HI All, I’ve been MIA as I had a great month then totally failed and gave up! So I’m back to try again…
This topic contains 27,917 replies, has 832 voices, and was last updated by thinatlast 2 days ago.
Lots of posts today! Hi everyone. And welcome to E. I almost always fast on Monday and Thursday unless I have a work or social function that would make it difficult. Over the holidays I changed it to Tuesday and Thursday. I always feel a little off when I’m not fasting on my regular days. FDs get to feel normal. For me, realizing that I wasn’t going to feel hungry that often on FD and could live through the short periods when I did was a revelation. I used to actually fear hunger, even if I missed a single meal. 5:2 has changed my whole mindset. It’s liberating, really. I started 5:2 in May of last year at 70.7 and reached my goal of 59 right around Christmas. I was at 58 by New Years. I have never abandoned a FD. I’m still fasting 2 days a week for maintenance now.
Cinque, I love that dress! I’ve always been partial to polka dots. That will look so nice with your dark hair! Another nice advantage of being thin is that there are more choices at one-off shops because fewer people can fit into small sizes these days. And lots of people get rid of small sizes that no longer fit.
Thin, I always wait as long as possible for my first meal tooand it’s rarely after 2pm. Today was an exception. I was busy with work and then kept delaying. It’s now after 7:30 pm and the only thing I’ve had is about 30 calories from some inulin mixed with water. I’ve never done a water only FD, so I think I will try to make this one. I’m usually up til around midnight, so hope I can make. Surprisingly, I haven’t felt hungry at all so far. I did feel tempted by the smell of the Nigerian Stew that OFM were reheating for dinner. But hunger and temptation are two entirely different things.
Penguin, I forgot that you were on holidays this week. It sounds like you’re enjoying! The mudslides are in Southern California, quite a distance from where I live in Northern California. It looks just awful. I feel so bad for those poor people.
Stay, the wedding sounds like it will be wonderful, but a lot of work to get it all organized. You are going to look so beautiful at your thin weight! I bet you’ll be relieved when the day finally gets here and all the preparation is over.
LJ, hope you can get back to your regular FD schedule next week. It’s been difficult the few days that I’ve done more than 2 in a week. This could be one of those weeks since I’m probably going to make this a WFD.
Merry, congrats on the 64.4 kg’s! With all the stress you’ve had in the past year, that is amazing. It sounds like things has settled down some for you.
Simcoe, hope you’re having a great day.
Lisa, glad to see you back here. Just dust yourself off and get back on the program!
Lisa, I’m going to steal a saying from Merry. If you fall off the 5:2 horse, chase it down and get back on, eventually you’ll get your balance in that saddle. Hopefully it will be a little easier without the added challenges around Christmas. Even some of us who have happily stuck to 5:2 for quite some time found December quite challenging. I certainly had a difficult time with overeating and had to add several extra FDs to avoid weight gain.
Cali, good to hear from you. On the news here they mentioned Santa Barbara in relation to the mudslides and I thought that I remembered fires being in the same area a few weeks back. I was a bit worried that your niece would be impacted again, but I really hope not.
You are right about finding smaller sizes in the second-hand charity shops. I am able to find most of my clothes second hand these days and I often have multiple choices that I really like. I started shopping second hand when I started losing weight. I started at a size 24-26 (US 20-22) and I did not want to buy expensive clothes in the sizes I passed along the way to goal. Every time I lost about 10kg I bought enough second hand clothes to manage with for a few months until I reached a smaller size. Now that I comfortably fit into size 14 tops & skirts (US10) and size 16 jeans I find I rarely need to go to normal clothing stores to find what I’m looking for. It actually feels nice to be able to be picky about my choices – because I actually have choices now – previously finding anything to fit was a challenge. Another change is the choice of colours – I got so tired of everything being offered in black in the larger sizes that I rarely wear it these days. The other thing I notice is the length of garments – in the smaller sizes the length is more appropriate for me. I’m short and everything was far loo long for me when I was big. For some odd reason clothing manufacturers don’t just add inches to the width of garments for larger sizes they add it to the length too. I’ve never understood this – gaining body fat doesn’t make you grow taller – unfortunately!
I’m having a tea break after tackling the first window frame. After chiselling the paint out of the screws I managed to get the old blind brackets and curtain tieback hooks off. Removing the two sets of curtain rod brackets was much more difficult. It didn’t matter how much paint I removed, I just couldn’t get the screws to turn. In the end I used a small crow bar and rubber mallet and wrenched them off – the render and plaster is going to require some minor repairs as I have some obvious holes now. While I was up the ladder I took the opportunity to scrape back the paint on the window frame to get ready for painting. One window done and two more to do after my cuppa. This has reminded me of how unstable I feel on a ladder – especially when I was trying to push or pull with force. When I was in my 20s I tackled a home renovation largely unaided with enthusiasm and in the belief that I could learn to do anything I needed to. I seem to have lost all of that confidence these days. Or perhaps I just recognise my own limitations more than I did when I was young.
I hope Merry and Minka can meet up! How exciting. If you do want to get together, I might be able to put you in touch with each a little quicker. Just a thought.
Welcome back youngLisa.
Interesting about the clothes sizes. I’ve never been much of an op shopper but have looked around a bit since knowing Cinque. At traditional clothing stores, when I was big, everything nice seemed to be limited to the smaller sizes. Once I finally accepted that I really was a size 10, I had trouble finding clothes that showed off my new waist – everything seemed to be rent-a-tent style designed to hide the bulge. And I often found size 10 pants to be at half mast. The opposite problem to you LJ, I had lost weight but I hadn’t shrunk in height!
Just cooked the Nigerian Stew. Smells nice and would be great for just DD and me. But OH isn’t likely to be too impressed. I’ll grab a steak from the freezer and hope that works for him …..
LJ, I think this 1 December, I shall simply set my goal to remain the same weight by 31 December! I really didn’t indulge that much in December so I don’t know why I struggled to lose that measly kilo but I’m OK now. I should have kept the faith. Can you not save the ladder work for when your cousin is around tomorrow? Who are we gonna call if we stop hearing from you?!
CalifD, I’m with you on hunger. I wasted a whole year knowing about 5:2, doing nothing and worrying, “What if I got hungry?”. Or worse, “What if OH gets hungry?”. Now if I feel hungry I just think, “So what?”. I embrace hunger and feel happy that I’m doing something good for my body. Stomach rumbling? Even better!
Wow this forum moves fast. I was using ‘recent posts’ because I was trying to figure out the best section for me since I seem to fit into many of the categories, however I was getting totally bamboozled by the many replies to different posts that I think I’ll be sticking with the Southern Hemisphere which moves plenty fast enough for me!
If I’ve missed anyone I’m very sorry, thanks to simoaeluv, stayinthin,merryme , Simcoe, thinatlast, LJoyce and cinque for all you very pertinent advice. Sorry again for any exclusions.
LJoyce I’ve calculated my tdee at 1652 cal . Also, are all misos equal? I.e just grab any one?
thinatlast thanks I’ll check out those recipes. Cooking for 4 adults, my age + 20 & 17.
Simoeluv – i think I’ve caught up on all the recommended ‘newbie reading.
* can we make our own footer on this site so I can put my stats there in case I ask a question about, say tdee, then my stats are underneath and I don’t have to always repeat them?
* the only thing that is escaping me at the moment, is the logic of exercise not assisting in weight loss. I understand it’s the case as I’ve read many posts on here that support this, but can someone give me the logic in layman’s terms? If calories re restricted, and insulin is low, doesn’t that mean the exercise will burn more fat than carbs/insulin injested, therefore = weight loss? I’m lost on the logic of why that’s not the case.
