Hi Thin

I actually began being sugar free in February and continued for 3 weeks, then birthdays happened. I am about to begin again being sugar free. This Lent I am trying for as many sugar free days as possible, rather than a blanket 40 days of Lent. It is way easier when I tell myself I can relax if I want to.

However, like LJ, I find I don’t like many sweet things any more. I particularly dont like things with a wheat base, and heavy pastry gives me indigestion. So hooray for that.

I love the learning journey that is 5:2 and I also like my fast days the best. Unlike some of you, I sleep like a log on fast days, as I don’t have any sugars or flours or pasta or rice or bread etc on fast days. The carbs and sugars keep me awake. Haha. We are all different. Viva la difference!

Cheers, Bay 🌺🌺🌺🌺

Bay, I like my FDs too. I enjoy the discipline that they bring. I also like Thursday mornings when I wake up knowing I have three nonFDs ahead but don’t actually feel hungry.

What! No Parmesan flakes on the hot or cold soup?

Yes Bay, as PerthGirl rudely reminded us recently, this is all still very new in the scheme of things nutritional. What’s the longest anyone’s been maintaining? 3-4 years? It has to be a WOL forever and I do still have faith that we can continue it long-term. Let’s hope so.

Joffy, Thin and Cinque and any other 5:2 chefs out there who prepare their FD soups from scratch, I admire your efforts since there’s nothing better than home made soup!!

Hey Thin, I too appreciated reading your post about the carbs at dinner time and FD sleeping. I usually sleep very well on FDs. It is the NFDs that I find so difficult. I’ll keep in mind about the carbohydrates. I didn’t sleep so great last night and added some cooked brown rice to Mr. L’s bowl ‘Cowboy Chilli’ that I prepared, but didn’t add any into my bowl. On second thought though, this chilli had bits of quinoa and kidney beans so I would have thought those would have sufficed for some carbs? Anyway, this is something I’m going to experiment with.

Cinque, I’m so glad adding the carbs worked for you and that you slept well!!

Well done Pintinlin!!! Like you wheat and gluten in general triggers inflammation in me and usually an autoimmune flare up. …I’ve repeatedly lost everything I write in this forum as I press ‘submit’ or I can get logged off by pressing ‘submit’ and then have to start all over. So now I always press CTRL+C to copy my post into my clipboard before pressing ‘submit’ it has happened so many times.

Today I had my version of ‘cake’ that I ate too! That’s because I found my favorite frozen dessert/ice cream at the Go Vita in Southport. It’s called ‘Whey Whip’ and it is a kind of frozen high protein whey ice cream sweetened with stevia. Apologies if you’ve all heard of this because I wrote about this previously. I just like it so much I tend to gush about it! I first found it in a Go Vita in Melbourne back in December. Is perfect on the sweetness scale for me, doesn’t trigger cravings and I feel nourished after eating it. My favorite flavor is Mint. Even Mr. L. liked it and shared it with me when we were in Melbourne and he’s a died in the wool ‘Peter’s’ ice cream consumer!

Good to have you back Merry. I’m fasting with you today – and Cinque? It’s comforting to read your early check-in post on my FDs so hoping its absence today just means that you’re busy.

Joffy, I hope you’re right in your assessment of 5:2 long-term. If so, we’re among the pioneers!

Hi Minka, I hope all continues to go well with your balance of work, TAFE and short trips. When’s your next FD LJ?

Tonight’s FD meal is Spanish Fideos, 142 cals. The upcoming restaurant birthday meal is causing me stress. This probably sounds ridiculous to most.

Hi Merry, Thin and Charlotte!

I’m fasting tomorrow, as are you Merry! …I’m back to moving my FDs around to fit in with my week, so tomorrow it is!

Charlotte, your soup sounds delish! The sour dough too! I can appreciate a good sour dough even if I pass on bread.

