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Hi emmafudd! I started 6 weeks ago, and have lost 6 pounds. I feel that going on a slower weight loss path is better for my body to keep from the yo-yo-ing I’ve done in the past. Also, in a strange way I feel that if I sneak up on my body, it won’t know what’s happening:) I am turning 47 in a couple of months, I am 5’4″ and currently 170.5 lbs. (started at 176.5). While sometimes I feel that the weight loss is too slow, I have to remember that by end of year I should be back to goal weight and maintaining. This is the only plan that has worked for me so far so that I don’t feel completely deprived. Additionally, I own a chocolate manufacturing company and I have to sample the chocolate bars for recipe tweaking. There are lots of wonderful things around for me to eat all of the time. I do limit myself at work to just 75% and up dark chocolate bars, but we also have lots of treats and a great baker on staff! It’s a challenge!
Best of luck, and be sure to use the tracker. It’s nice to see where you’ve been over time!
I am a health care provider and have completed week 1 doing a Monday and Thursday program. I use a Fitbit and I cannot believe that after one week my 24 hour average resting pulse has gone from a consistent 61-63 to now a resting 24 hour average of 57. Amazing. I am quite surprised as I have tracked this for 2 years.
I feel an increase in alertness and energy level in such a short time, and am surprised that on nonfast days I no longer seem to have the cravings to gorge on chips or carbs or sweets that I had and I did not overeat to compensate for the fast. The first day was a little rough fasting as I felt a bit queasy but that was quelled somewhat by drinking more water. The second fast day I felt fine.
Hi EmmaFudd!!
I’m a newbie too! I’ve been doing IF (Intermittent Fasting) for about two weeks. I can’t tell you how much weight I’ve lost bc I’m not getting on the scale. The scale and I have a VERY unhealthy relationship so I’ve decided to really just focus on how I feel – AND I FEEL GREAT! Right now I’m doing a 16:8 program every day and I am looking to start incorporating at 5:2 starting Monday. I think by starting on 16:8, it has eased me into the idea of fasting and has really helped to shift my focus from thinking about food all the time. I think I’ve lost weight by the way my clothes feel but it’s so much more than that. I feel so much more in control and grounded.
Best of luck in your journey. Look forward to staying in touch here to see how things are going for you.
Mimi
Hi everyone four months ago my doctor told me I needed to lose about twenty pounds and recommended I try the 5:2 diet since nothing else seems to work since I turned 50yrs no amount diet and exercising seems toward.
I am very active running about 12 miles each week still I could not lose pound.
I started at 194 lbs on 11/7/16 today four months later 3/11/17 I weigh 152 lbs a total of 42 lbs.
I am down to my high school weight and I am 56 years old !!!
Beverly02
Congratulations! What wonderful results and so encouraging. I have about 40 pounds to lose and have also tried everything. I am really hoping for the same success you experienced. I am peri menopausal and just can’t seem like to lose the weight. To hear your success makes me really hopeful this will work for me too!
Congrats!
-M
Day 11 Florida, USA FD
I first went on the 5/2 in 2013 and lost 16 pounds in 4 months. I found it the easiest and most effective eating plan I’ve ever followed. I maintained my ideal weight for 9 months then I let stress mess with my discipline and the weight gradually returned, I deeply regretted this. I’m now back in the 5/2 strictly and lost 3 pounds in 6 weeks. I recommended not messing with Michael’s guidelines, which are based on sound scientific study.
Good luck!
Hi,
I have done this since Jan this year, and I have lost 3.5kgs since, my BMI was 25.1 when I first started, now I am at 24.4 BMI. my plan is to lose another 4-6 kgs and maintain my weight using a 6/1.
It starts off pretty tough, but it gets easier, much easier. I found the best way to eat on fast days is not eating anything through out the day, except a dash of milk in my coffees. And then I will eat 250 grams of chicken breast meat(which adds up to around 275 calories), and join my family’s dinner and eat the rest of my calories allowance.
hi, I was so sure nothing would work for me I’m 56years old and had given up my husband had left me and I had just about given up, but on doctor’s advice I decided to give the 5:2 diet a try. I started on 11/7/16 at 194 pounds, today I am. down to 150.8 pounds. The first few days were the worse, but my trick is to do fasting on my busiest days that way I am more focus on tasks I have to complete and less on how hungry I am.
