At age 60, I have lost 3 stones over the last 2 years, most of it by a dramatic increase in my exercise regime and dieting, but the fast diet helped me to lose the last half stone to get down to 9st 10lbs. It is also helping me to maintain my new weight, I have never managed to keep weight off before. I now know that I am in control of my weight, as I have been on holiday a couple of times and put several pounds back on but both times managed to get it off again quite easily.
In my case I know that exercise is a key factor, especially exercise on fasting days and the morning after – prime fat-burning time! And I feel great, better than I have for years.
I only lost about a pound each week, that is what you would expect if you are cutting calories by about 3000 over your 2 day fast. This is a safe amount to lose.
Stick with it and try to increase the exercise!

HI Mulville
Thanks for your kind words. I am fasting again today and it has gone better than last week. I will be more careful tomorrow…

I certainly understand the inability to shift weight during this phase of life. I have been fortunate enough to be able to maintain my weight for years (+/- a few pounds during and after pregnancy), but last year I took a desk job and piled on a few extra kilos. I started walking for 1 hour 20 mins everyday to try and shift the excess baggage, but found it wasn’t going as quickly as I would have liked. Then a friend introduced me to this way of life (I hate the word diet) and, although I am only doing a modified version (1 day a week), I have still found it to be a reasonably successful way to reduce the added kilos.

I am down now to my former weight, if not a bit less, and I have been following this modified version of the program for about 3 months. I will be very interested to see the results of blood tests, when I have them at some point in the future, as I would like to see if my cholesterol has dropped. Not that it was high, but I would prefer it to be in a slightly lower range as my mother has had open heart surgery and is now on cholesterol medication. I would prefer not to have to go down that path if at all possible. I probably should add that I don’t walk as far or as many time a week now, no need.

I think this time of life is a bit of a shocker for everyone, but possibly women more so. It seems to go without saying that you will pile on kilos unless you work VERY hard to keep them off. If this way of life proves useful, I truly hope doctors all over the world (particularly in the counties that have climbing rates of obesity) start recommending it. Surely, making people responsible for their own well being is the key to this amazing success story.

I have always found that the day after a fast I am very hungry.If I am still starving at mid morning(after breakfast) then I will have and thoroughly enjoy a cake. That is my one and only treat for the day.

Weight watchers made me obsessed with food, it was all I thought about and calculating points. With this I know that I have had the cake, enjoyed it and never feel guilty about it either.The other days in between are fine, but I still limit myself to one treat a day(very sweet tooth) but often don’t have them.

Never been to NZ and have no idea how cold it is, but a good brisk walk for an hour every day would help no end.Walking is a great waist whittler and is fab for improving mental health.

Perhaps just one treat as a reward. Does the reward have to be food? I now have some new but inexpensive jewellery when I have reached mini goals.

Hi Ladies,

I’ve been wondering whether any of you take any supplements when fasting. I’m thinking of this as I write my grocery list and noticing how my fruit & veg amounts are less than normal. If your fasting, ie not eating, it goes without saying there will be less nutrients, vitamins and minerals going in. I am new to this website so there may have been other discussions about it. Today was a fast day (doing the 2am – 2pm)and I did a spin class at the gym after work. Apart the physical effects of the class, I continue to be surprised at the amount of exercise that can be done on less or no food. And yet if I am fasting on a day when I’m sitting at my computer all day, I feel exhausted!
PreciousBooBoo, I looked at the website, but it was about jewelry,hmm… But I wonder how you know if you’re producing too much cortisol. I also wonder whether different body types lose weight easier than others. I am a apple, so although I lose weight easily, I also put it on easily and if I’ve had a binge, it all just goes to my waist!, although as I said before the pilates help counter-balance this to some degree. I would be interested on thoughts about supplements or not.

