Progress! 5:2 / Paleo Hybrid

This topic contains 37 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by luckylucy 10 years, 4 months ago.

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luckylucy

6:50 pm
25 Jul 14
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Hello all! I’m primarily going to be using this thread to stay accountable/track my progress so please skip if that’s boresome (or come join if you are interested in combining 5:2 with a paleo approach, or have started 5:2ing at the same time as me & fancy some joint support!)

First things first, I have lost 5lbs in my first week! Definitely a good amount of water weight (especially reading Michael’s thread about maximum a woman could lose a week would be 4lbs when eating nothing!) as was feeling bloated to begin, but enough to spur me on to continue.

My background:
I am 27-turning-28. I have yo-yo dieted since my teens & my weight has ranged from 8st to maybe around 10.5 stone. This settled down in my young 20s when I discovered the common-sense-approach of incorporating exercise plus I reduced my carb intake.

However, I’m injured & a combination of emotional eating/slobbiness/inability to exercise as much as I used to has meant my weight has crept up.

Initial stats:
5ft 5
Start weight: 140 lbs
Ideal weight: 121 lbs

Approach:
Weekly 5:2, once I get into the swing of things maybe I will consider a few odd 4:3 weeks here & there. I want this approach to be maintainable, not just another faddy thing I try & fail.

I am also interested by the paleo approach – eating predominantly unprocessed foods (& potentially excluding dairy, refined oils/sugars, legumes etc). I will however be VERY flexible with this approach – if it is someone’s birthday/I am being cooked for etc. I am not going to say no. Like I said before, I want this to be realistic long term.

My TDEE is 1840 cals, I’m going to aim for cals between 1800-2000 on my feed days as I know previously I have reduced my metabolism to a snail’s pace & I don’t want to go back there again.

I’m actually on day 3 now (weight 135lbs, down 5lbs) so as a quick summary of my past days.

Exercise:
When my knee feels up to it I want to incorporate at least 2 exercise sessions a week. I really want to play around with short bouts of HIIT (high intensity interval training) but also as a Londoner I get to try our fun exercise classes as well.

Day 1: FAST day
Food: 6 slices of watermelon – the 1st day novelty meant I wasn’t fazed by monotony..!
Exercise: Started the day in a 1 hour dance class which was super fun.
Response: Not too difficult a day, slept like a baby (probably as I was up at 5.30am)

Day 2: Feed day
Food: Nectarine, banana, frozen berries with greek yoghurt, chicken kiev, broccoli, mince with tomato & basil sauce, salad leaves with halloumi, small cupcake, a few choccies at work (ok, ok, 5!)
Response: Felt good, more aware of what I’m eating & if I’m willing to ‘spend’ calories. I would normally gorge myself on work chocolates so I find 5 quite disciplined for once…

Day 3: Today/FAST day
Food: 3 slices of watermelon. Couldn’t bear any more watermelon so blended together a home made soup which was better (but let’s be honest, nothing to write home about). 2x sugar free jellies. Totally ace-ing my ‘non processed foods’ idea..!

Considering for my next fast day to have nothing during the day & ‘save’ my 500 cals for my evening meal. Undecided!
Response: Feeling good, was HUNGRY for dinner but my two bowls of ‘blah’ soup filled me up. Already looking forward to breakfast 😉 … Feeling chuffed & motivated by 5
lbs weight loss though!

luckylucy

7:50 am
26 Jul 14
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Day 4: Feed day

Height: 5ft 5
Start weight: 140
Today’s weight: 133

I must have been carrying A LOT of water weight before starting this. Probably unsurprisingly considering I had been out drinking the weekend before (rare so when I do go out I make the most of it!) & it was my womanly TOTM.

Food:

Breakfast: Mince (I was initially a little mortified when reading that paleo peeps eat MINCE for breakfast, now I’m hooked! I have mince with a homemade tomato & basil sauce). Followed by half a cup of 5% greek yoghurt blended with a cup of frozen berries to make a yummy breakfast ‘froyo’ topped with nectarines.

