The FastDay Forum

On Monday, I thought I was doing really well. Ate a massive plate of salad (leaves, tomatoes, spring onion, celery and favourite radishes). Topped it all with steamed broccoli only to discover that broccoli appears to be one of the heavier calories vegs. Or maybe I got it wrong. Hard to find the exact calorific value of a bunch of broccoli spears, steamed. Actually, hard to nail down generic non-branded items. Any hints?

Today, was all set for keeping well within limit, when OH invites to dinner with a glass of wine or two.
I managed to salvage some of the day's earlier effort by again eating a massive bowl of leaves and salad (no broccoli or tomato this time) with minute amount of dressing. And two small bits of nigiri sushi.
But I could not resist one and a half glasses of Chablis. It would have been churlish to refuse. We are so very rarely on our own. Think I am about 100 over the daily mark.
Now my question is, is it OK to make up for devoured calories by cutting back again tomorrow - which cannot be a fast day? Or does the fasting all have to be done on the same day?

To get the medical benefits of fasting, I think the fasting has to be in the same day, though the 25% of TDEE is rather arbitrary. Some people have had to ease their way into it, eventually working down to the 500/600 per fast day. Also... In terms of weight loss, a calorie deficit is a calorie deficit, it doesn't matter what day.

There are lists of calorie counts per 100g of various whole foods, for example, in the back of the fast diet book. Do you have kitchen scales?

Broccoli, apart from having wonderful vitamins and micronutrients, is pretty low-carb / cal / fat! 38cals / Carb 1.8 / Fat 0.9 / Protein 4.4 / Fibre 2.6 / per 100g - a medium size head of broccoli is about 250g.

For 'semi-reliable' UK nutritional stuff, I tend to look things up on the Tesco groceries web site - they usually have the pack nutritional information on line, and they do most fruit / veggies pre-packed.

As Mary-Ann says, the 25% of your TDEE was arbitrary so I wouldn't be too concerned about going over that once in a while. Indeed, I hope that's the case as I'm eating to 500 cals on a fast day and my TDEE is (in effect) about 1600, nearer 31%!

I happen to be doing the same, but not for fast day excesses. I went well over my TDEE yesterday by about 300kcals, so I am reducing today's meals by the 300kcals. In this weather its not hard to do. Its salads all the way at the moment.

Part of the reasoning behind 5:2 is cutting calories for 2 days a week as a way of cutting calories for the entire week. So "making up" the cut calories the next day still cuts them from your week's calorie count. It's not going to hurt you to do it.

I've gone over my 500 cals on a fast day, but my philosophy is to call the "fast" good and move onto the next day with a fresh start. 100 cals over on one individual fast day is not going to make or break this WoE, IMO. In your shoes I wouldn't worry about the 100 calories but I would focus on what to do when such a situation comes up again. Choosing to have the glass of wine or 2 is a perfectly fine option. Making the wine portion small or making it a spritzer are other options. You could also opt for another drink altogether in a pretty wine glass while you spend some time with your husband.

Weight loss deals with 'averages'. So you can overeat one day, under eat the next, and if the average is below your TDEE, you will lose weight. So yes, you can 'make up' the next day from a calorie standpoint. This will give you more information on how and why that can be done: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6600

The 'magic' of 5:2, however, lies in the two fasting days. Without them, the diet would be a normal calorie restriction diet (ie. eat a little less every day). The fasting causes things to happen in the body that are unique and helpful over time. I recommend you focus on your fasting days, eat the 500 cal. or less as recommended, and I believe the rest will fall into place. Of course, the other great thing about 5:2 is its flexibility. So if you miss a fasting day for any reason, so what? Fast some other day. Unless you are in a real hurry, in which case there are other, faster options than 5:2.

Enjoy the ride!

Really hope so because I have eaten like a pig including McDonald's for lunch. Daren't even work it out. Hey ho. Tomorrow is another day. And just like you don't die instantly of starvation on a fast day neither will I keel over from a McDonalds....I may not lose anymore for a bit but that's my fault.

Happy weekend

Claire

Weight loss deals with 'averages'. So you can overeat one day, under eat the next, and if the average is below your TDEE, you will lose weight. So yes, you can 'make up' the next day from a calorie standpoint. This will give you more information on how and why that can be done: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6600

The 'magic' of 5:2, however, lies in the two fasting days. Without them, the diet would be a normal calorie restriction diet (ie. eat a little less every day). The fasting causes things to happen in the body that are unique and helpful over time. I recommend you focus on your fasting days, eat the 500 cal. or less as recommended, and I believe the rest will fall into place. Of course, the other great thing about 5:2 is its flexibility. So if you miss a fasting day for any reason, so what? Fast some other day. Unless you are in a real hurry, in which case there are other, faster options than 5:2.

Enjoy the ride!

This is right on. Making up for a bad fast day by eating a few less calories the following day doesn't really work, because on the fast day you may have taken your body out of fast mode wit hthe extra calories.

But again, on fast days I don't follow a strict 25% of TDEE to the letter - I just use it as a rough guideline and I have been having a pretty steady weight loss.

@LizBiscuit my brain wasn't working properly when I replied last (not sure that it is now, but never mind) - I should have recommended the definitive web site for nutritional information which is the USDA database:

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list

Why I'd forgotten about it I don't know - I've been trying to find the carbs for Pinot Grigio for days and every site had a different number, but this one is likely to be sound.

I have found the Calorie King website and excellent recourse for day to day calorie tracking. You can keep a diet diary logging each piece of food you eat, sounds like it might be a bit of work, but actually it isn't. It is also a good tool before you buy/eat, there were some things I had no idea how calorific they are, so I have been learning as I go along. There are some apps for smartphones too, but I don't use a smartphone so I can't recommend any! Good luck!