Day 16

Brunch - 211 calories

1 Itsu Spicy Tuna Maki box - 151 calories
Half a pot of Itsu Miso Soup - 60 calories

Dinner - 287 calories

Mushroom Risotto - 
   - 100 grams of Mushrooms (16 calories) 
   - 50 grams of Onions - (21calories)
   - 40 grams of Basmati Rice, uncooked (163 calories)   
   - 13 grams of Parmesan (52 calories)
   - 350mls of Chicken Stock (35 calories)

Grand Total - 498 calories

Exercise - 40 minutes Personal Trainer session

And how did it go?

After declaring my undying love for Itsu and claiming to be able to do all sorts of exercise during a fast day, in comes the universe to prove me wrong! I had a lesson with my great Personal Trainer at lunchtime, which I had to run to after getting stuck at a meeting, which was quite lucky, given that he was hellbent on killing me that day and I only had to drag myself through it for 40 minutes, instead of the usual 60. I didn't feel good, I'll tell you. No nearly fainting or anything, but better not to have any more heavy exercising on an empty stomach! 

The Itsu Tuna Maki set is still a definite favourite, but I wasn't a fan of their Miso Soup. I guess they tried to elaborate on the normal Miso Soup and have added more things to it, but I was not a fan and couldn't finish it.  The bright side is that I had a bit more calories for the evening and was able to add a bit more rice to the recipe. As you can see, the risotto was a big hit and I couldn't wait to repeat it. Must be the Italian genes!

Day 13

Brunch - 219 calories

Day 10's French Onion Soup - 123 calories
4 Ryvita crackerbread  - 76  calories
1 Extra-Light Laughing Cow Cheese Triangle - 20 calories

Dinner - 275 calories

140 grams of Chicken breast strips - 160 calories
1 teaspoon of Olive Oil (to grill the chicken) - 40 calories
1 Steam Bag of Mixed Vegetables (carrots, peas and sweetcorn) - 75 calories

Grand Total: 494 calories

Exercise - 70 minutes

10k Bike
1.3k Swimming

And how did it go?

Cooking a bigger portion and then freezing half of it for a later day is definitely a good idea. Just be sure that you are deviding the portions right. I have used my kitchen scales for that and I think that it was as accurate as possible. The Bird's Eye Steam Bags are quite convenient, but for 75 calories I could have gotten more vegetables than that if I had prepared them myself. As it was, I got home at 8.30 and needed a quick fix.

Exercise has been a great part of my life since I started on this diet. I have, in a fit of madness, enrolled myself on this year's London Triathlon and this summer I will be competing in the Sprint category, together with my boyfriend. Since I have to train to do the combination of 750m Swim, 20k Bike and 5k Run, I have been going to the gym at least 3 times of week and have been training with a Personal Trainer as well.

Some of my training days fall on my fast days, same don't. For me, it feels like I have more energy when I'm fasting, but I understand that it may not be so for everyone. This was the first time I have gone to the gym after work on a fast day and I was somewhat expecting it to be difficult, but it wasn't. I think it is because I am now quite used to the fasting days and don't feel as hungry anymore, I'm not sure how a trip to the gym this late in the day would have felt in the early days of fasting. So people, it does get better. Just remember to follow your own rhythm when exercising.

Day 12

Brunch - 287 calories

100 grams of Smoked Salmon - 180 calories
1 boiled Egg - 71 calories
1 boiled Egg Whites - 17 calories
1 Ryvita crackerbread  - 19 calories

Dinner - 215 calories

230 grams of Broccoli - 78 calories
20 grams of Stilton - 82 calories
2 teaspoons of Boullion - 20 calories
100 grams of Leeks - 25 calories
10 sprays of Fry Light - 10

Grand Total -  502

And how did it go?

I had been thinking about making this soup for a while and I roughly followed this recipe here. Just a little advice: before adding the Stilton I added some salt, and after I put in the cheese, the soup was too salty, so I had to add more water to the mixture. So be careful with your seasoning. Apart from an annoying headache in the evening, probably caused by the vast amount of salt I had ingested with the soup, this fast day was pretty much smooth sailing. 

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!

Day 8

Brunch - 318 calories


1 boiled Egg - 71 calories
1 boiled Egg Whites - 17 calories
2 Extra-Trimmed Smoked Bacon rashers - 70 calories
180 grams of Mushrooms -  25 calories
50 grams of Baked Beans - 35 calories
1 tomato - 15 calories
3 Ryvita crackerbread - 57 calories
1 cup of English Breakfast Tea with semi-skimmed milk - 28 calories

Dinner - 198 calories

300 grams of Covent Garden Leek and Potato Soup - 108 calories
3 Ryvita crackerbread - 57 calories
1 Extra-Light Laughing Cow Cheese Triangle - 20 calories

Grand Total - 503 (naughty!)

And how did it go?

This is the first Weekend Edition and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. True, I did wake up quite late, so when I had the brunch it was well into the afternoon, so after my 5:2 Full English I wasn't hungry at all until dinner time. Speaking of which, it was by far the bigger meal I had on a fast day and it was delicious. Of course I would've loved to have cooked the mushrooms with butter, but I settled for a bit of stock and some extra seasoning. I would've also loved to have some proper toast, so I guess you can see why I need to be on this diet, right?

