Well done Dan and Arvee!
Hi to everyone,
Successful FD today, was getting medical stuff sorted today, and travelling a few hours to a funeral tomorrow,
Must get to bed
Onwards and Downwards everyone🙂
Merry
This topic contains 27,929 replies, has 832 voices, and was last updated by Neilithicman 2 hours, 8 minutes ago.
Hi to everyone from me, also. I’ve not had a chance to post on here for a while (had a nasty cold then been flat out working apart from a brief and enjoyable visit up to Perth). Work still hectic, but thought I’d say hi in case anyone thought I’d faded away to nothing… hmm… well, not quite.
Welcome to Dan, I’m sure you’re going to do really well, and I wish the best in your fasting.
Good to hear how everyone else has been going. I get to read the posts, but just not respond. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to go back over and refresh myself on the specifics at some stage at the weekend.
It was great to catch up with you again, Thin, and meet the lovely Charlie’s Mum also. I agree, hearing how everyone else works 5:2 is interesting, and clearly what works for one doesn’t work for all, as in most things in life, I guess.
Things have been going well for me fast wise. I was holding steady at my lowest weight since re-starting 5:2 this time at 74.1, then shot up to 74.5. I didn’t get too dismayed. I figured it was either the weird scale anomaly that didn’t actually reflect real weight loss, and that would show up soon, or possibly because I’ve been so busy (and ill before that) I hadn’t been exercising as much as usual. I know for some that’s not a key thing, but it is for me. Plus I’d also got a bit complacent, I think, with my routine and was pushing the boundaries and nudging the calories up a touch.
But as everyone else on here pretty much tends to do, once you’ve noticed that you know what to do, you have the tools. You get on and do it and don’t let it get too out of control, so that’s the attitude I took. Then had a good fast day yesterday, and bingo, today down to 73.5. That was a surprise, but a welcome one!
Also when up in Perth I discovered my lovely daughter is expecting her second baby – yay!! I’m hoping for a grand-daughter too, Cinque, this time 🙂 though obviously we’ll be happy with boy or girl, but nice to have one of both if it happens that way. Back to work for me, and good luck to anyone fasting today. I love how you put it, Merry – onwards and downwards indeed.
Oh, and I can confirm those new tiny jeans that Thin bought recently look fantastic.
Oh yay! It worked.
Well,it is cold in Melbourne. My daughter is complaining! Missing Sydney!
Hi Merry, Best wishes for your funeral. I hope it is a good farewell.
I hope lots of medical stuff got sorted! Good news and clear solutions! Fingers crossed.
Lovely to see your post Vego. Congratulations on that nice low scales number!
Congratulations on that new little grandbub coming along! Exciting news! Will they find out whether it is a boy or a girl and tell everyone?
I spent yesterday with my lovely sisters, so that was a real treat. I’ve caught up a bit on sleep too, and feel a lot more human. I wonder what I will get done today!
I’ve picked a butternut pumpkin, that I hope is ripe (2 more to go) and I hope to make a stuffed pumpkin recipe with porcini, that I haven’t made for a couple of years. Maybe on Monday.
Fast day tomorrow!
Best wishes to you all, and Dr Mosley 5:2ing in America!
Thanks Thin!
🙂
Hi everyone,
Good to hear your news Vego re the scales. Well done, and how lovely to have a new grandbaby on the way🙂
Cinque, you ‘ve had a lovely day with your sister, and I an sed that stuffed pumpkin. Haven’t had or made one for ages. OH has to ‘pumpkin’ on his own till I’m done with the weight loss. He made a lovely pumkin soup and I did have it one night, but, as usual I stall on the scales when I have it. I’m having to be less mobile while I get past the leg problem, and I’m finding a little bit of a change on the scales. I dislike going back to being less mobile, but it’s the price I’m paying for having overdone it! Even after 18 yrs I’m still learning I can get carried away by my own enthusiasm. The walking in Melbourne on the day I didn’t expect to be, in the wrong shoes, has exacerbated it the leg thingy..sigh. Ah well, live and learn, as always. It was a long day yesterday, but good to say goodby to a special aunt, and spend time with her family.
Hope everyone’s going well with 5:2 this week, and the scales are co-operating, or your clothes are getting looser, if you don’t weigh. As I fast Mon and Thurs today is day 2 of 3 nonFDs. I’m hoping I’m under 67.0kgs on Monday’s graphing day.
Onwards and downwards,
Have a good weekend all,
Merry
It is such a cool morning, Miso the cat has come back inside to sit on my lap!
Merry, I’m glad you had a good family day yesterday, and hope you have a lovely quiet recovery day today. Oh and I so hope the leg thingy settles down soon.
I hesitated to write about the stuffed pumpkin because the mixture it is stuffed with includes basmati rice, and I knew it is off the food list for a lot of people here, but I didn’t think of pumpkin itself! I’ll be very grateful that I can eat it.
I do a lot of musing about food on fast days, dreaming of what I can have another day! Silly, but that is the way my brain works. Hopefully I will do lots of other things too! Turning up trouser legs! Ironing! Clearing my desk! Woot! What a fun day. (I will feel satisfied if I can get some of those things done though! I’m easily pleased by little successes!).
Yes it is Sunday fast day!
I took longer writing this that I expected. Miso got annoyed by my typing and went away, and I have just been out to the garden and it is warm and sunny. Lovely!
I hope your morning is as nice!
Howdy all. A bit of a sleep-in has passed an extra hour or two of FD without my evening knowing it. Bonus!
Hope you’re soon back to normal Merry; pumpkin seems to feature in quite a few of my FD meals. I love the day after FD, especially when there are two more to go! Good luck with tomorrow’s weigh-in.
VDU, you’re doing well on the scales. Thanks for the compliment about the jeans, after you said I should wear them in public, they have become my favourites. I had another clothes clean-out yesterday and still can’t believe that size 12 is too big for me. I seem to be stable at 60kgs. We had a lot of rain & wind yesterday and I bet you did too. I still managed a walk but it took me ages, ducking for cover under trees and in toilets!
