Welcome Mgrogan, hope you find 5:2 works well for you. I use a spreadsheet as a food diary, however I’m retired and home a lot so time spent fiddling around in a spreadsheet is no hardship for me. I also find I can use the spreadsheet to create a rough meal plan for the week which helps me organise my shopping list. Most people who want a more mobile “press a button” option use either their fitbit or a smart phone app.

CP, you aren’t alone in sticking to a small number of recipies on FDs, I think most of us do the same. I have approx 3 cold weather and 3 hot weather FD meals that I rely on almost exclusively. Not having to think too hard about what you are going to eat on a FD is helpful – I also find I don’t want to have to spend a lot of time cooking on those days (the more time I spend handling food the more I want to eat). I also agree that FDs can be easier if you are busy, especially if boredom usually equals eating for you – it did for me, but it’s one of many bad habits I’m trying to break. I find that I don’t need to be busy all day, but a busy afternoon really helps.

Thin – I’m going to keep you guessing because my forum name actually has nothing to do with my own name – it’s just a coincidence that my middle name is contained within it.

Hi Mgrogan, I have a few sources for nutritional data:
– My preferred website is http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science/monitoringnutrients/nutrientables/nuttab/Pages/default.aspx
This is a government source which contains full nutritional information (not just calories) and is the data that Australian food manufacturers usually use in working out their own product nutritional panels. This site is good for basic or raw ingredients – it doesn’t do brands.
– If I’m using a product that has a nutritional panel I use it. I have actually created a separate sheet in my food diary spreadsheet that contains the nutritional data from products I use regularly calculated for my usual serving size (basically if I’ve worked it out once I don’t want to have to keep repeating the exercise).
– For branded processed foods, or anything not covered on the Nuttab site I mostly use http://www.calorieking.com.au/
– I will occasionally use http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calorie-chart-nutrition-facts but I have less trust for the data because it’s American and their manufacturers don’t necessarily formulate products in exactly the same way that our local manufacturers do (eg they use a lot of corn syrup as a sweetener but our manufacturers don’t). I usually only go to this site if I can’t find something elsewhere.

Thank you for the warm welcome everyone! @thinatlast, I really do like the Vegemite. I think I’ll order a jar of the Marmite which seems to be a British version and maybe similar?

@merryme, when you use the sliced tomatoes or avocado with the Vegemite on toast, do you still include butter? It would be nice to eliminate the butter because of the calories on a FD. The bread already adds quite a bit.

@ljoyce, thank you for the link to the Aussie nutrient table. It seems comprehensive but I’m having trouble getting the whole pages to load. I’ll try again later, maybe the site is just busy.

@mgrogan I use myfitnesspal to record my food choices and keep track of calories on FD. (I don’t count calories on NFD, but try to eat mindfully.) myfitnesspal isn’t always accurate and I sometimes go in and change calorie values, especially on generic or home made recipes, but it’s easy to use, can travel with me on my iPhone which means it actually gets used.
One thing to keep in mind which other people have mentioned before in these forums, is that regardless of what calorie database you use, they are all estimates. Foods vary by growing conditions, types of soil and all sorts of other factors. And even if we had a perfect measurement, each person’s body and metabolism is different in many, sometimes obscure ways. So all of this is just estimates, estimates that seem to work pretty well and are the best we have outside of a laboratory. But it’s not worth making yourself crazy over minute calorie differences.

Good morning and welcome to the newbies. Another chilli morning here in the Flinders at minus 3.

Im a happy little vegemite this morning – exactly 1kg shy of my original weight goal of 65kg YAY YAY ! (Oh and by the way I can’t stand vegemite – yuk). I only picked that weight as it was a nice round figure of losing 10kg. I reckon when I hit 65kg I will change my fitbit weight goal to 60kg as that’s probably about the lowest I would want to go. I can’t let that new coat become too big for me now can I ?

My waist measurement is now 80cm – down from 95cm when I started FD in Feb this year. So another YAY YAY! No wonder my tracky dacks (Track Pants to the non-Aussies) are literally falling down.

