Cinque, didn’t realise that you were alcohol intolerant. What does that mean for you exactly (should you wish to say, of course)? Sorry your FD didn’t see the light of day. But thankfully, you can take Merry’s approach and get back on the horse.

Rae, that’s some impressive loss.

LJ, that would have been no contest for me, the hot tea would have been my first choice. Yes, children are often too self-absorbed to notice what adults are up to. Although, having said that, I did come to realise a bit late that as parents of primary school age children, our close friends and we seemed to be doing rather too much drinking whenever we got together. I think we risked normalising the behaviour by doing that. A whole new set of high school parents who became our friends were happier with coffee visits and kayaking. Better role models.

Forgotten what else was on the previous page. Neil was there. Hello Neil. Oh yes! Happy 18th Anniversary.

We are at risk of TP shortages in the UK! We’ve been warned not to stockpile groceries ahead of Brexit. That will surely encourage people to do just that.

Good morning everyone,
I’ve had two good days looking after myself, and yes! back on the horse today. Fasty fast day. Fasting with you Neil!

We’ve got hot sticky weather, but with a cool change coming, very keen to hear how Anzac and Lindsay are, and how deluged they got on their respective weekends away.

LJoyce, lovely successes!
The kids wouldn’t even have noticed, I bet. And hopefully you felt better without chips and chocolate milk sitting in your digestive system.

Thin, sigh, yes. I never drank much alcohol, I think I was always less tolerant of it than most people are, but it got worse once I had CFS and I felt so poisoned so quickly. I really miss that wine with a meal, or the port in the evening, or a vodka and lime. Sometimes when my sisters are sharing a bottle I have a little watered down wine and it is a lovely treat.

Neil, what a lovely celebration of your precious marriage. Yay for the restaurant, and yay for you making it a wonderful evening without messing up your health regime.

PS The plumbing works are still continuing (very old pipes under there) so I am sending more back-dated sympathy to Betsy and hoping they finish today.

YEEEE HAAAAA!

Weigh in this morning and I tipped the scales at an amazing 84.9 kilos. I dropped almost 4 kilos in 30 days. Not only that but I shed 5cm off my chest to sit on 99cm, 6cm off my waist to sit on just 80cm, and 7 cm off my hips where mostly my loose skin hangs to sit on 90cm. No wonder my pants have been so loose. But also my stomach issues have gone and my skin is better.

Day 1 of reintroduction is legumes including peanuts and soy so I’m going to have some peanut butter with some celery this mornings and some hummus with lunch.

Have a great day everyone, I know I will.

Morning all. Firstly, whoo hoo Neil. That is an amazing achievement. Well done. You have changed your life.

Rae, well done too to you for such a great loss. Isn’t it motivating?

The sun is struggling through, and the huge weather event didn’t eventuate here at our house – just some good soaking rain, and high winds. But elsewhere in the State and northern NSW, flooding and erosion. Sad. Springbrook in the Gold Coast hinterland has had more than a metre of rain since Friday…That is a lot of water. The bush walks and waterfalls will be beautiful, once the danger passes.

Our weekend away was just wonderful – everything I could have hoped. We had beautiful rooms at Vacy Hall, a Victorian mansion in lovely grounds. Each room had a full-height sash window that opened to wide verandahs with comfortable sofas and chairs, and the little ones played in the gardens and nipped through the rooms, while we all sat chatting and enjoying having nothing at all to do. I see a lot of my family, but honestly, they are just so busy that sometimes we all can seem a little distracted. Just having time with no pressing demands, and nothing to do, was very special. It was like the house took us back to a more relaxed time.

Cinque Mr Lindsay thanks you for his card, and the good wishes.
I liked Rose’s tattoo 🙂
Thanks too for your commiserations about the foot ….ageing isn’t for the faint-hearted is it? But in the scheme of things, not too significant. I have to wait perhaps a month for the guided cortisone injection, and am under instruction to rest. I honestly can’t see that happening.

Glad to read you are feeling better …. you must be, to be ironing! I wanted to iron OH’S shirt for toowoomba, and quite forgot where I’d put the ironing board, so rarely do we use it now (it was under the cot in the spare room). We were lucky with the weather – a beautiful sunny cool Saturday, and just a little rain on the Sunday morning.