The day before, we were doing our usual walk when we encountered DPAW (Parks & Wildlife) pulling one of our resident dolphins out of the river. We stopped to help load it onto the truck and learned it was a female who had an 8 month calf. It was inevitable that it would also die without its mum and sadly, later in the day, we got the notification that it had been found. The vets at DD’s uni will do an autopsy on both.
Intesha, wishing you a safe and fun trip for Tuesday.
Have a great day doing those little chores Cinque. I hope your FD goes well. And anyone else fasting today. No cooking for me today – I made the meal for the OFMs yesterday and my own rations were pulled from the freezer! My only challenge today will be staying warm enough.
Hi everyone, hi Cinque and Thin – have a great FD today!
Post away about the pumpkin – it’s OK, I have to learn to live with the things I can’t have and I love baked pumpkin, and even this cooking-disliking person makes a pretty good pumpkin soup. Not eating things I really like has had to be a part of my life for several decades now, and pre 5:2, so it’s nothing new, just annoying occasionally when I’m weaker willed.
Today we have been invited to afternoon tea and dinner by seperate people. I’m resting up, and wondering how I manage this on the day before my Monday weigh in day. Sunday, foodwise always feels a bit weird to me, because it’s the 3rd nonFD in a row. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to dobFDs over a 3day cycle only, with no 3rd nonFD. It would mean the days of the week would be continually changing, and I like the Mon Thurs rhythm of things as they are. Has anyone come across reports of a 3day cycle on the forum anywhere?
Re my leg etc. thanks for your kind thoughts. It may be some time before things get back to normal unfortunately. Painkillers and anti inflammatories are helping. Our old fellow is in hospital at the moment too, so OH is a bit on his pkate at the moment with us both. FIL is still difficult and going downhill, but no wedding thank goodness. Drs are saying he is a very difficult type of Alzheimers patient, and should be in fulltime care. The future for hims is looking grim, poir man. He is his own worst enemy.
Must go,
Lively Sunday to you all,
Merry
It will take too long to go back over all the old posts of the last 3 weeks, but I did read about your finger, Merry. What an absolute pain for you, on top of what you’re already dealing with. My OH has something similar (as does his sister). Theirs is trigger finger, which from a quick Google I see is in the same kind of family but slightly different, and also painful and annoying. His sister ended up having surgery for hers a few years ago and has felt great ever since. So far my OH has had a cortisone injection, which worked well but has now worn off, and he’s open to having surgery down the line. I do hope there’s some relief for you.
Re the weight maintenance when you get to goal weight: I reckon you have a lot of experience in this area, Thin, seeing as you’ve maintained your weight loss for so long (I don’t count the odd kilo that may have crept up, that you stamp on when you see it anyway!) You certainly know what works for you. And your idea of 800 cals on our FDs sounds like a bit of a plan too, Cinque. Still on my FDs now (and I’m not at goal weight yet) I don’t stick to 500 cals, it’s always more, and still seems to be working (but I’m sure it won’t for too much longer…). I think it’s worked for me because I combine exercise, which I know is not applicable for you.
Thanks for the encouraging comments, Merry, Cinque and Thin, re the weight loss, and the congrats on the forthcoming grand-baby from you, Cinque. It is a joyous thing indeed 🙂
I’m so glad you’re enjoying your new jeans, Thin. Not only are they great jeans that look wonderful, they’re a marvellous symbol of what you’ve achieved. And having size 12 clothes that are too big now… wow, yes, that must make you feel like you’re in a parallel universe or something, hehe. Obviously there’s the side of looking so much better that we all love when we lose the pesky kilos we want to (however many that is for us individually), but the health benefits of dropping more than a few kilos when really overweight may not be so immediately obvious but will have happened too. We all know that, of course, but I’m just musing on it….
It’s a FD for me too, and it is lovely waking up and reading posts from the others who are doing it “with me”! You tend to be more varied and gourmet in what you eat, Cinque and Thin (perhaps after doing it so long you need to be to stop getting too bored with it). I’ll just have my “usual”, but I’m perfectly happy with that – for now at least. Oh, and yes, we had some mighty wild weather down here too, Thin. No actual damage to anything, though, luckily, and I hope you were also unscathed up there in Perth. One huge leaf fell off the mulberry tree (huge damage, eh!) which freaked my dog out for some odd reason. I went out to see what she was barking her head off at, and it was this big leaf that had her totally confused… so cute.
Have a great FD everybody, and non-FD day for those that aren’t… that’s my War and peace for now 🙂
Completely agree VDU, it’s comforting to check in here and see that there’s already someone from the eastern states who’s begun their FD. I do have a huge repertoire of FD meals VDU but I tend to rely heavily on the same old things – everyone knows I’m a stick-in-the-mud with my two almond milk coffees and then the 2pm cauliflower soup. I still can’t believe all that only adds up to 125 cals and that carries me all the way through to 5pm.
And I agree with you, it’s great to get all the comments, fit into smaller clothes and not be freaked out when you see yourself in a shop window reflection but knowing you’re no longer on a path to destruction is even better. For me, it was the fear of diabetes and all its associated spin-offs.
Merry, I like your idea of fasting every 3 days but, also like you, I enjoy the routine of my set days which I’ve rarely needed to change since starting in Aug 2014. Back when I looked ahead to maintenance, I had thought of trying 2 FDs one week, 1 FD the next. I’m sure that feasting is an equally important component of ‘feast and famine’ so enjoy your feasting today. You deserve it Merry.
We didn’t have any damage here VDU but lots of huge trees in nearby parks were uprooted or broken. Luckily, we’d recently spent a Sunday cutting back our olive tree and then had the tree surgeon cut down two more. In the huge storm of May 2010, one of those broke in two at the trunk and landed in the neighbours’ pool. I feel naked without my tree line privacy but hopefully they’ll all put on some new shoots soon.
How are the chores coming along Cinque?
Hi there!
