Hi Lolabelle, you might feel encouraged, and have a laugh, by reading the top post here: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/really-no-weight-loss/

There must be something different between doing 5:2 now and doing it before. See if you can work out what it is. And work on eating healthy food, in sensible portions, on your non fast days. Make snacks a once=a-week treat if you can. If most non fast days are like that, you can afford a feast now and then.

Remember that 5:2 is meant to be a sustainable way of eating for long term health. I think it is fairly rare that it works as a short term weight loss technique, and it works best to lose weight slowly and keep it off, so hopefully 5:2 will allow you to do that.

Good luck.

You can do it, Lolabelle. You know you can.
Do you eat on Fast Days or do a water-Fast?
If you have recipes for dinners <300 calories, try eating one of those on a non-Fast Day. That reduction in calories can make a difference. I’ve been Fasting for 5 years and have lots of recipes for Fast meals. Now that I’m maintaining, I can eat the things I want. But for me that does not include Fast Food and bagels because those things don’t appeal to me. I do eat cookies and cake and pie [in moderation] and drink wine. So you see, all these things will be possible once you reach your Target Weight.
Good luck.

Lolabelle- I can sympathise with the sugar cravings & the food about in the house- I have 2 teenage boys who eat loads, there’s always stuff about & as they work funny hours too it feel like I’m always cooking something for them, so quite a challenge!
It is a pain but it’s definitely worth working out what calories you’re eating on nonFDs, using a tracker or writing it down. It’s surprising sometimes how things add up & you’ll undo the good you do on FDs. I also found that 2 FDs weren’t enough for me, I think I’ve messed up my metabolism over the years, so I did ADF or 3 FDs per week, & that worked (2 stone off). I also find that once I start eating, it’s harder to stop, it’s actually easier for me not to eat at all, so I just do liquid fasts now, or eat nothing until a small evening meal.
I know this forum is about 5:2, but I would add that I’d got into a bad habit of indulging too much on the sugary stuff on nonFDs, so have gone cold turkey & embraced keto (low carb, high fat), & that is really helping with losing my sweet tooth & cravings!
Good luck with your journey!

Hi Lolabelle – I’m not so much into weight loss at this point, but I slowly reshaping my body, building muscle and cutting down the fat. The fasting helps with that and actually enforces me to think about the costs of what I eat. Over the last two years I’m finding my diet is changing and some of the changes are probably good for anyone, especially if you want to lose weight.

1) Avoid foods with added sugars. Natural sugar isn’t an issue, so fruit, vegetables and even diary or okay. Most processed foods are not. It isn’t you can’t eat them, but they should be more of a treat than a stable. Over time foods that have natural sugar in them start to taste sweet.

2) Add more high fiber foods to the diet. Beans, vegetables, whole grains like oatmeal, etc.

3) Eat slowly! Give your body time to tell you it is full.

4) Reduce snacking and especially try to give yourself 12 hours with no food on NFDs.

5) Experiment and keep making changes over time. This not only keeps it interesting but helps one learn about themselves.

If you exercise and you are more interested is losing weight, I think HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is better than cardio. These workouts can be brief, like even under 10 minutes. Push as hard as you can at something for 30 seconds. At that point you should be breathing so hard you can’t talk. Give yourself a couple minutes of rest or better yet light activity. Repeat 4 times. There are many variations. The problems with Cardio is that it takes a long time to be effective and then you are likely to lose some lean body mass too. However, I do both but now my cardio is more intense, like climbing 100 floors of stairs as quickly as I’m able. However, if you are in good shape, exercise may cause you to gain more weight than you lose.

Now I’m eating a lot even though I fast two days a week and that is why my weight loss is slow. I’m more interested in eating and building muscle than just losing weight. I typically eat around ~14000 calories a week and since I don’t eat while fasting that means I’m eating ~2800 calories/day (5 days a week.) It this point if I just cut down to 2000 calories/day I would probably lose 0.5kg/week. It is a trade off.

I’m finding I’m eating more whole plants – (vegetables & whole fruit) because I get to eat a LOT of then. (I need to get bigger plates to hold the salads!) I still eat diary, eggs and some meat. I also eat a lot of nuts and seeds which are very calorie dense. I eat regular food with my family, just not as much and when I can I pretty much eat a large almost vegan meal. (I’m not vegan, just like eating a lot!)

I don’t even really believe in eat less / move more, but at some point if one eats too much they don’t lose weight. I would guess you aren’t losing weight because a) you are eating too much of the wrong food and b) you are eating too much to lose the weight.

Over the last couple years I have had changes in my diet, mostly natural. 1) My consumption of things like ice cream has gone from once a day, to a few times a week and not more like a few times a month. 2) I used to drink a lot of diet soda and now I often don’t drink any in a week. Those could change at anytime as I’m always changing things in my diet, but the so far the changes have come naturally, I didn’t have to force them.

Good luck and I hope you figure out what works for you.