Hello Southern Hemispherites!!

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  • 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 πŸ˜‰ πŸ˜‰ 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 afternoon all.

    A quick post before another afternoon of food prep.

    Cali, thanks for the farro article. I particularly like the idea of using farro instead of arborio to make risotto. I had been using pearl barley for this.
    This is the final vegan sausage rolls, and the morrocan chickpea patties: https://imgur.com/a/e9gp3AM Both still need to be browned but are par-cooked for speedy cooking tonight. The vegan mince I bought was the soy protein one. To make it into a sausage roll filling, I added finely chopped onion, celery and garlic that I cooked in oil until very soft, lots of dried herbs, plus some more fresh garlic, grated carrot, grated zucchini and 1/2 tsp “beef” stock powder (plant based). I have tried one and the flavour and texture are nice, but a little sweeter than a meat filling, probably because of the natural sugars in veg. The texture is very similar to a bakery sausage roll which usually contain a lot of bread crumbs and some sausage meat so has less density that something with a higher meat content.
    The patties contain chickpeas (partly mashed), corn, capsicum, onion, celery, carrot, zucchini, garlic, morrocan spice blend, cumin, oregano, runny peanut butter (as a binder) and 2 tsp chicken stock powder (plant based). They are coated in dry cornmeal – this gives a lovely crunchy surface when they are pan fried. So far I’ve just dried them out in the oven for 20 minutes as they hold their better then. Tonight I’ll spray them with oil and put them in the airfryer to get brown.

    Cinque, you mentioned you couldn’t open that article on farro, so I’ve copied the text into an email and sent it to you.
    Glad you survived the babysitting with a little energy left.
    That breakfast sounds nice. I’ve never actually made waffles.

    Neil, congratulations on the rugby win – I don’t think it was in doubt. You did better that the Aussies did. Good luck against the Brits.
    I imagine there’s be both celebrations and disappointment in the Anzac household today as her hubby is a New Zealander.

    Unfortunately I need to amend my accountability for yesterday. I was cooking yesterday evening and I ended up sampling one each of the little meat and vegan sausage rolls. (they wouldn’t fit on the cooling rack, so I ate them! A poor excuse I know.) I also ate the leftover sweet shortcrust pastry (about one tablespoon). Not a lot in quantity, but all very high fat items and not suitable for a 1000 calorie day. As today’s dinner will make it tricky to stick to my 1000cal target I’m off to a poor start with my new calorie target. I am tryng to save most of my calories for tonight so that I don’t need to be too careful. I’m also happy to not have any more sausage rolls – I’m usually too busy in the kitchen while the family are scoffing them anyway.
    I will be doing a proper FD tomorrow.

    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.

    Morning all,

    Bit of a binge in the weekend. It seems to be that now I’m so close to my goal weight I’m starting to sabotage myself. I was fine with my meals, I had chicken and salad for lunch both days, chili beans and salad for dinner last night and curried chicken livers for dinner on Saturday night. It was the snacks that were getting to me. I got a loaf of Vogels sprouted grain bread and promptly ate half the loaf over the weekend, as well as a big bowl of buttered, salted popcorn, some hazelnut chocolate, some rice pudding and a couple of rums.

    It’s way more starch and sugar than I normally eat and more like I used to eat before I started trying to drop weight, the only saving graces are that the sprouted grains bread is wholegrain, has more protein and fewer carbs than regular bread and I did a lot of exercise with my gardening on Saturday.

    I didn’t do much on Sunday. I was up until 2:15am on Sunday morning watching the rugby so I was really tired most of the day. I took the kids out to the playground out by the beach with their bikes so they spent a few hours hooning around on their bikes and jumping off various pieces of playground equipment. My wife went for a walk along the beach with her friend while I was making sure my boy didn’t break his other arm, and she had the pleasure of watching a pod of dolphins playing in the waves along with the surfers who were braving the chilly water temperature.

    Well I have 2 fast days now to try to make up for the weekends excesses before my Wednesday weigh-in. Really annoyed with myself that I’m fighting to get back to where I was at the beginning of October rather than actually dropping weight to reach my goal Especially since I was so close at the beginning of the month.

    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

    Good morning,

    Neil do be kind to yourself. Even if you have a bad week you won’t go back to where you used to be. Try and notice what you are feeling and thinking and doing as you might get some insight to help. Maybe give yourself another indulgent day and then get back into your losing weight routine.
    We are so full of hormones and gut microbes and psychology and everything else that we can’t keep up.
    I’d say the main thing to notice is how the downhill cycle gets up speed: eat badly, exhausted, eat junk, miserable, snack, sleep badly etc etc… Just start slowing it down and before you know it you will be turning it around.

