Hi all, good to be back again. Update on eating – has finally settled a bit, with 2 CDs the past 2 days. I’m trying for 4 B2B FD800s to finish off the month. To explain, after the stress leading to last Thursday, I had a small “no-problem but I’d scratched it half off” lesion removed from my back on Friday, with local anaesthetic and 7 stitches. Just couldn’t fast for a few days as the local knocked me sideways. Back doing exercises and better controlling my eating from yesterday.

LJoyce, chuckled at the story of the lady whose “steps” were those of her shih tzu. I remember being in a team for one of those competitions at work. it ran for a month, and after about 10 days, the only person still walking and entering steps was me; very disappointing.

Neilithicman, glad you still have an eye! Also, well done for being down to 100 kgs You’ve done an amazing job. Puts me a little to shame, but….. we all do what we can do.

Thinatlast, thinking of you, and hoping the challenges currently facing you are resolved so you can settle back to some degree of normality. Great you’re still doing 6:1 anyway. Are you one of those people who lose weight when under stress?

LJoyce, re distances walked, my fitbit seems to calculate the distance I walk based on my height. I know that for me, 10 minutes walking is 1200-1250 steps, due to my lack of height. I couldn’t use a GPS as I housewalk, and to combat the boredom, count my steps as I go. That’s actually quite useful, as now, if I’m out and about, if I know the number of steps I’ve walked, I know approximately how long I’ve been walking. I sometimes walk the length and back of my local shopping mall before doing any shopping. Going into all the nooks and crannies as I go means I can get a solid 20+ minutes walk done.

Talking of walking, did anyone see the Dr M. program where they checked whether doing 6 lots of 5 minutes walking was equivalent to 30 minutes done in one lot where fitness was concerned? – turns out 6 lots of 5 minutes, 3 lots of 10 minutes or 1 lot of 30 minutes has an equal effect on fitness. My aim is for a minimum of 8000 steps a day, but I actually try for around 9250, as that then has me reaching fitbit’s goal distance for me of around 6.4 kms.

Thanks to those who asked about my pulled muscle – mainly settled now, which is why I’m back onto the exercise. All good.

Anzac65, great progress with the weight, so good to see it finally moving downwards.

Thinking of downward weight, One of the clothing stores at the mall had 7/8 jeans on sale – officially ankle-length, but for a shortie like me, yay, normal length and no need to shorten them – I bought 3 pairs of jeans, $20 each, a total of $60 instead of $190, so I was really chuffed. The only thing is, I bought the size which was just too small, so I better jolly well lose some more weight or I won’t be able to wear them! Yes, they will fit properly when I’m a bit lighter, as 1. I’m currently wearing the next size up and they fit really well, and 2. I can already ooze into the new ones, but wouldn’t wear them until they’re a bit looser.

Sorry, lots of rambling. Tried to go back and read all the posts, but couldn’t keep them in my head.
Good that Penguin is back, and tackling the weight gained in Portugal.
Good that Quacka arrived home safely and loved her holiday.
Good that Anzac65 is enjoying planning her big break away.
Good that GoodDayfromSA found the food she wanted so can keep to the WOL on holiday.
Hope CalifDreamer that your eating stays under control during your friends’ visit.
Cinque, hope your heating is soon fixed.

Have a good week all.

LindsayL! Misspelt the name, then misspelt the correction. Sorry.

7.30am at Airport waiting for flight. They slapped a ‘HEAVY’ sticker on my luggage at check-in….lol. I hope the zip holds up as the suitcase was bursting at the seams as is my backpack. In my defence I do have some books and my laptop which are all work related so the weight is not all due to my shopping expeditions.

Good morning, it is going to get to 18 today. Perfect.

My heater still isn’t fixed. I’m in public housing and they used to be excellent at getting things fixed quickly, but funding is stretched further these days, and after three days of waiting at home and spending 40 minutes on wait each time I ring to try and find out why they didn’t come when they said, I am accepting that I had better fit into the new way of working where they promise they will come and I promise to stay home, but then we both completely ignore our undertakings.
I’ll go and get shopping done today and take it easy, and steel myself to ring again tomorrow.

