Good afternoon.

I’ve had a terrible couple of days of bad food choices – which even included walking to the shops for ice cream late yesterday afternoon. I never do that these days and have no idea why it was just so imperative yesterday. Yesterday also involved lunch at the bakery with the kids – and I ate the spare chips off their plates. I’ve also just been out to lunch at lunch with the folk from the local bridge club. I’ve compounded things by doing a pathetic amount of steps compared to last week.
I also forgot that as I’m having the infusion tonight I should have fasted yesterday. Oh dear.

Cinque, get well soon. I hope you still have some of that lovely chicken broth in your freezer – it will be just the thing for your current state of health.

Quacka, did you get to wear the outfit you bought for the races last year?

Neil, you deserve to feel so proud of your efforts. You might have to invest in a cushion to put over those hip bones so your wife has a comfy leg rest now that she also has a trim and fit husband!

Cali, I suspect your instant pot might be an easy way to cook freekah. I also like Cinque’s idea of soaking them covered in boiling water overnight before boiling them – a bit like the way I deal with most dry legumes.

Hello to everyone else who’s reading. Have a good day.

Good morning all, quick post from the train on my way to day 2 of 8 full-time training

I actually have to be the trainer for 1/4 of today and I’m dreading it. I’ve done a lot of prep so that will hopefully make it easier. My lovely, albeit stress-head boss is there to help so that too will help a lot.

Thanks for the wise words Betsy and you are 100% right; as soon as I ordered the new coat the pressure released and now I’m actually enjoying healthy eating.

Maxx is perfectly fine, no negative ramifications of the attack thank goodness.

Cinque, so sorry you have an awful cough, may it be short-lived and not progress to anything worse. Please rest up

Quacka, so glad you had a great holiday. Bummer to be back at work but I find if I start planning the next break it really helps

Hope the infusion goes ok today LJ and I’m sure your recent blip with food will be very short lived

Cali, Maxx is funny. Now that he had one day on our bed he assumes it is now a permanent privilege. So now he has 6 beds: upstairs spare room king bed, our king bed, the choice of two leather couches, his indoor trampoline bed and his outdoor trampoline bed that is on the back porch that gets all-day sun. Not spoilt, nope

Ok am approaching my stop. I know there will be typos as I’m hopeless on my little phone keyboard. Have a great day all

Good Morning all and thank you for the welcome back’s (is that the way to put it? lol)

LJ, yes I did get to wear the outfit but I had to get my very talented MIL to take the dress in for me as it was way too big. I will definitely be buying a new dress for next year. Fun, fun, fun! I actually like clothes shopping now as some clothes do look good on me, before I absolutely hated it.

Betsy, all my clothes still fit me as I haven’t put on THAT much weight in only two weeks! One proper FD on Monday and a low cal day yesterday has really helped. It was supposed to be a B2B FD yesterday but it ended up just being a CD. I didn’t eat anything until 3:30pm and then dinner so I think the long overnight fast is good for me. My ‘lovely’ work friend came up to me at lunchtime holding out some crackers and a jalapeno corn dip and said ” I know it’s a FD but do you want to try one?” I replied no thanks and she said “Are you sure? Just have one.” She got the same reply as the first time. I don’t understand people sometimes.

Today is a proper FD. Cabbage and konjac noodle Thai style salad for lunch (3pm) and then more cabbage (different style salad) and some chicken for dinner, along with grilled Asparagus. We have about six Sugarloaf cabbage from our garden so we need to eat them up. Yum!

Anzac, I’m glad you bought a slightly bigger jacket. I also find that when I put that kind of pressure on myself is the time when I will self sabotage. You wait, I bet you lose that weight anyway now that you don’t have that deadline!

Neil, look after yourself. I hope that sickness your workmates have isn’t contagious!

Woohoo, there are some birthdays coming up in here!! I hope you all have a lovely Happy Birthday and a nice catch up. I’m getting in early in case I forget!!

OK time for some work. Have a happy day all x

Good morning everyone

I have a free morning, so time to catch up with you all.

Neil, that sounds like a really lovely way to spend a child free evening. Staying under 1200 cals when restaurants, dessert and wine are involved is quite an achievement.

Quacka, I’m so pleased that you got to wear that outfit – and even happier that it required taking in. I remember just how much effort you went to putting together a nice races outfit for yourself and your hubby.
Six cabbages sounds like an awful lot to get through. I normally buy them by the half or quarter!

Anzac, I hope the training went well – I’m sure you were fine. I used to be a workplace trainer and I found the initial nerves were bad but once I got into a topic I knew I was fine.
You might have to start shutting doors to create no-go areas for Maxx.

Cinque, how are you? I hope that cold is improving.

