The day after Day Four

I'd been awake for about two hours before I remembered I could eat something. It's amazing how quickly you can get used to ignoring that gnawing feeling in your stomach.

Yesterday I learned the importance of planning. Things didn't start well when the food I had prepared to take to work with me got left in the fridge in the early morning fuzz of my brain not being quite awake yet. I managed to replace them at the shop on the way to work, and actually managed most of the day quite easily. The mid-afternoon pangs I have noticed before didn't materialise and I left work around 5 feeling fine. Unfortunately I had planned to grab another Pret salad on the way home, but I got distracted in a book shop (long story) and was in the wrong area to get to Pret in enough time to get home on time. I ended up frantically searching around the local Tesco trying to find something that wouldn't blow the calorie budget, all the while feeling sicker and woozier. I eventually ended up with a plain salad and a pack of ham. I ate about half of it on the train. It was fine, and I was starving so I didn't care, but not exactly the yummy experience I had hoped for.

The lesson here - planning and remembering to take food with me will save me time and money and prevent dizzy spells!

Yesterday evening I went to see my consultant who has been advising me on some health issues. He suspects I have IBS (http://www.ibs-symptoms.co.uk/what-is-ibs) and we talked about how I could control my symptoms. I mentioned that over the last 2 weeks I've actually been feeling better and explained about the 5:2 strategy. Despite not having heard of it before he was very supportive of it and agreed that it could indeed help with my symptoms. It's possible that the current improvements are coincidental and/or temporary but we will continue to monitor progress.

I'm going away on holiday tomorrow with my boyfriend and Dream and my children. Getting through two fast days while away from home will be another challenge but Dream and I are determined to manage it somehow and I'm confident we can manage it. Having each other's support makes it all a lot easier.