Yes, has worked for me to lose about three stone – actually more when i got to real racing weight for a 12 hr solo last year, but then ‘relaxed’ back to a few pounds heavier and a more reasonable weight for me. Have posted at length in some of the threads linked.

Real world update: I still follow it, but not as religiously – not so anal about counting to 600cals per fast day, some weeks i only manage one fast day, and since Oct last year 4 or 5 lbs has crept back on to my stable weight. 13’8 this morning, so 9 lbs heavier than my 12:12 race weight and I’d like to get back to about 13’3 which is BMI 25.5.
The real world experience bit is that it’s not the fast days failing that has led to this slight weight gain, but an absolute disregard to what I’ve shovelled in on non-fast days over Christmas and to a lesser extent since. Cakes, doughnuts, pork scratchings, etc….. While I’m utterly convinced the fasting has limited the damage done it doesn’t remove the need to eat sensibly most of the rest of the time!!

Works for me. Been doing it for a year. Steadily lost 1st and 2% body fat. Not amazing stats on first impressions but I have been eating and drinking whatever I want on 5 days of the week. I’m in the best shape I have been in for years and it’s easy to stick to once you are used to it.

Can we have a food diary of what you can eat on a typical diet day?

I thought it was about the number of calories, not specific food items ?

I still follow it, but not as religiously – not so anal about counting to 600cals per fast day

What i meant by

I still follow it, but not as religiously – not so anal about counting to 600cals per fast day

is actually contained in the book. For ‘maintenance’ you might find that 800/day is enough, or maybe only doing 1 fast per week, or 3 per fortnight, or whatever. That’s where i found it worked for me, being more flexible than having to calorie count to 1500 or 1600 calories per day every single day.

Also, the point is made that 600 (500 for women) is not absolutely prescriptive, it’s a broadly empirically derived number that seems to balance having the desired effect with being manageable for those that try it.

Plenty of discussion in the linked threads on this but typical for me would be

Breakfast – med sized bowl of porridge made with skimmed milk. Sweetener or maybe a sprinkle of raisins. Or a two egg omelette with spinach and chorizo.

Dinner; lean protein, about 200-250g of white fish or chicken breast, grilled. Plus as many vegetables as i fancy (last night was 3 largish carrots)

Where I say i’m less anal now, i used to weigh out all the ingredients to stick to the 600 cal allowance. Now I’m a/ better at guesstimating, and b/ I don’t really care if it’s exactly 600 or maybe closer to 700, as long as it’s ballpark and it isn’t 2500.

My concern would be that on the day after the fast day, you end up pigging out in a “I’ve earned this” way – much like you might do after a tough ride or a long run. How do you find that?

My OH is currently trying a 5:2 alcohol diet. It’s just making her more annoying, with no noticeable impact on her weight… 😉

1/ As jimster said – to eat that much isn’t as easy as you’d think.

2/ Despite what the book says, i don’t think there’s any ‘magic’ to the 5:2. All the stuff about cellular regeneration and the like, to me is secondary – if it’s true and i benefit from it, all well and good but i do it to initially lose weight, and now to maintain it. It certainly isn’t magic in the sense that you can eat whatever you want for 5 days a week, it’s just a means of restricting weekly calories in a way that fits my lifestyle better.

5 days at 2400 + 2 at 600 = 13,200/week, average 1885/day or about 500cals/day deficit over eating normally. Even if a couple of your 5 days go over, you’ll still be in credit, whereas trying to do 1900/day every single day is much harder – believe me, i tried often enough.
But it works best if you still eat normally and healthily on the 5 days as well, you don’t have to live like a monk, nor should you live like a King.

Are any of the protagonists – weeksy, randomjeremy et al still doing this I wonder?.

Good stuff TC.

First day fasting almost done, although I’m not sure what effect if any it’ll have on my sleep. Nowt for brekkie, lunch at 11.30 (I do 7-3) half a portion of muesli and milk, and then a wee cup of homemade tomato soup. Nothing else but black coffee, tea and plenty of water.

I’m surprised how relatively easy it has been, and also how good I feel at the moment, I’m not really hungry just now, had a few heavy hunger pangs throughout the day, but all passed fairly quickly. Definitely helps if you keep busy, next fast day is Thursday, I’m actually looking forward to it a wee bit now.

I’ve tried all sorts of diets, 5:2, iDave, starvation at around 1200 calories a day, Atkins, they all work for a bit but then it piles back on again.

Basically, the thing that is working for me is moving more and eating well but less I.e. Being aware of the calorific values of food.

Still drinking beer in moderation, always feeling satisfactorily full, having good things to snack on if a need a lift (apples, bananas, dried apricots ( they look more like chopped off ears though).

So far, a nice 6KG lighter in 4 weeks of not trying that hard. I’m happy with that as it doesn’t seem like an ordeal.

I am dong Insanity workout 2 says a week (it’s all I can stand) and am jumping onto the turbo for a couple of hours a week too and my job as a land surveyor involved walking about 6 or 7 miles a day currently, but always involved lots of walking usually so only turbo and insanity are me moving more.

Seen a few doing it, why not try eating sensibly for 7 days?

Seen a few doing it, why not try eating sensibly for 7 days?

On your sensible plan I have 7 days without croissants, cheesecake, chocolate hob-nobs.

On the 5-2 I have 2 days without them…. the other 5 I have them…

Why do you think I don’t eat sensibly for 7 days 🙂

Experimenting with this having put on half a stone in May thanks to the carnage of 3 40th birthday parties.
First day was Monday. It was remarkably easy, and bizarrely I have rarely felt so focused, energised and generally ‘on it’. Seriously productive day, and generally felt awesome.
Genuinely quite excited for my next day, in fact I’ve brought it forward to today.
Whether it’s effective for losing weight remains to be seen, but if the buzz remains I’m happy with that.
Very curious, may read up on that.

I’ve been on it since October 2012, twice a week without fail except when I was in the Alps for a week last year. Weight has dropped 83kg to 78.5 kg but now remains steady. I drink beer on the other 5 days. I no longer gets colds, whereas I used to get 2-3 / year without fail. I have got the flu once instead though. It has become second nature now, I deal with hunger pains with a couple cups of herbal tea.
There are quicker ways to lose weight but I like this as I don’t have to worry what about what I can eat or drink for the other 5 days, although I have never been a glutton.

This is a rule to live your life by!

You manage it every week leegee? What do you eat and when on fast days?.

I’ve missed a few here and there, winter 12-13 was very cold and at times I was very hungry and went over 600 a few times.

What works for me is keeping calories in hand till the evening, Omega 3 capsule and a cup tea in the morning, High5 extreme during the day and a piece of fruit mid afternoon, Dinner I have 150-200 k cal salad or soup usually. fruit and low fat yogurt.

After nearly 2 years it’s a way of life. No alcohol the night before either makes it much harder.

I’d say that’s about par, I reckoned about 2lbs per week to start with and add in the first week effect and maybe as you say a bit of dehydration and 4-5lbs is about right.

Resist temptation to keep weighing, it does fluctuate anyway; as you’re doing set one day as weigh in day and stick to it. And don’t give up the first week you don’t lose any.