Hi all, all is well if you don’t count jet lag. Serious lack of sleep here.

Anyway, Fit, I watched the game here last night in Italy! Everyone was watching of course. Bad decision by ref early on but so pleased you guys got the win anyway!
I am here for a week. Italian food is pretty healthy if you steer clear of the pizza. Lots of yummy salads and the best strawberries. Don’t get too excited, I am sure I am gaining anyway!

Hope all are well.

Hi there pals! Looks like our AD thread has gone on a diet of its own! Very slim indeed! 😉
Up, how wonderful to visit Italy. I’ve been there a few times but never to Rome, it’s on my wish list. Thanks for supporting the Irish soccer team, it’s brilliant for such a small country! We’ll be playing against France on Sunday….should be fun! Enjoy the rest of your travels and the local cuisine….not to mention the ‘grape juice’! 👍😃😉
Jade, you must be bored to tears with all those meetings and admin duties, not to mention the antics of your nearest and dearest of the two and four legged variety! No wonder your brain is scrambled! I hope you managed a little power nap behind dark glasses during the meeting!
CG, you’re doing brilliantly with your recovery and healing, well done! Did you remember to ask about the arnica? I hope the awful weather settles a bit so that you can get to go home tomorrow. Take care driving and look after yourself once you’re home. Well done to Glenn too for taking such good care of you! 👍💚💞😃
I’m fasting today and hoping to see a little more movement on the scales tomorrow even though I did indulge yesterday with chocolate cake and pavlova! 😱
I’ll have to have another think about fb or I’ll be completely out of touch with everyone. After the weekend, things should be a little quieter, so I’ll look into it again. Have a lovely weekend, whoever is still out there! 💕💞💚

Oh, Up! I’m so jealous! My OH took me to the opera at La Scala for my last significant birthday and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!
I’ve just got home from a lovely evening with the other ladies in my French class. We went to a concert in a beautiful old stately home to hear a fabulous singer and two musicians recreating the songs of Edith Piaf. People were encouraged to dress in the style of 1930/40s and there were some great costumes. There was a meal too, so I think I’ve gone over my 500 cals…..not to mention a glass or two of wine! Oh well, I fasted until then, so it could have been worse!
Have a great weekend, y’all! 💚💕💞

Hi there!
Got a lovely call from GG this morning, my own, personal caring and thoughtful alarm clock! 😉😃 It’s so lovely to hear from her again and I hope to see her back on the thread very soon. However, I think I’ll be joining the wild bunch on fb before long!
Well done Jade on corralling those ponies! My weigh in shows no change but that’s ok because I did overdo things last night.
I’m having a dinner party tonight, wedding tomorrow, bbq on Sunday with wedding party…..so next week I’m going to be riding a string of bucking broncos! Yeehaw! 🏇🏇🏇🏇👍😃😉💚💕💞

PS 5.2 is not even on my radar and no fast days for two weeks. Not game to get on the scales!! But will get back on that horse on Monday!!! 💜💜💜

Hi all. Fit it sounds like fun!
PH, glad you are having fun.
No 5/2 for me but I am bathroom bound today with anxiety issues. Vomiting in a park today was a lowlight A complete waste of sightseeing time in Milan but a good way to lose weight I guess. 🙁

Anyway, don’t feel bad for me, I always get through these episodes eventually and life goes on.
Cheers

Hi all!
UP, I’m so sorry to hear that you’re suffering from anxiety and I know it’s happened before and you’re doing your best to make light of it and soldier on, but it’s still distressing. Follow CG’s advice if you can and I really hope it passes soon. I’m sending you big hugs and every good wish that you are feeling back to yourself in no time 💕💚💞 ((((❤️))))
CG, how lovely to be back home, getting more sleep and getting back into your normal routine and enjoying all your home comforts 🐶🐶🐶👍💚💕💞😃
Jade, I don’t know how you keep going in that holiday that’s not quite a holiday! You’re a saint 😇 I would have had more than a banana out of frustration, that’s for sure! Yes, the snacking was definitely a huge problem for me and an obstacle to any real weight loss. So, I’m hoping if I keep up the resolve not snack and graze all day, I’ll see some lasting results.
The dinner party was great fun and I went to bed at 2am! Then, the wedding yesterday was fantastic and the bride was so beautiful! The groom was totally besotted with her, they were so cute! The reception was in an old estate house with a converted mill, beautiful stone buildings, big circular windows overlooking the mill race…..magical! I danced quite a bit but with plenty of breaks to allow the ribs to recover! We got home at 2.30 am and we’ll be going back again for a barbecue today for more fun! Bring it on! 💃🍹🍾🌭🍔🌮

