This topic contains 27,912 replies, has 831 voices, and was last updated by Intesha 1 day, 11 hours ago.
Hi all, I’ve been absent for a while now because I’ve been absolutely swamped at work. I’ve told my boss that I’m not coping but he’s been as useless as a one legged man in an arse kicking competition. On the bright side I lost 1.2 kilos last week. That means I hit goal one of 25 kilos lost (25.8 kilos lost to date) and I’m well on the way to goal number 2 of 105 kilos (currently 105.7 kilos)
Good morning all, another groundhog sunny still day – 22 degrees
Quick post as I’m getting ready to go for my ultrasound. The pain persists and it is starting to worry me but I’m trying to stay positive. I tried to have a small normal meal last night – 3 small chicken meatballs, a tiny bit of penne and the sauce is stock reduced down with all the bits from cooking the meatballs. OH cooked some truss tomatoes in the oven until they were just splitting then threw them in. It was divine because I was quite hungy but oh dear GOD….a short time later I had such bad pains in my tum. So back to nibbling dry crackers and some soup
Sorry to hear you are still unwell Betsy, please take it easy and rest up
I hope your transfusion went well LJ
Neil, you will end up sick too if this continues. I did laugh at your description of your boss. I hope they find some help soon
Sorry to hear bridge was a bit of a disaster yesterday Thin, but you are having fun and that’s all that matters
Thought I would jump on the scales for a giggle, knowing full well that 2+ days of eating practically nothing would have a false reading. 85.3! Hooray finally back in the 85’s! Ha ha. I’m determined, however, to turn this into a positive experience. When I’m better I will my stomach will have shrunk so I will have smaller portions
Must fly, back soon. Hi to everyone
Cold, grey Wednesday morning here, 8ish.
Crazy, lovely to hear of your high tea (and polite grandson) and it will be lovely if 5:2 suits your daughter too, and you can support each other.
LJoyce, I do hope your infusion went well with next to no after effects.
Thin, that early morning walk sounds wonderful.
Sympathies for a shocker of a bridge game, congratulations for the excellent one. No doubt you will keep having fun, whatever level you get to.
Anzac, I hope you are much recovered today.
Klondi, good news re your blood pressure. Best wishes to Mr Klondi, 2 alcohol free days a week sounds like such a good step. He can do it. Tell him I have cut out coffee for a few days, so I have lots of sympathy. And a headache.
And while the service cheered my car up no end, it will need new front brakes and two new tires in a month or so. Sigh. So snap with complications too. I hope you find a good plan B!
Lindsay, Keifeng, and the hotel, sound just wonderful. Just the holiday you needed.
Betsy, good luck getting into those earlier bed habits. It is so hard, you just get too tired to go to bed (well, I do).
Try and be patient with that post viral fatigue, it can take weeks to kick it off. So frustrating when there are things to get done, but you will feel so good when it finally goes. I hope your asthma settles down too.
Neil, a crisis at work sure shows up the dropkick bosses. I am so sorry you haven’t got a good one, when it is needed so much at the moment. Can you put in for some holidays in a couple of weeks so you can give yourself a break? You need it. I hope there are good records of the hours and tasks you are doing.
Congratulations on maintaining your weight loss through it all.
Anzac, good luck with the ultrasound. Hooray for ultrasounds to help work out if something more serious is happening. Thinking of you. Cheers for finding the silver lining! 85.3, yay!
It is fast day for me and oops I haven’t put things to soak, must go and do it. Yesterday was a good day, and it was good to have no coffee. I’m cutting down on tea too (she says optimistically).
Cheers all, lots of good wishes.
LJ and Betsy, you were both up very late last night if I’ve interpreted the time stamp correctly. LJ, what is lesson three covering? Overcalls perhaps?
Betsy, hope you feel better soon. We are finally starting to sleep in until closer to 7am after a whole summer of ridiculously early starts. This means I’m no longer falling asleep on the couch at 8.30pm.
Anzac, good luck with the scan today. Please report in.
Neil, it will be so exciting when you get to 99kgs! When I was in the work force, I found that bosses reward hard-working, efficient people with more work.
Crazy, forgot to comment on the scary tree incident. It’s nice when people work together.
Klond, you’re so right. A downward trend is all we need. No need to change anything if it’s all working perfectly for you. I’m a B&W, no grey areas person so none of this would work for me without rigid adherence to FD rituals. Reading the entries here, I realise that most take a very different view.
Cinque, it’s you and me today. I’m having the same thing that I’ve had for about the past 3 FDs. It makes it so easy when it’s all pre-planned. We have a lot of heavy gardening to accomplish today which will keep me busy and active. Why are you giving up/cutting back on coffee and tea?
Good Morning everyone
Anzac, I hope you get some answers from your ultrasound. Into the low 85’s!! That’s a nice feeling and you have a good plan to maintain it when you are feeling better.
Betsy, now is the time to really look after yourself. Sleeping well and eating well is vital to getting that “I feel great” feeling back after being ill.
Neil, I was wondering where you have been and thought that work was probably really busy for you still. I really hope you get it sorted out soon. Great work on the weight loss.
Lindsay, your description of your holiday sounds awesome. You are having such a great time and thank you for posting while you are away. Your reports are getting me even more excited for my little holiday, now only four weeks away. Everything is booked so all I need to do is re-confirm everything just before we go. I am super organised and don’t like leaving anything unchecked but I think I have thought of all I can do before we actually go.
Re: the oil spray. 17 calories is hardly anything and two seconds is a very long time to be spraying oil. If two seconds is 17 calories I would say the calories for my spray oil would be about 5. I use knojac noodles and zoodles on both FDs and NFDs but I prefer the zoodles anyday. At least I feel I am getting some nutrition from the zucchini. Sometimes though, you just want that al dente, firm to the tooth, feel to your noodles…..
It’s FD for me today. I have some mushrooms to throw in my miso paste soup so I hope I am not feeling too hungry today. Oh, I am having zoodles with bologanise sauce for dinner, the sauce being made with turkey mince.
I was thinking last night about your veggie challenge, Cinque. Is it 7 serves a day you have set for yourself? It’s a great idea and as you once said that it leaves little room for eating other foods (especially unhealthy ones). On the weekend I made a big tray of buffalo cauliflower. It’s a take off of buffalo wings and it is really yummy. Firstly you make a batter and coat the cauliflower florets then bake them. Then you melt some hot sauce and butter together and mix that through the cauliflower. Ok, now I know that batter and butter are not low calorie but this is for a NFD. So I snacked on a container of the cold cauliflower yesterday and had my leftover chicken curry for lunch (one thigh and lots of veggies). Dinner was a mix of really healthy veggie lentil patties and not so healthy frozen pastries. Anyway, the whole point I am trying to make is that I felt nice and full but not heavy yesterday. Today I feel really light after a NFD and the scales are also showing it up!! Veggies are definitely the key for me 🙂
Ok must run. Talk to you all soon. Have a great day xx
Morning from Keifeng.
Ah Thin. The bridge gods were at play. I am in awe of your ability, irrespective of one unfortunate day.
