Well my post a short while ago hasn’t appeared yet but it’s in the “recent” thread.
Anyhoo, it’s obvious I didn’t proof read it – “nithing else dies” = nothing else does. Waiting for theatre doors to open.
This topic contains 27,917 replies, has 832 voices, and was last updated by thinatlast 17 hours, 11 minutes ago.
Hi everyone. It’s been a while since my last post – life has been full on!
My OH has been unwell for months – finally, yesterday he had his urgent ablation surgery for his heart. This morning he was up at 7am eating breakfast and said he ‘hadn’t felt this good for a long time’ so, fingers crossed, he’s on the mend. It’s a big load off both our shoulders!
I am finally well after 4 weeks of misery. No time to be sick!
Yesterday I had the best time looking at clothes, while OH had his procedure. It’s the first time in a lot of years that I’ve been able to buy an outfit because I really liked it on me, and not just buy anything to cover up. I used to be size 16 to 18, now 12 to 14, and still hoping to lose more. Will have to sort my clothes real soon. Thank you 5:2 and thank you to each of you for your encouragement and sage advice since 1 October 2017 – yes, it’s my first anniversary in 5 days time, and I couldn’t be happier!
I’ve only had time to quickly look at your posts, so hope each of you is having a good time at the moment.
LJ – all the best for excellent results after your recent surgery. I loved your post, from a couple of weeks ago, about digging the garden and adding gypsum and mulch – this is what my garden really needs, so thank you for sharing
Thin – noisy neighbours at 6am is not fair on surrounding neighbours, and hopefully won’t continue. I feel for you. Tradesmen can’t make noise till after 7am on weekdays – just a thought!
Cinque – hope all is going to be ok in your life and what’s happening soon settles
Merry – loved your post on different faster types – still not sure where I fit on as it changes regularly – that’s why 5:2 works, it’s so flexible!
Lost track of other posts. Dare not go back in case I lose this one. I hope each of you enjoy whatever you are getting up to and bye for now 😉 xx
Arel, so good to hear from you and to know that your OH’s surgical procedure was a success. Hoping you have happy, healthy times ahead; you’ve had a tough year. Congratulations on shedding all those dress sizes, buying lovely new clothes that look great and on achieving one year of 5:2. Here, please accept this 💐that I borrowed from Merry above as I don’t know how to do it myself. It’s microscopic and I’m hoping it’s a flower and not a wasp which it sort of looks like without my glasses.
Cinque, did you have a great FD today? Happy Birthday to Miss 2 for tomorrow and hoping your close people needing help are alright but also that they leave you with some energy for yourself. Take care.
LJ, good job getting through the FD when feeling under the weather. Mine has drawn to a close. Goodnight all.
Good morning everyone 🙂
Hope everything goes better for you now Arel, good to see u back in here.
Hope you are ok too Cinque
Scales this morning showed my two FDs plus 800 calorie day yesterday. Down 1.1 kg from Monday morning. Happy Quacky…..
Strangely I’m not even hungry this morning. Had my first almond milk cuppa and about to go make 2nd one for the morning. Will eat later when I’m hungry
Hope you all have a lovely day today. I know some of you are on FD so I hope it’s nice and easy. For those going through difficult times I really hope it gets better soon x
I’m going to have another happy day today. I believe my attitude and how I approach the day goes a long way to making it a good one for me. Hope it does for you too xx
Quacka it is an excellent day to have a happy day! All power to you.
Some of us feel like this in the morning! https://www.facebook.com/bbc5live/videos/2245785185651526/UzpfSTE2MjUyODE4MDk6MTAyMTU4ODA1MzU4NzkzNzQ/
I am going well and my dear ones are ok I think. I am just about to make a cake (going no sugar means that all my old skills fade!)
Best wishes all, hope it was a great show Merry. Hope the kids don’t wake you up in an hour Thin. Best wishes to every one of you.
PS Just to be contrarian I had spinach and lentil soup last night!
Good morning everyone.
I had an early start as the insulation contractor was here to fix the mess that the electricians made of the ceiling insulation that he had installed. (This is part of the repairs that the builder organised.)
Merry, I hope you enjoyed the theatre.
Quacka, after being cross with your scales for not reflecting your initial FD effort, it looks like they’ve finally decided catch up. Happy dance time.
Cinque, good luck with the baking. Don’t worry about being out of practice with sugar, just follow your recipe and you’ll be fine.
Thin, enjoy your post FD frothy coffees.
Arel, so good to hear from you. Also good news that your husband has finally had the procedure – he certainly sounds like he perked up after it, I really hope that’s a sign for the future. Good too that you are finally feeling better.