Betsy & Cali, the fibre content of the ancient grains vary, as do those we are more familiar with. I tend to pick and choose the ones I use. I use a mixture of rolled grains (usually oats, barley, rye and quinoa) instead of just oats for porridge and instead of rice (which has truly abysmal fibre levels) I use alternative whole or cracked grains.
All the grains have 1350-1600kj (320-380cal) per 100g (dry) – it’s mostly those that derive from wheat that have the lower kilojoule level, quinoa, spelt and oats are at the higher end of the range. There is a much wider range of difference when it comes to fibre. It ranges from 0.7g fibre per 100g (dry) for basmati rice to 16.3g for whole, kibbled or rolled rye. I mostly only choose grains that give me at least 10g fibre per 100g. That includes: rye, freekah, bulgur (cracked wheat), kasha (buckwheat), barley (rolled or pearled), oats, spelt. The only grain I use a little that falls far short of this is quinoa flakes as it only has 6g fibre per 100g – but I like the creaminess it adds to porridge.

I haven’t posted for a couple of days, so I’ll offer an update of my activities:
Tuesday was bridge in the morning – we came 4th out of 10. The director complimented us on how well we were playing for beginners and one of the more experienced player pairs took the time to give us some tips on how to improve some of our play after we’d finished playing with them – that was really helpful and generous.
Then the bridge group went to lunch at a hotel at Glenelg which was delicious, but calories I didn’t need after Monday’s excess of bad foods. I managed to squeeze in a walk late that afternoon. The infusion in the evening was fine, but I sat at the laptop until after 11pm with the nurse, helping her put together a CV and covering letter to a apply for a job with another firm that does in-home infusions for those with cancer and auto-immune diseases. The firm she’s with now will not be able to do my infusion after the end of this month, so I’m hoping she can get a job with the company that is taking over that role.
Yesterday was a FD and it was a bit difficult as I had a headache and nausea all day – a reminder that I really do need to fast before an infusion. I went out for a cuppa and movie with my neighbours yesterday afternoon. We saw “Ride Like a Girl” which I enjoyed. I also managed to do a long walk in the morning as well as walking to and from the cinema so I finally have one day this week with a decent amount of steps. As I have free time this morning I’m planning to repeat that.

The earthworks have started on the development site across the street from me so it’s making sure I’m awake early even if I don’t want to be.

Hope you are all having a good day.

Friday 5am. Good morning all. Returned to Australia Sunday evening and spent 2 days in Glenelg (Adelaide) before returning home (sigh). Betsylee we also went to Haighes chocolates and purchased some goodies but have yet to eat any. After the indulgence of food in Bali I really don’t have much of an appetite. Have returned to eating OMAD and happy to be eating healthy home cooked meals again.

I nearly fell off the scales when I weighed myself Wednesday morning. I am exactly…yes exactly the same weight as the day we left for Bali. OH is 2kg heavier and he’s not happy…lol. We did do a lot of walking and MissD and I a lot of stair climbing on holiday. OH unable to manage steep or too many stairs due to his dodgy knee. I was sure I had put on weight but the mirror and clothes fit also prove otherwise.

One of OH’s children is now talking to him but the others have unfriended us both on FB and will not answer his phone or text messages. I’m no longer stressing over it. Now this is funny….when OH spoke with his daughter one of reasons she gave for not accepting our marriage is that I have changed him because he used to eat junk food and takeaways and was overweight. Now he only eats healthy food and is slim and healthy. Really ?? I’m disliked because of that ?? OH was more than happy to make the lifestyle changes and he continually praises me for that because he feels so much better for it.

I have this week and next week off for the school holidays but OH has returned to work.

Thank you all for the wedding well wishes and flowers. We did have a beautiful day as well as a great holiday. Long weekend here in SA so we will be catching up on home chores but with today’s temp at 39 deg and 40 tomorrow we will be stuck inside under the aircond unfortunately.

Hi all, good to check in.

Anzac65, glad the stress is less now you’ve bought the slightly larger jacket, and as Quacka also wrote, maybe with the stress off, you may even achieve the lower weight you want, anyway. Hope your part of the presentation went well (I’m sure it did!). Chuckled about Maxx, mainly because I have a very spoilt Wilbur (cat) here, who sleeps wherever he likes.

Quacka, I thought you’d been away longer, not just 2 weeks. Well, I put on 1.5 kg in a week, so you might still have gained weight; glad you didn’t.

And speaking of not gaining weight – GDayfromSA, no weight gain even on a trip to Bali – well done you. Glad one of OH’s kids is now talking with him again. Give it time; the others will probably come round. But even if they don’t, he’s healthier now than he was previously, and that’s a major positive. I agree with Neilithicman’s comments; they’re probably jealous because now he’s lighter, and it reflects badly on them.

