Austrian Diary

This topic contains 109 replies, has 11 voices, and was last updated by Fuvvie 7 years, 7 months ago.

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Fuvvie

8:12 am
15 May 16
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Hi Austria, My fast day went really well and this morning the scales said 118.6kgs. I was really doing the happy dance. Then I had a day with a group of friends singing. Two play the guitar, one the keyboard or flute or saxophone, another plays the mouth organ and I just sing. We started with morning tea at 10 (and I didn’t eat the cake, just drank coffee). Then we sang till lunch which was a delicious salmon tart and 3 different salads followed by home grown oranges in an orange syrup over ice cream Fortunately they were small servings. Will have clear soup for tea. I’ll do another fast tomorrow. I’m sort of doing alternate fast days at the moment as I have so much weight to lose.
I agree th

Fuvvie

8:21 am
15 May 16
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I agree that we’ve come a long way from our roots but would not want to live the life of a hunter gatherer. Far too lazy having adapted to the modern life.
How are your fasts going? I too had to laugh at coldpizza’s description of her binge and my heart went out to her. Binging messes with your head as well as your stomach.

coldpizza

9:12 pm
19 May 16
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Austrian,
You disappear without warning. Are you together with Lolly? At least she warned us that she will be out for a couple of weeks. What is your excuse for not showing up for so long?!

😀 😀 😀

coldpizza

9:18 pm
19 May 16
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Fuvvie,
You are absolutely right – binges really messed up my head and stomach. 🙁
What is also bad about binges – they come together, not just one at the time.
I am struggling to break the carbs attack – cookie, pasta, cupcakes, crepes – what is going on this week?!!!
Fasting today so far. Will see if I will be able to complete the fast. I already screwed up yesterdays fast…
Today is not-planned emergency fast.
Hoping this week is better for you. 😀

Fuvvie

10:33 pm
19 May 16
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I’m missing Austrian too, Coldpizza. Watched all of Jason Fung’s lectures on YouTube over the past 2 days and now have his book The Obesity Code. He makes me never want to touch refined carbs ever again😳🙈

Austrian

8:26 pm
23 May 16
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Sorry for disappearing like that, Fuvvie and coldpizza!
I was planning to visit my parents for an overnight visit and then got sucked into the vortex of my Dad’s 70th birthday preparations. He has three parties for different groups of people and I volunteered to do as much baking as could be done in advance. So I stayed until yesterday, and it was fantastic. I got to handle whole sticks of butter and white fluffy mounds of icing sugar, cream coloured clouds of flour, heaps of chocolate from white to extra dark…and I didn’t have to eat ANY OF IT. Marvellous!Whenever my daughter was sleeping, I made a cake, and my parents’ freezer is stuffed to the limit with them.

My scales told me I was at 93.7 this morning, which is really fine given that I didn’t do any fasting last week.
But I have a hunch that my days of cruising along and losing weight with minimal effort may be over – I think I need to apply myself and watch what I eat on non-fast days. I started eating LCHF again, and it eliminates cravings marvellously, so I’ll keep that up, but I should make sure that I don’t overeat on non-fast days. Tracking food is soooo tedious, though.

I read the article about The Biggest Loser, like so many others, and am a bit conflicted as to 5:2 – does it slow down metabolism because it is a calorie reduced diet or doesn’t it slow down metabolism because it is based on fasting?

Like you, Fuvvie, I ordered The Obesite Code and got it today because I would HATE to accidentally ruin my metabolism and my chance of losing weight and keeping it off.

coldpizza, I SO sympathize about the carb binges – it happens to me too, I get started and simply. Can’t. Stop. I am amazed and appalled at how much I can actually eat, but I can’t stop. And it’s refined carbs that set off binges, I’m convinced of it. As long as I stick to a VERY Low Carb High Fat diet, I’m doing fine, zero cravings. But when I tell myself something along the lines of “Ooooooh just a little bit and then you stop” – I’ve lost. I hope your emergency fast went well!

Fuvvie,I wouldn’t like to be a hunter-gatherer either, especially not in a jungle region where you have spiders the size of small cats and creepy crawlies galore. But it would keep one slim, I suppose. 🙂

Okay, I’ve sworn to do a bit of spinning on my indoor bike every day, so I will stop writing and torture myself on the machine – after 1 year of NOT riding my bike I am apallingly out of shape.

Keep on keeping on, and good luck with your fasts this week!
Cheers,
Austrian

Fuvvie

11:22 pm
23 May 16
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So relieved to see you back, Austrian. When I wrote on yours and Buttonboots feed, I thought I’d scared you both off. How’s that for being paranoid. 🙄😜 How lovely that you had a great time at your parents’ place. Lots of cakes would have been a huge temptation. Our choir is holding the first of two concerts on Friday and the second on Sunday. I’ve said I will take nuts. That keeps me out of the kitchen. I love to sing so the choir gives me a lot of pleasure.
On the FD yesterday. Weight now down to 116.3kgs. I’m not craving carbs at all. I’m now addicted to this forum instead, reading stacks of threads, lurking around determined Aussies and other folks challenges. Your life sounds very busy and never a dull moment with a little one to keep you on your toes. I pick my grandsons up this afternoon and take them to hip hop classes. They are so funny to watch. Happy cycling.

Austrian

11:03 pm
24 May 16
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Fuvvie, no chance of scaring me off!
I also love this forum, everybody is really supportive and understands the challenges; I was once on a low carb forum and mentioned that I had eaten a dumpling…and BOY was I BASHED. They acted as if I’d forgotten a small child in the hot car. of a dumpling, for heaven’s sake. I don’t think this would happen here, “encourage and lift up” seems to be the inofficial motto.

Oh, lovely, tell us how your concerts went! What are you singing? I’ve been looking into local choirs to join, it seems the only option in my community is the church choir. Oh well, I can’t join anyway as long as the baby only sleeps when I put her to bed. 🙂

It’s great that you’ve relased some more weight – YAY!
What do you think of The Obesity Code? I was a bit disappointed because the actual advice on fasting is so short.

