5:2 Mania is sweeping the nation. Our Mums are on it, our friends are on it - even Philip Schofield has admitted to trying it. But what makes this diet so much better than all the rest? And can a weight-loss plan that only insists on two strict
diet days a
week
really deliver results?
Sick of taking other people's word for it. team
goodtoknow decided there was only one way to
find
out
for sure... do it ourselves.
Lissa
and Charlotte took up
the
5:2 challenge
and here's their guide to surviving the
500 calorie
fast days.
Charlotte's 5:2 challenge
The Cabbage Soup Diet once and lasted three days
before my carb-withdrawal symptoms got the better
of me, but a combination of a very long winter spent
comfort eating and an impending summer holiday
gave me the push I needed to give dieting another go.
I must say, The 5:2 Diet appealed to me. Apart from a defiant
decision to become a vegetarian aged 10, I'm not exactly overrun
with willpower. But I reckoned even the flakiest of dieters could
get through one day, with a promise of a good feed the very next,
surely? So day one came and this is how I decided to spend my
500 calories.
Breakfast: I tend to not eat breakfast until I get to work, so today
I just decided to plow on through till lunch (aside from a cuppa with
skimmed milk).
1 tea with skimmed milk: 11 calories
Lunch: Lissa introduced me to Ryvita crackerbreads last week.
They're only 19 calories each, so I topped each one with a thin
spread of Philadelphia Lightest, a slice of Quorn ham, some
watercress and sliced tomato. It was actually pretty tasty and I
didn't feel hungry afterwards.
4 topped crackerbreads: 200 cals
Dinner: I knew I would be grumpy by dinner time so I opted for
something quick and picked up a stir-fry veg pack from the
supermarket. I cooked half with some soy sauce and a lot of
extra frozen peas to pad it out (bulking anything out with peas
is pretty depressing) and I also chucked in about 1/4 of a
packet of Cauldron marinated tofu which I really love, even
though it's not particularly low in fat or calories.
Speedy veg tofu stir-fry: 272 cals
Evening snack: With my remaining measly 28 cals,
I begrudgingly munched on another crackerbread.
Crackerbread: 19 cals
1 tea with semi-skimmed milk: 14 cals
Total day's calories: 505
I think I'll definitely keep this up for a while. Next week
I'm on holiday,
so it could be trickier to stick to, but I'm going to try and
have a couple of days where I eat slightly less
(even if I go over the 500) and I'll pick it up when I'm
back home.
day as I did for my first! It was a good option as I didn't
feel hungry and a rest day in between meant it didn't feel
too samey.
So far, I'm definitely finding this diet do-able. The challenge is
not to overeat on my 'feast' days, to overcompensate for
hungry fast days.
Progress: After week one on the 5:2 diet I've lost 1lb. I was
hoping for a little more, but if I keep losing a pound a week
I'll be happy. Next week I'm off on holiday so I'm not sure how
well I'll be able to stick to it while I'm away, but I'll give it my
best shot!
I begrudgingly munched on another crackerbread.
Crackerbread: 19 cals
1 tea with semi-skimmed milk: 14 cals
Total day's calories: 505
I think I'll definitely keep this up for a while. Next week
I'm on holiday,
so it could be trickier to stick to, but I'm going to try and
have a couple of days where I eat slightly less
(even if I go over the 500) and I'll pick it up when I'm
back home.
Charlotte's second fast day
Quite uninspiringly, I ate exactly the same for my second fastday as I did for my first! It was a good option as I didn't
feel hungry and a rest day in between meant it didn't feel
too samey.
So far, I'm definitely finding this diet do-able. The challenge is
not to overeat on my 'feast' days, to overcompensate for
hungry fast days.
Progress: After week one on the 5:2 diet I've lost 1lb. I was
hoping for a little more, but if I keep losing a pound a week
I'll be happy. Next week I'm off on holiday so I'm not sure how
well I'll be able to stick to it while I'm away, but I'll give it my
best shot!
