Totally confused newbie

This topic contains 9 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by Lizamor 10 years, 2 months ago.

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ebonyuk72

11:23 am
8 Feb 14
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Hi All. I hope I don’t come across as thick or stupid asking this but I am totally confused by all these numbers that are meant to be followed.
I read the book and figured it was a case of eating 500 calories or less on a fast day, and then eating whatever on a feed day, however upon reading this forum there are mentions of TDEE and BMR etc etc and now I’m totally confused as to what I should or shouldn’t be doing.

I struggle with my memory and especially my memory when it comes to numbers, so I have no idea what these numbers are, what their for, or what I should be doing with them. The reason the 5:2 diet appealed to me was because it wasn’t about numbers or calories so much, only on fast days, now I’m faced with BMR, TDEE etc etc
Help?

Angie090465

11:28 am
8 Feb 14
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hi Ebonyuk72 and welcome to the forum!

sorry you feel confused with all these numbers, please don’t worry its not that complicated 🙂
if you look top of the page you will see a section called “how?” this is a tool which will calculate your TDEE for you, its basically the amount of calories you should consume on normal days.. now remember these are just estimates,dont let these worry you!
I hardly count calories on normal days, mainly because I know roughly what I am eating and that didn’t stop me loosing weight!!

good luck, have a good look around this forum, there is plenty of help and info!
let us know how you get on 🙂
good luck and

fast for life

11:32 am
8 Feb 14
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hi ebonyuk72 welcome to the forum,
your right
“figured it was a case of eating 500 calories or less on a fast day, and then eating whatever on a feed day”
if you stick to this and just remember whatever not as much as i want…you should be fine, the tdee part is there as back up if you find weight loss stops, ive not had to use it myself as yet i just add another fast day rather than count cals every day, do what works for you. good luck and keep us posted xx

sylvestra

12:01 pm
8 Feb 14
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Hi @ebonyuk72 — the reason you see BMR and TDEE mentioned is because on non fast days you can eat WHATEVER you like but NOT HOW MUCH you like.

Your TDEE gives you a guide to the amount you should eat on non fast days to lose weight. Using a calorie tracker for the first couple of weeks gives you a good guide to portion sizes on both fast days and non fast days. It’s all too easy to underestimate calorie intake.

As Angie says go to the ‘how?’ link at the top of the page and calculate your TDEE – the link also explains why you should know this.

xx

Lindyw

4:45 pm
8 Feb 14
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Hi EbonyUK72
Out of ignorance, I did the first 4 months eating 500 cals on fast days and normally on others, and I lost lots of weight and inches. I think you are fine starting off like this and it helps your body to accept the fast days so long as you are losing weight or inches. Once you plateau then you can look at your TDEE and adjust accordingly.
Good luck.

barbarita

5:20 pm
8 Feb 14
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Hi Lindyw

I agree, better to get used to the idea and practice of fasting first for a month or two. With any luck quite a few pounds and inches will go without having to think about cals or carbs. If weight loss stalls after the “easy pounds” then is the time to.refine the technique. Otherwise you may as well be on a 7-day a week calorie counting diet anyway as far as weight loss goes. There are the other fasting benefits of course …

ebonyuk72

8:56 pm
9 Feb 14
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Thank you all so much for your replies, I really appreciate it.
I did my two fasting days last week without any issues, and combined with what I’d already cut back on, the weight I’d put on over Christmas is now gone, I was also completely astounded by the amount I slept and the energy I had during my fasting days. One morning I woke up with a banging headache as I’d slept for so long and so heavily, I’ve not done that since way before my daughter was born 17 years ago.
Based on your replies I’ll stick to my two fasting days, and just cutting back things on my non fasting days, once my weight balances out, and I know I’ve got a way to go before I get there, then hopefully I really will get my head around the TDEE stuff.
Thanks again
xxxxxx

simcoeluv

9:01 pm
9 Feb 14
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Hi:

Congratulations so far.

This may help you with TDEE: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/tdee-for-the-curious-or-why-dont-i-lose-weight-faster/

Good Luck!

dethrock

9:54 pm
9 Feb 14
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The fast diet requires a lot of experimentation to find what works for you, the thing is you can eat normally on non fast days but you just can’t go hog wild. My problem has been drinking soda and sweet tea on the normal days, which I think kills any progress that I make. I find over time though that on the normal days I don’t crave as much as I used to, and being a little hungry is not a big deal. I think that’s what makes the fast diet attractive to me, it really conditions you into eating better.

Lizamor

5:38 pm
12 Feb 14
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– we can actually eat whatever we want on eat days, but not in free amounts. If we overeat on eating days, the fast days would be for nothing.

Try to keep a calorie intake of 1800 on eat days.