Eating WELL does not necessarily mean eating LOTS. There is no point in fasting two days and overeating on five – they cancel each other out. Eating well on 5:2 means eating healthy nutritious food with the occasional treat thrown in.

Your body will NOT ‘close down’ on the 5:2 – Michael Mosley explains this in the book. He also says ‘Success also depends on not over-eating on your normal days’

Whether you do ADF, 5:2 or 4:3 or even none of these if you eat more than your TDEE regularly you will gain weight.

AS Angie says, if you follow the links at the top of the page there is loads of useful information there to help you get started.

I’d say, “just eat sensibly”. Nothing’s going to work well if you throw discipline completely overboard on every food day and stuff your face on high calorie things – but the good things about 5:2 is that there’s equally no great reason to deny yourself nice foods when they present themselves, either.

I’m probably one of the earlier adopters – I started fasting to a 5:2 pattern maybe 15 months back, shortly after the Horizon programme aired, for the possible health benefits. I’ve dropped 25kg (from technically obese to a good weight for my height). Right now my weight is pretty much stable, I feel great, and I’ve even been able to cut right back, with my doctor’s approval, on medication I take daily for a permanent condition that was undoubtedly exacerbated by my being overweight. The big advantage I see now to 5:2, for me, is that it keeps me focused on not falling back into bad habits; I can eat what I like on food days, and I’m not obsessed about what it might be, but that twice-weekly fast is a constant nudge to keep getting on the scales and to just be sensible – take moderate helpings, maybe turn down that second slice of cake.

(Years ago, discussing my weight, my doctor told me “If you want to lose weight, and keep it off, you need to make the changes part of your normal lifestyle.” Unlike previous attempts to lose weight, 5:2 is working well for me to do precisely that – I didn’t even set out to lose weight with it originally, but I find it so easy to stick to that I fully intend to keep it up indefinitely.

TDEE – total daily energy expenditure

It’s the number of calories you can eat on your none fast days

You need to work out your BMR, click on resources at the top of the page and then click BMI calculator. Fill in the form and it will tell you what your TDEE is.

Hope this helps
Good luck