Oh Cali, thank goodness you are back with us! We missed you terribly and worried whether you were ok. I am so very sorry to hear that your husband has is in the later stages of Alzheimer’s and I am thankful you have your sister to help to look after him

It was such a shock when we heard about Dr M and I feel for his poor family

Looking forward to catching up more

Anzac, yes, I’m back and finished my first fast day this week. Going back to the original 5:2. It’ll be good to get rid of a few kg’s. I’m still going back and reading some of the posts from the past couple of months.
Thin, We watched both of those movies and loved both of them. We’re starting to run out of things to watch. Recently finished the series Your Honor. That was a good one, on Netflix. I have to go back and look up some of the titles of ones that we liked. Are you still on the boat?

Good evening everyone.

FD for me today. I just had a warm salad for dinner – mostly baby spinach leaves and a little grilled chicken.

Neil, So sorry to hear that the stressful event continue to pile up. I will be hoping for a better week ahead for you.

Cali, I’m sorry to hear that the unrelenting stress of being a full time carer has had such an impact on your weight. It’s been such a difficult few years for you and your husband and sister. I am pleased to see you posting here though. I think an online support group might be good for you. Even when you don’t have time to post, if you can grab a few moments to read some posts it may still help you feel connected.
Sending you a very big hug.

Thin, your weekend away in the Peak District with your daughter sounds lovely. It’s so nice that you are able to catch up with her so often now. I’ve never visited that area, but remember the landscape from UK tv shows (I think Peak Practice was set there – that was many years ago).

I had a family birthday cake to make today. The birthday girl requested carrot & walnut cake with cream cheese frosting. A nice easy one – yay! Her son turns one later this month and she decided I didn’t need to bake anything for him this year as he’s not used to eating much sugar yet. I did make it clear that while I’m happy to bake him something, I don’t do kids birthday party cakes. The current expectations with social media means it’s well outside my skill set.

The day began very wet and gloomy here, but there was finally a dry spell and even some sun this afternoon, so I managed to go out for a walk. I’m hoping the fine weather continues into tomorrow morning as I have the nurse coming to do my infusion in the afternoon.

Take care everyone.

2.

I realised there was some blue sky between clouds, and took the opportunity to open up my home to some ‘fresh’ air (‘fresh’ as in Melbourne style 😉 ) and nick out for a few minutes with a pair of scissors to cut weeds off at ground level. Yes, my garden is small enough that this is fairly practical, and keeping their roots helps the soil.

Anyway, back inside with a hot cup of chai and pale sunlight coming through the door. When my fingers get too cold to type I will shut up again and turn the heater back on.

Anzac, it was only a tiny burn, all better now. Thankyou.

Congratulations for keeping on keeping on. Slow weight loss is such a good strategy, and especially when it gets so slow that the behaviours become our new normal and our brain gradually changes its idea of what is normal too. Yes! 93kg is better than 95kg! Cheers and medals for you. I hope that jacket does up easily soon.

I’m also watching Masterchef and Have You Been Paying Attention (the week’s news with a panel of comedians, Thin). But then I am still a free-to-air TV watcher, except I was so delighted to watch ‘Deadloch’ on Prime thanks to my daughter.

Neil, I am so glad all the tests came back without anything to worry you. How are you going now? I’d have gone for a week with no gluten and no added sugar and then made another strategy depending on how that went. I find a NO is easier than a as-little-as-possible.

(Just realised your answer might be in your next post that I will get to soon, haha).

Yes, yum that spinach and feta combo! And hooray for a glasshouse for that tamarillo tree.

Hello all in the Southern Hemisphere… Im not in Aus or NZ but in South Africa – any other Saffas here ? Just started this at the beginning of July – so 4 fast days only so far and doing OK.
I am looking for dinner recipes that are family friendly – something I can make for the 3 of us and portion out so that I get my allocation of +/- 300cal, So far , I have chicken stir fry and chickpea & cauliflower curry. But I need a few more suggestions. So any thoughts will be greatly appreciated. Have a super weekend !

Hi Suzy, no other saffas on here that I know about, but you’re most welcome, as long as you don’t mention the rugby world cup final 😉

I used to cook up a meal, take out my portion, then bulk out the rest of my family’s meals with a carb source. Make a Bolognese, eat a cup or so of the meat sauce with some veggies, them serve the rest of the family with spaghetti. Make a lamb Rogan Josh, take out some, then serve the rest of the family with rice or naan. Lentil Dahl is a great dish to give you protein and fibre while being low calorie, and again you can bulk out your family’s portions with rice. Omelettes are quick and easy. Chili beans are great for protein and fibre. Cook up a batch and eat yours with extra veggies, then bulk out the family’s with tortillas, tacos, corn chips, etc.

