Hi Vickimummy!
I can relate to you saying you’re nervous about being hungry later – I spent most of my first fast day assessing whether or not I was hungry and whether or not I should eat the carrot sticks I had brought to work with me! I survived it tho! I thought I would wake up ravenous at about 3am but I was fine and not any hungrier than usual the next morning. My advice is drink plenty of water and keep busy. About the exercise class – if it’ll keep you busy and away from food then go for it, tho if you’re feeling a bit weak maybe give it a miss til next week.
Stick at it! All the best, Claire

I’m halfway through my 4th week so hardly a veteran! In my first 3 weeks I lost 3 pounds. I had set myself a pound a week goal so I should be happy but after reading stories on here of people losing 3 or 4 pounds the first week I was discouraged! My clothes do feel a little looser and I started a pilates class 4 weeks ago so I may be gaining muscle and that’s why I haven’t noticed big numbers on the scales. I’m not disheartened, my goal is 2 stone off by the end of April so I’m on track for that. I have boys too, 9 and 4 1/2. What ages are yours? Claire

Hi Vicki, How did the rest of your first day go? It does get easier!
I could do with losing 2 1/2 to 3 stone but I’ve set myself an initial goal of 2 and then I’ll decide when I’ve got there how much more I need to lose. I’m a generous size 16 and would love to be a 12 again – I think 10 would be a pipe dream but you never know!
My evening meals so far have been chicken or fish and salad but I know I’m going to have to try different things, especially when it’s getting cold. I was thinking of trying to find a nice soup recipe for winter nights although it would be a struggle without bread to dunk in. I’ve been reading on these forums about Bare Naked Noodles which you can get in Holland and Barrett and very few calories so could probably make a stir fry for under 300cals. I’m going to try them next week if I can get them.

Hi Vicki, My fast day was yesterday so feast today and fast again tomorrow. It’s good to get it all over and done with and then I can enjoy the weekend! In saying that I am being a bit careful on my feast days, not eating between meals although I have a couple of biscuits after dinner. I do have a few treats st the weekend – probably too many. I have myfitnesspal on phone but when I put my details in and it told me I could only have 1440 cals per day so I was a bit miffed and haven’t used it since! I keep a food diary every day tho don’t calorie count on feast days but I may start if I don’t lose as much weight as I’d like to. The forums are great – I tend to spend my lunchbreak at work trawling through them for inspiration. Just keep telling yourself that it took longer than a couple of months to put the weight on so it’s going to take a while to get it off again – unfortunately! Claire

Hi Vicki, How’s your 2nd fast day going? I think it’s a bit easier on 2nd day because you’ve done it once and survived! Fear of the unknown was a big thing for me and I hate being hungry!
I’m feeling good now but was so hungry an hour ago. I normally have brunch of banana, strawberries, blueberries or natural yogurt around 12 but I thought I’d leave it til 1 today and have ham salad followed by strawberries and blueberries. From 12 on the clock seemd to go backwards and I thought it was never going to be lunchtime!
What have you planned for dinner tonight? Claire

Hi Vicki, Yes it is hard to be good when your partner is scoffing chips! It would be great to have a partner doing the diet with you – my in-laws are doing it together but my hubby has an active job and doesn’t need to lose weight whereas I’m chained to a desk!
By dinner time yesterday I was stressed, hungry and disorganised and ended up having a slice of toast and going nearly 200cals over!! I’d been feeling nauseous all day and that only made me worse so I’ve learnt a lesson there. Also I think I’ll go back to my mid-morning fruit-fest instead of trying to hold off til lunch because it put me in the wrong frame of mind all day. Going to try to be good over the weekend to compensate and trawl through my recipe books for dinner ideas so that next week is planned out. Hope you have a nice weekend away and the weather is ok – and hope you get a good result from your first weigh-in. Claire

Hi Vicki, I hope you are well. I hope wherever you were in your caravan you were away from the storms! Did you weigh-in or are you going to be patient and wait a few weeks?
I’ve finished 4 weeks now and have lost 5 pounds and 5 1/2 inches all over between waist, bust, hips, thighs and upper arms! I’m really delighted and glad to see it’s coming off everywhere. Claire

Hi Vicki, I had a nice weekend thanks. We took the boys swimming so I was able to get a little bit of exercise squeezed in. I’ve got lots of fitness DVD’s at home so I’m going to have to do some this week to keep the weight loss going. I got my measuring tape in a sewing kit from a pound shop, I’m not sure if you would get one in a supermarket tho I’ve never looked! If you have a shop in your town selling material or craft equipment they might sell them. Something you could try that I’ve heard others do is to measure yourself with a piece of string (or wool or thread) and lay the string out flat and measure with one of those tape measures you get for DIY. I daresay most men have one of these cos I know my husband does but never manages to do any DIY! I had my fruit and yogurt around 11.45 and then I’ll have an apple later if I’m hungry then a chicken breast with loads of lovely steamed veg before pilates. Claire

