The FastDay Forum

Started the diet two weeks ago & haven't lost any weight - even seemed to have gained a lb. or two - is this normal in the beginning?

Start counting your 500 calories on fast days and your TDEE calories on feast days. I weigh in (post) tomorrow, but since I started actually counting a week ago, I've lost an additional 2.5 lbs. I think my first two weeks were slow because I THOUGHT I had to be within the calorie limit, but since I've been actually counting this past week, I've noticed a huge change. I clearly was eating more calories than i thought.

Good luck!

Faithful about counting my calories on fast days -sometimes slightly under 500......what is TDEE?

If you are not losing weight, it means you are likely eating to much on your feast days. No secret to this diet. You lose weight because overall, you take in less calories as a whole throughout the week. If you eat what you would normally eat to sustain your weight on the other five days of the week, you will lose about a pound a week by fasting the other two.

[janeg]

Hello Nreizian
link to TDEE http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx
it is the amount of calories required to maintain current weight, lots of discussion about iton the forum boards (check FAQs and resources).
The 500 calorie fast is approximately a quarter of the TDEE for the average woman. If you work out your own it will let you know how much you should be eating on a feast/repair day and thus what the faast day amount should be.
Two weeks in is quite early. Have you measured yourself? Many of us see inches/centimeters go before weight.
Have a check on the TDEE, measure and try to stick with it for another couple of weeks. Hopefully you'll begin to see a difference.
Oh, and try not to jump on the scales too often. I only weigh monthly!

Thanks for the info......appreciate!

I was gaining weight too when I was eating 1200-1700 calories on non feast days but I upped my calories to over 2000 and I lost 3 pounds in one week. Need to eat over 2000 like the book says.

Just a quick note: the '2000 calories' suggested in the book is a typical, representative TDEE for an averagely sized, averagely active female. And the '500 calories' is based on 25% of TDEE.

Best to work out your own specific TDEE, for your own weight, height, age and activity level and work from that.

But from my own experience and a lot of other peoples' I've read about here on the forum, the best results often seem to come from having that big contrast between your fast and non-fast days and not necessarily from reducing calories further on non-fast days.

It might seem counter-intuitive, especially if you're used to a dieting mindset of 'low calories good, lower calories better'! But you'll do yourself a favour if you really give the 5:2 a proper try - trust in the information in the book(s) and on this site, and give it a good few weeks.