I have recently been impressed but the weight loss of two good friends of mine.  When I asked them what they had done, it was the Fast Diet which is also known as the 5:2 diet.  So called because you eat normally for 5 days and then eat a 1/4 of your normal calories, which for a female is 500 calories, on 2 days.  I had tried this before and it didn’t seem to work for me but Kath and Rebecca inspired me so I had another go.

 Today was a working day which I think helped because I was busy and most of the time, away from sights and smells of food.  I would have found this harder at home.I drank 4 glasses of water with fresh lemon in it (4 x 750 ml) throughout the day and several mugs of black tea.   I had 2 apples for breakfast and that was it until supper time – eek !!!!!!  Would I manage ?   
 I went for a walk at lunch time.  Last week I walked to St Paul’s and back and had noticed a road side stall selling fruits and veggies, including 3 avocados for £1 so I walked to buy some.  On the way back,  I treated myself to a long black from Monmouth.

I haven’t been to Monmouth for ages – I have been missing out!  
I followed Dr Michael Mosley’s plan of 150 calories for breakfast and 350 12 hours later for supper with nothing to eat in between, just lots of fluids.  I had a bit of a wobble at about 2:30, panicking that I was hungry and couldn’t eat for another 6 or 7 hours but I drank black tea and it soon passed.

Before I knew it, I was home and preparing supper.  I had planned what to have so got on and made it.

 One cauliflower, 2 juicey tomatoes, a pile of spinach, half a cup of brown Basmati rice (cooked) with some rapeseed oil and za’atar.  I preheated the oven to 200 degrees C, sliced the cauliflower from top to bottom rather than in florets, halved the tomatoes, sprayed the vegetables with oil and sprinkled over 1 tsp of za’atar. I placed them on baking sheets and put them in the oven for about 20 minutes.
 Cooked to perfection.   I really like cauliflower and I was particularly looking forward to it tonight. I washed the spinach in water and gently wilted it in a pan without any  need to add any oil to cook it.  This seemed like a feast and I enjoyed every mouthful of it.

 I am pleased I have done this and will try to do my fast days on Monday and Thursday’s and see how I get on.  Fingers crossed this works for me.

Calories consumed

• 2 apples – 144
• 1 tsp Za’atar – 10
• 1 medium head of cauliflower – 146
• 1 tsp rapeseed oil – 40
• 60 g spinach – 14
• 180 g tomatoes – 33
• Half a cup of cooked rice – 95

Total 482