Okay, need to go to bed now, terribly tired – have a lovely day, Fuvvie and anyone who happens to find my thread!

coldpizza

2:48 pm
25 May 16
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Hi Austrian and Fuvvie,
I am depressed today, since my scale showed me that I am 35 days back. How that be possible to gain 5 lb back in a week? Last Tuesday I was 144, and today 149.4. 🙁
I admit that I did not complete a single fast: starting fasting, but in evening or afternoon start eating again. I even afraid to use the phrase “I am fasting today” because, I cannot complete it. So I am ATTEMPTING to fast today.

I don’t know what is wrong with me? Seems like I have a little demon that make me eat.
I really don’t know how to break this lengthy binge… My head is split. Logical and “correct” me knows that I need to stop eating and start fasting, give up all carbs, and stop whining. But somehow I always find myself with cookie, pasta, or simple bread. I even start putting 0.5 tea spoon of sugar in my coffee, which I did not do for really long time. I feel that I am like a puppet in somebody else’s game, that I don’t have any will of my own left… 🙁

Additionally, Mother Nature hit me on Monday. I am already 50, I thought that Mother Nature supposed to leave me alone by now. Still, it gives me hope that some of the pounds is water retention.

Sorry for a lot of whining. I am usually optimist, but not today obviously… 🙁

coldpizza

3:09 pm
25 May 16
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Fuvvie,

I second Austrian: Tell us more about your choir.
I love our choir, although it takes two days per week, and it is big commitment. I started about 10 years ago. Our choir is very small, so members cannot really take a break, since every voice matter much.
Choir does bring a lot of joy in my life as well. If I skip a practice, I feel like something is missing. I also find out that every Sunday the music starts in my head even if I am not in a church. 🙂

Austrian

7:05 pm
25 May 16
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Coldpizza, I am so very sorry you are having a hard time. Don’t say you are whining. You are trying to relax by communicating your problem, and you are analyzing its nature and possible causes. This is NOT whining. This is problem-solving, and is perfectly legit. 🙂

Again, I absolutely feel your pain. Sounds like a rotten couple of days, I know how depressing that is.

Now if you ask me, that sounds like a bad case of Mother Nature (Go AWAY, Mother Nature, and bother someone else! Nobody needs you!!!) – water retention, binge eating…sounds like PMS squared. Maybe an option is to wait a couple of days and be very gentle with yourself in the meantime. It’s the process that counts, the long run, and if you have a bad day, or bad days in a row, it’s not the end of the world. You WILL get back on track, maybe not today or tomorrow, but you WILL get back on track. You do what you can with what you’ve got.

Now, when I get into this mode, it may be caused or acerbated by stress. In that case, I try to find out whether my muscles are very tense, my breathing is shallow – it often is. Then if I can’t shake off the stressors, I at least try to relax very deliberately. Yoga, deliberate slow breaths, or breathing execises if you’re ambitious, a long walk, a short walk in which you walk VERY SLOWLY to calm yourself down – these are things that have helped me now and then. Maybe there’s something that could be beneficial for you, too?
Now, if you feel you need something sweet, why not replace the sugar with xylitol? It’s supposed not to cause insulin spikes, a very little goes a long way and it has less calories than sugar. I’d say, stay off the carbs, but I know that can be hard. Maybe think of a snack that would be very satisfying but is on the LCHF side rather than on the high carb end.

Breathe deeply and be kind to yourself! You are doing what you can!

Keep posting and good luck for tomorrow,
Austrian

coldpizza

3:01 pm
26 May 16
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Thank you Austrian. Trying to be back on track. Yesterday ate about 400-600 calories, and avoided pasta and bread. No cookies! (I ate them ALL during my binge – and did not buy new yet). And NO SUGAR in my coffee at all! I count that as small victories.

Breathing exercises are very helpful for anxiety. I use them at work sometimes. But I cannot say that my life is stressful, it is probably the opposite. My children are all grown up. My husband is very nice calm guy (we will celebrate 27 years this summer). My boss at work is also nice. I really don’t have any excuse for overeating. Well, I guess, I could always blame Mother Nature! 😀

How are you doing? How old is your baby?

I love my girls and miss them dearly, but, at the same time I am glad that they are grown up. We also took care of my husband’s mother for about 2 years when she lived with us. Irony is that although she had dementia, she always remembered that she hated me (even when I was washing her or changing her clothes). She passed away almost 2 years ago. That was really stressful time when my breathing exercises helped me a lot. What also helped me is understanding that all stresses are temporary and that all of them will pass eventually. Nice walks ( I thank my dog for that) and nice bath are wonderful to calm yourself.
Music helps too. Although my “music” on piano or violin probably could be a stress for my husband. 😀

Sorry for the lengthy post. I need to shut up. Have a nice day. 🙂

Fuvvie

11:15 am
30 May 16
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Hello Austria and Coldpizza, I’ve been absent for a variety of reasons, the main reason being that my mother-in-law fell last Tuesday night and fractured her femur. So I have spent hours most days at the hospital to reassure and encourage her. She has had a tremendous amount of pain which has held her recovery back. She had a surgical procedure on Thursday when they stuck a nail down the shaft of the femur. At 92 and with Alzheimers Disease, this has been an ordeal for all concerned, but she constantly forgets what has gone before so in some ways it is a mixed blessing.
Our choir is about 40 strong, but only 28 were available for this concert series. We do 4 concerts, the rehearsal at a retirement village, 2 performances at Mapleton Hall and one at another retirement village or a care group. All monies raised by ticket sales go to local community groups or last year we raised $6,000.00 Au for the earthquake victims in Nepal. Last concert was Celtic music, this time was heart and sole inspirational music, next concert’s theme is show tunes. I’m a soprano. I’m so glad that I can still sing and have an avenue to express myself.
It sounds as though you are starting to get control of things, Coldpizza. It is so true that breathing can help and nothing is permanent. Avoiding all those refined carbs I count as big victories. You play the violin. Wow. I’m learning the flute. Probably should have started 60 years ago to be good at this.
You gave such great advice, Austria. So glad you’re on our side. I still haven’t finished The Obesity Code. Weight was down to 115.1kgs but haven’t weighed after a weekend of “normal” eating and a couple of alcoholic drinks. Back on track now. Easy FD today. 5 and a half hours at the hospital with no temptations.

