Hello Southern Hemispherites!!

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  • Good afternoon everyone from an exceedingly wet & sodden Kaiteriteri, the same place we over-wintered last year. We arrived yesterday after slowly making our way north from Christchurch where we had got a bit “stuck” for almost four weeks! We found a new POP (park over property) which had only been open a couple of weeks and we had such a good time with such a great bunch of like minded people we just couldn’t get away, plus the last of the autumn weather was so beautiful, warm & sunny, we really didn’t want to leave. But with not wanting to outstay our welcome, we headed north and have now hunkered down, at least for the next day or two whilst this wet front moves through.

    The recent socialising and weight gain was probably the only down side of our stay, the Happy Hour nibbles and drinks were so creative and tasty, I found them irresistible, so it was inevitable I would regain some weight, but am happy now I am just at 66 and hope to be down another kg within a few more days. I certainly find my weight a lot easier to control these days, eating most of my food naked and so little of it, it is easy to pin point the culprit(s)!

    OH and I are not royalists at all, in fact quite the opposite, so I won’t mention it too much, however, I will say that I agree with you Thin, Queen Elizabeth’s enduring sense of duty has to be admired. Lack of stickability in people is a soap box of mine….

    Will catch up with reply posts later, need to catch up with the cricket highlights, enjoy the rest of your Sunday everyone,

    Turn

    Turn, good morning. It sounds like you’re having a whale of a time. Do tell us more about eating mostly in the nud….

    ER & Paddington tapping the royal teaspoons to the ‘We Will Rock You’ intro was just priceless. The Brits know how to put on a party.

    FD for me and the weather looks gloomy so we’re having a slow day and staying put.

    Turn, good morning. It sounds like you’re having a whale of a time. Do tell us more about eating mostly in the nud….

    ER & Paddington tapping the royal teaspoons to the ‘We Will Rock You’ intro was just priceless. The Brits know how to put on a party.

    FD for me and the weather looks gloomy so we’re having a slow day and staying put. Any other Sunday fasters?

    Monday Monday,

    Thin, that was a lovely response about the community work, but I had to laugh because it is not like that at all. (What you described was what I was expecting). There has been one phonecall in each time I have been there (so I forget how to work the phone again each time) The only people who come in ether go straight to their group, or are friends with the staff. There isn’t any filing (not that I am complaining).
    The admin worker tried really hard to think of something I can do, and I try really hard to do it (last week it was a graphics program I had never used before to make a poster whose function I didn’t really understand. I tried!).
    I am going to have to change things, as I am spending a few days a week recovering from not being helpful at all! Wish me luck talking to her about it tomorrow.

    Hooray for you being back in the 58s!
    https://www.funimada.com/assets/images/cards/big/congrats-1.gif

    Turn, hello! It sounds like you had a wonderful time being stuck with wonderful people and beautiful weather!

    Have fun burning off those extra kilos over the next few days.

    Cheers to everyone else

    Hello friends

    Sadly Mr Anzac had to be rushed to hospital on Saturday night, he has an obstruction and is very unwell. I’m about to head over to see him

    Thin, the Bowel Cancer FB page is INCREDIBLY supportive and lovely. Almost as good as this one ๐Ÿ™‚

    Please send healing thoughts

    Ooh Anzac, That is awful.
    I’m lighting a candle now to be shining, along with my good wishes, for Mr Anzac.
    And I am SO glad the Bowel Cancer FB group is good one.
    <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

    Apologies for posting twice above, the internet has been shaky and I thought I was editing not re-posting.

    Anzac, so sorry to hear your news – it is very good of you to keep us informed. I hope things are all sorted for Mr A. by the time you read this. Best wishes to you both. I’m pleased the FB page is proving helpful for you.

    Cinque, thank you for the congrats fireworks! I’m safely in the 58kg range after yesterday’s FD. Still indecisive about whether to revert to 6:1. I have two days to contemplate it. The weather has been horrid but we’ve managed a few good walks. OH has terrible hay fever so at least the drizzle helps settle the pollen (I think). Oh dear, the community work. I am sure your skills would be better utilised in a more senior capacity, overseeing things rather than sitting around waiting for something to cross your desk. They probably don’t realise how that in itself can be so tiring for you. I’m sure you’ll come up with a good solution and the perfect Cinque Niche will be discovered.

    Anzac, I echo the other’s sentiments. Really sorry to hear about Mr Anzac’s health emergency. I hope it’s something they can relieve quickly.

    My son was not feeling well on Saturday and I was feeling a little off-colour as well. He tested negative for Covid, but today he was still feeling unwell so we tested him again, and after 2 and a half years of avoiding it, Covid has finally hit our household. We’re going to be isolating for at least 7 days. Hopefully I can take advantage of it and get a bit of stuff done around the house.

    I managed to get out for a ride today before the Covid news came through, but I should be able to get out this week as well because you are allowed to exercise while isolating.

    I hope everyone else is ok, have a great evening everyone

    Anzac, sending you and Mr A all my good wishes and hopes for a speedy solution.

