Oh no G’day, our posts crossed. I am so very sorry for the terrible burn to your poor poor hand. I shuddered reading about it as burns are so incredibly painful. I do hope it heals quickly 🙁
This topic contains 28,288 replies, has 835 voices, and was last updated by thinatlast 2 days, 11 hours ago.
Good evening all.
I had a lovely shady (and quite cool) walk along the creek through Hawthorndene this morning – very enjoyable. My infusion also went well and the nurse brought me some lovely organic eggs – as a thank you for the homegrown veggies I usually load her up with. The eggs are huge – about twice the size of the ones I usually buy. I couldn’t wait to try them so I cooked a couple of zucchinis with some mushrooms, bacon and herbs. The stuffed it all into an omelette along with a little parmesan. It was really yummy.
GDSA, so sorry to hear about the burn. I’m so glad you can still continue with your placement in useful ways while it’s healing. I hope it gets better very soon.
Anzac, your walk sounds lovely too. There is something so inviting with shady tree lined streets. I hope you get the rash sorted out quickly for your Dad – I have never heard of someone being allergic to cherries, but I’m sure it’s possible.
Neil, they are wicked looking wheels. You are going to need a new sporty outfit for that!
Jony, I totally agree – like most retirees I wonder when I ever found time to work. I think that’s always a good sign that you are filling your life with wonderful new activities.
Lindsay, good luck on 8 weeks at 800cals – that’s a much bigger challenge than I was originally imagining.
That’s a good reminder about eating windows. I haven’t read the Fast800 book lately and didn’t pick up on the eating window recommendations. I really need to think about how well I am following the eating window lately – too many late night snacks. I usually don’t just snack in the evening, I try to make the end of dinner the end of food for the day. However the only time I usually take strong pain killers is either at bed time, or more commonly 1-2 hours after I’ve gone to bed and been unable to get to sleep because of pain. The pain relief that works best in this situation is something I can’t take on an empty stomach, so I have been finding myself taking pain killers and eating a handful of rice crackers dipped in peanut butter at 1 or 2 am. It’s been happening several times a week and I really need to find a better solution.
Have a good evening all.
Good morning and what a lot of posts after a quiet period. But can I remember everything from the previous page?
Anzac, enjoy that long-awaited Christmas celebration! Interested to read that you got into a selected SA school. DD’s high school selection was painstakingly researched – we inspected 12 state & private schools. In the end, she got into WA’s only academically selected state school saving us a bucket load of cash on the private school we’d considered. She was very happy there and in the final year book wrote, “I’d been disappointed not to receive a letter from Hogwarts but Perth Modern was the next best thing”. Even the uniform colours were identical to Hogwarts!
Jony, that’s a nice steady weight loss pace. You really made me laugh about, ‘The Crown’. The writers took many liberties with the story line and I thought it was so funny that you singled out the NZ Bee thing! I remember feeling indignant when in ‘Gorillas in the Mist’, Dian Fossey had been portrayed as a physio when in fact she’d been an O.T. – as if cinema audiences weren’t sophisticated enough to understand the difference.
Neil, during Britain’s first lockdown, every man and his dog bought a bicycle and all the bike shops were ‘sold out’ for months. We’d intended to buy a couple of folding bikes. A few boaters here on the sardina have e-scooters which OH would also dearly love. Currently, they’re illegal unless you’re using one from a hire company. Work that logic out.
GDSA, I hope you feel better soon. Burns are horrid.
It’s been a beautiful sunny day and we’ve had two long walks. But 8 hours have passed since I started this and I shall have to return to the previous page as I’ve completely forgotten what anyone else wrote. Except that Cinque had a good FD and went out but found Melburnians not all managing SD. I’m having a laugh at Perth people panicking about TP. Whenever there was a public holiday in Perth, people would flock to the supermarkets the day before as if a famine were on the way. Odd behaviour.
PS Hello LJ, you’ve since posted. And oh dear, Captain Tom spent Christmas in Barbados with his family?
Gday, sorry to hear about your hand. I hope it heals well and there’s no underlying damage to the nerves or anything.
Well I rode 75 kilometers yesterday. Not quite the 100 I was hoping for, but it was getting quite windy towards the end of the day and there’s nothing worse than trying to slog away into a howling headwind.
I found out that you can ride to the airport at Mt Cook and catch a helicopter to the start of the trail, so I’m going to give that a go. It sounds like it would be awesome fun.
Have a great day everyone.
Good morning my little lovelies (channeling Aunty Jack)
I had a good non fast day yesterday and even got quite a lot of housework done (comparatively).
Wow Lindsay, 8 weeks of fast 800, may it be a wonderful ride. Twice as long as Neil’s Whole30. I hope you can give us a commentary.
I bet Mr L had a wonderful U3A time.
Yes! Our posts did cross yesterday. I wonder if they will today.
Jony we did miss you, but so nice to know you have been busy with wonderful things.
Your new bike group sounds very popular.
I bet you are enjoying not having to carry that extra 8kg around.
Gday, what a terrible accident. I am so sorry to hear how long it took for you to get relief, but thank goodness it is dressed now, and hooray for excellent pain meds to get your through the next days. Take it as easy as you can, it is so exhausting to be dealing with pain, meds, and healing.
Anzac, congratulations on your good run, may it continue!
I do hope your dad’s rash goes away soon, stopping eating cherries would be a sad but easy fix. Lots of good wishes for your super family get-together this weekend.
Neil, your ride just keeps getting more exciting. Helicopter!
LJoyce so glad your walk was lovely and your infusion was (comparatively) easy. Yay for fresh eggs from backyard chooks! My sister brought me some last week (plus tomatoes and cucumbers) and there is nothing better.
The eating window is something I am not good at! I do 12 hours fairly easily but only occasionally manage to increase it to 14 or 16 hours.
However, my new habit of eating my main meal 2ish is becoming more and more entrenched, which feels good. The rest of the day hangs on it nicely, I can make my breakfast a bit lighter as I promise myself a good next meal, and then it fills me up so it is easy to have a lighter evening meal.
I just need to make sure I am not too tired, or miserable, accidentally set off the munchies, or the 50 other things I accidentally do which messes it up.
But since I am on a good roll I am doing better at planning the days food, and that is a big help. Today: zucchini slice (first one of the season) and coffee for breakfast, dal, veggies, and a flatbread for lunch, soup with meatballs for my evening meal.
Best wishes and all good things
PS now linking to three pages behind
Morning. Day 2 on the fast 800 8 week program safely put to bed. I dropped another .6, and my friend .7. I know it’s a lot of water in these early days, but such an incentive. My observation is that after 3 years of this WOL, and changing my eating patterns, I’m not as challenged as I’d expected (but early days of course).
I like the new cook book too. I didn’t really need another cook book, but it is good, and flexible. I’m eating more (and better) carbs and a piece of fruit each day, but there’s also room for my one square of 70% Lindt, so the food seems more balanced than my strict no carbs regime when I dropped my original weight. Last night I made cauliflower and white bean soup… when I got to crunch time, I had no white beans so substituted borlotti. It didn’t look particularly pretty, and was quite bland, so I added 50 grams of blue vein cheese to make it more to OH’s taste. It was OK, just, although he had wholegrain toast and quite enjoyed it.
LJ I don’t know what the answer is with pain killers and food. The only option I can think of is eating later in the morning, to balance it out? Or perhaps if you feel you will have a bad night, take the tablets before you go to bed, so you aren’t woken by pain.
Cinque, The new book recommends a 12:12 window, building to 14:10. But it does say that benefits come with 12;12, so if you are doing that, perhaps it’s enough?
Jony, Thin. Don’t get OH started on writers taking liberties with history! He is an expert on Elizabethan history and literature….historical inaccuracies drive him totally crackers (e.g. Elizabeth 1 meeting her sister Mary, which only happened in the movies). In programs like the Crown, the little inaccuracies then bring the veracity of the whole story into question.
Ooh Neil, helicopters! That gave me shivers. I had occasion to travel in them a couple of times in my former life, and I can still feel the alarm. It will be a pretty view for you though.
Thin in Brisbane, State High is the public school with a top reputation. My DD did a story last year about families..mostly from overseas…who’d were living elsewhere but had bought apartments in the area (a lot of high density units) so they could register as being in the catchment. The school had employed a security firm to check on residence …it seems kids would go to the units on their way home to turn on lights and water, to give the impression that the units were inhabited. The reason? some of the private schools wouldn’t take them, because their language skills weren’t up to the mark. The family next door is doing the same; the boys are going to the local state primary school to learn English, because St Peters (local private co-ed school) won’t take them until they can. Ironically, they’ll get every bit as good an education at the state school as they will in the private (and I speak from experience; my kids went to both).
OK do I go back a page and lose the lot? Best not. It’s pouring rain here today – a good day to reorganise my wardrobe, in anticipation of a slimmer me.
Lindsay, I’m interested in this. Does St. Peters private school also offer co-ed high schooling? Or do the girls have to move on? Perth has the same issues with families buying into suburbs where the state schools have the best reputation. We took a lot of criticism from our then friends for selecting the state school and heard all the myths about girls doing better in an all-girls environment, failing at sciences, etc. DD absolutely thrived in the environment with like-minded, highly motivated students. She was always challenged. Boys weren’t ever a factor. Teachers expected to be challenged by thinking minds. The parent demographic included the WA State Governor and mostly well-educated people with a genuine interest for education vs. the snobbery we’d felt surrounding the local private girls’ school with its heavy focus on sport. A reputation undeserved when the academic results were studied and at a cost of (then) AUD17k p/a. It’s a very personal thing though so everyone has to make the best choice they can for their particular child.
Fast800: Is everyone here doing this now? I haven’t really followed it. I’ve stuck with 500 cal FDs, although I strive for 350 ( no hope when I add milk to my coffee). I hope I remember to fast tomorrow. Wednesdays’ meals will be a carbon copy of Sundays’ for four weeks so it should be easy enough.
Hotel Q: oh dear, flaws in the system in Perth. Hopefully the quick response will be enough. And now a big bushfire with many homes lost.
Good evening everyone.
Thin, it seems you have already seen the worrying news of the bushfire near Perth. The last update I saw said at least 85 homes lost – and that was up by 30 from 4 hours earlier. Also a lot of confusion as those areas were in covid lockdown and people didn’t know where they were allowed to evacuate to – thankfully the Premier has now cleared that up and said they can go to relatives.
