This topic contains 27,925 replies, has 832 voices, and was last updated by Neilithicman 1 day, 20 hours ago.
Cinque, a couple of weeks or more ago you posted a link for a video that I didn’t have time to watch right then. Now I can’t find it. Was this the one? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2210982/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl
Songbirdme posted the link yesterday in the Challenge thread. I saw it tonihpght and watched it. It’s not about fasting for weight loss, but for therapeutic effects. It’s very interesting and thought provoking and certainly a worthwhile watch.
Cali – I’m in awe that you weigh less than the beginning of the month I wish I could say the same.
I’ve just had a trip out to the cherry farm to get the last remaining christmas gifts, and some lovely cherries for me too – I had a handful for afternoon tea. I think a 2kg box of best quality cherries makes a nice christmas gift for a family and they are always received well.
I’m still on a FD – even with my little snack of cherries. I have some roasted cauliflower in the fridge that I’ll add some other veg to and turn into a salad for dinner. Hope those of you fasting are finding it easy today.
Hi Cali, I think this would be the one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LddoEv8BDrc
Just having my yummy miso soup and enjoying every mouthful.
Intesha, so lovely to see your post. Thankyou, and wonderful good wishes to you too, for Christmas and the new year. How lovely to have a little grandson asleep next to you.
And whoopee it won’t be long before you are travelling!
Thin, you made me add it up and it is only 4 and a half weeks. Feels like months!
Cali, congratulations on the under 60kg! And my door is open!
That’s the door to the cat flap by the way CalifD but you’ll probably fit at the rate you’re losing.
I bought some cherries this morning LJ. I was careful to make sure they still had stems. $12/kilo. I’d forgotten about them until I read your post. When I’ve pressed ‘submit’ I shall get them out for an afternoon treat – no idea of the calories involved and have been very careful today – inspired by CalifD’s effort.
Ok I will have a look at the sci-fi thingy. I once got hooked on one, not realising that it was ‘fantasy’ – it’s called Outlander. I see it’s on Netflix so have a look. It’s just that once it becomes ‘unbelievable’ I tend to lose interest but this one was also very well done with good actors. Suddenly, when you’re well into it, maybe the second series, a lot of steamy sex starts appearing – I think they changed writers or something!
Cinque, have you enjoyed your first FD back? How did it go for you?
P.S. hey LJ, guess what? The cherries I bought are from Torrens Valley Orchards, South Australia! And they are very nice.
Thin – cherries are about 250kj (60cal) per 100g. That’s roughly a dozen cherries – it’s also about the maximum amount that I can fit it my hand without losing some over the edge – which is my usual portion control tool when it comes to cherries. Fibre content is pretty poor, and sugar content is about 10g/100g. In terms of calories and sugar it’s pretty close to blueberries and kiwifruit.
Thin – I don’t know that orchard, although I’m quite familiar with where Torrens Valley is. In fact I’ll be driving through it on my way to the Riverland on christmas day. Torrens Valley is near the border between the Adelaide Hills and the Barossa Valley – just a couple of towns away from the Barossa in fact.
I always go to the same orchard each year:
http://www.kentonvalleycherries.com.au/
It’s a bit closer to where I live, and they have the farm-door sales side of their business well organised.
After a very conservative NFD yesterday my scale reported 58.7 this morning. Only .7 kg away from my final goal of 58. My “wiggle room” to try to maintain under 59. I was more than surprised by that reading. I was hoping for an even 59. And today, Thursday, is my normal FD. 2 days before the “land mine days” begin, 3 celebration days. This will motivation to have fun, but not go overboard.
Thin, Outlanders isn’t on our Netflix here. The only one who has streaming is Starz and it’s a $9 per month subscription. I had actually been thinking about subscribing just for that show. Do you think it’s worth it?
