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Fasting / 5:2 diet

Talk about intermittent fasting and 5:2, including what’s worked for others. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

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Original poster

14:10 or 16:8

20 replies

DotiSpots · 19/12/2013 22:24

Hi,
Does anyone do either or these? The 14:10 is highly recommended for women and their hormones so I was wondering if anyone has lost weight on it or the 16:8.

OP posts:

TalkinPeace · 19/12/2013 22:29

who by and since when
its a new one on me

Original poster

DotiSpots · 19/12/2013 22:39

Marks Daily Apple, just read it.

OP posts:

Original poster

DotiSpots · 19/12/2013 22:42

Also Martin Berkhan and lots of others.

OP posts:

TalkinPeace · 19/12/2013 22:44

do you have links to the medical papers behind it - I'm always wary of blogs and newspaper articles
especially during the season of bookselling goodwill

Original poster

DotiSpots · 19/12/2013 22:51

Well if you want to find out about it TalkinPeace you could have a look online yourself but I was just asking if anyone had done 14:10 or 16:8 and if it worked for them and was sustainable but thanks anyway.

OP posts:

MillyChristmas · 19/12/2013 23:50

The 14:10 is definitely better for womens hormonal health and for people who suffer migraines as going too long without food is a big migraine trigger.

MillyChristmas · 20/12/2013 00:02

And Marks Daily Apple is brilliant. He has been going for years and has a world wide following and posts links to scientific evidence (for those of you who require science stuff).

TalkinPeace · 20/12/2013 15:34

I've done 16:8 for 25 years, but it did not have a name till recently

FaceDirectionOfTravel · 27/12/2013 19:10

Oh, I'm glad I found you! I've been following a largely paleo/primal diet for a few months now and lost some weight, but have lost half a stone in the last month by not snacking in the evening and eating breakfast a bit later. (Basically doing something like 14:10 ish but am not very strict about times).

I had always thought I needed to eat breakfast nice and early to 'get my metabolism going' as we were always taught in school, but actually have found that by eating after the kids get to school and then not eating after they go to bed I am not hungry, and am losing weight. I figured I would not be able to do a 5:2 system as I get hungry a lot, so I'm happy with this.

If I feel really properly hungry, I eat and don't worry about times, but I am trying to retrain myself to stop reaching for (even healthy) food whenever I feel a bit peckish, and am largely succeeding by thinking about a time when I CAN eat (which is generally sooner than I think).

I am not being super strict about this, because I think sometimes we have extra demands and sometimes our hormones send us a bit loopy, and I also have chronic fatigue so am not prepared to feel bad when I don't have to. But in general, when I manage to stick to it a bit more strictly, the weight comes off much more rapidly than I would have thought.

In fact, I am starting to wonder how low I will go and whether I will reach some kind of natural weight (not that I am in danger of any kind of extreme weight loss as I am still about a stone or so overweight).

FaceDirectionOfTravel · 27/12/2013 19:12

The idea is pretty simple, I think - you want your body to remain in its natural fasting state for a bit longer than you have been taught if you want to lose weight. So try to extend the natural existing overnight fast by a few hours. Simples.

ThisIsMeNow · 27/12/2013 19:20

Can I just ask, can you still drink during fasting hours? Coffee and water I mean!

Original poster

Dotispots · 27/12/2013 19:20

FaceDirection thank you so much for your post. This is how I tend to eat naturally. I eat very late in the day my first meal, usually lunch time. I read about 14:10 on Marks Daily Apple too. I tend to eat natural food (no ready meals ) and cook from scatch. I am quite primal/paleo anyway. Its good to hear that you have lost weight this way rather than starvation. I will start doing the 14:10 now that I know it can help to not only lose weight but to tune into your natural hunger too.

Have you been on PaleOMG? Brilliant blog.

OP posts:

FaceDirectionOfTravel · 27/12/2013 19:29

Doti I tend to eat tea with the children as my husband is ravenous when he gets home at 7 so just wolfs down his food and it wouldn't be a nice meal anyway! So since I eat dinner early, I eat breakfast early too, compared to you.

My diet has changed radically over the last 8 months or so. I used to have massive problems with my natural hunger signals, almost certainly because of gluten. I had awful cravings and was basically constantly hungry. I couldn't tell when I was full, I felt like I didn't have an off switch. I would exercise to keep my weight under control but once I couldn't exercise any more, my weight went right up. A primal diet helped with that but only stabilised my weight at a slightly lower level.

I used to be so scared of going hungry for even a short length of time because I would get so grumpy and lose my temper with the kids, get low blood sugar and go all shaky, etc. I only decided to try the eating window approach because I had to fast for some blood tests and it wasn't that bad!

So for now I am just trying to learn my hunger signals, and reassure myself that I can go without food for slightly longer periods than I thought - and maybe one day I'll be able to do whole day fasts like I did in my twenties. But I'm in no hurry. I intend to eat like this forever, really, so there's time to get it right and not go overboard into being an eating control freak.

Original poster

DotiSpots · 27/12/2013 19:42

Sounds good. Anything that stops you "dieting" and disordered eating is good in my book and getting in touch with your natural eating is the best way to eat.
Gluten has always caused me to bloat badly so I tend to avoid it a lot but sometimes I just have to have toast. If I fight it too much I will end up craving it.

OP posts:

FaceDirectionOfTravel · 27/12/2013 19:48

If you eat this way naturally you are very lucky, I think!

FaceDirectionOfTravel · 27/12/2013 19:52

Oh, and ThisisMeNow yes, I drink water and tea (no milk) in the mornings and eat food later. I drink herbals teas and water in the evening - but juice or milk or squash or anything like that takes you out of the fasting state.

I think there are some general rules about how to keep your body in the fasting state which the hard core low-carbers can tell you - fat keeps you in ketosis but anything sugary takes you out. So if you are really hungry you can put butter in your tea, for instance, and it will satisfy you but keep you in ketosis. I don't claim to understand it so you'd better ask them.

ThisIsMeNow · 27/12/2013 20:11

Butter in tea?!

Do you have to eat low carb or anything special during eating hours?

Original poster

DotiSpots · 27/12/2013 20:21

I eat normally and when im hungry and what I want to eat but I tend to not eat until lunchtime most days.

OP posts:

FaceDirectionOfTravel · 27/12/2013 22:34

I sort of started from a primal diet so am carrying on eating like that during my eating window. Don't know if it is 'the rules' but it makes sense to me to eat this way.

Wallycobbles · 17/01/2014 17:29

Hi, I'm interested in starting 18:6, is there a calorie limit that I should be looking at like my TDEE?
I've been doing 5:2 for a while with good success but am finding fast days hard.
TiA

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