Morning all.

Yesterday was a lot better than the weekend. I managed to keep myself to a flat white during the day, then a bowl of pumpkin soup, a handful of walnuts, and a handful of roasted chickpeas for dinner. Total of around 780 calories. So far so good today, I’ve just had a flat white and a couple of snacka balls for a total of 200 calories, I’m going to have a small avocado for a late lunch for another 200 calories. If I can keep my dinner to under 400 calories then hopefully that will be enough to counter the excess sugar and carbs I ate in the weekend. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow morning.

It’s still cold. It was so cold this morning that I got an icecream headache riding my bike down the hill on the way to work, and it’s currently snowing down at sea level. I’m hoping it clears away by the end of the day when I’m due to ride home.

Good Morning Everyone

That’s great Neil! FD’s are such a good way to undo the damage done from a big weekend.

This is my third week of FD’s (two per week) and I am super happy with the results so far. After my first FD for the week on Monday, yesterday morning I weighed in at 78.5 kg (a loss of 4kg in just over two weeks). I haven’t been in this weight range since 2020. I am fasting today and can’t wait to see what my weight will be tomorrow!

The only downside is my reflux is giving me a bit of hell at the moment so I am going to trial a few things to try and fix that. Firstly I am going to give up coffee. it’s no big deal for me as I prefer tea anyway (hi LJ). I only have one coffee per day and only when I am working. At home I drink tea. Since I’ve started fasting I have been having long black’s so I don’t waste calories in my coffee. Before fasting I was having almond milk. A medium almond milk coffee is about 75 calories, not worth it for me on FD’s. I researched a little bit last night and there were suggestions to eat something so that the stomach is not empty. I thought celery would be good because it is crunchy and I like it. I also read that leafy greens are good. Apparently when there is food in the stomach the oesophageal sphincter closes which helps keep the acid in. So obviously when there isn’t food, that sphincter is open and allows the acid and pepsin gases to rise in the oesophagus. I don’t have that much acid coming up just the lump in my throat and constantly wanting to swallow which I read is due to the gases. Who knows? So today I am armed with some celery, some baby spinach and I will have my instant miso soup for lunch.

As Suzy said in her post earlier this week, we have to make FDs work for us. There is no reason that I have to go all day without eating as long as I stay in my calorie range. I just prefer to go as long as possible so that I have more calories available for dinner as I still try and eat a fairly normal dinner.

Well I’m on a FD today so I will be checking in here again often. Hope those of us fasting have a nice easy one and hope everyone else has a lovely day too xx

Back again with a cup of tea.
Still no homehelp. I’ll do another post and then ring the council to find out what has happened.

Suzy Q, it is so good reading your posts and seeing you triumph against difficult fast days, and finding things out about how your body reacts to hunger and fullness and sugar after fast days!
(I have had to cut out sugar/sugary things altogether because of my twin horrible reactions: one is it triggers binge eating and the other is I feel absolutely poisoned).

Hooray for new habits. It is such a nice sideline of 5:2 that it leads to reassessing so many of our habits and giving us the space to tweak or change them.

Hello Thin, what an excellent summary of managing difficult fast days.
You are such a brilliant ambassador for fasting that sometimes I presume you have nailed non fast days too. So it was a good reminder you gave of what an ongoing tricky business that is. Sending good wishes for these NFDs.

Neil, Yikes, a 5 birthday celebration when you are still working on movie nights.
And a blast of cold weather on top of it!
Life does like to throw us challenges!

A big woot! and lots of congratulations for that lovely loss, and that lovely trajectory of losing that weight you do not need.

Morning all

I had a reasonable eating day yesterday, I ate around 2100 calories. But I woke up this morning feeling really full, so I skipped breakfast. I’m still not feeling hungry an hour or so into work. I might avoid eating until I actually feel hungry today.

