5:2 diet??

genericjanedoe

I've got to say I LOVE this diet. I've tried quite a few others and have always struggled with the calorie counting after a few weeks. Working out how many calories I was eating, how many I had left, denying a drink because it would tip me over my limits etc. was just too exhausting.

But with this diet - as someone else has mentioned - you are never that far away from being able to eat "normally" again. Once you've worked out a good range of low calorie meals, it gets a lot easier to keep up.

Patterns of eating are all down to whatever you most feel comfortable with. For me, it's pretty easy to skip breakfast and just have a good black earl grey tea (0 cals). At midday I'll be hungry so would follow with something like a Pret tuna nicoise salad (no dressing, 167 cals) and small pot of mango pieces with lime juice (70 cals). This leaves me with just enough calories for something in the evening like a nice hearty soup, or skillet seared prawns with garlic, coriander and lime in a small wholemeal pitta - all of this totals up to approx 500 cals in one day.

The book and site stress that you should do the diet on non consecutive and busy days, and Mondays and Wednesdays work for me. That way I get to have a couple of drinks on Friday with friends if I want to without feeling guilty.

I started on this site by doing Diet Chef and did initially lose about 8 pounds in ONE WEEK, but in the following weeks I lost practically nothing and indeed, started putting back on the pounds I had lost! But with this diet, I'm losing about 2-3 pounds a week - less but steadily, and strangely without the usual urge to binge on non-fast days which is odd but so liberating.

The trick is just to fill up gaps by drinking plenty of low cal fluids - water or black tea; even a barley water drink made with 50ml barley mix and sparkling water is only 7 calories, but feels quite indulgent.