The Inspirational 5:2 Thread

[eatriskier]

ROLL UP ROLL UP… OVER HERE FOR YOUR INSPIRATIONAL WEIGHT LOSS AND HEALTH BENEFIT STORIES

It has been suggested by the wonderful betsybell that a thread be started with some inspiring stories for us all.

I feel that there should be some disclaimers - we are all different, we gain weight in different ways and will lose differently. Similarly with health issues. Some stories here mine to start with may be extreme.

Umm, that's about it I think...

So, I'll start with the first story.

After being some kind of overweight for the majority of my adult life, 2 csection kids and very badly damaged SI ligaments I decided to change my life on April 19th this year, half arsedly remembering a random article I'd read in the daily fail and just threw myself into my first fast day.

My starting stats:
Height: 5'5
Weight: 14st 13lbs / 95kgs
BMI: 35
Dress size: Busting out of 20s
Shoe size: 7-8
Ailments: Screwed up SI ligaments causing almost constant back spasms, Pernicious Anaemia with bad symptoms starting around 6 weeks into the 12 week jab cycle.

I had only tried GI diet (successful) and a brief stint of WW (points plan didn't work with me) before. I knew GI wasn't going to work again because I was too reliant on food I could throw in the oven or order in when I couldn't move because my back was completely spasmed out. I decided to calorie count on my NFDs, this was to make me better informed in my choices and suits me as I'm a stats geek.

My weight started falling off rapidly. Less bulk then meant I could get out and about a bit more. I also then started reducing the painkillers I was on for my SI ligaments, and then eventually started the 30 day squat challenge. I slowly built in more and more exercising, including elliptical trainer, static cycle and hula hooping as well as regularly walking into and out of our town instead of using the bus (saving money and getting in exercise).

29 weeks later my stats are:
Height: 5'5 (still)
Weight: 9st 11lbs / 62kgs
BMI: just under 23
Dress size: 8-10
Shoe size: 6-7
Ailments: SI ligaments still a little week but other than dull ache no real issue and no back spasms, Pernicious Anaemia with bad symptoms starting around 10 weeks into the 12 week jab cycle (MAJOR!!!!!)

I've been maintaining for those last two weeks, have lost a little but 9st 9lb to 9st 12lb is my 'acceptable' range I have decided.

You can click on my name and see my before and after pics.

OMG eat - what an inspiration; am insanely but I know it can be done, just hadn't realised it would be so quick for some bods! I've been struggling recently but having read your post I am now inspired to start again - have sabotaged today but will get back to it tomorrow. Wish me luck . and well done you . Thanks for starting this thread - I think it will fast become a favourite haunt for many .

PS watch out for my success story early next year!

Thank you eatriskier. Now I'll post up my less impressive stats - I note that we are now the same height and weight (ish).

I've had no physical problems but there's high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes lurking on both sides of my family so when I realised I'd put on 2 stone post babies and working from home in front of a screen. I was feeling not especially healthy (getting a bit puffed out when going up stairs, feeling lethargic) and I knew I needed to take control.

Height 5'5"

pre 5:2 stats
Start weight in September 2011- 13st6, 188lbs (85.3kg)
Size 14 to 16
BMI 31+ (obese)
January 2013 - 11st 2.8, (156.8lbs, 71.1kg)

I lost that weight by eating more mindfully and keeping a food diary and upping my levels of exercise in daily life and sporadic bouts of 'formal' exercise.

On 5:2
Started January 2013 having stalled around 11 stone for some time - the weight I'd spent most of my adult life at.
After 6 months: July 2013 9st11.8 (137.8lbs, 62.5kg)
BMI 22.8 (normal)
Size 8-10 on top, 10-12 trousers

I've now successfully maintained around this weight for 4 months with some rises (approx 5lbs each time) on holiday and then subsequent losses when I've got back onto 5:2. I have a loose goal of getting down to 9stone7, BMI 21 but am actually quite happy here so am in no hurry and have a habit of putting on several pounds on holidays which then take a while to lose again!

I feel fit and healthy, actively enjoy running around and am at least a stone lighter than I was when I was considered fairly slim in my early twenties. Best non scale victory was when I had to get rid of all my pre-baby nice clothes as they were all too big.

