5:2 diet - interesting......

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Shadowmf
Shadowmf Posts: 40
in Food and Nutrition
So I'm trying the 5:2 diet and this is actually quite interesting. I noticed I only get hungry on the times that I would normally eat. After eating time passes...the hunger goes away as well. I wonder if that would have made me eat more while not actually being hungry... and actually eat more calories...if I hadn't counted calories and just went by instinct. Or maybe this is just because of the fasting. It's interesting either way. :)

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  • blobby10
    blobby10 Posts: 357 Member
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    Same here! Yesterday was my first 500cal day and I admit to being very hungry around lunchtime and snuck an extra cup of coffee in but once my normal 'pig out' time (when I get in from work) had passed and I got back in from my evening (around 9pm) I was fine. I did struggle a little at the gym this morning though and wonder if I would have been quite so OK if I wasn't injured and could do my normal 90 minutes of touch rugby on a Tuesday evening but it will be interesting to do the next 500 cal day tomorrow,.

    x
  • Shadowmf
    Shadowmf Posts: 40
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    :)
  • weightliftingdiva
    weightliftingdiva Posts: 522 Member
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    I've always wanted to try this way of eating.
  • blobby10
    blobby10 Posts: 357 Member
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    Its my second 500 cal day today - stupidly I planned it for a day Im off work and at home. However the house is spotless, I've been staving off hunger with coffee and tea all day (plus 2 bananas!) and have now reached my 500cal maximum. Usually I play touch rugby on a Thursday evening so not in the house but am injured so will have to just watch :-( At least it keeps me away from food :-)
  • pfeif21
    pfeif21 Posts: 27
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    Guys what is this diet?? Can you explain it to me?? I'm interested...
  • blobby10
    blobby10 Posts: 357 Member
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    Its just another way of eating.

    For 5 days out of 7 you follow a 'normal' diet but for the remaining 2 days you restrict your intake to 500 cals. That includes tea, coffee, soft drinks - the lot! Its supposed to decrease your overall calorie intake over a week as, unless you really pig out on the other 5 days, you are unlikely to overeat by the calories you would have eaten on the 2 500 cal days! I'm following it for a few weeks because I find it nigh on impossible to stick to 1500 cals per day for 7 days. However you can't just pig out on fast food and chocolate for 5 days! You need to be sensible

    If any of this is wrong/inaccurate, anyone please feel free to correct me!!
  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
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    So I'm trying the 5:2 diet and this is actually quite interesting. I noticed I only get hungry on the times that I would normally eat. After eating time passes...the hunger goes away as well. I wonder if that would have made me eat more while not actually being hungry... and actually eat more calories...if I hadn't counted calories and just went by instinct. Or maybe this is just because of the fasting. It's interesting either way. :)
    I know what you are saying!
    Our bodies are so in tuned to eat at certain times, and once we realize the diff between true hunger and just being bored, or thirsty, or just the societal norms of when we should eat it gets to be pretty easy.
    I have been on it for 10 weeks and am at 28.5 pounds with very little cardio. I have been doing doing more body weight resistance lifting and it has been going fantastic.

    The great thing, other than losing weight and all othe other great health benefits, is that even on the up days you start to need less and less to satisfy and fill you up.

    I took a week "off" of it because i was going very intense. I told myself I would only eat when hungry.

    and lost 1.4 lbs that week simply because my body was retrained to know what true hunger is!

    I do the 4:3 version instead of 5:2 as I feel it is easier to get into the rythm of fasting.
  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
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    Its just another way of eating.

    For 5 days out of 7 you follow a 'normal' diet but for the remaining 2 days you restrict your intake to 500 cals. That includes tea, coffee, soft drinks - the lot! Its supposed to decrease your overall calorie intake over a week as, unless you really pig out on the other 5 days, you are unlikely to overeat by the calories you would have eaten on the 2 500 cal days! I'm following it for a few weeks because I find it nigh on impossible to stick to 1500 cals per day for 7 days. However you can't just pig out on fast food and chocolate for 5 days! You need to be sensible

    If any of this is wrong/inaccurate, anyone please feel free to correct me!!
    Pretty much.

    the fast days you can have up to 500 calories, and the other days you eat your maintenance which for me is 2550. So it is basically only restricting, for me, 3 times a week instead of trying to skimp at 1500 or less each day.

    You don ahve to go a calender day. I do 24 hour cycles. I started this fast cycle at 7pm last night. So, from last night at 7 until today at 7 I can have up to 500 and then from 7pm tonite to 7pm friday I can have 2550.

    Longer I have been on it the less i feel I need and cannot even get to that 2550
  • joyfulhappyheart
    joyfulhappyheart Posts: 63 Member
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    I bought the books and read them but never had the courage to do it. LOL
    after I finish 21df, I may revisit that idea... also looking at IIFYM but so far that is just confusing me.
  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
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    I bought the books and read them but never had the courage to do it. LOL
    after I finish 21df, I may revisit that idea... also looking at IIFYM but so far that is just confusing me.
    Eh. I wouldnt waste money. Someone usually has a free one to look at.

    I was forwarded one called Eat. Stop. Eat.
    It is an easy format to follow, but reading the book helped dispell alot of the dieting myths that are out there. It does a great job answering questions about all the things we were taught and thought was true such as eating 6 small meals, have to eat breakfast, about when slowed metabolism really starts, etc etc etc.

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