Morning all. Can’t go to the pool today as have to have a couch day. Pains shooting down my right leg for some reason. It is a real buggar that whenever I get the sorting/cleaning bug I end up over doing things. Can’t seem to get it through my thick head that I can’t do what I used to do. Dumb dumb dumb…
So lying on the bed with my legs over my support should fix it. Hopefully on,y one day.

On the good side I have lots of wonderful interesting posts to read. So much great stuff on the posts this morning.
SJ your travel club sounds great. We have a two bedroom self contained studio behind our house that would be perfect for hosting. I will have to look into that later in the year when all of my family have been and gone. Would be good for when we go to Canada next…or a side trip to somewhere on the way. .i have bookmarked the Link and will look into it. Great for travelling around Australia too. we are looking to go to the cairns area next year in conjunction with the gyps reunion…we have not been further north than Townsville. . Well done on getting your trip to see your son organised. When do you go? ✈️✈️
Nature calls…back soon.

Well my first stuff up for the day.

Sorry Barb..it was you with the link to the travel club. Thanks heaps.
Your plans for Vietnam and Cambodia sound fabulous. You will enjoy cooking class.🍲🍜🍝🍲🍜🍛🍛 Hopefully OH will survive it too and perhaps even enjoy it! Love Vietnamese food. It is so light you won’t have trouble choosing something to eat. Wonderful idea for the photo album..I did the same for my mum , she could tell me the name of everyone and even what year approx it was taken. She was one of the fortunate ones,she did not have dementia. She just loved looking through the old photos. Good luck with the plasma donation and think how good it is to have a NFD. Already having done your F.D. That goes for all you awsome
people who were organised and strong enough to do on a Sunday!!!

Jade. What a wonderful time you must have had talking to your mum on a rare day she could understand. How far does she live away from you? Do you get to see her often? Great idea for having an Aussie Determination House Swap 🏘🏠🏡🏰club and we could include an affordable travel club also. ✈️✈️🛥🛥⛽️⛽️🚗🚗🏍🏍I like the idea of that and it goes without saying that you would all be welcome at my place should you ever be in the area. Did think that our studio would be good for doing something with some day. One room is set up as a sewing room , as well as queen bed , but the main bedroom adjoins the sitting room, bathroom and kitchenette so easy to separate.
Great exercise for you walking three dogs. 🐕🐩🐶
CG. Great to have the 75,s done and dusted. With all the effort you put in you deserve to be going down. Chokkies. Yum yum…OH brought home some chocolate covered licorice the other day and had to have a couple of pieces before I asked him to hide them…as you say needed them for laxatives. Enjoy your pool. I really miss going to mine. Perhaps I can make up for missing today by going Wednesday Morning. 🏊🏻🏊🏻

Fit. You sure did it tough with your FD. Well done you for completing it!! And having a day with your sister. Enjoy your day catching up with old friends and reliving your great experiences together. I’d love to be a fly on the well when all of the stories are being told. Sure to be heaps of wonderful Irish laughter happening ..🍀😂😂🍀😇😇

I have a ninja and a vitamix and would not be without either. Use them most days to make either sorbet or great smoothies. That is what keeps me regular. I too have found lately that Kale is a bit harsh and the wind factor after drinking it is cyclonic..🌪🌪 so just stick to spinach and rainbow chard or cos lettuce these days for my greens. . I find that in pineapple season I buy fresh pineapples and cut them into cubes and freeze. Great sweetener fruit. and so lucky having a good source of blueberrys close for blueberry ice cream, by adding some yoghurt.

Good luck with FD today. I’m not really in the mood as feeling pissed off that I was stupid and overdid things!! Feel like pigging out so will take all of my strength and determination to get through today. However. I CAN DO THIS AND I AM GOING TO BE BLOODY MINDED AND PULL IT OFF. 😒😒 😡😡😡😈👹😾😾😤😣

Thanks Fit. Yes I should listen but was always such a busy person going 100 miles per hour all of the time. So hard to get it through my thick skull that I can’t do that anymore. However thank my lucky stars every day that what I have is not life threatening…just a bloody nuisance. I have so much energy and so many things I want to do… Went to dinner last night to daughters place to farewell the lovely couple who have been staying with her. Was given the two lovely paintings and they are just like I imagined that would be. She has incorporated a number of the leaves I brought home from Canada and kept it simple and In The red and grey tones. The texture is wonderful. So another job I can’t wait to do is to paint the frames that were planned to house them white and get them up on the wall. I will then be able to take a photo to post. When I asked her the cost she said, two little hats for Sumartra..I had taken over two of the little hats for her little one that I had made. However could not accept that for all the work she had done so gave her something as well. Such a lovely couple and little Bub. Will miss them. There are so many beautiful young people in this life. It is truely grand…💜💜💜

