Construct a meal that is based around meat or fish and add either or salad and vegetables.

I am not suggesting that the fish/meat is plain. But not eating rice or bread is quite possible because I do it most of the time now. It is your choice but if you want to lose weight and keep it off then you will have to make changes to what you eat and drink.

@w2lw. Not sure if that was me or not that suggested no rice and bread. You of course can do 5:2 however suits you. Will some food choices make it more difficult than others? YES of course. Im of Italian heritage and was brought up on pasta and bread. I no longer have those staples. They are special treats that I might have once a month now. Bread is broken down into maltose (two glucose rings joined together) in your mouth before you’ve even swallowed it. By the time it enters your stomach its been converted into glucose. Big glucose spike means big insulin spike, equals fat storage mode. Hard to burn fat when your hormones are telling you to store fat.

Does the rice and bread form some part of a religious eating ritual? Or is it purely down to choice? If its just down to choice then you have to decide what you value most, and choose accordingly. Good luck 5:2 works.

Hi,

you say it isn’t possible to eat without having rice or bread, but is that due to cultural reasons as in eating with your hands and using the rice/bread to pick up your food or is it that you find habits difficult to change?

You have to eat less in order to lose weight so something has to change and cutting down on the amounts of carbohydrates you eat is the most effective way. Most of us eat far too many of them in proportion to other food types and that is why so many of us are overweight. I understand that it is difficult to change your eating habits but if you are serious about losing weight you will need to find a solution to your dilemma that will enable you to eat less bread and rice.

Good luck.

You can eat 5 days of whatever food you want, as long as you stay under your TDEE. On 2 days, fast or eat up to 25% of your TDEE (roughly 400-500 calories).

5:2 is more of an protocol than a diet. If you want to eat a high carb diet you can still lose tons of weight if you create that calorie deficit.

Best.

Well often so called blue zones have diets that are very high to extremely high in carbs. If rice and bread is what you need you might just try shifting a bit to healthier side. For example avoid Wonder bread and Uncle Ben’s instant rice.

Okinawa had the longest living people before modern fast food and their diet was up to 80% sweet potatoes. A lot of low carb fans would claim that is super unhealthy, but is it? Billions of slim healthy people eat rice multiple times a day. In Japan you will have a hard time if you don’t eat any rice or noodles. In the US there are ice cream trucks in the parks, in Japan it is trucks with baked goods, from rolls to sweat breads. Not my cup of tea but I’ve often seen long lines of thin people lining up to buy bakery goodies. There is more to a diet than just carbs.

Well I do personally try to limit my intake of refined sugar, I kind of think the extreme push to the low carb side is a bit unbalanced and even half baked. You need to find the diet that works well for yourself.

I find myself sometimes eating vegan, sometimes like a carnivore and mostly somewhere in between. I do avoid refined sugar because I’ve seen first hand that packs fat on my middle fast. My daughter is very slim and consumes 10 times the sugar I do.

is want2loseweight still with us?

Riced cauliflower is a very good replacement for rice, which I love, too. As far as bread, when I do have it, I buy the reduced calorie bread, which is 45 cal/piece, and have open face sandwiches. I have noticed since being on this, my desire for carbs has decreased, especially for potatoes. Good luck!