Hi I too am Australian and having wished to fast for several years but never quite getting there, feel a new freshness in the approach thanks to this 5:2 plan. I will call it a plan also. It is interesting how fasting can heal our insides even when we still put the food in for 5 other days. Diets have never worked for me. But once in my 20’s fasted for 10 days and by the 9th day I was in the garden with a pick and shovel planting and felt the most energised and fantastically healthy. I would like to get even a portion of that feeling back. I am a Mum of 4, 48yo and a school bus driver. It’s time to get real!

I have been doing 5:2 for about a month now after seeing Dr Michael Mosley’s doco on SBS (much more informative than the Today Tonight one last night by the way, I recommend trying to get a copy of it.
So far I have had good results, increased energy, sleeping better, lost a few kilos but most importantly by tracking my calories and being accountable for what I am eating I have managed to stop my mid week wine habit, 1 or 2 glasses every day. I starting this bad habit when I had kids!!!!!
So I have some tips for anyone starting.
Get the MyFitnessPal app, it is free and will tell you how many calories in everything – you can even scan barcodes of food so you know exactly what you are eating. It is a very good food diary and it will email you food and exercise advice. It makes 5:2 really easy to do. You will learn which foods are better choices for calorie intake (lots of greens) and which are empty calories (sugary foods/snack foods).
Make sure you have a set of digital kitchen scales then you can weigh everything the first time you do it and get to know the portion sizes appropriate to you.
As a result of the fast days you will see how simple it is to restrict your calories and stop you overeating on normal eating days helping you get the most out of the lifestyle change.
Good luck and good health to you all. x

Hi everyone, I’m from Melbourne. I too saw the story on Channel 7 last night and am doing my first day. I only have 5kg to go and have tried many weigh loss plans, but this one really seems attainable. I do not feel that I am sacrificing too much in the 2 days especially if there are not consecutive. I have also started reading the book (good old Kindle) and find it very interesting. What I am not sure about at this stage is vitamins, should I be taking them on fast days? Anyone know?
Good luck to you all. Hope you are as excited as I am. xxx

Hi everyone. Firstly, Good luck to you all. I hope this works for all of you. I am a 44y.o male with 2 girls and a great wife. I have a heap of weight to lose. Maybe about 70-80 kilos. I was very impressed by the doco last night and am very intertested in giving this a go. What I dont understand is what type of diet do you follow on the 5 days? They say 600 calories on the fasting days which is great but how about the other 5? Do you follow a certain amount of calories? Can anyone help me? I start tomorrow and am going to give it a good old aussie go.

Theobara, on your 5 non fasting days you eat normally, but since you have a large weight loss goal you might want to watch your calorie intake on those days too. If you download the free MyFitnessPal app you enter your details and goal weight and it will give you a number of calories you should aim for daily, this might be a good strategy for you on the non fast days. It will also track your exercise and let you see your progress.

Hi Everyone,
Yet another Australian who saw Dr Mosley on Channel Seven last night. Was just flicking through the channels, as I don’t usually watch seven. Can’t help but think it was the right time for me to see this – I’m ready to shed these extra kilos. I’m a 55 year old, living in the Wollongong area of NSW, and am hoping to shed 10-11 kilos. Truthfully I should shed even more, but just don’t want to look old and saggy! Ha ha. Not much elasticity in your skin once you get to this age!

My husband and two teenaged daughters are also going to do this. Really hubby and the older daughter don’t need to lose any weight at all. But the 14 year old and I really have to address this issue. Hopefully we’ll support each other and do it!

I’ve been pretty sedentary in the last year or so, so am thinking of maybe walking or bike riding daily.

It’d be great if we could all support each other, as we head off on this journey! Fingers crossed!

(Hey Vespa Gal – I am one, too! GTS 250 ie, yellow. We have a scooter club locally if you live anywhere near Wollongong).

Good luck everyone! May the force be with us! Cheers, Liz.

Hello everyone, I’m like most of you and watched Dr Mosley last night. I’ve just been converting Calories to Kilojoules and was very pleased to learn that 500 calories is 2092 kilojoules so it sounds very do-able. I’m going to start on Friday then do my second fast day on Sunday. I don’t think I’d like to do them consecutively but will see how I go with one day at a time first. I’m a 55 year old mother of 2 adult children, I have a great husband and we live on a farm in Western Victoria. I have 7-8kgs to lose and just want to know I’m healthy. I wish you all the best of luck and hope you all have fantastic results, Cheers

Day 1 also. Feel pretty good quite surprisingly. Have had couple of black teas, plenty of water and going to have a creamy chicken soup in few hours. My husband is doing it with me too after watching channel 7 last night. Have always yoyo dieted go really good then lose motivation. Hope to lose 7kg want to learn to surf this summer so need to drop the kilos. We are in our early 40s and need to try something.

