Questions about the 5:2 diet.

This topic contains 5 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by chuckle8 10 years ago.

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Researcher

2:31 pm
12 Nov 14
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Hello, I am a student who is looking to gain some knowledge about the 5:2 diet, for a project. With this in mind, if anyone would be willing to fill out my short questionnaire, it’d be greatly appreciated. (My apologies if this is posted in the wrong part but I thought that this was the most relevant section of the forum for it.)

1)Your age?
2)Your gender?
3)Would you say that you’re quite an active dieter, or did the 5:2 diet just stand out to you?
4)What was your overall experience with the diet?(so far)
5)Did you experience any negative side effects as a result?
6)Would you/have you recommended this diet to a friend?

Many thanks.

Dummerchen

5:34 pm
12 Nov 14
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What is an active dieter?

TracyJ

12:15 pm
13 Nov 14
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1)Your age? = 36 (34 at start of 5:2)

2)Your gender? = Female

3)Would you say that you’re quite an active dieter, or did the 5:2 diet just stand out to you? = Not sure what an ‘active dieter’ is but I have experience (through living with my diet obsessed mother until I was 27) of Weight Watchers, Slimmingworld, Atkins, Ducan, the blood type diet ethos, slimfast and most hilariously the cabbage soup diet. My mum also once got me to join her in trying out a special diet they give to overweight patients who need to lose several pounds in 1 week in order to be able to have surgery – it was ridiculous. By myself, I never bothered with diets. I did use many of the Weight Watchers recipes as my ‘standard’ cooking and tried to not ‘over eat’ prior to 5:2. I also made a lot of effot to be active (more active than I was for the 1st 18 months on 5:2 anyway) but beyond that I was never fussed with ‘diets’ as none of them had ever worked longterm for me and/or my mother.

4)What was your overall experience with the diet?(so far) = All positive. Initially I began for the health benefits and I felt lots of them very early. The highlights for me are that my acne has totally gone, my eczema has also gone, my periods are nice and regular and light and not horrendously painful anymore and my (previously very high end of normal) BP is now ‘Perfect’. Aside from that I also lost 4 stone in the first 18 months and although I haven’t lost anything significant since then I can attribute that to the massive amount of extra exercise I introduced at exactly that point.

5)Did you experience any negative side effects as a result? = Initially I experienced 1 migraine (I assume – having never experienced one before) about 3-4 weeks into 5:2 and I had one bout of unbelievably painful ‘real’ hunger after a long swim on a fastday, about 2 months into 5:2. I ate an extra bit of cheese, blew my 500kcal budget slightly but was enough to put the monster back in his box and went to bed. Woke up perfectly fine (and not hungry) the next morning. I’ve since realised that my error was eating my 500kcal BEFORE swimming – if I’d swum on an empty stomach and had my meal AFTER the swim I’m sure I’d have been fine – I certainly have been ever since.

6)Would you/have you recommended this diet to a friend? = I would and have. Friends, neighbours, colleagues & family members, as well as strangers at the pool who randomly wonder where I’m disappearing to. I don’t push it on people but it’s made such a difference to me I find people come and ask me about it now unsolicited, especially as it becomes more mainstream.

kilda

2:18 pm
13 Nov 14
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1)Your age? 46 (47 next month)
2)Your gender? female
3)Would you say that you’re quite an active dieter, or did the 5:2 diet just stand out to you? I’ve dieted a few times before over the years but I would not call myself an active dieter. Most of my life I’ve been very relaxed about what I eat. The 5:2 diet did just stand out to me. I heard about it and said “hey – I could do that! It sounds easy.”
4)What was your overall experience with the diet?(so far) Lifechanging. I started 10 months ago and have lost 56 pounds. I have been shocked at how effective and easy (for me) it is. People stop me all the time at work and comment on how good I look. I can cross my legs again. I look in the mirror and recognize myself again. I don’t feel deprived and I can still have any treat I feel like, as long as it’s not a fast day and it’s in my calorie budget. And that calorie budget is pretty generous compared to any other diet I’ve ever been on. To lose weight at this rate normally I’d have to eat no more than 1400 calories a day, every day, and within a couple of weeks I’d feel terribly deprived. With 5:2, my fast days are 500-600 cal, and my nonfast days are 1750, and about once every 10 days I end up going over that significantly, but still lose. Which is enough to keep me from feeling deprived at all. And my appetite has changed. I want less, and I want healthier things for the most part. And my crazy, heavy, miserable menstrual periods have become lighter and not painful.
5)Did you experience any negative side effects as a result? I don’t eat a lot of red meat anyway, and I suspect that the further reduction of eating on 5:2 tipped me over into being mildly anemic. I now take an iron supplement which takes care of it.
6)Would you/have you recommended this diet to a friend? I do and I have. I don’t think it works for everyone, but it works for a lot of people and when it works it is amazing.

