A 5:2 Pep Talk...

Cast your minds back 10 weeks or so - those halcyon days pre-summer holidays where we were all enjoying the sunshine and hoping that perhaps this year we might actually get to wear flipflops and summer dresses and NOT freeze to death/look like drowned rats before the end of the day...

I was 6 weeks in to the Fast Diet - you know, the one where you eat very little for 2 days a week and eat 'normally' the rest of the time? I was doing alright, had already lost over half a stone and had calculated that, at that rate, I would be back to my pre-pregnancy weight by the end of September.

Fast forward to the end of September...

Guess what folks? I am nowhere near my pre-pregnancy weight (now there's a surprise!).

So what happened? you ask.  I'll tell you.

THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS HAPPENED!

Now I can't blame it all on having Roo home for six weeks but have you ever tried fasting with an uber energetic 5yo bouncing around the place like Tigger after a big bag of Haribo?  Fasting whilst he is at school is easy (ish) because you don't have that constant 'Mummy, I'm hungry! Can I have...?' in your ear from breakfast time right the way through till bedtime. 

Then there were the days out that usually required a picnic of some description if we didn't actually eat out, at least one ice-cream and the obligatory coffee (for me), milkshake (for him) and cake. Obviously.

We actually went on holiday too, to Devon, which meant a week of ice cream, cream teas, fish and chips and pasties. Plus a week with my mum and dad - who view fasting as some kind of torture and manage to pile more calories on one dinner plate than I generally eat in an entire day!

With all this going on it's amazing I only gained 2lbs throughout the entire holiday!

But now the hols are over, Roo is back at school, I have goal to reach and the clock is ticking...

5:2 began in earnest again last week - I have got back into my routine with relative ease (although the second fast day was a bit of a nightmare - time of the month and no chocolate? *shudders* ). The 2lb gain has gone again already and I am ready say good bye to the other stone and a half over the next few months. The next 4 months, to be precise.

They say it's always helpful to have a specific goal in mind whatever you are doing. It helps to keep focused if you know exactly where you are heading.

I know exactly where I am heading. In 4 months time I reach a milestone and I am absolutely determined I will not be fat AND forty...

5:2 update - little steps

Well today marks four weeks on the Fast Diet or 5:2 plan - I explained a bit about it here when I first started the plan (still refusing to use the 'd' word!)

So how is it going?

Well I lost 2lbs a week for the first two weeks, 1 1/2lb in week three and only 1/2lb last week. I am not surprised at this, in fact given the amount of ice-cream that has been consumed over the last few HOT days (yes, we have SUMMER!!!) I am amazed I lost anything at all!!

A total of 6lbs in four weeks is not to be sniffed at and if it feels a little slow I am grateful that at least I weigh 6lbs less than I did on 1st June. We all know that crash dieting and rapid weight loss are not good for us and long term weight loss so I am happy to be taking these little steps.

HOWEVER

I do think I need to curb my enthusiasm on non-fast days a bit! It's all well and good saying you can eat whatever you like on a non-fast day but I doubt that includes snacking on a whole pack (100g) of BBQ coated peanuts through out one day. Yes, I did that. They were yummy but they will not be entering this house again...  ;-)

We've had a few knock backs this week too - mostly money related (aren't the always?). Amongst other things, the heating element of our cheap and nasty cooker has died and no-one seems to be able to find a replacement...  Luckily everything else seems to work ok so we can still grill and stove top is separate and I have a slow cooker and microwave so in the grand scheme of things it's not the end of the world.  I have discovered a number of half about microwave cake recipes and made pasta bake in the crock pot. The Other Half's Friday night pizza proved a bit trickier - I went for sliced baguette topped with tomato puree and herbs and sprinkled with grated mozzarella cheese and grilled. It seemed to go down well. The oven will have to be sorted some time though (microwave jacket potatoes are NOT the same) - but whether we can get a replacement element and get it fixed or have to find the money for a new one remains to be seen.

The point of the above paragraph (apart from having a moan about our crappy cheap cooker) was to excuse my chocolate munching over the past week too. It's not really an excuse though is it?  One day I will learn not to use food (chocolate) as comfort...

Weight is not the only measurement I have been taking. I measured myself on the 1st June too and have just measured again - an overall loss of 171/2 cm - including 51/2 cm (that's about 2") off my waist and 3cm off my midriff (ie the belly fat)  My clever scales also tell me that, of the 6lb loss. 3lb of that is fat! I'm happy with that.

