I took a decision on a Monday, April 17th, a week ago to start on the 5:2 eating program. This was a snap decision following a 4 days eating fest over the Easter holidays. At the time I felt stuffed, out of shape and generally displeased with myself for losing the grip. And no wonder, I had just weighted myself to witness a record high number (103 kg) which took my BMI over 31, making my officially an obese. I do not consider myself an obese and I know for a fact I don’t look like one, but still the numbers don’t lie and I felt I was on a dangerous track. I´m 50 years old and in recent years I have slowly been adding on kilos little by little going from 92 to 96 to 99 and now this (+100). I have had enough. I went to the bookshop, bought a copy of Mosley´s and Mimi´s 5:2 program book and read it. It spoke to me and I just knew it was the right method for me. I felt the time had come to stand up to this unwanted development. Time to fight back.
I´m writing this blog for myself to remind me how I got to this point, why I felt like forced to change my ways and to keep a track on my experience of the 5:2 program, my learning of the fasting, the positive outtake, what I can and must do better and to report on my progress, both the happy times and unfortunate setbacks. This is the first time I do something like this and I haven´t done much diet in my lifetime, only a couple of short time period rounds. I´ve never gone for a lifestyle changing method before. So here it goes.
I have now completed the first week and already I have learned a lot. A whole lot. The fastening went well as I knew it would. I even went further in my fastening than the 5:2 program sets up, as it was closer to a 3:4 week. And the weight dropped fast. After fasting 3 out of four days on Friday my weight was already down by 2.2 kg. I was feeling really energized and happy about how easily the fasting was for me. There were only a 2-3 times over this period where I had to fight off hunger seriously, especially one time were it took me 1-2 hours to shake a nagging craving feeling off me. But otherwise it was fine. I was already feeling lighter on my feet and quite energetic.
Then the weekend arrived (dramatic music required). I went with my wife to visit friends at their summerhouse over the weekend. A weekend filled with grilled meat, good wine, red and white, beer, snacks and sweets on the table. The temptations were all around. I couldn´t resist it, and actually I failed bigtime. Maybe I felt I had done so well over the first part of the week that I was allowed to give a little into temptation. But it got out of hand and when I starting to give in I just couldn’t pull the breaks. On arrival back home on Sunday I felt bloated again. I wasn’t surprised to learn this morning that I had gained 1 kg over the weekend. Still the good news is that I have lost 1.3 kg. since starting the program so I´m not going to beat myself up too much over this diversion.
However I took another decision this morning. I´m going to lay off alcohol for the next 6 weeks. This is a tough decision for me as I really like a glass of a good wine with a meal during weekends. The wine is quite high in calories itself but more importantly it softens my resistance for keeping a good diary during weekends and holidays. I simply must do better and laying of alcohol for the next 6 weeks is going to help me focus more intensively on my goal and to lose weight more quickly. More on my goal later.
I intent to write here weekly as a discipline to keep myself on track.

Thanks for the tips Merry. I will lookup this thread you mentioned. I had planned to follow 5:2 every week but wanted to kick-start the program sharply and went therefore for 4:3 in the first week. If my weight numbers from this morning is any indication of what is to come (-3.5 kg in 8 days) then this tactic is working wonders.

Best wishes, Tenoro

Many thanks Dragon Fly for your encouragement.
Yes it will be a challenge to resist a glass of a good red wine when having a steak next time. Maybe the steak will taste somewhat differently.
Lets see.

