5:2 diet and pregnancy - need some experienced advice

(8 Posts)
Gentleness Tue 16-Oct-12 23:29:04

Google has failed me on this, so I'm hoping somebody here will be able to help me out...

I know several people who have made huge differences to their weight and general health by using the 5:2 diet and everything I've heard about it seems to fit well with my understanding of my own eating patterns and downfalls. Except the calorie counting (really not my thing) on fasting days and I'm not really sure I've understood that bit fully anyway.

BUT I'm 7mo pregnant with dc3. I've a fair bit of spare tyre to lose as I've always been chunky, lost weight naturally and unintentionally with the 1st pregnancy but piled it on with breastfeeding which made me insatiably ravenous. Put more weight on with pg2 and it never really came off, although I lost 12lb just before pg3. I've not put on a lot of weight so far, just had a lot hanging around already, and it doesn't make the physical side of surviving with 2 toddlers and an enormous bump (mostly fluid according to the scans) any easier.

So I feel pretty desperate to lose weight. I'm having heartburn inconsistently and really lose my appetite when I do, so actually I'm probably having at least 2 days in the week where I eat a small, healthy breakfast and lunch and skip dinner. And I can't fit so much in my stomach any more anyway which is probably helping. Can't exercise significantly due to spd. Oh, and I'm insulin resistant but definitely not got gestational diabetes or anaemia.

So, would it work to start the 5:2 diet now, maybe in an amended version, to get myself on the right track before baby arrives? Or is the 5:2 diet incompatible with breastfeeding after the birth anyway? I so hope not as I'll be bf for at least a year... I've just had enough of being overweight. My kids deserve better from me.

Gentleness Wed 17-Oct-12 09:17:17


Gentleness Wed 17-Oct-12 18:08:13

bump again - anyone know anything about 5:2 and pregnancy or breastfeeding or able to point me in the right direction?

TalkinPeace2 Wed 17-Oct-12 22:24:00

MikeOxard on the main thread is BF and 5:2 ....

MikeOxardForHalloween Thu 18-Oct-12 16:12:48

Hello, and congrats on the pregnancy. I have been doing 5:2 with an extra low-cal day a week (so that's 4:3) since ds was about 1 month old, he is 3 months and a bit now. No problems with breastfeeding at all, and he is a big boy. I put on 4 stone this pregnancy and have just got back to my pre-prenancy weight today in fact! I have been losing about 3lb a week.

I definately would not start this diet now, in pregnancy, if I were you. Wait until baby comes. If you watch the documentary about it, they explain that this way of eating does something to hormones and switches your cells from 'grow' mode to 'repair' mode. In adults this results in vastly reduced risk of various diseases associated with cell change like cancer, alzheimers, etc, which is fab and the main reason lots of people are doing the diet (personally I'm in it for the weight loss though). BUT, it doesn't sound like a good idea for pregnancy, at all, because presumably you need your cells to be in 'grow' mode when you're growing a baby. So definately wait until baby is born. xx

gentle I've been doing 5:2 since middle of august, and ebf DS3 (who is FAT!)

Anecdotally on the the thread (there are a few bf'ers, some from early in baby's life like myself) 5:2 hasn't affected our supply in any way. Not in any way we can see (and babies continue to gain weight themselves).

Scientifically, it's known supply is demand driven and supply, once established, is usually only affected by dehydration of the mother (or dwindling demand from baby for whatever reason).

When it comes to pregnancy, though, I don't think there is any one who has consciously fasted. Of course, there are plenty of women who 'fast' by way of terrible morning sickness (with my first pregnancy, the day after I gave birth I was TWO STONE lighter than when I fell pregnant - and I was healthy bmi when I fell pregnant!). In those instances, the baby doesn't (usually) suffer and gets all the nutrients/calories it needs from the mother/mother's reserves... what happens is the mother suffers (I was skin and bone when DD was born. Weak. It's not an ideal way to jump in to motherhood).

If you feel your children deserve better from you, then as a starting point, they need you to be HEALTHY. And there's a chance that you may not be if you fast during pregnancy. Not really worth the risk, is it?

Your main focus right now, if you are determined to do the best for your children (and the baby in particular) is to eat well. Eat as healthily as ms/heartburn will allow. Just try and be mindful of what you eat rather than restrict yourself to not eating at all... You can then jump into 5:2 after establishing breastfeeding!

You're doing an amazing job right now - stop beating yourself up!

Gentleness Sat 20-Oct-12 14:42:57

Thanks to you both. Great advice - and I think it confirms my instincts that it would be silly to go into deliberate fasting right now. But I definitely should put some more effort into making sure what I do eat is healthier. Yesterday I probably ate less than 600 calories, just picking really as I had no appetite and heartburn, but not any fruit at all. So there is a lot I can start right now.

Great to hear that the fasting isn't affecting breastfeeding for you. I'll be so glad to see some weightloss as soon as possible! I might start stalking the 5:2 threads a bit to get some ideas fixed in mind....

BuntCadger Thu 09-May-13 09:58:12


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