Fast Diet - Week 2 - #LoseDayTuesday

Week two of the 5:2 Fast Diet!! To find out more about it, read my original post here.

Last week I went to Jersey to spend 5 days with my Brother and his family. We went out to some gorgeous places to eat, ate French prawns fresh off the boat, had a few drinks, made some yummy cakes and generally enjoyed ourselves for 5 days straight. So where does the diet come into this plan? I fasted on the Monday, and started fasting midway through Tuesday, until Wednesday night. Then I could just enjoy. It may technically not have been a full 36 hour fast day for my second attempt, but it was the best I could do!! 

After indulging for so many days straight I was actually kind of excited to start my next fasting day, just to let my body have a bit of a break. But it turned out to be a really tough day of fasting. Around 4pm I started getting a cold. I declined rapidly into what could only be known as Man-Flu. I knew the body aches and pains were just cold symptoms, but they hit so hard and fast that it knocked me for a sixer! I wasn't all that hungry, and yet, knew I was weaker because I had no fuel in my system. I stuck to the fast day though, and had some spare calories in the evening, so had a giant bowl of porridge to take some medications with, and have woken up 1000 times better today!! 

I generally spend the day leading up to a fast day planning what I am going to eat, and then pop to the shops early before the hunger pangs set in for the day. I had a busy morning which helps me a lot, get through some hours without thinking about food. I would also highly recommend a calorie counting App, I use My Fitness Pal and have found it to be incredible, it lists EVERYTHING!!!

Breakfast - Blueberry & Kiwi Smoothie

I made a really delicious breakfast smoothie, made with 1 kiwi fruit, 50g of blueberries and 25g of no-fat greek yoghurt. I also crushed a whole heap of ice into it, so it was more bulky without any additional calories. I split the serving into two champagne glasses, just because it felt more fun that way, and had one serve before I went out in the morning, and the other one at lunch time. 

Lunch

The second serving of blueberry smoothie!

Snacks

10 pitted green olives.  It doesn't sound like much, but I was craving something salty, and it sent my salivary glands into overdrive and was exactly what I needed to keep going. 

As my body-aches settled in later in the afternoon I felt utterly miserable. I needed something warm and something flu-busting. I added 5 blueberries and some grated ginger to a cup of boiling water and sipped this slowly. 

FULL disclosure time - - My naughty and empty-calorie brain-lapse, was two Allen's Lollies. I was feeling weak and saw them in the kitchen so had two. They are just candy from Australia that I love, and even though it was a waste of 28 calories, they did make me feel a little less miserable!!! 

Dinner - Leafy Fish Taco's

I thought about doing this meal ahead of time because I have made it recently and loved it. I thought it would make more sense to eat a meal that was already low calorie, rather than trying to adapt a high calorie meal into a slightly less-satisfying version (yes cauliflower pizza, I'm talking about you). 

I marinated the fish in lime and fresh coriander for a few hours, just because I wasn't going to be adding any other sauces to tenderise the fish. It simply cooked in the pan for about 5 minutes, until just cooked through and tender. 

I would normally use Butter Lettuce but my local store didn't have any, so I used Baby Gem Lettuce instead, and it worked perfectly well. I accompanied the fish with fresh tomatoes, red onion, sliced peppers and a drop of greek yoghurt on top. They were delicious, filling and very satisfying. I think I'll just keep doing this meal once a week for a fast day dinner!!!

Ingredients and amounts

100g Cod or other white fish

1/2 cup fresh peppers

2 T lime juice

50g Lettuce

1/5 cup onion

5 cherry tomatoes

30g 0% fat Greek yoghurt

3 T coriander

Dessert

I was feeling pretty rubbish after dinner still, and checked my calorie count for the day and saw that I had heaps to spare, so made a big bowl of porridge (50g GF oats) which I ate in bed (at 9pm) watching some fairly trashy shows on Netflix! I found that just adding 50ml of milk, one teaspoon of Agave nectar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon made for perfectly sweet and creamy oats, which kept me full throughout the night. 

Drinks

Other than my ginger and blueberry water, I stuck to plain water all day. I have a Bobble which makes being out with water easy. I also find it easier to drink more water when it is in a bottle, for whatever reason, so keep it with me all the time to make sure I am staying hydrated. Total water intake 2L. 

Total calories = 456

Exercise

Pretty low on the exercise front this past week. I only did one 30 minute workout, due to being away, and so will work on increasing that this week. 

Weight loss?

Weight loss to date 0.5kg (1.1lbs). 

This was astounding to me, considering my lack of exercise and fairly high intake of unhealthy foods. I'm kind of excited thinking if I can still lose/maintain on such an unhealthy week, I wonder what may happen on a regular week!

I've loved hearing from so many people who are starting this diet too. It seems to be a tough one right now, but all reports seem to indicate that it's going to work, so worth getting through these early weeks of adjustment. If you are on this diet and have any good food ideas and tips, please share them, I'd love to hear some other ideas!!!!!  

Happy Tuesday!!