Intermittent Fasting 5:2

JourneysbyLK

Hi

It has been a while that I have been on MFP!
Just wondering if anyone has had or having success on the 5:2 Intermittent fasting with doing 500cals 2 days a week. My interest is in health more than weight loss for mind clarity and possible prevention of Alzheimer's or dementia.
Cheers
Lynne

EmmaOnTrack

I just started this eating plan yesterday (with a "fast" day) after researching on here and on the net. Obviously I'm in no position to regale you with my success story (yet), but it makes sense to me and seems eminently doable.

There is a 5:2 Group on here which contains lots of useful information and provides a forum for excellent support from like minded folk.

All the best. :flowerforyou:

VaxSA

Its not your typical IF roster of 5:2 but I only eat at dinner time, works for me. May not work for you. I love it though, personally.

angela233Z

I love it! The first diet I have been able to stick to for longer than a week. I am losing slowly

JourneysbyLK

Can you kindly steer me to the group you suggested, I had a quick look but couldn't find it!

Thanks for your reply!

JourneysbyLK

Silly me just did a search and found heaps of threads so I will have some good reading!

EmmaOnTrack

Silly me just did a search and found heaps of threads so I will have some good reading!

oh good!

KikiCS

I just started the 5:2 Fast yesterday with a fast day also. Surprisingly, I did pretty good. I did some research on it before deciding to follow a plan like this and it seems pretty safe and sure. We'll see... I'll be looking for that group also.

angela233Z

come join us!!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/7953-5-2-fasting

dulceproductions

I'm following something called "The Rotation Diet" and have had great success. I rotate my calorie intake for a couple days at a time. It rotates from 600 to 1200 and then back to "normal". Not sure if the 5:2 follows the same concept, but from what I've read here in MFP forums, it sounds like it.

NK1112

Do you ever see Dr Oz on TV or on his website ( www.doctoroz.com)? This past week he had on one Dr. Natasha Turner who was talking about her "Supercharged Hormone Diet Reset" and gave 5 "power Plan steps" .... Step 5 was bout a 1-day fast every week. .... here is a copy of what was posted on Dr Oz's website ....

"Power Plan Step #5: Do a hump-day cleanse to boost hormone responsible for building muscle.

This is a new revolution in weight loss called "intermittent fasting." Studies have clearly shown that our body responds to the fasting by boosting growth hormone, the hormone that helps build muscle. It involves the avoidance of food intake for one day per week. Now this might seem to counter my viewpoint on cutting calories, but if done properly it will not cause muscle deterioration and can actually help greatly in the treatment of chronic pain and metabolic syndromes. During your cleanse day you should drink at least 4 liters of warm or cold herbal teas to support the cleansing process. I recommend a combination of herbs with anti-inflammatory and diuretic benefits such as ginger, lemon, blueberry, hibiscus, dandelion, green tea and parsley. You can consume one or two hard-boiled eggs in the morning or a serving of nuts in the afternoon if you feel overly hungry."

I do not follow an intermittent fasting routine myself, but am interested in all things nutrition and health based. Good luck


PS .... the recommendation was to do the intermittent fasting on Wednesday but any 1 day you choose would be ok, as long as it was the same day every week.

TestingFun01

I only eat dinner. Everyday. I couldn't do 5:2, it was too inconsistent for my body to be able to get used to it.

JourneysbyLK

Will do Angela!

I am thinking this is a great option for a healthy lifestyle. Week 2 this week

a4phantom

Sounds like a plan for women who think they are too old to have eating disorders.

WalkingAlong

Sounds like a plan for women who think they are too old to have eating disorders.

What's that supposed to mean? The book was written by a male doctor.

http://www.amazon.com/FastDiet-Weight-Healthy-Intermittent-Fasting/dp/1476734941/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411362277&sr=1-1&keywords=fast+diet

Incidentally, he 'invented' this diet because he found he couldn't stick to the alternate day fasting being researched by Dr. Krista Varady.

The first time I heard of intermittent fasting was from Brad Pilon's site.

A lot of men use it, and develop programs around it.

http://dailyburn.com/life/health/intermittent-fasting-methods/

a4phantom

You're right, that was dismissive and sexist of me. Eating disorders are becoming much more common among men and boys, and I should have said people who think they're too old for ED.

EmmaOnTrack

You're right, that was dismissive and sexist of me. Eating disorders are becoming much more common among men and boys, and I should have said people who think they're too old for ED.

Doesn't look like anyone's biting. That'll be those ED's you're talking about.

WalkingAlong

There is a lot of fear of fasting. People treat the constant influx of food like a security blanket, often. It takes some courage to read about new things and more to try them.

VelveteenArabian

Fasting = voluntary starvation

Rather than starve yourself, why not just try eating less and moving more? It's the same thing, just spread out in a way that's more balanced for your body.

You "fast" naturally for a little over 2 days every week naturally. It's called sleeping.

WalkingAlong

It's not the same thing. That's why there are books written about fasting and the practice has been around forever.

