The FastDay Forum

I've been on the 5:2 diet for about 10 weeks now. What I want to ask is how many calories should you try to keep to on the non fast days? My weight loss has been steady at 1 lbs a week, to achieve this I have been taking 1200 calories. I worried if I over eat the weight will come back on. Any advise on this would be very helpful. Thank you

Welcome Boultie. The best thing to do is to use the progress tracker here which calculates the TDEE (total daily energy expenditure ), which is how many calories your body needs to function. The one here works for me, but there are other formulas. My TDEE calculates as 1454 and I'm losing just under a pound a week. I'm happy with this as this is a slow way to lose.

Hi there and welcome.
I suggest you read the 5:2FAQ at the top of the page as this will answer many of the initial questions you may have. As Raw says(!), put your details into the Progress Tracker, this will give you your calories and you don't have to make it public if you don't want to.
Good luck!
Debs

Hi, sorry to butt in but wanted to check something along the same lines, on the progress tracker my TDEE is coming up as 2307 calories for my non fasting days and that seems like a lot to me as on average now I eat around 1200-1350. Does that seem right? thanks

Hi Hayley. Welcome. Yes it is unusual, but remember this is not a diet that you do every day. The more you have to lose or the taller or younger you are, the more generous your TDEE. Two things I have picked up and others can chip in:
Change your setting to sedentary and see what you get. I exercise very day but still work inside the lower figure.
OR Start at 2000 calories and see what happens. Give it a few weeks..

I'm short (5ft3). 50 and my weight begins with a 9, hence a low calorie allowance.

Hope useful.

It's important to remember that various calculators are just estimates of TDEE. If you really want to know exactly, you need to track calories and weight for a couple if weeks and do the calculations. Medical conditions, most notably thyroid issues, can make the calculator estimates wildly off the mark.

Another point: many here don't count cals at all on nonfast days.

Finally, if you're losing with your current strategy, stick with it.

Thank you! That makes perfect sense. I think for the beginning I will just concentrate on my fast days and not worry too much about the rest of the week otherwise I'll just over analyse everything and drive myself and everyone else mental!