5:2 - What am I doing wrong?

[clarabellabunting]

I started 5:2 six weeks ago when I weighed myself and realised I was 10 st 5lbs and need to lose roughly a stone.

I have been sticking strictly to 500 calories on Tuesdays and Thursdays while eating normally on the other days.

After four weeks I decided to weigh myself and found I was still 10st 5lb. In the two weeks since then, I have been starting to worry that this WOE isn't doing anything for me. To be fair, I haven't found it very hard at all and can quite easily come in at 500 cals on fast days without much effort.

So, I weighed myself this morning after giving the WOE another 2 weeks and I am now 10st 6lb!

What am I doing wrong? I've been tracking my calorie intake on myfitnesspal so I know I'm not going over on fast days.

I'm also tracking on my non-fast days and find I usually take in around 1400-1500 calories when eating normally.

Should I be aiming lower on fast days?

[shumway]

Not eating enough on non-fast days.

[clarabellabunting]

So I need to eat more to lose weight?

I'm not restricting what I eat at all on non-fast days. That's just the amount I naturally want to eat to get me through the day.

[formicadinosaur]

Have you checked your TDEE? You can work it out if you follow the links. I had quite an issue working out how active I am when filling in the questions. Despite Zumba gym swimming etc I still came in at about 1700

[TheCloudGuy]

Don't worry - just keep up your fast days.

There could be lots of reasons why you aren't losing weight, but fasting has other benefits other than shredding the pounds.

I've been fasting for since August last year and had several weeks where I didn't lose an gram, but then your body kicks into a new level of metabolism and you start going down. I've lost about 10 kilos over the year - it all came off slowly (sometimes less than 200grams a week).

Try weighing yourself in the morning after a fast day - mornings are always good times to weigh.

Also cut down on the carbs on non-fast days and use your sleep time to extend the fast.

My typical fast day looks like this ...

Sunday evening (non-fast day) - don't eat anything after 9pm.
Go to sleep.
Monday morning 6.30am (fast day) I have a small 250/300cal breakfast

• fast all day - then about 5.30pm I get home from work and have a 250/300cal supper - then I continue the fast until breakfast on Tuesday morning at 6.30am.
  

Good luck and keep it up

[wildwater]

If you feel OK during your fast days - just keep doing it. The health benefits are there whether you lose weight or not. I believe that your body will be doing the right thing for itself. If you are supposed to lose the weight, then you will, eventually!

[dee147]

According to that 5:2 book you can drop to 4:3 if you want. But no less. Or the other thing is alternate fasting.