This topic contains 27,917 replies, has 832 voices, and was last updated by thinatlast 1 day, 20 hours ago.
Afternoon all
Weather has been better, we got some rain Sunday afternoon but has been ok the last couple of days. But unfortunately by Friday it’s supposed to close in again and we’ll get another week of rain. I am now officially over this weather.
Eating hasn’t been too bad, exercise has been ok, I’m not sure what to expect from my weigh-in tomorrow, but I’m picking probably about the same as last week.
I’ll check in tomorrow, Have a great one everyone.
Thanks Thin, my OH had the TURPS by laser back in 2014, it did make a huge difference initially, but he seems to be prone to infections which means blood in his urine every now and then, which in turn means instant panic (must be a male thing I think) which he has antibiotics for, plus he takes a daily natural supplement which usually keeps it stable. One of those things that comes with age I guess. We’ll certainly try and get to Liverpool next year now, you’ve convinced me it’s worth a visit. Which route are you taking when you leave the city?
Sounds like you’re keeping yourself well busy LJoyce, jeans not fitting sounds wonderful. I envy you having a garden, enjoy.
Pleased to hear you have recovered from most of your Covid infection Lindsay, I am sure your OH’s steroids will have helped to keep his symptoms and infection low. My father was rushed into hospital with a bleed on the brain and then an horrendous chest infection just at the beginning of Covid back in March 2020. Later on the chap in the same ward tested positive for Covid but my father tested negative, and I swear to this day it was because of all the steroids/medication he was taking at the time! Phew. His chest is weak from a bout of bronchial pneumonia many years ago and any illness seems to end up involving his chest. I shall look up the Lustig books, and I concur, I believe farming on an industrial scale globally has lead to many a problem.. My mother has always eaten bread, was brought up on it as many of her generation were, also living in France for years she ate fresh bread off the van every day, but is now gluten intolerant. We all assume it is because wheat is now produced containing much more gluten, increasing yield for farmers. And some say there is no such thing as GMO?
I’m with you Cinque, so many processed foods are made for convenience these days, I don’t know what people do with all their spare time?? Take care with all that de-cluttering? Enjoy your time with your sisters and daughter, special times.
Gday, I can’t begin to even imagine what you must be going through on a daily basis, life must be so hard for you right now. All I can say is we are all here for you for support, just to offload or chat. Are you mixing up those ice cream flavours or is it all boring vanilla? If it means comfort you might as well enjoy it!
Good luck with the weigh in tomorrow Neil.
Best go and cook the spaghetti to go with the Bolognese I made earlier, Baked some Gingerbread Men earlier and roasted some veggies ready to make some more muffins on Thursday.
Enjoy the rest of your day everyone, Turn.
Cinque, what a lot of work. posting and activity for you. All good wishes to your sister. And for the development and growth of your new group. Processed food – yuk.
Neil, good luck with the weigh in. Glad the weather has cleared.
Turn, your poor OH. Some men need the surgery repeated so I read in the reading material pamphlets that OH received leading up to his op. Our route out of Liverpool will be the same as the one coming in! The alternative is across the Mersey and we’re not doing that in a narrow boat. We back-track to Burscough before heading north to Lancaster across the Ribble (scary enough for me). Last night I booked a quirky cottage in the Lake District that we’re sharing with a boating couple who we met last summer. Lindsay, I can’t remember if I remarked on your telling us that your brother used to live in Kendall. A lovely part of the world.
GDSA, I’m sorry your grieving process is proving so hard on you. Your post really drives home the extent of your reactive depression. It’s a stark contrast to your previous posts outlining all the measures you were taking to keep your body healthy. Nothing we can say here will have any impact on how you feel so it’s good that you’re under medical care. Hopefully once the drugs kick in, some of the fog will be lifted and you’ll start to gently embrace some of the natural things that you know will help elevate your mood. Like a daily walk somewhere lovely. I hope your DD is OK.
Lindsay, it sounds like covid knocked you about despite the four vaxxes. (Sounds like a beer). Hurray for good-fitting jeans.
LJ, did I say hello? There’s no imperative to post daily. Except for your own benefit – I know your posting helps keep you accountable.
Morning all
G’day, I’m really sorry to hear how much you are struggling with everything at the moment. I can’t even pretend to understand what you’re going through at the moment.
All I can say is it is really good to hear from you, I know we’ve all been missing your presence on this thread. I hope that the Psychologist sessions and medication helps you and you start feeling a bit more up soon.
Weigh in today I was up about a kilo, but that always seems to happen when I start cycling after a long time of not doing much. I guess the leg muscles wake up and say “Oh, we’re doing this again are we? I’d better start storing up some energy.” Waist is still the same but my legs have gotten bigger. I’ll see what it’s like in a week after being back into cycling for a while.
I hope everyone is ok, have a great one everyone.
Hello everyone,
Gday, I was so glad to see your post. <3
I know Mr Gday’s death just tore the sky apart and you have to rebuild your world. Such hard times.
You have little MsGday’s needs anchoring you, and good medical support, so it is just one step in front of another until life manages to let some little green shoots show and you start to live again.
So many good wishes heading your way from all of us.
Well, at my house I got a lot done yesterday, but I am feeling a lot like a grasshopper that has hit a windscreen today. I am going to soak in the bath in the hope I have enough form for my meeting and then rest so that I can make the most of tomorrow.
Best wishes to everyone
Wordle in two! Just sayin’. I know, lucky, first guess.
Neil, oh how frustrating with the weigh-in, but you are sanguine in your outlook so good for you.
Cinque, was it a lovely long soak? Simple pleasures. I rarely had a bath in the thirty years that I owned one. The first twenty, I was too fat and my knees too painful to get out of it. Then with the weight loss, mobility became easy but I rarely thought about having one. Now I don’t own one and I’d just love to have a long, hot, candle lit bath with a good book. Enjoy.
Hi all, G’Day so heartbreaking for you. Nobody knows how it feels unless they have to go through it. I sit here with tears in my eyes. They say it takes 5 years to get over major trauma and yours is so recent. You have to take care of you and your daughter the best way you can. Life will never be the same but unfortunately life does go on eventually although you can’t see past tomorrow.
