Week One of the 5:2 diet complete

I am pleased to report that as of yesterday morning I am 1.5lb lighter than I was last week!

I fasted (consumed no more than 500 kcal) Monday and Thursday of last week, and ate freely for the rest of the time. I also did an exercise DVD twice and went for my Sunday morning run (well more of a run/walk/jump over the HUGE puddles while shrieking this week!)

I must admit I used the “eat freely” statement to my advantage and my “normal” eating was one of a crazed crisp addicted person! I did pig out a bit on my feast days, where I probably shouldn’t have!

On Friday, I had Crunchy Nut Cornflakes for breakfast, then for elevenses a Costa Chai Latte (skinny) and a gingerbread man, and for lunch I had two ham rolls and crisps. I also had a Burns Night Supper, with a lot of Haggis, Neeps, Tatties, Cream Sauce, wine (a whole bottle for me) and a wee dram all followed with Terry’s Chocolate Orange, Christmas cake and crisps! Whoops.

Saturday was not much better on the alcohol and crisp front. Double Whoops. According to My Fitness Pal I ate more then 3000 calories on Friday alone. LOTS of whoops!

On Sunday, we had friends over had toast with butter for breakfast, Spag Bol (cooked SW style) Salad (with Avocados and Olives), ½ a bottle of wine, 3 mini bread rolls with butter, Pizza Express Light House dressing on my salad, parmesan and a portion of pudding! For tea I had an Uncle Ben’s sweet and sour rice time. So Sunday’s menu reflects more “normal” eating, a little bit of what I fancy but not overboard and not being greedy.

Due to Friday and Saturday’s excesses I didn’t think I had lost any weight at all. I was pleasantly surprised then, to discover my 1.5lb loss!

Yesterday was another Fast Day – much easier when I am at work! I will keep you posted with my progress….. Crummy Hubby is now on beard and trying it too – he had better not lose more weight than me! Grrrr!

I am vowing to be better with my late night snacking this week. My ongoing craft projects may get a boost!

One Fast Down…..

So, on Monday I started the 5:2 Diet. See Monday’s blog for more info as to why!

Here’s how it went…..

I decided to start on a day when I am at work, thinking that keeping busy would help me. I don’t usually have a huge breakfast anyway, as I start work at 7am and cannot face food before I get to work. Breakfast for me is usually some fruit or a yoghurt at 11ish! With that in mind, I decided that I would split my daily 500 calories between lunch and dinner with a rough 200/300 split.

I started my working day with a cup of black coffee and sweetner (not too bad as I normally only have a splash of skimmed anyway, and according to the guys I work with skimmed milk is just coloured water!) By 10am, I had started on a bottle of sparkling water. At 11am I was glad of the bubbles as they helped to keep my hunger at bay. Come 12:30 I was ready to eat my own arm! So I had my salad that I had dutifully prepared, all 61 calories worth, and a Clementine (31 calories). I had planned to have a Mullerlight Yoghurt for 91 calories with my lunch, but I didn’t het round to it! That afternoon I had Lady Grey tea with no milk, and I salivated all over the children’s fishfinger and chips dinner – but I dutifully scraped the leftovers into the bin (whereas before I would have sneaked them into my tummy!) and turned instead to my trusty sparkling water!

For dinner I had pasta with a vegetarian sauce (50g dried weight pasta, with a courgette, mushroom, garlic, onion, pepper and tomato sauce - all for 302cal) I had the Mullerlight Yoghurt for pudding instead.

All in all I consumed 485 calories, and drank lots of water. I’m keeping a count of my calories by using the My Fitness Pal app. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy I found it, and although I was hungry, I was not unbearable! I didn’t feel light-headed or faint at all.

OK, I WAS in bed at 8:30pm – but that was because Miss Bags decided that she wanted to get in my bed. Crummy Hubby was on a late shift and this has become one of Miss Bags’ little foibles….. so in order to get her to sleep before 9pm on a school night I relented and clambered in next to her and watched TV. I fell asleep at my normal time of 10ish.; and I COULD have snuck next door and raided the chocolate stash hidden from Christmas – but I didn’t!

I was also a wee bitty naughty this morning, and stood on the scales (Once a week! I hear you all cry…. Yes yes, I know!) they showed a 2lb loss!

