Hi LJoyce

Thank you very much for your most helpful advice and suggestions.

Before I forget, do you mind saying how long you’ve been on 5:2?

It’s comforting to know that unexplained plateaus are not rare.

I will record what I eat on NFDs.

As I have a mild kidney impairment, I do try to keep salt intake down.
Also have slow motility, so also keep fibre intake up. Could possibly increase this, though.

I did take measurements just prior to embarking on 5:2 and again after 3 weeks. I did measure 2cm less around hips at widest part and at navel level. “Waist” hadn’t budged. Will start doing that weekly now!

TDEE for goal weight sounds awfully low, but will try that also.

It’s still hot and quite humid in Perth, so fluid retention may be contributing to the weight. I have to keep reminding myself to drink more water, too!

Thanks again for your generous advice! Especially valuable as it’s based on your personal experience.

Hi Innyanga,

I’ve been doing 5:2 for about 9 years, mostly for maintenance, but since covid my weight has fluctuated a lot more and I’ve needed to get weight gain off a few times. I’m in the middle of another of those episodes.

What I’ve seen repeated here often, is that people join and initially attempt 5:2 as written, then most of us start tweaking it.
Those with insulin resistance often find they do better with either a lower carb or keto approach to their food choices.
Some find the weight loss too slow so they do 4:3 or start adding control days.
Other use time restricted eating in addition to 5:2.
For those that have a great deal of weight to lose and want some early fast progress, they choose Fast800.
Personally, I move around within some of these options, depending on what is happening in my life.

I guess what I’m trying to say, is that if you need to tweak things to get a rate of weight loss that keeps you motivated, that’s ok. Many of us do that.

Morning all.

It’s been interesting to be reminded of our journeys through 5:2 and weight loss . I agree with everything that’s been written Innyanga. And good work on the measurements – the weight will catch up.

We all have to tweak it. I lost quite a bit first with a rigid 500 calorie 5:2 and time restricted eating (16:8) Typically, I’d finish dinner aroud 7.30, then not eat until around noon the next day. Worked for me. Then my weight crept up again, and I tackled the Fast 800 with a friend. She lost a huge amount of weight and has kept it off. I unforunately slipped, but am plugging away. I still never eat within a 12 hour window; more usually now I’m eating 14:10. I have also stepped up my activity – having two big dogs means more of that. I take my oldest girl to the park every morning and can crack up 3 to 4 thousand steps before breakfast. It all helps.
I can admire Gday’s approach, but could never emulate it. As Neil says, we all find our own way to conquer the dragon.

Neil, sorry to hear about your 400. And yes, it slides back on without constant vigilance (and even with it sometimes).

So, a day at the coast yesterday for Rosy to get her post-puppy show clip. And it’s bucketed overnight, so the park will be sloshy. But she’s a dog, and needs a run, so so be it.

How did your waistband turn out Cinque?

Have a good day all.

Hello losers!

I’ve just had a quick read through and thank you Cinque, Lindsay, LJ and Minka for mentioning me (and any others that I may have missed).

We had a fabulous time on a private safari in the Okavango Delta and later spent a couple of weeks in Kruger National Park on a self-drive safari. My new camera lens has made me look as if I know what I’m doing with wildlife photography. There were so many baby animals.

The highlights were watching a hyena desperately leaping up to a tree branch to try and steal a lechwe from a leopard, watching a breeding herd of elephants negotiate a deep, fast flowing river with tiny babies and seeing a hippo enter the water alone and coming out with its bundle of joy. But it’s not just the big five that make a great safari and I have lots of photographs of spectacularly coloured birds and little critters. Cinque, tell your sister that I caught a honey badger and a genet on my camera trap.

I’ve realised what wimpy snowflakes we have become when measured up against Africans. Our cook was a very wide lady. Our guide introduced her as “the big, fat mama that will be taking care of our food”. Everyone including the cook was laughing. I asked them if it wasn’t a bit rude to introduce someone like that. The consensus was that ‘it’s a fact’ so no. They explained that if you’re given a nickname in Botswana, you cannot reject it. No one is offended. Our very tall, skinny camp manager was called Tallie. On the airport tarmac bus recently, a man gave up his seat for OH and me saying we were a lot older. I thanked him but said I wasn’t sure I was altogether happy about being classed as old. Two strangers said in unison, ‘it’s a fact’. Lesson learned. I’m old. You’re fat. Toughen up.

More recently, we have been in Cape Town walking barefoot on the beach and soaking up the warm rays of autumn sun. In a few days we will be back on the narrow boat.

Welcome innyanga. I lived in Perth when I started here in 2014 and I met many of the contributors for coffee over the years. I wish I were there to answer your questions in person but I see you have been given plenty of support here. At the moment I live in England but the locals allow me to post anyway.

Minka, lovely to see you back and to learn that we are exactly the same age – did we already know that? Great to read that you’re doing so well and I hope I didn’t make it sound like we know everything and everyone who left us did so at their peril.

Intesha, oh no, another move. I dread the day that we have to consider buying another house but I will never get to the point of owning ‘all that stuff’ again. Our tiny storage locker in Perth has already become the cost of a small mortgage payment.

