I over ate on last Friday after fasting Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday; I had cooked a meal for me and my partner; chicken curry she only had a very small portions and I polished of the rest, three servings, then camembert, then yogourt and a few too many drinks, then raided the grapes.  Chocolate is not a problem for me any more as I found out a couple of months ago that I am allergic to chocolate.  The other thing I am allergic to is the ripe coffee berries, so no more eating the coffee berries to get the beans; got to wear gloves to get the beans out of the berry.  This years crop is just starting to ripen and they look so tempting.  I am glad I am not allergic to the beans once roasted.

I have been so excited about this diet since I started it in early March. But I think I have a serious problem of overeating on non-fast days to the point that I’m only down 3 pounds in two months. The scale either stays the same or goes up. Sticking with the plan on non-fast days is not an issue. I’m committed to that. But the excitement over not having to count calories and restrict on non-fast days (as I’ve done for so many years) is causing me to err I think. I hate the idea of trying to map out 2000 calories on non-fast days as then it defeats the beauty of the whole plan. But I’m starting to feel that frustration again that diets don’t work, I’ll never lose the 10 lbs I  need to lose, etc. Feeling a bit disheartened at this point.

Hi, I started my fast diet three weeks ago and the first one was the most challenging:  on my first fast day,  I started my day with a 200 cal breakfast and completed with a 250 cal dinner.  It was all fine during the day as I was at work. In the middle of the night or should I say at about 2.30am, I woke up feeling like an empty pit, I had to have some cereals and fruits (loads) I did not bother counting the calories.) . I did feel guilty the next day but I decided to read my books a bit more i.e the “fast diet” and the “the fast diet recipe book” for ideas”  I liked Mimi’s approach and advice, i.e drink as much fluid ( herbal teas and even coffee(no milk or sugar) ) if you wish! and to be kind to yourself; look for what works best for your life style!It got better on my 2nd and 3rd!!! and I am now on my 4th . As per Dr Mosley’s book “the fast diet”, I experimented and realised that I feel better by not starting the day with a meal on my fast days  but ending it with a meal..of 500 cal.

So far, I can now get into my favorite “shangai tang dresses” ,  my favorite jeans I bought five years ago!, Although most importantly I can’t wait to check out my cholesterol in three months time ( Dr Mosley says from three months is a good time to check out health stuff).

I am not crazily excited ( I am about the clothes side of things afterall I am in my late forties and feel great) as I know this has to be a life time commitment so I am determined to enjoy and get used to it.

I am currently on 5:2. I hope the above helps,  and goodluck! I hope to read that you have found a regime that works for you.

x Rosalind

Hi, I found that recording my food intake on the MyFitnessPal app on my non fasting days really helped focus on how much I was eating and what types if food I was getting through. You can also set a daily limit for yourself. I have put 1500 cal limit. Sometimes I go over it ( especially when wine is calling at the weekends!), but most of the time it helps me stick to something sensible.

Everyone is obviously unique and will react or have a reaction that is unique to them but for me this is not a problem as at times i do ‘pig out’ a bit on non fast days – but I have lost so much weight (26ibs) that it doesn’t matter because disciplining myself again for a while afterwards keeps the weight from coming back. I may be losing some of the health benefits but hey I am slim and running 5k in 22 mins aged 55! I am also much better mentally and dont get stressed as much. I think the key is not to deny yourself too much on non-fast days as whatever people say on here I think fast days are really tough – we find a bit of mental energy from somewhere to do this but deep down it is hurting like hell!! So I say enjoy your non fast days and have an extra cake or chocolate if you really feel you want it otherwise the risk is that it all becomes too much and you give up. The main thing is to get the weight off first and then just stay fully committed on your fast days.

I’ve been on 5:2 for 14 weeks and have lost 20 lbs. my cholesterol has gone from 5.9 to 4 after 3 months. My weight loss has slowed down in the last few weeks and I’ve been wondering about my non.fast days but I’m with Caroline66 above I’m in this for life so whilst I record my food on My Fitness Pal I do include an occasional chocolate or whatever .the interesting thing is my tastes are changing I craved a mandarin the other day and I had a sliver of cheesecake and really didn,t enjoy it. I ate these on nonfast days of course. Interestingly I found I could stop at 1 chocolate biscuits which I might have struggled before.interestingly my husband has lost 21 lbs in 14 weeks.

I’ve been on the strategy since early Feb, and have lost 10lbs to add to the 35lbs I had already lost. I think it gets harder to lose weight as you approach target. I too have been feeling really hungry on non-fasting days and over-compensating. But I would rather fast two days a week and have treats on the other days than constantly have to feel guilty about everything I eat, even if I don’t lose any more weight. For me I think this is a pattern for the rest of my life, and hopefully I am still getting the extra health benefits through sticking to the fasting days.

