The 5:2 diet is a popular form of intermittent fasting that involves eating regularly for 5 days and eating very little for 2 days.
The 5:2 diet, also known as The Fast Diet, is currently the most popular intermittent fasting diet.
It was popularized by British journalist Michael Mosley.
It's called the 5:2 diet because five days of the week are normal eating days, while the other two restrict calories to 500–600 per day.
Because there are no requirements about which foods to eat but rather when you should eat them, this diet is more of a lifestyle.
Many people find this way of eating to be easier to stick to than a traditional calorie-restricted diet.
The 5:2 diet is actually very simple to explain.
For five days per week, you eat normally and don’t have to think about restricting calories.
Then, on the other two days, you reduce your calorie intake to a quarter of your daily needs. This is about 500 calories per day for women, and 600 for men.
You can choose whichever two days of the week you prefer, as long as there is at least one non-fasting day in between them.
One common way of planning the week is to fast on Mondays and Thursdays, with two or three small meals, then eat normally for the rest of the week.
It's important to emphasize that eating "normally" does not mean you can eat anything. If you binge on junk food, then you probably won't lose any weight, and you may even gain weight.
You should eat the same amount of food as if you hadn't been fasting at all.
The 5 normal days of the 5:2 diet should still involve a healthful diet, however. Loading up on sugary or processed foods for 5 days and then having a small break may not be as helpful as keeping a trend of clean eating during the entire week.
