Morning all

Well I’ve managed to stay on the wagon for 5 days in a row now, and resisting the allure of the siren song of sugar cravings. I had a few carbs yesterday, a couple of handfuls of popcorn at the movie we went to last night, and half a bread roll with dinner, but since the rest of the dinner was avocado, cucumber, broccoli, and asparagus, I think I should be ok. I have an Avocado salad today for lunch and some prawn stir-fry planned for dinner, then one more day after that and I can weigh myself and check how I’ve got on.

I had a decent weekend, I got a path put in at the frisbee golf course, got my hedge trimmed, went to the movies with the family, had a round of frisbee golf and played some cards with our friends. Now I’m back at work and it is pretty hectic here.

Cinque, I hope your fast went well.

Have a great one everyone
Turn, we love Ashburton, there is a nice cycle trail that goes down the side of the river and around the new man-made Lake Hood. The lake area itself is beautiful and there are some seriously nice houses being built out there. We had the rain on Saturday too but Sunday turned out pretty nice, and today is beautiful.

Morning all

I think I may finally have turned a corner with my eating (touch wood). It’s been six days of clean eating now, no sugar and minimal starchy carbs. Three days of miso soup only, 3 days between 800-900 calories and I don’t feel like I need any more. I still get the sugar cravings sometimes, but I’ve been eating a teaspoon full of peanut butter when they hit and that seems to work. Yesterday for lunch I had an avocado and smoked mackerel salad with a lemon juice and olive oil dressing and plenty of herbs, dinner I made a prawn laksa. Today is an egg salad with garlic aioli for lunch and dinner will be the leftover laksa. Tomorrow morning will be the moment of truth where I see if all the hard work has paid off.

Cinque, well done on the great fast, hopefully we can both get moving in the right direction and get ahead of the Christmas festive season.

Have a great one everyone (You’ve all been very quiet lately) I hope everyone is doing well.

Good Morning All, posters, readers, and lurkers,

Well done Neil! Crossing everything for you for the moment of truth. Do your clothes feel the difference, Cinque style?

Turn, the bike ride sounds like great scenery, the stones not so much. Who would have thought that the ‘coffee shop in the kitchen’ would become a thing, but it has. We use a pod machine, hate the throw-out, and have discovered metal reusable pods so gifting ourselves some for Christmas. Years back we had a drip filter coffee maker that cost $13 at a cheaper supermarket and it worked great. Wish we hadn’t traded it for the pod one.

Cinque, sounds like you’ve had wonderful Fasty fast days. Well done! Hope you are well.

Hope all is going well with everyone!

We are back home for awhile after our 2-3weeks turned into 4 months and I’ve been recovering from an ME/CFS energy crash- not the worst, but am recovering with a bit to go. Still working on getting a knee working more normally, and arresting de-functioning. I successfully did a few FD’s, stopped and started a couple of times, but I’ve kept stable if nothing else. Coffee and cake has been our respite out of the house, and where I used to do tea, no cake, while OH did coffee and cake, I’ve recently done the coffee and cake mode so going back to tea/no cake combo and GD yesterday to start an 800 x 7 day stint.

Check in:
71.7kgs down from 72.1kgs yesterday morning.
FD yesterday 613cals, and did Thins boiled egg before bed. More than my usual goal for a FD, but did it easily which I’m counting as a win.

Have a good day everyone 🙂

Good evening everyone.

Cinque, you are right I put myself back on 800cal days last weekend. Glad your low cal days are going well too.

Neil, you sound like you are well and truly back in the Fast800 groove

Merry, lovely to hear from you but sorry to hear that your ME flareup continues to be a burden. Good luck going back to just a cup of tea. Giving up cake when it’s become normalised is a challenge.

Turn, despite the wind and dodgy track, I’m sure the lake is still a pretty place to cycle. One thing I remember from visits to New Zealand is that it’s not lacking in beautiful scenery – especially the south island in my opinion.

