While doing my research on how to reduce the husbands cholesterol I came across the 5:2 diet. A fasting diet that helps reduce cholesterol and is also great for weight loss.  The 5:2 diet involves fasting for 2 non-consecutive days a week.  Although it is described as fasting, which to me implies no food, what it actually means is restricting your daily Calorie intake to 500 Calories for women and 600 Calories for men.  This sounds very little, but if you are clever about what you eat, you can eat 3 small meals a day. Just remember drinks count as Calories so no cappuccinos or wine!

Six months on I have reached my target weight. I’ve lost 12KG and 2-3 dress sizes (depending which shops I go to). I am no longer fasting on a weekly basis, but I now know I have a great way to keep my waistline in check.  If I’ve had a big eating weekend I will do a fast day during the week for maintenance.

I couldn’t resist including that all important before and after shot, after all, it’s not a real dieting article without.

How does a fast day look for me? I start the day with one slice of toast with low fat spread and Vegemite.  This equates to about 100 Calories.  My usual breakfast is a slice of toast and if I’m busy at work I can easily keep going to lunch on 100 Calories.

For lunch I aim to eat 70-100 Calories.  This could be a bowl of homemade soup or low fat lunch slices with tomatoes or pea puree.  I find it easy to keep the Calories down if I make things like soup myself.  I have found some great recipes online, that I have collected on my Pinterest page.  There are a few food bloggers doing this diet as it lends itself to people who like to eat.  I could never be disciplined enough to Calorie count for 7 days a week, but I’m stubborn enough to stick at it for 2 days a week, knowing I can have those duck fat roast potatoes on the weekend.

I save the greatest number of Calories for the evening. Some people prefer to eat the largest meal for breakfast, to set them up for the day, but I’m not really a breakfast person, so 100 Calories is just fine.  Now you might be feeling a bit hungry by now, so I make sure I get the largest volume of food for my 300 Calories.  Dinner often involves a grilled piece of chicken or fish with lots of vegetables, but no potatoes. I have also found that bourghal is relatively low in calories so you can eat quite a lot for 300 Calories.

There has been mixed press about this diet.  Many people suggest the diet encourages you to binge and eat badly for five days a week.  I actually found the opposite.  The limited Calorie intake made me realise that I don’t need to eat such large portions the rest of the week.  I can now identify when I’m full and can stop eating and I actually think my stomach may have shrunk a little!

Even though I’m not fasting strictly anymore I do still enjoy some of the lower Calorie dinners.  This stir fry was one of my firm favourites.

Pork and Vegetable Stir Fry (serves 2, 292 Calories per serve)

200g pork fillet, fat and sinew removed
30ml soy sauce
10ml Mirin
10ml Sesame oil
12g grated ginger
10g chopped, fresh garlic
200g carrot
150g snow  peas
1 can baby corn spears
10g fresh coriander, leaves picked and chopped
2g sesame seeds

Slice the pork into long, thin strips. Mix the soy sauce and Mirin together in a bowl and add half the sesame oil to make a marinade. Put the pork strips in the bowl, stirring to coat with the mixture and leave to marinate for 10 minutes while you chop the rest of the veg.

Prepare the veg ready for stir frying: cut the carrot into matchsticks; the snow peas into strips; halve the corn spears.

Heat a wok or large frying pan to high and add the rest of the sesame oil.  Remove the pork from the marinade, reserving the liquid for later.  Quickly fry the pork until it is brown on all sides and just cooked. This should only take a few minutes.  Remove the pork from the pan and set aside.

Add the ginger and garlic to the pan and fry for 1 minute, then add the carrot, snow peas and corn. Stir fry quickly on a high heat for about 2 minutes until heated through but not over cooked. Stir fried veg should be hot but crunchy.

Return the pork to the pan and add the marinade. Stir fry for another minute until the pork is hot and the marinade is bubbling.Serve sprinkled with coriander leaves and sesame seeds.

If you are not watching the calories so closely this is great served with noodles. Cook the noodles and stir through when you add the marinade to coat them with flavour.