My next fast day is Thursday – wish me luck!

Back on the wagon....

Happy New Year! 

Christmas and New Year are now distant memories and we are now 3 weeks into January. After a festive season of almost constant eating and drinking, I managed to put on 7lb. If I am honest, it was not just the festive period, it was in fact most of December. I was like a child in a sweet shop, eating and drinking as if I was never going to see food again! It all began with a trip to my local Slimming World meeting, where I had managed to stay in my target weight range (albeit right at the top). This meant I had been at target – apart from one blip after my holiday for a WHOLE YEAR! Woohoo! I thought it was a get out of jail free card…… after all I had been following the SW principles for the most part during the week, being a bit more relaxed at weekends and the weight was staying off….

Clearly, and as I soon found out, this was more luck than judgement; in December and over Christmas I ate and drank my way through 7lbs worth of extra weight!

I would have thought that 3 weeks into the New Year, and back into the routine of work, school, exercise and meal planning, I would be happily reporting the loss of those extra lbs. Sadly not.

School and work did not start back until 7th January for us, so I kidded myself that it didn’t really matter and I would start then….(meanwhile I continued stuffing my face – Domino’s Pizza anyone?)

So, in reality we are now 2 weeks in, after I clambered back on the wagon. I have lost 4lb, but this weekend I have fallen off the wagon so spectualulary, I have managed to find 2 of them again ….. I have lost my SW mojo. My jeans remain snug and my tummy wobbles (more than usual).

In a bid to keep fit, I have kept up with my weekend runs, and I have started using my Jillian Michaels 30 Day shred DVD…. Now I haven’t been “shredding” everyday, but every other day, interspersed with Miss Bags informing me that “I do this at GymMinis”, and me chasing The Wilburbeast after he has liberated my 2kg weights – yes he is freakishly strong! Even this was not enough to prevent the 2lb gain caused by this weekend’s excesses!

The Holy Grail?

It has been with some interest then that I have been reading about the 5:2 Diet, and the successes people have had while following it; not only with weight loss but also other aspects of their health. Can following an Intermittent Fast Diet, fasting (well severely restricting calorie intake) for just two days a week, and eating “normally” for the rest of the week really be the Holy Grail of dieting?

Dr Michael Moseley presented a Horizon programme for the BBC back in August 2012, where he investigated the effects of fasting on the human body - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19112549. In a nutshell the 5:2 diet involves very low calorie restriction for two days a week and allows normal eating for the other five days. Although the number of calories consumed on the two days a week is restricted, it is up to the particular dieter to decide how to divide them throughout the day; men can consume 600 calories and women 500.

 The Daily Mail has said of the diet, “Gorging yourself on as many burgers, chips and cakes as you like one day then eating fewer calories than you find in a cheese sandwich the next might sound like a worrying eating disorder. But this regime of chomping away to your heart’s content one day, and virtually starving yourself the next is the latest diet craze. It’s known as ‘intermittent fasting’, and devotees insist the pounds just drop off.” 


Furthermore, other health benefits attributed to the 5:2 Diet include improved cholesterol levels, an improvement in blood sugar levels, and a reduction in IGF-1 levels. IGF-1 is a hormone that is needed in youth for growth, but in adults high levels of this hormone contribute to ageing and also cell growth which in turn raises the risk of developing cancer. However the general consensus within the medical community is that fasting has not been studied enough to conclude it’s benefits in humans.


This leaves us with anecdotal evidence amongst the goriwing number of people that have tried this diet, not least Dr Moseley himself and his co-author Mimi Spencer. They have written a book about the 5:2 diet The Fast Diet and having read it, it seems like something I could do.

Eating “Normally”? 

The one thing I struggle with, is the concept of eating “normally”…. What is “normally”?? “Normal” for me in December was pizza, McDonalds, lots of Wine, Macaroni Cheese, Chocolate, Christmas cake, cheese, sandwiches, crisps, dips, twiglets, cheese footballs, more chocolate, more wine and peanuts. Not a lots of fruit and veg at all. When Dr Moseley refers to eating “normally” in his book I think he means a diet in which everything is allowed in moderation, to remain healthy.


