I’ve never knowingly done a diet on very low calories before. And i’ve only just realised that my average daily calories are now under 1200 because of the fast days.

I eat 500 calories on two days and 1400 on the other five days. This is average of 1142 per day.

I am 165cm and weigh 61kg and i’m nearly 51. female.

So i’m wondering, what sort of negative effects on body function do you think this will cause me.

I seemed to reach a stall and without regard to that i started using a pedometer and trying to get my steps up to 10000 which started my weight loss again. This is very recent.

I’ll consider increasing my calories to 1450 if i think its warranted but want to try to consider what health issues lower average calories might have for me. I mean it might have no effect since its only two days that my calories are low rather than being under 1200 every day.

Any thoughts?

Lichtie “For me the main benefit of fasting is that the sugar cravings are massively reduced, which makes me eat less carbs on eating days too.”

yes its because you are doing low carb effectively and when you do low carb, you stop having cravings. But you only need to stop eating sugar to end those sugar cravings. And i mean sugar, not fruit.

but i have also noticed how these low carb days affect my overall appetite. I did low carb before 5:2 and i can tell you they feel the same only the food is different. So just keeping your carbs moderate most days will help.

My TDEE is up around 1500 i think still. I can’t remember but i eat below my TDEE because i wasn’t losing when i ate at my TDEE. You must be quite short to have a TDEE of 1295.

Tracey, I hope you are right. its what i want to believe.

My concern is that if it were not so , then biological function could be compromised and LIchtie you would not have much way of knowing this because its not all about appetite and energy. On the other hand, these, and particularly energy are probably good indicators. I think i might have contradicted myself there. What i mean is i’m not sure. It could be or it might not be.

Anyway i guess i will stick with what i’m doing for now.

Thanks all.

Yes i know about set point. In the past I’ve easily lost weight to much lower than this (but with a lot more activity) but haven’t kept it off once. Mind you i haven’t kept it off at 60kg for any length of time either. I don’t feel i’m struggling at the moment though. I’m trying to do things differently this time.

My question is more about health than weight gain/loss. I’m wondering if eating below my BMR for two days a week would have any health effects. I’m hoping not.

And thanks for your supportive message yesterday on the other thread. I’m not suffering. But i do need to get on with life a bit more. I’ve been trying but i come and go from the computer all day.

2f2f, my average is below 1200. I’m not sure if you are suggesting i should change things to get it up to that. But never mind, I’ve stopped worrying about this. Actually you’ve given me an idea.

I would be curious to see what my weekly average is when i work it out from what i actually eat. Its usually not strictly speaking 1400 calorie per day and 500 on fast days. Usually its a bit over and sometimes a bit under. Yesterday was quite a lot over. I’m finding if i don’t get my meals properly balanced for satiety then i tend to want to eat again. I do better with bigger meals that have a lot of vegetables in them.

Today’s a fast day so i’ll be having sautéed and steamed vegetables and grilled fish with some olive oil in the mix. If i was inclined to do it, i’d cook a fish/seafood stew as these are good for me too on fast days.

Thanks Happy.

Its a fast day and I”ve just worked out my food. And i can’t wait lol. I’m trying a new thing. Instead of grilled fish, i’m going to try grilled seafood (100grams) . I’ve got a variety of things in the freezer – prawns, mussels, scallops and even calamari thingos. If they need it i will make a dressing of lemon juice , garlic and olive oil to add to it afterwards (1tsp each). Oh and maybe a little parsley. I had lovely seafood salads in France last year. I just don’t know what plain grilled seafood would be like. It will need salt.

with it i’m having 3 veg steam-saute in olive oil (10g each potatoes pumpkin and zucchini today. The pots make it especially delicious and they don’t have a negative effect on me).

Dinner will be a great deal of green leafy stuff (lettuce, rocket, parsley) with low fat salad dressing + a big expresso with half cup of milk.

And lots of Twinings black tea throughout the day. I’ve rather taken to it since i began drinking it recently.

All that comes to just over 500calories .