5:2 Question

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Clarisse_McClellan
Clarisse_McClellan Posts: 44 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm trying the 5:2 diet, only started this week, so please forgive my ignorance. I'm wondering how strict I've really got to be with this.

My normal TDEE is a little over 2200 calories, so my 'fast day' of 25% of that per day is 550 calories. My body isn't exactly thrilled with that amount of food, and I consumed 811 calories today, 261 calories more than I should have. To make up for that, I did a couple miles on the treadmill, almost double my overeating (453 calories) but not 4 times my overeating.

Am I being stupid, trying to do this right, or is it enough that I've burned 1800 more calories than I've consumed today?

Replies

  • xiantan
    xiantan Posts: 7 Member
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    Two foods I found helpful were hard boiled eggs, and a home made frozen drink made from kale, frozen blueberries, fresh ginger, lots of water, and a dash of apple juice (less than 1/4 cup). I'm pre-diabetic, which is why follow this 5:2 diet, but I only do it for about 3-4 weeks once a year.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    The idea behind 5:2 is that you eat maintenance on 5 days and get your deficit from very low cal on the other 2. For example, for someone with a TDEE of 2000 (1600 RMR, 400 extra movement), you'd eat 2000 on 5 days and 500 on 2 days and have a deficit of 3000 cal per week. So if you eat 800 instead of 500, you can cut back 300 on the next day or exercise more than you planned when calculating your TDEE.

    When doing TDEE method, I think it's generally not great to exercise for calories as it can end up feeling like punishment for eating more, and that may be more so if you are trying to exercise hard on very low cals before being used to it (I have a friend who does 5:2, is in maintenance now, and generally runs about 3-5 miles on fasting days as well as non fasting days, but she says it took a while before that felt normal).

    Anyway, there's no magic to hitting your cals on the fasting days -- if you ate 300 over for the week you lose 300 cals (less than 0.1 lbs) less for the week than otherwise, and if you eat slightly less on maintenance days (or exercise more) you probably make it up -- as others said, it's the deficit for the week (on average, over time) that matters.
  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 6,956 Member
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    kimny72 wrote: »
    The benefit of IF is appetite suppression. For some people it's easier to deal with two super low cal days so they can eat maintenance level the rest of the week. They are typically people who find that not needing to think much about food on their fast days, as well as not getting their appetite going by eating throughout the day makes the fast days easy to get through.

    So however you need to distribute your calories out throughout the day and the week is fine, as long as at the end of the week you are in your chosen deficit.

    I would guess it probably takes a couple of weeks of playing around with the fast days to figure out how to make them work, if they will work. I've never tried 5:2 myself because I get lightheaded when I don't eat much. It doesn't work well for everyone, so by all means give it a shot and give it a little time to settle in. But if you can't get through the fast days, it's no big deal, just reapply your calories until you get a schedule that works with your appetite. Good luck!

    I can attest that it takes a little time to get used to it. You're throwing off your rhythm, not eating when you are used to. I don't do breakfast anymore except coffees, and it took a couple weeks for me to not want to kill people from hanger. Some people can not do it at all. I'm usually pretty stabby myself in the beginning but over time I adapt.

    I switch to 5:2 in weight loss mode when I've been a little too lax with logging and gone up a few pounds. I usually do low-calories daily until I can't stand it any more, then move over to that 5:2.

    As kimny72 said, as long as you get your total calories locked in, you can ideally move them around how you want. I tend to have a few more on my fast days, and a little less on some others to offset, just to fit my eating times around with my family a bit more.

    There is no right or wrong. 5:2 is a specialized tool among many others. It can work well if it's a fit for you. Or it could not mesh well with you at all. Then you'll need to go tool shopping again. :smirk:
  • liz0269
    liz0269 Posts: 139 Member
    edited May 2019
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    I used 4:3 to lose some weight. I found that what worked best for me was to eat dinner only on fast day. That made it easier to stick with the 500 calorie limit. On fast day, you should not eat back your exercise calories. The idea is to 500 or 550 calories only. I used to exercise right before dinner on those days so that I didn't have to fight post-workout hunger. For me, I fould that keeping that meal low carb - usually an omelet - worked best for satiety. The other days I would eat high carb.
    It takes a couple weeks to adjust but eventually your stomach will settle down during the day.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Not stupid but being a bit harsh on yourself!!

