5:2 fasting

Nope. I prefer to eat.

I wouldn't be able to function like this. I get shaky and lightheaded with too few calories. That's no way to live.

I've done fasting but it was IF where I fasted from 8pm to Noon the next day, and had an 8 hour eating window (12pm - 8pm) but I still ate my calories which was almost 3000 at the time.

It didn't do anything for me. I probably still would have lost the same fat if I had dieted normally so I'm kinda biased against fasting. I think it's more or less a waste of time, but that's just my opinion.

OP it sounds like you're fasting AND under-eating. I may be wrong.

I am into my second week of doing 5:2 and I love it! So far, it is really helping to control my appetite/cravings and has FINALLY helped me bust the plateau that I have been in forever.

I did 5:2 for about 3 months. It worked well, but I came to dread those 500 calorie days. Since you only do that 2 days a week and since they can be any 2 non-consecutive days, I found myself starting out a fasting day then deciding that it was a bad day for it, then pushing the fasting day to tomorrow, and then the next day, and then...

I tried out the 16:8 type of intermittent fasting, mentioned by another poster above, and found that it suited me much better. It has enabled me to better control hunger, surprisingly, because it turns out eating breakfast early in the morning makes me hungrier all day. Even if I do feel hungry in the morning I can ignore it because I know I can look forward to eating all my normal calories later in the day.

Looking back now, I might have done better with 5:2 if, on the fasting days, I had saved up all 500 calories for a single evening meal.

To the OP: 5:2 can work for you. When the newness wears off you may start to do what I did, but don't bail on it until you've tried some adjustments of the timing of meals and the type of foods you eat on the fasting days. Also experiment with the timing and type of exercise you do. Good luck.

FoxyMars25 wrote: »

That is what I do, I save all of my 500 calories for dinner. Currently, my "fasting" days are Monday and Wednes. I eat dinner Sunday night and do not eat dinner again until Monday night (500 cal) and then do not eat again until Tuesday at Lunch, so I am also incorporating 16:8 in as well. I also found that breakfast makes me hungrier the rest of the day and it is best to skip it. I am just not sure if I should really do that *every* day as I workout in the mornings at 4 am. I used to eat right after my workout but I have found that makes me eat more all day long. However, I also know I should have some "fuel" after I strength train. Not sure how to work around that yet.

I have also found that it doesn't work very well on some days. I'm still working on it. Most days my husband and I only share an evening meal so it doesn't matter when or if I eat other meals. But on the weekends when we spend more time together the mismatched eating style becomes awkward. Also on days that I take a long bike ride, I need to eat during the ride even if it's outside the 8 hour window.

I have lost nearly 100 lbs doing 4:3 (fasting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday), with occasional weeks that I switch to 5:2 or even 6:1 due to holidays, etc. Been doing it for about a year and half now. Love it. It sounds silly, but I actually look forward to my fasting days (600 calories), have just as much if not more energy on those days (exercising on them is every bit as easy as any other day - after a few weeks to adjust) and find them much easier to deal with than being restricted every day. And yes, I do plan on doing this in one form or another for the rest of my days. It works for me in ways that no other way of eating ever has. I love only ever having to "diet" for one day in a row. I love being able to indulge on the weekends at a BBQ or birthday party. The sort of things that used to derail me are now built into my plan.

That said, I fully recognize that it's not for everyone. My wife didn't like it one bit, and does the traditional calorie counting. Have had several friends try it after seeing my success, and only one of them stuck with it for any length of time. It's much more popular here in Europe (and even more so in the UK), as it has been highlighted on TV and in newsprint.

If you choose to try it out, I would point out that the first few weeks are predictably tough, but it quickly gets easier until it's second nature. Personally, I definitely recommend going with the majority of your calories in the evening, once you've adjusted a bit. But that's a personal preference kind of thing.

Good luck either way!

I find it is working very well for me- have a look at the 5:2 page on here it is very helpful and everyone is so friendly!!

sijomial wrote: »

Check out the 5:2 groups on here for more informed discussion.

Lot's of people are horrified by the idea of fasting and don't even realise that 5:2 actually results in a very moderate calorie restriction over the course of a week.

As a little experiement I recently did one of my regular two hour cycle routes (including a big climb) on a fasting day and set a PB. I couldn't have done that when I first started 5:2 but it does seem you adapt to fasted exercise over time.

I agree 100% mate. I have trained and done one sport or another since i was in my teens. I would have never thought it possible to function or complete an hard session on only 600 cals. Again i agree that your body does adapt and enable me to still train like a mad man in a semi fasted state.

Ahh... that awkward moment where you realize that you are "on the same side" of a discussion as the person shouting at everyone in CAPS LOCK...

asheekah wrote: »

Hi
Is anyone doing this? I've just completed day 1 finishing up on 500 cals eaten/drank. I ran for 40 mins too burning 400 cals. A good 1st day I think?

Well .....we'll see. Weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. Can you keep this up for months on end?

I do 5:2 also, but my 500 calorie days are my rest days. I figure I can workout on my maintenance days. Only eating 500 calories gave you a deficit already, and large deficits make it hard for your body to support existing lean muscle....something to think about.

Here's a link to the 5:2 Group:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/100058-5-2-fasting

TeaBea wrote: »

asheekah wrote: »

Hi
Is anyone doing this? I've just completed day 1 finishing up on 500 cals eaten/drank. I ran for 40 mins too burning 400 cals. A good 1st day I think?

Well .....we'll see. Weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. Can you keep this up for months on end?

I do 5:2 also, but my 500 calorie days are my rest days. I figure I can workout on my maintenance days. Only eating 500 calories gave you a deficit already, and large deficits make it hard for your body to support existing lean muscle....something to think about.

Here's a link to the 5:2 Group:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/100058-5-2-fasting

Not necessary mate, you are only limiting calories for two non-consecutive days a week. I am no expert but I know It takes longer than 24hrs for the body to start to converting muscle tissue into energy, when in starvation mode. Personally I think the 5:2 is great because of the drop in insulin levels, causing the body to turn to its fat stores for fuel.

That said I don’t lift weights on fast days, but I do smash out the cardio. Also I normally go a little higher on my calories between 700-800 in line with the original Fat Diet I saw on a the T-Nation body building website a while back.

TeaBea wrote: »

asheekah wrote: »

Hi
Is anyone doing this? I've just completed day 1 finishing up on 500 cals eaten/drank. I ran for 40 mins too burning 400 cals. A good 1st day I think?

Well .....we'll see. Weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. Can you keep this up for months on end?

I do 5:2 also, but my 500 calorie days are my rest days. I figure I can workout on my maintenance days. Only eating 500 calories gave you a deficit already, and large deficits make it hard for your body to support existing lean muscle....something to think about.

Here's a link to the 5:2 Group:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/100058-5-2-fasting

Whether or not you train on a fasted day is personal preference. Cardio or lifting. if it affects performance to train fasted then don't.

I found I manipulated what I ate the day/night before and it improved training on fasted days. I've always trained fasted, even when I was running a daily deficit but this gave me extra cals to play with the day before and I noticed better performance the following training day. So it just depends on the individual.

I'm currently pregnant but am thinking of trying some kind of fasting to shift the baby weight post pregnancy. I find that if I eat breakfast I feel hungry for the remainder of the day and seem to want to snack all morning between breakfast and lunch so maybe that kind of fasting may work for me.