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!

Dry July? Hell no! But I have to say I'm on my 4th week of seriously reducing my alcohol intake. Which I defo think helped a lot, as I get terrible munchies when drinking. And of course I don't drink on FD's.
FD 1 of this week, struggling a bit but I'll get to lunch time. I'm not going to weigh in now til Friday - cant bring myself to put it away for the month. Tired and a bit low today, pity party for 1 over here

Hi All, I'm an oldie, started 5:2 back last August after the programme aired, lost the 12 pounds I wanted and moved over to the maintainers thread, but have totally fallen off the wagon, not managed a full proper fast in weeks and while for a bit that was ok and I was still maintaining, the weight has now started creeping back up, clothes getting uncomfortable, so have sent myself back onto this main thread to try and get some inspiration and support to get this thing back in control,. also hopefully to lose a little more to give me more of a cushion this time.

so today is first fast day of the week, aiming for 2.5 or 3, Mon, Wed, thurs, but me and kids catching a train on thurs evening up to visit mum and bf for long weekend, hence thurs being a possible half day fast (no breakfast/lunch but train station fast food normal dinner)

plan is to drink peppermint/chamomile tea/drink fizzy water and go out to buy tuna, vinegar and salad for lunches this week. forgot to weigh in, but think I've gained back 6 of the 12 i had lost, pretty sure that a couple of weeks could have me back on track, but hoping to focus for July and then relax back to maintainng for August.

queenB anchovy salad sounds delicious, how many cals per anchovie?

Hello mocnk, from my occasional hang outs on the maintainers thread I know you had a lot going on lately so i can see why fasting's gone out the window a little bit. This thread's still as lovely and supportive as it was and lots of regulars who've been going for months as well as a regular supply of new starters so I'm sure we'll get you back on the straight and narrow!

Hi new people and special hello to "oldie" mocnk :) FD today for me. Should be quite "easy" not to eat until evening this week as builders are in and my kitchen is out of action. Ready meal (curry!) planned for tonight (microwave is in the living room for this week).

All this talk of wine is doing me no favours at all! Please stoppit at once!!

Caved and had two thirds of a piece of toast, I made it for DS along with his scrambled eggs with ham and tomatoes (my god it looked good!) but it was rejected. Need to bob out later to stock up on things like apples.

Any good extra low calorie lunch and or dinner ideas? Not sure I can face browsing through recipes!

thanks for the welcome back betsy and bssh and yes I've had lots going on, but then so have lots of other people, I'm going to stop making excuses and embrace the fun of weight loss, becasue let's face it when teh scales start showing losses, it does feel good, and although maintaining is good, it doesn't have the highs of actually losing, maybe that's why i lost the incentive, but at least I know now where my biggest downfall is, maintaining under lifes more extreme pressures is not my strong point, so first job, lose the weight again ....with a healthier margin for error, and then work harder at maintaining!

babysauras kids leftovers is a killer isn't it? I often fail at that point - having eaten my low cal soup while they have scrambled egg on toast, i then eat their leftover bits and send myself over limit....must chuck immediately in bin needs to be the mantra!

mumof the anchovies are the marinated ones and they work out at about 75 cals for a third of a pot. Not the most low fat, but they'll pep up a salad which will keep my lunch to under 150 cal.

I had a quick question about calculating my TDEE - I have a sedentary job, however I walk approx 2 miles a day (quick walk) and am on and off the shred. Would you class me as light active or sedentary?

mumofcrazynamedkids I think I'm going to find it quite a struggle!

Hello all. Fd here and feeling hungry, so pushing through and having plenty of fluids. Once I eat I'm in trouble, so going to wait til later. I'm working on what's right for maintainance now, and flipped into a bit of an indulgent weekend - so was looking forwards to today's fd.

Nsv - size 12 skinny jeggings :). It's been years since I could actually go into a shop and pick a pair of trousers off the rails and fit into them comfortably :)

A friend gave me a tip about kids leftovers. As you lift the plate from table immediately squirt with washing up liquid whilst chanting "waste not waist"

I am now driven to distraction by teenagers who Hoover up my leftovers.

whats4 I laughed at a memory from your suggestion, once i did that and then forgot as I left it on side by sink and actually ate some food with washing up liquid on...bblleeuurrgghhh! but it is a good plan!

thanks queenb I'm off to hunt down marinated anchovies at lunch then!

I'd say you are light active, true sedentary wouldn't walk a brisk 2 miles a day!

mumof You can get the anchovies in sainsburys or waitrose (prob elsewhere too.

I've just had lunch and added a spoonful of a lovely homemade beetroot dip which I've added to the recipe thread if anyone's interested?

