Hello Southern Hemispherites!!

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  • 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 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 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 I always make in summer are four bean mix salad and 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) and then add it to baby spinach or even rocket. I add sliced red capsicum 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

    So I just typed the whole post out again above. I was typing it on my ipad at home so when I lost it I just pushed the back arrow and copied it. I pasted it in the box here but every time I pressed submit it wouldn’t come up as posted. I noticed there was a spelling mistake in it and edited it, that’s how i lost it. Anyway its there now…..

    Just having a coffee with my almond coconut milk YUMMY!!!!!

    Thanks Quacka, lovely to read your update!
    I’ve had my coffee too. I am even toying with the notion of trying B2B fast days, but I might toy with the idea for a few more weeks before I do anything.

    Yes, winter food can be a lot more fattening, on the other hand it is so comforting. I made a shepherd’s pie style dish with lots of veggies in with the mince, and some sweet potato in the mash. I cut down on the butter in the mash by using yoghurt, it worked really well, I just brushed butter over the top. I said it was in between a Cottage Pie (beef instead of lamb) and a Gardeners Pie (vegetarian) so my sister called it a Verandah Pie. That name will stick!

    Must stop perusing the internet, and get things done. Bye all.

    Hi everyone, just checking in!

    Will try FD tomorrow instead of today! Need to get back on track.

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

    Hi all. I’ve had such a satisfying day. My OH is out, so I’ve taken to the kaffir lime bush (more a tree) with the snips. It was starting to get really straggly and now it’s had a haircut, looks much more groomed. (OH hates my pruning anything). I don’t know if the season was right, but fingers crossed (and the courtyard smells so so fresh from the leaves and clippings). I’ve also been to war with the birds. I welcome them with a birdbath and all mod cons, but when they start digging up my vege seedlings, it’s warfare! I’ve replanted some spinach, lettuce, kale and silverbeet and covered the lot with a wire mesh cage. It’s far from pretty but better then going out to find soil scattered from hell to breakfast. They even dislodged the sprinklers – I hadn’t realised until I walked past my front door and into a spray of water from a jet that had been upended. It could be crows (cunning), peewees (surely too sweet to do damage) or the rotten old scrub turkeys. Let’s see if I’ve foiled them.
    I fasted until after 1 today on my 16-8 . We had dinner last night with friends and finished eating around 9. Although it was an Asian restaurant,I was able to explain to my friends that I wouldn’t be sharing because I was trying to stay low-carb. It was timely because we are going on holiday with them in a few weeks and I wanted them to know that’s how I’d manage while we’re away. They were fine – I’ve known my friend all my life (literally – our parents were friends, and her mother brought her to the hospital to see my mother and me, when I was born) so it was easy to be honest. She knows about 5:2 too. Both her brother and niece have lost quite a lot on this WOL.
    Cinque lovely to hear the magpie call – what beautiful birds (until they dive-bomb you!). In answer to your question, I still have 10 kilos to go, and then I’ll re-evaluate. I would like to be lower, I suspect, but as my French friend says, ‘darling, over 50 it’s face or figure’. I don’t necessarily agree, but I’ll see how I go.
    What is it Cinque with these little children who won’t/don’t sleep? My little grand-daughters are the same. We’ve tried every piece of advice going (apart from letting them cry it out) but it makes no difference. Do others have this too?

    OK my OH will be home shortly so I’d better clean up the debris out the front – no point in drawing his attention to my pruning.

    Enjoy your day (and sorry for the super long post)>

    Hello all. Have just returned home from 4 days in Adelaide. The main purpose of our trip was to take MissD to watch Adelaide Crows play the Geelong Cats. MissD is a Cats fan and OH and I are Crows fans. Even though the Cats lost MissD had a great time at her first AFL match.

    The rest of our days was an eating-fest to say the least. 3 days of restaurant/pub lunchtime and evening meals….all very yummy indeed. As usual MissD and OH ate the same old stuff they always eat while I indulged in new dishes. The highlights were a cozy Thai Restaurant in North Adelaide, Italian Restaurant in Norwood and the German Arms Hotel in Hahndorf which LJoyce would be familiar with I’m sure. Oh LJoyce I also called into Udder Delights in Hahndorf and purchased a selection of goats cheeses to take home….oh boy was I in heaven in that shop !!

    So because of my over indulgence I am partaking in a 41 hour fast this week to give my system a chance to re-group. Nothing from 7pm Tuesday evening until noon on Thursday except water, miso in hot water, black teas, coffee and my daily electrolyte powder.

    Finally I’ve had success with making sauerkraut…obviously came down to having the correct fermentation jars. I’m wondering what vegies to ferment next. As i now have 3 fermentation jars my thoughts are fennel, garlic and radishes.

    Good morning everyone,
    I finished my ‘a day later than usual’ Fast day, you’ll be starting yours Arelkade! I hope it is a good one.

    Lindsay, I love your chatty post. How wonderful your prunings must smell! I bet that beautiful kaffir lime scent in the air tipped your OH off that you had been out with your snippers.
    I hope you have outsmarted those cheeky birds.

    Cheers for another 10 kg of excess weight that will away. Cheers for your face and your body. It is fascinating what happens after 50 (and 60), but health is the go and 5:2 will probably lead you to its own favourite place within your healthy weight range. It will be so interesting to see what that will be. (I’ve learnt that there is no point arguing too hard with what 5:2 thinks my weight should be).

