Good morning, I am having a slow and creaky Sunday and it is grey here (but not too cold). Melbourne 9:40.

I minded Miss 5 overnight on Friday night (not too bad, she is getting easier) and then babysat while my daughter went to the dentist yesterday, and it was a big day so I am recovering (I hope) with a very slow day today.

Thanks for trying to help me with the question. At least I feel better about not having a simple yes or no. I guess I will say yes (since I think that is what they want and I let them down last week when I said no to weighing myself regularly) and then expound in the discussion.

Neil, eep! What a break! Sending best wishes to your son, and for all of you dealing with it. (6 hours at A&E, so exhausting). Such a pity about your Fiji trip. Life!

Anzac, Hooray! Excellent results from your talk to the big boss. It has restored my faith in your workplace. And hooray again for the help from the woman from business. That should make next week a good one!

Amazed that you are not a fan of hot veggies, since they are my favourites, but glad that you do like veggie frittata. Are you a salad person?

And ooh! The outdoor shower will be such a treat this summer.

I saw Dr Mosley interviewed on the morning news on ABC this morning. He was tired I think, and not as coherent as usual, but talking more gut health and depression and aging.

Lindsay, your puppy is so cute! Whichever one it is 🙂
And your honey is gorgeous. She might have been an evil queen, but she got a lot done! I thought of you when I was listening to this: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/the-last-golden-age-of-the-bee-people/11473396

Fast Day for me. I am hungry already because I am so tired, and maybe also from eating a ciabatta roll yesterday since white bread seems as bad as sugar for me. But I will take my cue from those of you who got through a fast day in spite of it being particularly hard. And from the knowledge of my delicious dashi ready in the fridge (so loving it).

Off to answer my Yes No question now, before I completely run out of oomph!

Anzac that is fabulous – how great to shower/bathe outdoors in such a beautiful environment. Your OH is very talented and creative.

I’ve been down to the bees this morning. Still nasty genes at work, but evidence of the new Queen laying eggs, which is what we were hoping for. Another month, and things should be calmer. Not before time ….another sting, this time on the arm, through my long gloves.

We harvested just a little honey — but I actually think I have more on me, the floor and the cat than in the bucket. I. Will. Get. Better. At. This.

Good morning all. Hope you are all getting some of the lovely spring weather that we are enjoying here in Adelaide this weekend. I actually got hot during my hour walk yesterday and was glad I thought to wear a sun hat. Cinque, I hope our sunshine makes it to Melbourne soon.

Lindsay, the puppies are very cute. Are they really such different sizes or is it just the camera perspective? Some look twice the size as others. I did have a giggle about the cat getting doused in honey – that will make the fur cleaning process much more enjoyable for it!

Anzac, The outdoor bathroom looks amazing. Will that also be an easier place to wash Maxx?

Cinque, I saw part of the interview with MM on the ABC breakfast news also. I’m not sure how coherent I’d be in an interview on a Sunday morning either.
Glad you got your assignment questions sorted.

Neil, sorry to hear you’ve had to postpone your holiday – I hadn’t realised that casts needed to be removed before flight – that sounds like a dangerous thing to do with a broken limb – you would have a very painful flight.

I’ve decided to do my FD today instead of tomorrow. This week it just fits better.
Tomorrow I’m having allergy tests done at the hospital to see if they can determine which cortisone injections I can safely use. I had an anaphylaxis reaction to one a few years ago and haven’t been game to let doctors use any since then. This was a big detriment with my injured back as a cortisone injection would likely have helped reduce the inflammation considerably. I’m just hoping I don’t end up with an anaphylaxis reaction tomorrow. My niece is taking me so that if something goes wrong I have support.

Hello to everyone else who is lurking. Have a nice day.

Thin you said you would be in touch when you were settled but there was also an air of finality about your words. Please don’t leave us forever. I have come this far only because of you and all of the other regulars…

Thin, bon voyage! Your post sounds so final. I do hope you intend to join us again once you’re settled on the channel boat. Do you have one picked out already? You were the one who invited me over to this thread from another more than 2 years ago. The support here is what kept me losing and committed to the 5:2 way of life. I know you’ll have lots of wonderful adventures but please don’t forget your friends here.

LJ, this year has gone by quickly. It seems like you were just doing all that planting in your garden. You had a wonderful harvest last year. This year you’ll know exactly how much of each thing to plant.

