The continuing thread for those of us following the 5:2 fast or other forms of fasting such as 4:3, ADF, or daily 16:8.
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 normally - or approximately your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE - see explanation below). 4:3 is the same except you fast on 3 days in the week. Alternate-day fasting (ADF) is just how it sounds; you fast every other day. 16:8 is another form where you stick to only eating in an 8 hour window each day, therefore fasting for 16 hours each 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.
NFD = Non fast day
NSV = Non scale victory
Michael Mosley has a website to accompany his book on the subject. Please go check it out, as he's the whole reason these threads started!
Lurkers and new starters: please just jump in and post - you'll find a lot of support here and we’re a friendly bunch.
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:
Our previous threads can be found by browsing 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 28 - Come and join us! The threads may be getting on a bit but the new starters keep us young and fresh!
BetsyBell · 10/10/2013 10:49
betsy!
am struggling to keep up with thread, hence not posted for a couple of weeks (that and cake shame!)
Quick Q: anyone else having problems with mfp today?
btw, new low of 60.5 kg today, not seen since 2003, a few more size 10 clothes & lots of comments on weight loss recently, so all's good :)
Hello! Thanks again for the new thread Betsy .
Be quite good to have a straw poll on the rest of this thread - anyone else got a DH joining in? Betsy yep my DH is another faster, inspired by my experience of it. He's never been overweight, has always been at the low-to-mid range of normal BMI and yet he is completely convinced by the health benefits and by the idea of giving digestion a break. He fasts once a week (sometimes twice) but eats normally at night (so no 500 cal limitations), regularly skips breakfast and his snacking has reduced so drastically that MIL and my mum complain when they visit that there are never any nibbles in the house 
.
DownstairsMixUp reading the backs of packets and learning about proper portion sizes is such an eye-opener isn't it? Aside from snacking, my abnormal portion sizes got me big in the first place. Now I am amazed at how small (but now, how perfectly right) a normal serving of pasta or cereal or rice is. Who knew a serving of bread is just one slice!
FD for me today too. Going to aim for a sub-200 calorie day and 24 hour fast (like Monday).
Afternoon all. Thanks Betsy for keeping the main threads running.
I'm another one with a fasting DH. He started with me and we have always done it together. We've been married 20 years next January and are both back down to our wedding weight . Food (and drink) is an important part of our lives, so we have never dieted and just thought that middle aged spread was inevitable. How wrong we were.
i'm on week 4 of 5:2 and have lost 7lbs so far
i've been overweight all my adult life (bar a short period 6 mths when i was ill) and this is the first time i've tried to lose weight with an eating plan and had any sort of success
it seems so easy, too easy at times, i have to keep reading the links above to check if i'm doing it right, but half a stone can't be wrong
Thanks for the new thread betsy 
I'm sitting with my feet up on the sofa under a duvet. So cold today! Need lots of 
Well done rippingyarns that's great! You should feel very pleased with yourself 
Couldn't do it........ just caved and had a hot buttered piece of toast to see me through to teatime. Not too bad given that I feel so rubbish!
TiP YES! I like that link very much - I'll add it to my doc now ready for number 29 :)
Good to hear lots of DH/Ps fasting too, this WOE suits company!
Brilliant result RippingYarns Well done! It is easy
Big HIGH FIVE to all today's fasters, hope you're all having a good one!
Sorry, bit giddy what with all the blustery wind (weather-wise) and a good fast - all adds up to ENTHUSIASTIC and slightly demented Betsy
Thanks Betsy
FD for me today. Not going brilliantly, I've got some kind of bug and a massive coldsore has erupted on my lip. Determined to persevere though. The temperature definitely isn't helping, it is freezing here.
I've had about 150 calories so far today. Dinner will come in at 400 so around 550 for the day which I am happy with.
My DH is doing 5:2 too - he actually started before me and I decided to join him and then joined this thread.
My parents also do it, and my brother, and my cousin...
NSV to share - down a back-size in bras, yay! I did a little dance of glee to myself in my bedroom as the 32 back did up without any wrestling! :) :) :)
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Whoo to Alibaba's NSV glee (but boo to feeling poo and coldsore)
The good thing about the chilly weather is homemade soups and stews ; my favourite way of consuming fewer cals!
I'm in far too good of a mood today, I don't what's come over me 
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