    How excellent that you will be holidaying with friends who respect how you want to manage things. How lovely to have a lifelong friend. It has all the makings of a wonderful holiday!

    It is nice to have someone who understands about that wake in the night grandchild. Oh well, I will concentrate on having her through the day.

    Gday, you are having a week of feast and famine. But what a fun weekend, and I bet you will enjoy the rigours of your fast.
    Congratulations on your sauerkraut success! Your ideas for what to try next sound wonderful, and if you like a bit of heat, do try kimchi!

    Well I have been enjoying my day after fast day breakfast while typing (maybe not as mindful as I should be) with a lovely big cup of tea. It is another beautiful morning, but Oh Dear, there is wild weather coming.

    Cheers all!

    Hi everyone. Today has been my Monday FD and it’s been pretty easy so far. I had a skinless broiled chicken thigh for lunch and was going to have soup for dinner like I usually do, but it has been way too hot to even think of soup. The house is air conditioned but we don’t turn it down too low because of the cost of electricity and the house is large. So I ended up having broccoli, a green plum and a banana and have just a few calories left.

    Cinque, that link for the sweet potato salad looks like a good one to try. And Quacka, thank you for your suggestions too.

    Cinque, it sounds like Miss 3 loves staying with you and doesn’t want to waste any of that time sleeping when she could have you entertain her instead! It’s probably just a phase she’s going through that she will grow out of.

    Gday, it sounds like you had a wonderful weekend in Adelaide. It’s always fun to try new restaurants. Thai, Italian and German foods are all favorites of mine. We have a very good Thai and Italian restaurant in town, but German restaurants aren’t very common in this area. Lindsay, glad you had success fermenting your sauerkraut. I really need to get another batch going in the crock. Besides the wonderful flavor, it contains such helpful probiotics.

    LJoyce, I hope your internet connection install is being scheduled. I miss your long posts.

    I’m back to 5:2 after a break, due to illness. I really struggle with my weight steadily going up & I put it down to losing 36 kg in 28 weeks, back in 2007. It was too fast & my metabolism is now very low. I’m hoping I can get back into doing 5:2 every week & start losing, otherwise I am going to have to buy bigger clothes. That thought is depressing. Today has been OK, even though it is cold, wet & miserable. My hunger has been bearable.

    welcome back Cate – with all the friendly support here, I am sure you’ll bet back into the swing of things

    Hi all. A quick post before i begin to prepare my last meal before my 40 hour fast begins. Tonight we are having a mixture of roast veg – potatoes, pumpkin, carrots and new foods for OH which he enjoyed for the first time few weeks ago – swedes, turnips and fennel. I have a craving for French Onion Soup so wanting to make it for Thursday’s evening meal but not sure if its a good choice to break a 40 hr fast….mmmm might be a bit windy on an empty belly…haha

    Good afternoon,

    Welcome CateAus, so sorry to hear of your illness, hope you are recovered now.
    Isn’t it nice that 5:2 just waits patiently until you are in the right place to come back to it.

    Hi Cali, I hope your Fast Day evening went well. And I hope there is a lovely evening breeze to cool your house down. It is hard that A/C is so expensive.

    Gday, what a yummy pre fast meal.

    Two TV things to share. There is a Dr Mosley show on the ABC tonight “The Truth About Getting Fit” and I am enjoying a show through SBS On Demand called ‘The Healthy Food Guide”. It is a NZ program and full of good sensible information.

    Hi Sybs. Best wishes everyone!

    Hi Cinque – thanks for mentioning MM on ABC tonight – I thought I had missed it.

    Good evening everyone

    Welcome back Cate 🙂

    Well B2B is complete again. Today was not so easy as last week’s 2nd day but I just scraped through it.

    Hope everyone is well and Lindsay please don’t apologise for long posts! I love reading them and everyone else’s too. It’s nice to be part of this lovely group 🙂

    Bye for now x

    Morning all. Just enjoying my first killer coffee after a FD. The mower man is coming this morning, then OH and I will head off to the city markets for more locally grown capsicums, tomatoes and mushrooms, and then lunch in town. I had Miss 5 last Wednesday. ‘First we’ll go to town, then to the market, then a baby cino, then a ferry ride and lunch. Does that sound good?’ ‘Yes….but what’s town?’ I did laugh – My mum and aunt used to get dressed up ‘to go to town’ every week. Hats and all.
    Gday what a fantastic trip to Adelaide – and how great you can have a three-day food fest, without a care knowing you have this WOL to come back to. And oh, goat’s cheese. The best.
    Cinque, it’s birds 1, Lindsay zero. I’ve kept them off my veges but they sought retribution by digging out my carefully nurtured tacca. Grrrrr. No more cockatoos in my high window, but three in the bird bath yesterday. So pretty to watch, as they raised those yellow crests and shook their wings.
    Cate welcome back. Hope your first FD went well. I can relate to your fast loss diet – that was my experience too. This is a much more gentle, sustainable approach.
    Quacka how did your B2B go – happy with the result?
    Hi there Calif – hope you’re managing the heat. Here’s a tip I use when it gets too steamy. I fill my hot water bottle and put it in the freezer in the morning – and just before I go to bed I slip it between the sheets (wrapped in a hand towel). Such a good way to keep cool – and a bonus is that if I wake during the night I can tell the approximate time by it’s level of thaw.
    Happy day all

    Good morning. I’ve got a purring cat on my knee, but she is a bit annoyed that I am typing!

