A very quick post.
Just needed to say hi to Lindsay. Pleased that your husband has a treatment he can tolerate and better scan results. Finding a specialist who will help him to recover his speech is also a blessing for someone who loved to talk.

My family has had more bad news. My aunt developed pneumonia a few days ago and passed away this morning.

I’ll talk more later.

Hi Thin, yep, fasting tomorrow too, today went out the window🥴like you my relationship with my Mum wasn’t the best, I stayed loyal to her, but gee she made my life hard, yet with my daughter, it’s so precious to feel that love and closeness ❤️I know we raise kids (my daughter is 50) differently to the way we were raised, “to be seen and not heard” but I still think it boils down to personal attitude. My weight, even though zigzagging is staying the same😵‍💫wondering if I started back on a plateau, and my meals are all pretty similar to each other….especially calorie wise, so I don’t really get the benefit of fasting…….
Ljoyce, I’m sorry to hear about your loss, it sad no matter the age or person, it’s always a shock. She is in a better place💖
Have a positive evening everyone, 🌻CG

Morning all. Home safe and sound from our break – and it is lovely to be home. Rosy is still at the kennel ….they rang me yesteray with concerns that she’s lost weight…such a picky eater. They resorted to hand feeding her, but she tosses that glorious red head back as if to say, ‘you eat it if it’s so good.’ It isn’t that she’s pining. She loves it there and has the best of times. Just a difficult eater, as some setters are.

I got on the scales this morning, and oh my! Holidays! With the best of intentions, we ate too much of food we wouldn’t usually eat. Restaurant food is like that, and although I cooked some meals in the apartments, we were limited in Palm Cove. So, back on the horse today.

It isn’t exactly botox Mr L is having ….but a botox-like substance that swells one vocal chord so it moves closer to the other, to generate sound. Save the botox for me! I’ve sure aged since he got sick.

Countrygal, Cinque and Thin (and others, of course), how precious time with our childen is. I am so lucky that our two, after living interstate and overseas, have settled back in Brisbane, a stone’s throw from where we are. They have been such a tremendous support, and I to them, I hope.

Beautiful pics Thin.

Neil, glad all is going well with Mrs Neil

OK off to put on the washing (such a grounding thing to do), before we go and get the tornado.

Lovely day all.

Saturday morning,

Hello everyone,
LJoyce, so many heartfelt wishes, you must feel worn out from grieving for family who have been so important in your life.
https://www.24hrscityflorist.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/with-deepest-sympathy-card.jpg

Lindsay, welcome home. I must say a ‘botox like substance’ sounds a bit better than my image of a huge Ab Fab style botox needle poking at Mr Lindsay’s vocal chords.
Hooray for kids living nearby <3 <3

CG, I grew up with the ‘seen and not heard’ comments too (mostly the older relatives) and also a tricky relationship with my mum. She did her best with 7 kids, no money, bad health and an abusive husband though, so I mostly thank her for all she did manage to do.

I did need a couple of days of recovery from the optometrist and decided that I’ll stick with seeing the specialist near by as she is so quick and efficient (and nearby), while at the College of Optometry I get a slow student doing every possible test they can think of, followed by the supervisor repeating them all to check.

I picked my spaghetti squash (only 4 from 4 plants, but still). And cut back the pumpkin in the hope it will put all its energy into developing the two biggest pumpkins left on. (I picked two cricket ball sized ones which I will slice and cook with plenty of garlic and chili 🙂 )

Sending good wishes to everyone. Fast day tomorrow.

Cinque, I enjoyed reading about the spaghetti squash yield. If they’re as dense with spaghetti as I remember, that will still give you many meals. I laughed about the slow students. I once wanted to support students learning to take PAP smears (everyone has to learn) until I read that the percentages of false negatives was about as high as in one’s GP surgery – the reason I’d gone to the clinic in the first place.

Lindsay, your post sounded upbeat and positive, happy for you. I can imagine your OH’s weak voice being socially isolating as I know how my OH feels in a crowded room with his deafness. Can I suggest he be given a large spoon to hold up when he wants to speak?

