You’ve been a humorous lot during my absence at lunch!

Thin, I love the Hark story! and Lindsay I also love ex-mother story.
Thin, I have a permanent dislike of brunswick green and heritage red. There was an era in the 1990s where every single house sported a colourbond roof and gutters in one of those two colours. If afraid it was used so much I never want to see it on a house again.

Lindsay, I think a snake dropping out of a mango tree would put me off me off mangoes forever.
Good redirection with the British Racing Green! It won’t change my mind about liking it on houses however – bikes and cars are probably ok.

GDSA, sounds like you had a nice time at the wedding, despite the lack of local seafood. Enjoy getting back into your routine. You might be missing the veggie patch, but I’m sure the renovations will be worth it.

Cinque, I absolutely agree about a little meat going a long way. I can make something with a little mince and masses of veg and it tastes the same as the original recipe made with lots of meat and little veg. I think it’s all in getting the seasonings/flavourings right (and lots of mushrooms). I’ll be testing the family out this Sunday as my lasagne is lots of minced veg and just a little minced beef. The big test will be my great-niece’s boyfriend who “doesn’t do vegetables”. Hopefully he won’t notice the difference.

Cali, I had seen a few recipes for vegan parmesan before, all with similar ingredients to the one you posted. I haven’t actually heard of being able to buy lactic acid. Let us know if it improves the “cheese”.
I will be sure to post of photo of the veggie plot once it’s planted up. I’m hoping to get it finished tomorrow, depending on how much it rains. I’ll probably also post some photos of it as it grows.

I managed to find some kipfler potatoes from the organic stall in the Central Produce Market. Although I know you aren’t meant to, I am going to use them as seed potatoes. I’ve put them in a paper bag and stashed them in the garage to encourage them to develop eyes. I like kipfler as they are a lower starch waxy potato and will be good as salad potatoes for the summer. They are also one of the more expensive potatoes to buy, so worth the effort to grow. https://www.harrisfarm.com.au/products/potatoes-kipfler-kg

As I’ve mentioned I am hoping to keep 70-75kg as my new comfortable weight range. I haven’t weighed for many weeks and was 75.8kg last time I did. So I decided to bite the bullet and get on the scales this morning. I was 74kg. So within the range but I like to be in the middle of a range to give me a buffer, so I’ll aim to get gradually down by a further 1-2kg. I won’t be doing anything special to encourage this, other than perhaps a controlled NFD each week. As I’ve had a very snacky afternoon (too many goodies purchased at the markets today), tomorrow will be a controlled NFD as I’m not fasting again until Friday.

Good morning everyone

This Friday I have the day off and I have decided to do something I have been contemplating for a while. I am going to fold up all my clothes that are too big and take them into Vinnies. I am never going to fit into them again.
Yesterday I wore some jeans that I had to pull up all day and I am tired of doing that.
This 5:2 way of life is awesome but I didn’t realise how much it was going to cost me in $$$$ lol.
I have no concept of the size I actually am anymore. I bought some undies last week and they are seriously way too big! Obviously I couldn’t try them on first and luckily the 2 pack were only $10 but I can’t wear them!

My weight this morning is down again on last week’s weigh in after FDs. It’s not much but it’s down and soon I am going to break through the 69kg (new scale). I’m only 200g off. Yay!!

Hope you all have a lovely day and a nice fasty FD if that’s what you are doing xx

FD for me today. First one in quite awhile. Will hold off until 2pm before I have my 2 x hard boiled duck eggs and a glass of kefir which will be it for the day. I had time for food shopping when I returned home yesterday but no time to prepare the salad greens etc which I will do tonight in readiness for lunch for the remainder of the working week.

