Hello all,

I’ve been reading these forums for a long time, but have never joined or posted. I started the 5:2 in January 2014 and wanted to share my story/get advice on my experiences.

So most people put on a bit of padding over Christmas, and I was no exception, but I didn’t start this diet for the weight loss. I’m not big, and I’m not heavy. Half a stone overall would have been enough to keep me slap bang in the middle of the ‘healthy range’ of BMI. The main reason I started this was to do with sugar. I’ve always had a problem stopping when presented with a box of chocolates. I could never stop at one malteaser. I struggled to realise when I was full. What I really wanted was to re-set my hunger clock so to speak.

So, I’ll keep the details simple. The first month went pretty well. There was no weight loss, but I didn’t mind because that wasn’t my aim. On days where I wasn’t fasting, I was noticing when I felt full, but only on the first day after the fast. This was great progress for the first month though.
The next few months then got harder. I’m vegetarian and don’t eat eggs so I was struggling to eat high protein on my fast days. I was mostly eating just vegetables or soup. It started to get to a point where I was starting to feel light headed on the fast days, and like my blood sugar levels were very low. Sucking a hard boiled sweet would alleviate this, but sleeping at night became a nightmare on those nights. It was taking me an increasingly long time to fall to sleep, and when I did, I’d wake up repeatedly. The day after I was so exhausted that I ended up reaching for the most calorie rich foods I could.
Again, I didn’t loose any weight, but I didn’t put any on either.

Some may wonder why I didn’t stop then? Well my blood pressure was now at the low end of healthy, and I could definitely tell when I was full. I could feel all the signs when I had eaten too much sugar. Before I could eat a share bag of chocolate buttons to myself, but now I could feel my heart rate increase if I was eating too many. The 5:2 was definitely helping me in that sense.

I was determined and carried on, thinking that things would settle, and after a while I’d be able to fall to sleep better on fast nights.

The last few months I really tried to concentrate. I worked out my TDEE and started using the myfitnesspal app so that on none fast days I would be really conscious of what I was grabbing for. I researched high protein foods for fast days and started making new meals with beans and pulses. I started trying to get egg into my meals even though I’ve never liked egg. I got to a point where I was obsessing about food constantly, I was planning meals weeks in advance, researching food in my free time…
I was still struggling to sleep on fast evenings, and had now begun to have nightmares along with migraine style headaches during the fast day.

It got to July, and a realisation hit me. It wasn’t working. Yes, I could realise when I was eating too much sugar, but it wasn’t stopping me. Yes I could stop eating during a meal when I was full, but not long after I would eat again. Yes, my blood pressure was low, but it was giving me problems with light headedness and blood not staying in my hands and feet if they were ever slightly elevated.

I gave up. 🙁

I instead decided to focus on eating more, but more good wholesome foods. I increased my calorie uptake and started to do more exercise.

I’ve been doing this for the remaining three weeks of July to now, and there have been a few shocking consequences. The half a stone I never lost has fallen off. It was like my body had been desperately holding onto it. My overall weekly calories have gone up, but my weight has gone down. My blood pressure has gone right back up, but I now have a lot more energy, and I’m able to do so much more exercise more efficiently. I’m able to say no more often to naughty snacks and sweets, but only time will tell if this will keep up…

So, I don’t know what I was doing wrong? There are so many success stories for the 5:2 way of life, so why didn’t it work for me? I still very much believe in it. I’ve seen it work for others. I had wanted the life extending and the cancer fighting benefits. I just don’t understand.

I would love to hear others opinions on my story. Thank you for reading!