Good morning SHs, welcome to the weekend.

I’ve just come home from doing the grocery shopping. Not something I like doing on a Saturday as the shopping centre is a madhouse on weekends, but I had one of those busy weeks. As long as I’m there before 9am it’s ok.

Today is another NFD and my planned food is
Lunch: 2 slices wholemeal sourdough spelt bread with pastrami, blanched greens and tomato.
Dinner: baked vegetables and a piece of crumbed fish.
Snacks & Drinks: yoghurt, apple, water, cups of tea
https://imgur.com/a/nF98B12

The reason I blanch the greens is because they are the outer leaves from the kale-sprouts and also leaves from the bunch of broccoli, and they are a bit tough and chewy to eat raw. I blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes, dry them off and then chill them and use like a salad leaf. As you can tell, I don’t like wasting anything!

When shopping I found Changs konjac noodles in Woolworths – that’s a first as it’s normally only Coles that carries them. I took a photo as they have new packaging and have introduced another noodle shape and it might make it easier to find them, if you are looking. https://imgur.com/RPyOhwc These were $2 a packet.

The weather here is weird. It’s a nice sunny day today, but it rained all night. In fact it rained so hard that the sound of it on my colourbond roof woke me up at 4am.

I hope you all have some nice plans for the weekend.

Hi TassieJane, it sounds like things are going quite well for you. Controlling eating on the NFDs is a big bugbear many of us continue to battle. Thin calls it a work in progress and I agree. Changing life long eating habit is not something that’s done quickly. I also think that these ingrained patterns very rarely go away but over time I’ve found I can reduce the impact and manage them most of the time. Being aware of these behaviours, what drives them, what excuses we tell ourselves etc, goes a long way to reducing them. I think you are perfectly right to concentrate on the FDs initially and then work on the NFDs once you are comfortable with 5:2. After the initial weight loss slows, the incentive to work on the NFDs will increase.

Good luck with the B2B. I’ve done it a couple of times but try to avoid it if I can. Moving FDs around is something I’ve always been comfortable with as I always saw 5:2 as something that had the flexibility to fit around my life. I know others prefer their FDs to be fixed.

Can I suggest an option for Tuesday. If you would prefer it to be a FD, then take in food that allows you to have a little. I know people expect birthday cake, but you could do some sweet treats and also some dip and veggie sticks. Or you can do just a sweet platter that includes both cakes and fresh fruit. This can allow you to be seen eating so you don’t have to deal with questions and comments. A little raw veg or a handful of strawberries will fit easily into a FD. You might not be ready for this yet, but as a longer term solution to always feeling you have to eat cake at office events it is helpful to have another option.
I used to do this when I was working and was trying to lose weight. I actually found that the healthier alternative was as popular as the cake – I wasn’t the only one who’d been wanting an alternative to cake.

Have a lovely birthday.

Cate,
I’m a bit of a fusspot when it comes to tea. I like black leaf teas and don’t care much for green or oolong, and don’t get me started on herbs masquerading as tea (although I will on occasion have a peppermint brew). I like many of the traditional teas, mostly of Indian and SriLankan origin (orange pekoe, dargeeling, assam etc). I used to create my own blended teas but when I discovered that T2 had several blends that were as good as those I’d put together for myself I just started using those. I have a cupboard that’s full of teas, but on most days I use just a few. Through the day I drink either “morning red” (a blend of assam and keemun), “melbourne breakfast” or “french earl grey”. In the evening I won’t drink caffeine, so I do still create my own blended teas for the evening. I make a chai spice blend that I team wither either decaf tea leaves (when I can find them) or a decaf tea bag. I also make a lamington blend that I also team with decaf tea.

Cate, are those stuffed grape leaves in that pic? I LOVE grape leaves. The ones from the store have a lot of oil in them but I sometimes make my own and don’t add much, if any. It’s sort of a lot of work to make them. I wonder if they freeze well? I’m guessing probably not. Your meal looks great.

Tessie, congrats on your 2-3 kg in two weeks. That’s a good amount of weight. I switch FDs when occasions come up. I have a harder time with B2B but every so often it’s the only way to get around other things. Normally, I like Monday and Thursday because there usually isn’t much going on those days. Several people do Sunday FD. I’ll have to try that sometime.

Thin, that T2 Wattle tea sounds really good. But I’m off of most caffeine for a while and got carried away with a couple T2 orders when they had a good sale. So lots of tea here to drink. I wish they had more decaf, especially in the black teas.