Anzac, oh no, I’ve only skimmed the posts but you poor thing with the job lark. How frustrating.

Cinque, I haven’t read many posts but I am so happy to see you posting regularly. That is good news for the rest of us.

GDSA, I hadn’t realised that you’d also lost 23kgs on 5:2 and arrived at exactly the same weight as I did. I also hadn’t realised until you referred to Mr GDSA as your husband recently that you and he had married – although I do remember when you were expecting the offer any day. Sorry about your foot.

Lindsay, I hope you get your fasting mojo back soon.

LJ, I hope your life has settled down after the school holidays ended. Ha! Never again travelling with this much luggage! How are your travel plans shaping up?

Neil, hello to you too. I do realise that you have to engage and read others’ messages in order to be a decent participant here and I shall endeavour to get caught up properly as life returns to normal.

Oh, and it will be straight back to 5:2 for however long it takes me to get back under 60kg after this very challenging African food and far too many G&Ts on safari. The big fat mama set up a full bar – with ice – just for the two of us every evening after the afternoon game drive and it would have been rude to refuse. I did manage a FD every week and kept under 60kg for the first five weeks but things have gone awry this past week as we try to cram in all our Cape Town restaurant favourites into one week. Thank heavens for my trusty travel scales or it would be much worse.

Keep strong everyone.

Hello thinatlast

Firstly, thank you for your lovely welcome. Yes, it would have been great to meet in person!

You are so right regarding the wonderful support on this forum! I’m very grateful for all the information, advice and suggestions I’ve received already.

I envy you your travels. Haven’t been to Botswana, but have great memories of Kruger, as well as other Game Parks in South Africa. My OH and I are sorely missing our previous annual 4-week travels overseas, but hope to catch up in a few months time. I actually allowed my passport to lapse for the first time since I had my first at 16, and that was many decades ago! Happy to have had it renewed once more.

Looking forward to reading your previous posts. Sounds like you’ve been having a terrific time!

Travel safely!

Hey Innyanga, no need to respond to everyone, we all know that is not possible due to our busy lives and no-one will think twice about it. We just want to share the journey, do some venting if that helps and be supportive regardless of anything. I have never once seen any judgmental comments on this forum in 4 years so yay!

Hello everyone,
Today is hot in Melbourne and my little flat has had a couple of days of warming up, despite my best efforts, but I have ice and cool water!

Thin, woot! you are back!
Your safari sounds the most wonderful I could think of!
I think the hippo baby might be my favourite, but so many precious memories for you (and glorious photographs for reminders). I am so glad you managed to wrangle your big lens in your luggage.
I am zooming with my sisters in about an hour so I will share your camera trap prizes.

Haha with the calling of fat and other terms. It makes such a difference if you feel safe and included, and people tease you in a way that makes you feel even more included.

I hope you are enjoying getting back into 5:2.

Anzac, You say you are back to work again… Is that a job you’ve got? Or back to looking for work? Best wishes either way.

Yes, I left half the plate of food. I was too tired to bring it home in a container. I guess they get double the profit for a double sized meal.

Actually the veggies I’ve been getting from my daughter’s weekly box have been gradually building up in the fridge. We are going to have a week off next week. I need to make some yummy stews etc but I don’t want to cook until the heat passes. But it is a bit overwhelming, I think “I must use those mushrooms, and the cabbage, and goodness the eggplants need using and that half green pepper has been sitting there for days…”

Maybe on this hot day I can sit and plan.

Thank you for the welcome back. I’m killing time on free airport wifi in Johannesburg. Lindsay’s post prompted me to check Cinque’s posts. Oh, you poor thing. But good news that the advice sits well with you. When I get back on board, I’m not only going to do 5:2 for as long as it takes, but also the eating window employed by Lindsay. OH says he wants to gain 5lbs when we get back.

Lindsay, that is good news indeed about your OH’s cancer treatment success. I remember the first time you mentioned the terrible news as well as Anzac’s report on Mr A’s devastating news so it is wonderful that both have had such good outcomes. Empathy with the squamous cell ca graft recovery though, they are nasty, nasty pieces of work.

Anzac, I’m also wondering about your work situation as I’ve seen various of your posts, all out of order and over several weeks. It’s hard to fully appreciate the time you have off when you’re busy searching, isn’t it? Good luck.

Innyanga – marvelling that no one has abbreviated that yet in the land of acronyms – let’s see if Inny catches on. I look at this forum like meeting a group of friends for coffee. If someone can’t make one session, they catch up on the highlights next time. Some of us did try to respond to each and every comment in the beginning but there were too many drop outs to invest so much time and now we just do what we can. I, for one, will be delighted to hear your fasting questions as we have been so far off-topic for years now that it’s sometimes hard to believe that it’s a 5:2 forum.

Off to repack for subzero temperatures. Not really but a big temperature drop means I have to swap my shorts for thermals, bubble coat, scarf and beannie. Brrr, the thought of that. But we have the promise of spring to look forward to.

