5:2 diet - Does it work?
Rachael_789
Posts: 93 Member
Hey,
Someone told me about the 5:2 diet today, never heard of it before. So now am curious!
Is anyone currently doing the diet or have done in the past?
Did it work for you?
Feel free to share your experience good or bad 😃 would love to hear them.
Someone told me about the 5:2 diet today, never heard of it before. So now am curious!
Is anyone currently doing the diet or have done in the past?
Did it work for you?
Feel free to share your experience good or bad 😃 would love to hear them.
3
Replies
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Did it for a while in my active weight loss phase and enjoyed it, I was transitioning off of ADF at the time though, so I was already used to the eating pattern. I lost weight with it no problem, don't have anything bad to say about it
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Aww that’s great. Well done on the weight loss ⭐️
How did you find your engergy levels fasting if you don’t mind me asking?1 -
rachael_lees wrote: »Aww that’s great. Well done on the weight loss ⭐️
How did you find your engergy levels fasting if you don’t mind me asking?
The first two weeks/cycles is a bit rough (pre-planning your low calorie 'fasting' days is crucial and do NOT go grocery shopping on those days, trust me on this one
), but after that energy levels were normal and sometimes I'd get bursts of hyper energy (like suddenly wanting to clean my entire house crazy lol). This was a common phenomenon among the group of IF'ers that I hung out with but we didn't know why it was happening. It didn't happen every fasting day, maybe 1-2 a month. 3 -
Any diet "works" if you tailor your calorie intake to your goals. Eat less to lose, eat more to gain.11
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I've done it for a while now and really like it. It's not magic but it helps me manage my calories so I can reach my goal4
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22 -
All diets "work" if they create a calorie deficit. Creating a calorie deficit comes down to managing/moderating your intake. Whether or not a diet does that will be very individual... so there's no way to say for sure if it will work for you or not.
The idea behind 5:2 is that you eat at maintenance 5 days a week, and eat at a deficit 2 days a week (5:2 plans typically have that deficit be pretty significant). The implication here is that you count calories all 7 days of the week. But... if you are going to count calories, why not count calories and follow a more consistent plan?7 -
I think it really depends on you. Your energy levels will not be the same as other people on fasting days. Things like work and life stress may make those fasting days even harder. Remember that if you try it that if it makes you miserable for 2 days it will likely not be worth it.
Also remember that you can just as easily gain weight with this particular protocol. You have to maintain an energy deficit over the course of a week to lose weight.4 -
rachael_lees wrote: »Hey,
Someone told me about the 5:2 diet today, never heard of it before. So now am curious!
Is anyone currently doing the diet or have done in the past?
Did it work for you?
Feel free to share your experience good or bad 😃 would love to hear them.
I have a group designated for women that do either 16:8, 5:2 or other various IF's. If you want to join, just shoot me a friend request. We have about 90 members right now, and people are sharing what works for them, what doesn't and we weigh-in weekly to stay accountable. If you're interested, I'm happy to add you!
Best of luck! I'm on a 16:8 and am down 14 pounds in 23 days!9 -
It worked for me in losing the extra weight I had carried around for about 20 years as it helped my adherence to a sensible weekly calorie deficit.
I find an everyday calorie deficit very demotivating but really with 5:2 you are only dieting twice a week.
But those 2 very low calorie days certainly aren't easy, especially at first. I found skipping breakfast and having 2 very small meals helped me. My wife preferred breakfast and dinner and skipped lunch.
Please do remember that although everyone focusses on the 2 low days it is a 7 day diet plan and you are supposed to eat at maintenance levels on the 5 days. Don't be tempted to create a deficit on the 5 days too - it's far more important you stay the course rather than trying to speed things up and fail.
Other benefits for me:
Made me more creative with making tasty, nutritious meals with very low calories.
You learn something about your true hunger signals (because you are hungry!).
It supported a heavy exercise routine better for me as the majority of my training was fully fuelled.
Transition to maintenance at goal weight was a breeze as I was used to eating at maintenance levels.
