Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Original poster

to think this 5:2 diet craze is likely to lead to an increase in anorexia

194 replies

sarahseashell · 31/07/2013 16:02

.. in the longer term?

obviously that's just my own thoughts on the subject but I do sadly think that's what'll happen

OP posts:

Davsmum · 31/07/2013 16:22

Hope for the best - You are not supposed to overeat on the 5 days! You are supposed to eat a normal healthy diet- Like everyone should.

MikeOxard · 31/07/2013 16:23

So you haven't studied anorexia or it's causes at all, you haven't studied the diet or it's effects at all, you haven't studied any correlation between the two, you've never been on the diet or suffered from anorexia yourself, and you want to know if YABU to say the diet will cause anorexia? Seriously? Yes, obviously YABU.

Thurlow · 31/07/2013 16:25

I don't think any diet which suggests a quick fix, and particularly a diet which says you should restrict your calorie intake to about 1/3 or 1/4 of the daily recommendation, is very healthy. So I do agree with you, it could be a slipperly slope for some people, learning that they can cope in drastically low calories every day.

BenedictCumberbitch · 31/07/2013 16:31

You sound very sensitive about the issue mikeoxard ...

needaholidaynow · 31/07/2013 16:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

cantdoalgebra · 31/07/2013 16:33

HopeForTheBest - it is not part of the 5:2 "diet" to force yourself to eat more calories on other days.

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability · 31/07/2013 16:34

Do you not know much about anorexia nervosa then OP?
You know, what with it being a proper medical problem, not a determined dieter?

AnnabelleLee · 31/07/2013 16:35

I'm always surprised how people can have strong opinions despite not knowing the first thing about what they are opining on.

YABVU.

Thereonthestair · 31/07/2013 16:40

As an former anorexic I have to say I agree with you OP. When I was an anorexic I used to eat 500-600 calories most days but 2/3 days I would eat what I wanted. I found it an incredibly easy lifestyle choice, much easier to hide disordered eating from friends and loved ones and I maintained this for years.

I am very tempted to try it now I want to lose weight again but it frightens me.

I know I am a sample size of one, and this is not scientific but the ability to deceive is higher than many other anorexic behaviours if you eat normally some fo the time.

MelanieCheeks · 31/07/2013 16:40

thurlow it definitely isn't a quick fix - it's pretty slow as a method of weight loss, and as others have said, it's the other health benefits which are more important.

The science in a nutshell - when you stop giving your body a constant supply of food, you force it into repairing exisiting cells rather than constantly making new ones.

We're all individuals.

Some people wouldn't countenance this approach under any circumstances - that's fine, no-one's forcing them to.

Some people have tried it and found it isn't for them - good on them for giving it a fair trial, and being honest enough to say "not for me". Some people can lose weight by "eating properly every day" - to lose weight that means a calorie restricition every single day in life. That can be a long hard struggle.
Some people have tried it, found that it works, that they don't overeat on non-fast days, that it's sustainable long-term, and that it has improved their relationship with food.

Thereonthestair · 31/07/2013 16:41

and as a former anorexic I like many others started by being on a diet (when I weighed 11 stone 10 at 5 fott 6) didn't stop me going to 5 stone 8 through dieting.

HopeForTheBest · 31/07/2013 16:41

You need x amount of calories in a day, right?
But why would you voluntarily eat less than you need on some days?
If you did that over a significant amount of time, you would always be losing weight, wouldn't you?
To balance it out, you must therefore be consuming slightly more calories on non-fast days, to maintain your weight - or have I misunderstood?

AnnabelleLee · 31/07/2013 16:42

because you don't need a certain amount of calories every single day.
And yes, you have misunderstood.

GoodTouchBadTouch · 31/07/2013 16:46

Like Ehric said, Bollocks.

Anorexia is a mental illness. Its like saying "cleaning can lead to OCD"

Anyway, a few people with anorexia taking it too far is not important compared to the number of fatties who might benefit from it.

HopeForTheBest · 31/07/2013 16:47

You don't need food every day? Really?