Nelithicman, great that you and your wife had an enjoyable (and food restrained) kids-free evening. Enjoy the West Coast!

LJoyce, lots of interesting and useful info about grains, thanks. Hope you get to keep your current infusion nurse with the new company that will be looking after you.

Hi Minka, thanks for the comments re gall bladder and fats. I don’t think I’d follow that route. I think it would require spacing the fats out over the day, and as I prefer 16:8 TRE and only one main meal, it could be more difficult to retrain my liver. Doesn’t matter. As you wrote with the keto diet, everyone has to find what works best for them.

Catch you over the weekend everyone!

Hi everyone. Gday, great to hear that you returned from holidays with no weight gain. Being busy and active probably helped a lot as well as food choices. Wanting to taste local cuisines always makes it harder to keep eating under control but it sounds like you managed. Good on you.

Anzac, glad to hear you made it through your 4 days of intense training. Now you can relax. Why the long weekend? Is there a holiday?

I’ve been busy decorating the house (indoors) for Autumn and Halloween. I usually leave the decorations up for all of October. Lots of LED lighted artificial pumpkins around the house. I have them set up on Alexa with timers. Now that the days are getting shorter, it’s nice to have the little orange lights all around.

Neil, glad you and your OH had a night alone without the kids. I bet it felt good to relax and watch a movie together. We like Netflix too. I see that season 3 of “Glitch” just started. I’ll have to find time to watch it. It takes place in the fictional country town of Yoorana, Victoria. It started in 2015 on ABC from what I’ve read. This will be the last season for the show.

LJ, it sounds like you’re keeping busy. Congrats on your continued success with bridge. It sound like you’re progressing faster than usual. The freekeh should arrive here tomorrow from Amazon. It was supposed to be here a couple days ago but there was a mix up in shipping. I’m anxious to try it. I do like the higher fiber content of the ancient grains and just to have the change from the typical rice.

Cinque, I hope you’re feeling better. I miss your posts.

A quick hello,
I am gradually getting better but not back into the rhythm of 5:2 yet. Just wanted to send out some good wishes to you and hoping you are having a good weekend.
I’ve just a couple of clocks that couldn’t put themselves forward this morning, so that is my job for the day.
I’ll catch up properly soon I hope!

Good afternoon SHs.

Thankfully the hot days have moved on and we are back to 17-22C days for a week – much more my preference as I am more active when the weather is mild.

CharlotteRose, welcome back. I am joining you in a FD today. Rereading the book was an excellent way to get back into the swing of things.

Cinque, Glad to hear you are improving – even if it’s not at the pace you’d prefer. Take care.

I had a clear demonstration last week of what happens when you eat more and move less! I only met my minimum steps requirement of 50,000 last week – half of my effort from the previous week. I also craved extras nearly every day – biscuits, icecream etc. I’m feeling chubby and my larger jeans are the only ones that are comfortable – hot happy!
As always, I try to analyse and understand why and plan ways to avoid this in future. I had an incredibly busy week, which I know impacts the way I react to food. It also meant I did virtually no cooking and it limited the times I could exercise. Add in hotter weather and that further limited when I wanted to go for walks. I really prefer walking early-mid afternoon but that just doesn’t work on hotter days. I need to change my daily schedule to accommodate a morning walk. The reason I prefer not to, is that I’m stiff and less able to move easily in the morning – but I think mid-late morning would be ok. Summer is coming and the weather will be hot for many months so I need to have a plan ready, otherwise my activity levels will suffer for months. I can’t allow that to happen.

As this week sees the return of milder weather it will temporarily make it easier for me to do longer walks and perhaps tackle a couple of narrow garden beds at the front of the house that still need to have the heavy clay soil dug out. I also must get back to my mindful approach and hope it works. Last week even eating things slowly didn’t seem to restrain me.

I’ve decided to fast today and Wednesday as that suits my schedule best this week.

Hope you are all having a nice weekend – it’s a long weekend here.

Good morning,

Woohoo, I feel well enough to have a fast day. They are such a rhythm in my life now that it feels unbalanced not to have them (although my worst days with this dreaded lurgy didn’t involve much eating). LJoyce, thanks so much for the reminder about that chicken stock. I read your post and got it straight out of the freezer. I have mostly subsisted on home made soups and that has been just excellent.

CharlotteRose! Long time no see. So sorry to hear that you have had such a nasty run of medical problems. I do hope they are really over now! No wonder your eating has been all over the place. You will feel so good when the dress sizes start going down again. How did your fast day go? Fingers crossed you love getting back into the rhythm of 5:2.

