Good to hear. I'm in my third week (today is a fasting day) and I've stuck to it, even though it's been tough. The psychology of good eating has started to kick in. On non-fasting days I'm eating more fruit than normal, and avoiding cakes and chocolate. I'm also having no alcohol at all through the week. I've lost 4kg so far, and am planning to keep this up.
Good to hear. I'm in my third week (today is a fasting day) and I've stuck to it, even though it's been tough. The psychology of good eating has started to kick in. On non-fasting days I'm eating more fruit than normal, and avoiding cakes and chocolate. I'm also having no alcohol at all through the week. I've lost 4kg so far, and am planning to keep this up.
I think this is a fairly standard effect. People feel that they've done a lot of good work on the fasting days, and don't want to give it all away again on a non-fasting day.
Great stuff, folks! Keep it up. It's very worthwhile, and the benefits come fairly quickly. I haven't been fitter or slimmer since I retired as a professional sportsman nearly 20 years ago, with thanks to a minor back operation and the intermittent fasting regime. It's transformative.....
Mike
OK, you've got me interested. What do you eat, if anything, on your fasting days?
I've heard some say "water only" while others say "500 calories, but no more" - so what hare the Jrefers seeing success with?
Also, any trouble hitting the gym or going for a run on your fasting days?
Why do these questions come to mind ?
Well, the argument presented by Michael Moseley (a doctor who presented a programme on the 5:2 diet on the BBC which kick-started the major interest in the diet in the UK) is that due to modern food production and distribution practices most people in the UK can afford to eat three meals and snacks 12 months of the year.
Hunter-gatherers on the other had do not necessarily have access to this kind of abundance of food so humans evolved to withstand periodic food shortages.
In other words inadvertent fasting was almost unavoidable.
I suppose it depends where you live but for people living in temperate latitudes there is distinct food seasonality. Hunter gatherers would have access to fruit in the summer and the autumn but it would be in short supply in winter and spring.
Hunter gatherers in tropical climates presumably don't have quite so much food seasonality to deal with.
The evidence is that the modern diet available to most people in the developed world is higher in calories than the hunter gatherer diet. There is also evidence that the transition from hunter gathering to agriculture resulted in lower overall nutrition standards but more people being fed.
There is no conclusive evidence that fasting is required at all, merely suggestive evidence.
A person eating 2,500 calories a day eating 600 calories a fay for two days a week will be lowering their weekly calorie intake by around 20% so the weight loss is readily explainable.
The other benefits including better insulin response have yet to be confirmed in large scale studies.
Amazingly enough scientists are choosing to actually do studies into this but the results of the studies have yet to be published. There are strong indications of benefits beyond mere weight loss but as I mentioned above these have yet to be confirmed.
Really, which species ?
I have a 600 calorie limit on my fasting day, but have been getting by on less than 500. No trouble with exercising on fasting day for me (not yet running, but I've taken my dog on a 3-4 hour hilly walk).
Today I had a mandarin, a pear, a cup of tomato soup and one boiled egg. Plus a heap of mineral water and cups of black, unsweetened coffee. It's nearly 10pm now and I feel okay knowing I will have a bowl of muesli and fruit tomorrow.
Monday and Thursday are fasting days, and it's important that I work those days. I had a day off on a Thursday, and it was very, very difficult without working. To me, fasting on a Saturday or Sunday simply wouldn't work.
Give it a go.
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The version I'm doing allows 600 calories a day on fast days. After good advice from posters here, I concentrate on protein and veggies rather than fruit or carbs.
Typically I'll skip breakfast and for lunch will have a couple of carrots, 30-50g of lean deli-meat and a couple of slices of pickle for lunch. Dinner will either be a piece of chicken or fish with steamed veggies (if we have time to cook) or some soup (if we don't).
I'll eat 400-500 calories leaving some calories for milk in tea or some low-calorie soda or squash.
For the first few fast days I was woozy but since then I've had few problems running for up to an hour. Beyond that hour I quickly run out of gas so I do long runs on non-fasting days.
malicus
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Many variations. I have to admit to falling off the wagon BIGTIME in the last few months. I'm a comfort eater and running a new business certainly needs comfort. Having a Chinese, Bangladeshi, chippy, Greggs, Tesco, newsagents and a deli all within fifty yards of me doesn't help.
What worked for me was 24h fasting a couple of times a week, but never together - which I actually might try very soon. A fasting 'day' is not a calender day for me, but rather 24hrs since I last ate. So I would be eating something every single day, the variation being whether I had lunch or not.
My dinner time is usually 8.15-8.30pm, a fasting day meant I would eat nothing (plenty water) until the following dinner time.The fast would not be broken in any spectacular fashion, rather a normal portion, whereas others may break it with a much reduced intake.
I never eat breakfast, so in practical terms I fast daily for 14-15h every day, but break it with a metric ton of sandwiches and smokey bacon crisps
YMMV, but in reality the basics are pretty similar through all regimes, but tweaked to your daily habits.
Fasted hill sprints are awesome, get a real gut-heaving buzz!
600 calories....but I don't get too pedantic. Breakfast is either porridge without sugar, or a couple of poached eggs. No lunch, and dinner is usually chicken or fish with a plate full of veggies......just no potatoes, rice or pasta.
I cycle. Even when I was on the 5:2 version (I am now at 1 day a week of fasting....AKA 6:1) I had no problem at all doing a 30 to 50 mile bike ride at good pace on a fasting day. If you can exercise on your fast days, you body has no choice other than to burn fat for fuel. So the more you can do, the quicker those pounds will fly off. I lost 29 pounds in 11 weeks on this regime (with lots of cycling), and haven't varied by more than 2 pounds since then, with virtually no discipline now about my intake 6 days a week.