Hi all.
A quick one, after a stressful but pretty uneventful day.

OH not well, so has spent the afternoon in bed. One of the side effects from the brain tumour radiation is extreme fatigue….to get him to go to bed in the day, I have to pretend I want a snooze too, so lay down next to him and the minute he’s asleep (it only takes a minute) I get up and go about my chores.

Then just a little while ago Scarlett was stung by a bee. I was in the courtyard, and OH had the dogs down by the pool, and you could hear her screaming. I gave her a kids’ Clarantyne, which hopefully will stop it (it may even get her to bed a bit earlier than normal).

She’s a lot harder work than Rosy ever was – or maybe I’m just older!

Thin OH isn’t out of the woods yet,but we celebrate steps forward. His immunotherapy is ongoing. He is quite frail (horrible word) from 6 weeks of bed rest, but his oncologist has recommended reconditioning physiotherapy, which he’ll start in a week or so, and that should help him get back to his stronger self.

Having said it was an uneventful day, we saw the kids so that was good. DS picked OH up and took him to watch our little grandson play soccer. Then DD popped over with her girls for a swim and a visit, which as always was nice. She came to admire my new garden and fence. I must say, I am pretty pleased with it. Usually we get a plant here and a plant there, but this time I thought ‘hang the expense’ and bought enough to plant out the site. Seems crazy to spent a couple of thousand on the fence, and leave it looking like dinosaur teeth (it’s made of vertical sleepers, offset and with a 100 cm gap (the handman measured Rosy’s head to make sure she couldn’t find a way through).

Anyway, for your amusement, I’ve posted a pic which I’ve called my two-tiered dogs (or double-decker dogs, if you’d prefer).
https://imgur.com/a/41aqOvs

Gday what program do you follow for Keto? I think I need to bump off more carbs, to move my weight along. I’ve just done back to back 800s. A good result this morning and fingers crossed for a similar result tomorrow. But when I first did 5:2 it was 500 calories on fast days, and I’m struggling with that now.

OK my long awaited dinner needs to be cooked, so bye for now all, and back tomorrow.

Morning all.

Well, I was hoping to have a control day on Friday, unfortunately I forgot to take my lunch to work with me, and then someone brought cake and chocolates, so I ended up eating that, and then having a huge afternoon energy crash. I tried to balance it out by eating better over the weekend, and today is my regular fast day, then I’ll try to get a good low control day in tomorrow (1200-1500 calories is what I’m aiming for) and hopefully I’ll manage to get down below where I was at my last weigh-in.

Cinque, reflux is no joke, my wife had it for years until she was finally diagnosed with a helicobacter pylori infection. A course of antibiotics finally cleared it up.

Thin, so no politically correct language in Africa, I dread to think what they would come up with if I went over there. Sounds like you had a good trip though.

Lindsay, isn’t it weird how we struggle with things that we did so well at before? I easily managed 800 calories a day for 12 straight weeks, now I struggle after one fast day.

Gday, congrats on another 700g gone, I’m hoping that I’ll hit something similar on my weigh-in, but I’m not counting on it based on my previous weigh-in results, and my big sugar day on Friday.

Anzac, I’m guessing your idea of a cooler day varies greatly from mine. We had a bit of a shock to the system last week, after a pretty warm summer (mid 20s-mid 30s over the last 2 months) we had a couple of days or rain where it was 7 degrees overnight and our top temperature was only 14 degrees during the day. My wife was actually considering lighting the fire at one stage.

Innyanga, how are you getting on? have you tried shaking things up with a different approach and has it worked on the scales?

Well, back to work, I’ll catch up with you all later.

Morning Thin, yeah it’s been slow going, but it’s just annoying how easily it comes back on compared to how hard you have to work to get it off.

It seems like there is a global shortage of eggs at the moment. I have a friend in Florida who invested in some chickens because eggs are $10 a dozen over there, and he has 3 kids who are egg mad. I’m not sure about overseas, but over here it’s a combination of the price of feed going up 30%, and new government regulations around removing cage chickens. Many producers are drastically reducing their chicken numbers. The farm I buy mine from is a pig and poultry farm, but with the new restrictions they’re concentrating on pigs, and reducing their chicken numbers from around 5,000 battery chickens, down to just 300 barn chickens. The supermarkets constantly run out of eggs, and when they do have them, they’re also $10 a dozen like in the states. I’m lucky the farmer I go to knows me and she’ll set aside a couple of trays for me a fortnight. She sells trays of 20 eggs for $9.50, a much more palatable price, because I really don’t want to miss out on my 3-egg omelette, which is a staple for me on fast days. 3 eggs with some onion, spinach, tomato, and a bit of grated cheddar is around 400 calories, but keeps you feeling full for ages.

PS: Happy Happy birthday LJ! I hope you have a wonderful day

Lindsay, I do my own version of Keto. I don’t count macros but I do reasonably high fat, moderate protein and minimal carbs.

