Silent Sunday

Nine Months to Target

Over  the last few weeks I have been hovering around my target of 9st 12lb and then this week I was bang on so I have switched to maintenance and thought I should do an update post!

Stuart and I had switched to Monday & Wednesday for our fast days (previously Monday and Thursday) as Stuart started playing football on a Wednesday and doing the fast day on the same day fitted better with meals etc. It appeared to work well for both of us dieting wise too. I’d often see a good weightloss on a Thursday but even after eating normally on a Thursday and usually drinking, I’d lose weight again on the Friday (I only ever counted the Friday weigh in, I know you aren’t meant to weigh yourself too often but was just curious to see the pattern).

To remind you what my starting statistics were:

Weight: 10st 12.2lb
Body fat: 16.6%
BMI: 24.4
Chest: 35”; Waist: 37”; Hips: 42”; and Thigh: 23”

and now my final statistics are:

Weight: 9st 12lb
Body fat: aprox 15.6
BMI: aprox 22
Chest: 35”; Waist: 35”; Hips: 39”; and Thigh: 21.5”

(A reminder that my height is 5’6” – body fat & BMI are aproximate as I didn’t take note of them when I weighed myself yesterday.)

So, in 9 months, a total of 1 stone off and 6.5 inches. I wish I had a decent before and after photo but I didn’t take starting photos in January and then only took photos after on days when I was feeling slim. This is the best I could do (remember I didn’t actually have a lot to lose as I was already healthy BMI). The first photos were taken on a ‘slim’ day in February and the second lot were taken today.

I’m happy with how I look and feel and as I’ve reached my target I’m now switching to fasting just one day a week. Though, to start with, I’ll still be watching what I’m eating on the now non-fast day just to see how it affects my weight, I wont be restricting myself to 500 calories and I intend to eat 3 meals a day instead of 2.

Today is the first day that should have been a fast day and it does feel weird to eat but this whole experience has taught me some better habits. Things like, when making the kids dinner, I don’t snack as I’m making it and don’t automatically finish up whatever they leave.

I’ve also enjoyed having some days where I don’t drink any alcohol. I eat a lot less chocolate and enjoy more fruit and vegetables.

As I said at the beginning of starting the 5:2 Lifestyle, it wasn’t all about losing weight it was about improving health. The overall thing I think I’ve noticed healthwise is the speed in which I get over colds. I’ve never been a ‘sick’ person and don’t tend to catch many colds/viruses so it isn’t overly noticeable whether I’ve caught less in the last 9 months but I have often felt run down like I’m going down with something but then it has gone the next day and never actually materialises. Anything that is a little more stubborn I seem to recover from a lot quicker.

On the downside, I do get more headaches on fast days but think that is when I don’t drink enough water. I have also suffered from sleep paralysis about half a dozen times (which is more frequently than previously) and it appears to happen on the night that follows the day I’ve been fasting. This can’t solely be attributed to fasting, however, because it also relates to periods when I’m having more irregular sleep patterns due to Millie waking.

Unfortunately, exercise has fallen by the weyside since my holiday in June so I do intend to get back on it in the near future. I fully expect my weight to increase a little as the fat turns to muscle but I’m OK with that because I also expect to see the wobbly bits go a little less wobbly. Like I said above, I am now happy with how I look – which means I am happy with my overall silhouette. I don’t think I want to lose any more fat just through dieting and think I need to tone up now to improve my figure further. Therefore, weight is now less important if that makes sense.

Silent Sunday

 

Silent Sunday

Sleep paralysis dream: The girl with no face

It's been a while since this happened but my sleep has been up the wall again over the last week - week and a half. Some of it insomnia, some of it Millie related, some of it  self-inflicted. So it is no real surprise I suffered from a sleep paralysis attack again last night. The dream started fine & not scary but the sleep paralysis always leaves me frightened when I wake.

Here it is. Feel free to analyse before I have a go at doing so later.

I am camping/caravaning with a mixture of friends & family. I can't remember much of this stage of the dream. Then the same people go back to my aunt & uncle's house. The house is very clean & modern. It's not a house I recognise in waking life but the layout of back of house merges into that of my old family home. My niece Sofia & cousin's daughter Rosie go into the garden (which is similar but smaller than the garden in my old family home...this is the house/garden that always appears in my dreams) where a few of us are already standing. They jump on something next to where my friend Jo is lying down snoozing. My aunt tells us about there being invisible things in the garden. We then noticed Sofia & Rosie are playing on a playground apparatus (bit like a cross between a seesaw and a roundabout but smaller, it bounces & goes round - there's one at the quomps playground in Christchurch) but it is invisible. Jo gets really annoyed as they were virtually on top of her & she wanted to sleep. Uncle rick is making tea inside the house. I overhear my aunt tell my mum that she is disappointed that no one was offering to help Uncle Rick & that she felt everyone was taking advantage/being ungrateful or something & I am embarrassed as they are my friends & are being rude to my aunt & uncle as hosts.

The next thing, one of my friends & I are in a shop looking for a present for my aunt & uncle. Lots of pretty crystals & shells. There is a medium you can pay to see in another room - we aren't interested but see others going in. Then a disabled man comes in & breaks down to this man me & my friend are talking to. He is desperate for some mobility assistance around his house to improve his standard of living (man about 60). I felt it was unfair that he could hardly move & was reduced to begging for help when you can tell he is a proud man whereas a different girl we knew was a lot less disabled but all the help going had been thrown at her without her having to try. I was crying for the man, my heart was breaking for him.

Suddenly I'm in bed asleep, it's dark & a woman comes in to the from & up to the side of the bed where I'm sleeping & wakes me. I'm surprised at her bursting in & at first I think its the psychic, then think its someone (a nurse) who is offering assistance to the man. I question her and ask who she is. She doesn't speak, she has no face but I can tell she is smiling. I try to reach out to touch her face to find out who she is while asking her. She doesn't reply & I can't move. I'm getting scared & don't like her there smiling but not talking to me but I can't move. I'm paralysed. Then I wake.

ETA: on my 'wake me up I can't breathe' post I wondered whether these attacks are more likely to happen on a fast day so I thought it was worth logging that this also happened on a fast day.

5:2 Something I Can Stick To

I’ve been doing the 5:2 diet for 6 months now so thought it was time to give you an update.

Here are my starting vitals:

Weight: 10st 12.2lb
Body fat: 16.6%
BMI: 24.4
Chest: 35”; Waist: 37”; Hips: 42”; and Thigh: 23”

and my current vitals:

Weight: 10st 1.4lb
Body fat: 15.9 %
BMI: 22. (something or other)
Chest: 35”; Waist: 36”; Hips: 40”; and Thigh: 22”

(I should point out that the body fat index is done on my home scales & is unreliable – these figure show I do not have enough body fat to be healthy which is an utter lie! Healthy range is 21-33%. I can take a photo of my wobbly bits if you want me to prove I have body fat – but please don’t make me do that, it’s not pretty!)

