We are proof the 5:2 diet can work wonders
I must take issue with Leanne morris and her criticism of the 5-2 diet (mail). Both my husband and I have followed it for more than a year, and we have lost around 2st each. I’m now 60, and have gone from a size 16/18 to 10/12 — back to my weight before having four children. We find it very easy to stick to the diet — and reckon we are perfectly able to devise low-calorie recipes twice a week without following a book. A diet has to involve changing one’s eating habits for life. I’ve always had a sweet tooth, but now I no longer have any sugar craving at all. I have genetically high cholesterol, but this diet reduced my levels from 9.2 to 7.5 (although not enough to avoid taking statins). We look forward to monday and thursday — it’s a feeling of giving one’s body a rest after a possible weekend excess. We eat normally the other days, and both enjoy the odd glass of wine at the weekends.
ANNA WARRINGTON, Slindon, Staffs. I cAn’t agree with critics of the Fast Diet (Letters). Last June, my husband and I were gearing up for our son’s wedding and decided to cut back and lose some weight. I read about the 5:2 diet, and we started it straight away. By christmas, my husband had lost more than 2st, and I had lost almost 1st. the good thing about the 5:2 diet is that we’ve completely changed our eating habits. We feel so much better with the weight loss around our waists — and it has cut our food bills. I go to the gym and my husband is a keen gig rower. twice a week, I make a homemade vegetable soup with no additives, and that’s our main meal. It’s not difficult to do once you get into the swing of things. We have porridge for breakfast each day, a small snack — without bread at lunchtime — then the soup for our evening meal. We no longer buy loaves of bread, but have three small wholemeal rolls with the soup. Our treat each sunday is croissants for breakfast. We also have fruit every day. And we still go out for meals when we feel like it. We would recommend this 5:2 way of eating to anyone wanting to lose weight. You won’t regret it.
PAM JAMES, Nailsea, Bristol.