I’ve been going this for 6 months now – find it easy and intend to continue with it forever, as is my wife. I wasn’t overweight beforehand (about 11st 3lb) but thought the other health benefits seemed fairly compelling.

I have a bowl of porridge for breakfast, an apple and banana for lunch and a big bowl of soup in the evening. Soup is great as you can make your own if you want (lots of potential flavour variety) and as it’s about 80% water it’s bulky and filling for only a couple of hundred cals. I can feel a bit hungry in the evening sometimes but it’s no hardship. I reckon I eat 500-600cals on a fast day. Currently I weight 10st 3lb, which seems to have stabilised, but I’ve had to go out and buy new jeans – 30in waist! I don’t remember having jeans this small even aged 18.

Goodness. Me. Loggin in… On a Friday afternoon. Oh well.

Yunki !.

I’m not likely, going to agree with you on the coffee, tea thing.
If you’re posting what you believe, then you can’t be blamed for that.

So I withdraw my call of Troll and wish you, along with everyone else here, a great weekend.

😀

Now, which way to the pub !.

EDIT:
Oh, the breakfast bunny ^^. FWIW, I….. Agree with Molgrips 😯

You don’t need breakfast. I often get up in the morning, and mash out 20 or more miles in an hour, on the rollers. Fasted !. No problems.
Its more a case of the man selling breakfast cereals, shaking the tree, me thinks.
😉

Right, now I’m really going.

Byeeee
😀

davidtaylforth – Member

I would never trust the advice of a man who eats Special K Fruity cereal for breakfast.

Do you go weak at the knees when you see Hugh Grant on TV?

davidtaylforth, this must the first time you have ever said anything that
a) I agree with
b) made me laugh
and
c) I intend to re-use in a conversation soon.

So, what do people do a couple of hours after tea when hunger pangs set in? I tend to go for muesli (non sugar variety, but I know thats is quite carby).

Anyone of the ‘always hungry all the time’ persuasion come up with anything good and effective?

I’m always hungry! I eat my tea quite late on a fast day. Sometimes I eat a few almonds or something to keep me going!

hmmm – maybe i need to distract myself and delay tea. I will need to find something really compelling.

Jelly ftw

Is jelly not bad for me? Surely jelly is bad for me… really? is jelly OK?

Distract yourself with an “early night” maybe?!

Not eat my own weight in jelly? I suppose…

Sugar free jelly is almost calorie free and surprisingly tasty.

But seriously, to deal with hunger – mtfu, it’s an eating day tomorrow.

Konnyaki noodles – 46kcals a packet, tasty with miso soup.

Had a really gorgeous soup from Waitrose today – warming chicken broth – soooooo tasty, about 260kcals.

Anyone of the ‘always hungry all the time’ persuasion

I used to be like that.. not any more though….

Food doctor lentil, tomato and quinoa packet soup with a dash of chilli. Only 100 calories but makes a big thick mug full and has no corn starch, MSG or other crap in it.

But seriously, to deal with hunger – mtfu, it’s an eating day tomorrow.

not for me.. though not writing about it might make it easier.

Just to give some proportion to my phenomenal hunger, at uni I was unbeaten at Pizza hut AYCE with 24 slices of Pizza, and various side dishes. People would try beat me and fall groaning by the wayside. serve 6 macaroni cheese? doddle. I have honestly never met anyone who can eat as much in one sitting as me. I wish you could do it competitively in the UK, apart from the not wanting to end up huge thing.

@Rockhopper70…Racing snake on a diet? whatever next…. 😆

Just bought the book as it sounds like it will work for me.

Hopefully will need loads of new cloths soon.

The best diet advice I ever heard, came from – of all people – Dale Winton.

“Eat less, move more”.

He was right.

So, what do people do a couple of hours after tea when hunger pangs set in?

Cup of tea.

Or, eat low GI and your body’ll get used to it.