I am planning to take weekly photos so that I can track the growth progress of my veggie patch, so I’m sure there will be more posts about it – hopefully just no more damaged plumbing because I get a little too vigorous with my digging!
It’s all rather gloomy here today – overcast with rain due any time.
As I was up very early I only made it to 8:30 before wanting food. I had a small bowl of muesli with bran, a banana and kefir. I’m hoping it will sustain me until lunch without making me want to continue eating.
Have a nice day everyone.
Wow, nearly two kilos down after just over a week! Very happy. I’m currently a size 18-20 so really hoping to drop at least one dress size by Christmas. Just over 12 weeks…
Thanks again to you all for your encouragement.
I only had a tiny dinner last night as it was a FD but still wasn’t hungry until about 9.00am this morning. Our Labrador woke us at 5.30am so it was an early start as usual, but we went for a good long walk before brekky and I’m lucky enough to be working from home today.
I hope those who are unwell, or have partners who are/have been unwell are feeling better soon.
Anzac, that is fabulous news. Doesn’t that make it worthwhile sticking with it despite the issues you had with the second FD.
I think at least one dress size by christmas is very achievable on 5:2.
So much for making it through to lunch without more food. I went for a walk to get some scripts filled and to buy milk, bread, fruit & veg. It wasn’t the hunger dragon that got me – just the presence of a fresh loaf of kibbled rye sitting on the benchtop. I need to slice it before I can freeze it and I always seem to end up eating both crusts during that process! This morning I had them spread with brie. Delicious but unnecessary as I wasn’t hungry. This is just a bad habit I’ve gotten myself into.
Anzac, thanks, I know I am allowed these things on NFDs, but I get a bit frustrated when I eat out of habit rather than hunger. The only way I seem to avoid consuming the crusts before I get the loaf into the freezer is if I buy it on a FD – and then I feel cheated because I can’t have the crusts!
Funny how bread is a weakness for so many of us. It’s probably not surprising that most civilisations have a bread that dates to their earliest times that was regarded as a core staple food.
I even saw a tv program segment in the last week on the types of grass seeds that aboriginal peoples used to grind into flour to make a bread that was the precursor of what we’d now call damper (but much healthier then, than made with the refined white flour that’s now used).
Anyway, the bread is safely stashed in the freezer now and out of sight – which seems to have a direct relationship to how much I want to eat something. If I can’t see it I mostly forget about it.
Anzac well done!! So happy for you 🙂
LJ I sometimes get like that too. Bread is yummy, no doubt about that.
I think we are all doing great 🙂 🙂
Lol Cinque that comedian was quite funny but I also see the reality in what he is saying. It’s kind of what I was trying to say in my last post…. our approach to the day, to life, to whatever, can shape how things actually progress. 🙂 he was funny tho 😉
thin, I’m not quite fading away but I’m working towards my goal and loving it. I’ve made small goals along the way and feel really good when I get to them. I can only imagine what it will be like when I get to around 60kg. I will probably give myself a massive headache lol
Rainbow hoping ur eye surgery goes/ went well. Not sure what day it was happening so hope you are ok.
Thinking of you all x
I had a call from the surgeon this evening. Pathology for all of the samples he took were benign. Although I wasn’t worrying, it’s very nice to know for sure.
He did say the bloating and abdominal pain may last 1-2 months, so I will need to be a bit more patient about getting back in to my normal life.
Hope everyone had a good day.
Great news LJ! Hope you’re starting to feel a little less queasy today.
Well done, Anzac on your 2kg loss. Wow!
I have had a crazily busy week & didn’t squeeze in a 3rd FD. I’m going to try for that next week as my OH, who is the cook in our household will be away a week.
Arel- excellent news about your OH 🙂
Quacka, when you get to 60kgs, you will have the boring business of maintenance (assuming that’s your end goal). So don’t rush here! Yesterday, I exercised the feast part of this feast and famine lifestyle. It was our anniversary and OH and I went to Fremantle for a seafood platter lunch. All carefully planned to mitigate damage on the scales – rose early to get my walk done before bridge, breakfast skipped, OH agreeing to share one seafood plate and one large salad between us (progress!).
Impulsively bought a beer as they do have lovely craft beers at that venue, my first in years. All going well. Then on the way home, we remembered an art exhibition being held at our local council. There was a substantial afternoon tea in progress and we sat down to join some others for a coffee and a piece of fruit…..followed by more fruit…..and then some other items that probably shouldn’t be mentioned here.
Couldn’t believe how much I ate and regretted it all afternoon. No dinner. Apparently though, my sense of ‘over-eating’ is nothing like it used to be as there was very little damage on the scales this morning. I dodged a bullet. Today I will be very careful.
