This topic contains 281 replies, has 183 voices, and was last updated by Roldan 6 years, 5 months ago.
Help I have been trying to lose 10 kg and started on the low cal for 4 weeks and got down to 64 kg then after reading and studying the 5 .2 I thought I would change it
however I have put on weight. I think the over rall calories on the low cal x 7 is lower than the 5.2.
the other thing is I am getting a lot of headaches and not well how long does your body take to adjust and not sure weather I should just go on low cal x 7 instead of 5.2 leonie
I have got, and read, the book which seems to be fairly straightforward. I don’t, however, particularly want to lose weight and really want to know if one would get the health benefits by going straight to the maintenance regime.
I have recently had an mot at the Drs. so know my BMI , blood pressure and cholesterol are all fine. The only thing missing is my level of IGF-1.
I get the impression that Michaels family are not joining him on the diet so perhaps fasting does not give enough benefits for everyone to turn to this regime?
how to lose weight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t9vN3o7ejr0
Hi, I just bought the book and starting today. I am a bit scared though I have had 20+ years of dieting, from atkins to stomach reduction to Dukan, so pretty much have done everything and still keep on going back to piling the Kgs!I am tired of Dukan, which I have been trying to start again for the last 6 months and only last a couple of weeks and then brake I need to lose at least 1 Stone and would like to know if there is any detox recomended before starting the Fast diet? I have read loads of comments here and I am ready to give this a Go! I really need to brake this up and down chain!
Hi, I’ve just completed my first week on the fast diet and im more than surprised to see I havent lost a single pound. I’ve been following it to the letter, I thought if i kickstarted my first week with 4:3 that it would be a good start but the scales havent moved. Im well under the 500 cals on my fast days so any ideas or tips on where I’m going wrong? thanks
Hi I am on my fist week day 4 second day of fasting of the 5:2 diet. My first fast day I found very easy and only had 388 cals. The next day a headache started. Day 4 today and fasting again – headache getting worse. I added carbs to breakfast in the form of 1 slice of sourdough with my poached egg. First fast day I omitted carbs altogether. I am type 2 diabetic totally diet controlled H1b1 is 6.6. My headache just before lunch is getting worse BSL 4.7 should I be eating more? I really want this to work but cannot function with a headache for days. Can anyone help?
Hello, jellyfish – Headaches seem to be a fairly common outcome in the early days of changing to a 5:2 system, which mostly seem to go after a week or two. Possible causes can be: a) either dehydration or increased tea/coffee intake (so drink more water); b) Detoxing/change of chemicals by switching to a healthier/ different diet; c) loss of essential salts due to extra fluid intake (a little extra salt often recommended for non-diabetics but I am not sure of appropriate sodium levels for diabetics, so take care). I have no experience of particular diabetic needs so cannot comment on other possible causes in this respect. Many people find relief by taking a temporary dose of paracetamol as required. I hope the discomfort does soon disappear and you thrive using 5:2. With all best wishes.
Hello, tabris6ie – I think it’s way too soon to say anything is going wrong, though I can understand your disappointment after such great expectations. Keep going for several more weeks before evaluating your progress. If, then, you still have no weight-loss, read around this site for possible causes/remedies. I wish you every success ahead.
Hi. I’m a week into the diet plan and am excited to see some results. I would be interested to know how much people eat on their ‘feast days’? Are people who are losing weight generally eating whatever they want on the non-fast days or still watching calories? So far I’d say I’ve been eating what I usually ate on fast days, if not a little more with occasional treats (about 2000 calories) I don’t want this to be my downfall as i really want to lose weight. Any replies would be great
i have been on the 5:2 plan since the end of January. when I started, I weighed 66.5 kg, i am now down to 61.8kg so I am really pleased to havelost 4.7kg (10lbs). I was wondering if anyone else seems to have reached a plateau? i have not lost any weight for the last three weeks despite the fact that I have not changed anything. has anyone else had this experience? i am hoping to get to 60kg. I dont want to include more fast days at the moment as I was hoping this was just a temporary block but it seems to be lasting. That said, i am feeling great, my bmi is down from 24,7 to 23 and I have lost quite a few cms from my gut. would love to hear from anyone who has had this experience
Hi Polare,
I lost the first 12lb without any effort and then just couldn’t get to 14lb for about 3 weeks. So I calorie counted everything for week and was amazed at the ‘cost’ of some foods in calories.I suppose that new education made me more aware of what I was scoffing. I started walking more…and hey presto 15lb lost now.