Anzac, I’m glad that you have that good philosophy with your work and you will ride it out. I hope the presentation went well. Haha yes, you are in a sitcom there!

Quacka, I love what you said about ‘failed fast days’. Sometimes it works to jettison one and make it the next day, but mostly my philosophy is ‘Whoops! Fail! oh well there is another one coming up in a few days.”
My failed fast days are usually still less intake than a normal eating day, so that is all to the good.

Re your rude friends, my sister was given a way to handle the passive aggressive putdowns in our family and it is something I keep in my head now. In your situation she would ask your workmates “Why are you making those comments about my food?” Why indeed?

I am also eating a lot of eggs at the moment, I have beautiful little fresh ones from my sisters chooks. Such a pleasure.

Hi Cali, they are selling varieties of kombucha at the cafe down the street labelling it ‘sugar free’. Not sure it can be. But so glad you have found that option. Especially the beetroot one. Glorious!

Betsy ouch! I had a mole off my back and it hurt a lot more than I expected. Good work getting back into the swing of your good eating regime, and your exercising too.

Klondi, lovely news. I’ve been to Yeppoon, I had friends there years ago. What a lovely place to spend two weeks.

Hi LJoyce, Neil, Merry, Thin. Hi Lindsay! Penguin, are you melting? Rosy are you still reading here? Gday I hope it is a good trip home. Best wishes everyone 🙂

my name is Neil and I like puns, so neilithicman is a play on Neolithic man

Mine im an artist i paint web site kerrysart.co.nz and all artists are a wee bit crazy hahaha

Good morning all.

Anzac, I think I’ve mentioned before that my name includes the first initial of my actual name “L” and the Joyce was the name my mother was known by in the family all her life – despite it not actually being her real name. It’s weird how that sometimes happens. I used to work with a lady called Beth – years later I discovered her real name was Elinor but she’d always been called Beth!
Anzac I do understand your feelings about eggs. I’m the same with fish – I don’t like it when it smells/tastes fishy, it needs to be bland or obscured by other flavours. I can cope with tinned salmon or tuna, but couldn’t just eat it from the tin – it needs to be with other flavours.
Anzac, that kilojoule counter site is really good for fresh ingredients but not for processed food and especially not specific brands – there are other sites (like Calorie King) that are better at that. I don’t like the American sites because their brands are unfamiliar and their measurements (cups, tablespoons) are smaller than ours, so it’s too easy to underestimate your calories.

Cinque, not fixing something as important as heating in the middle of winter sounds quite irresponsible to me. I will hope for a better response for you by Friday.

Klondi, it is meant to be the dry season up there, so hopefully you’ll see some nice weather soon. Maybe the lack of tempting treats is a good thing.

GDSA, hope you do have some nice purchases heading home with you.

Penguin, I must say a wet 27C sounds much more like what I expect from English summer weather.

Betsy, that sounds like quite a wound on your back. Glad to hear it’s healed well.

Hello to everyone else who’s reading.

Time I went for a walk. I’m just doing one today as I pushed myself too hard yesterday (11,000 steps) and my back was seriously unhappy with me by the time I got home from the second walk. As with all exercise there’s always a balance I need to find.

My name isn’t very original, it’s one I’ve used in the past for email. I was just trying to come up with something quickly and it’s all I could think of. One of the coolest names I’ve seen on a forum was a number of years ago. There was a limit of 8 letters. One guy used ‘DonkeyOT’. At first I just thought it an odd choice of names, until I figured it out.

FD is almost over. I really don’t like only a single day between FD’s, but it was the only way to fit it in this week. I’ll have to be careful #with 4 NFD’s and guests for the next few days.

Cinque, I hate it when repair people don’t show up when they’re supposed to. It’s one of my pet peeves. Lots of phone calls and whinging, coughing might help. You shouldn’t have to wait that long to get the heat fixed.

