Hi all, I joined 5:2 a couple of weeks ago, but unfortunately had a few issues with codeine and metabolism, if you know what I mean, lol! I’m now back on track and really enjoy reading this forum, there’s so much support! This new way of eating for me, really suits me, some days I don’t feel like eating and other days I really enjoy my 2000 calories, I guess there’s a little Neanderthal still lurking within haha! I’m just wondering if anyone else has had issues with the exercise app? I can download it but only access the initial info screens.
Ps I’m 42 and from the Fleurieu South Oz

Hi there everyone!
I am also 51 Foxycoxy and live in Sunny Scarborough WA 🙂 I have been doing 5:2 for about 7 weeks i think. Start weight was 61.8kgs today 58kgs.

I am really enjoying it (most days!) I run regularly as well.

Eat Fast Live longer the programme that was on SBS a while ago is what got me into it. i really found it all made sense.
I have done all diets! and have been doing the body for life on and off for years, where you have 5 small meals per day 9 total opposite of this) I found I didn’t really lose a lot of weight and got sick of prepping meals!
with 5:2 I have found i can go all day until about 2pm without anything to eat apart from herbal and fruit teas, and of course lots of water…. then i will have an apple about 2pm, then a healthy dinner with the family minus potatoes or rice or pasta on Fast days.
I am now going to give 4/3 a go to shift a bit more fat for a month if i can:):), see if that accelerates it a bit. the Fast Beach diet says you can do this… may be a struggle some weeks!
good luck to all!

Hi all, have you all put in a new Goal Weight for yourselves? Do you use a BMI calculator adding your age, sex, height to come to a healthy weight range? or are you just seeing how you go?

Hi all sorry ignore that last post it was ages ago and has typos, i thought it had gone and re wrote it :):) anyway..think its Google Chrome not working properly sorry about that
K

Hi Everyone,
Liz here from Woonona Beach in the beautiful Illawarra region of NSW. Anyone else from here? I saw the programme on Sunday night and decided to give it a go. I’m 55 and the weight’s been creeping up over the past 18-ish years. I’m hoping to lose about 10-11 kgs, although ideally it should be more if I was to get my BMI back to ‘perfect’. Reckon I’d look too scraggy and wrinkly if I lost more than that. My husband and two teenaged daughters are also changing to this ‘lifestyle’, although only two of us need to lose weight.
Any advice would be very gratefully accepted…. in particular, what is everyone eating on their ‘fast’ days? I’m not worried about it at all (fasted for a month once), but any ideas would be great. I’m a bit of a ‘planner’ kind of person, so think planning the day would work best for me. I’m starting on Thursday.
Thanks everyone, and good luck to all of us!
Liz 🙂

Hi Kat,
I’m an RN, too! Both starting the same day! Good luck to us!

Hi to everyone who’s just starting, it looks like you’re all motivated and that’s exciting to see!

I’d strongly recommend reading the book as it gives plenty of excellent food ideas and more thorough understanding about what you’re doing and why. It’s available from iBooks.

Also have a look at the original documentary on SBS on line to see Doc Mosley going through the process of investigating this particular intermittent fasting regime, it’s fascinating!

I’d also measure everything that you can before you start, and record it all (waist, hips, bum, boobs, arms, legs as well as weight). Use the tracker on this site, or something similar. I am old fashioned and use some graph paper and coloured pens to show how far I’ve come. I’ve had to extend my paper two times over the last 17 months, but the downward trend is always a buzz to see!

Also keep a food log and check out how much things are calorie-wise, at least for the first few weeks. Add flavour with lemon, lime, vinegar, herbs and spices. It doesn’t have to taste boring to be low calorie! Also notice when and why you eat, maybe it’s at night, or when you feel down or bored. It’s good to understand your eating-triggers.

When you feel cravings or hunger hit, distract yourself, do some deep slow breaths, drink some water and do a little dance or hum a little tune. Often the feeling goes quickly, and even though you think you’ll start rampaging like a crazy person through bakeries and cake shops, it actually never happens!

Remember you aren’t alone, were all here waiting to say something helpful…or at least support you along the way. Plan ahead, take an emergency carrot or apple with you, to stop you snacking on something you’ll regret later. And take heart when I say that this is a way of life, a slow, steady journey back to good health. Definitely not a race!

Cheers dears, congratulations, this is a wonderful start for all of you!

