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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.

5:2 Diet Thread Part Six! Now's the time to de-lurk and chat with us..

984 replies

GreenEggsAndNichts · 25/10/2012 12:49

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 in August, 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 started is a good resource for some of the links and tips that get lost in these big threads. In addition to sharing links, we try 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 mentioned BMR and TDEE often. Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) quantifies the number of calories you burn in a day. This measure is best estimated by scaling your Basal Metabolic Rate to your level of activity. TDEE is critical in tailoring your nutrition plan to desired fitness goals. Here is a link to a calculator to help you figure out how many calories you should be eating in a day.

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:
Laska42 · 03/11/2012 16:32

Hi mintyy good to see you..

TalkinPeace2 · 03/11/2012 16:34

All garlic lunch - nom nom :-)

ManOnBoard · 03/11/2012 16:58

Cats Fully take your point and that if what anyone does works for them I would be 100% supportive, although I do think that detracting from the simplicity of this is WOE would be a shame. The results that keep being reported have been brilliant and it would be a pity if anyone were to adopt an "alternative" method to what appears to work so well and have no return. We probably all know of, or are, people who have tried every diet going and have started with plenty of enthusiasm and given up as the weight loss plateaus. A relative of mine on a diet was just eating their third slice of pizza when someone (surprisingly not me) mentioned their diet and subsequently got their head snapped off. with the simplicity of this WOE this would not happen. Also the psychological difference "I can have it tomorrow" and sense of achievement and control that seems to give people more resolve would be lost.

Liberty132 · 03/11/2012 17:04

Oh shoot. I forgot about buying The Times today to read the article. Anyone able to scan it and post it in anyway?

If anyone read it, was it useful, encouraging?

Had a great walk today which was rewarded with the most amazing f&c and mushy peas.

Next planned fast day is Monday and I cant wait - isnt that weird???!?!?
x

FoodieToo · 03/11/2012 19:09

Today I brought dd to Mc Donald's for a treat as she had received an award at school.
It was so great not to feel guilty eating it!

Breadandwine · 03/11/2012 20:06

Hey, MoB!

My apologies if my last post upset you - not my intention at all.

I've said all along that there was evidence to support EnidN's WOE - I just had to find it. Here it is:

Mark Butcher emailed the scientists involved in Dr M's programme to ask what they are recommending now. (This reference has been on the Tips and Links thread since the 17th October.)

If anyone hasn't seen this blog, it's well worth a look.

Here's Mark Mattson's response. (He was the fourth scientist on the programme, IIRC)

"It would be much better if you could just get through a fast day without eating at all. Obviously, very few people are able to do that, so if you are going to eat a (600 for a man, 500 for a woman) calorie reduced meal, you are much better to consume that as one meal than to spread those calories throughout the day. This is because the stress that going for 24 hours without food places on your brain actually has produced identifiable positive brain responses such as the growth of new brain cells. It?s like a workout for the brain. How to add that into an intermittent fasting or alternate day plan?

Easy. Either, take a note of what time you last ate on the feed day prior to your fast and then do not consume your 600 calorie fast day allowance until 24 hours has past. So, if you ate at 6pm on a feed day, do not eat your 600 calories until 6pm on the fast day. That way, you?ve gone 24 hours without food AND you get to eat (albeit a restricted) dinner! If that doesn?t grab you, eat breakfast on a fast day and then don?t eat again until your breakfast the next day. " (My emphases)

All EnidN did was to move the start time of her fast from breakfast to lunch. She then fasted for 24 hours.

This WOE is more than just 5:2 - there's 6:1, 4:3, ADF - and probably variations on these. As you yourself have said, if it works for you, fine.

BTW, congratulations on the weight loss!

hoops997 · 03/11/2012 20:18

Funny you should say about the 24 hour thing, I'm doing ADF and on fast days I go 22 hours but can't quite manage the extra 2! I'm fasting tomorrow so will try, I ate at 6:30pm so will try to last til 6:30 tomorrow.

I do feel better the longer I go funnily enough.

I love this thread, we are all going to be skinny minnies soon Grin

Piebaldrider · 04/11/2012 06:52

Well i had an unusual surprise.

I came in from the cold and took of my jacket, i was wearing a short sleeved Tshirt underneath and after a minute of standing in the kitchen i felt a bit chilly. (I do get more chills on this woe).

I folded my arms across my chest and automatically grasped the opposite upper arm with my hands , weirdly i had a moment of complete blankness absolutely no thought and this startled me. I then realised that my brain was not recognising my body . I had not grasped my upper arms for ages and since the last time i did they had become a totally different shape and my brain was confused as it didn't recognise the signals my hands were sending back. It was a weird but great moment of realisation of another change that i had not even noticed or thought about.

Fasting tomorrow so may knock up a warming root vegetable veggie casserole as minimal calories but a winter warming meal.

applefalls · 04/11/2012 08:00

Piebald, that's so interesting. And gratifying I imagine.

