CharlieG, Happy 37th Anniversary! Hope it’s a wonderful day.

LJ, I loved the sand drawings, also Neil’s mention of the 3D art and HK’s Tibetan sand art. There’s something magical about the images being swept away. I used to love sandcastle competitions for that reason.

Cinque, someone sent me a ‘too long in lock-down’ email this morning. It comprised sketching arranged around fruit, veg, pasta and nuts. It’s probably not the one you want to share with the grandies but gives you an idea: https://imgur.com/EGCuGXW

Spreadsheets and lists – love them!

Turn and Neil: great to hear your news.

HK, that soup sounds fantastic and glad you’re feeling better.

Lindsay, so sorry to hear all that you’re having to endure. But how much stronger you are to deal with it all at your brilliant, healthy weight. We can never take our good health for granted.

Popped back because I forgot to say Happy Anniversary to Charlie
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0227/0875/products/SM14111A_600x.jpg?v=1616471850

Lindsay, I’m glad to hear the update, although it sounds so complicated and the worry will continue. Go the anticoagulants. Lucky you have Rosy to keep you occupied!

Thin, the pasta picture is great. I can plan an activity around that I think!

Hard news for Victoria today. I hope other states can keep to no covid for a good while yet. I hope we can keep it out of the regions.

Best wishes.

Good evening everyone.

Lindsay, given everything worrying that is happening in your life, I’m pleased to see that Rosy many to provide a lighter moment to your day.
Yes it is me that uses spreadsheets to manage many things. Numbers, formula, graphs etc are definitely my comfort zone.

Charlie, those weight loss numbers are the best anniversary present. Excellent work.

HK, yes it certainly has been an unusually sunny day. I had to apply sunblock and put on my summer hat to go for walk. Better make the most of it, Friday looks dismal.

Cinque, sorry that the covid news was so depressing for Victoria today.
I think for all of us to change our concept of “safe” being zero cases, to accepting viral spread is going to take a bit of a leap. Not that we have a choice on this I think, this variant has shown us that it won’t be suppressed.

Turn, you really are making excellent progress on your weight. Especially good in a cold NZ winter – I struggle to even maintain my weight in the cold weather.

Neil, there must be something in the air in NZ, excellent results.
That 3D art was amazing.

Thin, I don’t think I ever built a sandcastle growing up. But I grew up inland and rarely saw the ocean. Odd that I’ve finally ended up living near it.

Another new recipe tried tonight and it was very good. Ras-el-hanout chicken & veg traybake: https://imgur.com/a/Pb3zWmA Close to original recipe, though I just used 6 chicken drumsticks as 3 serves is ample for me. I also increased the veg, as I wanted more variety – I managed 6 different veg – I was channeling Cinque. It was a good traybake, lots of spice flavour and lemony too. Plenty of leftovers means I don’t have to cook when I return from babysitting tomorrow night, excellent.

We have been talking about snacks recently and I’ve been snapping photos of my mid-afternoon snack in recent days. https://imgur.com/a/3WlYcKy An apple with 2 tsp nut-seed butter and 2 carrots with a tiny tub of low fat philly cheese. Both around 100 calories, which is usually my target for a filling snack.

Take care all.

Cinque, can you plan an activity around this one? 🙂 https://imgur.com/4A9vp2U

Good morning,

Fast day, but I woke up not feeling well so I have had a bowl of porridge I think I needed and I will see how I go for the rest of the day.

Betsy, really glad to see you here, Spring is a great time to get back into 5:2.

Charlie what great work you are doing. All power to you. Yay for the weigh in. Have a lovely spring clean!
(I used to love splitting wood, long ago when I lived out of the city)

LJoyce, lovely snack and orchid!
Chicken bakes are the best, I make one and it is so easy and delicious.

Turn, woot for missing out on the 67’s! I meant to say yesterday! Luckily LJoyce’s post reminded me. It is such good news.

Thin, haha!
The kids will LOVE that and want to do the same. Luckily I have a couple of little pears that will be perfect for them.

Neil we had a big jump in covid numbers yesterday 120 (and the whisper is 170 today) and the advice from our Chief Medical Officer is that it won’t be possible to get back to zero and we need to concentrate on stopping the numbers growing too quickly while we vaccinate like mad.

It is lovely weather here too, I wish I could bicycle around in it, but I will try at least to get into the garden.
Ha, forgetting things is very good for your health!

Ok coffee time

Best wishes everyone

Morning all

I had a good day yesterday. It was a sunny day so I got out for a nice walk for an hour and a half, I got some baking done, got the lamb slow cooked ready for the pie I’m making for dinner tonight, I braved the masked zombie apocalypse to get our grocery shopping done, and got a bit of work done around the house. I’m looking forward to the weekend so I don’t have to pretend that I’m working from home. It’s meant to be beautiful weather again so I’ll probably get a bit more exercise done and a lot of gardening.

This morning was my first spike in weight for the week. I was up 900g to sit just over 100 kilos on 100.1kg I didn’t eat that much so must be a bit of retained water. If last week is any indication then it should spike down again later in the week. The trend seems to be down about 200g a day with a couple of spikes up and down.

Have a good day everyone, and I hope the weekend is good for you too.

