Confused on how it actually works?

This topic contains 11 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by OttieNoFat 9 years, 9 months ago.

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sidneys02

11:46 am
7 Feb 15
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So I’ve just stated the 5:2 diet and have fasted for a day… I weighed myself the next day loosing half a kilo in the one day! I was really happy and continued the next day eating 2000 calories as recommended.. as a habit I weighed myself the next day and had put on more weight then i was before I started dieting.. I was disheartened by that and was wondering how it would work the rest of the non fasting days?
I did eat nearly exactly 2000 calories on the non fasting day as I gathered that you could eat what you want but no more than 2000 calories and still loose weight? I really want to do this diet so any advice would be so helpful! Thank you!!!!

naminami

12:03 pm
7 Feb 15
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You might not want to weigh yourself too often. Most people here seem to suggest once a week or less.
The food in your stomach adds to the weight (apparently it can stay in there for up to two days or so) as does the water you drink. Some of that half a kilo you lost after the first day could have just been due to you having less food in your intestines after fasting. The same way, the weight you put back on is probably just the 2000 kcal you ate the next day.
They say that the average weight loss here is just about 450 g a week (1 pound). You should not expect too much right away or you’ll get discouraged.

I am a newbie as well so I don’t have any first hand experience, this is just knowledge I picked up from reading the forums. Personally I have got rid of my scales and am going to go by judging my dress size 😛
Let’s see if we can stick it out together! 🙂

sidneys02

12:22 pm
7 Feb 15
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That makes sense!!! Thank you!! Haha happy fasting 🙂

sidneys02

12:24 pm
7 Feb 15
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On you’re non fast days I’m just wondering if you still have to be moderately healthy… like ill stick to my 2000 calories but does it matter what foods i eat within those 2000 calories? Should I still be eating less sugar, more natural foods? Does this change the end result?

kindle

12:40 pm
7 Feb 15
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You are not supposed to eat 2000 cals. You eat to your TDEE which you can calculate on this site. Thats where you are going wrong. Problem solved!! Good luck, it will work!!

Cakey42

12:40 pm
7 Feb 15
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Hi Sidneys, well done to you for starting. It’s a long journey and takes a while to get used to all the differences.
Have you looked at your tdee? That’s energy expenditure. You can calculate it by going into your proflie or tracker, very top right, or look at the how it works tab.
You need to eat below your tdee on 5 days and below 500 cals, for a woman, on the fast days you choose.
Doing that should give you a one pound per week drop. More than that is a bonus and in the beginning some people report a much bigger initial loss.
Join us, read the faqs and the blog and you will read some good advice.

Juliana.Rivers

3:27 am
13 Feb 15
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Hi

you may not know the site has a TDEE calculator.

http://thefastdiet.co.uk/how-many-calories-on-a-non-fast-day/ is the link

Good luck

It works!

coconutbunz

3:39 am
13 Feb 15
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Im new to all this TDEE stuff. Cakey you said to eat below TDEE and I’m wondering how much below, how many calories? 500 or ?

I really didnt want to count calories again but feel that I probably need to for a start.

simcoeluv

3:48 am
13 Feb 15
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Hi coconut and welcome:

This will help – number 4 covers TDEE: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!

coconutbunz

8:45 am
13 Feb 15
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Thank you simco

TracyJ

9:40 am
13 Feb 15
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Basically, you don’t NEED to count calories if you already have a good grasp of calorie contents and can be pretty sure that you are roughly (but definitely) under your TDEE number on non-fastdays. It IS helpful to calorie count for a few non-fastdays at the start though, just to be sure that you ARE making good calorie choices and not just THINKING that you are. Once you’re sure you’re doing it right, you can relax with the counting a bit. You don’t have to be a specific number of calories under your TDEE, just make sure you ARE eating less than TDEE on non-fastdays.

If you’re quite close to your target weight (within a stone or so) you might want to calculate the TDEE for your target weight and aim for that on non-fastdays. That might help ensure decent progression and help you prepare for ‘maintenance’ levels of food.

It usually doesn’t really matter WHAT you eat on fastdays or non-fastdays to start with, so do whatever you want with your diet choices to start with. As you go along you’ll WANT to experiment with what works best anyway and may decide to follow some other type of food/nutritional regimen alongside 5:2. Some do, some don’t.

OttieNoFat

4:09 pm
19 Feb 15
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Hi there,

Just for encouragement, I know you’re hesitant about calorie counting, but as Tracy says, you’ll develop a feel for it – additionally, I find I am not actually able to eat anywhere near the amount I used to eat or have the desire to, so I naturally stay below by TDEE on most days – but then I have the odd ‘pig out’ moment (again a lot less of a ‘pig out’ moment than previous ones, the longing is fulfilled very quickly, and it’s only happened on three days in 6 weeks) and I am still losing weight. It does take a while, but that’s a good thing, then it’s more likely to stay down in the long term.