Well my friends I am sending this post from my daughters in the UK. So much has happened in my life since June when Dad was admitted to hospital. He was there for 5 weeks which was a big adjustment for me. After having such a structured life I felt like I was driving without a rudder. Unfortunately Dad’s mobility decreased and I can no longer look after him. Two weeks ago he was admitted to a nursing home and as of today is a permanent resident. Life certainly throws curveball’s.
When I return my life will change back to living on my own and being free to plan without having to consider my Dad. Big adjustments all round.
Anzac happy to hear your OH is on the mend. So much illness and trauma in our thread over recent months. Really brings home how tenuous life can be. We really have to make the most of the time we have.
Thinking of you all and sending blessings to you all.
Intesha, welcome to England, I see you’ve brought some Aussie sunshine with you. We had our first BBQ of the summer last evening, finally warm enough AND no wind. I bet you’re having a fabulous time with the family, especially knowing that your dad is being cared for in your absence. I imagine it will take some adjusting to your new found freedom and hope that you can better enjoy all the quality time you can spend with him now that you’re not the primary caregiver. All those trips and things you wanted to do are now yours for the taking.
We have left Liverpool, it was a lot of fun and very interesting to be there in a boat but I’m equally happy to be back in the peaceful countryside. We had an amazing blackberry and apple crumble last night, the blackberries outside the boat are huge, ripe and sweet.
FD for me. I have the chicken thawing for a Jalfrezi. Tiny portion for me, extra for OH with rice and veg. Meanwhile, our four yearly boat safety inspection is scheduled for 11am and takes 3 hours. We’re quite nervous, only because if anything fails, it’s often such a palaver finding the right tradespeople in the part of the canal system we’re cruising on and we won’t be allowed to proceed through any booked/manned locks beyond the current certificate expiration date. We’re off for a walk to get OH off the boat as there’s nothing he can do at this point.
Have a great day all.
Good morning everyone,
I’ve had a hard week, so I am getting a post in quickly in case I fall in a heap soon.
Intesha, how good to see your post and see that you are on the other side of the world with your daughter’s family.
I am glad that your dad is in care now suitable for his level of (im)mobility. What a sterling job you have done, caring for him through all these years. It is such a big adjustment. Precious time for you now.
Thin, fingers crossed the inspection was all fine.
I’ve had such a busy and social week. I thought I was very carefully pacing myself getting things clearer and less dusty for my sister, but I hadn’t judged it well enough. So my health has been pretty bad, but I still managed to do everything.
Lovely time with my sister who is currently well, and hardly any symptoms, so far, from her immuno and chemo therapy. She finds out tomorrow if the two rounds (over 6 weeks) of treatment have had a good effect, so all our fingers and toes are crossed.
I had lovely crispy chicken pho at my daughter’s birthday lunch, and just left most of the rice noodles so it made a very light and delicious lunch.
I had both my granddaughters yesterday which was lovely. A playdough feast for Lilly the stuffed toy took up most of the day.
Last Wednesday I had my biggest ‘Weight Over’ meeting because all three of the staff stayed for it, plus another lovely woman turned up and plans to come regularly. But the woman who came the week before didn’t come and I couldn’t help but worry that she hadn’t liked it after all. So it was great to get a message from her that she had forgotten and will come this week.
I heard a great interview with Dr Norman Swan (health reporter) who said (if I remember rightly) that the longest lived people in Australia have been that group of first generation Greek immigrants who followed the Mediterranean diet, grew vegetables and herbs in their back yards and practiced the fast days of the Greek Orthodox church which he described as ‘not complete fasts, more like intermittent frugality’.
Isn’t that a great term!
He’s got a new book called ‘So you want to live younger longer’ which he was spruiking (I noted he is critical of 5:2 because of the original ‘eat what you want on fast days so long as you keep under the calorie limit’).
Well, I’ve got a quiet day so I am hoping to catch up on things and clean the kitchen at the same time as resting. We’ll see.
Hoping you are having a good day.
Ciao
Morning all
Intesha, great to see you posting again, and if, as Thin says, you’re bringing sunshine with you, can you come to New Zealand next? It must be hard to have your father in a rest home now, but I’m guessing it will be a relief to get a little more freedom.
Thin, fingers crossed for your inspection, hopefully everything passes with flying colours
Cinque, that does sound like a busy week, and definitely great news your sister is currently doing well
As for me, the weekend was chalk and cheese over here. Saturday was beautiful weather, touching on 20 degrees and I managed to get some garden work done, dealt with my pile of firewood, went for a walk through the gardens with my wife, and harvest some bamboo from a reserve close to us. Sunday however it snowed pretty much all day , it didn’t get above 6 degrees, and we spent the whole day mooching around the house by the fire and watching movies.
Well hopefully this week will be better and I can get out a couple of days for a ride
Have a good day everyone.
Cinque and Neil, I enjoyed your posts while having my post FD frothy coffee. Thank you both, yes, the boat passed its four year Safety Inspection, phew. It took three hours so it was a thorough going over and, of course, we would have wanted to know if there were any hazards since we live on board. As if we weren’t riding high enough on that news, cruising along in Intesha’s glorious sunshine, DD asked if she could intercept the boat somewhere on her way home from visiting my step-mother in Wales and so we orchestrated a lovely, unexpected three hour visit in the sunshine last evening. A perfect FD.
Neil, gosh that weather. I hope this isn’t a stupid question but what do you do with the bamboo? Is your wife getting stronger now and the facial paralysis diminishing?
Cinque, sorry that you’re feeling tired. Great news about your sister, long may it last. Wonderful to have a day with the little ones. And happy for you getting a growing response to your group. Interesting and unsurprising about the early Greek migrants’ WOL. The biggest selling books are cook books, closely followed by diet books. The authors have to keep coming up with new and improved versions to earn their bread (or vine ripened tomatoes with a splash of olive oil). I can appreciate Norman Swan’s scepticism about ‘eat whatever you want’ but that fails to take into consideration that 5:2 shapes our portion control and food desires over time. The premise of ‘eat whatever you want’ is to overcome the feeling of deprivation associated with most diets ultimately leading to their failure. Knowing that I could have a giant piece of cheesecake the day after a FD has kept me strong on many a FD, yet rarely did I partake when the NFD rolled around.
