Turns out

Prêt. Don't have bar codes.... Wtf!

Feeding day

Awh today I eat! Just realised my fitness pal is available for windows phones and have downloaded the app and discovered its built in scanning function. Will test it out at Prêt

What a difference carbs make!

Those of you who are regular readers of my blog will know that I have been trying out this relatively new approach to dieting called fast diet. I am not going to talk about the diet itself but thought it would be useful to show one of the things I have learnt... Last night I had chicken, quinoa, tomatoes, mange tout, onion and mushrooms. It came to just over 450 calories. This morning I had 2 slices of toast. One with jam and one with peanut butter. It also came in at the same number of calories! I wonder which one will have left me feeling fuller longest!

Dinner:

Dinner
Onions - Raw, 0.5 medium (2-1/2" dia)	23	6g	0g	1g	0mg	2mg	2g	1g
Oxo - Chicken Stock Cube, 0.5 Cube (5.9g)	10	2g	0g	1g	0mg	390mg	0g	0g
Generic - Mange Tout 100 g, 100 g	32	4g	0g	4g	0mg	0mg	0g	1g
Tomatoes - 5 Cherry Tomatoes, 10 tomatoes	20	5g	0g	1g	0mg	10mg	3g	2g
Anchor Foods - Lighter Spreadable Butter, 7.5 g	41	0g	5g	0g	0mg	38mg	0g	0g
Sainsbury's - Closed Cup Mushrooms, 2 Serving (100g)	32	1g	1g	4g	0mg	0mg	0g	2g
Waitrose Love Life - Quinoa (Raw), 30 g	110	19g	2g	4g	0mg	2mg	1g	2g
Waitrose Essential - Chicken Breast Fillet, 180 g	185	0g	2g	43g	0mg	126mg	0g	0g

Total:

453

37

10

58

568

6

Breakfast:

Breakfast
Waitrose Organic - Bread - Wholemeal and Seeds, 2 slice	220	29g	7g	11g	0mg	0mg	3g	9g
Tesco - Strawberry Jam, 1 tablespoon	40	10g	0g	0g	0mg	0mg	9g	0g
Essential Waitrose - Semi Skimmed Milk, 50 ml	25	3g	1g	2g	0mg	3mg	3g	0g
Anchor Foods - Lighter Spreadable Butter, 15 g	81	0g	9g	0g	0mg	75mg	0g	0g
Whole Earth - Smooth Original Peanut Butter With No Added Sugar, 15 g	97	1g	8g	4g	0mg	60mg	1g	1g
TOTAL:	463	43g	25g	17g	0mg	138mg	16g	10g

  

Epic fail!

Hello again. just thought I'd update you about what's been happening in the land of Paolo and the 5:2 plan. Everything has been going fine and the scales had been moving in the right direction... until this weekend. I went for a run on Saturday morning, felt fine, but had run with a slight ache on the ball of my right foot. I have chronic gout and am on long term medication. Since starting the Allopurinol, I have  had a few attacks but nothing serious and they've not stopped me from walking and even running, so I didn't think much of it. had a great run with my friend Christine and we even ran the last k with the Dulwich Park runners beginners group... got home, showered and chilled out. I noticed that the pain was slowly increasing and my big toe was getting more and more stiff. Woke up Sunday, and realised it was a full attack and spent all day hobbling about the house. Woke up this morning and it was even worse.... turns out my reliance on salmon during my fast days is a big no-no for gout sufferers... it brought on the worst attack I've had since starting the long term medication 18 months ago.

