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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:
lilacbluebell · 04/11/2012 15:07

Hi. I have been reading through your threads over the last week or so. I hope you will let me join. I am a long-time member of the "big slim" boards (but have buggered up my old registration/account and re-registered with MN todayBlush).

I am enthused by your comments on this WOE, as I am not fond of breakfast, and if I am busy I find it really annoying to have to stop working because it's "lunch time". I always find I get hungrier sooner if I have breakfast, so it's good to find I'm not alone in this

I did not see the Times article yesterday, which is a shame because it would be good to have something to show DH and family members, but hopfully the proof of the pudding will be visible soon enough.

My only concern is that I am incredibly overweight...

lilacbluebell · 04/11/2012 15:12

oops, I forgot to say, I am going to try 5:2 and I am planning my first fast day tomorrow, my second one will be Weds/Thurs.

TalkinPeace2 · 04/11/2012 15:28

lilac welcome to the madhouse - we ARE the research project
but you know a system works when lots of us are counting down till a fast starts rather than it ends
once you realise that the grumbly tummy will not kill you, hunger is just fine
and as a comparative skinnymalink, knowing that blow out weekend food followed by chilled weekday food is just fine
makes the whole world a more controllable place

(and BTW, my dad in the bad bit of Manhattan is OK, cold but OK. No heat till late November in his flat - he's 76 - but the community seem to be pulling together, even if the Americans do not "get" queueing)

Breadandwine · 04/11/2012 15:28

Great article (Welcome lilac - the link's further up the thread) and good that it?s getting out there in the mainstream media. Thanks first for the article mention, then the quote, and then the links ? great work, folks!

Here?s that quote you mentioned, catsrus,
??four of her colleagues were already doing it, all of them men. This is fascinating in itself, since, in my experience, men tend to approach diet fads the way they might approach a box of Lil-Lets.?

As has been said, nothing that we don?t already know (but you can?t help feeling that the reporter would have benefited from reading these threads! Grin).

However, this, from Brad Pilon, the ?Eat Stop Eat? guy, is worth quoting in full:
?Basically, fasting gives your body a chance to house-keep,? he says. ?Constant growth is not a good thing. There must be time for recovery and rebuilding at a cellular level if optimal health is the goal.? Pilon boycotts all calories during his biweekly, 24-hour fasts; these typically run from 2pm to 2pm, leaving no single day completely deprived of food (and, says Pilon, ?I get to sleep through most of the fast?). ?Fat loss starts at about 12 hours into a fast,? he says, ?and plateaus at around 18 hours.? At this point, the body is busying itself with autophagy*. It is also in ketosis, a term you may recall if you have ever dabbled with Atkins ? when the body has exhausted its glucose reserves and is tucking into fat.

  • When IGF-1 levels drop ? as happens in a fast state ? the body slows production of new cells and instead repairs old ones. This is ?autophagy?, a word derived from the Greek for ?self-eating?.

I had to laugh reading the reporter?s thoughts on what 500 calories looked like:
?It?s immediately clear that 500 calories looks pitiful if you gather them together in one place: a mug of lentil soup, a plum, half a chicken breast, seven blueberrries and a breadstick. It looks like tea for a toddler. Once weighed, measured, counted and cut into ?inch cubes?, everything looks tiny. Usual portions are way out; to nudge under 500 calories, you?re looking at a quarter of a small avocado, a 3oz steak (around a third of an average serving), eight almonds, a bowl of carrot soup. No cheeky glass of vino with your salmon salad, no crusts from the kids? tea, no pavlova ? which is a tragedy if you happen to have one in the fridge.

Instead, my husband and I share an apple for lunch. I eat my half slowly, in small bites, the way you might consume something very rich, such as Valrhona chocolate. I consider the apple core. I quite fancy it, but would it send me over my lunch limit? I?ve already had 30g of Bran Flakes for breakfast. (166 calories. When a cereal box says ?a 30g serving?, measure it. Go on. Be amazed. It?s not enough to fill a child?s cupped hand.) And there?s chicken salad for supper ? a no-skin, white-meat, one-slice chicken salad to book-end my day. There will be some sprouts, a radish and a cherry tomato, perhaps a handful of leaves, a shaving of raw cabbage. And no pavlova. Until tomorrow.?

