Diet #39, the 5:2 diet

Hopefully, no one's noticed that I've taked a MAMMOTH break from this blog. Most people fall off the diet wagon eventually - I lasted 39 weeks, at least. But this week, I suddenly find myself with some time on my hands and some weight on my hips, and it's time to get back on the diet wagon!! 
 

I’m always keen to try the newest fad (I will lose that last half stone), and the 5:2 diet is certainly the latest trend. Everyone is on it, friends, colleagues, school mums - even Pizza Express are advertising their latest menu as one you can eat on this diet…
 

This is probably the simplest diet I’ve tried. For two days a week, you eat no more than 500 calories, and eat normally on the remaining days. The ‘science’ behind this says that it’s better than standard calorie restriction for maintaining lean body mass. By fasting for two (non-consecutive) days, you don’t ever fast for long enough to send your body into starvation mode, where you begin to store fat in anticipation of a lack of future food. Compared with a normal calorie-controlled diet, It also means that there’s no time to get demotivated and break the diet, as, for the majority of the week, you eat what you want (within reason), anyway.
 

There are lots of sources online to find low-cal recipes that work on this diet. I like the ShapeUp Club app, which is a great way to keep track of what I’m eating. The big shock was the limited amount of food that 500 calories will ‘buy’ you. On day 1, I managed an apple and banana, yogurt and cous cous – and I was 20 calories over! On my second fast day, I created a 'delicious' and low-cal Bruschetta for lunch – only 160 calories in total (recipe: 3 x pumpkin seed ryvita, cherry tomatoes, balsamic vinegar). Most of the 5:2 plans advocate missing breakfast, but I think that’s hard to do if you have a full day – instead I missed dinner on my fast days, choosing an early night instead.

This diet had some unexpected side effects. Not having to prepare, cook and eat dinner freed up lots of time, which is a great way to gain back some extra hours for all the extra shit I like to cram into my life. Missing meals twice a week also cut our food bills right down… Finally, all the early nights (where I chose to sleep instead of eating dinner) meant that my eyes are also looking fresher and brighter, another unexpected benefit! Once you reach your desired weight, you move down to a 6:1 diet, with six normal days and one fast day, which sounds brilliantly easy...

There are some downsides too. Between working lunches and dinner with friends, finding two days in the week to fast can be difficult. You also can’t exercise on the fasting days, and I really missed running on those days. On the days immediately after my fast, I’m hungier than normal, and having to work hard to not overeat to compensate.

After two weeks I've lost four pounds, and I’m finding it really easy to stick to. So much so, that I don't want to move onto diet 40...

This week, 52diets is loving the Cabbage Patch Kids, who turn 30 this year. We were lucky enough to be invited to their 30th birthday party (on a Sunday morning, in Hamleys), and I hope that they're the next retro/vintage craze... and that someone buys me one for my birthday!

Men are from Mars, and this book is from Crazy-town

This is the first time that I've ever read a diet book and thought that I just can't be bothered. According to John Gray, not only will I lose weight, I will experience a renewed and lasting romantic glow.

Men and women gain and lose weight due to their different brain chemistry. Men rely on dopamine - and if he doesn't produce enough he has to "turn up the volume" to get a quick fix - drive faster, watch porn, make more and more money... John Gray goes on to explain "When his dopamine levels are low, emptying the trash just doesn't do it, but making a lot of money does. With this insight, a woman can begin to understand why a man will remember to make a business call but will forget to empty the trash". Really? Will she?? When she's taking out the rubbish, that's what she'll be thinking.

There are 12 symptoms of low dopamine, as follows:

1. Low energy at home: work challenges stimulate his dopamine, the comfortable routine at home does not.
2. Declining interest and passion: apparently eye contact is an indication of dopamine levels - wandering eyes are a symptom of insufficient dopamine
3. Inattentiveness and impatience: A man listens to his wife talk about her day and his energy level drops. He loses his ability to focus like a deflating balloon as she talks beyond two or three minutes.
4. Impulsiveness:
5. Forgetfulness: apparently after a romantic encounter a man says he will call but does not. This is because his dopamine levels drop
6. Solution oriented: Men won't listen to your problems, they'll just be annoyed that you don't have a solution
7. Emotional unavailability: At the end of a work day, a man goes to his cave and then is too tired to come out. The man, apparently, can stay in the cave as long as he likes. Number 7 does not address the issues faced by the working mother who would like nothing less than to go to her cave after work, but can't, as there are children to be bathed and fed and put to bed.
8. Tunnel vision: men focus on the big problems and overlook the little stuff. Like why is my wife so p*ssed off with me (refer to points 1-7 above).
9. Boredom and addictions: With low dopamine, a man is easily bored. He will turn to drugs, smoking and video games to overcome this boredom
10. Needing space and distance
11. Inconsistency
12. Loss of attraction: A husband loves his wife, but after a few years of marriage, he isn't turned on by her the way he was in the beginning, he will desire to have affairs.

Women, on the other hand, can suffer from low Serotonin. Symptoms include
1. Temporary amnesia
2. Sudden mood changes
3. Increased neediness
4. Looking for love in all the wrong places
5. Resentment flu
6. Unrealistic expectations
7. Sabotaging relationships
8. Home improvement committee
9. Women who give too much
10. Feeling overwhelmed
11. Depression
12. Overeating

Seriously. I've never read such bullshit. I can't even be bothered to read the rest of the book. The end.