So, to sum up, that’s a total of 4 inches of my body and just short of 11lb lost. In fairness, I expected the inches to be more as I am really happy with how I feel but I guess it’s because of the wobbly belly that comes after having a couple of babies!

I would have liked to have got to my target by now which was 9st 12lb and I have been hovering around this 10st 1-2lb weight for a while but if I look at the overall achievement then I can’t be disappointed and, like I said, I feel good and I am mostly happy at how I look in the mirror. Sure, I can see all the lumps in the wrong places and the bits that wobble that shouldn’t but if I stop being so critical and try to see myself as others would see me (i.e. if I was looking at someone else with my body) then I am pleased with where I am.

My loss has been slow going but I put this down to not having much to lose (& being a healthy BMI to start with) and to really not restricting what I eat or drink on the non-fast days. Others have followed this diet and lost weight quicker and more lbs than I but the whole point of this for me (aside from the health benefits being just as much a priority as the weightloss) was that I wasn’t going to be restricting myself for 5 out of 7 days so it was something that I could stick to. And 6 months down the line I think I’ve proved that. I normally give up on diets around the 6 week mark!

Exercise has been a bit up and down. I will exercise regularly for a few weeks and then it will dwindle off to nothing for a few weeks before I kick my but and get back on it again.

I have a couple of theories relating to patterns to weightloss:

Effect of the menstrual cycle

Week One: Just after my period my weight drops
Week Two: I stay the same or go up a lb or 2
Week Three: I either go up a lb or if weight went up week before will stay the same then about a day before my period I will drop back to what I was at week one
Week Four: I stay the same as the end of week 1 and 3.

I weigh myself once a week but if I was to weigh myself once a month at the end of my period (which usually finished on weigh day – Friday), I would notice a loss without all the stay the same and weight gain disappointment in between. Usually my weightloss is between half a pound to a pound but more frequently, especially recently, it has been half a pound.

Effect of Exercise

As I mentioned above, my exercise routine has been a bit all over the place so I’ve noticed that on the first week that I start exercising again my weight will stay the same. I wont lose until the second week of exercise (unless it coincides with week 3 of my menstrual cycle). If I stop exercising, I will lose more weight than normal but will put it straight back on the week after.

These observations are just theories rather than scientific fact at the moment as I haven’t been documenting the changes and because the exercise is so erratic it is hard to know what effects are down to my menstrual cycle as said above, down to what I’ve eaten & drunk that week or from the changes to exercise routine. If I could stick to the same exercise routine for a couple of months I’d probably get a better idea with regards to the menstrual cycle theory.

Well that’s not going to happen this month as I’m going on holiday and plan on stuffing my face for a full 7 out of 7 days with little exercise for the next 2 weeks.

Health wise, I am useless and never did go to get the all over mot check I said I would. I did google but couldn’t find somewhere to get the blood tests for free (the place I’d heard about was for people over 50) and didn’t think the Drs would do it without good reason so it never happened. I have had a BP check this week which was worryingly high (I’ve always suffered from borderline high BP and checks 10 years ago concluded White-Coat Hypertension). I did tell the Dr that I’d been doing the 5:2 diet in case she thought it relevant but she didn’t see why that should raise my bp. So, I’ll be back for tests after my holiday when hopefully the holiday will have worked its magic and I’ll be well rested and my BP will be back to healthy again.

As a side effect, Stuart and I have both noticed our sleep is affected on Fast Days. Stuart suffers more than I do, finding it hard to get to sleep then often waking early the next day, I suffer just occasionally.

Otherwise, all feels good! I plan to pick up again when back from my hols!

Au revoir!

Ranty Friday: There’s Any Place But Home!

I’m not a political person, I don’t understand politics and when I try to follow it I get confuddled. I’m often naive when it comes to the promises of politicians. I believe what they tell you and am gutted when they don’t follow through with their promises. I don’t make promises myself because I believe if you promise something you have to stick to it but sometimes life and circumstance cause you to break them. I will therefore give my word to try my best but I don’t make promises.

I am rubbish in an argument or debate. I will easily get talked down and am unable to articulate myself correctly to get my point across. When I feel strongly about something I find it easier to write things down.

So what brings me to write a blog post about a topic I don’t know anything about? Right now, I really wish I did, I wish I paid attention to the laws, acts and whatever else goes on in parliament because I am so cross. I am so angry & full of rage on behalf of my friend that when I try to speak or write articulately about it, the words just get jumbled in my head so this post could be full of gobbledegook.

My friend and her family had a house they rented. As Landlords do from time to time, their Landlord gave my friend and family notice to move out as they wanted to move back in themselves. For most people this would be inconvenient but they’d find a new property, move and carry on life in their new home. But for my friends, their journey has been very different. They have (or had) a deposit for a new place, they could pay rent and knew what they could afford (aprox £800pcm) which all sounds achievable, they were good tenants and had never missed a payment in previous owned or rented properties, but a few months down the line they find themselves homeless in temporary ‘housing’.

My friend’s husband has severely crippling arthritis, is waiting a hip replacement, in a lot of pain barely able to move many days and is therefore unable to work. My friend is caring for her husband and has 3 children, 2 of which are toddler-preschool age and her eldest has a complex disability called 22q11 Deletion Syndrome. She therefore doesn’t work, having given up her job following her maternity leave for her third child. Due to this, they receive benefits. I don’t know the full details of what but their circumstances require it and having (both of them) worked for most of their adult lives despite having children, despite having a longterm illness, it is with no shame that they should be able to ask for a little help at this time in their lives!

As soon as they were given notice on their rental property, they started the hunt for a new house and they registered with both Christchurch Housing Association and Poole. They tried to find a private rental home, making phonecall after phonecall but without any luck. Why? Finding a place that accepts benefits is hard enough but possible but finding a place that will accept you without a Guarantor? No private rentor will touch them! If they will rent to them the conditions are inadequate for their family and circumstances, although compared to their current circumstances I’m sure they’d jump at the chance. They are on a list for a Housing Association property but they are all full and there are no council properties in their area and unbelievably, when a property becomes available, they are too low down on the priority rating to qualify for the property.

I have seen documentaries on TV about families living in over-crowded accommodation. I was shocked! Their ‘houses’ now seem like a small piece of heaven. I’m not saying that what the people on the documentaries were enduring wasn’t overcrowding and they don’t deserve better conditions but my friend and her family are 5, 1 with arthritis and 1 with special needs, living in one room with poor cooking facilities which are inadequate to cook a meal for a family of 5 and are shared with the rest of the house’s residents, with shared bathroom facilities, in considerably less than clean (not for their want of trying to make it so) conditions. Many of the other residents do not behave in a way you’d wish your young family to be exposed to. Out of respect to my friend, I will spare her the embarrassment of going into full details but she has shared some examples with me and my heart breaks for them all. This is what it means to be homeless and to be placed in temporary ‘Bed & Breakfast’ housing of by the Local Authority.

