Food on non fast days

This topic contains 21 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by 00Lisa00 10 years, 10 months ago.

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birdgirl94

11:36 am
20 Jan 14
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Hi! I’ve been fasting for a few months but am new too this website.. I’m 19 years old and weight 9 st 7, i started at 10 st. I love the 5:2 fast diet and have just started to exercise on my fast days too. All is going well apart from the weekends.. I find it hard controlling how much I eat on the weekend. Could somebody give me an example of what they eat on weekends/non fast days? This weekend just gone for example, I had a fish and chips on Saturday and a roast on the Sunday with a few treats like chocolate. Is this ok?

Thanks! 🙂

Angie090465

11:40 am
20 Jan 14
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hi Birdgirl94 and welcome to the forum!!

re the cals on feed days, if you haven’t already done so, please check the “how?” section top page of this site and the tool will calculate for you how many cals you should consume on non fast days, hope that helps!!

good luck and happy fasting 🙂

birdgirl94

11:46 am
20 Jan 14
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Hi Angie090465

I have actually just done that! Thanks 🙂 If i stick to that amount of cals, will I lose or maintain ? Sorry if asking obvious question.

🙂

Carla

11:47 am
20 Jan 14
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I eat whatever I like on the Non-Fast Days. That is the beauty of this “diet” 🙂

You get to forget about the whole diet thing on the Non-Fast!

sylvestra

11:55 am
20 Jan 14
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@birdgirl94 Did your total food at the weekend amount to at or just below your TDEE? If it it did then enjoy. If it was way above then you may need to reduce your portions a bit.

Remember you can eat WHAT you want just NOT HOW MUCH you want. As Angie says, if you haven’t calculated your TDEE and BMR you need to do this. If you eat no more than your TDEE on 5 days you should lose weight as you are only eating 500 cals on your fast days.

It might help to track your calories for the first few with one of the many apps available (My Fitness Pal an Lose It are quite good) to check your intake and portion sizes. It’s too easy to cancel out your fast days by eating too much on the others.

BTW I had fish and chips yesterday too and included the calories in my daily intake. I had oven baked breaded haddock and a small portion of oven chips (400 cals) which amounted to less than half the calories of the same from the chippy (1000 cals).

😀 x

birdgirl94

12:04 pm
20 Jan 14
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To be honest I don’t know if i was below or above my TDEE as i didnt count my calories! Thanks for your good advice. I have my fitness pal and plan to use it for a while on my non fast days, just to see how much I really am eating!!

That sounds yummy and not calorific!! Thanks very much for the help 🙂 x

Angie090465

12:21 pm
20 Jan 14
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Sylvestra I love the sound of that fish and chips mmmm

thanks for the idea, am going to try that, yummy!!

Birdgirl94 don’t worry too much about the cals on feed days, but great on you for using your fitness pal, that way you’ll get an idea what you tend to use so later on you’ll get used to and wont really need it anymore!!

happy fasting everyone 🙂

TracyJ

12:26 pm
20 Jan 14
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birdgirl94 – in answer to your question the TDEE is the total calories you should take in on any day in order to maintain your current weight. However, if maintenance is what you’re going for then you also need to account for the fact that you’re eating WAY less than that number on 1 (if you’re doing 6:1) or 2 (5:2) days of the week. So that will push your TDEE up a little further, unless you still want to lose a bit more.

I’m nowhere near maintenance level yet but I’m determined not to treat this as a diet, so I’ve calculated the TDEE of where I want to end up and I’m eating to that (I can do that because my goal TDEE is still more than my current BMR – anyone thinking of doing the same thing should ensure that they are eating more than their current BMR level on any ‘normal’ day).

I always have the same on my fastdays but on non-fastdays I eat whatever I like really. On Friday I had a hot chocolate and apple at work (300 kcal ish), chickpea dahl curry and half a naan for tea (probably about 600 kcal), a couple of plums and a pomegranite (about 100 kcal) and for supper I had a cup of tea (soya milk & sugar, so 100kcal ish) and about 600 kcal worth of chocolate. Yum!

