So here we are in October 2014, and things are going well – I’m on a diet day today (Wed) just past lunchtime, feeling hungry and looking forward to my evening meal – which will be based on a recipe from the BBC ‘201 one-pot favourites’ book I’ve used before – it’s called ‘Smoked Haddock Stovies’, and in the book just involves haddock, onion and potato (rated as 307 cals per portion), but as we have some courgette, carrot and tomato that needs eating I’ll be adding that as well. I’ll follow with a large orange and maybe a bit of low fat yoghurt, so should be well under 600.
Meanwhile, the weight has stayed below 11st (=70kg) and has even come down a bit – see chart below:
Oct 2012 to Oct 2014 weight chart
No idea why my weight started coming down again as I haven’t changed anything except maybe running a bit more. Still it has worked to my advantage, within the last month have run my fastest marathon for about 5 yrs (4h 1min) and my fastest half-marathon since 2007 (1h 45m) so I’m happy about the way things are, though I don’t want to lose much more weight I think.
One thing I have discovered, which helps, is to drink much more on fast days, and I now drink water flavoured with the ‘concentrated’ fruit flavour e.g. Robinsons ‘squashed’ – in fact I’m drinking some now with hot water (seems better esp. as i always feel cold on fast days) – each squeeze of concentrate is only a few calories. I’m still having the odd ‘Tic-Tacs’ as well (only 2 cals per).
Anyway, it’s all working – more when there’s more to say…
Nearly forgot – I did miss one diet day a couple of weeks ago when we had visitors I was taking on tourist trips – and we had a day in York where I did have coffee & cake etc! It’s the only day I’ve skipped for a long time though.
Hopefully a week where I’ll be back to full exercise as well as diet. Some good news though, a weigh-in on Sunday after a 10 mile run put me at 11st 4lbs (update – rounded up), so probably losing weight already. We’ll see on Thursday which is the next probable time I’ll take to the scales.
Monday
My wife is joining me in the diet meals this week and we started off with a fish based meal.
We found a pack of breaded ‘sole’ in the supermarket that seemed worth a try the other day, so we had that with a mix of vegetables. The fish and veg were both baked in the oven, separately with the veg on a closed container complete with a chilli sauce left over from another dish the other day (we’re very much a ‘waste not’ family). Very nice it was too.
Followed up with a large navel orange.
Calories – the fish was rated at 260 calories for the pack, which seems low, so one fillet, which is what I had, would be 130, plus 100 for the veg. Teas and coffees during the day plus the orange would be another 150 giving a total of 380, rounded up to 400
Wednesday
Fish again, this time some ‘breaded haddock’ fillets (Marks & Sparks, a pack from the freezer), once again shared with my wife. Just baked in the oven and accompanied by a salad of leaves, cucumber, tomato & celery and with a low calorie dressing, plus some Branston and mixed pickle. Just for a change I had orange juice with the meal, more calories but a change.
The fish was followed up with an apple (a large Braeburn)
Calories – the fish was supposed to be 160 cals per fillet, the salad and pickle might have amounted to 100, 100 for the orange juice (I had a big glass full), plus coffees and teas during the day, say 100. So a total of around 460 cals
I had my first visit back to the gym today, and expect to run tomorrow morning so I’ll get an idea of my weight progress then…
Update – weight on Thurs morning was 11st 3lb (rounded up) so a pound off since last Sun
All a bit unusual this week, not doing any of the cooking, but I’ll get back to it maybe next week – depends a bit on my wife’s schedule.
Ok – yes we have more haddock in the freezer, and it needs to be eaten. Still one more pack to go I think so be prepared to see more fish recipes!
This week saw me trying a new recipe, which didn’t quite work, then trying it again and finding it still didn’t work! So I will be trying it again as despite the failings it did actually taste good (and that’s not just me speaking, my wife thought do as well).
Monday
I had found a good looking recipe in my ‘500 curries’ book which didn’t need a lot of preparation so I thought I would give it a go.
The recipe was called ‘Cod in a spicy mushroom sauce’ – but of course I substituted haddock. It basically involved a two-stage procedure – first grilling the fish (which had lemon juice added to it) , then stir- frying the other components before adding the fish back in.
The stir fry comprised onion, and crushed peppercorns, followed by the mushrooms (button type), then adding a mixture of yoghurt, ginger, garlic, garam masala, chilli powder and salt and frying for a bit longer before adding the fish back in to be heated through.
