5:2 Diet

5:2 is a great method to lose weight. I've done it, I just intermittent fast daily now, I eat all my calories for dinner, in a 4 our window, 5-9pm.

Anywhos, Fasting is wonderful to give your body a break from digesting food all day. Back to the days of our first roots, we were hunters. We had little to no food throughout our long days hunting, when we caught our prey, we'd feast 'eat' in the night, the end of the days.

This is how our body is biologically wired and how our natural human rythyms are.
So having long 18-24hour fasts are super beneficial, if your body isn't digesting food its cleaning itself internally, and eliminated all the waste you've accumulated throughout your life.
Try it out, youll be glad you did. When you first begin, your first 3 weeks the fat will melt right off. 10lbs or more.

And what do you think your body is burning for energy when there is no food in your system? FAT.

I love it.
Advice would be read the book, read the website (thefastdiet.co.uk), join the groups on here (links already posted I see). Do some research and if you decide to give it a try do it properly!!

You can eat what you want on the fasting days as well as the normal days - it's only a calorie restriction twice a week. Part of the attraction is that there are no forbidden foods.

However, this way of eating isn't magical - the weight loss is still down to a calorie deficit over the course of a week. It wouldn't be too difficult to over-eat enough on the five normal days to cancel out the two low days.
It's also a slow method of weight loss (if followed properly), a lot of people will only be having roughly a 3,000 deficit a week.

The upsides are five normal eating days a week, a better understanding of hunger and control over unthinking eating, very sustainable long term, good for supporting a heavy exercise routine even in a weekly deficit.

I love it.
Advice would be read the book, read the website (thefastdiet.co.uk), join the groups on here (links already posted I see). Do some research and if you decide to give it a try do it properly!!

You can eat what you want on the fasting days as well as the normal days - it's only a calorie restriction twice a week. Part of the attraction is that there are no forbidden foods.

However, this way of eating isn't magical - the weight loss is still down to a calorie deficit over the course of a week. It wouldn't be too difficult to over-eat enough on the five normal days to cancel out the two low days.
It's also a slow method of weight loss (if followed properly), a lot of people will only be having roughly a 3,000 deficit a week.

The upsides are five normal eating days a week, a better understanding of hunger and control over unthinking eating, very sustainable long term, good for supporting a heavy exercise routine even in a weekly deficit.

Agreed.
SOme will say a book is not necessary but it does help grasp the why's and debunking myths. I read Eat. Stop. Eat. The actual section on the way of eating itself is not very long, but it goes into good detail about disproving alot of thing things many people take as gospel in dieting such as the 6 meals a day, or having to eat breakfast, have to always stoke your metabolism, or eating too few calories for a short time will cause you to go into starvation mode, etc etc etc.

I am a guy who likes to know the how's and why's and a book goes a long way in explaining everything.

I just started it - literally I just finished week 1 -- and I was really surprised by how easy the fast days were. I was really worried that it would be WAAAAAY too hard, but it was shockingly easy. I kept my full 500 calories for dinner and didn't even really start to get hungry until 3-4 pm. It also sort of scared me as it showed me how much and often I was eating when I wasn't really hungry.

I can also say that I finally broke through my plateau. I'm not really sure why as my weekly deficit is almost the exact same (I don't force myself to eat my full TDEE on feed days -- only if I'm hungry, which often means I've got another 200-500 calories to spare), but for whatever reason, it helped. I hope to see the change continue, but won't know for a few more weeks.

That is awesome. heck out some of the 5:2 groups on here.

IN the book I read, Eat. Stop. Eat, it talks some about how fasting and a deficit is a bit diff than just a deficit. I forget the specifics but the result is a good thing! I may have to re read and see exactly why...

http://www.eatstopeat.com/



A buddy emailed me a version and I printed it out. In a little bit of irony, in the book he talks about the weight loss industry being driven by $$ and things that tout you have to buy certain things are just a money grab.



To be honest though, he doesnt pedal anything in it to be sold. Sure..the book, but no supplement or anything like that.

I have just started this too. Well I had a 'practice run' on Saturday which didn't go so great. So tried again on Sunday and am fasting again today. I hope it will get a little easier as I am really hungry and can't think of anything else but my hunger. I split my calories up throughout the day but maybe I will try a larger meal in the evening instead..

I did notice that on my non fast day (Monday) I was trying to eat more than my body could even handle so it seems to have decreased my hunger on non fast days. Or perhaps I'm learning to distinguish between real hunger and imagined hunger..

Anyway, any 5:2 ers feel free to add me. Or anyone really lol. I'm new to the forums

Ciao x

Definitely go check out the groups mentioned above. There are several threads there where long term fasters give examples of what they eat when and how they manage hunger if they have it.

Edited to add: Sugar free chewing gum is helping me ignore hunger pangs.

However, this way of eating isn't magical - the weight loss is still down to a calorie deficit over the course of a week. It wouldn't be too difficult to over-eat enough on the five normal days to cancel out the two low days.
It's also a slow method of weight loss (if followed properly), a lot of people will only be having roughly a 3,000 deficit a week.

Yes, exactly.

My husband and I both tried 5:2 for a couple of months and didn't lose anything, In my case, two 500 calorie fast days don't create that much of a deficit. Pair that with the, "Oh, I can eat this. I fasted yesterday!" mentality, and you've got a recipe for getting your "loose" jeans to cut off your circulation below the waist. :-/

then you two must have eaten very irresponsibly on your feast days.

However, this way of eating isn't magical - the weight loss is still down to a calorie deficit over the course of a week. It wouldn't be too difficult to over-eat enough on the five normal days to cancel out the two low days.
It's also a slow method of weight loss (if followed properly), a lot of people will only be having roughly a 3,000 deficit a week.

Yes, exactly.

My husband and I both tried 5:2 for a couple of months and didn't lose anything, In my case, two 500 calorie fast days don't create that much of a deficit. Pair that with the, "Oh, I can eat this. I fasted yesterday!" mentality, and you've got a recipe for getting your "loose" jeans to cut off your circulation below the waist. :-/

then you two must have eaten very irresponsibly on your feast days.

Not really. For example, if their TDEE was only 1700, they only created 2400 calorie deficit those two days. And that could be destroyed by a mere 500 calorie surplus each day -- which could be a a cup of ice cream or a piece of cheesecake. Such things can be more of an issue for those that decide not to count calories.

yes. really. she talks of the loose jeans getting tight i.e. gaining. if you eat at a deficit of at least 2400 for two days and gain weight then they way over ate to end up with surplus to gain. irresponsible.