Fitted into my social life better with a little planning and moving my fast days around.
Beware - some people absolutely hate it. Some people feel absolutely awful when they try it. There's also people who shouldn't do it (Michael Mosley's website theastdiet.co.uk gives details).5 -
A friend of mine does it and loves it. She had only vanity weight to lose, and started doing it counting only on the 2 500 cal days, and eating what she normally did on other days and lost about 10 lbs (what she wanted to lose) and then started maintaining. She still does it because for her it means she can not count calories on the other days and maintain.
It doesn't seem appealing to me so I've not tried it, but it definitely works for some.2 -
Depends on how you feel. For me, doesn't work because I feel miserable on days of fasting; I eat like there's no tomorrow on days that I can eat because I'm so ravenous, etc. It also disturbed my sleeping patterns and my hormones were out of whack, I started having acne again!
Any diet works if you are successful at creating a calorie deficit - the method of creating a deficit that you choose depends on your preference and ability to stick with it for the long term.3 -
Try it and see how you go.
I hated it personally and found I was wishing away 2 days of my week every week because I was hungry and became obsessed with food. I couldn't live like that anymore so ended up going back to calorie counting.
It's all about finding what works for you, my friend on the other hand has lost a lot and loves it so give it a go!1 -
I've done it in the past and liked it, it helped me lose a couple of stubborn kilos that my calorie counting wasnt. The fasting days were hard for me I had to just tough it out. I liked to go the whole day with no food and eat the whole 500cal at dinner.0
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I tried it, but it didn't work for me. I couldn't cope with the "2" days.
However, my mum has been doing it on and off for the last couple of years and really enjoys it as a weight loss method. She doesn't calorie count much on her "5" days, but on the "2" days she's super strict. She says she likes it because she's able to work around events where she knows she's going to be eating over. For context my mum generally she does 5:2 for a few months, and gets to a point where she is happy with her weight and then eats at maintenance. Then gets weight creep (due to holidays, christmas time, the fact she doesn't log etc) and then gets back onto the diet.
Personally I love it as a concept and would really have liked to have been able to stick with it, but it's not for me.4 -
Can’t help noticing that not a single contributor here has mentioned the main reason for the 5:2 diet. It wasn’t designed for weight loss, it was as a result of research into the body’s reaction to fasting which showed that fasting was a catalyst to the brain to send out endorphins and other chemicals which help to repair physical muscle damage, joint problems etc. Weight loss was a significant beneficial side effect. Which means that sticking to it gives you many more additional benefits than other types of dieting alone. Even brain power was markedly increased after several months regular fasting.2
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kevcargill wrote: »Can’t help noticing that not a single contributor here has mentioned the main reason for the 5:2 diet. It wasn’t designed for weight loss, it was as a result of research into the body’s reaction to fasting which showed that fasting was a catalyst to the brain to send out endorphins and other chemicals which help to repair physical muscle damage, joint problems etc. Weight loss was a significant beneficial side effect. Which means that sticking to it gives you many more additional benefits than other types of dieting alone. Even brain power was markedly increased after several months regular fasting.
No it was designed as a weight loss diet.
And despite me liking the plan itself the research backing it up wasn't actually done on the 5:2 eating style and was a case of pretty dreadful cherry picking of studies completely out of context of the studies themselves.
Hence the fallout between Dr Krista Varady and Michael Mosley.
A nice bit of journalism rather than cutting edge science.
For the vast majority of people the health benefits come from weight loss down to a more healthy weight.6 -
kevcargill wrote: »Can’t help noticing that not a single contributor here has mentioned the main reason for the 5:2 diet. It wasn’t designed for weight loss, it was as a result of research into the body’s reaction to fasting which showed that fasting was a catalyst to the brain to send out endorphins and other chemicals which help to repair physical muscle damage, joint problems etc. Weight loss was a significant beneficial side effect. Which means that sticking to it gives you many more additional benefits than other types of dieting alone. Even brain power was markedly increased after several months regular fasting.
There are many ways to get endorphins
1
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