Has anyone ever done alternate day fasting (ADF) with less than 500 calories on fasting day?
Feast day: Mon Wed Fri Sat I’m thinking of eating whatever I want within reason on feasting day (4 hour eating window )
Fast day: Tue Thurs Sunday On fasting day have coffee with 2 tablespoons of double cream and 1 table spoon of coconut sugar (I will have 1 or 2 cups). The coffee really helps me to get through the fast.
Does this sound like a reasonable plan for weight loss?
Most likely viable with some restraint on your feast days. 3 weekly fast days would induce a total deficit of ~300% your TDEE (minus the caloric worth of your coffee) per week. To fully leverage that deficit you’d have to eat no more than 400% your TDEE on the remaining 4 weekly feast days combined. For example, assuming a TDEE estimated 1,700 kcal/day, then triple that equals 5,100 kcal/week, predicting a fat loss rate of approximately 1.45 lb/week, if that hypothetical individual were to limit themselves to 1,700 kcal per feast day or 6,800 kcal in total partitioned over 4 weekly feast days. Of course, by eating on an appropriate daily surplus or deficit on some or all of the feast days, the fat loss rate can be further tailored to one’s needs.
Concerning the coffee, you do you (subjectively I have a much easier time on no calories and no artificial sweeteners than otherwise; it’s for the most part mental and would equally apply to something like a carrot or celery rib). Chances are that a cup or two will not tangibly impact weight loss, even if it does transiently throttle adipose mobilization and oxidation. If you’re seeking to improve insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance though, that’s a different story.
The thing is that coffee is not helping you to go through a fast. It’s breaking your fast. That’s a huge difference.
If you have problems with sticking to your IF program, find a way to help you with continuing it or change the plan for more manageable. Assess and adjust.