I’ve really noticed the difference when I look in the mirror. Double chin has disappeared, bottom seems to be more taunt, underarm flab mostly gone, thighs definately less flabby,roundish belly nearly flat and not sure if cellulite is actually vanishing or whether it’s still there but not as visable anymore.

Ive googled what my ideal weight should be but the advice is conflicting. My Dr said I should be 68 but I havent been impressed with him of late so taking his advice with a pinch of salt. Does anyone have a reliable source to find this out for me? I’m 49 years, 165cm and female with no medical or health concerns. Thanks in advance.

Good morning, Gday. Congratulations on all of your weight loss! 10 kg is a good amount of weight to lose. I think we have to look at ourselves when we get to our goal and decide if we like the way we look and the way our clothes fit. I would say having to decide whether to set a new goal is a nice problem to have!

I wouldn’t worry about the coat too much. You’ll probably need to wear more layers under it to make up for the fat you lost that kept you warm. 🙂

Hi GDSA
I suspect the reason your GP said 68kg should be your goal weight is because it’s based on BMI. BMI is the accepted measurement method for obesity within the medical profession. The “normal” BMI range is 18.5-24.99 and the overweight range is 30-34.99, with various obesity ranges starting beyond this. For your height 68kg is a BMI of 24.98 – so it’s the top of the normal weight range. The full weight range for a “normal” BMI for your height is 52-68kg.
There are a lot of critics of BMI because it’s such a blunt measure and doesn’t necessarily measure good health.
Another measure which can be useful is 80cm maximum waist measure – this comes from the heart foundation: https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/your-heart/know-your-risks/healthy-weight/waist-measurement This creates a great deal of variation between body shapes. (For example I get to a waist measurement of 80cm when my weight is 78kg and my BMI is 30, because my body shape is hour glass. I know some people who need to be in the lower half of their healthy BMI to get to an 80cm waist because of their body shape.) The reason waist measurement is important is because it’s not just what you weigh, but where your body fat is stored that increases your risk of diseases like heart disease, diabetes and stroke.
The third measure I think is a personal one – how do you feel? Do you feel fit and healthy? Do you have enough energy? Are you at a weight you think you can actually maintain long term?
Hope that helps rather than confuses.

GDSA, I really enjoyed your post this morning. It goes to show that this is something in life over which we CAN have complete control and you have done something positive in what was otherwise a very crappy year for you. Huge congratulations for achieving all this in the face of adversity. I’m sure the changes you’ve created within yourself have made a big impact in the way you have been able to tackle these trials. For me, the biggest change is the confidence that comes with feeling comfortable in your own skin. Time to get the cardboard out and do the living room visceral fat test?

For those just embarking on this WOL, please keep in mind that ‘maintenance’ is largely boring and quite a lot more challenging than the weight loss stage. I always thought I’d switch to 6:1 when I reached my goal weight and that would be a sort of reward. The reality is that a few of us have tried this only to discover that 6 NFDs are too many in a row to keep portion control under wraps and there’s a tendency to slip back into the old ways. You basically have the choice of switching to 6:1 and maintaining very strict vigilance for 6 days (a bit like a ‘diet’) or continuing 5:2 and enjoying the odd restaurant meal and some indulgences. For some it might mean the ability to re-introduce additional carbs or similar. Continuing 5:2, for me, means having what I want MOST of the time. I switch to 6:1 when we go overseas.

I mention this only because, when you have a lot of weight to lose, it might seem daunting. And when you’re nearly at goal weight, it can be hard to know when to stop. But the reality is that this will be for life and when we re-read Dr M.’s book, we’re reminded of all the other health benefits of fasting and why we started it in the first place. Besides weight loss, the benefits I’ve enjoyed include a healthy BMI; a healthy waistline measurement; excellent BP (have taken meds in the past); increased agility & stamina; decreased issues associated with OA knees; not to mention never-ending compliments as I dropped from size 18 to size 10 which give one a massive boost; being slimmer than my husband for the first time in our married life; being able to zip up my wedding dress (with me in it); being able to get out of the bath without planning ahead and other silly little things like that.

