The new 5:2 diet thread

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

The continuing thread for those of us following either the 5:2 diet or the alternate-day fasting diet. Both are two versions of Intermittent Fasting, which you can read more about here.

The 5:2 diet was featured on Horizon recently, and essentially requires you to fast for 2 non-consecutive days per week. The other 5 days, you can eat what you like. Alternate-day fasting is just how it sounds; you fast every other day. By "fasting", we mean that we keep our calorie consumption very low, around 500 calories on average, on those days.

Come join us, and tell us about your experiences with this diet! :)

This is the quote from Zoe Harcombe in the Daily Mail article: ?I did this during my late teens and early 20s. It was called bulimia.

Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2195408/Starve-day-pig-Is-perfect-diet.html#ixzz2578V5Wb5.

Thanks BIWI :) I wasn't trying to disparage her as I honestly didn't know who she was (I'm not originally from here, and am not interested in that type of diet in the long term). But I realise it came off that way, and you're right, it is a DM article and they just cherry-picked the most controversial stuff for this article. I think her comparing it to bulimia is what gave some of us pause.

No - I realise that, GreenEggs! The Daily Fail were doing that!

I think the reason for her comments is also linked to her observation about calorie obsessing, which is definitely a part of the whole fasting thing - and what concerns me about it. I'm really interested to see how it's working for everyone, and want to know more about it myself - but I never, ever, ever want to go back to being obsessed with calories again in my life. And that is my great fear about fasting (of whatever kind). Given Zoe's background/eating disorders, I suspect that this reflects what her own experiences were - but I agree, the bulimia comment was a bit

On days I get irritable I find it really helps to eat a boiled egg around 4pm. See if that works first before giving up!

I'm on holiday at moment with another family so am skipping breakfast every day as we are meeting for lunch & dinner every day. Finding it hard going to do fast days this week. Back to it next week with a vengeance.

I have porridge for breakfast and a two egg omelette for tea bulked up with mushrooms red peppers, spinach and find it really quite satisfying

Third and final fast day of week 4 for me. Finally I didnt wakeup this morning desperate for food, so am going to have lunch and dinner, instead of breakfast and whatever. I made cakes with dd 2.9 this morning though, and there was an awful lot of unecessary spoon/bowl licking (not by dd!) oops.

I need to be very good the next few days, as I'd like to have lost a stone by Monday 4-week weigh in. Dh has just started a low cal diet, and he has lost 6lbs in 2 days, how ridiculous, lol, I am not jealous at all much. Men have it so easy!

Hi wel l,i have another eating day and with yesterday and weekend will be 3 ina row s going away for weekend, but pleased to report that another pound is off , making 6 in two weeks,

AND tah raaa ! I have sz 10 jeans on today!! though whether i will after the weekend is debatable.. But so thrilled because once had to have an 18 .. (well I didnt because refused to wear them then ..) Altogther ive lost 3stone now (but thats been over a couple of years and only very recently on this regime)

i'm planning on doing next fast on Sunday though as thats the travel back day and so do-able. good luck everyone for the weekend and see you next week

Well done Laska42!!!! I tried on my too small jeans and did up the zip ( after a bit of wriggling ...but there was a v unattractive muffin top situation. Oh well it will encourage me to keep going on may first fast today. Those pesky calories don't half add up, all I've had is skimmed milk in coffees and a bran galette thin and I'm at 200 already

Laska that's brilliant! Well done :)

I have fast today & Sunday & weigh in on Monday. Feeling a bit blah this morning & have had 125 calories, planning on keeping the rest for big egg salad this evening. I've bought myself a couple of new bras this week & hopefully will dispose of my huuuuuge jeans next week.

I'm counting calories on fast days (though I pretty much always have the same stuff so it isn't hard) but not really on feed days. I'm honestly just eating what I want, some days more than others - dh & I had cheese & wine last night which I'm sure was highly calorific. I've found it liberating - I'm not obsessing about food at all; it's fabulous.

Wow laksa that's brilliant - size 10 jeans!!!!

Well done! I'm in size 18 so hope for me yet!

Yeah, BIWI, greeneggs, I posted up thread about the slightly obsessive 'denial' bits of fasting which are sometimes akin to how anorexics think. So although I am cynical about those with books to sell sticking the knife in, I am equally suspicious of those who promote 'ways of not eating' without some critical awareness. I was being self-reflexive meself when I started going 'air is your friend', as I realised how fucked up that sounded.

For those of us who are officially obese, though, and who don't have the mental health issues that are the real source of eating disorders (I still don't believe the desire to lose weight causes eating disorders, but clearly is one contributory factor), then I think the idea of fasting does work. As someone else said, it seems fairly sustainable as a lifestyle choice. For some low carbing is sustainable, though not for me sadly. I can only do it for short periods, whereas this is my 6th week of fasting and so far it seems like something I can stop thinking about and just get on with for the rest of my life. That is very appealing. I feel less healthy, it has to be said, doing this compared to low carbing, but I can live with that.

Why do feel less healthy, Wilf?