Good morning team🌄 – Up I’m so sorry to read of your day, you poor dear, sounds particularly awful while on a trip. I’m right in line behind Fit in seconding the beautiful words of CG, sending you love and hoping you are feeling better.💕😘 The mind and body are such a delicate blend, and what suffering when they get out of whack. xx

So the wedding weekend has been a dream come true, it sounds like, Fit💕? It’s so much fun to see the besotted when they realize it is really happening. I’ve seen a time or two the bride and/or groom just jump for joy when the “declaration” is made.😍😍 No doubt you burned off all the cake etc with your dancing! 💃😂 Oh, and I got your email, thanks! I look forward to the reduction in insanity, if only I can stay off the endless ####ing committees. Now there is infighting in one I am on, and I have gotten hints that I am to be the impartial arbitrator. Goodness, if the students aren’t acting like children, the faculty is.

CG are your wee hours (lol) calls of nature caused by still having to wear the corset? Or are you free from that infernal device? I realize its purpose was good but I would not like have my insides squooshed 24 hours a day, save for the 5-hour daily shower I’d probably have.😆🚿🚿 I have to compliment you again on your sweet words to Up, girl you could be a minister – well, i suppose you are.♥️

Everyone here is holding their breath over Brexit, but the world seems not to have ended just yet. My little corner of the world is humming along, as for 5:2 I have fallen into a devolving series of options: A is to fast, B is to fast till dinner, C is to do LCHF till dinner, D is simply to control myself, and E is (appropriately) eat whatever whenever. Proud to report I have slipped so far only to plan C despite a bit too much vodka last night💪 See how I turned that into a win😂? Carpe diem friends! xxxx✨😍

PH, excuse me for not saying hello in previous posts. I’m in a bit of a blur at the moment. Life is so good for you at the moment, it’s so lovely to hear the joy and love bursting through the screen from your post! Enjoy and savour every special minute 💕💚💞❤️😃

Mornin’ CG! Oooh, running around naked…….😱😳 I bet your four legged friends wouldn’t know what to make of that! But I can totally see why you would want to do so…. I hope you continue to improve in every way now that you’re home and do things exactly as you wish. Very exciting times and rewarding too after all you’ve gone through. Take things easy though and only fast if you really feel up to it, your main priority for now is to help yourself to heal as easily and smoothly as possible.
My sister is showing worrying signs of physical decline….poor balance and coordination. We’re hoping it’s due to changes in her medication and that things will improve in time. It’s scarily like scenes from One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest! Thank you so much for the loving support, I really appreciate it!
Brexit is the term being used to describe Britain’s exit from the European Union. They have been members since 1972 so this is a major event which is going to have lots of financial, trade and border implications for Ireland too, being their nearest neighbours. We’ll just have to wait and see exactly what the fallout will be over the next few months.
Have a great week everyone and happy fasting tomorrow if you’re on board! 👍💚💕💞

Hi there Jade! Yes, I’m back on the horse but boy, is he giving me a hard time! The over indulgence of the weekend, not to mention the Toblerone, has awakened my snacking demon 👹 It’s just as well I’m fasting because I would never be able to eat normally today without snacking too. Aren’t you such a wonderful friend, marking papers for a colleague in need….no wonder you needed vodka!
The weekend was terrific but I’m absolutely whacked! I’ve put on a load of laundry but now I’m stretched out on the couch being very lazy indeed.
Best of luck to all for the week ahead. I’ll have to get my act together to get ready for going to the UK and then on to France next week. I can’t believe it’s come around so soon. I’m really looking forward to my daughter’s graduation. Our older girl is coming too, so it will be a lovely family celebration.