For lunch & dinner I’m visiting the parents this weekend so will be flexible.

Exercise:
Yesterday was my fast day & I once again slept like a baby & woke up naturally early this morning feeling energised. Went to my local park – 3 min jog for warm up, 7x sprints (20 seconds) then a few minutes of recovery in between.

Response: I’m feeling great & already feeling svelter after losing all that water. I’ll do progress pics by the end of week 2!

luckylucy

4:47 pm
29 Jul 14
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Update!

Yesterday was a fast day – I tried the ‘eat nothing during the day’ method (just a black americano) which seemed to go well as then had a seafood omelette & some veg for dinner. Felt peckish in the evening so had a herbal tea.

Today – weight 60.1 kg (132.4)
Start weight 140lbs

As expected weight loss has slowed but is still apparent. I DO feel svelter. Can’t wait to do progress pics during as well. Have been inspired to start a blog too to help chronicle my journey. I did however have a stressful situation at work & ended up scoffing 1/2 a box of quality street. I am such an emotional eater. I’m hoping this approach will somewhat help me with this 🙂

tombaron

7:54 pm
29 Jul 14
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Good job so far, us late 20s lot lose quickly fasting it seems. Will check your progress out! Mince for breakfast is weird though :p will stick to porridge!

luckylucy

6:02 pm
30 Jul 14
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Thanks @tombaron I hope so! I fear that yo-yo dieting for over half of my life has screwed up my metabolism so am hoping that this way of living is doable in the long term (ultimately I would like to go down to a 6:1 regime). Mince for breakfast is amazing!!! Great high protein alternative to eggs & tasty tasty 🙂

Anyway, today was day 8 & a fast day! I meant to get up in the morning to go to the pool but failed – will try & go on Friday. Slightly bummed out that my old knee injury is playing up following my sprints on Saturday but it has reminded me that I just need to do what my body is capable of.

Saved up my 500 calories for a low calorie seafood pasta recipe which satisfied me greatly. Enough legroom for some sugar free jelly for afters too..!

tombaron

7:47 pm
30 Jul 14
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Seafood pasta looks awsome by the way! I’d have to sub brocolli for pepper or spinach and personally I’m a brown pasta fan but skimp on portion size accordingly. Still not selling mince for breakfast though…. Steak tartare with milk… Anyone? No?

luckylucy

8:07 pm
30 Jul 14
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Haha steak tartare, that’s next on my list for breakfast! (not…)

tombaron

8:13 pm
30 Jul 14
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Heh, are you claiming to be a leading source of information on fasting or are you actually a doctor who is incidentally fasting? I guess the Germans eat a lot of meat for breakfast. I will try mince for breakfast once! Maybe Saturday.

luckylucy

8:19 pm
30 Jul 14
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Oh no way am I a leading source (I don’t even own the book yet, will get around to it..!) but I am indeed a medic so am interested in reading about the scientific evidence behind certain claims. Felt the paleo name was misleading considering I am not strictly following it..! Am a paleo fraud!

tombaron

8:31 pm
30 Jul 14
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There is a lot of research, especially on the effects of fasting on certain hormone and enzyme levels however mainly in mice. I take an interest but am not medically qualified (colleagues look at me funny between selling insurance when I’m ploughing through scholarly articles online) so my understanding is a little limited but there’s all sorts of responses in WAT and muscles to prepare your body for fat burning, especially after 18+ hours fasting (maybe why I have found 0 calorie 24 hour fasting effective)?

luckylucy

8:55 pm
30 Jul 14
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That’s great that you are interested – the best place to start! I want to read up on it too (if you have particular articles you would recommend, shoot them my way!) especially as fasting still often produces a ‘shock, horror’ response from people but thankfully there’s two of us at work who are on the 5:2 & my colleague has read up quite a bit on it so can quote some evidence to skeptical listeners! Apparently there is a lot more research being pumped into it too which is always good to hear…

tombaron

10:47 am
31 Jul 14
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3031774/
In depth description of “fat burning”.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16380488
Study on ATGL in numerous mice, including fasted mice.

