https://imgur.com/96ZKIp8

Kia ora, family

Hey Neil – just read your news about the bike crash. How’s your beautiful new bike? Not too much damage, I hope. And how are you? Sounds as though you’ve got an enforced rest from riding, just in time to spend more time with family at Xmas. (Notice how cyclists always ask how the bike is first?)

I brought my second FD for the week forward one day, having it yesterday, as we’re on the road today and will be grabbing food wherever we can. I’m planning to eat frugally over Xmas but you know what they say about the best laid plans.

I trust everyone will have a great Xmas and a rollicking New Year and look forward to an excellent 2021, when we can turn on the news and not hear that dreaded word “covid” mentioned once.

Ka kite ano (Maori for “see u later)

Good morning, Kia ora lovely kiwis,

Quacka, so good to see your post, but I am guessing you have had a rotten time (foodwise) since you posted last. That damned reflux.
Do let us know what has been happening. Have you been eating often in the hope that protects you from reflux, but has only resulted in putting weight back on?
We really do want you back in the SH thread, so even if you do start another thread, you have to post here too!

I was thinking of you just yesterday, while I was rereading the Fast800 book and doctor Mosley recommended people who suffer from reflux stop eating three hours before bedtime. I wondered if that worked for you.

Do come here and whinge, if you need to. That is what this thread is for. And if we make too many bright, ignorant suggestions, you can just tell us to shut up and listen.

Neil, oh dear! That is terrible news (except hooray you are okay to write). How are you today? I imagine bruising and shock and headache might be awful today. You managed not to crack your patellas? How is your head? Sending best wishes.
https://www.thortful.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Get-well-soon.jpg

Those food munchy triggers are pretty much the same for me. I can handle bread best when it is whole grain and long raise AND has been frozen or in the fridge overnight. I think the extra resistant starch really does make a difference.

Weird about feeling itchy, that certainly sends alarm bells about an allergy.

And Intesha, thanks so much for catching us up on how things are going for you and your dad. How frustrating that you haven’t found the right place to move to yet. What a good idea to rest for a bit and get back in the fray when there is a fresh, new, and hopefully kinder year.
Big congratulations on keeping your weight stable in spite of the continual stress. A triumph in such a bad year.
I hope the pork and turkey cook wonderfully and you can enjoy a lovely, festive, covidsafe Christmas.

Those are lovely wishes (since I am someone always overwhelmed with regrets). Yay for a fresh new year.

Here are my Christmas wishes to everyone
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0393/1261/products/Merry-Christmas-from-The-Australian-Coast-Greeting-Card_1000x.jpg?v=1601093851

Sadly we had to postpone our Christmas catch-up with the family. Mr Anzac woke up with a slightly sore throat that quickly developed into a bad cold within a couple of hours of getting up. We can’t risk my 95 year old Dad catching it so I slunk over to his place with the food in full mask and made sure he stayed well away and he is driving up to my sisters. We are very sad but we have already rearranged to the 9th Jan and – always a silver lining – both nieces will be there then so we can watch both littlies open their presents.

Mr Anzac went and had a Covid test of course. I would be more than very surprised if it is positive as we haven’t been remotely near any hot spots. But you do have to check.

Maxx is disappointed too as he was very much looking forward to jumping on some new friends

KellBell – awesome progress! Congratulations! This really is a fantastic forum, so glad you found us

Cinque, thanks for the kind words. We are having roast chicken, stuffing and salad for dinner tonight and I’m looking forward to it. We cooked two chickens so sent one up the Mountains and kept the other for ourselves. Enjoy yours tomorrow

That is really grim Neil, I do hope you are ok.

Jony, awesome pic, thanks

Merry Christmas everyone

I didn’t have a chance to catch up on some of your posts before posting before. Neil, I’m so sorry to hear about your bike accident. I’m glad you are mostly okay and hope your bike will be fixable too. It feels like 2020 just had to get one more bad thing in! Won’t we all be glad to see this year end?

Quacka, it’s so good to see your post. We’ve missed you. You don’t have to be going well to post here. Goodness knows, it’s been a tough year with some weight gain for me too. But just knowing everyone is here and sharing things about our daily lives is a positive thing. I hope you’ll continue posting.

Intesha, it’s good to hear from you too. I hope you find a suitable place for you and your dad to live after the holidays. Try to relax and enjoy the time with your dad. Something will show up when times are less busy.

