Another calorie q from a novice, sorry!

[Cat98]

I have logged onto mfp as suggested by other posters.
However I'm a bit confused by how much I should be eating on non fast days.
Mfp says that I should be eating 1200 calories a day to lose 1 lb a week. However, my TDEE on the calculator linked to on here says I should be eating 1852 calories a day. Which is the figure I should try and match on nfds - is it the 1852 or the 1200?
And is it ok if you take them as an average rather than the same each day (I might want more on a weekend - meal out for example :) )

Thanks and sorry if they are silly questions! I feel great after my first fast day and really want to get this right.

MFP seems to give most people a guide of 1200 cals per day. It did me, and many of my friends. It is too low for most people.

If you have worked your tdee out to be 1852 I would go by that.

Then of course your 500/600 on the fast days.

Of course, you can have a bit of leeway with cals - like you say if you are going out at the weekend - but not too much. I find that if you give yourself too much leeway then it is too easy to lose control. :)

Thank you :)
1852 sounds rather a lot, or is that pretty normal? I just can't believe I could eat that many 5 days out of 7 and still lose weight!

Are you tall? Heavy?

I set mine at 1650 with the aim of losing 2 lb per week. I don't eat all mt exercise cals though.

Neither- 5 ft 4 and only 10 lbs or so to lose!

Hello, when doing 5:2, and using mfp for NFDs, set mfp to maintenance, not weight-loss. The deficit from your fast days will make you lose weight. Many people eat a bit under their TDEE on NFDs, to allow a bit of leeway at the weekend. Also, most choose not to log their exercise, as if you don't 'eat back' the calories burned, obviously you'll lose weight a bit quicker.

Good luck! This really does work!

Thank you Moomin, that makes sense. I'll try and change my settings on it.