Thin & Lindsay, school catchment is an issue here too. My best friend’s first home was a unit in the catchment for an excellent state high school and when she married and they bought their house she kept the unit as a rental. It was very popular with families wanting to get into the catchment – which they promptly left after the first lease ended.
It’s amazing how far this issues has moved in a couple of generations.
Growing up I didn’t know we had good state high schools because they were only available to city kids. In country towns you don’t get a choice of school unless your parents were wealthy enough to send you to boarding school (only the local dentist and doctor did that). Although most kids didn’t aspire to university, those of us that did got the grades to get in. My mother didn’t even get to go to high school because their farm was too far from the nearest high school by horse (the only available transport). Unfortunately that meant she was expected to go out to work at age 12. We take access to an education for granted now, but it wasn’t always so.
Cinque, I’m glad you finally got to make a zucchini slice – I hope it’s good. I have mostly been doing other things with mine. I’ve only made one slice and wasn’t happy with it – I need to go back to the old trusted recipe.
Neil, the helicopter ride to Mt Cook sounds exciting. I’m surprised they have room to take bikes on board, but then I’ve actually never been inside a helicopter.
Quite some time ago I remember having a discussion here with Thin and Cali about Mexican food. I think I was trying to plan a Mexican themed family dinner at the time. While reading the BBC news website today I happened across this interesting article: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20210131-does-authentic-mexican-food-exist Although it’s incredibly obvious, I hadn’t considered that Mexican food would be a gradual melding of indigenous and Spanish foods and cooking styles over a 500 year period. I also find the idea presented in the article that there isn’t one Mexican cuisine, but there are many traditional regional cuisines. That’s true of many countries and yet I’d not considered it in relation Mexico.
It’s early days of trying to find an alternative to the pain killers and late night snack issue. I am making progress, due to some unexpected insights. Yesterday I wore one of those heat patches on my lower back because I knew I’d be out for a few hours. As it was still warm at bedtime I decided to leave it there overnight. I usually heat a wheat bag to put on my lower back as I’m trying to get to sleep but it doesn’t seem to stop the pain developing that then requires pain relief. Oddly, the heat patch did do that. So I’m repeating the same thing today to see if I get the same result.
Good night all.
LJ, I remember the Mexican food conversation. I’ve had a quick look at the article. Interesting also about the education thing especially surrounding your mother’s era. Things have changed for farmers it seems. Most of the boarders at the two private schools in our (former) Perth suburb comprised the children of WA farming families.
CalifD, good news for OH, he gets his first vaccination on Saturday. Nothing much will change but it feels good to be getting things rolling. We don’t yet know which one. Meanwhile, Captain Tom has died.
Good morning everyone, it is lovely in my part of Melbourne.
Rest in peace Captain Tom Moore.
Lindsay great start to the Fast 800 and such a good idea to use the new recipe book to make it all easier, and interesting too, I imagine.
Yes, I feel like I am okay keeping the 12 hour window and an extra tick any time I manage to extend it.
Thin, I think I am informed by the Fast800, and remember that when I started 5:2 I was influenced by the ‘Which is the right diet for you’ series in which the 5:2 team had 800cal maximum for FD. I still prefer to keep my fast days as fasty as I can (more like 350 cal).
The differences I can see are 1. that the 800 cal max makes it easier for many people, and easier to avoid missing out on nutrition on fast days. But still nothing to stop fasty fast days.
2. That starting off with some time doing 800 a day, if you want to, gives a good satisfying start.
And 3 that the emphasis on following Mediterranean Diet Guidelines is much better than the original ‘eat whatever you like on non fast days’.
LJoyce, ooh hooray, I do hope the heat patch continues to be a wonderful fix for the pain at night.
Lovely article about Mexican food. I remember reading a book by Diana Kennedy, mentioned in the article, and realising that Mexican food wasn’t: “In Mexico, everything on the menu is the same dish. The only difference is the way it’s folded.” (Billy Connolly).
Awful news of the property loss in the WA fires, and it is not over yet. Such a relief that it seems no lives have been lost.
I had a bad day yesterday (just a little thing sparked it off, sigh) and my planned eating went out the window and hooray I didn’t have rubbish food in the house. I am glad it is a new day. I’m skipping breakfast and have dal and veggies for lunch again, with a little brown rice, and bessara soup in the evening with a couple of slices of haloumi and some lettuce for accompaniment. I’ll fast on Thursday.
Hoping that no one else had a bad eating day, Gday, that you are managing all those things one handed, and everyone is able to enjoy this precious day.
Morning all
Thin, I haven’t been fasting much at the moment, I’m cycling so much that I need the calories, but I am attempting to stick mainly to whole foods. It seems to be working because I managed to stay away from sugar and bread the last few days and my weight dropped 800g to 88.4kg at this week’s weigh-in. When I was fasting I was hitting between 800 and 1000 calories depending on how busy I had been.
Cinque, sorry you had a rough day, hopefully you’ll have a better fast day on Thursday
Ljoyce, good news on the heat pack, hopefully it will work again tonight.
I had a weird thing happen today, I was riding to work and my seat felt funny, then the whole seat fell off my bike, seat post and all. I put it back on and rode gently in to work, I went down at morning tea time to check it out and I saw that the little pad under the seat post clamp had come off on one side, so I went and had it replaced so hopefully that will fix things.
Have a great one everyone.
Good morning all.
Sorry you had a bad day yesterday Cinque – here’s hoping for easy and lovely fasty one today.
I have dropped another .7 …yes, water, but I’ll take it. So after 3 full days, I’m down a couple of kilos. My friend, too. I made grilled chicken with coleslaw and a green salad last night. Actually OH made the coleslaw – such a fiddly job – and I dressed it with yoghurt to replace most of the mayo.
Sad news this morning about Captain Tom, and the situation in WA.
re schools …LJ, Thin. St Peters is a co-ed Lutheran school (primary and secondary) with a strong academic focus. My kids went to the local state primary school (which I also attended, as did my father, and now the two little girls) before moving to St Peters in high school, where they both thrived. I wanted a co-ed school that didn’t involve hours of travel. At the time the local state high school (which I had attended) didn’t have a good reputation, but it does now – excellent in fact – and that’s where the little girls will go.
Haven’t things changed dramatically in just a generation LJ? Your family’s experience I think would have been not uncommon back then.
Thin, as Cinque says, 800 is what’s recommended for a fast day in the new program, but instead of the ‘eat what you like’ on other days, there’s a focus on Mediterranean food and portion control. I quite like the idea that this wol is about healthy eating 7 days a week. Certainly 800 is very manageable and I’m hoping I get through the 8 weeks on it. Time will tell!
Great Mr Thin is having his shot; OH’s cousins in Glasgow had theirs yesterday too. The vaccine rollout in the UK seems to be happening very quickly and efficiently. Yea again for the NHS.
There’s some weak sunshine but more rain on the way, so I’m off to take advantage. bye all
Good morning all from a cool but sunny Sydney
That seat problem could have been very nasty Neil! Glad you were still able to ride the bike to work and get it replaced before you accidentally sat on something painful
I’m sorry to hear you had a bad day yesterday Cinque and I hope today is better.
LJ/Thin, I’ve thought about trying to do a Mexican themed meal but nothing ever really stood out as delicious or very authentic. I tried Mole when we were in Mexico and did not like it one bit. Chocolate does not go with protein, no matter what anyone says! The one thing I really did enjoy there was quesadillas – especially chicken and cheese with chilli. Yum
I was so very sad to hear about Captain Tom…..what a shining inspiration. As soon as I heard he was in hospital with Covid I realised he didn’t have much of a chance given his age.
Dad came for dinner last night and his rash is horrendous. He saw the skin specialist yesterday and he gave him steroid tablets so I hope that helps. None of the creams or AB’s that the doctor gave him are helping one bit. The skin guy also said that simple moisturiser might help so I had a spare pump pack of Cocoa butter and he put some on and said there was instant relief. So I swathed his back in it and sent it home with him. He is so stoic but we could immediately tell he was feeling miserable 🙁 He has also lost weight as he lost his appetite but said he felt hungry and tucked into his dinner with relish so hopefully that means he is feeling better.
Great news that your OH is getting his jab soon Thin. I am very interested in the topics of high schools. As I mentioned, I got into a state selective school and everyone rejoiced. Everyone except my Mum; she said that I wouldn’t enjoy it. My sister went to the same school but we are very different in that she loved to study and wanted to go to university and become a teacher (which she did). I was not studious and also shy and self conscious. Guess who was right? I hated it. 900 very smart, competitive girls and me. Other than English and Music where I always managed to get A’s, every other subject was a C or D and that was NOT tolerated in a selective school. The pressure was stupid and despite being quite desperate to become a journalist I simply couldn’t tolerate the other subjects and left 6 weeks into year 11. Mum got me into TAFE to do a secretarial course and I ended up in a bank as a typist when I was 18. The rest, as they say, is history 🙂 I did eventually do a diploma in Financial Markets in my 20’s that took 5 years but I received nothing less than a distinction for every subject so that made me feel much less stupid!!
Whoo hoo on your joint progress with your friend Lindsay!
A meeting looms so I must go. Take care all
Anzac, Lindsay, I enjoyed reading all that about schooling.
Lindsay, it’s so encouraging to read that the state school’s reputation has improved over the years enabling your family to re-evaluate their decision-making.
Anzac, I went to a fancy private boarding school in England (called public school here) and begged my dad to take me out. He said it’s better to be at the bottom of a good school than top of a rubbish one. I wasn’t happy at the time but, looking back, I have always felt grateful for that very good education. I do wish I’d paid better attention to some subjects (history) but was fairly good at English Lang & Lit, Geography and Art.
As I mentioned, it’s such a personal decision and even children from the same family might not be suited to the same school as with Anzac’s sibling. I was the social co-ordinator for parents in DD’s year so I knew most parents as, by definition, we attended all the events I organised. We became quite good friends with a paediatrician/RFDS physician couple whose daughter was in DD’s year in high school. They’d made a completely different decision for the younger daughter. The girl in DD’s class didn’t go on to uni, or even accept the place offered at drama school but was catapulted to instant fame in LA as the star of ’13 Reasons Why’. Her parents might have been slightly apprehensive that Katherine didn’t want to pursue medical school but ultimately supported her career choice. Not everyone needs to go to university.
Mexican food: I think we discussed at the time that the commercial food sold in boxes and jars in our supermarkets is known as TexMex. You don’t have to drive too far south of the border to find authentic Mexican – whatever the definition. Anzac, disappointed that you didn’t enjoy mole! I love quesadillas – a thing of the past for me, sadly.
