Good afternoon.

I’m still at the hospital- 2 hours and no reaction which is good. I just went for a walk up the hill to the University and back. Good exercise but I passed a Greek cafe on the way back. I have just finished a piece of ekmek kataifi (shredded pastry with a thick layer of custard on top). It was divine and I’m doing my best not to feel guilty. I need to hang around for another hour then I can catch the bus home.

Merry, enjoy the wedding and the time away. Very glad to hear MrM is still doing well. Also good to hear your weight is almost back to goal.

Neil, I probably shouldn’t say this, but raspberry pie is also amazing.

Klondi, my Dad’s parents grew most of their own veg and fruit. They also had chickens and in the 1920s-30s a milk cow too. My grandpa kept that one acre garden going into his 90s. My parents had a backyard full of fruit trees, but the only veg they grew were tomatoes and silverbeet.

Cali, glad you had such a good time with your friends. And that you got most of the painting done.

I’d better head back into the hospital now.

Good morning all.

Successful fast day yesterday and I’m hoping for another one today before my weigh-in. I forgot my gym gear yesterday, but it was a beautiful day so I went for an hour walk down to the Botanical gardens and back.

I got the last of the sanding done yesterday and then got the base coat and one coat of white done on the architraves of the beam and new bracing wall done. The wall where the old living room door used to be had the old skirting and architraves which was varnished, so I left that be and managed to get the base coat and one coat of colour done on that wall. This morning I got the second coat on both the architraves and the wall done. Tonight I’ll get the base coat and at least one coat of colour on the beam and new wall done, then tomorrow I’ll do the skirting and then I’ll be done!!

I hope everyone has a great day and I’ll catch up with you later.

My FD went very well yesterday (first Sunday FD I think) with a nice loss on the scales, and an 800 calorie day today. 800 is a lot easier than 500.

Neil, what you call skirting is I think the same thing that I call baseboards. You accomplished a lot more painting than I did. Work was busy today so I didn’t do any more painting.

Anzac, sorry to hear your job was so frustrating yesterday. Trying on your coat was a good way to keep you motivated with the FD.

Off to bed for me. Have a great day everyone.

Hi Southern Hemispherites!

Congratulations Merry on making your way back to the goal weight. I remember when you reached that back a couple years ago and to return there during such stressful times is something I admire.

Thin, I’m excited for your move and new life and great reading about DD’s contribution to the animal kingdom!

Hi Cinque, you are the heart and soul of this thread!

I know my post will be a diversion from 5:2 topic for the most part. I’m writing to let you know that today/tonight marks the end of 12 weeks of dedicated 20 grams of carbs less of lchf Keto way of eating. Most lchf Keto mentors recommend eating less than 20 grams of carbs for 12 weeks to reduce elevated insulin, lower blood sugar and become fat adapted, which means that after 12 weeks, the body generally will continue to prefer to use fat as a fuel over sugar, even if carbohydrate consumption is raised. My health has improved so much and I feel so good that I’m continuing with the 20 grams or less of carbs. It’s the first time I’ve felt that my hunger dragon might be finally healed. It’s still new, how liberating it is to walk down the grocery aisle and passing by my former favorite ‘go to’ treats, not because I have any will power to do so, but because I’m not hungry and would prefer to chew the fat instead!

I did a 5:2 style fast the very first day I started my 20 grams of carbs or less Keto and as I wrote in my last post 12 weeks or so ago, I didn’t feel my body (with the history of adrenal fatigue) could cope with becoming a fat burner and continue 5:2 fasting at the same time.

So what happened to my weight during the past 12 weeks of no fasting? My weight stayed in exactly the same range as it did when practicing 5:2. This range was between 58 to 59 kg. The only time my weight would drop below 58 kg is when I would practice 5:2 and caloric tracking/restriction (as per my commitment to Thin’s 2018 Silly Season Challenge).