LJ, I thought it was just teaspoons that were different between the USA and Aus. Cups and tablespoons are different too? I never took that into consideration when I’m following a recipe from an Aussie site. But I don’t measure things very carefully anyway unless it’s for baking.

Crazy, your paintings are amazing! You are so talented. It looks like you live in a beautiful area. Of course, all the pictures I’ve seen of NZ look beautiful. Have you been painting for a long time?

Klondi, I’ve found that the non-alcoholic wines that aren’t watery tasting are too high in sugar too. I like alcohol and I like sugar, but I usually don’t like them together. The fancy Hawaiian drinks with fruit juices and little umbrellas in them were wasted on me when we were on holidays there. I ended up ordering plain wine. Is anyone else like that? The kombucha isn’t too sweet because the sugar is fermented out. It has some kick to it even if it isn’t alcohol. Actually, the label says it can contain up to .5% alcohol by volume, probably because of the fermentation process. A few years ago they were pulling a bunch of bottles from the store shelves because the alcohol got too high in some brands. I guess they’re more careful now.

Cinque, if the kombucha they were selling at the cafe was really sugar free it would taste like vinegar. I used to let mine sit too long sometimes and it would get like vinegar. It wasn’t acidic enough to put on a salad, but too sour to drink. I did keep some of it for months and it got more acidic. Did anyone here ever use raw vinegar and wine to make wine vinegar? I actually got a ‘mother’ or culture to grow in some once, but then didn’t look at it for a long while and the next time I looked it had grown mold on it, so I didn’t have much luck with it.

Hi all, good to read all your posts – my username is a “pet” name my mother used for me occasionally when I was young. She also called me “SusieSal”, but I prefer the other.

Anzac65, about the 7/8 jeans – alack, not the size (I wish!!!) but the length – they are 7/8ths of the length of normal jeans, so I don’t need to shorten them. They are actually sizes 12 & 14 (different styles, so a difference in size). Currently I’m wearing a range of size 14 & size 16 jeans, size 12 to 14 tops. But speaking of sizes, you’re nearly there under the 85 kg barrier – well done!

Re the stitches on my back – I was actually surprised that the doctor put in 7 stitches as the lesion was quite small – apparently the excision wound is a wedge shape about an inch long. Anyway, the pain of the wound has been settling which has allowed me to exercise, and the stitches come out on Thursday next week.

Cinque, how frustrating that the heating folk have still not come. Brr!

Loving all the travel descriptions people are posting. Was it Klondikekween with the bulging baggage? I empathised, as when going to and from China years ago I was always carrying extra books for teaching. I was often given an extra 10 kgs allowance to take my teaching books to China.

Okay, better go organise some food for dinner, so bye for now.

Just home from babysitting and waiting for my dinner to warm up.

Cali, The reason for the differences in our measures, is that the Aus measures are based on metric and US are based on imperial. US and Aus teaspoon measures are exactly the same – both 5ml or 1/6 fluid ounce. However our tablespoons are 20ml or 4 tsp and yours are half a fluid ounce which is only 15ml or 3 tsp – this difference can really mess up a baking recipe! Our cups are 250ml (1/4 litre) but yours are 8 fluid ounces which I think is approx 235ml. I just automatically adjust any recipe on an American website. The cups are easy as my measuring cup has both metric ml and imperial fluid ounces. Tablespoons are the one I have to carefully translate to make sure I don’t make an error.

Penguin, if a night at the theatre has such a beneficial result on the scales, you need to go more often.

Betsy, I was wondering about the 7/8 jeans – I thought they might be an American brand. One of these days I’m going to buy American jeans so I can pretend I’m a size 10!

Neil , sounds like a successful FD – you’ll be in double digits before you know it.

NFD Fess Up:
Breakfast: pot of tea
Mid morning: banana and 2 tsp nut butter
Lunch: chicken noodle soup, toasted wholemeal sourdough and 2 soft boiled eggs
Mid afternoon: 3 seed crackers with cheddar cheese and slivers of date-walnut log
Dinner: chilli con carne, mixed veggie mash, peas. Dessert is stewed fruit and yoghurt.
Supper: hot milk drink

Fast day for me tomorrow.