Damn LJ ….I can’t take bees home? How disappointing. Environmental issues seem to be taken more seriously here now, unlike when we first came up to China 15 years ago. Streets are cleaner, bins for recycling, and even at my old uni, some of the once immaculate lawns have been left to run to seed and weed, presumably for the insects. Traditional Kaifeng is so so different from modern Beijing and even Xi’an. We only saw one other laowai (foreigner) all day yesterday, and he was at the uni. We did however hear ‘laowai’ numerous times as we walked the streets so we are still a bit of a novelty. It was wonderful at the night market – beautiful traditional buildings lit up, and dozens of food stands under the old Bell Tower, and a whole street given over to stuff, for want of a better word. We bought the baby a beautiful little pair of hand-knitted red slippers. Knitting is traditional here … shops selling wool, and groups of women sitting and chatting and creating beautiful things, and some young ones learning.
Betsy we originally lived in LangFang, which I am sure you know is between Tianjin and Beijing. My company also gave me an apartment in BJ when they found we were going in most weekends. It was a good life. That highway used to give me the horrors – one person a day killed in the 60 odd km stretch – so when OH suggested going back this time, I didn’t want to tempt fate so said no.
Anzac good luck with your appointment today – you’ll be worried until you hear what’s causing this.
Neil, congratulations on hitting goal one, and two just around the corner. Can I ask what work you do?
LJ don’t envy my control – it’s just that I am not much of a cake fan. Give me a finger sandwich though, and it’s a different matter.
Klondi you are so right – I do miss home and my little giggly girls, and my loving, huggy Mr 4. And from the photos, the 1 year old seems to be growing leaps and bounds. I hope she remembers us …we’ve only been gone 12 days now, with another 6 to go, but it seems like a very long holiday.
Cinque, no post this morning. And where has Rosy gone? and Penguin? Hello to all I’ve missed.
Just had an email to say our flight has been delayed by 40 minutes which is good news for once. From the hotel we need to take a cab the 20 minutes or so to the train station for the 1 hour fast train to Zhengzhou (Kaifeng doesn’t have an airport). We had just 10 minutes to get our luggage to the bag drop which really was cutting it fine given so many things can take so long here. This gives us a bit more breathing space.
Hi Lindsay, I’m a digital records officer for the local city council. When we get a request for a LIM or a building consent or a planning consent it’s my job to track down all the information for the property from various sources (paper files, microfiche, microfilm, aperture cards, etc) make sure the information is correct, tidy up the information database, digitise the information and import it into the council’s document management system.
It’s a real mission because our city used to be a collection of little borough councils and they all had their own filing systems. We worked out that there are 82 different series of information to sort through to get a complete picture of the property information.
But our job has morphed over the years and I now do a whole lot of extra things that don’t relate to our job description, I tried to get my boss to go back to the other departments and get them to take back the work I’m doing for them but he refused to even commit to talking to them about it, hence my one legged arse kicking comment 😉
Oh, and Cinque – I just had a week off the week before Good Friday but I’m already ready for another one only 3 and a half weeks later. But I don’t take my holidays until the school holidays though so I can do things with the family so my next preak will be the beginning of July.
Hi Neil. Thanks for the info – your job sounds highly specialised and full on. Hope the pressure eases though.
Great decision to weigh daily, I think. Well it works for me – not for everyone – and Dr M recommended daily weighing in his Fast 800 book.
As we wait for our flight, I did have one last China story to relate. We’d bought a bottle of Bombay Sapphire at Sydney duty free, but only had a couple of drinks in Beijing. I wrapped the nearly-full bottle tightly and put it in my suitcase, but an airport security person very abruptly made me lift my case for x-ray and demanded it be removed and left on the bench. No doubt they acquire a lot of alcohol this way. But she was so rude, I thought, no way. So I took it and went into the loo, intending to pour it out. But there was a tired old cleaning lady in there pushing a mop – so I asked her, in my basic Chinese, if she would like it.
‘Jiu ma’ (alcohol?) she asked, disbelieving. ‘Dui’ (correct), I replied. My Chinese didn’t run to why I was giving her three quarters of a bottle of Bombay Sapphire, but she was happy, very happy. And so was I.
I thought you were allowed to take alcohol in your check-in luggage? Or is it because it was bought duty-free in Sydney? I remember my poor sister and BIL lost 3 bottles of precious, expensive French wine when they transited through Hong Kong. I would tip it out too and how lovely that you found someone so deserving Lindsay. Have a great and safe flight
Your boss sounds like a spineless tool Neil. I’m guessing if you tried to go over his head it would end up biting you later?
Health check-in, all pretty good so it must be a bad gastro bug. She wasn’t happy with a slight elevation in my liver so the wine has to be cut down NOW. I see this as a lightening bolt warning so I’m excited about a healthier future
The pain has lessened significantly and I am so relieved it wasn’t something awful. Isn’t funny how we always think the worst?
Thank you friends for your concern and support. What a team we are
A quick post tonight. (Not sure about the time stamp Thin, I went to bed at 10pm last night and posted just before that.)
I have developed a head cold today so have had to quickly rearrange all my arrangements for the new couple of days so I can stay home. So that I can type this without dripping, I currently have a tissue shoved up my nose! It must look ridiculous. (Sorry if that’s too graphic.)
NFD Fess Up:
– no breakfast or mid-morning snack, just 2 cups of tea
– lunch was an omelette with ricotta, kale and spinach filling & 60g toasted wholemeal sourdough
– early afternoon I had a hot honey and lemon juice
– late afternoon I had 6 crackers with vintage cheddar
– for dinner I have the last of the cumin roasted veg and the beans and I have 1/2 marinated chicken bread to grill to put with it.
Tomorrow was meant to be a NFD, but because I’m no longer going out for lunch I might fast.
I’ll write more when my brain is less foggy.
Good evening all. 8pm Wednesday tucked in bed drinking a lovely warm cup of dandelion tea MissD made for me. Add me to our sick list. The last few days started feeling unwell, achy, stiff neck, heady, dry throat, stuffy nose and major face ache across the cheeks, teeth/jaws etc – the usual stuff leading up to a head cold. I’m doing everything possible to prevent it developing into a full on cold. Tea tonight was vegie curry soup. I threw in 4 hot chillies and a quite a few slogs of Tabasco hoping the heat (Yep it was hot) will kill the cold bugs.
On the upside saw the Doc on Monday for results of my yearly blood test. All readings were perfectly spot on with one exception- my good cholesterol level is way too high. He was so baffled by the reading as apparently if good colestoral is high, so should the bad colestoral and the other readings. He could offer no advice other than to tell me I must be eating poorly (absolute rubbish – and I told him so). He then gave me a handout about eating healthy and sent me on my way. I threw the handout in the bin – it was full of great advice – not ! Use canola oil, eat low fat products etc – all the bad advice the authorities have been peddling for years.
So when i got home I googled it….lol. The main causes of high good colestoral are genetic disorder, high alcohol consumption ( definitely not me) and….menopause. So I will take menopause as being the cause.
Time for some reading then see if I can get some sleep. Good night all
Oh I forget to say the last time I had a cold was July 2005. I was so bad had a week off work, couldn’t lie down due to severe congestion and coffing so sat upright on the lounge for quite a few days. The reason I remember it well was because I was watching tv in the middle of the night when news broke of the London underground/bus bombings.
