Klond, that’s interesting! I tried to sell our bread maker for peanuts at our garage sale the other week and was told that ‘no-one makes their own bread these days’. We’ve had ours for a very long time and it hasn’t seen any use since I started 5:2.

Completely with you on the commercial hot cross buns! We have this discussion every year on this thread, usually when they go on sale at the entry to Coles and Woolworths at the beginning of January. They occupy this prime space until after Easter. Funny how you never see a nice avocado on special at the doorway. Whenever fruit or veg are on sale, it’s because they’ve seen better days.

Thanks for the recommendation on ‘The Tunnel’. I did see that one. Sounds like all I do is watch TV!

Anzac, agree about the tradespeople. Unreliable, low standards, no pride in their work. When we added our extension, OH went to TAFE classes to learn brick work and we basically did the work ourselves using tradies only where essential. The brickie we hired would regularly ‘forget’ to show up, on his boat marron fishing invariably leaving OH with a mixer full of cement going off. His offsider, a young whipper snapper who looked about 12, arrived plastered on Jim Beam at 7am. More trouble than they were worth.

The main brickie would never bring his lunch because he knew I had to make a sandwich for my OH and just expected I’d do the same for him. There is a deli at the end of the street but he’d just sit there waiting. And get this Anzac! For months after he finished up here, he would pop round for lunch if he was doing a job in the neighbourhood! The cheek. Every time I look at the living room wall, I’m transported back to a time when I was cleaning every single brick from our demolished garage. I did the lead lighting, OH built the frames. By the end of it, we’d acquired the skills required to start the job. I don’t miss those days and wouldn’t do it again but I’m so grateful to have an OH who knows how to swing a hammer.

FD going well, just had three drops of rain.

So many interesting posts! Can’t remember them all, but did enjoy the read. FD today, but I made one mistake – thought I knew the calorie count of an avocado, but the count was for half, not all. So, my FD800 has become about 960 cals. Oh well, I’ll know next time. Weight not moving at the moment, but slight decrease in measurements, so at least something is happening.

Neilithicman, glad the EFS day you had hasn’t derailed your downward progress, and it’s good you’re healthier now, too. Hope your son also feels better. And wow! more than 2 kg weight loss a week – really impressive!

Rosy Posy, good that you can now enjoy a cast-free life! You mentioned showing thinatlast a photo of you 20 kg heavier, and she felt you looked very different. I don’t think I look so different yet. I’ve “only” lost 8.5 kg, and so far neither of the friends I meet at the coffee shop have commented. One even twitted me a few weeks ago that I needed to lose weight not just be exercising, to which I replied “I guess”. I’m saying nothing till they do notice, as comments from others are what I’ve allowed to mess with my head in past weight loss sagas.

Anzac65, any job news yet? Have you tried the hot chili suggestion yet on your remote to discourage Maxx???

GDayFromSA, Hope your gyprocker has now returned and is doing some work. So frustrating when one job is dependent on another being finished, so it can’t be even
started.

LJoyce, yes the cold weather has reached Melbourne, too, for one day at least, and I too am sitting with jeans, heavy sweater and thick socks. But after tonight, the next several days are mainly in the mid-twenties, the kind of pleasant autumn days I enjoy.

Lots of other interesting posts, but enough from me. Onward and downward!

Whew, I just tried to record my food for the day on MFP and it said 5g of butter was 3585 calories instead of 36. It obviously thought I meant 500g. I have also had it register 470cals for a garlic clove. Thin, I don’t know about the rest of your handiwork but I have seen the photos of your lead light windows and they are magnificent

I have actually been shivering today, what a nice change but still no rain

The big question is who will have the 20,000 post.

Hi everyone, cloudy and….wait for it….23 degrees today! I was in short sleeves on the station and was actually cold! We had a big storm and cold change yesterday afternoon and it is heavenly today. Slept so much better in the cool and we even had to pull the doona up during the night.

FD didn’t end well, I had some after-dinner crackers but nothing too dreadful. CD today before weekly weigh-in tomorrow.

My wonderful current employer offered me a 6 month extension yesterday and normally I would jump at it as I love working here; however that would take me to the end October/beginning of November and I would have NO chance of getting another contract where I need to take 7 weeks off after just one month. So I’m going to still try to get back into my old project even though it smarts that they are acting like big bullies. I’m having lunch with the girl I’ve been dealing with (it is her management that lowered the offered rate) so I should get some more clarity

Thin/Klondike I would love to make my own bread. I do make naan bread but it’s not that great. My SIL is here from NZ and has promised to teach OH how to do it and then he can teach me.

