Hello Southern Hemispherites!!

This topic contains 27,869 replies, has 831 voices, and was last updated by  thinatlast 1 day, 12 hours ago.

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  • Thanks Perthgirl & Thin,I have a tablet I read from and don’t have the light on as the tablet is lit. I try not to read something exciting as I know I will just keep reading. I do go out in the sun ( when we have it)but usually I’m hanging washing or playing with the dog before work. I did read Minka’s post about the sun exposure. I eat some of my calories for lunch around 1.00pm – 2.30 pm on a fast day then eat the rest around 7.00 -8.30pm on a FD. Thanks for the advice. Hope everyone is having a great day!

    Yes me again – mid afternoon update. A few tummy rumbles this morning but no real craving to eat. I did think about stretching it out until my evening meal tonight but decided to break my fast at 1.30pm with a small bowl of soup.

    Weighed in at 67.3 this morning my lowest to date. My original goal weight is 65kg so when I get there will review if I want to or should go further.

    Hi LJ, here I go with my confessions from a NFD! All others can safely disregard (please do!).

    I do feel bad expecting you to compute calories for items that are already stated on the food packaging but I tend to think in cals and so many are in Kj which makes me just bury my head in the sand.

    It starts with a typical day of 2 white coffees. Late morning I’ll have a large bowl comprising my muesli with some or all of the other listed items. I don’t eat lunch. In this example, I’ve recorded a worst case scenario which includes a bit of snacking on nuts & cheese and a tipple in the early evening. I rarely do this but I just need to know what I’m up for when I do partake. I’ve then included three typical family meals, and I’d be grateful if you’d select the one that’s easiest for you to compute and give me the damage! The recipes each serve 4. We eat dinner early and, later in the evening, I might have a banana or an apple so I’ve included that just to make it an honest record. It looks terrible when I put it in writing.

    100ml FF milk (for 2 x coffees)
    100gm Carmens Cranberry, Blueberry & Goji muesli
    20gm craisins
    10gm Australian Grown chia seeds
    200ml FF milk
    100gm FF Farmers Union Greek Yoghurt
    30gm Jarslberg cheese
    20gm unsalted roasted almonds
    1 x banana
    100ml Marqués de Caranó red wine

    Eggplant Curry
    2 tbs veg oil
    2 brown onions
    1 tbs Globe’s authentic Indian hot curry paste
    sm red chilli
    2tsp fresh ginger
    1 medium eggplant
    400gm tinned tomatoes
    1 cup FF natural yoghurt
    1/4 cup fresh coriander

    Chilli Con Carne
    1 tbs oil
    1 large onion diced
    1 red pepper chopped
    2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
    1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder
    1 tsp paprika
    1 tsp ground cumin
    500g lean minced beef
    500ml-1lt beef stock
    400g can chopped tomatoes
    ½ tsp dried marjoram
    1 tsp sugar
    2 tbs tomato purée
    410g can red kidney beans, drained

    Baked barramundi fillets with tomato, ginger and coriander
    1 onion, finely sliced
    1 tsp freshly grated ginger
    1 tbs olive oil
    6 roma tomatoes, quartered
    2 tbs olive oil, extra
    sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
    4 barramundi fillets (about 150g each)
    1/2 cup white wine
    1 tbs white wine vinegar
    large handful baby rocket
    2 tbs sliced pickled ginger
    1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves

    Thank you so much for offering to do this. I know that you’re busy with the RE agent and so on and there’s absolutely no hurry since I’ve been paying no attention to calories for years anyway. Apologies to everyone else, I know this is long even if you’re skipping through it and involves non-FD food items that you may not care to read about.

    Hi Thin, I have planned a quiet day at home tomorrow, so plenty of time to work out the nutrient profile of your food items.
    Calculating calories, carbohydrate, protein & fat is relatively easy. I can also give you sugars as a sub-set of carbohydrate if that would be useful.
    It would be helpful to know if there are particular micro nutrients that you are also interested in, eg iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, folic acid etc. It is harder to be as accurate about the micro-nutrients as I have only one database to work from, but I can calculate approximate levels for you and compare them to recommended daily requirements. This can be useful if there is something that is connected to your health issues or something you have a history of a deficiency in.

    That seems an awful lot of work LJ. Having the sugar component staring back at me would probably be useful as I know my huge breakfast bowl is a sugar/grain addiction that I crave and enjoy very much but which keeps me satiated most of the day so I keep repeating the problem. I did forget to add my 5x/weekly spoonful of Melrose fish oil but I know the cal content of that (90) as I wrote and asked the manufacturer when I began fasting. I also take a Vit D supplement – after surgery to remove a squamous cell carcinoma on my lower eyelid, I was advised to avoid all sun and have apparently achieved this perfectly with the resultant vit D deficiency. You can’t win. But I don’t consider myself to have any health issues other than my OA knees which are currently managed. I’d appreciate hearing anything that screams out. Sorry, it must be so boring to read this.

    How did you get on with the RE agent? Is SA enjoying rising values like the eastern states properties that seem to be driving all housing policy? It’s as if we in the west are completely invisible. Where we live, properties have been either stagnant or falling for 10 years and this is not good for self-funded retirees but no-one seems to care about that. I think back to when I was a first-time buyer – interest rates were very high, 18% I think it was, and I had to move out of the leafy, beach suburb where I’d lived as a renter & built my life and into a dodgy neighbourhood near the Mexican border to get my first home quite a commute to where I worked. By the time I’d saved a deposit, I’d been working up to 70 hours a week for 10 years. After two years of taking room mates to help pay the mortgage, the value of that house went down. Not much sympathy from me I’m afraid, I know it’s tough but sometimes you have to make some sacrifices. Off my soap box now.