My experience over the past 12 weeks was the exact opposite of calorie restriction. To heal the ‘hunger dragon’ I let myself eat as much fat as I wanted, whenever I wanted. I had to heal a lot of starvation stress, so that meant snacking on raw cacao butter buttons throughout the day, every day. Sometimes I would eat 50 to 100 grams of these over the course of a day. I also love these ‘Bullet Proof’ dandelion coffees with 20 grams of butter and 20 grams of coconut oil and would drink those as snacks. This isn’t ideal as it is better to eat meals and leave breaks between to give the digestion a rest! Were I required to practice Keto in a regimented manner, I would have thrown in the towel. I had to do it my way! If that meant snacking all day every day. That’s what I would do. All up, I would eat between 150 and 200 grams of fat every day. This equated to eating around 3,000+ calories daily. My nutrient tracker continued to tell me how bad this was for me and that I would gain weight. I didn’t gain any weight. All I know is that I was hungry, so I fed myself. I kept protein to moderate levels and didn’t gorge on it because I’d read how this is where the Atkins Diet went wrong because the body will turn any excess protein not required, into glucose and cause a blood sugar spike.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve really begun to feel a healing of my ‘hunger dragon’ (the one that would always rear it’s head and breathe fire during my NFDs). This has been marked by a growing disinterest in an evening meal. Because of this, I’ve begun dropping out the meal here and there. I still go by my hunger. If I’m hungry I eat. If I’m not I don’t. Over the past week, I’ve consistently felt no desire for dinner and this has lead to practicing 16:8. After consistently practicing 16:8 for a few days in a row my weight showing a marked decline on the scale. Whereas I was maintaining at around 59 kg. I’m now around 58.5 kg.

I’m going to keep with 16:8 for awhile because I bought a dress to attend a wedding last year while I was participating in Thin’s ‘Silly Season Challenge’ At the time of purchase, I was 57 kg and it fit beautifully. When the wedding took place months later, I was a kg+ heavier and the dress no longer fit so well and I had to hold my breath in while wearing it! However, every time I sat down, I felt as if I was stressing out the cloth! So, I have a goal of 57 kg. We’ll see if I get there continuing with lchf Keto and practicing 16:8.

Cheers to all Southern Hemipherites!

Hi all. Wednesday – day 9 of our 14 day Bali holiday. Happy to announce that OH and I are now married. We eloped and had a lovely Balinese ceremony on Sunday on the balcony of our resort overlooking the beach. Just the 3 of us (MissD) so very quiet and intimate.

On the down side – OH’s 4 adult children have never been happy that he’s moved on after his wife passed away 5 years ago and unfortunately his children have squashed our wedding happiness. I won’t go into details other than to say they have vented their anger both publicly (social media) and through messages which have been vile, hurtful and uncalled for. We’re both gutted.

Haven’t read posts as Wi-Fi here is really bad so not using it much. Posting now as it’s 4am (I’ve been sitting on balcony since 2.30am unable to sleep…again) and it seems to be a bit better in the wee small hours.

Hope everyone is travelling ok. I’ve been eating 3 meals a day and drinking a few Bintangs (local beer) each day so can definitely feel the weight gain. Will worry about that when we return home next week. Were loving the food here but looking forward to getting back to our normal eating patterns again. Waiting for sunrise so I can have a coffee, brekky and go for a swim at the beach.

GDSA,
Congratulations on your marriage, enjoy your honeymoon in Bali.
I am glad that some of the extended family have been supportive and happy for you.

Good morning everyone,

CONGRATULATIONS GDAY AND MR GDAY!
It sounds like a gorgeous wedding. https://www.kanesflorists.ie/uploads/psbqEulF/767x0_2560x0/Screenshot_20170822-210452.jpg
So sorry to hear of the flak you have got, I’m glad you have got each other to hold firm through it.

Merry, how good to hear from you, and with such lovely news. You must feel great at 62.4! Best wishes to Mr Merry, may the good news continue, and bon voyage to both of you, for that bitter sweet wedding in the USA.

Congratulations Minka! How wonderful it must feel. Enjoy getting back into that dress!

LJoyce, what a fabulous lot of gardening! Won’t you enjoy this summer!
It sounds like you have an excellent inground compost system happening, but just wanted to say how much I love my compost bins. They are like the most wonderful pets, easy to care for and so productive. (What made the difference for me was getting one of these: https://www.greenlife.com.au/products/composter-aerator?variant=44546554132&currency=AUD&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlsSN98Tq5AIVwpGPCh3jIAvwEAQYBSABEgJIgPD_BwE which keeps the compost so happy and smelling healthy too.)
Lovely to hear the first testing went so positively, and I hope you feel good about that delicious treat. I find that if I can enjoy something without guilt, it is easier to think “That was such a pleasure it will stay with me for three months. And then I can feel not guilty about having another!”

