Hi friends

Happy New year!! (Belated)

We are in the beautiful Seychelle islands. I’m sorry for not posting but I’ve thought about you all a lot

Hope everyone is well

Good morning,
Another smoky day, but we are not suffering nearly as badly as some places (with the smoke, let alone everything else). They don’t count the burning areas in the pollution stakes because they aren’t big towns or cities, I guess.

Cali, big good wishes that you can break that festive spell and get back into some nice lean 800 calorie days and feel easy and healthy.

LJoyce, nice to have those appointments over and done with.

Anzac, a treat to see your post.

Neil, your usual quick efficient work! Congratulations.

My dips did go well yesterday. It was a lovely day and I did manage to keep my liquid levels up, but it is hard to catch up with a whole family you love and haven’t seen all year, in a few hours, so I did over do it and eat too much snacky stuff and be upright too long etc, so having a good rest day today.

Fast Day tomorrow!

Sending best wishes to everyone. Do all the good things!

Good Afternoon

I have just read all the posts I have been missing out on (three full pages and a bit!) Lovely to catch up on what you have been doing.

It was back at work for me on Monday and my first FD for three weeks! I am amazed at how quickly the weight piles back on with just three weeks of eating/drinking whatever I like and not exercising (much). The not fasting was my plan but the not exercising was due to the thick smoke in the air for most of the time I was off work. It was so thick at times that it made my eyes sting as soon as I went outside. There was no way I was going to exercise in that!
Today is my second FD and this morning I resumed jogging. I walked yesterday but thought I better ease myself back into jogging. Well that changed when I stepped on the scale this morning (the first time for over a week) and saw a number I never expected to see again. Back to jogging….. When I came back from exercising the scale showed .9kg less LOL. Great but I still have a few more to go.
Anyway putting all that holiday period behind me and looking forward to another great 5:2 year.

Words can’t begin to describe the fires Australia is experiencing. I hope you are all ok now as some of them are getting under control.
The Gospers mountain one came quite close to my parents’ house but thankfully they didn’t have to evacuate. The smoke has been really thick up there too which has been hard on them also.
We have been safe during all this despite one day receiving text message warnings. We are surrounded by water on three sides and have cow paddocks on the other so should be ok. There is only one way in/out so that day the authorities closed the road. We were concerned about flying embers as the winds have been extremely strong, so we were keeping an eye out for them. All was ok thankfully.

Thank you to those asking about my Dad. He has lost a bit more weight but is still going ok, although he rarely gets out of bed now. It’s really hard to see him like this. I’ve never experienced anyone going through a terminal illness before and I hope that he doesn’t suffer for too long. I also think about my Mum all the time too. She is the strongest woman I know but I can see it taking it’s toll on her too. Damn you, cancer.
Our friend with cancer is also nearing his last stage. Treatment is not working for him now and the only other option is a really bad treatment that will make him extremely sick and covered in sores. Not something he wants his young sons to go through. He’s only 53 years old.
On the weekend we found out another friend lost her husband suddenly on Christmas Eve. He was 75 years old but had just received a clean bill of health three weeks earlier. He felt unwell and went and laid down and had passed away less than 15 minutes later.
Sorry for all the bad news.
When our FDs get a bit tough we will remember why we are doing them. It’s not just to look and feel better, it’s also for our health. We want to be here to enjoy our lives, and our families, for as long as we possibly can. So grateful for this WOL.