    Thin – the RE agent was here for over 2 hours and gave some useful advice in what it’s worth spending money on before sale. She also suggested some cheaper options that involved doing less work than I had planned. She give me a value estimate that I think is about $50k overpriced and seems to be based on current listings rather than actual sales which are lower, but I expected a very optimistic estimate.
    I also remember the high interest rates. My ex-husband and I bought our first house about 18 months before rates got to 17.5%. We both wanted to work part-time and study full time, so we ended up selling our home after about 2 1/2 years and moving into university accommodation (there’s one residential college in Adelaide for post-grad students that also caters to couples – very different to undergrad uni accommodation). We stayed in rental accommodation for the remainder of our marriage and afterward so did I. My current home is only the second home I’ve owned and the only one in just my name. I too spent a few years working excessive hours and it was the overtime I earned that helped me save enough for a house deposit and stamp duty.

    I’m looking forward to tackling your food data tomorrow.

    Hi all. Following the RE theme I also bought my first home back in the 80’s when interest rates went through the roof. I hope we dont see those times again.

    LJoyce in my opinion RE Agents tend to overstate prices. I know when I sold my first home (2005) I sought 3 quotes. All 3 agents were miles apart in what the sale price should be and all in my opinion were overpriced. Ive heard they do that so people think they may get that price and therefore choose that agent to sell their home. Which of course is highly unethical and probably illegal.

    Final report after my 43 hour fast. Feeling good and had no issues. Yesterday arvo about 4pm I had a slight headache for about 20mins but nothing of concern. I never get headaches so thinking it was due to fasting. Evening meal was my favourite meal, poached egg, spinch, panchetta with a slice of rye. Weight 67.1 this morning with a BMI of 24.7 – lowest to date.

    Im finding the cold mornings are playing havoc on my desire to exercise in the mornings. Having a second coffee is a more attractive option when its 3 degrees ! Happy Thursday all.

    Excellent Gday! What a lovely final report. Brrr though! I hope it is warming up now!

    So glad the Real Estate Agent was useful LJoyce!

    It is fast day for me today. I slept in, which was nice!

    Redmoonstar, good luck with finding a way to sleep after the fast day. Maybe your body will just get used to the fast days and let you sleep. Sending sympathetic good wishes.

    Thin, your meals look wonderfully healthy!

    Cuppa time.

    Have a great FD Cinque. You should have plenty of company being Thursday but I can’t recall who is with you. Thanks for commenting that our NFD meals look healthy. I thought posters would be horrified by how much I eat so I was reluctant to broadcast.

    Gosh GDSA, that was some fast. How lovely to be rewarded by those new figures. It’s noticeably colder here too and I find myself leaving later for my walk until it warms up a bit in the mornings.

    LJ, how interesting that you lived in uni accommodation catering for couples, I hadn’t heard of that before.

    Thin

    I think your meals look very healthy and I will watch with interest the calorie totals. I am fasting 6:1 most weeks with the occasional 5:2 week and maintaining my weight. As you know, I have to minimise sugars and white carbs to be able to maintain. Also it helps me to sleep when I don’t eat sugars or white carbs that turn into sugar in the blood. I now find that Sugar as well as caffeine keeps me awake.

    Enjoy the lovely Autumn weather. 🍂🍁🍃🍂🍁

    Hi Bay, it’s great to hear that you’re maintaining your weight mostly on a 6:1 regime. You have always been so disciplined wrt sugar. How many years have you been following this WOL now? Must be at least 3.

    Well Thin, are you ready for the damage report? It’s actually pretty good, so don’t panic.

    My main data source is: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science/monitoringnutrients/nutrientables/nuttab/Pages/default.aspx This link is to the online version of their database but they also have a downloadable database that food manufacturers use to construct nutrition labels for their products – I downloaded this some time ago and have been using it for a while now. Where you specified a particular brand I did try to source specific data for that brand (the only one I couldn’t obtain was your specified brand of curry paste).

    I’ve provided the nutritional data for your breakfast (in total and each item individually), snacks (in total and individually) and also for 1 serve of each of the three dinner recipies.
    I’ve included Calories, Protein grams, Fat grams, Carbohydrate grams, and Sugar grams and made some comments on a few micro nutrients.
    Carbohydrates consist of starches, sugars and fibre. In Australia nutrition panels exclude fibre from the carbohydrate grams total so I have done the same. That means that the carbohydrate grams I’ve listed equals starches + sugars. Sugars include: sucrose, fructose, glucose, maltose, lactose and galactose (who knew there were so many??).

    BREAKFAST: (Total Calories 886, Protein 29.4g, Fat 45.4g, Carbs 87.0g, Sugar 50.3g, Calcium 570mg, Iron 8.1mg, Sodium 194mg)
    100ml FF milk for coffee- (Calories 70, Protein 3.5g, Fat 3.5g, Carbs 6.3g, Sugar 6.3g)
    100gm Carmens Cranberry, Blueberry & Goji muesli- (Calories 441, Protein 12.1g, Fat 21.8g, Carbs 45.8g, Sugar 10.5g)
    20gm craisins- (Calories 65, Protein 0g, Fat 0.3g, Carbs 16.6g, Sugar 15.6g)
    10gm Australian Grown chia seeds- (Calories 44, Protein 2g, Fat 3.1g, Carbs 0.5g, Sugar 0.1g)
    200ml FF milk- (Calories 139, Protein 7g, Fat 7g, Carbs 12.6g, Sugar 12.6g)
    100gm FF Farmers Union Greek Yoghurt- (Calories 126, Protein 4.8g, Fat 9.7g, Carbs 5.2g, Sugar 5.2g)

    I know you were worried about the amount of sugar in your cereal, but the single biggest contributor of sugar is actually the dried cranberries rather than the muesli. It might also be useful to know that your breakfast is contributing roughly half of your total daily calories – not surprising as you don’t eat lunch so breakfast has to do double duty.

