Week Forty-Two Complete (30-January)

I’m finding it an interesting phenomenon. I both look forward to fasting days and don’t look forward to fasting days. The other day (Wednesday), I was bemoaning the upcoming day of self-denial but enjoy the fact that eating does not control me anymore. Now I’m sitting here typing away, having finished a nice dinner, looking forward to tomorrow’s feed day. I can’t say that these fast days are any easier with time but they are certainly part of my lifestyle. I can’t imagine life without these days of calorie restriction.

I purposely skipped writing this past Tuesday because I had only lost 180 grams and was a bit blue but that’s OK; I’m here now. Regardless of my feelings, 5:2 is here to stay and I can’t imaging what life would be like without the structure involved.

My menus this week were: Monday – 2C black coffee (10cal), 475g Lentil soup (212cal), 255g roasted onion, celery and squash mix (99cal). Totaling 321 kcal.

Thursday – 2C coffee with 2T half & half (50cal), Chili Lime Chicken Lean Cuisine (240cal) and 300g cooked beets (132cal). Totaling 422 kcal.

I’m gearing up for a disappointing weigh in but maybe I’ll be surprised. The Super Bowl is on the telly this Sunday, and while I don’t give a hoot who wins, it’s a fun time to get together with friends and eat. Hopefully I will exercise some self-control but that may or may not happen. Either way, it should be a fun day.

Cheers all.

Week Forty-One Ends (23 Jan)

I must be going through a lentil phase because I made another batch of Red Lentil Soup. It was fantastic.

I boiled 300g rinsed red lentils in 8.5L of water until they were cooked ~ 20 minutes. In another pan I toasted 1 tablespoon of each: cumin seed, fennel seed, fenugreek seed and black mustard seed for about a minute. To the spices, I added 250g sliced onion and a splash of water to get them cooking, then covered to let them sweat. After 5 minutes, more or less, I added 2T curry powder and let this cook for another minute, then added 335g chopped roma tomatoes and 2 tsp chopped garlic. The entire contents was added to the lentils, along with 150g shredded carrot and 1 bunch of coarse chopped cilantro ~70g. The pot was put to simmer for around 30 minutes and I added salt to taste; for me this was about 4 teaspoons. You may prefer more or less. The entire batch of soup weighed 3.2kg and at 1428 calories for the entire thing, it was only 0.45 calories per gram.

The day began with 2C coffee and 2T half & half (50cal). For dinner there were two bowlfuls of lentil soup, at 475g each, for only 424 calories. Along with the soup, I made baked squash with onion and celery; 150g of this was only 66cal. Had it not been for the half and half, today would have been vegan. I’m not going that direction because I enjoy meat far too much but on fasting days, the amount of food one can eat when no meat is involved, is substantial. In fact, I believe I’ll have another 125g of the squash right now. This will bring my daily total to 595 calories. Right were I need to be.

Cheers

Week Forty-One (20 January)

I’m sitting here happily with a belly full of deliciousness, having just finished the most delightful dinner. Mmmmm. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

This morning was 2C coffee with 2T half & half (50cal). I was a bit hungry throughout the day but I held out so as to get all my kcals from dinner. Now on to the good stuff. I made a sort of stewed cabbage, celery and onion thingy that was out of this world. It was so good, I ate almost a half kilo of the stuff; 484g to be exact. It was only (234 cal). On the plate, along side the cabbage was 200g boiled and peeled beet slices (88cal). There is nothing like fresh cooked  beets served warm. I also had a chicken breast, which was seasoned and grilled. The cooked weight was 100g and gave my an additional (175 cal).

I wish I had taken a picture; Sliced chicken breast, a huge pile of cooked cabbage and fresh cooked beets. What a perfect way to fill up with fresh, delicious food. I am so thankful for the ability to cook.

Tomorrow, when I get home from work, I will weigh in. Since this will be posted tonight, the weight will be edited in later.

Good night all and we’ll see you tomorrow afternoon, Pacific time. 🙂

*Weight update – I am once again below 136 (135.9kg) or 299.5lbs. And no, Juliana, no gassy aftereffects from the cabbage. 😉

Week Forty Ends

Last Thursday went quite well. I began the day with a slight deviation to my two cups of black coffee routine. Since I’ve been well below my caloric intake, I decided to add in some half and half; two tablespoons to be exact. It was a nice change and put my morning coffee at (50cal) instead of the usual ten. I was a bit peckish around noon, so I indulged myself in about 57g of sliced pastrami (130cal). Had I known it was so high in calories, I would have eaten some turkey. For dinner, it was a Braised Beef Lean Cuisine (240cal) along with a nice salad of 123g baby greens (29cal), 90g Roma tomato (16cal), 40g crumbled feta (85cal), mixed with 2T salad dressing (25cal). The Lean Cuisine was actually very good. Lots of beef strips in a spicy sauce and a generous portion of sweet potato mash. My total day consisted of 575 calories.

Week Forty!!

It’s hard to imagine that I’m in the middle of the fortieth week of fasting. Just thirty more fasts (two per week) and it will be one year. What a journey; ups and downs but ever pressing onward. A friend of mine, whom I shared 5:2 with six to seven months ago, told me last night that this WOL has saved his life. He was most grateful and I was delighted.

Now on to the meat of the matter. Having resigned not to weigh in over the holidays might have been a good idea. The last weight I recorded was 138.8kg (306.1lbs), which was on 17 December. With a bit of encouraging from Juliana, I stepped on that scale yesterday and much to my surprise, I had lost 2.5kg (5.5lbs). While I never ceased from my fasting days during the last month, many of the feed days were quite indulgent. However, I lost 2.5 kilos during the holidays! That is pleasing indeed.