Veggie recipes for anyone wanting more ideas:
https://www.instagram.com/riverford/?hl=en
This is actually the instagram page for Riverford – a British organic veggie grower. About half of the pics on their instagram page are for recipe idea for veg. If you click on the picture you like the look of and scroll to the top of the text you’ll find the recipe. Recipes are mostly vegetarian rather than vegan. If you login to instigram you can also access their specific link to just recipes.

Good morning everyone, I’ve indulged myself with a read of most of the posts on this page. At least enough to find out what’s happening in your lives. Klond, what a fabulous trip you’re having. Anzac, glad you finally have someone who knows what’s going on to help at work. Not long until your fantastic trip. So pleased to read about your weight. Betsy, back on track, keep on keeping on and Lindsay, so sorry to read about your pneumonia. LJ and Cinque, holding it all together. Penguin dodging the 40C European weather. CalifD, I like trying to work out car registration cryptics. I’m OK, thanks so much those who gave me a mention. Yes, it is something akin to a massive garage sale. There’s a big clue for you and I will fill you in soon.

Betsy, I think that, before 5:2, I would have been one of those who comfort ate when upset or under stress (although I rarely use the word ‘stress’ because I don’t like it). My relationship with food has changed dramatically in the almost 5 years that I’ve been practicing IF. Now I find I just cannot eat even when I feel hungry. I am stable at 56.5kg so 6:1 will work for now and will keep me in the routine.

As for ‘thinatlast’, I was about 83kg when I chose that with tongue in cheek as a last ditch effort to finally conquer my weight. I must have had a lot of faith in what I’d read about 5:2. And then I fulfilled the prophecy. Thank you Dr M., I’m eternally grateful. My neighbour heard him speak in Perth recently through her work and was impressed. She’s the doctor who started 5:2 the same week as I (unbeknown to either of us at the time).

Good evening SHs

Thin, if you are getting your house ready to sell I know how much work it involves. I hope you get things sorted more easily than you expected.

Cinque, I actually still have my mum’s metal cooking spoons. When I use the very old recipes that were hand written by her or nana,s I know that a tablespoon means the big metal one. I also know that a cup meant a teacup that had lost its handle and had been relegated to being used to measure sugar and flour (it’s definitely smaller than a metric cup). I can still remember that the handleless teacup that lived in my nana’s huge sugar tin had a pink thistle pattern on it. I even managed to find the exact pattern online (as I remember it): https://imgur.com/a/zxSaNQP
Thankfully most of their dry ingredient measures were all in ounces rather than cups which means a bit less guess work for me.

It’s been an unusually easy FD where I ate because it was time to rather than because I had an appetite. That doesn’t happen often. I also decided not to have my usual soup. I had some grilled field mushrooms and blanched asparagus reserved from earlier in the week. Tonight I panfried a 100g piece of chicken breast and then warmed the veggie through when it was cooked. It made a really nice change from soup and felt quite filling.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend planned. I have a fairly quiet one planned, but that’s ok as I’m babysitting all day Monday (teacher’s strike) so I’d prefer to do that feeling rested.

A quick hello, day before fast day. Rainy grey Melbourne here today. I’m with little miss 2 so might leave in the middle of a sentence.

Lovely to read of other mum’s measuring implements. Beautiful things.

I watched the doctor episode on food https://iview.abc.net.au/show/ask-the-doctor right from the start, but was even more critical. They went through all the latest diets and said “there are four we wouldn’t recommend” and a minute later said they were testing 4 of them to show the pros and cons, so I am guessing they are the four they don’t recommend.
They said the criticism of 5:2 is that most people find it isn’t sustainable, and then have the couple doing it, and also going cold turkey off alcohol, and have limited calories on the other 5 days. Well I’m guessing they might find it isn’t sustainable for the long term.
I do take your point LJoyce, about not overeating on NFD’s, but they had no nuance in there.
I’ll wait and watch part 2, maybe they will redeem themselves.