I’m new to the diet, and have completed two fast days. I’ve lost 3.5lbs already and feel good, apart from the headaches – is it right that they’ll pass in a week or two? Such a shame because they’re quite debilitating, and I want to continue with this regime for life if I can!
There seems to be a bit of a theme through this thread – I’ve noticed some people have started to exercise since starting the diet. I’ve always been told that muscle is denser than fat, therefore heavier, so it might just SEEM there’s little or no loss.
Secondly, many people have been disappointed that they haven’t lost weight, yet report their clothes fit better and they’ve lost significant inches. I would have thought that this is more significant and a better bet healthwise than what the scales say, or I am wrong in this assumption?
Other than as a loose guide, I don’t take much notice of BMI, which is really no different than the height/weight charts we used to swear by. If we take BMI as gospel, then the likes of David Beckham and Lennox Lewis are morbidly obese!
I have now been doing the 5:2 for the past 10 weeks. In the first week I lost 3lb which I was really pleased with. It has now slowed considerably to an overall loss of 6lb since I started. I was then dismayed to see this week I started to run and have been on 5 x 2 mile runs since my last weigh in this time last week and have put on 1lb.
I feel more toned and slimmer, but have not been measuring myself too.
I am not overeating excessively on my non-fast days and would like to see more wight loss. I may follow your stance annette52 as maybe I am overeating more than I realise!
Hi Kellyannecawte,
You may be eating more calorie dense food than you realize and as you have started to run, put on muscle which is heavier than fat.Bit of a double whammy.It’s quite good to try on different clothes and see how they fit. I wore a linen (no stretch) dress that was tight one week and looser around the middle the week after even though i had not lost weight on the scales, but fat disappearing from my back.
I have another fast on Thursday but think I have plateaued last week and this, but now running 10 miles in total a week. Legs trimmer,arms more toned…still not got Jessica Ennis’ abs!!!!!
Hi, Fairy2201 – You’re right, of course. It is rather painful to see it so often.
So, don’t forget, folks: If you LOSE weight, your belt will become LOOSE!
But because these posts disappear off screen so quickly as new messages come in thick and fast, no doubt the issue will keep on arising and lovers of good English will just have to wince again. Let’s hope that’s our biggest problem, eh? – then we’ll be doing just fine! Here’s to loose belts everywhere!
Have you checked your TDEE since you have lost 2 stone? Do you have a smaller waist, hips, thighs, neck, bust since April when you stopped losing weight?
Lots of us have found that when the scales don’t move, we are still shrinking.
You could always increase walking every day.Get a pedometer and achieve 10,000 steps every day(most of us only clock up 3/4000 steps).
I have had a couple of weeks were the scales didn’t move. I am sure that the combination of me eating less in the hot weather plus swimming twice a week was responsible for 2 lb lost this week. I usually lose up to a lb a week, but there is now 11 inches less of me!
Well done on the 2 stone lost. I also wrote down for 1 week everything that I consumed and then calculated the calories. I was shocked at how many calories some food that I was regularly consuming contained.Information is power!
Keep us posted on how you get on.
I have done 5:2 for 4 weeks, and actually like it – I dropped 2 k in the first week but none since
Second I am nauseous on the non fast days and don’t want to eat! Im wondering if the fasting has reset my body ( after over eating all my life) and I’m gluten intolerant now! 🙁 you would think it would show on the scales as I’m exercising too. Anyone else experience this incessant nausea and should I be worried about it. I don’t really want to give it up as I feel so good on fast days and am sure it will work eventually.
Lots of people report no weight loss for a while but they still see the inches drop away.Our bodies react in different ways to diet and food, so take heart in that. However, if you are concerned about feeling nauseous on non fast days it wouldn’t hurt to ask your doctor about it.Perhaps your body is just adjusting?I can’t say that I have felt sick on my non fast days but I can say I somehow don’t want very much to eat the next day….odd really.I have only been on the fast diet a month.Perhaps others have had the same reaction as you.Maybe by ‘bumping the thread’ someone who can help will read it.
Hi!
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Good luck !!
Two of the best lessons I’ve learnt in following the 5:2 Diet is NOT to eat if I am not hungry and NOT to eat just in case I’m going to be very hungry and suffer.
I’d already lost 4kgs feeling deprived and bored on a conventional diet (calorie restriction every day) before I tried the 5:2. I’ve now lost 5kg (11 pounds) and my cholesterol has dropped from 6.5 to 5.6 in four months (the ‘good’ fats far outweighing the bad).
