Morning all.

Oh dear, up 1.5 kilos this week. I’m guessing it’s water retention from the salty and sugary diwali food. I might weigh again in a couple of days to see if it’s gone.

Thin, Oh the curse of being trained as a kid to always finish what’s on your plate. I’m the same with restaurant meals, no matter how full I am, or how big the meal, I’ll always finish what’s on my plate. I have pretty much recovered from my crash, the only thing remaining is a couple of lumps where my main injuries were, in my thigh and on my chest. I’ve been meaning to go to the doctor to get them checked out, but since they’re not actually sore, just…there, I haven’t been in too much of a rush.

Have a good one everyone

Greetings from Adelaide. Yes I returned home last night.
Still quite sleep deprived as I woke at 1:30am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I gave up and got up at 4am and started washing all those dirty clothes. Every time I sat down the cat jumped into my lap – making up for lost time.

My weight was up 2.5kg this morning. Considering how swollen my ankles and calves are from the flight I expect it’s mostly water weight. The fit of my clothing around the torso didn’t change at all during the trip, despite the amount of food I consumed most days. It helped that I did between 12,000-24,000 steps most days. Even the few days when I was sailing or flying all day I managed 8,000-10,000 (by doing laps on the boat’s sundeck, using the exercise bike in the onboard gym or walking around the massive airport at Doha between flights). There were also stretch or yoga classes on the boat before breakfast and I always did those too. Most days I had 3 very hearty meals, but once a week I ate lightly. (Fresh melon and pineapple for breakfast, salad veg with a slice of cheese for lunch and the healthiest main course on offer for dinner and no other courses – they always offered 4 courses.) I also ate desert most days – sometimes at both lunch and dinner! I’m going to have to stop that now that I’m home. I definitely can’t manage to keep up that level of activity permanently – my knees, ankles, achilles tendons, and ham strings still haven’t forgiven me for what I put them through in the last fortnight.

I had intended to do a FD today, but I’m too fatigued to face it. Over the last 3 nights I’ve managed a total of 6 hours sleep. So I’m eating light today and concentrating on drinking lots of water to help with the fluid retention. Will attempt a FD tomorrow. I did manage to drag myself out for a walk, that was comparatively short by recent standards.

Thin, Yes I am home safe and sound – arrived last night.
I’m not sure whether we were moored or docked – I’m not a sailor so I don’t know the difference. This is the boat I was on: https://www.tourradar.com/o/travel-marvel/ship/travelmarvel-capella
Basically the boat is tied off to secure it to the wharf and then a mobile gangplank (with hand rails) is used to bridge the gap so we can get off. It got interesting when 2 or 3 river boats were all docked side by side at the same spot. In that case the gangplank led into the next boat which you had to walk through to make it onto the dock. It was quite weird when the other boats had a different deck design as the only area that always seems to line up was the roof deck. Which meant walking up all the stairs on our boat to get to the sun deck, across the gangplank to the roof of the next boat, down their stairs to reception then across another gangplank onto the wharf. It felt decidedly odd.

Neil, yes I grew up with that rule too. I still find it challenging to leave food on my plate.

Amandina, welcome. Glad you have the whole family onboard.

Cinque, I did like the medieval fortresses and found it interesting that different countries had varying approaches to issues of maintenance, restoration or modernisation. Most have repaired what is left in an historical fashion while making it safe for modern visitors, others have done themed displays with armour and mannequins within the fortress and one in Belgrade has turned the very wide moat around their fortress into a modern use – basketball and tennis courts.

Anzac, that sounds like a yummy menu you are planning. I hope you find a solution for the dog phobic relative. Poor Maxx.

Lindsay, I hope Mr L’s health is better now, as too your own anxiety levels.

GDSA, I hope your stress levels are also improving.

Intesha, Is christmas in the UK still happening? If so, I hope it’s wonderful.

I promised photos when I got home. I am yet to do much culling and I have hundreds of photos, so I’ve loaded just a tiny sample.
https://imgur.com/a/E4yvv4x
https://imgur.com/a/xfMLsHl
https://imgur.com/a/nz0xKhj
https://imgur.com/a/TdinDVg

I have only managed to catch up of fairly recent posts. If anyone else has been reading or posting, hello.
Take care all.