Hello everyone. I’ve got hubby wiht the speaker phone on while he is in “the queue” so am finding it difficult to concentrate.
Yes well I too hoped that Andy Murray could beat Djokovic but it was not to be. I do think he needs to consider some good clinical sports psychologist as he become so negative he almost defeats himself.
SJ , .we are going to South Africa, leaving on the 23rd of this month and will unfortualy be away for the WAT TOO FAT reunion. – silly me that’s my iffy joke of the morning. It is for us to attend the 60th anniversary of hubby’s joining the Merchant Navy. He started off as a cadet and went through the ranks to become a Master Mariner or ships captain.
GG thanks for the info re Mayo Clinic website. I’m going to check it out. Barb , Fit, dementia is such a sad condition. Sufferers seem to undergo a personality change and often become aggressive. PH that pain down your leg sounds like Sciatica. Too mush overdoing it in the cleaning department. Rest up and take it easy. Isn’t it interesting that we have different ideas about diaries. I personally don’t keep one but do have some very interesting info taken from a favourite aunt’s diary. She was my mums twin sister. She and her husband were on a plane that was hijacked by some loonie militant group PLO – Palestinian liberation army I seem to recall. They pilot had a gun put to his head and forced to fly to some Middle East destination. Beirut I think. Once they landed the passengers had to use the emergency shutes and run for the terminal. Half way there the plane was blown to bits. By some fluke no one was seriously injured and eventually thanks to some high level diplomatic agreement the passengers and crew were allowed to fly on to Rome via another plane. Needles to say it was a very traumatic experience and she never got over it.
Back to the mundane. FD here too and I’m planning to wait till lunchtime before I eat anything. Have only had black coffee so far and can’t say I’m hungry at all.
😀😄😇🌹🐾

She documented all so well. Needless to say it was a very troumatic experience and she never fit over it.

Hi there

I’m Ben and this is my first day on the 5:2 way of life (as I want to call it). I’m looking to lose about 13-15kg to get to my goal weight. Monday and Wednesday will be my FD and I’m drinking lots of water and cordial (low cal). Lunch will be miso soup with spinach and dinner is chicken and veges. Really looking forward to what this will do for me.

Welcome Ben. 👋👋👋You will find this way of life is very achievable. Nice to have a male on board. If you feel like sharing more about yourself..go ahead..if not then that is perfectly OK. Your plan sounds spot on. Miso soup with veg is a good addition to fast day. Make sure you have pleanty of protein. We usually have hard boiled eggs on standby as a good snack…can’t go wrong with chicken and veg for dinner. Make sure there are pleanty of green veg and not potato. If you need potato then it is best to have sweet potato. You may find today hard but it does become easier each time you fast.

I too fast on Mondays and Wednesday’s as does CG. So good luck with today and no question is silly.
We can do this 😀😀😀😀😀

Morning all…well it is for me anyway! Just back from my first visit to the osteopath & thank you so much to the ladies who suggested I swap over to him! He was just great. Picked up straight away that my orthotics need renewing – not high enough for my shorter leg. Ha never knew I had that (only a little bit) till in my late 50’s! And the scoliosis in my back is the main contributor to my neck/back issues. So we’ve started working on them. He also gave me great advice re which pilates class to go to & NOT to go to others eg the one I USED to go to! He wasn’t surprised that I thought my back may have been started by a wrong setting on my machine & over-stretching. So not going to the rec centre any more as the lady he highly recommended is more expensive & can’t afford both. But he said it will be far more suitable for me. Also said that my muscles are not great after 2 years of Pilates as in he would have expected them to be much stronger, but he said that will happen with this other lady who only ever has 3 in a class & will work with him to get my problem areas sorted. One happy happy lady! He was very gentle today for my first visit.
PH sorry about your back. As you said you should have sent that cleaning gremlin packing long ago! We all tend to think we’re invincible don’t we. {{{ }}} and hope the rest does the trick. Those little onesies with skirts on are very cute aren’t they!
Welcome Ben nice to have you on board. You’ll find 5:2 does the trick for you.
Wow Doggie not too long now until you leave. You’re going to be away for a while then! Me too to the just black coffee so far. Need to go & get busy as thoughts of food are flooding in – and it’s not HB eggs in my vision! A friend let me know yesterday that Woolies in town stock a lovely fig & fennel sourdough bread from a well known bakery in Perth so I went & picked one up…and I think it’s on my mind!!! Get thee gone bread…..you have to wait till tomorrow. It’s wonderful toasted for breakfast as a treat so it’s sliced & in the freezer.

