Good morning everyone

Monday FD for me. I am having a tea with the almond & coconut milk in it. It is actually very nice. Looking forward to trying it in a coffee later on in the day.
Thin, what brand is the one you have that is 17 calories for 80ml? Mine is about 46 calories for 100ml.

Penguin, I have been meaning to ask. What do you eat for your first foods after the five day water fasts? I noticed my digestive system was a bit delicate after my B2B days and was hoping for some advice. Also if anyone else has any ideas, please let me know.

Arel, hope you are ok. Been thinking of you. Also you too Paula, hope you are still reading these posts.

I hope you are all doing well 🙂
xx

Good morning all,
My NFDs are going better now. I’m trying to eat no more than 3 times a day. Which can mean breakfast lunch dinner or it can mean lunch dinner and a snack. But each event is distinct not one long grazing session. I feel more stable with my NFD eating now.

Unfortunately I still don’t have my phone line or internet connected – still trying to sort that out.

Fasting today. I’ve made my favourite butternut soup which is flavoured with lemon and nutmeg rather than the usual cream or milk.

Hope everyone is having a good day.

Hi to everyone,

My dear brother is finally at peace and is no longer suffering, which is a comfort. Thank you for all your kind thoughts.

May have a break for a few days.
Bye for now!

Dear Arel. I was very sad for you when I read your news, but pleased you are taking comfort from your brother no longer being in pain. I am sure your family members will all be a great support to each other, and your online friends are also here for you, when you return. Take care.

Arelkade. I lost my younger brother seven years ago. With time it will hurt less but you will still have the memories. The priority now is to comfort the survivors – including you!

thanks Lindsay, that’s pretty much what I am doing. I am sure it’s only temporary, just as it was at the beginning. Actually I am not too worried:-)) tomorrow I am starting Tai Chi, again, and very much looking forward to it. I did some Tai Chi about 5 years ago, but this time I’ll keep on going.

Hello everyone I’m Perry Thanks for your update and your threads

“KEEP IT UP !”

@ljoyce – thank you, I’ll watch NFDs more carefully. But as I said, I am not too concerned as long the weight does not start creeping up. Still walking every morning for about 45 – 60 minutes, and this morning I am also starting Tai Chi again, so I know I am doing all the right things. My friends keep reminding me that I am 71 years, they don’t seem to understand that I am enjoying this re-awakened way of life, it’s not punishment!

Good morning everyone,
I’m very slow after my big day yesterday. It was a lovely social day with family and friends, so worth it.

Hi Quacka, Penguin, Lindsay and Cali.

Sybs, you are so sensible to presume your plateau is just your body waiting for a bit of a whoosh. You are doing all the right things. Enjoy that Tai Chi.

LJoyce, so sorry the internet is still not on. (So disappointing that I almost expected to hear that). Hope it is soon!

Merry, I bet you are right about that fluid. I am sure I have heard that flying does that. About time it is coming off now though!

Thinking of you today Arelkade.

Good morning all and welcome to Perry. Ask any questions. Nothing is too small to ask.

Arelkade – these are bittersweet days now – and we are all with you in spirit. Take care of yourself, and I hope that the next few weeks all happen as easily as possible.

Re the plateau, my memory has been jogged, so I’ll add to my list :

4. Keeping track of NFD’s and keeping them normal days, and keep any celebrations moderate.

5. Look at liquids – they can add unnecessary calories. Sparkling water has helped a lot of people feel they are having “something extra”.

6. Keep nutrition balanced, and fluid intake up, food you enjoy that is within your calorie limits.

7. I’m not a fan of adding extra FDs or B2Bs especially if in the first 3 weeks of a plateau. Less people can handle 3 FDs a week than 2FDs. Plateaus seem to be a normal function of our bodies’ weight loss. I don’t know why they happen, but as it seems to be consistent across people, I wonder if it has a particular function that we’re not aware of yet. It takes persistence to keep going while plateauing but
well worth it.

8. On FDs I eat 1 meal after 6pm.
On NonFDs I eat 2 meals a day – lunch and dinner.

Check in : Day 10 today (10 hrs time zone crossed); my body feels much more normal – fluidy feeling is down but not totally out.