Yesterday I had a water fast day, just to see if I could. And I did! Quite proud of that little effort. I told myself if I did the water fast I could have egg on toast at the cafe meet this morning, which I also did! Yum.
* I’m thinking the milk in coffees might end up being my nemesis when counting calories. I have decaf flat white with skim milk but now I’m wondering about going black because I feel li,e the milk is a waste of calories.. I think I will taste test next cafe meet. Any advice n sweeteners? I’m not a fan of them myself.
* any advice on calorie counting apps? I’m using my fitness pal but it keeps telling me my calories are dangerously low on fast days which I find annoying. I’d really like a 5-2 friendly one.
Again, sorry if I’ve missed anyone, this site moves so fast and posts are long. If I had joined last year I could have regaled you with stories of how I survived the school ball year (as a parent). That was no mean feat & Superceded by own wedding in stress levels.
I’m hopin this year is uneventful and weight-lossy.
Cheers and thanks everyone
Hi Eli:
Re exercise.
First, exercise just does not burn that many calories.
Second, when you exercise, you tend to eat more ‘because I exercised’, reducing the calories burned effect.
Third, research shows that people that exercise tend to do less physical activity than they tend to do when they don’t exercise. So its not like adding exercise to your program, its like replacing some activity you already do with exercise.
Fourth, exercise tends to cause short term weight gain, or inhibit short term weight loss. This often causes people to quit both their diets and their new exercise programs.
This link is in the ‘Basics’ post: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/exercise-is-dangerous-for-your-diet/
Good Luck!
E, just a quick reply on a couple of your points:
I cut out the non-dairy creamer in my coffee when I discovered it was fine without, on FD only. I’d rather eat the calories!
I lost about 12 kg to get to goal without exercising, not because of physical limitations, but because I’m busy with work during the day and lazy. Mostly lazy. I think the point most people are trying to make is that exercise alone doesn’t burn that many calories and that you can lose weight by just fasting. But I’m sure that exercise would speed up the loss. After all you do burn calories by exercising. It’s just that you’d have to dedicate a lot of time to burn enough to make a big difference. (I do plan to do better with exercise this year.)
I like myfitnesspal for counting calories and always use it. Ignore their warnings on FD. 😁
Eli, ooops sorry, misread your original post and now realise that I mistakenly claimed to be in your age group! Sorry about that. I do have a 22 y/o living at home though and am responsible for the OFM’s meals. I often create their meal around my FD meal by adding rice, bread rolls, extra serves of veggies to theirs. And then there are some ‘family fast meals’ that they both love so they just get a double portion.
There’s no footer option, just the profile feature which you can expand upon.
I can’t help WRT to sweeteners as I don’t use them but have a 5:2 friend who uses stevia. Having a milky coffee makes my FDs as normal as possible as I’m addicted to coffee and cannot deal with it black no matter how good the roast. I also can’t handle skim milk. I have two coffees in the morning with almond & coconut milk. I get 80 mls which is a lot, for 17 calories. It doesn’t froth but it’s not a bad compromise. I then drink water and herbal teas all day. I re-use the same teabag three times but buy different flavours as taste treats on FDs.
I think Dr M. addresses the exercise/weight loss question in his book, ‘Fast Exercise’. A better explanation for me lies with studies of the Hadza people of Tanzania. Moderate exercise will result in more calories burned, but it’s not the case that the more you workout, the more you burn. We tend to adapt metabolically to increased physical activity, negating the expected increase in daily energy. You can’t outrun a bad diet. Also, people tend to over-estimate the amount of exercise they’ve actually done and some say they eat more because exercise makes them hungrier.
This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t exercise. We all know the benefits – building muscle, reducing visceral fat, improving general well-being, staving off chronic illness, etc, etc. I forgot to say yesterday that I do practice some HIIT when I walk alone, probably not in its truest sense but enough to make look silly while walking and complete the distance faster! I find exercise effective in maintaining my weight loss and just getting my day off to a great start.
We all responded together! Adding to what simco said on his third point, I know that when I frequented gyms, I’d think, ‘right, that’s me done for the day’. Now I try to incorporate exercise into all my daily activities – always take the stairs, park further away from the shops, walk to any appointments that I can, and so on. I think perhaps when we work all day, and ‘work out’ before or after, we’re just too darn tired to bother with anything else.
EliC, It’s not that exercise has no impact on weight loss – it does increase your TDEE a little – but it doesn’t increase it as much as we expect it to and it does not make as much difference as diet. For example on a FD if you eat 500 cal, you are 1152 cal under your TDEE and doing that twice a week should help you lose weight. Do you know how many hours of exercise it takes to burn 1152 calories – roughly 4-9 hours of walking depending on speed and slope. The fitter and lighter you get, the harder you have to work to burn the same calories. The exercise is important for cardiovascular fitness and muscle tone so there are good reasons to continue with it if you are motivated to. There has been lots of discussion about exercise on other threads on this forum that you may want to read. Go to the page that shows all discussion heading and scroll down until you get the exercise: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/
I’m glad you’ve worked out your TDEE. You don’t have to count calories every day just get a rough idea of the calories in the things you regularly choose so that you know your serving sizes and regular food choices are appropriate. I certainly had to adjust my serving size expectations a bit to better fit my low TDEE.
– each miso brand has slightly different calories. I chose one that contained 12 individual pouches of miso paste, although I find the flavour so strong I get 2 cups of broth from one. I liked the flavour of the first brand I tried so stayed with it. You can buy miso in big tubs, but you need to use a lot of it regularly to justify that approach and I don’t. I use Wakame brand sachets which are 117kj (28cal) each.
– find a path that suits you on the coffee. I decided I’d rather go without some food than give up my cups of tea the way I like them, but many others make different choices. You will hear Thin complaining about her non-frothy coffees on FDs because she uses almond milk instead of normal milk to make them on FDs. You have to work out which compromises you are prepared to make. Milky coffees from cafes can contain far more calories than we think, especially the large cups.
– well done on the water fast, it’s something I find too challenging to do regularly but some others find it easier to eat nothing than a little. Doing things like this teaches you that you can skip meals and you can feel hungry and the sky won’t fall in!
– I think most people use myfitnesspal for tracking calories. I am home a lot so I use internet sites rather than apps. I like: http://www.calorieking.com.au/ or http://www.weightloss.com.au/diet/food-nutrition-tables/food-tables.html
– I use all sweeteners sparingly and if I want a low calorie option I use stevia. I try to limit added sugars to once a week (I failed badly on this one over christmas!) I like my cups of tea without sugar so finding a daily sugar substitute hasn’t been an issue for me.
Thin, I also struggle to find waists that fit properly which is why I wear separates as I seem to get a better fit with those than dresses. For me the problem is that I’m not a standard size. Although my bust and hips are a comfortable fit in size 14, my waist is a 10-12. I choose fabrics and styles carefully so that I can get the fit right. I need the larger jeans because I still carry excess weight on my thighs, so there are few jean styles that work for me and stretch denim is a disaster that I won’t go near. When I was younger I made a lot of my own clothes but I don’t have the energy or enthusiasm for dressmaking these days.
Well, I made it to over 24 hours on the water fast and I’m going to bed in a few so I’m there. It was much easier than expected. I can’t say I really felt any hunger longer than 5 or 10 minutes. Maybe, because I’m accustomed to the 5:2 I don’t notice short term hunger. Or don’t get excited about it.
I now have an added incentive to keep the weight off. I ordered a pair of shoes/boots last week that Turned out to be somewhat of a narrow width, even though the description says they’re medium and that’s the only width they seem to come in, even on the Ugg site. I have bunions, mostly on one foot and that makes them fit tightly in that area. My toe comes to where it should and they fit great otherwise so I think a size larger would be too big. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZ8JTA0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (Wow, they were $28 cheaper a couple days ago when I bought them. Amazon really does change prices sometimes!)