Do you get a show called “The Orville” there? It’s a new show this season. It’s kind of a satire of Star Trek. Very funny with good characters and writing. Great graphics and broadcast in surround sound. It’s one of our favorite shows this season. Total tongue in cheek fantasy. 😁 Here’s a trailer: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d8aUuFsXRjU
Good morning,
Yes a horror incident in Melbourne yesterday afternoon, everyone is shaken. 19 are injured, 4 critically. I so hope they all recover.
How awful these dreadful instances of vehicles used as weapons are.
Both bystanders and emergency services reacted wonderfully.
My first fast day went well (I was tired and irritable, but then I didn’t have coffee yesterday, even though I am back to having it most days). I remembered to have a little snack (egg) in the early afternoon which did help.
Felt lovely this morning, and breakfast was gorgeous!
LJoyce, I meant to add in my post last night, how lovely those cherries sound. What a wonderful gift for a family, and how fresh and gorgeous they must be to last 2 weeks!
As well as the sugar, Thin, I remember they are on the list of foods that are so wonderful at getting down to our guts and feeding our gut biome. People with IBS have to avoid them but, for the rest of us, they are a gut biome superfood.
My daughter and both little granddaughters are coming to visit today, I am so excited.
PS Haha re the cat flap! Lucky you are that nice skinny weight Cali!
Cali – I would say that means you are technically at goal, if under 59 is the long term target. So congratulations, getting down to this level in December is amazing.
Cinque – the difference in fruit quality, flavour and size of the farm cherries when compared to what I can buy retain is very noticeable. They pick, sort and pack daily, so what I purchased yesterday afternoon would have been picked early that morning (picking is done before the sun has heated to fruit). It does make it difficult to stop at just a handful – which is my daily limit.
PS – I don’t think you are ever going to live down that catflap comment – you have to be careful what you write with Thin around.
I’m just having a pot of tea and will have a couple of nectarines for breakfast shortly. The nurse is due very soon to do my infusion.
LJoyce, the cherries sound like a perfect Christmas gift. They’re beautiful, tasty and healthy. Certainly better than a box of candy or some trinket that will be forgotten in a week.
LJoyce, I suppose I am technically at my goal which is 59, but the way it varies from one day to another, I really need to get to 58 even, in order to feel like I’ve really arrived. I’m hoping for a good number in the morning after today’s fast.
Cinque, thank you for posting that link again. I’ll have to find time to watch it, maybe tonight. The other one is really good too regarding health aspects of fasting and controlling some illness or even curing them. Definitely worth an hour.
After all the angst about the shortbread, I’ve just made up 10 gift boxes. I had enough without having to do any padding – just one tissue paper liner. I even had 4 spare leftover. After all that worry, it was fine in the end! The thing that took the longest was trying to write out labels neatly – I’m afraid my handwriting would never win any prizes. As a child I didn’t consider it worth my time – I always considered what I wrote was more important that whether my handwriting looked pretty. Needless to say, a few labels ended up in the bin and needed to be rewritten with more care.
I am just treating myself to 2 of those leftover shortbread with a pot of tea.
Good to hear that you’re back in fasting mode Cinque. And that your first fast day back went well. I can’t imagine you being irritable. Please post something when you’re in a grumpy mood so we can see what that really looks like. I bet it’s not grumpy at all. Good to know about the cherries, thank you. OH continues with the kefir; it’s been about a week now but he’s still not warmed up to it. And I’m finding I don’t really have quite enough now that there are two of us eating it so I’m not going to push it if he doesn’t cheerfully ask for it.
CalifD. Don’t forget to eat! I’m starting to feel envious of your resolve and your result. Well done!
OH likes the look of that Orville show, CalifD. Not really my thing as too Star Trekky (never watched it so the humour is lost on me)! Well, it’s hard to say if it’s worth paying money for Outlander. I’d say not if you have plenty of other choice. Surely, it will appear eventually. Then again, you might feel the steamy sex scenes are worth $9 a month …… just joshing!
LJ, I used to have beautiful handwriting but, since using a keyboard for decades, I have really lost the skill and have to concentrate to form the letters nicely.
