Hi Karen,

I’m starting today too! I’m planning to make my two days Mondays and Wednesdays as well. I did 5:2 earlier in the year with good results, but got distracted, and I think not engaging with other people doing it meant I wasn’t as accountable! Anyway, I would also like to lose around 12-13kg, and have decided this time to try to make use of the forums a bit better (instead of just lurking). Cheers, Jen

The first few weeks were great when I tried it before. It all fell apart when I had several busy weeks with travel for work and then a holiday! I always found the Monday’s were easy(maybe because of more socializing/eating out on the weekends?), but Wednesdays were a bit harder to stick to.

I must be almost a day ahead of you (in Fiji), so I’m actually just heading home from work now. So far so good – no breakfast, and a 250 ish calorie lunch, a couple of black coffees and lots of water. I’ll have a boiled egg and some spinach when I get home I think. I’m hungry, but don’t feel starved and that thing about hunger coming in waves is definitely true!

Good luck with day 1!

Jen

Well, I’m starting the second fasting day this week, and I’m already hungrier than I was on Monday! I had cooked up lots of vegetables and a couple of chicken breasts on Sunday, and frozen them in ~250 cal amounts for the fasting days, so I have one of those for lunch, and then maybe some beans on toast at night.

I did find going to the gym the morning after the fast day much harder work, but so far no headaches.

I haven’t tried doing a third day yet, as the second fast is always a bit harder work than the first, so I imagine the third would also be tough! Good luck today!

Hi Karen,

I realised from your earlier posts that you must have done two fast days in a row. How did you find that? Was the second day much harder?

It’s my third non-fast day of the week. So far so good, although I did head out for beer and pizza last night! However, nothing over the top, so I am still down 1.5kg from my start weight on Sunday night. I’ve been eating as normal on the non-fast days (more on that below), but am becoming more conscious of the potential calorie count of my usual diet! I haven’t changed anything yet, but just becoming aware I guess, since we’re so careful with the 500 cals on the fast days. It can be a bit shocking to see how quickly it adds up. I made a smoothie yesterday, and added up the calories and was surprised to see it clock in at around 400 cals (fruit, yogurt, honey and weet bix). Compared to the bowl of vegetables and poached egg and beans on toast that were lunch and dinner on Wednesday, it seemed very limited!!

I had decided to try not to be too vigilant on the non fast days, and just really focus on getting the two fasting days right for now, and see how that goes. This is just because one of the big hurdles with other diets for me is how much they impinge on ordinary life.. It’s cool at the start when I”m all full of motivation, but really hard to sustain over a longer time.

Today is another non fast day, and I’ve had an egg in a bun and a coffee for breakfast. I have roti and vegetable curry for lunch, and am heading out for dinner.

Good luck with your day!

So here we are at the start of Week 2! The first week was good, the two fast days were manageable, and I think I’m down about half a kg (it does go up and down depending on the day and the time of day that I get on the scales, but I think altogether it is down about half a kg). I’m looking forward to the second week, and getting into a bit of a routine.

I do eat out a fair bit, and like you, it tends to be later in the week, so I’m hoping the Monday/Wednesday fasting days work out. I’ll see how it all goes for a few weeks and if things slow down, will look at adding a third day!

In terms of what I eat, on the fast days I seem to be very routine (this was the same when I tried it earlier in the year). It just seems easier to have a few things worked out and not too much thinking needed on those days!

All the best for week 2!

2kgs is amazing! Congratulations! I am very impressed that you can manage two days in a row. I find even having a day in between, the Wednesdays are harder than the Mondays. Halfway though Wednesday here, and came online for some inspiration from the forums!

I haven’t been keeping a close eye on what I eat on non fast days, but am finding that I seem to be more interested in vegetables and less processed food. It’s a bit as though getting very hungry a few times a week makes eating a more thoughtful business (like the food really has to be worth it or something!).

Yes, two fasts for the week are done, and it’s been a cruisy Thursday so far! Altogether I think I’m down about 1.5kg, which I’m very pleased with, and not feeling too deprived!

On exercise – I have never found that it leads to great weight loss by itself! I’ve been a fairly regular exerciser for years, but still managed to put on weight, so for me it really is about the diet.

I’ll be travelling for work from Sunday to Friday, so am thinking of doing the fasts on the days I’m travelling as airport/airline food is pretty unexciting anyway.. I’ll tell you how I go!

Week 3, and one fast down – I did fast while travelling which was ok – not the easiest as there is a fair bit of waiting around near coffee shops and not terribly much to do! It’s also interesting being somewhere new, and not knowing the places to eat – I felt today (not a fast day) that I would rather wait until I found somehting really good, rather than eating rubbish just because it’s a mealtime. i’m in a workshop for the next two days so theyr’e likely to be full of tea breaks and things, so I”m glad I managed to squeeze in a fast on Sunday! Hope the third week si going well for you too!

Karenollie, you are doing something wrong I think. I am 70 and my wife is 66. We both need to loose some weight and have found the 5&2 just about right. Today is our first fast day this week and the pair of us have been in the garden working plus extremely hungry, but, we fight it. Our way round that problem is water and lots of it. Keep away from anything that is sweet. Keep away from chocolate.
We also have high blood pressure problems before we started the fast diet. Now we do not.
Be strong keep to the script and don’t forget to exercise preferably on your fast days as we do and you will win that is a promise.