The FastDay Forum

Am I doing this right? Having watched Michael's documentary, I started 5:2 for the potential health benefits. I'm 50 now, so mindful of things like developing heart disease, diabetes, memory loss and other age-related stuff. I'm also on a weight loss programme, counting calories, using My Fitness Pal to log all my food intake and exercise but I'd like to know whether you think I'm on the right track.

I'm a fairly active person, I have 4 horses and I ride 3-4 times a week. I poo-pick daily and I work 3 mornings a week as a housekeeper. I also run three times a week or if I don't run, I'll go to a zumba class. So I class myself as "lightly active", although realistically it would be somewhere between light and moderately active.

At the moment I'm allowing myself 1200 calories per day, but worked out over the week as follows...

1200 x 7 = 8400
Less 500 for both my 5:2 days = 7400
7400 divided by the remaining 5 normal eating days = 1480.

I don't allow myself extra for days when I have burned off 800+ calories in exercise.

Although I've been doing 5:2 since the beginning of July, I only swapped from SW to calorie counting a couple of weeks ago. It seems to be working and I'm still losing weight.

Would you say I'm on the right track?

Looking at your weightloss so far I'd say you were definitely on the right track. In theory you should be able to eat up to your TDEE on non fast days, but if your current approach suits you then stick with it

Hi,
I don't really understand why you're counting calories in such a strict way if you have seen the documentary and are trying to do 5 2 - surely the whole point is the difference between fasting and 'feasting' days and to me what you're doing just sounds like a fairly strict calorie controlled diet which is really not the point! You sound pretty active - have you worked out your TDEE? (there is a way to do it if you go to the progress tracker page). I really am no expert but it doesn't sound like in the long term you are eating anywhere near enough on your non fast days and that can eventually slow down or stop your weight loss. And for me the beauty of this way of eating is that for 5 days a week I don't 'diet' and I still have lost weight, and there's all the psychological benefits of that (as well as the physical) because I've been doing this now for a while and I have never been as successful losing weight and not feeling like I am denying myself - that's not to say I pig out on non fast days either, but I don't really 'count calories' as such. Hope you are successful anyway!

Actually before I jumped in with both feet I should have looked at the weight you've lost and congratulated you on it! Though 1200 cals a day on non fast days considering how active you are still sounds like hard work to me.

Fair comments, loversghost. The gist I got from Michael's programme was all about the internal health benefits of 5:2 - and the weight loss part was just a happy occurrence. As I said in my first post, I'm not doing 5:2 purely as a weight loss booster, I'm 50 now and really considering what is going on inside, where I can't see!!!

I HAVE to be strict with myself as this year I realised I had compulsive over-eating tendencies and I have had to learn coping mechanisms and diversions to stop this happening. (I was one of those people who just couldn't have two or three biscuits when there was a whole pack there!) But recognising I had a problem and squaring up to it helped me to re-educate myself.

My TDEE is 1848 for a "lightly active" person of my height, weight and age so by allowing myself 1480 on my eating days, I'm not hugely under... although I guess the proof of the pudding will be if I continue to lose or start to stagnate. I will bear your comments in mind and if I start to slow down, perhaps I will need to up my rations.

I am the same as you re the eating thing - could never stop at a couple of biscuits etc (in my case chocolate), but the AMAZING thing about eating like this (and I'm the same age as you) is that my cravings for such things are far less now - at first I was terrified to 'eat' on non fast days because I thought I had no control over what I ate but it seems I do now have a lot more control - and that has NEVER happened to me in a lifetime of being overweight and obese. That's why I like this way of eating so much.

Glad you didn't take offence at what I wrote - like I said I'm no expert! Good luck

I would experiment a wee bit with feed days, just so that when you get to maintenance, you have a good feel for what's good for you. Also trust in the process, a lot of us now can't overeat or if we do, it's because it's needed.

Domane, since you have lost all this weight, then there is no point in changing anything WHILE you are in the process of losing.
BUT, you need to live your life "normally" and enjoy food after you've finished losing. IMO, as soon as you lose all the weight that you wish to lose, you must start the process of increasing your daily calories without gaining weight. I did this with 5:2 (I was in starvation mode when I started) and I'm very happy!
What I would consider is jumping to 5:2 as soon as I finish with losing and eating my TDEE on non-fast days. No more, no less.

Thanks for all the comments, peeps. What I would say is that I AM actually enjoying food now. It's taken me 50 years but I'm finally interested in cooking good quality, low-fat or low-cal foods. For many years it has all been about the quantity and feeling full but now I am far more interested in flavour and trying new things. It's almost as if I have woken up and realised that food is there to be enjoyed, not just to be stuffed in until I feel full.

My husband is very lucky because he has a very fast metabolism and he burns his food off quickly doing a very manual job. He has a massive appetite and over the years the comments he made ("Is that ALL you're having???") had affected me to the extent that I was trying to eat the same amount as him, but without the metabolism to burn it off. I keep telling him that one day, it will catch up with him and he'll start to gain weight, but at 43, he's still 6'1" of muscle and no fat (sighs enviously) I'm working hard on reducing my portion size now and my stomach is gradually learning to cope with the smaller meals it receives without demanding more. I realise it won't happen overnight but I'm re-educating myself.

Being menopausal too, you read everywhere that weight loss gets harder after that, but the good thing I have found is that eating properly and healthily has knocked a lot of the symptoms I was attributing to it on the head! I no longer get woken up 10 times a night with hot flushes, nor feel bloated and sluggish.

I do intend to stick with 5:2 when I reach my target weight, so I will obviously have to increase my intake and find the balance.

My husband has lost a load of weight since I started on this. He's now eating more to compensate as people were passing comments!

Food doesn't have to be low fat or low calorie. Start to read about all the info on carbs, paleo, high carb, all the variations etc on here & the web. My thoughts have been revolutionised over the last half-year. I'm now dreaming of crackling...