LJ, speaking of T2 teas, on my last order I had a tin of the French Earl Grey which they ran out of. I ended up switching the tea in the tin to Creme Brûlée instead of the cube of the same. I hope that’s a good one since I’ll have a lot of it! I believe you did mention that one once. They honored the 20% off and free shipping even though the total came a little under. They are very nice people to deal with. And their teas are some of the best I’ve had. That’s probably because, with your advice I knew which ones to pick. We seem to have similar tastes.

Teapot, welcome to the 5:2 forums. This is a good way to lose weight because it’s quite flexible and because you chose the food you like. No food groups are eliminated. I hope you find it as easy to stay with as most of us here have.

Thin, so glad to hear that you have more permanent neighbors in the house nextdoor. 3 truckloads is a lot of furniture. The neighborhood isn’t zoned for furniture stores, is it? 😁😆😁

Does anyone know a good free calorie counter app for iphone? Or how does everyone keep track of their calories on FD day? will start tomorrow with my first FD and just want to be prepared.
Thanks

First of all, welcome Teapot,
I just love having someone here whose username is Teapot!

I’m really hoping the 5:2 suits you and that we are good companions for you on the journey!

I’m no help with a calorie counting app though, I’m afraid. I figured out what I would eat on my first fast day and then laboriously googled it. But someone will have a good suggestion!

Nancy, here are the links to the two favourite legume recipes incase it is hard to find them (since I have worked out the permalink function)
Mung bean Stew: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/beans-and-lentils-recipes-tips-and-information/page/2/#post-212678
Nigerian Red Kidney Bean Stew: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/beans-and-lentils-recipes-tips-and-information/page/2/#post-234675
People keep changing them, substituting which lentil or bean etc is used, and they still seem to work.
There are still lots of recipes in that thread that I long to try.

LJoyce, thanks for the T2 fruit tisanes info, I have taken notes.

Sybs, Wow! Wave Hill in 1967! You must have been so young, and there you were at ground zero of one of Australia’s iconic episodes. You must have some amazing stories to tell!

Cali, happy birthday to your Other Husband! Haha 🙂 . Hope he had a lovely day.
Edit: Yay! You knew a good app!

Cheers all!

Hi everyone
Warm welcome Teapot – I also use My Fitness Pal free version to count calories, they have a wide variety of food items within their diary, and it’s easy to use.
Also, there are very knowledgeable, supportive 5:2’s with lots of personal experience in this way of eating/life, who are more than happy to share it all with us newer 5:2’s. I quietly thank each one of them every day for their encouragement in my personal health goals. Enjoy this forum and all it has to offer!

Here’s wishing you all a wonderful weekend, be you fasting, not fasting or just plodding along. Enjoy each day, and bye for now!

Good Afternoon

a bit gloomy in Cairns today – went for my walk earlier than usual, a bit wet, but it’s only rain :-))

I made up a recipe this morning for pancake made with 200g mashed butternut (no added butter), pinch of salt, pinch of turmeric, 1 egg, 1/2 tbsp sunflower seeds and 1/2 tbsp desiccated coconut. Fried in 1 tsp of canola oil. Made 2 pancakes – rather yummy – even if I say so myself.

Sybs, glad you got your walk in despite the weather. As I was reading your pumpkin pancake recipe I was imagining it as dinner with a cup of chilli con carne or curry over the top. I often have things like this with a pumpkin or sweet potato mash, so I think turning that mash into a pancake sounds rather good.

Teapot, you aren’t the only addict here. I also cannot get through the day without my pots of tea – although I’m a traditionalist and drink the real thing rather than herbal brews. It’s pots of freshly brewed leaf tea that get me through a FD without eating until my low cal dinner. I find it much easier to skip a meal if I still have the tea tray to keep me happy.
Regarding my fitness pal – I believe it adds calories to your allowance for the day when you input exercise, so it will try to increase the 500 that you’ve input. On FDs you don’t get extra calories for exercise, I’m afraid it’s 5:2 rules not fitness pal rules.

Sybscairns – coconut – Interesting – obviously goes well with the mash?

:))

LJoyce, 5.1 kg since the beginning of January is huge! Congratulations!!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 And you still have gardening work and a few other things that will continue the exercise. You should make this your new low. You’ll find ways to exercise, even after you move to the new place. This should definitely result in a shopping trip for new skinny jeans. Maybe have a look at the op shop? I just went to the op shop near here today, looking for another jacket and instead found 2 more pairs of jeans that fit perfectly and look almost new. I have several nice pairs of jeans from there but couldn’t resist 2 more. I also bought 2 tops but didn’t find a jacket. The total bill with tax was under $13. One of those pairs of jeans would have been double that at a store, so I’m very happy.