Mount Lofty Ranges sound wonderful Nicky. What time of year is best?…I’ve been pushing for an Adelaide trip P 🙂

Hi Everyone, I’ve just started my first fast day this afternoon so I’ll be interested to see if I can manage one or two days in a row.
Ha ha ihaveawaist I love your description for us to do a little dance or hum a little tune. I’ll have to try that! Love it! I’m loving reading how everyone is going. It all sounds so positive. Good luck to you all!

Hi All………..Well day 2 almost over. Have had approx. 500 cals today via a small bowl of cereals, 2 x museli bars (weight watchers) and 2 boiled eggs, oh yeah and plenty of water. Have walked the dog twice although not as far this morning as usual due to early appointments and the need to travel 100kms to get there and will be the same again tomorrow. Did do the usual this arvo though! Need to buy lots of the green leafy stuff tomorrow and colour bursting veggies and salad gear, some fish and white meat, lean red meat so I can get into the bulk meal prep game too! I’ve decided that my moto is going to be ………….. “let’s get this show on the road and shift the load”! WHO’S WITH ME????? Then when I get to my goal weight (notice I say WHEN) I will begin to reshape or re sculpt myself again to attain something like I was 12 years ago when I was 40yo. At that age I was in the best shape of my life……………seems weird doesn’t it? I was very lean, well defined and very, very pleased with myself and I did it in 7 months of various exercise, gym work, eating proper meals (prepared for me as I was over seas in the Military) and having to work physically doing the job………..Let’s hit the road and shift the load………….

Hi all
seems that there are not too many blokes on here, hope to hear from some sometime.
On Sunday night there was an article on Sunday Tonight or one of those type programs.
My wife and I watched the article.
We eat good food and avoid the bad stuff as much as poss. but can’t get the weight off.
This (5:2) seems to me to be a great idea as one can eat as little as one can bear without having to measure too much on fast days and forget about it for 5.
Into it we went on Monday and I thought I was cheating by having a miniscule amount of food when the hunger pangs were too bad.
i will try to keep an eye out here.
BTW I am in Tasmania
I only found this site this afternoon and found we could eat 500/600 cal per day on fast days so we feasted tonight on a tiny piece of fish, mashed carrot and pan fried leek.
If my wife had dished that up to me last week I would have wondered what she was doing to me and would have had a pudding straight after.
I had a meeting today and all others were tucking into roast or fried chicken while I sat there and ate a mandarin and a few pieces of stewed apple.
tomorrow, back to normal but even now I am expecting to eat less. So far so good and apart from the odd rumbletum there have been no side effects.

I second that. A nice rundown of tips from Ihaw. I’ll just add a few more for the newbies. At night, don’t sit up with your hunger. Go to bed early. … Many people find a busier day rather than a day lazing around home with nothing much to do, easier. It is true. I’ve done both. Though i am not sure i could go for a whole day running around town. ….On fast days, skip all the carby white foods and eat proteins and vegetables with enough good fats to make it taste nice. … If you don’t calories during the week, you may find you over compensate at first on non-fast days, but this might/should settle down as you go along and get used to the routine. If you find you are not losing, then you will have to do the odd check of your calories or at least restrain yourself a bit on those days. … Its not the end of the world if you go over your 500/600 for guys calories. I’ve done it on occasion and i don’t feel its the end of my diet. … If you get stressed, over tired, and the like, you may find yourself hungry so make it a priority to be well rested and optimistic. Deal with stress, don’t just wish it away.

Hi all, I’m an RN too! Saw Sunday Night and decided this looks flexible enough to fit into my life. So many Aussies here! I’m based in Sydney. Just wanting to ask the other 2 nurses, do you work 5 days a week? If so do you do a fast at work? How’s the brain on those days? I’m worried about getting distracted or not thinking straight at work which is critical care….

Hi all, I started today and can’t believe how great I feel. I’m not sure if I’m doing the fasting properly, but already I feel so much better. I paced myself today with my food, hoping I didn’t go over the 500 calorie amount. I felt very energetic today when I left work. The last time I felt like that was when I was a size 10. (I’m a size 16 to 18 now.) It’s nice not to have to think too hard about what you’re going to eat.

hi all
Results for first two days fasting in.All taken first thing in the morning.
BP from 152/83 to 133/73 (was 160/90 before doc put me on pills but haven’t taken them for last week or two, i hate pills. none the less this result is as good as i ever got on pills)
pulse rate is the same 65
weight from 105.6 to102.1 (102.6 yesterday morning so i think the water shedding has slowed)
blood sugar from 7.2 to 6.1
looking good so far. the first diet that fits my lifestyle.
off to make porridge now and it will be good.