Neil, I’m so sorry to hear about your son’s arm and having to postpone your trip. 6 hours is a long time to have to spend at the hospital. Ketamine sounds like a strong drug to ease pain. I had to look it up since I’ve never heard of it before. I hope his arm isn’t too painful now.

Lyndsay, those puppies are so cute! I’m glad the breeder is holding one for you until you return from your holiday. Hope you get all your fences and gates puppy proofed before you leave. The honey looks great!

Cinque, I would say that carbs don’t cause weight gain unless you eat too many of them. Any food eaten in excess would cause weight gain.
I was surprised Dr. Mosley seems to be abandoning the 5:2 for the 800 calorie diet instead. 500 calorie FD’s work for me as long as I don’t go crazy on NFD’s, so I plan to stick with that. Perhaps a couple 800 calorie NFD days would help me to lose about 3 kgs.

Anzac, the shower looks amazing. It will be so nice on hot summer days. And so glad your boss has agreed to pay you for working at home on the weekends.

Quick hello, busy at the moment. Do pop back once you’re settled, thin. We’ll miss you otherwise. Hope the injection doesn’t provoke a nasty reaction, LJoyce. Hi to everyone else. Will write more soon. Onward and downwards, everyone!

Good morning – another very warm day 29 or 30 – but there is a wicked cold change coming this arvo and tomorrow it is going to be a max of 15! And up to 40mm of rain. What a difference

Oh no Neil! I can’t believe you have to cancel your holiday. When you work as hard as you do, holidays are so important. At least you still can look forward to it, just a bit later than planned

Cinque, yes, I am a salad person. I rarely eat hot veges (other than potato) as I learnt to loathe them as a child because Mum would cook them up in a pressure cooker until they no longer resembled something with mass. It’s such a shame but it is what it is. I’ve always been a fussy eater although I have come a long way since meeting hubby 30+ years ago. Apart from hot veges. They have to be disguised in, e.g., a frittata! I hope you were able to rest up yesterday and feeling a little less exhausted today

I agree that carbs don’t cause weight gain unless you eat too many.

Lindsay, I can imagine that fresh, beautiful honey will make the bee stings worth it. It looks so amazing. I laughed at the picture in my head of your cat happily licking honey off her fur (his fur?). Thanks by the way, yes I was and am feeling much more positive about everything now. If there aren’t any new avalanches this week I might even get caught up. Egad.

I’m once again speechless at what hubby has done with the outdoor bathroom and yep LJ, much easier now to bath Maxx. He is a qualified architectural draftsman but could never get much work in that area so he spent 90% of his career in building equipment sales. What a waste! If only he had known just how talented he was he could have worked in design and even had his own company. Oh well, we are both enjoying the late fruits of his creativity and hard work now. Our house, once a run down shell, is now simply stunning. It’s taken 8 years and he now has a bad back and various other body parts but I know he is satisfied with what he is doing with his life (outside our amazing marriage) for the first time really.

LJ, I have everything crossed that you won’t have a terrible reaction to the cortisone. Very glad that your Niece will be there with you. Please let us know how it goes

We had a stunning day yesterday weather wise, 26 or 27 degrees. I had to work of course and it was very cold in the house so Hubby set up me outside with the big outdoor umbrella so at least I was able to enjoy the heat and the fresh air.

Cali, I am very glad Thin invited you to our thread because otherwise we wouldn’t have your lovely posts to look forward to.

So, 11 weeks to go and coat-gate is on. Hubby is encouraging me to move more and as always making my week-day breakfast and lunches to make sure I stick to plan. If I can just lose 5-6 kilos I think the coat will fit ok.

Have a great day everyone

Good morning everyone

First day of my time off and the weather has turned all cloudy on me. We are supposed to get rain tonight and tomorrow and then have showers for the rest of the week. Uh huh. Wonder if we will get to go camping.
I am having such a lazy day and really don’t feel motivated to do much at all lol. I might go out and mow the lawn later before the rain comes.

it was such a beautiful warm day yesterday and we spent some time out in the garden. OH was topping up the garden beds with some new soil and I planted some herbs in our new herb garden. I need to go and buy a new thyme plant as the one we had has well and truly died. I thought the same had happened to my mint and chives but a little rain has brought them back. Yay!

Just going to keep this post short as it’s hard to type on my iPad. It’s old and has a terrible lag when typing.
I wanted to wish thin all the best but I have missed her. She knows we will all be thinking of her.

