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!

[SarahWithAFringeOnTop]

Laska, I have the same problem - living out in the sticks with no exercise classes after work and no gym/leisure centre for miles... my solution at the moment is one weekly class on my way home from work when I can manage it... and I started the C25K for exactly that reason. Although I have to admit, I'm getting a bit bored with small circuits round the bits of the village with streetlighting... I'm hoping that will change as the days get longer. DH has been good at encouraging( = nagging) me to go, so I haven't managed to dip out much (yet!) I didn't think I liked running, until I kept trying and discovered I did, really. But mainly it was the only thing I could think of to do under the constraints of my circumstances.
So I'd say, don't rule anything out, just give something a go and you may be surprised!

[Laska42]

literarygeek i've just quickly looked at that site ...have to say its certainly entertaining , but have I got the right one? The 'Christian singles Mingle' ads look a bit scary ! and the 'sailor moon' workout ! that's plain weird.. cheered me up though .

[Laska42]

TIP i think you've mentioned Wii before .. no I dont have one and have never used one , but my friend does maybe perhaps ill see if i can borrow hers to try it out.
Sarah , I'm trying C25 k also... have been taking a torch out with me fo rthe dark bits ! . I know I just need to get out there ..

[Laska42]

ooh not me Literarygeek .. happily married and atheist , and no one else uses my laptop so probably a fluke (or a messg from 'above' that I shouldn't be ..LOL) ... Anyway thanks ..will look at some more of her vids later .. the HITlates ive just seen looks a bit beyond me right now .. but if you've not seen 'sailor moon' , (on the pop workouts )do have a look!

[catsrus]

Hi Laska - I'm motivating myself to not eat anything else tonight by watching 'embarrassing fat bodies' on ch4 oh bugger -they just said a glass of red same calories as a doughnut

Normal eating day today - and met friends for a meal so a tad more than normal no though as I was driving - but did have cheesecake!

I had a good fast day yesterday - and was another 3lb down on weigh in this morning - but I suspect that will be up again after today

Now have you had a wardrobe sort out recently? Throw out something big and try on something that's been too small!

[Laska42]

Thanks for the chat and endorsement literarygeek its probably the 'going back to work and January' blues.. bed now .

[Laska42]

Good Idea cats
.. no thats wrong about the wine and doughnut .. It just is.. Ignore it we need .. its one of the 5 a day !

Anyway I'm off now, night night ..

[kiwigirl42]

Stir fried courgettes are really delicious especially with some bacon. I have a gadget like a potato peeler which cuts julienne strips. It makes anreally good low cal pile of food on low cal days and can be primped up with some butter, cheese etc on normal cal days.
I'm not looking forward to fast day tomorrow but have just organised Ocado shop to come on Saturday night so i'll have lots of delicious things to eat on Sunday normal eating day.
I'm sure we have a Wii step somewhere so thats a great idea. We did buy a recumbent exercise bike recently, a proper gym one dead cheap second hand off ebay, so have managed to do that every day last fortnight and can now do five minutes and still walk the following day (i have fibromyalgia so that is a real achievement for me)

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

okay this thread is moving really, really fast! I suspect we'll reach our limit by early tomorrow morning, so I've gone ahead and made a new thread in anticipation. If people have the thread watched, please move to this new thread for further discussion.

(new folks: threads on Mumsnet max out at 1000 posts, hence the multiple threads!)

There's no big rush as we have a few posts left, but seriously, we've done 60 posts today so we really are booking along here. So go ahead and move to the new thread when you're ready

[Breadandwine]

Blimey, I go out for a few hours this evening - and the thread goes mad!

Loads of newcomers - welcome, one and all!

Today I had my 2nd 24 hour fast of the week and for dinner I had a 200 cal veg curry which was very filling!

I've just come back from an evening of cards with some mates tonight, we're teaching ourselves how to play bridge, so in preparation, I've been busy baking today.

Since nibbles and wine are the order of the day on these evenings, I wondered if I could build these things into my >600 cals.