Quacka, sorry to hear your reflux is playing up. I find these days that when I have an extended fast, that I get really bad acid stomach that I never really used to get. I used to snack on celery and cucumber sticks when I was doing the fast 800, it’s good for staving off the hunger pangs. Congrats on the loss, 4kg in 2 weeks is an awesome amount.

Cinque, hooray that the home help showed up. I’m (hopefully) still a few years away from having grandies, I’m in the sweet spot where my kids have got over their hyper stage, and I tire them out rather than the other way around when we go out for walks.

Well, I hope everyone else is good, and I’ll catch up with you later

Good morning everyone

Thanks for the congrats Neil. I’m very happy with the weight loss so far, even though it is not consistent. After my Wednesday FD I had actually put on 200g when I weighed myself Thursday morning! I ate within my calorie limit but I did have a lot of salt again! I made a Thai beef salad with Konjac noodles for FD dinner. It works out fairly low calorie if I don’t add too much beef but the dressing has fish sauce in it. When I checked how much sodium is in fish sauce I found there is 2800mg in one tbsp! There is 2 tbsps in the dressing. So whatever proportion of the dressing I had must have had excess salt in it. Oh dear, I really need to be more aware of the sodium in the foods I eat.

Hi Cinque, I’ve been meaning to ask you how you control your reflux. Thanks for such detailed information and yes I did keep reading! It’s interesting that you use frequent small meals to control it. The reason I gave up 5:2 last time is because frequent eating helped to keep my reflux in control too. The problem I have is that I was eating too much, all the time. So the weight piled back on and that’s why I’m back here and doing what I know actually works, which is 5:2. I admire your discipline in only eating small amounts, it’s something I struggle with. I am still trying to control the over eating on NFDs. I know eating too much doesn’t help the reflux but it also works against my FDs. I really focus on protein these days. I used to think I ate plenty of protein but when I worked it out properly, I was actually not eating anywhere near enough. Actually LJ, you mentioned the pea protein in your last post and I had bought some of that a few weeks ago and had forgot that I had it in the pantry. I had some yoghurt, strawberries and that protein powder for breakfast on Tuesday and it kept me full for so long. It wasn’t very nice the way I made it though because early in the morning I just scattered the powder over the yoghurt and then took the container to work. When I went to eat it, the powder had absorbed any liquid from the yoghurt and made the yoghurt dry and the powder gluggy lol. Next time I will add it just before eating and mix it in really well.

Well it’s my Friday day off today. It’s horribly windy again so I don’t think there will be too much outdoor activity. I might head into the gym even though I am pretty sore from yesterday’s class and training but it is good to keep moving when feeling like that.

I hope you all have a lovely day and weekend too. Looking forward to my Monday FD. I hope to break into the 77kg range next week.
Take care all xx

Anzac <3
Sending so much love and good wishes. It sounds like you are having such a hard time. I wish we could carry you for a bit… but at least know we all do care so much.

Quacka thankyou so much, and sympathy for that salt messing up the scales. Maybe keep a graph of your weighing results, that will provide nice data over time.

Esophagitis is mean and nasty but therefore a very good teacher. I can’t believe how little food I can eat without even losing weight (although hopefully I am losing a little: half of that extra inch has gone from my waist). And it is very hard to fit in all the protein and veggies. But quite fun trying.

Best wishes all

Thin, I somehow missed that YouTube video of your DD’s travels last year. It is just amazing! So many interesting animals and gorgeous scenery. So many times I wished some of the scenes would continue beyond a second. I loved seeing those wild macaws flying through the trees. Thank you again for posting it.

Anzac, I hope things are calming down for you today. I too, am sending love and good wishes your way. Is there anything we can do to help besides sending virtual hugs?

Cinque, thank you for the explanations of acid reflux and how fasting affects it. OH relieved a lot of his by sleeping with his head raised. First he used a foam wedge that I’ve probably written about here before. Now that he can’t get up the stairs to our bedroom, he sleeps downstairs in a hospital bed which is great for being able to adjust the height of his head. I sleep on the sofa a couple feet away.