LJ, good advice to Tassie on managing NFDs and office parties. My DS works in an office where they’re always bringing in food.

LJ- whoops. I don’t drink black tea at all & love weird & wonderful brews, mostly involving green or herbal teas. I can’t cope with milk in tea. It makes me feel queasy. If I ever have oats for breakfast I add almond milk. My sister thinks my tea brews are very weird, but I love mixing them up. I can’t come at fruity ones though & she only drinks green tea.
Cali- they are vine leaves. I buy the Palirria brand, Dolmades from Woolworths. They are in what I call “the Dutchy” section. They are delicious!
LJ- that was the first Kombucha I had ever tried & it was scrumptious. It was lemon, lime & mint flavoured. Yum. I will be buying that again, for FD’s. I don’t think I would have tried it, if not for this forum. Those veggies look great! I just love baked veggies.

Good morning,

Cali, That is some wildlife to watch out for!
Mind you, we have snakes to match your rattlesnakes! But the closest things to bears would be our poor koalas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvkI8c9eALQ

Tassie Jane, well done in both your progress and your planning. LJoyce put it so well. Just do the Fast Days, and take your time figuring out the Non Fast Days.
Happy Birthday! https://cdn.atwilltech.com/flowerdatabase/t/telefloras-be-happy-mug-everyday-floral-arrangmen.365.jpg
Breakfast sounds delicious, especially if the kids manage to get it to you with every component hot!

Good luck with your back to back fast days. It will be a scientific experiment, and if it doesn’t work you can just avoid it in the future.

CateAus, isn’t it lovely to feel you have settled into 5:2. It gives such a feeling of security for the future.
I’m another one who loves dolmades. I haven’t made them for ages. And it is very timely because my daughter is working out food for little Miss 4’s birthday party and looking for things that are vegan, dairy and gluten free to make everyone there feel welcome, so I will offer to make my vegetarian dolmades.

PS Everyone: Any other ideas for healthy finger food that fits all the above criteria?

Cheers Arelkade, best wishes to you too.

Well, my plan to fast yesterday got jettisoned because my daughter had made chicken quesadillas for granddaughter and me to eat (not knowing I had decided to fast) and I decided to eat them. Very yummy. So today will be a lonely fast day, all by itself. It is fine with that!
I love my Sunday fasts, they feel meditative. I will henna my hair and do pottering things around the house.

Hoping your Sunday is a pleasure too.

Cinque, I made some Thai hummus today that’s vegan and gluten free and it turned out very well. We have a bunch of Thai basil in a big pot on the back patio that I was trying to think of a use for besides putting it in chicken dishes, or on fish. I Googled “Thai hummus” and came up with a few recipes, which I adapted to my own. You know I never measure things so just go by taste:

Tin of chick peas 439 gr
Heaping tbs peanut butter
Lime juice
Fresh ginger
Garlic
Thai basil leaves and blossoms
Hot sauce or jalapeño to taste
Soy sauce or salt
Tbs or so of honey (optional, I didn’t really taste it that much)

Served with cut up carrots, celery, blanched broccoli. It was sooo good! Crickets said it was now her favorite hummus. 😊 It could probably be a FD meal as the only calories of any consequence would be the chick peas and peanut butter. And you end up eating more veggies than hummus. Cucumbers, cauliflower or capsicum would also be good vegetables to try.

Tassie, Happy Birthday! I hope I’m not late with the time zones.

Crickets has lost some weight on her first week or so of 5:2, but I’ll let her tell you about it.

Cali- That hummus sounds delicious!
LJ- I’ll have to try kefir next. I loved the lemon, lime & mint Kombucha & am tempted to buy a case online (free postage).

I should have taken a photo of the hummus before we started eating it! But, better late than never, huh?
https://imgur.com/a/yaKXmfz

Thank you, thin. Those are our summer dishes. They’re made of a heavyweight melamine that’s dishwasher safe but can’t go in the microwave. We have so many dishes that ended up with chips on the edges over time, so these seemed like a good idea. I love the pattern. And even though they’re as thick as stoneware, they weigh a lot less.

Anyone else feel cold on FDs? It seems to be a perennial issue for me on any day where I eat less than 800 calories. It doesn’t matter how much I turn up the heat or extra clothes I put on, I feel chilled. I’m sure I’ll appreciate this in summer.

I guess it shows me how directly my body uses the energy from my food to maintain body temperature.