Some lovely photos of honey, pups and outdoor areas. Sorry about your son’s arm and having to postpone your holiday Neil. Hope you are ok LJ.

A big hi to everyone else and hope you are all having a beaut day. Take care x

<crickets chirping>
<Tumbleweed rolling>

Hello? Is anyone out there?

I hope everyone is quiet because you’re out having fun.

A quick good morning from me. I’m playing bridge this morning at a club that’s really close to where I live – not been there before.

The skin tests were done and while I haven’t had any reaction on the actual skin, within an hour of leaving the hospital I did have some throat swelling. However the restriction didn’t get any worse than a case of mild tonsillitis and has almost returned to normal this morning. I see the doctor again on Thursday to review this and plan the next step. That’s likely to be trialing a full dose of one drug at a time.

Have a good day all. And Neil try to keep that adventurous son of yours out of trouble.

Evening all

Man that was really weird. Over the last week I’ve lost the ability to passively float. I used to just be able to lie back and float, but this week my chest floats because of the air in my lungs but my legs just sink like stones if I don’t gently kick. I must have gained enough muscle and lost enough fat to tip me over the point where my legs are denser than the water.

Weigh-in tomorrow morning. I get to see how well I managed to reduce the bounceback from weighing in dehydrated last week.

Have a great day everyone.

Good morning from a drowned and very cold Sydney. Incredible really; high 20’s on Monday then boom! Where’s my ark?

Yesterday was a very bad day. It started with me slipping on the wet floor on the train and I crashed into a seat and hurt my shoulder. Not one of my ‘fellow’ commuters asked if I was ok. Sigh. This is why I would love to retire and move somewhere like where Quacka lives; where people are friendly and there is a community spirit. This was followed by a nightmare day at work and ended with a broken down train that caused chaos and it took me nearly 2 hours to get home. Did I mention it was supposed to be a fast day? It didn’t happen.

Anyway today is another day. I have to do a presentation to about 30 people at 3.30 (yikes) but then I’m coming home at 4.00 even if the project is on fire.

Neil you continue to inspire. My hubby can’t float either and he has a lot of muscle like you.

Quacka, poor you on your precious break in this dreadful weather

Lindsay it is 1000 times harder during busy social times, hang in there!

Cinque I hope you had fun with your sister and please pass on any tips for a good stock. It can make or break a dish. I’m going to read that article you posted about woman and chronic illness/pain when I get a chance today.

LJ your throat swelling sounded terrifying, so glad you are ok and I hope the doc can come up with a plan

Ok I must go as I’m on my favourite place (the train) NOT and I don’t want to lose what I’ve typed on my phone

Take care friends

Hi Anzac, is your shoulder ok? I hope you haven’t done any significant damage. How are things going with the workload?

Cinque, I’m still taking that class although I wish it was a little more advanced. We’ve discussed most of what it covers plus a lot more here in this forum. The other FutureLearn course is more involved and interesting in that it discusses lots of studies and and ideas which are new to me. Lots about how our brains and guts are connected and why we eat and overeat.

LJ, that throat swelling after the allergy tests sounds kind of scary. I hope that doctor is taking further tests slowly. But it would be nice to find something that works well for pain without side effects. I hope your bridge game at the new club went well.

Quacka, I had some fresh thyme on the weekend in some French potato salad and realized how much I miss having it fresh in the garden. I had a few plants for years and they grew even through the winters until one year when they didn’t. I will have to remember to get another plant or two. All I have now is basil which is doing very well, lots of mint and lots of rosemary. The basil and mint usually die out in the winter but the mint comes back on its own. The rosemary thrives all year long.

Neil, I was going to ask how your boy’s arm was feeling but I guess if he’s swinging from trees with it while still in a sling it can’t be too painful! Kids are so durable and fearless, aren’t they? Can you imagine if that was us? I would be sitting around in my jammies, moaning and milking it for all it was worth! 😁

Anzac, I hope your shoulder is feeling better. That sounds like a horrible commute day. You want to lose 5 or 6 kg to fit into that coat? It must be tiny! You didn’t look heavy in that photo with klondi. You must hide it well. But it’s always nice to have a goal with a time limit on it, so that coat should be good motivation.

Lindsay, only 3 weeks til your trip! I’m having a tough time with NFD’s too. I need to lose about 3kg and seemed to gain back what I lose on FD’s by the weekend. Just too much tempting food and not having my head in the right place to resist it.