I am also going to avoid going back to previous pages to catch up and will just say hello to everyone else. Hope you are doing well. Best wishes for a speedy recovery for the OHs who had surgery recently.

My 800cal days have been going well. My pattern has been a pot of tea for breakfast/brunch, A large shake/smoothie with psyllium (bulked out with lots of water and ice) for lunch and a small piece of fruit with a pot of tea mid-afternoon. Dinner varies, but contains a large amount and variety of veg with some protein and a little fat. For example, a large salad bowl with cottage cheese, veggie omelette, curries (lamb & veg rogan josh and lentil & veg thai yellow curry). I have been avoiding grains as I find it too challenging to fit them into 800cals without sacrificing something that will satisfy my appetite more.
I have a day out with a friend tomorrow with a cafe lunch, so I won’t be able to have my usual lunch. There is a green salad with haloumi on the menu that I’ve had before and I really like it. So I will order that and hope I can stick to my plan to have a berry smoothie for dinner. That will be an interesting test, as dinner is the one meal where I can’t usually face a shake/smoothie. Luckily the weather is warm which should help. I really don’t want a day out to derail me, as it so often has in recent months.
I really need this to work as my body is clearly showing signs of increased inflammation and my joints are aching more than usual. I am in do doubt that those few extra kilos are a contributor.

I hope you are all well and managing to stick to whatever eating program you are on.

My phone goes all crazy when I try to post on here so I’ll do a second post rather than try to slog through it.

Merry, great to see you pop up. Sorry to hear you’ve had an issue with your ME at the moment. I have a friend who has it and he really struggles, especially since many don’t even recognise it as an illness/disability and he can’t even get a parking permit to use the handicap parks.

Ljoyce, I hope your lunch went well. I know what you mean about the extra kilos contributing to the inflammation. I’ve noticed a few old aches and pains creeping back since I piled on the kilos. Hopefully those will go away once I’ve dropped a few more kilos

Well my phone is going nuts again so I’d better sign off now. I hope everyone has a good day.

Good morning from hot. humid, hayfevery Melbourne.
Welcome to December.

Woot Neil!

LJoyce, a lovely post and it sounds like you are well and truly over that pesky infection, I hope that is the case.
Enjoy todays outing, I hope the salad is delicious and 800day friendly.
You have an excellent 800 cal day system. I think I must have absorbed it reading your post yesterday evening as I am starting my day similarly.

I woke up and had tea with milk in it, lovely on a hot humid morning, and especially appreciated after three days without it. It will take me through to lunch time. I’m going to have a miso soup meal and a fish with salad meal, not sure which one first, I will see how I feel after home help, due any time in the next 4 hours (sigh, I like to know exactly when she is arriving).

Hi Merry!

Best wishes everyone.

Neil, I’m hungry at 10 past 7!

I was pretty 800ish yesterday, but I am going to have to work harder on it today.

Good morning all,

Seems we have a few doing the 800 road right now. Pre Christmas is a good incentive! For any overseas – Christmas is looming, and in Australia it’s akin to the US Thanksgiving family event + extended summer school and often work holidays + Christmas + end of Year all rolled into one. Mid-November/ December are always frantic preparing, decorating, gift buying and some partying along the way.

LJ – sounds like you are doing well now, healthier, and doing your excellent planning. Well done!

Cinque and Neil – Waking up hungry – Joining you in that club today. Not super hungry as such, but I could eat happily where I’m normally not wanting food at all. Perhaps I’m dehydrated a bit too and haven’t caught up yet on the extra fluid needed to replace fluid I’m not eating in food. A little light-headedness probably means I need replacement salt as well.

