5:2 Diet

I've been doing the 5:2 for about 6 weeks now. Really it's no different than eating at a 500 calorie a day deficit except now the whole deficit is crammed into two days instead of spread over seven. I don't lose weight any faster but I find it easier to maintain, personally. It only took me a short time to adjust to the fast days and I find myself less hungry and more in control of my eating on the non-fast days. I also like not feeling obligated to count calories on non-fast days if I don't feel like it (a lot of people chose to but it's not necessary). Some friends have had great success with 5:2 and others had to give up immediately because it led to migraines, so it is really not for everybody.

On the fast days I have coffee and fruit for breakfast and then lunch and dinner is some combination of salad, light soups, and veggies. I usually do some combination of a few light things...like a tomato salad with basil, a cup of miso soup, and sauteed zucchini. Or a cucumber salad, carrot sticks, and roasted curried cauliflower. Green bean stir fry without the rice is another good one! Basically veggies FTW because I can get a lot of bulk with few calories and it still fills me up relatively well.

Original_Beauty wrote: »

PikaKnight wrote: »

Original_Beauty wrote: »

I'm going to try to do the 5:2 diet for personal reasons. I'm doing it slightly different, I'm fasting from 8pm-12pm, so I'm only missing breakfast and morning snacks. But it will drop my calories from 1600 to 1000. So that alone will help.

Huh? That's not how 5:2 works.

You are still eating the same amount of calories a week. You just have them assigned differently, so to speak.

I'm working down to the 500 calories for medical reasons. I will be eating less, over the week I will be eating 4200 calories less, so yes I will lose weight. There are different ways to do the 5:2 as shown on the 5:2 website.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you. I thought you were saying you were just lowering from 1600 to 1000 on your regular days.

So, are you saying you are going to lower your calories from 1600 (which I'm assuming is the number given to you to already eat at a deficit) to 1000 instead of 500 on your 2 fast days while slightly increasing your calories on the other 5 days?

Or just lowering to 1000 on your fast days in order to create a bigger weekly deficit than your 1600 (for the 7 days) would have created?

amusedmonkey wrote: »

What I love most about the way I'm currently eating (modified IF) is that it teaches me maintenance better than conventional ways of dieting, as I am able to regulate my food on non-fasting days to be at or around my to-be maintenance at my goal weight, while having enough room to eat whatever I want in moderation and manage days that are higher than maintenance by balancing them out with lower days.

This most resembles how I used to eat before starting to lose weight and what is most natural for me (how most people eat, really), with some days being higher than others but the difference is that back then I had no measure of regulation.

I now know how to eat at maintenance naturally, because I have done it for so long. I believe this will be great for me in the future when I do hit my goal because I won't have to greatly change what I'm doing day to day, all I have to do is reduce the amount of fasting days. It's a much smoother maintenance learning curve than suddenly (or even gradually) increasing my daily calories because I already have a feel of how much I could eat, how my meals look, and when I'm over-eating/under-eating.

Just curious...when using fasting days, do you log everything in MFP? If so, how did you setup your daily calories or macros? do you just ignore the settings on fasting days? I've been playing with occasional fasting days for maintenance (based on longevity research), but when I experiment, I try to log to ensure adherence (and to keep the data for evaluation). Just wondering how other MFP users use the tool on protocols that call for fasting days.

fatcity66 wrote: »

culo97 wrote: »

staceyburns2 wrote: »

Hi all,
I'm considering doing the 5:2 diet, I've heard some really amazing stories from people so was thinking of giving it a try, I have lost weight with weight watchers before but now I can't seem to get the motivation to diet every day! This seems like a good option.

Any advice people can give me, ways to make 500 calories last all day (I don't think I'd be too great skipping meals!).

Thanks

Here's my experience.

I tried this alternate fasting day schedule for about 3 weeks:
- eat regularly 5 days out of 7.
- eat a maximum of 600 calories on the 2 "fasting" days
- let a minimum of 16 hours pass between the last regular meal and the first fasting meal
- no consecutive fasting days.