Hi OZ, i am convinced the reason you feel more energetic is because you in a more optimistic frame of mind. I have suffered with depression many years (firmly undepressed at the moment and pretty much since last august with the exception of a few stress periods) and i used to notice how quickly my mood could change and i could become energetic feel great when i got good news, e.g. a job offer. It could really lift me out of a funk. Optimism and increased energy pervades everything. I know i am not expressing this very well. But my point is, its not the diet per se, its how you perceive the diet. And its a good thing!.

You believe this is going to work. You believe you can do it. You believe its going to make a difference to your life. The fact is, it will if you maintain this positive view of it.

The thing is, if you get stuck and start to struggle at any point, that’s when its vital to understand that your mood is related to your perception and not the diet. If you allow the scale to dictate your mood powerfully, it will undermine all your efforts. So its important to be patient and optimistic through thick and thin.

Work on maintaining optimism and avoiding or managing stress and disappointments. Address any problems asap so that you can stay happy and find dieting easier. Dieting is much easier when you are optimistic and motivated. Don’t let anything take that away. At this point in my diet, i hope that even if i got really really terrible news that i could not give up and resort to my old eating habits.

If someone i cared about died, or my sister threw me out of the house (just for example), or i got cancer , I would not allow my grief, or distress to undermine me again. These are probably the worst case scenarios i can think of at the moment. I know i can do this because nothing that happened to me in the intervening years caused me to go back to smoking after quitting. Not even depression or stress caused me to resume smoking. But negative emotions do make us hungry for carbs so we have to break the habit of resorting to carbs in those situations and resolve the situations quickly if its within our power. And if its not, find acceptance.

Hi IHAW,

I’m interested to know how you’ve been going in the last 17 months, how long have your plateau periods being going on for? I have resorted to just recording my best weight and as a result havent recorded anything for about 3 months. I’m wondering whether it’s just the winter months that stalls weight loss or that i havent been as diligent on my ‘ON days’. I’ve tried a few different things over the last 3 months, such as going off it for a couple of weeks,as well as being on holidays. The exciting thing is that i didnt really put on any weight and have been wavering around a 1-1.5 kgs mark from my best result. I’ve now resorted to going back to logging calories on my bad days just to see how bad they really are.From there i can make the required adjustment. I have recalulated my TDEE on my fitness pal and have a feeling that I’ll be finally be making a recording this Friday (Fingers crossed).I’m thinking just being a little bit more diligent will make a difference. For me , for this to work, there needs to be as little change to my social life as possible apart from the minor changes already mentioned

Well, today it begins…I like many Australians watched the Sunday Night Program. I let it ‘swish around in my head’ for a day, I then watched the whole Michael Mosley BBC documentary. I have fought obesity on and off my whole life, I have a family history of heart disease and I have young children (16, 14, 7, 5, 1yrs). I was thinking hard about the whole thing and spent hours yesterday reading the posts and this website. At present I weigh 88kg and need to lose 10kg as I am short (168cm) and body fat is 34% (ashamed to admit it). The angst to begin this fearing failure despite the overwelming evidence of the ‘real health benefits’ has been a small inner torture for nearly 2 days….I needed a sign! Ridiculous I know but I was watching Alan Carr on ‘Chatty Man’ TV show last night and a guest mentioned how good he looked. Alan said in his ‘over the top’ usual way he had been on the 5:2 diet…That was it…Not the devine intervention from above I was waiting for but the ‘exaggerated ravings’ of Alan ‘bloody’ Carr at 11pm last night. Decision made. My first fast day is today and all going well outside of two cups of coffee thus far. Any tips, advice support will be appreciated and I know these forums will be a great source of info and encouragement!

Well done ihaw! That dancin’ really pays off. 🙂 P

Hi, I’m another one from Perth! Starting my first fast day today. I heard about 5:2 from a friend of mine who is now doing the diet on the recommendation of her GP. I have put on 10 kilos since I had a hysterectomy 18 months ago and my joints and back are not thanking me for it! I’m hoping to lose all 10 and keep it off as well as trying to get a little more fit – exercise is not my friend.