Haha I’m with you LJoyce. My HD recorder keeps telling me I’m out of space, so I watch something I recorded back in the dark ages, then delete it to make way for more. And as a frequent visitor to Asia, I have unwatched DVDs stacked to the top of my book shelves. I’ll get around to watching them one day.
It’s good to be back on the forum after a rotten ten days where I haven’t wanted to lift my head off the pillow (although being the prelude to Christmas, of course I had to). Bronchitis again, and a nasty bout, although not as bad as last year’s (one day later, according to my doctor) which developed into pneumonia. Anyway steroids seem to be doing the trick, although sending my blood sugar through the roof.
I had three fast days when I got back from Bali, and they did the trick. Shed the holiday 1.4 kilos over the week, so I’m now back to the pre-holiday weight. Next year I have a plan …. two fast days a week, eating during 12 hour windows (I read an interesting article about this as a form of intermittent fasting) and cutting right back on carbohydrates … my go to food when I’m not watching my weight (and doesn’t it show!).
Sorry for not replying to all your interesting posts – but can I say how good it is Cinque to read you are getting your health and energy back. Stay well, and look after yourself.
Thin, I wasn’t a Star Trek fan either although I watched it every so often. You don’t really need to have watched much of Star Trek to laugh at Orville. It’s very well done. I think it mostly stands on its own.
My resolve in losing lately is mainly being busy with work during the day and not thinking about food very much. Also, not bringing a lot of snacks into the house. But I’m making Christmas dinner here for us and another couple of relatives, so there will be a certain amount of frivolous food. I don’t plan to deprive myself on a holiday. I agree on the alcohol part though. Two drinks is enough.
I’ll probably avoid eating during the day on Saturday since OH, DS and I are going out to dinner. I plan to enjoy!
LJ, did you end up making extra shortbread to fill the boxes, or was the original recipe enough after all? I hear you on the handwriting thing. I have the same problem with being in a hurry and my handwriting not looking very neat. I think it gets worse as I’m always using a keyboard these days and really need to write very little. Email has certainly made a huge dent in the amount of handwriting I do.
Maybe I’ll try subscribing to Starz for Outlander. Time travel stories are sometimes good if they’re written well. I read a book earlier this year called “The Scribe of Siena” that was about time travel and very good. I guess part of the reason was because I love Siena and the cathedral there brought tears to my eyes, it was so beautiful. And it was built such a long time ago. And the book centered around the Siena cathedral and the Piazza del Campo. I could always cancel after a month if I didn’t like it. Or they probably have a week free trial if it’s like most streaming channels.
Hi Lindsay! Good to see you. We were all typing at the same time, I think.
We can’t get much on TV over the air here because of the hills and mountains in the way. We’re streaming everything right now after dumping satellite because it was getting so expensive. So we have to pay for streaming but it’s less than half what satellite was. And the picture is better. Starz would be an add-on, or another smaller group of shows and movies.
Hello all……yes im still here…lol
Life has been incredibly hectic so hence my absence. Hope everyone is travelling well as i have no hope of catching up on posts.
Have gained 2 kg on and off over the last few weeks (highest was 64kg) due to xmas festivities, pub meals and more alcohol than usual and i admit to having no FDs at all. However happy to report that this morning i have slipped back to the 62kg mark which is within my ‘happy range’ of 60-62kg.
Ive attended 4 xmas functions in the last week alone and another one to go to this afternoon which is the last. Then only xmas day to get through then back to my normal eating routine again which im looking forward to.
All still going extremely well with OH and MissD is looking forward to xmas day with his family and a house full of kids.
I probably wont post again before xmas day so Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for your ongoing support throughout our lifesyle change journey. Cheers to everyone xx
Welcome back Lindsay. Hope you’re feeling better for the holidays.
Having a FD meal on a NFD yesterday paid off and I’m down a little today. I’m making today a FD so it’s a taste of what B2B fasting might feel like since, apart from last night’s miso soup, I haven’t eaten since breakfast yesterday and I plan to skip breakfast tomorrow morning. But tomorrow morning I will have my normal frothy coffee – I’m already looking forward to that!