I’m 47 yrs old, in the early stages of menopause, diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis 6 yrs ago; trying to lose about 30 lbs. I started 5:2 on May 20th; after the first fast day, I’d lost nearly 4 lbs. (which was clearly water weight), but haven’t lost an ounce since then – only gained. My scale fluctuates over the same 5 lb. range, but never gets below where I was on the day after the first fast day. And I’m absolutely RAVENOUS nearly all the time, but especially so on the days after fasting. I’m trying to get 30-40 minutes of exercise 4x/week to jump start the weight loss, but there’s been absolutely none in the last 3 weeks. HELP!!

I have been fasting for 2 non-consequtive days since the beginning of the year and have lost about 10lbs (with about the same again to go). I have found the weight has come off in a similar way to how it went on – slowly, gradually etc. To get past the the inevitable plateau times, I go to 3 days a week for a couple of weeks and that works. As for overeating on non-fast days, one of the benefits I have found about fasting is that it teaches you what hunger actually feels like. Work with that, keep busy, have whatever you like as long as you really want it and you’re properly hungry. If not, use the mind techniques you employ on fast days.

Like someone said before I do track my intake of food on fitness pal. I think it is very important – at least for me – to keep track of what I eat on non-fast days. Like many have said I am over indulging. It is not even like I am hungry, I drink water and chamomile tea on fast days to help me with the hunger, but on non-fast days I just over indulge because I know I won’t be able to the next day!!!! I struggle to lose weight and after 4 weeks of not seeing any change in weight with my fast diet I have decided to track calories on on fast days too. I realised I was eating waaaaaay more than before I started the diet and tried to watch my intake of chocolate, cookies and crips. I am having an average of 2000kcal on non fast days, while before the diet I wouldn’t go beyond 1200kcal.
Each person is different and I must say I am feeling a little disheartened for not seeing any changes so far. I would also advise people to read the book, it helped me to keep motivated.

hello everyone, with regard to the OP.
in the early days i used to over eat on my non fast days and do relate to the bottomless pit feeling, in time as my tummy got smaller i wasnt able to over eat and my habbits and cravings changed a lot, i didnt restrict myself and just ate what i wanted on non fast days, as the months passed my habbits changed, i didnt crave as much fatty high cal foods, denying yourself the things you love makes you want them even more, (well thats what i find anyway) ive found this plan has changed my relationship with food, im making healther choices without even trying or thinking about it.

I find that because I feel good having fasted and can see noticeable results, I am motivated to eat more healthily on the non-fast days- so I have a healthier diet overall now. This doesn’t mean limiting what I eat, but it simply means selecting healthier foods most of the time, and not feeling guilty when I have something less healthy.
I think there is a danger in seeing the 5 ‘off’ days as ‘eat what you like days.’ Instead, try to look at them as ‘eat normally’ days – and make normal a healthy lifestyle. (low sugar, but don’t worry too much about fat on those days and eat loads of veggies).
I have always found that dieting should be a positive experience. The more you try to limit yourself, the more you want what you are cutting out. But if you think more about what you ARE going to eat and put your energy into preparing something nice, you may find yourself thinking less about the things you currently crave.

@lydiac, I love how your ordinary days sound like you’re over-dosing on food -> OD 😉 Made me chuckle.

I tend to call them Regular Days, which would make it RDs. Although OD does feel appropriate. Even though I never really overeat anymore on RDs, even under my TDEE, I feel I always get an abundance of food. I had a copletely normal plate of food for dinner today (actually normal, nor what I used to think was normal) and I’ve had a food baby for hours now. Oh well, keep the ODs coming, you can never OD too much 😉

I agree with the comments at the beginning of Katkins last posting. I agree also with eating protein like egg more at breakfast. However, I am still struggling on every non fast day, even now, over 2 years on.

I am a couple of pounds heavier than 2 years ago but generally have maintained a 5 pound loss.

For quite some time now, I have tried just having egg and maybe tomato for breakfast on non fast and days, but as soon as I eat anything at all, despite how proteinous it is, with no carbs at all, as soon as I eat anything, I just can’t stop. This applies to fast days too but I wouldn’t risk it (triggering my appetite) at all, on those days.

I seem completely unable to feel satisfied now on non fast days in a way that never happened that way before. I dare not eat breakfast, no matter how sanctimonious and non carbohydrate the food is. I could now go as far as saying that the 5:2 has ruined my life.

However, I don’t want to say that, as it is the only way I can survive not putting on more weight. It does make me very miserable and affects my day-to-day life and planning.

I’m not giving up but it’s not getting better, in fact it’s getting worse.

I am uncomfortable to say all this publicly as I think various people in the media are waiting for any ammunition to criticise the 5:2 and despite all I’ve said, I am not giving up, but it makes me unhappy.

