Hi guys, we are back after a lovely 2 days down south. It has been unusually cool in Perth but in Denmark , it was freezing ! We went out for dinner last night and the restaurant had a log fire in the middle of Summer! Denmark is a stunning town 4 and a bit hours south of Perth. There the winter rainfall is high, the trees are absolutely massive by Oz standards (not as huge as the giant redwoods of the US but massive nonetheless. ) Dairy farms , timber and vineyards are the main forms of agriculture. The town is situated where the river meets the ocean and the beaches are spectacular. You can feel yourself relaxing, chilling and unwinding and many health retreats are located there.
I have been tres naughty food and drink wise for the last 2 days but it has been fun ! What is it about those country bakeries ?
@ LJ and GDay and any other South Australian forumites, I feel for your suffering in the heat. Unfortunately you don’t receive our cooling ocean breezes from the west as you are up in a bay/bight.
I visited Niagara Falls many times when I worked / lived near Toronto for a year. It is so different in every season and you never get used to that thundering, awe inspiring , roar of water hurtling down. You can feel the spray from streets away !
Re my fractured wrist, it is day 4 post injury and it is Soooooo annoying! Even the simplest of tasks is problematic ! I have to see an orthopaedic trauma clinic on Jan 31st when they may take off the plaster and replace it with a removable plastic cast which I have to wear for 6 weeks! I can’t wait to wash my left hand properly !

I can’t believe the heat you are suffering LJ and all others in SA and Vic. What is happening to our planet? I’m on one other forum, for Labrador owners, and someone just posted a picture of their car dashboard when they got off the train in Adelaide and it was 51 degrees!

So glad you had a lovely time in Denmark Rosy (it feels funny typing that and it not being the Europe Denmark). I can only imagine how frustrating your wrist is.

LJ that brings back memories. My Grandmother supplemented her income by icing wedding cakes – marzipan, icing and fancy decorations she piped herself. I spent a lot of time watching and was eventually permitted to help. I can still ice an acceptable cake – applying icing and using cement or plastering a wall are very similar skills with similar tools. Only the scale is different. (although my grandchildren are more impressed by a cake than a neat piece of DIY).

I don’t like the sound of SH weather. The most uncomfortable I have ever been was in Hong Kong in August, living in the YMCA with no air con. In old money that was high 90s for both temperature and humidity.

@Thin , well done with your 59.4, what an exquisite number !

Yes the power was out all the way down south. We couldn’t even book into our accommodation but luckily it came back on at 6.00 pm. There was no eftpos or phone reception anywhere either. Makes you realise how dependent on technology we have all become !

Dr Mosley on ABC TV News Breakfast in a minute.

9am Friday, Adelaide

Good morning everyone. The cooler change came though overnight – we’re expecting temps in the 30s rather than 40s for the next few day. Unfortunately our relief comes as the expense of Victoria and Tassie. Those of you living there please take care today and stay cool as best you can.

GDSA I hope the change got to you too. I don’t know how you deal with the summer up there. One of the reasons I’d not consider moving back to the country area where I grew up is the hot summers. I hated them as a kid and haven’t gotten any fonder of the heat as I’ve aged.
Are you better now? You had some injuries a couple of weeks ago?

The heat over the last few days has shown me just how well insulated my new-build house is. It’s doesn’t heat up quickly and it’s easier to cool with the ducted aircon than I expected – although yesterday it struggled to get the temp down to the 24C that I’d set. Being outside yesterday (which I did only briefly) was horrific, but I was sensible and stayed inside my relatively cool house. I didn’t venture out for any length of time until evening to water the garden. My nephew suggested I come down for a swim in their pool yesterday afternoon, but I declined as I thought the drive home would lose any cooling benefit from the water.

Lindsay, I’m sorry you missed seeing snow, although it sounds like you had lots of other winter fun. I’m sure you’ll slip easily back into your previous eating regime now you are home.

Cinque, stay cool. You might have to share the bath tub with miso today if you need to properly cool down.