Weight : 66.0kg at 7.30am, 65.6kgs at 9.30am even after a glass of water at 7.30am, which is back to a normal pattern.

Days 1-8: weight didn’t go down at all between rising and 1st food after 12noon.
Day 9: weight went down 0.2 kgs in first 3 hrs after rising.
Day 10: weight went down 0.4kgs in 1 1/2 hes after rising.

It’s been interesting for me to see how my body reacts to jetlag. I also asked a friend who has been an international air steward long term, and she said “west is best”. If you’re going a long way west, best to come home by continuing west. Going east is harder on the body.

Onwards and Downwards,
If you fall off the horse, get back on,
Merry

Cali & Cinque, your conclusion is right, still no phone or internet. My provider decided yesterday that it was all too difficult and they would not be able to provide internet until NBN was rolled out in my area (March 2019). It meant that I needed to do something I thought I never would – go back to Telstra. I went to the Telstra shop at the closest shopping centre. It took 3 hours to get it all sorted and I now have 3 separate technician visits booked over the next 2 weeks to get all the cabling in place. Phone and internet need to be installed separately. Aparently I can’t use the phone line to access the internet because a fibre optic cable is available to my house. It means I’ll get great internet speeds once it’s installed, but it’s a lot of fuss to get the data point put inside. I know some people don’t mind using their phone but I struggle to read the tiny print and if I enlarge it the text doesn’t fit on the screen and it becomes difficult to read easily. I still live in hope that this will get sorted.

Good morning,
Chilly here, but nice to have the news on and hearing the whole world cheer for the boys saved, and a job well done.
Tomorrow will be my fast day this week. Back into my old habit.

Quacka, great work managing that first fast day, and being prepared for the second one. I hope it went well.
Edit: Just saw your post. Congratulations! Excellent!

Merry, so glad you are leaving jetlag behind, and feeling like you know what your body is up to.

LJoyce, shame on NBN. I am the same, I like to sit at my big computer screen to write.

I’ve somehow got my fridge and freezer absolutely stacked. Excellent food. I won’t have to cook for a fortnight. I’m concentrating on no snacks and really seeing how good it is for me.

Arelkade, do you have a funeral time for your brother set yet? May I light one of my little tealight candles then, as part of my thinking of you?

Best wishes to all of you, doing what is good for you.

Arelkade, I will light a candle for your brother too. I like Cinque’s idea of honoring your brother that way. It’ will be on Wednesday in California because we’re 17 hours behind NSW time. But it will be at the same time.

I hope you find comfort in being with relatives and friends of your brother, who share not only your sorrow, but also all of the good times they shared with him.

There was a quote by Deepak Chopra, I think, that when a person dies we think of their soul leaving their body, but it’s really the other way around. It’s the body that leaves the soul. The soul is always there, it always exists. I do believe that.

Good morning,
Arelkade, I’ll light the candle at 12:30.
It will be nice to think of your one shining too Cali, and all good thoughts from this little group.

It is Fast Day for me.

Good work Quacka! Today is another FD for me. I’m the lightest (it’s all relative) I’ve been in years. I may even have to buy a belt. I wore jeans for my outing with Miss Prep yesterday, and had to keep letting go of her hand to hitch my trousers.
Penguin warning to turn away now – but another thing I love about all this is how easy it is now to get into my tights. I won’t paint a picture … but anyone who’s ever had to puff and pant to pull up their pantyhose will know exactly what I mean!

I’ve just lit the candle for Arelkade’s brother. It is very beautiful and will burn all afternoon.

Quacka good luck this weekend. Have you got some lovely sparkling water and lemon to replace an alcoholic drink with?

Lindsay and Sybs, isn’t in wonderful how much easier those everyday things are with less excess weight. Such a relief.

I’m half way through my fast day. It is cold here, so glad of a hot cuppa.

Best wishes to everyone.

Lindsay L. What do you think cold weather motorcyclists wore under their leathers before thermals became readily available?

