Fasting

[Garz]

Done 600cals for the day, didn't eat until 6pm wasn't as hard as I expected but glad I've broken the ice.

What did you just all out binge on the full 600 in one sitting?

Completed today's fast - two sittings of ready brek made with water and just had my fish/veg supper!

 

[The Jogger]

What did you just all out binge on the full 600 in one sitting?

Completed today's fast - two sittings of ready brek made with water and just had my fish/veg supper!

I had a count on us meal from m&s 380cals with a packet of veg 70 cals then when I got in from work at eleven I had 3 rich tea biscuits with a calorie free coffee.

 

[The Jogger]

Day two this week today and I might even do Saturday to help kick start it.

 

[Garz]

Porridge for brunch with about three coffees to spread out the pangs. Salad for lunch (74cals) and had a lovely sausage+mushroom+egg+tomatoe plate like a poor mans fry-up!!

Now I just have to eat sensibly on the normal days as tbh I have been gorging on some days which is why I seemed to have plateaued.

 

[Herzog]

Is there any information regarding the liklihood of muscle, rather than fat, loss when following the 5:2 diet?

 

[ColinJ]

Is there any information regarding the liklihood of muscle, rather than fat, loss when following the 5:2 diet?

I can't work out how to copy text from the Android Kindle app so I will just summarise what Michael Mosley wrote in The Fast Diet ...

• Excessive fasting is seen as an emergency by the body which goes into 'starvation mode' and starts cannibalising muscle. I triggered this mode when I got ill last summer and it was scary how quickly the big muscles in my legs withered away! Within a month, my legs looked more like my arms and wouldn't support my weight properly.
• 5:2 fasting doesn't last long enough to trigger starvation mode so nearly all weight loss is fat.

 

[uclown2002]

Is there any information regarding the liklihood of muscle, rather than fat, loss when following the 5:2 diet?

From leangains website:- Myth No 4
4. Myth: Fasting tricks the body into "starvation mode".

Truth
Efficient adaptation to famine was important for survival during rough times in our evolution. Lowering metabolic rate during starvation allowed us to live longer, increasing the possibility that we might come across something to eat. Starvation literally means starvation. It doesn't mean skipping a meal not eating for 24 hours. Or not eating for three days even. The belief that meal skipping or short-term fasting causes "starvation mode" is so completely ridiculous and absurd that it makes me want to jump out the window.

Looking at the numerous studies I've read, the earliest evidence for lowered metabolic rate in response to fasting occurred after 60 hours (-8% in resting metabolic rate). Other studies show metabolic rate is not impacted until 72-96 hours have passed (George Cahill has contributed a lot on this topic).

Seemingly paradoxical, metabolic rate is actually increased in short-term fasting. For some concrete numbers, studies have shown an increase of 3.6% - 10% after 36-48 hours (Mansell PI, et al, and Zauner C, et al). This makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. Epinephrine and norepinephrine (adrenaline/noradrenaline) sharpens the mind and makes us want to move around. Desirable traits that encouraged us to seek for food, or for the hunter to kill his prey, increasing survival. At some point, after several days of no eating, this benefit would confer no benefit to survival and probably would have done more harm than good; instead, an adaptation that favored conservation of energy turned out to be advantageous. Thus metabolic rate is increased in short-term fasting (up to 60 hours).

Again, I have choosen extreme examples to show how absurd the myth of "starvation mode" is - especially when you consider that the exact opposite is true in the context of how the term is thrown around.

Origin
I guess some genius read that fasting or starvation causes metabolic rate to drop and took that to mean that meal skipping, or not eating for a day or two, would cause starvation mode.

 

[Iain M Norman]

I've always assumed you'd lose muscle if you are losing weight. You don't need so much to carry that weight around.

One important factor of a 5:2 diet is the changes in IGF1 levels which will encourage your body to repair cells instead of making new ones too fast. There may be a case for those IGF1 levels helping with recovery in that case, although I've not seen any sports related studies.

 

[Garz]

Whichever way you look at it, many people in this thread seem to be benefiting from this method and eating healthier foods.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

I've lost 10.5lb now and am switching to 1 day fasting a week.
I've not been helped by having a stomach bug which put me on a toast or nothing diet for the past week, and took another 3lb off me Now I'm recovering I'm not going to fast at all for a week or two.

FWIW I've just looked at the Fast Diet book. It seems people who fast intermittently don't tend to lose muscle.

 

[Garz]

I've lost 10.5lb now and am switching to 1 day fasting a week.
I've not been helped by having a stomach bug which put me on a toast or nothing diet for the past week, and took another 3lb off me Now I'm recovering I'm not going to fast at all for a week or two.

I had a virus the other week but continued fasting when I probably should have rested up a week when I shook it off. This caused my weigh in for that week to drop lower than the 1lb a week rate I would have maintained. As I am still semi-gorging on normal days I have plateaued but this will continue when I get back on the bike soon.

I seem to have caught another nasal cold over this period which means my antibodies were low, I don't think this would be down to the fasting but can't wait to get back to normal and bashing the cranks out there!

 

[The Jogger]

On day three for this week a nice way to kick start this again and going well, not eaten today just coffee and water. Will eat at about 6:30pm which will be a 20hr fast then stick to the 600 cals.

 

[Iain M Norman]

My brother recommends me 800 calories. He says 600 was just too hard. Still he's lost 27kg. Until we went on a baking course the other week! Put on 3kg!

 

[The Jogger]

My brother recommends me 800 calories. He says 600 was just too hard. Still he's lost 27kg. Until we went on a baking course the other week! Put on 3kg!

Was he doing 5:2

 

[Iain M Norman]

Was he doing 5:2

Yes.