Hello Southern Hemispherites!!

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  • I’m having a rare treat for dinner tonight – 2 grilled lamb loin chops – with the little bit of couscous-haloumi-veg dish that’s leftover. Lamb is my favourite meat. And I particularly like BBQ or grilled loin chops, but they are so expensive I virtually never buy them. They were heavily discounted in Foodland last week so I bought 4 and froze them.
    I always think that loin chops are the best illustration of the difference in size between beef and lamb. A lamb loin chop is actually the same as a t-bone from a cow – it’s the same cut of meat- just shows you the size difference in the carcass of each animal. I can easily eat 2 loin chops but can’t get through one t-bone.

    Cali – we can’t buy products like the Instant Pot from Amazon in Aus yet – although there have been media announcements that Amazon is coming to Australia. At the moment we have an Amazon.au site for ebooks (which I use often), but they only sell books. When I log into the US site and look at products it usually tells me I can’t order them from Australia.

    LJoyce, I’ve looked at the Aussie site a few times when I wanted to post a link here. I didn’t realize they didn’t ship paper books there. They all seem to be Kindle e-books or else Audible. Curious about the Kindle books since they don’t seem to sell Kindle devices. I read a lot of books on my iPad using the Kindle app. It’s great being able to carry a library of books on a little tablet, especially when traveling. My 5:2 diet book is a Kindle copy. 😊

    I never tasted lamb growing up because my dad didn’t like it. I love lamb now, with mint jelly, because that’s the way I first tasted it in a restaurant. Rack of lamb with mint jelly. It’s expensive here too, so I rarely buy it either.
    Enjoy your dinner, LJoyce.

    That mini Instant Pot looks just the thing LJoyce! I bet the first time you soak a cup of dried chickpeas, drain and then pop them in the pot with two cups of water, set for 10 mins pressure cooking and come back when they are cooked and the pressure has gone… you’ll be sold! I see they sell it in Target!

    Enjoy your lamb chops!

    Well as I said, I had my precious tuna pattie for breakfast and fully enjoyed it. I have been busy for the rest of the day. The accountants, the courthouse (to lodge a notice about the guy who owes me money and has not paid even after a court order) then to meet up with a local guy from the emergency services to donate some ink cartridges for their printer. These were left over from our old printer and just sitting in the office taking up space so happy to get rid of them for a good cause.
    OH rang me as he was having lunch in town and asked me to join him after the courthouse visit. I would have loved to but OH had decided due to our sudden cold climate from the overnight thunderstorms he wanted something warm for lunch and we going to the local ramen restaurant. I love ramen, but I also know how many calories are in one of those bowls, so I had to stay strong and refuse.
    I came home and disected my recipe for tuna patties adding each ingredient into Myfitnesspal and then dividing by the number of patties I made to get a calorie count of each patty. Came to 138 calories per patty, so not too bad as I only had one. So now I am having another green tea and it is nearly 3 in the afternoon.

    LJoyce, glad you enjoyed the circus. I think the last circus I have been to was in 1997 when I saw the Moscow Circus in Moscow. I really wondered how these animals were being treated after the performance. As we left the main hall and entered the foyer again there was some of the trainers with baby bears in collars and chains charging money to have your photo taken with one. It was really sad to see as I thought that these babies really should be enjoying life with their mothers not chained up as they were. I have not been to a performance since although my mother-in-law has taken our youngest daughter a couple of times.

    Cinque, No news is definitely good news. Did the biopsy give any indication at all or was it one of those things that it told them nothing? Lets hope your specialist is able to enlighten you when you next visit. It is a bit unfair to keep you in the dark for another week.

    Thin, yes I was really disappointed with my results this morning. I keep wondering if my scales are still the problem but I dont think I can really blame them. Maybe my body is just rearranging itself at the moment and then it will release all that stored water from the fat cells and give me a wonderful surprise in the next few days.

    CalifD, my tuna patties were made with potato boiled and then mashed, onion diced, one 425g of Tuna in Brine, drained and two eggs to bind. I then coated in panko crumbs (not coating in egg first) and shallow fried in a little olive oil. The mixture made about 16 patties.
    Usually I do B2B as it suits me but after Wednesday mornings non loss I did another FD therefore making 3 fast days in a row. You would think that would move things along!!! Anyhow as I said I have only had the one tuna patty and will still keep the day as close to 500 or under and see what happens tomorrow morning.

    Poodles…….One of our dogs is a poodle x and she has been the best dog. Her mother was a “moodle” (maltese x poodle) and her father was a long hair chihuahua and she has such a great personality. Very stubborn about what she wants but very intelligent too.
    Our other dog is Cavalier x Japanese Spitz, very cute looking and just loves me so much she follows me around the house, and she is a nervous dog and many things make her bark. Especially like last night with all the thunderstorms she ended up on the bed with us as she was frightened in her bed on the floor. I just had to keep reassuring her during the night and she would then settle. She is happiest when I am working at the kitchen table and she is sleeping at my feet.

