THE ONE-MONTH 5:2 FAST DIET WEIGHT-LOSS PLAN
The guidelines for the 5:2 Fast Diet are intentionally simple and straightforward. Diets that are too complicated or too time-consuming are very hard to follow long enough to see results.
The first thing you will need to do is calculate your daily caloric needs. On your non-fasting days, you will either be eating a diet equal to your caloric needs (for weight maintenance) or 500 calories less than your caloric needs (for weight loss of one pound per week).
There are several good caloric calculators online that you can use to determine your daily caloric needs. You’ll enter your gender, height, weight, age, and activity levels. Be sure that the calculator you use does allow you to calculate for regular exercise, a strenuous job, or anything else that will demand more calories each day. Don’t use a BMR (basal metabolic rate) calculator, as your basal metabolic rate only accounts for the calories you need to keep your body functioning.
There are several good caloric calculators available, including at:
Once you have calculated your regular daily caloric needs, you can determine your maximum non-fasting intake. For example, if you are an average woman, your regular daily caloric need is approximately 1,800 calories. If you are trying to lose weight, your maximum non-fasting daily calories would be 1,300. If you’re a male with a regular daily caloric need of 2,200 calories and you just want to maintain your weight, you would eat 2,200 calories each non-fasting day.
On the two fasting days, regardless of your regular daily calorie calculation, women are limited to 500 calories per day and men to 600 calories.
You’ll have five non-fasting days along with two non-consecutive fasting days. Your fasting days don’t have to be on the weekend; they can be any two days you think will be easiest for you to fast.
For the entire one-month plan, you’ll observe five non-fasting days and two fasting days in each seven-day period. The fasting days should be non-consecutive. Sticking to a two-day-in-a-row fast can be difficult unless you have experience in fasting. It could also set you up for failure.
Fasting Days
In Chapter 6, you’ll find several delicious recipes for meals that are 250 calories or less. While you can use these on non-fasting days, they were created to make it easy for you to plan your daily eating on fasting days. On fasting days, if you have calories left over, you can choose items from the list of snacks provided at the end of Chapter 6.
Although we provide a one-month fasting plan for you, you can also feel free to mix and match recipes and meal suggestions once you get acclimated to the 5:2 Fast Diet.
Non-Fasting Days
In Chapter 8, 9 and 10 you’ll find many delicious recipes based on nutritious whole foods. The focus of your non-fasting days should be fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and seafood, lean meats, nuts and seeds, legumes, whole grains, and healthy fats such as avocados, olive oil, and coconut oil.
You can use the recipes in Chapter 8, 9 and 10 to create your meal plans for non-fasting days throughout the month and you can also use recipes of your own. Just be sure to get a wide variety of fruits and vegetables each day and try to vary your protein sources, rather than getting stuck in a chicken breast rut.
It’s important that you eat plenty of delicious foods that you really enjoy on non-fasting days, as this will help you stay motivated on fasting days. It’s a lot easier to fast if you know that you’ll be back to enjoying some of your favorite foods in a matter of hours.
What You Can and Cannot Eat on the 5:2 Fast Diet
The following are few hard-and-fast rules about what you can and cannot eat on the 5:2 Fast Diet.
Allowed Foods:
• Fresh vegetables
• Fresh fruits
• Lean meats and poultry
• Fish and seafood
• Low-fat dairy
• Whole grains
• Legumes (such as beans and lentils)
• Nuts and seeds
• Healthy fats (such as avocados, olive oil, coconut oil, flaxseed oil, and nuts)
• Limited amounts of sugar, honey, and sweet treats (see Chapter 11 for low-cal dessert and treat options)
Foods Not Allowed:
• Fast foods
• Deep-fried foods
• Artificial sweeteners
A Note about Carbohydrates and Sugar
There are no specific rules about how many grams of carbohydrates you may consume on the 5:2 Fast Diet, but your non-fasting days should be fairly low-carb. This just means that you should get more carbohydrates from vegetables than from fruit, and more from fruit than from grains. Sweets and desserts are allowed on non-fasting days, but they should be once-a-day or every-other-day treats.
One of the purposes (and benefits) of intermittent fasting is the regulation of insulin levels and insulin sensitivity. If you’re taking in a lot of simple carbohydrates such as sugar, bread, and cereals on your non-fasting days, you’ll be more likely to have blood sugar spikes, which create a surplus of insulin in your bloodstream. Switching back and forth between high-carb days and low-carb days (such as your fasting days) can make you more susceptible to developing insulin resistance. Insulin resistance, or metabolic syndrome, can lead to excess abdominal fat, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
A Note about Beverages and Hydration
It is very important that you maintain proper hydration for good health. This is especially important on the 5:2 Fast Diet, as staying hydrated will help you to feel less hungry, particularly on fasting days.
You must drink a minimum of 64 fluid ounces of water per day! Some people find this easier if they freeze several water bottles to carry with them throughout the day. You can also pack several bottles in an insulated cooler bag to take with you to work.
On fasting days, beverages are limited to:
• Water
• Unsweetened black coffee
• Unsweetened hot tea (without milk)
• Unsweetened iced tea
You’ll find that the 5:2 Fast Diet is quite easy to adjust to after just a couple of weeks, perhaps even less. It’s best to stick with the menu plans we’ve provided for the fasting days for at least the first month, since the calories have already been calculated and the menus have been created to ensure that you get a good balance of proteins, carbohydrates, nutrients, and healthy fats.
Once your body has gotten used to this healthier way of eating and you have a good idea of proper portioning and the types of foods you should eat, you can feel free to create your own meal plans and use outside recipes for fasting days.