Hi all..so glad to read your comments..in the nicest possible way. I started bragging on another topic in the forum saying I had lost about 6 lbs and now nothing has happened much since. i am 53 and Peri menopausal. Actually I haven’t been this weight in years and I can get clothes on I haven’t been able to it for ages so shouldnt really grumble…but I am.! Before the 5/2 I was eating healthy and exercising about 4 times a week and it was hard to maintain a good weight let alone lose it and I was eating about 1300 cals per day. So by starting the 5/2, and not exercising due to excessive work commitments and too hot, I thought I was on to a winner..but as you all have said..it stops. So should us girls be eating far less on the normal days and slashing to a quarter of that on fast days..which basically means eating about 300 cals AND exercise more? I daren’t eat 2000 cals per day as recommended..I couldn’t eat that much if I tried unless I ate chocolate all day…now ..that’s an idea ?! Help……

Hi, I am 64 yr old. I saw the video about this 5:2 plan and got very excited. I have had a very hard time in the past 30 years, trying to lose weight! Counting calories and exercising to no weight loss is so very frustrating!!!
Well this plan is working for me. I am two weeks into the program and I have lost 5 lbs! I have never been able to do that before! I do work out 5 days a week and sometimes run on the weekend. I do weights 3 times a week and 30 – 45 min. of aerobics exercise 5-6 times a week. I do change up my aerobics, bike, treadmill, stair-master. I found out I could not do the same thing all the time and lose weight. I do find that I am not very hungry on the days after a fast ( I think knowing you can eat what you crave helps). Yesterdays fast day was difficult! I was stuck home all day and this made it very hard.
So I am basically doing the same exercise program as I have done in the past and eating healthy foods but adding the two days of fasting and I am losing weight! Ta Daa I am so excited about this program!

Hi ladies, yes it is hard to lose weight as we get older. My husband and I started 5:2 in February and have lost. 22 and 24 lbs respectively. The weight loss was faster in the beginning but we feel so good living this way of life we still are persevering if we only lose .1kg like I did this week. We were advised to eat protein on fast day so we have a scrambled egg and mushroom for breakfast, homemade soup at lunch vege, pumpkin and garlic or carrot and ginger and then fish and veg for dinner.

I think having a fast buddy helps, even if its just someone on line. I have a few really good fast buddy’s on My Fitness Pal where I record what I eat and exercise. I swim 40 laps on fast days but 60 laps on other days and I do Pilates, bush walk and workout in the gym(no big weights though). I’m 60 and I think you,ve got to be prepared to persevere for a few months at this 5:2 to see if its for you.

Since I am a lady of a “certain age”, I came here first today on my first visit. I just learned about this diet two days ago and am very interested.

I am 56 and have gone through several years of tough stuff and found myself a good 60 pounds over weight. Last year a friend turned me on to the HGC diet. I do it through a doctor and check in with my weight daily. It has worked amazingly for me. I have learned to eat very well. But… I put off loosing the last 20 pounds, thinking I would do that this past spring and I did not. Instead life delivered a couple more blows and I gained back 20 darned pounds.

Alas, I am back on the diet. Down another 14 pounds, but hating myself for having to do this over again. I felt SO much better once I was lighter. The diet works in 80 day increments. I eat only 500 calories a day for 40 days. The HCG controls my hunger so well that I am rarely hungry. (When my friend first told me this, I could not believe it.)

I am not selling the diet I am on over this one. I came here looking for a healthy way to maintain. There is a plan to keep the weight off with the diet I am on, but to me, this looks like an even better way. One I can maintain, even with a husband who can eat anything, including a large bowl of fancy ice cream every night before bed and he never gains a pound.

I am very encouraged that I will be able to maintain my weight, in a very healthy way if I switch to this regimen when I am done loosing the big weight. Another benefit I can see of the two diets is that I have learned to make fabulous gourmet tasting meals with 500 calories.

Do not loose heart. There are ways we can do this.

Hello Determined (and any one else out there)
I also completed the HCG DIET (one month ago,) and began this 5:2 plan in order to at the very least maintain the 25 lb I lost.
As you mentioned, you become accustomed to 500 calories a day, which I wouldn’t have believed. I have managed to maintain my weight at 140 to 142 since beginning 5:2, but would like to lose 10 lb. more. It looks like I need to either add another fast days or cut calories on non-fast days, so far I haven’t made a step in either direction. However, I’m very happy to be maintaining, which I haven’t succeeded at in the past.

Yes. see my post about being 59 and not losing weight. How do you eat a quarter of your regular calories, if they are only 1700 to start with? 500 is more than a quarter of 1700. (It seems this diet is not suited to older women).