    Hello to everyone else, hope you are having a good day.
    I’ve had a very tiring one, so I’m off to eat my bean, kale and chorizo soup now.
    Take care everyone.

    Hello all. Back after a while, so apologies for not answering past posts.
    OH is doing okay – he was very very unwell a few weeks ago, as a consequence of the immunotherapy knocking out his cortisol, so he started a course of steroids…which has now given him drug-induced diabetes. My poor love – he just keeps keeping on. Last week he had dreadful toothache so is in the middle of a root canal and crown. So, a new specialist for him to see – an endocronologist – whom he sees on Thursday. (Funny man that he is…he says the toothache was worse than the cancer)

    Neil, so sorry to hear about your son’s Covid diagnosis. You don’t need Covid in the family as your wife recovers from her surgery. (Actually no one needs Covid …but our recovering family need special thoughts). Covid’s hit our family too. The 5 year old took a header off the sofa on Tuesday night, resulting in a concussion. A night in Emergency, followed by a Covid diagnosis for her and her mother yesterday.

    Anzac, how terribly worrying for you. I am so sorry. I hope it can be resolved quickly and OH is back home with you soon. Hugs.

    Cinque, I agree with Thin. You are not being used to your full, wonderful capacity in your current volunteering role. But …new things take time. They will come to value you as we do.

    Turn, I love reading your posts and about your travels. Agree with you and Thin about the Queen. What a woman. And who knew she had such comedic timing? I could watch her take her sandwich out of her handbag over and over.

    LJ, I’m sorry you’ve not been at all well, and hope winter doesn’t cause you more troubles. It’s been so so cold, and still another 3 months of winer to go.

    I can’t go back to a previous page, without losing my post, so I’ll end now and hope you can all stay safe, and those who need extra care receive it, and it helps.

    Neil, oh dear, covid. Hopefully it will be a mild case all round since you’ve been vax’d. I don’t even know whether it’s necessary to isolate in the UK these days. Besides the two of us, we now only know one couple that’s not had it. I’ll be pretty fed up if we do get it after all this vigilance. I wore my mask in the city today, people coughing and generally getting way too close for my liking!

    Lindsay, I was just thinking of you when I wrote my earlier post and wondering how you and CalifD were getting on. Your poor OH seems to be taking a lot of knocks. I hope the big picture looks brighter. So your family possibly/probably caught covid in the ER? I’m glad they kept her in though, head injuries can progress in the hours following the bonk so it’s better to be properly monitored. When DD was about your GD’s age, she was hit by a swing and it knocked her out for a nano-second. OH who’d flown medivac choppers insisted we take her to ER – to the scoffs of the other parents (only child/over-protective, etc). You always feel guilty taking up a hospital bed too but the staff said we absolutely did the right thing. I’ve also had a head injury myself. That explains a lot, I hear you say?

    Hi LJ, hope the soup was good.

    Oh dear Anzac, sending healing wishes for Mr Anzac, I do hope he gets back home again soon. Hugs.

    I feel for you Neil, after all this time to now have Covid in the house, especially with your wife still recovering from her surgery, I hope you manage to escape it, I do hear that it is not so severe when had both jabs and the booster.

    So good to hear your OH is doing OK Lindsay, it just seems one thing after another, eh, my father is having similar experiences too, just wondering what can be next? That toothache must have been some ache if it out did the rest of the pain he was experiencing. I hope he is more comfortable now.

    I have to echo the others words Cinque, the new Community position will take time, but you’ll smash it, you know you will. I suppose you have chosen the quieter time of year to start it. I must say, my getting “stuck” in Chch was one of the better places we could have got stuck, wish we had been there during the initial lockdown, would have been fun, haha.

    Oh Thin, I knew my grammar was wrong when I wrote that para, trust you to pick up on it. You obviously understood what I was trying to say though. I don’t think I can remember the very last time I ever ate anything whilst nude! I don’t know many of our friends/family who have managed to avoid Covid in the UK either, seems to be quite rare if you have managed to avoid it completely.

    Enjoyed a walk around the beach in the sunshine yesterday, but more rain fell last night, sun just shining through the clouds now though.

    Enjoy your day all, thoughts with everyone, stay strong, Turn

    Afternoon all

    Well the rest of us tested negative today but we have all had symptoms, so we’ll just assume that we have it. I had a big ride and a low calorie day (around 900) yesterday and this morning I weighed in down a kilo. I’ve had a ride today and I’m sticking to another 800-900 calorie day, so hopefully my weigh-in tomorrow goes well. (My macros have still been averaging around 55-60% fats with the rest split between carbs and protein.)

    Turn, I love the area you’re in, we had numerous family holidays in Motueka and always took at least one trip to Kaiteriteri, although we usually went round to little Kaiteriteri because the main beach was always so busy in summer.

    Thin, yeah we managed to dodge it for 2 and a half years, but it was always just a matter of time with two teenage boys. We’re all double jabbed and my wife and I have had boosters, so hopefully we don’t get it too bad.

