Hello Southern Hemispherites!!

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  • Hi all, welcome to all new people to this way of life.Love reading all the posts. Very inspirational.

    I have been spring cleaning and decluttering this week.

    A couple of extra bonuses were I had my weigh in this morning and I managed to lose 1kg BMI at 26.(Not my normal lose of 400g.) I also found some dresses from pre weight gain….guess what they are still in fashion and they fit!

    I seem to have got a lot more out of cleaning than I had planned. I feel great!

    I am 2 months into my new way of life.I am now getting comments on “have I lost weight?”

    3 cheers for all of us

    Good morning all.

    Welcome new 5:2 adherents, your bodies will thank you for making this wise decision. Hi especially to hermina, also from Adelaide.

    So much cooler here this morning. Went to the city yesterday – OH for dental appt and I went to our Central Market. As it was hot (39oC max) I christened some new knee-length Sportscraft tailored shorts, worn with loose cotton polo and sandals. Lady at one of the stalls I shop at complimented me on how well I looked and how smart!!! Last summer no-one outside our gateway would have seen me in shorts so very pleased. Not many people about, maybe because of weather although the market is air-conditioned, so shopping very leisurely. Have said before how much I love the market vibe but it can get a bit manic with everyone rushing about.

    Charlie, speaking as a now-retired frontline CFS firefighter, thank you for your efforts. Our communities are so much in your and your colleagues’ debt for your bravery.

    We have house sprinkler system, diesel pump and enough dedicated water to run for 3 hours but haven’t got to the bunker stage yet. When we looked no standards had been agreed to and it would be too late during a fire to discover that ours wasn’t up to scratch 🙁 Our planned refuge is on the lowest house level in a small room sheltered on all sides. Hope never have to test it of course.

    On that cheerful note, happy Friday all and keep up the good work.

    As an ex bushfire brigade member myself, I have a deep respect for fire.
    Current temp…38 in the shade, 55 in the sun, 26 in the house. No aircon. Excellent! P

    Bathroom scales for sale!

    Inspired by previous posts, I decided to invest in some new bathroom scales. With all the money I’m saving in food, I could afford a decent model with all the bells and whistles. Just programmed it to recognise me and, rather than a voice saying ‘one at a time please”, it actually gave a pleasing range of measurements for body fat, body water and bone mass. How on earth does it do that?

    It does say I’m 100 gms heavier than my previous whimsical scales, which may not sound like much but I had JUST this morning achieved **.9 today so now I’m back on that annoyingly stubborn weight. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to lose 100 gms today, I have a set of scales for sale.

    Nit Thi at last? 🙂
    100gms is 1/2 a glass of water. …nothing! !

    Haha, Purple. You guys are a scream. 😆 Bay

    Hey PVE! That was MY 100 gms and it meant a lot to me! (after 3 weeks on that plateau). 😆

    As Purple is too refined to say it. 😉 You could just have peed that amount out and then re weighed yourself. 😆

    Hi thin, meant as a joke 🙂 Bay

    Thanks Bay. Not refined…in the pool with the grandies 😉

    Hi fellow fasters
    Hope it is cooler wherever you are today. We had our first taste of the fire season yesterday, some silly person decided to burn weeds on a day that was 38 degrees, on the edge of the bush. 🙁

    OH and I got back fours hours later exhausted as it was quite steep, jumped on scales this morning to find a 1kg loss for the week and that was after drinking more than four large glasses of water when we got back.
    Very happy. 😆

    Lovely to see that others have been firies like me and that you have some idea of how to look after yourselves, that is not very common.

    Enjoy your weekend and keep cool.

    Charlie

    P.S.
    Seven of my heifer calves left this morning for quarantine before heading for China as breeders, very proud MUM.

    Hi Charlie, well done on the loss, although it was hardly surprising when you were out with the fire crew. Dragging hoses in hilly terrain is not for the weak. I live in the Adelaide Hills so not as steep as Vic high country but enough for an old girl. 😉

    Aren’t some people the limit? How stupid to burn off on what was probably a fire ban day. I hope the authorities throw the book at him/her. We have our share of known firebugs the police keep an eye on but idiots are something else.

