So, this is how it works. For two days of the week you will 'fast'. This doesn't mean you can't eat anything at all. Guidelines say men should have around 600 calories whilst women should have about 500. For the other five days, you can eat normally. Here's the technical bit...
Source: Jac Meldrum at Tinned Tomatoes. Please visit her site to read more and for some fantastic recipe ideas.
- Our bodies have a growth hormone called IGF -1. As a child this is what helps our bodies grow, but as adults it ages us.
- High levels of IGF-1 can lead to diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
- Lowering your levels of IGF-1 can help prevent against these diseases and can be done through your diet.
- When lowering your IGF-1 levels, growth stops and your body starts to repair cells. It also uses up your glucose and starts to burn fat, so you also lose weight.
I am tackling week one in a bit of a boring fashion, just to get my body used to lowering its calorie intake. I'm trying to pick 'fast day' foods which will keep me fuller for longer and maintain a balanced blood sugar level. I'll then review next week.
Monday: Normal day - Heston's Perfect Chilli with a jalapeno wrap.
Tuesday: Normal day - out for tea at Pizza Express with work.
Wednesday: Fast day - lunch only. Spicy vegetable couscous, 50g of chargrilled chicken and a nectarine later in the day.
Thursday: Fast day - lunch only. Jacket potato with beans and a dollop of low fat coleslaw and an apple later in the day.
Friday: Normal day - home made tandoori chicken with wholegrain rice.
Weekend: Normal days - bit of a write off. Eating out and cake club are involved....
So, as you can see. Two 'fasting' days and the rest are completely normal. I'll report back...
Watch the documentary on iPlayer here.
Please note: I am following this diet because I saw the Horizon documentary. I am not qualified to advise others on dietary requirements. This diet is not suitable for everyone. If you have any questions, please speak to your GP.
Please leave your thoughts and own experiences of the 5:2 diet below... x
My husband has been trying this since seeing the same
ReplyDeletedocumentary and has lost 4lbs in a week! So it certainly looks to have potential - although I don't think I could cope (I get VERY grumpy when I din't eat!)
Good luck with it.
Sx
My husband did it last week and lost 4lbs too! My problem is that I get the shakes when I don't eat. Need to maintain the old blood sugar levels... We'll see eh...?
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DeleteGood luck. Would you not be better to spread your 600 cals through the day?
ReplyDeleteYou might be right! I'll reassess after day one of fasting...
DeleteI agree.... you could have 3 small meals of 200 cals a day. If you eat only protein in these, it will fill you up. Like egg white, tin of tune etc ;) Let us know!! Ella
DeleteI started today and spread my calories out - small skimmed milk latte for breakfast, slim cup-a-soup at about 3pm, 150g baked cod fillet and mixed veg for dinner, plus 50g 0% fat Greek yoghurt and a few blackberries, totalling 441 cals. Lots of water and green tea. So far so good!
DeleteI started today and spread my calories out - small skimmed milk latte for breakfast, slim cup-a-soup at about 3pm, 150g baked cod fillet and mixed veg for dinner, plus 50g 0% fat Greek yoghurt and a few blackberries, totalling 441 cals. Lots of water and green tea. So far so good!
DeleteGood luck! I couldn't manage without three meals... and snacks hehe x
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have a good plan. I am in late, so will have to think quickly about what to have tomorrow for my next fast day before I head to bed :)
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone. I think I need to do these test days to gauge how best to tackle it. Watch this space...
ReplyDeleteMy husband has just started this too. Would love to see some ideas for recipes as he appears to be living on eggs at the moment! Nice!
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DeleteI started last week and lost 4lbs. I did not fast for two consecutive days but spread out the days. The other days I still ate quite healthy. On my fast days I mainly ate raw veg and fruit and drank diet lemonade which was a good way of feeling fuller. Good luck.
ReplyDeletewould be interested to know how you get on with this - i always thought it would need 5 days diet and 2 days normal to make any difference! good luck!
ReplyDeleteOoo have been wondering what this was all about. Could be the diet for me as there are probably a few days in the week where I just don't find the time to eat!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the IGF-1 one stuff is massively over simplified in the doc.