I’m alarmed by the PC trend of accepting morbid obesity as perfectly OK. There are campaigns in Spain telling us that ‘All Women Are Beach Ready’. Grossly obese women sporting bikinis depicted on the beach. Totally ignoring any health implications for the individual or the nation with the usual appeasement so as not to offend. And Victoria’s Secret now has a larger than life overweight black woman in their windows wearing a bra and pantie set. What’s this message? Even if you’re black or overweight, you can still wear our underwear? Rude surely.
Have a great day everyone.
Tuesday morning,
Hooray that your boat passed its inspection, well done, all that work put in. And what a lovely 3 hour sunshiney delight with DD.
We do need to find a way to accept and celebrate bodies, whatever they look like, while still encouraging good health.
Beauty, fashion and food industry: all they want is for us to consume more, more, more and they are all psychopathic! I wish I could just have them all out of my life!
Neil, what a chalk and cheese weekend. It is still pretty cold here, but sunny, which makes all the difference. I hope that keeps heading east to give you at least one more nice day.
I’m off to have another coffee.
Best wishes to everyone.
I was sure I posted two days ago but upon checking I found it was a week ago! Where is the time going?
Intesha, how perfectly lovely to hear from you and especially to hear that you are in the UK enjoying time with your daughter. I’m sorry your Dad’s mobility has declined but he is in the right place now and I am glad you will have more time to do the things you have wanted to do for so long. You are a wonderful daughter for taking care of him for so long so now it is your time to enjoy
My healthy eating fell in a heap for various reasons and now I am struggling to get back on track. Back on the horse again this week
So glad your group is slowing coming to life Cinque, but so very sorry to hear you have been unwell due to all the activity recently. Rest up. I have everything crossed for your sister’s results
Mr Anzac is doing well, he has up days and down days (some quite grim) but he is definitely on the right path to wellness. We are able to go and walk the dog each morning and I wish I could show you all the video I took yesterday of Mr A and Maxx playing like two kids on the sand next to the river. I posted it in the labrador forum and one friend from there said “Maxx is bonkers. I’ve never seen a happier dog” which I thought was lovely. I think he is just over the moon to have his Dad back to almost normality
Very glad you passed the inspection Thin and what a wonderful surprise to spend some time with DD in the sunshine
Neil we have had a big improvement in the weather here too. At the end of last week I walked out the back and was taken aback at how warm it was. They said on the news that it shot up to 25 degrees which was 7 degrees above average. It turned cold and wet again last night and this morning but the sun came out again this afternoon. Spring is slinking ever so closer. I just read that July was the wettest on record for Sydney. No surprises there
Time to pack up and help Mr A prepare dinner. Take care all and hi to everyone
Anzac, that’s such good news about Mr A (mostly). England is enjoying a heatwave. 26C-29C for the next four days! People are swooning and moaning.
A perfect start to a beautiful day yesterday turned into a rotten one when we happened upon a swan in the canal whose neck appeared to be broken in two places. Its partner and cygnets were on the bank. After getting safely moored, it took ages for us to get something done about it and I was in tears with the frustration and thinking of its suffering. Hopefully, it was euthanised later in the day. DD reminded me in the debriefing later that it could have been bird ‘flu or botulism.
In my distraught state, I managed to lose overboard my beloved Serengeti prescription sunglasses which I’ve carefully looked after for over nine years and will cost over £300 to replace – but not until I can get a new prescription somewhere and then wait for the replacements to arrive from the USA. Meanwhile OH has loaned me his old Ray Bans which he must have had since the seventies – I look a sight!
Oh Thin, I am so sorry about your precious sunnies but bless you for stopping and doing something for the poor swan. I would have been completely distraught too as I love all animals and can’t stand the thought of them suffering. So many people would have just sailed past without a second thought. I’m sure you look super-cool in OH’s Ray Bans
Good morning everyone,
It is a slow Thursday morning for me after a big day yesterday (home help and then my group).
Anzac, so glad to read your news. I am so glad that Mr Anzac is clearly improving.
All power to you being back on the horse, I hope it makes you feel great.
Hi to Maxx!
Even though I complain about my health, I am glad to say I am able to do a bit more that I have managed the last couple of years, and last week was a particularly big week.
Yesterday I rewatched Michael Mosley’s ‘Australia’s Health Revolution’ which has just been repeated on SBS. It was good to watch it again.
I also made another set of ‘soup in a jar’ (my way, which means they are in plastic containers and I will put them in a bowl and microwave them for a few minutes, rather than pour boiling water over them and let them sit). So I have some easy light meals for the next few days.
Thin, so sorry to read of the death of the poor swan (and sympathy to its grieving family) and also the loss of those sunglasses. It sounds like you got your money’s worth out of them over the last 9 years, I hope the replacements do as well or even better.
Sending best wishes to everyone
Cinque, how did your group go on Wednesday? What are the issues that people tend to want to discuss? (if you’re able to say without betraying confidentiality). That’s good to read that you are able to do more than in the past couple of years. Always good to have food in reserve for the days ahead.
Thanks to you and Anzac for your kind words about the swan (and my sunnies). I’m relieved to say that another boater walked his dog back down the canal for a couple of hours and came across the female with cygnets so it seems the exotics place must have come out and taken care of the cob.
Neil, what’s happened to the Wednesday report?
The heatwave (30C) continues! Drought declared and hosepipe bans in force. We crossed The River Ribble (on the tide) yesterday which was exciting enough, followed by a jungle cruise on the Ribble Link with eight locks including a staircase lock of three where it’s necessary to go up backwards. A big day out for the oldies.
Evening all
Sorry for the lack of Wednesday update thin, I’ve been super busy this week with Covid shortages at work, and to top it off, 5 hours spent at A&E with my youngest son with a suspected fractured wrist. It turned out to be just a bad sprain.
Nothing much to report from my update. No movement in weight, I have been having stomach issues the last few weeks and after playing around with what I’ve been eating, it seems like dairy is the main culprit. I’ve had oat milk in my flat whites the last 4 days and I’m feeling a lot better.
I only managed to get out for one decent ride last week, because it’s been too frosty in the morning to take my bike, but the weather looks to be improving in the coming week, and I have a Frisbee golf tournament this weekend so I will get outside for some fresh air this weekend.