I need to re-evaluate the food plan on fast days, so thinking about all the things I like I started searching various websites as to what I should avoid... turns out... basically everything! Here's an example:

• High purine content: Anchovies, codfish, haddock, herring, mackerel, mussels, sardines, scallops, trout
• Medium purine content: Crab, lobster, oysters, shrimp.
• Meat: Though no longer part of a common diet in the United States, organ meats, such as liver, sweetbreads, and brains, are most dangerous for those with gout.
• High purine content: Bacon, turkey, veal, venison
• Medium purine content: Beef, chicken, duck, ham, pork
• Vegetables: Studies do not show an association between high-purine vegetables and gout to the same degree as with animal-based purines, suggesting other factors than purine content also play a role. However, there are some beans that are particularly high in purines, so people with severe gout may want to avoid them.
• Purine-rich vegetables: Asparagus, dried beans (especially fava and garbanzo), mushrooms, peas, spinach

So what next.. no white fish, no oily fish and no meat except chicken, no mushrooms, spinach, beans, peas (apparently lentils are a no-no too). Some say tomatoes are no good either because they are too acidic. It would seem that in order to control gout by diet that really all I can eat is white meat and white vegetables. Nice!

Hello, beautiful people. Just thought I would check in let you know how everything is going with my weird and wonderful fasting diet... So today is coming to the close of my 7th fast day since I started on the 15 April. The plan is to weigh myself tomorrow morning at the end of the fast, so no tantalising info just yet.  There has definitely been a steady loss and, as I said to Pepe tonight, this is the third weeks of the diet and I still feel motivated to carry on... not something I could say for the others diets.

I was pleasantly surprised today when my friend Juliet commented on how my clothes look looser! it made my day. Clearly I am easily pleased! Anyway, thank you Juliet for making me smile!

Keeping up with my commitment to exercise on fast days has proved a little bit more challenging this week. I have but both sessions were harder than expected. On Monday night I had a session with the running school and did about 40 minutes of HIIT training and then 20 minutes of Swiss ball exercises and stretches. I'm not sure if it was  the fasting or the fact that I've been injured and not been able to train properly, but my recoveries were taking a lot longer than usual, probably about 10-15% longer  to get my heart rate down to the 140's before starting the high intensity intervals again. In the end, I still managed a full session and did not faint for lack of sustenance. Tonight, I ran 3kms on empty and then did another 30 minutes of weight training... again, hard and there were points were I thought I could not lift the damn dumbbells, but did  a full set of chest, arms, triceps and back exercises. I figured given that I had run 3kms I could skip the leg exercises :P

Right I'm going to post this and wish you all a good night and pleasant dreams.

One week on

Wow... one week and a day. Almost 4 fasts later (today is my fourth, but it technically doesn't end until tomorrow morning's breakfast) and I'm thinking this is do-able. Manageable even.

Last week, to kick start the diet, I fasted Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This week the plan is to fast today and Thursday. By Saturday morning I had lost 4kg but I expected that some of it would return. And it did. I weighed myself last night and I was still down from a week ago but obviously not as low as on Saturday morning. By last night I was down 2.5kg from last week, which is still impressive. I was working on the assumption that dieting this way would drop about a kilo a week. In fairness, I did run and do weights on Monday and Wednesday and I have to say, it's not that bad exercising on an empty stomach, not easy but not insurmountable.

Plan for this week..... Well as I mentioned, today and Thursday are the fast days, and I plan on running 5km on Thursday along with a spin class on Friday. There may also be a run on Saturday depending on the weather. Will update the exercise regime later in the week. In the meantime, here's today's menu plan was as follows:

April 23, 2013
Foods	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Cholest	Sodium	Sugars	Fiber
Breakfast
Ryvita - Crackerbread, 1 Cracker	19	4g	0g	1g	0mg	60mg	0g	1g
Kraft Philadelphia - Light Cream Cheese Mini Tub, 40 g	52	3g	2g	4g	0mg	109mg	0g	0g
Boiled Egg, 2 egg	160	1g	11g	13g	424mg	124mg	1g	0g
Fish - Smoked Salmon Slices, 65 g	120	3g	6g	13g	468mg	468mg	0g	0g
Dinner
Organic Chicken Breast - Chicken Breast Skinless Boneless , 3.5 oz	105	0g	1g	14g	41mg	0mg	0g	0g
Onions - Raw, 1 medium (2-1/2" dia)	46	11g	0g	1g	0mg	3mg	5g	2g
Cauliflower - Cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 100 g	23	4g	0g	2g	0mg	15mg	1g	3g
Fresh - Broccoli, Fresh, 100 g	38	2g	1g	3g	0mg	33mg	2g	3g
Oxo - Chicken Stock Cube, 0.5 Cube (5.9g)	10	2g	0g	1g	0mg	390mg	0g	0g
Clover - Butter, 7.5 g	48	0g	5g	0g	0mg	53mg	0g	0g
TOTAL:	621	30g	26g	52g	933mg	1,255mg	9g	9g
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Totals	621	30	26	52	1,255	9
Your Daily Goal	1,870	257	62	70	2,500	37
Remaining	1,249	227	36	18	1,245	28

sheepish hello

hello!

Ok so I have neglected this blog for a couple of months now... initially from a sense of euphoria that I didn't have to lose quite as much as I thought- cue my 360 health assessment at Nuffield health who said I only need to lose about 22kgs-  but then subsequently because I have been injured as a result of over training, I have had to take over a month's rest. I developed tendonitis over the top of my foot and it's been a very long and slow recovery...so, inevitably between the lack of exercise and the lack of focus and motivation my weight has steadily been creeping up. Back to where I started. Again.

But as many of you tell me, this is a journey, not just a means to an end and in the spirit of that philosophy I have decided to pick my self up and get back on that pony now that my foot has started to mend.

Quite by chance I stumbled upon the fast diet or 5:2 diet.... 5 days feast 2 days famine. I'm going to give it a try. I've not been bought by the science but there seems to be quite a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest that there may be more to the theory that we aren't designed for grazing 16 hours a day, every day of our lives. A few people I know have mentioned that they have lost significant amounts of weight on this diet, and you certainly can tell that they are a lot smaller. The thing is I didn't think that they needed to lose weight to begin with so clearly the diet works by finding that "hidden fat" and eviscerating it!

The basic concept of the diet is that you fast by limiting your calorie intake to no more than 600 calories for men, 500 for women on your fast days and you can chose to either eat them all in one go or divide them over 2 meals. I've opted for the latter. Today is my first day of fasting and all things considered it's been alright so far. I had 145g smoked salmon for breakfast and have only drunk herbal teas, water and a coke zero all day. Later this evening I had a small supper and will now fast until breakfast tomorrow. And that's it, until day two - Wednesday- and then no more until next week. Let's see how this goes.

My intake today:
145 g smoked salmon: 170 calories
150g pork tenderloin: 204 calories
1 medium onion: 45 calories
80g broccoli : 30 calories
100g Cauliflower: 25calories
7 g butter: 50 calories
200ml stock: 20 calories

Total calories: 544

Hello, another year has passed?

Oh my... where has the week gone? A week that on reflection has been terrible. I caught a cold last week and thought it would go after a 3 days... 5 tops. Nope, not at all... it's still here. It's focussing all of it's attentions on my sinuses and throat. I constantly feel at a loss for oxygen and have an insatiable need to cough, despite my chest being clear... oh, yeah and I have developed an enduring post nasal drip which would explain the throat issues. In short to say I'm feeling less than inspired with the diet is an  understatement!

Cold notwithstanding, it was my birthday on Saturday so we celebrated by going to my sister's and having a relative-ly  ( :) ) healthy dinner.  I made a leg of lamb, slow cooked in the Webbber. Recipe below.

The lamb:
I dressed the lamb with honey, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, nutmeg, cinnamon, thyme and rosemary. It was wrapped in foil and left in the Webber, with the coals on the opposite side, for about 3 1/2 hours with the lid on. For sides we had roasted butternut, peppers and, here's the less than healthy part... potatoes!! (ok there may have been a cupcake or two for desert). The lamb was sublime. The slow cooking worked a treat. the meat pealed away soft and tender. It was lovely! Importantly aside from the tablespoon of honey and olive oil there really wasn't anything too sinister about the marinade.

