Thanks for the link Cinque, I’ll check it out this evening. I guess if loose skin is the only downside to rapid weight loss then I’ll take it.

Post 2 Good morning everyone,

A nicer day today, here. 🙂 Hope you can bounce out of bed today Aurorin.
You are so right about how we lose our natural sense of hunger and satiation.

Quacka, a lovely big post from you yesterday. Thankyou. And I love Brussels Sprouts so much more than I did when younger, that touch of bitter savouriness is a delight now, it used to appall me. And also we only ever had them boiled or steamed.

Perthgirl, I SO agree that the habits and guidelines we put into place for our long term lifestyle is more important, in the end, than how well we manage to diet in the short term. So important.

Penguin, serendipity indeed. I wish they would put his series on here, we have a couple of channels showing non stop cooking shows but it is mostly manic, cheaply made competitions that I can’t stand. I will keep a look out though.
What a great kitchen!

Neil, another wonderful milestone passed. Magnificent.

I’m having a day before fast day today as I am babysitting this evening, it works better to fast tomorrow. A nice pottering around sort of day (which I love) and the movie ‘Toast’ to watch when I need to rest.

Best wishes all.

Good Morning everyone

An awesome job, Neil. Congratulations!

Well what a difference a day can make. Little Miss “I feel so empowered” and “I’m in the right frame of mind” fell off the wagon yesterday. I ended up at just under 1000 calories (so not a FD by any means) and the food for the day was only 400 calories of that. There was an unexpected celebration which entailed some beers and so I ended up blowing the FD. Oh well, can’t change yesterday, can only look after today. And tomorrow. Weight was still 100g down from yesterday…..

The really bad thing is that I just don’t want to do a FD today. Am I self sabotaging I ask myself? Yes, probably. I am going to call on my inner stubborness and (hopefully) get through today. I don’t think I will be seeing the 65’s this week so I’m moving that goal to next week now.

Oh well, I do this to myself so I can’t complain too much. Luckily this WOL is for the long term.

All the best everyone x

Neil, I’m old and only had about 12kg to lose, but some of the saggy skin went away after a year or two. Moisturizer creams and exercise are good for small bits but the places like upper arms seem to be here to stay. Wearing clothes that hide the problem spots are the least painful and expensive ways to deal with it.

Anzac, I think positive reinforcement for dogs is the first thing to try, but if Maxx has been allowed to get away with jumping on people in the past, or if OH is inconsistent with his training, then you may need something more. The spray makes a loud noise and gets the dog’s attention. That seems to work well on a lot of dogs. We ordered a collar for Cooper that works with a remote control. It has a little box that sits just beneath his chin. It holds either water or citronella cartridges. When he barks at OH or DS for no reason I just press a button on the remote. He hears a beep and then gets a small spritz of water. We haven’t had to use the citronella. He dislikes the water enough because he doesn’t know where it came from. It works over the home WiFi. I think I mentioned it here before. I also tell him st stop at the same time. It only took a few times for him to learn. Actually I have no doubt that he knew all along but was stubborn and barked at them out of force of habit. (He doesn’t do it to me.) Maxx probably knows not to jump too. But doing it is fun and a habit that there aren’t always repercussions for.
Think of it like this, do you always respond to positive reinforcement? I don’t. If it’s something I really want to do (like overeating for example, or spending too much time on the internet) I weigh the outcomes. If they aren’t too bad and it’s something I really want to do, (or can get away with at least some of the time) I’ll likely do it anyway. If you keep doing what you’ve always done when Maxx jumps, he’ll keep doing it just like he always does. A loud spray from a can or a spritz at his nose from a collar, are not painful or harmful. But they should get his attention.

Cinque, I’m sorry to hear the CFS is taking a toll on you lately. Maybe a few more rest days would help. You seem to have a lot of busy ones with the Littles and visiting lately. And your weather has been cold. I know you are already eating well. I hope it helps over time. I’m finally going to make your Mung Bean soup recipe tonight. I’ve had the bag of mung beans sitting on the bench since I bought them last week.

Quacka, after I looked at your link for the bread on Imgur last night I saw another post there with some of the most amazing moving picture loops of what looks like China and maybe some from Japan. https://imgur.com/gallery/MtUh1Qq I spent the next half hour looking at them and then saw a comment about a BBC produced show called Wild China with some of the most amazing sites in China. I was up watching that for at least half an hour. I’m so easily distracted!

Neil, I am 75, so I am probably stuck with the floppy bits.

Cinque, that CFS sounds a real nuisance. I have no doubt that you will fight it. Simon H was on again at lunch time today, unfortunately on a channel my elderly and basic system will not record. I read somewhere that the stress of moving house takes six months off your life. Which after my 40 plus houses sounds a little dubious to me. I do, however, understand the joy of being in one place and accumulating all of the resultant junk without worrying about packing it. It will take a considerable amount of pressure to get me out of here.

I now know that summer is upon us. It is hot and sunny, thunderstorms at 1am last night. Tomorrow is forecast to be the hottest day on record. OK, I accept that 40C is not hot by Australian standards but it is more than we are accustomed to. To reinforce the feeling of summer, the Postie has just delivered a number of Autumn catalogues from firms I have never heard of.

The youngest of my grand daughters arrived today, accompanied by grand dog. Usually we have two or four. One will be different, so I’ll get out the Canadian canoe and the tent and have a little one to one time with her. She is currently a pescatarian. She is off meat but will eat fish, which is fine with me because a paper I just read suggested that eating fish, oily or white but not shellfish, three times a week radically reduces the risk of color-rectal cancers.