I hope everyone else is going well this week, have a good one everyone.
Good morning,
Neil, what a lot on your plate! I am so glad youngest son’s wrist wasn’t fractured, but isn’t A&E the worst, even without covid shortages and stress.
I hope your stomach settles down. Thanks goodness there are so many dairy substitutes now, if dairy is the problem.
Good luck in that frisbee tournament!
Thin, I will have to have a think about what feels comfortable to say about the group. General themes feel tricky when it is so small that conversations are very specific.
It is hard to see the heatwave news from all over Europe as an environment that is not used to such temperatures and dryness, suffers. I am glad you are on a river!
Well, I am afraid I had an overeating day yesterday. I was just tired and slow and didn’t get those nice distractions things and sensible words to myself going.
I am glad today is a new day, and I am up on the horse again and trotting along happily so far.
Sending out best wishes and hoping to hear how you are going.
Neil, good to read your update thanks.
Cinque, ‘trotting along happily’ is probably the best thing I’ve read on this thread for a long time. Yes, it’s all relative of course, when people aren’t used to temps in the 30s, it seems hotter. I bet it’s stifling for those in big cities like London. I wondered whether confidentiality could be an issue even though you’re anonymous here and so are the participants. I was just interested in whether what you thought the community needed was in fact what’s being discussed. But yes, if in doubt, keep it to yourself.
Merry, thanks for popping in. I’m sorry you’ve gained some weight but I’m sure you’ll get it off when you get back on your horse.
I’ve probably had more ice cold G&Ts this week than was good for me but tomorrow’s a FD and I’m still below 60, if not comfortably in the 58s. Regarding wordle, my challenge is now to complete it in under a minute as well as trying for fewer than four attemps. Quordle takes longer.
Have a great weekend all.
Hello Merry!
How good to hear from you.
Does ‘not out and about’ mean your ME/CFS is so bad you are pretty well housebound? So much sympathy.
And isn’t it harder to lose weight when you are not active and have so many less ways to distract yourself.
Thin, cheers, clink, I’m having a virtual gin and tonic, what a lovely taste on a hot day. Virtual hot day. It is cold here and hailed yesterday.
Yes, with the group, we are keeping to topic. I am finding it a great touch stone for ‘eating well’ behaviour, which is interesting as I already have this group, but there you go.
Hello to everyone else. Intesha, how are you going?
Lindsay, LJoyce, missing you so much. Cali too.
CountryGal are you still reading? I fear you are battling health problems, sending so many good wishes,
Gday I fear you miss all our posts of sympathy and care, but that is what we are sending you.
And so many good wishes to everyone else too
Hi all, checking in from a very hot UK as Thin has said. Last week we went to Somerset and stayed in a lovely cottage in a place called Yarley. Visited Glastonbury, still very much a town of peace, love and patchouli oil. Even with the heatwave the streets are lined with beautiful hanging baskets of multicoloured flowers. Went to Glastonbury Abbey, how magnificent that must have been in its day.
Another day went to a place called Cheddar and yes that is where they make the cheese and some stored underground in the beautiful caves which are sister caves to our Jenolan Caves in NSW. The caves were amazing. When they were excavating them they found a skeleton that has been dated as being 10,000 years old. He is called Cheddar Man. Walked and walked and walked but some of the climbs were just too steep for me. Visited Stonehenge which I had first seen in 1975. Still an awesome sight. Going into London today and having afternoon tea at a place called Ivy Asia.
Anzac good news about your OH. Merry nice to see you pop up as well. We’ll have to get together and see about those 🐎. The last thing on my mind is FD’s until I get home and get myself into some structure now that it is only me.
Lovely to read everyone’s posts Cinque, Neil and Thin. It is unusual not hearing from LJoyce and others.
Take care everyone. I will post again soon
Happy Anniversary Thin! Hooray for 5:2!
https://www.funimada.com/assets/images/cards/big/anniversary-8-1.gif
What a lot of wonderful sight-seeing Intesha! I’d love to visit those Cheddar caves.
Are you finding it easy to eat well, even though you are not 5:2ing?
Quote in my twitter feed today: “the world has changed to make it easy to put on excess weight” (Prof Louise Baur)
True words.
Sending out good wishes to everyone
xxx
Hello all and thank you all so much for your very kind words of support, I sincerely appreciate everyone’s comments on here.
Icecream? We buy the Neapolitan, miss g’day has the chocolate and vanilla and I have the pink as pink is my favourite – I must get it from my grandmother who would only eat pink Icecream, no other flavours.
Covid finally caught up with us. My guess is miss g’day got it from school as we rarely leave the house these days. She was struck down badly, 3 days in bed, unable to eat, headaches etc. 7 days later when she was able to leave isolation and tested negative I then tested positive although my symptoms were not as severe as hers.
Still no motivation. Chores, paperwork, housework, everything is building up and becoming more overwhelming to wade through. Still haven’t done any exercise at all. All the things I know I should be doing to make myself feel better I just can’t push myself to do. I can’t seem to get myself into any sort of routine.
I am hoping with the coming end to winter and the warmer mornings in September it will help me to become more motivated at the start of the day.
A few days ago I didn’t get out if bed until 11am – totally unheard of for me, I used to be a routine 5am riser ( no alarm) no matter what time of the year. This morning miss g’day nearly missed the school bus because my alarm went off at 5.45am but I went back to sleep and woke up at 7am in a panic to get her ready in time.
I so hate feeling and being like this. I don’t feel like ‘me’ anymore. The side effects from the medication have gone but I don’t feel any different from taking it. I’ve been on it for 4 weeks and it’s supposed to kick in within 2 weeks.
I have been reading posts but my memory is like a seive at the moment so can’t recall who said what and going back risks losing my post .
Gah, I just lost my post and have run out of time
Dear G’day I just wanted to say to try and take your time to heal. Time is your friend even though it seems impossible now, and I do hope you have some friends/family to help to support you. Housework and other chores can wait. Sending positive and healing thoughts to you
Hellooooooo…….there is a bit of an echo today, everyone must be busy 🙂
Intesha, I am so very glad that you are having a wonderful time in the UK with your daughter. I love the descriptions of the places you are visiting, it’s like I can see it all through your eyes
I agree with that Twitter quote Cinque. I have friends who just can’t be bothered cooking much and eat out or eat cr@p and then bemoan why they are overweight. Yes I am overweight but that is from eating too much good food and too many carbs.