Lindsay, I’ve also been enjoying the Old People’s Home with Kiddies series (I’ve got last night’s episode still to watch) but I do have a (happily childfree) friend who hated the bit of it she saw and said please slit my throat rather than that. Haha, different strokes.

Hmm, those naughty honey producers!

I’ve also got strawberries everywhere, thanks to one little original plant that just keeps multiplying. They are tiny tasty ones. Delicious.

Neil, congratulations on all that work done and long hot baths to heal yourself. Happy 8 month anniversary. Haven’t you done a lot in that 8 months! Won’t you enjoy that bottle of beer!

Klondi, I’m taking that info about protein as helpful, but remembering Dr Mosley has to speak and write to people with shockingly low nutrient diets and so be very careful with recommendations (a bit like our course).

Your worm pipe idea sounds so exciting!
Welcome to Australia Klondi’s car!

Hi Penguin, lovely to know you are lurking.
Thin… I wonder if you have the chance to do a little lurk now and then?

Anzac, Oh dear, I was too simplistic (again) thinking some extra help and an award were signs that your job was becoming tenable. I do hope today is not a crying day (although I have been writing this for so long you might have quit and flown to Bali before I’ve posted). Look after that shoulder! You need to be able to put that coat on every night! Sending you lots of good wishes.

Cali, so glad you had a great time with your visitors, and big congratulations on a great fast day. Haha yes, isn’t 800 easier!

I’ve had a bit of a hectic week, but last night I had the best sleep I have had for ages, maybe even more than 6 hours straight. Such a blessing.

Latest fun from Miss 3-on-Friday she ran up from the kitchen and said: “My toes were running as fast as they could!” and then “They were running as fast as me!”

I made oatcakes for breakfast so fast day will be tomorrow!

Best wishes everyone for a great day today.

GDAY, congratulations on your marriage! What a beautiful place to get married! https://cdn0.weddingwire.com/img_g/editorial-images-2018/8-august/sam/summer-wedding-flowers/0-hero-gloria-mesa-wedding-photography-2.jpg Don’t let any relatives spoil your wonderful honeymoon. So glad that most of them are happy for you two.

Cinque, Miss 3 comes up with the cutest things! She is at such a fun age, learning all kinds of new things. Glad you were able to get 6 hours sleep in one stretch. I seem to wake up after a few hours, even if I ‘m not fully awake it’s still disruptive. It’s so nice to sleep soundly.

LJ, I like the idea of working food scraps into the soil to compost on their own. Do you add any soil amendments?

Minks, it’s to hear that you found an eating plan that suits you. Also good to see you here again.

Penguin, good to see you too. We miss seeing your posts. You must be enjoying the summer!

Thin, if you’re out there lurking, you’ve had time to get over to the U.K. and see DD. Hopefully you’re on your boat and getting settled. We miss your posts and inspiration. Hope you’ll be back to posting soon.

This week I had my 500 calorie FD on Sunday and Monday was an 800 calorie day. It’s kind of nice having my first FD out of the way a day early. Today was a busy work day and I barely had time to eat. I didn’t count calories but I don’t think I went much over 800.

Gday, I am so so so so so happy for you! What a gorgeous way to celebrate your love for each other. I’m sad about the negative family members but you MUST ignore them and concentrate on the other friends and family who are so happy for you. As are we on this forum. Much love to you…….

Good morning all, it’s a lovely spring day here in Dunedin

https://www.flickr.com/photos/43493775@N06/48794526233/

Oh and someone wanted a pic of the work, I’ve been doing. Here’s one including my cat stalking her food bowl. Where the ladder is sitting used to be the door into the living room, and the big archway used to be the wall between the living room and kitchen and the chimney/log burner

https://www.flickr.com/photos/43493775@N06/48794886596/in/photostream/

I’ve decided to try to do a B2B2B2B2B fast day attempt for the last 5 days of September to try to get as close to my goal as I can. October will be a bit tricky because we’ll be travelling for a week of it and it’ll be harder to cook a different meal for myself than the rest of the family and then there’s my cycle trip where I’ll probably need to keep my calories up to get through the hours on the bike I’ll need to put up.