My belt is on its tightest and still a bit loose. Jeans keep slipping not sure if 12 or 14 but still .friend bought sponge cake filled with Jam and Cream.... I'm staying strong. drools

Sooo full today! 1st non fast day after 2 consecutive fast days and I feel rammed having eaten only a banana, a cheese Sarnie and 2 Jaffa cakes 2 hours ago. Surprising really. Hope it lasts!

2nd fast day for me and not felt too bad, although again hungrier after eating than before. Waited til lunch to eat anything to get the 16:8 thing going. I had milky coffee at midday and then lunch with DCs, adapted so as not to have a wildly different meal from them. It was a large serving spoon of morrocan chicken (onion, garlic, chicken, chickpeas, tomato sauce and black olives) and 200g of frozen green beans. The beans were 80kcals but I've no idea about the chicken dish, so had a small amount. Anyone else find this, that they don't know the calories of what they eat on fast days?
I though voiding carbs would help but I feel about as hungry as on my fast da on Wed (the first one) when I had flour tortilla at lunch. Not unmanageable and I don't have a headache this time but definitely hungry and tummy rumbling.
Wasn't all that hungry on my feed day yesterday either, so maybe the old stomach is shrinking a bit already.

BIWI, because I think the low carb woe forces you to eat veg and lots of oil-rich things. I'm pretty sure on the fasting diet every other day I'm just not eating enough nutrients cos my skin is deffo a bit dodgy, and I do get exhausted by end of a fast day. I think I should probably take a good supplement which is what Genesis diet recommends...

I still think this works with my psychology though, which is why I can sustain it... See tonight, I'm off out to someone's house for birthday cake/wine, so decided to postpone today's fast till tomorrow, and the idea of it (so far) is not troubling me. Whereas if I had to tell myself, nope you can't have cake or wine for months and when you do, it will feel so all or nothing that you'll put on all the weight you just lost in a few days, it would be depressing!

weigh in this morning for me, sadly no weight loss though I have maintained so after 2 weeks I'm 5lbs lighter. I do need to watch my feed days though, been a bit blase.

can someone clear something up for me please...? I thought Michael Moseley said on the HOrizon programme that the idea on fast days was to eat mostly plant based food, and that our protein rich western diet is whats the cause of more cancers in the west. Because our bodies are always on go-go as he called it, and protein rich diets cause cell division rates to increase. So on my fast days I've been eating mostly vegetables and fruit and a handful of seeds. It seems most people on here are low carbing on their fast days... Have I got it wrong? Or is everyone primarily using this diet as a weight loss programme rather than as a way of preventing ageing and cancers. I thought that was the point of calorie restriction diets, and that weight loss was just an added bonus.

Obviously being overweight can predispose some people to certain types of cancers, but I thought the prime reason for these kind of diets was for the effect it had on lowering cancer rates and risks of types of dementia like Alzheimers.

I'm not low carbing at all - I feel shit when I do - I hardly eat sugar or fruit but have starchy vegetables/pulses/bread/pasta/rice when I want. Fast days are pretty much always the same for me - lots of vegetables & egg/fish keeping protein below about 35g. I'm undoubtedly eating better (more vegetables, better quality fats) that I did when I've tried to low carb. The only supplement I take is vitamin D & calcium. I can't do anything where entire food groups are banned, it just doesn't work with my lifestyle.

This is anecdotal evidence, but I'll share, headfairy- on my fast days, I'm eating veg. I might have the odd piece of fruit (nectarine) but the last few fasts haven't included fruit. I've not eaten protein on these days, though there's a small amount in the milk I've had in my coffee.

I've lost over 7 lbs and have been doing this for 2 weeks total. Am doing 4:3, would be ADF but changed it slightly to fit my own schedule.

So yes, I've been doing the diet the way he suggested, though I'm not sure he recommended coffee.

Lag, I'm the same with calories, I just go with my best guess! Headfairy, the whole point of these diets will vary from person to person, depending on their motivation. For me it's for weight loss.

hello, this is my first posting i have been reading from day one! could you tell me on what days you are weighing in, e.g before first fast day, day after, etc. i am on my 6th fast day will weigh monday morning, have lost 3lbs of far am pleased with this as enjoying it, so in for the long haul.

Headfairy, sorry I still haven't seen the horizon programme, I plan to though.

So anyway, I just weighed myself and I've lost 2kg in the last 2 weeks, so very happy :)

Hello tilly. I do mon, wed, fri as that works best for me, and then I weigh in on a monday morning because I feel that gives the truest measure of weekly weight loss (after the two feed days at the weekend). I do tend to weigh every day though, just for info and to keep me on track/motivated, but I don't consider any weight loss an actual loss unless it's still there after a feed day iykwim. Hth.

GreenEggs thanks for that. I used to low carb and it just didn't work for me. I ended up eating far too many nuts and tons of cheese and just piled on the weight

Anyway I'm glad I'm not the only one doing the low protein thing on fast days. I was wondering if I'd got it wrong. I'm not sure I can watch that programme for a third time :o