The FastDay Forum

I have been 5.2 for 3 weeks. 6th fast today and lost 12ib (some was lost post Christmas calorie counting) rest fast diet.

A few different groups of people I have had coffee with mentioned their friends on this woe. They were very anti this diet. I kept quiet that I was doing it but did say I'd seen the documentary and the health benifits were amazing. I was shouted down. Will be 5.2 undercover from now on. Seems a shame.

Anyone else come across this.

Wait until they're begging you to tell them how you've lost weight! (when they've seen you on feast days so have no idea!) smile, have a piece of cake and tell them........ Nothing!
I'm fortunate in that there are 4 of us at work doing it but there are some very sceptical people too. I don't mind the scepticism, I just say its a scientific programme by a well known doctor!
Well done on the weight loss so far that's fantastic!

I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. Do we need a '5:2 and proud' campaign?!

I've not had the same experience, though I did speak to a senior health consultant over Christmas who hadn't heard of it but was pretty dismissive when I told him (on the basis that the benefits were unproven).

I know imagine it's difficult if you are in a group and all the rest attack something you value. Did the people who were dissing 5:2 actually know anything about it? I've seen absurd criticisms in some news articles, and in online commentary. The usual argument (if you can call it that) is 'this is another of these stupid diet fads, everyone knows that you just need to eat sensibly'. Which ignores the fact that obviously far too many people have not managed to eat sensibly, to say nothing of the other substantial (but yes, at present unproven) health benefits that might come from intermittent fasting.

Oh, and another one is that fasting might trigger eating disorders such as bulimia or anorexia. Not a shred of evidence that this has ever happened as far as I know.

Maybe we need a short set of bullet points in the FAQ section with a simple mnemonic so that we all know our '5 reasons to 5:2' and we can all have ammunition ready to hand when someone we know starts ranting against it?

I just say calorie controlled diet, which it is. Most people are on it anyway...plus just moved so know nobody. Much easier.

If anyone is in North Wales...?

Dominic. Exactly that! Fad diet, just need to eat less blah blah blah.
I said that's all very well but you have to be prepared to do it forever and I coud see how this could be sustainable long term compared to other diets. But gave up when they started on emotional eating issues that need addressing.
Fact is we are surrounded by social events, temptations every day and it would test a saint to resist for the rest of their lives. This woe suits me I've found it's getting easier and easier and I can make it work around social events and still make healthy choices on feast days but enjoy my food.
Clair007. Thank you! I'm very happy.

Most people have been quite intrigued by my 5:2'ing... and the loss of weight over the last month has certainly impressed people. My problem has always been keeping it off later so I know most of my friends and family are quietly supportive and more quietly concerned it won't work in the long run!!

If people are giving you a hard time just don't tell them - the weight loss will speak for you When they see you've lost a load of weight you'll suddenly become the expert - just wait and see...

James

Some people at my work were a bit sceptical when i started, asking if i was starving myself today and thinking it was funny to waft bacon sarnies under my nose, but now i dont think they actually notice whether im eating or not.
And some people have commented on how the weight is dropping off me (i have lost a stone) but theres a number of other people i havent mentioned this to because they dont have any issues with their weight and eat what id call normally, and to them being a healthy weight really just is about exercise and everything in moderation on a daily basis.

Funnily enough i mentioned this on another forum i'm on, back in january when i started and was shouted down, so i slunk off and its only now i had a nosey in there the other day that a few more people have mentioned it and people seem to be giving it a second chance.

I wonder how much those people at your work actually know and understand about it though. I must admit when it was first mentioned to me (before actually sitting down and watching the horizon programme) i thought that anything that involved starving yourself was a bad idea. Just shows what i really knew and understood about it all!

The girls I lunch with at work know I'm doing 5:2 but I'm not particularly shouting about it as I just wanted to quietly get on with it for a few weeks to see if it would work - and it is! I think anyone who has not tried getting by on 500/ 600 cals twice a week is bound to be a bit shocked (I was initially) but once you give it a go and realise that it is perfectly manageable, I think your perception changes. I've done 4 weeks now, and provided that the weight keeps coming off, albeit slowly, I'll keep going.

Ignore them.
THey are only jealous that you have found a method that works ...

I found I did best on this woe when I told nobody (including dp) he didn't notice me being grumpy for over a month when I was doing it on the quiet, but once he knew about it he would suddenly start assuming I was in a bad mood if I was fasting! He is pretty happy for me to do this now but he isn't interested in giving it a try. Friends have been ok (to my face anyway!)

I saw a different GP last week about my high cholesterol. I mentioned that I am doing this diet and she was fine about it. Suggesting I test my bloods again in a month. I think this doctor is Indian and I know that many cultures embrace fasting into their religion so there IS obviously good things about it.

Work colleagues have been shocked and keep asking me out to lunch on my fast days or giving me chocolates etc. I have been able to resist quite easily. On the whole they have been pretty good. Friends are supportive, my best friends parents have been doing it for a while now and have lost a stone each, so she is convinced it works but nervous of trying it herself.

My work colleagues have been pretty curious about it. My mom has always struggled with her weight, and she's made comments like "you'll shrink away to nothing..." about it, but I reckon she's just jealous.

A wise woman once told me to "consider the source" when being insulted or criticised. If someone doesn't actually know anything about the diet other than what you've told them, then they're not in a position to criticise. And it's not like the scientific data doesn't back it up.

[Moogie]

I've encountered very little scepticism and quite a lot of interest in the people I've spoken with about it. 3 of my friends (note, I do not have many real life friends, so this is a high percentage!!) are now doing it and my mother has started it in her own non-counted but very cut-back on 2 days kinda way.

One of my friends is a nurse and she's a sceptic, saying it goes against she's been taught and that it can't be good for us. Likewise my hairdresser who is a qualified fitness instructor (does an insane amount of exercise each week and gets loads of local ladies fit) says it's a bad idea and that if it worked everyone would be talking about it... well hopefully next time I see her she'll realise that everyone *is* talking about it!

I was pleased just before Christmas when one of my husbands friends came to visit and said that his other half is doing the 'starvation diet' like me (he only calls it that jokingly) - she's a doctor, and a load of her doctor friends were trying it, one larger chap had lost a couple of stone in as many months so a group of them decided to do it. I thought that was really encouraging, a group of medical professionals all wanting to give it a go!

The more medical professionals on side the better, the more chance of reaching people who need help but haven't heard about 5:2.
I've told all my friends to watch the programme. I don't think you could fail to be convinced!