Have a great day everyone

Good afternoon all.

Morning at the hospital was fine – so another drug (or saline placebo) that is ok to use. I also managed to do nearly 10,000 steps just walking around the neighbouring suburb while I was waiting the prescribed 3 hours.

Anzac, I’m sure the praise on the quality of your document was well deserved – I hope that mitigates some of the distress you’ve felt with this project.
It’s good that you are managing to get some work-from-home days now – so much less stressful. I used to find I was much more productive working from home.

Neil, I thought it was chilly this morning at 6am, but we didn’t have snow! You are making a lot of headway with the renovations. It will be wonderful when it’s finished and you have a more open layout. Good luck with the B2B2B…

Cali, how many FDs are you doing this week – it sounds like you’ve already done 3!
The compost trench needs to be 30-40cm deep so that you can get at least 20cm soil on top. If I don’t dig it deep enough I find rats treat it like a food stash that they can dig up and feast on! I don’t add any minerals to the trench, but if I have any straw I mix that in too. It will break down faster if you add lime – but that will also make the soil more alkaline – which I don’t want. The original idea was that you immediately planted your veggie seedling in that trench as soon as you’d replaced the soil. The idea was that by the time the roots finally reached the food scraps they would have broken down and would feed the veggie plant. This is a very old technique that predates the use of compost bins. I did a few trenches in autumn and winter in the hope that they would break down by this spring in time for planting – they seem to have done that.

Minka, I know it took you quite a while to get to this level of HFLC, that shows real perseverance. I hope it continues to provide the appetite reduction that you are hoping for on your NFDs. You did say that you should be able to increase your carbs now that you’ve done the 12 weeks. It will be interesting to see how that works and what level you can increase it to.

Hope everyone is having a good day. I did a big afternoon in the garden on Tuesday so all the beds are dug, fertlised, planted and mulched. This afternoon I have 3 very large pots to plant with herbs and strawberries. Then it’s just a case of waiting for things to grow, and a bit of watering.

Evening all

It is indeed snow. We do normally get a snowfall in September. Normally accompanied by news footage of little newborn lambs shivering away in it. We actually got more snow last night than we got all winter this year, which is weird because we usually get at least 2 or 3 decent snowfalls of 10cm-25cm each winter. It’s been a really mild winter this year.

The weather doesn’t know what it’s doing at the moment. Snow over night, it was reasonably warm in the afternoon the cold and rainy again this evening, then it’s supposed to get up to 19 degrees in a couple of days.

Good morning.

I have discovered some muscles I didn’t know I had this morning. I spent yesterday afternoon dragging heavy pots to new locations on the verandah and planting up the largest ones with herbs and strawberries. It ended up taking 2 1/2 hours – so good exercise. The only thing remaining is to clean the tiles verandah floor as it’s very dirty now and I didn’t have the energy left to tackle it yesterday.

Neil, I hope you get some nice spring weather for your time away.

Minka, If you do test out the carb levels you may find that what works for others may or may not work for you. When I did the VLCD a few years ago we discovered that among the group of us doing the program we each had a different carb level that allowed us to stay in ketosis. There were a couple of people with insulin resistance who couldn’t stay in ketosis with carbs above 50 grams – their hunger spiraled out of control when they got to that level. I managed to keep my hunger at bay with carb levels in the 80s. I felt lucky about that because I need a very high level of fibre in my diet, which is a challenge on the lower carb levels.
You are right about the veggies. I’ve covered twice the area that I did last year, so I think I’ll end up feeding all the neighbours as well. They don’t seem to mind.

Cali, I won’t know the order of the drugs they are testing until the end.
I haven’t come across farro here. I’ll look out for it as I’m always interested in new high fibre grains. As it’s wheat, I’m wondering if it’s similar to freekeh, which is dried green wheat and has a very high fibre content.

