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.
Michael Mosley has recently unveiled a new website to accompany his new 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- we won't bite. Well, maybe on a fast day. 
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:
First things first, here are links to some of our previous threads: most recent one before that another one!
Another thread which breadandwine has started is a good resource for some of the links and tips 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!
Here is the link to the BBC article regarding Michael Mosley's findings, which was featured on Horizon.
B&W has found a new link to the aforementioned Horizon programme here. If you're keen to see it, watch it soon, because BBC has been quick to find these copies and shut them down online. We're hoping they'll re-play it again soon. I know these threads are popular, maybe they'll read my request.
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%).")
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.
Another food link, here is a link to the BBC Good Food site, with a list of low-calorie soups.
A BIG THANK YOU to all who have been contributing, btw. 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. Sorry if I haven't given credit where it's due, but it was just enough of a job getting all the links re-copied and back into one post.
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
5:2 Diet Thread! 12! Cheaper by the dozen!
GreenEggsAndNichts · 08/02/2013 10:09
oh wow, countryhouse. um. I haven't read that book. I would say the majority of us posting in these threads have been following a more KISS approach (an acronym from my business school days, Keep It Simple, Stupid 
, a good approach for design planning. But, I digress...)
There are many books out there now, and perhaps someone else here has read the particular book you are referring to. But I'll outline briefly what many of us who have been following Michael Mosley's advice have been doing:
Eat 500 calories on fast days, 600 if you're male. These calories can come from any number of sources, however MM suggests making the majority of them come from veg, alongside a bit of protein if wanted. This is easily done with a hearty veg soup, veg curry, or a salad.
Carbs.. well, we aren't told to avoid carbs, however most of us quickly found that eating bread on a fast day, especially early on, would only make our appetite increase and that's the last thing we want on a fast day.
My mind is still boggling at the rules and regulations you've mentioned. 
Are these newer books trying to make this very difficult? It really should be quite simple. That's the appeal!
BTW if you'd like to re-post your question in our new thread, I'll re-post my answer there. You might get more responses. I'd be interested in reading responses from others!
CountryHouse I started on the 17 Day diet about a month ago and whilst it wasn't so prescriptive as the diet you describe, cycle 1 did restrict certain food groups. Yes, it worked as it gave me the kick start I needed and I lost 10lbs in 17 days but the choice was so limited I began to dread preparing and eating the food as it neared the end of the cycle. Quite clearly for me this diet was too restrictive and not something I could live with long term, even when moving on to the next cycles which did introduce small amounts of carbs.
I stumbled across the Fast Diet book whilst wandering around Tesco a few weeks ago, where it was on offer (may still be at £2.95), read and thought that although it had many parallels to the previous diet this was a much more sustainable, flexible and any enjoyable way of eating.
I agree with the other posters, I stick to 500 cals on a fast day and then eat whatever I like on feed days, as long as I stay within my TDEE. One tip I picked up here was to initially track my cals on feed days using MFP (MyFitnessPlanner), just so that I could get a grip on portion size versus cals
Give it a go and see how you feel.
Panpiper 4kgs is really good, well done 
Thanks silver. I have lost 11kg since June last year so I'm pretty proud of myself.
Spirited - 4 options to think about.
- Are you eating too little? Tell us your calories on eating days
- Are you eating too much?
- Are you already the correct weight for your height/have a normal bmi?
- Switching after a weight loss from another diet may mean that it's not the other diet (it could have been water) but that now you're keeping off real weight. Whichever way you look at it 5lb loss in 5 weeks is GOOD! Consider it a pound a week loss, not 5 pound in the first 2 and none therafter. So focus on a longer term and see where you are in a month.
Hi dines and welcome. Get yourself over to thread nr 13 - link above!
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