Hi again
I just went back to the previous page and saw there were three more posts while I was writing my first one.

Thanks for the good wishes, Cinque and Klondi. I am finding FD’s a bit easier (hope I don’t jinx myself here) because I am using some of thin and Cali’s no nonsense approach. If it’s a FD, it’s a FD no matter what. I’m also learning that being hungry is not all that scary. It’s ok even if sometimes it feels like I am not going to make it, just soldier on.

How lovely that Klondi and Anzac will be catching up. Hope you have a lovely time 🙂

Neil, I really understand your frustration. Tradies are notoriously unreliable over here too so you can never make plans in getting a job done. Hope it all works out for you.

Ok boss just walked in. Off I go again 🙂

Quacka, great news on your NNFDs and a new acronym! (no-nonsense fast days).

Neil, sorry to hear that the roofing guy doesn’t have the tiles as promised. It sounds like incompetent tradies know no boundaries or borders. We have the same thing here. I hope he comes up with the tiles before the roof work is scheduled to be done.

Bon Voyage PerthGirl! Can’t wait to hear all the details of your trip and maybe see some pictures.

LJ, it seems like moving from Adelaide Hills was a really good move for you. Being able to walk to so many great places without having to deal with all the hills is nice. And having so many places to shop nearby is a positive thing. It seems like you get out a lot more these days.

Anzac and Klondi, what great news about meeting up on Saturday. It will be fun to meet someone that you feel like you know so well already. I wish I lived closer and had the opportunity to meet some of you in person. I keep in touch with most of you here more often than I do with people who live nearby.

Cinque, I’m sorry to hear that you’re having to deal with health related problems. I hope they are resolved soon. I know you’re looking forward to Miss 5’s birthday, so hope the celebration isn’t too tiring.

FD today and I guess I feel a little hungry now and all 500 calories have been used. But tomorrow is a NFD and I know from past experience that I probably won’t feel hungry in the morning.

Hi all

Cinque. Can you do something about the weather. We will be back soon and I was hoping for a little bit of warmth. The cold snap you are having is hanging around much too long. Happy birthday to miss 5, a lovely age.

Neil. Bad luck about your renos. Sounds like you might be living in a building site a lot longer than you would like. Never fun. I hope you are taking progress photos so that you can appreciate how great the new work is once it is finished. Surely you can count physical labour as exercise. I bet you found it much easier than you would have 6 months ago. Congrats on your new low, and the new body shape.

Quakka. You own two singlets, I don’t think I have owned a singlet since I left home. My mother wasn’t dressed, summer or winter without her singlet on. But I do own thermals including long johns as I hate the cold but somehow I am feeling it less now and OH is the one who reaches for the heavy clothing. Great that your resolve is covering FD and NFD as that really is the trick to this WOL while your still trying to lose weight.

LJ. Happy birthday to your Miss 6, are you making the birthday cake for her? Well done on the jeans. You are certainly embracing bridge, your brain must be in very good shape with all the stimulation it’s getting.

Lindsay. I was extremely happy to retire but OH took some convincing. He was retrenched at 62 and hated not working. He fought his way back into the workforce and loved his work. His eyesight finally forced him out, he has macular degeneration, and fortunately we had a few things planned. When they were complete he had adjusted very well to the new pace of his life and has no regrets. Of course, finances have to be worked out but your garden, the girls in the hive and family activities will just expand to fill your time. Best of luck with your decision.

Cali. We will have to set up a Skype session so we can be virtual study buddies. Not good to hear about fires, hope that they are over soon. You seem to have had a milder summer than last year. Enjoy your NFD now it’s here.

Penguin. Near to where we are staying is a RAF base, Williamtown. it has a museum there called Flight World and we are visiting it today. Then we are going on a bush walk near our caravan park. I will be thinking of you but we will be on the lookout for koalas not wild boar.

Good morning everyone.

Quacka, a poor night’s sleep has me craving more food – especially grain based foods the next day. I think sticking to a FD is an excellent idea because it can be really difficult to stick to moderate eating on a NFD when you are tired and hungry.