Austrian

10:17 pm
31 May 16
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Hi Coldpizza,

I just commented on your thread…sorry that May was such a difficult month as far as fasting is concerned…better luck next month?!

Wow, 27 years of marriage, congratulations – it’s so nice to hear that couples can make it work for decades! Mr. Austrian and I have been together for 15 years, even this is a long time given that most couples that divorce do so after an average of 7 years (or so I’ve read).

My baby is 8 months old…I have an adult son, too, so I know how great it can be to have adult children. Still, starting over is nice, too, especially since the little one is such a friendly, happy girl. The advantage of being an older mum and more settled is that there is no stress…ever. I’ve had a teenage kid, so in comparison all the baby problems are just tiny and then they go away…we’ve had a wonderful time so far.

It’s true, most problems eventually just pass, but taking care of aging relatives (especially in-laws who you don’t get on with anyway) is. Just. Draining. My grandmother, who I loved so very much, also developed dementia and although she never hated us, all her difficult traits seemed to get much stronger and worse – impatience, a certain ruthless selfishness…when she couldn’t sleep she used to bang at the ceiling with her walking stick so that we would wake up and she would have company…very exhausting. For my mother most of all, because she was the primary caregiver.

Okay, now I’ll answer Fuvvie’s post separately and then write a little about what’s going on here – just to avoid looooong monster posts…

Austrian

10:31 pm
31 May 16
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Oh Fuvvie, you’ve had a hard time too…AWFUL about your mother-in-law’s accident, but sadly not uncommon all that falling and breaking of bones at old age. How is she doing now? Hopefully the doctors have found painkillers that work? And how are you coping now?

Hopefully your choir practice gave you a little respite and a chance to relax – music for heart and soul sounds very appropriate, very healing. It’s a clever way to arrange a program – my and my parents’ choir never did/do it like that, they usually have one composer or an era or a genre of music they focus on.

My parents’ choir do mostly folk songs. Last week, their boss-and-conductor had her heart set on competing in a regional choir contest on church music.
She chose this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krottvt4I_c
And my parents were scandalized: The first stanza is:

“Oh Holy Saint Florian, listen to our plea! Oh, listen to our plea.
The shoemaker was in debt, and so he set fire to his house –
Oh Holy Saint Florian, please make it burn up fast.”

(This is a very bad translation.)
It is NOT a serious bit of church music, it’s something you sing at the pub when you are slightly drunk and want to poke fun at the church; so my parents started an almighty row because they thought they had no chance of winning with an indecent, unholy pub song like that. Alas, nobody listened to them and they went to the competition and sang that song – and the jury loved it so much that they got a prize. 🙂 My parents are still scandalized – isn’t choir life fun? 🙂

Do keep us posted, and all the best to you and your family – and, most important, your poor mother-in-law!

Austrian

10:47 pm
31 May 16
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Okay, I’ve been so busy!

The little one has graduated to the sandbox, and she loves it, but basically ends every day COATED in sand (which she also eats in largish quantities), and I run out of pants for her very fast. So I’ve been sewing up some, as well as a little coat.
The coat is made in a lovely liberty fabric, exquisite, really. I put it on her and sat her on my balcony to take some photos. Then I put the camera away and when I came back she had knocked over a flower pot and smeared the contents everywhere, her face, her hands, the new coat, white pants, flooring…it’s amazing how many square meters of stuff you can “paint” black with a little dirt… 🙂

But the really cool new thing is that Mr. Austrian bought a bike trailer for the baby. Apparently, buying the best and coolest bike trailer was an important point on his bullet list he used in his pro-baby decisionmaking process. So we did just that, bought this bike trailer which looks like cross of a rocket and a race car and I can tell you, my life has become SO MUCH BETTER!
When I was pregnant, I stopped riding my bike because my belly got in the way, and then the baby was too small – but now that we have the bike trailer, it’s just HEAVEN. I can bike everywhere, like I used to. It’s super thrilling not to have to take the bus, or the car, or to push the pram about – so I’ve been out and about a lot.

Fasting – now I must say I haven’t done a proper fast day for two weeks – first of all because it was my birthday last week, but also because I was experimenting with X-hour long fasts. I found out it works great if I eat dinner at night and then no food for 24 hours…but after 24 hours, I can’t make myself stop after 500 calories but eat and eat and eat like a plump middle-aged little caterpillar. Remember the little caterpillar on Saturday? This is ME after a 24 hour fast. I tried this four times and it failed every. Freaking. Time.
So somehow I must get back on track and do the boring 300-cals-for-lunch-and-200-for-dinner fasts that worked well.
I must admit that I lack motivation right now. When I look into the mirror, I actually like what I see, which is death to weightloss motivation. Of course before my “inward eye” I still see Pregnant Me, and Pregnant Me was basically a large ball with feet and a mop of hair on top. So whatever I see now looks pleasingly slim in comparison to Pregnant Me. Actually, my pre-pregnancy clothes billow about my body loosely and trousers slip. So, I must have lost inches lately – but my weight is still at 94.0 to 94.8.*

*thinks a bad word

Okay, I see it’s a quarter to midnight and since the little one fell asleep early, I need to go to bed so I can be effective when she wakes up at, I suppose, 5 am.
So, see you soon – take care of yourselves, everybody! No matter how much weight we all want to lose, we are ALREADY amazing people, let#s not forget that!