Happy anniversary Thin! I hope you are coping with the heat wave. Many of my friends on the labrador forum are not coping well at all. Of course most people do not have (cooling) air-con so it would be so horrible to have an oven for a house and not be able to escape it
I just read that the Australian BOM have raised the La Nina ‘watch’ to ‘alert’ which now means a 70% chance of another cool and VERY wet spring/summer. This year it is paired with a negative IOD (Indian Ocean Dipole) which makes the amount or rainfall even higher. Those in flood affected areas in QLD have already been put on long-term alert status
Lovely to hear from you Merry and I hope you can get back on the horse soon. I have jumped back on for the 1 millionth time this week as Mr Anzac and I have booked a trip at Christmas…more on that later.
Sorry to hear about your Son’s injury Neil and I hope your colleagues are back at work as soon as possible
Hi to everyone else, take care
Evening all, great to see the forum start to pick up again.
Merry, always great to see you checking in. Hopefully you can shake those Covid kilos quickly.
G’day, really sorry to hear you’re still not doing well. I feel so helpless when someone I know online is suffering, it’s not like in person where you can go around and give them a hug, or just be there to listen. All I can say is we will continue to keep you in our thoughts.
Happy thiniversary Thin. 8 years is a brilliant effort.
Intesha, the caves sound amazing, I’d love to go and see. There is a couple of local cheese producers that make brilliant cheese, but nothing like the natural aging in caves. I’m guessing they’re cloth wrapped cheddars?
Cinque, pretty hard to argue with that quote
Well I’ve been riding my bike to work the last couple of days, but this morning I got a bit of a fright. I was about a kilometre from work and my pedal felt funny, then 30 seconds later the whole crank arm came off! I had to walk my bike the rest of the way to work. Luckily there are 4 cycle repair shops within 200m of my work, so I dropped my bike off at morning tea time, and it was ready by the time I finished work.
I have been fasting the last 2 days, doing fewer than 800 calories a day and doing it as one meal a day. Hopefully that will give me some movement on the scales.
Well have a great day everyone, I’ll check in tomorrow for my weekly weigh-in
Morning all, Anzac, looks like our comments last night crossed, Our forecast is for a drier and warmer spring than normal, So I’m looking forward to that after our wet miserable winter.
Weigh in this morning I was down 1.1 kilos. Sitting on 102.7, so moving in the right direction. Hopefully with the weather improving and me being able to get outside more It’ll start ticking down. I want to get my riding fitness back up because I’m looking to do the “Around the Mountains” trail at labour weekend. It’s around 230kms but the first two days I’d be riding around 90kms a day.
Well, have a great day everyone and I’ll catch you all later.
Good morning from cloudy Melbourne, but a bit of sun is finding its way through.
Gday sending good wishes.
Antidepressants can be lifesaving and certainly you need them to make life bearable, but they do come with some hard side effects.
And oh no, not covid on top of everything else. Poor Miss Gday, I do hope she is getting back to health now. I am so glad you missed a dreadful dose of it. Best wishes for getting completely over it.
Yes, what you write doesn’t sound like ‘you’ at all. Won’t it be a lovely relief when your ‘you’ starts coming back.
My tips for managing when you don’t have the energy or headspace to function normally:
Be as kind to yourself as you can.
Take any offers of help you get.
Keep triaging everything so you don’t make things worse by forgetting some important bill or other thing. Sometimes I blutak a sheet of paper to the fridge so I can write the most important things.
Just three things: Just doing three little things every time you get up, can make a big difference by the end of the day. or in really bad times, just one thing.
(And, ofcourse, don’t forget to drink water!)
I’m going to get one more cup of coffee and then write more.
Back!
Grr re that lost post Anzac,
And oh no, such sympathy at the weather forecast. What a dread for everyone who is already exhausted from facing floods and constant rain.
Yes (re that twitter quote), it reminds me of how I used to symbolically brace myself at the front door, when my daughter was little) to try to stop the avalanche of soft toys etc pouring in, while remembering my elderly aunt talk about how rare it was to be given a toy when she was little.
With food it is the junk food pouring in. So seemingly cheap and enticing, and just everywhere.
I am like you, I am pretty good at avoiding the ultra processed junk now (touch wood) but still working on eating between meals, and portion sizes of carbs.
I have a British fb friend who is doing the absolute classic: after struggling so hard with heat and dryness and then cheering the arrival of rain… now she is complaining of the sound of hard rain on the window! (It is coming from an unusual direction and I am sympathetic).
Neil, what a fright! I am so glad you could stop your bike safely and then get it fixed quickly.
Woot more than 1kg down!
Best wishes everyone
Hi everyone
Very glad your bike incident ended well Neil, that could have been a nasty crash. Congrats on the loss, things are heading down for you and that’s great
I’ve lost 0.5 since Monday by recording food and drink and upping my exercise. Starting slowly by jogging around the park while Maxx and Mr A play fetch, walking to the shops instead of driving and getting up and doing stretches regularly
We lost my dear Uncle on Tuesday, he celebrated his 100th birthday a few months back. Thankfully my sister and family went down to Canberra for his birthday back in May and took my Dad so he was able to have a wonderful brotherly catch-up then. Dad is the last sibling now, and we had to take him to have 3 skin cancers removed yesterday and I could tell he was sad.
Thinking of you G’day
Your tips are really important Cinque. I too often just glide through days and days without really focusing on important things. The little things can wait
So reckless Mr and Mrs A have booked 10 days in Vanuatu over Christmas. It is reckless because we really don’t know how Mr A and his recovery will be going but we have a plan. He can…err….dress appropriately and with precautions for the plane trip and any tours or outings we book we will make sure they have free cancellations. If it turns out he still has to stay close to a loo then we can just hang out at the lovely resort at their pool and the stunning beach. We have been here once before and it is adults only, has snorkelling straight off the beach and the price includes three meals per day in their very nice restaurant. Last time we went snorkelling with turtles and it was fantastic so I do hope we can do that again, we shall see how he is going by then.
