the 5. 2 diet

[Sandra6]

Has anyone tried this?
It's basically a matter of eating normally five days of the week and having two "fast" days limiting yourself to just 500 calories.
A friend of my claims to have lost 7lbs in a week!!
I've been doing it for a fortnight (and have returned to the gym too) and I'm 2lb heavier!

 

[Tribanite]

Muscle weighs more than fat. Are you eating normaly after the fasting day or overcompensating?

 

[Mo1959]

Has anyone tried this?
It's basically a matter of eating normally five days of the week and having two "fast" days limiting yourself to just 500 calories.
A friend of my claims to have lost 7lbs in a week!!
I've been doing it for a fortnight (and have returned to the gym too) and I'm 2lb heavier!

There's another thread on it Sandra. Give you something to read.
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/fasting.120801/

 

[Trevrev]

Has anyone tried this?
It's basically a matter of eating normally five days of the week and having two "fast" days limiting yourself to just 500 calories.
A friend of my claims to have lost 7lbs in a week!!
I've been doing it for a fortnight (and have returned to the gym too) and I'm 2lb heavier!

Are you still eating a healthy diet on non-fasting days?

 

[Sandra6]

I've been eating "normally" - mix of healthy and not so. But I don't generally gain weight in a week when I'm not dieting.
I guess between 1500 and 2000 calories on the "eating" days. I would've expected atleast 2lbs loss.

 

[Kies]

Something doesn't add up. Your intake should be down by 3000 calories for each week,resulting in weight loss.
Keep a food diary and look at what/where its going Pete tong

 

[Paul99]

Probably just water weight. Keep doing it and see what happens in a few weeks.

My mum started doing it a month ago and lost weight the first week, put on weight the second two weeks and lost again in week four, but overall was down by 4lb.

 

[VamP]

Muscle weighs more than fat. Are you eating normaly after the fasting day or overcompensating?

OMG how much muscle do you think it's possible to synthesize in 2 weeks?

 

[Rob3rt]

Muscle weighs more than fat. Are you eating normaly after the fasting day or overcompensating?

No it doesn't. 1kg of muscle weighs the same as 1kg of fat! Muscle is denser!

Additionally, muscle synthesis is generally much slower than that of fat loss, so even if gaining muscle, the net effect would still be weight loss in most cases.

Has anyone tried this?
It's basically a matter of eating normally five days of the week and having two "fast" days limiting yourself to just 500 calories.
A friend of my claims to have lost 7lbs in a week!!
I've been doing it for a fortnight (and have returned to the gym too) and I'm 2lb heavier!

Losing 7lbs in a week is nothing to be brag/be pleased about. It sounds very unhealthy, it is generally said that it is safe/healthy to lose about 2lbs a week, obviously this is the usual guestimate and it will depend very much on the starting point etc, but 7lbs sounds like a lot! BTW, the deficit you have created should produce something around a 1lb weight loss, which is an amount that someone can easily fluctuate by throughout a day (my weight can fluctuate by up to 3lbs throughout a day), so you won't really know until you look at a trend over a few weeks.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

I would personally not advise or participate all these 'fads' as they are simply unsustainable.. Are you really going to undertake 'fasting' two days a week for the rest of your life?
If you do not you will return to the way you were before unless your diet has changed.
The change to be sucessful needs to be deeper, you need to start to understand where your calories come from and the value of them, getting 500 calories from pizza and chips, is not the same as getting 500 calories from salmon, veg and rice imho.
Eat healthy and use more calories than you consume and you will lose weight.

 

[PK99]

I
Eat healthy and use more calories than you consume and you will lose weight.

the 5:2 diet is simply a structured way of doing just that and in the process it educates about calorie content of a range of foods.
My wife and I have lost weight and marginally changed general eating habits

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

the 5:2 diet is simply a structured way of doing just that and in the process it educates about calorie content of a range of foods.
My wife and I have lost weight and marginally changed general eating habits

2 days eating 500cals is "healthy"?

You made 2 changes: 1) started 5:2 and 2) changed eating habits. Which one do you think had the greater impact?

 

[michaelcycle]

Muscle weighs more than fat by volume but I doubt you have gained 2lbs of muscle in 2 weeks.

Weight fluctuations are normal - usually due to fluid / water (which is particularly pertinent for women around their menstrual cycle) or glycogen balance so simply because you are 2lbs heavier doesn't mean much. I know my weight fluctuates by about 6 lbs per day.

What you are looking at is a trend over time. As long as the overall trend is downwards then go are doing well.

Be patient. Eat sensibly on non fasting days and you will be fine.

(incidentally if you have returned to the gym then it is highly likely you will retain water in the short term due to muscle repair.)

 

[Sandra6]

Somebody else mentioned the water retention due to going to the gym, and without wishing to create a tmi moment it is that time of the month.

 

[VamP]

Somebody else mentioned the water retention due to going to the gym, ...

Yeah water retention is a big factor in short term weight loss. Just cutting out salt from your diet can result in a significant (5-8 lbs) weight loss in a very short time. A lot of people bragging about losing half a stone in just one week, have just dehydrated themselves.