I’m on my second week! I didn’t lose any weight my first week, which was so discouraging that I almost quit. This week, I lost 4lbs! I started watching what I eat on my non-fast days n drinking more water. I hope the loss continues. I do drink wine on my non-fast days, which worries me a bit. Does regular alcohol consumption hinder the weight loss?

Hey454134
I downloaded a fitness pal app on my phone n it helps me keep track of what my caloric intake for all my days are. I’ve been trying to eat smarter n drinking lots of water, but I do have my cheat weekends where I’m not as hard on myself. Thats the point of this diet right? I’m hoping to lose 15-20 lbs in the next three months. Wish me luck!

I’ve been doing this almost exactly 1 year now and my weight loss in that time has averaged out at about 0.8 Lb per week (although I only weigh myself once a month because 3-4Lb sounds so much more encouraging). However, that basically means 3 stone in 1 year and (so far) 2 on the way to 3 dress sizes.

To get down to what, my Wii tells me, is my ideal weight I still have a couple of stone to go. I’m not really bothered if I ever get there to be honest, as just losing any significant weight at all is far more than I ever imagined would happen when I started this and the other benefits (no eczema, no heart palpatations, amazing skin, MUCH better hormone regulation etc. etc.) are well worth sticking with this for on their own.

This is not a ‘fast’, ‘faddy’, ‘beach body in 3 weeks’ diet, it is a longterm lifestyle choice (I intend to do this forever) and anyone expecting quick results may well be sorely disappointed in the short-term.

I’m so disheartened. I really had faith in the Fast Diet and tried not to be discouraged by my very slow weight loss, although on the plus side I have dropped between one and two dress sizes, depending on the fit of the garment. However, after 6 months I have only lost 4 kilos – that’s when, like today, 2 kilos haven’t crept back again. It also seems as though some of the fat I lost has returned.
I weigh myself once a week so as to reduce the disappointment level. Could any of the following reasons have anything to do with it?
1) Age: 73 and female, with a sedentary job as well as doing a post-grad degree which tends to involve a lot of sitting e.g in libraries and at home in front of the computer.
2) Already eating healthily and exercising regularly (doing a lot of walking) before starting the Fast Diet, i.e. unlike those who turn to dieting after eating all the wrong things, I haven’t had to make any dramatic change in my eating habits. It’s just been a question of watching quantities both on fast and feast days. I either actively dislike or can easily do without all the fatty, sugary stuff. Nor do I drink alcohol.
3) Genes – the obese child of obese parents, also brought up to eat far too much, not junk but good home-cooked food in what I have since realised were enormous helpings. After leaving home at age 20 I reinvented my diet, which helped a bit, but not that much.
4) Just not destined to lose weight. While living on the Continent, careful and sometimes rigorous dieting and lots of exercise – walking everywhere (I was giving private English tuition and walked to pupils’ homes all over the city) and swimming 3 times weekly – resulted in some reduction from obese to merely overweight, but at the slimming/exercise club I joined where one did pilates in an individual heated tent, I received a very public telling off – including accusations of cheating and lying about what I ate – for only losing 1.5 kilos (a little over 3 pounds)in 6 weeks.
I apologise for the whinge, but it would be comforting to know if anyone else out there has had the same problem and succeeded in solving it.

It’s lovely to receive support from Down Under, atlast. Thank you. Obviously we share similar problems, which probably originated with the mega-meals served by well-meaning but ill-informed parents. I guess it is a question of making the Fast Diet a way of life, which is fine by me, although it may be difficult to maintain at times, such as on holidays or at Christmas.
It’s significant, I think, that my brother (also a large gentleman) and his son (who has solved his weight problem with a somewhat weird diet which is healthy – mostly superfoods – but monotonous) each instinctively elected to pair up with slender women who have never had a weight problem, thus lessening the chances of their kids inheriting the fat gene. My 14-year-old great nephew could eat for England but is as fit and slim as a reed, just like his tall, slim marathon-running mum.

As one ages, there is one advantage to being a larger lady. In Spanish they have a saying that after a certain age you have to choose between “cara” or “culo”, i.e. you can choose between a fairly youthful complexion and a big butt, or a pert little bum and a face like a road map. Despite – or maybe even because of – my struggle to lose weight, at 70+ I have skin that wouldn’t disgrace someone 15 or more years younger. I’m no Jane Fonda, but I could look a whole lot worse. I take comfort from this now that the scales have barely moved for 6 months.

