Another cold morning, but fast day done and a lovely breakfast had.
Congratulations too LJ and Thin!

LJoyce, I am so glad you were able to get that frozen shoulder working again. I do hope it is even better today. What a fright.

It is a very good time of year to do nothing in your garden!

Yes, I am SO glad my daughter’s family have the luxury of stopping renting. They were hoping to do things gradually, but oh dear the oven is dreadful, the glass in the living room window is sneakily cracked (they wanted to save up for double glazing) and the door speaker/bell doesn’t work. Ha, still better than living in a tent.

Thin, hoping that medication is easing your poor back. Hooray for beautiful sunsets.

Numbers are good here, and fingers crossed NSW is beginning to turn that huge ocean liner around.

I heard an interview about that Catalyst program tomorrow. They have some people on 5:2 and some people on 16:8 and all nutritious food. It sounds like they have some lovely inspiring results, so it might be encouraging to watch. 8:30 pm tomorrow ABC.

Best wishes everyone for a good day today.

Lindsay, DD and I love bananagrams! I have it on the boat but OH won’t play with me because I always beat him.

A quick catch-up before I get the day underway (ie housework, minding Miss 5).
I didn’t mention yesterday my weight loss battle. I’ve had a bad few weeks dietwise, and am finding it hard to get back on the low carb horse. Stupid really, because I know once I stop eating carbs, I’ll stop wanting carbs, but I can understand the process, without actually following it.

So, I was 3.2 kilos up on my lowest weight yet (which was 1.6 from my target), and have now shed 1 kilo of that. The weight gain was a combination of my covid visitor cooking, a week or so on the island with the children, then another few days last week, and in the meantime, a long weekend away to a dog show in Murwillumbah, just before the border closed. It was wonderful being away, but eating out was tricky because it was very cold to be eating outdoors, and we couldn’t leave Rose in the motel. (we were at a dog show where Rose did very well) All excuses, but I’ll battle on.

My friend is doing better than I am controlling her intake (6 x 1500 daily, and one fast day a week) but her weight fluctuates wildly ….sometimes by almost a kilo a day. Any thoughts on that? She is 2.1 kilos off her target on her best day, and 3 on her worst, but has made little progress in the past 3 weeks (we are now in week 26 of our weight loss program – 11 weeks on fast 800, then a staged approach back to 1500 daily (below our tdee) and 1 FD a week, sometimes 2.

Helen Kate we were at a dog show the other day with a new pal who has a lagotto pup …what a gorgeous ball of fluff it is. Nice you have this new pup in your life ….so good for the spirits, animals (and celebratory glasses of champagne.) Bananagrams is a word game not unlike Scrabble but the players have their own tiles and work individually at their own pace. Fabulous.

Thin what a shame your OH won’t play bananagrams …my OH and I are very competitive with it, and pretty much peg equally for winning. But we both play against ourselves, really, in that even winning doesn’t compensate for a poor hand. I had my best word ever over on the island. preternaturally. It al just fell into place, although I had to wait a while to get the ‘u’.

Cinque sounds like your DD and her OH have a bit of a challenge, but how nice to be able to make changes and improvements to their own home. Are they closer to you now?

OK must away. The oven’s beeping. I’m making muffins (wholegrain flour, coconut and olive oil). For the 5 year old, whose appetite is on the wane, with being ill. Have a great day all.

After that Neil, I am going to have a little lay down, because just reading about the work you are doing has made me inexplicably tired.

(How are you going Betsy?….making progress on your PhD?)

Leapfrogged your post Lindsay. Great to read your catch up.

You are doing so well!
Good luck avoiding those cheeky carbs.

My understanding is that our bodies are constantly wobbling around within a kilo or two what with water retention, food moving though and whatever other fascinating mechanisms are doing their thing in response to exercise, medication, micro minerals, hormones. Most recommend weighing once a week rather than daily.
This seems a good article: https://www.healthline.com/health/weight-fluctuation#daily-diet

DD’s family are less than a kilometre further away, but one less corner to get there, so it feels easier, haha. Yes, they are so excited to be able to set things up exactly as they like.

Bye again!

I’ve been keeping up on reading everyone’s news but haven’t been very good about posting lately. I’m somehow managing to maintain the weight I gained several months ago without putting on anymore. So I guess that’s something. The fires in California continue to burn although we haven’t had any large ones close to us. They are very good at putting the small grass fires out quickly, they have to be, with everything so dry around here. But early this morning we had some rain in parts of California. That’s very rare this time of year. I woke up to that wonderful smell of rain on the patio. Even though it was so little that I could probably have walked between the drops, it was still something. And it’s raised the humidity for a while which is a good thing here.

Neil, it sounds like you are getting an amazing amount of reno work done on your home. Once you put your mind to it, you’re unstoppable. I hope everything is going well for Mrs. Neil. We’ve been seeing a lot of the northern part of NZ in that series we’e watching, “800 Words” and hearing a lot of the local expressions. It’s turned out to be quite an entertaining show.

