5:2 diet

crouchender56

Hi everyone, I've been on the 5.2 diet since the New Year, after recovering for about a month of overindulging (preXmas holiday and then Christmas itself!) I had about a stone to lose, and was feeling very uncomfortable and sluggish, but then I've been a yo yo dieter for years now. The amazing thing is that my (21stone) DH is joining in for the first time ever! He is a big, active guy and probably about 5 stone overweight and has had loads of health problems (related to the weight I think) but has stubbornly refused to do anything about it. However something about the Horizon programme (which I had Sky+ed so didn't watch till December) inspired him and he has got really into it.

We have both found it much easier than we thought, we fast at the beginning of the week and at the end of the week, and choose the days depending on what is going on at the time. He likes to have breakfast on a fast day, but I like to wait until 1pm and have a ryvita and cupasoup and maybe a couple of pieces of fruit. Then for dinner we have something like chicken with loads of veg which feels really filling.

I like to weigh myself once a week and he has refused to weigh himself at all. I've lost about 5lb and I can tell he has lost a lot and he is finding his clothes are looser. I didn't loose anything at all this week, probably due to overindulging at the weekend. Trying to be better this week.

Sorry if I have gone on a bit, I've enjoyed reading your posts and picked up some tips, so I thought I should join in properly!

elizabunny

Good morning 5:2 ers:)

I am reporting in with mine and DHs weight results for this week.

DH
Weight down 3.5lbs
Body Fat down 0.8%
Body Water Up 0.5%
Body Muscle Up 0.3%

Total weight loss in 2 weeks 7.1 lbs :j:j

ME:D
Weight down 3.36 lbs
Body Fat down 0.3%
Body Water Up 0.2%
Body Muscle Up 0.1%

Total weight loss in 2 weeks 6.16 lbs :j:j

Needless to say, we are both thrilled and cannot really believe the results:D

Well done to all 5:2 ers this week and good luck to today's fasters.:T:T

Off to the market now to stock up on fruit and veg:)

tesuhoha

I was quite annoyed last night because the Daily Mail were advertising this diet on TV as if it was their diet that they had come up with. :mad:

My weight loss has slowed down to a few ounces a week. I don't mind as its still going down. On normal days I eat quite big dinners and chocolate, biscuits etc. Overall since August I am down from 9st.11llb to this morning 8st.11.2. I could do with losing a few more pounds but I will get there eventually.

This diet really does work and is easily sustainable. Yesterday I fasted all day then had gammon, mashed potato and piccalilli for dinner. I usually have something healthy but as long as its under 500 calories!

LadyinBlack_2

Hello all. Nice to see some new people joining - welcome.

Like Nuninge I have been a yo yo dieter - I suspect most of have. Woiuldn't it be great if this really is THE diet/eating plan.

I also binge/diet/binge. I did the Cambridge diet a few times but would starve for 4/5 weeks and then enjoy two months binging and then start again. It would be good to break the cycle.

One thing I have to be careful of is not carrying it too far. If 2 days fasting is good then 4 days must be twice as good:o and then get back into that cycle. Aaaargh. You good people on here help and inspire me and I hope this time I will learn habits for life.

PS Well done Elizabunny:T

Nuninge

LadyinBlack wrote: »

Hello all. Nice to see some new people joining - welcome.

Like Nuninge I have been a yo yo dieter - I suspect most of have. Woiuldn't it be great if this really is THE diet/eating plan.

I also binge/diet/binge. I did the Cambridge diet a few times but would starve for 4/5 weeks and then enjoy two months binging and then start again. It would be good to break the cycle.

One thing I have to be careful of is not carrying it too far. If 2 days fasting is good then 4 days must be twice as good:o and then get back into that cycle. Aaaargh. You good people on here help and inspire me and I hope this time I will learn habits for life.

PS Well done Elizabunny:T

I think that it is interesting that you talk about taking this too far. I considered doing a third day this week which I might tomorrow but I will see how I feel. I think that as long as you don't get into the mentality of I MUST do 3/4 fast days a week (which in effect is the intermittent fasting that people have spoken about and not the 5:2) and then beat yourself up when you don't manage it and come off any kind of plan altogether then I think that it is ok. I read about Dom Joly doing the IF plan and he lost really well. Obviously you will probably lose more that way but think that for me as long as there is something that you are always following rather than being on month long binges (this is me I'm talking about!) then that is good. I just want my weight to keep gradually going in the right direction...which is down. Obviously I would be happy if this happened fairly quickly just cos I'd like to see the results, but ultimately this is something that I should follow for life!

Chocsaway_2

I have just read the Mail's version of this diet and it is quite different. Although most of the diet will be in on Monday's edition, there were some snippets and from what I can tell their diet does not limit you to 500 or 600 calories on a fast day but rather has a variety of foods that you can choose from. It also suggests fasting on 2 consecutive days and eating a Mediterranean diet for the rest of the time.

Now, for me, the whole idea of this being sustainable is that it allows me to eat what I want on the non- fasting days (I am neither a fan of salad or fruit!). I like having a set amount of calories on my fast days and whatever I eat will be within that limit. I can't manage to limit calories and the kind of food I eat too! I think 'll just keep carrying on with the diet as I know it, as the most important bit to me is that I'm not constantly thinking about every morsel of food I put in my mouth.
What do you think?

azureblue_2

Trust the old Daily Snail to jump on a passing bandwagon, re-brand it as it's own, make confusing unnecessary changes and demand allegiance! I'll stick with the good Dr M and his tried and tested and trusted method.

Chocsaway_2

My thoughts exactly - only a few weeks ago they were hailing the 5 : 2 diet as the one to do!

tesuhoha

Chocsaway wrote: »

I have just read the Mail's version of this diet and it is quite different. Although most of the diet will be in on Monday's edition, there were some snippets and from what I can tell their diet does not limit you to 500 or 600 calories on a fast day but rather has a variety of foods that you can choose from. It also suggests fasting on 2 consecutive days and eating a Mediterranean diet for the rest of the time.

Now, for me, the whole idea of this being sustainable is that it allows me to eat what I want on the non- fasting days (I am neither a fan of salad or fruit!). I like having a set amount of calories on my fast days and whatever I eat will be within that limit. I can't manage to limit calories and the kind of food I eat too! I think 'll just keep carrying on with the diet as I know it, as the most important bit to me is that I'm not constantly thinking about every morsel of food I put in my mouth.
What do you think?

Yes, I realised it was different after reading the article by the woman who had breast cancer. For a start she was talking about consecutive days which is a no no with the 5:2.

I think you are right - the beauty of this diet, if you are doing correctly is that 5 days a week you do not have to even think about what you are eating. Then the fast days are equally easy because you are not watching everything you eat but sticking to a certain amount of calories which is simple to do 2 days a week.

I think one of the reasons this diet works is that you are drastically decreasing your overall calorie intake over say a month but by eating normally most of the time you are also keeping your metabolism high. There is no diet plane in this diet.

Chocsaway_2

Absolutely! The joy of this diet is that it doesn't feel like a diet!