12st 4lb tonight……

@ bfith….I’ll let you have my old 34″ shorts… 😯

13-9 here (86.5kg). Still a way to go, I reckon I’d like to do another 5-8kg which would make me 24-25 on the bmi scale and quite a bit lighter than I’ve been for a long long time. But at the rate it’s moving – another 8-10 weeks should see it done and that doesn’t scare me in the slightest.

Had to put a new hole in my belt just today, and my mum says I’m looking ‘gaunt’ – but mums are supposed to keep you fat aren’t they!

I started this 5:2 fast diet three weeks ago, along with keeping a rough check on my calorie intake/expenditure using the myfitnesspal app. Also been making more of a concerted effort towards more exercise – longer, brisker dog walks, more miles on the bike.

Half a stone down after three weeks! 😀

Well on the way to shedding the stone I wanted rid of in time for my week with Riviera Bikes in June.

Am in a routine on the fast days – coffee for breakfast, watercress/spinach omelette for lunch, soup for dinner – and make a point of exercising that day.

The gnawing feeling in the gut that I guess is my body telling me to eat something has been progressively less noticeable on each successive fast day.

Hoping that this is the diet that ceases to be a regime, that sticks and simply becomes a habit.

vickypea – Member

Food doctor lentil, tomato and quinoa packet soup with a dash of chilli. Only 100 calories but makes a big thick mug full and has no corn starch, MSG or other crap in it.

You missed out an ingredient; food.
HTH.

Time for a pre-bedtime snack of bacon and avocado on some just baked bread topped off with some fresh coriander. 8)

Sweet dreams kids.

It’s only the last what, 30 years, where mankind has had three meals a day plus snacks. For millions of years, we didn’t know where the next meal would come from.

Many hunter gatherers in the UK in 1983? 😀

Im half way into my second week and find the fast days quite easy, just MTFU and get on with it, I can eat tomorrow.

Usually I and just have a brew, eat an apple when I’m hungry at 10, skip lunch or just have a salad then eat tea with family but a rather more selective tea for me, no spuds, plenty of veg, eat the meat, what ever is on that night.

No idea if I am doing 800, 600 or 400 calories on the fast days but part of this has to fit in with family and work life for it to be sustainable. I know I should not have milk in my tea or coffee but that would be like a punishment so I just have a drop.

Lost about 5kg so far and feeling great.

I don’t particularly feel starving on fast days either.

Keep it up everyone

I lost 2 stone last winter by eating healthier and reducing my daily calorie intake. No fancy dieting or fasting involved.
I do a pretty active job so my daily calorie burn is going to be a bit higher than average, which does make it a bit easier to lose the weight – the old ‘eat less, move more’ thing again.
I’d be interested to hear how the 5:2 system works for people who are spending 8-10 hours a day on their feet, continuously on the move. If it works for you then fair play, but there’s no way I would have been able to do a working day on 600 calories.
I always start the day with a decent breakfast – a good size bowl of muesli or porridge and juice, or poached eggs and beans on toast at the weekend. I prefer to fill up in the morning and eat little and often through the day with a small dinner, rather than skipping brekky and waiting til later in the day to eat.

You poor sods, doing stuff that isn’t good for you just to try and loose weight.

What happened to breakfast being the most important meal of the day? Since when is starving your body of food 12hrs or so good for you? Surely your body will just hold on to fat rather than process it…

Your body doesn’t hold onto fat because you don’t eat for 12 hours. It’s people spouting carp like this which is why the nation is obese. Every person I know who has tried this eating plan has lost weight easily and in a sustainable way. Maybe read up a bit before commenting?

Oh and people are losing weight not loosing it!!!

Who says breakfast is the most important meal of the day? What’s that based on? Who says not eating breakfast is doing you harm?

I feel better in myself and I’m losing subcutaneous and visceral fat.

It’s just eating less moving more distributed in a slightly different way. There is more to it that just losing weight though. It alters your perception of full and hungry and resets your relationship with food.

I know the other benefits have not been proven long term and some not even proven in humans but I’ve considered this and I’m happy to take a punt on it. At least until someone can offer actual evidence that it’s doing more harm than good.

