Every other day diet

akitagirl15

I was just wondering if anyone has tried the 'Every other day diet' outlined in a book written by krista varady? Basically you consume 500 calories one day, unlimited calories the next. You alternate fast/feast every other day. The book has scientific data to back up why you would safely lose weight. It even says people don't end up binging or overeating on the unlimited calorie days. If anyone has tried this before, I would love to hear your experience.

Azexas

unlimited calories? I don't buy it.

Sounds similar to Intermittent fasting 5:2 which you eat 500 calories two days a week (nonconsecutive days) and then maintenance the other five days.

Unlimited calories can lead to weight gain if you are eating above your maintenance level.

peachyfuzzle

If your maintenance calories are say 2000, and you eat 4000 calories on your unlimited day, but only 500 calories on your strict day, you're still consuming an average of 2250 calories per day meaning that you'll be gaining roughly 1lb every two weeks.

MB_Positif

Sounds like it should be called "The Disaster Diet" to me. There's too much room for going way overboard. 5:2 makes more sense because there's still some structure.

Christine_72

I lost all of my weight doing alternate day fasting. However the up day wasn't a free for all.

I had 500 calories on my down day, and my tdee on up day.

peachyfuzzle

christinev297 wrote: »

I lost all of my weight doing alternate day fasting. However the up day wasn't a free for all.

I had 500 calories on my down day, and my tdee on up day.

This makes more sense. Not something I could ever do because I'd want to eat the wood moulding off of my drywall on my off days, but definitely makes sense for people who could sustain that sort of thing.

bpetrosky

I could see eating a normal day (at maintenance level or a little above) on the "off days", which would keep you at a average that is still in deficit. Still, I can't imagine why you would want to do it. It sounds like it would be miserable on the diet days and lead to significantly overeating on the off days.

It sounds like a big gimmick, and you could accomplish the same thing eating at a moderate deficit with a lot less struggle.

barbecuesauce

“When people want to lose weight, the most common way is daily calorie restriction,” Varady said.

“You reduce calories by about 25 percent. That works for a little while,” she said.

“The problem is that you probably can’t stick to it more than two months. You’re hungry and uncomfortable throughout the day.”

Fasting every other day works better, she said.

“You have a day in between where you can feel totally normal again,” Varady said.

With alternate-day fasting, dieters have a fast day followed by a feed day. They consume a good-sized lunch — 400 to 500 calories for women and 500 to 600 calories for men — between noon and 2 p.m. on the fast day.

“Then on feed day, they eat whatever they want,” Varady said.

She had assumed dieters would make up for what they didn’t eat on fast day by pigging out on feed day.

“But people eat only about 110 percent of their energy needs on feed day,” she said. “They don’t binge, and they end up losing weight.”
- See more at: http://news.uic.edu/krista-varady-weighs-in-on-how-to-drop-pounds-fast#sthash.ONKuhiar.dpuf

You CAN stick with calorie restriction for more than two months (I certainly have) and I don't buy that people are only eating 110% of their needs on off days. Maybe her obese patients who have more calories to play with were able to stick to that, but what if your energy needs are 1700? Putting away 1870+ isn't hard to accomplish. Maybe you can do this and lose weight because you would still carry a weekly deficit, but I think she's overstating it to sell books.

Also, "hungry and uncomfortable"? Better to teach people how to make smart choices with the calories they have.

fastforlife1

I did the every other day diet for 2 weeks - I lost 5#s. I found it difficult to eat only 500 calories on the down days. I probably ate about 2600 on my up days which is 300-400 over maintenance for me. I am now eating 1600 calories a day and losing 1# a week (with lots of exercise). Sometimes I limit my eating window to only 8 hours. Varady is a respected researcher and has some of the best information and studies (which she did herself) out there on fasting and dieting.

Sarasmaintaining

akitagirl15 wrote: »

I was just wondering if anyone has tried the 'Every other day diet' outlined in a book written by krista varady? Basically you consume 500 calories one day, unlimited calories the next. You alternate fast/feast every other day. The book has scientific data to back up why you would safely lose weight. It even says people don't end up binging or overeating on the unlimited calorie days. If anyone has tried this before, I would love to hear your experience.

Ahhh Varady. She actually isn't the creator of this idea, and there's a bit of controversy surrounding the whole thing. It was actually Dr. James Johnson, who wrote The Alternate-Day Diet several years ago, that really started things off. Then Dr. Michael Mosley came along, did his BBC documentary Eat, Fast, Live Longer and from that came the creation of a modified version of alternate day intermittent fasting-5:2IF and his book The Fast Diet. And then Varady claimed he stole her work (she was interviewed for Mosley's documentary) and all sorts of ugliness ensued Etc Etc Etc.