It is so interesting and true about this mindful eating LJ. I’ve only been doing it for 2 days and, like you, have caught myself with my hand halfway to my mouth before I even realise. This is such a great exercise and thanks for suggesting it

Thanks for the tip about peppermint oil Cali, I’m going to try it. Failing that I will try the chilli or pepper but I hope it doesn’t come to that. He is definitely getting better as he used to nick anything at all that he could reach but now he is much more selective: remotes, socks and tea-towels are his repertoire now. How lovely that you rescued your pooch and have given him a loving home. I’ve read lots of articles about rescuing dogs and if they were abused it takes an enormous amount of love and patience to help them get over it. Many never do, sadly.

Will post some more later, have a great day/afternoon/evening depending on where you are in the world

Anzac, what about negotiating a 9 or 10 month extension with the time off, with your current employer?

I don’t have a bread maker but I do make my own bread. My wife is Indian so I make a bit of Naan bread quite often, I also prefer home made buns for burgers and soups rather than the bland shop bought buns you get in the supermarket. I also do quite a bit of baking for the monthly breakfasts at our local church.

Although I haven’t eaten any bread since I started on the fast800, I still make it for my wife and kids. There’s something very therapeutic at the end of a day at work to beat the crap out of the bread dough when you’re kneading it.

Good morning everyone

Well its a NFD for me today and I have even had some breakfast today. A plum, half of my steak left-over from last nights dinner and two vita wheats. Funny breakfast food, I know!

I’m really happy today as I have finally broken in to the 65s. Weight this morning was 65.8kg and it feels really good. Thanks for your support and congratulations. Klondi, you asked how much more I have to go. My goal now is just 1kg at a time until I get to 60kg. I thought I would like to be around 58kg but I’m not so sure now after seeing some old photos of when I was that skinny. My friend showed me some she had on her phone from a long time ago and I was super skinny. I had no curves at all and had a very boyish figure. She said it was only 13 years ago but I could swear it was longer than that (although she would know as the photos were from her ‘divorce’ party lol)

Anzac, don’t say that!! We are all here for you and its good to have someone else to talk to about it. You are under a lot of stress with this job thingy at the moment and you are doing great to control your eating whilst dealing with it all. I hope it gets sorted out soon. Keep up the good work.
Also, sometimes I will have a stock cube drink but I only use a quarter of a massel vege stock cube as I am worried about the sodium in it. It doesn’t affect my tummy at all.

Klondi you also asked about the negativity at work. It’s quite a long story but let’s just say that my friend (the one being the most negative) and I had a bit of a talk about it last week. She seemed fine and then sent me a text message late on Saturday night which I saw on Sunday. It did upset me and she was trying to put the guilt trip on me. She said something along the lines of ” I won’t bring my negative self to work next week as it is clearly making everyone negative” I just didn’t respond. When she came back to work she has been much better and we haven’t discussed it any further. I’m still putting up a positive quote every day and I told everyone that it is for me but they are welcome to read it lol.

I want to write so much more and I know there are people I have not responded to at all but I am so busy at work. I hope it settles down a bit soon and I can include everyone again.

I just want to say you are all doing great. Keep up the great work x

Nice mix of protein and carbs, what’s funny about it? 😉

The strangest breakfast I had was while tramping in the mountains with some friends and we managed to shoot a couple of deer. It was the last day and we were trying to use up all the food in our pack to make more room for meat. Our breakfast consisted of Custard, venison, pasta and marshmallows. We all walked out with about 15 kilos of venison each in our packs.

A quick one, as I read the posts.
Anzac, it can be about you, for as long as it takes. This bunch of friends are great listeners, and give excellent advice, so until your situation is resolved, keep writing about it. We are all happy to listen. And it is great to know you are dealing with the stress of it all in a non-food way. Yea for this WOL.

Hi all. Anzac what a sweet photo of Maxx. No wonder you put up with his antics if he looks that angelic.

Thin. I haven’t been around that long, remember I’m the marathon forum reader.

Neil. Just remember what that 15kg felt like and aren’t you glad you aren’t carrying it around all the time now.

Betsey. I have lost 10% of my weight and only my family, who know what I am doing have noticed. I get the impression that others just think I look well, which I do. You know how much you have achieved and you will get the validation from others soon, as Thin says sometimes it’s better if they don’t notice.