Just checking in. Yes, thin, I was on the computer way too late last post. This one? Before 11 p.m., so much better. Thanks to everyone for their good wishes. I still feel blah, exhausted, but am taking it more quietly this week, so hope for improvement soon.
Speaking of improvement, so glad to read, Anzac65, that your XRay procedure was okay and that you are now starting to feel better. Still be gentle with your stomach for another couple of days.
Neilithicman, well done for reaching your first goal of 25 kgs down. Impressive!!!! Sounds like major change is needed in your job at the moment. Does your boss have any idea how ill the pressure is making you? Who would do the job if you have to take a couple of weeks off as stress leave? Maybe suggest that gently? 🙂
GDayfromSA, sorry to read that the wretched lurgy has caught up with you – hope you’re feeling better soon. And LJoyce, also on the “sick” list. Is it the time of year? Let’s all try to recover, hey?
LindsayL, agree with you re the Beijing-Tianjin highway. I often flew back from Australia into Beijing, and I often had to just close my eyes on the bus or in the university car on the way back to TJ. And do a lot of praying!! 🙂
Good on you for giving the wine to the cleaning lady. I’m sure they don’t get a lot of appreciation, and to have a foreigner give her a nearly full bottle of wine would have been greatly appreciated.
Time to close – note thin, earlier tonight!! 🙂
Keep well everyone, and keep on the downward trail.
So many head colds and other bugs on this forum! I hope it isn’t catching. Anzac, so happy to hear that the ultrasound turned out ok. I’m like you in imagining the worst whenever I have some type of test. Such a relief when the results are negative.
I read most of your posts yesterday but then was falling asleep before replying. It was a very stressful day. In the morning, one of our macaws bit the other one’s foot pretty badly between the toes. They occasionally squabble, but they don’t usually hurt each other. I heard loud squawking by Isabella and went in their room to find her climbing back up one of the cages with blood dripping from her foot. I had get the other bird quickly into her cage and then get Isabella who was panicked and in pain. Meanwhile, the dog was barking at the noise and OH had to take him outside so I could get the bird into the bathroom where I could contain her and OH brought in a perch stand so I could get her off of my shoulder to see the foot. It stopped bleeding after a few minutes but I was so worried because she had lost a lot of blood. I called the avian vet and got an appointment for an hour and a half later since the bleeding had stopped.
The vet was able to clean it up with peroxide and then bandaged it to the toe next to it so the wound would heal. Lindsay, you will be interested in this. Before putting the bandage on she swabbed the wound with Manuka Honey. She said it had antibacterial and healing properties that would help the wound to heal faster. She also gave her shots of vitamin k and calcium, and an oral antibiotic and pain killer. I have to give her the antibiotic twice a day for 10 days and the pain med twice a day for 6 days. DS helped me this morning. It involves wrapping the bird in a towel and using an eye dropper to put the meds in her beak. Needless to say, she wasn’t happy about any of that. But we got both in, with me holding the bird and DS putting it in her mouth, with a minimum of stress. I dread having to do it for 10 days.
The Minuka Honey probably came from Australia or New Zealand because that’s where the Minuka plant is grown. I looked it up when we got home.
I hope everyone starts feeling better and gets past the head colds and stomach bugs. Must be the changing seasons. We went back to cooler temps today with a high of only about 16 and a low of 14. It rained overnight and is overcast today. I think it’s a Melbourne kind of day.
Morning guys, I have been lurking but far too little time to post. Sorry to all of you getting sick. I’ve had my flu jab so am praying I won’t be next. I remember saying something similar when you all were getting injuries and I ended up getting my wrist broken in 2 places so I had better be careful.
I’m doing exactly the same fasting routine at work but at night I have had a few mouthfuls of food. Don’t care if my weight loss is really slow at this point as I am looking reasonably small to which Thin will attest. 2 kg to go and will just do it really slowly.
I never weigh myself daily because I learnt that on the first 3 fast days of the week, I was still recovering from my fun on the weekend, by a The 4 th day I would lose a tiny bit but the best result was always Sat morning after 5 fast days.
Last weekend we were at an all day lunch party at a spectacular home overlooking the Swan river. Then on Mother,s day my eldest son (baby lawyer son is working inGermany for a year) was going to take me out for lunch. Instead he brought over a slow cooked lamb roast cooked in his smoker/ pizza oven with a beautiful Tasmanian bottle of bubbly. What a thoughtful son!
I’m getting sick of all the election advertising. I did a postal vote. Don’t think the Libs will get back in even though I voted for them.
It’s freezing this morning in Perth , min 4, max 17 and lots of rain. Must rush, have a wonderful day everyone !
Good Morning everyone
Oh dear! Everyone is getting sick at the same time on here. I hope we all feel better soon. Time to look after ourselves and when we eat, make sure it is wholesome, nourishing food. I know it’s a cliche but we need food for the soul at the moment, as well as our bodies.
Glad to hear yours wasn’t serious, Anzac.
FD was yesterday and I think I did ok. I may have gone to about 600 calories but I am not too worried. I think my body needs it at the moment. Weight this morning down again from yesterday so I’m happy. Still not in the 65’s again yet but very close. I haven’t exercised this week because I have been unwell but I am going to try to do some tomorrow, even if it is a long walk.
I have a very busy day coming up. My bosses are going away for 6 weeks and we have several major orders that need to be finalised today. One of the reps is coming at 1pm so there will not be much time to get it done this afternoon. Hope I don’t have to stay back late…..
Well, I better go start the (work) day. I hope you all have a great day and to those feeling sick, I hope you feel better soon. To the fasters, I hope it’s nice and easy and to us who are not fasting, no EFS!! lol. Byeeeeeee
Oh my goodness – almost everyone is sick! First we had a round of accidents and now a round of illness. Spooky coincidence. I hope you feel better soon Gday, LJ, Betsy, Lindsay, Quacka. Did I miss anyone?
Linsday, there is nothing worse than being sick when you are away from home. I hope you flight was at least comfortable and perhaps wasn’t packed so you could have two seats to yourself
Back in the office today, still some pain and a bit bent over but bearable. A few people seemed genuinely concerned which is nice, especially as everyone is so incredibly busy
Cali, I’m so sorry about your macaws and I hope Isabella recovers quickly. We struggle to get drops into Maxx’s ears, let alone a large macaw with a very large beak! Good luck with that. I also hope it was a once-off and they don’t start biting each other. Manuka honey comes from NZ only I believe but perhaps they have started (I almost said growing it!) producing it here. Not sure
LJ, when I have a cold or bad hay fever I walk around the house with tissues stuffed up my nose. My hubby thinks it is a bit gross but it is very practical and stops you getting a really sore nose from blowing it all the time.
Well done on the test results G’day and I agree that the doctor is a bit of an idiot. They may be highly educated but not infallible. I hope you feel better soon. You’re doing well to not have a cold from 2005 until 2019! That is simply incredible and shows how healthy you are. Nasty way to remember the last time though. It’s sad that these events mark a time in our lives. We should try to mark really positive events too but that doesn’t seem to happen as readily.