I’m so happy for you Jade that your mum knew your name….what a special moment to treasure! ❤️❤️ I’m practically gnawing my fingers here but determined to stick it out…..it’s all or nothing today. If I slip up at all, it will be all the way to the bottom of the hill, so I’m hanging on by a thread and hoping my one meal later on won’t ruin my resolve. I don’t think I could do a liquid only fast, certainly not today anyway! Hope your armour plating is working 💪⛓⚒🛡

Still hanging on…..just! Fish cake or salmon with lots of green veg planned…..but not for another hour at least ! Eeeeeeeek! 😬😡

Good for you, UP! You’re right about the stresses of travelling but there is so much to enjoy too, so concentrate on the good bits…..tasty local cuisine and drink, people watching, window or actual shopping, architecture, scenery etc. Not to mention that you’re probably avoiding some less than pleasant weather at home! Try to get some time to just relax with a good book and a long, cool, fruity drink in the sunshine 😎😀

Hi all. Yesterday did my first,fast,day for 2 weeks. Yay!!!😇😇😇. My magical 2 weeks with all my family has sadly come to an end. But what a glorious two weeks it was. So many memories to cherish. Little Ruth is so alert and smiling and laughing heaps💕💕💕 OH’s sister and her youngest son and family came down on the weekend also so very full houses. I still have my Canadian family in Australia ..they are styling over at the beach with daughter at the moment and so still getting lots of beautiful cuddles from 5yr old grandson. He is such gives such great cuddles. As soon as I arrive he runs to me and hugs me ..so special. 💕💕OH pleased to have his own space again and did very well with all of the happenings around him. He moved himself to,the caravan in the shed for the duration so he could disappear when he needed to. Worked a treat. So it is back on track now ..not game to,get on the scales until my second fast for the week and then we shall see what damage has been done by the constant celebrating with 🍾🍾🍷🍷🍸🍸🍹🍹🍺🍻🧀🧀🎂🎂🍧🍧. Oh well. We only live once and it was worth every additional kg that will almost certainly be in place.

Today we get serious with the preparations for the MONSTER GARAGE SALE. We are taking the caravan out of the double fire shed and parking it up at the local tennis court and setting up the tables with everything for sale. Lucky the hall is so close and we are hiring tables from there for displaying everything. The tractor and slasher, camper trailer, trailer and calf crate will all be parked in,our driveway on full display so let the sale begin!! advertising is done I. The local paper, on the Internet , gumtree and Facebook. and doing the big signage for the entrances to the town today..son is going to Harvey Norman to get a couple of big washing machine boxes for us to use for painting the signs …busy week ahead. Did my linen cupboard yesterday whilst fasting and it actually now has two free shelves!! Such a great feeling for me but must admit OH is struggling…he does know that it was his idea to downsize but thought it would take much longer to happen poor love.

Up..pleased to,hear you are feeling better. Hang in there dear one.😘😘. CG. Great you are back with your four legged friends and feeling like doing chores. Fit. Sound like a great wedding. The Irish sure do know how to,celebrate weddings. 💕🍾🎉🎤💃💃.
Jade. You must be able to mark papers in your sleep. When do you actually get a holiday break?? Our poor old horse will be struggling to keep us all on its back this week.

Gyps. Love Ya!!💕💕😍😍
Hi to everyone else and looking forward to getting back to posting regularly. 💜💜💜

Hi all!
PH, it’s great to hear about the special time you’ve been having with your loved ones. There is nothing like the cuddles from those little people to set you up for the day! Best of luck with the monster sale and I hope your OH realises that it will be great to have so much clearing out done while you have helpers around, rather than waiting to struggle through it on your own. Good on you for getting stuck into the fasting already. As we say over here….”More power to your elbow!”
CG, I can just hear how much you’re enjoying those showers, there is nothing better for making one feel human again after being so uncomfortable all day/night. I agree about the difficulty of fasting during the winter. I definitely struggled during the colder weather because you need food to create body heat. On fasting days, one can be cold anyway, but during the winter, it is almost impossible to get warm because there is no internal heat to keep you going. I put on weight, as well as struggled to do 5:2, during the past two winters, so I’m hoping to be better prepared this year.
Jade, I just about made it through my fd yesterday. I went a little over but the scales show just half a kg up on last week, so that’s not bad. Did you grab the big brass ring? I haven’t read any other research but I’m banking on IF helping to guard against Alzheimer’s and cancer, as well as curing the snacking habit! Best of luck with the rest of the grading! After that, are you finally on holiday?
Big hello to GG, Gyps, SJ, Up, Dawg, GL, Annie, Lotus, Gawd 💚💕💞😃

Ha, “looks like rain”, that’s because it IS rain…..and more rain and more rain…..yuck! 🌧🌧🌧☹️
Well done you, 24 hour fast and 16:8 in prospect….you’re a legend! Ok, off you go and stand in front of a mirror repeating “No, no, no, no no” until it’s your automatic response to future requests. You can always change your mind and say “yes” once you have had time to think. 👍💪😃💚💕