If it scares you, don't bother learning about it. If you know nothing about it except your preconceived fears, is your input that relevant at all?

ithrowconfetti

I found 5:2 to be inconsistent, so I do intermittent fasting everyday. I fast for 20 hours, and fit my day's calories within 4 hours or less. It gets so much easier over time, and now, I cannot bring myself to eat early on in the day. The good thing about IF is that it's a sustainable lifestyle choice, not a diet or fad. And it's not rigid. Not hungry? Don't eat yet. Breakfast makes you nauseous? Skip it altogether and eat later. And it's really easy to tweak your fast/feast hours to fit in social appointments and meals with your family and friends. It's worked wonders for me in my weight loss journey, but of course, our bodies are all different. Do what feels best for you.

eldamiano

Personally, I cant think of many more things less appealing than starving yourself for over a quarter of your life. Each to their own I suppose.

rybo

Interesting that the detractors are those who have never tried it and have no real information about it.

Yanicka1

I had great success with 5:2 but I stopped since starting crossfit, it made me feel too depleted for such an intense exercise.

casamystic

JourneysbyLK wrote: »

Hi

It has been a while that I have been on MFP!
Just wondering if anyone has had or having success on the 5:2 Intermittent fasting with doing 500cals 2 days a week. My interest is in health more than weight loss for mind clarity and possible prevention of Alzheimer's or dementia.
Cheers
Lynne

Hi folks. Never posted here before. I am currently on a weight loss program, since mid July. Precision Nutrition. I also decided to try at the same time intermittent fasting having read the book. I have done lots of diets and fasts in my life. Diets for weight loss and fasts for general health. Familiar with them both. I am almost 3 months in to the Precision Nutrition and also the intermittent fasting program. The PN has lost of exercise and strength training and I have been doing the IF 2 times a week. I find the IF to be really easy to follow. 500 calories 2 x a week. Most of the rest of the time my diet is really good. Lean protein, lots of veggies. Some fruits, not much sugar etc. So far I have lost a lot of weight, almost 17 pounds. I am stronger from the strength training. What I did notice one month in to the IF is my total cholesterol had plummeted 30 points since the last time I had it checked when I gave blood. I gave blood again last week and am waiting to see the results. My cholesterol was borderline high so this was a welcome event. I am very interested in seeing last weeks results. This is something that the book indicates does happen for some folks. If so, this is a trend that helps support that this is a "healthy" method for me to continue both for weight loss and general health. My life is very physical and I find that it is very easy to fit in 2 low calorie days a week. Of course I would rather not. But if it helps provide me with better blood chemistry, and weight loss then I will continue to do it until I am down to a weight I want to be. Then I might play with one day a week. Anyway, my two cents from a little bit of experience.

TeaBea

Since the upgrades......the group is now here:http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/100058-5-2-fasting

I'm trying intermittent fasting, the 5:2 version. The 500 calories days aren't too bad as long as you are prepared. I still have to do some logging, or I tend to eat too much during maintenance days.

I don't do any exercise on the 500 calorie days....those are rest days. I save workouts for maintenance days.

LeonCX

The 5:2 "documentary" was quite deceptive, imo. The day after his 500 calorie day, they show him pigging out on fast food. It suggests you can "eat anything you want" on your non-fasting days. The problem is, you can't do that and expect to still lose weight. I was more interested in the anti-inflammatory effect of alternate day fasting, and not it's claims for weight control.

alazio

Can't do this. Eating too little in a day gives me a terrible migraine.

hotasfire36

This is interesting. I may try this

TeaBea

dulceproductions wrote: »

I'm following something called "The Rotation Diet" and have had great success. I rotate my calorie intake for a couple days at a time. It rotates from 600 to 1200 and then back to "normal". Not sure if the 5:2 follows the same concept, but from what I've read here in MFP forums, it sounds like it.

Um...no

AKA....Zig-Zagging.......I've done that (1980's). The 1980's version of the Rotation Diet was 7 days of dieting. If I remember it was something like a week of 600, 900, and 1200 calorie days. Weekly average was under my BMR (and under 1200 even) .....so I wouldn't do that one again.

Sounds like your version of Rotation Diet has been re-vamped. It's funny how these old diets come back. The Dolly Parton Diet is now called the "Fat Burning Soup" diet.

5:2 is different. It's 2 - 500 calorie days (1 or 2 meals usually) and 5 days of maintenance. My maintenance runs about 1,800. My entire deficit is created in 2 days. I've been losing about 1/2 pound a week.

Fasting is supposed to have lots of health benefits. I've never had bloodwork done before & after, so I can't personally attest to it. There have been a few studies pointing to various health benefits.

jvs125

I tried 5:2 and I also tried a 18:6 eating window. It wasn't for me.. With 5:2 I would overeat after a fast day and it was just too inconsistent for me. I need my days to be alike.. And on 18:6, well I was so hungry by the time it was time to eat, it wasn't pleasant for me or anyone around me. I lost at first but then gained back and more. So I guess I was just eating too much during my window, which is weird because I only had two meals in a small plate, no seconds, no snacks and no sweets. I still don't get why it wouldn't work, but even if it did, as I said it wasn't fun. For me, it just seems better to spread out my calories evenly throughout the day, every day. Too bad for me, since the science behind it seems compelling.