On the non-fast days I have eaten what I want, guided by the fasting insights. Yes, my portions are smaller. I don’t feel hungry most lunch-times so I either don’t eat lunch or have a small mandarin on those days. I drink less coffee and tea (the former I have with a lot of milk and 1 teasp sugar; the latter I have with milk and 1 teasp honey). I never drink fizzy/carbonated drinks. Never have done. Waste of precious calories. Full of chemicals.
No, I do not pig out on fast food/cheese/fatty food on non-fast days. To expect that you can do this is unrealistic. To me that would be eating ‘abnormally’. The difference is that rather than eating boring ‘diet’ meals, I eat homecooked meals (Indian, North African, Indonesian, Italian). Smaller portions. Occasional treats like the delicious (fresh) fish and chips I had recently on holiday at the coast.
Importantly, 5:2 is something that I can live with because it means that I can enjoy whatever in moderation. Occasional fasts. Occasional treats. Surely, that is what ‘normal’ eating used to be for most humans. Before I would diet, lose 6-7kgs, but feel deprived and bored with my food. Then I would enjoy a few months at my ideal weight before eating the weight back on.
Yael I can so relate to what you say about eating now to save feeling hungry and suffering later!! I used to be so scared and panicky about it. And what do you know, I can now leave the house for the day without food, and, low and behold, when I do actually get hungry, I have always been able to find food. Sometimes I don’t even feel like eating, so I don’t. What a revelation!! Congratulations on your results 🙂 🙂
I am intrigued by what Indian and North African recipes you cook. Any favourites that can be found online?
At that part of the program they were talking about alternate day fasting (every other day) as opposed to the fast diet which is only 2 days a week. So for alternate day fasting you can eat whatever you want. On the fast diet you eat “normally” which for most people is around 2000 cal a day. For most people eating a reasonable diet i.e. not fast food 3 times a day and a giant bowl of ice cream for dessert they can just continue as is and not count calories. Now if your diet is normally abysmal then you may need to reign in on your non-fast days a bit.
@00lisa00 I don’t think that your information about ADF is correct.
‘Eat 2000 cals on fast days and and whatever you want on the others’ is not going to make anyone lose weight.
My information on ADF is that on a fast day you have just one fifth of your normal calorie intake (TDEE) and on your non fast days you eat your TDEE. Some sites will tell you 500 cals on FD and ‘as much as you would like without overeating’ on NFD.
Selector
Joined Dec 2013
Posts: 2
May 20, 2014 2:32 PM
Hi Guys and Gals,
I’m a 36 year old female. 5’4, 159 lbs as of today. Today was my second weigh-in and I gained about 3 lbs since last Tuesday morning. I’m feeling super discouraged, so if anyone has any words of wisdom, I’m all ears! Mondays and Thursdays are my fast days, with Tuesday mornings being my weigh-in time. On my fast days, I’m eating lots of protein/veggies, almost no carbs at all, and I’m eating all my 500 calories at dinner time. On my non-fast days, I’m still eating lots of healthy stuff like fruits and veggies, chicken/turkey, but allowing myself to generally eat what I want when I want. It’s possible that I may be snacking too often, not sure if that’s the problem or not. I’m also drinking lots of water and starting to exercise more, about 2-3 times a week of cardio. Also, I definitely still allow myself to have popcorn at the movies on the weekend and pizza with friends… thought that would be ok though! 🙁
I really was hoping this could be the final eating strategy for me, one that I could stick with for a long time, and I don’t mind the fasting days at all, so was disappointed to see the scale go up and not down. (Also, Alzheimer’s runs in my family, and I was really thinking that the added health benefits of IF would be perfect for me.)
If anyone has tips/tricks/suggestions, I would love to hear from you. sad
Thanks,
Evelyn
Hi and welcome stevelyn:
Your weight increase is not unusual. First, if your body was low on water when you weighed last week, you will see a weight gain as your body adds water this week (the old water weight ups and downs and cause of many plateaus). Also, new, additional exercise will add water weight. Building muscle requires additional water.
The way 5:2 works, you eat 500 twice a week and your TDEE or less the other five days. I’m sure you did not think you could eat all of anything you want for five days and still lose weight.
Here are some tips for newbies: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/warnings-to-newbies/.
Here is why you might gain weight with added exercise: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/exercise-is-dangerous-for-your-diet/.
