Oh Quacka, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t trying to make anyone feel sorry for me. I just told those stories for your amusement more than anything. They are just so absurd. These are not things I would really divulge outside this forum. I assume we’re all here because we have some kind of ‘issues’ with food.

No, my brother has no food issues but he did practice 5:2 for quite a while as he was worried about our paternal family history of diabetes. We discovered in our forties that we both essentially eat anything except beetroot which makes both of us gag. Quite interesting considering we have lived most of our lives in different continents; could that be genetic?

I carried that food baggage around for decades. I still have an urge to reach over to another table in a restaurant and finish their wasted food (obviously I would never do it but how can anyone order a muffin and then just leave the whole thing behind? – at least take it for later!). I always say I’m still the same person I always was wrt food was but I now have the tools to deal with it. And, exactly as you said in your previous post, 5:2 has taught me about portion control and that hunger is OK. Good, even. It seems I will always need IF as a crutch as I’m obviously unable to maintain this low weight on a daily basis without it. But it seems a small price to pay to be a healthy weight for the rest of my days.

Your grandparents had a tough time surviving in Greece and Australia in those early days. Eeew, those fish eyes! Good thing Turn’s sister wasn’t their child. My parents grew up in the war and, although they came from very different socio-economic backgrounds, not wasting things was a common theme. In my later years, I did ask my mother why they made me sit there for hours staring at that awful cabbage instead of simply substituting something I would eat like peas and she explained that they just didn’t know any better – they only knew it was ‘good for me’ and were worried about my skinny little frame and finicky eating habits.

Anyway, enough about me but I’d love to continue this theme if there are any more stories out there ….

I had an extremely strict upbringing and as well as having bad food experiences growing up, I also suffered other very traumatic experiences/incidences which I won’t go into here.

Mum was a good basic cook and exceptional at cakes and baking and I have fond memories of her baking, although I was never allowed to help, just watch, as things had to be done a certain way when mum baked, but of course I was expected to help with the dishes.

My Dad was a very strict man, who believed a womans place was in the home so my mum never worked, she was not allowed to have a drivers license, we had to ask permission to use the tv or radio (which was usually denied), everything had to revolve around my father and how he expected the household to be which was quiet, spick and span tidy, everything laid out for him etc. He never lifted a finger inside the house – he demanded to be waited on hand and foot – and he was.

I was the youngest and the four siblings and mealtimes with my father filled me with fear. Strict table manners were always upheld and we had to ask permission to leave the table once we’d finished eating and had a spotless plate with ‘Please Dad may I leave the table please’ – don’t ask my why we had to say please twice but we did.

He expected the plate to be clean, and by clean, I mean not a spec of food or a mark anywhere to be seen. I can still see and hear him scraping and cleaning his plate spotless with his own ‘special’ cutlery which no one else was allowed to use – a bone handled set. The knife would bend as he pushed it around the plate getting every single spec of food off the plate.

When I was younger, I could only eat small portions, I got full easily. And I really disliked meat, I hated the taste and the texture, Dad liked his meat cooked until it became as tough a leather which made it even worse.

So, like others on this forum, I was made to sit there until I had cleared my plate, and it was spotlessly clean. I could be sitting there for hours putting minute pieces of food in my mouth trying to get it down when I was full – I wasn’t refusing the food I was simply full because I was given a portion that was far greater than what I could possibly eat. But Dad saw this as food waste and we must never waste food – giving me a smaller portion just wasn’t an option in his world.

While sitting for hours eating minute pieces of cold food wasn’t pleasant, the worst experience for me was when I was served meat. No matter how smaller piece I cut and put into my mouth and how much I chewed it, I just couldn’t swallow it. It would go around and around in my mouth until it became a disgusting ball of hard mush. This angered my father to no end and made him irate when I had no option but to take the ball out of my mouth and put it back on the plate. And the fat made me gag. Dad relished eating the fat from meat and expected everyone else to eat it too.

When the meat eating, or non-meat eating episodes would occur, Dad would rise from his chair and walk slowly to the kitchen pantry where he kept a jockeys crop horse whip hanging behind the pantry door. I’d get a whack across the back with the whip and then of course I would cry, which would make him more irate so he’d hit me again. Then he would make me put more food in my mouth, by which point I would be sobbing uncontrollably, and my only options were to either choke or spit out the food. Of course, the latter always occurred because I couldn’t swallow, so I would then be given several more cracks with the whip and sent straight to bed. Mum was forbidden to comfort me and I’d be left on my own until the following morning when nothing would be said about the night before.

