Hello Southern Hemispherites!!

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LJoyce

1:30 am
28 Jul 19
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Good morning all.

I had an unplanned indulgence yesterday. My friend needed to buy a gift so we ended up at the local shopping area where there was a shop selling interesting handmade chocolates. I bought a small block of chocolate that contained wafer layers and hazelnuts. It’s always risky if I have any chocolate but dark – needless to say I ate the entire block in one sitting! This is why I normally don’t have milk choc in the house (apart from easter, when there is so much that it’s easier to space it out).
Today I’m going to a community event to celebrate the opening of the new railway station and bridge near my house, which includes food. Hopefully I can find something that doesn’t break the calorie bank.

Klondi, the airfryer is very different to a microwave, although you can reheat food beautifully in it – it’s best to think of it as a baby fan-forced oven. Any container etc you can put in an oven can go i the airfryer – if it fits!

Cinque, I absolutely agree about sleep, obesity and appetite. When I sleep badly I crave food, especially carbs, all day. I also remember how broken my sleep used to be when I was obese – mostly because I had which meant 1-2 trips to the toilet through the night. I found that being both obese and inactive made it difficult to get a good night’s sleep, which keeps the cycle going.

Lindsay, sounds like a perfect day for gardening. We are still at about 6 weeks away from being able to do the spring planting. Giving your bees some flower variety sounds like an excellent idea. I remember my flourishing row of french lavender that I had in my previous garden always had bees in it – I suspect in the bleaker months it was one of the few flowers around.

Penguin, I agree, I can’t imagine giving up good bread either. It is one of life’s joys, especially warm from the oven.
I’ve seen a couple of examples on tv lately of people making their own butter. One made cultured butter by adding some cultured buttermilk (I’m wondering if kefir might work too) to the cream the day before making the butter so the microbes would flavour the cream. Then they churned it into butter and it retained good microbes. They kept the buttermilk so they could add some to the next lot of cream. I’m only mentioning this as a possible addition to home baked bread, if you have the enthusiasm for experimenting with making butter.

Anzac65

8:12 am
28 Jul 19
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Hi friends, Sunday late afternoon after yet another stunner of a day with 20 degrees.

I had to work most of the weekend so just a quick post to say ‘hi’

I have skimmed your awesome posts and hope to have a proper read tomorrow. I managed to get through TWFH (the week from hell) and not only did I not put on weight but I managed to lose 300g. 84.6 this morning.

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, chat soon

Betsylee

1:41 pm
28 Jul 19
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Hi all, back again before retiring (hopefully by 10:30 p.m., surprising even me!).

LindsayL, great that you’re now feeling much better and your vision is improving.

Klondikekween, yes, I imagine moving every few weeks would make the travel more interesting. The idea of enjoying the opshops, and also donating to them sounds great. With this WOL, for the first time ever in my weight loss endeavours (which have spanned a few decades!), I have been giving away my clothes as they become too large. As I said recently to a friend, “I dare not put any weight back on as I’ll have nothing to wear!”

penguin, chuckled at your “bread tasting”, but…. how could anyone resist tasting newly baked bread straight form the over? 🙂

LJoyce, glad bridge is going well, and the new day sounds like it suits you better. Re the snacks, what you did was quite clever, keeping one snack on your plate. Even better, keep it there, then quietly bin it at the end of the break time without eating any of it. No-one’s offended, and you keep your fast day. By the way, hope you have recovered from your 13,000-step day. Sounds like it really was a bit much for you. Re the chocolate, at least it was only a SMALL bar, so not an ongoing temptation. Once gone, it was gone!

Anzac65, well done after such a horrendous week, to have actually lost some weight. That’s really impressive.

Cinque, LJoyce and CalifDreamer, you all asked about my knee. I had a total knee dislocation due to a bicycle accident in China in 1997, with the bottom leg bone coming completely out of the knee socket. I have since been told by several doctors and orthopods that I was fortunate not to have my leg amputated, as more than 50% of people who dislocate as badly as I did need that done, and of the rest, the majority end up with a non-functional knee/leg. My local GP has been amazed that I don’t even walk with a limp.
BUT – from the start and since I have been rigorous in strengthening the muscles around the knee to keep the knee working okay. One outside ligament is completely torn, the ACL is lax and only half the normal width, areas of the knee cap have no cartilage and the knee is permanently swollen. All of this was confirmed on the MRI.
I think Ken (GP) had forgotten how bad the injury was, and he was really concerned about the MRI results. He assured me that the surgeon he has sent me to will not immediately jump into surgery; it’s for an opinion. Even now, most of the time, the knee is fine, but then it suddenly jams, or is extremely painful to move, etc., then it re-adjusts itself and works again, so I don’t think surgery is needed yet – but possibly in the future.
So, yes, CalifDreamer, the knee is fragile, but intermittently, and I can most of the time use it normally. It’s swollen all the time, and doesn’t bend fully, but is functional, and for that I’m very grateful.

Anyway, I’ll find out what’s what on Tuesday and will post on the forum after that.

Meanwhile, it’s back to serious weight loss again. No more doughnuts, limited treats, watching the NFD intake, and off this plateau! 🙂

Onward and downwards we go!

thinatlast

10:38 pm
28 Jul 19
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Speaking of insomnia, I’ve been awake since 2am, tried to get back to sleep until 4am and gave up. I waited until 5am to make my coffee to avoid cheating on yesterday’s fast. Off to meet my friend for a walk at 6am, still pitch black at that time. Bridge will be an interesting affair this morning.

Anzac, good job staying under 85kg. I bet you’re looking forward to your trip more than ever.

Betsy, my knee problems have been nothing on your trauma but I do know that weight loss has been the best thing for mine. I now rarely feel any pain after years of struggling with OA.

Lindsay, one of my great pleasures of my life here was loading up the Bunnings trolley with plants. I especially liked to select the ‘near dead’ ones that they always have on a special rack. They survived whatever neglect happened there and always seemed to appreciate and thrive in my garden. By the way, did you know that Bunnings serve very good coffee? What a pleasant surprise.

Cinque, I’m pleased you feel the same about not eating at social functions. When I was fat, I was acutely aware that skinny people did not stuff food in their mouths as I did. At bridge, there is a young (relatively for bridge players) woman who is morbidly obese. I would guess she weighs about 160kg. She struggles to walk and breathe. She talks a great deal about the various cake recipes she tries and makes off with a handful of biscuits at morning tea. I find this more concerning than the people who refrain altogether. She is essentially killing herself, very sad.

Cinque, I did read all you reported on Yam Daisy and your new plans the other day. Thanks for the update. I hope it works out.

My FD was barely noticeable except that I remembered why the Slendier spaghetti was still in the cupboard. I don’t like it much. The lentil bolognaise was really tasty and seemed a large amount of food for only 170 cals. 56.2kg today so not much of a loss but maintaining a fasty way of life is my priority so all is well. Have a great week all.

Lindsay L.

11:51 pm
28 Jul 19
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OH is out the door nice and early for his writing group, and I am savouring the serenity.

Thin there are few things more satisfying than saving a plant that’s destined for the bin. I’m a bit of a coffee snob, so good to know about Bunnings’ cafe. I’ve always just walked past it, assuming it wasn’t much chop. I went originally to get African Violet potting mix, having bought half a dozen little ones at Mappins, and needing to pot them up into the lovely pots I also bought at Mappins. Ah, it’s a slippery slope, this gardening..one thing leads to another. LJ the lavender is like a magnet for bees, I’ve read. Mine are yet to flower, but the girls are circling the flowering rosemary. I also bought a punnet of blue salvias on Saturday – apparently bees love blue (who’d have thought).
Betsy, what an horrendous accident. You were indeed lucky to escape China with that injury, and your leg intact. Hope the appointment goes well tomorrow.
Thin, it is sad to see someone like your bridge colleague eating her way to, at the very least, a circumscribed life. Cinque interesting to observe what people do (and don’t eat). Have you ever noticed slim people don’t seem to drink diet coke?

And Cinque, I’d like to think the bees will learn to love me …but as they only have such short lives, it’s unlikely they’ll get used to me. Did you know that the bees we see flying around are in the last fortnight of their lives? The first few weeks they are on hive duty, and then for the last they are foragers …such a hard and constant job that it literally wears them out. It’s the Queen who’s in my firing line. Her genes dictate the aggression in the hive. If it doesn’t improve, I may have to trigger a palace revolt (ie, a new Queen).

Happy Monday all.

Cinque

12:56 am
29 Jul 19
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Good morning,
I’ve just had my lovely morning-after-fast-day breakfast and I’m drinking my coffee while I think out my sentences here!

Lindsay you must have the Queen Bee from Mean Girls. A palace revolt will be exciting!
I have a pretty red and white salvia at the side gate and all the children love to suck the nectar from the little trumpet flowers. But it causes great distress when my bee-phobic granddaughters see the bees there so I will love telling them what you have just told me about bee lives.

I am so glad you are feeling well again, and that your sight is settling down nicely.
I share your worry about plastic waste. It is so good to get other solutions.

LJoyce, we must watch the same tv, I have seen two lots of butter churning lately too. 🙂
That chocolate indulgence sounds delicious, hopefully it will give your metabolism a good shock AND it will have been such a complete treat you won’t need another one for a while.

Anzac, I am dreaming of 20 degrees! 84.6 is wonderful! Congratulations.
I hope this week will be from heaven.

Betsylee, that accident, omg I can imagine the pain and shock and worry. I am so glad you pulled through it so well, and I do hope the specialist has some helpful ideas.
A big hooray for 5:2 being the way of eating that sends clothes off to the op shop!
Cheers for your doughnut free journey off the plateau. Feel smug all fortnight!

Oh dear Thin, I hope your sleep deprived brain survives bridge.
Ha re the slendier noodles. Are they all gone now, and you will never have to have them again?

I told the story before but it was long ago, so I will tell it again. My social eating perceptions were wonderfully challenged by a society person saying she would have a couple of functions a night so she would enter, talk to people, hold a drink in her hand but not drink from it, be social for half an hour or whatever, and then put her drink down and head to the next function to do the same.
I am the opposite of a society person, but I was really struck that she concentrated on the people, not the food, and looked after her health. I channel her now.