While there is no doubt that my beloved Slimming World has indeed worked for me, after a year of tracking Healthy Extras, and a festive period in which every day became a Flexi Syns day (or indeed a complete blow out), and my complete failure to get my SW mojo back, I have decided that a change is as good as a rest…….


So I am going to give the 5:2 diet a whirl….. knowing that should it not work for me, or if I find restricting my calorie intake to 500kcal too hard in practice I can always go back to Slimming World.

I am starting today, I have weighed myself and taken my measurements. This week I am planning on having my fast days on Monday (today) and Thursday this week. The rest of the week, I shall continue to eat a balanced diet, as promoted by Slimming World, but if I decide to have a slice of cake, or a biscuit, or eat a meal out that pushes me over my syn allowance, I shall not beat myself up about it… nor will I deprive myself as I have done in the past.


I will be back later, describing how my first day went, and next week with my food diary for the week and my weight and inch loss stats.

The Season of Goodwill?

As its December now, and in the Crummy Household, out Christmas tree is up, the lights have been hung and the hall has been decked (!), things are getting festive!

This time of year brings with it many appeals for help to those less fortunate, the Rotary Club Shoebox appeal, local food banks, and even people blogging about random acts of kindness they plan to carry out during the festive period.  Now I’m all for this, after all it IS the season of goodwill to all men…..

But it also got me thinking….  How about as well as the more obvious charitable giving and wishes for peace on earth – how about we all conspire to lead a life less selfishly?  This time of year, as we approach the last few frantic shopping days before Christmas, and travel on the ever congested roads and through airports, ferry ports and train stations wouldn’t it be a much nicer experience if we all did it with more courtesy, more happiness and a little more care for our fellow man?

This wish and desire for us all to be a bit less selfish, abrasive and just plain horrible to one another I guess stems from my recent experience in a local carpark one morning.  I had parked, my not so small Crummy Mobile, in one space over from the trolley park. So there is the trolley park, a vacant space and then me.  I always like this space, because given the choice, who in their right mind wants to park between the behemoth that is the Crummy Mobile and the unforgiving iron railings of the trolley park?  It therefore means that the space is more than likely to remain vacant for the time I am there – meaning I can get my rear passenger door open to get the Wilburbeast in and out of the car safely, without a squeeze and without scratching any vehicles.  Even if the space is not vacant, it’s likely that it will be a small car in there – meaning I can still get the rear door open.  Now I know what you are all thinking, that I sound like I have a HUGE sense of entitlement over this space….. I quite frankly don’t care if someone parks there, its up to them, and I will get the Wilburbeast in and out somehow - after all the person who has parked there doesn’t know I have a small child to put in… however it was what happened next on this particular day that got my goat.  I had returned to my car, and noticed that the space next to me was still empty!  Yay!  So I opened the rear door, parked  the buggy, and the Wilburbeast and proceeded to load the car…. While I was doing so, I noticed a man gesticulating from a car in the carpark – I thought the buggy was in his way and preventing him from driving past so I moved it.  Big Mistake.  He then proceeded to reverse into the space – causing me to react like lightning to slam the door otherwise he would have taken it off – and then he “straightens up” so he has enough room to open his door (on the side of the trolley park).  This means I now cannot open my door at all to get the Wilburbeast in.  I pointed this out as the gentle(!)man got out of his car…. To which he said “What’s the matter with you , you can use the other side!”  ARGH!  It was so frustrating as he swanned off to do his shopping, leaving me to manhandle the Wilburbeast through a narrow gap (yep the car the OTHER side of me was parked close too!) and across Miss Bags’ (thankfully empty) car seat and into his own.  He is not a light boy anymore, and I am not a contortionist.  Anyway, my point is – in a carpark that was half empty – WHY did that man have to have that space (even if it was the closest empty one to the shops), and WHY couldn’t he wait the 2 minutes it would have taken me to strap Wilburbeast in his seat and shut the door?  It is this blatant level of “me, me, me” selfishness that is becoming all the more prevalent in our society that I find really disconcerting.

Maybe I am too nice, I spend time holding doors for others, waiting patiently for lifts in shopping malls and allowing those in wheelchairs to go in front of me. I park courteously when I am on the school run – I don’t block others in or block driveways, I smile and say please and thank you.  I don’t push to be first, I keep my children under a semblance of control in public, and I don’t park in disabled bays!  I am far from a saint – but maybe – just maybe if we all started smiling more, rushing less and thinking more about how our actions (rushed parking, queue jumping etc) affect others the world might be a better place!  Go on – give it a try…..

