Hi ml, it sounds like overall you are benefitting – i would love to gain increased energy! it sounds like you should be losing weight with the exercise you are doing and your diet… have you kept a food journal to really calculate your caloric intake? how sedentary are you the rest of the day – do you sit in fornt of a computer all day long or are you on your feet most of the day?
If everything shows that you really should be losing weight (though it doesn’t sound like you necessarily need to), maybe speak with your doctor? S/he may suggest checking your thyroid or adrenal function. Or, if you’re on any medications, maybe those are playing a role?
Good luck!

Hi ml_g9,

Many people who start off close to their ideal weight or ideal BMI don’t lose weight with the 5:2. You are supposed to do it forever, so once you get down to your own body’s ideal (not the rubber stamped ideal on your doctor’s wall planner) you should level off and just have the health benefits with no weight loss. It sounds to me like your body wants to be where it is. You probably could kick start a further weight loss by starving yourself but I really hope you don’t.

The only thing I can think is that you might (???) have been building muscle, depending when you started running and the rest of your exercise regime. Which would possibly negate any weight loss. But really it sounds like you’re very active and fit, have all the health benefits and are not overweight. Maybe stop weighing yourself and just try to continue with 5:2 and not worry about the weight side for a while.

Stuck, stuck, stuck and about to cry. I need to lose 16 kg. Over 12 weeks I first lost 2 kg and nothing since. Likewise with girth, initial loss, nothing since.

I have been really working at this, doubled my activity (as monitored by a recently purchased activity band), using the recipe book almost exclusively, same band says my daily Cal burn has greatly increased. I simply cannot realistically put in this much daily effort in the long term. I am doing almost nothing else than dieting and exercising. Then there is the latitude.

I live in the far north; come winter there isn’t a hope! If I can’t lose weight now when outdoor exercise is possible, I am doomed come the long, long winter.

Like Michael, I am a walker. I also cycle…..but 4-6 most of the year, both are just too miserable to think about. Cannot stand gyms or public pools; the crowds and the noise make me want to explode with rage and misery.

I have no trouble fasting; if I don’t eat I am not hungry. So, I will now try 3 fast days per week.

At this rate, I am on my way to being the world’s fattest anorexic.

Me too ! Nice to find some company. I am the same, but not giving up hope yet.

I am active and plump, and want to lose at least 2 stone. my bp and bloods are ok, but I just carry bulk about with me.

hubby and I started this regime 4 weeks ago, and he has already returned to being a proper racing snake. the belly has gone and he looks great. he claims to have lost over half a stone. I have been strict on fast days, and pretty good on other days.

I think my waist has shrunk and my face looks less chubby but I’m no lighter. I do loads of exercise, don’t drink alcohol and dare I say it, almost enjoy the feeling of emptiness on fasting days.

Do we think there is a special breed of human that is just destined to get fat on fresh air?

I am a pear shape – what shape are you ?

My slim mother says I’d survive a long time marooned on a desert island. Brilliant news.

I too am a pear shape, and need to lose the three stone that I have put on over the years through taking anti-depressants.

I know a lot has been written on here about how good everyone feels while fasting, but I don’t. I am starving hungry all day when fasting, which is accompanied, strangely, by a feeling of bloatedness.

My husband has been following the diet too, and has lost 1 stone 10 pounds while eating absolutely what he wants on non-fasting days. It is pretty hard to watch him eating fish and chips and drinking beer while I nibble at grilled chicken and salad.

