Good morning SHs, hope your day is going well so far.

Cali, if you look for my post on 26 June 2017 https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/beans-and-lentils-recipes-tips-and-information/page/2/ there’s a lentil burger recipe. This uses peanut paste as the “glue” to hold the ingredients together. I’ve been making variations of this recipe since the 1990s. You can use other legumes but the brown lentils work best.
As others have suggested a felafel mixture also makes a delicious vegan pattie, and you can use other legumes for this process other than chickpeas.
On the above link my post for 26 Sept 2017 gives a link to lots of recipes for pulses/legumes, including felafel recipes. The only word of warning that I’d add is that if you see a felafel recipe that calls for cooked chickpeas move onto to the next one. Traditional felafel are only ever made with soaked, not cooked, legumes. It gives you a really solid meaty texture once they are minced up, whereas you get a soft paste with cooked legumes.

Rainbow, I agree with the suggestions that have been given already on food when traveling. The only thing I’d add is about portion and savouring what you eat – eat it slowly and take your time to enjoy every mouthful. You should find that you actually want less mouthfuls if you do this. This allows you to indulge that connection between a holiday and new food experiences without overdoing it. I remember the first time I really concentrated on using this method the pleasure from the first mouthful was explosive and then it slowly diminished with successive mouthfuls until I actually lost interest in what I was eating. My normal tendency is to eat so fast I barely taste it.

Merry, the chips are always the killer, even when you order a healthy meal they put them on the side if you don’t remember to tell them not to.

Quacka, I hope that “good talking to” helped – there have been days lately when I could have benefited from that as well. I hope that head cold goes away soon.

Cinque, those leftovers sound lovely – enjoy.

Thin, so sorry to hear about the baby dolphin. Enjoy that lovely soup.

NFD for me. My controlled day went well yesterday. The only extra I added to the plan were half a dozen rice crackers.
Today’s food plan is a banana with a tablespoon of peanut paste (which I’ve already eaten). A blueberry smoothie for lunch (I’ve just shown the blending container & blueberries in the pic as the other ingredients need to stay cold or frozen until I need them). Dinner is another serve of the moussaka. I also have a 1/2 cup container of stewed rhubarb and apple that I’ve just removed from the freezer, Once thawed, I’ll have this with some greek yoghurt.
https://imgur.com/g4gUNNL
I am heading off to the gym shortly. Quite a warm day here (sunny and 23C) so I suspect a nice cold smoothie will be quite appealing when I get home.

Under 70kgs Quacka, that’s great! Hope you feel better soon.

The trouble with restaurant meals is that it’s virtually impossible to find a plate of food that’s not bulked up with excessive carbs. Piles of chips, huge serves of rice, bread rolls, enormous pasta dishes, etc. Ordering soup and/or entrees is a great idea. Interesting salads with dressing on the side. And, definitely no appetisers, dessert or drinks. My OH is not a sharer but DD and I can easily share a meal. Also, I am never afraid to ask for food to go. It takes me at least a week to recover from one restaurant meal on the scales. Generally not worth the pain!

Lindsay will be winging her way to Bali now.

Back from the gym. My lower back coped quite well, but I did get puffed quickly on the rowing machine today. I did some fruit & veg shopping while out, including some salad items – the warm weather today is getting to me. I though I might like a side salad to go with the moussaka tonight.
This is lunch https://imgur.com/H8AIP4x I’m drinking it as I write, it’s delicious.

Cinque, that lentil burger mixture comes from a Kurma Dasa cookbook called “Great Vegetarian Dishes”. They are definitely a softer texture than a meat pattie, but they do hold together quite well if I do the following:
– I don’t break the lentils up too much (otherwise they make the burger soft and mushy).
– It also helps to put them on a tray and refrigerate for at least half an hour before cooking – it seems to help them firm up (it probably gives the breadcrumbs time to absorb any liquid).
– I adjust the amount of peanut butter and breadcrumbs if necessary to get the right texture. I think the reason this varies is probably because some fresh breadcrumbs will be drier than others (depending on how stale the bread was). Also, the smoother the peanut butter is the stickier it tends to be. If I use a crunchy peanut butter I usually need more. (Not that this is a bad thing!)