Is this really acceptable? Is this really the only solution? How can I sit back and do nothing while this is happening? I am sure they are not alone, I know of one other person in another area that has been going through similar for 6 months! (Apparently it is the law that they should not be in temporary housing for more than 6 weeks but it also appears that this is a joke! – one that no one is laughing at!). I don’t know anything about politics, law, housing, I’m rubbish at arguing and debating, I shy away from confrontation but this is making me so angry and upset that I can’t just sit back and watch it happen and not say anything.

I will be writing a letter to the Christchurch MP although, as I don’t live in Christchurch myself (though I do live in Dorset) I’m expecting they will not reply about this specific situation but what else can I do? My friend has written to the Minister of Housing and the case is ‘being looked into’ but this should never have been allowed to happen.

If you are a Secret Millionaire reading this right now, this family needs you!

I feel so useless and I wish there was something more that I can do but for now, I am blogging in the hope that it raises some awareness of their plight and I am asking the angels to watch over them and to shine a light in their direction. They need it right now!

Here is Karen’s blog if you wish to follow her story and offer her some support. You may wish to read the following stories in particular:

Homeless Part 1 – The Current Rant
Homeless Part 2 – My Past Rant
Homeless Part 3 – The Update
Homeless – Life in a B&B

Silent Sunday

 

Putting the Right Shoe First

The view on one of my current runs & why I love running!

I learnt the hard way why it’s so important to get the right trainers for you when you are a runner.

I have always loved running, ever since my first 5k fun run at about the age of 7. I’ve never been an amazing runner and have never run further than a 3.5mile organised run (though once managed 10k when running for leisure/exercise).

The first episode of shin splints was when I was training for a 3.5 mile run around Hyde Park in London. I was running about 3 miles around London in my high street bought trainers a couple of times a week as well as once in the gym.

Then I started getting these niggly muscular-like pains in my shins. However, the run (JPMorgan Chase Run) date had arrived so I vowed to just take it easy and walk when needed. But I was fooling myself! I’m not competitive against other people but against myself is a different story. I knew that I could run the full distance without stopping so, once running, I wouldn’t let myself walk. I ran the whole distance with crippling pains in my shins that then travelled down to my feet. I was stupid but I didn’t know what it was and just thought it was a muscular thing. I could hardly walk after.

The next day I booked an appointment with the office doctor, I hobbled in and she told me I had shin splints. Hairline fractures where my calf muscle was pulling away from my shin bone. It was like any fracture and that I should expect it to take at least 6 weeks to heal. No running!

The guys in the work gym were great and told me I could use the bicycle and showed me different techniques to help (how to move my leg when cycling and to warm up and down by peddling backwards). They said I could use the cross-trainer too. They also told me of a reasonably priced running shoe shop where they asked you to run up and down outside and analysed your gait to see whether you rolled your ankles in or out etc.

I was expecting it to cost me a small fortune but I got a pair of trainers in the sale for £60 – cheaper than most high-street brands!

It instantly made a difference.

Once my shin splints had healed (which actually took more like 8 weeks) I took up running again and then started playing football too. My running trainers were great – comfortable and not a hint of a shin splint but when I played football…ouch! I hadn’t heard of special football boots for shin splints so was at a loss for what I was meant to do. Then a friend and fellow footballer told me that I could buy special insoles for football boots from an online shop called Physio Room. They had insoles specifically for football boots and also other generic ones you could cut down to size. I got both and when my running trainers started showing signs of tiredness, I used the generic ones and they stretched their life a little until I could afford new trainers.

I was told by the trainer shop that you should replace your running shoes every 6 months but I am a bit of a stop-starter when it comes to running and so would say I should change then annually. In reality, I wait for those niggly signs to return before I purchase a new pair which is about every 2 years.

I’ve just reached that point now.

I don’t just buy the same trainers as last time, I go to a specialised shop that analyses my gait and get the right trainers for me. New research means that products and equipment change frequently so I always make sure I am wearing the most appropriate shoe for my running style.

I have never had to pay more than £70 for a pair of trainers since that first time over 10 years ago!

If I could give any advice to someone that was starting running, I could not stress enough the importance of getting the right trainers for you and to ensure you do, get your gait analysed!

Note: I am not a professional runner or sports person. I have had no sports science training or medical training. This post was written from my own running experience and the advice I was given by professionals over the years. All views are my own. Not a sponsored post!

Silent Sunday

Prawn & Mushroom Stroganoff

Serves: 2
Calories: 271 Calories

Another Fast Day was upon us and I had started to get a bit bored of the delicious, but frequently consumed, stir fries and curries and fancied something different. Then I was reminded how ‘healthy’ stroganoff was for you. I didn’t have enough mushrooms to do mushrooms alone but we did have a bag of prawns in the freezer (another 5:2 staple!) and a bag of spinach in the fridge.

Rice uses up too many calories for us (we prefer quantity as we have big appetites). We have been substituting normal rice with cauliflower rice which works really well with a curry but worried it might over-power the stroganoff too much if used here so I just went with butternut squash chips instead!

It was a delicious and filling meal and all for much less than 300 kcal. I did say, if I was to do it again, I’d perhaps use either less spinach (and more mushrooms if I had them) or perhaps I’d use asparagus instead. Stuart said he’d prefer more squash. I’ll leave it to you to play with it.

Ingredients:

110g of Raw Jumbo King Prawns
150g of Spinach
1 Medium Onion (finely chopped)
300g Butternut Squash (314g)
150g Button Mushrooms (148g)
1 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
2 Garlic Cloves
3 Tbsp Sour Cream
150ml Knorr Chicken Stock (Gel Pot)
Salt & Pepper
13 Sprays of Sunflower Oil Spray

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees. Peel and chop the butternut squash into large chips (discarding the seeds and fibres). Spray a baking tray with oil spray (I used 4 sprays spread across the tray), place the chips on top spread out and spray the chips with the oil (again I used 4 sprays). I forgot but would recommend seasoning with salt & pepper before then baking for 25 minutes turning once.

Meanwhile, in a non-stick frying pan or wok, spray the pan with 4 sprays of oil and heat gently. Fry the onion for about 5 minutes until starting to soften, add the garlic and paprika and fry for a minute more. Add the Mushrooms with another oil spray and fry on a high heat for about 5 minutes stirring frequently. Add the prawns, fry for 1 minute stirring then add the stock. Bring to boil then cook for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens. Stir in spinach and wilt. Take off the heat and stir in the sour cream.

Serve with the butternut squash chips.