I don’t usually put on the TV in the afternoon, but our new PM should be back from seeing the Queen by now and it will be interesting to see what he does next. His historical success / failure rate is very mixed and he has said things which seem to have offended half of the people on the planet, but he is usually entertaining. Is it not the Chinese who say “May you live in interesting times” when the old English would have been “Damn your eyes”?

Anzac, no point doing the same thing and expecting a different result with Maxx. Like with weight loss, it’s a question of how badly you want it to happen. So, I’m still recommending you try the Dazer. I’ve used it personally for over 35 years now. I imported it into Australia for many years. Not harmful to dogs, inaudible by humans, it gets the dog’s attention so you can re-direct undesirable behaviour. Disclaimer: I no longer have any financial interest. IT WORKS!

I love an eccentric parliamentarian and now there’s an eccentric PM. The victory speech that had me laughing so hard after Australia’s most recent election was Barnaby Joyce’s, “You could’ve been in government you losers but you focussed all your efforts on ousting one man”. As for the ‘offended by everything’ half of England, they need to toughen up. We have created a weak and wimpy race. We must not be afraid to have adult discussions about adult matters.

Have a laugh about the absurdity of political correctness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHMoDt3nSHs Start at 3.30m

Morning, another sunny day in Sydney. 20 degrees. They said on the news that we have now had 7 consecutive days of 20 degrees or warmer and that equals the record. If it does indeed reach 20 today it will break the record. The question is ‘is July the new September?’

https://www.eldersweather.com.au/news/july-is-the-old-september-in-sydney/529981

I’m working hideous hours, surrounded by junk food and take away but I am still grimly hanging onto the 84’s. Whilst devastated that I’m not losing, I am also proud to not be shovelling food into my mouth at a rate of knots as a stress relief. 84.9 this morning so well up from my 84.4 but I’m more prepared today with lots of very healthy snacks like carrot sticks, strawberries and a handful of raw almonds to nibble on when I feel the need to stick my head in a bag of chips. So far I have avoided that!

Quacka, you are so inspiring with getting through tough FD’s. I hope I can return to normal 5:2 soon.

Neil, you made me laugh about your saggy baggy elephant quip. But it is still much better than having the loose skin tight across a fat body right?

40 degrees in the UK is awfully hot Penguin. You aren’t used to it so it must be brutal. I hope you enjoy your time with grand daughter and grand dog and it sounds like you have lots of fun activities planned. I read that your new PM is nicknamed BOJO. Funny, because ours is nicknamed SCOMO. I also saw a very funny caption of Donald Trump and BOJO dressed alike gazing adoringly at each other. Good luck! We are a bit panicked here (at work) at his determination to get Brexit in by 31 October. It is a HUUUGE project here and they are running behind and are desperate for it to be delayed. As bad as my project is, I’m glad I’m not on that one

Thin, bless you, for putting me in the ‘young people’ bracket. I’m not you know; I’ve got 10+ years on the true youngsters Quacka and Neil 🙂
I went to buy a Dazer when you first recommended it but hubby was dead against it. I could see an argument looming so I left it. We still haven’t managed to fit the nose bridle properly (he pulls out of it) so at training on Sunday we will either ask them to show us the proper way to fit it or give it back and try a different type. I think this will work (please God)

Thanks for the dog advice and information Cali. We are very much almost at the stage of trying a citronella collar. We will get this bridle fitted properly and try that and if that doesn’t work the collar will be the next step. I do hope we don’t have to though as I hate the thought of scaring him. OH just called with his morning ‘walk report’ and apparently Maxx was an angel. The reason? Leftover chicken schnitzel as treats! We agreed that we needed to ‘fade the lure’ and stop treating him every time he did something right but I didn’t realise he had practically stopped treating altogether and way too quickly. So no blooming wonder Maxx suddenly regressed. So now he is back to treating regularly and will fade it slowly. Men! (Sorry Penguin/Neil)

Glad it is warmer Cinque and I hope babysitting went well last night. I look forward to when I will be able to babysit my great-niece. Gosh she is a cutie and LOVES LOVES LOVES her food. Hmmmmmm – where did she get that from?

Gah, must get to work as I am experiencing an avalanche. I do need time to chat with you all to keep me sane though! Hi LJ, Betsy, Intesha, Gday, lgbran, Perthgirl, Crazy, aurorin and anyone else who I’ve missed. Have a great day

Good morning everyone,
Fast Day for me!

Quacka, I think you might be right, Neil’s skin will catch up with him. Neil, you will just have to enjoy being the saggy baggy elephant while it lasts.

Penguin, I hope everyone can keep cool in that heat, and the garden survives too. Are you going fishing in the canoe? It will be a wonderful time for your granddaughter, those one on one times are special.

I used to think two years was a long time to spend in a place, and I mostly remember events by where I was living, so time has become weird with 15 years in the same place!

Eccentric is a good adjective Thin. I’m inclined to think both the US and the UK have now jumped the shark, but I am watching the Boris dancing to see what happens next.

Wo Anzac, thinking of the work happening to try and prepare for Brexit… no wonder people are panicking.
Ignore all that disgusting junk food!
And what a relief to work out that it is the treats, or lack of them, that explains Maxx’s bad behaviour. You’ll have him back under control before you know it.

Babysitting did go well!
I am taking it very easy, and doing all the things that I know are good for me.

Also making mung bean soup! We can sup in tandem Cali.

Neil, 120 over 80 is textbook perfect BP. Beautiful.

