The 5:2 Thread number 22! Put down that biscuit - you can eat it tomorrow

[BetsyBell]

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.

NFD = Non fast day

NSV = Non scale victory

Michael Mosley has a 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- 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 tips and links 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.

There's a link to the aforementioned Horizon programme here.

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 by Dr Mosley himself, very informative if you're just starting. (I highly recommend this for an 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. 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.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Greeneggsandnichts for putting together all the info and resources into one concise OP text, much appreciated by so many 5:2ers!

Come join us, and tell us about your experiences with this diet!

mttum you say that you work out with weights quite a bit and do abs workout. Has the structure of your waist changed? Is it less fatty? Sometimes doing crunches etc makes your muscles bulge outwards giving the appearance of a larger waist.
My DH had his own gym and is a qualified instructor and has told me to do twists and knee raises whilst balancing on the front edge of a chair. Do a search on the net for waist reduction exercises (and never do side to side bends whilst holding weights as this makes the waist thicker).
Hope this helps.

Hi dines, I am fasting today. I was not going to but I do only have five weeks to hols and am desperate to get down to just into tens if I can. My hubby was away last night so home along and I drank nearly a whole bottle of wine and ate some cheese and a marathon so I really need to make up for it. I am having a homemade pizza with a ton of salad for dinner and a greek yogurt with blueberries to finish. Good luck all.
T

I was due to fast today but have pushed it until tomorrow. I had too much wine last night, I'm not hungover but I do feel very hungry so I'm doing 16:8 and low carb today and will fast tomorrow.

angel if I'd had chocolate nearby last night I'd have eaten it too. Especially a marathon.

Thanks TIP and virgin, good tips (no pun intended!)

dines, I am fasting too. Black tea and coffee for me so far, undecided as to whether to have a big 500 cal stir fry with lots of veg and tofu later, or go for zero cals.

What do people think?

dines fast day here. I'm having Nigella's lentil and butternut squash curry + 1 chappati for my tea tonight.
It's a fast day staple in our house, usually make it every fourth fast!

Hi all

Fast day today, alwaysanauntie, I have to reluctantly agree, does not make a good prelude to a fast. Infact, I think it makes the difference between a hard fast (where you spend most of the day thinking about food and feeling tired) and an easy peasy hooray for 5:2 fast. Guess which one Im currently having!

dotty that's sounds like a lovely tea. Good ole Nigella. Id love it if she got into 5;2 and brought out a recipe book especially for us fasters! Once shes got over her current crisis... How many calories in a chappati?

Hi everyone.

I am doing my first fast day, so I thought I'd just call in and say hello. So far, I've had a yoghurt for breakfast, an OXO drink and some corn cakes (like rice cakes but much nicer) and low fat cream cheese for lunch and I'm planning on chicken and veggies for dinner. The rest of the family will also have some couscous.

Having just finished my lunch, I'm still feeling hungry. Do the fast days get easier with time?

I am working my way through all the 5:2 threads and info on here, but decided if I didn't start now, I'd always put it off. So here I am!

Hi mttum, how anyone doesn't eat at all is beyond me, but if that's what you want you go for it. How do you cook your tofu? I really like it when I go to a Chinese, that's what I often get, and its always gorgeous, but when I try it myself its nowhere near as nice.

peplum in my ones from Sainsburys, one chapatti = 136 cals. good job the curry's only 322ish!

Hi to Judith, yes they do get easier. Waves of hunger come and go. Keep busy, keep drinking water and , most of us work our way up to not eating all day, as once you've eaten you want to carry on. And the golden rule - you can have that tomorrow. Yes corn cakes are nice. Im getting off this thread now, its too food focused for me!

Hi there Judith and welcome! Yes, fasting does get easier, definitely. Just try, each fast day, pushing each meal an hour later to start with. Eg. have breakfast at 9.00, not 8.00, and lunch at 1.00, not 12.00. Gradually breakfast will become lunch, lunch will become tea, then you'll be able to push lunch further on and eventually quit that too!
And keep busy, busy, busy , and drink lots and lots of water.

Thank you!

I don't think I can manage another fast day until next Tuesday, but I will try pushing the meals later then.