LJ. Are you finding that you have food left on your plate because you are really noticing what you are eating.
It will be interesting if your grocery bill goes down over the next 40 days.

Quakka I think the best aim is for slim and not skinny. I know that I will still have some jiggly bits which have to weigh more than they did in my twenties which is why 65k is my ‘pie in the sky’ goal. Your a lot younger than me so you won’t have that to worry about.

We got our dog, Bobby from the Lost Dogs Home here in Melbourne about 5 years ago too. We don’t know his history but he runs away if we pick up a broom or mop. He is the gentlest of dogs and I am so glad he is now in a good home. His parentage is very obscure so we call him a LBD, a little brown dog.

Re the cheese, I did a one day course in Coffs Harbour last year during our grey nomad trip and it is fairly easy. Unhomegenised milk and the correct culture and some time. I only make soft cheeses plus yoghurt and the only problem is waiting the 6 or so weeks for it to mature and ripen. Very yummy and relatively cheap once you have the cultures.

Klon, we do have to renew the peppermint oil maybe once a week or so. Bu it only takes a few drops if it’s pure peppermint oil. A small bottle could last a year or more if you use it only for that. One problem is that he sometimes just picks another spot. The other is that he barks for everything else, but just stands at the door silently when he has to go out and we often don’t see him. The other thing is that he was neutered just a few days before we got him, as a mature dog. Our vet said it’s very difficult to stop dogs from marking that weren’t neutered as puppies. We tried putting out training pads, but that rarely works. But in the past week I think we may have found a solution. You’re all going to think I’m crazy but we found this fire hydrant made of resin that is light weight and a little over 1/3 of a meter. Easy to clean off and just set it on top of a training pad. He seems to know exactly what it is for. 😁. https://imgur.com/a/NaD3qfF

LJ, it sounds like you have just about everything you need for a home gym now. Having the equipment you need right at hand means you can fit in exercise when you don’t have a lot of time to travel to the gym so you’ll hopefully get in more time overall. And with all of your work in the garden you should have it well covered.

Neil, that is one weird breakfast! I agree that you win the prize.
You’re lucky to be married to someone who is Indian. I hope she likes to cook. It’s one of my favorite types of foods and one of the most difficult to cook, to get all the spices right. (And sometimes finding a place to purchase them.) We’re seeing a lot of naan in our grocery stores in the last couple of years and it tends to be expensive. I will have to look up a recipe.

Anzac, we’re all here to listen and you’ve probably guessed that we love to solve whatever problems we can, weight or otherwise. We welcome vents and rants and musings here. 😁

Hope you are all having a good day.

Hi everyone, just stopped by to say hello!

I’m from Melbourne, and am looking to lose about 20kg. I started 5:2 about 18 months ago, but then my dad died, and all my routines and good intentions went out the window for a good while. But I’ve picked myself up and decided that 2019 is my year for transformation, and I am feeling really good about it so far! Hopefully by the time I turn 50 at the end of the year, I’ll be fitting back into clothes that make me feel good, rather than ones that hide the bits I don’t like.

I started the Fast800 combined with Time Restricted Eating on Monday, and so far in 4 days I’m down 1kg. I actually started TRE in Feb to get my body used to it, and it’s amazing how quickly it becomes the norm. Since the start of Feb I’ve lost 2.5kg (which is amazing, because I was eating and drinking as normal in Feb, just mostly between the hours of midday and 8pm), Despite feeling hungry occasionally, I am feeling fabulous, and am loving discovering some new foods that will go on high rotation even when I get back to maintenance.

Hubby is also doing the same, but he is struggling. Tired and grumpy is how I would describe him right now. Definitely not a joy to be around! Hopefully that’s just his body getting used to the smaller portions and less crap in his diet.

Did others find the same thing when they started? How long did it last for you?

Anyone else doing the full-on Fast800 here?

CD over today, and kept strictly to 1200 calories.
I’ve noted people’s comments about calories – I am very “old school”, and have a book from 2014 (but it usually comes out once a year, or used to) called “Allan Borushek’s Calorie Fat & Carbohydrate counter”; he’s also to be found at http://www.CalorieKing.com.au – I’ve never checked the website though. I weigh things and work out the cals from his book. Lots and lots of useful items are listed.

Cinque – with you in enjoying Melbourne’s weather at the moment.