Hoping to get under 60kg by Monday morning. On Christmas Day, I have decided it is just a meal. I don’t need to eat all day long. As our hosts don’t serve the Christmas dinner until the evening, I will have breakfast. Then we’ll go to the beach, our long-held family tradition since we moved to Oz 25 years ago. A perfect 32C is forecast. (It’s always 40C when it’s my turn to host!).
Who’s fasting with me today?
GDSA, good to hear you are going OK. Enjoy christmas.
Lindsay, I hope you are over the bronchitis and feeling well again now.
Cali, I didn’t make any more shortbread. I decided to pack one of the boxes and see how many shortbread it required to look ok. I realised that by the time I’d lined the box with 1 sheet of tissue paper and then packed the shortbread into a cellophane bag (to keep it fresh as well and presenting it nicely) before nestling this into the tissue. The box was fairly full with 19 pieces of shortbread. I knew I’d made roughly 190 pieces so I made up all 10 boxes with 19 in each. I must have started with 194 pieces because I had 4 left. I’m glad I didn’t have to make more, I’d had enough of baking.
NFD for me, but hopefully a moderate one. I’ve already had to walk away from the temptation of sourdough toast for breakfast. I need to make a batch of rissoles today. I had beef mince thawed for this yesterday but couldn’t be bothered cooking last night. So it’s still in the fridge and I need to make them today. Then get them cooked and mostly frozen.
For those of you fasting, I hope the day goes well.
LJ, I don’t know how the statistician in you could pack 19 pieces of shortbread. It’s like timtams having 11 in a box! Did you end up eating any?
Nothing to do with fasting but, CalifD and Cinque, I thought of you yesterday while listening to the car radio. An American lady (missed the beginning so don’t know who she was) was giving a lecture on the intelligence of birds. Certain parrot species have face recognition skills. There are also parrots that can display delayed gratification skills (young children don’t have this skill). They can exercise restraint in eating one type of nut in order to ultimately get their preferred cashew nut. There’s a humming bird in the Rockies with a brain the size of a grain of rice that can remember which flowers it’s already visited in a vast field and how long it needs to wait before pollen will again be available in those specific flowers. Birds can re-navigate when when blown off course hundreds of miles. There are birds that can create intricate mosaic designs in their nests from bits of coloured glass & birds that can mimic the calls of other birds to their own ends, to name a few skills. Just to tie it in with our thread, there’s a bird that, as part of the mating ritual, knows what the female needs to eat, finds it and feeds it to her. Now that’s a supportive OH!
Thin, don’t you like prime numbers? I suppose I could call it a bakers dozen and a half. (I think the original “bakers dozen” was 12+1.) Yes I did eat some. When I realised I actually had 4 spares I had 2 of them with a pot of tea for afternoon tea. In fact I was quite pleased with myself for stopping at two. The remaining two are sill in the kitchen for another day. At the moment I’m feeling strong enough to leave them alone today.
Good afternoon,
Thankyou Lindsay, and hoping you recover completely soon. Cheers for those post Bali fasts too.
LJoyce, congrats on the shortbread and I hope your injection went well this month. Love the Bakers ‘dozen and a half’!
I fear I’d be like Thin and eat them down to 18 each.
Hi Gday, so glad you could pop in. Best wishes with all those lovely busy things happening.
Thin, what a wonderful bird program. Can’t those tiny brains do amazing things. Next time someone calls me a bird brain I will take it as a compliment.
I’m taking it slow today after a big family day yesterday, so lovely to play with grandchildren.
I made a huge pot of lentil and veggie soup so I feel I am set for the next week.
Cheers all
Thank you Cinque. It will be so much fun for you with the little ones. I’ve been revisiting some video footage I thought I’d lost and it’s been wonderful watching DD on her 1st, 2nd and subsequent Christmas Days, opening presents with such excitement and wonder. It was such a delight listening to her explain the Santa Claus myth and how it all happens. I’m so pleased I made those home movies. Of course, there are hundreds of photos but they can’t capture the essence of the moment and their funny little voices. It’s easy to buy presents at that age – sometimes it was the $1 body glitter that won the day over decidedly more expensive gifts.
