Neil (and CrazyA), the painting is wonderful. If it’s going in the lounge room, make sure it’s a few meters from the log burner so that the radiant heat doesn’t get to it – I believe the exposure to heat causes damage over time.
You are right about changing things up. A few years ago when I did many months on 800cals, I was always surprised when an odd day at a higher calorie level was enough to break a plateau. It’s counter intuitive, but somehow mixing things up seems to jolt our bodies out of their rut.

I started the day as I hope to go on. Throughout the day I had several small nectarines, a banana, a hard boiled egg and several pots of tea. Dinner was roasted lamb with carrot, parsnip, potato, onion, cauliflower and broccoli.
I had dinner at about 6pm and I think an early dinner is important when I’m on this type of regime. It’s important that I don’t allow my hunger to build too much before having my only proper meal for the day, otherwise I either start snacking or I eat too much for dinner.
I don’t plan on reporting my food on a daily basis. However, I will make a promise to you and myself that if I have a day where I am unhappy with what I ate I will be posting it so it’s there in black and white to encourage me not to do it again.

Stop it Neil! You are going to catch up to me any day now LOL

What a stinker of a day yesterday. Mid 30’s, humid and smoky. Then we had the most incredible storm at lunch time – everyone was standing at the office windows watching in awe as a mini hurricane picked up things off the ground and threw them around in the air. It knocked out our internet provider so have not had internet or TV since 1.30pm yesterday. We planned to sit side by side last night on our computers and do heaps of trip stuff. Gah!

Neil and Crazy, what a beautiful painting. You have an incredible talent CrazyA!

LJ, I find accountability really keeps me on track so that’s a good plan. How are you feeling today? I hope those AB’s have knocked that wicked lung infection on the head

Thin! How lovely to hear from you and hear that you are happy and well over there. Clothing is difficult as I’m told when you walk into a museum or restaurant it is very warm so you need to be able to shed the warmth without having to peel off a million layers. I just hope the new coat is warm enough with just a thin jumper or long sleeve shirt underneath. I have thermal tops too and tights that can wear under trousers so I will be ok

Quacka, those green tiles are gorgeous

Short post as work calls. Take care

Good morning from beautiful Melbourne,
Any Sydney posters still have power? Goodness you have been through the mill up there.

I am feeling so much better but run out of oomph so easily. I think I am quite run down so I am giving myself a couple of weeks before easing back into my activities (which I miss dreadfully, especially the people).

But I managed to remember a few things I had meant to comment on.
Coconut wraps: I bet they would be great with Asian salad in them. I make a few flatbread/pancake type things that are so deliciously sweet and toasty if I add coconut to them.
Green tiles: they are just what I imagined when you talked about them. I adore that colour with its shades that almost go to black. I hope you find them.
Lindsay, how I loved to hear of the beautiful furniture made from your own tree. What a special treasure to have it and use it everyday.
Did the bees quieten down?

Poor Lewis the koala was too badly hurt and died. Thinking of all the other bush animals struggling to make it through.

Neil, that picture is going to be such a treat to look at on the wall. I want to go there! Nice work with your new regime, the scales applaud you.

Thin, so good to hear from you, and congratulations on not falling in yet! Life, fit and slender, is suiting you. What a treat that wine each week must be.

LJoyce, so much happening in those appointments, and all good. Infection being seen off and some better choices for managing those other health issues that you have to balance so neatly. Good luck with the B2B2B I hope it just swings along.

Anzac just saw your post, you have power at work at least! Yes you have to get into the Melbourne mentality of wearing layers, perfect for coping with temperature changes. Each layer light and beautiful! That way you can stuff a layer or two into your bag when you are in a heated building. Advice from a Melbourne native ;).

I’ve not been fasting the last week or so, but I think I have lost weight anyway, with illness but also with being more mindful, especially about when I have eaten enough. Hoping it continues, but also looking forward to getting back into 5:2.

Cheers all.

Just a quick post as I must go walking before it gets warmer.

Quacka, remember what I said about using a feature floor tile on a wall. You could do that with the green tiles as long as it’s not a shower wall.
Hope you have some wonderful plans for your birthday.

Cinque, Take care and go as slowly as you need to. We understand if you are a little more absent than usual.

