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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! Number 8, fast away fast away fast away all!

999 replies

GreenEggsAndNichts · 14/12/2012 15:51

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 2012, 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.

I know a number of people lurk on this thread, as this is currently quite popular. Please just jump in and post if you're new- we won't bite. Well, maybe on a fast day. Wink You'll find a lot of support here.

Here is a list of links to get you started with this way of eating. Please let us know if you find a new article or some other information online:

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

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.

Here is where I would link to the aforementioned Horizon programme, but it appears as if the BBC have finally noticed it on YouTube and have taken it down. Here is a link to the programme's page on iPlayer, which features a couple of clips, and might have updates eventually. Let us know if you find another site hosting it.

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. (This is a new calculator to previous threads, this one seems to give me approximately the same results the last one did, but without the virus warnings on my browser!)

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 all the links re-copied and back into one post.

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

OP posts:
Breadandwine · 27/12/2012 21:02

"B&W amazon say 10 Jan for Dr MM book."

virginposter thanks for that, cheered me up no end!

Not that I need cheering up, I'm feeling pretty good, ATM! Stuffed, but I'll get over that. I decided to make home made chips for everyone - but one of the grandchildren decided she wanted chip shop (read, proper) chips, so her indulgent nanny obliged.

So then we had loads of chips - and I was making tempura (with a yeast-risen batter) while we had some hot fat.

The result was I ate at least half of the chips intended for 6! Plus loads of tempura. And I've since had 2 portions of my Christmas bread with soya cream, which I had with a large glass of port! Xmas Shock

But I'm not worried - this morning I had a good 4 cm clearance on the last hole in my belt. And I shall fast again next week on Monday and Wednesday.

"Just to clarify for newcomers, that is 24 hours of not eating (so 7pm to 7pm) followed by a 500 cal meal then nothing else until next morning.

So 36 hours with only 500 cals, but of those 24 full fast."

Or 600 cals if you're a bloke, frenchfancy! Xmas Smile. Not that I need that extra 100 calories, TBH - these days I can easily get by on >400 calories and still manage to feel full up after dinner.

About the 24 hours fasting - the hardest thing is organising an early dinner before you start the fast, so you can eat at a normal time on the fasting day.

Best wishes, folks!

Breadandwine · 27/12/2012 21:06

"Feeling a bit podge - but then lunch was a hero roll on 5th Avenue watching people walk past the Empire State - it's too darned cold here to fast .... that's my excuse."

TiP we cross-posted. Sounds like great fun! A 'hero roll' - so called because you're a hero if you can finish it?

TalkinPeace2 · 27/12/2012 21:40

B&W - just about !! HUMUNGOUS portion ....

BecBro4 · 27/12/2012 21:42

i do my fast days like that FF I found i can have dinner with my family like normal then :)

Snowkey · 27/12/2012 21:48

Dr MM is on You and Yours on Radio 4 next week discussing diet and exercise plans - looks like he's using it as an opportunity to promote his new book.

Have been eating lots of sugary rubbish, mostly to sooth my flu - why is it other people stop eating when ill? And I haven't done any exercise for 2 weeks now which is a double whammy. Damage limitation is needed I stopped eating sugary foods on the 25th - they do me no good and I can't control my cravings. Fasting again next week 2 Jan I think, in the mean time I am going no where near those scales - the news will not be good.

nminx · 27/12/2012 22:05

Fast day for me today. Wasn't intending to do this over the Xmas period but got up late so thought I may as well fit one in.

Been feeling pretty good over the last week. Did my first ever 2 day back to back fast days in the run up to Xmas. It wasn't easy but I knew it would be a while before I would get a chance to fast again. It seems to have done the trick as I haven't been physically able to eat as much as I normally would over Xmas.

Also, I am enjoying having (finally) lost a stone. I have another to go yet, but am confident it's slowly coming off. I stuck at the "lost 10 lb" for weeks and weeks. I changed my days from mon & wed to tues and thurs and it shifted it! Astonishing. If u r stuck, give changing the days a try.

Was going to make some get well soon biscuits today for my dad who is going into hospital tomorrow. Decided to wait until tomorrow so that I wouldn't break my fast.(I would have to test them to see if they are ok!) Plus they will be fresher this way!

Nice to be able to read the trials and successes of 5:2 here on this forum. Still not made up my mind whether to get Dr M's book yet. In my usual 'lurking' style, will maybe wait and see what B&W and others think of it.

Also DH bought me some underwear for Xmas in a smaller size than I would normally have. I pointed this out to him and he said 'I know, but have you SEEN how much weight you have lost?" - best Xmas present ever.

SpringHeeledJack · 27/12/2012 23:27

just seen about this on twitter- never heard of it before- googled and found thread

marking place (one handed- other hand is somewhere in a tin of Cadbury's Heroes)

Blush
literarygeek · 28/12/2012 00:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BecBro4 · 28/12/2012 01:39

i thought this was interesting :)
www.thepostgame.com/blog/training-day/201212/greatest-weight-loss-myth-ever-told

Aftereightsaremine · 28/12/2012 09:34

That makes interesting reading bec. I try not to have breakfast now unless I'm really hungry. Except that last few days breakfast has been Christmas cake....