Cheers,
Austrian

coldpizza

12:16 am
1 Jun 16
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Fuvvie,

So sorry to hear about your MIL, I hope that she recovers soon. Dementia is bad enough, but when a person with dementia has broken bones, it is really hard. My husband spent his share at hospital after his mom broke arm and later cracked her hip. I really feel for you and your family. Stay strong.

Your choir sounds amazing. I wish I could hear it.
It is so wonderful to have such a strong group of people with the same love of musical adventure. It is extra awesome, that you were able to raise so much money for charity. May God bless your choir!!

It is touching to see how our lives are similar at many points. It make me feel that we are connected not just by fasting but also by the very similar experience in life. When I read the part about your mother taking care of grandma – I could just copy and paste it to describe my past ( and my mother’s/grandmother’s)

Please find time to take care of yourself, it is easy with your busy life to forget about your needs: physical and emotional. Sending you love and hugs.

Austrian,
I read your posts, but don’t have time to respond now. Thank you for your kind words, and you also make me laugh with your vivid description of how pregnant you looked like. 😀
It was lovely to learn more about your family. I wish to write more, but have no time now.
Sending love and hugs to you too.

🙂

Beatrice55

12:19 am
1 Jun 16
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Hi Austrian
Just want to say thanks. I spent the evening reading your threads and it encouraged me to try to stick it out. I’m at 111 kg and have a long way to go but as my dad used to’ say “One step at a time”. Thanks for the positive thinking and above all for sharing.
Have a good nights rest. Wishing everyone a wonderful day, God Bless.

Fuvvie

12:04 pm
1 Jun 16
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Hello Austrian, Coldpizza and now Beatrice55,
Have gained 100gms this week. Not surprised I haven’t had a loss but it’s my first week without shedding at least 1/2 a kilo. So giving myself a bit of a browbeating! Will try harder this week. Had a fast day today. I felt hungry around lunchtime. We sang at a retirement village this morning and all the oldies really loved it. Very satisfying. Then I had an hour with a psychologist as I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. My husband is fronting up for surgery next week for Ca prostate. Will be glad when that’s over. So will he, of course. Went down to rehab as mother-in-law was transferred there today. The goal is to get her home, but it is going to be a long haul I think. I felt quite sorry for the nurses as she said she wanted to go to the loo 3 times while I was there, but no result. I hope she hasn’t gone there too soon. All complicated by the dementia. She doesn’t realise that she is calling them only minutes apart.
The baby trailer sounds fantastic, Austrian. I’d love to see you rocketing about the place. Your story about the new clothes and the dirt reminds me of when my oldest daughter, Andrea, was about 18 months and she got hold of some lipstick and smeared it all over herself and my mother-in-law’s prize winning cat the day before a cat show! 😡😇M-I-L was not impressed but we thought it was hilarious. The plump
little caterpillar analogy had me laughing.
Hope you’re fasting is going better, Coldpizza. Thank you for your lovely thoughts. I’m becoming very attached to this thread.
Beatrice55, what is your goal? I’m trying to get to 111 on my way down to 70. I feel I am in good company.
It’s just gone 9pm here. It’s raining lightly and I feel very weary. The others are watching the football. I’m off to bed. Night all. I think I’ll continue my fast tomorrow.

Apricot

1:15 pm
1 Jun 16
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Just been going back over this thread. I did laugh at “Heilige St Florian” from Austrian’s short cut. I have several Bavarian friends, most of whom would laugh at that, even the Catholic ones! I too sing in a choir. We sometimes do large works by one or two composers, maybe a Mozart Mass or Rachmaninov Vespers perhaps, then sometimes concerts made up of several smaller secular pieces for lighter summer evenings. I also play the flute. We could make up a musical ensemble here!

Love the sound of the baby bike trailer! Freedom again!

Very hard, Fuvvie, with parents/iL in such a situation. My MiL had just the same, so hard because of the pain, her forgetting why etc. My mother, who died last year, used to forget she could no longer walk and would get up off her chair, only to fall over and then remember too late. You have so many health things going on around you – good luck and hang on in there.

ANAIDE

1:41 pm
1 Jun 16
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hello Beatrice55
hello Fuvvie

I’m from Brazil and read your posts, we can not be discouraged we still have a lot of weight to lose, I had 126 kg, lost weight with Lowcarb 20 kg (106 kg), then I was gaining weight back and went to 112 kg, with fasting am with 107 kg, 90 kg my goal.

I am very happy to join this group has a lot of good information that encourages us to move forward.

I’ve read almost all of Dr. Jason Fung site, helps a lot!

Brazilian hugs!

Lolly_

2:12 pm
1 Jun 16
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Happy Belated Birthday, Austrian!

You paint pictures with words — it’s such a pleasure to catch up on what’s been happening with you. 🙂

coldpizza

2:14 pm
1 Jun 16
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Hi Austrian,
On-line communication creates this phenomena, that we imagine a person one way, and are surprised to see completely different version immerge. I thought that you are a young mother with a first child, unexperienced and filled with worries. 😀
Now I have to adjust the image and add a teen-son, 15 years of marriage, and the joy of having a second child. For me, my first baby gave me such intense new feeling of love, but I worried so much about everything, tried to do everything by rules. With second child I could actually enjoy the time, and be more relaxed and flexible. Now I welcome in my head a new Austrian. Still you are tall and blonde. 😀
The little stories you describe make me smile.
Your poor parents! I hope the choir scandal is now far behind.  I wish that our choir could have a little bit more fun and mischief once in a while. I guess that is down-side of our church choir – we are just a support for service, which makes our music choice limited. 
Congratulations to your little one with introduction of the sandbox! She is definitely an expert for “painting” dirt. Your stories about your girl make me want a baby (grandchild perhaps), and also stirred up the memories of my babies. It is amazing how long we could remember the smell, the warmth, the softness of our babies like it was yesterday!
Now I also added a bike trailer to your image. I lived for a while in Japan, and ride a bike with a shopping basket and baby seat every day. I lost a lot of weight, and created some muscles riding up and down over hills. I wish I had a trailer! Enjoy it as much as possible!
I know what you mean about lucking a motivation. That is one of the reason that we allow ourselves break the rules – we ARE slimmer now, and think that we deserve a cake (or whatever is prohibited). But we need to remind ourselves that the fasting is not just for looks, but for health. LOL! I sound like and old teacher, but I need a little kick in my butt to continue and to NOT give up. I really want this year to be in healthy bracket and maybe a little bit of extra. 
Fuvvie,
Seems like you have a lot now – with MIL and your husband’s surgery. I admire that you still have strength to fast and to share stories with us.
Oh, my, I created a monstrous post! Need to stop now. Hugs.