Cinque that was a funny clip yesterday. LJ, good news that you have the all clear.
Good morning everyone,
We had a lovely birthday for my 2 year old granddaughter yesterday. I had accidentally agreed to A) adjust a princess dressup for a four year old (op shop find) to fit a small 2 year old B) use my tupperware jelly ring mould (another op shop find) for the first time, to make a big jelly ring, and then when my daughter had a few other tricky things happening, I C) volunteered to make her Peppa Pig cake which Ellie had been adamant she wanted since her big sister had an Octonauts cake for her 4th birthday last month.
This was on top of everything else happening and for me, it was equivalent of being Artistic Director of the Melbourne festival! But I did it all and we had a gorgeous little celebration and she loved her cake! https://imgur.com/a/2TPP1Rv (Hooray for two year olds)
So now I am back to almost normalness. I am going to visit a dear friend who has difficult health issues this afternoon.
Arelkade, I was SO glad to see your post saying that Mr Arelkade was feeling so good after his heart ablation procedure. Then I didn’t mention it yesterday. Is he still going well?
And how excellent that you could have fun shopping for a new outfit.
Thin, no idea of the calories in the lentil soup, but it was the Lebanese style one which just has a little oil to fry onion and garlic and then it is all lentils and spinach (silver beet in my case) with a bit of tomato, so it felt like a good fast day option.
LJoyce, so glad you have the all clear, and I do hope the bloating and pain fades away quicker than expected.
Haha re EFS
Quacka, I had just been looking at that Dylan Moran clip and laughing at his pessimism which managed to be true and funny at the same time, when I saw your valiant and wonderful effort to greet the day, so I couldn’t resist posting it.
But I am with you, feeling so grateful for every day on this beautiful planet, despite the craziness we humans manage to inflict on everything.
Anzac, I am another bread lover. I make my own with the long rise method and (get this!) I leave it until the next day to cut it! I can only manage to do that because it tastes even better and lasts better that way. I can add all sorts of delicious things to add fibre and texture but it still always tastes like my bread. That is a good thing though. I must make some this weekend!
Lindsay, are you ok?
Rainbow, good wishes and luck for your op.
Cheers to you all, I’m off to make my coffee.
Hi Cate! Two fast days a week is congratulation worthy, but three, while the cook is away, sounds eminently sensible!
Thin, am I delighted anew every year that my granddaughter was born on your wedding anniversary? (Some things don’t manage to stick in my head). Well you had an EFS or, as I think of it now, the slim woman’s Bali breakfast. Sorry to say, but it might show up on tomorrow’s scales. One of those ways eating and bathroom scales defy physics. No matter, it will soon fade. And it sounds like it was all lovely. Happy Anniversary!
The cat divined that I wanted a coffee so she settled, purring, on my knee. Our training is going well though and she is a dear, and I get to answer the posts that popped up while I was writing mine.
Nice cake, Cinque. I’m staying positive that I got away with it! After a true blow out, I usually experience upwards of a kg on the scales the next day. Good, brisk walk this morning, no breakfast and a light dinner for me. We’re so lucky to have FDs and CDs to put the brakes on. I think our bodies can absorb these occasional feasts – occasional being the operative word. In fact, I like to believe that feasting is very much a part of the ‘feast and famine’ lifestyle. I will report back after weighing tomorrow.
Good morning all.
A quick post as I’m heading off to the physio shortly.
I seem to start each day with just a little abdominal bloating and discomfort but it gets worse as the day wears on. I’m going to give myself permission to have an afternoon lie down (with a hot pack) for a few days and see if it makes a difference. I don’t do afternoon naps because they ruin my fragile sleep pattern so this something I wouldn’t usually consider.
Perhaps some extra glasses of water might help to. I think I’ve been over doing the cups of tea at the expense of water over the last week.
My best friend suggested I do 2 short walks instead of my usual longer one and I think that’s sensible too. Time to make a few changes to my routine until my body has recovered.
Must get myself ready and head off now. I’ll try to find time to respond to everyone later.
Hope you are all having a good day.
Cinque- Thank you. I really feel settled into this now & confident that I will lose weight. I don’t care any more if it is slower than when I did it a few years ago & compared to some. It really doesn’t matter. I’m looking forward to doing 3 next week!
LJ- I hope the lie down with the heat pack helps. I drink a lot of herbal tea in Winter & have been wondering if I should cut that down & drink more plain water. You wouldn’t think it would make any difference, but who knows?
thin- I will get to the stage you are now one day. In the meantime, I really enjoy reading about life at maintenance & how you deal with the obstacles life puts in our way.
Quacka- I love Dylan Moran & Black Books. He is so funny. I also love Bill Bailey. We saw him live in Launceston once & met him in Darwin.