Check-in:
71.2kgs down from 72.1 on Monday.
Day 4 of 7 800’s today and FD.
Calories – a bit over each day, but well under my TDEE. 5:2 within an ME/CFS energy crash is a bit of a walk in the unknown, but with much more knowledge about my body’s physical and mental reactions, food in general, and 5:2than I had starting in 2014. Listening to my body carefully and adjusting as I see fit. On balance it is still healthier, especially heart health, for me to drop some extra kgs using the healthiest way I know how, which is 5:2, hands down.

Have a good 5:2 everyone,
Bye for now,
Merry
If you fall off the horse, just keep getting back on.

Well done LJ! Superb handling of the day.

Good morning folks,
It is the weekend.

I appreciated your message Neil.
I did well on Thursday after all, as I rang my friend from up Wallan way to wish her happy birthday, and then we decided they should visit straight away. So that took my mind off eating, and I was able to spend some good time with her. Coffee and op shop (I found a nice pair of earrings).

That meant I skipped the midday meal.
For some reason I am suddenly finding it really easy to skip a meal. Very useful with this 800 limit!

Merry, a good description of Australian Christmas.

I slept really awfully on Thursday night but had a zyrtec and slept very well last night. Woke up so dehydrated though. I’m working on hydration this morning.

Merry I hope you are nicely hydrated too. (I’m going for a mug of miso soup so I get the electrolytes too.) Hooray for being up on the horse!

LJoyce, Neil, you are doing brilliantly too.

I’m off to cook some chicken drumsticks Malay style and basically potter around gently. I’ll have Ms7 here tomorrow so I had better prepare.

Best wishes to everyone with all the things you are doing.

Wow Neil! (I had to google tee pads, and still don’t quite know what they are!)
Have an easy day today and enjoy those 800cal.

I’m going well, and feeling good. (I might have had too many calories too yesterday, but not too too many, and I’ll do better today).

Sending out good wishes to you all.

Morning all

Cinque, the tee pads are concrete or paved areas that you tee off from in frisbee golf, You need them rather than just the grass tees in regular golf because you get a running throw in frisbee golf whereas regular golf you stand stationary. The tee pads we made we got two different shades, did a dark border with dark numbers and a light background. This is the number 9 tee pad that I did

https://imgur.com/uUyV2As

Yesterday We got a few more done, we have 6 of the 9 tee pads done now so should be done next week if the weather holds.

Ljoyce, well done, 1.8 kilos is an awesome loss to have for a week of fast800.

Well back to work today for a rest 😉

I’ll catch up with you all later, have a great day everyone.

I made a nice beef saag for dinner last night and it was very popular, in fact all of it and the naan bread I made got eaten so there was no leftovers for my lunch today, I guess I’ll have to make a bigger batch next time.

Good morning losers,

Turn, you asked me a question about the weather ages ago. When we arrived in Crick, we had two days of snow which I wasn’t expecting in November. Then the canal iced over. I’ve not seen that before either. Etiquette dictates that boats not move in ice as huge sheets of dislodged ice can seriously damage a hull but, yep, some git did just that and went past us a top speed (by that I mean 4mph). The ice came crashing against us. Like the Titanic. Since then, it’s been jolly cold but there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.

We’re now sardined in the marina for winter, never our favourite but hopefully we won’t be here for most of it. Tomorrow, we’re off to the Canaries for a couple of weeks (cancelled in January). Hours after booking the flights, the govt. re-introduced the fit-to-fly test adding more to the trip than the cost of the flights. I can’t really work this out – the test will show that no one on the flight had covid two days before they boarded. We’d already purchased the expensive PCR test for our return and have to wait for the results of that before we can leave self-isolation. That one at least makes good sense. Like the swabs, illogical decisions get right up my nose. This is the trouble with politicians making health decisions.

G’day, we consider mask-wearing and social distancing to be our greatest weapons against not only contracting covid but other horrid things that people spread around. If more people had followed these simple rules at the outset, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in now.

We are now back to mask-wearing in shops and on public transport – hurray. You wouldn’t believe the percentage of ‘special’ souls who must be exempt. Selfish more like.

