5:2 thread 98: If you're looking for Fast love... some Fast love is all that I've got on my mind! (Gotta get up to get down)

[harriethoyle]

Welcome to the continuing thread for those following 5:2 or other forms of IF (Intermittent Fasting) such as 4:3, ADF, etc.

Basically it is 2 very low cal days ("fasts") per week - which need not be consecutive - and eat "normally" to maintain on the other 5 days.

For those who have dieted or maybe overeaten for years, eating "normally"
means roughly the number of calories your body needs to maintain - NOT reduce - its weight (see TDEE calculator below).

IMPORTANT
If you have had past diagnosed Eating Disorders or serious MH problems you should NOT do 5:2 or any other kind of fasting

JARGON alert

16:8 is a different type of fasting, which can be combined with 5:2.
Daily zero-cal fast for 16 hours and eat within an 8 hour window. To lose weight, this needs a weekly calorie deficit as well

b2b (optional) back-to-back / consecutive fast days, each with an increased allowance of 650 calories instead of 500

BMI (Body Mass Index) healthy range is 18.5 - 24.9 for Caucasians. Upper limit may be 22 for some of Asian origin.

FD = single Fast Day: aim for 500 calories (600 for men or 25% TDEE whichever is higher) or 1000 cals for BF
No alcohol or junk on FDs
Even if you exercise strenuously, do NOT increase FD cals to allow for exercise

MFP = My Fitness Pal, a useful App or website to track food & drink calories

miniFD = MiniFD, 850-1000 calories, no alcohol or junk

NFD = Non-Fast Day, averages around TDEE

NSV / LSV = Non Scale Victory / LifeStyle (change) Victory, e.g. compliment, smaller waist, clothes size

SV = Scale Victory

TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure, the average number of calories you burn in a day, is calculated from your current weight, height, age, activity level.
Aim to average about this for NFDs.

WOE / WOL = Way Of Eating / Way Of Life. We say this instead of "diet", to emphasise that we must make a permanent change in how we eat, to maintain our new healthy weight long term.

Jump in and say hello!

I've failed miserably at fasting whilst on leave. It's just too hard! I have managed two intermittent fasts as damage limitation... #clutchesatstraws 😆🙈

@harriethoyle always the way, I put on 3.5 kg (or a bit more even) during my summer holiday.. Hoping to shed the remaining 1 kg over the next two days. Are you back to fasting now?

@EatYourFive I'm off this week so I'll restart next Monday with a b2b 👍

I'm half-heartedly attempting one @EatYourFive but it is very half-hearted if I'm brutally honest!!

Been having gastritis flare-ups for the last few days and feeling miserable 😭😭 You'd think that fasting would help, but there seems to be no rhyme or reason... Sometimes feel awful straight after eating, but sometimes eat and feel fine... And sometimes feel rubbish even if I haven't eaten for ages!!

So the motivation just isn't there at the moment.

Oh no poor you @mumlikeaboss, that doesn't sound like fun! Hope you feel better soon.

Sorry to hear that @mumlikeaboss I hope it calms down soon.

Is anyone fasting tomorrow? I'm going to do a one-day fast... I have a very social weekend coming up so I need to!

I finished today at 500ish. Planning another fast tomorrow but not feeling hugely motivated at the moment.

Thanks, both... I have been given some medication for it so fingers crossed it settles down.

I definitely felt a little better after I broke my fast this afternoon, so it looks like doing a longer fast just isn't going to happen until my stomach feels up to it! 🥴

Signing in for today. I feel like my fast days are still going well, but I'm eating way too much on my non-fast days. It feels out of control.
@mumlikeaboss I really hope the meds do the trick, that sounds really rotten

@mumlikeaboss I wouldn't worry about fasting to much if you're unwell, maybe just try and eat healthily until you feel better..

I'm also in for today, day 2 B2B!
@Badlifeday is that wrecking your progress? I also often overdo it on my non-fast days, especially weekends (wine, takeaways, chocolate, ice cream..) but overall I have still managed lose weight. I'm sure my progress would be much faster if I didn't but overall the weight is still coming off, albeit slowly.

Following 😃

Yes my non fast days are also difficult to control. I try to balance it out with a third fast day and more exercise and overall I have lost weight and changed shape too.

I have also started exercising a lot more since I restarted fasting back in November and try and do some extra at weekends which probably helps too.

That's a good questions, @EatYourFive I am definitely losing weight but I suppose my regime is hard (Every other day, zero food) and I have been proud of my ability to fast - and then embarrassed about my overeating on the other days! I may have eaten my own chocolate and the bar I bought for the dc last night
Through circumstance I'll need to eat for two days in a row this weekend, will see if that makes things better or worse.

I try not to think about it at all on my non fast days, it’s why I like this way of eating so much! Today I’m at my 2stone off milestone, 11st 9 and I’m delighted! I’m losing around 0.75 - 1lb a week on average but I’m fine with that if I can still get to eat dessert and lose weight!

Am fasting today but just had birthday cake so will probably come in at about 800.
It's my third fast of the week so not all bad

I think I might be managing a fast today 🥳 up to about 24 hours and feeling a lot better thankfully. Just need to make it through a few more hours til bedtime.

Sneaky look at the scales this morning and am about 5lbs up 😱😱 but I usually weigh after a fast day and yesterday definitely wasn't a fast 🙄 so that will account for some of that...

I've also been pigging on beige, stodgy, bready stuff because that's all my stomach felt like all week! 😩

Greetings my friends! I'm back having been MIA 😄 M and W fasts this week and then 3 next week. I'll put my thinking cap on for a new thread title!

Morning all - signing in. I'm ravenous already 😆🙈

How's it going @harriethoyle ?

I'm signing in today and I just might go for a 500-calorie 'fast' to ring the changes!!

I've got a pot of Thai chicken noodle soup in the fridge that needs using, so I plan on having that for a late lunch / early dinner - will see if that opens the floodgates of hunger 🙈🙈 or whether I'll be able to make it through the evening on just that.

Have just done a 30-minute cardio workout (😯😯 who AM I?!) and am not at all hungry yet, hooray.

Anyone else in for a Monday fast?

PS - I love that we are almost approaching thread no. 100!!! Is there any other topic on mumsnet that has such a huge number of threads over so many years?!

@mumlikeaboss I'm practically gnawing my own arm off! 😆🙈 Trying to push through to 1pm though... you sound like you're bossing today though!

Morning all, signing in for a b2b… just had an egg and some kimchi and hopefully will be powering on through. Had DCs birthday over the weekend, so def ate too much cake but also ran around a lot trying to get everything sorted so hoping that will have helped!

@harriethoyle I'm not sure I am... I just fell at the first hurdle of getting DD lunch without eating anything 🙈🙈😂

See this is why I normally do zero calls, because if I know I'm going to eat at some point during the day, I'm hopeless at putting it off any later than lunchtime.

Anyway, I've thoroughly enjoyed my soup and an olive Ciabatta roll from M&S 🤤 so that's technically my calories done for the day. Um, yeah, we'll see how that goes 🤐😂