5:2 Diet Thread! Number 9, welcoming the new year...

[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. This might be a good place to catch up with us if you're feeling a bit lost!

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.

B&W has found a new link to the aforementioned Horizon programme here. If you're keen to see it, watch it soon, because BBC has been quick to find these copies and shut them down online. We're hoping they'll re-play it again soon. I know these threads are popular, maybe they'll read my request.

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!

MaltildaMay Those headaches are definitely caffeine related! My DH has to give up coffee from time to time and he gets those headaches for a few days. Well done on weaning yourself off the Diet Cokes though - did you see Secret Eaters of C4? (it's on 4OD still I think) - there was some suggestion that drinking diet sodas makes your body crave the calories it thinks it's getting from the sweetness so giving them up could be good for you in more ways than you think.
On the cooking-front, yes I went with the herbal tea during the others' meal too! Felt very virtuous (while thinking about the fish pie I'm planning to cook on today's non-fast day yumyum

Thanks Ezzza

It depends how much you have to lose marianne if you are very obese then you probably still lose weight eating that amount - but the less you weigh the less you need to eat to maintain the weight and then correspondingly less to lose weight. Check your TDEE - total daily energy expenditure - mine is now only 1600-1700 which in my more active youth would have been low enough to lose weight!

Diet coke (and other diet drinks) mess with your metabolism so limit how many you have if you can't cut them out.

Wouldn't it be great if you could increase your TDEE just by watching other people work?

I live on the 4th floor (5th floor for any non-British readers of this thread) and there's a bunch of roofers working on the three story buillding directly outside my window. I've seen roofers at work before but never from above, never in my jammies holding a cup of tea and never before without a hard hat on. I must admit to being a bit of a lazybum having a tendency towards the sedentary so the thought crossed my mind this morning.

Ah well, we can dream. I'll just have to keep pushing myself to get out and about more.

maniacbug mmm cheese toastie leftovers - it's a lot easier when they're at school - I always put on weight in the school hols when I'm prepping food & snacks several times a day! Hopefully this will be a thing of the past...

Third fast day of the week and going OK. But feeling really depressed about my weight and how much I have to lose . Have a posh do next weekend and just tried on my dress from last year - I knew realistically it wasn't going to do up (the fact that at xmas a relative did a double take when she saw me and clearly thought I was pregnant shows just how bad things are!) - but it was nowhere near doing up - despite it being a little tight this time last year and me promising myself 2012 was going to be the year I'd sort my weight! So now have to go shopping for a dress in a larger size .

Sorry for the moan - I know I'm making steps in the right direction on this WOE, just to stick with it and in a few months I'll feel a whole lot better...

cardiffmummy I know exactly how you feel! I want to lose 40lbs which is such a lot (and then I will still need to lose 10lbs to get in a normal bmi) and it sometimes seems like it will never happen.

This time around I am going to break it down, my first 'goal' is to get beneath my lowest weight in the last 12 months (I have a withings scale that tracks my weight) - so I have to lose another 6lbs to get there. Then I will set another goal and I think I might do 10lb goals, because that means I have 4 goals before reaching the big 40lbs.

I can NOT be fat for my 40th!

Morning, all - lots to catch up on and more great stories to read!

LiteraryGeek I've got a couple of vegan spelt recipes on my blog.

About flaxseeds, I gave up adding them to my bread when I read that they lose their effects when heated. They're supposed to be consumed within 10 minutes of being ground, so that's what I do.

BTW, they cost 99p for 500g in my local HFS.

Diet cola. It's addictive and it kills brain cells. Exactly how it does this is explained in the specific link I've just posted on the Tips and Links thread.

Looking through this (the main) thread you'll find many alternatives (BTW, shouldn't these be placed over on the recipe thread, folks? Don't drink 'em myself, but I know many of you are enthusiasts.)

Happy fasting and feeding, folks! Pizza and curried wedges for dinner tonight! (Sorry, but I'm trying not to lose any more weight!)

Hi B&Wthanks a lot for that 'wait 20 minutes after you've eaten before eating' tip the other day. Bloody simple but really effective. Has helped me cut back a lot on the incessant grazing I've been doing on supposed'normal' days.

Hi Cardiffmummy, you've already said the answer. You're in it for the long term, the frustrations you feel now will only serve to make your determination that much stronger as you walk the path to healthiness . This time next year that dress will be too BIG for you, if you can, buy one you feel comfortable in and look good in today safe in the knowledge it is the only time you are ever going to wear it. Good luck.

Have a great day all

Am so full! Flaxseed toast for breakfast plus little v dark choc then fish & salad for lunch...

Wd running analogy help? Read interview with marathoner Paula Radcliffe- even she is overwhelmed at thought of running so far so breaks each and every run into little, doable challenges such as "just keep going till next tree or next lamppost..." Parallel to each lb lost?? Broken down into small doable chunks.

Marienne in the early weeks it's possible you might lose weight eating over your TDEE. I did. Others have. However, your mileage may vary, and if/when you hit a plateau that will be what you'll need to look at.

Also, how would you be defining intermittent fasting? Every other day? (alternate day fasting, or ADF) Then you would have more calories to play with on non-fast days, yes.

However if you mean you'd like to do fewer fast days and still eat "what you want" on non-fast days (which you're saying would be over your TDEE) then no, I don't think you can expect to lose weight.