Good afternoon everyone,

Wonderful pictures and commentary LJoyce! What a treat. I hope your sleeping patterns are getting back to normal and that painful swelling is settling down too.

Neil, I hope the wonderful Divali food has evaporated off and you are feeling light and trim.

Thin, I have the same ingrained feeling about waste, and I have tried hard to over ride it with common sense, but it is hard, especially in as far as avoiding waste is common sense, especially after all the cost and work of preparing food.

But I am probably least worst at restaurants. I go to them so rarely and feel that it is an enormous treat and that I am the princess who will decide if I eat and how much I eat. Once I order, it is the restaurants fault if the food isn’t nice enough or they give me too much.

(That said, I do take yummy leftovers home, with the feeling I have paid for the food and should be able to eat the rest of it later.)

I’m missing Miso the cat today, as I am having some tinned fish for lunch and can’t share any with her, and because I would love a silky soft cat purring on my knee. So hello to all the cats out there.

Sending out best wishes,
Lovely weather here today and the pollen count is low. 🙂

Cinque, I’m definitely a doggie bag diner. Sometimes I even plan it and take my own container. I saw something unusual when we had the roast dinner – the diners at the next table asked for their vegetables to be wrapped in foil to go. They then both ordered dessert! I’m sorry that you’re missing your cat. A pet leaves a huge void.

LJ, I noticed the huge picture window in the cabin. As you know, my OH is a retired pilot and spent most of his life travelling through time zones which is very tough on the body. People do all sorts of things to try to combat jet lag but the professionals say that the thing your body needs most is sleep so that’s what you should give it. So you’re doing the right thing (rather than forcing yourself into the new time zone). That extra fitness will be handy if you can maintain it. Well done getting the excess weight off too.

Hello friends,

Friday morning and the sun is burning the clouds off. I have had a bit more oomph lately, and got some gardening done. I planted coriander in shady spots, and basil, zucchini and a tomato in sunny spots. I do have some radish seeds coming up too. AND I did manage to mulch, thank goodness. It is lovely to go out in the garden and try to help the little things through the hot days. With any luck they will have a bit of rain today.

LJoyce, hooray for holding onto that muscle, and losing that painful fluid.

That is a lovely message from beautiful Sylvia.

Have you got your sleeping patterns back into Adelaide time?

Thin, cute story. I can identify well with people who find a dessert out to be a special treat.

Neil, woot! A lovely weighing. Best wishes for your week… and weekend.

I have done some good cooking lately. I made a kind of calzone pie because I was in too much of a hurry to make individual ones (and was thinking how to get more filling than casing per serve). My sister had brought broad beans (mine finished a while ago) about half of them needed peeling but oh they made a great filling with butternut and slow cooked onions and a little bit of cheese sauce to hold them together. What a pleasure.
And I am building up my tolerance to acid again, now my inflamed esophagus has settled down, so (avert your eyes Thin) I am very much enjoying beetroot I pickled.

Did I tell you I have moved a bit from my focus on African food, and have become fascinated by Chinese cuisine. I love coming to understand it better, and it really suits my small meals as I stir fry or steam a veg or two. (Still loving African recipes of course!).

Sending out best wishes to everyone, and hoping it is easy 5:2 eating for you today.

Hello hello from Melbourne!

While not new to fasting, I have picked it up again after a long while. Had a successful FD yesterday but feel like I must be balancing out a bit today because I have eaten everything in sight. I have also been working from home which I find can be a bit problematic for me as I eat a lot more because I am bored.

I am unsure if we share current weights but I am the heaviest I have been in a long while. I think part of that is due to being out of routine, but also due to yoyo dieting and obsession about calories and I would really like to spend less time thinking about that.

Lovely to join you all.

Hello Effelle!
I am in Melbourne too (raining!),
Haha and sympathy for obsessive eating the day after fast day, it can be tricky to avoid that, I know from experience.
When I am in the mindframe to enjoy the lovely empty feeling (morning after fast day) I can often just coast on it through the day. But other times I am ravenous.
And boredom! It’s the worst.