Intesha, I remember reading about the ban on bakers making icing in England during WW2. There a story I read about a town that had a 2 tiered “cake”, that was actually iced and decorated boxes that was rolled out for every wedding – it had a pre-cut slit for the knife to be inserted!

Rosy, I hope your arm improves soon – I think you said there were 2 breaks so it may take a bit of time.

Penguin, funny you should make that comparison. Before I sold my house I needed to render and plaster the window sill and wall above the kitchen sink. The trickiest bit was giving the sill a smooth rounded edge. I remember looking at it with trepidation and reminding myself that if I can ice a cake I can do this! As it turned out I think I did a pretty god job – I managed to get a few imperfections out with sandpaper once the plaster had dried – you can’t do that with icing!

I was meant to be having my infusion today, but the nurse rang yesterday afternoon to ask if she could come that evening – so she did the infusion from 5:30-7:30. It means I now have a free day. I plan to head to the gym and then do some grocery shopping. I have to bake two pavlovas tonight – I’ve been invited to two Australia day lunches and have promised both a pavlova. I’ll only go to one lunch but will call into the other one later in the afternoon.

Today is a FD for me.

Hi all, it’s late start for me after a horrendously insomniac night. I heard on the car radio yesterday about the record breaking temps in Adelaide and 14 other Aussie places. Meanwhile, I was wearing long pants and trying to stay warm during our second 22C day. Extraordinary, isn’t it?

Rosy, glad you had a good trip south, if rather cold. Hope your wrist is starting to feel better. Was it a Colles fracture?

Intesha, that’s so funny about your wedding cake. The cynic in me wants to say it was almost like a metaphor! That’s a bit rude though and I’m just kidding. I bet your mum loves receiving your biscuits and they probably transport her back to when she was making them.

Penguin, that’s funny!

Anzac, wow, well done, that’s determination for you. Sorry you have to leave the job you love but new doors have already opened with good prospects, so congratulations. Lots to look forward to.

Lindsay, all the best with getting back on track. Not that you’re very far off it, apparently. Yes, I’m down to 59.4kg and waiting for CalifD to tell me where she is.

You may recall my having told you how my uni friend and I were quite the groupies in the late 70s and 80s. We would dance on our front row seats and often had backstage passes to big name bands including Queen. I knew I had a good photo of Freddie Mercury which I’d packed away following a serious photo culling but, after seeing the movie, it was gnawing at me to retrieve it. So, here’s a treat for you, taken in Charlotte, NC in 1980:
https://imgur.com/a/v9RRVcN

And now it’s 8am and I must get going. I know I missed some people, sorry. All the best for your FD, LJ. Have a great day all.

Bit disappointed only 100g down after FD yesterday but overall down 1.4 since Monday.

Too hot to do much and with no a/c very draining.

Bonjour Anzac, ca via. Yes I can imagine you are excited about your vacation. Les Francais parlent tres vite.

I worked for a French company as Office Manger for a few years and all the top managers were French. Unfortunately it’s true what they say use it or lose it. I would love to become fluent.

Stay cool people.

Oh Thin, dear Thin. I’m a long way off. But I’m back on the horse (thank you Merry), so I’ll knock off this 2 kilos odd from my hols, then begin the long road home. A third brother arrives from Berlin on Wednesday but I’ll be back in the swing by then.
58.9 is only a dream – and actually, 65 is great for me. I’ll do it this year (I won’t say how far away it is … if I say it, it’s real).
And I’ve just opened the link – a treat indeed. And how amazing to actually be there. What a life you’ve had Thin.
LJ how great the new house is so comfortable. Often it’s not till extreme weather comes that it can be tested….so good it’s passed with flying colours.
Anzac sorry you’re having to leave your job – but great that you’ve found something else so soon. Hope you love the new job as much as the old.
And great news about the tests … great to see the numbers going your way.
OK off to do something productive. Stay cool *or warm* where ever you are.

Hi everyone. Sorry I’ve been incommunicado for a while. Our Best Man (and builder/bathroom renovator) is currently renovating Mama Kanga-Quacka’s bathroom and laundry, so we’ve spent the evenings catching up with him. Has been too long since we got to spend time together, as he and his wonderful wife live hours away. Not far from Quacka, actually. I’m not expecting a weight loss next week – good guests also mean good/special foods get prepared. I’m not strong enough in this 5:2 WOE yet to pretend the food doesn’t exist.

