Good morning, we had a bit of sun earlier but it is grey now. It is going to get hot later in the week, so I remind myself that I prefer today!

I am still recuperating, but I am up to a good chat and I have scrolled right back to find Intesha reporting in from Aukland. Hi Intesha, how did the rest of your holiday go? Did you see whales?

LJoyce, I do so love your accountability and how it makes it all come together nicely for you.
Your vegan dishes sound wonderful (and best short cuts for traditional sausage rolls).
Baby sitting did tire me out again, but I do have a bit of bounce this morning, hoorah.

Anzac, I felt so much sympathy for you (and your CF friend) with the curries. In cases like that it seems that if there is a way to get it wrong, we do. Better luck next time.
Hello to Maxx with his amazing mix of getting better, and then doing something terrible.
SO glad someone gave the top people a reason to defer work things for a week. Isn’t it terrible when you can’t tell the bosses the truth.

Quacka is work still flat out busy? Is it Spring Carnival or Christmas looming already?
My sister is eating a keto diet, started a week ago, because she has terrible migraines that bring on severe vertigo, and there is research showing keto may help with migraines. I asked her about keto flu and she said “Ah, I think it is like manflu, it is just the typical symptoms you get on any strict diet.” Haha, wasn’t I kind to write this to you rather than Neil 😉 😉 Note, my sister is pretty tough.

Luckily LJoyce has proper sympathy.

For breakfast I made Ezekiel waffles! I just made that up, but they were made with lots of soaked lentils, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seed, oats and about a tbsp of wheat flour. very yummy.

Neil, I hope the spider bite is healing up now. Bursitis is always horrible and hard to heal.
And what a useful chat with your doctor about BMI and your healthy weight. Might be time they did a new survey on BMI!

Lindsay, Lovely to read chat from holiday land. Keep having fun.

Damn, Cali, I’d read my free NY times article for the month and couldn’t read the one on farro, it did sound interesting. I find all the different wheat types pretty similar, so generally just buy common wheat berries, but like you I love the juicy chewy texture and nutty taste.
Good luck keeping that kg off!
Send my good wishes to Crickets. I hope she is feeling in full health soon.

I haven’t felt up to fasting, but (touch wood) I have been eating sensibly and I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to having a fast day again. Life just seems so same same without them!

Hope I have caught up with everyone. Best wishes for a wonderful day today. All good things.

Good evening.

The family have all headed off to their beds with full tummies and lots of leftovers. The dishwasher is finishing the cleaning up for me.
The littlies had turned my lounge, cushions and throw rugs into a fort and I had to put that back to rights as well.

I’m content with my restraint tonight. As planned I avoided the sausage rolls and filled up on veg and kept the dessert portion small. Thankfully I managed to get al of the leftover dessert out of the house so I didn’t need to deal with the temptation this week.

Accountability for today:
– one banana
– 3 pots of tea
– small bowl of pumpkin-lemon soup and 30g buttered ciabatta bread
– 1 dried nectarine
– lamb chop casserole (1 forequarter chop), asparagus, mashed potato, beans, carrots, broccoli-cauliflower gratin
– a very small slice of pineapple-passionfruit meringue pie (without the meringue)
– 3 cubes of watermelon, 2 grapes and 2 strawberries
– I also plan to make a cup of cocoa with almond milk shortly

I managed a 75 minute walk this morning which gets my step count off to a good start this week. As we are getting some hot days I’ll need to be walking earlier in the day that I usually prefer.

Tomorrow I will be going out to a local coffee shop with my neighbours for morning tea and then I’m off to the hospital for another allergy test in the afternoon. I’m hoping busy day will make it an easy FD.