As Thin said, in this thread people have just worked out for themselves if it is useful to post weight loss or not. (I don’t have scales but keep an eye on my waist measurement). We are all ready to cheer you on anyway.

5:2 saved me when my weight started creeping up again (after I had lost 15kg very easily by cutting added sugar from my diet). 5:2 saw off another 15kg nicely over a couple of years and took me to the lower end of my healthy weight range. But maintenance has been important for me or else it just sneaks back on.

I am now dealing with gerd/lpr and the small meals and good space between meals, that is needed for that, has been good for my general health and keeping my waistline around 75cm.

Hello Anzac!
So sorry to hear that work has undermined your 5:2. AGAIN!
But cheers for managing to keep your weight stable. That is so good!
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81o5ZMyRmmL.jpg

I did do my gardening at just the right time! Everything has grown so much! A couple of little basil have been, or are being, eaten but I am doing my best to protect them (and I started with about 12 so I did have excess).

Thin, brrr, your lettuces would be collapsed!
Cold and a bad foot is hard! Sending best wishes.

Best wishes to everyone reading!

Coffee time. Woot!

Hi everyone,

Neil, I hope Wednesday’s weigh in was a good one.

Thin, what a hard fast day. I so hope the next year’s worth are easy and you can coast through them.

I visited friends yesterday (woot! I am such a homebody nowadays, it was amazing to be social). I came home with a little pot of chives grown from seed (Em is a wonderful gardener) a love-in-the-mist seedpod and some sweet pea seeds because we ate sweetpeas out of the pod… and they tasted lovely! I want to grow them for the flowers and the food! Her garden also reminded me that my garden needs manure. So I will try to do that over the weekend.

Thin, you are right about my waist measurement. My focus is to keep it below 80cm and it is hovering around 75, but not often less than 75cm. (And still a little pot belly below my waist).

I’m glad you had some nice warm 7C :O It has been so wet here, are you above water Anzac?

Ooh yay coffeetime. Sending out good wishes.

I enjoyed your news snippets, Anzac and Cinque. Wondering what happened to Neil’s weigh-in report though?

Thanks for asking about my foot, Anzac. The ‘growth’ site seems to have healed smaller after the surgeon had a poke around in October. I’ve been tempted to just cancel the surgery because the logistics have been wearing me down. But it’s still painful to the touch so it’s probably better to get it taken out while I still have access to this surgeon. Because of the train strikes, boater friends kindly offered to drive me to the operation and the follow up visit. So we abandoned Plan A and have been backtracking to get closer to them – remote countryside with no public transport access. The high has been 3C for several days (low -4C last night) so, although beautiful, it is COLD on the back of the narrow boat. The canal is frozen in parts. We do an hour each and then stop for the day. We are almost there. And sod’s law – the year-long train strikes were called off yesterday.

Anzac, exciting that you have something to look forward to. First class on Emirates? That includes a hot shower I believe! (former Captain friend & wife still get one first class flight per year). I enjoyed her account of the shower.

Cinque, great to enjoy visiting your friends and come home with things to plant. I imagine you living in an apartment but you frequently mention a garden. Is it a communal garden or do you have a little plot right outside that you can look out onto?

It is December so I will put up my reindeer and other Christmas lights tonight to add some cheer to the gloomy evenings.

Good evening everyone.

I had a very easy FD today. With multiple medical appointments I was out of the house for most of the day and away from easy sources of food – funny how that helps a FD along with ease.
I am finding it a bit challenging to eat as moderately as I should on NFDs however. Although it’s an old issue for me, I think my new exercise regime is adding to my appetite. To my pre-holiday regime of about 55k weekly steps, I have added stair climbing, regular steep hills walks and also longer walks. (About an extra 25,000 steps per week.) I am hoping to maintain the increased fitness level that I acquired during my holiday. Also, despite my intention of limiting my bread consumption to occasional, the only day I don’t seek it out is on FDs. The end result of all this is that I’m maintaining my weight, but not losing anything.

Anzac, I’m glad to see that you are still getting to travel in style without paying for airfares, excellent work. Have you booked any further than Dubai at this stage?