The thing is, that I love this style. In fact I can’t remember seeing a shoe I’ve liked this much so I don’t want to send them back. I wore them for about 4 hours around the house with some of those fluffy socks that are soft and a little bulky to try to break them in a little. They did seem to get a little more comfortable. They will never be walking shoes, but hopefully I’ll be able to wear them with jeans when we go out. (The heel makes my legs look longer so I look thinner.😊) Anybody have any other suggestions for breaking these in?
Cali, they are a lovely style, perfect to go with jeans.
Shoe repairers here offer a pre-stretch service for new shoes – they put shoes onto a shoe form and the machine very gradually stretches the leather over a 24 hour period. They recommend you wear them regularly after the stretching so that the shoe can adapt properly to our foot shape. It makes millimeters rather than centimeters of difference but can allow you to avoid the blisters the first few times you wear them. I did this a couple of times with new work shoes.
I have two window frames cleared of brackets, screws and hooks and I even got both of them lightly sanded and ready to be painted. I’ll leave the third one until tomorrow as I need help getting the pelmet off before I can get to the blind brackets.
Despite not being in the mood for a FD I ate nothing until 7pm – smoked chicken and salad. It’s hot here today and it seemed to dampen my appetite.
Good evening,
Just had my miso soup (with chicken, fresh mushrooms and green beans. So yum!)
Hi Stay, wow you are such excellent grandparents… and parents! That wedding is going to be so gorgeous! Good luck getting everything done!
Happy Birthday to the two year old!
And what a milestone to have the little one going to school!
Congratulations losing 600g this week, that is above average (500g is average)(my average was 250g).
We only need to drink a glass of water to put on a quarter kilo, so it is no wonder our weight goes up and down all day! That’s why once a week weighing is so sensible, if anyone can possibly do that. 😉
Merry Congratulations to you, it must feel such a wonderful relief to be getting back into familiar territory. You are well on your way!
LJoyce it so sounded like you’d made a sensible choice for your lunch, curse that excess olive oil. But it did sound delicious.
Hooray for comfortable jeans (I don’t have any jeans, ‘comfortable jeans’ is an oxymoron for me, even the new stretchy sort that aren’t really jeans at all (why am I a purist about an article of clothing I don’t wear?)
(rhetorical question).
And now you have done all the good work to make next week as easy as possible.
Those renovations are getting scary, good work though!
Welcome back Lisa, isn’t it nice how 5:2 is always ready and happy to see you when you are ready to get onto it again. Hope you get a good run now.
Cali, yes, shopping for clothes (mostly opshopping in my case) has changed so much with losing weight. First I went crazy, as I threw out my old shapeless things, and wanted EVERYTHING FITTED! It was a bit confusing for working out my style as a slender person, for the first time in my adult life, and my style as a 60 years old, for the first time in my adult life also. But fun too, and a much nicer challenge that trying to have any style at all when my weight kept going up! I’m still buying things and trying them, and sometimes deciding they aren’t my style after all. It might even happen with that dress, but I hope not.
I love your shoes! They should stretch to fit your foot. My sister is a shoe maker (did the course last year) and said there isn’t much you can do apart from keeping on wearing them, so you did the right thing. Wear them when you are just sitting, even for ten minutes at a time. Let it happen slowly. I can’t remember what else she said (I asked her last year about my narrow red boots – I was hoping she had one of those stretcher things LJoyce mentioned). If I talk to her, or remember anything else I’ll let you know.
Congratulations on your water fast day!
Eli, milk in coffee and tea was a stress issue for me too. I ended up deciding milk in cuppas was more important than breakfast. I drink about a cup of milk in cuppas through the day, so that is 156 of my fast day calories.
I’m lucky to get my miso out of a barrel at the Friends of the Earth Shop in Melbourne, so I do know all miso’s are not equal, but read the ingredients and find out which ones you love most. Good luck.
Pop your stats into your profile, and then you can add to it as you go on. Don’t forget to add the date! The month at least.
This thread does move fast! If you ever lose track, don’t worry, no one will be offended that you don’t have time to go back and read and answer twenty posts!
But yay! how nice that you will be here on the SH thread.
Congratulations on surviving that school ball! A year on 5:2 should be easy peasy in comparison!
We have the option to edit for 5 minutes after posting…. and then it disappears! (the option to edit, not the post) (oh, warning, sometimes the post does disappear, it is random and terribly frustrating).
Evening all!
Nice boots CalifD, I hadn’t even realised that an Ugg boot could be anything other than what I wear (traditional surfer’s ugg). We have one of those stretcher devices! It was brought with us from the USA so I bet you can buy one on Amazon, ha ha ha! OH recently stretched a pair of leather shoes that DD bought in Madrid. The size in the shop was perfect probably because so many people had tried them on. Those in the box, not so. And our language skills were a bit limited. Anyway, it’s a wooden shoe-shaped thing and you can unscrew it to make the volume larger. Alternatively, you could get those bunions removed. Then you will be able to wear this very fashionable boot: https://imgur.com/vnatFnD
What’s the alternative to a DIY wedding? One where you have a wedding planner? I think we had a DIY wedding. It was held in a beautiful walled garden which had a maximum of 40 people permitted including us, the classical guitarist, photographer, bridesmaid, best man & the friend who married us. No themes required because the setting itself was already stunning and the limited number of people meant that we could only invite our very closest friends – so no invitations were sent to people we hardly knew for guilt reasons. And only two family members were able to come as we lived so far away. Perfect.
Cinque, most people consider that I wear my jeans baggy because I insist on comfort. If I can’t sit down in comfort in them then they aren’t the jeans for me. My loosest pair are as comfortable to wear as a pair of track pants. Jeans have a special place in my wardrobe. As a kid I didn’t have any because they were the carrot my mother held out to try and encourage me to lose weight – I wasn’t allowed jeans until I’d lost enough – apparently I never did lose enough because I never got any jeans. Being able to find and wear jeans that fit me now means a great deal to me.
Thin, I think those boots might set a fashion trend. 😀
You wedding sounds rather nice, and I think small is better. I had 80 and thought it was too big. The most relaxed wedding I ever went to was fancy dress. The bride was dressed as Marilyn Monroe, the groom as John Lennon and the celebrant was of course dressed as Elvis. I was rather heavy at the time and couldn’t find a hire costume to fit. So I went as Dame Edna – I wore nice evening clothes and a pair of outrageous glasses that I’d embellished by applying lots of crystals with a hot glue gun.
Hi everyone
So many posts since I was last here – wasn’t that long ago, surely – you have all been so busy.
Congrats to all those that have lost weight – it’s a good feeling!
Minka: your inulin trial link sounds interesting esp for us with insulin resistance. Very impressive scan results – well done
Thin: I commiserate with you for having to put up with your noisy airbnb neighbours – a shame your council is slow with action
ICU: your TKR is getting close now – all the best for a smooth recovery
LJoyce: enjoyed your whole comment re shopping at second hand stores for clothes with each 10kg wt loss – so much cheaper than buying new as often as we may need to otherwise – have to check some out again in the near future
CalifD: my coffee cup at home is a standard 250ml, but when out, I buy a large flat white & as it’s a rare treat, with many calories, I still manage to enjoy it
Cinque: lovely dress, like the style. So glad you’re back to yoga & getting better all the time. I ordered the Wai Lai yoga DVD, then was advised it’s not available, so got my money back – so disappointed
Penguin: have a great holiday & forget wt & calories – relax & enjoy every minute
Elic: warm welcome – lots of very knowledgeable people on this thread & I try to take in whatever they are willing to share
Hi JustJulie, simcoeluv & Merry
Stay: your daughters wedding preparations sound exhausting but enjoyable – how nice to be able to have it all on your own paddocks – very personal
Getting late – now 10.50pm Thursday night. Time for bed! Enjoy tomorrow & bye for now!
