The FastDay Forum

I'm a bit confused and hope you can shed some light on this for me!

Today I've eaten 470 calories but I have burned 802 when exercising (I wear a calorie monitor/chest strap so this is accurate)

Do I need to 'eat' some of these calories tomorrow on my feast day?

Am i right in thinking it's more about the calories consumed throughout the week ? As it stands without any exercise at all my up and down days would average out at 1200 cals per day over the week.

I burnt 802 today, it will be similar (prob slightly less) tomorrow, on Wednesday I'll burn around 450. Friday 450, Sat again around 450 and Sun around 450. If these are added to my weekly log on myfitnesspal they will definitely take me down below 1200 per day (it will be way below 1000 surely) Do you think this will negatively affect the benefits of fasting 2 days and may lead me to holding onto the weight instead of loosing? Do I need to up my cals on feast days to balance the equilibrium to make my weekly cals pan out at around 1200 per day over the week?

I hope someone can help and that this isn't too confusing!

Thanks,

Cat

[carorees]

No you can't eat the calories you've burned because it is assumed that eating normally on feed days will result in you eating to your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) which already includes the energy burned exercising. On fast days you aim to consume quarter of TDEE, so again the cals burned exercising are already taken into account.

You may not have worked out your TDEE, but the 500/600 cals allowed on your fast day is based on a quarter of the TDEE of an average person (2000 for a woman, 2500 for a man).

Does that make sense?

Hi Caroline, thanks for the reply

I went on fatsecret and my TDEE worked out at 2,200 so just to clarify my diet could look like this ... 5 days at 2,200 cals and 2 days at 550 cals. Should I still see a weight loss of 1 lb per week this way?

[carorees]

Yes, because you will theoretically be in energy deficit to the tune of 3300 cals and 1 lb of fat is worth 3500 cals. If you keep below 500 you would be even more certain.

However, the TDEE calculation is not perfect as everyone is different, so there are no guarantees! It's a good starting point though. If you don't see a good weight loss it might be that your TDEE is lower than the calculator suggests. (Or you are over eating). If higher, then great!

Today I've eaten 470 calories but I have burned 802 when exercising (I wear a calorie monitor/chest strap so this is accurate)

Is it ? The thing is calibrated to your VO2max ? You subtracted the calories you would have burned anyway ?

If your objective is to lose weight I see no point in eating to cancel out your efforts.