Mike
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Thanks. I do feel much better on fasting and on taking less food. My dog didn't eat for some timeon becoming sick. Birds also do not take food and just sit in a dark corner without taking anything for some time then get cured & fly. Are these not common?
Buckaroo
Graduate Poster
I don't like to think too much about it, so I generally rely on frozen Healthy Choice/Eating Right/Lean Cuisine meals. They're around 250-300 calories apiece, so two of them -- one at lunch and one for an early dinner -- take care of my fast day. Probably getting a few too many simple carbs this way through rice and pasta, but the convenience trumps that for me. Sometimes if I'm away from home, I'll substitute a protein Cliff Bar (the mint ones are yummy) which are 270 calories. No muss, no fuss. It's working well for me so far.
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pakeha
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This.
Veggies rather than fruit on the fasting days works best for me.
Steamed or poached with herbs and lots of herbs.
Protein is grilled fish or yolk-less omelettes.
I fell off the wagon this summer
and this re-activated thread encouraged me to get back on.Wow! Thanks to all of you for your responses!!!
One lingering question: If you are doing a 5:2 fast do you find it easier to stack the fast days or stagger them?
I definitely get that work days will be easier for me so that I have distractions, but I wonder if I just do Monday and Tuesday to get it out of the way if that would work well or would I be dyeing Tuesday evening. I tend to have a couple of work lunches a week and they mostly end up being Wed-Fri.
The pre-packaged meals and protein bars sounds like a good failsafe. I know I would prefer some freshly steamed veggies and grilled chicken, but that is not always possible. Having a fall-back makes success that much easier, even if the fall-back isn't great.
I'm sure this is discussed in the thread, but since I have all of you who have recent experience I want to pick your minds.
Thanks to all of you!! Really. This is something we have been talking about doing, but it just seemed a little . . . just so? convenient? maybe too easy? I guess that is pretty arrogant for someone who hasn't even tried it yet!
One lingering question: If you are doing a 5:2 fast do you find it easier to stack the fast days or stagger them?
I definitely get that work days will be easier for me so that I have distractions, but I wonder if I just do Monday and Tuesday to get it out of the way if that would work well or would I be dyeing Tuesday evening. I tend to have a couple of work lunches a week and they mostly end up being Wed-Fri.
The pre-packaged meals and protein bars sounds like a good failsafe. I know I would prefer some freshly steamed veggies and grilled chicken, but that is not always possible. Having a fall-back makes success that much easier, even if the fall-back isn't great.
I'm sure this is discussed in the thread, but since I have all of you who have recent experience I want to pick your minds.
Thanks to all of you!! Really. This is something we have been talking about doing, but it just seemed a little . . . just so? convenient? maybe too easy? I guess that is pretty arrogant for someone who hasn't even tried it yet!
Buckaroo
Graduate Poster
I'm actually doing a modified schedule of 4:3. I'll do two days of normal eating followed by one fast day, so my fast days don't fall on a regular weekly schedule. I don't stack days -- one of the pleasant parts of fasting is, weirdly, the anticipation of breakfast the next morning, so two days back to back would be hard for me.
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I might give the two consecutive days a go when I'm more established, and maybe even 4:3, but I've just woken and I'm famished.
I too think it's too easy to be true, but, as others have also said, you tend to steer away from unhealthy food on the non-fast days. And cutting back on alcohol also really helps me.
One other rather obvious hint. Resist the urge to hop on the scales each day, or even each other day. Once a week at the same time I reckon.
I couldn't possibly do two consecutive days fasting. I'm sure the block is mental rather than physical but at 2200 on a fasting day I'm starving and it's only the prospect of breakfast the next day that keeps me going.
On recipes, Mrs Don bought a fasting diet cookbook and it has some particularly good, filling recipes in there. One which is like a huevos rancheros but without the beans was really satisfying.
I also made a bean-light vegetarian chili which worked out to be under 300 calories a portion (without rice) which was particularly good and Chinese flavours seem to be excellent with fish and chicken and relatively low in calories.
w.r.t low calorie lunches, in the UK many supermarkets have pre-packed sandwiches and salads at well under 300 calories.
On recipes, Mrs Don bought a fasting diet cookbook and it has some particularly good, filling recipes in there. One which is like a huevos rancheros but without the beans was really satisfying.
I also made a bean-light vegetarian chili which worked out to be under 300 calories a portion (without rice) which was particularly good and Chinese flavours seem to be excellent with fish and chicken and relatively low in calories.
w.r.t low calorie lunches, in the UK many supermarkets have pre-packed sandwiches and salads at well under 300 calories.
IamFreeCanIGo
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On the fasting days, you can eat your tea at 6pm, then fast until 6pm the next day. So even tho you fast for 24 hours, you still get to eat every day. Not that hard to do.
pakeha
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Everyone's different.
I think stacking, at least in my case, would a recipe for failure, then guilt, etc.
Keep it easy, keep it simple, keep it do-able.
And keep it easy to get back on track after back-sliding!
EHocking
Penultimate Amazing
... Not necessarily. One of the advantages of the 2:5 diet is that you are not fasting in the true sense. On fast days you merely restrict calories. Rule of thumb, 600 for men and 500 for women - 1/4 of the avg required.
To The Don. The idea is not to do back to back fast days, but to have at least 1 day in between.
IamFreeCanIGo
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There are lots of variations of intermittant fasting. I was speaking about the Eat.Stop.Eat approach, although i use the lean gains approach personally.
And record the results on a graph. It was such a huge motivating factor for me to see that line going down every week.