Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

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! 12! Cheaper by the dozen!

999 replies

GreenEggsAndNichts · 08/02/2013 10:09

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:
Choateee · 17/02/2013 17:26

Hi I've been lurking - have only done my first week of 2 fast days and coped really well - I have a BMI of 21 so not looking to lose loads of weight (5lbs), for a holiday in May. Felt really good after my fasts, definitely improved energy levels, (I have 1 year old twin boys as well as 3 other children!), and felt that my tummy was flatter and I definitely feel lighter so was surprised when I hadn't lost any weight but I haven't gained either, I wouldn't say I'd over indulged on my eating days and I managed to fit in a workout this week too. Has anyone else experienced this? Week 2 and 3rd fast day tomorrow, well done to everyone losing weight your stories are inspirational :-)

Newlook · 17/02/2013 17:28

welcome Choatee - I am on my 3rd fast day today and, like you, are finding the stories inspirational and motivating. Glad you have coped well, hope you have a great 2nd week.

Daisy1407 · 17/02/2013 17:49

This forum is amazing! #justsayin full of inspiring stories! X

Dotty342kids · 17/02/2013 18:03

Thank you giraffes and BssBossh. I didn't cave in and oh my, it did taste good!
Took all my willpower to stick to my designated two roast potatoes, instead of usual four but I did it so that's another fast day done and dusted and I feel really good about that.
Good luck to all the usual Monday fasters (I'd normally be one too) and I'll catch up with you all when I'm back on Thursday.

ElizaCBennett · 17/02/2013 18:20

Normally fast on a Monday but am eating out tomorrow! Am conscious of what I have eaten today and will cut down on Tuesday also (eating out on Tuesday - half term!). Will fast on Weds and maybe Thurs too. Onwards and upwards!

artemis17 · 17/02/2013 18:35

Choateee hi...im the same BMI and only want to lose 7lb. Have only lost 1lb in 2 weeks, (so felt a little disappointed when othesr are losing several llbs), but feel tighter & slimmer if that makes sense. I do struggle to eat my TDEE some days but add nuts, avocado etc,as not a big chocolate fan anyway.
I think its the feeling of well being that i enjoy. Have fasted today as have a cold so no appetite, then again weds i expect.
As i was told, dont lose heart if the scales dont move, when you dont have much to lose it will take longer, but hopefully you feel good. :)

BsshBossh · 17/02/2013 19:30

I feel utterly stuffed from a very food-centric weekend (they always are as DH loves to eat out and cook - he reads cookbooks in bed). So I am really looking forward to fasting tomorrow.

WhoahThereCrazyHorse · 17/02/2013 19:49

Hi all,

I haven't read the whole thread so forgive me if the answer to my q is covered but I was wondering if those of you following this w.o.e could give me examples of what you eat on your fast days? I'm considering whether to do it but want to try and look at every angle as want to commit properly if I do it, rather than rushing in and failing by mid-afternoon on the first fast day!!

Also, do many people do lots of exercise on fast days? I'm fairly active and go to the gym/run/swim most days so am wondering how people find fasting with doing cv exercise as well.

Would love any insight you can give, as am going to decide tonight and possibly start tomorrow!

TIA

Dotty342kids · 17/02/2013 19:58

Hello woahthere and welcome!
I do exercise on fast days, usually an hour's zumba class in the morning. Mornings are when I'm most energetic so it suits me, not sure I'd have the energy by the evening.....
What do I eat on fast days?
Usually "break" the fast with a boiled egg / some grapes / a banana at 2ish as that's when my hunger really peaks. Then in the evening I'll usually aim for an evening meal of 300-400 cals. So far it's been a fish / tomato / chickpea thing, or a chicken / roasted veggies thing or a veg based curry with a little bit of rice or a chappati. Or today, I had no afternoon snack so that I could eat a roast chicken dinner which came in at 505 cals (careful with those roasties and no skin on the chicken).
Havn't felt hard done by at all with the evening meals and it's actually been really nice to come up with new meal options. I often look through Good Food magazine for inspiration as they always specify how many cals is in a portion which is obviously very handy!

putthehamsterbackinitscage · 17/02/2013 20:03

I am building back up using a 5k plan but find no problem with running in a fast day either 1st thing or later in the day

Ok do I am not doing anything too strenuous .... Burning say 300 - 400 calories but it doesn't seem to be an issue - I can run on empty just as well... Either on a fast day or the day after too....

I'd say start slowly and you'll work out what suits you - I started off eating lunch but now 4 weeks in, I try to last as long as possible on black coffee, herbal tea, water with a dash of lemon juice etc and then have dinner around 7pm so I go to bed feeling as though I haven't gone without....

I made the switch from white coffee to black so as to save precious calories too....