coldpizza

2:19 pm
1 Jun 16
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Lolly, You are back! Great! Need to check your thread now. 🙂

Austrian

8:02 pm
1 Jun 16
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Lolly, you are BACK! Welcome back, I’ve been wondering how you were doing – seems to have been a difficult time, it must be a relief to settle back into “normal life”! Well, no weight gain is the second best outcome, so you must be smiling at least a little?

Anaide, Austrian hugs to you – you are right, we can’t be discouraged, and yours is a very positive example – losing so many kilos and maintaining so much of the weight loss and then taking up the project again! I also thought that Dr Fung’s website was very helpful, did you know about it already when you started out on your weightloss project?

Beatrice, hello and welcome! Are you new to the forums? I don’t think we’ve met before? Too, true, one day at a time, and if you fall, you stand up again, brush yourself off, and on you go. To be honest, I’d rather have the Weightloss Fairy, who would touch people with her magic fat vaporizing pink wand and give them the size of their choice…but apparently that’s out of the question. *sigh So let’s slog away at the whole weightloss thing together, all of us!

Austrian

8:10 pm
1 Jun 16
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Hello Fuvvie, that’s quite a day you’ve had. I think it’s such a good idea to get psychological counsel when needed, many people (myself included) wait far too long until they see a psychologist or therapist. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for your husband’s surgery and your MIL’s recovery. Bodies, huh – amazing masterworks of nature and, at the same time, such a bother. When you are tiny, they are unfathomable and it takes you years until you can control them; when you grow up and are grown up, such a source of anxiety; and when you get older, they behave like old cars, repairs needed all the time, losing parts right, left and center. Sadly, no alternative – it would be much more practical (and much cheaper) if we could be ethereal beings, floating on the breeze and never needing clothes, food and shelter. Oh well.

Austrian

8:21 pm
1 Jun 16
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Coldpizza, I had to laugh so much at your mental picture of me – I AM tall and blondish (blond if my hairdresser unpacks her miracle potions and dumps them on my hair), but 41 years old. Actually, I find my age hard to believe myself, four decades, when I was born there were no cell phones and the internet consisted of four computers or so…it must seem like another world to kids. I sometimes talk to teenagers about my (far-away) youth and tell them: “Well, you couldn’t just travel to Hungary or Russia or Chzechoslovakia.” and they stare at me and don’t believe it. The whole concept of the Iron Curtain eludes them; but maybe that’s changing now as border controls are being started up again in some countries.

Japan – that would be my must-see-before-I-die country…wow, and you lived there! How exciting! How did you find life in Japan, was it hard to adjust to? Did your daughter pick up Japanese?

You are so right about having to stay motivated and not becoming complacent and giving in to temptation…this thread has been a life saver today, I actually went about NOT eating stuff and saying to myself: “You can’t eat this now, how would it look if you had to tell Coldpizza and Fuvvie you actually ate [insert junk food of choice here], that would be SO embarassing.” You see, your online butt kicking works. 🙂

Austrian

8:27 pm
1 Jun 16
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Apricot, another singer! I love Mozart, there’s nothing better than standing in the midst of a choir and belting out one of his masses…it’s fascinating to see how differently all your choirs approach performances, I loved coldpizza’s choir’s Orthodox Easter greetings, don’t know if you listened to them (the link is somewhere in her thread).
Have you been to Bavaria, too?

Austrian

8:43 pm
1 Jun 16
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Now that I’ve answered to everybody, I forgot to write about my food management today, I swear I’ll be brief:
1. I did better than on almost any day during the last fortnight.
2. I did not snack.
3. I am in a bit of a vegetable rut – right now, cooking bores me, but if I don’t prepare a salad or cook a vegetable dish, I will end up snarfing up any available carbs. Which is a BAD idea, since the only available carbs are neither high quality nor satisfying. So I roused myself and made brokkoli soup and drank that at lunch and at dinner time (because I just couldn’t be arsed to sit down and use a spoon, how stupid is that?) Douze points pour l’Autriche.
4. If I don#t eat enough protein, I start carving carbs. I can’t afford NOT to cook and eat proper meals that include protein. Will have to write a weekly menu again.

…and this is me, who used to think that I had no food issues, HA. Whom the Gods wish to give massive thighs, they first make blind to their own eating habits.

This morning: 94.1
That is not so bad, people.

Okay, signing off, possibly until Friday (busy busy with my Dad’s birthday presents, I have origami ships to make and lego castles to build…) – have a great time, everyone, and take care! 🙂
HA.

