Afternoon All,

Thin, don’t worry, I most certainly feast! I love the weekend when I get 2 days in a row to eat and I also do most of my cooking. Your enclosure sounds like a wonderful place to have a cool drink.

Cinque – yes the extra day is good but I don’t always make it. I originally weighed 86kgs but making it to 68.8kgs is good. Still have a way to go! I’m glad you’re feeling better.

Cali – your sauerkraut sounds yummy and there is nothing like eating stuff you’ve grown.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday! xo

LJoyce I’m tired just reading your posts! 😉
I have decided to try 3 FDs ie Mon/Wed/Fri for a while to see if I can hack it.
I’ll need to lift my game and find some tasty but easy recipes, as I’ve been basically eating the same soups and salads all the time, and that will get old pretty quickly if it’s 3 times a week!
Hope everyone has had a great weekend.

Arelkade – I do often make my own bread, although the sourdough fruit & walnut rolls were bought from the Central produce market. Although I don’t eat a lot of bread I do have it 2-3 days a week and I like dense high fibre breads with strong grainy flavours – it’s not easy to find really good breads so I often bake myself. Not something I eat on FDs though.

Kiwi – I was feeling pretty tired after the digging, but I’ve recovered now.
I did 3 FDs a week for a while when I was losing weight on 5:2. For me it was difficult because I struggled to stay under my TDEE on the NFDs and when I put more FDs into my week it seem to drive me to eat more on the NFDs. However I know it works for some people. If you don’t have a problem with binge eating then the extra FD might work well.
There is another forum on this site for the SH group to post FD recipes that you might find useful: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/southern-hemispherites-fd-recipes/
Like you, I also have salads and soups on FDs, but I have some other staples which can feel varied, depending on the veg you use:
– omelettes, (made mostly with eggwhite and one whole egg), flavoured with a little parmesan and filled with veg.
– sirfrys, made with any suitable veg (I also keep a bag of mixed asian veg in the freezer in case I have no energy or time to prepare veg). I add protein as chicken, prawns, squid, cashews or satay sauce. I also sometimes add konjac noodles. Depending on the sauce you use the flavour can change dramatically.
– curries, made from mostly vegetables. For protein I add pulses, meat, chicken or paneer. Sometimes I make the curry with just veg, but serve it with a large dollop of greek yoghurt.
– griddled or BBQ vegetables. Eggplant and zucchini I slice into 1cm thick slices. Capsicum I cut into wide stips, large mushrooms I trim the stem so they sit flat. Broccolini, asparagus and green beans I blanch and then grill them. Roma tomatoes ca just be sliced in half. I find that 3 veg in enough variety to feel like a meal. I put a little flavoured oil or olive oil spray on the veg and whatever spice blends or herbs I fancy. Sometimes I add a small amount of chicken, turkey, haloumi o prawns to the grill plate as well. Leftovers will reheat for another hot meal, or they can be used to create a salad.

Hope those of you fasting had an easy day today.

Good morning all,

Arel, I use milk kefir grains. Intesha, who’s a sometime poster now, uses water kefir. CalifD, I’m glad yours revived OK. Agree with all you said about fasting two days vs. three. Not that I’ve ever been moved to practice three FDs but, due to moving days around once in a blue moon, I have done alternate day fasting. I found myself over-compensating on that one NFD in between.

Today, for the first time, I was thinking about the use of Monday as a FD. Not for me, but just considering the many people who practice a Mon/Thurs regime. This was Dr M.’s routine and I think a lot of people followed his lead making it the most popular fasting routine. But today I started wondering – Monday has always had a bad rap being the first day of the traditional work week, a day not necessarily looked forward to as compared to, say, Friday. For those struggling with completing a FD, I’m wondering then, is Monday actually a good choice of FD? Just a thought.