Neil, I’m running out of ideas for the roof patch. The only other thing I can think of is the waterproof patching (it’s a type of tarpaulin) that is done after storm damage while awaiting the real repair. http://diyinahour.com/diy/install-a-blue-tarp-on-a-roof/
If you were going to do this I would suggest you consider moving tiles from an area over the eaves up to the spot where the chimney hole is, then using the patch on the area of roof that is over the eaves. This should reduce the risk of water damage to a ceiling if the patch moves. It will also put the hole in a spot that’s easier to get to when you do get replacement tiles.
(Did I ever mention that my dad was a builder!)

Klondi, no I’m not making the birthday cake, her mother is also a very good baker and is particularly talented with the decoration. She is making a cake with a red panda theme – that is miss 6’s favourite animal. I making the cupcakes for the party. They will be eggless banana cake – there is one child with an egg allergy.
I don’t have any traditional singlets either but I do have coloured camisoles and singlets made from stretchy cotton that are meant to be summer tops. In winter I wear them as the inner layer under jumpers.

Cali, you aren’t alone in talking to friends on this forum more than those who love closer. I do the same. It’s rare for me to miss a day chatting here but there is nobody that I call every day.
I am getting out more. I’m enjoying the walking when the weather is ok. It will be more challenging in the summer heat. I have found out that there is a walking group that uses the local shopping centre at 7am and I might join that in the hot weather. They walk all year round but a 7am walk in cold weather does not appeal to me at all.

Confession time. I broke my no added sugar rule last night. After a responsible NFD and a very modestly sized dinner, I had 3 slices of toasted fruit loaf for dessert. (It started with 2 slices but then there was only one slice left in the freezer and it looked lonely and tempting, so I toasted that as well.) Not the end of the world I know, but I still don’t know why I felt I had to have it. It’s another NFD for me and I’m aiming to make it as controlled as possible. Given that I feel contrite today it should be ok.

I have a rare day at home and am planning to make a big casserole with gravy beef and lots of veg. Some for a couple of NFDs this week and some to be frozen for later. I usually put some dumplings in it – I’m still deciding whether I will this time.

Quacka, I will unexpectedly be joining you in a FD today.

I just had a call from my nephew who won’t get away from work tomorrow until at least 8pm tomorrow, so my planned FD won’t work. By the time I get home it will be after 9pm – that’s way too late for my only meal on a FD. As I have only eaten a small banana so far I’ve decided I’ll just fast today. The soup I was about to have for lunch is now waiting for dinner time.
It was either do this or fast on Friday when I have a busy morning and then have to concentrate during bridge in the afternoon – that doesn’t appeal. Saturday is the birthday party for miss 6, so that’s out too.

lovely poem Cinque

Good job going with the FD today LJ. I agree 9pm is way too late for a meal on a FD!

Usually on a FD I wait until about 3pm to have something to eat but today I was struggling a bit so I have eaten my tin of Tuno already (it’s almost 2:30pm). I was still feeling like more so I also had a small tin of real tuna as well. I’m sitting at 157 calories now. I have entered it into “calorie king” and I’m up to 29 grams of protein which should hopefully stave off the afternoon munchies.
I do think it’s going to be one of those FD’s where I use up every single one of the 500 cals though.
I was unsure what to have for dinner but I think I will just have a portion of my soup and that will leave me 160 calories for something else if I need it, like some vita wheats.

Cali, I also feel a bit out of sorts when I have to change my FD’s and that always happens after a long weekend. Mine are Monday/Wednesday and after long weekends I try to do B2B Tues/Wed. It sometimes works lol

Good morning everyone

NFD for me today but it will still be controlled. Yesterday’s FD turned into about a 600 calorie one as I didn’t eat the soup for dinner, but instead made a different dinner both OH and I could enjoy. I’m ok with that because the scales are still being kind to me today.

