Trying out 5:2 diet....would like support!

angwass

angwass

Full Member
Hi all,

I have been over in the slimming world part of this website for about a year now but this is the first time in the calorie counting section. In my office at work there are several people doing the 5:2 diet and are doing really well on it so I am gong to give it a go. I shall be starting on Monday but my first fast day will be Tuesday. I am going to use this as a diary to basically but down how I am feeling, what I have eaten on my fast days and whether or not I manage this diet.

I plan to fast Tuesday and Thursday and will be having 500 calories on these two days. I then plan to have around 1200/1300 calories on the other 5 days. I use My Fitness Pal and I have been managing to stick around these sorts of numbers daily so shouldn't find it too difficult. I am hoping this will kick start my weight loss again.

I would like to hear from anyone currently doing 5:2 and how they are finding it and what sort of things they are eating. Support from other calorie counting men/ladies out there would also be appreciated :)

Little about me - I am Angela, I am 27 and from South Yorkshire.

x
 
Hi Angela, I swapped from SW to 5:2 and calorie counting and hit my target a couple of weeks ago... I had FAR more success with 5:2/CC than I did with SW. This thread has a couple of comments from me on how I did it...

http://www.minimins.com/calorie-counting/327615-three-stone-gone.html

Have a look at the 5:2 Intermittent Fasting page on FB - very busy site and will give you all the information you need, including recipes in a link at the top of the page. Would also highly recommend you taking an hour to watch the Horizon programme Michael Mosley presented called Eat, Fast and Live Longer.... very interesting, informative and will tell you all about the health benefits of IF.

Good luck on your journey :)
 
Thanks ever so much Domane, I shall have a look at all the things you have suggested :) All the information I can get will be very grateful x
 
The thing with fasting is not to make too big a deal of it. I'm a big-breakfast gal so I didn't think I'd manage it at ALL. The first day I fasted, I figured that I'd skip breakfast and then split my 500 calories into a brunch and then tea. Then I sailed past mid-morning and decided I'd have a small lunch instead. Sailed past lunchtime too and actually managed to get right round to tea-time. I did so well on my first week, that the second week I tried not eating at ALL on my fasting day and going round to breakfast the next day. But to be honest, I really DID feel very hungry and spent the night waking every hour and looking at the clock to see if it was breakfast time yet! So I gave up on this and went back to having a small meal in the evening. If you choose carefully you can eat LOADS for less than 500 calories. For example, I often pick up a bag of Aldi's mushroom stir-fry and a 200g pack of prawns. The whole pack of both comes in at just 243 calories... so you still have over half your allowance left for more! ;) The other things to remember when you first start fasting are to drink lots of water.... it won't fill you up but it will distract you and keep your kidneys working so your metabolism will be raised. Hunger comes in waves and doesn't get worse as the day progresses. Keep busy and try not to focus on food. The worst time of day for me is between 1 and 4. Once I get past 4 I know I can do it. You also may feel a little chilly towards the end of a fast day, this is quite normal for some people - makes sense if the body is running on empty, your metabolism has to keep your organs working so it takes less effort to keep you warm. Also you may become a little grumpy when you get hungry... warn any close family members not to rile you! lol

Once you have achieved your first day, you're away.... because you can tell yourself "I've done this already and know I can, so I can do it again"

I lost 4.5lbs on my first week of 5:2. Then STS the second week, lost another 4.5 the third week and then it settled into a nice 2lb a week drop, on average. But then I was running 3 x a week which I'm sure helped to burn off the calories too... if you can find the time to exercise, as well as burning off cals whilst doing it, it raises your metabolism and keeps you burning off for hours afterwards too.....

Also, because I can easily be an "evening muncher", I have a self-imposed rule that I don't eat after 8pm. And this has helped me loads too....
 
