5:2 Fasting Diet

Quite a few of us have been trying this tyoe of diet, see this old thread. www.gransnet.com/forums/dieting/1193212-Horizon-intermittent-fasting-diet?msgid=24964973. There is also a Q&A on the home page if you click on the banner logo at the top of the page.
I think this type of regime really works for life.

I started the diet yesterday and it was fine. I made a gorgeous tomato soup for supper and my husband had bread with his. I managed to keep to 500 calories. Trick is to keep busy and not get the nibbles. I think I can do this!!
Tomorrow is my next Fast day and it will be veg soup this time. Luckily both my husband and I love soup. Will weigh myself next week and see if I am a bit lighter. I am being careful on my non Fast days as well - but that is my decision as I need to loose about 10kilos.
Keep in touch GrandmaH and lets see how we do.

Thank you- I'll have a look.
First day went very well,I wasn't hungry although I did feel light headed around 3.30.
Not extra hungry today either.
If it works it seems a really good habit to get into.

Oh I am very pleased to see this new thread on this diet. Thank you GrandmaH. I too have started it today and am doing ok so far. Am drinking hot water instead of tea or coffee. Don't like black tea/coffee or herbal but find the hot water quite pleasant. Have bought two packs of fresh sunshine vegetables from Waitrose for my supper which will only be 128 cals and means I can have an apple or blueberries as well. I also bought some Miso soup which was quite pleasant. It would be helpful for me if people added to this thread what low cal stuff they have found good. Lets keep this thread going and support each other. Good luck to those of you who have just started xx

I've been thinking about this for a while, so will watch this thread with interest.
Before Christmas I had some success with a low carb diet, but it isn't working too well now and it seems tricky to maintain.
From the bits I've read about the 5-2 diet there are other health benefits as well as weight loss.
Good luck to those starting out on 5-2!

Oh do join us Notso. I have just read the other thread and got the impression that you need to eat all the cals in one go but in the book I have it says the cals can be spread (which I have to do because of medication). What have you all read and feel please?

On 'fasting' days, your 500 calories can be spread over the day nanapug, that's what it says in all of the on-line articles.
I think I will give this a go...why wait?
Do your 2 'fasting' days have to be the same days each week I wonder, or can they change to fit in with what you're doing?
I shall go for Friday this week as first day of 500 calories. (Good job I like cabbage soup)
Can we post on here about how we make up our 500 calories? It will be helpful to swap ideas. I suppose the trick to it is to plan ahead.

I just read an article about this diet which highlighted its possible detrimental impact upon fertility. Any of us worried about that?

I'm on it, I'm on my second week, tomorrow will be a fasting day. I move my days around and make sure they don't interfere with anything I have arranged, I like that flexibility, I never do a day at week-ends too many temptations. I do a Monday and Thursday, or a Tuesday or Friday. I read somewhere that Michael Moseley said the psychological effect of knowing that you can have a day off the next day cannot be underestimated and I think that is very true, it really keeps me going knowing I can eat normally the next day. I have tried other diets such as the Atkins and found that I could not keep that going, I would have killed for an apple! I need a solution that I can stick to for forever really. I like the concept that the body repairs itself during the fasting days.

My husband and I have been using this 5:2 method for several months now and it is so successful, I am sure we will always use it to lose/or maintain our weight targets.

We vary the 2 days according to our social calendar!! So this week it is Monday and Wednesday and then another week we may do Tuesday and Thursday...just so long as it is not two consecutive days.

Today we had a fruit "Smoothie" for breakfast, i.e. one scoop of protein powder and some summer fruits (defrosted blueberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, raspberries). For lunch we had soup, and tonight I will have more soup (vegetable and chicken) and my husband will have a poached egg on wholemeal toast. We also have an apple and orange each in between plus usual tea and coffee. So, not strictly 500 and 600 calories each but pretty close and it doesn't seem to affect the results. Soup is our favourite filler on these days. We actually enjoy the fasting days now (well at least I do!!) because the next day we can eat pretty much what we like within reason and still lose weight each week (for my husband) and I maintain my weight very easily after many years of going up and down all the time depending on the food intake each week.

Hope this helps.