Lindsay, we watched all of the seasons of Madam Secretary when they were on one of our regular stations. I was so sad to see it end. You’re right about it being similar to West Wing in a lot of ways. That was another favorite. Your life seems to be hectic lately with all the lockdowns and some of the kids staying with you. Be grateful that Australia is taking the precautions that they are to try and keep things contained. We’re seeing cases spike all over the country with everything opened up for the most part. They have plenty of vaccines, but too many hesitant or anti vaxxers so the variants like the delta are spreading quickly and hopefully won’t mutate further. Now some states are telling even fully vaccinated people to wear masks indoors. After thinking things were finally getting back to normal, numbers of new cases are increasing quickly around here and we are on self imposed lockdown again. We’ve never stopped wearing masks in stores and around other people.

Cinque, congrats to Rosie and her family on buying their own place. I’m glad it’s still close to you. Doesn’t it seem like there are always problems with newly acquired places? They sometimes feel like bottomless money pits!

LJ, it’s good to hear that your shoulder is improving. It’s hard to know sometimes whether more exercise or more rest is the key to improvement.

Thin, I looked up a photo of all those lockes to had to navigate a week or so ago. Amazing! Glad you had some help in getting through them all. I didn’t read anything about falling in the water so I’m hoping you didn’t. Have you watched the series Lucifer on Netflix? It’s one of the series we’re watching now, and while the premise seemed a little goofy at first, it’s actually managed to be a favorite of OH and DS.

Well, we just had a 3 hour power failure and everything just came back on. Thank goodness this post didn’t disappear!

Hi all.
Cinque, thanks for the info about weight fluctuations. All makes sense. I think had we achieved our targets, we wouldn’t mind a bit of upping and downing. It was not being at target that’s caused the miseries.

Cali, good to hear from you. Still a dangerous time in the US….I hope you are staying safe, and that sense prevails among the anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers. No complaints from me about my Covid situation ….just an explanation of why I’d fallen off the horse. My whole family has now had double doses, including my under 40 DIL (a teacher), so I’m feeling a little more secure about their safety.

I saw my friend for coffee this morning, to plot our way forward. We looked at the spreadsheet to see at what point our weight slowed (week 11 of the Fast800, at which point we added more calories in a stepped fashion) and at week 18, when we introduced some bread. It was at that point that the losses became much lower, to this point where we have wavered and wobbled around for a few weeks. So, our conclusion? From 1 August, no bread whatsoever for a week, and assess whether we see a result. If so, we’ll plough on, but if not, we’ll cut more carbs (she has the Fast800 muffins with both flour and banana, I have Greek yoghurt with berries and nuts for lunch, often) and see where that takes us. There has to be an answer – we are so close now.

Gday I think your approach is right – though getting into ketosis isn’t easy for me. I lost my first 16 kilos doing 5:2 (on the old 500 a day method), 16:8 and no carbs from root veges, rice, bread, pasta, fruit) and still those sticks rarely showed the colour I was looking for I think very low carb is again where I am headed now.

Cinque I was mightily disappointed with the Catalyst program. Firstly, they had that poor butcher doing 600 a day (the old way), and his very overweight wife doing 16:8. I was shocked to see her cramming in what looked to be a fruit yoghurt to beat the 8pm eating deadline. It seemed there wasn’t enough emphasis on healthy Mediterranean eating.

I was also disappointed that there’s been a lot of research about intermittent fasting which didn’t emerge in the discussion…..and also surprised with the results …. the 100 kilo (maybe) 16:8 eater lost very little. Questionable, when we know it works. Also the younger woman whose focus was on preventing diabetes was congratulated for getting her Fasting Blood Sugar from 5.6 to 5.1, when we also know that on any given day, depending on what’s been eaten the night before, those numbers can move in either direction, and Hba1c would have been a much better measure (although probably the 6 week program wouldn’t have been long enough to use that measure).

I saw the program was produced in 2021 ….but I think the data would have been collected a long way before, with the old 5:2 numbers and the lack of current research.

OK, my builder is ringing the bell. Rosemarie has discovered how to escape our garden into the wilderness (I think I mentioned this before) and our temporary measures won’t hold her forever. Over to the professional to thwart her permanently.

Good night all.

Morning all

Still trucking through this week, managed to do pretty well with eating so far, just need to keep vigilant over the weekend.

Thin, no date for the surgery yet. The doctor isn’t in much of a hurry because the tumour is benign and slow growing. She has a few more appointments booked over the next couple of months so it’ll likely be after those, not before November anyway.

