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500 or 700 on Fasting days

ralostaz2000
ralostaz2000 Posts: 135 Member
edited December 1 in Social Groups
Hi....I want to start 5:2 IF as I really liked the idea of it.
But 500 Calories are freaking me out to start with...can I increase them to 700 and devide what is left over the 5 remaining days?

Replies

  • Juliemoo1960
    Juliemoo1960 Posts: 194 Member
    Hi I normally do 3 days @ 700-800 calories which I find suits my life style better. I normally have soup at lunchtime then a meal in the evening of meat and veg or salad. I found that 500 for me was too little. I also try to drink about 1 and 1/2 litres of fizzy water a day. Hope this helps.
  • megemrj
    megemrj Posts: 547 Member
    I usually do around 700 on my two FDs. I usually workout a lot and found 500 was too little whereas 700 meets my needs better. I may try to reduce it as I adapt to fasting as I'm fairly new to it (only about a month or little over).
  • KateNkognito
    KateNkognito Posts: 1,656 Member
    500 can sound really scary at first, but if you start looking around, youcan find lots of super low cal foods. There are a few threads on here that have a lot of great ideas. :)
  • flossyruby1
    flossyruby1 Posts: 337 Member
    I'm not wondering if bumping up the calories to 700 on a FD wouldn't be a good maintenance tactic. I'm a little afraid of what will happen if I go to a 6:1 schedule. I do like having 2 FD a week because, as depressing as this may sound, I think that weight loss needs to be in the forefront of our minds. I know I will always be vigilant about it because I have to. Heck, I e been thinking about weight loss my whole life. I'm not sure I even know how to have a day where I'm not thinking about what to eat. So maybe 700 calories, 2 FD a week for maintenance is a nice way to keep going.
  • Juliemoo1960
    Juliemoo1960 Posts: 194 Member
    Flossy that sounds like a good idea. As you say it might be a good maintenance tactic.
  • dryheatfitness
    dryheatfitness Posts: 97 Member
    You can get a ton of vegetables for 500 calories. I find that I can make amazing meals for 350-400 calories if I just start with 200 calories of veggies and 100 of meat. Spices, vinegars, and pre-packaged portions of protein help keep me full. I usually only have an apple at lunch and focus my by drinking water and keeping busy. Hunger is so temporary and easily ignored.
  • luv2chewbaca2
    luv2chewbaca2 Posts: 15 Member
    Im thinking of doing the intermittent fasting (alternating days) . Im curious if anyone knows the answer to this. On my "down days" when I only eat 500 cals, Is this my NET cals? Or is this my total cals for the day? For example, if I burn 500 extra cals that day, can I essentially eat 1000? My NET cals would then = 500. OR....If I burn 500 extra cals that day and only eat 500 cals, my balance would = 0....? PLease help!!
  • flumi_f
    flumi_f Posts: 1,888 Member
    @luv2chewbaca2 - on fast days the idea is to give your digestive system a bit of a rest to benefit from other health aspects, than 'just' the weightloss. Thus you don't eat the exercise cals back on a fast day. That being said....it is your own choice, if you eat them back on fast days. I usually don't. But sometimes I do, if I feel I need to.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    luv2chewbaca2 wrote: »
    Im thinking of doing the intermittent fasting (alternating days) . Im curious if anyone knows the answer to this. On my "down days" when I only eat 500 cals, Is this my NET cals? Or is this my total cals for the day? For example, if I burn 500 extra cals that day, can I essentially eat 1000? My NET cals would then = 500. OR....If I burn 500 extra cals that day and only eat 500 cals, my balance would = 0....? PLease help!!

    @luv2chewbaca2
    Net calories is very much a myfitnesspal peculiarity.

    Which ADF plan are you following? There's quite a few but I've not seen one where you earn more calories with exercise.

    Be very careful of setting your eating day goal appropriately according to the MFP or TDEE method or are you eating ad lib on those days?
  • feisty_bucket
    feisty_bucket Posts: 1,047 Member
    luv2chewbaca2 wrote: »
    if I burn 500 extra cals that day

    I don't know if you're new to IF or ADF in particular, but that'd be really intense for a fasting day. Maybe some very conditioned people would like that. Pretty sure I'd die though.

    Anyways, hi, I was just doing a string of ADF over the past two weeks to cut a bit. It can get tedious, more so than 5:2. So sometimes I'll throw in an extra rest day with flat calories in there somewhere. That helps a lot, mentally.
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