Hello I'm new and would like to say hi and ask for some tips!

This topic contains 4 replies, has 4 voices, and was last updated by CalifDreamer 7 years, 4 months ago.

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

AmyLyall

8:13 pm
12 Jul 17
Permalink

Hello folks, I have been meaning to try this eating plan for ages, so decided to look up the site and join the forum. Was wondering if anyone would have any tips for me. I am a vegetarian, avoid wheat products and diary ( mostly, except spelt bread, gluten free bread sometimes and feta cheese), white sugar and processed foods and have IBS ( which is manageable as long as I avoid my trigger foods and don’t eat meals after 6pm). I thought the fast diet might not only help with weight loss but also suit my digestion ( as I tend to eat one main meal a day at lunch time and a smaller snack sized meal like fruit, smoothies, rice or oat cakes and peanut butter, some nuts). I feel better not eating after 5pm to be honest! I tend to eat meals like home made soups, casseroles and curries, stuffed mushrooms and peppers, hummus and raw veg or even some steamed veg like broccoli, carrots, cauli, jacket potatoes and chilli beans, salads, falafels, home made veggie burgers. My prob is that I put weight on after a torn ligament a few years ago and a more sedentary lifestyle. I plan to join the gym again soon. I was thinking of just having my one meal on a fast day at lunchtime and a banana or other piece of fruit for breakfast. I’m hopeless at counting calories, being rather dyslexic with numbers. Do you think a small pot of reduced fat hummus and some raw and cooked veg like carrots, cucumber, white cabbage, spinach and green leaves, cooked cauli etc would be the 500 calories? I can go with that meal on each fast day cos I love veg and raw/steamed veg is so low in calories but full of nutrition.

bigbooty

10:54 pm
12 Jul 17
Permalink

From what you have said you appear to be eating mostly healthy foods so I can only assume that it must be the quantity that your are eating that is too much? Spinach and cauliflower have about 110 calories per pound. You would have to eat nearly five pounds to get close to 500 calories. Id say that would be almost impossible. Carrots have about 200 calories per pound. You would have to eat two and a half pounds. Cucumber have about 70 calories per pound. You would have to eat seven pounds to get to 500 calories. So the veggies I don’t think would be a problem. It would almost be impossible to over eat veggies. You say youre gluten intolerant so you eat minimal bread. Im assuming things like cake, biscuits are also minimal? You don’t have much dairy, only a bit of feta? Once again no problem there.

If you are eating healthy it must boil down to how much you are eating. So just cut back the portions on your fast days and see if that helps.

LJoyce

4:44 am
13 Jul 17
Permalink

Hi AmyLyall

It’s understandable that when you are injured and less active your weight increases as we tend to keep eating the same things in the same quantities – but without the activity some of that food will add to body fat. I also found that with an injury you spend a lot more time being idle, which can lead to snacking that adds to the problem.

I no longer think in terms of calories on fast days I just have one meal that contains plenty of lower calorie veg and a small serve of protein. I also allow myself up to one cup of milk to be used in cups of tea throughout the day. Occasionally I will also have a small piece of fruit mid-afternoon, but I don’t always need this.

I often have veg and legumes on my fast days, so I think your plan is a good one. Just be stingy with the amount of tahini and oil you add when making the hommus so that it’s mainly chickpeas and it will help keep the calorie count down a bit.
The bulk of my food on fast days is veg – it’s filling and fits easily into the calorie limit.

I’m in Australia, so it’s winter here and I often make veggie soups as my main meal for fast days – usually containing some legumes. Other good options are vegetable curries or casseroles with some beans or lentils added for protein.

I have IBS as well and the two things I found that made the most difference for me, were a very high fibre diet (40-50g per day) and eating legumes most days. I am not vegetarian, but because I eat a lot of legumes, meat is an occasional food for me. I also follow an eating window but mine is a little different to yours – I try to keep my eating within 11am-7pm and usually have a small meal at lunch time and my main meal for dinner. I find this eating pattern adapts well to 5:2 as on fast days I just skip lunch and make sure that dinner is a lower calorie option that heavy on veg and light on added fats.

I lost the weight I wanted to over 3 months on this eating plan and I’m now using 5:2 to help with maintenance. It allows me to indulge a little at social occasions with fast days to counter-balance that.

LJoyce

4:57 am
13 Jul 17
Permalink

I should also add that there are some forum threads that you might find helpful:
https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/beans-and-lentils-recipes-tips-and-information/
https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/any-plant-based-vegan-people-following-52/
https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/really-simple-ideas-for-100-cal-and-200-cal-vegetarian-meals/

If you go to the search function near the top of the screen you may find other forum discussions of interest as well.

CalifDreamer

5:35 am
13 Jul 17
Permalink

Hi Amy. Welcome to the 5:2 forum and way of eating. You’ve been given a lot of great suggestions here already and your diet already looks healthy. The only thing I might add is to watch the nuts and nut butters. The calories can add up quickly if you’re like me and can sit down and eat a big bowl of salted or spiced nuts without even thinking about it.

I often make hummus without any tahini at all and don’t really miss it. I use garbanzo beans, lots of garlic and lemon juice, salt and varying amounts of hot sauce. Sometimes I add fresh basil from the garden to that for a basil hummus, or sun dried tomatoes for a lovely tomato hummus. Using it as a veggie dip is a great way to add a lot of raw vegetables. And like bigbooty mentioned, it’s almost impossible to overeat unstarchy vegetables.