{"id":60234,"date":"2017-07-17T11:15:12","date_gmt":"2017-07-17T15:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=60234"},"modified":"2021-05-13T09:14:42","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T13:14:42","slug":"5-2-diet-intermittent-fasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/5-2-diet-intermittent-fasting\/","title":{"rendered":"What You Should Know About the 5:2 Diet and Intermittent Fasting"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"What
Photo: Twenty20<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Diets designed for weight loss<\/a> make big promises, like dropping pounds and boosting your health \u2014 without struggle or deprivation. And that\u2019s one of the big draws of intermittent fasting diets<\/a>, including the 5:2 Diet.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>Does Intermittent Fasting Really Work?<\/a><\/p>\n

What the 5:2 Diet Is All About<\/h2>\n

At its core, intermittent fasting involves going for short periods of time with much less food than normal, explains Michael Mosley, co-author of The FastDiet<\/em><\/a> and author of The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet<\/em><\/a>. He, along with Mimi Spencer, created the 5:2 Fast Diet, a plan that includes eating your normal allotment of calories for five days, and then eating one-quarter of your calories (about 500 for women, and 600 for men) on the other two days.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring this time when you\u2019re eating far fewer calories than normal, your metabolic rate actually speeds up and your body also gets on with essential repairs. It\u2019s a bit like doing a spring cleaning,\u201d says Mosley. \u201cInstead of having to spend time and energy digesting your food, your body works on repairing itself instead,\u201d he adds. Not to mention, you\u2019re cutting a total of 3,000 calories per week, which is significant enough to help people slim down. (Keep in mind, noticeable weight loss will be more likely in overweight individuals compared to already-fit folks, Mosley says.)<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>Intermittent Fasting: Should You Exercise on Empty?<\/a><\/p>\n

How to Make 5:2 Work for You<\/h2>\n

That all sounds good, but you still have to work through the logistics of the 5:2 diet. On your \u201cnormal\u201d eating days, the plan calls for women to eat about 2,000 calories. So you can’t necessarily chowing down on anything you want. Those days should still be healthy days. Mosely recommends following a Mediterranean-style diet containing fruits, vegetables, oily fish (like salmon<\/a>), nuts, olive oil, yogurt, cheese, and even the occasional glass of wine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then, there are the working days \u2014 aka the days you fast. You get to choose when you do this. So it\u2019s entirely up to you whether you do them spread out or back-to-back. During those days, aim to eat foods that keep you full, like fish, meat, and vegetables<\/a>. For instance: three-ounces of chicken breast contains 142 calories. Put it on a bed of two cups of spinach (14 calories) for a meal that\u2019s less than 200 calories. You can also choose whether you eat mini meals throughout the day or one meal total.<\/p>\n

A common misconception is that your body enters into \u201cstarvation mode\u201d during those two days, prompting your system to conserve fat and calories rather than burning them. \u201cAll the studies show the reverse is true,\u201d says Mosely. \u201cOnly when you go without food for prolonged periods of time (weeks) do you go into \u2018starvation mode,\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>Why You Should Eat More Fat and Less Sugar<\/a><\/p>\n

The Drawbacks to Fasting<\/h2>\n

One of the main drivers of success of the 5:2 diet-style of fasting is that you only have to cut calories in the very short-term. However, that doesn\u2019t mean the two low-cal days won\u2019t get difficult. You might feel intense hunger \u2014 the type where it\u2019s difficult to concentrate and you start fantasizing about food rather than focusing on, say, work or having fun. Though Mosely admits it can be tough the first few times, people get used to it, he says, and find it\u2019s easier than cutting calories<\/a> every single day.<\/p>\n

Whether or not the diet is sustainable for everyone isn\u2019t so clear. \u201cIf it works for you, then it\u2019s completely fine,\u201d says Philadelphia-based weight loss and fitness expert Charlie Seltzer, MD<\/a>. It\u2019s not inherently dangerous to your health, but you may find it hard to maintain. \u201cMost people are not going to be able to eat 500 calories in a day,\u201d he says. Hanger<\/a> aside, there\u2019s also the risk of overeating the next day, especially if you\u2019re not tracking<\/a> your calories and eating mindfully.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>Does Fasted Cardio Really Burn More Fat?<\/a><\/p>\n

Another downside? It can throw your social life for a loop, notes Amy Shapiro, MS, registered dietitian with Real Nutrition NYC<\/a>. While she says that there\u2019s good research to support intermittent fasting for fat burn<\/a> and weight loss (though not every study is in agreement<\/a>), it can be difficult in some real-life scenarios. For example, say a friend wants to grab lunch on a fasting day, that might mean you say no or opt for a small side salad (and suffer order envy). Or, maybe it\u2019ll require you to make a separate dinner from what your family is having. Traveling might pose challenges, too, when you\u2019re eating out more and it\u2019s harder to track calories.<\/p>\n

Consider all of those steps before deciding whether or not to jump into intermittent fasting. \u201cIf you attempt it, give it a real shot,\u201d says Shapiro. The last thing you want to do is follow it for one week, then skip it the next. That\u2019s one quick way to tank your results. \u201cGive yourself time to adjust to it. And aim to turn it into a lifestyle instead of turning it into a fad,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before you try intermittent fasting, read this guide to the 5:2 diet, an increasingly popular fasting method. You might be surprised at what you find. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":60264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7,18],"tags":[41,48,71,341,388,285],"class_list":["post-60234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","category-weight-loss","tag-diets","tag-fasting","tag-nutrition","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2nutrition","tag-weight-loss"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}