Me and the 5:2 (Fast) diet

Now that most of the Christmas nibbles have disappeared from the house, the "healthy me" plan can be kick started again.

I have followed the 5:2 diet plan for 2 years now, admittedly not always to the letter but actually not a bad effort for me (if I say so myself).   I started the whole thing after gradually putting on weight year after year, I was going to my wardrobe and looking to see what would fit, as opposed to what I wanted to wear……..it had to stop, then hey presto the 5:2 diet appeared in the press etc and I thought “I could do that” and I did, I have lost a stone and a half. Most importantly to me..I have kept it off!!

You may not think a stone and a half is much, well to some people it isn't but to me it is, I have struggled with my weight for nearly 30 years and I have never managed to shift this much.   To put it all into context for you I am 5’ 4” and though I have never had to buy clothes larger than a 16 (and that is mainly tops because I have big boobs!!!) I knew they were becoming the norm and I didn’t want that.

So here we are, a new year, a fresh start, back on the 5:2 and hopefully heading down to size 12’s, I have some already (can’t believe it!!!).

I try to behave as much as I can during the week, I diet (500 calorie allowance) for two of the days and then for the other 3 I try to make food intake count.   Porridge for breakfast, soup and a low fat muffin (both homemade) for lunch, healthy choice snacks and fruits in between (I believe it is important to eat enough on non-diet days or your body won’t react to the diet days as it should)  and a normal tea (portion control in operation here though), then come the weekend, I don’t even think about dieting, of course it’s not always as easy but I intend to continue and see how far (down) I can get this year.

If you are thinking about the 5:2 diet my advice would be give it a go, it might not be for you, but then again it might be the answer to your prayers!! – Good luck

Filofax colouring book..........Why Haven't I thought to do this before?

I haven't written anything about my Filofax before............to be honest I thought I was the only person as obsessive and geeky about them, but thanks to Pintrest I have unearthed a whole load of exciting stuff, and am now secure in the knowledge that loads of people are as batty as me!!   Anyway I am here now because I have just had a eureka moment whilst printing this years pages!   Because my Filofax is an A5 massive hunk of a thing, years ago I designed page templates for lots of things, including the actual diary bit I love the freedom of printing my own, I used to trawl through each year studiously filling in Birthdays, anniversaries etc, but now I have three pages of stickers (self designed of course) that I print off then apply, this has cut time greatly. Anyway the pages progressed from being plain to having tiny pretty pictures at the top of each page, whilst I was setting up this years pages I chose a couple of  simple outline pictures and was about to shrink them and put them at the top when I thought "Colouring book" how could I not share that? Not sure how practical it will prove to be yet but I like living on the edge!!! 

Challenges

2015 the year of the challenges

I have set myself several challenges this year, the first is blogging more often!! But I have also decided that along with the usual “lose more weight and get fitter” thing I will try a couple of things I have read about. Firstly the “throw something out every day for a year” challenge, I should just quantify here that I will be either throwing out, giving away be it to a charity shop or anybody else or repurposing, anything that I come across that is just hanging around for the sake of it.  Secondly the “save a pound for every day of the year” challenge.   So far so good, but let’s be honest here, we are not that far in yet are we!!!! I have cheated a bit with the saving cause to give myself a good start and a little flexibility I have paid in until the middle of January.   The throwing out however I am doing day by day and have so far got rid of some old Tech, clothes, old makeup, unwanted Christmas decorations and some jars of ancient spices from my pantry……..blimey if I carry on at this rate there will be mothing left!!!! So I am looking forward to a super slim, rich (well richish) minimalist (not a cat in hells chance of that I am a crafter!!!!) me at the end of 2015!!!!