During this time, 5:2 has naturally shaped my portion sizes and eliminated late-night snacking without my even noticing it happening and, through the knowledgeable contributors to these pages, I have learned so much about nutrition and life. For the first time in my life I have control over food instead of the other way around. As Intesha pointed out, I am very well behaved wrt to rigid adherence to FDs but what she didn’t say is that my NFDs are still a work in progress. I’m much improved but still the same person I always was and some habits take years to dismantle. My only regret is that I haven’t noticed any improvements in mental acuity after practicing nearly 300 fast days. Then again, I might have deteriorated without it!

So wherever you are in IF, we’re really all in the same place, striving for a healthier, happier, longer life.

Good evening all,
Just running towards the end of a FD watching LeTour. It means for many late nights in July every year but I enjoy it.
Hasn’t this thread been busy, I saw the page number and I was sure it was 234 when I posted last so thought perhaps I was wrong when I saw 236 then had to go back two pages to catch up on the commentary. Great to see new people beginning this journey, it is worth it, with so many benefits and it is quite empowering when you stop and think what you are doing.
Loving the bird talk as I enjoy seeing and hearing the different species in our area. I have never gone far enough west to see a Major Mitchell in the wild though I do get plenty of galah’s, cockatoo’s, corella’s, etc. but we do have gang gang cockatoo’s here they make a distinctive call and my favourite king parrots they are so inquisitive often landing within one metre or closer and just looking at you. They are so beautiful.
For working out kilojoule or calorie intake I used the following link: http://www.weightloss.com.au/diet/food-nutrition-tables/food-tables.html which I found excellent for getting into this way of eating, finding out strawberries are a lo-cal snack, working out salads and recently realising mushrooms are a filling lo-cal food to add to my soups. I know it says diet but the food tables are what I am reading. Just a note watch out for olive oil in cooking on a FD as it can tip you over easily, it happened to me with corn flour when making the sauce for a stir fry. Olive oil is 3700kj or 884cals per 100grams.
Merryme I would imagine the person who had bubble baths for their reward on achievements was following Thinatlast’s naked 5:2ing Haha. Look out Dad jokes flying around here. I couldn’t help myself.
Meals for the day:
2 x white coffee’s 300kj, 500g vegetable soup 670kj, 400g tinned tomatoes 390kj, 150g mushrooms 173kj Total 1533kj or 366cals.

I know what happened to the minestrone soup and beans?
Well, being as organised as I am I bought some kidney beans as I was out but did not realise my daughter had minestrone soup for lunch on Saturday whilst I went to work thus knocking off the last of my stash (I had bought half a dozen cans for $1.65 each bargain) and the pot tonight got too full when I added the tin of tomatoes to try and turn the vegetable soup into a minestrone so I couldn’t have kidney beans.

Joffy and thinatlast, when you mention tinned tomatoes, do you mean whole canned tomatoes? We get whole ones here in a can or crushed or pureeed.

Thinatlast, I’m going to get some cauliflower to try your soup. I love cauliflower and your recipe looks like it would be good.

I’ve been cooking my own beans lately from dry beans. I purchased an Instant Pot several months ago and it’s great for cooking dry beans, even if you forget to soak them overnight. It’s a pressure cooker, but you just set it for the time you want and forget it. It automatically turns off and keeps warm. I have a regular pressure cooker but I have to watch it and adjust it during the first parts of the cooking. And I have to remember to turn it off. I find I do many more beans with this Instant Pot because it’s so easy. And dry beans are a lot cheaper here than canned ones. Beans are really filling although they’re relatively high in calories for a FD. They’re full of fiber.

I’m trying to think in terms of the metric system for weights since being on this forum. I’m used to US pounds and ounces, but I think about it, metric is much less confusing. And most of the rest of the world uses metric. I wonder how we came up with our system to begin with? I’ll have to look it up.

I was looking for a lower calorie food to use with the Vegemite yesterday and tried it on some steamed broccoli. It doesn’t go with that at all. It seems bread products are the way to go. I bet it would be good on a bagel with cream cheese. But for now I’m sticking with sourdough bread and butter.

Joffy so pleased someone else is watching Le Tour. Mind you I had a day off after seeing Richie injured, will watch again now was just so sad! I was at the Tour when Cadel won so a bit of a Tour tragic! Happy sipping everyone!

