This topic contains 58 replies, has 40 voices, and was last updated by fasting_me 5 years, 11 months ago.
Yes I agree, I dont think 6:1 is enough unless you eat carefully on the other days. I’ve been doing the diet for 4 weeks and have maintained my low-ish weight of 53.5 kilos. I started the diet for the health benefits and didnt need to lose weight, but I thought I would do anyway. But I seem to have only lost about half a kilo! I think this is because I already ate carefully before starting the diet, keeping my portions small and avoiding sugar etc. But when I started the diet I thought I could let may hair down on the non-fasting days, and as a result my weight has stayed the same. The consolation is that I should be getting the health benefits from fasting, but it’s quite annoying not to lose more weight after all that fasting effort! It goes to show you cant go crazy on your off days if you want to maintain a low weight.
Just a layman’s opinion, but after reading the book and watching Michael’s program, I would say that persons who are at a very healthy weight and maintain a healthy diet would only gain minimal additional benefits from fasting. Those folks would have a diet similar to the “Calorie Restriction” folks mentioned in the film. I forget what Michael called them. Just keep doing what you’re doing and enjoy your healthy life!
I’ve started “maintaining” on alternating 5:2 and 6:1 from week to week; been doing this for nearly a month and my weight has stayed the same which is good as I don’t want to lose any more. Started this regime on 27th January for health reasons; I recently had a blood test and my cholesterol levels (which tend to be high) are lower than they’ve been for the past ten years so I’m very happy about that.
I kind of agree with you Golfin Goldy but if the fasting aspect succeeds in keeping my inner fat devils at bay then I’m happy to carry on! All best wishes..
I’m hoping to start on the 5:2 towards the end of this month, starting as soon as I’ve had my next CT Scan and blood tests including IGF-1. I do not want to lose too much weight, I just want to get my IGF-1 down to go into repair mode for those couple of days, I’ll be doing it on consecutive days at the weekend which fits in with our lifestyle. For the last year I’ve been dieting to add weight and got it up from 60.2 kgs to around 73 kgs which gives me a good BMI. I take a protein supplement and during the 5 days I might have to increase it to maintain my weight which is important for my medical condition.
My husband and I started today, he wants to lose half a stone, I not need to lose a pound or two as just back from our holiday. He will do 5-2, I will do 6-1 but on his other fast day I will have the same meal as him in the evening to support him but I will have a lightish lunch. We eat fairly clean anyway, but indulge a bit eating out at weekends so hoping this will all balance out nicely for us.
As many of us know, maintaining our new weight is often harder than the initial weight loss. This diet offers both weight loss and other heath benefits in terms of changes to blood chemistry.
It is a matter of great disappointment to me that neither Michael or Mimi has bothered to contribute to this topic. They have been at it longer than most of us and Michael in particular must have something to say about whether 6:1 fasting maintains the blood chemistry benefits brought about by 5:2!
Those of us who are moving to maintenance may (currently) be a minority, but surely all the others who reach this milestone will need information and tips?. So Michael and Mimi, please help us out!
I really think the 5:2 diet has become so successful that it can stand on its own without the need for Michael or Mimi to contribute although it will be nice if they get a chance to add something. There are now so many contributors on here that it should be possible to have a large quantity of valuable data covering just about all the subjects from many people, Michael & Mimi would then be other contributors to be considered along with all the rest. I really do not know what Mimi’s day job is but I do know that Michael does a lot of international travel, I once did this and even with the best seats and accommodation it was very strenuous and I did not have much time for anything else before I was off again.
I saw this posting on another thread in this section of the forum
Thanks for the replies. So I can achieve low igf-1 levels and such on a 6:1? If a 5:2 gives me better levels and benefits, I’d look past the extra weight loss. This is what is making me dubious of this diet from a non-weight loss perspective. I now know the 5:2 diet can achieve weight loss, but what about the other health benefits? Do the other benefits improve when you fast more, like a 4:3? And now I see the diet founder has switched to a 6:1. What medical info do we have of the 6:1? All the info from the book and doc are from the 5:2… This is beginning to seem shoddy and unprofessional…
These are exactly the sorts of questions I think that Michael should address. Maintenance has about 1/2 page in the book and basically says nothing about the health benefits of 6:1.
I am having to continue with 5:2 just to maintain my goal weight. I dropped from 12st 12 to 9st 10 over the past 2 years, the last 10lbs as a result of the fast diet. I thought my eating habits had changed for good, but sadly I think this was just as a result of the euphoria of losing weight steadily keeping me on track, and now that I have relaxed a bit I find that old habits really do die hard!
