Motherhood is wonderful but it can leave our bodies in a bit of a state. Follow Emma’s mission to eat more healthily and lose some of the baby (and post-baby) weight, through her weekly updates. If you missed her first Big Fat 5:2 Diary entry, you can read it here.
Monday
Had a purely shit day and decided I definitely couldn’t start today. Wine. The end.
Tuesday
Okay, I’m ready to start, but I’m not going to start with a fast day. My plan is 2 fast days a week, healthy eating for the other 3 weekdays and relax a little (or a lot) at the weekend. I am also going to try and eat in an eight hour window each day as this gives the body a mini-fast. So today can be a healthy day. Start off well with a slice of wholemeal toast, scrambled eggs and ham with some raw spinach. Feeling very virtuous. 2 o’clock comes round and I’m starving. Go for some sweet onion Ryvitas with a can of tuna, doing well, doing well. Dinner is a Turkish meatball dish made with lean mince. Work out the calories of a tiny portion of rice (at least 1/3 of what I would normally dollop on my plate) and WOW no wonder I wasn’t really losing on slimming world. Would really like some red wine with this dinner… No red wine. Hmmm, shall I have a gin. Step away from the fucking gin, what are you? A full-on alcoholic? Sit down to watch the telly, but it feels weird watching telly without a wine. Why isn’t there any bloody wine?! Have some of the kids’ strawberries and then get up and eat four mini Kit Kat bites from the fridge and realise I have probably ruined my healthy day. Quick, get to bed before you eat anything else!!
Wednesday
I actually had the cheek to weigh myself after ONE day of being kind of healthy but not quite. Not lost any weight yet, how rude. Today is a fast day and I was also supposed to go to a circuits class at 6.30am. Decided at 3am, when I had been up with the toddler for two hours, that I wasn’t going to go. It’s all his fault I’m chubby. It is also his first day at nursery which is going to help with the fast day as I feel a bit sick. Get by all morning on 2 cups of tea. Starting work at lunchtime so I take a ham and egg salad along with me (226 calories) it’s nice but I could have quite happily followed it up with a pizza or two. Stomach growls at me all afternoon ‘where have the custard creams gone you sadist?!’. Ignore it, ignore it, they’re healthy messengers according to Michael Moseley. 5 o’clock comes round and I have a serious headache. This is normal for me and the first few fasts are always the hardest. Drink loads of water and have a coffee. By the time I get home from work I’m almost blind with hunger. Cook the kids sausage and mash (torture) whilst making myself a vegetable stir fry with egg mixed in, topped with some curry sauce. This brings me up to a grand total of 460 calories and tastes a bit like Chinese takeaway, kind of. Definitely no room for any wine tonight. 2 days of no alcohol, I’m practically tee total. Get into bed early before I eat anything else. Successful fast day in the bag. Must try hard not to weigh myself tomorrow #obsessed
Thursday
The weird thing about fast days is that even though you go to bed starving and fantasising about breakfast, you wake up totally not hungry! I am going out for a birthday lunch today (it’s my birthday on Saturday) and I know it won’t be a healthy one so it’s extra important to stick to my eight hour eating window. I’m fine all morning but the hunger starts creeping in at about 11am. I almost ate a ginger biscuit but I don’t even like ginger so that would have just been pure gluttony. Pizza Express for lunch and I unwittingly ordered the most calorific pizza on the menu #skills. Washed that down with a large glass of wine, followed up with a small glass of wine, as you do. Big mistake, felt bloated and knackered all afternoon at work. When the snack man came round (hate that bastard) I go for a Twix and a San Pellegrino orange just to notch up a few more calories. By the time I get home and sit down, I’m not really that hungry. Partner is on nights, kids have eaten at a friend’s and I feel a bit guilty about the big pot of chicken stew I’ve made so I have a small bowl with 2 slices of bread and butter (obvs). Had there been wine in the house, I’d have had some of that too!! By the time I get the kids bathed and in bed – the eating window is over. Lucky that seeing as I’ve already notched up about 2.5k calories without even trying. No wonder I’m ‘ahem’ curvy. The idea of this diet is that you fast for 2 days and eat normally for the other 5. The problem is, I don’t think I eat normally! The ‘healthy week’ isn’t going so well. Had 2 terrible days, one semi-terrible day and one fast day. Maybe your birthday week doesn’t really count? Tomorrow is another fast day followed by my birthday weekend. If I’ve lost any weight come Monday, I will eat my hat (with lashings of butter).
