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!
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 20! Officially a score.
GreenEggsAndNichts · 20/05/2013 08:27
Kaley - I agree with Ponygirl that I doubt you are 'really fat'. I am a similar height and weigh 3 stone more than you and I wouldn't describe myself as 'really fat' (and I am fairly sure others wouldn't describe me as that either). overweight and need to lose weight - yes, but not really fat. I am a size 16 whereas I suspect you are maybe a size 12 so go easy on yourself 
Don't go into this being hardcore as it may put you off and then you won't fast at all
FD for me today am 5 weeks in and they don't seem to be getting easier 
DH has only done 3 FD so far and breezes through them positive vibes my way please
Enjoyed my fast yesterday. I sat with friends while they had pizza for lunch and had my soup while ds and dh had lasagne for dinner 
.
But it was ok.
Now the greater challenge: no snacking. Eat what I like but no snacking.
I really can't decide what to eat. I'd like a piece of toast but we all know where that can lead. Enjoying a cup of tea right now
Good luck to all the fasters today.
emily, oh no, where does a piece of toast lead? I've just had one!! 
Aaaargh!
morning all
10.10.2 today so another new low. for those on plateaus i really do recommend going for a massage. worked for me and it makes a lot of sense without even having to get 'woo' about it in that it stimulates the lympatic system and breaks down fat deposits and just all round stimulates the body to drain and circulate well.
i go away at the beginning of july and i really want to be under the ten stone mark by then. that gives me just over 6 weeks to lose 11lbs which is a tall order but i'm hoping i can do it.
not sure when my next fast will be. i won't eat today till this evening though and will keep it light tonight and see where that takes me.
Just marking place on new thread, thanks once again for starting it
Just worked out I have lost a whopping 6lb in just under my first month on this wol
I'm 8.12lb this morning
My face looks like this 
saf glad to see you back on board
headintheclouds I'm the same as you, started mid Feb at 11st 8 have lost approx 10lbs as am hovering around 10st12. So, 10lbs in three months which really isn't a lot at all. However, I'm not feeling fed up with "dieting" and I feel good so I'm holding onto that and assuming that it'll drop more as time goes on.
The one thing I've got to be more careful about is over eating on NFDs. For the first four weeks or so I used MFP all the time, but then I stopped. And then I started reverting to my chocolate and cake habits on NFDs
I have no intention of cutting those things out else I know I'll start to feel deprived and grumpy but I do need to count those into my daily TDEE and that's what I've got out of the habit of.
I had a really greedy weekend and I know that the 1lb increase on the scales this morning (after fasting yesterday) is a result of that.
4 weeks in today, and jumped on the scales this morning...........another 3lb off
That's 11lb in total.
9th fast today. Feeling really good about it, especially after that loss today, so hopefully won't be too bad.
Good luck to all fasters today. Will catch up on thread later, but for now I have to go and sort out my little DD, who has more porridge on her clothes than she managed to get into her mouth! What a waste!!!!!!
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