Today was our 10th fast day. Amazing! My weight is still on a very pleasing downward trend. I love my bathroom scales at the moment! I’ve also lost another 1cm off my waist and hips in the last week or so, so I love my tape measure too! I use one that I got from free when I joined the British Heart Foundation – I’m still in the pink ‘at risk’ zone for my waist measurement, but at least I am out of the red ‘high risk’ zone now.
I’ve noticed a few people on the 5:2 Intermittent Fasting support group on Facebook saying that they are going to bed hungry and early, wishing for their breakfast to come soon. That’s certainly not the case for me. Once we’ve had our evening meal I am finding myself completely comfortable and not in the slightest bit hungry. Mid afternoon is when I usually find my stomach grumbling and rumbling, but a cup of rooibosh tea or lime and ginger tea and the feeling passes. The weather was dreary, damp and cold here again though, so I was very glad that the wood burner stove was going as I felt decidedly chilly.
Waking up the morning after I was in no particular hurry for breakfast either. I really think there is a great benefit from going 12 hours or so without filling your stomach – not just because your system gets a break from food processing and pumping out insulin, but your stomach gets used to being empty, your mind gets more used to your stomach being empty and overall it helps to decrease your appetite.
So for our fast day morning this Thursday we had a breakfast of porridge (made with water) and a dozen blackberries each, from last year’s harvest in our garden. A cup of black coffee. No sugar, no honey, no sweeteners, no milk.
During the day I drank another cup of black coffee, a couple of glasses of water, a lime and ginger tea, 2 cups of rooibosh tea.
For our evening meal we had simple vegetable soup followed by peppered smoked mackerel with poached egg, wilted spinach and steamed broccoli and carrots. For dessert we had fromage blanc with a few home grown cherries from the freezer, poached with some mixed spice. No sugar or sweetener
According to myfitnesspal, my intake was just slightly over target, at 515 calories. The mackerel was quite a lot higher in calories than I expected (my 60g fillet was 186kcal), more than twice what a piece of salmon would have been, so not really a brilliant choice for a fast day. But it was very tasty and the meal was very filling. I think the soup to start with is a great way to break a fast and it certainly helps to fill me up.
About an hour before bed I had a cup of camomile tea, which I often find is helpful for getting a good night’s sleep.
Neither of us went to bed hungry!