    Well done on your heifer calves. Was it hard to say goodbye?

    Just started raining here so hope you get a bit soon.

    Hi Nicky,
    Yes it was hard to say goodbye, but we had too many girls this year and I can’t keep them all as my OH would say.
    On the fire, before Feb 2009 yesterday would have been a Total Fire Ban as the numbers were high enough but of late they seem slow to act at the start and end of the season, we could hear on the radio network that out in the flat country around Sheeparton they were getting call after call yesterday.
    Did anyone else watch Catalyst on Thursday night? It seemed to reinforce what most of us are doing on this WOL, about cutting carbs to build muscle and reduce the fat. OH heard something on the radio about a month back about how some scientists now think the food triangle should be reversed, but he couldn’t remember it all so that I could find it on the net.
    Just finished picking a 4 litre basket full of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, they are early but they are yummy.
    Cheers peoples
    Charlie

    Well done and thank you so much for being so thoughtful and community-minded Charlie. Looks like your baby girls are going to have a wonderful adventure in exotic places….hope they have long and happy lives having many cute babies!

    It’s a sad fact of life that common sense isn’t so common….pity we couldn’t transplant a little into the brains of those who are missing theirs! Especially when it comes to fire safety and doing the right thing, and putting others at risk because they didn’t think first!!

    Friday’s weigh-in made me 24 kilos less than when I first started….might have to keep going towards a new goal weight…possibly 60kg?? Rather than my fab new low of 64.

    Cheers all, off to eat and fall into bed, it’s been a long day massaging tight muscles!

    Fabulous work ihaw. Now onwards to the big (well actually little) 60 kg. You can do it! I’ll even do a little Irish jig for you. ..the back is good enough for that.
    All the tight muscles you have massaged will be happy. 😆 P

    Thanks purple, glad to hear your back is back up to jigging! I’ll just enjoy the spectacle…too knackered to even try a little soft shoe shuffle at the moment!

    Happy Sunday everyone.

    Yes the fire season has started here in the Blue Mountains, down the highway from where we are. Shortly afterwards we had a southerly which pushed all the smoke back up the hill, filling the gullies and making some people further up panic a bit!
    I have so much respect for all our RFS guys and girls. They do a stellar job <3

    I’ve just finished my second week on this WOL and delighted to see I’ve lost 2.5kg. And that was after an overnight shift last night! Usually I eat like a fiend at the chip machine but not this time 😀 For me it was a small tub of full-fat yoghurt (hey a girl needs something to get her through the night) and a punnet of blueberries.

    My new best friend is instant coffee with Stevia sweetener and a dash of milk. I found a beautiful new blend: Moccona with a hint of hazelnut and it is SO yummy and carries me past the hunger pangs.

    Good luck to everyone and thankyou for the recipe tips!

    CS

    Hi Alimax, Sassy and all others…I am from QLD and hav been on 5:2 for 7 weeks and lost 7 kg. I first heard of Michael M when he appeared on Sunday night about 2 months back and hav googled all I can since then.Love this WOL and really feel in contol. Fast mon & thurs and hav started hubby on it as well. Just started reading fast exercise today. Great to see so many having success with 5:2!

    Hi all. Just wanted to post that I am pretty happy today. This week I have lost 1.2kgs and considering I went to a 21st and drank a fair bit, I am extra happy. I have lost 3.2kg in 7 weeks now. I know its not much (works out about .4kg per week), but if I can keep doing that, eventually my weight will be where I will be comfortable. The last two weeks I have been trying to stick to my TDEE on non fast days and it seems to be working as I have lost each week. The two weeks beforehand I had been putting on, even though I thought I hadn’t been eating much and had had good fast days. Anyway I seem to be back on track now with a plan that seems to be working. Its a fast day for me today and I am now full of confidence.