*****
Lissa's 5:2 challenge
Evening snack: There was no way I going to give up my
love for tea, no matter how many calories I was allowed!
So I had three cups of tea throughout the day with skimmed
milk and in the evening I even had enough calories left to treat
myself to a Rich Tea biscuit!
Having heard about, read about and written about the
5:2 diet - I thought it was about time I tried it myself!
Here’s what I ate on my first fast day:
Breakfast: My original plan was to wait until lunch to eat,
but after doing an exercise class before work, I felt really
hungry by the time I got into the office. I usually eat
porridge for breakfast, but I cut my portion down to 30g instead
of 50g.
Porridge and water might not sound very appetising, but it's actually
my usual breafast. You can always top it up with a splash of milk
to make it a bit creamier. I sprinkled over some Truvia to sweeten
it too.
30g porridge oats with water: 108
Lunch: What I like about Ryvita crackerbreads is that they're quite
large, so even though there's only 19 calories in each, you feel
like you're eating a decent amount of food. I topped mine with two
Dairylea light triangles and 10 cherry tomatoes.
Extra Strong Mint: 10
5 topped crackerbreads: 176
Dinner: I made a slow-cooked vegetable stew the day before,
so that I could heat it up when I got home from work. I used
onions, celery, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, carrots, a couple
of stock cubes and seasoning – I then whizzed it up to make it
into a soup. I will admit it might not look that nice
(especially when it's blended) but I promise that it was actually
really tasty!)
3 x tea with skimmed milk: 33
Rich Tea biscuit: 23
Total day’s calories: 500
I’ll definitely continue with this for a few weeks and see if I lose any
weight. Knowing that you’re going to have a normal day of eating
the next day really helps get you through.
The main tips that I would say to anyone thinking of trying
the 5:2 diet, would be:
5:2 diet - I thought it was about time I tried it myself!
Here’s what I ate on my first fast day:
Breakfast: My original plan was to wait until lunch to eat,
but after doing an exercise class before work, I felt really
hungry by the time I got into the office. I usually eat
porridge for breakfast, but I cut my portion down to 30g instead
of 50g.
Porridge and water might not sound very appetising, but it's actually
my usual breafast. You can always top it up with a splash of milk
to make it a bit creamier. I sprinkled over some Truvia to sweeten
it too.
30g porridge oats with water: 108
Lunch: What I like about Ryvita crackerbreads is that they're quite
large, so even though there's only 19 calories in each, you feel
like you're eating a decent amount of food. I topped mine with two
Dairylea light triangles and 10 cherry tomatoes.
Extra Strong Mint: 10
5 topped crackerbreads: 176
Dinner: I made a slow-cooked vegetable stew the day before,
so that I could heat it up when I got home from work. I used
onions, celery, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, carrots, a couple
of stock cubes and seasoning – I then whizzed it up to make it
into a soup. I will admit it might not look that nice
(especially when it's blended) but I promise that it was actually
really tasty!)
3 x tea with skimmed milk: 33
Rich Tea biscuit: 23
Total day’s calories: 500
I’ll definitely continue with this for a few weeks and see if I lose any
weight. Knowing that you’re going to have a normal day of eating
the next day really helps get you through.
The main tips that I would say to anyone thinking of trying
the 5:2 diet, would be:
- Prepare your dinner the day before. I found having dinner ready
- for me to heat up when I got home really helped; it stopped me
- from snacking on other foods like I normally would whilst cooking.
- Drink water and lots of it (especially when you feel a hunger pang)
- Get some Extra Strong Mints. There are only 10 calories in each
- and when I felt like I was going to break and snack on something
- in the late afternoon, I had one of these and it deterred me from
- eating (you wouldn’t be able to taste anything you eat after having
- one of these anyway!)
- Try and save enough calories so you can have an after dinner
- treat – even if it is a rich tea that’s only 23 calories!