LJ, so relieved to hear that your tests came back negative. Spending the afternoon with a hot pack sounds like a good idea. You’ve been so busy with your home and garden lately. You deserve a break.
Thin, a belated Happy Anniversary! I sounds like it was a lovely day. If the scales aren’t back to normal yet today, I bet they will be by tomorrow.
Cinque, hope your friends troubles get resolved soon. I love the humorous link you posted. I have days like that occasionally. The cake for Miss 2 is so cute! Thank you for posting the picture of it.
Arel, so glad to hear your husband got the needed heart procedure and that he’s feeling so much better. Is he back at home yet?
Gday, thinking of you and hoping all is ok with your OH.
Anzac, congrats on your 2 kg loss. That’s a lot. You must be seeing it in the way your clothes fit.
I’m almost at the end of my Thursday FD. It was an easy one. I somehow managed to squeeze in 10,000 steps today too, so hoping I see some good numbers on the scale
Cate, all you need is a downward trend. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, as you say. As for herbal tea, it can be hard to fathom the calories, if that’s what you mean by making a difference. I wrote to the makers of one I like from the UK and asked them. Since then, I’ve calculated 4kcals per herbal teabag on a FD. I use the same bag several times. There’s another tea treat I enjoy on FDs called Madame Flavour Orange Chocolate Ceylon. It feels like I’m having something just a little bit naughty on a FD. I have no excuse for not drinking more water as we have a dispenser on the outside of the fridge.
CalifD, thanks for your good wishes, you too Cinque. It sounds like you have another successful FD under your belt. Is your DS still joining you? I was only 200gms up so fingers crossed. I made a simple curried lentil & spinach dish for myself tonight – the recipe was on the back of the lentil packet and was surprisingly tasty.
Lindsay, I hope we hear from you soon. Minka? Sybs? Stay? Arel, Merry, don’t go too far away!
Thin, DS is within 3 pounds (about 1.4 kg) of her goal and she looks great. She’s been sticking faithfully to 5:2 and, as much as she hates to admit it, realizes that it works. I had been pushing her to try it for over a year. She’s about 7.5 cm shorter than I am so a kg makes a bigger difference in the way she looks. She has a few pairs of jeans that are now too big. She’s a believer now!
Lindsay, missing your posts. Please let us know how everything is going.
I’m still sticking with a plant based diet with the occasional addition of seafood for the benefits of omega 3’s and low calorie protein on FD’s. Playing around with some recipes for non-dairy cheeses. It’s hard to find decent tasting ones in the stores. Pizza on Saturday night is really the main thing I need it for. Daiya and Follow Your Heart are disappointing. It may be time to switch to something other than pizza.
Cate, I don’t count the calories in herbal teas because they’re usually too few to worry about, unless the have some type of high calorie ingredient added. Same with non-fat condiments like soy sauce or lemon juice. I’m usually a bit under 500 calories on FD because it just works out that way. And 10 – 20 calories in a day isn’t going to make much of a difference anyway. Keeping it simple is a big advantage of 5:2.
CalifD, well done to your DS. Thanks for converting the units! Do you think she will keep it up when she reaches her goal? It sounds like you’ve given meat the heave-ho. We’re consciously eating less too. I sometimes give OH his rations on my FDs.
I’m a bit more rigid about counting absolutely everything that passes my lips on a FD. I couldn’t have trusted myself otherwise because so much of what I was preparing found its way into my mouth and I would have lost track over the course of a day. It has taught me to stop picking while prepping. Your approach is obviously working well for you. I’ve had acquaintances though who complained they weren’t losing weight on 5:2 but hadn’t realised they had to rigidly stick to below 500cals so hadn’t been counting milk in coffee, a ‘drizzle’ of this or that on their food, etc., which can really add up.
As we know, everyone’s different and we just have to find what works for us. Those of us at the business end can get away with a bit more. I’m like you, using my FDs to balance the odd indulgence during the course of a week. Speaking of which, I’m the same weight today and tomorrow’s a FD so all is well.
It’s raining here so I hope to dodge the worst of it and get a good walk in.
Thin, I think DS is likely to stick to it because it’s easy. She had always stuck to diets that we both tried in the past longer than I did. She’s less of an “all or nothing” personality than I am. I would screw up for a couple of days and it was all over. She would go back. At least for a while. Maybe that’s why the 5:2 works so well for me. It’s only 2 days a week. The rest of the week I can eat what I’m craving, within reason. (or sometimes over what’s reasonable) and still maintain.
