5:2 Diet (part II)

fivetide

If you have a smartphone I recommend MyFitnessPal it is (or was) free and you just put in your target weight and it gives you a calorie count to aim for. You can put in whatever you eat and it tracks the lot, including exercise so you can see just what you have munched through.

Very good way to track your diet and ensure you are eating healthily and controlling your portion size.

weeze210

Mojisola wrote: »

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4896529

Thanks for that, have spent the past couple of hrs reading it.
I have downloaded 'My Fitness Pal' on my tablet and its brilliant and very easy to use.
I have started with a fast day today and had 2 cups of tea with a drop of milk plus a small bowl of homemade chicken and mushroom soup as I was hungry. Tea will be a chicken salad.
I am aiming to eat sensibly on my 5 non fast days but not be to stressed about it. My other fast day will be either wed or thurs. Have watched the Horizon program and read loads on the internet so here goes!
Thankyou for all the responses so far hope lots of people will join me and hopefully so people with experience will share stories or offer advise!
Weeze x

onlyroz

I followed the 5:2 diet for over a year and it worked well for me (I've let it lapse recently but am thinking of going back to it, or possibly the 6:1).

I think that it's a good diet because you don't have to deprive yourself of anything that you really love. It also teaches you about appetite control - because you soon learn that feeling hungry will not kill you. Hunger comes in waves and so you'll probably find that you can stave off a hunger pang by drinking some green tea and keeping yourself busy for 30 minutes. And this realisation will help reduce any inclination to binge on non-fast days.

For me, I went with two fast days, four "regular" days and one "anything goes" day where I could enjoy a guilt-free steak with creamy sauce and a few large glasses of wine.

It will also help if you educate yourself about sensible eating practices. E.g. avoid heavily processed food like commercial ready-meals, biscuits, pastries etc.; eat from smaller plates to encourage smaller portions; cut down on alcohol and sugary drinks; aim to increase your vegetable intake etc etc.

As for the fasting itself - I think it's better to fast on a working day because if you're busy then you'll have less time to think about being hungry. You can experiment with when you eat your 500-600 kcals. I preferred to have a light breakfast, skip lunch and then have a light dinner. Instead of preparing a separate meal for myself I just gave myself a childs portion of what everyone else was having. This made it easier logistically and meant that I didn't miss out on the family mealtime.

BunnieJ

I'm also thinking of taking up the 5:2 diet. I've been struggling to keep to a "healthy eating" style of dieting as I just feel deprived all the time, craving sugary and fatty foods

I did buy the book from Amazon for about £5 (it pretty much explains what is in the TV programme) and then passed it onto someone else when I'd finished reading it. It does come with a section of recipe ideas/meal plans if you need some ideas of what to eat.

I think having 2 days a week of calorie controlled food will be much more managable than trying to stick to it 6-7 days a week. A colleague of mine has just taken it up and she's been eating a boiled egg for breakfast, small portion (1/2 tin) of soup for lunch and a small dinner, with tea/coffee/water in between when she feels hungry.

BigAunty

My partner has been on it for a couple of months and has lost a stone (not particularly overweight anyway and always ate a healthy vegetarian GI friendly diet anyway). Their appetite has naturally decreased on the 5 remaining days, feeling fuller on less. No periods of weakness but some sleeplessness on fast nights.

I find it annoying that the social aspect of eating is affected 2 days a week - if I participate by having the same evening meal on a fast night, for example, I get a bowl of soup which I grumpily eat while stating 'It is not a meal but a starter where's the rest?.'. If we eat separate meals on fast nights (because I don't want a hummous sandwich or soup, for example) our meal times are invariably not synchronised because our appetites are on different cycles.

onlyroz

BigAunty wrote: »

I find it annoying that the social aspect of eating is affected 2 days a week - if I participate by having the same evening meal on a fast night, for example, I get a bowl of soup which I grumpily eat while stating 'It is not a meal but a starter where's the rest?.'. If we eat separate meals on fast nights (because I don't want a hummous sandwich or soup, for example) our meal times are invariably not synchronised because our appetites are on different cycles.

Which is why I suggest not eating separate meals but letting the fasting person have a smaller portion of the same meal.

spirit

I've been doing it for the last year (almost to the day). I've lost 4stone in total. It comes off slowly which the health professionals recommend as it is supposed to stay off.

I actually fast 3 days a week despite really only needing to do 2. (I don't really need to lose any more weight) I've experimented with having nothing all day and then my calories in the evening and also having say a boiled egg for breakfast and then a smaller meal in the evening.

It works either way so it is down to personal preference.

ElusiveLucy

I did 5:2 last year for about 3-4 months and lost 1st 5lbs and found that once I got into it, it was pretty easy, mainly because you know it is only for two days a week. I, like others on here have mentioned, found that I ate more healthily on my non-fast days as well and was a lot more conscious of calorie content of what I was eating.

I used the MyFitnessPal app to count calories and used that on non-fast days as well. I found doing two fast days (Mon/Thur) and eating within 1200 calories most of the time on Tue/Wed meant I still lost 1-1.5lbs a week even if I had my normal meals on Fri/Sat/Sun (which included probably too many glasses of wine as well as a meal out every Saturday!)

I was also going to the gym 3 times a week. Sadly I lost momentum when I went on holiday and haven't got back into any of it since and the weight is creeping back on, so I have started on the 5:2 again today. I only drink tea with a tiny bit of skimmed milk and water during the day and have all my 500 calories in the evening, so I am looking forward to my dinner tonight! I am also looking forward to the scales going back down again after the shock I had when I stood on them this morning!

Angry_Bear

I've been doing it for the best part of a year now and it's a diet that really suits me.

As with all diets (or "lifestyle changes" if you prefer) it's important that you have one that suits you and you can stick to without feeling deprived.

I find with the 5:2 that when I get cravings I think "I'll have it tomorrow" then on the next day the craving has gone and I don't bother having the chocolate/crisps/pizza I'd wanted!

BigAunty

onlyroz wrote: »

Which is why I suggest not eating separate meals but letting the fasting person have a smaller portion of the same meal.

I'm experiencing great resistance in the 'eat the same as me but less' approach. Basically, I get told to eat their meal (quite often a lentil or bean soup which I am now heartily sick of) or make my own dinner....