Another 5'5 person.
Max weight, just after DD was born 12 st 4
Biggest problem was crippling knee pain - unable to walk for several days every month.
Joined a gym and got fitter but no lighter.
Pregnant with DS was threatened with total knee replacement if I did not lose three stone.
Did WW and lost the three stone in 8 months : down to 9st exactly
but really, really struggled to keep it all off.
Hovered between 9st 7 and 9st 10 for many years.
Last summer hit 10st.
Started 5:2 on 4th September 2012. By 18th December was 8st 12
I relax every holiday and get back on track every term time.
Was 8st 13 this morning.
Plan to stay at or near that for ever.

5'5" i've been hear since almost the first week, but sadly I cant compete with you lot for the stupendous weight loss ,and I'm not too sure I can be counted as a real success story really compared you you all who have posted here so far. but as I'm an 'old timer' I think id better post my experiences ..

I was 13st 10 when I got married married 7 years ago, sz 20, ( I started 5:2 last August at about 11.9 having struggled all those six years with weight watchers and other diets misery and then getting stuck on a 11.10ish plateau for about 3 years..

I thought that was it for me then , id always be overweight , but after discovering fasting in August 2012 and starting a day or so after the original Dr Ms programme aired I got down to 10st (sz 10) by christmas which I maintained with no problem until about end of June.

BUT then I went on holiday and then gave myself the rest of the summer off ... and sadly I'm now 10st 7,. I'm back fasting again now and hopefully will get back to 10st for this Christmas.

But I'm a right lazy cow, so my message is if I can lose on 5:2 then so can you, I dont exercise .....well sometimes half heartedly.....cant afford the gym in time or cash , though I did actually quite like that.. especially the rowing machine .. and have never found anything else I enjoy enough to stick at it ( except walking and cycling) .... in fact I'm supposed to be at Zumba now (said I would go) but quite frankly id rather curl up with a book.. ..

So probably not much of an inspiration then, but I can say that 5:2 has changed my life , I may not be at my 'goal weight' but on the whole I think I look fairly ok now .. (there's some photos on my profile if you want to see)

Started 5:2 1st Sept 2012.

5'6 (and a half)
80Kg (12st8)
Size 16
Shoe size 7
BMI 28.3

I had gestational diabetes so am at a high risk of getting type2. My mum is almost crippled with arthritis - mostly due to being overweight pretty much all her life. I didn't want to turn out like that. BUT food is a big part of my life, if I am not cooking or eating I am planning what I am going to cook or eat. So diets had always been a no go area. I've lost bits of weight over the years for one wedding and another, but it always went straight back on. Until I found 5:2.

Now 65 Kg (10st3)
Size 10
shoe size 6
BMI 23

I've now been pretty much stable since April. Put on the odd couple of pounds for holidays, then a couple of weeks and its gone again.

I don't think it is too much to say that 5:2 has changed my life. i look better, I feel better, I am more active. I am also much more aware of what I eat, if it doesn't taste great I don't eat it. No more panicking because it is lunch time and I need to find somewhere (anywhere) to eat. No more making do with unpleasant service station sandwiches or chocolate bars because I'm hungry.

Added to that DH has done it with me, also lost 15kg and started running again, so I got back the man I married

I can't put up any before and after photos as I am always the one with the camera, and haven't got out of the habit of avoiding it yet.

Thanks for the thread eatriskier. I'll pile in with my stats now.

Pre children I tended to hover around between 10st and 10st7, got up to 11st a few times. I was 11st between children and March this year, as ds2's first birthday was approaching I was 11st3, just creeping into overweight bmi for the first time. I decided to cut out fizzy drinks and went down to around 10st8
Started 5:2 at the start of July, I'd put on 4lbs on holiday so was 10st12. I started exercising in August- did the Shred (but only 3-4 times a week) now doing Six Week Six Pack.

Stats- height 5ft6
At start- 10st12
Waist- 31.5in
Bust- 38.5in
Hips- 39.5in
Body fat (per US Navy calculator)- 31% (obese!)

