You sound similar to me in many ways! Similar age, height and circumstance. I’ve been carrying around the pizza/chocolate/redbull uni weight for ages. Then I had a baby, put on 3 stone, lost that and got pregnant again and put on another 2.5 stone, lost that and plateaued for 6 months. Now I’m here, back to square one and trying to shift those last 20ish pounds! I’m convinced short people don’t lose weight as quickly 😉

I’ve been doing 5:2 for 3 weeks and down 5lbs. Today I tried the 16:8 approach whereby you only eat in an 8 hour window each day. Seems to have curbed my appetite and no energy slump mid-afternoon. I think this method of intermittent fasting complements 5:2 diet nicely.

Yes I find myfitnesspal to be the best tool for keeping count. Technically you’re not supposed to count calories on non-fast days, but I tend to overeat by nibbling if I don’t.

I’m glad you’re feeling ok about everything! It certainly doesn’t help if you’re dreading the fast days. It does get better. Fasting isn’t as bad as I anticipated! Protein helps a lot. Skipping breakfast for the first time was daunting for me, but was easier than I thought it would be and allowed bigger meals later.

Do you have support? My husband is fasting with me. If only he’d bypassed Thorntons the other day! I might have eaten a few…

27 and hit the same realisation last October after a life of being overweight (briefly went above 30 BMI in the winter 2013 :S) . Now back on a long term strategy of fasting to finish the job. Best of luck, fasting is a skill and a test of willpower at the beginning. Don’t be afraid to fail but learn from it and don’t push too hard on the exercise front to start with.