CalifD, yes I can see the merit in choosing a FD that’s the least likely to get sabotaged. Sunday is one of my FDs simply because, when we decided to start 5:2, I thought if this is going to be the end of making excuses, then why not start today, which happened to be a Sunday. I’ve come to love it because it means only one day of the weekend can become an over-indulgence.

Caro, I meant to comment on your 18kg loss too. Great achievement. I was 87kg at my worst and now 60kg so I’m familiar with the range you’ve descended.

Morning to you too Cinque. Glad you had a happy day with the babies. Ooops, and that makes two posts already and I haven’t even been for the walk yet.

Part 2. (My neighbour was round for our Monday morning cuppa. Todays topic: Christmas madness!)
And 4 posts up in the meantime!

Kiwi, I hope you find some useful recipes on that SH recipe thread LJoyce linked, and if you find recipes elsewhere, and they work well, do add them to the thread!

Good luck trying the three days of fasts, you can be comfortable in the knowledge that if they are too hard, or don’t work well, you simply go back to 5:2. But I hope they give you the boost you want.

Arelkade, it will be so good if you can break that habit of giving in to lollies at the end of your fast days. Hooray that you managed it last time! What do you think is going on? That dreadful sugar addiction, or not having enough of a meal planned?
I have managed to get through the fast-day-evening-temptations by knowing that I am nearly at the end and I can eat whatever I want the next morning, but that hasn’t worked for you?
I am glad it felt so good to have finally completed a fast. Here is your medal: http://m.rgbimg.com/cache1nJSx4/users/z/ze/zela/600/miTZyMU.jpg Ooh look, there are two of them!

I do so hope you enjoy the Wai Lana dvds as much as I do!
You too, if you decide to get it Cali. ….But don’t buy it if it is just going to sit with your other ones! Chuck them all out! (Minimalist Cinque speaking here).

Cali, what a great paragraph you wrote for Kiwi, exactly how I feel about the sustainability of 5:2.

The choice of days is fascinating. I loved getting my Sunday fast because it is generally a quiet day and it feels somehow like a day of meditation, and going slowly, and listening to myself and just ‘being’. That mindfulness stuff. And yet yesterday I was so glad to have a busy afternoon! What a contradiction!

Thin, have a lovely walk! Here I am on my second post too!

Best wishes to everyone!

LJoyce thanks for the recipe link, and Thin thanks for putting up lots of recipes! 🙂
CalifD and Cinque I promise I’ll just try 4:3 for a couple of weeks and then see.
It’s very hard in this house, I live with my sister who is an “emotional eater” like me. She is where I was a year ago, so constantly has lollies/chocolate/biscuits etc around. Her husband, my bro-in-law has the worst diet you could imagine, he is American and eats meat, potatoes and junk food. He always seems to have a waffle or a pizza for dinner on my fast days, so I have those smells tormenting me!
Because it’s not my house I don’t have much control over the fridge, freezer or pantry, hence why I tend to live on low calorie foil soup packs and pre-cut salads on my fast days!
Sorry, very whingey, I’m lucky that they gave me a roof over my head when life went a bit pear-shaped, just miss having my own cooking schedule.
Right, off to distract myself by giving the dog a bath, and cutting the daggy bits around her bum! Glam eh? 😉

Hello again,
Kiwi, I can’t imagine a more difficult situation (although having a few kids comes close). All power to you getting your healthy eating habits going all week through: fast days and non fast days.
I bet you will gradually work out your most important needs as to fridge and freezer and pantry, and hopefully they will be ones your sister and BIL can accommodate.

Hmm, just realised, doing this while homeless would be even harder. I am so glad they were able to help you out. And you will the best possible housemate by being healthier so you are doing them a favour too.