    Lindsay, your OH really have had a bad run, but good to hear he’s doing ok.

    Ljoyce, a soup made from beans, kale and chorizo sound like it would be a pretty balanced meal. I made a big batch of vegetable soup yesterday and a batch of 12 dinner rolls. I had half a roll, my wife had one and a half, and there were two left over, that means my boys polished off 8 rolls between them. Their illness hasn’t affected their appetites at all, in fact I caught one of my boys raiding the cupboard for the yoyo biscuits I made a couple of days ago.

    Well, have a great one everyone. I’ll check in tomorrow with how my weigh-in went.

    Good evening everyone

    After a slower day than yesterday I feel better – I was just about asleep on my feet when posting last night.

    Lindsay, hearing you describe the way your husband copes with his multitude of health issues, really does warm my heart, he’s always seeing the bright or funny side of things. I certainly get the impression that he is someone who general attitude is one of positivity. I do hope the covid infected family members recover quickly as I’m sure it has resulted in you and your husband needing to quarantine yourself away from them for a while.

    Neil, sounds like covid hasn’t slowed the boys down. I do hope it’s a mild illness for your family.
    The soup is from the hairy bikers diet recipes – it’s very similar to minestrone, but with chorizo and kale instead of pasta. It wasn’t made fresh, but was a 1 litre tub of soup that I pulled out of the freezer. It is a very filling soup. Usually I will have 500ml veggie soup when it’s the main component of a meal, but 300ml was plenty for this one. The kale makes it very chewy – I will admit I’m not a fan of kale, I think I’ll add chard or spinach instead next time. I did post the recipe for this last year: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/beans-and-lentils-recipes-tips-and-information/page/4/

    Thin, yes the soup was good – I was very glad to be able to just reheat a filling meal and not have to cook. As I mentioned above I’m not convinced by the addition of the kale – the chorizo is an excellent addition as it really amps up the flavour.
    I was thinking about your pondering about 6:1 and 5:2. I was wondering whether it was a seasonal thing. My impression of your time on the narrow boat has been that 6:1 seems to have been adequate in the warmer weather, but the combination of cold weather combined with trips to Portugal/Spain requires 5:2 to keep a stable weight.

    Turn, lovely to hear from you. Despite the weather, I’m glad you are finding fine gaps in the rain to explore. Unusually it’s been very cold and wet here too, so perhaps it’s just one of those winters.

    Anzac, sending more good wishes.

    Cinque, it does sound like your time at the community centre is taking more of a toll than it should. I hope that improves. Would going fortnightly instead of weekly help?

    I had a narrow escape with covid last week. I sat across the table from my nephew over dinner, for which I was of course maskless. He tested positive to covid the following day. After 3 tests (1 PCR and 2 RATs) over 5 days I have remained covid free. In addition to having had 4 vaccines I have also gone back to using the iodine nasal swabs and mouth gargle when removing my mask to eat or drink. This experience has reassured me that it is worth my time to persevere with this. I feel very relieved to have escaped infection.

    I have a busy period coming up so I may not post again for a few days.
    Take care everyone. I hope those on the sick list have made some improvement when I surface again.

    LJ, I thought I recognised that soup! I’ve made it several times and really like it. Thank goodness you escaped the covid last week. I imagine it could be quite unpleasant with your lung issues. But you never know, after all the vaxxing. Thanks for your input about my 6:1/5:2 dilemma. Yes, I think this is a good suggestion as I think I will be using a combination of these for the rest of my life and wasn’t quite sure where to make the distinction. I do notice that a towpath G&T is quite appealing in summer time though and I know that I need the two FDs to counterbalance any more than an occasional alcoholic drink. On the other hand, we are active almost all day at this time of year. I’ve still not decided about tomorrow – but it’s summer so perhaps I’ll give it a go! Thank you.

    Morning everyone,

    Weigh-in this morning I was down another 700g from yesterday making a total loss of 1.7 kilos for the week (last week 103.4 kilos, this week 101.7 kilos). I’m hoping now that it’s not just a flash in the pan and so can continue to move in the right direction.

    Ljoyce, I haven’t heard of the iodine swabs/gargle being used before.

    Thin, it really is a balance isn’t it? We don’t want to give up all the joy in our life, and an occasional G&T (or in my case a rum and coke) should not be completely off the cards, but we’ve got to make some sacrifices elsewhere to be able to fit them in.

    Well have a great day everyone

    Just a quick post as I’m heading out for appointments shortly.