So I set to and made some mushroom canapes using bread dough, which came in at 36 calories each.

I aimed for 20 and made 26.

So, my day looked like this.
Nothing all day except strong black coffee, then my veg curry at 18.35 tonight, leaving me 400 calories -
100g of wine - 86 cals (where did the doughnut comparison come from? Rubbish!)
8 canapes - 288 cals

Leaves 26 or so cals spare!

And that's what I had! The canapes were rolled out a bit too thin, making them slightly tough and chewy! Still tasty though, and I'll do them again.

All the best to everyone fasting or feasting! See you on the (probable) new thread tomorrow!

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

You xposted, B&W, there's already a new thread! cough

[AthenaOnOlympus]

Second fast day today. Planned lunch is 1 slice of crispbread with a little ham, boiled egg and raw carrot (am at work so can't heat up food), dinner will be veg soup. Lots of green tea for drinks during the day. Actually looking forward to it.

[virginposter]

Hey everybody the fastdiet website is up and running - yippee!!

[blackberrystone]

Hello! I'm new to the 5:2 diet (...also known as the Weetabix Diet as that's almost all I end up eating!) with a goal of hoping to lose a bit of weight in the new year. Nice to see so many people getting results from it!

I was wondering whether anybody here might be able to give me some more information as to how they feel exercising during the fast days. When I had my first fast day (this Monday) I went for a run in the morning before lunch, and then spent literally EVERY moment of the rest of the day day-dreaming about food and feeling quite nauseous from hunger. Actually, I couldn't stick to the 500 calories and ended up having just under 600. In the middle of the night I was even woken up by the hunger and sickness, which has never ever happened to me before!

Today I had my 2nd fast day and apart from some cleaning and cycling to and from places, I didn't do any major exercise. I still feel hungry (and have eaten maybe closer to 600 than 500 cals!), but provided I distract myself it is really very tolerable. I wanted to go for a run but was scared of sending myself into the same miserable state as on Monday and then caving on the diet.

Does anybody manage to continue exercising on their fast days - and if so, how do you find it best to co-ordinate this with meals to stop yourself having a low, and do you exercise as intensely as normal? Is it possible that the horror of my Day 1 was simply because it was Day 1 and I've never fasted before?

Also - I started using MyFitnessPal (amazing app!) and was beyond horrified to discover that my breakfasts (bowl of muesli) which I've been eating for months and months total to over 800 calories a day!! No wonder I never lost any weight!

Many thanks for any tips from fellow 5:2 exercise-ees!

[TalkinPeace2]

Wednesday was my fast day.
Tea for breakfast. 1km swim, yoga, bodypump, tea for lunch, tea mid afternoon, half tin of baked beans and scrambled egg for supper. Sleep. Tea for breakfast today.
Used to it.

[Snowkey]

Hi Blackberry

I run on a fast, I go first thing in the morning - if you eat carbs, you will still have adequate glycogen stores for energy first thing but you may feel very hungry - I think your body gets used to that over time, if you don't eat carbs your body will just burn fat and you'll be fine and won't feel that overwhelming hunger. I would go slower to begin with, let your body get used to your new approach....it definitely gets easier, the hunger doesn't feel as extreme - drink plenty of water that definitely helps...in the beginning I used to take a water bottle with me on runs, a couple of sips calmed the hunger pains.

If you run in the evening, eat an hour before you run.

[InterestingIan]

Hello. I'm not a mum since I'm a guy but thought I'd join just to let you know my experiences on this 5:2 diet.

I saw the Horizon programme on the 7th August (think it might have been shown on the 6th August 2012) and have been on the diet since the 8th August. Either Tuesdays and Saturdays, or Wednesdays and Sundays have been my fasting days when I've consumed up to 600 calories.

In addition I have been exercising almost every day, initially in the form of either a 3 mile run or 30 mins on an exercise cycle, but since around 6 weeks ago I've only been running or on an exercise cycle 3 days a week, and I have introduced weight lifting 3 days a week. I should also note that I was exercising before the diet started, although might have increased it slightly since commencing the diet.

