hi Dottychris and congrats on your fastannivesary 🙂

what an amazing inspriring story, I am not quite a veteran yet, been on 5.2 since last July, but I sure hope to write a similar post on my one year mark!!

way to go!! 🙂

Hi all, been at this a bit longer than a year (started right after the Documentary aired in August 2012) but a year and a half on I’ve lost about 3.5 stone (can’t be totally exact as I didn’t actually expect to lose amuch weight – I was going for losing my vascular fat deposits and the other health benefits).

I noticed my skin clearing and becoming softer and more radiant first, then I noticed that my periods were becoming less heavy and like torture, then it occurred to me that I hadn’t had an eczema flare up for a while (have only had 1 very minor flare up in the whole year & a half) and finally I was delighted when I went to the doctor to get him to sign a diving medical form and he did my BP and said I was “Totally normal” – I have ALWAYS had doctors make a point of telling me I have high BP, “high end of the acceptable scale” but still high.

As I said I’d never really expected to lose much weight as I’ve always been big and nothing has ever shifted weight before. It took me about 6-8 weeks to notice that my clothes were sitting a bit better on me and get around to weighing myself – by which point I’d lost somewhere between 14-18lb. Since then the loss has gradually slowed to a crawl. But I don’t care. It can take me another year or 2 to get the last stone & a half off as far as I care. Slow & steady is totally fine by me.

I’m just over a year into 5:2 and it has changed my life. I have dropped from 17 stone in December 2012 to just over 13 now. Most of the weight loss was in the first 6 months and I maintained 13 stone up until early December when I went a bit wild in the run up to Christmas, I stopped fasting and had a complete blow out, eating lots of junk and drinking quite a lot of booze, I enjoyed every minute :-). However as a result my weight went back up to 14 stone. I was expecting this and it wasn’t a big deal, I am now back on 5:2 and my weight has now dropped back to just over 13 stone. My ideal weight is 12 stone and I plan to reach that by the summer.
Having struggled with weight problems since my teens (I’m 51 now) I was lucky enough to watch the original Horizon programme and tried alternate day fasting, although it produced spectacular results it was to difficult to maintain and have any sort of a social life so when Michael produced the 5:2 book I bought it straight away. I haven’t had any problems other people seem to have suffered in fact fasting has been the easiest thing I’ve ever done.
I was aware of HIIT for some time and had incorporated Tabata training into my regime for a while, so this combined with 5:2 has been amazing. Having suffered chronic back pain for years along with stiff knees and ankles every morning, I’m glad to report these are now things of the past and I feel as fit now as I did in my twenties.
The only down side is I have had to replace my entire wardrobe, from underpants up to coats and jackets and it has been a tad pricey..Ha Ha.

How inspiring, well done!

I must say the though of getting rid of migraines and that constant worrying
is enough for me to get going – I actually already feel much calmer. And I haven’t yet completed two weeks!

Hello, and congratulations on your incredible loss and success. I have not followed the 5:2 for a complete year yet – not until April 2014 but that said, I’m at maintenance now, after having lost 51 pounds from April to Oct/Nov 2013. I gained a bit over December but lost it again in January, so all is well. My benefits are:

1. two weeks in I lost the chronic pain I had suffered from since the age of 9 from neuritis. I am now 61 years of age. I also had pain from arthritis in my feet, hips, knees, back.
2. I have amazing energy and am continually increasing my workouts – I do both cardio and strength training and things are getting better every day.
3. This winter I did not have the eczema breakouts that I normally get at this time of year. I have two large patches on the outside of each knee that has been coming back for so many years it actually scarred. I only would get some on my chest and sometimes elbows. Nothing at all this year – in fact the scarring on the sides of my knees has decreased.
4. When I went for my annual check up, my doctor, who has only ever had to treat me for pain-related issues, had nothing to say or advice other than to continue what I was doing. My blood pressure was always very good as was my cholesterol so no changes there.
5. My mood improved almost immediately on this diet and I have been able to maintain a much more positive outlook on life which has helped me both in my personal life as well as my professional life.
6. My clothes size went from a 14-16 or 16-18 dress size to a 2 or a 0, depending on the style. My last jeans were a size 0 but I do have a very comfortable pair of 2s. It’s all good.

All very positive. I love the environmental impact: I hadn’t thought of that, imagine a huge proportion of the population demanding less of the earth. Lovely.
I have noticed my shopping bills reducing. I often buy two servings of food but eke it out between three of us, and it’s ample.

Ooooh I love this thread – how have I missed it until now?
I am not at my first year anniversary until early May so I have a few weeks to go but I am sure I am going to rejoice in this lifestyle as much as all previous posters/fasters.
Did you all also go through an almost Evangelistic stage where anyone naive enough to ask ‘how?’ was in for a lecture about IF and its benefits 😀
I will write again in May 🙂