But I would rather not count calories daily so I am continuing with 2 fasts per week so I can have my treats on other days. Hopefully I still get some of the health benefits and manage to maintain my ideal weight.
“@aitch51 – What medical info do we have of the 6:1? All the info from the book and doc are from the 5:2… ”
Are there some ways to measure your health for improvement besides weight?
I also am interested in monitoring my health with BMI, heart rate, blood pressure, glucose levels and any other measurements available to me.
I take heart & encouragement in the success that many have had here over a longer period of time.
What can we do ourselves to monitor our continual ongoing health and well being?
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I’m sorry wiltldnrUSA but I do not know enough about it to give an opinion, you might need to talk to a medically trained expert. Most path labs have only been able to test for IGF-1 in recent years and some still cannot, it might be that igfbp1 was the nearest test that they had.
One of the tests ‘Siemens Immulite 2000 IGF-1’ seems to be no longer available or pathology labs have stopped using it. The lab that did mine used ‘Diasorin Liaison IGF-1’, I don’t really know what this means, I’m just copying it from the report.
There are many internet pages on ‘igfbp1 igf binding protein1’ but most of them are so complex that they make my head hurt.
@golfingoldy
“I would say that persons who are at a very healthy weight and maintain a healthy diet would only gain minimal additional benefits from fasting. ”
I agree with that.
The benefits then start to extend to others. Others would benefit from following the example that is shown by those that are fit.
It’s exactly what happened for us.
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The IGF-1 effect can help people who have a good normal weight. There is a 6½ minute video on this forum site that explains it all. Diets can be for health reasons to correct wrong foods, it could be for gaining weight or for losing weight, too many people on think it means only losing weight.
Here’s the link: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/the-fast-diet-quickly/
My partner and I have been doing 5:2 for a while and have both lost about 5kgs (neither of us was overweight to begin with), so I’ve been wondering lately about when we transition to a maintenance regime what that will be, i.e. will it be 6:1 or is there another options (5:2 but with slightly higher calories….maybe 800 a day??)
Last week after 5 months of 5:2 we decided to reward ourselves with a week off, we didn’t completely binge, rather just returned to our normal eating pattern before the diet. Completely independent of each other we established on Friday night that we both felt awful; bloated and unhealthy, like we’d lost the lightness of being we’d discovered with 5:2. It was extraordinary the difference we felt after just one week off, I had been literally dying for Monday to arrive so I could fast again.
This lead me to thinking about how the body can get used to fasting and whether your metabolism adjusts to incorporate. We have both agreed that we don’t want to take another week off in a hurry.
So back to my original pondering:
– How do we maintain the benefits of 5:2 in the long term without losing too much weight? (I’m not sure that 6:1 would be enough for me)
– Is it possible that your body naturally finds an equilibrium point/ideal lean weight and stay there or would you just keep losing weight indefinitely?
– Would you get the same benefits with a 5:2 with slightly higher calories? (say 800 a day)
I would love to see some research and information on this aspect of the diet published on the site as it seems there are many of us in the same boat and there is very little information available or provided.
I have a weight problem, I’m trying not to lose too much because I do not want to get Cachexia which could be lethal for me. On normal days I take Sustagen food supplement at the rate of ten scoops a day dissolved on Soy Milk, so that is 70 scoops in a full week. Now that I’m on the 5:2 I take 14 scoops a day for the five days which still gives me 70 scoops for the week. Hopefully the two days of diet will achieve my objective of reducing my IGF-1 sufficiently to switch my body to repair mode which might fix up some of my problem cells.
We can understand how you were with the week off, we have difficulty adjusting to normal calories on the day after the 5:2, problem is that we are really enjoying the two low calorie days, apart from feeling good it is much easier to keep the kitchen clean and tidy.
I will have been on the 5:2 for nine weeks at the end of this month when I’ll have all my tests done, as well as IGF-1 I’ll have a CT Scan and a very comprehensive blood test, should find out if the 5:2 works for me.
I have sent of for a book “Fasting-And Eating-For Health: A Medical Doctor’s Program for Conquering Disease – Fuhrman, Joel” which goes very deep into the the technicalities of the 5:2 type of diet. Another poster said that it is more effective when it’s a 4:3 but that could be a problem for me, I’d never be able to maintain my weight; could never consume 17½ scoops of Sustagen in one day, it’s not my favourite taste.
I reached my target weight of 55kg in June, having lost 14.5 kilos since January.