I found a recipe for a plant based sliceable cheese. I had all the ingredients here and made it a little while ago. It’s sitting in the frig setting up now. It’s cashew based and has a bunch of ingredients like tahini, nutritional yeast, Dijon mustard, paprika, lemon juice, etc. it calls for agar agar to make it more solid. Super easy, just throw the ingredients in a good blender, boil the agar in a cup of water, add that to the blender and then throw in a bowl and refrigerate. I’ve tried plant based cheeses in the past. Only one was seriously good and it involved fermentation and took days to make. Too much trouble. With this one I scraped all the little leftover schnibblys out of the blender and ate them. It was that good. It was starting to set as I was putting it into the bowl. I think this is going to be really good. Fingers crossed. And I actually followed every ingredient and step in this recipe. Well, except I used smoked paprika because I love smoked cheeses. (I rarely follow recipes exactly.) Here’s the link if anyone else is interested: https://lovingitvegan.com/sliceable-cashew-cheese/
(This is a NFD recipe. It’s only a few less calories than most dairy cheeses.)
Ok, the “cheese” probably isn’t as firm as it will be in a couple of hours, but it is sliceable. And the flavor is close. It’s spreadable on a cracker or would hold shape on bread. https://imgur.com/a/mFhhXO1
I think it would hold its own on pizza. It has a sharpness similar to cheddar, sort of. I’m anxious to see how firm it will be in the morning. It’s better than any of the store bought plant based cheeses I’ve tried.
The recipe is here:
https://lovingitvegan.com/sliceable-cashew-cheese/
I really like ‘EFS- Epic Face Stuffing’- so visionary (if that’s the right word!). I had a truly rubbish day yesterday, plenty of EFS and I don’t know why. Just let myself get back into comfort eating on a stressful day at work. I’m not angry at myself or anything, I know we need to take the ups with the downs.
We had home-made pizza last night and I used way less cheese on mine and it was still delicious. I love the sound of the sliceable cashew cheese CalifDreamer and have stored the link to try the recipe soon.
You are so right thinatlast, we need to find what works for us and I am enjoying trying different things in this very early stage. I hope it will soon be effortless and just my new way of eating/living.
So glad it is a long weekend; lots of jobs to do and things to try. And being home means more time to walk and our dog needs plenty of that (as do I). He is the light of our life (we don’t have kids) so we do our best to make him happy. He is young and in the challenging ‘teenage’ years but we just try to be patient….even when he trots past with the tv remote or your reading glasses in his mouth. gah!
What breed of dog is he, Anzac? Or is he a mutt? Can we have a photo on imgur? Don’t worry, even we ‘veterans’ have days like that – right, LJ? You’ll find yourself doing it less and less often.
CalifD, that cheese looks very good. Well done. Are you turning vegan? Congrats to your sister, she seems to have taken to 5:2 very easily.
OH and I went for an epic walk this morning, dodging the rain. Not being football fans, we didn’t know that the Perth team was in the final. Or that there was a final today. It was so quiet everywhere. We walked into the city, sampling Nespresso coffees and browsing shops. Bad luck Victorians, I think the WA team has just won judging by the shrieks coming from next door.
Anzac, all of our kids have fur or feathers and we have one very spoiled dog. He sleeps between our pillows and follows us around the house. He’s a rescue dog, smallish, about 7 kg.
Thin, we’re still eating seafood but trending toward vegan for a while. Since OH’s doctor gave him a big write-up on plant based diets, he’s been more open to it. We’ll see how it goes. I have high cholesterol, mainly hereditary, so it doesn’t hurt me to eat that way. The cheese substitute has no cholesterol, but it does have saturated fat from the coconut oil. I read so many things about the wonders of coconut oil, but I wonder if any of it’s true?
LJ, how are you doing this morning?
Good morning – I’m baking trays of biscuits at present. A few of which will get eaten my my best friend and I when she arrives for morning tea. Most of them will be taken up to my aunt this afternoon as she is no longer able to bake regularly for herself.
My uncle was taken to hospital with pneumonia Friday night. I volunteered to be driver for my aunt as she doesn’t drive anymore. This is not as easy now that I no longer live in the hills where she lives. Thankfully my uncle is being moved today from the Royal Adelaide to one of the hospitals in the hills, which has much easier access. It’s incredibly difficult to drop my aunt somewhere at the RAH that means she won’t have to walk very far. She needed rest breaks just to get from the lifts to his ward.
Cali, it sounds like your sister is doing as well with 5:2 as you have. It’s good to know you can support each other with this.
Cali you could try something more traditional than the westernised pizza, as these don’t require cheese. Essentially it’s just a stretched out piece of leftover bread dough with a few simple ingredients and a drizzle of olive oil on top.