I rarely eat meat because A) Miss Gday doesn’t really like meat except for a bit of chicken or mince occasionally, B) I won’t eat meat that is produced with hormones or grains so therefore I only eat organic grass-fed meat which is very expensive and C) I can’t afford to eat meat. I will occasionally have some prosciutto that I buy from an Italian deli which is traditionally made without any of the added nasties that’s in the supermarket prosciutto.

For fats and protein, I only have organic full fat dairy (yoghurt, quark, white cheese and I make my kefir from organic full fat milk) and coconut cream/milk.

I have a variety of different nuts and seeds (no peanuts) which I activate to get rid of the enzyme inhibitors and eat lots of my own chook and duck eggs.

Sadly, I rarely eat fish anymore as I am unable to get wild caught fish where I live, it’s all farmed fish (which are fed hormones) or ‘unknown’ fish from overseas. I absolutely love salmon fillets but again I cannot get wild caught and the supermarket salmon is farmed and injected with dye to give it the pink colour – Eeewww. If I can find a wild caught tinned salmon or tuna I will have that but they are getting increasingly harder to find on the supermarket shelf. I do have fresh Coffin Bay oysters when the company travels to my area once a month or so. I wish I could eat Sardines, kippers etc as they are so healthy, but the smell makes me dry reach…..another Eeewww.

I eat a huge variety of vegies (but rarely white potato) as well as salad veg, herbs, avocado, olives and berries (frozen) but occasionally, I will have another type of fruit but only a small portion.

I make my own keto bread, rolls and keto biscuits/crackers and will very occasionally have an organic wholegrain pasta (Miss GDays favourite meal). If I do have pasta it’s a very small portion and I have a huge salad with it.

No junk food or processed foods, 2 meals a day and no eating between meals at all. My treat is 2-3 squares of 95% cacao dark chocolate each day. No alcohol, soft drink etc, just water, tea, coffee and my home made kombucha. Occasionally I will have an alcohol-free beer, wine or gin and tonic, but that is rare.

I will allow myself treats but they are also rare because it’s only when we go to Adelaide where I will have a pistachio and a berry ice-cream from the specialty ice-cream shop and if we are in the city some Haiges chocolates and wine gums from the Central Market.

We are actually in Adelaide for a quick overnight trip for a medical appointment next week and will be passing the ice-cream shop on our way through so will definitely be stopping there but have no need to go into the heart of the city so our other treats will wait for another time.

I forgot to mention I don’t calorie count and I don’t weigh foods for portion sizes. I eat as much as I feel like at each meal, sometimes it can be a big portion and sometimes a small portion. And I also water fast for 72 hours every 2 weeks.

A brief post as I’m feeling a bit weary tonight.

Thin, your holiday sounded wonderful. I hope the visa application doesn’t throw up too many more hurdles. (Some of those visa questions are nuts.)
I do like bridge, but I haven’t mentioned it lately as I stopped going in the early days of covid and then my bridge partner decided she wouldn’t be returning as her husband was terminally ill. So I keep delaying my return because I hate showing up without a partner, just hoping there’s another loner there too that I can play with that day. I enjoy it more if playing with the same partner. My life is busy enough now so I don’t need it, but I may go back at some point.

Anzac, thank you for the birthday wishes – I’m impressed that you remembered from last year as I haven’t mentioned it in recent posts.
I’m hoping you tell us a little more about the new job – or is it the same job where they were slack about organising a contract?

Lindsay, I hope your husband gets his bounce back soon. Hopefully the physio will be able to help.

GDSA, I hope you enjoy those treats on your fleeting visit to Adelaide.

Cinque, I hadn’t heard of your form of reflux. I hope the small regular meals routine makes a real difference to your symptoms. I have a hiatus hernia and suffered with reflux for 30 years before it was diagnosed with an endoscopy after I was finally referred to a gastroenterologist. He prescribed medication – I take 40mg Nexium daily. My symptoms stopped immediately with the medication.

Neil & Thin, I’ve noticed erratic availability of eggs here too. Oddly Woolworths always seems the have plenty, but the shelves are nearly empty every time I go to Coles. That difference makes no sense to me.

As to food prices. I’ve been looking at prices and noticing what has increased – some things have gone up 25% over the last year and others items have barely changed. I’ve spent less than usual on food over recent weeks and I was wondering why. They I remembered that I’m buying almost no veg as I have an abundant supply in my veggie patch. Although I’m starting to pull some things out now, in preparation for planting cold weather veg. My initial plans are for purple sprouting broccoli, parsnips, spinach, peas and broad beans (which won’t ripen until early spring).

There have been several birthday brunches, lunches etc in recent days – the last one is tomorrow. I managed to do a strict FD on Monday despite going out for morning tea with the neighbours. I just ordered a cup of tea.
I thought I was doing well today as I went walking with my best friend and we stopped at our regular cafe for an early lunch. I just had a buttered scone and though I was doing well until my nephew’s wife and their kids showed up after school with this: https://imgur.com/a/v2HBg3E It’s a lemon crumble tart with a lemon curd cheesecake in the shape of an actual lemon on top. It looked spectacular and tasted divine. I persuaded my nephew’s wife to have half. Still, it’s more calories and sugar than I intended to consume today – the scone was meant to be my birthday treat. One more morning tea to go tomorrow and then I should be able to get back to my usual eating routine.