    SNACKS: (Total Calories 383, Protein 14g, Fat 29.6g, Carbs 22.2g, Sugar 16g, Calcium 328mg, Iron 1.4mg, Sodium 177mg)
    30gm Jarslberg cheese- (Calories 108, Protein 8.4g, Fat 8.4g, Carbs 0g, Sugar 0g)
    20gm unsalted roasted almonds (Calories 119, Protein 3.9, Fat 10.9g, Carbs 1g, Sugar 1g)
    1 x banana- (Calories 99, Protein 1.5g, Fat 0.3g, Carbs 21.2g, Sugar 15g)
    OR 1 x apple- (Calories 101, Protein 0.5g, Fat 0.4g, Carbs 22.3g, Sugar 20.9g)
    100ml Marqués de Caranó red wine 12.5% alcohol- (Calories 68, Protein 0.2g, Fat 0g, Carbs 0g, Sugar 0g, Alcohol 10g)
    10ml Melrose fish oil- (Calories 90, Protein 0g, Fat 10g, Carbs 0g, Sugar 0g)

    I’ve given you the data for both an apple and banana, but in the combined total for snacks I’ve just included the banana as you said it was just 1 piece of fruit per day. The 90 calories that you mentioned for fish oil equates to 10ml (2 teaspoons or half a tablespoon) – is this the amount you are having?

    EGGPLANT CURRY: 1 Serve (Calories 237, Protein 6.4g, Fat 17g, Carbs 14.2g, Sugar 11.9g, Calcium 170mg, Iron 1.6mg, Sodium 287mg)
    The biggest contributor to calories in this dish is the oil (closely followed by the yoghurt) and the biggest contributor to both carbohydrate and sugar grams is the tinned tomatoes. Most of the sodium comes from the curry paste, although I had to use average data as I couldn’t get data for your curry paste brand.

    CHILLI CON CARNE: 1 Serve (Calories 413, Protein 34.4g, Fat 19.3g, Carbs 22.5g, Sugar 12g, Calcium 132mg, Iron 6.8mg, Sodium 1281mg)
    Most of the calories, fat and protein in this dish come from the beef and most of the sodium is from the stock (I estimated 750ml used) although this will vary a lot between brands.

    BAKED BARRAMUNDI: 1 Serve (Calories 326, Protein 31.4g, Fat 16.3g, Carbs 7.1g, Sugar 4.6g, Calcium32mg, Iron 1.1mg, Sodium 345mg)

    AND FINALLY YOUR TOTALS – Average daily intake assuming all snacks are eaten is:
    1594 calories, 67g protein, 93g fat, 124g carbohydrate (of which 76g is sugars), 1009mg calcium, 13mg iron, 1009mg sodium
    This sodium level is slightly above the AUS&NZ AI (adequate intake) of 460-920mg but well under the safe upper level of 2300mg. Calcium intake is below the RDI of 1300mg as is Iron with an RDI of 18mg.
    As you indicated that you don’t eat all of these snacks every day your daily intake would often be a little less than this.

    My assumptions were:
    Fruit and vegetable weights are based on my own records of average weights of normal sized purchases.
    A medium onion is 125g and a large is 150g
    A whole capsicum is 200g
    A whole eggplant is 300g
    An average banana or apple are 180g unpeeled (60% of the banana is edible and 92% of the apple) – this is fruit sold loose rather than pre-bagged (which tends to be smaller)
    Lean beef mince I interpreted to mean “heart smart” 10% fat mince

    I hope this helps. It’s probably more info than you were looking for but there may be some insights in there for you.

    Wow. Thank you so much LJ. That’s so cool. I have copy/pasted this to a word doc for more scrutiny but it is instantly enlightening in terms of calories. My TDEE (choosing light exercise 1-3 days a week when I actually do light exercise daily) is 1625. So your tally of 1595 for a NFD with food consumed only at home is very close. This probably explains why I require 2 FDs to maintain 60kgs because they compensate for any external tampering such as restaurant meals, lunch at a friend’s house, morning tea at my learning centre or ‘light refreshments’ at an award ceremony.

    I am shocked (and disgusted) at my breakfast bowl being so high. I’d thought it was a bit over 500 cals. I knew dried fruit was very high in sugar but I’d convinced myself I was adding cranberries to help with bladder problems which I haven’t actually experienced in years. The craisins are coming off the shopping list forthwith. I blame Bay for introducing me to chia seeds! They might have to go too. The whole thing will have to be decreased and measured until I get it right. No wonder I don’t feel hungry all day, how embarrassing.

    The next shocker is the snack things. Even that measly dribble of wine, 68 cals! Not worth it. I will really try to think harder about what I’m putting in my mouth and I’ll imagine you, LJ, on my shoulder.

    I’m not surprised that the Chilli Con Carne was high in cals but I am surprised that the barramundi dish was as high as that. Sorry, I should have provided the specific weights of the veggies.

    Thanks for the link too. I’ve bookmarked it. I’m off to play around with these numbers now. I’m wondering how to increase the required calcium without adding the extra calories. Thanks so much again, this is truly an eye-opener as I knew it would be.

    Thin, I also have trouble getting enough dairy into my day without blowing out my calorie total. With the agreement of both my GP and dietitian I have a simple solution. Like you, I need to take vitamin D supplements and I had been prescribed Ostelin for this – I have simply switched to the version of Ostelin that combines calcium with the vitamin D. It means I can be one serve short on my dairy/calcium requirement daily without my bones suffering. This allows me to consume the amount of dairy that feels comfortable and natural for me but still get enough calcium. This wasn’t an issue when I was younger, but past age 50 women need a whopping 4 serves of dairy per day to get enough calcium.

