Starting the 5:2 diet tomorrow - help!

Well, yes, I'm starting counting calories NOW because I'm starting the 5:2 diet and that's why I joined this site

And the idea was not to fast on the two days but drastically reduce calories and not to binge on the 5 days but to have 'reset' myself in order to eat less in general (but not have to count calories or weigh out portions on those days). I don't have an unhealthy attitude to food I've just never really thought about it or wanted to do anything about my weight or health until now, as I had high blood pressure when tested last week and I'm 42 now and want to make a change. So I'm also cutting down on caffeine, alcohol, drinking more water, exercising more etc. So wish me luck!

you are not a nintendo. you don't have a reset button. everything that happened yesterday will still affect you today.

of course you still have to count calories and weigh your portions out while on the 5:2 diet. i still do while on IF.

i mean, do you even know about the 5:2 diet?? it's supposed to be 1500-1600 calories for women on regular days, and 500 on two fast days that are non-consecutive.

you are making a lot of drastic changes all at once, and it can affect you more negatively then you think. i would think that you'd know that small changes can yield big results. 5:2 won't give you results any quicker then just counting calories.

why don't you just try and count calories for a month or two, before we start with 5:2?

Per Dr. Mosley, on the 5 normal days you eat around 2,000 calories for women.

Op, I've had great success with 4:3/5:2 IF and have been able to transition into maintenance easily with it as well. I hope you have success with it to!

Well, yes, I'm starting counting calories NOW because I'm starting the 5:2 diet and that's why I joined this site

And the idea was not to fast on the two days but drastically reduce calories and not to binge on the 5 days but to have 'reset' myself in order to eat less in general (but not have to count calories or weigh out portions on those days). I don't have an unhealthy attitude to food I've just never really thought about it or wanted to do anything about my weight or health until now, as I had high blood pressure when tested last week and I'm 42 now and want to make a change. So I'm also cutting down on caffeine, alcohol, drinking more water, exercising more etc. So wish me luck!

you are not a nintendo. you don't have a reset button. everything that happened yesterday will still affect you today.

of course you still have to count calories and weigh your portions out while on the 5:2 diet. i still do while on IF.

i mean, do you even know about the 5:2 diet?? it's supposed to be 1500-1600 calories for women on regular days, and 500 on two fast days that are non-consecutive.

you are making a lot of drastic changes all at once, and it can affect you more negatively then you think. i would think that you'd know that small changes can yield big results. 5:2 won't give you results any quicker then just counting calories.

why don't you just try and count calories for a month or two, before we start with 5:2?

Per Dr. Mosley, on the 5 normal days you eat around 2,000 calories for women.

Op, I've had great success with 4:3/5:2 IF and have been able to transition into maintenance easily with it as well. I hope you have success with it to!

"normal" calorie requirement is linked to age, activity, etc & depends on height

Check here

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

Cool website-thanks for the link! According to that, I'd actually get more than 2,000 calories a day on my normal days I was just responding to the thought that the plan says women are supposed to be eating 1,500-1,600c, but per the actual book Mr. Mosley recommends around 2,000 calories for women on non-fasting days Definitely tweakable, but the big thing is to not under eat on your regular calorie days.

The normal daily calorie thing triggered my response. My normal [old bloke, lightly active] is around 1800, hence need to check

I think the normal days are where it can all go wrong unless one is very careful and watching just what goes in ones tummy

.

The 5:2 diet - if you want to do this and have never dieted, instead just miss a meal (or two) from time to time as suits, when you are not so hungry anyway, then take care your next meal is thoughtful (fish with salad is good).

Good luck. I hope you don't end up on this treadmill we are all on.

I very much agree with skip a meal or two, and the fish [not fish & chips of course] just do not post about on here or you will get a squillion posts telling you how awful it is, must have 6 meals a day, or five , or three, must have breakfast, kick start metabolism, & starvation mode

Do what fits into your life

I don't think that is too healthy. You should try something along the lines of a lifestyle change rather than a quick change. Add better nutrition to your diet and drink 8-10 glasses of water a day. Rather than staving yourself for a day. You should never eat less than 1200 calories a day for woman and 1600 calories for men (Jillian Michaels) Good luck in whatever you decide

To me, I can understand that you don't want to count your calories every day, but to me being on a diet is a short fix and doesn't help with understanding food better. For example, I bought a kitchen scales and couldn't believe how small a 30g portion of cereal was. I kind of realise where i was over eating. I have now been using my fitness pal for 9 weeks and I have lost 19 pounds. I have 21 pounds to go until i am at my ideal weight.

Counting calories really ain't that bad, because when you have the my fitness pal app on your phone it becomes so easy and the previous food entries are saves, which shortens the time it takes. Using my fitness pal, doesn't make you feel like your on a diet, so it enables you to still eat the foods you want. I think the best thing about it is that you can link other exercise apps with my fitness pal, and i have now started to use it when I'm walking, to count the calories i have burnt.

But im sure you know what the app offers, but still i would say give the app a go, you have nothing to lose cause it free.
Plus usually doing a diet means you have to buy foods of low calories, which half the time are really pricey. Dont get me wrong I've tried almost every diet, meat diet, cambridge diet, cayenne pepper diet, Atkins diet, cabbage diet, and let me tell you the minute i stopped those diets, i ballooned in size, cause i never learnt portion size or limitations and i believe my fitness pal teaches you limitations. My advise is get the app on your phone and try it out.

Cause when i was on the cambridge diet, i could only eat 500 calories in the day and i was starving all day every day. I would advise if your an active person, never try a diet that only has 500 calories a day, not worth the health problems. And don't get me started on weight watchers, i lost 6 pounds in 5 weeks, soon as i stopped i ballooned 10 pounds heavier. The problem with WW is that you still don't really learn portion size because you focus more on points and how much you can have, then you have to buy WW calculators to convert calories into points. My fitness pal makes it so easy because on your phone you can just scan items barcode like drinks and add it so quickly to your food diary. You can also add friends and motivate each other and give your own advise to each other. I use it with my mother in law, i think adding friends, enables you to be completely honest with where your going wrong.


Anyways i think i've ranted on enough, i have no reason to sell the app to you, all i know is i lose weight every week, and the app is almost 100 percent right about my estimated weight lose every week and when i add exercise i lose even more. Its definitely been my miracle for weight lose. I wish you luck with whatever you decide to do. Please remember losing weight should be done in a healthy way and should be a life style change instead of a quick fix because you will see you will never say at the right weight and will have to always starve yourself.

bump

I am thinking of trying this. My problem is that I lift heavy weights 3x a week. I know I need to fuel my workouts. The day after my workout probably needs to be the light calorie day but I am STARVING from the previous day's workout! LOL Summer means boats, seadoos and rum punch on the weekend so I have got to get some control during the week!!

^ What you said.