The 5:2 thread number 28 - Come and join us! The threads may be getting on a bit but the new starters keep us young and fresh!

[BetsyBell]

The continuing thread for those of us following the 5:2 fast or other forms of fasting such as 4:3, ADF, or daily 16:8.

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 normally - or approximately your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE - see explanation below). 4:3 is the same except you fast on 3 days in the week. Alternate-day fasting (ADF) is just how it sounds; you fast every other day. 16:8 is another form where you stick to only eating in an 8 hour window each day, therefore fasting for 16 hours each 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.

NFD = Non fast day

NSV = Non scale victory

Michael Mosley has a website to accompany his book on the subject. Please go check it out, as he's the whole reason these threads started!

Lurkers and new starters: please just jump in and post - you'll find a lot of support here and we’re a friendly bunch.

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:

Our previous threads can be found by browsing 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!

Thankyou cuckoo. Positive mental attitude feels I should be putting eye of the tiger war paint on!

sweetiepie I haven't bought a book. The advice on this thread is gold dust. I watched the program read this thread, looked at the 5:2 website.

They say you can expect to lose 1.5lbs a week. Its not a quick fix, but it works because it alters your thinking about food. You question whether you need that treat, and if you do you enjoy it rather than mindless eating. I probably haven't lost as much as many here.. 14lbs in 3.5 months. But I have stuck with it, and plan to.

My average day involves having liquids for 18 hours since I last ate (i.e. if tea on a nfd was at 7pm I won't eat til at least 1pm the next day ) i then have a small lunch about 150 cal and then save the rest up for tea

Good luck

ciw I rarely feel the need to increase what I eat on NFD. I do occasionally have days where I'll happily shove my head into food but its normally hormone or illness driven and does't last.

mrsf I may have your answer. That loop is not a beginners hoop! I did a bit of research into hoops before I purchased so I know that 40in/102cm is best for an average height woman, and the heavier they are they easier to twirl round (mine is 1.135kg). But I decided not to do anymore than that until I built up some amazon vouchers, and then randomly found a pineapple one in tk maxi with the perfect size and weight and price! The Davina one is 90cm and only 665g. My 2.10yo had to have a hoop too, and hers is light and 54cm - I can do nothing with it. So essentially your hoop os a bit bigger and slightly heavier than a small childs one.

Eatriskier. Thanks

I guess I need a massive hoop because I am 5'10".

You may want to hold back on the flowers. The heavier weighted one will bruise you to buggery as you get used to it!

Eatriskier. Yikes!! Scary. Oh well the bruises will fade and hopefully it will help tone my waist.

Off to buy one on amazon.

Do have a life honest!

Bssh I agree totally with the philosophy of weekly balance. I think to all those about to start or to those who find themselves over obsessing each day - just keep yourself roughly balanced over a week. Gives you so much more freedom and also takes the stress out of it.

Same applies to weighing. You WILL fluctuate over a few days due to hormones/fluid retention/diff food types/and the alignment of the planets, full moon etc etc. so give yourself a fighting chance at success and RELAX slightly. Once weekly is often enough for a true result.

But obviously try to get in 2 good fasts per wk (though if don't just get back on horse the next), and wherever poss DO NOT SNACK or TIP will get you!

Spam there could be something in that war paint thing

Like the idea of a physical reminder (other than rumbling belly). Others have said wearing snugger clothes keeps them motivated; maybe a new tip could be - FAST DAY OUTFITS/AND OR MAKEUP -

Wearing extra tight clothing could certainly help encourage the "step away from the biscuit tin Fatty!" mentality. Even if one does resemble an over tightened string roasting joint. Especially when you catch sight of your reflection in the microwave and scare the bejaysus out of yourself in your camo, wondering when Rambo walked in

should've been underlined not crossed out! Though maybe it was subconcious??

MrsF- ideally the hoop should come up to your tummy button, and the extra weight helps too. The idea is that a beginner wants a hoop that can spin slowly. However after a lot bit of practice I can now hoop for a little while (few minutes at a time) with a children's hoop that is unweighted and doesn't even come up to my hooha.

The trick I found for that is to have feet hip width apart with one in front of the other. Focus on moving your hips forward and back rather than round and round iyswim. Almost shifting the weight from one foot to the other. You want to bring your tummy forward to meet it as it goes behind you and push your hips back as it comes in front (I googled and there was a good image somewhere to demonstrate that as it sounds a bit complicated). If you feel it start to fall a bit then you can bend your knees, whilst still wiggling, to 'catch' it. Takes a lot of work but when you get a good run it's brilliant!

With the weighted hoop I can now easily hoop anticlockwise for about 15-20 minutes continuous. Up to about 5 minutes continuous going clockwise.