This was a regular occurrence from about the age of 5 until late primary school. Every day when I got home from school, I’d ask mum what was for tea, if it was something like spaghetti bog or soup, I would jump for joy but if it was a meal that contained a piece of meat the terror would set in and I’d be a bag of nerves waiting for 5pm tea time. None of my sibling received this treatment as they had no issues clearing their plate.

About 7 years ago I sought help from a psychologist to help me work through my childhood trauma which I had held inside for almost 45 years. I had what I can only describe as a breakdown one morning, so I finally reached out for help – best thing I ever did and I should have done it a lot sooner, it would have saved me quite a few decades of being totally screwed up that’s for sure.

It was discovered during those sessions, which had never occurred to me before, that I have absolutely no memories at all of my siblings being at home when I was younger. I remember me being at home growing up but no memory of them being there with me. Of course they were there, but I cannot remember anything at all about us being together, doing anything together. I can only remember them as adults, after their school years. Strange.

I haven’t had any contact with any of my siblings for years now. Even when Mr GDay passed away I didn’t hear from any of them. For them I guess it’s easier to shut me out and pretend I don’t exist rather than believe and accept the actions of the past. Hence the story I told recently about seeing my brother for the first time in years where he just grunted at me and kept on walking as well as his removal of photos of me and Miss GDay from mums nursing home room.

But I don’t stress about them or the past anymore, I just let them be how they choose to be, and I think I’m better off without them in my life anyway. When Mum passes the funeral is going to be an interesting event, won’t it.

Anyway, probably more said than what I should have on here but I do find it therapeutic to put pen to paper so to speak. A big part of my healing was, and still is, journaling, I do it most days and it can be quite interesting to go back and read my thoughts from the past as well as a great way to track how far I’ve come.

Way past my bedtime, so good night all.

Afternoon all

Well I’m not expecting any downwards movement on the scales this week. I had a pretty rough easter weekend. I didn’t go over the calorie goals, but the weather was so cold, grey and drizzling that I didn’t manage to get any riding done, and spent the entire weekend cooped up at home eating mainly starchy stuff, which usually gives me a bump on the scales. I made some hot cross buns on Friday and had 2 of them, I made a potato and leek soup on Saturday and made some garlic bread to go with it, one of my workmates had a cheese roll fundraiser, so I had 3 of those for lunch on the Sunday, then yesterday I made a big pasta bake with the leftover roast duck we had on Sunday night.

Mostly I’m disappointed about the riding. I was really looking forward to getting out on the bike. I did manage to get out on Saturday and help my dad rebuild his raised bed gardens.

I hope everyone else had a good Easter weekend

Good morning everyone,

I’ve got my fingers crossed for you Neil. Those scales can be surprising (but you probably know the truth from your belt buckle). Hope you get a ride soon.

2.

It’s morning coffee time again for me, what a lovely time of the day.

Over the road the big truck is taking away the 6th or 7th enormous skip full of stuff from the factory. (Light industrial zoning over the road from me). The man who ran the factory died a year ago and his poor wife and kids have been working to clear up 70 years or more of junk. It had been his father’s business before his. Auction next month.

Okay, lots of posts!

Turn, I am so glad you could rescue your post. Condolences on the loss of your father. Was it this morning you watched his funeral? I am so glad they are able to live stream now, I watched my sister’s funeral that way.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0507/3754/5401/files/NFGD_LOL_preset_ftd-mx-tile-wide-lv-new.jpg?v=1688650744&width=1920

Apart from the window hiccup, all seems to be going so gorgeously on your little home. So exciting.

Quacka, two good fast days is everything. We have to take the long view.
Woot for wonderful Greek food. I am lucky that Melbourne has such a big Greek population, and that I found Greek Lenten dishes such a treasure when I was vegetarian.

Where I live was very much a Greek area (now it is upmarket). I had wonderful Greek street neighbours. When the factory over the road (a different one, it made spiral staircases) had an ornamental grapevine out the front, the elderly couple would come each year with ladder and basket. He would hold the ladder while she climbed up and harvested vine leaves. And when the house next door was pulled down and the property left vacant for a few years, she would come and forage for horta. We get lots of dandelions around here and I use the fresh leaves too.

I do so agree with you about not being scared of hunger. In fact coming to enjoy the hungry feeling, as I will eat in an hour and enjoy every mouthful.