Anzac, your weekend sounds delightful … and not long now til your long break. Good to know Rose is half way there on her way to being a grown-up. But here is something that’s really funny. As you know, she loves nicking off with my phone, held by the cover and the screen flapping away. Well I’d just taken a photo and sent it to DD, but hadn’t closed the phone down when Rose did her usual trick. By the time I got the phone back, she’d somehow managed to take a totally black pic and sent it to to DD. We can only assume the pic was the inside of her mouth.

LJ good for you, sticking with a cuppa with all those chips hanging around. BTW, I meant to mention the pic I posted of the lake was during our holiday at Lake Tekapo …not from the verandah of our holiday house (which looks out into bush). Pretty, and peaceful, but not stunning like Lake Tekapo.

OK, off to do some housework before we head off for lunch with the brothers to celebrate OH’s birthday. I’m finding the WOL has gone off piste somewhat, but am keeping under the danger weight that would send me scurrying back to low carb, so that in itself is quite an achievement for this week of celebrations.

Have a happy day all.

Whoo hoo Neil!

Glad you had a lovely weekend for hubby’s surprise birthday Lindsay

Today it is 3 years since we bought 8 week old Maxx home. How time has flown
Gotcha day 3 years ago https://imgur.com/gallery/C67xge8

Must run….

https://imgur.com/43DI7Xd

Kia ora, whanau!

I was on babysitting duty yesterday, as you can see from the pic. I invited younger daughter to bring Loukas (almost 5) out to Macandrew Bay so I could take him kayaking on Otago Harbour. We had a great time, although Loukas kept grabbing the paddle and we ended up going around in circles a few times. The only sealife we saw was tiny krill, which left a red carpet on the artificial beach after washing ashore. One day I was heading out for a harbour paddle when I heard on the radio a pod of killer whales was cavorting in the harbour near Aramoana – my destination. Needless to say I changed my plans that day . . .

Hearty congrats, Neil, on your latest loss. You know I probably helped, when you joined us on the Wanderers ride last Saturday. I threw in that extra loop down towards Port Chalmers because I knew the ride back into the sou’west gale would severely test your legs and burn lotsa calories. The wind was so strong that going down with the tailwind I was just sitting on my e-bike not pedalling but doing 20kmh! When I got to the turnaround point I looked back but did I see the other 10 riders on our outing? No, just the plucky Neil. The rest were hightailing it to the Ocean Beach pub at St Kilda, licking their lips. We gave the AOK Wanderers group a great sendoff after 5 1/2 years of wonderful rides. I’m gonna have a rest now . . .

Anzac, what a bonnie pooch! Is it a GT or a Lab? We’ve got retrievers in the family and they’re wonderful dogs. At our place we’ve just got Bruce – and he’s a cat! The SPCA gave him the monicker and we never got round to changing it.

Is everyone worried about the festive season coming up? All that temptation. We’ve just had a dummy run here, as today, elder daughter headed north to the Bay of Plenty with her family for several weeks and as is our tradition, we had an early Dunedin Xmas brunch at our place. It came a day after a riotous early birthday celebration for Loukas, who arrived in this world on Boxing Day and usually misses out on a birthday party with his friends. So we’ve all had lots of practice at scoffing calorie-laden festive grub and should be able to stack it away come Christmas. It’s the day after one of my two FD’s, so that’s OK!

Keep shrinking!

John

Evening all.
Rising to the ‘flat white’ challenge.
My understanding is that a flat white is a cappuccino, without the frothy top….so the barista treats the milk the same (i.e. heats it with steam), but then pours the hot milk only on to the expresso coffee, holding the foam. The end result is the same milky coffee as in a cappuccino, but a full cup without the froth. (I wait to be corrected).

Good morning everyone,

Penguin, a traditional bunch of flowers for you today https://cdn.idsitnetwork.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2019/04/spring-wonder-bouquet-lrg.jpg and I am hoping that you might be having an easy quiet day.