Good morning everyone. I have sunshine this morning which makes a nice change from the wet weather.

GDSA – we had a chook house like that when I was growing up. My mum usually kept 10-20 laying hens and my dad built a 2 room chook house for them from wood, wire and metal sheeting that was lying around (one room had roosting slats and nesting boxes and the other was more open and was where their food and water was and room to sctatch). They were always allowed out though the day to scratch around in the garden, then locked up once they’d gone in to roost at dusk. Just make sure whatever you build is strong enough to keep the foxes out – they will try to get in at night if the wire isn’t strong enough.

Calif – I know people who put a little vegemite on celery sticks when they want a savoury low-calories snack. It’s OK, but I definitely prefer it on bready bases. My low calorie options are usually rice thins, corn thins or cruskits as they range from 17-23 calories each. I sometimes have 2 with a scrape of butter and some vegemite as an afternoon snack – it comes in at about the same amount of calories as an apple (helpful for me as fruit is my preferred afternoon snack).
In Australia we changed from using imperial to metric measurement in the 1970s – I was already at school so I basically learned both. The difference I find trips me up most often is that an American tablespoon is only 15ml, not the 20ml that it is everywhere else – it can really muck up a recipie, especially if I’m measuring something like yeast.

Minka – my inulin order finally arrived today. I didn’t realise 2kg would be so much. I think it will keep me going for a while. I’m thinking I’ll start with 1tsp twice a day and see how my body reacts, then build up to a 1tblsp twice a day if my gut is ok with it.

Joffy – a bit of variety in the soup department never hurt anyone, even if it was unplanned. Don’t worry, I’m keeping the minestrone momentum going, it’s been my go to meal for FDs lately as I made a huge stock pot of it and have about 3 litres in the freezer in single serves. If I remember your earlier posts, this isn’t the first time your daughter’s eaten your minestrone stash – sounds like you’ll need to cater for two now. (Good that she’s happy to have such a healthy lunch.)
Thanks for the naked 5:2 chuckle. I am one of those people who thinks of soaking in a bath as a relaxing treat. I had a few years before I had the knee replacement done when I could get into the bath but not out again – slight problem there – so no baths for a long time. I’m enjoying them again this winter – best thing for removing that bone deep chill.

I’ve made a pot of pumpkin soup to my SILs recipie – it has lemon and nutmeg rather than the more usual potato and cream and I love it – really refreshing flavour. It will be lunch for the next few days.

Hurray Cinque, we’re synch’d today! Only joshing with you as I know how patriotic the Aussies are about their vegemite. I don’t eat either that or marmite as, like you all say, it essentially requires bread & butter which I don’t need. I did make another large pot of your mung bean soup though, yum. CalifD if you like cooking beans, you can find some legume recipes here: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/beans-and-lentils-recipes-tips-and-information/page/2/ and I see that LJ has recently added some lentil recipes. That pressure cooker gadget sounds a winner. Oh, and tin = can, yes.

CalifD, when making the cauliflower soup, add the pepper cautiously. Merry got hold of a potent strain of cayenne and was unable to eat the soup. I make up a large batch and always have FD portions in the freezer. I just love cauliflower, it’s like a super food to me. This week, I made cauliflower au gratin – that sounds so old fashioned but it’s one of my better childhood food memories and it was so good. Do you use cauliflower rice?

Interesting article in the right side bar of this site: How on earth did they manage to sell us this stuff https://t.co/PH5bcjF618

LJ, OK, I love a riddle so I’ll keep guessing about your handle – but only if there is actually a chance of my solving it. And is SIL sister or son-in-law as I don’t remember your having mentioned any offspring before. Thinatlast was a tongue in cheek handle as I weighed 83kg at the time of its creation. And yet, here I am!

When I think of canned pumpkin, I imagine the style used to make sweet pumpkin pie as a symbol of harvest time. Your recipe is a lot like one I use for family FD meals. I love butternut pumpkin. Right now I could eat my own arm, I rarely feel hungry on a FD but today I woke hungry which was annoying and I keep looking at the clock. Maybe I should stop talking about food until my first feeding. I’m already on my third cup (same tea bag) of Madame Flavour tea treats, orange & choc ceylon. It smells divine.