Ooh yes, I meant to mention fairy penguins (name change when ‘fairy’ was such a derogatory term for gay men). I remember going down to Phillip Island 50 years ago when we would stand on the beach with torches to watch them come in. There was one street light there. Now it is all lit with barriers and coach area and announcements in English and Chinese. Then when I was living in St Kilda in my late teens the colony was discovered there, it was so amazing that they were in the middle of Melbourne, and every one was sworn to secrecy, to keep them safe. (They aren’t a secret any more). http://stkildapenguins.com.au/skp/?p=656

Motto for this month: Food makes a good servant but a bad master!

Cali – I think some populations of little penguins are doing well, it’s just the colony on granite island that’s diminishing. It’s not development, because nobody lives on granite island. However due their small size rats will kill the young and dogs and feral cats can kill the adults. Dogs are banned from the island, but it’s not patrolled. The island is only about 100m off shore and there is a permanent bridge between the mainland and the island. So it’s easy for predators to walk across. They also had a problem with disease that wiped out 100s in a few seasons. I think it’s been mismanaged by the state government and local council. When you consider it was part of the tourist draw to Victor Harbour I don’t understand why they wouldn’t protect it as an asset. I suspect that nobody invests until the problem is dire.

Good morning 5:2ers,

Check – in: now don’t laugh, 65.7kgs, down 100mg, for the second time! I think I know why, but no time to explain atm.

Merry
Also on maintainence, just struggling with an Annus Horribulus this year and very happy 5:2 is helping me limit the stress eating, and very happy to have started this year at my goal weight.

Hi Everyone
Good on you Merry, a down is always a down!

I dont like to fast on Mondays as I can usually do a very good NFD and still lose weight after the weekend’s excesses. Then Im motivated to fast on Tuesdays, except every 2nd Tuesday I have a women’s morning that includes cake, so every 2nd week I have to do a Monday.

I also have 5 or 3 OFM i have to cook for or eat with. I find it easier to completely fast until dinner time and then have a low cal meal. Tonight it is bolonaise sauce and ill have a little with zoodles and my daughter probably will too but others can have pasta. Then i dont have to listen to the “why aren’t you eating ?” routine and explain 5:2 again and they dont even know that I haven’t eaten all day.

We had a great day and a half away with really lovely people and then 3 things to go to on Sunday which involved food and wine so my scales were up 1.6kg on Monday but down this morning by 600 grams. Today is my FD and I haven’t eaten anything yet and its now 3pm. I do have Pilates tonight so I won’t eat until I get home at about 8.45pm. I knew November would be a difficult month so I may fast 3 days this week.

I have the 2 granddaughters today and we went to Seville Water Park for fun in the water and the sandpit. They were both really good when it came time to leave (after 2 hours) and now the younger is having a nap. Im letting the older one watch some TV so I can relax a bit haha

Have a great/day evening everyone

Good afternoon fellow 5:2ers,
FD today, I am a Tuesday and Thursday kind of guy. I was a Mon-Thurs bloke but I enjoyed listening to and watching the football review shows on a Monday with a beer so I changed my FD to Tuesday. It is important to choose your FD’s carefully. I have my kids every weekend and tend to have less beer when they are around and I have to drive often to outings so no FD’s on the weekend. Then there is athletics training on Wednesday so home late couple of beers then dinner so no FD’s on Wednesdays and basketball on Friday until 9pm at times. As you can see I tend to think about when I might be having a beer and by doing these little changes it helps keep the over indulgences down in the beer department.

Thinatlast’s naked 5:2ing is all about getting your two FD’s in order sticking to them. Get this sorted first and you will be on the right path. On non FD’s not counting calories but learning control, portion size, you don’t need to have the kids leftovers, wait 30mins after eating your main meals you will not be hungry then even though your portions are a bit smaller. Watch for snacking. With kids in the house treats are often around so I have moved to getting the box of small chip packets, the pack of individual chocolates instead of a block that way you aren’t tempted to eat a couple of rows of chocolate or a large bag of chips. You will over indulge at sometime just try to keep it to a minimum.