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability · 31/07/2013 16:48

Anorexia is a mental illness. Its like saying "cleaning can lead to OCD"

I couldnt think of a good comparison myself. What she said ^^

DontmindifIdo · 31/07/2013 16:48

I can't see it leading to an increase in the levels of anorexia, however if it reaches a level where fasting for a couple of days a week is the norm for a large percentage of the population - if someone saying "oh, it's my fast day" and so it being perfectly acceptable to see someone living off a fraction of the normal calories they should have - then it will lead to people not noticing disordered eating in the same way.

It's a good way of masking anorexia, it's your fast day - you just fail to mention that all days are fast days. It's normalising not eating.

Plus there are reams of information now for tasty recipes that will lead to you only having 500 calories in a day. It's making massively undereating easier/less obvious.

AnnabelleLee · 31/07/2013 16:49

Yes, really. People have been fasting for millenia. And now it has been thoroughly scientifically tested, and its a perfectly normal, healthy, way of eating for those that choose to do it.
There is even evidence that it can help to prevent to onset of certain cancers in those with a genetic predisposition (research is ongoing but its really fascinating)

Ev1lEdna · 31/07/2013 16:49

Hello - I am someone who has written about eating disorders and studied it, including numerous interviews with people in recovery and still suffering. While there is no evidence that any weight loss/health diet leads to an increase in any eating disorder and the actual root causes and reasons for the development of eating disorders are far more complex than that, it is true that this kind of diet makes someone susceptible to an eating disorder more likely to develop one. As Melaniecheeks wrote There is a list of people for whom it is deemed unsuitable - on that list is "anyone with a tendency to disordered eating". the trouble is not everyone is aware if they have that tendency until it happens.

My (informed) opinion is that there could be loads of people who are totally fine doing this diet - clearly some mumsnetters are - but I think it could increase disordered eating or at least provide a convenient hiding place for people. I'm not sure if it would increase actual anorexia, since the development of that illness is more of a mental health issue but there are so many EDNOS out there this is sure to encourage some. That said it isn't the only fad diet or diet to do that and if some people benefit from it they will continue to follow it. I'm not sure anything could be done anyway as we cannot monitor this kind of lifestyle choice. Eating disorders have been on the rise for a lot longer than this particular diet has been around. So YANBU to think it might lead to some disordered eating but YABU to think that it is more likely than a large number of other diets including more mainstream choices like vegetarianism.

Rooners · 31/07/2013 16:49

As another person with disordered eating (I was severely anorexic for 4-5 years in my twenties) I don't think it'll make a ha'porth of difference.

Of course it will kick start the issue into a physical one for some, like any other diet or food related phenomenon can

But people who suffer from eating disorders are not like that because they went on a diet. It's a bit more complicated than that.

Rooners · 31/07/2013 16:50

x posts, and she said it better

TroublesomeEx · 31/07/2013 16:50

Well I think it could lead to anorexia in some people, yes. Just as any approach to weight loss has done. Or rather, some people with a predisposition towards disordered thinking will seek out a 'weight loss plan'.

I've lost 2.5 stone on 5:2. I started it almost 12 months ago exactly and I'm no closer to being anorexic now than I was then. I didn't follow it over Christmas or holidays, if I haven't followed it for a couple of weeks I haven't put the weight back on.

I don't see how it could be any more likely to result in anorexia than counting points with WW could do.

Ridiculous suggestion!

TroublesomeEx · 31/07/2013 16:50

disordered eating

HopeForTheBest · 31/07/2013 16:59

So I've just been looking into this 5:2 thing a bit more ( this for example).
Interesting. I agree that intermittent fasting has been part of many religions and civilisations for ages, whether it's good for you or not I can't say, but it certainly has a long history.
But fasting is usually only for a restricted period of time, isn't it? Not a weekly thing which goes on for months/years. Because (back to my original point) if you eat normally on 5 days, and then less on 2 days, you will keep losing weight, won't you?

NotYoMomma · 31/07/2013 17:01

people who moan and make assumptions have never read the book properly or done the diet properly

ime.

loads of chatter and outrage for nothing

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8