I think when I was growing up, apart from having a sweet tooth and being so excited that you could eat as much as you liked at a social spread, it was also my way to deal with social anxiety. As well as channeling the non eating socialite, I try to channel the wonderful John Clarke who was always so interested in everyone and loving to chat.

None of that today, I have a quiet day. Yes, serenity Lindsay! I hope yours hasn’t ended already.
But I am spending time with sisters over the next two days, so I need to get ready. We are going to see the movie ‘Yesterday’ and make scotch broth for our evening meal tomorrow. And today I am serenely getting the place ready for visitors.

Best wishes all

Neilithicman

1:23 am
29 Jul 19
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Hi all, social weekend so that means I ate too much. We had a couple of drinks on Friday night, We had some friends round for cards on Saturday night and we always have a little indulgence when we have our cards sessions. Then Sunday was my little sister’s birthday so we had a family dinner for her. I’ll be fasting today and tomorrow and hitting the gym hard to try and minimise the damage.

On the plus side, I did play some Frisbee golf on Sunday and take my boys and my parents dog for a walk through the bush walk near our house. The track had just re-opened. It had been closed since 2016 when a couple of landslides wiped out parts of the track after a really heavy rainfall.

I walked home past the house of one of my parents’ friends who I haven’t seen for ages and he rang up my parents and asked who the guy was that was walking with their dog and grandkids. My mother was having a good laugh when she told him that it was me and he probably didn’t recognise me because of my weight loss.

LJoyce

1:57 am
29 Jul 19
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Good morning,

As to the issue of refusing food. I used to have a real issue with this, but much less so these days, however there are things that impact my decisions. If it was younger people, I would feel less worried about appearing impolite always saying no at the bridge afternoon tea. With people closer to my parents age I assume their mores of polite behaviour are similar to those I was taught. Continually refusing to eat food people had prepared for you was definitely considered impolite. Also, as I’m brand new to this group I do want to fit in. I also discovered they also have happy hour (with wine) after bridge ends on Friday. I elected to leave, partly because I don’t drink, but also because I didn’t want to get stuck in the worst of the peak hour traffic. I got some funny looks when I said I didn’t drink, but I’m used to that. Funny how it’s easier for me to say no to alcohol without any guilt but not food. I’ll have to ponder that.
I think fasting Thursdays instead is a good idea as I do need my wits about me during play and all I’ve consumed before play starts is a small banana.

Yesterday, those I went to the community event with had sausage and onions in bread followed by loukoumades (greek fried donuts saturated in honey). I chose a felafel bowl which included hummus, fresh salad and pickled/fermented red cabbage (not sure what they’d done to it). It was a nice lunch and I was surprised that I liked the cabbage – it still tasted quite fresh and had crunch, so whatever vinegar or salt solution it had been subjected to, it can’t have been in there for long.

Lindsay, I like the idea of a palace revolt. Will the bees accept a new queen or do they create their own from larvae in the hive?
My previous garden had lots of salvias too (lovely plants for delicate autumn flowers), but the bees still preferred the lavender. What is interesting is that in my veggie patch here it was bees that did all of the pollination for the zucchini, cucumber etc whereas in the hills it was always ants that did that – despite there clearly being a local bee population.

Betsy, that accident sounds horrifying. I have actually never heard of a dislocated knee and just thinking about it has me shuddering. I’m not surprised that you still have ligament damage. I totally agree with your approach to strengthening muscles to compensate for the lack of ligament support – I did that when a tore away one of the ligaments in my ankle and it made a big difference. I think people underestimate just how critical good rehab after a joint injury/operation is. I know that tendons and ligaments can sometimes be surgically reattached, but I don’t know whether there’s a time limit after the injury. My elderly uncle had this procedure done to a shoulder.
I can also confirm Thin’s experience with weight loss. The pain and inflammation in my knees also reduced with weight loss. I did still need to have a knee replacement – that was actually the impetus for losing the weight in the first place – I wanted a good result from the surgery and knew that wouldn’t happen if I was obese – I also needed to get my BMI under 35 to meet the hospital’s risk rules. However, I have delayed needing surgery on the other knee for many years (there is even a chance now that I’ll never need it) and I move much more easily and with much less pain than before. Like you, I always have some knee inflammation and if I overdo it there is more swelling and pain, but if I manage my activity I can stop it getting a lot worse.

Anzac, you deserve a big congratulations for losing weight last week. Talk about facing a stress challenge head on and winning. I hope the work stress eases up a bit.

Cinque, thanks you for the stores about how others cope in social settings. I have always felt a little awkward, especially when I know so few people and even the few whose names I know are only recent acquaintances.

Thin, I hope you could concentrate this morning despite the lack of sleep. I suspect the list of things still to do is running around in your thoughts. I can only imagine how hard it was to send your lizards off to new homes, they’ve with with you so long.

I woke with no ill effects from my excess of activity on Saturday so I pushed the limits yesterday too. Only 7000 steps from walks etc, but I also did an hour of gardening. It’s the first time in months that my back has felt good enough to risk it. I was sensible enough to not try digging more tree roots out of heavy clay soil. Instead I used the garden fork to tackle the thick crop of weeds in soil I had tilled a few months ago. Still hard work that had me tired and sweating, but I stopped after hour. I can definitely feel a little more tightness in a some shoulder and back muscles today but I didn’t aggravate the lower back problem. That gives me hope that I am truly heading back to normality – finally.

FD for me today and just a pot of tea so far. I have a small banana ready for this afternoon and I’ve thawed some scotch broth for dinner.

Have a nice day all.

LJoyce

1:59 am
29 Jul 19
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Neil – our posts crossed.
Not being recognised because you’d lost so much weight is wonderful. That’s a true confirmation of how much you’ve changed. Hope the weekend didn’t do too much damage. I have no doubts your fasting and exercise will help counteract it.

Quacka

2:36 am
29 Jul 19
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Good morning everyone

It’s Monday FD for me today and I have my positive hat on. I am back to looking forward to them and also the results I see after two good FD’s.
Klondi, you asked if I have much more weight to lose. Well, it depends. I set myself a goal weight of 60kg when I first decided to do this WOL but I don’t really know why I picked that number. At the moment I am hovering around the 66kg mark. I got well into the 65’s just before we went to Cairns but haven’t managed to get back there again (yet). So really I am maintaining. The funny thing is I am happy with how I look at this weight. I still have some curves but I don’t feel fat. Of course there are parts I would still change if I could but let’s face it I think everyone has parts of their body that they are not 100% happy with, no matter what their weight is.

Neil, that is so funny about your parents’ friend not recognising you. What a lovely thing to happen.

Betsy, your accident sounds horrific. I’m so glad you made it through and good on you for doing the exercises to support your knee.

Well done Anzac on losing another 300g even with all the stress you are under. You are doing so well.

LJ, I totally understand why you feel like you need to eat at Bridge but I also like your strategies for dealing with it. I think it would be nice if you could eat there sometimes and then it will not feel so rude on the times when you choose not to. I also like thin’s idea (hi thin) that it opens up the chance for a conversation about 5:2. Of course you don’t need to ram it down their throat, but just a simple “no thanks, I’m on a FD today” and it may just pique their curiosity. I used to get over-excited about 5:2 when introducing people to it but I have learned to reign it in a bit. I think if people want more information then they will ask.

I spent yesterday afternoon cooking some meals for the week ahead so I am very well prepared for my FD dinner tonight. I made a huge pot of veggie soup which also has some short cut bacon and some left over black beans in it. A serve (a quarter of a big pot) is only 242 calories.

Hope everyone is having a lovely day and a nice easy one for us fasters, LJ and Neil. Anyone else?

LJoyce

7:11 am
29 Jul 19
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The Red Nose charity are having a collection day tomorrow for saleable clothing etc. I’ve just gone through my wardrobe and pulled out everything that I rarely or never wear since moving to this house. I have 18 garments culled and ready for collection. The shelves aren’t as full now which is excellent – room for more op shopping – yay!

The rain stopped and we ended up having a very nice winter day. I managed 2 walks, so just over 10,000 steps again today but I feel ok. I find that carrying anything, no matter how light, makes a big difference to whether I aggravate my back when walking. I might need to invest in a small backpack rather than bag that I carry or put on my shoulder.

Hope the fasters are sticking with it. I’ve had my banana and 2 pots of tea. Looking forward to my dinner soup.

Betsylee

9:01 am
29 Jul 19
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Hi all, good to catch up in the afternoon for once instead of late at night. Vaguely watching “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” – know probably more than half the answers, but get me to any music/ pop band question, and I really know almost nothing.

Thanks for all the comments re my knee. I was initially sent home for a total knee reconstruction, but it ended up not being necessary. But, I was warned I’d probably have problems later in life. Anyway, one of my reasons (among several others) for wanting to lose weight is to take stress off my knees.

Your knee history with weight loss is encouraging, LJoyce. Good that your exercise recently has been okay, with no ill effects on your back. The idea of a back pack sounds good – much easier than having something on your shoulder.

Quacka, if you and your GP are happy with your weight as it is, just enjoy and be happy.

Neilithicman, what a boost to you, to have people who should know you not recognise you because of your weight loss. Good for you!

LindsayL, are you sure you don’t have an Italian queen bee? Those are the kind my father always said were especially vicious. The bees around my place go absolutely crazy over the lavender at the front of my place, and for some reason they don’t go near the lavender at the back. Weird.

Cinque, hope you have a lovely time with your sisters. Will they understand the way you eat?

Great that August is a new month and getting closer to warmer weather when it’s easier to eat less.

Anzac65

10:01 pm
29 Jul 19
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Good morning friends, it is finally raining in Sydney. The garden is singing

This week is panning out to be worse than last week except I’m putting my foot down about working late in the office. Yesterday I came home at 5.00 and carried on working but at least I’m home, can have a healthy meal and avoid the takeaway temptations that my colleagues have.