    Neil, I think I did mention povidone iodine on this forum in early 2020 in the early days of covid. At that time I had received an email from chemo@home (who do my regular treatment infusions for rheumatoid arthritis). They suggested that their patients (who all either have cancer or an auto immune disease) consider using povidone iodine to possibly provide some protection from covid infection. At that time there was obviously no published research specifically on covid19 as it was too soon to expect that. However, there was published research on the original SARS virus and also on MERS that indicated that coating the nasal passages and the mouth/throat with a diluted solution of povidone iodine dramatically reduced the risk of infection as iodine killed the virus when they came in contact. There was also published research on using this after extensive oral or throat surgery to reduce infection risk, (although this was about reducing bacterial infection not viral infection).
    In those initial months we were told here not to use masks and had no vaccine yet, so I adopted this advice when having contact with people. I stopped using it once I started using masks and was vaccinated – especially as my city rarely had any covid cases. When South Australia opened it’s borders late last year the local infection rates soared so I decided to resume my povidone-iodine routine so that I could remove my mask to eat or drink with other people. Since that initial advice from chemo@home there has been research published specifically on using povidone iodine on SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes covid19 disease). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jopr.13209 This research was clearly done in a lab in petri dishes rather than a clinical setting with people, but the results are promising – even at the lowest dilution level of 0.5%, the povidone iodine killed all of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that it came into contact with.
    Povidone iodine is available as a gargle from pharmacies and also some supermarkets in Australia. I only know of two brands available here, but this may differ in NZ. I use Betadine brand, but I think one of the Difflam gargles is also based on povidone iodine. The products are sold both as a concentrate and already diluted – I use the concentrate as it’s better value and takes up less space in my handbag! To get the coating inside the nose, throat and mouth I mix up the solution according to the directions (1ml povidone iodine concentrate + 9mls water) I then take a new cotton bud and soak both ends in the solution. I use this cotton bud to thoroughly swab my nostrils to apply a coating of the povidone iodine. Then I use the remaining solution as a gargle and mouthwash to get a coating over my mouth and throat. I refresh the nasal swabs every 2 hours if I’m not wearing a mask and I refresh the mouth/throat gargle after I’ve consumed food/drink if I not putting a mask back on when I’ve finished my meal. This process is easy when I’m entertaining at home, but I also do it when I’m out. For this I carry with me, a small ziploc bag containing the concentrate gargle, a 10ml plastic medicine cup and some cotton buds. When I enter a cafe or restaurant I’m always wearing a mask and I go to the cafe bathroom to do my betadine routine in preparation for removing the mask for eating and drinking. These are photos of the product I use and also my “purse pack”: https://imgur.com/a/qJV8uOi
    Neil I hope that explains what I’ve been doing with the povidone-iodine. I believe the best protection when in public is an N95 mask – which is what I use, but I was getting tired of avoiding all eating and drinking with friends and family. While my approach provides no absolutely no guarantees that I am eliminating the risk, I have enough evidence to believe it does reduce the risk so I will continue to do this. There is also very recently published research that some readily available mouth washes may also reduce the risk of contracting covid 19 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/odi.14205 (While I find this interesting, I will stick with what I’ve been doing.)
    Excellent news of your weight loss this week too.

    Hello to everyone else, have to rush now.

    LJ, that’s a quick post? ๐Ÿ˜€ he he.

    Neil, great news from you. Keep your MIL at bay and all will be well for double digits! Yes, exactly, working out how to keep it all sustainable, mostly healthy with the odd indulgence. I’ve woken to a good weight this morning so I’m going to take the plunge with 6:1 and endeavour to eat smaller dinner portions and limit alcohol. The latter won’t be a problem in this miserable weather.

    Cinque, hope you had a productive, not overly tiring session yesterday.

    Anzac, if you’re reading, thoughts with you.

    Have a great day all.

    A quick hello as I am getting ready to go away for the weekend! My daughter booked a little place in Warburton so we are going to have a few days in Victoria’s beautiful temperate rainforest.

    I’m still sending a steady flow of good wishes Mr Anzac’s way.

    Thin, cheers for a successful bout of 6:1

    Lindsay, so good to hear from you. Best wishes to Mr Lindsay.
    I hope your covid riddled family are recovering nicely.

    Neil, are you all covid riddled too now? Sending lots of good wishes and hoping there are good things to watch on tv (or whatever).

    LJoyce, best wishes for your busy time.

    Hi Turn!

    Thanks for such kind feedback about the volunteering. I’ll catch you up next time I write, but I think I will do a blog for them, instead of desk duties.

    Catch you later

    Hi everyone

    Mr Anzac is home and all better. Hooray! Thank you for your good wishes and lovely words of support

    Have a lovely weekend away Cinque. We have booked a weekend away at Rick Stein’s accommodation down the south coast for Mr Anzac’s birthday in a few weeks. Qantas had a special to use FF points and get 2 nights accommodation, 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners. Something to look forward to

    Must run!

    Afternoon all

    Well I’m glad we only have to do online grocery shopping this week, because the shopping we got was awful. One of the avocados was bruised and damaged, the milk had a leaking lid, and they got us the greenest, most scuffed up looking bananas they could find.

    Well my plans of getting lots done round the house during isolation fell by the wayside. I’m not sick, well I’ve had mild symptoms off and on, but I’ve just been feeling so unmotivated and lethargic. I have managed to get out for an hour on my bike most days, but other than that so only got a little bit of gardening and cleaning done.