Well I must go, as it’s a cool night I think I’ll have a hot cocoa made with almond-coconut milk before bed. Night all.

Hello all

That really is frustrating Neil and I simply don’t get it. I can only assume you are building heavy muscle with all of the cycling. I too only have to look at bad food to put on a stack. Hang in there my friend!

This ‘new’ job is back at the same bank but a whole new project. It isn’t the dream job I wanted in payments; that never eventuated. However this is with the same project manager which is the only unfortunate part but the work is familiar, interesting and best of all full-time WFH. Many of the old team (the nice people) are there too so I am happy to be here after a false start. The nearly 2 weeks I worked unpaid will be repaid to me in paid time-in-lieu

LJ, I hope it was ok to let the birthday cat out of the bag? I’m so sorry if I overstepped the mark there. I’m glad you had a nice birthday and don’t worry about the lemon cheesecake, one FD will rid you of that. It is so difficult when you have to manage social events isn’t it?

Mr Anzac’s sister arrives from NZ tonight. The brother is picking her up and having her stay while we get the colonoscopy out of the way tomorrow. I assume there will be many meals out so here comes my own tricky path for 3 weeks. I have been slack with my exercise the past 3 or 4 days and the scales rewarded me with a jump of 400g for no good reason otherwise

G’day that is very sad that you can’t get the fresh food you love to eat, that really is tragic. I always have some NA wine in the fridge as I like it and when I feel like a treat I can have a glass. It is low sugar too

Thin, the more I read about England the more I see what a mess it is. Most of the labrador forum are in England and from not being able to get in to see a GP to so many awful stories about the NHS, to rising prices (especially electricity). I can’t believe what you said about the visa. Seriously?

The sun is shining but rain is forecast for the next 3 days. I see next week the temps are rising again to the mid 30’s so Mr Anzac’s sister won’t like that. We will make sure we stick to places with air-con

Must run, keep losing losers!

LJ, nice to hear from you. How wonderful to be supplying your own produce, it must be so satisfying on various levels. A 25% increase in food costs is even worse than here. Thanks for filling me in on your Bridge status. I totally understand that, a steady partner is essential to progressing in the game. I miss it a lot.

I’m having my second FD for the week today. Food already cooked from Sunday’s fast. We had the pub meal last night. I forgot to ask for the dressings on the side and both the salad and chicken were swimming. I now have a fridge full of healthy food so I’m back on track.

Lindsay, I like to smugly assess others’ shopping trolleys too. Sometimes I don’t even recognise the items as food. There are entire aisles that I never even venture down. So much packaged, processed stuff. Expensive and unhealthy no doubt. I was busy judging a couple at the next table who’d chosen the carvery buffet last night. I think my jaw probably dropped visibly when they returned to their table with their stash piled so high that it was falling off the plate. They were definitely no strangers to the knife and fork. The NHS is groaning under the strain of self-destruction.

Anzac, thanks for filling us in on the job front. I hope you have fun with Mr A’s family. Three weeks of meals out will be tough. No joking about the visa questions. I got to one asking if OH and I were already related before we married. In true PC terminology, there is no longer even a check box for applying for a ‘spouse visa’ as a ‘spouse’, only as a ‘partner’. We’ve turned over another £2500 for the application. We don’t expect to get something for nothing but it irks me that, if you’re destitute, you need not pay it. And people wonder why the country is in such a mess.

We had a good, long towpath walk yesterday. It’s wonderful to be able to get out and exercise without fear of someone coming for your shoes. We take a lot for granted. There were 7555 murders in Johannesburg in the past three months.

Neil, hang in there. Frustrating as it is, you’re on a downward track so that’s good.

Good morning everyone on the 2/3/23,
(I do love number patterns)

Neil, a hard price to pay for forgetting your lunch. But isn’t it interesting how we come to connect that dreadful energy crash with eating badly. Once it is in our head it takes root.

I am so sorry to hear how much trouble Mrs Neil had with reflux, hooray for antibiotics. (Mine seems to be clearing up although I had a surprising bout of coughing when I got up this morning).

Thin, I agree with you in that, while evidence shows many people need that fast initial weight loss to give them the impetus to keep going, personally I like that slow downward trajectory.

I am so glad you have your fridge set up with good food and are back to cruising the beautiful places.

But omg the visa application. Fingers crossed it is just all the hundreds of irritating steps… but then done. Please don’t tell me it is all for a 3 month visa extension.

I haven’t noticed an egg problem here, but I have been lucky enough to a) get half a dozen eggs from my sister’s chooks (best eggs ever) and b) try the eggs they sell at the Helping Hands Mission Op Shop. I donate my eggcartons there, but never bought the eggs before. They must have an egg farm owner in their church and he donates(or sells cheap) the double yolkers. It is amazing to have a whole carton of double yolkers and, as a general rule, they are just the right size for the frittata or whatever egg thing I want to make.

Anzac, I am so glad you are back at work and will get paid those days T.I.L. A pity it isn’t the project you were keen on, but hooray for good workmates and work from home. And hooray you are back in the rhythm to look after your health.

