Below is a sample of a 5:2 fasting day meal plan of about 500 calories that you can use on your intermittent fasting days.
The good thing about this diet plan is that, other than sticking to the 500/600 calories per day, there are no other hard-and-fast rules. So if you don’t like something, then change it up.
Experiment a little. Try different ingredients in your meals, different numbers of meals and snacks each day, times of day to eat, ways to pass the time (so you don’t think about food all day), etc, etc.
And if you are struggling a bit on fasting days, then make sure that you check out this post for some ideas and inspiration.
Breakfast – Green Zinger Juice = 75 calories
Morning Tea – Rice cakes with cottage cheese and tomato = 61 calories
Lunch – Vegetarian Chickpea Salad = 125 calories
Dinner – Turkey and Lettuce cups = 229 calories
TOTAL = 490 calories
——————————————–
Breakfast
Green Zinger Juice – 75 calories
Ingredients:
- 1 medium cucumber (32 calories)
- 3 sticks celery (6 calories)
- 1 cup spinach (7 calories)
- 1 green apple (93 calories)
- 1/2 lime, peeled (10 calories)
- 1/2 inch fresh ginger (2 calories)
Method:
Blitz everything in your juicer (remove the lime and apple seeds beforehand). Poor over some ice cubes.
Calories: Total = 150 calories, or 75 calories per serving
Serves: 2
Morning Tea
Rice Cakes with Cottage Cheese and Tomato – 61 calories
Ingredients:
- 1 rice cakes (9g each) (35 calories)
- 1 tbsp of cottage cheese (20 calories),
- 2 slices medium tomato (30g) (6 calories)
Method:
On the rice cake put 1 tbsp of cottage cheese and 2 slices of tomato. Can add torn pieces of basil on top or sprinkle some cracked pepper.
Calories: Total = 61 calories
Serves: 1
Lunch
Vegetarian Chickpea Salad – 125 calories
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup of chickpeas – rinsed (70 calories)
- 1 cup or 35g of spinach leaves or lettuce leaves, washed (8 calories)
- ¼ cup of cherry tomatoes – cut into quarters (17 calories)
- 1/3 cucumber sliced (15 calories)
- ¼ lemon squeezed (0 calories)
- 1/4 tsp. coconut oil (10 calories)
- Handful of fresh herbs – any combination – oregano, basil, parsley, coriander, chives (5 calories)
- ¼ tsp. sea salt (0 calories)
Method:
- Place chickpeas in a bowl. Add spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, fresh herbs, squeezed lemon juice and oil. Mix lightly.
- Add sea salt for taste.
Calories: Total = 125 calories
Serves: 1
Dinner
Turkey and Lettuce Cups – 229 calories
Serves 1
Ingredients:
- 80g turkey mince (144 calories)
- 3 top leaves of iceberg lettuce (small bowl shape) (3 calories)
- 1/8 cup or 15g or of onion finely chopped (6 calories)
- ¼ cup of mushrooms finely chopped (10 calories)
- 1/4 cup of cherry tomatoes, sliced (17 calories)
- 1/4 lime (5 calories)
- chili flakes or fresh chili (0 calories)
- coriander chopped up finely (0 calories)
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder (2 calories)
- 1 tsp. coconut oil (39 calories)
- tamari/soy sauce (optional for extra flavor) (3 calories)
Method:
- Place 2 lettuce bowl-shaped leaves on a plate and put aside.
- Place onion in a pan with coconut oil and cook over a medium heat until lightly browned.
- Add turkey mince, mushrooms, garlic powder & chili. Cook until turkey mince is cooked and lightly browned.
- Turn off the heat and let the mince sit for a few minutes to cool down slightly. Mix through chopped coriander and squeeze over the lemon juice.
- Add the cherry tomatoes.
- Divide the turkey mixture evenly between the two lettuce bowls and serve.
Calories: Total = 229 calories
Serves: 1
Enjoy.
If you are on the lookout for more ideas and inspiration, click here for another fasting day meal plan.
If you need more information about the 5:2 diet why not join our 4-week challenge and be supported on your journey. Click the image below to check it out and for immediate access…
Is it ok to fast all day, but then at 12AM eat something because my stomach is growling and I cannot sleep?
Hi Juana
Thanks for your question.
Yes, that’s fine, but please note the following…
When they say “fast 2 days per week”, each of these days is more like 36 hours. For example, if you are fasting on a Monday, then you will eat normally on Sunday, finishing eating at, say, 8pm. Monday is fasting day. Then your next “non-fasting’ day meal will be Tuesday breakfast, say 8am. So essentially you are fasting from 8pm Sunday to 8am Tuesday = 36 hours.
So this means that if you stick to your 500/600 calories on the Monday, you should not wait until the clock strikes 12 midnight Tuesday morning and then go eat everything in the fridge.
However, if you are saying that should you eat before you go to bed, I would say that it is good to have something before you go to bed so that you can rest and get a good night’s sleep. Rest and quality of sleep are important. I know myself I always tend to eat more when I am tired, so try not to go to bed hungry.
But don’t go overboard. Having a smallish meal before you go to bed is ok.
I find having a number of small meals and snacks throughout the day is easier to manage than a few big meals. But you may have to experiment a little to find what diet plan works best for you. And that’s the good thing about the 5:2 intermittent fasting diet – it gives you that flexibility to try different things to find what works for you.
Hope this makes sense.
Cheers
Sarah
Sarah I am been doing the 5:2 but I start worrying because I feel I am consuming enough calories the day I am not fasting I think I am eating like 900 to 1200 but I don’t feel hungry! I just want to storage fat what should I do?
Hi Erika,
Thanks for your question.The guidelines for a ‘healthy and balanced diet’ is eating 2000 calories for women and 2500 for men a day to maintain their current weight. Of course this is general and a guideline and will vary depending on age, height, metabolism, other health considerations, levels of physical activity and some other contributing factors.
This is just an approximate guide. As you are fasting 2 days each week and lowering your calories to 500calories 2 times each week, your diet is already going into a deficit range to lose weight, rather than just maintain your current level.
From what you have shared it seems you are eating too little, from my calculation you are only eating about 7000 calories across the entire week which is 50% less than what you should for the healthy balanced diet guidelines of ‘maintaining’ your weight. I believe you are essentially telling your body to store fat – as across the entire week you are eating too little. I speak to many personal trainers and they tell me this is a common problem that many people think that by dramatically eating less they will lose weight. Often they get people to eat more of the right foods whilst exercising and then the weight drops. If you haven’t already why don’t you
join the 4 week challenge? Here’s a quick guide to get you started: http://thefastingdietplan.com/products/quick-start-guide/
It will tell you what program you should follow for the best results for fasting the 5:2diet way.
To your health
Sarah
And just remember on 2 non-consecutive fasting days, only consume 500 calories or less.
Hope this helps.
To your health,
Sarah
I fast Monday and Tues. because the rest of my week would be almost
impossible for me to maintain my fasting. Is fasting 2 days in a row really
the wrong way. Will my plan work or not?
Hi Carole
Thanks for your question. I personally have never fasted 2 days consecutively but I wouldn’t think that there would be any harm in doing so. Plenty of people have adopted this approach especially when their schedules have not allowed for Monday and Thursday fasting. It is this flexibility for the diet to work around you life which is so great!
If you can make it through two days in a row and you still feel fine then do what works for you. Over the course of the week you will still be decreasing your calories and fat burning. However I would caution you from doing 3 days in a row as this is when the body will kick into starvation mode and instead of burning fat it will want to store it; so rather than improving your results you will be hindering your success.
The only other thing I would mention is that you may not see as much weight loss as technically you are fasting for less time (approx 60hrs of the week) rather than 72hrs. The reason being is when you split your fast days up you actually end up fasting for about 36hrs consecutively not 24hrs at a time.
The plan is a guideline that works for most people but there are many factors which affect weight loss. So do what works for you and test and measure. See what the results are like after a couple of weeks and if you feel that your progress has stalled because of it then go back to fasting on non consecutive days.
All the best and congratulations on being focused on your goal and not allowing a busy schedule to get you off track!
To your heath
Sarah
Hi Carole,
Let me fist start by apologizing with the late response to your comment, I think with some travel involved your comment slipped through the crack and i have just recently discovered that i never replied – so sorry!
Firstly well done on committing to fasting 2 days each week; its a great start! To answer your concerns about fasting 2 days in a row, it is preferred to break up your fast days becasue in actual fact; fasting 1 day actually ends up seeing you fast for a total of 36hrs and not 24.
So when you fast 2 days in a row you are only fasting for 48 hours, instead of a total of 72 hours if you fasted on the Tue separate fast days of Monday and Thursday. You manage to get in an additional 24 hours where you are not eating mainly becasue you are sleeping.
To answer your question you may find that your results may not be as great as someone who separated the two fast days across the week rather than having them consecutively; but either way I’m sure you will notice that you will still be losing weight, burning fat and losing some inches; it may not just be as great as some of the other results obtained by those for can fast Monday and Thursday and get the extra fasting hours int their week.
Do let us know how you have been tracking now that you have been following this style of fast for a few weeks now
Sarah
Due to many health issues, I am now 95% vegan. The only protein I eat twice a month is shrimp. I’m allergic to wheat, eggs/poultry, peanuts, fish. Looking at your sample recipes, there is too much that I could not eat. Do you have samples for vegan diet? Thank you. Linda
Hi Linda, I believe you sent me an email directly which I have responded to.I do not have a sample of vegan only receipes as part of the free guide and 4 week challenge but I do list suitable recipes on the website
Try to check out these recipes:
http://thefastingdietplan.com/recipes/extreme-low-calorie-recipe-spinach-salad/
http://thefastingdietplan.com/recipes/52-fasting-day-meal-plan-2/
http://thefastingdietplan.com/recipes/low-calorie-cauliflower-soup/\
If you can eat legumes such as lentils, chickpeas, beans this is a great protein source which is low in calories and can be easily substituted in some of the salads.
To your health
Sarah
Sarah how many calories do you get on your not fast days is it 2000
Kim
Hi Kim, this number can vary depending on your BMI but as a good general rule women should aim for 2000 calories and men 2400 calories. You will notice your fasting day is 500calories, which is a quarter of what you eat on your non fasting days. You do not need to get to hang up on counting calories on normal days just aim for healthy wholesome natural foods and you should be within the range.
To your health
Sarah
Hi Sarah
I just heard about this diet and am eager to try it. I am a vegetarian and I love milk. I take a cup of hot milk (2%) in the morning, with instant coffee dissolved in it. I also love to drink a cup of hot milk at bedtime. I can skip dinner easily and have hot milk instead. Is it ok to have milk as a meal (say dinner) ? I DO add a tsp of sugar and Stevia to my milk . Please advise.
Also, I don’t enjoy cooking much. Is it OK to eat a frozen Weight watchers meal or two, on the fasting days?
Hi Ruby
Yes milk is a great food source due to the protein and vitamin/ minerals it contains. If you enjoy milk then drink milk. It will not do you any harm having it as a substitute for a ‘meal’. The premise of the 5:2 fastingdiet plan is that no food or food group is off limits; that is why whether you are a vegetarian a vegan or a carnivore you can eat whatever you like (within reason) as long as you stick to the 500 calorie limit for women and 600 calorie limit for men.
Having stated that I believe and with many studies being done to support this; that eating natural whole foods that are not completely processed are better for your body. They contain fewer preservatives, fillers, chemicals and toxins and the less ‘artificial’ or ‘manufactured’ foods we are putting into our body the easier it is for the gut to break down the food, extract the goodness and eliminate the leftovers and remove the toxins in the process.
If you wanted to gain the full effects then I would not become too reliant on weight watchers meals, but they do help and are great to keep in the freezer and use from time to time. They are calorie controlled, with smaller portions, they usually try to use good ingredients. So if this is what helps you get through a fasting day by avoiding cooking in the kitchen then do so, but I hope this is not what you are eating as the majority of your meals.
Some food for thought for you.
Keep up the program, stick with your meal if it works for you.
To your health
Sarah