Ok folks here’s the deal….

I’m not a dieter. I have never been in for any sort of calorie controlling, or cleansing or fruit only/veg only/ meat and cheese diet.

That’s not me. I have never bought into any of them. Partly because I didn’t believe in them. And partly because I didn’t believe in me. I couldn’t be committed enough.

Around 5 years ago, I started training hard. Weight training. My goal was simple. Get stronger and bigger.
It was a work- based thought process as being a police officer, I wanted to be physically strong for, I hope, obvious reasons.
Weights, weights weights and very little to no cardio. 5 days a week, 1 hour a day. I stuck rigidly to low fat, high protein foods to increase muscle mass and repair the damage to the muscles I was doing by lifting heavy.

I was a gym junkie no doubt. But I was never ripped. Never skinny and for as long as I can remember I was always heavier than my recommended weight. Even at school.

In my younger years I played basketball 7 days a week with my mates, but was never small and skinny. My diet was never perfect, even when I was hitting the gym.

At my heaviest I was 107 kgs! (I’m 180cm tall) But that was at the peak of my weight training.

A little over 2 and a half years ago we moved to Western Australia.

I started running in August 2012 for fitness tests etc and lost a fair bit of weight, down to about 88/89 kgs.

About 12 months ago we ‘went bush’ with my job and we have had a lot of change going on.

By now I was weighing in somewhere between 96-97kgs. My waist I never measured, but I knew it was oversize.

However, the weight just piled back on when I started the new job. No exercise, or maybe a few runs a month, but nothing much to speak of.

Then I went to the doctors after 3 years of feeling tired, which I had just been putting down to shift working and stress.

I was horrified to learn my cholesterol was 6.9 and my weight was 92Kgs. A family history of heart problems, plus this reading was a real eye-opener.
The doc wanted to put me on statins to bring the levels down, but I wanted to try exercise and dietary changes first. So the doc gave me 3 months to try and see what happens.

So here we go. My wife suggested I try the 5:2. I watched Michael Moseley’s documentary and was blown away with the research and his own results.

On September 30th I began with my first fast day. That was the hardest.

7 weeks later I went in for the blood test (3 months after my original appointment) and my cholesterol had dropped down to 6. A significant change the doc said.
And then the weight. I lost on average 1kg a week, and had dropped down to 85Kgs! My waist dropped by 10cms too!

All this was achieved purely on diet alone. Not 1 finger was lifted in exercise- I promise you!
That was intentional as I wanted to know how successful the medical side of things would be purely based on the changes in my food intake- and the results speak more than I ever could.

Whilst it wasn’t my primary reason for beginning this ‘diet’ I can’t ignore the results of the weight loss. I feel healthier and have seen significant changes in the fit of my clothes.

I never really watch what I eat on my non fast days either, but before I eat anything, I ask myself ‘do I really need this? Am I really hungry?’ And that for me has been the key.

I am more conscious about whether I need to eat, and in turn that also prompts me to look at what I’m eating. If I want a cold drink, for example, I may reach for a glass of milk. That said, if I really want a coke (or coke zero) I’ll have it. And drink. I can’t emphasise enough about drinking enough water!!

Whilst some 5:2ers talk about ‘eating whatever you want’ on non fast days and even the diet itself alluding to it, I think it’s important to realise that despite the fasts, you can’t go out and eat KFC, followed by Maccas, followed by Dominos on your non fast days- particularly if weight loss is your goal…. there still has to be a little thought behind it. Lets face it, the equation is simple for weight loss- eat less, move more.
That said, as I have discovered, eat less, weigh less.

And a well balanced meal can include some sweets or a bit of cake or a little of what you fancy. I know I have and yet have reaped the benefits!!

So from me to any newbies wanting to start this. If an honest sceptic like me can do it, with a little commitment, (and it is only small) so can you. And I fully, 100% advocate this 5:2 plan!

I hope this helps inspire some just to give this a go. For the health benefits alone.

All the best

Bungee

Thanks guys for your kind words. It’s encouraging to hear the support on this forum, that alone will encourage more people to continue to their own success.

As for me I am continuing on the 5:2 rather than dropping to maintenance of 6:1, as now I intend to throw exercise into the mix in the form of crossfit style workouts, to see where that takes me!

Thanks again