    I am going to do some research on the Instant Pot and see if it is worthwhile purchasing one. Dont think OH would be interested though

    Harvey Norman sells the Instant Pot for $99. About the same price that CalifD paid on Amazon which is amazing. I think it’s normally AUD179.

    I never came across many Americans that bought or ate lamb. I got the impression it was considered inferior meat.

    I have just this made the pumpkin and chicpea curry. http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/pumpkin-chickpea-curry-3/4131dc09-6cf7-4d5f-a1f9-d376da452c6f Need help please. I don’t know if it’s because I doubled the recipe (theirs only served 4) but it’s way too runny. I removed two cups of mostly bean and pumpkin and blended it as a natural thickener. I also removed 2 cups of the runny liquid before that. I have also tried reducing it but having left it simmering for over half an hour longer than it states in the recipe, I run the risk of the pumpkin falling apart and becoming a mush. Any ideas please? I can’t serve it like this so it might have to become tonight’s dinner and I’ll have to come up with something else for the vegetarian tomorrow.

    Thin, a friend was telling me yesterday that gelatine is a good thickening agent if you want to try that instead of using flour. The other alternative is a little cornflour mixed in some of the juice to make a paste.

    I’m going to have to get better at posting, if I’m to keep up with everything. For now though, very sad Julie, about the fishermen missing at sea. I’ve been reading about them on the ABC website, and what beautiful young men they were. Tragic.
    I liked reading about your robin, Penguin. Such a nice image. When I was a child there was a Willy Wagtail that used to sit on the handle of my Dad’s spade when he was gardening. I can’t see one without thinking of him. Same with the fantail pigeons which always cooed outside my mother’s door. Both of my parents died far too young, and seeing these birds is a gentle reminder.
    I’m on another FD and so far so good. Two containers of readymade Pho – 64 calories, and a desperate old apple I found in the bottom of my handbag. Hardly worth blowing 50 calories on. I am having konjac noodles tonight, with some vegetables and tofu.
    BTW I am learning a whole new food vocabulary on this site – I’d never heard of konjac, nor adzuki beans, nor kafir. I spotted the adzuki beans at my local cheese shop the other day so I’ll find a recipe and give them a shot.
    Cinque, LJ and Joyce I too watched the Catalyst program and was disappointed. ‘Eat more fibre and cut Red Bull energy drinks’. Who would have thought? Next week’s program should be more relevant I think.
    Hope your day is going well all.

    Thanks JJulie – OH suggested cornflour but I was afraid it wasn’t right for a curry. I just chucked out some gelatine so I’ll try the cornflour. It tastes alright but I wouldn’t like to serve it as this person’s primary dish. Thanks again!

    Funnily enough, I’m having another disaster because the thickened cream (FF) won’t whip! I just went on line to see what to do about that (other than asking OH to cycle round to buy another batch) and someone had suggested using gelatine.

    Hi thin,

    If you click on the reviews for the recipe there is some good suggestions for flavour additives but no mention of having too much liquid.

    Hi everyone,
    Thin, it does look like it has a thin sauce (that should suit you 😉 ). I’d let it sit in the sauce so the flavour keeps permeating the chickpeas, and then when I serve it I’d just use a slotted spoon and leave a lot of the liquid behind. It is rather lightly spiced, so throw in some more spices, maybe some chili, if it isn’t tasty enough.

    Hi Everyone
    LJoyce, Im glad you enjoyed the circus, so nice to go with young children. Im sure those lamb loin chops will be delicious!
    Lindsay L, you seem to have those FD all under control. I too haven’t even tried some of the foods mentioned here.
    JustJulie, it might be better if you have your FDs further apart? But we all have those times with the scales not cooperating 🙁
    Cinque, hope all is okay with your biopsy.
    I had B2B fast days as Ive too much going on this week and have lost the 1.4 i put on also last weekend as well as another 200 grams. So I will have to try and keep my social events sensible this weekend. i dont want to put it all back on again
    Tonight im going to a Malaysian/Indonesian restaurant with 2 ex-work colleagues Its only just opened and I dont know anyone who has tried it
    Tomorrow is lunch with my Sister and Mum. I dont know if its at my sisters or if we are restauranting, but I will try to make it a CD.
    Have a good night/day everyone! xx

    Thin – I like Cinque’s idea of the slotted spoon, that would work, then you could just ladle over the appropriate amount of liquid..
    If you’d rather thicken it more then I’d probably go for either red lentils or rice – just simmer until either the rice absorbs the liquid or the lentils dissolve – 15-20 minutes. If you don’t want the pumpkin to cook any more. Drain the liquid off into another saucepan and cook the rice or lentils in this before recombining it with the pumpkin and chickpeas. If you use rice then you have a 1 pot vego meal – don’t even need to cook rice to serve it with.

    Hi Lindsay, aren’t we chatty today, So glad you joined in!
    I had a willy wagtail dancing up and down the tree branch singing at me today. the first one I have seen for years I think!
    So sorry that your parents died way too early, but glad that lovely birds are a gentle reminder.
    I’m laughing at your assessment of the Catalyst program. Short and harsh! I’m a much more positive reviewer! But I do know several people with IBS, it often goes with ME/CFS, that I have, so I did get into all the details.