For all those who experience difficulty sleeping, there is a technique/practice that has worked wonders for me in the past and I’ve just started it again, which is: Simply sit or walk outside in the morning light for 15-20 minutes each morning within an hour of getting out of bed. No need to sit in the sun, the shade is fine and wearing a hat is okay too, though pass on sunglasses since the raw unfiltered light needs to reach our eyes! It is the warm yellow spectrum and the intensity of this morning light that positively affects our brains and thus which hormones we secret and when. Glass screens out these rays to the point of them being useless if we instead sat inside next to a glass window. Also, it doesn’t matter if it is the cloudiest or rainiest of days in the most dead of winter, since that light that nature produces even then casts the properties to positively affect our circadian rhythm and so benefit healthy hormonal output.

I’d been experiencing restless sleep of late, and waking frequently even with added complex carbs in the evening meal, so decided to give this a try again and I’ve now had a couple nights of sound sleep in a row, which I haven’t had for some time.

Hi Thin

I am also fasting today, have gone 22 hours so far with just a cup of black coffee and lots of water. For dinner around 7 pm I’m going to have green vegetables, fennel, chilli, mushroom, avocado, tomato, poached egg, and a few flakes of, yes you guessed it, Parmesan. I love Parmesan and chilli and lime juice and olive oil for spritzing up any vegetable dish.

I sent you a few smiley faces in response to your cheeky comment. However the post vanished, and I took it as a sign. 😄😄😄😄😄

I would step up the fasting for your birthday week, have 3 fasts, and then just choose whatever you want from the menu. 💃💃💃. Don’t worry about it. I bet your stomach is too small to eat all the foods your eyes would like. You cannot undo 2 good years of fasting in one evening. 🌸🌸🌸🌺🌺🌺

Cheers, Bay 🎉🎉💐💐💐💐

You guys are lovely, thanks for being there and cheering me up.

FD going well, I spent several hours in the garden despite the heat and then the hours post-cauliflower soup wasting time pouring over on-line menus! It’s exactly as you said LJ, and the same advice I’ve given to others. Selecting the dish ahead of time removes that tendency for impulse ordering when you’re hungry. What I neglected to say in my earlier post was that OH wanted to go to an Indian buffet which would have been a landmine for me as I’d feel a strong pull towards ‘getting my money’s worth’ i.e. over-eating and all that comes with it. Fortunately, now that he knows it’ll be upwards of $147 for the three of us, he’s agreed that ordering from the menu might be better! I agree with you wholeheartedly about planning, as you say, not just the meal itself but the day(s) before and after. The way you put it made me laugh, so thanks!

Bay, thanks to you too for the smileys, dancing girls and flowers! Of course you’re right too. It’s one meal and I know it sounds silly to be worrying about it. I think I’m freaking out because I seem to be hovering around ‘trigger weight’ all the time lately so I’m worried that an additional thing here or there could put me on a slippery slope. (The following weekend, we have another lunch at friends’.) I switched Sunday’s FD for Saturday so an extra FD isn’t an option unless I want to do B2B which seems daunting. But I can certainly do some mindful eating over the next two days. Meanwhile, well done to you, your water fast must be over now. I use chilli and lime juice, both from our garden, for flavour too.

Charlotte, when I was losing weight, I would always gain a bit in between FDs. Don’t worry about it. You’re on a downward trend overall, aren’t you? (Take my advice; I’m not using it!).

Minka, you have some interesting advice for insomniacs. I might give that a go too. Is a course of this treatment required or does one session ensure sleep for the upcoming night? I do walk every morning but that’s with sunglasses on, and the rest. The UK date stamps on here often have me confused and I read Merry’s post as fasting today. All the best with it tomorrow both of you.

And thanks for distracting me all of you, because now it’s now time for my Spanish Fideos.