Salads are the obvious choice for a low calorie dinner but even salads can weigh in at more than 300 calories per serve.  Take the the trusty Caesar Salad, as tasty as it is with it’s crispy croutons, salty bacon, creamy sauce and shaved cheese you would be hard pressed to make a portion for under 500 calories per serve.  I am quite partial to a Caesar Salad though so I’ve had a stab at adapting it to fit the 300 calorie requirement.  No it’s not as good as the real deal, but swapping the cheese and bacon for asparagus significantly reduces those calories. It’s another great option for a fast day dinner and with the quantity of lettuce you can eat, it looks like a generous plate of food!

Chicken, Asparagus and Egg Salad (serves 2, 326 calories per serve)

2 large eggs (55g)
160g asparagus spears (weight after woody ends removed)
200g baby Cos lettuce
200g chicken breast, skin and fat removed
spray oil
salt and pepper
60g reduced fat Greek style yoghurt
3-4 anchovy fillets (8g)
10ml lemon juice
5-10ml water

Start by hard boiling the eggs.  Put the eggs in a small pan and cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Once the water starts to boil time for 4-6 minutes depending on how hard you want the yolk to be.  I was using my mini Frizzle eggs so I boiled them for 2 minutes as they are half the size of a shop bought egg.

Blanch the asparagus in the water with the eggs for the last minute. Once the eggs have been boiling for the required amount of time drain them and cool immediately in cold water.

While the eggs and asparagus are cooling roughly chop the lettuce and place in a large bowl.

Heat a spray of oil in frying pan on medium high heat. Thinly slice the chicken breast and fry for a couple of minutes on each side until cooked through. Set aside while you make the dressing.

To make the dressing put the anchovies, yoghurt and lemon juice into a mini food processor and blend to a smooth sauce.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and a 5-10ml of water to make a dressing consistency.  If you don’t have a mini food processor you can chop the anchovies and stir through the other ingredients, this make a more rustic dressing.

Toss the lettuce, asparagus and chicken with nearly all of the dressing.  Halve the eggs and serve on top of the salad and drizzle with the remainder of the dressing.

The cracker that gives you the greatest number for the least calories are Cruskits. I wasn’t going to name the product but there doesn’t seem to be a generic name for them, or anything else quite like them on the shelves.  I’m also not quite sure what they are made of, but with the melt in the mouth texture I’m guessing it’s largely air.

Whatever they are made of they make a great base for low calorie toppings.  4 light crackers give you 86 calories leaving enough room for a sliced tomato.  Or you can push the boat out and chop 10g cherry tomatoes and add 15g sliced olives and 3g basil.  This gives you a 115 calorie lunch, and with a sprinkle of salt and pepper it’s pretty tasty.

I have also made a low fat hummus topping.  I love my usual hummus recipe, but with all the olive oil it doesn’t make for a low calorie option. To decrease the calories I blended the chickpeas with water, which sounds disgusting, but actually tastes ok if you ensure you add flavour with garlic and lemon.

In your mini blender combine 1 can of drained chickpeas, 1g of garlic finely chopped, 20ml lemon juice, 75ml water and salt and pepper to taste.  Blitz to a smooth paste, adding more water if needed.  At 108 calories per 100g you can have 40g with 3 Cruskits for a 104 calorie lunch. Or you can dip 100g carrot and 100g capsicum into 50g hummus.

For a gourmet topping you can reduce the number of crackers to allow a few extra calories for crushed peas, mixed with garlic, lemon and spring onions.  It certainly has the most flavour of all the options but with flavour comes the compromise of quantity.

Crushed Pea Cruskits (serves 1, 95 calories per serve)

60g frozen peas
1g garlic, finely chopped
squeeze lemon juice
20g spring onions, sliced
2g mint leaves, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 Cruskits

Soak the peas in boiling water for one minutes to defrost.  In a mini blender combine the peas, garlic and lemon juice and pulse until combined.  Stir through the chopped spring onions and mint season to taste and serve on the Cruskits.

