Hi Charley,
There is no magic to losing weight, it is just maths. You need to consume less calories in what you eat and drink, than what your body needs to maintain. So look up what your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)is under ‘resources’ then ‘BMI calculator’ which will give you the number of calories that you need to consume for 5 days to stay the same weight, and that to fasting for 2 days of no more than 500 calories =weight loss. The average is 1 lb a week. This isn’t a diet but a way of life.Food doesn’t make us fat but habits do, so change the habit and lose weight.
You can consume what you like on a non fast day(NFD) just not how much you would like.
I started this in January 2013 and some weeks lost a lb and some weeks lost no weight but began to shrink, clothes became loose. Both Christmases I have put on 10 lb and then spent the following year slowly losing that again-very demoralizing. The sad fact is that I have to change what and how much I eat this year to prevent a repeat performance and have already thought about the mince pies/Christmas Cake and Pudding all of which that I love. This year I will love them just as much but will have far far less in the house. I got fed up with getting to the same numbers on the scales and not getting past that so decided to see what my TDEE was and then compare that with what I was actually consuming. I was consuming around 500 calories a day more, so no wonder I was ‘stuck’. As an experiment I decided that for 1 week I would have 2 FD at 500 calories and 5 NFD at my TDEE with the result that I lost 2 lbs.
Try for a week writing down what you eat and drink with a running total and see what you are actually consuming in relation to your TDEE. I was shocked when did this and could see what changes I could make to lose weight. It is your choice.

Charley,

No kind words I’m afraid! Just the truth.

You can’t really believe that it’s possible to lose weight while overeating? No one can eat more food than their body needs/uses and lose weight.

In my experience 5:2 really is an incredibly easy way to lose weight. Two days of the week you severely restrict calories, but if you make sensible choices you won’t be ‘starving’, and for five days you practice eating ‘normally’. That means for most of us, as Annette points out, letting go of the bad (overeating) habits that resulted in us being fat in the first place.

I didn’t count calories on non-fast days, but I cut out added sugar and bread/ pasta/ rice/ wine during the week. I drink at weekends (and occasionally during the week) and do eat whatever I want at weekends (just in smaller quantities than previously).

I lost 14kg in early 2014 and I’ve been under 60kg since May 2014. I’m pleased that my eating habits and portion sizes have changed, because I’d rather be slim and eat mindfully than fat and eating whatever I want. It’s been said before ‘nothing tastes as good as slim feels’….

If you want to lose weight you are going to have to eat less. If you don’t want to stop overeating on non-fast days, you could always increase the number of fast days (4:3/ alternate day fasting/ every other day).

Good luck, whatever you decide.