    Lindsay, I had to look up tacca. What a beautiful plant! What wicked birds! I hope you get some wins now!
    What a treat to have the cockies in your birdbath.

    I laughed at the ‘going to town’. It was the same when I was little and we had a trip to Melbourne, all dressed in our Sunday best. Going to town was a big deal.

    I’m envious too, what a lovely day you have planned.

    Congratulations Quacka, you did it. My Fast Day was hard on Monday (certainly couldn’t face another one on Tuesday) and I can see it was because of what I ate on Sunday.

    I enjoyed the Mosley exercise show, it was a good overview.

    It is day before Fast Day for me, and my sister is coming down from St Arnaud for the afternoon and evening, so I am looking forward to a big catch up.

    Best wishes all.

    Good Morning everyone

    My FD was ok yesterday up until the afternoon when I was really hungry. I didn’t come prepared this time and went searching for food at work. There was a jar of gherkins in the fridge so I had a couple of those. I read somewhere they can help with hunger on a FD. Still hungry.
    Got home early from work and ate a bit of cold roast beef and some more gherkins. I worked out the calories and I was up to about 200. I thought uh oh I have blown my FD again. I made some small veggie patties for dinner to have with pork. Pork seems to be my go to on a FD as it is very lean (well the cut I buy is anyway). I worked out the calories and they were about 30 per patty. I could have 5 and a piece of pork and my stir fried cabbage and still be around the 500 calorie mark. I bought a slightly different pack of pork this time and when I went to eat it tasted awful. There was nothing wrong with the pork but it just had a really strong porky taste that I don’t like. Actually I wouldn’t eat pork for many years because of that particular flavour. So I gave my piece to the OH and had a couple of extra veggie patties. Total calories for the day 506 so not a blow out at all!!
    I weighed myself this morning and I am 100 only grams down from last week’s after FD weigh in. It is not a lot but I did have a bad weekend…..
    Today I have decided I am going to have a mini FD of about 800 calories. I am prepared with food for lunch and have a chicken and veggie stir fry planned for dinner. Tomorrow a NFD, whatever my weight is. I am not hungry yet so I will eat when I get hungry but right now, guess what i am having????
    Coffee with almond and coconut milk LOL 🙂

    Lindsay I so wish we had a proper grower’s market here. I love to buy local whenever I can. It is usually tastier and definitely fresher.

    Hope you all have a lovely day and enjoy whatever you are up to FD or NFD 🙂
    x

    Hi Cinque, we must have been typing at the same time! I really believe that what we eat the day before FD plays a big part. I know if I haven’t eaten enough protein that I will struggle. Hope your next FD goes better 🙂
    I read on another thread that the ‘fast’ is actually longer if you do them on separate days instead of consecutive due to the sleep either side of the FDs. Today I am going to work out if that is the case for me. I think I will probably stick to B2B anyway as it seems to work for me.
    Oh by the way OH had a beer last night and I didn’t even feel like one ;)Yay!!!!

    19 hours into my extended fast and all is well. OH is doing it too….he reckons if I’m not eating theres no point in him eating.

    I laughed at the ‘going into town’ comments. My mum and nanna always used that phrase and I still do too. Because I live in a small siding town its about 10kms to go ‘into town’ to do food shopping etc. MissD uses it too so thats the fourth generation of my family that I’m aware of that uses it frequently.

    Happy Wednesday everyone

    Thanks for the friendly welcome back. My first FD was easier than I thought it would be & I feel better today than I have for a while.
    I slept through most of MM’s show on exercise last night so will have to catch it up some time.
    I find Territory Jerky is great on FD’s & had only 15g last night(50 cals), which got me up to 500 & staved off my hunger. I’m going to make aFD soup for my next day, which will probably be Friday. Does anyone do consecutive days?

    I think Quacka does B2B (back to back) FDs

    Welcome back to 5:2, CateAus. I only do 2 consecutive days when I have other things going on during the week and it’s the only way to fit both in. Or I’ll very occasionally do an extra FD when I’ve been eating too much or when I had hit a long plateau while I was still in the losing phase and added a 3rd FD to the week. It always seems more difficult for me to do two days in a row. But there are several people on these forums that do them regularly and find it preferable. I think once you get yourself in the right mindset and routine it can work well. You could try it a few weeks and see how it goes. You can always go back to doing the FDs separated.

    Lindsay, it would be like dying and going to heaven to see cockatoos in my birdbath. I definitely have to get to Australia one day to see cockatoos in the wild. ❤️ It’s hard to even imagine. We do have a robin who had made a nest in a small topiary tree that’s overgrown on our back patio, just about 3 meters from our back door. She’s sitting on an egg and has gotten so used to use going in and out of the door that she doesn’t even fly away now. Her nest is just about eye level. This morning I went out to water the potted plants with the hose, including the one where her nest is. She stayed, although eying me cautiously. We put water and bits of bread out for her but she probably eats bugs or worms instead.

