The 5:2 diet was developed by British science journalist Michael Mosley.
He set himself the goal of developing a diet that would help people lose weight but not suffer from prolonged hunger strikes.
It must be admitted that he managed to achieve what he wanted, but first things first.
This diet can be classified as intermittent fasting.
According to the rules, those losing weight on this diet are supposed to eat whatever they want 5 days a week, and on the remaining 2 days consume only a quarter of the daily calorie intake - about 500-600 kcal per day.
Firstly, 500-600 kcal is enough to ensure that a person does not feel very hungry.
Secondly, fasting days should not follow one another in a row: they should be distributed throughout the week in such a way that between fasting periods there is at least one day with a full volume of calories.
The popular 5:2 diet plan involves fasting on Mondays and Thursdays with two or three small meals, and eating normally on other days.
This makes this diet much easier to follow because there are no long periods of fasting and you only have to count calories occasionally.