After having done 5:2 for 4 months, and lost the weight I wanted, I am really struggling to hang on. Have been doing 16:8 pretty well every day with 5:2. I think the fast day sets me up to overeating on non fast days. Not sure if it’s too much fasting doing both, but I’m not one for breakfast anyways. Don’t want to give up after all the hard work. But I find myself slipping more and more each week.

Have gained 5 lbs. and the thought of fasting twice a week is daunting and a struggle. Have done some research on 16:8, and a lot of people are doing this from once a week, to several times a week, to every day.

Any thoughts on the difference/ health benefits of 16:8 versus 5:2? And instead of just giving up completely, I think I want to do a week or two of just 16:8, then adding 6:1…..

Don’t mean to be a downer for anyone, but am very frustrated at the moment. Sure loved 5:2 and the success of it it the first 9 weeks or so. Not sure what happened.

@tidychick
“Sure loved 5:2 and the success of it it the first 9 weeks or so. Not sure what happened.”

Consider staying with what brought you to your success and rekindle your 5:2 love. It appears that the romance may gave bored you.

I started with 5:2 and I will stay with 5:2. I did eliminate noon eating on my feed days since I found a better alternative for that time. This will help my 5:2 lifestyle.

Whatever helps your 5:2 lifestyle may be the right direction for you.

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Hi, folks. As I’ve said before, I’ve been following my own take on IF. I’ve had a big appetite all my adult life, still have. It was unfair to my wife that I ate much more than she did, yet she reached about 19 stone/226 lb, (about 4 stone more than my max). She is down about 50% from her max weight, since a gastric bypass last year.

I restrict intake other than water to a ‘time window’ of about 6 or 7 hours most days, so body cells are sometimes able to go into repair mode, as MM describes in the Fast Diet book. I omit breakfast five or six days a week, omit lunch maybe one or two days a week (easy if I’m out and busy). I occasionally do longer fasts, water only. I don’t do calorie counted small meals – I feel that small meals make me hungry – I’d rather have no meal than a small meal. My meals are more or less the same food, cooked from scratch, as the family eats, unrestricted in amount. I have at most a glass of wine a month.

My weight is steady in recent months, but 8kg down from this season last year. At best it was 10kg down, fluctuates quite a bit from day to day. Ideally, I’d like to lose more. I recently bought a newish bike, around my 63rd birthday. I ride for two or three or four hours a week. That will be difficult in winter. I’m sure I’ve improved health parameters like intra-abdominal fat, even though my weight is steady. Jeans are loose. There is probably be a bit more muscle. If I cycle for 10+ miles, or walk a few miles whilst fasting, it doesn’t bother me at all. I’m someone who can repeatedly return to the fridge for another couple of apples, with a little chunk of cheese. Yet if I’m busy, especially if I’m out, going all day on a drink of water is easy. When the family is away I might fast for 48 hours or so. I’ve done 96 hours max, just once, to see what was possible for me. Getting to sleep on the first night of a longer fast tends to be hard, and the evening meal is the hard one to omit on brief fasts of 16-24 hours. Alas, when I eat I eat – it is not bingeing as a reaction to fasting, just my usual hefty intake. I know that feeling an urge to eat isn’t necessarily the same as hunger. I eat more if stressed. I’m an insomniac, and SAD (seasonal affective disorder) sufferer.

I think data in Michael’s Fast Diet book is encouraging on 16:8 hours or indeed 18:6 hours fasting to non-fasting. The book sees fasts of up to 24 hours as safe for most adults. I think M&M’s 5:2 regime in their book seeks to temper the benefit of periods of fasting up to 24 hours, with what they think may be practically sustainable within people’s daily routines. I’m not sure what I’ll do to try to improve my own situation. A cut in my baseline appetite level would be welcome!

Habits die hard. 40+ years ago, when I’d arrive to visit my sister my brother in law would say ‘R is here, hide the bread!” Insomniac, up late, then up again before 4am today. Before Fast Diet I’d have made toast – two slices, two more, then two more. I hate waste, so often eat what my wife and daughter leave on their plates. Dog is a useful alternative way to avoid that food being wasted, and he loves toast. He’s not obese. Six months ago we were just back from visiting Turkey, where we’d been plied with great home cooking. I’d felt obliged to eat far more than I wanted, just out of politeness. I gained 10lb/4.5kg in about 10 days.

8+ months back, I’d been enthralled by the Fast Diet book – wanted to try a long fast. I ended that fast at 96 hours as I’d read about difficulty and complexity of re-introducing food into a gut where the usual bacteria had died (through lack of nutrients) in fasts of >96 hours. I’d read MM’s experience after his 96 hours, being told to re-introduce food gently, ignoring the advice with a breakfast fry-up but finding he very soon felt full. At the end of my 96 hours, I’d cooked a roast chicken dinner for my wife and daughter: I ate a modest portion (less than my usual), then a second, then a third. Within the next two hours, I’d followed up with a couple of bowls of home made soup. No ill effects. So much for re-educating my appetite.

I am more aware now of pseudo hunger – an urge to eat especially first thing in the morning, though my stomach doesn’t feel empty from the night before. 20 years ago, I’d lose weight if stressed, now I gain weight if stressed. I echo your views, RoBa, on moderate hunger not being unpleasant. Fasting has shown me that if I get hungry and ignore it, the hunger goes away for quite a while. Hunger doesn’t build and build. Knowing my past habits, I am astonished that not only can I fast, but I don’t find it very difficult, except for getting to sleep at night feeling empty.

My BMI was borderline obese a year ago: I remain overweight. I find that drinking lots of fizzy water helps ward off hunger. I avoid tea and coffee because of my insomnia. Sadly, I am still happy to eat far more at a sitting than most people. Fortunately, on most days I’ve cut out the cheese and apple and maybe oatcakes between meals, and the six slices of toast early in the morning. I still eat like that odd days, partly out of a fear that I need to kid my system into thinking that it remains in a state of plenty, so it doesn’t switch metabolism into famine mode.

Winter on the way. Clocks change in UK this weekend, short days don’t encourage exercise. I get more depressed and sleep a lot (my SAD actually returns in mid August most years). At Christmas, I can easily avoid the sweet junk and the alcohol, but have a weakness for Christmas cake twinned with mature cheese, a traditional combination in this region.

I’m a convert to intermittent fasting, 16:8 and/or 5:2 or whatever version. It’s my first ever diet. Still lots of work to do,