Anzac, hmm not sure how I feel about the green drinks but I know spinach cooks down to nothing so i like to add it to soups. My OH commented the other day that my FD meals take longer to cook and taste the best. Something to think about if elimination of one style of meal is required due to Mr A’s fatique. You wouldn’t be hampered like me with no freezer. OH seems happy with my endless ‘chicken somethings’ loaded up with carbs. I decided never to return to Port Douglas for similar reasons when I heard it had been developed. I’ll remember it forever as a sleepy fishing village.

Still nudging 60kg (from below). No mystery though, my NFDs are still not under control. Yesterday I spent three hours crouched over painting 57 feet of gunwales followed by a three hour r/t walk through fields to hear a jazz band. Utterly knackered when we got back and a 100g gain on the scales proving that I can’t rely on exercise for weight loss.

Good evening everyone, been a busy week, yet when I try to reflect, I have no idea where the time has gone🥴either I’m getting slower, or try to fit too much in….. I saw my Dr Tuesday and asked about more pain meds for this chronic back issue. he said I’m on as high as he wants me now (or I’ll be flying without wings) ! I asked for the flu shot, so we went into the treatment room, only to find they didn’t have any😳so he said he’d give me the Shingles injection as I qualify with age (or they are $250 per injection😧) so sometimes getting old (er)) 😂 has an advantage , plus he started me on a course of vitamin B injections at my request in the hope my energy will start to return. So, a shot for each arm and still no flu shot😂 my big new is I have bought the most beautiful cat, he is a 12 month old Ragdoll, don’t know how to post pics here, but take my word for it. He is just so handsome. The owner has taken very ill, so the daughter needed to find a home for him, not free, quite expensive, but after losing my Maggie age 19 a few months back, I have a huge empty void to fill. I am naming him Monty, it just sooo suits him, still not sure what they called him due to language issues🤔my weight is steadily the same😂….I’m doing very low cal days, lots of water, all to no avail, but know I’m healthy so will soldier on feeling positive with life. Too much sadness about to allow it to control my thoughts, but I have nipped weight gain in the bud by eating consciously and not just nibbling😃 Have a lovely weekend one and all, happiness is a choice that no body can take from you 🌻CG

Good morning Cinque, good morning fasters😃 fasting intently today, no slip ups or excuses😂 Cinque I’m naming him Montugue….Monty, from his pics it suits him beautifully….not sure of his name at the moment, the owner is Persian and after asking twice, still not sure what she said. I’m just going up to get him a collar and harness so we can walk in the garden, he will be an indoor boy, but it would feel cruel to me to not let him feel grass under his paws, and let him sniff around the garden, do I sound excited, I feel like a kid waiting for Xmas……enjoy your day everyone, stay positive and if fasting, think of the good it’s doing you 🌻CG

Good afternoon everyone.

After my rapid water loss in the first week, my second week weight loss has been painstakingly slow. Not helped by a birthday lunch at a smorgasbord restaurant yesterday. I stuck with chicken and veg dishes and had one small plate (and skipped dinner), but I still gained half a kilo yesterday. Which wiped out any loss this week. It was probably due to the salt in the meal as I would not have been over my TDEE for the day. I’m drinking lots of water today to try and flush it out. I’m straight back on my Fast800 routine. By staying away from high carb foods yesterday it makes it much easier to get back onto my low cal regime. As usual I made a cake for the birthday boy (my eldest great nephew who was turning 26). https://imgur.com/a/CXcjx1O He has become predictable in his cake requests – red velvet cake again. I never cease to be horrified by the volume of red food colour required to make that cake red (I use 1 1/2 tblsps for a 2 tier cake, and that’s half of what most recipes call for.) I hate adding things that can’t possibly be healthy and contribute nothing to the flavour of the cake. For me baking is always about flavour & texture and not appearance.

CG, how wonderful that you have a new addition to the family. We’d love a pic of Monty. The rest of us do this using Imgur https://imgur.com/upload Just get the photo into imgur by any of the methods mentioned (I use my laptop and the “choose photo” option, which takes me to my Windows Explorer folder where I can select from my photo files. However if you are on a phone or tablet it’s probably easier to use the “drag” option.) Once the photo(s) is on imgur, you just copy the https link at the top of the screen and paste it into your post on the 5:2 site.
How frustrating that the weight isn’t shifting, despite low cal days – mine hasn’t shifted this week either, but it should eventually.

Cinque, Hope you had an excellent FD, I’m sure it was healthier than my restaurant meal. I’m keeping an eye on my GPs website too, as they will be opening fluvax bookings soon.