hello everyone, i really feel for you, it can be so hard when scales say no weight has been lost, when i began this plan i found i did lose to begin with then it stopped for nearly 4 months, i was a good 5 stone over weight, but this plan is for life, slow is good, it means fat is being lost and not muscle. what comes off slowly stays off.
ive changed my fasts to 4:3 and have found that the scales are moving again, but during the time i was at a stand still my body was reshaping.
the whole point of this plan was to only watch what we eat on fast days, over time you find yourself making better choices without even thinking about it, IMO if we count and watch what we eat so closely each and every day then this becomes just like every other diet out there, this is not whats intended, its not how this plan is supposed to work. yes adjust the plan to suit your needs, eg by adding another fast day, but dont get to hung up on what the scales say,
im in my 11 month now, 33lbs lighter, 2 dress sizes smaller, this plan does work and is fairly easy to do, i guess what i want to say is dont make it such hard work for yourselves that you end up giving up.
wishing each one of you a new healthier future. xx

keep doing what your doing pudding if its working for you, we are all in this together, i do know for some people its not going to be as simple due to other outside factors, i didnt mean to sound harsh with my post and do hope its not offended anyone. xx

I started the diet five weeks ago and have steadily lost around 12 lbs, however my Mum has lost nothing! She is so despondent and been in tears! She has tried everything to lose weight, but nothing works! She is not counting calories but has cut her calories the non-fast days. My partner wondered if that was the wrong thing to do as the diet is supposed to take us back to our feast and famine days. Perhaps we need the peaks and troughs of feast and famine to challenge our bodies to lose the weight. Believe me, I do not watch what I eat and I eat VERY well, but still seem to lose the weight. Interestingly I don’t think I’m losing the inches, but I wonder if I had a fair bit of internal fat around my organs that is being used up first. Any thoughts on the feast and famine idea?

I too am not losing weight! I have been doing the 5:2 for almost 5 week and I am sad to report that I have not lost anything! I have struggled with my TDEE, I think for the first week I was doing the feast days at 1200, spoke to a few people and they said go up, which I did to about 1500 calories a day. It was then suggested to me to do my TDEE, which I did and I am going to try and stick to this new amount of 1807. I calary count using my fitness plan.
I did not measure myself and I would say my clothes are a little looser- however I have also upped my exercise, as I wasn’t doing anything, and now I am doing the power plates 3 times a week, riding and walking.
I have been a yoyo dieter, and have recently (just before I started this) just come off the slim fast diet. A friend was saying because I have been almost eating next to nothing that this 5:2 diet won’t really work for me – she said it would more likely be good at maintenance but not weight loss. Do you agree with this? As it feels like that is what is happening – I have just maintained my fatness.
I want to try do 4:3 not sure if that will work, but I have got things on this week, so it might not be possible.
But I am very down about it all.

@ ml_g9…

Don’t be disheartened…everything takes time. I imagine no one enjoys counting calories but if you have an idea of what you are consuming…after a while you wouldn’t need to. At least not on the non-fasting days. This is beginning the 3rd week for me. I am doing alternating FAST days instead of the 5:2 approach. I have lost 2.5 lbs the first week and another 3 lbs on the second week and 2 inches off my waist! I am exercising twice a day on the fast days…and not at all on the non-fast. Keeping the fast days at 500 calories…and the non-fast somewhere between 1200-1500. (BTW…a stone equals 14 pounds)

Hang in there 🙂

are you sipping sparkling water and drinking lots of tea? Does protien help? a boiled egg, a piece of smoked salmon?
I’m sorry you are having that issue.
Perrier is saving me.
Maybe you should indulge in the fish and chips with your husband…the book says to eat normally on non-fast days.

Hi, Smash – From the sound of it, your poor body doesn’t know which way is up! You have been chopping and changing quite a bit, not eating much, and you also shifted from another diet scheme immediately prior to trying the 5:2 approach. So, my guess would be that your whole system needs time to settle down, getting back into a more ‘normal’ eating pattern on your non-fast days (i.e. close to your TDEE, Total Daily Energy Expenditure recommendation). Hopefully, with some exercise too, you will get some good results in due course. I would say just try to be patient and relax into it all a bit more. Intermittent Fasting is meant to be an on-going healthy lifestyle choice rather than a fast-track to weight-loss. I wish you all the benefits of such a choice.