Kiwiozbrit it is true your senses are heightened when fasting, I can smell all my neighbours dinners on a FD. When I do have a FD whilst cooking for my kids it can be quite empowering to make them dinner then put a pot of soup on the stove. They just ask is it your starving day? They are very supportive and as long as it doesn’t affect them they don’t really care.

Merryme I am going to the same place for holidays we will have to catch up again, show you my skinny ankles Haha.

Cinque you took the glory, I was going to mention the St.Kilda pier penguins, I have seen them on the beaches down near the Twelve Apostles hiding under the cliffs.

Meals for the day:
2 x white coffee’s 300kj, 500g minestrone soup 800kj, 100g kidney beans 400kj, 150g mushrooms 175kj Total 1675kj or 400 cals.

I how have hedge planted. After putting the first 3 plants in the holes I’d dug I decided I wasn’t happy with the spacing. So I actually dug more holes so I could put in 7 plants rather than 6. It took me nearly 3 hours to dig, plant, backfill and water in. But it looks good – better than it would have if I’d stick with the previous spacing. I had only purchased 6 plants, but I has a couple of the same plant elsewhere in the garden and one was in an inconvenient spot, so I dug it up and moved it – I’m hoping it survives the experience. I still have lots of little shrubs to put in, but they are small plants so they won’t require nearly as much digging.

After all that work I think I’ve earned my dinner tonight. I have a very small serve of chilli con carne spare, so I’ve added 2 poached eggs on top and called it huevos rancheros.

Arelkade and KiwiOB, well done on trying to break the lolly habit. I find that the little sweet treats were a habit and it’s so easy to justify it by looking only at the calories. I used to do similar things, and it took time to change all those unhelpful behaviour patterns but I found that without all those “extras” it actually helped me to make better food choices with other things too. It also avoids the risk of stimulating my appetite with sugar, which increases insulin.

Joffy, if FDs and beer days work for you then go for it.

Stay, I agree with your comments about being able to do a very controlled NFD after a day of excess. My excesses aren’t confined to weekends an I always used to follow high cal days with a FD until I realised just what you said. If I did a NFD instead and then still did my 2 FDs that week, I actually had a better week, with more days of controlled eating.

Merry, if your weight is heading downward when life is throwing you lemons you are doing well. In those circumstances I always seems to gain weight. Please don’t be disheartened, I think you are doing well in the circumstances.

Hi Everyone,
Too hot here, all of a sudden, and either hayfever, or another cold coming on. Sigh.
I almost made today a fast day, but then I remembered I am out of miso and organised to go to Friends of the Earth tomorrow with my good friend, as we both need more.
So a sensible eating non fast day instead, and my ‘starving day’ tomorrow.

Kiwi, Yay You!
Sorry for the insomnia though, I hope that was a one off.

LJoyce, I hope your sore fingers have settled down! And you are digging more holes! So impressive!

Yes I have an Australian accent, Cali, and I have friend from California so I imagine you talking like her, even though that isn’t your origin! (But she has lived in Melbourne for thirty years so hers has probably changed too!)

Merry, going down in 100g increments! Well, as you say, down is down! I do think you deserve a nice half kilo drop next week though!
I forgot to say, I loved hearing how you chose your name!

Hi Joffy, it is certainly beer weather, glad you have worked out how to manage it. Oh, I’d love to see some penguins down near the Twelve Apostles!

Arel, congrats on the second fast day sans lollies. I do hope the scales reward you!

Thin, I love to hear your dingo stories, and hope you have a great day fasting today.

We had high winds here through the night and then light steady rain all morning, but my new hedge survived. I was planning to plant the smaller shrubs today but I am still far too sore. I need to give my joints a day or two to calm down before I lift that spade again.

Cinque I’ve been wondering the same thing – is it hayfever or a virus. My nose has been misbehaving for a few days, I’ve needed a claratyne tablet and the rhinocort nasal spray every day. This morning I’m noticing lung congestion which usually means the start of an infection. Fingers crossed we both just have a touch of hayfever.