LJ, I think I will be making a beef and veggie casserole on the weekend as well as I have some osso buco that needs to be cooked up.

I hope you all have a lovely day and also a lovely weekend ahead. Enjoy the grand kiddies birthday parties, LJ and Cinque. Take care all xx

Hooray! I took the day off work today so I could organise everything and I spent the morning running around salvage yards. I managed to find a place that had a stash of the roof tiles I needed, they were even the right colour, and only NZ$5 each. I took the chimney down to the flashing yesterday so I could cover it up if I didn’t find the tiles, and if I did find the tiles I wouldn’t have much to go before I was below the roof level. Now I’ve got the tiles I can take off the last 2 courses of bricks to get below the roof level, patch the hole, then I can take the rest down at my leisure during the weekend. The bricks came off pretty easy, too easy in fact. When I was lifting the flue out it ripped off the top two courses of bricks which slid down the roof as a giant brick ring.

Good morning.

Anzac, enjoy that FD knowing that 83s await.

Cinque, The birthday party is this Saturday at a “plaster fun house” https://www.plasterfunhouse.com.au/ With a large you get your own room and need to take your own party food for the group. They provide the plaster models and paints (at a cost of course) for the kids to have some messy crafty fun.
I’m glad you got to have a little celebration despite the kids still being ill.

Neil, very glad to hear that you solved the tile problem and won’t have to delay the renovations.

Quacka, there is something very appealing about a hearty casserole in cold weather.
I added a novel ingredient to my stew just to see what it would be like. I bought young firm eggplant that had minimal seed development and peeled them then cubed the flesh. I added this at the beginning of the cooking time and it cooked right down and mostly dissolved into the liquid and thickened the sauce for me. I think it could be added later too and would retain it’s shape. I thought it might work as eggplant is like a little sponge that absorbs the liquid and flavours around it. I’ll have to remember that for future reference as it reduces the amount of higher cal root veg I normally need to add.

Have a good day all.

You would hardly know there was a chimney there yesterday evening

https://www.flickr.com/photos/43493775@N06/48597347141/in/dateposted-public/

Hi all

Quakka. Yes, I understand about the wind, we are in the middle of it now. You really are in a positive place right now, it’s wonderful to read the cheery tone of your posts.

LJ. You are right, we should just ice some cardboard boxes and the kids would be just as happy. A good way to thicken your casserole and add to your veggies count, I imagine the younger eggplant doesn’t have that strong flavour which can sometimes be overpowering. Oops, glad those dogs behaved ok, at least you had a plan B.

Cinque. Lovely poem, thank you. We are actually getting a blast of cold wind here and have had to break out our fleecy tops so we will be acclimatised by the time we hit Victoria. That jelly ring would have looked very festive, I’m sure Miss 5 would have been pleased.

Calif. Skype or it’s equivalent is magic, it’s just like being together in the same room and it is free. We used it a lot when my DS was in USA.

Neil. What a marvel, right tiles, right colour, right price. Is there anything you can’t do? We are in awe of all your achievements. But do be careful, crashing bricks are to be avoided. Yep, very good match, well done

Anzac. We will celebrate those 83’s on Saturday. Looking forward to a mad Maxx picnic.

Lindsay. Not a very nice visitor, how did he get rid of it or do you just have to wait for it to go away. Yes, screens are a must and an eagle eye, as well.

Penguin. I got it wrong in my last post. It is a RAAF base and the museum is called FighterWorld. OH has always had an interest in WW2 planes and loved it. There was a very mean looking F111 and a really interesting display on ejector seats. I didn’t know how much was put into post-ejection survival. I thought you just got shot out and then you were on your own. A really amazing part of the display was 300 hand made models planes made over 40years by one man. No plastic hobby kits for him. No lanky septuagenarian to give us a tour, though.