Hey, what’s wrong with my ‘lab report’ and ‘cat scan’ jokes? I thought they were hilarious (not really)
I am neither fasting or non-fasting as I am still not able to eat much. I’ve tracked what I’ve eaten in the last few days as well as what I plan to eat today and it is around 1,000 calories with just toast and a smidge of butter for brekkie, soup and dry crackers for lunch and something bland for dinner. I tried a bit of steak last night and it didn’t sit well so will stick to poached chicken tonight until everything settles down. I had accepted a team lunch today but have now declined as there is no point me going as I can’t eat anything. It’s the dumpling place and the thought of something so strong at this point makes my stomach turn. I’m not unhappy as I know it will pass and I will get some accelerated weight loss going to give me a burst of motivation
Hello to everyone, I must run and do some work. Have a great day!
Morning all, from HK. Calif not home yet – we have two days here, and three or four in Macau, depending on whether we can get a connecting ferry to the airport, or if it would be easier to come back to HK for a night.
It is wonderful to be back in the land of the internet-connected, where everything works. I didn’t have a VPN in China, and so many sites are blocked. Google, Facebook, Imgur, ABC. I see Beijing is trying to tighten controls here – what a terrible thought. Hong Kong just works, and very well. An example? Checkout at our very swish Keifeng hotel yesterday took 25 minutes (with a cab waiting to take us to the high-speed train), while the reception quibbled over a charge of 21 RMB (around $5 Australian dollars) for laundry I didn’t have. I wish I hadn’t mentioned it. I said I’d pay it, just to get out of there, but no, she had to have the laundry service come physically to the reception, and five people later, and a 21 RMB charge deleted, we were on our way. Usually I love the quirkiness of China, but not when it risked missing a flight.I We arrived here in HK Novotel at 10 pm and were tucked up in our room by 10.05, and luggage delivered within minutes. So efficient.
Calif what a drama with your bird. Giving antibiotics to a macaw doesn’t sound like a fun pastime. Thin, DD have any tips for Calif? The Manuka honey is famous for its antibacterial properties, but unfortunately because of its high price, there’s a lot of ordinary honey sold as Manuka. I wonder if mine will have antibacterial properties – it won’t be processed in any way, and there a lot of gums around for them to feed on. This pic is from the garden at our last hotel. https://imgur.com/a/YUV3tkr
Anzac great news your tummy problem isn’t something more serious. Unpleasant and painful, but not what you were dreading. The bottle was confiscated because it had been opened, from what I understood. I imagine the cleaning lady and Mr CL had a right old time down the Hutong that night, with three quarters of a bottle of spirits. Love your description of Neil’s boss, btw.
We had a Cathay business class seat down from Zhengzhou (thank you Qantas FF), so as good as it could be.
LJ and Gday hope you’re both feeling better today. Gday it is shocking doctors still hand out this rubbish about ‘healthy’ low fat eating. My GP told me doctors hardly study nutrition at all during their 6 year degrees. And unfortunately, sometimes it shows.
Hi all, and special hello to everyone in the 5:2 sick bay. Isn’t it odd that a group of friend scattered across states and countries all get sick at the same time.
Anzac, I am very glad that the scan results were good. Take it easy, it sounds like you are not really well enough to be back at work yet. A gastric bug can cause inflammatory effects on both the small and/or large intestine. When this occurs to the small intestine it can narrow sections of it considerably – so only soft foods or liquids make it through easily. (I know this because it happened to me during a gastric virus a few years ago.)
Quacka, sounds like work is quite busy for you too. Will it stay busier than usual with the bosses away?
Lindsay, I hope you have a safe flight. The take off and landing are always quite difficult with a blocked nose.
Cali, it’s a good thing you have an avian specialist vet nearby. I hope Isabella heals quickly and their squabbles don’t get violent again.
From my reading it seems that not only does authentic manuka honey have healing properties, but raw, pure, unheated honey can also help sterilise wounds. What I read was that the sodium in our bodies combines with the properties in the honey and creates something quite similar to peroxide. (The difficulty can be finding a honey that is actually pure and raw as many products labelled as such have been doctored with cheaper corn syrup.)
Rosy, that sounds like a lovely mothers’ day lunch.
GDSA, I hope you feel better soon.
I was reminded by your story of the London bombings that the same thing happened to me with the 9/11 twin towers. I was sleeping on the couch to reduce my coughing and I’d fallen asleep watching Star Trek. I woke up to see the footage of planes crashing into the Twin Towers. It took me a minute to realise it was real and not a disaster movie.
Neil, congratulations on reaching your 25kg goal weight. Sorry about your ineffective bosses. I hope they are at least doing something about getting a new staff member into your team.
I am going to try an summon the enthusiasm for making a pot of soup today – sweet potato. I plan to add some Thai curry paste, although not not all the extra chillies that GDSA did.
I decided I didn’t feel like doing a FD today, so it will be a NFD. I’ll fast either tomorrow or Saturday – I prefer to fast when I feel well.
Cinque, I saw this article and thought of you: “Dr Rupy’s 5 plant foods everyone should eat more of”
https://www.bbc.com/food/diets/rupy_aujla_vegan_tips
LJ, you are a bl00dy genius! I thought it was bland food I needed. Strong food was making me both nauseous and causing pain. Bland, hard food was still giving me pain but I couldn’t figure out why. So if I have dry crackers on their own OUCH. If I have the crackers with my soup – all good as I assume the soup is softening them. I had some raw almonds earlier and almost immediately lots of pain
So I’ve just had a big conversation with hubby. The brute ate the last of his soup from the freezer for lunch so is now madly making another huge batch. However it is normally a 2-day process but he is going to put the stock in the freezer to see if the fat will rise quickly. Otherwise I will have to try to stomach packet soup for dinner today and lunch tomorrow
My doctor told me not to have dairy but it would be useful if I could have lactose-free milk fruit smoothies. Being lactose free, does it still count as dairy? I might just go and google that
Thanks LJ!
Hi all, work has been better the last couple of days, there are fewer information requests coming in and I’ve had time for other stuff, but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s the calm before the storm and soon the work will come flooding back. I’m actually actively seeking new jobs after almost 15 years in this role.
It’s weird because it’s not a fast day but I’m just not hungry today. All I’ve eaten so far today has been a small handful of nuts, a kiwifruit and a little bacon and egg mini savoury. The chorizo and cheese salad I made for lunch is sitting in the work fridge uneaten. I might take it home and have it for dinner today and chalk this up as an impromptu fast day.
I just picked up a new DVD yesterday, one of my favourite shows “Pushing Daisies” I usually watch stuff on Netflix, but I haven’t seen this show on any streaming sites anywhere so I ponied up the dough for the DVD. I watched the first couple of episodes with my wife last night and it’s as good as I remember. We’ll have to try and ration it out so we don’t binge the whole lot inside a week and leave ourselves with nothing else to watch.
Anzac, you are welcome. The only reason I know this, is because the last time I had a really bad gastric bug I was hospitalised. They did a scan after I’d drunk a litre of barium and watched it going through the stomach and then the small intestine. It clearly showed sections of intestine that were much narrower than they should be. As this could also mean the start of something like Crohn’s disease, I had to repeat this process again about a month later – my intestines were all back to normal then.