Good morning friends, sunny and 23 in Sydney today

Boo to the rugby Neil. At least the All Blacks won I guess but the Wabblies played awfully. You don’t win games by passing to the opposition. Hope your 2 FD’s go well

I had a pretty good weekend but managed to have a few things I didn’t need such as cheese crackers and a bit too much bread. I am still hovering in the low 83’s so I’m not gaining which is a positive I guess. I went clothes shopping at target and was pleasantly surprised to find the size 16 from the ‘normal’ section fit me. I bought a couple of t-shirts and I put one on to take Maxx for a walk and checked the mirror. I decided to take it back as it was a bit more fitted than I normally like. I said this out loud and OH said it actually looked so much better than the loose clothes I normally wear so I kept it.

LJ, you are such a great cook and I envy your family for being able to sample your efforts. Well done on your restraint, it sounds like your 800 calorie days have made a difference for you. I have everything crossed for your allergy test tomorrow.

I hope you are feeling better today Cinque

It was Maxx’s 2nd birthday on Saturday. We bought him a new ball and he had a very special dinner. I’ll post a photo of him with his ball later today. I can’t believe it has been 22 months since we got him; it feels like 22 days. He was very quiet on Saturday and we were worried he wasn’t feeling well but then yesterday he was back to Maxx, full of beans and mischief. He stole my jumper off the couch and paraded around the backyard with it. Then he nicked a box of tissues out of the grocery box I had just brought up from the car after a trip to Aldi. THEN I stupidly left my thongs beside the pool instead of putting them on the fence so of course one of those became his afternoon snack. Luckily they were my $4 target thongs and not a good pair. He certainly has a shoe fettish; you simply can’t leave them lying around.

Cali, whoo hoo for a 1kg loss on your FD! I hope you manage go keep most of it off.

I should go and start work. Happy Monday all

Cinque, so glad you figured out why you felt so dreadful. More water please!

Here is Maxx with his new ball
Maxx birthday present https://imgur.com/gallery/U1kOofp

And here he is, poor bewildered baby, on the day we brought him home

Maxx gotcha day https://imgur.com/gallery/62ZEF4f

Good morning everyone

It’s Monday FD for me today and I’m doing fine so far. One black coffee and lots of water already. I have beef mince and veggie mixture already cooked for dinner tonight so I will be looking forward to some of that. I have made a huge pot to use up all the veggies floating around in the fridge and also to use up some misshapen carrots from our garden and the spring onions that had to be pulled to make way for our sweet corn seeds. I think there will be plenty for two nights actually.

What a lovely photo of the birthday girls. You all looked very happy so that was lovely to see. Thank you for the photo Cinque 🙂

Work has settled down a bit. It’s just the long weekend and then working only one day that week and summer stock arriving all sort of built up into making me busy the last couple weeks. I expect to be busy again this week but not as bad as recently. Christmas is coming up very quickly for sure.
Neil, I’m not too sure about the exercise strategy but I’m wondering if you could google it. There are lots of cycling sites out there but it may take some time to find the information you are looking for. Also as Cinque says, don’t be too harsh on yourself about your eating. Remember, we are humans and we will do this to ourselves at times. We are lucky we have the tools to bounce back from it and I know you will.

Thanks LJ for the info about keto. I am going to be sticking to a low carb eating pattern from now until Christmas (and hopefully beyond). I have put on a couple of kgs while I had my time off work and so it is now time to fix that situation. I have been a bit more relaxed about weighing too which I don’t think has helped. I’m one of those that daily weighing is better for me. I actually don’t find low carb eating that difficult. All I have to do is stay away from the pasta and the bread and drink my low carb beer and it’s fine. One of my normal beers has 9g carbs in it! Shocking!

Also LJ, loved the look of those vegan foods you made. Yummo!

Anzac, lovely photos of Maxx. Sooo cute! Well done on avoiding the catering. Thank you for your kind words to me 🙂

Thanks for the response and encouragement Quacka and Cinque. I asked the couple that run the gym that I go to about the exercise and their response was to rest on Thursday and Friday to give my muscles enough time to recover before I go for my trip on Saturday. They also recommended eating more carbs on those two days to build up my glycogen reserves so I don’t run out of energy.