    It takes time to adjust to the fasting days. You may want (even need) to experiment with meal timing and how to split up your meagre allowance and especially food selections to get the maximum satiation from little food.

    You may find some days are so bad or hard to adhere to that you abandon that day's fast.

    You may find that adding exercise on a fast can be extremely hard (the first day may not be indicative of what happens when you have been in a deficit a while).

    Keep in mind the purpose of the eating pattern is to put you in a calorie deficit, you achieved that so be content with your first attempt. Learn what worked and what didn't and move on.
  • Clarisse_McClellan
    Clarisse_McClellan Posts: 44 Member
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    To me, the attraction of trying this is not having to cut more than a couple days a week. I've lost and failed to keep it off more than once, and I like the idea of learning to eat at maintenance most of the time, though I expect my maintenance calories to drop a little before it's all said and done. Thanks for all the encouragement, and for letting me know I'm being a bit harsh, considering this is my first week. I'm that annoying person who always expects to get it right the first time I try. Never mind that that almost never happens.

    Thanks for the tips and encouragement, sijomial, liz0269, baconslave (love your screen name, btw), kimny72, and xiantan. As you put it, baconslave, "tool shopping" isn't always fun and easy, but I'm trying to keep an open mind about different tools.
  • Luciicul
    Luciicul Posts: 415 Member
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    Depending on which version of the 5:2 diet you are following...Dr Michael Mosley who published a book about it has made some modifications to it in his latest book (Fast 800). He said he found that most people doing the 5:2 ended up eating 800 calories on a fast day, and the diet still worked for them, so he now says to eat 800 calories on fast days.
  • calabrdm
    calabrdm Posts: 303 Member
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    I have had a lot of success with 5:2. I know some here are giving you the wrong idea. I started because of joint pain (I haven't taken advil since February. I am also down 28 pounds since New Year. It is sooooooooo easy, free and I am almost pain free. I do not eat my exercise calories back

    I completely do not eat for two twenty four hours a week.... no food ... no supplements... only water, black coffee and black tea...

    Here's an example:
    *Sunday night ... Eat dinner... done dinner at 6 pm
    *Sunday 6 pm to Monday at 6pm.... only water... black coffee... green tea... black tea.. green tea... (supplements... and sweeteners will break your fast)
    Monday at 6 pm--- a 1/2 cup of bone broth.... then a 500 calorie meal mostly protein and fat

    Tues- normal
    wed- normal
    *Thursday night ... Eat dinner... done dinner at 6 pm
    * THursday night 6 pm to Monday at 6pm.... only water... black coffee... green tea... black tea.. green tea... (supplements... and sweeteners will break your fast)
    * Friday at at 6 pm--- a 1/2 cup of bone broth.... then a 500 calorie meal mostly protein and fat
    *Saturday- normal

    You can change you days or do lunch to lunch....etc.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLVf3d0rqqY&t=742s
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    @calabrdm it's great if that works for you, but that's not typically what people mean by 5:2. All the more proof that meal timing is personal preference, different schedules work for different people.
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
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    That's the eating protocol advocated by the "Eat-Stop-Eat" approach which is slightly different than 5:2 where the 2 days aren't complete fast days but rather drastically reduced calorie days where calories are consumed at any time during the day.

    In the end theirs nothing magic or inherently better about one approach over another beyond personal preference and ease of adherence. I like the description above to treat the 'rules' as 'suggestions' and adjust as necessary to suit your personal needs/preferences/life.
  • laurajking76
    laurajking76 Posts: 1 Member
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    Hi Clarisse, I'm doing Michael Mosley's new version of 5:2 - The Fast 800. As someone above says he now recommends 800 calories a day on your two "fasting" days because it works for weightloss and people are more likely to stick with it. I tried the previous version (500ish calories a day on fasting days) and found it impossible. 800 calories is much more manageable. Good Luck! I've started a discussion in the Intermittent Fasting Group about The Fast 800 Diet if you are interested https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10742873/the-fast-800#latest

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