Week 2 Update

The running trail on Saturday - the sunny days have continued!

I'm into the second week of 10k training and intermittent fasting, and I think overall it's going well. Today has been a fasting day, and I've got to admit, I'm struggling...all I want to do is eat a sandwich, but that's out of the question now as I've consumed all 500 calories and have none to spare! I think I maybe wouldn't be feeling quite so hungry if I hadn't run this morning as well, but it just happened that the fasting day coincided with a running day, so essentially today has been calorie-neutral!

I took my measurements and weight this morning (I only do this once a week because I don't want it to be my main focus, I just want to be able to track progress) and I have lost centimetres! 6 cm, to be precise, from my waist; 2 cm from my upper arms; 2.5 cm from my hips! So I am calling last week a success - I can tell the running is helping things significantly in terms of the measurements, and I'm really pleased. The weight is another issue entirely - I didn't lose anything since last week, and I know exactly why. Firstly, I eat normally on non-fasting days, and don't track a thing, which means that I probably eat enough to cancel out any positive effects of the fasting; secondly, I ate two pizzas last night, which I know contributed fully to the sad outcome of weighing time this morning :P

But this is a huge part of my problem - I often eat just because food is there, and I really need to learn self control and to recognise when I'm actually hungry. I knew, as I was finishing off the pizza, that I wasn't actually hungry, so that's progress, but I couldn't seem to stop myself from actually eating it. Hopefully after a few more successful fasting days I'll be better at the self control aspect of things...

So there we are! After last week I've changed my approach slightly, and I brought lunch in today so that I wouldn't get all moody and hungry today between the two bigger meals. I planned exactly what I was going to eat yesterday so that I wouldn't be wondering and searching for snacks throughout the day, and I've tried to keep myself busy so that I don't have the chance to get bored and start snacking. I also planned ahead and made tomato soup yesterday, which I knew would be low calorie but tasty for the end of the day (and also would require no prep, and therefore no chance for snacking on ingredients!!). The soup is essentially my vegetable soup recipe, and I've calculated it out to be about 112 calories for a 1.5 cup portion, which is plenty, even if you're fasting!!

The beginnings of my beekeepers quilt - aka, how I'm keeping myself busy :)

So that's the update for this week! I've got a really nice recipe for super tasty low-fat blueberry muffins coming up soon, but I'm just trying to sort out the calories in there so I can post that too (I'm getting disagreements based on which website I use, and the scientist side of me won't let me post anything until I know the right answer with confidence!!).

Challenges

I think I've written on here before about my general struggle to lose weight - ever since my early teens its been a bit of an ongoing battle for me. While I've finally reached a point where it isn't something I'm constantly beating myself up over, it is definitely something I am frequently aware of and wanting to change. I'm not Gigantor or anything, but I'm definitely not close to a healthy weight, and I know that the older I get the worse that's going to be, and the harder it will be to change. Also, I want to have kids one day and not get immediately worn out while chasing them around a park. I want to be able to run/bike/hike/surf/swim with others without wondering if I'm going to be able to go as far as my friends. And, vainly, I want to see a picture of myself without immediately noticing rolls and extra chins...

So there's my motivation. In my defense, I am already reasonably active. I love walking, swimming, cycling and hiking, and I've been a sporadic runner for a few years now. I'm just not particularly consistent or good at any of the above activities, which is why I tend to hesitate when someone suggests an active outing...I'm always aware of the fact that I might hold them back. 

My other problem is that I really love food. Anyone who has read any part of this blog will know that I love cooking, I love baking, and I love eating, and that's not likely to change (nor do I want it to). I've tried a number of diets and eating plans whilst trying to lose weight, and they all fail once I realise that to succeed I have to deny myself a particular food - something in my brain can't handle that. Once I realise that I'll only be able to eat ice cream once a month, all I want to do is eat ice cream every single day - which is crazy, because normally I probably do only eat ice cream once a month, so it wouldn't have really made a difference anyway!! Such is the craziness that is my brain!

Anyway, all of this is to say that I've tried many things and tried many times to shift this weight and to get fit. Sometimes it works a little bit, but usually it doesn't. So I'm trying something new, and hoping for the best, as this seems like a plan that will fit well with my current lifestyle and doesn't mean I can never eat nutella again (that is a deal-breaker for me). I'm trying out the 5:2 plan, and I thought that I'd maybe bolster my motivation by posting about my progress here.

The basic concept, for those unaware, is that 2 days a week I fast and restrict my food intake to 500 calories/day, but the other 5 days a week I can eat whatever I want (although staying within the recommended limit of 2000 calories/day). The 500 calorie limit doesn't get adjusted with exercise, unlike some plans, so I can't 'earn' more calories by working out or anything. But it does mean that if one day all I want to eat is a Snickers bar, I can eat the Snickers bar and feel zero guilt, and for me, that's huge!

So, here's what I've learned from my first day of fasting:

Hooray for ipods and sunny days - makes getting up early much easier!

1. The number of calories in things is crazy - I had no idea! For breakfast I had 1 cup of blueberries with 1/2 cup of semi-skimmed milk and that was 140 calories gone! I'm starting to realise how massively caloric my normal breakfast is, which sucks because I thought I was being healthy :P

2. I can't last from breakfast to dinner without anything in between. Maybe this will change after I get more used to fasting, but I was a moody, moody cow today at work, and I'm positive that it was down to the fact that my blood sugar was low.

3. Water is my friend. I drank so much water today in an attempt to trick myself into thinking I wasn't hungry. It mostly worked.

4. Olive oil is bad. Seriously!! 1 tbsp of olive oil has as many calories as two boiled eggs! No more oily salad dressings for me!

Today's calorie count: 540 (I'm blaming the olive oil!). Not perfect, but so close, and a million times better than it could have been! AND I even resisted the temptation to eat the tiramisu my lovely office mate brought in today, so I'm considering today a massive victory overall :)

So that's where I am with things. I'm going to try and post weekly about this, both the 5:2 diet and the running, in a desperate attempt to keep up my motivation! But I've got some new recipes and things to post about as well, so it won't all be this kind of thing - cinnamon buns and sourdough bread wait for no diet!!