Which Is Better - 5:2 Intermittent Fasting Or 16:8?

I’ve tried both, here’s what I’ve discovered

I was inspired to try Intermittent Fasting by Dave Wentworth’s article here. The results and simplicity attracted me.

I started fasting two days a week (Monday and Thursday) from 7 pm to 7 pm (so I would eat my evening meal on a Sunday, then nothing until my evening meal on a Monday — same on Weds/Thurs).

My experiment with this approach lasted around ten weeks. Then I switched to 16:8 fasting, which I have now been doing for three weeks.

In this article, I will describe my experiences with both (including results.) I will also give my reasons for switching.

The Background

It’s irresponsible to write about weight management without explaining context because everyone is different:

I have found it a challenge to manage my weight all my life. According to BMI charts (yes, I know they don’t tell the whole story,) I have been classified as overweight or obese for most of my adult years.

I have lost weight often but never stayed at a healthy weight longer than a few months.

I’ve tried a whole range of eating plans and exercise plans. They all have their merits and their flaws.

There is not one magic eating and exercise solution that will keep you at a healthy weight all your life.

Your lifestyle varies according to these factors (and many more) that create your unique personal context:

• Age
• Location
• Health (mental and physical)
• Wealth
• Career
• Personal life

Maintaining a healthy weight is a moving target, so you need to adjust your approach over time.

I aim to live at a healthy weight all the time, but how I achieve that will vary.

I am 43 years old with two young kids. I run a startup, we are in lockdown, and I can’t do long runs (due to an ankle injury) — that is my context.

The 5:2 Experience — Plan And Results

I was drawn to Intermittent Fasting because I found my lockdown lifestyle meant little exercise and too much eating.

I’d re-injured my ankle in the backyard (lesson learned — don’t try to empty a trash can at the top of steps,) so I couldn’t continue the online workouts that had been working well for me.

I wanted to try an approach that would help control my intake of calories and help me manage my weight while burning calories through exercise was tough to achieve.

My version of 5:2 Intermittent Fasting involved doing two 24 hour fasts per week.

On A Monday evening, I would eat with the family just before 7 pm, then not consume any food (only water and tea or coffee without milk or sugar) until the family evening meal the following evening — leaving me with a 24 hour (ish) fast.

I would do the same between Wednesday evening and Thursday evening.

I was not perfect. Some weeks I only managed one fasting day, and there was one week when I didn’t fast at all. I also fell into the trap of sometimes over-eating during my non-fasting days. I want to be honest about this.

Overall, in 10 weeks, I lost 6 pounds. It wasn’t linear — I lost, regained, and maintained as I went along. The net result was a 6-pound loss (from the high water mark to the low water mark during those ten weeks).

I was OK with that.

The 5:2 plan had achieved what I wanted. During a time when I couldn’t exercise to any great extent, not only had it stopped me from gaining weight, it had delivered weight loss too, at a rate of roughly half a pound a week.

The 5:2 Experience — Pros And Cons

I loved the simplicity, clarity, and flexibility of 5:2. Plus, it fitted nicely with family life. But, hunger was extreme at times. The willpower demands were high. The article below describes my 5:2 experience in more detail:

Pros of 5:2:

• Simple and Clear
• If you have a bad day, easy to get back on track
• No need to plan different meals (good in a family setting)
• Black coffee, black tea, and herbal tea all allowed during fasting
• Flexible — I found if I did two days of fasting a week I lost weight, if only one day then I maintained.

Cons of 5:2:

• You get very hungry (obvious, but important)
• Easy to over-eat when not fasting
• If you don’t like hot drinks without milk or sugar, it’s hard on fasting days
• The ‘dread’ in the hours leading up to your fast

Why I Chose To Switch

The hunger got too much for me. I was able to white-knuckle willpower myself through on fasting days, but only if everything else in my life was as expected.

Throw in a family argument, a stressful work meeting or poor sleep, and a whole 24hrs without food became too hard mentally.

It comes down to context again. When the kids were in school and life had a regular pattern, I could manage. If school holidays or lockdown closures meant the kids were home, I struggled.

