5:2 diet

Gloomendoom

AbbieCadabra wrote: »

can i ask what might be some pretty stupid questions?

i've got a lot of weight to lose, does this change the rules at all? would i be ok going over 600 cals on fast days, providing it's no more than 25% of TDEE? on non-fast days, should i be aiming for 500 cals less per day than TDEE?

My thoughts based on 5:2ing (or variations thereof) since the beginning of the year...

You should be aiming to eat as little as you find comfortable. Nothing would be the ideal but that really is not an option for most people as it can produce all kinds of side effects... dizzy spells, extreme grumpyness etc.

The 500/600 calorie limit is just a number plucked out of the air as being sustainable by most people. There is no science behind it. at least, I haven't seen anything plausible. You will lose more the less you eat on a fast day but you must resist the temptation to overeat on the non-fast days.

The good news is that the more overweight you are, the faster you will see results. Frustratingly, the rate of weight loss slows as you get nearer to your ideal weight. My wife is over the moon if she loses a lb a fortnight.

Arrietty

pink_petal wrote: »

Thank you Arriety! I stared 5:2 somewhere between a 12 and 14 and I'm now very comfortably into size 12 bottoms (my bottom half is my issue) and 8-10 on top. You can do it!

I agree, 1200 seems very low for feed days. I don't count cals religiously on those days but I do keep a note on the odd day just to make sure I'm not going overboard and I find I generally eat between 1600 and 1700...sometimes more at the weekend if I'm out!

That's great !

I think I had the 1200 calories stuck in my head from when I was using MyFitnessPal and I'd forgotten that's not actually a 'normal' daily intake !

One positive change I have noticed is that while I tend to eat my main meal earlier on fast days, I'm not snacking in the evenings on my feed days

tesuhoha

If you want to stick with the principles of 5:2 then you don't count calories at all on non fast days. All you do is make sure you don't binge but you can actually eat quite a lot. As Ruby Ruby said, the beauty of the diet is that you only have the calorie counting twice a week, hence no boredom. That is the secret of why this way of eating is so successful, because you can get through one fast day and then you know that after a sleep you can eat whatever you want on a non fast day. If you start calorie counting on non fast days then you are defeating the object of the whole way of eating and at some time you will probably fail. The calorie counting every day makes it no different from any weightwatchers or sw diet, which we all know ultimately fail. Watch the Men Who Made Us Thin. Dieting does not work. The 5:2 way of eating does work.

I am not an expert either but when you think about it, over a whole month, a 2 day a week 500 calorie fast is quite a deficit without having to count calories on the other days. The other thing of course is that the more you eat on non fast days the more you are going to boost your metabolism. Cutting calories to 1200 on non fast days is probably going to slow the metabolism down.

Chickvic

Love this 'diet'! Have now lost 4 stone :j:j:j

Shower-of-roses

Eat day yesterday
Egg mayo sandwich, salad, welsh cake
Asda red cal pasta tuna bake, 1 jaffa cake
yoghurt activia and banana
Lots of exercise in soft play area.

Today I'll attempt a fast. Laying 500 carpet tiles should keep me busy

1940sGal

Morning all! I've just popped on the scales after fasting yesterday to see another 1lb gone It's dropping slowly now but at least it's dropping. Had a mackerel salad yesterday but was at work for 12 hours and found I wasn't particularly hungry at any point. I was that busy I didn't have time to think about it.

I've decided I'm not going to fast next week, I'm just going to enjoy my week away. I'm not going to go crazy but I'm not bothering with fast days.

Ooh and my waist is now at 30" so half an inch from there!

AbbieCadabra

darrensurrey wrote: »

I'm not an expert.

It does sound like you're mixing 16/8 and 5:2, though, seeing as you mention the 8 hour window. This doesn't apply and is being extra restrictive if you're doing 5:2 as well as 16/8. I used to do 16/8 everyday, however, without problems.

I would stick to the rules. 500 for women; I've seen people of all sizes benefit from it on MFP.

Whether you do 16/8 or 5:2, pick one and stick to it for at least a month to let your body get used to it.

the author of the book that a few of us have read, the if diet, was asked about combining 16:8 & 5:2 on his facebook page, this is what he said " There isn't any evidence to show success, or failure, of the method you've thought up. In theory at least, it should be a safe and effective method. After a 600 cal day, traditionally you only slightly overeat on the next. Of course, if you then cram that 110% intake into 8 hours, it may produce an overspill of insulin. To be sure, there's only one certainty: give it a go, and report back! It's advisable to still eat meals within an 8 hour window, as opposed to snacks. Doing snacks will almost certainly undo the good work of the day before."

i think perhaps i'm getting a bit over-zealous with all this at the moment as i really want to drop a stone before i go away at the end of this month

i'll carry on doing what i'm doing now for the next 2 weeks & hope for the best. absolutely no ill-effects at the moment, only positives. i'll plan on doing just 16:8 (perhaps 14:10) whilst we're away for 2 weeks (alcohol will be consumed so i'm not expecting miracles!), & review where i am when back home.

still haven't weighed myself, that's tomorrow, but i've put a dress on today & it feels like it's hanging off me!

Arrietty

Good morning all,

great to read more positive posts.

teshuhoha - thanks for your post; it's quite a few months since I read the book so I've forgotten the principles of it all.

Indeed I do want this approach to food and eating to continue for life, rather than using it just to lose a few quick pounds.

I've been quietly observing my teenage daughter's natural approach to food, it's quite similar in that one day she'll have a 'hungry day' and be almost insatiable, then not want to eat much for the next couple of days.

It's been quite hard at times to let her listen to her own appetite and rythms and try not to insist she has traditional meals, but she's a healthy size; not 'skinny', nor overweight at all ... although I noticed that she did start to get a bit plumper over the course of the summer hols when, doing less exercise and not walking to school and back each day.

We both used to eat far too much sugary food and it seemed the more we ate, the more we craved it ...

Since having braces, she's only allowed sugary food once or twice a week, she sticks to it and I've joined in too and the last time we did treat ourselves to cakes and a small bar of chocolate, we both felt quite ill afterwards.

I did watch those programmes !


Toast for breakfast today, egg sandwich for lunch, probably pasta and sauce for dinner and maybe a dark chocolate digestive with my afternoon cup of tea

~Chameleon~

Arrietty wrote: »

Toast for breakfast today, egg sandwich for lunch, probably pasta and sauce for dinner and maybe a dark chocolate digestive with my afternoon cup of tea

Do you really need a processed carb with every meal? Plus a snack?

How about eggs for breakfast, fish/chicken salad for lunch and replace the pasta with rice or couscous for dinner. If you want something chocolatey then a couple of squares of dark 70+% cocoa chocolate would be fine

Arrietty

Ah, you spotted my weakness !

Too late for breakfast and lunch but I'll take your rice, couscous and chocolate suggestions on board !