Afternoon all! Hope everyone is well. Fasters how're you doing? I'm not hungry yet. About to go to Asda to pick up my food for the week.
Crystal & mttum good luck with no for July

This January I did a dryathlon, which was no alcohol for the whole of January for Cancer Research. It was great, will definitely do it again next year.

Hi MissUnicorn. Fasting going fine so far. Just keeping busy with work. Usually I also have gym as a distraction on FDs but I can't go to the gym at all this week whilst we have builders in all day (and DH working long hours so can't go after DD's bedtime either). Will have to adjust my week's eating downwards as a result (gym = eat more, no gym = TDEE drops).

brambles hurrah for NSV, such a great feeling to be able to buy anything in your new smaller size isn't it? and skinny at that! i still remember the exact pair of trousers I bought last year when i first had to go and get a size 12 skinny as the 14 way too big.

Hi miss unicorn, bssh, queen Boudicca, tortoise and anyone else fasting today.

I excelled myself till 3pm but then got antsy and had 220 cals of soup. So 430 for the evening. Thinking eggs on toast, no butter.

Previously I've had to eat at midday so this is an improvement.

I do want to get salads going on FDs - anchovy salad sounds great.

In theory, I did actually manage my no buying chocolate plan for June. In reality, I found myself begging people to buy it for me (not too dissimilar from a junkie trying to get a fix...), so did end up having a fair bit! However, nobody would buy me the choc in the obscene quantities that I would usually enjoy, so I was at least restricted by that.

All in all, I probably consumed about half the amount I usually would. Urgh, today is a FD and now all I can think about is a Twirl or three!

On a different note, I've noticed that I'm able to go almost 24 hours before breaking a fast now. Absolutely never, ever, ever thought I'd be able to do that (I was the sort that feared death would be imminent if I didn't eat breakfast, let alone breakfast & lunch). But, I had dinner at around 7 last night, and (although I'm hungry), I'll be eating at about 6 this evening, and I won't die!!

I've just hit a tiredness wall. If I could get into bed I reckon I'd be asleep in seconds. Won't be having dinner til about 7ish tonight.

I keep seeing chocolate tempting me around the house - I don't even really eat much of the stuff but on a fast day it's calling to me...

Back to the thread after 2 glorious weeks in Spain where I fasted not one jot! I drank virtually every night and ate my own body weight in chorizo.

I've been doing this WOL since April and reckon i lost about 1lb a week - for me it comes off very slowly (about 1/2 stone so far) but it's been easy so I'll take that. I have a lot to lose, so am expecting to be doing 5:2 for at least another year before I move to maintain.

Back to it today, fast day. Going OK, although horrendous headaches like when I first fasted. My jeans are still loose, so i don't think I put on too much on hols (spent most of it tearing after DS - an 18m old and camping don't always mix!!).

For my tea tonight I have mussels in a white wine sauce from morrisons. Yum yum. 280 cals the whole pack! I may even have fruit for pud.

Tomorrow, I will have my lovely spanish honey on toast for breakfast :)

I'll join your pity-arty JB! Felt tired and grumpy all day (landlord and neighbour related). Felt like having a round of hot buttered toast at my desk this morning but had a cup of tea and a coffee instead, then soup for lunch as well as three biscuits. Now feel like locking myself away in a dark room with a cold bottle of Chardonnay but will go to the gym and have a pile of veg for dinner and try to go to sleep early.

How did your meeting go dotty?

Hmm, finding today tricky and obsessing about food. This does get easier, right?
Had about 250 cals so far so got to be cautious with dinner. Got salm

Hmm, finding today tricky and obsessing about food. This does get easier, right?
Had about 250 cals so far so got to be cautious with dinner. Got salmon fillet and will put sweet chilli dressing on it and serve with loads of salad / veg.
And still have the dreaded wine urge to contend with too!
Roll on tomorrow!!

babys it does get easier, you'll find you have bad times of day though, for me it's usually around 4-5pm, but I've brought dinner forwards to about 6.30 on Fast days, so I know that it's not long to go, and then tend to go to bed earlier on those days too, even if it's with a good book, but i never eat in the bedroom so it avoids that constant cupboard fridge opening temptation!

aka I know what you mean, I suffer from slightly low blood pressure and was convinced i would faint if I didn't eat at all for a whole day, and admittedly it took me a while of fasting before I could go a whole day, and my preference is still to do lunch and dinner, but i do know that I can do it now with no ill affects, so if I can't fit in 2 fasts but have something on in an evening I try and go all day with just drinks.

just need to focus on the euphoric feeling tomorow am when i've successfully completed a full fast again!