Lindsay, your Rosy is making quite a name for herself in the dog ring.
I’m sure Dr M would be understanding of the Lindt chocolate indiscretion – I seem to remember that he confessed to a chocolate addiction in one of his many tv shows.
Hope Mr Ls treatment goes well and he is fine voice again soon.

Thin, I agree with Cinque on the impact of all that painting. Sounds like you will be in need of a physio (or at least a good massage) after that.

Anzac, sounds like you are awfully busy as usual. How lovely that Ms A is still getting such joy from the garden. Not sure I’d cope with daily green smoothies though.

I spent last Friday with my late-cousin’s daughter at my late-aunt’s house. We had to find photo’s and her favourite music for the funeral. It took a while, but we got it sorted in the end. I’ve been asked to speak at the funeral, so I’m still pondering what to say, I have time to work it out as the funeral is not until this Friday.

I’ve had fun lately trying to put together a collection of indoor plants. Every time I go near the shops I seem to come with one or two. This morning it was three! After a lot of hunting, I found a very narrow but tall shelving unit that fits perfectly in the lounge room. (That took a while as I needed to be able to water the highest plants without climbing a ladder.) This new unit gives me the space to finally display family photos that have remained packed since I moved house 3 years ago and also to add more indoor plants. I probably have enough plants now, although I’m still searching for more nice pots to put them in – for the moment I’m making do with what I had on hand. Finding new pots is taking a while, as I don’t want the pots to match – just to coordinate nicely with each other. This is the work in progress so far, while I hunt for 4 more pots: https://imgur.com/a/TdoS9lN

Funny how I can write my meal plan for the week, but as soon as it approaches I’ll feel quite unmotivated to do the amount of shopping and cooking required. That was this morning’s revelation. So the planned cauliflower fried rice and laksa meals that had been panned for the first few days of this week were ditched this morning for simple warm salads. I bought bags of pre-shredded salad veg and small lamb, beef and chicken steaks. I just need to mix the veg together and divide between 3 bowls then cook a steak each night to go with it – very easy with lots of low carb veg.

Hope you are all having a good day.

Haha, yay, I checked, that’s my new baby Monty ❤️❤️❤️don’t know how to enlarge it but you can see him 😃

Haha 😂😂😂 😘

What URL? I can see him on this posting……I’m quite lost now..😢

I found tapping on that https above opened to the pic 🤔

CG, what a gorgeous cat. Glad you worked out imgur for phone/tablet.
No I have never been a professional baker. I love baking as a hobby, but seriously dislike decorating the results. That why I rely on simple things like fresh berries and bought chocolates to do the hard work for me. My family know that my cakes will be rustic. They don’t complain – probably worried about being cut off from the cake supply if they do. I have a 19yo great nephew who also likes baking, but is more interested in the decorating phase – we should probably team up.

CG, I genuinely couldn’t see it with your first link, got it with the second.
LG, I think you’re being too modest about your cake baking and decorating. I agree about the red stuff, but, as you said before you don’t have to like it, their wish is your command, you’re not judging! I can usually take or leave cake but DD did bring OH a particualrly delish one from Waitrose and I did succumb.

Good evening everyone.

It’s really quite late to post, but it took ages to catch up on all the news. Shows how long it’s been since I last posted – oops!

Anzac65, Good that Mr Anzac is starting treatment. Stand firm against your project manager. Sounds like he’s being quite unreasonable given the circumstances.

Countrygal1, great picture of Monty – saw him in the second imgur, first imgur had nothing. He looks a lovely cat for you to enjoy.

LJoyce, my sympathies re the loss of your aunt. I’m sure you’ll speak well at the funeral. Lovely cake. I think the decoration is lovely. I certainly wouldn’t complain to be given a cake like that for my birthday!

LindsayL, good that the immunotherapy seems to be working well. I do hope the procedure on Friday gives Mr L back some voice. I agree with the second doctor. Fancy thinking waiting a year was okay! Yay Rosy!

Thin, lovely photos of the buzzard. Sure hope he survived. Great that OH has been able to fix the toilet – hope it stays fixed. Also hope the painting of the other side of the boat gets done efficiently and well, and that a dental cancellation comes up while you’re still moored at your current site.

