The FastDay Forum

Hi I have been doing 5:2 for 3 weeks.now and lost 7lbs and happy with that. I have a 14 year old who I think would benefit from losing a few pounds. I am not wanting to encourage an obsession with weight loss but more to encourage healthier eating and calorie awareness. Would it be safe for this age to eat 500 cals on fast days or would the amount need to be increased.
Thanks for any advice

Eating healthier is one thing, fasting is another. IMO, any sort of diet should be monitored by a professional if it is followed by a person under 18-years old, even under 20-21, considering that we still grow until we're around 20.

Also, keep in mind that most of our weight/image issues come from how our mothers dealt with their weight and our weight when we where growing up. It is very important for your son/daughter to not feel that you see them as a"fat child".

I don't have any children but I would rather bring in my home a healthier way of eating that any diet...

I agree with TML

Thank you for the reply and I agree with the wise words of advice. I certainly dont wish my daughter to see herself as "overweight" Maybe I should just encourage at least a few more days of no sweet treats. To be fair she enjoys her fruit so maybe I need to just not have chocolate in the house at all times. I think its sad that the supermarkets offers tend to be more on the sugar laden high calorie sweet foods rather than fruits. Fresh fruit is very expensive here in the UK. We holiday in Turkey which offers fresh produce far more reasonably . Ready meal sections in their supermarkets are few and far between.

[Moogie]

The book states that this lifestyle is not suitable for children, so I certainly wouldn't think it wise to encourage fasting. I believe its related to IGF1 levels - children need this to grow, but fasting reduces IGF1 levels. Safe for adults, but not for children.

I agree with TML. Maybe instead of having 2 days of 500 / 600 calorie days, you can have 2 days of no junk / no soft drinks / no take away days.

Yes I think that's the way forward use the principle of 5:2 but not with the calories restriction . Just have a 2 day no junk food. I am not an irresponsible parent was just putting the question out there. Good fact re growth and IGF1 .Thanks for all the input

When I was growing up, we had junk food (which was very rare anyway) only twice a month. Either burgers or pizza.
There was always chocolate but just a little bit of it, after dinner. I had 5 meals but all my snacks were fruit or homemade cake or biscuit or yoghurt.
All meals were cooked by mum or grandma, nothing pre-cooked or frozen (except of vegetables).
My second breakfast (second meal of the day) at school was prepared by my mum or myself when I was older. Either a healthy sandwich or a piece of fruit.
It seemed rather natural to me to eat like that and I got some healthy habits from all these.

[carorees]

I agree with TML. Maybe instead of having 2 days of 500 / 600 calorie days, you can have 2 days of no junk / no soft drinks / no take away days.

Yes this is the key...return to how we were brought up...no snacks between meals or in the evenings, no sweet things except at weekends. An overnight fast of 12 his would do no harm for a 14 yr old. Indeed, it encourages release of growth hormone and allows the child to grow upwards rather than sideways!

I used to do a 'One treat a week' diet that worked really well before I hit 35. Basically, no snacking/junk food except one treat a week.

Having more fruit around is a great idea.

I had wondered about the diet and kids. I have, in fact, not told my family that I am doing this diet. I have a sixteen year old daughter who is reluctant to eat lunch and often doesn't eat the breakfast I leave for her in the mornings because she "doesn't have time to eat". I don't want her to think that she can skip dinner as well! I did encourage her to go gluten free which she does off and on. It was amazing to see the difference after a few short weeks. Many of her snack foods involved wheat products.

You may want to read a book called, "the Heavy', by Dara-Lynn Weis. She put her 6 year old on a diet because was obese. Very interesting the criticism and judgement she was subjected to. But in regards to your 14 year old, probably best to just encourage healthy eating and more exercise for the moment. You don't want to risk depriving a growing child of nutrients.

Perhaps emptying the house of all junk food. You said fresh fruit was expensive in the UK but how would an apple compare to a block of chocolate in price. Not judging just wondering as I have no idea of prices in the UK and my kids while eating quite healthy still had their fair share of rubbish food.

Why go gluten-free if there is no allergy/intolerance? All this hype around gluten is needless if we're talking about healthy people. What happened to everything in moderation???

Fresh fruit is not expensive in the UK, at least in my opinion. And it is certainly not more expensive than chocolate. All we have to do (no matter where we live) is choose seasonal products. Making even the unhealthy snacks ourselves is also a good option. Homemade cake has half the calories of a bought one.

I'd wondered about this too, in relation to my (just) 15yr-old DD but decided against for all of the reasons above and taking into account the 'puppy fat' factor and the fact that she is quite average, just not skinny. There are too many 'skinny is best' messages out there.
Have tried instead to reduce our portion sizes a bit in general and to try cooking with less fat and more vegetables.
It's a difficult question, for sure.
Our family diet can be a bit carb and sugar heavy but I guess as the responsible adult I hold the key there!
This post is a comment and/or reminder to self as much as anything else, btw.