I’m down about 30lbs so far this year and maintaining lean tissue.

The only time I could see myself struggling I after a big weekends riding. Did the WHW carrying all our own gear at the weekend, and I ate everything in sight on mon, tues and prob most of Wednesday. I’d like to give this a shot though.

Easy, pic two days a week to fast that suit. I’ve actually done hour runs and 35 mile road rides on fast days without issue and I save all my calorie allowance for the evening meal.

It’s an interesting diet that’s pretty popular at the moment, I think it needs a fair bit more research though. Things like whether the weight-loss is coming from the 3500-4000 calories less a week people are getting or if it exceeds that and something else is happening in the body to respond to the fast days.
Might give it a go myself but I have very little willpower so not sure if I can avoid the snacking temptation…

That’s why it’s so easy. No will power required. It’s only one day. Have the biscuit tomorrow. It’s not total denial.

Although I’ve generly improved my diet because of it. I now don’t have the biscuit on most feast days either.

FW

Possibly – but as I’ve said before, trying to stick to 1500-1600 per day every day and so avoid snacks and temptations every day is too hard for me, with my lifestyle / job, and not sustainable for the long term. If it is purely calories reduction but in chunks, and still works, that’s fine for me. If there is some magic to it as the writer claims, that’s an added bonus but purely a bonus for me, and like others I’m sceptical of those claims until its proven long term.

Avoiding temptation on the fast days isn’t as hard as you think. If anything, getting a bit hungry during the day is a pleasant feeling – it’s not as if you’re dying of starvation, just a bit rumbly in the tumbly – and the anticipation of eating in the evening makes you enjoy it that bit more. When the hunger kicks in, drink some water and do something more interesting, it soon passes.

To those giving it a go / just starting and finding the fasting bit easy. Be careful, first couple of weeks are novel and easy. I found the next few harder, once novelty had worn off. I’m now I think 7 or 8 weeks in, and it’s now ingrained to be normal. Stick with it.

Last comment – I wish it wasn’t called the fast diet for 2 reasons. One, it doesn’t feel like a diet when I can eat what I want largely for 5 days a week. Second – ‘fast’ does it no favours, because of the connotations of speed, ie crash type dieting. I’m averaging 1-2lbs a week which is hardly crash.

11st 9lb tonight.
It was an intentional weigh in as I am now hovering around this weight.
I’m going to use October to see how doing only one day a week affects things.

I forget the October update but no real difference to my weight when doing only one day. Approaching one year on and I’m 11st 5 and in a 32 trouser which was the target. Back to 1 day a week now for maintenance!

I thought I’d post my own progress as I’m quite proud of it.

Started 1st April at 215 lbs and have now reached 187 lbs with 5:2. I have had breaks for August and the festive period but am approaching my target of 182 lbs almost without trying now. I am 6’3″ and have gone from a 38″ waist to a 32″ waist. I can easily maintain the weight it was just shifting it that was the problem.
I allowed myself 660 calories on the fast days. I have been looking at the weather forecast and choosing the rainy days for fasting and the fine weather for riding. Has worked out perfectly.

10lb since NYD using this and some healthier eating … feeling good with myself about it. Although a minorish man-flu thing going on.

I allowed myself 660 calories on the fast days.

Can you tell us what that was made up out of?

I had a 0% yogurt and honey for brekkie, approx. 100 cals. I had a ready meal from Asda for lunch, usually about 300 cals. I had another yogurt in the afternoon so running total about 500 cals. I then had another snack of about 150 cals mid evening followed by an early night. The lunches from Asda kept hunger at bay at least until 5pm.

I sometimes had a massive skimmed milk latte in the morning and clung on until 12 noon for lunch.

You are definitely hungry in the morning and last thing at night but it’s better than being hungry 7 days a week which is how I see normal ‘diets’!

I feel mentally more alert as well.

I have a man-flu thing going on at the mo so last fast day was last Thursday but there must be a delayed reaction sort of thing because the weight has continued to drop since then.