LittleWing, the 5:2 fast is not a true “fast” in the sense that you do not eat for a 24 hr period. Women are allowed 500 cals and men 600 cals during that period.
Michael recognised that most people would have difficulty attempting a true no food fast so came up with the 5:2 system to make it more acceptable and achievable. Basically have your last meal on a non fast day around 7 pm. Go to bed and on waking the following day you commence your fast day- 500 cals say between 7 am and 7 pm that day. Have your last part of your calorie allowance about 7 pm. Go to bed at your usual time, say 10.00pm. When you wake the next day eat as normal a healthy diet as you can. Hence the 36 hr fast.
So do what suits you, experiment if you feel the need but remember that the 5:2 is what most posters do.
Good luck.

I seeee… I think! I guess Michael’s 24 hour fast concept is suited to someone who could eat at 2 on a fast day and be able to struggle on til bed time. Am I right?

Still confused actually. When you outlined the 36 hour fast and said ‘fast next day’ did you mean fast with the 500/600 cals?

Bahh I don’t know! This is my 4th week fasting and its working brilliantly for me, 2 consecutive days, with my 500 cals eaten as an evening meal on both days. It’s just how I find it works for me… I haven’t really thought about it as a length of time fasting, more as massive cut in daily calories.

I’d be interested to know how a whole day of actual no proper food would pan out too though, and whether it amplifies the health benefits and/or speeds up weight loss.

Also waiting for my 5 year old to go to sleep (can hear her trying not to) so I can relax and have my lovely 500 cal meal…hungry so probably babbling!!!!

Hi all,
New to this fasting, and a little confused – thought this topic would help but it hasn’t. I understand the whole “have evening meal, get up next day and only eat 500 cals for that day, then sleep and wake up to a normal day”.. BUT, if someone chose to do the 2-2 fast would this be as follows: Have last meal at 1.30/2pm.. Then you ave 500 cals to use until 2pm the next day, at which point you can then start eating normally again? If this is correct, and I’ve understood this properly, then I know this is the correct approach for me as I can fit it in around my current (manic travelling) lifestyle.. Could someone confirm this for me please? Thanks,

Hi Steve1865, you’re doing a 36hr fast effectively then. Which makes sense completely.. I think I’ve just confused myself with the 2pm – 2pm approach which is referenced in the book but not explained brilliantly.. I was hoping that the 2 – 2 approach was as I thought, as I regularly travel and have time difference issues, and felt I could probably work around them if I’d understood it properly and still maintain the diet plan while working away.. Hey ho.. Thanks for the info though….

I am a little confused over this 24hr 36hr fasting.
If I start my fast at say 6pm until 6pm the following day is that acceptable and will this diet still work for me ? I ask this because of my work commitments ,these time would be much easier for me.HELP please
Confused !!

Hi Botany Bill and others,

I have also switched to a 24-hour fast a couple of weeks ago and it works very well for me. I prefer it to the day fast because I like having a proper lunch at work during the day and don’t mind not eating once I get home in the evening. By the time I’m home for work it’s approaching bedtime (well, not really, but it’s only a few hours which I find easy to get through). The next day I find that I don’t wake up particularly hungry and once I start getting hungry at work it’s not that long till lunch!

So effectively I do a 24-hour fast, but it feels to me as a ‘proper fast’ in the sense of not eating anything at all. I have to admit that I sometimes cheat a little by fasting from 3pm-11am, having a piece of fruit just after lunch on the first day and just before lunch on the second day.

I do try to make sure I match the calories of the regular fast day i.e. if you’d usually cut 1500 kcals (2000 for a woman minus 500 for fast meals) over one day, I now try to eat 1250 kcals on both day 1 and day 2 (or at least totalling around 2500 kcals, as you might want to save some more calories for the second day when you have dinner instead of breakfast). I don’t usually count them very accurately though.

It works really well for me; I feel healthy and seem to be losing weight. I recently tried the ‘regular’ fast day again and found it much harder, which has only made me feel more certain about preferring the lunch-lunch approach!

Hi everyone:

The reason a weight loss diet works is it creates calorie restriction – you eat fewer calories than you otherwise would have eaten.

5:2 creates calorie restriction by limiting the number of calories you eat during two days each week to 5/600.

My question is if you don’t eat for 24 hours – say 2 pm to 2 pm – how much calorie restriction is involved? It would seem you could eat as much as you want before 2 pm and as much as you want after 2 pm the next day, with no calorie restriction at all. That would mean you have to count calories to insure you are eating under your TDEE every day to make sure you have a chance to lose weight. The program does not, on its face, seem to include any calorie restriction. The person, not the ‘diet’, has to create the calorie deficit. There aren’t even required recipes or ‘eat/don’t eat’ foods.

I guess what ever works. But I like the idea of the eating program creating the deficit rather than my having to figure it out.