Welcome SuzyQ! I’m not even in the Southern Hemisphere, but found my way over here in May of 2017 when thin and I got into a discussion about cockatoos in another part of the forum and she invited me over here. I lost about 13kg on the 5:2 with the help of everyone here and kept it off for a few years. I’ve been away for a while, caring for my OH who has Alzheimer’s/dementia, but I realized I need to be back here with my friends again. Over the past 3 or 4 years years the weight has crept up and I realized tonight that I am I’m starting again at just 100 grams less than back in 2017. My knees hurt and standing up from a seated position requires help from both hands. Some of that is lack of exercise, but mostly I think it’s the extra 13kg. SuzyQ, I think you will like the 5:2 way of losing. It’s the easiest diet I’ve ever lost weight on.

Cinque, great to see you again and thank you for the warm welcome back. I do need to be here. I used to spend hours here talking to you lot, far more time than I did with anyone else in my daily life. I think we all got to know each other very well. It’s good to look forward to posting here after everyone else is asleep.
I never heard of a combo microwave and air fryer before You’ll have to report back on how well it works. Air fryers have certainly become popular these past few years. I know LJ had been using hers for lots of different things.
You can send some of that rain and cold weather over here anytime you like. We had another day of 41 or 42C temps again today. These high temps have been going on for at least a couple of weeks. Thank goodness for air conditioning, but I am dreading this month’s bill. It is supposed to “cool down” to 37 tomorrow. Thin, no, these kinds of temps so many days in a row aren’t normal for Northern California. I hope it doesn’t become the new normal due to global warming.

LJ, you are right about this being a good support group. With so much stress and all the problems and unpredictability of OH’s illness, it felt like I had nothing positive to say. The sadness, the fear and anger at the universe about why this was happening to us becomes overwhelming. But there are always some good things even on the most challenging days. And getting rid of this excess weight and being among friends is so important. I realize going back over the older posts that I’m not the only one with family health problems. It seems like nobody here has been untouched over the years. I’m just glad to see that you are all still here.

Thin, I don’t know if you get AppleTV+ for a streaming option over there, but they had a three season series called Ted Lasso that was so good. I thought of you right away when we started watching it. It was about an American college football coach, who is unexpectedly recruited to coach a fictional English Premier League soccer team, He’s the sweetest guy, but knows nothing about soccer and the fans are relentless, yelling “Wanker! wanker wanker!” from the stands whenever they don’t agree with something he does. It’s hilarious. Is it steamed anywhere in Aus? Highly recommend viewing if available.

Well yesterday’s FD resulted in a .3kg loss. Not as much as I had hoped, but along with the one on Tuesday that’s .6kg so far this week. I think last time I averaged about .7kg per week. I hope my knees start to appreciate it soon and it’s not just arthritis that’s making them hurt.

Good morning everyone,

Welcome SuzyQ, about time we had someone from South Africa here! How is it going?

Well I have given up on the microwave-combo already. It has an annoying fan that blows for 3 minutes every time you microwave something for 2 minutes or more. I can’t bear it! So I am back to my old microwave, but when it carks it I will try a combo again.

Neil, such a hard week. Well done for getting through it. I hope your boss has enough leader capability to make it up to you now, and make sure that sort of week doesn’t happen again. (Really hoping he could at least give you a $700 bonus). Good luck getting yourself centered again.

LJoyce that carrot and walnut cake sounds so delicious. Ha yes, aren’t social expectations of children’s birthday cakes extraordinary these days.

Cali, thankyou re Miso. There are still times I think I see her out of the corner of my eye (I have a little black cd player that sits on a small stool).

I have quite bad LPR (Laryngopharyngeal reflux) now and I must have small meals so I am not doing much 5:2. It is keeping me so mindful and frugal in my eating that no-one has sent me off this forum (yet! Haha).

Sympathy with that brutal hot weather. It is SO hard when the nights are hot too. I do hope a cool change comes soon.

Congratulations on that loss. Half a kilogram a week is normal, if I remember rightly… or maybe that was normal for me. Doesn’t matter, it gets your excess weight off!

Thin, you are right that ‘Have You Been Paying Attention’ is a Mock the Week type of show. It is from the Working Dog company (The Castle, Thank God You’re Here, Frontline etc) so it is homegrown and quite an institution now.