I had a difficult FD today. It was such a cold day, 17C. Even though we keep our house toasty warm, I just couldn’t seem to get warmed up (despite drinking plenty of water and tea). We walked early this morning because heavy rain was forecast. This made for a long time to wait for my first food intake. I caved in and had my soup at 1.30pm, not that I am forced to eat it at 2pm, that’s just my own little rule.

As I sometimes have a frozen banana on a FD evening, I just decided to try out Merry’s banana dessert. It works! Mine didn’t cook evenly but I think that was because I slit it too far into the flesh at one end. But it was a lovely treat and now I do feel warm and very tired. And I know how to do it properly next time. I hope everyone’s had a good day. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow morning’s coffee.

Good morning everyone,

Thin, you deserve an extra frothy frothy coffee this morning.

Quacka, what an interesting culinary adventure those noodles are. I do hope your cold is easing off today.

I’m fasting with you today LJoyce. It is feeling like a good sensible day when I will fast well and plan food for the next few days to make it easy to eat well then too. I might fast again on Sunday, counting it as the first day of next week, instead of the last of this one. Not sure. One of the things I need to plan.

Best wishes to you all. I hope today is a lovely one.

Good morning SHs

Thin, I’m glad you are enjoying your coffee so much this morning. When it comes to my diet week, it always runs Sun-Sat for me. I used to find (on previous diets) that if I kept Sat-Sun together within a week, I seemed to treat it more as a period of indulgence, probably because it coincided with days off work. Breaking it up disrupts this thinking for me.

Cinque, sounds like you have your FD planned.

Quacka, I think garlic is meant to be good for colds isn’t it. I hope you feel better soon.

My FD plans just went out the window. I’m now babysitting my nephew’s children tonight from 4-9pm, right over dinner time. (My nephew and his wife both work this evening.) I’m trying to decide whether to have my lentil soup before I go, or when I finally get home. I’m thinking I might have a smaller serve than normal at 3:30pm and have a little more when I get home if I still feel like it. If I don’t feel like soup that late I’ll have enough spare calories that I could have a hot milk drink. I have to feed the kids their dinner so I think I’ll need something in my stomach before I leave home so I avoid eating any pasta.

I have some errands to take care of at the shopping centre, but the rain hasn’t let up this morning. I’m trying to decide whether I’ll just walk anyway with an umbrella or take the car. I think I might brave the rain as I need the exercise.

Today’s FD food photo: https://imgur.com/kzomwQC
Tea, water, banana, bowl of lentil-veg soup and a hot drink made from almond-coconut milk and vanilla paste (and perhaps a pinch of nutmeg).
I know the soup looks more like a stew at moment. It did have plenty of liquid when I put the saucepan into the fridge last night, but those lentils seem to have absorbed it all. I’ll add a little water before reheating it this afternoon.

Good morning Merry, hope your FD goes well. Glad that your start weight today is so good.

Here is a picture of my yuba, dried beancurd skins. On the left you can see them dried and shiny as they come out of the bag. On the right is what they look like soaked, drained, and cut up. https://imgur.com/a/Fd3FhWI

I’ll have them in my miso soup tonight. (Favourite Fast Day soup.)

Merry I loved reading your post.
Adding to what you say about keeping successful weight loss by vigilance, is making new habits, and that is the ongoing adventure. And don’t we have to do it in the face of a food culture that encourages bad habits and overeating and concentrates on the worst kinds of foods. No wonder it takes a lot of conversation and analysis and failures and trying again.

A great pic LJoyce!

Cinque, thankyou for the photo. The dried skins are much longer than I was expecting. I shop by sight – so knowing what a product looks like in enormously helpful.

Merry, good luck facing all those food challenges on a FD. That sounds like quite a test of will power.

