The FastDay Forum

It's sadly true that the older you get, the less sleep you need and the fewer calories you require.

At 63, my TDEE for my lifestyle/age gives me a little under 2000 calories per day. (according to the fitgirls!!)

I KNOW I would not lose weight on that. I have also dieted successfully before, so my body's used to it. In fact, I would gain!

I average a successful weight loss of 1/2lb per week on 5 2 of 500 cals on a fast day and 1200/1300 on a feast day. I have bags of energy, am self employed (I have a successful food business) and enjoy feeling well and slimmer! I also enjoy probably the most nutritious diet I have ever had!

Do you think you need fewer daily calories as you get older, or is it just me?

I think you are absolutely right and all the research/reading plus personal experience backs this up. We lose muscle mass as we age, are usually are less active, and have hormonal issues (women especially). So yes, we burn fewer calories. I think we can mitigate this by weight training and staying active aerobically, but we have to do something or resign ourselves to gradually getting fatter or "fluffier" as a friend put it. Thanks, but I've tried fluffy and I didn't like it!

Thanks to 5:2, I think it might all work out for the best.

I'm sure you're right about needing fewer calories as you get older, but your feast day calorie intake is really low in my opinion (but then I haven't experienced much of a loss at all in the last few weeks so perhaps I need to drastically reduce my feast day calorie intake too!) I just feel that sometimes you need a bit of a break from calorie counting and it's so nice to be able to eat more 'normally' at the weekend. I don't go at all mad in the week though.

Lucky you with a TDEE of almost 2000 calories, mine is just under 1600. Age is not kind to any of us but especially to us ladies. Although I have achieved my target weight, 8st 7lbs, my waist is 28" whereas it was 24" at this weight 15 years ago and my hips have disappeared of the face of the earth. I have always been apple shaped, as opposed to pear shaped, but with age I have turned into an apple dumpling shape even with the weight loss, ah well, c'est la vie!

Ballerina x

Nobody knows your TDEE better than you do. When I started 5:2 I was dismissing calculator after calculator because they gave me very high numbers.
You can also calculate it on your own, if you carefully write down your daily calories and weigh yourself at least once a week.
I did that over the past two weeks and found a more precise estimation of what my TDEE is, which will definitely help me from now on.