So you have been getting on the scales and starting to feel disheartened as the numbers are not going down. Well try not to.

When you say that you want to loose weight, don’t you really mean that you want to loose fat. Fat cannot be easily measured on a set of bathroom scales. If getting on the scales is an obsession and is making you upset, then you really need to STOP. Don’t get on them if your mood is determined by the number you see in the morning on the scales. You will benefit from either weighing monthly or even not at all.

At the end of the day don’t you really want to look and feel better in your clothes, improve your overall health and be able to exercise longer.

If you gain weight on the bathroom scales, it does not mean that your clothes will not feel looser. Here is an example I found of one of Jason Ferruggia clients that show even though you weigh more, that your body can look better.

You can see that she looks more lean and fit with a bit of exercise and weight gain.

The scales are really no longer a useful tool if they upset you especially once you get within 5-10kg of your goal, so please do not let those numbers define your view of 5:2.

Quick Fix & Long Term
Do NOT go hand in hand

Let your choice for becoming a healthier person make you feel proud of yourself as it takes a person with a positive attitude to stick to anything long term. If your looking for a quick fix when it comes to a thinner you that is also maintainable long term I would love to hear of it. At the end of the day it is your own personal journey and you need to stay positive and believe in yourself for success to occur.

I love looking at numbers and statistics so weighing for me is an enjoyable experience. Even when it goes up I like to look at the statistics to see if I can see any patterns an graph them. They never make me sad or angry, however if they upset you just stay away.

Measure yourself

I cannot highly recommend this enough. I hear so many people getting disheartened by not losing weight, but if you take measurement you will see that even though you may not be losing kg’s you are actually losing cm’s. And really isn’t this what us girls want, to fit into that smaller outfit.

Stick to 5:2 life style and just believe that you are doing wonders for your insides to live longer and healthier. You clothes and comments from other people will be your guide.

Hello my fellow fasters.

So I have my positivity hat on today for the “End to Week 5″. I have just had a couple of weeks where I had not lost any weight, but worse still, I was also putting weight on. +600g one week, the +100g the next. That is 2 whole weigh in’s, and 2 weeks of this new journey where the scales where not giving me great results. And I was only 4 weeks in.

Today was the first time I had seen my ‘weigh-in day’ with a result of down and not up, and I am feeling great. But I was never disheartened on the weeks I put on weight at all. I was still super excited.

With the Facebook support groups that I am in I often see so very many people getting disheartened and upset when they do not get the results for one or 2 weeks when they get on the scales, and then it seems to define how they are going to feel about the 5:2 WOL as a whole, that 1 or 2 weeks or even 3 weeks which results may not be in their favor.

I would really love to share a thing I like to do, to help keep me motivated and also helping me to realise that I am on the right track and not be too hard on my self or even ‘quit’ when I have a few bad weeks, just like I have with other diets. I hope this helps to keep others inspired.

This is not a diet (it’s a WOL) – I know people laugh at your when you say WOL, but really it is. Only 2 days of paying attention to what we eat, and not 7 days a week, which 95% of people fail at because let’s admit it who really want to do that for the rest of your life. I sure don’t that’s why I always fail.

Healthy weighloss:

So the people in the know (doctors, health pros) say that 500g per week is health weigh loss.

You know what? I would even be happy with at least 200g per week, it might be a little slower but it is still in the right direction. Especially after being overweight pretty much my most of life. My life journey with weight challenges has been since childhood, but most attempts to try and reach my goal has been mainly the past over 16-20 years, since I was 18 – and never making it all the way.

How I set my realistic goals: (how to stay positive)

•  500g / week would get me to my goal of 65kg (22kg loss) in 45 weeks
  (that is less than a year) 
  • Average this or higher – mood “excited”
•  250g/ week would get me to my goal of 65kg (22kg loss) in 88 weeks
  (that is still just over a year and a half years)
  • Average this or higher – mood “very happy”
•  even 200g/ week would get me to my goal of 65kg (22kg loss) in 110 week
  (that is still just 2 year)
  • Average this or higher – mood “happy”

— 2 years! That is nothing compared to a 20 year battle — to only have at most 2 years to reach my goal — I can do that — it’s not a race it’s a WOL.