Quacka enjoy a lovely fast day with lovely food, not too much. (Go veggies!) And yay for 65’s next week.

Lovely to hear a quote from Margaret Fulton (vale) talking about portion sizes. She said lamingtons were meant to be small enough that they could sit on your tea saucer beside a cup of tea. And so was a muffin or cup cake. Teeny weeny,

Cheers all.

Post 2!

PerthGirl,read your post to LGbran and it makes so much sense. Past diets have never worked on me because I work to reach a target and then my weight rebound once I go back to “normal eating”. It is changing our relationship with food to have a sustainable WOL that seems long term results. Starvation mode is a real thing. Earlier on when I started IF, in my desire to see quick results, I was cutting off food even in NFD. I thought less I eat, more I lose. Predictably my weight loss plateaued as my body fought against being starved. It was a very helpful lesson. Now I eat on NFD, just ensuring I eat till I am satiated, following my new body’s rhythm. Worked lots better. Occasionally I change up the rhythm by swapping FDs or do two consecutive days of 24h fast when my body get too used to 4:3.

Neil/Thin, same issues of loose skin too. Mostly on my belly and underarms but I can live with it by avoiding sleeveless clothes or exposing my midriff. 😂 I am 43 this year and I think there’s still hope to tighten up the loose skin by targeted exercise to tone those parts of the body plus heaps of moisturiser.

Cinque, I am typing this in bed so…. 😂😂 I do love my bed so much on cold days. I practically leave it only when I have to in the mornings. But once I am out, I am good and busy for the rest of the day. Hope you are feeling better and glad to hear babysitting went well! Those links for recipes were very interesting.. I just need to get my partner on to trying some. Hahaha! I am with you on a FD today!

Penguin, I have only just gathered that you live in the UK. Yes.. Interesting times ahead with your new PM. Hope that you are enjoying your 1:1 with your grand daughter and grand dog.

Quacka, no doubt that you will reach 65s soon. I think I need to Google what an egg fast is. I love eggs, in all forms. Best is if they are in the form of scrambled eggs with heaps of butter on toasts. I wonder if that qualify for the egg fast.. I will happily eat that for days. 😋

Cali, love the Wild China docu! Been backpacking through China on a couple of trips before kiddo was born and I have extended family there. Its beautiful once you step away from cities and big towns. There’s lotsa commercialisation in the last 10 years to promote tourism in places with cultural significance which unfortunately, not all are done well. Now it is almost the norm to build those glass bridges and walk ways to any mountains to attract tourists. Hmm..

Anzac, work sounds moderately horrid and I am sending you lots of good energy from Melbourne. Your prep of veg and fruits /nuts sounds much better than junk food and takeaways. I hope that things get better on the work front. I am not much into dog training but wondered if its similar to parenting, you know, both parents having to be consistent? I am thinking teaching anything follows similar basic learning principles of consistency, scaffolding, and appropriate reinforcement. Hopefully Maxx learns quicker if he gets the same consistent message from you and your partner.

Anyway I ran out of time and should skaddle out of bed and get ready for work. I probably miss out on responding to some others that I had wanted to… I am bit haphazard with my posts. Still, all the best to those on FD, and those on NFD, enjoy!

LJ, we were up to 38 here today so I spent a lot of time in the air conditioned indoors. Those temperatures aren’t unusual here, but we’ve had a very mild summer up until now. Penguin, your 40 degrees beat ours. That sounds very hot for the UK. I was going to ask you about a link for that study on fish and colon cancer but when I Googled it I came up with many studies showing the same. I wonder though how much fish one can eat before mercury becomes a problem? I always thought it was supposed to be limited to 2 – 3 times per week.

Cinque, that mung bean soup turned out great. But does it really take 500 grams of spinach? I used a little less but it seemed like a lot. I have to remember to soak the beans next time. I made them in the Instant Pot without soaking. They were well cooked in 15 minutes. But they produced a great deal of gas throughout the night, even though I’m used to eating a lot of beans and they don’t usually cause much. They are really a nice type of bean. They were really creamy, similar to lentils. I will definitely buy more.

Anzac, I don’t think the spray collar scares Cooper. He seems more surprised or annoyed than scared. We have been able to use the water spray cartridge rather than the citronella. The collar came with one of each. We would have used the citronella if the plain water didn’t work. It was very effective, much more than I expected. We only put the collar on him in the evening when we expect the bad behavior. We don’t even need it most of the time now. The voice command works without it.

LJ, congrats on your bridge score! Regardless of who your partner was, it sounds like you are learning the game quickly.

Aurorin, you’re doing a great job with the weight loss. And because this has become a way of life for you, you should be able to maintain by sticking with it from now on. That’s the beauty of it.

Neil, great news on the BP! I will be anxious to hear how the blood tests come back. I bet you will see a lot of improvement.

Penguin, now our countries both have leaders with bizarre hair styles of dubious color. https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/07/24/trump-boris-johnson-jeanne-moos-pkg-ebof-vpx.cnn

Penguin, love the BoJo moniker. It sounds very “celebrity”, which completely fits my limited view of Boris.

Cali, glad you got that cooling system fixed when you did, you’ll need it this week.
I always pre-soak whole mung beans. They have quite a strong waterproof skin and I usually find I need to pour hot/boiling water over them to make sure they all soak – otherwise there a are a few stubborn beans that remain hard. This time I bought cracked mung beans – they are broken roughly into halves, but the skins are still there, so no fibre lost. They soaked very quickly and required little cooking – it was a really good texture for a soup. These didn’t cause any gas issues.

