I’ve been doing 5:2 for about a month now - I fast on Mondays and Thursdays. I’m trying it out for a combination of weight loss (I have about 25 pounds to lose) and general health benefits/autophagy. I’ve been doing a total fast with no food on these days. It’s not super fun but I get through it - I would say boredom from not eating is actually more of a problem than hunger. I’m pretty good the other days of the week. I know the idea for the 5:2 plan is to eat 500 calories on the two off days, but does anyone find that’s better or worse for weight loss? To be honest I’m not having luck with weight loss so far, and I’m trying not to worry too much about it but I’m wondering if maybe if the 500 calories is key for weight loss and I’m actually doing more harm than good with a total fast. Not sure if I’m stalling my body out by eating nothing.
Without any other information I would guess that you’re eating too many calories on the non-fasted days. You still need to keep track of the amount of calories per day and end up in a deficit over the course of the week.
I do 5:2, Mon and Thurs as well. I haven’t noticed a difference in weight loss if I eat 500-600/day or if I eat nothing at all. Zero difference in weight.. but a big difference in my mood. I’ve noticed a HUGE difference if I get in a good fasted workout (just running ~1 mile). Working out on an empty stomach has been the key to my weight loss. Even if I have a 500 cal day and have a spinach-shake for lunch, and then work out, at best it’s a flat day… no loss.
The biggest challenge is the other 5 days.. it’s too easy to go back to the bad eating habits.
In general, here’s my schedule:
I’m not a fan of 5:2. It’s kind of outdated now, and the 500 cal for the two “fasting” days is dumb and more likely to stall you out than doing a real fast on those days. It’s too easy to overeat and eat all day long on the other 5 days. Eating a small amount actually makes you hungrier than eating nothing at all.
Instead, you should do daily fasting (I recommend OMAD, but do 16:8 at minimum) and maybe do a 48 each week or two 36-40 hour fasts. You will definitely see results then.
5:2 + skipping all breakfasts did amazing things for my dad the year he retired. He was pretty close to ripped in the end lol.
So yeah, I would probably try to at least do 16:8 on those ‘eating days’. If so, should work really well.