Cali, I haven’t seen 800 words, I think that was the one with the guy from the Aussie show “Packed to the Rafters” wasn’t it? The Northern part of NZ is certainly a beautiful part of the country…but then you could point at most parts of NZ and say it’s a beautiful part of the country 😉

Lindsay, Yes it’s annoying when people mis-represent the diet or don’t do it correctly. I saw one youtube video where a girl was attempting the fast800 to show how bad it was. Firstly she didn’t was pretty slim so she didn’t need to drop any weight, then she was complaining that she was bloated and not going to the toilet (probably not drinking enough water), complained that her skin had all broken out in sores (really? after 3 days of 800 calories) and then gave up completely after 4 days saying that her body couldn’t cope with the diet and promptly went and ate half a packet of chocolate biscuits. She didn’t even make it out of keto flu and wrote the diet off completely.

Well back to it now, I hope everyone has a great weekend, and don’t watch too much Olympics coverage 😉

Good afternoon from a wet drizzly Kaiteriteri.

I have been lurking and reading most days but really not much to report. The weather here of late has been quite hideous with so much rain, we are certainly well over it now. We have had some amazing deluges, torrential rain for hours on end, then 2/3 days rain continually, today seems to be heavy rain interspersed with constant drizzle. Certainly adds to a bit of cabin fever! We did however have a lovely weather day yesterday and as I was just about to suggest a bike ride, OH decided we should take a Pukeko with a broken leg that was wondering around the camp site to the vets, where we deposited it with the nurse, telling us that if they couldn’t save the leg, it would be euthanaised. At least it didn’t suffer anymore. They are such lovely birds, have become one of our favourites, but they are quite territorial and scrap and screech very loudly some nights. This one obviously came off worse. Maybe we’ll get out on the bikes tomorrow.

I’m not losing much more weight but not putting any on either, so am enjoying being able to maintain, just wish I was at my desired weight? It seems to be more difficult in winter for me, changing my diet somewhat to re-introduce some winter root vegies, which I have done recently, and I seem to be a bit more sedentary. I can quite honestly say hand on heart that I would not be bothered if I never had another slice of bread in my life. Sorry, don’t get the same feel as many of you here with the fresh bread thing, just doesn’t do it for me. It really is just convenience for me, so do sometimes struggle finding substitutes, avocado is a big one. Had some in the bottom of a ramekin the other day with tinned sardines on top and some grated parmesan, then under the grill, served with some fresh spinach, really lovely. I do miss dark rye bread & butter soldiers with soft boiled eggs though.

Feeling for you all in Aussie right now with the latest round of lockdowns, do hope you are all keeping safe and well. And for you too Cali with those fires, they look horrendous. Hope the latest round of flash flooding hasn’t made a difference to you on the canals Thin, the Caen Flight looked wonderful, good on you. Hope you’re still pedalling away Jony, and well done Neil on the home improvements, been that soldier more times than I care to remember, so I know only too well how it feels, plaster dust is one of the worst. Managed to secure tickets for the annual Beer festival so will be down your way at the end of October.

Recently finished watching The Queens Gambit which we loved, now watching the latest series of Baptiste (is set in Budapest, my favourite city) and another English one called The North Water with Stephen Graham amongst others. Both very good.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Turn

Turn, I had to look up Pukeko, what a beautiful blue colour. That was kind of you to take it to the vet. What horrible weather you’ve had. I loved The Queen’s Gambit and Baptiste. I haven’t seen the latest series of the latter showing on Netflix yet. The canal water levels do rise and fall so we keep a constant eye on the mooring lines, especially on the K&A canal which is partly river with the moorings almost all requiring stakes pounded into the bank. Good for you for maintaining your weight.

I’m coming up for seven years on IF and my weight has never been as stable as during this time. Some of these documentaries have a lot to answer for – a sample of six people is hardly a study, for example. There are many people on this forum (Maintenance Chatbox, Fasting with Jojo threads) who’ve been doing this a lot longer than I, and would provide good evidence of its benefits and sustainability. I often wonder why no one draws on their experience when making these 5:2 docos.

Neil, it would be nice to have that surgery behind you both but I suppose you can take comfort in the lack of urgency.

GDSA, you’re in good company having joined a few other non-drinkers here. I agree there’s not much to be said for alcohol consumption. Your body and brain will be grateful. It’s always easier if you have a like-minded OH.

CalifD, I wouldn’t have pegged you as a procrastinator.

Hello all. I have continued my unreliable and erratic correspondence with you all. I am slowly catching up all the missed posts, but I sill have a few to read.

We have left lockdown here, but a wonderful result of this last episode is that face masks are now mandatory in all indoor public spaces indefinitely. It was such a relief to walk into the supermarket yesterday and see everybody wearing a mask – usually I’m the only one. I have 12 days until my second AZ vaccine and will be relieved once I have that protection.

It’s been a quiet week, my only outing was babysitting on Thursday. I had my infusion on Tuesday and I got my FDs mixed up and fasted Sunday so I had more side effects to the infusion than usual. I’m still trying to wade out of the sea of fatigue that descended on me.