    JJulie, congratulations on your third Fast Day in a row. If you have a lot of fat cells sitting full of water, you certainly deserve to have a whoosh day tomorrow!
    Cavs are my favourite dogs, although I like them really cavalier, with a proper nose.

    Stay, you’ve had lovely loss! It must feel good! Have a lovely night tonight. good luck for tomorrow’s lunch.

    Nearly time for my miso soup! Best wishes all!

    Thanks Cinque and LJ for adding to the solutions offered by JJulie. It’s as though I have a real live ‘phone a friend’ thing happening. Or phone a bunch of friends. I shall use the slotted spoon for serving. I’m serving couscous with it so I won’t do rice but I like your idea of removing the liquid and cooking something else in that to thicken it LJ – noted thank you, lentils would work well. And I think you’re right Cinque, it needs a bit more oomph in the form of chilli. I’ll cut up some of ours and serve near it as this lady has a few gut issues I believe. I also found the answer to the cream not thickening on-line – someone had suggested halving the quantity and whisking it in two batches – presto!

    Lindsay, I too enjoyed your critique of the Catalyst show! Cinque knows I tend to be a bit harsh on some of these people so I chuckled at your comment about the Red Bull. I was shaking my head at the pub meal and beer with the girls. The next guy to be shown was apparently on ‘Biggest Loser’ so another one that doesn’t mind airing all the family laundry I would expect. (But Cinque will say she’s grateful that people are prepared to bare it all for our benefit so I will try and adopt a more positive outlook for episode 2.)

    Stay, hoping you maintain that loss through the weekend while enjoying all the social events on offer. JJulie, I’m guessing you’ll have some good news for us soon. I hope so, you deserve it.

    Thin – just though of one more curry thickening option. Take a tin of coconut cream and scoop out the thick cream (don’t use the liquid). Add this to the curry. It will make the sauce very rich. Once added, you could scoop out a bit of the sauce if it looks like there’s too much and set it aside – later you could add a tin of drained legumes to it for a very quick curry.

    Clever ladies! Thanks again. 😆

    Thin and Cinque I will put my ‘gentle reviewer’ hat on for the next episode of Catalyst! But honestly, some of the stuff is so self-evident that I just shake my head. Not for the girl on Catalyst actually – I thought she was doing the best she could, in a very difficult situation. But I think you watched ‘The Obesity Myth’ on SBS a few weeks ago. Some of the people were terribly obese, life-threateningly so, and some were really putting in a sterling effort, but others not so much. I just didn’t understand the doctor telling them it was genetic and not their fault, when you could see their diets played a major contributing factor. (Sorry if I sound tough or judgmental – I don’t mean to be either).

    We had robust debate about that one Lindsay! 🙂

    Good evening all. Wow lots of posts to read so i have no hope of commenting on all bar a few.

    Ljoyce i love lamb loin chops too but too expensive for my budget…..ridiculous considering the saltbush lamb farm is only 5 kms from where I live. On the ‘thickening’ subject I use Arrowroot (Tapioca flour) instead of cornflour. The Catalyst program was ok but not as interesting as others i have seen on gut health.

    A small amount of mashed potatoes is a thickener also. But I think I like LJoyce’s suggestion of the red lentils the best because of the nutritional value along with the thickening. Or Cinque’s slotted spoon suggestion. I use that often with the pressure cooker meals that often end up with too much liquid because of the amount released from the food.

    Thanks CalifD and GDSA. Good suggestions.

    I’ve even beaten Cinque to post this morning. I keep waking at 5am. No time to chat though, quick coffee and time for a walk before getting on with the lunch prep for today’s guests. Have a great day all.

    I am slow this morning!
    Good morning Thin, I hope all your prep goes nicely and that the pumpkin and chickpea curry surprises you nicely.
    Have a lovely walk!

    I’m about to have my coffee and get organised for the day. I’m minding my 1yo granddaughter this afternoon while my daughter goes to a crochet group, so I need to get the house sorted. She’s just started walking everywhere (so cute) plus she is a climber.

    Just in case I don’t say it often enough: I LOVE 5:2! I am so grateful to wake up feeling empty! I am so grateful to feel that my body is working better. I am so grateful for the way it puts spaces in my week to allow me to reset and make the slow changes that are good for me.

    Best wishes fellow 5:2ers!

    Good morning all. Cinque nice to have your granddaughter with you. One is such an interesting age. We sat our 4 year old and 18 month old this morning (we get up once a week at 4.45 am to go to sit with them while our daughter and sil go to swimming training). My daughter says we are awesome for doing it – I don’t disagree at all! It’s tough getting up to an alarm, but once we actually get there – just a 2 or 3 minute drive away – it’s lovely sitting waiting for them to wake, to see their chirpy little faces and excitement that we are there.
    Thin I don’t have FD under control at all! I did under 500 cals yesterday, and woke up 1 kilo heavier. Sigh. I will persevere – but would like the reward of seeing the scales shift, particularly as it’s only 5 weeks til we go on holidays – and there’ll be lots of tog-time.
    Have a good day everyone

    Good morning,

    Thin, hope your lunch goes well. How did that pumpkin curry end up? The reviews did say that most people added more spice to it. things that were added in included chilli flakes, mustard seeds, coriander, ginger, more garlic…..Many said that they added the chilli. There were extra vegies added too, carrot, spinach and cauliflower.
    So many great suggestions on how to get rid of that excess liquid!