This year, age 21, we’re following JJulie’s lead and letting DD know that we’ll pay the airfare for a trip she’s taking to India next year to carry out more street dog spays and castrations for a UK charity. Santa will only be bringing a few packages to open. Not nearly as much fun as you’ll be having.
Thin – Watching old family videos sounds like a lovely way to spend a little pre-christmas time. I’m suspecting there were a few happy tears – or I might just be thinking of the way I react to those things.
Cinque, I’m glad you get to have christmas with family, without the responsibility of hosting. That’s sounds like what you need this year with your recovery from surgery so recent.
My infusion went well, even if the drip was in my less favoured arm (they alternate arms and I have a favourite “reliable” vein” in my left arm and am less happy when using the right arm). But it ran without complication this time – it’s usually very slow in the right arm for some reason (the nurse thinks the vein is narrower). Unfortunately I’ve had a few side effects this time, which I’m hoping will be gone by tomorrow. I’ve taken things at a fairly sedate pace today and am trying to wash the headache away with lots of water.
Today was a mixed bag in terms of food choices. Mostly good food, plenty of veg & fruit and a little meat & cheese. But definitely too much bread. I might have avoided the breakfast toast that was tempting me, but I made up for it by having bread with both my lunch and dinner.
Never mind, it’s a FD tomorrow.
My thinking pattern seems to be permanently stuck in indulgence mode at the moment and I can’t seem to shift it. I’m hoping that immediately after christmas it will miraculously reset back to normal. I can live in hope anyway.
I need an early night. So I’ll chat again in the morning.
Morning all on this lovely Christmas Eve. I’m enjoying a steaming hot cup of frothy coffee which is the first non-fast thing I’ve had since Friday’s breakfast. I kept thinking this effort must surely count as a B2B fast but it’s really not as it’s only been 48 hours and I suppose a B2B would be 60 hours? Good grief, mentally that seems forever. In fact, I’m not at all hungry so will go for a walk before it gets hot and just try and last as long as possible today before having anything to eat.
All the best to the Christmas Eve fasters today. Hope everyone’s having fun and let’s try to make everything we eat over the next couple of days worthwhile. If it isn’t absolutely fantastic food, don’t eat it. We can do this!
Hello,
I was a bit torn about whether I was really ready to fast yet or not, and was very hungry after my Thursday fast, which felt pretty much the same as overeating. So today I am doing fast day easy. I had a little bowl of porridge for breakfast, I’ll have a small bowl of lentil soup for lunch and my big bowl of miso soup this evening. Let’s see how that goes.
Btw I read someone saying that rolled oats are low GI and quick oats are high GI. They wrote as if they knew what they were talking about but didn’t give any source. My porridge suits me so I know I am ok.
LJoyce, be kind to yourself. You are having such a busy social time and are managing that really well, along with your health issues. You deserve a medal every day.
https://d1hekt5vpuuw9b.cloudfront.net/assets/article/842146928d4fccff790f1210689bc3f3_hero-pin-craft-580x326_featuredImage.jpg
You are managing spaces between your indulgences, and hopefully you are enjoying your indulgences when you have them. It is nearly over and then you can be lovely and strict with yourself until you reach the balance again.
It will happen!
So glad there were no complications with your infusion, but damn re the side effects. I hope they are gone soon.
I am very grateful I have no hosting responsibilities tomorrow! Christmases have been transformed once my daughter became an adult! I’ve put in $$$ towards food and that is it.
I have a few presents to wrap up today, which hopefully I can do without causing too much pain. (I realised the surgical cut, just under my arm, may be through layers of muscle that slide against each other as I use my arm and hand, and that is why it has been so troublesome).
Thin, how lovely to spend time watching your little tot. Precious times! And what a wonderful gift to her (and the world) this year.
