to think this 'diet' is an eating disorder

[BlackMaryJanes]

I'm dieting the old fashioned way - exercise and reducing calories to about 1800.

My friend recently told me about a diet she's thinking about doing called "The Alternative Day Diet". In this diet, you eat 400 cals one day, then you're allowed to eat whatever you like the next day, then back to 400 cals the next day, then eat whatever you like for a day, etc.

I've done some research on this seemingly popular diet. Apparently it switches on a 'skinny gene' which keeps your metabolism in top condition, burning calories. It also has other claimed health benefits such as - making you live longer (there was a Horizon documentary on the BBC backing this up). The internet is full of gleeming reviews.

But surely this pattern of eating is unsustainable and encourages disordered thinking? I feel a bit concerned for my friend. When she latches onto an idea she tends to go hardcore.

There is a difference between feeling hungry and being hungry. I used to 'feel' hungry a lot but actually what I actually was feeling was a preference to eat something tasty.

Breaking the habit of habitual eating, and swapping a. 4pm pack of skittles for a boring ryeveta, and actually ensuring I am proper hungry has helped me 'feel' hungry a lot less.

1800 calories is hardly 'depriving' yourself anyway. The recommended daily calorie intake for women is 2000 calories, yet many people think that's too high anyway.

Apparently I need 1500 calories a day to maintain my weight. I don't think I ever eat 1800 in a day!

StephaniePowers - thanks for the info. So no point buying a book. I'll just watch the Horizon doc and report back :)

Does anyone else have any comments re: ancestors eating this way yet also breastfeeding?

why do you want to buy the book if you are so against this diet?

To learn more. Perhaps might change my views if the science is compelling.

How is eating 1800 calories a day 'depriving' yourself?

It 'feels' that way, because I'm always hungry. It's bringing me down :(

posting again - agree re the paleo stuff too.

I find it very easy to lose weight (& my natural gluttony means very easy to gain it too) but I'm not doing 5:2 because I think it is some brilliant diet (i.e. massively quick fix to lose huge amount of weight) but because it is a way I can lose weight (I've lost masses btw - nearly 50lbs) but I'm far more interested in the anti cancer/dementia/diabetes benefits. Even when I'm at my good goal weight I want to carry on with regular fasts.

I'm small - at my goal weight I won't need more than 1700 calories to maintain that weight!

Although presumably they'll argue that dying young had nothing to do with diet.

I think it probably had more to do with unsanitary and harsh living conditions and a lack of medical knowledge/care that lead to it.

We're going back a very long way when we're talking about 'our ancestors' and their diet!

Madbuslady

OK, farmed animals and dairy - I get that.

But foraged seafood and plants, nuts, foraged grain plus the odd bit of lean meat from a kill...how is that different to a good healthy omnivorous, dairy-free diet of today?

What were your eating patterns like before you were pregnant?

yo-yo dieting. But I'll say again, I think this is (sadly) normal for most women.

What are you eating/drinking to make up your 1800 calories?

I can't imagine feeling hungry if I'd eaten that much in a day.

I don't think it's normal for most women.

In fact the only person I know who has ever 'yo-yo' dieted was my stbxh!

Perhaps they didn't do it whilst they were BFing?

I thought they didn't have a choice. They were hunter gatherers (days of plenty, days of none).

I'm fairly sure they'll have died from bacterial infection, injuries, mosquito-borne disease, vitamin deficiencies, parasites etc - cumulative stresses that we can easily fight off (or have no exposure to in the first place).

Oh for the love of god!! Maybe it's just sleep-deprivation induced melodrama but I am finding this thread symptomatic of everything that's wrong with society!

Why can't people just have a preference without dedicating a vast amount of energy to trying to prove that other people's different preferences are going to condemn them to a life of misery!?

Some people are good at moderation, some are not. Some need tonnes of calories, some do not. I, for example, am breastfeeding and eating about 3000 calories a day. If I reduced to 1800, I would be homicidal.

I am waiting for the 'Victorian London' diet of gin and pork scratchings to come into fashion, personally...

'We' being 'we in the west' (sorry if not clear)

BMJ I think unfortunately the doc is not to be found online, but Michael Mosley says it's going to be reshown sometime by the BBC.

No, but maybe they prioritised BF mothers.

I've no idea, not having been around then!

Flowerface - don't read the thread then [shrug]

I think you'll find that a lot of us are actually trying to help the OP.

As far as the weight loss goes, I think you just lose the desire to 'binge' and eat unhealthily

This is very interesting, and gives me hope.

It is my hope that, if I were to start the 5:2 diet, after being on it for a while and enjoying 'eating whatever I like' then the crappy food would lose it's allure. It would just become another piece of fuel.

I used to 'feel' hungry a lot but actually what I actually was feeling was a preference to eat something tasty.

Another interesting post! Perhaps 5:2 can help teach me the difference between appetite and hunger?

OP, my experiences, as it sounds as if I might be like you:
1.when I try to lose weight conventionally (low fat, calorie counting) I can get very miserable and hungry on what should be reasonable amounts of food. If you feel you are putting weight on, on 1800 calories, maybe you need to switch around the constituents of your diet and eat more fat, less carb. A calorie is not a calorie: some people need to eat more fat and protein. try sardines, good olive oil dressings, avocadoes, etc. If you are calorie counting you may need to cut the carbs to hit the numbers, but this diet may suit you much better and leave you feeling more energetic.

1. Or not. Maybe you will not lose weight while you are breastfeeding. For some people - including me - there is a deep tiredness associated with bf-ing which translates into physical hunger. It is as if some bodies have a safety mechanism that they refuse to drop more than a certain amount of fat when bf-ing. Although in my case this changed a lot when my babies were eating decent amounts of food too, which I guess yours is at 13 months. But anyway, I would say that if you're bfing all bets are off.
2. If you are not happy doing what you're doing, something has to change. You sound very resistant to change, quite grumpy about it. (this is common with exhausted people who are not eating enough). conventional diet advice is not good for everyone. Low carbing and 5:2-ing are things that do work for some people who do not do well on calorie counting. You don't have to do them but if you are not happy, why no try them?

Anyone any experience with 5:2 and ADs?

I, for example, am breastfeeding and eating about 3000 calories a day. If I reduced to 1800, I would be homicidal.

lol I hear ya. I go to bed hungry every night and have terrible insomnia. Yet a lot of people are saying I eat a lot.

I assume your baby is still young? How m,any feeds per day?

the crappy food would lose it's allure

That definitely worked for me. I ate well and healthily, but was guilty of eating too much chocolate and savoury snacks. But that just stopped.

I just lost the taste for it.

BMJ I think unfortunately the doc is not to be found online, but Michael Mosley says it's going to be reshown sometime by the BBC.

It's on youtube :)

curryeater I'm doing 5:2 on ADs. Haven't noticed any problems. Why do you ask?

Our ancestors probably didn't have a choice about fast days. I expect these were days when there was no food available. But maybe b/f women were given priority with food. Well it would be nice to think they were at least.

Just been discussing this very diet in the office - it seems to appeal mostly to men!

Then save yourself £7.99

FolkGirl, thanks for answering. I have been prescribed fluoxetine and am worried about putting on weight, have battled hard to lose about a stone and a half of baby weight and have about a stone and a half to go. I know this is terribly shallow but being fat itself makes me depressed. I need a strategy and I hope it can work with ADs. (no point in talking directly to gp about this because I don't want a diet sheet full of grains and low fat cottage cheese, that stuff doesn't work for me, I spent decades living like that, and being fat, and being hungry, and being very sad)