On a lighter note, our ensuite is half finished. We have had a bit of a journey with this one! It all started with the quote from the tiler. The price he gave us came back ridiculously high, like more than double what we expected. That ended up being sorted out (he had quoted us for both bathrooms in error).
Then the people putting up the gyprock failed to cut out a hole for the power point, which we only noticed after the tiler had put on all the wall tiles! That resulted in a frantic call to the electrician and he rushed out to help us sort that problem out. The only thing we could do was to cut a smallish hole (about the size of an ipad) in the spare room wall on the other side and come though from there.
Then, and yes there is lots more, OH’s stepfather called to arrange to come and install the vanity and toilet (he had already done the plumbing work before the tiling was done). He asked us to check something on the vanity and when we opened up the box it was the wrong size! As they are custom made we had to order a new one which we have been waiting almost two weeks for! This was the fault of the plumbing place we ordered the vanity through.
Next, when OH’s stepfather came to install the toilet he discovered the plumbing was not in the right place. A bit of a huge problem when it’s all in the wall and the tiling had been finished already. The boys had to chip a tile off the wall (a 600mm x 300mm, big tile!) and move the plumbing and then cut a tile, put it in place, re grout and try and make it look like it had never altered. They have done an amazing job actually. This error happened because we had the specs for two different toilets and OH had given the wrong sheet to his stepfather to work from. An easy error when the names of the toilets only differed by one word in the heading!
Then (uh huh) the boys thought they would install the shower rail while the stepfather was there as they couldn’t finish off the toilet until it was all dry. It was then I heard some very loud swearing from both of them. I had been hiding away in the kitchen (making pesto with my garden fresh basil, Cinque) but thought I had better check on them. OH was so angry he couldn’t even voice to me what had happened but luckily stepfather could. OH had had the shower rail upside down when they marked out the measurements for the plumbing so unfortunately the hole where the water comes out was in the totally wrong place. So, yes, back into the spare room for a much larger hole to be made in the wall for the problem to be fixed. This hole about the size of a large suitcase. No wonder OH was not happy. He always says he hates renovations, I can see why. He now has a wall to fix in the spare room and a whole room to repaint. Great.
It is unbelievable how many things have gone wrong with this tiny bathroom. Me being ever optimistic, tried to find something positive to come out of all this… at least all these errors have been made before we do the main bathroom! That is the saga (so far) of the ensuite.

Anyway I had better go and do some more work. It’s my usual lunchtime now and I need some lettuce or salad mix to go with homegrown salad veggies for dinner but I’m not sure if I want to go to the supermarket as I am feeling really hungry right now. I’m worried I may succumb and buy something to eat.

No nonsense, non-negotiable FD today. I WILL stick with it.

Good Morning everyone

Well it was my first week of back to 5:2 and yesterday was my first failed FD for the year 🙁
Never mind, I can’t turn back the clock to yesterday so I will only look forward. I considered trying another one today but I remembered doing that last year after a failure and then also failing that one too. That made me feel worse than ever. So my next FDs are Monday and Wednesday and I am actually looking forward to them.

I will get back into the swing of things because I will not give up.

On a happier note, we woke up to the sound of rain on the roof! It was a nice gentle rain but a lot more than a sprinkle and lasted about half an hour. So beautiful.
We are expecting more over the next few days,so says the BOM and I really hope they are right.

Wishing you all a happy weekend x

Morning all, Everyone’s into eggplant recipes at the moment. I tried out a coconut/peanut eggplant curry last night. It was pretty popular. I was going to take the leftovers for lunch today but when I got up in the morning my wife had woken up earlier and eaten it all 🙁 https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/quick-and-easy/coconut-and-peanut-aubergine-curry/

Good to see you guys have had a bit of rain to get some relief, hopefully you’ll get a bit more during the rest of the week.

Have a great day everyone

Hi all, Cheviot, Thursday evening.

Still warm and sunny here, been hovering around 18/19’c all day, but with a coolish wind, just can’t seem to lose that wind, it really cools down the evenings so we can’t enjoy them outside. Moved on today after about 10 days just north of the city, had so many little things to see to, like hospital appointments, watching the T20 cricket at the Hagley Oval, and stuff done on the truck and van! OH collected his new bike yesterday, so with having been given the all clear with his prostate it’s all go on the cycling tomorrow. He’s got a trip planned out to the beach at Gore Bay, around (hopefully not over)Cathedral cliffs! Should be fun.

Had our first weekly weigh in this morning and we both lost just over a kilo each, I’m down to 77.9 from 79 so a great start, long may it continue. Of course the first milestone will be 75 so hope to be there soon!

Those eggplant recipes sound great, I might have to try some of them, I find it such a bland flavoured vegetable, it really needs lots of flavour added to it. Mind you, I do have my herb trough travelling with me, so we do have some flavour, need to do another one now with some different flavours, am missing my fresh chives!

So sorry to hear about all your renovation woes Quacka, been there, done that, annoying, frustrating and energy zapping it may seem, but it will all be worth it in the end! Awful to hear of your sad news too, I had an awful phone call from Mum, just before Xmas about Dad, he ended up in hospital, but is on the mend now. It appears to have been a mild stroke so he is off all medication bar one and he seems a lot better. We put this years travel plans on hold though, just in case. Funny how I just expect them both to live forever…….

So glad you got some rain Cinque, you so badly need it, the picture you painted sounded lovely.