My maths method to positive scales:

I use this method below to work out the most important number you should be focusing on when you weigh in – Most important number in PINK

What most people see:

Last Week:
This Week:
This weeks loss: (last week minus this week)
Most people use this answer to determine if the diet is working.


This is what you should do every week before you determine how you feel:

Week no:
Start Weight:
Total loss:
Average weekly loss: (total weight loss/number of weeks)
This is the real number you should be watching, to stay positive.

How I stay positive:

If my average is over 200g, then I am going to choose to be happy, as based on my realistic goals I am on track… Pretty darn good if you ask me, and it allows for slowing when I also get closer to my goal.

 Here are my current results:

So as of the end of my 5^th week.

Weighed in today and this is what I see
Start date: 5 Jan 2015
Week no: 5
Start Weight:
 86.9
This week: 82.5
Total loss:
 4.4
Average weekly loss: 880g (total weight loss/number of weeks)

 So I am happy — this is way more than 500g, so and well above being on track, I have heaps of spare in the trunk for when I have a bad week or two or three that might run in a row.

Here were my results for the previous 2 weeks:

Week no: 4
Start Weight:
 86.9
Last week: 83.6
This week: 83.7
Weekly gain: +100g
Total loss:
 3.2
Average weekly loss: 800g

 Week no: 3
Start Weight:
 86.9
Last week: 83
This week: 83.6
Weekly gain: +600g
Total loss:
 3.3
Average weekly loss: 1.1kg

Now if I didn’t look at the average, I would have been getting very upset that I had gained weight for those 2 weeks, but because my average was above 250g which is my realistic goal that I would still be happy with.

Also above 500g each week, which is the top end goal, how do you think my mood is from the number on the scale.

 I am still smashing it with this new WOL. 800g leave me plenty of room to not worry for ages. Now even though the scales were not good for 2 whole weeks, I am awesome and on track.

Want help?

If your not sure how to work it out comment below and I will be than happy to help you work out your numbers.

Share with me:

Share your results below, in the comments. I would love to see how you are going on your 5:2 journey.

Give it time:

Especially if you are only starting out, you really need to give this WOL at least 8 weeks to start seeing decent averages. Then if not working, I would suggest looking at your TDEE intake.

The choice is yours – you choose how you would like to eat. So if you can manage to only eat 1200 calories on your non fast days then you can, however this would not be considered a 5:2 diet, it is more like an extreme 7 day a week calorie restrictions diet of only 1000 calories a day.

How? – I hear you ask. I have tried to break it down for you below, by showing it to you in a mathematical equation.

Suggested 5:2 Diet:
2000 (TDEE) x 5 days = 10,000
500 x 2 days = 1,000
Total calories for the week
10,000 + 1,000 = 11,000
Divide that by 7 days in the week
11,000 ÷ 7 = 1571/day

Now you substitute the 2000 (TDEE) with your own TDEE
(see how to calculate your TDEE here)
Mine is 1811, and I struggle to eat that amount usually I eat around 1600, plus on my fast days I never eat all the way up to 500 anymore. So once averaged out over 7 days I am on around 1200/day.

Now if you only have 1200 on non fast days
1200 (restricted) x 5 days = 6,000
500 x 2 days = 1,000
Total calories for the week
6,000 + 1000 = 7,000
Divide that by 7 days in the week
7,000 ÷ 7 = 1000 cals/day 

While only averaging 1000 calories a day your body with not go into the “mythical starvation mode” but if you are eating too little for too long it can put a lot of stress on your body over long periods of time.

