you could always go back to 5:2 but increase your intake a little on nonfasting days.

I am in the same situation. I just go how I feel on a weekly basis and now I am not overtly concerned with my daily calorie intake but more with my weekly one. I try to stay under my weekly TDEE. Sometimes I do 5:2, then 6:1 or just calorie watching. I have days I eat super healthy (most days) and then it is ice cream galore.

I am at a very healthy weight now but would not mind losing one more kg to give me some space.

Maintenance I believe is trickier than losing as you will have to find the amount of calories you can eat without gaining or losing weight.

Stef.

Hi Carla,

I did 5:2 for a year and then went on to 6:1 in October last year. I have stuck to that since and must share with you that I find it much less of a diet than 5:2… most likely because it is less fasting :). It seems like ages between the fasting days and I also look forward to them after a week of what seems to be gluttony, although it is of course not – you are just used to the 5:2 regime with a much shorter span between the fasting and feasting “windows”. I really felt, as you say, that energized feeling you mentioned when I was on 5:2 and I do not now with 6:1. I guess that too little sleep and two small kids at home adds to that though ;). But just as you, I sensed that it was time to go to 6:1 at some point. I really felt that my body did not want to be o 5:2 any more; I felt drained and my body weight had long stabilised. 6:1 is perfect for me in this sense – I still fast, which I really enjoy, and it is far easier to maintain than 5:2 I would say. I am just curious to see what my IGF1 and cholesterol levels are. I am very glad to share that I have been able to keep my weight on 6:1! I was concerned that I would quickly put on weight again, but that did not happen. I did gain a kilo but since then it has stabilised (of course there are some fluctuations over the day and week, but when I last weighed in right after a fasting day, I was at 72kg which is also where I was two months earlier when I was already on 6:1 for 2 months). My theory is that your body has an ideal weight and once it gets used to all the factors affecting, it will stabilise at some weight. I have no idea of my bloods yet as I wanted to give it 6-12 months, in order to avoid any short-term fluctuations.

I guess Carla that 6:1 can be easily combined with some experimenting – like skipping individual meals on the non-fasting days, try out some 5:2 on some weeks… I am doing that and still have a baseline in my one fasting day, which I am not cheating on 🙂