Jane, it would probably work but counting calories all the time seems cumbersome to me. For me, having a calorie limit on NFD would result in me “eating up to” that limit, where maybe I would have eaten less if I didn’t count. But I do understand about overeating on weekends. I rarely count calories on NFDs but the last couple of weeks I’ve really overdone it on the weekends. I’m counting today, simply because I’m above my trigger weight for maintenance.

So I’m thinking of maybe changing my Monday FD to Sunday instead. Several people on the SH thread have successfully done that to cut down on the number of weekend days. I’m seriously considering it. The other possibility would be to change my Thursday FD to Friday for the same reason. Or maybe do one or the other, Sunday or Friday on a week to week basis, depending on what’s going on. What do you think?

Counting calories every day would be a last resort for me. The thing I like about 5:2 is that I only have to count 500 calories on my FDs. I also don’t want to do 3 FDs per week. The regular 5:2 has worked well for me for the past 10+ months. It’s just recently that my “mindfull” eating days have turned into “mindless” ones!

Janejust, I think there are many variations that can work. I prefer zero calorie fast days as I think it is easier and I don’t want to count calories anymore. (Completely agree with CalifDreamer, calorie counting is a pain.)

If you go read some of a forum like MyFitnessPal you will likely see many people posting how they are letting so little and not losing weight. They typically get attacked for being sloppy with their calorie counting and even are accused of being too lazy to move enough. The eat less move more mantra is more of a tool for demeaning people rather than a tool for successful weight loss.

Okay the problem I see with your 500 – 1200 – 1200 – 500 is that four days could be awful long and hard on the people around you. It is likely to make you feel pretty miserable. Sometimes my zero calorie fast days are short of being pleasant but the don’t make me miserable. I always know I’ll eat when the fast is done and I’m not going to waste time worrying about the calories. I do worry a bit about the nutrition though.