Cinque, I looked up Noodle Kingdom and found their website had a link to their Instagram pages with lots of wonderful photos. The food looks amazing! So many interesting choices! It looks like it was a very nice place to celebrate.

Anzac, sorry to hear that Mr. Anzac has a bad cold. I’m glad to hear that you’re postponing your Christmas celebrations. Glad to hear that he went for a Covid test too, just to be safe. There are so few cases there that everything will probably turn out to be just fine.

Welcome to our little corner of the 5:2 forum, Kellbell. I hope you will make this place your home.

Well, my iPad battery is just about ready to run out, so again, Happy Holidays to all.

Merry Christmas everyone (wow this thread has reached 500 pages) I hope everyone has a great day today despite all the stuff that has happened this year. Forget fasting for a day. Eat, drink and be merry and then look forward to a year that isn’t 2020.

Good morning, Boxing Day, and a glorious start to a sunny day.

I had a wonderful but tiring day yesterday, so just going quietly today.

Anzac, I am so sorry you had to cancel your family Christmas, but safety first, and keeping distant is the biggest gift of love these days. I do hope Mr Anzac has his negative test notification now. Your 9th January family day will be all the more precious.

Ooh our Christmas lunch was wonderful. I stuck to chicken and salad. Okay, I snuck a few chips. But I so enjoyed it. I’d made two different salads and DD had made a beautiful coleslaw, and I had a watered down prosecco and one mouthful of apricot crumble. Just between you and me, I felt quite sorry for all the others filling their plates up with chips and then chocolates, chocolate ripple cake, custard and fruit cake.
Yes, I am a food snob :0

I’d taken the kids to the park in the morning, and Miss 4 was brilliant with her new bike, she will master it quickly. (Miss 6 was so cautious she left her new bike at home and scooted instead). We all had great fun.

Happy Christmas Day Cali! Ooh great sense of humour with the covid ornament.
It reminds me of the unfortunate (and very expensive) Australia symbol that came out this year. https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/q_auto,w_412,c_fill,g_auto,h_412,ar_1:1/http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.cnn.com%2Fcnnnext%2Fdam%2Fassets%2F200702143118-australia-unlimited-logo.jpg You can imagine the comments.

Cheers to all the Cali family and your precious, safe Christmas.

The best thing about Noodle Kingdom is them making the noodles fresh at the front of the shop. So good.

LJoyce, I was thinking of a Boxing Day fast day, but instead I will take the baton at the end of the day, thanks! Frugal day though!

Neil I bet it was a wonderful feast day in the Neilithic family, and I hope you are recovering quickly from your big bump.
Yes, the whole world will let out a sigh of relief when 2020 comes to an end.

Lindsay, you made me remember when we discovered plum pudding icecream. I was a teenager and we were just beginning to bend the typical English traditions in recognition that our Christmas was such a hot day. The icecream was a wonderful hit!
I bet you and Mr Lindsay are having a well earned rest day today. But I hope yesterday was as wonderful as it sounded like it would be.

A lovely garden surprise today, three zucchini flowers out at once, and one will grow to a nice zucchini (two boy flowers), I’ve picked lots of warrigal greens and some lettuce, looked at the baby tomatoes and felt very pleased that I could just about pick some basil. Yay summer.

I hope your morning is as lovely. Best wishes all.

Kia ora, fast family.

Our triple Xmas celebration continued today with grandson Loukas’ 5th birthday. He now has to wait about 5 weeks until he can start school. Our “season” started yesterday with a big family Christmas celebration on my sister’s Cromwell lawn, featuring a table groaning with scrummy food. It was a pity we had to scurry inside with a plate of food just as the lunch started, because heavy rain set in. I was rapt both my surviving siblings were there and we toasted our two dear departed sisters. Part three of our Xmas season takes place tomorrow with my younger daughter’s birthday celebration. I hope the weather finally comes right for that, as today it only hit 13degC and the mercury should have been hitting about 28. I haven’t even been on my bike yet!

Glad to hear about all the Xmas celebrations here, there and everywhere.

Ka kite, John

Morning all.

Beautiful sunny day, top 28. Perfect. I am going to whip around with the vacuum and the steamie, and then head to the garden.

We had a lovely Christmas/Boxing Day. The kids loved their presents – so did the big kids! Just the 10 of us, and we set up the dining room table with our Christmas meal, but ate outside and managed a swim between courses. Ditto Boxing Day, which is always more relaxed for some reason.