OMG! Today must be in the running as one of our longest/most posts days on here.!
The SH thread always goes a bit nuts in January as we usually get a run of people after the Silly Season wanting to lose weight. Some stick with it, some don’t.
Our posts have been much longer for about 6months, but the size waxes and wains. You can be as short or long as you like. The topics cover a range of 5:2 things and various other topics as our totally unknown, unseen 5:2 companions support each other over months and years, and support and encourage new people. Many of us longer term SH – ers, or Southern HemisPhaeries , as I call them, have met a few others face to face over coffee.
Just to confuse you a little we have penguin (England), and Califdreamer (USA) who have digitally migrated to the Southern Hemisphere. We also have a couple of Honourary SHers, like Sarah (UK), forum luminaries like simcoeluv, and “old” SH-ers, our wise Yodas – Barata, purplevegieater , who hang out on the Maintainence thread these days.
So far I’ve met Cinque, Intesha and Joffy. Intesha was brave enough to even come to this unknown axe-murderers house! Minka and I tried to meet-up a year or 2 ago but didn’t manage it.
I think Thin over in Perth has met 7? Simcoeluv is a forum legend, having written the best info for newbies guide on the forum, and a hilarious post on his pants falling down. He pops in here from time to time. Thanks sim.
Don’t feel you have to answer everyone or acknowledge everyone’s post. It’s not a requirement. Some do that brilliantly, but I can’t manage it. When I go to post, everything goes out of my head except in the vaguest terms of who’se doing what. I know I could write it down or do some techie magic, but my personal circumstances don’t allow me to do either. There is no pressure for anyone to feel they must answer everyone. Just do what you need to do for your 5:2 journey, weight, health situations. Ask whatever you need to ask. Post how you need to post. If you can’t read it all, then don’t; just post.
Onwards and downwards,
If you fall off the horse get back on
Merry
Joffy – are you out there reading on your phone? I can’t find your details on my contacts/ etc., also I’ve changed phones, (yeah I know, but shifting from 1 ph to another is a big deal for me), so would you please contact me if you still have my details.
Intesha and I would like to catch up with you while you’re around our way. Hope to hear from you🙂
Merry
Cinque, I can’t remember why I didn’t order that Wai Lai Yoga DVD. I know I intended to. But maybe it was because I couldn’t find it. All I can seem to find now are Wai Lana DVDs. You’re sure the name is Wai Lei, right?
Thin, it’s terrible that you are still having to put up with the airbnb noise from next door. Do you have contact info for the owners? Can you call the police to complain about the disturbance? Surely there are laws in place for disturbing the peace or something like that. Have the other neighbors complained? If something like that happened here and I couldn’t reach the owners or they didn’t respond, I would probably go on Nextdoor.com, a citywide digital community and ask if anyone else was having a problem with all the noise. There are probably enough people on nextdoor that would be upset about something like this being allowed in the community that they would contact the town council about it too.
Arel, I had to look up “large flat white” coffee to see what you meant. Apparently I don’t frequent the trendy coffee shops enough to realize that it’s a “thing” here too! https://www.northstarroast.com/flat-white-coffee/
It’s definitely not required reading to keep up with all the posts. This has become a busy time of the year! I usually just respond to a few things at a time. Occasionally I go through and try to answer all, but don’t always have the time.
In a couple hours I will be at 36 hours for my water only fast. I didn’t feel at all hungry this morning, which amazes me. I lost 700 grams since yesterday morning which gets me back into the 58’s, but just barely. (The holidays were a bad influence!)
Merry, I had to laugh at your comment that penguin and I have “digitally migrated to the Southern Hemisphere”. 😁 I guess that would be accurate. From one of my first days as a newbie to 5:2, when thin invited me over here from an off-topic discussion in another thread, and Cinque, LJoyce, penguin and other regulars took me under their wings, this is the place where I usually post. I’ve gotten the best advice on 5:2 and am following in the footsteps of the maintainers.
Hi Merry & Calif & all other SH’s
Thank you both for your above posts – very helpful.
I tend to take a long time reading all the posts on my mobile, while writing points mostly for each one, so I don’t ‘miss anyone’ & it can take ages, esp at this time of year! I get so much information & motivation from all of you that it is like a large online family – very much appreciated. If ever any of you are in my area then I’d love to catch up in person.
Calif – the DVD are Wai Lana (I also spelt it wrong in my post) & that specific one is no longer available – was 3 in a pack. I think you can now get them individually.
Well, must go – off to breakfast at a local cafe to celebrate a friend’s bday, then drive 1 1/4 hours to get eyes checked by optometrist – feeling that eye strain when driving has become an issue 😐 I suppose it comes with age, but I don’t have to like it!😫 The alternative is not worth thinking about – I enjoy life.
Enjoy whatever you are all getting up to today.
Bye for now 😃
Good morning all. Wow too many posts to read and catch up on but did notice the one on exercise and weight loss so here is my opinion which has come from personal experience and following Michael mosley fast exercise book which is a read i highly recommend.
The body needs to be pushed beyond its normal limits for exercise to have an effect on weight loss – high intensity workouts. General low intensity exercise such as waking is great for good health in general.
High intensity workouts only need to be for 10 to 15 minutes a day. It can be swimming, running etc. As i am not able to run for an extended period due to a knee fracture years ago, i will walk slowly to briskly for 2 minutes then run as fast a possible for 1 to 2 minutes making sure that i really puff myself out. Then i will repeat the pattern several times until ive had enough.
I will admit that i stopped my daily exercise on the treadmill several months ago when i reached my goal weight but this was mainly due to no longer having room in the house for the treadmill and moving it to the shed when it became too hard and too hot to use in our summer soaring heat. A few weeks back i moved it back to my back verandah and have really enjoyed my daily run once again.
Anyway thats my thoughts on the subject and im sure others will have different options. Enjoy your day everyone and hello to all the new members on this wonderful forum. Cheers all
Wai Lana! Apologies for the spelling mistake. And thinking Arelkade was Cali! Red face.
They are very old. I found one of them at the library and borrowed it often, twenty years ago, and then about 15 years ago I found them in a JB HI FI bargain bin. One of my great finds as I have never found another yoga dvd I liked as much. But ofcourse I am not sure you would necessarily like her as much as I do, plus she is a bit stretched on my new tv!
Arel, I have also be known to go through posts with a pen and paper on hand to jot notes about who said what! Haha. Should have done that with the Wai Lana dvd. I wonder how far I would have had to go back?
Good luck at the optometrist, yes it is one of those ‘getting old’ things (a lifetime ahead of losing your glasses 😀 ) but they are wonderful if you need them. I hope you can find lovely frames!
LJoyce I might be the only person in the entire world who doesn’t wear jeans, but I wish I did. They look great and most people find them comfortable. I love that you have some that fit you comfortably!
Well I had such a good fast day yesterday, and the lovely ‘waking up after a fast day’ feeling this morning. Now I am making Greek semolina pancakes for breakfast, they are yeasted, and while I am sorry not to have honey on them, they are still so light and delicious.
Handing the baton to the Friday fasters
Best wishes all!