    On the subject of cranberries and chia. The dried cranberries are an excellent source of potassium and it is possible to buy unsweetened dried cranberries but they are very sour without the added sugar. Chia seeds add to the fibre in your breakfast and will help you to feel full longer, but like all seeds and nuts they are very energy dense. If you enjoy the flavours then an alternative to eliminating ingredients is to reduce the amount a little. For example a tsp of chia seeds instead of 10g. Sometimes a compromise solution like this can stop you from feeling deprived while still managing calories more carefully. In the end it’s all a balancing act.

    The reason the barramundi dish is higher in calories than you expected is the 1/4 cup of olive oil (1tblsp for cooking plus the 2tblsp extra) – this adds 121 calories per serve. That said, none of your evening meals is particularly high in calories. On the VLCD diet that I did, a low calorie meal was considered to be 400 calories or less. So yours seem quite modest for a maintenance diet.

    Thanks LJ. Your knowledge is very deep. I use Ostelin so I’ll check for the added calcium version next time. Good tip. I forgot to confirm that I do take 10mls Melrose fish oil except on FDs when I couldn’t spare the calories. That barramundi dish came out of a Mediterranean cookbook hence the high olive oil content I suppose. If I were cooking for myself only, I could use the Melrose oil in the dish and omit some of the olive oil.

    I bulk up those family meals for OH with servings of rice, bread and then, as there are only three of us, the other two often eat the fourth portion. I guess I’m much improved from where I started with huge serves of rice and no regard for portion control. I’m making ‘FD meals’ on several nights now but the recipes I gave you are also frequently prepared so it’s been interesting to learn how they added up since I resist calorie counting.

    Yes, that’s what I meant, lower the breakfast serving size and measure it all out until I understand what it should look like. I think I’ll ditch the cranberries because I already eat bananas which contain potassium if my high school domestic science serves me right. Since reading your appraisal, I’m thinking about switching to a couple of eggs and spinach for one or two breakfasts per week. I find it hard to eat eggs without toast and I don’t want to re-start that habit. Maybe a large portobello ‘shroom? OH won’t believe his luck if I start cooking breakfast.

    Enough about me. Calling Perth Losers & Lurkers! You’re invited.

    We’re meeting for coffee tomorrow, Friday at 10am at Sprolo, 138 Canning Hwy, South Perth. Please join us.

    I’m looking forward to coffee tomorrow ladies and I’m bringing a friend along who has just started her journey with 5:2! Happy FD /NFD – hope all is going well with everyone 🙂 !!

    Good evening everyone,
    Enjoying a FD today and coming up to eating time. I keep forgetting to pull out my frozen soups before going to work to let them defrost through the day so it will be tinned soup again tonight.
    LJoyce impressive work on the figures for Thinatlast, the breakdown of sugars and salts was awesome too.
    Thinatlast I often wonder about the so called high cal and high sugar foods like fruit,olive oil and nuts. I believe the benefit of these items with good oils different sugars with their vitamins are better for us than an extra vitamin pill.
    I still haven’t seen a fat kid who eats lots of fruit.
    Eggs were bad for us not long ago, full fat (4%) milk was evil a couple of years ago also. The good old balanced amounts and proper meal sizes is the factor with a little tinkering to what works for you.
    *Please note this is only my belief not backed up by science but new science keeps proving old science wrong.
    Merryme and Intesha read and post as you wish your words of support and encouragement will never be forgotten. I will always say that coming into this thread of this forum is what helped me to achieve my recent goals and kept me head down backside up keeping on with this Way Of Eating with all the support shown from other forumers.
    Hope you Perth lot have a good catch up tomorrow.
    Meals for the day (Monday)
    2 x white coffee’s 300kj, 500g minestrone soup 800kj, 80g kidney beans in the soup 320kj Total 1420kj or 339cals.

    I’m waiting for my soup too Joffy! It is nearly ready. This has been a proper fasty mcfast day, and I am very pleased. I was so hungry at about 10am and kept being hungry all day! So I am VERY much looking forward to my soup! (miso, chicken, mushroom, cabbage and a bit of pumpkin).

    Thin and LJoyce it has been fascinating to be an onlooker on your exchanges!
    I remember wondering why dried cranberries made me feel so sugar-sick and then discovered they were seeped in syrup to counteract their sourness.

    Okay, off to have that big bowl of miso goodness! Best wishes everyone today, and cheers for those meeting tomorrow!

    Hi all,

    Thin, thank you for sharing your food choices, amounts and recipes; thank you LJ for the analysis – truly a labour of internet friendship.

    I cook from scratch and for most things I neither count calories nor measure/weigh ingredients – I tend to use the handful/slurp/dessert spoon/pinch food preparation methods. Your analysis of Thin’s breakfast, which is similar to mine, except in winter I have steel-cut oats rather than home-made muesli, had me getting out the scales and weighing my handfuls of oats, craisins and almonds, and dessertspoons of psyllium, chia and ground linseeds (I do measure milk) – and it appears that I actually over-estimate the quantity of “grams” that I am adding (to which my dh commented that no wonder he can’t put on any weight!). However, since my breakfast is sufficiently filling, I enjoy lunch, and don’t snack, I don’t plan to change anything 🙂

    At the beginning of our 5:2 journey the major changes that we made, other than fasting, were to remove all the white carbs from our diet (our occasional potatoes, rice, pasta, bread), change from a plant-sterol based margarine to butter, and change to full fat milk products – prior to this we had used home made low-fat yoghurt (no sugar, fruit or flavourings) and either skim milk or high protein home made soy milk for home-made muesli or porridge. I have lost 7.5kg and am well below goal, dh has lost 3kg and is in danger of vanishing! BMIs of 19.7 and 18.1 respectively. Feel fantastic, cycle ~40km most days.