Love those pics Intesha, so glad you are having a great time.
Hi to everyone else; LJ we miss you but I’m sure you are just crazy busy right now. Looking forward to a post soon I hope
Hurray for some uplifting news to read here. We have been such a long time on a downward swing.
Anzac, that trip sounds fab and it’s always wonderful to have something to look forward to. You need a good holiday memory to wipe out that Fiji one! Poor Mr A and you, I can only imagine what the daily reality of his recovery could be like but you are keeping it light-hearted. I hope you get to swim with turtles again.
Intesha, we were in that region last summer, a very pretty spot. I love the huge displays of colourful flowers in hanging baskets in the UK high streets, outside pubs and in the market towns.
Cinque, it’s a classic British thing to be moaning about the weather, at the very least it must be discussed. The people I was talking about c/o the heat before were actually other boaters, so canal side. I came to realise that Western Australians are just as bad. “Yep, the sky is still blue but we’re hoping for rain because the gardens need it” is the standard comment.
Neil, great news about the weight you’ve lost. Not so good about the bike breaking but lucky there are so many repair shops. I overheard a woman in the supermarket the other day, strong kiwi accent, commenting loudly about how cheap everything is here compared to NZ. Unusual when you’re overseas because you generally don’t know where the bargains are and tend to have to pay more. It’s hard to believe that groceries might be even more expensive there than they’ve become here. We spoke to our friends in Perth today and they were telling us that tomatoes are AUD10/kilo.
Neil and Anzac, thank you for your comments about my 5:2/6:1 longevity. I’m so good at the 2s and 1s. Not so good with the 5s and 6s. I don’t seem to be improving on those feast days much. But it works OK and I can’t imagine not doing it. I wonder if they have nursing homes with IF as a ‘special diet’ like diabetic and vegan.
GDSA, from what little I know of anti-depressants, they take the edge off but the feelings remain. In time, the chemical balance in your brain is restored allowing you to think and function increasingly better. The pain I’m sure will stay with you throughout the grieving process and beyond, however long that takes for you, but gradually you learn to cope. You will again become the driven and motivated person you once were. I do hope you have family and friends to talk to in addition to your counsellor. And can I just say, yuk, yuk, yuk to those three ice cream flavours! Do treat yourself to some Connoisseur!
Morning all
I’m enjoying taking my bike to work at the moment. But I had a bit of a binge out yesterday. I made some vegetable bake with cheese sauce for dinner, but after dropping the boys to their various evening activities I felt like some dessert so I grabbed a small banoffee pie from the shop on the way home, I ate that with my wife, but then also ate some chocolate, some fruit jubes, then a couple of hours later I was feeling hungry and had a couple of slices of toast. I’ll throw in a fasting day today to try and balance it out.
Anzac, hopefully your Vanuatu trip goes well. Heading somewhere warm and sitting on the beach sounds pretty damn good right now.
Intesha, those caves look awesome!
Cinque, I wouldn’t complain about the heat, I definitely complain about the rain though, I hate not being able to go outside and do things.
Thin, I seem to be ok with non fast days, except on days when I’ve eaten some carbs/sugar. It seems to be once I eat some of that my day is ruined, I just keep eating it and I can’t stop. I try to stay away from them as much as possible, but inevitably I sometimes give in to the cravings.
I’m hoping we can hear from Turnabout soon because last check in they were up on the north west of the South Island, and at the moment the Nelson/Buller region is experiencing damaging 1-in-100-year rain. I hope they are both ok
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/08/18/photos-flooding-as-wild-weather-lashes-nelson/
Well better get back to work, have a great day everyone
Good morning everyone,
Great photos Intesha, have you got much more time to enjoy your daughter’s family and the wonderful sights, before you come back to Oz?
Anzac, sympathy on the loss of your uncle, how hard for your dad.
I’m also glad you have that holiday in Vanuatu booked, it will be such a treat if you are able to go, and it sounds like Mr Anzac is improving day by day, so the outlook is good.
Big congratulations on putting in those new habits that are so good for your health.
Hi Thin, I bet you have improved your non fast days, over the years, although I can relate to how tricky they are. And it seems each year we are allowed less leeway. Sigh.
Neil, isn’t it hard. You’d think a little bit of banoffie pie would be a special treat that keeps us happy for a few more weeks of frugality, but no! It sets off the munchies and don’t we regret it the next day. Another sigh.
Ah well I am going to embrace frugality today and enjoy every minute (mantra!)
Cheers all
Hi all from well, words fail me! I just can’t explain in words how wet it is here. Rain has fallen almost non-stop since Monday eve, (it is now Friday afternoon) with some falls being so heavy, it has been so loud, especially at night. We are both OK, thanks Neil, the roads being washed out is our major concern, but we don’t need to be anywhere yet so no rush for us. Fortunately for us we did a supermarket run on Tuesday afternoon and stocked up on supplies, it’s not much use going to market this weekend, I don’t think they’ll have much in the way of veggies to sell, most of it is still under 2 metres of water! Being cooped up all day is wearing a little thin now, but the coffee is helping, good job I stocked up on beans.
Well done on that weight loss recorded this week Neil, I hope you keep it going. Difficult when you start on that slippery slope with starchy sweet carbs isn’t it. I have been going grain free for the last three weeks-ish, then ended up having toast soldiers with my boiled eggs the other morning and that was it, I wanted everything in sight and it went on all day. I have been eating fried cabbage for brunch most days but refused to pay $6 for a green cabbage in the supermarket?!
Thin, congratulations on your 8 year Anniversary, and for all those years of maintaining. Well done, the results speak for themselves. I can relate to the kiwi supermarket conversation, prices are through the roof here, if only people would try and eat more seasonably, but I think there is a whole generation of buyers out there who don’t know what ‘in season’ is because they have always bought from the supermarket! Those locks sound amazing, I’m dead envious. And quite correctly, weather conversations in the UK are a must in daily life. Out of curiosity, have you done any house sitting in the UK?
Anzac, your holiday in Vanuatu sounds just like what the Dr. ordered for you and Mr Anzac. I’m sure you will enjoy a fabulous time, whatever you get to do, and at least there’ll be none of those pesky kids interfering with your solace.