Anzac, hope your dad starts feeling better soon.
Lindsay, very encouraging results. Who cares if it’s water? A loss is a loss! I’m on my Wednesday FD. The first in 17 months. Your friend must be thrilled.
Cinque/Lindsay, thanks for summarising the Fast800 premise. When it was first touted, I understood it to be a sort of 5:2 compromise for people unable to cope with 500 cals. I just ignored it since the naked 5:2 had always served me well. I’ll investigate more Mediterranean recipes now.
Neil, it’s good that you have determined the food culprits. I enjoyed your account of the bike seat falling off. I found a bike half lodged in a muddy river bank earlier in the week and made the mistake of mentioning it to OH who has returned to rescue it. He now has a project fixing it up while I try to locate its owner if perhaps it was stolen/abandoned. If I’m unsuccessful, we will give it to DD when we leave here as I’m determined ‘no clutter on the boat roof’.
LJ/Neil, this is the chopper that my OH flew in Africa, India and UAE. https://www.leonardocompany.com/en/products/aw139 If you scroll down the page, you can see the capacity. Plenty of room for bikes. In the UAE, he was working for the military on Search and Rescue missions so they were modified to accommodate stretchers.
Cinque, I hope you’re having a better day. You can take over my FD.
Good morning, baton caught, thanks Thin!
I had a much better day yesterday, thanks everyone, babysat last night, home and asleep before Premier Dan Andrews press conference. We had JUST got to 28 days with no community transfer. Reset the counter.
But relief to hear the WA fires news, good work fireys.
Neil, good work avoiding those less needed foods and yikes the bike seat! What a start to the day.
Lindsay, three great days. Yummm coleslaw.
Schoolwise, my daughter got into Melbourne Girls College, public school, but more like a private school. She demanded to be transferred to Swinburne Secondary College for her final two years and was much happier in that arty, less formal school. Carving her own way beautifully of course (and surprising me as I was sure she had an academic brain).
Anzac, your poor dad! A good sign if his appetite was returning. So glad you could feed him up.
Thin, I love the Mediterranean Diet Guidelines. Not pizza and pasta! It might have been Dr Mosley who pointed out that the new Nordic eating might be the best current example of the Mediterranean Diet Guidelines. I used it a lot for my food project as research keeps putting it top for healthy diets.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-weight/diet-reviews/mediterranean-diet/
And wow, what a huge wonderful helicopter!
Penguin https://www.fiftyflowers.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/iStock-659171982-1170×449.jpg
Best wishes now
PS I have my third pumpkin started! Selfsown, but clearly a Kent pumpkin vine.
Hello everyone
The pain killer/heat pack/sleep experiment continues. Last night I used a hot wheat bag rather than the adhesive patch and I had a lot more difficulty getting to sleep and staying asleep – but I was determined to to take any pain killers. I had to get up several times to reheat the wheat bag – which seems to be the main issue with that option. The adhesive heat patch is definitely the best solution.
Cinque, I am fasting with you today. I have 100g chicken breast with a small serve of vegetable grain and a big pile of home grown runner beans.
I love your picture for Penguin – it looks like a flower carpet.
I’ve always thought that the traditional Greek diet was a better example of the Mediterranean Diet than what we think of Italian food being. Mostly because the Greeks eat so much fish and seafood with plenty of seasonal vegetables and olive oil.
Anzac, your Dad’s skin rash does sound awful. I hope the steroids help an that you can find the source of the allergy soon. In addition to foods, it’s worth thinking about any changes in medications, laundry products, soap, shampoo etc. Sometimes the brand can be the same but the manufacturer will change an ingredient that causes a problem – this happened to me with a shampoo and as I wash my hair under the shower the runoff can effect your skin too and not just your scalp.
Thin, I am just imaging a bicycle precariously perched on top of your boat – with any sudden movements likely to send it to the bottom of the canal.
Thanks for the pic of the helicopter – they are much roomier than I had imagined.
Excellent that your OH is getting his vaccine.
Lindsay, yes I think my mum’s experience was not uncommon – exacerbated by the depression and droughts of the 1930s. My father was also told to leave school after year 9 as his family needed him to be earning. The primary school system has changed a lot in rural areas in SA since then. When my mother was young, each small town had a primary school with usually just one teacher who had to teach R-7. These days kids in those areas have to travel further to much larger schools. They even have a school bus to collect the kids, you just need to get them to the main road at the appropriate time.
Hope your Fast800 continues to feel easy. I must say your chicken and coleslaw sounds much nicer than that cauliflower and borlotti soup did. There is nothing worse than an uninspiring dinner on a FD.
Neil, it’s a good thing you managed to figure out what was wrong with your bike – especially as you are relying on it until the new one arrives. Well done on sticking to whole foods – I think you found during the whole 30 that it suits you well when You aren’t doing fast days.
As to the Fast800 debate. If I’m doing 2 FDs per week I stay under 500cals. I only increase that limit if I’m doing more than two FDs in a week. Sometimes I’m in the right mindset to do a full week or more of 800cal days – although it doesn’t happen often. I do find it’s a good way to reset when I feel my eating has been getting too uncontrolled.
I still haven’t managed to get out for a walk to day as the rain has been steady all day – a rarity for here. I think I’m just going to have to don a raincoat and go anyway.
Take care all.
Hello all
Just home from the rheumatologist with OH. Amazing outcome. After the special DECT (double exposure (?) cat scan, and examining joint fluid, there was absolutely no evidence of gout. Not to say OH hasn’t had it in the past, but no recent evidence. We’re gobsmacked – he’s suffered so long with joint inflammation. The rheumatologist agreed it could be the change to little alcohol, hardly any red meat, virtually no processed food, and a diet heavily weighted towards plants. He’ll wait til there’s another flare up and will do more tests while the inflammation is ‘live’, but such good news.
LJ I needed a low-cal meal last night after eating half an avocado for lunch without realising how many calories were in it. So from the 800 book, I cooked an harissa, lentil and chickpea soup (easy …one onion in olive oil, tablespoon and a half of harissa paste, two teaspoons of turmeric, all cooked til onion is soft, then a strained tin of chickpeas, one of lentils, another of tomatoes, cooked down for another 5 minutes, then 600 ml of water, and just before serving, 150 grams of spinach leaves. and that’s that. 206 calories, plus a spoon of Greek yoghurt for another twenty, and it was delicious. It’s also food I always have in the pantry and could be a good emergency meal for when my vegan brother and SIL drop by.
Another good 800 yesterday, and I’m down by .2 today. My friend’s the same. The weight loss will slow now I assume, but if I can manage a kilo a week, well that’s good enough.
Cinque, Thin how wonderfully our children reward us, when they choose their own paths and are happy. LJ like your mother, mine wasn’t given the opportunity for a wonderful education. Home was rural Queensland, then a move to Townsville, and my grandmother raised her 4 daughters alone and it was a struggle. How privileged our generation has been. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, and left school too early because I hated it so, but went back as a mature aged student in my mid-thirties, and on from there.
Anzac, your dad’s rash sounds painful and debilitating. LJ’s advice is really good …so many things that could have caused this. I hope they find the reason and he gets relief soon.
Thin that is some helicopter! The ones the news crews use are much smaller …as you’d know I imagine.
OK the plumber is here and has chopped through the irrigation pipes and is looking fraught , so I’d best head off.
Good day all.
Hello to the wonderful Southern Hemispherites,
Some of you may not know me as I posted regularly to this Southern Hemispherites thread, over a few years. I haven’t written in, well, probably for over a year or maybe more, though I do poke my head in and read from time to time which is heart warming and uplifting. There is a care, consideration and cohesion in the Southern Hemispherites group that I’ve not experienced in any other online forum.
For those that know me, you may wonder how I’m doing? You may remember health issues intervened and I had to give up fasting for the most part. I do miss fasting and have recently experimented and find am able to fast without any energy crash downside if I allow myself to fast on the 800 calories (rather than 500) and that the 800 calories be comprised of only meat! Yes, meat, believe it or not! It is what works for me, me who in the 1980s and 1990s was vegan for 20 years. The other caveat is that I schedule FDs on work weeks that I don’t have extra long work shifts that entail a lot of challenging physical activity. I was able to pull this off fasting twice in the past month!
Over the past two years since I stopped fasting twice a week, I’ve continued to live a low carb or keto way of life. By experimenting with both, I discovered that keto suits me best. Keto continues to solve the problems I was experiencing with gnawing hungers, cravings and various food addictions. I am now able to eat what I want when I’m hungry and am able to not eat when I’m not hungry without cravings intervening. Even still, I did gain weight after giving up the twice weekly FD. My weight rose to 62 kg over a number of months. My previous 5:2 ‘trigger’ weight was 59 kg. So, ceasing fasting saw me stack on 3 kg and was scary. However over the past 6-8 months my weight has slowly dropped back down of its own accord and I’ve now even seen numbers in the 59 kg range. The trend is hopeful! Throwing in the odd 800 calorie FD has helped too!
I eat fat and protein to satiation and plenty of green vegetables and only lemon and lime as fruit and do not count calories. I’m a happy camper.
Cinque, pleased that you caught the fasting baton overnight. My second FD went well all day and included a two hour walk to the venue where OH will get his jab just to make sure it could be accessed on foot. I wasn’t hungry all day but had a lousy night waking hungry at 2am and not getting back to sleep until nearly 5am. I’m not at all hungry this morning and have got back into the 58s – so simple!
During that time, I was thinking about your explanations and uses of the Fast800. It occurs to me that the trend then is to encourage a return to a slightly more ‘normal’ pattern of eating – whatever normal might be – on a daily balanced basis vs. the feast and famine style of naked 5:2. It left me wondering about the potential and hoped-for health benefits of the latter. That of fasting stimulating cell regeneration leading to longevity and improved health. I haven’t read anything on Fast800 so I’m not challenging it, simply asking the question. When I’m hungry, I console myself with the fact it’s doing wonders for my body. I know that 500 cals was never fasting in its pure sense but 800 cals is significantly more and it seems ‘Fast800’ is an oxymoron. Your thoughts please. Feel free to tell me to read the book if you like.
Lindsay, that lentil meal sounds delish. Great news about your OH’s health especially as it’s potentially linked to a change in diet. I now have my OH taking milk kefir! He pulls a face but he’s making it up as it now has no smell or bad taste and is virtually like Greek yoghurt.