    Cinque, have a great weekend away, I hope you have a good time. I’m still testing negative for Covid. Unfortunately my wife is now positive and is suffering with a rare Covid symptom. She has come out in what they call “Covid rash” where her body is covered in little itchy bumps that look like insect bites or hives. They say it affects fewer than 1% of people who get Covid, so I guess that makes her special.

    Thin, good luck with your 6:1, I hope you can make it work for you.

    Ljoyce, thanks for the info, it seems like it’s working for you. Anything that can help reduce your risk is worth it.

    Well, better get back to cooking, I’m making up a marinara sauce for the meatballs tonight. I’m looking forward to it because I’m having a fast day today and I’ve only eaten a handful of nuts so far, so a bowl of meatballs and marinara sauce (minus the pasta my family will have with it) is looking pretty appealing.

    Have a great day everyone.

    Anzac, our posts must have crossed, great to hear Mr Anzac is back home now. I hope you have a great weekend away when you head off too.

    Good afternoon everyone.

    An unexpectedly hectic day yesterday as I already had multiple appointments but had to squeeze in a visit to the dentist to put a temporary filling on a broken tooth. I go back next month to have that replaced with a crown – I’d better start saving!

    After a wobbly start, I’m feeling a bit more stable with my eating. Still managing to be fairly controlled on my NFDs and my weight which had ballooned up again is heading slowly down. I’m steering clear of nuts for the next month as I was eating almonds when I broke my tooth.

    Get well wishes to the multitude who are sick or are supporting sick family members.

    Cinque, have a lovely weekend away with the family – hopefully relaxing enough that you don’t return exhausted.

    Thin, yes that post was much longer then I intended but I felt an obligation to explain myself properly – it’s unfortunately too easy to be misleading when it comes to health decisions and whether they can be supported with evidence.

    Last time I shopped, I grabbed what I thought was frozen veggie rice (usually a combination of minced cauli and broccoli). It turned out I’d bought this instead: https://imgur.com/a/73Awnb6 As I needed a soft textured meal for the last 2 night, due to the broken tooth, I decided to use it. I added a couple more veg and some poached chicken. It was surprisingly good and contained a good variety of mushrooms/fungus. It also did have the texture and flavour of risotto, which I wasn’t expecting. Before my chicken & veg additions it was 245 calories per serve, so a very reasonable FD option. Next time I will buy it deliberately as a back up quick meal for FDs.

    Now that the hairy bikers soup is finished, I’ve made a big pot of veggie soup with pearl barley and red lentils – it’s also hearty enough for a cup of it to be filling. Reminds me a little of my mum’s version of scotch broth, although I had made chicken stock as the base, rather than the lamb shanks my mum would have used. It’s definitely soup/casserole weather. The weather continues to be cold here, although thankfully the rain is only occasional showers now.
    I went into the city by train yesterday to my dentist and was rugged up in many layers of clothing, plus a knitted hat and gloves. It’s not often that is required in Adelaide. The sun is valiantly trying to peek through the clouds this afternoon encouraging me to go for a walk before it gives up.

    Hope you are all having a good day.

    Hurray for some good news on here at last.

    Anzac, relief, thanks for telling us that Mr A is well again. The RS hotel sounds nice, I didn’t know he was into anything besides fish. We enjoy watching his long weekends away series.

    Cinque, have a wonderful trip. And yes! An error-free blog for the community centre, lucky them.

    LJ, you didn’t have to explain, I was just joshing with you. It’s good to have some back-up FD products handy.

    Neil, what a strange symptom and how annoying for Mrs N. I never liked the idea of someone else making my produce selections either. We’ve used various online grocery delivery services since living on the boat. They all have an online form where you can review your shopping list after delivery and request a refund for anything that’s not perfect. You keep the item too. In particular, the service called Ocado has a no questions asked refund policy and almost every time, I make use of it. In particular I refuse to accept dented tinned goods. But also anything that’s over ripe, bruised, poor quality. Maybe yours has the same facility if you have a look?

    On Wednesday, I took the plunge and didn’t do a FD. I felt so guilty and scared that I hardly ate a thing all day and served myself a very small portion of dinner. I can’t see myself having what some of you call CDs because it’s all too grey for my B&W psyche. Only two days until my Sunday FD and I’m quite looking forward to it. Weight so far has remained the same. Maybe this will work out OK.

    More crossed posts as usual.

    Neil, I hope you are all on the mend and able to take advantage of your post isolation freedom soon.

    Anzac, wonderful news. I hope there are no further relapses.

    Thin, I did have a giggle at your attempt at a NFD. Will you try again next week?

    LJ, hi, yes I’ll keep it going until I’m constantly nudging the trigger weight again. I’m not sure if I’ve said that we’re going to Andorra next month for a short break (ten days) and I wished I’d thought to continue 5:2 until then. That’s OK, I’ve said it out loud so I’ll do it. Plus it will make emptying the fridge before we leave a lot easier (i.e. less to plan).