Taking it back to the purpose of the blog now.... Ok so Monday I had my running school session with Chris Mangioni, who is also a member of my running club. We, and use the word we liberally, did a HIIT session varying the treadmill incline between 5% and 10% with speeds alternating between 8 to 10.5kph for short fast bursts of speed work ranging from 10 seconds to 30 seconds for about 40 minutes followed by 20 minutes of strength training and stretches. Wow... I felt rotten to start with (that cold again) but by the end with the oxygen pumping through I felt spent but on top of the world... highly recommend similar sort of training for anyone thinking about losing weight. You certainly feel it during the session and the next day too. Thinking about it has brought a smile to my face, it's that great.

Yesterday, however, I fell off the wagon... drinks after work... red wine in abundant quantities and so today I had one massive hangover  topped off with a cold that is not going away. Feeling very sorry for myself, obviously. Anyway, have climbed back onto that weightwatchers wagon....so here's my penance for the day...




ProPoints™ Tracker entries

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Breakfast
1 1/2 serving(s) Crispy Minis Chocolate Chip	6
2  teaspoons Sugar, White	1
200  ml British 1% Fat Milk	2
Subtotal	9
Lunch
1  serving(s) CRUSSH Superfoods Healthpot	12
1  glass(es) Diet Coke	0
1  medium Orange	0
Subtotal	12
Dinner
2  slice(s) Bread, Wholemeal, Sliced	4
2 1/2 serving(s) Olive Oil Spread	4
Carrot and lentil soup	9
Subtotal	17
Any Time
No entries for this meal time.
Subtotal	0
Food ProPoints values total used	38
Food ProPoints values remaining	20
Activity
No entries for activity.
Activity ProPoints values earned	0
Check off these important items daily:
Liquids          Milk & Dairy     Fruit & Vegetables          Healthy Oil

Notes

 

© 2013 Weight Watchers International, Inc. © 2013 WeightWatchers.com, Inc. All rights reserved. WEIGHT WATCHERS and ProPoints® are the registered trade marks of Weight Watchers International, Inc. and are used under licence by Weight Watchers UK Limited and WeightWatchers.co.uk Limited.

   

Riso nero and salmon Wednesday

Before launching into my next recipe, and lest I forget that this blog is about keeping me motivated on my weightwatchers diet plan, I think it only fair that I give an update on what's been happening on the DIEt..

Yep DIEt... I hate the word, I realised, because amongst other thing, it contains the word die... an apt description of people's reaction to the plan by week 3! I know that of the diets WeightWatchers is the most sensible and the one most likely to succeed in the long run. Its results may not be immediately apparent but it slowly retrains your attitude towards food. It doesn't mean that its easy though.

As I mentioned a couple of posts back, I have lost weight, I'm now down to 131.5kg but it has not shifted from there for a few days now. Admittedly I've had some corkers! yesterday was our team lunch, the snow has prevented our shopping from being delivered (yes 2 inches of snow has brought the mighty Ocado to its knees) and our car was ice bound so we've been living on supplies. Some of which were not exactly the healthiest choices I could have made- i.e. peanut butter on toast with jam. To top it all off I woke up with a cold today and it's settled in my chest so now I'm feeling sorry for myself, I didn't go swimming (although I made it to pilates) and I'm unlikely to run tomorrow. Woe is me!

So to cheer everyone up here's what I cooked for our main meal tonight... It is healthy with only 2 table spoons of olive oil.

The Salmon:
1 teaspoons of manuka honey
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
2 (260g) pieces salmon fillet, skin removed

Mix together the honey, lemon juice and mustard. Heat a non-stick griddle  pan until hot but not smoking and cook salmon 3 minutes on each side, or until it is just cooked through.  Add sauce mixture to the pan and simmer until it glazes. Remove from the pan and serve with Italian black rice and mushrooms and mange tout.

