By 16:8 you mean that you are fasting 16 hours and food within 8 hours? I’m so new to this I don’t know all the terminology yet! What’s TDEE mean as well please? Thanks again:)

Good luck Lighter Lynie. Only my 3rd day tomorrow and hoping easier than 1st! You CAN do this but do listen to your body as well. If you need a few more cals I think you should take them if feeling dizzy like I was. Some people have no problems at all but we are all made up differently! Good luck and you WILL feel lighter Tuesday morning:)

This is my first day on the 5:2. Trying hard to keep busy in order to keep my mind off food on this, my first fast day. Have to lose a LOT of weight so I guess I’m in for the long haul!

Hi Tiny me

TDEE is total daily energy expenditure and BMR (basal metabolic rate). If you use the calculator on this forum it will work out your calories for a non-fast day. Keep below the TDEE number and above the BMR number. Stick with 500 calories for a fast day.

16:8 is something different again and not really part of 5:2 – they are both different plans, but I have seen other people mention them. Yes you fast for 16 hours and then have an 8 hour window to eat all your calories. For example, if you have 1600 calories per day, you eat them all in the 8 hour window, which can be quite hard to do, every day. I did 16:8 for a week (lost 2 lb) and then progressed on to 5:2.

I just found after doing 5:2 I don’t feel hungry in the mornings, so by accident went from before 8.00 pm the previous evening until after 12.00 noon the next day not eating. I am sticking with 5:2 and eating under my TDEE.

I hope this helps. 🙂

Good luck everyone else starting today/tomorrow. I look forward to seeing your progress. 🙂

We got this. On a fast today.

Started today & am very excited about it. I decided to fast on day 1 & plan on fasting on Mondays & Thursdays. I use My Fitness Pal & also have an online diary. Ideally I would love to lose 10kg, but would be happy with 5.So far, so good. I decided to stretch the fast out so didn’t eat anything until midday & had a raw carrot, a big stalk of celery & a hard-boiled egg, which I took about 20 mins to eat. It feels good to be trying something different, that seems to make sense. I’m in Tasmania, Australia & we’re just coming out of Winter. I would love to feel comfortable in bathers this Summer!

Just joined the 5:2 world of healthy eating. Never tried this before but feeling very sluggish and sitting down all day at work is just not helping. Time to regain my figure and feel fitter. Here’s to a new me 🙂

Oh…and congratulations on your successful weight loss! I’m trying the 5:2 first but like you, if necessary, will switch it up to the 4:3 if necessary.

1st day- lost 1kg- didn’t struggle, woke up next day, feeling great! A very good start.

Hi all! Completed my first fast day yesterday and surprisingly it went very well. I wasn’t going to weigh this morning but I couldn’t help it so I stepped on the scale and happily lost some weight–I know it was only water weight and “bloat” from the weekend but it sure was pleasant to see that number on the scale down. I’m stoked to continue on with this program. And like some of the others, I wasn’t even real hungry this morning but I did eat a light breakfast. I think I will play around with if and when I have my first meal after the fast day. Yes, I feel energized today! For all those just getting started too, you can do it and we will all be lighter in the weeks to come!
Have a wonderful day!

Hi everyone:-)
Congratulations on all of your successes so far. I guess I’m not really new, just returning. I have a long history with various diets. I used to do 5:2 many moons ago and the scales didn’t budge, yet I went down a jeans size. I should gave just stuck with it but I get bored and start messing. I then read a book called wheat Belly and there began my spiral into strangeness. I would up going very low Carb, and cutting out all sugar including fruit sugars, and eating lots of fat. Now there is nothing wrong with fat, in fact I disagree with low fat diets it is an essential nutrient, but when I started eating pats of butter on their own it was time to question what the heck I was doing.
So I quit that, over Christmas too and gorged myself on sugar and cars. I got away with very little weight gain luckily. I then went on holiday for 2 weeks and gained 6lbs, as you do, and embarked on a fitness regime that was quite high impact. Did my ankle in. I was off work for a month, couldn’t exercise couldn’t even walk to the corner shop. I was miserable and found comfort in easter eggs and takeaways. By the time I got back to work after needing lots of physio, my uniform was very tight. I got on the scales and was disgusted to see that I’d gained 16lbs. I joined slimming world on recommendations from friends and I loved the idea behind it, but I only lost 3lbs. After I while I wasn’t comfortable with how low fat it was and came off it.
Then I read Varadys book and rewatched Dr Moseleys documentary. Decided to dive right in with ADF. loved it at first! Loved that I could eat whatever i wanted every other day and still lose weight. I wasn’t even exercising and I lost 5lbs in the first 3.5 weeks. Then I joined the gym because I wanted to get strong and gave muscles and I’ve not lost an ounce since.
Had some unexpected minor surgery a couple of weeks ago and haven’t really fasted since. I did one fast day, then attempted another to make it b2b but failed. First time I’ve failed a fast. I figured my body needs the cals to heal so I ate.
Today is my first proper fast day. I’m starting from scratch. I’m starting on 5:2. ADF is too hard to keep going long term, even though in the first couple if weeks it feels like you’ll want to do it forever.
Sorry for the essay! Good luck everyone x