LJoyce, your experience meant I could suggest a good solution to my sister the other day. She was off to Christmas with her husbands family, a couple of hours drive away through Christmas traffic, to a family nearly as dysfunctional as our own, and she hadn’t got presents and wasn’t sure if they were expected, inspite of all the kids being grown up now. She was dreading it. But she was off to the wonderful farmers market at Collingwood Children’s Farm and we discussed how a big bowl of wonderful cherries (or apricots) would serve as a contribution to dinner as well as a wonderful present, and has the win win of not adding a whole load of ‘stuff’ into everyone’s lives. I’m keen to see how she went.
And Thin, I might try to get a video of Miss 3 talking about Christmas, for us to cry over in the future.
Amongst us this year, we are giving second hand books!
And I don’t think we are having any traditional Christmas food unless you count trifle. Bbq and a couple of salads. I know, we just aren’t normal! But at least it is stress free and fun.
Best wishes everyone.
Good morning and happy Christmas Eve all SHs.
I hope you all have your gifts & food purchased so you don’t have to brave the shops today.
Cinque, that medal appears to be a baked biscuit! How apt.
I think it would be worth talking to a physio about some rehab for the muscles that were cut during surgery. They should be able to give you a plan that allows you to safely regain full use of your arm without continued restriction or pain. (Usually it involves some simple movements, stretches and exercises that you can do daily at home.) I know that I have needed their help with appropriate exercises and stretches etc after surgeries on shoulders, hands and knees. It can be a very long process that takes weeks or months, but I eventually regained full movement – often better than I had before surgery. If you don’t do this before the internal scar tissue fully forms then you can be left with restricted movement forever.
Sounds like my christmas day will be similar to yours. Ours is BBQ, some seafood, salads and pavlova. My sisters kids and grandkids don’t like traditional christmas foods so she has gone down this alternate route for many years. Luckily I get to do both this year, as I’m spending boxing day at a cousin’s place and they are having a belated christmas in full traditional mode.
Glad the fresh fruit idea as a gift was useful. I have sometimes bought a fruit bowl or a basket as a gift and filled it with nice fruits and given that as a family gift too. I think the trick with giving fruit as a gift is to choose something that has a short season and is usually too pricey for people to buy much of in their weekly shopping – it means that the fruit will always be in the “treat” category.
Thin, enjoy your coffee as I’m enjoying my pot of tea. Well done on the 48 hours. I think those that do B2B fasts regularly do 60 hours (the usual one day fast of 36hours + another 24.) However I’m sure any more meals that you missed above the usual had an impact on the scales. You’ve also proved to yourself that you can go longer when you choose to.
I’ve been trying to distract myself from wanting a third cup of tea. I don’t think it’s worked, I’m going to have to go and make one I think.
I have cooked vegetables ready to reheat for dinner. Some mushrooms that I dry panfried yesterday and a dish of broccolini, green beans and asparagus spears that I blanched and then dressed in lemon infused olive oil, garlic and pepper. I might add a poached egg if my appetite warrants it. I have plenty of cherries and nectarines if I need a snack late afternoon. I actually don’t have to think about preparing food from scratch again until Wednesday.
Like Cinque, I need to spend my afternoon wrapping presents. I had planned to do it yesterday but just couldn’t face it. I also have to do the washing today – I delayed that from yesterday as well.
I just remembered another food based christmas gift that I’ve used in the past too – a crayfish. I don’t do it often because it requires a last minute trip to the fish monger at the central market and freshness is everything with seafood. But it is a special gift, suitable for a family and for a summer christmas.
Cinque and LJ, your respective families’ BBQ fare makes a lot of sense. We do the full English traditonal with all the trappings regardless of the heat mainly because the other family we spend Christmas with likes it. One of their daughters doesn’t eat seafood so that’s completely out. One year when she didn’t come (from overseas), and we had our renovations in progress as a good excuse not to be able to fully cope, we got fresh lobster from some local fishermen in Fremantle and I made a lot of different Indonesian salads. I thought it was great but I don’t think the other family considered it proper Christmas fare.
