Hi all, It was a busy week here for us … I work at the Farmers Market every Saturday, today (Sunday) we are having friends over for a visit .. I am making carrot soup.
Lori, I do use essential oils quite a bit but my area of expertise is Herbal infusions which are much less concentrated. Right now I am passionate about Black Spruce Essential Oil and the tree itself. It is great for Adrenal exhaustion ..which is much like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Symptoms very similar. Basic burn out from pushing yourself too much.
Sherryanne, great to hear your interest! Milk Thistle is wonderful but not for everyone. If your liver is sluggish it is helpful, but if the liver needs nourishment and support herbs that are more like foods can be extremely helpful. Like burdock and dandelion. I wonder if you are low or lacking Intrinsic factor in your gut… probiotics would definitely help you. I can’t say enough about the B vitamins. I encourage you al to read about what each of the B’s do for us. So many disorders and diseases are actually the result of deficiencies. The B vitamins all work together so if you are taking a particular B, you should also be taking a B complex with it.

Cinque, yes I do grow many herbs … which are considered weeds by some! I also do lots of “wild crafting” (collecting from the wild forests and fields)
I make a wonderful pesto with Nettles in place of (or added to) basil. Always looking for ways to get Nettle into peoples diet. Do you have any Nettles growing? Chickweed would be a great weed to have in your garden. It is FULL of iron and other important nutrients. It also helps to clear out fat. It makes our cells more slippery so that they can more easily absorb nutrients. You can add bits of it to your salad or just munch on it while weeding!

I have managed to stay under 1200 calories/day all week, and had one day that was under 500 .. so I guess that was my first fast day although it was unintentional.
This week I am planning to fast Tuesday and Wednesday.

All the best to all of you!

Well, we are in the midst of the storm here mid afternoon. The rain goes of and on from steady to pounding. The winds are blowing fairly strong. It’s all supposed to blow out sometime tonight and we’ll have sunny days next week thank goodness!

I have a batch of chicken bone broth bubbling away in the pressure cooker-I intend to feed this to the family tonight as everyone here is sick but me. I’ve been battling it off for 3 weeks now (the length of time one or another kid has been sick off & on!). As soon as another comes down with something or I start to feel the drainage, right away I take my Chinese herbs (Gan Mao Ling), organic tangerine vitamin C spray, oregano extract pills, and zinc lozenges. So far so good (knock on wood!).

The goat cheese, sundried tomato and roasted pepper frittata is in the slow cooker and I’ll eat that for next week’s easy breakfasts. After this break I think I’ll make the sugar free dark chocolate cashew butter cookies.

Lori, I’ll have to look up that pizza crust recipe. I made a goat cheese tart with an almond meal crust recipe once that turned out ok but it was a tad crumbly.

Briar Rose, what farmers market do you do? I am Peterborough based (UK) so as long as we are talking about the same Peterborough i may visit! Been wondering where a good market was. Be good to have a chat.

Hi all!

Survived the storm (barely!). Got very crazy into the night! Most of our outside furniture was blown over, giant hail pelted the windows, lightening and thunder and oh, did the wind howl! Sunny but chilly this morning.

I ate a slice of the goat cheese, sundried tomato and roasted pepper frittata this morning with some strawberries on the side and happy to report it was yummy- was wondering how it would turn out being made in the slow cooker! Last night’s healing bone broth was made into chicken noodle soup after I poached some chicken breasts in wine and added them in along with some quinoa/brown rice pasta. Hoping this is the ticket to getting everyone on the road to recovery from their non-stop colds! The dark chocolate cashew butter cookies are pretty good too. I use chicory root sweetener (sugar free) which I don’t mind but my eldest detects an aftertaste. We’ll see what the younger ones think later today.

Cinque, I’ve had that pressure cooker for ages but am always a bit scared to use it! Don’t know why- it’s just alien to me and I have to get used to it because it really can make life easier (quicker!).

Salma! So happy you popped in to say “hi”! Hope the conference isn’t too boring and that the eating stays somewhat in line! When do you return?

