5 and 2 diet

shiznit76

Hi, has anyone tried this? Heard good things from couple folk at work about it and saw some big differences in them too. Need shift some weight and considering it. I do exercise and watch what I eat, but find it hard to lose weight so think this could help, views?

joey54321

I do the 16:8 which is similar and it has been good for me. I don't really know if it works for weight loss, that isn't really the aim of the fasting stuff, but I definitely feel healthier on it and don't often feel hungry anymore. I've nnow built it up to the point where I cycle 11 miles to work and run 4km-5km before lunch/breaking the fast without any issues. One thing you did need to watch out for is not having ANY calories, includes milk and sugar in your coffee/tea for example.

bonk_king

Funny you should mention this. I've just read a recently posted thread titled "cycling on atkins diet" in the "training, fitness and health" section. Take a look, a guy on there mentioned his experience with the "5 and 2 diet". You may find it interesting.

shiznit76

bonk king wrote:

Funny you should mention this. I've just read a recently posted thread titled "cycling on atkins diet" in the "training, fitness and health" section. Take a look, a guy on there mentioned his experience with the "5 and 2 diet". You may find it interesting.

Cheers, makes for interesting reading

simon_e

I just googled michael moseley & 5:2 diet and one of the top links is about things he has learnt since developing it:

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/what-mi ... uicoz.html

More important than *which* diet is whether you can sustain it - it has to be a lifestyle change, not just "I'll do this regime for a while", otherwise you will be back at square one in a few months.

Some real world eating suggestions in a recent discussion on this forum:

viewtopic.php?f=40011&t=13086983

keef66

Thanks for that. Dr Mosley seems to be interested in the same things as me, and reaching some of the same conclusions. Which feels both comforting and a little odd at the same time. I think it's good that he comes back to tell us how it's turned out for him and what new things he's added or changed.

I'm currently fascinated by the co-evolution of animals and their bacteria, and with gut bacteria in particular. Always had a fondness for unpasteurised and smelly traditional cheeses, proper yoghurt and sauerkraut. Might try making my own fermented foods this year.

I do 5:2 all the time; I find it easy, so it is definitely sustainable for me. Some of my colleagues have tried it and said they can't handle it.

diy

Did it when it first came out - I lasted nearly 3 years on the 5:2, but by the end I couldn't eat enough during the 5 to keep my weight up, so I ended up dropping too much weight. I now do 6:1 which helps me maintain. Occasionally I bung in a light day (1000kcal) as s semi second day fast.

Its easy, costs nothing and after a few months you can even train pretty hard on fasting days. I normally do a couple of hours hard cardio on fasting day.. It took a few months to build up though.

mrfpb

joey54321 wrote:

I do the 16:8 which is similar and it has been good for me. I don't really know if it works for weight loss, that isn't really the aim of the fasting stuff, but I definitely feel healthier on it and don't often feel hungry anymore. I've nnow built it up to the point where I cycle 11 miles to work and run 4km-5km before lunch/breaking the fast without any issues. One thing you did need to watch out for is not having ANY calories, includes milk and sugar in your coffee/tea for example.

I do the 16:8 but I cheat and have milk in my tea and coffee. It still works, though maybe slower than if I went without the milk in my drinks. As others have said, it's about what is sustainable long term, and I've been following it for about a year now. I kick started with a month of 18:6 - ie only eating in a 6 hour window, but that wasn't sustainable in the long term.

guy.spartacus

I guess I do a 16:8 style diet, have done for years

I skip breakfast, eat a smallish meal at lunchtime (5-600 kcal), train in the evening and eat a large meal after that (1500-2000kcal depending on training).

I do more strength and conditioning work than out and out cardio and it's been good for that

cgfw201

I kind of did 5:2 for a couple of months a few years ago. It was the first ever diet i'd attempted to follow, and it worked. I found I was knackered on the 2 days for the first couple of weeks, then I got used to it and felt the same as any other day.

I find that all diets work if you follow them. 5:2 definitely works, but now I just go for the 'if i want to lose weight just eat less' approach, which is just as effective.

joey54321

cgfw201 wrote:

I find that all diets work if you follow them. 5:2 definitely works, but now I just go for the 'if i want to lose weight just eat less' approach, which is just as effective.

This may be true but the 5:2 (and all fasting) diets are primarily aimed at improving health, not necessarily dropping weight.

Alex99

Lots of people at work have tried it with good results. It seems fairly do-able long term. I like to stick to the 7-0 diet.

diy

joey54321 wrote:

cgfw201 wrote:

I find that all diets work if you follow them. 5:2 definitely works, but now I just go for the 'if i want to lose weight just eat less' approach, which is just as effective.

This may be true but the 5:2 (and all fasting) diets are primarily aimed at improving health, not necessarily dropping weight.

Problem is - they've pretty much said the longer terms studies aren't showing it as being any better than maintaining a healthy weight.

Unfortunately, all the "diet" studies are targeted at healthcare funds which are trying to tackle obesity. Try and find a study that does not say "we took as sample sofa munching fatties and this is what we found". A person at a healthy BMI who exercises regularly probably wont see the same benefits as unhealthy person.

For this reason I think the claims are over stated.

joey54321

diy wrote:

joey54321 wrote:

cgfw201 wrote:

I find that all diets work if you follow them. 5:2 definitely works, but now I just go for the 'if i want to lose weight just eat less' approach, which is just as effective.

This may be true but the 5:2 (and all fasting) diets are primarily aimed at improving health, not necessarily dropping weight.

Problem is - they've pretty much said the longer terms studies aren't showing it as being any better than maintaining a healthy weight.

Unfortunately, all the "diet" studies are targeted at healthcare funds which are trying to tackle obesity. Try and find a study that does not say "we took as sample sofa munching fatties and this is what we found". A person at a healthy BMI who exercises regularly probably wont see the same benefits as unhealthy person.

For this reason I think the claims are over stated.

So you are agreeing with me?

diy

This may be true but the 5:2 (and all fasting) diets are primarily aimed at improving health, not necessarily dropping weight.

I think the health claims are over stated.

joey54321

diy wrote:

This may be true but the 5:2 (and all fasting) diets are primarily aimed at improving health, not necessarily dropping weight.

I think the health claims are over stated.

Ah, I thought you were talking about maintaining a healthy weight rather than being healthy (I know they are linked, but not always the same).

That's interesting, so what happens to all the key markers? They start going back up after the improvements in the first few months?

poynedexter

shiznit76 wrote:

Hi, has anyone tried this? Heard good things from couple folk at work about it and saw some big differences in them too. Need shift some weight and considering it. I do exercise and watch what I eat, but find it hard to lose weight so think this could help, views?

so you exercise and watch what you eat? does this mean you are aware of the amount of food calories you are eating and the energy you are expending on a day to day basis?

are you eating 2500 kcals per day and watching this happen,or are you eating 1500 most days, with 5000 on a saturday night?

if you are not either losing or gaining weight over a period of weeks, then this means you are eating, in general, enough food calories to maintain your weight, for your lifestyle, over time.

calories do matter, whether or not you squeeze them into 5 days, 8hrs, or throughout the day. the energy your body absorbs from food calories has to used up, stored, or pooped out unabsorbed. thats the case for all diets. its not sexy or radical, and it doesnt sell magazines.

the key is patience and sensible, not extreme choices, 90% of the time.