The continuing thread for those of us following either the 5:2 diet or the alternate-day fasting diet.
The 5:2 diet was featured on Horizon in August 2012, and essentially requires you to fast for 2 non-consecutive days per week. The other 5 days, you can eat what you like, or approximately your TDEE (see explanation below). Alternate-day fasting is just how it sounds; you fast every other day. By "fasting", we mean that we keep our calorie consumption very low, around 500 calories on average for a woman, 600 for a man, on those days.
You'll find on these threads we use a number of acronyms. If you're new to the threads, or Mumsnet in general, they might not make much sense.
WOE/WOL = Way Of Eating/Way Of Life. We use this term instead of "diet" as many of us see this as something to do in the long term.
MFP = My Fitness Pal, a website many use for keeping track of the number of calories they're eating.
TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure, quantifies the number of calories you burn in a day. This measure is best estimated by scaling your Basal Metabolic Rate to your level of activity. TDEE is critical in tailoring your nutrition plan to desired fitness goals. Here is a link to a calculator to help you figure out how many calories you should be eating in a day.
ADF = Alternate-day Fasting, as it says on the tin, fasting every other day rather than 5:2.
NFD = Non fast day
NSV = Non scale victory
Michael Mosley has a website to accompany his book on the subject. Please go check them out, as he's the whole reason most of us are here!
I know a number of people lurk on this thread, as this is currently quite popular. Please just jump in and post if you're new- you'll find a lot of support here.
Here is a list of links to get you started with this way of eating. Please let us know if you find a new article or some other information online:
All our previous threads can be found by browsing through our very own fasting section of the site.
Another thread which breadandwine has started is a good resource for some of the tips and links that get lost in these big threads. In addition to sharing links, we try to condense some of our top tips for fasting there. Keep in mind, we all do this differently, so these are just tips, not rules. This might be a good place to catch up with us if you're feeling a bit lost!
frenchfancy has a recipe thread over here, please post any low-calorie recipes there so they don't get lost in these bigger threads!
If you've been at this a while and are moving on to maintaining your goal weight, there is a thread here to discuss that.
Here is the link to the BBC article regarding Michael Mosley's findings, which was featured on Horizon.
There's a link to the aforementioned Horizon programme here.
A blog post here gives some of the scientific explanation for why this way of eating helps you to not only lose weight, but improve your all-around health.
A Telegraph article which comments on the diet and gives a brief overview by Dr Mosley himself, very informative if you're just starting. (I highly recommend this for an overview)
A study discussed here gives commentary specifically addressing the effect of this diet on obese people (both men and women), with regard to both health and weight loss. ("After 8 weeks of treatment, participants had an average 12.5 lbs reduction in body weight and a 4 cm decrease in waist circumference. Total fat mass declined by about 12 lbs while lean body mass remained relatively constant.) it also mentions "Plasma adiponectin, a protein hormone that is elevated in obesity and associated with heart disease, dropped by 30%. As did LDL cholesterol (25%) and triglycerides (32%).")
Something to consider if you are currently your ideal BMI: this appears to suggest the benefits for women at a lower BMI might not be seeing the same health benefits that are found on men at their ideal BMI.
A BIG THANK YOU to all who have been contributing. Most of us are learning this way of eating as we go along. All of the links above have been posted by others in our previous threads, and they've been very helpful.
A HUGE THANK YOU to Greeneggsandnicht for putting together all this info and resources into one concise OP text, much appreciated by so many 5:2ers!
Come join us, and tell us about your experiences with this diet!
Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.
Fasting / 5:2 diet
The 5:2 thread number 27 - Season of fasts and mellow rumblingness (with apologies to Keats)
BetsyBell · 19/09/2013 16:58
as ever Betsy and fab thread title.
Well, I've overcome the FD late afternoon slump. Now I know I can make it to dinner. See you all on "the other side" :)
or 
Hello to our new thread 
.
Thanks to TIP the children have happily just tucked into beef burgers. They are blinking carnivores!
Hi everyone - it's about time I introduced myself to what seems a really supportive group. I've been lurking for a little while, picking up lots of useful tips.
I started 5:2, with the occasional 4:3, on 3rd August and (strangely you may think) didn't weigh myself at the beginning. I got around to purchasing some scales on 7th September so that will be my first reference point against which to measure progress. I think this will work best for me (psychologically) if I don't weigh too often and don't get too hung up on weight loss but think of it, when it happens, as a welcome side-effect of a healthy approach to food. I do need to lose it (BMI is 31) but risk falling off the wagon if I think of myself as being "on a diet".
Anyway, all seems to be going well so far. FDs surprisingly easy, NFDs I am settling in to (temptation is to undereat - my appetite seems reduced). Watch strap looser, bra strap looser, long boots looser on the calf, lots of compliments at work as to how "well" I look after the summer break. As a long-term IBS sufferer I am delighted also with a dramatic reduction in cramping & bloating.
Looking forward to learning from you all and getting to my first mini-target, which is to get BMI under the dreaded 30.
I am getting with the I need to eat my calorie total and feeling like I wanted a boost after my awful morning I had a snicker this afternoon but only ate half of it and put the rest back! I enjoyed what I had and really glad I didn't just blinding eat the whole thing. Even after inputting the burger and one bread roll I still have over 700 calories left 
.
There were a couple of us talking typing about ibs a couple of threads ago Sophiste. I agree - far less bloating, far less wind, far less pain
AliBaba you nutter - only the inventor of the slow cooker would have the potential to be even mildly miffed by your preferring stove-top food rather than slow-cooker!!
Ill again 
tracheitis which is pretty much the most hideous short-term illness and only children are supposed to get it - I'm 35 
So eating when I feel able focussing on protein, fruit and veg for repair.
Don’t want to miss threads like this?
Weekly
Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!
Log in to update your newsletter preferences.
You've subscribed!
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.