CalifD, it seems so funny that you have a copy of my book – and one that I signed for someone else! I did once sell through Amazon but the postage became problematic. Too bad about the chocolate after a good FD. But at least you had 600gm in the bank. I’ve never heard the name cilantro here which is why it was hard to find at first.

GDSA, I love crispy salmon too.

Anzac, well done for resisting all lunch temptation and sailing through the FD. Mine was easy too. I had leftovers from Sunday’s fast – Mexican chicken soup.

LJ, in which direction do you think will head for that road trip to meet the other losers? I say west!

Hello to anyone else on the previous page, I’ve already forgotten what else I read.

Good morning from cool fresh Melbourne (cold rain and thunderstorms on the way, but not quite that intense spiral of weather you got yesterday SAians!
Hopefully that wasn’t our rain magic for Cali going rogue, and fingers crossed that California has now had hours and hours of good soaking rain.

Anzac, I am so glad your ‘lunch and learn’ session went well with you just skipping their lunch bit.

Thanks peeps, for the grandkids advice, you are right. I will just tell them about my clever friend who can decorate biscuits and then surprise them with them when they can actually eat them.

Gday, congrats on another half kg gone. I hadn’t heard of Kate Harrison, but she has certainly written lots of 5:2 recipe books! I’ll be interested to hear
what you get out of her book.

I was talking to family about that ‘eat everything on your plate’ issue and said how I made sure I didn’t instil that into my daughter, but then how irritated I was when food got wasted. Big laughs and she was able to assure me that she is just the same with her children. And then ofcourse the conversation turned to the importance of good planning. What can we do but keep trying! (And have a compost bin).

I am do glad the sorrel soup recipe worked (eventually) LJoyce. I must buy sorrel again, I miss it.

Cali, cilantro is the Spanish word for coriander, which is why you have the word and we don’t.
I hope you a) enjoyed your chocolate binge and b) that you have recovered from it.

Fast day for me today, and I have already had two pots of coffee. Better settle down and roll with the hunger grumbles. Shiitake and yuba are soaking for my miso soup tonight, and I have some lovely green beans to add too.

Best wishes to everyone else fasting, or not fasting!

Hi all. Absolutely no chance of my FD going ahead today. Going to the pub across the road from my work to have lunch with a former work colleague and tonight im making sausage rolls for tea. OH and MissD have been wanting sausage rolls for weeks now so I finally gave in – my thinking was I might as well blow the healthy eating routine in one day rather than spreading it out….lol.

Thin I suspect the reduction in alcohol intake has been the main driver of my weight finally heading downwards after all this time. At my request OH stopped bringing home a bottle of red each night a little while back but that was replaced when our local pub re-opened after it went into liquidation quite a few months ago. OH became quite attracted to the discounted pints of beer for Happy Hour and we found ourselves going to the pub every night between 5 and 6 pm. So I put a stop to that and now we go down once a week on a Friday night for an end of week treat.

10am, Thursday, in a still wet and windy Adelaide.
Good morning all.

I had a mostly sleepless night from the sound of high winds and the incessant rattling and clanging – from loose colourbond sheets on peoples fences, rooves and garages. At least I wasn’t worried about a huge tree falling on my house – a constant concern during storms when I lived in the hills.

Cinque, good luck with the FD, not that I think you’ll need it.

Cali, I took photos of all the dicing attachments for you to see how it works: https://imgur.com/a/jccW0Zi There is a disk which has a sharp metal grid within it. Then a separate cutting blade that sits on top. There is also a gadget for getting the bits of veg that remain in the grid out – otherwise it would be difficult to clean without causing damage.

Thin, glad you got to walk this morning – I’m still trying to find a long enough break in the rain (I want to see some blue sky before I risk it – nothing but grey so far). Hope you have another bridge win.
I wish I had a gadget to do those tricks – I am still considering a robot vacuum cleaner. I just wish I’d thought of it before I spent all that money on the dyson. I’m finding it hard to justify the cost at present.

GDSA, I agree that getting rid of some of the empty calories from alcohol should help your weight. Enjoy the lunch, the company and the sausage rolls!

Another controlled NFD today. Yesterday’s NFD had a few wobbles, but nothing serious – 3 rice crackers with a little peanut butter. For me, there is definitely a link between feeling cold and wanting to eat.
I’m babysitting again tonight so I don’t know what dinner will be. Rather than trying to eat dinner here at 3:30 or 9:30 (neither of which suit me) I’ll just have a small portion of dinner with the kids. I’m planning a mug of sorrel soup with a piece of rye toast for lunch and tsadziki with veggies as an afternoon snack.

Just back from an hour of walking. Every street showed signs of storm damage.
No wonder I heard so much clattering of metal through the night, the house 3 doors down to the south lost half of its galvanised metal fence – sheets strewn all over the place – that I picked up and threw back onto their property so I could use the footpath. The house 3 doors to the north also lost 3 sheets of colourbond from their fence – they had collected it and neatly stacked it on their property themselves. There were a couple trees down and lots of tree limbs, especially from the gum trees. Quite a few upended wheely bins, material from building sites. Oh and a letter box, which I returned to the brick fence that it had clearly blown off of.

