Well done, Happy, It’s your duty to indulge yourself with your dad. 😉

I’m coming to the end of a cold fast day, with just my clear vegetable soup on board. Early to bed tonight after a small piece of salmon with greens.

Cheers, Bay 🙂

Lichtle, Happy

Totally agree. I will continue to eat raw Brazil nuts, blue cheese and a little meat, all nutritious foodstuffs in moderation. We mainly eat fish and green vegetables, soups and salads. Cheese and nuts are our treats. 😉

I noticed this morning that I clocked up my 100 th fast day on Tuesday. I feel like it’s a significant milestone for my mind to register and celebrate. There have also been lots of semi fast days along the way. 😆

Having made myself go back on to 5:2 from 6:1 (because of the recent sugars and carbs), i am now nearly back below 60 kg, a weight I reached in August 2014. As we often talk about, I am one of the happy people who fluctuate around 2 kg each week during maintenance. It is way easier to control without processed carbs and sugars in the diet.

I weigh every day just to see what foods have impact and which ones are good for me.

Cheers all, Bay 🙂

@carol, hoping your appointmrnt with the specialist re your diet and new medication went Ok. 🙂

Wow Bay,

A centenary of fasts! I think it’s probably safe to say you’ve done it enough to have formed a habit!

I haven’t been counting, but will be nowhere near that yet, maybe 70. I really have been fasting intermittently…

I’m afraid I won’t be joining you in a celebratory fast today either. I’m 59.1 this morning and, having seen myself in changing room mirrors yesterday, really don’t want to lose any more weight.

I’d gone bra shopping, and ended up with a slightly padded t-shirt bra. Personally I don’t like padding. I think it’s cheating, and it tends to overheat my chest, but I couldn’t find anything unpadded (this in a large department store). The assistant smiled at me pityingly and explained that manufacturers tend to only make unpadded bras in larger sizes, the smaller sizes are padded because that’s what ladies with little chests want! Hmm, not this lady with a little chest (perkier maybe 🙂 )

Perhaps I’ll get a t-shirt to wear over my t-shirt bra that says ‘This is not all me. Unashamedly small’ !

Carol, as Lichtle says, I hope your appointment was fruitful.

Fast, hope you’re OK. It’s been a while?

Lichtle

I just noticed that autocorrect changed your name. Sorry about that. I have a new computer, and I keep catching it doing strange things. 😉

Bay

Oh Fast,

I’m so sorry. What a stressful time for you, and I can appreciate that it must be very hard to keep your distance. Is there any chance that she could go into residential care nearer you, presumably you are in different local authorities though?

I’m glad to hear you are otherwise alright though. It’s always a worry when someone stops posting unexpectedly!

We will be thinking of you, and will have to make an extra special effort to post entertaining, thought-provoking and witty asides to divert you when you do pop in!

Take care of yourself. Fingers crossed it is resolved soon, for all involved.

FFS, I too had noticed your absence, along with Purples but I think she might have said she was going on holidays. I am so sorry to hear about the problems you have been having with your mother. My dad is 92 and lives on his own. Fortunately he is very healthy and active for his age but you can see the deterioration happening. My worst fear is him losing his independence. Like your mum he won’t be told what to do. What can we do! They are their own masters and have the right to live their life the way they want. I really feel for you and your predicament and am more than happy to say a prayer for you and your mother.

Thanks for your concern re my doctors appointment re thyroid. Good news is he doesn’t want me to go on the metabolic diet he was talking about last time. I’m still not convinced taking HRT is going to improve my thyroid so am going to see my GP to ask for a referral to an endocrine specialist. Will see what they have to say!

I’ve been keeping my food diary for 4 weeks now and it has highlighted a couple of interesting things but what I want to do now is identify what was happening food wise in the 24 hours preceding big dips or big spikes in weight. I’ll need to develop some way of putting all the info into a graph so I can interpret it.

Congratulations on the ton bay! Love to all!

Dear Fast, I am so glad to hear from you and understand the reason why you can’t be with us. I, to was getting worried but hoped you were on holiday.

I am so sorry to hear about your stressful time. It is so difficult to back off and watch a loved one suffer. But the health staff is right, you must take care of yourself first in order to be of any use to her. My parents had a similar situation with my grandparents – with a situation where a 71 year old daughter (who could have done with care for herself) was caring for a 93 old severely disabled mother who didn’t want to go into care. Luckily she had younger sisters to share the burden with but nonetheless very difficult.