I’m going to Unley for bridge this afternoon. The current beginners class is up to the lesson on Transfers. As I missed that one when I did the course I’m planning to sit in on the lesson. I will go early so I can walk around the area first. Hopefully my sore muscles will allow me to walk more easily by then – I’m not moving so well this morning.

Hi all

Gday. What wonderful news, what a sneaky couple you are. A pity that it is bittersweet. The people who count are in your corner and it is a real shame for OH that his family can’t see how happy and healthy he is now. Enjoy this wonderful new stage in your life.

Minka. How nice to hear from you. You have always been very thoughtful about how you approached your nutrition and eating and it’s great you have found a regime that works with you and that ‘beast’. I’m still interested in if you are still using inulin and if you felt that was a worthwhile. It would be great if you could drop in again and let us know how you are going long term.

LJ. Good that you have found a medication you can to use. Do you have to continue the tests now? Well, I guess you do because you don’t know if it was saline. Your gardening is impressive. What you describe is very physical, hard work and considering your energy levels and state of your back, I am amazed that you have completed it. At least it sounds like you can take it easy now.

Neil. You are very focused, I know your FD is 800 but do you really have to achieve so much so quickly. Be kind to yourself. Thanks for the pictures, it looks like you are opening up your house nicely, having an open kitchen is so much better, especially as you seem to spend quite a bit of time there. Like the colour too. Is that really snow in your back yard, that is insane.

Anzac. What a horrible job situation you are in, just when it seemed to be getting better. You must question if all this stress is worth it but I guess such a positive comment does help to make it easier. That coat is going to be your saviour. Keep trying it on and picturing yourself swanning around Europe looking and feeling great.

Cali. How nice that you had such a lovely visit which your friends. I bet they didn’t notice that you hadn’t finished the painting or didn’t care if they did. Glad to hear you are back at work and those pesky health issues are behind you. Are you working full time or part time. I am still keeping my FD around 500 cals as I start to navigate maintenance although I can see that might change. I have found I have started to prowl the kitchen again even though I’m not hungry but so far a piece of fruit seems to satisfy the desire to eat something.

Merry. What a lovely post. So nice that you have persevered and achieved despite all your obstacles, thank you for letting us know. I empathise with your feelings about the upcoming wedding. I too had an expatriate son for a while and it was lovely that he had found happiness but I missed him. He has now come home for good and I have the pleasure of having the whole family close by where I am able to enjoy and support them, particularly my DIL who has a number of health challenges. As Penguin says, enjoy it and no apologies for getting emotional, it is in your job description.

Cinque. Miss 3 sounds delightful, and keeping you on your toes too, no doubt. Great that you had such a good sleep, long may it continue. I guess that children are not for everyone but I have so enjoyed the TV program about the aged care home and I’m delighted to see that long term friendships have been forged. It can only benefit both parties.

Not much happening here,although being school holidays, we are doing lots of kid wrangling. Not full days but a couple of hours here and there. Some challenges but I’m so glad to be able to help DD and DS. I’ve caught the gardening bug and planted out some veggies but no heavy digging for me, I’m much more random about what I do which probably explains why I don’t get the results reported elsewhere here. The course I’m doing with Cinque and Cali is proving a bit of a disappointment. Not much depth or supporting information so if you were wanting to increase your understanding of weight management, you wouldn’t be much wiser. OH has been tracking new car (which will be called Red Baron as Kluger is German for noble) and it has now landed. Only about 2 weeks to go. Hi to Thin, Lindsay and Betsy and all those others who lurk.

Morning all – I’m on the Sunshine Coast originally from uk where i did follow 5:2 with great success. dropped of the diet for a few years but now back on an exercise and healthy eating plan so first fast day today for a while…. I’m also pescatarian which sometimes makes things tricky! Any other vegetarians/pescatarians on here?

LJ, I thought it was you who mentioned making a dish with farro. When you said it wasn’t you, I thought maybe it was Cinque or Neil. But then I read down to the bottom of the page age read their comments about never having tried it. I bought it because I was pretty sure someone here mentioned it. I wish we still had the search app on this forum. It was a nice chewy texture, but not as chewy as the barley with the hull still on. That was too hard to chew. OH and DS didn’t like the barley with the hull but they did like the farro.

