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onesize, I too notice that on other forums folks are counting their calories on their “feed” days, limiting carbs, not eating fruit, etc. The good thing about feed days is we can eat what we want, but not go overboard. But I’ll never count calories on my feed days. To me that defeats the purpose of this plan.
Personally, I wouldn’t worry about fruit hindering your weight loss. I once read a study that said that cultures who eat the most fruit and vegetables are the slimmest. All I know is that it wasn’t fruit that got me fat!
When people say “sugary”, they are normally referring to added sugars, e.g. cereals, not natural sugars like in fruit. I originally lost my weight using Weight Watchers (and am drawn to this diet by being able to eat what I want on non-fast days, plus the health benefits), where non-processed fruit and veggies are 0 points. Initially, trying to avoid hunger, I went overboard with the fruit, and didn’t get the desired weight-loss. I went back to “in moderation”, and lost 40kg eating 6 pieces of fruit (apple, orange, banana, grapes, strawberries, etc.) and 500g of carrots a day, along with my other food. i.e. a piece of fruit and a carrot with each meal (the 6 meals being breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, desert, spread-out 3 hours apart). I tracked my fruit for a while – i.e. treated the calories as counting towards my points total, rather than the “cheat” of counting it as 0, given what happened when I went overboard – and did find statistically that the fruit had much less effect on weight-loss than the regular foods, the foods which always counted for points. i.e. seems to be much more related to processed foods intake, so it wasn’t invalid to say fruit can be treated as 0 points as long as one doesn’t go overboard with that. So, as with everything, in moderation.
Note that part of the reason for eating fruit with every meal is vitamins. In Australia, potassium is no longer available as a supplement, so you can only get it through what you eat. The RDI for potassium is >3000mg, and people’s natural response is “bananas are high in potassium”, like eating a banana will achieve the goal, only you’d need to eat 5-6 bananas a day to get 3000mg! Hence a piece of fruit with every meal (meat is also good for potassium).
Note that the fibre in fruit also helps you to feel full, so eat a piece of fruit 10-15 minutes before your main meal and you won’t feel the need to eat as much (the fibre expands, leaving less room in your stomach for other food). I originally got this tip from Dr. Oz, though I think Michael has mentioned it also. My meal routine is have a glass of icy-cold water (body has to warm it up first, revving up metabolism) and a piece of fruit, 10-15 mins later have my meal, finish off with a carrot. I intend to keep this regime, but hopefully not have to be so fussy about points of the meal on non-fasting days.
So, in short, make sure you get your fruit in for vitamins/fibre, but just don’t go overboard.
I can totally relate to the disappointment of having to count the calories in fruit, given that they get treated as 0 points by Weight Watchers. Fortunately, given that this is the approach under this diet, fruit accounts for little anyway. Fruit and carrots makes up less than 20% of my total WW points (should I not count them as simply 0 as is officially the case – I suspect people were simply not eating sufficient fruit and veg when they were counted, using the points towards processed food instead), despite having fruit and a carrot with every meal. As I said, I intend to keep this routine, even though that leaves me with even less calories for other food on fast days (the fact that it helps me to feel full is an obvious benefit to continuing to do so). Fresh fruit, in moderation, every meal, fast days and not. 🙂
My understanding of the fruit issue is to avoid fruit on fast days because even though some fruits are low in calories, their natural sugars cause the insulin spikes that fasting is designed to quell. Eat vegetables.
As you are not ‘dieting’ on the other days, of course you can eat fruit.
(I love the comment about fruit not being what made marigolds fat! – true for me too)
onesizeonly -I eat almost normally on non fast days. But i still have a couple of glasses of wine on Friday and Saturday (it is the wknd!) I find that i choose healthier foods as i’m more aware of the calories in things. Don’t want to eat a calorific doughnut because its such a waste of my fast time to undo it. Just enjoy good food, have a little of what you fancy but don’t go mad. After a fast day, 3 normal meals feels like loads anyway so keep eating your fruit and watch the weight fall off. I have lost 10lbs eating this way.Good luck.
