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! :)

Frazer you can eat huge amounts of veg raw for virtually no calories: red peppers, carrots, tomatoes. Takes ages to eat and fills you up with sheer roughage.

Tellmelater it does seem just not to work for some people. For me it's working but very slowly ..

Ok people I have to share my 'gotta be v low calorie' hot n' sour soup with you..

I'm not fasting today , but took the opportunity to cook for when i am tomorrow, Don't ask me quantities or timings because I don't cook that way ..

So i poached a whole chicken with skin on (because its easier to get it off after ) in a casserole with lemon grass, sliced ginger ,sliced garlic, coriander stalks a couple of star anise , some spring onions, a large splash of soy sauce and a bit of Szechuan pepper (though you could leave that out) , topped up with water. ( I did it in the oven on low for a few hours , )

When it was done and coolish I took out chicken stripped of the skin and meat and de-fatted the liquid (ate some chicken for lunch ) . Then returned the carcass, veggie bits and skin into the pot and added more ginger garlic etc and topped up with a splash or two of rice vinegar more soy and water and let that simmer for an hour or two, then strained the liquid again and defatted that then mixed with the original liquid. (chucked away everything else)

Then (here comes the yummy bit for fasting )..I heated enough stock for a bowl, squeezed in lime juice , lots of fresh coriander and some hot sauce , and drank, slurping..

And I still have lots of lovely Chinesey chicken use to make salad stir fry or and more hot n sour with some chicken and veg tomorrow on my fast day ..

Sounds like a lot of bother? .. well it wasn't that difficult as it cooks itself and much nicer than cup a soup or miso soup IMHO
just thought id share ,..

As its defatted.. its really just flavoured stock , MFP suggests a soup bowl would be about 60-70 cals

Hi everyone!

Please could you tell me how long you hav been doing this and how much weight you have lost. I really need the motivation. Need to lose 1 and 1/2 stone. Have been trying to lose it for ages. Keep losing a bit and then putting it back on.

Hi everyone. I've not been doing so well lately. I haven't lost anything since the initial loss and have been feeling a little fed up. I've cut back a lot, but have struggled with the whole fast thing since coming home (I'm ok until the evening). I've been eating less everyday up until mid afternoon, then eating more normally). I just feel my body is used to it now. Does it work to switch round diets a little...? Not sure what to do now - on here for advice again. Thank you !

Yfandes, maybe you are eating too little generally and your metabolism has slowed? Remember on your 5 days you should eat as normal, so your body is primed to lose fat when you suddenly spring a fast on it.

Busy I've lost 2 kgs in about 3 weeks.

Yfandes I don't know. Have you eaten your normal allotted calories on your eating days, or are you also eating low-cal on those days?

I might help to mix things up a bit, times of day that you're eating, or the amounts you're eating on food days. I'm not sure I can suggest more than that. Some of us just seem to react differently to the diet, maybe someone else has something to say.

Yes noodle soup and chinesey/ japanesey stuff seems to work well. I am into day 5 of fasting and am full up! Have had s bowl of porridge made with water and a splash of cold milk on top with trevia sugar sprinkled over for breakfast and then a bowl of noodle soup for dinner - just a few noodles and loads of veg chopped up - it fills you up although wears off pretty quickly too do am going to sleep

Man my options hot choccy orange drink was really splendiferous, deffo helped get me from tea time to bed time. Am pleased I managed a good fast day today.

Laska your soup sounds lovely, I'm veggie tho so not ideal for me!
Bought some miso, but haven't tried it yet. My friend got it for me and she tried some and said it was like drinking pond scum!!!
Feed day tomorrow, but anticipate waking up not hungry. Am gonna hit the gym then have a huge bowl of fruit salad. Big slice of costco pizza for lunch tho, and a mahoosive slurpy gin and tonic in the evening! mmm...

I have found a smashing curry without the calories recipe - where should I post it I've lost the link?

Hi all,

Some thoughts, some of which will be TMI...

1. Before my period I seem to hold water, though less than usual in face/ankles etc... AND get a bit constipated. I need to remember to wait 2-3 days in, and then, er, things loosen up a lot. A number of lbs are lost on this day so it seems to help the process..

1. Someone else mentioned the body acclimatising to the fasting. This is interesting. I've been mostly weighing everyday for 7 weeks. The first week the differences in weight on different days are enormous, and then they begin to even out. Yet overall, I still lose 1lb a week on 2 or 3 days fasting.

1. I have been unashamedly eating whatever I like, including junk, sweets, alcohol, carbs on non-fast days. I have decided the only way I can sustain this is not feeling deprived, so far better NOT to worry, calorie count, limit on the 'normal' days and just settle into it and relax. It works for me, but I wonder if it also helps me. If ones body does go into 'panic famine' mode and 'hold on' to fat when it thinks calories are limited, then logic would suggest you need to eat ENOUGH calories on non-fast days in order to 'reassure' your body that you can afford to lose weight? I have no idea at all if this is scientifically sound, but I do wonder if those who are not losing weight are trying too hard to calorie-count or -restrict on their 'normal' days, thus telling their metabolism they are on a permanent diet? Just a thought, and worth experimenting on before completing jacking it in? In other words, try eating MORE on normal days for a couple of weeks to see what happens?

