— “He would lose 100 pounds. Then, once off the diet, he would gain it all back. He was 528 pounds at his heaviest.” —
That’s the exact point, isn’t it? When he went OFF the diet. 5:2 is NOT a diet, it is a lifestyle. People who lose 50 pounds on the Fast Diet and then completely ditch it and go back to their old ways will gain their weight back as well – but then they’d be treating it like a diet. ‘Oh I lost my weight, now I’m done!’ That’s not how it works.

— “Destefano’s girlfriend, Stefanie, lost 200 pounds after a gastric bypass, inspiring him to undergo a similar procedure a year ago. So far, he’s lost 228 pounds, and says that it feels as if his brain was essentially re-booted.

“I was in love with steak. Now, I don’t even really want to look at it,” he says. “Mentally, your mind changes.”” —
There are a load of people on here who have reported getting fewer cravings and basically ‘be more sensible around food’. Fasting teaches you the difference between munchies / cravings and actual hunger and gives you the handles to cope with these situations differently.

I’ve heard before about how “being overweight teaches your body that’s your natural state”, and maybe that’s true. But what about being lean for a long time? Will that reprogram your body as well? If that’s true, 5:2 is the thing for you because, as said, it’s a lifestyle change for the rest of your life. Not a diet.