“Doesn’t do vegetables”. I laughed at that LJ. He’ll learn. I guess there’s no room over dinner for a gut health conversation LOL. My DS and DD are experts at masking veges – with little ones sometimes it’s the only way to get them incorporated. Actually I find they will eat things they pick from the garden. The little GD loves eating the cumquats in the pot in the courtyard…..’I love these little tumtwats’, she lisps. Odd child.
FD yesterday, and after going up a kilo (!) I am now down 1.7. So just 2 to go to get to my pre-holiday weight (which was a bit artificially low after only having one meal mid-afternoon on the day before I travelled, so I could have breakfast in the Qantas Club before flying on the dreaded Jetstar, and thus avoiding their carb laden, fat laden meals).
Another FD today and then I’ll see how I go tomorrow. I have some sourdough bread and some tuna for lunch today which is more calories and carbs that I wanted, but I’m not really prepared because I haven’t shopped since we got back. More frozen fish and steamed veges tonight.
Duck eggs Gday? I’ve never tried them. Is the taste similar to chicken eggs?
Calif I saw a story on the news recently about seriously huge pythons in Florida that have been released, as you say. The illustration had three people holding one. I’ll see if I can find it … I think it was ABC online.
Quacka, good decision to move your ‘too big’ clothes to someone who can use them. Your wardrobe will feel lighter because you are. And you’ll create room for new beautiful things. 🙂
Cinque that beetroot drink looks spectacularly tempting – I think I will try to make some. Is the recipe over on the page that has such things? Cate we could drink it and pretend it’s red wine (I too am seriously restricting my alcohol intake).
Good day all

Cinque, that beet kvass and decanter are so lovely! I like the glass too. Great opshop find. I bought a gravy container (gravy boat) at the one here this weekend. The oneI have is nice, but it doesn’t hold much gravy. The “new” one is quite a bit larger. It will be nice over the holidays if we have a big group for dinner. I’ll be able to use both.
Congrats to your nephew on beginning his new studies!

Quacka, opshops are a great place to buy clothes, both while you’re losing and after. The thinner you get, the greater the selection. I bought several pairs of jeans and slacks in small sizes over the past year. Many look like they were never worn. Cinque got me started going there about a ear ago with her photos of cute outfits she found. Now I go almost every other week, or sometimes more often. I don’t always find what I’m looking for, but I usually find something. And most of the jeans are nicer brands than I usually buy. At under $5 per pair, it’s hard to resist. All of my big sizes are stored in a plastic box in the attic. I haven’t taken them to the opshop yet, but soon…

Here’s an article on lactic acid: https://www.livestrong.com/article/322340-what-foods-contain-lactic-acid/ Mine should arrive on Thursday. It’s a dried powder.

Lindsay, that is one big python from the Florida Everglades! Scary big!

Lindsay, I will never again be able to look at a kumquat and not think “tumtwat”.😁😂

Thin, I’ve used LJ’s method of boiling beans for 5 minutes and then letting them soak until they cool. For ordinary beans like kidney or white beans, this is usually enough to make them ready for cookingright away, once cooled. Pressure cookers work well for ordinary beans without any soaking. I wonder if an overnight soak and then pressure cooking would work for the mung beans?

LJ, I see what you mean about the walkways and trying to set up a drip system. That would be difficult without getting a plumber involved. I’d probably hand water and see how it goes. You could always hire a plumber later if you got tired of watering.

My weight was 59.1 this morning after yesterday’s FD. My 1 kg bounce again. 😗

Welcome Anzac. You are joining a group of like minded souls. Many of us have battled the same issues you have, and have found this way of life sustainable and achievable. Many have reached their target and kept it for a very long time. Others (like me) are still on their way.
You are right – this is a very supportive forum filled with good advice, friendship and humour. Looking forward to hearing how your first FD went.

Welcome Anzac65. How did your FD go? Please feel free to jump into any of the conversations. As you can see, we get a little off topic sometimes, but we’re always happy to answer questions and we all love the 5:2 way of eating.

