The FastDay Forum

GMH wrote......" It suits my nature".................for me, that says it all, no matter what you are doing,

Ballerina x

I don't believe there are rules you have to adhere to in order to be considered a 5:2 faster, we will all find a way that suits our lifestyles and preferences and I'm sure this happens in amongst all weight loss programs. What suits me wouldn't suit someone else necessarily, but when people ask for advice they are going to hear all these methods and then decide for themselves. When I read about 0 cal fasting it made sense to me and I tried it and for me it works perfectly. I did this despite the fact that regular 5:2 was working. Good luck to everyone on their journey however they choose to get there!

Surely why we are all here is because Dr M initiated a change in perspective & approach to eating in all of us? without reading about 5:2, seeing the Horizon programme & being encouraged by them to try fasting I would never have started 5:2ing. Since January & by joining this forum I have gained much more information & support from the diverse experience of everyone on here. I still feel in one sense that I am my own ongoing experiment in finding out what my daily WOE will be & what works for me so I mainly follow 5:2 with 2 or 3 days 16:8ing because I have fallen into not eating breakfast. But I would never have started on this road without the original 5:2 plan & the inspirational experiences of other people on this forum to help keep me going through my ups & downs

Thanks for the sweetie Julianna it sure beats stupid. Now adjusting my understanding of the KISS principle meaning accordingly

Am so glad we have been able to discuss these issues. I am here for weight loss, am chuffed it is happening and am glad that there are variations to 5:2 because when you meet a stall you have options

Here's my two penny's worth, as a general comment on this thread and not a direct response to gillymary's.

I think the acronym “KISS” was first used by Bill Clinton talking about the economy. Certainly in UK I’ve not come across the word ‘Sweetie’ and, at various times, tensions have risen when someone’s used it in Bill Clinton mode. We’re fortunate in having a wonderful series of TV adverts featuring Merkat’s finishing with, “Seemples. Tsk”

So for me, it’s having roughly 25% (500/600) of my usual calories, two days a week. Seemples, Tsk; we don’t bother too much on holiday, or recently when I had the dreaded sickness bug - now there’s a way to lose weight!!

There are no rules, no sacred texts and no laws passed, it's a sensible, flexible health idea and suits us - OH is thrilled, I'm happy and you all do whatever 'floats your boat'.

Here's my two penny's worth, as a general comment on this thread and not a direct response to gillymary's.

I think the acronym “KISS” was first used by Bill Clinton talking about the economy. Certainly in UK I’ve not come across the word ‘Sweetie’ and, at various times, tensions have risen when someone’s used it in Bill Clinton mode. We’re fortunate in having a wonderful series of TV adverts featuring Merkat’s finishing with, “Seemples. Tsk”

So for me, it’s having roughly 25% (500/600) of my usual calories, two days a week. Seemples, Tsk; we don’t bother too much on holiday, or recently when I had the dreaded sickness bug - now there’s a way to lose weight!!

There are no rules, no sacred texts and no laws passed, it's a sensible, flexible health idea and suits us - OH is thrilled, I'm happy and you all do whatever 'floats your boat'.

What a lovely post!

re the being sick.. yeah i lost 2kg last time i was sick and only put 1kg back. so sickness can be a good thing for those damn scales!

re the"Sweetie"

i googled it and found hundreds of thousands of matches

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22keep ... =firefox-a

Because the basic 5:2 doesn't work for absolutely everyone and its offensive to imply that those who need to watch calories or carbs or adapt in some other way are stupid.

I have read and re-read the original posts and I see no such implication of stupidity, nor any offensiveness whatsoever. I'm not sure why you're so defensive when absolutely no-one was being or is being attacked.

Do you know what the S in KISS stands for or do you just think it's lips coming together???

Oh thats funny. Just googled on the 'KISS Principle' myself following up on Dennis's point as to what Bill Clinton alluded too and exactly what I mentioned in the earlier post 'keep it simple stupid,' came up over and over again plain as day. That was what offended even if not meant.

Anyway, to reply to the initial post...

First of all, 5:2 has two original versions. One is the one with 500/600 calories and the other with the 25% of TDEE. Assuming that not all of us have a 2000/2400 TDEE, there are instantly two versions of it.

Secondly, as Miffy said, not all of us is fortunate enough to lose with just 5:2. We need something extra. Others are doing 16:8, some are doing low carb, many are watching what they eat on weekdays and eat what they fancy on weekends, I am doing one or two days of Dukan's attack (I can assure you it is not scary at all) additionally to the two fasts and if you ask around you will find even more varieties.

In my opinion -whether that is sweet or stupid- the whole point of keeping something simple is to find how it works better for you and then do that. It would be rather stupid if we just followed something that doesn't work for us, don't you think?

I have tried to keep to the 5:2 principles but like many of us have health issues that mean I have adopted a method that is working for me. I enjoy reading about other peoples ideas and have tried some myself and what I do like is how we do bounce ideas and questions off each other. I've worked to shift this weight off and now I want to keep it off - but at the same time I want to live a full life and 5:2 lets me do that.

This is a very helpful thread. I think I will be trying another variation of 5:2 alongside 16:8 as I'm not really losing and I refuse to calorie count. Problem is I'm getting close to my holiday (just 1 week to go), so I'm sure all my good work will come undone. Nevertheless, I think I will be trying 4:3 or 2 consecutive days with a single fast on its own alongside 16/8 each week and see how that goes.

What a lovely post!

Why thank you Juliana.Rivers and thanks also for the Google links - just goes to show what a sheltered life I've led! I've Googled and found the 'stupid' bit goes back to the 1960 and the US Army/Navy designing new systems, Bill Clinton's campaign manager using it in 2002 - at no time intended as an insult - and Bill Clinton's speech in 2003.

To keep on topic, now I need to decide when to take up 5:2 again.

Take care,

"What is the true 5:2 eating plan?"..................In my opinion there is no such thing! 'The 5:2 Fast Diet' was the result of one man's experience and a lot of his personal tweaking along the way until he found a way that suited him and his personality. He did a 4 day fast, then he did 'Alternate Day fasting' then he settled on 5:2 but even then he tweaked it from one 500/600 calorie meal on a fast day, (this is how his mentor, Dr Varady, does her trials on 5:2) because it didn't suit HIM, to 2 meals, breakfast and dinner. After that lot it can be no surprise that he lost weight.

His name is Mosely NOT Mosses, nothing he advocates is set in stone and he merely wrote a health book not a Bible. If tweaking is good enough for the good Dr then it is certainly good enough for me.

I love the variety of ideas that this forum has and look forward to reading how others are coping, or not, as the case may be

Ballerina x

I haven't been on Dr M's forum since the early days, but even then people were posting that they were struggling and he was advocating various tweaks including lower carb and even ADF.

Miffy, I really didn't recognise you from your new Avatar, think you should get one of those 'epilator' things, but you do look happy, if a touch furry!!! But, still cute!!!!

Ballerina x