5:2 Fasting Diet

Hi Kiwidrop,

I am eating 1900-2000 calories each day Sun to Thurs and eating 1000 calories on Fri and Sat - I have lost 18lbs in 10 weeks.

I get the occasional headache on a Saturday but you get over that. I went out last Thursday evening with my colleagues and found
I wasn't hungry - I did eat the main course but didn't have a starter or dessert. Today I finished work at 5:15pm with only 220 calories left - I had soup at 6pm and two coffees and I still don't feel hungry now at 22:15pm.

I like that I am losing weight and only restricting myself on two days. I lie in on a Saturday so that it is a shorter day to cover the few calories. I may try 500 calories in the future if I plateau but only on non-consecutive days.

Give it a try, you may like the results

Wel I am on my 3rd week of the 5:2 Fast diet and I need some help from the people who have had success doing it. Here are my results so far.
1st week I lost .04 pound
2nd week I gained 1 pound
3rd week I gained 1 pound

On my off days I eat 1200 calories PLUS my exercise calories which is another 300-400 calories. I exercise 5-6 days a week cardio and strength training. So I guess I'd like to know what I am doing wrong that I am not losing. I am almost 50yr old and didn't realize how hard it is to lose weight when you reach menopause. I do have some positives about this fast though. I no longer have my huge carb/sugar cravings and I am not as hungry on my off days which I thought would help that scale. Also my sleep in better on my fast nights. no insomnia. So any help from the veterans who have had success with this, please e-mail me and let me know what I am doing wrong. Thanks for the help.

I don't know all your stats, so I can't say for sure, but it sounds like you may be restricting too far on your eating days. I find if I don't eat enough, I stall. I usually end up around 1800 calories on my eating days, and under 300 on my fasting days. Have you figured out your TDEE?

My TDEE is at 1770. I will try to eat around the 2000 calories this week and see if that changes anything. I do that the positive thing about the fasting and will probably stick to it just because it has taken my cravings away and my appetite on my non fast days. I know its not for everyone but I know that it does work, I just need to figure out the calorie area that I need to be in for the losing part. Thanks for the help!

I saw a tv show on PBS about this. The fellow (not sure if he is the author) followed basically 5:2 but I think he actually fasted. The point was to lower his IGF1 marker and other markers for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc., which he did. This was based on some people somewhere in the world who despite what they eat don't get these diseases because they have genetically lower IGF1 whatever that is. I think I read that even with 500-600 calories on the fast day you still get the health benefit. You also are calorie cycling so you are not lowering your metabolism. It did not seem to matter what people ate on the feast day in terms of fat. This guy was on a 3-4 day fast at first to lower markers but then returned to the 5:2 diet (I believe with eating low calorie on the fast days). I think he overall lost weight. Anyone else who saw the show could correct my mistakes on this, but basically it was about how healthy this way of eating can be. There have not been enough studies on people to get the optimum information on this, despite all the books written. You have to find the actual studies. There have been more studies on mice. It's great to hear people's stories. I tried to do 500 calories yesterday but ended up at 1000. Oh well.

I have been fasting for about 9 months. I did it more for the health benefits, but needed weight loss as well. I started out doing alternate day (Johnson's up day down day diet) until I got about 15 pounds from goal. Now I do three down days. When I am a little closer to goal I am going to switch to 5:2. For me, it is SLOW steady weight loss. I now average maybe two pounds a month, but that is fine with me. I don't think that you should do this expecting fast results. It is not meant for that. My blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels are now normal ( were high when I started). I don't know if that is from weight loss or fasting or both.

This is the ONLY thing I have been able to do long term. I can have a crazy calorie night out and it doesn't matter because I can just make the next day a fast day. I do around 600 on fast days and between 2000-2400 on normal days. I work out pretty heavy though for an hour 6 days a week. It fits my life. I can arrange around birthdays and holidays and never feel deprived. I no longer have "cravings" that I have to ignore, because I can have it the next day. I am at the point that I actually enjoy the fast days ( the first couple of weeks were rough). They are calm, I get a lot done. My husband did it with me and, of course, lost twice as much :grumble:

Personally, I wouldn't do it. Fasting and too low calories leads to binging! x

Has anyone tried the 5:2 Fasting Diet, where you eat only 500 calories for 2 days a week and up to 2000 calories for the other 5 days? I'm trying this diet but using 1210 calories for my other 5 days instead. I'm just curious if anyone else has tried the diet and how well (or not) it worked for them.

I believe the max on fasting days is 500 for women and 600 for men. I haven't tried it, but have considered it. Have you watched the video Eat, Fast and Live Longer by Michael Mosley, a BBC television presenter who has a medical degree? He discusses the diet and wrote a book describing it.

http://video.pbs.org/video/2363162206/

In response to some comments, I don't believe that you're supposed to eat 2000 calories no matter who you are. It depends on your sex, height, and weight. 1210 may be fine for you.

I do various forms of IF from time to time. The problem I and some others have, if we're doing it for weight loss, is eating too much. You have to create a calorie deficit if you want to lose weight.

Personally, I wouldn't do it. Fasting and too low calories leads to binging! x

Not for everyone. Some people find that constantly having to make choices about food is what causes them to overeat. Personally, I only lost weight while doing Fast Five, another form of Intermittent Fasting. I was, and still am only trying to lose vanity pounds, but those are the hardest because there's little room for error.

The simplicity of fasting is very attractive to many and it is not unhealthy. In fact, researchers have found health benefits. Watch the video Eat, Fast and Live Longer by Michael Mosley, a BBC TV presenter with a medical degree. He discusses various kinds of fasting with researchers. He personally found 5:2 to be the easiest for him. He readily admits that fasting is not for everyone. Nothing is.

How judgmental some of you people are on here, you really do need to stop spoiling it for people who have never done these weight loss programmes before and are only asking. YOU are the reason people give up. Others are very helpful and remember what it was like to be the new girl/boy and be forever asking questions. Its a forum for goodness sake.

I'm doing the 5:2 fasting too since a half year and feel good with it. I'm just wonderung about one thing - when I exercise on my fasting days - do/should I eat my exercise calories back?

For example today I'm fasting, means I normally eats only 500cal. But I also went to work by bike and to the gym, so I burned 825cal by exercising. Should I still stuck to my 500cal fasting calories or should I eat my (or at least some) of the exercise calories back? I'm realy confused about that.

Thanks for your help.

What does the book say? Common sense would tell me that you shouldn't really go out of your way to exercise on your fasting days, and if exercise can't be avoided then to bump your fasting day to different, more sedentary day. Other than that, I think you should stay with the 500 calories. I've never heard anyone mention "net" calories when talking about intermittent fasting. I think you're either fasting or feasting; not much gray area.