5:2 Beginner Information/Ponderings

This topic contains 11 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by  Betz28 6 years, 3 months ago.

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  • First week on the 5:2, I am a 43yo male, have been on a rollercoaster of weight control my entire life. At 260lbs, the heaviest I’ve ever been, I am a solid potato body shape. I am a chronic diet quitter and a true food lover. A friend started this diet a few weeks back and was talking it up. My interest was piqued to investigate further. I feel like this diet is something brilliant I had never considered before, I think it will remove the emotional wearing down I regularly feel under the constant depravation of daily caloric budgets. My first week I have tracked a loss of 7lbs, though I know much of that must be a vanity type loss. Just not eating for 2 days has been surprisingly simple. I am looking forward to my first regular day meal and I don’t feel like I will be hogging out just to make up the loss. Question…. Does anyone else fast consecutive days and/or no calories? Please share your experience good/bad/ugly. Thanks

    @orion. I started my weight loss journey at the beginning of 2015. Found out about 5:2 in September 2015. Ive been in maintenance since March 2016 but still water fast one day per week, every Monday. I went from 202 lbs (92kg) to 154 lbs (70kg). I water fast for health reasons and not for weight loss now. I found it easier to water only fast almost from the get go. Initially when I started I was water fasting Mondays and Tuesdays, so about 60 hours straight. The first month was hard, and I was getting headaches. At the six month mark all of a sudden I found fasting “easy”. It took my liver that long before it actually started working as it was designed to do. I now find fasting very easy and I no longer get hunger pangs on Mondays as my body has become so used to not eating. The production of ghrelin (hunger hormone) is a partially learnt response and comes in waves that coincide with when you normally choose to eat.

    Choose a 5:2 style that suit you and youre more likely to stick with it. Try and cut out sugar in all its forms and grain based processed carbs. It will make your task a lot easier. Do not approach this as a diet. This is a eating lifestyle. Design a pattern of eating that is sustainable for the rest of your life. Good luck it works if you give it a red hot go.

    Hi Orion, welcome.

    As bigbooty said, finding a fasting method that suits you personally is very important to making this a long term way of eating. I tried a variety of options, including water fast and found that I need one meal to stick with this. For me that is dinner on the fast days. I usually make a meal on fast days that contains lots of veg and some solid protein. I also allow myself 1 cup of milk so that I can make cups of tea the way I like them – they make it easy for me to get through to dinner time on fast days.

    Some people find they need to change the way they eat every day, not just fast days. I suspect this depends how unhealthy your diet is when you start 5:2. For me this came slowly as I made changes that felt healthier. I didn’t cut out all forms of sugar. I eat about 7-10 serves of veg and fruit most days (and these are largely carbohydrates including sugars). I eat a lot of dairy which contains lactose (milk sugars). A lot of my protein choices are legumes which contain fat and carbs along with the protein. I also eat some whole grains, but in pretty modest quantities and I’m very selective – I mostly choose those with at least 10% fibre – choices are limited to things like freehak, kasha and barley. Fibre is key for me maintaining good intenstinal health, so it’s more of a deciding factor than carb content when I’m choosing foods to eat regularly. I eat very few processed foods and I rarely add sugar/honey/syrup etc to anything. I haven’t banned anything and there is a difference between what I cook at home and what I may eat occasionally at social occasions. For me this is necessary as I have a history of binge eating and banning things completely is a trigger for me to want to binge on them. Some things I never buy – they just aren’t in my pantry. This means that they have to be “sometimes” foods that I eat when I’m out. That doesn’t mean I will always choose to eat them when I’m eating out, just that it’s an option that I haven’t ruled out. I know that Michael Mosely, who originally put this 5:2 program together now recommends following a mediterranean diet every day, whether fasting or not. I think that the advice for the non-fast days is probably the same as the fast days – find what works for you long time and keeps you feeling healthy.