    Lamb would have to be my favourite meat but OH will only eat it occasionaly. My father loved lamb too so when he used to have his evening meal with us I would cook lamb a lot. Now I usually only have a roast lamb leg on a Sunday night or Lamb leg steaks on the BBQ. OH doesnt like chops because of the bones. One of my favourites when I was a kid was crumbed lamb chops but I dont cook this anymore.
    We get lamb from Victoria and pork as well but ass we are beef country up here beef is in abundance.
    Well this morning for me…..I weighed in at 80.5kg which is .4 less than yesterday. In the end I had the two remaining tuna patties for dinner last night and two very small avocadoes. My calorie intake was over the 500 but a lot less than my TDEE, it was around 1200 My TDEE says 1826 but I think Thin said work on the TDEE for your goal weight, how do I work that out?

    Today I am babysitting a friend’s dog who is sick. This dog is grossly overweight and has been having screaming fits of pain. My friend had to go to work so “Lavender” came around to visit. My two know this dog from doggy get togethers so they were quite inquisitive when she arrived this morning. Many older dog was acting like a concerned mother when she had a little pain attack but has since settled in and there has been no problems since.

    I have a Japanese homestay arriving tomorrow morning so was going to work on cleaning the house. So far I have her room ready and have started the bathroom. Having a little break at the moment to have my green tea. Then I will finish the bathroom and go on to the toilet. Lastly a tidy up in the lounge room and then the big vacuum. I might me working well into the evening at this rate though.

    LindsayL, I know how you are feeling at the moment with the scales not moving!!! I will be on holidays in three weeks and was hoping to have lost another 5kg before I left. As I seem not to want to budge at the moment I dont think I am going to make it, but I am determined to watch what I eat and drink while overseas so I dont put on what I have already lost.

    We usually do a heap of walking while away in Japan but I never seem to come back having lost any weight.

    Hope everyone has a great day today. Those having a FD like me lets make it a good one!!!

    Hi all,

    Lindsay – I wish the scales immediately rewarded out efforts, but sadly they don’t. If you are sticking to the cals and the scales don’t reflect that then I’d suggest you start keeping track of body measurements as well. I found the scales so frustrating, but measurement were more reliable at reflecting my progress. I also found that weighing daily was too demotivating for me as my body didn’t reliably reflect a low cal day on the scales immediately. I ended up stretching out the time between weighing which did help as if you stick to the program and don’t overdo the NFDs, then your weight trend will be down.

    JJ – I’m fasting today too. To work out the TDEE for your goal weight go to the “resources” link at the top of this page and select the BMI calculator. Input the relevant details, but when it asks for weight input your goal weight. Make sure you check the details once you have them all entered, because I’ve found that it changes some once I move on to the next item.

    For the lamb lovers – last night’s loin chops were delicious. My mother grew up on a farm and they mainly ate mutton, so she followed the trend, and when I was growing up we mainly ate lamb (4-5 dinners a week). I didn’t mind, lamb is still the only meat I really love. In the years I was a vegetarian it was the only meat I missed.

    I hope all those babysitting have a fun day without tears.

    I’m getting myself organised to walk into town. It’s just the weather for it.

    Thanks LJoyce, found it and just worked it out. I was more than I thought.

    JJ – just one thing to be wary of. The TDEE calculator is an average – that means it over or under estimates for some people. For example it tells me that my TDEE is about 1650cal. But I know from very careful daily monitoring of cals and weight over several months, that my TDEE is actually 1400 and if I go above that consistently I gain weight. You’ll know whether your TDEE is accurate – if you stick to it on your NFDs you’ll lose weight – if you don’t then you’ll know it’s overestimated for you.

    Thanks LJoyce, I thought it a bit too high as I have in the past kept to 1000 cal and lost weight finding if I went over 1200 I would not. So usually I try to keep to no more than 1000 on NFDs but sometimes allowing the odd 1200 with a treat.
    I also tried something different today for a FD. I made myself an egg white omelette with mushrooms. Surprisingly it was no more calories than a bowl of soup and seems to be more filling. I want to bring some variety into my diet instead of making soups everyday. I bought a container of Puregg all egg whites for the first time and it was so much easier.
    Still had my mushrooms though. Just love them!!!

    JJ – I use puregg too. Omelettes are one of my go to meals for FDs. After a bit of experimentation I found that I could use one (small 45-50g) whole egg plus 1/2 cup the eggwhite to make a large dinner sized omelette. I find that just that one small egg yolk makes an enormous flavour difference – the final omellete looks and tastes much like a normal one. I buy the 600g egg cartons as the smaller eggs are only 250kj (60cal) each and I find it much easier to fit these into FDs, rather than the x-large ones I used to get.
    I use mushrooms, asparagus, spinach, zucchini or tomatoes as the filling and usually sprinkle a teaspoon of grated parmesan over the veg before I close the omelette.