It always feels rude to me not to acknowledge others’ posts especially if they’re struggling or having great success with what we’re all here for – 5:2 – and so I tried to answer everyone for years. Our posts are now often lengthy and off-topic so I think it’s fine to jump in and respond to those aspects of interest. My pattern is to check the thread a few times during a day so I often see them as posted but rarely have time to respond right away. By the time I do, I’ve often forgotten the things I read especially if they’re on a previous page. But I do like to take an interest in everyone else as we’re here to support each other – otherwise I might as well just write a private diary. So …
Cinque, I don’t wear jeans either! I do wear pants fitted and shaped like jeans but they’re not denim.
Merry, yes I have met seven Perth losers for coffee. Great fun. Thanks CharliesMum for starting that trend. I hope Joffy surfaces again and is still eating his minestrone soup fast food. Safe trip today!
Arel, pleased that you’ve become a regular here. Something ironic about driving all that way to the optometrist to get your eyes checked for eye strain when driving!
Still thinking I’d like to re-start yoga but have done nothing about it. As far as I understand, HIIT can be incorporated into any form of exercise including walking (I’m pretty sure Dr. M. explained this in the ‘Fast Exercise’ book but my digital copy is now corrupt so I can’t check). I set my phone timer for 60 seconds and walk as fast as my legs can carry me and then revert to my normal pace which about as fast as a dolphin can swim. I do this about 12 times during a 6km walk. GDSA, I have a treadmill in a cool spot in the garage with a nice outlook onto the garden but only use it on blisteringly hot or very wet days when I can’t walk outside.
LJ and Cinque, glad your FDs were a great success. CalifD, well done with the water fast.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Cali – are you calling us a bunch of mother hens? Actually I think I probably am at times – more often than I care to admit. Your comment about being taken under wings had me imagining a group of fluffy chickens trying to herd stay chicks.
GDSA – For HIIT I do my own version of step aerobics using my front door step. I step up and down as quickly as possible (running pace) for as long as I can manage (about 30 seconds). Then I walk around the house a few times until I stop puffing and do it again. I try to do it 5 times. I needed it to be something I could do at home in any weather so I didn’t have excuses not to do it. I’ve tried to extend the time but I can’t manage more than 30seconds unless I slow down – I’ve stuck with the shorter time and just go flat out. I find the door frame helpful as I can use it to steady myself so I don’t end up flat on my face in the hallway.
Thin – looks like cyclone Joyce is about to hit NW W.A. I hope my namesake doesn’t do too much damage.
My niece called to say she wouldn’t be here until midday to help with the blind installation. Her 15 year old son wants to come too but he’s told her he needs a sleep in because he was called into work yesterday and had to work for 3 whole hours! Tough life.
I did get to bake this morning – which I really enjoy. My niece loves banana bread so I have a loaf baking at the moment.
Today is the first of two NFDs before I fast again – that hasn’t happened for over a week. I’m glad to get back into a normal routine again. I just need to keep my NFD eating under control so that 2 FDs is enough.
Hi all. So many posts so my apologies for not replying…although I read with great interest, our communications on our island are slow at best so I tend not to post too often.
I’ve been especially interested about exercise and weight loss and here’s my take. A daily walk makes me feel better, though I’m not too speedy (torn hip tendon) and I doubt it contributes to my weight management much. But we have been staying in our little holiday house with our son and daughter, their partners and the 3 little ones. (My husband and I brought the 4 year old over for a few days before my daughter and SIL could get off work (hiatus between kindy and starting school, so no child care). My fasting blood sugar has never been so consistently ‘normal’ and I wonder if it’s the constant movement getting up and down to the children, and playing and swimming/paddling with them, etc. It’s been very good for the spirits, nevertheless, having them all here, and the lower blood sugars are a bonus.
No FDs while we are here – son and daughter have taken over all the cooking, bless them, and it just doesn’t work, doing my own. But they are both really health conscious, so the food has been light and fresh. That said, and I never thought I’d say this, but I miss my FDs. Home Sunday night, back to work Thursday, so I’ll be back into the routine of Monday/Thursday fast days very soon.
Cinque, I meant to say, I loved the photo of you with your grandchild. Just beautiful, and such an inspiration, to see you looking so glamorous in your swimsuit.
And Calif, great boots!
Hope Friday is good for you all.
Wow, its been nearly a year since I posted in this forum. I have been ill on and off for that amount of time. Haven’t been able to stick to the diet for ages so all the weight I lost went straight back on so, I am starting all over again. I have even had to read the 5-2 book again. Reading from the posts I recognise quite a few names.
Nice to get back into the swing of things. I feel that the time is right for me to start again so I am making tomorrow my 1st FD of the year. I still cant exercise much apart from swimming so I go down to the village pool at around 5.15am, ( when I am on my own ) and I chug along. I still say that swimming in the morning before I do anything else gets my day off to a good start.
Since I was last here I have 1 new granddaughter AND a new great-grandson ! I have yet to meet either of them but I hope to in the near future.
Oh well, I have heaps to do today so I dare say I will chat tomorrow.
CYA
Welcome back CRose and hope you’re soon back up to speed. Good luck with your FD tomorrow.
Hi Lindsay, sounds like lots of fun with family and healthy eating. Nice to see your post.
Arel, LJ and CalifD, thank you for your commiserations about next door. I checked out that website CalifD and it looks like a great initiative. Doesn’t extend to Oz but I looked up my old neighbourhood in California! The reason we haven’t contacted the owner directly or involved the local ranger or police wrt to the noise is that we don’t want to alert the owner to the fact that it’s under investigation. I have sent the local council a link to the airbnb listing which shows a photo of the street frontage proving beyond doubt that it’s our neighbour’s house. If he gets wind of our complaint before they establish this, we’re worried he might remove the external house photos making it harder for the council to confirm the street address. Also, regardless of their conclusion, we figure we’re stuck with the current bookings as I doubt they’ll evict people already here on holiday. This lot leave on Sunday and then we have one night off before the next booking. I will follow up today though, lazy sods at the council – all they had to do was click on the link I sent them and then stroll 5 minutes through the park that separates their offices from our street. How long can that take?
Hi Everyone
Welcome back CR, that is dedication going to the pool at 5.15am! Congratulations on new granddaughter and great grandson.
Linsday, it sounds like a lovely time away with your family. What island are you at?
I’m sorry but I really don’t like cockatoos- they started screeching early this morning, I think, at the netting on our peach tree- no peaches for them this year!
Nice of you to bake something for your niece LJoyce. I hope you can still get everything you want done.
Thin, my older daughter and son got married at a venue where they chose the food and then we all just rolled up on the day. My son was married at a winery and my daughter at Gum Gully Farm which was just lovely. This wedding involves us doing all the set up beforehand and actually hiring everything as it’s just in an empty paddock. I’m wearing a summer dress and flat sandals.
It would be cool to catch up with people from here. I might be in Perth in November as my friends daughter is getting married then 🙂
G’day that’s a good idea putting the treadmill on the verandah. I could put my exercise bike on the front verandah- it’s not too close to the road and we have lattice so people couldn’t really see me when they drove past 🙂
CalifD, I do love that boot. I wear jeans a lot. I have long legs but a shorter waist. Size 10 butt but size 12 top.
Those pancakes sound yummy Cinque.
We had a lovely meal and evening with my daughter and her family last night and my granddaughter loved the present we got her- a pram for her doll. She is so different than her sister, who isn’t really into dolls. We were constantly told to “shhh baby sleeping” – so cute 🙂
It’s a FD for me today. I usually have 2 coffees on a FD and then black teas but never thought to have different flavoured teas. I have the miso sachets too
Oh, and I made my first lot of kombuca, I really like it. I would like to make kefir too but don’t know anyone in real life, who makes it
Have a great one- whether you are fasting or not 🙂 xx
Stay, I’d love to meet you should you have time when in Perth. And I could introduce you to some other Perth losers from this thread; maybe our newest loser Eli would be up for a frothy flat white. CalifD, you’re not the only one in the dark about flat white. I asked for a flat white in Spain and they just looked puzzled. I thought it was my accent but it turns out the choices are ‘cafe’ or ‘cafe con leche’ just like in Mexico.
