5:2

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amberprobablyhatesyou
amberprobablyhatesyou Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone tried the 5:2 diet ? I've heard good things about it . for those who don't know , you eat 1,200 calories for 5 days out of the week , but "fast" for two days out of the week and eat only 500. Just curious if anyone has tried .

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  • molepigeon
    molepigeon Posts: 22 Member
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    A friend of mine lost 10 kg doing it! I couldn't do it though, too restrictive. She has put on 5 kilos since going back to normal eating and is trying to do it again with varying amounts of success.
  • amberprobablyhatesyou
    amberprobablyhatesyou Posts: 5 Member
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    That's great (: of course when you increase calorie intake gain a bit back . dieiting is not easy! Thanks for sharing (: !
  • iliecs
    iliecs Posts: 3 Member
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    amberprobablyhatesyou wrote: »
    ... you eat 1,200 calories for 5 days out of the week ...

    This assumption is erroneous; the idea of fasting two days per week (where you can either have 500/600 calories, or nothing if you can take it), is that on the other five days you do NOT count calories, but you eat as you would normally.

    Also has plenty of other benefits, not just weight loss. The book is fantastic: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00QEGDI30

  • Katleskin
    Katleskin Posts: 111 Member
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    It sounds horrific to me, the idea of cutting your calories that low, even just for two days sounds utterly non-sustainable. I would be miserable (and faint) on those days, and how are you supposed to fuel your workouts? Granted, there are some days (however rare) when I actually find it tough to eat more than about 800 calories, for whatever reason, but I tend to make up for it the day after and, if I *had* to eat super low, it would totally demotivate me. Also, if I ate 'normally' on the other 5 days I would *easily* blow my calorie deficit for the week because I'd feel like I 'deserved' it having basically starved for 2 days. I guess it depends on your goals and your own eating habits but no, no thank you, not for me.
  • pilotsroo
    pilotsroo Posts: 37 Member
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    Yes I've tried it and if you can sustain it is wonderful for your overall health. Fasting has been proved to be very beneficial. The documentary on it is worth watching. Also you are not suppose to count your calories on non fast days.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    I do something similar, but instead of 2 days a week I do every other day fasts. I eat 800 calories + 25% of my exercise calories on fast days (to prevent myself from over-exercising for calorie purposes), and 2000 calories + 25% - 100% of my exercise calories on normal days (however much I feel I need). I have been losing consistently.

    I chose to do it that way because I want to teach myself healthy maintenance on normal days, not gorge on random food items, and if I did 500/maintenance on alternate days I would end up with low overall calories (1250 average per day). Doing fast days only twice a week did not work for me because it has no structure so I tend to skimp on them after more than 1 day of eating at maintenance, not to mention hate on fast days when they come. This way It's more structured and I know that one day I will be fasting and the next I will not. It's also easy to fit in any social engagement regardless if I'm on a fast or a normal day because 800 calories is plenty enough for any social food in moderation.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    I do something similar, but instead of 2 days a week I do every other day fasts. I eat 800 calories + 25% of my exercise calories on fast days (to prevent myself from over-exercising for calorie purposes), and 2000 calories + 25% - 100% of my exercise calories on normal days (however much I feel I need). I have been losing consistently.

    Interesting. Is that 2000 calories plus 25-100% of your exercise calories ? (I was confused by the + and -)
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    yarwell wrote: »
    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    I do something similar, but instead of 2 days a week I do every other day fasts. I eat 800 calories + 25% of my exercise calories on fast days (to prevent myself from over-exercising for calorie purposes), and 2000 calories + 25% - 100% of my exercise calories on normal days (however much I feel I need). I have been losing consistently.

    Interesting. Is that 2000 calories plus 25-100% of your exercise calories ? (I was confused by the + and -)

    Yes, that's 25-100%
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    Couldnt think of anything worse than starving myself for 2 days every week...
  • daisy552014
    daisy552014 Posts: 13 Member
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    I am doing this and find it really easy, I don't feel faint or lack energy. I don't count calories on the other 5 days but the idea is to still make healthy decisions. If I really want something on a fast day, I just look forward to it even more the next day!!!
  • FaithfulJewel
    FaithfulJewel Posts: 177 Member
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    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    I do something similar, but instead of 2 days a week I do every other day fasts. I eat 800 calories + 25% of my exercise calories on fast days (to prevent myself from over-exercising for calorie purposes), and 2000 calories + 25% - 100% of my exercise calories on normal days (however much I feel I need). I have been losing consistently.

    I chose to do it that way because I want to teach myself healthy maintenance on normal days, not gorge on random food items, and if I did 500/maintenance on alternate days I would end up with low overall calories (1250 average per day). Doing fast days only twice a week did not work for me because it has no structure so I tend to skimp on them after more than 1 day of eating at maintenance, not to mention hate on fast days when they come. This way It's more structured and I know that one day I will be fasting and the next I will not. It's also easy to fit in any social engagement regardless if I'm on a fast or a normal day because 800 calories is plenty enough for any social food in moderation.