It turns out an airfryer is just a very small efficient oven with a good fan.So I am sorry I am too annoyed to have fun figuring out what can be done in it.

And yay, .5 a week, 2kg a month. perfect weightloss timeline.

Cali, they now have 7 in 1 microwave-combos, how can we keep up?!

Sending good wishes to your poor knees, I do hope the pain can lessen.

I’m a bit distracted, I am cooking a chicken dish, chatting to my granddaughter on my ipad (luckily she is also distracted, drawing and telling me what she is drawing) and trying to finish off this. Sorry if I have missed some things or said things twice!

Bye now

PS At least the microwave mix up meant I got to clean the space (it was disgusting under it) and also discover the build up of fluff on the ventilation panel at the back of my microwave (it is amazing it could still work!).

Good evening everyone.

I’m trying to type while eating my FD dinner. Probably not the most sensible choice, but I don’t want to run out of time to post like last night. Tonight is a warm spinach salad with greek chicken and a yoghurt-lemon dressing.

SuzyQ, hello, it’s wonderful to finally have someone from South Africa on the forum. We are normally Aussies with a kiwi or two (at the moment that’s just Neil) and a couple of others in the northern hemisphere who are very much at home with us.
I don’t know if anyone else eats breakfast on FDs, but you need to do what gets you through the days and is sustainable over the long term. I do the opposite, and eat as late as possible on FDs. For a 500 cal FD I allow up to 100cal for milk in hot drinks (mostly cups of tea), 50 calories for a piece of fruit in the afternoon and 350 calories for dinner. At the moment the weather is very cold here and I’m finding it easier to do 3 x 800cal FDs instead of the usual 2 x 500cal FDs. The only change for me on FDs is that instead of the piece of fruit I’m having a hot lunch – mostly either veggie soup or porridge. (This doesn’t usually amount to 800 calories, but as it’s more than 500, I feel safer adding a third fast day.)
I’ve never tried scrambling tofu, although with the egg shortage here at present, it might become necessary.
As to what I cook for FD dinners. I use warm salads – a big bowl of leaves with tomato and cucumber. Then a marinate a small half chicken breast or lamb steak and pan fry it. I add greek yoghurt, lemon juice and a little olive oil to the pan juices to make a dressing and finely slice the meat. When tossed through the salad it warms it up enough to be palatable in cold weather. I also do similar things to Neil – make a normal dish such as curry, chilli, bolognese etc but have a small portion with low cal veg rather than rice or pasta.

Cali, I hope 5:2 is feeling comfortable again. Well done on the weight loss, half a kilo sounds realistic to me.
The heat sounds awful, I hope the fires leave you alone this summer.
I will hunt out those missing penguin videos – I will try to text them. I think I had trouble with attachment size when trying to use email.

Cinque, you perfectly summed up an airfyer. I think the name confuses people, it is a little oven with a very powerful fan. I use mine more for baking/roasting than I do for “frying”. I have accumulated a collection of small oven safe trays dishes and ramekins that fit into my airfryer basket that allow me to use it like an oven. I cook everything from a single serve roast dinner to shepherds pie in it. As someone who lives alone, being able to bake a single serve without using the large oven is enormously useful and efficient – much faster too. Things also taste better when freshly baked rather than reheating leftovers in the microwave.

Neil, I hope you are having a better week. When it’s too cold, I keep reminding myself of what it must be like for you in Dunedin.

Thin, your 13C summer days sound a bit bleak, I’m annoyed with similar winter temperatures here – because of the rain. I wouldn’t mind if it was sunny.

The cat is pestering me for her evening treat – a little tube of fishy flavoured mousse. I’d better go and get her one – patience is not her strong point.

Take care all.

SuzyQ,

I like to wait until about 5pm and have all my calories together on a FD but then, at my new weight, there are precious few! It’s the only downside of being slim that I can think of. When I was allocated 500 cals, I would eat cauliflower soup at 2pm and the rest of the cals for dinner (minus the equivalent cals of whatever milk I’d had in tea/coffee). Like many people here, I find that, once I start eating, it awakens the ‘hunger dragon’.

You asked for family friendly recipe ideas – I think you may have overlooked my welcome post above (10:58 pm, 12 Jul 24) in which I gave you the link to our recipe page. You will find many recipes there. Feel free to add to add to them. We tried to keep that thread chat-free so that the recipes are easy to find and in the same format with calories provided.