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

After Eights

Having been doing 5:2 for 8 weeks now, I thought it was time for an update.

I’ve now lost 8lb (weighing in at 10st 4.2lb) and have lost an inch from around my chest, waist and hips (3” in total) with my thigh staying the same.

I’m still finding it easy enough to stick to. On the actual fast day I may occasionally think I could really do with eating more than 500 calories but then think, I can do that tomorrow – which is enough to keep me going.

The weeks I find the hardest, more in terms of mood and tiredness rather than feeling hungrier, is the week after my period. My periods, post Millie, are heavier than before so I imagine my grumps and tiredness are primarily linked to a lack of iron. Theoretically, I probably eat a higher quantity of iron since I’ve been doing the 5:2 so it’s probably doing me some good but it’s hard being tired & grumpy and not being able to fix it immediately with food! Although, typically, I’d be grabbing for the chocolate so not an ideal energy food.

My body fat on my scales does some weird things. As my weight goes down, my body fat goes up, although still hovers around the 16-17% mark. I’ve just looked at some charts and apparently I don’t have enough body fat!!! Odd – I can certainly see fat bits…I’m not sure I understand it…how can I tone, be healthy and have a healthy body fat level????  I need to investigate this more.

Overall, I’m excited that I have less than half a stone to lose to get to my intended goal (9st 12lb). This is my pre-Callum weight and I have been there once since having Callum. Its when I’ve felt most comfortable in my skin/bikini since having children. I am already starting to feel much better about my body and am liking more what I see in the mirror! I’m also starting to fit in clothes I couldn’t fit in before I started this and I have bought my first size 12 Jeans since forever a go! SIZE 12!!!!! I’ve been a 14 for a long time! The downside? I’ve lost my pregnancy/breastfeeding boobs!! Oh well, I was expecting it!

The health benefits I assume I’ll only really notice after more time.

Debbie’s Damn You Autocorrect for Red Nose Day

For a couple of years now, I’ve wanted to do a day for charity where, for the whole day, I do not correct when autocorrect changes  what I write or where I type incorrect words. You may have heard of ‘Damn You Autocorrect’? If not, you’ve got to take a look. I’ve spent many a spare 15 minutes cheering up a miserable day laughing my head off to other people’s autocorrect blunders – laughing until I cried! It’s great therapy. So this could go very badly…but hopefully will be very funny. So what other more suitable cause is there other than Red Nose Day?

Now the rules to this are going to be difficult to clarify but here goes:

1. This will take place on Red Nose Day, 15 March 2013
2. This will only cover tweets and texts
3. I must reply to every text or tweet I receive where that text or tweet requires a response.
4. If autocorrect changes a word automatically I must leave it.
5. If I notice during the word I have mistyped it, I can edit it but once I’ve ‘accepted’ the word by typing a space or clicking on a selection word, I must stick with it, no matter what.
6. If the correct word appears in a selection, I can choose it. If it doesn’t, I must select the first suggested word.

If you can think of any ‘loopholes’ that need closing or any further rules that should be applied, please comment and I’ll add them in.

In return, I would ask if you could please sponsor me on my Giving Page. No amount too small – every penny will make a difference to the people that Red Nose Day helps in the UK and in Africa.

Now, none of you will be sending me texts and tweets in an attempt to try to have a laugh at the expense of my poor typing skills would you?…would you?

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday, a photo by Deborabora on Flickr.

Silent Sunday

Keralan Style Fish & Butternut Squash Curry

Serves: 2
Calories: 319 per serving (with my exact food weights)

(sorry, not a great photo)

This dish is like a fish chowder but with a good kick of spice and very aromatic. I love Keralan dishes, especially with fish.

As with my previous recipe, I have rounded up or down the measurements but have also included in brackets, if different, the exact measurements I used for the calorie account above.

If I was to award this dish a number of chillies out of 3 to indicate spiciness, I’d probably go with 2 but you can easily adjust the level of spice to suit your own tastes.

I also used frozen haddock but you can use any firm white fish (skinned & boned), frozen or fresh. King prawns would also be nice. If you use fresh fish, just hold off adding it to the dish for a further 5 minutes and for prawns, I’d recommend using raw and adding 5 minutes before the end.

Ingredients:

250g Frozen haddock (not smoked) cut into inch size chunks
200ml reduced fat/light coconut milk (we used Kingfisher – different makes have different calorie count)
330g Butternut squash, peeled & cut into bite size chunks (328g)
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 green chilli, seeds removed & finely chopped
1 flat tsp/10g of easy ginger paste (can use fresh ginger)
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp dried curry leaves
1/2 tsp chilli powder
flat tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
8 sprays of sunflower fry-light
Cup of spinach (sorry I forgot to weigh it)
10 spears of asparagus

Spray a saucepan with the fry-light and, when hot, add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop add in the curry leaves, shallot, garlic, ginger and chillies. Fry while stirring until shallot is soft then add the butternut squash.

Tip: you need to keep stirring if you are using fry-light and on a lowish heat otherwise the oil evaporates and the ingredients burn

Mix the chilli powder & turmeric with a little water to form a paste then add to the pan. Stir for another 3-5 minutes then add the cherry tomatoes, the coconut milk then the fish.

Tip: I poured the coconut milk into the vessel I used to mix up the paste to not waste any of the spices

If the sauce is a little shallow add some water, I added approx.. 100mls.

Bring to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes or until the squash is soft.

Stir in the spinach then serve.

I served with the steamed asparagus (included in the calorie count), mainly because it was in the fridge and needed using but it worked together quite nicely. Feel free to substitute for your own preferred veg if you wish but remember to check the calorie count. If not keeping to a calorie controlled diet, you could probably share this between 3 and add rice.

If you try this dish (whether dieting or not, I’d love to hear how it went so please comment).

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday, a photo by Deborabora on Flickr.

Dream: The Big Hairy Tarantula

Last night I had a vivid and rather interesting dream that I thought would be worth analysing.

I was looking at a plant of some sort. I think I was inside and there was a window behind the plant. I noticed some amazing webs attached to the plant. Really thick and large. Then I noticed a large black spider jumping into the centre of the plant.

I will point out at this point that I am not scared of house spiders though I am a little uncomfortable with particularly large spiders that jump – especially if they are funny colours. I would, however, like to hold a tarantula one day.

So, continuing with the dream. I was a little nervous of the large spider but also fascinated and wanted to watch and take a photo when I noticed that beneath it in the plant but clearly stalking the black spider was an even bigger and hairier orange and black tarantula. It was amazingly beautiful. It then pounced on the black spider to kill and eat it. Again, I wanted to get a photo and so stepped back to do so but then realised I needed to tell someone about this as it was dangerous.

Within the same room, which appeared to be in a kind of warehouse conversion, was a large double bed, which was my bed. Then behind the bed was a partition wall that only went halfway up to the ceiling. Behind that partition were government people in a kind of office set up.