Lovely to hear from you again Intesha, and sorry to hear your father has finally moved into full time care, it must be tough on you, but it sounds like you are enjoying a fabulous time in the UK with your daughter and family. I visited Cheddar Gorge and surrounds many, many years ago as a child, then I revisited sometime ago whilst on holiday there, but I have never been through the caves, they look amazing. I do love a really good, sharp, strong cheddar. They can’t seem to make it here unless they put large salt crystals in them I find. Not that I eat much cheese these days, usually Feta, Blue or Parmesan. Enjoy the rest of your trip, are you there much longer?
So great to hear from you Merry, hold fast with those numbers, you’ll be back on the horse in no time I am sure. Are you back at home now or still travelling and visiting family?
I think it is time for another coffee before I think about dinner. I’ve got a piece of beef, I think it’s going in a pot with some red lentils and coconut milk, not sure what else yet, sure something will jump out of the cupboard at me. Can’t believe my weight is still holding steady, feels like I’m eating far too much with all this cold, wet & miserable weather?!
Enjoy the rest of your day everyone, Turn
Turn, lovely to hear from you, wow, $6 for a cabbage. And so much rain. To answer your question, yes the house sitting idea evolved the first Christmas we were here when my brother invited himself to spend it with us so that the four of us could spread out. We had three labradors (three generations) and 12 chickens and a 5 bedroom Georgian mansion. I’m never doing chickens again! We’ve since done two more sits in the UK for the same reason and another when our boat had to be taken out of the water for a week. I have my eye out now for the Lake District. We’ve rented a cottage next month with another boater couple that we met last year but we might stay longer with a pet sit (the canal was severed by the construction of the M6 so we can only go as far as Tewitfield by boat). What do you have cooking for pet sits?
Good morning everyone,
I’ve had some days with too much comfort eating, I got over tired and a few things being hard and there you go…
Back on the horse. Miso soup last night.
A good breakfast this morning and a lovely break until lunch. My digestive system will be so grateful!
Turn, omg what a lot of rain and you and Mr Turn in such a small space.
You seem to be handling it magnificently.
Veggie prices have been like that here too, $40 a kilo for green beans, $15 for brussels sprouts. But it has been patchy so I have managed, and I here they are getting back to normal now.
Ooh Thin, I love chickens! Although it is just as well I can’t have any here, apparently the eggs have high lead counts in lots of Melbourne backyards thanks to years of lead in petrol and housepaint.
I need to vacuum. Wish me luck.
Cheers all
Hello friends from a glorious day in Sydney. Sunny and 23….the calm before another week of drizzle. Boo. The washing is going out of course
Thin, as always you are very perceptive. I do make light and gloss over things but yes, we have been to hell and back and it is a long way from over. It breaks my heart every time I read the posts in the Aust BC sufferers and carers FB page so I know exactly what sort of bullet we dodged by catching this dratted cancer early. So we both force ourselves to be positive and what a difference it makes to quality of life
Cinque, having a shedding machine as a pet means the vacuum is almost surgically attached to my arm so I hear you about the chore it really is. But how nice when it is done. My being back on the horse has paid off too as I lost a whole kilo last week. I know that isn’t much for some but stubborn bod here sheds kilos very grudgingly
Three labradors Thin! Gah! Three time the hair and three times the naughtiness (although I’m sure YOUR labradors would not have DARED to be naughty lol)
Turn, wow that rain sounds horrendous. We have had similar ‘rain bombs’ this year and it really is hard to do normal things outside the home.
I hope your fast removed the remnants of your small feast Neil. I too find as soon as I pop any sort of carb/sugar in my mouth I start craving more.
I’ve woken up with a headache and scratchy throat but I’m sure it can’t be covid. I’ve been nowhere except outside walking the dog or a few furtive trips to the supermarket – fully masked and avoiding all other humans. But if it persists I will do a RAT just in case
Speaking of Covid, my poor aunt (widow of my Uncle who we lost last week) has come down with Covid, as has two of her daughters. She is 99 so it is concerning but apparently she is up and about whereas one of her daughters is quite sick with it. Anyway the funeral is delayed by a week while they isolate.
Work is behaving itself lately and I’m NOT complaining. Stress is so bad for you and I am enjoying doing a normal days work for a change. The project is definitely coming to a close in November/December and I’m dreading having to look for another role and I hope I can find something with at least 4 days WFH. It is an employee’s market and there is LOADS of work around in my field so I have quite a bit of hope that I have leverage to negotiate with
Take care all and I hope things are drying out over in NZ
Hi LJ, Lindsay, Intesha, Cali, G’day, Merry and anyone else who may be lurking.
Hi all
Turn, great to hear you’re ok, we’ve managed to avoid the rain this time, but I’ve been watching the coverage on the news and was wondering how you were getting on.
Thin, being in a fixed cottage must seem strange after your time on the boat
Cinque, I was the same regarding comfort eating, luckily the days of slipping have been few and far between recently. I think I only had 2 days in the last 2 weeks where I hit more than 3,000 calories of mainly sugary/starchy foods. I’ve managed to follow them up with fast days to balance them out and, the rest of the days I’ve been doing pretty well eating-wise the last couple of weeks.
Anzac, fingers crossed you can get another role lined up for the end of the year.
The weekend was good, Saturday we went out for some mini-golf with the boys and they seemed to enjoy getting out of the house for once. That evening we went to a quiz night fundraised for Tear Fund and we managed to end up getting second. We were pretty pleased with that. Sunday I went for a big ride over the hills in the morning and then got some frisbee golf in the afternoon, then we watched “the batman” with the boys in the evening. Saturday was a bigger eating day, but Sunday I limited myself to a couple of cups of lentil dahl for lunch, roast pork, salad, berries and coconut milk for dinner, around 1200 calories all up to balance out eating a bit of crap on Saturday.
I hope everyone has a great day.
Hey, we’ve got a little pizzazz back in our thread.
Neil, congrats on the quiz night results. Did you win anything cool? I’m handy to have on a team for geography and sixties music but for anything else I’m useless – especially sporting and celebrity questions.