Someone needs to email her and point her in the direction of these threads ? especially the recipe thread! Smile

TalkinPeace2 · 04/11/2012 15:32

500 calories = a WHOLE tin of baked beans with parmesan on top and parma ham under ...

effing journalists cannot spot the "eat when hungry" mode - their loss

Trills · 04/11/2012 15:33

Hugo Rifkind didn't really try properly. Must be fun to make a living from having a half-hearted go at something, failing, and writing about it anyway.

I did like this though
"Tomorrow I can have anything. Rolos. A cake. A pizza. A pizza, covered in Rolos and cake"

Trills · 04/11/2012 15:34

Bran flakes is a ridiculous waste of calories when you can only have 500.

TheCyclistist · 04/11/2012 16:03

ThinkIcan glad to hear the BPs gone down, that in itself is huge step away from health problems, brilliant news. From reading up on Intermittant Fasting and from what some have said on here it definiately seems to support those with High Blood Pressure in bringing it down. My doctor has had to drop my dose of Lisinopril by half.

GreenEggsAndNichts · 04/11/2012 16:05

Trills that's the quote I read aloud to DH when I finally got a hold of the article. Grin

OP posts:
Laska42 · 04/11/2012 16:26

Yup .. no imagination.
I nearly always have 2 meals and a 16hr fast and have been losing fine ..

My fast days often look like this (as i just eat the same things now) .. 2 eggs 1 thin slice ham and poached mushrooms for breakfast
and for 'early dinner' either Mr Ls spicy roasted carrot and pepper soup ,
or a whole 225g packet of sainsburys king prawns with broccoli spring onion ginger garlic and chilli..

Yum a good plate or bowlful

Less than 500 cals.. no probs Smile

Louboo2245 · 04/11/2012 16:31

Ahhhh poop. On a fast day here and just succumbed to a packet of quavers, this leaves with me 315 calories for tea.
Any ideas please x

Laska42 · 04/11/2012 16:41

cyclist and others Re protein .. I know the 'science' (as it is )suggests less protein on fast days , but I have to say i've been going for higher protein (as shown in my post above).

It doesn't seem to have impeded weight loss, (but of course I cant know that..) and also what I don't know is if its has meant less beneficial health benefits so far. But I think when I do go down to 6:1 (still on 4:3 here) which I will do fairly soon now , ill probably make my fast day a totally veggie day,or possibly en eva 24 hr non eating period for the health benefits. Right now I must say I'm enjoying the weight loss! ....

ThinkICan · 04/11/2012 16:46

Yes Cyclistist - my doctor was wise enough not to start me on meds at the first sign of elevated BP. Hoping it will stay down till my follow-up visit in six weeks. Though I have a long way to go with a BMI of 29.1 (came down with this WOL from 31.5), the health benefits alone make it worth it! Thank you all for keeping us all chugging along Thanks

Breadandwine · 04/11/2012 16:47

Louboo Have a look at the recipe thread

Loads of low calorie recipes for you to choose from.

Louboo2245 · 04/11/2012 17:09

Thanks, will do x

frenchfancy · 04/11/2012 19:12

Yes I think that journalist should have read our recipe thread too. Half an apple for lunch doesn't compare to my lovely carrot and corriader soup, and one slice of chicken with a few sprouts (who puts sprouts into chicken salad anyway?) cannot come close to a vegatable chilli.

I have surprised myself by enjoying my fast day meals. I am a carb loving meat eater, yet on fast days I eat no carb vegan food and enjoy it. My vitamin intake is through the roof, last time I logged my fast day meals I had over 200% of my vitamin C intake and over 400% of my vitamin A intake for the day, even though I only ate 400 cals.

frenchfancy · 04/11/2012 19:13

Should read low carb, I'm sure someone will point out that there are SOME carbs in vegetables!

