Thread: 5:2 newbie and curious questions - thanks! :)

Hi folks,

Can someone please give me the rules for 5:2? I have read in one place that on the days when you're not fasting you can eat 'whatever you like', and in another place you just 'can't go over 2000 calories'. Could someone please clarify?

I've also read that there are certain things you can't eat - is this true and what are they?

Also, how long does the fast have to last, and do you start at a certain time of that day?

Lastly, does this lose more weight than calorie counting the same amount? For example, if I ate 5 days x 2000 calories and 2 days x 500 calories, that's 11,000 calories in a week - or an average of 1571 a day. If I ate 1571 calories a day I would lose weight, but not rapidly quickly or anything (at the moment I am aiming for 1200 a day, the lowest safe calorie intake for me on calorie counting). Would 5:2 make me lose more than 1571 a day straight? How about more than 1200 a day?

Thanks all! Please also include any info I've forgotten to ask

SG

Can someone please give me the rules for 5:2? I have read in one place that on the days when you're not fasting you can eat 'whatever you like', and in another place you just 'can't go over 2000 calories'. Could someone please clarify?
I'm following The Fast Diet (Dr Michael Mosley) The rules are pretty simple, on two non consecutive days, eat 500 calories from wake up till you go to sleep. On your non fast days, eat a normal amount. When I say normal I would work out your BMR from your weight and activity level (there are lots of BMR calculators) stick to this figure as a guide for what you can eat, but its just a rough guide for me, I try not to eat over it but sometimes I do. If you over eat every day you will ruin what you did on fast days making it all pointless but you can eat a normal amount.


I've also read that there are certain things you can't eat - is this true and what are they?
Not heard that before


Also, how long does the fast have to last, and do you start at a certain time of that day?
From when you wake up till you go to bed, 500 cals
Lastly, does this lose more weight than calorie counting the same amount? For example, if I ate 5 days x 2000 calories and 2 days x 500 calories, that's 11,000 calories in a week - or an average of 1571 a day. If I ate 1571 calories a day I would lose weight, but not rapidly quickly or anything (at the moment I am aiming for 1200 a day, the lowest safe calorie intake for me on calorie counting). Would 5:2 make me lose more than 1571 a day straight? How about more than 1200 a day
You should create a deficit of 3000 cals a week to lose a lb some lose more, some lose less. The reason this diet works for some is that you only diet two days, those days are rough but the other five are easy!

Sorry about the weird formatting on that reply.....My fitness pal is a great help if you don't have it.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply!

I have my fitness pal, thanks. Just re: eating your BMR on other days...just to check, do you mean your BMR (base metabolic rate - the amount your body burns to just keep your basic functions like heart, breath etc going) OR do you mean your TDEE - your total, daily energy expenditure? Because even in calorie counting they say to eat about your TDEE - 20%, which is often more than you BMR, and to never eat LESS than your BMR. However if I ate my BMR each day plus two days of 500 calories a day, I would be eating under my BMR overall which is apparently not good.

Also my BMR is around 1470, and my TDEE is about 2100, and eating 'normally' for me would be much more like eating around 1900 - 2100 than eating 1470, which would still be like being on a diet on the non-fasting days.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by SuperGroovy

Hi,

Thanks for the reply!

I have my fitness pal, thanks. Just re: eating your BMR on other days...just to check, do you mean your BMR (base metabolic rate - the amount your body burns to just keep your basic functions like heart, breath etc going) OR do you mean your TDEE - your total, daily energy expenditure? Because even in calorie counting they say to eat about your TDEE - 20%, which is often more than you BMR, and to never eat LESS than your BMR. However if I ate my BMR each day plus two days of 500 calories a day, I would be eating under my BMR overall which is apparently not good.

Also my BMR is around 1470, and my TDEE is about 2100, and eating 'normally' for me would be much more like eating around 1900 - 2100 than eating 1470, which would still be like being on a diet on the non-fasting days.

Thanks!

I, sorry I meant the figure once you factor in your activity level, but in all honesty I would fast Monday & Thursday, eat 1500-1600 Tues & Weds and Sunday and enjoy Friday and Saturday not really counting, simply because that is what works for me. Gig it around and see what works for you. You could always work out how many calories you can have over the week, subtract your fast day calories and divide the rest how you like according to your lifestyle and how much you want to lose....either 1lb or 2lb a week....then you could factor in exercise to help you along? Wow its getting confusing now hahaha!!! One thing I will say is that if you want to reap the benefits of fasting (which are many other than just losing weight) I would try and get The Fast Diet Book by Michael Mosley - its quite cheap on ebay. The key is the amount of time you eat nothing for. I stop eating at 7pm on Sunday and don't eat till 12 pm Monday, then I eat again at 6pm and fast through till breakfast the next day. You get four lengthy fast a week then.

One thing I will add is that I lost the majority of my weight on Weight Watchers originally, it was a hard slog. This diet is a breeze in comparison but I've only been on it a month now, lost 11lbs. Time will tell. The key is not going way over the top on your non fast days.

Thanks for all your help, grotbags - and I love your witchy picture!

Also, congratulations on your 11lbs loss! That's fantastic! I would love to have a loss like that over a 1 month period.

A couple more questions (thanks again for all your help!):

When the 5:2 diet says 'eat 500 calories or less' for 'two days', is it referring to two periods of twenty four hours? Because I've seen some other numbers on here like eight hours, sixteen hours etc.

Does it matter if I eat less than 500 calories during each of those 'fast days'?

Originally Posted by SuperGroovy

Thanks for all your help, grotbags - and I love your witchy picture!

Also, congratulations on your 11lbs loss! That's fantastic! I would love to have a loss like that over a 1 month period.

A couple more questions (thanks again for all your help!):

When the 5:2 diet says 'eat 500 calories or less' for 'two days', is it referring to two periods of twenty four hours? Because I've seen some other numbers on here like eight hours, sixteen hours etc.

Does it matter if I eat less than 500 calories during each of those 'fast days'?

The 500 cals is just a guide which from what I've read is roughly 1/4 of your TDE, I don't think there's any real set lower limit as it's more about what people find sustainable, I often eat less as usually only eat 1 meal when fasting so I do a 24hr fast then have dinner, then through for a 12 hr or so stint until morning

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

Originally Posted by SuperGroovy

Thanks for all your help, grotbags - and I love your witchy picture!

Also, congratulations on your 11lbs loss! That's fantastic! I would love to have a loss like that over a 1 month period.

A couple more questions (thanks again for all your help!):

When the 5:2 diet says 'eat 500 calories or less' for 'two days', is it referring to two periods of twenty four hours? Because I've seen some other numbers on here like eight hours, sixteen hours etc.

Does it matter if I eat less than 500 calories during each of those 'fast days'?

It's Grotbags the witch, from childrens tv in the 80's....showing my age I use 500 over a 24 hour period, a small lunch and then dinner but it isn't really set in stone, you will find out what works for you x

Hi Grotbags.

I remembered Grotbags but couldn't remember which show she was from. Just looked it up on YouTube and there's a few clips on there. Brings back memories!

:-)

It's what the other half calls me

She's from The Pink Windmill with Rod Hull and Emu, yes?

*May now be sitting here singing "There's somebody at the door."* It's weird the things you remember from when you were a kid. My dad used to refer to me as grotbag all the time. Lol.

It's in my head now lol.

Until I watched it on YouTube I couldn't remember what it was from but it all came back. My step dad used to call me Grotbags when I was in a grumpy mood. As you can imagine it didn't help cheer me up at the time (though I find the idea funny now!).

I adored Grotbags!!