Cinque, I’m impressed with how many little nooks and crannies you have found to grow some produce. It’s so nice to pick home grown things. I am having my first summer without home grown veg in many years. With the travel I had planned, it felt unreasonable to expect neighbours to do all that watering. So I decided to just focus on getting the winter crops in early next year.

Thin, although I don’t mind the cold, I think I’d find your 3C days a bit much. How lovely that you have fellow boaters kind enough to offer transport. I hope the next surgery fixes everything properly.

The December rush has caught up with me. Every day seems busy at the moment and I know that January will bring lots of babysitting.

Take care all.

Good morning everyone

Neil, An excellent loss. Good to see that the new eating pattern is helping. I find nut butter is a helpful food that gets you through a hungry spell.

I also had a weigh in this morning. I’m exactly the same as last week.

Have a good day everyone.

Hello MerryMe!
What a delight to hear from you!
Sympathy for the excess kilos that have snuck on (the way they do) but hooray that they have brought you back here! There is a silver lining to that cloud!

Happy fast day today.

Hello LJoyce and hooray for easy fast days!
How annoying that your excellent physical activity is heightening your appetite unnecessarily. The cheek of it!

But hooray for maintaining the weight you are!

Thankyou for the garden praise, but actually my garden is looking much worse than usual because I hadn’t done anything to it for months. Luckily warrigal greens kept growing. But I have been able to do a lot in the last week and it is already rewarding me.

I am hoping you have a few herbs surviving to delight you over summer, and won’t you enjoy next year when you are cropping again.

I can tell Christmas is coming because the shopping centres are chaos.

Neil, so glad to hear from you, and sympathy with those evening munchies, they are so demoralising and hard to do anything about. I bet you are on the right track with the extra protein, I seem to need that too. Fingers crossed next weigh in is another beauty.

Merry, I have reflux badly these days. Horrible, but the small meals with big spaces in between actually suits me very well and my weight has been stable at the lower end of my healthy weight range. My symptoms settled down to the point where I didn’t have any, and I increased the size of my meals a little bit and ….
… symptoms are starting up again.
Sigh, but on the other hand, what I just said, this way of eating suits me very well.
I have gone back to being super strict.

Sending out best wishes to everyone

Good morning friends.
Back for just a quick post. I’ve been reading, but not contributing. A few dodgy months but hey, we’re both still standing, so that’s the positive.
Thin, I’ve been reading about your trevails with getting your foot healed. Life shouldn’t be this hard. Have you given any thought to your winter travel plans?
Cinque, well done for maintaining and managing your symptoms. I was happy to read about your garden too. You seem to have colonised every available space, and I bet the other residents are happy you’e done so.
Anzac I am sorry to read how your work undermines your 5:2. It is so hard when work is so consuming. But lovely travel plans, and a good motivation for weight loss before the big trip.
LJ what adventures you’ve had! Loved reading about your travels, and your plans to keep that fitness level. All those steps don’t seem hard when there are amazing things to see – keeping it up at home in familiar surroundings is a challenge. Well done, for planning for that.
Neil, you are doing so well adjusting your diet to compensate for extra cravings. You’ve had a tough year – full marks to you for still managing your diet and exercise.
And Merry – how wonderful to see you back, and to read your post, so full of commitment and optimism.
I won’t write about my situation just yet – in time. But in he meantime, can I leave you with a photo of my precious, vegetable-loving Scarlett, who, despite being a devil in a red coat, gives us such happiness, as does her mother, the kind and loving Rosy.
https://imgur.com/qBhCavn

Good Evening/Morning or whatever it is where you are,

Thank you for the lovely welcome back. So good to find you all here!

Cinque – Oh Yuck! Bad reflux is the pits. So good you’ve found a way that works to keep it under control and is doable on 5:2. I’m imagining your productive garden in bits around the place. Give this woman a cup of dirt and she’ll grow something to eat.

Neil – Congratulations on your 21st Anniversary! Have a wonderful time away! I remember the challenge you were having the last time I checked in, and it’s really good that you’ve found something that seems to be working well now. You are intrepid! Well done for keeping on getting back on the horse. Sometimes it seems a bit like Edison’s lightbulbs searching for the answer to one of our individual puzzles but we do get there if we keep working on it. Well done Neil!