    Like you, my weight has been a life long issue. At my heaviest in the 1990s I was 147kg (323 pounds) I lost 52 kg (114 pounds) in 2013-15 (not on 5:2), but I struggled to maintain the weight loss. I’ve tried to maintain my weight in the mid-high 70s (165-172 pounds) since then. I came to 5:2 after regaining 9kg and over 3 months I lost that weight and for the last 5 months I’ve been using 5:2 to maintain. I feel a lot more in control of that process than I ever did before. I still fast 2 days per week as I have a very low TDEE (1400 calories), so the two fast days help me balance out any calories I eat above 1400 on the other days. I still use 500 calories as a guide on my fast days but my intake isn’t always that high – it depends what I cook for that one dinner meal.

    I hope you find that this is a sustainable way of eating for you.

    Thanks for the advice all, keep up the good work and I’ll check in next with results

    Hi Orion, it sounds like I am very similar to yourself, though a little older and a little heavier. I was over 300 pounds when I started about 3 months ago.

    I’ve been finding it easier to allow myself 600 calories per day rather than zero. I’ve still been losing about 6 kilos, or 13 pounds, per month. I’ve been fasting at least 2, but often 3, days per week, usually with consecutive days. You’ve still got that up your sleeve, you can give the 600 calorie version of the fast a try if you are struggling on zero calories.

    I’ve always struggled to maintain motivation about this far into a diet, and this one is no exception. The good thing is that I can go completely off the rails for a couple of days, then just “hit the reset button”. And that’s just as simple as waking up in the morning, packing myself a big, healthy, low-calorie lunch, and getting right back into it. 

    Week 2 showed happy results with a two pound weight loss. Curious I’m finding a reduction in appetite after the end of fast days, hope that keeps up. Into week three I split the fast days to allow for a community food event, feeling gratitude that this diet plan has such a simple flexibility to it. I may fast two days on the backside of the split just to feel continuity… Or just be a pig
    when free. Anyone else feeling a natural and unexpected reduction in appetite on the first day post fast?

    Hi Orion,

    For me it varies. Some post fast days I have no hunger until mid afternoon, but not always. I’ve given up second guessing my body – every time I think I have it figured out my body does something unpredictable just to show me who’s boss! I have become much better at eating only when hungry than I used to be – this has been quite helpful at letting me distinguish between genuine hunger and other things that drive the desire to eat. I found that 5:2 was the first diet that helped me sort through these signals.

    That’s funny LJoyce, you have a good perspective on understanding your own body. I’m beginning to feel like this diet is kind of a reset function to the organic chemistry of body/caloric set point.

    Ok… Week three completed and I have lost another pound. It has been a very long time (save random flu events) since I have been at 250lbs. I captured a notch in my belt which was a huge surprise. I split days this week and I maintained weight by the end of the second day so I continued the fast another 12hrs, so… total time this week 2.5 days. I’m confident that fasting consecutive days will provide the best results for me.

    Forum Q? Positive/Negative reactions from friends & family with whom you have shared this diet strategy.

    Ok… Week 4 completed and I’m down one more pound. This week I split the fast days due to the boss buying everyone lunch for a job well done, makes me feel great that this life style diet has such a simple flexibility. After a month I feel like I am past the initial fad feeling and as a lifestyle change I am more emotionally confident that this diet plan is sustainable.

    Good morning all… Happy Holiday wishes to everyone… Thrilled to report at Week 18 I have lost 27lbs. Skipped the fast on Thanksgiving week (US Holiday) and I gained a lb through that week of gluttony but it came off through the fast in the following week.

    I have not been at this weight in over a decade. Still fasting two consecutive days with an allowance of 200 calories in coffee/soda/tea.

    I love the simplicity of this process and the short term requirement of total discipline. At 5 months this is the longest I have ever maintained any kind of lifestyle change for weight loss. Hopeful for what the future holds and grateful for the originators of this process.

    Please share with us your success & struggle. This forum has been a great resource. Thank you all.

    Betz28
    Massachusetts
    I’m only on day 4, but I’m hanging in. This is my 2nd FD, and I’m now going to someone’ house for dinner, hoping I’ll just eat the salad and refrain from drinking!! Hoping to post a positive text in a few hours!! This holiday season is soooo hard!

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