I lost two stone and the menopause is a breeze
LIN LOMBARDI, 54, is a mobile dog groomer. She lives in East London with her husband Mikey, 52. I STARTED 5:2 in 2012 after seeing a documentary about it on TV.
I’d always been quite a healthy eater, but my portions were too big and I snacked a lot.
The weight had crept on over the years — I was just over 11 st and a size 14.
Until then I’d only made half-hearted attempts to do anything about it, but I was interested in the other health benefits of 5: 2 and the freedom of non-fast days made it really doable.
I think that people are nervous about not eating, but it’s genuinely not as big a deal as you think.
On fast days I just drink black coffee and water all day and then have a regular meal at 8pm.
The meal can be anything, but it’s usually based around protein and a good portion of salad or vegetables.
Fasting for two days of the week made me realise I didn’t need as much food on the non-fasting days as I thought I did.
Because of this, I think I was more careful with my portion sizes than I had been in the past. And it worked!
After four months I was back in size 10 jeans and have maintained that size, with my weight around 9 st.
As I’ve learned about the importance of a healthy gut, I’ve started to incorporate gut-friendly foods into my diet, too — sauerkraut is great on a fast day as you can have a lot of it! I also steer clear of processed foods and refined carbs.
But it’s not just weight loss — I don’t get colds any more and any cuts that I get seem to heal much quicker than before, too.
I also appear to be sailing through the menopause without the horrid hot flushes and symptoms that many of my friends are suffering.
This way of eating is so easy and so effective that I’m confident it will be something I will do for ever.