My brother and SIL also came yesterday afternoon – we’re all a bit anxious as their son and DIL flew out to New York on Christmas Day…she has a Fulbright scholarship which she had postponed as long as she was able, but if she didn’t start in January, she’d have lost it. They’ll be cautious – but a concerning time.

I started Christmas Day just under my trigger weight, and my plan is to be comfortably below that for new year. It starts today, with gentle eating and popping leftovers in the freezer.

Ooh Cinque, lovely to have the zucchini growing in the garden, and yes, yea for summer veges. Does anything beat the buzz of seeing your garden produce food? good for healthy eating, good for the soul. I get that buzz (no pun meant) from my bees which I open the hive and see them beavering away. DS and I took another bar just before Christmas, and it delivered 7 kilos of honey, which went to good homes. I am a very conservative keeper – I only take what I think they need to give, to keep the hive thriving but not too crowded. But 7 kilos from 1 bar was extraordinary. Our mandarin tree – quite large and years old – had only ever produced one fruit pre-bees, but had heaps of blossom and tiny fruit this year, before they dropped during the dry spell while we were away. But I do see a few little fruit maturing, and a companion mandarin I planted earlier in the year has four quite large fruit maturing. Yea for nature.

OH bought me an exquisite porcelain bee brooch as part of my Christmas gift. I’m a very lucky woman.

LJ what a great approach to getting back into the groove. Glad you had a lovely Christmas/Boxing Day, and a fruit day sounds ideal. All that’s missing is the mango! (says the Queenslander).

Jony that South Island weather! Despite the rain, what a lovely time you all had. Happy birthday to your younger daughter.

And Neil, good to know you are healing. Ouch.

Stay well and happy all.

It is a warm, close, dark Melbourne day, waiting for rain.
How is it going in your part of Melbourne Betsy?

Sunday fast day for me. So looking forward to making a big pot of Asian style soup (I’m still out of miso), just what I need today.

LJoyce, I hope yesterday went well for you, and that today you will enjoy those veggies. Those sort of restricted days are such a good idea and I do hope they work well and quickly.

I’m nearly through my reread of the Fast800 book and found it a really good reread. Half of me would love 2 weeks of 800 a day, and the other half of me thinks I wouldn’t be able to manage it. I might try a couple of weeks of 2:5.

But first I will have a good fast day today and prepare for my friend who is visiting on Wednesday. I don’t think I have seen her for a year! She is my friend who has had gastric sleeve surgery so we will both enjoy small portions. She likes my Indian recipes so I think I will make my Indian veg stirfry, my favourite dal and a little rice.

Jony, long and many celebrations come along with large, close knit families! So lovely to hear of you enjoying the festive season. And surviving the mad weather. Happy birthday to little Loukas, and to your young younger daughter, and yay for a glass of good stuff with your precious siblings.

Neil, so glad to hear your legs are feeling better. I do hope you can enjoy a ride. Doesn’t it make a wonderful difference for insurance, and recovery, when the person who did the wrong thing owns up and makes it all easy.

Lindsay, fabulous news that you are nicely below your trigger weight and all set to stay nicely below it.
I love how your family has embraced your bee lady status, and that the bees are bringing you the pleasure… and the honey, that you hoped for. It was a bit touch and go at the beginning, wasn’t it, and look at you now.
The only thing I have in the garden to compare is my compost bins! Bernard and Fran, my lovely pets, full of all those wonderful microbes turning kitchen scraps to compost. I’ll go out and give them a turn soon.

What a tricky situation for your nephew and his partner. Best wishes that it is easy and safe for them in the US and they have a wonderful scholarship time there.

I’ve just got bread out of the oven, which will go in the fridge for the week ahead. Rye, wheat bran and sesame seeds plus yoghurt in the mix. It looks a very good loaf 🙂

I also have peach and pear drink fermenting, I think it will be ready tomorrow. And I want to start another (3lt) jar of sweet potato fly. I am learning with each batch and even starting to feel (a little) confident.
(Touch wood and whistle.)

Anzac, hello, checked the home page before I posted and lovely to find your catch up there.
What an amazing set up for the men watching the cricket, and a perfect way for them to easily care for each other.
Enjoy shifting back into your best eating patterns and fingers crossed that diverticulitis goes away and the cold decides not to manifest itself.