Congratulation Neil on the continued weight loss, hope you enjoyed your time at Millers Flat with the boys, so much to do there and so very safe for children.

Glad you are enjoying the Seychelles Anzac, you so deserve it!!

The wind has finally abated slightly at 8pm!!!!

Enjoy the rest of your Thursday everyone,

Turn

Good air quality today. Lovely and cool too.

My fast day was a good one. I didn’t get round to cooking the pumpkin, so I did my English muffin recipe instead, which means I got muffins for breakfast. My recipe makes 12 so I have plenty more in fridge and freezer to keep me going for a while.

Ooh yum Neil, that recipe looks delicious. No wonder Mrs Neil got up early to scrape the bowl!

LJoyce, I bet the orchids look beautiful on your windowsill in their matching pots!
It was lovely to see your gigantes recipe on the legumes thread, I have made it, and I love how the kitchen smells cooking it! What a lovely point about cinnamon in savoury dishes!

Turnabout, how wonderful to see and read your post! Cheviot looks such a lovely place to be. Congratulations to you and Mr T on kilos lost, and I am glad his prostate check went so well.
Yes, eggplant needs lots of flavour to suck up, and long cooking to make it silky soft. Nothing as disappointing as flavourless rubbery eggplant!
How nice to have herbs with you, I hope you can get some chives in too, they are such a lovely addition to things, no wonder you miss them.
Hope the wind is still gentle!

Enjoy your quiet day at work Neil, I am quiet here today, too. Nothing I HAVE to do, but hoping I can work my way through some of the 1,000’s of things I could do.

First… filing.

No, first… coffee 😉

Good afternoon everyone.

I’ve been for my walk and managed to go to the Telstra shop and arrange for my internet service to move over to the NBN. Thankfully I didn’t have to choose a different package I was able to keep the data allowance and cost the same.

I also called in to the green grocer and they had beautifully fresh eggplant for $2.99 kg. I now have 5 of them in the fridge – what was I thinking! I’m going to have to make several of those eggplant recipies now. Tomorrow I’ll make Cinque’s baked ratatouille and I think I might add cubes of haloumi too so that it’s a complete meal. I also plan on making that coconut peanut eggplant curry that Neil posted the link too, although I decided it would be good with the addition of oyster mushrooms, so I also bought some of those to go in it.

For those of you who use konjac rice, I saw a new product in the supermarket today. https://imgur.com/k9PioAM The packs contain 2 small tubs of konjac rice – two single serves. This might make them more useful than the slendier version which is 2 serves in a bag – fine if someone else is eating it too, but not as useful if you just want one portion for a FD.

Neil I’m going to have to have another look at that website as I think even the 2 eggplant recipes I’ve chosen won’t be enough to use the 5 I have in the fridge.

Turn, I had to look up Cathedral cliffs – it looks like a pretty spot, enjoy.

Cinque, enjoy that coffee, and filing! Oh and the muffins – yum.
The orchids look well very cared for now, although only 2 plants are still in flower at the moment. There will be a flurry of new flower spikes in autumn-winter when the gentle northern sun comes through the kitchen window – the orchids just love it.

Cali, I’m sorry to hear that things are still a struggle. I’m sure the cold weather isn’t helping your energy levels or mood either.
I had to remind myself to start using waiting time for walking again – I had let that slip, but I use the kettle and microwave often enough that it adds significant steps to the day. It might be a start to get you moving again. I find there’s as added benefit as if I’m waiting in the kitchen I’m really tempted to snack, so getting out and doing a few laps of the hallway gets me away from the danger zone.
Remember you aren’t alone with the weight gain. There are a few of us in the same boat at the moment with regained kilos to shift. It can be a scary prospect when you hoped never to have to battle with weight loss again. I’ve had a few false starts on getting those kilos off over the last 3 months but things finally clicked into place this week. I found I had to get frustrated enough with my lack of progress to finally get into the right headspace. Sometimes we just need to do the best we can to manage until our mindset is right. Just doing the FDs is a start and the rest will come.

I’m channeling Cinque today and making miso soup for dinner. I bought some enoki and shitaki mushrooms to go into it and I also have 1/2 bag konjac noodles, snow peas, spinach and a chicken tenderloin.

Have a nice day all.

