One year of the 5:2 diet

It's been one year since Michael Mosley's Horizon programme on intermittent fasting; one year since I started a calorie-restricted diet two days a week. And here are the results.

Month	Date	Stone	Lb	Pounds	Kg	Δ(Lb)	BMI	Height (m)
0	07/08/2012	13	8	190	86.4		27.20	1.782
1	08/09/2012	12	13	181	82.3	9	25.91
2	06/10/2012	12	7	175	79.5	6	25.05
3	08/11/2012	11	12	166	75.5	9	23.76
4	08/12/2012	11	6	160	72.7	6	22.90
5	08/01/2013	11	2	156	70.9	4	22.33	Waist
6	10/02/2013	11	1	155	70.5	1	22.19	34.5 inches
7	09/03/2013	11	0.4	154	70.2	1	22.10
8	09/04/2013	10	12.2	152	69.2	2	21.79
9	11/05/2013	10	10.8	151	68.5	1	21.59	34 inches
10	11/06/2013	10	10.6	151	68.5	0	21.56
11	11/07/2013	10	13	153	69.5	-2	21.90
12	08/08/2013	10	13.2	153	69.6	0	21.93

I started at 13 stone 8 pounds and have finished at around 11 stone. Let's say a weight loss of two and a half stone. My BMI has changed from an overweight 27 to a healthy 22. My NHS markers for blood glucose and cholesterol seem good. So here are some of the lessons I learned over the year.

1. You will feel hungry

It's sad but true. It's impossible to lose weight - to fast - without feeling hungry. The body, looking on fat as insurance against lean times, prefers you to forage rather than draw down the fat reserves. Hunger is its message: ignore it - tomorrow you get to eat again.

2. Weight loss does not equal fat loss

A pound of fat contains 3,400 calories (you need about 2,000 a day to operate). If you don't eat a thing, you will burn - over a day - about half a pound of fat.

A litre of water weighs a kilogram, 2.2 pounds. If you drink you will gain weight; if you eat you will gain weight; if you go to the toilet you will lose (a little) weight.

After a recent holiday my daily weight fluctuated over a week between 11 stone 3 lb and 10 stone 12 lbs, a difference of five pounds (plus or minus one kilogram). Losing fat is watching that kind of interval steadily reduce in its endpoints.

3. The 5:2 diet is not a road to anorexia

Once the fat had burned off at the six month point, my weight plateaued at c. 11 stone and refused to stay much lower. On an eating day you would be frankly appalled to watch me at dessert.

4. Fasting and exercising

About half-way through the process last year, I joined the local gym and began hour-long workouts three days a week. I soon discovered that it's:

a. Not a good idea to fast the day before a hard gym session: no energy.

b. Not a good idea to eat nothing after a gym session: no protein repair.

So I schedule gym sessions after a day of eating. When I return home I have a protein-rich salad (c. 5-600 calories) if it's a fast day, eating nothing else. I estimate a gym session burns around 400 calories.

5. It's more about cell-repair than dieting

Best not to forget that Mosley's programme promoted intermittent fasting as helping to fight cancer and diabetes - fat loss was was a desirable side effect.

So, we carry on.