5:2 Newbie – A few questions

This topic contains 6 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by simcoeluv 7 years, 3 months ago.

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trincess

12:05 pm
21 Aug 17
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Hello! I’m a 32-year old Female and I’ve been practicing IF for the last 3 weeks. Before that, I’ve been on a strict diet for 3 weeks, so I’m kinda used to eating healthy and low-calorie. On my fasting days I can easily do 0 calories with 3 liters of water. On my non-fasting days I find it hard to go over 1200 calories, and if it was me I would stop at 900 calories, but I’m afraid it would put too much stress on my body long term. I also do zumba 4 times a week and my TDEE is about 1800.
Here is my question to long term fasters:

Do you think it would slow down my metabolism if I cut back on calories on non-fasting days too much? Like stopping at 900? Will I stop losing weight altogether or even stop menstruating?
What would you recommend? That if I can cut back I should cut back? Or do you recommend getting as close to my TDEE on normal days as possible?

Thanks for any help!

LJoyce

3:08 am
22 Aug 17
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You can be under your TDEE on the NFDs, but halving it as you are suggesting is not something I would advise. I actually think it helps to keep our bodies guessing, so that they don’t know if they are going to get enough or inadequate calories day to day. My own weight loss moved along more steadily when I did this.

The other thing I’d say is that getting all of the macro and micro nutrients that you need daily is difficult on 0-900 calories – you’d have to be very careful about constructing a balanced food plan to remain healthy over the longer term. Being closer to 1200 would be more sustainable, but I would also suggest you throw in an occasional day which is closer to your TDEE.

If you feel you are eating enough food volume then the easiest way to add more calories is through healthy fats. For example be generous with the olive oil as a dressing on vegetables, or add some nuts or cheese to your daily food. Or add avocado to salads. These are all very calorie dense foods. Sometimes substitutions can make a difference to calories and to health benefits, eg if you are eating a mild white fish like whiting or cod replace it with an oily fish like salmon or trout. It has about 3 times the calories of white fish and a whole lot more omega 3.

I guess the main point I’m trying to make here is that you shouldn’t add empty calories just to get closer to your TDEE, make choices that improve your diet and health long term. This is a more sustainable approach.

bigbooty

4:05 am
22 Aug 17
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@trincess. You find it hard to go over 1200 and your TDEE is 1800? Are you overweight? What are you trying to achieve? If you find eating zero cal easy great, keep doing that. I water fast one day per week and am in maintenance mode. I no longer want to lose weight but want to have the benefits of fasting so on my other days I effectively eat a little bit more than I need to so that overall I stay the same weight.

I would eat “normally” on the other days otherwise you will slow your metabolism. My metabolism slows down on my water fast days and then goes back up on non fast days. I have measured various parts of my body with an IR thermometer and I run colder on my fast days. It goes back up on my non fast days. If you are constantly restricting your calorie intake then its NOT IF is it? Its just like every other calorie restriction diet and they don’t work long term. Your metabolism will slow to compensate. Period!

trincess

6:23 am
22 Aug 17
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@ljoyce thank you for your reply! I almost never add empty calories, I either add proteins like milk, yoghurt, meat or I add fruit and nuts. But I agree, cutting down too much doesn’t sound healthy.
@bigbooty I went down from 73.4 kg to 64.8 kg, and my ideal weight would be somewhere between 52-57 kg. I’m 160 cm. My TDEE is about 1800 but although I’m having breakfast, lunch and dinner, and eat fruits & yoghurt inbetween, I score around 1200 calories each day. (I weigh everything and count carefully) I guess my portions are small

fasting_me

12:49 am
24 Aug 17
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Keep the protein in mind, Trincess. Loss of muscle mass can be a real problem when fasting/extreme dieting. Protein combats that. I understand your goal and where you are now in that journey. You want to avoid losing too much weight too fast — your skin will sag do to excessive fat loss. Slower, steady weight loss is better. I’d say it would be safe to drop your caloric intake to 1500 each non-fast day, but don’t go much lower than that, especially if you fear that you might stop menstruating. Intermittent Fasting is not about starvation. Food is good and it is good for you. Eat is sensibly and with pleasure.

Deex3214

12:20 am
26 Aug 17
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Hi everyone! My name is Dana and I’m brand new to IF and I’m very interested and I came on here to get some personal recommendations or hear someone’s personal experience with intermittent fasting. I’m doing my research before I jump right into anything so is there anyone out there that can share their experience with me. How does it work, how much weight did you lose, did you find it hard or easy to adapt, were you starving etc…?? As you can see I have a few questions lol. Please let me know. Thanks.
Dana <3

simcoeluv

4:40 am
26 Aug 17
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Hi Deex and welcome:

Here is most of the information you will need to be successful with 5:2: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!