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Thursday 21 August 2014

5:2

OK, it’s official. I want to lose weight. Urgh. Following a particularly indulgent holiday and load of scrumptious (if I do say so myself!) recipe posts, I'm not feeling my best. I've talked before about causes of overeating and ways to reduce that, and after nearly 2 years of not dieting I've not put on any weight, but I'm not losing it either and I'm getting a bit miffed.


I wish I was like my friends who can gobble what they want and be minuscule… but I can’t (sob). The thing is, I love eating, this is the problem. I love cooking, going out for meals and socialising over a BBQ or crusty bread dunked into a whole molten Camembert (*dribble*...I'll have to try that this weekend).
I used to be a seasoned dieter. I've tried them all, and the idea of having to eat salad for the rest of my life is just depressing. OK, so I could probably make the effort and create some nice healthy dishes (my Tom Yum soup being one, or Speedy Spanish Rice which is quite lovely). But what about the other stuff? The cheesy burgers, the pizzas, or these devilishly good peanut butter brownies? Am I doomed to spend my life saying "no" to all of that, creating only saintly recipes and giving up the cocktails?? I can't take it I tell you! Why must it be that I have to choose between my passion or my arse? Is there another way?





Well, the emotional side of it has helped immensely with how I feel, coping with stress or anxiety for example and definitely has played a role in stopping me piling on the pounds. But it isn't enough to help me lose any. The scales are just sitting where they have done for the last few years. I'm eating what I like and enjoying it, but overindulging just enough to keep the weight a bit higher than I'd like. 

So, I'm stopping the nonsense, giving in and trying the latest craze - the 5:2 diet. Fasting on 2 days out of 7 (For me I'm picking Mondays and Thursdays) and eating 'normally' on the rest. (*Normally is enough food to maintain my current weight which is just under 2000 calories). So while I may need to behave like a monk on those days, during the rest of the week I can relax, go out, entertain and keep doing what I love. 

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Monday was my first fast day. 500 calories only for most women, and 600 calories for most men. I ate a tomato cuppa soup, a pack of king prawns (which saved me at about 4pm) and then two poached eggs on a slice of wholemeal toast for dinner with shitloads of green Tabasco (I love that stuff). I've never enjoyed a tiny plate of food so much. It was hard, I'm not going to lie. I felt tired and grouchy and the only thing that got me through were those prawns and images of breakfast dancing in my head.
Tuesday morning I set the alarm for 7am (!) to cook a quicker variation of this. I never do that, instead I grab breakfast around 9:30 on my way to work, so I know it did a little bit of crazy to my brain. I had a brownie, a cheese toasty for lunch, then fish, potatoes and veg with lots of butter for dinner. So a pretty standard end to the day, perhaps eating a touch more than I would normally.
Yesterday was a different matter entirely. I fancied porridge in the morning, and sushi for lunch (even though I could have been eating pies and cake technically). Ok so there was a Nandos in the evening after the cinema, but I didn't overindulge at all - again a 'normal' day. Interesting, as I thought just a sniff of an upcoming fast day would make me drown myself in cream and gorgonzola.
Today is definitely easier than the first. I've learned that I need something solid, so the sugar-laden and not very satisfying cuppa soup is out. Instead I opted for a very welcome pot of fat free frozen coconut yoghurt with a few strawberries and passionfruit which is really tasty and filling. Although, the lady next to me is eating a cheese and onion toasty and I may faint with desire...


So, ahead of me lie two more blissful poached eggs on toast (I kid you not, it's going to be out of this world) and an early night, then three fast free days before week two begins. How will the scales fare? We'll have to wait and see. 





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