Maybe it was you and not Quacka who I remember talking about terrible reflux. Sympathy. I need to make the appt today to talk with my doctor next Tuesday. Hopefully I can stop taking the medication and keep doing the lifestyle things, but even more hopefully my eosophagus can heal and the problem go away. Fingers crossed.
I’ll ask if anyone is doing research as I would be interested to be in a trial.

Gday, I do hope you enjoyed every mouthful of that icecream in Adelaide.

LJoyce, apparently a hiatus hernia can set off my sort of reflux too, another question to ask my doctor. Hooray for immediate relief for you. Finally.

Belated Happy Birthday wishes!
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c1/8e/d0/c18ed09d55cf0bd492a857f24d0e4e20.jpg

Lindsay, Best wishes to you on Fast 800. I hope it is just lovely to focus on fitting into your holiday clothes in 6 weeks.
I can just imagine how gorgeous Rosy looks owning that park!

I had coffee with a friend yesterday and it had gone up a dollar (since whenever I went out for a coffee last). Worth it though, it was a brilliant one.

I’ve lost another centimeter from my waist. I am enjoying how comfortable my clothes are feeling.

I’m off now to make a coffee and see if I can make it close to as lovely as yesterdays one was!

Best wishes everyone.

Weighing in on the coffee debate, up until recently I would always stop at one of the local coffee shops for a hot bevvy when in town doing my weekly chores but not anymore. A large long black has gone from $4.50 to $6.00 and a medium chia latte was $5.50 is now $7.50. Yes its only a few dollars but I live on a very tight budget and with the increase in costs for everything else, I’ve had to forego my weekly coffee outing. There is no such thing as a bit of surplus spending money anymore for many households and I fear there is no reprieve on the horizon any time soon.

Hello everyone,

omg Thin, I wish I was bouncy!
I did too much yesterday and so only running on one cylinder today.

But yesterday
I did make pastel de choclo, corn pie, (simple version with yummy mince and greens topped with a savoury fresh corn custard). Six ramekins, 5 in the freezer and one in the fridge ready for tomorrows lunch. It is one of my favourite things to eat, and needs sweet corn to be cheap and lovely, so yesterday was the day (69c each).

After thinking my coughing was enormously improved, it has plateaued. I am tweaking my behaviour to see if I can figure out why.

Yay for 30 months visa extension (wish it was 30 years for Mr Thin).

Gday, so sorry you have to give up your weekly cafe coffee, I couldn’t do it either, I am at about a seasonly coffee 😀
Are you able to make good coffee at home?

LJoyce, so many people with reflux. Miss you Quacka.
Good point with the double yolkers for baking.

My sister dislikes coffee and would agree with you 100% about tea in cafes.
Such a pity they can’t do it well. Hooray for a pot of tea made at home.

Woohoo for Antarctica! I can relate to your anxiety but oh wow, what a gorgeous destination. So exciting!

Here is a picture of my latest bread, rye and cocoa flours It is so tasty!
https://imgur.com/a/UM0UFyw

Off to rest before lunch, since I can’t rest after lunch (not for at least an hour anyway).

All good things
<3 <3 <3

Phew. DS and his two little ones, and the 4 year old’s mate, have just left after a morning in the pool. DS came first at 6, and we opened the bee hive and took a little honey. The bees were frenetic – don’t know if it was because we were earlier than usual, or because they are busy making honey (and bees, by the look of the comb).

So, 7 days of Fast800 and pretty much carb free, and I’ve dropped 2.3 kilos. I know it’s partly water weight, but I’ll take it.

Cinque I’m sorry you’re down to one cylinder. May you fire up soon. Double yolker eggs. Wow! You triggered a childhood memory of cracking eggs from Dad’s hens to see who got the double yolker.

The coffee discussion hits a nerve. I will happily pay $4.50 but baulk at $5, when I make such good coffee at home with my Europress. But ….on the mornings that I walk Rosy with DS and his dogs, the local sourdough bakery is just opening as we finish (6.30) so I stop with Rosy and have a coffee, just for the socialisation for us both.

Gday those increases are unreal – I know stuff is more expensive, but how can they justify that? I get my cheese etc at a Greek deli in West End where they still charge $2 for a coffee. No increase for years. Probably a loss leader, but cafes that boost their prices unreasonably will lose more money from the customers that don’t come back, than the revenue they gain from the increase.

I took my DD to a coffee shop a few days ago where they charged $17 for my one shot long black, her chai latte, and her chocolate brownie sort of thing. Daylight robbery, as my mother used to say. But the kicker for me was that they served it in those awful paper cups. I asked for a china cup – no, apparently they couldn’t do that because health and safety meant they needed a dishwasher, and they didn’t have room. They were in a warehouse/gift shop which was huge, for heaven’s sake. My last visit.

Thin I think these frugality habits die hard – and I think we are lucky to have them. It’s what allows you LJ to take this fabulous trip, and allowed you and your OH to go to Africa Thin. They create memories that are with you for life – unlike the newest car, or the expensive dress, which only thrill for such a short time. Look at the fabulous things you get Cinque in op shops. They are only there because they’ve stopped thrilling someone. But now they thrill you, for a fraction of the original cost.