May I ask how long you've been doing this? Apologies if you've already mentioned, I've been overloading on information in the last few days.

mollysfolly · 04/11/2012 09:29

Here goes liberty, something else I've never done before - hope this works:

www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/magazine/article3583372.ece#.UJY0UuR64fw.email

frenchfancy · 04/11/2012 10:11

Unfortunately Molly we only get the first paragraph.

I'm looking forward to fasting tomorrow too. I've had a couple of days of feasting including 2 restaurants and several bottles of wine.

It hasn't stopped me buying a new pair of trousers 2 sizes smaller than I normally wear!

ThinkICan · 04/11/2012 10:16

Thanks frenchfancy. I found the page asks me to log in to read beyond the first para. I found a blog carrying the article though:
interweave-consulting.blogspot.in/2012/11/from-times-today.html
Please tell us if it is the whole article.

ThinkICan · 04/11/2012 10:18

Sorry, I should have thanked molly. And this is the clickable link of the blog:
interweave-consulting.blogspot.in/2012/11/from-times-today.html

mollysfolly · 04/11/2012 10:24

Oops! Sorry about that - I thought it had all gone too well. Forgot you have to subscribe to the Times to get Times online. Thanks for sorting out Thanks

catsrus · 04/11/2012 10:32

THe times is behind a paywall - so they only give you a taster - and if anyone did post the article on here MNHQ would have to take it down as it would be breach of copyright. I went out last night and bought a copy, nothing we didn't know - the writer having similar experience to most of us in that once she started mentioning it she found lots of people were doing it - including more men than you would normally expect - there was a funny line about men's normal reaction to the suggestion of a diet being like their reaction on finding a box of tampons (that's my memory of what it said - disclaimer - paper is downstairs and ive come back to bed with a cup of tea and my iPadGrin).

I fasted 18 hrs yesterday but didn't keep the calories under 500 - made a healthy stir fry and had the superglue noodles rather than the nice rice ones I made for my friend - but also had half a bottle of Wine. As usual that's made me ravenous this morning so I had a large bowl of banana(s) with yoghurt.

I'm tantalising close to going under 10st - not been there since 2002 - once my friend goes home on Monday I will go onto calorie restricted fasting for 3 days a week again.

ThinkICan · 04/11/2012 10:33

It's good you posted the article - it was easy taking it from there :)

OHforDUCKScake · 04/11/2012 10:49

Im back properly now, finally!!!! The babys mammoth growth spurt has stopped, he's feeding 'normal' amounts now (hourly as opposed to constantly) so Im going full throttle on this diet again as I know I can do it when he's feeding normally.

So, fast day tomorrow.

Im at my absolute heaviest at about 10.7 stone, so Im going to calm the white bread and cakes on feed days too for a couple of weeks at least.

Bring it on, Im glad to be back!

GreenEggsAndNichts · 04/11/2012 11:15

Thanks for the Times link, if I'd seen it yesterday I might have picked up a copy. Thank you for the quick summary, cats!

It sounds as if they've discovered what we have. It is a WOE that we're not talking about because of conventional ideas that we all need to eat 3 square meals. I try to plan my non-fast days around social events so that I don't have to talk about it much. Which is why I love y'all so much Wink. I don't feel as if I have many questions about it anymore, but I like to come here and know I'm not the only weirdo doing this.

I managed a fast day yesterday despite it being the inlaws last day visiting. I made a curried carrot puree soup and had that for dinner (there's was supplemented with bread/cheese/ham etc- they're German and enjoy these sort of meals. I do too!) and it didn't look too odd that I was only having the soup.

Well done on biting the bullet and weighing in, apple. I think you'll appreciate knowing your starting point so you can keep track of your progress. :)

We're off to lunch today, nothing huge but it should be a nice meal.

Welcome to all newcomers, btw! I've been busy with the inlaws so not kept tabs of everyone, but it's good to see new names posting.

OP posts:
Liberty132 · 04/11/2012 11:16

Molly & TIC - thanks for doing that. Yeah nothing we didnt already know but great that it was in such a high profile weekend mag. More people knowing and more people showing an interest can only be a good thing.

A non fasting day today but weirdly I like to feel hungry. Before this WOE (the week before last!), I would never feel hungry. Would circle the kitchen several times and stuff my face. Now I sit here thinking - 'you've had cereal and a yogurt - you can wait and have a banana in half an hour'! - No I am not going crazy talking out loud to my tum but I am finding that I question my food decisions on eating days. Dont always listen to myself mind you!!!

So - I am about to walk to asda to buy soup ingredients for some low cal veg soup for tomorrows fast day. Will eat the banana before I leave to prevent me from shopping whilst hungry - always a big mistake for me.

Still loving this site and all the support as I am yet to tell friends and family what I am doing. Another week and if I see results again I will shout it from the roof tops.