Now- 9st3
Waist- 28in
Bust- 35.5in
Hips- 36in
Body fat about 23% (fit).
BMI is about 21 now I think.

I feel so much better and have more energy despite having an 18mo that doesn't yet sleep through the night ever! I was replacing sleep with sugar when exercise would have worked better.

At the beginning of 2012 was 18 stone, had been off the booze for a year or so but still had lingering liver problems highlighted through blood tests and CT Scans. Lost a couple of stone during first half of 2012 by exercising and smaller portions (bought smaller plates ) and eating more veg.

Weight loss was kind of stalling though around July time 2012. Saw the Horizon programme and the science seemed to make sense, both for the weight loss and the health benefits so thought I'd give it a go so 2 days after the show did my first Fast, as had previously arranged to go for a curry with someone the day after the programme

Didn't know what to expect from the first Fast day but got through it and found strength from that. Anyway results were amazingly quick. Yes weight loss but more importantly a radical change in shape AND feeling 20 or 30 years younger.

Since Day 1 there have been of course highs and lows weight wise but for me this way of living or way of eating is amazing, it fits in so well with the world we live in a world full of reasonably cheap and accessible high calorie food and drink. But whenever I've put on half a stone or so it's been fairly simple to get off.

So 16 months after starting this I'm over 3 stone lighter than when I started and 70 lb lighter than the beginning of 2012. Instead of buying size 38 or 40 inch waist trousers I now buy 32 inch strides. My liver is shockingly fit and my cholesterol levels are 3.6 with a lot of that being the healthy type and my blood sugar levels being 4.5......not bad for a 46 year old exalcoholic

Without being overly dramatic I've got to say this has changed my life in a very positive, amazing and sustainable way.........Thank you Dr M

In January this year I was 14stone 7. Today I'm 10 stone 13. I have 6Ibs to go before I've lost a total of 4 stone in under a year (started 5:2 on 4 feb this year)
I'm not super fit or active and I'm at home with two toddlers all day but that's the beauty of this woe you can do it whatever your situation.

Stats
Age:32
Height:5'7"
Female

Starting weight (1 jan) 14 stone 7Ibs
Start inches - chest 42"
- waist 42"
- hips 45"

Started 5:2 on 4 feb. 2 500cal fasts a week. Every now and again throw in an extra one. So far no exercise done and I've not really restricted much on nfds, just more mindful and actually get full much quicker now. I'm also a pcos sufferer, and not only have I managed to lose weight (Impossible before) my periods are regular, my hormones seem to be balanced and I feel great mentally rather than slightly flat.

29 September 11stone 7Ibs

• chest 36"
• waist 36"
• hips 38"

11 nov - 10 stone 13

Goal weight 10stone 7Ibs, but I may review this and bump it to 10stone depends on how I look though.

All I can say is, if you haven't started yet or are thinking about it, just do it! It's the best, most effective thing I've ever done to lose weight.
Good luck

Before and after photos:
www.mumsnet.com/Profile?nick=BsshBossh&photos=p

Start weight and BMI in February 2012: 210lbs / BMI 36
Current weight and BMI in November 2013: 133lbs / BMI 22
Goal weight and BMI: 125lbs / BMI 21 (though I'm in no hurry to reach this)

I have never been that bothered about my weight and have generally been quite confident about my body, whatever the size, so I've rarely been on diets. But in the space of a few years both my parents suffered strokes, my father developed dementia, my mother had both knees replaced and is overweight, various family members have developed type 2 diabetes (and are obese) and I gave birth to my daughter in my late 30s. I realised I need to lose weight in order to enjoy my life with my daughter and be healthy for her sake. I vowed I would not let my weight force me to lead a physically compromised life as I aged. I vowed I would not end up being like my relatives. Yes, my weight was fine for me now, but as I got older? I looked at my family and realised I wouldn't age well at my weight.

So I took action, finally at the grand old age of 41!

I went from 210lbs to 164lbs using MyFitnessPal and eating 15% cut of my TDEE daily, which came to a nice 1800 calories a day. Logging calories really helped be learn about healthy, normal portion sizes so I am glad I went through the effort.