Today is a FD but I’m on the train thinking about turning it into a VLCD. The reason is I have a meeting at 11.00 with two very senior IT architects who will grill me about the new process we are implementing. Then at 12.00 I am running a workshop with two very senior people from the business who have not yet seen the changes that are coming. I’m sure they will find plenty to moan about. I’m quite anxious about both and had a very bad sleep. Anyway I’ll see how I go

I’ll try to have a good post soon as I have lots to say about your lovely and encouraging posts…but for now I’m approaching my stop. Have a great day all

Anzac65

10:33 pm
29 Jul 19
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PS: BetsyLee, when you said ‘Great that August is a new month’ I thought to myself ‘gosh, she is really looking a long way ahead’. And then I just looked down at the date on my laptop and saw that today is the 30 July. What? My life is so crazy right now that I honest to goodness thought it was still the middle of July.

Am totally freaked out!

Cinque

10:45 pm
29 Jul 19
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A quick good morning as I have much to do, and hope to get a rest in before sisters arrive. But I have already put my bread up for its second rise, tick. It contains the last of the barley flour.

Neil, have a lovely week working off that weekend feasting. What an enjoyable weekend. Happy Birthday Neil’s sister. Great story, not being recognised! What a hoot. I remember Thin telling a similar one when someone at the picnic walked up and asked where she was!

LJoyce, good point about respecting the needs of an older generation, and respecting the work they have done to provide food.
Hope you find a good range of backpacks in op shops! So sensible, they should be much easier on your back. I hope you find a variety of sizes, and designs that set off your outfits.

Quacka, I hope your positive hat is still sitting on your lovely head. Enjoy every day of feeling good about how you look and what you weigh. Maintaining is go!

Betsy, I hope your lovely evening post means you also got to bed earlier and had a lovely night’s sleep.
Yes, thanks, my sisters are great at fitting around how I need to eat. I will put off my fast day until Friday though. It is getting funny as we age and balance up my CFS and no sugar, one sister with a soy allergy, two sisters with bad backs, one with fatigue from chronic vertigo, and being prepared that my vicar sister might have a parishioner die and have to stay home to take the funeral. (That hasn’t happened this time).

Lindsay, an evil Italian queen! eep!

Anzac, hooray for the welcome rain. So glad you are leaving work at 5pm, I hope you can keep that up. Sending good wishes that your busy morning goes really well. Be kind to yourself.

Must go. Best wishes to everyone. Cherish the day.

Quacka

12:07 am
30 Jul 19
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Good Morning everyone

I had a very successful FD yesterday at just over 300 calories. That veggie soup was so tasty and warming, and filling! I couldn’t even finish the serve which was only 240 calories. I did feel a bit hungry after dinner but I am still deciding whether that was actual real hunger or just a feeling like I would like to eat more. About 2am I woke up and I WAS very hungry and then I couldn’t get back to sleep after that, so today I join the list of insomniacs! The evil scale is only showing down 200g but I am not really worried, I am keeping that positive hat on, Cinque!

Betsy, I have never actually asked my GP if my weight is ok but I am pretty sure it would be now. I feel healthy and strong and I don’t feel overweight anymore, it’s just that I think I would like to weigh a bit less. “I think”. Who knows…..

Anzac, work is really giving you a run for it at the moment! I hope everything goes well with your presentations, I know it will, but I understand the anxiety that you are feeling. You know you have been busy when the month is almost done and you haven’t realised! I’m glad you went home at 5pm yesterday and avoided that nasty takeaway. Like you said a healthy meal at home is way better and you always have Maxx (and OH, lol) to distract you for a moment to keep you sane!! 😉

Cinque, enjoy your time with your sisters. I’m so glad I can’t smell that bread baking! I still haven’t eaten any of my MIL frozen sourdough. Maybe tonight with another serve of my soup.

I better go and do some work. I hope you all have a very lovely day with not too much stress! Have an easy FD, fasters 🙂

Neilithicman

1:07 am
30 Jul 19
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Hi all, I went for a pleasant walk last night since it was such a nice night. I decided to make the most of the nice weather since we’re supposed to be hit by a cold snap this week that our weather presenter described as “Mother Nature reminding us what season we’re actually in” I had to drop my boy off to his parkour classes and the gym is down by the harbour so I spent an hour and a quarter walking around the harbour while his lesson was on. That was on top of my lunchtime gym session.

Today I’ll have my gym session and then some lane swimming this evening while the boys are at their swimming lessons. Hopefully my that will put me back on track for my weigh-in tomorrow morning. It’s well timed to weigh in on the last day of the month. I might set myself a goal for August and start at it at the weigh-in.

PerthGirl

8:58 am
30 Jul 19
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Hi all,

The Tour de France is finished, life returns to normal in our household!

Neil, well done, glad you enjoyed your weekend indulgences, now back to your new normal.

Anzac, this will be too late for your meetings (which I hope went well). When readying myself for such meetings I always used to remind myself that everyone ‘puts their undies on, one leg at a time’ (even IT architects and I should now I’m married to a retired one!). On a more serious note, IT architects know a lot about IT architecture but probably nothing about your business domain, you are the domain expert, and without the Business they would out of a job, therefore they should be highly interested in what you know. You have the POWER! Wrt managers, it usually just means that they have scaled the slippery ladder to earn more money and have more apparent power. However, for each step of the ladder that they scale, the information becomes more summarised from those below then, and the demands more strident from those above. You are the one with all the business process details at your fingertips and they should be prepared to listen and learn. Again, knowledge is POWER!

To everyone else, sorry about that but I hope it helps to boost Anzac’s confidence (and helps her to stay on the IF 5:2 ‘straight and narrow’ in these stressful weeks). 🙂

LJ, that pickled red cabbage you had may well have been refrigerator/quick pickles; easy to do and yummy to eat. I do lots of red onions that way for summer salads.

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-refrigerator-pickles-83971

LgBran, your wife may be more impressed with the air-fryer if you cook something that usually requires a frypan and oil, and makes lots of spattery mess on the stovetop. Rissoles, burgers, dry fritters are my usual air-fryer fodder. Note, I have never been able to make scones successfully using any method other than a CWA packet-mix from the supermarket baking aisle.

Cinque and LJ, do you use a recipe for your mung bean soup?

Penguin, really agree about fresh, home-made bread. PerthBoy is our home baker and for some reason he always seems to need to make bread on a fast day – ready for our post-fast boiled eggs and ‘soldiers’ for breakfast. Really tests the will-power sometimes.

Re discussion about eating and drinking at social events. My experience has been that if I have some liquid sloshing around in the right-shaped glass, my hostess is content that my needs have been met, and no one else actually notices what the liquid is. I can nurse a glass of soda water for hours. Generally, the guests are too busy being sociable to look closely at anyone’s glass, other than their own when it is empty. If someone insists on serving me something I would prefer not to drink I simply hold it until the time comes to leave or move on, then just quietly put it down and leave it.

Finally, can I pass on two strategies that I have found useful.
(1) If there is something in the cupboard that you really want to eat – take a very small portion (one square of chocolate, a biscuit, 3 or 4 walnuts etc). Pack up the remainder and put it away. Walk away, maybe to the other end of the house (we have a small house) or another room. Sit down, and do nothing – no TV – but eat your treat very slowly with small nibbles, eg letting chocolate melt on your tongue, tasting and enjoying every morsel (mindful eating). If you want more, wait 10 minutes – time yourself by the clock – and then repeat the performance, including the repacking and putting away. Works for us 🙂 I have been known to make a square of chocolate last for five minutes; I can stop at one square – if I only take one square! And … only PerthBoy knows where the chocolate is hidden in our house 😉 Also, there is no in-between meal snacking when we are at home, any desirable snack/treat is incorporated into our meal-time, and it’s energy and micronutrients are ‘assessed’ as part of the meal.

(2) I carry a plastic picnic knife in my bag all the time. If I see a treat/snack that I really, really want/fancy/need? when we are out and about, then I buy it and immediately cut it in half. If PerthBoy is with me, he gets half, and I get half. If he’s not with me then the ‘spare’ half goes into a rubbish bin straight away (I’m sorry about the poor, starving children that my parents nagged me about when I was a child). I just think of it as short-circuiting the rubbish disposal process, (rather than wasting food) whilst minimising the risk that any will remain on my hips. It’s the first one or two mouthfuls that trigger the pleasure centres of the brain, beyond that it’s just fuel intake. PerthBoy and I also use the ‘cut in half’ method with our daily fruit, having half pieces of three or four different types of fruit, rather than whole fruits. Thus, widening the range of fruits, and increasing the ‘pleasure hits’. Note – there are three identified exceptions to this strategy Portugese custard tarts (pastel de nata), a cornish/devonshire cream tea, and Gregg’s Belgian buns (possibly only Penguin will get this reference).

Stay strong, may the force be with you

PG

LJoyce

11:20 am
30 Jul 19
Permalink

Good afternoon all

Neil, I just knew you’d be squeezing in extra exercise after that weekend. Here’s hoping it has an impact on your end of July weight.

Cinque, hope you had a lovely day with your sisters.

Anzac, I hope you made it through yet another difficult day.

Quacka, sounds like you had an excellent FD, even if the scales are being rebellious.
It would be worth having a conversation with your GP. I had a similar one with my GP and dietitian when I was stuck in the high 70s. If all your health markers are good then they will probably be content with your weight. However, being content with a weight that’s higher than the one we imagined is a harder ask and it can take a while to just be satisfied with where we are and let our bodies settle where they will. For me staying on 5:2 and maintaining, that meant a little more weight loss further down the track once I’d stopped hoping for more!

Perthgirl,
I could have used those tips this afternoon. I took a container of malt biscuits out of the panty and ate 8 of them with a cup of tea before sealing them up again and returning them to the pantry. I have no idea why I did that today – that container has been there for at least 3 months and I’ve seen it daily and not been interested.
As to Cinque’s mung bean soup. I’ll answer for her as she’s either still with her sisters or too tired to respond tonight. Her recipe in on this thread: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/beans-and-lentils-recipes-tips-and-information/page/2/ it’s about a third of the way down the page and dated: 20 Jun 17 I can affirm it deliciousness.

