Tell me about it, Mo! I’m of similar vintage to you and spent 5 of the 15 months I’ve been doing 5:2 on a plateau, although I was losing inches, getting very good BP, cholesterol and blood glucose readings and generally feeling good. Apart from the frustration of doing all the right things and losing nothing AND, worse, falling off the wagon without gaining anything. I started to wonder why I was bothering.

Quite by accident I found a solution and 3 kilos have slipped away since early Feb, which is miraculously fast for me. I see from the other thread you started – No Country For Old Women, brilliant title BTW – that on fast days you have fish and veg and presumably few or no carbs, which has to be good.

For years now I’ve not been able to face breakfast but have always ready for something solid around midday. Some weeks ago I began to find that non-fast-day lunches of a sandwich, panini or wholemeal roll with a lean protein and salad filling were making me feel over-full and rather sick. So now I just have the filling and forget the bread, which is what I do on fast days anyway. This means of course up to 10 slices of bread and 5 panini or rolls are missing from the menu, which represents quite a drop in carb intake. It also means I have more room for manoeuvre in the evenings when I’m really hungry.

You may already be rationing the carbs, but if not, what worked for me may well work for you. And take no notice of the medics. Sure there are some great ones out there, but some definitely talk out of their posteriors and many of them seem still to be living back in the dark ages when civilised ways of eating like 5:2 hadn’t been invented.

You’re more than welcome, Mo. BTW I’m talking about carbs in the form of grain, rather than fruit or veg. Also, I think a lot of our fellow posters have found that they have to be careful to stay within a reasonable calorie count even on non-fast days. The motto seems to be: We can eat what we like, but not as much of it as we’d like. And if there is something naughty that you genuinely can’t live without, make room for it in your calorie allowance.

If you are short of fat friends – I was about to say “if fat friends are thin on the ground” but the pun was too excruciating – you’ve come to the right place, at least for not-as-fat-as-they-used-to-be friends. Have a wander around the forum and you’re bound to find some topics you’d like to join in. There are some really nice people on here from around the world, of all ages and both genders, many of whom have achieved spectacular results, sometimes in the face of very serious health issues. And of course, there are quite a few plodders like you and me, but they, and we, will get there in the end.

PS Mo was my nickname at school. My maiden name was the same as Michael’s, but I had an extra “e”.

Hi:

Here are some thoughts on plateaus: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/on-plateaus/

And mojo, this explains TDEE: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/tdee-for-the-curious-or-why-dont-i-lose-weight-faster/

Good Luck!