2:5 Diet Diary

Why I decided to try the 2:5 dietIt’s unlikely you’ll be interested, but here are some extracts from my diet diary.

28.7.15 So the first fast day I started with a weight of 91.2Kg, towards the top of my current range. I found that I had surprisingly little trouble keeping to it. I had some twinges at my normal meal times, but most of the day I probably felt less hungry than usual. I had a very productive day- I was worried that a low blood sugar level would make me feel tired but that didn’t seem to be a problem. I did feel much more tired in the evening than usual, and got to bed a little earlier than normal.

29.7.15 I was interested to see what effect the first fasting day had had. I was pleasantly surprised to see my weight was down to 89.2Kg, a full 2 Kg of weight loss in 24 hours. (That’s about a third of the stone for traditionally minded Brits and about 4.5 pounds for Americans.) This was the lowest figure I had recorded for 12 months. This was an exciting result, but I knew I would be putting a fair bit back on that day. I was also aware that I had gone for a pretty low salt option the previous day so there was probably a big chunk of water loss in that figure – indeed it might have been all of it for all I knew.

I took full advantage of the eat anything you like rule and tucked into three mini doughnuts and a very large sandwich for lunch. In the evening I was Mr Slob personified, eating an entire pepperoni pizza with a trip to the pub in between. Interestingly I had a day that was as unusually unproductive as my previous one had been productive. That was quite interesting – though two days is hardly enough to draw any conclusions from.

30.7.15 Today’s data was the first indication of whether there was anything in this fasting regime, as I could get an idea about how much weight I had put back on. It was encouraging. I was up to 89.8Kg. So I hadn’t simply eaten enough calories to make up the deficit of the day before – though again it is hard to know what difference an unusually high salt intake might have made. Once again I ate freely, though as it happened I wasn’t particularly hungry. I did polish off two glasses of wine in the evening though, which is very unusual for me.

31.7.15 My weigh in this morning had me up to 90.0Kg which wasn’t too bad – going in the wrong direction but not too far in the wrong the direction. I have to say I was probably going to give up then and there if I were already back to the 91Kg I had started on, but this was enough progress to give me encouragement so I embarked on another fast day. I also decided to monitor my weight over the day to see if there was any pattern. I was interested to see if you could spot the point at which fat burning started to make up for the deficiency in calorie intake.

1.8.15 89.1Kg first thing in the morning. This is the lowest figure I have recorded over the last 12 months, but I was a bit disappointed nonetheless because I’d only dropped 200g overnight. In theory I am quite happy with slow progress, and indeed that is what I am actually shooting for. But I was hoping for a little bit of a bigger benefit from the first week – in particular I was hoping to break the 89Kg barrier. But I have learnt quite a bit already, and that is always worth something. For a start, one day at approx 600 calories is not that much of problem, I was getting some twinges, but it is actually easier to cope with the hunger than it can be some days. I also had a very productive day. This might again be a coincidence rather than a consequence, but it means I can schedule fast days without worrying about not getting other stuff done.

Interestingly I didn’t notice being particularly hungry despite having run at least a bit of fat down the previous day.

2.8.15 Started day at 90.4Kg which for the morning after an evening out when I ate and drank freely. So after a week on this diet regime I have not made any spectacular progress. But that was what I was aiming for, although I still find myself a little disappointed. But the good news is I haven’t had too much difficulty in keeping to it, and I may have discovered that it might even have some positive effects on getting things done.

3.8.15 Pleasantly surprised to discover my weight is 89.9Kg. I have started my 2nd week below 90Kg, albeit by the narrowest measurable margin.

4.8.15 Started day at 90.1Kg after a day of eating pretty freely. I have realised that I haven’t really fully committed to this diet yet because I was considering a rather large breakfast and I haven’t got a plan for the week in terms of what I am eating. So let’s get this clear now. I will fast today and Friday, so I need to get down the Co-op for fruit and raw veg supplies. I was out yesterday and had some fruit juice on the way back. Interestingly about 40 minutes later I was having to concentrate harder than I usually do on driving. I wonder if that was due to a peak and a lull in my blood sugar? It wasn’t tremendously noticeable but it will be worth keeping an eye out for this in future. I may not be a diabetic but that doesn’t mean that my insulin is doing a perfect job of keeping my energy levels on an even keel.

Kept pretty close to my diet, and didn’t find it too hard to do so. Was down to 89.6Kg just before bed, so not spectacular. But I did have a fairly good day for getting things done, strengthening my notion that fast days are high energy days.

5.8.15 Started the day at 89.1Kg. This is the lowest figure I have measured since I started measuring regularly in July 2014, but only by 100g. It is definitely slow progress, which I have to remind myself is what I am aiming for. The question is whether the rate of progress is going to continue. I am down about 2Kg since starting the fasting regime, but it presumably will get steadily harder to see the weight coming down.

6.8.15 In the most surprising reading of the project so far, my weight this morning is 88.7Kg. That is 2.5Kg (or 5.5 pounds) so far from only 3 fast days. Even more surprising is that yesterday my evening meal was a KFC followed by a highly calorific 500ml bottle of apple juice. I had also spent rather a lot more time doing physical work than normal so that might explain it – so still too early to be sure of much.

20.55 Interestingly I didn’t really eat very much today, even though I made no particular effort to moderate my eating. I did have a pretty full evening meal and weighed in at 89.9Kg. This looks on the face of it like today has wiped out a lot of the benefits, but let’s see what happens overnight.

