Fast Diet Update #2

As I have mentioned before in this blog, I am trying to follow the Fast Diet (also known as Intermittent Fasting and 5:2). If you haven't heard of this diet before I explain the basic principles here or find more (professional) info on it here. To tell the truth I haven't been sticking to it very religiously recently and I have probably only done 2 fast days in a month - I should have fasted for a total of 8 days in that period. Surprisingly though I haven't put any of the weight that I had previously lost back on which I am very happy about! But I have been back on it this week and I thought I would share with you what I ate on my fast days this week in the hope that it might help or inspire any of you that also follow this diet. I split my meals into 3 - breakfast, lunch and dinner. I'm always on the go at work so I normally have to buy my lunches out so the choices I make are important. I'm also not too strict on myself, I don't count every single calorie to the digit and I make rough estimates so some days I may be over or under the 500 calorie allowance.

Day 1.

Breakfast: Small bowl of porridge made with water, a splash of soy milk and some blueberries. (aprox 100 kcals)

Lunch: Large bowl of vegetable soup (200 kcals)

Dinner: Corncake with a spread of light philadelphia, 1/2 a tomato and a tangerine (approx 150 kcals)

Day 2.

Breakfast: Banana and Coffee (80-100 kcals)

Lunch: Tuna Nicoise Salad (170 kcals - less if you skip the dressing, I used half)

Dinner: Poached egg on toast, 1 slice of smoked salmon and half a tomato, green tea (approx 250 kcals)

I'm starting to notice that "fast days" are getting easier. My body must be getting used to not having many calories on certain days. In fact, after a heavy weekend of eating and drinking I find I actually look forward to my fast days now. The only downfall to this is that at the beginning my stomach had shrunk and so I was eating less on my "feast days" too. However, my body getting used to this constant fasting followed by feasting means that on my feast days I have no problem stuffing my face. This week the goal is to be ever so slightly more restricted on my feast days too. I have also taken up swimming on the evening of my fast days. I find this keeps me busy so takes my mind off the hunger and apparently it is perfectly fine to exercise on fast days if you have the energy. I'm hoping to lose another 2lbs to add to the 4lbs I have already lost by the end of this week. I will let you know how this goes.

I plan to blog about this again as taking pictures of everything I've eaten has really spurred me on to be inventive with my meals and stick to the calorie limit! Wish me luck for this week.

Isobel x