Little steps...

It's dieting, Jim, but not as we know it!

I have almost completed my second 'fasting day' on the 5:2 eating plan (still hate the word 'diet') and so far it is proving much easier than I imagined.

I weighed myself on Monday, before starting the first fast (no, I am not willing to share just yet!) Constant weighing is most definitely a no-no - especially as my scales seem to change their mind every time I step on them! - so next weigh-in will be Monday morning.  I have been advised by other 5:2 eaters to make sure I keep my calorie consumption around 2000cals (which is about what I would normally have anyway) on non fasting days so my body doesn't think it truly is starving.  It's so refreshing to not have to think too much about counting calories. Apart from the two 'fasting days' food consumption has continued much as normal.

I nearly slipped up earlier - Roo wanted an ice lolly when we got home from school. Mini milks were calling and I actually got one for myself and unwrapped it before suddenly remembering that today was definitely NOT an ice-cream day! I actually managed to wrap it back up and put it back in the freezer.

To be fair I could have eaten it - they only contain about 30 cals - but then I would not be able to have the ryvita I plan to nibble on with my soup a bit later. I am actually quite astonished at my will power over something so small - in the past I would have eaten it, reasoning that an extra 30cals is hardly going to make a difference, but not this time. I even managed to bin the half a fish finger and a few french fries that Roo left on his dinner plate.

Clearly my will power is exerting itself!

Keeping busy certainly helps and I suspect the beautiful warm sunny weather we have been having has a great deal to do with it too.   I wonder if the lure of chocolate will be stronger on those miserable days when nothing is going right and my period is due... We shall see. It's early days yet! 

Tomorrow I am heading out with the Other Half and his parents for a three course meal that I won in a Facebook competition at a local pub/restaurant The Inn on the Wye.  Friday night is fish night and I am really looking forward to tucking in with absolutely no diet guilt whatsoever!!

A personal challenge...

I've blogged about my weight before - I even joined a weekly meme for a while in the hope that blogging regularly about it would encourage me to stick with the 'diet'.

It didn't.

I piled on the stones (5 to be exact) whilst pregnant with Roo, mostly in the last 4 months. I made all sorts of excuses at the time - water retention, puffy ankles and feet making walking anywhere extremely painful, big baby... etc etc.

But the truth is I ate all the pies. And the pasties. And the chocolate hobnobs.

But it was ok because I was going to breastfeed and everyone knows that breastfeeding is the best way to lose the baby weight right?

Errmmmm....

To be fair I lost half the weight fairly quickly but the rest has resolutely hung about.

Roo was five a couple of weeks ago so I really cannot call it baby weight any longer.  It's fat. It slows me down and makes me look horrible in a full length mirror. It's all around my middle which is not only extremely unhealthy but also means nothing fits properly. And I want it gone!

I am rubbish at dieting - I love food too much. Not so much stuffing my face with chocolate (although you know how much I love good chocolate!) but just food in general. I hate sticking to a set menu. I like to be spontaneous with food. And besides I just cannot afford to follow a menu plan with all those special ingredients that the boys won't touch with a barge pole (ie anything healthy...)  I can't afford time at the gym either and besides which I walk nearly an hour every day just doing school run!

A diet is not what I need - a complete change of lifestyle is what I need and the 5:2 plan seems to be the way to go.

Have you heard of 5:2? Intermittent fasting or 'The Fast Diet'? The basic idea is that for two non-consecutive days of the week you 'fast', only consuming 500 cals (600 for men). The rest of the time you eat exactly what you want. And that's it.

It's not a new idea - yogis and holy men have been doing it for eons but new studies seem to show that not only is it an excellent way to lose weight and keep it off but also it has a whole raft of other health benefits too and may enable practitioners to live longer and with better physical and mental health.

I won't go into the science here - if you want to know more about it all then visit the official 'Fast Diet' website

So this is my new challenge - my first 'fast day' will be Monday.

I am looking forward to saying goodbye to the spare tyre(s) and maybe fitting back into the clothes I cleared out from my wardrobe last summer but never quite got around to getting rid of!

I'll let you know how it goes.

If any of you have tried 5:2 plan please let me know how it is going for you. I'd love to hear your stories. 

And if you have been thinking about giving it a go there really is no time like the present! We can do this together - a challenge is always a little easier when you have support.