Anzac, that’s a fabulous FD weight loss.
I also have noticed a lot differences in the names of food in American and British recipes. Mostly from my cookbooks, but also the cooking shows on tv.
I remember trying to figure how much a stick of butter was – what sort of measurement is that! Ounces I can convert, sticks, not so easy. With a bit of research, I eventually figured out than in the US a one pound block of butter is cut into 4 pieces before they package it.

Time to heat up some soup for lunch.

I forgot to mention I re-calculated my TDEE last night and got a bit of a shock. Maintenance TDEE was 1650 and for weight loss it was 1150. Time for a major rethink of my daily intake. No wonder I’ve struggled to get my weight back to my goal weight of 63kg.

Hey Thin, that wasn’t a rant. It was an honest and open discussion about something we all seem to share to varying degrees. It’s nice to know you understand how that felt way back then and even now in my memories. I adored my Mum, no issues there, it was just her attitude to food. I know where it stemmed from too. She was a fussy eater and her parents sent her to boarding school to get over it and by the time she got back she would eat anything as they were constantly hungry at the school.

That’s interesting about your recalculated TDEE Gday. Glad you are on the downward slope now 🙂

Must go and get on with dinner; I’m doing oven baked crumbed chicken. I’ve crumbed the chicken and just need to make a nice big salad and a dressing.

Have a lovely evening all.

Thin, I think that’s called “sausages a l’orange” 😀

Anzac, dinner sound lovely, enjoy.
Like the rest of you I feel impelled to eat everything on my plate and stress over wasted food.

GDSA, good thing you thought to redo your TDEE. Hope it makes a difference

Good morning everyone

Third day off in a row and second day of very strong winds. So happy we are not camping. My boss actually texted and called me yesterday to check how we were going and he was glad when I told him we were not camping as this weather had been forecast.

I haven’t done another FD this week as I just can’t seem to succeed with them when I am home, so I thought why set myself up for a failure. I have been really careful with how much I have eaten though and of course nice fresh healthy food. So far so good.
The last two days I weighed exactly the same at 67.9kg – I thought I must have Gday’s scale problem from last week, where she thought her scales had broken. Then today’s weight is down 400g. I’m really surprised by this and am hoping it at least stays the same tomorrow.

Well I’m off to go fruit and veggie shopping this morning. We have tonnes of kale in the garden at the moment so I think it’s time to use up that filo pastry. OH is going to pull all our garlic out this weekend so I need to get out there and take a photo to show you all. I haven’t forgotten see? Lol

Hope you all have a lovely day x

Cinque, glad you’re savouring your post-FD while the wind howls around you outside. I saw that dust storm on TV last night. Thanks for asking, DD is still studying morning, noon and night. She doesn’t finish until 21 December. Because the uni changed her course from 6 to 5 years after they were two years into it, they’ve had virtually no breaks during the final two years. Last Christmas, they had four days off. The only reason she has two weeks’ study time now is because she managed to fit in all of her required practical work early. She has a two week surgery rotation coming up, then the finals.

CalifD, DD dissects the chicken on her own plate and starts naming arteries, etc. It’s disgusting but I’m used to it now. Did you have a good day at your OH’s niece’s place? I have no qualms about using ‘doggie bags’. It embarrasses some people but surely it’s more embarrassing to be greedy and wasteful. I think I’ve mentioned other friends who like to order starters, mains and desserts but never finish it. Not only do we have pay half for their excesses, I have to watch the food returned to the kitchen. Irritating. My parents used to cite starving children in Biafra. I must look that up as I’m usually pretty good with African nation geography but don’t know what that’s now named. My little smarty pants reply used to be, “will they not be starving if I eat this cabbage?”.

On another thread someone wrote that food is ‘better in the bin than on your hips’. That one doesn’t work for me.

Quacka, you’re doing well with your weight and healthy eating. Is your OH a teacher?

LJ, that makes it sound much better.

Have a great day losers and maintainers!

Footnote: Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a secessionist state in West Africa which existed from 30 May 1967 to January 1970. Now I realise that I’ve looked up this before because I remember it made no sense time wise. I was 11 in 1967 and I don’t think my dad would have been trying that line on an 11 year old. Or would he?

