5:2 Diet Thread! Perfect number 10!

[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.

Michael Mosley has recently unveiled a new website to accompany his new book on the subject. Please go check them out, as he's the whole reason most of us are here!

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!

Wow Frencyfancy that's brilliant, well done. Good luck with the next 7lbs - have you planned a shopping spree to celebrate?

B&W cheddar cheese on pizza? I know you are vegan but cheddar is too strong, overpowers everything, the Italians would go crazy! Mozzarella isn't that pricey, Sainsbury's even do a basics one for 50p. I'm passionate about pizza too, have discovered that the easiest way to get a good crisp base is to preheat your oven as high as it will go, then forget about baking trays and stones and construct the pizza on baking parchment and place the pizza (and the baking parchment) directly on the top oven shelf, bake till the crust is a nutty brown colour. Grate some Parmesan and drizzle with olive oil- on a non fast day obviously!
I make a vegan one for my nephew who has a dairy allergy, rather than cheese I use marinated artichokes, the nice oily ones - rather surprisingly, he loves it.

There's nowhere to hind when you make something as simple as a marinara without cheese - but with a fresh base, fabulously flavourful tomatoes and olive oil, you'd be in second heaven. I'd still be tempted to season with chilli and have the purists running for the hills.

Morning all & welcome to all new people & lurkers. Am sure this has been said before but i Just wanted to say to anyone about to start this WOE who finds it hard to begin with just to give it a few fasts before you give up - it took me about 4 weeks before any side affects melted away. But the health benefits are so worth it.

Also both my rheumatologists have said its fine to fast & can reduce RA inflammation.

So give it a go - the only thing you have to lose is lbs.

Well done frenchfancy! Woohoo! Hoping to get to BMI normal soon myself but still have around 3kg to go. All the best with reaching your goal weight.

frenchfancy very forgot to say well done that's fantastic news.

Sorry Snowkey from my pre-vegan days, I always considered mozzarella = over-hyped, tasteless pap!

I?m interested in your nephew?s vegan pizza recipe - I have several vegan recipes on my blog ? I?ll knock up a 5:2-friendly calorie counted one when I can get a round tuit.

I just wanted to reassure anyone who equated pizza with an overload of fatty carbs that one could be made easily and simply ? and could readily be accommodated into the 5:2 WOL. Not to mention how cheap they are to make.

Not sure your method would work for others. If I tried that with my oven the top would be cooked well before the base. It's relatively easy to cook the top of a pizza (provided it's not overloaded with sauce) - it's the underneath that needs more attention, IME.

On pizzas generally, I start with the premise that a good pizza begins with the base! In contrast to the pizza manufacturers, who think that it?s all about the number of toppings it has. :(

Like the marinara suggestion. I?ve never had a pizza with just that as a topping. I?ll have to rectify that, soonest!

I?ve made one with a lentil curry topping, before.

I?m with you guys about spicing up a pizza ? curry powder or cayenne in the base and chilli flakes or equivalent in the topping. I often make a bit more dough and make spicy grissini - gorgeous!

As to the oldest pizza, I doubt very much it?s the marinara, since pizzas were around long before tomatoes came on the scene.

Happy baking!

I come from the school of thought that a good cheese is not the strongest one you can lay your hands on - like the extra extra mature farmhouse. Mozzarella - the stuff that is stored in water, has the most delicate milky taste. The rubbery mozzarella is really only fit for melting but it is pretty good for pizzas as it contains less water but i still use it sparingly. Cheddar is so overpowering, all other ingredients take a back seat to its strength. In general though my pizzas are not heavy on cheese - even though I love the stuff - balance is the key, or other toppings, often I add a fresh welsh goats, or a taleggio, dh like blue cheese and pear or very often we just go through the fridge and use up leftovers, we are self confessed cheese heads.

The artichokes I use are from Waitrose Cooks range, quite pricey at nearly £5 a tub but we all love them, so as an occasional treat, it's ok. I think the addition of a good olive oil, some roasted peppers, maybe some capers, pine nuts, red onions, cherry tomatoes, chilli, sultanas, basil....clearly not all but a selection would make a pretty decent pizza.

Btw I don't use any special settings on my oven - just the fan, at the highest heat, top shelf.

I miss pizza- might plan a treat for February.

I love all these food ideas. I'm on a bread kick at the moment and going to start a sourdough mother (finally - been threatening to for years) and make some lovely sourdough boules. I love looking at cookbooks but sometimes forget to use them! I really like The Breadmakers Apprentice (good technical explanations and proper baker's percentages) and have just bought exceptional breads by Dan Lepard which appears to have some great recipes, though the sourdough starter looks very complicated - juice, yogurt and raisins rather than just rye flour and water.
I am really interested in the tangzhong method and want to try that soon too.