Anzac65, good luck with the negotiations – just when it seems settled, it’s not, but it will happen. By the way, as a low calorie tipple, have you tried just dissolving a half teaspoon of Vegemite with hot water?

thinatlast, the comment from my friend was in conversation as we were walking. She was very critical of me years ago putting on weight after menopause, and now she’s going through the same thing (he, he!, though I shouldn’t laugh) so she’s very conscious of excess weight. I think she’s projecting on me about herself. I actually don’t mind that; I understand where she’s coming from, and she’s my friend. It’s all the (generally positive) comments that come once people start noticing weight loss that have derailed me in the past. It’s a weird reaction, like I feel pressured that it’s being noticed and I’ll let them down or something, so I start eating in a stress response and regain the weight. I don’t understand it, I don’t want it to happen, but it does. I’m really hoping this time for it not to happen. Oh well.

LJoyce, hope the mindfulness is continuing to go well. Interested that you are exercising at home. I gave up the gym a year or so ago as I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford it after retirement, but have 2 kg weights and do quiet little exercises at home to retain muscle. Seems to be working.

Klondikekween, note my comments above re people noticing my weight loss – basically, I don’t want them to, but I know it will eventually happen.

CalifDreamer, chuckled at your portable plastic fire hydrant for your dog.

For discouraging your dogs, has anyone tried eucalyptus oil, or Pine-O-Cleen? It works for cats. I used to have a problem with local cats spraying at my front door at night (my cat is always inside then), and I discouraged them by washing down the sprayed areas with neat Pine-O-Cleen and that would deter them for a while. Eventually they stopped altogether. And if I wash anything with eucalyptus oil, my cat won’t go near it. So, those are two more fragrant options to try out.

@betsy, I guess Thin thought I looked different because I am only 3 kg off goal, when you are that close people will notice too. Also when you start wearing more fitted clothes it will be obvious. 20 kg heavier, I used to cover up with layers of loose clothes now I am happy to show off my waist and arms, still like to keep my bum covered though, the 3 kg are all sitting there. Start dressing differently and they will notice.
@quacka well done you with your weight loss! Your bmi must be looking good too. I want to keep going till my bmi is just below the halfway mark of my healthy weight range which will give me a little wiggle room to which all the maintenance ladies refer .Quacka and Neil ,I have a weird breaky too after 5 days of btb fasting, it is what I crave all week :salami, Brie and black olives!
Re the Massel stock cube, I like the sodium in it as it stops me running to the toilet when I am at work.
@Thin thanks so much for your sage advice! It’s wonderful having my very own, personal OT! My wrist is not feeling as precarious or stiff as it was when I saw you on Tuesday but still not normal.
@lj We have a spare bedroom set up as a gym and it is great, saves time, air conditioned, private and has a tv. It has a walker, reclining ex bike , a bench press and a range of weights. I haven’t used it for 6 weeks but will restart once my wrist stops hurting. I’m with you on the sampling. When I am fasting, only liquid passes my mouth no solid food. If I need to make hub a stir fry, which requires tasting to get the flavours right, I do it on my 2 nf days on the weekend.
Welcome Megsy, just tweak the diet to suit yourself. I’m not a calorie counter and prefer to forget about food on fast days. I have 5 liquids on,y days when I am at work then whatever I feel like on the weekend. I have lost 19 kg in 6 months.
I’d better go and get ready for work, I woke at 4.00 am!!!

Good morning everyone,

Welcome Megsy! Lovely to have you here.
Hooray for greeting your 50’s at a healthy weight.
It sounds like 800fast is working well for you. I do hope your hubby has a ‘Neil experience’ and starts finding it easier.
My tip is that drinking more water may help him be less tired and grumpy, and that brothy soups are particularly good as they will be full of electrolytes. Even slight dehydration can make you feel awful, and it is easy to get dehydrated when eating less food. Someone said the other day that she needs 6 extra glasses of water on a fast day.

Quacka, Woot! The 65’s!

Anzac those photos show such a sweet and healthy dog!

LJoyce, how wonderful to be able to go your gym work mostly at home. I’m worried about how you will get the cream out of the icecube trays, thinking that it doesn’t thaw like stock would. I hope you find a way to get them out. Actually, a knife down the sides should do it.

Klondi, your cheese making is so impressive. I’ve made ricotta/paneer but that is very easy. Mind you I’m not a blue cheese eater, but it must be wonderful watching it happen.

Cali, the fire hydrant set up is so funny, and brilliant!

