The FastDay Forum

Hi there! I'm a 38 year old female from Seattle, WA and discovered the 5:2 diet when I was on vacation in the UK earlier this month! I have been using myfitness pal to track calories since September and joined a gym around the same time...usually work out for about 4 hours/week. I've lost only 3-4 pounds which is really frustrating since I have about 40 total to lose!

My husband is from the UK and loves to dine out and we both love our wine and beer so I find it really hard to stick to a 1300 calorie per day diet every day. But figured I could do the 500 calories 2 days and eat normally (~1300-1500 calories) on the other days and if we go out to eat or to the pub 1-2x per week and I go up to around 2000 calories on those days...it would be ok on this plan...right? I could see this working very well for me long term.

I am just going to do one fast day this week since I have a lot of social obligations this week...and want to see how I handle it...and that fast day is tomorrow.

I've discovered a low calorie wheat bread that is only 45 calories and very nice toasted so I thought I'd have that with a bit of reduced calorie cheese (70 calories) in the late morning time, then another slice of cheese in the late afternoon, then I will have around 300 calories for dinner and planned on some chicken broth with veggies in. Sound ok to everyone?

Should I order the book? Or can I find out all I need to know here?

Thanks everyone, look forward to seeing how this goes for me.

[Tracieknits]

Welcome to the forums!

That's actually not how you're supposed to do this diet. You're mixing diets up and it's just going to be extremely hard to stick to.

You're supposed to eat normally - i.e. 2000 calories for five days per week - and then only reduce calories for two days per week down to 500 calories. It doesn't have to be exact on feed days, but you should not be calorie restricting down to 1300 on feed days.

If you want to be precise, calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. You can google this term and plenty of calculators will come up. On feed days, target that number. On fast days, eat 25% of that number.

It doesn't really matter what your 500 calories are, or when you eat them, but many of us find it's just easier to eat them all in one go at dinner time. I know once I start eating, for example breakfast or lunch, I am just plenty hungrier all day.

I found the book to be very helpful, myself. But in theory I have just told you all that you need to know

Welcome to the forums - I'm glad to see more americans on board

It's seems that it's the difference between the fast and feed days that makes 5:2 work so by interjecting calorie restriction on other days you could be derailing the effects of the fast days. Your body might just 'object'.

Definitely buy the book as it helps so much when the science is explained and you can focus on what tomorrow will bring after a fast day.

Thanks everyone! Sounds like I should get the book. I shall order on amazon tomorrow but in the meantime I will still fast tomorrow... Just want to see how I handle it

[carorees]

If you order the book through this website, Moogie gets a little bit towards running costs, which must be mounting up!...link to the US Amazon site here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1231
Thanks

Hello pumismo, with this diet you should probably eat a few more calories on your "normal" days, so something more like 2000 calories, otherwise you may find you actually lose less weight. I used a TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) calculator like this:

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/ ... lator.html

Hello pumismo, with this diet you should probably eat a few more calories on your "normal" days, so something more like 2000 calories, otherwise you may find you actually lose less weight. I used a TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) calculator like this:

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/ ... lator.html

Before I learned about the science behind this diet, I thought the reason it may work was similar to the effectiveness of using muscle confusion (P90X) in exercise. Your body gets used to the same exercise and adapts so constantly changing it up is very effective. I'm wondering if that is part of the reason why you should not be restrictive on your normal days so there is a good contrast on your fast days?

Mary

Hi Mary/mijalu

I think it's about not slowing down your metabolism as 'normal' calorie controlled diets do, sending you into 'starvation mode' so that your body tries to hold onto the fat. By cutting calories (more severely) for a day at a time the bosy goes into repair mode but not full starvation!

That's how I understand it anyway!

Deb

So do most of you count calories on your non-fast days using this sort of calculation or do you truly just try to "eat normally" with fairly healthy choices and portion sizes?

[janeg]

Hello pumisimo
Some count calories, some don't. There are differing views on it.
If you are unsure of what 'normal' eating and portion size is, then counting calories to give an idea of eating your TDEE ( total daily energy) is a good idea. There are threads about this in the resources section. Some people use apps like myfitnesspal etc and find them useful. If you know your TDEE you can ensure you are eating enough on feed days, and not overdoing it.
However, some swear by the easiness of not counting calories on feed days, as, for example, a release from continual 'watching what we eat'. To have this way of eating as a long term, successful and sustainable way of life, not counting seems to make more sense.
It really depends on what works for you, and that, I think, is the joy and ease of the plan. You can suit yourself, tweak and work it to suit you.
Have a browse through the forums to get ideas and just shout if you want help.

I don't count calories on my non fast days as to me that just feels like always being on a diet, but counting calories for others seems to work and suit them well. All I do is think before I eat now on non fast days whereas before I just snacked all day long. I've also learned that feeling a little hungry isn't going to kill me and I don't need a snickers bar!

So far I'm losing around 1.5-2 lbs a week doing it this way and that includes going out at least once per week for dinner or lunch.

Good luck.

I don't count either on normal days, well only slightly in my head if I think I might be overdoing it.

As I am still in the very really stages and find it hard to imagine what 2200 calories look like I am going to count my off day calories for one day. After years of on and off dieting I don't think I have a realistic idea and would probably eat under rather than over as I am worried about eating too much.

Hello everyone, I too am new here, have just been alerted to the site by Talkinpeace,
and am looking forward to joining you all.
I am on maintenance now, didn't have much to lose, and am mostly interested in the health benefits anyway, as my mother has recently been diagnosed with dementia.

I am a 58 year old woman, I weigh 56 kilos, I am 1.63 cm tall, and my BMI is 19.
I do a brisk 3 k walk 6 days a week and pilates 3 times a week. I started 6 weeks ago, at 58 kilos.

My fast days are Mondays and Wednesdays, and I do a 16-20 hour fast on most days ie.
no breakfast, and often no lunch, with a snack around 3pm, then dinner.
I find this works well for me, as I can fit it in around my life, which involves a lot of travelling with my husband on business trips, which always involves eating out (and wine!) at night.

At least I no longer tend to gain weight on our trips, or at least, not so much!