Morning all, hope you are going well. Have to be brief today – lots of appointments.
Had to weight myself this morning as the doctor needs my current weight tomorrow – 79.5kg this morning which is less than I expected although the time of the month would account for most of that rapid drop in weight. (I haven’t been under 80kg since November so I’m feeling a bit relieved, I just hope it stays that weight for my official weigh in at the end of the month.

Cinque, I will give freezing the slice another go. When I’ve done it before I found the thawed slices were very wet and microwaving didn’t improve the situation, but I like your idea of crisping up the surface again I think that would correct the problem.

Have a good day all.

Bl…,,.. predictive text! Wastes more time than it saves.

Joffy – boat dies = boardies

Hi All,

I too am always confused by the Time and Date stamps since they are set to the UK which is a day ahead of us, though not quite a full 24 hours ahead! So, I’ll start by saying that it is Thursday and I’m at the end of my first FD for the week. I’m doing better to be able to fit one in on the same day I attend TAFE. A month ago, this wouldn’t have been possible. I’m still considering trying to pull one off again on Saturday, though I will have to wait until Saturday to see if I’m able. I’ll take extra food to work in case I need it, otherwise it will be food that I can save for another day. That’s how last Saturday panned out. Somehow it was comforting knowing I had food available. This knowing enabled me to feel less hungry.

More info on utilizing morning light to help with insomnia….

My experience with spending time in the morning light is that it really depends on how far my sleep has deteriorated. The first time I tried sitting out for 20 minutes each morning it took about a week for me to feel the benefit, though once I began sleeping soundly again, I kept on with the 20 minutes each morning for as long as I could just to make sure! I would have continued beyond the 3 months I practiced it but those midges and mosquitoes got the better of me (I don’t like wearing bug spray). At the time I was very careful to ensure that I spent the time outside within an hour of getting out of bed. …I might not have needed to ever sit out again though various intervening factors have again come between me and sound sleep, so I felt that it is in order for me to start up the practice again.

LJ, I too am adversely affected by glare due to my history of low aldosterone (an adrenal hormone). Low aldosterone, for some reason, causes pupils to have difficulty contracting similar to as you describe. If I sit outside and I’m not able to find a good spot of shade, I’ll wear a broad brimmed hat, which makes all the difference. I also have to be careful of reflective light casting glare such as off our wooden deck such as in the morning when the sun is at a particular angle, so in that case, I’ll turn my chair away from the glare. Even then the healthy and beneficial spectrum of the morning light still reaches our eyes, though in a more gentle manner, which I find helpful.

So, maybe some might feel immediate benefit like I do now which is if I’m out in the morning light for those 20 minutes within an hour of waking, there’s a 99% chance I’ll sleep soundly that night. However, like I said, when I didn’t sleep well any night, it took a week or so for me to experience the benefit.

Thin, on the odd occasion I’ll have the energy for a long morning walk and feel that the light is growing too strong as the sun rises in the sky, I’ll start out without the sunglasses and after the 20 minutes I’ll put them on since it is my sense that the morning spectrum would have already done any good work it was going to do by then!

Also, I don’t mean to inundate with sleep strategies, though there are a few others I’ve implemented that I also regard as necessities such as ensuring I sleep in a darkened room (no night lights). Doing my best not to be wakened by noises. I’m listing all these because they’ve been factors that contributed to my original incessant insomnia. I also now don ‘Blue Block’ glasses as soon as I turn a light on because the blue hue of the energy saving light bulbs are something that I found woke me up and night isn’t a time when we want to feel like we’re wide awake!

I’m having another NFD today – that’s the first time this month than I’ve had 2 NFD back-to-back as I’m doing 3FD per week this month.

I’ve noticed that the more attention I pay to appetite, the better I get at recognising genuine appetite. I think that my current approach which addresses appetite as soon as I sense it is working well and seems to do a better job of keeping my food intake at a reasonable level that I usually manage any other way. Given how much trouble I had had with calorie level on NFD it’s a welcome change. I was also made very aware last night of the consequences of not having dinner ready when my appetite has gotten used to having it’s presence dealt with quickly – I lasted 153 minutes into the 35mins cooking time before needing a snack. I need to plan that better.

