Trying something new

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lauragreenbaum
lauragreenbaum Posts: 1,017 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This isn't exactly fasting, but 2 days a week I'm restricting my diet to 500 calories and no alcohol or caffeine. The other 5 days I get 1500 calories (which by comparison seems like a lot!) This has been working for me because I find 1200 per day every day very restrictive and hard to maintain. The 2 days a week at 500 are a challenge, but I almost enjoy it and I tend to be an "all or nothing" personality. I keep reminding myself that it's only one day and tomorrow I can look forward to coffee and more calories, including wine. The feeling of hunger all day also makes me very humble and grateful because I know there are people in the world who are hungry every day. I think something similar is called the 5/2 diet, but my take on it is a bit different because I'm actually tracking my food on the other 5 days and sticking to 1500 calories. I believe with the 5/2 they tell you to just "eat normally" on the other 5 days- that was not working for me because I was overdoing it. If anyone else does something similar I'd love to hear from you.

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  • amybrown1228
    amybrown1228 Posts: 6 Member
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    My best friend at work is on the 5/2 diet, and she loves it. She doesn't track on the "5" days, but I don't think she goes totally off the rails, lol.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    if i tried to do that, id eat everything i could get my hands on.

    it would be bad

    lololololol

    works for a lot of people, but i know for me, it would NOT lol
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
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    Yeah, it wouldn't work for me, either.

    When I first wake up, my thoughts are, "What time is it?" and "What day is it?" If it was a 500 cal day for me, I wouldn't even want to get out of bed! :D
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    edited June 2018
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    I did that early on in my weight loss before I started mfp and got smart about it. 5 days of eating too little and 2 days of eating way too little. Believe it or not, you can get used to that. But it obviously isn't sustainable and causes muscle loss.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    Or you could just go for 1500 every day if 1200 every day is too hard.
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
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    I did 5:2 for a 4 or 5 months. The impetus was a crazy schedule where 2 days a week I wasn't home for dinner until after 9:30pm. It was seriously stressing me out on those days because I dislike eating late. Once I decided I would just eat low those days and skip dinner, I was much more relaxed about it. I had no problems on the low days (great energy, great workouts), but I was kind of crashy and had to manage a powerful overeating urge the days following the low days. I tracked all the days. Ultimately when my schedule changed, I went back to a consistent eating schedule. 5:2 was a decent solution to a schedule problem, but I do not prefer it.

    One thing I've noticed about me is I carry less water weight when (1) I eat at maintenance or slightly above (recomp/slow bulk); and (2) I consume the same calories every day (i.e. eating less when I drink more.) I have banked calories for wine on weekends for years, and I recently shifted calories around to better support weight lifting and recovery on weekdays. It's weird to add calories and see the scale drop.

    OP, If 5:2 works for you and, on average, you are getting enough nutrition, good for you. It works for lots of people. I've tried it and discovered my body responds better to even intake.

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