5:2 OR Alternate Fasting

This topic contains 5 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by fatrabbit 6 years, 7 months ago.

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jamie0118

9:11 pm
14 Sep 17
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Hi. I’m looking to starting the fasting diet and I don’t know which one to start. I hear good things about both the 5:2 and the Alternate Day Fasting. I would like to lose 30+ pounds.

fasting_me

1:51 am
17 Sep 17
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The plan you choose depends on how easy it will be for you to get through a calorie restriction day. If it is difficult, then the Alternate Day Fasting would be a real trial. My husband had years of bad experiences with traditional diets and found the Fast Diet [5:2] to be perfect since what he couldn’t eat on Monday, he could eat on Tuesday or Wednesday. he lost 40 pounds in a year and a half.

Try a day on 600 quality calories and see how well it works for you. Then decide.
Good Luck.

little_ella

2:29 am
17 Sep 17
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I bought the book The Every Other Day Diet by Dr. Varady…and couldn’t even last a week. Oh well. Another one sold to the used book store.

Everyone is different, but for me 5:2 is so perfect. My husband is losing well. As I mentioned in another post, this is the only diet he’s ever been able to stick to in his whole life. I agree with fasting_me. On fasting day, my husband and I say we can always eat what we desire the next day.

I should add, we follow Dr. Mosley’s revised Fast Diet which allows 800 calories. He is revising his Fast Diet book to reflect this, but I don’t know when it will be released. I’m figuring 2018, since the good doctor is now busy with his Clever Guts Diet book, but hopefully sooner! Whatever you choose, the very best to you.

Here is a link about the revision. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/12/good-news-dieters-52-relaxes-rules-allows-800-calories-day/

LJoyce

6:42 am
17 Sep 17
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The more fast days, the more quickly you will lose weight – in theory. However it also depends on what you eat on the non-fast days.
If you are prone to overeating or binge eating then AD can be difficult as the “feed days” can easily become binge days. In fact I think even calling them “feed days” is problematic. With a binge eating disorder the restriction of a fast day seems to trigger a need to overeat as soon as you are allowed to eat freely. This what happened to me when I tried it. I also tried a 4:3 and a 5:2 system. Eventually I figured out that by having a minimum of 2 normal days between fast days I was much more likely to eat moderately on the non-fast days.

There are also other options. There are some people on this forum who do their fasting as a block – ie 2-3 days of fasting followed by a period of normal eating.

I had 9kg (20 pounds) to lose and it took 3 months – mostly following a 2:1 cycle (I did 2 normal days then 1 fast day), which meant some weeks I had 2 FDs and some weeks I had 3.

I don’t think there is one right way to do this. The best fasting cycle is the one that you can stick with long term. It took me a month of experimenting with various options before I settled into a patter that worked for me.

jamie0118

2:46 am
18 Sep 17
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Thank you! I think I’ll start with the 5:2 amd see how that goes.

fatrabbit

8:12 am
18 Sep 17
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I found ADF fell into a really nice rhythm and I stuck to it really well and lost ten pounds a month for 9 months straight although at the higher calorie level of 800 rather than 500. Oh in there somewhere I hit a plateau and did four weeks of the bloodsugar diet instead which is 800 every day but the weight loss over time was no different. I did have occasional feed days when I ate too much but it all averaged out to the good. I also cut out wheat and sugar and all things processed and am vegetarian which makes it much easier as vegetables are so nutritionally rich, a carnivore wasting calories on calorie dense, nutrient poor meat is at a distinct disadvantage.