Teapot, good luck with your first fast day today. I hope it was an easy one for you. Tea is a great way to stay hydrated and keep from feeling hungry. I’ve been drinking more tea since hearing LJ and others talking about it here. I had a 2 cup teapot that was glass but the tea would get cool before I finished it. So I just got a pretty quilted tea cozy that fits over the pot and keeps my tea hot. I much prefer making a pot instead of a single cup. My T2 teas should be here Tuesday or Wednesday. I’m looking forward to trying the different flavors.

Hope everyone is having a good day. I need to get to sleep. 😌

Cali, thanks for the applause. It still feels weird to lose weight when I’m not trying to, especially when I have a history of fighting for every gram I lose.
I agree about the mash, I make all sorts of combinations and have found that any combination of the following makes a good mash: potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, celeriac, cauliflower broccoli. You can also add tunip, swede (rutabaga?), kolrabi and beetroot in very small quantities as they tend to dominate.
I especially like shepherds, cottage or lentil pies with a mixed veg mash on top. If I have a little potato and a lot of other veg then I feel no guilt about having a very thick mash layer.
I find veg like broccoli and cauli contain a lot of water, so after steaming/boiling, I allow them to cool until I can handle them and then squeeze the excess water out – it makes a firmer mash.

Good morning all. Well today is the day, fly out tonight for 6 weeks to UK/Malta/Sicily/Dublin/Dubai. Feel like I have been waiting forever.

I badly need this break. It has been three years since I’ve had a real holiday, the last time I went overseas Dad had only been with me six months, now nearly four years later and I am feeling like I’ll have a mental breakdown if I don’t escape soon. Sounds melodramatic but I feel trapped and my life is not my own.

I have done as much as I could to try to make things easy for him but once I get on that plane as harsh as it sounds, it’s no longer my problem.

My weight this morning was 68.4. I am not going to stress about fasting or putting on weight. This holiday is all about me having some fun and enjoying every minute. My social life has been practically non-existant since having to care for Dad so I’m going to let my hair down.

I’ll check in while I am away as I will have access to the Internet at my daughter’s. Hoping for a little snow next week. Its forecast for Wednesday and Friday. Would be nice to have a white Easter.

All your posts keep me focused and I will try to practice some form of fasting, even if it’s 16-8. You are all so supportive and encouraging.

Take care and I’ll speak to you soon from the other side of the world 😉😉

Good morning SHs,

It’s been a wet night and a drizzly morning. It should get me out of garden watering for a couple of days.

Cinque, I am unexpectedly joining you in a Sunday fast today. My original plans were to go out to lunch (belated birthday lunch) with my best friend and then do some furniture shopping at Ikea. We have now decided just to do Ikea and have the lunch when we don’t have to rush. So I decided there was now nothing stopping me fasting. Probably a good thing too as I ate several slices of white bread yesterday. (Not something I normally buy, but my niece is coming up to help this week and I want to be able to make sandwiches for lunch – she’s a white bread only eater.)
PS I have already looked in a few op shops for jeans and had no luck so far. I’ve come away with 3 skirts (all size 12s) but no jeans despite trying lots on. My shape seems to have become even more difficult to fit when it comes to jeans, as anything that fits my thighs is miles too big on my waist and hips and vice versa. I may even have to resort to going into a jeans store and paying retail prices! With most garments I have no trouble remaking things and cutting them down to fit, but jeans are just too difficult because of the french seams and double stitching.

Intesha, I hope you have an enjoyable and safe trip that’s full of wonderful new experiences. We hope for travel reports that make us green with envy – some of us are still living vicariously through the travel of others. Everyone else’s travels give me ideas for where I’d like to go once I’ve moved and settled in and I’m not spending everything I save on renovations.
I think 16:8 is a good idea when traveling – I hope it gives you enough control to avoid a lot of weight gain.

Arel, one of the reason I’m always trying to squeeze a broader range of veg into meals is really because I’m lazy. I live alone and I resent having a whole pile of pots on the stove cooking various veggies just to achieve a balanced meal. If I was cooking for a family it would feel worth the effort, but for one person it doesn’t. So I change recipes to include a lot more veg so that they become a one-pot-meal. Then I don’t have to cook all the side veg – in the end it makes my life easier.

Well I’d better go and put my furniture shopping list together – a bed for the spare room and some outdoor furniture are on the agenda today.