Cinque, what about vegan “meat”balls. Just google it and you’ll get dozens of recipe options using various legumes, tofu, tempeh, nuts etc. These are easy bite sized things to eat and work well as finger food. If the community hall has a microwave they are easily heated this way without needing space in the oven. You can have just cold things, but I always find that quite unappealing in winter. (If you don’t want to cook them, Ikea sell bags of frozen vegan balls in their little food markets these days.)
If you do the baked veg, I find potatoes, sweet potato and parsnip all get nicely brown and crisp on the outside when baked with a drizzle of oil. They are also easily cut into thick chips/wedges which means they can be served in large bowls and are true finger food.

Cinque, sushi rolls go together pretty quickly once the rice is ready. But I think you are right about the rice getting hard in the frig overnight. https://www.fromthegrapevine.com/israeli-kitchen/recipes/vegetarian-sushi
But I like them because you can vary the vegetables and make a lot of them fairly quickly. The dolmades should be fine if you make them ahead and cook them that day. I agree about the rice paper rolls. They can be fussy even when made the same day.
Look at these https://goo.gl/images/qfNpiV What a cute way to serve cut up veggies! It doesn’t look like it would be too difficult to put together.

LJoyce, the fact that you felt good at around 70 kg, even during a stressful time of getting your old home ready to sell and looking for a new one, makes it seem like that’s a good weight for you. Maybe just keeping busy with something, even if it isn’t repairing a home is the thing you need to lessen the time you have to snack on NFDs. I think I have that problem with snacking.

Thin, I’m usually cold on FD except when it’s summer and really hot. Bundling up does help sometimes. Lots of people seem to have the same complaint.

Cinque, all of those rolls are also called maki here. The molded rice with the raw fish over the top we called nigiri. The only maki that is called a California roll here is one with crab and avocado. Look at this vegan nigiri made with peeled capsicum: https://goo.gl/images/ufvP1R I’ve made a few of them to put out on a platter with the sushi rolls. They look very much like raw tuna.
For binding veg meatballs, what about pearled barley, brown rice, beans or ground nuts? If you slightly overcook the grains, the get rather sticky. Lentils might work too, slightly over cooked. I bet once the grains cool, they would stick together. LJoyce, I’ve bookmarked that meatball site. Lots of good ideas there!

LJ, I did reply to your earlier post a few hours ago but it went wooosh into the abyss. Then a friend came over and that was the end of my post reading. What I said was great job with your new lower comfortable zone because I remember a time when you were apprehensive for various reasons about taking your weight any lower. And well done drinking a pot of tea while the OFMs ate brunch. While our friend was here, I made him a nice cup of coffee and then put half my cauliflower soup into a mug & joined him. I didn’t have to make mention of fasting – although I think he’s used to me fasting on Sundays – and maybe that soup did smell a bit of cauliflower. Now I’m enjoying the other half and it’s almost time for dinner. Which is a different bowl of soup.

Sorry I can’t join in with the vegan suggestions, Cinque. No idea. But I will just add that I applaud your daughter for trying to make a 4 year old’s birthday a reasonably healthy event. Some of that children’s birthday food of the past has been quite gross when you think about it, especially the drinks some parents served. Will the liquid refreshment be water? CalifD, that veggie train is gorgeous – and there’s no reason that couldn’t catch on with children. What is the party theme? Let me guess – fairies?

Glad that you’ve passed the time well ladies. Not quite over for me but I’ve enjoyed every minute and haven’t felt hungry or cold today. But Cinque has reminded me to have a big glass of water.

P.S. Apologies if I miss a letter from a word – I’ve noticed my keys are starting to stick! Will have to pay extra attention before posting.

Rainbow, welcome to 5:2 and to this thread. There are lots of members here who have been doing 5:2 for years and have lost lots of weight. They are such an inspiration to me and have been one of reasons I’ve managed to stick with this plan since May of 2017, even through the occasional plateaus.

Today I made a big Mexican Bean Salad that should last the 3 of us several days. It’s one of our favorites, even during the winter sometimes, but certainly through the summer. I decided to post a photo of it this time: https://imgur.com/a/cItjary

Cinque, you’ll have to post some pics of the party food if you have time. It sounds a lot healthier than the cakes and ice cream and candy we used to have at parties.

