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Fasting / 5:2 diet

Talk about intermittent fasting and 5:2, including what’s worked for others. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

5:2 Diet Thread! Going up to 11!

999 replies

GreenEggsAndNichts · 29/01/2013 13:17

The continuing thread for those of us following either the 5:2 diet or the alternate-day fasting diet.

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, or approximately your TDEE (see explanation below). 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 for a woman, 600 for a man, on those days.

You'll find on these threads we use a number of acronyms. If you're new to the threads, or Mumsnet in general, they might not make much sense.

WOE/WOL = Way Of Eating/Way Of Life. We use this term instead of "diet" as many of us see this as something to do in the long term.

MFP = My Fitness Pal, a website many use for keeping track of the number of calories they're eating.

TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure, 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.

ADF = Alternate-day Fasting, as it says on the tin, fasting every other day rather than 5:2.

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. Wink 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!

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. Wink

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%).")

Something to consider 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.

Another food link, here is a link to the BBC Good Food site, with a list of low-calorie soups.

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!

OP posts:
mamarun · 07/02/2013 20:46

that should have said i finally watched the show yesterday.

BlackMaryJanes · 07/02/2013 20:51

Thanks SpiralSkies I needed that prep talk :)

BetsyVanBell · 07/02/2013 20:56

Ubik - that sounds amazing - recipe link please?! I am nearing the end of a fast day, all calories consumed hours ago with nothing left to do but dream of what to eat tomorrow, oh and the weekend baking (a new tradition I started up alongside 5:2 regime)... definitely got plans to make snowkey's (I think!) delicious-sounding orange cake recipe.

I must must must remember to eat carefully tomorrow - ate something very rich and pastry-based after Monday's fast and felt dreadful for hours - I'm thinking I need to reintroduce starchy carbs gently. I think there's no harm in having 2 fast days, 2 careful days and 3 anything goes days given that I find it quite hard to even eat up to my tdee these days so the 'anything' is actually quite modest.

ubik · 07/02/2013 21:27

tis very easy; fry meatballs with onion and garlic then add tin chopped tomatoes, some veg bouillion, tomato puree - and a spoonful of sundried tomato pesto. Add some boiling water - more than you need to make a sauce and then bung in oven on v low heat for 2/3 hrs, check occasionally. Good with pasta and jacket potatoes, you can add veg too.

nb: this is NOT a fast day meal.

I have noticed i am hungrier in run up to my period. This may be what is happening today as i was craving chocolate last night too. Am hoping a good run tomorrow will help with the calorie excess today.

BetsyVanBell · 07/02/2013 21:37

Sounds great, thanks - Roasting tomato sauces really brings out the rich sweetness, I haven't done one like that for ages. Yum. [hungry emoticon]

hhhhhhh · 07/02/2013 22:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Snowkey · 07/02/2013 22:22

Betsy dh felt that my bloody orange cake could have done with a orange syrup soaking, something like you'd top a lemon drizzle cake with - using orange zest of course. I don't taste it so I can't wallop him!

SpiralSkies · 07/02/2013 22:28

Snowkey I make a very similar cake to your recipe (Nigella's clementine cake - I think she mentions somewhere that it is almost identical to the Claudia Roden version actually). I put dark choc on the top of it which makes it very much like a ginormous Jaffa Cake. Gawd, I really shouldn't be torturing myself with such thoughts on a fast day. Time for bed!

Itsaboatjack · 07/02/2013 22:36

I'm going to make that blood orange cake at the weekend with dd2 while dd1 is out on a trip. Though it will probably be an orange cake as I couldn't get any blood oranges at Tesco's today.

ayshigirl · 07/02/2013 22:38

Hi, I posted this earlier but haven't found the answer yet...any stats geniuses out there please? I bought new digital scales and weighed myself at the start of this (ahem) diet a few weeks back but accidentally selected the 'male' option so it was showing my body fat to be v low when it's in fact at the top of the range for me I;ve corrected the setting to female now but how do i recalculate what it was to begin with?