LJ, you’d think there would be some building code or something that would require them to bury water and fuel lines at a certain depth to prevent gardeners from hitting them. You could just put some kind of semi-permanently marker in the ground where that pipe is, so you know it’s there but could still plant lettuce or other shallow rooted things in the area. It’s a shame to waste the space after all of your hard prep work. Raised beds would be another solution. They’re nice but take a lot of work and soil to set up.
I don’t worry about the 1 kg fluctuations because it’s been going this way for several months. There are big fluctuations between what I eat between FD and NFD. Too much snacking on NFD! I think I’d like to lose 1 more pound and then bounce from there. 😁

OH and I had lunch on the way back from his optometrist’s office this afternoon and he ordered a veggie burger and fries. Without any prompting from me. He seems to be taking his doctor’s suggestion seriously. It was huge, and had lettuce and tomato slices on it. He said it was good. I had a big salad with a veggie burger crumbled on the top. There were also some lentils, avocado slices, julienned carrots with hot sauce of some sort and tomatoes. There was a dressing on the side made with tahini, lemon juice and some sort herbs. It was actually very good.

Welcome Anzac, I’m fasting with you today. It might be my 450th FD or thereabouts! So yes, I’m one of those that they can’t get rid of despite reaching my goal weight over 3 years ago with this amazing way of eating. So pleased you got the book. It’s always good to understand the basics and, later, the book is useful to refer back to and remind ourselves of the science behind the fasting.

I normally don’t eat anything before 2pm on a FD but, today, I was feeling slightly peckish around 1.30pm so went outside to do some gardening to take my mind off that. I got lost out there in the garden, forgot about the hunger, and have just come in to find it’s 3pm. Lesson One: hunger comes and goes and can easily be distracted.

LJ, good to see that you’re still supporting the strawberry industry after the wanton sabotage. OH and I have been checking our sprinklers as the rain has finally come to an end it seems. We have a large verge garden (native plants and shrubs) which I won from the shire years ago for organising and hosting a neighbourhood event. All that lawn seemed a bit silly in our harsh Perth climate and the native verge garden requires almost no water – but of course our system is still in place out there; we programme that section for just a couple of minutes on watering days. Anyway, I’m mentioning it now because we have just planted some veg. concealed amongst the shrubs. I’m keen to see if the sweet potatoes survive.

Quacka, I was so excited to reach size 14 that I bought too many new clothes but passed through that size before I barely had time to wear any of them. As they were new, I was reluctant to hand them straight over to the op shops and eventually resorted to selling on gumtree to dispose of them. At size 14, I never dreamed I’d eventually be size 10. Exercise buying caution!

CalifD, my weight goes up and down around a kg during a week too. Not always the day after a FD like yours, but definitely between FDs and NFDs. I’m happy today because I woke to 60.2kg on a FD which means 59.something tomorrow or Friday. Whether I can stay down where you are now depends almost solely on whether we have meals out. And, when we do, it takes weeks to knock off that last half kilo. Which is why I know I have to remain vigilant forever. Almost all my snacking is now confined to teaspoonfuls of kefir and various nuts, both of which are satiating and taken in small quantities.

Hey, hurray for Mr CD’s good food choices. And all by himself too. Now if he can just ditch the french fries!

I watched a depressing doco last night on the struggle to get euthanasia legalised on SBS on Demand (for humans, not pets). I knew that we’d had assisted suicide in the NT for 8 months back in 1996 but didn’t realise that it will be legal in Victoria from next year. (Anzac, my job is to bring up all the confronting topics on this thread. Feel free to skip by.)

Must eat that soup now.

Thanks everyone for the nice welcome.

Well I made it through day 1 and it was nowhere near as hard as I imagined. I was ready to chew my own arm off at around 3.00pm but I remembered what the book said about hunger waning – just as you said too @thinatlast. And it did! DH, ever supportive despite 25 years of watching me fail diet after diet, had my veges chopped and chicken breast steamed ready for my stir fry when I got home from work and I have never enjoyed one more 😀

I have been reading back through this thread and am very encouraged by your collective successes. Very much looking forward to hearing more and learning more

I am a daily weigher normally but I didn’t bother this morning as I am, er, a bit clogged up. Am going to buy some psyllium husk at lunch time.

