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!

Aftereights Sending good thoughts and hugs for results.

Hi swallowed there is lots of confusing and contradictory info out there. You might want to look at this site here about the positive effects of intermittent fasting on preventing breast cancer.

I read as much as I could on this way of eating (WOE) including the studies cited by the original Horizon programme in August - and decided I trustd the studies which said it would be of benefit to me. I am a scientist (non medical) and know how to read between the lines where results are concerned so am confident in my own choices here. You might make different choices and trust different studies.

swallowedAfly

A few reasons - fertility in the main, fertility declines with fasting. But obviously being overweight affects fertility too.

And it's not recommended for nursing mothers. And I'm wondering about conditioning too - one of the studies put a dozen significantly overweight women on a 1200 calorie diet for 3 months, and a dozen women on IF - the women preferred the 1200 calorie diet

It's a small sample but I wonder if there's some conditioning in there, that women expect it to be a long, hard slog because they've done so many diets before if they were 4 stone overweight.

I don't think so. I know it boils off the alcohol but I think the calories are still there.

I don't know for sure so someone else may come along and correct me.

^ that was for Betsy VanBell btw

OMG I am fecking STARVING today. (Fast day #3).

So far I've had veggie soup (264cal) and a lemon bonbon(?).

Turkey stir fry for dinner (minus noodles). I am soooo ready for it.

Why is it so hard today? First 2 fast days were a piece of piss. Grrrrr!

I think the calories would be reduced if you boiled the alcohol off but by how much, I have no idea.

Encyclogirl Tom? Too many carbs?

swalledAfly I linked to one article in the OP which questions the usefulness of this WOE for women who are already in a normal BMI range. More specifically, women of child-bearing age who are in a normal BMI range. This is in line with other weight loss plans for women who are already in a healthy range. I linked to it in the interest of giving a balanced picture.

However, I also linked to several studies which all say that it was a beneficial way of eating, especially for women (and men) who were overweight or obese. The studies show their blood markers improving and weight loss consistent with other low-calorie diet plans.

The link catsrus gives is a very interesting one and I highly recommend you have a look. That is the plan I initially followed before going to this.

I've found this which explains how long it takes for up to 95% of the alcohol to boil off. However I don't know how many calories there are in the bit that's evaporated! I'm sure I could work it out but it's a fast day and I'm distracted by knowing I can eat in an hour . It's not important, just thought it was slightly interesting to know! Especially when you're trying not to go over a 500 cal target... However, I suspect that more of the calories in wine are sugar-based rather than in the alcohol anyway.

In reading through the threads I see several people mention Miso soup. I agree it is tasty, warm and filling for the amount of calories but I worry about the high sodium content. Any thoughts on this anyone?

Found this:

For wine:

Calories from alcohol = glass size (in grams) x alcohol % x 7

So alcohol has 7 calories per gram. Strong wine has more calories than sweet wine (sugar has 4 cals / gram)

swallowed the only thing I have read against fasting which I think may be true is a slightly reduced fertility. As I have finished my family I have no problems at all with this. The study showing it may have detrimental effects re diabeties was a very small study and other results have contradicted it. No longer being overweight should have had more effect on the risks than anything else;

I use miso paste and stock cubes - think it has lower salt levels.
PUt everything into MFP and you can check!

Hi all, I'm a few pages behind so I don't know if anyone has already mentioned this, there is a Dispatches on Channel 4 tonight at 8pm about Weight Watchers. It might be interesting. I think some people on this thread had tried WW and found some success but hard to do in the long-run (?).

AND on BBC 2 at 9pm, Michael Mosley on Winter Viruses and how to beat them (too late for me for this year ).

thanks for responses. for me what i read made me think that women need to approach weight loss differently and not freak their bodies out with fasting or calorie deprivation.

i didn't read it as only affecting post menopausal women or normal weight women - i read it as having absolutely no testing on child bearing age women or women who weren't clinically obese and totally having been based on men and post menopausal obese women.

definitely given me food for thought. i'm inclined to believe women weren't meant to starve or deprive themselves and women's yoyoing and weight problems may be attributable to low cal, fasting, obsessive deprivation periods.

anyway - hope it's working for everyone on here and that you all achieve your goals.

Forgive me fasters for I have fallen off the wagon on day 1. Oh the shame . I managed the temptations of getting ds2's lunch but fell at the hurdle of getting the dc something to eat before swimming, which is always a very rushed business. Oh well, tomorrow is another day . On the plus side, I feel very hydrated .

I'll watch the WW programme, it didn't work for me. I'm only about half a stone above my BMI but am carrying it all round my middle. If I deviated at all from my 26 points, used any extra points at all, the weight din't come off/went back on. I must have lost and gained the same 8lbs more times than I can remember.

Having said that, I need to rediscover self control. Well done to those for whom IF is having a positive result .

x-post with rosemarysage.

swallowedafly
i'm inclined to believe women weren't meant to starve or deprive themselves
really?
We managed 150,000 years of evolution with erratic food supplies.
In fact much of the world still does.
THe bits of the world that do not have obesity problems in fact.

no women in hunter gatherer societies today bring in the bulk of calories and substinence and do so through gathering of vegetation - all anthropological studies suggest it was the same historically. so eating small and often, grazing, rather than the feast and fast of meat seems to have been the norm for women and in fact all people. much as the studies suggest there is a definite sex bias in the lit - the idea of sporadic/erratic food supplies for example only tends to apply to hunted meat.

anyway i suspect there'll be defensiveness if this is what people are relying on so i'll but out. however clearly talkingpeace you're unlikely to get obesity probs in areas of the world who can't rely on regular food - not sure what that proves other than it's hard to get fat in a country that doesn't have enough food to eat regularly

Literarygeek Wahey lol

After8s

Betsy I guess the calories condense down and water evaporates the same as with sauces . But yes the lower the % the lower the calories and wine from Britain is lower in cals and Australian new Zealand wine is highest in cals because of the sun grape ripening affects.

Snowkey I bet it is the carbs. I was low carbing/high fatting before and was never ever hungry. Hmmmm...

swallowed well you seem to be concentrating on the negative aspects and not the positive ones outlined in the studies in the OP, so yes, what responses you will get in this thread full of converts are likely to sound defensive to you.

We're all adults here, we've read the studies and reached a different conclusion to you. This WOE has enabled many of us to lose weight when other methods were not working for us.

aftereights oh wow, hope you have a speedy recovery.