New to 5:2 and confused!

[TheFatterController]

Hello all, I'm new and I'm confused!
I started the 5:2 diet a couple of weeks ago, I have two fast days (obviously) and 2 days following my fitness pal and sticking to around 1500 cal, then 3 days where I just eat and don't think about it. This is resulting in a loss then gain of half a stone, it's driving me mad! I've tried googling but some accounts say it's because I'm not eating enough on the my fitness pal days, and some say it's down going over the my fitness pal allowance On the weekends. I'm so confused, I was just doing my fitness pal but the weekends were messing it up so I thought I'd add two fast days on a Monday and a thursday to help but I think I'm doing it wrong?!
Help please! I don't want to be wasting the effort of my fast days!

Hi there

If you keep gaining and losing the same weight, you are very probably eating too much on NFDs (non fast days) and hence eating back the FD (fast day) deficit:

We recommend you calculate your TDEE (what your body burns to maintain) and keep within this on NFDs - mfp is great to track your daily calories, but ignore its nagging about your total being too low on FDs / too high on NFDs.

Everything you need to know is in the OP of the main 5:2 Number51

Thank you, have calculated it now, seems rather high compared to what it was before, will it work if I stick to lower calories during the week or do I need to go up to what it said on every NFD? Sorry for all the questions, can't quite get my head around being able to eat on a diet!

Sorry, am new to mumsnet and have just managed to find all the info at the start of the thread you mentioned ??

You're welcome
Don't eat if you aren't hungry, but don't force yourself to have a calorie deficit on NFDs if you are hungry: the deficit comes from the FDs, the NFDs just maintain this.

Avoid eating junk just to increase cals, because there are so many healthy yummy alternatives: unsalted nuts, avocado, roasted veg drizzled with olive oil, cheese .....

Good luck. Come join us for extra support on the main thread - we're one of the friendliest corners of Mumsnet

oh and we recommend calculating TDEE with activity set to sedentary - it gives loss a boost and most folk over-estimate activity level anyway