It is a lovely morning here (still a bit humid but okay) and rain forecast, fingers crossed, my garden wants it.

I had a good day yesterday but wasn’t quite frugal enough in the evening. I get another go today.

Lindsay, I am so glad your wonderful post made it through. And that Mr Lindsay enjoyed my birthday greetings. But especially that your weekend away was everything you hoped. Oh, those easy unstressed times with family are gold.

Well done keeping under the danger weight, you don’t want that alarm siren going off. I do hope it was a lovely lunch yesterday.

Anzac, aww! Little Maxx. Happy Birthday to him! https://shop.paperrussells.com/v/vspfiles/photos/PRGN819-2.jpg What an amazing three years he brought with him.

Cali, so glad to have a good catch up from you. It is so hard to hear of how terrible the covid pandemic is in your state, and knowing there are states where things are even worse, and that the post Thanksgiving surge is in full swing. There are no words. Wishes from the Southern Hemisphere keep flowing, and I am so relieved you are keeping safe.

I loved all the flat white responses but Lindsay what a clear, brilliant explanation. You should work with words you are so good at it 😉 😉 😉

Jony, what a treat babysitting with kayak!
I don’t have much of a problem with Christmas food as it just isn’t part of my family tradition, and the family my daughter married into doesn’t have it either. And my limited social life protects me from social dos and edible presents. The link Thin mentioned https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-third-annual-silly-season-challenge/ has heaps of discussion and suggestions about the challenges.
So many people seem to find it important that they do feast, and then plan to fast hard at the end of it.
But the main trick is to think in advance how you want to get through it, what things you want to avoid and what things you want to enjoy. And practice saying ‘no’ haha. Good luck.
PS Are you still under 100kg? With all that activity I am thinking you will be.

I babysat yesterday and we did some Christmas decorations and then went to Darebin parklands which Miss 4 loved, next time I will take a picture of her with the lovely wild ducks and little moorhens.

Thin, I am horrified the hairdressers weren’t masked. Sigh. But great that it is such a good cut. I’ve read of youngsters dyeing their hair grey. You are naturally hip, haha.

Neil, what a nice surprise to manage the legumes and nuts so well. (Noting that peanuts are a legume, so maybe check out tree nuts separately). Oops re the cordial. I bet it tasted delicious though.
Good luck with the oats and corn and rice. Yum.

Well the concrete is done. They did manage to do the whole thing without cutting off the water at all. I sneaked out to write Miss 4’s name in the concrete (her sisters name is in concrete in another part of the flats) and the workman caught me, I’d thought he had gone. He seemed more surprised than upset though.

Sending best wishes to everyone.

Hi Kell and welcome to the forum. There are people from all stages here, some just starting out, some well into their journey, and some that have been doing this way of life for years. We’re always here to offer support, advice, and shared experiences. Good luck with your weight loss goals.

I forgot to add on my last post. According to my biometric scale my body fat percentage dropped over 3% during my time on the Whole30 programme from 29.5% to around 26% and my metabolic age dropped 6 years from 53 down to 47, if I keep going it may even get as low as my actual age 😉

I booked a health checkup at the doctors to make sure I haven’t done anything stupid with my iron, cholesterol, or blood sugar levels over the last month, but I’m pretty sure most things should be ok.

I got my wife to take an after shot of me so I can compare to what I looked like before I started. The pic on the left is me at around 89 kilos and on the right is me at 84.9. Definitely a lot less fat around my chest and trunk.

https://imgur.com/kV1VaDT

Have a great one everyone.

Good morning from cold rainy Melbourne,

Welcome Kellbell!
Congratulations on getting that 8kgs off earlier this year, and sympathy for 4 of them sneaking back again.
5:2 is a great way to maintain, easy and sustainable. I am sharing your journey although (brace yourself) the cheeky kilograms that sneaked back on me did it even while I was doing 5:2 for maintenance. (I was eating too much in the evenings on non fast days, I have realised.) (And maybe at other times too) I’m back to doing 5:2 for weight loss.

Neil, yes, I can see how svelte you are around the hips!