Anzac, & Intesha (and anyone else who is in Sydney that I’ve missed), hope that storm has not caused too much damage. Hope power is back soon. The ABC news said there will be significant delays in the northern suburbs.

Neil, as usual you have excelled in your weight loss. You’ll be at that goal in no time.

Take care everyone.

Quacka, Happy Birthday! https://i.pinimg.com/736x/2a/1a/8c/2a1a8c3e3ad107d2b3326efab6e36d17.jpg
It’s too bad about that emerald green tile. I hope you find another one that you like just as much. Saturday when we went to the stone and tile store I saw a black and white patterned tile that looked just like that one you liked. They must be popular here too because they had them in a couple different colors.

Neil and Crazy, that painting is stunning! How nice to have artwork that is done by a friend hanging in your home. And congrats again on another new weight loss record.

Anzac, I just watched some footage of that big storm in the Sydney area. It certainly does look like a hurricane. At least all of that rain should have been good for putting the fires out. I hope the rain lasted long enough to do some good. But I hope you got your electricity back, especially because you probably have a lot of last minute things to do before your trip. Only a few more days!

We have a big storm going here now with cold temperatures, around 5C tonight. They’re expecting snow in the mountains, about 45 minutes up the hill from here. Thursday is our Thanksgiving holiday and this storm is predicted to continue through then. It will be a mess for travelers with all the rain and winds.

LJ, I’m glad your doctor prescribed some stronger antibiotics for what remains of your
lung infection and glad you’re feeling some results already. Those clothes you found at the op shops are beautiful! It’s great when you find several things in one shopping trip. It’s been several weeks since I went with all the busyness around here. DS’s tile and new shower doors are installed now and the grout is all sealed. We still have to find granite or quartz for the countertops but that will probably happen after the 1st of the year. Next Wednesday or Thursday they’re supposed to start on ours. The shower and tub along with the tile should be finished in a couple of weeks. Not looking forward to all the dust and disruption, but it will be so nice when it’s finished.

Cinque, I read too that Lewis, the koala was too badly burned and had to be euthanized. That is so sad. I know many other animals were lost in the fires, but this is the one we saw and heard. It is heartbreaking.
I’m glad you’re feeling better. It’s nice to hear that you have some nice sunny days again.

Thin, good to hear that you’re enjoying your canal boating in the UK. You didn’t get much of a summer this year, going from early spring to winter in the Northern hemisphere. I hope it doesn’t get too cold.

Well, time to get some sleep. Lots of preparation for Thanksgiving on Thursday. We’ll be having 7 family and friends here and have a 10kg turkey in the frig to cook. It’s always been one of my favorite holidays.

Good morning,
Well Quacka, I think it is your birthday today! And the magic 42! A special number for the universe. This is almost a bunch of flowers, but even more gorgeous, I thought. https://scontent.fmel5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/77328859_10157777836483926_7449708413719674880_n.png?_nc_cat=1&_nc_ohc=4wYQZMPydpgAQng8lXRBLgyO0a61y8YWSPkzdDdNgxovTuBuRYHA2shiQ&_nc_ht=scontent.fmel5-1.fna&oh=0398f0cbfbfcc1c8e4ac8276814ea261&oe=5E4CAFED
Happy Birthday!

LJoyce, lovely clothing, the fabrics looks beautiful and perfect for hot weather, and I love the blues.
Haha, I am just like you, going all ‘fitted’ when I lost enough weight. I thought I would NEVER WEAR ANYTHING FLOATY EVER AGAIN! But I am now less rigid and finding what suits me in the weather.
I have also taken two big bags of clothes to the opshop, such a relief, I had WAY too much stuff. I am getting so critical now about what I keep, it is lovely.

Ooh the curries sound good!

Cali, Hi! Make sure you peep at the picture I put up for Quacka, you will love it too! Good to hear of your lovely Thanksgiving preparations. What a gathering it will be.

Intesha, into the 67’s! Woot!
So lovely to hear of your Christmas cake and other preparations. It will be your first Christmas without your mum, won’t it. I do hope it is a gentle one.

Anzac, I hope the last days before your holiday are going by nice and neatly, and that you are able to look after yourself at least a bit.

Best wishes all.