Cinque, thank you for the link. When I think of a Mediterranean diet, I always think Greek, never Italian.
LJ, sorry to read of the pain you’re experiencing. Thanks for your explananation of how you use Fast800. Some narrow boaters have all sorts of clutter atop their boats. Most have firewood and coal at this time of year but also bikes, plant pots, gang planks, poles to push off the bank, garden chairs, BBQs, storage containers, tarps, etc. Nothing would fall off as the roof is flat and top speed is 4mph. We have been hit hard twice by hire boaters sending books flying off the interior shelving and shattering some nicknack thing left by the previous owners (thankfully).
Minka, great to see your name this morning. Sorry that you gained a couple of kgs but great that they’ve now disappeared.
I am now resolved to eating well until my next FD. I can’t believe how easy it was to distance myself from that annoying trigger weight. I never actually reached it but it loomed large for too long.
Hope the fasters have had a great day.
Good evening all.
Hi LJoyce, Thin, Neilithicman, LindsayL, G’DayfromSA, Anzac65, Cinque, Merryme, Minka, Jony, and any hovering such as Intesha, Klondikekween, CrazyArtist, Penguin, etc. and anyone else whose name has escaped me momentarily.
Too difficult to catch up on all the posts I missed, but the forum seems to have been as busy as ever. December and January were challenging -a dear friend was hospitalised with urgent back surgery, followed by the loss of my elderly (90) sister-in-law in Adelaide, necessitating a trip there, hoping to stay within the borders open/ borders closed/ borders open/ frame. Managed. Drove over early, drove back the day after the funeral, felt wistful and over-ate for the rest of January, having already binged my way through December.
Finally feel ready to face 5:2 again, after a disastrous and entirely deserved weight gain. However, being ready to embark on the downward journey is a big part of the battle, and I’m finally there now. First FD in a long time tomorrow, yay!
Stay safe, stay well!
Hi all
As usual, I’ve had a bit of a break and you have all been busy posting. I won’t try and catch up but I do have an excuse. I am one of the one handed SH brigade at the moment. You might remember that I used to do Parkrun’s but of course they stopped due to COVID. First run was on 16th January and my time for 5k was 54 minutes. My previous best was 40 minutes. That’s ok since I hadn’t done any running since October. Second parkrun and I tripped at the 4K mark. Result, a nice shiner and a chipped elbow. At least I completed the distance and was credited with a finish. No concussion but I was definitely shaken and had a slight headache for a few days and found I didn’t have much stamina. OH has been great and even though he doesn’t like cooking he can grill meat and steam veggies. I have thoroughly indulged myself food wise with absolutely no excuse and the scales are responding appropriately. I’m still wearing a collar and cuff sling but I can see that I won’t need that all the time soon and I should be driving again next week. I’ll need to reenergise my fasting motivation but I think I’ll manage ok once I feel more normal. So easy to sabotage oneself when routine flies out the window. Great to hear of people getting vaccinated, hope we start soon. I’m still seeing lots of masks around and reasonable compliance with SD in shops which is great.
Gday. Your injury sounds terrible, I hope that you don’t have any long term problems with your hand. Best of luck with the rest of your course.
Klond and Betsy, welcome back! Everyone’s coming out of the woodwork – we always used to get a surge in posts during January. Sorry for your loss Betsy. Klond: “I won’t try and catch up” – why on earth not? For someone who read about 400 of these very lengthy pages, you’re definitely slipping! Seriously, I’m very sorry to hear of your injury but well done for crossing the finish line. Now, where are Turn, Penguin, Intesha ….?
I forgot to mention that, last night, there was a nationwide ‘clap for Captain Tom’ and the NHS staff for whom he raised the money. We thought we’d be alone in the drizzle and dark, but the sardina came alive with people clapping, boat horns blasting and navigation lights flashing.
Morning all, good to see some old names appearing in the thread again.
I’ve got my head down going hard on the bike training at the moment, my total for the week so far should be around 250km by the end of today. I’m planning to hit 300kms+ this week, build to 350+ next week and 400+ the following week. I’ll take it easy for the first half of the final week in February so I should be ready for the 306km trek.
Have a great one everyone
Oh Minka how lovely to hear from you again. I’m so glad that the keto way of life is working for you. I am a big fan of keto and for the most part that is my WOL.
However……not so much for the last week I’m afraid as for some reason my carb craving has gone through the roof. I blame it on my hand injury and the painkillers. But seriously I have never had such a craving for carbs and I’m so annoyed with myself that I’ve given into those cravings. In the last 5 days I’ve eaten lasagne, 3 meat pies (yes 3), bread, english muffins, potatoes, tinned spaghetti and the list goes on. All foods that I don’t normally eat so I don’t know what’s going on in my head (and gut) at the moment but I’m hoping the fad will fade and I can get back to my ‘normal’ next week.
My hand is feeling a lot better. The main bandage around my whole hand has been removed and I now just have bandages around individual fingers which makes use of my hand a lot easier.
Today I submitted the last of my Cert III in Fitness assignments so once I’ve completed my work experience component I’m all done…..yay.
Feeling a bit down this afternoon. A close relative, who lives oversees, passed away today. A victim of DV which makes her passing so much harder to comprehend. She leaves behind 2 teenage children which is incredibly sad. The perpetrator was her new partner so I guess one blessing (if you can call it that ) is that the children still have their father for comfort and support.
A couple of good movies to watch for those who like going to the cinema. Penguin Bloom and The Dry. Both Australian made movies. Were off to see High Ground this weekend which is another Aussie made film so I’m sure we will enjoy that as well.
Our tomato crop has gone berserk and we’ve been picking basket fulls each day. So far this week I’ve slow roasted 14 large oven trays of tomatoes for the freezer. Zucchinis’ are plentiful as well as capsicums and chilli which I also dry for later use.
Must go now, hope everyone has a great weekend
Good morning,
Klondi, what an awful accident! I imagine a chipped elbow would be so painful, not to mention debilitating. Which it must have been, to stop you from reading all the missed posts haha. And that shiner would have been no fun either. Hooray for Mr Klondi taking on the cooking, and hooray that you are recovering so well.
LJoyce, I do hope you are waking up after a good sleep-patch-assisted sleep.
Lindsay, wow, I do hope it is diet related gout recovery. Brilliant news anyway! The thought that Mr L might never have it again, because of diet, is such a relief.
Minka, so good to hear from you, and that you have worked out the diet that looks after you. Hooray for green veg! (And the rest).
Thin, you are right that Dr Mosley does not strongly advocate continuing 5:2 for fasting benefits in the Fast800. He recommends (if I read rightly) having a fast of 800cals per day for times when a bit of weight has crept on (I think he did 5 days after Christmas) and the time restricted eating for the ongoing fasting benefits. He certainly approves of people keeping on with 5:2 or 6:1 but my sense is that he presumes most people won’t. The book is buried in my crammed back room, or I would check. Lindsay, am I right?
But, for myself, you have more authority than MM. Your comment about maintenance ‘looking very like normal 5:2’ is the truth I stick by.
Ah yes the Mediterranean Diet came out of research in Crete. No wonder you think Greek, well read people.
Betsy, I am so glad to see your post. I am glad you were able to make the trip to farewell your sister-in-law. So sorry you have had such a bingey time, though. Isn’t it frustrating. The Christmas season has been bad for you the last couple of years. But hooray to have you back here and 5:2ing again.
Back soon.
Back, bathed (tmi?) and with a jug of coffee to sip out of my pretty little coffee cup.
Thin tears welled reading of your marina farewelling Captain Tom.
Neil, happy training.
Gday, hooray that your hand is healing so well. I do hope that carb eating avalanche is slowing down.
My theory is that a shock can set carb craving off. It is one way our brains can yell for help once the crisis is past.
I notice that any tiny shock is terribly bad for me. The worse my CFS is, the smaller the shock needed, so that simply something unexpected can set off an adrenaline surge and I feel like all the blood just drains out of my brain, leaving it, and me, desperate for a bit of energy.
Something related might happen in healthy people. Like after a bad burn.
Unfortunately it cascades. High carb choices set me wanting more, and then I feel too full, I sleep badly, and I am so annoyed with myself I get self destructive, all of which make for more bad choices… I try to break the cycle by having a bath, drinking lots of water and doing everything I can think of to look after myself, while I ride it out.
Oh dear, what awful news you have had of your relative being murdered by her partner. Those poor kids, yes, I am so glad they have their dad to care for them.
Good movies are the trick when times are hard. I gather High Ground is brilliant but very sad and confronting. I would like to see it.
My tomatoes are ripening too! Only a bowlful, but I am enjoying them so much. Your whole garden sounds just brilliant.
Well, I have Miss 6 due for a visit today, so I had better get organised. Best wishes for a good day everyone.
PS LJoyce, I meant heat-patch-assisted incase you couldn’t work it out.
Minka, how nice to hear from you and get your news. I hope you’ll visit the forum more often.
Gday good your hand is healing …and in the face of such pain, a few carbs won’t hurt you. You’ll lose the craving as you heal. And your sad news can’t have helped. Tragic.
I think too that Cinque is so right about shock driving us to need the carbohydrate.
Klondi, what an awful thing to happen in the park run. Hope you heal well and fast. Once you’re back to driving, your other routines will even out.
Lunch with my brother yesterday and I ordered the best I could – a thai beef salad. But I suspect the dressing was laden with sugar, I got off to a wretched start with fruit and voghurt …too many high impact carbs (some mango, papaya and pear) although the calorie count was okay. But this morning, down another .4 after a couple of days of just losing .1.
I am feeling a bit low- my neighbour had the loppers in, and has taken out a beautiful leopard tree and a lilly pilly….and the ladder is resting against another very big leopard tree so I think it’s for the chop too. You know, almost every interview I’ve ever done with an international student, they’ve all said they want to live here because of the environment. But this neighbour, and the other week the new neighbour on the other side, don’t seem to make the connection, and are chopping down trees like they have no impact at all on the environment. I despair. Every morning she’s out there with her leaf blower to get rid of any leaves that may have fallen overnight. Heaven forbid, a leaf would remain on her big wide expanse of concrete! grrrrrr.
Moving on …..
Betsy, it’s good to see you back too, and committing all over again to 5:2. The wonderful thing about this wol is how easy it is to pick up when we drop the baton. Good luck to you. How is your research going?