Thin, what is wet concrete but a clean slate to write on? (At least I wrote small, and in the corner).
Whew, re the hairdressers were/are wearing masks. I haven’t heard of the coat thing before, the science of it does seem a bit loose.

The Sydney covid outbreak is our big focus here. How privileged we are to be worrying so hard about 17 cases, but we know how easily it can balloon. Hopefully the wonderful community response puts a cap on it quickly.

Oh lovely, Miso the cat has just vomited on the carpet.
What a pleasant note to leave you on!

Best wishes to the Friday fasters!
And cheers to mindful, delicious, but no more than sufficient, non fast day eating.

Cheers all.

Good morning, a lovely Saturday here and we have a week of temperatures in my comfort zone.

Neil, yikes that popcorn. Good luck for for today’s introductions.

Miss vain here was pleased to notice her face looking less jowly during our zoomsister call yesterday!

Day before fast day for me, making it a good one.

Best wishes that your day is a good one too.

Disappointing news from Sydney. Stay safe everyone. One member of our family friends with whom we spent almost every Christmas for 30 years lives four miles from the outbreak. She wasn’t going to Perth anyway due to the airline raising the fare from $300 to $1300 one way and of course the other daughter can’t fly from London. With the three of us here, our friends will be having a very quiet Christmas Day in Perth. I expect we’ll be mastering Zoom.

LJ, as for us, DD was fortunate to already have been allocated exactly the five days off that we’re allowed to mix. She has the NY period on call which, last year, was worse than Xmas but perhaps not this year especially as we’re almost certain to be back in lockdown. In fact, DD is on call the night of 23 December which means that, should she get a call out to a cow caesarian at 7.59am on Christmas Eve, she could be working most of that morning. We can live with that but fingers crossed she gets some well-earned time off. I think she’s exhausted.

Tinsel and turkey! – chocolate is the usual culprit for sick dogs over Xmas but this year has seen dogs swallowing face masks with fatal effects. How will you spend Christmas, LJ?

CalifD, with Moderna’s vaccine now approved in the USA, things will soon be looking up for Americans. I do like Mike Pence and think he’d make a great President.

Time to go, we have to take the boat across the marina for diesel and go to the mobile butcher in the town square. There’s a nationwide shortage of turkeys and we are caught between having inadequate freezer space to store one and waiting until the last minute risking missing out altogether.

Good morning everyone,

Thin, so much sympathy that you won’t be able to have those five days with your daughter.
But I am relieved that, as a result, the UK won’t get the terrible growth in numbers the US have been getting after Thanksgiving.
I laughed at the ‘unmasked woman’ too. And hope that she wasn’t as dangerous as she was acting. She will have heard you, even if she didn’t react.
Yesterday I read about a dog who managed to get the advent calendar off the wall and eat all the chocolate.

Neil, I dreamt about you last night. I was telling your doctor that I thought you might have diverticula even if it didn’t show up in your colonoscopy!
This thread rules my subconscious!

LJoyce, Miso is fine, she vomits most often this time of year as she licks her winter coat off and makes furballs. She is pretty sure she will get Whiskas today so is spending a lot of time in the kitchen looking expectantly at me. Only 9 hours to go until I give it to her. (Carpet is fine too)
Well, I am redfaced about my cement writing, and being a dreadful rolemodel for my grandchildren. (I think they might grow up more law abiding than me though.)

Well, it is my Sunday fast day today, and I am having another reread of the Fast800 book, so very 5:2 focused.
Also, my first zucchini flower!

Best wishes all

Anzac, big hugs to you and your husband, such tragic news.

Cinque, I hope you’re having a great FD today. You’re not red faced because of my comment? You should know by now that anything I write can be safely ignored. The Fast800 book sounds good. I’ve never read it since the old 5:2 has always worked so well for me. Two weeks without alcohol have really helped me get back on track. Now that we have five days of Christmas treats to condense into one day’s eating, next week will be interesting. For example, mince pies & egg nog (carefully resisted until Christmas) were always our Xmas Eve tradition while wrapping presents. I felt so sad when DD said it will be the first Christmas Day of her life that she’ll be waking up all alone.