I was very surprised that I wasn’t hungry this morning but I ate breakfast at the normal time. Normally I still feel hungry after but today I don’t so that is a very good thing 🙂

I need to understand a bit more about NFD. I speed-read the book so need to go back and concentrate as I am not sure how to approach NFD. It said to ‘eat normally’ and I presume that if I eat the amount that would normally maintain my weight then I will hopefully lose about 0.5kg per week doing the FD’s. I wouldn’t mind losing a bit more than that so I might try to cut back a bit on NFD’s but not to the point where I feel like I am dieting all the time (thus going against the whole concept of the Fast Diet – correct?)

*sorry, s/b on my part.

Good morning, it is a beautiful, still, sunny day here in Melbourne.

Welcome Anzac,
Congratulations on your first Fast Day and you first lovely morning-after-Fast-Day. I bet those frothy coffees taste especially delicious.

Gday, congratulations to you on your first Fast Day for a while, I hope it was a lovely one! Duck eggs and kefir sound gourmet!

Thin, mung beans, adzuki and urad are all related and they must have particularly tough skins so that room temperature water might not get through to soak into the middles. I had a similar experience just after the first time it happened to you, and since then I have soaked them by pouring boiling water over them and then leaving them overnight, as LJoyce also suggests. It does the trick.

Enjoy your morning after fast day!

Lindsay, I think I will be calling them tumtwats as well. So cute. My daughter used to say “Shlokit!’ with such relish, whenever she saw chocolate, that we still sometimes call it that!

I hope you feel great today after your back to back fast days, and pretty much back to normal.
OMG that python!

I will put the beet kvass recipe in the Southern Hemisphere Recipes thread. It comes from Minka who is more experienced in making it than I am, so do check what I write Minka and qualify or correct! But it is a lot easier than I thought it would be.

The decanter was one of my happy Op Shop finds! As you probably guessed Cali!
Your new gravy boat sounds perfect.
Interesting article about lactic acid. All my fermented things (yoghurt, kimchi and beet kvass) contain it (naturally).

LJoyce, how frustrating to have that pesky, easily pierced pipe in the way of your garden fork. I hope it is fixed now. Hopefully the garden soil will keep building up over time and the garden will be further and further above the other pipes.

Lovely fruit and nice to see, with the strawberries, that you are cutting them up and not cutting them out!

Thin, I grew some sweet potatoes last year. It was almost by accident as I had one sprouting, and I had my biggest pot empty at the time. I had a go at cooking the leaves too (which was okay but I can’t even remember how they tasted, I only cooked a few, nervously). I got a fair few small sweet potatoes out at the end, although a some had rot spots. But I did enjoy the good bits! I bet yours will be happier in the ground.

Talking of SBS documentaries this https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2018/09/17/heres-why-frozen-meals-are-low-calories-are-so-damaging-our-waistlines Fat Fight’ was on Monday night, and there were really interesting bits among the bits I already knew. It is a series of three programs so I am looking forward to the next two.

And talking of how weight can go up and down by a couple of kilograms at any old time…. well, that is why I don’t have scales in the house! 😉 Too annoying!

Oh well, the morning is rolling past. I am still recovering from sociable Tuesday so I am moving slowly and I need to cook and write today and babysit darling granddaughters this evening. Off I go!

Cheers all 🙂

Thanks for the info on the mung bean boiling Cinque, also LJ I forgot to thank you for suggesting the same thing yesterday. You told me before (Cinque) that they took extra long to expand but it seemed odd that half had complied. I saw some of that ‘Fat Fight’ with Hugh Something-Something and enjoyed it.

Your mention of using sweet potato leaves reminded me of an article that I read yesterday. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45474563

Off to bridge – and hoping my partner and I can maintain our surprising position of 1st from Monday’s session – highly unlikely I should think!

