I always do cereal for my meal these days and have done for more than 2 years on the fastdiet. Prior to that I used to portion off whatever I cooked on weekends into 500kcal portions (most of my favourite meals are weightwatchers recipes that break down to 500-600kcal per portion anyway) and use them as quick freezer meals on fastdays or if I’d had poridge or something during the day I’d have a tin (or portion of my own recipe) of low calorie soup and a small roll.

There’s no reason you couldn’t eat the same as your family do on fastdays. If you save all of your allowance for that one meal and calorie count your portion then you can eat with them.

Miso soup is vegan friendly, quick, easy, satisfying. I bring a 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil along with a sliced mushroom and a few cubes of tofu. Turn off the heat and then add a tablespoon of miso and a finely sliced spring onion. Done. Personally I like to add a little grated ginger and garlic. This probably amounts to about 50 calories max but as I said, very satisfying, and by the way very good for your digestion because of the fermented soy beans.

Today was a fast day and tonight I have made chicken Chow Mien, absolutely gorgeous, I’ve made it the same way as I usually do with Chinese 5 spice, light soy sauce, mushrooms, spring onions and I used chicken breast fillet. The only difference was I substituted egg noodles for Bare Naked Noodles. I just added these noodles to the pan after I’d cooked everything else and they soaked up flavours. they sell them in Morrison’s, they are low 0.1g carbohydrate per 100g, zero fat, low calories 8 I think, gluten free, sugar free. I saw these on Dragons Den and their website says they can be cut up small to be like rice. It was a very filling meal and tbh I thought I’d eaten too much but I’m actually under the 500 calories and I even had eggs for breakfast. Has anyone else tried these?

Hello Ibiza, I’m so pleased you enjoyed them. Shhhhhhhh we should keep quiet because everyone will be wanting them and Morrisons will sell out lol! Tonight I had home made tomato sauce with grilled Venison meatballs with the whole packet of Bare naked noodles, it was absolutely gorgeous.

Thanks for the tip. I had a look online and Holland and Barratt sell them too. They may have buy one get one half price offer on at the moment. I am going to get some tomorrow!

Dear Clevertess, do you think your muscle tone is changing? With all your super exercising, could it mean a weight gain in muscle? So, if you have lost weight you may have gained it in muscle……..just a thought, you are probably doing so much better than you think……You sound as fit as a fiddle, so much fitter than me

Cauliflower rice is a great low calorie accompaniment to lots of meals. You can get the recipe, plus lots of other low calorie ideas from http://caloriecountedcurries.com/5-2-meals.

Hello Twigglet, I found its cheaper to buy in Morrisons as they are only £1.99 whereas a pack of 10 is £24.50. Someone else said to keep a look out in Holland & Barrett for their buy 1 get 1 half price deals.

Hi
I would love the get my hands on those NOODLES we live in France and i don’t think i will be able to get them here , i love noodles and pasta and miss having it on my 2 fast day , i make them for my husband but i just have the veg .
I say to myself well it is only 2 days !!! you have it other days Ha !!

I have been doing 5:2 for over two years, with a few breaks for holidays, or when I have cold or flu. When I get to my goal weight I go 6:1, then go back to 5:2 if a few pounds sneak on. I now find it easy to do, by having 2 very small meals at breakfast and lunch, with a bigger meal in the evening. Breakfast is porridge (30g dry porridge oats made with water, with 30g banana and 50ml almond milk150 cals) miso soup at lunch (50 cals) then either a heap of steamed veg with 100g chicken, or prawns and a tablespoon of rice or half a nest of instant noodles, flavoured with garlic, ginger, chilli , soy sauce, or a spicy lentil soup. Here is lentil soup recipe. I use a little oil to get flavour from the garlic and onion, you can leave it out but I think it is worth the extra 40 cals! This makes a large bowl of filling chunky soup.

Spicy Lentil Soup, 300 calories
Soften half an onion, one garlic clove and a knob of fresh garlic , all finely chopped, in a teaspoon of olive oil. Add a level teaspoon of garam masala, a sprinkling of dry chilli flakes, ground cumin, ground coriander. Cook briefly in oil then add half pint of vegetable stock, (I use 1/3 a Knorr gel stockpot), 30g dry red lentils, and a cup or chopped vegetables: celery, carrot, courgette, pepper etc, and a heaped teaspoon tomato purée. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until lentils are soft, stirring occasionally. You can add a little extra water if necessary.