Goingtogive15back,

The Introduction page to this site has a TDEE calculator for your Non-fasting days. And as far as BMI calculations

http://www.aarp.org/health/fitness/info-05-2010/bmi_calculator.html?CMP=KNC-360I-GOOGLE-HEA-FIT&HBX_PK=bmi&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=bmi&utm_campaign=G_Health&360cid=SI_554086863_22443057541_1

is a useful site.

I am viewing this less as a diet and more of a lifestyle change. I am more than thrilled by the results so far.

I try to do 200 or less in the morning…100 or less in the afternoon (sometimes none)…and whatever I have remaining (save 50) for dinner…and leave 50 calories for a Pim’s with tea before bed.

By spreading it out and getting creative with the foods I find I am not ravenously hungry on FAST days and do not feel deprived.

I have found that attempting to eat anything solid at lunchtime stimulates my appetite and tend to avoid doing it. Also that cold-boiled peeled shrimp are only 6 calories each 🙂

Good Luck!

I think the exercise thing is optional.

Thank you for your answers. I think the book is misleading in that there was a woman who had my situation 135, 40 something, and got down to 119 pounds in four months. If I do this as advised by bmi this will not work out in the same time line. I am not looking for quick though I would love it to keep my motivation up, but I am looking for a change and that is what I am struggling with. This is no different than eating super clean for 6 days and having a cheat day … I mean if were to cut out 500 calories per day for a week I would lose a pound, more than this diet, so I am unsure what makes this so wonderful if I have to watch what I eat and fast. I thought the whole purpose of it was to lose and still not feel deprived. If I have to count calories, to me that is deprivation … obviously this is how I interpret it, but think this is being touted as a miracle when it is still a diet.

I have done the master cleanse, and I love fasting so that is not the issue, the issue is the watching what you eat the other five days. Has anyone experimented with two days fast, four days watch calories, maybe even create a deficit and then one “cheat day” ? I think what I was hoping for was a quick change in order to boost my motivation, and then settle in for the rest to come.

I have read several posts about “women” not losing … this has crushed me in that this program seemed a god send but now it is like every other diet out there. Ugh … for the record, I eat relatively healthy and yes I love nachos and could eat a ton of them, but I do not do that on a regular basis and was hoping that i might be able to indulge a bit more frequently and still lose, obviously totally unrealistic. I want to cry, quite frankly. I could live without indulging if I were to have the results of the woman I referenced above but apparently she was watching her calories very stringently for four months to get those results based on what I have read so far, this is the disappointment. UGH! Any suggestions or real life solutions to accomplishing the final goal with “SOME” immediate results to keep me going are welcomed, and I offer thanks in advance.

When I watched the program about this diet, I understood that on non-fast days you are not to limit yourself. I have done a very simple approach to this diet; I eat 500 calories for the two days and literally eat whatever I want the other days. The only problem I have had with weight loss occurred after eating a bunch of cheese at a cheese party. I felt physically horrible for the next few days and my weight increased by three pounds. Since then, I have lost all of those three pounds again and got to a new low weight, which is a total of 8.2 pounds lost in six weeks. I have learned though, I will not eat a huge abundance of cheese again!

To me, the beauty of this lifestyle is how it changes your mental attachment to food. No one on this forum loves sweets more than I did! However, since starting this, I do not crave them as I used to. I eat them when they are offered to me, but I do not seek them out like the addict I was! Also, I can go many hours without feeling like I must have something to eat when my stomach starts growling! I find I fill up quickly every time I eat and truly enjoy eating, even on fast days!

My recommendation to anyone having difficulties with losing weight or staying motivated is to keep the diet simple. Eat what you like on non-fast days and stay strict on your fast days. Find ten to twenty minutes every couple of days to take a walk and enjoy your new outlook on eating! Best of luck!!

Thanks Jeanius, yes I am trying not to weight myself every day – & i am trying just to let my body settle down and try stick to my TDEE on feast days as i am normally under. I am going to try and do the 4:3 at some stage, to see if that kick starts it, & try and vamp up the exercise a bit more. I am going to stick with this another month, i do feel so much better (when i dont think about the lack of weight loss,) and it is just so easy to do.