A few adjustments, though... Two tomatoes was definitely overkill (I was lured by the low calorie count) and I just couldn't eat both of them and ended up having the Cheese Triangle with dinner, which explains my 3-calorie indulgence. I also can't decide whether the Extra-Trimmed Smoked Bacon rashers are really worth it. They don't taste really bad, but they were quite dry and I am thinking I might have been better off with some Ham slices.  

On another note, I am looking into changing the way I do this 5:2 diet. I am doing some extra research, so stay tuned!

Day 7

Breakfast - 40 calories


Weight Watcher's Hot Chocolate - 40 calories

Lunch - 229 calories

Pret's Kale and Garden Vegetable - 229 calories

Dinner - 190 calories

50 grams of boiled Basmati Rice - 65 calories
Vege Green Curry - 125 calories
   - 50 grams of Courgettes (10 calories)
   - 50 grams of Aubergines (10 calories)
   - 50 grams of White Mushrooms (8 calories)
   - 25 grams of Leeks (7 calories)
   - 3 sprays of Fry Light (3 calories)
   - 65 grams of Green Thai Curry Sauce (87 calories)

Snacks - 36 calories

1 Ryvita crackerbread  - 19 calories
10 grams of Sundried Tomatoes (canned, drained) - 17 calories

Grand Total: 495 calories

Exercise 

45 minutes of Boxercise
20 minutes of Swimming

And how did it go?

Honestly, it's getting easier and easier. I went for a light breakfast, as I was never a big breakfast person and I have been having this Hot Chocolate on my feed days with milk, which is much nicer than to have it with hot water, the case on this fast day. It's not the best hot chocolate in the world, but it does its job. Mostly due to lack of planning on the day before, I got my lunch from Pret. The soup was on the smaller side, but it tasted good and not like one of those watery, diety soups. For dinner I cooked a vegetable green curry, which turned out delicious. It didn't go completely according to plan, because I overestimated how much 100 grams of Curry Sauce would turn out to be, so I left some of the vegetables I had bought out and put a bit more sauce in. I cooked enough for two portions and put the other one on the freezer, so I can have it in a few weeks time. This way, the actual cooking portions were twice of what I put above.

Again, I had lots of energy at the gym and during my day at work. Some people have said that they would be bitchy if they were only allowed 500 calories in a day but, if I may say so myself, I don't feel like I'm in a bad mood during my fast days. I hope my co-workers and boyfriend agree and are not just scared to say otherwise...

Day 6

Breakfast - 91 calories

3 Ryvita crackerbread  - 57 calories
9 grams of Lätt & Lagom margarine - 34 calories

Lunch - 191 calories

1 boiled Egg - 71 calories
4 wafer thin slices of Ham - 40 calories
42 grams of Roasted Peppers (canned) - 37 calories 
40 grams of Artichoke Heats  (canned) - 43 calories

Dinner - 198 calories

50 grams of Fresh Egg Noddles - 100 calories
50 grams of Chicken Breast - 58 calories
150 mls of Chicken Stock - 15 calories
20 grams of Sweet Corn - 14 calories
15 grams of Petit Pois Peas - 10 calories
1 tablespoon of Chives - 1 calorie 

Snacks - 20 calories

70 grams of Strawberries

This is what 70 grams of Strawberries look like. Thought it was more? Me too.

Grand total 500 (again!)

And how did it go?

Great! No headaches, no nausea and full of energy. Easy breakfast, using a low-fat Swedish margarine, Lätt & Lagom and easy but tasty lunch, a variation of a meal I had on Day 2 (here). The 5:2 Ramen I had for dinner was a great idea, 50 grams of Noodles and 50 grams of Chicken is no a lot at all, but the broth compensated for the lack os sustanence. The strawberries I had as snacks were delicious, but there could have definitely have been more of them. I guess they don't call it fasting for nothing, right?

Day 4

Breakfast - 122 calories

3 Ryvita crackerbread  - 57 calories
9 grams of Philadelphia Extra Light - 10 calories
36 grams of Sundried Tomatoes (canned, drained) - 55 calories

Lunch - 126 calories

1 can of Chicken Noodle Soup (Heinz) - 126 calories

Dinner - 218 calories

Smoked Salmon Pate - 123 calories
    - 50 grams Smoked Salmon (90 calories)
    - 20 grams of Philadelphia Extra Light (22 calories)
    - 1 tablespoon of Chives (1 calorie)
    - 2 Lemon wedges (4 calories)
    - 5 grams of Horseradish sauce (6 calories)

5 Ryvita crackerbread - 95 calories 

Snacks - 34 calories

2 Seafood sticks - 34 calories

Grand total - 500 calories (exactly!)

And how did it go?

It looks a bit Ryvita + Philadelphia heavy, but it was actually the easiest day so far. Breakfast was a variation of the bruschetta I made the other day with grilled peppers. A good thing to play around with ingredients. Lunch was a bit uninventive, I'll admit, but it did its job on a very cold day here in London. I am usually a cook-from-scratch sort of person, but for the purposes of this diet, I figured it would be best if I knew exactly how many calories went in there. At the same time, the whole purpose of this diet is to be healthy and I'm not sure canned soup is the best thing for that, so I am feeling a bit guilty (yes, guilty over canned soup. This is what going to Catholic school does to you). Camila gave me the recipe for dinner, and it was so good I am actually going to make this on "feed days" as well. Another great idea to toy with ingredients, I'm thinking about doing a Sundried Tomatoes pate. 

I will let you know how it goes, as usual!