5:2 diet

adouglasmhor

I used to do the Warrior diet, which was one meal a day within 4 hours after training, and a small piece of fruit if you wanted on waking (which made me feel worse so I didn't bother) with water allowed all the time.

I made some muscle gains and lost fat but lost interest after a while. My fault not the diets. Though a few times especialy in cardio classes I did feel I was about to drop when exercising on an empty stomach.

rizel23

I'm currently doing this 'diet' which for the majority is to loose weight with the benefit of some health improvements (other way round for the producer of said Horizon)

If you eat the daily amount of calories on the non fast days (I use myfitness plan on android to keep track) it makes very little difference if you eat nothing on your fast days or 500 calories if your goal is to loose weight.

On my non fast days i limit my calories to 1750 which to be honest is very easy to do and allow upto (sometimes less) 500 calories on my 'fast days' which I do consecutively, it really isn't very hard.

What i noticed is lack of wanting to snack after i had completed my fast days as you realise you don't actually 'need' want you think you want.

I think what is also important is a goal, doing it for the sake of doing it is a set up to fail.

murphydog999

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

You, and others, might find this interview enlightening

http://youtu.be/Um-a61rClSs

Many thanks for the link, I was aware of the website but hadn't seen the video. It is exactly the way I eat and exercise, and obviously a growing band of tens of thousands of other people agree.

He does have science behind him, glowing testimonials from thousands of people, and evidence from real athletes/sportspeople that performance is not affected by low carb eating once they are adapted. (I wish some people could get to grips and believe this concept!)

He sums it up near the end when he goes through what he eats - and it's exactly what I have found - 'paleo' eating - which to me is just healthy eating - doesn't make you hungry and you eat less anyway. Considering the amount of bread and cereal and biscuits I used to consume, it's incredible to look back at the volume of food, compared to now - most of my kitchen cupboards are now empty.

So, getting back to fasting matters.......if a paleo diet was followed first, not only would people loose weight anyway, it is also a better platform to go from if fasting is being considered for health reasons. It is going to be more difficult - and not sustainable - for those people who do eat processed foods, bread, grains, sugar-based products, fizzy drinks etc, as the cravings (and their side-effects) will still be there.

kittykat500

I watched the You Tube link posted by Chameleon last night and then looked at reviews for the book associated with it, the 'Primal Blueprint' by the author, on Amazon. It has some amazing reviews, with many getting excellent results. Falling into the category, post-menopausal woman, for whom this type of fasting may not work, I am interested to see if it will do anything for me.

On another note, I seem to remember that Michael Moseley did another Horizon programme on how extremely short bursts of exercise (3 lots of 40 secs, I believe) also gave great results for fitness. Putting these two programmes together, I get the feeling that really he is reflecting how our ancestors, the cavemen, probably lived their lives - some periods of lack of food, eating well when food was available, lifting heavy weights in short bursts and sprinting to avoid danger, or catch food. It appears logical to me that our bodies are made to work this way.

~Chameleon~

murphydog999 wrote: »

Many thanks for the link, I was aware of the website but hadn't seen the video. It is exactly the way I eat and exercise, and obviously a growing band of tens of thousands of other people agree.

He does have science behind him, glowing testimonials from thousands of people, and evidence from real athletes/sportspeople that performance is not affected by low carb eating once they are adapted. (I wish some people could get to grips and believe this concept!)

He sums it up near the end when he goes through what he eats - and it's exactly what I have found - 'paleo' eating - which to me is just healthy eating - doesn't make you hungry and you eat less anyway. Considering the amount of bread and cereal and biscuits I used to consume, it's incredible to look back at the volume of food, compared to now - most of my kitchen cupboards are now empty.

So, getting back to fasting matters.......if a paleo diet was followed first, not only would people loose weight anyway, it is also a better platform to go from if fasting is being considered for health reasons. It is going to be more difficult - and not sustainable - for those people who do eat processed foods, bread, grains, sugar-based products, fizzy drinks etc, as the cravings (and their side-effects) will still be there.

I wish I could thank this post a thousand times :T :T :T

~Chameleon~

rizel23 wrote: »

On my non fast days i limit my calories to 1750 which to be honest is very easy to do and allow upto (sometimes less) 500 calories on my 'fast days' which I do consequently, it really isn't very hard.

I'm sorry but I really don't think you're eating enough to keep your body healthy on these low amounts, unless your diet is so tightly controlled to allow only highly nutrient dense foods and no "empty calories" at all. You're at risk of losing muscle mass rather than body fat if you continue under eating.

If you calculate your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate which is different to BMI) this will give you the amount of calories your body needs just to function before you even think of getting out of bed. Add to that your energy requirements using the Harris Benedict Formula and this will tell you how many calories you need to maintain your weight. Then you need to make a deduction of approximately 15-20% if you're aiming for weight loss.

This is why everyone's needs are different and following a "recommended calorie controlled diet" is not really useful as one person might need 2000 calories per day whilst another might need 3500. Everyone is different!!

murphydog999

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

I wish I could thank this post a thousand times :T :T :T

Thanks Chameleon, all that's needed is a back to basics approach, rather than this government dictated clap-trap we have been fed for the last 20 or so years.

I was taught and qualified the 'right' way, but even then I argued with my tutors when I was marked down for using butter as an ingredient in a meal plan, instead of 'spread' or sunflower oil. I could not believe they were telling me that even though it is a natural product, because it was high fat it shouldn't be allowed within a weight management plan. I changed my work to appease and get the marks, but knew I would never follow the concept - it never made sense then, and with so much more evidence, it certainly doesn't now.

Gloomendoom

Interesting. :think:

From observation and experience, Mrs G reckons she needs 1500-1600 calories a day to maintain a stable weight.

Using the BMR method suggested above it appears that she needs 1300 calories before she gets out of bed and another 250 or so to haul her bum around all day. That's a total of 1550 cals per day, so she and the BMR algorithms can't be that far out.

lessonlearned

murphydog999 wrote: »

He sums it up near the end when he goes through what he eats - and it's exactly what I have found - 'paleo' eating - which to me is just healthy eating - doesn't make you hungry and you eat less anyway. Considering the amount of bread and cereal and biscuits I used to consume, it's incredible to look back at the volume of food, compared to now - most of my kitchen cupboards are now empty.

So, getting back to fasting matters.......if a paleo diet was followed first, not only would people loose weight anyway, it is also a better platform to go from if fasting is being considered for health reasons. It is going to be more difficult - and not sustainable - for those people who do eat processed foods, bread, grains, sugar-based products, fizzy drinks etc, as the cravings (and their side-effects) will still be there.

Thank you for summing it up so nicely. I have been gradually working towards this way of eating which is why I think I'm finding the mini fast days so easy.

I have found that carbs - bread, pasta etc not only make me feel ill they make me hungry too.

I think that from a biological and evolutionary point of view our bodies were meant to eat a paleo type diet - it's the modern western diets that are making us ill and fat, that and largely sedentary lifestyles.

All I know is that I'm starting to feel a lot better and that's good enough for me.

sammyjammy

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Interesting. :think:

From observation and experience, Mrs G reckons she needs 1500-1600 calories a day to maintain a stable weight.

Using the BMR method suggested above it appears that she needs 1300 calories before she gets out of bed and another 250 or so to haul her bum around all day. That's a total of 1550 cals per day, so she and the BMR algorithms can't be that far out.

Mrs G must be tiny!

My BMR is 1594 with a total calories of 2192 to maintain my (over) weight.