I’m not sure I will do that because my body is used to working off a low carb and high protein and fat diet. I tend to feel really lethargic if I have a lot of carbs. I was just planning on taking copious amounts of nuts, 90% cocoa chocolate, biltong and avocados with me for lunches and snacks, and picking up some meat and vegetables at the town I’m going to be staying at for dinner. I’ll definitely take the Thursday and Friday off exercising though, it makes sense to give my body a couple of days to recover so I can go into my ride fresh.

Have a great day everyone.

Good evening.
Today was my first truly restricted FD for over a week. It was a busy day and very easy to get back into the swing of a “normal” FD.

Accountability for 500cal FD:
– 2 pots of tea + 3 cups of tea at various cafes
– a small banana with 1 1/2 tsp peanut butter
– a plum
– a bowl of cauliflower cheese soup
– 4 strawberries
– a cup of chai with almond milk (I’ll have this later tonight)
A rough calculation has me in the 400-450cal range today.

Back to a NFD tomorrow where I try to stay around 100cals. I’m hoping I do a better job wit than than I did on the weekend.

Morning all, I’m feeling better today, I was feeling pretty low yesterday after my weekend binge, but I had a very low fast day (handful of nuts, coffee, half a cup of chilli beans an half a lamb chop) I haven’t worked it out but probably only around 500 calories. I also had a good evening of tennis and a lunchtime gym session. When I was asking about the exercise before my trip, the gym owner was saying she had had other members commenting on my weight loss, so that’s always uplifting to hear. I’ll be fasting again today ready for tomorrow’s weigh-in.

Final dentist appointment for me tomorrow, it’s taken a long time for them to do this root canal but the end is in sight as today he’s putting in the permanent filling.

We’ll have a great day everyone.

Good morning everyone, another ground hog day – sunny and 24. The whole country (or most of it) is about to suffer through a massive heatwave and especially in Adelaide – so LJ/G’day please prepare for it.

Intesha, it is always so lovely to hear from you. Sorry about the whale watching and the weather but glad you had a relaxing time. I’m also sorry to hear you have put on some weight but you know you can get back in the swing and get rid of it asap. I am so ashamed that I have now been on this forum for 12 months and I’ve only lost a handful of kilos. But I persist and with the amazing support and friendship on here I know I will get there. Let’s do this!!

Neil, glad you have moved on from the blitz on the weekend. Don’t you feel better after a great FD?

I overate something serious yesterday, all due to my schedule going to pot. I am a manic scheduler and fall apart when things don’t go right! On top of having to trudge between offices unexpectedly, we had an impromptu lunch for a colleague who is going back to the Business and I overate because I was so hungry. Then I planned to have a small dinner but hubby cooked THE most awesome steak and chips so I ate until I was bursting. GAH! FD today and it will be a good one.

LJ glad you FD yesterday was easy. Maxx has been trying to chew his new ball but we bought a solid rubber one so he can’t. He does chew his tennis balls too but for some reason rarely destroys them. He dropped his new ball on my head last night when I was on the ground doing back stretches. Thanks Maxx!

Betsy – 3.00am! I get up a few hours after you go to bed sometimes! Sorry to hear about the email addresses, I hope you can work something out. I too find if I don’t have enough protein I am more likely to overeat.

How are you feeling today Cinque?

I’ve had two black coffees and a big glass of water. Off to get more water and get stuck into work so I don’t think about food. Have a great day all

Good afternoon all.

Anzac, thanks for the concern about the heatwave. We are getting to high 30s here, but GDSA will probably have to deal with temps in the 40s. I suspect it’s headed your way by the weekend – it’s back to mild weather by Friday here.
I changed my meal plan for the next few days to more appealing foods for hotter weather as I can’t face soup when it’s warm. Today I also started my warm weather plan of walking in the morning rather than the afternoon.
I think dropping a ball on your head was Maxx’s way of saying “want to play mum?”