Morning all. Coming to the end of our week on the island and it will be hard to go home tomorrow. Our internet here is quite difficult (probably my IT skills) but I’ve been reading though not posting.
So I will go to the top of the page only, and post before I lose it.
OH is doing well – he’s in good spirits and we are having lots of good walks on the beach, and he can stride out, confident he won’t trip over anything. The improvement in his sight is marginal, but he does have some, for which we are heartily thankful. Back to the doctor Tuesday.
It’s been a good week for wildlife. The little ones were out on the road last Saturday, riding their bikes, when from the verandah I heard them shout…they’d spotted a koala with a little one on its back, walking through the bush and then climbing a tree (the parents were with the junior bike riders and our street is a quiet cut de sac I should say). I’ll have a go at saving and posting the pic.
Then on Wednesday we were walking home from the park at the end of the road (which looks out over the sea) and spotted 3 kangaroos in the garden of the house on the corner. First time we’d seen them there.
Penguin I’ve yet to set up my native bee hive, but I’m pretty excited about it. A hive will only produce about a kilo of honey a year, but they are great for cross pollination (and of course also very entertaining and educational for adults and children alike).

Now I am going to post this and come back for a second shot, in case the Internet drops out.

11:50am Friday, Adelaide

Lindsay, lovely to hear that you are having a good time on the island and that your husband’s sight continues to improve.

Anzac, hope the family get together is lots of fun. I hope you get some reasonable weather for it. Enjoy a cuddle with the baby – she won’t stay that small for long.

Thin, sorry I put the kibosh on your winning streak at bridge.
When I was young, a specific country was never specified when it came to hungry children – just Africa.

Cali, hope you are having a lovely thanksgiving. Enjoy your family time.

Cinque, glad you got through your FD, I’m fasting today.
If you still have those plastic chairs over your veggie patch you might need to keep an eye on them with the windy weather.

Quacka, I too think it was a good idea you didn’t go camping. I suspect the tent may have blown away if you had. Enjoy your days at home.
I think kale and cheese in filo sounds lovely.

The weather is still quite cool, but thankfully the strong winds have calmed down and the only rain was through the night. Lovely gardening weather as the rain has softened up the ground a bit.

I have painters here at present doing some tough ups – mostly caused by other repairs that were done. This is the last job organised by the builder. From now on any repairs I need I have to pay for myself.

I got up early and did the shopping. I’m planning a luscious brunch menu for Sunday morning. I’ll post a photo once it’s all baked and laid out, if the Sunday fasters don’t object.

Have a good day everyone.

9:30am, Saturday, Adelaide
Good morning all, hope you have some lovely weekend plans.

Cinque, good morning. I too have had to raid the winter clothes that I’d just packed away. There’s another week of this weather forecast.
I thought of you Thursday night when I was babysitting. My nephew has a cat that has decided it likes curling up in my lap. Every time I sit down it jump on, curls up and starts purring. It reminds me of your description of Miso. I must give more thought to getting a cat. Enjoy your zen coffee.

Cali, is it Black Friday over your way – are you buying up Amazon?

Today, in addition to a bit of cleaning, I plan to start the baking for tomorrow. Today I’m making veggie & feta pasties and a lumberjack cake (date & apple cake with a coconut and maple syrup topping). I’ll also get the filling ready for an Austrian cherry cheese strudel and grate the cheese for the welsh rarebit. Tomorrow morning I just need to add finish off the welsh rarebit and pop it under the grill (I like Jennifer Paterson’s recipe) and roll up the strudel and bake it.
My plans for tomorrow have expanded. There should be 7 people arriving for family brunch at 10am (aunt, cousins etc). My best friend and her husband will be here shortly after my family brunch ends. We are walking over to the cinema complex for a 1pm session of the Fabulous Beasts movie. Then back to my place for afternoon tea. Hence the large amount of food I’m making. My best friend’s ancestry is Austrian and she adores cherry-cheese strudel – got quite excited when I said I was making it. I don’t think there will be trouble getting rid of leftovers – that’s not a bad thing.

Today is the end of my week of 2 FDs and 5 controlled days. I knew I had gained some water weight and I lost that quickly. Over the week I lost 2.5kg (I suspect 0.5kg was the true weight gain and the rest was extra fluid.) It puts me right on 75kg, which is at the top of my preferred weight range. I plan to do another similar week soon. Not this coming week as I can’t see myself forgoing all the baked goodies on Sunday. I also don’t want to tackle another week like this while it’s cold – it really does make it more difficult. I’ll do the next one first week in December. I can just squeeze it in before the planned Christmas events start.
The thing that has been most useful with the approach I took this week, is that it proves to me that I don’t need to do more than 5:2 to get a recent weight gain off, providing I am careful on the NFDs and stay away from discretionary foods for the week it’s enough to get my weight down again. I always used to have a tendency to add more FDs and it had the unfortunate effect of making my eaten even more uncontrolled on NFDs. The approach I tried this week has left me feeling a lot more controlled. Over December I plan to do two of my NFDs as controlled days. I suspect this will be enough to counteract the additional feasting.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Morning all, from beautiful Stradbroke Island, where it is sunny and heading for 29 degrees, and we’ve been awake since 4am with koalas engaging in either procreation or recreation, or perhaps both, simultaneously. Whatever, I don’t begrudge them…I just wish they would either start later, or tone it down. The curlews started even earlier. Honestly, if visitors didn’t know about the wildlife, they would spend the night quaking in their beds, thinking there be ghosts about.
LJ nice to get all the little last bits finished. Is this the last of it?
Good that you are making 5:2 work so well.
I have been mindfully eating, but no FDs this week. B2b next week…I’m at work Tuesday and Wednesday. My weight is stable, which on holiday is okay, I think.
Cinque that’s just crazy, winter dressing gown just a week out from summer. And you too LJ? Odd weather all over, I think.
Cinque, will you have a different government by day’s end, do you think?
Thin we travel around an hour across town, then 45 minutes over on the car ferry. Once we get on that boat, all care just fades away. I was pooped when we got here….OH can’t lift anything, so I got to pack and unpack the car, including a 15 bottle carton of wine (and put 40 kilos of salt in the pool before we left) and other heavy stuff, but am now feeling tip top. And no, I don’t think we would retire here. We are very close to the kids and their little ones, and they come to us, or us to them, often. I’d miss that. But the plan is to spend more time here as I scale back work.
Ok off for a final swim and a gelato. Last day of holidays…I think I’m allowed :-). I’ll make up next week.
Happy day all.