    Sunday FD for me. I don’t think I could ever give this one up. I’m at my lowest weight at the start of a FD for months so I have a spring in my step. Mexican Chicken for dinner. Anyone else fasting?

    Morning Thin

    Yes, back to back fast days for me today and tomorrow. After being so good for all of my isolation period, I threw it away with a bad weekend. There were some chips eaten, there was some alcohol consumed, and there was some chocolate eaten. I guess the stress and boredom of a week shut in the house coupled with our first snowfall of the winter on Saturday did me in.

    I’m going to do a full water fast today and tomorrow to detox the sugar and alcohol and hopefully the scales will be kind to me on my weigh-in on Wednesday morning.

    I hope everyone else had a good weekend.

    Hello everyone.

    Yes, Thin I’m fasting today too. I have the last of the veggie, lentil & barley soup for dinner (and some stashed in the freezer for future FDs).
    I don’t recall you telling us you were off to Andorra – were is Andorra (please don’t say Europe – I know that much at least)? Are you going for a specific reason, or is it just a place you have yet to explore?

    Neil, it happens to all of us. I think there’s is a rebellious element to our psyche that decides it’s had enough when we try and impose restraint every day. I like to think of it as our inner child having a temper tantrum.

    I am trying to reduce my tea consumption this month and finding it challenging. It has made me face up to just how much tea I drink in a day and how ready I am to reach for the kettle when I’m thirsty. This exercise is reminding me to drink more water and less tea – something I find very challenging in cold weather.

    Hope you are all having a nice day. Enjoy the last of the long weekend – for those of you benefiting from the Queen’s Birthday in that way.

    LJ, Andorra is in the Pyrenees Mountains situated between France and Spain. We got talking about it with the owners of one of the places where we dog sat in Spain, mentioned that we’d like to visit some day – to which they replied that could be arranged as they have a house there. Then, some time later they asked if we’d like to look after the two dogs there. It’s known as a ski resort (and tax haven) but in summer there will be few tourists. DD was there a week or so ago and says it’s stunningly beautiful.

    Neil, oh dear. I sometimes do the same thing for opposite reasons – sabotage of a good result. That’s why I have to be so careful right now. Usually, it’s just one thing though, not a binge, and I feel instant regret. All the best with your water fast – is that in its purest form i.e. no food at all? Hats off to you.

    We are moored at the bottom of the Bingley Five Rise, one of the seven wonders of the canal network. Lock-keepers told us that there were otters here so I’ve had the camera trap out for 72 hours but no luck – although I haven’t checked it this morning. We’ll go up the staircase locks this morning, a 60 foot rise into the Yorkshire Dales. It gets light at 4.45am and dark at 10.20pm. It’s so peaceful on the canals right now, we rarely see another boat, perhaps due to the exorbitant cost of diesel. Yesterday, only four boats came down the locks, whereas the lock-keepers say they’d normally be assisting 30-40 boats through in a day.

    Thin, that was the plan, however I haven’t slept well the last few nights and I was really struggling with my first day back at work after a week of isolation, so I caved and had a coffee at lunch time. I was really lacking energy after work too so I had a half a cup of leftover beef saag curry at dinner time. Still only a 200 calorie day, and no carbs or sugar, so that should help rectify some of the damage from the weekend.

    Ljoyce, yes I faced up to my dependence on coffee a few weeks ago, I was having 3 cups a day, I went cold turkey for a week and now I’m having 3 a week rather than 3 a day.

    Well I’ll probably need a coffee tomorrow as well if I don’t get an early night tonight, so I’d better head off now. Have a good one everyone.

    Neil, did you get headaches or other withdrawal symptoms from cutting back on coffee?

    Good evening all.

    Thin, Andorra sounds like a lovely spot. I hope there are some lovely mountain walks to be had.
    Wow, that’s a lot a daylight – about 6 1/2 hours more daylight than I’m getting at the moment.

    Neil, 3 cups a day doesn’t sound like much – not when confess that I had a 3 pots of tea a day habit.
    I hope it’s not too challenging to settle back into the office. It should be easier when you aren’t attempting a water fast. (I’m not sure I’d take that on in summer, let alone winter.)

    I’m making good progress on the tea reductions. I used to use a medium sized pot with 2 heaped tsp tea each time. I’ve now changed my pot to a little 1 cup model and I’m putting about about 3/4 tsp in. I’m allowing a maximum of 3 mini pots per day but aiming for 2 where possible. I’ve found I can more easily do 2 if I replace the afternoon pot with something else – today it was cocoa made with almond-coconut milk and stevia. What I’ve quickly realised is that the cup of tea I enjoy the most is the first one in the morning and I always enjoy the first cup out of any pot more than the others. I think the rest was just habit and I don’t miss it as much as I though I would. In part I think it’s also that the first cup is perfectly brewed for just the right amount of time but the longer you leave it the more stewed it becomes. It means I was drinking it just because it was there and I don’t like waste. The little pot means I get one perfect cup, no stewed tea and no waste.