The good thing is that I dropped about 5 pounds right away. Unfortunately the side effects were too overwhelming so I gave up.

The mornings after the fasting days, I felt so dizzy, weak and a little head achy. I literally had to hold onto the walls and furniture to make it to the bathroom then to get something to eat. When I took my glucose reading, I saw that my blood sugars had dropped at least 50 points lower than my usual morning reading.

I figured my body was just adjusting to the diet changes so I kept going with the 5:2 diet. One evening on a fast day, after I had already eaten my calories for the day, I started shaking uncontrollably. My teeth were literally chattering. That old queasy and weak feeling was back, even though it wasn't the morning. As soon as nausea allowed me to move, I got something to eat. That was the last day I tried fasting.

I never lost another pound after that initial 5 and those have since returned. Just thought I'd share another point of view.

Personally, I can't do it either. I waited too long to eat one day last week by accident (work schedule changed up and didn't have my usual time for meals), while I was at work. I started getting lightheaded and shaky, and I couldn't concentrate, I could barely even stand. I ate half of a burrito bowl from Chipotle with rice, beans, everything...but it I still didn't feel well. I couldn't leave work because I didn't feel well enough to drive! I ended up taking my lunch break and lying down on the floor in the darkened corner office for 45 min. After that, I finally felt better.

If you don't have problems going long periods without eating, it might be perfect for you, I can't say. I just know, it's potentially dangerous for me, so I won't try it again. I'm having success just counting calories and exercising, anyway, so there's no real reason for me to change.

If you want to try it, I recommend choosing a day or two when you don't have much you have to do. I work extended hours, and my job takes a lot of concentration and multi-tasking, and I just can't risk it.

In my experience, this is not typical of 5:2 or EOD. At worst people report bad breath and some constipation during the first two weeks. Personally, when did EOD, I had dizziness in the AM. However, I learned this had more to do with my birth control routine. I was literally getting morning sickness!

In the lab (I'm a ADF researcher). We give a lean cuisine (about 300 kcal), a low fat yogurt (90 kcal), a few grapes depending on calorie needs and side of grape (about 5 grapes) and 25 g of peanuts or other nut. My research has show that there is no difference in overall weight loss or body composition changes based on how you eat it (lunch only, dinner only, or split up throughout the day). However, anecdotally, the dinner time groups seemed to complain less. You'll find the first two weeks are the hardest to get through mentally. It's difficult to change eating patterns.

All in all, it's a way to restrict calories. From a compliance stand point it may be easier to really focus on one day of calorie restriction (the fast day) and then let loose a bit on the other days. Save these days for nights out, or other social gatherings. I've found that people really only compensate by about 10% on the non-fasting days when allowed to eat according to hunger. If you are gorging yourself beyond hunger on the feed days, ADF might not be appropriate for you.

I'm fasting a couple of times a week; been at it for the past month. Before that I was doing leangains-style IF (16:8hrs). Preferring 5:2 - I like how it simplifies my daily routine (eat whenever, or don't eat at all) instead of having to mess with a limited window every single day.

I don't feel light-headed or shaky or anything, just a bit hungry of course. It's been interesting to learn about hunger. It doesn't build and build; it's more of a binary - you feel the emptiness in your stomach and that's it. That awareness comes and goes through the day. I should note that I've been eating low-carb paleoish style for several years, so blood sugar fluctuations aren't a problem for me.

My main purpose is the general health benefits (autophagy) though I'm dropping bodyfat quickly (from 19% down to 15% in two weeks, my goal is 12%) though my weight is staying about the same (great!). Once I hit the goal, I'll have to eat quite a bit more to keep 5:2 fasting, which I will do. Probably via post-weightlifting carb-backloading (CBL).
I'm not eating the suggested 500 calories daily, as I don't see the need and it might disrupt the autophagy process. Instead, I put a tablespoon of coconut oil in black coffee once or twice a day during the fast which is 100% fat and shouldn't be disruptive.

