“I have been on the 5/2 for two weeks now. At the end of week one I had lost a staggering 2KG! At the end of week two I have lost nothing, which seems odd. Also quite constipated. Is this common?”

Try measuring your waist. During the time I had “no weight loss” I lost cms.

Hi Angie:

I answered that question in my post above – about one pound a week over time, not consistently, more or less depending on your TDEE. Numbers 1 and 4 in the thread posted will explain more.

Good Luck!

Hi Emily:

In my opinion, metabolism is one of the most misused words in the diet industry. They say you can eat foods to increase it, do things that will reduce it, and bad things will happen if you monkey with it. If you have any interest, here is a very basic, non-text book description of metabolism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolism. If you can get through the first three or four paragraphs without quitting, you are a biology major, maybe with a graduate degree. I even don’t care to read it. The thought that personal trainers and diet book writers can speak about it intelligently is – surprising.

Research has shown that a person’s metabolism cannot be changed by exercise: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1550061.

For layman’s purposes, your metabolism is roughly equal to your Basic Metabolic Rate. That is measured when you are not doing anything (think being in a coma). Your TDEE includes your BMR, but adds in calories expended because of movement.

Eating, not eating, exercising, not exercising do not impact your BMR. Having muscle, not having muscle don’t either (look at the inputs for the calculation – muscle mass is not a factor).

For the average person on a diet, TDEE is the basic number. If it is high, your daily caloric need will be high. If it is low, your daily caloric need will be low. As you lose weight, your TDEE will decrease (because it takes less energy to move around less weight). That means that to continue losing weight you need to eat less than you have been eating. And to maintain your weight loss, you need to keep eating at the now much lower level of caloric intake.

People (especially diet book writers) try to make weight loss into a mystic thing, selling the latest concept. If they worked, everyone would be thin. They don’t.

The less you eat, the more you lose.

Good Luck!

Thanks guys!

Emily I’ll be your buddy! how has your BMI come down in the last 5 weeks?

:o)

Ange

Hi Angie,

Into my 9th week on the diet now and I have lost about a kilo a week. (I have a lot to lose!) What I have found is that initially the loss was quite fast and for the last couple of weeks I stayed around the same weight for the last couple of weeks. Hoping to break through the plateau by adding some more exercise and just sticking with it.

Good Luck!

Hi Helen,

You might weigh 0.5kg more but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have gained 0.5kg of fat, it could simply be that you are retaining more water at this week’s weigh in.

Are you also taking body measurements? A lot of people find that more helpful, since it is possible to start shrinking without it showing up on the scales.

You don’t need to diet on non fast days, but you do need to make sure you eat sensibly (below your TDEE).

I wouldn’t worry too much after one week, but if you don’t see a loss at week two (or a shrinking waistline/ clothes starting to feel easier) then you may need to review what you’re eating each day to see if you over eating.

My advice, don’t panic! It does work. Good luck.

Yes i also had a great weight loss at first then a week of nothing… I FEEL Thiner this week but constipation has become an ongoing theme! yuk! bad breath the whole horrid thing… My mood is great on feed days but I feel yukky and miserable on fast days and every fast day i get constipated. .. and it lasts and ‘going’ seems more difficult on feed days. I have been adding physsium husks to my diet. I dont really understand it as my overall diet has tripled my veggie, bean and lentil intake (I watched ‘Meat’) two weeks ago and I really had overhauled my diet drastically overall…on non fast days i also put linseed meal (flaxseed) on my porridge

I’ve been fasting 5:2 for a month and have gained over a kilo … Could this be because I’m fasting from 2pm – 2pm, after and before lunch. Should I switch to morning to night?

Hi EatChange:

How many calories are you eating before 2 pm one day and after 2 pm the next?

Hi girls. I am a holistic health coach and I work with clients who tried so many diets included 5 2 diet. The diet is good but is more fasting ,is eat quality food , fiber, drink enough to water, activity .land deal with the stress . No matter what what diet you practice or exercise but if you body still produce high cortisol due to stress , your body stop burn fat. I coach people from over the world. If you need help, send me iMessage. . Thank
Alexandra
Healthyhabitsbyalex at g m a i l

If you lose a pound a week when doing the fast diet only, how much can you expect to lose if you are doing “fast exercise” also?

Hi slim and welcome:

The average weight loss on 5:2 is about a pound a week over time – less for women. So you are right on track. I’m afraid if you want to lose more quickly, you will have to eat less than you are currently eating.

Here are some tips: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!

How much weight can you lose in each week depends on many factors: how much you try, which way you try, in what shape are you etc.

If you are doing everything well, you can lose maybe 2, 3 or 4 pounds per week or 4–8 pounds in two weeks.

But, don’t exaggerate.

Fast weight loss may harm your health.

Also, for some people, the results may not be visible at the beginning, so that doesn’t mean you should give up.

Keep trying and you’ll see the results.

In less than 2 months I have lost 10lbs. Very pleased and persistence has seen off early concerns that the programme didn’t seem to be working. Fast days have got easier without any great pangs. I have also dispensed with my fear of exercise on fast days and usually take a long bike ride on those days. Stick with it and the results come through. I weigh myself each morning and put the weight and my comments on to the tracker.it is really motivatino to see the clear downward trend of the graph amid the ups and downs. I am as exact as possible about calories on fast days,weighing food and checking call via Web. On non fast days pretty relaxed but aim to cut sugar intake…no chocolate or cake but perhaps the occasional real Italian ice cream.