I’m very pleased to say my back injury has healed. I haven’t gotten back into the weights yet but I plan to start on Sunday again. I had a successful fast day earlier this week, planned to have another one today but woke up with a migraine. Couldn’t bear the thought of trying to fast whilst nauseous with a pounding head. Besides, needed to have food with the meds for it.

I’m very behind on various conversations and it’s a wee bit overwhelming trying to catch up and note everyone. I’ll just reply to a few comments, and hope you’ll all understand.

As for our national anthem; I’m so glad the idea some time ago of using Waltzing Matilda as our nation’s song was rejected. Can you imagine what the rest of the world might think if we proudly stood up and regaled them with tales of thieves and suicides? Also, perhaps Dorothea Mackellar’s “My Country” (the best known verse, at the very least) could be turned into an anthem. Nothing wrong with loving a sunburnt country and its sweeping plains! Also not divisive in its nature or referring to colonialism. I would proudly stand up and sing that one.

Intesha: It’s a beautiful drive over the mountain but can be a bit windy if you’re not used to it! You mentioned Mt Panorama – did you get to drive the track? Most of the year it’s open and anyone can drive the track. It’s only closed if there’s a big event happening. When you think about how fast those cars drive, and you see the crazy road and chicanes they drive on, it’s amazing half of them don’t die each race. I’m not a car racing fan, but have driven the track a couple of times.

Quacka: In this heat, you’d be best to stick with jam drops, choc chip, ginger or some other type of cookies that don’t need icing. Might even be better to go with cakes, muffins and slices for a bit. Oh, and I agree that the red dye shouldn’t have affected the flavour of the icing. It’ s possible that perhaps the egg or something else was past its best. How’s your toe, McQuack?

Cinque: I didn’t catch that clip with Dr Mosley. What were some of the tips he gave for not being so hungry on fast days? I’ve noticed if I eat bread in the evening the night before, I’m ravenous most of the fast day.

Rosy: Isn’t Niagara Falls impressive! I saw it in Winter once, with snow and icicles on either side, and the roar was deafening even then when the volume of water was far less than it would be in Summer. We had a balcony room to look at it whenever we wanted to from our hotel. At night the Canadians lit up the falls with massive flood lights in rainbow colours and white alternately so it was visible around the clock. During the day we walked down behind the falls, dodging the icicles hanging off the tunnels. Back up the top, the wind changed direction on us without warning and we got absolutely drenched with icy cold mist. Thankfully it was our last day when that happening, and our last visit to the falls, so we hopped back in the car for our return across the border with our car heaters blasting to warm us up. Great memories.

Gday: 52! That’s horrendous. The hottest I’ve experienced was 43 last week, and that was far too oppressive for me. I really feel for you guys down there!

Okay, that’s all from me. We’re off to our favourite Thai restaurant tonight, as we’ve just discovered it’s closed tomorrow night – rather unusually. Perhaps I might be able to make up today’s failed FD tomorrow.

What’s your favourite type of cuisine to eat when you dine out? And what’s your favourite meal of said cuisine? Mine’s Thai, and I love either their satay chicken and rice, or chicken pad thai. So good. (Sorry if you’re fasting today! Tomorrow you can indulge – stay strong!)

Anzac, your cryptics are lost on me this time unless jacki (welcome) is also your sister or the sister of someone already with us.

jackie, you will find, as many of us have, that you can lose bucketfuls of weight without doing much exercise at all. Many of us (like me) are ex-runners, there are also people with chronic illness and other issues preventing a lot of jumping up and down. I lost 23kg initially and only ever walk 5-12km (mostly the former!).

Kanga, just do the best you can while enjoying your friend’s company. In time, all this will become second nature and you won’t give fast days much thought. Like you, I have really struggled to keep up with the volume of posts in recent weeks. I used to know what was going on all the time with all the posters. Now I have to read just a few back and let the others go. It feels rude ignoring people, but I started spending hours trying to read and reply and just can’t afford that much time commitment just now.