I continue to do 3 FDs per week and I seem to have managed to get my NFD back to more moderate consumption and still maintain the 3FD. (I’m nervous saying that as things usually go off the rails as soon as I say something is going well!) The thing that’s helping at the moment is that I’m limiting my food to veggies and cups of tea on FDs so I get a lot of food for the calories and can have a filling lunch – a rarity on a FD. It means it feels less like a FD, which helps a lot. I am being careful to up the protein content of my NFDs a bit to make up for the lack of it on FDs. The other thing I’m doing which always seems to help is to cut back on the amount of bread to a slice a day and to regularly include potatoes – even on FDs. (These are preboiled in their skins and then chilled before use to increase the resistant starch). I am still amazed that when I treat potatoes this way, they are filling but don’t unleash my appetite the way some other foods do.

I am trying to be more mindful – something my dietitian has encouraged but which doesn’t come naturally. I used to apply it to eating each mouthful of food slowly, but at the moment I’m using it to shorten my time frame. If I’m struggling to have a good week, I just focus on having one good day and if that’s too hard just get through one meal without overdoing it. Some days I’m down to an hour by hour target, but it does help as it’s more achievable and I feel less weighed down by failures.

My shoulder is mostly better – a few sore spots that the physio can hopefully deal with on Wednesday. Despite erratic weather I have managed to walk daily. Although it’s been raining or drizzling all day today so I haven’t left the house, just some laps of the hallway today.

I hope you are all going well. Take care.

Good morning,
A new month,

LJoyce, so good to hear from you. You are doing so well. <3
Hooray for everyone wearing masks.

Much sympathy for a difficult infusion and a frustrating mix up. Doesn’t it make a difference when you fast the day before.

I must do your trick of cooking and cooling potatoes.
I am finding my diet is better with plenty of root vegetables in it, and smaller amount of grains.

I’m also working on my mindfulness, it is so useful.

Thin, ha is C me or Cali? Well her name has been shortened so it must be me. Just thinking, you could also shorten it to ‘5’. 😀

Happy Sunday fast day. Hooray for the miso sachets. Note to self, go and get things soaking.
Mine is an 800 day since it I am going to take my grandkids to the park while their mum deals with some furniture deliveries. Their latest delight is scavenger hunts so I need to go and draw them up.

Off I go

Morning all.
So, back in lockdown as the CHO tries to trace all the school students and their contacts from around 5 schools so far, plus U of Q. Tricky. I am using my time productively (well, time will tell). I plan to finish my tax return (more complicated this year because I moved away from being PAYG to some consulting income, and I have no idea how to manage the reporting. OH has his refund back already (because I did it) and is now contemplating a new television. Ours is fine for me, but any screen that gives dear old OH’s eyes a break is money well spent.

At a dog show yesterday when the call went out that SE Qld was going into lockdown at 4, and the grounds would close at 3 (I already knew …the benefits of having a journalist in the family). I felt for the show organisers. It was the Pine Rivers Show – they haven’t had horses at the event for about 4 or 5 years (since the Hendra virus), had to cancel last year because of Covid, and this year looked like being a bumper 3 day event …but only got to 3 pm on day 2. (Rosy did well, btw…but still has a sore back, which I think was from letting her free-run on Friday, rather than lead-walking, after her chiro appointment on Wednesday).

HK, one of the joys I find of having a dog is the people you meet…for us it’s at shows, but also in the street or in cafes or other dog-friendly shops. We stopped at a nursery on the way home yesterday (silly, probably), and she was well-admired and I had a lovely chat to a woman who shared how hard she would find lock-down. I can’t imagine having that random chat, without the dog to trigger the engagement in the first place.

Thin, waiting with breath held to see how the UK goes. My brother and SIL leave for the UK week after next, and I’m really concerned. She is guardian for her disabled nephew, and manages a lot of things remotely, but has always had an extended annual visit to make sure things are working well with his carers, home, etc. At least my niece managed to get back from Japan where she lives and works, and is now staying with her parents (another brother who lives in Europe and was visiting when Covid struck last year).

Gday I was reading in The Diet Myth by Prof Tim Spector (who does research with twins) that in one of his studies, one twin had certain genes which the other lacked, that enabled her to eat carbs freely while the other couldn’t without gaining weight. It really supported my view (and yours too, I’m guessing) that carbs are not ideal for us (whereas OH can eat a loaf and never gain an ounce).

LJ I really like your considered approach to this plan….I find I always get something to ponder from your posts. Hope you are well now.

Ditto Cinque – your posts always give me a lift. Hope you are feeling better, and Rose is loving setting up her new home.

I’ve gone back to a disciplined 5:2 from today, after a fairly loose July. I managed to put on 3.2 kilos in the month, which is impressive. It isn’t ‘true’ weight and should disappear quite well, but I need to lose it, plus another 1.6 to get where I had set my target. My friend has also been able to identify the effects of bread (after believing for years that she wasn’t affected by carb intake) and has also dropped bread for the month.