    Did my three and a half hours with Miss 1. Daughter just texted that she was a sleep two minutes after leaving here. I’m just heading to the couch!

    Lesley, maybe it will help to concentrate on the non-scale signs for a while. How do you feel? How do your clothes feel? What does the mirror say? Hopefully those things are giving good indications while your scales are having their little paroxysm!

    Cheers for your fast days JJulie and LJoyce and anyone else.

    I’m having a sensible non fast day.

    Julie, how long is the Japanese homestay going be be staying with you? That sounds like it would be fun. Nothing like having a houseguest to get to all the cleaning!

    Cinque, it sounds like you and Miss1 tired each other out! 😄

    Lindsay, sometimes you need to just stick with the plan and weather the days where you don’t lose weight. It happens. I’ve had it happen to me and if I didn’t have my friends here, I probably would have given up. But they told me to keep going and I did. This group has been so helpful with their advice.

    Oops Lindsay, not Lesley! Apologies. (Had a nap now)

    And I wrote the last as someone who refuses to have scales in the house (terrible things! 😉 )

    Also, lovely to read about your grandmothering so your daughter and SIL can swim train. My mum was the only grandparent around for me when I needed one, and she had 7 kids and 14 grandchildren by the time my daughter came along and really had had enough, so I didn’t really get the grandmothering help. I just love that I can give it to my daughter, and how much my granddaughters adore me! Chirpy faces describes them too!

    Cinque – glad you had a nap – sounds like you earned it.

    I have finally figured out how to make konjac noodles and zucchini spiralli work as a pasta substitute. The issues for me have always been the water content – it ruins the sauce. I’d given up trying to use them for pasta and settled for using them in asian noodle dishes where I stir fry the substitute noodles. It finally occurred to me – why don’t I stir fry the noodles to dry them out before adding them to the pasta sauce. So I turned one zucchini into spiralli noodles and blanched them in boiling water, then drained. I also washed and drained a packet of Changs konjac noodles. Then I put them all in a nonstick frying pan and stirred them over a gentle heat until they had released much of their water content and it had evaporated – it took about 10 minutes. Then I combined them with the sauce – it worked really well. I ate my way to the bottom of my bowl and it was dry – previously I was always left a huge puddle of water at the bottom of the bowl. It was a bit of a fussy process, but at least I now have a viable pasta option.

    LJ, that’s a great idea for the konjack noodles. I tried them once, a long time ago and didn’t like them because they were too wet when used as a pasta replacement. I’ll have to try using your method instead.

    Have you ever used spaghetti squash with a tomato based or other type of sauce? I always mean to try it but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
    http://thefitchen.com/easy-spaghetti-squash-pasta/

    Hi everyone
    Having fun reading all your interesting posts – really like the links for different recipes.
    Had a busy week – out each day from Monday to Friday. Now need a quiet weekend to enjoy being at home. Maybe some gardening or perhaps just sitting & watching the bird life that visit to feed off callistemon & grevillea – so many varieties of honey eaters & parrots, also little finches, & my favourite – fairy wrens. Could watch them all day.
    Yesterday OH & I went to our fortnightly writers group – had, amongst the healthy salad, 2 slices of bread (which I hardly ever eat), an apple pastry then a slice of cheesecake. All far too much & have felt ‘fluffy headed & tired’ since. The simpler carbs definitely don’t agree with me any more (probably never did) – good lesson learnt! Have to get back on track starting now – good day for a FD.
    Enjoy the weekend, whatever you are doing. Cheers

    Good morning,

    JJulie, you are so busy! I hope everything is going well.

    Hi Arelkade, what a lovely birdy weekend you have in front of you, I hope you can enjoy every minute.
    I keep learning, and relearning, about those simple carbs too!
    You will feel so much better after a fast day.

    LJoyce, very clever!

    Cali I just looked up the fires and see there is rain in your north. Yay.
    Hoping you have had a good day.

    Cheers to everyone else!

    It is day before fast day for me, and I plan to make it a lovely one!

    Good morning,

    CalifD, Japanese homestay will be with us for 2 weeks. She is part of a large group from the Narita Airline College. They come to Australia each year to help them with their English. Some of them train to be airline stewards, checkin counter staff and other positions at the airport. They usually do a tour of our International Airport, some tourist attractions and English classes during the weekdays, then spend the weekends with us. We usually take them to see things that is not on their program so as not to double up with sightseeing. So we may visit Port Douglas tomorrow, have lunch there and go to the local markets. Then next weekend we will plan something different. At the moment she has had a shower and is now sleeping after an overnight flight. This afternoon I shall take her to the botanical gardens and then into the city to show her where her English school is and also some of the shops.

    I have nothing to report about my weight as it has not changed. I do feel as if I have lost a lot from around my belly. Not my waistline but the area between my waist and my hips. The “spare tire” seems to have flattened a little. I am thinking that my body is adjusting rather than just loosing weight. Could this be right?

    Went for a walk this morning too so that is three walks this week. I really would like to do up to six walks for the week but it sometimes depends on what is happening at home and what I have to do in the mornings.