Hello friends

I have enjoyed catching up with posts and can’t possibly reply to everyone but please know how much pleasure they all bring

My two closest girlfriends and I have decided to lose weight together. We can’t see each other of course but we have a group messenger account and chat many times every day. It is a lifeline, honestly. Anyway the “Spring Challenge” is on and it’s great to have even more support. Work has been a total nightmare plus with my bad back it hasn’t been easy but I am happy to at least be on board

I am thinking of you both Lindsay and Mr L and hoping for a speedy recovery and good news from the tests. Glad Rosy could provide a tiny bit of comic relief – what a personality that girl has. I bet she and Maxx could put their furry heads together and plan all sorts of mischief.

We have had such gorgeous sunny warm weather but sadly the weekend is looking very wet. I’m looking out of the big glass window and can see very dark clouds closing in. The rain is not far off.

Belated happy anniversary Charlie. 37 years is lovely. Mr Anzac and I have been married 29 years in October and going out for 34. Our wedding day seems like yesterday.

Neil, 20 years is a great celebration too. We took our 12 closest friends to the Hunter Valley for ours and renewed our vows. It was the most incredible weekend and we will never forget it. Most of the wedding party were there including Mr Anzac’s best man / best mate from NZ. We are (hopefully) going to his wedding in Wellington in February – Covid permitting. Please keep your fingers crossed for us as Mr Anzac would be totally devastated to miss it. He is best man of course.

I must run and sorry to not reply to everyone. I hope to get some time tomorrow

Take care

A very quick post friends, before we head out the door to a dog show. It seems improbable to be doing this, but our focus is to keep on doing the things we do, until we know what’s next.

We had a lovely day of celebrations with our son and daughter yesterday for Father’s Day. First, afternoon tea with my DS and family, then dinner with my daughter. Both are understandably as anxious as we are about OH’s health.

No real news to report on that front. We see the round of specialists this week before a biopsy on Thursday, then back to the surgeon on Tuesday week. The waiting is interminable, but the process can’t be hurried.

Charlie, your farm sounds like hard work but so rewarding and a great way of life. You must be fit, to manage all you do.

Sorry about your spike Neil….particularly galling that it took you back over the 100. But….obviously it’s water weight, and will go as quickly as it came. And good riddance, hey!

Anzac, great to know you and your mates are doing this together. It’s good to share the ups and downs (more downs, I hope) and to keep each other focussed. Good luck.

Betsy so good to hear you’re back. Dare I mention the PhD? Hope you are progressing.

HK, Betsy, those leg twinges are so irritating at night particularly. Have you tried magnesium and Vitamin B?

Anzac, I’m amused at the notion of Rosy and Maxx meeting up. She has a couple of lab friends at the shows, so she’d love him.

Cinque, I love the notion of getting over the rough ground as lightly as possible. A good mantra. and a kind thought.

OK off to pack the car and groom Rosy (once I’ve found her ….I last saw her red tail disappearing down the back and into the bushes. She’s still in her pyjamas, so hopefully she won’t come back bedraggled after being washed and ready to go yesterday.

If I’ve miss replying to you all, I am sorry. I’ll get back into some semblance of order soon, I hope.

Good afternoon everyone.

Well, so far today has been fairly well-managed. I’m aiming for a CD today, and seem to be well on track. Things often go off the rails in the evenings, but if I make myself drink fluids instead of eat, I should be okay.

LindsayL, the wait is very emotionally tiring, but you’re approaching it very well. How did Rosy do at the show? Did she have to be re-washed and groomed?

Doctorate? Progress has been very slow. My desktop died on me recently, and I’m still procrastinating on setting up the new one. I’m also still avoiding the updating of 500+ references that need to be APA7 instead of APA6 – they need to go onto Zotero, and I just have to sit down and start doing it! The data analysis has also stalled, as I need to meet with one of my supervisors, a data whiz, to work on it, and with our lockdown, can’t do it. I know, excuses, excuses. One day I will just sit down at the computer and start, and once past that barrier, will whizz through the necessary work. My supervisor has sent me 5 youtubes he made which I can get a lot of info from to analyse the data, so that’s one thing I can do – actually sat down to do it, and decided to check my emails and write on the forum instead. Oops! 🙂

Cinque, great gardening progress, and I can understand the need for a rest after doing so much. The shutdown is frustrating me because I need to buy some things at Bunnings so I can also do some gardening chores that would ordinarily be done at this time of the year. Unfortunately, I really need to see the items, to choose exactly what I want, so I guess it will be waiting a while. It’s not the same online.

Okay, hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday.

Good morning,
A lovely sunny day in Melbourne has just got cloudier, here at least. But my strawberry tower is happy as it doesn’t need direct sun while the cuttings are establishing.

I had a good fast day yesterday and on track for a good sensible eating day today.

I hope your day finished well Betsy. Those evenings are a trick.
Wishing you that oomph to get back into your doctorate and all those things done, I bet it pops up soon.

I know what you mean about Bunnings. Luckily I just wanted mulch and potting mix.
I am SO hanging out to be able to go op shopping again.

Charlie, wow, your offspring are far flung! What fascinating news from all over the world you must get. Won’t it be wonderful when you can travel around to visit them all again.
Good work this week! Is your next goal 105? I’ll have a fireworks gif ready!

I’m having chicken and veg for lunch and my second last veggie layered ramekin in the evening. Lots of drinks of water in between.

