Lose 10 Pounds With A 2 Day Diet
Check out my client James’ transformation where he lost a bunch of fat through the 2-day diet!
If you’d like to learn how to lose 10 pounds by dieting only 2 out of 7 days of the week, stick with me. I’ll show you exactly how to set up a real diet plan that works faster than simply restricting calories and it’s backed by scientific studies.
This is an actual “no BS” approach that will help you burn fat faster with minimal restrictions so you can maintain your weight loss for the long haul.
In fact, when comparing groups that underwent calorie restriction to groups that followed this dieting model, the participants from this group found it much easier to stick to this plan without feeling deprived and like they were even dieting at all.
Efficient diet plans
Diet plans that allow you to burn fat without feeling like a burden are my favourite approaches to fat loss. They are easy to incorporate into your busy schedule and to stick to.
Consistently sticking to a plan is one of the most important determining factors for success.
This plan calls for a form of fasting that you only have to stick to twice a week. It isn’t daily like intermittent fasting.
With intermittent fasting, you typically won’t eat only for a portion of the day, with the most common approach being the “lean gains” method where you don’t eat for 16 hours of the day and only eat during an 8-hour feeding window.
On the other hand, this 2-day diet is often referred to as the 5:2 diet because you get to eat normally five days of the week and you only have to fast two days per week. This gives you diet breaks and makes it psychologically easier to stick to.
The plan has also been studied quite a bit showing some really favourable results, especially when compared to caloric restriction models.
The one caveat to ensure the effectiveness of this 2-day diet plan is that you have to make sure that you’re not simply pigging out during the other 5 days of the week.
As I always say, your body’s present state, what it looks like today, is the result of what you’ve done for the days, weeks, months, and years that brought you to this point.
This means everything’s about totals and balance. So, if you want to ensure that this 2-day diet works for you, you can’t be completely reckless with what you’re eating during the other 5 days of the week.
Before we get into the details of how to set this up and customize it based on your body let’s take a look at a couple of studies that demonstrate the reliability and effectiveness of this plan when done correctly.
Case studies on 2-day diet effectiveness
Case Study I
One study conducted at MIT (1) found that fasting for 24 hours flips a metabolic switch in mice, causing their guts to enhance their intestinal stem cells. Fasting for just one day caused intestinal cell regeneration to double.
This means, it undoubtedly increased the resting metabolism in these mice. Even though this study was not performed on humans, the biology behind stem cells in mice isn’t very different from ours. But, let’s take a look at some human studies.
Case Study II
One study published in the British Journal of Nutrition (2), divided 27 participants between a daily caloric restriction group and a 5:2 diet group.
Those in the 5:2 group ate normally for 5 days and then weren’t allowed any more than 600 calories during their two fasting days.
Now for the calorie restriction group, they were required to eat 600 calories less per day every day.
Over the course of the study, it took the 5:2 dieters 59 days to lose five per cent of their body weight, while the caloric restriction group took an average of 73 days.
The only thing that I didn’t like about this study was the fact that there were only 27 participants involved. However, luckily there was another study done with a lot more participants.
Case Study III
This study was conducted at the University Hospital of South Manchester in the UK (3) and it involved about 100 overweight women following a 5:2 diet approach and compared them to other women doing daily caloric restriction.
Even though this study was only conducted exclusively on women, men typically experience even better results with fasting so it’s safe to assume that men would experience similar benefits.
During the two fasting days, the participants ate a low-calorie diet made up mostly of lean protein while cutting out almost all carbohydrates.
By the end of the study, the women on the 5:2 diet lost significantly more weight and body fat compared to women who tried to restrict calories all week long.
They also improved their insulin sensitivity which is a very important factor for burning body fat and keeping it off.
One thing that I want to highlight again about this study is that the participants in the 5:2 group weren’t pigging out on the 5 normal eating days, instead they actually followed a diet similar to the Mediterranean diet.
For those of you that don’t know when you’re on a Mediterranean diet, you’re mostly eating things like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, potatoes, whole grains, fish, seafood and extra virgin olive oil.
Occasionally you’ll also eat chicken, turkey, eggs, and yoghurt and stay away from red meat, processed meat, anything with added sugars, refined grains, refined oils and all highly processed foods.
The point is that on the five days that they weren’t fasting they were still eating healthy wholesome single ingredient foods, they weren’t eating cake and ice cream.