    LJoyce, I have never really liked egg yolks at all and usually only eat the white of an egg in any case. There are some exceptions though. I love curried eggs or egg salad sandwiches, but with boiled eggs I only like the white part and always separate the yolk from the white and fry the white only. So an all white omelette is perfect for me.

    OH is going to make chilli fish for dinner tonight. It may be my undoing!! The fish is cut into bitesize pieces then put into a tempura batter and deep fried. It is served with a chilli sauce and rice. I will just have a small serve and try to count the calories so I dont go over the TDEE I have worked out. I am going to fast during the day a well.

    Hope everyone has a great weekend.

    Forgot to say something about the Lamb subject……

    My OH grew up on a sheep farm in Tassie. He told me there was not a butcher shop near them so they would alternate their meat by killing a sheep which would last a fortnight and also by shooting the kangaroos and eating kangaroo meat the next fortnight. Beef was only on special occasions like the odd restaurant meal when they went to the big city. Hence I gather he has had his fair share of lamb.

    I gained .1 of a kg after my FD yesterday. I guess I shouldn’t complain, because I lost a couple pounds after my first FD this week after gaining last weekend. This weekend I’ll eat mindfully. Poached Tilapia filets with lemon and capers, cauliflower rice with bacon bits and spinach salad with the rest of the bacon bits, lemon juice, tangerine balsamic vinegar and just a drizzle of olive oil. Light but filling. Next week I’m traveling 3 days for work and eating out so I hope I can get a little weight off before I leave.

    Cinque, the fires in Northern California are mostly contained but there are still fires in other parts of the state. We had some rain overnight, but not a lot. Overall there is something like 15,000 people evacuated because of fires. This site has a summary of the different ones: http://calfire.ca.gov/communications/communications_StatewideFireSummary

    It’s cooling off here. It only got up to about 16 C today.

    Cali – yet another example of how scales can’t be trusted to do the right thing.
    I’m glad to hear you are getting some rain, hope it continues to be useful.
    I haven’t tried spaghetti squash – they are’t readily available in lots of shops – only the really large green grocers. I have a cheap manual gadget that turns cylinders of veg into spaghetti-like strands, so that’s more useful to me. I mostly make tomato based sauces – sometimes with meat, but often just veg. I also like pesto with sundried tomatoes. Last night’s pasta sauce was an unusual one that I’ve made for years and I really like:
    A small tin of well drained & flaked tuna or salmon (no skin or bones), 1/2 bag of baby spinach, garlic, chilli, lemon scented olive oil, halved cherry tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, cracked pepper and salt if needed. Once my “pasta” is ready I remove it from the pan and add the chilli, garlic, tuna & spinach and stir until it’s warm and the spinach is wilted. Then I add everything else, including the “pasta” and remove from the heat. I used to make this with normal pasta and I’d use a tin of Sirena tuna in chilli oil. These days I mostly use tuna or salmon packed in brine or water and add a controlled amount of the lemon scented olive oil – just a little on a FD and a more generous drizzle on a NFD. I’m so used to pasta meaning tomato & parmesan flavours that this makes a nice change – I particularly like it in warmer weather as the lemony zesty flavour is refreshing.

    JJ – Yes I do think that sometimes the change is more about shape than weight – that’s why it’s helpful to take measurements occasionally as they sometimes give you good news when the scales are frustratingly silent.

    Arelkade – I can identify with your reaction to the desserts – I sometimes even end up with a headache when I overdo it. I used to be in a book club that met monthly and I always home regretting all the fat & sugar I’d eaten on those afternoons. One thing I learned though, was that it’s easier to fast the next day as I was usually still feeling a bit sick.

    Hi everyone else, hope you are having a nice Saturday.

    I read all the posts early this morning and now I’m trying to remember what I read.

    We used to get spaghetti squash in Perth but I haven’t seen it in years. I loved it. We’d bake the two halves and then fill them with bolognaise sauce – but the spaghetti kept coming and coming. It was so dense. You could repeat the exercise with more bolognaise sauce the following night. And the next.

    Thank you for your help and interest in the chicpea and pumpkin curry. I wouldn’t make it again without considerable adaptation. I ended up extracting three cups of the liquid and cooking some brown lentils in that. I wasted a lot of time stirring them as they take a while to cook and I didn’t want to add more liquid. But they have more texture and hold their form better than red lentils. Fortunately, we have some seriously hot chilli growing as it definitely needed it. The lady for whom I’d made this particular dish was very appreciative and said it was ‘food right up her street’. DD also thought it was great. I served it with extra chilli cut up, coriander and plain yoghurt. But that really was just a side dish for everyone else. It was a glorious 31C and we spent the entire afternoon outside. I even indulged in a G&T. It now feels as if summer has really arrived.

