Having fasted yesterday I thought I would wake up this morning feeling starving hungry but I felt ok. I slept quite well and woke up feeling refreshed and positive about the day ahead. I did choose to spend a bit more time at home than usual so I could make lunch to take to work to ensure I had something nutritious and saved some money. I made time to track the calories in what I am eating.
I made a salad with brown Basmati rice, green grapes, cucumber, celery and cherry tomatoes. I also chopped up a lemon to add to the water I was going to sip all day.
All packed up with a serving of Vegan blue cheese dressing.
This dressing is great. It is not as tasty as one made with real cheese but it does taste good and doesn’t have the nasty after taste several other vegan “cheese” substitutes have.
I can’t work out what is in the ingredients to make it taste like blue cheese!
In the office I had 4 clementines for breakfast, a cup of tea and 750 ml water with fresh lemon in it.
I filled my water bottle 3 times today. Until recently I didn’t drink much at all but Phoebe, who sits opposite me, and I encourage each other and it has now become a habit. 
I was hungry and had an early lunch which I started at about 11:30 am. It did take me quite a while to munch through all those vegetables and I felt full and sated all afternoon.
That dressing really is very good.
Phoebe gave me a 40g packet of nuts in the afternoon and I did enjoy them.
So many calories in this little packet. It was a 40 g packet so had 254 calories.
For dinner I made a stir fry with an onion, leek, tender stem broccoli, a large carrot, a red pepper and 100g smoked tofu with almonds, seasoned with soy sauce. Dressed with a pot of “chilli drizzle” I had left over in the fridge. It was made with chilli, coriander, lime juice, thyme, oregano and olive oil. The veggies are very low calorie but the fats are really high and the tofu was more than I thought. 30g coconut oil was 259 calories, 1 tbsp olive oil was 119 calories and 100 g tofu was 185 calories!
I enjoyed everything I ate today. The fast yesterday made me very aware of how many calories are in the food I eat and that usually, I eat far too many! I can eat “normally” today which I think is 2,000 calories. My Fitbit says I can have more than that but I am going to aim for 1,500 – 2,000 on non fast days so today was great.
Today’s calorie count is 1,765 :
- 4 clementines – 208 calories
- lunch – 503 calories
- Raw Nuts – 254 calories
- Dinner 761 calories
- Hemp milk (in tea) – 39 calories
Lose Weight and Gain Health 
Yum!!! A good reminder to savor my food, and that healthy eating doesn’t have to be so complicated.
Sometimes Wren, the tastiest meals are the simplest, as long as you use good quality ingredients.
Just remember Zoe, all those things, like Nuts, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil all are part of the “good fat” and keep you full longer and help your joints move more readily without pain.
When you eat that much sugar in the morning like your 4 tangerines, doesn’t that make you crave sugar all day long? That is a huge amount of sugar, natural, yes, but still sugar your body is taking in with no carbs and no protein to keep you fuller longer to help you cut down on the calories/food consumed without feeling like you need to eat more because you are not satisfied.
Sunflower Seeds or Pumpkin Seeds would be good to add to your lunch time salad, once again to keep you full longer by adding protein and good fat to the salad. 2000 calories is a good number to aim for a daily count.
The food looked great and simple.
Hi Laura, I feel good actually if I start the day with just fruit. I know its not as satiating as mixing it with grains and fats but it suits me. I need to lose a bit of weight quickly to get me back to where I was so I am doing lower calories when I can. Following 5:2 I can go up to 2,000 calories for a normal day but when I don’t want to, I am not going to. I will see how I go 🙂
I was asking because I know a few people who are starving an hour after eating when they use that much sugar/natural sugar through fruit.
It just goes to show you we can follow the same recipe, but change things up that works for us. Personally, I wouldn’t last 2 hours. Oats are bad for me like that as well. Even when I use Chia Seeds.
I know it felt good for me to do a similar diet when you eat your set calories and twice a week you fast, starting it after dinner to dinner the next day. It really doesn’t feel restricting to go with no food. That way you sleep through the period you do get hungry because the only thing you can have is water or lemon water or ACV and water and no food. It works to help detox the body very well and you feel refreshed. LOL and I can still have my wine with dinner!! 😀