Hi everyone

It’s Saturday afternoon and thankfully the wind has dropped right off. It’s been breezy and cool today but such a welcome relief from the last two days. I went out in the garden early today and watered it all as it was so so dry. The wind had sucked all the moisture out and it took me about an hour to water! I had the hose on a slow stream just to let it all soak in.

OH pulled some garlic today but not all of it was ready. He has decided to leave it a bit longer and maybe try again next weekend. I took a photo and I will post it later when I get back on my phone.

While I was out watering I picked a tonne of kale ( another photo) and using only about half of it I made some kale and ricotta triangles. Remember it is my first time using filo! They also had some bacon and Fetta, onion and garlic and lots of mint from the garden. We are having them for dinner tonight. I have a photo of them too but the folding is a shocker! We are having Christmas here this year and I have asked Mum if she will show me how to fold them. I sent a photo to her and also my sister and my sister has already asked me to make them for Christmas!

thin, u asked if my OH is a teacher. No he is a foreman for an earthmoving company, meaning he runs jobs like subdivisions. I guess he is a teacher in a way but not at school!

Lindsay, your description of the island made me think of Raymond Island. We visited there when we were in Victoria a couple of years ago. There are koalas everywhere there but still in their natural state. Lovely to hear you both are enjoying yourself and your OH could feel free to stride it out on the beach. I bet he felt so good afterwards.

Anzac, I hope your family weekend is going well. The food sounds really amazing.

LJ, can I become part of your family? You seem to host your family often and the food always sounds awesome! Hope you have fun

Hi Cinque. It was a hugely different concept for me also when I first visited a Sizzler restaurant. Actually before that we went to a Chinese smorgasbord, once and only once.

So I think I have mentioned before that I am from a Greek background. Food is the most important thing we can do for our families, the crux of all our get togethers. We make tonnes of food and we eat tonnes of food. One example is Christmas lunch a few years ago. Mum cooked 7 legs of lamb, I’m not kidding. Also there was a very large dining table full of food including lamb and about six other meats, seafood, salads, veggies, pastries and much much more. No one could eat at that table because there was no room. Of course it was not all eaten but the leftover food was sent home with everyone.
My whole point is that although a restaurant smorgasbord was new to us, having tonnes of food to choose from is not. You have to remember that all this food my family makes is absolutely amazing and I admit I overeat whenever I am there. I have not been to one since starting 5:2 so maybe things would be different now. I don’t know.

Well I have waffled on enough.

But wait. Something weird is happening. My scales were down another 100g today. I haven’t fasted since Monday. When I saw that reading today I didn’t get off and on again like I do when it is higher than I expect! Lol. When it is too high I recheck it at least 3 times hahahahaha.

Hope you are all well and enjoying yourselves x

I just finished catching up on reading everyone’s posts. We had a power failure for several hours last night for some, as yet, unknown reason. I was really worried that it wouldn’t be back on this morning and we have a couple of friends coming here at 2:00 for a second Thanksgiving meal. Luckily all is back to normal and I had prepared a couple of the dishes last night before it happened. The turkey is in the oven and is just beginning to smell good. Our actual Thursday Thanksgiving at our neice’s house was very nice. There were 9 of us there including her 3 adult children and one of their girlfriends. There will just be 5 of us today with lots of planned leftovers.

LJ, I thought that cheese was some type of pasta coming out of the grinder. My food processor does an ok job on hard cheeses, but turns softer ones into a mucky glob. The processor looks so nice on your counter. I just love the color.

Quacka, Greek food is one of my favorites. But my OH isn’t fond of lamb although he’ll eat it with enough herbs mixed in. My dad never liked it either. I think its the gamey flavor. It isn’t as common in restaurants here asother meats, but usually the nicer ones have it. So it’s always been a treat for me. Rack of lamb with mint jelly or stuffed into grape leaves with rice and lemon are a couple favorites.