Neilithicman, how lovely of all your neighbours and friends to prepare the house so beautifully for Mrs Neil’s return. Good that she has family to look in on her each day. I’m sure you’ll work out a way to exercise as the cooler weather approaches. You managed last year.

Cinque, glad the eye exam went well, but what a marathon. Yes, I’d stick with the specialist if you can afford to.
Re Dr M’s program, I remember now that links to the first two weeks were posted on another forum, and that’s how I was able to see them. There was no link to the final week, so I’m looking forward to seeing the end results this week.

For me? Busy. I’ve now bought and set up a new Dell laptop to use for my studies. I really don’t know how long my Toshiba will last. I’ll keep using it for “personal” things, but not for the study. It has this constant hum when on so I think there’s a problem with the fan. Now I’ve another laptop, I might see if this one can be fixed.
Weight? Okay. Not starring, but down about a kilo so far for the month so I’m happy with that. I keep doing CDs, 1000-1400 calories, instead of proper FDs. I manage FD800s better than FD500, but haven’t got there yet. It will come. As a friend of mine often says “Can’t rush these things” 🙂

Bed is calling. I’ll try to be a little more diligent re posting. Goodnight all.

Morning all.
FDs under my belt for the week. Not that I’m actually wearing a belt again…but you get the picture.

Thin, I agree about LJ’s cake-making. Highly professional, from the pics we’ve seen over the years. Fabulous, in fact.

LJ, here’s a question (probably ridiculous). Can you use beetroot instead of food colouring in the red velvet cake? If we can use carrot in cake, why not beetroot?

CG, what a divine puss. Like Cinque, I couldn’t see the first post, but the second one was great. So very cuddly and fluffy.

How are you going Anzac….and how is Mr Anzac’s treatment progressing?
My OH has another immunotherapy today – apart from being a bit tired, he’s coping so so well with this treatment. Hope Mr A’s treatment is gentle too.

Cinque, re good eating practices. I was really shocked by the restaurant food we had while we were away. Even food which I cook at home (eg poached eggs) was trissed up with extra calories. I mean, how can you ruin a poached egg? A lot of restaurants were closed, or with limited menus because of staff shortages. But many of the choices still on their menus were of the xxxx with chips variety. Not what I wanted at all.

Love your plant/photo stand LJ. Lovely to be able to position your pics and plants where they can be seen so easily. I have been nurturing a maidenhair fern which doesn’t play ball ….survives, but doesn’t thrive. I popped it out in the garden while I was away (shaded, but under the sprinkler) and it has thrown up heaps of new shoots. How contrary. I am also growing a begonia in an exquisite green patterned pot my DD gave me ….and it decided to flower while I was away. Just a little white blossom, but so pretty.

Nice to read your post Betsy. Good to have a backup computer. Oooh, the thought of losing any work to a hardware fail is scary. Good for a kilo down …one each month is 12 in a year, and who could be disappointed with that?

OK off to the hospital – good day all.

I’m just having a giggle about Thin’s comment. She’s as beetroot averse as I am.
Lindsay, I have seen a red velvet cake recipe that contains beetroot, but admit I didn’t read it. The problem would be that it changes both flavour and texture. Red velvet is meant to be roughly the texture of a light Victoria Sponge with the flavour delicately balanced between chocolate and vanilla.
Lindsay my mother had a flourishing maidenhair fern and she used to actually burn the fronds back (not sure how often) – it bounced back with renewed vigour each time.

Betsy, Lindsay & Thin, As to the question of whether my baking is professional. When I was in my teens, my mother suggested I make a career of baking. I said that if I had to do it every day it would no longer be a joy, I’d grow to hate it.

Betsy, your laptop purchase reminds me that I really need to get researching laptops so that I can replace my geriatric Dell laptop.

Neil, what lovely friends who try to make life easier for you, very thoughtful. Also very glad that your employer is happy for you to work from home so you can support Mrs N. I wonder if our experiences over the covid period have brought many employers to a similar realisation, that the answer to such a request can be yes.

I slipped easily back into Fast800 and the water weight from Sunday’s lunch disappeared after one 800cal day and lots of water. I’m keeping it simple at the moment with a large leafy salad and a small piece of grilled meat each night. It has made life easy as it takes so little preparation time.