I have been busy painting a door and a few new baseboards in our house. I bought some “ultra plus” primer and satin finish paint combined. The old paint on the door was white and a semi gloss latex paint but it didn’t look or feel shiny at all. I cleaned it but didn’t lightly sand it, which I should have done, but I thought I wouldn’t have to since the new paint had primer in it. Big mistake. The first coat went on well, but when I added a second coat in some places the coat under it started peeling off like a thin sheet of rubber. So now I have to scrape off all the paint I put on, which is dry, and repaint it. Luckily I only got to one side of the door and the frame. But it’s a paneled door and a real pain to get it off. So I’ve been avoiding it and doing a little at a time. What a mess! We have houseguests arriving around noon on Thursday, so I will have to finish by then. OH wants no part of the paint removal. Oh well. It will get done.

We had rain on Monday, the first of the late summer/early fall. The air smelled just wonderful! We can really use it. It rained for a couple hours. Our temps have been in the low 20’s, just beautiful. Cinque and LJ should be having similar weather soon. Around now is when we often have a month or more of the same weather. My favorite time of the year.

Have a wonderful day everyone,

Good evening all.

I’ve had a busy couple of days. Yesterday morning I played bridge at a club that’s just 15 minutes from my home. Quite a social group that go out to lunch together after bridge once a month, which will be nice. It’s also quite close to Glenelg beach so my bridge partner suggested we go for a walk along the beach after bridge finishes – sounds like a nice plan to me. My bridge partner and I spend all of yesterday afternoon talking strategy about how we would bid and play. The list of things that you need to decide whether to use or not as partners seems endless and we’ve just scratched the surface!
Today I spent the day with my best friend who had a day off work. We did some clothes shopping (her not me), I cooked us lunch (tandoori-airfryer chicken, salad, raita and chapattis) then we did a 90 min walk. After that we had afternoon tea, including a small orange-pecan muffin (made for bridge the day before). Nice day, but too many calories.

I go back to the hospital tomorrow to see the allergy specialist. The throat narrowing problem that occurred has completely gone now. I’ll know more tomorrow, but I think the plan is to now test each cortisone drug one at a time and to do it in the hospital in the morning and keep me there for 2-3 hours to see if the same reaction happens. It will take some time to test them all, but if I can get to the end of it with options that I can use going forward, I’ll be very happy with that outcome. In fact I’ll be lining up to get one of those cortisone injections into my troublesome lower back as soon as I have a safe option. (Sounds like Anzac might need to join me for one of those.)

Cinque, that sounds like a pretty special chicken stock. I agree that using both the chicken frames and some chicken pieces is required for a really good stock. I normally use the wings because they are cheap.

Anzac, I hope you have done no permanent damage to your shoulder. I think it’s a poor reflection of society when nobody on the train has concern over your fall and injury. As someone who grew up in a small town, I’ve always been puzzled by the phenomenon of being lonely while surrounded by people in a city. I find there are occasional pockets of suburbia where there’s a good sense of community but in most everyone is isolated and anonymous. I don’t do well in those places. It seems that loneliness isn’t the result of an absence of people in general, it’s an absence of connection to people and community.

Neil, what a wonderful result. Have you rewarded yourself with that recumbent bike yet? As Klondi said – you might need to update your photo id – passport, drivers license etc.

Lindsay, I find food related social events usually means a week of maintenance not weight loss – which is fine for me now but was a frustration when I was trying to lose those last few kilos. Some people have more leeway with this than others, but I think the closer we are to goal it’s a problem for everyone to some extent.
I hope you are feeling excited about your approaching trip.

Klondi, enjoy that new red car – when it arrives. All ready for towing the van on your next road adventure – is there anything being planned yet?

Cali, It sounds like those 2 courses are keeping you busy. I hope you plan to share some of the info you are learning with us on the FutureLearn course – when you have time in your busy study/painting/sanding schedule.
Bridge at the new venue was against a mixed group, so it involved quite a few players players with many years of experience. However we came 8th out of 10 pairs. Considering we were by far the least experienced people there, I actually feel ok about that. I also find that when I play against people who play better, I learn more – so there’s always a silver lining to losing. We were even complimented for how well we were playing for novices by a few of the experienced players.

Thin, I imagine you are flying to the UK about now. Safe and happy travels dear friend.

