alternate day fasting

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  • shelbyfrootcake
    shelbyfrootcake Posts: 965 Member
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    Who is actually doing this and has their food diary open to see? I'm curious as to what you eat on a 500 calorie day? I'm trying it today and have a plan, but will see if it works. Just looking for ideas on what to eat on down days...

    I don't eat meat, but do eat fish but tend to keep my fast day meal vegetarian. Examples of my 500 cal meals are:

    Veggie tortilla pizzas (wholemeal tortilla wrap, tomato puree, low fat mozzarella, spinach, egg - oven baked)
    Small spaghetti dish (again, veggie). Usually the low fat mozzarella again, shallot, garlic, olives, basil, 50g wholemeal pasta.
    Stir fries. You can have a HUGE vegetable stir fry for 500 cals.
    Mushroom and low fat cottage cheese omelette (with the spray oil for the pan to keep the cals and fat down).
    Cheese and beans on toast. Two slices of bread, a little cheese, half a tin of baked beans and lots of black pepper (Dinner of champions, IMO).
  • Clifton26W
    Clifton26W Posts: 1 Member
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    I disagree. Use fitness pal to assist you to eat comfortably and regularly. By understanding the calorific values in each meal / snack you should be able to compensate on a day to day basis should you go over or under your dietary level. Do not worry about the odd special day ..... enjoy life. Just make sure you correct the discrepancy sometime in the near future. There is no special tick to this!

    It’s working for me nicely.
  • shelbyfrootcake
    shelbyfrootcake Posts: 965 Member
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    Can anyone let me know if this is a 'lifestyle' change of diet, or should it only be done for a few weeks at a time?? Me and my husband have been doing the 5:2 diet for 3 weeks now - haven't found it to be as arduous as I thought it would be.

    Either, as far as I've been able to make out. You can do it for life, or you can dip in and out of it. The benefits are obviously going to be more if you do it as a lifestyle thing, but it doesn't hurt to take breaks. I'm on holiday next week and there's no way I'm fasting for two days while I'm away.
  • Coolkatt
    Coolkatt Posts: 2 Member
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    I believe this is lifestyle, with the results of fasting being better overall blood labs and reduced risk of heart/cancer disease. You should look at the BBC documentary on you tube
  • shellux
    shellux Posts: 164 Member
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    Interesting topic, I needs to research it more though.
  • kr1stadee
    kr1stadee Posts: 1,774 Member
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    I've done fads for years. Can't stick to them, so I don't even consider trying them. I'm here to change how I EAT, to not feel hungry, and to lose weight. Can't do all those 3 while fasting!

    IMO, being hungry all day = being cranky all day = pigging out to feel normal = feeling like a failure = giving up.

    No thanks, but good luck to those who are trying this on for size..
  • kr1stadee
    kr1stadee Posts: 1,774 Member
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    Who is actually doing this and has their food diary open to see? I'm curious as to what you eat on a 500 calorie day? I'm trying it today and have a plan, but will see if it works. Just looking for ideas on what to eat on down days...

    I don't eat meat, but do eat fish but tend to keep my fast day meal vegetarian. Examples of my 500 cal meals are:

    Veggie tortilla pizzas (wholemeal tortilla wrap, tomato puree, low fat mozzarella, spinach, egg - oven baked)
    Small spaghetti dish (again, veggie). Usually the low fat mozzarella again, shallot, garlic, olives, basil, 50g wholemeal pasta.
    Stir fries. You can have a HUGE vegetable stir fry for 500 cals.
    Mushroom and low fat cottage cheese omelette (with the spray oil for the pan to keep the cals and fat down).
    Cheese and beans on toast. Two slices of bread, a little cheese, half a tin of baked beans and lots of black pepper (Dinner of champions, IMO).

    Maybe it's because I don't think it's a good idea that I don't understand. You eat one 500 calorie stir fry for the whole day?
  • YoYo1951
    YoYo1951 Posts: 370
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    anxious to hear how you all are doing on this. Keep us posted
  • morna1969
    morna1969 Posts: 2 Member
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    I have been doing the fasting thing for the last couple of weeks. It's a good way of shedding some weight without the other memeers of your family suffering!
    I usually eat 2 bolied eggs for breakfast, some berries for lunch and grilled fish/veg for dinner. sometimes I only do 1 day per week and sometimes I go sligtly over the calorie limit of 500 but i'm fairly relaxed about it.
    I also felt I might have pre-diabetes with fuggy, sore morning headaches- now I dont get them and my cravings are less.
    I recommend it- watch the BBC documentary!
  • kel7298
    kel7298 Posts: 1,542 Member
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    I personally don't think you should fast consecutive days, that in my opinion is NOT alternate day fasting. Alternate day fasting is exactly what it implies, fast one day, feast the next. Fasting also means different things to different people. Some fast completely (no calories what so ever) others eat 500 calories. The diet in itself also means different things to different people. Are you doing it for health benefits or weight loss? There is quite the buzz about fasting. Do yourself a favor and take the time to research it.
  • Rumik
    Rumik Posts: 86 Member
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    Just watched the documentary and am interested in trying this out. My weight loss has been coming along slowly but surely over the past 7 months, and that's restricting myself to 1600 calories a day - though on weekends I'm usually a little less strict with myself. I'm definitely interested in the idea of eating whatever I want for 5 days in exchange for 2 days of restricted calories. I'd even consider the alternate day fast.