This does all depend, as catsrus says, on how much weight you have to lose.

fast day today and my stomach is feeling really empty and grumbly. May have to bring my big bowl of fasting day porridge forward. Think its the painkillers I'm taking for this dammed migraine making my stomach feel irritated which my brain interprets as hunger.
Cup of herbal tea is not cutting it today!

Those doing C25K might be interested to know that they could be burning off a whole lot more than their apps say. Last year, while I was in the middle of C25K I took part in a research study that looked at diet & exercise. I was given a barrage of tests including bloodwork, scans, treadmill cardio and asked to wear a cardio monitor and movement sensor for a week. As I keep an exercise and food diary I was able to marry up the monitor results with my daily activity and found that a day when I went for a 16min run (2x8min) and 20mins of fast walking burned off over a 1000 more calories than a day when I was sedentary. Interestingly, on another day, it took 1 hour of dance exercise, 40 mins of yoga and 45mins cycling to burn off the same amount as the short run.

Now if I'm running and I'm wanting to quit I just say to myself "1000 calories, 1000 calories"! Only problem is that if I get too fit it won't be as effective (not too much of a problem actually as I'm a little sporadic with the exercise).

Depressingly though, I also discovered during the dexa scan that I'm composed of 45% fat (at BMI 27) and that was after I'd lost 2 stone! Still, at least I'm doing something about it...

Good luck to fasters...
Ok, axe my smugness being full, just succombed to one of dh's brownies not fasting but still not ideal

Hi guys!

I have been fasting on and off for the last couple of months, but lost my motivation in December. I'm back on track now, following the 5:2 plan. I just got the book, and love it!

I haven't lost a lot of weight so far, but it is because I did eat a lot on my normal days, something I'm trying to address now. I have however seen an improvement in my skin and also body shape.

My fast days are Mondays and Wednesdays and they are my favourite days of the week! I wish I could be as good the rest of the week

Hi everyone, i'm new to IF and only hope i am doing it correctly - everyone has a different approach so i have tried to choose the best option for me.

I started the 5:2 IF diet on Monday 14th January. I only need to lose about 8lb but wanted to experiment with this WOE to see if it worked/if it suited me. I am not weighing myself for 4 weeks so will keep going until the 11th February to see how much i can lose in this time.

I will fast for 18 hours twice a week. I try and stop eating between 6pm-7pm one day and break the fast at 12noon-1pm the following day.

I have 1500 calories on my feasting days and 600 calories on my fasting days (2 x 300 calorie meals). Although i will try and aim for 500, 600 seems more realistic at the moment.

I don't cope with hunger at all well, i get the shakes, light headed and get very ratty (my husband dreads my fasting days)!

This is my second fasting day and i'm finding it very hard indeed. I'm guessing this will eventually get much easier - i really hope it does anyway. I had 2 x black coffees with one sweetener this morning, a soup and a low calorie slice of bread (300 cals) for lunch and then felt very full. I will have a tarka dahl mixed with natural yoghurt later as lentils really fill me up.

I will be exercising on my feasting days, i lack energy on my fasting days at the moment. I usually do 30 mins of cardio three times a week plus arm toning weights.

My understanding is that 18 hours is an adequate amount of time to fast.

Any advice will be greatly welcomed, thank you in advance...

ch1chkpea It sounds like you've got it about right. It definitely gets easier. I think the idea to start with 600 cals and work down to 500 is a good one. My advice would be to initially work towards removing the slice of bread from your lunch. Whilst it helps fill you up initially bread can make you feel hungrier earlier.

I can't really comment on your feed day cals, it seems a bit low to me, but maybe you are just very small (my TDEE is more like 2300 cals)

OK for those interested in the health benefits of this WOE, I've been monitoring my blood pressure over the last couple of years. I've been on this WOE since mid-August and lost 20 lbs before Christmas. Having looked at my results and checked it in the surgery, my doc has reduced my blood pressure medication! Whoo whoo!

Up till now they had to increase the dosage every 6-9 months. Since I was first diagnosed, this is absolutely the first time I've seen a downward shift.

Now, that can of course be linked to the drop in weight, but I firmly believe I would not have achieved the weight loss if not for this WOE - so thanks Dr MM

And my GP was so interested in how I managed to drop the weight that we ended up taking up the rest of my appointment talking about it - pointed her to these pages as truly helpful. I think she is going to try it for herself .

So a big to you all for the encouragement, laughs, tips, recipes and good advice. I don't post very often, but I do read the threads from time to time to find out how you are all doing.

Hi ch1ckpea, I've just started 5:2 as well - yesterday was my second fast day. My recommendation would be to get a good selection of herb teas and make sure you keep hydrated during fast days, perhaps a piece of fruit if you're feeling dizzy. If you're doing this with weightloss in mind initially then perhaps don't worry too much about the number of hours fasting but more the overall calorie intake, presumably gradually we'll be able to increase the hours once our bodies get used to it. I've been eating a breakfast & lunch but had to have a little something later on too - a piece of fruit or a small fruit yogurt.

Yesterday I was dreaming about the things I was going to cook today and now after a normal breakfast & lunch I feel stuffed! If I wasn't feeding everyone else in the house I probably wouldn't bother now. I'll try and stick to a small portion at least

I usually do 1500 calories on a diet so thought it was best to stick to that?

Salbertina That advice about setting achievable goals you gave - belongs on the Tips thread, don't you reckon?