Reddit reviews The FastDiet - Revised & Updated: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting

When looking around the subreddit for specific queries, definitely go with the Google search method versus Reddit's search engine. For example, before I started my first extended fast, I was really curious about electrolyte supplementation. So I put this into Google:

electrolytes site:www.reddit.com/r/fasting

It was still a lot of information to sort through, but the results are really superior to whatever method Reddit uses for its search function. Just substitute "electrolytes" for your specific keywords in that search string.

I started out with IF around two years ago, and I found these books to be really informative at that time:

The Every-Other-Day Diet (Krista Varady)

The Alternate-Day Diet (James Johnson)

The Fast Diet (Michael Mosley)

There's also a free, quick-read eBook about 19:5 eating windows by Bert Herring called The Fast 5 Diet.

For a very complete, comprehensive guides - with an emphasis on the benefits of extended fasting - my top recommendation would be these two books by Dr. Jason Fung, as well as his Intensity Dietary Management blog. He's also a co-host on the Fasting Talk podcast, which thus far has published 20 lengthy but very informative episodes.

I hope this helps!

>After hitting a plateau for about 2 months I’ve decided I’m going to go 5:2! 0 calories 2 days a week (I know I can do the 500cal crutch, but I don’t really feel like I need it) 1,000 calories 5 days a week. I’ll make the fasting days my rest from workout days and just go on long walks or do yoga or something easy like that. Of course I’ll subtract calories burned on workout/eating days, so my end total will be 1,000 calories. What do you guys think?!

1000 cal a day is crash dieting, not really a great plan even if you were doing it 7 days a week. You're hitting the 'CICO as primary' diet plateau, because your metabolic rate has likely dipped down super low to match your intake.

Remember that 3/4 or more of your daily energy expenditure comes from metabolic activity, & very little comes from exercise. Therefore if you compromise your metabolic rate, you will likely hit an unmovable plateau. You're also primed for rapid weight regain when you quit the diet out of plateau frustration (because your BMR is 1000 instead of 1500).

Your body usually tries to lower metabolic rate to match dietary input. Fasting is supposed to help prevent this, but if you've been "eating 1000 calories a day for months" as you said in a comment, and now you're plateauing, this is likely because your BMR is now closer to 1000 instead of 1500

Also the actual 5:2 diet book (The FastDiet) has a couple of protocols, neither of which you are attempting.

The weight loss protocol is 5 days of normal eating (3+ meals a day) without fasting or calorie counting, with 2 non-consecutive days of 500-600 calorie fasting.

The weight maintenance protocol is 6 days of normal eating, 1 day of 500-600 calorie fasting.

You might look into the fast diet as well. It seems that fasting reduces diabetes.

https://thefastdiet.co.uk/

The advice is two days a week, but even one day can be a real good thing.

Yup. I feel the same. I am fasting too (18~ hours). I work out before Iftar and cycle after, it feels amazing.
I can't give you a scientific explanation, but I recommend to read a book called "The FastDiet" it explains everything related to fasting.