5:2 Diet Thread! Number 8, fast away fast away fast away all!

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

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. 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!

Quick update from me. I gained 2lbs over the Xmas period having started fasting in sept. did a single fast last Friday and managed to shift 2lbs. And remarkably the fast was very very simple. No headache very little hunger and no cravings. However, I still slept very very badly as I do every fast night and couldn't stop thinking of food even though I was not hungry.

Today is my first proper week back to fasting and like the sept start I am struggling with a sore throat. I'm not hungry so skipping breakfast.

Since I dont feel fully recovered from the norovirus I haven't restarted my exercise which I love doing. And it's TOM week which means I will struggle massively with fasts so am trying to get two out of the way early in the week.

Poo! Weighed myself this morning to discover I haven't lost any weight this fortnight. Ah well! At least I haven't put any weight on either.

Total lost since September: 1st6
Left to lose: 1st10 (to get me to a BMI of 23)

2nd fast day today. I had my last meal at 6 last night and then ate 200 cals at 11 this morning. Is this considered 16 hours, as not sure if you have to wait until your last meal has been digested? LOL, so confusing, but I'm hoping for not just the weight loss but the health benefits too.

Fast day again for me but after feeling a bit better yesterday the dreaded noro seems to have hit me again. Dont feel really dreadful like on Saturday tho so am wondering if have triggered this by eating too much yesterday in preparation for planned fast today . Didnt really eat that much tho - boiled egg, a mince pie, probably 10 brazil nuts, chicken, lentils & rice - small portion. But maybe was too much for my recovering (and now loudly chundering) tummy .So no trouble fasting today (warm water and dioralyte may stretch to cup of bovril later!!) but like baking am annoyed as can see more days ahead with no exercise. Not to mention am cross have to take more time off work grrrrrr....cat happy to have a body to snuggle up to again though!

I'm new to 5:2 - today is my first fast day, so wish me luck! have 27lb to lose to get down 5 BMI points to well inside the healthy range. Looking forward to the experience!

well now. Tis a fast day here. The landlord's estate agents have two viewings booked for the early evenings and the drain out the back has decided to clog up. :( Cue farcical dance of trying to get it sorted, someone will be coming by after lunch. Not sure it's a "right after lunch" job but suspect he'll be made of stronger stuff than I.

I had a few more thoughts on TTC: in addition to what myself and others have said (agree with all posts following mind on the topic btw!) and just wanted to add that I've been taking a multivitamin regularly since starting this WOE, as well as supplementing with a vit D + calcium tablet. All women should be doing this, especially if they're living in the land of no sun at the moment but it's something to especially keep an eye on even if you do a modified version of this whilst TTC. One of the biggest issues would be a lack of nutrients, as you might be avoiding dairy because it's high cal. As someone noted, the baby takes it's nutrients from you, but that leaves you with calcium being leeched from your bones etc. Look after yourself as well as a potential baby!

And let's face it, even without a multivitamin, we're much better off than anyone TTC in a famine area. Most likely you're eating protein and veg and all sorts on the other 5 days of the week, which those people don't have the option to do.

Something to consider: The Genesis Diet is a modified version of this, higher calorie on fast days and it includes more dairy products on fast days. It is what I was originally going to try before settling on this WOE. I only didn't do it because I don't really like milk much, but I might give it a go once we TTC again. Am considering all my options.

Laska's bikini I've just booked to go to Fuerteventura in Feb, I HAVE to get out of this dreary weather we've been having and get DS out in the sunshine and warmth a bit. I, however, will be in some head-to-toe number.

Okay not really but might as well be. :)

Ezzza Staying the same over these last two weeks is a great result, in my opinion! Heck I was happy I just put on one pound. :)

Thanks greeneggs, but I don't do Xmas, haven't done for 30 years. The 25th happened to be a fast day for me. Plus I'm in China at the moment so the Xmas/New Year temptation simply isn't here.

