Hiya Sakina5, it sounds like it’s still very early days for you, so it’s unfortunate that you had a ‘5:2 holiday’ so early on. Yes, you will gain a bit of weight whenever you stop doing 5:2. It IS basically a ‘stealth’ calorie controlled diet and with any diet you will regain weight when you suddenly stop doing it for a bit. The difference with 5:2 is that it’s very easy to pick back up where you left off and as long as you’ve only missed a couple of fastdays then you can pretty much guarantee that you’ll drop back down again very quickly to where you were before your ‘holiday’.

I can tell you from my own experience that 5:2 actually completely solved a lot of my issues with my menstrual cycle and for me it is worth doing forever for that (and the eczema cure and the BP reduction) alone. However, even that is not a permanent fix. I HAVE TO fast to keep it going. I recently had a ‘5:2 Holiday’ for my birthday, which unfortunately fell the week before my period was due. It was not anywhere near as bad as it has been in the past but that extra bit of pain and discomfort was a telling reminder that this lifestyle is exactly that. I may take the odd week off for a holiday or my birthday or Xmas or whatever but I will do AT LEAST 1 fast a week for the rest of my life, just to maintain my health benefits, nevermind weight.

Don’t fret too much about your little ‘holiday’ weight gain. Just get back on it and it will sort itself out pretty quickly. You CAN take holidays, but you must always expect to pay with a little weight gain or a dip in your health benefits – you soon get the gains back again. It’s just life. 😉

Too true tombaron, I’ve always weighed once a month, so despite the odd ‘holiday’ I never actually SAW any weight gains. By the time my weigh in came around I’d always caught back up and lost whatever I’d put on during the holiday again.

Weigh once a week/ fortnight/ month, whatever you prefer. Do it on the same day of the week at the same time, having eaten and drunk the same amount and you will have (as close as you ever can) a bit of consistency to your weighing.

As Tombarton said, you probably have to account some of your recent holiday weight gain to water etc. and it will make a massive difference in weight if you weighed at different times of day, on different scales and different lengths of time since your last fastday. So just ignore your most recent weigh in and get yourself into a weighing routine (whatever you decide that is).

No need to freak about your next holiday. If it’s just a week then just do what you did this time. Be mindful of what your intake is each day but don’t deny yourself – you’re on holiday!!! You might find it easier after a few more fasts to just skip non-essential meals and have 1 or 2 yummy meals a day instead of wasting calories on a breakfast or lunch that you don’t really need.

Hi @sakina5 completely agree with what has been said already. There are two/three times I avoid weighing myself (or if I do I take the values with a pinch of salt) – time of the month & post-holidays/post-weekends – otherwise water weight comes into play a lot. That’s why I think I had such a large initial weight loss of 6lbs or something in my first week, so much of it was water.

I would advise after a holiday/time of the month to do the 5:2 or 4:3 regime for a week & then re-weigh. That will be a ‘truer’ value.

Good luck !