Thin, I must be a disgusting housekeeper too. Moving house or buying a new frig is also about the only reason I move mine. Well, occasionally when it’s “making a funny noise” we’ll move it out and vacuum the coils in back. It’s never pretty! I always think of you when discovering something forgotten in the back of the refrigerator too, or in the pantry, never opened, with an expiration date of 2005. I remembering comparing to see who had the oldest stuff. Lol! Living on the boat must have cured you of that though, having so little storage space.

Well, I lost absolutely nothing on my FD yesterday. And I ate only 465 calories. I know that happens sometimes, but I don’t recall it happening this early on. Oh well, maybe it’ll show up tomorrow.

It is just so wonderful to have you back with us Cali. I agree with Neil that the weight sometimes drops a day or two later. Same with overindulging can hit you later too

So busy at work so just a quick post. I mentioned that I was hoping to get into the brand new jacket I bought back in 2019 but I tried it on the other day with a zip up fleece on and couldn’t get my arm in the sleeve so I have given up as it was causing too much stress. I found another on online and it has arrived and is too big! No probs, I can get someone to run it in a bit. It fits well up top but looks ridiculous at the bottom. It was originally $150 and reduced to $60 so I can’t complain

Our fridge gets moved only if we have a lizard sneak in the back door and run under it. It is quite disgusting but…..I just don’t care!

Welcome SuzyQ, this is such a lovely and friendly forum. Good luck with 5:2. I lost 15 kilos in 2019 and sadly put most of it back on but I am never going to stop trying

Sorry your summer is pretty bleak Thin, that must be so frustrating given the short summer England has anyway

LJ we use our air-fryer in a similar way to you. I thought we would use it a lot more but it is handy for when we do use it

Must run, promise to try harder to post more

I loved all the fridge stories! Especially the lizards, Anzac. CalifD, eew, did I really have something in the fridge from 2005? I am quite particular about cleaning the inside but there could have been jars of who knows what. You’re right, there’s no chance of hoarding with this bar fridge that I have to use now.

SuzyQ, yes, it can be tricky at first to watch family members eating – at least yours is a little ten year old ballet dancer. Spare a thought for Neil with his two hungry teenage lads. You’ll get to a point where nothing bothers you on a FD – in fact, it’s quite a smug feeling to be in control of food rather than the other way around as most of us have been in the past. If I am ever feeling that I’m missing out, I just politely explain that it’s a fast day and that I’d love to save it until tomorrow. Straight into the fridge or freezer. I never feel obligated to eat.

Neil, that was such a funny story about your boy not knowing how to spell his middle name.

We’re stuck on the Peak Forest Canal near Manchester for a day or two due to a downed tree. At last, three warm days without rain.

Thin, I think that 2005 expiration date was actually in my pantry when we were trying to outdo each other with old food items. Jars and bottles of condiments are the things most likely to grow old in my fridge, especially more unusual items that I bought for a specific recipe.

Neil, I had to laugh at your son forgetting the spelling of his middle name, but he’s right, they are usually written as just an initial. I love the name Lachlan. Where does it come from? You’re right about weight loss or gain sometimes showing up many days later. Yesterday wasn’t a FD for me, but my weight was exactly the same as the day before, after the FD, even though I was eating normally. I even had a small amount of ice cream last night. And my jeans feel slightly looser. Still, it would be nice to see some movement on the scales.

Anzac, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a lizard behind our fridge. We used to have a lot of little lizards in our back garden but we had a few cats from the neighborhood hanging out and I think they probably chased them away. I noticed a few lizards with part of their tails missing. I think they may grow back. We would occasionally find a lizard on the kitchen floor.

Suzy, I use tofu quite often. I’ve made chocolate pudding with the silken tofu. Just add cocoa and whatever sweetener you like, and put it in the food processor til it’s completely blended. I’ve also made onion dip with it. Just add a packet of dry onion soup mix and blend it. It’s hard to tell the difference between the version with sour cream an cream cheese. Tofu is so bland that it takes on the flavor of stronger flavors that you mix it with. Silken tofu can even be mixed into mashed potatoes to up the protein content. But I usually eat the firm tofu, cut into cubes with soy sauce, garlic and a bit of lemon pepper spice.

LJ, I’ve been looking at the penguin videos you sent. It was funny when you said that visitors were required to stay 3 meters away from them, but it was sometimes difficult when they were walking all around in different directions.

Intesha, I’m happy to hear that you are getting the chance to travel, but so sorry to hear about your father. Turkey must be a fascinating place to visit. I haven’t gone back and read all the posts yet, but hope you are having a wonderful time. You deserve it. When you get back and find a place to live, I will be looking forward to seeing more or your fabulous cake and cookie decorating.