I’ve pinned up two pairs of trousers, done some ironing, sorted my calendar for the week (and crikey it is full), and I’ve lent my little spade to the woman in the flats next door, very sadly as one of her cats died overnight. She was too close to tears for me to ask more, but I am glad I could help. I hope they made it a lovely little grave. I’ve also had a lie down, which is good to tick off my list too.
I’m having a cuppa now and I will see if I can get some hemming done while the light is still good.
All my lovely recipes are for non fast days too, as I stick to cuppas and my chicken miso soup (I have it at 6:30) on fast days. But I dream!!!! 😉
When I had just began 5:2 and was enjoying it so much, I got impatient with the three non fast days in a row and thought of doing a fast day after every 2 non fast days. But when I popped in an extra one I did find it unsustainable. Now I have my two fast days set (Sunday, Thursday) I am pretty entrenched in the rhythm. I like having the lull day (Tuesday, when there wasn’t a fast day the day before, and isn’t one the next day) while the rest of the week marches on. It was you who gave me the name for the lull day wasn’t it Thin?
Today has gone quickly with my pottering about. Another couple of hours and I’ll start thinking about making my soup!
You’ll be looking forward to your cauliflower soup soon Thin! Enjoy!
Happy Fast Day to you too VDU. I was over the 500 calories too and found 5:2 still worked fine. Sustainability is the important thing, isn’t it.
Merry I definitely agree that your FIL needs specialised care, and with the state he is in, it is too much for family. I hope that can be done!
Best wishes for the long patient process of getting all the bits of you healed, and nothing else going wrong!!!!
That wish can go out to everyone!
The latest recipe I am thinking about is a Turkish soup with meatballs and chickpeas called ‘Mothers and Daughters’ soup. Isn’t that cute. Their meat balls are complex kibbeh, but I think I could make an easy version.
Cheers all!
Hi Everyone
Good on you all who are doing their fast days today, I dont think I could do a regular fast on the weekend! Thinatlast- how sad about the dolphins.You are good going for a walk in the rain and so organized doing your cooking beforehand! Merryme, I’m not looking forward to my weigh-in tomorrow after a very social weekend, including a restaurant dinner, a 60th party and a combined birthday bbq here for lunch today. Next weekend we have nothing planned and Im thinking of an extra fast day. Tomorrow is a fast day for me and they are going much better with me not eating until about 4pm.
Thanks for that tip, I didn’t think I could do that but its much easier.
Good morning all, 3 FD’s this week. Weight this morning 68.5. Off to Airlie tomorrow for 7 days so will put the kgs back on but with this WOL no stress worrying about it.
Have been very busy sorting out the garage yet again. It is nearly two years since moving my parents down here and there is still so much to go through. Each time I become more ruthless but it saddens me to go through what was there life and throw them away. Nobody wants ornaments, crystal ware or good cutlery anymore and I’ve certainly got enough of my own. There is still stuff in storage that I have no idea what Dad is going to do with.
I’m exhausted as it has taken me days to sort and move around. What happened to my boring life when I could just please myself what and when I did things. I can’t even go away now without making sure everything is clean and tidy, there’s enough food etc in the house and everything is within easy reach for my Dad.
Oh well sorry to whinge but the old body is really protesting this morning. I should be grateful that I can go away and my life is relatively good and stable.
Had my blood test last week to check the cholesterol and it has come down so I told the Dr I wanted to go off the tablets which she has agreed to for 2 months and then I will get tested again. Also had my first flu/pneumonia injection.
Well must get ready to go and see my Mum. I wash her hair and do her nails every Monday. Since they reduced her medication she is more alert and even though she still asks the same questions over and over it is quite pleasant to be with her.
Have a good day everyone.
Good Morning All,
Judy- I’m glad that tip worked for you🙂 It’s interesting that hunger can be triggered by eating something. I used to think I was either hungry or not, but it’s usually about 4pm or 5pm on a FD before I feel hungry, if I don’t eat anything. There seem to be 2 main ways of doing FDs. Those eat it all in 1 meal at the end of the day, and those who feel a bit nauseous if they don’t eat in the morning, and they usually have 2 smaller meals, breakfast and dinner.
How did you go with all your celebratory meals Judy? Did you find yourself doing things differently than you did pre 5:2?
Thanks Thin – how did your FD go? And enjoy those jeans🙂 How exciting! Re my hand, I see the surgeon tomorrow. So far it’s down to tenosynavitus (sp?) or Dupurtrens (sp?), except the D is in an abnormal place.
Cinque – like you with your chicken miso, I’m finding it easier and easier to just have the same thing each FD dinner with fish, calamari and low cal low GI veggies made into a clear soup. tonight’s will be in fish stock. I’m working on making all my FDs under 1/4 my TDEE, so < 375cals. Sometimes it’s under 500, but my goal for FDsis to get them all down that little bit. Somepeople don’t eat anything at all on FDs but I’m happy to stay with the original 5:2 guidelines. Hadn ‘t thought of a lull day for the 3 days thing. So, what is the concept of a lull day, or is it just a naming thing?
FD for me today, haven’t weighed yet because I ‘ve been up since 5am with cramps in my leg, and unable to bend it. This is the weirdest injury I’ve ever had, because it comes and gos. Sometimes I walk normally, no pain, other times it seizes up and feels like the kneecap is slightly dislocated. Weird. OH and I are pretty good at working out what’s happening with things, but this has us both stumped. When my leg spasms for several hours,, my arm is at it’s worst too. Always worse at night. Doc says no permanent nerve or other damage, but it’s just so weird, and debilitating. If I walk too much it gets worse at night but if I don’t walk enough it gets worse as well. Haven’t found the sweet spot yet.
Thanks for your thoughts re my FIL Cinque. He comes out of hospital today, and hopefully he will accept more services. We’re expecting this to be an ongoing challenge till he ends up back in hospital. He’s becoming unreasonably paranoid too, convinced people are smuggling drugs out the window of his hospital room at night! Can even feel the breeze from the open window, he says.. Quite delusional. At least this time, we have some of his challenges and rage (delirium they call it) recorded at the hospital, changing their initial assessment of him as high functioning. Go figure – he can’t read , watch TV, use the phone, count money, use the microwave, doesn’t remember how old he is, etc etc etc. we’ll get there eventually, but Alzheimers is such a nasty illness on it’s way through.
