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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:
myjoy · 13/11/2012 15:48

Feed day for me today and I feel like I'm undoing all the benefits of my fast yesterday. Just cannot seem to figure out how to eat normally. There seem to be many foods I don't moderate well on feed days (bread, biscuits) and am wondering if it would be better to avoid them altogether for a while?

frenchfancy · 13/11/2012 16:19

Helga no I don't feel sick the morning after a fast day, in fact although I am hungry in the night if I wake up, in the mornings after a fast I'm not hungry at all. I eat breakfast about an hour after waking up, but more because I feel I ought, not because I'm hungry (by lunch time I am ravinous though).

Laska42 · 13/11/2012 16:26

helga.. if im very empty and drink certain types of tea..i.e. black or green tea I often feel sick .. also if I take vitamin tablets on an empty stomach.. Are you doing either of these ?

With mint tea or black coffee though im OK

MummysHappyPills · 13/11/2012 17:52

Helga I used to find when I was pg I had to eat bf the moment I woke or I would feel sick, I found having low blood sugar made me nauseous. Not so much now though, I guess my body is better at regulating blood sugar in its non pg state!

Piebaldrider · 13/11/2012 18:50

Yesterday was not my easiest fast day and today followed with me being rather emotional which is not unusual after a more trying fast. Today all i can say is NOTHING BUT NOTHING feels better than having to wear a belt to keep your trousers up instead of as a fashion accessory. I can feel my legs moving around inside the straight leg trousers that used to be so snug.

I love it, still a way to go but i'm getting there.

healstorturepeople · 13/11/2012 19:16

Thanks for the advice over the exercise and calories count.

Today I've had around 1300-1400 calories on an eating day. I think I am going to up my fast day to 700 calories though as 500-600 made me feel a bit woosy last night and when I woke up this morning.

Not sure 700 cals will get me to repair mode though.

Today I had more fruit and veg. I had cereal for breakfast. Tuna, pasta and veg for lunch. Homemade veg soup for tea with grapes and a few pieces of chocolate for snacks.

I did 90 mins at the gym, a 45 minute walk at lunch time and a 30 minute walk after work.

MakeHayNotStraw · 13/11/2012 19:20

Another fast day for me too - nothing but water and fruit tea (surprisingly ok without my usual honey!) till about 1ish, so 18 hours,then had a couple of cups of tea and just had to have something to nibble while the DCs had lunch - managed with some carrot (might have licked a Jaffa cake....Blush). Had a pretty active day though and felt fine. Pork chop and stir fry veg tonight it's amazing how much veg you get for your calories!

Looking forward to normal eating tomorrow....

TalkinPeace2 · 13/11/2012 19:21

myjoy
if certain foods put you into munch mode, then yes, it may be best to limit / avoid them for a couple of months while your system learns the new rules
not stop - so if out socially, nothing is banned - but on quiet week nights at home, go for high protein low carb so that you feel fuller with foods that do not make you want to binge.

Its all about finding a balance
the medical research will follow ......

TalkinPeace2 · 13/11/2012 19:24

A question for nutritionists and dieticians
as so many of us are finding that the 3 meals a day system has not worked
and its alternative is
could they point us to a data set of healthy adults who DO eat three square meals a day and are at a healthy weight - preferably several thousand of them peer reviewed.
Just that none of the slim healthy people I know eat three meals a day ..... even before August :-)

Laska42 · 13/11/2012 19:33

Good point TIP have you read Dr John Briffas book or blog? he his fighting hard but no one will listen to him....too many vested interests..

Im feeling VERY naughty! what have I done? Ive just had a baked potato!! Shock with butter and cheese ) the first in many months as I tend to tend towards LC most of the time really .

It was Yum . (but I wont be having another for some time )

TellMeLater · 13/11/2012 19:52

I think it's hard to overeat on 3 square meals a day - it's the snacking that causes the problem.

TalkinPeace2 · 13/11/2012 20:02

Tellmelater
I have to disagree, its unbelievably easy to overeat on three meals a day. That is why I have not eaten three meals for over ten years, and as I say, NONE of my lean friends eat three meals.
I'd like to see the data set that supports the mainstream advice.

Laska
Jacket potatoes are a thing of wonder - just not too big and not too often :-)

HelgatheHairy · 13/11/2012 20:05

Thanks for the replies on the feeling sick the morning after issue. I tend to have black coffee first thing but its strange as it hadn't happened before. I'm going on a trip early Saturday morning so I'm actually changing my fast day to Thursday instead of Friday in case I don't feel well Saturday.

catsrus · 13/11/2012 20:06

oh Laska I couldn't survive without baked potato at least once a week - preferably more often Grin. Baked potato, cottage cheese and nice salad is one of my favourite meals!

