The FastDay Forum

Just interested to see how many people actually don't count calories on your non fast days and just are led by your hunger (and maybe the odd treat every now and again).

I'd love to do this the long term but since losing weight I have always tracked calories and am a bit scared not to!

Me. And I'm not great at it on fast days.

However, I am trying to follow a relatively healthy diet and have upped my exercise considerably to a high intensity routine a couple of times a week. I also weigh most days as I'm fairly comfortable with the ups and downs.

Oh, and my portions are smaller...I really can't eat as much and have cut out lots of snacking.

Witchy Wife,

I'm beginning my 3rd week (today is my 5th fast day) and because the weight is coming off painfully slow, I decided this past weekend I do need to count my calories on my non-fast days. Hopefully, after time and weight loss has passed, I will know how much to eat without counting. But, for me now, I realize that i was eating more calories than my TDEE allowed since beginning this WOL.

I realize you we're just reaching out to those that don't count, but felt compelled to share

Hi, I don't count calories on feed days but I'm beginning to think that I should!!
I've been eating chocolate like it's going out of fashion - far more than I used to before 5:2. Having said that, I am still losing weight, albeit slowly.

I don't strictly count calories. I have an idea of what's in the food I'm eating and try to make sure that I'm not overshooting my TDEE by too much on feed days, but I don't restrict myself to a certain amount.

I'm recording calories but not specifically counting them. Since I've only just started this WOE last week, I thought it important to see what I thought was 'normal' and what I've truly been eating by recording after I eat (exception on fast days as calories are planned prior). Turns out that I know what is normal for meals. It's the in-between and liquids (love a beer or three, lol) that's been sabotaging good eating.

I'll continue to plot my calories in MFP to track trends. If things are going well, what did I do? If things aren't going as planned, then what did I do?

I do not count calories, I have lost a stone in 11 weeks and my non fast days have included takeaways, chocolate, and my usual portions of food, I have got a lot to lose though (5stone) and I decided this way I can adjust if/when the scales stop budging. I imagine this will happen when I have less to lose.

I don't really count calories as it gets on my nerves. I have counted the fast dat ones a couple of times so I pretty much know what I can eat. On non-fast days I eat what I feel like. Now and again I might tot it up at the end of the day just out of interst and I have been surprised that even though I thought I had eaten quite a lot, it came out around 2000 calories so not that bad. I think it's best in the long term not to get too hung up about calories but to develop the sense of how much and what we should eat.

I started dieting by means of calorie counting about a year ago. When I discovered this WOL (after seeing the Horizon programme last summer) I carried on calorie counting for a while but now that I seem to have got the hang of it and have a rough idea in my head of what I'm eating calorie wise then, no, I don't actually count the calories. I certainly allow myself a treat or two on feast days and eat almost 'normally' - I say almost because my appetite has certainly decreased and my plate is nowhere near as full as it was, say, a year or so ago. However, there's always room for chocolate and the scales continue to go in the right direction and clothes continue to get baggier. That's one of the joys of this WOL you don't need to calorie count - as long as you've got an idea and aren't going completely OTT on feasts days then there's no need to calorie count. good luck

Definitely not counting calories except on fast days. That was one of the main attractions to the diet. My weigh had been constant for some time and it would be counter-productive to binge on feed days so I just stick to my normal diet and try not to have more than a couple of extra treats in the week. Seems to work and I find it easier and easier to forget abut food between meal times.

I definitely don't. I just try and balance things out. If I have a 3 course lunch in Rennes when I'm teaching, I will eat very lightly the evening. If I eat a cake I won't have lunch. That sort of thing, but no counting. Life is too short!

I haven't been counting calories on feed days and on fast days I have been having the same evening meal every time for the last six weeks out of sheer laziness (salmon + veg)

So far I have not really needed to watch my intake on feed days because I am finding that I am not all that hungry and am not really fancying naughty foods. For me, considering my past diet history, this is like some sort of miracle!

Julesaw wrote: Hi, I don't count calories on feed days but I'm beginning to think that I should!!
I've been eating chocolate like it's going out of fashion - far more than I used to before 5:2. Having said that, I am still losing weight, albeit slowly.

I'm so glad it's not just me - I've been a chocolate eating monster since starting the 5:2. Fast day 11 today and I'm already thinking about chocolatey treats for tomorrow!! 7lbs lost so far so I must be doing something right - who'd have thought - a diet that works AND you can still eat chocolate! Amazing!

I haven't got time for weighing my food or calorie counting. I trust my luck and hope for the best. Healthy eating, smaller portions and no grazing is how I manage.

I don't count calories, but I do have a 7-8 hour feeding window on feed days. I don't eat until 1pm and I don't eat after dinner.It stops loading up on forbidden foods before a fast day mainly and means a 16 -17 hour period of fasting every day. In between 1pm and 8-9pm anything goes!!!