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Fasting / 5:2 diet

Talk about intermittent fasting and 5:2, including what’s worked for others. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

5:2 Diet Thread: Part Five! Top of the Mornin' to you!

977 replies

GreenEggsAndNichts · 07/10/2012 17:53

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 a month or two ago, 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.

Here is a list of the links we've gathered so far about this diet. I hope I haven't left many out, but we've filled several threads by now. Please share if you find something particularly useful, and we'll add it for the next thread.

First things first, here are links to some of our previous threads: most recent one before that another one.

Another thread which breadandwine has just started can be found here. We'll be trying to condense some of our top tips for fasting there. Keep in mind, we all do this differently, so these are just tips, not rules.

frenchfancy has a recipe thread over here, please post any low-calorie recipes there so they don't get lost in these bigger threads!

Here is the link to the BBC article regarding Michael Mosley's findings, which was featured on Horizon.

is a link to the first part of the aforementioned Horizon, subsequent parts of that episode are linked on that page.

A blog post here gives some of the scientific explanation for why this way of eating helps you to not only lose weight, but improve your all-around health.

A Telegraph article which comments on the diet and gives a brief overview.

A study discussed here gives commentary specifically addressing the effect of this diet on obese people (both men and women), with regard to both health and weight loss. ("After 8 weeks of treatment, participants had an average 12.5 lbs reduction in body weight and a 4 cm decrease in waist circumference. Total fat mass declined by about 12 lbs while lean body mass remained relatively constant.) it also mentions "Plasma adiponectin, a protein hormone that is elevated in obesity and associated with heart disease, dropped by 30%. As did LDL cholesterol (25%) and triglycerides (32%).")

Important link if you are currently your ideal BMI: this appears to suggest the benefits for women at a lower BMI might not be seeing the same health benefits that are found on men at their ideal BMI.

And for those already fasting, here is a link to 100 snacks under 100 calories. We tend to favour lots of hot drinks during the day (count your milk if you use it!)

Another food link, here is a link to the BBC Good Food site, with a list of low-calorie soups.

We often mention basal metabolic rate (BMR) here. This refers to the amount of energy (calories) a person uses when at rest; so, the basic number of calories a person needs to stay the same weight. This number is often quoted as being 2000 calories for the "average" woman, but of course is different depending on how tall you are, how much you weigh, etc. Here is a calculator which will easily help you to find out what your BMR is.

A BIG THANK YOU to all who have been contributing, btw. Most of us are learning this way of eating as we go along. All of the links above have been posted by others in our previous threads, and they've been very helpful. Sorry if I haven't given credit where it's due, but it was just enough of a job getting them all in one post this afternoon. Wink

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

OP posts:
happygilmore · 20/10/2012 21:42

Oh I'm not disagreeing with you TalkinPeace! I did a psychology degree, which opens your eyes to research..first year undergrads have to do the 3rd years'/researchers' experiments (otherwise you don't get the opportunity in the 3rd year to do them yourself). But the only problem is, I spent my first year mainly hungover/drunk, so how many research studies did I mess up??!!

But I still don't think we would be picked up for a randomised trial unfortunately. Not to say there's not some interest potentially there though.

TalkinPeace2 · 20/10/2012 21:46

happy
do not trust land use maps from the late 1980's - I did parts of that project, drunk, from the back of a motorbike!!!

happygilmore · 20/10/2012 21:52
Grin Sounds like fun talkinpeace!

I dread to think of the number of really quite important research studies we all messed up. Shocking really!

Breadandwine · 20/10/2012 23:07

I was told I couldn't have an IGF1 test on the NHS by my doc, and going private was too expensive.

So I thought of getting some tests done - bp, insulin, glucose, cholesterol, etc. Anything else that should (could?) be tested?

If these improve in, say, 6 months time, could we make the inference that IGF1 is down?

If we all did that, and posted the results back here, we could put together our own report - and then use this to put pressure on the appropriate authorities.