Our refrigerator decided to die about a week ago. At first it was just the freezer and then a day later the frig too. It was a good sized side by side. Luckily, we have a smaller one in the garage that we were able to stuff with things like meat and cheese that would spoil, but we shop less often these days and stock up on more at a time. We had the frig for about 19 years, and according to the repair shops, the life expectancy is about 15 years so it wasn’t worth trying to get it repaired which would have been expensive.

I’m home with OH almost all the time except a few hours when the caregiver is here 3 days per week. So I spent the better part of a week on the phone and on websites of several stores. I wanted a white refrigerator because our kitchen cabinets and other appliances are white. And I wanted one that was counter depth so it wouldn’t stick out so far. It’s very difficult to find white ones these days. Everyone wants the stainless steel. White ones are often special order and more expensive. I remember when they were the cheapest. And we needed it as soon as possible and most stores were at least a couple weeks out. I finally found one that could be delivered in 2 days. It was more expensive than the ones I wanted, but we now have a refrigerator. It’s one with French doors and bottom freezer drawer. Less freezer space than the old one but more refrigerator space. They delivered it at around 9:00 in the morning when OH is usually sleeping, but with a sleep mask and foam earplugs, he slept right through the delivery, set up and hauling away of the old one. So that’s my excitement for the week.

I hope everyone is having a good day.

Oh no, Neil, I hope your son is okay. Did he crash on the slopes while skiing or on the bus that took them there? Sending positive thoughts your way.

Neil, so hoping your son is okay. A head hit is such a worry so I am sending lots and lots of good wishes that the concussion isn’t bad.

Good luck with your control day.

Hi Cali!
I am like your husband, sleeping with head raised. Bed chocked up and then pillows in piles. His hospital bed has an extra handy use!
Ooh yikes. Farewell old fridge. Welcome to the new one! It sounds wonderful.
Hooray that Mr Cali slept through the delivery.

Ooh Neil, your post just came through. Yikes, that is a nasty concussion. What a night. I am so glad you are all home now and I hope he can be quiet and recovering now. Best wishes to your son and all the family.

Hello Thin, Cheers for works in progress!

I’m doing well. Esophagus is settling down well. School holidays so I am doing as much grandma stuff as I can. Must get organized.

Best wishes all

CalifD, I’m so happy that you enjoyed the one second video. I thought you might but then, when you didn’t comment, I just assumed you were way too busy with your OH’s care. Your old fridge did well. I’ve been told that ‘white goods’ as they’re weirdly called are designed to last five years and one day. Remember when our parents’ appliances lasted their entire marriage? I mourn our last fridge. I loved the freezer drawers being at the bottom. It had external ice and ice water dispensers but wasn’t the silly size that encouraged one to house lots of unhealthy sauces and ‘non-food’ items in the door. I’ve never put magnets/childrens’ drawings on my fridges as I dislike clutter. I’m in awe of how you could get earplugs into someone else’s ears – what a star you are.

Neil, you were right to be mightily pissed off. Head injuries can go quickly downhill (and I don’t mean in the school van) and it’s not for teachers to assess. So pleased that you got your lad to A&E and I hope the length of time spent there was mostly monitoring his head injury, not waiting to be seen.

Cinque, wishing you happy days with your grandies and hoping they don’t tire you too badly.

We had an Indian summer lasting about a week. We managed to prep and get two coats of paint on the roof. It’s now heavy rain for the foreseeable future. We are stuck anyway as one of the locks ahead that should have undergone winter maintenance last year is being repaired now and not re-opening until 25 October. We will then have three days to fly down twenty locks to get to another one that is closing for winter works. If the River Soar floods at any time during those three days, we will be stranded for winter.

Day after FD and only 600g off this week. I will strive to drink no alcohol except when we go out to a jazz club for our anniversary at the weekend. Dining/drinking out is so expensive that it’s self-limiting in that respect.

