HI LB,

I experienced two plateaus but both only lasted about a week or two. I went from 202 lb to 154 lb, so a 48 pound loss, which is similar to what you are wanting. Im now in maintenance and do 6:1 and still tend to creep downwards with my weight so there are days when I actually have to force myself to eat more than I really want to. I know that 5:2 doesn’t ban any foods but realistically there are some foods that make it real hard to be successful.

Keep doing the same thing and you will get the same results. So you need to change something. My fasts almost from the get go were water only fasts. My one fast day per week is still a water fast. Personally I think this really trains your liver to be as “fit” as it can possibly be. You want your liver to be able to access and convert stored fats really well. You go to the gym for fitness, think of water fasting as a workout for your liver. I noticed a decided difference after about 6 months of water fasting. All of a sudden water fasting became REALLY easy. So don’t expect results overnight. Success doesn’t chase you, you have to chase it.

So I would recommend you try two different things. Make one of your fast days a water only fast day. The other thing to try is to look very closely at what you eat. Eliminate all grain based processed foods, like bread, pasta, pizza, breakfast cereals. If the product came from a grain its a no go zone. No potatoes and no fruit juice no SUGAR. read food labels real closely.

Some people say, oh youre just doing a low carb diet. No not at all. I get all my carbs from veggies (and some fruit and beans/pulses). I just don’t get any carbs from grains. Most of the time I eat raw veggies as a salad meal but not all the time.

You work out a lot. Do you have all those protein shakes? If you do stop having them!! Most a based on whey protein which is crap and just spikes your blood glucose. Not good if your aim is to lose weight. If you need protein have tofu, cheese, beans etc. Sometimes after a long bike ride my body will be screaming for tofu which is my protein fix. On other occasions Im not even hungry, so you get used to listening to what your body needs.

Good luck.

Why are you feeling frustrated? Youre losing about 0.5kg per week which is about the average weight loss. So you were on 2000 cal per day. Im assuming you had 500 cal on your fast days. So each week your 3000 cal down for the week. 9.3 cal per gram in fat. 3000 divide 9.3 = 322 grams loss per week. Youre losing about 500 g per week which is more than the calculated 322 g. That’s about right. Don’t believe all the diet hype. It took me one year to lose my weight.

LB,

When I said I do water fasts I allow myself a coffee with a splash of milk. Im not a big drinker of coffee, I usually have 2 a day. Sometimes a black tea. So by all means have your coffee. So realistically Im probably having 20-50 calories. Not enough calories to drop me out of ketosis (fat burning mode). I monitor this using a blood glucose and ketone meter. When I first started I used to do two consecutive fast days (60 hours) and it was taking me 48 hours to get to ketosis. I now get there after 24 hours. I think it is a combination of my glycogen stores not being 100% full and the fact that my liver is able to access stored fats efficiently now. I flip over into ketosis a lot quicker. I noticed this change after about 6 months.

Give a water fast a try. Im not saying its going to be easy but grit your teeth and give it a try. Giving it a red hot try at least once, it isn’t going to kill you. The benefits in my opinion are huge. In fact Michael Mosley made 5:2 500 calories because he didn’t think most people could handle zero calories. Its based on the work of Valter Longo and Krista Vardy.