5. 2 DIET - to lose weight?...... Anyone had success?

I've been reading quite a lot about this diet but wondered if anyone has tried it and had success or should us hypo's avoid it?

Anyone any ideas.........

Xxx

[ravenhex]

Any diet is only as good as its safety. Fat is used by the body and muscles too. Fat can be burnt off, with difficutly in most cases including hypos.

Muscles weigh more than fat. Your heart is a muscle, very essential for leading an alive state.

Rapid dieting loses water the most first, some fats and muscles.

Aim for a diet, you can afford, you can stick to and lets you lose at a steady 1-2lb a week. Any faster post first week and its your muscles your losing.

[PinkNinja in reply to ravenhex]

That is a good point which is why exercise is so important, if you can manage it! Eating plenty of protein helps too and not limiting fat too much.

The 5:2 diet is quite good in that the other 5 days you are eating normally and healthily. Apparently there are several health benefits too. Weekly calorie deficit is roughly equivalent to 1-2lb a week, which is quite safe. It is also safe to lose more each week in the beginning few weeks if you are very obese. The benefits of losing quickly outweigh the risks when you are morbidly obese. For those who aren't, I agree with the 1-2lb a week, and slower when there are only a few pounds left to lose

[Glynisrose]

Personally every time I cut my calories I gain weight alarmingly!!!

[greygoose in reply to Glynisrose]

That's perfectly normal if you're hypo. Hypos need more calories, not less, because everything is so much more difficult for them, digestion and other bodily functions. If you don't get enough calories, then your convertion will be compromised, and if you don't convert, you will become more hypo and thus put on more weight.

I'm really concerned about this diet because I don't know how a hypo body manages on just 500 calories on the fasting days. It's all very well for people to say oh yes, I lost this much weight, or that much weight, but we never get all the facts. We never know the thyroid hormone levels of these people, what other symptoms they have - or don't have - and whether they have an external source of T3 or are they just taking T4. Also, do they go on with it for the rest of their lives? Or what happens when they stop? There are too many unknowns for us to be able to judge this diet with any accuracy.

Hugs, Grey

[Yukongraham in reply to Glynisrose]

I have gained a lot of weight on the 5 2 diet. I've been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and take Synthroid. My doctor says I am at a "healthy" weight but my BMI is almost 30 now. For the past two months I have closely monitored my diet and have practiced the 5 2 diet and have gained fifteen pounds. It's very discouraging.

[Hidden]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply and congrats on fantastic weight loss. Great to hear that you have had fab results with this diet. Could I ask, what do you eat on your low calorie days. Is it like just an apple and yoghurt????!!!!

Xxx

[Hidden]

Crazy crash diets are a recipe for long term disaster, and 5 and 600 calories a day is right up there with the craziest of crazies! People with optimal metabolism seem to be able to get away without the worst of the potential problems a few times before these things start to happen, but those of us with faulty metabolism (hypothyroid) certainly can't.

The potential for producing an increase in Reverse T3 aside, the loss of proper lean muscle happens pretty soon, and invariably you end up with rebound weight gain afterwards anyway, and as someone who has lost *massive* amounts of weight (think whole *people* not a paltry few stones) in the past on diets of all sorts including some as low as 600 calories per day, I blame them in part for being the way I am now, and worse, for being the way I was about 4 years ago! Eating low calorie/low fat for years turned me into a carb craving junkie who ate little else but so-called healthy wholegrain carbs resulting in pre-diabetes and reactive hypoglycaemia and far fatter than I had ever been before as I ended up eating anything carb just to stay conscious as my blood glucose surged up and down! OK my genetics might not have helped and that might be a bit of an extreme example, but it happens on a lesser scale with others

Low calorie diets are invariably low fat, (and usually ultra high carb too) and that means less base material for hormones to be made... after all hormones are ALL made from Cholesterol, the idea being your metabolism should be USING cholesterol and dumping the rest, not storing it up in your arteries as happens when you have metabolic issues.

The only thing that has had a real long term effect on me has been a low carb (low glycaemic Load) diet, and has been the only way I have lost significant weight without having highly increased exercise, (which I can no longer do because of disability and pain) and no constant weight yo-yoing up and down . Low carb and 52kg later I only wish I had discovered it years back. If only I was able to up the exercise, and then I may have had even better faster results, and much better body conformation too, as remember, gaining lean muscle means you use more energy up when you are just sitting there!

I rather suspect Paleo diets might have even more to offer, but I haven't gone that far down the road,.

Getting hypothyroidism under proper control is the only real answer to be used in conjunction with a diet (actually it needs to be a long term change of life not a diet) though, whatever diet you are on wont' work very well without getting that sorted, and failure to lose weight only leads to more starvation in an attempt to get teh weight off, and that only leads to more problems not less.

[Hidden]

Call it what you like, but 500 calories a day is not starvation, it is EXTREME starvation.

Starvation starts at 50% of the calories you need to function, and it would be rare for that to be a level of less than say about 1400 calories a day (even for a small person), so that would set starvation at about 700 cals!

Agreed that starving two days a week instead of 7 is going to produce less of the negative effects, but it's still starving.

It reduces metabolism, not a huge amount, but reduces it nonetheless... fine for those young healthy people who can usually bounce back that's not a big deal... but hypothyroidism isn't a healthy metabolism, being fat in the first place is not a healthy state either it's a state of inflammation eg. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/117... and by definition also means we have issues with ghrelin and leptin sensitivity.