I see this WOE as a significant game-changer! The benefits to us all, if this became standard practice, are legion:

It would cost the NHS virtually nothing - a few words and perhaps a leaflet from the doctor.
It would save the NHS billions in fewer tablets being prescribed
Doctors would all have longer to spend with their patients
The cost of caring for our older citizens would come down
Hospitals wouldn't have so many patients occupying beds
It would be one in the eye for big pharma

I'm sure there are more.

We could all talk to our doctors about recommending this WOE to all their suitable patients (ie. everyone except the young and the pregnant, virtually. [There must be others, but I can't think of them offhand]).

(Apparently, HappyOrchid's mom's doctor is already doing this to her/his patients.)

I'm also working up a letter to my GP detailing all the research into the benefits of fasting. If we agreed on such a letter, and we all took a copy in to our local surgery, that'd be a start, wouldn't it? What does everyone think?

CrackerJackShack · 21/10/2012 07:56

Totally went overboard with the feasting this weekend, but I'm on fast day today and not even slightly hungry.

For lunch I have a salad with a bit of goat cheese and a bit of steak that comes to around 200 calories. For dinner it will be a WW meal at 240 calories. :)

TheHumancatapult · 21/10/2012 08:12

Reading this thread am thinking once lost rest of the weight it may work as maintenance thing for me .

Do you think you can maintain on it ?

CrackerJackShack · 21/10/2012 08:49

Yup. I find every fast day gets easier, and I find I'm looking forward to them.

Bordercollielover · 21/10/2012 10:32

Wonder whether the Horizon producer would take us on as a follow up project? I doubt whether they usually have quite so many successful " converts" eagerly following the information given in a single programme!

GreenEggsAndNichts · 21/10/2012 10:41

Human I'm sure you can maintain on it. I'm on 4:3, I plan to move to 5:2 at some point, which I'd still lose weight on but at a slower rate. It's possible that maintenance might be somewhere between 5:2 and 6:1 (maybe alternate weeks?) It's something each person would need to tweak for themselves.

Someone posted earlier in the thread that Michael Mosley has moved to 6:1 because he was doing it for health benefits and definitely didn't have any more weight to lose.

OP posts:
TalkinPeace2 · 21/10/2012 11:33

My Yoga teacher has moved to 6:1 as she is slim enough already ....

I've got another 7 pounds to lose to get to a BMI of 20 : at which stage I will stop all attempts to lose weights and maintain - hopefully for the rest of my life

Here's an interesting article I read this morning ....
www.newscientist.com/article/dn22384-tired-fat-cells-might-trigger-obesity.html

Silly thought - do you realise how much we will all save on clothes by getting to a healthy weight and staying there!

Piebaldrider · 21/10/2012 14:11

I think this woe is changing many of us in different ways. Last night we had an indian take away and i couldnt even manage half of what i would normaly eat and it was all watsed. It was a big eye opener as i can now see that even if i have the odd day where i break my fast or over eat its nothing compared to what i would have eaten on a normal day previously. My fat loss has slowed right down but im not going to cut back further in fact im going to go the other way and make sure i am eating enough and cut my fast days from 3-2 for a week or two after which i will go straight back to strict 4.3 and attempt to trick my body into the fast fat loss mode i was in before.

I still havent eaten my Zero calorie noodles but im going to have them tomorrow when i fast again, they are total fibre and will be very filling and i have seen very mixed reviews but zero calorie food is not to be sniffed at.

2beornot · 21/10/2012 14:18

Really tested the non-fast day yesterday with a KFC. Whoops! Fast day tomorrow though so will hopefully be ok. Going to weigh tomorrow so fingers crossed!!

HelgatheHairy · 21/10/2012 14:48

I've been doing this WOE for 3 weeks now (5:2). I try to stick to 500 on my fasting days (I have been over once or twice). I fast all day (apart from 1 cup tea and black coffee) and have dinner about 5 and a cup a soup around 9. I don't track calories on my feast days, but I have noticed my appetite has decreased. I have approx 3 stone to lose.

Weighed myself this morning and I've lost (drum roll please) 7 pounds!!