Thanks for the recipe Cinque. I am going to have a crack at it over the weekend. I don’t have a nice decanter – but I guess a glass jug would be okay (if not as elegant).
I love how the little ones’ mispronunciations become part of our lexicon. Charming. (and a much nicer way of saying chocolate). My friend’s little girl (now married with children herself) used to say ‘I’ve changed up my mind’, and for years her parents have routinely said it too, without a thought. This is the same little girl, btw, who, when told she couldn’t wear her party dress to kindy, told my friend, ‘well, if you don’t let me wear my pretty dress, I am going to tell Miss Lindy and Miss Rachel (kindy teachers) that you’ve been to Jenny Craig. And it didn’t work! Needless to say, she wore her party dress.
I’m on day 3 FD: down 300 grams this morning which was a bit disappointing, but a solid loss on day one. Water weight probably, but nice to see on the scales. I’m struggling a bit today – I had to take some sourdough bread and tinned fish to work, along with an apple, so I won’t have too many calories left for dinner. More fish and vegetables I guess. I’m not working tomorrow so I’ll hit the shops and stock up.

Anzac, good advice from LJoyce and thin on NFD. And thin is right about normal eating often changing naturally after getting used to fasting twice a week. I, like many others used to fear missing meals. “I better eat before we leave even if it’s early and I’m not hungry because maybe there won’t be any place to have lunch until much later and I’ll be starving.” After getting through a number of fast days n precious little food, you realize that hunger comes and goes, it doesn’t keep getting worse throughout the day. Pretty soon you barely think about it, because you have your FD routines and most of the time you aren’t even thinking about food, you know what you’re going to eat on those days and when. You never die of starvation. 😁 So on NFD, eating late because you’re busy, or missing a meal doesn’t bother you that much.

Also, I learned to get the most bang for the buck on 500 calories and found that eating a huge bowl of vegetables is really filling, but not a lot of calories. Or that non-creamy soups are filling and low in calories as well. Those eating habits tend to extend into NFD as well. Rather than eating “normally” on NFD, I tried to eat mindfully. Now that I reached my goal and am in maintenance, I still do my 2 500 calorie FDs, but I eat a little less mindfully on NFD. It works well for me. I plan to continue indefinitely.

LJ, I can’t believe how much you’ve accomplished in your garden in just the last week, with all the soil preparation and climbing frames. I can’t wait to see them start growing! I love the big water collection tanks. Do you get enough rain to fill them over the winter? You have pretty dry summers, like we do, right? This part of California rarely has rain in the summer, but lots in the winter. Usually. We had several years of drought a few years ago.

I made that Salisbury steak (vegan version) tonight. I should have gone with my gut feeling that a whole cup of vital wheat gluten was too much. The texture just wasn’t right. I hate to throw things out, but these were really bad. But I plan to experiment with the lentils and a much smaller amount of gluten. I still think it’s a good binder for the lentil or other legumes partially mashed, to come out with some approximation of minced beef.

The lactic acid powder arrived today and I added a very small amount to my ground cashew, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and salt mixture to mimic Parmesan cheese. It didn’t have quite that musty favor of real Parmesan, but the lactic acid gave it that bite that it needed without adding other flavors. Anyone have any ideas beside the nutritional yeast? Wet cheeses are a little easier. I made some cheese spread once that tasted remarkably like smoked Gouda, using rejuvelac. Has anyone here ever made it? I had completely forgotten about it. I made a few batches some years ago to add to vegan cheeses. https://www.superfoodevolution.com/rejuvelac.html

Hello SH

Just a few quick lines to stay in touch. I am busy wrapping up things before my eye surgery the end of next week.

RE: 5:2 diet: Fasting days are turning out to be quite educational. I am un-learning some former wrong thinking about eating. (1) I need to re-process how I respond to craving that “mysterious something” because I’m discovering there is a big difference between actual hunger and craving. Most of the time my craving is not a healthy thing. (2) I do not need to avoid or fear feeling hunger. Even on non-fast days, it is okay and natural for my body to feel hungry between meals. I took a lesson from my friend’s baby who does not cry for more food until he is truly hungry. And his mom knows if he cries shortly after eating to check for other causes. Generally, in my adult body hunger actually fades over time. (3) When I eat is important. Grazing throughout the day on a steady stream of mini-meals or snacks is unhealthy for me. I bought into that theory at my own peril. Grazing throughout the day so I never experience true hunger was neither healthy nor natural for my body. (4) Be honest about how much I actually eat. I chuckled when I saw a slogan that went something like this: “No matter what you record in your journal, your body keeps an accurate calorie count.”

