With New Year now upon us, many people will have made the age-old resolution to get fit and lose weight. But which diet is best? One popular regime is the “5:2” or “Fast Diet”, which involves eating a normal and healthy amount for five days and a restricted amount for two days, during the course of a week.
The idea is based on research that suggests when our bodies have limited access to food for a relatively short period they switch from “growth mode” to “repair mode”. Stewart, a 50-year-old journalist, has been following this system for almost a year and is delighted with the results. Here is his experience of going 5:2.
Stewart’s Story
Ten years ago, I weighed in at more than 100kg. I lost around 25kg as the result of acute pancreatitis, brought on by a rogue gallstone, and although I then adopted a healthier lifestyle – stopped smoking, cut down on booze, ate better foods in better quantities and took up exercise – I was slowly but surely putting on weight again. By January last year I weighed 89kg.
The venerable BBC science programme “Horizon” introduced me to the fast diet in August 2012. I promptly forgot about it for a few months until I noticed the programme presenter, Dr. Michael Mosley, fielding questions about it on Twitter.
The 5:2 chimed with me because I had recently lost the battle against rising blood pressure and had been prescribed medication which, my doctor said, I would have to take for the rest of my life. I found that thought depressing.
A realistic plan
What marked this diet out as being different was the absence of a crank or guru prescribing unrealistic demands with some rather undesirable, even dangerous, consequences – just peer-reviewed science from across a range of disciplines.
The premise is that you eat normally for five days but reduce your calorific intake to a quarter (around 600Kcal in my case) for two, non-consecutive days.
This seems to trigger a number of ‘repair’ genes to switch on and appears to restrict the body to raiding fat reserves for fuel with little, if any, muscle depletion. Results include reduced blood pressure, cholesterol and growth hormone which, in high levels, is implicated in age-related diseases.
The shift to 5 and 2
The first few fasting days were the hardest: vehement stomach pangs, headaches, lying awake at night obsessing about beef stew with dumplings, scrambled eggs and mushrooms…but that really didn’t last long. It was almost as if the body recognised the signal from the brain: fasting day today, chaps; no point moaning about it, might as well get on with it.
I was rigorous in the beginning when it came to measuring what I was eating against the amount of exercise I was doing, and that helped to understand how easy it is to overeat. I actually enjoyed the challenge and looked forward to a fasting day, and found that it enhanced my anticipation of the following day’s return to normality.
I find I’m eating more vegetables and less soft fruit, which can be little more than a sugarbomb. I almost never have white pasta now, other than in restaurants, but eat more spelt and wholegrain rice and pasta.
I always did like fish but eat more smoked salmon, smoked mackerel and prawns (sans sauce) than ever. Quorn has flown below my radar, but I do eat vast quantities of mushrooms so I don’t lack for mycoprotein.
Dealing with fasting
I do get hungry when fasting, but I construct it around work so there’s plenty to take my mind off my stomach. Even when fasting, there’s usually something to look forward to – my main meal, which might consist of around 450Kcal, or some fruit, or a small bag of popcorn. Lots of black coffee and fruit tea help to diminish the pangs.
And, if all else fails, I simply force myself to ignore the signals, and they do go away. Mood swings are part of my slightly depressive personality but, if anything, they diminished as I engaged with the diet.
The flexibility of intermittent fasting means that I can reschedule a fasting day if it conflicts with a social occasion, postpone it during holiday periods, or if I simply don’t feel like it on a given day.
On the other hand, if I feel I need to knuckle down somewhat, then it’s no big deal to step it up again to twice a week for a short while.
Any urges to binge?
As a rule, I’m not sure fasting itself leads to the desire to binge, but there have been times on non-fasting days when I feel I’m about to crash and end up having an extra meal – a baked potato and beans, say, which would indicate a carb shortfall.
It happens infrequently, though, so I put it down to not fuelling properly for the amount of exercise I’ve been doing. I can absorb the odd blip, so I don’t worry about it.
Alcohol, chocolate and curries were, and still are, a few of my favourite things. I have a glass of wine or two, or a beer, most days, and enjoy the occasional curry with family or friends. I love cheese and dark, good quality chocolate and have several cappuccinos each week.
I and my family bake – and eat – bread, cakes and biscuits, and around once a week I get my chops around a great lump of chocolate tiffin – all 500 calories of it – at my local coffee shop. I have to earn all that, though, by running, doing kettlebell or bodyweight routines at home, and lifting weights at the gym.
The results
I was 50 in May last year. I embarked on the 5:2 in late February when a few weeks of running with my daughters had got me down to 85kg with a BMI of 25.2. I didn’t really have a goal, but by mid-May I was down to 74kg, BMI 21. Now I’m around 70kg, BMI 20, and my waist has shrunk from 34 inches to 30.
I adopted a more flexible approach around mid-July, during the school holidays. I didn’t need to lose more weight so I enjoyed myself while the girls were around, and when they went back to school I moved to a 6:1 regimen.
As long as I’m doing plenty of exercise I foresee this being my lifestyle, maintaining my weight and still enjoying the underlying benefits of fasting.
As I hoped, my blood pressure fell dramatically. Unfortunately, it shoots up whenever I have it tested at my doctor’s surgery, so he’s understandably reluctant to take me off medication. I do monitor it, though, and it’s invariably at the low end of the ideal range.
A new man!
I’m probably in the best shape of my life, certainly since my early teens. I feel full of energy and my skin is better – it could be coincidental, but I’ve even lost a few skin tags and old acne cysts – and I can glimpse stomach muscles, which wasn’t the case even when I was a teenager.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this diet to everyone. In fact, anyone considering it should probably talk to their doctor first, especially if they have medical conditions – type 1 diabetes, for example – or suffer from eating disorders.
As for me, the only downside so far would be the cost of a new wardrobe, but the local charity shops have benefited from my old ill-fitting gear!
For more information on the Fast Diet, please click this link. And you can follow the quest to find life-changing diets on Twitter @The_RTM
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