Lindsay, how’s your OH coping at the moment? I always find it a little deflating returning from a holiday and I hope he’s doing alright back in reality. How nice that your brother will be coming soon.

LJ, only the husband next door is Irish. He is softly spoken. She is Scottish and very, very loud. Before they came here, they lived in England. The children already have Aussie accents. There’s a sort of boganish couple across the road with a swimming pool in the front garden. (When I mentioned this to my UK brother, he made me laugh by saying, “how common!”.) We get on fine with them but, having the pool in the front can make it noisy when she has her nieces’ children for the day i.e. one pool at the back of us, one at the side and one at the front. It’s not really an issue for us as it’s an occasional thing. But now, the great-nieces have apparently befriended the scrotes next door and they are running back and forth across the road taking turns where to swim and shriek. School starts on Tuesday, yippee!

I hadn’t been watching much of the news and didn’t realize til I read your posts here about the record breaking temps in the southeast. Gday, it’s hard to even imagine what 52 or 53 would feel like. It’s truly frightening that the climate is warming so much. I read about all the dead animals and the bats. Don’t bats eat a lot of bugs and stuff? I can’t imagine how even the bugs survive. I’m glad it’s cooling down so bushfires won’t be as big of a concern.

LJ, Good test for your air conditioning system in your new home. Now you know it works. It’s fun reading about all the cake decorating techniques. I used to watch a cake decorating show on the Cooking Channel where they did these extravagant cakes. They used a lot of fondant on that show. I can’t imagine actually cutting into some of those works of art.

Thin, congrats on hitting the 58’s today! Well done! I was 60.2 this morning and today was a FD, so I’m hoping to at least be well into the 59’s. I love that photo of Freddie Mercury. What an amazing shot, especially since you took it!

Jacki, welcome to the forum and 5:2. Very cool that you and Anzac are sisters. My sister has been doing 5:2 for about 6 months and is doing maintenance now. She dropped in here a couple times, but isn’t really into forums. She spends more time on Twitter. And of course we have Quacka and Kanga who are sisters. 5:2 is a great way to lose weight and keep it off. I’ve been continuing 5:2 for maintenance for over a year now and it’s second nature by now. I plan to continue indefinitely. It works.

Rosy and Kanga, I’ve never been to Niagra Falls and can’t imagine it frozen. This planet has certainly seen a lot of extremes in weather in recent years.

Anzac, great news about your blood tests. Keep up the good progress. And I hope your wrist starts feeling better soon. It’s too bad about having to leave a job you love, but good news that you found another so quickly. It sounds like a good opportunity.

Penguin, it’s good to see you back here more often these days. I love reading your posts.

Cinque and Betsy, stay cool 😎. It looks like one more really hot day there this week. I thought the south was supposed to be the coolest part of the country in the summer.

Hi to everyone else that I’ve missed. We have so many posts here these days!

Lots of French speakers here! About 20 years ago I started learning French from some sets of Pimsleur tapes that I bought to listen to in the car because I was doing so much driving when traveling for my job. For several years I subscribed to a couple of French magazines, Le Figaro and Paris Match and did a lot of my web searches on French sites. I also subscribed to TV5, a French station on satellite. I created my own part time French immersion. That, and a few trips to France and having French houseguests for a week was helpful. I can still read pretty fluently but not having the opportunity to converse with French speakers, I lost a lot of what I knew. I was conversent in French if the others spoke slowly, but because of the way French words are ‘mooshed’ together, it can be challenging. I should get back to reading French novels.

Time for sleep. It’s almost midnight (Thursday) here. Could you send some of that heat over here? FD always feel colder!