Afternoon all

Well my boy slept until 3pm the following day. He says his headaches are getting better, but his neck is quite sore. The hospital checked his neck and cleared him of serious injury, but he’s off school and work for a week, and been referred to the concussion clinic for follow up. I’ve rang the school and requested the principal call me to discuss the incident.

Anzac, great to hear you’re feeling a bit more up now. They say you’re only as old as you feel, and a bit of destruction/construction is a great way to feel good. Only issue with age is the aches the following day last a bit longer 😉

Thin, I hope you have a good run on your locks. It looks like you’ll be racing down the river at the same time I’m racing around the Nelson cycle trail.

Cali, we’re not quite out of using our fire at the moment, but we seem to be heading that way. There’s been a couple of days where we’ve not needed to light it, but still plenty of days where we’ve had it on all day.

Have fun during the holidays Cinque, they are a lot of fun when you’re on them, but also a relief at the end of them to be able to send the kids back to school.

Well I managed to keep to 1500 calories yesterday on my control day, and I’ve only had 400 so far today on my fast day, so calorie-wise I made up for Saturday’s excess. But I’m still expecting a gain this week. The sugar and starch I ate on Saturday has brought back my digestion issues. I’m feeling bloated and yuck, and that usually means I’m retaining a bit of weight.

Well at my weekly weigh in today I didn’t go up. It was a narrow loss of just 100g, but it’s still another week of moving in the right direction. I’ll take it!

Cali, 37 is too damn hot! 28 sounds like my kind of temperature though, better than the 11° we got yesterday.

Yay! I hit the 77s! 77.9kg this morning after FD yesterday.

***Does the happy ducky dance***

Have a great day everyone xx

Whoo hoo Quacka! Doing the happy ducky dance with you! You had a great FD. Now, easy does it for the days ahead so you can stay in the 77’s. I need to do the same. I do great on FD’s but I don’t pay enough attention on NFD’s.

Neil, how’s your son feeling today?

CalifD, there’s an annual winter works schedule to repair and replace locks between November and March when it’s quieter on the canals. It’s published every August so, in theory, constant cruisers like us can plan around it. Lock gates typically last 25 years and each one is made to measure. Unfortunately, the Canal and River Trust has lost control of the infrastructure due to poor management. Works that were scheduled last winter didn’t get done. They don’t maintain anything, but go into damage control when it inevitably breaks.

Thanks to those who expressed concern, it is a worry. But we’ve since changed our plans as when I called to see if the first lock would likely be completed on time, I was informed that engineers hadn’t even started on it (despite closing it to boat traffic). Ten vital days already wasted so little hope for us to pass before the second one closes two days later. So, we now have to take the very long way around – an additional 40 locks and 100 miles – where anything can go wrong from downed trees to broken lock paddles. And one flood-prone river. We bought foot and hand warmers yesterday. We’re still waiting for the spare cylinder for one life vest to arrive before we can set off. OH’s self-inflated while he was operating a lock paddle recently – it was a funny sight but an annoying and expensive one.

Anzac, sorry I forgot to answer your question – 33 years.

Yes, it will be an expensive holiday for you with the Aussie dollar performing so poorly. I’m grateful that we’re not relying on our Aussie finances to live here. The cost of living is out of control on the west coast of Oz though – and of course there’s a housing crisis. Properties have supposedly gone up 65% since we left and there’s literally nothing to rent. Professional people with decent jobs are sleeping in their cars. Fortunately, we always planned to downsize significantly and move away from the inner ‘burbs – even so, returning to an overheated property market isn’t very appealing. Especially in a place that’s becoming hotter, drier and increasingly prone to bush fires. It might be fun to settle in a different part of Oz or even NZ – any ideas anyone? I just need a low population, a great view and a decent climate please. Thank you.

Good Morning Everyone

Thank you for the congratulations! I am up 1kg after 4 days of NFD. I didn’t really go much overboard but it is pretty usual for my weight to go up and down.