I think you just need to try it and see what works for you - maybe keep the cardio to an easy day on fast days/day after and use the other 3 days for your most intense workouts....

swallowedAfly · 17/02/2013 20:19

evening all.

eating today and had roast chicken dinner in the afternoon with family which i didn't eat too much of, then a small bowl of pasta pesto as ds was hungry and i was cooking for him so had a little bit too but, for me, a small portion.

i have a small bar of chocolate that i might eat now as tomorrow is a fast day and a little treat would be a nice way to end today. i also had a bottle of magners and a glass of ginger wine.

so calories wouldn't fit any kind of diet but i doubt they're that crazy either (i don't count) - guessing around 1800 if i eat the chocolate so within my tdee.

quite looking forward to fasting tomorrow. i notice the difference with my digestion. i feel very 'full' after a few days of eating now.

well done on holding out for the roast dotty

artemis17 · 17/02/2013 20:25

woahthere i exercise on both fast and non fast days usually in the evenings, and although Zumba isnt affected by fasting, i definately feel the difference at combat which is very high intensity, so tried to eat something an hour before which made a big difference, wasnt light-headed and was able to kick & punch as much as normal.
So id say depends on the exercise and how your body feels!. As for food, prawns are fab as you can have loads, eggs, plenty of veg either salad or squash, broccoli, spinach, carrots, grapes, strawberries, the list is endless, the book gives good ideas, some "ping meals" come in at quite low kcals, good for quickness, cup-a-soups for handiness, i find the longer i can wait to eat on a fast day, the better...and keeping busy too!!. Good luck you wont look back :)

TommeeTipsy · 17/02/2013 20:35

Hello

Hoping I can join you all on this thread. I've been reading all the fantastic advice and I'm doing my 5th fast day tomorrow. First three were ok, fourth was hell. This was mainly down to a school cake sale that I stupidly agreed to help with plus we've been ripping up all our carpets as getting new ones next week and it's heavy work that I'm not used to.

I weighed myself on Saturday morning and had lost 5 lbs in two weeks which is just fab. I am now 11 st 8lbs and aiming for 10 stone (pre baby weight).

I also ran a charity 5K today (first one ever) so feeling pretty good today. The weather was lovely too and I felt a real peace that I haven't for a long long time. (last year was a terrible year for us, DH was made redundant, DD was very ill in hospital with a UTI and I had a termination at 11 weeks due to medical reasons). I comfort ate my way through the second half of 2012 to be honest.

TT

Dotty342kids · 17/02/2013 20:41

Hi there Tommy, well done on running your 5k and on losing 5lbs! All sounds great and hopefully it'll all carry on the same way.

frenchfancy · 17/02/2013 20:47

Well done tommee heres hoping that 2013 will be your healthy happy year.

Daisy1407 · 17/02/2013 21:02

Fast day over! It's been a struggle today for my bf and I - however we are happy now that its done! Good luck everyone for a fast day Monday xx

Choateee · 17/02/2013 21:27

Hi Artemis17
Definitely feeling better for the fast's and am content with feeling lighter even though the scales say not! To be honest I got quite obsessed with MFP before I had my twins and lost so much weight that people started to think I was ill! I couldn't see it at the time but now when I look back at photo's I can see I looked dreadful so want to be more careful his time. I'm 5'8 and 10.3 stone and was always around the 9.12 mark before the twins and my obsession with MFP ( when I did calorie counting I went down to 9.3! ).
Thanks for your response Smile

ever2optimistic · 17/02/2013 21:37

Hi choateee, I've been doing this for a few weeks now and weight loss was initially slow (and still is) though, like you, I feel a lot trimmer around the middle and can wear some jeans and trousers I haven't felt comfortable in for a while. At 5'2'' and 8 st 12, my BMI's 22.7. I am trying to stop weighing almost every day as I think I'll get more encouragement by weighing weekly. It's hard though, as I want to see results! I feel lighter and more energetic though.

Itsaboatjack · 17/02/2013 22:47

I'm with you bsshbossh I'm really looking forward to fasting tomorrow. I was out Sat night for a birthday celebration and had a few too many drinks, so I have been grazing (mainly on carbs) all day to try and quash my hangover.

It's half them for me next week, and I'm off work too so taking dc up to my parents for a few days, so I'm planning a fast tomorrow and then no breakfast and lunch on Tuesday before I am at parents for dinner. My mum is too good a cook to fast while I'm there.

whoahthere I often exercise on fasting days, but nothing too challenging. What I usually eat on fast days is no brekkie, a late lunch of small bowl of a homemade soup of some kind, then dinner of lean meat or fish, maybe an omelette with salad or veg then a yogurt, and plenty of herbal tea during the day.