Where could that go wrong I ear you ask? – Well all seemed well until the yoghurt mixture started to eat up whereupon it promptly curdled! So it was served like that and as I said tasted fine but clearly the sauce was not the texture it should be.
To go with the fish, I prepared a vegetable bhaji of carrot, courgette, red pepper and broccoli. The whole meal was shared with my wife.
For ‘afters’ I had an orange.
Calories – well in the book the fish dish is quoted as 202 calories per portion. However, I would guess my portion was bigger and would guess it was nearer to 250. The vegetables, maybe another 100 and witht he orange and teas a total of around 450 calories would be a reasonable estimate.
Wednesday
Since there was another large fillet clearly there was the opportunity to ‘get it right next time’. After some discussion about the curdling, I repeated the preparation with one variation, the yoghurt mixture was added slowly, bit by bit with the heat low until it was all in the pan and mixed thoroughly – then the it was cooked for a few minutes. BUT – as soon as the heat was raised the sauce curdled again! Nevertheless, the dish tasted good and was accompanied by vegetable bhaji again.
It was followed by an apple.
Calories. Well the simplest approach is just to say it would have been around the same as Monday – 450 calories.
So reader, you can look forward to the next attempt, not next week though to find out how that goes wait for my next post….
Scales – well I did weigh myself this morning (Sunday) after a 13.5m run, and even after all those calories burned I was still 1st 2lbs. A bit disappointing, but we’ll see where I am Thursday morning after my run and two days of fasting.
Yes, it’s Haddock gain this week – I thought I would start this post early before the memory fades and it may take a while to compose. This post is going to seem more like cookery than fasting….
The haddock this time is from a batch of fresh haddock bought a while ago and left in the freezer – not ‘breaded fillets’ as previously. It seemed a good idea to start eating it – and for a change I did actually do a bit of planning before the ‘fast’ meals this week. I decided to go for a ‘curry’ theme this week. We have a good collection of oriental and Asian cookery books, and as my wife and I have travelled a bit we eat quite a wide ranging cuisine at home.
So a search through the books picked up a couple of recipes for the fish that appealed and furthermore, the component parts were either ‘in stock’ or easily available. The accompaniment also seemed reasonable as a vegetable bhaji initially.
Monday
‘Fish Curry with Tomatoes’ – from ‘The Best of Oriental Cooking’ (Granger -1987, covers a range of cuisines and very handy). One driver for using this recipe was the fact we still had a number of our own tomatoes left that needed eating. A fairly basic one-pan recipe it involved frying onion, garlic, fresh coriander, cumin, turmeric, paprika and tomato and garam masala (in stages), before adding the fish (removed from skin and divided into chunks) and cooking for a few minutes until fish cooked through.
To go with this I cooked a simple vegetable bhaji ( based on a recipe in ‘far eastern cookbook – Solomon’, – one of our oldest cookbooks) I just tend to throw in a selection of vegetables to hand and works very well. This time I had carrot, turnip, celery, sweet pepper and courgette available – so they all went in.
I managed just about to cook both dishes at more or less the same time and the verdict? Well (my wife & I both eat the dishes together), the joint view was that the fish could have done with more ‘heat’, probably by adding chilli instead of the paprika, otherwise very tasty.
After – an orange
Calories – well your guess is as good as mine really, but the day would probably amount to no more than 500 I suppose.
Wednesday
With 2 more haddock fillets to finish off I needed to find 2 more recipes, one for fish and something different from a bhaji for the vegetable. Once again I stayed with the curry them and in fact on the opposite page in the ‘Best of Oriental…’ book was a ‘Fish in Foil’ recipe that looked interesting. I found a vegetable recipe in ‘5000 curries, Baljekar, 2010) titled ‘Indian-spiced Vegetable Curry’, which seemed different enough to try.
Now individually I’m sure it would have been not too bad to prepare those dishes, but to try and prepare them both turned out to be a real trial – in my usual fashion, almost every container and utensil I could possibly use were scattered about the kitchen by the time I’d finished, scarcely a flat surface free.. The time and space consumer was the preparation for both dishes. The fish dish involved blitzing a mixture of lemon zest, lemon flesh, 2 onions, grated ginger, garlic, green bell pepper, green chilli, fresh coriander, cumin and fenugreek seed and desiccated coconut – just assembling that lot was something. After that is was easy – fry the blitzed mixture for a few minutes, add some salt and garam masala then spread onto the fish fillets (each cut in two) in some foil which is then wrapped into a parcel and cooked in the oven for 12 mins or so.