Hi all,
I’m just back from a frustrating trip to Ikea. I found the bed and bought it, but the slat base (which is what the mattress sits on) is out of stock and won’t be in until mid-week (I’ll have to go back for that). Most of the outdoor furniture I wanted was also out of stock and won’t be in until sometime in April. I think I’ll have to resort to borrowing outdoor furniture.

Cali, I’m not moving to a smaller house, just smaller land. Basically I currently have a small house on a large block and I want a similar size house on a small block. My current house is 3BR, 1bath, 1 lounge, 1 kitchen-dine. Most of the houses I’m looking at are also 3BR but have 2 bathrooms and also have the kitchen-dine-lounge in one huge area – they sometimes also have an extra lounge. So the next house might even be bigger. The big difference is block size. My land is 1300m2 (1/3 acre) and I’m looking to downsize to a 300-500m2 (1/12 – 1/8 acre) block.
I had to replace the bed in the spare bedroom anyway as I gave away the old bedroom furniture when a relative was desperate for bedroom furniture. I hadn’t bought anything to replace it yet. I also have virtually no outdoor furniture as my old set deteriorated to the point that I threw it out and I hadn’t replaced it. I found something that Ikea normally stock that I liked enough to have long term. Unfortunately all I was able to buy from that range was a garden bench, no outdoor dining table and chairs.
On the plus side I spent about a third of what I’d originally planned to – that’s always a bonus.

I’ve just finished a pot of French Earl Grey tea which was really most welcome. I have a large bowl of soup waiting for my FD dinner, made from the Nigerian bean stew with extra stock – left over from Fiday’s FD dinner.

I hope you’ve all had a nice weekend and the Sunday fasters have had an easy time.

Hi everyone

FD for me today. Wt 76.1kg today, was 75.6kg last Friday and lowest in about 25 years. March target is 76kg – fingers crossed! I really enjoy the flexibility of 5:2 – no longer concerned with the ups and downs due to carb intake and fluid balance. The whole process is a much easier style for getting healthier, and losing weight.

OH and I went to the coast yesterday – beautiful, sunny day at Seal Rocks NSW. What once was a sleepy fishing village with a basic caravan/camping site, and extensive gravel road travel to get there, has now been found by the ‘outside world’ and progress and tourism has gone ahead. The road is now bitumen. The main accommodation site is now very modern with upmarket cabins and prices to match! The area is still absolutely gorgeous. The best part was the 1.3 kilometer return walk to the lighthouse, on a walking road through the bush – where once I would have struggled and been out of breath, I enjoyed it immensely – thank you 5:2, I’m now a lot fitter than when I started this WOL. My yoga helps as well.

LJoyce, I hope you can sort the furniture situation out real soon – how frustrating for you

Cinque, enjoy your music whilst you clean the kitchen – take care to rest as needed.

Intesha, have a fun and relaxing holiday with minimal restrictions – you deserve this!

Calif, I’m having fun with this WOL – I often wonder how different life could be, for everyone, if they could all follow the 5:2 plan. Many people would save lots of hard earned money by not subscribing to weight loss plans and buying ‘special dietary foods’. The diet industry would collapse!!!

Hi to all those reading but not writing, fasting or not fasting, maintaining or just plodding along – we are all in this together! Thank you all for being here.

Enjoy whatever you are getting up to and bye for now!

LJoyce, mid-week isn’t so bad of a wait on the bed. That’s only a couple days away. It seems when I find something out of stock it’s usually weeks. By the end of the week you’ll have everything in place, at least in the bedroom. And better to borrow outdoor furniture if you can anyway, and wait to buy things until you know the actual space and layout of your new home’s outdoor area.

IKEA is a fun store to walk through. I like their website too because it is so well laid out and gives so many details on each product. They used to have a tool where you could download an app to figure out furniture placement in a room. (And buy their products, of course.) When we were redoing our library/computer room years ago, or actually moving from one larger bedroom to a smaller one, I used this to make a template of the room and then figure out where to put 3 desks, shelving, file cabinets and chairs. I found furniture in the IKEA catalog that was the same size or very close to the same size as our existing furniture. I was then able to “move” that furniture around to find the best placement, including some wall which ran at an angle and a closet. I ended up putting 2 of the shelves and 2 low file cabinets in the closets and purchasing some additional storage from IKEA that sat on top of the low cabinets. The other existing shelves were fit into the room with the help of this template, and we had some additional shelves built in on either side of the window, with spaces built in above that held additional IKEA storage containers. A small window seat was raised to the bottom of the window and cabinets built in beneath it. I ended up buying a table for the center of the room that had a glass top that didn’t take up too much visual space, but had just enough room for our office chairs to maneuver around it.

