Significantly reduced calories on non-fasting days

This topic contains 4 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by fasting_me 6 years, 6 months ago.

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DanV

11:15 am
16 Oct 17
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Hello All – I just wanted to ask about people’s experiences of eating significantly reduced calories on their non-fasting days. I’ve been doing 5:2 for a month now, and although I’m not expecting a dramatic change body wise yet, I have noticed that my whole attitude to food and emotional eating in particular is changing. As a result I’m finding that even on the day after fasting, when I can in theory eat as ‘normally’ as I want, I’m finding that I just don’t need to eat as much as I used to and am occasionally having ‘non fast’ days where my calorie intake isn’t that much higher than a fast day. I guess my concern is that if I’m not getting enough calories on non-fast days, am I going to go into starvation mode and start storing fat ?

bigbooty

12:48 pm
16 Oct 17
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@danv. People throw around that starvation mode concept way too easily. Unless you are bouncing around 4-5% body fat you are very unlikely to go into starvation mode. Your lack of wanting to eat too much is normal. After a fast day (zero cal intake) I don’t eat that much on a NFD. And its mostly protein and some fat.

simcoeluv

2:05 pm
16 Oct 17
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Hi Dan:

What you are discovering is that the body needs many fewer calories than you previously expected to operate efficiently. And people that do long term water fasts are never hungry.

The ‘starvation mode’ is a myth for normal or fat people. See the FAQ, above, or Dr. M’s comments on it: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/food-thought-fast-day-starvation-mode/

Here are some tips: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!

Big_Bill

10:09 pm
16 Oct 17
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Yes, this is one of the biggest benefits I have found as well.

A big part of it is learning what “real hunger” is vs. “that little craving that will pass in half an hour”. Once you’ve found that you can go 2 or 3 days in a row on 600 calories per day, you know that you are not going to pass out if you don’t have that chocolate bar right now.

And learning how to have satisfying meals that don’t have a huge number of calories. And learning how to stop when you’ve had enough vs. stopping when you can’t fit any more food in.

fasting_me

12:04 am
18 Oct 17
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DanV, just be sure that you know the difference between ‘being content with fewer calories’ and an eating disorder. Maintain your intake of protein [to keep muscles healthy] and veggies/fruit.