The FastDay Forum

360 calories?

I have just done my first fast (2 consecutive days actually) and limited myself to 500 cals.

On doing some calculations I've realised my recommended fast allowance is 360, which seems a bit of a cut, I think I'm going to find it rather difficult!

Does anyone else limit themselves to this? Any advice/menus would be greatly appreciated.

Melissa x

Hi Melissa
I calculated my TDEE etc when I was about to start fasting & it was around 420 if I remember correctly.
I made the decision at the time to just stick with 500 for the time being and see how I got on. Even restricting to 500 felt like a big effort & I didn't see how a 'few' extra calories could make that much difference.

As I have progressed I am now only eating one meal on fast days, and I think I am usually below 500 with that meal (I don't count down to the exact calorie, I work out what the big things are then estimate for veggies).

I would recommend sticking with 500 (this is obviously an improvement on what you would be doing prior to fasting) and see how you progress. The last thing you want is to make this too difficult for yourself so you can't continue.
Em

Thanks Em, have you "added" any cals to your normal days?
I'm getting so confused!
X

Mine is supposed to be 401! I just eat up to 500 cal, sometimes a little less. I am losing inches and weight, so all is good.

I don't count calories at all on non fast days.
I do try and leave more time between eating and try to avoid snacking most of the time. However it doesn't always work out like that.
If I counted calories all week this would feel like too much of a chore & I doubt I would have stuck to it for this long. I know counting calories works for some people though. If you want to calorie count & get your calories right I'd say to subtract them from one day rather than cut out a little every day.

If you are just starting out I would recommend sticking to the 500 cals until you feel comfortable with fasting. Then consider dropping down to 400cals and work your way down if you feel the need.

I am guessing that you (at least initially) should be losing weight fasting on 2x 500cal days and eating to your TDEE on your normal eating days.

[janeg]

Good advice from TheFrog there.
This is supposed to be a simple sustainable WOE, I think, and while all the TDEE and BMR stuff is important it can complicate and confuse.
I would suggest sticking to the approx 500 calls, eating 'normally' on the other days and seeing how it goes. You're already losing with this regime (from your profile) so why change? Things will probably settle down to the 1lb a week average (or you could check how others with your profile are getting on in the tracker).
You may even have a coupe or few weeks without any loss.
Then, I would suggest doing the number crunching and switching things about.
Then again, I'm lazy, like things simple and enjoy this WOE for exactly those reasons...

I'm doing what TheFrog suggests. My fast day allowance should be around 450 if I calculated right. I simply try to eat under 500. The first few fasts I might even have gone over that count. Now I'm probably under the 450 as often as not, but if I go up to 500 (or even a little over!) I'm fine with that too.

If I hit a plateau, I'll look into changing things up, like reducing calories on fast and/or feed days (on feed days I eat well over my TDEE and I'm still losing so I don't worry about it).

This is my Progress Tracker information:
If you have a sedentary lifestyle this means you should be eating around 1323 calories on your feed days and 331 calories on your fast days in order to lose weight. If you have a fairly active lifestyle aim for around 1653 calories on feed days and 414 on your fasts to lose weight.

I aim for just under 500 calories on a fast day. Most days I am active and I really enjoy power walking. I would like to lose a few lbs, but I am really doing 5:2 for the health benefits

Me!!

Mine says this;
If you have a sedentary lifestyle this means you should be eating around 1462 calories on your feed days and 366 calories on your fast days in order to lose weight.

I posted a whole thread about it last week as I was so shocked. Have a look at that. I hadn't been counting calories at all, I was guessing and losing 1lb per week, so more than happy. This week I have been counting and to my surprise am eating below that anyway. On a fast day, I have green tea all day and then a meal in the evening, tonight I had baked fish with some steamed vegetables. Later I will have a 10 calorie jelly, a cup of chai and a 40 calorie hot chocolate before bed.

Hope that helps

I think ema_o's advice is right - do it as the original book states...500 cals X 2 non consecutive weekly fasts...no mention of TDEE and advice NOT to count cals on feed days - then if that doesn't work trying lowering your cals. But why not stick to the easy way first, before getting all complicated. Plenty of us here have done this and lost weight. It starts to get really confusing and frightening & disappointing when u start to over analyse it. when I started to do this, I started to over eat as an emotional measure. I then went back to basics. I know it sounds too simple and being cynics we think it can't work, on some brain level, but it does.

Mine is 375 but I'm sticking to 500. I would struggle to eat less (although some days I do eat less) and the purpose of 5:2 is not to struggle but to find a new way of life!

Mine should be around 411 and an allowance of around 1360 on non-fast days.
But A) I feel I'm reasonably active on a day-to-day basis and
B) I like to keep thing simple so I'm sticking to 500.
As TML13 says, I would also find it difficult to eat much under 500 on fast days and the purpose is not to struggle or get obsessive about this.

I'm definitely in the 'don't count calories or worry about TDEE unless the diet isn't working' camp. And remember, the TDEE in the tracker and various calculators is an estimate. Your true TDEE ( the number of calories you need to maintain weight) may vary from that.

Mine is very similiar, but like most of the other posters I do between 450-500 and definately go over my TDEE on feed days. I lost about 1 pond a week for the first 6 weeks, but it has slowed considerably the last few weeks ( Not having a lot to lose- I expected the weight to come off slowly) I am now alternating weeks with 3/4 as this is much easier for me than trying to reduce below 360 on a fast day!