OK I’m off for a cup of black Lady Grey tea. I may even do some ironing. My laundry will be the easiest room to get in shape, so a good place to start.

best wishes all

HelenKate, here is an article explaining resistant starch that I posted here several years back. I hope it helps. https://southdenver.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Resistant-Starch-for-web.pdf

Hello friends

A while since I posted and no surprise but I hit a new low in crashing and burning. Have been very down for various reasons but things are looking brighter now.

I think we have broken the back of winter as the angle of the sun is now more direct onto my clothes line and, to his delight, Maxx’s outdoor bed on our back porch. He is enjoying sunshine snoozes. The bone-chilling cold is gone and we are now just in t-shirts and something like a zip up fleece

Packed to the Rafters was a fantastic show, one of my favourites back in the day. I hope you really enjoy it Cali. I hope those fires don’t get any more troublesome

I hope you are feeling better Cinque and Neil YES WE CAN DO THIS. We’ve done it before. I’m glad you have a little while to get ready for your wife’s operation

I had my second AZ jab last week and I’m very relieved to be vaccinated.

It seems Rosy it really going so well in the dog shows Lindsay. You must be so proud.

Oh those pics are gorgeous Helen Kate! What a cutie.

That rain sounded pretty severe Turn, glad you didn’t get flooded. What a lovely gesture to take the bird to the vet so his/her suffering could be ended

Glad Melbourne are doing so much better than up here in Sydney LJ. While I have worn a mask ever since this pandemic began, I still get chills when I go to our local village shops and see everyone in masks. It makes me feel like I’m in a sci-fi movie and gives me the heebie-jeebies

Thin I do hope you and your OH never fall into the canal. I’m sure you can be proper boaties without that! I imagine the water would be very cold and who knows what might be lurking underneath. I’ve probably just jinxed you of course (and sorry if I did)

It is bank holiday here so I didn’t have to work. It’s been lovely to have 3 days off and I’ve done lost of cooking and cleaning and playing with Maxx. Some nice walks too

Take care all

Hello all.

Just back from a walk around the reservoir with Rosemarie. It was surprisingly busy, but most were wearing masks, and there’s lots of space, and the three of us have come home feeling better for the exercise.

Lockdown extended until Sunday. I’m not surprised. The exposure sites are growing by the hour. Where we live, we’ve been pretty safe so far, but no longer. All the major shopping centres in our suburb and adjacent ones. I’ve put in my grocery order on line – and will until this is over.

Anzac, hurrah for your second jab. All my family have had theirs now, although now it is in schools which is a terrible concern.

On to cheerier things.

All my ironing’s done – and it’s only day 1 of full lockdown.
OH has been working away in the garden, which is good for him, me…and the garden.

Thin, thanks for the resistant starch link – it seemed to be promoting various foodstuffs, but the information seemed very sound, and well presented.

Neil I had a good laugh at your card analogy. I was truly shocked how quickly the scales zipped up ….an awful satisfaction of sorts, getting on each day, to see where the needle landed. But, here’s a funny thing. When I lost the 15 kilos back in 2018, after I had finished, the scales went back up by 3 kilos, even though I was eating reasonable. I wonder if that is what is going to happen this time….in which case I’ll need to set my target lower to accommodate that.

I had a great, low carb, low cal day yesterday …and this morning had dropped .6 of a kilo.

Calif, in answer to your question to LJ …yes, masks are mandatory now in south east Queensland.

OK, time to feed the animals and pop a chicken in the oven. I’d planned to shop today, but it wasn’t to be and Woolies can’t deliver until Friday, so we are eating the freezer ….which is a good thing.

Have a good night

Update, weigh in went well. I’m back in double digits, dropping 1 kilo to sit on 99.4 kilos. Moving in the right direction 😃

Good morning,
I nearly finished a post yesterday, and then lost it. So frustrated and robbed of the will to try again… until now.

Congratulations Neil! So lovely to say good bye to the three figure.
I love how the app is helping you with mindfulness and planning. The two key things for success (in 5:2 and in life 😉 )

HelenKate, I just love the phrase ‘cheerfully hungry’. I have been embracing it. I was cheerfully hungry for about an hour before each meal yesterday, and very pleased with myself.

And ooh yes frittata made with potatoes from the fridge. Heaven. I love to add in enough grated veggies and herbs that I add nicely to my 7 a day, and just a bit of cheese.

Lindsay now we have got to a day of zero new cases (yay just heard), I can concentrate all my good wishes on Queensland and NSW. So worrying the number of children effected in SE Qld, fingers crossed for today’s numbers.

All power to you for a disciplined August, you will love it to get to your goal. Great start!

Cali those gorgeous hummingbirds just might be my favourite bird in the world. What a delight to see them hovering at your window.

Anzac, so glad that things have improved enough for you to post here, we miss you!
Hooray for the returning sun.
Congratulations on your second job, lovely to be fully vaccinated. It is 2 weeks since I had mine so all my antibodies should be nicely ready if they have to go to war for me.