This is very non5:2 ish today, sorry. I just feel a bit in the wars. Doing my FD today anyway, dammit!! Pleased with how I went yesterday with our 2 social engagements. I didn’t eat till the mid afternoon one, and had sparkling water with some light afternoon tea which was savoury and sensible healthy good food. Dinner was at a club, not my favourite places to eat, but I had a warm chicken salad? It came with a large amount of cashews and feta cheese – way too much of both, so I had about 1/3 of those. I did have a slice of an apple tart, no cream, with tea it wasn’t one of those stodgy, way to big things. Just a layer of apple slices on crust with a little glaze. Not a gluten free crust but it was thin, so hope I get away with it. The gluten free things were hbig and looked way to many calories.
Have a good day everyone, gold stars to you all!
Onwards and downwards!
Merry
Good morning everyone,
it is windy here, the roadside rubbish pick up should come this morning and take away my old office chair, finally!
I had a very good fast day. Isn’t it fascinating how different people like different days. Sunday fast day is my favourite.
It was so sad about the dolphins. I was so touched (and then completely ignored them in my posts 🙁 ).
Judy do you weigh right at the start of your fast day? Well, it has been feast week for you, so cut yourself some slack, and fingers crossed the people around you stop celebrating things! Btw was it your birthday? Happy birthday wishes, if so.
My mum lived in Yarra Glen for a while, so when I picture you in the Yarra Valley, I remember the silver river curling through the flats and the beautiful morning colours, and mist, and cold!
Intesha my heart goes out to you, managing the needs of your parents and having to work through that sad task of dealing with their possessions. It can be so desolate to be there at the ending of things. I hope you have a lovely time with your mum this morning, and that your time away gives you a good break and gives you your equilibrium back.
I was reading about what might be the earliest song we know of, and this came up: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikilos_epitaph. 2000 years old, from Greece. These are the words:
While you live, shine
have no grief at all
life exists only for a short while
and time demands an end.
Things don’t change, we’d better get shining! And cheers for the shining your parents have done, and still do.
Best wishes everyone
Morning all and thanks for the coffee reading. Judy, one great thing about Sunday fasting is that you don’t have to fast on Mondays! It also helps keep the weekend indulgences in check. Not that my social life sounds anything like as exciting as yours. Did you have fun? We’d love you to join us next weekend if you decide to throw in an extra FD.
Merry, that’s good that you are getting closer to a diagnosis for your hand. So you can get the appropriate Rx. Get on those scales and give us the report!
Cinque, glad your FD went quickly. Mine was uneventful although I did feel a bit hungry at bedtime but thought that’s autophagy at work so tried to embrace it. I’d passed the afternoon shopping with DD. 59.9 kg today. I thought it was you who named the lull day. I love verge pickups – on our street, the stuff goes out of one person’s garage and into the neighbour’s. I’ve seen weight benches and BBQs getting rolled down the road!
Intesha, we have a shed full of OH’s parents’ memorabilia in steamer trunks. OH is very sentimental and quite the hoarder but he eventually let me go through his mum’s glassware and old religious books belonging to his grandparents. I researched both and sold a lot on ebay. It was time-consuming but interesting and quite profitable. Be careful what you throw away – some of the glassware was worth several hundred $$, but my best sale was USD10K for a 1st edition religious book from 1884. Anyone else watch ‘Antiques Road Show’?
Thin, 67.2 kgs – down 100gms on last Monday, LOL, and Im happy with that. Yeah, I’m glad it didn’t go up after Friday and yesterdays diversions from my usual non grain food. The week before I had a maasive 2kg! Drop from the previous Monday so I figure I’m in a settling back into normal mode after that.
Celebrate Merry, a loss is a loss. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. You mention grains. I find I am craving grains after dinner. I think, ‘I’ll just have a few chia seeds in a small amount of natural yoghurt’ but then I can’t help adding a handful of Carmen’s muesli. Am I addicted to it? I can’t seem to stop buying/eating it.
When I was going through all my intolerance testing it used to take 5 days for all the symptoms to disappear. It’s very rare for people to be intolerant to rice so you could try swapping any grain foods for rice and gluten free products for a week and see what happens. Muesli…. Could be just one of the things in it you’re having a problem with if it’s a really strong addictive type of craving.
I’ve all but given up rice and never eat bread in any form (so pizza’s a thing of the past). Should I try going cold turkey with the muesli? I already have it for breakfast 4 days a week so maybe you’re right, it’s not the grains but something else in the muesli. Sugar. I bet Bay’s out there lurking somewhere.
It’s a cool windy day here today, I’m doing a Fast Day and decided that I needed something warm and comforting for lunch.
So I just made this – http://the5-2dietbook.com/food/caulicheesesoup.
And it’s yummy! I skipped the breadcrumb and cheese topping, and used 3 teaspoons of wholegrain Dijon mustard. If you like cauliflower, it’s well worth a try. I think it will become a standard lunch for me on winter fast days. The best part is that it made 4 servings, so that’s my work lunch sorted for tomorrow, and two to put in the freezer for next week.
And, on a completely different topic – for those of you looking after parents with Alzheimers Disease, I am thinking of you. My mum was diagnosed with it when she was only 55. Because her health was otherwise good, she lived for another 17 years. So, believe me, I understand and am always here if you need to talk to someone who does understand.
Thanks for the link Arvee, I’m always up for a new cauliflower recipe. And it’s even less cals than mine. I hadn’t seen that web ssite before so I’m looking forward to adding some new recipes (although I think someone could do with a better camera, the recipes sound great but don’t necessarily look so appetising – at least not first few photos I scrolled though, he he).
Alzheimers Disease – it’s so hard on families. I hope you had a good morning with your mum Intesha. Let’s all keep fasting our way to better minds and bodies.