Enjoy your Sundays everyone - frosty up here in the North East of England, but the sun has just popped out so thats my que to walk to asda.

Latersx

Laska42 · 04/11/2012 12:48

thanks Molly and TIC . yes article isn't saying anything we don't know . although she still seems to be struggling on weeks 3 ,( its the apple eating I reckon , boosts the blood sugar.. I'm avoiding fruit on fast days .

What's the betting we get an inrush of new people this week?

Fasting again today , but quite hungry.. I think I had a few too many carbs yesterday ..

but MR Ls lovely roasted carrot and red pepper soup to look forward to (its on the recipe thread if you've not tried it )

TalkinPeace2 · 04/11/2012 12:51

Have not fasted properly during half term - and REALLY looking forward to it tomorrow
almost as much as I'm looking forward to Roast Beef and Yorkshire pud for lunch today!

applefalls · 04/11/2012 13:30

Thanks greeneggs, you are absolutely right and it can only get better!

TheCyclistist · 04/11/2012 14:07

Good afternoon all, it's been great reading about so many peoples success in so many different ways on this WOE/WOL. For me it's more of a way of living than a way of eating as like others I feel it has changed me in some strange but indefinable positive way and it's something I expect to continue for a long,long time (I've got to stop sounding so bloody hippyish, I'll be eating goats cheese or going Vegan soon if I'm not careful) No offence meant to hippy Vegans.

Today was supposed to be a fasting day for me as have been all but one Sunday since August. But due to the deluge of rain down my way the 6 football games I should have been coaching and therefore distracting myself, were called off. So I thought Sod it and have been fully gorging myself on Toast and Porridge with Oat bran...and tea with milk and sugar Smile ...I'll fast on Monday.

This links in quite sweetly though with a change I am going to have make. On this WOL my body shape has COMPLETLY changed, changed to a shape I haven't been since being a teenager. However I seem to be getting to a point now where I'm close to losing TOO much, something I never thought I'd be saying. Tbf though I have been doing a lot of cycling on top of the WOE so the weight loss has been good, personally I think this WOL works really well with cardio exercise (for various reasons).

So back to the change I've been thinking about. I'm going to go down from 4:3 to 5:2. From fasting Sun/Tue/Thurs to fasting Mon/Weds with a 16 hour no calorie gap on Sundays....football allowing Wink

I'm hoping this will allow me to continue to get all the amazing health and weight benefits I 'feel' I'm getting from this but not to start looking underweight or to get too obsessed about restricting my food intake.

Tbh though not sure whether the latter would ever happen, I seem to be eating worringly large amounts of food on my 'up' days. Last Saturday night I ate half on one of those Sainsburys buttercreme chocolate cakes and a huge Pizza, half a bar of chocolate and some other stuff but had still lost weight over the weekend despite eating well on the Friday ( Hmm I'm not trying to say that any of that was healthy or the way it should be done).

So for now on, 2 fasts a week. No food from around 9.00pm on the previous night for around 16 hours then 600 cals until I go to bed and the fast will be broken the following morning when I'll eat what I want but hopefully include within that plenty of veg, fibre, oats, bran etc.

In general I have loved and continue to love this WOL with the benefits being :
Weightloss
Reduced Body Fat Ratio
Feeling Better
Amazing change to body shape
Eventually better sleep or need for less of it anyway
Reading everyones inspirational stories on here and the openness and inclusivity of this thread

My only concerns are :
My protein intake has been pretty low especially as I have been exercising so much. I'd be pretty keen to find out more evidence on how low is safe in regard to protein.
I seem to have developed a bottomles stomach on some 'up' days

Have a great day everyone and apologies for the saga like length of this post Blush

ThinkICan · 04/11/2012 14:33

Congratulations Cyclistist. It's wonderful to hear success stories that keep the rest of us going! And you were right about telling me my BP would go down if I continued with this WOE.
Liberty - It's so true what you are saying about thinking first before stuffing our faces. We learn so much as we explore healthy alternatives. Just discovered millet which I found is a high fibre/high protein/mineral-rich alternative for rice in several recipes. But alas, it's supposed to be on the banned list for those with an under active thyroid. So, I have to give away the pack I just bought. Others could try it though.

GirlWithTheMouseyHair · 04/11/2012 14:39

Hi everyone - checking in as it's the last day of my best friend visiting and I'm going to fast today for the first time in over a week. Feel horrifically fat and guilty and as the days have gone on the guilt has manifested itself in extreme overeating as per my old ways. Desperate to get back into the WOE to readjust my brain again as much as anything and do glad to have this thread to come back to.

Also need to get back to power yoga and swimming again, and booking in some training rides.

My brother arrives on Thursday and he won't have much patience for this WOE so I'm just going to not tell him then if he notices that on 2/3 days a week I happen to be eating a lot less I'll say something then. Thankfully he doesn't drink that much that regularly (more likely to have a big blow out once in a while) so at least it also won't be constant beer and wine every evening while he's here!