Actually most fruit is low-GI. Sounds to me like someone somewhere has overgeneralised that “sugar is high-GI and causes insulin spikes” to fruit, since it contains a form of sugar (fructose), however this form of sugar clearly is processed a different way than regular everyday sugar (sucrose). Bearing in mind that low-GI is anything below 56, look at this list http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/glycemicindlist_3.htm and you will see just how few fruits are actually high-GI. As I noted earlier, eating fruit before a meal actually helps you to feel less hungry (due to the high fibre content).
Hi, adelmeid – Your 1200kcals seems a low figure to me. Take a look at the Calorie Calculator on site (click on ‘how?’ in the top-right corner of this page and pick the appropriate link from the drop-down list) and check your recommended non-fast day intake, based on your current weight.
If you consistently take in too few calories, your metabolism slows and weight-loss becomes much harder. Better to keep nearer to the correctly calculated figure for five days and have one-quarter (25%) of it for each of your two fast days. Then you should see a gradual, healthy loss.
If you suspect you do over-eat on non-fast days, then it can be helpful to keep a basic calorie count on all you eat – a rough figure should do, not too obsessive – just for a week or so, until you can better judge portion sizes and good food choices by eye and experience. Best wishes for achieving all your goals.
Hello
I have calculated on the calorie counter (On line) that my calorie count is: 2133
So, how does this work? Is it right that i should use quarter of that amount on fast days and 2133 calories on the other 5 days? How does it actually work?
I need to speed my weight loss, not losing anything at the moment
I would really appreciate some help on this
a read
Hello
Thanks for all your help jeanius. I will try that. The other thing is that, i tend to drink alcohol on my 5 days, is this a good idea? I am trying to cut it down, but i am finding it’s not very easy!! Also, i have a friend who wants to know her calorie count, i’ve tried to do it on the website but it’s not working for some reason. Would you be able to do it for me? Details below; Age; 48 Height; 5.4 Weight; 10.4 Slight excersie. Thatnks, i would really appreciate it if you could do that
a read
Hello, ‘a read’ – According to this site’s calculator, your friend’s figures (based on ‘Light exercise/ sports 1 – 3 days per week’) are as follows:
BMI (Body Mass Index) – 24.7 (i.e. at the top end of the ‘Healthy weight’ range. The ‘Overweight’ range starts at 25)
BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) – 1268 calories (i.e. the amount of calories expended if sitting for 24 hrs doing nothing)
TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) – 1744 calories (i.e. the number of calories burnt in a day at the stated level of activity)
For losing weight, reducing one’s alcohol intake is usually a very good idea. Such drinks are mostly very high in calories but with little nutritional value or ability to satisfy one’s appetite.
I don’t feel able to advise you on the subject of reducing your drinking habits but I wish you well in achieving all your positive goals.
a read – I have a similar issue with alcohol. I am finding a lot of help with an app called Control Drinking. It’s a hypnosis session. You can look it up on itunes under Darren Marks Hypnosis. It really takes away the craving or lets me have just one, which I could not do before. It’s like when I listen to it, I don’t really want wine, and if I have it, I sip very slowly and it tastes a little sour.
Adelmeid, I read somewhere that transition time of food – from when you eat it to when it is no longer in your system – is 2 days, so some of that weight you lose on your fast day isn’t fat, but simply food that is leaving the system that has not been replaced (since you are fasting). I myself lose a kilo on fast days, but put it back on in the next 2 days. That is just the natural fluctuation from not eating for a day. Just focus on what your weight is on the day before you fast, as this will be a more stable number and be a true indicator of how you are progressing. I am on maintenance, and my weight the day before I fast is fairly stable, depsite the big fluctuations the 3 days that start with the fast day.
P.S. the best time to weigh yourself is in the morning, before you start eating for the day (but after other things you may do first thing in the morning which will cause you weight to go down – being tactful 😉 ), as that is when you will be at your lightest, and thus the truest figure. Weight yourself the morning of your fast day, and you should see truly how things are going over a few weeks.
I NEVER count my calories on fast days. For me, that completely defeats the purpose of this lifestyle (notice that I’m not calling it a diet…). I’ve been dieting unsuccessfully for 3 decades now, and the thing that always trips me up is calorie counting. I’m never more obsessed about food, and I never have more serious slip-ups, than when I’m calorie counting and depriving myself (if not physically, then mentally).