Betsy, As you’ve already discovered eating enough protein can help with cravings. You asked for advice, but feel free to disregard what doesn’t work for you. I find with both protein and carbs, I do better if I spread things out across the day rather than having a large quantity in one hit. Although I only eat from mid-late morning until early evening, I do better with 2 meals and a snack in between. It’s also important for me to have high fibre carb foods and to limit the starchy or processed ones – they are sure to create incessant cravings. It sounds like your body has given you a hint about the red meat. I find boiled eggs have the same effect for me, so I often keep some ready boiled and peeled in the fridge when I need a snack. (I’ve tried using cheese or almonds as they require no preparation, but they don’t work the way eggs do.) I’m not sure how you would do that with red meat as the idea of cold cooked steak sounds quite unappealing to me. Perhaps make some mince with herbs and garlic into tiny meatballs and keep some cooked in the fridge so you can head off cravings by snacking on a couple of those. (Or freeze them and microwave as needed.) Cinque’s reminder about dehydration is also relevant as if we aren’t drinking plenty of water (especially as it gets warmer) our bodies may crave food as a way of acquiring more moisture. (I notice that on hot days I crave fruits with the highest water content, like watermelon.) Lastly I’d also say that you need enough sleep – I crave carbs whenever I’m sleep deprived and I have no will power to resist when I’m tired. Also, sometimes I get cravings even when I’ve done all the right things – there are just days like that.
Congrats on the CD though, that’s a big success when you’ve been struggling.

Neil, You’ll be glad to have that root canal finished – I only have one and it seemed to many appointments to finish.

Intesha, it was also the threat of needing bigger summer clothing that put a bomb under me to tackle the weight I’d gained over winter. I think we just need to find something that motivates us enough to make a change.
Have you returned to the gym? I always thought that those sessions gave you a needed break away from the house and social support in addition to the exercise.

Cinque, I’ve been trying to channel your advice and drink a glass of water more often throughout the day – I’m getting better most days.

Quacka, I hope your sleep improves soon. I go through periods like that, although I stress less about it since retirement as I know the alarm won’t be ringing at dawn. The only thing I can suggest is that if something specific is waking you then try to change that. I am more careful with the amount of fluid I drink in the 2 hours before bed because I was waking to use the toilet at 2-3am. Although, surprisingly getting up and having a cup of hot milk or almond milk with vanilla added can help me get back to sleep on colder nights – not sure that would work in QLD.

Today I wanted a filling lunch and I had rye sourdough with a range of suitable veg and cheese. I was going to do open grilled sandwiches. I didn’t really want to eat 2 of the thick slices of bread though. It finally dawned on me that the topping is allowed to overflow the bread – that’s never occurred to before. So toasted my slice of sourdough and put in onto a tray lined with silicone baking paper. I piled on enough tomato, capsicum and mushrooms for 2-3 pieces of bread and sprinkled vintage cheddar on top. The only drawback is that I can’t easily deal with this in the airfryer, it had to go under the grill. It was a good solution as it was enough food to be filling without too many calories coming from bread. It occurred to me also, that I could even do this without any bread at all if I wanted to. I’m not sure why this has never occurred to me before.

I’m thinking of doing another FD tomorrow, to take advantage of the hot day. This will also give me a few days before the next FD on Sunday.

Have a good day all.

Hello Sandy, it sounds like you’ve done 5:2 before. I hope getting back into 500cal FDs is an easy transition for you.
I don’t blame you for being sun shy after dealing with skin cancer. I tend to be rather liberal with the sunblock and also wear a long sleeve cotton shirt and hat for walking.

Hi everyone, not so late this evening. I managed to get the correct email addresses of the two that bounced, so waiting now on responses. Of the other two, one is still happy to be interviewed, the other not, so you win some, you lose some. My interviewee for today had to defer to next week due to a sick child. That’s okay, much better than a knock-back. I’ll be sending out text messages to quite a few more tomorrow, see what happens from there.