I decided to tell the government people about this. They denied all knowledge and made out I had made it up and hadn’t seen it. They were covering it up. I went back to my room to tell the person who was there (can’t remember who they were now but think they were male, may have been my husband but can’t remember). As I was telling him, two different government agents came past and grabbed my hand and really hurt my palms as some kind of warning that I shouldn’t tell anyone about this spider.

I think I must have continued to investigate these spiders and found myself at the other end of the warehouse floor. At first, you couldn’t see anything but then my eyes caught the elaborate spider web construction that went from plants to lampshades and to a rotary washing line with clothes on. Again, this orange and black tarantula was there. I don’t think anyone else walking around could see it or the webs, which were really massive silk spun constructions.

I can’t remember too well what happened here but I returned to my bedroom where the other person was and I had loads of bleeding cuts down my legs as if I had scratched them on razor sharp plants and vegetation as if I’d been walking through a jungle (though I hadn’t but this is what I thought when I looked down at my legs and saw the cuts and blood).

***********************************

I’ll look at analysing it later, for now I just wanted to get it written down before I forgot it as I was already starting to forget bits.

If you like analysing dreams though and have any thoughts about it, I’d love to hear.

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday, a photo by Deborabora on Flickr.

A 5:2 Update After 4 Weeks

I’ve been living the 5:2 lifestyle now for 4 weeks so here is a reminder of my starting stats and then my stats today.

Starting:

Weight: 10st 12.2lb
Body fat: 16.6%
BMI: 24.4
Chest: 35”; Waist: 37”; Hips: 42”; and Thigh: 23”

Today:

Weight: 10st 7lb (same as last week)
Fat: 16.8% (more than when I started)
BMI: 23.6
Chest: 35”; Waist: 36.5”; Hips: 42”; Thigh: 23.5”

OK, interesting results! It appears the half an inch I lost from my waist went to my thigh and I actually have more fat than when I started!

How do I feel? Tired and run down. I’ve had a mild but niggling sore throat all week and my right gland is swollen.

Hmmm, I’m not a great ambassador for this am I? I’d be interested to know what is happening on the health front! I really need to arrange those blood tests!

On the positive side, my bouts of insomnia have stopped and brain activity during the day seems to have improved (see post over on my other blog) – whether either of these were down to following the 5:2, who knows.

I have lost weight though so I will give it another month or two and see what happens. I am aware that I’m not starting from too bad a position to begin with. I am within ‘healthy’ weight range and normal BMI. However, my flabby belly is still there and I know I would not like myself in a bikini.

My target weight is 9st 12 which is what I was before getting pregnant with Callum and what I got down to in the summer of 2010. I remember getting to that weight and trying on a bikini and being happy with what I saw so that is why I think its the best weight for me. I hope to get there by June.

I can’t believe I’m posting this but this is me in said bikini on holiday. See, not ‘perfect’ but acceptable and, in my opinion, healthy!

I’ve been too exhausted to exercise this week (except a walk 1.5 miles to Southbourne and back carrying Millie in the sling) but plan to get back on it next week.

I feel comfortable with the Fast days so I’m happy to continue for the time being. My diet on non-fast days has been average. Not over-indulging ‘too’ much and drinking 3 nights a week (once upon a time, pre–Millie it wasn’t unusual to drink most nights if not every night). As I am losing weight not inches, I believe it is the exercise that I need to focus on.

Get Fit Feel Epic Comp & Goal Setting

As you know, I’ve started the year on a mission to get healthy, lose weight and get fit by introducing the 5:2 lifestyle to my life, doing the 30 Day Shred DVD and it is my intention to get back running as soon as I feel fit enough to do so.

So when I heard about the Get Fit Feel Epic competition from Moneysupermarket.com over on Jo’s blog at 2 Stars & a Swirl, I thought what better way to motivate me to stick with it?

I then realised I hadn’t actually voiced any clear goals for my year so, having thought about it a little, here they are:

• To complete all 3 levels of the 30 Day Shred DVD and aim to keep up with doing the DVD at least 3 times a week.
• Get back to running 10k by the end of the year with the aim to enter a 10k race next year
• Get back to 9st 12lb by June
• Tone up the baby jelly belly by the time I go on holiday in June so I look fab in that bikini!

They all look pretty realistic and achievable (SMART even) so bring them on. Actually, having now set myself some goals it has already boosted my motivation a little bit more.

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday, a photo by Deborabora on Flickr.

Spiritual Encounters

Have you ever seen a ghost or felt a presence? I love a good ghost story!

I’m full of stories but have little ‘evidential’ proof of anything I’ve seen or felt. Some are not my stories but belong to my family. There’s a good story relating to my sister. This is how I remember the story being told to me anyway.

When my sister was born she was one of a pair of twin girls. Tragically, her twin, Anita, died at only 6 weeks old. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) or Cot Death weren’t really recognised back then but it is likely this is what sadly caused her death but we will never really know.

As a family we have all ‘talked’ to Anita over the years. Even me, despite having never known her as the tragedy happened 7.5 years before I was on the scene. Anita has always been part of our family and I still strongly believe she is my Mum’s Guardian Angel. I have always felt a link or a bond with her.

Anyway, I’m digressing a bit. My sister, too, has always talked to her but there was a time in her late teens or early twenties that she wondered whether Anita was actually listening. So she asked her for a ‘sign’. The next day my sister was getting ready for work when she couldn’t find her work boots. My mum had a similar pair so my sister assumed my mum had gone to work wearing them – it wouldn’t have been the first time. Later that day when both my mum & sister returned home from work my sister joked with my mum about her going in the wrong boots, however, my mum said she hadn’t she had worn her own & proved it! They searched high and low but couldn’t find my sister’s boots. So that night my sister said she believed her twin was there could she just have her boots back now.

The next morning, while my Dad was getting ready, he found my sister’s boots on a shelf in his wardrobe. There is no way anyone could’ve put them there as a ‘mistake’ and no one would’ve done it as a joke. No one even knew what my sister had said to her twin that night.

I have stories that are my own too. Such as the sleep paralysis I’ve experienced – as many others have reported, I felt an evil presence in the room trying to ‘get’ me (it happened 3 times in one night and again the next night before I decided I was too scared to sleep & stayed awake watching the TV!). I’ve also started to drift off one night when I ‘saw’ a bright light in the room the other side of my closed eye-lids. I opened my eyes to see a face staring down at me. Frightened but realising it was probably a trick of my eyes, I closed my eyes and opened them again expecting the face to be gone. It wasn’t, it was still there! I desperately woke Stuart up but by then it had gone.

