My Big Fat 5:2 Diary: Week Two

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 last Big Fat 5:2 Diary entry, you can read it here. 

Monday 

Week 2 is here, no big plans this week so hoping for at least a 2lb loss. Can’t get to the gym at the moment as my partner is on nights but hoping to get back soon. Toddler is at nursery so ‘the feeder’ wants to go for breakfast. Manage to put it off until 10.30 so my 8 hour eating window doesn’t start too early. My intention was to choose something healthy but ended up going for a stacked sandwich with sausage, streaky bacon, fried egg and cheese, oops. I didn’t eat the bread though so redeemed myself a little. The good thing is that it kept me full ALL day. I fed the kids early but suddenly had a panic at 6pm that my eating window was nearly up so ate a crisp sandwich, some Brie and crackers and 2 glasses of wine. Not such a good start to the week. Oh well, fast day tomorrow!

Tuesday 

A busy day today, which is good for a fast day. Did the school run followed by the food shop. Never go food shopping hungry! I picked up absolutely everything I fancied the look of. Decided to treat us to sirloin steak for dinner. Aldi now sell cauliflower rice so some of that goes in trolley and some salad, perfect. Lasted all morning on tea and water and at about lunchtime the tummy started growling so I had a cup of vegetable bouillon for 12 calories; an absolute lifesaver. Sometimes I think your body is just missing salt when you feel all foggy headed and I want to save all my calories for dinner. Who’d have thought a lean sirloin steak would be almost 450 calories?! Shocked. Only enough room for a few veggies and that’s me done for the day. It felt very wrong eating steak without red wine, very wrong. Have to be up really early tomorrow for a meeting at work, so it’s a cuppa, bath and bed for me. Dreaming of Marmite on toast for breakfast.

Wednesday

Had to be in work an hour early today so I was up at the crack of dawn to prepare tonight’s dinner, goat curry. Smells delicious but it’s probably not acceptable to eat curry for breakfast. Get to the meeting to be faced with warm ham and cheese croissants plus the chocolate variety and various other pastry delights. Manage to resist simply because I don’t want my 8 hour eating window to end at 5pm!! It’s shawarma wrap day at work today which is my favourite so my planned salad goes out of the window, pronto. The lovely slim girl in front of me orders hers with no wrap. Aha, is that what these mysterious skinny women do? I order mine without a wrap too (making it a shredded chicken and halloumi salad) but then buy some salt and sweet popcorn to cancel out my healthy choice a bit. The bastard snack man (BSM) hasn’t been round today so managed to avoid the bastard skinny chocolate rice cakes that aren’t so skinny if you eat all 3. I keep buying the Aldi version which cost less for 9 than I pay for 3 from the BSM with the intention of bringing ONE to work as my afternoon snack but then me and the kids just eat all 9, pure greed. When I get in I’m in one of those moods where I really want to sit and enjoy my delicious dinner with no kids disturbing me so I pour a little glass of red and wait patiently through bath and bed time before tucking in. Actually not that hungry but force some down anyway, delicious. And just like that my eating window is up. Evenings are normally my danger time so this eating window thing does me a big favour. Would definitely be  cracking open the brie by now otherwise! Off to bed to watch the telly. Fast day tomorrow! N’night

Thursday 

Had a sneaky weigh this morning and I am 2lb down since last weigh in with 1 fast day still to go. Let’s hope I don’t blow it on the weekend. Working from home today so I don’t know how today’s fast is going to go. Usually I busy myself with errands and chores at home or I’m at work, so sitting at home all day being surrounded by delicious toddler food is going to be ‘different’. Doesn’t help he has been awake since 6 making it an extra long day. Start the day with tea as always and having been really rubbish with my water intake recently (zero yesterday!) I fill up my hydratem8 bottle with loads of iced water. I’ve been using this for almost a year now and I thought it would be just another fad but it really helps me stay on track and encourages me to drink more. By 11am, my stomach is growling at me so I have a slice of ham for 23 calories, if only it was surrounded by bread and cheese and BUTTER. By midday I literally can’t hold out any longer and make myself a prawn and vegetable stir-fry with cauliflower rice for 173 calories washed down with even more water. The little one requests pasta and pesto for lunch… Noooooooooo!! I’m stood there grating the fresh Parmesan on and literally want to cry. Why does a meal that wouldn’t even normally interest me look and smell so delicious. The toddler pretty much eats all day. Mini Oreos, strawberries, grapes, custard creams dipped in my tea. Not coping too well with the deprivation and the day feels very long. Consider giving up at one point but I’ve set my heart on Nandos for lunch tomorrow, so I must be strong. Manage to put away about 4 cups of tea and 3 litres of water; visited the loo many many times. When it’s time to cook dinner for the family, it’s chicken pie with puff pastry lid (oh my) with sweet potato mash and veggies it takes ALL my will power not to eat the whole pie with my bare hands like a wild animal but instead I cook myself another portion of prawn stir-fry. It’s nice, but it’s not pie. It’s now 6pm and I’m literally just counting the hours until I can go to bed to get this day over with. If every fast day were this tough, I wouldn’t be able to do it. Working from home has been stressful especially in a million degree heat, anyone who says they get any work done with a toddler present either has a really good toddler or is lying. Had a cherry stalk tea before bed, it’s from Turkey and basically makes you poo. So excited for Nandos tomorrow.