Good morning from sunny España. I’ve woken to a beautiful sunrise over the Med. Pleased to hear about the rain some of you are getting. Great to read your positive news Merry. I’m still managing to stay under 60kgs with 6:1 but, with very decent wine at 2 euros a bottle, and so many tapas to sample, there are constant temptations … fortunately, we can take daily long walks on the beach and on the many mountain tracks. Quacka, so true what you wrote – we are doing this for longevity and a healthy future. What could be more important?

good morning

I finally had a good weigh-in, lost 1.9kg this week. I’m the lightest I’ve been in about 3 months. What is weird is that last week my measurements went down and the scales went up, this week my measurements barely moved but the scales went down – I really struggle with things that defy logic.

Cinque, I’ll look up a few of those eggplant recipies you mentioned as I might need a third option. I’m making your baked ratatouille today and Neil’s eggplant curry tomorrow so I can eat them alternate nights and not get bored. Not sure if that’s enough recipies to use 5 eggplant though.
My zucchini have kindly produced 2 nice sized fruit for the ratatouille – for once their timing was good.

Merry, glad those wedding celebrations went well. Also good to hear that Mr M is doing well now.

Turn, well done on those weight losses for you and Mr T. I’m also aiming for 75kg.

Thin, glad to hear that Spain is providing good climate, walks and wine.

I think I take a different approach to 800cal days than Neil, so I thought I should share my approach. There are 3 things that have a big impact on whether I can stick to a Fast800 program:
being mentally ready to do it;
keeping my carb intake moderate so ketosis suppresses my appetite;
and strictly limiting my food options.
I find that the more choices I give myself the worse I am at sticking to 800cals. So I allocated the 800 calories between lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and milk for cups of tea and then worked out a small list of options for lunches and snacks. For example, my snack options list is 100g greek yoghurt with fruit, an almond milk fruit smoothie, raw veg with dip, a low carb bar, a piece of fruit and a hard boiled egg or a scoop of ricotta/cottage cheese. (The low carb bars are not something I normally eat, but because they feel like a treat there are days when that’s an important option to prevent me reaching for something that’s full of sugar.)
For dinner I do have variety and I don’t have a list, I just aim for a meal that is built around vegetables and includes a little lean protein and is light on added fats and no starchy carbs. I actually have 4-500 calories left for dinner and most healthy meals will fit within this as long as the portion isn’t too large. I have always planned my evening meals in advance to help with shopping so I still do this.
I do not count calories. By having a list of options that I know fit within my predetermined calorie limits for lunch and mid-afternoon that eliminates the need to count calories on a daily basis. I shop to those lists, plus what I’ve decided to cook for evening meals and I don’t buy snacks/foods that aren’t on the list – as I live alone this works for me.
My list of lunch and snack options is on the fridge so I just choose one when I’m ready for that meal. After a few failed attempts to do Fast800 earlier this month I have realised that I have to use this approach or I just can’t stick to it.
I also can’t have an occasional day off in the normal sense of that phrase. If I do, then I come out of ketosis and my appetite and sugar cravings roar back into life, making it really challenging to go back to Fast800 the next day. I deal with meals out by avoiding the starches, sugars and high fat sauces – and no desserts unless there is fresh fruit. It may mean that on those days I will exceed 800cals as the protein portion is often generous and there will usually be fats used in cooking, but as long as I stay in ketosis I can remain on Fast800 without having days of dealing with cravings. My family and friends are so used to me doing 2 FDs per week that they accept me refusing foods sometimes.

Hello to everyone else who’s reading but not posting.

I finally got the baked ratatouille prepared: https://imgur.com/KMlt5Ir
I got a bit carried away with the layering, as I was looking at a warm salad recipie that was a sliced baked ratatouille with bocconcini. That recipe called for pre-baking the veg briefly before the layering process. It does mean that it should cook quickly now – I just put it in the oven.
I’m not sure if the pre-baking is necessary, but it did remove some of the water from the veg an got some colour on them – I suspect the way they are tightly packed would have meant they stewed rather than roasted without the pre-cooking. It’s made rather a lot, so I think a few serves can go into the freezer.

It ended up taking longer than I thought as I had almost finished the layering when I realised I’d forgotten the tomatoes, so I had to pull it apart and start again!

Hello everyone. I’ve just moved to Perth from Scotland and I could do with shifting a few (15) kgs not only to help with my health but to help me cope in the heat! Less insulation should help…right? I’ve tried quite a few diets in the past and found Alevre to be effective but my weight crept up again once left to my own devices and I found it socially isolating which is not what I need when I’ve just moved to a new country and would like to make some friend. I’m hoping that the 5:2 way of life is going to help me achieve my goals.