Thin, congrats on getting into the 58’s again. I was 60.5 after yesterday’s FD. Clearly too much feasting with the holiday. I know with 5:2 it’ll come off again. I will need to pace myself with those leftovers.

We’ve had 3 days of rain and the fire north of here has burned 153,336 acres but is 95% contained. The part that is still burning is in deep terrain that is difficult to get to with the rain. 84 lives have been lost. 13,672 homes have been destroyed and 465 damaged. It the worst fire California has had. The rain is a blessing.

Well, time to get more food prepared and the table set. I hope everyone is having a nice morning.

Good morning everyone, another cold grey Melbourne morning. 9am.

Cali, so glad that rain got there and stayed so long, it would have added a lot of thanks giving this year, amongst the grieving. Enjoy your family, and fingers crossed all your food cooking goes to plan.

LJoyce, you are a hit with cats as well as with kids. Miso my cat has been very friendly and lap demanding in this cold spell.
You’ve got a good eating plan for the next few weeks. I am so glad the mincing works well, Kitchen Aid is living up to its excellent reputation.

Thin, it is interesting to think about what you wrote about the hoarder program you saw on Netflix. Like you I am horrified that perfectly good things aren’t used, especially when they could be given to people who would really appreciate them. But when I put the ‘my body is not a compost bin’ idea onto this situation, it becomes ‘my house is not a tip’ and I realise the same possessions are in the world, whether they are in their house, clogging it up, or in the tip, clogging it up. (fingers crossed they have the sort of tip that has a recycling centre).

Oh dear Lindsay, those koalas make a shocking noise when they are at it in the night!
And ha, not a different government here. Amazing results for Labor, including a 19 year old full-time student who might win a blue ribbon Liberal seat (Brighton!).
I am so glad that you and Mr L have had a wonderful island holiday. Just what you needed.

Quacka, if you had told us you have a Greek background, I missed it. What a wonderful food culture to inherit! And it plays a role in my YamDaisy project. I was talking to one of my daughter’s teachers we had got to know well. She was having a hard time with a terrible marriage breakup, the home she loved had been sold and she was very unhappy in a flat with her primary school age children. I was so sympathetic. I asked her about food because I know how hard those everyday things can be when you are in crisis, but she said, “Oh that’s fine, I just drive past my (Greek) mum’s home on the way home from work and she brings out the trays of food for our dinner.”
Well, I am ashamed to say my sympathy practically evaporated. I was so amazed and jealous of how lucky she was. I thought: everyone struggling needs a Greek Mum up the road. And that is what YamDaisy is based on.

But how on Earth is this your first time of using filo??????????
I bet those kale and cheese triangles were wonderful.

May your scales continue to be that sort of weird!

Well, lovely Sunday fast day for me! I like that it is so easy (just keep drinking water and cuppas Cinque) and so empty. Although I have plenty of things to do, good distractions and I’d better do the ones that need concentration first! Bye now.

Lindsay, I enjoyed your account of your last hours on the island. The wildlife there is truly wild. Hoping for continued improvement with OH’s sight.

Quacka, I wasn’t aware of your Greek background either. I have fond memories of Greece; a unique part of Europe. Do you speak Greek? Yes, it will be interesting to see whether you slip back into the cultural norm wrt copious supply of food on offer or if your fasting habits have changed your approach to it all. The food sounds lovely. As you know, we have sworn off lamb following DD’s abattoir experience but I enjoy other Greek delights. I asked about your OH because you’d mentioned not drinking on ‘school nights’. It sounds like your scales are being thoroughly cooperative.

The vine tomatoes that I planted from saved seeds are so delicious. They don’t make it into the house as the first to spot one eats it there and then. Our lizards were showing an interest the other day (they’re allowed to explore the full garden under supervision i.e. a human presence to make sure no cats come around) so I moved them on. One of the juveniles found an earth worm, that was the first time we’d ever seen them eat one. So disgusting to watch. It’s interesting how all four of them have their individual food preferences. Psycho loves scrambled eggs, Rocky & Gordon love snails and will take them out of each other’s mouths. Bennett loves slaters & salad.

CalifD, I hope all went well with your Thanksgiving Mark II. My foray into the 58s was short-lived but I haven’t seen 60kg for many weeks now so that is my new ‘trigger weight’.

Cinque, I guess it’s a question of supply and demand. If those toys had been re-cycled either by selling or donation, there would be less demand for new ones. Or so I would like to think. It was interesting how the mother became so much happier & less angry without all the clutter and the children began inventing games using packing boxes and plastic bags. I continue my downsizing efforts, ‘stuff’ goes out the door every week. I wonder if I will ever feel that I have achieved my goal. Twice in my life, I reduced all I owned to one backpack. But I was a lot younger then and hadn’t accumulated so much.

Anyway, I’m fasting with you today. I removed my FD rations from the freezer last night. It looked compact and white. Almond & coconut milk, cauliflower soup and chicken & leek casserole.