Beatrice55

10:32 pm
1 Jun 16
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Hello everyone today I programmed my first day of fasting Friday. I’m planning it carefully so I don’t fall into temptation.
Hi Anaide, I did the Dukan a couple of years ago and lost 16 kilos in 2 months but unfortunately it wasn’t great on my kidneys so no more Dukan. All the weight went back on and then some.
Austrian my goal weight is 75 kg. I know I will never be willow thin but I’d be happy to get into my jeans size 48 (european) which should be a size 14. I’d like to wake up without pain and take a morn ing walk through the Park and feel great. These Are my goal s, not necessarily in that order but this is what I’m hop ing for.
I live in Italy and here pasta is a big thing sigh…and sooo good. Did they invent a low carb diet with pasta yet? 😉 Friday I will be good promise.
Thankyou for listening. Wish everyone a peaceful rest and a great day tomorrow. God Bless.

Fuvvie

11:41 pm
1 Jun 16
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I’ve just been reading about the rain in Germany and now in Austria and hope the flooding is not affecting those of you living in that region. We once stayed in Sheffau in Austria with Frau Steiner. It was wonderful and we spent a week learning to ski (no mean feat at the age of 53. It was thrilling but I’ve never skied since so couldn’t perfect my low achievement as a skier. ) hope all is going well with you.
Italy and pasta! What a heavenly combination! But too hard! You’ll have to convert to zucchini noodles, Beatrice55 ( maybe Bea for short).

ANAIDE

1:44 pm
2 Jun 16
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hello Beatrice55

I also had a lot of pain in the feet, knees, spine … is two years I started taking magnesium chloride, in Brazil the cost of this is very low, comes in the form of salt, also has in capsules but say it is not so good, magnesium is responsible to take calcium to the right places, the pain disappears.

Agui we even have a Facebook group.

Today I do gymnastics every day and up 24 floors in the building I work, I never had pain!a todos os dias e subo 24 andares no prédio que eu trabalho, nunca mais tive dor!

http://drsircus.com/medicine/magnesium/magnesium-chloride-benefits

coldpizza

2:46 pm
2 Jun 16
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Austrian,

We lived in Japan for 3.5 years. The country is very beautiful, and people are very nice. I enjoyed the time spent in Japan, but also I had a hardest time there as a mother: imagine, that your girls speak and argue with each other in Japanese, and you have no idea what they are talking about! I was glad when we returned to USA, and my girls switch to English. Older one even went to public Japanese school. She still understand a lot of Japanese, but doesn’t talk. Unfortunately, the youngest one quickly forgot the language.

I still have warm and lovely memories about Japan, Japanese people, their customs, their food, their architecture, their unique style of beauty and beauty appreciation. I even learned to love sumo! And I loved the time I spend there and feel blessed for the opportunity to learn about Japanese culture, but it never felt as home, you are always a guest there. I highly recommend to visit Japan.

Fuvvie

11:25 am
4 Jun 16
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Hi one and all, I have just been rereading the thread. Anaide, I got so much out of Dr Fung’s Aetiology of Obesity. So I bought his book The Obesity Code. I just finished it this afternoon. I’m on an FD and made up the bone broth which more than satisfied me for my evening meal. My husband had it as well, but he had the vegetables and other solids whilst I stuck to the liquid only. It was yum. There’s enough for tomorrow as well. You are doing well with your weight. I agree that this site really helps support our efforts. And here I am talking to people in Brazil, Bavaria, Italy, all with similar problems and finding solutions. All the best with our continuing journey.

coldpizza

1:45 pm
9 Jun 16
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Austrian! Where are you? Hope everything is alright. Miss you. 🙁

Fuvvie

6:14 am
10 Jun 16
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Hello Austrian, Colpizza, Beatrice55, Anaide, Apricot, Lolly and any other contributors to this very fine forum,
Glorious day here on the Sunshine Coast. It is actually living up to its name today, with not a cloud in sight and temp around 27*C. Fasting as did not shed any weight in the past week but gained 11gms to weigh in at 114.5. Too much sitting around beside hospital beds. Didn’t overindulge. Just one of those periods when one is stressed and cortisol kicks in and elevates insulin resistance I suppose. No choir now till first Monday in July. Because the programme is based on show tunes, another choir member and I are going to practise “I know him so well” from Chess and do it as a duet. We have to audition for the 4 solo spots in between the choir songs and it has to fit in with the theme of the concert. We had been practising Manhatten Transfers “The Boy from New York City” but aren’t allowed to do it this year as it’s not on theme but can do it next year in the concert based on geography.
Austrian, are you out cycling so much that you are too tired to type or have floods or parents distracted you? I hope all is ok in your world.
My mother-in-law is progressing very slowly. They have had to put an alarm by her bed as she thinks she can get up and take herself to the loo. She doesn’t remember anything for two minutes so it’s hard going. Still a lot of pain. My husband is now at home which suits us both so much more. He’s recovering nicely but very painful still getting up and down. My FD going well. Enough about us. Can’t wait to see how the rest of you are going. You all remain my inspiration 😘🌻🎶

coldpizza

2:01 pm
10 Jun 16
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Fuvvie,
Thank you for the updates.Glad to hear that your husband at home now and getting better. It is hard to know that MIL’s dementia will never be better, but you just take one day at the time and do what you have to do. I really feel for you, because I lived through same situation, and know how hard it is.

Sounds like a very interesting concert! Music is really change our lives for better and helps to relax during hard times.

We moved to another house this week, and everything is in boxes yet. It will take me a long time to put the house in order. But it is also the opportunity to get rid of things I did not use for long time. I realize that me and my husband becoming hoarders and need to work to learn to put things in trash or Goodwill. I am not sure why I am keeping all of it.

I am a little worry about Austrian. She usually checking regularly, I hope she is ok. It is funny how we get attached to people even if we don’t know how they look like. 😀

Fuvvie

7:21 am
13 Jun 16
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Dear Austrian, I’m with Coldpizza and really concerned that something is amiss. Maybe you are just away, but know we have been thinking of you and hoping all is ok with you. You are right Coldpizza. We become very fond of our fellow travellers and hold you close in our affections.

coldpizza

2:05 pm
13 Jun 16
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Said a prayer today for our Austrian and her family. I hope everything is ok with you and your family.

coldpizza

2:24 pm
15 Jun 16
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Austrian,
Just to let you know that I am checking your thread regularly and still worry about you and miss your posts. Praying for your family, and hoping you are coming back soon.

