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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! 13! Now, the baker's dozen!

991 replies

GreenEggsAndNichts · 19/02/2013 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!

If you've been at this a while and are moving on to maintaining your goal weight, there is a thread here to discuss that.

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.

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:
terracottatoad · 25/02/2013 18:19

Crikey, my TDEE is 2051, and that's on NO exercise. I must've been going for some serious binges! Blush

Itsaboatjack · 25/02/2013 18:19

Oh daisy I am so sorry to hear that. It's horrible isn't it, we had a break in one time where the police had to get the sniffer dogs to check the premises as we didn't know whether the intruder was still inside or not. (Big old building with lots of floors).

Fast day going well today, saf I also managed a black coffee for the first time today so I've now gone nearly 24 hrs with nothing but water, a mug of black coffee and two mugs of herbal tea.

For dinner I am going to make the squash and chorizo stew someone linked to on the recipe page and I'm going to add 50g of turkey steak to it as well. By the time I have made that I will have done my first 24hr fast!

I don't know when I'm going to be able to fit in another fast this week as I have so much work stuff on so I think it's going to have to be a weekend one. I run a pub and sometimes it is actually my job to eat and drink, I have a new pub opening tomorrow and then a new menu tasting later in the week.

Fillyjonk75 · 25/02/2013 18:22

Interesting to hear about Marmite drinks - I have Bovril to keep me going of an evening on fast days but I didn't know you could make a drink of Marmite. I think a bit of extra salt helps me as the only thing with this WOE is that my BP is low anyway as I'm not unfit in spite of being overweight, plus it's partly genetic, so I can get a bit faint if I've I'm not careful.

Bramblesinafield · 25/02/2013 18:22

Popping back in to say so sorry to hear what happened daisy. What an unnerving, frustrating thing.

Fillyjonk75 · 25/02/2013 18:27

Knockmedown I know not everyone will agree but I have a couplf of Slim Fast shakes in the fridge for "emergencies" i.e. on Fast days when I don't want to cook something separate for myself after cooking for everyone else.

Aso instead of skipping dinner, I've had breakfast, just had a apple and a cup of tea at lunch time and then had dinner, or yesterday I had a banana for breakfast then had lunch and dinner. Play with it and see what works for you. Generally I seem to get hungriest between 11 am and 6pm so if I eat all my food between then it works ok.

dines · 25/02/2013 18:53

I've jus looked at my calories I need for my weight and it 1667 that seem way to much.

motdiese · 25/02/2013 18:57

Hi everyone, I've been lurking around for the past few weeks. I started the 5:2 wol on the 14th January.... Since then I've lost 13 & 1/2 lbs... Yes I'm delighted with myself but can someone advise me about the time of the month... I had to abandon my fast today due to ferocious hunger.... Has any found this and if yes any advice on w to get over it, do I just forget about today and try another fast day tomorrow. I love reading all the messages... You all ave been serious motivation to me to date.

greenfig · 25/02/2013 19:01

Hats off to you itsaboatjack seriously impressive!
Have just finished my 500cals, managed 15hrs then spread the cals from midday to supper. Had a wicked diet coke but am def weaning myself offGrin
Looking forward to porridge with grated apple, cinnamon & walnut tomorrow, mmm. Enjoy your late, late supper ELR I would have eaten my own face by now!

pinkpaws · 25/02/2013 19:04

Hi any diet that tells you to fast cant be a good idea. whoever came up with it has never spent the day running round after two kids

Talkinpeace · 25/02/2013 19:11

pinkpaws
have you tried it?
If not, do not make such sweeping generalisations.
Works fine with my kids / house / work / husband / gym ....

Fillyjonk75 · 25/02/2013 19:13

I do it on days when DD1 is at school normally, and one one day DD2 is at nursery. The other day I am running around after her, and I changed my fast day to yesterday last week for various reasons so I was running around after both of them, albeit with DH there. I was surprised how much energy I had on fast days though I did need to go to bed a bit earlier but slept very well indeed.

I don't try and go to the gym or run on fast days though.

ubik · 25/02/2013 19:14

I think lots of people with demanding jobs do fasting. I have 3 young children and tomorrow will be doing 90 mind of yoga, walking to and from school/ nursery, walking 20 mins each way to athletics too.

I find physical activity takes my mind off feeling hungry.

Fillyjonk75 · 25/02/2013 19:15

Well done, motdiese that's very impressive.

Fillyjonk75 · 25/02/2013 19:16

I don't do lots of massively physical activity on fast days but plan lots of activity to keep me busy. Yesterday I did wallpapering with DH and on another day I did quite a bit of cleaning.

ErikNorseman · 25/02/2013 19:17

Dines - in what way does 1660 seem too much?

Pinkpaws, you're quite wrong. I've fasted and looked after DS many times.

Fillyjonk75 · 25/02/2013 19:20

My TDEE is 2397 - wowsers. Assuming I keep up this level of activity anyway.

Itsaboatjack · 25/02/2013 19:24

Dines if you're not sure check a couple of different sites as they use slightly different formulas. 1600 doesn't sound too much though. Mine is about 2100.

I run on fast days, and run around after two kids and work full time.

notapizzaeater · 25/02/2013 19:28

Woohoo I did it - managed a full 24 hours and tbh wasn't starving to death like I thought I'd be. Can highly recommend the roasted Tom and garlic soup ( will scare a few people off tomorrow) only had a small bowl and dipped my ryvitas in it. Having a cup of light Horlicks for supper, reckon I've done less than 350 calories !

The fasts really do get easier, I have spent all day peeing though as I've drunk about 4 litres of peppermint tea/black coffee/water ...

Talkinpeace · 25/02/2013 19:28

When I'm working - so sat on my bum looking at numbers all day, my TDEE is 1600
When I'm not working - and therefore at the gym every morning, my TDEE is nearly 2000
so I need to adjust my eating to fit my activity ...

Hasywell · 25/02/2013 19:41

Hi all, it has been a fast day today and my second 24hr fast - am finding waiting as long as possible before eating is so much better. Broke the fast with a small portion of leftover roast from yesterday. Was delicious. Am finding I can deal with drinking black coffee, despite being a big milky coffee fan. Weigh in today and have lost another 2lbs so that makes 11lbs in 6 weeks. Colleagues at school are beginning to notice now and some are also trying this WOE out too.

Hello to all new fasters, from someone who is still new to this WOE I think the best advice is to find the way that works for you and definitely follow TIP's advice and structure.

Thanks again for all the motivating stories. Happy Fasting Smile

dines · 25/02/2013 19:45

I dunno I jus fort that 1600 was a lot.I've never counted cals so not sure on wots wot and wots not lol so is that my cals for a none fast day

swallowedAfly · 25/02/2013 19:45

grr - don't know what happened to me. got suddenly ravenous feeling and even more freezing cold and had to eat more. i suspect i'm pre-menstrual. have never given up like that before.

dines · 25/02/2013 19:47

Does anyone have suger in there coffee?

Fillyjonk75 · 25/02/2013 19:52

I was ravenous yesterday, swallowedafly, I suspect it's the cold weather.

I have sugar in my tea, especially on fast days, dines. With coffee I'm funny, have sugar in espresso but no sugar in milky coffee.

notapizzaeater · 25/02/2013 19:55

I do not have sugar but can't drink peppermint tea without a sweetener Angry

I am always freezing cold on my fast days .... Sit here in thick socks and a wheat bag on my feet ....