Also, there are a few details that I would like to mention. If you have been following me for any time now, you’ve seen that I began to dabble in adding a 16:8 lifestyle onto my feeding days. For those unfamiliar with 16:8, it is simply eating all your meals within an eight hour window, while fasting during the other sixteen, This has proved to be more than I can manage for no other reason than I forget. I’ll wake in the morning hungry, so brekky is eaten at 7:30. This means that dinner should be consumed before 15:30, which is often impossible. Regardless of my excuses, it ha been determined for me that it just won’t work. Another thing to mention is my exercise routine. Since beginning a new job with an ever-changing schedule, it has been difficult to get to the gym. Once again, regardless of my excuses, the gym has been neglected since mid December. My first day back on the exercise wagon was this past Monday and it felt remarkable. Although I was sore, it was fun to get back into that again. Hopefully my schedule will settle down and I’ll be able to plan exercise days but until then, I squeeze them in when I can.

In spite of not being able to maintain a consistent 16:8 eating schedule, I have been doing something of that on fasting days. I’ll explain. Monday is my first fast day of the week so I eat nothing from Sunday dinner until Monday dinner. With the exception of my black coffee, nothing but water is consumed until dinnertime.

Now on to the previous fasting day menu. Brekky consisted of 2C black coffee (10cal). Dinner was a wonderful 4oz piece of grilled chicken (123cal), 300g steamed broccoli (105cal), 85g mixed baby greens (20cal), 100g Roma tomato (18cal), 40g crumbled feta (85cal) and 2T salad dressing (25cal). With dinner only consisting of 376 kcal, my entire day was just 386 kcal. Have a look below at this feast. I can’t imaging having to eat more.

Thank you all for stopping by to read my ramblings. I hope they inspire and encourage you.

Cheers

Week 39 Ending

Hi all and welcome to Thursday.

Well, I took Juliana’s advice and ate more food 😉 I haven’t been dropping down my caloric intake for any other reason than simply not being too hungry but what she said makes sense. I certainly don’t want my metabolism to slow down any more than it already has.

Despite not losing weight, I continue to enjoy my calorie restricted days. Thinking about it, doing this 5:2 is easy. The reality is that I only skip breakfast and lunch on Mondays and Thursdays. Looking at 5:2 from that vantage point, any severity is omitted.

This morning I drank my usual 2C black coffee (10cal). For dinner, I made a delightful soup made from red lentils. Having rinsed the lentils, I placed them in a pot, with water, to cook. In a separate pan, I dry toasted whole cumin, mustard and fennel seeds. To that was added a diced onion, which I sauteed, adding a splash of water so as not to burn. When the onion was half cooked, I added curry powder to the mixture and let those flavours all combine and enhance. This delicious spiced onion mixture was added to the cooking lentils, along with some shredded carrot. I added more water to make it a soup consistency then seasoned with salt. All in all, it was pretty good. A bowlful (almost 500mL) was only 198 calories. I had three bowls; two at dinner and one a couple hours later. My total caloric intake was a wee bit over my suggested 500-600 kcal range (604kcal) but I live dangerously. hahaha

Thank you all for liking and commenting. It sure is nice to know that I’m not in this alone.

Cheers and have a great weekend.

Bob

Week 39 – First Fasting Day

So it’s not really my first fasting day, but it is for the week. This is an amazing thing; I am finding myself not hungry on the fasting days of late. I knew I should eat but wasn’t hungry. There was my usual morning 2C black coffee (10cal), however, by dinner there was no desire for food. Strange. I ended up eating (110 calories) worth of garlic stuffed olives and (20 cal) worth of giardiniera veggies. I was fine after that little evening snack. My total intake for the day was 140 kcal.

By the way, my fasting day was on Monday but I had no time to post.

Cheers

Happy New Year!!

Hello all. This is the end of my thirty-eighth week of fasting. It marks a special time, in that this week not only included the last fasting day of 2013 but the first fasting day of 2014. Thirsty eight weeks, in retrospect, doesn’t seem like all that long ago; I mean, it was only last spring when I watched the Horizon programme and began this way of life.
When I began, I was exercising five days a week and the weight was rolling off. However, as of late I have not been able to get to the gym. I know this is just an excuse but please bear with me. Having just begun a new job, I have yet to get a permanent (regular) schedule. Yes, another excuse but I am actually missing the work outs.

I still have not weighed myself yet and I might not for a little while longer. I simply want to focus on the fasting days without the emotional upheaval of gaining or losing weight.

Speaking of fasting days, Monday 30 December went a little something like this. Brekky, was 2C black coffee (10). It is amazing that even though I work in the food industry, I am able to fast while amongst all sorts of food. Amazing. Dinner Was a huge pile of steamed veg: 300g steamed broccoli (105), 320g steamed cabbage (74) and 350g cooked beets (154). After finishing the broccoli and about half the beets, I was full, so I stopped eating. However, as I have found, veg full doesn’t seem to last too long and a couple hours later, I wanted to finish my plate. Since there was only 342 calories consumed, I decided to heat up a can of soup (230) and throw in the remaining veg. That was fantastic. The total caloric intake was 572 kcal.

Today was my second fasting day. It began with 1C black coffee (5). Dinner consisted of a nice salad. 75g mixed greens (18), 50g cherry tomatoes (9), 100g mini sweet peppers (31), 105g diced beets (46), tossed in 2T salad dressing (25). All this was topped with 85g crumbled feta cheese (180) and 100g sliced roast beef (201). It was quite filling and ended the day with 515 kcals consumed.

Cheers and happy fasting. 🙂

Bob