I rather love the look of everyone in masks when I am out and about. It is like everyone is saying ‘we are working together, we are caring for each other’, each with our different material and different design mask. It makes me think of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ5MJqB9myA

Thin, ooh I hope you will have an easy snug winter this year. Might you get a dog?
I am sure DD would find a lovely one for you. Wow I remember Bath on the whistle stop tour of the UK and Northern Europe I went on with a group of architecture students back in 1978. I remember the architecture, and the baths, but mostly just escaping to sit against a tree for some quiet time.

Ok I am going to post this before I lose it.

Best wishes everyone

PS Fast day tomorrow for me.

Afternoon

Gday, I’m not sure if the miso soup powder has the same health benefits as miso paste, but it tastes good and it’s a low calorie snack to keep me going in between lunch and dinner. For gut health I drink my home-made kombucha.

Ljoyce, I may have missed it if you mentioned it, but is there a reason you’re not weighing yourself at the moment?

Cinque, good luck on your fast day tomorrow, I hope you have a nice easy one.

Catch you all later

Hi Everyone,
So glad to see this forum is still going strong. Thin, your name is the only one that I recognise.
I have had a long break due to forces beyond my control.
But now I am back, and this time my OH is joining me on this journey.
He has 11kg to loose, l myself have a bit over 30 to go, but I have lost 39kg so far.
It is much easier to do this when you have the support of another, and that is why I gave up before, as I had the stresses of caring for an elderly ungrateful relative, who thrived on destroying my self esteem.
Thankfully they died a while ago, and slowly I have been able to rebuild my life. OH has been very supportive, but we both have very demanding careers.
Anyway, enough about me, just to say today is day four of my return, and before today’s fd, I have lost 1.5kg, so hoping for a good number in the morning.
Thanks everyone for listening, great to be back here, loving reading all your posts. Thank you!

Good morning from fast day at my place,

Hello Charlie, welcome back! I might have arrived at this site just as you disappeared. Hello to Mr Charlie too, and woot for losing that excess weight. I know it can be hard to 5:2 with a demanding career (or two) but I’m betting you find ways to make it work for you. I do hope it is good number this morning.

Gday, that is the best weight management policy ‘there is no one size that fits all’. Congratulations on that lovely 7kg gone. https://cdn4.vectorstock.com/i/1000×1000/04/88/congratulations-word-with-fireworks-vector-18480488.jpg
So fun to have baggy pants that need to be changed!

LJoyce, haha all the housework gets done when uni assignments are due.

Well Victoria’s zero day didn’t last very long, but luckily I am in an ‘eating out the freezer’ stage. I found a frozen container of grain that I seriously don’t know what it is (bughul maybe?) (but it went well with my stirfry yesterday). Anyway, that is a clear sign that I need to eat out everything in the freezer. I shouldn’t need to go shopping for weeks.

Congratulations to you too keep acing your eating plan.

Neil, thankyou!

Anzac, oops! I read my post over twice to check for mistakes but still missed that one, and I wouldn’t wish a second job on you for anything.
I am so glad you are managing lockdown so well. Apart from Maxx trying to help with meal prep that is. It is hard times for NSW but you have the whole country barracking for you.

Thin, I really hope it might be the same tree! How nice to have a leisurely fortnight there in Bath.

Well, I had better be off. Maybe if I pretend I have a uni assignment due I will get the place tidy!

Cheers all

Good afternoon everyone

Hi Charlie, I am another who arrived after you left the forum. Well done on your weight loss. I checked your profile to see your weight loss goal is 45% of your starting weight. What a big challenge, but it can be done. As you have said it’s a lot easier to stick with this when your partner is on the same program and fasting when you are. I hope you easily slip back in to the rhythm of 5:2.

Neil, the large painted cards are very necessary – I think most of us learned that lesson the hard way. The other thing I found was that I needed to take the colour options into the wall and look at them in both daylight and night light as they change a lot. After all that effort it’s so easy to not want to cook. Just start today with a fresh focus.
You asked if there is a reason I’m not weighing at the moment. I think weighing myself should only be done when the number will be motivating. Unfortunately I have a history of the opposite being true – it either flattens my mood and I often try to eat my weight out of that mood, or it elates me and I treat myself with food as a result. Because I have rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia (both autoimmune diseases with a lot of inflammation), my weight can fluctuate dramatically with changing inflammation levels and it’s depressing to see my weight rise if I’ve been eating properly, I start to think “what’s the point”. Monitoring the fit of my clothing doesn’t have the same impact, it does for me what weighing does for most other people – I know I have to do something if my jeans are tighter and if they get looser I know I’m doing ok and am motivated to continue.

Cinque, you need to label what goes into that freezer – I learned I couldn’t rely on memory, it fades too much after weeks or months on things sitting at the back of the freezer drawer.