How is Yam Daisy Mark II coming along Cinque? All is well here now that I have that hot soup inside me, I feel great. Yes, I love that feeling of getting smaller as the day passes! And sometimes weighing less just before bed than when I woke up.

Do you have trouble cooking on a FD because it’s too tempting (this doesn’t bother me as I’ve now learned not to lick spoons when I cook so I can cook smugly on a FD) or because, like me, you experience brain fog on a FD? Or something else? I find I have lots of energy to do physical things on FDs but can’t think clearly so following a recipe is a challenge. Today, no cooking required! OFMs are having last night’s homemade Indian curry leftovers and I’m having Sunday’s root and barley soup leftovers. Fabulous.

It’s my headspace I worried about Thin, but actually it isn’t messing with my headspace at all! Pressure cooker is going! And it being so close to my soup time makes it easier too.

Here’s my latest YamDaisy news! http://www.yamdaisy.com/july-2017-news/ I’ll start following up local commercial kitchens tomorrow.

So glad you are feeling good after your cauliflower soup!

@big_bill I would be in heaven if I could open my back door to a bunch of Cockatoos! You all are so lucky to live in such a wonderful place. But I understand about the damage they can do. Gilligan once decided to have a go at the door frame and chewed a big section in the inside of bird room before I noticed him doing it. We usually kept a few inflated balloons on the floor so they wouldn’t go down on the floor. They have a lot of hanging branches and their cages with open doors to climb around on. But that day there weren’t any balloons. After he died I just painted over the chewed door frame. I couldn’t bear to replace his “handiwork”. We used to buy the birds 1.3 meter long pine boards to chew on. They really like chewing!

LJoyce, that looks a little like our acorn squashes: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4087/5196852790_3700682351.jpg

They’re a little bit sweeter than the butternut squash. There are several different types around in the fall, but the butternut and acorn squashes and the big orange pumpkins are the most common.

I hope you feel better.

LJoyce, those Queensland Blues are big! Like some of the big orange pumpkins we get here.

Yes, it was very early morning, around 1 or 2 am when I typed that last post. I’m a night owl but not usually up that late. I was wide awake yesterday, maybe because I hadn’t eaten a whole lot, even though it was a NFD.

I was thinking about @thinatlast post about maintenance perhaps being the most challenging because of fewer changes and compliments and such and I agree. I’ve gotten to my goal a few times in the past by other diets and the longest I’ve maintained was maybe 9 or 10 months. But I think I have a big advantage with 5:2: I’M NOT AFRAID OF BEING HUNGRY.

Before 5:2, the thought of fasting brought on an almost panicky feeling. Perhaps it wasn’t realistic but the thought of getting hungry and hanging on by my fingernails in the throes of starvation, gasping toward the evening hours with only a meager 500 calories under my belt wasn’t too far off of what I feared. 🙂 Come to find out that eating nothing at all until 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon goes by with only occasional pangs of hunger here and there, that go away. 500 calories seems like a good amount of food on a fast day, since I’ve learned to maximize quanty vs calories. I have my favorites and they’re simple and I make sure they’re always available.

I’ve discovered that fasting or very low calorie eating produces a good feeling rather than a bad one. I’m used to it now. I enjoy the feeling of lightness. I know for a fact that I’m not going to starve to death or feel weak or collapse in the middle of the supermarket! In fact, I often don’t eat until noon on the following NFD. And there is almost always a payoff the next morning in terms of weight loss. If there isn’t, I know my body is just holding on to water. The loss is under there somewhere! This makes me look forward to FD rather than dread them.

It’s also comforting to know that if I’m going to a party or it’s during the holidays, I can eat whatever I want. As long as it isn’t an outright binge, eating on NFD is part of the plan. I think it helps to reset my metabolism just like a FD does. I know the difference between eating to celebrate or eating high calorie foods because I crave them, and sitting alone in front of the refrigerator and eating everything that isn’t nailed down!

So with that very real fear of being hungry not there anymore, and because this way of eating has been pretty easy for the 9 weeks I’ve been doing it so far, I’m pretty sure I can maintain.