Sending best wishes to you all

I’ve just made a cup of tea and caught up on the Christmas posts.

Cinque, are those bikes pink ad purple with tassles on the handle bars? I was fasting with you yesterday but didn’t make it here to post. I did have miso soup for the first time in ages and then bacon and chicken casserole, 249 cals, also not enjoyed for over a year. That helped me drop the 900g gained due to some mindless eating and drinking on Christmas and Boxing Day. So, like you Lindsay, I’m within my wiggle room and have no regrets – you can’t beat this WOL for having your cake and eating it too.

LJ, sounds like everything is under control at your end too.

Neil, hoping you and your bike make a full recovery. So glad that you’re alright-ish.

Jony, that’s a lot of celebrating over several days even if the rain tried to stop play.

Anzac, so sorry that your Xmas plans got the kybosh. It didn’t sound like covid symptoms that Mr Anzac had but you never know. And now you can look forward to an even better celebration on 9 Jan.

CalifD, our Christmas Day was probably most like yours, the three of us hunkered down trying to avoid everybody else! But we had a lovely time with DD, savouring every second. We haven’t been able to find egg nog here, a long-standing Xmas Eve tradition with mince pies for us in Perth. But we have instead embraced ‘brandy sauce’ (which I’d never heard of before) to go on the Xmas pud. New traditions.

Welcome back Quacka and Intesha. I see from the other posts that you’ve posted on the previous page.

OH’s UK visa finally arrived! What a relief after 3 months lost in the wilderness.

Happy New Year to all! It will be brilliant, won’t it?

Good morning from a crisp bright Melbourne,

Neil, your bike ride sounds fab, but do get good medical attention to that knee! It could so easily be one of those things that becomes chronic if not dealt with. Speaking as a friend!
So awful that there was a fatal crash, it hits hard when it is close.
Best wishes for a wonderful holiday. And more whole foods 🙂

LJoyce well done on those two limited days. So glad your headache is gone, and that your appetite is no longer inflamed.
I do agree that an all protein day sounds terrible, maybe meat and low carb veg?
Your griddled zucchini looks wonderful!

Hmm, I think I did overdose on bread yesterday despite it being refrigerated. I’ll be better today.

My first compost bin was black, hence calling it Bernard (for those of you who know Black Books). They are the best pets, quiet and unobtrusive, but very rewarding. Not comparable to Rosy or Maxx (or Miso the cat), but slightly comparable to bee hives.

Thin, a wonderful festive Christmas by the sounds of it, and woot for wriggle room and 5:2.
How strange to miss out on eggnog, but hooray for brandy sauce.
Awful UK covid figures today, thinking of you, and Penguin, and every one else trying to stay safe.

I am feeling a bit more productive today, I hope it lasts. I decided to make chicken curry for my friend, but it didn’t work out as well as usual (trying to figure out why), so I am off to the shop for red lentils to make the dal and hoping I get my cooking mojo back for the two recipes I make today, PLUS tidy the house, PLUS I remembered that last time she was here I promised I would have a loaf of my bread for her to take home next time, so that is on the rise too.

Sending best wishes to each and every one of you!

Gah, I just lost my post. Suffice to say 2020 just had to have one last laugh; I am in hospital with a bad bowel infection. I came to emergency yesterday (Tuesday) at 8.00am. the silver lining is they are worried about me being contagious so I have my own room.

I’ve had many drips of antibiotics and already feeling better. Also lots of saline drips as I was severely dehyrdated as Monday and Monday night I could barely stomach sips of vwater. I might even be able to go home tomorrow afternoon just in time for NYE

Another silver lining is enforced B2B fast days! I’ve not had any solid food since Sunday night. Just clear liquids. Hopefully a huge weight loss. They are going to let me try a light diet tonight for dinner.

Sorry this has been all about me. I will catch up on your posts hopefully this afternoon. I hope you are all ok

Evening all

Sorry to hear about your hospital stay Anzac, rather an extreme and unpleasant way to lose weight 😕

Thanks for the concern regarding my knee everyone. I went out for a ride this morning as well and it was feeling a lot better by the end of it. I think it needed a good loosening up to help it come right. If I get time tomorrow morning I might go for another ride to test it out, especially since I found that the local cafe makes the best coffee I’ve had in a long time.

Have a great one everyone.

Awful way to lose weight Anzac … hope you are starting to feel better, you poor thing.