Calif I have a whole wardrobe of these jeans from Rodney Clark. Honestly, I’d have 20 pairs in every colour. So I am going to head back to Hoi An in October, with a suitcase full of clothes that are too big, and let my favourite tailor loose on them. For the cost of a pair of jeans here in Australia, I’ll get my whole wardrobe resized.

Just thinking about the things that are easier, minus exess kilos. Getting up on a step ladder, reaching an itchy spot on my back that previously was out of reach, bending down to play with the little ones. Oh, and not worrying so more about whether I was standing in front of a light source, in case my silhouette exposed what lurked under my clothing. And being able to shop in my wardrobe, where many many dresses in a size or two smaller lurk, often, I am ashamed to say, unworn.

Good morning,
Ooh I love day after fast day. Enjoying my coffee at the moment.

Lindsay how wonderful that you will be able to get your jeans adjusted. Isn’t it great to have the confidence that they won’t need to be taken out again.
I was with Cali, chuckling at the thought of having to hitch them up… but what a lovely problem to have.

I have been trying to think of the things I enjoyed being able to do as I lost weight, but the main thing I remember is just how uncomfortable I was at my fattest: 30 kg heavier. My skin just felt stretched and uncomfortable all the time. Clothes just made it worse.

When I was losing weight, and fast day afternoons seemed long and hard, I would go through my wardrobe and the old wooden chest, pulling out all the clothes I hadn’t been able to throw away, and try them on, see if buttons and zips could be done up, and put them in order of which ones I would be able to wear soonest.
And gradually I was able to wear them all. Some sad times as I had to give away ones that then became too loose.

I hope today is a good day for fasters and non fasters. Thinking of Thin in beautiful Sri Lanka. Thinking of you too Arelkade, I hope it is a gentle day today.

Good morning everyone 🙂
I have the day off today and thought I would try and make a pea and ham soup. It is my first time so I loosely followed a recipe and am making it in the slow cooker. Does anyone know how I would work out the calories for a ham hock? Should I pull all the meat off first and just weigh that? I checked in my fitness pal and it gave me a thousand conflicting answers! Calorie king only has bacon hocks but they say one only weighs 100g. My ham hock was 700g. I’m a little confused as you can see 😉
Hope you are all well. I have been sitting out in the sun just soaking it up. Now dinner is on I think I will get back out there. Hope you all have a great day xx

LJoyce, I think you’ll like the fiber optic cable better than using phone line connections. Here, the fiber optic is many times faster than phone lines. We’ve been lucky to have cable here in this house and for many years in our last house. It’s more expensive, but to me it’s worth it since we run our computers, phones and streaming tv off of it. I can understand why you don’t like using your phone for internet. I feel the same. The screen is too small. I usually use an iPad Mini these days which isn’t quite as easy as touch typing on my desktop, but more comfortable to sit back when using it and easily carrying it around the house. Did they give you a date that it’ll be hooked up?

Quacka, ham and pea soup sounds great. I just guess at calories, but usually have it on NFDs. I often use crumbled soy bacon bits in place oof an actual ham hock because it’s easy to keep those on hand and they add a decent amount of flavor although not like the real thing.

Lindsay, I wish there was a place like Hoi An near here. It would be great to have major alterations done on clothing at a reasonable price. Here, it usually less expensive to replace the article of clothing that to have it altered.

Cinque, trying on old thin clothes that began to fit again after many years was one of my favorite things about losing weight too. That and the nice selection of small sizes at the local op shops. So many of my favorite thin clothes now are from there. (Which I haven’t gone to for a while. Time for another trip!)

Arel, thinking of you and hoping that good memories soon overshadow the sad ones of the last months.

Hooray Penguin!
I hope it is lovely, long soaking rain.

Cali, I hope you get a lovely productive op shopping trip soon! I did an op shopping trip yesterday to three good ones and found a few useful things. Only clothes were a summer dress, so that will be fun when the season comes round!

I have just finished a container of pea and ham soup my sister made. Such wonderful comforting winter food! No idea of calories but even if you can only have a small bowl, Quacka, it will be so good!

LJoyce, aren’t you useful with questions like this. Cheers to you.