    Well, just last week we had our biannual blood tests done. My husband, who has always had low total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDLs and high HDLs appears to have thrived on this WOL. However, whilst my HDLs, triglycerides and cholesterol ratio are all very good, my LDLs and therefore total cholesterol, are now the highest they have been for the 19 years that I have been tracking the results. Since I don’t think removing the “whites” will have increased my LDLs (and we don’t eat processed foods, sweets etc at all), it appears that either IF and/or full fat dairy products and butter may be the cause. My LDLs have always been on the high side just above the desirable range, but low triglycerides and high HDLs have offset this to keep the ratio good. I would like to think that I am blessed with lots of large, fluffy, ‘good’ LDLs rather than small, dense, bad ones, but tests that available to determine this overseas are not available in Australia.

    So, what to do? Well next week we are off for a 2 month, 2000km, cycling/camping trip in Germany and Holland so Fast 5:2 was off the agenda anyway, at least in terms of fasting and not eating white carbs (pasta is a mainstay of our evening meals along with lots of tomatoes, vegetables and fish when we are cycle touring) So its not a good time to do any experiments, other than swapping to low-fat milk. When we return, I will start fasting again and look for dietary changes to lower my LDLs to what is considered ‘satisfactory’. Not an easy task as we already eat all the foods that apparently lower LDLs and don’t eat the foods that raise them. It’s a shame really, I was really enjoying the taste of whole milk. On the positive side – I am not overweight, have low blood pressure and no known family history of cardio-vascular disease 🙂

    Best wishes to all my southern hemisphere friends, whether fasting or enjoying a controlled day.

    Val

    Hello all. Posting with sadness today as my dear dad passed away at the nursing home yesterday.

    I dont think it has really sunk in yet as my main feeling is of relief that he is no longer in pain and is at peace.

    Ive shed tears but am feeling calm. I’ve been preparing myself for this moment so maybe thats why I feel so at peace with it all.

    Not looking forward to the next few days of making arrangements. Not looking forward to face to face conversations with friends and family offering condolences – they are all well meaning of course but as an introvert I just want to be left alone with Miss D and block out the rest of the world.

    Miss D very upset. She was Papa’s Little Princess and I know his days in aged care were brightened by her presence.

    Mum is being strong (as always) but I know she is and will struggle through this – as expected.

    Well its time for another coffee and then get ready to face the day.

    Sending love and sympathy Gday. I hope you can make sure there is some quiet times for yourself in the coming days, and that all the things you have to organise give you a good framework for the next little while.
    http://cdn.bloomnation.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/b/e/beautiful_in_blue_by_teleflora_24_2_8_1_65.jpg

    I’m sorry for your loss GDSA. Take care of yourself. Lovely flowers Cinque.

    I’m so sorry to hear about your dad GDSA. My thoughts abs sympathy are with you and your family.As Cinque said have some quiet time for yourself as you need to grieve also.

    So sorry to hear of your loss GDay. Sending you cyber love and sympathy. As another introvert, I can understand you wanting to turn inward and grieve with dd. Take time to reflect on all the good memories and accept the relief that your father’s pain is over.

    GDSA, so sorry to hear about your dad’s passing. My thoughts are with you and your daughter.
    Hugs.

    GDSA – Love to you and your family. Its such a contradiction isn’t it – relief at the freedom from pain but just wanting one more day as well. Here’s to remembering a life well lived and now released. All strength to you for coming days.

    Hello Everyone,
    The end of a big day for me, so I was glad of my three yummy (healthy) meals.
    There is a lot of possibilities happening for my YamDaisy project (aims to make easy, delicious, healthy, affordable eating for everyone who needs it). It is getting me very busy!

    Sending you more good dishes at the end of this day Gday.

    And hoping the Perth Cafe Date was a good one, Westerners!

    Perthgirl, it sounds like you have such a wonderful healthy diet and lifestyle, it seems supremely unfair that you should have the high LDL’s. Fingers crossed you get back from that exciting trip and find they have lowered themselves!

    Best wishes to everyone

    GDSA my deepest sympathy to you and your family. It’s always a shock to lose someone close even though you are expecting it. We are all here for you.

    Good morning everyone.

    Hope everyone in the west enjoyed the coffee catch up. Im sure there was plenty of fasting information exchanged and hopefully not too many sweet treats consumed !

    A huge Thank You to everyone for your very kind words on my dads passing. And to Cinque for the beautiful bouquet of flowers – Miss D thought it was such a cool thing to insert a flower link to the post !

    Ive taken a step back from funeral preparations and will leave it to the control freaks in the family. A simple request I made yesterday was blown out of proportion and now I’m the ‘bad guy’. I’m not stressing over it though – by the end of the week it will be all over, the rellies will return to where they came from and my life will get back to normal.

    I overindulged with eating last night. Miss D and I made pizzas. I made 2 medium ones for me with the intention of freezing one but it was so delicious I ate the second one too. Oops. I’m feeling it today and so are the scales!

    Oh well upwards and onwards. Enjoy your Saturday everyone.

    Good morning everyone,

    Gday, sorry for the typo in my last message! Wishes, not dishes. Although a delicious pizza sounds a very good dish to have at the end of yesterday.
    It sounds a sensible decision to get out of any friction and leave the decision making to others. Awful how the smallest family fractures open up at time like this. I’m so glad your daughter enjoyed my virtual flowers.

