New girl

This topic contains 6 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by milena 9 years, 9 months ago.

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

Jeannie2809

7:38 pm
16 Feb 15
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Evening all. I started the diet today, had a non-fast day (or so I thought). I was under the impression that you could eat ‘normally’ on non-fast days, indeed, that’s what the introduction page says, but further down, it says you should eat your TDEE calories, which in my case is only 1742! What does everybody else do?

Amazon

7:53 pm
16 Feb 15
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Your TDEE is the maximum amount of calories you can eat without gaining weight. Any more and the excess is stored as fat.
The majority on here eat within their TDEE and those of us with a lot to lose eat less as it speeds up weight loss.

Jeannie2809

8:45 pm
16 Feb 15
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It’s not what I thought then. I thought the point of it was that you got to eat normally for five days and fasted for two. That’s what Michael Moseley says in the opening paragraph on this site. If you’re dieting every day then it’s not really that different to any other diet, is it?

Purple Vegie Eater

9:08 pm
16 Feb 15
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Hi Jeannie
Amazon is absolutely right. If you are overweight, you need to retrain your body to eat the appropriate amount (and type) of food your body needs to maintain a healthy range. Fasting two days a week, then eating as you did when you were obese or overweight is not the idea.
When Dr M started this it was for improving his health. Weight loss was a by-product. Obviously, if you are at healthy weight, as I have been for 10 months now, you can relax and eat “normally” on non fast days. But the “normal” has changed radically from what I ate before I started 5:2. Continuing to fast after I reached goal is to allow my cells to heal twice a week.
So, there are two phases:
The weight loss phase, in which, as Amazon says, to speed up the process you really do need to be mindful on non fast days.
The maintenance phase, when you can relax on non fast days, hopefully with the new insights towards food that you gain during the weightloss period.
All the best. The IS an exciting, successful, life changing journey. PVE

milena

9:41 pm
16 Feb 15
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hi Jeanie, good point

the theory is spot on, eat normally and eat what you like, except on two days stay within a quarter of you TDEE, that is the number of calories a person of your height, weight and ago needs to subsist. That way every week you save 75% of your daily calories, twice a week, around 2000-3000 calories a week, around a pound of fat. Around a 1/2lb to 1 lb of weight a week.

Easy.

But -if you have been steadily increasing weight before you start 5:2, you are likely to be eating more than you need, and if you are putting on more than half a pound to a pound a week, instead of losing you will either stay the same weight, or gain weight still, but more slowly. And if you actually eat more in 5 days than you were originally eating in 7 days, you will increase in weight.

If you increase exercise, theoretically you can eat more, but exercise can be difficult to accurately quantify, and if you exercise less, your body will need less energy, less food.

You are the only one who knows you. A lot of overweight people like me will declare that we have steadily reduced exercise while eating too much. I eat – ate – the wrong stuff, drank a lot a sugary wine, enjoyed creamy sauces and puds with double cream. Some here just need to lose the Christmas or Uni pounds.

5:2 helps to re-assess things. But it ain’t magic and it takes some thought and planning.

Some folk count calories every day, some count just fast days, some not at all. There is no right way an no wrong way, just your way.

Lots of help and suggestions on the forums, and lots of success, it really is amazing. I am absolutely in awe of these people, each on a journey, each from a different starting point, some hares and some tortoises, some racehorses and some couch potatoes. But everyone willing everyone to succeed!

The best thing is that you will realise hunger, that it just isnt necessary to eat as soon as you are peckish, nor to graze, snack or nibble.

The benefits are more than weight loss, great skin, great hair, less painful joints, and a change in attitude to food.

Its a journey, and we all travel hopefully. Best of luck!!!

Jeannie2809

10:04 pm
16 Feb 15
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Wow – some really good advice there, thank you all very much 🙂

milena

11:05 pm
16 Feb 15
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Get stuck in and let us know how you get on. I’ve only been at it for seven weeks, lost nothing at all for the first three, I think I was putting on the brakes those weeks!

Travel hopefully