5:2 Diet...Starting today

You aren't supposed to create a calorie deficit on non fasting days. Creating huge calorie deficits on fasting days and another deficit on non fasting days is a recipe for substantial muscle loss. On non fasting days you are actually supposed to eat more calories than you burn. IMO, this program is design for someone who isn't counting calories.

BTW, go into the groups and look at 5:2 or interim fasting. There are tons of people doing it and can answer specific questions.

There's at least 2 groups especially for 5:2 eating herre on MFP - lots of great information and questions answered on them.

Good for you for starting this new way of eating. I bought the book and it actually recommends myfitnesspas.com as a good tool to use for the two days you are monitoring your calories (the fast days). For a woman, any two days a week you want, you only consume 500 calories. It can be eaten all at once, as one meal, or broken down into 2 meals or 2 meals + snack or 3 meals. I am vegan and I like having all three meals plus a snack. It's amazing how you can make 500 calories fill you up, you just have to eat very healthily. Make sure you drink all your water. I follow this on Tuesdays and Thursdays for my fast days (not really a true fast because you get to eat!) and then try to follow the recommended calories for my age, weight, etc., recommended on MFP. I don't worry about it if I am over because technically it doesn't matter for the other five days. I find that the fasting has reduced my appetite so even when I want to splurge, I am still watching what I eat. My breakfast on a fast day is usually half a vegan chicken breast which breaks down to 80 cal.; I have a snack at noon of an organic apple for another 80 cal.; for lunch I have a cup of potato leek soup or vegetable soup for another 80 cal. That leaves me with 260 cals for supper which is the other half of the chicken breast, 1/2 cup brown rice with some Bragg soya sauce, and 1/2 cup of brussel sprouts with a tiny bit of Earth balance butter on it. The whole thing works for me and believe me the weight has been falling off. I lost 15/16 lbs the first 3 weeks and since then have been maintaining, but I can feel a drop coming on. The only other thing I would attribute to my success so far is that I have been taking about 2 oz of Aloe Vera juice (organic) every morning. I started this about a week before I started the diet because I wanted to improve my nail health and for some reason it seems to have cut out my cravings for salty and sugary snack food. I wasn't looking for this but it's a bonus as far as I'm concerned because I'm literally craving free. I looked it up and there is some documentation on Aloe's effects on your system in this respect. I just began doing the 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michael (14 days ago) and maybe that is helping as well. I am feeling so positive and happy with what I am doing that I can only say, this diet is worth a shot. Oh, yes, I gave blood last week and my hemogloban was at 131, my blood pressure 112/68 and my temperature normal, so I guess I'm pretty healthy overall. I take no medication of any kind so I don't have anything interferring there either. On Friday nighs we will be going out to Swiss Chalet where I will have the veggie burger with fries. These days I'm actually only eating half the bun and half the fries, but it's still a major junk food treat. I sincerely believe this is a new way to live for me and I hope you have the same great results.

Last week I started the 16/8 plan and did well. Eventhough I thought i would be famished by the time 6pm came around, that was not the case. In fact, I had trouble eating during my 8 hr window. I did that particular one for a week. This week I'm trying the 24 hr fasting 2-3 days a week. My intention is to determine which I prefer and which will work better for me with my busy schedule. I have not really found anywhere that states how many calories to consume on non fasting days only to attempt to make "healthy" choices. I'm still learning so am looking for all the info I can find.

Berkhan recommends women start at 14:10, and can try moving towards 16:8 but there are hormonal differences that make the 14:10 often work better for women. Men use the 16:8.

And Pilon w ESE only rec's 1 or 2 24hr weekly fasts, not 2-3 ... unless you were going for ADF-style?

I found this one a little difficult. What I have been doing now is eating in a 6 hour window and fasting around it. For example I don't eat after 7pm and I don't eat again until 1pm. I have lunch at 1:00 and then dinner at 6pm. Rarely do I eat anything from after 6:00 but I keep the window at 7pm just in case. I have found that even with this I am full after 1500 calories. I have lost 3 lbs in 1 week. So its going well for me. I feel good and I'm not hungry or thinking about food all the time. Good luck!