On the subject of scones, this is my own recipe and it never fails me:
Basic Scone Dough:
2 cups self-raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
30g butter
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup buttermilk (OR milk soured with a few drops of lemon juice, OR a blend of water & plain yoghurt, OR kefir)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 220˚C. Grease and flour an enamelled baking tray, or use silicone paper.
Put the dry ingredients into a bowl and rub the butter into it.
Add the milk and stir the mixture together with a knife or your hand.
Tip the dough onto a floured bench and bring together. Knead for no more than 20 seconds just enough to bring the dough together. The dough should be quite wet still (don’t worry this means you’ll have light scones).
Press or roll out to 2cm thick and either cut into rounds – or use a knife to cut into shares or triangles – that way you don’t need to reroll the leftover dough.
I lightly dust any wet areas of the cut scones in flour before putting onto the tray.
Brush the top of the scones with a little milk, but try not to let the milk run down the sides (shows up as brown dribbles once cooked).
How long you bake for depends on a few things:
– what size the scones are;
– do you want the tops browned and slightly crisp or softer and paler
To eat scones hot from the oven I prefer a scone with a browner crisper finish, but if you allow them to cool a bit before topping with jam and cream, a softer scone is more traditional.
For an 8cm round and a browned finish bake for approx. 18 minutes.
Reduce by 2-3 minutes for every 2cm smaller diameter.
Reduce by 2-3 minutes for a paler softer finish.
Cool on the tray for a few minutes until they can be handled. Wrap them in a clean linen tea towel.
Can be frozen as soon as they are cooled. For freezing I always go with the shorter cooking time and the paler finish as they are perfect for reheating in the airfryer in this state.

Other Options:
Fruit: Dried fruit, mixed spice or cinnamon and sugar/stevia
Date: Chopped dates, mixed spice and sugar/stevia
Cheese: Grated cheese, fresh herbs & mustard powder
Herb: Fresh parsley, chives and basil (and perhaps some cheese)
Spinach: Drained cooked spinach and crumbled feta
Wholemeal: Replace the white flour with wholemeal
This dough can also be used as a dumpling or cobbler layer to top a casserole. The herb or cheese scone is very good for this.

I think the reason I prefer the browner crisper finish is that these scones remind me of mini dampers – very nice for the savoury scone options, especially accompanied by a bowl of soup.

After this afternoon’s raiding of the biscuit container I didn’t feel like my planned dinner so I had a smaller lighter alternative. Time for a cuppa now.

PerthGirl

11:30 am
30 Jul 19
Permalink

Hi LG,
thank you for the link, a copy of the recipe is now in electronic recipe book. I will try the scones again this weekend, I think that I am a little heavy-handed (which is good for home-made bread).

Sorry my tip was too late, but now there won’t be a next time, will there:-)

PG

Betsylee

3:06 pm
30 Jul 19
Permalink

Hi all, a bit late tonight, so this will be short(er).

Met with my physio this morning to discuss my knees (in case I needed ammunition at the orthopaedic surgeon’s) – his advice was that while I had little pain, to leave my knees be, but if I developed severe pain or consistent symptoms that affected my life, then I would need to have something done. Also, definitely to avoid any arthoscopic surgery. Well guess what the surgeon said – almost exactly the same. His sense was that my right knee is so badly damaged that knee replacement surgery is almost inevitable – somewhere down the track – but while the knee is functional and has little pain, leave it be. He sent me off for X-Rays of my left knee, to get an idea of whether it had similar arthritic and cartilage problems. He was somewhat surprised that it did not, but same advice – only get something done if warranted by symptoms and pain levels. So, I am one happy camper. No surgery, and if I lose enough weight (following LJoyce), maybe never(?).

So, enough already. Have not been good with eating this month, so am resetting like neolithicman, and aiming for a much better August, and September, and October, and on into the summer months. My goal is to lose another 13-14 kgs by the end of the year. My respiratory specialist will then organise another sleep test for me (it’s dependent on weight loss), and maybe I’ll be able to stop my CPAP therapy (for sleep apnoea). That would be SO nice!

LJoyce, good scone recipe, but I won’t be making any. Just me at home, so no point. I do have a few packets of Tim-tams in the fridge in the event of guests (though many of my guests also don’t want treats), but while the packets are unopened, they should be safe from me. Once opened? Hmmm! May have to bin the remainder to avoid a splurge like yours. 🙂

Anzac65, hope your meetings went well. (I’m sure you starred!)

PerthGirl, your and your OH seem to have a good system worked out re what to do with treats and also good idea re wandering around at social events with a partially emptied glass of soda. It looks social, but doesn’t damage your eating routine.

Quacka, I know it’s just a guide, but are you within or close to your recommended BMI for your height? You can enter the info via the resources tab on this website and it will work out your recommended BMI and TDEE for you. That would give you a more objective measure of whether trying to lose a little more weight is even necessary.

Cinque, like with your sisters, I’ve also found with friends that now we’re all older, our dietary needs are quite diverse and I never try to cook for anyone any more. If we want to socialise over a meal, we go out, so everyone can order what best suits them.

Goodnight all!

Neilithicman

8:31 pm
30 Jul 19
Permalink

Good morning all

Well weigh in today and I’m down 100 grams. To be honest, I’m just happy that I didn’t see a gain on the scales after overeating all the way from Friday night through to Sunday night.

Who would like to join me for an August activity challenge? Choose any exercise or activity that suits your current fitness level, do the activity for the same length of time/amount of repetitions every day for a week, then increase the length of time or repetitions for the second week of August, then increase it again for the third week, then increase it again for the 4th week.

Since I was complaining about my SBS (saggy belly syndrome) I plan to do sit-ups. I’ll do 25 a day in week 1, try to increase it to 50 per day in week 2, 75 per day in week 3 and 100 per day in week 4.

Anzac65

11:36 pm
30 Jul 19
Permalink

Good morning

PerthGirl, thankyou. Your analogy and advice is spot on and it is nice to know someone has been there and knows what it is like. The meetings went well but as we creep closer to the deadline the pressure mounts

Glad you are happy Neil with your 100g as it is fantastic that you were able to wipe away your weekend excess. That’s the beauty of this WOL

Betsy, I’m so sorry to hear the damage in your knee is so bad. I do hope it holds out and you can avoid surgery

Quacka, congrats on the great FD and you are definitely inspiring me to put my head down and just concentrate on being able to avoid stress eating. I didn’t do that yesterday but today is another day.

LJ, Thanks for your support and yes the meetings went well (not sure about starring though). My boss was able to make both and she loves to talk so she pretty much took over. GREAT! I love scones but the few times I’ve made them they have been like rocks. I love cooking but I’m not a baker. I’ve copied and pasted your instructions and will give it a try next time we are having friends or family over. I don’t want to make them when it’s just the two of us as I will end up eating them all if they turn out

Cinque, hope you had a lovely day with your Sisters

Lindsay and Thin – hubby spends half his life at Bunnings so I’ve told him about the coffee. He too is looking forward to planting soon although we will be away for 7 weeks so we need to find someone to come and look after the garden and the pool while we are away.

Thin, yes, you can’t possibly imagine how much I am looking forward to the trip. In 2014 I finished a 2 year project that was similar to this and when we went live I spent 6 weeks working 16-17 hour days because it was a disaster. Straight after we went to Sri Lanka and hubby said he poured a pale, trembling wreck of a wife onto the plane and returned with a normal one 🙂 . I think the same thing might happen.

Have a super day everyone

Neilithicman

11:41 pm
30 Jul 19
Permalink

Oh, I forgot to mention, it looks like the weather presenter was right when she said that Mother Nature was going to remind us what season it was. I woke up this morning to 3 degrees and a small skiff of snow on the hills above our house. Brrrrrrr

Cinque

11:47 pm
30 Jul 19
Permalink

Good morning, I’m pretty wrecked after a big day yesterday, but it was just great so I can’t regret it. The movie ‘Yesterday’ was such a pleasure, I enjoyed every minute of it.

Sisters are still here, the one that stayed with me is off getting coffee from the corner cafe for a special treat. We will say farewell after lunch.

Neil, I will join your challenge. Mine will be my skipping every third day, planking every second day, and back stretches every day. I am going to write it up as I just keep not keeping up with them without accountability.

Quacka, what an excellent fast day. Grr, pity about that 2am wake up though.
Keep feeling good about your weight and health!

PerthGirl, a lovely lot of strategies.

LJoyce, I do the yoghurt/water trick for scones, lovely. 🙂

Betsylee, Great to have a specialist concur with your best thinking, and a relief to know there are things to be done if the joint worsens. Well what an encouragement for 5:2. Every time a treat-too-far tempts you, you can spend five minutes looking at your precious knee, and it will win the priority weighing.

I do understand what you say about all the different needs and preferences, but O I love making something that I have planned out to please everyone, only problem is I need about 6 weeks planning. haha.
Last night my sisters made scotch broth to my recipe. It would have worked a bit more easily if we weren’t all so tired, but it was good and my bread was much appreciated.

Catch you all soon. Best wishes for the day.

Quacka

2:35 am
31 Jul 19
Permalink

Good Morning everyone

Wednesday FD for me today and I am feeling super positive today! Weight this morning was 66.1kg so I am expecting to break back into the 65s tomorrow (you hear me evil scales???)
Had a good NFD yesterday and tracked every single thing I put into my mouth. Ended up at 1400 calories which is about my TDEE. Betsy, I have checked my BMI before and I just did it again to double check. I am in the healthy weight range but towards the upper end, I am still happy with that. I am going to keep doing my 5:2 and just see what happens wrt my weight. As much as I like to complain about my FDs sometimes, I actually like doing them, I like being in control of myself and I like that light feeling you get after a FD.

Argh, scones! I do like a nice fresh scone but like others on here I won’t be making them anytime soon. I think it is something I can really do without, especially if they are the savoury ones. Mmmmm, making my mouth water on a FD!