    Well done, Monaro64 and Kierra, weight loss varies and everyone is different. Keep on keeping on. This WOL works for us all. Cheers, Bay 🙂

    Hi again everyone, second fasting week begins tomorrow.. Using some of the great tips from here and preparing food for the next two days.
    Speaking of which, has anyone got a good recipe for an easy salad dressing?
    i just chucked some fat free french on my salad for lunch tomorrow but i would like to avoid the processed stuff, and olive oil just had way too many cals.
    I am trying this week to keep my day time food to around 100 cals giving me around 400 at dinner time, so my salad which came in about 120 was rocket, carrot, cucumber, cherry tomato and a boiled egg… Used my fitness pal to work out the cals after weighing everything (yes charlie i took your advice and have been weighing my food as much as possible, it does help).
    Have a good week
    Cheers

    Hi Robbie, great job on counting calls, even tho it goes against the grain. The first few weeks are the trickiest, but it’s important to establish some good habits going forward.

    There are lots of things to make a salad dressing out of, but for myself I always keep it simple and use a good quality vinegar, there are oodles to choose from nowadays. I like cider vinegar, or balsamic. Otherwise squeeze a little lemon or lime juice, or small splash of tamari, soya sauce, for that tart or salty flavour. Add in heaps of finely chopped herbs, chilli, spring onions, garlic, kaffir lime leaf, etc for that extra flavour. A tiny drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil might be ok, as it is packed with good fats and assists in satisfying your taste buds.

    Try experimenting, you might surprise yourself, and come up with a salad dressing that is so much better that the crap from the supermarket!

    Cheers!

    Hi SHs
    We finally caught up with last week’s Catalyst program on low carb.. it has only just been put on iView.
    It’s good to see more and more are discovering what we who have been on this wol for a while have discovered…low carb, full fat IS the way to go.
    The scenes of the low carb meals looked like the food we eat every day now …lots of delicious, fresh, healthy home prepared food without the white carbs and processed junk.
    What will they discover next? That antibiotics are over prescribed? Yes…that’s on the news this morning. Haven’t most of us known this for 40 years?
    Rave over. Have a good day and keep on keeping on SH mates. P 🙂

    Hi Robbie,
    Very proud to here you say you are weighing things, in time you will find that you don’t need to as much as you will come to know what is in things, but after a year I still weigh most things to keep me on track.

    Purple, how right you are, most of us have known for years that many things are over prescribed, but I read several years ago when we looked into the idea of using composted sewerage for fertiliser that even then the antibiotics were still able to be found and that was thirty years after it was first composted. 🙁

    My local “red hand” supermarket has had a revamp, with one full isle for health foods. Last Sunday on landline they had a story on Freekah, a green wheat that is roasted. It has not fully laid down its carb value and you can use it like couscous in salads. I bought some, checked the back of the pack and there was a salad recipe on the back which said that it contained two serves. Made it for dinner last night and we had heaps left over for lunch. OH was a sceptic until he tried it, now he thinks we should have it at least once every two weeks. Felt very full after eating it, and weight this morning was same as after fast day, very happy. 🙂

    Off to peg more washing after our lovely rain thank you Nicky for sending it our way.

    Cheers, Charlie

    Charlie, I think SA needs the rain desperately. How’s your’s been this spring?
    My OH wouldn’t touch quinoa until we had it lightly sprinkled over a salad in a VERY expensive restaurant. Now he is happy to have it served like to that…so many foods we can eat if we are willing to think outside the square.
    You are right, ‘the red hand’ shop has cleverly jumped on the health food bandwagon. It makes it easier, doesn’t it? P

    Purple,
    In August we had less than one inch not the usual six, since then it has stayed dry, so the drought plan is out of the draw and on the desk and being worked on.
    Fodder crop for irrigation will be planted in the next two weeks so that hopefully we can get enough growth. We have very reliable irrigation, but that comes at a huge cost in time and money, so this financial year we will likely finish well in the red. Thank goodness for the girls that are going to China, we got double what we would have got at the local yards.
    Yes it is nice to see health foods easier to access, as we have lost most of our local shops.
    Busy day tomorrow preg testing the last mob of cows, then Monday we do the heifers, then I work out how many young ladies will be kept.
    Keep smiling everyone. 🙂
    Charlie