Today was an eating day and I don't think I did too badly, but I was grazing. Early supermarket shop so no breakfast and just had a hard boiled egg when i got back, with a coffee. Lunch was a veggie bean curry I made last night, early tea was the remainder made into soup with a dash of yoghurt. Just had a main meal of roast veg with a spicy tomato sauce - i didn't skimp on the oil when I tossed the veg in it though. Will make the remains of that into a stew to eat tomorrow. Fast days this week Monday, thursday and Saturday - though I have the dentists tomorrow oops maybe shouldn't have been so heavy on the garlic in the sauce tonight

TP2 I think you are quite right about the 3 meals a day thing - I don't think most skinnies do that, with my sceptics hat on I suspect it's more to do with the power of the ad men - and in particular the breakfast cereal manufacturers Hmm

TellMeLater · 13/11/2012 20:38

Dieters who skip meals often end up gaining weight

TalkinPeace2 · 13/11/2012 20:43

but my friends who have NEVER dieted, because they have NEVER been fat do not eat three meals a day ....

also that link shows that missing a meal increases appetite at the next meal only by 20%
AND the study was covered in more detail in New Scientist and debunked because it extrapolated a few obese people who did prolonged fasts out to the population at large
www.abstractsonline.com/Plan/ViewAbstract.aspx?sKey=ad6ab60f-ef54-429c-b9a6-6aecaac4bc4d&cKey=d099c6c0-159b-48f6-934f-46e4e3da4a61&mKey={70007181-01C9-4DE9-A0A2-EEBFA14CD9F1}

I reiterate, where is the data set of healthy people who eat three meals a day ....

skippyscuffleton · 13/11/2012 21:11

How about the Japanese for starters, there're about 125million of them basically eating 3 meals a day and many of them live to a ripe old age.

TellMeLater · 13/11/2012 21:17

Obesity is the problem of modern snacking, people did not snack in the 60s and 70s it's a modern disease, we never stop eating!

BrigitBigKnickers · 13/11/2012 21:43

Ok- was on holiday in half term and not well last week so got back on the waggon yesterday with my first fast day of the week which I found really easy. really must get back to it as have put on a few lbs.

Second fast tomorrow and maybe might do one on Friday.

I was telling a work colleague about this WOE just before half term and she told me she's done it for just one week and has lost 4lbs! Grin

Really must try and do some more exercise this week- crazy at work though so not sure I will have the time.

TalkinPeace2 · 13/11/2012 21:48

skippy
do not judge the current generation by the older one ....
traditional Japanese diet includes small portions and leaving food as soon as you are full and a LOT of fish.
Younger Japanese eating western type meals are larding out ....

I'd like to see a data set of Americans or Europeans, aged over 20, eating three meals a day who were a healthy size .....
I strongly suspect it does NOT exist

frenchfancy · 14/11/2012 07:26

heals I really think you need to up your feed day calories not your fast day calories. You are probably feeling awful on fast days because you aren't getting enough the day before so you are already in fat burn before you even start fasting. With the excercise you are doing even if you are tiny I think you should be eating more like 1800 cals on your feed days.

frenchfancy · 14/11/2012 07:28

talkinpeace2 ^I'd like to see a data set of Americans or Europeans, aged over 20, eating three meals a day who were a healthy size .....
I strongly suspect it does NOT exist ^

Come to France and look around, the woods are full of them.

healstorturepeople · 14/11/2012 08:51

Thanks french fancy. I have quite a way to go (5 stone to go!). I want a good boost before Christmas but will then set a more sensible goal of 1lb a week.

I do think you are right though. I think I'll stick to 600 calories and then maybe up eating days to 1500-1600.

This morning I went swimming and felt really sick. Is this common for this way of eating? I don't normally feel sick when exercising. Yesterday was an eating day so I thought I'd be fine.

TheCyclistist · 14/11/2012 10:40

Good morning Fivetwoers

With the 3 square meals debate, I've always thought that that was gospel. But come to think of it when our species was evolving did we sit down to 3 meals 7 days a week? Probably not. And if not is 3 square meals necessarily a good thing? Like TIP2 says I would like to see whether comprehensive studies have taken place.

On this WOL, have been finding the Fast days increasingly hard over the past 3 weeks or so and have found the 'Up' days harder to eat healthily on. Monday though as a Fast day put me back on track, it's strange how one good Fast day can make you (or me atleast) feel 'good' again. Next Fast day is tomorrow and feel better now about 'taking it on'.

For me this WOL is much much more easy when your mind is focused in the right direction as it were. If I approach a Fast day feeling positive, 100% about seeing it through and quick to say 'wait till tomorrow' when I feel tempted, I find it a lot less painful. However when I approach the day in a half hearted manner the day is a real toil. So in short if like me you find Fast Days sometimes hard, get your head sorted first and the rest of the day is likely to be a success Smile .

Hope the day goes well for you all, be you Fasting, Feeding or Watching

Laska42 · 14/11/2012 10:45

heals no it is doest seem to have been reported as being common on here, but remember we are ALL experimenting.. .

Did you say you'd only just started doing this? ..

One thought ..(might not be relevant sorry I know I should go back and look at what you've already said , ) I know I said about tea and vit pils on empty stomach and I don't know if you saw that ..

Have you been used to eating a lot of carbs ? bread and sweet things etc .. Maybe your body is doing bit of a 'detox' ..

I cant say if that's usual though as i've been tending to LC for some years now, although its only since doing this i've lost a significant amount of weight.

but I don't see why you should feel sick after an eating day .. Maybe you've got something and its just a coincidence!

Sorry not that helpful , maybe someone else will be along later with more of an idea .. it didn't happen to me