Hi All,
Started Fast Beach 4:3 late last week with supper only and so far so good. Fast days are no problem for me, Herbal teas, Lemon Ginger and Honey Drinks or black coffee keep the hunger pangs away, and for the first time in a long time I’m not dehydrated at the end of the day. Breaking my fast with homade soup, then rye toast with avocado or banana. Am feeling the cold a little more than usual, but that’s to be expected.
2 kgs lost so far. Hoping the improvements continue. Will start the fast exercise next week and update as I progess.

BigDAD, welcome,

You don’t sound that big to be honest. Im female 165cm and weighed 80kg at the beginning. To avoid failure, just commit for the long haul. Figure it out as you go along. Figure out what works for you and avoid backwards steps. This thread and site is full of tips on the basics of fasting and not so basics of losing weight and keeping it off. I have found being an active member of forums all year has helped me stay focused and i picked up lots of useful new ideas and strategies along the way from others and my own researches and observations.

I like Alan Carr too though i don’t watch him much.

What are you planning to eat today?

Foxy, great job. Wise food choices!

Sorry to sound patronising :/

JENKLAR, hi and welcome. An easy way to increase you fitness is to get a pedometer. I have had mine for only a weekish and its making me do great things. I didn’t force myself, it has just motivated and inspired me to find ways to increase my steps. I would like to get up to 10000 daily a i spend so much time on my bum. Before i bought it, i read many people saying they found it motivational, including one aussie psychiatrist who was eloquent about them in his book Weight Loss for food lovers which i liked. (Dr George Blair-West – i found it second hand). And i do want to get around to doing the HIIT exercise but haven’t started yet.

The special value for me in doing 10000 steps is that it will help eat more food when i get into maintenance, which is very soon. I got a cheap little one from dick smith that i attach to my belt. I only count steps and don’t bother with any of the other stuff that the more clever ones can do like fitbit or garmin (i’d buy a garmin if spending more money). I don’t think all that is worth the bother. Although i may think differently if i knew more about what they could do. Maybe down the track i will get one that count calories when i put a bit of cake in my mouth so that i don’t have to think about logging it.

Welcome to other newbies i missed out. Good luck on your journeys.
Thanks Moulin. You are the first person who’s mentioned the fast beach so now i’ll take a look at the link finally after seeing it there for days. I am certainly not going to fast 3 or 4 days though! 2 is plenty. 😀

Hi everyone. I’m on my 3rd fast day, so the second week, and I admit, I am very very hungry right now, so I came here to write instead of wondering in and out of the kitchen. I’ve had a breakfast from the recipe book which I managed to put off until 11am, I’ve had a coffee, copious amounts of water, and I’m visiting the bathroom so often I’m noticing every cracked tile in there. I’ve experienced some headaches but I think that’s from the sugar withdrawal, and I’m drinking extra water to keep hydrated. So far so good. I notice that I feel great ( though very hungry) when I wake up after a fast day. This is definitely doable as long as my will power holds.

Any tips on keeping the hunger at bay would be greatly appreciated. I am feeling a 13 year old boy and a husband at the same time and cooking their meals and only eating a small something else isn’t going to be easy.

Ah classic ihaw!
Listen and act, all who wish to achieve
P 🙂

HI Sarah, you might do well to find something very distracting to do for much of the day. I ‘ve recently started a pottery class and find it good to go there. Also a volunteer job one afternoon worked well. If you are at home, you may find you are struggling with boredom more than hunger per se. Boredom tends to feel like hunger. Any chance you could get the guys to take care of themselves on your fast days or maybe prepare something ahead of this time, or even cook it in the morning and just reheat or do finishing touches in the evening.

One actual thought that i read others say quite often which they must have got out of a book seemed to help them and i realised it infiltrating my own thoughts at times too. The idea was i could eat it tomorrow, its not going to go anywhere. On a fast day, you can just tell yourself that there’s only a few hours to go and i found that helped me a lot on days when i would liked to have eaten. When i was noticing ah only 3 hours til bedtime it seemed easy. BEd was at 9pm.

Goodluck diva. If you stick with this and get organised and keep that stress down you’ll be fine. What i do for stress when i can’t solve my own problems is go and talk to a councillor. IT is really good to be able to talk it all out and explore solutions with an intelligent person who is also a good listener. I adore my psychologist. You can get a referral from your GP. Even just chatting to my counselling GP helps. But if i’ve got to talk through a complex thing i go to my psychologist.

I have made handling stress better a priority this year in order to achieve my weightloss and now i think from what i’ve learned i might be able to getting much more depression ever again. That said, i have been on the personal growth path for a long time and have by now learnt lots of techniques to manage and avoid many situations.