Lindsay – Scarlett is adorable! Such an innocent face Ha Ha, such a beautiful dog. Thank you for the photo, and I remember how lovely Rosy is! Sounds like you’ve had a bad dose of ‘Life’ for quite some time. I’m so sorry. Life can be such a bl…..mess sometimes. Chin up Lindsay. Thinking of you and yours. So good you’ve got Scarlett and Rosy to keep you loved and laughing.

Thin – OMG – Picturing you dragging your monster foot half in the boot through the towpath stream in the dark and rain. Heck, what a scramble. I do hope your foot is kinder to you now than it has been. And your daughter is in Bolivia? I’ve realised we are total opposites at our 5:2 ing. I think you started a few months before I did, you haven’t missed a FD. I’ve been reasonably good at FDs for years, with maintaining during ‘Life” Events, then lost the plot during Covid. I’ve fiddled a bit with 800 along the way but much prefer straight 5:2 500 cals max/2 days/wk. Whichever, it works, and so good to be getting back on track and through the first few weeks.

Intesha and Anzac – sounds like you’re both off on wonderful trips overseas. Have fun! Travelling is wonderful.

Check in after FD Thursday: 70.3 kg, down 0.6 kg
Total lost: 3.2 kg
Goal weight 62 kg
Next goal: < 70 kg

Onwards and Downwards,
Getting back on the horse,
Merry

Neil, those work BBQ salads sound so delicious. I’d have happily passed on the meat selection. That will be a peaceful weekend. Wow, your boys are almost men. I felt the kindy/primary school years seemed to go on forever but the high school and uni years whizzed by in a flash. DD said she spent her first nine years of schooling ‘learning how to make friends’, that her year two teacher taught her everything she knew, the rest just kept repeating it year after year!

Lindsay, I forgot to answer your question. We haven’t made plans for the winter escape yet. On 21st, I’ll try to access local health services to get the dressing changed/stitches out (or maybe my Swiss Army Knife and a bottle of red). By 22nd, the winter maintenance works should be complete on the locks and culverts south of here and we’ll make our way towards Oxford. We hope to arrive by 1 January but don’t dare make any onward travel plans until we get there as so much could go wrong – canal iced over, fallen tree obstructions, incomplete maintenance works, bodies in the canal, you name it. We bought a supply of hand and foot warmers for the ‘cruise’ (seems the wrong term for boating in the snow) the other day. They worked well in Sweden last year and DD used them for calving in the middle of winter. Do you use them in NZ, Neil?

Merry, my DD has been backpacking through central and south America since January. You’re a determined faster when you’re able so I’ve no doubt you’ll see 62kg in a flash. Everyone’s different. I should be doing 5:2 right now, not 6:1 but I’m managing the best I can with a silly little ice box for a freezer and random opportunistic shopping. I’m no martyr, I rigidly stick to it simply because I know that one ‘excuse’ can quickly lead to the slippery slope. It took me most of my adult life to find this solution and I’m never going back to those dark days of letting food control me.

Afternoon all

Thin, I’ve seen quite a few people use hand warmers playing frisbee golf in the winter. It’s kind of hard to throw your frisbee when you can’t feel your fingers. The most common ones I’ve seen are little gel packs that have a metal disc in them. you snap the disc and it warms up the gel. I have no idea how they work.

The weekend was a bit of a lazy one. I was hoping to get out for a good ride and do some gardening stuff, but it was howling with wind all weekend, and there was no way I was going to slog away into the wind on a leisure ride, and I couldn’t get any of the spraying done that I wanted to in the garden. I did get most of the Christmas shopping done, and did a bit of baking/cooking/brewing. I cooked up dinner last night and we headed round to my dad’s to share it with him. I’m having a fast day today after the starchy movie snacks and layabout weekend. I’ve just had a couple of cups of miso soup so far today, and just sauteed okra on the menu for tonight it might end up a super fasty fast.

Cinque, I guess you get good value out of restaurant meals if you pay for one and get a few meals out of it. We’re definitely looking forward to our meal out, it doesn’t happen very often these days. Perhaps in a few years when both our boys have finished school and we’ve got the empty nest thing happening.

I hope everyone else is well, have a great day everyone.