Stay, both Minka and I enjoy ‘Madame Flavour’ teas for a FD treat. A little more expensive but we’re worth it. Minka likes Mint Choc and I like Orange Choc Ceylon. It feels just a little bit naughty on a FD. Here’s the description: A classic Ceylon leafy tea is infused with orange and enhanced with cocoa bean pieces, and a sprinkling of European dark chocolate drops for a delicate hint of chocolate. Tempted?
Its been an eventful and utterly frustrating afternoon.
Two of the three blinds that I had purchased didn’t fit. Despite the fact that I had bought 180cm blinds for 180cm windows. I bought them so long ago that it’s too late to return them – thankfully they were really cheap (now I know why). So we all went to Mount Barker to find replacements only to discover that they didn’t have anything suitable at a price I was willing to pay. In the end I decided on a modern brushed chrome curtain rod and curtain with the big metal eyelets (all 50% off) for the spare bedroom and the study is not getting any blinds or curtains – it doesn’t get any direct sun so I think I”ll get away without a blind. The blind I had bought for my bedroom actually does fit thankfully.
When we tried to install the blind in my bedroom we had trouble with my electric drill (I haven’t used it at least 3 years). My niece rang her husband and her dad and showed them the drill on her phone but none of us could figure out what was wrong. So tonight I have to sleep in a bedroom without curtains or blinds (because we actually did get the old pelmet and curtains down). My niece and her husband are coming back tomorrow with their own drill to put up the blind and curtain rod.
On the plus side, my laundry does now have a rail to hang clothes on – when we actually looked at the instructions it involved no drilling at all – it’s spring loaded and stays in place that way. At least something went right!
I’m now having a much needed pot of tea before I think about what to heat up for dinner – I’m grateful for my freezer stash on nights like this.
Good to see you back Charlotterose.
@GdafromSA & @thinatlast – -Re the HIT training. I haven’t read the fast exercise book but I feel like the 5-2 diet book also recommends the HI training. I started with 1 hour per day, however I cannot claim high intensity. Now I’m starting with the 30 seconds on/ 30 seconds off running to get my heart rate up, otherwise I just plod along. I think I’ll change though to going to an oval and running as fast as I can between light posts, then walking to next light post, then running etc. The timing thing is becoming cumbersome.
@califdreamer and everyone I missed! thanks for the motivation. Guess what I did today – had my first every black coffee 🙂 any advice on the calories? Myfitnesspal has so many variations. large long black from the service station with one pink stevia packet which was 16 kj.
@patiger – I hope this makes it to you as it’s in another forum but I don’t think I can join too many at once. I’m also after what is meant by ‘carb and calorie free noodles’! Would love to hear, but now I can’t find the original poster (binks?) – these forums move way too fast to find a starting point.
I feel like 700g might be the stock-standard weight loss for water fasts? That’s what I lost and I’m finding that figure (or thereabouts) in many posts. At the risk of saying this way too early in my 5-2 ‘journey’ for want of a better word, I’m so far finding liquid fasting easier than counting calories. Having said that, I haven’t done any B2B.
@thinatlast – are you telling me you’ve had catchups with 7 perthites and haven’t run into a long-lost cousin, school teacher, friend’s brother’s sister’s aunt, gp or, worse, specialist of an embarrassing nature? Unheard of. I feel like everyone knows everyone here, at least that seems to be what happens to me…
@cinque – I’m missing where the photos are but want to say, it must be a wonderful feeling to be a grandparent and @charlotterose25 a great grandparent no-less! Wow.
@lozah do tell which particular alcohol you were drinking – that sounds like a theory that needs to be rigorously tested 😉
@ljoyce miso is sounding like my kind of thing.
Since I’m feeling the love from all you wonderful southern hemispherites, does anyone have any off-topic advice on how to tack a study that is absolutely my nemesis without a word of a lie. I’ve come in here purposely today to type this so that I might actually pick up a thing or 2 whilst in this room but I really hate it! Hence the long post allowing me to be too busy to clean up this junk room. It has absolutely defeated me. My daughter can’t find her ATAR art work because all of last year’s crap has been dumped on top of each other. And my son was looking for something this morning for a job interview and we had all four of us manoeuvring piles from one part of the room to another. I find facing this room harder than water fasting! It’s like a hoarder’s paradise.
well, that’s my off-topic personal thingo.
cheers everyone.
LJ, that’s all to bad. I wouldn’t fancy sleeping with no curtains but I guess it’s OK if your bedroom isn’t on the street. Nice that your family are so helpful. My good news is that I received a reply from the local council confirming that they’ve verified that the property next door is the one on the websites, spoken to the current occupants & put the owner on notice to cease activity by 5 February. The bad news is that he can apply to change the land use to ‘use not listed’ and affected neighbours will be consulted but our permission is not required. I fear for the future of our quiet neighbourhood.
Oh dear, hoarding! Try to read something buddhist about detachment, Eli! Getting of rid of ‘stuff’ is like losing weight – it’s so liberating. From watching, “The Hoarder Next Door”, you start in one corner and go through everything, making piles of stuff ‘to keep’, ‘to bin’, ‘to sell’ and ‘to give away’. In an office, you need a good filing cabinet, lots of shelving and some cupboards with deep shelves and doors so you can get organised. My OH is a big hoarder. I slowly chip away at it, encouraging him to take photos of things we’re pitching so he can keep re-visiting his ‘stuff’. You honestly wouldn’t believe some of the stuff he keeps. That’s about all I can say. My commiserations.
I know what you mean about the 6 degrees of separation in Perth. The other day, a lady collected a filing cabinet she bought from me on gumtree (really, I love getting rid of stuff – shame you didn’t buy it as I gave away $50 worth of brand new suspension files with it) and we chatted for 40 minutes about some people we both know in another state.
Let’s hope if you agree to meet some day that you don’t own the property next door to me and you don’t work for the local council! Oh, and good job with the water fasting.
*sorry, ‘too’ bad LJ.
Just visited the legumes recipe thread so I could save it to favourites, thanks for the link, Cinque. I noted that LJ had added spinach to the Nigerian Bean Stew which is exactly what I did. Can anyone remember the recipe in which spinach was added either to lentils or chic peas? A bit of a long shot I know, but it was so good and we all raved about it last year. Can’t see it on that recipe thread.
EliC,
The disorganised excess of things in your study seems to be part of a pattern that many of us here are guilty of. I’ve tried really hard to break my the habit learned from my parents of hanging on to everything in case it was needed one day. Something that is important if you are going to get on top of this, is starting with the right storage. One of the reason I end up with piles of things accumulating over time is that they have no real home to be stored in (or their home is inadequate for the volume of things). So maybe start with getting the right cupboards or shelving in your study. The next step is actually more painful as it involves some ruthless culling – this can be harder if there are other family members with a different idea of what has to be kept. I took a simple option of large shelves (from Ikea) and plastic tubs with lids (from BigW) so I could see what was in them. I chose a type of tub that came in various heights but all had the same width and depth so they stack without wasting space. For piles of paperwork in plastic tubs I’ve put labels on those so I can find what I want easily. I find that if I only have to lift a lid and drop something in it’s easier to keep putting new things in the right place. I find every couple of years I need anther cull as the tubs are getting a bit full, although now that I’m keeping more electronic rather than paper records this problem will probably reduce. Just one more bit of advice – you don’t have to do it all in a day, you can tackle it in stages – one pile at a time.