TheCyclistist · 04/11/2012 19:20

Evening Laska yeah each to their own whilst we're finding out more about what works with this for either weightloss or health gains. I've tended to avoid protein because some of the studies have 'suggested' ADF works best with lower levels of it, and to be honest I have a strong aversion to those low caaaarb high protein diets all the rage for the past couple of decades (personal prejudices coming out here Smile )

But this way of eating's still in it's infancy so who knows what they'll turn up and at least protein makes you feel fuller quicker, which helps a lot on 500 0r 600 cals a day Smile

Is there any protein in chilli sauce? Wink

dandycandyjellybean · 04/11/2012 19:22

Hi all, some brill posts since I was on here last; this continues to be such a positive thread, so inspiring.

Well, my Dad had the all clear on Wednesday - such a relief. Still needs to be monitored but with a psa score gone from 13 (hugely high) to .5 (no cancer remaining) in 3 months, no radiotherapy needed. Interestingly, he radically changed his diet in that time, no wheat, dairy, red meat, occasional organic chicken, green smoothies with powdered greens and powdered apricot kernels every day, huge doses vit c and mainly fruit and veg. Not really overweight but lost nearly a stone, has come off his bp meds, and has the smoothest ridge free nails he's ever had in his life. Grin. He says he is convinced this is why he has had such a radical turnaround and will continue eating lilke this now, about 80/20, so 20% of the time will have the 'banned' things but most of the time keep it up.

So, all of this was Wednesday, had a bit of a meltdown on Thursday, couldn't stop crying felt huge despair. But this is typical me, hold things together while it's all happening then fall apart when all is well!!!

However, have now really got my head back into proper 5:2 gear, so am doing my second fast today. Nothing till just now, jacket spud, with 2 lf cheese triangles melted into some dry fried mushrooms and mixed in and a huge salad. Yum. Silly journo's!!!!!

My Mum has been doing this for 5 weeks now with brill results after being a failed and yoyo dieter all her life, and a couple of my friends who were just reflecting on their age and taking a bit more care of their health watched the prog on thursday at my suggestion and are starting Mond/Wed fasting tomorrow! So, gotta pull my socks up and be proving it a fab wol with them.

Thanks again for all the support on here, couldn't do it without you guys.

Aracsmum · 04/11/2012 20:31

That's great news sbbc. Hope you enjoy the next fast day...
So pleased to read the Times story - I have never been with the zeitgeist before! Even my mum thinks this WOE sounds sensible and she is normally v sniffy about any 'faddy' eating....
Haven't lost any weight this week but feel ok about this from reading other people's posts - looking forward to tomorrow's fast day as have homemade soup to look forward to at lunchtime yum!
Like the simple rules too MOB....

babbas · 04/11/2012 22:03

Just wanted to quickly post that just as I started to moan about losing zilch by some miracle I actually lost 1lb. Am delighted and hoping its all downhill now and not a case of 1 lb lost every 8 weeks!! Had a good fast day today. Lasagna tomorrow!

lilacbluebell · 04/11/2012 22:41

sbbc that's really good news, pleased for you. BTW, as a fellow Father Ted fan, myDS downloaded a "soundboard" onto my phone, and I have just changed my ringtone from "gobshite" to something slightly more acceptable for workWink

sorry to post off-topic.

Breadandwine · 05/11/2012 01:40

Just posted the Times link on the Tips and Links thread - plus some musings of mine - and the 'Eat cake for breakfast to lose weight' WOE from the Telegraph. Smile

Just had a re-read of the cake article and couldn't resist this pearl of wisdom:

"She (Prof Daniela Jacubowicz of Tel Aviv University) said one of the biggest challenges that people face is keeping weight off in the long-term. Ingesting a higher proportion of our daily calories at breakfast makes sense.
It's not only good for body function but it also alleviates cravings." Shock

The medical profession are certainly going to have to do a lot of re-thinking before long!

Breadandwine · 05/11/2012 02:20

The medical profession is... Blush

GirlWithTheMouseyHair · 05/11/2012 05:09

sbbc that's great news about your dad!

Officially on the wagon again tomorrow - back to 4:3 til Christmas!