PG, I like your tips about the snacks. I think it is good practice for us to be able to eat a little bit and pack the remainder up and walk away. It’s good because it doesn’t make any food off limits to us (which makes it all the more enticing) and helps us to practice our self control and portion control. By having a little bit, hopefully next time we want a lot of it, we may have by then learned to be satisfied with a smaller amount.

LJ, I feel for you regarding the biscuit incident. I don’t know why sometimes that happens to us but put it behind you and look forward. For the reasons of self control issues, I won’t be buying jerky or Biltong in bulk again. When I want some I will but the 50g pack and eat the whole lot but at least it won’t be 300g!!

Betsy, good news about your knees not needing surgery. You seem to be in a good head space to have some good months coming up with your fasting. For me, my head space is at least half the battle if not more. So good luck to you and I’m sure you will make your goal by the end of the year.

Neil, good job on the 100g down. I tentatively would like to join you in the August activity challenge. I have been thinking about starting my exercising again when the weather warms up but why not start in August (tomorrow, yikes!!). I am choosing treadmill/outdoor walking as my activity although for this month I think it will be more treadmill. I always feel better when I exercise, I just have to remember that exercising does NOT mean I can eat more! I see another note to self being typed up, this time to go on my treadmill!!

Cinque, I hope you enjoyed your yummy coffee and it’s lovely to hear you have had a wonderful time with your sister’s. Time now to rest and recuperate, and start planning for their next visit!

Anzac, I really hope you don’t end up doing 16-17 hr days or you will definitely be worn out before your big trip. Look after yourself.

OK, its almost 11:30am and I have had two cups of tea with milk (before work) and two green teas and a turmeric tea, here at work. It is helping to warm me up but one of the girls are saying that I will be running to the loo all day! So far so good, and if I am going all day then at least it is a bit of extra exercise! Hahahaha

Oh, I forgot to say before Neil. I just read an article yesterday from a personal trainer who said that sit ups may not be the best (or only) thing for tightening up the abs. He said that exercises like squats (and others I can’t remember) actually tighten your abs because if you are doing them correctly you are using your abs as well. I think he referred to it as your core which to me is the same thing as abs. I’ll try and find the article and post a link. I’m not trying to discourage you in anyway just letting you know in case you want another option. I might have to try some myself.

LJoyce

3:27 am
31 Jul 19
Permalink

Good morning everyone. (It is still morning here – just)

Quacka, 1400 – that’s my TDEE too! I find it a challenging one I must admit. I’ll keep everything crossed that the cantankerous scales show you an 85.

Betsy, what wonderful news – it must be a relief. If you have limited pain then you have time to get your weight down to a healthy level before having a knee replacement. I was told I needed one that I wouldn’t be able to delay it for more than a couple of years – I delayed it for 7 years, although my movement was quite limited for the last 3-4. It took me a long while to get myself in the right headspace to take on the weight challenge, as I had a huge amount of weight to lose. It was actually a conversation with my rheumatologist that set me on that path. His advice was that knee replacements have a life span and the heavier you are usually the shorter that life span will be. So a lighter fitter person will get up to 20 years, but someone who was morbidly obese (as I was) would probably get closer to 10 years. Given that I was in my 40s at the time, that was a scary proposition as you can only safely have 2 replacements in a knee. The other thing to bear in mind is that the rehab is so much easier if you are lighter and fitter, which means you get a better result from the surgery.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that you do have time to address your weight before the surgery so there’s no need to panic, just keep keep chipping away at it.

Cinque, I’m so glad you are having a lovely time with your sisters. Enjoy. We’ll understand if you are a bit quiet in the recovery period after they leave.

Neil, no snow here but it was an unusually cold morning. Even polar fleece wasn’t enough, I needed extra layers to go outside.

Anzac, what’s happening to Maxx while you are away? Could you get a family member to be house/dog/garden sitter? It sounds like a good thing that this project is currently only for 6 months, given past experience.

Neil, an activity challenge for August sounds like just what I need. Thank you for the idea.
I have quite a few ideas, but I think I need to reign them in a bit and keep the goals achievable and sensible, so I don’t aggravate my back and I build up to something I can actually sustain beyond August. I also usually track weekly goals from Sun-Sat, so I’ll continue with that as 31st August is Saturday. Which means I’ll start this Sunday.
My August goals will be:
1. Steps – starting at a goal of 35,000 per week (which is my current minimum of 5,000 steps per day) and building up by 5,000 each week to 55,000 (which gets me just over my preferred minimum of 7,500 steps per day).
2. Weights – my physio has finally given me permission to start reintroducing these exercises that I couldn’t safely do over the many months that my back was inflamed and painful. He said I needed to introduce one exercise at a time. So I plan to do 2 sessions per week and to add one exercise from my weights program each time (this may need adjusting depending on mow my back reacts). I plan to do some stretching and yoga before the weights, but I’m not including this as part of my goals.

I’ve managed to make it through til lunch time having eaten just a small banana. Given yesterday’s sugar overload I’m relieved, as it can mean I awake with an out of control appetite. Today is a NFD so I plan to have field mushrooms and scrambled egg with grain sourdough for lunch. I’ve been reminding myself that I can have that for lunch throughout the morning, to deter me from eating anything beyond the banana.

Have a good day.

PerthGirl

3:38 am
31 Jul 19
Permalink

Good morning all,

Neil, I will join your challenge, but only until the 18th, because we travel to Japan on the 19th for two and a half weeks. My initial workout will be 10 minutes on the rowing machine to strengthen upper body (to carry that backpack in September) 4 days out of 7. Increasing a few minutes each week. I will enter it as a ‘habit’ into my Bullet Journal ( https://bulletjournal.com/pages/learn ) for tracking and accountability.

BetsyLee, your orthopod experience is more positive than mine was. I injured my knee and was referred. On entering the orthopaedic surgeon’s consulting room, he took one look at my walk and said that I needed a half-knee replacement, even before examining my knee or seeing any x-rays or scans! I disagreed vehemently and, to cut a long story short, ended up having a torn knee meniscus trimmed arthroscopically. I believe that he just looked at my age and gait and decided invasive surgery was necessary, even though I could pinpoint the actual time of injury. At no time did he enquire as to what physical activities I was able to undertake ‘at my age’ until the injury – walk 5-6 km daily, cycletour 50-60 km a day on holiday, ballroom dance four times a week at gold-medal level etc. He’s a highly respected specialist in the sports injury area, but obviously not appropriate for those of us of a certain age.

Cinque, LJ – mung beans will be soaking later today.

LJ, I changed to using a small backpack twenty years ago when a frozen shoulder made carrying a handbag painful. I could never go back to a handbag, so convenient to have both hands free. When you are trying them on, just make sure you can slip into the shoulder straps without stressing your shoulders or your back, some can be a little awkward. A brightly coloured phone, purse and wallet makes it easy to find them ‘in the depths’.

Anzac, think positive – you have put some much effort into this project to ensure that it will NOT be a disaster on ‘go-live’ day 🙂

Be mindful in all things.

PG

Klondikekween

9:04 am
31 Jul 19
Permalink

Hi all

Lindsay. I somehow got the idea you had your holiday house on Fraser, Stradbroke is a lot closer to Brisbane. Makes sense now. A palace coup, that queen better behave if she wants to enjoy your beautiful garden, just tell her workers and maybe she will get the message. We are moving to Gold Coast on Sunday and if I don’t feel too tired I’m taking the train to Brisbane to see Footscray play the Lions, which will probably result in a big loss for us but it’s an outing.

Cinque. I recently saw mesh produce bags in the Reject Shop. They were $6 for 5, I think. Mine were $20 for 8 so quite a bargain. They are great for fruit and veg and also dried goods so you should get good use from them. Certainly saves a few plastic bags. Glad your sisters could all be together despite the various obstacles that life throws them. Glad too that ‘too many cooks etc’. My mums veggie soup always had a lamb shank in it which dad ate as he didn’t like soup.

LJ. I am going to keep your scone recipe because I never seem to make a success of scones. I might even try them in the air fryer on a NFD while we are still travelling. I particularly like the tip about cutting into squares because I think all that extra rolling only toughens the dough.

Anzac. Good work on the numbers despite the pressure. It’s so easy to slip into working all hours and your bosses will let you do it every time but I found it counter productive in the end and my health suffered not to mention my family. I was lucky I could retire when it was clear that management were not going to improve the situation. Let’s hope you are in better shape when you go on this holiday so that you can enjoy it from day one. At least you are so busy that time is flying and December will be here in no time.

Betsy. Good news re your knees, although I have two friends who have had total knee replacements with good results. You must be very dedicated to doing your exercises to have put off surgery for so long on such a damaged knee. You just need to have the same resolve about eating and those extra kgs will melt. Sometimes I remind myself it is just food, not life and death.

Thin. I hope your sleep improves soon. By the way, do the new owners know anything about your neighbours? Are they going to get a nasty surprise? Better not tell them where you are going next or they might come after you.

Neil. What a great story about not being recognised. I bet that gave your spirits a boost though they shouldn’t need one. I will join the exercise challenge as it fits in with my goal of running 10k in October. I aim to cover 18k a week increasing up to 25k by the end of August. I will either walk, run or HIIT. Thanks for the inspiration.

Quakka. Sounds like we are in the same space. I am also just at the top of healthy range of BMI although I would never use that as anything more than a guide. My slim SIL is officially in the overweight range and he runs half marathons. I am really starting to see the value of lots of veggies, I now realise a chicken stir fry can easily fit into a FD and that is with eating breakfast as well. If you are having successful FD then you are naturally offsetting your NFD including MIL bread. I agree with all the comments about fresh bread, I could live on nothing else.

PerthGirl. You are a guru of good tips and strategies. I agree that we are not that interesting to others that they watch what we eat and drink in social situations. I’m sure I don’t notice what others are doing. And what a good idea re the plastic knife. You are so right about the short lived hit of pleasure that our food gives us. I have been taking notice of how long a taste lasts in my mouth and it is only for seconds. It certainly isn’t worth sabotaging my progress. My mother always said “ A minute on the lips and a lifetime on the hips”. She happily ate what she wanted though and enjoyed her food. I’m impressed with your fitness level, ballroom dancing alone can be quite energetic. Yes doctors do make assumptions and well done that you prevailed.

