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! :)

Mintyy I think TalkIn is just giving some good example guidelines, expanding on my babbling about "average" food consumption.

I really just wanted to give people a heads-up regarding food consumption. We keep saying to eat normally, but the definition of normal food consumption varies from person to person.

My purpose wasn't to get people worried about their eating days; as I've said, I'm eating normally, and indulging on some occasions, and continuing to lose weight. I don't calorie count on those days.

Oh, I see.

Well, I never eat biscuits, chocolates or fizzy drinks and I have a takeaway about once a month, so I guess that means I can eat a 6 pack of crisps and a family sized pork pie every day to make up for that .

Not every day mintyy maybe just 5 days a week?

My BMI is higher than 25. I don't think TalkIn meant anything by the post, other than to inform.

It's difficult to word these things otherwise. Say my example of watching Secret Eaters the other day. One of the ladies on the show regularly ate over 7000 calories a day, and seriously didn't realise she was consuming that much food. It was a lot of food, yes, but then there were a lot of fizzy drinks, and sauces, etc, which added a lot more in terms of calories. So if that lady were to come to this thread and think hey, I could fast 2x a week then eat 7k calories the other days, I think she would be mistaken. Because she'd still be averaging over 5000 calories a day.

I am not saying every person with a high BMI eats this way. I am in the high range of overweight, to obese, last I checked the chart. I don't eat that way. I am not making assumptions about anyone. I just wanted to raise awareness of the whole idea of eating "normally."

Hi everyone, my first day of fasting was Monday.... Oops, I ate about 900 calls as I was unprepared. Second day was yesterday and did better, just under 600 cals. Felt fine this morning and have not been overly hungry (just my usual self, needing to pick). I have also stopped drinking Mon - Thur, now before you all think I am wonderful, it's bloody hard! However, we had an emergency with our son last week and so am now on red alert in case I have another emergency (seizure, must look for a thread on it in a minute).

Btw, am really encouraged by all these posts, you're a great bunch :-)

must not overdo the Smileys

Gah! I'll never get it, salad days.

I'm fasting today. Having a lovely vegetable curry tonight, a recipe that we often have, but tonight it will just be a small portion, easy on the potatoes, and no rice, poppadums or mango chutney to go with.

Sounds good. I think it's vegetable soup for me soon. Not eaten yet, so looking forward to it. :)

Hi everyone and welcome to the newbies. I am on week 3, fasting day 2 this week. Had my usual egg and toast for breakfast - and for tea had a lush stir-fry with small portion of prawns. The fasting had not been too much of a problem ( apart from last Friday, when i got very hubgry mid evening, I am putting down to tiredness) . Decided with dh to do Monday and Thursday's. This week has been grand, although my mood has been a struggle at times, have had headaches and feel on edge. Having same amount of caffeine as before fasting. It's an odd thing the mood issue, I am in great form about weight loss (5lb ish up til last weekend) , feel lighter overall, no cravings but tolerance level with kids and idiots at work is not what it normally is. Ah well it's a side effect I can live with, I'm aware of it so easier to manage.

Sending you all posting vibes :-) do feel this way of eating is sustainable and has great health benefits .

As little postscript dh had health check this week - cholesterol etc all in danger zone, body fat too, he doesn't look over-weight , hope health benefits have impact on all these meaurements

saladfingers
sorry if I sounded smug BUT when I was doing WW to get my BMI under 25 it was what I had to take on board (and the fact that a 250g pack of cheshire cheese is not a snack!!)

Cutting out the booze for at least 4 days a week is an excellent move.
The fact that there are nearly 700 calories in the average bottle of red wine is the reason my waist is several inches larger than it should be !!!
And the liver / kidneys / circulation benefits are clear.

Veggie curry sounds yum.

Don't know what kind of insanity it was that made me think cooking the dc bacon and eggs for their tea on one of my fast days was a good idea! .

You're a strong woman if you can resist that Mintyy!

Well I've just had a ton of veg with two tablespoons of lentils and some mint sauce for flavour. Rather yum and 200 cals. I think I might make it, the evening munchies will hit I know, but I will be strong! My total for today is 425 cals.

Roll on tomorrow morning!

His thread is brill and helping me to stay on the wagon .

We had veg curry too. Not sure how I could get it under 200 cals though, ours was more like 300. Very nice though.

Yes I appreciate everyone in this thread. I know a few people who have heard of this diet and are intrigued. Everyone else just thinks I'm a loon if I mention it. So I just don't. :) But I do want to talk about it, because it's working so well for me, so I come here.

We managed a 2 course meal tonight under 300 cals: veg soup and omlette with leeks, was quite satisfying.

Btw I found that my grumpiness with the children levels have gone right down now they are back at school :o

Funny that, I have found exactly the same Sputnik.

Hey all, this thread moves so fast! Feeling fab today as I had a clear out of a few sizes of fat clothes and maternity clothes, which I will never need again! Feels really good. Found various skinny sizes of jeans that I can't fit into yet too, but am hopeful it won't be too long at this rate. :-)

Last fast day of the week tomorrow and looking forward to it.

I am hungry today. Had half a tin of tomato soup with one slice of bread, a few cups of tea with milk, a few pieces of chicken and 3 carrots. Can't wait for feed day tomorrow! This is working for me though, it's easy to stay motivated when you know you can eat tomorrow.

Hi all week 1 fast 2 for me and found today a lot harder than Monday - first fast at work! Had cuppa soup, 2 rice cakes and yoghurt at lunch and that kept me going until about 4pm and then it got really hard. Had Egg, mushrooms, 2 slices of turkey bacon, 5 cherry tomatos and a few potato slices and raw spinach this evening bringing me in at just slightly over 500. Feeling much better now :)

Had a few side affects today was cold all day, couple of dizzy spells and seem to be sweating a lot more than usual at the slightest exertion. Not had the headaches that others have tho so I suppose I should be grateful.
Just had a thought maybe I'm getting the flu lol

Remember to have lots of hot drinks - they distract you from thoughts of hunger

Liquorice tea is very good for hunger, I discovered.

Talkin been drinking jasmine green tea all day mostly just to get heat from the cup as I hate the stuff lol. I'm a hardcore Tea addict (Tetley strong with a splash of milk) drinking maybe 10 mugs a day! Have given it up on fast days and that is the thing i crave most Jasmine just ain't cutting it

Thanks for your support I really feel that we are all in this together.

Skinny
why are you giving up tea?
so long as you have it with semi skim milk, lots and lots of it adds up to only 80 or so calories - and if it makes the rest work better then you are more likely to stick with the changes long term.