Domane said:
The thing with fasting is not to make too big a deal of it. I'm a big-breakfast gal so I didn't think I'd manage it at ALL. The first day I fasted, I figured that I'd skip breakfast and then split my 500 calories into a brunch and then tea. Then I sailed past mid-morning and decided I'd have a small lunch instead. Sailed past lunchtime too and actually managed to get right round to tea-time. I did so well on my first week, that the second week I tried not eating at ALL on my fasting day and going round to breakfast the next day. But to be honest, I really DID feel very hungry and spent the night waking every hour and looking at the clock to see if it was breakfast time yet! So I gave up on this and went back to having a small meal in the evening. If you choose carefully you can eat LOADS for less than 500 calories. For example, I often pick up a bag of Aldi's mushroom stir-fry and a 200g pack of prawns. The whole pack of both comes in at just 243 calories... so you still have over half your allowance left for more! ;) The other things to remember when you first start fasting are to drink lots of water.... it won't fill you up but it will distract you and keep your kidneys working so your metabolism will be raised. Hunger comes in waves and doesn't get worse as the day progresses. Keep busy and try not to focus on food. The worst time of day for me is between 1 and 4. Once I get past 4 I know I can do it. You also may feel a little chilly towards the end of a fast day, this is quite normal for some people - makes sense if the body is running on empty, your metabolism has to keep your organs working so it takes less effort to keep you warm. Also you may become a little grumpy when you get hungry... warn any close family members not to rile you! lol

Once you have achieved your first day, you're away.... because you can tell yourself "I've done this already and know I can, so I can do it again"

I lost 4.5lbs on my first week of 5:2. Then STS the second week, lost another 4.5 the third week and then it settled into a nice 2lb a week drop, on average. But then I was running 3 x a week which I'm sure helped to burn off the calories too... if you can find the time to exercise, as well as burning off cals whilst doing it, it raises your metabolism and keeps you burning off for hours afterwards too.....

Also, because I can easily be an "evening muncher", I have a self-imposed rule that I don't eat after 8pm. And this has helped me loads too....
Click to expand...

Hi Domane,

Wow thanks for that information....that has really helped out!! You have done really well then and tbh I would be very happy with 2lb a week. I drink water all day while I'm at work anyway so that won't be anything new to me and I generally just have cup of tea in a morning and that's it. Well my plan for Tuesday is to have 6 strawberries with a WW yog for breakie, a slim a soup, sugar free jelly and 8 carrot sticks for lunch and then 3 slices of hovis 400g w/meal toast with a baked beans snack pot for tea and that works out at 498 calories so I shall see how I feel doing this. Although I won't eat if I don't feel hungry....because at the moment I am just in a routine and don't necessarily feel hungry so I will only eat when I feel hungry on my fasting days.

The thing that will keep me going is knowing that it's only for the one day and I can eat the following day....I plan to fast Tuesday and Thursday as these are the days the 6 people in the office do it, so it should make it a lot easier having people around me doing it. I asked my OH if he was having a go last night and his reply was 'no, but thanks' haha. I didn't think he would do it but was worth asking.

I'm excited to get started :) x
 
Phoenyx said:
Good luck! I'm doing another type of fasting 16:8 but there are loads of people at my work too who have had great success on the 5:2. I may go back to it as I only did it for a week. I thought 16:8 might ease me in.
Click to expand...


Hi thanks for the good luck....how are you getting on with the 16:8? x
 
The longer you can go without eating, the better the "fast" is, to be honest.... otherwise you are just having a low-calorie day. If you don't feel you can go all the way around until teatime, a 16:8 fast day may suit you better to start with - not eating anything at all until lunchtime and then splitting your calories over lunch and tea. The second you drink anything with sugar or eat anything at all, it spikes your insulin and revs your body up again, which defeats the object of the fast. The longer you can leave it without eating ANYTHING, the better from a health point of view, to be honest. This puts your body into "recovery" mode - definitely watch the show as it will explain it and motivate you more.....
 
