Hello, I´m starting on Monday as well, I´ve chosen Mondays and Thursdays (preliminary) as fast days, and then I´ll see if those days work out for me. I´m 156 cms and I weigh 76 kgs at the moment, and my first goal is 10 %, and then I´ll take it from there!

I’m a newbie too! Here’s to our first week! Wishing you all success and positivity

Hi! I started doing 5:2 last summer, but lost my way during December. I’ve just watched the Horizon programme again and re-read the book to motivate me to start again on Monday. This is the best and only way to eat. (I say this after struggling with food since being a teenager!) It takes a little bit of getting used to, but after the first couple of fasts it becomes much easier. Don’t worry and don’t give up. It’ll be great having each other as support. 🙂

Hi all,

Starting Monday too!!! Quite excited to start feeling better in myself again! Since being in a new relationship, I’ve someone how put on nearly 2 stone and need to shed this!!!! I’ve chose my fast days as Monday and Wednesday! Will eat a small breakfast and a clean healthy dinner at 4pm for these fasting days, obviously sticking to 500 calories and drinking plenty of water, i’ve found drinking lots of water should prevent headaches and sicky feeling!!!! Am i right in thinking on the other 5 days its healthy clean eating ??? Any advice is really welcome 🙂 xx

Hello, I tried this diet before xmas. As a test to see what I needed to do. Well today is my day one. I found out that I needed to space my food out during the day. So this means eating something at breakfast. Today sugar puffs no milk. Home made carrot and onion soup with oxo cubes. Plus half a can of rice pudding, half a drained can of peaches. For myself this will do. As I cannot stand cooking on fasting days. It is a case of trial and error to see what suits you during fasting times. Hence trying this diet before xmas. Just be patient and see what works for you. Good luck.
I seriously need to shed one to two stones in weight at least. So here goes.

Good luck and happy new year to all.

Lynette J

Maria211081 I am interested to know how much weight you dropped down before December ?

Starting monday too! 4 1/2 stone to loose

I’m also not drinking at all in Jan, I hope that this combined with 5:2 or even a couple of weeks with 4:3 will kick start things nicely. I’m not back at work until the 17th so thats my first goal!

I’m a newbie to this as well. Will be doing my fast days on Tuesdays and Thursdays as I will be at wrk and busy, so less tempted to snack. I haven’t properly weighed myself yet or take measurements, but I’m roughly around the 12 stone mark, and 5.3. Hoping to lose around 10lbs.
I’m currently today doing a trial run!!! My last meal last night was at around 6.30pm plus some picky snacks.
So since waking up this morning at 6.30 am I have had 2 boiled eggs it’s now 5pm.. It was very easy this morning didn’t feel hungry in the slightest, plenty of coffee, tea and herbal tea. Since having the boiled eggs I am experiencing some hunger pangs, not painful or anything but slightly uncomfortable. I can definitely feel the difference from what I thought was hunger and how I feel now. I can honestly say that I’m am soo looking forward to my dinner later. Hope I can make it through the day, and good luck to everyone for your starts..

Hi Lynette, and welcome to you and all of you newbies:

May I suggest you may not be in the correct frame of mind for a diet if you believe you can lose four pounds a week. If you think that is what the diet should deliver, you will quit quite quickly when it does not deliver that performance.

The average weight loss on 5:2 over time is about a pound a week. You might lose four pounds a week if you eat no food at all, week after week, but I doubt you can/will want to do that.

Please reconsider your weight loss goals and decide whether losing about a pound a week is worth your time. Here are some tips if you choose to go forward: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/. Number four will explain why four pounds a week is unrealistic. For everyone else, the thread will answer most of your questions.

Good Luck!

To simcoeluv

Thanks and I mean this for the link to the newbies basics. This made sense, as this will be a little more easy now I have read this. I think losing 1 pound a week would be ok. Cutting down the cal intake this I can do.

Lynette J

I think I must get out some smaller plates. Smaller dinner, and cutting out the large pudding at lunch time will be a breakthrough. I will swap the lunch pudding with fruit or rice pudding, yoghurt. I will have to only have half the dessert portion with dinner on an evening. Stay off the wine too. If I lose weight then I will be pleased. Getting the balance right for me is the key. I get icy cold on this diet.

Lynette J

Hi Charlotta and welcome:

5:2 is a calorie based diet, not a food type based diet.

That means there is no requirement to eat, or not eat, any particular foods.

So don’t worry about fruit – if you don’t like fruit, don’t eat fruit!

Good Luck!