You also mentioned the carb and calorie free noodles. I assume you are talking about konjac noodles. These are made from plant fibre and are extremely low calorie. There are a few of us who use them on FDs. I often use them as a noodle substitute in normal meals too. In Australia there are two brand commonly available from supermarkets. All supermarkets stock “Slendier noodles” in a variety of shapes (noodles, angel hair, lasagne, rice etc). https://slendier.com/ All supermarkets seem to shelve these in the health food isle with the gluten free products. They are about $4 a packet and contain one pouch of wet noodles in water, which is 2 serves. The the other brand is “Changs Super Lo-Cal Wok Ready Noodles” and are also made form konjac. These are slightly smaller packets and are cheaper. Coles shelves these in the noddle isle with the other Changs noodles. Konjc can also be bought in a sold block from Asian grocers – you need to cut these into noodle strips yourself.
When you cut open a packet you need to tip them into a sieve and wash well as they smell a bit like raw squid to me (they don’t taste like it). I find that if I’m adding them to soup I just do so shortly before serving so they have time to warm through. However if I’m using them as pasta or noodles in a stir fry I need to get rid of some of the water in them or they make the dish too runny. To do this just put the rinsed noodles into a nonstick frypan and move then around, dry frying them for a few minutes until the texture changes to something drier. Then I use them in the stir fry or with the pasta sauce. If you have a look at the Southern Hemisphere recipe thread I’m pretty sure there are a few recipes that use konjac noodles. https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/southern-hemispherites-fd-recipes/
Thin, that ruling from your city council is completely unfair! So anyone can set their house up as an airbnb (or hotel) without approval from the neighbors? Why not just set up a huge screen in your front yard, pave it over and make it into a drive-in movie? 😡 The hotel/airbnb makes your neighborhood into a transient community. What will that do to property values? That makes me so mad I could spit! 😤 Maybe I will! Sheesh!
What about your other neighbors? Haven’t they been disturbed by the noise? Maybe it’s time to try and get them involved.
The result of the WFD followed by the FD yesterday resulted in a 1.8 kg loss. I would be afraid of slowing my metabolism by trying that on a regular basis, but it’s nice to know I could get through it without much problem. 57.7 this morning, but some of that is certainly water weight.
I was happy about that this morning, but now after reading thin’s post I’m so irritated!🤬
Morning everybody.
Just back from a lovely swim.
FD today.
Without going back through all the posts and find who mentioned it, I have found the best way to stop Hoarding and get rid of rubbish.
1. GET RID OF HUSBAND ! That was the biggest load of rubbish I have ever dumped.
2. Sell ones house ( out of necessity ) and move to a small relocatable in a lovely village.
3. Seeing as I do not have a large amount of storage space now I have to stop saying YES I WILL REHOME THAT AT MY PLACE, it just does not work anymore. Mind you I didn’t say no to a larger TV that a friend needed to get rid of before Christmas. My ” smaller ” TV is now in my bedroom and I can actually read the wording whilst laying in bed WITHOUT wearing glasses! lol
So I cant hoard anymore,.
The other week I had a big clean out of my kitchen cupboards and any electrical equipment that I brought from my marital home 7 years ago and have NOT used since went to new homes.
Oh well, hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Hugs
Good morning SHs, welcome to the weekend
Without blinds or curtains in the bedroom I was awake with the sun this morning. Hopefully the blind will be up today.
Cali, 1.8kg sounds like a huge loss considering your weight. Even if some is water, I’m it wasn’t all water. Also good that you’ve proved to yourself that you can do it if you choose to.
Thin I agree with Cali’s suggestion of getting the neighbours involved. If neighbours are consulted when change of use is applied for then it will be important that most of the neighbours are against the change. Then you have more chance that the council will rule against the change.
I have no idea why, but I felt like breakfast this morning – must have been the early start I think. So I’ve just munched my way though 2 slices of toasted fruit bread and 2 cups of tea. Not something I want to make a habit of.
I actually mixed up some plaster and filled all the holes from the old curtain, blind and tieback brackets. It felt good to get a task done as I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the number of things to do to the house which usually means I do some gardening instead! After offering EliC advice I realised I need to apply that to me too. Just start somewhere and do it a bit at a time. I’ve decided I’ll start with the sanding and painting in the study. Then once that room has been decorated I can store all the packing boxes that are currently taking up floor space in several rooms, in the study and it will clear the space for me to work on other rooms. (I’ve been packing things that I can manage without that will get in the road of staging an uncluttered home.)
Hope you all have nice plans for the weekend.
Trying to write and be grandma at same time.
1. Even if the council changes the ‘use’ category, surely you can still complain about any inappropriate noise?
2. Is dreadful room a hoarding problem? Or has it just got turned into chaos while you were too busy to go through it?
If the second is the case, my suggestion is to do the ‘3 game’. This is one I do often because chronic illness means I am always getting behind with cleaning and sorting out.
What you do is go in the room and do three things. They can be as small as you like. Choose three bits of rubbish to put in the bin, or move one thing out of the way and open one thing to check what is inside it and get one thing out and deal with it. Whatever. The three easiest things.
Then have a break! Next time, go in and do three more things. Keep them small if you are uninspired. Rearranging something counts as one thing.
Once you are motivated you can stop the three game and write a list and go through it, or whatever.
The good thing about the three game is that it really is true that you eventually get it tidy even if you have to keep just doing three small things.
LJ, I had 2 slices of toast and creamer in my coffee this morning too. But mine was sourdough toast. Your fruit and nut sounds better. 😊 You’re getting a lot accomplished on those windows! I get overwhelmed by the number of jobs around the house to do too. Sometimes each one takes only a small amount of time and I wonder why I waited and was annoyed with the thought of putting it off for so long. I have a hard time breaking tasks apart into small segments. And an even more difficult time getting started. It’s easier to get online and see what’s going on with my 5:2 friends. 😉
Charlotte, I don’t think you were around when I “digitally migrated to the Southern Hemisphere”, so good to meet you! My OH is only half of the clutter problem, in fact I’m probably the bigger clutterer! Electronic stuff is a big problem for me too. Technology changes so quickly and items get replaced but the old ones don’t seem to disappear. I have chargers from old phones I haven’t used in years, computer cords and peripherals for computers long since gone. The thing is, it all has to be sorted to figure out what’s useful and what isn’t. The Echo made a lot of music players obsolete. And streaming video replaced a lot of players. Sheesh! Just thinking about it makes me weary. 😴
Anyway, glad you’re starting up with 5:2 again. Hope you’ll accomplish your weight loss and then stick around with us to maintain.
Cinque, we were posting at the same time. I like your “3 Game”. I think I will try it.
Hi All,
Merry, I’m so sorry we weren’t able to get together. I would have loved to meet up, though worked all day and due to my responsibilities, yesterday was required to remain on the premises over my lunch break. Hope to see you next time you are in the area!
Cinque, I chuckled when I envisioned you turning your mirror upside down every week or so! The description of the mindfulness you’ve gained around those ‘insatiable hunger’ waves were very helpful to read since it will remind me to tune into that deeper level of awareness in moments of weakness!
LJ, Kefir + inulin powder mixed together, to me is a gold standard combination since, as you wrote, you are providing both pre- and pro- biotics! I’m going by what a friend reported from watching Dr. M’s recent gut biome documentary; wasn’t it found that the kefir provided the best of the 3 options for boosting gut flora? …Better than plain yogurt or the vegetables that contain the inulin? …I understand about the vegetables that contain the inulin since Angela Rippon mentioned that you’d have to consume kilograms of chickpeas to get the same amount of inulin contained in a serving of the powder.