I like just slices of tomato, basil leaves (or pesto) and a little olive oil. (I usually add extra fresh basil leaves once out of the oven.) Caramelised red onions with a little fresh rosemary is also delicious (I often do add cheese to this one – feta or haloumi).
You can use cheese but it’s not necessary. This pizza style is more about the bread and the flavour of a few fresh seasonal ingredients than what we’ve come to know as pizza. As you are still eating seafood I would suggest prawns (shrimp?), fresh tomato and soft leaf herbs (eg basil, parsley or oregano)
Cate, I remember about 30 years ago when doing weight watchers that herbal tea counted as water but caffeinated tea and coffee didn’t. I think it’s because caffeine is a mild diuretic. I agree that carrying a water bottle helps – I certainly drink more if I have water with me.
Thin, enjoy your Sunday FD. As I fasted yesterday I won’t be fasting again until Tuesday.
Anzac, I do feel for you. I have a life long issue with binge eating. It was still a big issue for me when I started 5:2 and I struggled not to binge most NFDs. I gradually dealt with the issues and triggers that seem to drive this behaviour and now it’s something that only happens occasionally. I think ingrained patterns like this are so tied into our emotions and the way we have always dealt with things that they aren’t easy to change. I don’t think they are ever solved, just managed. It’s important no to beat yourself up about it, be kind to yourself. Just face the next day, or the next meal as one with fresh promise.
I had a difficult FD yesterday. Every time I try to fast the nausea returns. It seems there is only so many cups of tea my stomach can cope with before it wants some non-acidic bland food in the mix. I got through the day but it was an odd collection of food – mostly rye crispbread with ricotta, and a small banana.
On the NFDs I don’t have the nausea but the abdominal discomfort and bloating has been very persistent. I’m still trying to get my head around the doctor saying it could take up to 2 months to stop. Clearly patience isn’t one of my virtues!
Hello all. Reading, but not posting at the moment, except to say I’m here Thin (and LJ) and thank you for thinking of me and checking in on to see how I’m going.
My OH is doing it tough at the moment. He only has sight in one eye, and the drain inserted years ago to control his glaucoma has failed, and his sight is worsening. The specialist will operate Thursday week to try to free the scar tissue. So it’s a mixed bag – on the one hand, we’re relieved because something can be attempted, but on the other, operating on his only sighted eye is fraught.
In the meantime, my routine is shot to pieces (compounded because I am kitchenless …. we had our concrete benches resealed and because they’ve been taken right back, it will take a week for the sealant to cure thoroughly) although I am not really going too far off the straight and narrow. I’m a bit surprised actually…usually my normal reaction to worry is to open the fridge door, but that’s not happening this this time.
Good wishes all, and a special thought if you or your family members are not well.
(Cinque got my beautiful little girls’ scarves from RosieCheeks. I’m absolutely thrilled with them. So beautifully crafted, and such a joy to have something handmade).
So sorry, Lindsay. What an anxious wait you both have. Thanks for keeping us posted, it’s appreciated but of course not required. If you do feel like reaching into the fridge in the coming days, pop on here and say hello instead. Best wishes for Mr L. and, of course, you.
LJ, perhaps you will have to modify your 5:2 regime to something more resembling the blood sugar diet for the period it takes your system to recover from that procedure?
I rose at 6am so it’s quite a long stretch to my first feeding today. I’m doing OK although I miss my fasting buddies. It’s a new month tomorrow so here’s to good health for everyone.
Thank you Cate, LJ and Thin. I’m not sure I’ll be posting much, but I’ll certainly be reading and may jump on from time to time. I need to get back into my routine – I think it makes time more manageable. So, Wed and Friday fast for me this week, and mindful eating the others. Hope the new month brings new successes for you all. x
Thin, thanks for the suggestion. I think I’ll try the modified FD (800cal) this week, although I may do 3 of them. Because I seem to need starchy grain foods to settle my stomach I’m struggling to stay within 500cal. I’m also finding that bananas are the only fruit I can eat at present.
But I think I’ll gain weight with just 2 x 800cal days. So I’m thinking tomorrow, Wens and Sat. Saturday will be a good day to fast as I’m making 5 dozen mini-cheesecakes for Sunday’s wedding reception. (It will stop me eating the mixture).
I’ll see how I feel after doing an 800 day Mon & Wens to see whether they feel too close together. Hopefully 800cal won’t feel restrictive the way my usual FDs do, which should mean I don’t have my usual mental rebellion at doing more than 2 in a week.
Good morning,
I was quiet because I was ill yesterday. It made it a very easy Fast Day, I couldn’t even face milk in tea.
I have had a little bit of milk in tea this morning so getting back to normal, but not quite up to facing coffee yet.