Cinque, you are right, I am stingy with the oil at the moment because I can’t afford the calories while I’m doing Fast800. What I did was a lot of fuss but it was delicious and I’ve frozen 2 serves for later.
Lovely to hear you have managed to do some yoga, given your health that sounds very encouraging.
I might have to resort to indoor exercise myself today. Every time I’ve tried to leave the house it’s started raining. That’s not a complaint though because we badly need the rain and my garden will be very happy.

Neil I’m making your eggplant curry tonight and looking forward to it.

I don’t do a cooked lunch often but the colder weather had me wanting that today. So I had 2 eggs with grilled zucchini and tomato. Filling, warming and quite low calorie if you limit the added fats.

Hope you are all having a nice weekend.

Morning all

Hi WeeAmy, wow, a move from Scotland to Perth, that certainly will be a climate change. You should have moved here to Dunedin in New Zealand and we could have offered you something a little closer to what you’re used to back home 😉

Thin, great to hear from you again. So you get a short break from the boat?

Ljoyce, hope you enjoyed the eggplant curry as much as my family did. We managed to pick up some more for $4.99 per kilo, which is a good price for them over here. They’re normally $4 each. I’m going to try the lentil eggplant curry this week. I’ll let you all know how it turns out.

Tennis finally starts again this week. It’s been shut for a while because they’ve been resurfacing and painting the courts, but tonight I’m going to rip into it!

I hope you all have a great day, and a nice easy fast for those of you joining me on my regular Monday fast.

Morning all from Brisbane where there is a very watery sun, after good solid rain. Not that I can see much of it …one eye is glued and the other half shut from the reaction to a bee sting on my forehead yesterday. We were doing so well, DS and I, until I bent my head forward and one got me through my mask. Tricky devils. DS got attacked on his ankles….he was wearing thick football socks so the stings weren’t severe, but there were a lot of them. And poor Rosy got one too, on he snout, which made her rush around and it swelled quite a lot. I gave her a Claratyne (child dose) and she was fine. Half a dozen lovely jars of honey, and we only took two bars.

I cooked the eggplant recipe I posted, and I really liked it. I added a tin of chickpeas too, which I think improved both its texture and nutritional value. What a great vegetable aubergine is.

Merry good to hear from you and know all is going well. And your weight maintenance is such a credit to you. A couple of kilos post-Christmas, celebrations, is nothing (well nothing if it’s jumped on quickly. So hard when 2 becomes 4, and 4 becomes 6 (that’s personal experience I’m talking about)

Cinque I tried the health checker that came up on your feed. Apparently i am at risk of kidney disease! I don’t know why that is. I would have expected a question about water intake. Or salt. Oh well.

Welcome WeeAmy. What part of Scotland are you from? (I ask, because my OH is Glaswegian). Yes, you will definitely have more energy in the hotter months if you are slimmer. And this is a good way to do it, with great support from the wonderful people on this forum, all of whom have different experiences and give excellent, supportive advice when asked.

Neil thank you for the invitation to have coffee if we make it to Dunedin. Not sure yet of our travel plans …. we haven’t really got past booking flights, and a couple of nights at the Christchurch Novotel to get over our midnight arrival, pick up a car etc. I’ll let you know as our plans firm (if they ever do). Would be nice to meet up.

Gentle yoga sounds just the ticket Cinque. Good for the soul and the body.

Enjoy your day all.

Thanks LJ. It wasn’t so much that Rosy was inquisitive, it was that she wanted so desperately in the back garden with DS and me, and while OH was looking after the 18 month old, the dog made a break for it!

Actually DS is so calm – even with 30 odd bee stings on the ankles, he still remembered to ask if I was okay. That, I thought, was impressive! I think we have come to the reluctant conclusion that OH doesn’t have the temperament for beekeeping. The Glaswegian in him pops up, and he gets quite impatient and tries to rush things, which of course with bees is a recipe for an angry hive.

Is there any dish that isn’t improved by the addition of chickpeas? I love them, even though I am low carb. I think they are so healthy and as we have cut right back on meat, a good protein (and fibre) source.

I am looking after Miss 6 (grade 2 starts in another week) and Mr 5 (prep for him when school goes back). They are delightful, but I’ve made my share of snake sandwiches already today. (A snake sandwich was something I invented to get the 3 year old to eat….it involves a small round bread, rolled with peanut butter usually, and the round ends cut off and re-attached to make tails and tongues and eyes. Fiddly, but effective in tempting a picky eater.