Today is my Monday FD so I hope to be back in 77s tomorrow and then see what happens later in the week. We have a long weekend coming up which will probably undo some of this work but whatever (**shrugs**). I am still going to live my life. I focus on 5:2 being a way of life not a quick fix.

Neil, it’s good to have goals. I have a long term goal and then my short term goals are one kg at a time. So my next goal is the 76s.

Thin, it’s interesting reading about your life on the boat and all the challenges that you face. What an adventure!

We went to WA last year and had a look around at a few blocks of land. We contacted two real estates about two different blocks and I have to say they are the worst over there!! One agent didn’t even call us back and the other wanted to put us into a sales contract just to make an offer!! Since then property prices have risen 15% in a year. At times I wish we persevered and bought something but on the other hand I’m happy we didn’t as we are now going to start travelling.
It’s very exciting for me and I’m also a little anxious (as in a lot). First overseas destination is New Zealand in November. (I’m hoping all that cold weather has gone by then, Neil!). I’m looking forward to catching some of your big Kingfish and also seeing the beautiful scenery. Everyone I’ve spoken to has told me how beautiful it is so I can’t wait to see it for myself. Mr Q wants to go white water rafting and jet boating as well. First stop over there is Raglan for the awesome left hander apparently lol
We also have the Maldives booked for next year. This is Mr Q’s dream. We stop at Singapore for two nights on the way so that will be an experience for us too. NZ will be our first overseas trip

Well I better go and do some work. Anyone fasting with me today? If you are, hope it goes easy for you and to all of us a Happy Day 🙂

Morning all

Quacka, I hope you enjoy your trip here. Top of the North Island is a lot warmer than it is down here in the deep south, so you should be alright. The Coromandel is a nice area if you can make it there, my wife and I spent a week around the Hahei/Whitianga area on our 10th wedding anniversary, and it’s wonderful there, it’s a couple of hours from Raglan.

I was joining you on the fast yesterday, and I’m fasting again today. I went completely food free until dinner yesterday, having just a flat white during the day, then I had a lamb chop, salad, roast pumpkin and kumara for dinner, around 600 calories. I’ll be fasting again today since we had our big family lunch on Saturday, and I ate far too much dessert. It’s tricky when everyone brings something, and you want to try a bit of everything. Although it seems to be my norm at the moment. Eat too much in the weekend, fast on Monday and Tuesday before my Wednesday weigh-in.

Thin, Ha, some people have a cheek. My wife and I never usually go overboard when eating out because it’s far too expensive. We’ll get a meal each (my wife usually gets entree size as she doesn’t eat much, we have one drink each, then split a dessert. It’s usually more than enough food for the two of us.

Building up for my bike trip. I’ve spent the last 2 months doing a whole lot of elevation to get my fitness back up, this month I’m going to concentrate of getting a few more distance rides under my belt, then I should be all set for the 240km I’ll be riding at Labour weekend.

Have a great one everyone, and I’ll check in tomorrow when I’ve had my weigh-in

Well done Neil, yippee, great news! I’m sure Cinque will organise some balloons and fireworks.

Big shock the last 2 days with huge increases on the scales, then this morning my Fitbit app sent me an email to say batteries in the scales needed replacing. Phew, scale malfunction not a weight loss malfunction thank goodness.

Quacka, I was about to write that I will be joining you in a FD today – but now you’ve fallen off the wagon so I will have to carry the baton alone. Good luck with the rest of your day. My two fast days were always Sunday and Wednesday, not conventional. So you usually do Mon & Weds? Could a possible explanation that you find the Weds fast tricky be because perhaps you tend to overcompensate on the Tuesday eating day and then those not so good food choices might present a challenge (sugar addiction, for example) on the following FD? Just a thought. Then again, it might just be your reflux issue.

Ah yes, WA – a state heavily dependent on mining and exporting raw materials to China and India. It makes for a volatile boom and bust economy. Did you enjoy your drive across the Nullarbor? It’s been decades since we did that but we absolutely loved it. Other travellers were trying to drive it in record time and comparing notes and quite horrified when we said it took us two weeks!