When I was younger, my Mum always used to jokingly call me a witch. I used to intuitively ‘know’ things. I often know when something bad or good is going to happen (but can’t always tell whether it is going to be good or bad). I have predicted things will set on fire (and more recently I dreamt about a fire and knew it was a premonition – although this is the only premonition dream I’ve recognised). I’ve known when I’m going to win a prize in a raffle and what that prize will be (I’ve done this a number of times – I don’t know when I get the ticket but know my number/name is the next to be called out).

I’ve heard things, felt things, I’ve even heard my own name ‘called’ by what sounded like my own voice. That didn’t scare me, it was just weird.

I studied my level 1 Reiki at the end of 2011. Just before I sat the course (but once I had already booked it) I started experiencing things such as unusual scents in strange places. Then after my Reiki course I saw, for the first time, what I believe was an angel or spirit guide. It was just a white orb about a foot in diameter  that slowly disappeared in the corner of the room. Again, I wasn’t scared, I was comforted. I have worked with angels for a while but have had no interaction or communication with them except my one way dialogue to them and through readings using my Angel cards.

I’ve often been too scared to ‘see’ anything and I’m told I have the ability to ‘see’ but they wont present themselves to me if I don’t want it. As I’m getting older and more aware, I am realising when I do experience something I rarely feel fear these days, unless its late at night and I’m on my own in the house – or I see a scary face!! Oh, and the sleep paralysis can be extremely frightening.

Everything I’ve experienced I’m sure can be explained by a sceptic but I still believe in the things I have seen or experienced and I believe them to be spiritual.

I would love to hear your stories if you have any. Do you believe? Were you a non-believer until something happened to you that changed your mind?

Fast Track to Feeling Good

“I feeeeeel gooood! doobidoobidoobidoo I knew that I wooooouuuuld”

I’m coming to the end of my third week since I changed my lifestyle to that of the 5:2 plan and I’m really getting into the swing of it now.

Firstly, after deciding only a foolish person would weigh themselves on a Monday, I have moved my weigh day to a Friday. So I stepped on the scales this morning and I weighed 10st 7lb exactly and my body fat is down to 16.1%. That’s 4.2lb down on where I started. What a great way to start the day and go into the weekend!

Secondly, yesterday was my 6th Fast day. Stuart and I have slotted into quite a nice routine of our Fast days being on a Monday and a Thursday. It wasn’t necessarily our intention to keep them the same but they do seem to be good days and its worked out well for us to keep them that way. But its still nice to know we have the flexibility to move a day should we need to. Though if we did move it to another day, it is easier if we both fast on the same days so we would both need to change it.

It has started to feel really easy now. So much so, I felt confident enough to exercise on a Fast day. Yesterday, I did my 30 Day Shred DVD in the morning (level 2), drank lots of water, then I walked 1.5 miles into Southbourne, with Millie in the buggy, to meet a friend for lunch and do a bit of shopping. That lunch was the first food I had eaten that day. I didn’t feel faint or weak or even that hungry. I felt good!

I was a little nervous going out for lunch but Maxine was happy to be flexible so we found somewhere that suited my diet. I thought if there was a tomato soup that’d be fine or they did an all day breakfast, I’d be able to ask for a piece of dry toast topped with a poached egg, and I’d be ok. I looked in the window of the first place and saw mountains of cheeses and cured meats, the menu read pizza, paninis, scrambled egg…I thought that maybe that wasn’t the best place to go!! Just a tad too cruel! It was a deli too so all the delicious offerings were all on show. Instead, we went to a Gastro-Pub place. They did do all day brunch and I did see poached egg on the menu so thought that would be my fall-back option but I was really hoping for soup. I was in luck, they had a choice of two soups – chicken & vegetable and Mediterranean vegetable! I opted for the Mediterranean vegetable. It came with bread which I should have pre-emptied and asked for it without but I took home the bread (a lovely piece of ciabatta) and gave half to my mum and froze half so it didn’t go to waste! I did decide to leave about a third of the soup though to make sure I didn’t go over my calories as I had no idea how many were in it. I’m sure I would’ve been fine if I had eaten the lot as it wasn’t a huge bowl and from what I imagine the ingredients were, I doubted it would’ve been that bad but, not knowing, I erred on the side of caution. The lady joked when she took the bowl away it must be a tough diet if you aren’t even able to finish your soup – haha! For a drink I had a small diet coke and some tap water.

After a lovely lunch catching up with my friend, Millie and I walked home again (well, Millie didn’t do much walking! Lazy moo!) taking a diversion to some further shops slightly out of my way on a mission to find some red wine vinegar for a Fast day dinner I was going to try. Unfortunately, I found none and cooked something else for dinner (the yummy Vegetable Pot I blogged the recipe for). When I did get home, I admit I was knackered and had very little energy to do much else until dinner time!

Overall, the exercise – and I did probably do a bit more exercise than I’d usually do on a non-Fast day – wasn’t a problem. I do think I would only do it if I felt up for it on that day, which is how I’m tackling exercise on any day at the moment. A few days this week (this morning included), I’ve just been too tired – the twice a night wake-ups to feed Millie do take their toll!) and I don’t think it would’ve been a good idea to exercise on the first couple of Fast days as my body wouldn’t have adapted to the new routine. But I  wont be avoiding exercise on Fast days from now on!

Smokey Vegetable Pot / Bake

The ‘Pot’ version of this will be the low calorie version. The Bake is what I would add to this meal if I was making it and calories were not being counted.

I didn’t know how this was going to turn out when I made it so I didn’t take much note of timings, therefore what I’ve written are guestimates and you will have to use your own intuition a bit if you think things need longer or less time.

Also, I do not profess to be any kind of chef/cook or recipe writer so sorry in advance.

The calories are based on our exact weights of vegetables so where I have rounded up/down, I’ve put our exact weight in brackets)

Vegetable Pot

Ingredients:

• 450g cauliflower (452g), chopped into small florets
• 400g tin of peeled plum tomatoes, whizzed slightly in a food processor to chop, not liquidise
• 100g fresh baby leaf spinach
• 90g green beans (92g), cut into 1” sticks
• tbsp smoked paprika
• 50g black olives (54g), halved
• 1/2 pt of water
• 300g sweet potato (313g), boiled, drained then mashed (nothing added)

With the sweet potato as a side, our meal came to 300 calories per generous serving exactly. If you chose to do the dish with another side then the vegetable pot came to 172 calories per generous serving. In our opinion, the sweet potato was a really pleasant accompaniment as the sweetness cut through the nutty taste of the cauliflower really nicely.

To avoid using oil, I steamed the cauliflower first. We have a hob steamer so I boiled the sweet potato in the bottom pan while I steamed the cauliflower in a pan above the sweet potato. I made the mistake of not cooking the green beans first expecting they would cook quickly enough in the sauce but in hindsight, it would have been better to steam them a little first.