Cheers everyone

Lindsay, hope you had a good day at the dog show with Rosy and that OH is responding well to the treatments so far. Wishing him the best on the results of the biopsies.

This will be a short post but I plan to catch up soon. The big fire near here has moved further east. There have been a couple more that aren’t a danger to us now, but still concerning. It seems like the whole state is burning these days and we have temperatures in the high 30’s forcast for all of this week. I will be so glad when Autumn comes.

My surgery a couple weeks ago went well. Between all the stress and mostly sticking to 5:2, I’ve lost 3.1kg since Aug 2. Slowly heading downwards.

I’ll post more soon. It’s good to read everyone’s posts.

I popped in here the other day and there was no one around so I left.

Neil, great anniversary plans. We still hope to do something special for our 30th anniversary this month but I’m having difficulty with the concept of a £15 flight to Malta bumped up by £70 for covid testing. And we’re not keen on sitting next to who-knows-who for four hours on a plane. I’m waiting until the last minute to book anything. We also toyed with the idea of a night at The Ritz instead but it still involves public transport.

CharlieG, your children are in great locations for holidays! We enjoyed visiting a school friend in Somerset recently and touring the coastal towns with her. Good job on the downward trend. Can’t wait to hear when you’re in double digits but 5kg increments is very sensible. When I was consumed by my weight, my Perth GP (who understood weight challenges so well) suggested I lose 1kg every year for the rest of my life! It doesn’t sound like much of an effort but when you consider it against the 5kg a year you’d otherwise likely gain, it’s quite significant.

I had a rubbish FD because I tried a new recipe of Thai beef and lemongrass. While eating it, I was convinced it was more calories than stated – proven on the scales the next morning with a miserable 300g loss. Back to the tried and tested ‘chicken somethings’ from now on. To make things worse, we had a cooked breakfast yesterday and a BBQ on The Thames last evening. Blow out!

Cinque, loved hearing about your strawberries. We’ve been foraging lately and found hazelnuts, blackberries, apples and plums. Isn’t Bunnings allowed to open in lockdown?

Betsy, hello again. Sorry to read that you gained all your lost weight back. Life is more or less normal in England. There are a high number of reported daily covid cases but vaccinated people don’t get very sick so it’s more or less like ‘flu now. Our lifestyle means that we have very few contacts and we always wear masks in public places like supermarkets. The other reason for the high numbers is the improved scope of testing.

CalifD, the fires are concerning. Hurray for 3+kg lost. Did you ever watch, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’? We’ve been watching, ‘Turning Point’ a serial doco about 9-11. It’s very well presented we think.

Lindsay, thanks for the OH health update. I like your OH’s stiff upper lip approach and getting on with life. Worrying adversely affects health so enjoying the things you normally do is a good approach.

Anzac, lovely 20th anniversary celebrations. Hope you’re staying well.

LJ, a post from you appeared while I was writing this. Yes, big shake up needed to accommodate the NHS. I’ll read your snack list later as it’s a beautiful sunny day of 27C and I mustn’t miss a moment. Cruising on The Thames is glorious.

Hi Betsylee,
We both live in the same state, I am in the North East and have Falls Creek at the top of our Valley, like you I am totally over lockdowns, it’s spring and I am trying to get the garden in order, but not able to buy punnets of seedlings, so busy planting seeds over the next three weeks, and turning on the bottom heat in the greenhouse to give them a boost.
We run a small herd (75) of beef cows, although I have one dual purpose one that provides milk for our house, as well as rearing her calf. We also run a bnb when we are not in lockdown.
85 nights of cancelled accommodation since March 2020. That doesn’t include all our regular bookings that were not able to be made.
Cheers for now

Morning all
It’s so good to read your posts – it’s very affirming, to read about your lives and your struggles and especially your successes

Charlie, what I would give for fresh milk from a cow. But OH has drawn the line. Not even chickens for us. Our Rosemarie would drive them insane. Being a setter, she’d spend her days stalking them. Not good for egg production, nor their wellbeing. However – I was pretty happy with breakfast yesterday. A poached egg, with spinach from our garden, with sourdough I had baked, followed by honey from my hive, and home made marmalade. (That was OH’s breakfast .. I stopped at the poached egg with spinach)

I’m at my DD’s as I write this. We got a call last night as they were on their way to emergency with the 5 year old who’d fallen from the trampoline. She was diagnosed with concussion and they kept them in overnight. My DS called at 5 for me to sit with the 8 year old while he and DD swapped shifts at the hospital. DD is in the last few days of her 4 weeks of prac teaching – already cut short by a week because of lockdown, and if she misses even a day, she can’t graduate. So after a night at the hospital, she’ll come home and change and then teach for the whole day. We will have the little one today and tomorrow.
OH had two of his specialist appointments yesterday. The news from the vascular physician was more positive than we’d hoped. The vein is not completely blocked which means blood can still drain from his brain. Phew! Then to the respiratory physician …yes, there are shadows but he’s not sure if it’s scarring from emphysema and pneumonia. So, off for a PET scan today. It, with the biopsy tomorrow, will give us a clearer picture.

It is freezing here – that snap of cold before the sun. I didn’t think about it as I climbed out of bed at 5 and didn’t dress warmly enough. Brrrrr.