Hi ,

Thanks for your info , i have sent them an email see how much it is to post to France , usually it is quite expensive for items sent here .
I will have to have a good look in our supermarkets now to see if any have cropped up .
Although i think not .Still you never know !.
Christina

Hi All

I found this thread very interesting and have passed the comments on about Bare Naked Noodles. I tried them myself the other day and thought they were really enjoyable after a trial pack I shall buy a few more. Next time I shall use them with Asda low calorie pesto sauce and grated Parmesan. As the ingredients are so high in calories apart from the noodles I shall have them on a non fasting day

I do have a variation of fish in butter sauce (frozen and defrosted) and vegatable. The fish is only 108 calories and I only have to cook the vegetable which I defrost overnight. I don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen on a fast day so this works well for me. I can put it all in one saucepan and the sauce over tge vegetables is lovely.

The other meal I have often is spicy chicken breast cooked in microwave and vegetables I weigh it all out so on a fast day I don’t have to think about it.

I am currently expermenting with salad dressings as the weather had changed. I make my own with french mustard, red wine vinegar and a dash of salt and pepper. I am going to try a variation of that recipe that I found on the Internet.

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

6 dashes of red wine vinegar

1/2 lemon (juice)

2-3 dashes of Italian seasoning

2-3 dashes of garlic salt

I make mine up and put it in a bottle so I have it for a while. My uncle and mother used to make one similar to the one above but without lemon juice and herbs.

Ginette

Hi Clevertess,

I used to run diet classes for the clinically obese; I saw hundred of people. One thing I quickly realised was that if people weren’t drinking enough water they could easily plateau. Additionally, if they were near a period, of course, they either plateaued or gained weight. Most surprising to me though was that if they were going down with an infection then the same thing happened and continued while they were on antibiotics. It was so obvious that I started to predict infection in the end and I was usually right.

The good thing was though, if they stuck to the diet through these tough periods then when the problem subsided and /or they increased their water intake they’d lose the right amount of weight in one fell swoop. That is, if they were losing 3lb a week and plateaued for 3 weeks, they would lose 9lb when the problem went away. It’s so easy to get discouraged when you are doing the right things but aren’t seeing the benefits.

Apparently, when we don’t drink enough water the liver is compromised as it has to help the kidneys remove toxins from the body. As fat metabolism happens in the liver it stands to reason that weight loss will be impacted. So don’t forget your one and a half to two litres a day and probably more if you are drinking diuretic drinks containing caffeine. It’s a fine balance though as drinking too much can upset the electrolyte system. I think that’s why guidelines are important.

I like to bake my food in foil on diet days. You can make protein and veggie packets that you season and bake in under 20 minutes and they taste great because everything cooks together. When I make for my husband I might drizzle oil or sprinkle cheese over his to make it more exciting. Serve packets by themselves or over mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, noodles, rice, quinoa etc.

The other day I baked salmon in the oven and cooked and mashed potatoes. I flaked the salmon and mixed with potatoes, onion, garlic, parsley and salt and pepper. Formed them into cakes and sprayed a baking sheet with cooking spray and baked them, flipping once, until golden. I served them with a spicy dill yogurt and a salad dressed with lemon juice. It was one of my favorite diet day meals ever. Each salmon cake came out to about 79 cals each. Easy and delicious. I hope this helps

Not advertising but some supermarkets do proper soup for 200 K cal as in a plastic carton not a tin. It fills the soup bowl nicely to the brim. One supermarket also does a fresh spiced chicken and mango salad for 131 K cal if you add slices of apple, beetroot and tomatoes and add a packet of coleslaw mix you can chomp away like a demented rabbit and still be under your fast day limit. When you see it piled on your plate you do wonder if it is correct but it is! One thing I try and last as long as possible before eating and then have the soup followed shortly by the salad. It works for me. Keep it up.

Might sound awful but it has become one of favourite fast-day meals. I make this for 2 people but it has so little calories it can be eaten by 1 (if not eaten much at other times)

– Oven-roast one yellow pepper (cut in half) with some fry light spray. Cut-side down 10-12min at 180C.
– Meanwhile cook about 90g quinoa in light stock.
– Add a lot of parsley and squeeze of lemon at the end. Sometimes I add one spring onion to it.
– Put quinoa mix in the yellow pepper and serve.

Usually I have a bit of salad next to it or grilled gem lettuce.

Meant to add that many UK supermarkets sell spiralized courgettes if you don’t have a spiralizer.

Thanks K-Lo it’s pretty tasty and has kept me going on fast days for a few weeks now. I bought some bare naked noodles yesterday after reading about them on here and may try the same sauce with them but with a lot less water.

I usually do canned soup ranging between 76 cals (weightwatchers) and 200 cals (big soup). dinner sometimes corgetti with chicken, or there’s a lot of healthy ready meals out there sub 300 cals. found as well this pack of 12 chicken satay sticks you can get in sainsburys. 17 cals each, so can snack on them!

hi chrijaz.
I think the article http://www.dietfoci.com/10-low-fat-foods-that-are-actually-bad-for-you may be helpful to you.