Thanks simcoeluv for comments. I don’t think I would be able to do the Atkins so don’t want to punish myself, I know, through past efforts so don’t want to set myself up to fail. I don’t disagree with you though.

It seems odd, that when I have a no carb breakfast, I still can’t stop the driving binge that follows. May be as you say, I would need to be virtually carb-free for 2 weeks to stand a chance. I really don’t think I can do that, as much as I hate my own addiction.

So far the 5:2 seems to be the only eating plan I can follow – albeit badly. You could say it’s obviously not working if I am driven to overeating so badly on non fast days. Thanks for your input.

I do so hope that Dr. Mosley will do a follow-up to look at how folks are coping after more than a year on the fast diet. I think that I just have to face the fact that taking care of my body is going to require more work than when I was younger, including fasting and exercise. It would be useful to see what does and doesn’t work for those who have done this long-term.

By the the end of summer I’m hoping to be on maintenance, and am looking forward to the convenience of only one fast day per week…hope that will be sufficient. I just read Younger Next Year, and the message is that once we hit 50, we have to work to “swim against the tide” including serious exercise and not eating junk, or we will end up on the rocks being picked over by the seagulls. 🙂

I do think I’m a bit of a carb addict. Starchy or sugary foods are too dangerous for fast day. I just put Potatoes not Prozac on hold at the library, looking forward to checking it out. Love to read things that make me feel more in control, not just at the mercy of my cravings.

Although I’ve scoffed at the paleo diet and struggled to adapt to gluten-free friends and family, I’m thankful now that I’m trying to reduce my carbohydrate consumption that the world around me is pretty low-carb friendly. And when I cook, I try to think “double veg, half carb” from what I used to make for stir fry, pasta, casseroles. Fortunately, my husband is onboard, and the kids might sigh a bit, but they’re adapting. They’re old enough to be able to read the nutrition labels and see what I mean about “empty carbs”, so we’ve been talking about my way of eating in terms of nutrition instead of it being about getting skinny.

Hope you find something to make this less of a struggle for you, lydiac. We all have our low times, so please share with the rest of us if you do.

Hi Katkins99. Thanks for your support. I will keep on, but it is hard. There is no other way though. Good luck to you with it.

Thanks for your comments. It is so hard isn’t it? You did well to try dropping sugar completely. Whilst generally I don’t add it to thing, I do find many of the things I eat on non fast days contain sugar -even if natural (like milk, carrots, fruit), I have these on fast days too.

I have tried a version of 16:8 as you say, but even if I did 20:4, I can do a lot of damage in a short time!

I’m sure people reading this must be thinking “get a grip, just don’t put the stuff in your mouth” but I’m so ashamed, I can’t help myself. I was never this bad prior to 5:2. I have to continued with it as I did lose weight 2 yrs ago when I started it, however, although I’ve maintained half of that loss, I haven’t lost weight since (yes, in 2 years), because I eat too much on the intervening days.

My life and mind is obsessed with eating, not eating, weight and what I can and cannot have, it really is very miserable. I hate that it has this grip on me. Many years ago, I gave up smoking and believe me, that was MUCH easier (I know, obviously you still have to eat and that is what makes it so difficult).

Like you, I have tried eating a boiled egg on either a fast or non fast day and wouldn’t do it on a fast day any more as it starts the process and I can’t stop it, so only would allow it on a non fast day.

In the past I was safe to have a protein breakfast but now the juggernaut of hunger ploughs into my body.

I do hope you are managing on 16:8. Let us know how you go and thanks for being honest, it really helps.

Lydiac: Like you, once I eat something (carb or protein) on a RD I am hungry. I have been this way all my life. It does not matter when I eat it, the hunger gates are open. Luckily for me I have never really needed breakfast. Yes, I love too eat it and quite often do so. But, on most days I wait for lunch to eat my 1st meal. That is when I’m truly hungry. This has worked well with 5:2. All that being said, I really struggle with binge eating. I’ve been this way all my life too. Yes, I have managed to gain weight on 5:2. Even when I stayed @ 500 cal 2 days a week. Apparently, I can really eat a lot in 5 days. I find it helpful to remember: I can eat whatever I want on RDs, but not as much as I want.
Good luck and remember all the good things going on inside your body on fast days.

I overcome this problem by eating plenty but try sticking to 3 meals a day still on non-fast days i.e. big bowl of cereal and banana for breakfast, sandwich and fruit for dinner, meat potatoes & carrots for tea! maybe yoghurt or cereal bar for snack if being greedy! Then resist urges for choc/ice cream/rubbish until the weekend.

I’ve been fasting on and off for 6 months and have lost a stone so far, which is pretty good for me as I am not particularly big to begin with!

Might be worth a try, just make sure you’re full up so you’re less likely to give in to cravings!

Hope this helps 🙂