Hi everyone, I’ve been missing a few days – didn’t want to use the computer when it was so hot. Cinque, you must be as glad as I am that the cool change rolled in to Melbourne. In my suburb north of the city, yesterday was 44 degrees and today 45 before the cool change. Unlike Melbourne city and bay suburbs, though, it only cooled to about 33 until the evening. It’s currently around 21 and all my doors and windows are open to cool the house down. It’s been a more difficult heat this time because it’s also felt humid. I made sure the bird baths were kept filled, though, and peeked out through the kitchen window a few times to see what was there. The first time two rainbow lorikeets were enjoying the water; the second time a crow was bathing in one bath while an Indian minor bird was in the other, and the third time a white cockatoo was drinking.

Kangarootha, I agree with you that Waltzing Matilda would NOT have made an acceptable national anthem, not just because of the theme, but also the Aussie slang. Who would know what a squatter, swagman, jumbuck, billabong or tucker bag were? Older Aussies, yes, but others???

CalifDreamer, on that subject, both the French and Chinese national anthems are also very nationalistic, not just yours. Probably meant to encourage pride in one’s country.

Rosy Posy, I would love to see Niagara Falls frozen. One of my “bucket list” goals was to see the Falls, and I visited there in 2016. Magnificent. Hope the wrist pain reduces quickly.

Intesha, have a great time on your cruise – 5:2 is always there to come home to!!!

Cinque, glad you’re okay after your dizzy spell driving. Do you think it was not enough fluid? Or salt? Sounds very scary!

Anzac65, the bite has settled down now, thanks for asking.

LJoyce, I agree that an important key to mobility after a TKR is diligence in exercise. My accident didn’t require a TKR, but no-one in China expected me to be able to return, but I did – with 2 hour daily of exercise, every day!!! the knee gained strength and mobility. I have a bend of about 125 degrees, so not as much as you gained, but it’s enough to function. The soldier I mentioned in my last post with 4 TKRs – remember that was back in 1997-8; you’ve indicated that TKRs are much better now, so maybe that’s why only a maximum of 2 has become the norm?

Biggles69, I’m also a fairly newbie, but welcome to the forum. It’s very encouraging, though often hard to keep up with all the posts. How long will it be before you have your back surgery?

penguin, I lived in Hong Kong once for six months – I found the hardest thing about the heat was the humidity being greater than 90-95% every single day. The temperatures seemed to stay within a fairly narrow range, but the humidity was horrible for me.

Good morning from lovely cool Melbourne,

Welcome Jacki, you didn’t manage to keep your anonymity for long! Haha.
Lovely to have you here. I hope you find 5:2 suits you. The first few weeks can be a bit of an experiment as you figure out how to fit it best into your life: which days, what you eat and when.
Have you had your first fast day? How did it go?

Gday, so glad you got through the heat. What a shocker.

Lindsay, you will love ‘getting back on track’. Special hi to Mr L too.

LJoyce, nice to get your infusion over and done with early.

Anzac, sorry you have to leave your lovely workplace. I know managing staff can be a headache, but it can also be the most rewarding job. If you can get the team working well, it is such a pleasure. I hope that is what happens.

Rosy, I expect the cool weather has been more comfortable under the plaster, than the stinking hot weather. Sending good wishes. It is wonderful how bone can knit itself back together.

Thin, fab picture!

Hundreds and thousands, for us, was only ever the little round balls. https://www.google.com/search?q=hundreds+and+thousands&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiVx8Wl5ongAhVLPI8KHYTHBpkQsAR6BAgFEAE&biw=1536&bih=728#imgrc=v_ehlahjExGkEM: Turning up at every kids party, sprinkled on bread and butter, and called fairy bread.
We called the sticks ‘sprinkles’.

Intesha, every 100g down helps. Hope the next reading is more!

My brick walls, internal and external, means my flat takes a few days to cool down, even with all the doors and windows open. I have the doors propped open and the fan helping the cool air through, so it is lovely here this morning.

I’m going to post this and go for a second post!

Anzac, sorry I had brain fog temporarily believing that Kanga was your sister, not Quacka’s. So your message wasn’t cryptic at all. Have fun at dog beach and then the vet. Has Maxx been sterilised yet? That also removes some of the mad and erratic behaviours.