    My weight continues to go in the right direction. About 3 weeks ago, after a couple of bad weeks, I was back up to the high 80s again (up by 6kg in a fortnight). As I was struggling to manage my appetite in the cold weather I realised I needed to reduce the sugars and starches in my diet as I need mild ketosis to manage appetite when I’m struggling. I have aimed to get my carbs mostly from veg, some fruit, legumes and lactose from dairy. The change is certainly helping to manage my appetite and I’m down 3.7kg after a fortnight, although I know much of that is my glycogen stores and water. I pleased that my cold weather food cravings are now better managed, which is a big help on my NFDs.
    A few weeks ago I instituted a new rule of not eating after dinner and that has gone well and I’ve not broken it. Last week I decided that I needed to get a handle on my tendency to nibble too much in the afternoons. So I decided to try and stick to 3 meals a day. As I rarely feel like breakfast, my choices are usually lunch, dinner and one snack. So far I’ve stuck to it, but there’s a lot of internal negotiation when I’m hungry by 10:30 and have to decide whether I’m willing to trade my afternoon snack for a late breakfast – so far the answer has been “no, just wait another hour and then have lunch”. This is an eating skill I didn’t grow up with, if I wanted food I ate it, which is why I was always overweight. It’s fairly late in life to work on this, but I’m glad I’ve finally got around to it.

    Hope you are all doing well. Take care.

    LJ, you’re doing so well. Yes, it’s late in life to be tackling it all, like me, I so wish I’d found out about IF decades before – but we’re here now so all is well. Good idea with the teapot sizing. I have a 2-3 cup coffee habit but those are all controlled at home. I never buy coffee when out for three reasons: one, I’m too cheap; two, I don’t trust the calories and three, it rarely lives up my temperature requirement. I think it was Neil who was treating himself to coffee while out but I may have that wrong.

    You haven’t mentioned Bridge for a very long time. Have you given up on it? And I’ve been meaning to ask about your overseas trip that had to be cancelled due to covid. Presumably you won’t be staying with CalifD with their difficult circumstances now but have you any plans to do that trip?

    Cinque, I hope your blogging is going well. Is it done at home so that Tuesdays are no longer set in stone?

    My fasting friends, Im devastated and heartbroken, my dear, sweet and deeply loved MrGday passed away suddenly yesterday. I am inconsolable and struggling to comprehend that this has happened xx

    GDSA, I don’t even know what prompted me to log in just then as I was actually busy with other things. I am so sorry to read your awful news. What a terrible shock for you. I know that you’ve said Mr GDSA hadn’t been too well of late but this is just dreadful and so unexpected. I know that it’s futile and pointless to try to make you feel better and I can only offer you this small solace for now – he didn’t suffer with a long illness. Whilst I know it’s nowhere near the same relationship, that knowledge did help me come to terms with my mother’s sudden death last year. Take care of yourself and DD in the coming difficult days ahead.

    G’day, I have no words, that is really devastating news. I hope you are holding up ok. I’m sure everyone on this thread will be keeping you in their thoughts and prayers, but I hope you have lots of in person support over there, and don’t be scared to ask for help if you feel you need it.

    It seems kind of meaningless now after Gday’s devastating news, but my weigh in was up 700g from 101.7 to 102.4. Not too bad, but I’ll definitely be working to bring it down next week.

    It’s not helped by the fact that the weather has been absolutely miserable here this week, we’ve been hit by Arctic winds gusting over 100kph (as my dad says, wind so cold you can smell the penguin crap on it), rain, hail and snow. It’s been that way since Saturday. Needless to say I haven’t been out for a ride this week and I’m itching to get out. The weather also just makes you feel like sitting around in front of the fire and eat comfort food. Some of the inland passes had 1.5m meters of snow, the only people happy about the weather are the ski field operators.

    Thin, yes definitely had withdrawal symptoms, I went cold turkey for a week to cut my dependence, and now I’m having just 3 or 4 cups a week, which is a much more healthy amount to consume

    Ljoyce, there is a lot more caffeine in a cup of coffee. Generally a cup of tea made with a teaspoon of leaves will have 45-60mg of caffeine, whereas a standard double shot flat white will have 110-120mg of caffeine. So three coffees per day will be 330-360mg of caffeine, whereas three pots of tea made with 2 scoops each will have 255-360mg caffeine.

    My wife has been craving a smoked salmon, cream cheese and capers pizza, so I’ll be making one of those for dinner tonight, I’ll have to think up something else for me to eat because it’s probably not the best idea to be pigging out on pizza when trying to drop weight. I might take some of the smoked salmon, cream cheese and capers and turn it into a salad

    Well better get back to work, Gday, again, I’ll be thinking of you today, have a good day everyone.

    Oh no, Gday,
    I am so sorry.
    What a terrible shock and a terrible grief.
    Sending you all the good wishes and so much love and care.