Good CD again today, so that’s two days of 1258 calories. I’ll try for a FD800 tomorrow. LJoyce, I usually do try to spread protein over two meals. If I don’t eat a midday meal, which happens occasionally, I’ll eat a protein bar which has about 18 gms of protein. I do agree with you quite strongly about getting enough sleep – I may stay up late, but I can usually also stay in bed till late morning, though I’m trying to discipline myself to 11 p.m. to bed, and up at 8 a.m. Happens occasionally, but I want to get into a steady stable pattern. Being a night owl who likes the still silence of the late evening doesn’t help!! I’ve been eating 2 eggs a few times a week, and cheese, etc., so I think it’s the red meat specifically I need to increase, not just protein.

Anzac65, any weight lost and kept off is amazing progress. We’re in a marathon here, not a sprint. So what if you take a few years to reach your goal weight? At least you’ll have way fewer problems with loose skin. 🙂

Hi Sandcastle, good to have you with us. I also avoid the sun, as I’ve had 4 basal cell carcinomas removed over recent years, plus 3 lesions which were progressing towards another kind of skin cancer. I do a lot of “housewalking”, or walking at the local shopping mall. However, I’d probably be better walking outside in the sunshine. I’m sure with a liberal application of sunscreen you’ll be fine back in the great outdoors. Good luck as you slide back into 5:2.

Hope the final phase of the root canal treatment went well, Neilithicman. Never fun.

Intesha, I’m with you in being determined not to start buying bigger clothes, especially since I deliberately disposed of the ones I had as a motivation to not return to that higher weight. With the weight I’ve regained, a couple of pairs of jeans only fit quite tightly now, so are not being worn. I’ll be very glad once I’m able to get back into them. Yep, we’re in the same boat, but that’s okay, we can row together, in a downward direction 🙂 .

Quacka, I agree, and that’s what I’ve figured – there’s something in red meat my body specifically needs. It’s not just iron, as I know I’m not anaemic at all, but something else. Hope your B2B FDs were successful.

Okay, back on track with posting. Sleep well, everyone.

Hi, FD went well, I struggled with a headache most of the day but drank lots of water. 800gms down this morning but that’s okay. I’ve being doing this for 5 years so know the drill.

Yes LJoyce I still go to the gym twice a week for my Pilates and have been staying for a coffee afterwards most weeks with a group of the ladies.

Thank you for the birthday wishes Quacka, it is actually this Sunday. My son has arranged a lunch at a local club.

Feeling a bit stiff and sore the last few days due to time spent tidying up the garden and trying to put some life back into my plants that were neglected during my weeks absence. We are on water restrictions and have to water before 10 or after 4 which makes it hard when trying to fit in other things.

Cinque hope you are feeling better.

As Betsy said we are all in this boat together and if one falls out there is always a willing hand to pull us back in. Thank goodness for this forum.

Have a good day.

Hi Quacka, I wouldn’t push too hard to get into the purple. When I was checking my ketosis levels in the first couple of months of trying to drop weight, I found that I felt the best when I was sitting at about the dark pink level (level 4, I think the purple was level 16) and I was losing over a kilo a week.

I hope you don’t beat yourself up about your mistake too much Anzac, With a really heavy workload it is really easy to make simple mistakes. I hope your boss can see that too 🙁

Hi Neil. I’m definitely not trying to get into full ketosis. I think it’s just a result of B2B FD’s with only protein and some veggies in it. I think I will be happiest with just a nice healthy diet without too much processed white carbs, if any.

Anzac, we are all human. It was a mistake not done on purpose! If they can’t see that, then they can go jump…. Like Neil and Intesha have said, look after yourself. It will be ok x

Not a full post, but a quick reach out to Anzac.

