The FastDay Forum

I read the sample daily diet he was prescribing. Ugh. That is worse than fasting seven days a week. As for energy, I have loads of energy on fast days (after all, I've been packing it away in my fat stores for years for such rainy days).

The beauty about 5:2 is that you can stick to it. How many could stick to that daily regime prescribed by Pinnock in his article?? I would feel like I was in a straightjacket seven days a week!

I agree with all of the above. You do have to be a special type of person to stick to this, and we all have different sources of inspiration. Hopefully the very good evidence we are collecting on this forum will help silence some of the doubters, but you will never convince everyone. All I know is that it is working for me, and the only person I want to convince is my son, who I am immensely proud of, bot could defenitly do with loosing some weight,(sorry mass!) But he`s only 23, and will do it when he is sufficiently motivated.

As the saying goes, 'different strokes for different folks'! I've been doing 5:2 for 5 mths and for the first time look forward to Xmas, ie being being able to fit into my little black dress(es). X
People are always scared of what they don't know. We know the truth and deep down many others know - hence their lovely cpmpliments (sometimes through gritted teeth). Let's pat ourselves on the back and keep up the good work. Fasting, WW, SW, Ducan - we all want the same thing, the difference is we take differenth paths!

Let those haters be your motivators. Eventually they will come to realize what you are doing is working and what they are doing is not. If they never come around...their loss; but, it is your loss that will show on the scale.

Dear Claire,

I'd say, "trust your own experience and that of others who are having success". I've been following this approach since August and notice that I have more energy and a reduced appetite. I had a slight blip a couple of weeks ago as a result of lots of socialising including alcohol and a couple of nights staying in a hotel. However, I didn't totally lose control and was able to keep things relatively well contained. I'm now back on track and lots of people are commenting on how well I look.

When colleagues around me are speaking of being "starving" and offering sweets and biscuits, I am able to say in all honesty, "No thanks, I'm not hungry and just don't really want anything like that".

I think that Silver Darling makes some very wise comments. This is working for me, but perhaps others would not be inclined to resist the initial panic at feeling hungry and to wait for the feeling to subside. I know that it is possible, and am learning to pay attention to what my body needs. I am also developing the ability to consider the balance between long term objectives and short term desires.We have so much food available to us and there is pressure from food companies to stuff ourselves to the limit at every available opportunity. I think that this is a relatively new phenomenon and that historically and even now in some parts of the world, most people had to endure times of "feast and famine". I suspect that, as long as the famine is not prolonged, that way of eating is healthier for the species. Just look at all the dietry related disease which there is in societies with plentiful and mass produced food.

I want to be healthy , avoiding cancer, heart disease and diabetes amongst other things, so I'm sticking with this and integrating principles from Harvie and Howell's 2 day diet. If a side effect of that is that I become sylph-like, so much the better, that's an added bonus.

Good luck.

Bracken.

Why are people so willing to talk such nonsense about weight loss. There so many myths out there, with absolutely no evidence or negative evidence, and people just repeat it over and over. I had a colleague, who was curious how I had lost weight, repeat the unsustainability line. I literally had just said I had been doing it for 7 months. She's a scientist. She should know better. I just told her about studies showing it's easier for people to stick to this than constant reduced calorie diets.

Ahhhhh the negative comments from people who don't know what they're talking about but have an opinion nonetheless....

As everybody said, keep on focusing on the positive and on your progress.

I must admit that coming here, being able to vent and to talk about the diet, the struggles and the emotions have been a huge part of the success. I don't talk about the diet around me, except with my partner. 5:2 is not a big thing here, so nobody would know what I am talking about anyway, and they would give all the clichés like the ones you heard and I don't need that.

One of my best friends eats for England, swears she eats nothing and finds it impossible to lose weight. I have also noticed that she has difficulty getting off the sofa and putting one foot in front of the other unless she is going to the dining table. She claims she tried 5:2 once and it didn't work for her so I am assuming she has misunderstood the 'eat only 500 calorie' bit, obviously thinks it applies to every one of her four meals a day. Another person I know also claims to never eat yet can devour more food in one mouthful than I can manage in a whole feast day. I am not trying to be unkind to my friends, just pointing out that so many people live in a little fantasy world of their own making, they are unhappy and in denial so what can you do? People have to want to do this for themselves and without any motivation they will never manage it. I am constantly aware that I could be just one blow out away from piling on 3 stones again so I can see how difficult it can be, mentally, to get started which is where I think this forum is fabulous, everyone understands what is involved and are happy to keep encouraging each other.