I am too stooped to fully understand these mind fasting seems to boost production of a lot of these enzymes though.

Whens the big 28 by the way? mines September 17th, quite astonished I didn’t join jimi Hendrix, winehouse etc in the 27 club to be honest.

P.S porridge for breakfast this morning… for now…

luckylucy

6:42 pm
31 Jul 14
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Great @tombaron thank you thank you! I will get around to reading those 2 articles when I next have a day off work!

I’m turning 28 at the end of August, woohoo 🙂 ! What makes you think you would have died a premature death?! (This thread has suddenly turned quite morbid..!)

Breakfast for me today was yoghurt & fruit (I lie, I also sneaked in a small bowl of my lunch which was salmon quinoa. I know, I know, I’m weird. I always feel like a more substantial breakfast following a fast day…)

I’m on day 9 & my weight loss has understandably stabilised following my initial immense shedding of 8lbs. I’m going to try to will myself to wake up at 5am tomorrow to get to the swimming pool first thing. Am going to have to dig deep for some motivation!

tombaron

7:02 pm
31 Jul 14
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You are queen of bizarre breakfasts! There seems to be natural plateaus with fasting. Waist measurements will give you an indicator on if your bf% is falling even If the scales arnt.

I was on the rock star lifestyle for a little too long in a former life. Woken up in your work domain a few times. Reformed character now though!

luckylucy

7:07 pm
1 Aug 14
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Glad to hear it @tombaron !

Today was another fast day (doing a 4:3 stint this week as predict a ‘heavier’ week of eating from tomorrow. I made it to the pool, hooray! Admittedly not before work, but made sure I went afterwards. Am experimenting with HIIT currently

Working long shifts all weekend plus it’s my last 2 days on this job so I’m sure there will be quite a few yummy farewell treats – plan to have a few here & there but not to go overboard! Will also hope to put up some progress pics next week (nothing dramatic but I think I can see some changes already).

tombaron

8:31 pm
1 Aug 14
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I’ve had best success with anaerobic exercise at the beginning of a fast and light aerobic exercise at the end. I reckon the anaerobic exercise depletes glycogen levels and converts you to fat burning fast then low intensity cardio work later on in the fast burns mainly fat. Having tried a 5k intensive run 22 hours into a 0 kcal fast, I cannot recommend it to anyone!

luckylucy

4:40 pm
2 Aug 14
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Thanks @tombaron, yes I like the sound of combining anaerobic with light aerobic to see its effect on fat burning so will try it out as much as I can (unfortunately can only swim at the moment so plans to get to a pool are a little more tricky..!)

tombaron

6:56 pm
2 Aug 14
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Hopefully the poorly knee clears up for you soon! I’m using intensive cycling pre fast presently and the normal walking whilst fasting. It’s working but not sure on actual measurements yet, I look thinner though probably not been this thin for 11 years or so. Probably would be handy (with a time machine) to tell 16 year old Tom not to bother taking up drinking, eating s**t and save the hassle!

Sourcat

9:36 pm
2 Aug 14
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Hi luckylucy, thought I’d say hi. I’m also medical and also paleo (ish). I have been following this whole foods template for about 2 years, but am more the primal/ mark sisson style of 80/20. I regularly eat cheese and grass fed cream, as well as white rice and sometimes corn tortillas. I stay very strict low carb paleo on the fasting days. Right now I am trying 4:3 as I haven’t been able to lose much fat on 5:2 (granted this is pretty much vanity weight). I did 5:2 with no loss over 4 weeks. I have now been doing 4:3 for the last three weeks and have lost about 1.5 kg, which is pretty good. Anyway, will follow your thread. Any paleo questions, feel free to ask. I did actually gain a wee bit of weight when I first went paleo but it was mostly adding muscle, and I feel fantastic.

luckylucy

12:07 pm
4 Aug 14
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Hello Sourcat & thank you for popping by! Interestingly enough we also have similar starting stats..! How are you tackling your non-fast days apart from a paleo(ish) approach? 1.5kg is great! Can I also ask what do you eat on you fasting days (I would quite like some inspiration!)

