Hello! 🙂

I’m a 20 year old female and I started last week. It was an okay week for starting out, I managed one successful fast. Next week I’m planning 2 fasts, Tuesday and Thursday where I eat 500 calories.

What is working best for me is knowing I can eat what I like, I just have to resist on 2 days of the week instead of all the time! I’m looking to lose a little over 3 stone in total, and am hoping to have most of that off by Christmas!

Hi, I’m 22 🙂

I started last October but had two months off when I broke my arm, February and March, I have gone from 15st13(223lbs) to 12st7(175lbs) whilst doing 5:2 in that time but have actually weighed 18st6 in the past so very close to loosing 6stone off my heaviest weight. I am also 5ft7, was originally planning to get to 11st6 but thinking as I get closer that 10st10 might be better, will have to see.

Abop x

MaddyStella that’s the total loss from October but with February and March eating awfully and not doing 5:2 atall but then starting again right at the end of March and been doing it again for the last 7 weeks, so about 6 months I have lost that weight in. I eat well in the week keeping to around my bmr (1600) but then go abit mad at the weekends and average between 2200 and 2700.

Abop x

Hi Guys!

I’m 23, from the UK and this is the start of my sixth week. So far I’ve lost 8lbs and my fast days are Monday and Thursdays. I haven’t got much to lose (21lbs in total) but I’ve found this is the only way of eating that I can stick to after failing miserably at weightwatchers/slimming world etc.

Good luck to all that are just starting!

Hi @harpreet – I think at some point we all go over our TDEE especially on the weekends – I know I did this weekend. When that does happen – I just push myself to fast better on my fast days and exercise for one more day than I normally do.

Evening guys,

Just a quick question – when drinking herbal teas do you count the cals? I know Twinings Peppermint tea is 2 calories as per my fitness pal but I am never sure whether to include those in my daily allowance or not?

@priy_kalhan thanks for the reply 🙂 I like that you push harder when you go over your TDEE, I find that if I have a bad days, it tends to lead to a bad weekend or week! I need to learn to pick myself up again and not take it so much to heart. I am on my second fast day today, going ok so far. Also from the Fast beach diet book, Mimi Spencer says black coffee, tea and herbal teas are all fine, so I’m sure you’re fine with peppermint tea 🙂
@jsykar hope I can stay in the group as a 29 year old 😉
Happy fasting everyone!

haha @maddystella I have J-Lo & Kim Kardashian on my phone – they’re my ‘thinspiration’ – usually changes every week!

Fasting today – nothing for breakfast – got a ranch style salad kit from Asda which is shockingly 344 calories for the bag including the ranch dressing and herb toppings which I am not having so I’m assuming it is less than a 100? – will have another bag with my own dressing (again) and chicken!

Feeling very hungry atm so downing lots of water and on my 2nd Peppermint Tea.

Got 6 weeks until my holiday and by the looks of it, I don’t think I will be reaching my target of 18lbs so aiming for at least 10lbs!

Hope your fast day is going well – that is if you’re fasting! x

@jyskar – Do you find 4:3 to work better than 5:2? I want to try it but I feel like it would be good to keep for when I hit a bit of a plateau or just do once a month to keep things switched up a little.
Also good luck with the exams!

Ha I’m glad I’m not the only one with inspo photos on their phone! I have a big picture of the number 65 as my lock screen so it doesn’t seem so pervy/awkward as that’s the ideal amount I’d like to weigh in my head (though I’m still very unsure re numbers)

Q: How do you maintain motivation? My biggest thing is thinking oh some chocolate won’t kill me/make a difference but I tell myself that every day… recipe for a fat ass haha. I think I’m going to try and take it one day at a time so one day I’ll think keep healthy all day and the next I might think okay small treat today and so on. Also what are your views on wheat? It seems to be the thing that adds weight for me so I want to cut down but not cut it out. I’m thinking limiting to one portion a day be it some toast or bread roll for lunch etc.

@jsykar YAY! Go you you must be stoked. Do you weigh yourself once a week?

@jsykar Do you keep track of measurements as well?

Hiya 🙂

I am a 25 old South African living in UK. I am aiming to be loosing 20lb,so I am hoping this will help me get there! This is my first day fasting!! Everyone results sound so amazing and definitely giving me the boost to do this!!

Have a great week, let you know how I crack on x

ARGGHH! I had googled the calorie intake for a smoothie/juice shop and the medium smoothie said (or what I thought said) 71 calories and I was over the moon! Went down and bought one and when I got back to work I went to enter it into MFP…. It’s 339 calories. Which definitely sounds more accurate and I thought 71 sounded too good to be true. But still! I wouldn’t have had it if I had known how many calories were really in it. And I had a few almonds earlier so now I have 100 calories for the rest of the day and it’s only 1pm – so annoyed!!!

