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! :)

[LookBehindYou]

HeartshJ it's all linked really isn't it? Higher weights are linked to diabetes, high blood pressure and some cancers etc so if you lose weight your risk of those go down. Eating, especially starchy foods uses insulin. Insulin stores fat and produces cell growth hormones. So I guess this is just giving our bodies a break from that and encouraging cell repair instead. I think we really need one of the researchers on here for a live chat.

[Laska42]

both for me .. I've already lost a lot of weight on WW , but have stuck at around 11.7 stone for over 2 years.. but my weight is top heavy apple shape and I'm over 50 , so I would like to lose this last stone and get back to a healthy BMI

But the health outcomes are a major factor for me doing this , and i was shocked to see the horizon programme (and the hairy dieters ) about how much fat we can store around our organs . People in my family have often died from heart problems and I am a dead ringer in looks and body shape for my grandmother who had increasingly serious heart probs for the latter 30 years of her life and died of them.

I dont want that to be me..

Just cycled 8 miles (2 hills!) this morning so feeling good. I'm off for my feed day breakfast now....spinach, mushroom and coriander and cheese omelette YUM! .. but i dont intend to go over my 800 basal rate today if I can help it , have healthy choices planned ..

[SilveryMoon]

Morning all.
Fast day for me today. I forgot to eat the big bag of malteasers I bought yesterday so today's gonna be tough knowing they're there.

Off to the park today, and later tonight i have lots of ironing to do and then plan to paint my nails and get an early night.

Off to catch up with thread now.

Have a good day, and good luck to all thursday fasters

[LookBehindYou]

Laska, that's a great incentive. I'm healthy and fit but too fat and now is the time to do something about it.
This is another fast day for me and then I leave for two weeks on the beach tomorrow - woohoo! I need to find out how many calories there are in calamari and greek salad...

[SpringGoddess]

Fast day for me today, just had a coffee with milk and will be drinking gallons of water.

[WilfSell]

Both for me too. I am overweight by quite a lot and now I'm middle aged, my health is beginning to suffer more. I also had a grandmother with heart problems.

But the thing is, many of us who are overweight (but not all) have food issues anyway. My 'control' over what I eat is pretty poor - I know the theory, and I try to eat healthily most of the time, but somehow my brain intervenes and I stuff myself with junk. My take on this way of eating is to be realistic. I've also tried just cutting down, exercising more, WW (twice), SW once, and most recently low carbing. Every bit of weight I've lost I have put back on because I can't control myself when I start eating normally again. So I needed something that allowed me to exercise control as a normal way of eating, still see food as a 'treat' and banning no food groups, but also lose weight. This seems to be it, so far as it is sustainable for me. In the research done by Michelle Jarvie, this seems to be a major factor so that people are able to stick to this regime for long periods of time.

I am, I must admit, still a bit sceptical about the science behind the other health benefits just now, but am prepared to be convinced and am hoping someone is carrying out large-scale trials somewhere. I read somewhere that having too little IGF-1 is also a health risk so I just don't think we know. But based on Mosley's programme, anecdotally and based on the small studies there, it was persuasive.

The bottom line for me is I can see myself doing this consistently for a year, two years or more, which is what I need to do. That IN ITSELF is a health benefit because if I don't shift 3-4 stone, then I'm already unhealthy...

[BuntCadger]

On normal day here. Tried to have toast for breakie but only managed under half a slice as it tasted doughy. Dh didn't like his either. It seems that our tastes are changing. I am also not reaching for chocolate and didn't enjoy my milky coffee.
I did like my onken fat free yoghurt tho

[coffeeinbed]

I find it easier to diet in short bits.
I did a day on Tuesday - mostly yogurt and berries.
I also find that if I don;t eat in the morning then I'm not really hungry later in the day. It's always been like thins though, for me. Funny.
Anyway, this fits my way of eating so I think I'll follow and see what happens.

[Laska42]

LBY I have envy coming out of every pore.. had my Greek holiday in June and it will be another year before the next. But have a great time!.

