Fasting as a diet

[Loppan Torkel]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/9480451/The-52-diet-can-it-help-you-lose-weight-and-live-longer.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549

With the 5:2 diet, you can eat whatever you like five days a week — so-called feeding days. On the two “fasting days” you eat 500 calories if you are a woman, or 600 calories if you are a man.
• It doesn’t matter which days are spent “feeding” and which “fasting”, as long as the fasting days are non-consecutive and you stick to the 5:2 ratio.

I'm usually not into diets but since I've become more stationary by the years I'm starting to give it some thoughts. This 5:2 fasting diet explained in the links above does seem interesting enough to maybe try it.

Do you have any experience in fasting? Have you tried this 5:2 diet?

For anyone trying to lose weight or become healthier, this seems like a pretty promising method. Agree/disagree? Do you have a better method or found a good way to live a healthy life - please share.

 

[Borachio]

Yes. Fasting is the thing to do. I keep meaning to try but I just get hungry and can't help myself.

I think the longest I ever went without food or water was about 36 hours. But that was a hospital thing.

 

[dutchfire]

"Scientific opinion", or at least what is reported as such in the media, on these issues seems to go back and forth a lot. If it sounds too good to be true, guess what, it probably is.

I think any diet in which you are hungry is a bad idea, and this sounds like one of those things.

 

[Murky]

I can easily go 24 hours without eating anything. Beyond that is difficult for me especially if there is food around.

There are numerous studies that have showed that by fasting you can give your system a break from digesting food. If you have stomach problems, fasting can sometimes help. Fasting is generally not a good weight loss solution because when you do eat you tend to eat more not less. Also, it slows down your metabolism.

 

[Borachio]

Keeping up a constant stream of food - at least 3 times a day - from cradle to grave is not how human beings have spent most of their history. And how evolution has shaped us. I would suggest.

 

[Lillefix]

What worked for me was to actually count the calories and stop when I came to a certain point. Lost 12kg in a couple of months. Eat as much I you like doesn't sound good to me. You need to keep track to be certain you actual spend more calories than you consume. Some of us can eat mountains of food without getting full, some of these diet people don't seem to understand that.

 

[kochman]

I prefer several small "meals" (which means, stop eating as soon as you don't feel hungry anymore)... and exercise.

Food is, especially in our society, loaded with toxins. So, skipping a day here and there is actually purifying I have read...

 

[Phrossack]

I'm starting to only eat when I'm pretty hungry, but aside from fruit, I don't eat very healthy food.

 

[Quackers]

but for two days of the week you feel miserable.

 

[Borachio]

You might feel less full. Or more full of energy. I wouldn't know as I've never really tried it.

 

[warpus]

Do you have any experience in fasting? Have you tried this 5:2 diet?

For anyone trying to lose weight or become healthier, this seems like a pretty promising method. Agree/disagree? Do you have a better method or found a good way to live a healthy life - please share.

For 2 days you are pretty much starving yourself? That sounds horrible..

I did a bit of a diet a couple months ago. Worked well for me - I lost 20+ pounds over a period of 2-3 months.

What I did was cutting out carbs & sugars to a minimal amount - 20g or less a day. I would cheat every once in a while and in the end I instituted cheat days (weekends), where I'd eat some rice, drink some beers, etc. The diet was loaded with fatty foods, such as bacon. It sort of forced me to eat a lot more veggies than I usually do though

Ended up feeling a lot better - carbs usually weigh me down and make me sleepy.

Starving yourself sounds horrible though

 

[Zelig]

Food is, especially in our society, loaded with toxins.

Yes, this explains all the people who are getting poisoned from eating food in our society.

 

[Kozmos]

For 2 days you are pretty much starving yourself? That sounds horrible..

I did a bit of a diet a couple months ago. Worked well for me - I lost 20+ pounds over a period of 2-3 months.

What I did was cutting out carbs & sugars to a minimal amount - 20g or less a day. I would cheat every once in a while and in the end I instituted cheat days (weekends), where I'd eat some rice, drink some beers, etc.

Ended up feeling a lot better - carbs usually weigh me down and make me sleepy.

Starving yourself sounds horrible though

This is pretty much what I do now. Lost 10 punds so far. Plus lots of bacon and vegetables. Only miss sugar in my teas, but I drink coffee with unsweetened cocoa powder as a go around.

 

[Borachio]

For 2 days you are pretty much starving yourself? That sounds horrible..

Starving is not the same as fasting. And if you drink plenty of water regularly you probably won't notice much. A lot depends on how active you are. I think.

 

[warpus]

Starving is not the same as fasting. And if you drink plenty of water regularly you probably won't notice much. A lot depends on how active you are. I think.

I just couldn't do it. I'd break down and raid the fridge.

Seems like a rather unnatural and inefficient way to lose weight. I bet people who do it more than make up for it on their "non-fasting" days.

 

[Quackers]

well if you have the willpower and a significant weight problem doctors will put you on an 800calorie/day diet to help you lose weight. thats as efficient as it can be.

 

[Borachio]

I don't think it's a good idea as a weight loss programme. I don't think such a thing exists. But taking a day off, each week, from food; or at least a day where you eat minimally, does give your gut a bit of a rest.

 

[Murky]

If you got the time you can go these places that do 30-day water fasting to lose weight and restore your health (that's the claim anyway). During that time you drink lots of water and rest. The idea is that it's as natural a form of cleansing as you can find. It's just too time consuming for most people.

 

[Quackers]

how long would it take before you get scurvy on a water-only diet?

 

[Borachio]

About six months? So you'll have died of starvation about 3-4 months previously. Depending.