While dieting has always been a bit hard in December in Britain because of all the tins of sweets in the shops at that time of year, China doesn't really seem to understand the concept of chocolate. The closest thing I've found to chocolate is M&Ms, which I never eat when I'm home in Blighty. I've been preferring to eat real food instead of snacks here because of the prices: I typically spend 6-8 yuan (about 60-80p) on lunch or dinner. A packet of M&Ms is 5 yuan (about 50p). A 600ml bottle of Chinese beer is only 3.8 yuan though so that's not helping!

I've been faithfully doing 4:3 and not overeating on normal days, so I'm a little frustrated at the moment.

Perhaps I am losing weight, just too slowly for it to show up on the scales every time. Just crunched some numbers. I've got no real way of knowing exactly how many calories I'm eating on a normal day, but even assuming I'm completely sedentary and stuffing my face the calculator's telling me I've still got a 3500 kcal deficit over a fortnight. Hmm. Good thing this WOE is easy or I'd be tempted to give up. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens next fortnight.

Weigh-in today and lost the 1 lb I put on in December so I'm back to end of Nov weight. Checked my log and saw that I had stayed the same for last 3 weeks in Nov but that's ok as it's started moving again.
To all who stay the same, just hang in there and it will start moving again and to all those who have quite a lot to lose, I lost 3 stone with S.W but needless to say I couldn't sustain it and promptly put 1 stone back on. I managed to lose 7 lbs by cutting out all yeast and sugar (as I had a yeast problem) then I found this WOE and have lost another stone.
So to all of you who have a lot to lose, just break it down into half stone sections and celebrate each loss then it doesn't seem so bad.
Good luck to all.

Has anyone else measured? I have weighed but I have also measured in the hope that even if my weight stays the same I might lost half a cm or something some weeks.

Hello all! Just de-lurking. I have done 2 fast days thurs and sat and have lost 5lbs. I have about 4stone to lose and a wedding dress to get into by August!
Good luck with you fast days folks!

Ezzza ah yes, it was the same for me before Christmas. I lost 17 pounds or so, then plateaued for an age, on 4:3. Which, if you're just going by the maths, doesn't make sense, so I have to assume there's something more to it. I stayed the same whilst following everything fine, and put on only one pound during a period of two weeks when I only fasted once, didn't exercise, and ate whatever goodies I wanted on all the other days.

So, I'm sticking with it. As you say, it's easy to follow. I will be changing up my calorie consumption for TTC reasons, and will probably change other things as well. I do hope to lose a bit more (need to lose a lot more, I don't want to give the impression I'm pounds away from perfection) before any potential pregnancy, but that's in a perfect world.

Second fast for me and so far so good. Not eated yet and am going to hold off for a boiled egg at 3 and then dinner at 5.30ish. I also squeezed in 20 mins intensive excercise which I hope to do each day. I will lose this weight!!! Hope others are doing and feeling well!

er, that should read "only fasted once a week." So, technically, I fasted twice during that period of time.

Some weeks I've not lost but lost the following weeks. ezzza can you access my fitness pal? Great for tracking your calories.

I've had to abandon fasts this week as on antibiotics for chest infection & strict no fasting from GP (who is actually v positive about this WOE). So bit but better do as I'm told. Threat of hospital admittance if infection gets worse will make me obey orders!

Have done 2 fast days so far and on both occasions have woken with a headache the day after, which went by lunch time. Not dehydration as urine was dilute. Anyone else get the same?
Was concerned about constipation as I have a tendency to it, but strangely things are much better in that dept.
Have realised that my normal diet is a total carbfest. On fast days I had to cut them right dowm to gain the bulk of veg/protein to fill me up. Haven't lost anything yet but I think I'm overcompensating on my eating days! -still doing 2:1 unless wt loss doesn't happen- then I will switch to 4:3

Hi aftereightsaremine. Yes I can access calorie counters ok. The trouble is I'm not able to weigh anything I eat while I'm here as I don't have access to any cooking facilities so I have to get my food out. A lot of the things I need to eat here on a daily basis (baozi, jiaozi, lamian, huoguo and so many more yummy things) aren't on most of the calorie counting sites.