Managed to fast yesterday as headaches finally went after 11 days (not related to fasting - I have a broken brain) and really enjoyed crumpets with butter and golden syrup this morning.

Thanks all. I'm planning a trip back to the UK in a months time so I will have a celebratory shopping spree then. Who knows I might have lost another few lbs by then :)

Pizza tonight. :)

Snowkey I totally agree about a good fresh marinara sauce. And B&W thanks for the recipe link, I'll have a look! I do like making my own pizza, though it's been a couple of months since I've done the bases fresh, as well. God I love pizza.

Welcome to the thread, BMJ! As I've always understood breast milk production, your body will take what it needs for the milk, whether or not your diet is a decent one. So if it needs calcium, and you aren't ingesting calcium, it will be leeched from your bones, etc. If I were doing this and BFing, I'd be careful to get a vit D + calcium supplement (most of us in the UK this winter should need the vit D at the very least!), and I also take a multivitamin.

AfterEights really? That's excellent news, re: RA inflammation. I'll have to share with my mum, who was asking me about it last week.

Kiwigirl I grew my own sour dough culture - it took ages to get it going and just when it was starting to look like something that would make a proper loaf I vaguely lost interest in it, the desire to make cider took over and the whole thing died from neglect. The cider was a disaster too!! I don't make much bread now as dh are mostly low carb but the odd pizza slips through once a month and it's a joy!

GiraffesEatPineapples thanks for that , had not picked up that piece of info. Everything I had been reading just seemed to highlight how much weight everybody had lost. I lost just over 2 stone last year with Rosemary Conley have put on 5lbs since then, so not too bad, still have another 2 and and a half stone to go and now back in the zone and desperate to see some progress. Not helped by the fact that BH had a new toy for christmas and has spent the last 4 weeks feeding our old slides into the computer and showing me all these photographs of how slim I used to be, Stupid thing is I used to be convinced I was overweight.

Never mind incadreams sounds like you had a good Burns supper! You can fast another day instead, good old 5:2 WOE!
And congrats frenchfancy that's a great milestone reached - I have about 6lbs to go before I reach normal BMI. Hope I can do it too. Feel so much lighter and have more energy than I have had in ages

This is my very first fast day!!!

Good luck BMJ. Don't forget the mantra 'I can eat tomorrow'.
Drink plenty.
Let us know how you get on!

How's it going BlackMaryJanes?

Well done BMJ, just by getting started you have pasted one of the most difficult barriers. Don't forget your body stores fat for a reason - energy. you won't stave, you have got reserves.

kiwigirl I have a Dan Lepard starter that's about 8 years old now... it wasn't difficult to do, =yes a bit fiddly for the first week but well worth it .

Eating day today and im just about t make crumpets with my new crumpet rings.. first time! ill report back... Oh and i'm also starting off the Dan Lepard marmalade recipe today , will finish it tomorrow ( a fast day..)

B&W i know you teach bread but Dan Lepard is a bread god! Thanks for the pizza recipe ill have a go sometime , were having risotto this evening as i found some of our asparagus left in the freezer

Hi bro you around? haven't seen you here for awhile .. but may have missed you in all the posts, was out on the bike this morning, was great .

TIP2 congratulations on getting back to pre new York weight.and tofrenchfancy for being back into normal BMI..feels great doesnt it?.

This is such a great WOE!!

Hi all

How soon after you hit "24hrs without food" can you eat again?

You can eat your 500 cals at any point during your fast day. If you go for a full 24 hours with no food then you can have a 500 cal meal (this is what I do in the evenig of a fast day) then you eat normally from the next morning.

I read of someone who started their fast day at 2pm on a tues, so if she has her. 500 between then an 2pm wed say.... When can you eat something on the wed??? Sorry if I'm being thick

Chippy I do from bedtime to bedtime (so, it's longer than a 24 hour fast, I stop eating after dinner one day, eat 500 calories the next day, and the following day could presumably start eating at breakfast) so I can't say for sure. I do think some people do it the way you are speaking, and if so I assume they just keep to 500 cals during that 24 hours, and then can eat anytime after that set 24 hours. So if it's 2pm-2pm, she'd be eating again anytime after 2pm? I don't know. I know that works for some people but I've kept to the way I do it because I'm afraid I'd be overdoing it before or after those times. It's easier for me to just have an entire day where I know I have 500 calories to have, usually used on a decent dinner.

Whatever works for you, really. :)