After letting ideas percolate in my head for a while, I finally managed to write my eulogy for the funeral. As there will be several speakers, I decided to keep it brief and focus on her greatest quality – generosity, especially with her time.

Take care everyone.

Good evening all.

Still around a kilo down. I had a very heavy day yesterday, both chores at my place and then helping a friend by cleaning her garage – mainly the floor, but moving items, sweeping, then replacing them, etc. It was overall very tiring, and by the end of it, all I could think was that I needed to eat. Fortunately my friend fed me so I didn’t have to think about food preparation. Unfortunately, it included brown rice, a creamy chicken casserole with mushroom and bacon, followed by lemon delicious pudding. Yum, yum, yum! Kindly, the scales showed no increase this morning so I think I must be down around my next “plateau” weight. I did expend a lot of energy, too, so probably didn’t exceeds the TDEE for the day.

LindsayL, how good that the current immunotherapy for Mr L isn’t proving too onerous for him to bear. Long may that continue!
A hair on your chin? I just pluck any that dare show their faces 🙂 Still, it’s nice you had a day where you received some TLC just for you.
Great to get a positive comment from the doctor. Did she order thyroid function tests just to check?

Neilithicman, some good positives about working from home, provided the distractions are minimised, especially the benefits of being able to freshly cook vegetables for lunch.

Thin and LJoyce – you don’t like beetroot?! Well, I’ll admit that I don’t like olives or coffee, so that almost makes us even 🙂

LJoyce, re laptops, I looked on the Dell Australia website for laptop deals. The one I bought cost $1399 AUD reduced from around $2200. Of course, I also bought 4 years of servicing (down 40%) and a bluetooth mouse so overall it was around $1600. To me, though expensive, it was a really good deal. Certainly much cheaper than if I’d tried to buy the computer through a retail outlet.
The laptop is 15.6″, has 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD. I’d been looking at one with a 512 GB SSD that was $200 cheaper, but decided to go for the bigger storage capacity. Because I have Office 365 now, all my files from my desktop were automatically transferred to the laptop, which makes life so much easier for my doctorate work.

Okay, enough technicalities.

Thin, I hope the painting of the second side of the boat is either complete or well on the way.

Anzac65, hope Mr A is coping with his treatment. Has it actually started yet?

Enough for now. Goodnight everyone. Stay safe and well.

Good afternoon everyone.

Betsy, thanks for the laptop info. I have been happy with my current Dell laptop so am quite open to getting another one from them. I am limited by the type of ports built into some of their new models – they don’t accommodate my trackball mouse or my kindle. My current laptop is still plodding along, so I do have the luxury of time to do some proper research.
As to the food dislikes – I’m with you on the coffee and olives, I don’t like them either.
Not surprised that your weight remained stable on your busy days. Being active all day burns so much more energy than an hour of exercise and then lots of sitting.

Lindsay, my dislike of beetroot is very longstanding. The picked version featured in childhood and I thought it was awful – far too sweet. The sweetness in foods that I expected to be savoury was the problem, because I loved polski ogorki (dill pickles) and sour pickled onions, but hated sweet gherkins and sweet pickled onions. I’m afraid all of those food prejudices prevail to this day.
Wonderful that you had a pampering day. Also wonderful that you are getting to spend quality time with your son.

Cinque, what a thoughtful and special person you are, trying to come up with ways to help your community.
Your starting point sounds great. Do you plan to be the moderator of the group, just get it started, or find other community members that want to do it?
I do have some suggestions for your consideration. I can’t offer suggestions for a catchy name however – not my forte.
– In the first session it’s important to have someone speak about keeping health issues monitored while losing weight – preferably a dietitian or GP. It can impact things like blood sugars and blood pressure and medication may need to be adjusted as people lose weight. Someone from the medical field probably needs to cover this.
– While you need to initially have a list of weekly topics to address, this could eventually become something the group decides – perhaps as part of the wrap up session. That doesn’t mean you can’t nudge people toward a topic that has clearly been an issue for a number of people during recent group discussion.
– Once the group has formed bonds they may want to consider also having an online forum like ours (a private facebook group perhaps). The trick with this is to not let it negate the need for face to face contact, which is why the group needs to establish strongly first. I’m suggesting online because it would enable people with family obligations, disabilities, health issues etc, that may make it difficult for them to come to the group regularly to still maintain contact and receive support from the group. It is also useful for those times when people need to talk more often than weekly. It is also a forum where they can organise other things – maybe a group walk, a trip to the fresh produce markets or a picnic day where they bring families. (I realise I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here, but I can see the long term potential of this group to provide support that is even boarder than diet.) This may also be a way of encouraging mature groups being more self-supporting, without the need for a weekly moderator, allowing the group moderator to start a new group.
– One of the things that works well with our 5:2 forum is that we have members who are maintaining and others losing weight. We have people who have been her for years and others for less time who are supported by those with more experience. I think it’s one of the strengths of our group. It’s worth considering whether that will be part of the face to face groups – especially if they are closed to new members when they get too big.
I’ll keep thinking about this, and if more ideas pop into my head I’ll let you know.