Neil, glad to know your knee is a little better – still worth following up with tests to check it doesn’t come back at some time in the future. Where is that coffee shop? When we were in Dunedin we drove out to Port Chalmers, and I had an absolute killer coffee. Very cold and windy day, and quite a few riders come in to shake off the chill and it was lovely to chat.

I hit my trigger weight on Monday, so had my first FD of the week. I’d not thought I’d do one between Christmas and New Year, but what’s the point of having a trigger if it doesn’t actually trigger a response. Job done. Back under the danger/alarm bells weight, yesterday and today.

Lunch out with eldest brother and SIL today, but a modest affair.

My DD has been reading up on the traditions of Christmas celebrations, and has suggested next year we have a much lighter affair on Christmas Day – ham, chicken for my non-red meat eating DIL and salads, and pavlova and Christmas icecream later. I do the best pav (she says modestly) but that’s the only cooking I’ll do on the day. Then, to mark the 12 days of Christmas, a second meal with maybe roast pork and chicken, with mince pies (DD makes the absolute best) and perhaps plum pudding. What a good idea – we get to celebrate twice, without feeling overloaded either day, and we can stagger the gift giving throughout Christmas, and the kids won’t be so overwhelmed.

Black Books Cinque – our television habits are so similar. I did so like Bernard, and the girl in the shop next door whose name I forget. I think your Bernard may be much less stingy than my girls, but in the end they do much the same thing.

Hello LJ … hope you are enjoying the last of 2020 too. Good your headache is gone….

I had the cortisone injection in my foot on Christmas Eve, and when the doctor warned it wouldn’t be pleasant, he was right. The arthritis didn’t leave much of a gap for the needle! Ooooh, how important our feet are.

On that note, I’d best get up on mine and turn on the news, so see what particular dramas are besetting the world today. Maybe there’ll even be some good news soon.

Hugs to you all, posters and lurkers.

Morning all, well day 3 ride and I went a bit further afield. I went up to the lookouts and then out to Colac Bay and back, all up around 90 minutes of riding and I still feel pretty good (well I did after a coffee and a pile of scrambled eggs afterwards)

Glad you enjoyed your trip John, my parents went in for the games too. It’s a bit of a tradition for us to go in to Millers flat for a few days and go in to Alex to watch the T20 games, but I skipped it this year.

Hi Lindsay, I’m down in Riverton at the moment so the coffee shop was a little local cafe called “The Crib”. The coffee was a nice strong brew without too much foam that most people put on “flat” whites these days.

Thin, good news on the vaccine in the UK, is that vaccine the one that doesn’t need to be stored at super low temperatures like the Pfizer vaccine?

We’re packing up and heading back home today. When we get back I’ll have to get back out training on the bike. I’m hoping to do the Alps to Ocean track in February and I want to do it over a long weekend, which means I’ll be doing about 100 kilometres a day over 3 days so I’m really going to have to work on my conditioning.

Have a great day everyone and I’ll see you all tomorrow when it will no longer be 2020!

Oh Anzac, you will be waking up in hospital, or maybe had one of those hospital nights when you don’t really sleep. But I do hope you are feeling heaps better and really well looked after. I’m keen to hear how you are today.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/kk4WfH7m2h8/maxresdefault.jpg

Thin, wonderful news re the Oxford vaccine approval. UK needed some good news. Melbourne had the same issue with people who were unable to stop working. Here it is because many people work terribly low paid part time casual jobs where they can hardy pay for the basics, let alone save money. The Pandemic Leave Disaster Payment the govt put in place was a very necessary health measure to stop the virus spreading.

So glad you got to zoom with family friends. Goodness I can’t imagine a school reunion on zoom, but I hope it is fun.

Hello LJoyce, I hope you are having a good day.

Neil, hooray that your knee(s) are recovering so well. And hooray for good coffee.

Lindsay, super trigger response. What a wonderful way to end the year.
And I love love love your DD’s idea for spreading the feasting over the Christmas season so it is lighter and more enjoyable.

You started a lovely conversation among my sisters as we reminisced plum pudding icecream, and one sister still had my mum’s recipe and has shared it around.

Haha re Black Books, my other compost bin is Fran. For a while I had a third one called Manny. (edit: wrote this and then saw your post 😀 )

Sympathy re the agonising injection in your foot. I do hope the cortisone is doing its trick after all that pain.
Yes, feet are so precious!