Yes, re the white cats, and how lovely to be doing sign language with your dog.

I’m a warrigal greens convert, they grow so easily and when a plant starts looking old and ratty (after months) I pull it out happily because more seedlings will be up, self sown.

But Oh you are so right about all the pests loving the Asian greens! They are full of holes! I am trying to get some flowering things going to attract the predators.

Thin, I also despair about the food today. When I was a child, women were expected to do the cooking and it seemed such a liberation to free them from the expectation and the burden. But now, more and more, no-one does the cooking. I heard an ad yesterday that you can get the things you need for school lunches home delivered in the morning (seeing as how it is too hard to organise it yourself).

Hello friends

Lovely to catch up on your posts. Turn, I am so sorry about your Dad – big hugs to you

It seems many of us have a common theme about childhood trauma with food. My Mum was not a great cook and served up vegetables that had been in the pressure cooker so long they no longer resembled anything other than pulp. Alongside was mostly fatty lamb chops and I was very fussy and could not swallow the food without choking, similar to you G’day. Mum would wack me across the legs if Dad was at work and yell at me to finish the food. Once she caught me putting it in the bin and the berating was so fierce I ran away from home

I went to my first restaurant at 16 and had no clue how what to do! I think I had MacDonald’s about 3 or 4 times growing up and I liked it then but now I hate it. Mr Anzac and I have a secret enjoyment of KFC maybe twice a year but always regret it afterwards

The job is going better, things are becoming a bit more understandable and I was asked to create am excel template for data mapping (eek!) so I worked on it over Easter and my Project Manager loves it. Phew!

We have booked a week away on our precious Magnetic Island for Mr A’s 60th birthday in June. We met when I was 21 and he was 22 and the years have flown but what a wonderful time we have had with all our travelling. I feel very blessed and thankful for everything I have including a decent brain so I can earn enough money for both of us. Mr A suffered terrible anxiety when he worked for a wage to the point in 2009 I begged him to quit and I went back to contracting to earn a bit more. He has now renovated our then very run down house so beautifully

Better get some work done, take care all

Good afternoon everyone.

A big hug to those of you who shared your childhood stories. They made difficult reading. While my upbringing had its issues, it pales in comparison to what many of you lived through.

Thin, the idea that eating disorders in childhood is about control, does make sense to me. My mother was obsessed with us being well fed but healthy. My sister and I both rebelled in our own way – my sister by refusing all sweet foods and I by overeating. As I grew up in an era when kids weren’t noticed unless something was wrong, it seemed to be one of the few things that got mum’s attention. Kids are hard-wired to seek reassurance that they are loved and failing that, at least noticed. Sometimes the wrong attention is better than none.

Last week I had a repeat of the previous one, with my weigh-in last Saturday showing no weight change again, despite 3 FDs. So I decided to change things up a bit this week and have been aiming for 800 cals per day. I finally have a loss of 0.8kg. The cooler weather and daily walks have helped too, although I can only seem to manage about 30 minutes before needing a break. I have had a noticeable rise in joint pain lately and am hoping some weight loss will help with that.
My cat can also report a weight loss of 100g this week. She is over the weight range that the vet had stipulated, so I have been trying to get her back to 4.0-4.5kg. She too had a plateau which finally broke this week. I need her to be a healthy weight, not just for her own health, but because I struggle to lift her when she’s heavier. https://imgur.com/a/bmtDpZB – She’s demolishing her dinner – half of her previous serve of wet food, bulked out with some fish broth. It keeps the volume the same, but lowers the calories.

I thankfully didn’t have to face the calorie minefield of Easter this year. All the family that I normally exchange Haighs easter eggs with were away, so I asked if we could not buy eggs for each other this year. For the first time in decades, I ate no chocolate over easter. It was such a relief not to have to deal with it.

Take care everyone. Have a nice weekend.

Morning all

What a difference a bit of sunny weather makes. After the dismal Easter weekend, the weather for the whole ANZAC weekend was sunny and ranged from 18 to 20 degrees. I got out for a big ride on Friday, went for a walk and a cuppa with my dad, son and brother on Saturday, then got some gardening and another ride done yesterday. I’m feeling a lot happier than I was.

Thin, being away from pub food temptation is always good. After all our talk about takeaways, I actually got fish and chips on Thursday night because we had to rush to do our groceries after I finished work (shops being shut on Friday for ANZAC day). It was ridiculously expensive at $41 for 4 of us, and very unsatisfying.