Lindsay, I am so glad you posted, and so sorry that things are difficult at the moment. Sending all my best wishes that things go really well for Mr Lindsay’s eye operation. I’ll light a candle Thursday week (that’s sure to help 😉 ) (Well, it does mean there will be a steady stream of good wishes coming from me).
Good luck managing without a kitchen What a hassle! But it will be wonderful when it is done.
Congratulations for avoiding that ‘eating the fridge’ response to stress.
And I am so glad you love the scarves!
Cate, isn’t it nice to be comfortable in your way of eating. I think that is my favourite thing about 5:2. I am still learning and adjusting towards healthy eating, but 5:2 gives me a structure that works and will keep working. Such a blessed relief!
Aren’t you lucky to have seen and met Bill Bailey, he is such a good and funny and interesting man!
Black Books is my favourite comedy series ever.
I’m one who needs a water bottle by my side. I seem to need more water than most people, and if I am not having enough I start to feel hungry instead. 🙁
LJoyce, 800 a day is so sensible, and easier to do three in a week if you need to. Sending best wishes.
Best wishes to your dear aunt and uncle.
Hi Cali and Crickets. Cali, good luck with your vegan trend. I bet getting the cheese the consistency you want will just need the amount of agar agar adjusted. You don’t want to put too much in so adjusting it slowly upward will be the trick. (Not that I have any experience of it in Vegan cheese but I was making lovely Asian-style jellies with it before I stopped having sugar).
Thin you are so right.
I love that there are people here who range in all aspects of 5:2. It might be bewildering for people looking for ‘the’ right way to do it, but when someone who needs to count calories rigidly finds that Thin does too, or someone who hasn’t got scales in the house finds that I haven’t either, whether it is avoiding carbs, going Vegan or Paleo, or making no changes apart from Fast Day calories, it is such a relief to find there is someone here who needs the same restriction or laxity. I think that is why this thread works so well, with lots of people posting about our varying experience with 5:2.
Your Grand Final day epic walk sounds just gorgeous, and congrats to WA on the win.
Anzac, I hope you had a lovely long weekend. Teenage dog. He must keep you on your toes!
I find Fast Days are mostly effortless, sometimes they aren’t, but then sometimes the Non Fast Days are the very opposite of effortless too!
Cheers everyone, best wishes for a particularly lovely day, or if that is too much to ask at the moment, at least not a horrible one!
Hi Southern Hemispherites!
It’s 1 October already. So much for me being around a lot in September! I feel sheepish for have even signed up for the September Challenge over in that other thread. While AWOL here I hardly checked in with challenge group either. I was so enthusiastic that first week of September, though work, commitments and flurries lead me elsewhere.
Some distractions have been the books I’d checked out of the library that I’ve been continuing to read. I mentioned I was reading Dr. V’s ‘The Every Other Day Diet’. I’m ready to return it to the library! There’s some excellent info in the book though I realize it does irk me a bit that Dr. V indicates that she didn’t appreciate Dr. M watering down her fasting diet that is the only one proven by science and follows this with a case study of someone who was a 5:2 failure but an Every Other Day Diet success! Interesting that Dr. V charges $10.80 per week to receive the type of support Dr. M so generously offers here for free! A blurb on the back cover of Dr. V’s book also keeps jumping out at me; ‘No deprivation: Calories are restricted on the Diet Day but on Feast Day you can eat whatever you want and as much as you want.’ Even though I’m not practicing her method, not sure that statement supports my attempt at more mindful eating on NFDs!
Aside from Dr. V’s book I also recently I finished a book entitled:
703: How I lost More Than a Quarter Ton and Gained a Life
…written by a woman named Nancy Makin who had become morbidly obese as a young adult. Reading her story, it wasn’t a surprise that her early years were dogged by repeated episodes of trauma and she admits that both food and alcohol were default methods of blocking out/dealing with. As result Nancy piled on weight to the point of morphing into a size that began attracting a relentless plethora of derisive comments from random and complete strangers she would encounter in public; walking down the street, in a supermarket (for example other shoppers would peer into her trolley and criticize her for purchasing certain food), etc. Hence,it became too difficult and shameful to leave her home. She ended up living the life of a recluse and only left her home once or twice in over a decade. The reclusive state started out as a choice and later a necessity as her size prevented her from walking more than a few steps at a time and then once outside was unable to fit into a car seat, etc. One landlord evicted her from premises because he lived downstairs and was sure she would fall through the floor.