Day after FD, empty, light feeling, 600g disappeared. But I need a second FD really.

Neil, the hand warmers work when two chemicals mix (either by snapping them or opening the packet) to cause an exothermic reaction. That’s as far as I can go with my explanation. When they work, they’re fabulous but we had a couple that didn’t react and so we rotated the day’s supply between us or held hands.

Reading your weather accounts, one after the after, Melbourne, NZ and Adelaide, I was wondering what’s happened to your southern hemisphere summer.

Neil, you made me laugh about Cinque’s doggy bags. Value for money when you look at it like that.

Cinque, it’s good to have the 5:2 training. You know that nothing happens when you get hungry.

Cinque, LJ, thank you for your kind wishes on my foot. It’s deja vu sitting here with the massive bandage, foot elevated – ten days to go. OH has to take the boat to get water today. Of course he can do it himself, so can I, but it’s so much easier and safer with two crew especially in this messy weather. While we’re sitting around waiting for my foot to heal and the locks to get repaired just south of us, we’re having some new windows made. We will go into a poly tunnel at the weekend. It will be interesting having a carpenter’s face at the window for several days – not much privacy here! The cost of things is mad here, especially anything to do with a boat but we’re very pleased to finally get it done.

LJ, that whole WHO thing with the vaccinations is such a palava. Be careful not to get scammed in South Africa. We once found ourselves in a situation whereby the WHO’s official position was that no YF vacc was required coming from Tanzania. But when we got to S. Africa, they were demanding it just because they could. They sent us to their airport doctor who openly admitted it was a money-making racket by the SA govt. USD240 for the three of us (just for a two day transit). She suggested we check in to the airport hotel instead by-passing immigration altogether (it used to be in the building but it’s no longer there, by the way).

On the way up to the hotel, we passed a throng of passengers from an incoming flight from Australia and I had an idea. We asked them what their flight number had been, filled in the landing declaration forms, mingled amongst them and took our chances back in the immigration queue. The officer we’d had the argument with was just two aisles down and we prayed he wouldn’t turn around and recognise us. He didn’t and it worked. Totally illegal but so was what they were doing. It wasted several hours, we missed our ride but eventually got to our accommodation and saved USD240.

Anzac, oh no, all the best for Mr A having a quick turnaround in that illness and that the holiday goes off without a hitch. I’m sorry to hear that he still has residual issues from his cancer and I hope everything settles down to your new normal. Oh gosh, as miserable as it is here, I don’t miss that heat!

Gosh that’s frustrating Neil, I’m sorry. But take comfort in knowing it can’t be actual weight gain / fat; instead it is just some weird body thing that will correct itself in time. Hang in there

Saturday morning and a nice (for me) day in grey Melbourne,

Neil, this must be your special weekend away, I do hope you and Mrs Neil are having the best time.
Aaagh re your scales. Gremlins I hope.

LJoyce, ooh the preChristmas get-togethers are not 5:2 friendly. (I don’t think I have any, so hooray!)

Congratulations for surviving the mad weather.

So sorry to hear your travel plan headache. Have you worked something out?

Thin, best wishes for the ongoing healing of your foot. I hope it is doing really well.
I hope all the carpentry goes well and that the carpenter is a nice person to have around for a few days.
What a wonderful YF vaxx tale.

Anzac, I do hope MR Anzac is starting to feel better now. Take that back, I hope he has had a quick and wonderful recovery from that virus.

Happy belated birthday!
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-S7xJwk2DjwA/VuiejuWMbGI/AAAAAAAAGJE/CaRiFziHAzsBj3v3VWFEPYkFiJiM_7_Xw/s1600/237201.gif

It is interesting that you are eating early too.
With Gerd/Lpr it is about limiting stomach acids and other gastric juices leaking out of the stomach through the leaky esophageal sphincter and wicking up the esophagus as we are less vertical. (I have my bed set up so my head and shoulders are raised and that helps too).
Might it have been beneficial for your reflux too?

Ooh yay! You must be on holiday now!

Cheers everyone, best wishes

Good morning everyone.
I went out early to do the grocery shopping before it got busy. There were still way too many people – I’m not fond of crowds. Home now and brewing a welcome pot of tea.

