5:2 Recipes / ready meals

[CRbear]

Hi,

Wondering if anyone else is following 5:2 and wants to share fast day meal plans and ideas?

I’ve done 2 weeks now and have been sticking to lunch and dinner with a piece of fruit mid afternoon or in the evening.

I’ve had:

Fast 1: Homemade tomato soup, apple, prawn and egg StirFry
Skinnylicious butternut squash soup for the last 3 fast day lunches- the entire tub is 174!
Cod with broccoli and a Thai dipping sauce (was not good!)
Miso glazed cod with Asian green and courgetti StirFry

I’ve made my own butternut squash soup for this week but with Thai red curry paste and reduced fat coconut milk. Tomorrow I think I’ll do a prawn Saganaki style tea. No plans for Thursday dinner yet but I do seem to do best on a meal based on protein with lots of veg.

Anyone else want to share ideas?

Hi I'm doing the blood sugar diet which is 800 cal for 8 weeks low/no carbs.
I bought the recipe book which is good. I'm only a week in but some of my favs have been
Porridge with apple and cinnamon
Scrambled egg
Steak salad poached egg and mushrooms
Ploughman's (minus the bread)
Hunters chicken with broccoli (made with balsamic vinegar)
Tuna salsa salad
Dippy eggs and bacon
Spag Bol with courgette instead of pasta

They sound like nice dishes!

Do you try and have three meals a day? If so they’re probably calorie comparable to the two a day I have on fast days? Around 250?

This is the recipe I based the miso glazed cod on: www.foodiewithfamily.com/korean-miso-and-honey-glazed-cod-20-minute-meal/

The Thai butternut soup is- 1kg butternut squash cubes and roasted until soft and a bit caramelised, blended with 36g (two heaped tbsp) red Thai curry paste, 1.5L water, a Knorr chicken stock pot and a can of light coconut milk. Boiled it until it was reduced to about 2L then each 400ml portion is 177 cals. I’ve even put them in mason jars for the week and I’m feeling very Pinterest.

It depends how high in calories they are as to if I have two or 3 meals. On day 4 I was -7.6lb so I'm quite looking forward to weigh in tomorrow

I'm on miso soup with two poached eggs and pok choi for lunch. 200 kcals

Tonight's dinner will be cauliflower fried rice with loads of veg (carrots, peas, baby corn, broccoli) and some shredded chicken. 300 kcals

I like the sound of those balloondog

I find I’m gravitating towards Asian flavours for my evening meal.

Tonight’s prawn saganaki

2 olive oil sprays
Clove of garlic
1/3 tsp oregano and chilli flakes
Fry off until fragrant.
200g halved cherry tomatoes
Fry until skins splitting
Add 1/3 can tinned toms, 1 tsp tomato purée and 1/2 tsp sugar. Season with salt and pepper.
Stir in 125g prawns.
Serve with 15g reduced fat feta sprinkled over.

182 cals for a satisfying bowl full! I had with 100g Sainsbury’s chargrilled frozen med veg mix for 92 cals.

Tomorrow I’ll have butternut squash soup again and for dinner a tuna salad made with half a can of tuna in spring water, 25g reduced fat feta, 15 ml balsamic glaze and 60 cals of lettuce/toms/peppers/spring onion/cucumber for 252 cals

Didn't quite make 500 caps today but I'm still happy as was only just over (and would have been ok if it wasn't for the surimi stick snacks).

Lunch: Homemade cream of tomato soup (with hidden onion, courgette and carrots and chilli blended in). This would have been fine without the added cream and butter but I'd made it for visitors over Christmas. 300 cals

Dinner: Vietnamese Pho soup using a pho paste from Waitrose, chillis, broccoli, spring greens, carrots, onions. 200 cals

Snack: 4 surimi crab sticks 80 cals

Hi Balloondog, amazing how soup cals can add up. Looking at cartons in the supermarket is eye opening. I’ve got a beetroot one today.

Doing a 500cal fast today and the only other day I can fast this week is tomorrow but I just can’t cope with 2 days in a row so going to do a 700 tomorrow which I hope is better than not doing it at all...

Lunch: Tidedord organic beetroot soup- whole tub 186 cals, pink lady apple 75 cals
Dinner: slimming world cauliflower mash topped cottage pie. Found that really satisfying last week so having it again today and tomorrow. 250 cals

Tomorrow breakfast: 35g oats and 70g peach slices as porridge
lunch: olde faithful glorious skinnylicious butternut squash 172 cals, pink lady apple 75 cals

Dinner- as today 250 cals

The John West Light Lunch range (I think they might call it Lunch on the go these days) is pretty good if you have no time to cook. Satisfying and under 250 calories. Handy in an office as you don't need to refrigerate.

*crbear if your do back to back you can have more than 500, I think 650 on both days

Didn’t know that iamblossom

I’ve kind of given up, in that I didn’t fast today, I hadn’t lost a single lb as of yesterday and just can’t find the motivation. Having fasted 7 days in January so far I was expecting atleast 1kg. But nada.

My mood is shocking on fast days and I really struggle to concentrate at work so I don’t see the point if I’m not getting weight loss benefit.

totally get tha CRBear.

FWIW I think you are incredibly creative with your FD food.

I eat exactly the same every FD. 0% greek yog, 4 water crackers or a hard boiled egg, and a prawn omelette made with 2 eggs and salad. Options hot choc, early night.

No brain power required, just will power not to eat anything else!

I only do 1 a week. But I guess you could say I am in maintenance.

the main reason 5:2 fails is if people eat more than their TDEE (calorie count for their height weight and activity level) on NFDs.

re soups - the chicken and veg broth one in sainsbos is very low cal for the whole pot. Also Heinz chicken noodle.

Echoing what iam said re portions/calories on non fast days - make sure you’re not eating back the deficit.

I’m doing 5:2 and tend to just eat supper on those days, often a ready meal because then I’m sure about calorie content. The rest of the day is coffee and sparkling water. It is working for me - down about 6kg in 3 months, though I had a tough plateau in Jan (I think partly due to very large portions of homemade food).