Thin – have you been out for your Indian dinner yet?

The time clock can be confusing – if I add 10.5 hours it gets me to S.A. time. If you are in the eastern states add 11 hours, not sure about W.A.

Hi all, I’ve been off the chat sessions for a while. Going well with my fasting. I am sure it is all in my head as I no longer feel hungry on fast days. Have hit 10’kg down since November and still eating pretty much what ever I like on non fast days. I have been having miso soup with fresh greens added for my dinners and egg with tomato, cucumber and carrot at about 2pm. This gets me through. I must say though I save some calories for milk in my tea twice a day. Cheers to all.

Happy Saturday morning everyone. Its a long weekend here in SA so looking forward to the extra day off work. Hot again today (been in the low 40’s for most of the week) but Sun & Mon will be mid 20’s so a welcome relief.

Has been a busy week so catching up on posts. Cinque – like your tip on putting thawed zucchini slice under grill or the frypan to crisp up….why didnt i think of that one !!

The hassles ive been having with family came to a head this week and the person concerned is no longer in my life. Might sound harsh but Im relieved to say the least. Sometimes you gotta walk away from the dramas for your own sanity. Im feeling good about moving forward with my life now as this person has impacyed on me greatly over the last 6 years.

Because of the above my fasting has been off track of late but happy to report to be back in the 69kg range this morning. Will be food shopping this morning so looking forward to filling the trolly with healthy veg. The shoe shop in town has a sale today so might even sneak in and get myself a treat…..something to go with my new size 10 outfits i purchased on sale a few weeks back !!

Cauliflower is also on special this week. Havent bought it for ages as local supermarket been charging $6 for a quarter piece. Ive missed eating my collie.

The sun’s on the rise so will go water the garden enjoy the morning.

Take care everyone & have a lovely weekend 😊

Good morning everyone,
I had such a busy day yesterday. I got through it, but I have woken up in a house that looks like a bomb site. I guess I can be glad it really isn’t! I plan to spend the day pottering around tidying up and preparing for Fast Day tomorrow.

Cheers to you G’day for making that hard decision to send someone, who isn’t good for you, out of your life. I hope you are able to enjoy the good space and do lots of nice things for yourself.

No idea about fitbit fat ratios! But I am glad you are happy with them!

Enjoy that grilled zucchini slice 🙂

Ladyfish, congrats on the 10kg excess weight loss! Lovely to not be carrying that around any more! And such good things to eat on a fast day!

Thin, best wishes for your fast day today and a wonderful birthday celebration tomorrow! Not sure when your actual birthday is, but here’s a little something I organised for you! 😉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laPhvAZ_2m4

LJoyce, what a good brain you have! I used to know that if I minus two hours and changed a.m. to p.m. it worked, but then if either UK or OZ has daylight saving and ….. I just find it easier to click onto options! Oh dear, how will I avoid Alzheimer’s at this rate!

I think I need my coffee early today! Cheers everyone!

Hi all SHs.

Thin – not sure if any others are fasting today, but I’m doing my 3rd FD for the week today.
I made a zucchini slice for dinner last night, with lots of left overs. I’ve calculated that I can have a modest portion for dinner tonight and 1/2 punnet of strawberries today (along with my obligatory cups of milky tea) and remain under 500cals. So no cooking required today.

It’s getting overcast and windy this afternoon in Adelaide. We have to cool days with rain forecast Sun-Mon which will be most welcome as the 2 hours per night watering is feeling a bit of a burden.

Hope everyone’s having a good day, take care.