    Quacka, I often eat prepared foods like small tins of chicken or tuna and other tinned or frozen foods. A tub of miso paste is always on hand as well. That way Iknow there is always something to eat on FD, even if OFM are eating different, higher calorie things. It gets a little boring sometimes, but works well for me.

    “Going to town” is a common term here too. Living in the suburbs we would usually name the town though. Years before I moved to California, I’ve heard that ladies would dress up with gloves and hats to go into San Francisco. It’s a good thing that wasn’t the case later, when I worked there for several years. But it wasn’t as casual as it is these days. Men usually wore ties back then and when women usually wore dresses or skirts. When they wore pants, they were dressier than the jeans than many wear now.

    Funny how a phrase like ‘going to town’ resonates across ages and continents. I did get dressed up today though, because my sweet OH took me to the buffet lunch at the Sofitel. And I did well. Very well. No sweets, no bread. Just some very fresh prawns and oysters and some roast beef and green veges. Nothing turned me off the pudding section faster than seeing that hint of a bra bulge on my jersey dress, when I caught sight of my back in the loo mirrors. Not much, but it’s still there. No food tastes as good as looking good. That will be my mantra. (and besides, have you ever noticed that hotel desserts may look fabulous, but they don’t really taste that wonderful).

    Calif the idea of a robin nesting anywhere near my home is my idea of heaven. We should do a house swap.

    Good morning everyone, there is a cold wind here, glad to be inside drinking hot coffee.

    Quacka, according to my sister, the nasty strong tasting pork is boar taint. Apparently some of us are more sensitive to the changes male hormones can give the meat. I am one of them! My sister always specifies girl pieces of pork when she buys it.

    Congrats on your 100g down, every bit helps. I hope your mini Fast Day went well.

    Isn’t it fascinating how different Fast Days can be. I’m hoping my one today will be good. I’ll find out how a dinner last night, with family at Noodle Kingdom, will effect it.

    GDay, cheers for your extended fast, and so nice to have OH doing it with you (unless it is making you both hangry).

    Cate, how excellent that you are feeling good after your fast day. And as someone who has trouble sleeping I can’t help but feel sleeping is better than watching even the most wonderful TV!
    Soup is such an excellent idea for Fast Days, in fact, in three years of Fast Days I have only had a few where I didn’t have soup.

    Btw, I bought a different brand of yuba last time and the tofu skins are about three times as thick and have correspondingly more calories. So I am only putting a third as much in my soup. I like my old brand best though, these take so much longer to soak.
    Coincidentally I bought some more dried shiitake, and they are super big fat ones, so I am only having two of them instead of three or four. They take longer to soak too, so at least there is synchronicity!

    Cali, I do hope you get to Australia and manage to see lots of our wonderful parrots.
    Say hello to your little robin from me. She has found a good place to nest.

    Lindsay, what a treat meal at the Sofitel, and such a good one too!

    Hi LJoyce, I do hope you are moving closer to internet!
    Merry, how are you going?
    Intesha are you still lurking?
    Minka, is life still crazy busy?

    Hello to anyone else reading. I wonder if Thin has managed to catch up from far away Sri Lanka.

    Best wishes to everyone reading. I hope today contains lovely, healthy, mindful eating, whether is is a full day’s food or a Fasting Day’s worth.

    Happy Thursday morning everyone.
    Well my 40 hour fast came to an abrupt halt last night. OH came home from work with 2 dozen fresh oysters. He apologised profusely but couldnt resist buying them while he was visiting his daughter on his way home from work – she works in a seafood shop. Anyhow they did look delicious so Oysters Kilpatrick it was. My fast did last 24 hours so all not lost i guess. And they were the best oysters ive ever had so that was a bonus.

    Good Morning everyone

    Mini FD failure!! lol

    I ate 25g cashews (with the skin on, something I have never seen before and had to try) without checking how many calories that would be. Yep it was 175 calories!! The day sort of went downhill from there. I estimate still around 1000 calories so not a big blow out but I am not concerned as it was only a mini FD!
    I made a very healthy chicken breast stir fry with cauliflower rice for dinner. It was very yummy and the OH even liked it.
    I can cook all these elaborate meals but my stir fry’s are usually disasters as I can’t get the sauce right. Last night I did 🙂

    Cali I totally forgot about my can of tuna that I put in my lunch bag exactly for those times when I just need something. Thanks for reminding me!!

    Cate I do B2B and I really prefer it. I have only been doing it for a couple of weeks now but I find when I am in the right head space with the right attitude it is actually easier for me. I was doing Monday and Wednesday before that. When I am busy at work I find the FD’s just breeze by. I drink tea coffee and water during the day and save my calories for dinner. It’s always protein and lots of veggies, especially cauliflower broccoli and cabbage. I usually have hot chilli sauce with them 🙂

    Glad to hear your extended fast is going well, Gday. It always helps when your OH is on board too. I need to work on that 😉

    Hope you are all doing well and I hope you have a great day. For those on a FD hope it’s an easy one 🙂

    Bye for now x

    I decided to do my 2nd fast for the week today, as I woke up not hungry, so will do Tue & Thu, like I used to. If for some reason, I don’t get the Thu one in I can then do the B2B on Mon/Tue. I play golf on Wed’s usually, so often wake up very hungry the day after. Thanks for the replies. I was too keen to wait until next Mon. I had better go make that soup as my stomach is starting to rumble!