Asian flavours are always good and are naturally healthy and low in calories. And as a bonus, they are even lower in calories if you cram them full of veggies instead of noodles or rice.

I’m not really sure where this recipe comes from but it’s a combination of my favourite Asian ingredients served in a broth.  I guess it broadly leans towards Thai, but without the usual heat and a few non-Thai ingredients.  Oh well, as long as you are not a purist you should enjoy this hearty broth.

This dish also works well when your husband doesn’t want to join you on the diet, as you can satisfy a hungry appetite by adding in some noodles.

Asian Chicken Broth (serves 2, 295 calories per serve)

6g garlic, finely sliced
10g fresh ginger, finely sliced
2 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced
1 red chilli, seeds removed, sliced
500ml stock
100ml water
200g chicken breast, skin and fat removed
150g oyster mushrooms
1 can baby corn
1 small can of water chestnuts
30ml fish sauce
juice of 1 lime
150g baby spinach leaves
1 tblsp coriander leaves, chopped

Put the stock, 100ml of water, garlic, ginger and kaffir lime leaves in a large pot and bring to the boil.  If you like a chilli hit add your chillies too, but I prefer mine on the mild side so I add the chilli at the end.  Simmer the stock with a lid on for 5 minutes so the flavour infuse.

Slice the chicken breast into bit sized pieces and add to the stock with the mushrooms.  Continue to simmer gently with a lid on the pan for another 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes the chicken should be cooked through.  Add the baby corn and water chestnuts and allow to heat through for 1 minute (they don’t need cooking).  Finish the broth by adding the fish sauce, lime juice and spinach.  Stir to combine the flavours and wilt the spinach.

Serve in a bowl and sprinkle with the coriander leaves.  Serve with noodles if not limiting yourself to 300 calories.

All weights calculated after peeling, calories counted via CalorieKing.

Anyway, for me,  the difference between success and failure on the 5:2 diet is to find foods that look filling but are low in calories. This way I can fool my brain into thinking I am eating more than I actually am.  That’s where raw vegetables come in.  I have discovered that raw veggies contain less calories than cooked which means I can put more on the plate.

For this recipe I have left the asparagus raw because I found some really young, delicate stalks. If you can only get fatter, tougher asparagus then you may want to blanch them for a couple of minutes in boiling water and allow to cool.  This may add a few more calories to the dish though!

I used some of my home made whey ricotta as it is too delicious to resist. I had to guess the calories, so judged it on the whole milk variety, but you could of course buy low fat ricotta and have more.  You can also drizzle with extra virgin olive oil on days when you are not counting the calories so closely.

Zucchini and Asparagus Salad (serves 2, 102 calories per serve)
40ml fresh lemon juice
1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
10g red chilli, finely chopped
200g small zucchini (courgettes)
100g asparagus
30g spring onions, finely sliced
30g black olives, sliced
60g ricotta
6g fresh mint leaves

In a large bowl, make the marinade by combining the lemon juice, garlic and chilli.

This is my Jamie Oliver moment, I always think of Jamie when I crack out the speed peeler.  I’d never heard of a potato peeler being called that until I started watching Jamie, but the name has stuck. Using a speed peeler, peel the zucchini until you can peel no more.  You should be left with a large pile of zucchini ribbons.  It looks a lot, but it does shrink when marinaded in the lemon juice.

Put the zucchini in the bowl with the lemon juice and stir until well coated.  Add the asparagus and leave to stand for a few minutes to allow the flavours to combine.

Just before serving add the spring onions, olives and mint.  Dot with the ricotta and sprinkle with mint.  I served this with a small portion of grilled, white fish giving me a satisfying 300 calorie dinner.

Calories calculated using Calorie King, based on the quantities given above.  Weights refer to ingredients once leaves, peel, stalks etc. have been removed.

Having never had to worry about dieting, it wasn’t really on my radar and I had not developed the self control required for such things, but when my BMI finally tipped from the OK to the not so OK it was time to do something about it (I was by now more than 20kg heavier than the day I got married).