My weight has finally jumped down again. Only by half a kilo but after losing nothing last week, it’s a welcome change and I can hope for more by the end of the week. Today for the first time I felt thinner. For me this is usually the sensation that my elbow is no longer hitting any body fat on the side of my torso when I walk, because that area feels lean and contoured again – when I’m standing up anyway, sitting is another story.

Have a good day everyone.

Cinque, I’m suggesting, ‘Altogether Healthy’. Eliminates the usual tired jargon of ‘support’, ‘community’, ‘diet’, etc. Also, important for Australians, has the acronym, ‘Ah!’ as in, ‘I got it!’ You’re such a wonderful and generous person – but please don’t forget yourself and your limits as you consider your role.

Betsy, thanks for asking, yes I completed the painting on the port side a couple of days ago and had a whole day in the sunshine (18C) with no jobs yesterday. Your new laptop sounds great and I bet it’s not long before you make the leap to using it exclusive of the old one. Predictably, OH has been hanging on to his old laptop and iPad for two years (on a boat) ‘just in case’. He hasn’t opened either. I think it’s hard for our generation to just throw away such seemingly valuable items and to come to terms with them becoming obsolete in such a relatively short time. I hang on to my mobile phone until the provider tells me that ‘it’s no longer supported’. I grates on me to discard a perfectly decent phone due to corporate greed.

LJ, Betsy and Lindsay, nice work on the downward trends. I think I’m getting there. FD yesterday but it seemed like such a lot of food when I finally ate my meal at 5pm. Instead of stopping, I carried on eating it and I’m only down 400g this morning.

Dentist today and I hope to complete the treatment without an injection. The dentist has the personality of a plastic daffodil and I’m not looking forward to seeing her again. It will be great to finally get cruising now the weather is so fabulous – although there’s a massive tree down a little further north and the authorities are still working out the logistics. It’s Mothers’ Day here on Sunday and my wonderful DD will come and find us on the canal to spend the day. So I have to decide whether to do the next FD on Saturday or Monday.

Anzac, Neil, CG, CalifD, good morning to you. And anyone I’ve missed.

Hello, it is catch up day!
I’ll catch up with 5:2 chat and then get on to my program pitch.

CountryGal, Hello Monty! Gorgeous name, gorgeous cat.

Betsy, the new computer sounds great. Hooray.
Nice weight loss. 🙂
Note to self: watch that final Dr M episode!

Neil, I hope the working-from-home pros beat the WFH cons for the week. Is Mrs Neil still recovering nicely? I do hope so. Please pass on my good wishes.

Good wishes also to Mr Lindsay and Mr Cali and Mr Anzac.

Lindsay, I’m just about here 😀 Lovely to read about your weekly evening with your son. Precious times.

I used beetroot juice to colour icing and it made such a pretty pink! It wasn’t enough to taste beetrooty. The cake had some beetroot in it too 😀 Just enough to fleck it with colour. https://imgur.com/a/Ym0ighd

(So glad I love coffee, olives and beetroot, just saying!)

(LOVE the research that has just come out to say 3 coffees a day is beneficial 😉 )

(Just saying…)

I had a pub meal with my sister and BIL on Wednesday. I ate a few of the chips that filled half the enormous plate, the salad was okay, 1/4 plate and I’d say the chicken schnitzel had been pulled out of a big bag in the freezer and deep fried. Very disappointing. Not nutritious or delicious.