    Hey Aussies/NZ!
    First of all, congrats on your progress so far!

    I am not exactly on your corner of the globe but our time zones are similar as I live in Singapore!
    I just started 5:2 again (today!) and having a hard time to stay motivated (just posted a recap of my story here: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/starting-52-today-wish-me-luck/#post-260567)

    Would totally love to chat with you guys to support each other as when I reach max hunger peak during fast days my friends in EU are still all asleep!
    I will read all your previous posts in detail now, maybe I can already find some motivation there 😉

    xxx

    Welcome here Fruitcake!
    Hopefully chatting with those of us who are awake 😉 will be a really good way to keep you motivated to make your Fast Days regular and very fasty!
    Congratulations on giving up smoking.
    I think it is a great idea to do the pattern that worked for you before, and then you can adjust it if you need to make it work more easily in your life.

    You ask in the post you linked, how we keep motivated on fast days. My bottom line is to keep saying to myself “It is just for one day. You can do anything for one day.” And I know how great I will feel tomorrow morning, so that encourages me too.
    And I guess the other thing is to remind myself that I am doing this from my own free choice and for really good reason, for my health and for the delight of not carrying around excess weight.
    Finally, if I am having a very hungry fast day (and yes, today is one) I do remind myself that the feelings of hunger show that the fast is doing exactly what I want it to do. I try to be mindful and notice where I feel the hunger pains and how they feel and how long they last. Such a relief that they go after a short while.

    So all power to you, over there in exciting Singapore. You will feel so pleased with yourself tomorrow, if you get through your fast day today. Keep drinking that water and I hope being busy at work helps you too.

    Cate, nice to have you fasting today too! I hope it is going well.

    Gday, congratulations on your 24 hours fast and for the best oysters in the world!
    So now, what is your next plan?

    Quacka, surely you can count 1000 calories as a mini Fast Day. I hope you are enjoying your normal eating day today.Ooh and congratulations on getting the stir fry sauce right! I always have trouble with that too.

    Off to go and check out an opshop as Fast Day afternoon distraction!

    Hi Cinque!

    Thank you so much for your encouraging words!
    This is so true: “It is just for one day. You can do anything for one day.”

    You know, when I did my first 5:2 I was thinking exactly like that and it worked so well… I don’t know why I completely forgot that mindset *facepalm*
    You sound so calm and positive, almost zen!, you just put me in a great state of mind for my first fast day thank you sooo much!!
    I have been trying to start the diet and failing so many times in the last few months that I started thinking I would never be able to do it, but you just convinced me of the opposite!

    Right now it’s noon here, I just had my lunch. I had a 100 Kcal protein bar for breakfast (love those.. they are low Kcal but quite filling) with a huge glass of hot green tea and now a 100 Kcal pumpkin soup and one babybell cheese (50 Kcal). It’s going well so far! I will have another soup tonight and maybe a little treat (I am obsessed with peanuts so I might have a teaspoon of peanut butter or one of those 50 Kcal mini Snickers bites). Hope it will go well until bed time!

    Earlier I was thinking about my previous 5:2, about the day I realized I was actually losing weight: I was about to go on a holiday and needed a bikini. When I went to the store I tried on my usual Large but it was too big and had to get a Medium. And while looking in the mirror I thought “wow where did all that belly fat go?? I do look thinner!”. It was an amazing feeling… I want to keep thinking about this today 🙂

    I actually just realized that next week my boyfriend’s parents will be staying with us (they are in Thailand now and were with us last week as well)… I mean, I didn’t forget they will be here LOL but I just realized that this will interfere with the diet.
    I probably won’t be able to do 5:2 as we need to have dinner with them every day and in Singapore we rarely eat at home because eating in is often more expensive than eating out… Any tips to keep it going in those days?

    I was thinking to have fast-like day (150 Kcal breakfast + 150 Kcal lunch) until dinner time and then have a normal dinner. So I could stay within 800-1000 Kcal every day and maybe can eat a bit more during the weekend (1500 Kcal?) what do you guys think? How do you do it during holidays/family visits?

    Thank you!

    Hi, fruitcake & welcome back to 5:2. You & I are both re-starting & fasting today. Knowing that tomorrow I can eat whatever I feel like for breakfast helps me get through the day. I wait as long as I can before eating anything(usually about 12.30) & then have about 60 cals. I then really enjoy a healthy dinner of fish or lean meat & veggies, followed by a little fruit. I must admit I am very hungry, but I know it’s doing me good. I did 5 km on my stationary bike & 30 squats today.
    When your bf’s family are there next week can you just drink water or tea during the day & then have a meal at night?

    @cate – congrats on your 5km bike ride PLUS 30 squats – wow, I have problems doing 15 :-))

    Hi CateAus!

    Great to know someone is starting today as well! Let’s do this!!

    Guys, it’s 5 PM here and I am starving so much that I can barely focus on work… How will I manage to wait until dinner time around 8 PM??

    I remember from my first 5:2 that fast days got easier with time… I hope it will be the case this time around too…

    Buck up solider. Have a big glass of water, go for a 5 minute walk. Hunger comes in waves, it will dissipate soon enough.

    You can do it Fruitcake. You’ve got over the main part of the day. We are cheering you on.