Oooh, I should go back and edit out the errors – the random question mark, and the ‘we’ not ‘be’. I am sure there are others. But if I edit my post, it will fly off to that great place where missing posts go, so if you can ignore the errors, so will I.

Good morning from lovely cool Melbourne, with rain on the way.

Anzac, I am so sorry to hear your terrible news. There is an extra dreadfulness in suicide that is just heart breaking. I hope you, and all his family and friends, can find some solace in each other. https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/single-white-lily-rebecca-cozart.jpg

I had a very good fast day, thankyou Thin. I am really enjoying rereading the Fast800. It is packed full of the latest research (at time of printing) so a good update on the 2013 research in his first book and documentary.

Oo, a big change for DD this Christmas. What can I say to you all squishing five days of Christmas foods into one day? Small portions! That is what I will say.

Lindsay, hoping all goes well for Mr Lindsay’s cancer check.
I did see Dr Norman Swan talk about his childhood Christmas times. 🙂 It was lovely.
What’s with that cuckoo? I had to look it up. Well, it is sort of native! I’m sorry it isn’t calling later in the morning though. It would be a welcome visitor if it wasn’t waking you up.

Is there a dog door in the screen now? It will be good for Rosy to learn to slow down a little bit on her way in or out, and a new trick.

Ha, I didn’t even notice the errors.

I’ve had a lovely breakfast on my morning-after-fast-day and will head off to buy veggies for my low carb midday meal. My nephew has arrived (after a sleepless overnight bus ride from Canberra) for a couple of days before he heads to his mum’s. He will mostly be out and about, but it is nice to catch up.

I’m hoping all of you are making the most of this precious day. Anzac, may you be swaddled in kindness.
Best wishes
Rebel grandma 😉

Grrr, just lost my lengthy post chatting to Neil and Jony mostly. I’ve lost the will to re-write it. I’ll just say that my two weeks alcohol free have really helped and I’m back in the 57s for the first time since September after yesterday’s great fast. Like you Neil, I haven’t missed it and have lost the taste for it.

Afternoon all

Well today is gluten day so I had a slice of toast with some avocado and tomato for brekkie and I’m tucking into a nice tomato, spinach and feta scone as I type.

I went to the doctor for a general health checkup (I want to make sure I haven’t screwed up anything like cholesterol, iron, etc with this diet before I continue) I explained what I’d been doing for the last 6 weeks or so and why I was doing it. The doctor said that the place I was getting pain was quite a common area for people with IBS because it’s at the junction between the small and large intestine, and if you get gas it can build up there and cause the type of pain I described. I asked about the popcorn and he suggested that it could have been one of the hard shells from the popcorn lodging in one of the folds of the stomach, it can cause a sharp pain while your stomach was trying to dislodge it. the only thing of note was my blood pressure was a little up, which is odd, but he wasn’t overly concerned about it. He commented on my low pulse and asked if it was normal (it was just 46 bpm when he measured it) and when I said it was normal because I’m pretty fit and ride my bike a lot we got chatting about that because apparently he is really into it, and running (he does ultra marathons so way above my league) I’m going to get my bloods done tomorrow to check out the rest of the stuff (iron, cholesterol, glucose, liver, kidney and thyroid function, etc).

Thin, so annoying when a post disappears and you can’t get it back, I don’t think I’ve lost the taste for alcohol, I guess I’ll find out on Christmas day, but I don’t miss having the Friday/Saturday evening drinks, I guess I didn’t need them to wind down like I thought I did. I also didn’t need the energy drinks/coffee to survive. I’ve been having just one coffee a day because I enjoy the taste. I even prefer the long blacks to the flat whites that I used to drink now.

Jony, shame on you, I’m doing the bulk of our Christmas shopping and food preparation. Mainly because my wife is awful at choosing presents.

Lindsay, It wouldn’t be too hard to spend lots at Harrods. I heard that Gordan Ramsay just opened a burger restaurant in Harrods and is charging £150 (about AU$266) for a burger…and it doesn’t even come with fries you need to pay another £6 (AU$10.50) to get some chips with it!!

Well back to the grind, I’ll catch you all tomorrow, it’ll be interesting to see how my weight went this week with all the reintroductions.