The Riso Nero e funghi (black rice and mushrooms):
120g of Italian riso venere (black rice). Note this is not wild rice, this is rice, but it is black on the outside.
350g closed cup mushrooms
2 Portobello mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 medium red onion
1 celery stalk
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cube porcini mushroom stock
parsley and chili to taste

To cook the black rice, simply add to abundant boiling water with a pinch of salt. This is not risotto rice so it must be cooked independently of the mushrooms and added at the end of the cooking.  The rice has to boil for about 35-40 minutes, until it is cooked through but it must not become soft and mushy. Once cooked drain the excess water and leave to rest. Chop the onion and celery and sauté in a pan  with the oil, chili and garlic until caramelised. In the meantime steam the chopped mushrooms in the microwave and preserve the juice. Add the mushrooms to the onions and celery, let them complete the cooking. add the juice from the steamer, the stock cube, the rice and the parsley. Let the rice absorb the remaining juice and leave it to rest while you cook the salmon.

Sunday! 14th Day of the diet.

Wow... It's already Sunday again. I can honestly say that I have kept up with the points and have kept a hold on my eating... until yesterday that is. Yesterday was a my cousin's son's 3rd birthday party and it is safe to say that while I didn't overindulge.. I wasn't exactly eating strictly within the diet rules.. I also managed to get to 3 glasses of wine down. Well we were on public transport so I didn't have to worry about driving. Hiccup over though.. today I've been back on the diet but it's very frustrating not being able to go out because of the snow, and having to constantly stop trying to snack out of boredom. There are only so many satsumas one can eat!

Tonight I've decided to make a bolognaise... Yes a bolognaise... but not a traditional ragù, with pork and veal but with turkey mince. I've also left out the pancetta to try and minimise the fat content. Here's the recipe:

500g turkey mince
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion
3 small to medium carrots
2 cloves garlic
1 chili
3 bay leaves
parsley
basil
oregano
salt and pepper
1 celery stick stalk
1 jar of passata
1 tin chopped tomatoes
100ml of red  wine (well usually white but we've a bottle of red open)
100ml of semi-skimmed milk
30ml balsamic vinegar
serves 4-6 (11 weightwatchers pro-points per serving at 4 servings)


Cooking instructions:

1. chop the onions carrots and celery;
2. add the olive oil to a saucepan large enough to hold all the ingredients comfortable. I have used refined olive oil instead of the more usual 50g of butter and chopped pancetta for the fat- possibly resulting in a ragù that is not as full bodied but nevertheless still full of flavour... with a third of the fat and most of it unsaturated;
3. add crushed garlic and chili to the oil and allow it to gently heat, infusing the oil with the flavours of the garlic and chili.
4. once the oil is warm add the chopped vegetables and sauté until the onion starts to caramelise;
5. most people would add the mince at this point to brown it.... most people, but not me. Browning the mince only makes it tough and dry. So at this point I add the passata and the tinned tomatoes along with the red wine and let them come to the boil;
6. now add the mince, gently stirring it in and making sure that it is completely broken up and separated;
7. add salt, black pepper, oregano and the bay leaves;
8. allow to simmer over a low heat for at least an hour, the longer the better;
9. 30 minutes into the cooking time add the balsamic vinegar, stir in properly and then slowly add the milk slowly stirring it into the simmering sauce. Leave to continue cooking;
10. you will know that the sauce is ready when the fat rises to the surface and separates from the sauce. At this point take off the heat and add the chopped parsley and basil leaves. Allow to cool for 20-30 minutes while you prepare the pasta. Enjoy!

Friday: Snow day fare

I haven't updated the blog this week despite some great successes. I lost weight and have continued to drop pounds! I am now 131.5kg or 289.3 lbs. I have managed to run 3 times this week, do 2 strength sessions and a double Pilate and swimming day on Wednesday! I am really impressed!