We had a lovely day at the dog show – Rosy performed very well, although she didn’t win. She’s very thin….picky with food, and is very energetic. She’s handled for us by a lovely woman, a dog judge who is very impressed with her. But we know she will need to mature before she lives up to her potential. And in the meantime, she’s just our wonderful Rosemarie.

Cinque are you feeling recovered from your exertions? You sound like you’ve been doing a lot….gently does it.

Thin, don’t blame you for reconsidering your flights ….the time is coming, but perhaps not quite yet??

Betsy I am a fiend for online shopping, although I have really constrained my buying this year. But … I did take advantage of the sales to buy up boots and flat shoes. Blue Illusion had the Rollie brand reduced from around $180 to
$70, so now I’m set. But you are so right. Even shopping at the same store – even the same brand – can deliver up some pretty unreliable sizing.

LJ, I’ve led you up the garden path about Rosy’s pyjamas. Actually it’s just a coat, quilted flannelette on the inside, a waterproof deep red fabric on the outside, with front leg holes and a zip underneath (which is ridiculous for a dog with her belly feathers). One day I’l get around to putting velcro on it. She does look pretty cute in it though, and it settles her at night once it goes on.

Cali, the fires are horrendous. Hope the weather changes for you soon. Well done on the weight loss in these difficult times.

Betsy, hard to hit a trough with your doctorate. One day it will all fall into place, and you’ll be away and impossible to stop.

Later ….And as I finish this off, SIL has delivered the 5 year old home from hospital, and she is sitting on the bench out the front in the sunshine, singing ‘wouldn’t it be lovely’, almost word perfect. The girls & OH watched My Fair Lady a couple of weeks ago, and loved it…..I am afraid I don’t share OH’s love of musicals, so he’s happy to have a couple of recruits to share.

have a great day all.

Good morning all

Well Spring has certainly sprung! 27 today with 24, tomorrow then 28 on both days of the weekend. Poor Maxx is going to have a bath today and silly Mr Anzac told him and now he is furtively skulking around keeping well away from him. Who says dogs can’t speak English?

I have had a very good week eating wise and have lost 500g in 4 days. That’s a lot for me. It hasn’t been easy as I have been doing 13-16 hour days since last Friday and worked all weekend as well. It’s just a phase and I’m counting the days until Christmas and our beautiful 3 week break

Neil, I can almost taste that focaccia bread. Home made and hot – nothing beats it. It sounds like you are really on top of things

Lindsay I am so sorry to hear about your darling granddaughter, I hope she is ok. I smiled so broadly at the image of her singing the tune from My Fair Lady. I am sending so many positive thoughts to you and Mr L. The wait must be terrible but I am praying for good news. I’m trying to imagine what it must be like to have a picky eater for a dog. Maxx, being a labrador, is insane about food and I can’t imagine how we would have been able to train him if he wasn’t.

What a blow the cancelled B&B stays must be Charlie G, the world is such a different place to a couple of years ago. Your farm sounds amazing and your mind-set is going to see you in the double digits before you know it.

Betsy I never buy clothes online either – for the same reason; the sizing varies wildly. I hate buying clothes but I do hope to lose enough weight to begin to enjoy it

Ha ha Thin, your ‘blow outs’ sound like my good days! I hope the weather is remaining lovely for you

LJ I like the sound of some of your snacks and I am going to try them. It’s a great idea to stick to 100 cals but also try to make them filling

Cali, 2.3 kilos since the beginning of August. Whoo hoo! I hope those fires stay away from you

Cinque, our local Bunnings closed for about 3 weeks and Mr Anzac fell into a deep funk as it is his ‘happy place’ and second home. They reopened on Monday and he spent most of Sunday singing a silly little song that he made up about it. He makes me laugh a lot (needed). He was one of the first in line on Monday morning

Sigh, work calls. Have a great day all

Good evening all.

Well, I’m persevering here so far. Think I may have lost about a kg to this point, but not weighing in on my “proper” scales until Saturday morning. I hop on the cheap bathroom scales most days, but the expensive scales that give me lots of readings, just once a week.

LJoyce, so sorry to read that you’ve been struck down yet again with a wretched chest infection. Please look after yourself, and hope you improve quickly.

Charlie G, good to have another Victorian on the forum. Lucky you, as a regional Victorian, being out of the really strict lockdown from this evening. I was thinking about the beef cattle you hand-rear. Friends of mine who lived on a farm – not the farmers, but they rented one of the farmhouses – once hand-reared a calf. They called it “Lambchops”, I think, or something like that, to remind themselves of its ultimate fate. I think it actually died though, so they didn’t end up with its meat.

Neilithicman, yes, you’re right, eating healthy can taste good. Just needs getting into the swing of it.

LindsayL, glad Rosy behaved well at the show, even if she didn’t win a prize. Good new re DH’s vein circulation. Will they try to put in a balloon to try to clear the block? Hope the PET scan goes well. Overall, just hoping for good news re his health.
Hope your DGD is now back to normal, and that your DD did okay with her teaching practice despite tiredness.

Anzac65, hope the work eases off at least a little soon. Christmas is a LONG time to wait. When are you going to post another Maxx photo?

