The 5:2 Diet - Why I'm Sticking With It (16 Lbs. Lost)

In 2009, celebrating Janice's Birthday in Las Vegas - 197 lbs.

Last month - walking in Canmore, Alberta, Canada - at 183 lbs.


Bread pudding & ice cream dessert -of the sort we ate almost every night in Alberta (Jasper, Banff)

I know all about the widely circulated trope that "diets don't work".  Hell, I've been on some before that never lasted more than a month, and all the weight came right back.  It reached its nadir back in 2009 when a doctor's visit (after a 10 day trip to Las Vegas for wifey's birthday) showed me tipping the scales at 197 pounds. My primary doc, herself a Vegan, almost had a fit and informed me I was "playing around with my life". She wasn't lying as three years later I was getting HDR (high dose) brachytherapy in San Francisco for prostate cancer - which is still lurking around even after a salvage treatment of focal cryotherapy last year.

In May, 2016,  I  had (briefly)   - before getting my gall bladder removed - reduced my weight to 186 lbs.   This was because the surgeon allowed me (after a severe gall bladder attack on Easter Sunday night) to go on 3-week holiday to Barbados, provided I played it safe: no fats, nothing to trigger another (possibly worse) attack..

That meant scrupulous avoidance of typical Bajan fare such as fried flying fish, fish cakes, macaroni pie, fried chicken and rice with plenty of Bajan gravy, beef stew, lamb chops and pudding and souse (a Bajan delicacy )   The result? By the time of my return and surgery on May 16th (which I did a blog post on)  I had dropped some 8 lbs.  Of course, in the months that ensued all those pounds went back on - as I made up for all the foods denied the previous 5 weeks.

Two years later  the new threat that emerged was pre-diabetes, as my a1c hit 6.0 in April this year, and that motivated me to do something.  Since Janice planned to commence the 5:2 diet I decided to join her - both to make it easier for her, and to take a pro- active step in the direction of avoiding Type II diabetes.  The latter remains an ongoing battle given the disease runs in my family, but at least I have managed to now lose 16 pounds since July - when we both started it. (In the photos shown, you can see me at 197 lbs. in Vegas in 2009, and then down  to 183 in October this year -  while on holiday in Alberta, Canada)  

The incredible thing now is that in the aftermath of  getting back Oct. 6th, the weight had barely increased (by 1 lb. if that) and this was after enjoying great food:  bison steaks,  lamb chops, mashed potatoes, and desserts (see image of a bread pudding and vanilla ice cream dessert.)   The takeaway?  You can indulge on a holiday of 10 days- even without any fast days - and incur only minor damage. This morning, after the 2nd day of fasting this week (Mon.,  Wed.) I weighed in at 181 lbs. or 16 lbs.  less than that at the date of that  2009  Vegas image.

The 5:2  diet is actually an intermittent fasting program, and pretty simple. In a nutshell, you can basically eat anything you want (within reason, i.e. no ice cream sundaes  three times a day) on the plan...for five days a week. But the other two days are fast days.  That means - or did mean- no more than 500 calories a day for women, and no more than 600 a day for men.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that over any given extended time interval x (say x =  4 weeks) you end up consuming fewer calories—so you also end up losing weight.  Two separate payoffs are lowering your blood pressure (high BP also runs in my family) and regulating serum glucose levels, which includes the a1c which refers to those levels over an extended bloc of time.

It should also come as no surprise that this  intermittent fasting diet is blowing up online after a new study found that people on the diet had a lowered risk of heart disease (and a faster metabolism) than people who counted calories.  I had tried the calorie counting gimmick before - like Janice- and simply wasn't able to sustain it, not day in and day out.  ( I have been able to sustain this intermittent fasting for going on 5 months now).  Somehow, I am able (like Janice) to mentally accept the lower amounts of food and work within that framework.

Two separate payoffs are lowering your blood pressure (high BP also runs in my family) and regulating serum glucose levels, which includes the a1c which refers to those levels over an extended bloc of time.

