The 5:2 thread number 26 - Bring on the Lifestyle Change Victories!

[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!

congrats shrodinger You'll be smiling all day!

Just finished a 36 hour zero fast and feel much better for it. Have dropped a kg too but I know that won't last.

always You doing this? I've remembered to not eat breakfast and haven't woken up feeling 'starving' as I have the last few days

Yay, congratulations Schrod!

shrodinger 2kg = 4.4lbs!

Great stuff!

Morning all.

Dh has taken the kids out as I have food poisoning and feel like death warmed up as also have a cold. We never get a takeaway and we did and it wasn't even that nice and now I feel crap. Have no energy, feel cold and keep getting painful stomach cramps. It has been a while since I have had FP so am I meant to not eat or make myself eat. I was really looking forward to a crumpet for breakfast too.

Hope everyone else is well.

MissS do not eat but drink frequent sips. Preferably of something like flat lucozade. When you've been symptom free for a good few hours, try a small amount of something light and dry like a cracker.

I did eat but tasted none of it. Sipping water makes me feel sick, have taken paracetomol and still feeling really cold and have stomach pains. Really bad day to be ill. Busy day tmw .

Yesterday was a BIG calorie day, nearly 2500 Doesn't take a lot of choc/crisps to notch up the numbers, in top of 3 meals, first day of 3 meals for the week. But no biggie, my tdee is around 2100, I generally eat about 20% less on nfds so should be fine. Hard to pig out without guilt, and to be fair I don't pig out that much anymore so no need for guilt.
Today's a 16:8, did a 3 mile run today, had big lunch, chilling out now. Poor MissS, hopefully by the morning the fp will have run its course. Super busy week ahead myself, trying not to get obsessed by it though as wont sleep if I worry too much

Thanks to my blowing off any semblance of self-control last night, I have ended the week at around 90% of tdee rather than 75% as happens when I fast twice and stick to tdee on nfd's. Still, it's less than I was eating and I ahould still lose weight - just slower.

Went for a pilates workout today using darcy bussell's pilates for life. Feeling good :)

Feel better soon missS. Food poisoning aside, I can't tolerate takeaways at all these days, body rejects the junk - I'm wondering if your reaction is partly that?

I've done well with fasting today - didn't manage to go as long as usual but stuck to the calories and felt really positive about it so hopefully I'm back in the game and put a bit of a stop to the holiday-style eating.

I don't know, BetsyBell. We don't have many takeaways, not even once a month. I am now wondering if it was this chicken and veg kebab stick thing I got from the deli as no one else is ill and DH had a pizza from the same place.

Tried a hot bath at 4ish and still in pain. Too hot now.

I'm really concerned about hair loss.

I know that the subject has come up a couple of times before. I had started noticing my hair was falling out a lot more than usual about a month or so ago but I just put it down to hair growth cycle. I have thick curly long hair. Or rather I did have. I had masses of it. Now when I brush or comb my hair, I have huge amounts that fall out. And it's ridiculous when I wash my hair. DP says that I seem to be losing a lot of hair (he finds it everywhere!) and my mum was helping me with an updo for a party and she was shocked how little hair I actually have. (I've not mentioned my concerns to them).

Do we actually know if there is a link? And can the posters who have noticed it on themselves, what action did you take? Eg go to the GP or take extra vitamins?

NotAsTired Just had a look on the 52fastdiet forum - my first port of call for what's happening with IF - and turned up this search page.

Haven't followed any of the links, but hopefully there'll be something on there for you.

ATB, B&W

missS hope you feel better in the morning, being ill sucks!

notas I've always lost a lot of hair when brushing/washing and can't say I've noticed a difference. I know that's no help at all, but hope someone who's been though it can. Have you tried googling fasting & hair loss?

betsy i guess i was conspicuous by my absence! It all went a bit pear-shaped when i had 1/2 slice off dd's breakfast toast & it racked up about 150 cals... Managed a 300 cal lunch and relatively healthy dinner so hope under tdee (after a magnum). Oh well, will just have to try 4:3 again next week. Well done to you for getting through it! :)

Hello. Just checking in. I've had a few weeks off and am so ready to get back into fasting. I'd love to lose a stone by Christmas so I'm going to 4:3 to kick start my weight loss.
Will continue to check in regularly, as your stories are inspiring.

Fasting Mon, Wed and Fri. But can see Friday sometimes turning into a mini fast!!

I've always lost loads of hair too, but mine is so thick I'd be glad to lose a bit!