Well, I’ve been able to write this as miss 2 is playing with my ipad. I know, I know! But she had just fallen and bumped her head. Okay no excuses, I will go and interact with her! (Been interacting since half past 5 mind). Cheers all.

Having one couple doing a diet is hardly a meaningful scientific survey. Yes some people may not find 5:2 manageable and need to find something that works for their body, but it sure as hell is something my body has responded to. We’re all wired differently when it comes to storing and burning up fat.

Good morning, lovely Sunday fast day for me, and there is a bit of sun this morning.

Snap LJoyce, I’m fasting today and looking after a kiddie tomorrow (school/kinder holidays here).

A rest and reset fast day, I plan to appreciate every minute.

Neil, re that program, I was bristling with their ‘one couple doing each diet’ but I guess at least they weren’t quite saying it was research.
As far as I can see they want to show that these four diets are not recommended and have thought about how to make it into an interesting program, decided that a couple trying each one and talking about it would be engaging, but they will shape it as hard as they can to make it show what they want. Not the way I like seeing science on the TV!

LJoyce, I am interested to know how many people find 5:2 works without adjusting what is eaten on ‘normal’ days. I don’t know of any. But my experience is limited to my friends who started me on 5:2 (they don’t do it any more and have regained their weight and more) and people on this thread who pretty well all use 5:2 as a tool that gives a sustainable framework that allows changes to be made to non fast days which get us down to our healthy weight and keep us there.

Because of this, I think 5:2 is all about being sustainable. As my friend said, you can do anything for just one day. And then you can do that one day, twice a week, for ever. So to hear the main criticism of 5:2 being that it isn’t sustainable goes against all my knowledge and experience of it.

If their criticism was that it doesn’t lead to weight loss if people are overeating on NFDs, or that people don’t generally take a long term view with it, I’d agree. But their criticism is that it isn’t sustainable. I do think it may not be sustainable for people with stressful jobs and hectic families who rely on takeaway, so maybe that is what they will show. But surely I’m not the only person who does 5:2 because it is the one way of eating that I find IS sustainable?

And yes, LJoyce, you put it beautifully. They dumb down science until it really isn’t science. Catalyst (science show in that time slot) did it too.

Hello Thin, and all the other Sunday fasters. Hello everyone having a sensible normal eating day, full of veggies! Hello Maxx wowing everyone at training.

LJ, have your bridge lessons finished now and have you joined the club to begin your supervised play?

Hi all

Betsy. I hope all is well with your back, if you are exercising then you must be feeling ok. Not me with the bulging suitcase, just a slightly bulging caravan. I’ve done well with clothes shopping along the way so have far more than I need.

Penguin. Weather forecasts can be a bit of a joke. I hope you are missing the worst of the heat and you can avoid that climate change of a Canadian winter. Many years ago I worked backstage for a season of Threepenny Opera. Took the whole run for me to appreciate even small parts of it, challenging theatre.

Gday. Your pantry will be looking very inviting, you must be looking forward to some tasty meals. My mum never used scales, or ‘proper’ measuring cups etc. we also had a cups without handles and used ‘rule of thumb’ guides if recipes had weights. I think a cup of flour was 1/2 pound or 8ozs (250g). What was truly amazing was that she cooked in a wood stove and when making cakes, she would open the firebox, look at the fire and judge whether it was the right temperature, adding a log or not. She rarely had a failure. 10 jelly babies, how terrible.

Anzac. Way to go, 84 is a good number. Perhaps Maxx could get a job as a greeter. Your fellow travellers would definitely have gone home in a better mood. Looks like you might have turned a corner, new input for your job and breakthrough on the scales. Your lunch venue sounds a bit like some we are enjoying, what is it about a view of the sea which is so satisfying? Your trip sounds wonderful, when we did a big OS trip I had a ball planning it, I thought of it as the best computer game I had played. OH will be very proud when it all comes together and any hiccups will just make it more exciting.