So those are my experiences with 5:2. I like it a lot. If you're already eating and adapted to low-carb, you'll probably do very well with it.

beowulf wrote: »

Just curious...when using fasting days, do you log everything in MFP? If so, how did you setup your daily calories or macros? do you just ignore the settings on fasting days? I've been playing with occasional fasting days for maintenance (based on longevity research), but when I experiment, I try to log to ensure adherence (and to keep the data for evaluation). Just wondering how other MFP users use the tool on protocols that call for fasting days.

I use a little trick for that. I set up my calories as if I'm doing -500 calories a day. I added a category called "carry over" where are calories left (or borrowed) from the previous day go. This gives me a nice and even overall average where I know that I will be losing this much within this time frame no matter how much or little I'm eating without having to do too many calculations.

For example: if my goal was 1500 and I ate 1800 I would enter "300" in the next day "carry over" category, which would recalculate my calories automatically. If my goal was 1500 and I ate 1200, I would put "-300" in the next day's "carry over" category.

If I notice my calorie debt is getting over 1000, I throw in a fast day to correct it back to as close to 0 as I can, or if I feel I have no appetite on a particular day I make it a fast day to bank the calories for later.

Basically it's a hybrid of zig zagging and intermittent fasting without having to deal with rigid pre-set fast days. This makes the process much more flexible for when I have certain food events.

The only downside that I can't know for sure the amount of actual calories eaten on any given day unless I add/subtract the carry-over amount manually.

It really is very comfortable for me, and I tend to know exactly when I'm over or under eating. I just have a feel for my higher and lower days now that if I stop counting calories I would still lose roughly the same amount of weight. When I'm too busy or out of town I do not count, but I like the security of counting so I do it whenever I can.

PikaKnight wrote: »

Original_Beauty wrote: »

I'm going to try to do the 5:2 diet for personal reasons. I'm doing it slightly different, I'm fasting from 8pm-12pm, so I'm only missing breakfast and morning snacks. But it will drop my calories from 1600 to 1000. So that alone will help.

Huh? That's not how 5:2 works.

You are still eating the same amount of calories a week. You just have them assigned differently, so to speak.

This^

5:2 is not a method you can use to get a green light on a 1,000 calorie a day diet. Shifting hours to get the lowest calorie goal is not how it works. A 1,000 calorie a day diet is potentially harmful to someone not under a doctor's care or extremely petite....I'm assuming you're not 4'6".

I do use 5:2 ....I eat 500 calories Monday & Thursday. The rest of the week is TDEE (or maintenance). This averages far higher than 1,000 calories a day. As I stated in an earlier post here.....I'm trying to limit lean muscle mass. A 1,000 calorie average makes it tough to support lean muscle.

I just started 5:2 this week, but after reading these comments, I am unsure about some things. I've been logging into MFP for almost two months, and when I set my goals, it gave me 1240 cal per day. I have not changed that amount even though I started 5:2. I've been at a calorie deficit on my regular days, (because of exercise) and fasted Wednesday and today, eating only 500 cal. Some of these comments make it sound like what I'm doing is not ideal for this diet method. Thoughts?

Also: amusedmonkey's bank balance idea of calories works really well for IF. If you go over/under for the day, don't say "damn, I blew the day, boohoo lemme cry into the ice cream" like you see here on the forum all day.

Instead, think of it as eating in advance. Carry the extra calories over into the next day.

WalkingAlong wrote: »

Hoodie417 wrote: »

I just started 5:2 this week, but after reading these comments, I am unsure about some things. I've been logging into MFP for almost two months, and when I set my goals, it gave me 1240 cal per day. I have not changed that amount even though I started 5:2. I've been at a calorie deficit on my regular days, (because of exercise) and fasted Wednesday and today, eating only 500 cal. Some of these comments make it sound like what I'm doing is not ideal for this diet method. Thoughts?

If I recall right (I've read IF books since this one), the Mosley book that spawned 5:2 doesn't say you have to or even should calorie count on your non-fasting days. I believe it suggests you try to follow more of a hunger-directed eating method instead. I know the Varady book does, and her research is what a lot of his method came from.

