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.

You're so Vain.....

Eight weeks after I gave birth to The Wilburbeast, still in maternity trousers and nudging my heaviest weight ever, I decided enough was enough and I embarked upon a diet.  I joined Slimming World, and lost almost 2.5 stone.  I’m proud to say I have kept the weight off since I reached my target weight in December 2011.  I’m now a healthy weight for my height, my BMI is normal and my waist measurement no longer points to high risk for heart disease.  I also have tons more energy and I actually like the body I see in the mirror.  Ok, I’m a TOTALLY different shape from my pre-baby body, I carry my fat in different places…. But I kinda like that, its like a badge of honor – hell, my body is clever, and I have two beautiful children to show for it!

The problem I now have is that I have no idea what clothes size I actually am!  It seems to vary widely from shop to shop, one manufacturer’s 14 is another’s 10!  I’ve even bought the SAME size pair of trousers in one shop in two different colours only to find one fitted and one didn’t!  Given my new measurements – I come out as roughly a size 12.  However, having trawled the size guides published online by my five favourite retailers (making up 95% of my wardrobe) online, I have discovered that the measurements for a “standard” size 12 can vary by as much as 2 inches from shop to shop.  2 inches is a WHOLE SIZE!  In practice this means I must try on clothes in several sizes before buying, and renders online shopping on a whim almost impossible!  I have gotten to know my favourite retailers well, and know how their clothes fit, and can judge my size; despite the gargantuan differences on paper I nearly always wear a 12.  

In order to find your size across major retailers visit this site What Size Am I armed with your vital statitics.

And now we have the problem of so-called “vanity sizing”, where shops have surreptitiously made clothes sizes bigger.  Therefore what was once a 12 is now labelled as a 10.  Not only does this belittle the achievements of people like me who have worked hard to lose weight and achieve a certain size, but also adds to the confusion!  Now, I don’t buy into the vanity-sizing idea.  My reasoning for this is that yes, sizes have changed since the 1950’s – but this is because women’s shapes have changed.  We are taller, broader and bustier than we were in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, and retailers have altered their sizing to reflect this.  It is not only the actual measurements that have changed – but also the cut of garments. Each retailer has their own style and cut of clothing as well, which also goes some way to explaining why I can be a comfortable size 12 in one shop, but in another I may need a 10 or a 14 – it all depends on the cut.  Some shops favour petite ladies, some cater more to ladies with hips and bums and some shops clearly have a “one size fits none” policy!

The question I ask is this…. Why do we care so much what the size label in our clothes says?

I mean it’s not as if we display this label to everyone, unless you wear your clothes inside out. The only person who sees the label is you - and if you're happy with your body, but you don't like what the label says, then CUT IT OUT !