Cinque. I’m glad you are able to warm at least one area to live in and Miso will surely cope with a lamb skin to sleep on. I haven’t watched the TV Program all the way through yet but so many of these shows are only ‘pop’ science even the beloved Dr M just skims the surface. Yeppoon is not only a pleasant holiday destination, it has quite a nice feel, with two amateur theatre groups, a number of very successful football teams of both codes and other signs of a vibrant community which doesn’t just exist for tourism. So far, OH is still losing weight despite the fact that he is not changing his NFD eating, although occasionally he has made good decisions about portion size or snacks. As he gets smaller this might need to change but it makes it easier at the moment to keep going for him.

Crazy. You certainly are an artist, what lovey pictures. I’m with Cinque, I don’t know which I would choose as my favourite. You certainly are a high achiever. It must be difficult for you when others don’t notice any difference. Since you can’t show your thinner waist and other changes the way we can, you aren’t getting the positive feed back that we all thrive on. With all your achievements, you are obviously someone who doesn’t let anything stop you so keep going, share what you wish with us and we will keep cheering you on.

LJ. I agree re baking. My bread improved out of sight when I made sure I was using the correct tablespoon measure. I have the handwritten recipe of the family Christmas pudding which probably dates to my grandmother and it includes a ‘packet of mixed spice’. My memory is that the little cardboard box of mixed spice was about the size of a match box, probably about a tablespoon. Watched the footy last night which was in Adelaide (the Bulldogs won – yeh) and the rain was horrendous and apparently had been like that all day. You are having a wet spell. You are quite right about the weather here, after our wet start it has been lovely here, mild and still. Do you have a planned day for your long kid wrangling session, I have found some great ideas on Pinterest for simple activities, many which use items you already have.

Neil. I’ve tried the biltong and quite like it. Mustn’t get it mixed up with Bobby’s kangaroo treats, it looks and smells much the same

Cali. I like ‘DonkeyOT’. My favourite car registration was on a black Jeep. It was ‘Baa Baa’.

Thin. Do I get the prize? Is the big “I’m really retiring “ happening? If so, no wonder you are feeling the pressure. Will you be meeting Penguin when he is on holiday? So many questions but no need to answer, we can all imagine our own future for you. Re Endeavour, Thursday lent his savings to his shonky brother in the last series, who promptly lost them. I’m sorry for Mrs Fred but this way we get more Mr Fred.

Enjoying Yeppoon, nice and flat for jogging, easy walking to town. Finally got my knitting going, nice big hoodie jumper for Mr 4 to start with. OH was 101k this morning which he is happy with. He forgot it was a FD on Thursday and had a glass of wine. The look on his face was priceless when I reminded him. He was genuinely contrite. I am down to 68k, only 5k to go.

Good morning Klondi and Crazy – as usual I take so long to write my post a few others arrive while I’m doing so.

Hi Crazy Just had a thought. Can you wear your old t-shirt and take a photo followed by successively smaller t-shirts until you are in one which is slightly too small? This can be your ‘scales’. Then keep doing this as you progress and you will see the difference and maybe others as well. I had lost over 10 kilos before anybody commented and I thought I looked quite different. You have been married for 46 years, had 3? children and have at least three stimulating careers. This is easy compared to those achievements.

I had to come back this evening because I’d asked so many questions.

Anzac, so funny that Maxx slept in and missed his training! Wow, 14kgs – well done!

LJ, thanks for the latest on bridge. At least you got taught how to use the Bridgemate; we didn’t. Nor the little ‘table rules’ which we had to pick up from more experienced players, each with their own personal versions but all expressed with great conviction!

Klond, thanks for the reminder about what happened with Insp. Thursday in the previous series. I’d forgotten that. I may have missed some episodes due my TV no longer being supported by iView.

Cinque, I enjoyed what you wrote about this series and especially the last episode. Thank you.

Ha ha, you’re a funny lot and very clever. I wish I were moving to Zambia, Cinque. Anzac, I confirm that DD interviewed for four positions in the UK during one week and was offered all four of them. It was a tough choice for her but, yes, she leaves for England in early August.