That's part of the reason I was so pleased to come across this WOE as I knew I wouldn't be able to count calories at all for the six months I'm out here, and I also knew the food in this part of China is dripping with oil. It's ok, when I started this WOE I was only expecting it to maintain my weight so that I didn't have 'China weight' to lose when I got home too, so the 20lbs I've lost so far are a bit of a bonus.

I think I'll carry on with 4:3 for maintenance and wait until I get back to Britain when it'll be easier to stay inside my TDEE on eating days.

Fast no2 here as well. Was really hard this morning as my tummy was gurgling all through breakfast and was a bit crotchety getting the children off to school. It has got easier though and I've just had a yummy bowl of soup and a couple of thin breadsticks then going to have an egg with the children later. Lost 2.5lb this week which is great, I expect it is mostly water and that things will slow down but I already feel less bloated. Am going to check out the roasted carrot pepper and tomato soup on the recipie thread as that sounds yummy and I've got all of one in the fridge

On my first fast day. Have had 4 raw carrots and 2 oatcakes at work. A bowl of veg and lentil soup, going to have a small bowl of porridge before I do the school run.

I skipped breakfast and felt suprisingly fine. Then at 12 thought I wouldn't make it until I got home so had 2 oatcakes and have felt starving since. Next time I am going to try leaving eating as late as possible.

Aiming to do 4:3 this week from my usual 5:2 as have a suspicion that weight is not moving as fast as it should. Really hungry today- just going to have a nice cup of tea to ward off the temptation. Last time I fast I had dinner at 6 and was really hungry after. So will try to really wait till then so I can have a decent meal.

Have found fasts generally easy when I began so surprised feeling like this. Have fast before religiously so it's not alien to me and also know that the phase will pass soon of feeling hungry.

Hi all, thanks so much for all your responses, particularly green eggs, sorry I haven't been back but been at a friends all day (INSET) which is why I couldn't fast today! So I'm still going to start on it tomorrow but keep an eye on my periods/cycle, I guess if that doesn't change then I can assume my fertility hasn't been affected? Does that make sense? Here's hoping my first fast day goes well! You all sound like you have fantastic willpower, I've never fasted before so am not even sure I'll manage one day!

Hi everyone. Since starting in November I have lost 8 kg, so I am really pleased. As I have said before, the all-or-nothing nature of this WOE suits me. I've been following the thread closely, but rarely post. I do have a question however.

I am currently doing alternate days, and intend to do so until I hit target weight, after which I will move to 5:2. For those of you who have decreased the frequency of your fasting, what impact did it have? Did you gain? Stop losing? Carry on losing?

bubbles I think headaches the day after are fairly normal. I got them for the first few weeks, but I don't get them anymore.

Someone (sorry can't remember who and now can't find it) was asking about the 16hr without food, and whether they should count digestion time. I wouldn't. I would count the number of hours between meals.

For those just starting my recommendation is that you keep to the simple rule of 500cals (or 600 for men) on fast days and normal eating on other days. Don't worry too much about the number of hours until your body is used to it. Once you've been doing it a while you will find that stretching out the number of hours becomes easy.

Hi all on first fast day! Have only had an apple, tea and sugar free squash so far today. Was quite surprised how many calories in an apple! DS woke an hour earlier than usual so I struggled not to eat anything at breakfast time and decided an apple would be OK. Will check calories first next time! Planning on lentil and veg curry for tea possibly with a small baked potato. May have to have an early night to avoid thinking about food! Cooking tea for DS at mo so feeling hungry!!
Fretfree - brilliant weight loss - hope I can say the same in a couple of months! Are you counting calories on your non fast days? The calculations on myfitnessplan say I need 2300 cals a day normally but I don't know how much to reduce this by to lose weight. I know the idea is to fast then eat normally, but 2300 seems alot of cals if trying to lose weight!