Fasting on high 'exercise' days – can you up the calories?

This topic contains 10 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by Buzyizzy 8 years, 9 months ago.

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Fiona6

3:18 pm
21 Oct 13
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hi, I have been doing the 5:2 for a cpl of months now & been getting on with it really well on the whole & have lost almost a stone so far.

The problem I have is when fast days fall on days when I am working as a Sports Remedial Massage therapist, especially if I am working on horses all day. 6 hours of massaging horses is hard work on a normal day but having tried it a couple of times when I was due a fast day, I just ran out of energy & couldnt finish the day without eating something else!

What I’m not clear on, is if my fast day should be on one of those days, can I up my calorie allowance to say 6 or 700? At present it now means that I simply end up missing the fast days on some weeks when I cant fit it in around massage days which is hindering my progress a little as I also then get out of the habit of fasting!

I havent been able to find any info directly discussing this & was wondering if anyone else has??! The cakculator said I should be on 2,200 calories a day anyway, so I think I should be slightly increasing my fast days slightly anyway from the 500.

any info/ advice gratefully received!

symba7

4:48 pm
21 Oct 13
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No you have to stick to 500 cal, that’s the full idea of the fast!

Maybe change your fast day to another if you can. Massaging horses on a fast day would up your weight lost I would expect it to get easier.

wiltldnrUSA

5:01 pm
21 Oct 13
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michael replied

in reply to: Tall woman ? Can I eat more than 500 cal?

Michael

9:53 pm
27 May 13

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Hi jcrfastdiet, the calorie intake can very reasonably adjusted to 600 calories daily for you given your height, particularly if you are feeling dizzy. Also worth checking that you are drinking enough water as this can also cause dizziness and headaches. Good luck !

http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/users/michael/replies/

Fiona6

6:11 pm
21 Oct 13
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hi, symba7, yes I do try not to have fast days on those days but its not always possible. & yes I would think it would increase my weight loss but the problem I have is I just physically run out of energy on a fast day when working like that. Having looked it up, my calorie need for just performing that work is roughly 1.8k calories for 6 hours massaging (& thats based on massaging people, not horses) & also thats in addition to the 2k calories I’m supposed to be consuming on a normal day as maintenance…

thanks wiltldnrUSA, thats interesting & I have also replied on that link so hoping Michael may answer as hes on that link already
!

TracyJ

12:10 pm
22 Oct 13
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Hi Fiona6, I’ve been on 5:2 for well over a year now and have tweaked it to introduce a 16:8 aspect over the past 6 months or so (eating within an 8 hour or so ‘eating window’ almost every day, not just fastdays). I am also a part time Sports/Remedial Massage Therapist working 1 evening a week for about 3 hours straight. I time my fastdays to coincide with my massage day and my weekly swim day (I swim about 2.7Ks in 1 hour one evening a week). Both days are long work days because of the extra evening activities and now I’m used to fasting for long periods every day it is no problem to fast right through until 8-9 on a massage day or 9-9.30 on a swim day, without running out of energy (or massage power) and have my 500 calories late in the evening. I’m quite often not even hungry after my swim – at least until I’ve had my first mouth-full 😉

I find this pattern to be no problem now that I’m used to the long fasting every day but it wasn’t always like that and I did have one major headache and some ‘limp’ days when I first tried doing a lot on a fastday early on. I’d recommend that you up the calories if you really feel that you need to for now, with the aim of getting used to this lifestyle and gradually reducing them back down once you feel able to.

toms mantis

1:59 pm
22 Oct 13
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TracyJ, I tried fasting until the evening meal yesterday, but it wasn’t good. I had no problem not eating, didn’t feel hungry at all. After my meal about 6ish, I felt sick and bloated and lethargic. Ate chicken with mixed med veg and a small fruit salad. Any suggestions from what you eat?

TracyJ

3:16 pm
22 Oct 13
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Oh dear. I guess if you’re actually not hungry you could just try doing a genuine fast on your fast day? I think there are some others on here doing that. I think I probably could on a swim day, as I said, but the prospect of my fastday meal keeps me going all day (it’s something I’ve otherwise entirely cut out of my life – breafast food), so I always feel like I’ve cheated myself if I don’t have it.

My fastday meal is always: aprox 400 calories (or just under) of branflakes with soya milk, a cup of tea with soya milk & 2 sugars (aprox 100 calories) and a piece of fruit or 2 (aprox 30-50 calories, depending what I have).

Mark Smith

8:20 am
24 Oct 13
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This is an interesting question for me which I asked on another thread.

The idea is to eat 25% of calorie requirement on a fast day.

For me My daily requirement is approx. 2700 calories so I eat just under 700 calories on fast days.

However I exercise vigourosly for 90 minutes 3 x per week, which pushes my daily requirement up to around 3500, based on extra calories expended, on those days.

So my questionis this. When my fast day coincides with an exercise day do I eat 25% of the 2700, or 25% of the 3,500?

Thanks for any pointers.

Mark

annette52

9:07 am
24 Oct 13
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Hi Mark,
On pp 122 of the fast diet book it says not to compensate for calories burned through exercise: on a fast day, stick to 500 or 600 calories.

TracyJ

10:49 am
24 Oct 13
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At the risk of repeating myself I’ll refer you to my first post above, where I also answered the question.

Basically: Ideally, no you can’t but if you really can’t cope with that strictness to begin with – do what you need to do to get you through the early stages of the lifestyle.

Buzyizzy

2:28 pm
18 Feb 16
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Im in a similar position, with a high intensity physical job and I really struggle to do my “fast” days on especially active days. I’ve reduced my intake to 650/700 on those days and on normal days I’ve found my appetite has shrunk anyway.
I only had a stone to lose, just the winter flab, but I’ve lost 6lbs in a month this way, so don’t despair. There have to be compromises 🙂