And here is information on TDEE: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/tdee-for-the-curious-or-why-dont-i-lose-weight-faster/
Good Luck!
It is tough when your plans for losing weight fall through.
I would recommend you eat what you want on the 5 non fast days, but to count the calories. You need some sort of idea of how many calories you are consuming. Both popcorn and pizza add up to quite a bit.
Your non fast days caloric consumption should be less than or equal to your TDEE.
After you get an idea of about how much you should eat, you can probably stop counting the calories.
Got it! Yeah, I’m sure I’ve been too generous with the calories… need to be more realistic with myself, for sure. So, I’m 5’4 and weigh 156lb, and my TDEE is 2000. Not to be obtuse here, but just to be certain I’m understanding correctly, I should try to eat that amount of calories or less on my feast days, yes?
Amy:
There is no medical reason not to eat less than your BMR. Most standard diets require a person to eat less than their BMR seven days a week with no side effects. The only thing I’ve ever heard as a reason for not eating below BMR is that if you do, you might be less likely to continue with a diet because you get too hungry and give up. I don’t buy that reason, but I guess it might help some people.
The basic (and scientific) rule is the less you eat, the more you lose.
stevelyn12, I started last August at 5’4″ and 157 pounds, now I weigh 119 pounds, I’ve been doing 5:2 plus walking a lot more than I used to. One thing I would suggest is, try calculating the TDEE for the weight you would like to be instead of for the weight you are now, and think of the 5 non-fasting days as days to practice eating the way you need to eat to be, and stay, the weight you want to be. That way when you get to goal, you can do 6:1 to cover the extra calories from the overeating that we do because of the “occasions” that arise in our lives, but have a good grip on what healthy normal everyday eating should be like. I choose one activity level lower than what I think I qualify for on the calculator, to be on the safe side, because I think it is a bit generous with the calories.
Hi,
In this post I’m going to talk about the fact that myself and my partner feel much better for the Fast Diet, but are not losing weight and that this presumably has a lot to do with binging on non-fast days. Then I am going to talk about my decision to try Lipodissolve injections plus the Fast Diet. I’m putting this up at the top of my post so that people will know what it contains and find their way through this undisciplined word-ramble that I don’t have time to edit.
I started the 2/5 in November 2013 and initially seemed to lose 2kg. Weighing myself three times since then, I found that I was back to my original weight. I then began to fast three days a week. I have coffee in the morning with low fat milk and one piece of toast with low fat cream cheese spread and vegemite. Occasionally I have tomato soup with half a tin of beans in the evening, if I feel really hungry. I also tend to have another cup of tea or coffee in the evening before I go to bed because I find that this stops me from waking up with a headache.
Despite being on a three day a week modified fast of this kind, I just weighed myself today and I have actually gained one kg. (I weighed myself after breakfast.)
Yesterday was a ‘break-fast’ day and I woke up really hungry and ate all kinds of stuff I would not normally eat. So I guess I should expect worse rather than better weigh in results on the second day of the non-fast on the 3/4. This binging is a developing pattern. I have been eating all kinds of foods that I have not eaten since I was young, plus carbohydrates including lollies I didn’t eat much of then because I had a good, if rich, diet in my youth. Today, the second day of not fasting, I feel less hungry.
It seems to me that I might have more success in losing weight if I can control my urge to binge on the day after the fast day. So I will aim for that.
Apart from not losing weight so far, I cannot say that I have not had other benefits. I certainly fit into smaller clothes – seems so odd to say that when I have not lost ‘weight’. And almost from the first week I started, my ankles stopped swelling up. On fast days I find it easier to concentrate and solve problems perhaps because I don’t interrupt myself dreaming of or seeking food. I am a researcher and writer and I also paint complex pictures and edit and do cartoons. I am also stronger, much more able to walk up hills and even to run. (I am 62 years old this October). I think that overall I am thinking and acting more effectively.
There is, I know, another thing I can try, and that is to have Lipodissolve injections. I have done this several times over the past decade, with excellent but temporary results. The fat drops off in the selected areas and I lose weight because I have little appetite once the digestive enzyme stuff kicks in. Unfortunately, after 2 months of weightloss in these circumstances, I start eating again as the enzymes wear off. Would such a weightloss be more lasting with the modified fast diet three days a week? Almost certainly I would lose the desire to binge whilst affected by the Lipodissolve. How would I go after that wore off? Would I be able to train myself not to binge after Lipodissolve?
I will let people know when I have scheduled this experiment.
