The FastDay Forum

My husband is very tall, 6'5" and 17 stone. We have been on the fast diet for 2 weeks now and really enjoying it. However from the beginning my husband insisted that because he is bigger than the average man he should be on 700 kcals rather than 600. Is this right? We have not weighed or measured ourselves regularly but there has been little difference in weight, perhaps a 1lb a week - which seems correct anyway. Just wondered what peoples thoughts were on this? I think in the beginning he said this out of panic at the lack of food and now he is more used to it he could probably cope ok on 600 kcals?

[carorees]

You can check out his estimated daily calorie requirements here: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Take the TDEE figure you get and divide by 4 for the fast day allowance. (TDEE is the feed day allowance).

Of course as he loses weight you have to recalculate periodically!

http://thefastdiet.co.uk/how-to-do-the-diet/ says

Then, on the other two (non-consecutive) days, you just eat a quarter of your recommended daily calorie quota. That works out at 500 calories for women and 600 for men.

http://thefastdiet.co.uk/how-to-do-the-diet/ says

Then, on the other two (non-consecutive) days, you just eat a quarter of your recommended daily calorie quota. That works out at 500 calories for women and 600 for men.

Which suggests "recommended" is the standard intake not personalised by energy requirements. At 17 stone he can afford to use a bit more from reserves.

I agree with hubby, if he wants 700, let him have them, it's so not worth worrying about.

I would guess that with moderate activity his TDEE is over 3000 ( mine is I am coming down from 18+ stone) so 700 is well within the 25%, what PhilT says about "more reserve" means he should eat 600 and loose weight quicker, which if, as you say, he is not bothered about, then go for it!

I bet you hate it that he has an extra couple of spuds mind!!! I know I would!

Hi Julietmaria,

I agree with boboff and yes, I think your husband is quite right.

For us hunky, big blokes, with target weights similar to DrMMs starting weight, then by simple proportion he can have 700 cals no problem! That's basically what I'm on at 17.5 St and am happy to average 1 lb or so a week weight loss.

It seems a bit sadistic to suggest that bigger folks should endure greater calorie deficits than skinny'uns how just want to trim up a bit (such as Dr MM).

It's the long hall that's important, and sustainability is key to long term success and the cornerstone of the "5:2" philosophy.