FD today and catching up with posts has filled in the time nicely. More snapper for dinner, I’ll miss the fresh fish supply although I know there will be more as we go south. I agree with PG re mindful eating. My take on this is to ‘pay attention’. I pay attention to what I am eating, how much – am I full, my hunger – is it real, is it bearable or is it boredom, how long the flavour of my food lasts etc. If I can keep this up then staying a healthy weight shouldn’t be too hard. Having said all that, we are heading to Maryborough tomorrow where the marina cafe does seafood chowder in a sourdough bowl. Yum.

Neilithicman

10:07 am
31 Jul 19
Permalink

I just had the worst day. Work was the busiest it’s been, I had to give the temp some of the work to do and she stuffed it up so badly that I had to spend ages fixing it up, I had a dentist appointment that went for 3 hours and he still didn’t get finished, so he had to stick in a temporary filling and make an appointment for next week. I had to pick up my wife and kids, then when we got home we found that my wife had locked her house key in the house, and my house key that I had given her yesterday when she locked her key in the house again. I had to drive to my parents house to get the spare key. By the time I got home it was so late and I was too knackered to cook so ended up getting takeaways for dinner and having a couple of rum and cokes 😞

God I hope tomorrow is a better day. I did get my 25 sit-ups and my gym session in though, so I guess that’s something

LJoyce

10:28 am
31 Jul 19
Permalink

Neil, tomorrow is another day – it’s the only positive spin I can put on that day. I’d suggest a different kind of dead lock might be a good idea. I have one that can’t be locked without the key. So you can’t lock yourself out – there are times I’ve been grateful for that.

Lindsay, I saw this article today and it reminded me of your comment about beeswax paper. What I imagined when you referred to beeswax paper was brown paper that had melted wax painted all over it. I certainly didn’t imagine the beautiful papers that are pictured here. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-31/what-we-learned-when-we-plastic-free-for-a-month/11368966

PG, what are you hoping to do and see in Japan?

Klondi, if you don’t want a lot of dough handing around I’d just make 1/3 to 1/2 of the scone recipe – I imagine freezer space is either minimal or non-existent in the van.

I must go, my airfyer has just finished, which means my lamb chops and homemade harissa spiced veggie wedges are ready.

Betsylee

1:44 pm
31 Jul 19
Permalink

Hi all, good to check in again.

Thanks for all the comments re my knee – very kind of you to care. Yes, the right knee has almost no cartilage, so for most of the knee there is bone on bone. The left knee X-Ray was done to see if the problem was the same, and was not, because a lot of the R Knee damage was done at the time of the dislocation. I’m glad, LJoyce, that knee surgery has improved so much. When I was having physio post-plaster (end of 1997), one Repat man was recovering from his 4th KJ replacement – each had only lasted 5 years. His first 3 were fine; in the 4th a nerve was cut so his foot permanently drooped. Not encouraging.

PerthGirl, one thing I did before I saw the surgeon was to write out the complete history of both my knees and he read it before we talked. That made everything clear from the start. On the other hand, he was also quite friendly and easy to talk to, which sounds much better than you dealt with.

Neilithicman, I agree with Quakka’s statement re strengthening the core muscles to tighten skin – an exercise that you might want to look up on Youtube is the “dead bug” exercise. A physio told me about it, and it is supposed to be really good for the core muscles. I did it for a while, till I got too enthusiastic and pulled a muscle. Which is also why I won’t be joining your challenge with gradually increasing exercise each week. For me, I increase by one every 2-3 months, or risk injury. However, I’ll join in in the sense that I’ll continue to walk my 8000 steps daily and also going through my exercise regime daily instead of 5-6 times a week.

Klondikekween, enjoy the footy, and I hope your team actually wins – which one is it, by the way?

LJoyce, just a comment re backpacks – while they are much easier to carry, they are also much easier for people to steal from, so you have to be careful with where you put valuables.

Cinque, glad you’re enjoying your sisters’ visit – enjoy your recovery post-visit, too! 🙂

Anzac65, good that the meetings went well, and hurrah that the focus was taken off you by your boss being there and talking so much – maybe that will means that she’ll get the blame for anything that goes pear-shaped?

Quakka, pleasing that your BMI is where it should be, so go by how you feel. Maybe relax, enjoy being where you are, and see if any more weight wants to gradually come off. One of my friends reckons that she looks at her best when her BMI is at the bottom of the range, but anywhere within the range is acceptable and healthy.

Good. Glad July is over. Button has been reset for August. I’m determined to get off this plateau and down another few kilos for August. I promised myself that when I reached 70 kg, the cupboards would get another cleanout, so I really want to get there. For July, the weight has been up a bit, down a bit and now up a bit again. I think I’ll end maybe half a kilo up from the start of the month. It’s this hovering around a plateau; rather annoying. It won’t stop me – tomorrow is another day.

thin, I’m also considering the possibility of moving at the moment – had another run-in with my front neighbour, who was complaining (again!) that the gumtree at the back of my house is too tall, is overshadowing her garden (which is on the front side of my place), and “blocking her view of the sky”. As if! So upsetting. I love my gumtree and all the birds that enjoy the flowers. I ended up in tears and walked away. Today I spoke with a real estate agent who will come round some time next week. It’s quite possible that I can’t afford a new place, but at least I can see what my options are. I don’t know if I have the patience to continue dealing with my neighbour. Maybe I’ll just get the tree trimmed and try to keep her happy. Might be cheaper than the expense of moving.

Sorry, just venting. Catch you all next time.

thinatlast

10:58 pm
31 Jul 19
Permalink

Betsy, commiserations. It’s an unpleasant way to live. I can’t understand people hell bent on cutting down trees. They’re what makes a suburb.

Klond, our buyers have plans for their own swimming pool so we don’t feel the noise from next door will affect them in the same way as it does us. To do this, they will need to rip out all our trees and take out the raised flower beds, water fountain and windy brick pathways. Makes me sad that the New Holland honeyeaters, wattle birds, rosellas, galahs and now the Black Cockatoos will all have to find new homes.

I’d like my next home to be a modest affair on a very large block of land with a moat around it filled with crocodiles.

Anzac65

11:17 pm
31 Jul 19
Permalink

Good morning all

FD today and no excuses. No scary meetings and yes enormous and crushing stress but I need a proper FD.

Neil, be kind to yourself and realise that we are all human beans. You mustn’t beat yourself up for the occasional slip. I feel your pain re work and it has such a psychological effect

Neighbours Betsy, nasty ones can be such a constant drain on your life. We had one who was so bad the whole street lined up and cheered when they finally moved. We live in a little cul-de-sac so one bad egg spoils the whole street. I do hope you don’t have to move

My button has been reset for August too because despite my best efforts over the past few days the scales have dribbled up again. My new ‘thing’ (as of this morning) is to imagine waking up in Paris, putting on an outfit and looking in the mirror and saying ‘looking good Anzac! instead of cringing or avoiding mirrors altogether.

There was some sort of celebration on the floor last night that involved pizza and wine and do you know, I wasn’t even tempted. However when I got home hubby had cooked a roast and I tucked in and ate waaaay too much. I had to work until 9.00pm (14 hour day, sigh) and I had half an hour of TV before bedtime to try and wind down. I decided a small glass of wine would help with that and before I knew it I had managed to have three and it was 10.00 o’clock. No more of that rubbish behaviour from now on

Klondie, enjoy your chowder! My hubby adores seafood chowder and he was in seventh heaven in San Francisco a few years back. I’m enjoying hearing about your travels

LJ, Max is going to a doggie resort. We spent months researching because we wanted free roam but also heavily supervised. Lots of places seemed to allow too much freedom on a huge property so we settled for one where he and the other dogs get to wander around a large yard and sleep in a big shed with comfy beds and lots of staff supervising. It’s expensive but no way could we put him in a kennel where he would spend hours and hours in a cage. This place gets rave reviews so he is booked in. I am terrified that something will happen and/or he will hate us when we get home and/or his behaviour will have regressed but we just have to take that risk.

The nose bridle has had a brilliant and positive impact. Yes he hates it but OH is introducing it slowly and he seems to be accepting it better each day. He can’t jump up or pull with it on and both dog and husband seem happier. My daily walk reports this week have been more about how engaged and focused Maxx has been instead of a big moan about how badly he behaved. Yay!

Oh Thin, I just saw your post and I so needed a belly laugh! Luckily there aren’t too many people on the floor yet because I let out a yelp of laughter at your moat with crocodiles mental image!

I haven’t been to Japan PerthGirl and it isn’t even on the bucket list but I would be interested to hear all about your trip. That surgeon story made my blood boil and I hope he was ashamed when he realised just how active you were/are.

I have to get to work before I have had time to respond to everyone but a huge hi and thankyou to everyone for being here and being so supportive, clever and funny.

Have a great day

Quacka

1:30 am
1 Aug 19
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Good Morning everyone and it is such a beautiful morning!

Weight this morning was 65.5kg so I am one very very happy duck. Yay!!

So when I got home yesterday I could smell something delicious cooking (OH was home yesterday). I thought “uh oh” here goes a bad end to my great FD. He had made a big pot of beef mince and veggies to put in a pot pie with puff pastry on top. So I finished it off for him and when it was time to eat I took a portion of it and just a very small piece of the pastry. It’s one thing I can’t resist. I really wanted the rest of my pastry so I sat down and worked out the calories for that pastry and approximate calories for the meat mixture. The whole piece of pastry was 140 calories so that took me to 230 calories for the day. I think the meat mixture would have been about 350 calories so I ended up going a bit over on my FD at 570 calories, so let’s say 600.