So, in order to stay on this program (which I’ve only been doing for two weeks, so I’m not going to blow my own horn too loudly yet) I’m not doing all the things that I normally associate with dieting – i.e. calorie counting, munching salads, and generally eating boring and unsatisfying foods. However, to my own surprise, the fact that I’m fasting two days a week has not led me to crave anything except green, crunchy apples (!!). Consequently, I don’t tend to overeat on feed days. I eat normally, and have actually noticed that I tend to eat a little bit less than I would before – especially on the days after a fast day – because my stomach can’t deal with huge quantities of food. Which is great!!
So, no cravings = a happier me, and a me that is more likely to stick to the plan. And the good thing is, on fast days I don’t have to think about food at all (except what I’ll have for dinner), and on feed days I don’t have to worry about eating the wrong foods. Wonderful 🙂
Tulipps you are not the only one who refuses to call this a “diet”. That word should be banned due to the psychological damage it does to so many. To me this is just the way i choose to eat and the lifestyle relationship i have with food. As soon as i started thinking like this it all became so much easier. Perhaps its because im older now and the health benefits have become the more important factor versus weight loss although i would like to lose quite a few pounds. After the first week and two fasts i was amazed at how much better i felt which has become quite addictive.
Maxwell, I couldn’t agree more 🙂 For me, the 5:2 plan is not about losing weight, it’s about health. Before I started, I went to my DR to get a complete blood screening, blood pressure, glucose, etc. For a 41-year-old, all is well, except for my glucose levels for which I have been taking medications for the past 5-6 years. So, for me, the 5:2 is not primarily about getting thinner, but about getting – and staying – healthy.
So, it makes me a bit sad to see how people on the forums fret about counting calories, when and how to eat, etc. For me, that is exactly what this eating plan/lifestyle is NOT about.
I have dinner the night before a fast day, have a boiled egg for breakfast on the fast day and a normal (sensible) dinner at night, and then normal breakfast again on the next feed day. Other than that, I don’t really think much about what I’m eating, or when, where or with whom. And for me, for my well-being and mental health, that is the only way to do it 🙂
I am 45 and have, like many on here, done every diet going and ultimately failed. I have learnt a lot along the way but the hang up was always the ” counting” of one thing or another or the patronising looks and comments from the weigh in women.
I read a great comment earlier from a young single mum who is doing this but combining it around her young son, without him knowing, in such a way as to ensure he has a healthy relationship with food and that to me is what its all about.
Somewhere along the way i actually learnt to listen to my body, boy did it have to scream sometimes but once i tuned in, like hearing the “you are full” warning bell, it got so much easier. Fasting really makes me hear that so clearly now whatever day it is for me.
Im on a fast today so stopped eating at 6.30pm last night, no breakfast and as its midday i will shortly have a couple of hard boiled eggs and some cherry tomatoes then i will I try to eat whatever i am eating on a fast day to within 8 hours that really seems to suit me too. I also try to have an early night on fast days.I guess its a be really nice to your body day.
This works for me and i’m a shift worker so i work it around my shifts as well. If i start work in the afternoon i can still stick to the same routine its just altered by an hour or two. I have noticed since doing this that i started not to want to finish my meals on both fasting and non fast days and as i hate wasting food i have reduced the portion sizes so on fast days sometimes i really don’t eat much at all. Thats the listening kicking in.
As for exercise i cycled 30 miles on a fast day last week, not a problem.
This is now part of my lifestyle that i actually don’t have to think too much about and there is NO “counting” involved. 🙂
ok so i’ve been doing 5:2 now since easter and have lost about 10 lbs now which is brilliant, however i do find that on the day following a fast i just seem to nibble and nibble. sometimes its healthy stuff like fruit but then i might just succumb and have some crisps or chocolate late in the eve. Am i really doing a lot of harm, will i stall myself. I had my period last week and seemed to jump am massive 5 lbs (really annoyed) so i have resolved to not weigh myself the week that i’m due and to try and cut sugar out totally. I think i’ll reward myself with some good quality dark chocolate on a fri nite. So what i’m asking is, is it ok to really eat freely on the nonfast days? Also i’m not in a great position to do much exercise (two very small children)is it important to exercise on this diet. I love to walk but my two babies make it nigh on impossible on a regular basis
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