    Day before fast day for me, and I am going to pick up my granddaughter and keep her overnight. We’ll make a Mother’s day card for her mum!

    There was a wonderful moon last night, and it is a beautiful morning now.

    Perth has woken to thick smoke. I’ll delay my walk until later. I’m looking forward to the forecast rain over the next few days.

    Cinque, you gave me a chuckle last night at the faux pas sending GDSA dishes, quite appropriate for this forum! Have a lovely time with the little person. I’m going to fast tomorrow too, we will do something that doesn’t involve food for mothers’ day.

    GDSA, hoping you’re not required to encounter the person you’d earlier cut off from your life. I think you’re so wise to leave the decisions to the control freaks and not succumb to the friction. You’ll give your dad the perfect send off in your own mind and no-one can mess with that. Eat pizza and do whatever it takes to get you through this sad time. Thinking of you.

    It was fun to meet Lady Salsa and catch up with Perth Girl again. My new batch of kefir is looking very happy this morning, thank you! I wish you and Perth Boy a safe and wonderful trip. Lady Salsa, perhaps we’ll meet your friend next time & maybe she’ll join us on the thread in the meantime.

    Hey Cinque, I forgot to say how exciting that Yam Daisy is experiencing a revival. Good luck with it and take care not to wear yourself out.

    Good morning everyone,

    Gday, my condolences to you and best wishes and you, D, and your Mum as you go through this week particularly. These are always challenging times when dealing not only with grief, but also change, and flair ups of old tensions. Sometimes it is just better to step back a little and look after your own equanimity.
    During these times it is easy for things to be blown out of proportion and can set up longer term tensions in the ensuing months and years that needn’t have happened. Better to be at peace with yourself and pick your battles. Only the really major things have real importance in the long term.

    Lovely flowers Cinque.

    Merry

    Awesome Ljoyce and Thin.

    Quick good morning, I am combining Sunday Fast Day with minding my granddaughter.

    Interesting!

    We are off to the market (checking it out to see if a YamDaisy stall is go) (thanks for those good wishes Thin: 2 possibilities on the go at the mo) and then her mum will come and get her. Hoping we get time to make a gorgeous Mother’s Day card for her to give to her mum.

    Best wishes all!

    Hope all of you with mothers’ day activities had a good time with your families.

    I’ve behaved really badly with my food choices this weekend. Yesterday was not meant to be a FD but because I had some nausea and a headache after my rheumatoid treatment I didn’t feel much like eating so it was a very low cal day. Today should have been my FD but after yesterday I decided it needed to be a NFD. It has turned into a binge day and I have no clear idea why – although a lack of sleep last night and doing the grocery shopping at lunch time probably didn’t help. I can’t seem to stay out of the kitchen or stop snacking today – So far I’ve eaten muesli, almost half a loaf of fresh seed bread, 1/3 BBQ chicken, spinach salad, toasted buttered fruit loaf, chocolate, almonds and rice crackers – and I haven’t even made it to dinner time yet. The only success I’ve had was talking myself out of baking muffins.

    It feels so frustrating every time I take one of these backward steps. Although I know extra FDs are not the answer as it just triggers more bingeing, there is part of my mind that keeps insisting I have to add more strict FDs to make up for today. I think it’s part of that reward-punishment cycle that my mind keeps leading me back to.
    I’m going to be sensible and try to break this pattern by sticking with my original plan and do a NFD tomorrow (hopefully a sensible one) and wait until Tuesday for the next FD.

    Morning everyone,
    It is a misty morning in Melbourne!

    LJoyce, there must have been something in the air yesterday!

    I realised early in the day I wasn’t going to manage my usual nice and fasty Sunday Fast day. The big day on Friday caught up with me (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome thing of delayed payback) and I had a toddler with me, and needed to check out a market. I had a little bit of breakfast.
    As well as my exhaustion, I think my downfall might have been ONE piece of mandarin, that said toddler left on the table. I know sugar sets off the munchies with me and that mandarin, and maybe the raspberries I had with yoghurt and oats the evening before, are likely culprits.

    Anyway, after darling toddler went home, I had toast and soup and then more toast and then a plate of chicken and vegetable stew. And later I had chickpea pancakes and a cup of (unsweetened) cocoa. At least I enjoyed every mouthful.

    After worrying that I would be too busy this week to fit in a substitute fast day, I realised I could manage a fairly good one today if I have (the last of) the mung bean soup at lunch time and my miso soup this evening. So that is what I am doing.

    So it is Monday fast day for me! Hello any other Monday fasters!

    I hope your binge is over and done with LJoyce and fast day or not, I hope today is a good day for you.

    Best wishes everyone.

    LJ, I think it’s good that you’ve purged yourself of your binge by writing down everything you ate in such an honest way. And you haven’t thrown your routine into chaos by changing your FDs. I find our bodies can absorb the odd diversion and you’ve noted that this behaviour happens less and less so, coupled with your low intake on Saturday, you’ll probably be OK. But you have to wait two more weeks to find out! That I couldn’t do. I hope you’re back on track today.

    Cinque, enjoy your fasty Monday. How did the potential location for YD work out? We also went to the markets in Fremantle yesterday. I stuck to my FD and resisted all the samples being handed out by vendors as well as the curry puffs that the OFMs bought on impulse. After wandering around, watching the street performers, we found a cafe where DD and I shared a leisurely pot of lemon ginger tea proving that we don’t have to celebrate Mothers’ Day with food. It was such a treat for me that DD was willing to take some time away from studying just so we could do something together. Last weekend, I’d made a big batch of Hearty Root & Barley Soup (259 cals) which we all enjoyed when we got home.