ReplyDeleteThe diet works because you need to cut your weekly calorific intake by around 3000 to lose 2lbs. By only having 500 kcals on 2 days you are very simply and easily cutting out 3000-4000 (maybe more depending on your regular intake) thus creating a loss.
In addition, IGF-1 adjustment depends on something everyone has called reserve. This is, essentially, the amount of capacity your body has for dealing with change. The older you get, the less capacity you have for adjustment. So this diet would possibly work less effectively the older you are.
The stuff about 'keeping a balanced blood sugar' isn't really true...it's usually dehydration that makes you faint/shaky/dizzy on diets (as food contains lots of water content). A non-diabetic could drink a bottle of full sugar coke and eat a full bag of haribo and experience a 0.1 rise in their blood glucose levels. They could eat 450 kcals a day for 6 weeks and see no drop in blood glucose whatsoever (I know coz I've done it). So drink plenty of water and you should be fine.
A word of caution: diets in which you consume less than 650kcals a day are published under NICE guidelines on the basis that they can play havoc with your kidneys as your body has to work harder than normal to create the energy you need to get through the day (by using fat and protein sources rather than glycogen [made from sugar/carbs]. Glycogen chains are easier to break in your digestive system than long protein chains/messy fat chains so your body will always use those first if it can rather than graft at breaking up harder chains). While for most healthy people this is ok for a while, anyone with blood disorders, kidney disorders, anxiety, depressio or heart problems should avoid this (all are affected by metabolism of carbohydrates). No-one should follow such a diet for more 12 weeks, according to the NICE guidelines.
Thus: interesting idea, but not particularly well founded in the grand scheme of anatomy and physiology.
(Love from a nurse with a strong interest in diets/nutrition!)
Sounds interesting, but like the previous commenter things like that worry me. I'd rather boost my health with a balanced diet and exercise. It'd be cool to hear how it goes :)
ReplyDeleteI'm really just trying this out of curiosity. So far so good...
ReplyDeletejust wanted to say am serously considering doing this too, but have just read further article on this which says the two fast days should not be consecutive...
ReplyDeleteHi There, so this is the 3rd week of fasting for my boyfriend and I after watching teh Horizon programme. Both of us slightly overweight (aacording to BMI) not despeate to lose weight but at 39 and 41 with 3 children between us the idea of impoving our longer term health was very appealing, and I have to say i wouldn't be sad at losing a stone in weight!
ReplyDeleteso after following Michael Mosleys twitter feed and reading all the threads we decided to do what he did and so we fast on tues and thurs, split the calories into 2 meals or even 2 small meals and a snack. I find it easier to break teh calorie allowance into smaller amounts, so yesterday I had strawberries for breakfast, carrot and coriander soup for lunch and New York Big jambalaya soup for supper. I do find soups the most filling, but also enjoy a big tuna salad or some greens stir fried just in soy sauce with some grilled chicken in tomatoes. some days I have 2 boiled or scrambled eggs as one meal, but try not to have more than one protein meal per fast day as the idea is to reduce protein too.
Anyway, after 1 full week, both my bf and I had lost 4.4 pounds or 2kg, very impressive, but today when i weighed myself again I have gained a pound back! quite disheartening, but I am going to stick with it to the 6 week mark, and see where I am then. But I remind myself that weight loss is not my main aim, but health benefits, I need more of a repertoire of easy meals for those days, but another upside is that conversely to expectations I am not more hungry on the 'normal' days, I am in fact less hungry, so maybe over a bit more time it will all balance out. good luck all Gill
I too am on this 'diet'. Week 1! But i have read you are not supposed to fast 2 days running as it sets to body into starvation mode. I'm sure MM said to have at least 1 day between fasts. Correct me if I'm wrong though>
ReplyDeleteI too am on this 'diet'. Week 1! But i have read you are not supposed to fast 2 days running as it sets to body into starvation mode. I'm sure MM said to have at least 1 day between fasts. Correct me if I'm wrong though>
ReplyDelete