Betsy I also worried about undermining myself when people started commenting on my weightloss. Like you, I felt it had happened in the past.
However, I am now pretty sure that in my case it was more to do with self blaming, so I magnified every time I did have a binge eat, and presumed I was being self defeating, when it was just a binge like I always tend to have.
I didn’t take into account that we don’t need so much food when we are at our normal weight, and that sugar sets off munchies, I just always blamed myself.
I did have some unrealistic expectations and fears about what life would be like if I was at my happiest weight, and these aren’t there so much now I am so much older.
But mostly it is the safe, sure, process of 5:2. Every fast day is a rest and reset, and with our tastes gradually changing, and our choices becoming healthier, we can sit and consider what other people say to us, or how they act, while 5:2 keeps working its magic.

Mmm Indian food. It became my great love when I was vegetarian and discovered there was such a rich and delicious vegetarian cuisine throughout India. A Madhur Jaffrey dal recipe started me off, in 1986, and I am still going.
That naan recipe looks brilliant Neil, I’ve got to work out how to make my oven that hot. (I usually do them under the grill, but they are not ideal.)

Edit, just saw your post Quacka. Another great take on self sabotage, and I am the same: being influenced by LJoyce’s mindful eating.

Best wishes for your day, everyone. 🙂

Good morning everyone.

Yesterday’s FD went well. Dinner was pumpkin, cauli and zucchini leftover from my cooking on Tuesday and I added a small portion of grilled chicken breast.

Megsy, welcome. I used the old version of 5:2 to lose weight in 2017. I did try fast800 for 10 days in February as I wanted to get my weight well withing my maintenance range. If you can stick with it it will give you faster weight loss than 5:2.

Cinque, In the end I got worried about the ice cube trays too as mine don’t have a smooth or rounded bottom – lots of contours for the cream to stick to. But another idea occurred to me. I used a non-stick gem scone tray – I only thought of this because I was in the process of taking it out of the dishwasher and putting it away. https://imgur.com/vSR0br2 This gave me portions about the size I wanted and they came out really easily. All I had to do was gently push on one edge and they popped out.

Cali, I saw this article on the ABC news app this morning and thought you might be interested. Did you know there was a cockatoo species called Ringo Starr? https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-08/rare-queensland-cockatoo-facing-extinction-due-to-habitat-loss/10878972

Betsy & Quacka, I too have an old copy of Allan Borusheks book. However I haven’t used it in years. I also use Calorie King, but I use the free website rather than the app. http://www.calorieking.com.au/ I think it’s better for Aus/NZ than the more well know My Fitness Pal because it’s measurement are in Australian metric and the foods listed are things we can actually buy here in our shops. There’s a lot of foods and food retailers on the American apps that I’ve never heard of. It also concerns me that any Aussie using their cup or tablespoon measures will be under-counting calories because American measures are all smaller than our metric ones.

Betsy, I still have my gym membership – luckily there is a really low cost, “no frills” one that’s 15 minutes drive from me. The problem is that I don’t get there as often as I should. I had also been doing limited yoga lately as I have wooden floor and no yoga mat – I threw the old tatty one out when I moved house.

Rosy, I definitely don’t want to end up with a home gym or bulky expensive equipment. Just small pieces of equipment that can be stored in the spare wardrobe.

Neil, you are making me hungry with the descriptions of the lovely food coming out of your kitchen. Thanks for the naan recipe, I will try that. I make lots of different breads, including most of the Indian flatbreads (except for the deep fried ones like poori).

Klondi, I too am impressed by your cheese making. I’ve only ever made paneer, which is about as easy as boiling milk.
Klondi, I’m leaving food on my plate, but I am snacking less between meals. The other thing I noticed is that I’m not immediately looking for the next thing to eat as soon as a meal is finished – I have a bad habit of always thinking something sweet has to follow a meal. I am actually satisfied with just my main meal now.

I’m glad my mindful eating commitment has raised some thought provoking moments for others. I think that’s the thing with habits. The longer we do these behaviours the more ingrained they become. We don’t notice them until something makes us stop and think about what we are doing. Noticing is the first step to changing them, although as with all habits they can be hard to break.

Time for me to get organised. My best friend is treating me to lunch at a cafe in the Adelaide Hills. Then we will explore the town on foot. I’ve been looking forward to this all week, so glad we have nice weather today.