We have finished potting up the honey, with a special little jar for Mr 5 who drew the label for my produce (designer son made the labels, and attached them to 2 dozen little bottles, as part of my Christmas present. Here’s a pic. Sweet, I thought. Mr 5 is quite the artist.

Hi all. Ljoyce I purchased a kombucha kit from a health shop in the central markets – cant recall the name but it was located near the start of the far right side lane when entering from the main front entrance (bakers delight end). It wasn’t expensive and the package looked like a pack of tea. That’s the only way to make kombucha from scratch by developing the scoby or unless you know someone who can give you a piece of scoby to start you off. I now have so much scoby i make kombucha on mass- it’s amazing how quickly it grows.

The eggplant recipies sound delicious. Unfortunately they cost $7 each here. I’ve been watching the price for a very long time and it never changes – hence why eggplant is off the menu here.

Health wise for me – well where do I start. A few weeks back I was in agony with severe stomach pain and non stop toilet trips. My regular GP was booked out so I went to another clinic who did not know what the problem was so diagnosed me with IBS. It took 8 days for the pain etc to calm down and another week to go completely.

Results of full blood tests were not good – even with my non medical knowledge I was greatly concerned when I read them after collecting the papers from the nurse who said ‘ there are a lot of issues your Dr will need to discuss with you’. So my first appointment was my GP who told me there was nothing of concern except for low iron levels which was the cause of all my problems. I asked him to re-read the results again and explain to me why he was not concerned with certain markers I and the nurse had highlighted. His response was that it all balances out and just go the chemist and get iron supplements.

Later that morning I had my phone consult with the nutritionist who had a copy of the blood test results as well as my food intake, lifestyle info etc that she asked me to forward to her earlier in the week. Her first response was to go find a new GP who will take the blood results seriously and action them with further tests.

The nutritionist said that my blood markers are all over the place- some extremely low and others extremely high. Iron and B12 are extremely low, as are my white and red blood cell count which she was really concerned about. High markers for rumathoid arthritis, blood clotting ability very low. I can’t recall the technical names right now but there are other markers of great concern too. She has no doubt I have a auto immune disorder and there is definate inflammation within my body.

While I seek out a GP who will investigate the findings further, she has put me on specific iron and B12 supplements as well as gut flora building probiotics which I have ordered online. She said the general chemist supplements are full of fillers, are cheap and don’t do the job.

To add insult to injury. Another routine bi yearly test I had a few weeks ago detected an abnormality that I need investigated further. I’m waiting for the specialist to give me an appointment date for the surgery procedure which will determine the extent of the problem.

As you can imagine I’m at a total loss right now. Year’s of eating healthy, exercise etc and now this. The worst is that I don’t actually know exactly what I’m dealing with. Living in a small community the choice of GPs is limited, most are newly arrived from oversees and stay a short time before moving on.

My looming redundancy in April is not helping my state of mind either. Geez life throws some curved balls doesn’t it. On a lighter note, back verandah renos are moving along nicely. Paving is finally complete, the water feature is installed and working and our old kitchen has been reassemble and plumbed in so at least now the bbq/kitchen/ eating area of the back verandah is fully complete.

Bed time. Good night all

Quick check in by the NH lurker. I may not post much but I do read, honest.

Merry. Good to hear from you, and even better that all is well on both fronts.

Thin. I am jealous. I have to wait six weeks before I am in Portugal again and it is freezing here – literally. Brilliant sunshine but very cold. Fortunately I live on top of a hill because last week’s floodwater is still blocking some of the country roads.

So many posts that I haven’t read then all, but I picked up a concern about Cali”s health. Take care of yourself.

It is early afternoon and I have just seen the lunchtime news. Hailstones the size of golf balls? The last year has totally shattered my perception of Australia. Seriously, there is much concern here and the most unlikely organisations are raising money to help the fire fighting effort. Stay safe people.

Good morning everyone! I am back in the land of Oz and ready for a good healthy year

First day back at work today (ugh)

I gained exactly 4 kilos on the 7 week trip and I am very sure that 99% of that was in the last week where we stopped for our beach week in the Seychelles. We went from doing 20k+ steps per day and most days only having 2 meals to basically waddling from our room to the pool to the beach and back. And eating a LOT. I’m not worried, it was so nice to stop and relax after 6 crazy and busy weeks in Lisbon, Morocco, London, Paris and Italy. Anyway, the 4 kilos will be gone in a jiffy thanks to the wonderful 5:2 WOL

We had a fantastic trip but we were really really really ready to come home. It was too long and we will not do another long trip like that again, not at our age.