Re buying clothes online – very hit and miss. The sad thing is that a couple of things I COULD be wearing now went out in my last op shop run. I went through all the bags still waiting to be taken to the op shop, but no luck, so must have gone out previously. I was SO DETERMINED to not regain the weight, and knew I only had a few items left that would fit. Well, I did regain the weight, the clothes I could have worn are gone, and I didn’t anticipate being in such a hard lockdown yet again where I’d be unable to buy a few items to tide me over. Guess what?! I’d better lose the weight again 🙂

Cinque, hope you’re doing okay, and didn’t flare up your CFS with all the gardening you did.

Goodnight everyone.

Turn, woohoo, almost at your PB. Well done. Loved reading your post. I hope you can make your plans for your dad’s 90th a reality.

Anzac, good to hear you’re also doing so well – keep up the good work and don’t sabotage yourself. Take my advice – I’m not using it. After I reported my charts showing 100g per week gain for four weeks, I reined in my eating and drinking and got rid of it all. I immediately sabotaged that with a bad eating week last week followed by a mediocre FD. Yesterday, I had a terrible carby day.

Anzac, just to say it out loud to shame myself and let you know that your good day is not like my blowouts – cereal and stewed plums for breakfast, impromptu pub lunch of fish and chips and half a pint of guinness. Tried to salvage that with a light supper but it only got worse – pesto pasta (I never normally touch pasta and made it for OH, what happened?), pumpkin and coconut soup with a bake-at-home baguette (two bowls, good grief). Finally stopped eating at 6pm feeling disgusted and bloated. All aptly reflected on the scales today.

So today, Friday is a FD. I haven’t reached a trigger weight but my brother is coming to join us for the weekend and he wants to shout us a pub meal (he settled our mother’s estate in the USA and I declined his offer to give me half). We have just moored at the beautiful town of Abingdon-on-Thames and will cruise to Oxford with him. He does actually do 6:1 BTW but obviously not this weekend as we haven’t seen each other since Xmas 2019 despite finally being so near.

Betsy, that’s good motivation to get the weight off!

LJ, oh no another lung infection. Which means more antibiotics. Like Turn, curious to learn why you get so many (sorry if you answered my last query on this).

CalifD, enjoyed two shows on Netflix last night – ‘The Baker’ with Damian Lewis. Hadn’t realised that it was a comedy until we started watching it. And ‘Clarkson’s Farm’ recommended by DD which I’d resisted for ages as I never liked the man on the car show (Jeremy Clarkson) but it is SO entertaining, we were cracking up with laughter.

Cinque, Neil, CharlieG, Lindsay, Merry if you’re lurking, everyone else, hello.

Good evening all. Good news at my weigh-in – lost 1.2 kg so far this month, so that’s a positive change.

Well, twenty years since 9/11. A sad time for CalifDreamer to remember, I’m sure, and how much it changed the world. I was working in China at the time, and only heard about it when an American friend told me. Still remember how shocked I was, but a lot of the trauma of that time made barely a mention in China, so it was only later that the events became more real to me.

Turnabout, my bathroom scales vary by more than a kilo, depending how I stand on them, even though I try to position my weight the same each time, so I don’t rely on them except as a guide. My “proper scales” are expensive, electronic Salter scales that don’t have the same variation to them, so I rely on those readings once a week, though I weigh on Saturdays, not Mondays. But, yay you for almost being at your target weight. I have a l.oo.oo.oo.n..g way to go (yet again!)

Thin, did you have a restrained pub meal with your brother? I can imagine it would be a bit difficult, as it’s been a while since you saw him. Really, does it matter? Enjoy, and make up for the damage the following day. You’re excellent at doing that.
And yes, lack of clothing (jeans/trousers mainly) is excellent motivation to persevere with losing weight.

Helen Kate, yes, it can be difficult to not eat on a FD when meeting with a friend to socialise. Here in Melbourne, it’s almost a forgotten dream to be able to do that, but I do vaguely recall how lovely my weekly meets with a friend were 🙁
Glad the massage of the lower back with your knuckles was helpful. Definitely magnesium oil, and possible magnesium supplements. I have to be careful with those, as they have a laxative effect on my system.

My doctorate? Not a PhD, a Doctor of Ministry, looking at how well ESL speakers are able to communicate when they have to use English as the common language, in the church setting. My main problem is trying to learn how to use the various computer systems to do the statistical analysis. One of my supervisors is a whiz at such analysis, but I haven’t been able to meet with him because of our lockdown. Not doing so well without his guidance. Never mind, I’ll get there. Just have to stop being afraid of the technology.

Okay, enough for now. LJoyce, and Cinque, I hope you’re both coping all right with your current health challenges.

Take care all, and goodnight.