So, while the sweet potato and cauliflower were cooking, I poured the tomatoes into another large saucepan and added the green beans (see point above) and smoked paprika while bringing it to a simmer.

When the cauliflower was partly cooked but still ‘al dente’ I added it to the sauce with half of the water and stirred it all around ensuring the cauliflower was coated in the sauce. I then continued to simmer for another 5 minutes before adding the black olives (if getting quite dry, add some more water). I continued to simmer for a further 5 minutes, ensuring the cauliflower and beans were cooked. I didn’t at the time but next time I would season here. Finally, I stirred in the spinach and once wilted, took it off the heat and served it with the mashed sweet potato.

Here it is (presentation could do with some work but it looked lovely and colourful on the plate):

 

 

Vegetable Bake

Ingredients:

As above but with the following extra:

• oil for frying
• 1 small onion diced
• 400g tin of plum tomatoes (so a total of 2)
• 1 Tbsp of tomato purée
• 50g grated cheese
• 2 Tbsp of breadcrumbs

I would fry the onions until soft, add the cauliflower and green beans and fry for about 5 mins. Then add the tomatos, purée, smoked paprika and simmer until veg nearly cooked through. Stir in the olives and cook for another few minutes. Pour into a casserole or pyrex dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese and breadcrumbs and put it under the grill until cheese is melted and there is a golden brown top.

You could also add a splash of wine while cooking above and, if you aren’t vegetarian, I bet chorizo would be lovely in this too.

The Observer Effect or The 5:2 Effect?

Week two of the 5:2 lifestyle is complete and no weight lost this week, despite a more ‘average’ eating week, though I do feel slimmer. It will be hard to get a real indication of how much weight/inches I lose is down to the diet and what is down to exercise. I’m no stranger to exercise but I did have a month break over Christmas and I managed three sessions on the ol’ exercise DVD this week. I’m therefore hoping it is a case of muscle weighs more than fat so what I am losing is kind of balancing out on the weight side.

Once 4 weeks has past, I’ll revisit my starting stats and take my measurements again to directly compare.

Today is the most comfortable & least hungry I’ve felt so far on a fast day. Sometimes, it feels too easy and I wonder if I should really be having this many calories on my fast day. I know, madness! I could drop it to 400 and still be meeting the ‘guidelines’ as it is meant to be 400-500 calories for women but I’m going to keep it as it is for the time being and I can always drop to 400 later if it feels necessary.

I’ve started making a few observations this week but, as always, the mere act of observing could change the state so it is hard to know whether what we are noticing is actually down to 5:2, the fact we are observing/focusing on things or some other reason entirely.

I have noticed that I’m not sleeping so well & am suffering from more bouts of insomnia. When your baby is still waking up for feeds once or twice a night, this is hard!

I just can’t switch my brain off. I’ve tried meditating, visualisation, trying to drift off thinking of one topic, a whole host of things (I even considered counting sheep) but my mind keeps whirring and the minutes then hours tick on by! Could this be because my brain is becoming more active? Could that happen this quick? I’m hoping that my body will soon start to acclimatise so that, if this is anything to do with 5:2, it will sort itself out pretty soon.

Stuart has noticed an old groin injury twinging again. He remembered reading something on this when he was ill (and first found out about 5:2) about when fasting, your body goes into repair mode and can also work on old injuries, scar tissue etc so can cause some discomfort on a previously ‘healed’ injury while it repairs it further. Again, more something to keep an eye on to suss out whether this is the case. It could also just be down to the colder weather we are experiencing, which is also known to cause discomfort to old injuries. Either way, I broke my arm some years back and I have a small lump that I can feel from the outside where the bone heeled.  Although it is more something I am aware of and you wouldn’t notice it unless your attention was drawn to it and you probably had to study it somewhat, I will notice if this lump changes in size.

Stuart hasn’t noticed much weightloss overall yet, though he is lower than when he started, but he has still noticed a drop in belt buckle. If you weigh yourself frequently during the course of a week, you do notice your body fluctuate quite considerably. After only 2 weeks, its still early days to be drawing any conclusions on anything.

That said – one very noticeable difference which can definitely be attributed to 5:2 – the shopping bill has reduced somewhat! Perfect for a budget-crunching January!

Wake me up, I can’t breathe!

A few times in my adult life I have experienced something rather frightening when I sleep called Sleep Apnoea. Basically, its when you stop breathing in your sleep. This is obviously very serious and is more commonly experienced by very overweight people but there are other risk factors. Bizarrely, none of which I am aware of having. More information can be found about it on the NHS Choices website. I’ve not suffered with it often enough to make me seek medical advice (about once or twice a year then nothing for a year etc) though it is something that crosses my mind each time that it happens. Like now – as it happened again the night before last.

I was dreaming – I can’t remember the dream but I was struggling to breathe. Three times I fault to breathe before I eventually woke myself up. It really is frightening.

A couple of times, it has occurred because of having a cold which makes perfect sense. But usually it occurs in relation to a dream. It is never clear if my dream is a result of the sleep apnoea or the sleep apnoea a result of the dream.

One example of a dream I remember was someone was strangling me in my dream and I was struggling to breath. On this occasion I woke up with my hand near my throat but not in a strangling motion from what I recall. Other times have been less obvious a cause, just that I am struggling to breathe in the dream.

It has occurred to me whether, rather than being sleep apnoea it is actually a form of sleep paralysis which I have also had the displeasure of experiencing. Your mind and body are in a state of between sleep and waking up. Your mind wakes up but your body doesn’t (your body goes into a type of paralysed state when we sleep – for most people anyway, when it isn’t working properly is when we sleep walk etc). Your mind can play tricks on you making you hallucinate, and you have a deep sense of impending doom or someone is out to get you. Again, its extremely frightening. You try to escape this feeling, hallucination or whatever but your body is paralysed and wont let you. Even if you recognise that you are actually still asleep, you fight to wake up by moving your body but your body doesn’t move. Again, more can be found out about this on the NHS Choices website. Well, that’s the science behind it but there are also spiritual beliefs associated to sleep paralysis like you are caught between the spirit world and our world or that it is an actual attach by something paranormal. An explanation of this latter view is found on the Spiritual Research Foundation website. I’ll let you make up your own opinion on this one.

Whatever your beliefs, sleep paralysis would make more sense (as I don’t have any of the typical causes for sleep apnoea that I am aware of) as a cause can be sleep deprivation or irregular sleep patterns.

Thankfully, it didn’t happen again last and hopefully that will be it for another year or so. Although, I suppose that all depends on Millie and whether I get sleep! I guess it is also worth considering if it could have any links to fasting as it happened after a fast day.

Fast Results After Week One

My first week of the 5:2 diet is complete. I weighed in today and have lost approximately 1.5lb and 1% of my body fat.