LJ, you’ll be enjoying your brunch about now. Hope it’s fun. Anzac, what about your family day?

Off to walk and get some laundry out before the forecast rain this afternoon.

P.S. GDSA, posts crossed. Wow, tenacious! I wouldn’t be motivated to do 3 FDs with a 1kg loss!

Good evening all

Thank you LJ! Just let me know what I can bring to the next family get together! Of course I will need lots of notice as it’s a few hours drive from here! Lol x

Sorry friends, I didn’t realise I hadn’t mentioned I have Greek heritage before my last post. Both my parents were born in Greece, I’m first generation Aussie.

Cinque I always use puff pastry. I really don’t know why. Yesterday’s filo pastry exercise was a lot of work but when I checked up on the calories…
Wth? One quarter sheet of puff pastry is 150 cal, one sheet of filo is 50 cal excluding oil spray (or butter, if you use that)
It is a huge difference. My only issue is, how could I just use only part of the filo pack. It’s quite a large amount to use at once. I guess I can freeze some ready made triangles or whatever I make.

Cinque, did ur friend mean her own mother? Or like a step in Mum? I know most Greeks would help someone out in need when it comes to food. Actually many other cultures would too, not just Greeks.

thin, yes I speak Greek. I understand it very well and can respond, but I don’t get to practice it really. Only when my parents, or other extended family, are around. Dad will speak to me in Greek but Mum will speak in English. It’s only if we dont want someone else to hear that she will speak Greek, or vice versa! Lol

I can’t take the Greek out of me regarding food. Christmas is at our house this year and I have been planning what we will eat for a while already. I still haven’t decided but there will be lots of food. I want everyone to be happy. We are having seafood so that is what I will eat ( low cal plus my fav foods are prawns and oysters, well sometimes anyway lol)
Also vegetarian foods as we have some vegetarians coming.
Does anyone have ideas of beautiful salads to serve with seafood?

thin, I don’t remember mentioning ‘school’ nights as alcohol free nights. It’s unusual for me to say that as we don’t have kids. If I did say it, what I meant was week day nights. I do recall someone else mentioning school nights, maybe Gday?
Anyway week nights I do try not to drink. Sometimes I succumb and have a beer, usually I am tough lol .

The scales caught up today. I was 68.0 kg from yesterday’s 67.4kg. Not worried as it’s FD tomorrow.

Ok must go help OH with dinner. Happy Sunday evening all xx

8pm Sunday night in Adelaide
Definitely a day of all the wrong (but delicious) foods. Thank heavens tomorrow’s a FD!

GDSA, glad to hear you finally got some rain up there – even if it is interfering with getting the washing dry. Good luck with 3 FDs this week. I hope spurs your weight loss along.
I really hope all your tradies show up on time. It would be nice for you to have it finished this year.

Quacka, thank you for the photos. That looks like a bumper crop of kale and garlic. The triangles look yummy. Filo triangles freeze well, especially if they are under-baked as they can then go back in the oven when thawed to warm up and finish browning. If the filo you used was refrigerated rather than frozen then the triangles can be frozen unbaked. When these are thawed and baked it tastes like you just made them.
Discussing Greek food has reminded me that I must make some yemista (or gemista – I’m never sure how to write it in English) with the lebanese zucchini I have growing – they’s be a perfect shape to stuff. It’s one of my favourite Greek dishes.
I’m joining you in a FD tomorrow, but unlike you I’m not game to weigh myself to see what damage I did today!
My family will also have a seafood lunch at christmas, as it’s what my sister’s family prefer. I’d actually prefer roast turkey as the only seafood I really like is octopus and squid and that’s never on offer – it’s always prawns and moreton bay bugs. I don’t get much of a say in the savouries, the desserts are always my domain and they are never plum pudding (nobody likes it). I make a fruit salad filled with special summer fruits like raspberries, cherries, and peaches. There’s always a pavlova – that really is a family christmas tradition, and one other dessert of my own choice.

The only salad I know that I think would work with seafood is a roasted cauliflower salad. I contains a head of cauliflower which is broken into very small florets and blanched in boiling water. The you drain it well, toss in lemon scented olive oil and garlic and roast until soft and golden in colour. Once it has cooled add some baby spinach leaves, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, dried currants and thick greek yoghurt. I never measure the various ingredients, I’m just generous with the things I like most and it always tastes nice.
I usually serve this with lamb but I think it would be nice with prawns.

Thin, you painted a vivid picture of your lizards’ antics. It’s a good thing that two of them didn’t fancy the earthworm or it would have been tug war time.

Cinque, my knee and hip joints are often quite hot and I suspect that makes my lap warmer than anyone else’s. I think that’s why my nephew’s cat seems to end up in my lap more than it’s own family.

Penguin, congratulations on the rugby win.