If the weather continues to head east, I’m warning those of you on the east coast that’s there’s some weird changes on the way. This week in S.A. we have everything from 24C sunny days, to 30C dust storms to 14C with driving rain. I have to check the weather app every morning before dressing these days, otherwise I get it spectacularly wrong. I was about to move all my winter gear out of it’s prominent place in the wardrobe, but now I’m thinking I should wait a couple more weeks.

I had a bad chocolate episode tonight. My neighbours and I fixed a wobbly post on our adjoining fence on Sunday. As I provided the concrete my neighbours bought me box of lindor balls t say thankyou. Even eating mindfully I ate 5 of them tonight! There were 4 different flavours – does that count as an excuse? I’ve hidden the remaining ones at the back of the pantry.

I used kefir rather than yoghurt to make a batch of chapattis at lunch time and I think they were the best ever. (I had made the dough last night and left it covered in a bowl on the benchtop to mature overnight.) The flavour and texture were better than any previous attempt. I’ll definitely be making that substitution again.

Have a good evening everyone.

Good morning,
Ii is another gorgeous day here, but yes, LJoyce, colder weather in a few days.
I hope you are a bit drier Anzac and your shoulder is still holding up. (So glad yours is too Neil!).

Klondi, your car sounds just gorgeous. It will be lovely when it arrives, in time for your birthday? Congratulations on that excellent maintenance and you must be doing your exercising okay if you can run 10k!
And you must really feel at home if you are making bread and cheese.

Cali, good luck with that sanding and painting. What a job! You will feel so pleased when it is done, though.
I agree with you about thyme in the garden! Mine is having a hard time holding its place between chard and parsley and my warrigal greens, all growing huge and crowding and shadowing it. I hope it survives.
Like you I have rosemary that does so well and provides so much more than I could ever use. It also has particularly deep bright blue flowers, prolifically, and looks just gorgeous.
(And I have some mint coming back after winter).

LJoyce, thinking of you at the hospital today and hoping something excellent is worked out.
Oh those Lindt balls, they are the ones that tempt me. I love the variety pack. But I don’t stop at one and I feel so crook afterwards.
Cheers for those chapatti!

That photo must have been a surprise Neil. Enjoy how far you have come this year.

Cali will have interesting stuff to share from that interesting course she is doing. I am off to check out the third week of our shared one. I am glad to realise I will be up to date with what the current recommendations are, and the science behind it. I haven’t learnt anything new, I don’t think, but I am appreciating the package. It gives the best base from which to view new research and interesting fringe ideas.

It is fast day for me. I have my new packet of bonito flakes and a new packet of kombu knots, and a new packet of dried black fungus (wishing I could have fresh like I had the other day). Miso soup here I come.

I hope your day is a good one, lovely people.

Hi everyone

The rain has finally stopped and I can even see some blue patches in the sky. As much as we needed it I’m glad it has gone. Hubby had to empty a couple of inches out of the pool about 3 times to stop it overflowing. Sydney received 91mm in two days smashing the average for September and the heaviest rainfall we have had since February 2018

I’m so glad you have an evolving plan with the doctor about the cortisone drugs LJ. I truly hope it helps to ease your pain, albeit you have to wait 5 months. It is a sensible way forward, I agree.

I like the changes you are considering and I recommend them because that is how I approach FD’s. No carbs but two small portions of protein and then plants. One piece of fruit most FD’s but not always
FD for me today and it is going well. Am munching on some carrot sticks as we speak after my small thai beef salad for lunch. Turkey bolognaise in Cos lettuce leaves for dinner

Work is going a little better today, thank goodness. In the big presentation yesterday I was one of 5 people given a recognition award which was very nice – and very unexpected because contractors normally don’t get them. Guess what we were given as a thanks? CHOCOLATES! Ha ha ha..just what I need. NOT. I gave them to hubby

So great to hear from you Klondi, I was getting very worried. Congrats on the new car! Glad to hear your maintenance is going well too.

How frustrating that paint job sounds Cali. I admire you for even trying; the last time I tried to help with painting, hubby took the paintbrush gently from my hand and said ‘how about you look after the coffee and sandwiches?’. Ooops. I truly do not have a creative bone in my body and anything that requires hand/eye co-ordination is beyond me. I hope you finish yours by the time your houseguests arrive today. Glad you got some much needed rain too; I saw a bit of green grass in the park that we drive past on the way to the station and it had been dead and brown for ages.