During this week I’ve had 2 heavy nights of drinking alcohol, stuffed my face with fajitas & pizza and not really watched what I eat on the non-fast days at all. The day after my fast days I haven’t felt starving and the need to stuff my face and I haven’t felt starving.

It is my intention to eat a more regular, balanced diet on the non-fast days going forward but at least I know I really don’t have to restrict myself.

Stuart and I did think that the best thing for the night before a fast meal was to have a ‘feast’ of a meal which is what prompted the fajitas. Theory being something like, back in the days of caveman, we used to feast on a big meal as we didn’t know when the next one would be or was it because that’s what lions do? Anyway, in fact, this was worse for me! I was absolutely starving from 5.30am (after waking to feed Millie) on the following fast day. I’d rather have an average meal so my stomach wasn’t stretched and expecting more to keep it full.

I would like to exercise too – I am a strong believer in exercise! For mind and body! I’m not an exercise addict, I don’t find the time to be these days, but I enjoy exercise when I get the chance which realistically amounts to once or twice a week.

I go to an exercise class called Buggy Fit sometimes on a Friday morning but after a hard night with Millie the Thursday night, I opted to stay home and do my new DVD, Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred instead. I’m meant to do it for 30 days consecutively but i) I don’t want to exercise on fast days at the moment'; and ii) I just can’t stick to that sort of commitment with family life even if it is for only 30 minutes a day. Anyway, enough of the excuses, (I’m starting to sound a bit defensive here) I only managed the 1 session of exercise. Unless you count the skip (yes as in childlike skipping, holding hands) around the dancefloor to 2 songs at a family party (while sober!!!) on Saturday. What? They made me do it! And y’know, what the hell, I enjoyed it! Everyone should go skipping once in a while! (defensive again, eh? OK, I’ll stop!)

I’m on my third fast day today and they are getting easier. There are only 2 points during the day that I notice that I am hungry. The challenge is making the dinner in the evening as filling as possible for only 300 calories. I made a lovely cauliflower, aubergine and courgette curry last week and I could’ve probably eaten less than I did and still have been full. If anyone has any good ideas for recipes, please send them my way.

I have continued to opt for no breakfast except a cup of tea when the hunger gets me mid morning and then lunch of about 150-145 calories finishing on a dinner of around 300 calories. Soup (whether half a tin, carton or a sachet of cup of) makes a really good lunch and I can even have half a slice, or even full if cup of soup, of bread to help fill me up.

Quorn mince is great for dinners!

I’ve been giving more thought into getting a health check now and then sometime down the line. I might try to give my Drs a call tomorrow to see if this is something they offer (blood tests and the such like) and while there I may mention that I’m doing this 5:2 diet. I am, of course, nervous that they tell me I’m foolish but without any shed of evidence as to back up their theory (despite them being more experienced in the field of medical health than I, I know) but, hey, they may actually support me and give me some good advice. We’ll see how brave I’m feeling. So far, I’ve not found anything that makes me think it may be doing me more harm than good. One brief comment on Wikipedia about some women not wanting to do this as intermittent fasting may cause fertility issues but with no plans to have any further children, this is not something that concerns me. I’m not foolish enough to live on the guarantee all will be well with my family forever, who knows what the future may hold but this is somewhere I don’t really want to dwell on and I have to believe it will all be fine - and if, dare I say it, the worst does happen, whether I’d want more children after can not be known. I have to work in the now and the positive.

Finally, Googling some more on this diet, or lifestyle as I would prefer to call it – I found this great blog, Schrokit’s Corner, from someone else more clued up than me on the subject and is a clever student type that knows stuff…about science and everything. The author and her husband are also doing the 5:2 (or 2:5) lifestyle. Reading through some of her blogs, it appears that her own experiment has grown into a project at her university. If you are interested in this 5:2 lifestyle then it would be well worth a follow! What is also interesting to note is that the author has had breast cancer (or may still have, I’m not overly sure). She would like to see if this lifestyle prevents more tumours arising in future.

First Fast

Day one of the 5-2 diet and my first day of fasting. On a fast day I am restricted to 500 calories.

I have only ever fasted once when I was about 10 for charity. We were allowed only water and milk and it was from sundown to sundown in the summer. I remember eating a massive dinner the night before then enjoying a mass of barbeque meat as soon as the sun went down the following day! I also remember it wasn’t too bad but the consumption of milk helped.

The reason for this diet is partly for dieting reasons but also for the health benefits. As I mentioned in my previous post, Fast is Exciting, I’m not a fan of fad diets, preferring to exercise & eat a controlled balanced diet instead. But this diet is meant to repair your body & make you healthy (reducing the risk of such serious illnesses as some cancers) so I thought it was worth a try. But, I do hope to lose weight too so here are my vitals:

Height: 5;6” (obviously I’m not expecting this to change, I have just added it for reference)
Weight: 12st 12.2lb
Body fat: 16.6%
BMI: 24.4
Chest: 35”; Waist: 37”; Hips: 42”; and Thigh: 23”

Its now 10am and not going too bad. The main cause for my snacking during the day is due to boredom so the plan is to try to keep busy.

I know from experience that I can go a lot longer without food if I don’t have breakfast, I plan to have a poached egg on a slice of toast without butter for lunch then Stuart and I will have mixed vegetables in a curry sauce for dinner.

I did start to get hungry around 8.30am so I had a cup of tea (with SS milk) which was very welcomed for the caffeine after a bad night’s sleep.

In addition, I intend to guzzle water!

I’ll report back again at the end of the day.

****************************************

So, its now 8.30pm. I’ve just had a massive portion of cauliflower & courgette in a jar of tikka masala source for 300 calories. It should’ve filled me up but I actually feel hungrier after eating it.

The rest of the day hasn’t been too bad. The hardest points were at 8.30am and then after lunchtime, about 2pm, after having some stress over a hire car. I am an emotional/comfort eater – as well as eating when bored. Eating makes me feel happy so I turn to it in times of stress.

I also had to remember not to ‘taste’ Callum’s dinner – I was making him cheesey pasta with home made cheese sauce, and you know there’s always a knob of cheese left at the end of grating? I had to sacrifice the whole chunk of cheese to Callum *sob*.

We were warned the hunger comes in waves, and I think that’s fair to say. Overall, it really wasn’t that bad and I think it is sometimes good to feel hunger as it makes you appreciate your next meal a little bit more. There are also many people in the world (the UK included) where what I’ve eaten today would be a feast. Its humbling to remember that!

Tomorrow is a normal day – I can go back to eating whatever I want. I plan to exercise tomorrow too (not recommended on the Fast days).

Deborabora's photostream

Deborabora's photostream on Flickr.

I'm not much of a photographer but I do like a pretty picture. I've set up a Flickr account for all of my favourite photos that I've taken. Since moving to the seaside, quite a few involve the beach!

Please take a look if you are interested.