Hi Cinque and Cali’ I enjoyed your replies and looking forward to more on this forum. I decided to ease into this 5:2 fasting eating plan. I reduced my intake to about one-half to one-third of normal for three days. The first two days were tough even at half rations. I suspect the initial headaches meant my body was cleaning out. The initial high fatigue level was a signal to rest as needed and not push my activity too high. Third day was better. In my mind I have now settled that I can do this. This seems to have worked well for me to initiate a fasting type regimen. Today (the fourth day) at 25% rations has been good. Stomach has definitely shrunk. No headaches. Energy level is improving. Now I will do 5:2 or some type of alternate day regimen. Since I also lost my past momentum on regular exercise, I also plan to gradually introduce more exercise. These are good change goals and I plan to benefit from this forum as I start some new habits!

Welcome Rainbow Quill, we can always use an extra rainbow. Ask us anything, we know it all. Just kidding, but there’s usually someone here who’s experienced something that anyone might need help with. It’s good to hear that you read ‘the book’ before embarking on this WOL. Are you wanting to lose much weight?

Happy birthday Little Miss 4 Year Old, Cinque. Is the ban on baked birthday cakes for healthy eating reasons?

Easy peasy FD yesterday followed by a good night’s sleep. And now back below 60kg where I belong. Considering it took me two FDs to restore the status quo after a restaurant big breakfast and a long lunch at the neighbour’s house, it is easy to see how fast I would gain weight were I to continue eating like that, week after week, with no FDs. Had I been on 5:2 the week before all that indulgence took place, instead of 6:1, I’d probably have seen no change on the scales. Note to self.

Off for more humiliation and punishment at bridge. Have a great day everyone.

Good evening SHs,

I know I’m late checking in today, I’ve had tradesmen here today so I’d packed my laptop away for the day.

Welcome Jenferb and RainbowQuill I hope you find 5:2 easy to adapt to. I personally have, and I think it’s because the calorie restriction is confined to just 2 days per week so it’s very easy to fit this around normal life. I have found the support I’ve received on this forum invaluable. I lost the weight and then continued with 5:2 to help me maintain.

Thin, glad you had an easy FD. I’m wondering if it was because you are happy to be back to 5:2 from your short 6:1 experiment.

Cali, that looks like a very wholesome salad. I suspect it’s filling too with that variety of beans.

Cinque the “fruit cake” was lovely. Hopefully the kids enjoyed it.

Because I’ve had the cabinetmaker invading my kitchen for part of the day I’ve ended up taking a series of food photos today. I had a really hungry day and ate probably one snack more than I think is reasonable. But at least I balanced it with both a walk and some gardening.
Breakfast was a pot of tea, a banana and a pot of yoghurt
Lunch was my main meal, leftover baked veggies and a cup of beef & veg ragu
Afternoon tea was a pot of tea and 2 slices of NAS fruit & walnut sourdough
Dinner was a cup of pumpkin-lemon soup and 2 open sandwiches constructed from wholemeal spelt sourdough, pastrami and salad
https://imgur.com/a/gQfUfek

Tomorrow I’m planning a controlled day which will work if I don’t have to deal with the level of hunger I experienced today. My next proper FD will be either Thursday or Friday. The reason I’m adding a controlled day this week is I’m trying to prepare for a 5yo’s birthday party on Saturday where I’ll be surrounded by a sugar explosion. I am not expecting any of the healthy fare that Cinque’s daughter is planning for her 4yo’s party. I’m at the top of my new comfortable weight range and I don’t want to exceed it.

Hope you have all had a good day.

Good morning SHs,

Cinque, glad you all had fun jumping in puddles yesterday!

I had a very early start as I woke at 4:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. After reading for 2 hours I decided I might as well get up early. On the plus side, a poor night’s sleep is usually followed by a good one for me.

I have taken a photo of the food I plan to eat today. It is helpful to lay it all out together as it’s clear then if the overall quantity and balance is right. When I first laid everthing out there was a banana there and no baby spinach, I realised I needed more veg and less fruit when I saw it all together on the bench.
https://imgur.com/nDqoHtN
Lunch is corn thins with cheese and salad. Dinner is pumpkin soup with spelt sourdough toast and boiled eggs. Snacks are an apple and a tub of yoghurt. Drinks are the usual water and tea.

I need to start the baking for the Saturday birthday party today. I’ll bake the melting moments as they keep well, especially if I don’t sandwich them together with the butter cream filling until later in the week. I’m planning to try and make the dreaded macarons on Thursday. I’m hoping that picturing today’s food will allow me to stick to it and not want to eat biscuits hot from the oven.

Have a good day everyone.