At her peak, Nancy weighed in at 703 pounds. Why I chose to read Nancy’s story is that she didn’t follow any diet, protocol or planned method during the shed of the 530 pounds which eventually lead her to return to average size and shape. This alone interested me! Instead her story is about how even in her extremely reclusive state she pretty much stumbled upon a way of filling her inner void with more meaningful engagement than with food. In other words, she shed the 530 pounds all without relying on willpower, regimes, plans and diets.
If you want to have a peek at Nancy and hear a snippet of her story, below is a link to a Youtube interview between Nancy and Oprah from 2007:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k9_vMp34LQ
I also spent a fair bit of time following up to see how Nancy is faring in 2018. I found pages and pages of Google references to Nancy, and saw that she maintained her slimmer profile for at least 5 years. I see multiple references to speaking tours, her plans to write a second book (which apparently never eventuated), interviews and then in 2012 nothing more. I thought she may have passed away, though further research does not indicate. I’m left wondering if perhaps Nancy may have ultimately re-gained some or all of the weight, possibly enough to see her return to her reclusive state? I hope this isn’t the case. If by chance, might be so, this underscores my own experience which is that though inspiration and inner growth have been essential ingredients for having maintained my own healthy weight. However, for me in particular, relying solely on these would have seen me regain my weight long ago, since life intervenes with challenges and diversions which pull me away from my own deepest purposes. Also, I realize the pressure of having pulled off an unexpected feat as did Nancy, would have left her somewhat alone and without the type of support that I feel in this forum. The support I receive here has been an essential ingredient in having practiced 5:2 for this past 2 1/2 years, even if I only currently read and post randomly. Thank you Dr. M and fellow Southern Hemispherites!
Hi Minka,
Lovely to read your catch up, although I can’t help but be a little it worried about Nancy Makin. I do hope she is living a nice healthy life somewhere.
I also think that it is a pity Dr V felt resentful of Dr Mosley. I do think ADF wouldn’t work for me, and am very glad Dr M made it 5:2.
Good luck with that hectic life of yours!
Hi everyone.
So glad it’s the start of a new month. Planning on being more accountable and kinder to myself this month!
Thank you to all of those who posted me some lovely comments. Currently using my phone, so hesitate to backtrack to each of you in case I lose this post.
My OH continues to do really well – we both can’t believe the change in his health status since his procedure – a very large weight has been lifted from both our shoulders: it’s not easy to live with the thought of a stroke or heart attack at any moment in time. Hopefully this is now all behind us!
Today is my first anniversary with 5:2 and I’m so happy with my overall health – more active, enjoy life, improved overall outlook, and of course, 9kg weight loss. Might not sound like much, but I’m so glad to be where I am now, with the help of 5:2 and all of you, than where I was 12 months ago!
I hope all those having problems in life, get a break real soon.
Must go! Enjoy whatever you are getting up to and bye for now xx
Good Morning SHers
I had retina eye surgery four days ago. I was hoping it would just be a quick little outpatient thing, but my whole body decided to react a bit more. Fortunately each day I’m recovering, still sleeping a lot. Beforehand I had made two soup recipes and those have helped me eat healthy. My OH is such a dear helper with everything, doing his usual chores, my chores, and my after-care; so thankful for him. Today I am starting to feel better. This morning I am up, having coffee, moving around, reading this blog. To keep from being bored, I’m trying to think of indoor things I can do that do not require a lot of motion, bending, extensive use of vision, etc. I am doing a bit of reading on this blog. I plan to read this in a couple sittings until I start to tire out, so I might post a couple times. Actually, that is all for now.
Hi everyone
Lindsay I hope you and your OH are ok
Rainbow good to hear from you, hope you feel even better today
LJ hope you are getting well too
Cinque hope you are better too and back to you normal self today
If anyone else is feeling unwell or has family members who are unwell, I hope things start to improve for you all. I am sorry if I have missed anyone
Arel 9kg is a lot! Well done! I realised that I have been doing 5:2 for over a year (on and off) and at one stage a little voice in my head said something like “you should have lost more weight by now, you haven’t lost that much” I had to slap that voice down! I am happy to be where I am too. I could have put on a few more kgs by now instead of losing so much. (Do you know that auto correct changed kgs to kegs!) lol
The support and encouragement and friendship in here is amazing. I don’t think I could have done it without all of you. Thank you x
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Michael is touring Australia this September! Here's a link to dates and tickets. Hope to see you there.
Michael Mosley gives an update for 2019, current research in the field and announces a tour starting in February.
Michael looks at the Horizon special, "What's the Right Diet for You" and tells us which diet they say is best for him.
in Welcome to The Fast Diet and Exercise forums • updated 2 hours, 4 minutes ago by Merryapple
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in Welcome to The Fast Diet and Exercise forums • updated 17 hours, 11 minutes ago by thinatlast
10:30 am
26 Sep 18