Speaking of celebrities, we took a bus to Morecambe as the canal took us right to Morecambe Bay. I could imagine how grand it would have been in the early 1900s. It wasn’t until I asked my brother that I learned of Eric Morecambe’s connection (there’s a statue of him on the promenade). We also took a bus through Kendall the other day which made me think of Lindsay. We made the mistake of getting off at Windermere which, although picturesque, was jam packed with tourists.
Anzac, Cinque, ha ha, those three labs were already trained to within an inch of their lives. We spent an afternoon ‘getting to know them’ prior to the sit so the hosts could go to the theatre! And then there were 30 A4 pages of instructions to hand over the evening before they left. And most of that was about the chickens. Morning tea, afternoon tea, let them in, let them out, ….. good grief. The dogs were easy by comparison. They asked us back several times but no thanks! I didn’t know that about not being allowed chickens in Melbourne.
Neil, yes it is a bit odd being able to spread out so much but, usually, we’re happy to get back ‘home’. It’s not until next month.
Anzac, that’s sad for your aunt, cousins and all involved having to postpone the funeral. I’m sure it’s stressful enough as it is. A kilo is great! Well done. Will you have a new job all lined up before your holiday or just wait and worry about it after Christmas? I bet you’re very much in demand.
Cinque, I had miso soup yesterday too. I hope you get back in the swing and things are less hard this week. $40/kg for green beans would be enough to send anyone over the edge into comfort eating. That is very expensive. I think you have some nice markets near you though so perhaps you can get some bargains.
I don’t think I was on this group at the time but the mothers of eight primary school families in Perth took turns once a month to drive to some markets early on a Saturday morning in pairs (so your turn only once a month). We bought fruit and veg in bulk, then took it home and divided the spoils into eight laundry baskets before delivery. It was $10 a week, always lots of variety and things you might not think to buy normally, and much more than we could eat in a week so I’d give some of mine to the elderly neighbours across the street. We did it for years, I can’t remember why we stopped. I wonder if your daughter would enjoy something like that Cinque? Or maybe something for your group members to consider?
Wednesday morning,
Anzac, it was so nice to get the vacuuming done. Just one room, but it was the worst room.
I do hope your scratchy throat and headache haven’t lasted. And I do hope your precious Aunty is still okay and your cousin is improving.
I am so glad work is being easier, but the upcoming search for work must be an added stress. I do hope you find something that suits you really well.
Congratulations on that kilo gone! 1 kilo off makes it easier for our bodies to work well and feel well. Best wishes for this week.
I’m half an inch less around my waist so that is good since half the week was wasted (frugal eating wise)
Neil, I know I used to eat 3000 calories some days, but I am pretty sure my bad eating days nowadays are probably less than 2000. However, I am also pretty sure I only need about 1400 a day so that is plenty over for some one who is wanting to weigh less, not more.
The last days have been good. Hooray.
Yay for doing so well on the quiz night!
Dal, yum, you remind me I haven’t made a legume dish for ages. Ma Ki Dal coming up I think.
Thin, I remember Eric Morecambe with such affection. I didn’t know he took his name from his hometown either.
In Melbourne we can have backyard chooks (must apply for council approval), no room here though. It is eating the eggs that may not be wise, need to get soil checked.
My daughter is just trying a new ‘box of veggies’ delivery, this one includes ‘ugly fruit’ which she is pleased with. It was thanks to a scheme she was in a year or s ago that I got those spaghetti squashes (she didn’t want them), so I told her to let me know if she gets any more 😀
No home help available for me today so I have an easier morning, (but two weeks of a dingier house). I have washed the bedding and hung it out though, so that is a win, and being Melbourne, there is a chance the forecast rain might miss it.
I started the day with a thin slice of cheese, kippers, beetroot and rocket on toasted home made bread. Chicken, pumpkin and greens (with a little brown rice) for lunch and then veggie curry and meatballs for my evening meal. Organised!
Best wishes all.
Loved reading your post Cinque, well until I got to that breakfast of yours. I don’t mind a kipper but haven’t had any for a very long time. I’m laughing that the day without home help makes it an easier day for you. Those wonky veggies are a great idea. I hope you get some spaghetti squash. Thanks for clarifying about the chickens. I don’t think I’d bother with them as pets if I couldn’t enjoy the eggs. Yay for less waist, so much healthier.
Neil, I thought of you as we’re moored outside a pub (not by choice but by water levels) and there was a quiz last night. I could hear most of the questions and was laughing as I could get all the geography ones (mostly simple ‘capital city’ questions that everyone should know) and I could identify the snippets of music but don’t know what was being asked about them. Then there were others that I had no idea who they were talking about (celebrities and sportspeople).
Anzac, are you feeling better?
Have a great day everyone.
Afternoon all
I didn’t check in yesterday, I was slightly up on my weigh-in. It was just a few hundred grams, but I think it’s just a bit of water retention because I ate quite a bit of sugar the day beforehand. One of my workmates brought some fudge in to work and I had a piece of that, then I had some dessert at night after dinner. My weight always seems to bump up a bit if I’ve eaten some sugar the day beforehand.
I’m continuing to do my cycling, I want to get my fitness up for my ride over labour weekend, I still have a month and a half to get my fitness up and I’m making good progress. I didn’t struggle at all with my 42km ride that I did over the weekend and that was full of climbing. My Labour weekend ride will be 80-90km a day but will all be pretty flat. You do around 1,000m of climbing in total, but since it’s over 240km of riding it’s not really steep climbing.
Thin, our music sections of the quiz were quite interesting, One of them they had pictures that were a small section of the cover art for famous albums and you had to name what the album and artist were. The other one they read out one or two lines of lyrics from the theme song to a tv show and you had to say what the TV show was.
Cinque, my BMR is around 1900-2000 calories, so 3,000 in a day doesn’t break the bank too much, especially if it’s on a day that I’ve taken my bike to work, because I usually burn 400-800 calories total on my commute to and from work depending which route I take. Your eating today sounds pretty good!
Well, back to work, I’m having a smaller eating day today to balance out my sugar from Tuesday. I had an oat milk flat white to break my fast at 11am, I’m having tuna and avocado salad for lunch, then we are having sautéed okra for dinner. Around 1000 calories in total.
Have a great day everyone
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2 Aug 22