Now, I want to show you how you can customize this plan so you can experience the fat loss benefits for yourself.
Customizing your 2-day diet plan
By the end of the study, the women on the 5:2 diet lost significantly more weight and body fat compared to women who tried to restrict calories all week long.
They also improved their insulin sensitivity which is a very important factor for burning body fat and keeping it off.
One thing that I want to highlight again about this study is that the participants in the 5:2 group weren’t pigging out on the 5 normal eating days, instead they actually followed a diet similar to the Mediterranean diet.
This involves only allowing yourself to eat real food that you can find in the outside perimeter of your grocery store almost all of which will just be made up of just one ingredient.
Again you’re mostly going to be eating things like vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, potatoes, whole grains, fish, seafood, poultry, eggs, and healthy cooking oils.
Make sure you fill up on vegetables on these 5 days of the week because it’ll help fill you up without overeating.
Try to go for at least 2 cups of mostly green veggies per day. After the first two weeks as your body depletes excess glycogen stores, you can increase your calorie range on your two diet days to 35 per cent of your daily maintenance calories to continue losing weight.
Once you hit your goal weight and you want to enter maintenance, you can bump up your calories on your two diet days to 60 per cent of your normal calorie requirements.
If you’re confused about how to find your normal caloric intake, you can use my fat loss calculator.
Now before you get started with this plan, I do have to mention some potential drawbacks so you know what to expect.
What can you expect from this diet plan?
Some studies on a separate but similar dieting approach known as alternate day fasting have shown that it’s tough to stick to over the long haul.
One study in particular divided 100 obese Chicago residents (4) into 3 groups, one of which did an alternate day fast, the other did a regular daily caloric restriction, and the last didn’t follow a diet plan at all.
By the end of the year-long diet, those in the alternate-day fasting group lost about 6 per cent of their original body weight, whereas those in the calorie restriction group lost 5.3 per cent; which isn’t a big difference at all.
However, one thing that I didn’t like about this study is that participants in the fasting group were encouraged to eat 125 per cent of their normal daily calories on the alternating days on which they weren’t fasting and the type of food they ate wasn’t really tracked.
I think if they stuck to the Mediterranean or single-ingredient food approach on their off days without trying to eat extra calories they would’ve lost much more.
But, another thing they found by the end of the study was that the drop off rate for the caloric restriction group was 29 per cent, while the alternate-day fasting group experienced a 38 per cent drop off.
The good news is that alternate-day fasting (5) is tougher to stick to than the 5:2 diet because rather than just 2 very low-calorie days you would have them every other day of the week.
Also, some studies have shown that alternate-day fasting is better than caloric restriction at reducing specifically fat mass rather than just weight.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is this: individuals are all very different. Some people do remarkably well with a 5:2 diet and even with an alternate day diet, and they find it very easy to stick to over the long haul.
Other’s, especially people that enjoy snacking frequently, may do better with a diet plan that allows for a higher meal frequency.
I think most people can be successful over the long run with a 5:2 diet as long as they don’t quit early on and allow their body, their hormones, and their habits to ease into this style of eating.
When you first switch over it may be tough. But, if you’re patient I think most people will adapt.
Final Words
That’s it, guys. If you’re really truly committed to losing weight, burning fat, and making a dramatic transformation and you’re still a little confused on how to do it exactly step by step, try my 6-week challenge, where on average my clients are losing 20 pounds or 5 per cent of their body fat in just 42 days.
It comes with a customized diet plan that changes almost every week, it also comes with a weekly workout plan, and an accountability coach that gets assigned to you to make sure that you follow through on your part.
The best part is that as long as you complete the challenge without cheating and quitting you can have all the challenge material for free.
References
- MIT Mice study that showed a flipping in metabolism:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5783752/ - British journal study with 27 people:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/intermittent-v-continuous-energy-restriction-differential-effects-on-postprandial-glucose-and-lipid-metabolism-following-matched-weight-loss-in-overweightobese-participants/B165A5BA52A6B625B7A98067D3B2F39B - 100 woman study University Hospital of South Manchester:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23591120 - Alternate day fasting diet 100 obese adults in Chicago:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28459931 - Alternate day diet has shown to be more effective for reducing fat mass than caloric restriction:
Source 1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27708846
Source 2: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27569118