@ckeilitz: In the TV programme, Michael experimented with various fasting techniques. From nothing but around 100 calories per day (I think he was eating some cup-a-soup mixture) for 4 days, to around 1,000 calories per day (aimed to be for the rest of his life). He met various people on these diets and from his own tests, he found the 500/600 calories for 2 days per week worked best for him. If eating nothing on fast days works for you, then that is fine. However, eating nothing at all isn’t much fun, hence the idea of eating some food.

@spirit. As well as protein, coffee helps, plus I found Potters Herbals Cleansing tablets (get them from H&B) is generally good for digestion.

Hi everyone,
I’m in Australia and to my knowledge the actual horizon episode hasn’t screened here yet, but I have watched it online and I’m keen to start the program for weight loss and general health. I only have one question which I can’t find an answer to in the book or on this forum – do the fast days have to be consecutive, or can they be spaced out through the week? There are some suggestions both ways which are making it difficult to plan when and how I start.
Cheers!

I saw the show, on PBS, last week and read the book yesterday. I tried fasting for two days, over Sunday and Monday – no food, from supper on Saturday evening to breakfast on Monday morning, a total of about 60 hours. I drank a lot of water, and I had my lo-cal hot cocoa each morning, a small portion of dumplings, on Sunday and a small handful of mixed, unsalted nuts on Monday. It was invigorating!

I’m more interested in the reduction of disease risk factors than weight loss, but I did lose 4.2 lbs, and I didn’t gain it back, the day I started eating again.

QUESTION: Will my 60 hr fast, once a week, if I can tolerate it, be more effective in reducing risk factors than two one-day fasts a week?

I am lucky enough to have lunch provided at work. I choose something light and have to guess at the calories, but also choose not to have any breakfast on my fast days.So essentially I eat at 7pm the evening before and then not again until 12 midday on the fast day. I usually have salad and avocado/or chicken/tuna in the evening. Despite my guessing, I have lost 12lb since mid January and lots of inches all over. The really weird thing is that it now takes less food to feel really full now. For me, the first few weeks were tough and I used to spend all day thinking about food and when I was going to eat. I don’t notice it now. I have to feed x4 young adult males as well and even that is getting much easier to cope with. I may feel hungry, but it will be fine, I won’t drop down in a heap. The idea that I can eat pudding the next day is a great help, but I am choosing to eat less on the non fast days and now stop when i feel full. I am back in my size 12 jeans and can now do all of my summer skirts up, another 7lb and I should be able to breathe and sit down in them too!My mini goal is to lose another 2lb to make it one stone. Eczema has almost cleared up too. I wrote on the calender what I could be if I lost a 1ib a week, and I am on target.I also have a waist and my muffin top is disappearing. I had headaches too, but started drinking my usual amount to tea and they went too, I guess that was caffeine withdrawal.I am delighted with the results. I feel better, skin is improving rapidly and I HAVE A WAIST!

I have been doing the fast Diet for around 6 weeks now and lost 7.5lbs. I manage my fast days by having brekfast at 7am (usually porridge and water) then nothing until my evening meal at 6pm to use the rest of my 500kals, drinking copius amounts of water and green tea in between. At no point during this diet have a denied myself of treats on ‘non fast days’, i still eat the things i love albeit in smaller portions as I am no longer as hungry. Each week i have manitained a steady weight loss around 1lb a week even though I have been out for meals, had alcohol etc. I didnt have much weight to lose in the first place, but that half a stone just would not shift with other diets I have tried. I can honestly say I am a Fast Diet convert and preach about it to anyone who will listen, I cannot reccomend it enough. My friend and I so the same fast days (Monday & Thursday) and encourage each other to keep at it. The results speak for themselves……. 🙂

CORRECTION TO MY EARLIER POST:
I am a 65 year old male in good health.
I fasted from Saturday evening (after dinner), to TUESDAY morning, a total of @ 54 hours. My hot cocoa mix is homemade, with nonfat, dry milk and Splenda, so it is low calorie. The dumplings and the nuts made each day’s meal under 600 calories. I did very well,For a first time fast. I will try no food at all, when I become more accustomed to fasting.
QUESTION: Will my 60 hr fast, once a week, if I can tolerate it, be more effective in reducing risk factors than two one-day fasts a week?
Has anybody else, here, done two-day fasts, instead of the alternate day pattern? what is your experience?

