Has anyone else ever tried the 5-2 diet? I heard about it on NPR, the Diane Rehm show. She said she lost 20 lbs pretty quickly, and Diane Rehm would never lie or try to tell us some bullshit, right?
I was cutting carbs two weeks before I got the call for Jo Jo, and lost two pounds in 10 days eating no carb-foods (bread, pasta, potatoes, rice). But I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about the 5-2, so I figured I could try it. Basically, you “fast” for two non-consecutive days a week, “fasting” being consuming no more than 500 calories in a day’s time. There is a scientific theory behind it, something to do with our first 10,000 years of existence being based on a hunter-gatherer diet, or some such thing. I’m sure you can google it. It appeals to me because the Nepali Hindus I know often practice “bartha”, which is a fast that limits you to milk tea and fruit all day, typically done on the day of the week that corresponds to the particular deity you want to invoke. My Nepali sister always did bartha at least once a week, if not twice.
My pre-pregnancy weight was 120 lbs. My post-pregnancy weight has remained consistently around 130. Yes, I know that that’s not fat. But hey, I used to do karate several times a week, and go mountain climbing, and pre-pregnancy metabolism was the bomb, dot com. I only had half a pregnancy, I guess, but that combined with sleep-deprivation since getting Jo Jo plus no time for my previous physical activity of choice (karate) means that I am not at my normal weight. (I’m short, by the way, so 115 lbs is totally not underweight, completely within my normal BMI, and I don’t look like a stick, either.)
I have yet to get very serious about this. But since everyone under the sun has weight loss goals for 2014, I figure I will stop messing around and actually apply myself. Check back with me in February and see if any of this still applies.
Mother of All Things 
Being a biochemist, I can see a major drawback. You would lose weight with it as long as you didn’t over eat the days following to make up for being hungry, BUT once your body gets on the fasting cycle and you lose the weight, you would have to continue to fast like that for the rest of the time you wish to keep the weight off. Once you stopped the fast your body would store those calories/fats thinking the fast would come again. It’s like Atkins. It does great, until you eat carbs again. Or the cleansing diets where you are essentially just losing water weight that will accumulate back. It will slow your metabolism on fasting days, so if you do go back to a regular diet, you will more than likely slowly put the weight back on.
You are right, you can’t overeat on the non fast days, and you should keep it up even after losing the weight. If it works I don’t mind eating much lighter twice a week.