Milena, are you home from your fair yet? Any ideas on my byzantine jewelry question?

Ok, off to get ready for my pilates appointment. Have a great start to the week everyone!

Sherry

Hey Lori, I was still on the computer when I saw your post come through. Yes, I don’t like a lot of goat cheese… just a tad will do me! The one I bought was an herbed goat cheese which seems to temper it. I don’t like goat cheese on it’s own, but a little mixed into things is Ok for me. I’m sure you could make this recipe with any other cheese you like. Check it out at Taste of Home Slow Cooker Frittata Provencal recipe. Would be great for your low carb eating (you could delete the one potato in the recipe-even still only 12 carbs per slice with it). Love ya!

Hello!

Completed my fast day yesterday, but it did not yield the great scale number that I was hoping for. 🙁 The total loss for the month of January stands at 5.4 lbs. That is more than I’ve lost in a single month for along time, so I’ll take it!

Nice sunny day here and I’m about to head out for a break. We had a little incident here at the office that makes me want to walk out the door today! The office manager has a tendency to fly off the handle periodically and today was the day. Totally uncalled for and unprofessional. 3 of us were the target and 1 is on her way to upper management and the other is having chest pains from anxiety. Me, I’m just pi$$ed off!

Anyway….I’m just keeping my eye on October 31…….retirement day!

Have a good one!

An honorary Australian? YAY! Hope to visit your part of the world one day and it appears I’ll be able to communicate! 😉 As long as I’m not “pi$$ed” ROFL!

Thanks for the weight loss kudos, Cinque. I’m feeling good about my progress.

Hi all!

Lori and Cinque, we three are here the most consistently!

Lori, sorry for the idiot manager. That’s why I started working for myself. I couldn’t take working for someone else who 90% of the time didn’t seem to know as much as me and treated people like they were half wits. Oh well, October will be here before you know it and then you will be self employed! In the meantime, deep breaths and thoughts of “this too shall pass”! Think happy thoughts of how lean and mean you are getting! 😉

Yes Cinque, here in the U.S. we are often “pissed off”! Not so much different are we?

Hello to Carolina! Welcome back. I know what you mean about the sugar. I think I’m addicted so I try my best to stay away from it as a little is never enough for me! And, I too feel like crap if I eat too much of it. Hoping your 3 lbs. is fasted away soon! If you like goat cheese, you should try that egg recipe I referenced above. I tried Swedish bitters once on the advice of a trainer (to help with digesting fats) and I almost gagged! Very nasty tasting, but I know they’re supposed to get the job done. In the old days they used to eat more naturally bitter herbs, lettuces, etc. which aided in digestion. I’m sure Briar Rose could speak better to this subject.

Uneventful day today. Walked for an hour and a half with a friend who I haven’t walked with in a few months and then went to the chiropractor. So much upkeep and maintenance in the 50’s…pilates, chiropractor, wellness people…sheesh! Swung by Target (a department store out here for you non-US girls) because my eldest needed sleepwear, and before you know it, she was adding make-up, food, cold medicine, etc. to the cart and the smaller ones needed Valentine’s Day supplies…I honestly don’t know how, but before you know it, I had a $400 bill! Unbelievable!

Time for dinner! Bye, bye!

