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- 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!
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.
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, 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! Number 17- ready for Spring! Any day now!
GreenEggsAndNichts · 08/04/2013 13:21
droopytulip I beleive you should calculate your TDEE at your current weight & adjust as you lose so perhaps you should try upping the cals a bit. I know it feels wrong but it has worked for others on these threads 
Perhaps as you have thyroid issues you could ask the question on MMs site, I got one answered the next day.
All this page of posts has inspired me & given me the boot I need. Will fast today & have walked & exercised. Enjoy your run bvb & bsh JM tomorrow? Are you shredding FF ?
fizz do you like ripped in 30? I need a new one, not too much plank stuff though.
Are you with me today sweet & salty ?
well i faced the scales - bang on 11st after scoffing peanuts and pringles and god knows what yesterday so not as bad as it could have been.
fasting today and fingers crossed will get to see a new low tomorrow.
dotty - you can't have long to go now
Greenfig Itsa I have done my run! I was only out the house 22mins so not an epic bit of exercise by any means but a good start. DH was making toast when I got home 
- I guess he's not fasting with me today then...
Hol was fab, thank you - I didn't feel embarrassed or humiliated by wearing a bikini in public so that was good! The padded top was impractical for swimming but balanced everything out a little bit (I'm very much a pear).
Ellen and others - I found my boobs didn't disappear as quickly as on a normal diet but they have now diminished. Sadly, not just smaller of course, but emptier 
. However, I'd much rather be as I am now than as I was!
Right, coffee next I think...
ellen - correct, not a thing! Went to the gym too 
saf brave of you - sounds like that 10 will stay within your grasp. My target is 56kg (now 57.5) as I think that's a weight I can maintain. I was 6lbs lighter when I got married in 1996 (though I did NO exercise at all then) but I don't know if I could sustain that now. I can't try on my wedding dress as I binned it along with the exH!
I'm in shock - did a post-run weigh in and I'm 10st5 - only half a pound more than my lowest weigh in a couple of weeks ago It's amazing to know that I can go on holiday without piling on the pounds - never thought that was possible. Also a relief to know that my constant eating since i got back hasn't done any damage either, sets me in a brilliant frame of mind for today's fast.
Stop eating pringles saf! 
will do bvb mind you it has just occurred to me that i can't remember the last time i bought and ate ice cream - that was probably the prime candidate for causing the weight gain in the first place so i'm glad that habit has gone. great that you've maintained so well.
yesterday i did eat crap but i didn't eat crap AND meals iyswim. i pretty much ate crap instead of meals. not healthy eating obviously but less cals than doing meals plus snacks.
hoping fasting is manageable today. haven't found it easy in the holidays.
thanks dotty.
bvb - i've never been a mealtimes slave person and i suspect that is why i spent most of my life relatively slim and even when i piled weight on didn't pile as much on as i probably deserved to iyswim.
i sometimes feel bad that my house isn't regimented around meals and whether it will be bad for ds but actually all this 3 meals a day obsession is pretty recent and invented imo. if ds has been hungry and eating all morning then he doesn't need lunch just because the clock says 12 imo. i just try to make sure when he's on an eat, eat, eat mission of grazing that the nutrition goes in there amongst the grazing. i don't really see 'meals' and 'snacks' - food is food however/whenever you eat it and it all counts.
tbh if i ate 3 meals a day i would be a) stuffed and b) the size of a house. the only time i've done it was when i was diving instructor working full time and in the water for hours at a time and my body actually needed it.
so really my weight gain is purely from the eating crap in the evenings that i got into and became quite addictive really.
sorry long post of not a lot said - procrastinating about getting on with the housework me thinks
badabing no fasting on holiday but less mindless eating too and no panicking if I got a little bit hungry!
ftf Very impressive! Well done
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monster i'm pretty merciless to my tummy but went out for my monthly fry up with my friend last week and just could not override it's objections to the food i was putting into it. my normally delicious fried mushrooms started to taste like sponge soaked in pure slimey grossness that i was trying to stick in my tummy and i had to leave them. soon after i realised i couldn't actually eat anymore of any of it 
i was full and it wasn't a pleasant full and i was quite repulsed by the rest of my plate.
so i'm hoping that yes, maybe, even i might be beginning to change my natural responses to food. i've still ordered take out a few times but have been really disappointed by it and ended up throwing loads away each time. hoping i will stop bloody ordering it at all soon.
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