    Hi Charlie
    As the old bloke who sold us our Hunter Valley farm said.”If you plant too early, the frost’ll get it, too late and the drought gets it.” That’s farming in Australia, isn’t it? When we sold up we couldn’t wait to get back to Sydney to have a hose connected to Warrigamba Dam, and the drought hit hard and Sydney was on water restrictions!
    Fingers crossed for decent rain xxxx P

    And I second that motion Purple!
    Rain needed here too, even with the thunderstorms, there’s very little hitting the ground.
    Hope we all get a nice soaking, to put us out of our misery.

    In the mean time, hope everyone has a wonderful fast day tomorrow!

    Happy fasting Thursday all SHs. The heat is building here….days of 38 predicted and no rain. 🙁 P

    Morning everyone. Hope things have cooled down in your neck of the woods. Here in Perth, we’ve had temps ranging from 21C to 36C but overall, the wx has been glorious.

    Anyway, I’m not here to discuss the wx. I wanted to shout about having lost 6 kgs today. Yippee! I’m 14 weeks & 28 fast days into my new WOL. Loving it. Fully embrace the fast days, rarely experience hunger. Trying to go a little longer on fast days before having the first ‘meal’ but only making it until 11am. I’m not hungry, it’s just a habit I need to break. My BP is consistently lower which makes me want to 😆

    I found the Slendier noodles that many have discussed on these pages. Each packet has a low cal recipe although no calorie count is specified. But they have a website with lots of recipes under 300 cals: http://www.slendierslim.com.au/recipes/under-300-calories
    I haven’t tried the noodles myself yet because my fast days are planned out one month ahead, but I put two friends onto them and they both reported back that they were great.

    My frothy coffee awaits. Have a lovely day everyone.

    Hi all and happy fasting to all the Thursday fasters. Well done thinatlast lowering your bp is fantastic – not to mention your weight loss.
    I have just been plodding along, like you enjoying the fast days and trying to be sensible on non fast days – with mixed results 😉
    I am 1.3kg away from my original goal of 60kg but don’t feel anywhere near mentally ready for maintenance and certainly don’t want to reduce my fast days. I’m only 5.2ft so figure I have plenty of room to keep going without the risk of looking a bit gaunt.
    I have started doing the Jillian Micheals 30 day shred – it’s horrible but I have been really surprised at how well my knees have held up. The improvement in them has been the most motivating thing for me to keep going on difficult fast days. Walking up stairs without pain is an absolute joy.

    Happy Thursday SH

    Awesome going thinatlast!!!

    Going along here ok. I suspect I am pushing it on my calories on FD’s. Will track a bit better next week.

    I am losing overall. Lost weight on the scales. Feeling smaller. Clothes are a tad looser. Something is out of whack with my tape measure though. Hips went up, same with neck, but bust and waist went down.

    Finding there are foods now I can no longer eat. I suspected crumpets were an issue and it was confirmed this morning. I felt rotten, my stomach just burnt and made me feel really hungry. So bye bye crumpets. I only had them rarely, but I will miss eating them (just not the aftermath)

    Thanks for the encouragement and well done to you Jenklar and Astrid. I notice an improvement in my knees too Jenklar – less weight to carry around & less inflammation = less pain. Astrid, your measurements sound like someone has tried to ‘wring you out’ from the waist out! It takes a while to work out which foods don’t work. I gain weight every time I touch bread. Went out with friends for the big brekkie this morning knowing I’ll be sorry tomorrow on the scales. But a girl has to have a little fun on a non-fast day, eh?

    It’s been unusually quiet on this thread for the past 4 days. Was everyone knocked out for six by the hot weather?
    I hope you are all cruising well SHs and enjoying your feed/fast day.
    Lovely cool day here, so getting into house painting.
    Cheers P

    Hi PVE, I also wondered where everyone had gone! We had a hot one in Perth yesterday – 36C. Could have done with a frothy coffee this morning but settled for a walk at the river. I’m 6.6kgs down and looking forward to my weigh-in day tomorrow when I hope to have lost a respectable 7kgs. Feeling great and ready to face my fast day – asparagus tortilla is on tonight’s menu. Have a great day everyone!