If a 36 hour zero calorie fast suits you mttum then go for it :) There's a very active zero cal thread on the 5:2 forum. This is the current week's one:

www.52fastdiet.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6376

I've done a few such fasts but haven't done any recently as I was finding I was over-eating the next day through being ravenous.

My FD struggle is over because the delivery came and went and I've been able to get out of the house for a bit!

Dotty342kids I'm having vegetable curry tonoght too. You can't beat a simple homecooked curry on an FD. If you make them without too much oil and no rich sauces, they are an ideal under-500 cal meal. Very handy this, considering I'm Indian .

bssh what are your favourite 5:2 go-to curry recipes? I a couple of staples that will fill my family up, allow me about a 400 cal meal, and put close to no effort into making it (I try to avoid faffing with food on FD - just makes it harder). Any recommendations would be appreciated. Love, love, love curry.

BshhBossh so's my husband so he's always very happy with a curry

aka one of our favourites is "indian beans on toast" (I know it sounds mad but my Indian husband loves it!). Fry off some onions and as much chopped green chilli as you can cope with. Add a spoonful of garam masala and some salt whilst frying. Add beans and cook as usual! I have this (half the tin) with one piece of toast and two quorn sausages and it's lovely

Welcome judith i find avoiding carbs of any sort key,i skip morning food by drinking hot drinks and water whenever i think about food! Being at work and trying to get out of house with 13 month old dd is also a good distraction.

dines have had 2 cups of tea, 1 apple, and now m&s prawn cocktail salad with extra salad. Will have chicken great with mashed sweet potatoes & red cabbage for dinner & maybe bit of gravy for my 500 cals. Have just done circuit training too so feeling good, think I'm over my wine hunger, so that's a relief :)

Hey fellow fasters.
This thread moved very quickly.
I wanted to do a quick update after my hols.
10 days away. I did a "mini fast" on the way out (no food all day, small meal in the evening, no calorie counting so v likely to be over 500 cals)
Then had another mini fast about half way through. Fasting (total fast planned) today.
IF is so much easier than dieting every day. It really is. Haven't weighed yet, we'll see....

akarucker I have three staples: red lentil dal, mixed vegetable curry (with a few chickpeas thrown in) and prawns & spinach curry. All made with ground turmeric, cumin and coriander (then I throw in some whole spices eg mustard or nigella seeds). You can add garlic, giner & chilli flakes too. I have them with a fistful of basmati rice. But tonight I'm having paneer curry with peas and tomatoes (similar spicing to above though I'll throw in mango powder and a few things like that) so will have to have a smaller portion as paneer is cheese. I'm a "little pinch of this, little pinch of that" cook so it's difficult to be precise with exact measurements and spicings. But you get the idea :)

Forgot to say, my favourite mixed vegetable combo is sweet potatoes, red peppers and spinach. Courgette and prawn curry is yummy too (again, made simply with cumin/coriander/turmeric but I add lemon zest too!).

bsshbossh and peplum, thanks for the comments. On reflection, I can now see that perhaps I have been getting up at 5am and stuffing my face overcompensating on the first NFD after a zero fast. That may be why my "losses" have been a bit disappointing. Also, I've been trying for quick results (hence the zero cal fasts), when what I really want is a sustainable WOE which I can keep up indefinitely. In my heart of hearts I know I won't keep up zero cal fasts for the long term, even tho I have so far for a couple of months.

So, hope I'm not just trying to justify my actions here, but I think I am going for the 5-600 cals option, not just today but for the foreseeable future. Thanks again, you've helped me to think this through better than left to my own devices

And, peplum, I just squeeze as much water as possible out of it over a 24 hr period, then marinade in ginger, chilli and soy sauce before stir frying. It's not brilliant, but the overall taste of the meal is quite nice, especially when you haven't eaten all day . I am vegan so have to get my protein where I can! Any other tofu recipes gratefully received...

Dotty . My DH (who's English) says he loves being married to me 'cause it means he doesn't have to get his curry fix in a restaurant .

Curry fans, do you have it with rice/chapatis/ anything else on fast days?

It's a pleasure mttum, that's what this thread is for :)