Morning all, a beautiful day here. Sun is shining🌞🌞 and so I am going to take some pictures of what we laid out on tables yesterday to post on Facebook and hopefully on gumtree with information on our garage sale. Never done it before so with me luck. Son and little grandson came over yesterday and we got almost all of the treasure up to the shed and on the tables. I even have some of my vintage hats laid out for sale. You know the little pill box hats of the 60’s . Will post on here when I can find the time. Don’t know why I have been saving them but time is right to let go now.
Son from Canada has two days of teaching at his old school for today and tomorrow so after the photo stuff my girlfriend is picking me up for a day out with her two sisters, lunch followed by appointment with my bank and then watching them play tennis and just hanging around so looking forward to the rest. Was going to fast but will do it tomorrow instead. Can’t pass up a nice lunch out🌮🍔🧀🍕🍹
Thanks to all for all the great positive comments. 😘😘 so good to be back posting.
Jade. You are such a busy bee. After reading what you said I remembered I had the most success with 5.2. When I was also limiting my eating time to 16.8. It just happened automatically for me as I was not Hungary till later in the day and so never ate until around 11am. I absolutely must focus on getting back to that once everything settles down after the weekend(hopefully). I too find it hard to say no to committees etc..but have come up with a strategy lately where I say. “Can I have a little time to consider this? Not saying no but just need to think it through…”🤔🤔🤔 then some things I do end up doing and others not. Has been working nicely. We’ll done on the long fast🤗🤗🤗

CG. Bet you just can’t wait for that restrictive corset to come off permanently. Showers sound just the ticket. You are doing so well with your recovery and bet you feel so good about your decision. You will feel like a million dollars when this is all over🤗🤗😘😘
Fit …great management of your celebration time.🎉🎉🎉🍾🍾..such a small increase…. You should be so proud of yourself.

UP your travels sound exausting and exciting at the same time. hope you are continuing to now relax and enjoy💕💕💕

A big shout out to everyone else📢📢💞💞💞 better get going with those photos and my challenge for the day with this new way of advertising and selling! Again..wish me luck!!💜💜💜

Thanks. As I wrote on FB though not in the forum, I just realised, we went safely through Milan, Athens and Thessaloniki airports yesterday and am in Greece for what should be a relaxing week. We are due to go through Istanbul airport next Tuesday so will see what happens as it maybe too damaged, too unsafe etc.

I am OK but a bit unwell again, my anxiety makes me so annoyed with myself and puts extra strain on my busy husband but we seem to manage. He is working in our hotel room today doing some prep and I was going to go exploring but will probably just chill here calmly although it seems a waste. I wat to get better not worse.
My weight has stayed stable. I guess the anxiety counters the well times when restaurant eating takes its toll. To be honest, years ago when I could not control my anxiety at all ( a far cry from now), I looked fabulous weight wise. But I wouldn’t go through that again for anything!

Glad to hear that things are going pretty well for everyone else. xx

Morning all, no 2 fast day for me today and then tomorrow morning on to the scales to see what damage has been done. Have not been to exercised in the pool this week due to lack of an available car but hope to get there tomorrow morning. No 1 son has another day of teaching today and OH a doctors appointment Trent so no available vehicle to get to Bridge either. School holidays start on Friday and so will have no car issues the. A good trial for only having one car , certainly would not work living where we are, which by the way CG is in a little village in the hinterland behind Coffs Harbour. The tractor is outside an old rural fire shed that we had to lease for all of our excess equipment we had after the move from the farm. It is right next door to our house. At the time we still owned two bush blocks that required work done on them and have since sold. So no need for all of that stuff anymore and we are looking forward to downsizing once again. 🤗🤗

My appointment with the credit union re finances was postponed till today Due to sickness. And boy am I missing my visits to the pool. Think I’ll go to the Coffs heated pool for a bit of exercise when I am in there this afternoon.🏊🏻🏊🏻. Lucky I have my treadmill or the old body would be in trouble.

UP. Hang in there and I hope you enjoyed your relaxing day with OH. You do so well controlling your anxiety travelling in these troubled times, all credit to you. 🤗🤗🤗. Good advice from everyone and I’m sure you have excellent coping strategies.(💕💕).
Fit. You have such a busy life that I don’t know how you fit in time for cleaning and packing. You will get the urge soon so just go with the flow and if the house is not perfect when it is time to go then go with that also. I used to be so fussy about that but not anymore. Just do what I can do now and go with the flow.

Jade car troubles must be catching!!

CG. Great news about your healing process..🤗🤗🤗
Bye for now 💜💜💜