You will find you are not the only one who has tried every ‘diet’ going only to lose a little weight then gain a lot more!
Most of us call 5:2 a WOL ‘way of life’ and in my case its the only time I have been able to lose two stone and keep it off for a year. 🙂
You have a good mentor in your dad – I am sure he will give you loads of advise.
The forum is also a great source of information and support – so just go for it!
😀

Got to say…I am so happy with my first week! I have lost 2 kilos already! I only want to lose 5kilos! Feeling great, not hungry, walking heaps & am excited for my new
Today to begin! Feeling motivated! Thanks

Dummerchen, these suggestions were for non-fast days.

What research? I imagine you are thinking i am saying eat a big breakfast? I am not actually saying that. I am saying eat your food during day light hours for the most part.

My experience is that its easy to keep going if you eat 3 meals at about 8-9am, 12-1pm, 4-5pm. If you have to spread them out a bit further apart, you may need to add in some small healthy snacks but it would depend on your total calories, and the quality of what you are eating (i.e. more veg and protein and less white carbs etc). I should say the above timing is based on staying at home and not be very active. If i was going to work it would probably go like 7-8am, 10am snack if essential 11 am lunch, 3pm snack if essential, 6-7pm. But eating not so much through most of the day will set you up for evening snacking unless you choose to resist this.

So many people who end up eating through the evening snacking away seem to eat bad food.

I have found spreading my calories fairly evenly over the course of the day in few meals as reasonably possible helped me avoid hunger.

Now i’m doing 16:8 fasting and although it took a bit to work out, i have finally adapted to it and find that two meals a day is good too though it works because my food is moderately low carb and whole foods. I think if i was eating higher carbs, this would be harder to impossible.

When i fast I am not excessively hungry. If i was, i would eat something even if it was a fast day. Excessive hunger can lead to binges or giving up your diet. If you make dieting unpleasant and difficult, you will quit – fast or non-fast. Clearly the reason michael came up wit 5:2 fasting was because he found it easier than water fasting.

I am not in any way suggesting people eat lots of snacks on any day. I think bigger meals are better because you choose better food. As said already i am talking about non-fast days.

I think your food choices may dictate to some degree how you eat?
I know those of us that eat low processed carb/sugar seem to find longer periods without food easier. But people that continue to eat processed carbs and sugars, even if accounted for in total calories, might need to ‘snack’ to avoid those insulin/blood sugar crashes?

Yes i agree with you Happy re the first post.
Dummerchen, , some of what i am saying comes from a scientist who works on these sorts of things called Dr Amanda Salisbury Salis and her books the don’t go hungry diet. All she says is confirmed by my experience.
Secondly, with regard to when to eat, i am not saying you will lose more weight or that its more healthy, . I am saying that it is easier to avoid hunger when you eat like this. And avoiding hunger does help prevent binging and overeating. The evidence is in nearly every forum i’ve visited, albeit anecdotal. I am generally not an advocate of eating lots of small meals. My idea of an appropriate snack is mostly a piece of fruit. and never anything like an energy bar.

I also contend that there’s not a lot of hard evidence that fasting two days a week eating 500 calories will do much more to extend life than any other healthy moderate calories way of life. That said, this fasting diet is pleasant and feels good. It helps me keep my appetite in check by moderating my carbs. It may or may not extend my life. I rather think eating high fibre may be more healthful than fasting and provide a longer life more successfully.

I am offering the suggestions i made to a person who has struggled with eating before. I am saying that this is what i’ve been doing all year and on other diets and have always found it helpful and easy, (except on other diets i did exercise. When i restricted severely, i did not find it helpful and my diets failed sooner rather than later. I am doing a few things differently this year which i haven’t done in any of my past diets as a strategy there are:

don’t do low fat
go to bed early and get a good night’s sleep
avoid stress,
deal with your problems, take action or adjust your perspective on it
get help if you can’t sort them yourself
don’t rely on exercise for weightloss

All the other things in my list above i’ve always done. These new things have helped me a lot this year and i am confident that they will enable me to make it permanent.

I have been much more strategic than ever before too and this has helped as well.

In past diets i ate more carbs like pasta, rice. This time i am eating more lentils and chickpeas than ever before. I don’t eat meat. Legumes and lentils help a great deal too because they are Low GI.

As for contradicting myself. i can’t be bothered to clarify this. Clearly you’ve misunderstood me and that may be my fault but i can’t be bothered solving it for you.

I don’t care if you disagree with me dummer. I am giving good advice. The OP can decide for herself what’s going to.

What good advice have you got to offer her?

That’s about as much argument as i think i can tolerate on this thread.

I”m well aware that anecdotal evidence is often wrong.

The person i said was stupid for fasting 4 days a week was not within earshot. So i was not rude to that person.

I wish more people would take the time to reflect a bit more deeply on the way they diet. They might be more successful.

I don’t know who you think you are but i don’t give a damn about your opinion of me or anything i say and i think your rushing in here to give me a piece of your mind, is adding nothing to the conversation, although it probably makes you feel big and powerful. You’ve just successfully turned this thread into an argument. I bet you run around looking for posts about which you can give me a tongue lashing. Enjoy yourself! You are the first person to go on my ignore list. Congratulations!

No. I will behave as if there were.