Anzac, I’m so sorry to hear about the death of your dear friend. It must have been so shocking for everyone. Didn’t you lose another friend earlier this year? Big hugs to you.

John, your grandson is so cute! I think all kids love to make messes but I can see how moving ashes from the firebox to the carpet would be particularly distressing. But it’s hard to stay mad at a face like that!

I’ve been following the news about the outbreak in the Sydney area. Anzac and Intesha, please take care and stay safe. The numbers are small, but they can spiral out of control in a busy area. Australia did such a good job of getting things back under control for previous outbreaks and know how it’s done.

Thin, I’m so sorry to hear about that new Covid strain and having your Christmas plans curtailed even further. But I can certainly see the reasoning behind it. I hope the British are more cooperative than Americans about mandates. Our numbers are higher than I ever thought they would be and a good number of people still think it’s just the flu and will go away on it’s own. Meanwhile the ICU’s are getting maxed out and they are having trouble finding enough staff. They started giving the vaccine to healthcare workers and politicians last week. They approved the Moderna vaccine which will hopefully be shipping soon too. It sounds like between the 1st and 2nd shots and then the 2 week period afterward, that it will be close to 6 weeks for it to have an effect for those vaccinated. So things will likely get a lot worse before they get better. We’re going ok here but I feel much more cautious about trips to the grocery store.

Cinque, cats always seem to cough up hairballs this time of year. I cut a big mat of tangled fur from our cat tonight while DS kept her intent on something else. She reall does seem to like it once the tangle is gone and her fur can be brushed, but she only has a few minutes worth of patience.

Neil, my first thought was diverticulitis with that popcorn pain thing too, but glad your doctor found a probable reason. It sounds like that’s just something to avoid in the future. Hopefully it’s something that will eventually go away. Popcorn is such a good source of fiber. (And fun to eat.)

LJ, what desserts are you baking up for the holidays? Is your whole family getting together? It was great looking at your garden the other night (your daytime) on FaceTime. You have so many heathy looking plants and a nice variety of harvest times.

Lindsay, the only times I’ve heard cuckoos is years ago when we were in Tuscany and at home on a cuckoo clock. The ones we heard in Italy didn’t seem too loud. Surely the cockatoos there can make a good deal more noise. Do they come around where you live? We lived with a Moluccan Cockatoo for 18-1/2 years and he could scream louder than I could. I can’t imagine what a whole flock would sound like! But it was mainly around sundown that he squawked, not at night or early morning.
I hope you get that screen door sorted with Rosy soon.

Thank you to everyone for the ideas on making a flat white. I tried with steamed cashew milk this weekend because that was the only milk we had on hand. It didn’t froth very well, but maybe I didn’t do it long enough. It still tasted ok. I had to run vinegar through the espresso machine to descale it because it hadn’t been used in a long time. It seemed to take forever to run enough clear water to get rid of all the vinegar after.

What is everyone cooking for Christmas dinner this year? We are kind of turkeyed out after Thanksgiving and having turkey breast one time since. I’m looking for more ideas.

Take care everyone and stay safe and well.

A fairly brief post before bed – tomorrow is lots of baking/cooking I need to try and respond tonight.

Cali, I have a christmas eve lunch to go to at a friend’s place and I’m making that key lime pie recipe again. (Her parents emigrated from Europe and their tradition was to celebrate on christmas eve, so she usually has either a lunch or dinner for friends on christmas eve.) I’m spending christmas day in the Adelaide Hills with my cousins and aunt, who I’m very close to. There will be the 3traditional roasts of turkey, pork and ham (I don’t know why, but we’ve done all three.) Personally I didn’t care about the meat, I always thought the stuffing was the best bit! I am making a starter of blinis topped with a mixture of sour cream, cream cheese and dill and then a twirl of smoked salmon. For dessert I’m doing a cheesecake dip platter – a bowl of soft cheesecake mixture surrounded by fresh fruits, little meringues and shortbread fingers. There will also be a traditional christmas pudding and an icecream pudding.
If you don’t want to roast a turkey you could do pork with crackling or a glazed ham – or try the French tradition – an entree of oysters followed by roast beef.
When it comes to frothy milk, I’m told that you need to either use cows milk or oat milk.

