I know there have been discussions about this in the past, but I couldn't find any recent ones that were specifically on this topic, so I thought I would start one for those who have done it, are doing it, or just interested in doing it. I know there will possibly be people who don't agree with it, or think it's unhealthy, but perhaps please just agree to disagree with those who are in favour of it, or just move on to the next topic. Incidentally, there is no “starvation modeâ€, because even if that was an issue, it would take a lot longer than one day for the body to enter that state.
For those who don't know what it is, basically you eat normally (but not unhealthily) for 5 days a week and for 2 days a week you limit yourself to 500 calories. These are called “fast†days, but that's a misleading word because you are still eating food, but you are just eating about 25% of what you would normally eat. There has been research done that seems to indicate that this may help not only with weight loss, but also blood sugar levels and other health issues. When you think about it too, it does reflect more of how we are supposed to live because prehistorical people didn't have the luxury of eating the same amount of food every day. They could have gone for days without food. There is a lot of information available, so you can google if you want to know more.
Anyway, just to give a bit of a back story about myself. I gained a fair bit of weight over the last few years. There were lots of reasons for it (medication problems and the associated depression etc), but ultimately the reason was because I shoved too much food in my mouth. I've always exercised, but exercise alone is not enough. Just over 12 months ago I joined Weight Watchers and over the next 8-9 months I lost 10kg. That has gone a long way towards bringing my weight back to a healthy range, but I do need to lose another 5kg, and ideally a further 5kg. However, even though I am still following the WW routine, and walking 50 minutes nearly every day, my weight stalled last October and I have struggled to lose anything since then. My weight has gone up and down a lot and there will be days I think I've lost some weight, only to put it back on the next day, but basically I am still at the same weight I was in October, and that's really annoying.
I have read and seen a lot of stuff on TV, and did consider the 5:2 diet a while back, but assumed it would be too hard to limit myself to 500 calories a couple of days a week, so I never tried. However, after talking with some ladies on a local Facebook menopause page, I decided to stop being judgemental and to actually give it a go. I was skeptical, and I will admit the first day was a bit difficult, but I think that's more of a “mind over matter†thing. However, it's early days, but I have to say I am very impressed. So far I have done 3 x 500 calorie days and I have lost 1.5kg. Now that in itself isn't always great, because we all know how our weight can fluctuate. However, I have also lost 1.5cm from around my waist which is a much more accurate way of measuring actual fat loss. For me 1kg equals about 1cm because I've lost 10kg and 10cm since starting WW.
Now that I've done it 3 times I have no problems handling that number of calories and I don't dread the day before it even starts. It's actually not that hard and you can actually eat a fair bit provided you choose the right kinds of food. You also need to make sure you are drinking a lot of water, and that will also help you feel full. I have found it helps to delay breakfast as long as possible. I will have two glasses of water when I come back from walking, then I will have a cup of coffee a bit later, so I'm really not feeling like breakfast until at least 10am or even later. Also keep yourself distracted. If you're going to sit around thinking about food you will be more likely to buckle. My routine so far has been to do it every 3rd day, but it will depend a lot on what I'm doing. The beauty is you make it fit into your lifestyle a couple of days a week instead of always having to be aware of everything you eat everyday.
Anyway, it's early days and I am NOT expecting to lose the same amount every week, because we all know that you tend to lose more at the start of a weight loss routine. However, I would be happy with a 1-2kg loss every month. I can also see that this would be a good way to maintain your weight by just doing a 500 calorie day once a week or once a fortnight.