Good morning everyone,

SuzyQ that 200 breakfast and 300 dinner sounds so good.

As LJoyce said, the trick is to make it as easy and sustainable as possible. Nearly everyone needs enough in the evening to make sure they sleep at night so it makes sense to have the 300 then.

It is so good that we can just try different things, different days, different meals until we figure out what works for us.

My classic fast day last meal was always miso soup with veggies and yuba (dried tofu skin).

And my favourite part of doing 5:2: waking up the morning after a fast day and feeling so empty and light!

Here is the link to the recipes thread again: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/southern-hemispherites-fd-recipes/

LJoyce, lucky Sylvie the cat with that mousse!

Cali, wo you can tell it has been rough when 37c is a welcome change.
Yikes, who knows what is going on behind my fridge! :O
All power to your fast days. It might not pay off on your daily weighing, but it always pays off long term.

Thin,
You have reminded me how having pretty much the same thing every fast day was not only easy, and saved a lot of trying to add up calories each time, but it made fast days a little set marker in the week with no anxiety about managing kitchen stuff, because it was all already sorted.

I am super impressed with your friend who cleaned behind the fridge every month. I rather wish I was that sort of person. (But I am not.)

Hooray for warm days, and Peak Forest Canal sounds beautiful.

Neil, I am so glad to hear about your better week. Hooray. (Sympathy to broken-rib man though).
Haha re Lachlan. It does sound like it should be spelt with an ‘o’ and maybe a ‘k’ in there too. And then if you think of O’Loughlin surname it can get even more confusing.

And another haha with teenage eating! Aren’t they powerhouses.

Hi Anzac, O that jacket! I am glad you didn’t pay full price.
Keep on keeping on, you do so well considering how high pressured your work life is.
Did you manage fast days this week?

Haha SuzyQ, I am up to your ‘things not to do on a fast day’ post. Wasn’t I clever to start 5:2 after my daughter left home!
I am also someone who watches a lot of cooking shows and reads a lot of recipe books (my favourite books to get from the library) and yes, best avoided on fast days!
I think I was lucky though that I found it fairly easy just to know I wasn’t eating that day, and be firm. I could go out with friends and happily sit on a coffee while they ate.
Mind you, I did a lot of thinking about what I might eat the next day!

I am so glad you worked out you can have tofu instead of eggs. What a versatile food it is!

Cali, glad to see your call out to Intesha. Intesha, time we had an update! I am so keen to hear how you are going, and hoping you have found a good place to live.

Well, it is still wintery here but the sun is out!
Sending best wishes to everyone

G’day, it’s great to see you! I’ll trade you some of that cold gloomy weather for the dry, scorching sun forecasted at about 38 today. We had several days in the low to mid 30’s this week, so that was a break. Glad to hear that you’re sleeping well and that your weight is holding steady.

Cinque, I sometimes wonder what is going on behind my fridge too. Who knows what comes out in the darkness of night? I hope it isn’t anything like the huge bug my sister saw when she was taking the dogs out late last night. I think it was some type of beetle with long antennae. I’m sure it was over 5cm. It was just sitting there. I’m pretty sure they can fly so we went back it the house and left it alone.

I agree with all of you that keeping FD’s simple. Last time I almost always ate a tin of salmon that was 160 calories for lunch and a can of Lite soup, cheese enchilada and vegetable or something like that which was under 200 calories. I made up the difference with vegetables or fruit. They no longer make that soup but I’ve been trying a couple of others. I like having everything I need stocked in the pantry so I don’t have to make any decisions for those 2 days per week.

Today is a FD. Yesterday I ate a fair amount of food, even some ice cream after dinner. I felt really full when I went to sleep and figured I would show a gain in the morning. But this morning I was 100grams less! Go figure.

Have a good day everyone.

Good morning all.
It’s been been a cold wet and windy spell here. Still showers today, but I just managed a short walk with only a brief shower to dampen me.
Yesterday I had a day in the hills planned with a friend, which included her birthday present – high tea at Karkoo Nursery in Oakbank. (Yes Thin, I remember that “high tea” means something entirely different in Britain.) It was a terrible weather day for the hills. Especially as I wanted to go to several nurseries to look for camellias and gardenias (for a hedge along the back fence). The afternoon tea was lovely though – and too much food of course. Needless to say, today is a FD.