Neil, buying a painting from Crazyartist would be cool. I wonder what she is up to?

CAP67, welcome back to the 5::2 way of eating. Hope this was an easy FD for you and that you see some good numbers tomorrow.

Cinque, good luck on the chocolate cake. It sounds delicious. You should post a picture of it here if you have time before it gets eaten. Have fun at her party.

Klondi, I’m working part time, still handling a few of my large accounts. The past couple days have just been unusually busy. Tomorrow night we’re having a neighbor over for dinner. It’s always nice to have people over when the house is still clean from the weekend guests. Except for dog toys all over the place. Cooper has a big plastic storage box full of toys in the family room and he digs through it to find his favorites. (He has a lot of favorites!)
You’re right about the online course that the three of us are taking. It’s much too basic. I was hoping they would get more into it, but it doesn’t seem so.

Today’s FD went well. I wasn’t hungry up until now, but I’ll try to go to bed soon. I hope I can sleep well.

Morning all, just when I thought I would have some rest I remembered that we’ve got some friends coming around for cards tonight so I’m running around cleaning things up because the house is a bit of a bomb site after the renovations. I’m determined not to let the cards night turn into a junk food feat like it usually does so I’m doing a protein+ milk fast this weekend. It’s a milk with added protein so 1 litre is about 600 calories and 60 grams of protein.

LJoyce – I’ve always found that gardening is good for my mental health, I always feel in a great mood after a few hours gardening. It sounds like it’s similar for you if you’re getting out and doing it despite physical pain. Sometimes the pain is worth it to get in a good head space.

Cap – I’m definitely not vegetarian, but in the last couple of years we’ve been having a vegetarian evening meal every other day. We usually have one or two egg based meals, one or two legume based meals, and one pasta or rice based meal a week.

Cinque – sorry, my boys polished off all the ribs, those growing lads need their protein 😉
I hope the wisdom teeth surgery isn’t too bad.

Have a great weekend everyone

Morning, i have been lurking, been so busy, i think we have started crazy season early… there sure are some strange people out there, gone down another tshirt size people are telling me im looking really well lol

Neil phone me 094061201 can accommodate can do it quickly too lol the wind up here is diabolical sun is lovely

Anzac keep trying on that jacket, was good to see penquin pop in, just thin to make an appearance now, nice to see old but new popping in too, cin, Lj, g’day bestsy, cali so much you guys talk about i learn something everytime you guys post, klondike so informative thankyou for letting me be part of this forum, you are all the best

I have a new great grandson 10lbs on wednesday named Luca its official im old hahaha haven’t had a cuddle yet, my birthday coming this Wednesday im sure to be teased unmercifully

Take care everyone hi to this i missed

Quick check-in. Back this week from some time in Adelaide. Drove over and back, which was really enjoyable, and my car just purred.

Sorry to have been absent for a while. Put on 1.5 kg due to holiday, plus visiting Haigh’s factory shop in Adelaide. Their factory seconds are SO cheap. I’ve now put the remaining indulgences away for a couple of months. Cholesterol check again at the end of October, so will be much more controlled for the next 4 weeks.

Congrats on the Bali wedding, GDayfromSA, and to you, Anzac65 on the lovely compliment at work. I gather that work had again gone overboard in the stress department, so it’s lovely you received a positive boost.

Cinque, cute comment from your (now) miss 3.

Great, Neilithicman, that you’re so close to your goal. Well done.

Minka, interesting reading your keto diet. It’s something I couldn’t do, as my body doesn’t cope with a high fat intake (due to gall bladder removal many moons ago).

Klondikekween, when is your birthday coming up? Was yours on the 17th? Mine is the 10th, so soon, if we’re to arrange a meet up. Will you be joining us, Cinque?

Sorry to anyone else not mentioned, have to be up by 6 a.m. tomorrow, so very early to bed tonight. Will be back more regularly from now on. No more planned holidays till next year.

Hi all

CAP67. Welcome, hope your FD went well and you slip back into 5-2 easily. We will love to hear how you are going. Vegetarian for a while but realised I wasn’t doing the hard work of making sure I was getting a balanced diet but still not a big meat eater. Do you have a weight goal in mind or are you just aiming for a healthier lifestyle?

