5:2 thread 101: Fasting as quick as HH is whizzing down the ski slopes! (Not very fast, with many bumps and wine stops along the way!)

[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!

That's what I did - I had a couple of inches of tap water and mixed the vinegar in and gulped it down. I'm going to try it for a week or so, but not on fast days, and see what happens. I too like the idea of 7kg weight loss with little effort!

NFD for me today but aiming for no more than 1200 calories as yesterday's NFD was quite calorific. FD tomorrow.

Good luck Wednesday fasters

Yes @OohMrDarcy I'm with you today. Leek and potato soup for lunch and either canneloni or fish for tea, depends which I fancy...

Keep us posted @Waspie you can be our guinea pig 😆

I've had cauliflower rice before @sweetgingercat, it's not bad! Not FD for me today but trying to be sensible and not do lots of snacking!

I’ve weighed in the same as last week. 76kg. I know it’s to be expected after baking at the weekend but still a bit disappointing. I’m off skiing for a long weekend so hoping the exercise offsets the cheese and wine

Oh fabulous @Borris - where are you off to? We went to Austria in January and the snow was fabulous. Although I did not lose any weight despite being on the slopes by 9am every day 😂

I tried cauliflower rice once. Tried. Once.... I'd rather just eat cauliflower.

Kitchen closed on 564 here. Enjoyed my chilli dinner.
Just got my nighttime tea in a bit and I'm done.

Can't imagine anything worse than caluifl rice, only like it in the cheese method 🤣

Hope you have a fab weekend @Borris

Thanks - I'm off to France. Just for a long weekend. So hopefully not too much damage done.

I've never tried cauliflower rice. But half a micro rice packet from Asda is 185 calories which doesn't seem too bad

Kitchen closed here on 584. 1200 for the b2b which I'm very happy with. Breadmaker set up for fresh bread tomorrow morning!

That sounds dreamy @harriethoyle! And v jealous of skiing weekend @Borris.

Well done fasters, sounds like everyone has had a good day. I'm going to attempt a FD tomorrow. In the office and mega busy so should be easy enough to stay distracted. In theory...

Good luck today @berryhand , I struggle to fast in the office but have done it a couple of times successfully.

Hi all , sorry for radio silence I have been stuck at the same weight for 3 weeks :( any tips ?

Hello, can I join? I've never tried fasting before, although I've read about the benefits. I've been reading the thread, there's lots of great information there, so thanks everyone.

I've calculated my TDEE, so I'm going to try and stay under 500 calories on Mondays and Thursdays, and then TDEE on the other days.

I rarely eat breakfast, but I do usually start the day with a cup of tea at 6.30 and then a latte at 8.30. Today I've switched the tea to black coffee with a sprinkle of salt, and I will still have my latte, which will see me through until mid afternoon. That's not too different from a usual Thursday.

I do often have a glass of something in the evening, but even if I don't I'd have a cup of tea before bed, so that's a change I'll need to make. Might encourage me to get to bed earlier, which would also be good!

Wish me luck today, it's my first day!

Good luck and welcome @Nepenthe! We are a friendly bunch. Wish I'd started fasting sooner, find it really works for me and I always assumed I'd never stick to it but it's much easier than calorie counting generally.

@Tinydancer123 I know you do quite a lot of low calorie days but is it worth trying the traditional 5:2 approach, just basic 500 on two days then TDEE on the others? I wonder if where you've been doing quite a lot of 800-1000k days your body has kicked into retaining mode?

@Tinydancer123 I'd track EVERYTHING you eat for a week and see if you're accidentally creeping up with portions etc. I get a bit lazy with guestimating on FDs and my portion control can slip which then means it's not as effective.

Something went wrong with my overnight bread @berryhand 🙈 I has a bagel instead!

Oh no @harriethoyle that's so sad!! Hope the bagel was a satisfying substitute

Welcome @Nepenthe I do fast days on Monday and Thursday too.

I will happily be group Guinea pig @harriethoyle Hope the bread/bagel tasted good despite the breadmaker fail!

Have a wonderful weekend @Borris

Joining Thursday fasters today. I have black coffee for breakfast, then a change to normal and will have my meal at 4pm - mushroom omelette. I'm out all evening from 5pm, a meeting then the theatre, so I won't get the opportunity to eat again. Diet coke in the interval perhaps.

Good luck everyone!

Devastating @berryhand - especially as the freshly baked bread was so alluring as i scampered down the stairs! Apparently the order that you put your ingredients in matters...😬🙈

Morning all

Feel for you @harriethoyle - hope you get your freshly baked bread very soon!

@Tinydancer123 - am I right in remember you don't have much to lose? If so it will take longer as the difference between TDEE and FD won't be as much. Agree with the others though - track everything, also - if you're currently eating to current weight TDEE you can change that to goal weight TDEE.

welcome @Nepenthe we are a friendly bunch so jump right in.

good luck to all those fasting today!

I'm going to try again when I get home @OohMrDarcy so I can watch the process and check, ie the dough is being properly mixed, is rising etc. If that works, I will just replicate that process the next overnight I do...

Thanks for the welcome. 500 calories doesn't go very far, does it? I'm already over, and I haven't eaten dinner yet! Although, I did do it on the spur of the moment, so didn't have any protein based foods ready.

Also, a friend showed up this morning who I haven't seen in a while, so I stayed for a second latte.

How do people measure calories in home made food? I'm doing cottage pie tonight, but I'm not having the mashed potato. Hopefully I'll still be under TDEE for today.

I'm not too upset, I've drunk loads of water today which is no bad thing, and I'll still be way under the amount of calories I'd normally have consumed.

Bulk up your calories with green veg @Nepenthe I always have broccoli or stirfry veg on a FD. Take skimmed milk in ie lattes or switch to black coffee.

in terms of home made foods, I work out the recipe calorie value and then apply a % of that to whatever portion I've had. so ie if I made a veg chilli I'd calorie count tomatoes, mixed beans, peppers, oil and so on and then work out how many portions it makes. myfitnesspal has a section where you can enter your own recipes and it calculates it for you.

@Nepenthe lattes eat cals, I love them but tend to avoid on FD or stick to skimmed milk in it if I can't avoid.

If I'm having a meal with family I tend to try to just have the one meal and load up on tea / water / sugar free squash to keep me going. Cottage pie without the mash depending on how you make it would probably be around 300 cals, but as @harriethoyle says mfp is great for calculating