Good morning everyone.

Quacka, happy 42nd birthday. I hope you have a lovely day.

Cali, happy thanksgiving. I know it’s this weekend, but not sure when the holiday actually starts. Do you have plans? Are you going to detour from your plant based diet to roast a turkey?
It sounds like your sister’s shower is ready for use, even if it will take a few more weeks for the hand basin to be ready. Does she still like her tile choices now that they are in place? It’s one thing to like a tile sample and another to see them on mass.

Neil, I have the same issues with jeans and pants – the waists are too roomy and the legs are too tight. I have found that there is one cut of jeans that works and I sometimes find them in the mens racks in the op shops I visit. They have one style that has a very wide leg all the way to the ankle (although on me it goes about 30cm beyond my ankle), so once I find the wide leg cut I just look for a waist that’s right, even if it’s not my usual size. However they aren’t easy to find – in op shops I can look at 100 pairs before I find one with the right shape and there’s still no guarantee it will be the right size. I would suggest you go to a store that just sells jeans as they usually have a lot of different cuts to suit all body shapes and ask for advice. We have “Just Jeans” here and they have one shape that works on me.

Intesha, you have been busy, christmas tree and christmas cake. Apart from buying presents gradually over recent months I’ve done nothing else for christmas yet. I need to start making batches of shortbread soon.
Well done on getting to the 67s. Your perseverance has paid off.

Cinque,
We seem to have taken the same path with our post weight loss clothing. I think initially I so pleased to finally have a good shape I wanted to see it reflected in my clothing. Like you, I’m more critical with clothing now too. I think initially I bought everything in the op shop that fitted properly because I was so shocked that it did. Also with op shop prices I felt I could afford to be extravagant with the number of garments I bought. Now I think about how much I like the garment and whether it will actually go with anything else in my wardrobe. I have a rule that everything has to fit into the wardrobe and chest of drawers in my bedroom – no spilling over into the robes in other bedrooms. (I shocked by how crammed all of my sisters were with their clothing – absolutely no space for a guest to hang anything.) It keeps me honest about how many clothes I need. I also find it helps to have a clear out at the end of each season as I can get rid of things that I didn’t wear in recent months – I’ve just sent lots of knitwear to the op shop.
Has that new large heater been installed yet? You might have to find a cooler day to test it once it’s installed so you are sure it works properly before you get to next winter.

I’m going to wander over to the shopping centre later and investigate the Black Fridays sales that apparently last a week. There are a couple of kitchenware items I want to look for. I figure if I go over there on foot the items will be too heavy to carry home, so I can make a considered purchase by taking time to think about it.

Have a good day.

A quick hi everyone just to say thank you very much for my birthday wishes, flowers and galahs! I’ve had a super busy day at work and eaten way too much of a cheese, dip and salami platter but it has been nice so far. I’m about to head home so I will catch up with you all properly tomorrow. Thanks again xxxxx

Morning all

I doubt my legs will settle differently because I do all my cycling my thighs are pretty big. Since it’s black Friday today I might have a wander down the street to see if one of the jeans shops have some decent pants that fit me.

I’m looking forward to the weekend now because it’s been such a drag this week. Hopefully the weather stays good so I can get out and do things. It would be a real PITA if it’s been stinking hot all week when I’m at work and then turns to custard for the weekend.

Have a great day everyone.

Good morning,

Quacka hope your whole day was wonderful.

Cali, I hope your Thanksgiving was all delight.

Neil asked if I had checked if my weight was dropping, well, only by how loose clothing is, and really it was only that I knew I wasn’t putting weight on. I do feel pleased about that as it shows that if I eat sensibly according to my own lights, it agrees with some scientific sensibility too.

However I got overtired last night and binged on cashews and I am so sedentary I have NO leeway unless I have my fast days,. So I am having a fast day today.

Looking forward to making dashi, but I am still out of miso, haven’t followed up buying from my lovely ex-neighbour Yoko, and not sure if I am well enough to nick down to Friends of The Earth. Oh well I can always have non-miso soup.