Also welcome Aaron  I’m the same as you, I’m not sure my ideal weight but back to around a size AU10 is where I’m aiming… I’ve just got to learn some patience now! How did you go about losing the weight before you started 5:2? You certainly lost a LOT and it’s very impressive, I’d like to lose around 3stone to get to size 10 and if I could do that in 6ish months that would be incredible!

Priy_kalhan- 1200 calories on an eat day seems low, have you set your target on mfp to maintain as then that will set your calorie limit to your bmr? I am 5ft7 and weigh about 12 and a half stone and my bmr is around 1560, if you eat too little it can effect your weight loss, over time if you are not eating enough your metabolism slows down (it naturally slows down as you loss weight anyway) but will make loosing weight harder, also you start to loss muscle aswel as fat. I think 10lb in 6weeks is a great target, where are you going on holiday? I have just booked to go to a little caravan on the Isle of Wight with the kiddies, we are going in 5 weeks time, I have set a target of 6lb to loss as I just want to get into the 11 stone bracket before we go but would be chuffed to loss an extra couple of pounds aswel.

Stevielena_5:2- I also did slimming world before but seemed to only be able to stay on plan for 2-3 months before crashing and burning and then putting a lot if not all the weight back on. 5:2 is just so much more sustainable for me. What great progress so far, 17lb in 6 weeks is great, do you have much left to loss overall?

Aarond2lod- Well done on your great weight loss so far.

I am remotivated, after loosing 21lb in the 7 weeks before the race for life I havnt been too good, (somehow I have still lost a pound though despite the icecream and takeaways) but I am remotivated now and have a new 5 week time limit to get to 12st or below. My current weight is 12st6 (174lbs) (that’s a whole 6 stone that I have lost now whoop!), hope you are all well,

Abop x

@maddystella i didn’t really lose any weight before 5-2. I was fine in school because i was active a lot, walking 20min to and from school, sports 2-3 times a week, rugby practise after school & going out with friends after school. I got lazy and ate a lot of junk food, particularly at night when watching tv thus the weight gain over a few years.

My advice for anyone new to 5-2 is:

– Find what works for you in terms of meal times, personally on fast days i prefer to skip breakfast and lunch and have a 300 calorie dinner at around 7:00-7:30pm (usually 150-200g chicken/turkey with a large salad or 2 portions of ‘fish in butter sauce’ with a packet of steamed vegetables) then a 250 calorie snack at around 11pm usually a 150 cal sandwich (warburton’s ‘thin’ with 2 slices of pre-packaged sliced chicken breast and a slither of low fat salad cream) and a ~100 calories bag of chrisps (quavers, french fries, wotsits, whisps etc) then low/zero calories drinks (water, diet soda) and maybe a few icepops/ice lolly or low calorie jelly at night for a minor sweet fix.

– Weigh yourself every 2 weeks. I’ve been doing this and you see a more consistent weight loss. Sometimes you wont lose any weight in a particular week and be disheartened for the next week.

– Occupy your mind to keep it off food, take up a hobby to discourage comfort eating. For me that’s onling gaming or watching TV.

Hello!
I’m Alexis, from the U.S. (and yes, from Texas!) I’m a female, 19 years old. I’m 5’8″ 1/2 and at a weight of 174.4 lbs. My goal is 150-155, whatever feels most sustainable for my body type (I’m of Mexican, German and English stock, so I have a heavy bone structure- never been waiflike, that’s for sure, and that’s fine).

Today is my first fast and it’s going well so far, at 1:43pm. I ate 216.6 calories at breakfast of 2 eggs, ham, and dark green veggies with green onion mixed in for flavor. Now I’m planning on not eating until much later tonight, after volunteering at VBS, so that I’ll have something in my stomach when I go to bed (I think I’ll have trouble sleeping otherwise).

I did the 5:2 diet this past semester for about 7 weeks and didn’t yield much results because I was doing it wrong. I’ve always approached weight loss with a strong sense that more and more exercise will help me lose weight faster, but doing 5:2, working out 6 days a week (alternating running and 15 lb weights), working, and walking everywhere constantly made me so tired that sometimes I would just lay on the floor of my dorm room, feeling drained. I kept doing this with 5:2, because I tend to be an overachiever in the worst way, but I had some anxiety issues, felt very panicky, and ended up stopping. I dodn’t have a scale at school so I never monitored that, only how I felt. Oh and because I was always going, going, going, I got really hungry and rarely finished a productive fast. Exercise tones me up, but I still have a layer of fat surrounding the hard muscle,so what good is that if you can’t see all of it?

Anyway, sorry that was a bit long, but just wanted to provide some background and possibly help anyone who is exercising a lot and feeling discouraged. Maybe you’re exercising too much.

I’m focusing more on HIIT and not exercising on fast days, like I was before. I’m feeling optimistic and praying for strength to be diligent. Have a good fast week, everyone!