Neil my shoulder does the same as yours. It gets better then something small will set it off. I had to learn to stop sleeping on my right side and I have to be very careful when I swim to make sure my stroke is correct. I actually caused the damage when we first got our pool put in a couple of years ago and I started doing a lot of swimming (you know, trying to get healthy). Hubby would say ‘your stroke is terrible and you will damage yourself’ and I would ignore him. Later the physio confirmed that not rolling my arm and shoulder properly caused the damage. I hate it when hubby is right LOL. How awesome that you and your wife can giggle about the photo back then. How good does it feel? I have a TERRIBLE photo from this time last year when we were in Vanuatu. I actually put it on Viber and was going to show you all but then some creepy unknown started sending me messages almost immediately about ‘pretty lady’. Yikes. I took it down so now you will just have to try and imagine 🙂

I heard about the dust storm on the news this morning LJ. Hope it isn’t dreadful

Funny, the chocolates I received yesterday were Lindt balls so I wish I could send you some Cinque and Neil – over the cyber waves seeing how much you like them

Cinque, I was so happy to read about your good health day on Tuesday with more energy and being able to do more than normal. I do hope it has persisted into today

Ok back to work, hi to everyone else. Enjoy the rest of your Thursday and tomorrow is Friday and WFH for me. Bliss.

Anzac, it sounds like a box of lindor balls is the go to gift of the moment.

Neil, I had a look at the Aus&NZ Dietary Guidelines and calculated my RDI for protein – it’s 47g per day. After looking up the protein values in a few foods I found it would be quite easy to get that much for 500-550 calories. As my usual FDs have been around 400cals this is a slight increase, but not as bad as I thought it would be.
Thankyou for the info on cheese – I love haloumi and paneer so swapping to those will be no hardship. I’m afraid the idea of eating dried meat is really unappealing, so I’ll pass on the biltong. Making an evening meal with legumes and veg is a good idea though – maybe dahl or chickpea curry
Interestingly I found that after having a slice of cheese, a tiny tin of salmon in 2 lettuce cups and 2 boiled eggs throughout the afternoon I didn’t actually feel like my soup, so I just had a cup of it instead of the large bowl I’d normally have eaten. The only thing I didn’t find palatable today was the lettuce cups with salmon – I don’t like the taste of fish and a bit of lettuce is insufficient to disguise the flavour. I also think adding some chicken breast to my dinner would be a good idea as 100g (raw weight) is over 22g protein and only 104 calories. I often have veggie stirfry in the warmer weather so I can easily add a small portion of chicken breast to that.

I’m doing some bridge study tonight. On Tuesday afternoon, my partner and I agreed to use a whole pile of bidding conventions. In the intervening 2 days I’ve forgotten most of them! I’m having to reread everything a few times and hope it sinks in. I’ll find out tomorrow as I’m playing in the afternoon.

Hi all

Just reading the last few posts reinforces my observation that the two courses I am doing, while not useless, have less info than the posters on this forum. Can anyone tell me what dates MM appeared on Australian TV as I would like to see them. I have upped my calories on FD but probably not protein although sometimes lunch is a boiled egg. I’m trying more menu planning as a result of the courses and I’ll try and balance my intake more.

Cali. That paint job must have been so frustrating, thank goodness it happened straight away and you could rectify it early. Think of the extra incidental exercise you are getting. Your fall must be like our Melbourne autumn, very mild and balmy. Our spring is very changeable, ‘four seasons in one day’ is not just a song title here.

Anzac bad luck about the fall, and really horrible that nobody helped you. I find that incredible. We have been hearing about your foul weather, many of the places that we stayed at are getting swamped, glad our timing was good. I’ll take any Lindt chocs you are sending, they are still my weakness and congrats on being recognised. My mum just boiled the cr@p out our veggies, even using bi carb to make the peas look green again. Her roast spuds though were okay.

Neil. I once knew a boy who broke both his arms riding a skate board being towed by his dog, it didn’t stop him doing it again even when he still had the casts on. Well done on the running, I understand completely, I could not run for one minute without a struggle in January. Lucky re the passport, now you will have to maintain so that you match your photo. I always thought my photos were taken at a bad angle, I didn’t really think I looked quite that big. In some ways, the mirror did lie. It’s funny, we are all pleased about the readings on the scales but the labels on our clothes seems to make it more real. Great that your holiday can be postponed and your renovations are on track. Photos please

LJ. i hope that you get a good result from all this testing you are going through. It’s quite a process for you but obviously you think it is worth it to get some relief. Have you noticed any change in your weight/size since you started regularly walking etc. I thought you might find that you either lost weight or could up your TDEE a little. I’m a big fan of pumpkin soup, what is the recipe for pumpkin-Lemon soup, would lime work as well? We usually don’t do any trips in spring/summer except for 3 weeks in Warrnambool in January as OH has been coaching DD softball team but that might not happen this year and I would like to give it a run once the van is repaired and the car has been set up for towing. A trip to the Rutherglen wine region would be a good run.

