Hi Becky, Whether you count on non-fasting days often depends on how low your TDEE is. Mine is only 1400 calories – a long way from the 2000cal discussed in MMs book.
I’ve been using 5:2 for a year. In the first 5 months it was to lose weight and since then for maintenance.
While I was dieting I found I had to learn a new “normal” for my non-fasting days. I counted calories on the non-fasting days for the first few months until I was confident my food choices and serving sizes were consistent with my TDEE. Previously, what I had thought was normal was actually too many calories for me and it took me a while to adjust my expectations.

If you don’t know your TDEE, go to the “how it works” link at the top of the screen. I would recommend you work out your TDEE for your goal weight so that you get practice at eating the amount of food that will be required to maintain the weight you want to be. I would also recommend you underestimate your activity level as I have found the uplift factors used in the calculator are quite a bit more generous than applies to me.

Becky,

What you consider to be a normal day of eating is undoubtedly too much or you wouldn’t need to lose weight. It’s a common mistake when embarking on 5:2.

LJoyce has given some very sound advice so I would say follow it and I’m sure you’ll lose weight.

After that it is up to you whether you think you need to continue counting or are happy that you’ve worked out where you were going wrong and don’t need to.

Good luck.

Becky, there are days when I gain weight and then can’t shake it off. Then I count calories, even on Slow Days. i’ve been Fasting for 4+ years, so my appetite has decreased by a LOT. You’ll get there too. if you get a handle on what and how much to eat on a Slow Day. Ignore a target of 2000 calories/day. Pure fiction for most of us. Good luck to you.

Hi Becky,

I did the 5:2 three years ago – actually I did alternate day fasting (I found 5:2 too slow and I needed a bit of momentum to make me stick to it) and I lost 3 stone in 7 months (I went from 10st 7lbs to 7st 7lbs.) I had never ever successfully dieted. On my non fast days I sort of based my diet on Slimming World – ie almost unlimited vegetables and fruit (there’s a list of the ones you can eat unlimited..not all fruit and veg are ‘superfree’ – ie unlimited) with small portions of protein – meat, fish or eggs – i avoided pasta and bread (and still do.) But even unlimited fruit and veg felt like a feast after 500 calories and also the weight seemed to fall off. Also it was a really healthy diet. I haven’t done 500 calorie days for 2 years but I have tried to balance out days when I’ve eaten too much by having low-cal days – ie no muesli and maybe a piece of fruit for breakfast and then 2 low calorie meals. I find miso soup brilliant – you can slice up some cooked meat and veg – I love broccoli and always have some cooked in the fridge to nibble on and hard-boiled eggs are good too.. I’m not really that rigorous – lots of avocados and roast veg in olive oil, legumes (chickpeas etc) and things like pearl barley, quinoa. But all this is very personal so it’s worth searching out things which are low calorie, healthy and you’re happy to grab when you’re very hungry or make a good low calorie meal. For me healthy food has really impacted on how I feel – not just the weightloss.

Weirdly I find exercise has a negative impact on my dieting. I am pretty active anyway but doing serious exercise makes me starving and psychologically I feel like I’m due a treat and end up eating more than I would without.

Anyway I managed to put on almost half a stone this Christmas so I’m doing alternate day low cal days – definitely more than 500 calories but it definitely helps me lose weight.

The diet does work and wish you lots of luck,

Best wishes,

Monica

I only rarely count calories on NFD, and only if I’m stuck on a plateau. It often means that youeating something or in an amount that’s high calories without realizing it. What worked better for me if I got stuck was to do a B2B fast. I didn’t have to do them often, but it worked when I did.

@beckyelizabeth and hello all,

I’m doing the 5:2 to improve health but the main focus right now for me is actually losing weight. When I completed my profile on this site when I logged on it gave me vital statistics – like the TDEE so I knew the maximum I could eat without putting on more weight.

For me, as my TDEE is 1922 calories, I’ve decided to limit myself to between 1200-1400 on non fasting days (depending on exercise) so that way I am set to lose at least 1 1/2 lbs a week.

Otherwise I don’t think I’d lose weight if I didn’t keep an eye on how much I consume during non fasting days – in fact I’d probably eat more!

Dykask, agree on the snacking. Somehow snacks, by their nature, usually don’t turn out to be healthy foods. And constant snacking, no matter what the foods, can really add up over a day’s time.

Fast-o-rama: I count calories on my NFDs but only to make sure I stay within my TDEEs. I have found it very helpful from keeping me from going overboard!