    DD bought me a lovely set of artist’s crayons to enhance the adult colouring book experience she’d bought me for my birthday. I mention this because I find it so relaxing and a great way to pass some hours on a FD. I almost forgot my soup yesterday! Highly recommended for anyone wanting to reduce screen time.

    Thin, I love your point about not messing up routine by changing fast days (despite the fact that it is what I just did!). I have found that the most sensible decision, and it really works to make 5:2 a longterm way of life, rather than the short term reactive sort of way of dealing with a bad fast day.
    (Exceptions proving the rule 😉 )
    PS If I’d had timtams in the house yesterday I’d have eaten a whole packet.

    Just quickly, with YamDaisy we had just decided that having a market stall selling soup would be a good simple start, when we got an offer to consider running the cafe in a community hub on what used to be the huge Ericsson factory. It is like the cafe we had planned last year, but on steroids (instead of 70 workers, there are 600). Tricky things are that it is half an hour drive away and still no kitchen. So this week I need to explore both options with my series of consultant mentors. I am kind of hoping there is a way we could do both!

    I love those drawing books, my daughter was SO into them… until she had her second child, haha.

    Good morning all.

    Spent a few hours in the garden yeterday and will do the same today. I find it very therapeutic. Planted out my herb garden last weekend (9 different herbs), yesterday did my spinach and kale patch (3 varieties of each) and today carrots, beans, peas and onion. All in raised beds this time as I’ve relocated my patches so they are closer to the house and the rainwater tanks. As I’ve left it a bit late to plant with the cooler weather clear plastic sheets over the top of the beds have helped immensely and all of my herbs have sprouted already.

    Coping ok with dads passing although cried bucket loads yesterday while writing a farewell piece to put in the local paper. Had a couple of glasses of red while writing which probably didn’t help at all. I remember now why I decided to give up alcohol a few weeks ago – I feel so lethargic and sluggish this morning.

    Funeral is Wednesday afternoon, graveside service. Miss D has her school family and concert night wed night as well which we will still go to as she has been practicing so hard on the recorder (oh my poor ears !) for the performance plus she is working on the SRC stall.

    No thinatlast I dont have to encounter the person who I eradicated from my life earlier this year – different side of the family thank goodness.

    Will take the pooch for a walk in the beautiful sunshine shortly then out to the garden I go. I feel so good already just thinking out it.

    Oh and happy mother’s day to all for yesterday.

    Happy Monday Morning ladies 🙂

    Today is my first FD for this coming week and I’m looking forward to going to my yoga session this morning – need to do something to keep me warmed up!!

    It was lovely to meet Perth Girl and thinatlast for coffee on Friday and great to share our 5:2 stories with each other. You ladies are an inspiration for sure and I hope the next time we meet more people come along – it’s so good to meet new people it’s like a breath of fresh air 😃

    I hope everyone’s week goes well with their FD’s and NFD’s. onwards and downwards to healthy weights we go!!!😂

    LJoyce and Cinque – definitely something in the air.

    I fiddled and faddled with FDs days last week – making excuses to eat and having a wine with unscheduled visits from family and friends – which I absolutely must not do on fast days. Basically the 3 FDs were write-offs. I need to treat FDs as sacred and not mess with them in any form. I was actually better on my NFDs – even including mothers’ day.

    I’m constantly amazed how my brain plays tricks and I let it. Started my Monday FD with renewed determination this morning and saw a tin of Eclipse mints in my Pilates bag. Instantly my brain said “oooh I should have one of those to freshen my breath before class.” I had just cleaned my teeth! Sometimes I behave like a con-artist to myself. I resisted – and I know they are sugar free – but they have the same effect as sugar on me.

    Cinque – I’m too new to know about YamDaisy but it sounds awesome! Very best of luck. And yoghurt will set off the hunger dragon for me too. I like the really flavoursome tarty stuff and my taste buds wake up and roar off.

    GDSA – glad you are coping OK over these challenging days and I can’t think of anything more therapeutic than food gardening right now – with all its life renewing properties and connection.

    I have a new work contract and start in a couple of weeks. It will take me through to the end of the year. My work can be very challenging and I have always reached for a bite to calm myself down so FDs will be a new experience and I’ll have to find other ways of dealing with the pressure which can be quite unpleasant at times.

    Lady_Salsa hope your yoga went well! First day back at Pilates today after a 6 week break with being away and it was just awesome.

    Happy FD and NFD to one and all!

    Good morning all,

    Thin and Lady Salsa, great to meet for coffee last Friday. GDay, nothing other than coffee passed our lips!

    Thin and Cinque, thank you for your good wishes for our trip (BTW, Thin, dh likes his forum monniker PerthBoy).

    I am surrounded by heaps of stuff atm, but I know it will all fit in the bike bags! This is my last post until mid-July, and will not even lurk until we get back.

    Take care everyone and, above all, cherish yourselves and take to heart Synergy’s latest slogan “Tomorrow is another chance to do better”.

    Val

    Ah Cinque, those words about not having thrown FD plans into chaos were an attempt at support for LJ. I believe she and I are similar in that we are rigid planners and like to know what to expect. And she’s said before that messing with her FDs can lead to more bingeing. You take a different approach and are flexible to fit in with what’s going on around you and how you’re feeling. So, your decision to fast today seems totally right for you. And I bet it’s going well too. Good luck with choosing the best option for YD.

    Slim, it sounds like you did OK just switching FDs for NFDs! But I totally get what you’re striving for in treating the FDs as sacrosanct. This is the only way it works for me – even the slightest deviation would be a slippery slope for me and so I know I must adhere strictly to a FD once I’ve declared it out loud. Unscheduled visits can be tricky but, the closer you stick to your FD regime, the more likely it will be that other people will come to recognise those days as such too.