Thin, I have you can squeeze lots of joy into the one day you are allowed with your daughter.

Neil, it’s useful finding out which foods are triggers. I guess now you just need to work out whether they are banned permanently of whether some things are worth the after effects. My friend’s daughter is lactose intolerant an avoids dairy, but she’s already said she’s making an exception for key lime pie at Thursday’s lunch.

Lindsay, excellent news about your husband’s health.
I’m surprised about the dog door, I though the larger size doors were meant for a labrador sized dog and I imagine a red setter is similar dimensions.

Jony, I agree about the scooters. Every time I expect to be dealing with a broken arm or worse – never more than a rare graze so for.

Cinque, I hope you are managing your energy better than I am – I’m making of a hash of it this week.

Anzac, hope you and Mr A are doing ok.

I had a dismal day of eating too much today. I was utterly exhausted after a busy weekend and then a full day of babysitting yesterday. I just keep reaching for food today – probably a search my missing energy. Tomorrow I’m planning a FD800. I’ll aim for 500cals for planned food, plus enough extra for tiny tastes of things that I’m baking to make sure they are right. I have to bake the key lime pie, shortbread and meringues. I also need to so some of the blini and cheesecake prep as I won’t have much time spare on christmas eve. I can see couch potato day (or two) coming up on boxing day.

Take care everyone.

Wednesday, late morning, Nice cool day,

Jony, Summer nicked off from here, certainly because I put away the last of my winter clothes. But it will be back for a couple of days after Christmas.
Lexi sounds like great fun, and clearly an excellent tooth brusher.
Best wishes to Mrs Jony https://www.ftd.com/blog/content/uploads/2018/11/retirement-messages-messages-720×500.jpg
Good idea to avoid a Christmas blow out, wo! you are sitting right on the 100kg aren’t you. Well I am betting that early next year you will say good bye to it for good.

So sad to hear of the young mum lost to suicide too. Such pain. My brother died that way thirty years ago and it is so hard on the kids.

Lindsay, what a pity that rainbird cuckoo doesn’t have a lovely fluting call, that would be much nicer to wake up to. I’m imagining a suburb of swear words being let loose every 3am.
And oh no, the dog doors. More swearing. Keep a fly swat near by!
And I do hope the honey collection went really well. No stings!

Neil, what a lot you have learnt from your Whole30, and what a good doctor to sort any issues through with.

Cali, hooray for washing the scale and vinegar from your espresso machine. Good luck getting some fine froth for your flat white. Nice tip that oat milk might do it! I must remember that for dairy free friends.

This might be the sound Lindsay is trying to sleep through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFCr_D8n6io

Our focus on making Christmas food easy means we are going with a deli spread (a treat for us), hams, cheeses and bits and pieces. If I can, I will make my cheese and spinach tart (nice Christmassy colour). We are going to Preston market today where there is a whole load of gorgeous delis and we will really treat ourselves.

Such a relief that the vaccines are being rolled out in the US and the UK. I hope it is your turn to have one, Cali, before too long.

Thin, in the 57’s and finding ‘no alcohol’ easy. Win win.
Tricky to give DD an experience gift this year! But I am sure you will find something wonderful.

LJoyce, sigh, energy has been a bit tricky this week, but I let go of everything except hosting my nephew who has been staying for a couple of days, and that has been really nice. We are having a family late lunch at Noodle Kingdom today and then my sister will take him to their new place and pop him on a train to go to his sister’s place for Christmas.

I had a bingey day yesterday too! Something in the air? It was cold and I had slept badly. I ate too many slices of toast and then made eggplant dip and ate half of it. Two pieces of chicken for dinner really hit the spot, so maybe I was craving protein. I feel fine today, and hope to have a good fast day tomorrow.

Well, off to decide on an outfit for the great excitement of going to Noodle Kingdom. First time eating out since we shut down in March. Not really confident but very much looking forward to eating with family.

