Does the 5:2 diet work?
What are the "rules" on the 5 2 diet?? Does it work?? What to eat at the weekend?
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It's an interesting concept. For some, fasting even one day a week helps, however your body will eventually go into emergency mode and stop losing weight.
Monitoring your calorie intake, and consuming less energy than you burn works 100% of the time, but only when your blood sugar is stable.
Monitoring your calorie intake, and consuming less energy than you burn works 100% of the time, but only when your blood sugar is stable.
Other Answers (4)
Oldest- Any diet that causes a reduction in weekly calories is not going to work long term.
The 5 2 diet is based around fasting for 2 non-consecutive (not one after another) days a week. During these fasting days, you're not supposed to consume any more than 600 calories in one day. That means you're restricted to maybe a soup or tea or coffee without sugar or milk.
The 5:2 diet will not work if you continue to overeat on the other 5 feeding days - it assumes that you eat at maintaince level and reasonably healthy.
The alternative and more successful fasting diet is most likely the intermediate fasting, which consists of fasting every other day, and eating at or above maintaince on in between fasting days.
A balance of carbs, protein and fats on a regular basis will help make a lifestyle change, but it's almost impossible for people.
- I bought the book and gave it a go and quite frankly it wasn't for me. From a weightloss perspective, the guy in the book does his 500 cal fast for 2 days of the week but also admits to skipping lunch everyday so unless you also do this, you can't expect the same results as him.
I don't know about the health benefits side of things as it claims that when you withold food your body draws in all of your 'healthy cells' and leaves the 'unhealthy ones' to be gobbled up as energy. I cant comment on this as it would take years to see results.
If your a person of extremes and have good will power it may work well for you. You can either have 5 days diet free and 2 of extreme hunger to lose weight or you can just cut out 100 - 200 cals per day, which is much more feasable (well for me it is anyway) and get the same results.
I did it for a few weeks on the weekends and it was pretty miserable making food for my daughter with my mouth watering and going to bed being taunted by thoughts of delicious food, my social life suffered too as I knew I couldn't sit through a meal with friends and watch them devour food while I was starving. I also lacked energy. I did however lose weight, a couple of pounds, but through the week I seemed to put them back on, which led to me dieting through the week as well. This made me think "Whats the point?" as I wasn't diet free for the 5 days like the book claims. I've had better results by just capping my cals to 1200 per day and doing exercise, its manageable and feels better.
But here are the rules:
1) Eat what is considered 'normal' to you for 5 days per week.
2) Choose 2 days out of the week to fast, they can be 2 days in a row or spread out, it doesn't matter.
3) On your fast days eat 500 cals, you can either split the cals into mini meals/snacks or just have them all in one go. Its up to you.
4) You can drink as much coffee as you like (you will need it) but make sure its black (espresso is best) and use sweetners instead of sugar.
5) Guzzle down as much water as you can to fill you up and stop you getting dehydrated.
6) The book claims you can still exercise while your fasting, but I found this hard to do with no fuel. However, you may be different.
And thats basically it. I would recommend eating 250 cals in the morning to fuel your day and the other 250 before bed so your not kept awake by hunger.
Good luck!Source(s):
''Body Confidence Forever - M McDonald"
Body Confidence: Venice Nutrition's 3 Step System That Unlocks Your Body's Full Potential
link confirmed
- You can find sites with extensive details but i dont recommend it. Restricting your calories dramatically isnt the best long term approach to weight loss. It actually ruined my life, now im stuck with ups and downs of anorexia and a mindset ill never shake.
Source(s):
The 5:2 Diet Book: Feast for 5 Days a Week and Fast for just 2 to Lose Weight, Boost Your Brain and Transform Your Health
eat 500 calories two days a week then eat normally for the rest. Ive been doing it for 7 months and have lost over 2.5 stone :). Yes it works and once you get used to it, its really really easy.However, the main issue is sociability. If you have family and friends, weekend fasting isn't going to be socially acceptable. I've found that by replacing my breakfast every morning with an aseye berry shake every morning has brought the benefit of giving me at least 2 meals a day with my family.