    What such a tragic time for you GDSA, I can’t even begin to imagine how you must be feeling, you are in my thoughts. I am so sorry for your loss, take care of yourself and your lovely daughter. Turn

    Dear G’day I am so very sorry to read your devastating news and I am sending heartfelt thoughts and prayers across to you. I will hold you and your daughter in my thoughts

    GDSA, my heartfelt condolences for your terrible loss.
    It doesn’t seem that long since you two found each other and had happy but all too brief years together.
    Sending you a big virtual hug.

    Good morning everyone,

    Gday, so many heartfelt thoughts. I know it will be a busy time as well as a grief stricken time. Do you have some support? How hard it must be for DD too.
    https://cf.ltkcdn.net/dying/images/orig/221723-2121×1414-condolence-card.jpg

    I had the weekend away and I so loved spending extended time with my daughter and granddaughters. Warburton was misty moisty and we had a visit to the redwood trees, I didn’t realise they were so like pines, but SO tall, and planted in rows it was amazing views and so very quiet. Also with lovely little fairy fungi, of all different types.

    But I was very tired after driving home, the trip starting off wet and rainy with lots of traffic, and ending up dark and wet with lots of traffic. I had to concentrate harder than I do much these days!

    Ofcourse eating got messed up a bit, and I haven’t had a chance to do a veggie shop this week. Luckily I have my homegrown pumpkin and warrigal greens in the garden!
    But I realised I haven’t been getting nicely hungry between meals so that is my resolution.

    You have convinced me to cut down my coffee, Neil, after thinking ‘3 cups a day is fine!’ I realised I do enjoy it more if I am more frugal with it.

    LJoyce, I do agree that the first cup of tea is the best. I cut down how strong I make it too (I was making it stronger and stronger over the years and it was getting ridiculous). I enjoy it more now.
    That little teapot is the perfect solution.

    Thin, how lovely to be going to Andorra!

    Neil, is everyone happily over covid in the household? Cheers for your good decisions and what gorgeous cravings Mrs Neil has!

    Well, I did rather walk into the community centre on Tuesday and bulldoze my project through the way I think it ought to be done. (Which, you will be glad to hear, involves proper accountability). That way avoiding getting further into the tangle of confusion. So I am writing up my idea and getting the manager to check it through.

    The only problem is the term is nearly over and I wanted to get this project running before I started my support group. Let’s see if I can make haste (slowly).

    Finally, today is my birthday!
    A nice quiet one, although I will see at least one sister, and have A NEW CAR! (Second hand, but lovely and modern, the air-conditioner works and I will fit in both grandchildren’s car seats). My lovely sister and BIL have a new electric car and are kindly passing their old car on to me.

    Sending good wishes to everyone,
    <3

    Happy Birthday Cinque, https://imgur.com/a/pZDaYEn
    Excellent news on the new car, I know you’ve been looking for quite some time.

    Thinking of you G’day at this horrific time for you. I hope you are ok

    Happy birthday Cinque, I hope you have a lovely time with your sister

    Oh gโ€™day. I just saw your post. I am so very very sorry. As Neil said, I have no words, but just to reach out to let you know you are in my thoughts. Hugs, for you and DD.

    Happy happy birthday Cinque, enjoy xx

    Happy Birthday to You!
    Happy Birthday to You!
    Happy Birthday dear Cinque!
    Happy Birthday to You!

    Cinque, LJ, Neil, it’s interesting that you’re all talking about reducing your tea/coffee intake as OH has been reading papers on caffeine addiction and why it’s not treated the same as other addictions. No plans to cut down on my 2-3 cup habit I’m afraid, there are too many things I no longer eat and it’s one of my great pleasures.

    Cinque, what a wonderful trip you’ve had. And a new(ish) car! And getting those community people sorted out properly. Well done, such a lot accomplished.

    We are enjoying temperatures in the twenties at last. Yesterday, OH and I waxed the boat and a man walked past from another boat and said it was too hot for him to do anything (21C). Later this week, the forecast is for 33C in the south and it’s being described as a potential health hazard.

    Turn, in which part of England does your mother live (if you want to say)?

    I came through my second non-fasting Wednesday unscathed. We are in the Yorkshire Dales and it’s hilly so we can challenge our walking a bit from the flat towpath style that we’re used to. The scenery is just stunning and the people lovely.

    Gday, my heart aches for you. So much sad news around lately, itโ€™s hard to comprehend. My deepest sympathy to you and your daughter.

    I read the posts daily so know the struggles everyone has been experiencing and I feel for each of you. My life continues to evolve and today my Dad was taken to hospital. His mobility is slowly declining and it is getting harder for me to cope. He has been in emergency since 10 this morning. He is in an isolation ward waiting for a bed. They have already carried out some tests but until a doctor sees him I have not been told anything.

    On a brighter note I have booked my flights to visit my daughter in the UK. I depart 2nd August. Who knows Thin depending on where you are I might be able to meet up with you. Hopefully this hiccup with Dad will be resolved by then but I am determined to go and Dad will be in respite.

    To all of you my thoughts are with you. Cinque Happy birthday ๐ŸŽ‚

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