A useful filler if you are feeling deprived is half a butternut squash cut into chips and roasted with spray oil.The squash is 9 calories and the oil is 1 cal per squirt. This gives a huge plateful. I usually add a tablespoon of Hellman's Lighter than Light mayo as a dip, for 10 cals.
I have reached a bit of a plateau with my alternate day fasting, having lost over 2.5 st, but am persevering. It is now just a way of life. I feel so much better, my resting pulse rate is down, and I am sure my memory has improved a bit.

The squash snack sounds good. How long did it take to lose that amount shysal?

Notso it took about 4 months to lose the 2.5 stone. I have remained the same for about a month and still have a bit to lose, so I plan to increase the exercise and cut down a bit on eating days.

shysal - that's inspiring. I think I must try this diet.

Well, my first day went well yesterday. Yes, I was hungry but I didn't weaken and felt "good" at the end of the day. The strange bit was realising that I didn't have to do it today. I think that will definitely make it easier. Trouble is I have so much on over the next few days I am struggling to find a day I can do it again. Will have to sort it though. I would love to loose two stone as I am thinking I will need knee surgery at some time and know that they will tell me to loose weight so I may as well pre-empt it. Who else is going to do it? Its much better with support xx

I've just bought the book and am looking forward to starting. All your experiences have been very useful.

I started it yesterday, by default. Won't go into all the nasty details, but I was sick (most unusual for me) and haven't eaten yet. Does that count as one of my 2 days?

shysal, that's brilliant! I'm more determined than ever now.

Tomorrow is my first 500 calorie day, and I have everything lined up so no excuses!

I have been using a variety of fasting diets for many years (for weight control and also the spiritual side) ... it was interesting to see the Horizon programmme and the new Michael Mosley book ... MMs book seems to add little to the programme is is quite costly. I currently use The No Nonsense Guide to 5:2 Diets ebbook (avid Kindle reader too!) as a simple inexpensive guide [[http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Nonsense-Guide-Intermittent-ebook/dp/B00AZ8BZHY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359648136&sr=8-1

Currently maintaining 5ft8in and 8.5 st !!

ooops - cant do links!

No Nonsense 5:2 diet ebook:

www.amazon.co.uk/The-Nonsense-Guide-Intermittent-ebook/dp/B00AZ8BZHY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359648136&sr=8-1

The Michael Mosley ebook is:

www.amazon.co.uk/The-Fast-Diet-intermittent-ebook/dp/B00AW8UK0K/ref=pd_sim_kinc_4

:-)

I have the M.M. book, which I think is more readable than most.

Well I have had an excellent start to day two of the fast this week. I slept so badly last night (bl**dy new mattress) that I decided to go back to bed after seeing GS off to school, and have a sleep. I have only just got up so it's lunch time now and I have saved my breakfast calories!!!
How did you get on Notso? Are you seriously going to do it Gally? I hope you are feeling better now.Have you started Janthea? How about you Anno? I really must measure my waist and hips today as I have dieted before and regretted not doing that.
We normally have drinks and nibbles on a Friday night, so will miss that, but I can have that tomorrow instead, which is something I find good about this diet.

I don't get this. So far today all I have had is one egg. It is now nearly seven pm and I have fed the GCs with stuff I would normally pick at and I have no desire to at all. Yes, I am hungry, and I am going to eat something soon, but my head is in a very different place to where it normally is when I diet. Both my DDs have said they want to try it too. What's more I can go out to lunch tomorrow with my DD and GD and not feel guilty. Love it......

I'm nearly at the end of my first 500 calorie day and it's been ok.

I haven't read the book yet but heard that for the maximum health benefits, a 16 hour break from food is recommended...includes being asleep of course. So I didn't have any food until after lunchtime today. That was ok too.

I can't honestly say that I'm hungry, but I would like something else to eat! It's just habit isn't it? You don't need the food, but you want the taste of it. So I'm going to have an early night with a new book and remove myself from the temptation.

I started the 5:2 diet last week and lost over a pound. I haven't found it difficult so far and have managed to avoid thinking about food too much. I'm vegetarian anyway so a good veggie soup has been very enjoyable and filling, without too many calories. I'm doing Mondays and Fridays, as that fits in with my voluntary work (in France, and throughout January we had 'galette' at each session!) It's a good job January is over - I never eat that much cake normally.