If you are thinking of still doing some of this whilst you are away , I'd go for things like stuffed vegetables , Gigantes or Greek salads with only half the feta on your down day and try to limit the oil if you can , or just grilled fish and salad. But enjoy the up days! Calamari, Greek yoghurt, spinach and feta pie, grilled lamb chops - yum ! (oops sorry, you down day-ers reading this .. ill get my coat )

Wilfsell what I find interesting is that after so long on WW is that I don't know the calories of anything..(of course this is how they tie you in) For example on WW all fruit is 'free' but i've been shocked to find out just how many calories i've been packing away in fruit.. no wonder I wasnt losing weight .
The other thing i've found interesting is how to make sure that what I eat on my down days is balanced using MFP and that I'm getting the most good nutrition for my limited 500 cal option. Quite a revelation .

I already feel so much more in control over my eating choices.. now i just need to limit the wine (and stop having that occasional ciggie at social events).

I never said I was good.....

[Chestnutx3]

Fast day for me again today feel so miserable at the prospect. Didn't help that I weighed myself this morning and all the 3lb loss has gone although my clothes fit a bit better and my stomach is flat. I'm doing this for health benefits too but want to lose at least half a stone ideally a stone.

[LookBehindYou]

Hi Laska, I intend to do it while I'm away. There's quite a lot of food that's good for it in Greece, just as you say avoiding so much of the oil and the bread they serve with every meal - so nice for diping in oil & vinegar....

[HeartsJandJ]

I think the things I'm not comfortable with include calorie counting versus just listening to your body and letting it lead you.

On my fast day if I felt hungry I would have a couple of nuts rather than force myself onwards just to stay under 500 calories.

Then there is weighing yourself and feeling happy/sad depending on if you are up or down a couple of pounds.

Things like that shriek fad diet to me, not a holistic approach to health and well-being. If this is a way to be healthy, which it is for me, then the benefit of it is is long-term and not to fit in a pair of jeans for Christmas for example.

I feel that things like WW are responsible for people losing touch with their body and feeling they can control it rather than nourish and love it and listen to it.

It actually makes me feel quite sad to read that people feel deprived on fast days and that eating days are a reward with chocolate or whatever. Chocolate is not "bad" but binge eating it is. Cramming down huge quantities of vegetables is not "good" and it is this element of force which makes me think diet not health.

And now I've read that through I realise it sounds judgy and sanctimonious which is genuinely not what I intend. I wouldn't want to offend anyone and the examples I've used are not meant to point the finger in anyway.

[LookBehindYou]

Actually HeartsJ it does sound judgy.
Many overweight people struggle with the very thing you think they should do. One is not necessarily healtier than the other. Many slim people struggle with blood sugar control. Anything that makes people really think about what they're eating (as you do when you only have a finite amount of calories to play with) is good.

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

HeartsJandJ well, as this topic is in the weight loss forum, you'll see more posts skewed towards the weight loss effect of this diet. The weight loss is also something we can all measure for ourselves. I can't readily check my own blood levels etc.

I have noticed I have more energy in the mornings. For whatever that is worth.

The differences to WW, assuming weight loss is your aim, as I see them (since you asked): 1) I don't have to pay to sign up to this diet. 2) I can plan my calorie-restricted days and eat normally other days. This could mean having more than one glass of wine, or whatever floats my boat that day. For me, personally, the strict day/ casual day thing works better.

I was doing calorie-restriction daily and not seeing any results before this. I am seeing results now. Am I going to do this forever? I don't know. :) I could see me maintaining the diet for health reasons at the 5:2 level. At the moment I'm closer to ADF. I'm using this to get motivated to lose more weight. I need the results (which I'm getting) to motivate me to stick with it.

I don't see it as any more faddy than low-carb, for example. I know low-carb works, but I also know my own limitations and I personally would not be able to stick with it as a lifestyle change.

(btw I know you're just asking the question, I'm just answering. I'm not taking your post as controversial or anything. It's a reasonable question to ask!)