Hi all
Thanks to the ‘consistent ones’ for keeping this thread going, I read but don’t post often tho I learn a great deal from all the posts.
Last week started well with my juicy/soup FDs but went to rat s**t towards the end of the week with many meals out over my btd plus a wedding.
Started with juice on Monday, only to end with an Indian takeout and champagne for a mini celebration with no 1 son- he has his own business and it was his one year anniversary. He has done really well and more importantly almost, he loves what he does and gets to be outside a lot- good for an ex- Marine.
Yesterday stuck to plan and also managed a 30 min walk around a local park. Today should be ok too, then back to belated btd stuff tomorrow and sat.
Tomorrow DH and I are away o/n and having dinner in a nice restaurant the pottering around the city the next day. Sat we are eating out with all the family but hoping to get a walk in first that day.
Anyway, Lori well done on being 5 down in January, smiled at being pi**ed off at work- I so don’t miss that. The wedding I went to was an ex colleague and I met with some others so got the latest and as usual the place is grinding everyone down and expecting miracle working which is stressing everyone. I am enjoying being at home and pleasing myself after all these years of trying to rush around to cram everything in.
Salma, hold strong at the conference, it is too easy to overeat when everyone else is and it’s all ‘there’ in front of you. Think you are like me- one step forward, two steps back…..but we can get there in the end.
Cinque, smiled at the jogging so, not tried them myself, think too much about ‘does my bum look big in this’ tho I wear jeans a lot- NYDJ help a bit tho I do have them in several sizes 😕
Susie

Good Morning,

A quiet afternoon at work, but things were a bit tense. The boss was quite contrite as he realized what an ass he made of himself. He is “unable” to apologize, and that’s just the way it is. I tried not to talk to him more than necessary. So it goes.

Last night we had a friend to the house for a pizza party. We got pizza & subs and I even had a lite beer after my ordeal at work. I only ate the insides of the sub(no bread) and scraped the toppings off the pizza and guess what? The scale is down over a pound this morning! I was sure it would be up from the beer and extra sodium in the take out food. Maybe that’s the key? A beer a day? 😉

I tried this for lunch yesterday-3 whole frozen strawberries(fresh if you have them) thawed in the micro and then chopped. 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, a handful of chopped pecans and a drop or 2 of Better Stevia. Stir it up and enjoy! Oh my….it tasted like a little slice of heaven to me. I’m going to have a bowl of it after boot camp this morning. Can’t wait!! I got the idea from a low carb blog that I follow. I liked the added bit of sweetness from the stevia, but you could certainly have it without sweetener.

A rainy, dreary day today, but at least it’s not too cold. Spring will soon be here and I’ll be back on the golf course!!

Good afternoon ladies!

Hope I didn’t offend anyone with my “consistent” message. Just missing all of you other ladies!

Hi Milena, good to see you back though knackered! Did all your hard work lead to less time to eat? Congrats on the 4 lbs. lost! You and Lori are the weight loss champions for January! 🙂 Hope the fairs went well! Just thought I’d check with you on the byzantine jewelry. I’ve looked around and online without much luck. Seems I’d have to go back to Greece to fulfill that request (not such a bad thing!). I’m going on a school organized tour with my 15 year old to Paris and Spain this summer, with a potential side trip on our own to Italy. Wondering if even though it didn’t originate there, maybe jewelry can be found in one of these countries too?

Lori, you are a very dedicated low carb eater! Just the insides of a sandwich and the topping on the pizza takes strong will and determination! It does help when you’re on a roll and seeing good results though, doesn’t it?

Susie, had a laugh at the “joggings”. I do that all the time-hit “send” and realize I’ve mistyped something! Best of luck navigating all those eating out occasions you have coming up. Even though it’s do-able, I know that makes things tougher!

I’m really trying to “get it together” this month and lose a few before I head out to Hawaii again on the 19th for 2 weeks. I’m at the higher end of my newer low range if that makes sense? I’ve been as low as 123 in the last few months and as high as 127 (which, unfortunately, I am at right now). Like Susie, I have some eating out hurdles to overcome this week. Hubby’s 55th is tomorrow. We’ll be joining my son on his Wild Animal Park field trip (I’ll try to pack in my own lunch so as not to eat the crappy food there) and then later have a company meeting at a restaurant. Hoping I can find something healthy to eat there. This office of ours always likes to do themed meetings, so this one is “nice” rock and roll! Nice meaning wearing nothing offensive or torn up jeans! My husband has an outfit that is “Guns and Roses-ish” from an 80’s party we went to a few years back. Long blonde wig, head band, jean jacket with the American flag on it, etc. I think I will just wear jeans, boots and a leather jacket.