Getting towards Christmas, my context was too unpredictable — school closures came with little warning, work deadlines got tighter, family life got more stressful (good old Christmas), and fasting at the 5:2 24-hour level was too extreme for me.

I remembered reading in the original article that inspired me that there are a few different Intermittent Fasting options, so I looked into them.

16:8 jumped out at me because of the way our family eating works. We all eat an evening meal together at around 615pm. I can finish eating by 7 pm and resume eating at 11 am the next morning.

Compared to a 24 hour fast this seemed like a complete luxury! It just meant cutting out Breakfast, essentially.

The 16:8 Experience: Plan And Results

16:8 is, arguably, even more straightforward than 5:2 because you do the same thing every day. Pick your 8-hour eating window, and stick to it. Eat normally within that window (try to stick to a healthy balanced diet with all the same meals and snacks as you would have if you were not fasting.)

The usual pitfall to avoid is there — avoid overeating (either consciously or unconsciously) to make up for the time you were fasting.

I have been following this plan for three weeks, so it is too early to tell results-wise.

From my experiences on other eating plans, I know that the scales are not your only measure of progress. In terms of non-scale results, I feel I am maintaining my weight, probably losing a small amount.

The 16:8 Experience: How It Feels

16:8 is a more pleasant experience than 5:2. The white knuckle willpower period is small. I feel hungry when I wake up, but not the gnawing, powerful hunger I used to get in the afternoon of a 5:2 fasting day.

I have a black coffee when I wake up and stay busy — it is easy enough to get to 11 am.

At the other end of the day, finishing eating after my evening meal is comfortable. The evening is an area where I can see significant benefits of this approach.

Before I did 16:8, evenings were a challenge for me. I always fancied something sweet after dinner, and there was the lure of alcohol and all the savory snacks which work so well with beer or wine.

Now I know it’s not an option. After 7 pm, I’m fasting, so I have a herbal tea late evening, then head to bed as early as I can — this is a much healthier approach to evenings than I have had for a long time.

But, as is the way with all eating plans, there are drawbacks.

To work to its full potential, 16:8 requires you to live by it every single day. It makes weekends difficult. Alcohol is problematic.

I try to only have a reasonable amount of alcohol on Friday and Saturday evenings and not drink at all the other five nights of the week.

I have three choices:

• Break the fasting rules (and drink in the evening on Fridays and Saturdays)
• Adjust my eating window later for those days (which leaves knock-on consequences on either side)
• Only drink in my existing eating window (too early for my preference)

These are first world problems, I know, but I like to write about these things honestly.

At the moment, my approach to drinking under 16:8 is this — break my fast on Friday and Saturday evenings but not eat anything extra (so those savory snacks are a no-no).

Knowing I cannot eat helps me drink less because I know that too much alcohol will erode my willpower, and I will snack.

Overall I am drinking less and sticking to the non-eating windows. Again, I’m not perfect.

All eating plans need to be flexible enough that you can persevere and not give up. But build in too much wriggle-room, and you may prevent the eating plan from working at all.

So this is a work in progress.

Key Take-Aways

I find Intermittent Fasting to be a useful way to manage my weight. I can see myself using it regularly in my current life context. It is clear, simple, flexible, and it fits in with family life. It works without exercise (though results improve if you can exercise, of course.)

5:2 with 2 x 24-hour fasts a week is tough. Hats off to you if you can do it. The hunger wears you down. If you can stick to it, you get results.

16:8 is a lot easier, seems to give similar results, and feels more enjoyable day-to-day. There are some hurdles to overcome if you want to drink alcohol, but they are not insurmountable.

I plan to continue with 16:8 for at least the next three months to give myself a chance to analyze it properly. I will feedback on my thoughts once that three-month period is complete.

To answer the question set in the title of this article, in my opinion:

16:8 is a better way of doing Intermittent Fasting than 5:2.

Remember, you are not defined by what you weigh. Research to find a healthy weight for you. The weight management strategies you choose must also be healthy (physically and mentally) for your unique personal context.

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