I’m just drinking my 3rd cup of tea. Haven’t felt like food at all this morning. I’m sure my appetite will make an appearance this afternoon.
As I’m not gardening today I might get some errands and shopping done.

Good morning everyone. MissD and I are in Adelaide for a couple of days for her medical appointments. We arrived yesterday and I’m missing my daily weight in already….lol.

Ive definately over eaten so far, minimal snacking just extremely large portion sizes which seems to be the trend now.

Lunch yesterday was a stonegrill sirloin at the Strathmore Hotel (LJoyce you may know this place on North Tce) so for tea I ordered an entree size main meal at an Italian restaurant and nearly died when I saw the portion size…..if that was entree I cringe to think what the main size would be like.

But in my defence I have clocked up many kms on my fitbit…..yes we shopped till we dropped yesterday afternoon. More high heel shoes for me, 3 pair (yes I’m addicted to pretty shoes) and MissD went crazy in Toyworld and Smiggles.

Medical appointments this morning and then back to the shops. MissD wants to go back to Smiggles and I’m clothes shopping ( yes yes I’m addicted to clothes shopping too). Did I mention we went to Haiges chocolates ? Did I also mention we have to go back again today because……..we ate them all last night…..ooops !!

Leaving early Friday morning, having the usual stop at St Kilda Adventure Playground and then home. I’m sure I will work off a few kgs at the playground.

Ok heres the soppy stuff. OH is depressed…..he’s missing me like crazy (yes I’m missing him big time too). Constant messaging, photo sending and phone calls…..he is so very sweet isn’t he.

Happy Thursday all.

Good morning, just checking in on a not so frothy Thursday. Sometimes a batch of milk just doesn’t want to co-operate. Anyway, it was a good FD yesterday thanks Cinque and I’m back down to the lower end of my 60-61kg range. Which is a good thing as we have a shareholders’ meeting to attend today and it’s usually a bit of an indulgence. (They have to butter us up so we will approve their obscene remuneration packages.)

Cinque, I know you lost a lot of weight but I’m amazed that you can get through a cat flap.

LJ, I’ve been following your gardening exploits over the last couple of days. Good job. It’s my back that tends to give in first when I do lots of digging.

Always lovely to hear from you Joffy. I bet your children are dead proud of their dad’s weight loss even if they are indifferent to his FDs.

I hope everyone’s doing well and sticking to their FDs admirably?

Quickly off for a walk as 36C is forecast today.

Hi Everyone

Glad some of your involvement in caring for OFMs is easing up MerryMe. Hope you do see a big drop tomorrow 🙂

Good on you having a good FD yesterday Thin. You made me laugh picturing Cinque in a cat door. (i just re-read Cinques post and she DID say it was for her also lol)

Cinque, I am appreciating the cooler weather but not the rain. It seems to rain on my days at home when I want to mow. I hope all your hives have completely gone x

Sounds like you are having a wonderful time with your DD, Gday. They say ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ haha

LJoyce, hope all is well with you not having an appetite. Maybe slow down on the gardening? You have done so much heavy work!

CaliF, where are you originally from?

I had a great FD on Tuesday and yesterday my GF took me out to a winery for lunch. I dont normally have pasta but it was Italian. The food was all delicious and driving my car meant only one wine for me 🙂 (okay as Gday is confessing I will confess to a dark salted chocolate tart with fig and tangelo with whipped cream ..so yum) I would normally have had a small dinner after that but my DD cooked a lovely roast lamb.
Today is a FD for me. We are going to a small theatre tonight where we apparently sit at tables and can bring wine and cheese… BUT WE will NOT!!. I will bring water and have a cup of coffee they provide at intemission. There Ive said it so i can do it!! Ill have a vegetable soup to fill me up before we go.:)

Hope you all have a great day. Remember those fasting, we can have it tomorrow!
xx