Waiting for a spin bike to be delivered. I’m excited to have one at home. I’m hoping I can eventually rehab my back enough with the pilates, chiro, etc. so that I can ride again like I used to. Every time I’ve tried to get back into riding since I hurt my back, it aggravates it. I’m really excited to put it in front of the TV and tell the kids, you want to watch TV? Get on the bike! 😉

Off to take my son to his ukulele lesson.

Good morning everyone from cool, grey, humid, Melbourne.

I finished my fast day no problem, but Ooo I am hungry this morning! I’m making mixed grain waffles: Not the rich pancake like ones, but a mixture of grain, nut and seeds blended with water. They puff up wonderfully in the waffle iron and are crisp and toasty. I have them with vegemite 😉

Susie it is tricky with jeggings and an aging body! I am sad to say that even though my legs looked quite skinny, my tummy looks like a beetle, and I am sad to say my bottom is sagging. I wore a long linen top!
It is lovely to hear about your pleasant retirement! Best wishes keeping to your plan today.

I’m glad your boss was contrite Lori. I can see why you are looking forward to retiring!
Your strawberries and cottage cheese remind me of my one occasional dessert that I justify because raspberries are low sugar. It is thick yoghurt mixed with a few oats and left until the oats are soft, and the yoghurt is even thicker. Then I top it with a few raspberries, and sometimes some chopped walnuts too. Because I am not eating sugar, it tastes so sweet!
Lori, your beer a day diet could make you a millionaire! And you have got your nutrition certificate to back yourself up 😉
Not sure it would work in Australia. I think everyone would be skinny if our beer worked. You’ll have to make your own brand!
Glad to hear that winter is waning!

Milena, what a treat to hear from you. I know it must be good for business to be flat out, but I can’t help but look forward to when you have a bit more time!
I am looking forward to hearing from the other regulars too. In the meantime I am just so grateful to those who can be consistent at the moment!
Congrats on your excellent January loss! Roll on February!

Sherry what a lot of exciting things you have coming up! The rock and roll meeting sounds like a hoot. Best wishes getting to the lower half of your range! Careful on that bike though!

Cheers all! It is a nice relaxed day-after-fasting for me, and I am going to Noodle Kingdom (Chinese Restaurant) tonight with my sisters. Yum!

Good Morning!

The stress continues. We had a “clear the air” meeting yesterday that did anything but as far as I’m concerned. I won’t bore you with details, but suffice it to say that I will be doing my job for the next 9 months and nothing else. Management has ruined the camaraderie that we’ve had for years over what amounted to an overblown issue. If that’s the way they want it, they’ve got it. I hate to end my 31+ year career on this note, but that’s what it has come to. It’s a shame.

Anyway, I have maintained low carb eating thru all this stress! Can you believe it!? Yesterday I was so upset that I couldn’t eat very much so I guess it was a fast day in disguise. 😉

I slept right thru to the alarm this morning and sprung out of bed feeling dizzy and with a pounding headache. I decided to forget about boot camp for today and go tomorrow to make it a 3 day workout week rather than 4. No harm, no foul.

Hope you all are having a good week. I’m looking forward to the weekend even more than usual and will spend it getting ready for my sister’s visit next weekend. Cleaning the guest room, changing the bedding etc.

Enjoy your day!

Good morning. Lovely and sunny here, but getting hot for a few days.

Lori I read an article last night saying that the main reason for good people leaving a workplace was usually not about their pay or conditions, but very much about their immediate superior! I thought of you!
We’ll cheer you on as you stick it out.

Hope you are feeling okay now. No boot camp was a good decision!

Hi Milena, Completely agree about the way of life, the long journey, and plodding along through the hard times, keeping on going.
And I almost agree about the chocolate!

hi Cafolinecatz

I would be impressed with myself, were it not for the fact that the high target is judt to get back go the weight I was in November!!! lol!

Would be more impressive to report my journey downwards was going well, but then again I did have a great Christmas!!!!

