I’m definitely not an experienced 2:5er but I’ve done a lot of fasting in my life (mainly long fasts) and for me, this approach is the best.

Stats: female, 37 yo, active, fit, healthy, 67kg aiming to get to ~63 kg. I think the trick is working out how to make it work for you. I started off eating a small breakfast (2 homemade protein balls) skipping lunch and having a small dinner (mainly eggs and veggies). I ended up with a raging headache by early afternoon and was painfully hungry all day – I felt constantly behind the hunger 8-ball, I lost my mental clarity and I was in a rotten mood from mid afternoon onwards, and not just coz of the headache.
People here wrote about the headaches, suggesting getting salt or that it might be caffeine withdrawal but as I only have 1-2 cups of tea a day I dismissed that potential cause. After 4 fasting days (2 weeks) of this I was ready to throw it in, except I was losing weight after every fast day so I wanted to stick with it, too. So I started experimenting.

Drank 3-4 litres of water a day, that helped a bit. Added salt to my water, that helped a bit. Started having my normal cups of tea first thing in the morning and at morning tea. Headaches gone! Foggy brain and moodiness gone! Then for the hunger… I do an intensive boxing training session the night before each fast day, burning about 800-1000 cals (I have no other option with me schedule) so hunger is an ongoing thing for me on fast days but its MUCH easier if I don’t eat anything until about 730pm. Then I have dinner and get a relatively early night.
I tried doing a fast day on a boxing day but found I didn’t have my normal power and also the next day, I felt like I’d been hit by a train all day, regardless that I was eating.

It took me until my 7th fast day to feel like I’d worked it out, and now it’s really simple and easy to stick to. For anyone who’s new (or been at it a while) and is struggling with headaches, hunger, moods etc, I’d encourage you to experiment – try eating different things at different times on your fast days to see if it makes things easier on you. If I’d stuck to my original approach (which was based on what the friend who told me about 2:5 was doing) I’d have long-since thrown in the towel, and missed out on what for me is the simplest, easiest and most ‘relaxing’ way to lose weight (and sleep better, feel mentally sharper in general and have clearer skin) I’ve ever come across.

Pros: weightloss, better sleep, clearer skin, mental clarity, breaking emotional dependence on food (big time, and I thought I only had a mild case!), no longer scared of feeling hungry

Cons: the first few weeks while you find your optimal fast day approach is hard; for me mild hunger on fast days after the hard training session; not being able to do the hard training session on a fast day because of the effect the following day. I do usually got for a 6km run or 10 km walk on fast days though, and that’s no problem at all.

I suspect this will be a lifetime lifestyle for me – it I’m definitely not an experienced 2:5er but I’ve done a lot of fasting in my life (mainly long fasts) and for me, this approach is the best.

Stats: female, 37 yo, active, fit, healthy, 67kg aiming to get to ~63 kg. I think the trick is working out how to make it work for you. I started off eating a small breakfast (2 homemade protein balls) skipping lunch and having a small dinner (mainly eggs and veggies). I ended up with a raging headache by early afternoon and was painfully hungry all day – I felt constantly behind the hunger 8-ball, I lost my mental clarity and I was in a rotten mood from mid afternoon onwards, and not just coz of the headache.
People here wrote about the headaches, suggesting getting salt or the it might be caffeine withdrawal but as I only have 1-2 cups if tea a day I dismissed that potential cause. After 4 fasting days (2 weeks) of this I was ready to throw it in, except I was losing weight after every fast day so I wanted to stick with it, too. So I started experimenting.

Drank 3-4 litres of water a day, that helped a bit. Added salt to my water, that helped a bit. Started having my normal cups of tea first thing in the morning and at morning tea. Headaches gone! Foggy brain and moodiness gone! Then for the hunger… I do an intensive boxing training session the night before each fast day, burning about 800-1000 cals (I have no other option with me schedule) so hunger is an ongoing thing for me on fast days but its MUCH easier if I don’t eat anything until about 730pm. Then I have dinner and get a relatively early night.
I tried doing a fast day on a boxing day but found I didn’t have my normal power and also the next day, I felt like I’d been hit by a train all day, regardless that I was eating.

It took me until my 7th fast day to feel like I’d worked it out, and now it’s really simple and easy to stick to. For anyone who’s new (or been at it a while) and is struggling with headaches, hunger, moods etc, I’d encourage you to experiment – try eating different things at different times on your fast days to see if it makes things easier on you. If I’d stick to my original approach (which was based on what the friend who told me about 2:5 was doing) I’d have long-since thrown in the towel, and missed out on what for me is the simplest, easiest and most ‘relaxing’ way to lose weight (and sleep better, feel mentally sharper in general and have clearer skin) I’ve ever come across.

I suspect this will be a lifetime lifestyle for me – it makes too much sense not to be plus it gets results!