A different approach – two weeks on / two weeks off

This topic contains 7 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by CalifDreamer 6 years, 8 months ago.

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CherryBlossom

3:16 pm
22 Feb 18
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Hi everyone

I hope you are all doing well – it’s great reading the posts here and to see that the site is still going.

Just wondering if anyone has read this article or has given it a try? I plateau very quickly when dieting / fasting and have read about how the body adapts to a continuous reduction in calories by reducing its metabolic rate. I did 5:2 with some success but stopped losing weight after a few weeks.

http://www.newsweek.com/weight-loss-two-week-diet-667692

This is from a Krista Varaday study – essentially two weeks on (TDEE minus one third of daily calories) / two weeks off (staying at your usual daily TDEE).

Anyway, I’m part way through the first two weeks so will report back on how it goes (mainly to keep myself motivated). It will take a good six months to see if it really works and I keep losing weight, but am in this for the long haul.

Would love to track progress with anyone who would like to give it a try and hasn’t done so well on 5:2 or traditional diets.

Cinque

8:57 pm
22 Feb 18
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Good luck with it Cherry. It sounds like 5:2 in that it needs to be a sustainable way of life that you are able to continue even after you have got to your healthy diet. You were unable to keep with 5:2 for maintenance, so hopefully you can keep on with this one. All power to you.

Cinque

9:16 pm
22 Feb 18
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Oops, meant ‘healthy weight’. 🙂

ccco

1:13 am
23 Feb 18
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CherryBlosson, I read the link you gave us. Good luck with this approach. Would love to know how that works out for you!

CherryBlossom

3:31 pm
23 Feb 18
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Hi Cinque and ccco, thanks for your responses. I will keep you posted on progress – not sure how it will go but can only try.

Will look out for your posts too.

Typh00

3:57 pm
23 Feb 18
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Cherry Blossom

I’m doing the 5:2 but read the article you linked looks very interesting if it works for you then keep doing it, will watch out for further updates.

CherryBlossom

1:52 pm
24 Feb 18
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Hi Typh00, thanks for the post. I will update weekly on progress and let you know how I get on.

First update on Monday but – won’t really tell me much other than one week <30% of TDEE will probably result in some weight loss, but tracking will help me to stay on track.

CalifDreamer

5:20 pm
24 Feb 18
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Interesting article, Cherry. So for 1 week you would eat 905 calories per day. Then the instructions say that the following week “dieters ate enough calories to maintain their weight during the off period“. I take that to mean I woul eat at my TDEE which is 1358 calories per day. I would have to count calories every day. I think I would lose because of the deficit of calories over the 2 weeks, maybe similar to fasting every other day?

The thing that would make it difficult is eating 1/3 less calories every day for a week. True, it’s about 400 calories more than the 500 on the 5:2 diet, but still a pretty small amount of food. That’s a lot stricter than WW on the low calorie days. And it’s a whole week. Lots of social situations and just cooking at home for the family happen in a week. The reason the 5:2 is easy for me to follow is that I can always work around those 2 days. If I have a business lunch or a party with friends, I just plan my fast day for a different day. I don’t like counting calories even on my 2 fast days. I would really not like doing it for a full week at a time.

If I had done a diet like that instead of 5:2 last year, I may have been able to stick to it long enough to lose some weight, but I think it would have been a lot more hassle than the 5:2 which is pretty easy. And at the end, if you go off of any diet and go back to whatever was normal for you before, the weight all comes back again. (I probably tried every diet there was, over the years and lost thousands of pounds, over and over and over again!) So however you lose it has to be sustainable. For me, the 5:2 is sustainable. It’s no big deal for me to continue eating 500 calories 2 days a week. I just eat a little more (I’ve never actually counted calories the other 5 days.) than I did when I was losing. It’s easy, it works, it’s sustainable.

(I’m 68, don’t get much exercise other than walking and have normal thyroid function.)