That only left, ha!, the vegetables to do. I had carrots, celery, courgette, red pepper and broccoli available. So first needed to chop, cut and slice down to bite sized bits. The recipe called for boiling the veg first – not something I would do normally (I prefer steaming or microwaving) but since it was the first time I had tried this recipe I thought I would stick to the instructions. Next was assembling the spices etc. which were – cumin, mustard and onion seeds, turmeric, garlic, curry leaves, a whole dried chilli (we had our own) and sugar. The recipe also needed plain yoghurt with some cornflour mixed in. The spices were all fried up in stages (the seeds first), then the veg added followed by the yoghurt and just warmed through.
So you might ask after all that was it worth it. Well yes it was, I thought the fish very good the past on top very tasty. The vegetables also nicely different, though as with the dishes on Monday I would add more chilli I think. Indeed my wife, who ate her portions Thursday evening agreed. So the dishes will be added to the list of ones to do again – though modified slightly. Next time I’ll be more organised!
Anyway, how about the calories I hear you asking – well the veg dish was quoted as 92 cals, so I would round up to 100. The fish, is quoted in my calorie book as 170 or so per fillet, so lets say 350 (there were 2 small fillets) at worst. WIth the teas and the orange which followed a total of around 500.
No scales data since Sunday , as I’m running a half-marathon on Sunday – I’ll weight myself after that.
One thing I’m noticing as the weather is cooler is that I feel cold on the fast days in a way I don’t the rest of the week, anyone else feel that?
‘Fraid so, with two of the breaded fillets left in the pack in the freezer, what else could I do but finish it off? Well that and a lack of effort to find something different perhaps.
Mind it did sort of fit in with what was going on in the way of other food.
Monday
As previously I had two of the fillets and as with the previous Monday, accompanied with a vegetable bhaji – this time freshly made using carrot, courgette, celery, sweet pepper plus some sweetcorn and peas left over from the weekend.
Haddock fillets with veg bhaji
Followed by an orange
Calories – I would guess slightly less than the previous Monday – but still around 540 cals
Wednesday
As the weather was quite warm, and we had lettuce in the fridge I opted for the simplest meal. Baking the last tow haddock fillets in the oven and having them with salad. This consisted of lettuce, tomato, spring onion, baby tomatoes, a few capers and some slices of pickled beetroot. A dash of salad dressing, hot relish and tartare sauce finished off the plateful.
Followed up with a navel orange
Calories – Well, the fillets 368 cals + salad, say 50 + dressings 50 + teas 20 = 478 total
So another fairly calorie heavy week. My excuse was that I needed fattening up after the marathon!
Scales
The results showed up Monday morning (17th Oct) after a run when I tipped the scales at 11st 2.4lbs!
Once again the main ingredients for fast day meals were determined by what was available or needed eating rather than and fancy menu planning.
Monday
With one ‘breaded haddock fillet’ left from a pack in the freezer all I needed to do was decide exactly how to have it. I went with an approach from a previous week of basically baking in the oven with some vegetables in a tray covered with foil. So, with baby tomatoes, courgette and some cauliflower that needed eating, all I did was add some sweet pepper and a few olives, and then bake it all in the oven on a tray covered in foil. Just a bit of seasoning as well and some hot relish on the plate.
Followed up with an orange.
Calories – fish – about 250, 150 for the veg and relish plus the orange and teas Total – less than 500
Breaded Haddock and veg.
Wednesday
Two fillets of chicken breast in the freezer needed finishing off and I decided to hark back to the recipe using harissa and oregano (see this week) where I used turkey instead of chicken. So the chicken is cooked for a while in a foil covered tray, adding the veg then cooking for a bit longer. Tomatoes needed eating so plenty of those, and courgette for the same reason and a chopped carrot plus some more olives. Once again I added some ‘hot’ relish.
Followed up with an apple.
Calories, well a bit over 100gms of chicken left so I suppose getting near to 300. The veg etc. 150 or so, and another 80 for apple and teas – Total 530, still ok for the day.