Morning all.
Such a funny day yesterday. Here in Bali it was Nyepi Day….Silence Day. It’s a day of reflection, to put bad events in the past and look to the future. The airport closes for 24 hours from 6 am, and hotels can’t check people in or out. Nor can guests leave the hotel grounds…in fact, no one can be in the streets…no people, no traffic. No one on the beach (except for a few howling dogs that were clearly unnerved by the quiet). There was no cable tv. The rooftop pool was shut all day (people cannot make noise having fun, according to the instructions in the room) and the main hotel pool shut at 5, as did the restaurants and bars, because they would have shone light on to the street. Dinner was a buffet served in a basement conference room from 5 to 8, and the corridors were so dim I had to use my phone light to find our room. Our curtains had been closed, but when we stepped out on the verandah there must have been some light from the air conditioning control, because immediately there was a spotlight trained on our room. It was like the blitz (I imagine). Very disconcerting and eerie, particularly as it was raining and blowing a gale all day. But that notion of a day of reflection is very appealing.
Nepyi Day is a religious festival in the Hindu Balinese culture….it marks new year in their lunar calendar. The night before there was a huge parade of ‘agoh” or mythical creatures, some so tall that they were preceded by men carrying tridents to lift the power lines over their heads. If I can work out how to post a pic, I’ll do that.
Now to breakfast and I am so ready…last night’s buffet was pretty mediocre, I have to say.
I’ll finish here, and try to catch up with everyone a little later.

Today’s food: No breakfast as per normal. A big celery, cucumber and carrot salad with a big fillet of smoked mackerel for lunch – 315 calories. A 2-egg and haloumi cheese omelette and some sautéed beetroot greens for dinner – 345 calories. I also did half an hour of aqua-jogging while my kids were in their swimming lessons. I’ve earned those two low carb beersies tonight. 😁

Good morning everyone

Hope you enjoyed those beers, Neil!

Thanks Gday for the info about the HI workout. That’s similar to what I do but I vary the time in between walking and running full on. I warm up 2 mins, run for 40 secs or a min, then walk for 40 secs or a min. I do this until 10 minutes when I then change to walking uphill increasing the grade each minute. Yesterday though I did the walk/run for the whole time excluding warm up and cool down and no grade walking.
The good thing for me with HIIT is the length of time. I’m all done in 20 minutes. I don’t even consider the calories I’m burning, it’s more about raising my metabolism as I know the effect lasts all day.

Lindsay, that Nyepi day sounds amazing. Could you imagine it in Australia? Lol
There would be so much whinging and whining about it all that the idea of it wouldn’t even get considered.

Megsy, it will get easier for your hub. It’s almost like a detox process he is going through and his body is screaming out for that sugar. This will change. I find that if I have a little bit of sugar I am hungry all day and that includes fruit. I still eat some fruit but only on a NFD and always with something else, usually a protein. The other thing he will notice is the natural sweetness of food eg red capsicum or carrot. Yum!!

Betsy, isn’t it great going through your clothes and giving them away the clothes that you are now too small for? When I first did that, I packed them into a big bag and left them in the corner of the bedroom for a few weeks. It was a psychological thing that I had to get past and the day that I finally took them to the op shop, I was elated. I am now due to do it again. I have recently bought some more new clothes and I think I will be able to wear these even when I lose another couple of kgs. I now have shorts that fit me and actually stay up. I have some dresses and skirts as well. So off to the op shop with all those bigger ones I have been persevering with.

Have I ever mentioned that when I type kgs the predictive text changes it to kegs?? It always makes me laugh. As I love beer I do wonder how my iPad knows this?????? Hahahahahahaha

Well I best go and get my day started. I have a big bowl of gherkins to pickle and a basket full of jalapeños to do as well. OH mentioned that he wants to make a chilli sauce today so I have a lot of sterilising bottles and jars ahead of me today. It’s a great day for it as the southerly was up before dawn and it’s grey and sprinkling. I wish it would rain properly but I can’t complain as there are parts of the state that haven’t had rain in two years 🙁

I hope you all have a lovely weekend x

Hi guys, didn’t lose my usual one point something kg this week, just 200g. I have been quite constipated all week even though I have been taking Metamucil so I am sure that if I was able to go to the toilet successfully, I would have lost more. I don’t feel bad about only losing 200g because I could not have eaten any less on my 5 btb Fast days. On Monday and a Tuesday I didn’t even have a shake and on Wed, Thurs and Fri , I only had one shake. Those 200 g took me to a grand total loss of 20 kg in 6 months. I am 63.7kg with a bmi of 22.1. Hub always says when you empty a bucket of water, it gushes out at first and when it is near,y empty, it just drips out . With about 2 kg to go, I am definitely at the trickle stage. Also, as Thin attests, I am looking quite thin.