Eek the news yesterday.

Jony, welcome home, what a wonderful country you live in. Hooray for managing to feast without ballooning, and yay for getting back on the 5:2 horse. It is always nicely waiting for us.

I had two productive days, although none of the things I cooked were up to standard, sigh. Fine, but not as wonderful as they should have been.
I had such a lovely time with my friend yesterday (and she was very polite about the food).
But it has caught up with me today, and while I can have a slower day, my grandchildren are coming over, with bikes, to check out the flat quiet road here, so I have decided not to fast today. Sensible eating, playing with my darlings, and looking forward to my next fast day.

Well, it is the last day of 2020. What a year. Best wishes to you all.

We have another day to go, but it’s already New Years Eve down under and all of you will be welcoming 2021 tonight. There were lots of good things this past year, but a tough one for all of us I think. So let’s look forward to better times ahead in 2021. I think this about sums it up: https://2021happynewyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/new-year-2021-wishes.jpg

Anzac, I’m so sorry to hear that you ended up in the hospital but glad the drip meds and saline have you on the mend. What a way to finish out 2020! I hope you’ll be back at home by the time you read this. I loved reading about OH and his friend watching cricket from the pool. It’s nice to imagine warm weather these days. I always seem to feel cold.

Neil, it’s good to hear your knees are healing and your bike can be repaired and the bloke who hit you had insurance. Don’t overdo the riding while you’re healing.

LJ, I’ve been eating more than I should too, but managing to at least hold the line. I’m managing to get in a few more steps each day too, mostly indoors because it’s been under 10C most days this week. I love reading about all the warm weather over there.

Cinque, have fun with the littles and their bikes today. It sounds like it’s going to be a busy day for you. The Indian food you made for your friend sounds so good. Even if it didn’t turn out quite as expected, I bet it was very good. I made an Indian dish last night with curried lentils, chickpeas, diced tomatoes, green peas, coconut milk and fresh coriander. The nice thing about it is it’s very good for leftovers as well.

Lindsay, 7 kilos of honey from one bar sounds like a lot! It sounds like your hives are going very well and helping to pollinate your fruit trees at the same time. Does your nephew’s wife have to attend classes in person in NY or can she do it remotely? So many universities are doing classes online these days. At any rate they’ll probably have to be hunkered down most of the time since Covid is so rampant in most states these days. I fear that the numbers will get worse when tests come back from everyone traveling and getting together over the holidays. Too many Covidiots!

Thin, we will probably be celebrating New Years Eve much the same as you and OH, hunkered down at home. Do people go outside on the boats to ring in the New Year? I suppose a lot will depend on the weather and if it’s warm or rainy. We’ll be at home watching the ball drop at midnight in Time Square and maybe a bit of the entertainment. It will seem strange with the streets of New York empty except for the entertainers. Who knows, they may be filming from a studio somewhere too. We’ll probably get in a couple episodes of McLeod’s Daughters (we just started season 6 out of 8 seasons) and perhaps Outlander. I’m making eggplant parmesan and a salad for dinner. None of us felt like filet mignon or lobster this year.

John, your family celebrations for Christmas sound wonderful. What will you be doing for New Year’s Eve? I love seeing all the photos of your area. NZ is such a beautiful country!

Happy New Year everyone! I feel so lucky to have found all of you here and I’m looking forward to 2021 and sticking closer to the 5:2 or FD800 to lose these extra 10kg.

https://imgur.com/a/Ms5uanb

Happy New Year, fast family!

It’s 12.12am on Jan 1, 2021 here in Enzed, so we can put that horrible ol’ 2020 behind us and look forward to better times in 2021.

Yes, it will still be tough for a while, but if we all pull together we can get there. We’d love to see the citizens of the world back in our beautiful part of the world once everything is safe again – we miss you all!

Stay safe, fast family.

Ka kite, John

Happy new year everyone, I hope your 2021 is everything your 2020 wasn’t 😉

Happy new year everyone. I second Neil’s wish for a better year ahead. I think this is one time than hoping for a better year than the one just gone might almost be guaranteed – touch wood!

Betsy, I am relieved to hear from you, but so sorry that the christmas period has been such a troubled time for you. I hope this year is a time of healing for you and your loved ones.

Anzac, very pleased to see you home and I’m not surprised Maxx has you pinned to the couch – making sure you don’t disappear again.