OH and I have stopped travelling for the past 3 years – Covid first, then his illness. But we are going to Bali in April, for 8 days in a modest beachside hotel, and then 6 days in a new luxury French resort up in the mountains, with cocktails and massages and the like. It’s how we like to travel….mostly modest, with a splash of luxury when and if we feel like it. Yes to what you say Thin about working hard and being moderate, to be able to please ourselves at this time in our lives.

OK as I read this post I’m surprised by how I’ve banged on about coffee. Sorry folks.

How are you travelling Neil? Still on a downward spiral. And Cinque, another cm off your waistline. You’ll have to keep adjusting that skirt, at this rate.

Back in a day or two. Enjoy your weekend, all.

Hello all, a quiet couple of days on here!

My tracking and conscious eating is going well, very slowly tracking downwards. Still a way to go until I’m back in the 80’s but I will get there

LJ, you have awakened the Antarctica beast inside me! We have been talking about it and researching it for about 15 years but never did it. I am so happy for you and don’t ever think twice about the cost; life is for living and it will be totally awesome. Are you doing any other side trips while you are down there? Who are you flying with and what is your route to get to Ushuaia? I want to hear all about it please. I did raise it with Mr A and he too is now all keen again

Mr Anzac’s lovely sister is enjoying her stay apart from the heatwave. 38 yesterday and 36 today but thankfully we have air-con and the pool of course. She is finding the pricing here very cheap compared to NZ: for example she was quoted $750 – 900 NZD for a single pair of glasses. She went to the discount optometrist chain store this morning and can get two pair, both with transitional lenses (the NZ one did not have this) for A$800. She does not have private health insurance so that is why it seems high but to her it is cheap.

Lindsay I was aghast at the price of the two coffees and a brownie. And in paper cups! I don’t blame you for never going back, daylight robbery as you said. Your Bali trip sounds lovely – and something wonderful to look forward to 🙂

How is your coughing and reflux Cinque? I hope it has improved. That bread looks simply divine…yum

Thin, my labrador friends in the UK said there is a very cold snap coming today or tomorrow with snow is some areas. Rug up!

Hi Neil, G’day, Inny – hope you are doing well.

Take care all

Good afternoon everyone.

Cinque, that rye bread looks marvelous. Do you just add some cocoa powder to the rye or is it a special flour? I’m eating very little bread at the moment as I remove the extra 4kg from 2 weeks of excess. I will get back to making healthy breads. Now that the weather is cooler bread baking sounds more inviting.
I guess I’m old too as I like my tea hot.

Thin, old habits die hard don’t they. If frugality gets us some lovely holidays it is worth it. I doubt I’ll do anything as exciting as your recent trip, but I do want to do an African safari at some point. I just need to prioritise which animal I most want to see, so I can pick the right country.

Lindsay, well done with that weight loss. Are you continuing with Fast800 or was that week just to get your weight loss moving quickly?

Anzac, I thought you only went to warm places! Antarctica is pretty special though and worth the chill. There don’t seem to be as many cruise companies doing Antarctic cruises since covid. The companies I found were: Hertigruten, Ponant (some joint cruises with Smithonian Journeys), Lindblad Explorations (some joint cruises with National Geographic), Quark Expeditions, Scenic, APT.
There’s a lot of difference in the ships, even within the same cruise line. Some are nice with lots of cabins offering a good view of the scenery. Others are a bit old and frayed around the edges, with very few cabins offering a window with a view. (A room with a view was a minimum requirement for me. As an introvert I don’t want to spend all day in public to see the view, I want to be able to see it from my cabin too, although I’m happy to go on deck to get better photos and to see things from the other side of the ship.)
There are also some icebreakers that go beyond the arctic circle – they are exploration vessels and have multishare cabins and very basic amenities. As I wasn’t willing to share with strangers I quickly ruled those out.
The prices for a room with a view range from $15k-$70k per person, depending on the level of amenity you want and also the length of your cruise. I had few viable options due to the huge single supplement most cruise lines charge (that won’t be an issue for you and your husband, although you do have to pay for two). I only had 2 options that were less than $20k, Ponant and Hertigruten. Hertigruten was slightly cheaper, but the ship has 500 passengers, which means less time on the ice (ships are only permitted to put 100 passengers on the ice using zodiacs at a time). I went with Ponant as the ship has half as many passengers, so more ice time for me. The cruise I’m doing is a 12 day holiday with 10 nights on the ship. This is my cruise: https://au.ponant.com/antarctica-antarctica-the-white-continent-with-smithsonian-journeys-bo260224-10 and I’ve booked a deluxe stateroom which is the the cheapest cabin available without a single supplement. My tour has a night in Buenos Aires and includes the charter flights to and from Ushuaia. (Every tour I looked at included these flights)
There are a lot of tours available that also go to the islands (Falklands, South Georgia etc) – good for wildlife photography. There are tours that include more of South America – the Chilean fjords would be nice. I would have loved to do the Galapagos too, but the cost is just too much. I’m already pushing the boundaries of what’s financially manageable with this trip. I will book an additional 2 nights in Buenos Aires at the end of the tour and do some day trips. Currently I’m looking at whether I can do Iguazu falls as a day trip.
If I wasn’t still in shock at the prices of the cruise options. The flight costs also made my head spin. I will be booking flights with the travel agent in early April (apparently they get access to flights 11 months before your return date). The cost seems to start at $3200-$3500 discount economy, but that price range sells out fast, then you are looking at $4000+.
Most flights are listed as Qantas-LATAM. That’s the only way to get to South America directly from Australia (Sydney-Santiago-Buenos Aires, some also stop in Auckland). Those flights take about 22-25 hours and you arrive the same date that you departed. You can go via USA, but it takes the flight time up to around 37-45 hours. It does give you more airline options, but doesn’t appear to save you money.
I’ll let you know more once I have booked my flights.
I chose the dates of my trip for a couple of reasons – I wanted to do the cruise that combined with Smithsonian Journeys as the educational aspect is something I’ll enjoy. I also wanted to spend my birthday in Antarctica. Going in late Feb to early March, means the penguin chicks will be nearly fully grown, but there are more whale species there in February and the fur seals should be there too in March. I’ll also miss most of the icebergs with the time of year I’m going – I don’t find that a disadvantage!

