Anyone tried the 5-2 Diet?

Parent Cafe
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@musicamusica wrote

DH and I are noticing this odd effect as well-we’ve tried to get used to not adding sugar to stuff and to look for food that is low in sugar (like some salad dressings are LOADED with sugar-we had no idea). We don’t do artificial sweeteners, either-we’re just getting used to things being less sweet.

We had a stouffer’s 4 cheese lasagna for dinner a few nights ago (H was cooking, I was in school until 7 that night), and we were both so struck by how freakishly sweet it was-yep, it had sugar in it. When I cook italian I don’t ever add sugar, and now we can tell when it’s been added. We used to love that lasagna, so now we’re searching out one that doesn’t have sugar in it (because I don’t have time to make one from scratch right now).

@MommaJ the “I can have that tomorrow” is also what gets me through the fast day. I have to do that all day long when my brain starts throwing suggestions at me, lol.

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Hi ladies, I am down another 1-1/2 pounds this week. I’d say my 2 “fast” days are around 600 calories, but they are really healthy calories. My other 5 days are around 12-1400 calories, a lot of protein and fruits/veggies (I probably have too many fruits, since they have sugar, albeit natural, but it’s hard with all the fresh summer produce available). It’s a real diet (and it’s hard), but it’s slow and steady, I guess like it should be.

I am doing much better now that the chocolate is all gone from the house :slight_smile: I have found I satisfy my vicious sweet tooth with 10-calorie jello snacks and berry smoothies with protein powder. Red peppers also taste really sweet to me.

GCMom - don’t be hard on yourself. We can ALL relate. Just start everyday fresh. See how many days in a row you can be disciplined. You can do it!

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Thank you, @NinaReilly !

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@NinaReilly, I’m glad that diet is working for you, but it seems very restrictive and not what the 5-2 plan is about at all. I hope you’re able to sustain your regimen, but for many of us, the beauty of the 5-2 diet is that on the five “normal” days calorie intake is what it would be on a maintenance diet, i.e., “normal” eating, without the serious feeling of deprivation that I, for one, would have to constantly deal with if I had to keep to 1200 to 1400 calories.

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Maybe Nina is a teeny little old lady who should only have 1400 calories a day normally? Maybe that is her normal?

1400 calories a day would cause me to probably devour somebody. Rawr.

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My first read ( and literally first) of this thread, I thought it said “Anyone tired of…” I was so excited to see someone giving up on a fad diet.

To lose weight, less caloric intake, more movement. And continuing it for life. That is the only way.

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Based on online calculators for my age & weight, 1400-1500 calories is my maintenance weight. That’s calculating for a sedentary lifestyle --which I know that I should change - but I decided to base the calorie calculation on reality and not wishful thinking. I’m not all that small. Not huge either – but I’m 5’4"-- not teeny. However one eye opening lesson from using those on line calculators is that caloric needs go down as we age… so that explains how the weight has crept up on me over the years. I agree that a dozen years ago when I was 50, 1400 calories was restrictive and I would have lost weight eating that.

But bottom line, the calculators tell me that unless I exercise more, I’d be putting on weight if I regularly ate more than 1500 calories a day.

I’ve started seriously dieting since the first of June & lost 4 pounds. Seeing this thread inspired me, but I decided to count calories every day, allowing myself one “free” day a week. The first few days were tough, but now I’m pretty comfortable on ~950 calories a day. I don’t feel like I’m starving. On my first “free” day I only ate 1200 calories-- which actually had been my original target. But given that the 950 calories seems so natural for me, I’m getting the sense that what is appropriate for my body.

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:), why yes, MofD, I am sort of little, and I feel pretty old lately! I need only about 1650 daily calories to maintain weight at my age & height, with moderate exercise. That’s sad, but just a fact. Where I started from, I needed to lose 20 pounds. I will be okay with 16-17 lbs, it’s not like I am trying to get back to my high school weight.

As I mentioned, I am really dieting, like seriously for the first time in years (there have always been starts & stops, lose & gain, then post-50 things took a drastic turn… upwards on the scale, you all know the drill, I suspect). I do not expect to eat like this for the rest of my life (so few calories on the non-fast days) but I am learning entirely new ways of eating, and do hope to incorporate that into the rest of my life, especially on the non-fast days. Once I reach my goal, I will of course allow myself to “cheat” (maybe have a piece of bread, a glass of wine, or, horrors, even a cookie or two once in awhile), but I am hopeful I will then adjust so that I can continue the maintenance.

I started a supervised fitness program 5 weeks ago, it includes a fitness class every weekday morning (including cardio, strength/weights, endurance), weekly weigh-ins, high protein recipes and daily suggestions, and I have to bring my food calendar in every week. (Writing down every morsel is eye-opening). I also hike with my dog almost daily, and the days I am getting a lot more exercise, I am sure I probably do end up on the upper side of my 12-1400 calorie range, maybe a bit more. I know that I do not go over 1700, though. I am not counting too closely those days, the focus is more on the types of food I choose. Lots of protein to fill me up, one healthy starch/day, tons of veggies, but I am discovering more variety and am spending the time to prepare, which I never did before (not much of a cook). It takes a lot more time, but I figured I focused on food before (seems like constantly), so I am doing the same thing now, just in reverse.

I like this fitness program because it is adjusting my exercise level around my own personal aches & ailments (missed almost 2 weeks due a muscle strain in my back, so they have adjusted what I do in class to accommodate that and prevent a reoccurrence).