Also drink plenty of water it helps
Hi all
Earlier this week I celebrated my one year anniversary of eating better, and doing 8W BSD for 2 rounds. I am celebrating the loss of 3 and half stones since this time last year. I am 49 and live in Cheltenham UK. I love the wonderful foods this WOL has and I am looking forward to doing 5:2 (with trepidation… today is 2nd FD). Oh and looking forward to loosing 9kg to get to my goal of 63.5KG. Anyone else in similar situation?
Hi all, I’m starting the 5:2 tomorrow and would be very grateful for words of encouragement/ advice.
I’m in my fifties, have two hungry teenagers so there is always lots of food around and I work at home so am fairly sendetary. I think I have low will power though I know I should loose weight as I generally feel sluggish and uncomfortable. I need to loose about 28lbs. Part of the problem is I’m a sugar adict. I see one of my kids eating jam on bread or biscuits I have to ‘have’ some too.
I have plenty of time to cook – and my husband cooks too – so we eat well. It’s the extras I find difficult. I have a very sweet tooth and am one of those people who walks past a newsagent, buys a bar of chocolate and eats it within minutes of the shop and then can’t remember what I just ate!
Any thoughts to kick start me into tomorrow would be very welcome
My brain loves numbers so I have found tracking all the numbers – calories consumed, water drunk, weights and measurements to help with my focus. Also, writing everything down so I can look back and see where I have gone wrong etc as if I don’t it is easy to ignore the extras.
I started off similar to the BSD but didn’t restrict my calories or carbs as far as the diet suggests as I wanted to kick start weight loss rather than being particularly worried about diabetes. I am now transitioning to 5:2 and surprised at how easy I am finding my fast days, and how much my appetite has reduced generally – as long as I avoid the kids Easter Eggs which they seem in no hurry to eat.
I have lost around 15kg so far in around 12 weeks, and lost almost 10cm from my waist.
Hi bebe and welcome:
Wrong. 5:2 means you go to bed, get up, eat 500 cal. during your waking hours, go to bed, get up and eat to your TDEE.
Here is most of the information you need to successfully lose weight on 5:2: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/
Good Luck!
Yes you can become fat adapted. I regularly enter ketosis and it takes 24 hours while fasting to get there. But you in all reality will need to make your fast days water only. Reducing to 500/600 cal will not get you into ketosis. Basically you need to consume your liver glycogen reserves. When I first started 5:2 it was taking about 60 hours to get into ketosis. It now takes 24 hours. This is partially due to fat adaption, increase liver function and the fact that Im probably not carrying as much glycogen reserves. You can of course become fat adapted by eating a ketogenic diet.
Hi ll I’ve been doing the fast diet for 2 weeks. The first week I did 5 2 the second week 4 3. I’ve lost 8 lbs! Clothes seem a little looser. Check your inches/centimetres. I weigh in on a Saturday. I find it easier to have 3 small meals and no snacks on a fast day so I have cereal and coconut milk in the morning salad and a bit of dressing at lunchtime then usually salad or stir fry for tea. I mix the salads with lots of different things so it doesn’t get boring. I have a Fitbit so I log everything I eat everyday and when I feel hungry I either drink water or have a black coffee but try to limit coffee as caffeine disturbs my sleep. I keep to my TDEE on no fast days and I’m exercising more, I make sure I do at least 10000 steps a day but aim for 15000
I’m learning as I go and know I will need to mix up fast days as I will get bored! I’m 50 and going through changes. I’ve tried every diet going and this finally seems to be working. Did anyone see the programme with Mike Moseley about sleep? Sleep has a big impact on weight as well.
Try different ways of getting your calories 2 meals 1meal or 3. I like the thought that I have something to look forward to later
Good luck all
Just finish my first week on the 5:2 diet, mainly prompted by a recent diagnosis of high blood pressure. Although I know the blood pressure can be caused by numerous lifestyle choices after a chat with the doctor it was clear that my issues were probably linked to my weight (16st 9lb) and lack of any exercise. As my daughter is home from University and she wanted to drop a few pounds too, we decided to try this together. So decided Monday and Friday would be our fast days last week. I am having milk in my drinks on my fast day and a small meal with my daughter, whilst she is having two small meals, she doesn’t often have hot drinks. Exercise is non existent for me but I did do a bit this week, less than 30 minutes but that is more than I usually do. My daughter is very fit so as well as walking over 12 miles during the week she has also done over 6 hours of martial arts. Doing it together certainly helped and we watched what we ate on the non fast days, I didn’t succumb to chocolate or cake this week so that alone probably helped along with watching the portion sizes. This morning I weighed myself and I was 16st exactly, yes I know some of it will be water loss but it’s been a great kick start and I am looking forward to next week although I don’t expect a similar loss, but if I drop into the 15st range I will be more than happy. I having spoken to my daughter today yet, but it will be interesting to find out how she did later.