I know some have said don;t bother with this as the body fat % is inaccurate but I want to compare my starting point with where I am now and hopefully will be!

TalkinPeace2 · 07/02/2013 22:45

I HAVE ANSWERED YOU TWICE
it will be so utterly inaccurate as to be irrelevant
it is not possible to convert without knowing the algorithm inside your make of scales

stickygingerbread · 07/02/2013 22:50

mamarun - I suspect that your headache was due to caffeine withdrawal. The same thing happens to me.

ubik I had my first fasting fail on Sunday and it was also all because of meatballs, alluring, tempting meatballs. I did them in a marinara sauce with roasted red peppers - all from jars so no special recipe. They were simmering away for hours (it seemed) and smelled so good - more than this mortal could resist anyway. After that I threw in the towel and had some apple crumble as well. Started again on Tuesday.

snowkey I am definitely making that cake and have already passed on the recipe to others. Do you think we will be able to tell if it goes viral across the internet? I may try whipping the whites as in a chiffon cake. Thinking a honey syrup soaking would be in line with the recipe's ME roots.

Welcome to all new posters and lurkers. I am still new too - started in January and am on week 6 now. I am not weighing at all because I find it undermining. Instead have a tape measure for waist, and will be getting a glucose/cholesterol/bp test next week. I am 5'4" & looking to lose 3 stone and improve my health measures. Before children I was about 120 lbs, now about 160. Even getting close would be great.

Also, I was recently diagnosed PCOS. Some others have popped up in these threads and mentioned the condition, and I am happy to talk about any aspect with you if you come back. I hope you will. So far only manage to post a couple of times a week which is an eternity given how fast these threads move.

So far, I have lost 2 inches at the waist and all my clothing is looser. Good enough for now!

Thanks to all the posters. Your tips, advice and experiences make such great, informative and encouraging reading.

GiraffesEatPineapples · 07/02/2013 23:15

ashgirl would you get an idea by measuring yourself now on both settings and getting an idea of the difference? It wouldn't be perfect but at least you could see how much it had gone down since the beginning Confused I have also read that those scales are unreliable and vary depending upon how much water you drink - calipers may be better? There is a section on this in the four hour body by Timothy Ferris (borrowed it from the library last jan)

GiraffesEatPineapples · 07/02/2013 23:18

Greeneggs you were a pioneer - there are about 6 5:2 related threads now...

Ezzza · 08/02/2013 01:56

Gaah! Stupid Chinese New Year! Not having a kitchen I can cook in I eat out on non-fast days, of which today is one, but it seems all the mom-and-pop cafes and restaurants have closed for New Year now. Only the big chain junk food places are still open. Angry Don't want junk, want real food! I would have been quite happy with the junk for a week 6 months ago but I'm not now. A friend (who's just decided to start 5:2ing as well Grin) and I are going on a proper food hunt at lunch time but I'm not holding out much hope this close to New Year (which is on Sunday).

TalkinPeace2, I like your 2:4:1 plan idea. Although many of us have found the fast days have been enough to naturally curb our appetites on non-fast days, I think there are still a few who have been following this WOE for a number of weeks but haven't experienced this 'reset button' effect and are not losing weight due to eating significantly over their TDEE. It's no fun to feel like you have to restrict your eating on non-fast days too, so maybe a 2:4:1 or a 2:3:2 pattern (fastday:eat at TDEE day:stuff face blow out day) could help those people as it would still allow unrestricted eating on a weekly basis to help with compliance without undoing all the good work on fast days.

swallowedAfly · 08/02/2013 06:18

morning Smile

very happy here today as i just got on the scales and it shows i'm 4lbs down since starting this last wednesday. that's more than 2lbs down since i weighed myself after my last fast day so this fast had a big impact for some reason - what i did different was not eat for a full 20hrs so maybe due to that.

