5.2 Diet

[June1965]

Any one tried the 5.2 diet ? I've been reading up on it & considering.........

[Hidden]

Yes. It works really well for my husband but I found I was ravenous the next day and went crazy! 

[June1965 in reply to Hidden]

Yeah, I've found that as well, I'm going to try doing a 8 to 12 midday fast & see if I can cope with that..... (8pm till 12 the next day)

[Hidden]

I've just bought a 5.2 recipe magazine and I'm going to try some of the low calorie ideas but I don't think I'd have the discipline to keep to the two fast days. I don't need to try it at the moment though anyway as I'm doing well on the NHS plan. Good luck if you try it, although you say you may try fasting 8-12 so hopefully that will work for you ☺

[Hidden]

On the 2 days with less calories I choose protein rich food in the day eg hard boiled eggs  and then little piece of potato veg and meat in the evening. The hard boiled eggs let me go more easily over the day.... 

[Hidden]

I tried it for a few months, It worked for the first 6 weeks and then tailed off.  I found it really easy to stick to the 500 calories, massive salads, lean meats and eggs.  I think as i was only counting the two days i must have been over going on the days off.  

It was very beneficial in helping me know the calories of things and search out tasty less calorific meals, but i wouldnt do it again i got way to grumpy on the 500cal days!

[Venusflytrap]

I tried the 5:2 quite seriously but found it difficult to manage.  I think 500kcal for a day is too low, really.  Also the on again off again nature of it didn't really work for me.  

I have accidentally joined in the Blood Sugar Diet (BSD), which is a later version of this.  It has it's own website.  Mr Flytrap has been doing all of our cooking recently and he had put himself on this to help his diabetes.  My intention, initially, was to continue with my Weight Watchers No Count eating plan as it was quite easy to follow them together, I was just going to add some extra carbs to my plates.  In fact, I found the diet so filling, that I have only had very occasional extra carbs on days when I was very  late with or missed a meal.  

The BSD allows 800kcal per day with the emphasis on low carb intake (under 50g).  So we have been eating approx 100g of protein per meal with lots of vegetables except the high carb ones.  So no sugar or sweets, potatoes, grains or grain based foods (inc pasta, bread, flour, rice, cakes & biscuits), alcohol or most root vegetables.  We do have porridge 2 or 3 times a week.  We make a portion of 30g each with water and add 40g of berries, the only fruit we have allowed ourselves.  The only other time we have eaten berries was 40g set with sugar free jelly, plus some yogurt, as a dessert.  We have not been having more than 40g of berries per day.  We found the frozen ones were the most useful for this.  

We have eaten eggs, fish inc oily ones, low fat meat, pulses, including poppadums and the occasional gram flour vegetable pancake, tsps of nuts or seeds, a little skimmed milk some days (less than 100ml)  in tea or coffee otherwise taken black.  We have had the odd sweetner, about 1 per day, if that, in our coffee.  We have had some cheese: goats, Parmesan and feta plus very small amounts of full fat Greek yogurt (10%).     We have cooked with oil averaging between 2 and 3 tsps per day each.   

We soon gave up checking on the kcal or the carb totals as we were never anywhere near the limits. 

So we often have a couple of eggs for breakfast.  Or 1 egg and some bacon medallions.  We have eaten a lot of leafy vegetables, especially types of cabbage, but also plenty of peppers, courgettes, carrots and onions.  We would normally eat more than 7 portions of veg a day, but on this diet, we seem to be getting up to at least 10 a day and often more.  We have eaten lots of fresh vegetables, but also canned, frozen and pickled, most days too.  Eating mostly protein seems to have damped down our hunger.  In 6 weeks, I only felt hungry once, when I simply had an additional meal.  

You do have to be careful to drink enough water.  I find I need 3-4 pints a day plus my usual coffees and teas. 

I have had some half days off, when out for meals and drinks with friends.  Even though I am very close to my ideal weight, I have lost 2lbs every week but one, when I put on half a lb.  Mr Flytrap lost his first 12lbs very quickly, within a week and a half.  He has also continued to lose 2lbs plus per week.  But he has about a third of his starting weight to lose.  

What is attractive about this diet is never feeling hungry.  We have had to learn to time our meals by the clock, because we have no hunger signals.  They recommend that you only do it for about 8 weeks, but we are tempted to continue further as it has been so easy to follow.  We have tried to walk a lot more than usual, but with mixed success.

The 5:2 and the Blood Sugar Diet seem very similar to the Atkins Diet, or the later, Dukan Diet, if you are familiar with either of them.  I hope that this information is useful to you when deciding what to try next.  Most diets seem to work, if we follow them, although they all seem to have their eccentricities.  The secret seems to be finding ones that mesh with our tastes and lifestyles.  

Venus

[suzybenj in reply to Venusflytrap]

Well said Venus and thanks for a very full reply. Fits in with my own thinking. On the water front I absolutely agree- from recent personal experience when I was nil by mouth I was kept topped up on fluids- I was amazed I was not ravenous but for 36 hours I really was not bothered by food at all.

[suzybenj]

The other tweak I have heard to venus's post is to take the low gi route. Half plate full of veg with small portion of carbs and some protein with every meal ( stabilise blood sugar) 1000 calories a day for three days and eat before 7pm - and nothing til breakfast. Going to give it a whirl next week.

[Venusflytrap]

Good luck, suzybenj .  Fingers crossed that you enjoy it.