Neil, good luck finding jeans that fit properly. Once you find the right brand you will be right, or talk to any alterations places nearby to find out what they can do. I did a little google, considering your problem, and discovered you have to check out ‘jeans for an athletic build’ or for a ‘muscular’ build.
I thought this article might be useful: http://www.letsgetyou.com/blog/2019/1/2/how-guys-can-find-jeans-that-fit-thick-thighs

LJoyce, you are so right about op shop clothing. I had to smile when I dropped a huge pile off and the worker exclaimed at the wonderful quality of the clothes. All op shop finds.
The large heater was installed and I feel pretty happy as it doesn’t look any bigger and it is designed so it doesn’t blow out cold air before the heat comes on. the proof will be when the weather gets cool again, but I am optimistic.

Anzac they are still talking about smoke haze in Sydney, hoping it is getting less. Keep breathing. I really hope everything goes neatly today, or you can leave it in someone competent’s lap.

Hello to everyone else, I am off to drift around the house, potter, potter, and hopefully make my way down to get some miso.

Cheers all.

Hi. Just joined the forum and starting the 5:2 diet and TRE.

I’m in Brisbane, 43 and have a bit too lose, 178cm weighing 112kg – interestingly 2 kg down from last week when my GP recommended I try this.

Reading and learning as i go.

Scott

Welcome Scott,
Great to have you here, and congratulations on that first 2kg gone haha!

I had a good fast day yesterday and a VERY enjoyable after-fast breakfast today 🙂 As usual! (Kippers and salad with flatbread).

LJoyce I do hope you got through your hard day. Very impressive to be on your 5th B2B.
Cashews (yes roasted and salted) have definitely been my hardest treat to resist. But I have been practicing, and was doing so well until Thursday. Back to practicing again. Not every day (which generally means every second day) and only a little Chinese teacup full. I have been successfully enjoying them mindfully and being able to limit myself. Next treat tomorrow, if I put off my Sunday fast til Monday.

Ooh, lucky you to have snowpeas going wild! And to already be picking tomatoes and zucchini. Ms Green Thumb!

Neil, did you get your jean searching expedition in? I hope you did and found some excellent ones.

Hello everyone, off doing weekendy things! Sending good wishes.

Just popping in to wish Anzac a fabulous holiday. Get on that plane and forget everything. Enjoy and savour every moment. 5:2 and all here will be waiting for you when you get back. Have that French pastry and extra glass of wine. Life was meant to be lived, so go out and live it ✈️🥂🌏

Hi everyone, thanks for the good wishes. First leg done and we are in Auckland waiting for the marathon 16.5 hour flight to Dubai. Then a 9 hour layover and 8 more hours to Lisbon. You have to put up with zig zagging and long treks if you want to use FF points. All good!

Will post more soon

Morning all

Have a good trip Anzac, I hope you enjoy yourself

Cali – Dietary requirements are tricky, our family meals are starting to get a bit confusing. My brother-in-law is coeliac so there has to be gluten free dishes for him, my niece is lactose intolerant so there has to be dairy free dishes, my brother is on Keto so there has to be low carb dishes, and my sister is on the low FODMAP diet so there has to be dishes that cater to her. It’s a real headache.

Well I feel like crap today. I spent all afternoon ripping up the carpet in our living room ready for the new carpet to go in, It was so dusty and gross. My wife then vacuumed, mopped the floor and scrubbed the walls while all the furniture was out of the room. By the time we had moved every back in it was like 7pm and neither of us felt like cooking, so we ended up getting fish and chips. I woke up this morning coughing up my lungs from the dust and with a sore stomach from all the greasy junk food. I’ll definitely need my fast day today.

Good morning everyone,
I had a good fast day on Sunday, but Miso the cat was in a bad state and I had a fairly sleepless night worrying about her and a trip to the vet yesterday. She had a big abscess on her back leg (thanks grey cat that keeps beating her up) which had been drained, but now I need to feed her antibiotic tablets (woot! much easier than worm tablets used to be) and keep her abscess hole draining, yuk. She was dripping disgusting ooze all over the house (carefully avoiding the towels I put everywhere I hoped she might sit). But she is clearly improving well so far.

Anzac, hello Lisbon! Hope you are having a wonderful time! Are you wearing that coat?

Scott, are you still there? How is it going?