Thanks for the welcome Amy. I’m busting to do my next fasting day, which will be tomorrow. I noticed that I ate more than usual yesterday, after my first day’s fast, but none of it was snacking, just more “real food” at meal times. Woke up not feeling as energetic as I did after a day’s fasting. I’ll eat normally today(about 1400cals)
I feel that this will work for me. All the best everyone!

Morning everyone

Poppet-Pandy – raining here too in the West Country! I’m back to work next week after 6 weeks off, so that will be a shock to the system.

Good luck tattoolover – hope your first day went well.

Bit of a hiccup for me, husband home on holidays and he says you’ve got to enjoy yourself, so rather than 5:2 this week and overindulging at the weekend, I’m doing 16:8 for a few days.

I’ve was annoyed with myself for not doing 5:2 but will just enjoy this week and get back on track next week at work. Please give me a push in the right direction later. 🙂

Congrats on everyone’s fast days.

Tattoolover I too did low carb after watching a video by dr eric westman and it never worked for me as I always stayed the same. Tried it two times and thought to my self I cant do this for the rest of my life so stopped it.

I work for a school and about the time school ended I stopped low carb and didnt count calories during summer. Summer came along with summer work of moving furniture and cleaning floors in order to wax them. By the time we quit in late July I gained 20 pounds. I started 5 2 a few weeks ago.

Well done CPR! Thanks a great start. I have my fingers & toes crossed for a loss tomorrow. It’s very exciting!

Hi everyone,

Starting my first fast tomorrow. I lost a pile of weight last year by fasting during the day a few days during the week, and eating one meal at night, and eating normal calories on other days. But there was never really any plan to stick to which is why I think I messed up and gained weight again. I haven’t gained all of it back……yet! So that’s why I decided to start the 5:2 from tomorrow. I’m always very busy at work so I’m hoping that fasting won’t be too much of an issue. I usually skip breakfast anyway, but end up eating lots of calories on lunch breaks because I’m not organised and therefore buy my food out. Then I feel disheartened and eat more and more at night.

Hopefully with a plan to stick to, and some weight loss buddies, I will lose the weight I gained, plus a few more. I have 20pounds to lose altogether!

Hi everyone

Well the end of the second week and weigh day for me this morning. I didn’t loose anything at all this week just the 5lb last week. It’s a bit disappointing I must admit. I do really well on the fast days. On the other days I’ve stopped counting my calories so pretty much anything goes so herein lies the problem. To many calories on my non-fast days. Why do I fool myself that I can eat what I want on these days?!

I think I will do the 4:3 however we have are in the lakes for a long weekend with a day at the races and I don’t want to be restricted so I’ll do the 5:2 this week and be stricter on the ‘normal’ days. It’s mad but I feel more healthier, motivated and lighter on the fast days.

Well done CPR on your loss. The sun makes me feel better too and it’s sunny here today. I am sure it would suit me to emigrate to Australia then I would be motivated to be slim all the time.

Good luck for the long weekend everyone.

Likewise Linderley I need to lose about stone. It’s the difference between fitting in my clothes or not. I won’t buy bigger sizes I just feel uncomfortable in my clothes. Mad really. It’s going well so far and next week it will be IF for me – it might speed things up a bit.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Karin, you will receive great support from lots of fasters, but let me suggest that you work with the proven 5:2 to start with, until you become familiar with how it works for you, and how you react to this way of eating. Once you have done that, you can certainly tinker with the regime. Remember always how long it took you to get to your current weight, and know that losing will take time. Best of luck.

Thanks Barata &CPR
The saying ‘walk before you can run’ comes to mind so I will take your advice and stick to the 5:2 and see how I get on.

Well said Amy, I am hoping for an average of 1lb a week, slow and steady is the best way forward to me I think. I’ve tried too many drastic diets, and now I just want to enjoy my days of food without any guilt involved x

I plan on a Tuesday/Thursday fast. Is that too close together, or does it matter as long as the days are not consecutive?

Thanks Amy! How long have you been on the Fast Diet?