I started today too! monday and thursday are my fast days.

I did it today, felt slightly hungry, I’m 67kg & have athletic build so just did it for curiousity. It was quite easy for a rest day from training, drank more water that usual.

Do you have to do the 2 fast days in a row or can you split them up?

Good to read everyones story.

Stitch

Hi Everyone
Am starting tomorrow
weekends will be my biggest challenge…that is when I overeat
Am going to give it a good go and see how I go

Hi Fastert
I am in Albury and glad to know it worked for you
I guess if it works you just get in the habit of not eating for a day a week when you reach the weight you would like to be

Hi everyone I too watched channel 7 last night. Have just completed my first day of fasting not too bad, but I am full of enthusiasm today. Just wondering how many calories are we allowed on non fasting days? Wishing you all the best of luck!

Hi All

I just completed day 1 of my Monday and Thursday fast. It got a little hard late in the day but just held on until dinner. Before bed I seemed to get really cold and completely exhausted so had early night.

I woke today so fresh and not really hungry at all. Im finding it hard to change my mindset to think back to eating normally after obsessing over my meals yesterday.
I also weighed myself today and is it possible to loose a half kilo in the first day??

Hi everyone

Completed Day 1 yesterday. Only had fruit for brekkie (small Banana) Frozen berries at lunchtime and Jenny Craig frozen dinner in the evening. Didn’t feel hungry at all so very hopeful that I can continue with this. I am 75 and need to lose about 40 kgs.

I found it hardest to think in terms of calories rather than Kilojoules. i estimated 500/600 calories as about 2000 kjs Is that correct?

Does anyone live in the Port Macquarie/Laurieton area of NSW?

I really need to get the book to get all the facts but I have searched a lot of blogs and it looks like a long fast of between 12 to 16 hours is recommended (to kick in repair mode) if it’s possible. So say you were doing Monday as a fast day, you would have your Sunday evening meal then fast (no food) for 12 hours or more from then so for me a light lunch then light dinner totaling 500 cals then fasting done. I have tried this way and other way of eating lots of little snacks throughout fast day instead of longer block with no eating, for me longer block works better, I am not thinking about food so much and mid afternoon slump dealt with by a small lunch. I also exercise hard on the fast day I find that suits me too as then I just concentrate on hydration. Energy levels are great.
There seems to be feedback that eating sensibly after the fast day (not overdoing it) is advisable to make the most of repair mode and fat burning.
Back fasting on Wednesday. Yay!

Kazzy:

There is no part of 5:2 that requires time between meals. See http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/ #6.

Good Luck!

Hi Everyone,
I’m still trying to get myself organised for my first fast day on Thursday. Just working out what caloric value all my ‘routine’ foods have so I can figure out what to eat/not to eat. I’m currently looking everything up. Does anyone know (maybe simcoeluv – you seem to be a font of info!), if there’s some charts which have caloric values for food, which I could just print out? That’d be really helpful. What’s everyone else doing regarding foods to eat on fast days?
I’m not too worried about the fast days….. when I was a sweet young thing (19) I fasted for a month! Drank tea, water and orange juice, but otherwise nothing. It really wasn’t that hard, but not terribly smart either! Ha ha. I was nursing at the time, so very active, and did lose a lot of weight….. and then got it back again! Chuckle. Things we do.

Hi all. Like KazzB I have the MyfitnessPal on my phone its well worth it. My husband and have been doing the Fast Diet since May 2013. Wow what a difference. My husband went from 115 kg to 95 kg in just a few months and I lost 10kg and it was so easy to do. We are still fasting two days a week but we have not been religiously sticking to it of late but pleased to say the weight has not gone back on either. We are getting back into it again now and hope to shift another 5 or 6 kg off my husband and 2 or 3 for me. The book is very worthwhile. Good luck to you all.

Hi everyone
I am from Melbourne and this is day 1for me
Hoping this works, have a bit of weight to lose and have tried everything, lose some and the nothing,
So will see how I go.
Best of luck to all

Hi everyone

What a lovely lot of new recruits to the 5:2 way of life.