I will probably see how I get on to be honest and see which suits me. I have read the book and totally understand where you are coming from but I just thought for the first week until I get into the swing of things that I would eat what I posted above. Don't get me wrong if I don't feel hungry then I won't eat and when I start to feel hunger I shall wait 10/15 minutes and drink water and see if it passes and then that way I will just have lunch and dinner. I am actully going to do monday and wednesday......wednesday I may have a breakfast of beans on toast and then wait until tea time to eat again as I have a busy day so I probably won't even think about food. I will just test the water and see which I feel suits me best :) x
 
Well I am starting 5:2 Diet tomorrow and tomorrow will be my first fast day. I am feeling excited about a new challenge and will update all my details on my profile tomorrow after I have been weighed etc. Anyone else fasting tomorrow? x
 
Good luck for tomorrow. I just wanted to add that when assessing your hunger, you'll need to bear in mind that by eating a breakfast, you'll be kicking your metabolism into action which may well make you more hungrier than if you don't eat anything. I, personally, am better eating nothing as it keeps my stomach "asleep" but perhaps the way to know what suits you best is to try both and see which feels better.....
 
Thank you!

Well first day of my fast today.....I got up at 6.45 and had a glass of water about 7.15 before leaving for work. I have had a few bouts of feeling hungry but each time I have just had a drink of water and they seem to have passed for now. I am going to skip breakfast and just have 2 meals today :) Will update later with what I eat and how I feel this afternoon.

x
 
Well I went till 12.45 without any food....felt ok once the hunger pangs had gone....I have just had a WW chicken and noodle soup (51 cals), 100g of strawberries (30 cals) and a WW vanilla yog (54 cals). I feel satisfied with what I have had. I therefore have 365 calories left for my dinner tonight. It is going to be beans on toast, so I think I may be under the 500 calories today. Tonight will be my tester as I will be at home with the OH, cooking his tea and he will no doubt be nibbling on crisps, nuts, chocolate etc later.
 
Well done on your achievement so far!!! And good luck for tonight. I always think I'll take myself off to bed early on a fast day but because I haven't eaten much my body betrays me and keeps me awake so I have trouble nodding off!!! They think it is an evolution thing - something to do with the body needing to stay alert to find extra food!!! Tiresome. If you find it hard going tonight just chant to yourself "I can't have it today, but I CAN have it tomorrow..... I've only got to wait until tomorrow...."
 
So how did it go? I'm dying to hear.....
 
Hi Domane,

It went really well thanks. I had 477 calories in total yesterday. I had my 3 slices of white danish, 150g beans and 1 egg scrambled as planned. Then had a no added sugar jelly about 9pm when my other half was eating cheese and crackers:) I feel very good this morning. My stomach was rumbling loads while in bed last night but as you say I just thought about my breakfast I could have in the morning. I went to sleep about 11pm and managed to sleep all the way through as some people at work had said that they had woke up a few times in the night if hungry but that didn't happen to me last night. I am fasting again tomorrow :) My other half thinks he is being kind but really he isn't as last night he was offering me half of his chocolate etc haha but I just said no and just thought if I want it tomorrow I can have it!

Angela x
 
Brilliant!!! Very well done. That's the first one over with.... bring on tomorrow!! :)
 
Morning all,

I did my second fast day yesterday and found it much easier than the first. I was kept busy all morning so I ate my first meal at 1.10pm, where I had 2 slices of w/meal bread (121 cal), 60g chunky chicken (70 cal) and 15g salad cream (24)....I then ate again about 6pm where I had a WW lasagne (247 cal), and 100g of tesco garden salad (21 cal) and a Hartley's no added sugar jelly (3 cals). So in total yesterday I had 486 calories :)

I also took weight and waist measurements on Sunday and I have done these again today and I am down a lb on the scales and 2 cms from my waist so I am a happy bunny :) not sure which days I will be fast yet next week, will either me mon/weds or tues/thurs.

x
 
Fab! And well done! You're off on your journey now then..... keep us posted :)
 
Hi all,

Well had a bit of a bad thurs, fri, sat foodwise although after adding up on MFP I have probably had around 1500 calories each of those days so not overly bad but just involved takeaways and food out :-S

I am back to fasting tomorrow and I am actually ready for it! x
 
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