This realisation coincided with my husbands need to reduce his cholesterol, so now seemed to be the perfect time to give it a go, that and the fact I refused to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe.  In a bid to help, my mother sent through some information about a new diet that everyone is talking about in the UK, the 5:2 diet. The 5:2 diet claims to help you live longer, reduce your cholesterol and as an added bonus lose weight.  The idea being you eat whatever you want for 5 days of the week and to balance that out have two fast days a week. The fast days encourage your body to breakdown the fat and cholesterol that usually just hangs around, unless you are an exercise enthusiast, which I am not.

The initial sound of this was horrific, I could never go without eating! But in actual fact, when they say “fast” days they actually mean limit your calorie intake to 500 calories for women and 600 for men.  I investigated what this would look like in real terms, and it actually seemed achievable.  You can read more about the diet here.

So 6 weeks in I am feeling slimmer and healthier and I have lost a whopping 5.7 KG. I still have a few more kilos to go and I imagine it will become more difficult as I get closer to my target weight but for now I am as pleased as punch.  It suits me because I love to cook, eat and dine out, which in my eyes is not enjoyable if you are always watching what you eat.If I can eat what I want for most of the week, and control it on days I am working, it could be the answer to my prayers.  I pick the fast days according to what I have on in the week, there is no particular recommendation as to which day is better – too easy.

A typical fast days eating looks like this: a slice of toast for breakfast (100 calories), a bowl of soup for lunch (100 calories), a small piece of protein and veggies for dinner in the evening (300 calories), and only water to drink.  I thought I would be starving without snacking but I have learnt that feeling hungry is actually not so bad, especially when it is doing you good.  I don’t feel hungry all day and I never feel more hungry than I do on other days.

In order to not feel too hard done by I need to eat something three times a day even if it is something small.  I’m also not very good at eating the same thing too often, especially two days in a row (although fast days do not have to be consecutive days, but sometimes it works out like that).  I thought it would be difficult to find recipes that fit the bill and still make me feel like I’ve eaten but as this seems to be the diet for foodies there are a few fellow bloggers posting great recipes to get me started, like Karen at Lavender and Loveage and Fiona at London Unattached.

I cannot guarantee that you are able to eat exactly what you want and still lose weight, as I have dramatically reduced cheese, butter and cream for the rest of the week due to the low cholesterol side of things, but even in the week I ate roast goose (crispy skin included), chocolate and wine I still lost a small amount, so once I reach my goal I think it will work for maintenance, no holds barred.

As a food lover, I find it really important to have variety in my diet, so I am now on a mission to find a variety of low calorie meals for fasting days. Here is a recipe for my new favourite grain bourghal.  I am using the CalorieKing app to calculate my calories, so hopefully they are accurate.  Quantities can be increased for non-dieters or non-fasting days.

Bourghal, Tomato and Capsicum Salad with Griddled Chicken Breast 285 Calories (serves 1)

25g bourghal
1/2 small clove garlic
80g tomatoes
80g capsicum
15g spring onions, white part only
15g sliced, pitted black olives
10g mint leaves
10g parsley leaves
20ml  fresh lemon juice
100g chicken breast, skin and fat removed, about 1 cm thick
salt and pepper
olive oil spray

Put the bourghal in a large bowl and cover with plenty of boiling water and leave to stand for 45 minutes.

Finely chop the garlic, tomatoes, capsicum, spring onion and herbs and set aside.

Just before the bourghal is ready, heat a griddle pan to high.  Season the chicken breast and spray with a small amount of oil.  Cook the chicken for 8-10 minutes until cooked through, turning half way. Allow the chicken to rest while you assemble the rest of the dish.

Once the bourghal is tender (45 minutes soaking) drain to remove all excess water.  Return to the bowl and stir through the chopped garlic, vegetables and herbs.  Season to taste with the lemon juice, salt and pepper. If it is not a fast day it also tastes great with some extra virgin olive not, but that would tip this dish way over the magic 300 calories.  Serve with the chicken.

Calorie count is a guide, and worked out based on the quantities stated.