I’m just starting out, did a 4:3 this past week as I knew I would have a ‘heavy’ weekend but think I’ll mainly ease myself in with the 5:2 and put in an extra fasting day here & there when I feel like it.

Otherwise, I’m doing well, the fasting days are challenging in the afternoon but this eases off without problem. I’m down 8lbs over the past 13 days (a lot of this was water weight initially as it came off within a couple of days!) & now it’s stabilised, think I’ve lost between 1-2 lbs this week? I also hit the pool today for some HIIT 🙂

I took some progress pics, I hope my eyes aren’t playing tricks on me but I think there is some (albeit) changes to my body already. I know it is early days.

tombaron

3:35 pm
4 Aug 14
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You are looking a lot trimmer already! good job. 8 lbs is a substantial loss too. Its difficult sometimes to see in yourself changes in weight, then you see yourself 6 months before and get a huge shock :L

tombaron

5:52 pm
4 Aug 14
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P.s. lucy, got another interesting article for you:

http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/286/5/E675

Sourcat

8:38 pm
5 Aug 14
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On my non-fasting day I have found I have to be careful with the carbs early in the day. If I have sweet potatoes or anything starchy as my first meal, I become incredibly lethargic for 3-4 hours afterwards. So I have been having a smaller first meal, usually eggs and veggies, with sour cream and hot sauce. For the rest of the day I have normal sized meals, which for me can be a biggish amount.

On the fasting days I just have espresso in the morning, then another coffee with straight cream or bulletproof style with MCT oil around 11am, then a tea with cream around 2-3pm. I sometimes eat dinner a bit earlier. It is usually salad veggies with roasted chicken breast and some vinaigrette. Very boring but fills me up.

luckylucy

6:36 pm
6 Aug 14
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Thank you @tombaron ! Admittedly time is flying away from me at the moment so am yet to read the articles but I’m going to get around to them hopefully this weekend so thank you!!

& thanks @sourcat I tend to avoid carbs early too. I tried out a little bit of coconut oil in my morning coffee on my fast day today but think I need to give it a good few goes before I see if it makes much of a difference. I’m going to try & eat better on my non-fast days too, just need to get organised.

Day 15 already today! Can’t believe I have been on the regime for half a month now, I guess that’s the beauty of it, it doesn’t feel like a chore so just becomes a daily routine. Will have my second fast day on Friday & weigh in on Saturday. Feeling sluggish overall but that’s not the diet, it’s my lifestyle..! ‘Saving myself’ til dinner is feeling easier too.

Shanilay

7:50 pm
6 Aug 14
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Hi Lucy,

I’m also following the non processed route. During fasting for the 30 days of Ramadan I felt a massive difference in health (I lost 14lbs). I wanted to maintain good health and encourage weightloss/fat loss.
My first week of 5:2 I also lost 5lbs. I have found kettlebells a very effective form of exercise as it has a massive afterburn similar to hiit. I’m female and I have a 16kg bell. I’m not sure if it’s something you could consider with your knee injury though.
My breakfast is normally protein on fast days boiled egg, homemade chicken mince burger, cheese and grapes, bio live yogurt full fat berries etc

On a non fasting day my calorie intake is anything from 1000-1700.
What sort of dinners are you having on fast days? I’m stuck on salads at the moment

luckylucy

5:53 pm
7 Aug 14
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Hi @shanilay Firstly congrats on getting through Ramadan, it must have been difficult over the summer days! I LOVE kettle bells – I’m currently not part of a gym but am hoping to join one once I move homes in a month or so. I have access to some resistance bands so may try some strength training with them though. 16kg is impressive!

So for my dinners on fasting days, I tend to save my 500 calories for it so that I can have something more substantial (I think I would be a little disappointed if I had to eat a salad for every fast day but salads are definitely a good option for these hot summer days 🙂 ) – at the moment I am experimenting with fish & seafood.