In addition to the beginnings of an osteoporosis diagnosis, I did have a major event in my life that prompted this determination to take control of my body. And I am tired of not fitting into most of the clothes in my closet. I am calling this “The summer of Nina” :slight_smile:

The reason I am incorporating the 5-2 is that frankly, the amount of food I was eating daily was just too much, even though it is healthy and “allowed” on my plan. I just can’t have that many calories, because, as morrismm said, I still needed to intake fewer calories for MY body type. I feel much better when I have a couple of low calorie days/week in general, and always have.

I need the reset jump start that the 5-2 provides. And, the other fitness thread is just too intimidating. There will be no half-marathons in my future, my knees doth protest too much.

And yes, I am hungry a lot!! But I am also determined.

edit: cross posted with calmom, we sound pretty similar.

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Less caloric intake and more movement. Yup. That’s the whole point. This is a way some limit their caloric intake. Thanks for the “support”.

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LOL.

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Isn’t it nice how some people just HAVE to tell you how you’re doing it wrong? /sarcasm.

(To be clear, I wasn’t talking about the discussion of Nina’s approach.)

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Yeah, I think everyone is trying to be as healthy as they can be, and it’s good to have a support group.

I think one of the reasons my H has been so successful at Crossfit is that he has a great group of guys from work who all are about the same age and height (reeeeaaaallly tall guys in their 40s) who are at about the same level in Crossfit, and don’t mind coming in last all the time.

When one guy doesn’t want to go, he’ll text the other guys and the other guys will say “c’mon, we’re going, you should go” and they all end up going and working out. It’s a good thing.

My close friend and I support each other with giving up sugar-she’s WAY better at it than I am, and it’s good to hear about how she’s adapted because it makes it easier for me to keep trying. We did Father’s Day early this year and H and I decided it was ok if we didn’t do a cake, because neither of us found we were really needing the sugar-that was pretty cool! The girls were like, no cake? And we said they could make one if they really wanted one, and they said ‘eh, we’ll just have some ice cream later’, and that’s fine :).

I only run when someone is chasing me, lol. But, I don’t like those 0.0 magnets people put on their cars because I feel like it’s a dig at people who do run. You Do You is our mantra around here. Unless You Do You involves criticizing other people who are really trying to do the right thing-that’s not very helpful.

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I didn’t know running or anti-running car magnets were “a thing” until I read the post above. Huh, I must not have clued into them or they aren’t a thing around here. I’m going to be checking cars now. :wink:

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We are on the same page, garland; I know exactly what you’re talking about. This thread makes me happy and feel supported :slight_smile:

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I only run when someone is chasing me>>>>>>

Same here, only they’d catch me at about 10 steps.

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Weekly check-in here; weigh-in is tomorrow. Didn’t stick with 500 on Monday, so did it Tues. instead (well, almost, went a bit over…).

I think my increased exercise is really making the 500 so tough; I think it would be better if I eased up (on exercise) a bit on the low-cal days. As MommaJ predicted, I am definitely going over 14/1500 on other 5 days but again, the increased exercise (including weights, cardio) makes that the better/safer approach. As long as I am gaining muscle and losing fat, that’s the goal. I still need the 2 really low calorie days to jump start my willpower, more than anything else. (Which is why I am on this thread and not elsewhere).

Today is 2nd 500 cal day this week, doing better. Today: apple, green pepper, Trader Joe’s low-fat Chinese salad with chicken (I treated myself to the included dressing), small vanilla yogurt. I haven’t added up yet, but that is probably close to 500, so it’s going to be a long night! I will need to have some more protein, so maybe an egg white or two.

Hope you’re all doing okay this week.

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I am finally back to my target weight-it took me from Nov until now to lose 8 lbs. Which of course means I ate way too much pizza last night, lol.

I shall take the dog for a big walk tonight as penance as soon as it becomes less hot than the devil’s underpants.

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Finishing up my, I think, third week. I moved my usual Friday to Thursday today because we’re going out tomorrow. down over 4 pounds, first I’ve lost weight in years. So psyched! I’m finding that on the 5 days I’m watching what I eat in a relaxed way, in order to not undo the good work. This has definitely jumpstarted my motivation!

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After three weeks, a total of 5.5 pounds down, and I slipped into a different “decade” of pounds, which felt good (is there a better word for that?) Lost 1.5 lbs. this past week, and that’s without feeling deprived at all. If I can lose even a pound a week, I’ll be perfectly happy. The literature on the diet emphasizes that it’s a slow and steady process–not the diet to be on if you’re trying to lose a specific amount by a certain date, say, to show off at that high school reunion.

I tried a new restaurant during the week and ordered what I wanted–appetizer, main and dessert–which felt like a lot of freedom for someone on a diet. When dieting previously, eating out was always fraught with agonies of decision making, having to skip most of the choices on the menu, asking for food to be prepared without butter and for bread to be taken off the table, and being jealous about what my dining companions were eating. This week, I ate like everyone else. For me (though I know not for everyone) that was a perfectly worthwhile trade-off for two fast days. Of course I couldn’t eat like that for five days, but the five are supposed to be “normal” eating, and one nice meal out a week qualifies as normal in my world.

As yesterday, a fast day, wound down, I became fixated on a particular sandwich at my favorite bagel place, and when I ate it today, I found myself eating it slowly and savoring every bite rather than just thoughtlessly scarfing it down. Kind of a nice side effect. Still have my sweet tooth, though.

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Just a tip for those fast days - (from someone on the everyday-low cal plan) – you might try shirataki noodles. Very filling, almost no calories. (They are made mostly from an indigestible root). So it’s a good way to add bulk to your diet without the calories.