I created my own food challenge today. It’s been hard to get the kibbled rye that I like as the only local bakery that has good sourdough breads only has it a couple of times a week. Because they had it in today I bought a loaf. Not something I normally do on a FD as this has to be sliced by me before I freeze it. Not eating any when it is so fresh is a challenge. I now have it safely sliced and packed away in the freezer. I’ve attached a photo, but if you don’t want to look at bread on a FD don’t open it. https://imgur.com/DJ4SbDo

Hi all, from beautiful Bali. Thin, you are so right about restaurant meals. They always come laden with extra calories from the way they are cooked, and the carbs that bulk them up.
I didn’t shed the extra 2 kilos I wanted to before I left – but got down by 1.2 so that’s a win. I had two B2B fast days, finishing eating at 2 pm on the day before I left, so I could have an early breakfast and avoid the airline food. That really worked well. So, I have been pretty sensible so far (if you can discount the G & T and 6 Ritz crackers and cheese I had for dinner). Buffet dinner last night, compliments of our hotel, because of a shemozle with our room. We ate modestly and moderately. Breakfast buffet was amazing – but I stuck to plan, and even managed a 14 hour fast. Lunch was a great slaw salad from the hotel restaurant after a busy morning out, and because we ate late, we decided to forgo dinner (for said G & T and crackers in the room).
Merry such an inspiring post – congratulations for your great 5:2 life.
I enjoyed the banana recipes. I remember, way back in the dim past, we’d been given a fondue set for our wedding. One recipe was banana and pineapple, cut into chunks, skewered, and dipped in rum and brown sugar and twisted over a flame (I can’t remember exactly where the flame came from) until it caramelised, then we swirled in whipped cream before we ate it. Can you believe that?
How are you Cinque? Rested, after your babysitting?
take care all

Good Morning everyone 🙂

It’s Friday morning here and I have the day off which I am very grateful for. I have been going to work all week as it is a super busy busy time for us with all the summer stock arriving. I have planned to go home early each day but only managed to one of the days where I had that blow out on my FD. Yesterday I came home after a huge day and was super tired and so OH cooked dinner for us.

Thank you all for your get well wishes. I am still fighting with this cold but today I am having a shopping day so I am sure that will make me feel better. I honestly just want to stay home and rest but next weekend is our day at the races and I promised my SIL I would go shopping with her. Today is her day off too. I think if I can handle a week at work whilst feeling like this I think I can handle shopping 😉

Weight this morning was bang on 70kg after a NFD yesterday. I hope to try and stay around that until Monday’s FD. Although I weigh everyday I am aware of how many things affect weight so I don’t let it get to me, I just like to know what is happening.

I will let you know in my next post if I found anything nice to buy today….

Hope you all have a lovely day x

Happy Friday, SH’s. I’m doing my 2nd FD of the week today, as I woke up ravenous yesterday, after playing golf the day before. My plan to delay my FD until today was not great as I am just as hungry today & my stomach is making such a noise. Oh well. It won’t kill me but I’m glad I don’t have to go anywhere.
I have not weighed for a couple of weeks so that I would not be disheartened. Will do so tomorrow on the 1st day of Spring 🙂 I’m always surprised how I am not hungry the day after a FD, but am often really hungry after a NFD. I am eating less than I used to every day of the week now. I have been told by a couple of friends that I am back to being more positive since I started 5:2. I do feel less obsessed & more in control, which seems funny considering the restriction of FD’s.

Hi Southern Hemispherites!

I’ve been spontaneously been given an extra day off work this week and it happens to fall on my Fasting Day, so that is what I’m up to today! How wonderful I have this extra time off work and can dip into this forum!

It is great to come here and read the posts. Coming here to read what you’ve all written is like coming home so to speak and doing so has relieved a lot of resistance that I had to today’s FD. Great to read so many reports of progress, weight shed, successes through challenges of food offerings in restaurants and on outings.

Merry happy 2 year anniversary of having shed the excess! Also happy early 5:2 4 year birthday for November!

Wow! Sounds like both you Merry and Thin have been practicing this WOL for 4 years! You Merry as well as Cinque, Thin and Intesha have been my role models from the very beginning. I’m planning to be around here to celebrate my 4th 5:2 birthday as well.

Also Merry, it was good to read what you wrote about the success of those who plan their food. That is just what I needed to be reminded of this morning since I always plan FD food consumption and almost never on NFDs. Thinking back, I remember when I reached goal weight it was during a month in which I applied as much awareness to my NFD eating as to my FD nourishment. Something to ponder.

