Fourth Week into 5:2 Diet

I have to make some adjustments. 

And it's ok, life is about making adjustments to suit ourselves.

6-9 months after my pregnancy, I lost most of my baby weight, in fact, I was lighter than my pre-pregnancy self. I fit into most of my old clothes but not skinny jeans and super fitting dress. Fats are accumulating around my tummy and thighs specifically. With my almost non-existence exercise regime, I know weight is not the number I should be focusing on. Fats are much lighter than muscles. Weight just doesn't reflect how much muffin top I've accumulated.

After life got into a more normal routine, I go back to yoga once a week when I can. Some running here and there but not regular at all. Muscles still do not tone up but a bit better after a year. And I still do not fit in skinny jeans. I gave up.

However, home trips after home trips, Christmas party, New Year party, Chinese New Year, friends and family gathering etc., fats are building up. After my Taiwan trip, even the looser shorts and pants are getting tighter! 

RED ALERT!

This is the reason I jumped into the 5:2 diet ship with The Man.

Three weeks after the diet, I lost almost 1kg, and the tightness in shorts and pants are loosing up. That's great! But something not so great happened too.

I realized my skin looks dull. My face looks aged. 

O.M.G.

I have no idea whether it's related to this 5:2 diet, but for this period of time, this has been the only big change in my life. So I suspected it.

Therefore, on my fourth week, I make a little adjustments on my diet. I still try the intermittent fasting diet but no longer stick to 500 calories. I discard the idea of calories, just eat lesser than normal.

Yesterday was my fast day, and the menu goes like this:

Breakfast: Overnight oat with blueberries and walnuts, and a cup of black coffee

Lunch: Quinoa with Halloumi cheese, cherry tomatoes, baby spinach and mushroom

Dinner: Salad (Lettuce, cherry tomatoes, hard boiled egg with sesame sauce)

I've always wanted to try quinoa but never did until my friend told me she's been cooking it. So I asked her how she cooks it, and I too got into this "health buff".

Quinoa with halloumi cheese, cherry tomatoes, mushroom and baby spinach

This is easy to cook, and I'm totally in love with halloumi cheese! :P

Ingredients:

1. Quinoa
2. Cherry tomatoes, halved
3. Mushrooms, sliced
4. Baby spinach
5. Halloumi cheese, cubed
6. Garlic, minced
7. Salt and pepper 

Method:

1. Wash the quinoa under running tap water. Boil it for 15-20 minutes. Quinoa absorb a lot of water, so make sure you drain them well after cooking.
2. On the frying pan while quinoa is cooking, pan fry the halloumi until they're golden brown and set them aside.
3. Sauteed the mushrooms, until they're brown and no more liquid coming out, add garlic and cherry tomatoes. And followed by baby spinach for the last as they cook very fast, you do not want to over cook them. 
4. Drain your quinoa, and add them into the pan together with halloumi cheese.
5. Give them a bit of stir, add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve.

My target for 5:2 Diet is only until next week. After that, I'll be off for holiday with my family, that's when any diet is useless :P

Let's see how it goes from here. 

Feed The Mommy——Baked Egg and Caprese-Style Portobello Brekkie

Breakfast is my favourite time of the day, because I'll be awake but not my son! Haha! Don't get me wrong, I love my son, he's cute and cuddly. But mommies like alone time too!

I usually try my best to wake up earlier than the two of them to whip up a good breakfast for The Man and I. But sometimes the gravity in the bed is stronger than anywhere else (like today) and I have my breakfast alone after The Man left the house to work.

Baked egg, caprese-style portobello, kiwi and coffee 

Baked Egg

You can use any ingredients you like, but for me there are always the two same versions (because I'm too lazy). It's either mushrooms or spinach and cherry tomatoes.

For mushrooms, I usually use button mushrooms, cut them into thin slices and sauteed them with butter on pan. Once they're pretty and brown, lay them in the bake dish, season with pepper and salt if you like, some herbs too, cheese (I use a mix of cheddar and mozarella) and lay the egg on top of the mushroom.

Easy peasy.

For spinach and cherry tomatoes, wilt the spinach over hot water, and dry them. Half the cherry tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, and add cheese (For this I use feta). Lay the egg on top of the spinach and cherry tomatoes.

Place the bake dish in a hot water bath. Bake them in the oven at 180 Degrees for 11-15 minutes depending how cooked you want the egg to be. I like it runny so I always bake it at 12 minutes.

Caprese Style Portobello

This is super simple. Remove the stem on the mushroom. Half the cherry tomatoes and season it with salt, pepper and basil. Coat the portobello with some cooking oil, lay cherry tomatoes in the mushrooms, add mozarella cheese.

Place them on top of aluminum foil as the liquid from portobello will dirty your pan if you don't. It's for easy cleaning afterwards.

Bake this at 180 Degrees until the cheese is brown and pretty. It's about 11-12 minutes.

I got this recipe from here.

I love my breakfast!

Bon Appetit!

Third Week of 5:2 Diet

I'm too lazy and busy to record every meal of my 5:2 diet.

This is what I had for today's breakfast and lunch. I'm probably eating oat again for dinner. I'm just too lazy to think.

Breakfast:

Rolled oat cooked in milk, with chia seeds, blueberries and walnuts 

Lunch:

Salad (Butterhead lettue, cherry tomatoes, egg) in Japanese sesame sauce, with additional white sesame toppings and a cup of black coffee

According to the app my friend recommended to me (Lifesum), the calories intake are estimated as below:

Breakfast: 122 calories

Lunch: 147 calories

But I believe what I had is somewhat higher than the estimation, so I think I've intake 300 for today. 

Feed The Mommy——Tuna Cakes with Lemon Dijon Sauce

Ever since I embarked in the 5:2 Diet journey, I hardly have to cook. Besides, my son is on a strike, instead of eating like a toddler, he went back to eat baby food like puree and cereal. It kind of makes my life easier really, I hardly do any cooking anymore. And groceries last me for a longer time!

Such a bliss!

Anyway, I still browse easy recipes every now and then. Recipes for one, recipes that is baby friendly (and edible for adults), recipes for lazy person, quick recipes etc. And my recent favourite is Mediterranean diet, they seem to be healthy and quick to prepare!

And I tried tuna cakes yesterday! And I love it so much I'm going to make more next week!

Tuna cakes in lettuce bed with lemon dijon sauce

I happened to see this recipe on Pinterest, and thought to myself, "This is simple enough for me!".

I do not measure everything accurately, I just made some estimation based on the recipe. And because it's my first trial, I made it with one can of tuna instead of two.

Things that I will like to change for my next trial:
1. Add more Dijon in the sauce
2. Crush in some garlic
3. I might want to add one egg for a can of tuna
4. Eat this with burger bun
5. Add a lot more chives! Chives is brilliant :P

If you are using tuna in olive oil, keep the oil aside after draining and use it for frying the tuna cakes.

Lemon Dijon sauce on tuna cake

The lemon Dijon sauce is the soul of this dish, so make sure you fine tune the taste of the sauce to your likings before serving.

Definitely a recipe to keep :)