Fuvvie

11:30 pm
15 Jun 16
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Ditto.

Fuvvie

6:40 am
19 Jun 16
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Hi Austrian, Haven’t seen you for 2 weeks. Hope your father’s birthday went well. It’s raining cats and dogs here at present, because of what is called an extreme weather event. We’re on the top of a hill so don’t experience flooding, but the creeks will be running high in the town. Our dam is overflowing. The fire is burning to keep the house dry. Condensation can make the tiles slippery otherwise. Looking forward to hearing how you are getting on. Down to 111.7. Cheers, Fuvvie

Austrian

11:45 am
19 Jun 16
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Hi everybody,

sorry to not have kept up the diary the last fortnight, this is just to let you know that everything’s fine – we’ve been having a really stressful time!
First we went to see my parents and celebrate my Dad’s birthday with him, then went back home. Then I stayed a bit longer to spend some time with them helping them with the gardening (which I LOVE, but which gardening with a baby is basically 1 part gardening and 9 parts keeping the baby out of mischief.). Then we came back.
Then a stomach bug chose us to be its host while the baby decided this was a good time to learn how to pull herself up against all kinds of stable and unstable things. Which is a cool achievement in itself, but a bit strenuous for the stomach-bugged to rescue the baby when she threatened to fall. Then I left my key ring on the car while putting the baby in her seat and hey presto, the key fell off when we were on the motorway. Did I say “key”? Actually, it were all my keys up to and including the one for my bike lock. Every single key I own. I spent some time replacing them and convincing our housing association that there is NOT a house key on the loose that could be traced back to our house. I also went to the police station and called the motorway people and EVERYBODY tried not too laugh too obviously when I told them what happened. Great to bring joy to your lives, people, but next time I’ll just sing a song or do a magic trick! 🙂
In the meantime, Mr. Austrian kept disappearing because he had to show around a Chinese colleague, and not only did I neglect this blog, I also neglected Johnny the Sourdough, who almost starved.
As we speak, he is moping about in a new jam jar, frothing feebly and maybe, just maybe, retreating from the brink of death where my negligence put him.

And since this sounds so stressful, do you think I lost weight? No, not a gram. Did I fit in a single fast day? No, not a single one. I am so very disappointed with myself, as I basically know what to do but just couldn’t make myself do it.

Oh well.
That’s it, really.
The nice things are that a) the baby continues to thrive, she is the lovliest, funniest, sweetest baby you can imagine (of course everybody says that, and it’s true of every baby 🙂 ); b) Mr. Austrian’s paternity leave is about to begin, which will mean we can have stomach bugs together instead of me at home and him at the office, and c) Austria actually managed NOT to get wiped off the face of the earth by the Portugese in the EURO 2016. We ended up, as some of you may know, 0:0, and it says a lot that such a result leads to national tears of joy. We. Are. Just. Deplorable. At. Soccer. Let’s face the truth. But still. They didn’t win, we didn’t win, hurray!!!!!

I hope I can be back later today to answer your posts – I’ve been thinking of you a lot, hopefully you are all okay! Must be off, baby awake now!

Lolly_

2:16 pm
19 Jun 16
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Life isn’t a straight line: with a small child, it’s more like a crazy eight! Enjoy the ride. 🙂

Welcome back. You’ve been missed.

Austrian

9:52 pm
19 Jun 16
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Now, I am back for a bit – the baby is in her first phase of sleeping, the angelic one where she hardly moves and looks like a little cherub; later, she will wake up once or twice and toss and turn and end up lying across the bed with her tiny feet wedged in between the wooden slats (is that the right word?) of her crib.
But for now all is peace and delight.
Also for Johnny the Sourdough, BTW, I’m sure you’ll all be relieved to learn that bubbliness has increased and he seems to grow slightly in his little jam jar, so he may be out of the woods. *phew

Coldpizza, thank you so much for keeping me in your mind and prayers – I can say from my heart how much a appreciate that! Sorry for worrying you with my absence! I’ll try to check in more regularly! I’ll move over to your thread to read how your are getting on – what a surprise about you moving house, what is it like? Do you like it? How’s the unpacking coming along? My parents and grandparents also have/had this tendency to keep EVERYTHING, which makes for nice surprises when looking for something in their basement. My sister and I even found a leopard fur coat from the 1940s, which my grandfather gave to my grandmother – what an interesting thing to find! My parents made my sister and I sort through their basement because they couldn’t bear to give anything away and we were much less attached to all the things there. So maybe you could enlist your daughters to help you?

Fuvvie, lovely to hear that your husband is recovering well, but the weather must be a worry – are you in any way threatened when the dam bursts? I hope not, since you are on the hill. Keep us posted!Congrats on the lost kilos – and for sound dietary management even through this stressful time. That can be so very difficult!

Lolly, thanks, I do – it’s a rollercoaster! 🙂

Thank you so much for your concern and thoughts, reading through your posts has been like a warm bath for the soul (with bubbles and lovely scent as well as an interesting book to read and a fluffy towel for afterwards)!

Good night and good luck to all of you!