I worked from home yesterday as we were delayed by 14 hours in Hong Kong and exhausted. Work was really good about it plus I was able to quietly catch up on emails. Maxx was delivered home at 3.00pm and the reunion was joyous, crazy and both of us cried. We missed him so much

I missed you all too and wished I could post more often but I didn’t want to upset OH as he hates it when I spend too much time on my phone.

I am so looking forward to catching up on all your news!

Neil, I got distracted and forgot to post the links.
https://imgur.com/DASo9py
https://imgur.com/KUOfzrR
Mr 5 was very excited to be taking home a little jar of honey with his bee drawing on the label.

I’ll post more later, but we need to take this crazy dog out before she finally drives OH right around the bend. so far she has chewed and relocated our mats, taken off with our thongs (yes, we wear them in the wet), chewed the teatowel, and helped herself to OH’s toast.

Anzac welcome home – so nice you are back after a wonderful holiday.

Penguin, stay warm! brrrrr.

Yes, lucky Thin, living the dream where wine is cheaper water.

OK back later…

Ha, yes I’m in the same boat on the cycling. I live at the top of a hill so any riding I do ends with climbing the hill from 116 meters above sea level at the bottom of the valley up to 240 meters above sea level at our hose. A climb of around 400 feet. After a few weeks of doing it every day my legs are now used to it.

Lindsay, the labels look really cool and the honey doesn’t look too bad either 😛 I did laugh at your dog taking off with your thongs, you know thongs means something different over here?

Anzac, Holidays are great but it’s always great to come home as well, I’ll bet Maxx was excited to see you.

Possible spanner in the works on my weigh-in tomorrow. It was a leaving morning tea for one of my co-workers and I may have indulged in several sneaky savouries and handfuls of chips, I’m cursing myself for lack of self control when it comes to savoury treats!

PS: do you think Maxx is happy to be home?

http://imgur.com/gallery/cxNEiKi

I messed up today. I drove across town to my first appointment of the afternoon only to find that the massage therapist was at their other site that day (36km away). I don’t know who messed up the booking but I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see the massage therapist. That meant I had a bit of a wait for my GP appointment so I went for a walk – a good use of the time. The GP is in a lovely suburb with beautiful old houses and avenues of shade trees down every street. It’s a very nice walk on a warm day, and a nice change of scene to my usual terrain. Unfortunately most of the old street trees have been removed by developers where I live now so they can build 3-4 new homes on the old 1/4 acre sites. The council have planted new trees on some streets, but there are fewer of them because of all those extra driveways and the replacement trees are smaller varieties and because they are young they provide no shade.

Lindsay, the labels are fabulous.

Penz, welcome back. We are a bit uneven with our posting here, some days there’s a flurry and on others it’s very quiet.

Anzac, yes Maxx looks like he’s settled back into his home and his people very comfortably. Good news that your car survived.

Neil, never mind about the morning tea, you’ll burn off those calories on the bike ride home.
Thongs are one of those things that have a different name in each country – I think they are flip flops in most of the world and jandals in your neck of the woods. To keep it confusing that tiny underwear is also a thong here in addition to being footwear.

I have a nice dinner waiting to be reheated, but for some unknown reason I’m not hungry tonight. That is a rare thing. I might just make a smoothie with almond milk, yoghurt and a little fruit so I don’t get the tummy rumbles at bedtime.

Weigh in and my weight was up 900 grams. My weight has been all over the place over the last couple of months and today was 88.5 kilos. I don’t feel any bigger than I was last week, in fact my legs feel a lot smaller after all my cycling. I’ll keep plugging away at it and see how I go next week. But overall I went from 131.5 kilos on the 23rd January 2019 to 88.5 kilos on 22nd January 2020. I can’t be sad about that.

Yes, I know muscle is heavier, but my weight has been all over the place recently, my last 5 weigh-ins have been up 1.8 kilos, down 1.9 kilos, up 2.3 kilos, down 2.1 kilos up 0.9 kilos. I know weight can fluctuate a bit, but I weigh myself at the same time each week, I would like to start seeing a bit more consistency.