I don’t think I need to worry about mercury poisoning. I’m not a fish fan and struggle to get to one serve a week! That’s why I continue taking fish oil – I know I’ll never manage to eat enough of it for good health.

Yummy NFD dinner tonight. Lamb shanks with the last of the cumin roasted vegetables. I’ll be fasting tomorrow.

Hello All

I’ve been avoiding checking this forum because, frankly, I’ve been quite dispirited by my lack of progress on the 5:2. In a nutshell: my first FD was on 18 March; after 2 months I’d dropped 2.0kg (from 66 to 64 kg); weighed 62 kg on 21 June, and am still that weight as of today (25 July).

I’m 157cm tall.
I’m keeping to under 500 cals on FDs (often way under), and under the TDEE for my goal weight of 58kg.

When I first started the 5:2 in late 2016, I dropped from 70.5 kg to 63.5 kg in 13 weeks, so expected to follow a similar trajectory this time.
If any of you have any advice or suggestions, would be very grateful to hear them.
Thanks and Cheers

Hi all, checking in before the pumpkin hour, as I’m (finally!) trying to adhere to a more reasonable sleep/ getting up schedule. I see the doc tomorrow, so will find out what all my blood test results look like, plus the MRI result for my right knee. Not expecting any major dramas, except maybe a fight re Lipitor. My BP this morning was 112/72, so we might need to discuss if I really need the BP meds.

Chatelaine, many post-ers have commented on how hard it can be to shift those last few kgs. You seem to be doing all the right things, and your previous weight loss was from much higher to about where you are now, not down further. It’s much easier to lose when you’re much more than your ideal weight. Just don’t give up on yourself. One possible suggestion – try a couple of water fast days a week rather than 500 cals, to try to shift those stubborn last few kgs (that means fluid with little to no calories, not just water, so black tea/coffee, diet sodas, mineral water, bouillon, are all allowed).

Speaking of water fasting, there are a couple of youtube videos I’ve seen with Dr Jason Fung on water fasting and its benefits re preventing loose skin accumulation – maybe you could look those up, neilithicman and penguin?

Anzac65, I totally failed at my B2B2…. but I hope your FD went well. You seem to be managing extraordinarily well, with all the stress from work. Well done you for maintaining your losses!

Aurorin, as you can see from the above, didn’t manage the FDs, but…. I have finally been feeling well over the past couple of days, which is such a change, and actually have some energy again. Unlike you, I eat very little pasta, which helps with reducing the carb intake.

Quacka, well done in freezing the sourdough; that’s exactly what I do if I buy bread or rolls – straight into the freezer, and only take out a limited quantity when I want to eat some. Actually, I have 3-4 loaves of sliced bread in the freezer taking up space, and they’ve been there for several months. Might have to try to eat a little more, to start clearing out the freezer.

Perth girl, your description of your weight loss in the 80s sounds really sensible, and you’re right, “normal” eating isn’t normal, if people would just look at their daily TDEE needs.

Neilithicman, congrats on the continuing weight loss; you’re an inspiration!

thinatlast, great bridge result, 7 out of 9 is a good effort, and you’ll keep improving!

Speaking of which, aya LJoyce, well done! Even if you did have a supervisor as a partner, it’s still an excellent result.

Penguin, hope you and everyone living around you survives the expected heat. That’s REALLY hot for your part of the world, and especially for older folk, they really need to be checked up on. Lots of frequent, cold water!!! Hope you had a great day with your granddaughter.

aurorin, you seem to have lost weight sensibly and well – good for you!

CalifDreamer, so glad you have a working air-conditioner now in the summer heat. Re fish, the recommended amount per week is about 3 times a week, so that fits with the limitations due to mercury.

And time to go. Keep on keeping on everyone, especially those who’ve not posted for a while. Hope you’re doing okay – including GDayfromSA, Intesha, Merryme, etc.

Evening all,

I lost my post when I was almost done typing it out as my phone run out of power. That’s frustrating but I guess will just try to do another (abbreviated version). 😭

Chatelaine, I tried changing my fasting days /routine when my weight loss plateaued. Included HIIT into my exercise routine for the week and that seems to help too. Hopefully one of the many suggestions here will help you. Don’t give up.

Penguin, envious that there’s an actual castle near where you live. Must be fun for your grand daughter!

Betsy, sometimes plans change and that’s by no means a failure. All the best with the doctor appointment tomorrow!

LGbran, I am one of those crazy people that weigh myself morning and evening. I thought that will give me a better understanding of how much goes in and out. Then I realised lots of things can affect weight fluctuations such as water intake. But I think I am too used to this routine now. 😂

Cali, thanks for the encouragement! I feel optimistic with this WOL and will stick to it. 😊

LJ, there’s a tiny bit of me that goes “what if” and wondered if I will regain the kgs i lost. But you are right, I need to not give myself that option and move confidently forward. Those oversized clothes are in the bags and out in the next collection.

Today FD was okay though not a water fast. I had a small meal of tofu with veggies in the evening. I had a long day and did a 5km walk so felt like something bit more substantial than fluids.

Anyway, off to bed now. Till next time, here’s me sending everyone positive vibes! 🤗

Has anyone else noticed a greater drop of weight on weeks that you overeat on one of the days? I have found that recently, when I eat a consistent amount of calories most days of the week, I get modest weight loss. On weeks that I eat a lot of food on Saturday, as long as I don’t have too much sugar, I get bigger weight loss. Perhaps my body gets used to receiving a certain amount of calories and adjusts, then a big day of calories kick starts my metabolism and makes my fast days more effective? I might give it a try this weekend and see if I get a decent weight drop again next week.

