5:2 diet...first week. 6lb gain...?

KFC is very sodium heavy. I'd advice drinking more water and avoiding the scale especially after a couple high salt days. The 5:2 I can't speak to though.

Two things: I know my weight can fluctuate by about 5 pounds from one day to the next. The 6 pounds may or may not be a fluke (probably water weight or lack of adequate BM). However, sometimes on these sort of diets we go overboard and rationalize that since you are going to do your fasting days you do not need to be as careful on the non-fasting days, and you end up overeating and it just doesn't balance out. The thing is, its not about what you eat/burn that one day, its about what you eat/burn over a period of time. Yes, you can cut those 3500 calories/week by dividing it over 3 days of caloric restriction/extra calorie burn, or over 7 days @ 500 calories a day. But if you are doing a 2 or 3 thing day, make sure you aren't sneaking those calories back in on the other days.

Honestly, though, I don't see how you can really get the results only cutting back 2 days a week unless your BMR is really high.

Hi labyrinth. I've been following 5:2 since the new year and so far have lost 21 pounds which i'm very pleased with! I've been averaging a 2lb loss every week when I've stuck to fasting two days a week. First off, did you do your sneaky weigh in in the evening? If you weigh in the morning first thing (after you've been to the loo and before you've eaten/drank anything, with little to nothing on) you will have the most realistic measure of your weight, as weighing in the evening can have anything up to a 5lb gain!

Also, it sounds like your metabolism might have slowed down since you've been on a 1200 calorie a day diet so it can't handle processing 2000 calories a day - very similar to mine! I usually eat 1200-1300 calories a day but two days a week I will only eat 500 calories (fast days) my fast day will last from dinner the night before (say dinner on monday) until breakfast the day after (breakfast on wednesday) so it's more like a 36 hour fast where I will only eat 500 calories. I know this can seem like a very restricted amount of calories to some people (and I am sure I will get slated for it) but it works for me and I still have enough energy to cycle to work everyday and walk the dog. I find if I try to eat fast foods or processed foods I get the worst tummy aches and thats when I start seeing weight gain.

I'm not advising you follow the same diet as me, but if you wanted to carry on the 5:2 diet you would have better success at losing weight by eating healthier foods (especially cooked from scratch) so you know which ingredients are going into it and you'll feel fuller by eating fruits and vegs while not having as many calories.

The 5:2 diet won't make you lose weight any faster than the 1,200 a day diet. It's just a different way of restricting calories, one that some people find much easier than eating low calories every day. It also doesn't give you a license to eat fried junk and cookies the other 5 days, which I think is where many people go wrong. You probably ate more than you think on your eating days (though not enough to gain 6 lbs, that would be 21,000 extra calories), and a whole lot of sodium which is making you retain water.

If you only started on Wednesday then you really need to give it more time. Weight can change dramatically from morning to evening but I am confident if you stick with it the trend will be downward. I have been doing this for a few months now and the worst that has happened when I pig out on feed days (for me that involves large veggie pizzas or creamy curry and/or a silly amount of vodka) is that I maintain weight instead of losing. I am not recommending that you eat or drink a lot of crap all the time on feed days but you definitely can have treat days without worrying about putting on weight if you don't go nuts and have them all the time. One of the best things about the 5:2 way of eating is that you don't have to be a saint all the time.

I've done adf and 5:2 and these plans do not follow a linear pattern on the scale. Instead you'll see a series of 'whooshes' and 'bounces', that have an overall downward trend. Instead of weighing daily or weekly, weigh yourself after your first fasting day of the month, and then again after your last fasting day of the month. That will give you a more accurate picture of your weight loss

This kind of doesn't make sense, If you are weighing yourself at the beginning and the end of the month then your weigh ins could potentially be only a few days away from each other. Why? Why not space it out at equal intervals and on different days? Say every two weeks alternating weigh ins on Lo-cal days and on Any-cal days. You can also make a notation next to the weigh to record if it was a lo-cal day or a any-cal day.

Here is the link to a 5:2 group where you may find the answers and support you need.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/8005-5-2-fasting

I've been on 5:2 since March, I eat lots of fruit and vegetables but have the occasional takeaway etc, my diary is open if you want to see what I eat. It is not a quick fix diet, the average loss is a pound a week. I eat around my TDEE on my non fast days, sometimes above, sometimes below.

Good Luck!