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
NSV = Non scale victory
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:
All our previous threads can be found by browsing back through the fasting section of the site.
Another thread which breadandwine has started is a good resource for some of the tips and links 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. 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.
A HUGE THANK YOU to Greeneggsandnicht for putting together all this info and resources into one concise OP text, much appreciated by so many 5:2ers!
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 23: Summer's really here - time to melt off those extra pounds!
BetsyBell · 08/07/2013 22:49
I am happy to say eagle that I have NOT noticed any upturn in the scales recently 
, in fact appear to have maintained my low weight despite lots of merry eating and 
over the weekend.
I wasn't going to weigh in until Friday as I was assuming one fast wouldn't be enough to shift the excesses. I was wrong
NFD here, just thinking about what I fancy eating - coffee first though!
I weight every day too, just out of interest and I don't find the fluctuations a worry. I just "count" the weigh in that I do after my second fast day of the week. So, fast Mon and Thurs usually and only really take note of the Friday morning verdict from the scales 
I sympathise Dotty. How?re you holding up? I was also up extra early and couldn?t get back to sleep. At work now grumping all over the place and my legs are feeling achey. I don?t usually struggle on FD?s but it?s one hell of a chore when you?ve had little sleep and I feel like a Pret egg may sarnie and their chocolate rice cakes would sort me out?but will have soup only. Will run errands after work then go to the gym. Afternoon off tomorrow to look forward to plus nice food which reminds me to take out the cheesecake from the freezer tonight
Hi everyone, haven't posted for a while, as a) not much to report due to deciding not to weigh self during July, and b) super-busy time with DD attending concert at Alton Towers, piano exam, transition to high school days etc. Glad to get back to work for a rest!
I have been lurking when I get the chance, though, and still finding all the activity and communication very supportive, thanks. I did cheat a bit last Friday too; although I didn't weigh myself I did measure my waist, and - half an inch off! Good news for me cos I'd been stuck for a few weeks in terms of both weight and inches, and if anything the waist measurement is the more important for me right now.
Not sure if this is what did the trick, but I had 3 fast days last week, one of them zero cals, and the other two under 500 cals and protein (tofu) only, no fat or carbs. Pretty relaxed on the NFDs though, so quite chuffed
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