Ballerina x

How can this Dale Pillock , (sorry Pinnock!), call himself a nutritionist when he is talking a load of rubbish? Has he actually tried doing a fast himself and where does he get the info that fasting makes you lethargic and lacking in energy? I find just the opposite and have no problem doing an hour in the gym followed by an aqua class on an empty stomach and I'm no spring chicken!

Its the myths that kept me fat and unhealthy for years, the stuff that the medical profession and nutritionists, dietitions churn out, at least some of them are now rejecting government guidelines regarding diet. Thankfully I started reading works by the myth busters Dr Peter Attia, Brad Pilon and Zoe Harcombe etc and never looked back.

Claire don't over think this losing weight thing, give 5:2 time to work. I was guilty of reading everything I could get my hands on and it can mess with your head, too many contradictions out there
Keep it simple and if need be keep it to yourself (and us of course)

Chris x

I heard on the news the other day that the best diet is...whatever works for you! If it isn't something you can stick with, then it isn't going to work. I think that's why this diet works, because people can stick to it. However, it's probably not for everyone and they have to find what works for them!

Claire don't over think this losing weight thing, give 5:2 time to work. I was guilty of reading everything I could get my hands on and it can mess with your head, too many contradictions out there
Keep it simple and if need be keep it to yourself (and us of course)

Chris x

Really excellent advice Chris

I picked this up whilst visiting family, so hope no-one minds a late input - I’m sure you don’t.

Normally, I don’t respond to such articles, particularly in a thread where everyone is using their commonsense and being positive, but sometimes I think it helps get our thoughts clear.

I’ll pass over his patronising and disparaging language - the fad de jour (like GI?), starving yourselves silly and machismo. Even worse, but convenient for him, is basing evidence on, “I’ve spoken to people”.

Best not mention he has a new book out, £18.99, and is always ready to make appearances, as on the Alan Titchmarsh show. So we can dismiss this article as a bit of publicity as 5:2 can’t be doing his business much good, can it? However, as you all know, it’s not long before we find ‘calorie counting’ is just normal and know our ingredients off by heart. I’d much prefer 5:2 rather than trying to work out whether each meal has the correct combination of protein, carbs and good fat (itself a debatable concept).

To people who are serious about considering 5:2 and worried about fasting/energy I do mention Muslims and Ramadan and the few million poor souls in the World where starving is the norm. It’s a bit cruel to liken that in anyway to what we do, but I’m sure they’d be only too glad for their life style to effect their fertility.

As for being hungry, those of us who were kids during the war and for a few years after were hungry every day (though I admit I’ve no memory of it) because our three meal times were fixed and that was it. There wasn’t food to be had in between, even if if Mum could afford it. Millions fought a war on limited food. It’s probably only in the last 50 years that the idea of eating whenever we’re hungry has become normal.

Fortunately we’ve a good GP, she supports anyone losing weight, the health benefits are clear to see, her only caveat on 5:2 (which she didn’t know about) was, ‘don’t make yourself ill’. That, of course, is common sense.

The medical profession is geared to the majority - it has to - so diagnosis can be varied. Someone we know well was diagnosed with a medical condition that, according to the NHS leaflet, needed a high fibre diet. It made her condition worse - go figure - but the point I’d like to make is there isn’t a one size fits all solution to health.

For all the fuss about medical problems supposedly linked to 5:2 I do mention the problems caused by the opposite - obesity - the UK government gives money to some patients to participate in Weight Watchers! We save the NHS money.

Be Proud!

The Catholics (and Christians in general but I only know Catholics rites) do the Carême (if the translation is right, the Lent) for 40 days. I did it when I was a kid and I am still here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent#Fasting_and_abstinence