The one dish I keep returning to is my low calorie seafood pasta (though one can omit the expensive fake ‘pasta’ to make a heart ratatouille stye dish instead or sub the seafood for diced chicken breast):

I’ll be putting another <500 cal recipe up tomorrow most probably too, featuring a fish dish. Dinners are definitely tricky as I want to eat larger volumes to fill me up as well as it being tasty. On these hot days sometimes I freeze watermelon slices as natural ‘ice lollies’ & they take a while to eat and are strangely satisfying.

What do you have in your salads?

Otherwise, my update! Today was a feed day & I had planned to have a fully paleo day until work ran late so I couldn’t get home in time for lunch & ended up having a rather rich pastry filled with spinach & feta. Also had a few naughty treats in the evening. I really want to get organised & get disciplined so am hoping to start this weekend by omitting processed foods & continue on to next week. Am also tempted to do a 4:3 week next week (Mon, Wed, Fri)!

Shanilay

6:33 pm
7 Aug 14
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Wow I loved the look of the seafood pasta!
I’m starting my first week as 4:3 so I have done Monday Tuesday and tomorrow. Next week 5:2 etc.
I’m doing my exercises on fast days for optimum fat burning. I never lost the weight after my daughter so Ramadan was a great kick start.
I have been having salads with fresh parsley, Himalayan salt lemon as a dressing with cucumbers cherry tomatoes lettuce spinach red onions that’s the base so I add my protein eg avocado, salmon and chicken.
One of my favourites is chicken burgers with an Asian twist.
Yes it’s great doing salad in the summer in the winter it’s going to be low starch veg. I think I would be able to adjust eventually.
Lol it’s a non fast day I wouldn’t mind a cheeky treat.
How long have you been fasting for? How are you finding it?

Good luck and good health!

Clare

9:36 pm
7 Aug 14
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Hi Lucy, we love to follow your progress and see your recipes. Please post them on the site rather than sharing links. Thanks for sharing some delicious sounding recipes. And congratulations on your weight loss too.
All the best, Clare

Sourcat

12:48 am
8 Aug 14
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Love the kettlebells. I often end up going to crossfit on my fast days or before breaking the fast the next day, it doesn’t seem to make any difference to energy levels and hunger.

tombaron

9:07 am
8 Aug 14
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Damn you can cook! Resistance bands are awesome by the way, string them round a bed post or pole of some description and you can do rows, cable flys cross grip rows oblique crunches and almost everything you can do in a gym, be it with less weight. It does provide a different, less linear profile of lifting though, the weight obviously varies throughout the movement for the exercise which is a nice compliment to other training.

luckylucy

7:23 pm
8 Aug 14
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Apologies @clare, just saw this! Have posted my new fast day recipe in the right section, hope that’s ok!

@shanilay , chicken burgers sound great, I think they will have to be added to my list of recipes to try & concoct. I made a delicious tuna steak & egg fried ‘rice’ today for my fast day (recipe on the blog) which is definitely going to make another appearance at some point. I’m on day 17 now, I can’t believe how quickly time has gone already, it felt like I just started yesterday! Overall, my experience has been great. Even if the fast days have been difficult I seem to have a selective memory so forget instantly once How long have you been going for?

@sourcat I really want to try crossfit – it looks like an awesome workout! Perhaps once I move as there is a crossfit place relatively nearby.

@tombaron I am going to try them, thanks for the suggestions! I’m sure youtube will be good to show me how to use them too…

As for today, it was another fast day. It was surprisingly easy. Drank enough water & the coconut oil in coffee morning wake up left me feeling very energised. I cooked up a storm in the kitchen tonight! Definitely my favourite fast day recipe yet – pop over to the recipe section but it’s lime & soy tuna steak with egg fried ‘rice’. I experimented more with cauliflower & turned it into rice ‘grains’ – so yummy! Pics of the dish on the blog.