Quacka, I’ve been doing the same thing with my weight bouncing up and down between FD’s. It’s trending down, but VERY slowly. Mondays and Thursdays are still my FD’s.

Neil, congrats on your loss! 5.5kg is great! You mentioned eating kumara as part of one of your meals. I had to look that one up. Yams and sweet potatoes that we have here look like that. Sweet potatoes are light orange and more starchy than yams which are a dark orange or reddish colour. One of the websites that talked about them had a recipe for a spicy kumara salad that looks good. http://focussedonfood.blogspot.com/2014/09/spicy-kumara-salad.html I think I may have to try it.

thin, don’t even talk about taxes. I filed for an extension this year, the first time I ever didn’t send them in April. Now the deadline is Oct. 15th and I keep procrastinating because I have to go through some papers to find what I need. Of course, it hangs heavily on my mind when just getting things together and doing them would be a lot easier. It’s just hard to find the time with caregiving these days.

GDay, that “downsized” house you found for thin is certainly basic! It looks like that house and others around it are out in the middle of nowhere by themselves. It makes me imagine what their lives are like and why they chose to live there.
Housing in California has increased a lot too over the past several years. Even during Covid, a time when you would think the bottom would fall out of the housing market, prices went way up. Maybe because when people were under lockdown they appreciated their surroundings more. Housing prices and inflation in general is a big factor in our presidential election this year. Candidates talk as though this country is the only one going through the high costs when it sounds like everyone here is experiencing much the same. I will be glad when the election is over. Very unsettling times.

GDay, I was looking again at that home listing you posted in Beltran, SA. I didn’t notice the link for 19 additional photos before. It looks surprisingly different on the inside, with nice flooring and fixtures and a beautiful fireplace. It also seems larger than it looked just looking from the outside. The views outdoors are pretty spectacular in some directions. I wonder where they get their electricity and plumbing? And where would they do shopping for food and supplies? Intriguing.

Cali, Beltana is located just over 200kms North from where I live so the landscape is the same as mine, we’re both in the Flinders Ranges. Beltana is obviously more remote.

It was once a thriving township of 100’s of people but the population now is around 40. The nearest town for supplies and for school is the small town of Leigh Creek to the North, about 30 mins drive or to Hawker, about 1.5 hours drive to the South, then the next major township is near me, further South again about 2.5 hours drive which is where all the major services are located for the Flinders Ranges.

They have power from the national grid and water is from bores and wells, rainwater tanks, too remote for the water pipeline.

I think the inside of the house is beautiful.

The Flinders Ranges is a huge area, mostly remote with absolute stunning landscapes and amazing wildlife. Brutally hot and dry in summer.

I’m located at the Southern tip of the Flinders, my property has numerous huge gum trees which are hundreds of years old, I have views of the Ranges from my house and bush land, creek beds and wildlife right next to me.

I’ve lived here all of my life but Miss GDay and I really want to move to Adelaide. While we love our house and location, there’s nothing here, all the things we want to do are in Adelaide, sadly we cannot afford to buy anything there, even the worst house in the worst suburb is now unaffordable. So I keep buying a lotto ticket each week in hope of a big win.

Neil, I’m so sorry to hear about all the damage and mess you’re experiencing there. It sounds like some of our southeastern states last week which are still trying to clean up and get supplies in after the hurricane. And now there’s another one headed toward Florida. So much flooding and damage all around the world. I hope this isn’t a sign of worse things to come with global warming.
You’re doing great with the exercise, Neil. I hope the scales have some good news for you.

GDay, I’ve been looking at some of the towns and homes around the Flinders Ranges. It’s such a fascinating area, so beautiful and wild.

I’m still bouncing up and down between the 65’s and 66’s. Heading slowly down but not practicing enough restraint on NFD’s.

Have a good day everyone.