Chicken with harissa and veg
Scales Data
I weighed myself after a long run on Monday and was 11st 1.6lbs. More or less stable in terms of weight.
One thing that seems to happen on some but not all fast days, and that’s a headache – not a really bad one but just persistent until I take some paracetamol. I’ve seen mention of this in the 5:2 forum and it’s put down to various reasons, could just be not enough fluid intake for me I suspect.
As the title suggests I had haddock fillets for both fast days tis week – it’s all to do with what needed to be eaten from the fridge and freezer rather than any planning.
Monday
A haddock fillet from the freezer was the basis of my meal – and since I have little imagination, and there was plenty of salad components available then I had the fish with salad.
So the breaded fish fillet was simply baked in the oven and the accompanying salad was composed of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, celery and pickled beetroot plus some a dash of balsamic vinegar, and piccalilli.
All followed up with some mango in juice.
The fish was rated as 235 cals, I guess the salad and pickle might be another 150 cals. The mango was around 70 cals. So together with 2 mugs of tea the total would be around 470 cals.
Quite a pleasant and filling meal, and I do like haddock.
Wednesday
More breaded haddock fillet, this time one and a half fillets (we needed to get them eaten) and again just baked in the oven. While the rest of the family had chips and peas with their fish – I had salad again. This time lettuce, carrot, celery, cucumber and branston pickle with a dash of lemon juice over the fish, and balsamic over the salad.
I didn’t miss the chips – honest! and enjoyed my fish and salad. My ‘sweet’ was a clementine
Calories – will I guess 300 for the fish, 150 for the salad and pickle at worst, and another 70 for the 2 mugs of tea and the clementine, giving a total of 520 cals. Still ‘under the bar’ so ok for the fast.
I’ll update my weight after tomorrow morning when I’ll weigh myself
Here (16 – 22 December) we are getting close to Christmas and I’m still managing to fast in spite of all the Christmas festivities, mince pies, christmas cake, choccolates etc.
So again Monday was the first fast day this week and as a couple of weeks ago I had a breaded fillet of haddock (235 cals, see pic on Dec 7th) with a veg stir fry which included – garlic, fresh ginger, courgette, carrot, pepper, chilli pepper & cabbage – in fact quite a plateful! Finished with a dash of rice wine.
Total calories, may have been close to 600 due to the massive amount of veg stir fry I would guess
Not sure about the calorie content apart from the fish but I guess just less than 600 cals if the mugs of tea and coffee (I’m trying a different sweetener which is marginally better)
Tuesday – I have been on the scales this morning, after a run and breakfast and am now down to 11st 5lbs so a bit more weight has gone and a graph of the wights since I started measuring shows a good downwards trend. My ideal would be to be close to 11st which used to be my ‘running weight’ some years ago…. Also, i note that my ‘fat ratio’ has come down to almost 20 (it started at 25) which is good news.
Wednesday was my fast day again this week, rather for family reasons than anything as Thursday evenings is the only weekday evening we can all eat together so I may well make this a regular feature. There are downsides of course, only one day of eating between fasts does seem a bit harsh and it does mean another early morning run after a fast day as well (Thursday is the other early morning run after Tuesday). On the plus side I do get four days of unrestricted eating which is appreciated – especially with all te treats around this time of year – mmm another mince pie – yes I can!
Having said that I skipped the run this morning (Thurs) as it was chucking it down and is set in for most of the day. I don’t mind running in the rain normally but as it was raining several hours before I got up (at 5:00am), and it is pitch black, then spotting the deep puddles on the pavement becomes a lottery and I hate soaking wet feet so I may go tomorrow, weather permitting (I’ll be up early again thanks to my sons training)
So what did I eat I hear you say after that preamble, well sorry to be a bit boring but it was the ‘breaded fish fillet’ again together with a veg stir fry again (only slightly less this time). Slightly different mix of veg – onion, spring onion, carrot, sweet & chilli pepper and cabbage, with a dash of rice wine, but still very nice. I did mean to finish will a ’10 cal jelly’ again but was too tired (it was late after my son’s evening training session) and i had to go to bed early ready for the morning so I skipped it.
During the day I had a couple of mugs of tea and two small mugs of coffee with sweetener.
Total calories – well certainly less than 600 Cals, probably nearer to 500, even including the tea & coffee.
I must change the menu if only so I can add some different photos…..
My 5:2 Diet Blog 