Quacka and anyone else who eats Konjac noodles, which is probably everyone except me! I applaud you for being able to get past the fishy smell when opening the pack! I actually have an aversion to fish and seafood and was never able to overcome or wash those noodles enough to satisfy my ultra sensitive sense of smell to the point of being able to put them in my mouth!

Penguin, I wish I were your neighbour! They are lucky to receive your home grown produce. What a supportive community to be trading surpluses of all kinds! Penguin if my OH made all those home created goodies, I would be joining in eating them too. Isn’t 5:2 so wonderful and forgiving?! I’m so glad we don’t have to be ‘perfect’ with our eating and still make this work. I’ve been far from perfect myself this week and am considering a contingency plan of sorts going forward!

Lindsay how wonderful to be traveling Bali!

Cinque, I might have said that I’ve made my own yuba in the past. When I’d make soy milk I’d have fun repeatedly collecting skins which would form on the top of pot. I’d pull each skin off the top of the hot soy milk with spatulas and set it aside on rack to dry. I’d then wait till another formed and repeat. Those yuba skins were yummy freshly made though they never lasted long enough to have any left over for drying! I actually like the bland taste of soy products and have been known to eat Tempeh raw!

I’ve had a week of emotional eating and I can feel a bit of that tugging at me just now! A part of me simply doesn’t want to be restricted to the 500 calories today. Fridays is usually a fasting work day and I’m in the routine of that. With it suddenly being a day off work, I’m a bit pulled to a jar in the cupboard full of home made cookies that I wouldn’t have been tempted toward were I at work! I have to chuckle that the cookies might taste like cardboard to others (like Mr. M)! I only used the sweetness of mesquite, an ingredient that I added in to the flourless nut butter cookie recipe, however, to me they are still cookies and sweet enough and I crave them! …Well, 5:2 is a constant touchstone so to speak so too bad if a part of me doesn’t want to fast and wants instead to eat cookies. Today’s fast is non-negotiable and I’m not going to waste any of my calorie bank on a cookie!

One other bit of support that has been helpful this morning is the book I checked out of the library entitled ‘The Every Other Day Diet’ by Dr. Krista Varaday. Didn’t you trial that IF method LJ?

Though I’m aware that Dr. Varaday’s method is not for me, simply reading results of the studies she conducted and some of her IF tips have been helpful to me during this day of FD food craving challenge!

Cheers and support to others fasting today and also to all those enjoying a NFD.

Hi Minka, our posts crossed.
Yes I did briefly try ADF, but found that I binged on most of the NFD and almost completely cancelled out the calorie deficit from the FDs. It might work for someone with less of a history of binge eating and also with a higher TDEE than I have. I remember when MM interviewed her for his “Eat Fast Live Longer” program, she said that most people only overeat by 10% on the “Feed” days. With a TDEE of 1400 that was never going to be the amount of excess that I consumed – I ate closer to 2000cals on those feed days. I think the bigger the gap between the 500-600 FD limit and the dieter’s TDEE the more likely this method is to succeed.
It didn’t work for me – I lost weight as easily on 5:2 because I found it easier to control my NFD eating when I only did 2 FDs per week. I found that I really need a minimum of 2 NFDs together between every FD to avoid that urge to overeat (most of the time this works). When I hit a plateau last year, I followed a 2:1 pattern for a while. I did 2 NFDs then 1 FD. It meant that over the course of a month I had an extra 1-2 FDs than I would have done on 5:2. It also meant that the days of the week when I fasted moved around all the time. This didn’t bother me but I know some people like that consistency.

