Hello all out there in the 5:2 world,

On July 10 this year I started on this new lifestyle plan to improve my health and hopefully shed a few kilo’s on the way. I gave myself 10 weeks to trial it, but at present it is going so well my thinking is this could well be the permanent lifestyle shift I’ve been looking for since I started my dieting journey 26 years ago. Of great interest to me is not only the fat loss but the improvement to cholesterol and blood sugars. I was on medication for both, and have just stopped metformin with my doctors approval as sugars are normal, and with her advice we will take bloods again in three months to see how I’m going. Ultimately getting off the statin would be good too.
My regime is to eat my last meal in the evening, wake the next day and not eat till about 2, and split my 500 calories between two meals, lunch and dinner. I try and exercise on my fast days too. I don’t watch too closely what i eat on non-fast days as a general rule, that was perhaps the BIGGEST draw for me to this, after multiple times on weight watchers, Jenny Craig, liver cleansing diet, to mindful eating and trying no dieting at all, all of which were successful for a time, only to leave me heavier in the end, THIS feels do-able and, more importantly, sustainable in the long term. In saying that, only time will tell… So if I’m here in 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2, 5 years down the track and have maintained this only then can I say this works. For now I’m happy, motivated and excited by what I notice happening. Which, over one month is as follows:

Less sweet and salty food cravings, especially at night.
Looser clothes
More energy
More mental clarity
Weight loss: 100kg to 96kg, averaging 1kg a week
5cm loss from my waist
BMI drop from 38.8 to 37.2

All of that with very little pain, no dizziness, some hunger pangs at times on fast days, but not unbearable. So, that’s the story so far, here’s hoping for continued success. I’m very interested in other’s journey’s, especially long term, and especially those who have a long journey to go, like me. Ultimately I’d like to reach 64kg, as that’s 32kg still to go it’s going to be a long time coming off, but as it took 26 years to get me here in the first place I’m very keen for this to be that permanent solution I’ve been searching for.