Hello all. I have been reading all your interesting posts but haven’t had a chance to answer. So, sorry for not addressing all the posts directly – I’ll try to do better! I am only posting today because I know from experience that once I drop out of regular posting, it is too hard to get back into the swing. And having found you all, I don’t want to lose you. (I’ve also just had a consultation with a PhD student who’s looking at internet behaviour – sharing and lurking – and it hit a guilty button).
It’s my birthday today, so no FD. I’d planned one, but my daughter gave me half a muffin when she came back from swimming at 6.15, and was disappointed when I said no, because she’d made it especially (and no added sugar – just pineapple and apple). My husband is taking me to a lovely Italian restaurant tonight – one we’ve been meaning to go to for a while but I’ve steered clear of because most Italian food is too too good. Two of my brothers and their wives are taking us to lunch tomorrow, and my kids and their kids for dinner (more Italian) tomorrow night. It’s hard with the little ones to go out to dinner (4, 3 and 20 months) but this particular restaurant is open plan, lots of room, and slopes down quite an incline from the road so we have a chance to grab the baby if she bolts. On the straight, she leaves me for dead. How is something with such tiny legs so fast, and how did I get so slow?
We’ve been working away on our renovation and it’s been tough and frustrating. We’ve had this before with a build. They start well, do great work, but never seem to be able to finish. This one has dragged on and we are now up against Christmas, and family staying there from 1 December, and still no shower screen, so floods in the bathroom everytime we shower. Still I’ve kept to my FDs (except for today) and although I am still on a plateau, I feel a bit tighter (is that possible?) and I have a lovely new dress in a smaller size for my birthday celebrations.
My dear dear eldest brother gave me a beautiful red self-watering pot filled with chia seeds he’d sprouted. It not only looks fabulous, but it’s healthy too. We’d long ago said ‘no more presents’ – where to put them is always the problem – but we still do it. I remember my grandmother saying, when asked what she wanted for Christmas, ‘Give me a kiss. I won’t have to dust it.’ OK long post over and back to work. Have a great day all.

Happy Birthday Lindsay!
https://birthdaystorm.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Happy-Birthday-Flowers-6-1.jpg

Your post came through while I was writing my last, I didn’t ignore you! I just needed that lie down before I could have another go.
Enjoy your special day, the year ahead has room for 104 lovely fast days.
And time to get those renovations finished I hope!
Enjoy chasing that lightning legs grandchild around tonight! And eating your chia sprouts!

I love your grandmothers quote. I am going to use it!

Back to resting, part two 😉

Thank you Cinque – such pretty flowers, and my favourite, pink. 104 fast days? mmmm. That sounds daunting (although I was disappointed I couldn’t do one today. Maybe I’m getting into the swing). After all the hard work of the past fortnight, I expected to see some movement in those stubborn scales. Now I am a year older they may take pity on me. (haha) Hope the hives fade quickly. How nasty for you.
LJoyce you don’t sound well at all – don’t work too hard (or is it too late?). Just a thought. My husband always goes down with a chest infection if he works with sugar cane mulch. Is that the same as the product you’re using? I try to get him to wear a mask – which he only does while I’m supervising. But it is like day follows night – laying mulch, chest infection.
Enjoy the rest of your day everyone.

Happy Birthday, Lindsay! Hope you have wonderful time at the Italian restaurant.
https://imgur.com/a/PrWzE
I love your grandmother’s saying. I will have to remember that one!

Cinque, I too had visions of you climbing through that cat door and wondered if that’s how you train the cat to use it? 😁

LJoyce, I hope those antibiotics work quickly and you feel better. Take it easy for another day. You’ve been working hard on your garden. It sounds like you did a good job since the wind didn’t blow anything over. We’re having wind and rain tonight and we have to go out with the dog with a big umbrella because he doesn’t go out in the in the rain to pee. Such a spoiled dog!