Morning all
Sitting next to a very slim woman at breakfast, so kept an eye on what she ate, thinking I could pick up some tips. So….she started with a latte with a croissant, before moving on to a plate of dumplings, followed by eggs and the fried stuff that often goes with them. She then had some curry from the Indian section, before she headed over to the bread and pastries room, and came back with….wait for it….two large iced donuts, a chocolate croissant and a pastry, to go with another latte. And she’s not sharing any of it with her equally slim OH. Surely she can’t eat like this every day? I can’t imagine how she squeezed it all in.
Penguin I love the idea of the trade that goes on at your front gate. You paint a lovely picture of rural living.
LJ the room booking mishap was funny…in hindsight. We are at the Sofitel at Nusa Dua. It took two and a half hours from our arrival to finally settling in our new room…and then our luggage was misplaced somehow in the room change. I was still in the warm clothes I’d put on at 4am. Despite that, it is beautiful here, and the staff are gentle, charming people. It’s just the management that’s hopeless.
Quacka and Minka, enjoy your days off. Thin I am impressed with the discipline of keeping a spreadsheet. I put a note in my paper diary (I know I should go electronic, but the kids check it if they want to pop in a special date) every Monday. Now I am on a steady downward trajectory it’s time to put it in excel.
Cinque, my parcel from your beautiful, talented daughter should be waiting when I get back. I am very excited about it.
Happy Friday friends

Yay, the sun has come out and the rain has stopped. It might only be temporary though, so I need to go fora walk once I’ve posted this.

Thin, I think the best thing that my 6 years of spreadsheet weight records gives me is that every time I look at I think “never again”. When I started with a determination to finally shed my obesity forever, my weight was in the high 120’s and my BMI was 50. I’ve mostly kept my BMI in the 20s for the last 4 years. The only deviation was Christmas 2016 – when I originally came to 5:2 to lose the kilos I gained that December. Remembering how I used to feel and how long it took to lose that weight are very big motivators to not let things ever get out of hand again.

Lindsay, slim people don’t always eat well, but that is an extreme example. Definitely not role model material. I think you should be looking at your own plate for that (apart from the G&Ts perhaps).

Minka, maybe one of my mistakes when I tried ADF was that I did eat 500 cals on the FDs, not 25% of my TDEE which is 350cals. Not that I ever want to try it again as I seem to have my bingeing behaviour mostly managed these days and I definitely don’t want to trigger it again. I find that if I want a lower calorie week then I’m better off treating a couple of my NFDs as controlled days. Usually I focus on it being a healthy food day that is particularly high on veggies. It’s a bit of a balancing act because it’s important I don’t make it feel like a FD.
I agree about water fasting. If that was required on 5:2 I would have failed in the first month. It took me a year to get to a point where I was able to regularly eat closer to 350cal rather than 500. Oddly that change happened when I stopped counting calories. It was only when Cali started a thread for us to post what we ate on a FD to help newbies that I thought I should calculate the calories in what I now ate on a FD. It turned out that most FDs were 350-400. I think it’s because I see 500 as a target as much as a limit and I’m very bad at denying myself something that a diet tells me I’m “allowed” to have. When I don’t count calories I tend to err on the side of caution because I don’t want to go over 500 so I’m more conservative with my food choices.

Well, time for that walk or the sun will disappear again before I get out of the door.

I did almost an hour of walking – with a few stops on the way to photograph gardens that will give me some ideas for what I’d like to do with mine.

Along the way I found this usual garden. Completely concreted, but the residents have become quite inventive with their potted plants. https://imgur.com/a/jqvXuxa
The animals in the first picture are an elephant and a reindeer and I think the second pic is a wallaby and a bear. Definitely not something I’ll be doing in my garden, but it certainly stopped me in my tracks.
Probably quieter than keeping a pet!

G’day, everyone. Lots of posts to read through tonight! Thank you to Quacka, LJ and Cinque for the veggie burger/rissole recipes. I will have to try them on the weekend. Today was a FD and had 350 calories worth of refried beans with lime juice and Tobasco sauce for lunch. I rarely have beans on FDs because of the calories, but they just sounded good today. I had a large NZ Envy apple for dinner which I figured was about 130 calories and a tbs of soy creamer in my coffee. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel hungry until late tonight.

Lindsay, it sounds like you’re having a lovely time in Bali. I bet that slim woman eating all that food normally eats sensibly, but decided to eat whatever she wanted on vacation. Unless the vacation is a long one, she probably couldn’t gain that much once the initial water weight goes on, and could lose it when she returned home. The only bad thing about that is eating so much seems to stretch the stomach, or at least it would for me, and then cutting back again after the trip is harder. I think NFDs teach us that we can eat a fair amount of good things, even indulge a little, as long as we’re mindful. I know I usually eat less on a NFD than I would have before 5:2.