Thin,
I thought it was quite a lot of food (in terms of volume) for a CD. It’s about 2 1/2 – 3 times the volume of solid food that I’d eat on a FD, although the drinks will stay the same. Luckily I don’t have much appetite today so it’s been very easy so far and I haven’t needed the snacks, despite being in the middle of baking trays of biscuits. I am trying not to slip back into my old habit of adding extra FDs, as that usually makes my NFDs worse. I’m better off just trying to have a bit more control on some of my NFDs. It doesn’t take much extra food to cause a weight gain, so even if I just have a few things on Saturday I suspect the calories will add up very quickly and I need to have a calorie deficit banked in advance. I’m attending a wedding shower, which includes high tea, the following Saturday so I really don’t want to start next week with a weight gain.

I find if I overeat I feel the way you described the following day – it’s a bit like a hangover – nausea, a headache and really thirsty. For me overdosing on either sugars or fats do this. It’s why it so easy to fast after an overindulgent day.

Hi Everyone 🙂

Welcome to our newbies (sorry its so late)

I am almost at the end of B2B this week. I have still been super busy at work so I have found my FDs not too bad. Mind you, I am very hungry when I get home!

I took OH shopping on the weekend for his race day outfit and oh my goodness!!!! He now has two gorgeous pairs of dress pants, two pairs of nice slimmer fit jeans (not skinny lol), one long sleeved collared white shirt, two collared short sleeve shirts, a lovely tan belt and wait for it……a tie!!!!!!!!! In 21 years that we have been together I have never seen him in a tie!! This is all thanks to the lovely (and knowledgeable) sales girl. She didn’t push him into anything just suggested some really nice things for him. I was very happy 🙂 🙂
And all of that only cost $350, apart from his new boots.

Ok time for me to go home. Sorry for the short post. I’m still here almost every day and loving what you are all posting. I hope you are all well x

thin, congratulations on achieving 1st place with your partner in bridge! That sounds like a big accomplishment to me, seeing how you haven’t been playing that long.

Cinque, I love DD’s “fruit cake”! What a nice solution for the no baked goods rule. And your walk with the Little Misses through The rain and all the puddles the other day sounds like fun. Come on, everyone, admit that stomping through puddles is appealing. 😁 (So long as you don’t have to clean all the muddy wet clothing afterward.)

Lost 700 grams yesterday on my FD. DS is still sticking with it but was a little disappointed that one of the pounds she lost was gained back a couple days ago. She’s still down, overall. I hope she’ll come back here and post. She isn’t as addicted to online forums as I am. But I’m glad she’s doing 5:2 and her clothes are fitting looser.

LJ, loved food photos. You get a lot more bang for the buck calorie wise with most vegetables. And they’re really filling. Are your cupboards all finished now? You mentioned that the cabinet maker was there a couple days ago. We’re they installing a cabinet like you had at your old place for the small appliances and supplies? I loved that idea.

Quacka, Cate and Jenn, good to see all of you!

Hi, SH’ers & hi Cali 🙂 I’m reading every day at least twice a day to try to keep up. You are all keeping me going with 5:2 as you are all evidence that it works.
Cinque-…remind Crickets from me that scales are stupid, evil machines with a nasty sense of humour.” I wholeheartedly agree. I’m in between my 2 FD for this week (yesterday & tomorrow) & regained 1/2 a kilo of the kilo I have lost since starting. I knew I shouldn’t have got on those scales this morning. I’m off to play golf today & hopefully, that will help.

Morning all, I have a close relationship with my scales. It does make sense that we’d gain a bit of weight in between FDs so don’t despair. As long as the trend is downward overall, that’s all we need.

CalifD, hoping Crickets will carry on without us. As mentioned last week, I’ve noticed over the years that people who stopped posting had often also stopped fasting. There are some exceptions of course like Minka, Intesha and Merry who manage to keep going perfectly well without us. It’s good that your DS has you for support if she chooses to carry on fasting.

Cinque, I remembered what I wanted to say. You prompted me to buy some kippers. I used to like them for breakfast when I lived in England. But now I don’t eat at breakfast time so I’d probably be having them at dinner. There are no instructions on the tin. I seem to remember partially opening the tin and steaming them – is that how you heat them? And what do you have with them? I would have had toast but that’s not an option.

Quacka, that sounds like fun for your OH. Hi to you, Arel.

LJ, our posts crossed, good morning. I love my bulkheads over the kitchen cabinets and would never have open space above or high cupboards that can’t be reached again. We have 11ft ceilings.

I’ve decided to fast today. I am even going to break with tradition and have roasted red pepper and ginger soup, 112 calories, instead of cauliflower.