I have been on the fast diet since last August just after the program aired. Over the years I have tried countless diets and exercise classes but nothing seemed to work. Maybe lose 4-5lbs then stall. The simple matter being I like food too much and hate being told not to eat cheese or bacon etc. Don’t get me wrong I wasn’t vastly overweight but could always have done to lose half a stone. This “fasting lifestyle” has been a revelation to my husband and I. I have now lost 2 stone (weight had crept up a bit in middle age!) my husband has lost well over a stone and is now trying to just maintain his weight. Food shopping bills have reduced, another good thing.

Over the past ten years or so I would have described myself as being miserable. Have been on anti-depressants for the last 6 and could not see a time when I would come off them. Over the last month as the scales announced a weight that I have not seen in the last 8 years or so I have become a different woman. Happier, more confident and not constantly taking tablets. Couldn’t quite understand it til I read Michael and Mimi’s book. Fasting and mood changes didn’t come across on the prog but the book now explains my elation.

Wish I’d known about this way of life ten years ago.

Hi everyone. I’m new to this forum and to the 5:2 diet. I came on here to look for some inspiration and luckily on reading through I have already found it! I have been doing the fasting diet for 4 weeks now. I have 2-3 stone to lose (BMI of 30). I lost 3lbs on the first week, 1lb the second week and nothing for the last two weeks. I felt disapointed not losing every week as I was sticking to my fast days although I did have a couple of OTT indulgences on my normal days (curry and beer) so I guess that maintaining my weight after eating like that is actually not too bad. I have renewed enthusiasm now and instead of fitting my 500cals into two meals as I have been doing I think I’m going to just have water, green tea and black coffee during the day and one healthy 500cal meal in the evening. Good luck everyone.

Powerful story Helen B thanks – and really interesting about your improved mood. Lots more research on this to come, we’ll keep you updated

Mossy says his fast days are ‘now becoming routine’. I think this is key. Fasting for me really started to work when I stopped thinking too hard about it, and just let it become part of the natural rhythm of my week. Fasting can be weird at first (I found), but it soon becomes just ‘something you do’. Plenty of people say they look forward to their fasts once the routine has become established – and I know what they mean about that too. It’s a chance to have a calm, clean sort of day in a crazy, food-mad world!

I have fasted and stuck to 500 calories for 4 weeks now and not list a pound, I’m so disappointed, what am I doing wrong? I was splitting the 500 between 3 meals, should I just eat it all in one go? Any advice welcome please x

I started on the fast diet 5 weeks ago with my husband. He has lost 6lbs over that period of time and waist has reduced by an inch. In contrast I haven’t lost an ounce and waist size remains the same!! Any idea why this is happening? Admittedly I only have about half a stone to lose but thought some of this would have shifted by now.

sammie al: I’ve seen quite a bit of debate about this one (which could be summarised as ‘are some calories bigger than other calories?’) My 2p (sorry I am not a scientist): purely in energy terms all calories are equal by definition. But in practice it does seem that some calories (HG carbs) make you hungry again quickly, and if a larger proportion of your daily intake consists of those then you may find that it is harder not to gain weight, or to fast successfully.

But even for those of us who still love carbs, 5:2 does offer real health benefits because it gives our body a twice-weekly break from the dripfeed of glucose (especially if you don’t eat until evening). Work by Dr Valter Longo (who you may have seen in the original Horizon programme) has shown that this can have amazing results against cancer cells, and it seems plausible (to me) that it would have preventative value too.

Re keeping the weight off: in the short term, your weight will move around each week anyway, it will tend to be lowest after your 2nd fasting day, and may track up a bit thereafter, but the long-term trend is what matters. In the long term, to keep the weight off just stay on 5:2 (it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle!), or when you have lost enough weight modify it a bit e.g. 6:1 or have a larger meal in the evening of the fasting day. Good luck!

Hi tooplump – I think this is one for the GP as we really can’t/mustn’t give medical advice to individuals. That said, there’s evidence, as detailed in the book, that fasting can have a positive effect on mood. Your friend should see her/his doctor to get an informed, specific medical view. Good luck!

Reaching 64yrs of age, 5.9″ and 15st 12lb and male I started fasting at the end of January. I have just completed my 10th fasting day.My weight on the morning following my 10th fast day is 15st 2lb a loss of 10lb in a month. I have also “banked” a loss of 19,000 calories based on an average daily calory requirement of 2500cals. I am not getting carried away because I know that weight fluctuates, my next target is 20 fast days.I do find it hard some days to ignore hunger pangs but I intend to find simple coping issues to deal with this. I am inherently lazy in calory counting at any time but on my fast days am pretty consistently boring. I weigh my oatmeal and have fruit with this, 200 cals. On an evening I have a “Fuller Longer” ready meal and pad it out with more veg if I need to. I find that normally I cope with this regime and the quality ready meal is a godsend coming in from work when my wife has something different to eat. Good luck to all you FASTERS out there.

@whytco0 I wonder how you have progressed since your post. I have just started: one fast day down and one normal foods day passed. Fast day was fine aside from feeling a bit light-headed, and I noticed I ate quite a bit less yesterday, and so far today. I, too, would rather not have think about what I MAY eat on fast days; I would prefer to hydrate with low/no cal beverages only. I am in the midst of reading the book and love the science behind it. I could see myself living the rest of my days in this manner.

I noticed that my comment made this week is not posted? Anyway, what is a “stone”?

I have been doing well on this diet, as a mater of fact i have even starting to blog about my success 🙂
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Hello, cornaby – As you haven’t given any details of your current statistics – such as your BMI (Body Mass Index) or how much weight you feel you need to lose, it’s hard to be specific about potential barriers to weight-loss. So many factors can be involved, such as ‘hidden calories’ in drinks (like wine, for instance) which mean your daily intake might be much higher than you expect. Conversely, a slowed down metabolism can result from under-nourishment, due to prolonged, severe dieting. In some cases, underlying health issues can make weight-loss harder, such as an under-active thyroid. I suppose the only way you can check out what’s going on during your non-fasting days, is to monitor your intake over a week or two, by doing at least a rough calorie count, and see how it compares to the average recommended maintenance-level daily intake of 2000cals (women)/2500cals (men), allowing for adjustments for ways in which you might not be average (e.g. above/below average height, etc). Using 5:2 since February, you certainly seem to have given the system a good trial, so, I think it’s time to do some detective work, to track down the difficulty and, hopefully, then be able to remedy it. Perhaps, have a read around the site, to see if any other comments strike a chord and prove helpful? Well done, you, for all your sterling efforts to date and I wish you every positive outcome ahead.

I have been doing alternate days of fasting for about 2 weeks now and have lost 4 kilos. I am extremely impressed…have not found it too difficult at all, particularly when you see the weight loss results – I just think “Well I can eat tomorrow” In fact the fasting days make me feel so good, as if my whole system is cleaning itself out, I can almost feel the cholesterol flushing out. I would like to lose about another 15 kgs, but what happens when I achieve that goal? Is there a maintenance version – do you just reduce the number of fast days?

Hi Wildflower,
I am like you facing my first Christmas on this plan and keen not to undo all the good work (18lbs in 9 weeks – hurrah!)
From what I have read here, I think that the main think to do is to continue with fast days throughout the season, even if the I between days are more generous than normal. I am thinking of the 22nd, 27th, 29th and 3rd as fast days- returning to “normal” on the 5th. If there are any veterans of the fastdiet Christmas out there, I would love to hear from them!