Boooo nobody welcomed me

Fast day today. Going well so far. I always save up my 500 cals and use them for supper, so it's a long hard slog until then.

womblesofwestminster hello :) This is such a fast moving thread that it's easy to miss newcomers. Welcome!

wombles WELCOME !! betsybell also welcomed up thread at 1030, dont feel left out

Just found your original post womblesofwestminster. Goodness, so you're a longtimer on 5:2! How much weight have you lost, how much more weight to go, how have you found 5:2 over the past year, any advice to share?

Thanks for the belated welcome

BsshBossh I lost a stone and am now maintaining.

Now, instead of shifting to 6:1 to maintain, I instead made Saturday my 'binge day' where I have a jolly good feast all day. This, along with two fasts per week, keeps my weight remarkably stable at 8.3st. It's been stable for weeks :)

womblesofwestminster do you still limit calories on fast days?

Hi all, this seems like a lovely thread.
Just a question.
Is it normal for fasts to affect your appetite on non fast days. I'm struggling to eat to my tdee on nfd. I just can't be arsed with food, don't want to eat breakfast anymore, nibble throughout the day on usually healthy stuff and have a big evening meal. I almost look forward to FD, as I don't have to bother!

BsshBossh Yes I limit calories to 500 on fast days. I have supper only.

Despite my hungover concerns, I have been remarkably good all day. And there have been many temptations in my path. Cake everywhere in the office. Delicious smelling (as opposed to greasy smelling) fish & chips in the canteen at lunchtime as well as bread & butter pudding which work do remarkably well. And then a trip to Starbucks and my three friends all had gorgeously sticky looking cakes. And I have resisted all of it. I had a chicken, cucumber and tomato wrap for lunch and then did have a small skinny latte in SB but didn't drink it all. I may have a banana later but that should be it unless DP orders Dominos later when I may succumb to a slice.

Bssh - I'd forgotten I'd have to adjust my TDEE as I lose weight. Have just re-done it and, so far, I only lose about 40 cals so have put it for my weight which I definitely want to get to (rather than where I'd like to get to) and that's only 1650 if I put it on the lowest activity setting so that's given me a bit of a kick up the backside. I must NOT get side tracked.

Mrsflorrick - I read that the hoop should be upto your belly button or higher for you to be able to do it. I tried using a kids one and can hardly keep it up. With the bigger hoop I can keep it going for ages

Eatriskier - 2 inches off your waist and hips, I would be happy with that. Do you think it's down to hooping or the 5:2? It's probably a combination of the two.

Junebug many fasters record a resetting of appetite and reduced appetite on NFDs. I've generally been like that (been 5:2ing since February) but in the past month since the weather turned colder I've been absolutely ravenous on non-fast days (and have found FDs harder than usual too) so eat accordingly like a greedy pig.

Oh no. Hit by a snack attack today. They so rarely happen and they're so wasteful. Was hoping to make Sunday my carefree day but I think that may have to be today. Oh well.

rubbish 5:2 will be helping but the improvement in measure and appearance since I started hooping has been immense. Dh noticed it a few weeks back.

Oooooh, I air-kissed that Gok Wan today, while picking up a signed copy of his new book, Gok's Wok. All the recipes are calorie counted, lots of them under 500 cals, and they look gorgeous!

Hello. I've not been on in a while. Waves at Dotty.

I started at the end of Jan and had lost 32lbs by the end of July. Unfortunately since then I have been struggling; some old demons returned and I had been returning to a tendency to binge eat for a while so I took some time away from the scales and calorie counting for a while to get a grip on things again and focus more on just making as many good choices as I could. It was strange as initially starting 5:2 helped me get over the 'guilt' part of eating iykwim.

Anyway, so I'm back, and somewhat back on track. I've put on 12lbs but I know they'll go again eventually, hopefully by Christmas but my focus is going to be on the health benefits of fasting.

I hope everyone is doing well. Off to work now.

I got blasted at the gym last night when I mentioned I was on 5:2. The instructors jumped at the chance to tell me how unhealthy it is I explained the science but to no avail.

How do you folks deal with naysayers?

www Hi (though I did do a group hi further back to all newcomers to save posts as I'm trying to cut down)

Ref gym - did you ask to see their medical degree?

Think we may just have to shrug off the sceptics. This will revolutionise healthy living IMO.
In a country constantly be reminded of our obesity problem, you would think things would be diff. When I was growing up, the fear was all about anorexia amongst young ladies/lads. Now look at us all - generation breeding generation of fatties. THAT is not healthy!
Even my Doc pretty much told me, doesn't matter how you get the weight off. Just get it off for your own good!

Anorexia is a mental health issue.
Fasting is an age old practice that is fantastic for both body and mind. Nowt wrong with it! So tell 'em all if they don't like it, they are quite free to not partake and they can stick that in their pipe or where the sun doesn't shine if they are non smokers, and smoke it! (or not if non smoker)!!!

Fd going fab here. Prob best one yet. Has been surprisingly easy esp for a fri. Had 62 cals so far. Not even sure I want dinner (couldn't care less haughty face)