Hi folks,

I’m about a week and a half away from the 8 week mark on the 800, and have had great success in all areas. My question is about transitioning off the 800. I’m planning to go the 5:2 Mediterranean… but I’m wondering how folks deal with this.

Both my GP and Nutritionist have been very supportive of me doing this (my exercise physiologist thinks it’s crazy, but I don’t go to him for dietary advice), but both of them also independently gave me the same advice. They said that my body is now in a state where it will try to hold on to every calorie because I’ve given it so few, and that when I come off the diet, even with 5:2, I may find myself gaining more weight than I expected because my body will keep doing that. My GP thinks that I should eventually be aiming for around 2000 calories a day (on non-fasting days). Nutritionist reckons I can get away with 1500 for a while (but she really wants me to reintroduce grains).

Hmm, so how do I manage this? Would you recommend gradually increasing the calories intake (on non-fasting days)? Say maybe 1000 the first week, 1200 the next etc etc?

Thanks in advance xx Rob

I’ve been on the Fast800 for a year. I eat less than 20 grams of carbs a day, often less than 10 so obviously I haven’t touched a grain in all this time. I walk at least 15,000 steps a day, do light weight training 5 times a week and have lost more than 160 pounds. So yeah. Just because people are experts in their fields doesn’t mean they can’t be stuck in their ways and unfamiliar with other approaches and studies. Do what works for you. If you have a ways to go yet and don’t feel comfortable transitioning, then don’t. If grains spike your blood sugar then keep avoiding them. If you’re ready to switch to the 5:2, then I would say the more gradually you increase your daily caloric intake the better.

Congratulations on your success and best of luck to you going forward.

I’ve just finished the 8 weeks and I’m increasing my daily calories by ~400 per week. I’m expecting there to be a bit of a re-bound, but hopefully this will stop it being too severe. I’ve been making weekly posts about how everything is going, so you’ll be able to see if it works or not!

I added 50 calories every day, similarly low carb Med of course, to what I had been eating for my transition (averages about 260 calories more per week) and still lost a couple of extra pounds of weight as I was transitioning, I took it all the way up to 2500 calories without putting any added weight on, which is above my calculated TDEE.

Thanks Mixnmatch, that’s incredibly heartening and great advice. Wow, 2500! Sounds like a feast from where I stand 🙂

Excellent success, Esnecca. I take what you say about experts being stuck in their ways, but both my GP and Nutritionist are well aware of the research around the 800 and the 5:2 and are very supportive. These are not those kinds of experts. My situation is a little different, as I ‘only’ weighed around 230lbs to start off with (at 5′ 11″). I’m definitely more interested in maintenance now than (much) further loss.