@ Cinque, you said those last ‘sticky’ kg very accurately. Are the last couple known to be difficult to lose ?
@betsy, I agree this diet has worked because I was motivated by my knee pain rather than ego. I also agree it is an expensive business replacing the fat clothes.
Welcome Megsy, don’t worry about your social weekend, enjoy it, there will be plenty of days free for fasting.
@gday, how do your knees take the treadmill running ?
@Thin , ha ha very funny Thin! Yes the humidity which is typical of March has been awful and made my hair frizzy. Perth’s climate is classified Mediterranean similar to coastal, Southern California. I couldn’t stand to live in an area known for its continual humidity such as northern Australia or Southern Asia . Congrats re your 58 kg! I’d kill to be 58 kg.
Wrist is progressing , bigger range of movement, not as painful or weak. I’m doing my exercises religiously. I had always ignorantly thought that once your cast is removed , you’d be all better and feel normal again. I didn’t know it can take months or longer before it feels close to normal again.
@cali, thanks so much for your empathetic comments. It is indeed lovely to have a good, long soak in the bath and feel completely clean again. I will start using my home gym slowly again this week.

Oops apologies, my post just turned up ! Hub and I are having friends over for a movie night tonight (Either Pearl Harbour or a Bohemian Rhapsody) but first we have to clean the house and do the shopping. On Sunday we are going out for lunch with friends to a country pub, south of Perth which is nestled on the Murray River.

What is it with men and Tvs? Obviously they think size does matter as well as quantity. Our newest tv is a monster 80 inch, located in our theatre room but we also have 3 other largish tvs located in the formal lounge, main bedroom and gym. If I lived on my own , I’d just read a book even though I enjoy watching stuff with hub.

At the risk of being absolutely gross and graphic,just then, I was finally able to go to the toilet substantially. I didn’t weigh myself as I have just had my first meal for the week but I reckon if I’d managed to do this before breaky my total loss for the week would have been at least 500 to 600 g.
LJ or Cinque told me before Christmas that constipation affects your weight loss and as usual, I think they are right.
@ Quacka do your knees hold up ok with your vigorous treadmill running ?

Morning all, day three of NFDs and I’m so happy to still be in the 58 range, having gained only 100gm since my last FD.

Betsy, getting rid of the larger sizes is definitely making a statement of commitment. I wasn’t able to do it until I was comfortably two sizes under the ones I was getting rid of. This was because of my prior pattern of losing and re-gaining weight. I’d always had clothes from size 12-18 in my closet, just waiting for me to grow back into them! I think CalifD may still have a bundle in her attic?

Lindsay, I loved reading your account of Silence Day in Bali. I was reading it while listening to a house being demolished across the road. The previous owner had lived there for 60 odd years, all his life, caring for his elderly parents in latter years until they both died. They’d been hermits for decades, the mother only seen when carted off in an ambulance. It struck me that someone’s life time of memories could be reduced to rubble in just a couple of hours. It was a dump of a place, they’d never done a thing to improve or maintain it so the two years’ of noise pollution to come will at least yield a nicer home for the neighbourhood (hopefully).

Neil, how were those beers? All worth it? Nice rounding from your butcher.

Quacka, kgs to kegs, funny!

Rosy, your body is adjusting for maintenance now. It’s good that you expect a slowing in rate of loss from now on. It sounds like a fun weekend planned.

For an eight year period in California, I had no TV. My work colleagues thought I was strange indeed. They would talk about ‘Who shot JR?” and I would have no clue what they were on about. Then my brother was coming to stay from the UK so I bought a TV. He turned it on once during his stay and then I sold it. People would ask me what I did all evening! Well, my neighbours and I used to sit on each others’ front porches and we would solve all the world’s problems. Back when people had conversation. I often smile when I see people in cafes ‘staying connected’ with their devices, ignoring the person they’re with. I think to myself, actually your device is ensuring that you’re staying DISconnected.

Exactly what I’m doing now, so I’m off for a walk in the rain.

P.S. Cinque. Aren’t you a card! Hope you have a wonderful, headache-free day today.

Hello SHs.
Hope you are all settling into excellent weekend activities. It’s a long weekend here (and I believe in Vic and Tassie too, unless my iphone calendar is wrong).