First day at School

Well the time has finally come!  From the filling in of the “Application for a Place in Year R”, to the anxious wait to find out which school Miss Bags would be going to, to her last day at Pre-School, Miss Bags has started Big School!

As any mother knows, I have mixed feelings about this…. Miss Bags was completely unfazed by her last day at Pre-School last week; in fact it was I who was crying in the carpark!  She is so grown up, and independent, and matter of fact.  She takes everything in her stride….. In her own words she said to me, “Mummy, it’s actually my last day at Buttercups, then we are going to see Granny and Grumpy, and then I start Big School, and then it will be Christmas – I am going to be so busy!”

She is almost a million miles away from the shy two year old who started pre-school 19 months ago; and yet she is still my baby girl.

She is so ready for the challenges, excitement and opportunity that Big School brings, and yet when I look at her, she is still so small.  Part of me wants to hold her close, and never let her go out into that big wide scary world, but conversely part of me is longing to see her grow and change and become, well, my big girl!

So as I waved her off into her classroom yesterday morning (dump and run is the best approach for me when dropping her off – especially as it’s me who is likely to be sobbing uncontrollably and not Miss Bags!), her in her red uniform, in her shiny new shoes, clutching her book bag; and me with tears glistening in my eyes clutching Crummy Hubby’s hand, I know that she will love every second of school.  I know that she will make new friends, and learn new things and generally have the time of her life!  And I?  Well, I will have to get used to the fact that my wee girl is growing up, and savour every second of her journey.  As Miss Bags herself said, “I am going to be so busy!”

How to save a life...

WOW, what a fabulous and inspirational weekend we have had.  

We had the privilege of attending the British Transplant Games in Medway, Kent in support of Crummy Hubby who was participating.  In 2005, after a period on dialysis Crummy Hubby had a kidney transplant.  His kidney was donated by his Maw, and I am pleased to say that 7 years and two children later it is still going strong!  Coming from sporty families the British Transplant Games is something Crummy Hubby and I wanted to get involved with, and we’ve met so many inspirational people along the way.

The Transplant Games started in Portsmouth in 1978, as a way of encouraging transplant patients to keep fit and healthy, while raising awareness of the importance of Organ Donation.   They are open to both children and adults, with all the major transplant centers around the UK represented by a team of athletes.  It has to be said, the biggest and most supported teams come from GOSH (Great Ormond St), and Evelina  Children’s Hospital (Guys and St Thomas’).  It is truly heart-warming to see these children taking part in sporting events and living their lives to the full!

This year Crummy Hubby took part in 6 events – the Badminton Doubles, 400m, Discus, Shot Putt, Ball Throw and the 4x100m relay.  He received a Bronze Medal in the Discus and a Silver Medal in the Ball Throw.   The Portsmouth Team did well this year:

Gold x 10
Silver x 10
Bronze x 2

What is truly amazing though, is that all of these athletes have had life-saving, major surgery in the form of an organ transplant; and not only that they are committed to keeping themselves fit and healthy in honour of the gift that their donor has given them.  The Games are not only for the athletes, but also for the donor families.  People who, in  the face of a great personal tragedy, decided to give the gift of life by agreeing to donate their loved ones organs.  It must be incredibly moving for them to see the huge difference organ transplants make to individuals.  This year , it was also great to get some local news coverage… Not quite wall to wall coverage on BBC 3 with Claire Balding commentating but it’s a step in the right direction!

At the 2012 Games, many of the athletes (Crummy Hubby included!) will have been hoping to get selected to represent Great Britain at the World Transplant Games, to be held in Durban, South Africa in 2013.  I’ll keep you posted….

The next British Transplant Games will be held in Sheffield from the 15-18 August 2013.

As I previously mentioned, the purpose of the Transplant Games is twofold… not only to encourage transplant patients to keep fit and healthy, but also to raise awareness of organ donation.  Organ donation is a subject that is close to my heart (as you can well imagine), and I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you all to look into signing the NHS Organ Donation Register. I have seen first hand the difference receiving a transplant can make to someone’s quality of life, and each and every one of the 600 athletes who took part in the Games over the weekend is testament to that.