Second post (post coffee 😉 )

Good fast day yesterday. Lovely porridge for breakfast this morning.

I didn’t make the mung bean soup as I need to buy several ingredients (will do this morning!) So my beans will have a nice long soak time.
Cali, your poor tum. I was reading the other day that legumes have so much of those prebiotic wonders, that even healthy micro-biomes find it hard to cope. When soaking, some of the (soluble fibre maybe? or resistant starch?) leaches out and makes them easier eating. You might need to eat the rest of your batch in small serves.
Do just go by what you like re the 500g spinach, the original recipe might have meant a 500g bunch of spinach that then had stems cut off and ended up less. I will notice today how many greens I put in! (but I do love lots of greens and they do shrink down greatly).

Re fish, I find it so hard, between mercury and overfishing, to find what I can eat. I know mercury is more of a worry in big fish, and that sardines are good ones to eat!

Aurorin I loved your chatty posts yesterday, and yes, I am putting a positive spin on having to take it easy and so I am enjoying my rests. I spend so much time wishing I was healthy and could work, and yet when I worked I used to imagine just being able to stay home and rest!

Penguin, scary to see all the temperature records broken these last couple of days.
I am like LJoyce in that I have no lovely memories of time with grandparents. It is a great pleasure I can spend quality time with my granddaughters.

Lgbran, isn’t it nice when a doctor comes on TV talking health issues and we can say yes, yes, doing all that 🙂 Enjoy that air fryer.

Betsy, sympathy that the B2Bx4 didn’t work, but I imagine it would need to be number one priority to make it happen, and you have a lot of other things on your plate. Hooray that you are getting your bounce back and good luck with those blood test results.

Aurorin, so annoying to lose that post, thanks for writing it again. I hope you are having a lovely morning after fast day, like I am. It is the best.

Neil, an interesting scientific experiment to run! Write down your results so you have good data.

Thin, YamDaisy is in recess. I have got further with the business plan but have decided that rather than try and start a community food grass roots organisation to get it off the ground, it would be more effective to contract some YamDaisy meals, maybe through one of the social enterprises already in existence, to get YamDaisy started. This means rejigging my business plan again. Sigh. But I might still get there in the end!

Not today though. I am going to catch up with my daughter and the littlest little one to do some shopping and then make that soup. That’s it for one day. Sigh, I only live about 20% of what normal people manage. Enjoy your 100% those of you who have it!

Cheers all.

Hi all

Lgbran. Welcome to another Victorian. Hats off to you for doing OMAD, that would challenge my resolve. Glad you have support at home, more important than your GP. I also usually go for the best I can afford but I figured that with the air fryer I didn’t want to invest a large sum on something i mightn’t use. I have only had mine a few days and I can see it should be a very useful gadget. Sweet potato chips were delicious.

LJ Your wonderful endorsement of airfryers has boosted sales quite a bit, pity you aren’t getting commission. I am going to try kale chips soon, I tried doing them in the oven once and only a few were nice and crisp. The air fryer should work better. Have you tried Brussel sprouts in the fryer. I did them with balsamic vinegar and they were very tasty. You are such a practical thinker, flattening the box is a great idea and it does solve the storage problem. Well done at bridge, even with an experienced partner you wouldn’t have come first if you hadn’t played well. You might find it gets less tiring as you get used to it, knowing you had to keep up with an experienced player probably took more mental energy than if you were more relaxed.

Aurorin. Another Victorian, welcome to you to. I’m a Monday/Thursday faster so we will be together. I like my breakfast though so trying to fast all day is beyond me. Miso soup midday does get me through from breakfast though which still surprises me. My mother loved playing the piano and sent me for lessons but it didn’t take for me. I admire those who are musical.

Thin. You will look back at this time and laugh, and how much easier it will be to keep in contact with DD now than when you set off from home all those years ago. Bridge players are very competitive it seems, I guess that is what keeps driving you on.

Neil. Congrats on your 6 months. It’s amazing to look back at the old you and marvel at the changes you have made in such a short time. ‘A little pooch’, it used to be a large ‘pooch’ I’m sure and you will either tighten the muscles with all your exercise or your skin will bounce back because you are still young. Us older people just dress cleverly and if our wing flaps etc show, wear our wrinkles with pride because we earned them. Can’t comment on the weight loss conundrum as I’ve managed to be fairly controlled every day. I bet your blood tests results will be outstanding.

Lindsay. The best honey I have tasted was in South Africa where the hotels had a breakfast buffet with a large piece of honeycomb which dripped into a bowl and you served yourself. The complexity of the flavours was a revelation. There is a Conversations podcast on 9th May about Australian bees which sounds very good. You seem to be back in good health, I hope your brain has adjusted to your new vision.

Cinque. All those moves must have kept you very uncluttered, it must be so much nicer to just stop. I miss your mung bean soup, I could make it but the quantity would be a bit much and I don’t have a big freezer. It must be hard to balance your different health needs, I hope you are maintaining your energy levels ok. Any cafe you ran would have had some lovely food.

Calif. I can just imagine the puzzled look on Coopers face when he gets that spray, it sounds like a very gentle way to train him. I know of people who use water spray to train cats not to jump on tables etc. Another mung bean soup convert, I didn’t use a lot of spinach in mine partly as it would have been very costly, it is about $14 a kilo here, I still liked the flavour.