Sometimes I do my Spanish lessons while out walking and I try not to speak out loud while I’m passing someone. It’s funny how the brain works because, when I can’t think of a Spanish word, the word often comes to me in French. I only have high school French but when we lived in Zaire for 3 months, no-one let on that they could speak English until the day we left so we were forced to speak French that whole time. It’s the best way to learn.

Thank you, I did get a good nights’ sleep last night. I try not to take any meds as I tend to become increasingly reliant.

I’ve yet to see Niagara Falls but we did visit Victoria Falls a couple of years ago.

LJ, sorry to hear it was a hungry FD but good that you got some heat relief. You got our rain too – our wx really does come to you.

CalifD, I’m waiting for you to get down here. Second day of 58.9kg.

We have a low key Australia Day celebration planned so I doubt I’ll drink which will give me a good result following 3 NFDs. This is the day that residents of our little suburb brace ourselves for 300,000 visitors arriving to watch the fireworks. The riverbank is transformed for weeks preceding the day with fencing, demountables and marquis tents. It’s a lot more manageable since the authorities banned alcohol in certain areas and put in stringent parking restrictions. Mounted police mingle with the crowd confiscating bottles and it’s a $300 fine for parking on our side of the street. People still do it so they must really love fireworks.

Before these measures, people would arrive at 5am with their couches (which they’d leave behind), inflatable swimming pools and enormous eskies and then sit in the sun boozing for 15+ hours until the fireworks. You can imagine the fights & the language. One year, we had people throwing eskies at each other outside our house! My neighbour found people urinating in her front garden. Without alcohol, the crowd is better behaved, it’s more of a family night, the trouble makers tend not to come so it’s just the disgraceful mess that’s left behind but our council cleans it up very swiftly in the morning. It’s always been a day I’d rather forget to be honest. It doesn’t make you proud to be Australian.

Rosy, cellar dwellers! That’s funny. What do you have planned for tonight?

I thought I’d found a photo of Brian May but that turned out to be a guy from a band called, ‘Foreigner’. Anyone remember them? Funny how some bands fade away while other bands’ music is still celebrated 50 years later.

Cinque, thanks for outlining Dr M.’s message. Debunking the rapid weight loss theory is interesting. I agree with you in wanting something sustainable. I tend to feel that those requiring instant results are less likely to be in it for the right reasons or the long-term. I never considered my half kilo per week loss to be slow. You get a kick-start anyway because you always lose more at the onset of any new eating plan – you’re trying harder, are full of good resolve and you make a lot of changes all at once. Those who haven’t succeeded with the original 5:2 know exactly why. The best selling books are 1. cook books and 2. diet books so these new ideas have to keep being churned out.

Time for a walk. It’s heating up again from tomorrow although I doubt I’ll get much sympathy from you if I say it’s going to be 35C for the next couple of days!

Morning all, I slept in till 8 am which is normal for me after a nf day. The day after my stringent, liquids only FDs , I’m awake between 4.30 and 5.00 am which is totally shocking for me. Have any other of you experienced this ?
@ Thin is your new , super low weight your lowest ever since doing 5:2 for the last 5 years? If so, what do you think made the difference? For tonight a friend has invited us to a yacht club that has tables set up on the river, some inside some alfresco. It starts at 4 pm and we bring platters of nibbles to share, then the buffet starts about 6.00 followed by the fireworks. It’s a comparatively mild Oz Day temperature wise at 31c, usually much higher. My ex mother in law used to live in Jubilee st in the same suburb as you Thin , right on the foreshore. She used to find people in her garden doing all sorts of things that you wouldn’t do in the open. In the end, she became too frightened unless family members were there to safeguard her. Another year, before the alcohol bans came into place my so. , who was 18 at the time was hit with an iron bar across his cheek bone by a passing, unknown assailant and he has metal plates to this day.

Re the losing weight quickly theory, I am glad to hear that rapid weight loss is ok , Especially if you have a particular reason such as a special event and he is right about the motivation keeping you strong. I also agree that banning certain food groups and very low calories are unsustainable. Now I achieved my goal of looking bearable in my Abba costume, I am happy to settle down into a more sensible version of 5:2. I don’t think banning certain foods completely works which is why Keto did not work for me. The reason why the Fast Diet is the only wol that has worked for me, is that it doesn’t ban anything. If I am craving Camembert, I just tell myself that I can have some when I am not fasting and that gets me through, knowing that it is not out of my life forever.