The advice on food that I got was clear fluids first, then soft foods also with plenty of fluids. I remember eating, soups with soft veg, pureed soups, mashed or soft veg, semolina porridge, scrambled egg, yoghurt, soft white bread. Gradually add more solid chewy foods once you feel better. I found it took a while for me to manage things like meat or really fibrous veg and grains. I remember being discharged from hospital a couple of days before my birthday. When my aunt suggested they bring dinner over for my birthday I requested soup and egg sandwiches (very boring). They bought cake too, but the rest of the family ate that without me.
I had some dairy when I was recovering and it was ok. Yoghurt shouldn’t contain lactose as the yoghurt bacteria eat it to create the yoghurt. I also remember being served semolina porridge in hospital and adding a little warm milk to it and that was ok.
Neil, good luck with the job hunt. Sometimes it’s the only way to deal with a work situation that isn’t being managed well and you can’t see an improvement in sight.
I did find the energy to make soup. In fact I made 3 pots as I couldn’t decide on one recipe. I made a cream of veg soup (oddly it contains milk and cheese and is thickened with red lentils). I also made butternut & pesto soup and also a curried sweet potato and lentil soup which I also added tamarind paste and peanut butter to. I’ve had a little taste of all three – I wouldn’t make the butternut & pesto again it’s just ok, but the other two are wonderful. These soups may have used up all my containers of frozen chicken stock, but I’ll need even more freezer room for the soup. I always seem to put more into the freezer than I manage to remove.
Anzac, do you want some soup couriered over?
NFD Fess Up:
Breakfast – Pot of tea
Late morning – a small banana and 2 tsp peanut butter – and a taste of 3 soups
Lunch – open grilled sandwiches (2 slices seed sourdough, pesto, cooked spinach, kale, chard and leek, ricotta and parmesan)
Mid afternoon plan is for an apple and either a pot of tea or a hot milky drink.
Dinner will be one of the soups and possibly rye toast with a boiled egg.
Hello Southern Hemispherites!
Check in: I still continue with my Friday Fast Days! Given I’ve continued with 6:1, I’m hovering in the upper range of my goal weight ‘wiggle room’ envelope. I’m fine with that for the time being as I continue to experiment with both lchf and keto ways of eating. As I think I’ve mentioned previously what spurs me on to explore and experiment with lchf and keto is that so far they continue to solve my the gnawing kind of hunger that has dogged me my whole life. Interesting thing is that I’m never hungry on FDs and that is why FDs are always so liberating! It’s always the NFDs that I’ve continued to be challenged by.
Given my results with both hunger satiation and improved energy levels, I will definitely continue with lchf and though I’ve practiced a couple of random keto days and found I can actually pull them off, though I’m undecided whether or not I will go ahead with a span of weeks of keto. To decide, I’ve ordered a serum fasting insulin test from Nutripath. If results show I have any level of insulin resistance, I’ll go keto for some weeks while I keep up with either 5:2 or 6:1. If not, I’ll continue with lchf and continue with 5:2 or 6:1.
Rosy, I recall you helping me with potential sharks in the water with regard to keto! If I remember you mentioned social engagements posing challenges and rightly so! Even Jason Fung said he gained a considerable amount of weight on a cruise because he didn’t want to be the guy who didn’t eat this and didn’t eat that and said he had no regrets because he has the happy memories of enjoying himself socially. So, in light of this, I’ve decided to get my serum fasting insulin tested and if results reveal any level of insulin resistance, I will plan to set a span of weeks or months to go ‘keto’ until my insulin resistance is reversed and by then I hope to be ‘fat adapted’ and burn that as my primary energy source and then I’ll go back to simple lchf, all while continuing 5:2 or 6:1 and in both instances I’ll continue with either 5:2 or 6:1.
Big Congratulations on reaching your first goal Neil! Well done and here’s to you reaching your next goal post with ease. Your work place sounds a lot like mine. Thankfully I work out in the field so I’m free of the work load slung on everyone in our office; more than any one human could ever hope to accomplish.
LJ, Maybe you’ll be fasting with me tomorrow, Friday!
Thin and Cinque, I agree that planning ahead for FDs makes them so much more relaxed and easy! For months at a time I remember turning to La Zuppa for my FD meal! …Haven’t had one since last year, though winter is coming and easy to heat soup after a long day at work will be compelling.
Hi everyone,
10 mins to post, so ….
Hope everyone is going well, and the newbies getting familiar with 5:2 or whatever variation of Intermittent Fasting that you’re doing. Lots of good information on the Southern Hemisphere thread.
I’ve still been struggling with stress eating, so I’ve gone out into unknown land i.e. having ME/CFS and doing 800/day. A relative has just regained normal weight after doing the Fast 800 for a few weeks. Didn’t have lots to lose but very impressed.
I started on 800 everyday on Tuesday, at 66.9kgs.
Wednesday – 66.7
This morning – 66.4
So far it’s not triggering any challenges re impact on ME/CFS, so I’ll continue on the way to my 1st goal – To do 800/day for 7 days. Then I’// re-assess. Not finding it hard other than I’ve chosen to record everything each day and it’s a bit tedious. Staying with no food till after 12 noon.
Onwards and Downwards,
Merry
Hello all from HK, where I’ve just had the very sad news of Bob Hawke’s death. His intellect and vision changed so much about Australia – access to education, the economy, workplace agreements, Indigenous relations, environmental protection, and of course health care for all. Although he was old, he seemed like he’d go on forever and I’m really sad to hear of his passing.
8pm Thursday. I decided to take the day off work. Still feeling sniffy and achy but no sore throat or coughing thank goodness, just all in the head and nose.
Snap Ljoyce, I decided to make soup today too and also made 3 different types. In fact I went berserk and have stocked the freezer full of chinese take away containers full of soup. 10 containers of pea & ham, 8 of sweet potato and 6 of roasted cauliflower. All up that equates to 54 servings of soup. I also made a big batch of sweet chicken curry for tea so lots leftover to freeze as well.
I will admit I was exhausted by tea time but wow I certainly enjoyed cooking in the new kitchen. It was great to have a large sink that easily accommodates my big stock pot etc, lots of bench top space to spread everything out and the appliances all ready to use on the benchtop in the pantry rather than having to dig them out of the back of a cupboard.
Hope fellow posters on the sick list are feeling better, we do seem to be a unwell bunch at the moment don’t we.
Miss D has just bought me a cup of licorice tea in bed and it’s time for the first of the Eurovision finals to start so must log off now. Good night all.
Hi Everyone, happy Friday. Groundhog day yet again with sunny skies and 23 degrees. It was a chilly morning though
It’s definitely soup season. Arrived home last night to find the kitchen in an uproar with OH making two massive pots of soup. Bless him, as I can’t eat solid food he fast tracked his normal two day process into one and it took him all day. He hates having days away from his precious reno’s so I appreciate it all the more. So we have a freezer jam-packed full of chicken, vege & lentil soup.
Not happy with the scales, there was supposed to be a silver lining to this lurgy but this morning 86.2. So when I start eating normally again I will be surely back to where I was pre-lurgy? I’m not going to stress about it because who knows what is going on in my poor body so I’ll give it time to settle
Glad you are looking for another job Neil, and I hope you get a great one and soon. Then they will realise they should have supported you.