Another note: the creator of the diet, Michael Mosley has loosened  the caloric restrictions, upping the total to 800 /day for men and 700/ day for women. This means that there is latitude to even go slightly 'wild'  on fast days - say having a turkey hot dog at night with the cooked veggies.

Another point made by Mosley, the "best results" come via fasting at least 12 hours, from previous night's dinner, to breakfast.  Interestingly, nearly every day we spent in Alberta found us with a 12-13 hrs. span from our dinner in the evening to breakfast (usually a buffet), such as at Jasper's Sawbridge Inn.  This fasting diet may well be something for people to keep in mind now that we are all facing the usually gluttonous holiday season.  Lastly, it should go without saying that exercise, e.g. walking, resistance training, ought to accompany any diet for optimal results.

See also:

https://the5-2dietbook.com/basics

And:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/12/good-news-dieters-52-relaxes-rules-allows-800-calories-day/

Facing A Pre-Diabetes Threat - And Acting

Type II diabetes is currently wreaking havoc on this nation's health system as virtually everyone not living under a rock knows. It would be bad enough if  diabetic nerve pain or slow-healing wounds were the major concern but they aren't. If little or no counter action is taken, blindness - a result of diabetic retinopathy - often follows, as well as kidney failure. My late brother John probably died of heart failure two years ago- but diabetes was also a major burden for him, including diabetic -caused blindness.

My wake up call arrived soon after getting back from Europe and having a full  battery of blood tests at my doctor's behest. She sent me a letter with the lab results and they weren't good. I won't go through all, only to note the triglycerides at 247 and the hemoglobin a1C at 6.3%. For those who don't know the lab and  most physicians define diabetes at 6.5% Needless to say, Janice freaked and I realized I had to act and soon - especially to avoid the fate of other family members including my aunt Polly and maternal grandmother - both of whom fell to diabetes.

My weight was also too much - at 192 - a result of eating 3 weeks worth of rich eastern European foods (goulash, sausages, fish soup, enormous breakfasts with multiple choices, and the desserts like Czech Tiramisu, Viennese apple strudel - and ice cream). But even before that I'd been gorging on all the wrong foods, like Ritter dark chocolate bars (I argued that dark chocolate is 'good for the heart' -  but I was gulping down a large bar each week). Plus chocolate chip cookies (4-5 gourmet large ones from Whole Foods), and chips.

Faced with the alarmingly high a1c, however, the time had come for action.

I informed wifey of my plan of action and naturally she was dubious at first. It included:

- Cutting out all packaged white and brown 'quick cook' (in 90s)  rice I'd been eating with almost each main meal - at 88 g of carbs each. To now be replaced by black rice  (also known as 'forbidden rice' or purple rice) with an extremely low glycemic index.

- NO more white, baked potatoes at the main meal, replaced by sweet potato halves instead.

- Breakfast of avocado on toast and 1 egg - replacing ham and eggs and fr. fries

- No more ordinary French fries at main meals -  now replaced  by sweet potato fries (they're in the frozen food section of your grocery)

- More fish meals (salmon, Mahi - Mahi) as opposed to burgers, steaks etc.

- Added sugars cut out by more closely looking at products with sugar in - like replacing regular catsup (with 4 g of sugar per spoonful) with reduced sugar catsup at 1 g.

- Elimination of junk foods, e.g. chips, chocolate chip cookies and candies as well as desserts, ice cream etc.

A true test came with Halloween when not one kid showed up and we ended up with two pounds of chocolate bars (mainly Snickers). I told wifey we would take a few out to eat over time, and bag the rest for next year. Since Halloween I have eaten one small Snickers and no more. (Wifey has eaten three but then her numbers are better than mine anyway.)

The main change was in carbohydrates - the quantity consumed as well as the type.

But even changing eating habits isn't enough so I began a more intense exercise program to, now going to wife's 'Planet Fitness' gym and doing a cycling cardio workout of 30 minutes three times a week  Each time going at least 5.6 miles with 193- 195 calories burned off. (No more speed walking after my doc had my right big toe x-rayed and found it was broken  - since that fall in Budapest over two months ago. So now I have to stay off it - or try to - while using an orthopedic shoe.)