My FD crashed and burned today. We set off this morning and just as we got to the Pacific Highway we were diverted because there was a bushfire and the road was closed. This led to much meandering around hilly country roads until we could get back on track. By this time I needed food. We then proceeded south through Sydney outskirts, getting into the wrong lanes, onto wrong freeways until finally we arrived at Shellharbour, south of Wollongong. Even when we decided to go out and get fish and chips, we took a wrong turn and doubled the length of our journey. At least I had grilled fish and only 10 chips so quite a controlled NFD. We are right on the beach, protected by trees and the surf is pounding. Our first time here and it looks like a great spot, once the wind dies down. I’ll have my FD tomorrow.

Gah! stupid tradies.

I got a call from the builder this morning to say they’ve been delayed and won’t start work until the following Monday, so I didn’t need to run around like a headless chook yesterday to get everything organised and the work completed. Oh well, at least it’s done now and I might start to get my weekends back.

I ate stuff that I was trying to cut out of my diet yesterday, I had a bowl of ice-cream and some lolly cake, but I’m not beating myself up about it because I sure burned off some calories yesterday. I skipped the gym and my sit-ups but I was completely exhausted by the end of the day. Back to normality today, back to work, lentils in a light tomato/yoghurt curry sauce for lunch and some boiled eggs in home-made marinara sauce for dinner. I’ll try to get my gym session in because I really enjoy them now.

I hope everyone has a great day

I had an amusing conversation with my boy’s piano teacher. She was commenting on how much weight I had lost and then asked me if it was hard to keep it off, I replied “I don’t know, I haven’t stopped losing it yet” 😀

Good morning all

I have a break between appointments and have just had a lovely walk around Hyde Park (one of our most expensive suburbs- lots of Victorian era elegant stone villas). I have stopped for a pot of tea before walking back to the car and heading to the next appointment.

Cinque, get well soon.
I find minced eggplant is also an excellent addition to bolognese as it takes on the colour, texture and flavour of the beef.

Neil, at least this weekend you get to do what you want rather than demolishing chimneys.

It’s a lovely sunny day here so it should be heading east for the weekend.

I have made a start on my surfeit of aubergines. In the oven is an approximation of a moussaka. Approximation because the alternate layers are not all meat sauce – one is a spicy lentil dal. The cheese is the only true Cheddar – from Somerset in the west of England. A prejudice I inherited from my Father who was a Somerset man born near Cheddar. Tomorrow it may have to be a stuffed marrow. I haven’t looked at my courgettes/zucchinis for a few days and one is now 50cm/2 ft long and thick in proportion.

It is a hot, sunny late afternoon and the work is finished for the day. We will now go and sit in the sun whilst supper cooks. OH will have a gin and tonic and in deference to the sun I shall have a pastis.

Good morning everyone,
I am enjoying the sun while it lasts, and the brisk breeze isn’t too chilly, so it has been a good morning. I have pulled out one warrigal plant (and cooked up another big saucepan full of greens).

Haha, Neil a challenge to come… keeping the weight off. I am sure you will do it beautifully.

I am thinking of Anzac and Klondi meeting! 🙂 🙂
And LJoyce at the Plaster Fun House. Those eggless cupcakes with water flowers sound just gorgeous! I bet they go down a treat.

I do hope you enjoyed every bite of your food deviations yesterday and can spend the rest of the month with low processed and added-sugar free food.

Penguin, eep, I’d keep that big zuke for seeds. Your moussaka sounds delicious. I haven’t made it since I started eating meat again, so only know my lentil version 🙂

LJoyce, I do the grilled slices too (and usually red capsicum at the same time).

As well as beautiful eggplant dip, I mostly use them in eggplant parmigiana (grilled not fried, layered with arrabbiata sauce and topped with breadcrumbs and parmesan), a yummy Middle Eastern roasted eggplant and rice dish, baingan bharta, roasted ratatouille… haha too many recipes to name!

Thanks for the good wishes, my throat is still sore today, but I am actually feeling better than I have for a couple of weeks. Phew. Fingers crossed it continues. I was sure I would do a Sunday Fast Day this week, but no, I am doing it today! Noon already. yay.

best wishes to you all.

Intesha are you still lurking?

