Is anyone else here doing the 5:2 Diet?

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  • Faye369
    Faye369 Posts: 33 Member
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    RodaRose wrote: »
    Mosely's 5:2 plan is this: two days a week of 600 calories and the other five days of maintenance.

    I believe the 5:2 strategy is 2 days a week fasting at the recommended calories and eating as you normally do on the other 5 days. Once you reach your desired weight you maintain by fasting only 1 day.

    I've been doing the 5:2 for about 3 weeks and am down 3 lbs. I am fairly active and do structured workout a minimum of 3 days a week. I chose to try this strategy because although I had lost 34 lbs I was sitting in a plateau for the last 5 months and wanted to change things up a bit. This appears to be working.

    I track my calories on my fasting days but not necessarily on my feed days only because the plan says 'eat normally' and whatever my 'normal' is is what it is.

    I do agree that eating 1200 on the feed days is not the intent of the 5:2 plan.
  • Wynterbourne
    Wynterbourne Posts: 2,222 Member
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    apollosm wrote: »
    This IS the 5:2 diet. The calorie intake is suggested from their own website. Please dont tell me what diet I am on.

    No, it's not. I just went and looked at the website. It says exactly what Dnarules posted. There is no reason to get snippy and rude with us. We are just trying to help because eating at such an extreme deficit (without doctor supervision) is only setting yourself up for failure. If you want to try the diet fine, but try the actual diet. What you are quoting isn't it. We aren't trying to be mean here. Only trying to help. No need to be so defensive.
  • emmylootwo
    emmylootwo Posts: 172 Member
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    Hate to hijack a thread but really don't want to start another one. I have been interested in trying 5:2 IF. I know it's 5 days at maintenance and 2 at 500-600 calories. I have done a bit research myself but one question remains... That is: assuming I use a sedentary TDEE estimate, what would I do about exercise calories? Could I eat a NET of 500 calories on fast days if I exercised? Could I eat exercise back just as normal on non fasting days too? Thanks in advance! I haven't seen anybody talking about whether it should be gross v. net calories in the MFP forums nor in any other forum I have looked up. :/
  • mds438
    mds438 Posts: 18 Member
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    On fast days, only 500 kcal. Regardless of excercise.
    The most correct TDEE is if you set a realistic amount of excercise. My TDEE is about 2000 kcal including excercise, so that is how much I should eat on non-fasting days.
    Then there is days with more or less excercise, but that has been taken into consideration when calculating the TDEE.
    Be aware of eating enough on non-fasting days :-)
    I dont do 5:2 at the moment, but has been on and off for over 2 years. It both does wonders for my digestion and keeps my belly flat, but it also stresses my body to much, so I can't sleep, I can't concentrate and I get too hungry and dizzy on fasting days, if I stick to the diet for too long a period. On fasting days I stick to tea and water until I have a normal meal with the family at dinner. I usually stick to the diet a month and the pause for a month.
    So please listen to your body for signs to quit.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    emmylootwo wrote: »
    Hate to hijack a thread but really don't want to start another one. I have been interested in trying 5:2 IF. I know it's 5 days at maintenance and 2 at 500-600 calories. I have done a bit research myself but one question remains... That is: assuming I use a sedentary TDEE estimate, what would I do about exercise calories? Could I eat a NET of 500 calories on fast days if I exercised? Could I eat exercise back just as normal on non fasting days too? Thanks in advance! I haven't seen anybody talking about whether it should be gross v. net calories in the MFP forums nor in any other forum I have looked up. :/

    @emmylootwo
    That is: assuming I use a sedentary TDEE estimate
    Don't understand why would you estimate a TDEE as sedentary unless you really are sedentary? Then it's moot point anyway! If you want to estimate TDEE then do it accurately.

    Could I eat a NET of 500 calories on fast days if I exercised
    No - it's 500 cals (for women, 600 for men) and that's it whether you exercise or not. Fasted exercise can take some time to get used to so build up slowly. I ended up being able to train just as hard fasted or fed but that took a lot of adjusting to.

    Could I eat exercise back just as normal on non fasting days too?
    Yes you can eat back exercise calories but only on the 5 normal days.

    Haven't seen anybody talking about whether it should be gross v. net calories in the MFP forums nor in any other forum I have looked up.
    Join the two 5:2 groups on here - the subject comes up a lot.
    Net calories is very much a myfitnesspal peculiarity but one I like as it suits my high but variable exercise routine.

    Don't confuse your self by mixing TDEE and MFP methods - do one or the other but don't mix and match.
    Don't put false information into either calculation (such as sedentary when you aren't!).

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