Thin, I’ve noticed the same thing with my mask keeping my nose warm when walking in winter – not sure I will appreciate it quite so much in summer.
We saw commentary here in recent days about the success of the opening up in the UK and attributing it to people mostly being cautious in their approach to the removal of restrictions.

Anzac, well done getting back into your eating and exercise pattern. It can be so easy to let a bad day derail us. I hope you (and your Dad) are coping ok with the continuing restrictions and infection worry.

Hello to everyone else who is reading.
Time to go for a walk as I am running out of time before babysitting.

Take care all.

I only have a teeny freezer box and I still have to make a list of everything in it. Even then I don’t believe my list and think one portion is two or vice versa. I have to do the same with food staples under the bed. Boxes of LL milk have to be organised in ‘use by’ date order.

Charlie G, since you were last here, I have left Perth and moved to England. It was intended as a bucket list year on a narrow boat but we got locked down and became taken with the lifestyle so we’ve been floating around in our steel quarantine box for nearly two years now. Good thing too as Australia won’t have us back. We have cruised about 500 miles of the 2000 mile canal network and walked at least double that on towpaths. The lovely people here allow me to continue posting on this thread.

LJ and Neil have each successfully lost a significant amount of weight, though in LJ’s case, most of the hard work had been done before she joined us here. I think my own loss only amounted to about 27% of my starting weight but it’s still wonderful not to be carrying that around.

LJ, the covid numbers here do seem encouraging nearly three weeks since SD measures were ended. 20% of hospitalisations are people 18-30. I think your report is correct, many people are just used to mask-wearing now and have continued. Some businesses are asking that people continue to wear a mask. Frankly, I never liked people in my ‘space’ and I’m grateful not to be exposed to their other germs, colds, coughs, etc. The one thing I do find amusing is the ritual use of anti-bacterials at every business entrance. OK, nice to have clean hands but totally useless in the fight against covid. A bit like taking off your shoes to get on an airline. Oh, I feel so much safer now!

Morning all. A quick post, before I deal with my Woolies order. I’m staying put (ie, out of shops) even when the stay at home order lifts ….my DD starts her teaching prac on Monday week (delayed by a week) and who knows how she’d manage if I go to a hot spot and can’t care for the kids for a fortnight. So, some very heavy bags – all my lovely beans and other pulses, and tinned tomotoes, which figure so heavily in my diet these days. Perhaps a Nigerian Bean Stew is coming today.

I’m down 1.1 since 1 August…the date on which I pulled myself together. 3.8 to go now.

Charlie, welcome back to this wonderful forum. People may have changed since you were here in the beginning, but the thing that hasn’t changed is the wonderful support of this terrific group. BTW, have you watched ‘Rick Stein’s Cornwall’. On SBS I think. A lovely program, particularly with your family connection.

Neil, yea for double figures …well done. You’ll be on a roll now.

Anzac, Thin, the home schooling has in our experience been done wonderfully for the little ones. We sat the children yesterday when DD went for a long-standing and very necessary health appointment, and Miss 5 (the preppie) showed me one home learning activity. She had to think up a question, predict, count, analyse and deliver her findings. (I know …prep!). Her question was “Do you think rats make good pets?”. She predicted the kids would think so, the adults not. She then had to ask each family member, mark the yes/no answers on her screen, count and analyse them, and then deliver her results. All recorded on DD’s phone, and submitted to her teacher. Amazing. And she loved it. But as you say Anzac, tough on the parents, home schooling and working at the same time. My DS who works in the creative industries finds it tough with his 3 year old constantly demanding attention.

Apart from the disconnect with the family, I’m enjoying the lockdown (with apologies to those for whom it is difficult, or for whom it has and is dragging on, with no end in sight). I’m back to cooking, cleaning long-neglected cupboards, and trying on summer clothes and assessing what goes, and what is worth having remade. My linen shirts are all too big, but worth the tailor’s cost. Skirts I’ve liked in the past are now too big but also no longer my style ….I’m now into knee-length pencil skirts. Also my old bigger jeans. What’s the point of holding them up with a belt? I haven’t lost all this weight not to look my best.

I’ve broken my ‘no shop’ mantra to pick up some clothes bargains. In Murwilliumbah recently, I got two leather jackets from a market stall….the stall keeper had closed a shop in Byron Bay I think and was selling a few last pieces. I got 2 almost $400 jackets for $70 each. Have also got some new jeans and trousers, and a couple of linen shirts, all 3 sizes smaller than those in my wardrobe. Oh, and some summer shoes. So that is my shopping complete now, and all at great prices.

Gday here’s something interesting from the Diet Myth. That coffee has fibre, so is good for gut health. Who’d have thought?

Cinque, how are the little girls managing, in their new home? Is the one with the sleep issue settling in okay?