I'm also typing this with a toddler saying "WHATS THAT WORD WHATS THAT WORD" at my elbow so I think I need to go for now. :) Off to the playground. It's a fast day, so I've just had water so far. Looking forward to a cup of coffee when I'm home!

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

oh actually, I was responding to your original post. Yes, your new post sounds judgy. Shall leave it at that, the playground beckons for now. :)

[HeartsJandJ]

LBY - I really don't think anyone should "do" anything and although I realise it did sound judgy I just didn't know how to phrase it otherwise to not do so. But once again I didn't mean it that way and I wouldn't want to hurt or put anyone off.

GreenEggs - thank you for taking the time to respond and explain.

[Laska42]

heartsJandJ I think you are making a reasonable point but of course we all have different motivations but sadly I do really need to focus on the method to succeed whether its counting calories, points or whatever..Listening to my body is a bit like listening to a naughty fairy..

I'm a hedonist and I'm not going to change now (been one for far too long). but on this I can be !

But like DR M . I love life and I want to keep doing so for as long as I can ....

Good luck on your journey also .. the great thing is that what ever our motivation we support each other .. (sorry if that sounds judgy ..not meant to be )

[TheCunningStunt]

For me it's definately a health thing. Long term health that is. I look forward to fast days, as I actually feel better on them. I sleep better too. Dp is noticing health benefits too. I am in a healthy weight and bmi range, but I think if people can gain both from it(health and weight loss), then their motivations are no less valid than someone doing it for just health reasons.

[HappyOrchid]

Feed day today. Will try not to be too bad, but we have a birthday in the office and taking my Italian boss for dinner tonight.
Will fast again tomorrow, day 3 this week. Also going out for dinner on Saturday night with DH for our anniversary, so will be consuming a few too many calories, although its a V. posh Spa Hotel place so delicious food, but thankfully small portions.

[catsrus]

both motivations for me as well - my BMI is 23.3, within the normal range, but I am at "increased" risk of health problems because of my waist size i.e. body fat. Since redundancy & menopause I have found I've gained weight around my middle and my shape has changed, so I want to tackle that and at the same time tackle the other risks which fasting seems to address.

I don't do faddy diets, never done WW or Atkins etc, just tried to eat sensibly based on the latest research and eat less. Over the last few years that simply has not worked, this is. I'm a scientist and have read some of the papers this is based on - the sample sizes were small in the human trials, but there was enough of an effect for it to be statistically significant so it's worth trying IMO. My uncle, who's a retired GP, has been doing a version of this for about 15 yrs and is probably a tad smug right now. He just eats in the evenings, one good meal a day.

[WilfSell]

Yes, I agree laska - some of us listened to our bodies and ended up fat! I think if you don't already have a habit of making sensible choices, it is difficult to impose 'from within' and you (by which I mean I of course) need some regime of external control that is simple and easy to apply. This fits that bill.

But I do agree with hearts on not being obsessive about it either, that way lies madness too.

[headfairy]

Fast day for me and this one I was worried about because I've got a really long day at work today. 8am to 11pm. But so far not feeling too bad at all. I'm trying for the first time to have a 500 cal meal in the middle of the day and I'm not feeling hungry at all. So far I've had a pint of sparkling water with lemon and a cup of tea. I hope I don't get another banging headache this time, as I've still got an hour long drive home after my marathon shift.

[LookBehindYou]

I find I do much better during busy work days. Less time to think about my tummy. Can't stop my tummy rumbling today though!

[thinkfast]

This second fasting day is soooooooooo much easier than the first (so far). Feeling hungry in waves but not exhausted, light headed, irritable, headachy (yet). About to have a green salad and a boiled eggand miso soup for lunch then veg soup for dinner. does that sound ok? what are the rest of you having on fast days?

[headfairy]

Lunch today will be an Innocent veg pot, a banana, and a couple of my Graze box snacks... There will be no dinner

I'm actually not feeling that hungry yet, I'm wondering if it's better to wait until I'm ravenous because the thought of going from 1pm to midnight when I get home and get to bed isn't pleasant!