I added an extra FD yesterday, so that it would be 3 for the week. I now have most but not all of the kilo I gained last week off – still 200g up. When I checked this week’s schedule, fitting in the FDs around events was challenging, so I’m going to do another FD today. I don’t like B2B FDs, but the only other days free this week are Wednesday and Friday, so I’m going to try another 3 FD week. Probably needed as there are a lot of food events this week.

Merry, well done continuing the losses, and on the looser trousers.

Thin, I love your solution to faulty hand warmers – holing hands. That really made me smile.

Cinque, I can see why the small meals and sloped bed would help for a hiatus hernia. I’m really glad you have found a non medication solution that works.
I do take a daily tablet for that condition, but I still need to be careful with some fatty foods and avoid overeating otherwise I still get reflux.

Neil, forget the scales and enjoy your weekend away.

Anzac, hope Mr A recovered and the holiday is wonderful.

On the holiday planning front, I’m tempted to put it in the too hard basket and just go somewhere else. My unhelpful relatives have suggested I go to Monarto instead – that’s an open plains zoo about an hour east of Adelaide. https://www.monartosafari.com.au/

Take care all. Hope the final week before Christmas isn’t too frantic.

LJ, I’m not sure if you read my post of 11 December but, further to that, have you ever had a Yellow Fever vaccination? While looking into requirements for Cuba on the UK Gov website, I came across this link on Travel Pro which might be worth verifying:

According to World Health Organization (WHO), from 11 July 2016 (for all countries), the yellow fever certificate will be valid for the duration of the life of the person vaccinated. As a consequence, a valid certificate, presented by arriving travellers, cannot be rejected on the grounds that more than ten years have passed since the date vaccination became effective as stated on the certificate; and that boosters or revaccination cannot be required.

Good morning,
Poor Thin <3 Take heart, it will be over before too long.
Oh dear the smoke and sawdust and noise when the carpenter was there. Talk about living in a circus.

I have a loud motor going out my front window, it will make zooming with my sisters interesting. They are steam cleaning the concrete around the flats. Very glad they are doing that, the concrete under the clothes line is green and slimy in winter. But I do have a headache already.

Merry nice work. Down to your mini goal already!
300g a week is a fine loss, especially if you can make the 5:2 nice and easy so it is no problem how long it takes, and you are very good at that, so all power to you.

Good Christmas policy!

LJoyce, I need to shop today and I am already dreading it. Madness out there! I wasn’t bouncy enough to go first thing, so I will have to be prepared for carpark and shop lunacy.

Yes, re reflux, overeating is the main thing I have to avoid, and isn’t (avoiding) it good for me! I seem to tolerate the amount of fat/oil I like on things, but I am really not much of a fat eater, so that is probably just as well.

Haha your relatives suggestion for a safari alternative. But I hope you do work out how to get to gorgeous Africa.

Neil, what a lovely time for you and Mrs Neil.
Your meals sound just so delicious!
Wo, that is some early drinking on the golf course.

Well I am off to fine tune my shopping list. Wish me luck.

Cheers all

Hi all, checking in before I fly out tomorrow. Merry so lovely to see you back. I well and truly fell off the wagon the past twelve months but am determined to get back on that horse when I get back. I will have eight weeks then before my trip to India, so the goal is to lose at least 5kg. Hopefully won’t put on too much more in the UK but I’m trying to be gentle with myself.
LJoyce I also had Africa on my wish list but it has become very expensive. My travel agent suggested Sri Lanka, they have safaris although not all the big game like Africa but it looked interesting. The company I am doing my travel through is called Encounter Travel. They cater for solos with a maximum of 16 per trip, they travel everywhere, maybe something might be of interest to you.
Probate has been granted and it looks like my brother has backed down. I received a letter from him, saying he forgives me. It made me shake my head in disbelief. I’ve done nothing wrong but he is still playing the injured party. He said he missed me, well he should have thought of that before attacking me and accusing me of all sorts of things. I certainly will never forgive him.
I wish you all a very safe and happy festive season and enjoy every minute.

Hello all. Have no idea of what’s going on in the forum as I haven’t logged on for ages so hope everyone is well. I thought I’d post an update seeing as I’ve been missing in action for quite awhile.