I was able to look at this room and closet from all different angles, even from above, looking down. That was incredibly helpful, because there really wasn’t a centimeter to spare with all of the existing and new furniture that needed to be in that room. It turned out to be the perfect placement, evidenced by how well that room has worked for us over the years.

Good morning losers and maintainers, I’m well behind on posts but did pop in to read some of them over the weekend.

Funny CalifD, Sybs and LJ, your comments about the furniture store being set up next door! The new tenants had a bit of a party on Saturday night but we decided it could be a one-off house-warming and so we went out to dinner to get away for a while (a new Malaysian restaurant). Have since met them at our garage sale and they did show some concern about the night before explaining that it had been a birthday party – so here’s hoping they’ll be considerate. It does make it so much easier to take when you know the people. They confirmed that the house is way too small for all their stuff and I was pleased the hear that the separate entry bedroom will be used for storage which means less foot traffic.

We got rid of masses of bulk at our weekend-long garage sale, it was a lot of fun with two other families and lots of neighbours dropping by. You meet some entertaining characters at a garage sale.

Arel, sounds a lovely day out. I often want to scream ‘5:2’ at overweight people. My garage sale buddies couldn’t believe the ease with which I fasted yesterday. One said she’d never be able to wait until 2pm to eat. The other was stuffing in pizza from the night before and revealed she’d be having fish’n’chips for dinner. It’s sad how much weight she keeps piling on. For me, it’s just another day and doesn’t matter what i’m doing, I fit it in regardless. Still, happily below 60kgs.

Good progress Sybs. Safe and happy travels Intesha.

Welcome Teapot. I have just seen your post which appeared while I was writing – 7 hours up to Perth – I’m thinking Esperance? Sorry if you’ve already said, I’m behind with my reading. I’m in Perth. Please don’t mention vegemite. 😆

Hello Cinque, Nancy, Lindsay and everyone else. Stay, are you still out there?

I’m off to my final bridge lesson this morning. I hope I can keep up. Time for a second frothy coffee. Have a great day everyone.

Hi everyone
I haven’t been doing 5:2 very well lately and I guess I don’t feel like I should comment much then. I’m doing the fast days but my NFDs I eat everything in sight. So, after reading comments here- I do get the emails- I’ve decided to go back to using MFP.
My weight is still ( just) under 60kgs so I’ve deciding to get back on track before the Easter challenges of excess chocolate and HCB- although my my kids who live at home will be away so that’s a bit helpful.
Hello to everyone who has joined over the last month or so. Everyone seems to be doing well and are all so encouraging. Hopefully I’ll be better at posting more often
Have a great day/night everyone xx

Just a quick question. I just bought some Crunchy Combo from the supermarket. It is mung beans and peas that have been sprouted. I’m trying to work out what the calories for them would be. I’ve looked on the net but its very confusing. One site says 31 calories for a cup and another site says 154 calories for a cup. I’m more inclined to believe the 154 calories but I just don’t know. Anyone have any ideas?

Hi Quacka

The My Fitness Pal app says:
Crunchy Combo smart sprouts
25gm = 35cals

Hope this helps and enjoy!

Hi all again
Quacka
I purchased some a couple of weeks ago – very nice, and certainly add crunch and taste to a Thai salad (and any other salad I imagine). Enjoy!

Hi SHs,
Busy day for me so I’m late with my first post.

I had a skip bin delivered this morning and it’s full and awaiting collection tomorrow morning. I’ve also arranged for a storage POD to be delivered Thursday so that all of the boxes that I’ve packed, plastic tubs and a couple of items of furniture can all go into it and go into storage while the house is on the market. By the time that’s all in storage my house will look remarkably uncluttered.

My niece was here all day helping me load the skip, clean windows, scrub floors, move furniture… It was lovely to have some help. She’s coming back Wednesday and bringing a pressure cleaner with her so that we can smarten up all of the outdoor paving and concrete.

Quacka, I have some nutrition info on sprouts that came off the tub of mixed sprouts that I normally buy. The only really low cal sprouts are alfalfa and the long mung bean sprouts (as used in chinese cooking). Mung bean sprouts with the really short tail actually have a much higher calorie count. The difference is the number of days from first sprouting that you eat the bean sprouts, I think the short tail is a one day sprout. The figures I have are are in kilojoules so you’ll have to convert for calories (divide by 4.2)- these kjs are all for 100 grams:
Chinese bean sprouts 84kj
Alfalfa sprouts 91kj
One day mung bean sprouts OR brown lentil sprouts 446kj
If I understand the process, the legume actually uses some of the energy contained in the pea/bean in the sprouting process – the longer you leave the sprout to grow the more energy it uses – hence the fewer calories left in the veg.
Just in case I’ve totally confused you, the Chinese mung bean sprouts look lie this: https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/gardening-techniques/how-to-sprout-mung-beans-zbwz1601zsto and the one day mung bean sprouts look like: http://vegetarian.lovetoknow.com/Sprouting_Mung_Beans
I don’t have a calorie count for sprouted peas and have never seen them available in shops here.

