5:2 diet

Is any runner doing this? I have tentatively started it on my non running days. Any thoughts?

Comments

  • Sorry just knocking back the "Full English" I'll get back to you once I'm on my toast and marmalade 

  • Why not do it on your running days? You could do an early am run on empty stomach. Recent article in RW re the benefits of this

  • True but I think it important to fuel up after runs and the 5:2 diet is only 500 calories on fast days so I think I might feel a bit faint by the end of the day. I will experiment!

  • I'd rather just cut down all round. A 500 calorie day seems crazy.
  • I have tried it - main problems were on the days after the fast - really poor performance on interval/tempo sessions, after nearly fainting post - spin class decided to pack it in. recovery runs, or strenght training  on fast days were fine. I guess it's something that may work for base/off season training, probably not so well for marathon training etc. 

  • Why would you do this? My dad was going to start this diet because someone on TV said it was a good idea. He didn't start it because he started chemo and the Dr told him to eat properly. Not eating is not a good idea in general.

    No offence intended. Just baffled.

  • I think the idea is that you don't starve for long enough for your body to kick into starvation mode, and it just keeps it on the hop.  I don't think it's starve for two days, it's two days a week, singly.

  • ClagClag ✭✭✭

    http://thefoodwhispereruk.blogspot.co.uk/

    Sarwrote Bookworm wrote about it on her blog - worth a read.

  • Nikki, I have been doing this for four weeks now, PM me if you want any questions answered!

  • I'm doing this after seeing the success from a couple of others I know. On week 4 and I don't feel hungry the morning after. I stick to500 calls on Monday and Thursdays.

  • As for training I do a run in my lunch hour no problem or an evening swim.

  • My Dad planned to lose weight doing this, what are others goals? I'm pretty sure it wont help in running performance or recovery. Maybe I'm wrong.

  • first results from trials suggest it's good for weight loss, fat loss and metabolic health. I am still unsure if it agrees with heavy endurance training. My personal experience - hence very unreliable - is that it can be problematic, especially on the day after if it's a  a day for a heavy workout. Would be very interested to hear otherwise. 

  • Sounds extreme to me. 500 cals on the fast day.. very meagre if you're exercising, and I mean ANY exercise, not running. 

    I have an active job. And on a non-running day I do 2-3 dog walks and a body weight circuit.. Dread to imagine trying to do that on 500 cals!

    It must be aimed at the non-exercising sloth population surely?

  • It's 500cal for women and 600 for men .  Mr soup doing well on it and still running marathons. Blood pressure improved too but don't ask me how cos it defies logic.

  • Sorry to state the obvious but if you eat less you will lose weigh no matter what days you do it.

  • I must say I can't understand this - is it just another fad? If the point is to lose weight by cutting the calories then surely a more sensible and sustainable approach would be to see where you are overeating and make small daily cuts in intake? If the target weight is reached, then what, as a return to normal daily eating will only add the weight back on!

  • Any scientific reviews of this diet as to long term efficacy and health?

    Blood pressure increasing just thinking about what I could eat for 600 cals image

  • I practice 20 hour fasts daily with one main (Big) meal and maybe some fruit later in the evening. Definately short on calories for the day but no issues so far with energy levels.

    I am pretty sure that I am in Ketosis most of the time too as I eat a high Protein/Fat diet with (typically) less than 100g carbs (from fruit and veg) each day

    I also run 10k (once or twice per week) after around 18 hour fasts and never feel faint...being a fat burner is definitely good for endurance from my point of view....I have noticed an improvement in my endurance on the bike too since I started doing this with no loss in speed. Don't need to carry energy bars any more.

     

    Have a look at the following posts on a popular Paleo/Primal Forum for some scientific background (with cited studies) behind the fasting regime including how cortisol/insulin/human growth hormone etc rise and fall during the fast etc...Interesting stuff if you look at it with an open mind.

    IF Primer 1

    IF Primer 2

    IF Primer 3

  • 1 or 2 10k runs a week hardly indicates good endurance. I know tim noakes is pumping up the paleo diet but I have yet to see any times for people running in ketosis. It's all theoretical mumbo jumbo, just eat properly. I will not be opening my mind to this.

  • Hi Seth,

     

    That is the good thing about living in a (relatively) free country...you can decide whether you want to do something or not.

    If you have fully researched a subject and decide it is not for you then nobody should force you to do it if you don't want to....

    Now if you just don't like the idea because it sounds a little far away from conventional thinking then it is (potentially) your loss for not being interested in the world around you....I bet you still believe that dietary fat leads to Heart disease too!!

     

    In regards to endurance, I was talking mostly about the cycling and 50+ mile rides....previously I would need to take a snack.....some sweets or other sweet treat to stop me bonking but now I don't have a drop in energy levels as my blood sugar falls.....I am talking about this from a perspective of riding thousands of miles over the last couple of years...not just picking up running 6 weeks ago and now doing 10k runs

  • ....I bet you still believe that dietary fat leads to Heart disease too!!

     I bet you a grizillion pounds that everyone with heart disease has eaten fat.

  • but not everyone who eats fat gets heart disease.

    Have a look for the framingham study...65 year study in a town...thousands of papers written on a variety of subjects including the links (or not) between fat and heart disease.

    Have a look at Eskimos (inuit) they traditionally subsist on pretty much whale/seal blubber and have one of the lowest natural incidences of heart disease.

     

  • I'm not interested in religious debates on what causes heart disease, this is a running forum, I'm interested in what diet will make one a better endurance runner. It is not by eating grease or by starving . If I get heart disease I will make an investigation and go to the local hospital and follow the advice they give unless it seems to contradict what I have read, which I highly doubt.

    I am familiar with the main ideas behind paleo and have yet to see anyone who competes in endurance running on it. It is also a very vague idea without a specific food pyramid or carb/fat/protein ratio and total kcal intake.

    I will not be looking at any of your spam thank you. Bye, have the last say if you must but this is my last. 

  • Nick Windsor 4 wrote (see)

    So you eat normally for 5 days and starve for 2, very silly, your body will work well for 5 days, then you'll empty your body of nutrient, it will flick the switch to starvation mode and start to try fat building, just at the time you resume your full intake.

     


    Is there any scientific evidence that what you say above is true?

    All the research I've read indicates that the 5:2 has very good effects on weight loss, metabolism, and blood parameters. There is a "fad" for it in the media, but there is also good actual science behind it as well.

    My approach was to use it, but to drop it during marathon build-up, as I think others have said too. I don't think it would work well with a lot of endurance training.

    Did somebody just call the (famous) Framingham study "spam"? That's quite funny image

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