Happy Australia Day! https://i.stack.imgur.com/gJ872.gif

Hope you’re all having a fun day and staying cool. It looks from the weather reports that it’s cooled down some. Anzac, I will take all of those 15 degrees you’ve offered and raise you 2. It’s around 14 degrees here right now, but I just can’t seem to get warm today. Thermostat wars with OH again! I think he’s warm blooded and I’m cooldblooded. 🥶
Anzac, I think even, “Please take out the garbage” sounds romantic in French. “S’il vous plaît, sortez les poubelles.” 😊 “Oh, oui, oui!” 😁😁

Thin, it maybe a while to catch up with you. 59.6 this morning after yesterday’s fast. And don’t tell anyone, but I’m going to get takeaway Thai steamed dumplings and potstickers and hot and sour soup for our dinner tonight. 🙄

FM, hello! Now the French expert has arrived, everyone will go quiet! How lovely to be going to France in spring. Ha ha, yes, they meant my weight not the temperature. I haven’t really been trying but it’s just going where it goes, a bit like LJ’s weight.

CalifD, your secret’s safe with me. Have fun!

Rosy, I reached 58.5 while on holiday in Spain/Portugal on 10 Dec 2015. At the time, we were walking 15km a day in very hilly terrain and I had to abandon 6:1 for the rest of the trip. Imagine that! I resumed 6:1 on return and managed with that for some time until realising that I’d have to revert to 5:2 when I got above 60kg. I’d hoped to get away with 6:1 indefinitely but I found 6 NF days too many in a row to be helpful with portion control and it didn’t allow for any indulgences such as the odd restaurant meal.

Rosy, how awful for your son to be randomly attacked like that. I completely understand how your ex-MIL would have felt on Jubilee St. We’re not far from there. LJ, we can’t see the fireworks from our front verandah (it faces the wrong direction) but we can from the upstairs window. Residents here used to adopt the ‘stay and defend’ stance wrt our properties. Typically we’d host about 30 people for a BBQ, then they’d all walk down to the firework show while we cleaned up and prepared the dessert. Over the years, it became such a drunken affair and the traffic so congested leaving that our friends gradually abandoned the tradition. Anyway, your plans at the yacht club sound lovely Rosy and I hope, wherever you are all celebrating, that people are enjoying the day with decorum and dignity.

Scrotes, Thin? Have you been watching The Bill? 🙂

Thin, I remember ‘Foreigner’ but the only song of theirs I really remember is, “I wanna know what love is” which I liked a lot.

LJ, I bet the Pavlovas are pretty. I should have asked you to post a picture. But they’re probably half eaten by now.

Rosy, you mentioned visiting Aspen when you were here and liking John Denver. I like his music too. I just looked up some of his albums and then some images. Have you noticed how much he and Steve Irwin look alike? They both have that baby face, although Steve’s expressions are usually more wide eyed. But both have gentle features and both died way too young.

Cinque, and others who have commented on the 800 diet plan. I think if Dr. M wanted to continue writing books and making appearances on losing weight, he had to come up with something new and different. 5:2 is way too easy and probably the most sustainable weight loss plan out there. (And most of us have tried most of them!) it can be described in 2 pages or less, is very flexible and weight loss is dependable if you stick to the few simple rules. What else is there to say? I only read a few pages of the 5:2 book that I bought until I was almost down to my goal. And then I read it one night when I was bored. It was interesting and well written, but the actual plan can be described in few words. That’s what makes it good. It’s simple. Of course, having friends here were a big part of it and provided support. But the rest is just fluff. Diets need better failure rates if they’re going to bring people back again and again. 😁 That’s what keeps companies like WW in business.