Friday 

So, the cherry stalk tea worked, blimey. Generally I love the feeling after a fast day. Appetite feels reset and I feel energetic and not bloated (I won’t go as far as to say I have a flat tummy, that would just be a lie!). Had a cup of tea with a berrocca and one of my supplements. I really feel like these are giving me more energy and motivation. I’ve even started planning the house redecoration which I have been putting off forever. My morning then got progressively worse. Crossed wires meant my mum/childminder didn’t turn up so I had to rush around doing school and nursery run. Toddler was hysterical going into nursery and the roads closed and lack of buses meant I was over an hour late for work. Hunger pangs kicked in at around 11 but I’m really determined to stick to my 8 hour window, at least during the week so I have a coffee and finish some mind numbing work to take my mind off it until Nandos time. It was definitely worth the wait. Had chicken breast (extra hot of course), chips and coleslaw with a large wine and it’s such a nice feeling to know I’m not sabotaging my diet or having a cheat day or having to add up calories/syns/points/blah. We all know wine at lunchtime makes you feel lethargic, don’t know why I do it to myself so the rest of the afternoon was pretty painful and of course I succumbed to fucking ‘not’ skinny chocolate rice cakes didn’t I. I’ll just have the one I thought, then two. Then of course the third one was in my mouth before I knew it. Stopped off on the way home to buy ice to treat myself to a couple of G&Ts and enjoy them with my sausage casserole dinner. Kids tell me it tastes like poo, charming! Half an hour left in the eating window but I actually don’t want anything else so watch a bit of telly and go to bed. Determined to be semi-good this weekend even though I am working funny hours. I’ve felt quite in control today even though I’ve eaten what I’ve wanted. Next week I am thinking of fasting Monday and and Wednesday. I like that I can change the days according to plans.

Saturday

Woke up with good intentions of sticking to an 8 hour window but it’s the weekend and I’ve been dreaming of Marmite toast for TOO long so sod it. After my son’s Taekwondo lesson he asks to go for pie & mash. Argh, my favourite and only 4 million calories so off we go. Bearing in mind it’s only 11.20 at this point I manage to put away an impressive 1.5 pies, mash, liquor and a full-fat 7up, so this weekend is going well. Take the kids to the open day at the rubbish dump (yes really) and then go home to prepare dinner. Have to leave for work at 7.30 and I’m not actually terribly hungry after my massive pie brunch but working until 1am with a 50/50 chance of getting any food so decide to have some jambalaya and a glass of wine obviously, you know how some foods go well with certain drinks? It had to be done. Work turns out to be a Caribbean birthday party so when they offer me some curried goat with rice, peas and coleslaw – how can I say no? I eat it purely to be polite and not because I am a greedy fat pig. It’s pretty delicious but I think mine stands up pretty well against it even if I do say so myself. Fall into bed at 2am absolutely exhausted and hoping for a lie-in.

Sunday

My eldest can be relied upon to sleep in every day that the alarm allows but the toddler can be pretty hit and miss. Absolutely delighted that he didn’t rise until 9 after my late night. ‘The feeder’ is at home today and I know he’s going to suggest something foody because that’s what he does. He decides at 10.30 that we should go to nearby Maltby Street food market (which is amazing, if you’ve never been). I manage to persuade him that we should go at lunchtime by letting him have a nap like a wilful toddler. Lunch is a mahoosive salt beef and pastrami sandwich on toasted rye bread with cheese, mustard, pickles and all sorts of deliciousness. £10 for a sandwich and I reckon I’ve put on 10lbs eating it too but it was worth it. My eldest then wants oysters and the toddler wants a hot dog (sums them up pretty well) and we finally settle in the Little Bird Gin bar, my favourite. The gin is made locally in Peckham and they knock up an amazing Bloody Mary with freshly grated horseradish in a mason jar. I’m a sucker for a mason jar! I follow this up with 2 G&Ts and a Prosecco before deciding I’m drunk and should probably go home, via the brownie stall. I attempt a nap on the sofa but the terrorists are having none of it. I’m really grateful when nobody is really that bothered about dinner and tell myself the kids can have some Weetabix for dinner just this once as I’m now starting to get a headache. That’s the thing about day drinking, once you stop you’re buggered. I half-watch Bear Grylls survival thing (no attention span for TV lately) and their hunger makes me decide I’m hungry again and I start toying with the idea of a Big Mac (and some nuggets!) BUT decide to go to bed as I’ve already consumed about a million calories this weekend, at least. Weekends make me fat, it’s been decided. Tomorrow is a fast day, weigh day and the feeder is home. Send me willpower. Wish me luck!

Weigh in result: 

Is it really Monday again already? Lost 1.5lbs which is less than I’d hoped for but more than I deserved. It’s not a fast way to lose weight but look at all the food I’ve eaten! If I continue to lose 1.5lbs a week I will be 20lbs lighter by Christmas. After reading through my old book I’ve realised I should be weighing after the second fast of the week so next weeks blog will be slightly shorter and then they will run from Friday to Friday.

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.