LJ, you are correct about DD’s work ethic and future employability. I just want her to slow down because year four was always the ‘year from hell’ for vet students and then, the uni decided to change her course from 6 to 5 years while keeping all the content PLUS adding a doctorate component to the degree. As you know, they were given one day off between years four and five. Fortunately, she loves learning so it doesn’t seem like work to her but, with all these overnight emergency hospital shifts and her refusal to fit exercise in any form into her day, I do worry. I suppose she has youth on her side.
Cinque, presumably the part of the family that’s getting together exchanging second books isn’t the dysfunctional part of it. You all seem very normal. 😆 And reducing consumerism by exchanging used books is brilliant. As is LJ’s provision of hand-made consumables for her family members.
I have a friend who has 38 family members getting together tomorrow and her host daughter has organised a Dirty Secret Santa. She had to explain this to me and I thought it sounded hilarious fun. However, she went on to explain how, back in November, this had already started to cause a lot of grief within the family. Another of her children and his wife announced (from afar) that they would not be participating in any blatant form of consumerism for consumerism’s sake – which upset the daughter no end. Imagine all that stress 6 weeks out! My friend just wants it over.
Yes I think it’s correct, instant oats are high GI and won’t keep you full.
Keep going you two! I’m still with you, though have technically broken my fast as I’ve now had two frothy coffees.
Cinque, disclaimer: feel free to totally ignore the following:
I wondered about the size of that scar as I wasn’t sure how they could get all that lung plus the mass through a keyhole. Having worked in that field albeit some years ago, I can add to LJ’s suggestion. Often overlooked by physicians is scar tissue management. It is in its early healing stages when a difference to the outcome can be made. If it’s still sensitive, you can gradually work your way closer to the incision area using your fingertips in a circular motion much like doing a breast self-exam. Try to avoid lotion so that you generate more friction against the underlying layers of tissue. Work towards using the rubber on the end of a pencil using small, deep circular motions around the perimeter of the scar until you can tolerate getting closer. This helps prevent the formation of scar tissue adhesions which are much harder to treat once formed. And it helps desensitise the scar area, developing normal sensation, reducing that itching feeling & decreases the pain and discomfort when you pull across the area. Once the scar is fully healed, you can massage the actual incision. You probably know all this and maybe already have an O.T. or physio guiding you.
Thin, you are right about massaging the area. I’d forgotten that was one of the things I also did. In many ways I was lucky with the various joint surgeries that I’ve had. They were mostly done at Sportsmed, which is a specialty hospital just for muscular-skeletal issues. Rehab is an important part of the process and I had a physio sent to talk to me the day after surgery each time. They started me off with simple things and over the weeks changed the exercises to increase my range of movement. I remember with the larger scars that massaging the area was important. In fact for the surgeries on my hands it was probably the most important thing that I did to restore movement and sensation. Normal, multi-discipline hospitals don’t seem to take such a holistic approach to treatment.
Thank you so much Thin and LJoyce, I am extremely glad for any advice.
I have been massaging the area intuitively, from when gently stroking around it seemed to help with the pain, to something a lot closer to massage now. I have just had a reread of all the info and on the net they say to expect 6 – 8 weeks recovery, sigh, but also a relief as I couldn’t quite imagine being fully recovered in another 8 days.
The incision is only an inch across, but the area of pain is wider, and I was thrown as I expected that if I was doing something wrong the pain would stop me, but what actually happens is that if I overdo it I set off the pain that comes on over the next little while and then builds up and gradually fades away if I lie down and rest.
By being careful I am keeping that pain to levels where I don’t need medication as I am so sick of it after 4 weeks, the medication that is.
They did give me exercises which I began a few days after I came home and then stopped when I realised they put me in so much pain. They still would. Typing this will set it off, but not too badly. I don’t bother typing with one hand now. Progress!