Crazy. Good to know you are lurking here. Those T shirts are doing their job and there is nothing like positive feedback from others to reinforce what we know ourselves. A Great grandson, how wonderful, you must have started your family early. What a whopper, hope mum is okay. October is a great month for birthdays here, I hope you are thoroughly pampered, perhaps you and Neil can have a birthday get together to celebrate his new art work. Who knows where this forum could take us.

Cali. Thanks for the info re farro. I have seen it in some recipes but since I didn’t know what it was, i skipped over them. Now I might give them a go. I also like make the most of a clean house and have a couple of events together. Sweeping up all of Bobby’s fur is one of our challenges. I’m pleased yo hear you are well enough to work and part time must make it easier. Have you any plans for full retirement?

LJ thanks for the link re ancient grains, I’ll have to be a bit more adventurous. Why am I not surprised that pigheadedness is in your makeup, I can see you harnessing that to get you through all sorts of situations from Bridge to gardening. And this WOL.

Neil. How nice to have your very own original. A fitting way to enhance your hard work. Have you got any other Reno plans for the house? Yes, I bet your boys are bottomless pits even if one is not so active at the moment.

Cinque. That is one impressive cake. I love the little balloon number. I will have to look out for some of those. Clearly Miss 3 has been getting the healthy food message from grandma. Is she also good with eating veggies. How did the dentistry go, wisdom teeth can be really challenging.. I’ll definitely be seeing you soon.

Betsy. Adelaide is one of my favourite cities. I hope you had a good time. Yes, my birthday is the 17th. My email address is in my profile so just waiting to hear from you and we can plan a little party. How is your study going?

Had a delightful day yesterday. Unexpected visit from DD and kids. Miss 8 had made her first biscuits from scratch and they were delish. I had bought some sugar cane mulch and she helped me put it on the garden, Mr 4 did some spreading, everywhere. The courtyard looks like we are setting up for a hoedown. Bobby respread it in a few patches. I remember now why it is sometimes hard to grow seedlings with him roaming over the beds. I forgot to tell you that I failed the wedding dress test. Although I am at or below my wedding weight, it is obviously distributed differently. I do know that my waist is still 88cm while a healthy size would be closer to 80cm. I think I might now be in the TOFI (thin outside, fat inside) category. The other thing which stood out was the old face sitting on top of the young women’s dress. A reminder of the years which have passed. On a better note, both OH and I ran a PB at Parkrun on Saturday, 42.10 for me and 39.10 for him. I’m starting to beat some of the fast walkers.

Morning all

Well the weather doesn’t seem to be able to make up its mind at the moment. We had snow a few days ago, Saturday was sunny and 22 degrees, yesterday was lovely up until the afternoon then turned overcast in the evening, then today it’s pouring with rain and forecast for snow down to 300 meters again. Go figure.

Ljoyce, I don’t regularly do milk fasts, I’ve only done a few of them, it’s not a bad fast because the milk is pretty low calorie so you can drink quite a lot of it and still have a low calorie day while still getting enough protein. Also it’s good for flushing out your system if you’re a bit backed up.

My wife likes to sleep with her leg draped across my hips but the last couple of weeks she’s been complaining that it’s not comfortable because she can feel my hip bones poking her now, I guess there are some downsides to losing the padding. I also noticed that when I sit on a hard seat it’s not as comfortable as it was when I had my inbuilt rump cushions. I’m all ready for my end of September weigh-in tomorrow morning. I figured I could do the weigh-in one day early so I can weigh in for the September challenge. I’m thinking about investing in a biometric scale once I hit my goal weight. I’m not expecting much change in my weight after that, but with the biometric scale I can keep track of my fat percentage and muscle mass. Something like this https://www.trademe.co.nz/home-living/bathroom/scales/listing-2334432300.htm?rsqid=d3c2d3e0687c4d909bea41aa31325b93-001

Have a great day everyone and I’ll see you in October.

Hi everyone, happy Monday.