OK off to the garden. The citrus are flowering mightily, after last week’s burst of hot weather (like Sydney, Anzac ….back to chilly nights and cooler days, but gloriously sunny) and I’ll happily dig and snip, all the while avoiding the bees that are taking advantage of the blossoms.

Enjoy your day all.

Hello friends

Another gloriously sunny day in Sydney and that arctic wind has once again moved on. It is cold inside but outside in the sun – it could be spring.

Welcome back Charlie G, so glad to have another friendly ‘face’ onboard. So glad you are able to get your life and health back and I look forward to doing this journey with you. I lost 15 kilos back in 2019 before a wonderful trip to Europe but I have put it all back on (and some) and am now back on the journey. I need to lose at least 20 kilos, more like 25 and I have been struggling this year. But as our friend Merry says ‘if you fall off the horse, get back on again’. My poor horse has whiplash watching me get on and off!

Thin, did you end up being able to see DD in Bath? How is the crazy English weather this week? Which season are you experiencing?

LJ, I too am often guilty of shrugging and saying ‘what’s the point’. It’s too easy to give in when the scales are mean or you have some sort of negativity going on.

What a challenge for your DD foodwise for hubby and Ms 6 Cinque, on top of working and setting up a new home. I’m glad she has you for such amazing support

I love Rick Stein Lindsay but I haven’t seen his Cornwall series. I will scout Foxtel until I find it. How great to have loose clothes, I forget what that feels like – but I am determined to feel it again soon

So day 5 of 900-100 calorie days and extra exercise. The scales are being stubborn but I have something going on in my gut (again) so off for an ultrasound next week. Probably a flare up of diverticulitis but I told the doctor it feels different so he suggested the ultrasound. I had a blood test yesterday and despite the most senior person doing it I ended up with 5 stab holes as I have deep, tiny veins and as I wasn’t expecting the test I hadn’t sloshed litres of water into myself beforehand in order to plump up those veins. OUCH!

Maxx just took personal delivery of a large box from Raw and Fresh and has been bouncing around the kitchen crying as Mr Anzac unpacked frozen turkey necks and sardines. There now is a turkey neck defrosting on the bench and he is sitting ramrod straight in front of the bench staring up quivering. I’m going to have to put it in the microwave to defrost quicker to put the poor pooch out of his misery.

Neil – double figures again! Way to go!!

Have a great rest of your Friday everyone

Good evening all, most unusual for me to post in the evening, but OH has been loaned a book from a neighbour and as he is reading the TV is not on! Not that there is much to watch anyway!

I love hiding vegies in all sorts of cooking, either sweet or savoury. I do love the beetroot brownies in the Fast 800 recipe book and have made the chocolate zucchini cake for years, right after baking my very first ever carrot cake!! Not to mention the bean torte, one of my favourites. However, all my baking is on hold at the moment as my weight has plateaued. I have started quick walking/jogging again this week for the first time since early April, but isn’t showing on the scales yet. Although, I washed my only two pairs of jeans this week ready to deposit at the op shop next time I’m in town, they were hanging on me so bought a new pair. Not really happy with them but they were not expensive so will give them away soon to I think. I only wear jeans occasionally and never in the summer. I live and die in skorts, and one pair I have now falls to my ankles when I stretch up so will have to get rid very soon. They feel so much like a comfortable pair of slippers though, parting with them will be difficult. Reminds me of someone posting on here about their pyjamas falling down! haha I love the sound of pencil skirts, they used to be a fave of mine and I do like culottes too, smart pleated ones.

OH and I visited Padstow when we were walking the SWCP a few years ago and all the locals now call it “Padstein” as he owns all the buildings and restaurants/cafes and has a cooking school. Unfortunately, his wait staff didn’t share his passion so found the whole episode quite disappointing but then I often do, even here in NZ. Not sure why people do the job when they can’t be bothered doing it properly? I do enjoy a lot of his recipes though.

I had to laugh at your horse having whiplash Anzac. I read recently on the FB 800 page from someone that they likened this journey as being on a train and pulling into a station, (when we fall off the horse) I think my train has lost it’s engine it has been at this station for so long!

Well done Neil for getting back into double figures, you’re back on track at last, congratulations. And well done with the reno’s, it’s not easy working and living around it. Hopefully you’ll get some time to relax and refresh over the weekend.

I hope you enjoy the candlelit visit to the Roman Baths, we were there some years ago and loved it. We were with friends whom we met through our Lodge and stayed with them at their place in Cunmoor just outside Oxford. It was our first visit to Bath and I fell in love with the Georgian architecture, just beautiful. As for freezing food, I weigh, bag and label everything in my freezer, then bag all the pork, beef, lamb, chicken and fish in different bags so it’s easy to find. I’ve wasted too much time hunting though freezer bags over the years, finding food and defrosting it, looking forward to cooking a lovely meal, only to find out when it’s defrosted it’s not what I thought it was! Sigh!

Time to do some more work on Ancestry, enjoy your weekend everyone,

Turn.