Eat, fast and live longer - the 5:2 lifestyle

[droverjess]

Am finding I've reached the stage of life where for the first time ever the lbs are creeping on, it' s a shock!
Seriously considering doing this 5:2, hoping to get to 6:1.
What do you think, is it helping?
Chookie you seem to be baking still?
What are your weekly meals... On normal and fast days please.
Not sure DH wants to do this, but think I will give a try.

I shall use my fitness pal, does anyone want to be friends on there with me?

[Cuilidh]

DJ, we started this about the beginning of December and find it pretty easy.  We chose to do Tuesday and Wednesday for fasting, although DH is tending towards separating the fast days ... we'll see what comes of it.  We got a good recipe book at Xmas which had some great sounding recipes in it and Chookie was also kind enough to loan us a book.  The hardest part was finding recipes that were both vegetarian (me) and lactose free (DH), but we seem to have managed. I think you would find it easier if you were both on it together, but forcing the issue may be counter-productive.

So far, I have been having fruit for breakfast (leaving some for lunch and tossing in a few almonds) and having a 'main' meal in the evening - not a totally balanced diet so perhaps splitting the fast days is wise.  DH doesn't have breakfast, but has CADA for lunch then the main evening meal.  I think you just have to experiment a little. 

I found that, in the short time we were on it before blowing everything over the summer holidays, I lost a couple of kilos during the fast time, but put them on again during the remaining days, so I think you might expect your weight to bounce up and down a little but hopefully the downward direction will predominate!

Good luck with it.

[judydawn]

I'm not doing it at the moment but it would be my go-to plan if I wanted to lose a few kgs.  I lost 5 when I did it but that took quite a few months - I wasn't in any hurry though so it suited me.

I did the most simple meals on my fasting days, Chookie suggested it and as I love them all, it was easy to do for me. I hate diets but this wasn't like a diet to me and I looked forward to my fasting days. If I had to plan meals or count calories, I'd feel as if I was on a diet.

Breakfast - poached or boiled egg with 1 slice of butterless toast and a coffee
Lunch - huge bowl of home made tomato based vegetable soup
Tea - 100g baked beans on toast and a piece of fruit
I drank lots of water throughout the day

Most people say they couldn't survive on this when I told them what I was doing but I had no problems at all.

I think men can have slightly more than women DJ - 500 calories for women and 600 for men I think it is.

[deedub]

2 people on my team at work are doing this, luckily they fast on the same days because they both get a little grumpy on those days! They both seem to skip lunch and drink LOTS of tea - they swear by it.

[droverjess]

Am starting to just monitor what I eat with my fitness pal.
Will see what happens.
As a lady of a certain age (LOACA) my metabolism has changed and it is quite a shock....!

[Cuilidh]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is LOACA?

[Bonsai]

Lady Of A Certain Age

[droverjess]

Yup, thanks bonsai...

[Cuilidh]

 

[achookwoman]

Ha!.  I have been this for some time!,   I posted a comment a couple of day ago but as on Hols,  the iPad decided not to post. 
DJ,  this is about the only diet that seems to work for me.  I think it is the flexibility .  Provided that you do the 5.2 in the one week,  it seems to work.  Just a couple of points,  the first week is the hardest and try not to pig out on the 5 days. My Fitness Pal helps with this. 
I find it easiest to stick to the same food for the 2 days.  I also don't cook ' interesting' things on these days as I am tempted to try them.  Ral doesn't do the programme but does eat the same food but with extra protein. 
I would encourage you to give it a go and see how you cope. 

[droverjess]

Thanks chookie for this. As we have a friend arriving for two weeks tomorrow and he needs three large meals a day I think I will just eat moderately using MFP. I have cut out all extra sweet things except fruit, no chocolate.
Will see how I go. I don't think I can do the 5:2 safely while decorating the house every day. I am up and down ladders etc etc.
Today my snack was carrot sticks, and a very small apple. 

Will report on how it goes. I found I last used MFP in may 2012 and since then have put on 9lbs and previous to that had put on a little. I'd just like to lose 9 or 10 lbs. if I got back to my previous lifelong weight then that'd be good too, but that means losing a stone. My bmi is fine, but I don't want to get larger and larger....

JD suggested eggs and beans in small quantities on fast days.

In fact I have had two eggs for breakfast twice this week with a small piece of toast and truly haven't felt hungry until lunch time.
I cut the toast into squares with 5 g butter, and put in a bowl. Chopped up two soft boiled eggs on top mixed with salt and pepper.
My mother called it coddled egg and it was nursery food.

[judydawn]

Mum used to do something similar DJ only she used plain bread.  I've fed the children on it when they were babies/toddlers and it always went down well. Never thought to make it for myself though.

[droverjess]

I am just a big kid at heart JD!!!
It is delicious and easy.

[Wonder]

Good luck with it JD, I was wanting to do this to loose a few kg's and for the health benefits but found with having to cook meals for DH and the kids the extra "thinking" and organising time took away the motivation. Will be interested to hear how you go if you decided to start with the protocol, lots of people seem to be having success with it.

[BeezeeBee]

I think I should do this too. My waistline is expanding too fast 😢 Quite depressing.

Keep it up, DJ. Hope to hear more success stories