Having worked most of the weekend I am feeling quite flat but at the same time buoyed by a quick shopping trip yesterday to find I was fitting into clothing sizes that I haven’t seen for a long time

That said, I have actually ordered a new jacket. One popped up from the same shop that is available in a bigger size and it was massively on special so I will keep the old jacket for next winter when I will definitely be much smaller and use the new one for the trip. This is not going to sabotage the weight loss for the holiday as I still want to look and feel great and, more importantly, not have as much weight to drag around as we will be walking for hours every day

Neil – funny about your wife complaining about your new bones. Hubby gave me a big hug yesterday and I went ‘OUCH’ – he has an oddly formed rib that pokes out a lot and I’ve never felt it dig into the top of my stomach before!

Cinque, that cake looks lovely and I’m sorry you were disappointed about it. I’m also sorry that you caught a bad cough from one of the littlies. I hope it goes away quickly so you can go to Betsy and Klondi’s birthday celebrations. I would so love to be there too but I will be in spirit and I insist on lots of lovely photos please.

Cali, I laughed at the picture of Cooper digging through his toy box for his favourites. Maxx also has a new favourite every day but mostly he likes his stuffed kangaroo Kylie3. He destroyed Kylie1 and Kylie2 and Kylie 3 is pretty much skin only as we have slowly removed the stuffing as he makes holes. But her head is still intact and he runs around with her in his mouth quite a lot

Poor Maxx got attacked at dog training yesterday. A huskie/German shepherd cross bit him on the ear. They were having a sniff at each other when he went for Maxx. I wasn’t there as I was working but hubby said several trainers came running over and got him to fill in a report. Maxx is fine, he has two puncture wounds on his ear and both are already healing well after we applied lots of savlon. He snuck downstairs and slept on our bed most of the day which we don’t normally allow during the day but I’m guessing he was looking for somewhere quiet to just rest up so we left him there. He was full of beans last night so all is well. It just irks me that the owner didn’t even apologise. They should have a yellow flag on the leash indicating that the dog needs space

LJ, 100,000 steps….That. Is. Totally. Awesome!

Welcome Cap67 , this forum is awesome and you will receive so much support

Klondi, that mulch process sounds so funny and I can just picture Bobby ‘helping’ and the littlies you to spread it.

You holiday sounds lovely Betsy, don’t worry about the 1.5 kilos – two FD’s or so and it will be gone

So lovely to hear from you Crazy and congrats on the new grandchild.

I must get back to work. I am in full time training from tomorrow so posts will be short and sporadic. Sigh. It is fully catered but I’m still bringing my own food. I won’t do FD’s for two weeks but instead 800 calorie days for Tues-Fri then just making sure I remain under BMR for the weekend. It is a long weekend in NSW (YAY) and then another four days of training next week Tues-Fri so I will do the same thing.

Take care all

Really quick check-in, sorry as it’s already quite late – just want to ask – Klondikekween, how do I access your profile? I know how to get to mine, but not other people’s. Same for Cinque.

Are either of you in the north of Melbourne? I can find my way around Northland, Doncaster Shoppingtown, Epping Plaza, South Morang. Not so good with places further south.

90.9kg!!!!

I lost 1.6 kilos in the last 6 days of September to be now within 1 kilo of my ultimate goal. I’m so happy and proud of the progress I’ve made in the last 8 months. I’ve now lost over 40 kilos and have now passed 31% of my initial weight lost, taken my waist from 52” to 36” and my BMI from 41.5 to 28.5.

I’m well on track to reaching my goal by my birthday, I might even get there by my 9 month anniversary of intermittent fasting on the 23rd October.

But today is most definitely a non fast day after 5 back to back fast days, and I’m going to enjoy that bottle of Porter that has been sitting in the fridge taunting me for the last month.

Have a great day everyone

What a hero Neil. Enjoy that porter!

Betsy if you click on Klondi’s name it will take you to her profile. Or click on mine, I’ve added my email address in.

Anzac, the right sized jacket will make everything more enjoyable.

Quacka I kept going “Where is Quacka? I hope nothing is wrong… oh that’s right, she will be on holiday” every couple of days! It sounds like a wonderful holiday, glad to have you back, and you will make quick work of that 1.5kg.

My slight cough has developed into a racking cough, my chest is sore, I’m off to snuggle up on the sofa and let the day go by.

Best wishes all.