Anzac, how are your plans shaping up?

Neil, LJ, so pleased you’ve turned a corner. LJ, you did worry me a few weeks back when I read that you’d abandoned your FDs. My last two FDs delivered miserable results of 200-300g losses respectively (I can usually count on 900g). I’m not sure what went wrong but I suspect it’s milk in coffee. We’re taking some people out to lunch shortly and I’ve selected my meal. In Spain, our accomm. is self-catering. No buffet breakfasts.

Cinque and Merry, I’m so sorry that your respective CFS loomed large in recent times. I so look forward to the day when you announce it’s all behind you.

Lindsay, I do think of you often and hope that Mr L. is responding to the treatment and that it’s as gentle as it could be. It must be such a worrying time for your entire family. I hope you have a special Christmas together.

Speaking of Christmas (sorry G’day and CharlieG), as it’s December, I have put lights all over the boat to cheer myself up. There are only three of us couples living aboard boats in this teeny marina. The others are leisure boats ‘stored’ for winter.

Good morning (just… nearly noon)

I minded grandaughter 1 on Sunday and granddaughter 2 on Monday. Lovely, but I think I need rest days inbetween, so I don’t get knocked quite this bad. They were gorgeous though, so I am not complaining, just slow at everything for a bit.

Fast day today! Super fasty. (I can be slow and fast at the same time 😉 )

Neil, thanks for the picture. Hard work those tees!
Sorry for that binge undermining your week.
Isn’t it just dreadful how much we can put away in one binge!
I think (touch wood and whistle) that my binges are getting smaller and further apart, and more veggie based 😀 😀 but I have a dreadful feeling that my body is getting more efficient at absorbing them at the same time, and needing less food anyway as I age. I am always one step behind :O
I am glad you are decades younger and have more time to settle them down.

PS That beef saag sounds absolutely delicious.

LJoyce, so good to read that you have been in a good swing of 800calorie days.
I hope you manage the high tea well. Bite sized things are brilliant. Just a couple will make you feel you are joining in, plus delicious, and that might be all you need.

I lost track of my 800 cal days when life got a bit hectic, but this fast day should put me back into the swing of it. I definitely went down a size last week and it felt SO good. I am hoping (expecting!) now that my fasty fast day gets me back on the horse. I will aim for 800 days (I really don’t need more than that amount of cals at the moment) and then knowing my predilection for gradually slipping, my next fast day will pick me up.

Gday, hello, hello!
Lovely to have that special time with DD in the big smoke. (Clever to get it in before omicron takes off!).
Hooray that you were able to have treats and not too much damage done.

Good luck with that study.

Thin, brr, it is weird to imagine you on an icy river when everything is warming up here. So glad you can fly away to the Canaries. I hope you have the most wonderful time.

Oh How I wish I could recover from CFS, Merry too! We need a scientific breakthough. <3 In the meantime it is all about management and making the most of times when symptoms are less severe.

Sending best wishes to you Lindsay, and Mr Lindsay. More best wishes to you Cali and Mr Cali.
Anzac, really hoping you are on a good roll, but a bit worried, knowing the stress of your workplace. Best wishes to you too.

Oh and more good wishes to Charlie and Turn and Jony and everyone I haven’t mentioned. I do hope you have a chance to pop in and let us know how you are going.

Cheers all

Hi all from a lovely warm and sunny Ranfurly.

Ooh, it sure does feel good to be back in Central Otago. I have missed these Big Skies! Got out on the Rail Trail with our bikes today, just up to Wedderburn and back, about 26kms round trip with a coffee stop halfway, sun the whole time but head wind on the return leg! Looks like we’ve got some more rain coming through tomorrow so we might just move on to Alexandra or stay here another night and move on Sunday, we’ll see. The forecast here yesterday was for 22ml rain, lucky if we got 2ml, we’re not complaining but think the farmers would have been. I think its the first time my bare shoulders have felt the sun since March!