Betsy. Glad you are finally getting your energy back, and trying those sensible sleep hours, I’m a bit of a night owl too but I generally can sleep in at the other end. Great numbers for your blood pressure, hope the other numbers are not too bad. Thankfully, doughnuts especially the cream filled ones don’t tempt me, you will just have to think ‘white noise’ thoughts next time you see them. Yes, I would love to share our mutual birthday with you and Cinque, looking forward to it.

Crazy. Hope you are ok now, nasty bugs are not good to have. I’m sure you can think of appropriate words which fit DD when the girls gang up on you, in the nicest way of course. Re weighing, do you have any medical appointments where they have chair scales? Could you use something like that at regular intervals to chart your progress?

Penguin. You sound like a perfect granddad, I bet those kids love visiting you and Mrs P. Love the story about your wedding, those years don’t count for much now. Stay well in the heat, I might be Australian but don’t cope well with high temperatures. We have ceiling fans which help a bit but hot nights are the pits.

Quakka. You are showing great determination these days, if you ever need inspiration in the future, you just need to read some of these old posts to get you going again. Have you got far to go, I think I’ve asked this before and have forgotten the answer. You must look good where you are now especially if you don’t have any loose skin, MIL probably doesn’t realise that you are still on the way down.

Anzac. You have lots to be proud of, handling all that stress, being exposed to junk food and staying under 85. Well done. When I did dog training, they said training the dog was easy but training the trainer was the hard part. OH no doubt would be sad if you had to part with Maxx so he needs to do his bit too. How rude for someone online to criticise what you are doing, I hope you can get the bridle to work but the water spray collar sounds like a gentle way to get him to behave. I grew up in a time when a whack with a rolled up newspaper was the training aid of choice, it made a loud noise but didn’t hurt.

Chatelaine. I can understand your frustration, there is lots of good advice out there. I’ve read about egg fasting on another thread and that seems to be an effective way of breaking a stalemate. You seem close to goal and maybe your body is happy at that weight. We all arbitrarily pick a number and there isn’t always a sensible reason for it. Do you feel well and energised, do you look good in your clothes, are your health markers good? Maybe this is the right level for you. Only you can answer that question

We have now moved to Tin Can Bay, east of Gympie on the coast. It’s a little fishing community with a large marina and not much else. Just over the horizon is Fraser Island, hi Lindsay if you are over there. It is odd because it has no swimming beach, just huge sand flats when the tide goes out. A pleasant caravan park, well laid out walks along the shore with lots of information boards about local fauna and flora and not too far from Gympie, Maryborough and Hervey Bay for day trips. It also has a great fresh fish outlet and we have already had beautiful snapper and a seafood platter, fits in well on a FD. They also have a dragon boat team here and free try out sessions, I have toyed with the idea of trying this so I might go down and have a go. I can’t swim well and don’t relish getting wet but they assure me you don’t end up in the water, often. There are also wild dolphins which come in most mornings and volunteers give a very informative talk and you can feed them (the dolphins). 65kg this morning, 31 weeks WOL, 24.8 BMI. This was my original (wishful thinking) goal. I now want to get to 63kg, should be able to get into my wedding dress then. When I get there I’ll do a happy dance and start managing maintenance. Who would have thunk it.

Hi folks, just popping in briefly. Good to read all the posts.

Klondikekween, sounds like you’ve arrived at a beautiful place. Will you stay there long, or do you tend to move on every couple of weeks? Like you, I am free to sleep in, but I really need to work on my doctorate data, so can’t really afford to waste so much of the daylight hours. I find it more difficult to settle to the study at night.

Cinque, Saw the doctor today and managed to brush off my slightly elevated cholesterol – to be tested again in 3 months, and I’d better eat better until then. He was actually far more concerned about my right knee MRI – I’d told him my knee was a problem but I don’t think he really realised how much of a problem it really was until he read the report, even though he was around when I had the bicycle injury and was repatriated from China. Result – immediately referred to an orthopaedic specialist. However, not necessarily to have surgery, first to get an opinion. I mainly manage to keep the knee stable by consistently doing strengthening exercises of the muscles around the knee.

From today, will be eating more mindfully. I have a few treats around, but can space them out so there are no excessive NFDs, and let’s hope I will maintain the slight loss shown so far this month.

Have a great weekend everyone, but eat mindfully! 🙂

Saturday morning, and I am feeling very pleased as I had a particularly good sleep last night. If I knew how I did it, I could do it again!

I made my mung bean soup yesterday, and enormous saucepan full so I had a (small) second helping last night and still have a container in the fridge and two containers in the freezer.
I did use lots of greens, but from my garden, and I didn’t weigh them. I do guess they were equal to a big bunch of spinach as sold in my greengrocers, which google tells me weighs up to 500g but half the weight is in stems.

Lindsay I LOVE pyrex containers with good snap on lids. I have more than a dozen in different sizes and use them all the time. Only tip: remember to use them! My only worry was that they are so heavy in my freezer drawers, but all is well so far. I hardly use gladwrap, I must have had my roll for three or four years and there is still plenty on it. (I do a lot of balancing plates or saucers on bowls, as a cover, if I am not using my pyrex containers). Good ones last so well.
I am keen to try those waxed wraps, but haven’t yet.

Klondi, ha yes, LJoyce would have got some great commissions for all those new air fryers! (Lgbran I hope those scones work!)

Re clutter, I do try to avoid it, and moving so often helped. When I was first moving around I could fit all my belongings in the boot of a car. Motherhood changed all that! Now I brace myself at the door not letting anything come in! Ha. Grandchildren turned my home into Tim the Toyman’s (shop in the city when I was young), and YamDaisy means I have a pie warmer and a cold display unit in my loungeroom and a stack of large containers full of kitchen things in my spare room. Poor guests! At least my new YamDaisy plan means I can clear them out.