Greetings Fellow Fasters,
This week has been the plateau week, since I was loosing quite quickly I expected it. However, not daunted by it this time, mainly because OH has lost a bit more.
Finally he is happy doing TWOL.
Betsylee when we rear boy calves (steers, as they have had their testicles removed) they get names, but they are not the ones I bond with as their fate is always that they will go for slaughter. The heifer calves on the other hand will become part of our cow herd, and so having them well handled means you can pet them in the paddock, and they are a calming influence on the rest of the herd.
September 11, we were at Port Stephen’s on holiday, and we haven’t had a real holiday since!
HelenKate, we have all made those mistakes, it does help to talk about it, makes one think before repeating the same mistake again, but trust me, we still do.
Thin, hope you have really enjoyed having your brother with you, the one thing I still miss is extended family as I am an only, and growing up isolated on farms didn’t help either as I have no really close cousins either.
Lindsay, fresh cows milk is the best, and with the orchard and veggie patch, it means long intervals between shopping, has helped hugely to survive lockdown,
Looking forward to your next update about OH. Like others I had a great mental picture of Rosie’s pjs until you burst our bubble.
Turn, I never thought of you as a Kiwi, you do live in a gorgeous part of the world, like us at the base of the mountains the weather knows how to remind us that it is in control.
You are very clever at logging everything, I do it when things don’t go quite right, so that I learn from the experience.
LJoyce, sorry to hear that you have been unwell, lung infections are not nice, both OH and I get them at times after a bad dose of asthma, which may be just around the corner with spring bursting forth so strong.
Anzac and Neil, glad to hear that spring has sprung in your parts of the world as well.
To anyone I missed, sorry, doing this on the iPad doesn’t mean I can get to everyone’s posts.
Looking forward to the week ahead, gardening, weed spraying around the farm on days when the weather is right, still feeding cows as grass is slow to respond in water logged soil. Back to normal FD this week, might help get off this plateau and head down the other side again.
Have a great week everyone.
Cheers, Charlie.

Cinque, I’m so sorry to hear you’ve been ill. Comfort eating very understandable, but nice that you are emerging now. Take it easy on your first FD for a while.

LJ, yes, we are lucky here in Adelaide, for the time being, to still be able to meet with people. You Melbourne people have had it very tough over this past year. Your thesis sounds most interesting. I taught ESL to adult migrants years ago. Language learning and communication are fascinating.
Congratulations on the weight loss.

Charlie, a plateau is good too. And thanks for the words re the mistakes that we all make and learn from.

I went out for a walk with my sister and her big lagotto puppy. We found a park with a pond and he showed us what a true water dog he is. So interesting these deep instincts! He is a gorgeous funny boy and we all adore him. https://imgur.com/a/rN7faN8 Tried to upload a picture of him swimming but couldn’t manage that!

Best wishes to all,
Helen

I forgot to post some pics.

I finally got around to making the Hairy Bikers Kale, Bean & Chorizo soup. I hope it’s good because I have a stockpot full and it’s tonight’s FD dinner. https://imgur.com/a/65bxR2l It’s certainly thick and hearty and I have high hopes that it will be filling too.

I made another batch of moussaka, but because I was at home and having to make do with the veg in the fridge it have some more unusual veg layers. I had no eggplant so I have layers of zucchini, potato, carrot and spinach leaves, with a thin layer of thawed bolognese sauce between each veg layer. It was really tasty and I didn’t miss the eggplant at all. https://imgur.com/a/AqMQu6Z I might even have managed my 5 a day with this one. Some time ago I remember reading in my Jane Grigson Vegetable book, that many European cuisines have a dish that is similar to the Greek moussaka, but they use locally available veg instead of eggplant. So I can’t claim this as my invention, I stole the idea from Jane Grigson.

Good evening all.

Well, I’ve gotten past the weekend without too much “drama” with food, so that’s quite positive. I’ve gradually been emptying out a small chest freezer, and am down to a heap of frozen vegies, so I think I’ll make a very rich chicken and vegetable soup/casserole to eat over the next few days. That is fairly low-cal, so will be quite good for me.

Why emptying out the freezer, you may ask? Well, I’m quite short, and I have vivid mental pictures of me ending head down in the freezer as I lean in to reach things at the bottom. It hasn’t actually happened, but I have a vivid imagination 🙂 Think of a short Betsy with just legs kicking around in the air, and you’ll get the picture. Anyway, especially as I get older, I think it would become increasingly difficult to manoeuvre myself out of such a position, so I replaced the chest freezer with an upright one. Therewith, I promptly filled both freezers 🙂 , so now I am determinedly working myself down to one freezer. Of course, I also have the freezer that’s part of my fridge (that’s 3 freezers in all), and you can see the absurdity of the situation I as a single person found myself in. And no, most of it has not been junk-type food, so I didn’t want to just throw it out. I’ve about eaten my way through the food in the one freezer now, though, at last. It’s taken nearly a year, as I kept adding bits and pieces.

It is finally nearly empty, and if I can’t give it away, I’ll donate it to the “Kids on the curb” charity, which recycles used white goods and supports homeless kids with the proceeds. I’d prefer to give it away, as I’m not sure how long it will be before the charity is operating again with pick-ups.

LJoyce, sorry you’re still battling the infection.
Just to clarify, the jeans situation isn’t quite as bad as I made it sound. I have an old pair of jeans (plus track suit pants) for around home, the jeans now showing wear at the seams. That’s the pair I wanted to replace. I had one pair of better jeans I could wear out, but with my (small) weight loss, another pair of jeans are now also okay for “going out” wear, so going out wear is okay, at home chores wear, not so great. That’s okay, it will improve as I keep losing weight.

Helen Kate, I think you confused LJ with me, but yes, I loved teaching ESL, too, though my students were mostly international students improving their English before progressing to university courses.