Hi thin

Don’t good neighbours make all the difference? I grew up in a country town and it was accepted that everyone knew everyone else – and each others business – there are few secrets in a country town. It was a shock to move to the city and find that despite the fact that people lived on tiny blocks of land with houses where the eaves almost touched – they didn’t know or speak to each other. They put up high fences and literally barricaded themselves in. I made a point of speaking to my neighbours as to me this was just common politeness, but it wasn’t always well received. When I moved to the Adelaide Hills it was different. Although the new tunnels and freeway have made much of the hills very easily accessible to the CBD these days, many people who live here grew up here when it was still a collection of country towns and that attitude remains among many of the residents. People here were much friendlier than I’d encountered in the suburbs and I’m lucky enough to have had lovely neighbours in the 3 homes I have in this area.

For me the drawback to where I live is that my house is on the side of a hill and all of the houses in my part of the hills are on large blocks of land that can’t be subdivided to less than 1 acre. As I live alone and have to work around my RA restrictions it’s not a viable place for me to live as I age. So I’m currently focused on landscaping and renovation to get the house and garden ready for sale. I set myself a target of 18 months to do the work, but I won’t make that target unless I pay for more jobs to be done rather than doing them very slowly myself. I’m still deciding whether to take longer or pay for the work so I can sell the house this spring – it will probably be Spring 2018 if I do the work myself. My end goal is to buy a small home on a small block that can be landscaped to be very low maintenance. The area I’m hoping to move to will be cheaper so it will allow me to have a better savings balance than I currently have and should also allow me to do some travel. I took early retirement a couple of years ago, so I think the move will get me to the lifestyle I hoped for when I left work.

There is one advantage to all of the garden and renovation tasks I have to do – there is no excuse for me to have inactive days.

Hope your FD goes well. I have a birthday brunch to attend tomorrow morning so I have to be good today. Haven’t felt hungry at all yet today so it looks like I’ll make it to dinner time and just need the one meal.

I thought I already posted this. I did so, and now don’t see it, so will do so again!

Hi All,

I haven’t gotten a chance to catch up on all the posts since I’ve just returned from work and yes Thin, I was with you today fasting! In fact I thought of you numerous times at work and knowing you were fasting helped me through. I wasn’t sure I’d go through with it, though all went well again this week.

Cinque, great that you got through your busy day yesterday!I too hope I can remain poised and not overdo with continuing the two FDs per week, the new job, setting up a new laptop {Windows 10, grrr! I also had to buy a new phone {first time smart phone user} and the seemingly ever present Tafe studies {well at least until September}!!! …A lot going on, so something had to give and it was the daily walking I’d started doing prior to being told that I’d landed this job! I do hope to again start up gentle walking again, though not until I get all of the above under my belt and feel that there is still petrol in the tank left over!

All the best tomorrow for the birthday meal, Thin! I remember when in Melbourne over Christmas, we went to a Thai restaurant which mostly served curries and I passed on the rice. I can’t recall what I ordered that actually was fine to eat without rice. Often I need rice to balance the heat of the spice or to mop up the thick sauce, which sometimes is so strong on its own. …Great idea about freezing half the cake! Let us know how all goes!

By the way, Mr. M snore too! I’ve found these state of the art ear plugs that are divine! They are made out of beeswax and cotton and are so comfortable and insulating that once when I was camping, some kinds threw a string of fire crackers into the campground near my tent and the sound was only a dim muffle which enabled me to remain relaxed and go right back to sleep!

Hi Thin! Well, I’ve only been here this evening since I worked another 9 hour shift today [and thankfully was able to swing it as a FD too]!

I really related to the “craning in over our house” of swimming pools. We live on a hillside and the house next door, up the hill built a raised swimming pool supported by tall retaining wall that towers over our home. The pool is above the height of our roof and were it not for a privacy enclosure built around the pool, I expect that water would slosh and splash onto our roof and cool it on a hot day!

Minka, yes that’s what I meant to say – ‘out there, fasting’, not idly lurking on the forum! What a description you’ve painted of the position of the neighbouring pool. Are the occupants reasonable in volume?

