5:2 diet

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What's your views on this diet in and feel free to add me I'll need all the encouragement and support I can get and I'm sure I can try and return the favour xxx I might be a bit of a fat lass with a fair bit of knowledge it's just I need the kick in the *kitten* to put It into practice xx
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Replies

  • HellYeahItsKriss
    HellYeahItsKriss Posts: 906 Member
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    It's not a diet. It's just a way of eating. If you can eat that little 2 days a week with no struggles then do it.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
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    It's not a diet. It's just a way of eating. If you can eat that little 2 days a week with no struggles then do it.

    Bingo.

    Any variation of intermittent fasting, including 5:2, is just different meal timings. You can gain, lose, or maintain with IF, because it all comes down to calories.

    I personally like to skip breakfast so I have more calories for dinner.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    It's not a diet. It's just a way of eating. If you can eat that little 2 days a week with no struggles then do it.

    This. I would be hangry only eating 500 calories and would probably overeat the following day.
  • CryingBlue
    CryingBlue Posts: 270 Member
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    I did this for several months and did fine with it. And lost with it. I'm currently taking a break from it and eating at my calorie level and fasting maybe once a week or two. I have been losing with both ways of eating.
  • saintor1
    saintor1 Posts: 376 Member
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    I read extensively on it, arguments from Dr Mosley and I fail to see a benefit of 5:2 vs keeping an average. For my sanity and to cope with occasional social happenings, I aim at 13:1.

    13 days at 1560 cal and 1 day as a cheating day. Overall is probably 1800-1850 and I still lose weight.
  • HellYeahItsKriss
    HellYeahItsKriss Posts: 906 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    It's not a diet. It's just a way of eating. If you can eat that little 2 days a week with no struggles then do it.

    Actually the 5:2 is a diet. It's one of the IF protocols that is set up for weight loss.

    My opinion is that it is a pretty good way to set up your calorie deficit. The key is to have your 500 calorie days planned out with low calorie, nutrient dense and high satiating foods.

    It really isn't.

    Eating to maintenance and then eating 500 calories 2 days a week is just a way to eat your calories, it's not a diet. There is no specific foods to consume like a low carb diet for diabetics.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
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    Just curious. Why not eat at a daily deficit like MFP sets you up for? Personally I wouldn't be a kind human being if I ate just 500 calories for the day. I'm losing at 1800 calories.

    But if it works for you and its something you can sustain for the long term, then go for it.
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    It's not a diet. It's just a way of eating. If you can eat that little 2 days a week with no struggles then do it.

    Actually the 5:2 is a diet. It's one of the IF protocols that is set up for weight loss.

    My opinion is that it is a pretty good way to set up your calorie deficit. The key is to have your 500 calorie days planned out with low calorie, nutrient dense and high satiating foods.

    It really isn't.

    Eating to maintenance and then eating 500 calories 2 days a week is just a way to eat your calories, it's not a diet. There is no specific foods to consume like a low carb diet for diabetics.

    So then by your definition nothing that creates a calorie deficit is a "diet". A "diet" in your sense is only the collective of the foods a person eats?

    The word diet can mean both. If you are restricting calories you are on a diet. The collective foods you eat regardless of gaining/losing/maintaining weight is also a diet.
  • HellYeahItsKriss
    HellYeahItsKriss Posts: 906 Member
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    Because there is some people who find this method easier, perhaps they are very busy through the week and find it hard to constantly get meals in or something like that..

    But there is some people who seem to think this method promotes better weight loss, which it doesn't.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    It's not a diet. It's just a way of eating. If you can eat that little 2 days a week with no struggles then do it.

    Actually the 5:2 is a diet. It's one of the IF protocols that is set up for weight loss.

    My opinion is that it is a pretty good way to set up your calorie deficit. The key is to have your 500 calorie days planned out with low calorie, nutrient dense and high satiating foods.

    It really isn't.

    Eating to maintenance and then eating 500 calories 2 days a week is just a way to eat your calories, it's not a diet. There is no specific foods to consume like a low carb diet for diabetics.
    The definition of "a diet" isn't limited to "eating specific foods".

    Eating below your maintenance in order to lose weight is "a diet".
    Counting calories here in order to lose weight is "a diet".

    Eating a specific way is "a diet".
  • MaybeLed
    MaybeLed Posts: 250 Member
    edited December 2017
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    I bought the book, I read the book, I tried it, I was a raging nightmare.... Gave up. (Much to the relief of my family)

    However, it is one of the less crazy WoE that can help sustain a calorie deficit, if it suits you it should be sustainable. Some do better with 'windows' of eating daily like 16:8. Or a daily limit.

    I still use the recipe resources here even after I have long given up 5:2

    https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/52
  • HellYeahItsKriss
    HellYeahItsKriss Posts: 906 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    It's not a diet. It's just a way of eating. If you can eat that little 2 days a week with no struggles then do it.

    Actually the 5:2 is a diet. It's one of the IF protocols that is set up for weight loss.