    I’ve realised for the six thousandth time that I have let myself get dehydrated over the last week and that is why I have been too exhausted even to stand straight. How wonderful that free lovely water fixes me up. I was getting really frightened about my health so I am a happy girl this morning.

    Cali and LJoyce, both of you darlings who sent me the article. Ha, fancy it being so old. It made me realise why I get confused about farro. It started as a bit like English’s ‘corn’ meaning a grain, in Italy, and in the same way corn is what we now call maize, farro is what we now call emmer wheat.
    Very nice that it is quicker to cook than other wheats.

    Well I am off to drink more water and then to babysit granddaughter 2 while granddaughter 1 has her first visit to the dentist.

    Best wishes 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

    Oh and a quick question, I’m wondering what my best idea is for my exercise this week. I don’t want to go into my Saturday trip too cold, but I don’t want to be too tired either. I’m thinking of working out normally on Monday-Thursday and then skipping my Friday workout before my Saturday trip. Does anyone know what the best strategy is for a long trip? Is one day off ok, or should I skip a couple of workouts before the trip.

    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 πŸ™‚

    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 πŸ™‚

    Sorry everyone, I just had to quickly press submit as I had a rep just come in to see me and I didn’t want to lose what I had written.

    All I wanted to add was a big hi to everyone I haven’t mentioned personally and I hope we all have a lovely day x

    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.

    Cali, that’s an excellent weight loss.

    Neil, sabotage moments are something I think we’ve all experienced. Cinque’s advice is sound – try to treat it as a learning experience so that you recognise the triggers earlier as time goes on.

    Anzac, he really was a very cute puppy.
    Does he play with the ball or eat it?
    Commiserations on the rugby – I suspect your hubby is happy though.
    Hope this last week before your new system goes live isn’t too horrific for you.

    Cinque, thanks for the reminder about dehydration. I’ve noticed lately that my lips keep getting dry – a sure sign of dehydration.

    Quacka, good luck with the new eating regime. I find I do get into the flow of it after a few days and it feels more natural – especially on days when I’m preparing my own food and not negotiating cafe menus.

    The weather is getting up to the mid-30s here this week. While I’m not a fan of those temperatures, my veggie garden really does need some warm weather. It’s growing much more slowly than last year.

    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.

    Quick check in, so you know I’m still around. Have read everyone’s posts for the past week, but it’s really too late here to respond. Good to hear from thin, though, and thanks for posting the photo, Cinque. We had a lovely meet up, and will have to do it again for your birthday.

    Haven’t been doing well with the eating this past several days, absolutely craving carbs, but nothing was satisfying the craving. Finally remembered something from the past – when I don’t have enough protein, particularly red meat, my body starts craving carbohydrates. So, I ate some red meat late Sunday, and instant stop to the craving. Even managed a good 1300 calorie CD today. I had thought I’d been eating enough protein, but I guess not. Not sure what to do with this. I’ve been eating plenty of eggs and cheese, plus chicken sometimes and fish about once a week, but if this is going to happen, it’s obviously not enough. Plus protein bars with about 18 gms of soy protein about 4 days a week. Any advice from the “old-timers” here?

    More anon. If I hurry, I’ll actually be in bed by 3 a.m. One interview scheduled tomorrow, so that’s good. Two of the 4 emails asking folk who’d volunteered to be interviewed when they did the survey if they were still available bounced back to me – they’d scrawled their email addresses, so they were hard to read. I tried a couple of variations, but no luck.

    Okay, goodnight all.

    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 all. Back from my trip and although the weather wasn’t good and the whale watching trip never eventuated I did have a relaxing trip.

    Now back into it and don’t feel like I’ve been away. Feeling very tired and so angry for falling back into my old ways of overeating and now have to try and get myself back into the right mind set. In a way it’s been good to read that a few of you are also struggling after being so religious in doing the FDs and shedding weight at least I’m not alone. I think the body does try to sabotage us.

    It is a struggle but I guess we have to find what works for us. I am back in the 70’s and too ashamed to say how much but after tasting very briefly the middle 60’s I need to start the process again. I don’t like this extra weight and there is no way I am going to start buying bigger clothes.

    I guess it could also be an age thing. I turn 69 this week and feel every bit of those years at the moment.

    Even though I don’t post often and I don’t acknowledge other posts I value all your input and honesty on your personal struggles. It gives me strength to know we are all in this together.