In her studies of every other day modified fasting (500 calories), people tended to choose to eat about 110% of TDEE on 'feast days' (without counting calories themselves, it was summed later).

I can see with doing 5:2 some might overeat so much on 5 days to negate their 2 day fast deficits, though. I lose pretty slowly on EOD fasting, so I figure 5:2 might be my maintenance option.

If you're eating 1240ish on 5 days and 500 on 2 days, that's probably too restrictive, depending on your size, etc. But if your deficit is small (as in you're eating more than 1240ish) on feast days and you feel content and not deprived, it's probably fine.

I find it simpler to say

• fast days = TDEE*25%
• non-fast days = TDEE*125%

As I'm doing EOD this gives me a 25% deficit. For 5:2, I'd try

• fast days TDEE*25%
• non-fast days are TDEE*100%

= 21% deficit.

amusedmonkey wrote: »

beowulf wrote: »

Just curious...when using fasting days, do you log everything in MFP? If so, how did you setup your daily calories or macros? do you just ignore the settings on fasting days? I've been playing with occasional fasting days for maintenance (based on longevity research), but when I experiment, I try to log to ensure adherence (and to keep the data for evaluation). Just wondering how other MFP users use the tool on protocols that call for fasting days.

I use a little trick for that. I set up my calories as if I'm doing -500 calories a day. I added a category called "carry over" where are calories left (or borrowed) from the previous day go. This gives me a nice and even overall average where I know that I will be losing this much within this time frame no matter how much or little I'm eating without having to do too many calculations.

For example: if my goal was 1500 and I ate 1800 I would enter "300" in the next day "carry over" category, which would recalculate my calories automatically. If my goal was 1500 and I ate 1200, I would put "-300" in the next day's "carry over" category.

If I notice my calorie debt is getting over 1000, I throw in a fast day to correct it back to as close to 0 as I can, or if I feel I have no appetite on a particular day I make it a fast day to bank the calories for later.

Basically it's a hybrid of zig zagging and intermittent fasting without having to deal with rigid pre-set fast days. This makes the process much more flexible for when I have certain food events.

The only downside that I can't know for sure the amount of actual calories eaten on any given day unless I add/subtract the carry-over amount manually.

It really is very comfortable for me, and I tend to know exactly when I'm over or under eating. I just have a feel for my higher and lower days now that if I stop counting calories I would still lose roughly the same amount of weight. When I'm too busy or out of town I do not count, but I like the security of counting so I do it whenever I can.

I think it's a great idea! I'm almost doing the same thing, except instead of doing balance calculations, I track my NET intake in a spreadsheet. So one column is gross intake, another is exercise burn. A minus B = net intake. The daily number MFP gives me. But I've put everything into an excel calendar. Then I just use excel to calculate my daily, weekly and monthly averages. If I feel I overate and feel guilty, I look at my average for the week, and I'm almost always calmed down. By having a clear overview of my average numbers, I KNOW when I have to dial things up or down.

This overview also gives me a good log of what I'm doing that works and what doesn't. Since I'm also logging what kind of exercise, duration and a few words on intensity or milestones.

All that tracking might seem like a lot. But it's really very little work for a huge prize. I'm still on the journey to find my REAL maintenance threshold.

I've suggested these things for the development, but you know...how those things go.

Edit: Oh, btw I loooved the burger gif above, totally cracked me up

dayone987 wrote: »

I get that some people find 5:2 works for them, but I wonder about their capacity to be fully functioning on fast days. I work in health care and being hungry most of the day would make it more likely for errors to occur. I certainly wouldn't want to have surgery done by a doc that is on his/her fast day.

Believe it or not, save for adjustment period fast days really have no negative effect on performance. It's just a mild empty stomach feeling, the kind you feel when your meal time is close. With that said, the time you have your meal can also be flexible. Many people, including doctors, skip breakfast and do their work just fine. But if it's an issue, you could have two 250 carefully planned and satiating meals during the time you would be working and not feel hunger at all.

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