When your body is put under stress due too not enough food for an extended period it will respond by producing cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that increases your bodies resistance to insulin, which in turn encourages your body to store fat, rather than use it for fuel. This is why intermittent fasting is great as it does not put your body under stress for an extended amount of time. It is shown that a little bit of stress over a couple of days of fasting is good, but extended stress can be counterproductive.

Another reason for not doing a low calorie diet is because eating to little can also cause your body to retain water due to the lack of protein in your blood. Your body can store water, sugar and fat, naturally. However it has no way of storing protein, so if you do not get enough protein then your body will start to consume it’s muscles as a source of protein. So this will effect the results you are hoping to see on the scales.

And lastly, if low cal diets were successful long term, then no one would be looking at doing 5:2 as an alternative to the other diets options out there where 7 day a week calorie restriction always usually ends in failure.

Remember it is not a race, you may think that if you eat less you will lose weight quicker, but it will not be sustainable long term, and your body will be much happier if you take your time.

5:2 is not just to lose weight, it is something that you want to do to live a healthier and longer life.

After watching Michael Mosley’s inspirational documentary Eat, Fast and Live Longer way back in 2012, it sat in the back of my mind as something that I would consider attempting. I loved the fact that it was all based around scientific research and there was mounting evidence of its health benefits. I also saw it as something that I thought could be able to sustain long-term.

Now over 2 years later and a bit of a push from my husband as he wanted to lose weight, I decided that this year was the year. So I began my fasting lifestyle on the 5th Jan 2015. I had not planned to start, I just decided on the Sunday night and began on the Monday morning.

Here are a few things I hope will help you with starting this new way of life.

Keep It Simple

Try not to get too bogged down in the numbers on your non fast days. Just count your fast days calories and keep them under 500 for women or 600 for men.

Only start counting non fast days if you find that you are not losing weight and check it against your TDEE. I found that I counted at the start because I was not sure exactly what 2000 calories in a day looked like, so just for my own curiosity.

The easier you make it on yourself the more likely you are going to be to succeed and it will be sustainable. You can always make adjustments and change things later. The best thing you can do for yourself is just start.

I am not losing weight

Don’t stress if you are not losing weight, everyone is different. Some people lose it quickly and some people don’t. That does not mean that because the numbers on the scales are not showing results that inside your body in not getting healthier.

Do not mistake fat loss with weight loss. These are 2 totally different things. When losing fat you may not see it on the scales due to many different reasons such as water retention (very common), bowel movements and hormones.

Measure yourself

I cannot highly recommend this enough. I hear so many people getting disheartened by not losing weight, but if you take measurement you will see that even though you may not be losing kg’s you are actually losing cm’s. And really isn’t this what us girls want, to fit into that smaller outfit.

In the past on earlier diets I have gone 3 weeks and not lost weight, but to my surprise I had lost many cm’s. So do not let the scales decide how happy you are.

Get a calorie counting app.

The most commonly used one I found that people are using is My Fitness Pal (MFP). It’s not always completely accurate though so to begin with you may want to cross check some things with other calorie counters. It’s also important to be aware that these apps often give you a suggested calorie target that is below your TDEE as they are designed for traditional diets where you restrict your calories every day. If you want it to display the correct calorie target for 5:2, make sure you select ‘maintain current weight’ as your goal when setting up your profile.

How often should you eat on fast days?

This is a totally personal choice. You will not know exactly how 5:2 works for you until you have a few fast days under your belt. Every single faster is different.

I like to have just water and coffee all day and then something small around 3pm to get me through till dinner time. My husband seems to be able to last all day on a coffee and water and saves up all his calories for a filling dinner. Michael Mosley like to have eggs and salmon for breakfast, then nothing except coffee through the day until her has dinner that evening. So don’t compare yourself to others.

The best advise I can give you it to see each fasting day as only a practice for the first month until you finally find your groove. You will learn to understand your body and what it wants.