Cali, what a relief that the scales are finally behaving appropriately.
If you can’t find a suitable tinned soup, is making your own an option? (I reliase finding the alone time to cook can be difficult.) I make a stockpot full of soup and freeze lots of portions from it. There are some soup recipes on our recipe site https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/southern-hemispherites-fd-recipes/. I also have recipes for chilli bean soup and broccoli cheese soup that are both filling and delicious – I can work out the calories and post them if you are interested.
I’m finding it hard to get my head around the temperatures you are experiencing. It’s been so cold and wet here.

GDSA, glad to hear your weight is stable despite a missed fast. Good to be sleeping well too – I hope that means you have fewer stressful things in your life now.

Neil, I got a bit of a shock when you said your sons were 16 and 18. I have clear memories of you describing them as much younger boys when you first joined us here.

Cinque, yes my cat is exceedingly spoiled, although you wouldn’t know it from her behaviour. When it comes to begging for treats she’s a bit like Anzac’s Maxx – Does a good impression of a poor deprived animal who isn’t fed properly and desperately needs treats. Despite the treats, I do manage her overall daily calorie intake to account for those extras. I do a better job of keeping her within the weight range the vet advises, than I do with my own weight.

Time to go and make my second pot of tea for the day. I’m not hungry yet, so I might even manage a 500cal day.

Take care all.

G’day everyone. Yesterday I gained back those .5kg that I lost on Thurs FD and the scales stuck there again today. But I’ve been eating sensibly so I’m hoping to lose it on my FD tomorrow.

LJ, I’m sorry you had such crummy weather for your high tea with your friend. I wish I could trade some of that with our hot dry temps. We got a little break today, only about 36C highs today but they’re forecasting around 39 for the next two days. I could make my own soups, it’s not just caring for OH, DS can watch him, but everything else to do with the house like repairs or finding someone to do them, paying bills, etc are my job now since he is unable. Then there’s also the lack of freezer space to store a week or more worth of soups. We have so many frozen vegetables and meat in our freezer. The canned soups are easy. I found a Manhattan clam chowder that’s pretty good, But I will try some of those soups you posted for regular family meals. Thank you for posting them.

Cinque, what is it about cold weather, especially cold rainy weather that fires up the hunger dragons? I guess that’s one good thing about this hot weather. I’m glad you’re feeling better now. I would gladly trade 5 degrees with you! I think that would keep us both comfortable!

Day after FD for me and I dropped a kg. But I woke up hungry in the night so it wasn’t the best effort – worth it on the scales though.

Neil, fine if the company would like to send you guys on that skiing trip, expenses paid. What a wally. Congrats to Jay for passing his written test. Sounds like Australia then where parents are encouraged to teach their children to drive – passing down all the bad driver habits acquired over decades and creating tension in the home! Good luck.

CalifD, so sorry that you’re not getting instant results from your IF efforts. Have you gone back to the beginning and started strict calorie counting just to be sure? When we came back from Cuba, I reverted to 5:2 and was only losing 400g after a FD for weeks. I normally drop 900g. I finally discovered that I’d been using FF coconut milk in a recipe that I’d depended on repeatedly. The difference in calories was astounding. I only use FF products so i’ve dropped that as a FD meal.

Cinque, how is the ‘just three things’ kitchen clean-up coming along?

We’ve had a challenging few days. Firstly, cruising on the Ashton canal known for gangs of young thugs boarding your boat and helping themselves to whatever they want as you pass through locks or throwing rocks at your solar panels to smash them. It’s a lot of locks (18) to get through in a day as you can’t stay anywhere overnight safely. Operating the anti-vandal mechanisms on the locks makes double the work.

We had no incidents but it was a tense day cruising through what is essentially a floating garbage dump. We helped some German hire boaters who’d run over an entire mattress and got the coils caught in their prop. We were already exhausted but you can’t pass another boater in trouble. We gave them a tow.

Sometimes England feels so alien to me. I just want to be amongst people who dress, speak and look like me and share my values. I want my tribe. We moored on a pontoon where no one could get to the boat – but we couldn’t get off it either which was fine with us. We had two G&Ts and went to bed.

The second day, we left central Manchester at daybreak to start on the Rochdale canal. I had to step over sleeping homeless people to operate the locks and by 9am had already been abused by drunks climbing on our boat. OH had to go down the weed hatch every few hundred yards to clear the fouled propeller. He pulled out an entire tyre, dog leads, ropes, clothing, fishing line, plastic, metal. We had to dodge shopping trolleys, motor bikes and who knows what else. It could have been the Mekong.