    Lindsay, yes you are awesome to get up half an hour before you go to bed to take care of the grandchildren! I note that you gained 1kg following a FD. I really feel for you. I do agree with the others that we can sometimes plateau and results might show up on the measuring tape instead of the scales (I always recommend that people measure absolutely everything, advice I wish I had heeded). Nevertheless, if everything else remains unchanged and you have completed your FD correctly, I would find it hard to accept a gain of one kilo without questioning what’s going on. There isn’t anything on your profile so forgive me if you’ve already addressed these things – I get mixed up when several people join the thread at the same time. If that had happened to me, I would consider the following:
    *Investing in a very good set of bathroom and kitchen scales (essential tools of the trade, Cinque!).
    *Making sure my TDEE is correct. In particular, most of us tend to think we’re more active than we actually are. So, when you’re calculating your TDEE, make sure you select ‘light activity’ or ‘sedentary’.
    *500 cals for women/600 cals for men is just a simplified number created by Dr M. to make 5:2 easy to follow. If a quarter of your TDEE is actually less than that, then you’d need to cut back accordingly. If you are very close to your goal weight, it may be hard to shift the final kgs.
    *Are you accurately calculating the calorie intake for absolutely everything that passes your lips on a FD? This includes all milk in tea/coffee; tea bags, etc.
    *When does your FD begin and end?
    *What kinds of foods are you eating on a FD, what time of day is the first intake and the last?
    *Do you tend to over-compensate the day before or after a FD with extra food?
    *Are you drinking excessive amounts of water on a FD? We do need more water on FDs to make up for the water that we’re not gaining from food, however it is a myth that we require 8 litres of water in order to lose weight. It doesn’t hurt to drink more but, if you are, this could explain your weight gain.
    That’s all I can think of right now but, unless you dropped that weight the day after the day after the FD, I wouldn’t accept a kg gain as being OK – let’s get it sorted!

    JJulie. All those ‘under 500 cal’ eating days this week and STILL over 80kg? And you don’t even seem discouraged. You are amazing with your perseverance and high spirits. Does any of the above apply to you? How lovely to have the Japanese students. That tempura fish sounds tasty. I hope you and OH are having a fabulous weekend.

    CalifD, that’s good that the fires might be getting under control. LJ, glad the lamb was good. Cinque, hello, I hope your pre-FD is going well.

    We have spent the morning at nurseries including Bunnings – I see what you mean about the sausage sizzle. OH was definitely being drawn in but he knew better than to suggest it! Last week, we had a terrific wind through here that blew down a huge tree in our front garden. 20 years’ growth down the drain and now we are quite exposed to the street. Some of you know that my dear old neighbour (94) recently moved to a facility and her late husband’s family are getting it ready to sell. We fear it will become a two storey building bearing down on us and, now that tree is gone, we are back to square one for privacy. We bought some more fast-growing grevilleas and callistemon both of which you mentioned in your post Arel. I love the birds they attract.

    Arel, what do the participants of the writers’ group write about? That sounds interesting. I attend a weekly thing in which an ‘over the top’ morning tea forms a large part of the activity. I can’t understand why people believe they require plates of sandwiches and cakes in between breakfast and lunch. I’d personally prefer to focus on securing a decent cup of coffee but I am in the minority so I go along with it. I never touch the sandwiches but do sometimes indulge in the sweet treats if someone has made them.

    Hi Thin – glad you finally resolved your curry problem.
    Sorry that you lost a tree, but I do like the sound of those native shrubs – I think they’ll give you more screening at body height than tree trunks do. They’ll also attract native birds, especially the nectar eaters.
    I agree that you need to underestimate activity level when using the TDEE calculator on this website. I did some calculations on this TDEE calculator and worked my way back to the formulas that it was using – it’s using the upper limits for the appropriate uplift factor for each activity level. For example it applies a multiplier of 1.3 to your BMR if you select sedentary. However when you read more broadly about this issue, activity levels are usually given as a range – the uplift range for a sedentary lifestyle is actually 1.1-1.3. I think that’s a problem that it takes the most optimistic option. I know that when I’m sedentary my appropriate uplift factor is at the bottom end of that range, not the top.

    As if that wasn’t lengthy enough, I feel I should qualify my comment about the scales being essential. Some people don’t weigh very often and one brazen woman doesn’t even posses a set of scales. There’s nothing wrong with that approach. What I meant was, if you are going to rely on scales (and being an obsessive weigher, I can’t imagine life without that constant feedback), then a very good set of scales is vital.

    Hi LJ, I just saw your post, thanks for qualifying that. How’s your day going? Yes, most of our front garden is now native shrubs and plants. We get a lot of honeyeater, wattle variety birds. The tree that came down was a native too and it was tall and bushy. I don’t know its name. When we bought this house, it was all roses. I do like them but they were gnarly and require far too much water for our Perth climate. We saved two bushes.

    Thin, I’m sorry to hear that you lost one of your trees. It must have been a strong windstorm to blow over an established tree. We have a callistemon in our back garden. We call it a bottlebrush tree. It’s more of a big bush though. We had them at our last house too. The hummingbirds like them because of the red flowers. And they’re fairly drought tolerant which is good around here.

    I’m an obsessive weigher too, but I wish I could get away from it. I let it influence my mood way too much. Gaining a kg for no known reason can put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day. So many things, like salt, can influence water weight, which can be a big thing.