Hi Arvee- that soup looks delicious. I think I’ll try this version too. OH is doing the shopping this week and I forgot to ask for a cauli – they were small and very expensive last week. Will try again in a couple of days.
Thin- try going cold turkey for a week. If it’s an intolerance it may be one of the various grains in muesli. As I understand it, sugar on it’s own, doesn’t usually cause reactions, altho destructive in other ways. That said, I’ll swear that one of my children was reactive to straight sugar, altho the reaction is usually to something else the sugar is with. It could be an oil, a fruit syrup, a seed, an additive, a sulphite in dried fruit maybe. If there’s no change, then you probably just really, really love it. If you then have your chia and yoghurt and the compulsion to have the muesli isn’t there, then it could be an intolerance. Funny, I’ve had a reaction to chia seeds too. Quinoa I don’t think so. Amaranth and spelt definitely yes, but then spelt is just an older form of wheat.
Arvee- Thanks for your kind thoughts for our Alzheimers parents. Your poor mum getting it so young. I think it’s Intesha, with both parents, and us with our 3rd parent with it the SH thread dealing with it at the moment. Intesha is an absolute stalwart in her parent’s care. Intesha I really feel for you going through the long sort. It’s hard these days, when we live in an era of too much stuff, to know what to do with it all. The Sallies and other charity op shops have been the recipient of much of our mother’s things. They do get upset when nobody wants their things, so I still haves boxes of things of theirs in the shed, that I took to at least let them think that somethings were needed and wanted. It’s such a different world to now to the one where as young people we were glad for any hand me downs to set up home with. OH and my mothers have both passed away now but FIL is a whole different ball game. He’s 98, a loner and real survivor, has had lowered inhibitions (obsessed with women), long rages, has been trying to get married to a financial predator who has groomed him for 2 yrs, and has refused all services except a small amount of housekeeping. He can be nasty and unpredictable and it’s very hard on the 3 children it’s taking to keep him independent, when he really should be in care. He’s not physically abusive, as some are with this version of Alzheimers, thank goodness. it’s all very unpleasant on top of the usual challenges. As the system stands, and reagardless of legal papers being OK, while he’s verbal and mobile there is nothing anybody can do till he has ‘an incident’ where the police are involved, a bad fall with a break, or other serious health thing. He’s headed for a locked ward somewhere we fear.
Oh Merry, that all sounds awful. And on top of everything, unscrupulous people are trying to take advantage of him financially. And you’re so right about today’s attitudes to hand-me-downs. My younger brothers were both grateful recipients of just about anything that my dad and step-mother were handing down – including curtains I recall. Nowadays there’s an expectation to have everything new and now – even a house! Cue violins. I worked full-time for ten years after finishing uni before I’d saved enough for a deposit on a house. To become a home owner, I had to give up my carefree beach life-style and move to a really dodgy neighbourhood near the Mexican border, which involved a long commute to work as well and the need to take in students. And, as some Aussies were telling me recently, true, Australian house prices were more affordable relative to wages back in the day but interest rates were at 18% so it wasn’t all roses for them either.
Back to food – so you’re saying that a craving for a particular food can be suggestive of an intolerance to it? Hmm, I’d better do some reading.
Thin, re food: this type of intolerance is common in the ADHD community, but I don’t know if it’s common otherwise. The craving is intense almost to the point of addiction, and there is usually some sort of reaction a couple of hours after eaten. This reaction can be physical but can often be emotional, a headache, or be a foggy brain, and the reaction goes away when the food is eaten again.. Then again, you may just really really love muesli LOL.
Well done on getting your house too! Wow near the Mexican border, and student boarders is a good way to help with repayments. Yes, that 18% interest rate was a killer, and many people lost their houses because they couldn’t cope with the continual interest rises. In that era we also started with nothing, tiny houses, sat on milk crates, there was a lot of hand me downs, stuff from the Sallies which wasn’t as good as the stuff is now, and we really needed those wedding toasters. We moved to the country where life was cheaper instead of staying in Sydney
Thanks for your understanding re my FIL. It is very sad.
Have had my new usual FD dinner of basa fish a calamari in fish stock with liw cal low GI veggies. Put a little too much chilli in it so I didn’t enjoy it as much as usual. With a small boiled egg, little plain skim youghurt and a little fruit, and couple of cashews I’m at 397calories. Been filling up with lots of water today and ate at 7pm, and just finished the yoghurt/fruit 1 1/2hrs later. Another 7cals for coffee with a splash of light milk, and Im done for the day.
Hand surgeon tomorrow.
Night night,
Merry x
Good Morning,
Day after FD 66.8 kg, same as last Tuesday. Why, when I’ve been OK with calories? I’m guessing the wheat I had on the funeral day and at afternoon tea. Both what other people would call in healthy food, but not good for me and stalls my weight loss. Here’s to a wheat free week for me.
Off the hand surgeon,
Have a good day everyone fasting,
Merry
Hi Everyone
Hope its all good news at the surgeons Merryme. I, too, often have bass fillets on FDs but my OH thinks once a week is enough. I lost 200grams last week which I’m amazed at considering we had 4 social events over meals that had wine! I took up suggestions of sharing dessert and also had slithers of birthday cake and a glass of water after a glass of wine. Intesha, enjoy your week away and the wedding. Its lovely of you to do so much for your mum! Thinatlast, Im finding too our married children who buy a house want all new and matching furniture. We were grateful for hand me downs. We thought at the time we were lucky enough to never have our interest rate go over 13% on a $30,000 loan. I think it was easier than now. Arvee I try that soup too- sounds delicious.
My FD wasn’t too good yesterday as i got so hungry after dinner I even ate a cold sausage. Im still down 600 grams from yesterday morning but will have less cals today! I think maybe because I was tired after a busy weekend and I was cold as we both worked late and fire was lit late.
Good luck to those fasting today!
Hi Everyone,
I’m sending best wishes for that hand surgeon appointment too, Merry!
http://previews.123rf.com/images/stefaniav/stefaniav1005/stefaniav100500006/6908388-A-bunch-of-Mimosa-blossoms-with-Best-Wishes-message-Stock-Vector.jpg
When I posted yesterday, your message(s) hadn’t come through Merry.