Choateee · 18/02/2013 06:46

Hi ever2optimistc, glad it's not just me - thought maybe I was doing something wrong, I'm only weighing once a week but will maybe change to once every 2 weeks if its going to be slow going - as long as my tummy keeps feeling flatter! 3rd fast day today! Smile

NurseEzzzaChapel · 18/02/2013 08:11

Grin Grin Woohoo! Huzzah! Hoorah-hooray! and many other expressions of joy. Grin Grin

The mom-and-pop restaurants have started opening up again after Chinese New Year! They?re not all open yet but enough are open for me to be able to find some proper food to eat on non-fast days. I found all three of my fast days last week really difficult and I think it was because I wasn?t looking forward to my food days so the ?you can have it tomorrow? thing wasn?t quite as effective. I did manage to stick to them though. I thought about doing 5:2 for a week but decided against it as that just would have meant an extra day of eating badly.

I?ve also been feeling really awful these last few days due to the poor quality food I?ve had to get by on this last week or so: feeling sluggish, a bit down and lacking energy. But yesterday I got to eat some real food for dinner and I?m feeling much perkier today already. Lunch was in my favourite café around the corner which reopened today Grin. So now I?m not feeling that heavy sicky feeling I now get after a Big Mac and fries (I suppose no-one forced me to eat the fries but it was cheaper to order the meal than just the burger and drink and I guess I?m still a bit programmed to eat everything in front of me, especially when I?ve had to spend so much of my weekly budget to pay for it).

I think my weight loss has also stalled the last couple of weeks. Weigh day tomorrow so I?ll find out for sure then but I?ve been a bit of a scale hopper lately and the needle hasn?t budged. I think this may be in part down to the junk food, but of course I can?t be completely certain of that. Thanks to ThinkICan for posting about the body?s tendency to plateau at certain points. It?s always good to be armed with as many reasons as possible why weight loss may have slowed.

Mine could also be down to that as I?m pretty much down to the weight I was before I got ill 2½ years ago and ballooned. Before that point I?d been around this weight, give or take a few pounds, for a good two years or so, so maybe my body wants to stay here for a bit. Well, I suppose that?s ok as long as it loses some more fat afterwards as I?m still not BMI normal yet. It could also be because, having plotted my weight loss on a graph, I noticed that since starting this WOE in September I?ve had a 6 weekly pattern (which seems completely unaffected by my TOTM when it comes) which goes: lose a decent amount of weight for 4 weeks; then for the next two weeks either lose not very much, stay the same weight or put a little weight on. If this pattern is continuing then I?m just in the 2 week bit.

Whatever the reason, I?m not too worried. If the scales don?t move tomorrow, it?ll still be 26½lb down in 24 weeks. There?s no way I?m eating enough on my non-fast days to cancel out my 3 fast days a week. This WOE isn?t as difficult or as socially inconvenient as daily calorie restriction (the only other thing which has actually worked in the past for me), so I?m happy to just keep doing what I?m doing (especially now I can eat real food again!) and patiently wait for the scales to budge again. They did before and I?m sure they will again.

(P.S. I felt like a change of name, partly brought on by the Star Trek Original Series box set which is keeping me company while I wait until I can fly home. A friend called me Nurse Chapel once when I gave her my reaction to the J.J. Abrams Star Trek film. But I think you still know who I am!)

ellenbrody · 18/02/2013 08:12

Me too Choatee, I've not lost v much in the 2 weeks I've been going it (1lb). But I feel trimmer, it's off my tummy, something that never happens, and my jeans are looser. Fast day today, though is school hols so I'm off, not sure how it will go.
Good luck for today fellow fasters!

LackaDAISYcal · 18/02/2013 08:23

Fast day 2 for me and I'm also looking forward to it Smile. There is an open bottle of red wine and I'm not working this week so my evenings are free so it may prove a challenge later on. An early night I think!

Starting the day off with some Twinings Morning Detox tea, light lunch and then main meal at 6pm.

BsshBossh · 18/02/2013 08:29

Another fast day and it couldn't come sooner as I really need it after the weekend I've had. It's amazing the effect just 3 weeks of 5:2 has had on my tummy compared to the past 12 months of simple dieting (calorie restriction). Though I lost stones last year and pounds this year, my tummy has lost more fat/bloat this year that last. Very strange but I'm Smile. DH has no weight to lose and he's a regular long distance runner. He's been doing 6:1 for health reasons only and his belly is the flattest it's been in years. We both don't quite understand it. Amazed!

BetsyVanBell · 18/02/2013 08:41

NurseEzzza good to see you back and very interesting to hear the effects of just a couple of weeks of junk food's had on your system - you make a great case study! Good to hear some better food is finally available for you.

Fast day for me and we're all back to a normal work/school routine so should be easier! Although the one's stuck in the house were not as bad as I feared (much like fasting itself...). I've managed to establish a habit of not putting milk in my tea on fast days and I'm also trying to establish a habit of not having anything to nibble with a hot drink on feed days to take away the association of thinking I need a snack with a hot drink.

My strangest reaction to fasting has been no longer desiring to drink alcohol. I had a glass of wine on Friday and realised I wasn't enjoying it particularly. Nearly bought a bottle yesterday to go with a nice supper and then didn't because I actually remembered that I'd stopped really enjoying it.

Not sure what to make of that really!

Swipe left for the next trending thread