Cali, I can’t even think about holding a Thanksgiving feast and then redecorating for the new season. I hope you have enough energy to make it really enjoyable. Music playing, and full creative flight. I hope you have had a great Monday fast day.

Neil and Cali, those complicated food requirements are the new thing, aren’t they. I remember when I used to stymie everyone by being vegetarian, and that is just about the easiest of them these days. It is good fun working out delicious things that everyone can eat though, if only we have the time and space to do it.

I have been finding most of my clothes quite a bit looser so I think I have lost a bit of weight, and this is all thanks to just keep practicing new habits until (touch wood) they come ingrained. It is feeling so normal now to wait three or four hours between meals and to stop at normal portions. (touch wood again, can I really say this so blithely?). Ah well, time will tell how ingrained it is! Thanks 5:2 for carrying me through!

Best wishes everyone.

Good morning

What is it about December? Life has suddenly become frantic and the number of commitments in my diary seem to have exploded.

Cinque, I’m so sorry to hear that Miso is unwell. Hopefully the antibiotics will do their job and she’ll be back to her old self soon – and will learn to steer clear of other cats that bite.

Scott, welcome. I hope you continue to find this way of life easy to stick to.

Cali, I know you love decorating the house, so enjoy the christmas decorating. One of my neighbours (a widow) doesn’t put up a tree, but she has a huge glass bowl in the centre of her dining table filled with the colourful shiny baubles that would normally hang on a tree. I really liked that idea as a way to add some christmas colour.
Believe it or not it’s cold and rainy here too. I spent yesterday in the hills and it didn’t get above 17C! But we are back to the high 30s by Sunday. Such erratic weather, it’s playing havoc with my wardrobe layout as I keep having to hunt for the winter clothes I’ve put away.

Neil, it’s shocking how much dirt manages to get under a carpet – and the dust mites which aggravate our lungs. I’m hoping you feel better today.

Anzac, I hope those fist class flights have been lovely, despite the delays in various airports along the way. Hopefully having a bed on the plane will help you arrive less jet lagged.

Unusually for me I had a bit of spending spree on kitchenware as the black friday prices were as god as the usual post-christmas sales that I was going to wait for. From a local shop I bought a stainless steel wok with a lid and also a large American-made cast iron griddle plate that fits across 2 gas burners and basically cooks like a BBQ. I have had a small one for years and I use it a lot in summer for grilling vegetables, but the little doesn’t hold much. I’m looking forward to doing the zucchini and eggplant from my garden on it.
I also made some online purchases. I bought a kitchenaid chopper, which is essentially like a food processor but with just with the mincer/chopper blade. This is the the one thing my current gadgets haven’t been able to do and I’m hoping it arrives in time for the christmas shortbread making. Cali, you’ll be pleased to know I also bought some things from Amazon, as for a change the Australian Amazon was the cheapest place for the things I was looking for
For those of you with airfryers thre are a lot of things out there that are either official attachments or generic attachments that make the basket more versatile. This is what I bought:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Philips-Airfryer-Accessories-HD9951-01/dp/B07MXSBYR3/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Philips+Grill+Master+Airfryer+Accessories+Kit&qid=1575323226&sr=8-1 (this clips into the base of my basket for cooking meat – it was only $39 when I ordered it)
https://www.amazon.com.au/SODIAL-Accessories-Pieces-Gowise-Phillips/dp/B07JQQKH2J/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=SODIAL+Air+Fryer+Accessories+8+Inch&qid=1575323357&sr=8-1 (these are 8 inch items and fit into the basket of my larger airfryer, although there are smaller 7 inch versions of these available for the smaller airfryers too). I suspect this one is coming from overseas as the delivery date I’ve been advised of is in January.
I feel like a bit of a spendthrift after all that shopping. I will now get back into frugal mode so that any spare income can go into my holiday savings.

I got through my 5 days at 800cal last weekend but I didn’t manage to stick to TDEE over the weekend. Sunday was OK but Saturday was definitely over the top. I started the 800cal days again yesterday and plan to do them to Friday again. I’m hoping for better behaviour next Saturday.

I’m having a CT scan of my lower back today so they can see what the problem is and whether cortisone injections would be helpful. The mid afternoon I finally get to have my infusion, which was delayed due to the lung infection. On a positive note the last course of antibiotics does seem to have finally rid me of the lung infection.