    My opinion is that it is a pretty good way to set up your calorie deficit. The key is to have your 500 calorie days planned out with low calorie, nutrient dense and high satiating foods.

    It really isn't.

    Eating to maintenance and then eating 500 calories 2 days a week is just a way to eat your calories, it's not a diet. There is no specific foods to consume like a low carb diet for diabetics.
    The definition of "a diet" isn't limited to "eating specific foods".

    Eating below your maintenance in order to lose weight is "a diet".
    Counting calories here in order to lose weight is "a diet".

    Eating a specific way is "a diet".

    eating below your maintenance to lose weight is just eating.. lol..
    Counting calories in order to achieve that below maintenance is also just a way to make sure you are eating within that goal.. but it's not a diet. It's a method towards CICO, CICO is not a diet.. IF is just that a method towards achieving the proper CICO.. but it's still not a diet.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,384 Member
    edited December 2017
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    The dictionary defines "diet" as...

    1. the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.
    "a vegetarian diet"

    2. a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.
    "I'm going on a diet"

    OP's wording makes me believe she's referring to option 2, which in terms of IF, doesn't make sense.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    edited December 2017
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    rybo wrote: »
    It's not a diet. It's just a way of eating. If you can eat that little 2 days a week with no struggles then do it.

    Actually the 5:2 is a diet. It's one of the IF protocols that is set up for weight loss.

    My opinion is that it is a pretty good way to set up your calorie deficit. The key is to have your 500 calorie days planned out with low calorie, nutrient dense and high satiating foods.

    It really isn't.

    Eating to maintenance and then eating 500 calories 2 days a week is just a way to eat your calories, it's not a diet. There is no specific foods to consume like a low carb diet for diabetics.
    The definition of "a diet" isn't limited to "eating specific foods".

    Eating below your maintenance in order to lose weight is "a diet".
    Counting calories here in order to lose weight is "a diet".

    Eating a specific way is "a diet".

    eating below your maintenance to lose weight is just eating.. lol..
    Counting calories in order to achieve that below maintenance is also just a way to make sure you are eating within that goal.. but it's not a diet. It's a method towards CICO, CICO is not a diet.. IF is just that a method towards achieving the proper CICO.. but it's still not a diet.

    This is all a bit like saying: it's not a dog if it doesn't have a specific breed. It's still a dog.

    ETA: See Merriam-Webster definition d below. That's "CICO".
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    edited December 2017
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    toxikon wrote: »
    The dictionary defines "diet" as...

    1. the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.
    "a vegetarian diet"

    2. a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.
    "I'm going on a diet"

    OP's wording makes me believe she's referring to option 2, which in terms of IF, doesn't make sense.

    Of course it depends on WHICH dictionary.

    Merriam-Webster:
    Definition of diet

    1 a : food and drink regularly provided or consumed
    --a diet of fruits and vegetables
    -- a vegetarian diet
    b : habitual nourishment links between diet and disease
    c : the kind and amount of food prescribed for a person or animal for a special reason
    -- was put on a low-sodium diet
    d : a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one's weight
    --going on a diet

    2 : something provided or experienced repeatedly
    --Their imaginations feverish from a diet of detective novels …—The New Yorker
    --heard a steady diet of excuses
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    A friend of mine does 5:2 and loves it. She orginally used it to lose some vanity pounds, and now she uses it for maintenance. She likes it because for her she doesn't have to really think about what she eats on other days, and said that after an adjustment period she doesn't find the 500 cal days difficult at all (she initially didn't work out on those days, but now she does).
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    And yeah, "eating limited quantities of food in order to lose weight" is one of the various definitions of diet.
  • HellYeahItsKriss
    HellYeahItsKriss Posts: 906 Member
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    I think there is some confusion here about how the term diet is being implied.

    Fad diets, like the military diet, banana diet, Etc revolve around a variation of food and not others.

    Then you have other diets like low carb, Keto, Etc which also revolve around a variation of different foods and not others.

    IF does not have a diet plan.. unless you think picking a set certain amount of hours to eat is a plan.. but in reality, its just eating, since time of day is pointless really outside of your own convenience, that really isn't a plan.
    There is no set foods to eat. There is no specific diet involved besides eating whatever you choose to eat within your calories, it's not like IF says you can only have so many carbs per day or you need to eat super high fat or only vegetables.. It's a method towards CICO that is all it is. Where as Keto or Low Carb Diets are plans that can aid people with health issues like diabetes, they don't need to be used for weight management.
  • Rickster1967
    Rickster1967 Posts: 485 Member
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    yeah you're conflating two meanings of the term 'diet'

    There's the term for the collective foodstuffs typically eaten together. So you have the Standard American Diet, the Inuit diet, Mediterranean Diet, Japanese diet and so on.

    There's the term diet as in 'being on a weightloss diet'

    5:2 is an example of the latter. It is intended for people to be able to lose weight by lowering the average calorie intake over the week. They may claim some other benefit relating to calorie restriction but ultimately it is a way to lose weight. In other words a diet.

    Hope this clears it up.