I limit myself to 600 calories per day on fasting days. That gives me a deficit of 2600 calories compared to my TDEE of around 3200.

It’s 5:07pm and I haven’t eaten yet because I’m not hungry. I had planned to have some soup.

I’ve had 2 cups of coffee, one with unsweetened soy milk and one with unsweetened almond milk. I’m going to have another cup of coffee with unsweetened almond milk now. Coffee doesn’t keep me awake so it isn’t a problem. 100 ml of unsweetened almond milk in my coffee is only 16 calories. 100 ml of unsweetened soy milk is only 33 calories.

I bought some broccoli to have tonight (I usually steam it). I love broccoli. I might have some butter or melted cheese with it because I’ve got a few hundred calories up my sleeve. But I’m more than happy to eat just plain broccoli on my fasting days.

Today is my first day of 5:2
Fd
Black coffee
Green tea
I had 3 tablespoons of Greek yougurt with blueberries at 12.30 – around 80 calories
Apple at 15.30 -80 calories
Miso soup,mixed steamed vegetable packet.3 tablespoons of cooked Chickpeas 150 cal

Snack 10. raspberries ? 40 cal

Iam not sure whether calorie count is all correct
Feel lighter and good

I aim for roughly 500 calories on a FD which only gives me a calorie deficit of 900cals, as I have a low TDEE of 1400. I used to be very careful about staying counting the 500, but now that I’m using 5:2 for maintenance and I use the same foods I no longer need to count. So that I could give helpful information I went back and converted the last three FDs.

For the first few weeks I tried lots of FD recipies, but I quickly discovered that FD meals need to take little physical or mental effort for me so I settled on a small range of things I make repeatedly.
On FDs the only meal I eat is Dinner, so it gets the bulk of my calories – usually 200-325cals. I always allow calories for up to 1 cup of milk as I like cups of milky tea without sugar and it’s these that help me to get through to dinner on a FD fairly easily. I sometimes have a small piece of fruit mid-afternoon on a FD, but I don’t always need it.
Dinner is one of the following:
– veggie stir fry with either chicken, prawns, squid or cashew nuts and sometimes also konjac noodles.
– omelette with a green vegetable filling (asparagus, spinach or brocolli) and 5-10g parmesan.
– Any soup that contains both vegetables and legumes (this is a cold weather choice only for me)
– Any salad containing lots of green leafy veg plus whatever else is in season. Protein will be either tinned salmon, cooked chicken or ricotta cheese. (this is a hot weather choice only for me)

Yesterday I did a FD that was atypical for me::
9:30am – pot of tea with milk (2 tea cups)
12:45pm – smoothie made from home made 200ml kefir, 1/4 cup frozen blueberries, vanilla extract and ice cubes
2:30pm – pot of tea with milk (2 tea cups)
4:45pm – stir fry of broccoli, beans, cashew nuts and konjac noodles with tamari sauce, garlic, ginger and chilli. Garnished with a few drops of sesame oil.
10:00pm – cup of decaf tea with milk.
Milk used was 150ml = 300kj (72cal)
Smoothie was 555kj (132cal)
Stir fry was 780kj (186cal)
Total for the day 1635kj or 390cals
This was not a typical FD, but I had just made my first batch of kefir and wanted to try it. I also had an evening meeting to go to which meant leaving home at 5:30 and not getting back again until 9:30, so dinner was unusually early.

Last Sunday was also a FD for me and it was more representative of a normal FD:
10:00am – pot of tea with milk (2 tea cups)
12:45pm – pot of tea with milk (2 tea cups)
3:00pm – pot of tea with milk & 1/2 banana spread with 2tsp almond paste
6:15pm – stir fry of broccoli, beans, cashew nuts and konjac noodles with tamari sauce, garlic, ginger and chilli. Garnished with a few drops of sesame oil.
7:00pm – cup of decaf tea with milk.
11:00pm – cup of decaf tea with milk.
Milk used was 250ml = 500kj (120cal)
banana & nut paste 450kj (107cal)
Stir fry was 780kj (186cal)
Total for the day 1730kj or 413cals

To show you what a FD that doesn’t include stir fry looks like, I just need to go back to the previous one which was last Thursday:
10:00am – pot of tea with milk (2 tea cups)
12:00pm – pot of tea with milk (2 tea cups)
3:00pm – pot of tea with milk (2 tea cups) & one tangello
6:45pm – a very large bowl(approx 3 cups) of home made minestrone soup – contained green beans, carrot, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, sundried tomato pesto, haricot beans and chicken broth (no pasta but a really generous amount of legumes)
11:00pm – mug of decaf spicy chai tea with milk.
Milk used was 250ml = 500kj (120cal)
tangello 260kj (62cal)
Minestrone was 1315kj (313cal)
Total for the day 2075kj or 495cals

For those of you who are new I want to offer a note of caution. While it can be useful to look at what others do on a FD, you do need to find your own path on this one. It needs to be sustainable for you. When I first started I was advised not to allocate calories for drinks but to apply all 500cals to food. I quickly found that my cups of tea were so important that I was actually prepared to allocate calories to them on a FD. This wouldn’t suit everyone but does work for me. (I have since found others who allow calories for a latte to start their day with.) I was also advised to start eating as late in the day as I could manage – this is something that really did work well for me and was advice that I’ve continued to follow. So try out the options for yourself and find the balance that feels comfortable – it took me about 3 weeks to figure out what worked best.