Hi team,
Gosh I’m on a FD today. Very excited by the latest ideas on gut health. I think Mim Spencer has it right. I now spend hours in the bulk food store – avoiding bpa packaging, found the dried broad beans😃. Gosh I puréed a bulk lot with a juicy lemon from our tree, added 2 huge Russian Garlic cloves & I just add herbs to suit the dish on the table. The calories can be reduced or piled on depending on your count that day, wow it is a sensational addition to veggies or salad 🥗.
I’m off to the gym for a toning boxing class , my strength training is working now 6 months on😃.
Have a great day,

Good morning all, lovely calm sunny day here after some rain overnight and buting cold wind yesterday coming up from the snowfields down south. Hope it’s a good day where you are too.

Umm, I need some advice from the oldies please. I’m struggling with my FDs this week. It’s a pretty high stress week, all day everyday, and 3 days in a row I’ve attempted a FD. Usually it’s Mon /Thurs FDs. Tried Monday, tried Tues, tried Wed – each day the pattern has been the same. 3-4pm-ish I break the fast, It won’t be too much or dreadful food butthen somewhere between then and bedtime I eat way too much of something. Trying to get my head around what I’m doing – am I just stress eating, or amI reacting to stuff I’ve eaten that are my no go foods that cause reactions. Now I write that I’m thinking it might be the latter along with a bit of stress eating. The stress has been clouding my thinking a little, along with a bit of ME/CFS brain fog from so much happening. We’ve had 2 weekends in a row of celebrating something special in others’ lives (and another this weekend) and while gluten free was available I’ve had a little grain food, and sugar definitely.

OK, just writing this helps me think through what’s going on and I think there is definitely some intolerance reactions happening, so I need to go into my 5 day recovery pattern, that I’ve explained before.

Onwards and downwards,
If you fall off the horse get back on – (I write this because I have fallen off the horse a number of times, keep getting back on, got the weight off, off blood pressure meds, cholesterol improved, mobility and balance increased, look normal now)
Merry

Sending you best wishes Merry. I bet you are right, it may be those sugars and grains. Hope you can give yourself permission to eat whatever you like, that is NOT grains/sugar and get through the reactive period.

If it is something else, hope it comes clear!

Bunch of flowers for you https://www.colourbox.com/preview/4063670-bunch-of-wildflowers-in-early-morning-light-in-front-of-lake.jpg

Merry, when you get that irresistible urge to eat something – especially something sweet like chocolate – chances are it’s low blood sugar messing with your head rather than lack of resolve.

I know that I need to be careful about eating much in the way of simple carbs – although often I’m not careful. And normally when I can feel that my blood sugar is all over the place I can trace it back to too much sugar and simple carbs.

Sticking to whole foods tends to fix it.

Today was a NFD, but I made a dinner that I normally reserve for FDs – an omelette. Except I made it the way I used to, before it became one of my regular FD meals. So I put a generous amount of cheddar with the spinach, mushroom and tomato filling. I even cooked the mushrooms in a little butter before using them in the filling. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it didn’t taste right and I struggled to finish it – the flavours were too rich because I could really taste the extra fat that isn’t in my FD omelettes. I must have become so used to my low cal omelette that my taste buds expect a certain flavour these days, I guess that’s a good thing.

Merry, hope you get your food intolerances controlled soon. If you have 5 day plan, it sounds like you’ve had to do this many times.

GDSA, hope you get that new freezer filled soon – perhaps once school is back and the house isn’t overrun with extra kids. I remember my mum getting a huge chest freezer in the 1970s – as a child it was always a challenge getting something from near the bottom without falling in head first. I know my mum really loved the work it saved. She had always preserved the summer fruit glut by putting everything into vercola jars and going through the whole sterilisation and vacuum sealing process in batches – it was a lot of work. Once she had the freezer she would stew the fruit in a huge stock pot and freeze it in old ice cream containers – a much quicker process.

Cinque, I agree about the bread. I like to make my own, but don’t always schedule my time adequately to accomplish it. Luckily I have one local bakery (Mylor Bakery) that I can rely on to make bread exactly the way I like it, but everything else available is a compromise. I recently bought soy, besan, lentil and teff flours so that I can have a bit of a play with some new bread recipies. I’ve used soy flour in normal bread loaves before but I’ve only used the other flours in flat-breads, so I’ll see how it goes.