I had a lovely afternoon yesterday. Lunch at Avalon cafe in Woodside was very nice. I had a Korean BBQ beef sandwich. It was essentially a steak sandwich with lots of salad and perfectly cooked finely sliced beef. I followed this with a slice of Sicilian apple cake, which interestingly had pine nuts on top. It’s one of those cakes where you fill the tin with finely sliced apple and there’s just enough cake mixture to hold it all together. The only thing lacking to my mind was cinnamon, it needed more.
After lunch we put on our walking shoes on and did a one hour walk along the Amy Gillet track which is for the use of walkers, cyclists and horse riders. (It was built to commemorate Amy who was an international road cyclist and was killed by a car when training in Eurpoe.) https://www.walkingsa.org.au/walk/find-a-place-to-walk/amy-gillett-bikeway/ It was a nice quiet walk among the trees with no cars to deal with.
Then to cap of a lovely afternoon we went to a few of the hills op shops and we both found some tops we liked. I can’t show you photos as I’ve put them in the washing machine.

The mindful eating commitment is still going well. Every night I get to the end of dinner and feel full, I don’t actually want dessert or to just keep snacking – something that I usually wanted before. I know that I’m eating slower too as my friend and I ordered the same lunch yesterday and we normally eat at the same pace, but I took longer yesterday. Although in fairness, my friend is on a diet so she may have been hungrier than usual.

Something I’ve noticed as I’m eating dinner that I think is worth putting out there for your consideration is this:
What do you do with your knife and fork between mouthfuls of food?
– Do you put them on the plate until you are finished chewing, then pick them up again?
– Do you keep them gripped tightly in your hands in readiness the get the next portion ready?
– Do you prepare the next mouthful and have it almost to your mouth before you’ve even swallowed the existing one?
I quickly noticed that my behaviour was a combination of the last two options and I’m concentrating on doing more of the first. I have to keep reminding myself to let go of the cutlery.

I must go now. Hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday.

Weren’t we just talking about how tolerant and kind our Cinque was the other day? And now she is suggesting that thin break OH’s good wrist and get him a cast like Rosy’s to force him to eat more slowly at the dinner table. 😮 Tsk tsk. 😁😂😆
Thin, my OH eats very fast too and it’s hard to get him to do much talking during dinner time at home. I doubt that we could ever get him to change now short of Cinque’s solution. 😁 He does eat a bit more slowly in restaurants. But he’s thin and his BMI has probably never been out of range. He may eat quickly but he doesn’t stand in front of the frig grazing late at night like I sometimes do. And the concept of eating a box of jelly doughnuts when one is depressed is something that’s completely foreign to him. 😗

Megsy, welcome to the thread. You’re off to a good start with losing. I started in May of 2017 on the old 5:2 so I don’t have any advice on the Fast800 for you. But a few people here have tried it with good success so far. I still use 5:2 for maintenance because it works well for me and I only have to think about it twice a week. It’s become part of my routine.

Rosy, an 80 inch TV sounds amazing for watching movies. Do you have a surround sound system with it? Do you have the theater room set up like a movie theater? I hope that’s the TV you watched BR on. Is that the movie you ended up watching with your friends? I love watching movies at home. It’s so nice to be able to pause when one has to use the loo. Popcorn is cheaper too.

Thin, there were periods in the past where I went for years without watching tv too. It was once because of a writer’s strike which went on long enough for me to lose interest. Other times there just weren’t enough good shows on to watch. Now, there are a few but we tend to watch streaming movies and series like the ones you suggested.

LJ, I had heard of Palm Cockatoos and had seen pictures of them. Such magnificent birds! That tapping with the stick reminds me of our late Moluccan Cockatoo Gilligan, who used to stomp his foot on the perch like that when he was mad about something. Laughing at him only made him madder and often elicited a loud squawk. Have any of you ever seen a Palm Cockatoo in the wild?
I like your idea about mindful eating, LJ. I’m guilty of eating while reading. If I gave up that behavior and sat down at the table to eat everything I would probably not have to worry about fasting. Eating is largely entertainment for me. We’re all guilty of eating in front of the tv or with a newspaper or book.

Lindsay, that day of silence with the parades the night before sounds fascinating. But it would certainly break up a vacation. I think it would be easy at home with the computers and iPads as long as they weren’t banned too. 😏

Neil, it sounds like you’re going to have some good meals from that trip to the butcher.
Glad your overeating that one day didn’t have a big effect on weight loss. A day or two doesn’t usually have a big effect on my weekly weight either unless I go really overboard. The FD’s seem to cancel it out.

Quacka, with gherkins and jalapeños, do you always pickle them or have you fermented them as well?