Lindsay, Woohoo! https://media0.giphy.com/media/26tOZ42Mg6pbTUPHW/giphy-downsized.gif
Is this your goal weight, or do you expect to lose even more?

I wonder if your cockatooo was there again this morning. What a wonderful start to the day. It is pretty and sunny here, I hope that remains for the day.

Best birds I got was waking to magpies carolling, which was also a lovely start.

I am going to pick up my granddaughter this afternoon and keep her overnight. Can everyone please cross fingers that she doesn’t wake up in the night and stay awake. Thanks in advance!

Best wishes for a good day.

Hugs to you, Arel. It’s good to see you back here. Are you at home now? I’m not going to say congrats on the weight loss because I know what you’ve been through the last months wasn’t a fun way to lose it, but I’m hoping you can continue the downward trend. Finding some new FD recipes and sensible NFD ones might be a good diversion from all the sadness. I know that for me, my biggest challenges are NFDs. FD are usually simple.

With the hot weather I’m looking for some ideas for multi serving salads that are filling but don’t contain an over abundance of carbs. We all love tuna and pasta salad with mayo on a day like today, but my DS and I always eat too much of it. OH who is thin can easily eat a serving and then quit. DS and I are back to the frig an hour later for “just a tad more”. I’m going to look for some cold legume and veggie salads. Beans have a way of keeping me feeling full for a long time with all of that fiber.

Penguin, great to hear that you got some rain. We could use some of that here too, but rain is rare during the summer months. I hope yours put a damper on the fires,

The front page says there should be a post by Quakka here, but I can’t see it 🙁

I jettisoned my usual Sunday Fast Day after an overnight fail with little Miss 3. I tried a new strategy to stop her from staying awake when she woke in the night, but it didn’t work. So we were both awake before 2:30am and got up at 4:30 am and I took her home at 9am and went into collapse mode for the rest of the day. (We still had a lovely time together).

Slept well (for me) last night, and am looking forward to a fasty fast day today.

Cali, aren’t beans great! Have you tried a chickpea and sweet potato salad? e.g. https://tasty.co/recipe/sweet-potato-and-chickpea-salad Have fun finding some other yummy ones!

Arelkade, congratulations on that lowest weight! Enjoy that downward trend continuing. Sending you lots of good wishes for this week.

Hello to everyone else too. Cheers to the Monday Fasters, it isn’t often I join you.
Hoping today is a good one.

Good morning everyone

Well it’s Monday morning, start of B2B FD’s for me. I’m actually looking forward to them and am feeling positive. I’m interested to see if the weight loss continues this week and I will be happy if it is even a little bit down from last week. This morning I weighed myself and I am up a bit but not as much as I usually am after the weekend.
I ate a bit too much bread and drank a bit too much. I think I did ok though.

Thanks LJoyce for the reply for working out the calories of my pea and ham soup. (It was very very yummy) I did exactly as you said except for the part about weighing the ham! I was so excited to be eating it that I threw it all back in and then remembered I was meant to weigh it first!! Oh well I guess it is a NFD soup for me. I have some in the freezer although I may have to share it with OH who actually loved it too. He is a man that hates soup (well he used to LOL)

Cali there are so many salads out there but a couple that I always make in summer are four bean mix salad and also a baby spinach pumpkin salad.
I just chop up some onion, tomato and cucumber. Open up a can of four bean mix and rinse it really well. Add it to the salad and then dress it with some lemon juice and a little olive oil. Add salt and pepper too. You could also add some parsley or salad leaves or feta cheese. Yum!
The other salad is just roasted cubes of pumpkin (cooled) then add it to baby spinach or even rocket. I add sliced red capsicum and some red onion. Dress it with balsamic, olive oil and maple syrup shaken together in a jar first. I also add pepper and a bit of salt to the dressing. You can also top it with some toasted pine nuts or again feta cheese if you like it.
I am looking forward to summer as I love eating all kinds of salads. I thought winter would be easy for fasting but summer is much easier for me. A salad and some kind of protein is what we usually eat for dinner anyway. It’s like a FD meal every night of the week 🙂

Hope everyone is doing well and hope you all have a great day x