The 5:2 Thread Number 23: Summer's really here - time to melt off those extra pounds!

[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:

All our previous threads can be found by browsing back through the fasting section of the site.

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 Greeneggsandnicht for putting together all this 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!

vikkisue Please don't weigh yourself everyday - once a week is enough and if you can't help but take sneaky peeks then only count one consistent weigh in as an official on, eg, on the morning after your 2nd fast of the week.

Never weigh in more than once a day. Our body's fluctuate over the day and over a week. THIS IS NORMAL!!!

Oh and ditch the pasta on a fast day, it's a waste of calories

The good news is that you've lost over 1.5kg in a week...

Thanks Betsy it was much easier than expected. I usually am not much of a breakfast eater and have to force myself in the mornings so actually this suits me. A suchi place near me does this great salad with prawns, seared salmon, asparagus and a little bit of sushi rice that I've got my eye on for lunch...

whiter can I come to lunch with you?! So long since I had decent sushi (or a lunch break...)!

Morning all Thursday fasters
So, period arrived yesterday, and with it came my usual "eat all the (bad for you) contents of the kitchen" behaviour! Oh well, at least I recognise that's what goes on now so don't feel too guilty about it.
Fast day and lots of water for me today. Taking the kids to a nearby Lido after school breaks up at 3.15 so not sure how I'm going to resist the lure of ice cream from the cafe there. Going to have to be sheer willpower I think..

Remember folks, keep well hydrated, fast day or not, in this weather

Supposed to be a Fd today but because I feel so hungover and grumpy I have just had a bowl of porridge. Guess that's fine if I try and stick to 500 cals. My problem is that I have eaten tons on my non fds - cornish pasties, wine, crisps and a huge slice of cake yesterday

Stupidly weighed myself this morning and I weighed more than last Friday. Slowly dawning on me that this woe isn't magic and is just about restricted calories like any other diet...

This is my 3rd FD today, Monday and Thursday seems to be a popular choice . I've got my food ready but will try and hang off until at least 2pm. No idea how you hardcore lot manage to not eat until dinner time! I'm eyeing up the guinea pigs as it is.

Haven't weighed myself since Sunday and I'm going to try and wait until after my next FD (Monday) I really hope to see a loss, especially as I have shredded every day and C25k three times a week.

I'm struggling a bit with mfp in my NFD's. I find it really hard to work out cals when I'm out for meals. Yesterday I had a mackerel and cream cheese bagel with a small handful of crisps and a tiny salad with some kind of dressing on. The closest thing in mfp was smoked salmon and cream cheese, so I added that then chucked on another 200 quick add cals for good measure. I'm fairly sure I'm not over 1800 but I could easily be miles out.

Good luck to all today's fasters!

tortoise glad it's coming off quickly, I thought it would, I too can easily put on and lose 5lbs in a few days.

trying as you can see from above I too bounce around loads. Have you got an app that you can track you weight on so you can see a downward trend?

vikkisue I too used to be constantly on and off the scales, sometimes still am, but I generally try to stick to once a week now. Or again you could try logging on an app so you can see the trend down.

Hope all today's fasters are doing well. My headache seems to have gone this morning so I hope today's fast doesn't bring it back.

trying2hard
plateau : really common. Lots of people get them.
take a week off. just relax and look at all of your meals and planning but no fasting
then restart fasts on DIFFERENT days
just to mix it up a bit
but when you restsart, try doing 16:8 even on normal days (ie only eat between noon and 8pm) NO SNACKING EVER

vikkisue
go and lock the scales in the boot of the car or the shed
ONLY weigh yourself once a week
my weight fluctuates by up to 3lb a week
I only count the low figure on a Friday before the
last nights Chinese added 2lb

Came into work on today's FD to discover my Graze box sitting on my desk!

Delighted to find one punnet in it (Salsa Fresca) at only 51 calories.

But I'm cancelling my order now - lovely stuff but too expensive. I will try to copy some of the ideas for myself, though.

Hairy many of us started out on 2 meals a day on FDs and then started pushing lunch back later until it became just one evening meal. I certainly thought I'd never end up missing out lunch when I first started, and since then I've done 36 hr just liquid fasts.

Also if you are doing a lot of exercise and your muscles aren't used to it they may be retaining water for repair so don't get disheartened if you don't see a big loss when you WI.

Hairy ...And some of us remain of 2 meals on FDs (and several nfds) even after months of it!

I second Itsa's point about likelihood of seeing some water-retention weight on your weigh in, so don't be disheartened if it's not as much of a loss as you hope, you'll see the evidence soon enough

Thanks Itsa and Betsy, I think I'm already resigned to little or no loss. I'm just going to try and focus on getting fitter and if my clothes are not as tight, then it's working.

morning all, NFD for me, I second the only weighing once a week idea, after mondays fast I weighed 2 pounsd less than a week ago, but this morning after yesterdays fast I weighed exactly the same, and I didn't overeat on teh NFD in between, but the only one that counts for me is the lowest one of the week, either after the first or second fast day and first thing in the morning! ultimately I've lost 2 pounds since last week, just have to see if I can fit in at least one half fast before next monday, but leaving drinks for a colleague tonight will be a higher tdee ,or maybe I'll just have a low cal salad for lunch and skip dinner in exchange for

tomorrow I am visiting a friend and her new (3rd) baby girl, and plan to make and take some cakes, definitely won't be a fast day, and then I have my DC's all weekend this weekend which usually makes fasting ill advised, my tolerance and the constant preparing food for them makes willpower go out the window, but we all love fruit, so maybe a huge fruit salad with natural yogurt, and a roast chicken, mango and avo salad.

failed at 16:8 again, as I made a cake last night and needed to taste it this morning before bringing into work, funny how guilty I now feel for eating in the morning....especially as I know I'm not hungry! but I've then just had fruit salad, so the cals aren't high, just a shame not to have managed 16:8.