Hi folks,
A bad week overall. Been eating all the wrong things, biscuits, lollies and today was first day I’ve shown restraint. A change in medication for other issues has resulted in an increase in appetite. Battling a bit but have to preservere. Nice walk and bike ride today. It’s got to be one day at a time. Went to the pictures, resulting in buying snakes, party pack and then a burger and milkshake for dinner. Felt a tad full. Anyway today’s a better day and have to beat the head games,
Cheers

Hi all, I’m tired but happy. This morning I loaded up all the old log burner parts and the rest of the metal I had lying around home and took it to the scrap yard, then I spent 5 hours demolishing all the rest of the chimney. I might actually get my weekends back now. I made good food choices too, I had the rest of my lentils for lunch then some lamb with mint yoghurt for dinner. I am going to indulge in a couple of rum and cokes this evening though, and a nice long soak in the bath. I can’t wait for a couple of weeks time now when the builders will hopefully be finished with their part of the renovations.

Sounds like your catch-up was fun Anzac, it must be nice to meet in person and put a face to a username.

I promised photos. https://imgur.com/a/EaAyZoN This shows the banana-passionfruit cupcakes, the birthday cake and the panda biscuits. My nephew’s wife made the birthday cake and the panda biscuits. When it comes to cake decorating she does faces really well, even on pandas. It was a good day, though tiring.

I also went for a one hour walk with a friend a short while ago. Not that it will account for the party food I ate for lunch. It’s been a bad couple of days for food choices.

Neil, I think you’ve earned the rum and coke, and the bath.

Cali, it’s funny how hearing discussion of a food make us want it. I think I was just hankering after some summer veg as I’m getting tired of the winter ones.

LGbran glad to hear you have turned the corner in making poor food choices. I find I go through stages where it’s either very easy to choose well, or every meal is a battle. Being hungrier than usual doesn’t help.

Anzac, glad to hear that you and your family had a nice lunch with Klondi and her family.

Cinque, yes I always do red capsicum along with the eggplant slices too. Such a versatile option for salads and sandwiches and so much more flavour than lettuce, cucumber etc.

I now have two whole days where I don’t have appointments and don’t need to set the alarm clock – looking forward to that.

LJ, what a lovely thought! Wouldn’t that be a fun road trip!

Lovely pic! Thankyou 🙂
So glad you had a lovely day, Klondi and Anzac. Look at the smiles on the dogs!

Lgbran, so good to hear from you and commiserations on your difficult time when you didn’t manage to eat the way you want to eat. I hope you can give yourself a rest and reset on your fast day, and get your day planned with good meals full of veggies. Recover from a bad week and move on.
Don’t we all have times of doing this.

Ha Cali, I am pretty sure the sore throat came from having sick 2yo coughing in my face. The dungeons I spend time with are beautiful and virtual and much less germy. 🙂
Your coconut milk stew sounds great. Don’t eggplant and chickpeas go well together!

Neil, great work. And what delicious and nurturing rewards you are giving yourself!

LJoyce, lovely pics, what a special party! I hope you are having a luxurious time with your two appt free days.

Klondi, don’t come home on Thursday! (forecast top 12c)
Big congratulations on reaching your goal! 63kg! Brilliant. http://bestanimations.com/Holidays/Fireworks/fireworks/blue-erd-green-fireworks-gif.gif

I had a good fast day yesterday and started feeling better too. I am going to enjoy today!

Best wishes for good days for everyone.

Good morning. It’s a nice looking day here but I’m still feeling too shattered to venture out yet. I will force myself out the door for a walk this afternoon. My busy weeks and sugar overload have caught up with me. I feel utterly exhausted this morning. I seem to get a sugar hangover that makes any underlying fatigue feel worse. As I’ve been avoiding sugar most of the month I think my body’s reaction is even more dramatic than usual.

