Hi 21Aprilnewway,

Yes – I use all 3 plus zero calorie coke when I feel like a different flavour. I’ve been on 5:2 now for over 8 years and I normally use sodastream sparkled water and black coffee during a fast day, with zero cal coke at the evening meal. Sometimes I want black tea instead during the day. Apart from the fact that sometimes when you think you are hungry you are actually thirsty, I think simply the distraction of drinking also works to make you forget about being hungry.

Best of luck with it.

No problem. I don’t know if it helps, but when I started I set myself a few interim targets to maintain enthusiasm, plus you need to treat it as a marathon, not a sprint, and not worry too much when a few inevitable plateaux occur. I hit my minimum weight after 6 months, then set myself a general target a little bit more than that to try to maintain a BMI around 22.5 – it was 22.9 today but I always seem to put on a little more weight from Christmas to Easter and then lose again for the rest of the year. 6:1 maintenance never worked for me, so I’ve kept it as 5:2 the whole time (but never on holiday). Also don’t worry if you appear to put weight on after a fast day – that’s happened to me loads of times but didn’t stop the general trend being downwards.

Very best of luck with it.