Have a nice day.

Morning fd for me, but im looking for advice, tape measure is not recording and movement so what can i do to jog it into movement again my three fd are constant dont really want to change them, knowing which day has really helped me, but nfd im trying to to keep to the 15000 my fitness pal uses im usually pretty good, Wednesday is my bad day often blow it but not by much .. hear you talk about 800 days should i try this for a week ?? Any advice gratefully received

Morning all

Crazy – I think our bodies get used to routine, so if you are eating similar things on your fast days on the same days each week then it might start losing effectiveness. Try to change things up, you could try time restricted eating (eating all your calories within an 8 hour window), eat just one meal a day on your fast days, skip breakfast and eat more for dinner if you normally eat breakfast, or skip dinner and eat more for breakfast if you normally skip breakfast. Just try anything to break the routine.

Intesha, I forgot to say how awesome those biscuits looked that you posted a while back. Good enough to eat 😉

Quacka – Great you had a good time on your birthday, you’re not the only one who had people close to you forget. When we were going round to my parents’ place for my birthday dinner, my boys asked where we were going. When I said that we were going round to Grandma and Granddad’s for a birthday dinner. They looked confused and asked whose birthday it was.

LJoyce – shopping for new kitchen things is fun. I’m looking forward to doing that in a couple of years when we’ve saved up enough to redo our kitchen. I am going to attempt to make some wooden kitchen utensils using the recycled Rimu wood that we took out of our house.

Cinque – Our cat is huge (almost 6 kilos) but she regularly gets beaten up by neigbourhood cats, we’ve had to take her to the vet a few times to get abscesses treated. I’m surprised your vet gave antibiotic tablets. Mine just gave our cat antibiotics in an injection, it’s way easier.

I’m feeling better today. I’m still running around trying to get things organized before we leave for Fiji, we’ll probably do a bit of Christmas shopping over there, but it’s the renovations I’m really trying to get all completed and signed off because otherwise it’ll be halfway through January when people are back from Christmas/New Year holidays before we can get everything signed off.

The infusion went well, but gee there was a lot of paperwork. This was the first infusion I’ve had though the chemo@home program. The forms seemed endless. I’m hoping some of them were just because this was my fist infusion under this system and that it will lessen next time.

It’s been a very challenging food day. My hunger just wouldn’t quit. I think part of the problem was eating at 6:30am – I had to so I could take pain killers. It meant that not only had I already used calories meant for later in the day, it stimulated my appetite and led to a bit of unplanned snacking (corn thins with butter and vegemite and some cheese). I think I’ve ended up at about 1000 cals today.

It was still cold and wet here today, but the days should be gradually getting warmer and I really hope that makes it easier to control my eating.

Have a good evening all.

Hi friends, greetings from Portugal! I thought of you today LJ as I had my first ever Portuguese tart – in Portugal! I remember you are partial to them. It was awesome. I’m waving to you penguin in case you are here on one of your jaunts.

Our trek ended up about 50 hours but the jetlag isn’t too bad. We just finished a 3.5 hour city walking tour and learnt so much about the history of this beautiful city. We are having a rest before a 3 hour food and wine walking tour starting at 4.30pm. I’ve already done 11,500 steps! I’m determined to not put on a heap of weight

We are blessed with perfect weather; clear blue skies and while it is cold in the shade in the wind, it was gorgeous in the sun and we stripped down to short sleeves

I hope to read all if your news soon and I hope everyone is ok. Take care

Hi guys I started this diet about 6 weeks ago and have lost 1stone iv been fasting 5 days 600/700 calls but the last three days I don’t no what’s happened I just can’t stop eating I’m gonna try and get back to it tomorrow but is this gonna have a knock on effect will I gain weight?