I must get back here properly soon. I miss hearing what’s happening with everyone. Successful FD for me with a freezer portion of Mexican Chicken Soup. I’ve dipped to another all time low of 56.4kg this morning but I wanted to keep the routine of FDs going. And, as Merry reminded me, we have changed our thinking of what is ‘normal’ weight over the decades so I’m sure I’m fine. Despite all this loss, I STILL have that oblique ‘crease’ on either side of my stomach, a fold of skin that prevents me from having a ‘flat’ stomach (unless I stretch my arms very high and suck in my stomach).

Hello SW friends, another Monday morning rolls around. Another sunny day but cooler – only 18 today and it was 6 DEGREES when we got in the car this morning. GAH!

Cali, I was about to tipple into triple figures when I first started this weight loss journey and gosh I’m so glad I’m a long way from there now. I just want to get a wriggle on and speed this up but I seem to be unable to do it. I know taking it slowly is good but also a bit frustrating because, as you said, it is too easy to overeat on NFD’s. Especially on weekends. You are right, though, the more I lose the better I feel and the more motivated I am to lose more. What a good rollercoaster that is 🙂

A couple of hundred grams snuck on over the weekend but I expected it. A good week will see the back of that and a good loss. I need it as next weekend is a nightmare food-wise. The 1st birthday party is finger food and I’m sure none of it will be healthy. So hubby and I are contributing our own reasonably healthy dish which is Indian spiced chicken, marinated and cooked until caramelised then we put a piece on a thin home-made crostini and top with home-made tzatziki and fresh coriander. Then our friends will bring a pile of nibbles to our place and we will have plenty of wine. However then we have several weeks of zero socialising so that will be an excellent opportunity to get serious.

Thin, lovely to hear from you and congrats to your DD on getting all four jobs in the UK! How hard for you to see her go though (or are you????).

Klondi, only 5kg to go – wow! And so glad your OH is doing well too

Glad you were able to have a quiet, lovely day yesterday Cinque – before babysitting duties today. You too LJ

Gosh, already 9.00am and I have been pecking away at this post for over an hour! Must rush – have a great day all

Good morning everyone

Well it was the weekend for bad eating for me. I ate way too much white bread and other empty carbs and my scales are definitely showing it all up today. It’s FD for me so I’m very grateful for it. I have my two boiled eggs with me and am planning on a warming miso soup for dinner tonight. It is so cold here today and I really feel like soup. Can’t wait.

Quacka is the name my OH calls me. Actually for the last 15 years or so I have only heard him use my real name when he is referring to me whilst talking with other people. I asked him once where he got the name for me and he said it is because I waddle like a duck! Cheeky so and so…..lol 😉

Anzac, well done on getting into the 84’s! That is awesome 🙂

The bosses are back today so I only have time for a short post. Hope to catch up with you all soon x

Back post weekend, hi all! Sadly, my end of June weight was 0.5 kg up from the start of June; happily, my end of June weight was ONLY 0.5 kg up from my start of June weight, and my measurements haven’t changed at all. Really, I think this is a plateau I just have to grit my teeth through. Stitches out on Thursday, hurrah! And thanks for explaining the number of stitches Cinque (It WAS Cinque, wasn’t it?)

Lots of interesting posts. Neilithicman, I decided to buy some beef jerky as you’d mentioned it here – Jack Links Original Beef Jerky from N.Z., tasted good, enjoyed chewing on it, then I looked at the ingredients: 17 gms of protein, good. Expected the 700 mg of salt, but then – 15 gm of carbohydrates, of which 11.8 gm is sugars. What!? The second listed ingredient is actually sugar. Maybe it’s only that brand, so I’ll check the others, but that may well be my first and last taste of beef jerky. Sigh!