Tomorrow August 1st is my first day ever on 5.2. Feeling a little nervous, I am weighing in at 14 st 9ibs I don’t have any kids to worry about so that is a bonus. I plan to half my weight as I am only short. But mainly get healthy than I am now I look forward to the input along the way regards Maureen
Hi! I started February 2014, and it has changed my life. I lost 14kg in 4 months – but most importantly I recovered from ME/CFS which I struggled with for over 6 years prior. 5:2 seemed like a way for me to lose weight and be healthier when I wasn’t able to exercise because of my illness. Well, 2-3 weeks into it I was a bubble bursting with energy and I took up running (have run a little before I fell ill) and haven’t stopped since…
Well actually, I broke a bone in my foot recently so had to go from running to bicykling, and I like the change.
My weight has fluctuated up to 3 kg these years, but I seem to be able to keep it fairly stable.
I will never stop 5:2, Michael Mosley literally saved my life.
Its my first day fasting today and just half a day in I feel peckish and bad breath! so far i’ve had 1 coffee, 1 green tea and lots of water. Will probably get fruit for lunch and a plate of veg for dinner. Currently 199lbs and 5ft7 at age 30. I feel tired and lethargic all the time, anxious and have little focus or drive. Reading success stories plus the book is so inspiring and I feel excited to see how well I can do.
Hey there fellow Fast Diet-eers,
My name is Guy, and I live in Portland Oregon and I will be sixty one years of age in one month.
I’ve been using the 5:2 Intermittent Fasting for 4.3 years now, and things are going quite well ….
When I started, I had hit a high weight of 274# (normal = 165#), my blood pressure without medicine was approaching 165/100, my good cholesterol was way low, my bad cholesterol was through the roof, and my triglycerides spiked to nearly 500mL/dL, after being under 100mL/dL for my entire life …
I was sickly and weak … I desperately needed an intervention, and so five years ago, I started to search in earnest for a decent and reasonable program to turn my health around.
I started by looking at the Esselstyn Diet, which is a rather strict, no oil, no fat, vegan approach to weight loss. The primary goal of the Esselstyn diet is to reverse heart disease, and with my severe hypertension, I thought that was a good focus fur me …
Esselstyn is strict, and while I enjoyed the vegan options and learned to cook good vegan meals, I still craved some meat and things like olive oil were a regular staple that I frankly didn’t want to stop using …
While I wrestled with Esselstyn, I stumbled onto the documentary, Eat, Fast and Live Longer, while watching our PBS affiliate, OPB …
THAT show changed my life … I had meandered with Esselstyn for a few months, trying to find a pathway to success, but when I saw Dr. Mosley’s documentary, I suddenly had an epiphany – Why not mix Esselstyn with Fast Dieting? …
So, when I started. I was using a strict vegan approach, and I started to make practice ‘fast meals’, just to see if my body was ok with reduced calorie meals.
I found the 5:2 approach was quite tolerable for me, and so I took the plunge in May of 2013 …
Since then, I have changed from the Esselstyn approach to a more Mediterranean approach, and I have a number of go to foods that satisfy me and keeps my numbers down …
Weight just started pouring off of me … I lost 80# in the first two years, and have slowly but steadily kept shedding pounds over the last two plus years, and I am near my goal weight (6# to go!) …
I’ve lost a total of 102# so far, and what’s even more important, my blood chemistry is now NORMAL … Triglycerides are back under 100, my LDL/HDL is properly balanced, and my blood pressure is now measuring 135/84 without medicine.