My maintenance strategy is to keep my weight between 53 and 55 kg. if I get close to 53, I switch to 6:1, otherwise I continue with 5:2. On non-fast days I include more nuts, avocados, bananas and cheese than I was eating during my weight loss phase. I try to keep to a low GI diet in general and avoid refined and processed foods most of the time – the beauty of this way of eating though, is that I don’t have to exclude anything – it has encouraged me to eat fresh, seasonal food more of the time, but occasionally I just eat whatever I want! I do find that I have a reduced tolerance of alcohol, which is probably no bad thing!
This diet has changed my life, I feel so much healthier and happier about myself, I can’t envisage not wanting to continue with it and fortunately my strategy is working well for me.
I am also wondering if 6:1 is enough for maintenance. I too have considered continuing with 5:2 but with a higher calories per day. Did you have any success with your 800 calorie days?
I have been doing 5:2 for about 6 months and lost 2.5 stone. I have never managed to only have breakfast and dinner and instead have three little meals throughout the day. It is therefore not a fast as outlined in the book so I don’t know if I have gained the health benefits of giving my body repair time. Essentially it has just averaged out as a low calorie diet. It has been working though and I don’t want to undo the good work!
Well, here’s my (slightly unorthodox) maintenance plan:
Monday: Eat ‘clean’ (about 1800 cals). 2 x breastfeeds. Body Pump class followed by Insanity class.
Tuesday: Eat clean (1800 cals). 2 x breastfeeds. Insanity class.
Wednesday: Same old 1800 cals. 2 x breastfeeds. Body Pump Class followed by 20-20-20 (Kill Me Now) Class.
Thursday: The usual 1800 cals. 2 x breastfeeds. Insanity Class.
Friday: Fast day. 2 x (lousy) breastfeeds.
Saturday: CHEAT DAY. Best day of the week. Meals in, meals out, anything goes. It’s a day of indulgent binging (I’ve been known to put away 4000 calories on this day). 2 x breastfeeds (son thinks it’s Christmas).
Sunday: Fast day. Tres easy, no problemo. Hardly feel’s like I’m fasting. 2 x breastfeeds.
I’ve been maintaining on this plan for 3 months, whilst weighing every week, and the scales never budge. My weight always remains, without fail, bizarrely stable at 8st. I get through the week knowing that I can have a blow-out on Saturday. I’ve deffo found my equilibrium 🙂
Hello DivaDebs,
I think there is no absolute answer to your question about the equilibrium, and I just wanted to share my experience with you. I went on this diet because of my cholesterol level and to get rid of a few kilos of fat around my waist that I just could not get rid of in any different way (or so I felt). I was 76 kg when I started and I am 182 cm. I lost kilos very quickly in the beginning and reached the weight I am on today, around 70kg, which I maintained after that for around 10 months despite the fact that I was on virtually the same diet as I was on when I lost those 6 kgs or so. I truly believe, but only based on my own experience, that your body knows what it wants and needs and when it is time to go to 6:1 or do something different. It is easy to imagine that I just ate more on my feast days and that that is the reason why I did not lose more weight after the initial weight loss, but I tend to think that it is just another way for your body to tell you that this is just about right for you and you do not need to lose more weight.
Sorry, pushed the “submit” button by mistake :). I went on 6:1 two weeks ago after one year on 5:2 and although this was my plan – to have a blood test after one year and then go to 6:1 if all was OK – my body kind of signalled some time ago that it was probably about time to slow down this regime. Although doing it was easy; I just got used to it, by the end of this year I felt extremely hungry at times in a way that I had not felt before. I really think that my body told me that “enough is enough”, no need to push this further. So this all pointed me towards 6:1 which I am now trying out. I really think I will put some weight back but I am interested in whether a new equilibrium will take place around 72kgs or so… If my weight continues to increase, I will probably do some calorie restriction on one of the normal feast days without really fasting. Really, losing weight was not the main purpose of this diet but I am happy with my lower weight and do not want to put those kilos back. I am happy to share my experience with you some weeks from now.
The only way to check the 5:2 diet is to have an IGF-1 blood test at the beginning then at regular intervals. There isn’t much else that can be checked although I will be looking with interest at my next CT Scan, if I manage to drop my IGF-1 but there is no improvement in my tumour size there won’t be much point in continuing with it. I do usually have a good feeling after the two days of calorie reduction.
In her recently published book, Krista Varady, one of the scientists interviewed on the Horizon programme, recommends a different maintenance diet: three days a week of restricting your calorie intake to 1000 calories (two 400-calorie meals and two 100-calorie snacks). She says she’s tested this protocol and that it is effective for maintaining weight loss and health benefits.