By the way, my partner, aged 55 in two days, has been following the same pattern as me, but only 5:2. He has also not lost any weight, but looks better. It may be of interest to this forum to know that he had a very serious traumatic brain injury four years ago when a 4WD knocked him off his bicycle and put him in a coma for weeks, which drastically affected his memory and concentration, but that I have definitely noticed a measurable improvement since he began the fast diet. He is returning to effectiveness. This may be accounted for in other ways (hypothyroidism began to be treated ahead of fasting) but I feel that given his other obvious improvements in healthy appearance and feeling better with himself due to fasting it is reasonable to assume similar improvements in the brain. His hypothalamus was one of the (many) parts that sustained diffuse axonal damage.
With regard to his failure to lose weight, he has been continuously fueling himself with large quantities of sultanas on non-fast days until I pointed out that he was showing signs of diabetes (polyuria, polydipsia). He swore he would stop the sultanas and did for a few days and had uninterrupted sleep and did not drink so much low-cal fizzy (Waterfords). However I know that he suffers from food amnesia where sultanas are concerned, so I am going to try to educate him about this. I am also encouraging him to try Lipodissolve as well for that persistant gut.
We do appreciate what Michael Palin tries to do in his program and feel that he has succeeded in educating people with his diet. I value my knowledge that I need not be so dependent on food and I try to apply it to not consuming other things on fast days. I find that hyper-consumption of stuff is just a waste of time and a kind of induced compulsion. I hope to remain on the 2/5 diet whatever happens, but I may find it too difficult to remain on the 3/5 permanently. Of course, if I get control over binging, I will feel a lot better and more hopeful of results on the 2/5 (where I did not binge so much).
Nerodog, your fast day eating sounds heavy in carbs, low in protein, fat, and micronutrients. Could that have anything to do with your desire to binge the next day? Your body crying out for nourishment? It is true we can eat whatever works for us on a fast day, but it sounds like 5:2 isn’t working all that well for you the way you’re doing it now. I aim to get at least half of my daily protein requirement, preferably at least 2/3 of it, on a fast day, and then try to fill up on low-starch veg and fruit to get vitamins and minerals, and cook with at least a little fat, all our cell membranes and a lot of the glial cells in our brains contain large amounts of fat, and have to be repaired from time to time. Once in a while I’ve still been a bit hungry after dinner on a fast day, but I’ve never felt a need to binge on the other days.
Hi all! I need to tweak a bit because after 25 fasts my weight loss has stopped. So this week I will try 3 fasts. I dont know if I can do that every week, but heres my plan. Next week I will try the 2 normal fasts plus a third day of 1000 cals. My TDEE is 1800 the other days. Is this a bad or a good idea??
Hi kindle:
You might be able to just do what you have been doing and be OK: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/on-plateaus/
Whatever you try, good luck!
Hi and welcome Lesley:
Your weight loss expectations are way too high – for any diet.
The average weight loss on 5:2 is about a pound a week. Women usually are a little less. If you lose more early on it is usually water weight, and after a couple of weeks most people with high initial weight losses hit a ‘plateau’ where they don’t lose for two or more weeks until the body gets back in balance. To lose, say, two pounds a week, you would have to cut about 7000 calories a week out of your diet. As you probably eat around 14,000 cal. a week normally (just a guess), you would have to cut your food intake in half. Most people can’t do that for very long – they get hungry, tired and give up.
Here is how the ‘numbers’ work, so you can see realistic weight loss estimates: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/tdee-for-the-curious-or-why-dont-i-lose-weight-faster/
And here are some tips for those just starting 5:2: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/warnings-to-newbies/
Good Luck!
lesleyadams, one and a half pounds gone in two weeks is actually good weight loss. The fat percentage does seem a bit suspect, I’m not sure how accurate the machines for home use are. simcoeluv is right, to lose 2 pounds a week requires 1,000 calories per day less coming in or that many more going out, and that can be really hard to do if the calorie intake you need every day just to maintain is between 1500 and 2000 calories per day, we would have to be living on only 500-1000 calories a day, and it’s hard to even get all the nutrients you need at that level.
Weight loss is just plain hard work, there’s no way around that. On most plans it’s actually only marginally even do-able for most people. At least with intermittent fasting, once you get used to it, it’s quite sustainable.
One great thing about 5:2 is that there are benefits for lowering blood sugar, insulin level, etc. that we get even before we lose a bunch of weight, so every fasting day is worthwhile, even if the scales don’t budge.
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