The FastDay Forum

Hi Everyone
Just started yesterday (first fast day). It went better than i thought it would so feeling pretty positive about it. Just wondering how much people watch what that eat on non fast days.
Been snooping on here for awhile and hopefully this is the thing to help,so sick of yo yo diets.
Thanks Cindy

*waves* Hi @Jacinda, and welcome out of lurker-hood. Well done on making it through the first fast - I think that's always the trickiest one. While it's early days for me, I'm starting to think this may be a cure for yo-yo dieting...mostly because I think it's more of a way of life that can be sustained even into maintenance.

I've chosen to keep a track of what I eat on non fast days for two main reasons. 1 - I was hoping to lose a little quicker as I have a big event coming up. But mostly 2 - I've never really counted calories before and I had no idea what a sensible portion looked like. I've used a calorie counter app, and while I've not weighed most of my food, it does help to keep me accountable. I've not found it too onerous, though I know others find it makes it far too much like a daily diet. I've also chosen to do daily weighing; I find it helps keep me on track, though again I think that's also different for everyone.

In the end I think it best to try a few different things for yourself and then decide what's going to work best for you.

Good luck, and may the fast be with you!

Welcome Cindy. This is a fabulous forum and everyone is very helpful here. I do count as I only have a TDEE of just over 1400 so can't afford slippages.

Hello @Jacinda, like @rawkaren, I have a low TDEE so when I was in weight loss mode I tracked on non-fast days. Some people do well without tracking but much depends on your current weight, activity levels, eating patterns etc.

I'm in maintenance so I've now enough experience of what I usually eat to make an accurate estimation. However, to make sure that I don't allow portion or carb creep, I will audit some days when I measure everything to make sure that my servings aren't getting larger. (This is more of a problem when DH is portioning something than I am, he can't seem to grasp that it's not a case of, "You can EAT ALL THE THINGS because you're that weight", it's more "You stay that weight because you're careful NOT to EAT ALL THE THINGS".)

Well done for your good first day of fasting and I hope that you are able to assess whether or not 5:2 or some form of IF are a convenient fit to you and your life.

Hi Cindy from Candy! welcome to the forum.
Well done yesterday,glad it went well
Non fast ( or replenish days as i like to think of them)...in theory they shouldnt need to involve counting,as most of us already know what amount is ok/ whats overdoing things..but ive had my best results when ive carefully kept to my TDEE or a bit below and an occasional ' over TDEE'..
much nicer when we don't count cals on replenish days and don't go mad either.Makes it feel much less of a diet,specially the yoyo diet,which ive done for years..and i' m sick of them too! X

Welcome Cindy and good luck! As you will see everyone is different, I do 4:3 and eat what I want on feed days, but because I fast 3 days a week I find I'm not that hungry on feed days and also I've never been a big eater, more a high cal eater remember veggies are very low calorie so eat lots all days a week.

Hi Cindy

Welcome! glad things have started well for you

How much you count calories on your non-fast days may depend on your weight status and what your eating habits were before. If you were at a stable weight before starting 5:2, then continuing to eat on non-fast days as you did before should work ok without having to count cals. (That's perhaps the ideal way to approach 5:2, and worth just doing that for a few weeks and see what happens.) If you weren't at a stable weight, you may need to work out your TDEE and aim to stick to that on non-fast days.

Best wishes!