Very interesting.

I will try to get the original study to read the details. In the meantime I might just go back to two meals a day. This was what I did years ago and while not being slim, I at least maintained my weight. Once I gave in to the “healthy” approach of three meals a day I started to gain weight again.
I could never do the snacks because once I eat I want a proper meal, I find it very hard to stop after half an apple.

Thanks for these “Food for Thought” articles, Michael.
No matter how long we are on this WOE (hopefully for life), it is good to keep feeding the mind re the research behind it.
My husband (now non-insulin) diabetic eats only in the evening. I have a small late brunch and dinner. We have experimented and this seems to suit us. We only have a total of 250-300 cals on fast days. Have been doing this for nearly 18 months and are at maintenance. He lost 30kg, me 26kg:) As a diabetic he realises he will need to fast twice a week for life. The fasting keeps his BS levels low and steady.
Thanks, again, for your fabulous work! PVE

HappyNow, I just read your reply to the interesting article posted by Dr Mosley that a group of 1,700 calories a day dieters who spread their food over six meals a day lost less weight, and experienced more hunger, than those eating two meals a day.
I remember that both you and I observed that we ‘naturally’ missed out breakfast in our youth and stayed slim, but both gained weight when we succumbed to pressure to eat ‘the most important meal of the day” – breakfast. Hmmm, preferably supplied by one of the huge multinational processed food companies no doubt!
We all need to be able to think out of the box (of cereals) when assessing what’s accurate and what’s not. What scientific evidence/studies are there to support the hypothesis that ‘breakfast is the most import meal of the day’. It’s almost a religion now, I’ve had my head bitten off many a time for questioning the science behind this! Traditionally, the Greek people never ate breakfast, but have been persuaded to do so now (via advertising) guess what? The Greek nation now has a weight problem/diabetes problem! Are we surprised, no we are not!

I should know that as I have read about it but what is 16:8? I think it means eating in an 8 hour window, so having brunch after 11am and supper before 7pm? Is that correct?

Most of my adult life I’ve eaten when I was hungry, which usually meant late morning and between 8 and 9 at night. I’m 6.1 in height, been between 12st 10 and 13st 4 weight, and I’m 53 this year. Interesting point on the skipping breakfast Elainefriend, I’ve only recently (since XMAS this year) started bowing to peer pressure in the belief that “I’ve got away with it” for so long, but have been finding I’m feeling less well, putting on weight and started getting digestive problems, which is what led me to this site in the first place and I’ll be starting a 5:2 next week. Will post back in a month or so but after reading this now intend to revert to my “normal” eating pattern, fast day or not …

I’ve always tried to work on the “listen to your body” principle, but with so much background noise these days I think I was falling into the trap of listening to my head (or what the ad people want to put into it) – you just put a smile on my face, reminded me to believe in myself and made the day better, thanks Amy C. 🙂

Update: I didn’t eat until 11am today and really noticed a difference. I’m not as hungry and no “I need to go to bed RIGHT NOW” feeling between 2-4pm like usual. I did eat a little naughty snack at 4.30pm because my darling husband left it for me (he’s on 5:2 too but thinks I’m a bit too keen and doesn’t want a skinny wife). But all is not lost! I logged every mouthful on myfitnesspal and still got enough calories left for dinner. So I’m pretty pleased with myself and will continue because apparently breakfast is a pointless waste of calories for me.

Hi Joestar I’m just starting my journey as a 5:2er today and found your post very interesting as well as the other’s posts but yours being more recent I’m replying to that.

This is an interesting read as being an ex-smoker who couldn’t use the patches (allergy to the glue and blistering skin was not nice LOL) I took several tries of ONE thing before finally making the break and guess what it was ALL in my head … once I made the decision of “Right, this is IT” I was able to quit that day. I’d say give them the information then let them decide for themselves. If they really and truly want to do it they will find a way that suits them. I note that some people start even higher at 75% and slowly decrease to 25%, perhaps that’s more achievable for them, myself I’m going to pace myself today (day 1) and aim for 25% but not be upset if I don’t quite make it today.

I’ve been searching for years for the right program for me to lose weight/size and have tried a multitude of things, some worked … for a while, but then the weight/size crept back on. I believe that this will not occur with this lifestyle.

I agree with you that this is a lifestyle change and after reading the information in here about 2 meals/day that rang with a resounding resonance for me as I prefer a “brunch” and an evening meal but have often succumbed to breakfast, lunch & dinner under pressure due to it being “normal” but no more!! and yes, if I have breakfast I’m hungry around 10 or 11 in the morning and then snacking becomes very tempting. The thing is if I only eat lunch and evening meal I have the same size meals as when I also have breakfast but when having breakfast I’m hungry more often.