I’ve just enjoyed exploring the Bronx Zoo’s website and history from my armchair in the UK, so thanks for that stimulating fact, EZ.Rider. The natural feeding patterns of big cats in the wild echo the rationale of the 5:2 diet, of course. The Zoo’s 6:1 maintenance diet for their young Tigers is going to lodge itself firmly in my brain for a long time, I just know.
I hope you get the information you’re looking for and can settle into the best feeding pattern to suit your own needs.

Obviously different things work for different people, but for what it’s worth, this is my pattern for fasting days (Mon & Thu):
I have 3 meals at the same times as non-fast days (cals):
Breakfast: Juice (100) Banana (100)
Lunch: Soup (150)
Dinner: Fish or chicken & salad (250)
I started 5:2 in Aug 2012 – I was around 10% overweight (14lb) and lost that in a couple of months, and interestingly “bottomed out” at around 140lb. This seems to be my “right” weight! It does fluctuate a bit e.g. 5lb added over Easter, but this was gone by 2nd subsequent fast day.
I enjoy my fast days though they were difficult to begin with, and see no reason to stop. I have not changed my life-style, I have donated blood, taken exercise, etc. as usual with no ill-effect.
I do however avoid all-day exercise on fast day, for example I’m happy to do a 7-mile morning walk on a fast day, but less keen to do an all-day 11 miler as I would feel somewhat envious of those tucking in to a ploughman’s lunch with a pint at the pub! 🙂

Yoda – ‘No offence BUT….’ means offence is exactly what you are giving out. Have your experience, by all means, but don’t presume you know what other people’s efforts or trials amount to. I think your recollection of the original documentary ‘Eat, Fast and Live longer’ is incorrect. To get a better grip of the subject, find a copy of the programme online and watch it again – and/or thoroughly read the relevant book . The approach to 5:2 is far more flexible than your view of it appears to be. Please breath, find your own peace, and moderate any future comments you intend to make.

Hi everyone – am now 2 months into this way of life and have been amazed at results – Am sleeping better and as I have always been a bad sleeper this is a major bonus. Am now finding I dont want the amount of food I was happy to consume befor. My regime fluctuates and I’m noy sweating the detail on a day to day basis. have found I do fast days when I feel like them. No set days but fitting in with my life, which has included several events and meals out recently, but have adjusted the fast days around them and its working fine, having lost 18 lbs so far and no headaches, rumbling tums, indigestion, or fatigue. It really does get easier week to week and my husband is delighted that Im happy with the results, and no longer am the unhappy dieter he’s been living with for the past couple of years. My BMI has reduced too and I’m feeling generally much fitter, more active and alert. So for me this is really working. Like everyone keep saying just find what works for you personally and stick to it, Don’t sweat the small stuff and begin to believe in yourself, it CAN be done and you CAN do it It really is worth it. Last week I got into a pair of 14 jeans I had from years back, from a size 18 – its such a grat feeling.

P.S. Jeanius you sound HOT!

Jenius-Genius!

I am a 56 year old male who’s weight has gradually crept up over the years even though I have always excercised. I have been on every diet known had success but never kept the weight off. Prior to starting the diet have had a very sore left knee and I am waiting for a scan, however since I’ve been on the 5:2 diet my knee has stopped hurting completely after 4weeks!!! Coincidence ? I eat nothing for 36 hours and am finding it easier week after week weight loss 11pound down a trouser size more energy more alert and I have stopped craving sweet stuff.
I believe for the first time ever I have control over my eating and weight management and will keep this going until I have lost 3 stone.

Hello roselord7 – I don’t think research has yet settled on a definition for the optimum duration for one’s fasting period. I believe that the advice given is to have at least one block of 12-14 hours without food during any single fast day, which can include the time spent sleeping overnight.
Some people prefer to fast for the full 24 hours, so: if yesterday was a non-fast day and they last ate at 9pm last night, then they choose today (a fast day) to eat all their 500/600 fast-day calories in one meal at 9pm tonight (i.e. 24 hours without eating) and then they will not eat again until a normal breakfast tomorrow morning, tomorrow being another non-fast day.
Others find that period too long a time to go without eating and prefer, on fast days, to spread out their 500/600 calories over perhaps 2 or 3 (or more) small meals/ snacks/ drinks throughout the day.
There are all manner of variations and permutations for preferred fast-day mealtimes. For example: breakfast and evening meal, skipping lunch; lunch plus evening meal, but skipping breakfast; one evening meal only, skipping both breakfast and lunch, etc, etc.
With 5:2, common sense suggests that giving one’s digestive system substantial rest periods is a good thing but it very much much depends what most feels manageable and sustainable for each individual.
I concur that your 10pm Saturday-7pm Sunday period was a 21hour fast (assuming no extra calories were taken in through your beverages). If that fast was not a struggle for you then it sounds like it might suit your individual needs.
Don’t forget, the schedule and the pattern of one’s fast-day eating can be varied, if needs be, when social, business, health or family demands require it. Maybe you can experiment to find the best options for you.