I think a lot of people are relying on comparing themselves to others. We are all different and lead very different lifestyles. This diet isn’t meant to be analysed so much, it’s what all other diets have caused us to do. If you were dieting previously and started this then it will take longer. I’ve experienced that before myself. Just keep doing the diet as it says, 5 days of non calorie counting and 2 days of up to 500 calories. Eventually your body will get on track. As a lot of people have said, it’s a lifestyle, in fact it should be called the “fast lifestyle”. I actually don’t eat at all on fast days. Suits my brain better to not even think about food. Water is definitely a must. And herbal teas too. X

I tried eating what I liked for 5 days out of 2. I ate sensibly. I tried it for 3 months and lost nothing. Now I’m counting and having 7,600 calories a week (instead of 14,000 TDEE). Last week I lost 2 pounds.

Hi, Pudding – I think you deserve an award for the amount of effort you’ve been putting in and the different experiments you’ve tried, determined to get a positive result. You are very impressive and I wish you every success in your goals. I wonder whether you have had any review of your treatment with your Doctor recently? Would a change to a different type of drug or a reduction in dosage be possible and/or some kind of behavioural therapy? From what I can see online, not all anti-depressants for anxiety prevent weight-loss.
Also, could you increase your activity levels a little, either at home or maybe walking in the fresh air – ideally somewhere green and peaceful? Jessica Smith is a young American fitness trainer who puts her exercise routines on YouTube for free and one of her specialities is exercise in a very small space, requiring just one corner of a room. She has several indoor ‘walking’ sessions and I think her exercises are simple, well-taught, informal and light-hearted – with her little white dog ‘Peanut’ often walking into view or else sleeping through the whole video:

Walking Workouts – jessicasmithtv – 17 videos:

http://m.youtube.com/#/playlist?list=PLe5P3ayTEj7aejY9MC8-0S6oTqx5j0aGK

All best wishes to you, Pudding, for finding things that help and get you to where you want to be.

Enjoy your food: 5:2 is very easy to stick to, but unfortunately for me, it doesn’t work. I think 3 months was a fair trial! My husband loses 3 lb a week usually and eats for England on his 5 days off. We are all different and anti-depressants sabotage good dieting practice.
Jeanius: many thanks for your words of encouragement! Unfortunately there is no possibility of a change in dosage in the forseeable future, and the ads which suit me seem to involve weight issues. This isn’t the first one I’ve been on!
I have been trying to get out walking when possible, and walk for an hour 3 times a week, but my experience has been that exercise makes little to no impact on weight loss.
At the moment, calorie counting looks promising, and will pursue that and see what happens.

Keep cool, wiltldnrUSA – Unusually, for the UK, for two weeks we too have been having sunshine and heat, though ‘only’ in the upper 70s-80s (25-30C), rather than 98 degrees-plus (36-37C). Keep hydrated and try to take things easy. Enjoy your exercises, perhaps once it’s cooler. Best wishes.

Have not started the 5:2 but am thinking about it. I just want to lose that last 7-10 lbs. (5’2″, 127 lbs. currently). When I read the comments in this forum, the people who seem to see the most results (i.e. lose the most weight) are those who have 20lbs or more to lose. What about those of us with 10 or less lbs to lose?

I have been on the 5:2 plan for 3 months….have not lost weight, in fact I have gained a couple pounds! My BMI is 29 and would like to get it down into a healthy range.

My fast days are Monday and Thursday. I have played around with when to eat on fast days and skipping breakfast and eating my 250 cals. at lunch and dinner seems to work best. On non-fast days I eat normally and have noticed I feel full faster and don’t eat as much as I used to.

Even with not eating as much normally and following the plan on fast days, I am not losing weight. I would be grateful for any suggestions on how to get weight loss started using the 5:2 plan.