Cinque, the rheumatologist will investigate further, but he says the question for OH is whether, if he only has one or two flare ups a year, whether he wants to take a drug every day for the rest of his life, or manage the infrequent bouts. It is of course the latter, but we’ll just need to see how long this stretch lasts.
Thin re the 800 versus 500 fds….Dr M essentially says the research has shown that eating 800 on a FD has the same benefits as a 500 cal fast. I’ll find the bit in the book to give you the more accurate information. The big difference is the move from eating at will on non-fast days, to following a more balanced low car med. diet. It seems to me a healthier approach, because it’s about changing a person’s approach to food and eating, rather than a starve/feast mindset which could be the approach of some on 5:2. He continues to advocate TRE, saying 12:12 is a start that gives benefits, but recommending pushing it to 14:12.
OK off to start my morning – I have a paper to edit, which I am looking forward to.
Good afternoon all.
Lindsay, It sounds like you eating plan is going well, despite difficult restaurant choices.
Klondi, I hope that elbow heals soon, it does sound very painful.
GDSA, so sorry to hear about your relative’s death, especially in such circumstances. Together with your healing burn, I’m not surprised you have reached for the comfort foods. You will get back on track, you always do.
Minka, lovely to hear from you. It sounds like everything is going well.
Betsy, wonderful to have you back and ready to face 5:2 again. You aren’t alone in struggling to keep eating under control lately.
Neil, I think your plan will have you fit for the Mt Cook expedition.
I am starting Fast800 from tomorrow. A couple of weeks ago I realised my weight had crept back up into the low 80s and it’s unfortunately still there so I just need to get the weight loss moving with a bit more speed. I am one of those who all too often treats 5:2 as feast and famine and there are way too many excesses on my NFDs. The walking I do may get my TDEE up around 1800cals but alarmingly, that’s still not enough to get my weight loss going. I really do need to focus on getting my NFDs to look like the Mediterranean diet My aversion to fish doesn’t help, but I can make it work. I need to revamp my meal planning to focus better on the range of foods I should be eating.
Have a good day all
It’s been a quiet posting weekend – hope you are all well, and just busy with nice things.
Reporting, after my first week of Fast800 I lost 2.5 kilos, and my friend 3.1. I stuck to the program pretty religiously, with the exception of Friday when my calories crept up to around 1000 – I am not really sure because of the meal out, but I opted to use the highest count on the number of web sites I looked at – they ranged from 246 to 400 for a Thai beef salad. My weight went up by .1 this morning, after dropping .4 yesterday. I’m tackling today at a naked 5:2 (ie, under 500 cals) to give me a boost into the week, because I don’t think I will achieve much more than a kilo a week from here.
LJ are you doing the Fast 800 for two days a week, or going for every day for really fast weight loss. I don’t know that fish is a ‘must have’, if you can’t face it. Lots of other options – beans and lentils are all good Med. protein substitutes…and chicken, of course.
The tree loppers have been out in force next door again today – a beautiful koelreutaria, and a lovely gum with native orchids up the trunk gone, and a jacaranda set to follow tomorrow I suspect. I don’t know if it’s common elsewhere but here we get roving bands of tree loppers offering to take out trees at ridiculously low prices. I can see why. No safety at all. No harness on the man up the tree, no work boots or hard hats. One in bare feet, no protective glasses. I imagine there’s no insurance either.
Cinque, where are you today? I hope you are well.
Thin, I’ll look for your post tonight. The time difference often gives me a nice early post from those of you in the northern hemisphere. That’s you too of course Cali. All okay with you?
Back to the editing. Nearly done – it was a short, sharp 7000 word journal article, but highly scientific (and I’m not!) – so I’ve struggled but enjoyed doing it.
Hi Lindsay, sorry to see all the trees that were part of your view (and privacy) being removed. Sometimes trees do need to come out, but I the the loss of shade and privacy.
I am doing the same as you, 800cal every day – for 3 weeks at this stage. That gets me to my birthday which involves a brunch and a family dinner – I can’t imagine fitting that into 800 cals. So I’ll review at the end of Feb and see if I need longer on Fast800, or if I can move onto the next task – making better daily food choices on NFDs. 5:2 only works for me when I have tight control of eating on NFDs, it’s been M.I.A. a lot lately. I have been doing better with my eating window and will keep going with that.
Hello to everyone else, hope you have had an enjoyable weekend.
Morning all, very interesting reading today.
Lindsay, so sorry to read about the trees disappearing. Heartbreaking. And, oh my goodness, barefoot with a chainsaw? The owners of the property we sold in 2019 ripped out every last piece of greenery we’d planted (even a navel orange and a lime tree, essential G&T ingredient) to make room for a swimming pool. So pleased I will never have to see (or hear) that. There’s an Olympic size pool open to the public at the end of the street. Their dogs apparently never stop barking and I can’t help smirking when I see the neighbours’ house (the two guys running the airbnb that became the catalyst for our selling up after 26 years) is still on the market after 14 months….karma.
Lindsay, congratulations on your progress with Fast800 and thank you for the explanation. Your friend must be thrilled. I’ve always felt conflicted about 5:2 because, on the one hand, I do accept that it’s not what we might call ‘normal eating’. On the other hand, I very much like the idea of feast and famine, especially the famine part’s potential health benefits. I don’t use fasting as a way of eating badly on the other days because IF has helped shaped my food desires and portions. It has allowed me to indulge in occasional restaurant meals, hard to avoid for social beings, but not a factor now.
Cinque, thank you too for the explanation. I’ve learned here that we all come at this in different ways. I’m sorry that little things have such a big impact on you. But it’s so good that you have such insight. For me, it just works and seven years without a blip proves that it IS sustainable. I don’t let life get in the way because one excuse would lead me on to that slippery slope and I just cannot go back there. I wouldn’t survive the ‘on and off the horse’ approach because years of yoyo’ing weight was what kept me so depressed and consumed and I know I would spiral downwards (not in a good way!). I’ve often said that I’ve simply replaced a food addiction with a fast addiction and have since read that we do tend to replace one addiction with another.
LJ, good for you for constantly keeping on top of your weight and knowing what adjustments have to be made. I suspect, like me, you can’t face returning to where you were. Too bad you don’t like fish.
When I started 5:2, I compiled over a hundred recipes suitable for FDs. Unfortunately, I had them listed by calories and came to rely on just a few, never trying the bulk of them. This week, I spent a few hours sorting them in an Excel spreadsheet by primary ingredients and then added hyperlinks to the actual recipes. I can now enter ingredients that we have on the boat and generate a list of potential recipes or, planning ahead, choose a recipe say for fish and instantly see what ingredients will be needed at our late night ALDI shop. (DD doesn’t eat fish so that was never a family FD meal but now it’s a big part of our diet).
Also, whenever OH migrates to the meat section and selects a sirloin steak, I grab some legumes for the following night. I’ve just soaked some URID beans. They started off black but became a beautiful forest green colour after soaking. Have any of you foodies used them? I’m not sure what to do with them yet but there’s a dhal recipe on the packet if all else fails.
GDSA, sorry to read about the DV in your family. Just horrid. Poor children.
CalifD, OH and I both got our first vaccinations yesterday! We had the Astra Zeneca. We were so impressed with how it was all conducted. Military style precision, covid safe, but everyone was so professional and friendly. There was no waiting, it was a jab factory. I made a point of thanking each person for doing this since I could see that most were volunteers. I’d earlier considered volunteering myself but wasn’t quite eligible. Nothing’s changed but it does feel so liberating to be at the beginning of the end.
Hi Thin,
How wonderful that you both got your first vaccine shot – I thought they were going to make you wait until later. That will be much more convenient if you are on the same schedule. Do you know what time lag there will be between doses and do you have to stay in the area for the next jab?
You can take the man out of America but he’ll still gravitate toward the steak!
It sounds like your old street has changed quite a bit it recent years – you are better off out of it.
I have only bought split urid dal (which is a split black mung bean). The one I used had very little of the black skin left on it, so I didn’t notice a colour change. According to Wikipedia it’s official name is “Vigna mungo”. I hope it was tasty.
You are right about my reaction to my weight being in the 80s – I absolutely can’t face my weight creeping anywhere near it’s original level and will do just about anything to stop it happening. I actually don’t think I’d ever get to my original weight again as even being 4-5kg above my preferred weight induces panic. Probably because I know that small gains take a little effort to remove but larger ones take a concerted effort over many weeks. I never lose weight at more than 1kg a week, and more often it’s less, so it’s never a fast process.
After three post in one day I’ll stop now.
Goodnight.
Good to read LJ, all noted thank you. Yes, the urid dahl does resemble the little green mung bean. I like the official name. I haven’t done anything with them yet, that’s tomorrow’s project. https://imgur.com/J17m7Wk
Yes, the street (and suburb) demographic has certainly changed over the decades. Our ‘good neighbours’ are gradually making other plans. The GP couple have bought land down south, another long-term resident is looking at ‘over 55’s’ options elsewhere. It served us well and we loved our house but no regrets.
I was so fortunate with the vaccine. I went in with OH because, due to decades of flying, he can’t hear well and even with hearing aids is unable to understand people wearing masks. To the question, “Are you both having the vaccine today?”, I replied, “Sadly not”. The man said it’s worth asking inside. So, when the question came up again at the post where details were being inputted into an ipad, I started to ask whether there’s any chance of receiving ‘leftover’ doses were I to come at the end of the day. The lady asked my name, started inputting my details and, before I knew it, I had a text on my phone giving my appointment date and time to show at the next stage in the production line.
I hadn’t wanted to ‘push in’, particularly as I have ‘vulnerable’ category friends not yet vaccinated and I’m quite vocal about special interest groups jumping the queue. But having seen the operation, it’s probably actually more efficient for them to process households together and perhaps as I’m just weeks away from being in the category being processed now, it really makes no difference in the grand scheme of things. Also, different regions are at different stages of working through the categories.
So yes, you’re right, it is such a huge relief because, although we learned that one must return to the same venue for the booster, we have been given a date for late April making it easy for us to plan. We will leave here on 1 March and either return on the train or DD will come and collect us. The time lag for us is 11 weeks. Other friends in different regions have been told to expect a text between 4 and 12 weeks later. So, even though they might get theirs earlier, we feel very lucky to have a firm date and not having to worry about not receiving the mail.