At one lock, we couldn’t open the gate because a couch had been dumped in front of it. It took us 11.5 hours to complete 17 locks to get to a safe-ish place to moor. Yesterday we covered five locks in five hours due to low water levels. Vandals had opened the paddles letting out all the water so OH had to walk ahead and let some water through so we could float. We’re now in the countryside and OK but the canal is closed at the other end due to low water – and we really don’t want to repeat that exercise.

The less glamorous aspects of narrow boating!

Yesterday wasn’t a FD, today is. But this morning I had a .6kg weight loss over yesterday, which makes it .7kg lost since last Monday morning. Finally! I was ready to give those scales a good kick! I will hopefully lose some more on today’s FD. Thin, I count calories strictly on FD’s, but the rest of the week I eat what I want, just not too much of it. That’s what worked last time. I do get a lot less exercise now since I spend about 5 hours hand feeding OH. But it’s the only way to get food into him. And he’s been losing weight anyway, not a good thing because he isn’t overweight. I often sit and type on the iPad while he’s chewing.
Thin, that trip through the Rochdale Canal sounds awful. Certainly not for the faint of heart! There was no way to avoid it? I hope you’re in a safer spot now.

Neil, congrats to your son on passing his learners permit test. Was the additional auto insurance for him to drive expensive? Car insurance over here has been increasing quickly, especially in California. Everything seems to be going up quickly.
Have all of you noticed big increases in food? Here, my grocery bill has gone up at least 30-40% over the past couple of years. Restaurants are even more expensive. We only do take out, but not very often anymore.

More hot weather today and for the next couple of days. Highs are around 38 to 40. I don’t remember such a hot summer in the past. I’m still waiting for some of that cool Aussie weather!

I hope you are all going well and keeping the hunger dragons under control. It’s so good to be back here again. I missed each and every one of you.

Hello All. Hope you are all well ?

Just a quick ‘pop-in” to say Hi and thank goodness for herbal teas. As a non water and coffee drinker these are definitly coming to the rescue. I have found a Tetleys green apple one that is very nice and a Lipton ginger and lemon. I am strictly a black tea with milk and sugar girl. Can quite happily drink 6-8 cups a day especially in winter , so I needed to find something that didnt use up my precious calories . Ta Da ! Herbal teas for the win.

Just wondering… does anyone else get little headaches in the morning after a FD or even during a FD ? Nothing serious enough to take a pill , but a little niggle?

Morning all, I got a bit of a shock to the system this morning, up 1.5 kilograms from last week. It’s been a real rollercoaster for the last month, bouncing up and down the same 1.5 kilos.

Thin, you can do either teaching the kids, or professional lessons, or a combination of both. Since lessons are $85 each, we’re going to go for a mixture of both. I’ll take him out and show him the basics, then we’ll get some professional lessons for him in a few weeks (they have a 6 week waiting list for lessons), then he can practice with family members until his test.

Cali, I had cheap insurance because I’m the only one that drives our car, so I had myself listed as the only named driver. I had to get him actually named on our insurance, which has increased the cost. Our insurance has skyrocketed in the last decade, but that is because of the incidents that insurance companies have had to shell out for. The Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes caused billions of dollars of damage, then cyclone Gabrielle last year caused billions more in damage that the insurance companies had to pay out for, which means everyone’s insurance bills go up. Our food bills have also been high because Cyclone Gabrielle that hit one of our main food producing areas and there was a shortage of fresh produce, but it has been coming back down again recently.

Suzy, the headache could be a few things, a bit of dehydration as Thin says, a big glass of water could solve that (or not since you say you don’t drink water). It could also be sugar or caffeine withdrawal. If you’re going from 6 cups of tea with milk and sugar a day to nothing, that’s quite a drop in both sugar and caffeine consumption. You could try reducing your tea consumption on non-fast days by swapping out every second cup with herbal tea, and see if that helps you feel better after fast days. It could also be the beginnings of keto flu. If you go really low-carb on your fast days but usually eat plenty of carbs, you can slip into what’s called keto-flu where your body uses up your stored glycogen and then starts switching to burning fat you can get hot flushed skin, headaches, nausea, dizziness, etc.

Well happy fasting everyone, and have a great day

Hello everyone,
Goodness yes, how your boys have grown Neil! (When my daughter had to do her 200 hours driving practice, I was the worst person for her to do it with, she was still in her dreadful teenage mum-irritated stage, and I had my heart in my mouth.)

Your boss is a #@*% . I wish they would give you that job. I think you would do it well, and you could do with a raise.