    G’day thinatlast and dear old Perth!
    Congratulations. ..living up to your name? 😉
    We are having a break from the heat today although I expect you’ll be sending it this way again!
    I’m busy mowing etc while it’s cool. Cheers P

    Hello all. I’m Adelaidian. First fast day yesterday and I struggled but made it. Didn’t sleep well, feel truly awful today! So hungry this morning but found it a challenge to eat. I drank litres of fluid yesterday and body doesn’t seem to want to give that up! Headache, tired, not able to focus, lethargic, everything hurts. Should be editing today but can’t focus on words on the screen. May very well go for a siesta very soon. Either this diet is going to kill me or I’m getting a cold. Please someone tell me it gets better?????

    Hi Miss Tina and welcome
    You don’t sound too good today. What did you eat yesterday and when?
    Have you worked out your TDEE from the home page of this site and then worked out 1/4 of this for your suggested calorie intake on a fast day?
    It should not be this hard, even at the beginning. PVE

    Hello All,
    As I put in my profile when I registered – Very optimistic 37 year old female living in Sydney with out of control LDL cholesterol and carrying at least 10kg more than my 5ft frame should be. Love Micheal’s approach to his research – really think this approach has legs.
    I am currently on my second fast day of week three and I don’t find the fast days too bad. However, the cookies in the work kitchen that smell amazing are making today a little harder as I smell them each time I go back to refill my water bottle!
    the last time I weighed myself I had already dropped 2.5kgs I think maybe a bit of body shock but I sincerely hope it keeps going down. I don’t care how quickly or slowly I just want to get to healthy weight and LDL cholesterol.
    Things I’ve noticed so far:
    – the cycle home (10k) on fast days is really hard work so for now I am dropping the cycle home on fast days. Cycle in to work is straight after my brekky so that’s ok.
    – I feel like my sense of smell on fast days is off the scale.
    – Definitely not eating as much at meals on non-fast days, I’ve become much more in touch with my stomach’s full signal. Something I have struggled with in the past.
    The future is looking bright…
    Kind Regards
    Davina

    Welcome Davina
    You sound as if you are starting well. Good on you.
    You are correct about heightened awareness of odors. Cruel, isn’t it?

    Dr M says in his Fast Exercise book that exercise is more effective in a fasting state. I find I’m really energised when fasting and want to expend energy.
    Your body will not be needing the food to supply energy for the cycling. It/you are used to having a full tum. As soon as you learn to embrace your hunger you will realise that by not eating before exercise your body starts burning your stored fat. If you have just eaten it is easier for the body to use the food and leave the fat. You need to start the fat burning happening.
    Try not having breakfast and going for a ride.
    All the best PVE

    Thanks PVE. lol I don’t know if I’m comforted by that or not! 🙂 yes, I’m a little person – BMI 23.5 (normal range), BMR 1145, TDEE 1775. I’m not really focused on losing weight (1 maybe 2 kilos???) but I was hoping to reap all the other health benefits. I’m weighing up (!) whether it’s really a good idea for me or not. I had my 500 calories – breakfast 2 scrambled eggs with ham, and roast veg for dinner. I even managed to sneak in a small peach.

    Hi again Tina
    Ooo….I didn’t mean to put you off!
    I have been at my goal weight since last April (BMI 21.6 TDEE 1537) and am doing this solely for the health benefits. I intend to do it for life. I usually have 350-400 calories on a fast day and feel terrific. In fact, after 20 months now, I look forward to fast days as a reset from normal eating.
    It sounds as if you ate very well yesterday. This all takes time to get used to and will take a fair bit of tweeking to find what suits you. Many of us prefer to skip breakfast and keep most of our calorie allowance until later in the day for several reasons. 1. Eating makes you hunger for more, so delaying the first food of the day makes fasting easier 2.Keeping the bulk of the food until the evening seems to help many with a more settled sleep
    Perhaps save some of your protein for the evening so that you feel more satiated before bed.
    You are definitely doing your body a favour. My OH reversed his diabetes, I have massively reduced my blood pressure. It really does work as a healthy lifestyle.
    All the best PVE

    Thanks for your response and encouragement. I will persist a few more times but I was surprised at how unwell I feel today – there might be something else going on. we’ll see. Will try saving up calories for later in the day and see how that sits with me.
    I was surprised at how much of a mental challenge it was – I had all sorts of surprising thoughts. For instance, what about those people in this world who don’t have a choice about how many calories they consume?