ANzac, I’m glad to hear the job is going well, and I hope you both have a great time on your trip to Magnetic Island

Ljoyce, we have the opposite problem with our cat. She was a big cat and healthy at 6 kilos. But recently she has been dropping quite a bit of weight.

Hi Cinque, things were better this week, hopefully that shows on the scales in a couple of days. I hope things are going well with you.

Have a great one everyone.

Afternoon all

Quacka, one of my wife’s friends is originally from the Maldives. I see they filmed one of the Star Wars movies there. I hope you have good weather and a good time.

I’ve been feeling really exhausted the last couple of days, and my wife has been complaining that she’s getting cold/flu symptoms and feeling exhausted as well. I hope we’re not coming down with something.

Weigh-in tomorrow so I’ll check in then

Morning all

Weight was down half a kilo, not back to where I was 2 weeks ago, but better than I was last week. Still feeling really tired and I don’t know why.

Good morning everyone

73.4kg this morning. Yay!!

Had a great FD on Monday and a not so perfect one yesterday but that’s ok, it was still a FD. 73.4kg is 400g down from my lowest weight since restarting 5:2 so I’m happy with that. Next week’s goal is to be well into the 72’s

Thin, happy belated birthday! I hope your FD goes well today.

Neil, happy to hear your weight is finally moving in the right direction! It’s been a bit stubborn for you recently so about time it came to the party! You might be fighting off the lurgy which is causing you to be tired, hope that goes away soon.

Anzac, you’re doing great with your weight loss. It’s great to hear you are in the right head space now. It really is most of the battle. Keep making your goals

LJ, hope your weight is moving in the right direction this week too. You did well to have no choccies over Easter. I was given two chocolate cadbury bunnies this year (from the man who said he was only going to buy me a block of chocolate ha ha) but only had most of one. There is still some left on the bench actually. I was lucky in a way because Mr Q didn’t notice that the bunnies he bought were coconut rough ones and I’m not a fan of coconut and chocolate together. Love both separately though. The coconut rough bunnies weren’t as bad as a Bounty chocolate bar but still too much for me.

Well, it’s gone cold here so Winter has arrived. The weekend is supposed to be a bit warmer again so I’ll be sure to get out for some walks and hopefully a ride, that is if the rain stops. It is forecast to do so.

Have a lovely weekend everyone. xx

Thin, belated birthday wishes. I remember you always tried to escape the birthday cake!

So many posts here to read again. Sorry I’ve been missing. On the 7th of April I I was diagnosed with a detached retina in my left eye and by 1:00 the following day I was on the operating table for emergency surgery to fix it. My ophthalmologist referred me to a specialty practice with about a dozen surgeons who do only retinal surgery. Luckily they were able to get me in. I had very little information about it beforehand since most of my time was spent trying to to find someone to drive me there and someone to stay with DS and OH to take care of him. My blood pressure was sky high before the surgery and they didn’t give me anything to lower it until right before, so I was pretty scared. I had to remain awake during the surgery because a person’s eyes can move while asleep. It was only about an hour long. It was an outpatient procedure and afterward I had to remain face down for 5 days. Lots of eye drops of different types.

I can see pretty well now but have high pressure in that eye, so I have 2 different drops for glaucoma to try and prevent it from turning into that. I have an appointment in a couple weeks to have it checked again. Scary stuff.

We hired a second caregiver to help get OH changed and into bed at night because no heavy lifting for a while and DS has arthritis in one knee that makes it difficult for her to lift him if necessary. It’s always something! I just wanted to let you all know why I haven’t been around again for a while. I’ll post again soon.

CalifD, so sorry to read your news. What an ordeal. Hope you’re soon back to normal. That’s good that you have hired a second carer for your OH.

Thanks – yes, I try to avoid celebrations involving cake. Day after FD for me and a pleasing 900g drop. I had to put a FD in the bank as we have plans for an outdoor pub with Thai food and an Abba tribute band this evening (Sunday). The temp has dropped 12C though so slightly less appealing than when planned.

Can you please keep Whinge and Ginge under lock and key in California. Everyone is sick to death of the whining ‘victims’ slagging off the working royals in the media while supposedly seeking reconciliation. No one cares, stay away!

Ummm, what’s happening? Cali’s last post has only shown up once, but I’ve received 10 email notifications that it has been posted. Something screwy is going on.