Your reputation will survive one error Anzac. Everyone makes mistakes, and under extreme pressure, it is almost inevitable. One error does not destroy the respect you have built up over years of solid performance and achievement. I have, in my time, managed large, large teams, and I know this to be true.
If anything, people feel your pain and know it could just have easily been them. So, upwards and onwards. It’s done, you are still there, and have a chance to rebuilt. Try to put it behind you, if you can.

I’m just popping in to say welcome Sandcastle!

And Anzac, so sorry the mistake was a monumental one!
But the best reputations are based NOT on the mistake, but what a person does after they have discovered their mistake. Sending good wishes and hoping it isn’t too hard to clean up.

Talk tomorrow. Cheers.

Thanks everyone, what an awesome and supportive community this is.

Yesterday was pretty horrible but I think the fact that I admitted fault without excuses and straight away offered a suggestion for a retest that could be done in the few days available that should mitigate most of the risk went over well.

You think you know people but this has taught me you don’t always. My biggest fear was that the head of one area would gleefully jump on this and demand another delay as I know that his team still have issues and are desperate for more time. This would cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars. However this guy was the first to send a private mail to tell me not to beat myself up and that I’d done an incredible job under intense deadlines! Well. From that moment on I knew it would be ok – not great but ok.

Thanks again everyone, I’ll post again later as I’m approaching my stop on the train

Morning all

Good to see you’re feeling a bit better about things today Anzac.

My dentist appointment finally finished about 5:30pm yesterday and I had not eaten anything since the piece of chicken and avocado that I had for morning tea at 11:00am. It was supposed to be a non fast day but I only managed to get around 1300-1500 calories. The dental student that has been treating me is a real perfectionist. Which is good in that he’s done a good job, but bad in that it’s taken ages. I’ve spent about 15 hours in the chair overall. His tutor said something along the lines of “I’d hate for you to lay the foundations on my house, you’d put in 1,000 piles just to be sure”

I’m moving into my two rest days before my bike trip now. It’s going to be weird not going over for a gym session during my lunch hour. I won’t know what to do with myself.

Well have a great day everyone

Oh no Intesha, I hope those awful stomach pains abate asap. And that it isn’t appendicitis. I’ve had nights like that and you really do end up thinking the worst due to being so tired and in pain. Stay cool today, it sure is going to be a hot one and worse tomorrow and Saturday. They said on the news this morning that it is 12 degrees above average. Ugh. Whoo hoo on the whole kilo loss!

Neil I will try and fan some heat over to you. Dentists – GAH – had my fair share and thankfully the last few years have been incident free. I go for a good clean every 4 months to stay on top of things. I can’t wait to hear how your bike trip goes. Can you imagine Neil-12-months-ago doing it?

Welcome Sandcastle! This forum is just the most wonderful and supportive so please stay with us through your 5:2 journey

Good Morning all

Feeling strange today. I ended up making my B2B2B FD into a MFD, probably around 800 calories. This was thanks to having a couple of beers last night as I was feeling strung out and over tired (I know why babies cry when they get tired now!) Anyway, having the couple of beers improved my sleep at least. I managed to get more sleep last night than I have had in the last three nights, even if it was all broken up. I think I woke up about 15 times lol.
So the beers helped my sleep but not the weight loss even though I was still 300g down this morning. It’s 11am and I’m not even hungry so I wonder if I am still in mild ketosis. We had pork, mushrooms and salad for dinner last night so very low carb so it is possible that even with the carbs from the beer (OH’s beer not my low carb one) that I still am. I’m going to have another MFD today. I’ll have my can of Tuno around 3pm and we are having rump steak and salad for dinner. I will make a pineapple avocado salsa so there will be some carbs in the pineapple…..
Well I just put fresh pineapple into Calorie King and it says that 300g has 25g carbs. I doubt I will eat anywhere near 300g but I was surprised that it wasn’t higher in carbs.

Anzac, glad you are feeling a bit better and that you received support from an unexpected person. Of course, you are going to receive support here!!!

