I have been asked many times recently about my success and how I have achieved my loss (now almost 5 stone – 31kg), so I thought I would share!

I’ve used 5:2 fasting as just ONE of the tools to assist me during my journey. Basically for two days a week, I limit my calorie intake to 500 calories. I go from the night before a fast day to dinner time the following day (around 5pm) just drinking fruit tea and water, and then eat one meal that is around 400 calories. This usually involves lots of vegetables and some protein like chicken or fish.

I do ensure that I stick to my allocated weight loss calories for the whole week though, so… 2 x 500 calories on two days and the remaining 6,700 calories distributed amongst the other 5 days. The allocated calories are low as I am close to my goal weight and because I am so short (4ft 9 inches – 145cm).

I also exercise really hard on as many days as I am able to, usually 1.5 to 2.5 hours , and earning between 700 – 1400 calories each time (measured using a heart rate monitor).

I don’t eat meat often, have more or less cut out pasta, bread, rice and replaced with low calorie alternatives (courgette spaghetti, cauliflower rice, crisp breads). When I do eat those things, I only have a small portion (50g dry weight of pasta and rice, 50g of homemade ciabatta bread).

I don’t really eat many sweet treats (but do occasionally!), even after two and a half years of weight loss, I log what I eat every single day and still weigh all my food to enable me to work out how many calories I am consuming. I cook most of my meals from scratch using fresh ingredients and lots of vegetables and search out low calorie recipes which I adapt.

I have more or less given up alcohol…. which as well as being full of calories (half a bottle of red wine = 330 calories), have made eating out a special treat that we enjoy once in a while rather than planning to include indulging in food every time we leave the house.

We rarely have a take-away meal.  I now just see these as far too calorific and usually full of fat or MSGs.

I have devoted a LOT of time to this, more or less made it a part-time job, and spend the best part of most days exercising, planning meals and cooking meals.

Finally, I have just carried on going even when things get tough!  I have been following this way of life for over 130 weeks so my weight loss averages less than half a pound – 225g,

I do hope this helps anyone who struggles! If you look at my weight loss graph, there have been blips along the way, but I just keep on going!!!