Shanilay

9:38 pm
8 Aug 14
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On my Mosley fasts I’m only on day 5 today. I had 3 fasts this week and it’s went well. I have found a book 300 calories or less. It has breakfast lunch and dinner options. It has some really good meal ideas.
Chicken burgers very easy to make.
Chicken mince, fresh coriander, fresh green chillies salt cumin coriander garam masala garlic and onion powder egg and a wee bit of gram flour. I use a burger press and have the burger separating paper discs and I chuck them in the freezer.
I did try an oven baked omelette that turned out well.
It’s only my first week with the calorie reduction but I have lost 6 lbs. I’m not complaining

luckylucy

7:48 pm
10 Aug 14
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@shanilay the burgers sound amazing! Definitely going to make them one day on a fast day, thank you! Congrats on your 6lbs too, you are doing great!

My weight is static at 60kg but my measurements are going down with a loss of just under 5 inches from various places. Just goes to show how the scales can simply not reflect the changes going on. Very happy!

I had a lovely weekend – Saturday was a feed day, & I decided to do my first fast on the weekend aka today! It was actually pretty easy & I didn’t find myself thinking about food at all compared to other fast days. I cooked myself (& my brother) an amazing fry up (<500 cals a plateful!) for dinner & it felt like such a treat but was still healthy 🙂 Recipe on the blog.

Happy fasting!

Shanilay

7:58 pm
10 Aug 14
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Lol yeh it was the weekend off for me too. I’m def excited to be on the fasting regime. It is def easier than I had anticipated.
Nothing wrong with a good fry up

tombaron

9:46 pm
10 Aug 14
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Good job Lucy, your food looks amazing as always! The fry up is quality!

Great losing 5″ too, measurements are the most important factor in determining fat loss of course!

People are repeatedly referring to me as skinny now, it’s terrifying 😀

luckylucy

7:27 pm
11 Aug 14
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Shanilay, I have found it much easier than what I expected too! Though I want to see if I can start having fast days without coffee as I’m finding that it occasionally hyper stimulates me/affects my sleep. Going to try this week to have matcha tea instead 🙂 Hope your start of week is going well!

Thanks Tom, I really enjoyed the fry up! Glad that you are getting some positive feedback, terrifying in a good way!! & well deserved no less.

Today I’m having a feed day. I think I have fallen into the trap of eating junk (& too much of it) on my feed days as I know tomorrow is a fast day so it is ‘ok’. Except it is not ok. I want to make sure I get enough nutrition e.g. protein, vitamins, healthy fats (not crappy fats) on my feed days so that my body can function at its best & so that I don’t get deficient in anything. So I’m pondering how to tackle this. I always say I’ll clean up the diet come my next feed day & the same thing happens! More discipline needed I think!

I definitely want the odd treat (& think the 5:2 lifestyle is perfect for this) but for me the odd treat does not mean chocolate/cake every feed day (as I never did that pre 5:2 anyway)!

Anyway, I started by healthifying my own ‘ice cream’ to make homemade froyo. Recipe on the blog (thefastingdoctor) for anyone addicted to sweet things like me.

tombaron

9:54 pm
11 Aug 14
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Oh God your house guests must be the luckiest people on the planet If you cook for them. The ice cream looks incredible. I’ll be making some of that! How’s the knee, you getting better?

Done with smoking now, I’m hard withdrawaling! Just over 24 hours in, will look into waist size to see If it actually drops!

luckylucy

9:54 pm
13 Aug 14
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Haha thanks Tom. There’s pizza on the blog tonight! Am definitely getting in the ‘healthifying’ junk food zone!

The knee is hit & miss. It’s difficult because I’m quite an active person so it flares up now & again but I refuse to sit on my sofa all day… I really need to be more dedicated with some physio exercises I was given but I just find lunges/squats etc. SO boring, so it’s my own fault really!

That’s great re: smoking, keep at it! This evening I was surrounded by smokers & felt tempted to join, but in a way being on a fast day protects me from having a puff! Not sure why, but my body/mind really doesn’t like the idea of it!