The FastDay Forum

I don't count calories, but I've cut down to three meals a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner, and all three are hearty portions. No snacking between meals allowed though (which is easier to do with the 'training' you get from fasting.

I don't count either and so far so good. I do try to eat healthy food, plus normal treats of course, but I find I'm eating hardly any biscuits these days and a lot less cheese since starting this. I don't even count on fast days as I have a rough idea of what foods are about and tend to eat very simply on those days.

[wildmissus]

I don't count calories on feast days or fast days. I do however spend a lot of time on this forum so have a fair idea what I can have for 500 calories. I hope not to ever count calories again however I'll just have to wait and see how the weight loss goes.

I will never count calories again except for fast days. That is what attracted me to this way of eating. As time goes on, if the weight slows too much or if I gain, I'll just adjust my eating. But I'll never count those numbers again except for the twice a week rule.

Are we supposed to eat a certain amount of calories? A percentage of our TDEE like on fast days?

Definitely not counting calories except on fast days. That was one of the main attractions to the diet. My weigh had been constant for some time and it would be counter-productive to binge on feed days so I just stick to my normal diet and try not to have more than a couple of extra treats in the week. Seems to work and I find it easier and easier to forget abut food between meal times.

Well that just says it all for me!

Are we supposed to eat a certain amount of calories? A percentage of our TDEE like on fast days?

It's considered best to eat somewhere around your TDEE on each non-fast day.

So, if you have 5 non-fast days, the total kcals should equal around 5xTDEE with some days being under and some days being over.

Ah, I see. I rarely eat over my TBEE anyway. Thanks for the clarification.

Like so many of the others one of the things that attracted me to this WOE was the no need to calorie count. After years of yo-yo dieting it took me over a month to stop counting once I'd started 5:2. I have steadily lost 1lb/week whether I've counted or not so I'm just carrying on as normal. I eat pretty well most of the time, I rarely snack and 5:2 has decreased my appetite and so improved my portion control so now I eat what I like on feed days, I don't feel the need to compensate for my fasts and it's pretty easy

Ditto on the relaxing my need to calorie count being the main attraction for me.
Though I had success on WW the need to track absolutely everything that i was consuming, even my skinny flat whites, drove me insane, and really was why I couldn't sustain it.
Going into 5:2 I do track my fast days but that is because I am only having dinner so not an arduous task. I am now coming into my 4th week. On my non fast days, I am essentially eating what I know would have been a days worth of points on WW. This seems to be working at the moment as I have lost 3.6kg so far. I realise that soon I will maybe plateau, that is when I will probably track a couple of days properly to make sure I am getting it completely right.

I don't count calories at all.

Fast days are easy - I don't eat. Just large quantities of unsweetened black tea and black coffee.

Feed days I just make sure that it's reasonably healthy with the occasional chocolate splurge.

I think my biggest change is in alcohol free days. I've gone from 1 or 2 a week to 5 or 6 a week. Again these are easy to count.

So far the weight is coming off at a reasonably satisfactory rate but if it stops coming off I'll reconsider these decisions.

Hi Suela57,

I was really interested to read about your 7/8 hour feeding window in your non fast days as I was also doing the same thing. When I reached my target weight a few weeks ago I decided that I would adopt this way of eating on a permanent, daily basis and so far it s working a treat. My weight has never been so stable and calorie counting is now a thing of the past, I hope! If you Like a breakfast then this is impossible but as I never eat it anyway it is very easy for me to not break my fast before 12 or 1 o' clock. I really want the long term health benefits, if they exist, of fasting so this really suits me, good luck,

Ballerina x

Really? I thought we needed to count calories so that we stay under our TDEE?

I think if you are still losing weight and not counting calories carry on BUT if you have stopped losing perhaps counting calories would be a good idea,it would give you an idea where you are going wrong,with the app myfitnesspal this makes it very easy

I don't count calories on non fast days, but I am aware now of just how many calories there are in a biscuit or a cake, so am probably more aware to try not to overeat on a non fast day and undo the good work done so far.