It seems that the stress is showing with your low weight now, so keep eating. According to my mum we have to keep eating for our “nerves” when stressed.

So, my thoughts and prayers are with you that you may have the strength and health to deal with a day at a time.

Lots of love.

Good Morning everybody – hoping everybody has had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend. I take it that the lack of posts here means everybody is happily maintaining. I thought I had overindulged this weekend and was prepared to pay the price today, but I was relieved to be in the middle of my range this morning.

Still doing a Monday (delayed) fast today as this is the only day I seem to be able to do full fasts now with Thursdays being more 20:4 days, breaking the fast at 2pm with fruit and then a normal meal in the evening.

Thinking of you all especially FastFastSlow. Take care.

Happy, you have my greatest admiration re gardening and fitting everything in at the weekend, as I know you work full time too. You really have to love doing it or it would become a burden. Picking up slugs and snails is not very pleasant but necessary ;-( I am just glad if I can keep my borders/hedges/nettles from overgrowing. I haven’t even done anything with my flower pot planting which looked amazing last year.

But every weekend I seem to have something planned this year, with more trips to FIL who lives 150 miles away. FIL is absolutely amazing having learned to cook healthy meals at the age of 90 (recently widowed). MIL never allowed him to cook (only the washing up) He sends me pictures of lamb shanks with all the trimmings, toad in the hole, chicken casserole, steak and vegetables and he eats hardly any sweets or/deserts (sugar in tea though). He has wheatabix with a banana in the morning, a soup for lunch and a good healthy meal in the evening. Most of the day he spends in his garden despite him being very shaky on his legs. I believe the garden (joy of it, exercise and fresh air) and a good diet are the reasons why he is still alive and independent, despite his very serious medical history.

So sorry to hear you are not feeling great – definitely a good idea to hold off with fasting until you know more. Your diet is healthy and you weight regularly so taking it easy is essential.

Oh, I am such a sucker for jelly babies and I can eat a bag in one sitting. In fact I love anything fruity, jam, ice lollies etc. The up side is that I am not too bothered about chocolates, biscuits or cakes. I can leave that if necessary. Recently I have taken to drinking water or eating fresh fruit before giving in to the “refreshing” feeling of the fruity treats and I think it helps. Pre 5:2, I used to have at least 2-3 apples a day (often for breakfast mid to late morning) so fruit has always played a big part in my life and I have to make sure to keep eating real rather than resorting to artificial fruit.

Do you think the artificial sweeteners you MIL consumes contribute to her weight gain? I am aware that it is not healthy but not sure if it promotes weight gain. At the very least artificial sweeteners won’t tackle the problem of sugar craving.

You are right with our perception of what constitutes indulgence. I suppose after a fast day eating the full TDEE and a bit more seems very extravagant. 😉

Hi everyone
A quick ‘pop in’ to catch up on you all – and very largely to thank you all so much for your care and good wishes. I’m overwhelmed, really, to think that a group of women who’ve never actually met can offer such huge mutual support – what a blessing! I was very moved: thank you, especially Happy, Lichtle and Bay.

Things continue apace: Mum is still in hospital, but from the calls I’ve been getting I think the idea is to have one more try at sending her home, with the care simply ramped up a bit, and see how it works. I’m fully behind the philosophy of keeping people at home, with support, as long as possible if that’s where they want to be, but I would feel so much happier if she could be somewhere we’d know she was safe and cared for, with company she’d enjoy. I honestly can’t see a return home working, however much care they set up – I just wish they’d get on with it! But mum is very practised at her impression on ‘nice, middle-class, lady who’s just a tad muddled and better not to cross’, so off we go again, some time in the next day or three…

Lichfle, your FIL sounds fantastic. Could we swap??!

And Happy, your bank holiday gardening sounds prodigious – what a pleasure, but what hard work! Please let us all know your blood test results, and take care of yourself – hope you’ll be feeling better soon. And I’m sure you’re right to suspend fasting till you know all is well.

No proper fast for me either yet this week – began yesterday but reached mid afternoon feeling faint, weepy and with fantasies about a cheese toastie to which I eventually succumbed. It was delicious, and I suspect more than just a fast-day craving but a real message from a body under stress. Weight unchanged since my last post, so I think I did the right thing to give in – but shall try again on Thursday, even if it’s a semi-fast just so that I don’t lose the habit. Perhaps you and I have to start a sub-group, Happy – a ‘discern when to fast, fast-lite, or take a break, and start again without returning to blobdom’…..