Quacka, I loved hearing that your talented MIL had to take in your dress. Yes, it is time for fun clothes shopping!

LJoyce, I guess it was about time to test whether you still needed to fast before an infusion. Sorry to hear about the awful symptoms, but hopefully life will be a bit more ordered and it won’t creep up on you like that again.
Hoping you have a lovely strict week (in all the best senses of that word) and your cravings dissipate, you can enjoy your walks, and you have less busyness all round.

Welcome home Gday, I am glad you feel more settled about family carry on. Children, even grown up ones, are so resistant to change they don’t control. But I had to chuckle when the change was such a healthy one.
Wo, it is hot there early!

Cali, I love to think of you decorating your house for Halloween and Fall. I hope you enjoy the freekah, I had a salad made with it once, by a chef friend, and it was delicious.
(My spring decorating is opening the windows and doors wide to let the outside in 😉 ) Hmm, more than that, it is tomato seedlings on the windowsill and chard bolting and the callistemons in bloom.

Hi Minka, It is so nice to hear you, step by step, organising the way of eating that suits you. Good luck with the back to 5:2!

Anzac, lovely to think of you enjoying a public holiday today! Hope you get some healthy blob out time between your busy things.

Neil, sending you good wishes for the trip!

Best wishes to you all. Off for another cuppa, and planning my evening miso soup.
🙂

Quick check-in as I’m horrified to realise how late it is. Still not adjusted to daylight savings, so I slept REALLY late this morning, and am consequently not tired this evening, even though it’s nearly 2 a.m.

Loved reading all the posts. Really, would just echo Cinque’s comments to you.

Anzac65, yes, I do love Wilbur – when he isn’t driving me crazy! Same as my first cat, Sweetie. She was even more of a “sook”, and a lot of the time when home I had to walk around with her tucked over my shoulder. Wilbur isn’t that bad. But, he’s funny. If I were to put him on my lap, he’d immediately jump down. He has to choose to be on my lap, not me. However, once there, he gets quite disgruntled if I have to get up and thereby disturb him.

Sorry, more next time. It really is too late.

Hi all

Gday. Welcome home, now to tell all your friends about your surprise wedding, I bet you will get lots of good wishes. It’s nice that at least one of OH’s children is talking to him. Maybe the contrast in him does not make their mother look good in retrospect and they resent that, certainly they seem threatened. Well done on maintaining while having a good time.

Neil enjoy your break, sounds like you need it, keep those boys out of trouble.

Betsy. We are all willing slaves to our furry friends, wouldn’t do without them.

Anzac. Is there an end in sight, you must be going live soon. At least you have a three day break to get over it with the boys. You should get plenty of use from your pool with a hot summer predicted. Swimming is not my cup of tea but we do have a spa which OH loves and is prepared to look after.

Cali. Pictures please, I know you did them last year but I’d love to see more. We only do a little decorating at Christmas but my DIL who is American would love to seasonally decorate. No wonder her family had a big attic, they needed it to store all the various bits and pieces for each event.

LJ it’s a pity you aren’t the one designing the course that Cinque, Cali and I are doing. One post from you, and you have educated all of us more than the whole course so far, very disappointing. I really do need to explore grains more. There is no good reason why I don’t, the bulk food place I showed Cinque has all of those grains and more. Best of luck with the infusion process, I hope the new arrangement suits you.

CharlotteRose. Welcome back, it’s nice that you are feeling better and can take charge of your eating again. I imagine the extra kilos don’t help your arthritis so you will benefit so much from being lighter. Keep with us, we will cheer you on.

Cinque. So relieved that you are feeling better, hopefully that will be the last of the dreaded lurgies for a while. It’s great that we have finally settled on a day and place for our birthday bash. It will be lovely to meet again and introduce ourselves to Betsy in person. Good that you could feed yourself easily with your stash of stock. Your garden sounds as if it is doing well.

I haven’t said much about my progress. I passed my goal of 65k in July and reset a new goal of 63k which was my wedding weight 41 years ago and achieved that in August. I relaxed a bit but was cautious, increasing my weekly average calories from around 1000k per day to 1300k which is close to my TDEE. Surprisingly, I have continued to lose weight and I am now mostly under 61k. 60k equals 91/2 stone which was considered nirvana when I was in my twenties, I’m clearly not the same shape as I was then, my upper body is almost bony and my rear end has just melted away. My bust is still a bit bigger and my waist is definitely bigger with those pesky extra folds of skin left over from when I was fat. I’m not sure whether I have gone too far but now I’m here, I have no intention of deliberately going back. I believe that if I can maintain this weight for a while, there might be a redistribution of fat so I’m more balanced. Any observations from our maintainers would be helpful. I’m certainly not complaining and I love how I look in my skinny clothes, particularly my tight fitting jeans.

