Starting next week!

This topic contains 8 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by CalifDreamer 6 years, 1 month ago.

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Ladybird1234

9:17 pm
10 Mar 18
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Hi everyone,

I’m starting the 5:2 next week and have spent the morning filling out my menu planner so I can go and get prepared today.

For day one so far I have got:

Breakfast: 25g porridge oats + 2 tbsp blueberries – approx 99 cals

Lunch: Miso soup (30 cals), 2 rice cakes (70 cals), 1/2 cup cucumber sticks (8 cals) and 1 tsp tzatziki (10 cals) – 118 cals

Dinner: Tray baked cod (or NZ similar!) with veggies from the 5:2 recipe book – 247 cals.

I calculate that as 464 calories – does this sound about right do you think?

I’m going to try and leave breakfast until as late in the morning as possible so to make sure I don’t get too hungry during the day.

I think the biggest thing I will struggle with is not having tea – I drink about 5 cups of earl grey tea with milk each day, but not really sure how many calories that is… and if I cut out food and caffeine I might really struggle!! Any suggestions on that?

Thanks so much and sorry for rabbiting on. Lots to think about!

Cinque

12:56 am
11 Mar 18
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Good plan Ladybird!
I love miso soup on my Fast Day!
The first fast days are always a bit of an experiment, just go for it and then see if you want to make changes.
I make my day easy and have caffeine. One cup of milk is 159 calories I think. Maybe pour out half a cup and see how far that gets you.
Sending good wishes for your first week!

LJoyce

4:31 am
11 Mar 18
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Ladybird,
Starting with a plan is excellent. It should increase your chances of week one going well.
I still use a meal planner to make a general food plan for the week.

I’m with Cinque on this one. I will sacrifice some food so I can have my 3 precious pots of tea with milk per day. When I first started 5:2 I skipped breakfast so I could have low fat cows milk for tea (112 cals per cup). I had a light lunch, eg veggie soup or raw veg & hummus. Dinner was a low cal balanced meal of veg and some protein. I also allocated enough calories for a piece of fruit in case I needed it. Over time I found that I didn’t need food available all the time on a fast day. Not only didn’t I miss breakfast (providing I could have a cup of tea), I usually found I could skip or delay lunch as well. Now on FDs, I still have my pots of tea, the only meal I eat is dinner and I leave enough calories for a small snack – just in case. My favourite “just in case” is a punnet of strawberries which is a lot of fruit for just 64 calories.
This fast day eating pattern evolved over time as I worked out what food pattern was easiest to stick to.

Good luck for week 1

diverdog

4:36 am
11 Mar 18
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It looks OK except the porridge and rice cakes are very high GI carbs. This kind of stuff drives cravings. Rice cakes drive more insulin than pure sugar.

Ladybird1234

8:47 pm
11 Mar 18
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Thanks for all your tips!

@cinque – good plan with the milk measuring, I hadn’t thought of that and was wondering how I was going to measure that!

@ljoyce – great tip with the strawberry punnet, nice little snack to keep you going.

@diverdog – thanks for the advice, I will definitely take that on board. Would you recommend something else instead of rice cakes for lunch?

As mentioned, I guess it’s all about trying out different techniques and seeing what works! No doubt it will be a challenge.

Thanks for all your help and support. 🙂

diverdog

12:40 am
12 Mar 18
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I’d add more non starchy veggies and some butter, olive oil, hummus or baba ganush in place of rice cakes. For breakfast, egg, nuts, sardines or kippers if you like them.

Many people don’t bother with lunch or breakfast to make the other meals a bit more robust. Studies strongly show that eating more calories early in the day is better for health and fat loss but do what helps you stay on plan the best.

When I did the classic 5:2 I ate my 600 calories in one late afternoon meal, mostly fat and protein from eggs, red meat, fatty fish, avocado and olives and fiber from lots of non starchy veggies. No carbs or sugars from rice, potato, grains or fruit.

PhoenixW

12:13 am
15 Mar 18
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Hi Ladybird,

My first attempt with 5:2 fast diet was similar to your plan: spread 500 calories over 3 meals. I managed to loss some weight but had lost motivation to carry on because it was too hard/stressful to manage calories this way.

Then I read the book and realised I’ve missed an important component – fasting.

I have changed my plan to:
1) Only eat lunch and dinner during fast days during the first 6 weeks. This given me fasting period of about 15 hours
2) Only eat dinner after the 6th week mark. It wasn’t planned that way. One fast day I forgotten to bring lunch and gone cold turkey. I felt good and continued to do it this way. It is good not to worry about preparing lunch for fast days and can eat a normal dinner.

I’ve lost 9kg since 17 Dec 2018, and have 4kgs to go.

All the best.

Ladybird1234

3:08 am
15 Mar 18
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Thanks Phoenix.

I had my first day yesterday and I have to agree that trying to split the calories over three meals was too difficult. After dinner I was so hungry and grumpy and I slept really badly (which is very unusual for me).

I’ve got my second day tomorrow and I’m going to try just a very light lunch and push dinner to later so I don’t have the same hangry reaction in the evening!

I’ll see how that goes and then probably try just eating a normal dinner.

Thanks for your advice. 🙂

CalifDreamer

4:00 am
15 Mar 18
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Welcome to the 5:2 forums, Ladybird! I almost always skip breakfast because, like you mentioned, it’s pretty hard spreading 500 calories over 3 meals. I’ve never been much of a breakfast eater anyway, and usually skip it on NFDs too. Even the morning after a FD, I usually don’t feel like breakfast.

I do eat lots of carbs in the form of fruit, whole grains and legumes on both FD and NFDs. They don’t seem to interfere with weight loss and keep me feeling full.

Interesting about using milk or cream in coffee and tea. I started drinking my coffee black on FDs to save on calories, but now find myself drinking it black more often and enjoying it that way. Maybe I’ll eventually eliminate the milk completely. It’s surprising how little time it takes to change your preferences about some things.