Re lull day: I am always thinking ‘ooh, it is the day after fasting, yum!’ or ‘ooh it is the day before fasting get ready for it’, but on that one day of a week there is nothing about fasting, apart from the amazement that there is nothing about fasting!
I was musing on this special day, and saying I wanted a name for it, and someone suggested lull day. Maybe it was Bay? I think it was on this thread! (Bad memory).
And it is lull day today!
I’ve got a visitor here, so I will write more later!
It was very sad about the dolphins, Thin. We all seem to like them, and hate to hear of such sad things 🙁 Also sad for your neighbour, Cinque with the cat, and good you had a spade to lend her to make life a bit easier. I also loved your song, Cinque, that you discovered, which nicely encapsulates all that loss too. I’ve actually written it out and will type it and keep it somewhere. Short and succinct, I think it sums things up rather perfectly.
Thin, I’m glad your motivation to lose weight being to ensure you didn’t get diabetes has paid off so admirably. I know if I were ever diagnosed with it I’d do everything in my power that didn’t require drugs to overcome it, and when diet and exercise (or even just diet) definitely can reverse it, it amazes me that people would rather continue with their lifestyle and take drugs instead… still, the whole weight loss thing is a complex area, I realise that. But good on you that it worked so well for you in every way, and I don’t think you’re ever in danger of developing it now 🙂 I have muesli every morning these days, enjoy it and find it sustains me for longer than toast used to. That clearly doesn’t seem to be doing you any harm weight wise, but if it does make you feel not well after then that’s a different matter, of course!
Tree damage in storms – yes, can be a huge worry. Lucky for you you’d already dealt with yours before that storm. We read warnings about last night’s, but it didn’t prove to be as full on as last weekend’s. We lost power in the night, but was back on this morning. How freaky and scary it must be for those who lose a roof… yikes. I too love the verge days and that it’s a way of giving away stuff you no longer want that someone may like. Apparently it’s “illegal” in as much as councils try to make it so, which I think is the most ridiculous thing ever. I suppose because some of them have those tips where they get to sell some things as well. But it’s never stopped me if I saw something I could make use of, and I always hope someone takes something I may put out. And I 100 per cent agree with you and Merry re how younger people these days (and God that makes me feel old saying that, “young people these days”, haha) expect brand new in everything – cars, houses, furniture. I bought my first car at 30, and that was a $1000 bomb at that. I’d never have been able to afford property if it wasn’t for an inheritance from my dad, and then I started small and built up a bit, and that was when 40. But young people jump into these expensive houses with huge mortgages… I just don’t get it. And I still buy cheap cars and second-hand furniture!
Judyf, I don’t have a problem with Sunday being a FD either. My weekends are rarely “weekends” anyway, as my OH works every other one, and so do I, and if there is something going on socially I just change the day over to Monday. Like you said, Cinque, I’ve got into that rhythm now and I prefer that to make it sustainable. Merry, I do my FDs a bit different again in that I eat 3 times a day – small amounts, but spread them out. Of course, as I’ve mentioned, it does go over the allotted 500 calories, but it’s still very low and so far, yes, is sustainable. I’m watching hard to see what I can and can’t manage, especially around non-fast days now. I’ve started to be pulled back into bread on non-fast days, and am observing whether that’s making a difference. Last week it didn’t, but I’ll see for this one. Anyway, yes, as we’ve said before, it is interesting to see what works for everyone. It’s good to discuss it though, as you can see what works for others and if you’re not happy how things are going for yourself in any way could try another’s way and see if that works better. I’m certainly open to doing that. I agree, Thin, with what you said re needing the “feast” for the famine part to work. I love how you put that. It encapsulated what I’ve been thinking for a while and observing in little ways.
Like yourself, Merry, when you had no weight loss after your FD, I find I never do the next day. It bothered me to begin with, but then I discovered it was actually showing up a couple of days later (maybe like that 2 Kilos you suddenly dropped?). It happened again this week, so I’m not fazed. Again, I’ll keep an eye on it and make sure it is going down, whenever it deigns to show up on the scales! If it doesn’t, of course, I’ll know I need to re-tweak things, and go back to my Ryvitas on non-fast days, I think, as that worked spectacularly well for me.
I must have a look at that cauliflower recipe. I bet it’s delicious!
Intesha, I don’t think you’re “whinging” in the slightest. You’ve had a lot to cope with, and that feeling of having your day-to-day life change so much must be very hard to deal with. Kind of like when you have a baby, what a shock to the system, but at least we choose that for ourselves. The Alzheimer’s thing is so sad and hard to deal with. It seems there’s a few of us with parents who have it. My mum was diagnosed a couple of years ago. Luckily for us so far it’s mainly manifested physically in terms of her walking, but we’re braced for what may come. I feel for those whose parents are way down the track, I really do. With the ageing population this seems to be a growing issue, and it’s one of the harder ones, I think. I’m glad at least things have improved with your mum that you get to enjoy her company now.
Merry, I hope your FIL ends up going into care soon, even though it doesn’t sound like he’s close to it. Very stressful for all around.
Time to start my day – so happy fasting to anyone who is, and a good day to everyone else too.
Good morning,
It is chilly in Melbourne. The cat is sitting in front of the heater, after a few goes at being outside!
I’m listening to an old Pretenders CD, love it.
I’m having a good week, I can tell I am thinner. I just wish I could do some more exercise to build some nice muscle. I will try to do some yoga later.
I’m glad you liked that song Merry and VDU. Hoping to do a little bit of shining today!
I could relate so much to what people said about sitting on milk crates and making use of hand me downs (and that was even without buying a house!). New things are so much cheaper now (Ikea etc) but it is just crazy, and the tips are full of all this stuff that was so transient in houses!
I remember my aunt telling me that when she was a little girl, being given a picture, not even something framed, that you could put on the wall, was so special and amazing. The walls were otherwise empty in their house.