Neil, that was definitely a shocker of a day and I think I would have done exactly what you did except I would have had beers! Put it behind you and just look forward. I haven’t done my exercise for today, but the day is not over yet….I’m going to do 200 step ups at work today as I just couldn’t get myself out of bed early this morning to exercise. Mind you I could get out of bed early to make my cuppa but exercise? No. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Klondi, I still haven’t eaten any of that bread! I was going to have a piece with my soup on Tuesday night and I totally forgot. Maybe next week when I make cauliflower broccoli soup. Snapper is one of my favourite fish. I love catching them but I especially love eating them. Although we usually catch and release our fish, a nice sized Snapper (not too big, not too small) usually gets kept but only one though. OH makes the most delicious Balinese style fish that is baked in a yummy sauce and it’s really easy to make. Soooooo good.

Betsy, glad you have hit that reset button. You can do it! We are all in this together so feel free to vent about anything you want. I have lovely neighbours who annoy the hell out of me for various reasons (I’ve vented on here before). I am looking forward to the day we move on to a bigger property where our neighbours will be more than just a couple of metres away.

thin, I love it. A moat filled with crocodiles!! Hope the stress levels are not too high in your life at the moment.

Anzac, glad you have hit that reset button too and I hope you have a good FD. Good news that the bridle is working for Maxx. Don’t worry I 100% know that Maxx won’t hate you after his visit to the doggy resort, he will just be so happy to see you. I’m sure he is going to have lots of fun running around with all his new friends.

Ok well here’s to a nice controlled NFD today. Coffee has just arrived so I’m going to go and enjoy that. Have a lovely day all x

Anzac65

1:39 am
1 Aug 19
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I’ve made it to 10.40 with three black coffees and lots of water. I was super hungry before but it has waned

Quacka, I call that a very successful FD indeed and HUGE congrats on the 65.5!

Thanks for the positivity about Maxx, I tear up every time I think about taking him there and driving away without him.

Onwards and downwards 🙂

Lindsay L.

2:13 am
1 Aug 19
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Hello all … this is my day from hell, so just a couple of quick responses between sprints to my next appointments in another building.

Betsy, I commiserate – as I did with Thin when she was going through neighbour troubles. We had our own too – dreadful renters in the house in the front, with potty mouths, who liked to play music loudly when they came home stoned/drunk at 2.30 am. But …after numerous complaints we now have a delightful bunch of girls, and the only noise we hear is laughter and chatter. It must be tempting to move, but sometimes the devil you know, as they say. As for trimming the tree – well, gums are so beautiful and the birds adore them, and there’s no guarantee she’ll be happy anyway if you trim it.

Yikes Neil – y0u don’t need too many days like that! I won’t join you on the challenge. I have so much on that I’d be sure to fail and that would be something I just don’t want to do at the moment. But I wish you well with it, and anyone who joins you. I will however join Betsy in an August reset.

Cinque what a lovely time you had with your sisters. Hope you’ve had some good rest in the meantime.

Anzac your work sounds horrendous – eyes on the prize I guess is all that will get you through. When do you leave for your big trip?

Thin, any more news for us?

I have a brief contribution to the social eating conversation. My pal asked us out to a local club on the weekend – we locked it in. Then she asked other friends, who wanted a different restaurant which my BFF then booked. Problem is, they all order diabolically bad food – think lemon chicken, honey prawns , big bowls of fried rice. After living in China we tend to order different food – more vegetable based – which they don’t eat. And because it’s all shared, it’s difficult. Normally I’d just suck it up, as my kids say. But this time, I really thought about it, and how I’d feel on Sunday after that calorie laden food, so pulled out. She was very surprised, but I explained it, and felt really good once I’d done it. Saying ‘no’ occasionally is quite powerful isn’t it?

On that note, I wish I’d said no to work, because it’s time for my sprint.

Have a good day all.

Lgbran

5:51 am
1 Aug 19
Permalink

Hello All,
It’s been pretty cold here, enjoyed our Winter. I figure it’s easier to layer up then layer down with regards to clothing. Been doing walks with my Mini Foxy. I think I’m walking fast but the people in the distance either catch up or dissapear depending from where they’re coming from. I usually have him off the lead but he came ever so close to getting skittled by a bike. The cyclist was ever so apologetic be but it was my fault and the dog didn’t have a clue. I’ve made scones once using the lemonade recipe ( on Facebook you can join the Kmart airfryer group , lots Of recipes, even books) Trust me it I can make them anyone can. Made my son some French fries in the airfryer and he was impressed.

I’m glad the Tour de France is over. My days of watching the complete stages are long gone. This old fart needs his beauty sleep. Only watched the highlights and as a MAMIL ( middle aged man in Lycra) I’m not only in awe of the speed and distances these athletes cover, but their ability to get back on the bike in most of the best instances if they have a stack. I had the opportunity to see a live stage of the giro de Italia a few back when we were doing our trip of a life time through the Cinque Terre in Italy. Hope that’s the correct spelling. By the time I would have walked the 1.5 ks up from where we were staying they would have been long gone. With the Tenns and Cycling on at the same time spoilt for choices for us lounge lizards.

Still managing 22 hour fasts with a 2 hour eating period daily. My body’s getting used to in and weighing myself Mon, Wed and Fri allowing myself to Indulge myself a bit more on weekends. Bali and a cruise will be the testers in the next 6 months, but hopefully once I reach my goal weight, food and excercise habits will be firmly intrenched, The fruit and biscuits are lasting so much longer in the household. I’d think nothing of loading my pockets with fruit when walking past, the confectionary aisle was my favourite friend .

Long term I plan to still log what I eat daily, mix it up a bit by doing 5/2, allowing myself to have a “normal day”. I’ve had a hip replacement, wrecked my knees through long distance running and 20 odd years of yo yo dieting. This is if. It’s take a. Lot of hard work, those little changes we all make to do it. We are all doing it,kudos to all around. We are a determined bunch.Even my beloved football team is stringing a few wins together,
Cheers

CalifDreamer

8:01 am
1 Aug 19
Permalink

Thin, I had to laugh at your idea for your next house have a most surrounding it with crocodiles 🐊. It fits in with one or two of the castles in the “Game of Thrones” series streamed on the tv, that I’ve been binge watching for the past month. I finally got through all 8 seasons.

Neil, I’d like to join your challenge and work on being more consistent with my walking. I will start with at least 6000 steps per day and end up with 9000. I’ve been very hit and miss with the walking lately. I’m hoping this will get me back in the habit.

Betsy, it sounds like your knee made a very good recovery after being injured so badly. I’m glad your doc agrees with a ‘wait and see’ plan of action.

Cinque, it sound like you had a great visit with your sisters. It’s so nice that you are all so close.

Anzac, Maxx will probably have a great time at the doggy resort, but I understand how you feel leaving him. It seems as we get older it’s so much more difficult to leave pets while we’re away that it was when we were younger. I guess we worry more.

LJ, I’ll save your scone recipe for a future time. Scones are one of my favorite treats but I always thought they were too complicated to try making myself. Your instructions look very doable. Thank you for posting it.

Well, it’s getting late and tomorrow is my second FD. I’ve just started to eliminate any foods with added sugars on NFD’s. That won’t include naturally occurring sugars like in fruit, just added. That has to be shown as a separate line on all of the nutritional labels in this country now. It’s proving to be very useful and eye opening!

Hi to everyone I didn’t mention directly. Have a good rest of your day.

Betsylee

1:52 pm
1 Aug 19
Permalink

Hi all, quick check-in.

CalifDreamer, I agree that as we get older, we get much more “clucky” at leaving our beloved pets in care while on holidays. I think I cried as I left the cattery the first time I put my previous cat in – but she survived and so did I. Yeah, glad my knee remains functional, and with weight loss, may last even longer.

Anzac65, I’m sure Maxx will survive and still love you on your return. Great that the nose bridle is working so well. Much less stress all round.

Chuckled at your moat with crocodiles description, thin. I may not even be able to afford to move, as I no longer have an income from employment, and would probably have to use some of my super money, so I’m not sure what I’ll do. The problem with the gumtree is that the neighbour wants me to have about 2 metres cut off the top, but that’s the whole of the greenery. She can’t see from her place that the lower part of the tree is just bare branches. If the tree is cut back as she wants, it will probably die. Well, lots to think about over the next while. Plus work on my doctorate at the same time (not progressing well at the moment!).

At the same time, LindsayL, you may be right that I could be jumping form the frying pan into the fire if I move. But, I would really like a place with 3 bedrooms, and NO stairs anywhere.

Have to go, more to others next time.

PerthGirl

2:57 pm
1 Aug 19
Permalink

Good evening all,

Just checked my pedometer and have done 20555 steps today, a personal best for ‘at home’. Yay!

LJ and Anzac, the trip to Japan is a 14 night circumnavigation cruise, stopping at nine ports. This is a Japan taster for us. We may then decide to do a land-based trip in the future to see more regions. We often do this to decide where else we want to visit, and for how long.

LJ and Cinque, mung bean soup successfully made this evening. Soaked the mung beans for 24 hours with 1 Tblspn of yoghurt whey added to the soaking water. I only had 1 ½ tomatoes, so I made it up with about 80g of dry-packed, sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated in some of the stock. 15 minutes in my electric pressure cooker and ready to serve. Lacking any limes, I used a Meyer lemon from a neighbour’s tree. (I might have a go at dehydrating some soup for a lightweight camping meal.) I served it with marinated, dry-fried ox-heart slices.

The following was rather nice last night with home-cooked dried borlotti beans.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/kidney-bean-curry

Thin, I believe there’s some nice land in the Kimberley that has resident crocodiles.

Re neighbours: I commented to PerthBoy this afternoon, when we went out for our walk, that I have lived in this house since mid-1992 and I have never seen the wife of the household next door on one side, although we occasionally hear her outside. Our neighbours are no trouble, but we are plagued with dogs – that bark almost continuously all day whilst their owners are at work – in two houses that back onto ours. One house has four dogs, all of which are kept out in the backyard.

Quacka, you are a clever duck indeed, to calculate just how many calories in a piece of pastry and ensure that it fits within your allowance and, if you are eating healthily on NFDs, you are well under the ‘new 800’.

Lindsay, good for having the resolve to back away from a potential eating disaster. We have the same problem when we go for Yum Cha with our friends, but now we just order what we enjoy (tofu, seaweed, bean curd etc) and tell them to order the things they prefer and we don’t need to share. There was mild ‘hissy-fit’ the first time we did this, but the problem wasn’t mine, so I didn’t let it spoil my outing.