Tin Can Bay sounds wonderful. Sand flats have their own beauty (and not too many sand flies I hope). 65kg is wonderful. Can’t wait for 63, celebration time!

Betsy, well done, it is very comforting to have cholesteraol levels in the safety zone. So glad you are getting some professional help for that knee. What happened on the bicycle? It must have been dreadful.
Good luck today with your sensible snacks.

And good luck today to everyone!

Neil, I agree with LJ, that mixing things up with eating patterns can often help with weight loss. When I used to plateau, sometimes for a couple of weeks, I sometimes got exasperated and just ate a bunch on one day. The next day I often broke the plateau. The thing you have to be careful of is limiting to a single day. More isn’t better in this case. 😁
LJ, that finger press treatment on the back of my neck always seems to help, sometimes a lot, sometimes just a little. Thank you for telling me about it.

Klondi, Tin Can Bay sounds like something out of a Jimmy Buffet song. I would love to see and feed a live dolphin! What a wonderful time you must be having there. And there’s nothing like fresh seafood, right from the ocean. And after Penguin’s reports on the benefits, it should make them taste twice as good. Have you tried fish in the air fryer yet?

Betsy, you’re already eating quite well. Short of going on a vegan diet, it’s very hard to bring cholesterol down significantly through diet alone. I’ve tried.
Can you wear a brace to support your knee along with the exercises? It sounds like it may be quite fragile. Could your doctor prescribe physical therapy for it? I hope you get a better idea from the orthopedic surgeon, but like LJ said, surgeons like to operate.

Thin, hope your packing and downsizing is going well and it will be over soon.

Cinque, I usually add the stems from spinach to stews unless they seem very thick and tough. How long do you heat the stew once the spinach has been added?

Anzac, maybe it’s time to sit down and have a talk with OH about Maxx’s training. The water or citronella spray isn’t cruel. Labs are water dogs, after all. It would be cruel to have him face the consequences if he jumped on someone and injured them. The nice thing about the spray collar is that you don’t have to chase after him to use it. I can be way across the room, it has about an 18 meter range. When Cooper looks at me with that confused and startled look, I look back at him with an equally confused look. “Goodness, what was that??” And the best part is that I don’t get the blame. “Wow, the gods must be angry!”

Well, time to say goodnight before this iPad battery quits on me.

Hi all

Lgbran A quick 7k walk, that’s not possible, is it? C’arn th Blues (an AFL footy term). I’m a Doggy supporter myself. How did the scones go,? Surely anything which gets you in the kitchen is to be encouraged. I always get a smile when MFP (My Fitness Pal, Crazy) slaps me over the wrist for under eating.

LG. Thanks for those tips, I hadn’t seen that one about cheese but I did see one about light ingredients flying around and getting burnt. I cooked a sausage for OH tonight which was cooked well then I reheated some pizza for me and was pleased with the results. I have some chicken drumsticks I will soak in kefir (instead of buttermilk) tomorrow and they should be nice. Do you always preheat your fryer or does it depend on what you are cooking?

Calif. I didn’t try the fish. It was $20 for the two fillets and if I had spoilt it, it would have been a very expensive mistake and I didn’t have a backup plan. I definitely will when I get home or if I have cheaper fish.

Penguin. I hadn’t really taken to much notice of BOJO so that was very informative and seemed fairly thoughtful. He seems a very complex person who could turn out truly wonderful or an absolute disaster. Best of luck

Betsy. We tend to move every couple of weeks. Some grey nomads like to plonk themselves down for their entire winter sojourn but we like the opportunity to see new places or favourite old ones. One benefit this year is op shop tourism. I have found a nice variety of bargains and some really well set up shops. Not sure whether to donate while I’m here or take my too big clothes home for house clothes What a problem

According to the step counter I’m over 13000 steps today. My aching knee and back agree – I overdid it. A walk to the beach and back, stopping for a cuppa with a friend and then a walk to the green grocer for some fresh fruit and veg. I think it was carrying the heavy bag home that did the most damage.

Klondi, my airfryers have only required 3 minutes to preheat so I don’t bother. I just put the food in before I turn it on and allow that extra 3 minutes as part of the cooking time.
Something I discovered through experimentation is that you can use things like foil or silicone paper to help. For example if I put a small casserole dish in the airfryer to bake and it has grated cheese on top I’ll tightly cover the top in foil for the first 5 minutes or so. By then the cheese will have melted and I can safely remove the foil and it will brown nicely. Anything with a wet/sticky surface, I will sometimes wrap in silicone paper when I begin the cooking, which I remove once it has set enough not to stick to everything else in the airfryer. For example something I’ve crumbed myself, or something wrapped in filo that I’ve defrosted – there can start off sticky. Much of this is trial and error, as something doesn’t work well I try to think of a solution.
The chicken should be lovely. I do tandoori chicken pieces which involve a mixture of spices and yoghurt smothered over the chicken. It’s as close to a real tandoor as you’ll get at home. Also glad you got to see what it does to sausages. Through normal cooking methods they seem to get dark stripes and pale patches, depending on where they touches the pan/grill. In my airfryer they end up evenly brown all over. Is your airfyer easy to clean? I found that if it got messy, the quicker I filled it with hot soapy water to soak the better.

Penguin, well done on the weight loss.

Cali, the headache didn’t return so the finger press exercise worked a treat this morning. I agree sometimes it works really well and others it just tides me over until I can get to the physio for a proper treatment.

