The 5:2 Thread Number 24 - Summer's still here so skip the snack and share the meal!

[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 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 through our very own 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!

Dotty
we are posting these pictures to show what CAN be achieved
and you can achieve it too
you just have to have faith in yourself
and this WOE is a huge jump in the right direction

Dotty you just have to keep going: persistence, patience, consistency. I keep going even when I don't lose for 4 months. Keep at it. :)

Is anyone fasting tomorrow?

I'm driving back home to London tomorrow after a week away (eating too much) so thought I might as well fast. It's TOM week too so I need to offset that too.

Wow! Thanks to everyone who has posted photos! Very inspirational. I hope to be putting my own up by the end of the year.

My first FD at work today and it went really well. Soup at 2pm (86 cals) and chirozo and squash stew at 7.30 (264 cals) that plus 50 cals for milk brought me up to just over 400. Completed L2D1 shred as well. .

Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since I started my new regime. I'm hoping I might have lost another lb to bring my total to 5 but for the first time ever on a diet, I'm not going to be downhearted if I stay the same.

Good luck to all tomorrow's fasters.

I'm going to go for a mini FD tomorrow - can't manage on my normal 500 but will be looking to keep it under 1200 at upper limit. So I'll be joining you Bssh, in London at min but I'll be travell

Stupid phone! I was saying, I'll be heading home tomorrow evening, promised OH a Chinese on my way back so that's a challenge when fasting but I'll get something stir fry'ey and beansprouts instead of rice which I adore.
Having an ok nfd, around 1800-1900 but that's pretty ok considering I'm away and had to eat out. Only had 2 drinks and made relatively good choices.
Loving the before & after pics ladies. Need to take one myself soon and again in 2 months, would be lovely to see a difference - here's hoping!

Hi! Never posted in 5:2 before but have been doing this woe for about 2 months and lurking like crazy . Iwanted to share that I actually made myself cry this evening when I fitted back into my "small clothes" which, if Im honest, I never thought Id wear again after DS1 arrived nearly 2yrs ago. Very happy to be down from a tight 14-16 to an easy 12-14

Amazing pics everyone, totally inspirational!
I'll be fasting tomorrow, managed to leave eating til lunch (roasted red pepper soup with sweet potato wedges, yum) and had lush curry this evening (from supermarket so was easy to stay within TDEE). Managed to do short Kinect aerobic workout before bed, only burned 150 calories but it all counts!
Heading to in-laws tomorrow so need to fast to counteract the coming weekend - MIL is a fab cook and there's a serious amount of strawberries in her garden that need picking/eating (kids are going to have a ball) so won't be fasting again til Monday.

Good luck to tomorrow's fasters and those of you with kids off school running the snacking gauntlet x x

I would just like to say thanks again for pics. They are the best inspiration.

Made mini fairy cakes today on FD.
Did not lick spoon.
Did not eat cake.
Toddler DS ate two, dropped 4 off for DH at work and shoved the rest in tin.

Ate my soup and having early night, once I've written a tricky email that I've been putting off. Well done everyone fasting today and good luck Friday fast crew.

WI today. Lost 3 lbs. Woohoo. That makes up for no losses the last two weeks ( water retention due to totm and the heat). So that's 10 lbs loss in 8 weeks, now 8 st 2lb. 2 lbs to go.

HouseForAWineLover that is fantastic. It's a meaningful difference. Well done

Fab result, House!

I've just ordered a size 8 dress - I think it'll be too tight, but they didn't have any other size. So it will now be my official Target Dress.

Hmm. FD yesterday. Had small salad for lunch w 1/2 a boiled egg. An itsu detox soup w no noodles, and a tuna salad for supper. Then 2 Lindt balls, total calories 550. Should not really have had Lindt balls but was cleaning out my office all evening and got a bit desperate.

And this morning I weigh 12st 7.

I dunno. Will keep it up one more week til we go on hols, then maybe more straightforward calorie counting is more my thing, seems the up and down of this does not work so well for me as every nfd I just regain the weight lost on the FD.

Would love to be inspired by the pics, wondering if my metabolism just isn't suited to this? Or maybe it's my peri-menopausal age.

postman wow - fantastic bod!

nice work house

results of my dodgy week are in. no loss (obviously) but no gain either. 1/4inch off waist - another 1/4 and I hit the 50% height to waist ratio. am feeling positive and looking forward to getting back on it.

I also lost my control around . not sure why, I've been perfectly controlled around beer and Pimms. so I have decided I will allow myself a large glass tonight, topped up with diet lemonade in a pint glass. nicely refreshing for summer, still alcoholic but takes longer to drink!

good luck today's fasters

Thalia IIRC you've been doing this about a month? What was your start weight? Did you up your calories a bit some days? I remember you were eating quite far below your TDEE at first.

Maybe the 5:2 fasting (if you enjoy it) is something you could come back to as a maintenance strategy once you've got where you want with calorie counting.