I followed Dr. Johnson's plan (also called JUDDD), and loved it. On my up days I ate at maintenance calorie levels and on my low days I ate 500 calories or slightly under. I used Dr. Mosley's 5:2IF plan during the transition period between active weight loss and maintenance. Loved that also.

Now I've been in maintenance for a couple years and do yet another IF plan as part of that-16:8IF. I love IF and will mostly likely do it in some form for the rest of my life. However, yes I've read Varady's book and I found it to be the weakest one that I've read about IF. She's pretty vague and after I finished it I was left feeling like I had just read an intro and not an entire book. It's not one that I'd recommend for someone interested in IF. For that I always point to Dr. Mosley's documentary (free online). I think it's the best place to start, for more info in IF.

barbecuesauce

I do 16:8 as well, and I've experimented with 5:2. My issue is not with IF, but rather that I find her claims dishonest. I have not read the actual studies that she has done--but from the interviews she's given, I don't think I'm going to find anything that will change my mind.

Sarasmaintaining

barbecuesauce wrote: »

I do 16:8 as well, and I've experimented with 5:2. My issue is not with IF, but rather that I find her claims dishonest. I have not read the actual studies that she has done--but from the interviews she's given, I don't think I'm going to find anything that will change my mind.

Yeah, she's rubbed me wrong as well

Becca211H

I did this for a month or so over the winter and certainly lost weight. As soon as I started exercising again I was starving and miserable. I also became obsessed with food on my up days. I know some people love it, but I couldn't maintain this eating style.

ndj1979

is this just a variant of 5:2 diet?

lauraesh0384

Sarasmaintaining wrote: »

akitagirl15 wrote: »

I was just wondering if anyone has tried the 'Every other day diet' outlined in a book written by krista varady? Basically you consume 500 calories one day, unlimited calories the next. You alternate fast/feast every other day. The book has scientific data to back up why you would safely lose weight. It even says people don't end up binging or overeating on the unlimited calorie days. If anyone has tried this before, I would love to hear your experience.

Ahhh Varady. She actually isn't the creator of this idea, and there's a bit of controversy surrounding the whole thing. It was actually Dr. James Johnson, who wrote The Alternate-Day Diet several years ago, that really started things off. Then Dr. Michael Mosley came along, did his BBC documentary Eat, Fast, Live Longer and from that came the creation of a modified version of alternate day intermittent fasting-5:2IF and his book The Fast Diet. And then Varady claimed he stole her work (she was interviewed for Mosley's documentary) and all sorts of ugliness ensued Etc Etc Etc.

I followed Dr. Johnson's plan (also called JUDDD), and loved it. On my up days I ate at maintenance calorie levels and on my low days I ate 500 calories or slightly under. I used Dr. Mosley's 5:2IF plan during the transition period between active weight loss and maintenance. Loved that also.

Now I've been in maintenance for a couple years and do yet another IF plan as part of that-16:8IF. I love IF and will mostly likely do it in some form for the rest of my life. However, yes I've read Varady's book and I found it to be the weakest one that I've read about IF. She's pretty vague and after I finished it I was left feeling like I had just read an intro and not an entire book. It's not one that I'd recommend for someone interested in IF. For that I always point to Dr. Mosley's documentary (free online). I think it's the best place to start, for more info in IF.

I looked into JUDDD, but the down day just seemed too restricting and I thought I'd be miserable. I've read on other forums how people have found success with it, but I have a hard time eating under 1000 calories as is.

Merkavar

When I see unlimited I keep on walking.

How do you lose weight if you over eat every 2nd day to the point it off sets the previous day?

Or by unlimited does it mean till your satiated?

Alatariel75

If I ate unlimited every second day, no 500 calorie day would save me haahaa

Sarasmaintaining

Merkavar wrote: »

When I see unlimited I keep on walking.

How do you lose weight if you over eat every 2nd day to the point it off sets the previous day?

Or by unlimited does it mean till your satiated?

That was one of the things that Varady tracked in her research, and surprisingly after the first few initial days people naturally started eating less calories on their non-fasting days. I also found this to be true with my own experience with alternate day IF. After the first couple weeks I no longer had an urge to over eat on my up days, and in fact had to make sure I was eating enough calories on those days (maintenance levels).

booksandchocolate12

Maybe some people can be successful on a plan like this, but I have not one iota of doubt that on my non-fasting days I would eat waaaaay too much and I would not be in deficit by the end of the week.

yarwell

Merkavar wrote: »

When I see unlimited I keep on walking.

How do you lose weight if you over eat every 2nd day to the point it off sets the previous day?

Or by unlimited does it mean till your satiated?

Indeed it does. I think she initially supplied food for both fast and feed days with the aim of hitting a target average deficit (or possibly maintenance) and found that few or no subjects could eat all the food on the high calorie days.

yarwell

http://www.nutritionj.com/content/12/1/146/table/T2 shows the ADF group eating maintenance (or baseline) calories on feed days.