@califdreamer

Normally I take a bit of an educated guess as well. If I buy half a kilo of brussels sprouts and eat half of what I bought, I know I just ate roughly 250g. And a lot of what I eat is pre-packaged foods like soups as well. The electronic scales are excellent though, super accurate and I think they cost about $9. I keep meaning to cook my own food more for fasting days, so hopefully they will be getting more use.

Salads are great with tuna or a boiled egg or two. I find that I don’t even mind them without dressing now.

Today I had my lunch early, around 10 am. 300g of broccoli and 250g of papaya, weighed on the old spring scales which I think is accurate enough for food that isn’t calorie-dense. That was about 200 calories in total. I got hungry early as I fasted yesterday as well. Normally you’d have the savoury broccoli and then the sweet papaya but I just kind of had a bit of each, then a bit more of each, until it was gone. Separate mouthfuls at least.

I went to the gym at lunchtime then had some Thai pumpkin soup in the afternoon for 150 calories. It wasn’t great, I won’t be buying that brand again.

So it’s 5:20 pm and I still have 250 calories to eat today. It will probably be some protein, a couple of boiled eggs and a tomato sounds good.

I’m looking forward to the weekend. I’ll try to be sensible with the eating, but that doesn’t always work out.

Some FDs are really easy, but this wasn’t one of them. I’ve been struggling with it all day and am happy to have gotten through to dinner time without eating unplanned food.

I ended up having a pot of tea at 3:45pm.

At 5:45pm I could wait no longer for dinner. I looked at my bowl of lentil soup and knew I would still be hungry with 500ml. So I added another cup of water and a 1/2 tsp Massel beef stock powder to the bowl of soup. This increased the volume significantly and I now feel very comfortably full. This added just 15kj (3cal) to the soup but made a big difference to me being satisfied with my dinner.

I feel well able to get through the remainder of the evening with just a cup of decaf spicy chai later this evening if I need it.

I think the lesson from today is that some FDs are a struggle. It doesn’t mean you have to abandon them, just look for some low calorie ways of getting through the day.

Black coffee or black tea. No sugar in either. And diet coke. That’s it.

I’ve been keeping my FDs to near zero calories, although I have started mixing 1/4 glass of club soda with water and a squirt of lemon juice. I also sometimes have black coffee, tea or a diet soda. So there are a few calories but probably under 20 for the fast day.

Fasted since 8:30pm last night, had a black coffee at 9.30am, a small banana and some overnight oats at 1pm -(measured)
🙂

Planning to eat again at about 9pm only something light though.

I eat 5ish the day before, fast 24hrs then eat 2 egg veggie omelet with wholemeal rice about 5pm, then fast until 1200 the next day when I’ll have porridge or eggs and mackerel, evening time a big salad with some sort of protein, fast 24hrs….. Repeat, repeat over and over. Lost 10 pounds in the last 7 weeks, I find doing the 5:2 with 16:8 works fab!

Forgot to mention I drink tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with tablespoon fresh lemon juice mixed in a glass of spring water 3 times a day even on fast days.

Maayyaa, nagging co-workers can be a pain, but if you aren’t hungry at lunchtime I would recommend you stand your ground. I think it’s important on FDs to understand when your hunger is strongest and plan food for those times. Eating just because someone else thinks you should is not a good reason – I’m worried that this might upset the careful choices you’ve been making so far.

@ljoyce Thanks, and today i did. Cause i actually was not hungry, and i guess she forgot to keep asking me to eat later on 🙂
Its nice to not feel the hunger “all day”, and knowing that it is ok to not eat if not hungry. When i said i was not hungry, therefor not eating, she actually replied: “Im a habit eater, i eat because that is what i always do, wether I’m hungry or not.” And i thought to my self, yes, and I’m not a habit eater anymore.
(she is already slim though) 🙂 Two successful FDś this week.

Enconahead – If my thinking is correct, and a naked burger is without the bun then I don’t see the problem. I think the perfect main meal on a FD is plenty of veg (carbs with lots of fibre and micro-nutrients but not a lot of sugars) and a solid serve of protein. Add that mushroom next time – good source of B12!

Maayyaa – I’m really glad you listened to yourself and not your colleague. I also used to be someone who ate 3 meals a day regardless of hunger. Giving up the breakfast habit was one of the best decisions I’ve made for weight control.

Friday FD – About 23 hours in …

Coffee black, lots of water, 2 glasses of diet soda … only slight hunger

Next week I’m going to try and go multiple days … I’m worried about it. I have more problems the second day.

I have changed nothing… My caloric setpoint is about 2500-3000/day. I have experienced a reduction in appetite on the first day post fast and I thrilled for that little bonus. The concept of not restricting my diet on off days is probably the #1 selling point for me. I am a habitual diet quitter for that very reason. Only on my 3rd week thus far so time will tell but… I feel differently about this diet/life change. I feel more confident and happy about the strategic process than anything else I have ever done. So I say… Eat & be satisfied on your normal days and do what’s right for you. Good luck!

Butternut mulligatawny … huge servings for the calories 😉

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chunky-butternut-mulligatawny