As to the damage done today. Not an EFS day, but not a healthy choice in sight. There was one positive. At morning tea I had a piece of everything – souffle rarebit, feta-veg pasties, cherry-cheese strudel, lumberjack cake and chocolate sponge (that my aunt bought). I felt fine until an hour later when I realise I felt queasy. I skipped lunch but when my friends arrived ready for afternoon tea I couldn’t face another round, so I had some iced tea and a sliver of the strudel while they hopped into the various treats. Dinner was not a healthy choice either it was a very small bowl of oven baked chips. While all of the food choices were poor the actual volume of food that I ate over the day was actually quite modest – it would have all fitted onto a single dinner plate. There was a time when starting the day with a morning tea like that, would have led to me grazing non-stop all day.
https://imgur.com/a/xW6KlPk This shows the pasties and lumberjack cake just out of the oven and what was left of the remaining items after we’d finished morning tea. I sent almost all of the leftovers home with others (just a few slices of cake tucked into my freezer for unexpected visitors).

Looking forward to a FD tomorrow. As the weather is remaining cool I might take some of the lentil soup out of the freezer for dinner.

LJ, your photos are also great, although Quacka’s were easier viewing on a FD! Sounds like you’ve had a big day. I will pass the fasting baton to you now. Lentil soup will be perfect for a cool day.

Hi everyone, I survived the manic weekend and am glad to be at work for a rest LOL. The family night went brilliantly and OH outdid himself with the menu. Quacka – we had a Mediterranean theme and mostly leaning towards Greek food! He did two slow-cooked lamb shoulders with red wine and lots of fresh herbs as well as two Portuguese chickens butterflied and cooked on the Barbie. I made an enormous Greek salad with my own dressing and we had baby red potatoes smashed and cooked in the oven. Lots of nibbles to start and my Sister bought two amazing desserts. I don’t normally have dessert but she made a Greek honey cake with her own sauce and I just had to have some!

It was so great to see my nephew who lives in the UK and meet his lovely girlfriend. She is from Melbourne and with great joy I heard them say they are going to work in the UK for one more year then come home to get married and have babies! They will locate to Melbourne but that’s ok, it is a heck of a lot closer than London. She cuddled my gorgeous little great-niece all night and you could tell she was besotted. I couldn’t go too close to anyone as I still have a bad head-cold. GAH

Yesterday was an eye-opener. I thought we were going for my great-niece’s christening but didn’t realise my niece and hubby moved from the Anglican church to Hillsong. So it was a ‘baby dedication’ ceremony. Now I firmly believe that everyone has the right to do anything, including worship, the way they want to, but this was not my cup of tea. It went for nearly two hours and the whole time they asked for money. IN JESUS NAME GIVE US ALL YOUR MONEY FRIENDS….I kid you not. All the happy-clappy stuff just doesn’t sit well with me. But again, it’s just my opinion. There is a government Royal Commission looking into this church’s activity which doesn’t surprise me. We were worried about leaving Maxx and no-one told us how long it would go for so as soon as it finished we scarpered home as it is an hours drive each way out to where they live. Maxx was fine, but now has a sick tummy probably because we left him with too many treats. GAH.

I ate a lot on the weekend, obviously, but I also skipped lunch both days to try and compensate. I was very surprised to be 200g down this morning but I’m not kidding myself as normally EFS’s catch up with me a day or two later

I am catching up on all of your lovely posts and will reply soon

Controlled NFD today and FD tomorrow

So glad you had a lovely trip to Melbourne and Canberra Intesha. The 3kg will be gone in no time. Glad you have some nice weather today to get your washing dry as there is a lot of rain coming to Sydney on Wednesday apparently.

Yes I do use the term ‘school night’ Thin, but not sure why. We aren’t teachers or anything but it’s just a saying I’ve adopted over time. Sorry you almost went mad looking for the culprit! But glad you had an uneventful FD and your chicken casserole sounds yum. I had a big giggle at your lizards’ names. Phycho – the lover of scrambled eggs! Rocky and Gordon the snail eaters and Bennet the salad lover. Too cute. Good luck with Bridge today

It was decided to have Christmas at our place this year which surprised me as it seems to be a chore to get the family to come all the way from Penrith/Blue Mountains to our place in Southern Sydney. But we were pleased because we love entertaining plus we have the pool in case it is a hot day. We will have some seafood, like yours LJ and Quacka, but I don’t eat any seafood so we will have lots of other choices. Not sure what yet

I love Greek food and culture Quacka. It has always fascinated me as I come from such a very different background. We were never that close with our extended family and I love the way Greek (and other nationalities) families have so many get-togethers and lots of happy, family time. Food was something to be tolerated as it was never tasty. These days OH and I cook amazing, flavoursome meals and all our friends and family comment on our abilities. It has taken years of practice but I’m so glad we did it…of course my weight suffered for it, but that will be a long-gone memory soon thanks to 5:2.