    Hope you all have a good day, fasting or not

    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 Morning everyone

    Happy belated birthday, Intesha. It’s good to hear from you and yes we are all in this together. I think everyone can attest there are times when we fail at this WOE. The most important thing is to get back on the horse and keep going, and luckily we have the tools to do this and they are proven to ourselves and everyone else here.

    Betsy and Anzac, see above. You can do this, you have proven it before, time and time again. Betsy, my advice would be to incorporate more red meat into your diet. It’s obviously got something else in it that your body needs, that the other proteins don’t have (or don’t have enough of).

    Neil, glad to hear you will be at the end of that root canal treatment. It scares the hell out of me that I may need one in the future, but for now my tooth has settled down. Yay. Nice that you had a good FD yesterday too.

    My FD was great yesterday so I am doing another B2B today. I am in the right frame of mind for this and I want to lose that last pesky kg or so that seems to be hanging around.
    I had very little sleep last night again. I sleep for the first couple of hours then am awake for the next 3,4,5,6 hours then go back to sleep about half hour before the alarm goes off, which is just after 5am. Oh well, there are worse off people in this world. Stop whining!

    LJ, really good to hear you are back into the swing of FDs. I never doubted you would do it.

    One thing I just remembered Neil. Maybe you could take some wholegrain carbs with you on your ride. Not white starchy stuff but something that has more of a slower release. You may find that with the extended exercise, your body will require a bit more carbs than when you are just exercising for a couple of hours at a time. She writes “just a couple of hours at a time”. That is awesome by the way. I am still trying to get back into exercise but at the moment I am failing miserably. I WILL get there.

    OK, hope you all have a lovely day. I hope it’s a nice easy FD for us fasters.
    Look after yourselves everyone. Remember, you are worth it xx

    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.

    I aim to get back into the sea baths and do what we affectionately call ‘Mueslis” which are a mad shimmy in the water for a minute’s count. (Tribute to Michael’s fast exercise idea). It being togs weather now in Oz, spring is sprigging. Temperatures are upping.

    So I’m re-starting 500 cals days to find my body again, hallo you!…I do feel more confident to embrace fasting and a lither body today. Must be the weather! Time to enjoy the delish food which is enough to keep mitochondria happy, but not so much food as to keep feeding my bulges.

    I had a big basal cancer excised last summer so was a bit sun-shy, and therefore less active in the outdoors and sea, but the scar has settled down now and the sunscreen can go on.

    Tonight I’ll drink water and a cup of tea with my friends and skip the pub dinner and vinos…ciaou for now, Sandy

    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.

    Good evening

    My accountability for today’s goal of a NFD of approx 1000cals:
    – 3 pots of tea
    – a banana & 2 tsp peanut butter
    – one piece of rye sourdough topped with tomato, capsicum, mushrooms and cheddar cheese and grilled
    – a plum and a small piece of watermelon
    – lamb chop casserole with beans, carrots and potatoes

    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. πŸ™‚

    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 πŸ™‚ .

    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.

    Morning all. The two fast days and exercise managed to offset the binge in the weekend. I weighed in at 90.7 kilos. So I was down 700 grams from last week and 200 grams from my lowest weight from 1st October.

    Today is my 9 month anniversary of this way of life and when I weighed in at 90.9 kilos at the beginning of the month I was really hoping to be at goal weight by now, but hopefully my bike trip will see me drop the last 800 grams by my birthday on Tuesday. I guess the fact that my body is fighting to keep its fat this month rather than having it melting off like the first 8 months is s sign that I’m getting close to where I’m supposed to be.

    Welcome sandcastle I’m always careful with my sun exposure because I’m very fair skinned, I’ve got the classic Celtic freckles from my Scottish heritage, not a good thing for the lack of ozone we have in this country.

    Can those of you in Aussie having a heatwave please send some our way? We’re still struggling to get into double digits over here, although it’s forecast to be early 20s for the first day of my bike trip on Saturday. I just want it to be warm so I can get out and do things.

    Have a great day 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.