Well off to get busy. Have a planned prepared FD all & stay focused on your goals. suejen XXXX

Nice to have you on board Ben. Many of us have been around for a year or more so please feel free to ask for any advice. Invariably there is someone who will have the answer. We find this way of eating very doable and we don’t like to use the D word. It’s also worthwhile remembering that you can expect to lose weight quite quickly for the first few months but this slows down as time goes by. We try not to become disheartened as we all know that we are more than likely going to be choosing to eat like this for the foreseeable future. Have you read Michael’s book? I would recommend that you do so that you can get the hang of what it is all about.
SJ, how good that you’ve found an osteopath that has given you some good advice. I do hope that it helps. It’s got very hot and sticky here this arvo and I’m ALMOST wishing for some more overcast damp weather. We have a bizarre situation in our small state. Fires continuing to burn on the west coast and rivers in flood with water running through people’s houses on the east coast.
Jade I see our favourite politician is still a front runner. He’s one scary dude!

Hi all. Going well so far only just had my HB egg, a cucumber and a couple of tomatoes so far. And a coffee. And I have been very good. Resting a lot and not doing much at all. Leg feeling a bit better. CG i only went to the osteo a week or so ago so just doing some nice hot packs, with the air con on ha ha. I’m sure that the day of rest should see me right..if not the. It will be 2 days of rest.

SJ so pleased you liked your osteo. And it is good that he has someone to recommend who only has three people in the class. You should really get good value out of that even if it is more expensive. You should now be able to look forward to some improvement. 😍😍😍
Good luck with the rest of the day! 💜💜💜

Hi all
I’m Ali and resting on the couch enjoying my first FD. Day 1 so far hasn’t been too hard. It’s great to read your posts, thanks. 7 kgs has crept on in the last 5 years and I’d like to see that gone (in time).
A couple of questions- Have you all tried to plan meals for your non fast days or have most of you followed your usual eating patterns? I’m just trying to get my head around it all. Alcohol free for Feb and I think this will make a difference.
Best wishes
Ali

Welcome Ali and Ben – I am new as well and only started last week.

Sorry theres a few aches and pains out there.Hope you ladies get better soon. Finding a good health provider is not easy and when you find them hang on to them. Glad your osteo is good SJ.

Im doing Ok foodwise today but made a huge rod for my own back by not getting up and doing a walk this morning. I was at work till nearly 7pm and got home at 7:30. I just had a Lite N Easy meal for dinner (i keep a few in the freezer for emergencies) and had to walk walk walk around the streets from 7:45pm as i left work with less than 2000 steps for the day and a sore butt from sitting at my desk. I made it to over 10400 so far and only just stopped pacing around. We had a huge rain storm while i was walking and i got stuck in it. 10500 or so steps will have to do for the day. I am looking forward to seeing Dawn French tomorrow. I am glad i booked it. I will have another busy day at work. An accountants life at month end is hectic and as my assistant was away all of Jan i had to do her work and leave a lot of mine so i have some catching up to do and have to upload my budgets (year end is December) and am working my way down 1000 lines of accounts each with 12 months of figures. It has done my head in all day.

Hope your tomorrows are all good esp those on FD. I think i will have to do a 2 day fast this week as i cant do it tomorrow or friday or the weekend which leaves Wed and Thurs. It will be a huge ask in one way but maybe if i am in the FD groove, day 2 wont be so bad. What are your experiences of this?

Ax

Good morning all you Aussies and what better way to start my day than with CG’s daily wisdom! I’ve thrown too many pity parties lately, and I not only obsess over food but also bad times in my life (rather logical when you think about it). The result was a dream about OH#1 – ARGH, I could not wake up fast enough  You’re right CG about loyalty – funny, just last night I booked a hair appt online for a place in the city my daughter likes. I am desperately shaggy, but could not face another shearing from the local gal.
Ben and Ali – welcome! Ali, I’ve altered my non-FD eating to skip breakfast but I’m pretty flexible about it otherwise. I encourage you to enjoy the freedom – eat what you really want, w/n your TDEE allowance. It’s what we love about 5:2! You may discover that eating within your TDEE is no problem at all. But if it is, you can tweak all that later.
Fit I’m so sorry you woke up with neck pain, many a morning sleeping wrong has done that to me. I hope you feel better as the day goes on, maybe a hot compress will help? Have a fantastic time tonight with your pals! Or should I say mates 🙂 You have earned a grand time and I have a feeling you know how to have one! Hope OH arrives safe and sound and not too green from seasickness.
Annie I can’t even imagine your job – math makes me a wreck just doing my own budgets. I’ve done the b2b fasts and they’re not so bad. Just run with that un-hungry feeling we all have after the first day. Drink water! You’ll get all kinds of steps in, running for the WC 🙂 but it’s easier to get dehydrated on day 2.

