photo by Matthew Henry from Burst
When I tell people that I do the 5:2 diet (or 'lifestyle', as 5:2-ers
like to call it), the most common reaction is, 'Oh, I could never do that, I
would collapse or something!' I find this a real shame because they are passing
up what I, along with many other people, have found to be the easiest and most
effective way of losing and managing weight. Yes, as the title suggests, fasting
days can be tough, but it's the least life-invasive diet of any I have tried and
weight loss stops being a wished-for thing – it's practically guaranteed!
A 5:2-er chooses two days a week (not consecutive) where they consume a quarter
of their recommended calorie allowance. The other five days, they eat normally.
And that's it. There's no special foods or food combining, no constant calorie
counting, and for five days in every week, you're not on a diet.
Provided you don't go mad on those five days, you will definitely lose weight.
I decided to try 5:2 five years ago. I had been about ten pounds heavier
than I wanted to be since the birth of my youngest child. They say those last
few pounds are the hardest to lose, and having tried for years (mostly by
calorie counting) to shed it, I'd pretty much resigned myself to being that
weight for ever. But I'd heard a lot about 5:2 and decided it might be worth a
try. One month in, I had lost seven pounds, and after two months, had gone past
my target weight. Even a two-week holiday, where I had a break from it, didn't
do much harm and it was easy to restart – I'd only missed four fast days after
all! For the next few months, I just couldn't stop the weight coming off, and
apart from the fasting days, I didn't feel I was making any effort at all.
People started to notice a change in my appearance and began to comment that I
was looking thin. I just put that down to them not being used to my new look,
but when I caught myself in the mirror one day as I was dressing, I could see
what they meant. By that time, though, I had lost about a stone and a half and
was looking rather bony. I took my foot off the gas for a while and my weight
increased a little. I learned from this, and now I'm an ideal weight and tailor
my fasting to maintain it.
But my story shows how incredibly effective this lifestyle is. The
problem with most diets is that they are untenable – whether that be the latest
'fad' diet or the traditional calorie-restriction diet, you're following it
every single day until you reach your target weight. For some people, that
could be months and months or even a year or more of doggedly sticking to rules
about what you can or can't eat, of feeling hungry most of the time, of wishing
you could have that cake. It is practically impossible to stick to; there will
be special events, holidays, Christmas and good old-fashioned lapses of
willpower that will shove you off the wagon. And once you hit the
cheesecake-and-chocolate-and-booze-and-crisps ground, it takes a super-human
will to haul yourself back onto that miserable can-only-have-a
crumb-of-cheese-every-other-Thursday wagon.
5:2 is not like that. You see the cake, but it's a fasting day. You say,
'Yes! I can have that cake... tomorrow.' Willpower still needed, yes,
but at least you only have to wait a few hours. And strangely, when tomorrow
comes, you kind of don't fancy the cake anymore. This is because 5:2 eating
seems to reset your appetite and the way you think about food. You find yourself
thinking, 'Do I really want that?' I think this is partly because you
don't want to spoil the good work you have done the day before and partly that
your body is not 'needing' it as much. There is a lot of science to back this
up, where studies have shown beneficial changes to the pancreas in 5:2
subjects. Many health professionals recommend Type 2 Diabetes sufferers to try
this diet (but please note, if you have Type 1 diabetes, 5:2 is not safe).
The other way that 5:2 differs from other diets – and this could be seen
as the 'catch' – is that, for most people, there is no end to it. This is why
people like to call it a lifestyle. 'No end' may seem very off-putting, but the
huge advantage of it is you will never have to lose a significant amount of
weight again – no more discovering your summer clothes don't fit you like they
did last year or wishing you were a few pounds lighter for your daughter's
wedding or desperate, pre-holiday weight-loss plans. In other words, no more
yo-yo dieting: months of misery followed by months of putting it all back on
again. You can get off that ride for ever. Once down to their target weight, a
5:2-er can maintain it by adjustment. For me, I only fast during school term
time and do 6:1 (fast only on one day) unless my weight creeps up, when I go
back to two days. Some people continue to do 5:2 but increase their
calorie allowance to 35%/40% on fast days. There are many ways you can tinker
with it to make it suit you and lots of literature around to guide you with
this. I think of 5:2 as a tool – if my weight goes above or below my
desired range, I use my 5:2 spanner to adjust it!
The 5:2 lifestyle is not, in my view, a fad diet, dreamt up by some
(possibly) bogus doctor who's peddling his/her crazy idea to make as much money
as possible (and usually cause misery in its failing wake). It was brought to
the public domain by renowned scientist, Michael Mosley, who shared his
findings on BBC2's Horizon programme in 2012. As far as I know, he hasn't
turned his work into a money spinner, although others have made the concept
commercial. As Mosely himself points out, fasting is an ancient practice that
many civilisations have embraced, not just for religious reasons but because
they could see the benefits to their health. 5:2 is merely a simple formula for
making the practice accessible to the 21st-century person.
So, if you want to give it a try (please do!), here are some tips to get
you started and keep you going:
- Don't be scared of it! I'm not going to deny that you'll find it difficult, especially in the first few weeks, but your body will adjust and get used to it. Feelings of hunger may be uncomfortable but they don't really hurt.
- You can eat tomorrow! This is my mantra. However hungry and weak you're feeling, remind yourself constantly that this is only for one day. You can wake up tomorrow, feel great... and eat!
- Hunger comes in waves. It's ten in the morning on your first fasting day and you're STARVING! You say to yourself that you just aren't cut out for this, you can't do it. Try really hard to hold fire on that doughnut. Go and have a drink (black coffee/tea/water/no-calorie soft drink) and make yourself wait an hour. You will probably find the feelings of intense hunger pass. And you're another hour into your fasting day, well done!
- Plan your food. This is vital for a successful fast day. Do this the day before and make sure you have all your fast-day food ready and to hand. Try to avoid cooking for others (hard when you have children to feed) and get in and out of the kitchen as quickly as you can when you take your meals. Try not to be around food on fasting days and use room-fragrance to get rid of tempting cooking smells.
- Go to bed early. You can significantly reduce the length of a fasting day by going to bed early. You'll also benefit from the extra sleep! You could consider getting up a little later too, although work commitments may prevent this. I usually eat my 'main meal' as late as possible and then go to bed straight after so that I don't go to bed hungry.
- Stay busy. You might think you're too active to consider 5:2 or that you should pick your least hectic days to do it. This is not the case – you will think about your tummy much less if you're busy at work or running around after your children. If you really do have a strenuous lifestyle (not many people do but there are websites where you can calculate your calorie needs based on your activity levels), consider upping your fast-day calorie limit.
- Choose your food wisely. Aim for big bulk and low calorie. Foods with a low glycaemic index are great as they avoid the sugar-spike—slump—craving cycle. I eat loads of very low-calorie jelly, zero-fat yoghurt, zero calorie noodles/rice, tomatoes, salad and a small amount of tuna.
- Plan eating times carefully. Everyone has their own view about how much to eat at certain times of the day. I prefer to steadily increase my food intake throughout the day: no breakfast (apart from coffee), a tiny lunch, a bigger late-afternoon snack and a 'big' evening meal. This works for me, as by 4:00 p.m., I feel I'm through the toughest part of the day.
- Wake up proud! When you wake up the next day, you will feel so pleased with yourself that you've done it. When you step on those scales, your smile will get bigger. You deserve to be proud – go get some breakfast... but maybe not a fry-up!
Do check with your GP before embarking on any new diet.
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