Sorry that is such a massive ramble all about me. Back to the NHS, I can’t fault it. As soon as we registered, we received age-related test invitations. Both of us ignored them because we didn’t want to burden the system – thinking of the impact on people like Penguin receiving their treatments. Then the follow-up letters came urging us not to do that, explaining that efficient testing ultimately saves hospitalisations. So we have had ‘flu shots, bowel cancer testing and I’m scheduled for a mammogram the day after we leave the marina.
Penguin, are you well?
Good morning,
After a lovely, wearing time with my darling granddaughter on Saturday I decided to put Sunday off for a day and just spent yesterday doing plenty of nothing. So today is fast day, henna day, and I had better nick out and buy some milk too.
Lindsay I have still got my fingers crossed Mr Lindsay can keep doing all the good things and have NO flare up with gout. At least a very very long stretch.
So sad to hear about the trees.
A great first week report. A kilo a week will leave you feeling fab at the end of the project.
LJoyce, all power to you on your Fast800 run. I’m sure you will manage the Mediterranean Guidelines easily, even without fish.
Thin, hello. Yay for your vaccines. Yay for the NHS.
And ooh what a fascinating recipe data base. It sounds like you will have fun this year with new recipes.
Urad is the lentil/bean I have used least. They are Madhur Jaffrey’s favourite, but I only use them making makhani dal mixed in with red kidney beans, and I buy the hulled, split ones. I find they are not as comforting as other dal… this might mean they are healthier. I am very keen to hear what you made with them. (I think I might go on a google journey next).
(I had to google ‘fonio’ yesterday, after hearing it in an African movie. A very nutritious tiny millet-family grain).
Sending best wishes, planning a fasty fast day, hoping your day is a good one.
Neil, Jony, were you both riding all weekend?
bye now
Good morning all
Another weekend flies past and here it is, Monday again. We had a lovely day on Saturday, finally having our family Christmas get-together.
G’day, how positively dreadful and tragic about your family member being lost to DV. I hope the perpetrator is given a lifetime in prison for it, not that it will bring her back of course. Those poor children. I’m glad your hand is a bit better and congrats on handing in your final assessment.
There must be something in the air because I too have been over-eating carbs and the scales have done their thing. My excuse is I was feeling down for various reasons and I always turn to comfort food. It stops today though
Glad you are back with us Betsy and lets get back on that horse together
I’m glad you could have a rest day yesterday Cinque after a nice time with your GD. I loved spending time on Saturday with my 1 year old great-nephew and 2 year old great niece. I was especially happy as my great-niece is very very shy and normally can’t even stand to be in the same room as anyone outside of her close ‘bubble’. But I was armed with Christmas presents (3 each – indulgent great aunt and all that) and knowing her love of all things Disney she pounced on her new, huge Disney book with so much joy she came running to me with it so I could read her a story. Awwww.
LJ, so sorry about the creep back into the 80’s. I was within 0.2 of getting out of the 90’s but my recent and stupid cave into comfort food has sent me back closer to 92. Sigh. Good luck with the Fast800 – I’m joining you more or less. 800 – 1000 during the week and around 1500 on the weekend. Strictly. I’ve also been doing some jogging around the park where we take Maxx. Mr Anzac and I kick the footy to each other and I ask him to deliberately kick it away from me so I have to run after it. Maxx thinks it is a great game
By the way, never apologise for however many posts you do in one day. They are always great reading 🙂
How totally awesome that you have had your first jab Thin. Is your arm sore? I read that was the main side-effect from the vaccine
I do very much enjoy a good karma story and yours, about those dratted and pesky neighbours, was great. Ha!
I’m following your progress with much interest Lindsay and congratulations! 2.5 kilos in one week is nothing short of amazing. Yes it will slow but I find the motivation from that initial bounce down can sustain you for ages. Good luck with the editing
Klondi, ouch, that elbow injury sounds very painful. I just think about the numerous times I simply bump my elbow on something and how much it hurts.
Better get back to work. Blah. But it pays the bills and keeps me honest.
Take care
Good evening everyone.
I’m relieved and pleased to report that my first day of Fast800 went without a hitch – even with morning tea out at a cafe with my neighbours. I had a nice mug of darjeeling while the others ordered their own choices. Because I don’t count calories in detail, I usually look at my options and roughly group them into 100 calorie multiples. It means I can still get it roughly right – it works well for very low calorie days, but as I just keep a tally in my head I’m sure I would lose track on a NFD.
Today I had a cup of reduced fat milk for cups of tea and 100g greek yoghurt – approx 200 calories. I had 2 smallish pieces of fruit – another 100. I had an afternoon snack of 1 corn thin with 1 slice cheddar – another 100. Finally dinner was leftovers from last night – 60g lean roast lamb (100) and one scoop of veggie gratin (about 150). To bulk it out into a filling meal I added a small handful each of green beans, broad beans and corn kernels (100). That’s roughly 750 calories, which means if I feel like a hot drink made with almond milk later I can fit it in (especially as some of my estimates were a little high). If I count every calorie accurately I start to get obsessive, which is really not good for me, so this approximate way of doing it works well for me. I find when I do it this way I tend to round up which means I’m comfortably under my limit, but when I properly count calories I will keep eating until I get to 800 as I don’t want to miss out – stupid, but my brain just works that way. Unfortunately my brain sees a calorie limit and treats it the same way many drivers treat a speed limit – a target to be reached at all costs rather than a maximum that you stay under.
I have always done something similar on normal 500al FDs where I allow for a cup of reduced fat milk and a piece of fruit throughout the day, knowing that leaves me up to 350 calories for dinner.
Anzac, I’m impressed that you are running – I can manage walking but nothing faster. I am wondering though, when you run for ball, does Maxx beat you to it?
Thin, excellent that you know when you need to be back in the ares for the second shot. Have you done any other train travel in the UK while on the canal boat – I can’t recall you mentioning it before?
Once those beans are soaked and green they look a lot like a normal green mung bean.
Cinque, Sunday doing plenty of nothing sounds lovely actually – I hope you had a full day of rest.
I was interested that you called the split mung bean urad rather than urid – I’ve always thought it was urad too, but both appear on the internet as accurate. I suspect there are differences between countries where we are probably trying to convert something from another language into a word using the english alphabet. I also use the split urad for dal in combination with lentils and I also find that it’s useful in soups due to the quicker cooking time than whole beans.
Another 800 day tomorrow. I have only one big challenge this week – walking and lunch in the hills with a friend on Friday. Thankfully I was allowed to choose the cafe, so I looked at menus and chose a place that has a couple of suitable salads on the menu that should fit into my day. I’ve booked a table, now I can stop worrying.
I hope everyone has had a good day.
Hi all
Neil. It sounds like you will ace that ride. Enjoy your fitness, you’ve earned it.
Gday. Like you, I have hit the carbs etc and apparently when you are stressed (burnt hand/broken elbow), cortisol floods your body and you crave carbs. So it’s actually a nurturing act rather than sabotage. I’m glad your hand is getting better but terrible regarding your loss. We saw High Ground last week. Excellent movie but yes, quite confronting.
Betsy. Lovely to hear from you. I’m sure we will be soon reading of your WOL success. Any progress on your studies
Lindsay. Your OH must be very pleased he has managed his inflammation with diet choices. So much better than just relying on medication. Your success with Fast800 is impressive. You will be at goal in no time. What a shame regarding your trees, I’ve heard of this elsewhere. Some people just don’t understand the importance of trees and gardens. Will this impact your busy girls and their honey.
LJ. I can’t imagine you won’t be heading down again. Your discipline is amazing and I’m sure there are plenty of options with Med Diet which don’t involve fish.
Thin. Your recipe file sounds great. I use a Supercook App which taps into many recipe sites and tells me what I can make from my pantry. It has a filter for calories, cuisine etc so I’m using up ingredients which have stayed idle for years. DOUBLE YEAH for vaccine, especially when you thought you might slip through the cracks. They are now saying that the first dose is very effective which is great news. I see the UK and USA Covid numbers are coming down at last. Sounds like the NHS is working quite well despite dealing with the pandemic. They are right, early detection is so cost efficient
Cinque. You are so wise to rest when you need to. I’m sure the fatigue was worth it, now that Miss 6 is only available on weekends. I’m sure your hair is sparkling bright again and you are now enjoying your post fast breakfast.
Anzac. What a lovely experience with your great niece. A breakthrough like that would have made her family happy too. It does seem to be the season for indulging our eating. I thought that was supposed to be winter. Maybe dealing with our altered reality (Covid) even though we have it good here, is playing with our psyches.
I’m recovering okay but I still have to watch making sudden movements with my arm. Washed some dishes today and hung out some washing but still haven’t prepared any meals except some bread and jam (not a good choice). Driving is the next step. Had a good fast day today and I’m going to try and give up added sugar for a month. Never aimed for that before but it’s worth a try.
Hope all the lurkers and other posters are well and feeling on top of their lives
We woke to heavy snow and I went outside to build a snowman at 8.30am. One of our neighbours gave me two bits of coal and I shaped a carrot for his nose. Topped him off with one of OH’s hats. They all think we’re the mad Australians.
Urad sounds a lot better than urid which was a bit close to ‘uric’ for my liking. I think I will just make Cinque’s mung bean soup/stew with them today.
LJ, reading your account made me realise why I probably wouldn’t be good with Fast800. What attracted me to 5:2 was the fact that most of the time, I wouldn’t have to be counting calories. Great that you have your cafe menu all worked out – and a walk thrown in. I hadn’t remembered that you use almond milk.
Reverting to 5:2 for February has worked its magic. I’m down 1kg.
Anzac, so pleased that you had your Christmas celebration at last. The shy little one is coming out of the shell. I love a child with a love of books. My dad taught me to read at age 3 and I did the same with DD. She could read any three letter phonetic word. At four, she could read well. She was very keen to be able to read so that she could learn things. I remember one funny occasion when she called out from the toilet, “Mummy, guess what? My knickers were made in China!”.
Yes, our arms are a bit sore from the vaccine. Me: no symptoms. OH: headache, aching joints, inability to sleep, generally feeling like sh*t, lethargia, fatigue and just about anything else on the leaflet except loss of appetite. It’s a man thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbmbMSrsZVQ
I realised while out walking in the snow (fun), that I hadn’t answered LJ’s question about train use. And now I see that my post crossed with Klond’s so I’m sorry that I didn’t see it and acknowledge – interesting about your recipe apps. When we knew were selling up, I was using up everything in the pantry as well as all our alcohol from a well-stocked liquor cabinet that hadn’t seen much action in recent years. It’s amazing how many delicious recipes you can make with alcohol such as Pernod! Klond, pleased you’re on the mend.