It’s Monday a.m. here, so time to get a move on and tackle the work day. Cheers! xxx

Jade, hope you have a lovely haircut that you’re happy with and that does you justice! It’s very human to think too much about the times when life didn’t go the way we planned or wanted. I’m sure you dream helped you to process something in your subconscious, but it’s done now so forget all about it xx
CG, you really are up and about very early! I hope you get some answers about Indy’s paw…..it’s so hard when they can’t tell us what’s wrong and haven’t the sense to mind themselves when injured.
My neck has gotten worse so I’m trying the warm compress now and hoping it will be better in the morning.

Thanks, Jade, I had a lovely meal out with two ex colleagues…..one male, one female. He was the principal of the first school I taught in and she was my best friend on the staff there. We both left to become principals of other schools within a couple of weeks of each other. That was sixteen years ago and we still meet up every few months. Well done on staying away from the sugar….you’re a legend and full of Aussie determination 😃👏👍

Ali…..
On my NFD, I do try to make honest choices in the food I choose to eat; however, I’m in love with beautiful little pastries that melt in your mouth with a warm cup of coffee. And the great thing is that I do still eat them everyday except on FD.
I try hard sometimes fail miserably at staying with in my TDEE, but I don not stress about it. I am who I am and I enjoy every minute of it. I have been doing this new wol life for 32 days and have lost about 7 lbs.
The one great lesson, I’ve learned since my first day is that sometimes I may stumble through but tomorrow is a new day. I just adjust my days and keep on putting one foot in front of the other. It’s not always about the destination but the journey/adventure you were on to get there……
On every other diet (sorry girls and gents) is that I never found comfort in keeping it going long term. But, I have found comfort and ease in this new wol, I can honestly say, I will continue.
I hope this helps!
Quick question….. To everyone else…… Ugg! Terrible heartburn tonight…… Any thoughts?

Hi all. CG thanks for your concern. 💗💗💗
I am going along fine thanks. Had a good fast day yesterday and rested a lot. Went to the pool this morning and just took it gently, I had my physio strength class today as compared to my aquarobics class so it was perfect to test the waters so to speak. Movement better, anyway I went to spotlight on the way home to get some elastic and thread etc and a piece of good quality black cotton knit material to make Daughter some wide leg slacks for teaching so that she can get down on the floor with the kids and be comfortable. Have a great pattern and so should not take long to run up after a couple of more days not sewing. It was lunch time when I got home so thought I’d have a rest and would you believe it it is now 5.27 and just woke up. 4 full hours sleep…..😴😴😴😴 I did have my favourite coffee and focaccia bun at the hospital coffee shop for brunch but that’s all so far for the day. They make the best toasted bun . They steam chicken breast, and put baby spinach and pesto with a slice of cheese. Yummy a whopping 640 cals for it and coffee but my special treat every Tuesday. 🍔🍔🍔☕️☕️☕️.. The owner of the coffee shop is a lovely man and started the shop when I was in hospital for my 3 month stint. He would bring me coffee every morning when the rush died down. He said today that I was his first long term regular customer. Continues to do this whenever I am in hospital ..Beautiful Byron bay coffee too.. So when I go on Tuesday’s he sits with me if not busy and we catch up. So doing the right thing but goodness knows how I am going to get to sleep tonight…😳😳😳

SJ great news that daughter got in touch and you may see grandchildren again soon. . Fingers and toes crossed that everything goes OK for you. Stay positive but ready for anything…love and hugs to you 💕💕
GREAT news re OH. Well worth bubbly🍾🍾🍾 you both must be so thrilled. Have you tried hot packs on your neck. I find that helps and maybe then a cool towel rolled up under neck to do the hot,cold thingo…

Jade hope you survived the classes and students on Groundhog Day.📢📢📢📢 ..I’m sure you are an old hand at it now…. I would not be too worried if the cleaning bug does not arrive….you have to be in the mood to catch it…🙅

Bert. The best laid plans of mice and men…..as someone says, lucky you are so flexible, insurance does rule our lives these days…lucky you did not quit your job. It is great your MIL is feeling better though. I’m guessing that you will have to revisit this somewhere down the track though.. The As for the heartburn, I get it from time to time and just chew a couple of mylanta tablets which seems to settle it down if it is just short turn. Cannot abide the liquid mylanta but the tablets you chew are fine. Always carry so,e with me as I usually get heartburn while travelling and not in routine..

Hi Doggy. It has been hot and steamy here..4th day running we have closed the house up and run the air con so I know the feeling. Not much good for taking dogs for walk I’m thinking. Must be a good feeling when all the holidaymakers go home and things get back to normal.

Fit ..hope you feel better. Now OH is home you will have someone to look after you and cook dinner…same advice as I gave SJ. Hot packs do wonders especially in winter. And just relaxing the muscles….would you believe OH calling to say dinner is ready already!! Bye for now everyone, 💜💜💜💜💜