I don’t generally snack but also know I need to get my portion sizes under control as I do love nice food, particularly when nicely cooked and very tasty.

Joestar and Aussie Oma, it takes some time to get the fasts right. It took me several weeks to get down to less than 500 kcal on my fast days but I still lost weight and improved my diabetes. Over time the fasting gets easier, you know what to expect and how to handle it.

A lot of the problems with fasting are not real. People are afraid of perceived problems and all these websites that are now trying to cash in perpetuate scares that are just not real. If you read some of the new fasters’ questions this shows. They are afraid of hunger pains – hunger does not hurt, it just growls at you and backs down if you’re stern. Or they are afraid of headaches. Okay, that can happen, but first of all headaches subside. Secondly we all get headaches sometimes, they are not specific to fasting so why make them a mountain of a problem? People are afraid of fainting but come on, unless you are diabetic on certain medications your body does not drop blood sugar low enough to faint. That stuff is just in your head.

Fortunately, I started to fast before finding any websites, blogs or facebook pages about it, so I had never heard that I was supposed to be miserable, aching, “hangry” (another concept that is just in your mind) or whatever else. Michael does not mention any of that and therefore I was curious how hunger would feel but not afraid of fasting. I took to it like a duck to water.

I would encourage anyone to jump in and see how it feels. Can’t manage 500 kcal at first? No worries, you’ll get there. Just go with the flow and you will be fine.

This is my third fast day and I am finding that smaller meals through out the day do not satiate my hunger where as two larger meals keep me going. Not all the way mind you, I still feel very hungry a few hours before I’m due to eat again, but with the smaller meals I’m constantly hungry and experienced headaches.

Well done Sar,
I’m just sticking with a coffee in the morning and making it to lunch with something like a Nori roll or half a chicken wrap, that gives me a half decent amount for dinner which is generally fish or chicken breast with a garden type salad and /or steamed vegies and try and get to bed early. I agree with you, it’s almost easier getting through the day with nothing than eating something, although the little i have at lunch seems to get me to dinner time.

Thanks Pea Jay,

It’s hard not to get excited about it because it works,I’ve all the methods I’ve tried with losing weight in the past, this is by far the easiest which inturns makes it the easiest to maintain. I wish people could see me when I’m in the pub having a few ales or eating potato chips and nuts , and then ask the question ‘Why is this guy still losing weight !! I think you’re right , you just have to lead by example.It’s almost like I’ve got my life back. what this ‘eating plan’ does show me is that there is a time and place for everything, A time to eat well,(3-4 days) A time to fast(2 days), and when the time presents itself, a time to let go 1-2 days.

I’m having a much easier time on fast days since I changed to eating one meal. Like many have observed, once I start eating I want to continue, but I find that I’m not really hungry until about 3pm, so I can cope with it until I have an early dinner, and 450 calorie dinners are definitely the way to go for me. I drink two mugs of tea in the morning with a splash of milk, and a coffee later, again with a splash of milk,then have lunch, and dinner. I only eat if I am hungry whereas before it was not a consideration. This way of eating has certainly put me more in touch with whether I am hungry or just thirsty, and if I really need to eat.

Hi Minnie54,

“I am doing 25% of BMR calories on fasting days and 66% on non fasting days.”

Just checking that you mean TDEE rather than BMR – as it’s TDEE that is recommended for the calculation.

Good Luck with your planned goal of scale abstinence 🙂

Just read through this thread from beginning and found it very interesting and helpful. I have been fasting 2 days per week since early Sept but managed to ‘turn a blind eye’ to keeping to my TDEE on the other five.

I have already gained many of the benefits mentioned here and on other threads: a sense of well being the day after a fast; looser clothes; et al. Now – I am taking myself in hand and getting serious about sticking to my TDEE. Fasting today so that starts tomorrow. I will certainly experiment with the number and timing of meals, based on people’s comments here.

Thanks and good luck to all!

This explains why you have meals with servings in the 300 and 400 range in your book of recipes. I was actually disappointed because I like to have the usual 3 meals a day with a couple of snacks. I was looking forward to more meals in the 100’s range. I have been doing this on my own but was hoping for you to do some of my homework! Anyway, I will have to think about your suggestion of eating fewer but more satisfying meals.

Hi Kazz and welcome:

The average weight loss on 5:2 is a little less than a pound a week for women. You are right on schedule. Also, weight loss is not consistent.