Calif, Sounds like you are starting the inulin powder ‘gently’ as I did. I too started by taking 3 grams and slowly raised my dose over about 5 months or so, up to the 30 grams per day. I followed my body the whole way as I did this, which is why it took that many months. From recollection, I think I raised my dose weekly by a 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon, depending on how I was traveling. If I felt bloating or discomfort, I would lower my dose back down for another week before attempting another raise. I did this prior to starting my ’30 gram/ 7 month’ experiment. Looking back, it would have been good for me to have gotten my first scan before I ever started on even the smaller amounts of inulin and even one when I first started 5:2 to see if the smaller of amounts of inulin helped reduce my visceral fat and if 5:2 alone also contributed. The reason I focus on visceral fat is because from what I read, it is the only type of fat that is potentially toxic since it houses itself around our organs such as the heart and can enshroud them, causing stress and inflammation. White fat, the type on our thighs and arms doesn’t do that and brown fat, well that’s the type of fat that is healthy and helps us lose weight since it burns calories for us!
Calif, also thank you for the accolades about doing things right to have achieved the fat reduction and muscle increase. I did chuckle when I read your words… only because I’d not long been through the Christmas week in which I consumed every dessert put in front of me and more, plus all those boxes of chocolates that I was given as gifts! Reading your words underscored what Merry often points out, which is that we don’t have to be perfect, we just have to keep going and do the best we can. So, I do accept your lovely words Calif and read them to mean that I did the best I could and that has been good enough, which I feel would be true for everyone on this forum who keeps on keeping on. Isn’t it said that jets never fly on course, but are always a bit off, but they still keep their destination target and they do get there! I guess this journey is like piloting a jet flight!
Speaking of boxes of chocolates… When I returned home from work yesterday (remember yesterday was a FD for me), it was nearly 5 pm and I’d only had a cup of liquid nourishment all day (plenty of glasses of water, but less than 100 calories by that point and I’d been quite active at work, so felt in need of nourishment). I opened the refrigerator to serve myself the delicious Woolworths plain Skyr yogurt(it has so much more protein than regular yogurt and I get to eat a full 175 grams for just 106 calories), and spied a carefully wrapped gift complete with ribbon. I turned to Mr. M and said, ‘Ohhh! What’s this?!’ He replied, ‘It’s for you!’ …This is totally out of character! Mr. M doesn’t usually give gifts unless there’s a formal occasion. My heart melted with the gesture, though I already sensed what might be inside the package! …And sure enough as I excitedly opened it, I saw two more boxes of the same chocolates that Mr. M had given me for Christmas. He said, ‘I just happened to be passing by the shop where I bought those I gave you for Christmas and saw they still had a couple of boxes and I thought of you. And I just happened to see a box of milk chocolates at the same time and, well, I’m a bit embarrassed…’ As I took the elegant looking box of Mr. M’s dipped milk chocolates I saw that there were only a few left in the 240 gram box! I chuckled and said, ‘I see you’ve enjoyed them!’ Mr. M looked sheepish and I added, ‘You’ve done what I usually do!’ as we both smiled at each other! I continued with my FD, Mr. M ate up the last of his box of chocolates as we watched young Alex De Minaur win his tennis match and my boxes of chocolates are still in the refrigerator unopened as I sit here contemplating what to do with them! I’m pulled in many directions. Yes, I love dark chocolates and they are very dark and not so sweet, which is good. However, I know that as soon as I open the box, I will do what Mr M did, which is to eat them in rapid succession, such as over a day. That will then start the hunger dragon breathing fire and I already know I’ll start bingeing! I could wait until the rare visitor or guest comes along and open them then to eat and then do what LJ does which works which is to send the rest away with the guest! Maybe I could take them to a lady friend’s home where I sometimes drink afternoon tea and we could share them and I could leave them there! All I know is that Mr M will start pointing out that I’ve still got those lovely chocolates he gave me, in the frig, if I leave them there a little too long. …Or I could use them as a mindfulness exercise and take 5 minutes to eat one bite only! I’ll keep you posted!
I know I’m talking your ear off here and this will be my last paragraph…
I’m going to celebrate a small victory: The other day I felt suddenly quite hungry. It was nearing dinnertime anyway had to shop for vegetables in preparation. I somehow found myself in the ‘treats’ aisle, perusing the selections. As I scanned them, I only then became aware that there was so much anxiety fueling this hunger/craving. At the same time I remembered a list I’d made at the start of the new year as a kind of focal point for my way forward. The list reads: Words I think of when I imagine ‘Wow, I feel great!’ and underneath I wrote, ‘vibrant, healthy, vivacious, energetic, peaceful, clear headed, focused, svelte, alive, youthful, beautiful, harmonious, balanced and strong.’ I’ve had that list on my desk and scan it every so often through the day. So, as I picked up an appealing looking ‘Paleo Treat’ off that supermarket shelf and read the sugar content (which was sky high at 26 grams per serving), it dawned on me that eating that treat was going to fuel an ongoing binge and that I’d really rather be vibrant, healthy, vivacious etc. I put the Paleo Treat back onto the shelf and happily went home, still with the anxiety inside, though at least it was no longer disguising itself as hunger. Later that evening the issue causing the anxiety resolved. Had I binged, I would have had a ‘residue’ to clean up that could have lasted long after the anxiety resolved. This is the first time I can think of when I’ve made this ‘cleaner’ choice in this way without the craving following me around after I’ve opted not to eat the ‘junk’. Usually my urges are so strong, I have to go with them and let them run their course. Whew!
CRose, your post made me laugh. Cinque, you’d get on well with my OH. Your advice to re-arrange some clutter would be right up his alley! He’ll agree to go through, say, a steamer trunk full of paperwork and memorabilia from his parents and generations beyond but gets completely side-tracked and starts reading everything, taking meal breaks, then googling things for more information and then we’re left with an even greater mess with piles of papers everywhere – and very little in the shredder. If I tell you that he still has his cubs uniform from age seven, does that give you an idea of the problem? He’s the only person I know to have kept a vehicle so long that it appreciated in value (1967 VW Kombi split window).
Thanks CalifD and Cinque for your support. Cinque, yes, there are avenues for dealing with noise after midnight. But as OH said, we don’t want to be repeating that exercise week after week with each new set of guests. And OH is worried about the ongoing security factor when he works away. As for daytime, they can scream and splash and bomb in the pool and make all the noise they want. We know our neighbours across the road well and will talk to them about it but they’re unlikely to be contacted by the council. On the other side, the house has recently sold and is now leased for a year. I don’t know the tenants or the owners.
I often mention my neighbours here. We’ve always had an active Neighbourhood Watch & I was the street rep. for 15 years so I know a lot of people. But many of us became particularly close when fighting our local council over a change of use issue that dragged on for two years. We learned that ‘consultation’ means “you can express an opinion but we’ve already made up our minds”. The good thing that came out of it was that many of the residents of our neighbourhood, particularly in my street, became really good friends.
One good thing about this current problem is that any objection we raise will be based on the actual impact on us to have that use of land applied, not speculation, as we’ve already experienced it. They can’t argue with that. Oh well, people have worse issues to deal with, don’t they? It’s ironic that I have a low noise tolerance and very good hearing.
LJ, I hope you make good progress today. Cinque, I hope you enjoy the little ones. CRose, I hope you get back in the swing – I remember that revenge factor you hoped for last year! CalifD, amazing results. I hope to join you down there in the 50s some day!
P.S. Morning Minka, too bad you couldn’t connect with Merry this time. I shall enjoy your post over a cup of coffee. 37C forecast and storms tomorrow – Hurricane LJoyce I presume?
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11 Jan 18