Hi Mike,

Have you been doing traditional 5:2 ie 600 calories on fast days and eating sensibly on non fast days?

If you have don’t worry as sometimes it takes a while for the scales to start moving.
You could measure your waist and monitor that too as the tape often shows a difference when the scales haven’t budged.

Some make the mistake of thinking that eating whatever they want on non fast days means eating as much as they want, so it is important to ensure you aren’t overdoing it and undoing the good work of your fast days.

Good luck and let us know how you get on. I’m sure you’ll soon be reporting a loss.

@mikef00 – there are lots of reasons why our weight doesn’t always reflect what is going on. For me it is shifts in exercise patterns and water. I weigh myself most days and the number one lesson from that is not to trust the scale alone. Use a soft tape and measure your body, measure your fat, or just make whatever measurements that allow you to track progress. Over the longer period the scale will show a difference but over very short periods it can be random. 10 days isn’t much time, at least in my case month to month changes are more meaningful.

After fasting this week I think I was 80.5kg, two day later I’m up to 84.1kg. I know from experience that is just water/food/whatever. Still if I just trusted the scale I might freak out. However I know my weight often varies 2kg within a single day. In fact it is actually very difficult for me to weight myself in a consistent fashion each day. My hydration is that variable.

If you are fasting and controlling your eating you will lose fat and eventually it will show. For me I’m slowly losing fat but I’m also trying to build muscle. I probably eat considerably more than most people here but I also avoid added sugar and processed foods in general. When I was allowing those I actually reached a point where I was always hungry and slowly getting fatter not eating that much, at least in terms of calories. What I eat is much more important than how much I eat, however I could easy overeat and still gain fat that way too. Sorry for being long winded, the point is you just have to figure out what works for you. It has taken me 4+ years to figure out what worked for me and I’m still learning.

To answer your question: In general I avoid the treats that make me fat even on non-fast days. After a year of 5:2 I’m finding that pretty easy. However, I sometimes allow myself a treat, I just eat a lot less of them than I used too and I’ve found other things I often eat instead. Alcohol is a tricky one, as it pretty directly leads to visceral fat, much like added sugar does for me. So if you are doing both booze and treats, that may be a lot more than you realize.

@mike. TDEE = total daily energy expenditure. Use it as a very rough guide only. I think Michael Mosley has done 5:2 a dis-service by saying you can eat “normally” on your non fast days. What people think is normal is very distorted. If you continue to eat normal and its a crap diet then you will struggle. I have a very simple rule. If what you are doing isn’t working then change it up. Doing more of the same will give you errrr, exactly the same result.

Get the vast majority of your carbs from veggies (no potatoes!!). Choose cruciferous veggies and veggies with lots of fibre. What to avoid. Avoid processed grain based products. No bread, pasta, pizza, biscuits, cakes, breakfast cereals (pure crap) etc. If it came from a grain don’t have it. No sugar, no fruit juice!!! You want fruit have whole fruit. Never dried fruit. Choose your tart type fruits, and berry type fruits. Never peel the skin off of apples or pears etc. The skin has all the insoluble fibre, the flesh has the soluble fibre. Eat healthy fats from avocados, nuts like brazil nuts, almonds, olive oil, butter, high fat low sugar yogurt. Never vegetable oils!! Pure crap. Eat beans, legumes. Great levels of protein and fibre. Eat a small amount of lean meats, fish, tuna.

Basically eat a Mediterranean diet which is basically plant based with some fish some meat some dairy and nuts beans and legumes.

Good luck it works it done correctly.

Welcome to the 5:2 forum, mike. If “a few drinks” turns into several, that can make losing weight more difficult. Alcohol is a ready and quick source of energy and your body will burn that before most of the food you eat. If you use soda or other type of mixers, be aware of the calorie content of those too, even the ones that aren’t sweet, like tonic water.