Hope everyone is having a good day. Take care.

These fast days come around quickly on 5:2! Neil, I think you took some of my loss this week as I usually drop 900g with a FD but it was a disappointing 400g after Sunday’s fast day. I’ll stick with two fast days for a while longer just so my body doesn’t get any ideas about retaining that holiday excess.

I enjoyed your posts Cinque and Anzac but I just wanted to say to LJ – what a well-researched trip. I did enjoy learning about it all as it’s never really interested me that much – but now it does. Definitely need the cabin with windows, I loved looking out in the middle of the night when we went to Helsinki. It would have been far too much trouble to get all those clothes back on and go out on deck. And bah to sharing with strangers, could be fantastic but not worth the risk!

I’m pleased that you might consider a safari. You can’t control nature so you never know which animals will present themselves. My favourites are breeding herds of elephants, they are just so entertaining – but big cats are thrilling to see. We didn’t see any cheetahs this time but I was really looking hard in that long wispy grass. Sometimes, it’s the unexpected that causes the most joy – like when I came face to face with an African Wildcat outside our rondavel at 5am one morning. I don’t know who was the most surprised.

Good afternoon everyone.

My house has been invaded by a dalek and the cat’s terrified! https://imgur.com/a/BKXRbMK I treated myself to an irobot self-emptying vacuum for my birthday because. I’ve been watching prices for a while and found them for 20% off. Vacuuming is one of the household tasks I struggle with the most as it hurts my lower back, so this will be a wonderful help. I just hope cat gets used it. It’s chased her up and down the hallway and then found her in her hiding spot under the bed and evicted her. She’s now taken refuge on the back porch. I think she’ll need some treats tonight and lots of cuddles.
The irobot has just finished its first run it has done a good job, even on the carpet. Robotic vacuums don’t have a good reputation for cleaning carpets well. The reason I bought this particular vacuum was because it is one of the few that has a good rating for carpets.

Neil, excellent news on the weight loss. Glad the scales finally recognised your efforts. Well done for persevering – that can be such a challenge when efforts aren’t rewarded.

Thin, I suspect you’ll be glad to get back to 6:1 once the holiday weight is gone.
My childhood goal was to get to every continent, so Africa is definitely on the list. Cats are top of my hit parade but I can never decide whether cheetahs, leopards or serval cats are my favourite. The other thing I have wanted to do in Africa is ride on the blue train – not sure it it’s even still running. I haven’t done any research as Africa is still a few years away – I’m hoping to do Egypt and Jordan in 2025. I might need to do cheaper holidays for a couple of years after that, to get my holiday savings balance up a bit before I tackle an African safari, which I anticipate will be expensive.

Cinque, thank you for the bread tips. I will definitely try that when I start eating more bread again, I do like dark rye and also pumpernickel.
Well done finding nice clothes at the op shop. You deserved a reward for that shrinking waistline.
I hope your depleted energy levels improve soon.

I have been doing alternate day fasting this week and have had similar results to Lindsay, I’ve lost 2.4kg this week, so well on the way to dealing with the 4kg I had gained. I have a lot of special occasion lunches and dinners to deal with in the next 2-3 weeks. I have family 40th and 70th dinner, several lunches with various groups of friends and a birthday morning tea & tour at Dunluce Castle (https://www.dunlucecastleevents.com/historical-tours ). Because these food challenges start next week, I wanted to make some quick progress this week. I plan to continue with at least 3 FDs each week this month. Hopefully I can counteract all those meals out before they cause more damage. I suspect my weight loss will slow alarmingly when the FDs are interspersed with celebration days rather than careful NFDs.

Time to go and pamper the cat and reassure her she’s safe.

Take care.