And yes, when people are stressed they eat out, buy takeaway meals, or buy microwavable meals, and it is shockingly hard to find good, comforting, nutritious delicious ones.

Beautiful elegant shelves LJoyce, and lovely to hear about your begonia too, Lindsay.

I gave up on house plants, I just try to open windows and doors so I can see my outside plants. Although I am rehabilitating a spider plant for my daughter, who is enjoying having indoor plants (except for the spider plant that was doing nothing). It has three new leaves. (She tried giving it to me but this way I can happy it up and give it back).

LJoyce, I am so glad you found the words to talk about your aunt’s generosity, especially generosity of time. Best legacy. I see the funeral is today. Sending you so many wishes from my heart.
https://apiproducts.interflora.com.au/img/catalogues/AU/zoom/858.jpg

Thin, I agree with what you say about food as control, and over eating being out of control.
I think the control in our family was all about saying no, we had to not talk in any but the approved way, not to move thoughtlessly, not to make mistakes, not to feel comfort and freedom… So saying yes to food was private and secret and I could say yes, yes, yes to that comfort and sweetness I got from food.

Okay I am off for coffee.
Backson

Cinque, I love your idea. How good would it be, to be able to sit and talk to people who are going through the same challenges. For that reason, I like the specific focus on people who’ve lost weight and are trying hard to sustain the loss, or are finding it sliding back on, for no appreciable reason. My friend is like that – we lost all that weight last year, and while I can see there’s been a reason for the gain I’ve had, I can’t with her. She is very disciplined, but still it creeps up. So I’m thinking how good it would be for her to be able to share that and look for solutions in a supportive, experienced group.

What about Weight Over? A take on your suggestion, with the different spelling. Or has that been done?

Cinque, you could invite the first wave of participants to decide on a name. The name itself is unlikely to attract exactly the target audience, it will be the marketing and literature that does that. Thank you for your comments about food control, or lack thereof.

Betsy, I really laughed at your use of electronics until the bitter end. Towering inferno! Yes, we’re always advised to smash the hard drive into oblivion. Dentistry complete thank you. No injection. Dr. Congeniality slightly less plastic but, having chosen the most expensive product and elected to go private, on completion she advised that she doesn’t know how long it’s likely to last.

A sad ending to our buzzard rescue. We cruised past its carcass in the canal yesterday – almost exactly where we’d last seen it fly to the towpath. Sometimes its hard to know whether our interventions cause more harm and now I wish we’d done more. It was one of the few times while narrow boating that we’d been under time pressure to get somewhere. I console myself with the fact that it faced certain drowning if OH hadn’t scooped it out of the canal. DD says there’s a lot of bird ‘flu around so perhaps that was its problem. It reminded me of NZ’s recently beached whales. We instinctively want to ‘help’ but are we really?

Another sunny, 18C day to get out and enjoy.

Good morning everyone, been AWOL this week, been crook, just like the flu, felt totally off. Had a quick glance at a few posts but will read properly later. My Monty arrives tomorrow so that has brightened my spirits. I’m eating pretty low cal, more like 800 or thereabouts, but think the scales are Stuck! Glorious weather this weekend, very sunny, but golly it’s been icy, with wind chill. Have a lovely day and stay positive 🌻CG

Just a brief post (sorry) to touch base as it’s getting late.

The funeral went well, no mishaps and everyone who spoke did a lovely job. The family is coping well as my aunt was 92 and had not gotten over losing her husband nearly 2 years ago. We certainly felt she had been ready to join him for a little while now. Loss is easier to accept when the person has had a long and full life and they are ready to leave.
Through the week there were two family birthdays and we didn’t feel like celebrating just before the funeral, so today we went out to a cafe at Aldgate (the one in the Adelaide Hills not in the UK) for lunch. It was also one last chance to see my cousin’s eldest daughter who had flown in from NSW for 2 days for the funeral.
Given that lunch included birthday cake and I had a tiny slice some exercise was needed. So I went to my best friend’s place after lunch and we walked a trail through Belair National Park. Picturesque but hilly and hard work. According to my fitbit the hike used 324 calories, which should more than cover the tiny piece of cake I ate.

My weight continues to slowly move down so I don’t want to jeopardize that. On the way home I stocked up on veg and will do a veggie tray bake tomorrow that I can add something high in protein to each night for the next few dinners.

Take care everyone.