Lissa's second fasting day:
After my first day I was determined to see if, going forward,
I could stick to the fast days. The excitement around the first day,
I think, made it easier to be strict with myself; but, now I just had
to get on with it and survive on 500 calories a day –
so, would I be able to do it?
I started the day with a 4.5 mile run, which may not have been so
wise. I obviously get hungrier on the days that I exercise, but it
seemed
pointless to me to stop exercising just because I was eating less.
However, it did make me hungry…very hungry. Somehow I
managed
to stick to the 500 calories-ish – but, the hunger pangs did
slightly put
me off doing fast days again…
So, here’s what I ate on my second fasting day:
Breakfast: I stuck to the same plan that I did on my first day and
had 30g of porridge with just water (the more you eat it,
the better it gets – honest!)
30g of porridge and water: 108
Lunch: Again I stuck to what I’d had on my first day of fasting,
it was tasty and filling and only 176 calories so it seemed like a
really good option. I like to put it on a large dinner plate as it
makes me feel like I’m having a really big meal!
5 topped crackerbreads: 176
Dinner: Admittedly, my dinner from my first fasting day didn’t
look overly appetising. So, I was keen to prove that even with
200 calories you could have something nice – that looked tasty too!
I always knew that prawns were really low calories – but, I was
so surprised to learn that half a pack (100g) was only 59 calories
– it was a really good serving. This meant that I could build up a
meal around the prawns and I had 140 calories to play with – easy!
I added some veg – celery, onion and peppers, some butterbeans
to bulk it out a bit and mixed in curry paste and crème fraiche.
Serve with a bit of salad on the side, and I reckon we’ve got a
seriously impressive 200 calorie meal on our hands.
100g prawns: 59 calories
Veg: 45 calories
Curry paste: 40 calories
Tbsp of low fat crème fraiche: 15 calories
40g butterbeans: 40 calories
Total: 199
Evening: A cup of tea in the evening and I was done for the day!
Cup of tea with skimmed milk: 22
Total calories for the day: 505
Progress: I lost 1.5lb, so a good start! Just got to stick to it now…
I could stick to the fast days. The excitement around the first day,
I think, made it easier to be strict with myself; but, now I just had
to get on with it and survive on 500 calories a day –
so, would I be able to do it?
I started the day with a 4.5 mile run, which may not have been so
wise. I obviously get hungrier on the days that I exercise, but it
seemed
pointless to me to stop exercising just because I was eating less.
However, it did make me hungry…very hungry. Somehow I
managed
to stick to the 500 calories-ish – but, the hunger pangs did
slightly put
me off doing fast days again…
So, here’s what I ate on my second fasting day:
Breakfast: I stuck to the same plan that I did on my first day and
had 30g of porridge with just water (the more you eat it,
the better it gets – honest!)
30g of porridge and water: 108
Lunch: Again I stuck to what I’d had on my first day of fasting,
it was tasty and filling and only 176 calories so it seemed like a
really good option. I like to put it on a large dinner plate as it
makes me feel like I’m having a really big meal!
5 topped crackerbreads: 176
Dinner: Admittedly, my dinner from my first fasting day didn’t
look overly appetising. So, I was keen to prove that even with
200 calories you could have something nice – that looked tasty too!
I always knew that prawns were really low calories – but, I was
so surprised to learn that half a pack (100g) was only 59 calories
– it was a really good serving. This meant that I could build up a
meal around the prawns and I had 140 calories to play with – easy!
I added some veg – celery, onion and peppers, some butterbeans
to bulk it out a bit and mixed in curry paste and crème fraiche.
Serve with a bit of salad on the side, and I reckon we’ve got a
seriously impressive 200 calorie meal on our hands.
100g prawns: 59 calories
Veg: 45 calories
Curry paste: 40 calories
Tbsp of low fat crème fraiche: 15 calories
40g butterbeans: 40 calories
Total: 199
Evening: A cup of tea in the evening and I was done for the day!
Cup of tea with skimmed milk: 22
Total calories for the day: 505
Progress: I lost 1.5lb, so a good start! Just got to stick to it now…
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