    Have a think what you will do next week when you are eating out each night. I like Cate’s idea of keeping your fast days, by only eating at the evening meal, and trying to keep to a small portion. It might make for an interesting conversation as you explain while you are only having a bowl of soup!
    But if you have to take a week off, 5:2 will be waiting patiently at the other end.

    Cate, great work on the bike and the squats, and on a fast day! Impressive.

    Hi Sybs, how are you going?

    It is the end of the day here. I’ve had my miso soup. Yum. Good evening all.

    @cinque – thanks for asking :-)) I think weight is going fine – weigh in is on Saturday morning, so I have to be patient. However, I am disappointed that my cholesterol and BP have gone up again, even though I have not changed anything I eat – my GP says “you can only do so much with diet” but I am not convinced. He is (unintentionally) quite funny – when I asked him whether he knows anything about exercising his reply was “yes, I go to a gym” so I had to set him right, saying that I was actually looking for some suggestions for myself :-))
    Still walking every morning

    It did help to drink more! I am just finishing my 2nd liter of water today and I had my fourth 250 mL glass of green tea about an hour ago… Well at least even if I don’t lose weight with this diet I will have a very hydrated body LOL

    Tomorrow is date night and I am already thinking about that dinner haha!

    Next week I will try to do like Cate said (eat nothing during the day and have a normal-ish dinner at night) but I don’t know if I can handle it. Because of my job (I am a Scientist so I spend most of my day analyzing data and going crazy with spreadsheets) I get headaches very easily if I don’t eat at all. Today I could barely work because of the fast (hence my intensive presence on the forum LOL… Hope it gets better in time or I’ll have problem with my boss :p) But I will try it and let you know how it goes!!

    Also, @cateaus, I forgot to comment on your 30 squats: WOW.
    I do 15 sometimes and the day after I can barely walk!!

    Lindsay, I remember a conversation several months ago on this thread about robins. The ones here look different than the pictures of the Australian ones. http://www.tsuru-bird.net/thrushes/robin_american_spring_lake-tahoe-_ca_3a.jpg The Aussie ones look brighter red and smaller. We think the egg or eggs may have hatched because she’s standing in the nest more than yesterday. She usually lets us walk with 1.5 meters or 2 of the tree without flying away.

    Fruitcake, welcome to this thread and to resuming your 5:2 plan. What works for me on FD is to wait until noon or a little later to eat anything. I do have coffee or tea. Lunch is something light with protein, like a salad with some chicken or salmon. Or sometimes just a small can of salmon, chicken or tuna packed in water which comes in at less than 200 calories. Dinner is usually soup, often miso with a few veggies added. Soup is filling. Steamed veggies like broccoli and cauliflower are favorites. Lots of volume for a few calories. A piece of raw fruit for dessert of I have enough calories left. My FD are pretty boring, I usually have pretty much the same thing and I make sure I always have it on hand. I drinks lots of fluids too, to stay hydrated and make sure I’m getting enough salt in my diet. Good luck to you. You can do this!

    LJoyce, tell your soon to be cable provider that they better hurry up and get you connected or we’re all showing up on their doorstep with protest signs! https://amp.businessinsider.com/images/5a95c212aae6051b008b457b-960-480.jpg

    That’s such a pretty bird Calif. Thanks for the pic. I always imagine robins with red breasts …but maybe that’s a memory of living in England. Penguin?? We don’t get robins here in the sub-tropics, unfortunately.
    Fruitcake good work – you can do it. My FDs are pretty boring too …but I kind of get into the rhythm and don’t mind the lack of variety. I’m also working with 16:8 so lunch (at 2.30 yesterday) I had celery, capsicum and cherry tomatoes with a sliver of cheese and chicken. Then for dinner, panfried white fish (in a teaspoon of olive oil) and as Calif says, lots and lots of steamed veges. I had broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini and the dreaded brussel sprouts (an OH favourite). I steamed the BS first, then popped them into the pan with the fish to caramelise a little.
    A question? Does anyone else suffer with leg cramps? I’m up 2 or 3 times a night. I’m drinking plenty of fluids, so it can’t be that. I’m low carb too at the moment – could that be it?

    Good morning everyone,
    Cate and Fruitcake, I hope you are enjoying as lovely a ‘morning after Fast Day’ as I am.

    Sybs, glad to hear you are going well, but how frustrating that your cholesterol and BP have gone up again. I wish they would figure out what is happening, I have noticed that rising BP is an issue for others on this forum (Cali), there is even a thread about it somewhere. I would have so presumed that losing weight in this way would help with BP, and while it seems so with some people, it doesn’t for others.
    What can you do but all the things that help your basic health.

    Have you had another go at making tempeh? (Thought of that from wondering what role our gut flora might play in the regulation of blood pressure)

    Cali, say hello to the baby robins!

    Sending best wishes for a lovely day. I’m eating mindfully today and no snacks!

    Lindsay Hi! Just saw your post. Delicious fast day meal! Try magnesium for the cramps.

    thanks Cinque. Will do. I hate bouncing out of bed during these cold nights, gripping my calves. (that said, my OH says it’s the fastest he ever sees me move!)
    Sybs hope the cholesterol/bp issue resolves. You are doing so much to manage your health…walking, this WOL. Odd thing for a doctor to say ‘you can only do so much with diet’. Surely what we eat and how we move is what shapes our health. But then doctors get so little training in nutrition. I laughed out loud at his comment about the gym. Honestly!
    I think Cinque is on the money about gut health. My old friends chick peas are off my agenda as I push on with this low carb approach, and I miss them (as does my body).

