Hi blinkers and welcome:

Your eating pattern is fine, but unnecessary if you find it too restrictive. There is no need for specific times between meals on 5:2. Just make sure you do your two 500 calorie days each week correctly, regardless of when you eat the calories.

Losing 2 pounds a week over time is hard, but you might do it for a month with additional water weight loss you might experience at the start. You don’t mention your TDEE, so I can’t estimate what your weight loss might be.

Number 4 on this thread will tell you about TDEE. There are some other tips in the thread, too: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!

Hi blinkers:

Your TDEE is the number to focus on. The TDEE thread will explain more, but your quick numbers go like this assuming the TDEE estimate is reasonably close – 1800 (TDEE rounded) x 7 = 12,600 cal per week to neither gain nor lose weight. 8750 = number of calories you plan on eating. 12,600 – 8750 = 3850 – the number of calories you are taking out of your diet with your plan. 3850/3500 (3500 is the number of calories you need to take out of your diet to lose a pound) = 1.1, so you might expect to lose around 1.1 pound a week over time with your plan.

I do the numbers for anybody reading this so you can understand how to figure out how much you might expect to lose over time and why I say it is hard to lose a couple of pounds a week consistently. Many lose more than that quickly at the start, but then ‘plateau’ and quit the diet because that rate of loss does not continue. The TDEE thread explains how the numbers work and is designed to ‘temper expectations’ so people won’t quit because 5:2 ‘does not work’.

It does, but, as with any reasonable diet, it works slowly.

Good Luck!

Its not possible for me because i can’t fast.