I will be testing my resolve over the next couple of weeks. DD is turning 40 just after my birthday so we are having a joint afternoon tea party. As we will be catering for coeliac, vegan, lactose intolerant, and paleo guests, I am trying out some unfamiliar recipes and they are all calorie laden. Grandchildren will be getting lots of lunch box treats and I will have to make room in my freezer for the rest. Thank goodness for the internet which has such a vast array of recipes to cover every type of restriction.

Hi all, sorry I have been MIA, have had a few emotional issues to get through and have not felt like communicating. Have been lurking and would like to add my congratulations to GDSA on your wedding. How wonderful and romantic and family be damned. I’ve had enough of families, they are never there when you need them and very quick to criticise although I’ve not had to deal with that.

Cinque I hope you are feeling better and on the mend.

I am off to Auckland on Saturday for a week and I’m finding it very hard to get excited. That’s one of my problems. I can’t seem to get excited about anything and just feel flat all the time. It will be lovely to have a week where I don’t have to worry about housework or getting meals and looking after Dad.

I think that is the problem. It has been just over five years since Dad came to live with me and my life was turned upside down. Now life just seems to drag. I should be grateful, I have a roof over my head and food on the table.

Oh well enough of the woe is me. We all have difficulties to get through.

Had a blood test and bone density the other day and going to the doctor tomorrow to get the results so hopefully I get good results. I’ve had two calcium injections since I was diagnosed with osteoporosis so 🤞.

I am struggling with my weight ever since my daughter left at the end of August but I still do my FD’s religiously, it feels strange if I don’t. Weight this morning was 67.8, not a disaster but I would still like to be a few kgs lighter.No FD’s on my trip, it’s all about lightening up and enjoying myself.

Anzac not long now, this year has certainly flown and you must be getting excited although you’ve had a very stressful time with work.

Best wishes to everyone else, it’s certainly strange without Thin’s posts.

Bye for now

Well, we still have power so hope I can get this posted before they turn it off.
Cinque, I’m glad to hear that you’re getting over that lurgy. I think you may need a face mask around the littles when the seasons change and they are more likely to get coughs and flu. It’s nice that you had all that food stored so you didn’t have to shop or prepare meals.

LJ, I’ve had a lot of bad food days too. FD’s are ok, but I can’t seem to stop on NFD’s. I too am wearing my couple pairs of larger small sizes. The last two days I did get in 12,000 steps and 10,000 steps. Walking doesn’t make much of a difference in weight for me though. But I do feel better when I walk.

Intesha, it’s good to see you here again. Sometimes we get into down moods and it’s difficult to get out of them. I know I often lie awake at night with the same old worries playing over and over again in my head, like a broken record. I read about the things to do to get rid of that thinking but it can be difficult to put words into actions. Sometimes I think it has to do with aging.

Klondi, congrats on your weight loss progress. As long as you feel good, your weight isn’t too low. If you decide it is at some point, well, we are all experts at adding a couple of kg’s! I’ll post some pictures of the Halloween decorations soon. They really aren’t too different from year to year. But I did add a handcrafted Moluccan Cockatoo molded from bisque sitting on a glass pumpkin that I bought on eBay from a lady who does all of these one of a kind bird models. It almost makes me sad to look at it because it looks so realistically like my beloved Cockatoo that died about 10 years ago. This one is only about 2/3 of the size though.

Betsy, daylight savings time is always difficult for me when the times change too. Ours changes around the beginning of Nov. I think. I wish they would leave the clock the same all year.

Well, we didn’t lose power yet. I better not press my luck. Have a good day everyone!

Betsy. Hippo Bird day two ewes. Hope this is a memorable event with lots of good wishes. Celebrate this milestone,, so many don’t get the chance. I’ll see you next week.

Hello,
I am still struggling with that dreaded lurgy, but even if it is a bit up and down I am hanging on to the fact that there is an excellent chance that one day I will be over it. Just as well our Klondi/Betsy/Cinque get together is next week as I wouldn’t be well enough to go today.

But I can send cheers and greetings on your special day Betsy!
https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/indiatoday/images/story/201909/birthday-669967_960_720-770×433.jpeg?aIhLkmA1D23zATbM6vRgFpSM2weLulfe

Intesha, I am so glad to see your post, and I hope that your visit to Aukland is surprisingly wonderful.
I am also glad that Klondi wrote what she did about considering asking for support. Well done for keeping on looking after yourself (and your dad) so well. But time to get some proper support maybe.

I know that feeling of wanting to be a few kilos lighter, I’m there too as I was at the hospital for an appt the other week and I was a couple of kilos heavier than I thought I was.