Hi PreciousBooBoo,
I am 50 years old and have been going through the menopause for a year now. After being very curvy for rather too many years (!) I decided to get over my aversion to dieting and do something to help reduce my weight and lower my blood pressure. I’ve been on the diet since the beginning of June and have just celebrated loosing a stone in weight. The weight loss has been very erratic – with 4 weeks seemingly loosing nothing (according to the hated scales) but I have been changing shape throughout. It is subtle and slow, but it is happening! I’m even enjoying fasting – a hollow growling feeling now means something good is happening! And this from someone who loves food and cooking!! Don’t loose heart – the health improvements alone should be incentive enough to us menopausal madams!

Thank you for your prompt reply. I think you are right about weight lost slowly having more chance of staying ‘off’ – or at least I hope so. In answer to your question, my blood pressure has definitely improved. I have been monitoring it since I began, and there has been a noticeable improvement, so I am delighted with this effect from the fasting and hope that I will be able to reduce my BP medication in due course. The most unexpected side effect, however, has been the cessation of migraines to date. Wonderful!

For the ladies who are wondering where the information comes from regarding eating a certain amount of calories, i.e. 1700 to maintain a certain weight, I have the very small book called the Collins Calorie Counter, which is stacked with a huge amount of food stuffs with the corresponding number of calories per 100g. In this book is a table where by you check your weight against the number of daily calories needed to maintain that weight, so an 8 stone person would need a different amount of calories to maintain 8 stone, to that of an 11 stone person, who will require more calories to maintain 11 stone. From memory, 1700 calories was said to maintain approximately 8 stone, but sadly, whilst more calories were required to maintain heavier weigh-ins, the calorie count was only increased by a very small amount, which is probably why we seem to gain weight, and wonder why!!! Conclusion, the average of 2000 calories per day for ladies, is probably a bit too many, unless of course we are extremely active.

Thank you, Precious Boo Boo, for your reply. I was encouraged to hear about the woman whose ‘bingo wings’ seemed to be shrinking on the diet. Although I am within my BMI, I would like to lose a few pounds, so as to feel less in danger of putting weight on, but I suppose that losing inches is more important. The main thing for me is not to get any bigger, a dangerous thing at my age. I agree that the menopause does not help matters, I am well passed all the horrid symtoms and they only lasted for two years. I think there is much to be said for putting up with the side effects and not taking HRT, which to my mind, just puts off the problems until later. Far better to eat a healthy diet, with natural hormones like those in soya products and take supplements, like evening primrose.

I started the diet two weeks ago, after a year of gaining weight despite eating the same diet as ever. I am 45 and I do not exercise much beyond walking the dog. I have noticed that I am less puffy and my “spare tire” seems to have diminished somewhat, but I have not really lost any weight yet. The best part of fasting so far has been that it has changed my eating patterns – I eat less on non-fast days, I eat more fruit and veg, and I am not as hungry between meals as I used to be. I plan to measure my waist at the end of next week and see if there is any reduction in inches, if not pounds, but I hope that this works. Also, my cholesterol is borderline high, so we will see if that goes down. Otherwise, I may have to resign myself to the new me….sigh.

Hello fellow LOACA! You know, I got lucky (ha!) and started perimenopause fairly early (I’m 48, started about 3 years ago). And I’m hypothyroid so I have to fight tooth and nail for any weight loss. I’m lucky that we did finally find a thyroid med that worked better for me, and I’ve also found that the supplement COQ10 helped bump up my poor beleagured metabolism. I will say that I felt really awful on the COQ10 for about a month, now it doesn’t bother me. I’m trying the 5-2 diet to try and get my fat down (I love the term “bingo-wings” by the way), I gained about 20 pounds during the last 3 years thanks to my slowed thyroid, about 15 of it is off but I’m still packing a lot more body fat than I used to have, hoping the 5-2 plan helps with that, plus it just seems like a good idea to give my body a break from digestion for a while. Anyway, if you haven’t had your labs done in a while you might want to. I do believe our metabolisms slow down as we age (especially LOACOs), but you might want to check your thyroid levels while you’re at it, though most docs don’t want to treat unless your labs are really low. I would be curious to know if anyone else has had success with COQ10…