RE: Yes, we have issues with invasive species brought into Florida USA. Burmese Pythons have become a such problem that our animal control has set up a hunting program. Pythons are killing off our natural animals and upsetting the food chain of native animals. Lionfish are another invasive species. They were brought here as an interesting aquarium fish but have been set loose in our waters. With no natural predators here, they have created problems. We now have Lionfish Derbies to try to help control them. One interesting situation is escaped pet parrots and other exotic birds. Although not native, many now color our landscape. However, I have heard no issues related to the exotic birds.

Meanwhile, Florida already had a large number of colorful native birds. After we moved here nine years ago I saw my first large, bright pink, adult Rosate Spoonbill. When I told my husband what I had seen came I prefaced my description by saying, “I am not hallucinating, but I just saw this huge, bright pink bird that flew off when it saw me.” Now we are used to seeing them on the golf courses, but that first sight was stunning. We have set up bird feeders for the smaller birds and I’ve become an avid bird watcher here.

RE: weight loss. Slow is okay. I continue to lose slowly and steadily. I have lost one clothing size and recently donated my largest size clothes. I had three sizes of clothing in my closet. Now it has only two sizes of clothing in it and it is much easier to find things! Since I am not losing rapidly, it was a perk to get into my next size down and donate those items. Maybe some of you have lost the same way, and that is truly okay.

Rainbow, here’s an interesting video about fishing for lion fish for restaurants in a Florida. They are apparently a very good tasting fish. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CQJQnm_qC14

Is that a fish you have in Australia?

FD for me today.

Good morning everyone 🙂

I have just had my first cup of tea for the day, with almond milk of course, after returning from an hour long walk. I have to admit I have been very unmotivated for exercise and honestly haven’t been intentionally doing any at all. I have found every excuse to not go walking including that it’s cold, my dog is no longer here and that I don’t need to because I am losing weight anyway. These are just a few of them!
I feel really good after a walk and I find my back really loosens up so hopefully I can keep at it.

Rainbow I love what you wrote about the things you have learned and unlearned from doing FDs. It has been very similar for me. I have lost weight slowly also but I know that in my case I have sabotaged it often. I gave up for almost three months last year Nov-Jan. I had lost a fair bit of weight already and thought it would be ok if I just went back to eating and drinking whatever I liked. I realise now that was not good for me. This year when it comes to my birthday (Nov) and the Christmas holidays I am going to try and do my FDs anyway, I will be happy even if I maintain my weight rather than put any on.
I am losing weight slowly still but I remember that it took many years to put this weight on so however slowly it comes off is fine with me, as long as it is coming off.

Today is my day off. I am going to sort my clothes out and get rid of the ones I can no longer wear as they are too big. When I take them in to the Op shop I think I will have a look in there and see if there is anything I like.
When I was bigger I hated shopping for clothes as I didn’t like the way I looked in them and also that they wouldn’t fit me. Now I am smaller I still have trouble shopping for clothes, but this time it’s because I have no idea of the size that I actually am. I mean, I still see myself as a big person even though I am not anymore. It’s hard to explain.

Regarding the Lion fish I think we do have them in Australia but I have never caught one.

Anyway enough of my rambling.

Have a lovely FD Cali and anyone else fasting too. Hope everyone has a lovely day. X

I love the conversations in here. I can honestly say that after 2 months I now understand how everyone feels doing 5:2. My weight is dropping, my hunger is manageable, my appetite has dropped considerably & I now look forward to my next FD. Thank you all, for helping me to stick with this. It has been your posts that have made me determined to stick with it. With 3 days away & only 1 FD I have lost half a kilo this week. I’m happy with that.
I had decided before I went to bed last night that I wouldn’t do B2B today, but regretted saying anything when my LH cooked me eggs & avo on oat toast. I felt over-full just looking at it. I’m going to have a light day & then fast tomorrow, even though we have a dinner out tomorrow night.

Hello all and welcome to the new posters. Was going to be a FD for me today but I had a terrible nights sleep last night and I feel unwell today so I will postpone for

The building works at home are progressing nicely and it looks like they will be pouring the concrete for the shed floor today.