Saturday, I went out shopping, so I did a lot of walking and carrying weights back home again (that’s my weekly weights regime right there). On my way back all the takeaways were starting to open up and I haven’t had a takeaway for months, so I thougt “why not?”. I fancied a kebab & chips really but my favourite place wasn’t open yet and I can make something aproximating a nice chicken kebab on pitta & chips at home for less calories, so I went with a chinese instead. Szechuan chicken with egg fried rice (450 ish kcal for the chicken & 650 ish for the rice at worst case scenario). I also had another pomegranite & a jam donut (400kcal ish). Later on I had a cup of tea and a bit of chocolate for supper (600kcal ish).

Obviously, I probably went over what I should have been having (calorie wise) on Saturday but I very rarely do the takeaway thing and I would call Saturday a ‘blow out’ for me, so in those terms it’s not THAT bad as long as it remains rare. I’d also like to say that I picked the 2 worst days of the week (fruit & veg wise) to tell you about but I wanted to illustrate that as long as you know roughly what you are taking in and are aware of staying on or about your ‘calorie limits’ then you can pretty much eat whatever you fancy really.

Sunday was an impromtu fastday, as I’m eating out tonight so I didn’t want to have to just have a starter & sit watching everyone else eating their puds 😉

birdgirl94

12:41 pm
20 Jan 14
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Wow thanks for the great reply. That has really helped me!! My TDEE is 1,700 and I am not yet looking to maintain, I am looking to lose.. So should I eat under 1,700 on normal days?

I’m so glad you have told me about what you have eaten over weekend, as mine sounds rather the same! I feel better knowing others on 5:2 have these weekend treats.

Have you lost weight yet doing your routine?

Thanks again 🙂

sylvestra

1:16 pm
20 Jan 14
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Hi birdgirl94 Yes, you can eat UP TO your TDEE. I every seldom ever eat up to mine on weekdays and then at weekends I give myself a bit more leeway and eat things like fish and chips!! 😀
I know that it doesn’t say that in the books – it tells you to eat ‘normally’ which IMO is a bit ambiguous as – how do you define ‘normal’. Some people’s ‘normal’ can be twice what they need! I think most of us on these forums use our TDEE as a guide for our non fast days.

I had lost 36lbs on a calorie reduced way of eating but reached a plateau in October and stuck for 6 weeks. Then I read about 5:2 and thought ‘why not?’ and since November have lost another 11bs which included gaining 4lbs over the festive season and managing to lose it again.

Some people don’t see any difference in weight in the first few weeks but it’s also a good idea to take your measurements bust/under bust/waist/hips/thighs/upper arms as for some strange reason, on 5:2 we can lose inches without losing weight!

The faq link at the top of the page and the forums are great for help and support and there is such a range of ages here, from young ‘uns like yourself to LOACAs (Ladies of a Certain Age) – we refuse to be ‘old’ – like me!! 😀

It’s all about trying things out and finding the way that suits you best – there’s no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way. Once you do you’ll never look back.

Good luck – keep us posted on your progress
xxx

Sassy

1:20 pm
20 Jan 14
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Hi and welcome! 🙂

Sounds like 5:2 has been going ok for you so far? 7lbs lost in a few months seems ok. 🙂

Re your qn about how much to consume on non-fast days… With a TDEE of 1700 (this sounds quite low for a young person??), if you eat this amount on non-fast days and if you eat 500 cal on fast days, then each week you have a calorie deficit of 2400 cals, which equates to about 0.7lb weight loss – (not that it ever seems to work quite like that in practice!).

If you want greater loss, then you can cut back a bit on non-fast days – if you only ate 1500 cal, then the weekly deficit becomes 3400, which equates to about a pound.

BUT one of the main things about the Way Of Eating is that it is meant to be sustainable and not feel like you are depriving yourself all the time. So you do need to be sure that averaging 1500 on non-fast days works for you.

As I mentioned, 1700 cals seems low for someone of your age, so incorporating more exercise into your daily routine would be a better way to lose weight a little quicker rather than cutting too many cals (but not the sort of exercise that makes you want to eat afterwards!!).

Best wishes for your journey 😀
Sassy

Sassy

1:26 pm
20 Jan 14
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And I meant to say, I have roasts and the occasional fish and chips, and certainly chocolate every day except fast days!!!

But I only have bread occasionally (and I miss it), and have cut rice and pasta from my diet (but I don’t miss these – I still have home made pasta sauces, but just over a variety of steamed veg).

birdgirl94

2:00 pm
20 Jan 14
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Wow well done on the weight loss! Thanks so much for the advice.