But your feedback has made me feel better because I definitely have full movement, without feeling that the muscles are stuck in some way. And I can definitely do a little more each day. It is just much, much slower than I expected. At least my pain goes away when I do stop and rest, one of the warnings was that some people have constant pain.
I have cut and pasted your massage info, Thin. Thankyou so much.
You are good friends!
Cinque, despite your positive demeanour tending to diminish what transpired, I’m sure that surgery probably was quite a trauma for your body. Even someone of ‘normal’ fitness levels would need a decent period of recuperation and rehabilitation. And now you have a bit less lung than you had previously. Take it easy. So glad that you can throw $$$ into the ring tomorrow and sit back and watch it all unfold. Please don’t bother to reply – I love your posts but feel guilty now contributing to the pain.
Merry Christmas to everyone who is getting ready to celebrate Christmas Eve! 🎄🌟🥂🍾🎄
We enjoyed a lovely dinner tonight. Tomorrow we have to leave early for niece’s house for a Christmas Eve Day family get together. I managed to fast until dinner tonight without even thinking about food all day. 5:2 has certainly changed me!
59.1 this morning. I’m sure tonight’s dinner will add some! But that’s ok. Tuesday and Thursday will be FD.
Have a wonderful time everyone. I’ll catch up on all of the posts tomorrow.
Good evening all fellow SH’s
I’d like to wish each and everyone of you an absolutely wonderful Christmas with lots of fun, laughter, love and happy memories. Enjoy the whole day, especially all the delicious food ‘we can fast the next day’.
Currently enjoying the Christmas Carols live from the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne -amazing talent, delightful carols. It’s 9.40pm Christmas Eve – early to bed everyone!
Bye for now xx
Thanks CalifD, Penguin, LJ and Arelkade! OH & I spent the afternoon at the Arts Centre in Fremantle listening to a Sunday afternoon courtyard concert. I managed to last until noon before having breakfast but then found I couldn’t eat it and had to save it for later. We had prawns and salad for dinner so it’s been a light eating day. Until just now when I’ve poured one rum & egg nog and taken 1 mince pie to last me through a movie. That’s it for me today. I feel as if I’m really indulging. How things have changed.
I’ll now add my Christmas wishes to those above as we’ll be at the beach tomorrow. Fortunately, we don’t have to deal with misbehaving or dysfunctional family members as they live on other continents but I did laugh at what you wrote LJ and share your sentiments for those who do. Have a fantastic day everyone. It’s our big day off! Make it count though, we eat less so we deserve the very best of everything. If it isn’t really, really good, don’t eat it! See you on the other side.
Good morning,
What lovely Christmas messages!
Best wishes to everyone for a good day.
If there is anyone reading who finds it a trying day, sending special wishes to you. It will soon be over!
My easy fast day went really well yesterday and I think I will keep doing them like that and just make them fastier as needed. (I was probably a bit over 500 calories, but not much).
This way Thin will be protected from finding out how irritable I can get!
Thanks Thin, I did waggle my arm about a bit to make sure I could move it freely, before I wrote, and so copped more pain than I had for a few days. But it (the pain) went overnight and made me happy as it shows how I am improving.
LJoyce, luckily my family is so large that there are several of us who escaped and managed to knock down all those negative defenses to become close. And then I was very clever to have a next generation without passing on the terrible behaviours (pretty much I hope) and so hooray! Christmas is very different from what it once was.
Here are my Compliments of The Season
1. The Southern Hemispherites helped me through a rotten 2017 of health. Thankyou.
2. You have been a safe, steady, caring group that help 5:2 work well in my life. Thankyou.
3. You have extended my community across Australia and internationally and brought laughter and curiosity and sharing. Thankyou.
4. In times of dreadful inhumanity to mankind, groups like this model humanity at its best. Thankyou!
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Michael is touring Australia this September! Here's a link to dates and tickets. Hope to see you there.
Michael Mosley gives an update for 2019, current research in the field and announces a tour starting in February.
Michael looks at the Horizon special, "What's the Right Diet for You" and tells us which diet they say is best for him.
6:25 am
21 Dec 17