I’m missing Thin too.

Cali, omg all the food in fridges and freezers! Not to mention fans and air conditioning. So glad you fitted a post in. I hope they were overstating the situation so people get relieved when it pops back on now and then, or earlier than expected.

Klondi, you are so right that LJoyce would have designed a much better course!
Aren’t bodies amazing. They do keep changing and adjusting so that will be interesting for you over the next year or so.
Enjoy all the celebrations over the next little while. I wonder if you will notice yourself feeling full after a treat or two, and not wanting more. It does sound like there will be so many interesting things to try.
Those almond biscuits sound wonderful btw!

LJoyce, I hope you had a great night and are feeling excellent after those hilly walks.

Anzac, big cheers to you for those healthy blood tests. MUCH more important than fitting into a certain jacket! I hope you are so proud that you are just walking on air.
Congratulations on the work stuff too. Hooray for slightly less manic (until the manic support starts).

I listened to Dr Mosley giving a lecture in Australia on Radio National Big Ideas. I got it from the Listen app last night, but I am pretty sure it is the program that will be on today 2pm in case anyone wants to catch it. A good overview of where he is up to, especially about inflammation.

All good things, lovely people.

Hey, where is everyone today? Did the internet fail across the Southern Hemisphere or is the Spring weather so delightful that you’re all out playing?

Ah, there you are LJ! No, the winds never materialized here but much of the area was shut down, actually within blocks of here. I don’t know how we escaped but thankful that we did. There were some windy areas west of here and a few fires though not caused by electrical lines. I don’t know what the official number of homes that had electricity turned off, but over 500,000 and many of those saw little wind. Lots of outrage at the electric company and the governor of California today. Social media is going crazy. It’s actually buried a lot of the impeachment news in this state.

Nodding in agreement about NFD’s. I think your plan of b2b2b 800 calorie days might be a good way to break the overeating pattern for me too. Added sugars are a big part of my problem too. It certainly is addictive for me.

How many more of the cortisone allergy tests do you have left? Glad to hear you had no reaction to the one yesterday. At least now you have a few options.

Hi everyone, it’s been a busy few days, but the weekend will be busier, so I’m getting in now despite it being after midnight.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes – big 70 yesterday, but I don’t feel a day over 69.9 ( 🙂 )!

Loved the flowers, CalifDreamer, thank you. What a shemozzle (do you use that word? means horrible mix-up) over the electricity. Glad you kept yours.

LJoyce, glad I’m not the only one being thrown out by daylight savings. My eating has NOT been good this week. I’ve decided this has to stop. I’ve been finding excuses for the past 3 months over the subtle upward creep of the scales, and enough is enough. There are a couple of special meals on tomorrow, a 70th birthday lunch, and a “gala dinner” at church in the evening, and I’m planning on buying some grilled fish on Sunday, but from Monday I’m with you – B2B2B2B2B FDs.
Part of the problem has been tiredness. Church on Sunday, as we have multiple services, usually means me getting up around 9:30 a.m. for an 11:30 a.m. service. But, I’ve been doing research at one final church over the past 2 weeks plus this Sunday, it’s a long way from my place (nearly 60 kms), and I’ve had to be there at 8:30 a.m., which has meant getting up at 6:30 a.m. Cruel and unusual punishment for me! Last weekend, with daylight savings, that essentially meant I was up at 5:30 a.m. Talk about exhausting! And it’s taken me days to recover and adjust to the earlier time. Okay, excuses, excuses again. But with the tiredness has come a decided lack of self control. I’m now 3 kg up from my lowest weight on this WOL, 6 months ago. Let’s keep each other accountable LJoyce, for downward movement again. Plus, I have blood tests coming up in about 3 weeks, and need to have good results, or I can see my doctor trying to insist on Lipitor for me.

Klondikekween, Cinque and I have arranged to meet for coffee (or whatever, probably tea for me) next week. That will be an adventure. I hope you’ll feel well enough by then, Cinque, to enjoy our meeting.

Okay, Anzac65, seems you were messed up a bit by daylight savings also, so Maxx missed his class. Do you have to pay anyway, or only on the days you attend? Good that you’ve had a break from training, even if only for one day.

Good to hear from you, Intesha. Sorry to read that you’re feeling so flat, sounds like you’re a bit depressed at the moment – I echo what others have written – if you haven’t done so, do try to organise a few visits to a health professional, just to have someone to express your feelings to. I understand to some measure what you’re feeling, as when I was 31 my mother died, and I shifted back from a very rewarding position overseas to Melbourne to look after my father. Mostly it was fine, but there was always the need to be there, and I found the lack of freedom of choice very difficult at times. What I found was that it was necessary to establish myself in what I was doing independently of my father, even though I was looking after him. I was very aware that when he passed on, there would be a very big hole in my life unless I had made a life for myself to sustain me. And though I didn’t go to formal counselling, I did talk with people occasionally about how I was managing, which really helped. Whatever, enjoy the break in New Zealand.