Finally, all of the estate business is settled. I’m glad I don’t have to think about it and deal with it anymore but still feel saddened and disgusted at the disrespect shown to Mr G’Day and his final wishes from the low-life person who contested his will. This person saw a chance to get money for nothing and the stupid law system allowed them to do it. I am relieved it is all finalised though so I’m moving on with the belief that in time, Karma will restore justice to Mr G’Day’s final wishes.

As you all know the passing of Mr G’Day and the ensuing 18 months of dealing with lawyers, estate administration, being broke and learning how to be a solo person again had taken its toll on me both mentally and physically. I’m pleased to report the old me feels like she is on the way back. I’m feeling positive and productive, the stress cloud has definitely lifted, I’m back into my healthy eating and exercise routines and I’m back on track with my business and Diploma study.

I told my GP last week I was ready to stop the depression medication so I’m now slowly weening myself off over the next 2 weeks, it was a low dosage, so no side effects expected, and I haven’t experienced any so far which is good. Still struggling with sleep but I’m slowly getting better at convincing my brain to switch off at bedtime.

I’ve also given up coffee. It’s been a week now and again, no side effects such as headaches which I know is common when giving up coffee. My coffee intake was getting ridiculous so I’m stopping for awhile and then plan to go back to just one expresso every day. I do love coffee and I do miss it. I’ve given away all my jars of instant coffee as they make it too easy to make a cup and have more than one. It’s much more effort to make an expresso (I use a Moka Pot on the stovetop) so if I only have coffee beans in the house, I can only make a Moka Pot and one is always enough for me, compared to instant coffee where I can drink it all day long.

On the fitness front, a few weeks back I purchased a season pass to the local swimming pool (outdoor, unheated so only open from Nov to April each year) so I’ve been going for an hour of lap swimming at 7am every morning which I must say has been wonderful, even on the colder mornings I have still enjoyed the swim. Have been walking the dogs each day with Miss G’Day and getting back into strength training a few times a week.

I’ve also been busy the last few months going through the entire house, rumpus room and the office/gym for the third time in 12 months – culling more unused items, clothing, shoes and furniture. I’m now of the minimalist mindset and have let go of things I’ve been holding onto for far too long. I also treated myself to a few new pieces of new furniture for my bedroom and the kitchen/lounge area, so furnishings now match and look quite stylish instead of cluttered and frumpy. I’ve lost count on the number of bags and ute loads of furniture and bits and pieces I’ve taken to the op shop. I actually have empty drawers in my bedroom and the spare room now – who would have thought that Mrs’horder’G’Day would end up with spare room in the house. Given our house is quite small I’m very proud of my de-cluttering and minimalising efforts.

Tackling my weight gain of the last 18 months has been a yo-yo of success and failure all due to the stress and lack of consistency in my daily routines, fitness and eating patterns. The ongoing consumption of bad carbohydrates, junk and comfort foods has now ended. I know I am now in the right mindset to tackle this and get back to the 59’s again. So upwards and onwards from here. 2024 is going to be my year of success, the year all of my hard work comes together and the year I nail the work/life balance and the peaceful, fulfilling life I’ve been striving for.

Oh, I also had another little splurge besides the new furniture, I treated myself to something I have wanted for many, many years – a home infrared sauna. I’ve been keeping an eye on prices for the last few years and finally found one on sale for half price as they were getting rid of old stock due to a new model coming out – it was $4,000 and I got it for $2,000 plus $400 freight to my door. It’s coming from Sydney, so I thought the freight was reasonable given the size and weight and how far it has to travel. Not sure when it will arrive given the Xmas public holidays, but it shouldn’t be too far away. Several years ago I used the sauna at one of the local masseurs at $80 for a 30 minute session so I don’t think it will take long to get my money’s worth with mine, I’m super excited about being able to have one at any time I choose. Miss G’Day thought it was too extravagant and gave me a big lecture about spending too much money – Ha Ha.

I’m in the middle of a 48 hour fast and feeling a bit peckish so I think it might be time for a green tea. I do promise to post more regularly now my motivation for life has returned. I wish everyone a wonderful, happy and safe Christmas xx