Weight is doing OK, nothing startling, not where I would like it to be but maintaining steady so will do for now, need to get walking up some more hills and not give in to temptation so much, OH has a lot to answer for!? That’s quite wrong really, it’s up to me what goes in my mouth. but it is so much easier if temptation isn’t there in the first place. I do feel pleased with the way I have weaned myself off most foods that I didn’t think I could live without, meat, fish, dairy, fruit, cheese, crisps, peanuts, wine & alcohol, I think the only things left now are Long Black Coffee and 85% dark chocolate, and I don’t intend giving up on them any time soon.

Good to hear you have kept your calories in check Neil and taking the bike to work will be better for you now, especially with better weather. Well done on those golf Tees to, they look amazing. Keep up the good work. I can’t believe the schools finish so early, coming from the UK, we would never finish up for Xmas until around the 22nd/23rd depending on how it fell so it seems ultra early to me. Good luck on the boredom stakes.

Enjoy the Canaries Thin, I’m sure you’ll have a marvellous time and much better weather. We are both really Christmas Grinches too, I refuse to be sucked into the consumerism and commercialism on another world money making machine! We have a cut out wooden tree, one piece of tinsel, 1 packet of balls, very small ones, and one wrap of lights that go around the wooden tree. We don’t do gifts and I send all my cards by email, have done for years because the postage is so damn expensive.

I really do think you should give yourself a little more time to recover in between your Grandies days Cinque, it sounds very tiring for you? It must be great spending time with them though, especially now it’s getting close to Christmas. Yay for happy fasty fast days!

Thinking of your Lindsay and Mr L and hoping that all is going as well as it can be, I think of you often, especially when I see a house/farm advertising honey for sale whilst on our travels.

I hope you manage to handle the Christmas hurdles OK LJ and keep to your 800 days, not easy is it, especially when temptation is there, but you sound so strong willed, I’m sure you’ll manage.

I’ll have to go now, time for dinner and to watch a bit more of the Ashes, and the Big Bash, oh, how I love cricket!

Take care all and enjoy your weekend,
Turn

Happy Birthday Anzac, enjoy that wine and the weekend celebrations.

Good morning,
It is a beautiful morning here.

I’ve had a couple of bad days (gone back up a size). Remembered I am doing well at the moment with extra protein so concentrating on that, and back on 800 cal days.
(Really annoyed, because that one dress size down gave me SO many more wardrobe options!).

Neil, good luck with the holiday activities for your sons. Do they like similar things? I hope so as that will make it easier.
Hooray for being back to bike riding.

Turnabout, hello to the big skies, from me. They do something good to my soul too.
Good luck working against Mr Turns powerful stream, in regards to food culture and eating culture. And long black coffee is surely a health food!

You are so right. I think I need a few days in between grandkids. I am also noticing that the younger one is harder work, just that 5yo energy. I love it so much though.

Anzac, so glad to hear from you, AND on your birthday. Woot! Lovely also to hear about your wonderful family get together. Haven’t the last couple of years shown us how precious they are.
Well done getting those unnecessary 3kg off, so nice not to be carrying them around any longer! Yes, just keep on keeping on.

I miss Quacka too.

Good wishes to everyone, I am having a productive morning. I am also old enough to grieve my favourite Monkee, and have been playing this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnpcTsy10dE&fbclid=IwAR13YwsfGFVBbkVXeWvTDWLrxbVqyzcqQcceOQX3HXqxeSXGt-KCSEWfUvw

Cheers all

Good evening everyone

I had reasonable week until Friday. I really lost the plot when it came to high tea – I ate far too much and too many high fat/sugar/salt choices. The net result was that instead of another loss this week I gained 100g. Amazing how one bad day can eliminate a week of good work. Thankfully I stuck to my goal of eating nothing at yesterday’s birthday party. The other birthday dinner tomorrow is going to be at a hotel so I have managed to identify a couple of suitable choices on the menu in advance. I’ll decide which one I feel like when I get there (one is a warm salad the other grilled meat with a side salad). I’ll probably order the salad, but if I’m really hungry I can order the protein heavy meal. The birthday cake will be a doughnut tower – not tempting.
That should be the end of the meals out until 24th, when there is 2 days of too much food.

