The continuing thread for those of us following either the 5:2 diet or the alternate-day fasting diet. Both are two versions of Intermittent Fasting, which you can read more about here.
The 5:2 diet was featured on Horizon recently, and essentially requires you to fast for 2 non-consecutive days per week. The other 5 days, you can eat what you like. 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, on those days.
Here is a list of the links we've gathered so far about this diet. I hope I haven't left many out, but it was a 40 page thread! This is a good start for anyone, though:
First things first, here is a link to our previous thread, which we've outgrown. Lots of good support and ideas still to be found there. Here is the thread before that..
Here is the link to the BBC article regarding Michael Mosley's findings, which was featured on Horizon.
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.
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%).")
Important link 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.
And for those already fasting, here is a link to 100 snacks under 100 calories. :)
Another food link, here is a link to the BBC Goof Food site, with a list of low-calorie soups.
We often mention basal metabolic rate (BMR) here. This refers to the amount of energy (calories) a person uses when at rest; so, the basic number of calories a person needs to stay the same weight. This number is often quoted as being 2000 calories for the "average" woman, but of course is different depending on how tall you are, how much you weigh, etc. Here is a calculator which will easily help you to find out what your BMR is.
A BIG THANK YOU to all who have been contributing, btw. Most of us are new to this diet. All of the links above have been posted by others in our previous thread, and they've been very helpful. Sorry if I haven't given credit where it's due, but it was just enough of a job getting them all in one post this afternoon. wink
Come join us, and tell us about your experiences with this diet!
. I did treat myself to 3 scrambled eggs on 2 slices of wholemeal toast for breakfast 
. Busy day today so grabbed some of the veggie soup from yesterday for lunch, but grated lots of cheese into it to make it more interesting. I think all the dcs might be home tonight so we might be in takeaway territory 
and a bit of mindless telly after the day I've had!
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face. She thinks I'm starving myself and will faint at any minute. 
. So think I may go a bit overboard tonight, so if I'm a bit healthier this morning it won't be too bad. Someone further up suggested that I wouldn't be able to cancel out the deficit on feed days, but I'm pretty sure I could manage it when faced with chocolate, cakes, biscuits and crisps at work!