Hope all the sick kids are feeling a bit better today? I am for sure, only a little bit of tummy pain and no headache and I actually slept well for the first time this week. Winning!
Yesterday morning was a bit of a bad start. To cut a long story short OH had a grump about something that I would normally 100% let wash over me but being sick and in pain the red mist descended and I went off. Like a firecracker. Like one of those on Sydney Harbour Bridge on NYE. Completely out of context and OTT then came the sobbing….and poor Maxx who was still in bed and jumped up and came and stood in between us. Not sure who was more shocked – OH or Maxx. Anyway it didn’t escalate as we don’t fight – well hardly ever and never longer than 5 minutes – but it must have had an impact as he was an absolute angel on his walk. Recalled from other dogs, stuck to OH….no lunging or jumping. Maybe we should start every day with a melt-down? NO THANKS. I didn’t mention it yesterday as it was too raw but I’m now actually able to laugh about it as it was obviously just an output from being sick and very tired.
Lindsay, so glad you got a BC leg, it just makes all the difference. That’s why we collect FF points like mad. I don’t think….no, I KNOW I couldn’t do a long haul in economy any more. Your trip sounds so awesome and funny (but not if you had missed your flight) story about your check out
I hope you were able to get all your work done yesterday without staying back Quacka. Things are really starting to ramp up here and it’s quite ominous as I still don’t know anything about the new system and when I go to meetings I can’t understand a word. I just need to be patient, I know.
Hi Rosy, nice to hear from you. Your lunch and mother’s day sound wonderful. I’m so happy that you are so close to your goal.
Hi Merry and Minka, lovely to hear from you as well
Hi everyone else, I should go and get some work done. Have a great day
Good morning everyone
Minka, I’m glad that you have found something that keeps the hunger dragons away.
And yes I do plan to fast with you today.
Merry, 800 a day is a big challenge – to go with the others you are facing at present. I hope it gets your weight back where you want it to be without bring on CFS issues.
Lindsay, hope you are feeling better in Hong Kong. I agree that Bob Hawke did change some important things for the better. In my lifetime he was definitely the most memorable prime minister.
GDSA, hope you enjoyed Eurovision, it’s something I enjoy too (although I still miss Terry Wogan’s snarky commentary).
Anzac, glad you got your soup – in spades by the sound of it. Hope you continue to improve.
I’m feeling better today. I’m hoping I’ll be well enough to go to my bridge lesson this afternoon. It really depends on whether my nose behaves as I don’t feel it’s appropriate to go otherwise.
I have only one Fess Up update to make – a sugar free hot chocolate yesterday evening.
Morning all from a very chilly (3C overnight) Perth. I’m fit and well!
Yesterday, I read yesterday’s posts but didn’t have time to contribute. I remember Rosy’s – glad to hear you’re eating after work now. Very brave to state your political preference here. I’m with you. I tried to apply for a postal vote but I couldn’t come up with a valid excuse without lying which came with threats of financial fines so I abandoned it. Why can’t we all do a postal vote without needing an excuse? It seems nuts that 3m postal votes have been lodged, a great many before the official launch of the campaign. The paper bombardment in my letterbox has been alarming. Not to mention the constant automated phone surveys. Thank goodness it’s only 6 weeks, I’m sick to death of it.
Lindsay, that explains why, “Would I Lie To You?” that had been advertised only moments before, never eventuated. I had the TV muted thinking it was a Labour party political broadcast but it went on so long that I gave up waiting and went to bed. How timely for them to get all that added media exposure just before the election!
CalifD, I read your post with interest yesterday. DD and I discussed it at length. She says that honey is widely used in vet clinics here too. She was also telling me how fish skin (carp?), a by-product of the fishing industry, is used now to help heal burns. It’s applied just like a bandage! She wants to know how you came up with Isabella for a name and hopes she’s recovering well.
Minka, good hearing from you and to know that you’re still going with 6:1. Interesting that your weight is creeping up to the upper limits of the envelope. That’s what happened to me after some months. Will you revert to 5:2 if it gets out of hand? I always feel a tad inferior when I read your posts because you are so dogged in your pursuit of perfection. Please report back soon, keeps me on my toes!
I just plod along with 5:2, enjoying whatever I want on NFDs and strictly adhering to my two FDs. A bit boring really! Yesterday, DD took us out to celebrate Mothers’ Day. We abandoned our planned drive to the Swan Valley as it was so cold and wet and decided instead to potter around Fremantle. (Left Bank, Rosy – ever been there?). I had a massive seafood platter, easily enough for two but OH doesn’t do sharing and DD doesn’t do seafood. I gave away my chips and thoroughly enjoyed the salad and fish. No dinner. OH claimed to be hungry so I made him some soup (well, OK, I pulled one out of the freezer, it was Mothers’ Day after all!). This morning, he’s straight into the kitchen for a big fry up.
Merry, so sorry to hear that you’re stress eating but pleased you’ve found a possible solution. I hope Mr M is responding well to treatment. Please drop in more often if you can.
Oh dear, so much else to respond to but I’ve been here an hour and have much to do so must depart.
I doubt there’s much wrong with one sugar free hot chocolate.
We certainly need the hot drinks over here at the moment. It was our coldest day of the year yesterday with a maximum of 9 degrees, but with the wind chill it was supposed to feel more like 2 degrees. Today is pretty cool too. The only downside from my big weight drop is that I’m really feeling the cold now. I’ve lost 26 kilograms of insulation.
Good morning everyone, sunny and cold here. Melbourne 10ish.
Merry, so good to see your post. Hooray for 800 a day. It seems like an excellent option.
Minka, so glad to hear from you and that you are managing the roaring hunger issue. All power to you.
Thin, I got all woozy on Wednesday morning and knew I needed to eat, and then thinking that I was babysitting in the evening I am sad to say I jettisoned the Thinatlast Protocol. Sad because I do like sticking to decisions and seeing them through. But I did have my fast day yesterday instead, so all was well.
Quacka, isn’t cauliflower excellent! Yes I am trying to have minimum 7 serves of veggies a day. My interpretation of 5 veg 2 fruit is to count tomatoes, capsicum, eggplant etc as fruit. I don’t always manage 7 but I am getting better at it. And feeling better for it.
I hope you feel better today, and that soon you are up to exercising again.
Lindsay, thinking of you winging home with your virus. Ooh the pain of the landings, fingers crossed your ears aren’t too sore.
I’ve just listened to Geraldine Doogue’s podcast about Bob Hawke, such a lot of insights. https://longdistancecall.com.au/episodes/episode55
Neil, I second the suggestion, to keep up your sleeve at least, for a week’s stress leave if you need it. July might be too long to wait.
Anzac, so glad the pain is receding, and that you have got your early warning call from your poor liver so you can do something about it immediately. So glad your outrageous blast showed Maxx what you are capable of.
You probably have a lot of inflammation as your body works to fix your poor digestive system. It is good that you are weighing more if your system is holding onto water to help it heal.
Ha LJoyce, when a nose is dripping it needs plugging! I do the same. Hoping you get off with a short illness, and the same to all the sickies.