Do look at the Southern Hemisphere thread as most of us on it are also Aussies and you’ll find a wealth of experience there. We’re also up and about while the rest of the world is still asleep.

Make sure you measure yourself all over at the start because sometimes the scales will remain stubbornly static or even go up despite following the ‘rules’ but you’ll find that your body shape changes and a cm or two off your waist is all the encouragement you need. You also need to ensure you drink at least 2L of water on fast days – see Dr M’s post above on ‘losing weight and drinking water’.

Well done on making a choice for your long-term good health.

As some have said, the original Horizon TV program had much more detail than Sunday night’s Channel 7 episode. I understand it’s still available on SBS’s I-view or whatever it’s called.

Even better, read the FAQs at the top of the page and if possible, get hold of the book Eat, fast, live longer, which gives the scientific rationale behind the practice. You can get it from Booktopia or from Amazon for your Kindle.

Hi Kazzy:

I don’t believe I said it was designed as a weight loss diet – I have always said (and known) that it was designed as a life extension diet, with weight loss as a side effect. If you read my ‘Warnings’ and many of my other posts you will know I think the 5:2 weight loss diet is sort of a happy but accidental outcome from a show on life extension.

I don’t know what the author is saying now, but all of the basic research that led to the diet and the show that spawned it was on caloric restriction. Dr. M specifically stated in the show that he could not cope with extended fasting. And he specifically stated and had pictures of him eating breakfast and dinner while he was doing 5:2. There was never a mention of time between meals. The cell repair had to be inferred to come from the fact the body had more time to fix itself because it was spending less time digesting food. It does not matter when the 500 calories are eaten, it takes the same amount of time and energy to digest them. If you read my post above you will notice I pointed out that one reason some people get cold is that the body is not generating heat as a result of digesting food. If it is not busy digesting food the theory is it has more time to fix itself. Seems the body can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.

In addition, I am aware of no research that proves ‘time between meals’ is important for cell repair. For instance, the 16:8 theory is based on experiments with mice who were fed on a 16:8 cycle, but not feeding a mouse for 16 hours is like not feeding a human for several days. Dr. Longo does not believe 5:2 will ‘live up to my longevity component’ and I am not going to argue with him (see the Longo post, above).

I guess it depends what your goal is. If you want to lose weight, calorie restriction is the only thing that is important. Standard 5:2 calorie restriction has been proven to lead to lower cholesterol and triglyceride readings and lower blood pressure. Those are pretty much standard results from weight loss. High blood pressure is the wild card, because while weight loss and exercise usually take care of it, some people still have high blood pressure if thin and exercising. But not often.

If you want to be harder on yourself and let the clock determine when you can eat so you can maybe live longer, then time your eating. It is, I guess, up to you how you want to spend your time! But you don’t have to do it to lose weight on 5:2, and doing 5:2 is hard enough for the average person so making it more difficult would not seem to be beneficial.

If you are really interested in living longer, then you should explore longer term fasting, ranging from periodic four plus day water fasts and beyond, because that is where current research is pointing for those kinds of results. This site is not designed for that discussion, although it seems to be coming up more and more. Dr. Longo is trying to make those longer fasts bearable by selling food that keeps the fast effect going while providing caloric relief that makes the longer fasts more bearable, and is doing a study he hopes will prove the point. And maybe new research will someday show that the body somehow benefits from not eating for an extra few hours a day, who knows?

But if weight loss is your goal, you don’t have to worry about time between meals. You just have to worry about eating less. I can’t address your husband’s issue, as you say he does not need to lose weight. But I am a 6 foot tall male and the ‘chart’ says my ideal weight is as low as 136 pounds (that is a true LOL). Your husband may be afflicted by a problem many maintainers have on this site who have reached their weight loss goal but want to continue fasting. The ‘easy’ answer is to continue to do 5:2, but eat more on non diet days to insure you don’t lose weight. What a problem to have!

Good Luck!

Simcoeluv, that all sounds great looks like calorie restriction is certainly having the results we are looking for for cholesterol etc. My hubby is tall too and carries his weight well he sits easily within the lower weight range for his 6″3 height but like most people can always do with a bit of tightening up for summer. I just need to sell it to him for the health benefits.
I too have read a few comments like Dummerchens but they were from blogs so you can’t really tell if they are scientific. It seems there could be something in the fasting for longer but as you say why make it more difficult than it has to be. I will look out for more from Dr Longo. In the meantime 5:2 it is and so far so good. Thanks for all your info.