Well, I had a lovely lull day, and now it is ‘day before fasting’. I’ll enjoy my breakfast! So happy to have it.
Best wishes all! Anyone fasting today?
I will be but am sitting up too late reading before getting my head down. It’s after 1 am here! Just seen that Kirstenbosch botanic gardens got a gold medal for their truly beautiful display of indigenous flowers at Chelsea Garden Show. Their first time there, how proud they are. Very cheering.
I’ve a nice old armchair I got in a junk shop when I was 30 and divorced. Recently I had it re-covered and some inner repairs done to the springing. A friend said, you could’ve got a new one for that! True, but it’s comfy and Victorian and an old friend! So I know what you mean. But what did our parents say about us?
Good morning losers,
Yes Cinque, I’m fasting – and you’ve conjured up a lot of memories listening to, ‘Back On The Chain Gang’.
VDU, having now met you, when I read your posts, I can picture you sitting with a coffee saying all these things. I hadn’t realised that your mum was diagnosed with AD. It comes in so many forms and must be one of the more frightening diagnoses to be given. I read yesterday that someone in the world is diagnosed every 67 seconds. Hopefully Intesha’s having a great time in Airlie Beach looking after herself for a change.
Well done with your loss Judyf, you seem have achieved a good balance while maintaining your busy social life.
Merry, what did the hand surgeon have to say? It’s a nice reward to see a loss after a FD but, like VDU, for me it’s sometimes reflected a day later. I’m not having any (known) reaction to eating muesli, I was more concerned that I seemed to be developing a bad habit of eating after dinner and wondering why I should be so fixated on it. I think you’re right, I may just really like it. I hadn’t snacked after dinner since I started 5:2. It doesn’t seem to be affecting my weight but I need to stop it. According to ‘Trust Me I’m A Doctor’ (yes, still watching it), our circadian rhythm expects us not be eating later in the evening and releases fat into the blood to help us function, so we shouldn’t be adding more fuel. Not to mention decreasing the natural ‘fasting window’. We eat dinner at 5pm, which would be very early for most people. It turns out to be preferable – but not if you continue snacking until bedtime! I intend to stop as of today. There, said it out loud.
Off for a walk before the showers. Have a great day all, fasting, feasting or lulling.
Hi Everyone
Yes, our parents did have a collective opinion, but I can’t quite remember how the saying went . There’s also a saying about youth that could apply to every generation by Plato or someone about 2000yrs ago. Once I was driving my mum around the neighbourhood she lived in as a child and her comment was how good all the houses and surround looked , with all the painting and repairs done. She said how different it was to the time when people could never affor those things.
Hand surgeon’s diagnosis: : tendonitis, with a bit of possible carpel tunnel and possible rhemotoid arthritis. Thin – Despite the visible ridge I have in the centre of my palm now he doesn’t think it’s D., but indicative that I could get it later on, and yep, I do have the Viking connection (have had a gene profile done a bit back). The ultrasound looked like tenosynevitis in the report, but he doesn’t think it’s that either. Some arthritis on the xrays, but he thinks it’s likely rheumatoid rather than atherosclerosis. Referral and off for nerve conduction test for wrist. For me, a choice of do nothing but continue with hand therapy or cortisone injection. Possible surgery later, but could make it worse and he didn’t think I should do that. . I chose the therapy. The finger is less swollen now and I can bend it a bit more, and I have a good hand therapist. Back in a couple of months to see how it’s going.
Thin- I think you just love the muesli, and eating muesli is about the texture as well as the taste🙂
Oh the snacking after dinner thing! So right! Tiredness can appear as hunger too, as I’ve learnt on here – from Purple maybe. Haven’t seen that Dr Mosely programme yet. I bought. DVD with 4 of his docos on it, with the eat Fast, Live Longer one on it. I think it has the fast exercise one on it as well. Must get it out and rewatch. I found the fast exercise one fascinating as we.. Just can’t do it with ME/CFS. How grateful Ai am though for 5:2. It is the only way, and I really mean only way for me to get off the weight that came on with ME/CFS, where I was in bed for the first 2 years but my appetite remained.
NonFD for me today, and nothing before 12 noon, and I need to be strong about after 8pm or do 1pm – 9pm.
My soapbox today – Re ME/CFS – today, the 25th, is Missing Millions Day which is a protest for the Missing Millions of people missing from their lives, their jobs, hobbies, sports, missing from their socials and families also. Also missing is the millions of $ for research, and the missing education on this catastrophic condition. There will be a demonstration in Washington of the shoes of many people missing because of ME/CFS. There is one in Melbourne as well. As a community don’t have the energy to protest and organize, so the research doesn’t get done. Many are confined to their houses, and even to their beds, and it’s children, teens. as well as adults, and some can’t speak. At Bond University there is a small research unit, that has had a breakthrough with a biological marker with the possible of a diagnostic test in a number of years. Here’s hoping. This is a devastating illness that happens mostly suddenly after any one of 50 viruses. Some it comes slower over a period of time but either way it’s very real, a complex systemmic illness, and recognised by the World Health Organisation since 1969. The challenge is we are all missing from our lives and because we’re missing it’s not noticed and nothing get’s done. Getting off my soapbox now.
Have a great FD Tuesday fasters
Onwards and Downwards!
Merry
Merry, that’s an interesting diagnosis of your hand. I hope the hand therapy gives you good relief. And it is a cruel irony that people suffering CFS don’t have the energy to activate what’s required to get the research done. That’s changing with the internet I suppose. After all, you’re raising awareness here and now. Hopefully friends & loved ones of sufferers can be mobilised to help make a difference. All the best to you (and Cinque and Nap) for all you’ve achieved living with this chronic illness.
FD is going OK. I’m using up our copious supply of limes by making lime pickle today. Does anyone know why garlic turns green when cooked? I made garlic bread for the OFMs the other night and the minced garlic turned green under the grill. The limes & garlic for the pickle required 15 mins of steaming and, again, the smashed cloves of garlic have turned green. I’ve not seen this before.