You only have to give up 2 days a week and you can eat whatever you want, within reason, the other 5. What’s not to like about that? 500 calories is enough to keep from being totally famished, so it’s not even really a fast. But it works. Basic 5:2 is too successful, even for people like me who always gain weight after a diet is over. This is easy enough to stick to permanently, especially after you’ve been on it a while and are used to it. I agree with everyone who said that sustainability is the key. This works. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

8:40pm Sat, Adelaide

Well it was a nice day but a long one. I went to lunch at noon and got home at 6pm! I only knew 2 people there and was introduced to about 30 new faces – I think I now remember about 2 new names that I could put faces to. My memory was never good with names, but it’s gotten even worse with age.
I ate too much, including desserts (which is something I hadn’t touched in the last couple of weeks). I won’t be fasting tomorrow as I’m going out to lunch at Aldgate with my best friend. I plan to choose something vaguely healthy from the menu and fast on Monday.

Colonoscopy Tuesday morning. I’ll really be ‘fasting’ tomorrow and Monday. Curious to see how it will affect my weight. Any of you have weight+colonoscopy stories to share?

Good morning everyone,
Well, babysitting didn’t eventuate yesterday so I fasted instead.
Busy day today though, so I had better be quick here!

Cali, I read your comments on Dr Mosley and being able to write 5:2 in a couple of paragraphs, and it was just after I had listened to a podcast of one of his Australian events, https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/nightlife/dr-michael-mosely/10748212. He admitted exactly the same! But did go on to say that his latest book had a lot more content.

Penguin, when life is busy and social, don’t our healthy routines struggle! It looks like you’ll be back in your old rhythm soon. Hooray for cunning plans.

Best wishes for your colonoscopy FM.

Cheers all.

11am Sunday, Adelaide

A difficult night which saw me getting up to take pain killers at 3am and I still feel sluggish as a result. Hopefully an afternoon out with a friend will perk me up.

Lindsay, I agree with your thoughts about a link between sleep and weight. I used to have real problems with insomnia – taking hours to get to sleep or waking several times or sometimes being awake the entire night. However, I found the more weight I lost the more it improved. I still have bad nights but they are occasional rather than every night now. To me this means that not only does lack of sleep encourage our bodies to gain weight it becomes a vicious cycle where being overweight actually makes it harder to get a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately sleeping well isn’t something you can force your body to do, hopefully as you get lighter your sleep will improve too.

FM, best of luck with the colonoscopy. I’ll concur with Penguin’s comments. The preparation is rather awful, but necessary if they are to see the areas of concern. They are often able to give you a good indication of what they found (or didn’t find) on the day (which can help alleviate some worry) with pathology result to come later.
The fasting process will produce some genuine weight loss, although will also be some weight loss from the emptying of your stomach, small intestine and bowel. Once you go back to solid food this will all be replaced of course so that your digestive system can start functioning again. You might consider probiotics such as kefir and kimchi to help repopulate your gut flora after the procedure.

Cali, you could barely see the pavlovas one they were finished as I had generously scattered them with blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. I never carefully place the fruit I just pile it on. I think all that sugar needs a lot of sharp flavoured fruit to balance the flavour.

Penguin, every time I hear “I have a cunning plan” I think of Tony Robinson’s Baldrick. I hope your cunning plan is more successful than his usually were!

I think the 800 calorie daily diet is best suited to 3 main groups:
Those who are so obese that even 800 calories a day probably means 1-2 years to lose the weight they need to. (These people often fit into my second category too and need to lose some weight quickly to stay alive.)
The second group are those with one or more serious weight related medical conditions who need to lose weight quickly. Especially if their health would be affected by unhealthy food choices on NFDs. I think this is why DrMM first developed this option as part of the BSD to help diabetics improve their health quickly. (From the published research I’ve read about 800cal being the new right number of cals, most of it involved groups with diabetes.)
The third group is also often an overlap between the first two. It’s those who need to have surgery but can’t safely have it at their current weight. Sometimes this is also imposed by hospitals or surgeons who won’t operate on people with BMIs above a certain level due to the higher risk of complications or death during surgery.
That’s not to say that others can’t choose the 800cal approach, but it is a severe approach for those that have gentler options.

Time to go and get ready as I have to leave soon.
Have a good day everyone. Is anyone fasting today?