7.7.15 This morning I started at 89.4Kg, a figure I am very happy with considering that I am only starting on my fourth fast day. The benefits are already beginning to become apparent. I have woken up early after a good night’s sleep. This is something I have not been able to rely on for years now. It is still early days but this diet certainly feels healthier.

Today’s diet was derailed by some hot panninis given in return to a favour from a local teashop. It wasn’t too bad a lapse. I will have busted the 600 calorie limit, probably by about 400. But I will still have eaten less than I burn, so it still counts in my book.

8.8.15 Started the day on 88.9Kg. This was quite satisfying – my short term objective is just to get consistently below 90Kg. I am still well clear of that. I am more interested at the moment with the effect on my ability to sleep. This was something I had not anticipated but is proving to be a major benefit. Waking up early and refreshed is pretty much the ideal start to the day. Of course it is early days yet and may turn out to be a coincidence and nothing to do with the diet. I have only been doing it for a couple of weeks so far.

9.8.15 I was dreading the figure this morning. I took the ‘eat whatever you like’ nostrum a bit too literally the previous day and scoffed an entire packet of Crawford’s Cheddars. It could have been a lot worse, but I was back up to 90.0Kg – the exact number I was hoping I had said goodbye to.

I think the moral is that although you can eat what you like on a feed day, you don’t want to be entirely stupid about it.

10.8.15 Started day on 90.1Kg. This is interesting as it hasn’t gone up too much considering I haven’t done a proper fast for nearly a week. Today is a fast day and I am looking forward to it.

11.8.15 89.2Kg. That packet of biscuits I ate on Saturday casts a long shadow.

12.8.15 88.5Kg – this is the second time I have had a low reading the day after the day after a fast day. This may be a pattern.

 

17.8.15 89.1Kg Fast day. Also calculated my average weight loss as 60g a day. At this rate I will hit my target in 100 days. This is less than the number of days until Christmas.

18.8.15 87.6Kg Breakthrough weighing. I haven’t seen a figure this low for a decade. (I was at 86ish for most of 90s.) Also feeling good.

19.8.15 87.7Kg Pleased and surprised to be below 88Kg for second day running. Also enjoying higher energy levels than I have had for years.

20.8.15 88.7Kg Up 1Kg in 24 hours. I pigged out rather badly on crisps during a car drive and didn’t eat very sensibly the rest of the day.

21.8.15 88.7Kg. Fast day. I had a most unproductive day, so that spoilt my previous feeling that fasting also helps get things done. But I did get a good nights sleep.

22.8.15 88.1Kg. I couldn’t resist a small portion of battered cod that otherwise would have gone to waste the day before. If it weren’t for that I may well have been below 88Kg this morning.

23.8.15 88.9Kg, well I went out to a party last night.

26.8.15 88.7Kg. News story that for men a waist diameter greater than 40″ predicts diabetes. It was my bulging stomach that set me off on the search for ways to lose weight. I need to give this parameter more attention. It is likely to be more intractable than the weight figure.

28.8.15 88.6Kg Fast Day. This is the lowest figure I have started a fast day with so far, and I certainly didn’t make any attempt to eat less over the last couple of days. This weight reduction seems to be the result of my body modifying the way it’s handling energy. I feel less tired in the afternoon and sleep better at night.

29.8.15 87.9Kg was a bit disappointing at first, but compared to a month ago I have made some really solid progress.

 

2.9.15 88.8Kg. It turns out that while you can eat what you like on non-fast days, if you polish off cereals, a packet of wine gums, three apples, a KFC, some potato sticks, chicken Kievs, a large Caesar salad and a tiramisu then you will wipe out the benefit of the fast.

 

 

 

 

 

19.9.15 87.4Kg – lowest figure since I started the diet.

 

 

28.9.15 88.1Kg Fast Day

Observation – there is not much relationship between my perceived willpower on feed days and how much weight I put on. I think the fast regime is altering the way I process energy. This seems to give me a better sleep pattern and reduces my general level of tiredness.

 

 

15.10.1t 86.8Kg Working away from home, and tried not eating to see how it affected my energy levels. (Not much, but I did get home sooner.) Had normal evening meal.

31.10.15 86.5Kg Lowest recorded yet.

 

19.11.15 87.8Kg (Big dinner and booze session on 17.11.15)

 

 

 

 

 

1 thought on “2:5 Diet Diary”

  1. When I was losing weight on 5:2, I weighed myself once a week, always on Saturday morning after fasting on Thursday or Friday. Although I averaged a pound a week of weight loss, some weeks were 2 pounds less, and occasionally I would even seem to re-gain half a pound.

    When I got to maintenance, I started weighing daily (or nearly every day, some days I forget), and learned that I can gain or lose up to 2 kg. of water weight in a day, even if I haven’t eaten a whole bunch of salt — sometimes the kidneys just retain or release water, for no apparent reason! It is also noticeable in how my shoes fit (or don’t)

    For this reason my goal for maintenance is to stay between 117 and 122 pounds, or average 119.5 pounds, or be under 120 more days than I’m above it.

    I think it’s less crazy-making to weigh weekly during the weight loss phase. But you still have to remember that there may be some weeks when your weight will appear to go up due to water retention.

    You are funny. I rarely pigged out on non-fast days, because I didn’t want to undo the work of the fasting days (cooking for a fasting person plus people who are not fasting, when you are hungry and a bit tired, is a bit of work). But in spite of my opinions about sugar I love ice cream. So I always had a scoop of ice cream, or a small portion of a home-made dessert, after dinner on non-fasting days. Then I could brag that I lost 40 pounds in 40 weeks while eating ice cream most days of the week, lol!

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