Cali, I’m very pleased to hear you are able to add more movement to your days despite the many obstacles to being active that you face. I find activity helps not just my physical wellbeing but my mood and sleep patterns too – all so very important.

Cinque, I hope you are feeling a little more rested and not worn out with the granddaughter time.

Hello also to Thin, Penguin, John, Neil, Turn, Lindsay, Quacka, Intesha, GDSA, KellBell, Rae_of_sunshine and anyone else I have missed. I hope this year ahead brings positive things for all of you.

I spent the afternoon at my nephew’s place and helped out with some gardening they were doing. (They sent me home with a lovely bale of lucerne hay which my own garden will love. Lucerne is hard to buy in the suburbs and usually requires a trip to farming areas so it’s a luxury item for me.)
It was his wife’s birthday today and as she loves maltesers I made a malteser themed cake as her birthday cake. The cake was malted milk flavour, filled with chocolate ganache and covered in chocolate flavoured whipped cream and lots of maltesers. https://imgur.com/a/kMHsrLt It’s always a struggle to get a smooth finish with cream but I think it tastes better than buttercream so I accept a rustic finish as I know the flavour will be better with fresh cream. I left when they decided to go out and get fish and chips for dinner – I just didn’t want to deal with that temptation. I’m having scrambled eggs.

Take care all.

https://imgur.com/a/tXUujQu

Kia ora, fast friends

Who stole summer? We might have done well when it comes to fighting covid but I can’t say the same for our weather. All over NZ, long looked-forward-to events are being cancelled or postponed as the rain keeps sheeting down. We’re into the second month of “summer” but it’s only 13degC here today, so people around the world who planned to visit us this summer can rest assured you’re not missing much – especially if you were going to stay in a tent!

I started yesterday on my second FD after the big Xmas blowout and ended up ditching fasting after lunch, as my nearest & dearest decided to stage an impromptu dinner party for family. Our little grandsons (5 & 1 1/2) are pictured and I’m sure you’ll agree I couldn’t tell them to stay home as I’m on a fast day! By the way, I went to an Irish bar in Dunedin for lunch and I tucked into a . . . long black coffee (and a thin malt biscuit I had smuggled in).

Funny thing is, after wining and dining last night, I weighed in this morn and I hadn’t gained any weight since Thurs morning – still stuck on 100.5kg. So maybe after 14 weeks of 5:2 fasting, some of my deep-seated midriff fat has burned off and the fat generated during blowouts disappeared when I returned to fasting? Has anyone else noticed this?

Oh well, better nip out and check the drainage, as they’re warning of flooding here in Dunners today.

Ka kite, John

Betsy, welcome back, sorry to read of your family death.

LJ, good job being 4kgs lighter than this time last year.

Jony, I’ve found that the body will happily absorb the odd transgression. For me, strict adherence to 5:2 in maintenance allowed me an occasional restaurant meal. I think I was more careful during the weight loss phase but it’s so long ago, I can’t really remember. I’ve been on 6:1 for about 15 months and that requires a lot more care on the other six days.

Cinque, I bet your friend loved everything you offered. Sorry to hear of your covid numbers. I’m going to check the Oz news to find out what you mean by exploding numbers. After months of quietly seething and saying nothing, I’ve started speaking out when covidiots jeopardise my health and safety. The other day I asked a group of people blocking our path on a bridge to move aside. They looked at me as if I had two heads so I asked if they were familiar with social distancing requiring six feet between us. On NYE, I reported a supermarket for failing to keep us safe by allowing hundreds of shoppers in the store and not enforcing either mask-wearing or SD. I’ve yet to hear from the supermarket itself. We wouldn’t normally shop there but our late-night expedition to ALDI the previous night had been thwarted as they’d run out of essentials.

CalifD, we watched ‘Death to 2020’ after you mentioned it. I’d previously passed it over as I don’t like Samuel L Jackson or any movie he’s ever been in. Like you, we found it mildly amusing, but we thought it had one or two hilarious moments. Interesting that it suddenly transformed itself into a serious documentary when covering the BLM events, then reverted to comedy once that coverage was finished.

Anzac, so pleased that you’re safely home and out of hospital. Take it easy.

Good morning from rainy grey Melbourne and a happy garden.
Fast Day for me!