Cinque, it sounds like you’re going to have a few more busy days. With the little Misses?

Thin, that is so sad about the baby dolphin. I hope it manages to find another group of dolphins and is able to survive. I totally agree with your comments about the “naked 5:3”. It’s simple and it works.

Penguin, I love the idea of neighbors sharing produce and fertilizer. Hope you manage to get those 6 pounds off quickly. A couple days of your water fasts should take care of that.

LJ, I love your neighbors topiary creations. It would be fun to be able to cut bushes like that, wouldn’t it? But even with all those potted plants, their garden looked kind of cold and sparse. I guess I’m not fond of that much paved over space.

Minka and Caye, hi!

Merry, I love that microwaved banana idea. I never would have thought of that, and it’s so quick and easy. It makes the banana taste sweeter as well. A real treat!

Hello everyone I’m so excited to be posting as I thought I’d lost you all. My phone died and even though the sim and memory card from the old was inserted into the new phone I lost all my apps, emails, half of my contacts and much more. I found the UK forum easily enough but had a devil of a time locating our thread. I now have it safely installed on my home page. Funny how I became quite panicky that I was never going to be able to read or post again….lol.

Lindsay oh I am so envious that you are in Bali. We spent 2 weeks there in May and I fell in love with the place…..and unfortunately the food. I was unable to resist eating the delicious Balinese cuisine for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Will catch up on posts in the next few days. So happy to be back.

Happy September everyone! No loss this morning, but still determined to stick with 5:2, thanks to everyone here. I’m looking forward to not feeling self-conscious about my body Lindsay L. Your holiday sounds wonderful 🙂

Saturday morning and a new month. The sun is shining after a couple of very dull days.
I had a bad day yesterday with noodles for lunch, with family (which was lovely) but they set off the munchies after. So I won’t be doing that again.
A sensible eating day today and a Fast Day tomorrow.

Minka, what a lovely treat to have your big catch up, and SO pleased that you shared that info about the 500 calories, 1/4 normal day, for fast days. It is a really important consideration for people losing weight as we want to lose that excess fat without losing too much muscle mass (and calcium from our bones).

I’m another one who avoids konjac noodles!

I had forgotten that you made your own yuba. Oh, I bet it was delicious! Wouldn’t is be wonderful to have a meal with your yuba, and Sybs home-made tempeh! I’ll make adai, I’m getting good at them 🙂

LJoyce, I’m glad you had a lovely time babysitting. Did you leave the lentil soup until you got home? I like having a little something when I get home…. which can be a problem if I need good baby sitting energy before I go.

I love the extraordinary garden, I wonder what the story behind it is? I bet the home owners, or at least one of them, is an interesting character.

Lindsay, I also laughed so much at the tale of the Slim Woman’s Breakfast!
The only tip you can pick up from her is that there are different strokes for different folks!

I’m excited on your behalf, and my daughter’s, about the parcel that will be waiting for you when you get home.

What a lovely gift the staff brought in, if not quite what you planned for your holiday consumption. I bet it was very delicious and special.
Back the non food treats of massage and swimming 🙂 they sound just as gorgeous and so nice to be doing/having them without feeling self conscious.

Cali I first read about refried beans in a book about cooking beans that changed my life! It was written in the 80’s by a dietician whose husband came from the South and got her interested in bean dishes. A wonderful book.

Gday, I am so glad you found us again! We need a good catch up. I hope you had a wonderful birthday!

It seems like half of the people here, at least, were fasting yesterday. I do hope you are all enjoying that wonderful feeling of wellbeing today. Cheers to anyone fasting today, I hope it is a good one. As for me, I am looking forward to a good fast day tomorrow. Good day!

Lindsay, the writer in you is springing forth to describe the scene perfectly for us.

See you tomorrow Cinque. My freezer is getting low on FD meal portions so I will spend some time planning some new FD meals. I have mixed feelings about spring. Some warmer weather will be a welcome change but not the increased noise.

LJ, those topiary plants usually have a wire frame to form a clipping guide. It’s still clever.