After a year of logging though, I was ready for a change and started noticing the 5:2 threads in Active Conversations. I read up on the WOE, watched the Horizon documentary, read the Mosley book and was convinced by the health benefits. On 5:2 I've gone from 164lbs to 133lbs and I'm still losing.

I find 5:2 so easy because I only have to think about calories twice a week. Those two days a week feel like I'm giving my digestion and body a weekly cleanse. Fasting has reset my appetite so that I am much more in tune with physical fullness and hunger. It means I'm eating smaller amounts overall and much healthier foods too. Yes, I still eat pizza and cake but they're more likely to be homemade these days because I'm far more conscious of what I put into my body.

I intend to maintain my weight doing intermittent fasting as I want to continue to profit from the health benefits. My DH is an uber-fit runner and weight lifter and has never been overweight in his life, yet he fasts once or twice a week too in order to reap the health benefits over the longterm.

Hiya

My mil who is 75 and has been overweight her whole life has lost 2.5 stone in 5 months and is still losing with little efffort. Nothing else has ever worked. She was looking at wheelchairs and stairlifts and now she isn't. It's like a miracle. She has (almost) thrown away her walking stick.

I think this is amazing.

I can't compete with most of these inspirational stories as I wasn't overweight when I started the dietn but my 5:2 experience was as follows:
Height - 5'8
Starting weight - 9 stone 12 (63.5kgs)
BMI 21

I started 5:2 at the end of January and after 8 weeks reached my target weight of 57 kgs (9 stone), BMI of 19.
5:2 has really helped change my view of eating and now I'm happy not to eat and skip a meal if I'm not hungry. I also try and eat a light meal in the evening and eat far fewer carbs after midday (not a part of the 5:2 diet I know, but it works for me).
After reaching goal, I carried on successfully with maintenance of 6:1 and another half day, but in August stopped fasting as my weight had dropped to 55.5kgs due to BF problems. Have now started putting on weight so am back on 5:2 for a couple of weeks to try and lose the 1.5kgs I want to lose to get back to target weight. I run loads so that has helped increase my appetite and I need to get back in control. Plus get the benefits of fasting.

Hi
Joining all these amazing stories by amazing people.

I'm 59 years old, also 5' 5", and have been dieting for 39 years and weighed 8st 7lbs at my lowest when I was 20. Since then I've been a yoyo dieter trying everything under the sun until I found 5:2 and I'm a dieter no more! I actually did 4:3 more than 5:2 as I find my body just doesn't like to give up the fat.
At my heaviest I was 14st and did S.W. and lost 3st very slowly. Needless to say a year after reaching my goal of 11st I was once more on the rise and was 12st before I knew it. Thankfully, that wonderful God, M.M, made 'that' Horizon programme and saved me from myself.

I started at 12st and am now 10st 4lbs (was 10st but due to real life have gained a little) and am working to get to 10 again. I know that this is the only way for me as looking back I can now see that all the other diets were unsustainable as they were so restrictive, but this woe makes me very happy and the freedom is great.
I was a size 14 and now I am a 10 bottom and 8/10 top. I feel and look great, have more energy and constantly have compliments. 5 of my friends are now 5:2ers and are all losing and looking good. The support and information on all these 5:2 threads has been invaluable to me and I am so very gratefull to you all.

I'm another one whose weight crept up every few years and then I'd lose it and then it crept up again - until post-menopause all my strategies for losing stopped working :-(

I'm 5'8" started 5:2 in August last year at 11st 4lb by around Easter I was down to 9st 2lb and have maintained that with a 4lb upwards wobble to allow for indulgent weeks. If I hit 9st 7lb then I seriously fast for a few days and it tends to put me back on track. I've had a few work-related events recently with buffets that actually had food I wanted to eat so I'm hoping the lunch provided today is the usual awful standard at this venue so I can fit it a full fast day . If its actually tempting then I will simply do a mini fast and another one tomorrow then a proper fast on Saturday when I'm running a workshop and have to take packed lunch (so won't bother).

As others have said its the flexibility that is the real power of this WOE for me - and the fact that I can maintain without feeling I'm on a permanent 'diet'

This is fantastic to read. Just started on Monday and on my second fasting day today so not much to report.

