The FastDay Forum

Just starting my 5:2 diet. I'm on week two and today is my third time fasting. I looked up the nutritional value of a sweet potato and it said that a 5-inch potato is about 112 calories. I baked it and it's so sweet and filling. Is it too good to be true? I can have two of these and be full all day.

[Tracieknits]

Welcome to the forums!
Yes, it is true. Yes, they are delicious. For most accurate calorie count, you want to weigh your sweet potato.

However, I would caution you that many of us on this forum find eating carbs (even healthy ones like a sweet potato) tend to ramp up our hunger and make fasting more difficult. We usually recommend getting the bulk of your calories on a fast day from protein and fat, plus low calorie vegetables like leafy greens, or a light, broth based soup that has things like spinach and zucchini/courgette and onion in it.

Welcome to the forum, @Mr E. Sweet potatoes are a wonderful thing and keep you feeling full for a long time because they are considered a low GI food.
I have been following the 5:2 WOL ( Way Of Life) for nearly three years and, unlike Tracie, have not cut down on eating carbs by much. When I started 5:2 I wanted/needed to make it sustainable for me and so I wasn't prepared to give up potatoes, rice, pasta, cake, biscuits, crackers etc because I enjoy them and didn't want to cut them out of my life forever! However, I have cut down on the amount of them that I eat on a fast day because there are many other better ways of using my calories. On the other days, well, anything goes - in moderation!
As a man you have more calories to use than we women so if a sweet potato, or any other carby food, sees you through your fast days more comfortably, then go right ahead. Everyone has to make their own way through this WOL and there are as many different ways of doing this as there are members of this community.
Good luck on your 5:2 adventure. It really does work!

Thanks all!