The FastDay Forum

I've just seen this article on fad diets that mentions 5:2 (point no. 5)

http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/loseweight/P ... -diet.aspx

They lumped it together with cabbage soup and the blood group diet!

Personally I'm doing the diet for weight loss (and plan to vary the number of fast days later for stabilisation.) The science on the rest is far too preliminary for my taste. It want to see a lot more replication before I take it very seriously.

As to the side effects, I've not noticed any of those. Quite the opposite in terms of daytime sleepiness, irritability and anxiety, in fact.

Agreed

I've just seen this article on fad diets that mentions 5:2 (point no. 5)

http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/loseweight/P ... -diet.aspx

They lumped it together with cabbage soup and the blood group diet!

That has really irritated me!! Their reason for calling it a fad is nonsense. No-one has ever claimed this is a quick fix and no-one has ever said it's a short term WOE. Grrrrrr

very annoying it is not a fad diet and it is not a quick fix,I would say its one of the only diets you feel you are able to to it forever with 6.1 once you have reach your ideal weight , time will tell

One thing I have noticed over the years is that slim friends always say they never stop eating yet I never see them eat unless I am having a meal with them and then I notice that they always leave food on their plates, in other words, they stop eating when they are full not when the food runs out. Fatter friends, on the other hand, always claim that they never eat, get fat just by looking at cakes etc yet they always seem to be eating snacks and if you share a meal with them, not only do they finish everything on their own plate but they Hoover up everything left on the table, so, they only stop eating when the food has gone, not when they are full. Research into why some have to eat everything in sight, irrespective of appetite, and some will cease eating as soon as they feel full might be illuminating and I'm sure this is being looked at as we speak.

You are likely to be very hungry and have less energy and this could affect your ability to function (such as at work)

oh please....

I have been very hungry on this WOE but I have much more energy which is a fantastic bonus. I actually feel more alert and able to think at work too.

I actually seem to be learning to eat less without effort on the "normal" eating days too which is helpful.

I think they need to do some proper research rather than just assuming it is a fad.

The 5:2 diet is really taking off, I have come across comments on line describing it as 'going viral' When I have mentioned it in conversation most people have heard about it or even know somebody on it. Of course the NHS should be very keen on large chunks of the population losing weight, but I am not surprised that a diet that involves such low calorie intakes on fast days would raise alarm bells. They needed to find out about it quickly and get that information out there. The pity is they didn't really go to the trouble of finding much out about it.

The report complains about the fast day 500 calories for women and 600 calories for men being arbitrary, which a bit ironic coming from the NHS which gives a flat recommendation of 2000 calories and 2500 for men regardless of their size, shape or level of activity. They may be the average requirements, but most people aren't average.

They do have a point though, 500 and 600 calories is arbitrary. Presumably, the Fast Diet uses these figures for the very same reason the NHS uses 2000 and 2500, it is a simple message and easy to get across. It took a lot of searching the net and reading up about the 5:2 diet before I came across the idea I needed to calculate my own total daily energy expenditure TDEE and divide by four to get my ideal fast day intake. It certainly comes up a lot on the forum here, so people who join will find out, but it is only mentioned on one page of the official site, and that is just in the comments section.

[carorees]

This from the NHS:

What is a VLCD?

A very low calorie diet is any diet that involves eating 1,000 calories a day or fewer. It should only be undertaken for 12 continuous weeks, or intermittently – for example, every two or three days – along with a low calorie or normal diet.

And that is ok but 5:2 is not? Almost the same but yet somehow a fad? Hmm. Clearly consistency is not their watchword (or adequate research).

Perhaps we should rename our diet the twice a week VLCD, then the NHS would love it!

You are likely to be very hungry and have less energy and this could affect your ability to function (such as at work)

oh please....

To be fair, I have experienced this. Thankfully not every time I fast, and not with every type of job I do at work. I am a scientist and, like most people, spend part of my day just being busy: answering emails, attending meetings. But part of my day is spent reading really dense difficult scientific literature, writing up my lab's experiments, etc., which requires alot more brain power, for me anyway. I struggle with it when my tummy is grumbling.

Also, re: whether it is a fad. If you take fad to mean something currently trendy, but not necessarily with a bad connotation, I think that charge is fair enough, too. The key is whether it is just a fad, or whether it is a fad in the way that word is often used.

edit to add: my comments on "fad" are meant in a general way. It is clear from the article they meant it in a bad way.

Morning all!!

Went to see my GP before starting 5:2 to ask his advice and was promptly told "the only way to lose weight is to eat less, exercise more"!!!!! Hadn't even heard of the 5:2 diet or the documentary. Thought sod it, I'm doing it anyway and I'll show you the results in time.

Hey dobby that's cool! A moving avatar! You some sort of house-elf to perform magic like that?!

Morning all!!

Went to see my GP before starting 5:2 to ask his advice and was promptly told "the only way to lose weight is to eat less, exercise more"!!!!! Hadn't even heard of the 5:2 diet or the documentary. Thought sod it, I'm doing it anyway and I'll show you the results in time.

the only way to lose weight is to eat less . . . yep, which this way of eating encourages!

"Don’t skip breakfast. A healthy breakfast will give you the energy you need to start the day, and there’s some evidence that people who eat breakfast regularly are less likely to be overweight."

I think this quote tells you all that you need to know about the article.

Carry on fadding I say!

If you are fasting, you may want to think about how fasting will impact on your life during your fasting days. You are likely to be very hungry and have less energy and this could affect your ability to function (such as at work), in particular it may affect your ability to exercise which is an important part of maintaining a healthy weight.

Yesterday was my usual low calorie day. After work I played football from 5-6, then went for a quick half hour cycle to keep my legs moving before playing football again from 8-9. I then had to drop my car off at a mechanics and ran the 3 miles home. I am far from being a fitness fanatic and I think I would probably struggle to do this on days when I am eating full meals. I struggle to see why this is seen as such an odd way to eat. I think it is because "fasting" is in the diet's name. There is not much more actual fasting done than if people have 3 meals a day!!! You just have a low cal day twice a week instead of having a slightly low cal day every day as advised by the NHS.