Hi Kat and welcome:

You will not be doing 5:2. What you have described is an every day reduced calorie diet. It will be effective if you eat less than your TDEE each day. How much less will determine how much you lose. Here is a discussion: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/52-calorie-restriction-v-fasting-for-newbies/

Good Luck!

Kat,

Perhaps think of a day as midnight to midnight rather than a random 24 hour period that fits in with your eating?

Your maths is off, it’s not 3 days.

And also when you think you “can eat what you want” on non-fast days, that’s correct. No food groups are prohibited. But “what you want” isn’t the same as “however much you want”.

5:2 is incredibly simple and effective. Don’t be discouraged. You just need to understand it.

Hi She and welcome:

Your confusion is common and understandable.

Check the FAQ at the top of the page “Is a “fast day” 24 or 36 hours?” for Dr. M’s answer to the question how long a fast day is.

The book also states that for the other 5 days, you can eat normally. Unfortunately, that does not work for many overweight people, so the ‘common knowledge’ has morphed to eating to your TDEE or less the other five.

Anybody can lose weight following any eating program or pattern as long as they eat less than their TDEE over time. 5:2 is simply a way to cut calories by drastically limiting them two days a week rather than the more common every day reduced calorie process which often cuts about 500 cal. a day from the diet.

As many on this site will tell you, do whatever you want and it will be fine as long as it works for you!

I like Pinot, but as it is below freezing where I am right now, I’ll settle for an Irish coffee or something else that is warm!

I can see a value in 24 hour fasting and would definitely consider it when travelling overseas. The scenario would be where a breakfast buffet was included with a hotel stay. I’d go from breakfast to breakfast and happily skip lunch and dinner. Finding suitable food while on the move is particularly challenging and time-consuming for me because, all over the world, restauranteurs seem to think that all travellers want is ‘something’ placed between two pieces of bread and served with chips. So going without would suit me just fine. And how delicious that second buffet would taste!

I’ve only done one 24 hour + fast which was the period prior to an 11 hour flight. I fasted from 10 pm one evening and boarded a flight at midnight the following night having had one cup of coffee with milk that morning. My airline dinner was to be my meal estimated at around 1am. Unfortunately at 2am, we were still on the tarmac with ‘technical issues’ so, when it finally arrived, that was the best ever airline meal.

Kat56, if you want to do a 24 hour fast between 7pm and 7pm, I think it would be fine if that’s how it best fits in with your lifestyle and that of your husband. The only thing is, that you can’t have that 500 calories you’re taking about in the hours in between. Alternatively, you could make sure that your second 7pm dinner is 500 calories or less and not eat again until the following morning. That would also be a fast.

EGB, I think that’s where the confusion lies – Kat56’s plan isn’t a fast because she’s planning on consuming a quarter of her TDEE PLUS whatever is the calorie count of her evening meal. Well done with your loss so far.

All the best to you with whatever works. It’s definitely worth the sacrifice. Nothing tastes as good as being slim feels. Hi Happy, how are you?

The comment in the fast diet book regarding fasting from 2pm to 2pm has caused a fair amount of confusion and it should be ignored by anyone who wants to lose weight as it won’t work.

5:2 is quite simple really, on two days per week you only consume 500 calories during your waking hours and on the other 5 days you can eat any type of food you choose but you need to stay within your TDEE which is the upper limit of calories you should have in a day for someone of your age, sex, height and lifestyle. You can calculate TDEE by clicking the how it works link at the top of the page. As you lose weight you need to re-calculate as the less you weigh the less calories your body needs which is often confusingly and inaccurately labelled as a slowing down of metabolism.
As a weight loss method it is no different to any other diet, you need to create a calorie deficit. There is no magic bullet, in order to weigh less you have to eat less and in order to lose 1lb of fat you need to create a calorie deficit of around 3,700 calories which isn’t going to happen if you eat 500 calories plus your dinner.

The difference between 5:2 and other diets IMO are the perceived health benefits of fasting and the fact that it helps us change our eating habits for the better while eating normal food which enables us to keep the weight off once we’ve reached our goal.
Oh yes, and it’s free and doesn’t involve going to a weekly class and being given inaccurate and outdated information regarding what is healthy and what isn’t and being offered a range of usually very expensive “diet foods”

I have a question about the timing of fasting as well! I’m trying to do 3 days of fasting at the moment to jump start the program. I’m eating 250 calories for breakfast and 250 calories for dinner that same evening. My question is how long should i wait between meals. I know that regarding a calorie deficit and losing weight, as long as I’m eating less I’ll lose weight, but I am also curious about the health benefits of fasting and when those kick in. etc. Like after how many hours does my body start to eat the fat stores and not the glycogen from my food. What is the prime amount of hours for fasting to begin to receive the dementia and cancer prevention benefits? I’ve been going about 11.5-12 hours, is that OK? The book does recommend 2 small meals on fast days so I think I’m doing it right, but I’m reading a lot of conflicting information on forums etc. Looking forward to hearing back!!

Hi Adrianne,

Put simply, if you’re doing 500 calories on fast days, and eating pretty normally on the other days then initially trust that you’re doing the program. Keep it simple, don’t worry and see what happens.

Keep doing what works and adjust when you’re not getting results.

As for my experience, eventually it became far easier to not eat at all on fast days. 36 hours without any food does seriously kick into fat burning. Combining that with eating real, unprocessed foods on the other days made a huge difference, and so there is no need to count calories at all now. Whatever you choose, just remember to up the water intake.

A distraction like a cup of coffee, or a walk, may help when the pangs get stronger, and soon enough the pangs are gone. After the body adjusted, there are less hunger pangs on fast days than eating days.

It’s quite freeing to no longer feel the need to eat, and a real sense of achievement with every fast. Fasting may need more mindfulness. But strangely, fast days now seem more enjoyable, and energy filled, and natural, than eating days.

Hi Fire and welcome:

The way 5:2 works is it reduces your calorie intake two days a week. If you eat to your TDEE or less the other five, you will lose weight.

It does not matter when you eat your calories on either your diet days or your non-diet days. You can eat whenever you want.

Here are some tips: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!