I suppose other systems may also work, but they haven’t yet been studied scientifically. I think it will probably be a long time before anyone can say definitively what approach works best. Also, I expect there may be individual variability: a particular eating “regime” may work well for some people but not so well for others. So to some extent, I think each faster needs to consider the options, experiment a bit to see what works best, and keep an eye on any new research findings.
Good luck to all!
I think it might be very personalised. What works for one person might not work for someone else and vice versa. In time, as the industry learns more and moves to genetic testing it might result in very personalised treatments and medications. I know of at least six people who have the same diagnosis as me but all our treatments are very different. Some are fortunate enough to have a specific Gene that can be treated with a targeted therapy, when patients have more than one Genetic Aberration their treatment can become quite complicated but it does seem to be more effective.
That really cheers me up, Nigel.
I was diagnosed with a slow acting (hopefully) blood cancer just over a year ago and it is not cureable but I have just started the 5:2 diet and will be very keen to see, when I get my next blood test in just under 4 months, if it has slowed down the proliferation of affected white blood cells. I am getting lumps and they are not big but I am getting more of them.
I am quite slim so a bit worried about losing too much weight and not sure if just once a week would work or not.
manderle
I lost 2.5 stone and have maintained this for over 6 months now. Since the initial weight loss I do 6:1 and that has worked for me. I do also cycle to work three times a week so I am sure that helps (40 mins each way), but 6:1 seems effortless – in fact after a indulgent weekend I look forward to a day of moderation.
With summer coming up I may try to loose a further 5lb so will go back to 2 fast days. 6:1 does definitely work for maintenance though – for me anyway.
I have been on the diet now since beginning of Jan and have lost about as much weight as I dare.. was not overweight to start with but doing this for health reasons. Seems weight continues to go down and I am just about ok. I have osteoporosis so dont want to get thinner. I find the way of fasting is almost addictive. Dont want to stop!
I was amazed to find when I recently had a blood pressure check… have been on medication for this for about 30 years and it is well under control… that my bp had dropped considerably.. in fact if it continues I might need to take less medication..that is phenominal as I didnt really believe it would be affected. In a few days I will get the results of a cholesterol check and feel that will probably have got lower too.
But the blood cancer… not sure it will have made any difference. Depending on results I might cut it down to one day a week. We’ll see.
I am interested in Nigel Waring’s results. How’s it going Nigel?
I am going to copy this email to the health/cancerstrand (is that the right word)
I have reached and exceeded my weight loss goal and am now considering my maintenance strategy. I have come to the conclusion that 6:1 will probably not work for me, as that is 6 days of potential over-eating (I’m a terror when it comes to chocolate) so instead I’m planning to continue with 5:2 but eating 1/2 calories instead of 1/4. As well as that I will ‘fast’ until around 4pm on the 2 days, hopefully allowing me to reap the benefits of cell repair or autophagy or whatever it’s called from fasting. Also I will try to keep carbs to a minimum, and get most of my calories from fats and proteins and fruit/veg – definitely no chocolate! If I start gaining weight I’ll go back to 1/4 calories until it goes again. I’ll report back in a few weeks as to whether it’s working.
I am about to reach my goal weight. In 3 months, I have lost 30 pounds doing 5:2 (I had a lot too lose). During that time I also cut out 2 snacks per day on non-fast days. So I eat three meals and two snacks, all of which are pretty healthy (it is much easy for me to count this instead of calories). On weekends, I also have chocolate or ice cream. I have always eaten very healthy foods, the fast days taught me that I was eating too much.
I have reached my goal weight, but may try for about 10 more pounds, as my goal weight was a modest goal. This will probably happen in the next month, so I am beginning to think about maintenance. I think I will try either 6:1, or a modified 5:2 (of around 800 calories). I might try both to see which works best for me.
The interesting thing is that I lost the weight without much exercise. When I began the diet I injured myself and couldn’t exercise (other than yoga twice per week). I have always exercised, even when heavy, so the diet has also taught me that when I gain weight or am overweight, it has mostly to do with eating, not exercise.
Thanks to everyone for sharing ideas on maintenance. I am looking forward to the next phase. By the way, even though I don’t plan to continue the strict 5:2 after I reach my goal, I do feel that it has been a lifestyle change. I am much more aware of how much I eat, and feel very thankful for the food I do put in my body.
