The FastDay Forum

Like many others I can't believe that's 500 cals. I weigh my food and get way more than that, though being male am allowed 600. I wouldn't have anything with sweet in its name so would skip the sauce or a tiny quantity, and we steam or microwave rather than fry on fast days.

Lots of good advice here Belladonna. In addition you really dont have anything to lose, you are already in a healthy weight range for your height. Use the calculator on this site to work out TDEE and your BMI. My fitness pal is also a great tool for tracking calories.

hi there,
I wonder if the sweet tea is actually stimulating the feeling to feel hungry..?

hi there,
I wonder if the sweet tea is actually stimulating the feeling to feel hungry..?

That's what I'm wondering too. On a fast day I try to stay away from sugar and carbs otherwise it triggers hunger and cravings for more sugar later on.

When I first started 5:2 I didn't always make it at/under 500cal. Eventually I started consuming less than 500cal because I didn't have an appetite (I had hunger but felt no urge to eat). Now I don't count calories. I have a rough idea of what I can eat on a fast day and come close. If I am going over on a regular basis, it's not impacting my ability to lose weight. I'm sure not every one can say that but eating more than 500cal on a fast day should just translate to slower weight loss.

Things I do to keep calories down on a fast day:

Stay away from sugar/carbs including fruit. I just end up hungrier later.
Avoid/minimize fats. They add considerably to the total calorie count. You could have had your eggs hard-boiled or microwaved, rather than frying in oil, to save on those calories. It's tricky though because sometimes a little fat satisfies my hunger more than fat-free food.
Make peace with being hungry! Easier said than done really, but when I get hungry, I remind myself that it's ok to be hungry and not eat. It won't hurt me.
If I find myself weakening, I have something salty... dill pickles or green olives or some miso soup. I learned this trick here on these forums. Often that satisfies me enough to keep me from giving in to temptation.

This is an interesting topic as according to my personal stats I should be eating 340 - 500 calories per day. Managing to keep to around the 500 figure but it's quite easy to go above it - hence I am currently counting the calories every day.