It really helps hearing how others go about their 5:2 diets. 🙂

I shall keep you updated on progress :D.

xxx

birdgirl94

2:02 pm
20 Jan 14
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Thanks for the help on my TDEE! This all makes more sense now :).

I’m going to use my fitness pal and try eating 1,600 a day.. I’ll see how that goes!

Thanks again for the help!

🙂 x

TracyJ

2:37 pm
20 Jan 14
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Hi birdgirl94, popped away for a bit & everyone got chatting 😉

I’ve been doing 5:2 for about 17 months now and have lost about 3.5 stone all together. I didn’t know anything about TDEE to start off with and was just doing 500 calories on fastdays and trying to stay under 2000 on other days but I was pretty overweight to start with so that was fine & shifted the weight pretty easily for the first few months.

The main thing to remember about the whole TDEE side of things is that you must stay between your BMR and your TDEE if you still want to lose weight. You can be pretty rough with your calorie counts but you mustn’t eat less than your BMR and you must try to be on or under your TDEE – comfortably under if you want to lose a reasonable amount.

birdgirl94

2:50 pm
20 Jan 14
Permalink

Hello again, I know! 🙂

Well done on great weight loss! I think i’m understanding TDEE better now.

My BMR is 1420 and my TDEE is 1704.. so on normal days to lose weight I should aim to eat aroound 1500-1600? I think I need to experiment a little.

Thanks so much for all the great advice! Feeling a little more confident now I understand 😀

sylvestra

3:14 pm
20 Jan 14
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Hi birdgirl … 1500 -1600 sounds a good level. Remember as you lose weight to recalculate your TDEE/BMR as that figure reduces at the same time your own does!!

Go girl!! and keep us posted x

birdgirl94

3:44 pm
20 Jan 14
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Thank youuu, I shall keep you posted, fingers crossed 😀 x

JulieK1967

9:19 pm
20 Jan 14
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Hi birdgirl94 I just entered your height/weight in the “How” section at the top to work out your TDEE & this is what came out (I chose the moderately active option & you state you are 5’8″ on a previous question)

Your BMI is: 20.7
Your BMR is: 1440
Your TDEE is: 2233 calories

The whole point is not to worry too much about what you eat on your non-fast days as long as you don’t exceed your TDEE which should be quite easy. I eat fish & chips as well as roast & all the trimmings on a Sunday. I find my fast days relatively easy to manage.

If you are bothered then cut out the chocolates or have 1 instead of 3 or whatever. You certainly don’t need to lose any weight really, I know you mentioned belly fat on another question but women are meant to have curves, a few anyway. Try specific exercises to tone your belly if this is an issue for you.

birdgirl94

9:38 am
21 Jan 14
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Wow thanks for that.. I definitely don’t want to lose my curves and don’t want to go mad on the weight loss, but a bit is definitely needed ;). I’ll try some ab workouts to see if this helps along side fasting.

Thanks

Stef.

2:03 pm
21 Jan 14
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While it is completely true that the TDE is an important number it nevertheless pays off to overtime watch your diet more closely.

The more bad calories you can replace with good ones the easier it will be to maintain your weight later on. So called “bad” calories do not give your body the nutrition it needs and it will crave for more food. The more of the better calories (protein, veggies…) you eat the lesser the cravings and the more satisfied your body will be.

For me personally the 5:2 is great in regards to losing weight and giving my body a rest from permanetly digesting food, but the real benefits for me are in having changed my eating habits.

Best of luck,
Stef.

00Lisa00

7:15 pm
21 Jan 14
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I’m pretty much eating as usual on normal days. My diet was pretty good before starting this anyway. I have done some small changes though. One, I’ve bought smaller plates. This is more for my husband than me lol, he normally piles his plate high, with the smaller plates he has to go back for seconds if he wants more rather than piling a large plate high. Also we make sure to add a vegetable to all dinners. For example last night was spaghetti – instead of just having a large bowl of pasta we had some on one of the small plates and half the plate was brussels sprouts – still got the spaghetti but got in the veggie as well. Of course I only had one portion and my husband went back for thirds but he has much more room for calories than I do 😛 Otherwise I’m pretty much eating what I want.