Was going to write more but I really don’t feel up to it. Hoping tomorrow will be a better day

Ugh, housework, hate it! We have an 11 month old Labrador and he sheds like there is no tomorrow. No sooner do we vacuum then the floor looks like it has been snowing Labrador fur again! Good luck getting through yours quickly LJoyce

Cate & Anzac, glad I’m not alone in my loathing of housework, I often feel like the odd woman out in my family on this issue. I also hate vacuuming – I’d rather clean toilets! It doesn’t help that I have carpet for the first time in 2 decades and I struggle to do this task to my satisfaction. I still haven’t figured out how to stop the head of the vacuum cleaner creating an almost unbreakable suction that makes it difficult to move. So much easier to sweep floor boards. However it’s done, the floors have been either swept & washed or vacuumed. The bathrooms and toilets are clean. The spare room now has a new mattress topper and quilt and looks very nice. https://imgur.com/a/WbfMKvw (My spare room actually has an ensuite because it was intended to be the master – I actually chose to use a different bedroom and the main bathroom for myself.)
The only thing left is to clean the kitchen, but that will need to wait until I finish making the lasagne tomorrow – no point doing it twice!

I even found time (after the cleaning) to put together the outdoor furniture. It was quite easy as they seemed to have built most of the pieces – mostly just a case of attaching legs. https://imgur.com/a/QSCh2Hp When the drop leaf ends are down it seats 4 with the use of 2 bench seats. When extended and folding chairs are added it seats 8-10. I wasn’t sure it would fit well in my verandah extended, but it actually does.

Very productive FD. In fact it’s 7:30 and I’m yet to eat my dinner. Mulligatawny soup with a little greek yoghurt stirred through.

Hope the other fasters had a good day.

Good morning everyone, a gorgeous Saturday morning here. I was crook yesterday (I have a chronic illness and I had been overdoing it) but rested pretty well and am feeling a lot better today.

Rainbow Quill, what a wonderful list of lessons learned by doing 5:2.
And I so agree about ‘slow is okay’ that you and Quacka mention. I also remember thinking “it took me 10 years to put on all this weight, I don’t mind if it takes ten years to lose it, so long as I do lose it.” And, ofcourse, it took a lot less than 10 years. Win!

Anzac, good thinking. I love what people wrote in response to your query about Non Fast Days. I got Fast Days sorted fairly easily, but I am still working out NFDs. When I stuff up (I’m a bit of a binge eater, and a bit of a snacker) it is such a relief to know that a Fast Day is coming along for a breathing space and a reset.

I had the advantage of growing up with home cooked ‘meat and three veg’ (which I thought unbearably old fashioned and boring), but at least it means I have a picture in my mind what a ‘normal’ meal looks like in terms of portion size and plate size.

There is also well researched information here: https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/food-essentials The whole site has good information including portion sizes etc.

Cheers to all the people who’ve been doing hard work and amazing things, and sympathy to those of you who are not well and struggling a bit. I hope today is a day for mindful eating and looking after ourselves. Best wishes all.

Morning all. Just checking in, with no real news. I’m still getting over the travel, and I had a challenging week back at work. It’s only a two hour time difference but jet lag always hits me hard. I can’t get to sleep at night, and can’t stay asleep. My OH has has a bit of a medical drama and we saw a specialist yesterday and discussed the options. Our fear was there would be no treatment, but there is, although not risk-free. Anyway I came home exhausted (I worry so much more than he does) and was looking for a good night’s sleep – and our noisy neighbours kicked off again. Police were called at 11pm, when it was obvious it wasn’t settling, and we moved to a back bedroom. The agent will only breach them if the police have been called….and three strikes and their lease won’t be renewed, apparently.
My weight is moving up and down – no real reason, as I had three FDs this week – but I’ve started incorporating good carbs into my diet (beans and some sourdough eg) so obviously I’m just adjusting. Once this would have been enough to throw me off whatever diet I was on – now I just accept that my body will do what it does, and good is going on inside. How philisophical is that?
Have a good day all.