    Good Morning

    I’ve been for a lovely nice long walk this morning as I felt very energetic this morning. I have only had about two hours sleep again last night so I have no idea why I feel like this. I checked for ketosis this morning and I am in the dark pink section so only two more to go until purple…..not that I have been trying to get into ketosis this week. I’ve heard when you are in ketosis you can feel more energetic and less hungry so maybe that’s it. Or maybe I’m going to fall into a big heap in about two hours lol

    My B2B FD’s went very well and I am going to do another one today. I am so close to pre holiday weight so I think today’s one will get me there. Well, that’s if I don’t get sabotaged here at work. My friend and I went to the supermarket at lunch time yesterday and she bought some new flavour of chips that are out now – fetta, avocado and lime. I told her I will have to wait until tomorrow (now today) to try them and she said she would wait too. Sooooo first thing she says to me is “yay, we can try those chips today, Oh and I felt like jalapeno dip this morning but the shop didn’t have any so I bought corn relish dip and bikkies instead”. GREAT! Nothing like temptations. My strategy for this is to first read the ingredients of those chips and then try one if I still feel like it. Knowing me, I would prefer to eat the real avocado, fetta and lime rather than fake chemical flavours. Hmmmm.

    Hi Sandy and welcome back to this WOE. Also welcome to this forum πŸ™‚

    Well I hope everyone has a lovely day. I’m off to drink some water and start my work day. Take care all xx

    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.

    Hi Everyone

    I had a dreadful day yesterday. I made a mistake at work that is so monumental I was pretty sure I would lose my job. I’ve seen people here lose them for much less. Today it seems I will keep my job but my reputation – built up after so many years working here on and off – is now shot to pieces. They say it takes years to build respect and then one random act can crush it. It’s so true.

    I didn’t sleep and am so tired and down but I am busily trying to rectify the mistake. So far have not sabotaged myself but to be honest I feel so sick in the stomach, anything more than fruit or plain toast can’t be stomached.

    Thanks for listening, I’ll report back when things are brighter. Have a nice day

    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 πŸ™

    Anzac we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t make mistakes and hopefully learn from them. You have been under so much pressure from work and yourself don’t let it get to you.

    Take care of you.

    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

    Well I just tried two of the chips……Nasty! They are a thick chip covered in various powders and sort of like a cross between a Dorito and I don’t know what. Yuk
    It will be easy to stay away from them πŸ˜‰

    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.

    Anzac, I agree with all the other comments. It’s a horrible feeling knowing you’ve made a major blunder in a profession where you value the reputation you’ve earned. But I have found, the hard way, that admitting the mistake and working hard to fix it will also earn you respect. Try to let go of what’s happened and focus on what you can do now – I know that can be tough to do.

    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.

    Anzac, We will all tell you not to beat yourself up over this, but you will. All of us who have worked in an environment that stretches us have blown it occasionally. Because we care, we judge ourselves more harshly than our colleagues. I am one of the oldest around here and I still cringe about things I got wrong in the 1960s, but everyone else has long since forgotten them. Get back there, work at your usual standard and your colleagues will forget this faster than you will.

    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

    Good morning, well I think summer is coming early. 32 degrees today. I have been nursing my plants and they seem to be responding but if we don’t have rain soon I feel guilty about trying to keep them alive except for the few veggies I have growing.

    Had a really bad night. Sat up in bed most of it with really bad stomach pains. I started to think it might be my appendix. Feels slightly better this morning but I am going to take it easy, no gym today. Have a dentist appointment this afternoon, cracked a back tooth while I was away, not nice.

    FD today and have started down 1kg less than yesterday’s weigh in so not a bad start.

    Anzac hope you are doing okay.

    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

    Posts crossed Anzac. Happy you are feeling better and yes people do surprise you.

    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,

    A hot day for Melbourne, but I’m glad not to be in SA! Keep cool Gday and LJoyce, so glad the cool change is coming. Hooray for planning in advance LJoyce, and yes re water. It seems every weather change catches me out, as well as socialising.

    A beautiful morning with blue sky here. I’m having an ‘almost’ fast day. Will aim to eat around 800 calories. Also feel well enough to henna my hair which is a big relief.

    Neil, happy (belated) 9 month anniversary! It sounds like you sorted out your bike prep nicely, but I just can’t imagine you having two rest days haha.
    Omg all those hours at the dentist! Sooo exhausting. You must have been going spare! So glad it is done now, and done well, at least. And your daily temperatures are picking up!

    Betsy, good luck finding some nice easy red meat meals. I was glad to see your post, but we still seem to have lost Klondi! I do hope you are okay Klondi.
    I would love another get together, my birthday next June πŸ™‚
    Such a good observation you made, that we are in a marathon, not a sprint.

    Intesha, Welcome home. Great work with the gardening, Fingers crossed you can keep all your plants alive. It is going to be a hard summer.
    And so nice to be a kilo down already.
    Oh dear a cracked tooth. It will be good to have that treated.
    Those tummy pains sound scary, may they go away completely. If you need to visit your doctor I hope you can also mention just how tired and angry and stuck you are feeling at the moment. Tell the doctor your friends are worried for you.