Calif, the problem with added sugars is that they go under so many names; and ‘no artificial sweeteners’ often means that the manufacturers are using stevia – which is indeed natural, although the process to create the white powder is not pretty – but both PerthBoy and I have strong taste receptors for stevia and find it leaves a distinctive aftertaste.

It is FD for us tomorrow (and PerthBoy needs to make bread!) so we join some of you in spirit, although I’m not sure what LJ decided wrt to keeping her mind sharp for bridge.

Onward, and at least not upward.

PG

CalifDreamer

5:10 pm
1 Aug 19
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Betsy, there is no way I would lop 2 meters off of a tree because a neighbor thought it was spoiling her view. If she doesn’t like trees she should be living in a place surrounded by concrete. Unless there’s some homeowners association rule about trees, I would absolutely refuse.

PG, I’m not sure if Stevia has to be shown as an added sugar on US labels because it has virtually no calories, but it does have to be shown as an ingredient. I don’t like the bitter aftertaste either and the one time I bought it when it first came out, I tried a couple packets and gave the rest away. I will not buy products sweetened with it.

Neilithicman

10:28 pm
1 Aug 19
Permalink

Hi all.

Hi Lindsay, they say that a problem shared is a problem halved, but I don’t think both of us having a bad day made either of us feel any better.

Thin, if you want a moat filled with crocodiles, you get yourself a moat filled with crocodiles. There’s a couple in a town about an hour’s drive from our city that built their own castle in the middle of their farm, complete with moat and secret passages (not sure about the crocs, although there might be a rabid trout or two) https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/houses/107559614/inside-dots-incredible-oamaru-castle

Yesterday was better, funny how we actually get through more work when the temp isn’t at work. I got through my gym session and my 25 sit-ups and managed to eat a lot healthier than I was the day before.

I hope everyone has a great weekend

Cinque

11:59 pm
1 Aug 19
Permalink

Good morning from grey, not quite as cold as it has been, inner city Melbourne.

Still recovering.

Klondi, those little net bags for shopping are great. I was given some a few years ago and use them all the time. I will check out the Reject Shop to buy some for gifts.

Neil, sympathy re the temp, it just does take more time and effort when someone new is in the mix (and some more than others). Hope today is an easy one.
That moat house! omg.

Lindsay I love your sensible ‘No’ after those dinner plans went downhill. Yes, a wonderful use of personal power.

Lgbran, they named Cinque Terre after me! 😉

Cali, nice work crossing off all those ‘added sugars’

Betsy, have you ever used the Dispute Settlement Centre? I have had a bit of contact with them personally, and friends who used their services and they have been wonderful. https://www.disputes.vic.gov.au/ You can just ring them up and discuss options and how their dispute settlement works.

Perthgirl, lots of successful cooking. It would be fascinating to hear if it de- and re-hydrated well. I do love how it is such a well balanced meal.
I put your link to the Kidney bean curry on the Legumes thread. Although I described it as delicious and notice now you say ‘rather nice’ Haha. But there were lots of stars from lots of people on the recipe so hopefully no-one will be disappointed.

Hello everyone else. I hope no-one has a day from hell today, and TGIF!

PerthGirl

1:25 am
2 Aug 19
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Cinque, it was delicious. It’s just my terminology – think of me saying “rather good” with lots of emphasis. We lose so much expressiveness in these written forms of communication – but we can have so many good friends in so many different places, as with this forum. I’ll report on the dehydrator experiment. I often dehydrate fresh foods that I don’t have feezer space for, and then rehydrate in a thermos food flask.

PG

LJoyce

2:00 am
2 Aug 19
Permalink

Good morning SHs

I have had a couple of very bad eating days and I can already see the difference in my body. So I’ve decided I’m doing an eating reset this month too. I’ve just planned out my meals for the next week and written that into a shopping list – lots of veg. I may allow myself a little more leeway one day per weekend – I haven’t decided yet.

Yesterday was a bit jumbled. Initially I was going to fast and then it looked like I’d be needed for babysitting until 8:30 rather than 6:00. Eating with kids means eating macaroni cheese so I decided Friday should be my FD. Then the plans changed again and I was only needed until 6:00, but I left yesterday as a NFD. So I’m fasting on a bridge day again. I eat a small banana 30 minutes before play start and it seems to be enough to get me through the afternoon. I will try moving it next week though and see if I’m mentally clearer on a NFD. I seem to feel tired every day lately so I’m not convinced it will make much difference.

Anzac, the doggie resort sounds just right for Maxx. As he loves playing with other dogs I he will enjoy himself immensely.

Thin, your crocodile story reminded me of a description I heard of the difference between an extrovert and introvert from a training course I attended many years ago. “After a busy day of dealing with people at work all day, an extrovert comes home and rings three friends for a chat. After the same day an introvert comes home, locks the doors and releases the crocodiles into the moat.” I knew immediately that I was an introvert. Bring on the crocodiles! Actually now that I’m retired I get plenty of alone time and am usually looking for contact with people to give balance to my weeks.

Betsy, sorry to hear you have such an annoying neighbour. I wouldn’t be pruning the tree, unless it’s hanging over her side of the fence – she is entitled to prune it back level with the fence line. I would also suggest that some people think they have the right to control the behaviour of others – if you give in to one demand they just move on to the next one and they get more and more intrusive. I seem to remember Cinque has a neighbour who complains about the noise when people use their washing machines. I think the only approach is to define the boundaries and tactfully remind them that they control what happens on their property not yours.
Thanks for the advice on backpacks. I tried a few on and bought a cheap one from BigW that was the most comfortable. As I was packing my groceries into it I realised I’d need to secure my purse so I pushed it right down the bottom under the bag of groceries. When I got home I had a bit of a panic until I remembered where I’d hidden my purse!

Quacka, sounds like you are securely into the 65s now. Well done for sticking to a little bit of pastry – that’s difficult.

Cali, sounds like we’ll both be wearing a trail around the house and the neighbourhood getting our steps up.
I suspect our scones are more similar to your biscuits (but without the sugar). Although I have noticed that most cafes put sugar in the scone these days. That’s not what I grew up with – they were definitely plain and only sweetened by the jam you piled on them.

Perthgirl, I can’t even imagine doing over 20,000 steps, well done.
That cruise sounds interesting, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a cruise itinerary for Japan, it’s all been land based tours.
I’m ok with stevia in small quantities but a lot of it in something and I can taste it. Given that it starts as a green juice squeezed from leaves, just as sugar starts as a browninsh juice squeezed from stalks, I’ve always imagined the processing for both is long, complicated and unappealing.

Neil, I’ve been to Larnach castle – stayed there when touring the south island. But I didn’t realise you have another castle in the area. The picture of it next to the water is beautiful, but I cold not like in that opulence, it would feel oppressive.

Penguin, I heard on our news the other day that the UKs 10 hottest summers since records began have all been since 2004. It looks like it’s become the new normal. On the plus side, you’ll be growing some wonderful heat loving veggies.

Lindsay, good on you for saying no. Next time I suspect they’ll let you have more say in the venue so it’s got better menu options.

Cinque, hope you are recovering from your social days.
I seem to remember someone posting photos of Cinque Terre a while ago when we were discussing where our online names came from.

Well, I need to get myself organised. Bridge this afternoon.
FD for me.

CalifDreamer

2:03 am
2 Aug 19
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Neil, that castle story is amazing! And they seem like such nice people.

Neilithicman

3:28 am
2 Aug 19
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LJoyce – I used to work at Larnach Castle, that was where I first started piling on the weight just after my wife and I were married. The Oamaru castle is not really a castle as such, it was a new house built to look like a castle over the last decade or so.

Cali – Yes I’ve seen a documentary about the building of the castle and Dot seems a real hard case. The have an award winning restaurant on the site called “Riverstone Kitchen” where they grow pretty much all the produce on site. Dot talked in the docco about how people turn up in all their finery to dine there and then her husband walks past in his overalls and gummies and all the diners sort of mutter about it without realising that he’s actually the guy that owns the place. My wife and I went there for our 15th anniversary a couple of years ago and it was brilliant.

Anzac65

5:58 am
2 Aug 19
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Good afternoon all

I am enjoying a WFH day and I am loving every second of it. We had a deadline of yesterday and we stumbled over the line at 11.30 last night. The avalanche has gone now until the middle of next week and I’m going to milk every glorious second of LOS (lack of stress). I’ve been playing lots of games with Maxx to make up for my recent neglect. It’s a bank holiday on Monday so another three days at home. Hooray!

My FD yesterday turned into a VLCD as once I realised I was going to be working half the night I knew that a tiny FD dinner wouldn’t see me through. I had a normal size but healthy dinner but then had a mini icecream about 9.30pm as my brain was starting to fuzz. About 1,000 calories which is well under my TDEE and BMR

I’m going to catch up on all of your posts now and can’t wait to read them

LJoyce

9:41 am
2 Aug 19
Permalink

Neil, my memories of Larnach Castle and Dunedin are not good because I was sick with a gastric bug for the 2 days we were there. I remember my husband driving me around Dunedin the evening we arrived trying to find a medical centre that was open. I must go back one day – when I’m well. They apparently did lovely dinners at the castle but I was unable to partake.

Anzac, glad to hear you got through that first deadline. Hope you have a healthy choice weekend and an easy time with Maxx.

I went to supervised bridge this afternoon and my new partner and I came first. As we both only completed the beginners class 2 weeks ago and had never played together before I was very pleasantly surprised by that result. Before we’d even finished play today we had both decided we were a really good fit as bridge partners and decided to continue on as permanent partners. While I was typing this my new partner also saw our results and has just send me a text message with lots happy emojis and exclamation marks. I’m very happy to have a permanent partner moving forward.

My FD is going well. There wasn’t an afternoon tea today, so it looks like I don’t have to face that challenge every week thankfully.

Hope you all have some lovely weekend plans. Mine are fairly quiet, but I am planning a walk and a shopping trip with a friend.

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