Hi Everyone, I’ve joined the billions whose New Year’s Resolution is to lose weight. I’ve battled my weight since I was 12, lost and regained countless kilos on hundreds of different diets from Atkins to the Zone, always in search of the magic bullet. Will this 5:2 be it? Since menopause it seems much harder to lose each time I try, and there are also thyroid problems I need to take care of.
I’m an Australian linguist, have been living in Greece most of my life. My main diet difficulty is that my Greek mother-in-law does the cooking for the family and I can’t expect her to do something different for me, so the eat-normally-on-five-days format should make it easier to fit in than following my own eating plan every day.
For the two fast days I’m thinking of one day fruit (=6 fruit @ c80 cals), one day shakes or protein or dairy up to the 500 cals. I think a monodiet will make it easier for me, less to think about. I am going to combine this with a Harcombe Diet/Virgin Diet type elimination diet for the first few weeks to identify possible food sensitivities and eradicate candida.
I wish everyone here good luck and a happy new year!

Thank you Nika for your encouraging reply. I’m both lucky to have m-i-l cooking for me (she’s 82 and still on her feet) and unlucky, diet-wise. Thank you for your suggestion re protein with the fruit. I’ll reduce one fruit and add almonds to the calorie limit. BTW fruit is not allowed in the early weeks of Harcombe and Virgin diets precisely for the reasons you state. The idea of both these eating plans is to omit foods that are known to trigger hypoglycaemia or that feed candida (Harcombe) as well as foods that people are frequently intolerant to (both Harcombe and Virgin) for several weeks, then to gradually reintroduce them to test which are the problematic ones for each individual to avoid. Most common intolerances according to Virgin are gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts, corn, and sugar of all forms including sweeteners. Harcombe also avoids mushrooms, vinegar and other fermented foods to eradicate candida. Dr Agatston in his latest version of South Beach Diet avoids gluten in first weeks as it is the number one intolerance.

Hi Nika
Good luck with finding a good m-i-l 😉
Mine is now widowed, lives downstairs, and cooking the family meals is the only thing she still does to keep active (she’s 82) since we moved back to the family home a year and a half ago, so I’m going along with it while she still can. She enjoys our company for meals, it makes her feel useful, and she is mentally and (a bit) physically active through it. Otherwise she would just sit on the sofa and watch TV all day and her brain would turn to mush. I must say it is also convenient not to have to worry about what my son will eat if I am away working, and to come home to a ready meal on some days, but I’m a foodie with a collection of over 500 cookery books so I too prefer cooking myself. I did enjoy the festive season when I was busy in the kitchen making the traditional Greek sweets (kourabiedhes, vassilopitta), glacé orange dipped in chocolate, liqueur (for gifts) as well as Delia’s roast goose stuffed with apples and prunes (not Greek tradition) for New Year’s Day. But I put on so much weight, which is why I’m here!
Have you considered cooking double portions of some dishes and freezing the other half? That way on the days when you don’t feel like cooking you could just defrost a meal. Or make the day when you don’t feel like cooking a Fast day? You could have two Snickers bars @ 250cals each and nothing else. Not very healthy of course.
I’m really looking forward to Monday when I start my first Fast day.