I hadn't thought about doing 4:3 as a boost. I went over TDEE today as went out for lunch with family. Although I think I over estimated calories in dinner, so hopefully will work out.

No fast for me tomorrow as DS starts school, he's mornings only this week so we're going out for lunch as a treat. Might try Tuesday and hopefully another day too.

I'm losing a bit more hair than normal at the moment, but I think it's the stopping breastfeeding hormones thing going on. I have a lot of hair so am happy to see it go.

NotAsTired Oops, sorry, forgot to include the link!

Here it is!

Hey, all.

I've been a bit blah recently. Didn't fast last week. Did fast the week before, but lost nothing (in fact put on weight, but it seems to be off again). Am hovering around the 63kg mark, which is (allowing for the 3lb I "gained" when I changed scales) where I have been for the past ten years except for periods of breastfeeding and pregnancy.

So, feeling a bit meh about that, but trying to reframe it as maintenance. I feel like I keep posting the same thing over and over. I have noticed this finally-warmer weather is making me want salad and sushi rather than pasta and burgers, so I'll see what that does to my spirits.

Anyway. Still here, still 63 kg. Today's fast going fine. Sorry for mememe.

Early night for me and I think I actually slept through. Still not 100% this morning but better than I was. I have lost 2lbs since I weighed on Saturday but suspect it must be fluid and not fat. Today was meant to be a FD and I still feel like sticking to it as I can't face food. Just a bit worried though that I already feel weak and won't feel stronger without food .

Today I weigh the same as when my baby was 9 weeks old. I was 14 stone when about to have him and 11 stone 9 when he was 9 weeks. I started on 12 st 4 and am now 11 st 9lb. Can't quite work out the total loss but feels like it is a good one.

I have always appeared to lose lots of hair but don't think there has been an increase since I started in 5:2.

Glad you are feeling a bit better MissS.

I have fallen off the wagon bigtime.

I was cleaning out the kitchen cupboards and found loads of flour and sugar past the sell-by date (I don't bake as a rule but I made someone a leaving cake around 2 years ago).

Instead of chucking it out I made a cake and a crumble as an experiment.

Unfortunately both worked and were delicious andI have eaten them BOTH - the whole things - over the course of the weekend. Unlike me but I told myself it wouldn't matter as I could do extra fasts (a dangerous mindset).

Oh well - onwards and downwards. Good luck to everyone fasting today.

My Sunday fast has shifted almost 2 of the 5 holiday pounds so happy with that :)

So, it's Autumn is it? My heating went on this morning - I couldn't work out what the low rumbling noise was while I was showering! It's been a while. I had to dig out the hairdryer for the first time in ages too. Anyway, it's jumper dress, boot and scarf season (this morning anyway - I may change my mind about that in a couple of hours!), I bought a new dress in anticipation a couple of weeks ago and I'm so glad I did as I suspect the last year's ones are all a bit on the baggy side (and bobbly I expect).

MissS Just take care of yourself and eat if you want to. Maybe some light soup would be the way to go?

Tortoise Keep thinking of it as maintenance as I'm sure a couple of pounds will drop off when you're least expecting it, especially now you're about to hit salad season in the Antipodes! Being the same weight as you were 10 years ago seems like an achievement to me... especially as your TDEE will be markedly reduced since then.

And now focus on the health benefits and get your fasting mojo back.

alwaysandauntie I think it's virtually impossible to keep it up once a bit of toast has been consumed... toast is my nemesis really, I couldn't stop eating it last week!

Glad you're feeling a bit better MissS

Betsy definitely autumn here, not quite cold enough for the heating to kick in but I'm all cuddled up on the sofa in my pjs and a dressing gown. I'm waiting for DS to take a nap so I can get on the cross trainer, I'm not just being mega lazy!

Have decided i need to boot myself up the bum today as old habits have started creeping back in (like having 2 pain au choc & a bottle of fridj milkshake for breakfast - a whopping 800 cals ) so have set my tdee to 1600 (what it would be at my target weight as TiP suggests) and as it's only 100 cals less than current, hoping it wont be too hard to hit & i may make goal weight for Christmas... Good luck all today's fasters :)

Thanks for all the good wishes.

Our heating came on this morning too but it was the 12 year old who put it on without asking so DH not impressed. At the beginning of the year when it was very cold here our bill was nearly double so we are trying to hold off with the heating, especially when the DC insist on sleeping in just pants and won't put on a jumper on when cold.

Off to make shepherd's pie now for tea.