Starvation? Been there, more than once. Yes, it works, of course it works, we all know there were no fat people in Belsen - It's easy to lose weight on that sort of level, (but very hard to continue) I have managed to lose 2 stones in a month before - now keeping it off, there's the real challenge. The weight piles on no bother when you go back to even relatively ordinary levels of eating. Come back in 5 years and I will begin to call any diet a successful protocol if it maintains it's results. All weight loss methods have real problems of lasting the test of time

I accept too that low carb isn't 100% solid science without some potential drawbacks either... it does have it's problems, as does *every* weight loss method - the problem being that very healthy well adjusted people who have good metabolism (thyroid leptin ghrelin etc) and no mental health related eating problems are far better off than ANY of us who have weight issues whatever the cause, so every means of losing weight is not going to be as good an outcome as for those who have great weight control naturally!

The extensive research you mention might well be around, usually comparing it to lo calorie diets... and we all know how useless low cal diets are long term, otherwise we all would not be talking about it here as EVERYONE has tried and failed on low calorie diets! Sadly the evidence there is is very inconclusive....eg. nhs.uk/news/2013/01January/... for one thing, it's not been around long enough to even judge some of the anecdotal claims, and almost all work is on animals, seeing as lab animals can't go to the supermarket smell the bread cooking, see the chocolate and buy their own food, I won't put too much reliance on that until real life studies confirm that - so you are on your own with this, time will tell on that.

[penny]

Having been on the 5:2 diet since the beginning of February I would say that it has been successful where 'conventional' calorie-counting diets have not. I have lost 21lbs and not found it a struggle.

I take 120mcg T3 per day and noted that when I was on one of the 'dodgy' batches I put on 2lbs - which goes to show that weight-loss happens when we are optimally treated. (I have since lost the 2lbs.)

There have been many other posts about this diet on the forum, mostly success stories and enquiries. It is amazing to me that 500 calories is considered to be so low an intake that nothing can be taken by mouth. In fact I have three meals a day on 500 calories and although I feel a bit grumpy and tired at the end of the day I am not keeling over at death's door. The amazing, steady weight loss is such a boost to confidence it is worth effort. Having been mis-treated and given a low dose of T4 when NDT was not available I put on 24lbs in weight. Whatever I did I could not shift this. When I read about the 5:2 diet I tried it and from the first week have lost approximately 2lbs each week. I had a cruise holiday, where food is rich and plentiful, and put on 2lbs over a fortnight; 5lbs came off the following week.

I do not know the long-term effects, although I understand that this diet has been in use in the US for some time (at the Centre for Longevity?). The claims of the research are that it makes us healthier aside from the weight-loss. This has been the first diet which has worked for me and I am so grateful as I am getting back to being the shape I was before the thyroxine cock-up. It has been challenging to do but not eating 'normally' for 2 days per week is hardly a struggle. The results are life-changing.

Whilst I have not had any desire to end my life, by dieting or any other means, it is a much better life for being less tubby.

[PinkNinja in reply to penny]

Well done! Congrats on your fantastic weight loss

[Joyia]

Well done penny, it is wrong to make sweeping statements as some do not seem to be able to lose weight very easily but others do, I am glad you have found the answer for you as I have for me with the insulin resistant diet even with a thyroid condition. I agree it is a much better life for being less tubby.

[Hypo32]

I am on this diet. Weight loss of 1lb each week so far and I feel better. I have found foods that are low calorie yet fill me enough to get through the day. I used to get blood sugar lows and these have reduced. I think there are negatives with every diet but personally this one is working for me and because there are no restrictions on the other days I am able to stick to it. I am back in clothes I wore 5 years ago!

[Hiphypo]

Hi Joesmum,

If you look at the book written by Dr Michelle Harvie and Prof Tony Howell, 'The 2 Day Diet'... They did research over nearly 20 years on how to help reduce risk for breast cancer by reducing calorie intake. Not a fad.

In the end they found that if calories were reduced on just 2, non-consecutive, days, it wasn't just weight that improved, but all sorts of other things as well. Plus it was designed to avoid muscle wastage and energy dips, I think...Off the top of my head, lower cholesterol, blood pressure and insulin. They aim to teach you how to retrain your eating habits, and get you to eat heathily overall.

People I know speak of feeling well, having much more energy and enjoyment. They also say they are highly motivated not to go off piste on the normal days. Can't be bad. And it's free - ie, no weekly sub to pay, it's private, as in no public weigh-in, and no pressure except perhaps in the first week or two while your body adjusts. Just google soome of the newspapers and print off some how-to articles and tips.

Once the weight is off, you can just eat lightly for one day a week, and try to be more active if you can. The other person mentioned, Dr Michael Mosely, tried all kinds of ways to diet but found this one the easiest and most effective. He has a facebook page just called The Fast Diet, where there is info and support.

I will be having a go at this, as I would like to improve my general health to try to give myself a better chance. I also have a feeling that this is not a flash in the pan, because people like this way of eating. To me it makes sense - in the past we never ate three meals a day, we had to hunt or gather first, then eat, and then go off and do it all again when we were hungry.

Take the point that hypo folk may need to be extra careful, so maybe will have to adapt it to suit me and watch for symptoms. Looking forward to it - and I have never, ever, said that about any diet before!

Good luck

Jenni x

[PinkNinja]

Fantastic! Well done!

[klicker]

I have had really good results using Mary Shomons thyroid diet. For long enough I haven't been able to shift weight using national diets (loosely). Since I started the Free Form Plan (to deal with my cholesterol) I have consistently, albeit slowly lost weight and trimmed up nicely. I am 9lbs lighter now than when I started in April. And I am eating fats albeit good fats for my cholesterol. I feel great. I've had the book for ages but only used it this year.

[Hiphypo in reply to klicker]

Hi,

Will go and look that up - wasn't aware of a special Hypo diet. We'll compare notes at the meeting next week. Looking forward to seeing you

Jenni x

[tegz]

I've just bought Shomons book and looking forward to checking it out.I'll loook out for diet tips.