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!

See Ezzza - I always look at it from the other perspective: scale readings not after a fast day or not after a good bout of exercise are false highs

Veggies with a high water content are great for fast days - peppers, aubergines, mushrooms, courgettes, cabbage etc all have very low calories. Starchy ones like sweetcorn will have a bit more, but can still be fitted into a fast day menu.

Have been catching up on the thread. Well done everyone on all victories be they loss, maintaining, NSVs, etc. Personally I think even just doing fasting is a victory in itself as it is getting us back in touch with natural appetite and food requirements.

I have been fasting for about a month now and definitely feel my blood sugar crashes that I used to get previously getting better so I'm really pleased about that.

FD for me - having a light green veg soup when ever I feel the need and then not sure for dinner but got plenty of veg in that could be steamed and might add some fish/chicken breast/chick peas depending on how I'm feeling.

Today I'm wearing a pair of jeans that were too tight for me a couple of weeks ago. Have also been keeping up not too badly with my workout and am starting to get a bit of definition on my arms. Am pleased. Feel fitter, healthier and more energetic. Also feel like I am finding 'me' again.

(Hi SaF - how you doing?)

Ack, Betsy, ERD, you lovely women, just because this is a diet thread and we're all encouraging each other to get slimmer - don't lose sight of the fact that you're already gorgeous, will you? It's not all about the numbers!

Wriggle, yeah, we don't have anywhere near the ready meal selection. Some Lean Cuisines and of course soups and things (and it's got a lot, a LOT better in the past 2-3 years even), but nothing close to you guys. TBH I don't mind, I like to cook so I'm happy doing a batch of harissa chicken and lentil soup or whatever and freezing it...just need a few new recipes I think. And cook-ahead is key for me, because otherwise I'm cooking the kids a meal and then cooking DH and I something different, both from scratch, both after a day of not eating, and that's too hard.

Have been considering Shred, Betsy, so maybe I'll see how much the DVD is and join you all. Really want the days to lengthen again, too - I was just getting into running, for the first time in my life, then the clocks changed and I had no daylight hours to do in it!

The Shred is on YouTube Tortoise, if you've got a way you can view that somewhere you can exercise then you don't need to buy it.

tortoise

If you've just got into running then you'll probably like it - it's got the short, sharp, shock factor just like going out for a run!

I got into running last year - just mostly during the spring though as had little time in the summer (also was raining all last summer here). So apart from the occasional chilly winter session I didn't get back into it until this spring - and it was glorious! Gorgeous fresh mornings with happy birds catching their early worms and my body remembered how to do it so was running better than ever rather than starting from scratch!

Aargghh...fasting today and I'm just about to start baking biscuits to keep DSD happy! There's also the smell of freshly baked (i.e. by Tesco) tiger bread wafting around my kitchen.

Yay for fitting into your jeans beachcomber !

Thanks Eagle hope you're right - it'll just be lovely pints of San Miguel fluids. :-) x

londonmrss I'm like Betsy in that I lost 2/3rds of my weight watching what I ate (daily calorie counting) and keeping a food diary. I found this very useful as I learned what normal, healthy portion sizes are. But all that daily counting got boring after a year and made me a bit obsessed about food (every mouthful had to be logged!) so I switched to 5:2 to lose the last third of my weight. I find 5:2 a much more relaxed way of losing weight but the health benefits give it the advantage imo.

Tortiose
we are not aiming for "slim", we are aiming for "LEAN"
because excess fat leads to long term health problems
some people are naturally slim, others naturally chunky
but we can all be lean .....