I agree with those saying eat what you like on eating days. I ate (and drank) like a pig (fish) at the weekend, fasted yesterday and still weighed less this morning than a week ago, only by half a pound but it still amazes me and spurs me on :)

Hi all
week 2 fast 1 for me- feeling hungry this morning (could that be because of half a bottle of wine last night?) but just having a herbal tea
Will have some soup for lunch and then planning on a prawn and veg stirfry tonight
I am also weighing daily and plotting on a graph and the overall trend is down (maybe about 1.5lbs after the first week)

Thanks for your thoughts willself I haven't been restricting myself on food days, I've been eating normally but my body is not responding to this regime. I did not find myself getting used to fasting. I became almost rabid before my evening meal, I thought that would pass with time but it didn't. It was a massive relief last night to just eat, I will still give support and encouragement to my dh but for me, it's time to bow out and consider other means of fasting for health, if I can do it at all because at the moment it just doesn't seem to suit me. So will slide on back to being a little bit stricter in my low carb lifestyle and hope that that the couple of pounds I have gained over the summer find their way to freedom sometime soon.

weighed myself today as I started this a week tomorrow and toda is a feed day so thought a loss would encourage me not to go mad.....

drum roll.....

I've lost 5lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well done Lagart, that's fab!

TellMeLater I understand where you are coming from. You gave it a good shot and decided it's not for you.

Do most of you weigh in after a fast day or feed day? I'm thinking a feed day would prob be more accurate?

2nd fast day here. No food yet (it's 11:15) but I have tidied my desk for the first time in 6 months (I work from home so it fill up with colouring pages and homework and bills as well as work).

I'm going to weigh in Thursday morning, 7 days after I started this.

I'm not sure if I've lost weight but I'm pretty sure my house is going to be tidier after this as I use distraction techniques to avoid food.

(Now I wonder if the sofa would look better on the other side of the room??)

I've been doing this for about a month now. I've lost 9lbs so will definitely try to continue. I actually find it quite liberating only dieting 2 days a week! However I am gluten free because of rhematoid arthritis so I think that actually helps also. But I am 6 stone heavier than I should be & am clinically obese so I have a long way to go.

First fasting day of 3rd week here. Bit of support needed please.

So far I've had water, tea and coffee today but the hunger and grumpiness is beginning to set it. Planning a green salad with a boiled egg for lunch in an hour.

Not weighed myself but clothes feeling a little looser - only a tiny bit....

What I want to know is what are the rest of you eating on your non fasting days? I feel like if I want to eat what I want on 5 days a week I wont lose weight, but if I restrict what I eat I might as well do a normal diet and avoid the twice weekly torture....

I'm just eating normally and trying not to think about dieting. SO yesterday I had 2 slices of toast with butter and marmalade, lunch was Moussaka and salad followed by a mini magnum and dinner was pasta followed by 2 squares of chocolate. Came in at 1824 cals

I never normally count cals but I've just started a food log as I have no idea what I eat normally. Calcs say I should have about 2300 cals/day to maintain weight. I would normally have about 350 of those in wine though and I didn't have any yesterday so I guess that would bring me close.

I'm eating as normal but as I don't eat gluten it's quite easy to avoid what I term treat foods!

thinkfast On non fast days I try to eat healthily but without calorie watching and allow myself a treat. I was away this weekend and eating out a lot so, for example, Saturday I had grilled fish and veggies for lunch with lovely bread and butter and then veggie risotto with for evening meal. Sunday lunch we went to an "eat all you like" buffet and I had BBQ chicken, salad and then Thai green curry with rice. I had a long drive and was starving when I got home so had 4 slices of (wholemeal) toast and marmite . Yesterday I had a lunch at work and had pasta with pesto, bread roll and butter, hummus and creamy ice cream and fruit.

Because I'd eaten all that I just had a home made veggie soup when I got home and will eat the rest of it during today as a fast day.

when I got on the scales this morning I was a couple of pound heavier than I had been on friday morning - but unlike previous "diets" when I would have thought I'd fallen off the wagon and blown it - this time I just say "that's OK, just have a few more fast days for the next couple of weeks".

This is, for me, psychologically, a much easier way to lose weight and gain health benefits. I am still 4-5 lbs lighter than I was when I watched the programme and I can;t expect really rapid weight loss as my BMI is fine but it's my waist measurement that is far too large to be healthy

ALERT ALERT ALERT

For those who missed it - it's being re-shown at 03.30 am tomorrow morning on BBC1. I'm going to tape it this time!