Thin, sorry about your unfrothy Thursday. I had some finished kefir go bad in the frig today. (After the grains were strained out.) It’s the first time that ever happened. I think it was because the milk I used was a couple days past the day to be used by. It tasted ok yesterday. But today it was bitter. I thought the fermentation would preserve it a little longer.

Caro, thanks for the movie suggestion. I’ll have to see if it’s screening here. I’m always looking for good movie suggestions. Congrats on the 100 gram loss!

Stay, hope you enjoyed the theater. You asked where I’m originally from. I grew up in the Midwest, in Wisconsin in the U.S.

Merry, hope your FD is going well. I’m fasting on Thursday too.

GDSA, it sounds like you had a wonderful couple of days with MissD. So nice that your OH was so lonely without you.

I was wondering about penguin too. He doesn’t usually stay away so long. Does anyone have an email address for him?

Cinque I laughed out loud at your cat flap pic…..hilarious !

Ljoyce sorry to hear you are unwell.

Many, many years ago I worked in a restaurant and I remember the chef saying that milk won’t froth at certain times of the year due to the cow feed.

MissD’s medical appointments went well and we don’t have to go back for another check up for 4 years and that will probably be the last one.

More shopping yesterday afternoon….I must definitely have another serious cull of my wardrobe on my return home.

Dinner last night at a lovely Italian cafe. Gourmet veggie pizza, 2 large glasses of red and a large slice of lemon curd cheesecake. I was struggling to finish the wine and cheesecake but managed it…..felt a bit yuck afterwards though. The last of my food indulgence this morning with eggs benedict for brekky then heading home to return to ‘normal’. I feel like I will need a few fast days over the coming weeks.

The new box of Haiges chocolates is firmly tucked away at the bottom of the suitcase….unopened.

OH just messaged…..’8 hrs 15 mins’….he’s counting down the hours and minutes until my return…..how sweet. He’s also bought me a welcome home pressy…..mmmm but not letting on what it is. I did buy him some Haiges and managed not to eat that lot thank goodness !

Happy Friday everyone 😆😆

Good morning everyone,
Miso the cat came through her cat flap this morning! First time!
The sad truth is that the photo I put up was thanks to Mr Google and wasn’t me at all. The cat flap is in a window. I have managed to rig it so it is open and she is getting more used to it.

I’m cooking mungbean dosa for breakfast, they are really good. Thin, was it you who said you soaked mung beans and some of them didn’t swell? That happened to me last time too. So annoying to have these tiny little hard ones in among the big fat ones. Anyway I read up and this time I soaked them by pouring boiling water over them, and that seems to have done the trick.

Penguin, welcome back! Very impressive to go for a holiday and come back lighter. Inspirational in fact! Good luck with your kefir.

Gday, so glad the medical side of your trip has worked out so well. Cheers for MissD! And the other side sounds great fun.

Enjoy your writers group Arelkade, and good luck with your kefir grains too.

Cali, your grains must have taken the dodgy milk and compounded it! Best of luck getting them sorted out.

Lindsay I hope you enjoyed the rest of your day (and are looking forward to 251 normal eating days over the next year 🙂 )

My hives have gone, but I have an update about all the lung tests I had. Just when I thought I could wait three months to be checked again, they called me in to say they had discussed my case at the peer specialists meeting and were collectively agreed that I should get it out after all. They will cut out the little mass, check it, and cut out more around it if need be. I’m booked in for Tuesday. If everything goes well it will be keyhole surgery and I will be back home in less than a week. I am very appreciative that they follow up things so well.
I’m keen to have Miso fine with the cat flap by then, it will make it so much easier for her to be looked after while I am in hospital. I think she is on track.

Best wishes everyone for a good day.

Cinque. Training goes both ways. My neighbour has a cat who used the flap perfectly happily for a couple of years, then decided that the door should be opened for him. The door is being opened for him.