And not carrying visceral fat is the real benefit of fasting

Hi All, half way through a fast day here, had more cals than usual, I succumbed to one finger of a kit kat but still have 240 cals left for supper, and last weeks extra half day fasts (to fit into a too small dress I bought on weds) have reduced my appetite. (The extra half fasts worked and the dress fit by sat night )

managed to take a photo of the terrible before pic of me on my mums wall at the weekend, just waiting for my friend to send me a photo from Sat night so I can give an idea of before and after, although like bsshh and betsy I lost lots of weight doing another method - Paul Mckenna - first and then after stopping it the weight stayed off for a good 2 years, but then I seemed to forget my lessons and also found that eating whenever I wanted resulted in a habit of eating small amounts ever 2/3 hours, this just didn't really fit with everyday life and eating with children and friends, and the weight started to creep slowly back on, so when i saw the horizon doc i realised this was a better WOE for me, and started it immediately, I feel healthier, and more in control and really look forward to my fast days for control and the feeling of emptiness, and also now doing much more 16:8 although not every day, but probably 5 ou of 7 a week, so pretty good going.

Disastrous Saturday with wine and cheese +++ (delicious though). Hopefully back on track with a fast today.

thank you postmanpatscat

Am drinking a cup of tea and feeling glad that I like it black! (keeping as many calories as possible for nice dinner)

Halfway thru FD and about 380 cals left if I want to stay at 500. Fitted into size 12 jeans last night even though I put on weight on hols, it doesn't really be appearing on my body, although the proof will be tomorrow with my original nsv trousers!! Happy fasting Monday fellow FD'ers

Bugger, super stressy work day saw me dive into fridge for emergency dairy milk at 4pm. Only two chunks though and reckon I'll still be under 600 cals by end of play today.

mocnk I really like Paul McKenna's golden rules of eating; they make so much sense and I'm mindful of them often. Except for one rule - eat when hungry! Like you, I found that that rule made me eat at every single hint of hunger. I don't think I ever gave my digestion a proper break using that rule .

Only two chunks of chocolate when you are stressed = amazing nsv in my view, Dotty.

Whoops, posted too soon. mocnk it also meant I didn't eat proper meals and snacked all the time.

Dotty 600-ish cals is fine :)

Well, I have survived my first FD with a child in my care all day (except for my gym and her swim session). It was absolutely fine, even when giving her snacks. So I can do it! Haven't yet broken my fast - will do that after her bedtime and when DH comes home. He's fasting today too (he does 6:1 for health benefits only).

DH's experience of fasting is really positive. He had no weight to lose but really likes the principles behind it. He used to be a big breakfast eater - always ensuring he ate well first thing in the morning just because he'd bought into the myth that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But since fasting he's found that his appetite has regulated and that hunger is nothing to be wary of and now only eats brunch on weekends.

only just over an hour away from dinner. I have made it! have an m&s fuller longer meal tonight, going to see if it keeps me fuller longer

am feeling stupidly proud for doing something that up till last week I had successfully done for 3 months. oh well, every little victory

Wildwater has started her own thread about fasting in Patagonia here.

Hi all, thanks for support re. my chocolate "moment".
I've just made the kids roast chicken and veggies and am currently cooking our own Moroccan chicken, which smells divine! Seriously, I could eat a horse right now......
Well done to all other Monday fasters and BssBossh, I knew you could do it

As predicted today's fast has been a lot tougher after doing the shred last night, I feel pretty grumpy and headachey like I did on my first fast day. Ended up having dinner with the boys I was so hungry, didn't want to wait until after their bedtime. Also had a little kinder chocolate bar but is only 71 calories so I'm still at around 500. Had briefly considered doing another shred tonight but really can't face it, might go outside with my skipping rope and do a few minutes of skipping instead. I'll shred tomorrow instead and when I'm more used to it I'll do it on a fast day.

I'm back from 2 weeks of scoffing pâté, cheese, croissants and drinking wine and then some more wine. 3.5lbs on, I think that's the least I've put on from a holiday and unlike returns from holidays in the past I know exactly how to shift it. First fast day tomorrow, probably be climbing the walls by lunchtime tomorrow! can see from a quick scan of the thread that there's more joining the revolution and some more great weight losses and NSV's. Onwards and upwards, actually that should've downwards!

Fast day here and had nothing except tea and water. Cracked at supper - had one tortilla wrap with homemade chili and lettuce it was so good I had another

Just into the home stretch of my first fd of the week. I will do 5:2 this week and then switch to alternate 5:2 and 6:1 weeks to try and maintain.
Nearly there, all of today's fasters! Keep going!