Result of Ten Weeks of 5:2 Intermittent Fasting

I’ve just completed 10-weeks of 5:2 intermittent fasting – this means I managed to skip food for twenty days out of the last seventy. I attempted the same challenge last year but gave up after seven weeks, so it felt important to go all the way this time.

So What Did All This Fasting Achieve?

My last 24-hour fasting period ended on Friday. I didn’t weigh myself at all during the 10-weeks because I became discouraged during my last attempt due to my weight stabilizing about half-way through. I was sort of expecting to lose about 4 or maybe even 5 kg this time, so I felt a tiny bit disappointed to only lose 2.8 kg (about 6.2 pounds).

This means that altogether I’ve lost 9kg (almost 20 pounds) since August. I expect my weight shot up at least 1 kg in the week following the juice fast, so I probably did lose almost 4 kg due to intermittent fasting – which really isn’t bad at all. My current weight is 79.4kg and ideally I’d like to get this below 75 kg (165 pounds).

One of my main motives for all this fasting has been to stop grazing on food . The main reason my weight has become an issue in recent years is my habit of eating when I’m not hungry – I just stuff things in my mouth automatically. This period of fasting has shown me how it is possible to enjoy the feeling of hunger, and to be more selective about when I eat.

I didn’t enjoy the same sense of achievement at reaching the end of this ten weeks of 5:2 fasting as I got with 15 days of juice fasting. This is because the positive effects of fasting twice a week are less obvious. It is also much easier for me to go 24-hours without food than it is to go 15 days with only juice – maybe if I hadn’t done the juice fast first, it would have felt like more of an achievement.

What Now?

I was considering continuing with 5:2 intermittent fasting indefinitely, but I’ve had a change of heart. I’m now going to experiment with 16:8 fasting – this means I’m only going to eat between midday and 8:00pm every day. I’ll continue with this fast until the end of the year to see if I can lose a bit more weight.