Hello, have you tried 4:3 IF.

Perhaps try it for a month or so. I found it really quick !

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kvCFPh_IYWs/Ue3fAvp3wnI/AAAAAAAAJZc/Cs5ovIGsLn0/s640/IF%25203%2520Months.jpg

I have just returned from a five-day family visit. Unbeknown to each other, both I and my husband and my cousin and his partner are on the Fast Diet. As each couple was following a different routine, we decided to be naughty and forget the whole thing and eat heartily but healthily, with the odd treat. We even went to a superb Russian restaurant, from which all four of us waddled away.
To my delight I haven’t put on a single pound, nor has my other half. In the past I would have returned at least half a stone heavier and probably feeling rather unwell. Although I have only lost weight at a snail’s pace since February, perhaps the Fast Diet is doing things to my metabolism. Maybe there is a God of Weight-loss after all.

I think the recurring theme is slow and steady is the IF way. I usually weigh myself the morning following a fast day and after 2 weeks I have lost just 1lb. So I am going to weigh myself just once a month and focus on the health benefits and try to remember that this is lifestyle not a faddy get-thin-quick diet……

I have been doing 5:2 since late February and had lost just under a stone (14lbs) by end of May. I was and am delighted. I now seem to have plateaued. As some others report, I lose a pound or even 2 on a fast day, only to put them back on straightaway. But… I have lost 3″ from my waist and all my back fat (you know, Ladies, those lumps of flesh which bulge over bra and pants). My body is so much trimmer that I am going to cast caution to the winds and return to wearing bikinis on holiday having been a swimsuit gal for many years. Even though the weight I have lost is about 3lbs less than when I went to Slimming World some years ago, I am much more confident of sustaining this diet long term. I feel better and picture my internal organs being freer of fat than they were. The advertised health benefits are so important to me. Maybe to lose more weight I should obey the TDEE which applies to my new weight rather than stick to Mrs Average’s of 500 for Fast days and no calorie counting on others but I am happy to mosey along as I am. I am going to be 60 soon, am 9stone 10 with a BMI of 22.5. Thanks to The FastDiet I feel in control of my weight and health. It is definitely worth sticking with as I believe it works from inside out.

I would like to comment on a number of points and questions on this topic. I have been on the 5:2 diet for 22 weeks and have lost 20.5 pounds. I am a 63 year old male living in the U.S. I came to this forum because it seems that the rate of weight loss has distinctly diminished in the last two weeks.

I saw some research recently that concluded any weight loss of more than 20 lbs in one year was accompanied by a slow down in metabolism. I think this may explain my reduced rate of weight reduction.

Second, I have been exercising diligently, on average 5 one-hour sessions per week. I combine various aerobic, resistance, and stretching routines. The most important advice with respect to exercise is that some sessions should be “all out”. 20 to 30 minutes of sustained high-heart rate exertion has the benefit of sustained metabolic increase for up to 24 hours after the session ends.

Third, I came to the 5:2 diet because of its ability to reduce IGF-1 levels which appears to be highly beneficial for the reduction of cancer risk and also diabetes. It is the primary reason that I am on the diet (but I also need to lose about 50 pounds).

Fourth, I, like many others have noted, that there is a day-to-day fluctuation in weight. I measure my weight every time I go to the gym, but the weigh in that counts for me is before dinner on the second fast day. I typically gain 2+ pounds at some point after that which I think is mainly driven by the fluctuation of the volume in my intestines and level of fluid retention.

All I know is that I feel great on this diet. The lack of restrictions on the non-fast days is a fantastic benefit for me. If I want to eat something, I do. I finally got my wife to stop nagging me about my dietary habits. She sees this is working.

My advice to all is to stick with this diet. Know that there will be progress fluctuations and think about vigorous excercise at least three times per week.

I could not have been on the fast diet while I was breastfeeding my son. I did a full year of breastfeeding, and I almost ate more when I was breastfeeding than I did while I was pregnant. while you initially lose those pounds once the pregnancy is done and you discontinue breastfeeding, you are still used to the high amount of calorie intake, which I believe is where my weight problem began. 5:2 has been a lifesaver for me.