Hot, red cheeks, Mimi, but thanks very much for your very kind comments! Such great, good news about your Dad’s achievements – no wonder you are so chuffed. I’m very pleased for him and for you.

Hi, quilter – I know very little about diabetes but found that if I did an online search for ‘intermittent fasting and diabetes’ all sorts of interesting articles and forums came up, including contributions from diabetics following a low-carb approach (That was on ‘Jimmy Moore’s Livin La Vida Low-Carb’ – see his livinlowcarbdiscussion.com/forum if you’re interested.)
Apropos of nothing in particular and very un-PC, this quote from a contributor on that forum made me laugh in all its silliness: “Never eat more than you can lift.”—Miss Piggy

Can someone please help me? I just started the fast diet today. I had my last meal yesterday at 8:00pm. I had to go to a funeral dinner today and ate my 500 calories at around 12:30pm. What do I do now?? and when is my fast over?

Hi, ktweily52 – Having to fit your calories into a funeral dinner is perhaps not the best first fasting day for you. Ideally, if you can last out, you will get the most benefit if you don’t eat again until your usual breakfast tomorrow, as Carla says. However, given that you were unable to choose your own eating schedule today, I would say don’t put too much pressure on yourself. If you feel the need to eat this evening, then do so, and then, perhaps, choose another day to start this new approach – a day when you are free to arrange your eating pattern to best suit you. It can take a while to work out how to fit the 5:2 approach into your particular situation but the system is very flexible and not meant to cause stress. All best wishes to you for success in the coming weeks and months.