Anzac, have a lovely time on your holiday. I hope you come back refreshed and relaxed.

Thin, hope you also have a great time i the Canary Islands. Are you back in time to have christmas in the UK with your daughter?

Cinque, sorry to hear you have also had a brief relapse. We can get back on the Fast 800 wagon together.

Neil, glad to hear you are also back on the straight and narrow (diet wise) now too. It looks like we’ve all had our rebellion – lets hope it’s the last until christmas.

Turn, it sounds like you have really revamped your eating regime. Well done, that’s a lot of foods to train yourself to do without.

GDSA, sounds like you have some wonderful mother-daughter time in Adelaide. I think you got out just in time as there is some panic about anyone exposed to the new covid variant here at present. I’m not going anywhere I don’t really need to as they have started putting local’s who are close contacts into hotel quarantine now – don’t want to spend christmas there.

Hello to everyone else who is reading. Hope you are doing well.
Take care.

Hi Everyone,
Sorry I haven’t been around for a while. The day after I got down to 103, 10kg loss since the end of July, I was working with one of my pet cows when someone distracted me, she put her front foot on mine, then quickly turned her head in fright and down I went on the gravel.
That night I struggled to breathe, so OH checked and sure enough I appear to have cracked ribs. His comment was that I was lucky that was all that happened! Dear man that he is.
So feeling miserable and not able to do much because it hurt has put loosing on hold, then he was sweet enough to share a cold with me making me feel worse.
Weight gain nearly three kg, so back to fasting and a good fast today.
Glad to see you are all so busy, our Christmas tree has been set up in the cottage for our guests, like a few others we don’t do presents, except I have sent gifts to grandies interstate and overseas, and I hear that they are already under the trees, just little things that I have crafted for the children.
They are all coming home for next Easter, COVID-19 permitting, so looking forward to that.
Hope everyone is doing well, Neil, I love the frisbee tees.
Belated birthday greetings Anzac, seems to have been quite a few of us in the past few months.
Thin, have a great time in the Canaries. Ice on the canal doesn’t sound like fun, brr.
Have a great week everyone, I have a cousin and her children arriving Wednesday, will be so great to have family around,
Cheers everyone, Charlie.

Good morning everyone,
Isn’t time thundering along?

Charlie, SO sorry to hear of that awful injury. And then to get a cold too, with broken ribs. Coughing and sneezing would be terrifying. I do hope you are recovering well now. (I’m glad your foot didn’t get crushed too).
https://i.pinimg.com/474x/52/21/33/5221339849bcfbc43aadc2e69266bf0a.jpg
Aagh those pesky 3 kg back on. Good luck ridding yourself of them now.
Enjoy that family time.

Minka, how wonderful to hear from you, and such good news that you have found a way of eating that is really suiting you long term.
I am certainly on the ‘low carbs and don’t forget your protein’ bandwagon.
Hello to Mr Minka and best wishes.

LJoyce. curse that High Tea! Haha, at least it sounds as if it was delicious. Enjoy this next productive week.

My relapse (touch wood) seems to have lapsed and I could wear those clothes now, but another few days and they will be comfy. I hope. I did touch wood. Okay universe?

Sigh yes, one real food binge undoes SO MANY days of sensible eating. Not fair.

Neil, what great drawing from your son. Great work. have fun organising those activities that suit them both.
Good luck with hydrating and sorting yourself out. And more good luck for the weighing afterwards.
And https://www.quotespen.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/happy-wedding-anniversary-wishes-quotes-friend.jpg

Sending best wishes to everyone

Hi all from a wet but warm Alexandra!