It appears I’m not the only one who had a frustrating trip to Ikea. At least you know you’ll get a nice long walk while you’re there.

I’d better go and sort out some dinner.

Good to see you back here, Stay. It sounds like you’re having a good crop of zucchini and tomatoes. Ratatouille is a great way to use them and if you make a big batch it can last for a couple of days. It’s even better the second day.

LJoyce, it sounds like you’re getting to the end of your reno work and the house is just about ready to be listed. Have you had a chance to look at any more houses to buy? I hope you can find something you like right away. I need to get some mung beans and try that soup/stew recipe that everyone here seems to like.

Thin, so good to hear from that you met the new neighbors and that they seem to be nice. Thanks to all of your hard work, the airbnb thing is out of there! I hope your other neighbors appreciate all of your hard work.

After a very indulgent weekend I’m back to my Monday FD which is definitely needed. I was over 60 this morning so need to be more careful this week. Having sweets in the house seems to cause way too many problems!

Hi Sybscairns – Really feeling your joy – YOU GO GIRL.

Hi Thinatlast – Still here :)) Been a bit flat. Feel better today though – FD. I think the weekends get tint the way of my stride.

Reading all your posts :)) Have a great day all. MY FD today looking forward to my Salmon & Brocolli later.

Good morning SHs,

Because easter chocolate and some extra social meals/afternoon teas are looming over the weekend, I’ve decided to fast today and also Friday. (As I fasted Sunday that will be 3 FDs this week.) I’d rather be safe than sorry on this one. I can try hiding the easter chocolates but I know from experience that a few will not make it into the hiding spot, and then there’s the easter buns…

Stay, I don’t have before photos of the house, but I’m hoping the real estate agent will send me a copy of the photos that they take and I can post some of them using imgur.
Enjoy the home grown produce. Last year was my final foray into growing my own veg. From now on it’s probably just going to be herbs in pots.

Cinque, enjoy your time catching up with an old friend. I forsee lots of chatter if you have 30 years to catch up on.

Cali, I really hope I find something quickly too. Although, I have accepted that I may need to rent for a while.

Lindsay, the combination of ingredients in the Nigerian stew is unusual – especially the use of peanut butter as a thickener, but it really works. I will admit to being heavy handed with the peanut butter as I love it. I also added some chopped roasted peanuts as a garnish.

Teapot, I agree, I find hiding “occasional” foods helps too. I try to have the healthy snacks at the front of the fridge too. There must be a strong link between visual stimulation and appetite – at least there is for me.

Well, I need to get back to the cleaning and tidying. Have a good day all.

Hi everyone 🙂

Just had my big salad for lunch with chicken, avocado, crunchy combo, tomato and cucumber. I also chopped up a few snow peas and added them in and a little bit of capsicum. I dressed this with some left over thai salad dressing I made on Friday. It was delicious and very filling. Thanks for the info on the calories LJoyce.

Tomorrow is a FD for me and like LJoyce I think I might also do a 3rd FD on Thursday as well. I have five days off for the long weekend and I don’t want to undo my weight loss in just a few days. Chocolate and Easter buns won’t be a problem as we have no kids around and we just don’t buy them. Extra food and alcohol will be around though!

Last weekend I did a 12.5km walk while my partner surfed for a couple of hours. I felt so good after the exercise and I didn’t put on any weight for the weekend. Ihaven’t been doing much exercise as my motivation seems to have gone down the drain. My dog is not well and age is catching up with her, so she just can’t make it on the walk we used to do. It has given me a perfect excuse not to go out walking at all, even though I love it. Oh, the mind games I play with myself!!!

Thanks everyone for your support regarding the BP issue. Its good to see some of the MIA people back again too. Don’t forget that we are all here and it doesn’t matter if you are having a wobbly. We can still be here to support you. Without this group I would probably have never got over my wobbly and got back on track.

Have a great day everyone xx

Hi everyone
Haven’t managed to read every post yet!
LJoyce: great news that you may not have to list your home – saves paying real estate commission. Though it’s still ok for the real estate, or 2, or 3, to give you an appraisal – just don’t sign any contract with them. Happy for you!

Hope you all enjoy whatever you are getting up to and bye for now!