Unfortunately I didn't actually weight myself prior to starting. I first weighed myself 2 weeks 2 days into the diet on the 24th August when I weighed 14 stones 3 lbs (199 lbs). I'm 5ft 11 ins.

Here's how much I've weighed in each subsequent week:

STONES POUNDS
14 3
14 2
14 0
14 0.75
13 12.5
13 11.25
13 8.75
13 8.75
13 7.5
13 6.5
13 5.75
13 4.5
13 7.5
13 5.5
13 4.5
13 5.5
13 4.25
13 2.75
13 4.75
13 6.25
13 6.5

A stone is 14 pounds. The first weight 14st 3lbs is what I weighed on the 24th Aug 2012, and the last weight 13st 6.5 lbs is what I weighed approximately about an hour ago. I've lost 10.5 lbs in 20 weeks, although it can be seen that in the last 11 weeks there has been no weight loss whatsoever. So all the weight loss occurred in the first 9 weeks. Am I unusual in this or has anybody else experienced the same?

I'm afraid I know nothing about my IGF-1 levels or other disease markers mentioned in the programme. In the book "the fast diet" by Dr Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer (Dr Michael Mosley presented the original Horizon programme) Mimi Spencer says "six months in, I have more energy, more bounce, clearer skin, a greater zest for life" (page 17). Speaking for myself, so far as I'm aware, my skin looks exactly the same. And my zest for life remains exactly as it has always been. I do however feel marginally better in myself.

I'll continue on this diet anyway because many of the alleged benefits occur independently of any weight loss. And I'm not really too fussed about restricting myself to 600 cals for 2 days a week.

Incidentally I'm currently reading the aforementioned book by Mosley and will be writing an extended review of it, as well including my experiences and thoughts on this diet, and will be putting it on my blog sometime in the next few weeks. Once it's up there I'll come back and give you the link (if I remember!)

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

Hello Ian! We have a number of men on our threads now, so you're not alone. I think we've found some differences between how well it works for men, versus how it works for pre-and-post menopausal women.

If you'd like to re-post this post in our new thread, it'll be seen by everyone posting there. Threads on Mumsnet max out at 1,000 posts, hence our making new threads to keep up with the posts.

BTW- anecdotal, but, yes, most of my weight loss happened in the first two months of my doing 4:3. I have also been doing this since August. I did, however, have a hearty holiday season (I'm an American living in the UK, so I have Thanksgiving, then holiday outings all month and then only fasted twice over Christmas/NY) and only put on one pound during the Christmas period. Which is pretty good considering all I ate, and barely fasted.

Interesting indeed. Anyway, hope to see you on the new thread. It's moving quickly!

[NickECave]

Hi I've never dieted in my life and have extremely low will power but having read a bit about this WOE it does seem more feasible as a long-term weight loss strategy than anything else I've heard of. My question is around how the 24 hour fast needs to work. I always eat dinner pretty late (around 9pm after kids are in bed). Can I eat a normal dinner at 9pm one day, consume 500 calories in the 24 hours between then and 9pm the following day and then have another normal dinner? I feel that as long as I could end the day with a normal size dinner so I wasn't going to bed hungry then I could easily stick to 500 calories or less during the rest of the day. Can this work or have I misunderstood how the fasting works?

[TalkinPeace2]

NickECave
NO.
monday : normal eating plus big 9pm supper
tuesday : 500 cal in the whole 24 hours - including supper
wednesday : normal eating plus 9pm dinner

so you'll be missing two big dinners a week.
Otherwise there is no way you'll get the deficit that is the secret of the WOE.

[lauryloo]

well in the past week and a half I have lost 5lb doing this - although I am not sure what to do now going forward because I have just found out that I am pregnant!!

Any advice would be appreciated - i still want to lose some weight whilst pregnant and not sure if this option would be advisable or not!