Just wanted to say I'm really impressed and some of the pics are amazing. I really like the sound of this eating plan, hope I can keep it up but very early days. Need to start reading up on it as I just jumped in with little knowledge.

30 years ago I was 12 and a half stone - and, since I'm only 5'7" 5'6", that was not good. So I joined WW and went, fairly painlessly, down to 10.10, which I was told should be my goal weight.

I maintained this, roughly, right up until Feb 2012 when I heard about the benefits of intermittent fasting. And I’ve been blogging about my IF experiences since I began:

nobreadisanisland.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/eat-less-live-longer.html

I lost 22lbs over 8 months (6 months of that on 2 days a week on half of my calories, since I thought, prior to the Horizon programme, that a quarter was a bit extreme!) without realising I had any to lose. I now know I’m happiest between 9.1 and 9.4. (So WW kept me 22lbs overweight for over 20 years! Where’s my lawyer? )

What has pleased me most, for my long-term future, are the excellent blood results I obtained after IFing for 12 months – ‘Best I’ve ever seen’, said my GP.

But the overall effect on my day-to-day life on this WOL has been to leave me feeling so bloody good! I feel like a forty-year-old - a fit forty-year-old - when I’m in my mid-seventies! I have boundless energy – can’t see a set of stairs without running up ‘em – and nowadays I find that walking is too slow! I can't help myself breaking into a bit of a skip, then into a jog – I can do this even when carrying a couple of bags of shopping! And I skip across the lounge to open the curtains in the morning!

My present regime is 6:1. In agreement with my wife (who seems to have a veto over certain aspects of my behaviour – is that natural?) I do one complete liquid fast per month – on the other three I try and keep my calories down to below 150 for the day. I find doing without food completely very liberating. (And my wife will eventually realise that I don’t keel over when I don’t eat, and I‘ll be able to liquid fast every week. )

If I’ve over-indulged one day, I’ll cut out breakfast - or breakfast and lunch - the next day. If I know I’m going out for dinner, I’ll miss out one or two meals beforehand.

I’m completely relaxed about eating nowadays – gone is the desire to eat every few hours. As a vegan I would get very uptight if I thought I wouldn’t be able to find somewhere to eat when I was out and about. Now I know I could sit and watch my friends eat and not worry in the slightest.

As many others on these threads have said, this WOL has put us all firmly in control of our weight – of our lives in many cases – and often for the first time in our lives.

I eat stuff now I would never consider before 5:2: tempura and trifle are two things that spring to mind. I’ve also eaten more cake, biscuits and chocolate – whilst still not gaining weight – than ever before!

I now know I shall never let a week go by without including at least one fast!

I started 5:2 on 21 Feb this year weighing 10st 1 (63.7kg), not a lot but still the heaviest I have ever been when not pregnant and I was struggling to fit in size 12s. I am 5ft 4 and naturally a small frame.

I started off fasting 2 days a week, keeping calories under 500, and close to TDEE on other days, using my exercise calories as insurance for eating out and calculation errors as MFP is not always that accurate.

Within three weeks I'd lost 8lbs and had found it quite straightforward. I revised my original goal of 'get back under 9st' and set a target of 8st 10, giving me plenty of room to gain/fluctuate while staying under 9st. I was 8st 6 before marriage and babies, and had been as low as 8st 8 within the last five years, so this seemed reasonable.

I met that target 75 days after starting 5:2, weighing in at 55.9kg on 6 May. I carried on logging and fasting, was 53.9kg by the end of that month and 52.5kg a month later. I cut back to 6:1 and then 13:1 except before our holiday, when I was back on 5:2. After two weeks All Inc my weight remained stable, which amazed me!

I've now been around 51-52kg since June without making any major effort or cutting out any food types, just fasting 1 or 2 days a week or a fortnight and sometimes going 3-4 weeks without fasting at all. I have increased the intensity of my exercise, now running 8-10k about 4 times a week. I've just improved my 10k time and gone under 60 minutes for the first time in years (58:30).