I am almost scared to write this, in case it tempts fate, but after a run of getting EVERYTHING going around a couple of years ago, someone suggested that, better than all the healthy eating and vitamin supplements, is the trick of washing your hands as soon as you get home (and avoiding touching your face with them until you do). It has become my habit and I am crossing my fingers it keeps working. (Not much use when OH gets a bug, I know).
Gday, fingers crossed it is menopause, explaining why your hdl is so high.
Hope you got a lovely restorative sleep.
Cali, what a crisis with your birds. I hope you are going fine with the drops, I thought giving a cat medicine was hard!
When I lived in Bendigo (30 years ago) I used to drive through great swathes of manuka and the honey was famed, although that research about its particularly wonderful antibacterial properties hadn’t really become known then. I think we had only just taken on the Maori word for that species of tea tree.
Rosy Posy, Hopefully going to the top of the board in Accident week, means you can skip Dreaded Lurgy week.
I love how you are cleverly easing your strict fasts into something sustainable. What a gorgeous son! Send him over here with his slow cooked lamb roast please!
Also envious of all the stunning soups being made, but luckily I have some in my fridge too, made with the beetroot I fermented and wonderful chicken stock my sister made. And I think I have some mung bean soup in the freezer for when I have eaten this lot up.
LJoyce, I had never heard of Dr Rupy but I thoroughly support his 5 foods people should eat more of!
Accountability: I did Wednesday on the wing but had soup in the fridge and some yummy leftovers, so that was a good day. Traditional fast day yesterday with miso soup.
It is my fourth coffee-free day and the withdrawal symptoms really kicked in yesterday. I am sleeping better so will keep at it.
Today B. Toast with avocado, ajvar and lettuce. Oooh so yummy.
L. Soup and muffin
Snack: Halloumi and lettuce (garden has lots of lettuce at the moment)
D. Roasted eggplant and red capsicum pasta with greens and toasted seeds.
PS Hi Thin and Neil!
We are marking time here in Sydney. I just went to a big project reunion lunch and it was at a hotel with a huge balcony outside and it was warm enough for us all to sit there in short sleeves. It made you happy to be alive.
I ended up having an entrée serving of salt & pepper calamari as my tum is feeling much much better. I saw that they were tiny (about 8 pieces) so I decided it would be ok and a good test of how much better I am. It went down like manna from heaven and I haven’t had any negative effects at all. Yay!
Thin, sorry the weather was awful for your Mother’s day lunch but it sounds like it was a lovely day with a nice meal and your family with you.
So glad you are feeling better LJ and I hope you made your bridge game.
G’day, I enjoy Eurovision but I don’t seem to remember to watch it. It is just so ‘out there’ – I love that about it.
Good evening all.
I’m just concluding my FD with a cup of chai. Dinner was a bowl of curried sweet potato soup. Just hot enough to clear the sinuses! The only soups that are curried (or similar) that I’ve made before are mulligatawny and laksa. For some reason the idea of curried vegetable soup just didn’t appeal so I ignored those recipes. I obviously didn’t know what I was missing, as tonight’s dinner was wonderful – I think it was the addition of tamarind and peanut butter that made it really good.
I’m finding Fridays are making quite good FDs as I have bridge all afternoon and don’t get home until at least 5pm. As long as dinner just requires reheating it’s a very easy day.
I hope those on the sick list are improving. I’m a lot better today too.
Anzac, that sounds like a good health improvement – nice to be back on solids rather than eating like someone without any teeth. Just don’t tell your OH he needn’t have bothered making all that soup!
Thin, I’m glad carp skin is useful for something. I’ve always thought European carp were nothing but a foreign menace to our river system.
I went to bridge today and my partner and I manged to win a hand and stop our opponents getting their contract. (Although in reality it had more to do with their mistakes than our play!)
I went into the teaching room early, not realising that they were just about to provide a short lesson to a much more advanced group. When I saw how complicated things get it made my head spin. I find that each week doesn’t just add a little bit of info it seems to double the complexity. I had to read this week’s chapter 3 times before I thought I understood it and I was still second guessing myself during play.
Cinque, I shudder every time you talk about your coffee free days. Not because I drink coffee, but the very idea of ever giving up my lovely cups of tea sounds like cruel and unusual punishment of the worst kind.
I like the sound of your NFD – any day that includes haloumi is a good day, what a yummy cheese that is.
Neil, no I didn’t feel too badly about the unplanned hot choc.
You will absolutely feel the cold more as you lose weight. It bothers me a whole lot more at this weight than it did when I was 50kg heavier. I also found that when on 800 cals I struggled to get warm. There were many evenings where the only thing that could eliminate the bone deep chill was a hot bath.
I don’t know if anyone saw “Escape from the City” on the ABC last night but it was set in the part of the Adelaide hills where I used to live. Some of the houses made me shudder with the bushfire risk, especially over at that Crafers West house. I briefly rented over there when I first moved to the hills and almost every road is a dead end with only one way in or out. I was only there for a year but there was a bushfire that came within 500m of the house. I was home sick that day and it was very scary – the sky was red and it was raining ash and hot debris.
Anyone else planing a democracy sausage at the polling booth – I’ve pencilled one in as lunch. (For the non-aussies it’s a tradition for most polling booths to have a sausage sizzle – usually raising money for charity.)
Hi everyone, sick and well. I had the flu last year despite having had the flu injection, and was really quite ill – ended with break-out asthma and then asthma bronchitis. I don’t recall ever having the flu before as an adult – lots of colds, but not the flu – and never want to have it again, so have had the flu injection again this year. As I’m not nearly as rundown, I am hoping to miss that bullet this year. Truly, if anyone hasn’t been vaccinated, please consider it. There have already been a lot of cases this early in the flu season, considerably more than last year for this time of year, and some deaths, so it’s not something to take lightly.
Thinatlast, I think you may be confusing the early postal voting with early polling. I wasn’t eligible for a postal vote, as the list is quite restrictive, but I went to an early polling station. As I could say I would be very busy tomorrow, I could legally vote early. And that’s what a lot of people have done – more than 3 million, as you wrote.
Sounds like the soup season is really upon us. How lovely of your OH to cook all that soup for you, Anzac65. Hope you’re feeling better now, both physically and emotionally. Actually, it makes me wish I could do some cooking, but I have to eat the food that’s already in the freezer first, which admittedly is fairly runny casserole-type cooking, so could be considered a type of soup.
CalifDreamer, whoa, trying to get liquid meds into a macaw??? Rather you than me. Glad you had some help, and hope the same will apply for the next 10 days.
LindsayL, enjoy H.K. One of my favourite H.K. activities is to travel across the bay on the Star Ferry, even though the MTR is faster. Doesn’t have the same ambience!!
Lots more posts, from Rosy Posy, GDay from SA, Merry, Minka, Neilithicman, Cinque, LJoyce – well done on winning a hand. Bridge gets easier, just give it time. Just hoping for you all, for good health and successful controlled eating. Getting late, so will close.
Well, lost 500 grams on yesterday’s FD, but still in the low 61’s. Being extra mindful today.
Neil, glad to hear that you’re looking for a different job. It certainly sounds like they’re taking advantage of you where you are. And if you get another offer, I bet your boss counters with an increase. It often works that way.