Don’t be scared on hunger

My first 2 fasts were quite hard, as my mind was telling me “OMG your hungry – you must eat.” So I was looking for anything I could to get to my 500 calories. Then I would try to go to sleep so I could wake up for breakfast.

After a couple of fasts I noticed that the hunger was not that bad and if I just waited about 15mins it would pass. Hunger never stays with you all day, it comes in waves and you just have to ride it out.

Forget about the word DIET

It is a very hard task to try to forget about all the old diet ways that we have been brought up on over all these years. The way we think of dieting is to calorie restrict everyday of the week or you are not going to succeed. So many people struggle with letting this notion go. But 5:2 is supposed to be easy, and not stressful. Just count calories 2 days a week and the other days will just get better with food choices and amounts without you even realising it.

Don’t rush it, this is not a race to the finish line. It is a slow and steady change in our own mindset. Try to focus just on those 2 days, and trust that you are doing good things for your body.

In no time at all you will be an expert in fasting and be able to spread the word about how wonderful it is and convince others people that this is a fantastic way of life.

TDEE is an acronym for Total Daily Energy Expenditure which is the number of calories your body burns over a 24 hour period. Your TDEE is calculated based on your sex, height, weight and weekly physical exercise. Unless you are very active, it is recommended you select ‘sedentary’ as it is very easy to overestimate your level of activity and the parameters used on the calculator are very broad. Most women have an average TDEE of 1800 – 2000 calories or thereabouts (2400 for men). If you are older or on the shorter side, your TDEE may be a bit lower.

What is my TDEE?

You can calculate your own TDEE via an online TDEE calculator. Just remember to go back every couple of weeks when you have lost weight or cm’s and recalculate your TDEE, as it will change when you start losing weight.

Do I have to eat my TDEE?

No you do not have to eat all the way up to your TDEE. If you are happy eating 1600 calories then just eat that amount. There really is no need to count your calories if you are eating under your TDEE without even trying.

Should I count calories on my non-fasting days?

I found that at the start as I was unsure how many calories I was eating I was counting calories on my non-fast days just to see if I needed to watch what I eat on those days. It was also curiosity on my behalf as I had no idea if I was eating too much. I usually hate counting calories as the old-fashioned calorie restriction diets require you to count everyday and you always feel deprived and hungry.

I found though from counting on my non-fasting days without calorie restricting was not too bad at all. I realised that I was not actually over eating which was a nice surprise. But I was eating close to me TDEE on some days and other days I was well under. So I decided that after 2 weeks there was no need to worry about counting anymore on my non-fast days. And this also took the pressure off, which I just love.

What I use to count calories.

The best and easiest thing I have found is to use an app called My Fitness Pal. It is not always accurate as so it can be a good idea to check against other calorie counting products. I do however find that it is very helpful and quick to use as it had a barcode scanner and also a massive list of australian foods in the database for quick searching.

I also use this tool when creating my recipes for you, so I can put the complete recipe description up with a breakdown of the calories.

5:2 intermittent fasting is not a diet – 5:2 is a new way of life.
There is no time like the present to make a change for better health

5:2 intermittent fasting is based around the scientific research conducted by Michael Mosley for a documentary back in 2012.

The basic idea around 5:2 is that you eat normal balanced diet (TDEE) 5 days a week and then 2 days a week you restrict your food intake to a quarter of your normal daily intake (TDEE). This usually equates to approx 2000/500 for women and 2400/600 for men.

You spread your calories out however suits you. Everyone is different. 1, 2 or 3 meals a day, it’s up to you. It will take a few weeks for you to find your groove. The first few weeks is just practice to find what works for you.

Your meals on non fast days will change automatically without trying, just focus on the 2 fast days, and the rest will follow.

You can work out your exact TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) if you want an exact number as it will change as you lose weight. The best way to work out your TDEE is to use the online TDEE calculator.

There is no time like the present to start on your journey of the 5:2 Fast Diet way of life.