Hi, azwrite – re. your comment here on 13 Apr, about being disappointed, I feel for you and would ask you to read my entry (timed around noon, today, I think, and addressed to Polly) in another thread on this site: ‘Have your cake and eat it this Easter’, about where to find advice/comments from other people who are also not yet losing weight.
I wish you much success with your goals.

Could someone claify for me what we should be eating on the Fast Day, I was under the impression that it should just be protein, fruit and veg. Are we able to buy low cal meals and eat and can we include small amounts of pasta, rice, potoates etc. Been following the plan for four weeks and have lost 11lbs which are delighted with, but seem to have hit a stage where I loose on the Fast Day and then put on on the Feast Day and don’t seem to be getting anywhere – need to rethink that I am eating on the Feast Day as well I think. Any advice greatly received.

I am new here and have read a lot of the posts…..I hear things like “I lost a pound one day and gained it the next.” We need to take into account our normal daily bodily fluctuations…water retention, bowel movements. Weigh yourself at the same time each day..we are at our lightest in the morning. And no panic if you think you have suddenly and for no reason gained a pound. You likely haven’t.

Hi, I have just started the fasting diet and have a couple of questions : Am I able to spread out the 500 calories over the fast day or is it better to eat it in 1 – 2 meals ? What is best for weight loss or does it not matter exactly “when” you eat your 500 calories? Also, are you meant to just stick to fruit,veg, protein on the fast day? Thank you for your help!!

Hi, kslk and tashablue – In principle, on a fast day one can consume up to 500cals of ANY type of food/drink but, to stave off hunger pangs as much as possible, many people find it best to ensure they focus on protein and vegetables in particular. These are the less calorie-dense, more sustaining and healthily nourishing choices but it’s up to you to choose what works best for you. Ready-meals, pasta, rice, potatoes and fruit are all fine so long as the portion sizes and overall total intake for the fast day stay within the 500cal limit. It can take quite a bit of experimenting to find what gives you ‘the best bang for your bucks’ and keeps you happy to be on the 5:2 regime.
When and how many times to eat? – again, it’s up to you. One of the most important principles is that the 5:2 system should be manageable and sustainable for you, suiting your own individual circumstances. (Scroll up to my comments of 1.22pm on 15 Apr to see how I replied to a similar query from roselord7.)
Hopefully, other experienced 5:2 users will have further suggestions for you. Search around the various threads and comments already made – most issues have been raised and discussed somewhere. (NB there are other threads tucked away in the linked headings at the top of the page, eg, ‘how?’ / ‘inspiration’/ ‘in depth’)
Best wishes to you both for good, happy and healthy eating ahead.

I recently started doing 2 consecutive days of fasting, 2PM Monday to 2PM Wed with a 500 cal lunch in the middle on Tuesday, so it’s about 48 hours with 500 cal. No one has talked about consecutive days so I am wondering if it is good (faster results?) or bad (muscle deterioration?). It feels much easier to me to do it in one shot, once a week, rather than every few days. What do you think, experts?? and thank you for the inspiration Michael!

I started last week on Tuesday and Thursday. I feel better already. Being able to control the days I fast and not having to diet every day is really helping.

I feel better when I dont eat, as someone else said. For me, there is an on/off switch with food, nothing gradual… I am learning from the great posts!

I would really like to see more clear and open info on the non fast days. I have no drama at all with the fast days. I find going without food to be the easy part.all the info is on that. What drew me to this diet is the fact it says there is no restrictions on non fast days?? this was like all my prayers had been answered as I only had to diet for two days a week. On further reading (and I have read the book twice) I see you have to calorie count the other days?? I also see protein is bad.
Now I was planning to just do as recommended and eat as I would normally on feast days, so I don’t eat junk or drink on weekdays, but the leash is off on the weekend, will this still work for me? I also have bee doing a pro protein, very low carb thing during the week so I suppose I have to rethink that. I really want this to work as it says it does.

Martinh:
Why don’t you just fast on the weekends?
That would keep you from overdoing it.

@ez Rider. I’m just having a sort of break from the programme. Fasting but enjoying myself at weekends, so they cancel each other out, hence steady weight. I lost 13 lb in my first run. I’ll probably restart the proper programme soon.