    Good on you Tina and, yes, we are very lucky to be able to choose to not eat. I found developing little mind games helped eg every time you feel hungry, tell yourself your body is healing itself.
    If nothing else, this way of life teaches you a new respect for your body and what you put in it. Cheers PVE

    Welcome MissTina and Davina,

    Great insights from a newbie Davina. Keep up the good work.

    PVE’s the guru, I’ve only been doing this since August. But I’ll add my tuppence worth – I can’t go to sleep feeling hungry either so I reserve a boiled egg to have about an hour before bedtime. While you’re getting used to this new WOE, it can be hard to go all day before having food. I have 30gms of oats with half a tsp of honey for ‘breakfast’ which I put off as long as possible. I eat it really slowly. I’ve managed to go until 11.30am. We’re all different so work out what works best for you.

    I understand delaying the first ‘meal’ may not be possible if you have a schedule and need to get to work, etc but, in that case, I’d do the ride on an empty stomach. The ride will take your mind off being hungry. You’ll find that hunger passes, comes and goes. It doesn’t have to be satiated with food.

    PVE: I am fascinated that you say your OH reversed his diabetes. I didn’t think it was ever possible to reverse diabetes, only control it. Please enlighten me.

    Living up to my name – well I chose this name with tongue in cheek. I haven’t been equated with the word ‘thin’ since I was about 12. But after a few weeks of this, I began to realise that I will actually be slim before I’m 60. Very happy with the results even if has taken me all my life to find something that works. I’m sailing through my fast day today, can’t wait to hit the scales tomorrow!

    Welcome to the newcomers to the thread!!

    I have been ill. So Sunday became a very unintentional fast day and ate Monday.
    Feeling somewhat better, but tired. So not sure whether to Fast tomorrow or just make this week a write off and start again next week. I am fearful though, that once I start skipping, that it will be harder to take it up again. With the busy social season approaching I want to really keep on top of this.

    Sorry to hear you are unwell Astrid.
    Just eat enough to make you feel ok. Your body will heal better if you can fast, but don’t push yourself. Choose wisely…eg thin soup. All the best PVE

    Hi thinatlast
    Well done on your weight control before 60. 🙂
    Re my OH and diabetes. Reversed/ controlled with diet? Semantics.
    He has gone from 10 years of insulin injecting and Metformin tablets to no insulin or Metformin and excellent daily blood sugar readings.
    He lost 30kg over 12 months (he is 69kg) and has maintained this since last April. He carefully monitored his bs levels multiple times a day initially and recorded everything. …he’s a scientist. He watched the trends (still does) and adjusted his diet and exercise accordingly.
    He now knows he must fast twice a week for life. He must do at least 10000 steps every day and his diet needs to he low in white carbs and high in vegetables. If any of these variables change, his blood sugars rise.
    So, yes, he will always be a diabetic, but he has reversed the decline and has it in control by purely natural activities.
    This is not at all unknown. Dr Jason Fung has long lectures on it on YouTube.
    Thanks again Dr M for saving my darling boy. 🙂 P

    That’s wonderful PVE. Well done OH. He must feel so much better too. 😆

    He’s a new boy. And no more sleep apnea, snoring or falling asleep at the wheel, either! P

    Hi Everyone!

    I am from NSW. I’ve just watched the documentary for this diet and am ready to give it a try! Doing this mainly for weight loss and to become more healthy! Looking forward to fasting but am a little worried about the side effects! Any advice would be great 🙂

    Naomi

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