LJ, we’ve only used the train a few times. Last year, we took a bus from outside the marina gates to Rugby and, after a short stroll, a train right into Birmingham airport. Before we bought the boat, we took a train from my brother’s place to DD’s. They all ran like clockwork. If it had an ETD of 10.39, that’s when the train pulled out of the station. We used buses a lot while at the marina last year but voluntarily stopped using public transport as soon as we started hearing about the virus – early March.
Kia ora, fellow fasters
Sorry I’ve been slack recently re this forum but life has been hectic. What with buying wifey an almost new car, a Honda CR-V 2WD packed with so many new safety and entertainment systems it makes one’s head spin just reading the manual, and a plethora of other daily things, such as writing a book, learning how to self-publish online, painting, spraying, watching national cricket fixtures here in Dunedin – and did I mention biking? The new Shark Bell bike group I launched 3 weeks ago is going gangbusters, so I’m rapt. I expected maybe half a dozen riders would turn out on a Wednesday morning but I was wrong. Last week we had 22 out riding and they all seemed to get on very well. I think I’ve tapped into those who ride alone and wanted some company. Apparently now we’re the biggest riding group in Dunedin city! The attached pic shows the group enjoying morning tea at the Dunedin Botanic Garden last week during their 35km ride. Even though it takes time, I’ve been enjoying organising the rides – on Sunday I and 3 other AOK Shark Bell riders pedalled down to Port Chalmers to check how long this 23km ride takes, as part of organisation for a ride in two weeks taking in 40km of bike paths down and then up Otago Harbour, with a ferry trip across the harbour from Pt Chalmers halfway thru. It’s like organising D Day!
Neil – I wish you luck on your A2O bike adventure. Don’t wear out your bike training before the big pedal! I’ll be on the 300km A2O trail myself at the end of Feb, as I’m joining the Oamaru Coffee Riders to ride the new Sailor’s Cutting to Benmore Dam section. Very scenic, I hear.
My fasting faltered yesterday – we had our two darling grand-daughters here and without thinking I told the elder, Gigi, I’d take her out for lunch (her sister was helping Nana paint the laundry). Then I realised it was fast day. I made the snap decision to cancel the FD and move it to today and Gigi and I had a lovely lunch in the sun at Long Dog Cafe on the St Clair Esplanade, just down the hill from our place, watching the surfers cruise past the cafe on some big boomers. Bliss! Gigi’s just started high school and at the age of 13 has already featured in a display at Otago Museum featuring 100 NZ females prominent in science – she has a huge interest in space travel and has her own blog on the net all about early space missions. She’ll go far, that kid!
Stay well, everyone. I love reading your posts, even if I haven’t got the time to respond to everyone.
John
Morning all, well last week I managed 308 kms so I hit my goal of 300. I made a good start on this week’s goal of 350 kms. Yesterday was a public holiday and the weather was nice so I went out for 4.5 hours and racked up just over 93 kms. I wanted to see how I would handle the 100+ kms a day I’ll be doing on the first two days of the ride, and my legs were fine after the ride so I’m pretty sure I’ll handle it ok. I stopped off near Johnny at Salt Café out at St Clair on the way around.
Thin, great to hear you’ve managed to get hold of the vaccine. One good thing about you OH having symptoms is at least you know the vaccine is working. The symptoms are the body reacting to the vaccine and creating all the lovely antibodies that will protect him against the real thing 😉
Cinque, Urad is the thing used to make one of my favourite Indian snack called idli. My Mother in law makes it with semolina instead but it’s still good, really nice with a spicy coconut chutney.
Klondike, good luck with the sugar. It’s one of the hardest things to do, and if you have a slip up it’s hard to stop it into sliding back into old habits.
Ljoyce, I hope you had a good walk and lunch with your friend.
Anzac, I’m also eating lots of carbs at the moment, but I think my body is needing it because of the extra exercise at the moment, so I’m trying to not get overly concerned about it.
Lindsay, well done on your first week of the fast 800. You’re over the hardest part. I was on that for 12 weeks when I first started and the first 4 days were awful, after that I found it really easy.
Gday, glad your hand is improving. I hope it continues to get better soon.
Have a great week everyone, I’ll catch you all later.
Good morning lovely ones,
I had a lovely fasty fast day (all low carb veggies plus some fish in my evening soup), but I might have woken up early to have bread (baked yesterday), butter and vegemite for breakfast. And frothy coffee. Yum, so much nicer after a fast day.
Anzac, hooray for that wonderful Christmas celebration, is your dad’s rash improving? So lovely to have your little niece warmed to you. Extra precious.
Woot for a new regime starting, I hope yesterday was great. Under 90, here you come!
LJoyce,that is my favourite cafe trick!
You do make counting calories as easy as possible.
Klondi, great comment about cortisol.
Fingers crossed you have an easy time driving, you will feel like you have your freedom back.
My hair is hennaed, and haha you know my day after fast day morning habits.
You will rock a sugar free month! (no more jam on bread til March!)
Thin, wonderful snowman story. Fancy neighbours having pieces of coal.
I forgot to say yesterday, but in synch with your comment about your ex +Air bnb neighbours came the announcement for Australia of an Air bnb complaints line for neighbours to ring. Just a few years too late!
Haha DD reading her nickers label. And an even bigger haha, I guessed exactly what your link would be. I loved watching it again. I remember when the skit was first aired, and how quickly it entered our vernacular. But I do hope you and Mr Thin feel no more reactions soon.
Well I had a lovely deep dive into google urad beans.
I confused myself by reading how comforting and creamy and quick to cook they are, because I had thought they were the least comforting and creamy legume and so maybe I wasn’t cooking them long enough.
I next saw recipes for them in dosa, idli, and used for pappadams, and remembered I had decided it was like soy beans, that I prefer when made into other products.
But ofcourse I am intrigued and aiming to buy some soon and try them again.
Ooh and they have several different names across India, Pakistan and Nepal etc. I think my favourite is ‘minumulu’.
AND tomorrow is World Pulse Day!
Jony, your life is certainly brim full! So many wonderful things to fit in. The bike group sounds great, and what a good way to build community.
Gigi certainly sounds like she will go far! What a lovely time to have together. Enjoy your fast day today.
Neil, I have just seen your post. Ooh what a great mother in law. Now I am off to look up how to make idli from semolina!
I do imagine your muscles would be calling out for carbs (hey, Neil’s MIL, make him some idli!).
Better start moving. Cheers all.
Good afternoon everyone.
Although I don’t intend to continue with daily weighing, as it’s a habit that doesn’t serve me well, I did do that this morning. I certainly lost a lot of water weight yesterday – 1.8kg. Hopefully there’s 100g or so of fat lost in there too. That has almost gotten me back to 80kg on day 1 – quite unexpected! It does means than my losses from now should be mostly body fat. I’ll try to restrain myself and weigh roughly weekly now.
Neil, well done achieving your cycling goal. I hope the weather assists as you aim for higher weekly targets. I had to look up idli, as I’ve not come across those before – they look yummy.
Jony, you do have a lot of cycling groups on the go, I’m glad you get both enjoyment and fitness from it. How lovely to spend the day with your grand-daughters. I think you’ll enjoy doing a FD today knowing that the change allowed you to take one grand-daughter out to lunch.
Thin, I’m not surprised your use of public transport has been limited during covid. I would rather be on a train than a bus at any time – and especially during covid, although I wear a mask even here.
Wonderful that you taught your daughter to read. I didn’t start until kindergarten as it never occurred to my parents to teach me to read and we barely had a book in the house anyway. From about age 5 my favourite place was the local library.
Klondi, very glad to hear you are recovering. Good luck with the month off sugar. I have done that a few times myself and it’s really the first few days that are the hardest. I’m not sure I could do what Cinque has and ban it permanently.
Cinque, thanks for the reminder of world pulse day, I will need to base tomorrow’s dinner around them.
Your breakfast sounds wonderful – I’m a bit envious.
I’m surprised about urad beans being made into pappadams – I thought they were always made from lentils. Although I wonder if all the lentils and split beans that are grouped under the term dal are used interchangeably in recipes. I have had dosa once – they were excellent. Although I have a recipe for them, I’ve not made them myself as I avoid making things that have to be deep fried.
For lunch today I have just eaten a little hummus with one carrot cut into sticks. I have some cooked rhubarb that I’ll have with greek yoghurt later and I have a small tub of creamy veg soup which is thawing for dinner. That probably only takes me to 600ish cals so I can have a boiled egg and one slice of wholemeal toast with dinner if I’m hungry.
I didn’t much feel like walking today, but I find I just can’t cope of the guilt of doing no exercise. So I dragged myself out for an hour’s walk. I have discovered a new route through a neighbouring suburb which includes several parks and a community garden – so lots of grass to walk on rather than just the usual concrete footpaths. Now I have walked, I can have guilt free afternoon of reading.
Have a lovely day all.
Jony and Neil, what lovely images you concoct. You are our fitness pinup boys. I feel my strength slipping away and have just bought two spring clamps to complement my theraband and tinned beans upper limb exercises. All very lame compared to your exertion. I’m looking forward to getting out and working the locks again. I found an e-book on my laptop, never read before, called ‘Fast Diets For Dummies’. In it, is explained the Turkish Get Up Exercise. I’ve got OH doing it, he’s much stronger than I. (I can’t even do one push up). Anyone else ever tried this?
I’m one day ahead for the World Pulse Day. I was interested to read what you wrote Neil. I’ll be more adventurous next time. I wish I had an Indian MIL. Yours was interesting too Cinque, I could have googled it myself. Mine have had plenty of soaking and cooking.
LJ, the buses and trains here would probably be quite safe now. They’re virtually always empty and everyone is required to wear a mask. I’ve seen images of crowded scenes on London train platforms that look a bit scary. By the time we need to return, we should have some immunity and many others will have have their first jabs. DD seems very willing to collect us as it’s a weekend she’s not on call and we’re unlikely to be more than an hours’ drive away. I think you’re right to wear a mask although I can also understand why people there don’t see the threat. Weekly weighing seems a good idea for now.
LJ, I loved reading that your favourite place from age 5 was the library. Sad to see so many young children in push chairs not taking in the scenery or asking questions but absorbed with mothers’ mobile phones and iPads. We couldn’t even give away DD’s beautiful collection of childhood books.