Hi everyone!

Today is the first day of my favourite month of the year – September. For me it’s a time for new beginnings, new growth, lovely weather, spring cleaning – which all inspire me to take time to make my life the best it can be!

July and August were totally miserable: loss of dear brother in July; OH not so healthy – spent nearly 2 weeks in hospital with cardiac electrics a shamozzle, 2 new medications causing concern; I’ve been unwell for nearly 2 weeks – thought it was food poisoning, just had 3 days in hospital – now on antibiotic (so sorry microbiomes), bland diet to rest bowel, CT scan next Tuesday!

Now July and August news is behind me – I’m planning on being the best I can be from now on, with maybe a little hiccup now & again – because I’m not perfect!

I’ve really enjoyed reading all your interesting posts – so varied in their information and so inspirational. Thank you – I’ve missed each and everyone of you.

Love the thought of Penguin’s garden goodies being shared with neighbours – that’s what makes country life so enjoyable (doesn’t really happen in most cities), and them returning the favour with fertilizer.

I hope each of you has a very rewarding September – enjoy whatever you are getting up this weekend and bye for now! xx

thin- Thanks. I will weigh again tomorrow & maybe every day this week, out of curiosity. I will hang in there. I should prepare some FD meals too I think. I haven’t any.
Cinque- I do love saying your username under my breath. I do feel excellent today after yesterday’s FD & enjoying not feeling hungry.
Lindsay- I’ll picture those little fat cells trying to get out next FD 😀 I loved hearing how you were not self-conscious having a massage & am envious of that & the massage. How lovely that would be. Luxury hotels are not our thing either & being somewhere where you can get amongst the locals & walk & walk everywhere is what we love to do.
G’day- our son & his GF did the feet being nibbled by fish thing in Singapore I think. Did it tickle?
Arel-I love September & Spring too. I’m sorry you have had such a rough time of it & I hope life will be better for you. It is such a lovely & supportive forum & I really feel welcome & at home here. Happy September to you.
LJ- Thank you. I know that the scales will move down eventually. When I looked up my weight chart I have actually lost 1.5 kg since I started about 7 weeks ago, so if I lost even that every 7 weeks I am OK with that. I hope you really enjoy the high tea. There is no need to feel guilty & I’m sure that you wouldn’t overdo it anyway. I don’t eat wheat or cream so don’t get tempted by high teas. If there was a creme brulee tea I would be in big trouble.
Happy September everyone. Sunny but a bit chilly here in Tassie.

Confession time, I showed very little restraint at high tea and had a great deal of difficulty stopping eating once I’d started. I ate one of everything, except the meringues. Everything was small and only 2-3 mouthfuls but there were 5 savoury and 4 sweet items that I ate so those mouthfuls add up. Everything was delicious but high fat or high sugar (or both).
Now that I’ve had a couple of hours since I managed to stop myself from eating more I feel a bit queasy. I had to change out of my tight jeans and into something more forgiving when I got home. Even my loose jeans feel firm now! Boy do I need a FD tomorrow.
I took photos of both the food and location: https://imgur.com/a/AgUBpjv
The high tea was set up on the deck of the bride’s sister’s house. The last couple of photos are the view from the deck. That’s only a portion of their 1 1/2 acre garden. It’s really a lovely hills garden with lots of different areas, including several play areas for the children and a large paved area with a fire pit.

Cali, something I have noticed with vegetarian rissoles is that they hold together better if you don’t keep flipping them. I usually panfry them over a gentle heat and only turn them once.
I think nutritional yeast would add a lovely flavour. I’ve always thought of it as a vegan cheese substitute.
If you don’t want to use a lot of breadcrumbs you can replace some with very firm mashed potato. Although you do need some breadcrumbs because the mash will help the patties hold together but they won’t absorb the excess moisture the way breadcrumbs do.

Cate, apart from the first week, I was a bit of a slow plodder when it came to weight loss on 5:2. The harder I tried the less I seemed to lose. Then I’d relax a bit a lose some weight. There does seem to be a lack of logic to weight loss patterns for some of us (which my logical mind has trouble coping with).

Time for some water, my liver is going to need it, dealing with all that fat.