Crazy Artist, interesting about people noticing, not noticing weight loss. I’ve lost 13 kg, still have 20 kg to go. Two friends only started noticing in recent times, not because I looked thinner but because my clothes were looking baggier. At church, only one person commented recently, but no-one else has at all. Maybe when I lose another 7 kg??? You have to consider your reason for weight loss. I tried many times in the past, and when people started noticing, I self-sabotaged and regained the weight. This time, I have determined in myself to lose weight FOR MYSELF, so who cares what others think or say. Actually, my doctor’s pleased, and that’s the only approval I need or want.

LJoyce, glad the bridge is continuing even if the lessons have finished. Just enjoy!

Anzac65, do you think Maxx could be sneaky enough to “sleep in” on the day of his obedience class? Could he be that sneaky? Congrats on getting under the dreaded 85 kg mark. Well done!

Cinque, sounds like you’ve worked out a way to keep warm, but really, that’s not a satisfactory response from the housing folk. Hope there’s a change soon.

Interesting lot of posts about differences in measuring sizes. I never knew as a child that measuring spoons, cups, etc. existed, as my mother just used our normal tablespoon, teaspoon and one of the kitchen cups. Now, I would love to find a “real” tablespoon, but haven’t found one yet. Might be looking in the wrong places. I do have a set of measuring spoons, but it’s not the same.

Thin, sounds like your body has settled on your current weight as “right” for you, just don’t lose too much.

Installer coming tomorrow morning to install a new TV, so I’d better close – loved a quote on the monthly forum, so will finish with that:

“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.” – Jim Rohn

Good morning all – another VERY cold morning, only 5 degrees according to the car thermometer thingy. I shivered standing on the platform waiting for the train and then once I got off, all the way from the station to the office. Thankfully the trains are well heated

Haha Betsy, I would like to credit Maxx with enough intelligence to consciously decide to sleep in and skip training. But no, he isn’t quite that smart (almost though!) And anyway, he absolutely LOVES dog training and we have to drag him home every week. Also please don’t worry about the 0.5kg, just think how much worse it would have been pre 5:2 and think about how much you have already lost and then use that to motivate for a great July. I am!

LJ, I too have woken up sniffly and sore-headed and I’m not sure if it is just worse than usual hayfever/sinus or a cold. But I do know that the thought of doing a FD today made me feel ill so I am skipping it for a tightly controlled eating day. I know if I try to force a FD I will end up going silly this afternoon.

So instead I’ve had a piece of mountain bread with a small slice of ham for breakfast and I have a chicken salad for lunch. Two mandarins, 3 very large strawberries and 12 almonds for snacks. Tonight is our noodle-free chicken pad thai which has lots of crunchy veges like bean sprouts, spring onions and bean shoots instead of noodles. The sauce has some sugar in it but I will drain as much off mine as possible. That is about 850 calories so well under my TDEE and BMR

I hope your cold doesn’t turn into something nasty like Lindsay’s LJ and I also hope your nephews kids don’t catch it

Quacka, such a lovely story about your username. Those men huh? On Sunday night I was cooking with pots on the stove and chopping away madly when Maxx woke up from a long nap and went into demanding ‘ME ME ME…play with ME NOW’ mode. Hubby was watching footy while I was having balls dropped at my feet to trip over. I went out and asked him as politely as I could manage through gritted teeth to PLEASE look after the dog if he wanted dinner anytime before next week. So he sauntered into the kitchen, calmly grabbed an empty plastic bottle, gave it to Maxx who immediately pranced around the house with it as happy as anything. Smart Alec. However he did exactly what I asked so I couldn’t complain (or clock him on the head with a saucepan. A hot one)

Re pet names, hubby calls me ‘RAA’ because apparently that is the sound I make when I am cranky and it happens to be my initials. In return I started calling him ‘SAA’ because they are his initials! When we first met we used to fight a lot so he heard the noise a lot. So for 31 years now that one has stuck. We must have got our fights out of the way early as we never – or very very rarely – fight now. Thankfully as I hate conflict.

Neil, I seriously believe that if we don’t fall off the wagon sometimes (or in my case often) we just won’t stick to this WOL. I’ve probably said that before, sorry! You are doing so well and you will knock off any damage quickly.

Have a great day!