5:2 diet

A question about : 5:2 diet

I missed the Horizon programme the other day, but apparently it was looking at the pros and cons of a diet where you eat as you normally would for five days a week, and eat a very restricted number of calories (500-600) on two days.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549

I like the idea of that - it is difficult to calorie count every day in the middle of family life, but it might be easier to cut down for a couple of days a week when the kids are at school and OH is at work. Is anyone giving it a go?

Best answers:

• yes I'm giving it a try. Have just done the 2 low cal days, although I didn't manage to get as low as 600 this time I'm just figuring that it's a step in the right direction. I used www.myfitnesspal.com to count the calories.
• Unless I missed it, what wasn't made clear, was whether the 2 days had to be concurrent? I'd imagine this is quite important. If anyone is trying it, make sure you are eating lots of veggies.
• For those you on intermittent fasting (allowing yourself 600 calories), have you excluded protein from these days? Also, does it matter if I break up the calories into two 300 calorie portions or is it preferable to consume just one meal in the day?
  Am really grateful for any advice you can offer as I have started fasting from today and could use any tips that you have to offer.
  Many thanks.
• I watched this too and interested in doing it. I reckon 500 calories would be best at breakfast and set you up for the day.
  Hoping to start it in a few weeks once Ramadan is over (!).
  For the other 5 days looking to generally reduce my rice, bread and potato intake and stop snacking on bad foods...
• Hello!
  If you missed the programme, it has been posted on Youtube. Just enter the title of the prog: Horizon: 'Eat, Fast and Live Longer' and you will find the whole show divided up into a few parts.
  On the programme Dr Mosley said he fasted on irregular days each week, so not necessarily two days concurrently and not necessarily the same two days each week. The advice from one of the scientist was for men to have 600 calories on a fast day and women to have 4-500.
  I found this programme very exciting, especially as my mother has early-onset Alzheimer's and the findings regarding fasting the development of new brain cells and pushing back the signs of dementia show great promise. Light, regular fasting is a simple - and money saving! - way of keeping healthy. The guy who ate a high nutrition, low calorie diet was IMMUNE from heart disease and stroke according to the researcher.
  I am very keen to incorporate 5:2 into my life.
  There is a chap, who has references some of the scientists in the Horizon prog in his book 'Eat Stop Eat'. He also has a blog.
• I've done 6-1 intermittent fasting before but have a tendency to faint so it sometimes doesn't work.
  HBS x
• I didn't see the programme, but i'm not remotely surprised by all the recent findings on the benefits of fasting. I did a far more extreme version (under medical supervision in India), and in the initial phase, where I had no solids for 12 days, the difference in the colour of my tongue, whites of my eyes, energy levels, total lack of hunger etc was amazing. I felt pretty brilliant to be totally honest.
  I'm not remotely advocating anything so extreme, but the concept of reducing the amount we eat on intermittent days makes a great deal of sense to me. Unless training for a marathon or doing hard manual work, I don't believe we need the constant quantity of food that we think we do (...or are told we do!) I think this has been slowly drummed into us over time, so that we are now programmed to respond to tummy rumbles as if they are a sign of impending death!
  Food manufacturers, supermarkets etc would certainly be very upset if people moved away from the '3 square meals a day + snacks' way of life that is now seeing unprecedented levels of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer etc
  If missing a meal or 2 would do us any serious harm, we wouldn't bloody be here as our ancestors managed without or with greatly reduced amounts of food, for FAR longer periods than a day here and there Quality is the key, not quantity.... cutting out totally empty calories in refined carbs and sugar is a good start in my opinion... saving the calories for good quality protein and vegetables is the way forward.
  Good luck to all you fasters, will be interested to hear how you get on!
• I and several of my friends are interested in doing this.
  Although I AM trying to lose weight (ongoing battle) what interests me on this is the potential health benefits. Any weight loss would a (very!) welcome side benefit
  so I would really like to read up about it, but can't seem to find anything other than the Horizon programme. I would like to know a bit more about the science theory behind it, and if there are recommendations on what you eat on the fast days, and indeed on the non-fast days
  Plus, to see if I achieve any health benefits, I would need to get IGH-1 measured, and again, not much out there on how to do it. I was assuming the 'worried well' type companies would offer something like that, in the same way you can get your bone density measured. I'll see if I can get hold of one of those companies and see if it is something they can do
  As other posters have said, will be very interested to see how people get on
• I've watched the Horizon programme on Iplayer this morning. I was surprised at Michael Mosleys findings. What I'd like to know is, on the fasting days, are you restricted to certain foods? ie: carbs, protein?
• I have done eating within a 5 hour period. With my particular hours, that suited me between 2 pm and 7 pm. I was surprised how well I felt on it and certainly didn't feel the need to eat breakfast.
• I was really dissapointed in the way the program delivered the information. Also there was a distinct lack of information regarding the possible negative effects of reducing IGF-1 levels. To name but a few published results:
  IGF-1 is a marker of low bone mass or osteoporosis and is reported to be implicated in decreased bone mineral density with aging. It is also involved in bone formation such that low IGF-1 leads to shorter stature.
  Inhibiting IGF-1 in young animals led to impaired learning and memory.
  Women completely lacking in IGF-1 are infertile (due to reduced folilcle stimulating hormone).
  ****Please consider the negative effects (plenty of scientific publications on IGF-1 deficency) and consult your GP.****
• I'm having a go and found that the day after my first fast (500 calories) I was not as crazily hungry as I thought I would be... I just ate normally but healthy food. I'm fitting it in around life so my two days will not be concurrent or regular but it does seem manageable (scarily so! - I feel as though I'm cheating).
  On my second fast day for this week today and (so far) no desire to snatch icecreams from small children or mug people for crisps...yet.
  I know there are tremendous health benefits but the vain bit of me only heard, "and I lost a stone in those five weeks".