Thanks, Tenoro

I´m really pleased with this week. My weight this morning was 98.9 kg. So my first two milestone have been reached; sub 100 kg and sub 30 in BMI. I lost 1.2 kg last week at the same time as I was increasing workout, strengthening considerably and adding muscles. My work out is twofold and my current main focus is swimming. I´m steadily building up to swimming 30 min freestyle (ca 1200 meters), 5 times a week, preferably in the early morning before eating breakfast. I have experienced that rhythm before that this helps enormously with weight loss, as well as giving me a great upper body (shoulders and chest). Also I work out in the Gym at least 2 times a week, focusing on legs and the tummy muscles (hey, where are you!). So far I have only managed 3x swimming and 2x workout pr. week but I hope this week will be the first full blown work-out week for me.
I´m very pleased with my physiological status, I´m still very focus on my objective (95 kg in 4 weeks’ time) and in a good spirit. I ´m sleeping better than I used to and that is a huge side bonus for me. I have had trouble with sleeping for many, many years. I don´t need much sleep though (6 – 6.5 hours), but I sleep more continuously throughout the night than I used to and wake up feeling refreshed. Hence my temperament has improved. I don’t feel as annoyed as sometimes before, and I have more energy and willingness to be active at home than before. That´s not a bad side effects for losing weight!
And lastly a confession; I broke my alcohol ban last Saturday. We had friends over for dinner and I opened a red wine bottle. However I only had two glasses, so it was quite OK. And I like to believe that red wine in tempered dosage does people good.
Overall numbers; w1 -1.3 kg, w2 -2.1 kg., w3 -1.2 kg.
Total weight loss weeks 1-3; 4.6 kg.
I don´t expect this coming week to be big in losing weight as I´m still adding muscles due to my work-out program but hopefully a steady pace downwards.

The 5th week proved to be a difficult one. The most difficult since I started. There was a sudden serious sickness in the family early in the week which caused me great worries and a sleep deprivation. Fortunately everything went very well and an emergency operation proved a success. But this emotional ride greatly affected the eating pattern and my usual good rhythm during weekdays was disrupted. Also I did not work out as much as I had planned. And as that alone wasn´t enough I went on a spring trip with my work on Friday, a really great one, but with the downside of huge intake of alcohol.
When I woke up this morning for my weekly weighing my body was still swollen after the weekend and I could hardly take off a ring off my finger which I use as a measurement for this. Still I was 0.3 kg (1 lbs) down from last week but I guess I can lose some more weight quite fast as my body gets rid of the inflammation.
This is an important week. My daughter is graduating from a Collage and we will have a family picture taken on Friday. These are pictures that tend to live long and I will push myself extra hard the next few days to look my best on Friday 🙂
Overall numbers; w1 -1.3 kg, w2 -2.1 kg., w3 -1.2 kg., w4 -1.1 kg., w5 -0.3 kg
Total weight loss weeks 1-5; 6 kg.
I hopeful for a really big week ahead as the upcoming family picture will keep me motivated.

Now 7 weeks have passed sice I started the 5:2 program. My initial goal was set to losing 6 kg in seven weeks. After a great start I upgrated the goal to losing 8.5 kg in these 7 weeks, to reach 95 kg. Well actually in 7 weeks and 5 days. I’m leaving for a week’s vacation in the southern sun next weekend and that was my actual target time.
So how am I doing now when there are 5 days to the “7 weeks” final whistle?
Well quite good actually. This was a thunder week where I lost 2 kg and manage to make up for a “bad” last week. And I have a good shot at getting to 95 kg before leaving for Italy. That would be amazing result. I tried on a par of great shorts this morning that I bought a few years ago but have never been able to use to date. Caramba! Now they fit me. If I lose 2-3 kg more they will look great on me. So I’m gaining some garments in my closet I haven’t been able to use for many years. And on the other side I’m starting to lose a lot of my wardrope because the clothes look baggy. This goes specially for my shirts. However I’ve deceided not to buy much clothes at this timepoint while I’m still losing weight quite rapidly. That will be my reward when I get down to eighty something. So perhaps in August?
I have one topic now that I would like some answers to. I’m a little worried about the vacation period and how to adoubt the 5:2 program to a non-normal situation. If anyone has a good tip to share with me here on this forum I would appriciate it.
Overall numbers; w1 -1.3 kg, w2 -2.1 kg, w3 -1.2 kg, w4 -1.1 kg, w5 -0.3 kg, w6 +0.4 kg, w7 -2.1 kg.
Total weight loss weeks 1-7; 7.7 kg
My waistline is down to 101 cm. from initial 107 cm.
I will post here next Saturday before I leave for my vacation. Hopefully with joyful news on the 95 kg target reached 😉