    Anzac, I am so glad that you are feeling so much better today and have worked out the best strategy to get work back on track. And hooray for that supportive message from someone you were wary of. Hoping everything goes particularly well today.

    Quacka, your insomnia is shocking at the moment. Sending so many good wishes that you can start to turn it around. And yet there you are feeling energised and sounding wonderfully clear! Can I have some of that please?
    PS Those chips sound disgusting.

    LJoyce, that open rye sandwich sounds wonderful. I am similar, working out ways to have carbs as a smaller proportion and thinking “Well why didn’t I do that before?’ Haha.

    Sandcastle, how are you going?

    Hi Lindsay, Penguin and all the lurkers.

    Off to cover my head with henna!

    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 πŸ™‚

    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

    Good morning everyone.

    Intesha, I too spent quite some time watering last night. Today is heading for 37C, so I needed the garden beds damp in preparation for that.
    If the abdominal pains don’t go away quickly, please get yourself to a doctor.

    Anzac, I’m relieved that you have already received support from colleagues. And Penguin is right, you never forget the big mistakes, but others will.

    Cinque, I should have dyed my hair this morning too, but I’ve put it off until tomorrow. It’s been overdue for at least 2 weeks and I have a white stripe along my part (I started going grey at 17, so have been colouring my hair for decades.)

    Neil, I’m very pleased that your root canal is finally finished – I know it took a long time, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing that it was done by a perfectionist. Hopefully it meant it will be trouble free from now on.

    Quacka, Glad that the changed eating pattern is managing you appetite so well. I don’t test for ketones, but I know that my current eating (except for Sunday dinner) will have me in mild ketosis and my appetite is also quite restrained.
    I hope you find a more permanent solution to your poor sleep soon.

    I didn’t post my food yesterday, so here is my accountability for yesterday (FD):
    – 3 pots of tea
    – small piece of watermelon and one plum
    – a small cube of red leicester cheese (2 grams)
    – a tofu, capsicum, mushroom stirfry with garlic, chilli, ginger and tamari

    I’m babysitting until late this evening (which is shy I fasted yesterday). Today I hope to stay around 1000cals. My plan is:
    – 2-3 pots of tea
    – a banana with 2 tsp peanut butter
    – a very large smoothie (kefir, almond milk, psyllium, inulin, frozen raspberries, ice and water)
    – one small kofta with beans, carrots, asparagus and a spoonful of cauli-broccoli gratin

    Have a good day all. Stay cool in those hot cities.

    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!).

    Just a quick accountability check-in – calories eaten today: 1261, so 4 days in a row significantly under my current TDEE. Definitely finding it helpful to write down my calorie intake. There it is, staring me in the face, so I find it much harder to justify the extra snack or two.

    Hope everyone has had a good day!

    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 πŸ˜‰ )

    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 πŸ˜‰

    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 everyone,
    the cool change has hit here.

    Cheers for you bike trip Neil. Brrr re your weather. I think my TDEE could be less than half yours! Especially at the moment.

    Quacka, hooray for a better sleep! And for 300g down. And you are doing so well with your food intake.

    LJoyce, I bet you are enjoying the cool. The change has come here too. Waiting to see if there is enough rain in it to water my plants. I hope babysitting was lovely.

    Betsy nice work with your sensible, accountable eating days. You will soon be back to base weight, and then hopefully head off the plateau.

    Yesterday turned into a light eating, but not fast day, for me. I will try again on Sunday, I think I will be ready for it then. I did manage to henna my hair ok yesterday (washing it all out is exhausting).

    I never dyed my hair when younger, but when I put on 30 kg and my face got fat and my hair looked thin and I started greying which made me look even paler and less interesting, I decided to henna. I tell myself I will stop when my hair is white, but that might be ten or twenty years, so I will see how I go. Today I am glad to have it a richer red and no half inch of white/grey roots!

    Today I want to make nettle soup, spanikopita to stack in the freezer, and organise getting my nbn connected. A big day!

    No snack Friday!

    Sending best wishes for your day too!

    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.

    Good evening all.

    Accountability for today:
    – 3 pots of tea
    – small banana and 1 tblsp peanut butter
    – 2 slices rye sourdough and 2 boiled eggs
    – 2 crackers with cream cheese
    – 2 dried nectarines & 6 almonds
    – one small kofta with beans, carrots, asparagus and a spoonful of cauli-broccoli gratin (this was meant to be last night’s dinner, but I didn’t eat it)

    Today was meant to be 1000cals, but my guess is that today is closer to 1200cals.

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