Have I missed anyone? Seems strange not having thinatlast on the forum, as others have said, and just at the moment, no neilithicman, as he’s on a week’s holiday. The forum has been quite slow lately. No penguin, either. Guess he’s on holiday in Europe again.

Okay, I’ll stop babbling and close. Don’t have to be up early tomorrow, but 6:30 a.m. again on Sunday. New start on Monday!

A quick note from me as an incoming head cold met my outgoing cough virus and had me in bed all yesterday. Today I am hoping the cough virus is on it’s last legs and the head cold will be a short one.

LJoyce, lots of sympathy. I think you are right to blame lack of sleep as a contributing factor to your overeating. I hope you can work it though nicely now. You too Betsy.

Cali, is that cockatoo a Major Mitchell? Well, I can imagine how frustrated everyone must be, but I am glad the high winds didn’t eventuate.

I am going back to rest again, best wishes all.

Good morning all, from Vietnam.
I’ve been lurking, not posting, for a week or two before I came away, so don’t have a hope of remembering everything that’s gone before, but I’ll give it a shot.
Firstly, Intesha, it was good to see you post again. You sound like you are in a very difficult place, and I hope your break in New Zealand allows a bit of sunshine back into your life. Your friends here are listening, when you are ready to post again.
Oh Cinque, so sorry to hear about your being so unwell. Has your doctor diagnosed your illness? I do hope it’s not one of the nasty flu strains. Rest, good food, lots of fluids. I know you know the drill, and I hope you are soon starting to feel better.
Thin we all miss you, so an occasional post would be received with open arms (if one can open one’s arms on the internet).
LJ good to hear the testing is giving you some hope …. how wonderful it would be, for you to be able to have treatment without the risk of anaphylaxis.
Neil, hope you are having the best of holidays, and enjoying being at the pool at your snazzy new weight.
Cali, tough times with those winds and fire threats. Hope all calms down soon. Our fires too have been horrendous, and a couple of lives lost. So sad, particularly as many are being deliberately lit. I heard from DD this morning we had 23 mm of rain last night, so I hope that is repeated right through the fire danger zone.
Such crazy crazy weather – hottest October day on record in Bris during the week – 41 degrees – followed by such cool weather that DD reported they were in long PJs and Ugg boots, and had gone from salad to roast pork, which is usually a meal they eat during winter.
OK I will finish here, and try to go back and catch up, because I know there are many more posts I want to respond to.

Post, part 2

Gday congratulations on your marriage, and best wishes to you both. Family is a funny beast isn’t it? How they could be cranky with your OH because he’s given up fast food and is healthier defies logic, but emotions aren’t very logical at all. Mean people though, not to be happy for him (and you.)

Minka, I am very interested to read about how you are managing the hunger dragon with HFLC. It’s an approach that works for me (low carb, 16:8, 5:2), and since I eased up on it, my weight is creeping back on. I put on a sleeveless linen dress that I wore last summer and it is too too tight across the bust. So, when I am home, it’s back on the regime for me, and hope I can stay focussed until Christmas, to shed what I’ve put on, and lose 5 kilos more.

Things weren’t too good for me before we came away. I had a recurrence of the flu – if not the full monty, then something pretty close. Work has undergone a restructure …. and I have decided not to play. Well, I’ve taken third trimester off, and will reconsider first trimester next year, but won’t work under the conditions they are proposing. It’s disappointing, to finish like this. Lots of my colleagues are feeling the same, and will also reassess their futures.

Then to cap it off, the cataract surgery I had in July hasn’t really been the unqualified success I’d hoped it would be. My sight up close has been better, but anything in the middle to long distance is quite blurry. My eye doctor kept saying it was the suspension the steroid drops came in, but I finally went back to demand another review, and apparently its something called induced astigmatism, which can happen when the cornea changes shape during surgery. He didn’t tell me that – his assistant did, when I got quite emotional about my worsening sight. He suggested glasses. I pointed out that I didn’t wear glasses before I got my eyes ‘fixed’, so I’d be damned if I would wear them after. So….more surgery is on the cards, but only after the inflammation in the eye is no more. With OH’s sight as it is, I can’t afford to have mine go as well.

So….sorry about so much ‘me’….just explaining where I’ve been, and why I’ve not been posting, and I sort of ran away with myself.

Crazy, congratulations on your new great grandson. Have you had a cuddle yet? Lovely name, too. Luca.

