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Anybody with info on HIIT or the 5:2 diet?

Em&MPattiEm&MPatti
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in Getting in Shape
Hi All!  I've heard a little bit about HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) but I'm a little confused on where to find actual exercises, specifically for jogging.  Has anybody ever used this technique?  Also, I've heard about the 5:2 diet or the Fast Diet, where you "fast" (only get 500 calories two days a week) but eat normal the rest of the days. 

Just wondering what anybody knows on these two items - any info is greatly appreciated! :)
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Re: Anybody with info on HIIT or the 5:2 diet?

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    KatWAGKatWAG member
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    edited March 2013
    the 5:2 diet is a new fab. Per the diet, two days a week you eat only 500 calories per day and the other days of the week you can eat whatever you want. Definitely not built for long term.

    HIIT work outs: You can usually find a few in magazines where the treadmill speed goes up and down over a set period of time causing your heart rate to surge and recover multiple times during one workout. I personally like to do a minute 15 second sprint and then a fast walk for 45 seconds. I repeat this about 15-20 times.
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    cnf2013cnf2013 member
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    I agree with the stuff about the 5:2 diet. Don't bother. Just be wise about what and how much you eat. 

    I also run HIIT usually once or twice a week. I do 1.5-2 mile warm up run around 6.5mph then do 2-3 minute sprints of around 7.5-8mph, then do a minute off at around 3.5-4 mph. HIIT is awesome for increasing edurance and V02 max. It's helped me a lot as far as extending the length of my runs goes and I'd highly advise working it into your routine. 
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    unchatenfranceunchatenfrance
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    edited March 2013
    As someone who is Primal and does intermittent fasting on a fairly regular basis, I think the 5:2 diet is BS.

    I do bodyrock or zuzkalight workouts as my HIIT, and when it's nice outside I go out and run sprints.

    And yeah - HIIT no more than 2 times a week. Any more than that and you will need to increase your calorie intake for your body to keep up, which is going to defeat the purpose if you're trying to lose weight. Remember that most of the energy expenditure from lifting weights or doing HIIT comes in the recovery, not in the actual exercise itself.
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    unchatenfranceunchatenfrance
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    Also, for HIIT look into the Tabata Protocol.
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    swimmy1988swimmy1988 member
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    As someone who studied Nutrition the last 6 years, I can tell you that fad diets like the 5:2 and the like do not work. With that much restriction, people tend to not stick to it, so their weight yo-yo's.
    My best advice is to start with baby steps for changes. I found it worked for me. Cutting all my favourite things all at once would not have worked. So I changed a little at a time. Incorporated drinking more water over pop, eating more whole grains, etc.

    Fad diets help nobody in the long run. People may want results fast, but they need to realize that these things take time and patience.
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    unchatenfranceunchatenfrance
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    edited March 2013
    I didn't have time for this yesterday but thought I'd write about this now. The 5:2 diet is a woefully misguided approach to fasting. In order to fast effectively you first need to be "fat adapted" - meaning you get your body to switch from running on recently-ingested, easily-digestable carbs to stored fat. And the way you do this is by reducing carbohydrates and increasing fat consumption, while keeping protein moderate (in other words, a Paleo/Primal-style diet). Once you've got that dialed in, then you can attempt to fast. During the fast (12-24 hours) your body will run on your fat stores. Then you break your fast by - guess what? - a "feast" to tell your body that there is no famine out there and that it's ok for it to run off fat stores when you purposely deny it food. Fasting, however, must be done intuitively. It should not be forced. If you have dinner at 7pm, wake up and don't feel hungry until noon, don't force yourself to eat breakfast. And you've got yourself a 15-hour fast right there. If you get up in the morning and feel hungry, eat. Simple as that. There are many health benefits to intermittent fasting as described above, as well as psychological - it has helped me develop a more positive attitude to eating, in that I know that if I have to skip a meal I can totally handle it.

    The 5:2 approach is the complete opposite of this. Forcing a fast, especially without being fat adapted, will get you nowhere - fast. All you will accomplish is that your body will burn glycogen stores from the liver and will then go into panic mode, begging you to give it quick-digesting carbs NOW. This will only worsen cravings and will send you on an insulin roller-coaster and will only set you up to fail. The sole purpose of the 5:2 diet is to reduce calories but there are far better, more effective approaches to accomplishing this.
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