Fast Diet - Week 9 - #LoseDayTuesday

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

Well I have finally broken my plateau! Thank goodness, I was starting to worry that my body had found it's resting weight, a fair bit higher than I would like for it to rest at!! But alas, finally some loss  this week. I was so determined to break through this plateau and so whilst I still allowed myself some indulgent meals, I exercised more and ate less at other meals to compensate for this.

I had a lot more energy too in the past week, however yesterday's fast day was a disaster! I had absolutely no energy all day and all I wanted to do all day long was to refuel (code for EEEAT). On Sunday we had such a lovely, lovely day out in London. We went ice-skating at the Tower of London with the Bells and in my happy-afternoon-glow I ate more gluten than my body has had in a really long time, and I paid the price for the rest of the day. I think that contributed to why my whole body was so sluggish the next day too, which really made me see how sensitive I truly have become to gluten. The thing was though, I actually looked forward to fasting to really give my body a break. It feels like such a welcomed rest for my problematic digestive system.

One incredible change that I've noticed since being on the Fast Diet is the difference in my eating behaviours. I have posted about my need for some "Non-Food Cuddles" to be available to help curb my emotional attachment to food; but this is more of an everyday and in everyway change in behaviour creeping in. Aside from not needing to eat as soon as the dressing gown goes on each morning, I have really started eating less. Another Fast Dieter commented that their stomach capacity has shrunk on this diet but I'm not so sure that this is a case of a physiological change so much a shift in attitude.

In the past if I had a yummy meal, I basically would keep eating until there was none left. I looked for that "full" feeling, never felt it, so kept eating. However these days I know that I don't need that much food to be full, and so enjoy one portion entirely and leave it at that. I really enjoy not feeling guilty and not feeling heavy after eating. I don't eat as much now because I know I don't need as much, and really don't want as much. I'm sure I'll O.D on things (read: eggnog, again) over the Christmas period, but in my everyday/regular eating, I am really finding it easy not to eat too much. And the thing is, I feel proud of myself for enjoying only as much as I need.

I have deleted another 4 hours worth of rambling on and on about this (perhaps I will touch on this again in another post sometime!) so will get to the meal plan for one of my Fast Days last week!

Snack - Apple & Cheese

Some days I easily fly past the early hunger pangs and get to having lunch around 4pm, but other days the pangs become more frequent and more insistent, so on those days, I listen to what my body needs. I really like to provide myself with as much as possible for as little as possible, so love having sweet and savoury at the same time. This snack is small but seems to satiate both my sweet tooth and need for salt - 1/2 an apple with 5g of cheddar cheese!

Lunch - Chicken & Courgette Arrabbiata 

I was checking the spelling of "arrabbiata" and saw that it means "angry"! How funny! I just love it, and I promise it is neither angry nor makes you feel angry after eating it. 

Couldn't be easier to make this meal - Cut and cook one chicken breast in a pan with one squirt of oil spray until starting to brown. Add half a chopped onion, half a chopped courgette and half a tin of chopped tomatoes. Let it bubble away and reduce for about ten minutes. Add a dash of cayenne pepper or chlli flakes to give the tomato a little bit of a kick (or angriness it seems). 

Done. Easy. Delicious. 

Dinner - Rainbow Chicken

More chicken, it was a chickeny kind of day! This one was very random, but really worked. It was based around finding my gorgeous yellow and pink beets in the fridge that needed to be eaten soon, so I baked them in the oven for an hour and then came up with what to do with them.

I wasn't feeling my most chef-y and so just wanted to throw something together that took very little preparation but that was still delicious. So I baked the chicken breasts in the oven with a few cherry tomatoes (to help keep the chicken from drying out) and threw a chopped courgette in too. These baked for about 20 minutes, until just browning on top.

I threw it all together and knew that something was missing, so put a teaspoon of Greek Yoghurt with 5g of Harissa Paste on top of the chicken, and it was gorgeous. I will definitely be using the yoghurt/harissa combination again, perhaps to bake the chicken in next time. It isn't the best photo ever, but I was too ravenous to care to keep taking more!!!

Drinks

I was SO much better this week on the water. I made it such a focus of each day, to drink a lot of water, and then a lot more. I would have easily had 2 litres per day! Plus my usual Creme Caramel herbal tea (2 calories), which has become my Fast Day "treat". 

Total calories for the day = 476

Exercise

I was kind of proud of myself this past week, I set my exercise goals and stuck to them. I modified my activities to not aggravate my wonky foot and hip, and so was able to complete a few good workouts during the week. 

I did the following this past week: a 1.2km swim; Reformer Pilates class; an at home resistance workout; two long and hilly walks with the pram; and a lot more incidental exercise this week. 

Weight loss?

Total loss to date = 3.1kgs (6.83lbs)

Hooray, I have pushed the 3kg mark. I had hoped to have lost 4kg by the end of the year, but I don't think I'll quite make that, but I am really happy that I am through the 3kg point. 

Goals for the coming week

A new section this week, but I think I want to really articulate what I've learnt from the previous week to focus on in the coming week. For this week they are:

• Keep the water intake high
• Plan my meals well for the Christmas week and prepare to continue 5:2
• Track my calories on a non-fast day, just to see where I'm at there
• Pilates + swim + resistance session + one walk

I've had a few people emailing me and asking whether I am enjoying the Fast Diet and a fair few newbies who are putting it on the back burner until the New Year. I think this is a good idea if you haven't started to wait another two weeks and give it the effort it deserves. I am definitely not having a hiatus period, for me, I really need to stick to this. I don't expect to lose weight over the holidays, but I do hope not to gain any, and really, that puts me well ahead of what the situation could be!! Let's be real, I LOVE Christmas food and knowing that will still be fasting makes me know that I can still enjoy everything without the guilt. And for me, removing the emotional attachment is so important!

Gosh, the next Lose Day Tuesday will be Christmas Eve! Where has the year gone?! Happy menu-planning for the Christmas period! I'm excited to hear the tips from the Fast Diet Forum regarding getting through the holidays and maintaining the 5:2. I'll include some of these next week!!

Until then, I hope you have a great week!! 

Psst!! If you are looking for a little more meg-made, I'd LOVE for you to follow along!