I was not too bad Christmas & Boxing Day but yesterday I didn't stop eating. Got the cold from hell & colds always make me ravenous. Find it really weird that I get like this & I crave junk. Very weird. Just going to go with it & worry about weight gain in the new year.

Souper · 28/12/2012 10:15

Hi guys. Merry Christmas everybody and looking forward to a lovely healthy, slimmer New Year. I fasted yesterday and weighed this morning. Only gained 300g since Christmas Eve - and I ate quite a lot between then and yesterday! And the best part is I know I will be back to where I was after one more fast.

Another nice thing this morning was that my stomach looked really flat in the mirror while I was on the cross trainer at the gym. Loving that three days after Christmas I am looking in the mirror and thinking I look good!

scripsi · 28/12/2012 11:30

Could everyone tell me what bathroom scales they recommend as mine are all over the place (brand new tesco digital scales which go up and down madly if I take three readings in a row, and I don't think my weight changes in seconds Xmas Hmm

Laska42 · 28/12/2012 11:41

Morning , fasting today ( and its feeling sooo good!) . well the scales were down 3 pounds after yesterdays post pig-out shock.. so I reckon this fast should pretty much do it..

TIP2 sound like you are having a great time..and the great thing is you know you can jump right back in when you get home.

Good luck all fasters today

Laska42 · 28/12/2012 12:06

its interesting that the article picks up on the 16 hour thing which we've been talking about here for a while . But without looking any further , im surmising that the 8 hour diet he is selling is about restricting your eating to an 8 hr window, which is what Brad Pilion has been advocating for some years.

I do eat breakfast ( always eggs apart from the Christmas alteration) and have done throughout this WOE and (not counting this weeks small gain) have lost 21lbs . BUT I'm pretty much a 'morning' person, and find that i start feeling really wobbly/sick at about 10am if I don't . But ever since starting this WOE I've been eating my 'evening' meal well before 5 pm on fast days to make sure that I get in the full 16hrs..

He's saying that if you have breakfast you tend to eat more throughout the day , but I think it might be more about keeping aware of what you are consuming that's important than when .. but of course we are all different on when we like to eat

Also I'm a bit of a 'lower' carb advocate.. and I certainly think that if you eat something high carb for breakfast you will eat more later ( something i noticed over my christmas pig out when i was surprised how 'hungry' i felt a couple of hours after a carby breakfast .

This is not meant to be a restrictive WOE on food groups though , but it does seem that avoiding too many refined carbs on fast days . does seem to make fasting easier , and probably because of reduced blood sugar level swings, which do seem to cause hunger pangs leading to wanting to eat more ..

(Just my take on this.. as we have said before WE ARE ALL EXPERIMENTING.. it will be interesting to see if DR Ms book has reports of more up to date verifiable results than what we seem to have right now.. but for me it works this way .. )

Laska42 · 28/12/2012 12:16

Weve talked also about how 'diet' drinks are not a good idea for fast days either as they make you feel more hungry .

Here's a new article about artificial sweeteners being linked to weight gain from Dr John Briffa's blog

Snowkey · 28/12/2012 12:32

Dh always has one Coke Zero on fasting days and he says it really helps him - it's the only time he consumes diet drinks - I think the key is that we are all different and our body and mind's needs vary. Some need breakfast to stop them snacking (dh) and some find breakfast sets them off snacking all day and would prefer to only eat once in their fast (me).

I find this thread is great for picking up strategies & ideas - some suit me and others don't but it's important to experiment to find out your own personal approach and in my experience that approach has changed over time as my mind & body has learned to cope with fasting.

virginposter · 28/12/2012 14:43

B&W and all others interested.

Just received notification that Dr MM's book is due for arrival (does that mean arrival to them or to me on the pre-order??) on 3-5 Jan - good news!

virginposter · 28/12/2012 14:50

Just looked on Amazon and the book is available now so I guess that means my copy will be here 3-5 Jan. What a lovely New Year treat Xmas Smile

SarahWithAFringeOnTop · 28/12/2012 17:16

That's an interesting point about breakfast Laska... I am a confirmed breakfast eater too - usually something on the carby side like porridge - but I do find that keeps me going until lunchtime. but then again, on fast days I don't generally feel hungry until lunchtime either, which does make me wonder why I other with breakfast (except I like it!)
I think Snowkey is definitely right, it's a case of each individual experimenting and finding out what works for them, and that may change as you get more accustomed to fasting.

SarahWithAFringeOnTop · 28/12/2012 17:17

bother with breakfast! Blush

scripsi · 28/12/2012 19:02

I have tried delaying eating and haven't missed breakfast at all, over the last couple of days. I am amazed how much of it is conditioning!
I am going to be working long days away in the coming weeks and won't have access to a microwave/cooker, but I want to keep up my fast days, so was thinking of taking vegetable soup with me in a flask. Do you think this would work? I haven't taken food in a flask before. Are there specific foody-flasks? Or something better?

welshmill · 28/12/2012 19:08

Just had notification from Amazon that my order of the book has been dispatched!

mollysfolly · 28/12/2012 19:24

Yay!! So's mine!! ETA 4th January.

greeneggs you (and everyone else come to think of it) MUST go to Italy - it's the bestest country in Europe, if not the whole wide world.. Smile

Snowkey · 28/12/2012 19:40

Stanley make excellent Food flasks.