Neil, you’re so right about the reactions proving the vaccine is doing its thing. There’s been some adverse publicity surrounding the AZ vaccine not protecting from mild illness against the SA variant. I do feel the media is irresponsible persisting with this headline given that only 147 cases of it have been detected in the UK. The study involved 2000 people – hardly conclusive science. Nevertheless, the uptake of the vaccine has been higher than anticipated and 25% of all adults have now been vaccinated. We understand that our friends in Oz will be offered the vaccine starting next month. Has the order been determined?
Cinque, most of the narrow boats are still heated by coal or wood burning stoves. Ours is diesel so we don’t have to hump heavy bags on and off the roof or forage for kindling.
Time for us to drag ourselves outside for a walk.
Good morning from a cooler Sydney. I have the balcony door open for fresh air but I even had to put a light cardigan on.
That gain has to be something with the extra exercise Neil. Ignore it. I am having trouble processing a 4.5 hour ride and 93 kms. You are becoming an Iron Man!
My Dad’s rash has improved slightly, thanks for asking Cinque. The steroids are slowly doing their thing I guess. It is still making him miserable, sadly and we are just hoping it clears up quickly now.
I don’t know how you bake bread on a FD! That is legendary 🙂
I have had a good couple of days with mindfulness and making sure every calorie comes from wholesome food and keeping carbs low. I’ve lost 0.5 in two days which is encouraging. It’s not rocket science is it?
LJ, Maxx isn’t a big ball fan plus the rugby ball is too big for him to pick up. But he loves loping ahead of me and getting there first then standing with a grin on his face as I run (waddle) up to him. Lots of fun and good exercise. I’m getting quite good at kicking the ball and even better at catching it. When we first started I would put my hands on my head and duck as it came towards me!
Thin, twins! My parents taught me to read before I went to school and tried to teach me some sums. I was entirely uninterested in the maths but took to reading like a duck to water. Apparently when they told me I had to go to school soon I said “Ok, so long as it teaches me to read better. But I don’t want to do those stupid number things’. It followed me right through my entire school life. One of my first memories is sitting in Kindergarten while the kids were sounding out words like c-a-t cat. I was bored and always calling out the answer before anyone else had a chance. So I was constantly being sent to the back of the room to read Golden Books.
I can’t believe you couldn’t even give those beautiful books away. What is wrong with people? Our house is chockers full of books that I can’t bear to part with.
oops a meeting looms, I will try to come back later
Good afternoon from a very hot Adelaide – 35C here today and a forecast for worse tomorrow. However it does give me an opportunity to plan salads for dinner and actually look forward to them.
It also encouraged me to walk to the wetlands in the neighbouring suburb for my morning walk. It’s a hot 18 minute walk each way to get there and back, but once there I get a shady walk along the banks of the Sturt River, which is so inviting on a hot day. I took these pictures this morning: https://imgur.com/a/tbSXlUE and yes the first photo is of grape vines – extremely old vines that are one of just two remaining blocks from what used to be a large vineyard a century ago that covered what is now several suburbs filled with housing. The winery that uses the grapes was established in the late 1800s and still has it’s premises in the area. I would hate to have to pick those grapes though, as the vines were planted without any trellising to raise the height so it would be a back breaking task. I had never seen vines so low to the ground in Australia – although in Europe I saw a few. I grew up in a grape growing region and the trellising was considered essentially for both picking and pruning.
Because the area is so shady I managed to do a 70 minute walk, although I found myself closely watching the dirt path for sunbaking snakes while walking through the native shrubs.
Thin, I notice the parents pushing strollers with earbuds in for the phone or music. I always smile and say hello but often the toddlers that answer me or wave. I think they are just happy that somebody is bothering to talk to them.
I’ve not heard of the Turkish Get Up Exercise – I doubt it’s something I’d be willing to attempt – I know my limitations.
Anzac, I’m glad your Dad’s allergy is improving and I hope it speeds up.
I envy you your room full of books. For many years I wanted a library of my own and eventually managed it in the last house with walls of one room lined with full bookshelves. Unfortunately the arthritis got me to a point where I could no longer comfortably hold printed books long enough to read them. So I moved to using an ereader instead – it felt like a real loss but I’m grateful I actually have an option to keep reading. I eventually realised there was just no point hanging onto my books so I gave most to the bookshed in Stirling as they use the funds raised for good works in the local community. It was a difficult but sensible decision in the end. I did keep a few favourites and also some useful reference books – just one shelf.
Neil, I have no idea why your weight has bounced up. I doubt it’s a gain in body fat, because you would have needed to consume 20,000 calories over your TDEE for the week. All I can suggest is that you check your clothing fit or measurements. If you aren’t betting bigger then it’s probably a combination of extra leg muscle and fluid. Exercise that dehydrates you and attempts to rehydrate can cause weight fluctuations.
Cinque, I’m afraid I’ve let the side down. Dinner tonight is a spinach salad with a small steak, no legumes I’m afraid. As it’s hot I wanted to make a salad and the only salads that contain legumes that I like are also heavy on grains – not a good choice on an 800 cal day. Not to worry, I will catch up on my legume consumption in a few days when it’s cooler. I hope you have made something yummy for pulse day.
I have mentioned that I was testing heat pads on my lower back as a way of needing fewer pain killers at night. After more than a week of testing various options I have found that the heat pad is the best solution, but it doesn’t guarantee an unbroken night’s sleep or a lack of pain. It does soothe the pain to a level that I can usually tolerate and still get to sleep. Some nights it’s not enough, but mostly it’s a good solution. I’m sure I’ll find it even more appealing when the weather’s cooler – it does feel odd putting on a heat patch on a hot summer’s night. On those few nights when I still need pain relief I have found that if I just take 1/4 of the prescribed dose I can take it without food and it does an adequate job, so that gets me away from any reason to be eating at midnight.
Betsy and Klondi – are you both going ok in your first week back with us?
I hope everyone is well and having a good day. Take care.
Good morning from sunny 2C England. Next week, we will have a heatwave with 9-10C forecast all week. That really will seem warm. My snowman is still standing but all the other snow has now melted.
Anzac, so pleased your dad is feeling a bit better – we have a friend in Perth with an undiagnosed persistent rash. It’s itchy and makes him irritable. He has to cover himself in vaseline to go to bed. Very messy and uncomfortable. I’m interested that you were an early reader and the consequences of that in early schooling. When DD got to kindy, I asked for help with reading resources and was told there’s no point in pursuing it because it would only cause behaviour problems in class due to boredom.
In PS, both OH and I were involved in classroom reading, spending an hour each morning with individual children taken out of the classroom. The interesting thing was that, at the same time, their parents would be heading off to the cafe, their tennis date or to get their nails done! At age 8, some children still could not read – and this was one of Perth’s most affluent suburbs.
I quickly realised in PS that any output from DD would be directly attributable to my and OH’s input in her learning. I’m useless at maths so OH took care of numeracy. It drove me nuts that teachers would correct only some of DD’s spelling mistakes saying they didn’t want to crush her creativity. What a lot of tosh, children are sponges for information. If you randomly correct her work, I argued, DD will think everything else is correct. It later transpired that those teachers could not spell properly themselves.
At age seven, we were taking DD out of PS school for four months and I asked for resources to take on the trip. The reply was, ‘oh, don’t worry, we won’t really be doing anything next term”. The dumbing down dragged on for nine long years until, finally, it was time for the excellent high school where the pace changed dramatically. Looking back, DD said she spent nine years learning how to make friends!
All this doesn’t detract from it being a wonderful community hub with lots of opportunity for fulfilling one’s civic duties. And I do accept that socialisation and sport are important aspects of learning. I also should say that OH was working overseas for months at a time while I ran a business from home – giving me the advantage of lots of time to spend with DD. I appreciate that not all parents had that luxury.
LJ, we too had a room with wall to wall books collected over our lifetimes. Getting rid of them all was the first and hardest thing we did once the house had been sold. Second hand books shops were to capacity. OH was given $33 for a car boot full of technical books and the rest we gave away to our Learning Centre for their annual book sale.
LJ, you and I wouldn’t be able to handle the Turkish Get Up with our dodgy joints. I was sort of challenging Jony and Neil! It’s nice that you can get out for a shady walk. In Perth, my walking buddy and I would meet before the sun came up. I’d feel relieved at the end of February that the hot weather would soon be winding down.
Neil, the opposite is happening to me. I had three days in a row of minimal activity and my weight has been dropping like a brick. Perhaps we’re on to something! Just kidding.
Wednesday FD and I have a pathetic menu planned. Half a tin of pilchards (sorry LJ) and Huevos Rancheros for dinner. Maybe half a banana. A big bowl of pasta for OH.
Cinque, are you OK?
CalifD, have you watched ‘The Social Dilemma’ on Netflix? Scary stuff indeed and much worse than I’d imagined. Very pertinent to the last two US elections. Last night, after watching, I went to FB to try and delete my account. Good luck with that.
Morning all
Well I’ve done some reading and it says that if you’re doing excessive exercise you can mess with your body’s levels of the stress hormone cortisol and that can cause you to actually gain weight, especially around your belly. Other symptoms of it are fatigue and sleep disruption, both of which I have been getting, so I’m guessing that is the issue. The site recommend choosing either doing short duration/high intensity exercise or long duration/low intensity exercise. So I may have to ease up on the speed while I’m riding. Spend the time in the saddle but cruise when I’m doing it. Aren’t our bodies weird beasts?
So going by that, I’m guessing that I actually would be like you thin, if I stop exercising I would drop weight. Huevos rancheros sounds pretty damn good to me. I found our local supermarket has started stocking tins of young jackfruit so I picked up a couple and had a jackfruit curry last night and have the leftovers for lunch today. Yum!
Ljoyce, the pics look wonderful. I’d like to have another visit to Oz when we’re allowed out to play again. We haven’t been since our youngest was a toddler, and he’s turning 13 this year.
Anzac, well done on the loss, half a kilo in a couple of days is awesome!
Well have a good one everyone, I’ll see you later.
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We pay tribute to our dear friend and colleague, Dr. Michael Mosley. Michael was an integral part of our lives, […]
Michael is touring Australia this September! Here's a link to dates and tickets. Hope to see you there.
Michael Mosley gives an update for 2019, current research in the field and announces a tour starting in February.
in Recipes • updated 23 minutes ago by Cassidy_B
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in Welcome to The Fast Diet and Exercise forums • updated 6 hours, 19 minutes ago by NorthGeorgia
2:35 am
1 Feb 21