Diet success with 5:2

After shedding 46kg, this mum-of-two has a message for others struggling to diet

Elle Dawson finally has the body she’s always dreamed of. After struggling with her weight since childhood – at age 12 she weighed 80kg, and by 16 she tipped the scales at 100kg – Elle longed to be slimmer and healthier. But it wasn’t until she was rushed to hospital in 2012 that she realised something had to change.

Already a mum to son Angus, now five, Elle had been trying for a second baby when she suffered a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.

“I had to have my right fallopian tube removed, so my chances of having another baby felt slimmer than ever,” explainsns Elle, 28, from her home in Yelta, Victoria.

Knowing her weight and smoking habit would affect her chances of falling pregnant,egnant, Elle quit smoking, began exercising andnd cut her daily calorie count to 1200 (5020kj). J).

While she did lose weight on the new w regimen, it was a struggle.

“I felt like death warmed up,” she remembers. “I wasn’t eating enough food to fuel my body. My hair started falling out, my sex drive disappeared, and I started getting injuries.”

Then she discovered the 5:2 diet – an intermittent fasting plan that involves eating normally five days a week, then restricting calories to 500 (2090kj) on the other days.

“My body adapted quickly, and after a few weeks I no longer felt hungry on fast days because my stomach had shrunk. I realised the more I ate on my non-diet days, the more I lost,” Elle recalls.

During fasting days, she found that having a little salt combated headaches or dizziness, and a hot drink kept hunger pangs at bay.

After easily losing 5kg on the plan she fell pregnant with a daughter, Heidi, now two. And after Heidi’s birth she resumed the 5:2 with new enthusiasm, finally reaching her goal weight of 68kg.

Unhappy with the loose skin on her arms and legs, Elle took up weight training to help build muscle. She now maintains her svelte physique thanks to weights sessions, a little running and a healthy diet.

With her weight loss transforming her life, Elle is convinced the key to her success was never giving up. “If I overate, I just picked myself up and kept chugging forwards,” she says. “Anything is possible if you believe in yourself and have a little patience. patience.”