Has anyone done the 5:2 diet yet? I was just hoping for a little advice.

The spouse is pushing really hard to try and get me on board with her to give it a try. If you don't know what it is, basically you eat normal for five days and for two non consecutive days you keep your calorie count under 500.
I was looking around to get an idea of what 500 calories a day translates to food and I keep running across plans with recipes that are gourmet, maybe later on in the game if we stick with it we can experiment with gourmet, but not at the start.
We are regular folk, making three meals throughout the day with spices we do not have on hand and vegetables you have to buy in a specialty market are no good for us.
I was thinking easy, like for breakfast two hard boiled eggs(eggs have like 70 calories each for 140 total calories), maybe snack the day away with celery or carrot sticks ( each have 10-20 calories for 100 total calories) and with the remaining 250 or so i should be able to eat a good 2 egg omelette with green peppers, mushrooms and onions or a small chicken breast with broccoli or a side salad.
Actually , you could just eat 7 hard boiled eggs throughout the day, but I know there are many many options. I would love to hear if anyone has any average Joe recipes for the 500 calorie days. Advice and experiences along with any good links would be greatly appreciated.

a reply to: paytaplay

You're just going to put your body in to "feast and famine" mode. Look carefully in to fad diets or "Lose Weight Fast!!" claims. Most of them don't work and are hard on your body. If you want to diet, go see a qualified specialist. My ex had weight control problems/borderline diabetic and she went to see a Dr who put her on a very reasonable diet, with lots of vegetables. I tried many of the recipes [ I do all the cooking ] and most were delicious and very filling.

a reply to: paytaplay

I haven't tried that. 500 calories may indeed cause what DAVID64 says. Your body will think it is starving and store fat while using muscle.

a reply to: paytaplay

maybe this site will help with calorie counts for you.
www.caloriecount.com...

heres a couple meals i like with low calorie counts
recipes.sparkpeople.com...
www.caloriecount.com...

homemade salad dressing
www.caloriecount.com...

a reply to: paytaplay

You would be doing your body and health more harm by reducing your calorie
intake to only 500 per day.You need to move more and eat less,dump the donuts
and surgery snacks*.


*I need to take my own advice.

I've done it, but mostly I do 3 days fasting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Those days I eat under 600cal, while eating about 2500cal the rest of the week.

The longest I've stuck to it was 6 months, and it definitely works. I was looking for something that will help me loose my potbelly while not sacrificing my strength progress in the gym. Eating slightly less than maintenance every day has always made me too tired to exercise, but I've not had that problem when fasting.

As for what I eat on those days, its usually about 100g each of broccoli, green beans, cauliflower and carrots, steamed, a small piece of chicken and a glass of milk.

There's no way your body will go into starvation mode by not eating just one day, as long as you eat enough on the other days. In fact all studies have shown that this type of fasting decreases all markers associated with mortality. Apparently its closer to hoe we would have eaten in the wild.

A diet will never help you lose weight.
A healthy lifestyle is what you need.
Prepare your food at the proper calorie count and get plenty of exercise with lots of cardio.

Sounds easy right?
I can't seem to follow my own advice....lol

ever read about Intermittent Fasting. there are all kinds of way to do this. the easiest is you pick an 8 hour window and basically don't eat the other 16. You eat brunch and dinner.


www.theiflife.com...

I did the "don't eat too much food, eat the right foods and exercise" Diet and I lost some good weight.
All of these "Super diets" and "amazing" new diets are just BS.
Just walk everywhere, eat fruit and veg, drink water and do some resistance training and the weight will fall off of you.
But if you cheat and snack or if you lie to yourself about what you're eating... then you wont lose weight.

Your body needs a minimum amount of calories.... 500 is waaaaaay too low.
You need like 900 and a guy 1200 minimum... absolute minimum, even then 1200 and 1500 would be better and you can still lose lots of weight so long as you exercise.

That diet will lose a little weight but you will gain it back...

Ketogenic diets are where it's at. They burn massive amounts of fat by forcing your body into Ketosis while allowing the dieter to eat delicious foods like BACON, a food group unto itself.

I lost 108 pds in 11 months my wife lost 56, when we reached our goals we switched to Paleo.

By lowering the intake of carbs, the body is induced into a state known as ketosis. Ketosis is a natural process the body initiates to help us survive when food intake is low. During this state, we produce ketones, which are produced from the breakdown of fats in the liver. The end goal of a properly maintained keto diet is to force your body into this metabolic state. We don’t do this through starvation of calories, but through starvation of carbohydrates. Our bodies are extremely adaptive to what you put into it – when you overload it with fats and take away carbohydrates, it will begin to burn ketones as the main energy source.

a reply to: paytaplay

Three simple rules for loosing weight:

1.move, go for walks, like 30 minutes plus, make little exercises throughout the day, a few squats here and there, lifting waterbottels, be creative.

2. Green tea, lots of it, replace bad fat with good oil.

3. Sleep more, try to make room for at least 9 hours per night and skip breakfast.

I mean of course you can't have cookies, cake, fries and burgers every day, but in general don't focus so much on what you eat, the key is how much you burn.

Good luck! Make a game out of it to keep your motivation up, give yourself points for all the exercises you make and reward yourself!

a reply to: paytaplayit is hard to get into, but Dr. Google says intermittent fasting is good for your insulin levels. I love it, but the ketogenic diet was way more natural for me combined with i.f. Rather than i.f. Alone.

Give it a shot.

for me, the best diet is eating raw vegetables and dring 2 litters of the clear water a day. it gives a great result, you can eat as many raw vegetables, as you want and keep drinking water. Do it for a week, and see how you feel and how your weight has changed. Then, if you want, start calculating calories again)))

I have not heard of this, another new diet fad. But I strongly urge you to consider doing something better for your weight loss AND your health. Fad diets come and go, but there is only one way to stay healthy, lose weight and keep it off. That is to eat right and exercise. By eat right I mean lots of fresh veggies, good protein, good fat (low fat is NOT healthy), and minimal carbs. You don't need to count calories or starve yourself. But you also have to move. Walk, cycle, whatever works for you. The final component is that you have to make a commitment to do this the rest of your life. This is not a one and done - diet for a few months then go back to your unhealthy ways. Everyone will fall off the wagon once and awhile, and that's ok. You just have to stick to your commitment and eat right and exercise.