    Thanks, Fruitcake. I love doing squats & am glad I’m back into doing them again. I hope you got through your day OK. It will get easier as we get back into it.
    Thanks, Cinque. I felt so much more energised yesterday. I really had forgotten how good I felt fasting & had only remembered the hunger.
    Cali- I live in Tasmania & we see lots of gorgeous robins and honeyeaters from our living room window. Mostly we get the superb fairy-wren. The male is a beautiful blue- http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=13117
    Lindsay- Magnesium works for me.
    I woke up this morning full of energy & was not hungry. I love that.
    I just had a breakfast of oats, almond milk, 3/4 banana & 1 tspn honey. Delicious. I’m determined to get my weight down so won’t be eating above my TDEE any day. My stomach feels so much better this morning.
    Does anyone take pro-biotics?

    @lindsay – good morning to all who are on a FD and those enjoying the “morning after” high :-)) Lindsay, I used to get terrible cramps in my legs and feet (waking up in agony most nights, and not just once) before 5:2 and walking every day. They seem to have disappeared completely – no explanation, no supplements – the cramps are simply gone.

    Good morning everyone. I hope everyone is having a happy Friday so far.

    I want to share with you my new favourite food which i use to replace bread and wraps. It’s a vegie slice. Grate approx 2 cups mixed veg such as carrot,sweet potato, turnip, swede, pumpkin, brussel sprouts, zucchini etc. Sprinkle with good quality salt and mix, leave for 10 mins the squeeze out the juice. Add spice/seasoning of choice and 4 to 6 beaten eggs and mix. Spread thinly and evenly onto a large lined baking tray and bake until firm. Cut into the sizes you want and keep in the fridge. I reheat mine in the toaster oven until the edges are crispy….yummo. Even OH has them instead of bread toast with his bacon and eggs.

    Im still going well with my paleo / low carb way of eating. Although im not strict paleo as i still consume black coffee and high fat organic dairy.

    Tonights meal is french onion soup using my home made bone broth and tomorrow evening im making the baked whole cauliflower and chickpea recipie that Matt Preston made on Masterchef a little while back. It looked so yummy i just have to try it.

    Im also back on track with going for 30 minute power walks in my lunchbreak during the working week. I was doing it religiously before our holiday to Bali but then dropped off.

    Enjoy the day everyone, its a chilly 15 degrees here in regional SA today but the weekend is going to be warmer…yay

    Hi Southern Hemispheres, I’m back!! Finally, it’s only taken 7 weeks to get an internet connection – still don’t have a home phone connection so that’s a work in progress.

    CaliD, your threat of protest signs worked. I’ve had working internet for an hour. After waiting impatiently for my security software to update and do its checks I jumped straight onto this forum to catch up on everything I’ve missed.

    CateAus and Fruitcake, welcome.

    GDSA, 10 km is a long way to go for food, but probably good for avoiding certain foods too. If the snacks aren’t in the house it’s a long drive to get some.
    Glad you enjoyed the trip to Adelaide and that your daughter loved her first AFL match.
    We also had the “going to town” phrase growing up – but it always meant a trip to Adelaide.

    Quacka, nuts are deadly on a FD (and sometimes a NFD). The high fat content means they pack a big calorie punch. And some of us (meaning me) cannot be trusted to stop at just a few.
    I have the same experience with pork, I never buy fresh pork because I remember hating it as a child. The few times I’ve had to eat some out of politeness as an adult I haven’t liked it either. I use bacon in recipes and I can cope with cured ham that has a strong wood smoke flavour that completely disguises the pork taste.

    Sybs, sorry to hear your diet isn’t controlling your BP. I know that if I manage my diet and walk regularly it does help my BP. (weight and diet make the most difference but if I have a period of inactivity I do see an increase in my BP). I assume that means that cardiovascular fitness is helpful. I only average 30-45min per day of walking around the footpaths near home. There was a program on the ABC a few nights ago by MM about exercise and I think he spoke about how certain types of exercise helps things like BP – might be worth looking at.

    Lindsay, leg cramps can be such a pain – literally. Especially when they keep you awake. I have had them on and off for years. For me it’s always related to muscle tension and what activities I’d doing that affect my leg muscles. I find the thing that helps the most is remedial or sports massage. I see a massage therapist at my physio premises every 6 weeks and if I’ve been having leg cramps those leg muscles are always really tight and take most of the session to relax.
    Cinque mentioned magnesium and I’ve also heard that it’s helpful for cramps. The only other mineral that is worth considering is sodium – I think a lack of this can also cause cramps – although it’s usually easier to overdo the sodium rather than the reverse, so for most people it won’t be the cause.

    Cate, I take probiotics in the form of kefir (a drinking yoghurt with lots of good gut bugs). A lot of us on this forum are kefir drinkers and some have progressed to kombucha and other fermented things too, that are all good sources of probiotics.

