How good are you on non fast days?

[m0therofdragons]

Do you eat under the calories you should on non fast days? I had my first fast day yesterday and actually felt fine. Kept considering a biscuit but realised I wasnt wanting it for hunger so managed to resist. Today I've logged 800 calories and that includes dinner - should I make myself eat more?

You are supposed to eat at your TDEE (if you check on the 5:2 website, they have the calculator there or just google TDEE calculator) - this will provide you with the number of calories that you need on a daily basis to maintain your weight and the general view is that you should be eating these on the 5 non-fast days.

If you ate 500 calories yesterday and then only 800 calories today, then that isn't really the 5:2 diet, it is a very low-calorie diet which is not the aim of this.

That's fine - a piece of chocolate cake has bumped up the numbers. ... Not sure I'm embracing the healthy lifestyle

Don't worry, a few people do find fasting takes away their appetite the first week, but it soon returns.
A week or so on v low cal won't cause problems, if you are not deliberately starving yourself.
After 2-3 weeks, most folk have adapted to fasting and settled down.
Do post on the main thread if you need more support.

Many people naturally eat a few 100 cals below TDEE on the weekday NFDs, then eat a lot more at the weekend.
Some find that they gradually adopt more healthy habits, without making a big deal of it, just listening to their bodies - don't worry that your body said "cake" today; it may be saying "spinach" next week

my TDEE is about 1500/1600 - on non fast days I tend to stick to about 1200 which means I still lose weight despite fairly regular calorific meals out & weekly wine.