Thin, our covid numbers are much less explosive today and all linked to one superspreading event at a restaurant. Hopefully the wonderful contact tracers can catch everyone before there is another superspreading event.

I applaud you for saying something to people who are being covid unsafe. There was a lot of that in Melbourne lockdown and it does make people change behaviour. I’ve said things a couple of times, looked daggers a few times more, and kicked myself for not saying something at other times. Luckily every time we start getting complacent there is another scare.And I really wanted to get this on a Tshirt: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ekt8nB8XUAEKEnm.jpg (I think I might have posted this before, but it is so good, with warning)

LJoyce, ha you couldn’t have known she would ask for fondant! You might have to put caveats on your offers in future 😀
(I am with you in thinking it doesn’t taste so nice)

Cheers for your last food restricted day, and a lovely transition back to 5:2. And all power to you with your food resolution/hope.

Dr Mosley has a flurry of tweets at the moment due to his wife’s new book of Fast800 recipes called ‘Fast800 Easy’ and a set of articles from him in the Daily Mail. He is doing a week of 800fast to get rid of Christmas kilos.

I’m heading out of the house (always a good thing on a fast day) to hit Savers and see if I can find pale cotton kids clothes as it is going to be dyeing day this week (the kidlets dyed shopping bags my daughter crocheted for their teachers at the end of the year, and want to do some more).

And I do hope I feel well enough to henna my hair when I get back home.

Happy fasting or normal-daying to you all.

Good afternoon all.

I am very glad to have finished my limited option days and will slowly work my way back to a full range of foods. I am still steering clear of added sugars, processed foods, nuts and grains/bread. (The latter two are just because I tend to overeat these.) My intention for this week was to eat just fruits, vegetables, dairy and a little solid protein and make a hearty bowl of soup for dinner each night. I guess I have started that way but it will be soup for both lunch and dinner today. It was cold when I returned from the doctor’s appointment and I really felt like hot soup. So I made greek lentil soup for lunch and I’m making a veggie, dairy and red lentil soup for dinner. (I’ve put both recipes on our Beans and Lentils page: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/beans-and-lentils-recipes-tips-and-information/page/3/
In case you were wondering, I had no legumes while I did my 9 days of restricted daily options and I really missed them. Hence two lentil soups today.

Cinque, I think Victoria’s contact tracing has come a long way, they are doing very well with current outbreak. That must be such a relief.
I had a giggle at your t-shirt.

Thin, one of our politician’s just echoed your views – “If you don’t want to wear a mask that’s fine, stay home or stay outdoors.”
I don’t think I’m a saint. I enjoy baking and wouldn’t have offered to bake for birthdays in I didn’t. I bake 11 birthday cakes a year (9 family, my eldest great-nephew’s girlfriend and my best friend). If they were spread out evenly across the year it would be fine. Unfortunately some months are rather over represented.

I had big win yesterday. I found a packet of ready rolled fondant icing that is more than large enough for my needs. The cake is feeling much more manageable now.

Have a lovely day.

Good morning,
I had an excellent fasty fast day on Sunday, a good light eating day yesterday and a nice start to today: zucchini flower fritters.

I plan to make some soup, and am inspired by your lentil soup recipes, LJoyce.

I’m glad you enjoyed that picture I linked.
Top of the news this morning is your big UK lockdown, Thin. Thinking of you all.
Penguin, I’d love to hear how you are going, and sending good wishes still. I haven’t stopped sending you flowers, but last week was crazy. I am recovering.

Yes, our contact tracing is revamped and so many other processes that were tested are too, but still the newsfeed is full of stories of people getting mucked around and the wrong info etc. These testing times will hopefully lead to more and more improvement in our bureaucracies. And more and more clarity on what good politicians do!

And good citizens. I have been thoughtless at times, especially at the beginning, learning new habits, so appreciate being told politely rather than angrily. We are all on a learning curve.

LJoyce, hooray for the rolled fondant. Hopefully now the cake making will be enjoyable.

Well, I am recovered enough from the last few weeks to start getting myself organised, I hope. I will start with food, organising recipes and shopping so I can start to stack my fridge and freezer again with easy, delicious, nutritious meals.

I am doing well (touch wood) with a 12 hour, at least, overnight fast. No snacking, and four hours between meals. I am concentrating on lots of low carb vegetables and lean protein.

Ooh looking forward to sitting down and planning some cooking. But first, the kitchen bench, the lentil soup!

Cheers all!