Frankly, if you would have asked me five years ago if I could do this, if I could lose my morbidly obese piles of fat, I would have laughed in your face … IMPOSSIBLE!, I would have said … I had no confidence that I could follow a strict daily regimen for years on end … I was so pessimistic about the prospect, that I didn’t even try …
Dr. Mosley? … THANK YOU for that wonderful documentary .. It saved my life, literally …
As I approach the end game, and look to a maintenance regime, I am now fascinated by the science of intermittent fasting, and realizing it doesn’t just resolve weight problems – fasting regularly stimulates ‘Autophagy’, a term I never even heard of until a month ago …
Autophagy means ‘self-eating’, and it refers to the body’s natural process of breaking down old, worn out cellular materials, tagging the broken cell parts, extracting the broken, damaged pieces of tissue cells, and rebuilding the tissues, cell by cell …
The most important fact about Autophagy – it stops in the presence of Insulin … And insulin will be present if you are in the ‘Fed state’ … Insulin only drops after your body had completely digested your last meal …
So, my plan is to continue 5:2 fasting, and use it as a weight control method, AND as a method of enhancing cellular regeneration … I will be intermittent fasting FOR life, for the rest of my life …
When I started this journey, I intended to return to where it all started – my weight when graduating from high school …
I’ve since re-evaluated that number (165#), and, looking at the BMI charts, the chart defines my ideal weight at 155#, so I decided I would declare victory at 165#, but then keep going to the new ‘ideal’ goal weight of 155# …
That’s going to be a long slow process …
I should add – two years into the program, after the fat was shedding from my limbs, I looked down at my biceps and realized my muscles had severely atrophied …
All that fat made them look normal, but once the fat was removed, the truth of my atrophy was revealed.
Weak, puny muscles = little energy usage … Muscle mass is critical for proper metabolism, and the more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolism and the lower your fat storage potential …
I am now in much better muscle tone, and frankly, I feel great! …
I was hopeless …
Now, thanks to 5:2 Intermittent Fasting and Dr. Mosley (and Mimi!), I am ever hopeful and full of optimism I haven’t had in years ..
Thanks Dr Mosley!
Fantastic story, Guy! Way to go. So glad to hear of great successes, when I see others drop by the wayside. Keep up the good work.
You might want to join the Maintenance Forum, where there are others like you who have reached their Target Weight [yes, you have a new target] but who continue this Lifestyle.
Hi, I haven’t posted much here, but I started 5:2 around the first of the year. Even though I’ve been doing it on and off (mostly off), I still managed to lose about 10 lbs. Now I’m buckling down and doing it every week, using the revised 800 calories on fasting days. It’s working. If you work it, it works!
Hi Emmafudd – I’m the same age as you (47) and also a newbie! I am 5ft 4in and weight 11st 8lbs. I want to get to about 10 stone, which at this age, I’ll be happy with! In my 20s and 30s I was usually slim at 9 and a half stone ish, but I think those days are long gone.
I’ve just completed a full week and 3 fasts – I started with one last Thursday, and have done one Monday, and then yesterday. Today is Friday and should be my first weigh-in, but I’m on holiday so I’m going to hold off and weigh myself next Friday. I have had wine and chips this week on non-fast days, so I’m not expecting mega shifts, but I’m hoping that the fasting will have at least helped me not gain holiday-weight.
I have found the fasts easier than I imagined and hope you do, too. Good to hear the other success stories on this site as much-needed encouragement. I feel it is not as easy to shift weight in the mid-forties as it was a decade ago. I do walk a lot though, and swim twice a week, about 1.5km each swim.
Hi Emmafud just started two weeks ago I’m struggling but I’m leaning to control my portions on non fast days too. I haven’t lost much weight but my waist is much more defined. I think both these facts are due to the fact I started to exercise six weeks ago and I’m definitely building strength and fitness and I suspect the odd muscle. I do 5 to 15 minutes exercise a day including stretching. I really am struggling with concept of calorie counting I’m 51 and have never dieted before I was always skinny until I hit the menopause. I do feel better about myself though as I feel healthier and my waist is now Not permenantely growing but actually shrinking plus bmi gone from a shade above 25 to a shade below.
These detox water combos are my favorite so far! I dropped around 2kgs in last one month just by following a balanced diet and these detox water.
1. Lemon, Cucumber, Strawberry, and Ginger Detox Water for Weight Loss
2. Orange, Pineapple and Lemon Tangy Detox Water for Weight Loss
3. Watermelon, Cucumber, Mint, and Lemon Detox Water for Weight Loss
4. Lemon, Ginger, and Honey Detox Water for Flat Belly
I wish, I could upload the pictures of how it turned out. However, if you wish to read recipes, you can go to the sassy nut.