Measurements at start/now:
Bust 94cm/84cm (-10cm)
Waist 77cm/66cm (-11cm)
Hips 100cm/88cm (-12cm)
Upper arm 28cm/24cm (-4cm)
Thigh 58cm/49cm (-9cm)

I am now more in proportion and less bottom heavy. Unfortunately I've gone down two cup sizes as well as from 36 to 34 back! I look better than I have in years, have tons of energy, better skin, lower food bills and am much happier in myself. I can't thank the wonderful people on the 5:2 threads enough for all their support and encouragement, I couldn't have done it without them.

I will try to put pics on my profile...fingers crossed that it works!

Postman - wow, you look fantastic! And what a bikini body - no where to hide there!

So lovely to read all of this in one thread, well done for getting this going eatriskier

My story: not as dramatic as others but still makes me happy!

Jan 2013: weighed 11st 8lbs and could see that I was on a gradual increase. Binge eating a lot
Height: 5"4 (just!)
BMI: Not sure exactly, but definitely in the overweight category

My 40th birthday was looming and I was hating how I looked in everything.
Over the years, since having the kids, I'd dipped in and out of WW and SW and had moderate success with losing the weight but not in keeping it off.
Liked the look of 5:2 so started first week of Feb 2013. Weight loss was slow and steady of between 0.5 and 1lb per week.
By my 40th, in April, I'd lost 8lbs.
By July I'd got down to 10st 4. Then the summer holidays happened and bad habits returned so I've remained around 10st4-7 ever since.

But that's ok as I'm now back in size 12 clothes, have lots of energy, and have learnt that it's ok to be hungry, it's ok to miss meals if I've had / am going to have a large meal and that I can do this forever!

And for me, that's the most amazing thing. I've stopped losing (which I know is about what I eat on NFDs!) but I know what to do if I want to kick start it again, which is to keep track of my NFD eating.
I'm just within the healthy BMI range which is fab too. And the best thing is that unlike other dieting systems, I don't feel like I'm on any kind of regime. I just feel like I have two days a week where I give my system a break, and I can enjoy the others.
Love it!

Normally content to be a lurker on these boards, but I had nice scales surprise yesterday so thought I'd share my journey so far:

Feb 2013

Weight: 11st 4
Height: just under 5"4
BMI: I think it might have been around 27?
Size: A very tight 14 (in denial!!)

I fell into 5:2 accidentally - I just gave it a try out of curiosity. I didn't weigh for about 2 months, which ensured I really got into it and noticed NSVs before obsessing about numbers. I had tried Slimming World once....lost 6lbs in 3 months and then quit and put on 9lbs! Since Feb, I've had the odd week off for holidays but always come back to it, even through a 3 month plateau. My whole relationship with eating has been transformed - whereas before I would binge on crap and feel out of control constantly, I feel in control now. Last night, I opened a bag of crisps, had 3 (actually enjoyed them) then closed up the bag, which WAS unheard of! It's also started me on a journey of more general healthier eating, and I have been focusing recently on more meat-free meals. I feel happier all round, and it's had a knock-on effect into other areas of my life that were also feeling out of control (my house is spotless now!).

Now
Weight: 9st 4 (2 stone lost exactly, as of yesterday, wahoo!)
BMI: Around 23
Size: A very comfortable 12 (10 bottom half in some places)

Now, 24lbs in 39 weeks is not mind-blowing, but my lifestyle in general is very 'sociable' (lots of meals out, and alcohol). I always look forward to my Monday fast to reset me after the weekend and start the week off again properly.

Very long-winded, but basically wanted to say I'm delighted to have found a sustainable way of eating that actually makes me happy rather than miserable. Thanks to everyone on these boards that kept me going through the first 6 or so months I feel like I'd been floundering in a fog, and now I can see food clearly.

Only downside to IF .... my engagement ring (only a year old!) is now way too big and needs re-sizing...again!

endofmyfeather
impressed
and the answer to the ring thing is to get a simple extra one to hold it on - I have two wedding rings, one two sizes smaller than the other.

My fiance's gonna love you for that, talkinpeace ! but what a great idea, hadn't thought of that, thanks!

