Foamroller I had a blood test recently and all was ok and also asked them to check for thyroid problems.

Someone said not to compare myself to my mum but maybe there is a genetic element to my weight problems because she's had the same problems all her life too, though she's taller than me and about 14lbs lighter at the moment but to her she's still 14lbs overweight. Basically we need to eat very low calories to lose weight at a reasonable rate (as you've said, probably below BMR). I know I've lost 8lbs so far, but some of the weight that came off at the beginning would have been water weight so it's not a true figure and now I'm in week 10 and haven't lost for a while so my average weight loss is getting lower and lower.

The only thing that's different from a time when I lost consistently and fairly quickly is the calorie numbers and exercise level. Two years ago I lost 10lbs but had the same problems as I'm having now. 3 years ago I was able to lose around 25lbs by eating calories between 850-950 per day and doing light cardio only. I lost weight at a rate of around 2lbs a week and was very careful not to exceed those calories.

I managed to keep it off for a few months then as I was working away from home and eating calorie counted ready meals but when I stopped doing that and stopped counting calories the weight crept back on so probably every year for the last 10 years my weight gets to around 148lbs after the winter and I have to work my butt off to get it back down for the summer.

All the TDEE calculators tell me my sedentary TDEE is 1495 or thereabouts which is low anyway and my BMR 1295 but I think in reality those figures are probably too high, as even when adding in exercise burns of a minimum of 400 calories per day and sometimes as much as 800 cals per day which you'd think would increase the TDEE number by a lot, enabling me to lose 1lb per week easily it doesn't happen.

I've read all the threads about probably eating more than I think etc. but I know I'm not as I weigh everything very carefully and try and buy things which have nutritional info on them so I can count more accurately.

As for clothes, I'm noticing some differences in the fit, but I have been working really really hard training, not long workouts but ones where my heart rate is really high and I'm sweating buckets! I am feeling a lot stronger as I'm using weights with the DVD workouts I'm doing too.

I think the answer for me will be to lower my calories further to I eat no more than 1300-1400 on non-fast days, or even add in a 3rd fast day possibly. It's not really what I want to have to do but if it's the only way I'll do it. I will also have to stick to this for life now, people around me keep telling me that it's not necessary to count calories (as well as other 5:2ers) but for me I think it's the only way I'll be able to get it off and keep it off long-term.

I suppose the one positive in all this is that even if I have to suffer 1300 calories on my non-fast days and continue with 5:2 I should be able to increase that number a little when I reach goal. Though I am also aware that my weight loss might even slow down the closer I get too so I might be stuck with that number for life. I'd still rather do 5:2 and eat 1300 on the other days than eat 1000 or so calories every day!

Ordoff73 just to let you know I read the book you recommended and it was an interesting read. I'm going to try and implement 16/8 on Fast days and days I'm not doing weight training (at least 4-5 days a week) and see if that helps speed things along. I'm also going to make sure I stop eating by 8pm when I'm not eating out so that will give me 13 hour Fast on the other days minimum.

Ordoff I am going to try and exercise as normal tomorrow. I have planned to do a resistence workout first thing before work (I start at 9.15) and then another 30 minute cardio session during my break at around 11am so I should be finished by 11.30ish. I stopped eating at 6.30 this evening so I probably won't eat again until about 12 tomorrow and will have a 17.5 hour fast.

I get what you're saying about eating normally on a non fast day but within a shorter window, but in my case I would be restricting too much if I did that so will still try and eat all my normal daily calories.

The reason I say that is that I count calories every day anyway as if I go over 1500-1600 on non-fast days I find my weight either stalls completely or I start to gain weight again. It's really important for me to be aware of the numbers because when I stop counting I ALWAYS gain weight and believe me this has been proven time and time again as I've been counting calories and trying to diet on and off for 20 years. Last time I did 5:2 I tried it without counting for a few weeks and I gained and it wasn't until I calculated my weekly calories needed to lose weight and stuck to certain number on fast days and non-fast days that I lost.

If I didn't make a conscious effort to try and eat all my calories on non-fast days while fasting for 16-17 hours and eating within a smaller window of 7-8 hours then I'd be down to around 1200-1300 calories on non-fast days as I'd be cutting out at least one meal/snack.

I'll do it if I have to and if I know it's safe to do it but I think that could be a little too low and maybe not very good for my body, though I'm not sure. All I have read on 5:2 sites is that you can eat 'what you want' on non-fast days and that most people eat up to 200 calories but in my case I know I have to be more careful.

I don't doubt that I'd lose faster if I ate 1200-1300 calories a day spread between just 2 meals on non-fast days but my other concern is that I wouldn't be able to get enough protein in as I am aiming to reach 90-100g on my non-fast days and from what I've read you can only really absorb 30g of protein or so at a time so if I tried to do it in a much smaller eating window in just 2 meals that wouldn't really be the best way.