Hi CalifDreamer, I like my fancy scales as I like to see the percentage of fat going down as I lose weight, and not percentage of muscle mass. It also gives me my BMI without me needing to do any calculations. I really like it when my BMI goes down to 30, because, yay, I’m only overweight, no longer obese. It will be even better to reach the score of 25 or lower, and stay there. Having shrunk with age, I have to lose more than I used to, to reach those milestones.

CharlieG, a friend (now deceased, and herd gone) used to have a herd of Jersey cattle in the Adelaide hills. I remember with the heifers, when I visited, and went down to the dairy, he’d sometimes ask me to stroke their backs gently as they were in the stalls. He and his brother always introduced the heifers to the milking stalls well before they were bred and produced calves, so they were already accustomed to the process of being milked. The Jersey cows were very gentle, once they were used to it. I don’t think many farmers (if any) have Jersey cattle any longer(?). Maybe more Guernsey? – a bigger cow with a lot more milk, but not nearly as creamy, as I understand it.

Cinque, Hope you continue to pick up, and the throat pain disappears quickly.

Hi to everyone else, Merryme, Neilithicman, Turnabout, Thinatlast, Anzac65, LindsayL, etc.

Goodnight all.

Good morning all,

I’ve read half the posts so far. Thanks CharlieG, Betsy, LJ, my brother’s visit was great fun. Two G&Ts sitting outside until dark in Abingdon, then the HBs’ Thai Green Chicken curry was a huge hit with him. Yesterday we cruised to Oxford having a late lunch at The Chequers, a 15th Century Inn with loads of character. Great food – I had a nut roast. DB then took the bus back to his car, about 14 mins c/t 4 hours of cruising. It brought back fun memories of our hire boat trip with him 17 years ago when our girls were young which had given me the taste for narrow boating.

Cinque, so sorry you’ve been unwell. It felt odd not joining you yesterday for our FD and I have a lot of restraint to work on this week.

LJ, thanks for the explanation about the infections, gosh, you poor thing. I loved the bean and chorizo photo.

Neil, what a storm. Which card games do you play? I miss our board games with Perth neighbours. Thanks for your kind words but I’ve never done that well with NFDs. I am making a big effort this week though as as it will be 9 days between FDs which is unlikely to work well in itself.

Betsy, so funny about the freezer. I had to empty my pathetic little freezer box of food in the days leading up to DB’s visit to make space for making ice for the G&T. A less noble cause than yours.

CharlieG, you seem to have boundless energy for so many varied and busy projects, it’s a wonder you’re not as skinny as a rake already. My family is very small too. OH has hundreds of cousins in the USA, most of whom he’s never met.

I must have missed some. Hi CalifD, Anzac, HK and everyone else. Have a great week all.

Good afternoon everyone. Hope you have some reasonable weather where you are. Here it’s only 16C but sunny and not windy for a change. It has cheered me up and I’m looking forward to another short walk this afternoon. With my breathing still under par I have to keep the walks to about 15 minutes or I struggle to get home. However I can do two of them, weather permitting, so I get enough exercise. Today it’s a pleasure to be out there.

Thin, I’m not surprised by your brother’s reaction as he’s had little contact with you as a thin person and has lots of memories of you larger. I find extended family that I have rare contact with are shocked to see that I haven’t regained the weight that I lost nearly 7 years ago.
Not a G&T fan, but hope you thoroughly enjoyed the treat.
I agree, 9 days between FDs does sound dangerous.

Neil, I found adding protein rich foods to lunch helped a lot, so I agree with your thinking. Most protein foods take longer to digest than carbs. I suspect that is partly why they provide a sense of fullness for longer.

Betsy, I had a vivid image of you stuck in the freezer. I remember as a child when mum got her first chest freezer feeling slightly worried I’d fall in when sent to retrieve something for her. While I have had the luxury of an upright freezer in the past, there’s no room for it in this house so I have to make do with the freezer compartment in my fridge – luckily it’s large. I have the same issues with throwing good food away and feel obliged to eat it. You can turn frozen veg into soups or stews and then freeze portions of the new creation. It’s safe as long as the soup/stew has been well cooked.
It is hard to find milk or cream from jersey cows these days. There is one dairy on the Fleurieu Peninsula in SA that specialises in it, but their product is understandably pricey. The cream is almost solid like butter. https://alexandrinacheese.com.au/

Charlie, I did wonder if most of your B&B clients would be from too far away to be allowed to travel.

Cinque, how are you? I hope your health is improving.

Hello to everyone else, hope you are doing well.

I’ve probably mentioned this product before, but I’ll mention it again in case you need a healthier pasta option. It’s legume spaghetti and fettuccine made by Slendier (the same company that makes the konjac noodles that some of us use).
https://imgur.com/a/5cJT6ce
It’s available in soy bean, edamame or black bean. They are all fine, although I usually buy the soy bean spaghetti or fettuccine as it looks most like normal wheat pasta and my finished bowl of pasta looks the way I remember when I was using wheat pasta. You cook this in boiling salted water just like other pasta, although it only takes 3-5 minutes. The texture and taste is not identical to wheat pasta, but it’s close enough to make a nice meal. The big benefit is the extremely low calorie count and higher fibre content. Normal pasta is around 1500kj per 10g (dry weight), but these legume pastas are less than 1/3 of that. I don’t eat normal pasta at home any more, but I do eat this one. Unlike konjac noodles, these behave like pasta and don’t release lots of water into your sauce.
This is what I most often make with it: https://imgur.com/a/YXT5Fh8 It literally comes together in 5 minutes – Chilli tuna pasta with baby spinach and cherry tomatoes. (A big bowl of tasty pasta for under 350 calories.) Ideally for me it has 10g fibre. Because of the modest calorie count I will eat it on both FDs and non FDs.