Alternatively, to get some of the fasting benefits perhaps you could combine calorie counting with 16:8; I've been reading so many positive things about 16:8 it does seem like an easy route to keeping up the health benefits.

I've certainly had my fair share of plateaus along the way but admittedly not at the beginning - though maybe others have had similar experience and it still worked out?

PPC You look AMAZING! And no hiding behind lycra on your pic . What's your BMI there?

Dotty It's taken me nearly 2 years...

House Fabulous result, thanks for delurking to share :)

Right, I am meant to be Shredding, 2 kids have given me reminders and I've plonked myself down with MN instead. I ache, and thanks to not so small people having nightmares then taking up all the room in my bed I am now thoroughly under-slept. Yesterday was a fast day. I don't normally do exercise post-fast. Just waiting for the tea caffeine to kick in...

Thanks for pep talk TIP, Betsy and Bssh. I managed to sabotage my fast day yesterday with two Mr Kipling mini apple pies at 9.30 last night! Oh dear!!!
Anyhooo, new day today and thinking about throwing a third fast day in to the week tomorrow but then DH said he was thinking about making curries. Might make it a mini fast instead (no breakfast, lunch or snacks, just a dinner).
House that's brilliant, nice to read your success now that you've delurked

Happy Friday everyone

Morning all my fellow fasters. I definitely need a detox after all my holiday eating so am looking forward to fasting today. Nothing until a light dinner tonight (poached chicken and broccoli).

Good luck today's fasters.

Superb pics everyone, very inspirational. No loss again here this week, still stuck on 3 lb in 7 fasts, hoping to shift 1 next week, going to start shred on Monday.

Not a regular poster but do lurk every day. 7th FD yesterday, came in at 349 calories. Lost another 2lb this morning so 7lb gone since starting on 3rd July. Very happy. Also changed my gym on 1st July which has meant I have been exercising a lot more (found a bit more love and enthusiasm). Going to spin this morning (god help me) and drinking gin tonight. Happy days.

betsy thanks for your thoughts, much appreciated! Yes it's been 4 weeks. I started at 12st9 although that was just pre period, which I am again now, so if we consider it parallel weight I am 2lbs down after 4 weeks and 8 fasts.

I am eating closer to tdee now on nfds, adding avocado to salad etc. so around 2000 on nfds, although it does vary, this week both tues and weds were at that level.

Dunno what is going on really.

i will keep going this week until we go in hols next sat, then do some 16:8 or 6:1 (or both) while we are away, and see where I am when we get back. After that we are moving and I am starting a new job. I get starving hungry on fds and find it hard to concentrate in the afternoons so not sure I will be able to do it in my first few weeks in a new job.

Really appreciate all the support, congrats to those who have found their magic bullet!

BMI 22.4 on Boots official scales of shame (down from 23.6 or 7 a month ago)! Still look like a porker though as the fat sits as lumps on my thighs. Might go down to 5:2 from 4:3 soon and take my time getting to BMI 20-21.

Lizza That's where all my fat is as well but no one seems to think I'm a porker anymore... (my BMI's higher too). I think it takes time to change perceptions about ourselves, our mental image of ourselves is often out of date or distorted. Looking at photos of myself was the only way I really believed I'd properly lost weight.

Anyway, that might all be more about me than you! You sound like you're on track to shifting the excess :)

Thalia If I really knew that I definitely wasn't overdoing it on NFDs then I would have found it hard to stay motivated too. Hopefully this week will bring a sudden shift for you - quite common on these threads - nothing for weeks then 5 or 6lbs in one go! Enjoy your holiday and then see where you're at.

Angie You should be happy! :)

BMI in my pic is about 19.8 I think.

tired great loss, well done!

thalia I'm 45 so if I can do it, so can you!

Just having a ponder on term time (when I work part time in an active job and rest of time rush around loads) vs school holidays.

I work in the afternoons - I'm too busy to eat then but I've now remembered that this is naturally the time where, if I'm near my kitchen, I just want to pick and nibble - I used to work from home so it's easy to see how the weight went up and up.

I've been looking at what exercise I've done over the last few days of school hols and on paper it looks great, better than usual.

However, the bits where I've not been exercising or out and about I've been completely sedentary, literally lounging. All well and good - I need a break!

But I must remember that I can't expect to eat as much if I'm not on my feet. And it goes to show that being generally active, as opposed to occasional bouts of 'proper' exercise is an excellent way of burning calories.

I did also find that by saving up all my calories for one meal on yesterday's fast day (which I don't do in term time) that I did eat more, including some refined white carbs (pasta) which I usually omit, so in my mind, less nutritionally than usual. I consider white carbs to be a waste of calories - not that I don't eat them but I usually avoid like the plague on FDs.

So, this week, I've managed to maintain my weight, which is great, but it's felt tricker than when I'm busy and on the go.