Klondi, thank you for the photo. It’s nice to be able to put faces to names here. Seeing the ocean in the background – looks like a lovely place to spend the afternoon. Bobby looks like someone just said smile for camera and he did it perfectly.
Congratulations on getting to goal, it must feel wonderful. With the continued help of FDs you will hopefully find maintenance is easier that weight loss.

Thin, It sounds like your weight is settling back near your pre-packing/moving weight of 58. How long do you get to camp out across the road from your old home?
Interesting that coffees with cows milk stimulates your appetite – the lactose perhaps?

Cinque, it sounds like you are starting to feel better. I hope you continue to improve. Isn’t it hard to avoid germs where toddlers are involved.

My nephew’s work schedule has changed so it looks like I may be needed to cover babysitting some Thursdays until 9pm. I’m still trying to decide whether I can make a FD work with the late finish to babysitting. I think I could take my meal with me. This week I have lunch out on Wednesday and bridge Friday afternoon, so neither of those would work well as FDs. I think I’ll just have to do a FD Thursday and take my FD dinner with me. If I make it a soup dinner I can just take a tub from the freezer which would travel well and reheat easily. I ate a different dinner to the kids last week and it was fine.

I had mixed results on my exercise challenge this week. My total steps were 62,900 which is well above my target of 45,000. (It shows me just what is possible despite having a busy week.) However I only realised this morning that I forgot to do my second exercise session for the week yesterday – I’ll do a catch up on that today. As to avoiding processed foods and added sugar – that would be a great big fail this week. Even my clothes feel a bit tight again after just one week of too many poor choices, despite the extra steps.

I need to take advantage of today and tomorrow to get meals planned and veggies prepped so there are no easy excuses to make poor choices this week. I have a lunch at an Asian restaurant on Wednesday and I’ve already looked at the menu and decided on a squid, veg & thai basil dish that will be fine as long as I leave the rice on the plate. There’s likely to be sugar in the sauce but as long as that’s the only added sugar for the day it will be ok.

Have nice day everyone. I hope you are getting your share of good weather.

Good morning everyone,
LJoyce you will be out, busy being a graunty (as my sister calls herself great aunty). I do hope that sugar hangover is fading.

Thin, are you feeling good about your current weight. Did that first gauntness settle down into an elegant slenderness? I hope it was a good fast day today and you are getting up to your frothy coffee.

I’m headachey and cold, hopefully the last kick of the virus.
Enjoying my morning cuppa though.

Hoping you have all had a lovely weekend, except Cali and Penguin who are still having theirs.

Cali I thought of you when I saw a flock of yellow tailed black cockatoos by the river the other day. All the cars slowed to look. It’s a wonderful world.

Klondi, thank you for posting the picture of you, Anzac and Mr. A. You look great at your goal of 63! Congratulations! 🍾🎊 Anzac, you look different than I always imagine you when reading your posts. I had pictured you with shorter brown hair. And you look thin to me. I don’t know where you’re hiding that 83 or 84kg, but I can’t see it in the picture. Good choice of clothing to cover it up while you’re getting rid of it once and for all.

Thin, glad to hear you’re maintaining your new thin weight. How long before you move on from the house across the street from your old one? I always feel somewhat sad when I happen to drive past our last house, even though it’s been more than 17 years. The one we are in now is much nicer, but we had a lot of happy memories in the old house too and I sometimes miss those times. Of course we have a lot of happy memories here too.

LJ, your cupcakes turned out beautiful. They go very well with the cake. Your whole family is talented when it comes to cooking. After bringing desserts into the house last weekend, I’ve been on kind of a sugar roll too. It’s amazing how effective avoiding added sugars and increasing fiber can be to not feeling hungry.

Neil congrats on getting all of your roof work done. It’s nice that you could enjoy a leisurely weekend.

Cinque, seeing a flock of yellow tailed black cockatoos would be like dying and going to heaven! It’s hard to even imagine. I was born in the wrong country. (And watching the news lately I am even more convinced of that. 🙄
I think catching a cold and sore throat in a dark damp dungeon sounds a lot more exciting than getting it from germs toddlers. 😁