Lindsay. Those pups look like a bundle of trouble. I always thought red setters were supposed to be a bit flighty. The ones I have come across have been quite scatty. How is your new queen settling in, hopefully she will improve the manners of the rest of the girls. Hang in there, your holiday will give you a chance to reset. Extremely bad news about your building woes, it is always upsetting when trust is abused.

Cinque. I hope you are going to give us tips on chicken stock, do you use fresh or cooked carcasses? That burst of energy must have been very welcome, I hope you didn’t pay for it later but you do have some lovely food to show for it. You should have no trouble with Week 3, I thought it was the easiest yet and the test at the end is very simple.

Betsy. Hope you are going okay and your studies are progressing. Remember we are going to have a joint birthday outing soon.

JustJulie. Lovely to hear from you again. If my memory serves me correctly you were into Japanese drumming, I hope I have that right. Looking forward to hear how you are going now.

Quakka. Are you in the rainy area, if you are, then your holiday was very badly timed. I hope you get some time outdoors and the relaxation you need.

Gday. You are probably on your holiday now. I hope those meds kicked in and you are enjoying quality time with your family

As you can imagine, my garden, such as it is, was quite overrun when I came home but I have had my revenge, at least on one element. I had a huge crop of nettles. After some research, I found out they are better than spinach. I have made some nettle soup and nettle pesto is on the agenda. I’ll see what else I can make as I weed them out. I wish I could use some of the other invaders. At least, all the gardeners here have inspired me and I bought a number of plants today which I hope will help nourish me in the future.

Good morning from a bizarrely warm Melbourne that is about to turn cold.

Saturday! Day before fast day for me.

Yesterday the little one came for Grandma kinder and also I managed a good amount of gardening. Hooray. The compost bins are organised. Today I will (belatedly) plant tomato seeds.

LJoyce, so glad you have a good plan for those tests. Hope there are wonderfully useful
Your lemony pumpkin soup sounds so nice and springlike (whereas my velvety one with red capsicum and split red lentils is so autumny).

Anzac, so much rain. I’m glad Mr Anzac could keep the pool from overflowing. SO PLEASED to hear about your recognition reward. Your hard work is not going unnoticed.

Thanks for your pleasure re my good day. I haven’t quite managed the same again but my days have been easier and more things are getting done so I am a happy little vegemite.

Neil I appreciated that info about higher protein cheese too. Haloumi, yum.
What fun you are going to have spending your birthday money!

Here is the link for Dr Mosley on The Project Klondi https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=625994374592669 I can’t find any link for when he was on News Breakfast but it was the 15th I think, if not, it was the 16th.

Dr Mosley is in Melbourne on the 27th https://www.livenation.com.au/artist/michael-mosley-tickets but he says most of the show is more generally about his documentaries over the last twenty years.

I asked my sister to come and make chicken stock at my place, because just talking about it didn’t help me feel I could do it. But I will try to talk it through :). A whole lot of celery stalks (four or five stalks cut in three inch sticks) to line the bottom of a big pressure cooker. Place 4 chicken frames on top as neatly as possible (on top of the celery stalks so the carcasses don’t glue themselves to the base while cooking). Fresh carcasses, my sister says wherever a butcher is cutting out chicken breasts they will have the frames. (Horrible looking things!) Then a couple of onions and carrots roughly cut up (quartered), a couple of bayleaves and, my sister’s favourite, a couple of star anise. Cover with water and bring to pressure. Cook twenty minutes. Leave to lose pressure naturally. Drain off the liquid. The fat can be taken off after it has cooled down in the fridge. Made at least 2 litres.
No doubt I will tweak it a bit as I try it.

I also made nettle soup last week. So yummy! I had to pick my little plant before the maintenance guy came and sprayed it.

Off to plant those seeds! Best wishes everyone.

