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! :)

[geranium72]

Do what is right for you, I agree

I do find that I am ok if I just say - I can have it tomorrow - try that and if it doesn't work then do it another day!

[Laska42]

sexbomb it does get easier, but I believe that if its not feeling right then don?t do it today.. Look, it took you all these years to get this weight, so if you can?t do fasting today and by not doing it you might not do it next week , then cut yourself some slack ..

I?ts not just about losing weight , its about lots of other n benefits as well, but it takes your body some time to get in the mode especially if you?ve only just started.
I?ve managed ok, but then i don?t have small children and those kind of stresses..Also , i?ve already been Lc-bing so im not having sugar lows , and I guess i?ve just been lucky so far that my body seems to take it well ( if fact i?ve been surprised.).

I think if you really don?t want to do it today then don?t but don?t use it as an excuse for eating much more than you normally would.. If i were you id not fast today , but record my calories and try to not to go over your basal calorie weight.
Then get your self back in the frame of mind tomorrow (or next week )when its easier for you

Good luck and be nice to yourself .. its not a win or fail thing we are just trying to make ourselves healthier in the long term

(hope that doesnt sound preachy..)

[Lagartijadoesthecrazyshake]

Well it's my first feed day today and funnily enough I haven't felt al that hungry or craved bad stuff . Have probably stayed within my basal calorie thingy too . Going to do another fast day tomorrow but avoid carbs.

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

Katisha I believe during the fast days your body must be burning reserves efficiently. I've lost over 7 lbs in 2 weeks, and that's including several eating days where I was out, eating cake, or whatever else was on offer. I'm not saying I went crazy with it, but it's not overly restrictive. I am, however, fasting 3 days a week, not 2.

Results are varying, though, so I think the best way to find out is to try for yourself. :)

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

Am winding up my fast day today, and it's gone alright. I didn't eat anything, just had coffee and water all day. 5pm rolled around and I started to think about my veg for supper, when I got an email from our estate agent telling me the LL wants to sell the house. :( So, cue me looking at houses until it was time to pick DS from nursery. I've only just now managed to have my veg.

Have had less than 300 calories today though, think I'll have a nectarine as well.

[rachelblythe]

End of my feed day today. Not done too bad but gave in to a large bowl of porridge at 8pm which was very filling but will have definitely pushed me over my basal calories. Oh well :) it was nice.
Bit worried that I haven't got an energy drink for my fast day tomorrow, I find it really helps me through until lunch time. Won't get a chance to get one until after lunch as out to a Childrens adventure land park in the morning, and I can only drink them first thing in the morning otherwise I can't sleep at night!
I'm I'm bed now, going to get an early night as felt tied all day today. My 15 month old little boy should sleep through until about 7:30 so looking forward to a good 9 hours sleep hopefully :)

[dandycandyjellybean]

thanks for your support guys...I had to go out to a meeting and to see friends afterwards, no food involved though, but just before I came home, totally out of nowhere I ended up in floods of tears! (Have recently found out that my dad has cancer, which totally blindsided me, so maybe that is a factor, although wasn't aware of feeling anything to do with it during the day, was just monster horrible and irritable).

Anyway, have come home and had a large whiskey, really felt i needed it, so I won't try and start a fast tonight. As everyone has said, it is such a flexible system, much more flexible than I am with myself sometimes!

I will not be giving up. I am deffo doing it for the health benefits first, my dad's condition was a big motivator, but I also need to lose several stone so that will hopefully be a bonus. Will aim for Sunday now as my next fast day, think I need to be a bit gentle with myself for a couple of days.

Thanks again for the support, greatly appreciated.

[OlympiaMumsnet]

@WilfSell

I'm wondering if we can encourage MNHQ to get Mosley or the American researcher (Varady?) to do a live webchat... What do you reckon? If you think it's a good idea, someone report my post?! Then we could pin them down with all our questions...

Hello
Just to say we have seen this and will have a look into this. No promises though.
Thanks
MNHQ

[TellMeLater]

sexbomb I think one whiskey was quite restrained. Look after yourself.

[MandaHugNKiss]

Also, katisha, remember that your basal rate is just that - as if you were to lay in bed all day and not even get up. To literally exist. Even a pretty sedentary lifestyle will push your calorie needs up by at least a couple of hundred a day... which over a week means your deficit will probably be big enough for a loss of at least a pound.

Yesterday and today being eating days I can't help but to have noticed that DS3 has been more settled/sleeping more which tells me fasting probably is affecting my milk. Tomorrow is due to be a fast day so I shall have a better idea over the course of tomorrow/next couple of days. May have to shelve fasting for now if I really do come to that conclusion - but will have no qualms about starting up again once I finish feeding him albeit that may be in over two years if he's anything like DS2

[BuntCadger]

Oooo Olympia

[rowingboat]

Hi all,
so that was a normal day for me, following my fast day. I discovered that my scales have been broken for me by my son, who has been jumping up and down on them, to see the dial go round and round. So off to buy another set this weekend for the Saturday or Sunday weigh-in.
Didn't really go mad eating-wise, cereal for breakfast and a coffee then soup and bread for lunch, three apples, a couple of biscuits, tortellini with sauce salad and about 10 crisps. Don't think that takes me over my maintenance calorie weight.

Green eggs that sounds like a fairly stressful day. I hope you find something soon. You should definitely have a net deficit this week after that day from hell.