Sorry to hear about your eye surgery, although lucky that they managed to fit you in. A detached retina was one of the things the emergency doctor was checking for when I went in with vision issues a few years ago. I had my vision split in half in one eye with a lightning bolt shape through the middle of it. They eventually worked out that I had a vision migraine. A type of migraine where I don’t get the headaches that people usually get with migraines, just crazy stuff happening with my vision. I’m incredibly grateful that I don’t get the headache that you usually associate with a migraine.

I’m on holiday this week, and for once the weather is great. I spent the morning doing some gardening work. I’m hoping to get out and go for a couple or rides, and just generally relax.

Hello everyone,
It is a lovely Autumn day here, but winter is letting me know it is on the way. I have been putting away my sandals and getting out my boots.

Thin, a late late late belated birthday wish for you, but all the bigger because it has been building up to nudge my forgetful brain
https://i.123g.us/c/birth_belated/card/102764.gif

Ha, rather unwise to reverse your numbers, 96 this year and 7 next year! Eep!
Enjoy this last year of being in your 60’s.

Anzac, won’t Magnetic Island be beautiful! Just what you need. I am so glad you are feeling more at home in your job, and hooray for such a good brain!

Cali, I am so glad to see your post, but so sorry to hear what a dreadful scare you have had with your health, an emergency is just what a carer DOESN’T want.
Hooray for the caregiver who you have hired to help. I hope you can keep them until you are fighting fit (I actually wish you could keep them on forever).

I am so glad they could reattach your retina, and good luck doing all the things to recover. What a scare with that high blood pressure too, and the glaucoma.
I have a drop a day to stop my glaucoma from getting bad enough to hurt my vision. I started on one drop and then when there were transport difficulties I went to another, and it turns out it works better for me. I hope they soon find out what works best for you.

How are things going?

LJoyce, ha, poor Sylvie, my cats got fat too. The vet explained that they are primed to hunt for food and so will keep finding it and eating it. I had to be strict about putting their food away after 15 mins. And yet my daughter’s cats have food all the time and are not getting fat! (Maybe because they are still young?)

Quacka, Woot for being weight stable for a week without 5:2ing. That is a great thing! Yay for fasting to move forward.
And ooh the Maldives sound wonderful.

Neil, I had that ‘lightning bolt eye’ without headaches and couldn’t work out what it was. It might even have been here that I got a chorus of ‘but that’s what you get with migraine!’ My previous migraines involved weird lights at the corner of my eye.

I hope you and Mrs Neil are over whatever it was you were coming down with.

Happy birthday to your Koolie, Gday, and best wishes for the week.

Well I am off to get ready for coffee with a friend who has a very productive tamarillo tree in her garden and can no longer eat them herself. I will be the lucky recipient and they might just be my favourite fruit in the world. Woot!

Best wishes to everyone!

Morning all

I had a shock on the scales this morning. I was up over a kilo to the heaviest I’ve been for ages. I have been feeling really bloated this week, so hopefully that is the reason. But I think being on holiday this week, it’s a good chance for me to do a week of fast 800 to try and get things back on track.

GDSA and Cinque, thank you too for the birthday wishes, (cool one, Cinque!). Happy Birthday doggos.

I agree with the various comments about the Sussexes (still miffed that they were given the title from my home county). What Meghan fails to realise is that respect and admiration are earned through decades of selfless public duty. Whatever one’s views on the senior royals, they are dedicated and hard-working and generate hundreds of millions in tourist dollars and billions for charity.

CalifD, are you recovering well? Do look after yourself.

Neil, I get the visual disturbance migraines that, these days, rarely progress to the headache stage thankfully. Too bad about the weight gain. Fast 800 will get you back on track. I found Dr M’s, ‘The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet’ in a telephone kiosk book exchange and left it lying around for OH to read. I saw he did read some of it – mostly recipes! – and has now discarded it. I tried. Have a lovely week off.

Cinque, thank you for the link to ‘flu tracking site. I sent it to some friends in Oz. Summer is trying to appear here. We get a glimpse now and then.

Quacka, Anzac, hello to you and Turn if you’re lurking.

FD here. Glorious weather (25C) and sunny so I felt compelled to do some boat painting. I’m less flexible than 5-6 years ago when we first moved onboard and less enthusiastic about contorting myself.

Quacka, 73.1kg is almost in the 72s. You’ll be there soon.

All quiet here. I hope everyone is enjoying a good weekend.