Nothing has EVER worked this well for me before. I love the freedom to eat what I want on feast days. The fast days aren't actually too difficult. I usually have a ready meal for dinner (M&S fuller longer ideally) as its just so much easier to work with the calories. After years of weight watchers, the idea that veg isn't calorie free is hard to get my head around.

I do need to improve my diet on feast days as it does involve too much sugar (even though I don't have a really sweet tooth). But at the moment I'm taking a "if it ain't broke" approach.

HKat · 21/10/2012 15:37

Hey Everyone -Have been doing the 5:2 for a number of weeks now and am starting to see some results...Does anyone have any 'snacking' ideas though? At the moment I try to have 300 calories for dinner, 150 for lunch (usually a poached egg on one slice of nimble bread) and so have 50 left for snacks and drinks. I'm tending to have celery or seafood sticks, or I put boiling water over an oxo cube (try it!) - but a.m getting bored with that. So, any other ideas??

TalkinPeace2 · 21/10/2012 15:43

DON'T SNACK

Snacking was invented by the food industry in the 70's to sell more product

try to go at least 5 hours between eating - breakfast, lunch, supper
and in this WOE, you will regularly be skipping at least one of those
(which is what skinny people worked out YEARS ago)

If you take it all the way back, people like the kung forage all day - sometimes for more than one day - and then have a feast ...
or in papua, they eat at the end of the day when the work is done and they can sleep
humans are NOT grazers - we are omnivores
pig out, eat nowt for a bit, pig out.

Trills · 21/10/2012 16:10

Please do explain how "grazer" and "omnivore" are mutually exclusive.

Trills · 21/10/2012 16:16

DPs work have private healthcare and do yearly medical tests.

One guy emailed round this week saying that he'd been doing 5:2 since August and his cholesterol stats had improved for the first time (all other years they had come out as worse than the previous year).

GirlWithTheMouseyHair · 21/10/2012 16:17

Supposed to be a fast day starting a week of ADF to get me back into the swing of things, long run of shiitty sleeping from DD means on feast days in back in old habits of overrating, snacking, eating whole bars of chocolate in one sitting, and starting to cheat more on fast days.

Today will be hard, wish me luck!

audley · 21/10/2012 16:53

Hi, I have just bought the ADD book on my kindle. Will start to read tomorrow. First question I have is do you exercise on fast days or food days? Thanks

cathyandclaire · 21/10/2012 17:00

Finding it difficult to adapt to normal/feast days as have come to this from ten weeks of dieting (mostly low carb) and feel guilty eating and not counting carbs/calories or both- but from reading this thread I know that I have to or my body will go into fast mode.
However I definitely don't want to slip into my old having-a-crap-day-scoff-everything-in-sight ways.

SpiralSkies · 21/10/2012 17:02

"pig out, eat nowt for a bit, pig out"

I think this covers omnivore vs. grazer perfectly well. I would take the suggestion that 'that's what skinny people do' and turn it on its head: skinny people just don't eat all the time, that's why they're skinny! We've been suckered into thinking eating frequently boosts our metabolism but recent research shows this really isn't the case.

It's all new. But it's interesting. I don't contribute often but I'm fascinated by the results and findings here. Best on the internet, I reckon.

ManOnBoard · 21/10/2012 17:12

Audley Do you mean ADF book, come on, concentrate. There is rarely a bad time to exercise but you may find you tire more quickly if you have not eaten in a while so have few carbs to burn.

Have to agree with TP2 re the snacking, many people who are overweight tend to graze and never feel particularly hungry or full. Only eating when you are hungry imo shows a healthier attitude to food

audley · 21/10/2012 17:14

Manonboard, the book I've ordered is the alternate day diet book. Have I got the wrong one? Also, am a continual snacker!

Trills · 21/10/2012 17:23

Omnivore refers to what you eat, not when.

Carnivores are likely to do the pig out, eat nowt, pig out (like the rhyming!), but omnivores are more likely to be somewhere in the middle.

Trills · 21/10/2012 17:23

Piebald thank you for reminding me about jellies - I have some in the cupboard and will make them up for tomorrow.