Cali those icecream calories sure showed up! Hooray that they have gone now. Best wishes to Mr Cali, and Grasshopper I think we know your sister as? I do hope Mr Cali is managing to eat well today.

Thin, what awful days through those nasty canals, hooray for being back in the countryside.

SuzyQ yay for herbal teas. It is amazing how much we need to drink on fast days! One reason why that big bowl of miso soup was such a good fast day meal for me.

Those headaches are common, and usually dehydration, but Neil gave such a good comprehensive answer.

Anzac, true words: “Gosh how quickly and easily the weight jumps back on if you take your eye off the ball.”

Sending best best wishes for a really good fast day tomorrow.

And sympathy for that tea reaction, how awful (so glad you can drink coffee okay).

The weather is nasty here again, after a sweet day yesterday – there was even sun!
But such a nasty cold wind today and getting worse.

However, my house is tidy, lovely home help has mopped and vacuumed. I did a bulk cook yesterday: grits and a beef, veg and peanut stew. I like grits and mastered (I hope) pressure cooking them. I even took a picture:
https://imgur.com/a/x7BRnfC

Cheers

Suzy, I think sometimes when I have a mild headache while fasting it is a lack of salt. Hard to say though without a bloodtest to monitor sodium levels. But it seems if I eat something with salt it goes away. I had forgotten about herbal teas. (Maybe because it’s been so darned hot here lately!) I haven’t seen a Tetely Green apple tea anywhere, but it sounds good. I used to drink a lot of Bengal Spice herbal tea. I think Celestial makes it. I like the spicy flavor. Makes me feel like I’ve eaten something even though it’s just tea. I used to drink a lot of caffeinated teas, but I avoid those now. I love T2 teas with all the great flavors. You have great will power not weighing yourself for that long. Like thin, I’m an obsessive weigher . 🙂 I weigh myself first thing every morning.

Thin, the only local organizations that provide any kind of respite care are private agencies. We have a caregiver that comes 3 times per week, 4 hours each time. That is their minimum amount of time per week. It costs over $400 per week. I use that time for grocery shopping or my own doctors appointments when I have them. There are some daycare places that are more reasonable, but his condition is too advanced for that and he doesn’t like to leave the house. I actually don’t mind feeding him, it just takes a lot of time.
There was a story on the news on tv yesterday about fast food places becoming a luxury for many families. We don’t often go to McDonalds even though there’s one up near the grocery store, but the last time we went it was at least double the price from a year or two ago. Ridiculous prices! I wonder if they’re losing money or if people are just going anyway?

Neil, sorry to hear about the 1.5kg bounce. But you know it is probably that, and will be gone in a day or two. I gained 100grams after Monday’s FD but then lost 300grams on the scales this morning. Like you said the other day, sometimes it just shows up a day or two later. Mine sure is inching down slowly, but it’s moving. And the 5:2 is starting to feel normal again. Two days a week isn’t that difficult.

Cinque, your bulk cook of grits and beef look delicious. How nice it will be to have dinner made ahead of time for so many days. I haven’t eaten grits in ages. I will have to buy some. My favorite was always grits with a pat of butter and salt and pepper. Many years ago on a trip to New Orleans, they seemed to be on every breakfast menu, either like that or with cheese as well.

Anzac, you’re right about how quickly the weight sneaks up when not fasting. Sure seems to go on easier than it comes off!

Have a good day everyone.

Good evening everyone.

The end of a FD for me (my third for the week). Instead of my usual warm salad, I made some mini quiches with the veg in the fridge. I had one with a small side salad for dinner. Some are left over for NFD lunches. (I have posted the recipe.)

Commiserations Anzac. I don’t know where I’d be without tea, it gets me through every day, especially FDs.

Neil & Cali, I too have noticed how much grocery prices have been increasing. I find myself checking the unit price, looking for the best deal.
I have also gone back to a practice I used to use years ago, when I struggling with my mortgage. One week each month I prepare all meals from food already in the fridge, freezer or pantry. Usually I only need to buy milk and a small amount of fresh fruit and veg these weeks. I find it helps me keep on top of the extra “on sale” items that I’ve stashed in the freezer or pantry.

SuzyQ, I’m the same with water – easy in summer, but in winter I keep reaching for another hot cup of tea.

Cinque, thanks for the photo. I’ve never really understood what grits are. I assumed it was a bit like polenta, which I do make to go with meals like chilli or osso bucco.

Hello to anyone else who is reading.

All this talk of tea has me wanting a pot now. It will have to be decaffeinated at this time of night.

Take care all.