Hi, any advice for a 5:2 novice like me? 🙂

[Beautiful3]

I've only started the 5:2 diet on monday. Im 13 stone 7lbs. I want to get down to 10 stone. Working out 5 times a week and healthy eating for the past year has not helped me lose any weight. I look toned and slimmer, people have often commented on the slimmer me, but I'm the same weight! 🙄Tuesday and Thursdays are my fasting days. I prefer to have a piece of fruit at 3pm, one meal around 5pm and a hot chocolate at 7 pm, which uses up all of my calories. I only drink water. I'm still working out to a hiit dvd 5 times a week. Any advice for me please?

Sounds like you are doing all the right things! How are you finding it so far? Many people find the fast days really easy once they get into the flow of it but some find the non fast days harder - although you can eat 'normally' on non fast days I found I still had to be reasonably sensible and stick fairly closely to my TDEE in order to lose weight - years of overeating and a low TDEE meant it took a while for me to work out what a 'normal' days eating to my TDEE looked like, it wasn't simply eating whatever I fancied unfortunately!

There are loads of great tips and resources on the 'big' 5:2 thread, the threads move quickly and I can't keep up so tend not to lose but I lurk for the advice . One of the best things I learnt was to drink more water than normal on a FD to prevent headaches, and to take a spoonful of marmite to replace lost minerals!

@maxelly thanks for replying to my post. My fasting days went fine. I find that if I don't start eating until late afternoon, I'm not that hungry. Whereas if I eat breakfast, I'm always looking for my next meal! Ooh great tip about the marmite thank you, I will have to buy some. I am finding it strange on my normal days, when eating breakfast and lunch. I'm logging in all my calories into my fitness app, but it tells me off when I've only had 500 calories on my fast days!

Thanks for the link, I shall have a look now. How long have you been doing it for? Have you lost much?

Ah yes, the MFP tell off! You can avoid that by simply not clicking 'complete diary' for the day, the app still works fine

I have given up eating breakfast entirely (except the odd treat occasion on holiday or fry up at the weekend) for exactly the reason you mention. Years of (failed) dieting had impressed on me that breakfast was vital/'most important meal of the day' etc but for me I actually just don't feel hungry in the mornings and eating breakfast feels like empty calories - just makes me hungrier the rest of the day if anything! I now usually have no breakfast then a light lunch on NFDs (or sometimes even skip lunch entirely as well) and eat the majority of calories as my evening meal, works much better for me. So do feel free to experiment - if you feel genuinely hungry for breakfast then of course eat but if you find you can happily go through to lunch or even later without eating then don't feel obliged, this is the beauty of the 5:2 plan, highly flexible!

I've been doing this about 5 years I think. I lost about 2 stone overall on the plan, I am now a 'healthy' BMI. I actually lost more initially and went down to my lowest ever weight as an adult, then got my maintenance plan a bit wrong and wasn't keeping a close enough eye on it and put about half a stone back on, then lost some again and am now consistently staying the same on a 6:1 type maintenance plan. I am happy to go with this indefinitely so I am not really bothered about whether I ever get back to the lower weight, I think maybe it was just a bit too low for my frame. So long as I stay a healthy BMI I am happy. I 'suspend' the 6:1 for holidays and Christmas etc. which tends to mean I put a few pounds back on (sadly being old and short I have a very low TDEE so it doesn't take much for me to put on weight, a 2 week holiday where I eat out in restaurants and have wine or cocktails most evenings will usually see me put on half a stone or so without even going that mad with puddings or snacks), so I then periodically go back to stricter 5:2 for a few more weeks until I am back to 'happy' weight. I love that I find this way of eating so easy to manage and fit in with my lifestyle, it's totally not a problem to think I'll stick to this for probably the rest of my life...