Friday
Tough day today as I’m off work, so out of routine. Partner/feeder was home but I decided to stick to my fast day regardless. Took the toddler swimming with his nursery and afterwards everyone was tucking into sausage rolls and cakes. Had a cup of tea and exercised my best willpower. When we got back to the car I realised that I had forgotten the door keys, oops. Luckily I had left an upstairs window open so we had to borrow a ladder and partner had to climb up, he wasn’t amused. Then had to take the car for an MOT so no time to eat really. Grabbed a small apple at lunchtime for 50 calories which allowed me quite a nice dinner allowance. Cooking prawn and pea risotto for the family so I worked it out in my fitness pal and it came in at 364 calories despite containing oil and wine, yay!! Really yummy and filling BUT I ate at 5pm so just hoping it keeps me full all evening and I don’t cave in and have some custard creams. Will report back tomorrow, which is my BIRTHDAY!! I hope I’m skinny by then. Update: it is now 22.34 and at a loss of what to do with myself all evening except sit on the sofa eating sweets and drinking wine, I did a few chores then had a bubble bath with a cup of tea and a book. I kept telling myself this is how I should be treating myself instead of with food because I’m not a dog. Now in bed but I’m fucking starving and really hope the psychic messages I’m sending to my partner to bring me birthday McDonald’s breakfast are working. Obviously I can’t tell him out loud!! Tomorrow‘s a write off, I can tell already. Over and out. Update: it is now 23.02 and my partner just Whatsapped me (he’s working nights) asking if I want McDonald’s breakfast brought in. Can’t believe my psychic messages worked, genius. I am now wondering whether I can fit pie & mash in between my McDonald’s breakfast and dinner? That’s really greedy isn’t it but I’m sooooo hungry. Better go to sleep. Over and out (again).
Saturday
Happy birthday to me!! The diet and the 8 hour eating plan are truly out of the window today. Started the day with a lovely sausage and egg bagel with hash brown from McDonald’s, along with the obligatory Tropicana. We decided to go to ‘Legends of Gaming Live’ (joy!) for the day so lunch is a Cornish pasty and 2 lagers (they didn’t have any Prosecco!!). Treated myself to some sweets from the American sweet stand just for good measure. When I got home I ordered my favourite Indian takeaway. Lamb samosa, chicken naga (very spicy!), special fried rice, saag paneer, chapati, poppadoms, onion salad and lashings of mint sauce. I don’t even want to know the calories but it was so worth it. So full after all that, all I could fit in was 2 large G&Ts before collapsing into bed in a food coma. I’m going to remember this day fondly on my next fast day.
Sunday
I want to try and stick to an 8 hour window today but wake up feeling really sick (not surprising really!) and I’m working all afternoon on a party boat so decided to have some beans and egg on toast to make me feel better, it doesn’t. Arrive for work still feeling queasy so have a lemon and mint fizzy drink and some ready salted Pringles. Today is turning out worse than yesterday! Couple of Buck’s Fizzes were going spare during work so I’m like ‘ahh why not, might make me feel better’. For lunch I had some of the buffet which was roast beef, salmon, salads and black rice. The caterer then brings me over a mini lemon cupcake because I look lonely. Any excuse. And the cake definitely makes me feel less lonely. Actually worked really hard and managed to clock up at least 2 million steps so the chicken shish kebab I get on the way home is well deserved. Wash that down with one final beer and a slice of cold leftover pizza as it is my birthday weekend and go to bed. Weigh in day tomorrow. This isn’t going to be pretty.
Weigh Day Results
Here goes… Pleasantly surprised to have lost 1.5lbs despite the excesses of the past week. My two fast days have saved me big time. No real plans this week so hopefully a bigger loss. Fasting Tuesday and Thursday. Wish me luck!!
About Emma Dunn
I’m a London-based mum of two crazy boys. 33 going on 17. Snap Happy Foodie, Ginnie and Gobby. Just winging it (aren’t we all?) juggling all the balls and trying to raise gentlemen. Peace out.
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