Numbers 1 and 2 of this post might help: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!

Hi Matrika:

Isn’t it amazing what ADF combined with a higher fat, lower carb diet will do to type 2?

Congratulations on finding what works for you!

Thanks simcoeluv – good posts – love the pants rant! 🙂

We did read the book from the cover to cover before starting, went to speak to our GP and did the blood tests that Michael did in the documentary. I know other people on the diet and most of them lost heaps of weight at the beginning. I do know it is working. I do know it is not all about the weight and I do know that any little thing I can do to make myself healthy has to be good. I think it is just the frustration of sitting at EXACTLY the same weight for three weeks. THREE WEEKS! And hubby’s weight is creeping down a few hundred grams a week. And he gets 100 more calories than me on fast days!

When my pants fall down ’round my ankles in a few more months or years or however long it ends up taking, I shall remember this day . . . 🙂

After I started writing down everything I ate in my notebook I noticed a pattern…eating early in the morning and eating smaller meals all day both made me ravenously hungry. I kept with it though because I thought it was the thing you should do to help you lose weight.

One morning after being so disappointed with no weight loss despite me eating healthy and exercising, I decided to experiment with listening to my hunger cues.

It turns out what works for me is delaying breakfast until around 11 am or noon and eat larger meals less often.

Ever since that experiment I’ve never looked back and lost tons weight in the process.

Now I enjoy eating larger, satisfying meals that keep me full for hours and I’m no longer staring at the clock waiting to eat my next mini-meal.

I’m just starting 5:2 (was only doing 18/6 for almost 2 years, but I’m planning on combining the two).

Everyone is different so you have to experiment to see what works for your body and for your lifestyle.

Good luck to everyone!

Hi everyone. All my younger adult life I did not eat breakfast especially during the working week. I always questioned about breakfast being the most important meal of the day and to eat lots of small portions during the day. However I succumbed to the breakfast mith and for that matter ensuring I also ate lunch as I believed my metabolic rate would slow as the so called experts preach. Naturally over the years I put on weight and felt sluggish…just like my metabolic system had almost stopped…I just had to look at food and I put on weight. I was at a loss how to achieve a healthy weight through life style and not by a short term diet regime. Thank God i saw Michael’s longevity show by accident (bought the book) and started 5:2 around 3 months ago and I have to say not every week I stuck to it due to social activities and due to comfort eating (especially as it is winter here down under). But more consistently I have stopped eating breakfast (except for bacon and eggs on some Saturday mornings), and more often than not skip lunch on work days. I have lost 8kgs. I am now losing fat that has been there for more than a decade…i imagine that would be harder to shift old fat than recent weight gain. I feel so much better for fasting, I feel my metabolism has increased (that is how I can eat food like bacon and eggs and I do love chocolate) and I do not feel like I have deprived my taste buds at all. If you have read my story this far thank you and what I want to say is I believe for me is the more I eat…the more I want to eat. In my unscientific brain I believe when you eat you are feeding hungry fat cells, when you fast you finish them off. 5:2 lifestyle is too easy and I also believe in the 18:6 eating pattern…just as how lived before all the so called experts messed up my mind.

This post is so interesting and I can’t wait to put these theories into practice.
I am grossly overweight and crippled with arthritis and one of the reasons I eat 4 times a day is to line my stomach in preparation for the 24 pills that I have to swallow each day. This is going to change, hopefully the lansoprozole tablet which is a stomach protector will do its job and the food can get the heavo.
The only thing I am concerned about is that my TDEE is set at over 2300 and I know that I will not lose any weight by consuming that amount of calories each day so I will try starting with 1700 and of course 500 on my fast days.
I still feel that 2 meals @ 850 Cals each is way too much but I am looking forward to putting it to the test.
Thank the Lord I found this forum.

Hi yespat:

If you have been eating 500 cal. two days a week for a year and have not lost any weight, then the answer lies not in eating three times a day or taking vitamins, but in your comment “I know I eat a lot on my off days . . .” Unless and until you get a handle on your non diet day calories, you will not see much improvement.

Good Luck!

Hi bluenotes:

There is no research I am aware of that indicates a 16:8 eating pattern is more healthy than a 12:12 – but there are many people that believe it is more healthy. As there is not research I am aware of that indicates 16:8 is unhealthy, it is simply up to you and what you believe. Personally, I’m not interested in eating by the clock. Most humans have not eaten by the clock for thousands of years, and the human race has progressed as much as it has and is still here!

Here are some tips that might help you with 5:2: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck