5 2 Diet What Can I Eat on Fast Days
The 5:2 Diet Plan: Complete Meal Plans for 7 Days
By wlr's resident foodie Joanne Putney
ShareOur 5:2 Diet meal plan gives you a delicious and healthy daily menu for 2 days of fasting and 5 non fasting days.
As well as very low calorie meals for fast days, this 5:2 gives you a complete weekly menu. So you get a good idea of what you can eat on non fast days without compromising your weight loss.
How the 5:2 plan works
- Each week you eat normally for 5 days plus 2 days fasting
- On normal days you should stick to the number of calories required to maintain your weight
- On fast days eat just a quarter of your daily maintenance calories.
- For most people, fast days will be around 500 to 800 calories. (Mainly the lower amount for women and towards the higher for men.)
- Fasting can be on any 2 days you choose, however, most people find it's best not to fast on consecutive days.
How many calories can you eat?
The wlr 5:2 plan has been created to allow enough calories to include snacks, drinks and treats - especially on non fast days.
How many calories you can eat will depend on the number of calories you need to maintain your current weight - your maintenance calories.
You can take a free trial of the wlr tools for an accurate estimate of your maintenance calories, they are shown in the food diary. (You also have the calories history report, which makes it easy to balance calories over a week.)
- Non fast day eating plans provide around 1600 calories. If your maintenance calories are higher than this, you can add in drinks and snacks and/or increase meal portion sizes.
- Fast days allow 500 calories per day. For more 5 2 fast day meal options see our 5:2 recipes.
How much weight can you lose?
5:2 dieting is not the quickest for weight loss. The diet creates a weekly deficit of around 3000 calories, so you could expect to lose a little under a pound a week - provided you don't go OTT on your feast days!
We recommend keeping a food diary and watching your calories on non fast days to make sure this doesn't happen, at least to start with.
Studies so far have been fairly short term (3-12 weeks) and results show average weight loss of 4-8% over this period.
However, if the diet suits you, it may be easier to continue longer term than diets that are more restrictive on a day-to-day basis.
~ Day 1 ~
1639 calories | 8.3 portions F&V
Breakfast - Cream Cheese & Raspberries on Toast
312 cals
Crunchy toasted wholemeal bread with cream cheese and fresh raspberries.
- 2 slices wholemeal bread (72g)
- cream cheese (30g)
- 20 raspberries (100g)
Lunch - Smoked Salmon, Avocado & Egg Salad
633 cals
Top mixed leaf salad with cherry tomatoes, red onion, avocado, hard boiled egg and smoked salmon. Drizzle with creamy dill dressing and top with walnuts.
View Recipe - Smoked Salmon, Avocado & Egg Salad.
Dinner - Sizzling Chicken Fajitas & Potato Wedges
693 cals
This classic Mexican favourite is always a hit with family and friends... Follow the recipe below and also make up 120g frozen potato wedges.
View Recipe - Sizzling Chicken Fajitas & Potato Wedges.
Leftovers Make Life Easy on the wlr 5:2 Diet Plan
At wlr we know life can easily get in the way of good intentions, that's why we've made our 5:2 diet plan as easy as possible. Where possible we've made double quantities of meals in the evening for a quick, take-to-work lunch the following day. For example Monday's chicken fajitas can be eaten (either cold or reheated) for lunch on Tuesday... Friday's Chicken Jalfrezi make a quick reheatable lunch on Saturday... you get the idea!
~ Day 2 ~
1553 calories | 13.5 portions F&V
Breakfast - Tomato & Mushroom Omelette with Baked Beans
367 cals
This super simple, grilled omelette is a great way to start your day, serve with baked beans for an extra hit of protein, or omit the beans and bank the calories for a later date.
- 2 eggs (112g)
- 1 tbsp semi skimmed milk (15ml)
- 4 button mushrooms, sliced (28g)
- 4 cherry tomatoes, halved (60g)
- 1 tsp oil (5ml)
- ½ can baked beans (200g)
Lunch - Leftover Chicken Fajitas
633 cals
Leftover chicken fajitas from day 1 can be eaten hot or cold, as yo prefer! Have a banana as a snack to keep you going through the afternoon too.
View Recipe - Leftover Chicken Fajitas.
Dinner - Quick Bolognese with Penne & Parmesan
553 cals
The recipe for our 'Quick Bolognese' sauce makes up enough for tonights dinner, tomorrows lunch and 1 more to stor in the freezer. Serve half up with dinner along with cooked penne pasta and fresh grated parmesan.
- 2 portions of our Quick Bolognese recipe
- penne pasta, dry weight (75g)
- 1 tbsp parmesan cheese (15g)
Snacks, treats and drinks allowance on the plan
Depending on your daily maintenance calories you could have calories spare for extra foods and drinks.
For example Rebecca, a 41 year old female of average height (5' 3") and average weight (11 stone) who works in an office (moderately sedentary), would require 1832 calories to maintain her current weight.
Therefore she would have 232 spare calories to eat or drink each day:
- 3 cups of tea with sugar + 4 chocolate fingers = 224 calories
- A couple of small glasses of dry white wine
Discover how many extra calories extra you personally would have, and how many calories are in your favourite foods and drinks with the wlr food diary - try it free now
~ Day 3 ~ Fasting Day ~
493 calories | 3.3 portions F&V
Breakfast - Wholemeal Toast with Peanut Butter
171 cals
Toast a slice of your favourite wholemeal bread and top with peanut butter. PB is great for slow releasing energy to keep you full all morning.
- 1 slice wholemeal bread, toasted (36g)
- 1 tbsp peanut butter (15g)
Lunch - Leftover Bolognese with Chickpeas
192 cals
Add 60g of chickpeas into the portion of leftover bolognese from last night, reheat and serve.
- 1 portion of our Quick Bolognese recipe
- ¼ can drained chickpeas (60g)
Dinner - Chicken Noodle Soup
130 cals
This recipe for a quick and easy chicken noodle soup is so simple, so delicious and a great low cal dinner.
View Recipe - Chicken Noodle Soup.
~ Day 4~
1615 calories | 11.4 portions F&V
Breakfast - Grilled BLT Sandwich
329 cals
Make up a classic BLT with wholemeal bread and mayonnaise. Toast the bread if you fancy it.
- 2 slices wholemeal bread (72g)
- 2 rashers bacon, lean (66g)
- 2 lettuce leaves (20g)
- 1 tomato (90g)
- 1 tsp mayonnaise (5g)
Lunch - Greek Salad
500 cals
Simply chop all the ingredients for a simple, yet delicious greek salad. Serve with a banana to fill out the meal.
View Recipe - Greek Salad.
Dinner - Sausage & Mash with Onion Gravy
786 cals
Make up this super simple mash and serve with an east onion gravy, fried sausages and steamed veggies of your choice.
- 3 pork sausages (135g)
- maris piper potatoes (200g)
- 1 onion, sliced (180g)
- 2 tsp beef gravy granules (8g)
- 1 tsp oil (5ml)
- 1 steam bag of vegetables (160g)
Mix and Match Meals with the wlr 5:2 Plan
With the wlr you can either follow the complete 7 day plan or pick and choose the meals you like to make your perfect plan. Meals can me easily added to multiple days - so if, for example, you prefer to have the same breakfast multiple days, you can:
It's easy to add the plan to your wlr food diary, take a free trial and tap the link under Popular Food Plans on the members' home page.
~ Day 5~
1626 calories | 6.7 portions F&V
Breakfast - Toasted Bagel wit Soft Cheese
404 cals
Slice a wholemeal bagel in half and toast, spread with cream cheese and enjoy. Serve with an apple or save for later.
- 1 wholemeal bagel (90g)
- cream cheese (30g)
- 1 apple (80g)
Lunch - Jacket Potato with Cheese & Beans
535 cals
Top a baked potato with baked beans and cheese, make up a simple side salad with the remaining ingredients.
- 1 jacket potato (200g)
- ½ can baked beans (200g)
- mature cheddar cheese (30g)
- mixed leaf salad (80g)
- ¼ cucumber (100g)
- 1 tsp balsamic dressing (5ml)
Dinner - Chicken Jalfrezi & Rice with Poppadoms
687 cals
Make up this chicken jalfrezi recipe and save half for a quick take-to-work lunch tomorrow. Serve tonight with 2 poppadoms and 2 tsp mango chutney.
- 1 portion of our Chicken Jalfrezi with Basmati Rice recipe
- 2 poppadoms (16g)
- 2 tsp mango chutney (32g)
~ Day 6 ~ Fasting Day ~
503 calories | 3.3 portions F&V
Breakfast - Porridge with Blueberries
180 cals
Make up 30g porridge oats with semi skimmed milk and water (to keep cals down) top with fresh blueberries.
- porridge oats (30g)
- semi skimmed milk (75ml)
- water (100ml)
- 50 blueberries
Lunch - Fresh Vegetable Soup
118 cals
Buy a premixed veggie soup or make your own (create a recipe to make sure you keep cals low) heat and enjoy.
- fresh vegetable soup, from supermarket (300g)
Dinner - Baked Cod & Broccoli
205 cals
This baked cod and broccoli is so easy to make, throw everything into one pan and cook all together. Swap cod for your favourite fish if you like.
- broccoli (80g)
- 1 cod fillet (140g)
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tsp oil (5ml)
- Lemon juice to taste
~ Day 7 ~
1645 calories | 5.75 portions F&V
Breakfast - Baby Spinach Superfood Omelette
454 cals
Who doesn't love an omelette? Easy to make, tasty and healthy.
View Recipe - Baby Spinach Superfood Omlette.
Lunch - Leftover Chicken Jalfrezi and Rice
621 cals
Simply reheat and eat Day 5's leftover Chicken Jalfrezi and Rice. Easy peasy. Also enjoy some fresh berries as snacks later, or dessert after lunch.
- 1 portion of our Chicken Jalfrezi with Rice
- 20 raspberries
- 50 blueberries
Dinner - Breaded Lemon Sole, Chips & Petit Pois
570 cals
Make life easy and buy premade breaded fish from the supermarket and oven chips, super easy and super tasty.
- 1 lemon sole fillet, breaded (142g)
- oven chips, frozen (150g)
- petit pois (80g)
Make 5:2 Work for You
The wlr 5:2 plan gives a whole 7 days so you can make sure your fast days count and lose weight quickly and efficiently - give it a try!
Try it Free »
More Info
There are plans for all tastes on wlr, here's a selection of over 20 weekly diet plans
5 2 Diet What Can I Eat on Fast Days
Source: https://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/diet/plans/5-2-diet-7-day-meal-plan.htm