Given all the snow I thought that. Tonight I would make something hearty and it struck me I could use this blog to show you how I cook! So here goes:

Mince stuffed courgettes:
500 g beef mince
2 onions
7-8 medium courgettes
Garlic cloves
2 tablespoon Home made chili olive oil
Bay leaves
1 beef stock cubes for seasoning
crushed flat leaf parsley
bread crumbs
250 ml of water
100ml of red wine (for flavour)
serves 4-6

More to follow....

 

 

• Heat the olive oil with garlic cloves (smash them but don't crush them-leave them whole);
• add the onions, sliced and cover, allowing the onions to release their water, this will help with the browning and caramelising;

• add the mince, bay leaves, water and wine, letting it brown it brown and reduce for about 15-20 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated;
• take off the heat and add the parsley and season to taste;
• slice the courgettes and hollow out the centre;
• Place the courgettes on a lightly oiled baking tray and fill in the mince  

sprinkle bread crumbs on top and place the tray in a pre-heated oven at 180°C and leave in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the courgettes are cooked. I like to blast them under the grill for the last 5 minutes of cooking to give them a crunch.

• Serve with quinoa and a root vegetable like beetroot or carrots. Bon Appétit!





Day 8: first week down successfully

So today is day 8. I weighed myself today... 132.6 kg or 291.7lbs I lost just under  a kilo and half  or 2.8 lbs.

However, crucially, my muscle mass has gone up from 34.2% to 34.4%  while my fat ratio has gone down from 31.4% to 31.2%. Small numbers, maybe... but given that I'm not starving myself. I am sticking to Weight Watchers, which is not designed to get you to drop  drastic numbers in a short space of time, I think I'm doing ok.

Importantly I've stuck to my exercise goals, having exercised at least 4 times last week, 5 if you count Wednesday as a double whammy of Pilates and swimming.

What about the goals I set?

"So what's the plan...
1. Start up with weightwatchers: check!
2. Run at least 20-25km a week... tomorrow I start with my first 5.
3. Go back to swimming weekly
4. Do at least 2 sessions of weight training a week ( Tuesdays and Thursdays)
5. Update this blog"
1. Check.
2. not so well here.. I did 9km so under half of what I wanted to achieve but in my defence my ankle was playing up. Tonight, I ran 4km so am slowly working back up to 5km runs.
3. Check
4. Hmm I skipped Thursday but I did Tuesday so half a check.
5. Check- not quite everyday, I do have a life, but frequently enough!

Today's dishes....




ProPoints™ Tracker entries

Monday, January 14, 2013

Breakfast
40  g Oats, Porridge	4
1  portion(s) Blueberries	0
125  ml British 1% Fat Milk	1
Subtotal	5
Lunch
1  medium Apple	0
Bobotie	15
Subtotal	15
Dinner
200  g Beef, Fillet Steak, Lean, Grilled	9
1  small Swede	0
1 1/2 whole Beetroot	0
8  individual Tomatoes, Cherry	0
2  medium Satsumas	0
1  teaspoons Oil, Olive	1
5  g Olive Oil Spread	1
75  ml Wine, Red	2
Subtotal	13
Any Time
1  medium Banana	0
Subtotal	0
Food ProPoints values total used	33
Food ProPoints values remaining	26
Activity
No entries for activity.
Activity ProPoints values earned	0
Check off these important items daily:
Liquids          Milk & Dairy     Fruit & Vegetables          Healthy Oil

Notes

 

© 2013 Weight Watchers International, Inc. © 2013 WeightWatchers.com, Inc. All rights reserved. WEIGHT WATCHERS and ProPoints® are the registered trade marks of Weight Watchers International, Inc. and are used under licence by Weight Watchers UK Limited and WeightWatchers.co.uk Limited.