The 5:2 Thread number 20! Officially a score.

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

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 a 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. (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, 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!

[erikab922]

Thanks Betsy, it's weird that I am actually a little disappointed to break the fast but I seriously wanna get over this whatever it is.

[awomanchanging]

swallowed it would depend on her body fat percentage. Because although someone may be in a healthy bmi their body fat may be in the obese range which still bar the same risks as a person with an obese bmi.

[BetsyBell]

Erika Why don't you try eating to the 500 cals? If that's enough then you've still fasted and if you need more then that's fine too. Take care x

[Itsaboatjack]

I'm also 5'7" and think that at 8st I would look really ill. She looks healthy in the photo so I just struggle to believe she's 8st there.

I agree the whole article seems a bit weird. I suppose you could say she is being honest in a way about how we view our bodies. On the whole though it seems like a pointless slightly self indulgent article.

saf keep going, you can do it.

I had a boullion drink then did the school run and feel better now.

[BetsyBell]

Bouillon drink is doing the trick but I feel a headache coming so I'm guessing I'm dehydrated. I need to motivate myself to make the kids' tea and because my DH says he's fasting too today I'll then have to make another meal for us as I've only got 1 pot of handy Meal soup thingy. Keeping right out of the kitchen would be preferable

[Dotty342kids]

saf, no, I thought the same about that article eg. how did someone pretty slim to start with lose so much in a relatively short space of time. Something's not quite ringing true...

[applegate]

Right I am in the non snacking club too, I think that my constant snacking through my nfd is my downfall so I am willing to try anything!

[Dotty342kids]

Betsy, you eat the meal soup thingy, get outta the kitchen and let your DH sort himself out

[Breadandwine]

Wow, 77 posts already. Thanks GreenEggs!

Welcome to all the newcomers - some very inspiring stories on here already. I always catch up on these threads with a big smile on my face and today is no different!

Betsy and the other non-snackers - it's a NFD day for me after fasting yesterday, and I was indulging myself with some chocolate when I read your posts. In response I put the chocolate away - and in future, if I want chocolate I'll break off the bit I intend to eat and put the rest firmly away. If I want to extend the chocolate, I can have it with some dried fruit or nuts, I've decided.

Thanks for the link, Bssh, very interesting. I'd take issue with him on the large breakfast bit, but no snacking is definitely how we developed.

On that subject, if you are tempted to snack to assuage a hunger pang, or similar, be aware it will have the opposite effect, and you'll feel more hunger not less.

So if you do snack on something, you then need to reset you're hunger switch - and the longer you hold off, the easier it becomes. Drinking water, or distraction techniques are both useful in this.

ATB, B&W

[Dotty342kids]

I've had a curry cooking in the slow cooker since 11.00 this morning and I am starving, not helped by the lovely smell of it wafting all around the house.
I finish work at 5.30 and intend to be eating my portion of it by 5.31

[BetsyBell]

Dotty You are so right.

B&W I just read your recent post on the maintainers thread - upping your portion sizes instead of allowing for snacks is definitely sensible.

[mehefin]

Thank you for the new thread.

Been watching Juliette of the Herbs beautiful film about the late Juliette de Bairacli Levi.

Fasting was a natural part of her life and treatments . She used water and lemon juice. I remember reading her books and those of Scott and Helen Nearing back in the 1980s this WOE is probably speaking to the same part of me!

So many motivated fasters out there today.

[postmanpatscat]

Will read the Mimi article in a minute, but re losing 21lbs in 12 weeks 'just' by doing 5:2...that is almost what I did. I went from 10st 0.5lbs to 8st 10lbs in 75 days and then lost a further 2.5lbs within a week, so under 12 weeks in total to lose 21lbs.

Did I 'just' do 5:2? Well, I didn't do 4:3, four of my fasts were zero calorie fasts, I kept close to TDEE on NFDs even as it dropped from 1700 to 1600, I went to the gym 2-3 times a week, burning on average 400 cals each time. I'm not otherwise a particularly active person, as my Fitbit would tell you.

I am now at a weight that is ok for me (I was a stone lighter still at 18 years old, but am now 45) with a BMI of 20.4. I definitely do not want to go below 8st 7 and was content with my target of 8st 10 (room to bounce without going over 9st was my objective). I have been 8st at 5ft 4 and would not think that 8st at 5ft 7 is a good idea.

As for body fat %, the scales are notoriously inaccurate but my morning readings were usually about 33% before 5:2 and this morning it was 24.3%.

Don't want to keep wittering on about me, just trying to add another perspective!

Well done to today's fasters, dinner time is almost here!

erika get well soon.

[Dotty342kids]

postmanpatscat it's actually really helpful to read someone's real experiences of this as, lovely as Mimi seems, she is a journalist and has to write a good story!
You've done amazingly well, makes my 11lbs in four three months seem rather less impressive.
I suppose the thing to remember is that we all lose weight differently. Some quickly, some slowly, some "just" by doing 5:2, others by mixing it up a bit
As long as we all move in the right direction of down and we all feel good doing it, that's all that really matters to any of us.
Not that I'm slightly envious of postman at all

[awomanchanging]

Wow postman on the saturday, my first day of 5:2 i recorded my bf as 33% my goal right now is 25% if I could get there in 10-12 weeks as well that would be awesome. If I only lost fat, that would equate to 15 lbs. I've already lost 3 lbs but that was after 2 consecutive fasts. I'll be weighing in tmrw to see what my true loss is but your success gives me hope!

[Talkinpeace]

Ooh OOH
another thread where I can post

NO SNACKING

that makes it at least 15 of them !

[postmanpatscat]

TIP , I had some chocolate and a biscuit after school finished today, so there! Should have done as B&W suggested and eaten it at lunchtime then it wouldn't count!

[Dotty342kids]

haha TIP you will convert us all to a no snacking lifestyle eventually

[EagleRiderDirk]

I can smell tonights roast and its making me feel starving, so I was all about to grab a snack and now I'm scared tip is going to sneak up behind me and tell me off

[WipsGlitter]

Wow! I've lost 9lbs in about six weeks. Well chuffed. Weight fluctuates a lot over the week but an overall downward trend.

[postmanpatscat]

Well done wips that's great!

[Emilythornesbff]

Hi. Another "no snacking club" member here.
Easy today as I am fasting.
Tomorrow is my test. Wanna make TIP proud

[Dotty342kids]

Well I've eaten my curry and it was lovely. Still feel hungry though and am out tonight at a friend's house so will have to exert extra willpower so as not to succumb to wine / nibbles. Have volunteered to drive so that's the wine aspect sorted. Just the nibbles

[BsshBossh]

Betsy it's a fast day today so no snacking going great .

B&W my plan is to reserve nice chocolate or cake for dessert with a meal. Then I won't feel deprived and will still be allowing my digestion approx 5 hours between "feeds".

[BetsyBell]

bssh That's my plan too, keep the food to meal times, not cut them out altogether