Yes I have even more food photos. I am going to detour away from the “healthy” snack discussion, to what you do when only a sweet treat will do. I find managing that without going overboard can be difficult and if I resist too long I am more likely to binge. Here are some options that I use that are all around the 100 calorie mark. https://imgur.com/a/0ub6ulw
The Arnott’s Malt-o-Milk are 133kj (32calories) each. You can make it a healthier indulgence by replacing 2 of those biscuits with a small piece of fruit or some nuts. Other biscuit options that have quite low calories are almond bread (although you probably have to make this yourself), wafer biscuits (I use the WW chocolate or vanilla finger wafers which are only 30 calories each). If you want to control the calories even more try the Tiny Teddy biscuits – they are only 9 calories each (just do not sit down with the box on your lap).
The second option is 2 squares (20g) of chocolate – or the alternative of 1 square with some almonds. Chocolate is 52-57 calories per 10 grams. My favourite Lindt – the dark chocolate with raspberry is happily at the 52 calorie end of that spectrum. What I am trying to demonstrate is that giving into a sweet craving does not have to break the calorie bank and you can moderate the sugar hit by combining a little of what you feel like with something healthier. Something I have learned over the years is that I have the best chance of not overindulging in these things if I put the portion on a plate and then put the containers away before I sit down to indulge the treat. It doesn’t always work, but it gives me the best chance of success at limiting my eating.
Just to reassure you all, I didn’t eat all four of the snacks in these photos – I ate 2 of them about a week apart – the others were taken just for demonstration.

Something else I wanted to mention, as a few of you have mentioned foods that you dare not allow yourself as there is no stopping point (eg cheese, nuts, chips, chocolate, icecream…) I used to have a long list of those and I’ve whittled it down over the years. There are several approaches that I have found help and improve control over time. While they don’t work every time, they do work for me most of the time now:
– As I mentioned above, carefully weigh/measure the food and serve it on a plate and move away from the source before enjoying it.
– Another way of handing portion control is to buy a product where that is done for you. For example, instead of a large packet of something, see if there is an option which has small individually wrapped portions. These are often a pricier way of buying something, but it is worth it if it gives you control, and an item isn’t cheaper if you eat the entire packet in one sitting. (I have definitely had this debate with myself in the supermarket.)
– Initially try only having the food away from home. If you want to eat the whole cake every time you bake then restrict cake to an occasional piece at a cafe – it’s naturally portion controlled (that was my dietitian’s advice). I am stuck at this stage with a couple of salty snack foods.
– Be mindful (also my dietitian’s advice). Eat each bite slowly and savour it. If you eat fast you will want another portion as you barely tasted the first one.
– The final trick that helped a lot is based on the idea that our subconscious does not like “no”, so we need to find a way to keep control while saying yes. My first attempt at this was with chocolate a few years ago. I told myself I could have chocolate any day I felt like it, as long as it was 15 grams (about 37 calories). Initially I ate chocolate every day, but I did stop at 15 grams. After about a fortnight I stopped feeling like chocolate – it no longer felt like a treat that I had to eat just because it was available. I came to want it only occasionally and the temptation to eat a whole block is very rare these days. This approach takes time, but it does retain your brain in relation to that food. I’ve done a similar thing with nuts and cheese too. I tried it with bread and that was a big fail – I’m fine when the loaf is frozen and I’m defrosting the slices I need. With fresh bread my restraint goes straight our of the window. Luckily fresh bread only makes an appearance in house a couple of times a month. I have however found that if I buy the bread on a FD it does go into the freezer before I can attack the fresh loaf.
One final thing I will point out, is that when I originally lost my weight I did not attempt to learn control with any of these “danger” foods. I just banned them from the house. Once I got to my goal I then knew I had to tackle them in some way of they would continue to be my achilles heel. I gradually tackled each of them (except the potato chips) one by one. The potato chips are all fat, salt and starch and I preferred to keep them banned from the house. I left these as an “eat out only” food and I allow myself one handful and then walk well away from the bowl. I’m the same with roasted salted nuts and only have these when out – I buy raw nuts.

Good evening all.

Hope you’re well now, LJoyce, you didn’t mention it, and that you’re improving now, Cinque. At the moment, I’m struggling with severe fatigue, even though I’m not tired, so I may need to adjust what I’m eating or how/ when. Just have to persevere. If it goes on too long, may need to consult the doc., see if anything else is going on, but not yet.

LJoyce, the friends with the Jersey cattle lived in the Adelaide Hills.

Neilithicman, one thing I’ve learned re eating protein – when I don’t ensure I have enough protein in my diet, I absolutely crave carbs, so that confirms what you’ve found. That was some storm over your way!

Thin, it will be interesting when I can finally stabilise at a lower weight, to see what comments I get. Somehow, I don’t expect too much, as my weight has varied a lot over the years. My friends are used to me being different sizes 🙁 .
Glad you had a great meet-up with your brother.

Stay safe and well, all.