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.