Back in a day or two….thanks again…

Hi Fast, I totally agree with keeping poeple in their own home as long as possible but sometimes this can go too far especially when people deteriorate mentally and they live on their own. But if your mum can make the right noises/impression and does not want to leave her home then it is very difficult. I am glad you are listening to your body and eat until your stressful situation gets resolved.

I didn’t manage a fast today but had a few dried apricots, some mixed nuts and grapes and one of my favourite food items – a couple of boiled potatoes with butter. Will try again on Thursday but not beating myself up if eat a bit above 500cals.

Take care all of you.

Absolutely, Happy – I shall be exactly the same – probably worse! If Mum can stay at home, with care provided, I shall be delighted; my frustration is with her refusal to accept it, not because she thinks she doesn’t need it but because ‘it’s all right, I have a daughter’ – while refusing to acknowledge that the daughter isn’t capable of doing what Mum considers she should, and with no provision in place to make possible even the things she could do!

Feel better now – thanks!!! Here’s hoping it works this time….

Hi Happy, I’m feeling better thanks. Still consulting with doctors but consensus seems to be all the problems have been a reaction to surgery. Have you had your tests yet?

Hello all!

Spent from July 2013-2014 using a combination of 5:2 and 4:3 (at times) until I reached my IBW. Then from July 2014-to the Present on the 6-1 Maintenance Program. Not only have I maintained the weight I lost (dropped 4 sizes and many inches) but I recently dropped 5 more pounds. I eat whatever I like now and this includes desserts, carbs, sugars. The 5:2 seems to have re-set my metabolism. From someone who spent a lifetime trying all the fad diets this has truly been life-changing. Last Diet I will ever need!

Hi Fast, Lichtle, Happy

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. Have read your posts when I could. I’m with my mother for three weeks. She is nearly 94 and is feisty and independent. Use it or lose it is her motto, and it has served her well. She can still touch her toes, and carry in wood for the fire. We had a few scenes in the past over not wanting to accept help, so I know how hard that is. Happily, we are over that hurdle and now she jokes about it. 😉

Best wishes, Fast, for all you are going through. We all have the mix of guilt and wanting to help, and also leading busy lives looking after OH, our grandchildren and so on. 😆 There’s a lot to be said for comfort eating 😉

Cheers, Bay 🙂

Hi Carol

Thanks for asking. From something my mothers doctor said, I have experimented with timing of BP tablet and have succeeded in keeping BP under control on lower dose. I was waking up with high BP. I now take my lower dose tablet in the evening, (not the morning as previously), and I now wake up with acceptable BP. The activities of the day, eg golf or walking, or scrubbing floors 😉 are enough to keep BP at good level. I will continue on taking the lower dose tablet in the evening for a week or two and see if it’s a long term method of keeping my BP under control.

Cheers, Bay 🙂

Happy, am hoping the results of your tests are good. B

@carla, it is absolutely phantastic how much weight you have lost and how you keep maintaining. thanks for sharing this with the rest of us.
@Bay, enjoy the time with your mother. She seems one of those inspiring people like my FIL. Let us know if your BP medication solution is permanent – would be great.
@All maintainers 🙂 have a great week.

Very very quickly: I love the idea of going into ‘owl edge’, carol – thank you! And might try the BP mess trick – except it will have to be early evening, to avoid getting in and out to the loo all night…

Carol,

I thought it was something to do with old age!

Of course now I re-read your post (with the ‘owl edge’ of what you intended to write 🙂 ) it all makes perfect sense…

No Lichtle, Fast didn’t understand – my thought process went ‘owl –> wisdom –> age’ etc, just like hours. Hence my remark about preferring it to ‘old age’ as a term. If you’re stupid, so am I!!

Hi Maddie,

Great that you’ve had some weight loss success. If you have indeed read our stories, then you will know that we have all also lost our excess weight and are now happily maintaining by intermittent fasting.

I’m afraid I’m always suspicious of (as you put it) ‘random sites’ so won’t be following the link you posted, thank you. Perhaps you could share your story here with us instead?

Hi Lichtle,

No, not until later in the week unfortunately! By which time, summer will hopefully have arrived and I’ll be feeling fine 🙂

Doing a semi-fast today at least, as my weight can take it this week! Too much French bread at the weekend 🙂

Who would have thought a slip of the finger……….:)

Hi Happy, Any results? Bay 🙂