    I was looking for some other pumpkin and chickpea recipes since that one thin tried had too much liquid and not enough spice. There are several out there if you Google the title. A couple of them use pumpkin purée. Rather than use strictly that, maybe using chunks of pumpkin and adding some pumpkin purée would be a good way to add thickness. I usually just look at a recipe and then add spices to taste, using the ones in the recipe, but not necessarily in the amounts suggested. When everyone here refers to chilli, do you mean chilli peppers 🌶 or powder?

    Hope all of you are having a good day. I have to get some sleep!

    Cali – when I talk about chilli I mean fresh chillies (I suspect that’s probably a chilli pepper in the US)- I usually buy a variety called “birds eye” as they are most available variety here. They are very hot and I usually only use up to half of one at a time. For some reason I always buy the red ones.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird%27s_eye_chili#/media/File:Phrik_khi_nu.jpg
    However if you want to, substituting with dried chilli, powdered chilli or chilli flakes are all fine too – although I find in lightly cooked and summer meals the fresh chilli works better. When it’s something slow cooked it really doesn’t matter whether it’s fresh or one of the dried alternatives and I do often use dried chilli flakes in winter meals.

    LJoyce, thank you for clarifying. We have those types of peppers in our grocery stores. They’re pretty hot. Actually we have several different types of peppers, most of them hot. I often use the jalapeño peppers that have a nice flavor and medium amount of heat. Most of these are common here: https://www.chowhound.com/food-news/55198/know-your-peppers/ The Bell Peppers which come open green, yellow and orange are the ones that I think you call Capsicum. I love those stuffed with minced turkey or beef and rice, cooked in tomato sauce. It’s a good dish for a pressure cooker or Instant Pot because they get done so much more quickly.

    What we call chili powder here isn’t usually hot. It’s a mixture of mostly mild chili peppers blended with other spices including cumin, onion, garlic powder, and sometimes salt. It’s used primarily in making the dish called chili. I usually add quite a bit to chili. But I also add a fair amount of cumin to chili.

    Happy sunday morning all.

    Im a religious weigher every morning. Although I take into account the daily numbers I take more notice of the weekly average number that my fitbit scales gives me. I also take regular body measurements. Ive found body measurements and clothing fit to be the best indicators of weight loss, the scales are my daily incentive for adjustment if required.

    Getting closer this week to dropping below the 63 kg mark, another week should do it.

    Ive had a few late nights the last week and have been extremely busy (as will be the coming week) so feeling a bit run down and unmotivated today.

    Enjoyed a lovely road trip to the Barossa Valley yesterday to meet OH’s eldest daughter and family although the 13 hour round trip has added to my tiredness. They are a fantastic family and welcomed us with open arms. Well that’s 3 of OH’s children met with 2 to go. I’m secretly hoping when I wake MissD shortly that she won’t want to go to Little Athletics this morning – I’m craving a day home to recharge.

    Needing to pull out last of the lettuce and broad bean crops which have come to the end if their life. Wont be replanting anything due to the upcoming summer heat and serious lack of time for constant watering.

    Oh one thing I wanted to mention. At lunch yesterday I had finished my soda water and we were just about to leave and I needed something to quench my thirst. MissD had half a small glass of lemonade left (the horrible stuff from the mixer squirter tap thing that pubs use nowdays) so I gulped it down. Within 30 seconds I had a huge head rush pain and felt unwell- thinking it was the sugar hit considering I dont have any sugar at all these days. It took about half hour before my body feel normal again. Note to self – steer clear of soft drink no matter how thirsty I am. It tasted absolutely disgusting anyway.

    Good morning,
    It is my Fast Day, having my first cup of tea.
    My dishwasher sent out its code yesterday, the one that Dr Dishwasher said would mean it is time to get a new dishwasher. So I am on hand washing duty, and that makes a fast day even better: I won’t be making many dirty dishes today!

    There is sad news about the trawler this morning, thinking of you JJulie, and of all the families and friends.

    I’m glad you made the pumpkin and chickpea curry work, Thin.
    And I do have kitchen scales!!!!! 😉
    Your new shrubs sound wonderful!
    The bottlebrushes here are all in bloom, and there are heaps around, including a dusky pink one outside my back door. I had been thinking of mentioning it and wondering if Cali would have any idea what I was talking about. But you do Cali!
    They would look so beautiful with hummingbirds hovering!

    We have a limited variety of chilies here, in most places, Cali. Basically birds-eyes and long peppers. My shop often has jalapenos too. If I am reading a US recipe I know ‘cayenne’ means I use my chili powder, and ‘chili powder’ means I add a pinch of cumin. (Are you rolling your eyes?). I do hope we start getting more varieties though, and the lovely dried types too. (I have dropped an l from chilli since being on a cooking forum with lots of Americans too).

    Goodmorning Gday,
    I nearly got a headache myself, reading about that lemonade! Hope you get your quiet day.
    Also: I’m sick of watering here and it has only been a couple of days! I have to do it all with a watering can as the tap is too far away for a hose. I do hope we are not in for ten years drought again.

    Sending best wishes to everyone

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