Day 10

Brunch - 234 calories

3 Ryvita crackerbread - 57 calories
1 boiled Egg - 71 calories
1 boiled Egg Whites - 17 calories
50 grams of Fromage Frais - 23 calories
1 teaspoon of Mustard - 10 calories
Half a Banana - 56 calories

Dinner - 268 calories


1 Slice of Wholemeal Bread - 83 calories
15 grams of Gruyere Cheese - 62 calories
French Onion Soup - 123 calories
   - 150 grams of Onions - (63 calories)
   - 25 sprays of Fry Light (25 calories)
   - 12.5 mls of Red Wine (10 calories)
   - Half a Pot of Beef stock (25 calories)

Grand Total -  502 (naughty again!)

Exercise - 30-minute running session with the Personal Trainer

And how did it go?

I love French Onion Soup and I always make it at home, so I decided to see if I could do a light version of it for dinner and it worked really well. Instead of frying the onions in butter (nham!), I used Fry Light but, having gained know-how from when I cooked the onions for Day 9's Strogonoff, I planned for a lot of it. Turns out that Fry Light is not so great to fry after all. Anyway, this soup is really easy to prepare, but it does take a bit of time, around 40-50 minutes. Again, I have made double the recipe above and kept one portion in the freezer.

Fry the onions - with a lot of Fry Light - on a very low heat for about 20 minutes, constantly stirring so as not to burn them. Ideally, once they are softened, you would crank up the heat and caramelise them, but I didn't feel confident in the Fry Light to do that, so I just added the wine  and after a minute or two, I poured in the stock. After seasoning, I just let it simmer for another 20 minutes or so. In the meantime, I toasted the bread  and after adding the cheese, I finished it off in the oven. Not a lot of cheese in it and only a small slice of brown bread, as opposed to one (or three!) massive crouton, but we are supposed to be fasting here, people!

As for lunch, I have learned that inspiration for the fast days come from sources you would least expect to inspire you in your diet. I have taken the recipe for this egg-mayo deliciousness from a BuzzFeed post. There are a few other 5:2-friendly ideas there, so I might be preparing some of that soon.

As you might have noticed, after a bit more research I have decided to change my meal pattern during the fast days and have abolished both breakfast and snacks and it hasn't been horrible at all. I now eat lunch at around 2pm and dinner at 8pm and then break my fast only at lunchtime the following day. This way, I created longer actual fasting periods, while still continuing to fit the diet around my life and not letting my life be dictated by my diet. I have never been a breakfast person and have now found the perfect excuse to skip it altogether on most days. I still have energy, my mood still hasn't been affected and my skin and body continue to improve. It certainly looks like this 5:2 thing is a keeper!