    That's really interesting! I had great success with 5:2 year before last (got ill, had to stop, the method was brilliant though when I could do it) but, as you have pointed out, sometimes it's a struggle to "just" fast for 2 days.

    I have to track calories on a non-fasting day as else I can easily eat about 3000 calories, which when fasting doesn't create a surplus, but it certainly doesn't create a deficit either. Keeping to 2000 helps remind me what I "should" be eating, rather than what I want to, and helps me make better choices.

    As a result, I track my dinners... which tend to come out at 800 calories. So seeing you do ADF successfully on numbers that resonate has made me wonder if it's worth trying that for a bit. Thank you!

    amberprobablyhatesyou wrote: »
    Has anyone tried the 5:2 diet ? I've heard good things about it . for those who don't know , you eat 1,200 calories for 5 days out of the week , but "fast" for two days out of the week and eat only 500. Just curious if anyone has tried .

    (My best mate is called Amber; she better not hate me!) As mentioned above, I had great success with 5:2. It helps reassess how "hungry" you really are (cause, speaking from experience, I was pretty gosh darn hungry on fasting days before I ate) so you, hopefully, stop eating from boredom or whatnot on "normal" days.

    But please please please, do not eat only 1200 calories on the 5 days... Do it backwards, is what I say. Work out a healthy deficit (20% off your TDEE) per day, multiple that up by 7 for the week, take off 1000 calories for your 2 fasting days (assuming you're female; men are about 600 a day), then divide the remainder by 5.

    The "real" rule is eat your TDEE 5 days a week, and 25% of your TDEE 2 days a week. So for an average person this is 2000 and 500 respectively (men are 2400, 600).

    Is it sustainable, a little bit difficult to begin with, or when you're hormonal, or if you comfort eat, but it gets better, easier, the results are often constant and it helps you reassess how you eat normally.

    Send me an Friend Request if you want :) happy to pass on ideas, recipes and support!
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited February 2016
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    Yes this does work, the key is to eating the appropriate deficit the other 5 days. Depending on if you are short person, which short people may need to eat 1200 to have a small deficit (i.e. only loose .5 or 1 lb a week). So OP you will only be able to say how much weight you are setup to loose with the 1200 calories you mentioned.

    My husband did this safely for a couple of months, he lost 55 pounds in 8 months and the 5:2 helped him break a stall.

    This is not for everyone and should be wisely considered before attempting. I my self have done 24 hour fasting during the week and it was not bad at all to me and when you time your "break fast" during this time, you will find it does not hinder exercising and being able to continue to exercise.

    The key is that you stay in your weekly deficit to loose weight, not eat NORMAL which is upping cals to maintenance the other 5, otherwise there is no deficit to loose weight.

    edited to add: you may want to consider eating a bit more than 1200 calories as to keep the total weekly MFP deficit to loose xxx pounds from being to aggressive when only eating 500 on the 2 day mini fast. Just need to calculate totally calories for the week and then setup the 5:2 to mimic the total calories need to keep you in the MFP deficit.
  • eviegreen
    eviegreen Posts: 123 Member
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    amberprobablyhatesyou wrote: »
    Has anyone tried the 5:2 diet ? I've heard good things about it . for those who don't know , you eat 1,200 calories for 5 days out of the week , but "fast" for two days out of the week and eat only 500. Just curious if anyone has tried .

    No, no, no. 5 days a week, you're supposed to eat at your maintenance (the amount of calories it would take to maintain your current weight), and then fast for the other two (500 cals for women, 600 for men). So at the end of the week, you're in a sustainable caloric deficit.

    What you're describing is an already difficult daily deficit with fasting ON TOP of that. Which is essentially a starvation diet, and that is not the way 5:2 is meant to work. Please research 5:2, because if done correctly, it is a great way to lose weight.
  • Dez11B
    Dez11B Posts: 1,542 Member
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    I pretty much fast everyday for two weeks. I eat from 3pm to 9pm everyday. 18 hours with no food. Sometimes 20. I like to finish a workout an hour before I eat again. So by 2pm I should be done with my workout. I don't feel tired or weak during my workouts. When first started doing this I ate 2000 calories. Now I'm at a weight I like. So know I eat my 300 calories above my maintenance. Which is really maintenance because my workouts cover the rest.

    So I fast for two weeks then for one week I eat whenever I want but stay at my maintenance. It's easy for me because I work 16 hours a day for two weeks then off a week. This routine helped me lose 60 pounds in 9 months. It is very easy for me to sustain this diet. I still eat what I want. I just stay away from the obvious. Sugars. Process foods ext
  • amberprobablyhatesyou
    amberprobablyhatesyou Posts: 5 Member
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    Wow so glad I posted this , what you are all saying sounds so so much easier ! I should've done a little more research . thanks everyone .

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