Good afternoon. Another day is going before I can even get started 🙁
But at least I can answer your question Thin! Sulphur compounds! http://www.foodsafetysite.com/consumers/faq/?m_knowledgebase_article=14
Cheers for your fast day Apricot and Thin!
Thanks for your Missing People info Merry. I am missing today. I feel like I am just a faint ghost, that can’t actually do anything but waft around in this small area, but is still here! Hopefully I will be a bit more substantial tomorrow!
I’m glad your hand wasn’t anything worse, and yay for the therapy.
I got mail today from the Austin hospital because my Dr asked them to check my thyroid nodule. The letter said my appt would be in 12 – 18 months, and when I get it, here is the list of all the things I have to do two weeks before I come in! They have a high opinion of my organisational abilities. Do you think I will be able to find the form in 18 months?
But a nice guy is moving into flat 6 upstairs and the removalist congratulated me on my garden! I was chuffed!
I’m off to waft around the couch area, saying Ooooo Oooooo.
And yes, I do plan to file the form.
That’s interesting! Makes me want to make garlic bread, but FD so can’t!
I too often find that filing a form is fatal! Better to leave it in a pile marked “recent stuff”! But that’s because I’ve had too many moves and am overwhelmed with very important papers from late members of my family!
Great tribute to your garden, Cinque. And I’m wafting too but only because of a cold and cough. Tiresome waste of a fine day, but don’t feel up to gardening.
Brilliant post re ME/CFS, Merryme. A good reminder. I have several friends suffering from it and in a way because it goes on so long, people downplay it and their friends forget it, especially when there’s been some improvement and friends think it’s therefore going.
Hi all,
Good news first 66.5kgs my personal best ever😀😀😀
Bad news, briefly, crisis on the FIL front – he’s home from hospital but bowel incontinent and rapid downhill change so now incapable of anything at all. We are remembering that he deliberately chose to do nothing re his future, and made no arrangements or decisions other than constant refusal, so the result of his decision, which stated verbally was to only do things in a crisis, and it’s really coming home today.
FD today,
Onwards and downwards everyone ,
Merry
Good morning all,
66.5kg on the first thing naked weigh, an new personal best, so, so happy with that😀😀😀
Hi Apricot – thanks for your kind thoughts re ME/CFS. I add the ME these days because it’s so badly named, and it’a real name is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, and people don’t realise the most important word in CFS is Syndrome, just noting the CF word, and hey everyone gets fatigue. They don’t realise that it’s cellular fatigue, a totally different animal. If you imagine taking your cold and cough or flue tiredness/weakness/fatigue and multiply it, then make it permanent that’s sort of what it’s like except it has consequences for multiple systems in the body.
This might be the catalyst for change Merry. I can’t imagine sending a patient home incontinent of bowel. But focussing on the good news, your best result yet, 66.5, wow, well done. I also have a smile on my face today – 59.6kgs. OH is tucking into the full cooked breakfast as he does the day after MY fast. Psychologically deprived!
Lie low Apricot and relax until you feel better. Hi Cinque and all Thursday fasters – have a great day.
I’m not surprised you’re feeling hungry in the evening after eating dinner at 5 pm, Thin!! We have dinner about 7 to 8 pm, somewhere in that time, so eating after that is of no interest. If we ate at 5 pm I’d be hungry again by 8 pm, for sure.
Well done to all on their good results, yours and Merry’s on the scales, and yours in your clothes, Cinque. That’s wonderful.
I weighed myself at start of today’s fast day, as has become my habit, but the weight that popped back up to 74.2 has stayed at that, so, yep, really have to wind back on the excesses of the last couple of weeks. I know I’ve been doing it – more wine, bread, larger portions on non-fast days, all the “naughty” things. It’s still almost a 6 kilo loss from where I started, but I want to lose more, so will take heed 🙂
A fasting day for me too today, so happy fasting all!!
Good morning. Wow! It has stopped raining after more than a day of it. Hoping I can get the clothes on the line dry before it starts again.
The garden will be happy.
I had a good fast day. A fairly gentle morning, a very busy afternoon, and then very hungry evening, but my big bowl of soup was lovely, and now it is morning and I am thinking about breakfast!
How did your fast day go VDU? I do hope it was a good one! Don’t those little excesses creep up. At least when we recognise them we can take a deep breath and be rigorous again.
I think my trouble is that if I just relax a bit occasionally with ONE THING eg a snack, OR a bigger portion, OR a little bit of something sweeter etc, than I am ok. But I have a terrible habit of relaxing in all directions at once!
Well best wishes for those who are fasting today! For those enjoying a post fast day, like me 🙂 and those getting ready for a Saturday fast day (that will be a rare bird!) and those having a lull day!
Hi Everyone
i will have to post more often as I forget too much when it comes to reply lol. Thanks Merryme for the info on ME/CFS. I really didn’t have much of an idea. Good on you being at a PB! Hope you are over your cough and cold, Apricot. You must have a lovely garden Cinque. We are appreciating the rain too- our sheep will have some green grass.
I did a really excellent fast day yesterday and only ate dinner. My OH cooked and did more starchy veggies than what I’d planned but all good on the scales today.
Today my sister and I are taking Mum to Dame Nellie Melba’s cottage for lunch. Its still her Mothers day treat as she was away on mothers day.
Good luck to those fasting today -dont know if anyone is. I was hoping to sneak in a fast day tomorrow too but my daughter has asked us to dinner before we babysit. Maybe a dinner only day but my daughter does not do low cal!
You must be logged in to reply.
Michael is touring Australia this September! Here's a link to dates and tickets. Hope to see you there.
Michael Mosley gives an update for 2019, current research in the field and announces a tour starting in February.
Michael looks at the Horizon special, "What's the Right Diet for You" and tells us which diet they say is best for him.
in Welcome to The Fast Diet and Exercise forums • updated 2 hours, 8 minutes ago by Neilithicman
in Weight loss • updated 3 hours, 11 minutes ago by Nanafixit
in Welcome to The Fast Diet and Exercise forums • updated 7 hours, 21 minutes ago by plodalong
3:10 pm
19 May 16