The great weekly food shop....

Inspired by many discussions amongst my Mummy friends, all along the line of “My weekly food shop is out of control!” and by Anna’s fabulous post here.

While I am not as frugal as Anna,  (OMG how does she do it!) I recognise that our weekly shop is indeed “out of control” and the bill is FAR bigger than it needs to be!

So I decided to take control….

I have taken inventory of my pantry and my freezer, and made a “stock-list”  this means I only shop for what we NEED and not what I think we need (4 bottles of HP sauce anyone?)  This also means I can meal-plan taking into account what we already HAVE.

I do a monthly meal plan – I KNOW this is boring, and I KNOW we all need a bit of spontanaeity now and again for nights when only take-out will do or romantic meals out with Crummy Hubby (HA!), but I have found that where plans change I just freeze the meal for that day, or move it around with no issue..

Now, here are a few caveats…. Crummy Hubby and I both work,  and we choose to spend some of our disposable income on “treats” such a nice cuts of steak, a few bottles of wine and a wee bit of food shopping in M&S each week!  Also I am following the Slimming World plan, and fresh fruit, salad and vegetables are more expensive than junk food (go figure!), but also because we do eat a lot of fresh food I still need to do a weekly shop.  Armed with my monthly meal plan, I buy meat in bulk to take advantage of multibuy offers, and also yellow-sticker offers (where food is right on its sell-by and I can shove it straight in the freezer!).

I also shop at Sainsbury’s and M&S simply because I find that the fresh fruit and veg keeps longer from these stores.    With Sainsbury’s Brand Match, and M&S new Simply range, they really aren’t more expensive than Tesco or Asda as legend would have it.

I also found that because Sainsbury’s (and other leading supermarkets) have become a bit of  a one stop shop for everything from clothes to household with a bit of food throw in, I was often buying other things at the same time as my weekly shop.  Things like Wellies for the kids, a sneaky top for me, Lego Olympic figures, photo frames, childrens birthday presents, magazines, papers etc etc.  Now I haven’t stopped picking up these items, I simply deduct them from my total at the end, to get the true value of my food shop.  Suddenly it doesn’t seem so scary when you work out that the £200 bill from Sainsbury’s included, school uniform items, 3 birthday cards, a birthday pressie, a new top for me,  and clothes for the Wilburbeast!

I have now gotten my weekly food shop into the realms of between £80-£100 a week, some weeks it’s a bit more, others less. This is fine for us, considering I take a packed lunch to work and we rarely have take out (Slimming World again!), so our “extra” spend on food over the week is nothing (apart from a top-up shop to get bananas or bread)!  I am always dubious of these people that say they can spend £20 a week to feed a family of four, but then it transpires they have 3 take-aways a week and do a top-up shop of another £40, and they get their lunches at work!

All that considered; here are my tips for reining in that spending:

• Meal-Plan
• Take advantage of multi-buy offers (meat 3 for £10 etc) but ONLY if they fit with your plans, and you have room to freeze/store them or you will use them before they go bad.
• Down-brand – if you normally buy a brand-name, try the shop’s own brand.  If you normally buy own-brand, try the value range.  9 times out of 10 you won’t notice the difference, and if you do – you can always switch back.
• Only buy baby-wipes if they are on offer
• Shop with a LIST and stick to it!
• Shop WITHOUT the kids! (or failing that ignore their pleas for things you don’t want or need, and you know they don’t either!)
• Home-cooking – great if you are doing Slimming World, and making your own lasagne/Spag Bol/Chilli etc is far more satisfying and nutritious and cheaper than buying a ready meal.
• Buy fruit and veg loose, rather than pre-packed, you can choose the quality and quantity and it’s usually cheaper.
• Buy meat (steak, chicken breasts) from the deli counter – it’s usually cheaper.
• When doing a top-up shop, get in and out of the supermarket like a ninja!  Only buy what you came for! Failing that send your hubby/other half!
• When shops like Tesco give vouchers such as spend £40 and get £5 off – that £5 is like free money – as LONG as you only spend the £40 (ish).  I usually take advantage of these by buying nappies, cleaning products and other non-perishables that I would have bought ANYWAY, but now I get the £5 off.