Hi Jani,

In 55 yo male and Ive lost 20kgs (44 lbs) in the space of a year, 92kgs down to 72kgs. Slow and steady wins the race. I eat some meat and fish but by no means a lot. My personal take on what works (for me at least) is that you want to get rid of SUGAR. No cakes, biscuits, chocolate, soft drinks “healthy muesli” (what a joke) etc. It sends your insulin response through the roof and insulin stores your blood glucose intake as fat. Its that simple!! Refined carbs such as bread, white rice, pasta, potatoes etc are only just marginally better. Avoid these as well on your fast days, if you can get rid of them on non fast days even better. Don’t get me wrong I still eat those staples but Im mindful about it.

Go for a serve of high fat and protein on your fast days, it will satiate you for a lot longer. With simple carbs you will be hungry again within 30 minutes. I’ll have a big bowl of green vegetables (raw) with about 100g of tuna and/or about 50-100g of cheese. Some cucumber, broccoli, avocado, zucchini, eggplant, lettuce, (half a tomato), cubes of cheese or tuna. A splash of dressing and some pure apple cider vinegar. Make sure the vinegar is JUST vinegar. You will be amazed at the fact that a lot of vinegar and vinegar dressing can have as much as 30-50% sugar content!! Absolutely insane.

For breakfast I’ll have high fat low SUGAR plain yogurt. Try and find that combination on the supermarket shelves!! Not easy. Add some blueberries or strawberries (in fact any berry type fruit is best as they contain less sugar). Add some almonds or walnuts as well. Taste is to die for.

Hi Jani,
wishing you luck!
I am in my fifties and am eating some meat after being a vegetarian from the age of 14.
The meat does add to protein choices on fast days, that are good for keeping you feeling full.
Your high fibre vegetarian years probably mean you have healthy gut bacteria, which is a very good thing!
I am another one who found that cutting out all high and medium sugar foods (including most fruit) made a huge difference to my health. I love my complex carbs (I started the legumes thread here! 😉 ) and dairy too.

5:2 has been absolutely wonderful for me! After 8 months I am a pretty healthy shape, and feeling so good. I am cutting down a fast so instead of two a week I am doing 3 a fortnight. I expect to be doing some fast days for the rest of my life. But I love them, so that is a happy thing!

Spot on PC. Refined carbs are only just better than sugar. The rate at which refined carbs enter your blood stream as glucose is quite quick. The insulin spike for some people is very high. As fast as youre eating refined carbs your body is storing it as fat. 30 minutes later youre hungry again. I bought myself a glucose/ketone meter to keep track of my blood glucose. They are really quite cheap to buy. Find out your trigger foods. Measure your blood glucose prior to eating and then every 30 minutes afterwards for 2 hours. Note down the glucose spikes when eating different foods. Work it out and then stay away from those foods!! I turned the 5:2 diet into my own science experiment.

Hi Di100,

You probably need to closely look at what you are eating on your non fast days. If your not losing weight what you eat must be matching your TDEE. There is no magic involved in 5:2. My wife is a veggie as well and is overweight. Unfortunately she lives on sugar, being a vegetarian doesn’t mean you eat healthy!! Im hoping your not vegan as it will make the task easier. Cut out the sugar and simple carbs on your non fast days. No bread, rice, pasta, biscuits, cakes etc. That alone will see you losing weight. Personally I found it easier to just do a complete fast on my fast days rather than eat just a little but everyone is different. A big bowl of salad with all the green veggies you can think of added in there (stay away from carrots, potatoes, sweet capsicum etc as they contain too much sugar), some cubed up cheese (100g), a little salad dressing and some apple cider vinegar (without added sugar). Eat that on your fast days and stay away from refined carbs and sugars and it will happen for you!!