    Fruitcake, I’m retired but used to be a statistician and spent my days buried in spreadsheets and data bases analysing data. I found that mental focus could be a problem on a very low cal day and the clear thinking I relied of was hard to find. The way I got around this was with periodic low cal snacking – I used a 250g punnet of strawberies (270kj or 64cal). I would wash them then put them back in the punnet and sit them on my desk in the morning and snack when I needed to throughout the day. That and cups of tea with milk seemed to help. I did also have lunch – usually just low cal veg in the form of soup or salad. Now that I’m retired I just eat dinner on FD but when you are working you may need to spread those 500 calories out differently so that you can get through your working day efficiently.

    Someone asked about salads with legumes. Have a look at the legume recipe page that Cinque set up. I’m pretty sure there are salads in there too.
    https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/beans-and-lentils-recipes-tips-and-information/ My favourite legume salad contains chickpeas (garbanzos) – this is on page 2 of this forum thread. I usually make the speedy version with spelt couscous but use a grain like freekah when I have the 2 hours spare to cook it.

    Cinque, CaliD, GDSA and anyone else addicted to op-shopping, you’ll be pleased to know that in my daily walks around my local area I’ve found 4 op shops. The only purchase of note so far is an anorak – I’d been looking for one for a while, that has the features I needed and fitted properly while still being roomy enough to have thick clothing under it. I found one at the Salvos about 2km from here for $15. I am yet to have a thorough rummage through the other stores but am looking forward to it. Unfortunately in the same area I also stumbled across a very appealing French patisserie. I managed to walk on by without buying one of the lemon curd tarts that was calling me by name, but I dragged my feet a bit.

    On Monday I had an appointment with an exercise physiologist that my phsio recommended. He’s happy with my cardiovascular fitness and flexibility but my physical strength and balance could do with some work. The exercise physiologist had set me a program that I can do at the gym that I already have membership at. I’m pleased that he’s given me a small core program and a list of option extras that I can do when and if I feel like it -I find that aspect of free choice quite appealing. So far I’ve done the program twice and last night I wisely soaked in a epsom salts bath to try and help the muscle pain. It did really help and the only sore spot this morning is my shoulders (they didn’t get submerged in the bath).
    I am really pleased to have something I can do to take the place of the gardening that helped keep me fit in my previous home.

    I’ve settled into this new house quite well. There is still a steady stream of tradespeople going through. At the moment the builder is sending a range of trades back to fix problems I’ve identified.

    I had my niece, nephew and their spouses, kids, kids boyfriend/girlfriend etc over for dinner last Sunday. There were a dozen people and my living area didn’t feel at all crowded. It’s so nice to have a home where I can entertain so easily. My previous house had the kitchen/dine separate from the lounge and it made things much more difficult. This is one of the big bonuses of having moved. I also live much closer to my niece and nephew now – it’s a 15-20 minute drive for them rather than an hour now. Much easier for regular family dinners.

    My eating has continued to be erratic. I’m still doing two FDs per week and still trying not to do lots of snacking on NFDs but I don’t always succeed with that goal and some of my food choices for NFD meals are a bit too calorie heavy. I’m doing a lot more entertaining in this house and it has gotten me out of my usual meal plan rhythm. Last time I weighed I was 76kg. Still in the range I’m comfortable with but 4kg higher than I was 3 months ago. Because of all the tradies I keep needing to be up early – which usually means I feel hungry earlier in the day and on a NFD that usually means I’m hunting for some breakfast by 10am. I used to be able to skip this easily, but I suspect it’s related to how long I’ve been awake. I’m just hoping that get back into a better eating pattern soon.

    It’s lovely to be back with you all after this enforced absence.
    Have a good day everyone.

    G’D from SA- that “bread” sounds delicious!
    LJ- thanks for the welcome. I’ll check out kefir & kombucha. I have heard of them of course, but not attempted to make either yet.
    I had forgotten how I am usually less hungry the day after a fast. What a bonus!

    to all the dried bean curd experts – are the weight/calories you mention for dried or rehydrated bean curd? I bought some Sun Swallow brand Dried Bean Curd Knots (because they looked so cute) and tried them when I got home. They weigh about 5 gram per knot (dry). I was surprised how much this ended up being after soaking in boiling hot water for about 5 minutes. I really liked the taste, even without condiments – just like al dente pasta, which means that the possibilities are virtually endless.

    Lindsay L. Our Robin is a small brown bird with a red waistcoat. They are friendly to people but fiercely territorial with other robins, so you usually have only one. I haven’t seen mine since the end of winter, but I think I heard a pair of them in the bushes when nesting began, so he should be back.

    I was having really bad leg cramps at night. About a month ago I started a magnesium supplement. I don’t get them now. I don’t like taking supplements, so the next step iw to identify dietary sources.

    CateAus. I have been making kefir for about a year. With a little practice it is easy to control the result and it keeps well in the fridge. I like a thicker one that I use as yoghurt, but occasionally make a thinner drinking one into which I blitz some fruit. If I am going away or need to slow down production, I put the fermentation jar in the fridge.

    Penguin, I find this site the most useful for identifying sources for a specific vitamin or mineral. Just select “Browse Nutrient List” then scroll down to the list of minerals and find magnesium.
    http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science/monitoringnutrients/nutrientables/nuttab/Pages/default.aspx
    The list provided will be for all foods that contain any magnesium and it will be divided into food type categories – just look for the big numbers. There will be some things that have over 100mg magnesium per 100g/100ml. All foods in this data base are per 100g or 100ml.

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