Fuvvie

11:09 pm
19 Jun 16
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Dear Austrian, So thrilled to see you back and faring well. With all that going on, it’s not surprising that weight loss is at a standstill. Cortisol will have been doing its level best to push up your insulin resistance and hence hunger. I usually eat my head off when very stressed. After Mum died I put on 20+ kilos in 3 months. Awful. Glad to hear you enjoyed your father’s birthday and the gardening especially with the help of your little cherub. My youngest granddaughter turned one on 29th May and she is into everything. They are like quicksilver. Her sister is 2 and also a delight. But you have to watch them every moment. The key saga is so typical, isn’t it? Hope you got 2 copies of everything as children are fascinated by keys. I was babysitting Jessie and Katarina when J locked their bedroom door. Fortunately they were out of the room. I had to get a locksmith to the house and he unlocked the door and cut 2 keys for me. All the nappies and their beds were behind that door. It was a relief when the little angels went to sleep🎭🍼🌟🙊🙈🙉 I hope the tummy bug is behind you and now you are back online, you can immerse yourself in all the support these threads have to offer. btw our dam is just like a big duck pond and it runs off into a creek when it overflows.
Better go as I have to deliver clean washing to mil down at the hospital, then do some shopping for her. Big hugs to you and your family.

coldpizza

2:14 pm
20 Jun 16
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So glad to hear from you Austrian. I am having busy day today at work, so will reply later. Just letting you know now how much I enjoyed your posts, and so glad that you are ok (all the stress is part of the being alive).

Fuvvie,
congrats on your new low! 🙂

coldpizza

4:00 pm
20 Jun 16
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Austrian,
I feel for you on your key story. I had a little bit of the experience but with much happier ending. One day a strange lady turned up and brought my husband’s wallet with his driving license, all credit cards, some cash and other important docs. Apparently, he came out with coffee, wallet and computer bag in his hands, and was struggling to put everything in his car. Decided to put wallet on the car, and completely forgot about it. He drove couple of blocks from the house, when the wallet fell from the top of the car. Luckily, the honest jogger was close by, she tried to signal my husband, but he did not noticed. The lady jogged two blocks to my house to return the wallet. God bless her kindness! 😀

I am also discovering strange things in different parts of the house: huge wings with real feathers that now drops out everywhere (was bought as a Halloween costume for one of my daughter); very heavy Mexican hat (have no idea why and when we bought it); shoes with heels so high, that it could be used for classical fencing. I really doubt that my daughters could help me with sorting, because one of the biggest category is their toys. Yes, my girls seems grown up now, but they still don’t allow me to give away their toys. 😀

So glad that Johnny the Sourdough is survived. I have kombucha scoby, that I neglected for a while. Your story reminds me that I have to take care of my kombucha very soon or it will be very unhappy.

Fuvvie,
I am a little jealous (in a good way) about your grandkids. I would love to have my own grandchildren, but scarred if I would be ready for their mischief. I still remember the horror when my two year old lock herself in bathroom, and did not know how to open the lock. It was 23 year ago, and lock did not have that special “key” to unlock the bathroom from outside. I axed the door! Got rid of all locks after that.

Fuvvie

5:25 am
23 Jun 16
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Had a good laugh about your axing the door Coldpizza. My son was living in our unit in Brisbane. He and his wife were sitting out on the balcony when their toddler closed the door and put the lock down on the bottom of the door. They couldn’t get in and she was crying. So he had to get down to the ground floor, the unit is on the first floor, and then kick the front door in. It was expensive for us to repair it as they are fire doors on units and the whole thing had to be replaced and new locks fitted that complied with the new fire code. Children light up our lives, sometimes with fireworks and sometimes just the warm glow of cuddles and cute conversation.
How are you going Austrian? Hope this week is plainer sailing for you.

Austrian

9:59 pm
26 Jun 16
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Oh dear Coldpizza, I know…the wallet…this seems to happen really often – a couple of people told me the same thing happened to them – your husband was very lucky to get the wallet back!
How is the unpacking/konmarieing going? I love the concept that you should only keep what brings you joy. i recently konmaried most of my clothing; unfortunately for Mr. Austrian, for me it’s my ginormous huge unglamorous comfy granny underpants that bring me joy; it’s actually nice to have consciously thought about how happy they make me. At some point in the future I need to konmarie my kitchen drawers…fear abounds…what gazillions of kitchen implements will I find??? They seem to materialize out of thin air, and pouf, just like that, suddenly I am stuck with a wooden mint crusher for mojitos. The weirdness of things.)
Today we went to an old convent that had been closed down in 2014, and I can tell you that nothing can be as bad as having to clean out a convent thathas been closed down after 500 years. They had a shop in which they sold off some if the junk they’d found while cleaning the gigantic convent building, and you could buy everything from a million antimacassars to a Mother Teresa paperweight to a huge pink plastic rosary to an old washing stand with a missing leg. We can count ourselves lucky that we only have our personal stuff to take care of!

Dear Fuvvie, how is the duck pond/dam? No new weather extremes, I hope? Here, it’s heavy rains – heavy rains – heavy rains- 15 degrees celsius – suddenly HEATWAVE, 32 degrees celsius, our faces almost melt off – then heavy rains – heavy rains – 12 degrees celsius. I will not complain though, no flooding here and the Baby really suffers from the heat!
Any new antics your grandchildren blessed you with? I had to laugh about you and coldpizza’s stories about kids locking themselves/others in/out and the stress and heart palpitations that go with it. But in spite of all the hullabaloo, life would be just a little bit toooo quiet without the littles, I think…

Here we are about to embark on Texit, which is like Brexit, only wonderful with Tom (my husband) going on paternity leave. YAY!!!! 8 glorious weeks ahead of us, we haven’t had a lot of time together since our daughter was born and she will LOVE having him about the house (so will I, of course). She stars smiling and waving and giggling like mad when she sees him, and I’m sure he will especially appreciate the full blast of her cheerful personality at 5.30 am, when she tends to wake up. 🙂
I think I will try a fast day tomorrow to celebrate Texit – I’m still plateauing, or stabilizing as lolly calls it, between 94.0 and 95.0 kilos, I need to get back on track. Weighing 95 kilos in a heatwave is just sheer torture. 🙁
So wish me luck – I’ll be thinking of your good advice tomorrow and regard you as virtual fairy godmothers who can steer me away from the fridge if necessary. 🙂

Off to prepare Texit celebration – good night and may the stars smile on your endeavours tomorrow!

Cheers,
Austrian