The FastDay Forum

I started doing 4:3 a week ago and it's going really well so far.

My only problem is, I have quite a high TDEE (around 2600) because I exercise most days. As a result of this, I'm really, really struggling to eat enough on my feeding days. I just don't feel hungry and find I'm going between meals without needing to snack like I used to before starting this WOE. I track my calories using MFP and have been trying to eat exercise calories back on feeding days - but failing. I'm worried this is all going to impact upon my metabolism/cause problems in the future.

Does anyone else experience this? Have any tips for dealing with it/increasing appetite? Is it just a case of forcing chocolate bars down my neck (which, by the way, I'm not even craving)?!

EDIT: Apologies if this is in the wrong forum - my browser was being odd and wasn't displaying all the forums to me!

Have you used the tracker on here? You don't say what type of exercise you do? Do you leave out certain food groups ( meat , carbs etc.)
I jog three times a week and never try and eat the cals I burn off as such. i always stick to whatever my calories are for that day. I look on the exercise as a bonus.

Firstly, I wouldn't worry too much, a lot of people have had the same problem on feed days, myself included, but found that it didn't last, so it could be that it's going to settle down with time.

Secondly, you don't say why you're doing 4/3 but how about giving 5/2 a try? You'd probably find that would help as it's generally the day after a fast that you eat less, so with more days between fasts your appetite would probably increase.

If neither of those things help you could try adding more calorie dense foods like nut...

@@Brand-ie I'm waiting for the tracker to be reset (dabbled in 5:2 last year and signed up to this site; quickly fell off the wagon) - does the tracker give guidance on this kind of thing?

Exercise is Body Pump 3x per week, 30-60 mins cardio 2-3x per week and 30 mins horse riding once a week. I also walk around a lot. I have a Fitbit for tracking daily expenditure and my average TDEE from the past month has been around 2600, but I'm only managing to eat around 1900-2100 on feed days and even that's a struggle.

I eat whatever I want - no food groups are restricted, but since started this WOE I haven't been craving any kind of junk food (which obviously would help bump up the cals).

@@Nicky_94 I chose to do 4:3 to kick start things, and as I have a wedding coming up in a few weeks that I want to look & feel good for. I am intending to go to 5:2 once I reach a certain weight bracket...

I guess I'm just scared of the long term effects of creating too much of a deficit by not eating those exercise calories back! Maybe I should just trust my body and my appetite though, I don't know... It'll be okay if it's just for a few weeks, right?

Are you losing weight really fast? If not I wouldn't worry too much about the exercise cals, but as it's early days I'd wait for a month or so to go by before you judge as you can lose a lot at the beginning then it evens out. A month isn't going to do you any harm judging from what you say you're eating, I think you can just trust your body.

Exercise calories are so often overestimated. Its quite possible you are eating to your real TDEE.

Exercise calories are so often overestimated. Its quite possible you are eating to your real TDEE.

This is true. I think mine are pretty accurate if not underestimated though; I use a heart rate monitor and, when I've eaten according to Fitbit + HRM calories to maintain in the past, I've actually slowly lost weight!

Are you losing weight really fast? If not I wouldn't worry too much about the exercise cals, but as it's early days I'd wait for a month or so to go by before you judge as you can lose a lot at the beginning then it evens out. A month isn't going to do you any harm judging from what you say you're eating, I think you can just trust your body.

Thanks for the advice.
I've dropped nearly 7.5 lbs this week, but when I started I was on TOM so at least 2-3 lbs of that will be water... I guess I'll have to play it by ear according to how much I lose in this next week. If it's a similar amount I'll switch to 5:2 rather than 4:3.