LJ, that’s too bad when you had done so well to get it all sorted out in your mind. I’m sure you’ll get it worked out again so that you can enjoy some of all that’s on offer. Have a great time!

Good morning,
I am needing a slow morning, I’ve woken up feeling like a grasshopper that has just gone through a windscreen. I must have overdone it worse than I realised, last week. How are you Merry?
Cup of tea, and it is my Fast Day.

Congratulations on your fast day Thin. Oh dear, all that work organising a swing group for nothing! Happy Birthday to OH.
So sorry to hear of you losing a precious neighbour, she sounds wonderful. She will miss you too. Life, it doesn’t stop does it.
I hope today works marvellously!

LJoyce, so much harder for you! The best laid plans! What can you do but the best you can, and as you say, Hooray for a Fast Day on Monday! Sending best wishes!
What an interesting (and big) job you have getting your house ready to sell well, and then the pleasure of finding something that will suit you. And good neighbours there I hope!

I was worried about neighbours when I moved into flats. I’m in a block of 8. But they have mostly been good, and many have been fantastic. The angry shouty man in the block next door is a worry, I’m wondering if he might have Alzheimer’s like Merry’s FIL. He is tormented by things, so I feel sorry for him.

Minka what a big work day. How excellent that work and fast days can co-exist. I hope you get a chance to do some lovely walking, somehow!
I agree with Thin, what a picture you paint of that pool next door!

Cheers to everyone for a good day!

Good morning everyone,
Gday your last post came through as I was writing mine.
Congratulations on getting back to the 60’s! Woot! It seems that you will soon be saying good bye to the 70’s forever.
This post-Summer heat is hard! I am glad you had such a wonderful pool time!

Thin, I hope the celebrations last night went well! So glad you were able to pass on that happy-birthday clip!

The man in the next door flats is elderly and extremely suspicious of everything, and ready to fly into a rage. It could be drugs, or maybe just the result of a dreadful life in which he couldn’t trust anyone, PTSD. He often yells in the night as if he is having nightmares.

My garden is in pots and a little galvanised raised garden bed about 1.5 metres square (although I am still trying to grow things in the hard bed along the side of the driveway). I mostly grow greens and the things that self sow, but I did well with the zucchinis this year! The biggest plant was absolutely enormous, and it was in a (big) pot. I’d be happy for it to be communal but the other residents are very busy. I give stuff away to them though! It is outside the front door which is like a courtyard except for the driveway along the edge of it! 😉

Still feeling crook but luckily today is the labour day holiday (thanks workers!) so I will rest up again and hope I can get moving tomorrow.
I had a good fast day yesterday, but note to self: veggie soup shouldn’t fill the bowl as much as the brothier miso soup! I overdid it a bit!

Best wishes to everyone on this lovely new day.

Good Orning everyone, readrrts, posters, lurkers, and just checking this outers.if you’re in the last category, yes this really does work.

Quick update: 63.4kg this morning and 1st FD of the week, Still bouncing around in the 63’s and foraying into the 62’s occasionally. It’s a kg or 2 higher thann I’d like but I’m calling it maintenance anyway. I have a lunch out this week so will do the look up the menu before you go strategy. Thanks Thin for reminding us of that one.

Cinque and everyone else with fresh veggies in the garden – how wonderful. Straight from the gardennis the best way, especially tomatoes.

Gday – congratulations on getting under 70kgs. Feels great doesn’t it. You’re on a mission and achieving it.

Life is still very busy here and needs pacing.

Valderz – how are you going?

Onwards and downwards,
Merry

Hi Thin , our posts crossed.

Cinque- we are dealing with a similar paranoia, Hope you are not too disturbed by the old fellow. I wonder if he went through WW2 as ours did. It’s difficult and sad at the same time, The. dementia and senility sometimes makes it a bit better but can also make it worse. Those earplugs at night sound like a good idea.

Checking what? 😆 I was giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming it was predictive text.