The only place in Greece that I have visited is Corfu. It was memorable because I was there with my English girlfriend and we were chatting to a group of Scottish blokes. I couldn’t understand a word they were saying because their accents were so broad. So I just nodded and smiled politely until my friend elbowed me in the ribs and hissed ‘you just agreed to go back to his room’. OOPS! I quickly said ‘no no thanks’ much to his disappointment. LOL

Glad your house repairs are finished LJ. Isn’t it a great feeling when it is all done? My family had not seen our indoor reno’s and were literally gobsmacked with what hubby has achieved.

Cali your Thanksgiving(s) sound lovely. Sorry to hear about the power failure, I hope nothing spoilt in your fridge/freezer. And 3 days of rain! Hooray! But still, the fires have done catastrophic damage sadly

Do you have a picture of Miso Cinque? How cute that he (she?) is attached to your lap in the cold weather. Glad your Sunday FD was a success and enjoy your post FD lightness today 

G’day, I’ve forgotten what a lie-in is like. Maxx is a very early riser and as he is still so young it is “EVERYBODY UUUUUUUUP” time when he is ready for the new day. We didn’t get to bed until close to midnight on Saturday night after the family get-together; but he only slept for an extra 30-40 minutes – so up at 5.45am, despite going to bed 3-4 hours later than normal. Sigh. HRH (His Royal Hairiness) can sleep during the day of course unlike us! Good luck with your three FD’s. I hoped to do the same but then realised as I have Friday off to go away it really isn’t possible. I’ll have very controlled NFD’s to try and compensate for the weekend away

Lindsay glad your island holiday was so lovely – except for the Koalas! To keep your weight stable on holiday is a huge achievement, well done.

We are off to the Hunter Valley with 5 close friends this weekend for another EFS weekend. Although this one will make last weekend look like two fasting days! I was just chatting to my friend who has just been through chemo and radiation about what we are all taking etc and I mentioned that I’ve lost weight on this new WOE. She and I have always suffered being overweight and while she has lost weight through chemo she said it was fast going back on. So I told her all about 5:2 and she is interested and we are going to discuss it more in detail on the weekend. I’ll take my book so she can flick through it too.

Better go and do some work! Have a great day all

Good Afternoon everyone

Monday FD for me today and so far so good. I have some home grown cucumber sticks and also some carrot sticks and a few cubes watermelon if I get hungry.

Intesha, good to hear you had a wonderful time away and thanks for mentioning the Rome exhibition. I had seen it advertised somewhere but I couldn’t remember where it was being held.

thin, three pages of posts! That would have been exhausting. Ha, your probably like me and it would have been niggling at you until you went back and found who it was 😉

Anzac and LJ, your weekend feasts sound amazing!

Wow, Anzac! I had heard of some churches that are like that but that is ridiculous. They should be disgusted and I am glad they are being investigated.

Lindsay, don’t get me started on tradesmen. I don’t know why they have to be so unreliable and then they often don’t have the courtesy to even let you know what is happening.
I had a few days off last week and as it was so windy I stayed at home with not much to do. I thought it a perfect opportunity to do some de-cluttering myself. My main issue was the big piles of recipe magazines, some free from the supermarkets and many bought ones. I used to buy every single food magazine out there. I think I was addicted to reading about food. I went through them and tore out recipes I wanted to keep and put them into display folders. Unfortunately I have filled up the ones I bought already so I either have to buy more or cull the recipe collection a bit more! I think I will leave it for a while and if I haven’t cooked anything from them in a couple months, I will cull them then. I must admit I am terrible at cooking from my recipes. I mainly use them for ideas and then I just make up my own. Even if I say that I will follow a recipe exactly, it is rare that I do, except in baking. I know how important it is to get measurements right in baking if you want things to turn out!

Anyway, hope everyone on a FD is having an easy one and hope all are having a pleasant one, either way. X

So many great issues to answer, loved the above posts! But just briefly as I only have 5 minutes:

Anzac, I first came across fasting, not as a means of weight loss but while researching treatments for breast cancer when my dear friend was diagnosed. I knew nothing about it and wanted to inform myself. By chance, I heard a Canadian doctor talking about his study in which the initial findings seemed to show that fasting was generating positive results for women with breast cancer in whom traditional therapies had failed. Cancer cells had traditionally been treated by either feeding or poisoning them. When the cancer cells were starved, they didn’t know how to react and essentially committed suicide.

The doctor I was listening to was cautioning against women ‘trying it at home’. However, word spread and, tiring of the side effects from chemo, etc, failing to improve and because fasting required no prescription and was free, women in more advanced stages who felt they had nothing else to lose were trying it – with anecdotally good results. There have also been studies showing that fasting can help reduce many of the unwanted side effects of traditional therapies, nausea, etc.

I’m not for one moment suggesting this for your friend. It was prolonged fasting, not 5:2 and those women felt they had nothing to lose. But the relationship between fasting and cancer might be worth looking into. I can’t recall the researcher’s name or find anything about that particular study but, if you or your friend would be interested, you could look up ‘The Longevity Diet’ by Valter Longo. Personally, I couldn’t finish his book as I find him irritating but he has spent some considerable time researching this and seems to be one of the leading authorities.