The Joy Of Veg

"Nic has never before looked forward so much to a plate of roasted vegetables."

So I'm trying something new; something my sister recommended: the 5:2 Fast Diet. Now, I am the first person to admit to not liking diets; I was put on one when I was twelve years old (coincidentally around the same time Osgood Schlatter Disease started to raise its ugly head), and remember vividly seeing the diet sheet instructing us to feed me 'normal' portions, which were actually more than I was eating at home. Three fish fingers instead of my normal two, for example. (Why the fish finger amount sticks in my head to this day, I'm not sure, but they were tasty, and who were we to question the dietician?) It will come as no surprise that I put on a few pounds on this 'diet', heads were shaken, and I think I was just abandoned by the system because it didn't make sense, especially as away from 'help' I was eating the same amount, playing the same amount, living the same amount as my sister, who was sixteen months younger than me, and a polar opposite in body type.

Genes, people. Genes and obesity. It's a Thing. Not an excuse. But a reality that makes the fight to stay healthy a little more tricky than it could be for those of us who can trace large ancestors all the way down their family tree.

So I've avoided the whole diet thing for much of my life. I did try a shake-based thin-quick type for a while when I was still at school, but apart from being expensive, it was ineffective and (hind-sight and all that) hardly advisable for a growing teenager. The rest of the time I just had to get used to being the fat girl. If I was being very active I'd lose a little weight, if I was spending most of my time studying, I'd put it back on whilst still staying at the obese level of overweight. Genetics + energy in - energy out = me.

So when my sister suggested this intermittent fasting diet, she managed to make it sound more like a change of pace, as opposed to an actual limiting diet, and something that could be done over a long period of time instead of the short, sharp shock of a restrictive regime.

You know, I think if you want to lose weight, or become healthier, or change anything about yourself at all, you need to know some basic facts about yourself. What makes you tick. What turns you off. How a different set of parameters can set you off in different ways. And I think the most important thing is to realise that what works for you might not work for me, and vice versa. If bodies and genetics were all the same, then yes, we'd all need to do the same thing to shift ten pounds, but as close as we all become when taken to basic human DNA whatever level, just looking around a room will show you that no two people are alike, and surely by that standard alone we can presume that our bodies process the input and output of calories in tiny, but just as equally different ways?

And once our brains join in the game?

So, I know my head doesn't work well with short-term diet sheets and fear of punishment from a grown-up if I don't lose weight. I do, however, work well with long-term projects, and routine, and this is why I decided to give this 5:2 thing a try.  

Which is why I'm salivating over a plate of roasted vegetables. Five hundred calories is all you're allowed for your fast day which can be used in any way you see fit. Two hundred of my five hundred went on lunch, eighty went on a biscuit with a cup of herbal tea this afternoon, (because I could - hell, you could have one cupcake with frosting worth five hundred calories for the day if you wanted, although I doubt it would be recommended...) and the rest has been made up with roast carrots, red pepper, courgette, and beetroot. I used myfitnesspal online to track the calories, which is jolly handy for working out your intake if you use it correctly. I add a little pinch of salt to the 'calories used' part, but on the whole it looks like it could be a useful piece of kit to have in my weight loss tool bag.

Talking of adding a pinch of salt, my roasties are calling my name!