5:2 diet and exercise

So in an effort to lose the roughly 30 to 40 pounds I should drop I am trying a diet sometimes called the 5:2 diet. The goal of it is that you eat normally 5 days of the week and then two of the days you eat 500-600 calories. However as I need to lose weight I am doing 1200-1600 calories the rest of the week.

So the point of this post is to ask has anyone else tried this? Any experience with calorie restriction diets vs food restrictive? Further in hopes of getting healthy I am using yoga, stationary bike, kettle bell, and exercise band work most days. ( Obviously not all those on the same day lol) Any how does anyone have examples of exercise programs they like that use those items ( Because those are what I own)

Finally thanks to Edan for the yoga program I really like.

Congratulations on taking the first step!

Secondly, I do have some experience with caloric restrictive diets, but mine typically are Keto. I've posted at length about it before, but to summarize, it's low carb. Typically on the 'Advanced Weightloss' routine I do, it's perfectly 1,500 ~ 1,600 calories a day and the weight drops fast, and stays off.

If you're interested, I can PM / Share the .PDF's of the recipe plans and books I've bought over time.

I haven't done it, but be careful when it comes to cutting weight but also still exercising... if you do exercise hard then you may not get enough calories, and you will need to get enough protein. You don't want to accidentally starve yourself..

Good luck though

The most success I've ever had losing weight was simply calculating calories in vs out and living at a deficit. The more weight you want to lose the bigger the deficit. Personally I aimed for between at 500 - 750 calorie a day deficit. That means that if I burned 1750 calories that day I should only eat 1000 - 1250. If I burn 3000 I should eat 2250 - 2500. That puts me in control a lot more. If I need to increase my deficit for the day I simply go exercise to burn off more. I also have a free day once a week. Actually, I went a month with two free days a week once and still lost about 7 pounds.

To do the calculations I bought a Fitbit. Not one of the super fancy watches though, just the one that clips to my waistband. Then I used the app to input all my food throughout the day and it calculated my in vs out. It worked wonderfully for the time I did it. Lost 13 pounds in two months.

Like Edan said, be careful not to starve yourself. People do that kind of thing frequently thinking that it's the only option and it's not healthy. Remember that this WILL take time. Weeks, months even. Don't get discouraged because you can't do this all at once.

We believe in you.

5:2 is incredibly effective until you feel the need to kill someone. :laugh:

In my experience with intermittent fasting diets, they work very well, but it's important to be careful what one eats when coming off of the fast. A keto diet is a great approach, as it reduces the chance of gorging on fast food and candy.

My greatest challenge is being consistent. I eat a lot as a way to manage stress, so Cayce, I might PM you soon to get those files if that's ok.

Awesome. I agree with Edan, having a target calc and/or macros is important but don't forget to include the energy burn in the calculations or you'll get yourself all wonky and possibly even start losing LBM. Good luck!

Goken wrote: The most success I've ever had losing weight was simply calculating calories in vs out and living at a deficit. The more weight you want to lose the bigger the deficit. Personally I aimed for between at 500 - 750 calorie a day deficit. That means that if I burned 1750 calories that day I should only eat 1000 - 1250. If I burn 3000 I should eat 2250 - 2500. That puts me in control a lot more. If I need to increase my deficit for the day I simply go exercise to burn off more. I also have a free day once a week. Actually, I went a month with two free days a week once and still lost about 7 pounds.

To do the calculations I bought a Fitbit. Not one of the super fancy watches though, just the one that clips to my waistband. Then I used the app to input all my food throughout the day and it calculated my in vs out. It worked wonderfully for the time I did it. Lost 13 pounds in two months.

Like Edan said, be careful not to starve yourself. People do that kind of thing frequently thinking that it's the only option and it's not healthy. Remember that this WILL take time. Weeks, months even. Don't get discouraged because you can't do this all at once.

We believe in you.

i second this

i looked at 5:2 and it looks good (meaning that it works) but for me personally i prefer a daily calorie restriction

the fitbit sounds like a useful tool since it does the calculations for you, but ive just been paper + pencil + label reading like the old timers did lol
i have my meals figured out at this point so yay

(edit - if the fitbit helps track calories burned as well then thats definitely cool)

i use this calculator to get an idea of how many calories i need to maintain my weight

http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

and i stay at at least a 500 calorie deficit each day

i also work out 5-6 days a week; jiu-jitsu, weights, and cardio
a good bit of the cardio (besides the JJ) is high intensity intervals, mostly with a jump rope

im into my third week and so far ive been having very good weight loss results

also
when i eat i focus on proteins and carbs
whey protein powder in the morning and after every workout (200 calories but its worth it!)
i drink a gallon of water every day (i carry a gallon jug around with me)
i take a multi-vitamin every day
i take bcaa's and creatine every day (before and after workouts)
powdered fiber (mixes with water) helps reduce hunger between meals! i feel full even when im hungry lol

im operating at a calorie deficet every day but i feel good, im still able to work out and concentrate and i think its because of the water and the supplements

you can do it MH!

consistency > luck

I want to thank everyone in here for the well wishes. I also want to report I have so far lost 5 pounds. However I am also dismayed at the fact that I was calculating my ideal weight wrong. I thought I was at most 30 pounds over weight. It turns out that it was 55 pounds. That is a bitter pill to down but facing my failings is something I must do. So no point in crying about it. Only thing to do now is keep up the diet and keep exercising and I will get there.

I have no functional information to give on what to eat (at least, nothing that tops any research you should be able to achieve yourself)

When it comes to goals however -

Don't just have "lbs lost" as your weekly goal.

Select some other KPIs, for at least two reasons.
1) It gives you another metric for progess and to feel good about.
2) It's something else to consider so you don't get bored, or upset if you "fail" a checkpoint.


With your equipment I'd suggest -

20km Ride Time.
Max Body weight push ups.
Max Body weight squats
Max crunches/sit ups.
Max KB Swings
Max KB Clean + Presses.


Don't Measure them all every week, but give yourself a Roster, and over the weeks/months you can track progress and improvement.

There are plenty of exercises you can do with no equipment at all - and having a kettlebell is a great way to make simple exercises (squats, russian twists, turkish get ups, etc etc) much more demanding.


Oh, I do have one suggestion for dieting, as it turns out

Practice discipline in the shops, and it will be far easier at home.
If you don't have ice cream in the fridge, or biscuits in the cupboard, you don't have to be worried about eating them :lol:

MadHatter wrote: I want to thank everyone in here for the well wishes. I also want to report I have so far lost 5 pounds. However I am also dismayed at the fact that I was calculating my ideal weight wrong. I thought I was at most 30 pounds over weight. It turns out that it was 55 pounds. That is a bitter pill to down but facing my failings is something I must do. So no point in crying about it. Only thing to do now is keep up the diet and keep exercising and I will get there.

unexpected and unpleasant surprise, sorry to hear it.
my feedback is that in my personal opinion, the best way to regard diet and fitness changes is to consider them to be long term from the get go. its about building new, healthy habits, which are meant to last.

thats how i try to see it and while im not the most patient guy, i do have the "big picture" in mind and it helps to reassure me that im still moving forward even if im not flying forward every minute

i remind myself that "its a marathon, not a sprint" all the time, and one of the best things about 5:2 is that it is sustainable

congratulations of the progress you have made!