Hi there,

I’m 28 years old, a man, British, and I have been following the 5:2 diet on and off for about a year. I’m a HUGE fan and have been selling it to anyone who will listen! I’m 6ft 2, at my heaviest I was 104kg and now i’m 85.5kg and ideally I would like to get down to 83kg and see how I feel at that weight. I tried different forms of intermittent fasting, 16:8 for instance, but found the 5:2 works for me better. I found 16:8 doing that everyday to be a bit more restrictive. I really feel this is a diet or eating pattern I can follow for the rest of my life.

Also, I don’t really believe the standard 5:2 diet as followed is true fasting. For example, it says you can eat at 8:00am, 13:00pm and 21:00pm as long as you eat under 600 calories then you’re fasting. Yes if you follow this pattern you will lose weight as you’re in a caloric deficit. However, the true health benefit in my opinion come from abstaining from any calories for as long as possible. So on my 2 days, I will fast with just water or black coffee for as long as I can and then I eat. But i’m a big believer in ‘not biting off more than you can chew either so walk before you can run I guess too!

Question on matinence. I’m thinking of continuing the 5:2 pattern for a while. Maybe upping the calories to 800 a day if I need to. Have anyone here found success in maintaining their weight with a 6:1 pattern and how do they find it?

Cheers