What I consider the “problem” is taht as we lose weight, our TDEE drops. We need less food as we slim down.
I was looking forward to maintain on 6:1, but I gain unless I am really cautious the other days. So I need to keep at 5:2, and even add some running and skip the occational breakfast not to gain.
This is how I choose to solve it so I don’t need to calorie count every day.
Hi There,
I’m new to this thread because I just dipped below my goal weight this morning! At any rate, regarding exercise, I’ve been using a modified form of 5:2 (recommended by my naturopath), modified as follows by eliminating the following foods:
1. Gluten (wheat, rye, barley, spelt, kamut, eikorn) and all grains (with the possible exception of small amounts of amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat)
2. Dairy
3. Sugar
4. Soy
5. Peanuts
6. Corn
7. Eggs
I have gradually started introducing these, and honestly, many of these ingredients were in the six or so boxes of protein bars I’d bought before starting the 5:2 that I had to use up, but I only had those foods in the protein bars. I’m sure this was a large part of the progress I’ve seen.
In addition, the naturopath had me taking one of three different forms of fiber (I settled on psyllium because it was the least calories) three times daily, and 2 Tablespoons (American) three times daily as well. He also had me working out six times a week (occasionally five). Because I do aerial work, and was only trying to trim down by about 30 pounds/13.6 kilos/2.14 stone, I was already doing strength training plus aerial work thrice weekly. Once I started the 5:2 I started doing HIT/HIIT twice (mostly thrice) weekly as well.
These last couple of weeks I have done everything in my power to be at the goal set my the naturopath (110 pounds/49.9 kilos/7.9 stone) by the time of my visit with him yesterday. I did 4:3 earlier in the month, and then last week I fasted on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday (yes, two days back-to-back). I followed that up this week with alternate day fasting (Monday, Wednesday, and when I wasn’t at 110 pounds by yesterday morning, I fasted yesterday as well). Yesterday morning I weighed 110.3 pounds/50.03 kilos/7.88 stone). So close, but yet so far. However, as it turned out I was close enough that the naturopath said I no longer needed to have monthly visits with him any more. This morning I weighed 109.5 pounds/49.67 kilos/7.82 stone–surpassing my goal! I haven’t weighed this little since I was in my twenties!
At this point, I should by rights be on maintenance, however, since today is the last day of the week, I carried on with my old plan (mainly because I needed to make new meal cards for the maintenance plan–these are small cards I put in my daily diary). Because the aerial studio has been taken over since 9 April by another of the proprietor’s clients, my first day in the studio since then was this past Thursday.
You know how when you use a TDEE calculator like this http://www.mayoclinic.org/calorie-calculator/ITT-20084939 that it comes up with four different calorie counts? Because of my aerials and being pretty active anyway, he said that once I’m on maintenance, on days when I’m not working out to use the “Somewhat Active” figure; on days when I workout to use the “Active” figure, and on refeed days to use the “Very Active” figure. At any rate, I thought you might be interested to know that.
At work this week there was a quarterly meeting where cupcakes were given out. I wrapped mine up (it’s still in the fridge) because it was so close to the naturopath visit. There was also a monthly meeting I attend where they always have chocolate chip cookies. Again, I wrapped mine up. It’s still wrapped up and I’ll likely get to it next week. Tomorrow I’m going to a movie where I’ll have popcorn. Also next week, I will be attending a day-long conference featuring breakfast and lunch. It’s on a Wednesday–when I would normally have fasted, but now I’ve decided not to. At any rate, due to all that, I’m going to postpone going on my maintenance (including reducing exercise to 4-5 times weekly) until the following week. Also, except for the first week or so until now, my fast days have been pretty much water and psyllium only (in addition to my supplements). When I start maintenance I’ll actually be having up to 500 calories on my fast day.
It’s great to finally be on a maintenance thread! I’ve really been looking forward to it!
Jayney
I believe that everyone’s body is different that one needs to find what works for them. I’m still a bit from my goal, but I’ve thought about maintenance phase and comparing it to others. No banning of food groups or odd protocols of eating X amount of calories for certain phases. 6:1 wouldn’t fare well with me I don’t believe but I could be wrong….but given I like to eat it doesn’t seem like a logical approach in my case. I will probably do a 4:3 and maybe 5:2 on rare occasions.
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Michael is touring Australia this September! Here's a link to dates and tickets. Hope to see you there.
Michael Mosley gives an update for 2019, current research in the field and announces a tour starting in February.
Michael looks at the Horizon special, "What's the Right Diet for You" and tells us which diet they say is best for him.
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