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.
NFD = Non fast day
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 21! Soaking up the Sunshine
BetsyBell · 04/06/2013 09:04
I did 3 weeks of 5:2 very happily, then had a week off last week as we were away. I ate the most horrible amount of sugar yesterday, and I'm fasting today. Hope I can get back on track! I still haven't weighed myself so no idea what, if anything, I've lost. I reckon I have about 2 stone to lose. I get really disheartened on seeing scary figures on the scales so I'm better, for now, just sticking to the WOE. Everyone busily weighing themselves and posting their weight is much braver than me 
.
Thanks, BB!
IMO, Dr M doesn't recommend fasting for bf mums just to protect his own back. However, I can think of at least a dozen mums on these threads who've successfully combined the two.
About 24-hour fasts: I just said one day that I wouldn't eat until I was hungry - and I never was, not even when the evening meal was served up. I've gone 48 hours (when my wife was away) and still felt no hunger. But we're all different, you just have to suck it and see! 
About no snacking: I've got my own variant, NES - No Evening Snacking - which has been a life-time habit of mine. Now, after every evening meal, I declare myself to be in the zone - and I find I'm not tempted in the slightest! Weird.
During the day on NFDs I'm well aware that that snack - that first nibble - far from satisfying your hunger, will only flick the hunger switch. So I try and remind myself after every meal that the hunger switch needs time to switch off - and the longer you go (with me) the less the urge to snack.
Best wishes to all! And, to the newcomers on here, welcome - you've come to the right place!
Cheers, B&W
Much as I would like to spend the morning reading this brand new thread, 
Betsy too busy! Suddenly got a garden demanding attention on top of everything else. Just wanted to nip on to wish akarucker a get well soon, yes have nice crushed ice milkshakes for that rasping throat, cant think of a better tonic.
Hi to all newbies, will catch up with you soon, lets make the most of this salad and fruit weather.
I get the whole no snacking approach, I agree with the successfully slimmed down Bssh that its the perfect companion to 5:2, but its not always easy. Sometimes I think you need to utilise some of your fasting day techniques, such as having a drink of water or tea first, distraction etc. I would like to keep fasting forever, if not no snacking when finally at maintenance- whenever that will be.
melaniecheeks I stalked you a bit on the 5:2 forum, you look ace, like a real picture of health.
Right MUST go, got dyson filters to wash. yuk
Ooooh, I has a stalker! Very cool
I do light exercise on a fast day no problem- jogging for about 30 minutes (I'll be doing that this evening in the sunshine), or scottish dancing, or yoga. I would be a bit worried about a run of more than an hour without proper fuelling, and I know that if I try to lift heavy weights on an empty stomach I can get dizzy.
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afternoon
bit of a post and run as it's been hectic and stressful this week so far. everything sorted with dogs, child etc finally so am feeling a big sense of relief which is magnified by my period just turning up a few days early (thank god) so that i'll be over the worst of it by the time i have surgery on friday. all good stuff.
also will explain why this morning i'd popped up to 10.8 - if that's the worst from pmt this month i'll take it. am in agony but too grateful to complain
haven't eaten yet today but soon to tuck into my lovely pork casserole and won't be calorie counting but doubt i'll hit 1000 even.
hope everyone is good. thanks for thread betsy
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