Hello everyone
I haven't had time to visit these boards in a while but I've missed reading you all.
I discovered this WOE in January 2013 whilst reading the British press. I live in France where it is practically unheard of and when people do know about it, much scorned upon.
Anyway, I was desperate at the time, having been overweight for 9 years, ever since the birth of my first son. I saw myself as one of those women who have run to fat and felt that there was nothing to be done about it. I had tried a few classic diets only to fall off the wagon and regain all the weight I had sweated to get rid of. And then some. A 46, I weighed 74 kg with a BMI of 27.5 (I'm barely 5"4).
Eleven months later, I have lost 34 pounds. I now weigh 57 kilos (8 stones 13 pounds I think, BMI 21.2) and wear a size 10 (down from a tight size 18). This was achieved even though I stopped fasting during every holiday and as everyone knows, we enjoy lots of time off in France!
The going was quite slow at first but my body shape changed almost immediatly which was encouraging. I even unearthed my waist.
My downfall used to be cheese and wine on an almost daily basis and generally huge portions. I have now got my portions under control and almost never have second helpings. I still enjoy cheese and wine, but these are mostly consumed at the weekends. I even have the odd dessert which I never did before.
Generally, I feel I have got my myself under control for the first time in a very long time. I exercice 3 to 4 times a week, cycle everywhere and have tons of energy. I had severe back pain but it is now a thing of the past (I hope).
I've reached my goal weight but will continue to fast twice a week for a while if only because I can't quite believe what is happening. Then I'll consider doing 6:1. Anyway, I know now that I shall never be fat again. Isn't that a fantastic thing to be able to say?
Cheers everybody, thanks for all your help and encouragement.

Up until summer of this year I’d been overweight for as long as I could remember. Yo-yo dieting started quite early on in my life with a few different ways of calorie control diets and nothing could get the weight off permanently. I’d had some success in my late 20’s with Weightwatchers (when I reached obese status) and shifted five stones but put three stones back on, then lost some then put back on. I then hovered around the 13 stones mark for years, the weight I was from 18-26. 13 stones on a small-ish framed chap is quite a lot, which I realised deep-down but pushed the thought to the back of my mind mostly. I think one reason I stayed this weight for so long was because I thought being ‘only’ chubby was OK compared to being obese; I think that, when you’ve been overweight for a long time, you lie to yourself about all kinds of things. Looking back, though I was doing plenty of cardio at the gym, the weight stuck because I was snacking almost constantly and eating processed carbs in abundance.

Post-Christmas 2012, I was feeling porky and wondering yet again what I could do to shift weight. I didn’t watch the Horizon program that was broadcast four months previously but read the publicity about 5:2 in the media in the New Year and though I was sceptical about it, thinking it could be another faddy diet, I figured it was worth a shot. So, immediately after finishing the book by Dr M and Mimi Spencer, I started at the end of January and went on to lose 2.7 stones in six months, going from a BMI of 26 to one of 21, and have kept it off with little effort since the end of July. This was mostly on 5:2, with two months on 4:3, and four or five gym sessions a week. Taking the advice in the book, early on I joined the 5:2 threads on MN and the advice and support from the fabulous people on here has been hugely valuable.

I estimate to have saved almost £300 in food bills since January, my energy levels have increased dramatically, and I look much better. I don’t feel at all deprived - I still eat and drink the stuff I used to but in smaller amounts (most of the time) and I’m now snacking very rarely . I’m also more aware of calories in foods. But I still have the odd day when I over-indulge and yet I’m maintaining fine by doing a true fast of 600 cals or less one day a week as well as a mini-fast of around 1000 cals on another day of the week. I’m not thinking about food so much now and I’m enjoying what I do eat in a more meaningful way. I never thought I’d see the day when I’d go to the supermarket after work and genuinely not fancy eating a cupcake or doughnut but there’s been plenty of days like that this year. Another bonus is that I’m actively seeking healthier options now, especially vegetables, which is great because as a non-meat eater with a tendency for laziness I used to rely on starchy foods to fill me up; there’s definitely been a mental shift in how I think about food. I love how this way of life fits in with my lifestyle which is partly why it feels sustainable and I’m much happier generally, as if the real me has finally emerged after too many years hiding.