    I'd be interested so hear from people who have tried both types, and how it has affected them over the period of time they've been doing it.

    Thanks!
  • beattie1
    beattie1 Posts: 1,012 Member
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    I did the standard calorie counting, eating back about 50% of exercise calories for about 6 months and lost 34lbs in that time. Then I heard about the Horizon documentary (Eat, Fast and Live Longer) about the 5:2 diet and watched it online. After a week or so's thought I decided to give it a try and have now been doing it for about 2 months and have lost 12lbs. So, weight-loss wise the results are about the same.

    I did find that when I started the 5:2 diet it helped break a plateau I'd been on for a few weeks. I don't find it that hard to limit my calories to 500 per day on two non-consecutive days per week. Not eating breakfast is easy for me anyway. Then sometimes I skip lunch - if I'm busy anyway I hardly notice. On other "fast" days I eat a "leaves only" type salad or have a low cal cup a soup. A low-ish dinner wraps up the day. Some people complain of headaches on low days - I haven't had any. I used to be very aware of the "rumbly-tum syndrome" but I find that happens less as I've got used to fasting. I also found that in the early days I was wanting meals promptly at slightly earlier times than usual on the day after a fast, but this has worn off now and I just feel normal.

    In my opinion, you do need to be aware that you need a bit more to eat on non-fast days than if you were sticking to a regular diet that didn't include fast days. You want the average calorie intake over the week to be roughly what it would be if you were just calorie counting and eating the same every day.

    I like the flexibility you have with this diet. Going out for a special meal? Just fit it into a feast day. You can swop the days around to suit yourself as long as you have at least one eating day between fast days.

    I looked at Alternate Day Fasting and it seems like a slightly more drastic version of 5:2, or rather. the other way round!
  • alternacja
    alternacja Posts: 4
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    I've been doing the 5:2 diet for two and a half months now. I eat 500-600 calories in two meals every 2-3 days ( I eat a lot of miso soup, and home cooked turkey soup). If the weather is cold I tend to eat 700-900 calories on a fasting day, because I do need more energy to keep warm :-)

    This is the first time I lost weight in 12 years, but I'm mostly doing it for health benefits. I don't believe in diets, but this one just makes sense to me, that's why I decided to try it.
  • teknorob
    teknorob Posts: 1
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    I'm 39, 5ft 8" and weighed 171lbs with body fat of 23% (not visibly drastically overweight but fatter than i've ever been around the middle) have been following the 5:2 fasting diet for about 10 week. I usually fast on mondays and wednesdays and i stick to 550-600 calories on the fast days. On the non fast days i generally eat what i want which amounts on average to 2500 cals a day. I drink at the weekends (20-30 units) and which probably brings my calories for those days up to 3000-3500 calls. I exercise on non fast days, mountain biking in the surrey hills for about 3 hours each session (14- 21 miles depending on terrain) and occasional games of tennis.

    The results so far are that i've lost 11lbs, and i'm down to 160lbs and body fat is down to 21.8%. However i reached these figures about 3 weeks ago and since then my weight has plateaued.

    Losing weight was not my sole motivation, because i was interested in the other possible health benefits, but i was hoping to get my body fat under 20% and weight down to 160ish lbs.

    This is also the first diet i have ever tried, and i did this because it looks like something i could sustain over the longterm, but as i say i would be interested to hear any suggestions as to what i could do to encourage more weigh loss and if anyone has found more info on:

    - should the fast days be consecutive (this would make it harder to sustain)
    - what impact does exercise have
    - should you eat protein on fast days, as the horizon programme implied you shouldn't
    - what effect does alcohol have, even if you dont go over the 2500 cals for a man on, on non fast days.

    Any other info would be great

    cheers

    Rob
  • Skinny_Beans
    Skinny_Beans Posts: 405 Member
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    So s a 117 pound 5'4 woman, on the 1200 a day calorie restriction right now, how much would I want to eat on non-fast days? I'd do the 500 cal or less on tues and thurs.
  • jfcarlson713
    jfcarlson713 Posts: 108 Member
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    Would there be any problem with fasting from noon meal to noon meal instead of evening meal to evening meal. I don't think I would be successful if I didn't eat during the day at work.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    So s a 117 pound 5'4 woman, on the 1200 a day calorie restriction right now, how much would I want to eat on non-fast days? I'd do the 500 cal or less on tues and thurs.
    Not much to lose then ? I would say maintenance on non-fast days - 1800 to 2000 perhaps ?
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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  • akd4015
    akd4015 Posts: 3
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    Check out his blog as well. Quite informative: http://bradpilon.com/
  • Whippetkd
    Whippetkd Posts: 7
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    So day one of my fasting day and I have had -

    2 weetabix and Semi Skimmed milk for breakfast at 9am
    A slimfast shake for Lunch at 1pm
    A slimfast shake for Dinner at 7pm

    Lots of water, which means I am peeing loads :laugh:

    I am not feeling very hungry so all good, I only have till tomorrow morning to go and then I will eat normal. I am going to cut out choc, sugar, and crisp etc and stick with healthy foods

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