Well, we did end up staying another night in Ranfurly, we decided to sit the rain out, what’s another day? So on Sunday we drove another hour over the hill into Alexandra and hot, calm sunshine, it was sheer heaven, the sort of heat that just puts it’s arms around you and welcomes you in. After a supermarket shop and a walk out and about we made the most of the sun and sat out and enjoyed a cold one! We shifted site today but still in Alex, we are now on a private property with grass underfoot and trees for shelter and morning birdsong, not a bad view either. We arrived earlier today and it was beautifully warm and calm, but now it is steadily raining and forecast till noon tomorrow, at least it’s not as bad as some of the country.

So sorry to read of your injuries Charlie, sounds terrible, do hope you are getting somewhere near feeling better and being able to move again with less pain. I hope you let your cousin and family help you out during their visit?

Hello Minka, lovely to hear from you again, and congratulations on keeping your weight where you want it to be. Fickle stuff, this protein, eh? I have found more of it staves off my hunger pains too, but I certainly don’t crave it like I used too. One thing I have learnt on this journey is understanding my relationship with food and to certain foods, which I have over time learnt to control and manage.

As far as playgrounds go Neil, I think Central Otago has to be the best, but then having lived here for 23 years I guess I’m biased! Haha. We feel exactly the same about the Rail Trail, it is what it says it is, so is fairly straight and flat, but the scenery is good, especially if you usually live in a built up city, although I think we have become quite complacent with the views. We didn’t do St. Bathans this time but have been before and it is quite beautiful, especially on a glorious sunny day. OH is itching to get up the new Lake Dunstan Trail but I think we will wait until we get to Bannockburn next week. Certainly not attempting it on the weekend as it gets too busy. Hearing really good reports about it, we did the beginning of it when we here in March but it didn’t open fully before we left, you enjoyed it though didn’t you? Happy Wedding Anniversary and congratulations on winning the cricket season pass. My OH completely forgot our wedding Anniversary at the end of November, for a whole week! I waited to see how long it would take him to remember!

Time certainly is thundering along Cinque, we’re half way through this month already and almost at the longest day of the year!? I think summer has taken to playing hide and seek this year, someone messaged me the other day, “The sun is on the endangered species list” thought it quite apt?

Need to think about what to have with the chicken for dinner, garlic broccoli sounds good, I think I’ve still got a leek hanging about in the back of the fridge and some fresh peas.

Cheers, Turn

Hello friends

Crazy last week at work but just one more day and three gorgeous weeks off

Thanks for the birthday wishes

Charlie, I am so very sorry for your poor sore ribs and a cold on top so every time you cough or sneeze it hurts so much. I hope you recover as quickly as possible

G’day, you are inspiring. What a fabulous result since July

I can’t comprehend how fast the time is going Turn. I have loved reading about your adventures all year and I look forward to more next year

LJ, I am the queen of one day undoing an entire week but 100g is manageable and it sounds like you are already on the straight and narrow

So glad your relapse has lapsed Cinque and may you get into those clothes comfortably in the next few days

My weight loss has slowed due to incredible stress but I haven’t put anything on and that is a pretty huge improvement for me. Yay.

Good luck rehydrating Neil and your two boys sound lovely

Lovely to hear from you Minka and your wise advice is always appreciated

Thin I am trying to picture the ice and the titanic moment when the bogan boat owner sped (lol) past you. I hope the weather has improved

Well I understand that Lord Howe Island has no mobile coverage and little WIFI so we are putting our phones away to concentrate on the gorgeous scenery, swimming, snorkelling and each other. Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and here’s to onwards and downwards in 2022

Much love
Anzac65

Hi,
A quick hello as I need to
a) recover from having a fabulous 5 year old here yesterday and
b) tidy the complete mess of a back room so my nephew can stay here the night on his way through Melbourne.
Kind of mutually exclusive for me so it is going to be an interesting day.