The result? My weight as taken this a.m. is now 182, ten pounds less than what it was around Sept. 20th after getting back from Europe.

I didn't believe it at first so decided to try to get into a pair of waist 36 jeans I was about to give away. Pleased to see they now fit, I plan to keep them!

Meanwhile, my doc wants the a1c redone in January with other tests such as the triglycerides and fasting glucose. We will see, but I am now confident those numbers will be lower.

Will This "Blood Type" Diet Really Work? I Doubt It.

The doctor looked at our weight and height stats and was not amused. She glanced at her charts then had each of us hop up on her exam table for further pushing and prodding. After some more examination, she issued her verdict (not completely a surprise):

"You both need to lose weight!"

Ouch! This despite a lot of hiking in Switzerland - nearly two hours a day on average-  and not on flat land either! But....then there were those 5-course meals every night at the hotel we stayed at in Wengen. We easily rationalized the meals because they were provided by the hotel and at much lower cost (25 Swiss Franks each or about $29 U.S.)  than any other meals we'd have been able to get. Okay, then we could still have ditched two or three of the courses, right? Not that easy when you saw what was coming at us.

So, ok, we got back home - nearly 3 1/2 weeks ago -  and started out on our normal regimen which clearly included no 5-course evening dinners. In fact, tuna or salmon salad sandwiches and maybe an apple. The midday meals were generally my biggest and I do admit to over-doing it a bit but not like the meals in Der Schweiz.  

The good news? When we did get to see the dr. - 9 days ago - my weight was the same as before I left, wife's slightly greater. The bad news, the doc wasn't satisfied and she worried about both of us veering into Type II diabetes. Her diet of choice for us both is what she has: full vegetarian (which is why she barely weights 105 lbs.) That would mean: 1 hard boiled egg and a half orange for breakfast, no toast, broccoli, lentils and half a hard boiled egg for lunch, and 1 cup yogurt - no sugar added type, with half an apple for dinner.

You get the idea of why neither of us was enthused?  So enter then the "Blood type" diet, which has been circulating for some time. Since we're both Type O this meant following a diet that included (cf. 'Blood Type O Food Beverage & Supplement Lists', by Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo)

- lean red meats, salmon, cod and occasional chicken (2-3x a week). No pork! (Ouch! Out with the bratwurst!)

- Rice (including white Basmati) but no potatoes or breads - especially of the wheat form containing  gluten and not even my favorite (pumpernickel) which includes wheat gluten. (We can have rice bread)

-No dairy, including milk, our favorite cheeses and ice cream, but we can have butter

- No more oranges or avocados - but bananas are ok. Plenty of cherries, grapes and peaches but only one apple every now and then.

Well, you can spot the problem if one is a big bratwurst and potato eater, or one who likes to eat chicken more often than a few times a week.

Anyway, wifey, who received the Type O Diet list book a few days ago for her birthday (from one of her best friends) is gung ho about it and already ditching all the oranges left in the basket (I told her I will eat them) and has sworn off any more potatoes, ice cream and pork chops. 

I have attempted a gesture toward this diet, a few mild concessions if you will, such as no more ice cream (at least for now), no more pork chops or bratwursts (at least for now), and swearing off the cheddar cheese, for now.  However, I'm not ditching avocados which I regard as even more critical good fat source- since I've given up niacin (see my blog post on niacin's problems.) Nor am I ditching oranges, and I have made a mild compromise re: bread and potatoes: I forego hash browns or toast for breakfast, but allow a small serving (cup) of mashed potatoes or baked potato for lunch and two slices (for a tuna sandwich) for evening meal.

Can it work? I doubt it, even if I followed it religiously-  because diets don't work, period. People jump on one diet bandwagon or other (E.g. Atkins diet, "Paleo" diet etc.)  then eventually give up and go back to their no diet, normal state. Ultimately, it's not about diets but a basic energy formula: calories in =  no more than calories out.

But we will see how it goes!