Intesha, I hope you are really improving today and that it’s not appendicitis. I’m sure you know this, but drink lots of water 🙂

Cinque, glad you are having some energy and thanks for your good wishes re my lack of sleep.

Neil, oh dear! 15 hours in the chair and a dental student doing the procedure? You are seriously one tough cookie. And now I’m super scared…..

OK, I best get a bit more work done. Take care all xx

Hi all, checking in early today. Didn’t manage a FD800 yesterday, but kept it at 1288 cals. Surprising as it may seem, my 3 days of restricted but not low cal eating have dropped my weight by 1.7 kg already, so only another 0.5 kg to go, to get rid of the “birthday week indulgences” weight.

Hot outside, but still coolish (around 22 degrees) in my unit. Keeping everything closed up. Tomorrow is supposed to have a maximum of about 24 degrees, around 9 a.m., then the cool change will drop the temperature for the rest of the day. Hoping for some reasonable showers then, too.

Anzac65, I can only echo others’ remarks. You made a mistake, owned up to it and are rectifying it. That brings more respect than trying to avoid taking responsibility, so what you have to do now is to choose to forgive yourself!

Intesha, great the holiday weight is shifting for you, too. Keep on keeping on!

LJoyce, you are such a wise owl to us here on this forum, thank you. I decided to water after the heat, i.e., this evening, rather than beforehand, as I watered a couple of days ago. That will be in case the promised showers miss my suburb.

Cinque, good that you felt well enough to henna your hair, so you’re finally on the mend from your infection. With my gray hair, I’ve just decided to accept it. Too much hassle to be forever touching up. It’s not too bad, except for a white streak at the front.

Quakka, sounds like you’re doing okay with the eating, but not so well with the sleeping. How frustrating. Hope that turns around soon.

Neilithicman, glad the root canal treatment is over and done with. Good luck with the preparation for your bike trip. You’ve been doing amazingly well, and great that the indulgences of the weekend were counteracted with your 2 days of fasting.

Okay, have to go do some things – heat, here I come (but the AC in the car is really good!).

Morning all.

Anzac – it’s funny but 12-months-ago Neil didn’t actually think he was in too bad a shape. It’s not until I look back at photos of myself back then and feel how much fitter I am now that I realise how bad I really was back then. I guess when you’re overweight you delude yourself to make yourself feel better.

Cinque – your “almost fast day” has fewer calories than I eat on my regular fast days. I’ve been averaging around 800-900 calories on my fast days

Quacka, I’m starting to get better sleep at the moment. I’ve been having a cup of chamomile tea and a couple of magnesium/tart cherry capsules about an hour before I go to bed and that really seems to be helping (Although like you I do also sleep better after a couple of drinks too 😉 )

LJoyce – 37 degrees!! I couldn’t handle that. Hopefully we’ll get something that’s halfway in between what you’re getting and what we’re getting. Yesterday it was raining really heavily, howling wind and freezing cold. Today is more settled but still freezing. Only 9 degrees at the moment and supposed to drop to 5 degrees this afternoon.

Betsy – good to see someone else dropping those pounds we put on from our indulgent eating 😉

Well my bike is ready to go after its servicing, my accommodation is all booked and I’ll be doing my shopping and packing my bag tonight, all ready for my trip tomorrow. It was really weird yesterday, I ate what I normally eat on a fast day (800-900 calories) but I felt really full. I guess my body is compensating for not burning 600-700 calories at the gym and is demanding less fuel. It’s going to be crying out for more after a few hours on the bike though.

Have a great day everyone

Good morning

Babysitting was cut abruptly short last night by a bout of gastro. I had some abdominal pain starting just as a left to drive down to their place and within 10 minutes of arriving I felt nauseous too. So my niece came and collected the kids and kept them at her place overnight so I could go home again.
Thankfully I think the bug is gone now, but I feel washed out and tired today.

I’ll post again later.