i can stick to this! had a look on the new bmi calculator and it doesn't make much difference to me because i'm quite tall - guessing it's the shorter people who get a shock from it.

for me personally i haven't calorie counted or watched at all on non fast days and am ashamed to admit i've eaten a whole tub of ben and jerry's twice since starting so i 'seem' (time will tell) to be a good example of this genuinely working rather than actually i'm doing a 'diet' at the same time. no change in exercise (i do a lot of walking, like 3miles plus a day, but nothing else currently) and my weight has been stuck and stable for ages so this change is entirely from the fast days.

fingers crossed it keeps working! losing 4lbs every 9 days would be fab but i know i better steel myself for it not necessarily staying at that rate of loss. does help to give you the oompf to continue when you see results quickly though.

can't see where those 4lbs have gone from as i've so much fat round my middle and boobs that it would take more than 4lbs to make a difference really.

sorry to go on - does help to talk about it. good luck to everyone fasting today and enjoy your food to those not.

swallowedAfly · 08/02/2013 06:20

if anyone needs me to eat or drink anything for them today let me know Wink

Salbertina · 08/02/2013 06:26

Well done, Swallowed! Sound like me , i sometimes overindulge enjoy my food rather on non fast days. But still losing. Tends to be water-weight at the start so less dramatic loss after 1st week or so.

Ezzaa- King Hei Fat Choy! Can imagine how hard it must be yo fast right now!

Re 4:2:1 etc people mentioning, am sort of trying that. So 1 day all out whatever, 4 days of TDEE plus 10% max, then 2 fast days. Rather changeable atm due to Domestic upheavals/illness so taking each day as it comes - yesterday was a wine, lots of deli stuff day so today maybe a fast.

Ezzza · 08/02/2013 06:57

Salbertina, the fast days are fine as I hardly eat anything those days anyway. It's the eating days which are a total pain in the botty. Our lunch time proper food hunt completely failed as there's nothing open. Ended up in Macdonalds Angry. I'm actually quite glad it's a fast day tomorrow so I don't have to worry about it but I don't know what I'm going to do Sunday as I'm not sure if anything will be open at all. I have found the Chinese equivalent of pot noodles just in case, but not being a big fan of them I'm hoping I'll be able to throw them away uneaten.

You're right swallowedAfly, the proposal for a new BMI calculator makes absolutely no difference for someone who is 5'6.5" tall. Anyone taller than that will find the new calculation makes their BMI lower but us shorties will find it makes our BMI higher.

Snowkey · 08/02/2013 07:03

Stickyginger I think honey syrup would be perfect. It's annoying that I cut it up in portions before dh's comment (I freeze in portion sizes for dc's lunch boxes). I have a litre of orange syrup leftover from making candied oranges a Christmas that needs to be put to good use. Ottolenghi aka mr genius in this house, has a very interesting looking semolina, coconut and marmalade cake in Jerusalem and a clementine and almond cake, both are perfect for using my orange syrup. I fear I may be developing a deep love of all things citrus. Blush

BetsyVanBell · 08/02/2013 07:09

Snowkey, I will happily ponder on syrup choices today & report back once the cake has been made and enjoyed. Won't be blood oranges this time so will just have to make it again once I've found some Grin.

literarygeek · 08/02/2013 07:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BsshBossh · 08/02/2013 07:33

Morning. 4 lbs lost this week on second week of 5:2. 1 lb lost in my first week. Total 5lbs lost. :)

swallowedAfly · 08/02/2013 07:34

i'm the exact height that it makes absolutely no difference to ezzza. i come out as 26.5 on both.

think i'm going to try for a sensible-ish day today as in eat what i like of realish food but avoid stuffing with chocolate and junk. i will be having a couple of beers later though.

Salbertina · 08/02/2013 07:36

Yo-yoing 3kilos within a month tho downward trend