I’ve been going well food wise until Miss5 and I made pizza yesterday and I ate way too much. Soup today! Fast tomorrow!

Charlie, I do hope the hayfever tablets are doing their trick and that your poor ribs are healing.

Turn, a wonderful catch up. What a wonderful meal you were planning too!
Summer has been out in enough force here for me to be complaining. But we are having some gentler days, so hooray.

Gday, fabulous set of figures. The waist one is so important and that is an inch gone! But all those other centimetres! Well done you! https://www.collinsdictionary.com/images/full/medal_514989514_1000.jpg

Anzac, woot! Holidays!

Helen Kate, lovely to know you are still reading and connected here.
And not bad lapsing if you have been maintaining the losses you made. That is excellent!
Lovely to hear you have been able to have such wonderful family time! Hello to your daughter’s family too.

I know the feeling about the unflat tummy. I was quite despondent about the tummy and the arm flaps when I got down to the weight I wanted to be. However, putting that pesky 7 kg back on and getting a much bigger tum back (as well as everywhere else) made me SURE that next time I won’t complain, and just be glad to be as healthy and as trim as I can.
I must be half way there and so enjoying it.

Yay that you listed those tips. I need reminding.

Cheers everyone x

Warning: nothing to do with 5:2

I’ve never been so happy to get on a plane. It had been a relaxing time mostly spent on the balcony overlooking the ocean in the sun. But OH tested positive for covid on Lanzarote on the LFT test-to-fly (re-introduced hours after we booked our flights). We were in complete denial. Obviously anyone can get covid but we felt we’re the least likely as a) we had tested ourselves (-) just hours before going to the clinic plus every three days prior to that; b) we’d rented a self-catering apartment and had virtually no contact with anyone on the island which had only 200 covid cases; c) the outgoing flight had so few passengers that we’d had six rows to ourselves; d) we live on a boat, self-isolating in itself; e) we always practice SD and mask wearing; f) I’d tested negative and g) OH had no symptoms whatsoever.

We asked them to re-test as we thought it must be a false positive. They were happy to do so but only if we paid again. Again positive. Our lives were then taken over by the system. We were both put into immediate eleven day self-isolation and told to await a call from Canaries Health with further instructions. Christmas plans would be cancelled, we’d be letting down our pet-sit family and ruining their plans, we’d forfeit our flight and train fares home and had no idea where we’d be placed for eleven days, how we’d get food or supplies.

After waiting all day without a call and unable to get through to Canaries Health, I had the idea to contact another clinic for advice and instructions as I couldn’t understand why I should also self-isolate since I’m vaccinated and tested negative and was therefore free to leave the island. They suggested OH get a PCR test – with the protocol catch that, as a close contact, I must also pay for a test. It was legal to leave isolation for this purpose so we walked down and paid a further €160 for that.

Over the ensuing 24 hours, I discovered what anxiety means as we endured a second full day in isolation not knowing what would happen next. And then, just hours before our flight, the ‘no detecta’ result came through for both of us. We were free to go. We’d received no call from the health authorities in that 48 hours.

Exhilaration mixed with anger. The chances of two false positive tests on the same person are millions to one and can mean only one thing – contamination in the lab.

We boarded that 737 with just 22 other passengers – wondering how many no shows were in self-isolation with their Christmas plans in tatters due to incorrect results? We have now just done the mandatory PCR test for arrivals to UK and are again in self-isolation until the results are known. We must be the most-tested people in Leicestershire. We have now spent €320 on testing (the flights cost €15). All this for knee-jerk reactions to a covid strain that’s less severe than a common cold.

Politicians should not be making public health decisions.

End of rant and Happy Holidays to all! My slogan is ‘Just get on with it’.

Thin,
wow, what a catch up!
So glad you made it through the nightmare.
xxx