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
Aw, nice to hear from you all and saf, 10st 6?! That's brilliant 
.
Just had fish and chips and some dairy milk, yum.
Fast day tomorrow!
piebaldrider I think I turned up on this too late to witness your transformation but it's a wonderful success story. Also lovely to have you back here!
I'm at an odd point - just about to hit the 6 month mark and although feel I would like to lose a bit more I'm not in any hurry to do so so am feeling relaxed about it all. At the moment I'm maintaining easily which is wonderful so I don't have that fear of turning around and suddenly realising 6 pounds have crept on from nowhere! I'm still 5:2 most weeks but it's just part of everyday life now rather than something I need to work up to or worry about too much.
On reflection, it's a good place to be.
TiP 
Now that's a good feeling.
saf good luck for Friday. x
Ok, first fast day over and I survived. Yay.
I got really hungry after work and dinner and a bit shaky. But I managed. Roll on Friday.
Just a bit about me to introduce myself. I'm 45, 4ft 10". I weigh 8 st 12. At my biggest I have a vague recollection (blotted it out of memory) of being over 11 stones and two years ago I made a decision to lose weight through the GI diet but also counting my calories through MFP. I went down to 8 stones, which I was happy with but I found it difficult to keep it off due to stress in my life.
Anyway, that's me. I hope to get to know you guys.
saf just wanted to add my best wishes for your surgery on Friday and we'll be here waiting to hear the good news 
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thank you for well wished
still 10.8 this morning. ended up having a bit of a stress plus hormones pig out last night. having said that the last few times i've thought i had a 'pig out' it actually turned out that even though i had eaten crap it roughly came in at tdee. which makes me realise just how much crap i must have been eating before on a daily basis!
looking at myself today i think i have lost weight on my upper arms at last. not as much as needs to go obviously but i can see the difference and that's pleasing. i've also been noticing that my face is looking slimmer which is nice.
right must go to work and try and make a dent in some tasks with deadlines starting to loom. struggling to be productive this week because i've been low level anxious and distracted every day. be glad when all this is over.
Piebaldrider welcome back and what a wonderful transformation . Thanks for sharing.
saf 
for your Friday operation.
Tortoise I'm not entirely sure of the science but whenever I ramp up my weight training (ie increase the weight), I go up on average 5 lbs the few days after. But it's always temporary.
I've been running (at a steady pace) for a while now, but today I shift focus and start a HIIT workout combining sprinting and power-walking. I am a little bit terrified and excited . Right. Off to do it now.
saf what surgery are you having? I've scrolled up but can't find it - hope it goes well, whatever it is.
I got on scales, post holiday, this morning and was back up to 10st 12 so about a 3lb gain but it's nothing that I don't think will shift with a couple of fasts and a return to my exercise classes next week
Hello to all newbies and all you regulars!
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