I think this diet is good as it is not banning any food item. For myself tonight I am changing dinner as I do not feel like soup again. I have been looking at Great British Chefs website for some low cal meals. Some look good. I am sort of pleased now I am past my danger time of 6pm. As I always get dinner around 7pm. If I do not eat later on tonight then I will have reduced my cal intake today by about 2000+ cals. For myself this will be great. I will later have a skimmed milk hot chocolate before I go to bed. If I am being honest then it may be more like a reduction of 3000+ cals, xmas has added to this. I want to get to aged 50 next year at least one stone lighter.

Lynette J

Sounds like my sort of weight problem. Sort of crept up after my periods finished. Sort of having to change my diet and figure out how many cal’s I can eat now. So this diet is good as I will only have to do it two days a week. Just looking forward to roast beef, carrots, boiled potatoes tomorrow. I will not have the goose fat potatoes.I will still have a dessert with dinner. But will not have one at lunch time, only fruit. Now feeling really warm as I went icy cold for about three hours this afternoon. Now for the big test no munchies this evening. So I must find something to do. Thanks for the support today.

Lynette J

Slimline Carsie – I did 5:2 for three months (September, October, November) and lost 11lbs 🙂

My December was seriously disastrous, so I’m looking forward to starting again on Monday! My biggest challenge is sugar/chocolate/carb cravings on non-fast days, so I’m taking this weekend to prepare myself and my fridge for making a really good start again.

Hi Lynette J, Nurse-Rachett, Charlotta, cazy and all others posting on this thread,

Welcome and looks like you’ve started and excellent ‘New Year Newbies’ support thread for yourselves. Best of luck with your 5:2 adventures.

I’ve only been doing this (consistently) since July last year. I did stop and start during the previous 2 years, since the original tv programme by Michael Mosley. I’ve only weighed myself twice in that time: once at the start and then 4 months later in Nov. At the 2nd weigh in, I had lost 12lb/5kg. Up to present, I have dropped one and a half dress sizes.

That was just a bit of background. I just wanted to echo what @simcoeluv has said: set realistic weight goals. Please don’t set yourselves up for disappointment as (it’s human nature) one is then so likely to chuck it in.

Think of 5:2 not as a journey from A to B in a straight line but as a delightful ramble via the scenic route.

Read as much as you can. There is tons of info/ ideas etc on this website (inc simcoeluv’s Basics for Newbies thread.) I understand that an updated edition of Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer’s book is coming out soon. I will repost the link to Michael’s documentary (and the one on exercise if you’re so inclined …)

However, one of the most frequent comments on this forum is also how adaptable 5:2 is to individual tastes and temperaments – I guess that’s what I mean by ‘the scenic route’. There probably is a ‘best’ way to implement this Way of Eating; and maybe one day all the research will have been completed and we’ll know what that way is (if you believe that … haha) Meanwhile, regard it as a process as much as a timetable.

At one time I was so concerned about my own overeating that I went to Overeaters Anonymous (although I decided in the end it wasn’t for me). One expression from that group has stayed with me, though: “Easy does it; but DO it.”

I hope some of this has been helpful to some of you( and you are not all shouting ‘Pass the sickbag’!!)

All the best
Bootsy

Hi, I’m starting on Monday too. I’m currently weighing in at 11st 6 and 5″5. My goal is 10st, 28inch waist. This time last year I was that size and very fit, then I met my fiancée and got ‘comfortable’ haha. Getting married early July, so got 6 months to shape up and trim down 🙂

Thank you, Bootsy Badger, for your warm welcome and encouragement – much appreciated! Best wishes on your scenic ramble too! (Great analogy!)

Hi Lisa,
The 5:2 is a way of life rather than a quick fix. It is flexible and some choose to consecutive days to fast, although there are many that need a break in between.I have done both but prefer a break. What ever you choose to do, it is flexible and you can change days to suit.

There is lots of information in the FAQ’s.

Last Christmas party yesterday, now raring to go!! Taking it easy dietwise today, going to stock up on sparkling water and lime juice. Then meal plan for this week, exciting times! Good luck everyone for your first days, keep positive!

I dont think of it as a diet at all, as for five days a week you eat normally, just two days of inconvenient restriction!.Sugar addicts will suffer more than others, but now i have given it up, i can drink as much tea as i want. I have done the 5:2 before, i gave it up after a month, but a change of strategy now eating two not three meals should help.For those wanting to lose weight fast, you will have to cut down calories on the non fast days, the problem with that for me is i end up thinking about food all the time. Now i need to lose 4 1/2 stone, so for me its a massive task, but i need to accept that i have a year doing this before i can move on to 6:1 like micheal

So today I went shopping and filled up on “better choice” items. I bought blueberries as well, will add those to jogurt for breakfast, but mostly veg and some easy protein like chicken and rabbit and fish. Good luck everyone!