Great idea, getting the bigger jacket Anzac. You will get into the smaller one, maybe even before you go on holidays, but you may need to layer up underneath it, and need that bit of wriggle room. Good to feel comfortable while you are travelling.

OK enough, for the time being. The bed is calling, and it is snooze time, which is the best thing to do in the middle of the day when it’s hot outside. I feel quite indulged on this holiday, despite coming away unwell. A couple of days in Saigon, a couple more in Danang, and now here we are for a week in beautiful Hoi An. My gal pal and I have had manicures, pedicures, massages, facials, etc, and have had some new clothes made, old ones adjusted, new handbag made, and some sandals repaired. While we do that, my mostly patient OH reads and swims and dozes. Just what the doctor ordered!

Enjoy your weekend friends.

Hi again, I’ve had a read through the posts and it sounds like you’ve all been busy. Sorry you’re still not well Cinque, I guess there’s a lot of sicknesses going round at the moment with the change of seasons.

Congrats on reaching your goal Klondike, hopefully I’ll join you in a couple of weeks and we can both complete our challenges (I just booked the accommodation for my cycle trip tonight)

Our trip was great, we stayed at the farmyard camping ground at Geraldine on the way up and back and the boys were in heaven, baby chicks, piglets, lambs, rabbits, guinea pigs to play with, bike tracks, trampolines and more. We stayed at Lake Brunner and did walks to the pancake rocks, coal creek falls, Cobden cave, did a trips to shanty town, the shops at Hokitika, and the highlight was the treetop walk where they have a metal walkway at the top of the trees 20 meters off the ground with a tower that’s 50 meters off the ground. I picked up a Ponamu (jade) pendant and a blown glass sculpture and my boy got to hold a 9 ounce gold nugget that was found on the coast.

Unfortunately it’s back to work on Monday and I’m dreading the pile of work that will be waiting for me. The plus side is that I find it easier to get into a healthy eating/ exercise regimen during work.

Have a great day everyone

Good morning all.
Cinque a lovely post, and thank you for being so kind about what has been happening in my life. I am so glad you are feeling better … some gentle days ahead, to see you absolutely right?

I don’t think my eye specialist was being unkind …rather, cautious. I do trust him, fortunately. His assistant really shouldn’t have told what was wrong….she was responding to my state of emotion…but I am very glad she did. I felt better once I knew what the problem was. I guess specialists are so cautious these days about litigation, that they don’t commit.

Neil, I thought you were at the beach, not the rainforest. Sounds like a good break, even if you didn’t get to show off the new slim you in your cossies (is that what you call togs in NZ?)

LJ thank you for your comments about my situation. I am actually starting to think positively about it. It wasn’t the way i wanted to retire, but sometimes a window shuts and a door opens, so we’ll see what the future brings. I find it disappointing that an organisation can treat its staff with such disregard but hey, that’s the world of work I guess. Always focussed on a dollar. I am very glad my financial situation is such that I don’t just have to suck it up, to use the kids’ expression. And I am going to have my lovely puppy to keep me company when I get home, so that’s a nice thought.

Klondi enjoy that lovely red car ….how lovely it will be, your first drive and all that nice new car smell.

Cali saw on the news this morning that there are more dreadful fires over your way. Are you safe?

Neil, sounds like it was a lovely family holiday with lots of activities to keep 2 active boys (or is that 3) busy. Going back to work is always the hard part.

Cinque, very pleased to hear your health is finally improving. I spent the last few hours in the front garden and almost every neighbour that emerged from their houses was coughing, so it’s been quite a prevalent illness.

Lindsay, cost cutting rather than treating staff well is all too common unfortunately. My retirement happened unexpectedly early. When the opportunity to make it happen arose I had little time to decide. It’s a tough decision, as you never know how easy it will be to find another job if you find you’ve made a mistake. I haven’t regretted it though. My life is just as busy but in a much more balanced way and I’m much healthier and more active. Having a new puppy will be a wonderful way to ease yourself into a possible retirement.

Minka, it sounds like keto is working very well for you.
I’m not sure I’d say I’m doing B2B FD. Although 800cals is regarded as FD these days, for me a FD means being well under 500cals. 800cals feels very different to that as it’s twice the food of a normal FD for me. I am just about to make another of those ultra thick smoothies for a late lunch.

I spent nearly 2 1/2 hours digging up a narrow strip of garden bed out the front. I though that all I’d need to do would be to add the 4 bags of compost to the heavy clay soil and dig it through. Then I discovered a thin layer of concrete about 10cm down across the whole garden bed – I suspect it was the slurry that they hosed off when making the textured concrete driveway. Luckily it was easy to break up with a shovel, but took quite some time to dig out. No walking today, I have no energy left.