alexa5

4:17 pm
13 Nov 14
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Hiya! Here are my answers:

1)Your age? 20 – soon to be 21.
2)Your gender? Female.
3)Would you say that you’re quite an active dieter, or did the 5:2 diet just stand out to you?
I’m not an active dieter per se – aside from wanting to improve my health and shed a few stones after becoming just slightly too curvy for my own liking. 5:2 did indeed stand out to me, as it seemed sustainable and wasn’t ONLY centred on “easy” weight-loss, but was mainly about improving your overall health.
4)What was your overall experience with the diet?(so far)
It began with a rocky start in January and then got postponed to April. I lost quite a lot of weight and felt better; I even slept much better than I had done in a long while. However, four months later, due to moving house and starting at Uni PLUS adopting a 90% vegan diet, I took a hiatus from 5:2 and immediately started gaining weight. I gained over half the amount I’d lost in the previous 4 months, and 1,5 months later i re-started the “diet” to combat that and just get back on track. Now it’s running smoothly and I’m losing pounds while gaining energy. Oh, yes – and just as Kilda said, my periods and cramps have become much more bearable! I no longer have to stay horizontal and sleep off the pain – now I can do normal, everyday stuff with only a slight twinge or ache once in a while. Fab.
5)Did you experience any negative side effects as a result?
When I re-started in October, I initially had a few bad nights where it was impossible for me to sleep. But that quickly changed for the better! Aside from that and the expected gnarling hunger, I have only felt good while doing this.
6)Would you/have you recommended this diet to a friend?
I have recommended this way of eating to a good amount of friends and loved ones, and the ones who have started 5:2’ing seem to love it just as much as I do.

Alex X

chuckle8

12:02 am
14 Nov 14
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1) My age is 73
2) Male
3) I have not actively dieted in 25 years
4) I started the diet on Aug 29, 2014. The first week I gained about 0.75 lbs. The second week I lost 10 lbs (I measured the morning after a fast day). My weight goes up and down, but it trends ever downward. 10 weeks in I am down about 15 pounds. I was sold on this diet by comments made by Thom Hartmann, a radio commentator and author. He was selling the diet not to lose weight, but as a way to increase the telomeres on one’s DNA.
Now for the miracle. About 4 years ago, it was determined by a BNP test that I had fluid around my heart (congestive heart). At that time I was prescribed Lasix (furosemide) which relieved my shortness-of-breath (the symptom that effected me the most). My shortness of breath was still there, but not nearly as strong. After 4 weeks on the fast diet, I noticed my shortness of breath was the best it has been in about 7 years. I still cannot believe it.
5) The hunger pains of the fasting days is, of course, the worst negative effect. Another negative effect, which could easily be interpreted as positive, is that on feast days I get a slight nausea from eating sugar. For example, I have been eating sugar on my cheerios for 70 years. About 3 weeks ago, I quit eating sugar on them.
6) I would recommend the diet to anyone who asked. However, with the up and down weight loss associated with the diet, I am not yet into proselytizing for the diet. One interesting related event happened to me. My daughter-in-law who is a very active dieter (weight watchers etc) noticed the change in my appearance and went on the diet. I didn’t realize she ever looked at me. I was quite surprised.