Well, I don’t know if you can really call me a success story, but I’ve been on and off (mostly off ) 5:2 since around the first of the year, and I still lost my first 10 pounds. Now that I really plateaued, I’ve buckled down with 5:2, committing to twice a week fasts. I have over 40 more pounds to lose. I’ve also switched over to Dr. Mosley’s revised 800 calorie 5:2, and it’s working! More sustainable for me. This plan works, but you have to work it!
Hello everybody,great thread, nice to read all your success stories. It makes me happy to read about you people turning your life around through the fasting routines, especially those of you who pulled themselves off the brink.
I am 65 years old, living in Germany and started on 5:2 last November. My starting weight was 66kg at 162 hight. I was not greatly overweight, just a bit poddgy. My goal weight is 52kg, the weight I had in my 20tis.
I now am 53.7kg, very near my goal weight.I have weighed myself every day to know exactly what is happening and I can recommend that. It is true that eating careful on non fast days is crucial, otherwise the weight bounces up and down quite wildly, as it has done for me.
Only recently I started writing a food diary, counting exact calories every day and I highly recommend that. It may appear a bit of a chore at first to weigh all the food and count the calories, but I got used to it, it does not take much time and I find it quite fun even. I count my consumed calories in the afternoon and then I know exactly how much of my favorite snacks I can allow myself still.I think it is good to keep eating favorite snacks, but in a controlled way.Otherwise the feeling of deprivation sets in, and that is not necessary and not helpful in the long run. Good luck everybody on your journeys. It’s well worth it!
Hello – just done my first week on 5:2 and I’ve lost 4lbs! I’m 5’4″ and my start weight was 12 stone – trying to get back to my normal weight of 9 stone by Xmas. I am doing my fast days lunch time to lunch time (as Mimi suggested in the book) and I found this week much easier than I thought it would be, I wasn’t hungry in fact, kept busy and I found I was eating less on the non-fast days without really thinking about it. I was so worried about how I’d cope fasting etc but so far so good. Glad to see how well everyone else is doing. Good luck other newbies – we can do this! x
If it encourages people to stick with it then you might like to know that I’ve been doing 5:2 since 3rd February 2013, so that’s just over 4.5 years now. Maintenance on 6:1 doesn’t work for me so I just do 5:2 nearly every week (I don’t do it on holidays, if I’m ill or recovering from an operation). I never fast Friday – Sunday. My fast days are Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Thursday. If circumstances are such that I can’t make a Thursday fast work then I’ll just do a 6:1 for that week instead. I never do 2 days in a row, I never count calories on the days I’m not fasting (but I don’t go mad either) and I’ve pretty much stuck with the same meals on fast days that work for me but are almost certainly not varied enough for a lot of other people. Recently I started substituting Lizzy’s Granola with natural yoghurt instead of porridge and blueberries for breakfast when it’s hot. Good bacteria for your guts in that too – Michael Mosley’s “clever guts diet” is well worth a read. I started at 94.3kg (BMI 27), and went as low as 75.7kg (BMI 21.6) after 7 months. Currently I’m 81.4kg (BMI 23.3). Ideally I’d like my BMI to be 22.5 and my weight 78.6kg but I’m not sweating it. In the 4.5 years since I started the highest I went back up to was 83.6kg (BMI 23.9) which is still healthy and the graph of my daily weight shows peaks and troughs, but always well under a BMI of 25. It is the way I live my life now, and I’ve always treated it as a marathon, not a sprint. Initially (the first 6 months) I set myself a few interim targets to give me something to focus on and celebrate when achieved. That isn’t really necessary for me now but it was certainly a psychological help when first starting. I also very quickly found I wanted less on my plate soon after starting 5:2 – within about 4-6 weeks my portion control had changed dramatically and has stayed changed ever since.
Good luck to everyone embarking on 5:2 and to everyone maintaining their results. It certainly continues to work brilliantly well for me.
Hi i started back in May and lost a stone. Must admit completely gone off boil since school holidays started. I found doing just 5 2 worked best 500/600 calories on fast days. Its tough to begin with but soon becomes a good routine. Im strict during week on nfd but not so at weekends (got to have some fun)
Im starting back properly tomorrow 500 and then Thursday. I also alternate between Monday or Thursday or Tuesday Thursday.
I did try doing 4-3 but made no diffference at all if anything weight loss slowed down. 1/2 a week if lucky!
I would also recommend exercise on fast days really seems to help.
Good luck
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