[annafran]

Posted earlier. Today's my 8th fast day and I'm really hungry! Mostly they've been ok but for some reason this one has been difficult. Mind you, I usually go to bed early on fast days but had to stay up as I'm waiting for a wash to finish, DD needs something in it for weekend, apparently and she's off tomorrow morning. Meanwhile tummy rumbling. :(

[2012fan]

Morning 5:2ers! This morning after 10 days inc 3 fast days I have kost 3.8lbs and feel great! Breakfast has been a small ham sandwich - I thought I really wanted this but it wasn't all that nice actually. Am eating between 1000 and 2000 on eating days depending on how much I drink. I responded to the post on the Daily Mail site but think I must have been overcritical of their journalist, Zoe Harcombe and DM generally as, guess what, they've not put it on!

[TellMeLater]

The daily mail article which suggests that you fast one day and binge he next? I haven't heard anyone encourage you to binge on feed days. Like loads of other I find my eating more under control on feed days now....less snacking. Not that I'm seeing much movement on the scales - dh on the other hand has lost 4kg in 3 weeks - I have respectfully requested that he shuts up about it, bloody men find it too easy to lose weight!

[Katisha]

Thanks all for replied to my post about how a calorie deficit of 2600 is going to make it slow. My calculation that I need 1800 to stay the same is not my basal rate but has factored in a rather sedentary lifestyle so yes... more exercise...always my bête noir!
I got the impression from the Horizon that this way of eating might switch on some sort of better fat burning but my rate of loss so far doesn't really support that idea! Shame! However slow but sure is good - its certainly how I gained the weight!

[Buttons2012]

Hey I've started afd since Tuesday (being my first fast day) and have been reading this tread for tips etc, weighed myself this morning and I'm down 7 pounds already!!!! This included going to Eddie rockets on one of my feed days! :)

[HappyOrchid]

Morning all, Third fast day of this week. Ate around 1700 cals yesterday and have not done any exercise this week due to various work committments (sp?)

Have started with apple, satsuma and a nectarine.

Good luck to evryone fasting today

[HappyOrchid]

Oh yeah, lost my train of thought then.

I have definitely found myself thinking more about what I am eating on feed days. Previously I had been doing approx 1400 cals per day and losing about ½lb a week. It was very slow going & I was eating grazing almost constantly through the day and eating meal replacement bars / shakes.

Am now eating proper food every day, but am actually enjoying the food and not feeling the need to snack even on feed days. Made me consider my intake a lot more.

All I need to do now is get back to the gym 3 - 4 days a week (which for me is always easier in winter) and I think I've found an ongoing eating plan that fits to suit my lifestyle and not the other way about.

[BuntCadger]

Fast day here again. Got lively friend over later... But she always brings cake. I will be strong I hope. This is 3rd week and weighing myself tonight. Is there a best time of day for weighing? I just been doing it on wii same time on a Friday night.

So far I've had 1 glass of diet Pepsi

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

The DM article is full of the same tripe most of their articles seem to spew. There is a world of difference between eating normally (the average 2000 calorie day) and "binging". And then you get the typical responses coming in and moaning how people should just do things the way they've always been done, and how things were better when [insert soapbox issue here]. They're good for entertainment value, at least. sometimes! I particularly love the comment that's suggesting this is a new fad dreamt up by someone trying to make money off of people. Um, I haven't had to spend a penny on this diet, unlike something like WW or SW (which DM seems to have a vested interest in, judging by related articles) which charge quite a bit.

I'm glad to see a fair few people responding to say they've done the diet and it works well for them.

I don't know who Zoe Harcombe is but if she's written a book promoting another diet, then ofc this diet isn't in her best interest.

[MandaHugNKiss]

I also think, katisha that although it will be slow for some women - men appear to be super-responders to this regime people, it'll be sustainable. That's a real key factor. Even for the people who struggle with the fasts initially all seem to report it becoming easier and their eating on non-fast days also naturally falling into line with a more healthy way of living (not/less over eating, less/no snacking).

Once you fall into that pattern and your mindset adjusts to the fact that this is how you live now rather than I'm on a diet before you know it you will have lost plenty of weight without really have noticing it. Half a pound a week would be nudging 2 stone over the course of a year!

It's difficult to think 'a stone in six months' because most people want/need quicker results than that to stick with it. But that's also connected to most 'diets' being hard work/limiting/leave you feeling deprived - not so this way!

Hey, and you never know - despite what the figures tell you, it could be that you're also a super-responder and will lose weight quicker than the maths suggest.

I guess we'll never know unless you give it a try

[BIWI]

Zoe Harcombe writes a lot about low carbing - she is worth reading - although, of course, she also has her own diet.

I suspect she was expressing some of the concerns about fasting that have also been made on this/the other fasting threads - but was also probably quoted out of context to support the general critical thrust of the article.

[BIWI]

Here is her site, if you're interested

[sassytheFIRST]

De-lurkingh to join. I've done 2 fast days this week and read this thread with interest during them. I am interested in the health benefits, but it I'm honest, far more interested in finding a way to lose the stone or so I want to chuck off before the big 4-0 in December.

Found fasting quite easy. I work in a v busy environment so often find I've not really eaten between 7 and 4pm anyway, and the later I eat breakfast the less hungry I am as a rule.

Fast day 2 was yesterday; have lost 2lbs and just eaten a banana so far today. Will eat a sensible diet today once I get properly going - prob beans on toast at lunch and fish, jacket potato and salad for tea. Plus a glass or two of wine and something sweet later on. The main thing I've found is terrific headaches - prob a low blood sugar/carb withdrawal thing. Hoping they go as my body adjusts.