Some people don’t have any calories on their fast days, i.e., a true fast. The 500/600 calories was introduced to make it easier for people, as far as I can tell.
This topic contains 313 replies, has 181 voices, and was last updated by bigbooty 6 years, 5 months ago.
Must admit I have to eat something on Fast Days and aim for 500 calories even though according to my weight/height I should be consuming under 400. Likewise I don’t have set days each week to do a FD and quite often I record it afterwards as I realise I have kept under 500 calories. Similarly if I go over the 500 on a planned FD then I just try another day. Another factor in choosing when to do a FD is purely for social reasons. Well, it’s working so I’m very happy and that makes it even more likely that the weight will stay off.
confused!! if I eat dinner on Monday night, then consume 500 calories during the day of Tuesday, can I eat a regular dinner on Tues night, or should I wait until bkfst on Wednesday? Isn’t that 36 hours? I am confused….
AND… if I can go without foot at all (not even the 500 calories) would that be ok too?
thanks
NanaP
Hi Nana:
The way 5:2 works is you go to bed, get up, eat 500 or fewer calories while awake, go to bed, get up and eat to your TDEE. Many do not eat any calories on their diet days. This explains it: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/
If you check the FAQ at the top of the page, it also addresses the issue.
Good Luck!
I am among those people who have 0 cals on fast days. I tried having 500 cals at first but it didn’t take long for me to realize that it wasn’t working for me. As funny as it seems, I find fast days much harder to go through when I eat.
Firstly, my belly and digestive system work on digesting those 500 cals worth of food but when they’re done they find an empty stomach so I feel hungry afterwards. My hunger switch turns on and my stomach growls.
And secondly, I like eating so I find it difficult to restrict myself to just 500 cals and then stop. I can’t stop obsessing over food when I try to do that.
So I’ve found it much easier not to eat anything at all on fast days. If I have eaten something very filling like nuts the night before at dinner, I don’t even get hunger pangs so I don’t have to ‘suffer’ through my fasts. They’re actually pretty manageable and most times when I break the fast the next day I feel like I could have fasted for longer with no problem at all. I break the fast anyway because I miss having food, haha.
It’s also really convenient because there’s no planning involved and I have more free time to do something else instead of obsessing over food. I don’t even think of fast days as such. It has such a ‘sacrifice’ connotation. I prefer to think about it as a conscious break from eating, ‘break’ making it clear that the pause is temporary and I’ll resume eating just in a few hours. For some reason that always helps me start or go though a fast when I had planned it but don’t feel like it. I just think that it’s as simple as letting X time pass and then I can resume eating
Most fast days I have 2 boiled eggs for breakfast (often after going to the gym) then something light for dinner around 17-1800 (likely a piece of fish and some salad). I avoid all carbs on fast days except for those in salads/vegetables. I could likely go to a total fast but not really required as I have been dropping a steady 1-1.5 lbs a week (only want to drop about 15 lbs total to get my stomach fat down).
I think avoiding carbs on fast days is a must IOT avoid spiking your blood sugars.
Hello
I have started the 5 2 diet last week and I just want to make sure I am following the timing gap between fasting and non fasting days correctly as the more I read about it the more confused I am getting.
The way i do it is my fast days on 500 calories are Tuesday and Thursday.
So Monday last meal 5 pm dinner then I don’t eat until Tuesday 3 pm I have my 500 calorie and no food again until Wednesday 7 am breakfast.
Does that sound about right?
Thank you
Hi Everyone, it amazes me that everyone has such a different way of implementing 5:2, and I think that is the joy of this way of eating. It works into whatever is best for the individual. My own way of implementing is not eating from 9 p.m the night before my fast day. I have breakfast of one poached egg on a slice of gluten free sourdough and a cup of tea and then I only drink teas/water/occasional diet drink until 7 p.m. when I then have my remaining calories in either a homemade vegetable soup and a small yogurt and berries, or a delicious salad of some sort. This has worked for me and I am now down 30 kgs (4 stone 7 pounds) in one year.
I am certain I can do a total fast for one day.
The good thing about having the 600 calorie allowance is that I can have a couple of satisfying (to me) meals to look forward to through the day. I just stayed under 600 calories for 3 days running (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday), doing it easy. But today (the 4th day) in the afternoon I felt like I might be overdoing it so I had some nuts and a couple of cheese sticks. When I get home I will have a couple of chicken drumsticks and when I wake up tomorrow morning I’ll decide whether to do it all over again.
My approach is to get up in the morning, have a look at what’s in the fridge, and go with what I feel like. I might have some thinly-sliced chicken breast coated with a little cajun seasoning and stir-fried in water (in a non-stick pan). I would normally pair that with a couple of small-medium tomatoes. I have low-fat ham in 100g packets for backup as well, which I also tend to pair with tomato. I try to stock up on the low-calorie vegetables I like – cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli – so I might have up to half a kilo of those (boiled or steamed, no butter) as a big, satisfying, low-calorie meal in the middle of the day.
In the evening if I’m running out of calories to use I tend to have some miso soup. Maybe with some mushrooms or tofu in it to add something solid. Or I might have a boiled egg or two.
I’m planning to try to do a 3:2:2 diet. That is 3 days of normal, sensible eating. 2 days of fasting (< 600 calories) and 2 days eating less than half the calories I would need to eat to maintain my current weight (< 1500 calories).
@marcus. Cant see a problem with what youre doing. Later the better.
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