Best wishes everyone, big hugs to you Anzac, are you ok?
And thinking of you Penguin, here are some Christmas flowers for you: https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/christmas-flowers-6-1509114086.jpg

Cheers

Hello all, thanks for the kind thoughts and wishes.

Is it really Christmas Eve tomorrow? This time last year we were in Paris and freezing cold but enjoying the novelty of a cold Christmas. On this day last year we did a food and wine tour around Montmartre and I have a video of me eating my first snail. You really have to laugh at the look on my face as I try to politely keep the disgust off it!

We found out our friend did indeed suffer from depression and was bipolar. Not many people knew. Cali, you are correct, this is the second friend lost for Mr Anzac; he lost a neighbour of another friend who used to come over when the boys got together or when they went out as a group. I never actually met him. This latest tragedy has really knocked Mr Anzac sideways. At least he is talking about it which is healthy.

I’ve managed to keep a lid on my eating and have lost most of the weight I put on during our lovely 4 day weekend away. Being off work means more time for exercise and thinking more mindfully. I can also help with the cooking more as I have time.

Neil, I have really enjoyed your whole food journey and I’m now wondering if too much gluten might trigger my diverticulitis. I have been having bread instead of muesli for breakfast for the past 3 days and today I have quite bad pains way down in my tummy. I have a box of antibiotics on hand (as suggested by my doctor) for when this happens to try and get on top of it quickly.

How sad about your brother Cinque, I’m so sorry. I remember you mentioned it before and it is just so hard for the people left behind. Our friends wife put a post on FB yesterday and it broke my heart. I hope you enjoyed the markets and your lovely family lunch at Noodle Kingdom.

LJ your baking descriptions and the key lime pie are making my mouth water! I hope you have a lovely day tomorrow with your friends and Chrissy day with your family. Re stuffing, I was never keen on it until Mr Anzac started experimenting and he now makes the MOST delicious chorizo, bacon, onion and fresh herb stuffing. We are going to the Blue Mountains tomorrow for the family Christmas and he has been instructed to bring it. We are also taking a couple of roast chickens and some ham as my sister is doing Roast Pork and I don’t eat it. If I have pork it has to be loin and be disguised with a sauce or something.

Thin, yay for 57.9 and giving away the alcohol. But boo for only being able to spend one day with your daughter.

Hang in there Jony, get through Christmas and hit the 5:2 hard in the New Year.

Lindsay, I do so love hearing about Rosy’s antics because I’ve been there and while it is a frustrating time it is also a time for making memories. We pulled out the ping pong table today for the first time in 2 years. Last time Maxx was racing around grabbing any ball that ended up on the floor and popping them. Today he watched and barked a bit, ran under the table in excitement a few times but then ambled off to have a snooze. A totally different dog.

Stay safe Cali, I get despondent every time I hear about what is happening over there and also in the UK and Europe. So far it looks like we are under control with our latest outbreak but it is early days.

Take care all

Well that was a sucky way to start the Christmas holidays. I got knocked off my bike by a car this evening. I smacked my knees on the handlebars and will be off my feet for a few days and got a possible concussion, other than that I’m fine. My new bike on the other hand is not so pretty. 😢

Happy Christmas Eve everyone,
I am blown away by how often you all write! I’m getting multiple notifications a day. What a fabulous little community you have created here, I’m feeling lucky to have found it.

Neil, so glad to hear you are ok after the bike incident. What a fright that must have been. Am sorry about your new bike.

Anzac I’m so sorry to hear the news of your friend.

I have completed 3 FD now and discovered that it may easier for me save it all up and have a more substantial dinner. Two of my days I have done this way am managed quite well. The day in the middle I had a small Lunch and spent the whole afternoon thinking about food and waiting for dinner! Today mark 1 week and I am feeling less bloated am more mindful of what I put in my mouth on the other days.
Weighing myself this morning I seem to dropped 1.5kg. That seems like a lot for the week so will wait another week and if it’s still off then I’ll claim it! But it is an encouragement.

Feeling grateful to have connected with you all.
Have a wonderful, joy-filled and restful Christmas and for those live where COVID insists of ruling the roost may you stay safe and well over this Christmas period.