@maxelly that's great. I'm so pleased it's working for you. 2 stone is brilliant! I'd love to be in a position where I want to maintain. I've never weighed this much before. I've always been ten stone since I left school, (9 stone 7lb for my wedding day) and even kept the weight off after children. But now I'm fast approaching 40, my metabolism has slowed down. I cannot believe how much weight I've put on. I've started avoiding mirrors and keep wearing my baggest clothes, which is sad really. I'm only 5 ft 2 so it really shows! I've tried juicing last year for 4 solid months but it wasn't sustainable and the weight came back within 2 weeks. This plan seems more of an acceptable life style change. Yes I agree with you about changing the mindset from breakfast is important, to actually I'd prefer one large dinner! I think that's a good idea, when I'm at my goal weight, to enjoy christmases and holidays but get back on track afterwards.

My DH (who is 65) began 5:2 a month ago, and has lost a stone! I think that's pretty impressive, given that weight loss gets more difficult with age.

@moggiek wow that's really amazing!! Well done to your husband! That gives me extra determination to follow the 5:2 to the letter.

Could do with losing about 1.5- 2 stone and I'm useless at diets as I just love food 🙄 but if the fasting days you still eat, how does it work?

Only asking on here as there's a handful of replies so easier to keep track lol!

Hi @MrsP2015 I've just started the 5:2 diet, done a week so far. So I'm no expert!

I read that fasting days of 500 calories should be twice a week, with at least a day in between. I've chosen Monday's and Thursday's. I literally have no breakfast nor lunch, saving my calories for a big dinner. I have downloaded my fitness app. According to my weight and height I should eat no more than 1200 calories per day. So that's what I'm having on my non fasting days. Try it and see how you feel.

@MrsP2015 I know long threads are daunting, but if you want to learn more I'd really recommend you look at the main 5:2 thread I linked to earlier (on this board), the whole thing is explained really well in the opening posts and there are loads and loads of links and resources.

Essentially the way this diet works is by calorie control, same as WW/SW/straight calorie counting, but instead of reducing your calories by a little every day, you reduce them by a lot 2 days a week and eat 'normally' the other 5 days (i.e. you eat to your TDEE). On fast days you eat 500 calories a day (most people find it easiest to either eat 2 small-ish meals a day or 1 large meal a day, no snacks between meals, no treats/junk and no alcohol on fast days). On the other days/ non fast days, some people find they can simply eat whatever they usually eat/whatever they feel like, others who are more used to overeating/binging do need to keep an eye out to make sure they aren't eating back the deficit created by the fast day. But if you eat to your TDEE and have a reasonably healthy and balanced diet, you shouldn't feel hungry or deprived on non fast days and can even have some treats. The really nice thing about this diet is that there is no restriction on the types of food you eat on either FDs or non fast days (although you will find fast days much easier if you stick to a reasonably healthy diet as 500 cals of chocolate isn't very satisfying but 500 calories of lean protein, vegetables and a little wholemeal carb is plenty - and discovering this may encourage healthier eating on the other days too). You are only 'dieting' 2 days a week, the rest of the time you can eat pretty normally, which is great for family life etc. Fasting is surprisingly easy once you get used to it which can take a few weeks.

Thank you both.

I will weigh myself tomorrow and start from there.
Does it have to be the same fasting days every week? I only ask because some busy days I don't get chance to eat til 2/3pm so thinking if that happens I can hold off til dinner time. Also guaranteed the way my mind works I'd wake starving on the chosen fasting day so may be better as and when.

Thanks for explaining though, makes perfect sense the way you say it.

No you can flex each week as it suits you and what you have on- another benefit! Just try and not to do 2 fast days in a row as that is quite tough! I like to do Mondays and Wednesdays, because if as you say Monday/Wednesday goes a bit wrong I can swap to Tuesday/Thursday easily. It's 100% easier to do a fast day on a busy day because you think about food a lot less, so it is a bit tricky in lockdown with constant access to the fridge and cupboards, and less to take your mind off it, but I try and pick days when I'll be busy with work and go for a walk or something if hunger pangs really strike!

Good luck Mrs P. Let us know how you get on. Also have a nosy, at the link maxelly posted above. They're a really nice and helpful bunch.