BigBill, I have a similar approach – choose whole foods. Not only are they more filling and tastier, but my gut is whole lot happier too.

CalifD – I can’t imagine putting sugar and cinnamon into a pumpkin and baking it, let alone eating it – definitely a step too far for me. I might have to try pumpkin pie one day – it might expand my ideas of what pumpkin is suited to. I noticed that my American cookbooks talk about winter squash and summer squash. I had assumed that the winter squash were the tough skinned varieties like butternut etc (what Aussies would call pumpkin or trombone) and the summer squash were thin skinned varieties like zucchini and patty-pan squash. On the topic of large squash, I went to the green grocer today and they had trombone (do you get that in the US – the veg not the musical instrument) – no kidding this trombone was at least a metre long. They had a couple of them cut into lots of pieces and wrapped for sale and they had left one whole so everyone could see it. I remember trombone being one of the veg my mum would use in pasties when she could get it, but I’ve never seen one this large before.

Thank you everyone for your advice and the flowers are lovely thank you Cinque🙂

I’m thinking both blood sugar and the intolerance withdrawal are involved. The consistent 3-4pm thing makes me think blood sugar , and this afternoon I got to 4pm no problem and had Flat white coffee no sugar. Then we went to the movies for a break from everything, and I had a few strawberries with me to have during it. At 6pm it was clear that I was going into almost a hypo – ME/CFS has a particular version of this- and I had to go out of the movie and get another flat white and miss the other half of the movie. (It takes a lot of visual and auditory energy to watch a movie at the cinema). This type of low blood sugar, low energy “hypo” is different as it doesn’t respond to sugar, like a normal hypo where jelly babies are a commonly used to raise blood sugar. Anyway what happened tells me I’m not quite as well as I thought and I need to pay more attention to my energy levels and my pacing of them.

I think the over eating later in the day on each of the 3 days could definitely be related to my food intolerances and I’ve started my 5 day regime today. I have multiple food intolerances including all grains except corn including 2 of those being allergies. Also intolerant gluten. I’ve been extensively formally tested including gastroscopy biopsy etc. Some of those are a particular type of intolerance that causes an addictive response. All grains except corn and the 2 allergy ones cause that response. It takes 5 days of nothing I’m intolerant to for the other reactions and compulsion to eat to stop.

So, today I’ve been much more mindful of what I’ve been eating, done a successful FD with 500 cals instead of my usual 360, and kept within my allowed non-intolerance foods.

Yes, I’ve done my 5 day programme many times over several decades. Over those days I allow myself to eat the quantity I crave but only of my allowed foods, and try to put strong tastes in there like Bhuja, curry etc we have 1 last celebration to attend this weekend so I think I will take some of my allowed foods with me. The most important thing for these 5 days is to not eat any of the reactive foods. But, I’m pleased today that I got through the day with 500 cals,

I really appreciate everyone’s support today, thanks! 🙂
Merry

MerryMe, one of your comments, that you went into a “At 6pm it was clear that I was going into almost a hypo – ME/CFS” I’m not sure what that is, but I know it must have felt bad if it made you miss half of your movie. Just one thought, because I had a couple “bad feelings”, hard to describe except light headedness and kind of a weakness and sitting down didn’t make it go away for long. I took my blood pressure and it was very very low, both numbers under 100. I have cut my BP meds down to 1/2 a tablet in the morning since starting the 5:2 (from 2 whole ones of different types) and probably don’t even need the 1/2. A half teaspoon of salty water and cup of coffee brought it back up to normal levels. This happened the day after a FD when I hadn’t eaten much yet.

Your post made me think of it because I’ve never experienced anything like this and the feeling was so persistent for about an hour, not just a lightheaded feeling when I stood up. Could that have played a part in the way you felt? Do ou ever have issues with blood pressure? Before 5:2 mine was occasionally really high, probably mostly due to stress from my job.

I’ve started having a cup of miso when I feel this coming on and the Vegemite with its saltiness gets depleted salt levels up too. Just a thought.