Hi all waves just checking in on my second fast day - Just had an Apple and a lemon greek yoghurt - trying to keep myself busy until tea - hoping to be fish/quorn and some chilli broccoli. I am quite enjoying this at the moment.

On MFP I am smileylittleorange if anyone wants to add me!!

Thank you for your replies, I think I'll go cold turkey on the scales, if I can fast for upto 20 hours then surely I can give up the scales addiction!

Haha! Lizzabadger, do you need to know today that Lidl do a strawberry version?

Emmabryant123, looking forward to reading how you got on with your first fast day!

I also agree that you should only pay attention to the scales once a week. I actually only take an official weight measurement once a fortnight (Sunday morning, au naturelle, after visiting the bathroom). I do take sneaky peeks at the scales more often than that, but only out of interest because I find the ups and downs interesting, but I don't allow myself to get too exited about a drop in weight or upset about a gain unless it's my official weigh day, and even when I have a bit of a disappointing weigh in on my official weigh day I just look at the overall trend (I have a graph on my desktop which I have posted in my MN profile) or get the tape measure out or try on that dress which was tight last month or I think about the good I'm doing my health by fasting etc etc. One of those things cheers me up.

Just remembered I have some chopped tomatoes to uses up mmmm will have to rethink tea!

gilbertus I had this same harsh realisation. 'Some' people need to watch themselves closer than others unfortunately....

I'm one of those I lost fine on 5:2 for a while then it wasn't going anywhere....I have switch to ADF and I find that I am steadily losing a pound a week again.

For those who are plateuing I strongly recommend a switch to ADF/4:3 or a couple of zero calorie fasts can get things moving.

vikki I weigh everyday but I embrace the fluctuations and like the other ladies suggested I only record my official weight after my 3rd fast of the week.

Cut yourself some slack! Your doing great!!!

I'm so happy with the new svelte me that this morning, on impulse, I got my long hair chopped into a bob (not dissimilar to this. I've spent too many years trying to obscure my fat face, neck and shoulders with my hair and now I don't need to. And in this weather, it was a relief to get it all cut off.

FD today. Going well. Certainly helped being confined in hairdressers chair for most of the morning.

just had a NFD guilt free brie, ham and cranberry baguette from EAT, delicious, love this WOE!

oohh bssh I've been pondering something similar, although maybe even a shorter crop, but just so scared I'll end up looking too masculine, but that shortish style bob is lovely! I'd call that an NSV!

Gilbertus at the end of the day weightloss boils down to calories in vs calories out, whether you consciously count or not. I think Dr Mosley's book didn't go into enough detail as to what normal eating on non-fast days actually means. If all us overweight fasters knew what normal eating was, we wouldn't be overweight in the first place!

So yes, this WOE isn't a magic pill - we need to still be mindful of how much we eat on all days.

But but, but... it's the health benefits that make this WOE stand out a mile. We shouldn't forget this,

mocnk it's quite a feminine hairstyle still. I love it! You should go for it; you can always grow it out later...

Tomorrow is my 3 monthiversary yes that's a real word I haven't just made up, shut up, I'm 43lb (hopefully tomorrow I may get to 44lb) and 3 dress sizes down. The weight loss has slowed but so what? I've made mega progress and I get to have all the !!!!

Caught a glimpse of myself in an old billowy top and decided it was making me look fat so popped into a shop to buy some vest tops (which I'd already decided I needed). Picked up 14s without trying them on because I am a 14 now whether my body likes it or not which all fit great. Only problem was I was wearing some dreaded cropped leggings so walked out in a nice tightish vest top and capri leggings.

Did I know that was a bad look? Yes. Did I care? Not a jot. Why? Because I had a good look around and there were people dressed far worse than me, plus other than my flabby untoned tummy the rest of me aint half bad any more. Nothing overly wobbles except the tummy, and if I could find some knickers that didn't gravitate towards my csec scar therefore not emphasising my bloody pouch I'd actually look alright. And I was pushing a baby in a pushchair so I'm meant to have a flabby tummy right

But... there comes a time on every diet woe where something comes along to crack you and today I found mine. Reese's peanut butter. Probably not a massive thing to any American readers but to me that's like finding heaven in a jar. Don't know how I am going to resist and today is and FD.

Finally there was some cool, refreshing, calming air flow about. That's right people there was a breeze. A BREEZE!!!!!!

disclaimer: the combination of fasting and heat may well have finally sent Eagle off her rocker