Thin, tell DD that I just liked the name Isabella. It suits her. I hope she still loves me after 10 days of toweling her to get the meds in twice a day. Traumatic for me and for her. But with DS’s help, we’re pretty efficient. 7-1/2 day to go.
I’ll site more later. Hope you’re all feeling better.
Good morning, easy slow Saturday with a big moon overnight and lovely clear Autumn day. 10am.
LJoyce, giving up coffee for a while is hard for me, but only temporary. I am booked to have one on Monday morning, and I am still enjoying tea! Although I MIGHT try a tea-free fast day tomorrow. Not sure. I will think about it today. My plan is to keep having coffee-free fast days.
I didn’t see that ‘Escape from the City’ episode from your part of the world, I might see if I can catch it, but oh dear, those bushfires.
Cheers to everyone having their democracy sausages today. I am eligible to postal vote, so I miss out on the sausage… and the queues.
Betsy, totally with you, championing the flu shot. And very glad you are not so run down.
Ooh Lindsay, so hoping your post comes through.
Cali, cheers on getting down, you will soon be below 61kg. Best wishes to Isabella, and to you all managing her treatment.
Accountabilty. Tick for eating good healthy food, but catching myself out with how hungry I am at 3pm. I added more salad things to my halloumi and lettuce until it was really a meal. (A DELICIOUS meal). I was quite full for my evening meal but wasn’t successful at making it much smaller (although I tried). Then I couldn’t get to sleep and had a midnight snack (peanuts) and watched tv (so much for not drinking coffee making me sleepy. Sigh.) but then slept well til the morning.
I am going to try having a small bowl of soup at 3pm AND THAT’S ALL. And if that doesn’t work, after a few tries, I will try having a meal at 4pm and a small bowl of soup a couple of hours later.
Today: B. mung bean dosa (yum, except they keep sticking)
L. Frittata
Snack: soup
D. Pumpkin risotto. Hot cocoa drink.
Anzac, are you feeling better now?
CalifD, noted and passed on thank you!
Neil, LJ, I couldn’t get warmed up yesterday (17C). We keep a very warm house so everywhere else seems cold to me. I’d met a friend for a walk in Kings’ Park which was beautiful and then we went for coffee in the park. Even in the sun, it was very chilly. I agree, without the excess 25kg fat, there is little insulation. My fingers felt numb and I felt as if I might develop frostbite. When I got home, I made a hot chocolate to try and warm up. It tasted sickly sweet and I immediately regretted it.
LJ, congratulations on bringing your opponents down (especially clever in a teaching session where the cards were probably stacked in favour of them winning their contract). I liken learning bridge to learning a language but one where you are not able to speak any new words until you know them all! There are so many things to think of concurrently and it can become overwhelming. The only way to get through that is to start playing as soon as your lessons finish until, one by one, a few things sink in and become routine. I’m reassured that even you are finding it challenging!
LJ, I think I did see the end of the programme you mention and thought of you, in fact. There was a couple considering a renovated church.
Betsy, I was pointing out that millions of people had already voted before the official campaign launch for at least one major party (11 May). And wondering why one should need to concoct an excuse of any kind in order to do a postal vote. It would cost the nation a lot less money. Over 10 years ago, the going rate for one person to spend the day checking off names of voters entering the polling station was $350. That’s just one element of the overall cost. Meanwhile, the assault on my phone was ramped up overnight with annoying messages from ‘Marilyn’, ‘Josh’ and other concocted randoms pleading with me to vote Labour. Waking me in the night is no way to curry favour. As it happens, a lady in our street has the same name and we’d thought she was in need of urgent help.
Cinque, sorry to hear that you were forced to abandon your fast day. Oblivious, I battled on for both of us! Completely agree about fastidious hand-washing rituals. We have eliminated spread of colds within our own family by employing these measures. GDSA, that’s an impressive period of avoiding colds especially with a school age child in the house.
Must go now and start dragging huge piles of branches out to the verge for Monday’s collection. It was 2C overnight. I won’t be fooled by the sunny day today.
Thin, I read this article the other day, which made the $350 a day for election workers seem a lot less like easy money. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-17/working-polling-stations-election-voting-day-overwork-low-pay/11112970
It would appear that the same group of people come in early to set up the polling booth, then they spend the day checking names, then they have to count all the votes late into the night, and dismantle the polling booths. I couldn’t cope with a working day that long. I think the only easy shifts would be for pre-polling because the booths are set up once at the beginning of the week that it’s available and there is no counting allowed.
I don’t know why my reposted post hasn’t made it ….but I’ll give it one last shot, and with apologies if it turns up four times. (It’s not that interesting lol).
Evening all. Big day tomorrow and I’ll be popped in front of the tV in Macau to see what the outcome will be. We left HK this morning…..you are right Betsy – that trip on the Star ferry is a ‘must-do’, although there’s been so much reclamation of land the trip is now so much shorter. when we first started coming to HK the old Post Office was on the waterfront – now it’s a 5-10 minute walk from the terminal.
We are staying at the Sofitel in Macau and OH says its like living inside a pinball machine. Only the public areas, fortunately. Very brassy and bright…not at all restrained, lke most Soffies. The room is very comfortable. I am shaking my cold, although my chest is very congested. Damn air-conditioning I think – freezing one moment then out into the heat the next. We are planning a lazy few days before we head off.
I am excited about getting home. We leave next Tuesday night, in on Wednesday. I’ve been looking back at my holiday snas – The pic I’m posting is from a restaurant the Muslim Quarter in Xi-an….it’s a cool name, though I don’t have a clue what it is. https://imgur.com/QqW2AwH
And another of Beijing roses. https://imgur.com/pThDV2b
Merry, Minka I’ll be with you once I’m home…..not pure keto, but very low carb, and 800 a day until I shed my holiday weight. I find low carb, higher fat just works for me with appetite control and generally giving me a feeling of wellbeing …. although that could be because I’m feeling so good with the weight loss.
Talk soon all
LJ, interesting article but, having worked at the AEC, I’m not sure of the accuracy of some of its content. In my experience, those crossing off the names are allowed nowhere near a completed voting form. There’s a well-oiled structure of supervisor upon supervisor, each with very specific roles. One such supervisory role is to drive the ballot box contents to the counting location – in your own car, which I always thought a bit dodgy and fraught with danger! The counting takes places in a central facility having nothing to do with the polling venues. The people employed for counting (unbelievably still carried out by hand) also operate under very strict guidelines that employ separate roles for each of several stages of the counting process. I wasn’t suggesting that $350 is easy money. I was only lamenting that it’s a massive cost to the country compared to the cost of counting postal votes so why not allow everyone to do it? While I’m having a big rant, I’ll add that I find it incredible that one can vote without showing any form of ID!
Anyway, Australians face a big decision today – mustard, ketchup or BBQ sauce. Here’s who I voted for: https://imgur.com/jxQjJtD
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Michael is touring Australia this September! Here's a link to dates and tickets. Hope to see you there.
Michael Mosley gives an update for 2019, current research in the field and announces a tour starting in February.
Michael looks at the Horizon special, "What's the Right Diet for You" and tells us which diet they say is best for him.
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8:14 pm
14 May 19