    Lady Salsa, I too hope we get a big crowd next time! I’ve met six other Perth Losers from this thread now but the most in one place was four. I’m keen to resume a bit of yoga. I plan to do it on DD’s Wii where the use of the balance board tells you whether you’re doing it properly. Merry, did you ever get one?

    GDSA, I find gardening therapeutic too. Ours received a good soaking today and so did we on our walk. And the baby lizards got their first taste of rain. It seems a funny time of year to be born if you’re a hibernating species.

    Joffy, have you had your big day out yet? I recall the suit was getting fitted close to the event so as to accommodate the greatest amount of weight loss. How’s that going?

    While writing this, I’ve received some very happy news. I won $1000 credit in a Mothers’ Day competition (25 words or less) where ‘chance plays no part’. Yippee!

    Hi all

    Thin – publicly admitting everything I’d eaten was cathartic. It actually enabled me to stop the binge mid-stream. Instead of eating the large bowl of 3 homemade curries that was waiting for dinner I had a cup of broccoli soup and one slice of sourdough rye and no more snacks just an evening cup of tea. I need to remember that for the future – writing it down publicly helps me draw a line under it and move on.
    Congrats on the competition win.

    Today has been a low food intake NFD – I decided that I would approach the day just by listening to my body – eat only if I’m actually hungry and eat what my body wants – I’ve craved water, high moisture food and fruit today, so I had a few strawberries and a plum at lunch time and a banana-almond milk-psyllium smoothie for afternoon tea. I have that bowl of curries waiting for dinner although I don’t feel like it yet. Tomorrow will be my planned FD and I have the ingredients organised for a veg & chicken sirfry. I have a lunch an an Italian cafe to deal with Wednesday, so I want to be back on plan by then.

    Glad to hear that the Perth fasters had a fun get together – you have quite a good 5:2 community going over there – definitely punching above your weight.

    Cinque – I understand the timtam temptation – it’s why I never ever buy chocolate biscuits of any type. In my mid-20s I shared a house with some other post-grad students. One of the girls used to rate her day in timtams – a bad day was 7 or more and a good day 2 or less – she was studying to become a dietitian! Talk about “doctor heal thyself” – it probably shouldn’t surprise me though, one of the housemates was studying psychology and she had some real therapy needs herself.

    Hope you’ve all had a good Monday.

    Hello,
    Another busy day and I am tired at the end of it, but it was a good fast day as planned. Just finished my miso soup. Heaven!

    Gday, it sounds like things are going well. I bet you needed the big cry (and maybe the wine too). I hope you are feeling better now. So glad you have been able to garden, it is so healing. I will light a tea candle in my pretty blue holder for you on Wednesday.

    Congrats LJoyce, you got yourself out of a binge and followed it up with a sensible eating day! Best wishes for tomorrow!
    Keeping things I binge on is very tricky for me. I don’t have chocolate or biscuits, let alone a combination of the two! But even cashews can be unbearably tempting! I hope one day I can just be sensible. Maybe?

    Thin, that is lovely news! Congratulations! Have fun spending $1,000 wow!
    I did understand what you were saying to LJoyce about changing fast days. I was thinking of a couple of people I have come across on other threads who have a failed fast day, so decide to try again tomorrow, and then fail at that too, and try the next day. And that is what I couldn’t get my head around, and so your comment struck me as really sensible.

    Perthgirl, best wishes for your journey! I think this may be too late, but it is in the ether, so hopefully my good wishes do their work!

    Slimmerella, I too am amazed at the tricks my brain can play! Cheers for working it out and not letting it get away with it!
    Interesting re yoghurt, I will take note next time I have some.
    I talked about my community food project last year when it was really big in my life. It is about to get big again I think, but I hope I can be respectful to you all and keep it pretty much in the background.
    Good luck with your new work project. What do you do?

    Hi Lady Salsa, and everyone else at the end of the day!

    I am going to lie on the floor and straighten my poor old spine for a while and then see if there is something worth watching on tv. Best wishes.

    Hello everyone.

    GDSA I was so sorry to hear of your Dad’s passing. My thoughts are with you, D and your Mum during this difficult time.

    Today was my OH’s birthday and that meant birthday cake. I had a small slice, a glass of wine and a ginormous dinner. It was a good reminder why I shouldn’t do that. But in the spirit of this forum I won’t beat myself up about it. I’ll keep that memory for the next time so I can remember how uncomfortable I feel when I eat beyond my hunger level.

    Onwards and downwards. Cheers to everyone for continuing the positive support for each other. You are all an inspiration to me.

    Hello from a gloomy Adelaide – if the grey skies are any indication I think rain is on the cards this afternoon.

    It’s a FD for me and I’ve just finished my first pot of tea for the day. I have a banana set aside for afternoon tea and broccoli, beans, capsicum, celery, chicken and konjac noodles for a stir fry.
    I find the high fibre content in the konjac makes it very filling. I tend to use them in lots of Asian meals these days. I put them in my laksa regardless of whether it’s for a FD or not and I find Malasian rice noodle dishes work well with konjac instead of the rice noodles. When I was first told about these they were mentioned as a pasta & spaghetti substitute but I have to admit I don’t find they work that well in Italian dishes.
    I’m meeting an old work colleague for lunch tomorrow at an Italian cafe near the central markets so I might head into Chinatown and see if I can find the blocks of konjac that Thin mentioned a while ago. Thin is it called konjac when it’s in a block or should I be looking for something else – I only remember you mentioning it came in white or a pond scum colour – now doesn’t that sound palatable?

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