Cinque, glad you finally got that soup made. I don’t weigh the veg either, I just use what I’ve got and what I like. Good that you have some frozen – always handy. After the excess of soup making I did a couple of weeks ago I have nice little stash of soups in the freezer which I always find reassuring.
If I have soup and toast, and maybe a boiled egg, I have dinner covered any night I don’t want to cook.

Time I headed off to bed – hopefully to sleep in a better position tonight so I don’t irritate my neck again.
Goodnight all.

Another FD has rolled around. I’ll be making a lentil sauce on Slendier spaghetti for dinner. 56.4kg.

LJ, congratulations on coming second. Personally, I’d switch the FD just so I had full mental cognition but I wouldn’t consider it rude to refuse food. It’s a perfect opportunity to educate everyone about the merits of IF.

CalifD, thanks yes, we’re nearly there. OH’s Klepper folding kayak was sold to a fella in Sydney yesterday & has been shrink-wrapped for courier collection. Two of our lizards went to their new home yesterday, the other two today so it really does feel like the end of an era now. Thankfully all four will have vet owners so we know they will receive good husbandry. If we had any misgivings about leaving, the past three weeks of school holidays have helped to dispel them – the trampoline was moved to the back garden.

Have a great weekend all, what remains.

Morning everyone, from beautiful sunny Brisbane where the temperature will get to the mid-twenties today. Perfect for some gardening … we went to Bunnings yesterday and came away with a trolley of flowering plants. This is to to on top of the basket-full from a beautiful garden shop in West End called Mappins which does smaller pots at a very good price. The girls don’t seem to have problems foraging – the hive is thriving – but I want some insurance. Most of our garden is flowing shrubs and trees, so something closer to the ground won’t hurt, even it just lets us see the bees close up, collecting nectar.

And Cinque, though normally you are right about most things, you are not right about my bees … they don’t love me at all. Quite the reverse.

Cinque just read the article about loose skin. Another endorsement of this WOL, given that it’s unlikely to lead to sudden weight loss but rather a sustained approach that allows our skin to adjust with us. And I am not sure which is worse – the loose skin or the scarring from surgery.

How’s the heat Penguin? BTW, 40 is hot by ANYONE’s standards. Here is Brisbane, in the sub-troplcs, we start moaning when it hits 35, which fortunately it only does a couple of months a year. Good luck with not over-heating, and also keeping the garden going with the extreme weather.

Aurorin, great achievement. Take a bow. No wonder you felt emotional …. a good response.

Chatelaine, I’m just catching up with posts and have just seen yours. Sorry it’s tough for you. Just a couple of thoughts. Can you cut your carb intake to almost zero, for a short period (eg a fortnight) to see if that shifts that plateau? And do you eat your first meal of the day fewer than 12 hours from your last calorie intake? I’m practising intermittent fasting, which means I only eat in an 8 hour window. Appreciate that may not suit, but I always, always, even when travelling, leave a gap of minimum 13 hours from my last calories of the evening, to the first of the following day.

Klondi, that honey from the buffet sounds wonderful. I’ve never seen it served like that. I think the rate my hive is going, I’ll be harvesting more soon. Mr nearly 5 has done a fabulous drawing of a bee, complete with stripes and yellow body and little legs, and my designer son is going to do my labels. I don’t think I will be putting Woolworths out of business, but will be nice to give to friends. (Here’s my secret – I’m not really a honey fan).I’ll check out that Conversations podcast, thank you. And thank you also for the inquiry about my health. Yes, I am finally over the flu/pneumonia and my vision is improving. I had a great day in the garden last week, and noticed how much I enjoyed it. Sometimes you don’t realise how sick you’ve been, until you feel better.

Brilliant, you are enjoying this holiday so much Klondi. Good for you, for getting to the low sixties. It must be a wonderful feeling. That was my weight when I got married – it seems a way off now, but I’ll struggle on. Isn’t Tin Can Bay a lovely spot? So peaceful and unspoiled (our holiday house is on Stradbroke and it’s much the same).

Betsy, great news from the doctor about your blood tests. Hope the knee is okay. Have you tried myotherapy? They work on muscles and I think I’ve mentioned before how amazing mine has been in resolving back/hip issues that I’d had for years and years.

Cinque, LJ I’d seen so much plastic wrap washed up on our beaches, that I felt I had to give it up. Greaseproof paper, glass containers, paper bags are my new ‘go to’.

OK I’ve caught up. Hope your Sunday is relaxed and sorry to posters I’ve missed (Anzac, Cali, how are you doing?) and to non-posters (Intesha, Merry, G’day, you ok?) And for the very long post. It’s like a short story.

Post script, Hi Klondi and Lindsay, lovely to read your posts.

Maybe the bees just don’t know that they love you yet Lindsay 😉

Adding to the pyrex containers discussion, I mostly use them when I have made a bulk meal, decanting into them gives me appropriate serving sizes (eg enough for one or two or three meals), and helps cool it down ready to go into the fridge and then freezer.
I do think the microwave is a bit hard on the lids so I don’t heat from frozen, I thaw frozen things overnight in the fridge (or over 2 nights in my new efficient fridge!) and then plate up and microwave my serve.
I have mixed things in them and I love them for things like roasted peppers that I place in a container and put the lid on so they steam and then the skins come off easily.

And one more thought on that eating socially, that LJoyce mentioned, it would be fascinating to look around and see if there is anyone else who doesn’t eat. I suspect that there would be quite a few.

Bye now.