers, soup diet, nutrilett bars, eurodiet, fedon diet, fat blasters, etc. Ok that should do. All gave some reduction, some with very good results so long as you kept to the diet. The problem is that when the plan ends, the kilos come creeping back on.

My goal is to lose at least a kilo per week (about 2 lbs) by keeping strictly to my calorie counter at 1300 calories (divided into carbs 50-60%, protein 10-20% and fat 25-35%) per day for 5 days, max 325 calories for two days each week, minimum 20 minutes medium walking intensity each day + 20 seconds high intensity. That is the plan and it is a plan that is flexible enough to be able to continue with the rest of my lighter life. We will see how it goes. Good luck all.

Hello everyone on the 5.2 I started this diet last year bur fell off the wagon at Christmas and put all my weight back on again. I have a big birthday coming up next month and would really like to be a little slimmer by then. I am determined to start again on Monday but does any one else find the afternoons about 4pm!! A bad time I really want chocolate or something sweet and find myself giving in.i have got the recipe books and have cooked a few meals just so want this to work.anyone got any ideas to help me persivere.

I’ve been doing 5:2 for 2 months and have lost 1/2 a stone. It’s fantastic!

To all the people starting, stick with it, it’s worth it!

My tips would be to drink loads of water, and also green tea to substitute normal tea or coffee – you can save lots of calories this way. I find having a small snack lunch time, then a ‘proper meal’ in the evening works best for me, but everyone will be different!

Good luck and stick with it!

Well goodnight, another successful fast day done for me. Yippeee what will I have for breakfast tomorrow. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm I wonder.

Thanks for the company newbies.