Morning all
Over on Stradbroke trying to escape Brisbane’s heat. Over 40 tomorrow and Friday. Yuk.
We are home in the morning to meet up with the architect and builder for our new bathroom. So many new bathrooms on this forum. Ours has been in the pipeline for a while, but our architect had a nasty accident so our little job went on the back burner for a while.
I won’t even try to catch up with posts, except to say
Cinque, hope you are continuing to feel better, and Miso too. How nasty. And thank you for my flowers when I was poorly.
Anzac your introduction to Portugal sounds marvellous….great start to your holiday. Oohh have a tart for me, please (or maybe a white port).
Betsy it is terribly sad about the loss of habitat for koalas. These bushfires have destroyed so much of the gums they need for survival. I came across a group of Chinese tourists over here yesterday, gazing in raptures at a koala up a tree, in the park by the water at the end of our tree. They are mating (again!)(the koalas not the tourists) and the noise last night had to be heard to be believed. Lusty devils. With the koalas and the curlews, Rosy went crazy, barking at these weird and wonderful sounds. I think I’ve mentioned it before on this forum, but one year we were over here, we saw a koala in our poinciana tree, nibbling the new shoots. My SIL put his GoPro on the end of his fishing rod to capture the vision, so unusual it was.
Neil my weight was up a kilo this morning, and I’ll swear it is water weight from some corned beef I cooked for dinner. I don’t usually eat it, but I am cooking what is in the freezer to clear the way for Christmas holidays. One of the kids must have brought it over.
LJ 1000 calories is pretty good, given the unusual circumstances. Hope you are getting over your illness.
Ok crazy Rosy is looking longingly at the door so I’ll take her for a walk. usually Oh takes her at 5 am, but she was so restless last night, he had a bit of a sleep in. Amazing how much noise a rubber Kong can make bouncing on a timber floor at 3am. When we wouldn’t get up to play she decided to remove the duvet from our bed. How long does puppy stage last????
enjoy your day.

Hi Ria88,

First, losing one stone already is fantastic. Congratulations.

I had a look at the other posts you have written and replies you have been given, and I can see that you are really putting everything into Intermittent Fasting, so it is frustrating and frightening when you have uncontrollable eating that undermines all your new regime.

I think 5:2 works best when it is a long term plan, ie that you will do it for years. Then the main issue is to make is sustainable, so no matter what else is going on with your life, you can keep 5:2 going.

While 5:2 is carrying you through, you just cope with parties and binges and ill health and life stresses and Christmas and whatever else is happening. You just get back on the horse.

My favourite aspect of 5:2 was not only that it got me down to the lower end of my healthy weight range (over about 15 months), but it has kept me there (for another 3 years). That has given me time to replace my bad old eating habits with new ones.

I am a binge eater, sugar sets off intolerable insatiable hunger, I eat when I am tired, when I am bored, when I need comforting, when I feel shame from my own eating habits. I am surrounded by advertising, as we all are, that encourages big portions, lots of treats and crispy fried foods. It is not always easy to cook fresh food. I have a complicated relationship with food and socialising…. So much to sort out!

5:2 couldn’t fix all that. Getting down to my healthy weight couldn’t fix all that. But time and practice and discovering things and trying things has. And 5:2 kept me going while I did that hard work. (Actually it started a year or so before 5:2. I cut out sugar, so that got rid of the intolerable munchies, and made doing 5:2 much easier.)

I don’t know if you identify very much with me, but since you are worried about eating crap food and feeling ashamed when you do, I just want to remind you that your body has been doing its best to keep you safe and happy for years. It is unfortunate that some of the ways it is doing that has made you overweight and been bad for your health, but it really has been doing its best.

You do need to get some new and good habits, and 5:2 (or 4:3 if that is what suits you best) could be the best way to do it. But instead of beating your self up when you eat too much cake and feel disgusting the next day, try to be mindful about it. Work out what set it off, if you can, and be glad you have a fast day coming up to make you feel nice and empty again.

Is that any use? If not, please say, we have a lot of experience between us and I bet someone has just the thought or tip or perception that could help you.

Best wishes and all good things.

Thanks LJoyce, One thing I’ve learned is to look at my week as a whole. My TDEE is almost 2800 calories, which means that my 800 calorie fast days give me a deficit of 2000 calories each. Unless I’ve really pigged out on the other 5 days I’m not going to offset that 4000 calorie deficit. That means if I see a gain on the scales, I know there’s some other reason other than fat gain, and the weight will come back off. I’m not sure if you can see my tracker, but although there are a couple of spikes of weight gain, the trend is always down

https://thefastdiet.co.uk/fast-diet-tracker/