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!

Really on the struggle bus this week! Had two nights out with work and short on sleep. I bailed on my fast day yesterday as I didn’t think I’d get any work done if I spent the day being both tired and hungry.

Still tired today but determined to see it out for my second FD this week. Sipping builder’s tea out of a flask at my desk and will have baked chicken breast & vegetables for dinner.

Morning @OohMrDarcy I'm with you for day 2 of a b2b BUT slept appallingly last night (got about 4 hours 😬) and I'm not sure how the combo of fatigue and hunger will go... at the very least I'm aiming to stick to not eating before lunch so I get the 16:8 fast in.

On the positive side, an overnight scale whoosh takes me to my lowest weight since 6 December and within 0.3kg of target so it's not all bad!

Snap @Porridgeislife. We cross-posted!

Good luck today @harriethoyle and @Porridgeislife - lots of tea for you both!

@harriethoyle how exciting to be so close to target!!! Fingers crossed for you hitting it very soon!

I have a long way to go, but happily pootling closer every week and noticing all the SV's / NSVs along the way!

I've hit it before @OohMrDarcy just never maintained it 😂But I've upped my exercise a bit, with a regular gym class and 4 or 5 home pilates sessions so maybe that will assist in the longer term if I get back there? Really I'd like to be a couple of kg under target so I've got some wriggle room... but let's not run before we can walk!

Good luck all fasters!!
@harriethoyle So close to target!! Awesome! love a woosh! ya maintaining is so hard, are you planning to do 6:1 to maintain later on?

@Porridgeislife Ah its hard fasting and working. I hear from people that they have concentration super powers on fasting - no such luck for me.

My Tuesday fast ended with a small portion of spaghetti carbonara which in no way would have been 600 cals and I had an apple and miso soup before so I was happy with that.

Back on fasting today. I feel unusually hungry though 😡Good luck everyone fasting today and well done with the scales whoosh @harriethoyle !

Kitchen closing here on 800 making 1517 for the b2b. A bit high but day of exhaustion finished with all trains cancelled because of a fatality means it's a miracle I didn't fall face first into a wine or three!! 🤣🙈

Kitchen closed on 562 here

Good work everyone, I feel like this week is a tricky one for lots of us! I'd planned my usual b2b for Monday and Tuesday but it ended up not happening for various reasons and then Wednesday was ruined by having a migraine.

Kitchen closing on 634 today and also did a small run and a dog walk. I might go for a b2b day two tomorrow but think I'll see how I feel in the morning.

Trying to be much more lenient on myself if things don't work out - one not ideal day/week/month is a drop in the ocean when it's a WOL as lots of you have pointed out before.

Well done @berryhand and @OohMrDarcy

@strangerInStrangeLand I think I'll just keep doing 5:2 once I'm at goal although I don't know if 70 is my final goal if that makes sense? Ideally if I was constant at 67-8kg that gives me wriggle room for high days and holidays and means they're not catastrophic on the scales...

Yay to fasting yesterday. I made it! Kitchen closed on 441 cals and I was saved by my usual fish, goats cheese and salad combo. Well done everyone… see you Monday!

Good work @sweetgingercat! I managed a b2b and kitchen closing today on 573. Already planning breakfast tomorrow. Have great weekends everyone, will be fasting Monday so see you all there then.

Hi all , sorry for the radio silence ! How are you ? I am stuck at the min :(

Morning @Tinydancer123 - welcome back! Are you still fasting or have you lost your mojo?

I'm signing in for first of three FD this week. Single today, b2b Weds and Thurs. Who's with me?

Morning all

Monday weigh in day here. The scales show 107.4 this week, which means a loss of 0.9kg and total since restarting 5:2 this year of 7.4kg!

Am happy with that - especially given the naughty weekend of maccies AND take away curry! To be fair I didn't go crazy but it will definitely have impacted a bit

Anyhoo - Monday FD here and got my chicken and veggies planned for dinner

hope everyone had a great weekend

I'm with you @harriethoyle

Well done @OohMrDarcy - I put on 1.5kg this weekend 😬 but hoping some of that is water weight and will come straight off!

am sure it will be @harriethoyle

I do my weigh ins on a monday with the hope that it moderates my weekends <eeek>

Morning all, I m here with you guys for Monday fast. I had a dream that I forgot my fast and ate 😄was glad that it was a dream!
my 4th week! I hope it goes as well as the last 3 :-)

This week was bad NFDs, Dont think it was high calorie but i ate lot of chocolates and salty crisps and no walks :-( tho I did hot yoga couple of days and it felt wonderful.
Need to work up to 3 days of workout and daily 8k steps from today.

Morning all, hope everyone had a nice weekend.

I avoid weighing in on Mondays as I find it makes me a bit dispirited if I've put on slightly over the weekend. Weighed in Saturday morning and another two lbs off, making me 3lb off my initial target weight so pretty happy with that.

Great work on the loss so far @OohMrDarcy!

In what way are you stuck @Tinydancer123?

I love hot yoga @strangerInStrangeLand, I used to go all the time and it made me feel great afterwards, but sadly nowhere round here does it.

I was going to do a FD today and Thurs, but I was absolutely starving this morning so I decided to shift it back and do FDs tomorrow and Friday instead.

Hi - stuck at about 6 from goal..... shift 3 it goes back on . Trying to up the exercise today. @berryhand what fast do you do 18.6 or 16. 8 ? Xxx

I just do standard 5:2 @Tinydancer123 but I'm training for some big runs so need to balance that too.

Is that with no fast ? Does this work well ?
Goodluck with runs !

No fast technically but because I usually don't eat after 5pm on a fast day I end up doing 15-16 hours before breakfast the next day anyway.