I really need go shift this excess and get going on this year’s target, Im 60 at the end of the year and dont want to look it or feel it. Once Im back on course will be happy with 3lbs a month. I did hit my original target in less than a year, but moved the goalposts not long after starting, and soon realised my journey would be ups and downs, Ill put on weight on high days and holidays – love my food too much – so the rest of the time I have to make extra efforts. Works for me.

Hi all

Salma – WE ARE SUCCEEDING!!! We both weigh less than we did this time last year and, with luck and a following wind – we will weigh less next year than we do now!!1

BLOODY AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Without 5:2, we would both weigh MORE than we did this time last year – so we are a HUGE SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!

Carry one everyone, we are all on the right road!

so travel hopefully!!!!

Hello!!

Woohoo–I made my little goal of getting below 170. Less than two pounds to preholiday weight now. At the doctor I was just over 170 b/c of the clothes but that’s okay. Of course immediately after all that, we had a music recital in our house with lots of snacks and sweets. But I’ll get back on track. I’m definitely in the slow and steady category!!!

Milena, I totally agree with you about 5:2. I’m so glad I decided to try it. It really works for me even though I’m going slowly…

Sherryann, glad you had such a fun day!!

Safe travels, Salma!

Lori, I’m really impressed with your excercise. I feel proud if I lift a few weights!

Cinque, hope the movie was fun!!!

Sunday will be my big weekend challenge. We are passholders at Biltmore–the estate of the Vanderbilt family–and are doing a tour and brunch buffet!!! I guess we’ll watch the super bowl in the evening since the Panthers are just two hours from here and everyone will be talking about it.

Have a great weekend, everyone!!

Quiet day today. No visitors, and fasting! 🙂
Next visitor arrives the day after tomorrow.
The movie was lovely and Arlo had a good time here.

Caroline I hope you have a lovely weekend. How do you manage the buffet? I like being very organised. Check out everything and then make a small selection of my favourite things. Sometimes I am a little greedier than I want to be!

Lori 9 months is a long time to work for someone who makes your bloodpressure rise! Good luck finding a way to coolly cruise though. I’m glad your sister will be there next weekend.

Sherry,
The waffles are great! The waffle iron means the raw ingredients puff up – the same principle they use for puffed rice, puffed wheat cereals.
But it is a vague recipe. You can make these with any mix of raw cereals, seeds, lentils or nuts. I have put the mixes that were from the original recipe below (I add less oil and salt), with one I devised for a gluten free friend.
Here’s a link to where I put them up on the Jamie Oliver forum years ago.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/member-recipes/recipe-detail/2436/
It has a picture of my heart shaped waffles. I don’t think they would work in the type of iron that makes the thick ones.
I don’t follow a recipe any more, the other day I just threw in some oats, sesame seeds, walnuts, semolina flour and a little plain flour. Pinch of salt and a teaspoon of oil. Water to blend, (a strong blender is a good thing!) and get to the pancake consistency (a fairly porridgy pancake consistency!). I make a smaller amount because it is just me.
Pour the mixture into the hot iron (I lightly grease it at the beginning, but it doesn’t need more oil after that).
I see in that link I said cook 5 mins each side, but these days I cook them closer to ten minutes each side. That might make it a very long breakfast to feed your crew! They need to cook through and be light and crispy (a layer of uncooked mixture in the middle is no fun).
They are great to accompany stew or soup, or a dessert like stewed fruit. But we mostly put a little butter and vegemite on them!

LENTIL OAT WAFFLES
1/2 cup soaked red lentils
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/3 cups water

MIXED GRAIN
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1 tbsp oil
pinch salt
2 1/2 cups water

NUT OAT WAFFLES
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup almonds
1 tbsp oil
pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups water

GLUTEN FREE
1 cup buckwheat flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup chopped Brazil nuts
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 tsp oil
pinch salt
2 1/2 cups water

Greetings all.

Very interesting to read all your posts.

