Trying something new

lauragreenbaum

This isn't exactly fasting, but 2 days a week I'm restricting my diet to 500 calories and no alcohol or caffeine. The other 5 days I get 1500 calories (which by comparison seems like a lot!) This has been working for me because I find 1200 per day every day very restrictive and hard to maintain. The 2 days a week at 500 are a challenge, but I almost enjoy it and I tend to be an "all or nothing" personality. I keep reminding myself that it's only one day and tomorrow I can look forward to coffee and more calories, including wine. The feeling of hunger all day also makes me very humble and grateful because I know there are people in the world who are hungry every day. I think something similar is called the 5/2 diet, but my take on it is a bit different because I'm actually tracking my food on the other 5 days and sticking to 1500 calories. I believe with the 5/2 they tell you to just "eat normally" on the other 5 days- that was not working for me because I was overdoing it. If anyone else does something similar I'd love to hear from you.

TavistockToad

If 1500 isn't maintenance then you're massively undereating.

5/2 works by eating maintenance 5 days and 500 or 600 cals on fasting days.

amybrown1228

My best friend at work is on the 5/2 diet, and she loves it. She doesn't track on the "5" days, but I don't think she goes totally off the rails, lol.

callsitlikeiseeit

if i tried to do that, id eat everything i could get my hands on.

it would be bad

lololololol

works for a lot of people, but i know for me, it would NOT lol

snickerscharlie

Yeah, it wouldn't work for me, either.

When I first wake up, my thoughts are, "What time is it?" and "What day is it?" If it was a 500 cal day for me, I wouldn't even want to get out of bed!

CarvedTones

I did that early on in my weight loss before I started mfp and got smart about it. 5 days of eating too little and 2 days of eating way too little. Believe it or not, you can get used to that. But it obviously isn't sustainable and causes muscle loss.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Or you could just go for 1500 every day if 1200 every day is too hard.

ahoy_m8

I did 5:2 for a 4 or 5 months. The impetus was a crazy schedule where 2 days a week I wasn't home for dinner until after 9:30pm. It was seriously stressing me out on those days because I dislike eating late. Once I decided I would just eat low those days and skip dinner, I was much more relaxed about it. I had no problems on the low days (great energy, great workouts), but I was kind of crashy and had to manage a powerful overeating urge the days following the low days. I tracked all the days. Ultimately when my schedule changed, I went back to a consistent eating schedule. 5:2 was a decent solution to a schedule problem, but I do not prefer it.

One thing I've noticed about me is I carry less water weight when (1) I eat at maintenance or slightly above (recomp/slow bulk); and (2) I consume the same calories every day (i.e. eating less when I drink more.) I have banked calories for wine on weekends for years, and I recently shifted calories around to better support weight lifting and recovery on weekdays. It's weird to add calories and see the scale drop.

OP, If 5:2 works for you and, on average, you are getting enough nutrition, good for you. It works for lots of people. I've tried it and discovered my body responds better to even intake.