Oh yum that sounds delish! The problem with SW is everything measured in syns so don’t know calorie content but I think chicken breast approx 150cals, 14 cals in tbsp of tom puree and minimal amount in veg. Mozzarella approx 280cals per 100g(I googled it – I don’t know the calorie content of everything- yet). You could substitute mozzarella for a little parmesan as a little goes a long way. I think I’ll try that tonight – I’ve got some sliced chorizo in fridge if the cals allow it!
Up to now I’ve just had salt & pepper on my chicken because I’ve had salad with some low-cal dressing to give some flavour, but it has been a little dry and bland. I was going to see if I could factor in some gravy today and pretend it was a roast dinner.
My husband and I did South Beach diet last year for a holiday and there’s a nice recipe for Mediterranean cod – make a tomato sauce in frying pan with tinned toms (I think about 70cals a tin), onion, spices as you want and reduce down a bit then put cod fillets on top and spoon sauce over and cover pan and simmer til cod cooked. I remember it being really tasty served with veg. I think cal content should be low – I might try it on Thurs night. Tomato based sauces should be quite low-cal although I always add a tsp of sugar because they can be bitter – so maybe no help at all. Claire

Hi Vicki, I got on well yesterday, Tuesdays are always easier for me so I’ll have to be organised for tomorrow to make it easier. I had planned to have pizza chicken last night with a wee square of cheddar as cals allowed but found when I got home that the cheese was moldy! I oven cooked the chicken and had a load of veg (about 300g) and some gravy (just Bisto 14 cals). I was stuffed by the time I finished it but about 3 hours later was hungry but I didn’t really mind it because it was nearly 10 by then. I’ll go to supermarket after work and get fish for tomorrow as there’s nothing worse than walking round a shop full of food on a fast day! Have a good day tomorrow. Claire

Hi Vicki, We just watched some fireworks last night – we live on a hill so were able to see them at other side of the town from our warm, dry living room! I am enjoying my fast days although randomly I always have a food related dream just before I wake up on fast days! Yesterday I was going out to a restaurant – woke up before the food tho 🙁
Have a nice weekend. Claire

Hi Vicki, I had a chocolate day on Sunday – I was a bit hormonal and it didn’t help that hubby had bought sweets and a choccy pud! I wasn’t surprised when I hadn’t lost anything when I weighed myself on Monday morning.
I wouldn’t feel too disappointed about only having 1 fast day last week – it’s still better than none! I think you said you were going to wait a month before weighing yourself again so you’ve got another couple of weeks to be good before then. You will get a good result I’m sure.
Soups are a good idea, quite filling and nice for a cold day, I must get out some of my recipes and work out the cals.
Claire

Hi Vicki, Oh dear it sounds like you’ve had a rough couple of days! Don’t be too hard on yourself, as Mimi says in the book, some days you’re just not in the right frame of mind to fast so start again the next day or the next week. It’s not easy dealing with PMS cravings, I usually feel like eating everything in sight for about a week. I think that’s why men lose weight quicker than women because they don’t have hormones and water retention interfering with their diet every month!
You will have lost something by next Friday and that will give you the motivation to keep going, plus you can reward yourself with a glass or two of wine lol.
I made soup on Wed night with some leftover roasted butternut squash and peppers and onion. I couldn’t be bothered working out the cals on Wed night so I decided to just have it for dinner on Thurs and have the usual fruit and yogurt for lunch. It was quite a thick soup but it kept me from being hungry the rest of the evening so I’m going to start making soups too for lunch. When I worked it out it was about 135 cals a bowl tho I was guesstimating that I’d used 10ml of olive oil on the veg when it could’ve been more.
One of the Sunday papers last weekend had a supplement of 5:2 recipes tho I forgot to get it, mother in law got it so I must borrow hers and make a copy. Or break out and buy the recipe book!
Have a nice weekend. Claire

I won’t get between you 2, so I’ll just say keep up the amazing work and keep on motivating each other!

Thanks Claire! I try 🙂 And feel free to comment on any thread, of mine of someone else! I rather make a lot of comments of which 50% is useless or just meant as a joke than make no comments and deprive others of a laugh or motivation 😉

Hi Vicki and Nika!
Don’t get too disheartened Vicki, at least you haven’t undone your good work by putting the weight on again! I made soup last week and found that kept me quite full. My main problem is waiting until lunch to eat because I normally have breakfast at 7.15 and a banana at 10.15 so I start to feel really ravenous from 12 on until 1 o’clock lunch break.
I bought Mimi Spencer’s recipe book and there’s some nice looking dishes in it- we’re having pork tenderloin with fennel tonight so I’ll let you know what it’s like. There’s a nice looking cottage pie with a celeriac mash topping, I don’t think I’ve ever had celeriac but I think I’ll try that next week as I don’t think I’ll have time on Thurday.
I’ve lost 7 pounds in 7 weeks and next Monday I’ll do my measurements again as I’m trying to do them every 4 weeks. I’m pleased enough but I know I need to step up the exercise a bit – I have loads of Davina McCall workout DVDs so I don’t even need to leave the house I just need to stop making excuses and get on with it!
Nika, you’re doing really well – 10 pounds is amazing, you’re a good example of how much exercise helps and I know you have a good target to aim for. It must be hard not being able to vary your diet without going carb-overload! Have you to stay in China for much longer? I think you said you were heading to Australia or NZ after?
Keep up the good work! Claire