Hubby and I lost 28 lb in 4 months each just doing the 5.2, Monday and Thursday. The diet after a couple of weeks got easier it was easy to stick to.

Doing a 48 hour fast sounds hard going and only drinking black coffee and water seems extreme, can you do this long term? Is it healthy for you? Your body might close down and not loose weight?

Everybody is different and it what works for you, we both lost the 28 lbs you want to loose in 4 months I think that was more than we hoped for.

Good Luck but think carefully on a healthy out come.

Wife and I have been doing 5:2 for about three weeks and really like it. We’re both very overweight and have struggled with a lot of different diets and ideas, but none of them have worked. This one is actually working for us. I’ve been doing somewhat relaxed Monday and Thursday fast days of 800 cals (just not really feeling the 600 cal thing, yet), but she’s been doing 24 hour fasts from Sunday to Monday dinner, and then Wednesday to Thursday dinner, and counting calories more strictly at 500/600 ish. I’m about to switch over to her approach, because it’s really working for her and she hasn’t been especially hungry leading up to those Monday and Thursday dinners. It seems like the longer you go without eating anything (for us, 16 hours every day right after dinner through to breakfast the next morning), the less hungry you are. Kinda different and strange! So I’m about ready to try the true 24 hour fast, probably next week. My wife gives it rave reviews. And we are not nibblers; we are full-bore gorgers by nature, but this approach actually works. We do allow ourselves unlimited decaf coffee and tea with a splash of cream, which adds some cals but keeps us sane.

Hi i am going to be starting this after seeing the results from a friend of mine who has done amazing. from what i have learned i can eat the 2000 calories on normal days and then the fasting days are a quarter of this, so for women 500 cals, men 600 cals. i am going to give back to back fasting days a go. This means, ( if i have done my research right ) normal eating mon, tue, fast wed and thurs, back to normal friday, sat and sun. new day begins monday for me. Good luck to all those who are also starting this diet out for the first time.

Phil – on our non fasting days, we eat a normal diet but we do try to be careful – two meals (breakfast and dinner) at around 10:00 and 5:00, with absolutely no snacking between or after meals, except for tea/coffee with a little cream (which is amazingly helpful in taking off the hunger edge). We don’t count calories on those 5 days but we do stay cognizant of the need to keep it under control. Truth is, those fast days are wasted effort (from a weight loss perspective) if the other five days are gorge-fests. So we try to keep it sane – 400-500 cals for breakfast and 600-800 for dinner. We don’t count, but we know from previous (failed) diet efforts what that amount of food looks like. If we have a blow out of some type, like going out to dinner and splitting a bottle of wine, we don’t sweat it. We just get back on the horse. This sort of informal but persistent approach is what we’ve learned from hard experience – pushing too hard and counting every calorie is too punishing, and any time fat people do the “today I can eat whatever I want” thing, it undoes a week of hard work LOL So we try to hit it right in the middle – no counting, but no junk food, unnecessary carbs, snacking, etc. Just reasonable amounts of reasonably healthy food.

One thing that’s really helped us is to just completely do away with dessert, sweets, and unnecessary breads. So, for instance, last night we had cube steaks with cheese melted on top and a big serving of vegetables (potatoes, string beans and peppers). Before this diet, we’d have probably had those cube steaks as subs, with 400 cals worth of French bread or something. Getting rid of the excess bread and all sweets has made a huge difference.

By the way, I’m 51 and my wife is 53, so we’re at the same stage-of-life as you are, with its tedious challenge of dropping pounds more slowly than in previous life phases. The pounds are melting off us like butter. That may or may not continue, but so far the results have been very good.

I think the 16 hour fasting every night going into the next morning – and going to sleep on a truly empty stomach – has made a huuuuuuuge difference for us. We are almost never hungry; it’s like our digestive systems have figured out to stop crying out for food and to relax.

Hi, I’m going by the faq above bit where it says:

“In reality a fast day is 36 hours. If you finish your last full evening meal at 7.30pm on Sunday, then Monday is your fast day, you are not going to be eating normally till Tuesday morning 7.30am. That is 36 hours. If you decide instead to fast from 2pm on Monday until 2pm on Tuesday, then that will only be 24 hours. Wait till 7pm and that is 29 hours. To do 36 hours you would have to hold off till 2am on Wednesday, which would be a little inconvenient”

you have to do what works for you but if you stop at 1800 and then have an 800 calorie meal you will be going over the 500 calories. Hope this makes sense.

Hi,

I have just started this program this week, today is my first FD so far so good.

Have to say I am finding some of the stories quite inspiring especially the 28lbs in 4 months. As I would like to lose around 35lbs by July (tough call I know) however even if I don’t I am hoping that a steady weight loss each month will keep me motivated.

Quick question what do other people do to keep motivation going if they have a week where they don’t lose anything?