My issue is about weight loss expectations. I have stayed on the 5:2 since 7 January and lost 7 kilos with little exercise. I have dieted in the distant past not using 5:2 and had a steady weight loss but this time weighing once a week I have experienced small gains as well as losses, then suddenly my weight drops dramatically. The fluctuations are frustrating and overall misleading. I have resolved to weigh only once per fortnight and measure once per month and thereby focus on the bigger picture.

Hi Secretly Slim,
Is it that very human wish to lose weight quickly and in a steadystream, that you are commenting on? As a species we seem to long for the quick fix, and freak out when it doesn’t happen in an ordered way. (Hence all the weightloss advertising). No wonder those up and down scales drive everyone up the wall.
Even though I know their limitations, when I had some they still drove me up the wall, and I am very glad I gave them away.

Doing 5:2 without scales, or TDEE, or calorie counters, or apps of any kind, I find that the way I notice weight loss is in jumps. I seem to be doing nothing, and then all of a sudden I look skinnier, clothes are too big.
How I notice is not necessarily how anyone else notices either. It is interesting to see how my friends will be just going on as normal, and then all of a sudden it is “Omg you’ve lost weight!”

I like keeping my eye on the bigger picture too. Firstly because 5:2 is about the longterm for me, and secondly because I want to change my eating habits: portion sizes, tastes, snacks, how I manage eating out, eating when stressed, etc etc.

5:2 really helps me with this, partly because as I lose weight my food needs change, and it also puts a break in my eating twice a week, that seems to break the old patterns, and access the healthier, more natural (thousands of years of evolution) ones for ‘normal’ eating.

🙂

Hi everyone. Sorry to have been gone for awhile. I’ve been on the road, visiting my mother in Pennsylvania and giving a talk at a university there. And, like you, Salma,feeling a little tighter in the skirts. I also somehow got unsubscribed from the list. Wondered why it had gotten so quiet all of a sudden! Now I’m trying to catch up with your posts and with 5:2 again.

Congratulations Milena, Salma, Lori, Sherry, Caroline and all you other losers. It is a slow process, with times in the layby, but as you all keep reminding me, it’s a way of life not a short term diet. I’ve been good at fasting one day a week but so often don’t fit that second day in somehow. So I seem to be on maintenance. Lots better than gaining. But I’m going to make a push the next three weeks, before a trip to California, to get in at least two fast days a week and see if I cannot shed 4-5 lbs. Lori, you’re success has inspired me to try to go low carb these next three weeks as well.

So, fasting today. Have only had cottage cheese and a mandarin. Soup is simmering in the crockpot for dinner.

Hope you’re all having a lovely day.

MM

Hi Everyone,

A lazy day here. I’m fasting today after last night’s excess food. I don’t understand why I eat food that isn’t good for me! I feel grumpy and hot flashy and just not myself! 🙁 I’m chugging green juice made of cucumber, celery, parsley, spinach, lime, mint, stevia and coconut water right now in an attempt to cleanse my system! Not bad…tastes a bit like a mojito!).

Cinque, wish I could navigate this eating thing as smoothly and gracefully as you and had the guts to throw away the scale! Has your houseguest arrived yet? Do you have any fun plans during the visit?

MM, glad to see you back. Hope the visit with mom and the speech went well! Yes, maintaining is better than gaining. Me, I’m on a constant roller coaster it seems! Where are you going in California? Is it vacation or work related?

Have a good day all!

Sherry

Cinque,

Here’s hoping your day got more productive as it went on! 😉 I’m happy you have a friend who can relate to what your dealing with. So nice of you to offer him a place to stay because as you said, it’s got to be difficult to stay in a hotel when you don’t feel well. I’m sure you will make him feel right at home with your wonderful cooking too! A hotel restaurant wouldn’t compare!

Thanks for the info on King Island-interesting! How does he get to the Mainland? Does he take a ferry over? Is it a short trip?

The day is coming to a close here and my fast went well so hopefully I’ll feel a little less bloated/better tomorrow!