Eat food, not too much, mostly plants 🙂

Good morning and happy Sunday. Overcast today but a bit humid. Yesterday was gorgeous; sunny and 25 so we washed the dog and all his bedding. Not a happy boy about the bath but he does love the towel dry at the end.

The sun just peeked out and of course I just finished hanging the washing under cover as it looked like it wanted to rain.

I am home alone while the boys are at dog training. I really wanted to go but I have a lot of work to do and these two hours without distractions (apart from reading lovely posts on this forum of course) will mean I can power through it and get half of it done and then have the afternoon off. I also took advantage of the fur shedding machine being absent to vacuum without him following me around trying to lie down wherever I wanted to hoover. I also got the floors mopped!

Bummer about your shoulder Neil, I know exactly how painful it is. I hope it eases soon

I did quite a lot of exercise, for me anyway, on Friday and yesterday. I walked to the hairdressers yesterday – it is across that rail bridge that we walked across Klondi – about 40 minutes each way and I even jogged part of the way back. I’ve also been doing sit ups every day and this morning the scales were 83.5 so the weight is slowly slowly coming off. I also had an excellent FD on Thursday to make up for the FFD on Tuesday. Hubby is encouraging me to flap my arms and dance around whenever possible to keep the momentum going. Maxx finds it all quite hilarious and exciting of course. I was dancing around the deck last night playing fetch with Maxx and he was leaping around with me. Too funny. Anyway all is going well. 10 weeks today until we fly!

I have copied and pasted your chicken stock recipe Cinque, thanks for that. Best wishes to your tomato seeds, may the crop be prosperous and delicious

You are seeing awesome results too LJ, with your mindfulness and steps. Hope your FD goes well today

I should go and do some work as it is already 9.00am and the boys will be back around 10.00. Have a lovely day all

Good afternoon.
I have had a productive gardening afternoon and have planted all the veggie seedlings and created 12 cane teepees ready for the legume seeds. I still also have some zucchini, cucumber & rockmelon seeds to plant. I also finished all the digging so the remaining seed planting should be a quick job.
I still also have 3 huge terracotta pots to be planted up with herbs and strawberries, but I though that could wait as I could do that on the verandah even if it’s raining.
Glad you got your tomatoes planted Cinque. I’m sure with home made compost they’ll do very well. I don’t have a compost bin, I either buy bags of it or dig trenches in the garden and fill them with food scraps to create compost in the ground.

Anzac, sounds like you have a very clean Maxx – even if he isn’t happy about that.

Neil, try to take care of that shoulder. I know you have a lot of reno tasks to take care of, but pace yourself if possible.

Looking forward to my FD dinner. A cup of pumpkin soup and a little bit of leftover nigerian red bean stew.

Morning all

Well I got all the stopping and sanding done over the weekend so tonight I’ll be able to start masking up the wall ready for painting. The end is in sight. My wife and I indulged in a nice deep bubblebath last night to soak out the aches.

Lindsay, My wife is obsessed with growing strawberries, we have them everywhere and they always taste so much better than the ones you get from the supermarket. I’m looking forward to the next couple of months because it’s moving towards berry season. We have strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, NZ cranberries, blueberries and red and black currants. 😛

We get a LOT of raspberries, in the height of the season we can pick a punnet a day, we usually get enough to make jams and raspberry cordial.

I forgot to mention that today is my 8 month anniversary of being on this WOL. Time has absolutely flown by. I’m down almost 40 kilos so I’ve averaged almost 5 kilos a month of weight loss. I’m so glad that I found this WOL and thankful for all the support I’ve gotten on these forums. You people are amazing.

Hi everyone,

Dropping in briefly to say hello to everyone, encourage the newbies to give this a go and ask questions of the very knowledgable and encouraging 5:2ers.

Congratulations to all the achievers – Neil, awsome results, well done!

My apologies, I’m not caught up with the list atm.

Check-in:

Weigh-in Monday – 62.4kg. Yay!!
0.4 over my goal weight that I achieved in nov 2016, after losing over 20kgs with no exercise to speak of due to medical condition.

Leaving for the USA for the wedding of one of my adult children. Bittersweet stuff, but lovely to see the happiness of this lovely couple.

Mr Merry continues to be well with almost no bad side effects from his radiation which finished about 5 months ago. Early signs of results looking good so far and we’ll know the full picture in about 7 months.

I’m staying as well as I can be, which is sustaining me through a full on time.

Hugs to all
See you soon,
Merry
Onwards and downwards