Neil, when I first read your previous post I started off thinking ‘Oh no, please don’t be blood clots’ and then when I got to the end it changed to ‘Oh no, please don’t be MND’ and I started hoping for blood clots, not realising how horrible and life changing they might be.

But yes, hooray that they know what they are and that they can treat them, and that you might get back to the good strong health you have been. All my fingers and toes crossed.

Life is a weird journey so full of twists and turns, we are doing well if we can just about keep up with them.

Anzac, SO disappointing about your new job. All power to you dealing with it. And big cheers for every thing you can find to do to avoid it undermining your health.

I can’t write more, off to mind the fabulous Ellie.

Cheers everyone

Morning all

Anzac, sorry to hear that you’re having issues with the job. I would have thought that the fact the house hasn’t sold in 4 years, would be an indication to the owners that they are asking way too much for it.

I weighed in this morning since I missed yesterday, being admitted to hospital overnight. I’m down another couple of hundred grams, so at least that is positive.

The doctor has put me on blood thinners and said the blood thinners will stabilise the clots, and eventually my body will dissolve them, but it could take weeks or months. He’s told me not to do any riding for the next couple of weeks, but I should try to stay active. My plan is to walk in to work (being mostly flat or downhill) and then catch the bus home.

Yay it’s finally worked I will copy the rest

Post 3 – In short, her research has shown for peri and post-menopausal women, fasting, time restricted eating or calorie restriction is detrimental to ageing, weight and fitness as these practices increase cortisol negatively and inhibit the body’s ability to build muscle mass, bone density, lose and maintain a healthy weight and a whole host of other things.

Everything I have been doing, thinking I’ve been doing the right thing, according to her research, is wrong. And not just around eating, how we exercise changes for females during this time. Strength training with high reps/sets and medium/high strength, and long cardio sessions no longer work, we need Short Interval Training for cardio and for strength training shorter reps/sets with very high weights. As a PT, I found this information really interesting.

To age well, it’s crucial to develop and maintain muscle mass, maintain a healthy weight (healthy does not equate to slim or skinny) and increase and maintain bone density – again, there’s so much more but these are the main points.

As the saying goes – ‘keep doing what you’ve always been doing, and you get what you always got’. So, after 10 years of practicing daily weight in’s, TRE, low carb, long cardio and strength training with high reps/sets etc I am turning everything on its head and making a dramatic change in how I eat and exercise. What worked for me pre menopause is clearly not working for me post menopause and this is exactly the point Dr Stacy is making. All the things I’ve just listed, which I have been doing for the last 10 years are now gone.

I must say I found it very difficult this week not to weigh myself each morning upon waking, I think it was more to do with breaking the chain of my stats on the Fitbit app – but it was just a habit, and habits need to be broken if I want change. On the flipside, it feels very liberating to break the habits I’ve stuck to for so long.

Post 5 – Changes for me include:

-3 to 4 meals per day evenly spaced out (the number of meals will depend on whether it’s a high training day or a rest day

– must eat within 30 minutes of waking (to prevent cortisol rise).

– each meal to contain 40g protein, 40g carb (vegie, fruit, lentils etc – not rubbish carbs) as well as good fats, but not too high fat intake.

– weighing once a week only as a means to track body fat percentage although I’m aware that home scales are not that accurate for this but it will show a change in percentage which is what I am looking for.

– I will still record body measurements once a week as a way to track body composition changes.

– 4 super high strength training sessions per week, with low reps and sets but very high weights that quickly push the muscles to fatigue and therefore instigate better repair which in turn leads to increase muscle build and maintenance.

– Up to 3 to 4 Short Interval Training cardio sessions per week. This include agility training with lateral and frontal plane movements.

– Plyometrics training (jumps training) as many days as possible.

– Core work which I was already doing but I’ve changed it to the specific exercises Dr Stacy has recommended.

– Balance training as often as possible.

My focus will no longer be on weight, it will be 100% on healthy ageing (I’m 56) with the aim to increase muscle mass, increase bone density, reduce body fat and overall increase strength and cardio capacity.

Thanks so much for the wonderful information G’day. I am 59 so it has given me a LOT to think about

Thin Mr A has, and always will, have ongoing issues post BC. He doesn’t have good control or much notice that he needs to ‘go’ but compared to the poor people in the FB groups I used to visit he is really doing well. There are good days and bad and we don’t go out at night very often as that tends to be the worst time. That’s fine with us as we didn’t go out at night much anyway. He did surprisingly well on our 6 week trip but we did spend a small fortune paying either 1 Pound or 1 Euro every time we passed a public loo as he would always pop in just in case lol

I hope you had a nice day with Ellie Cinque

Neil, it must be a small light in the current health darkness to know just how fit you are/were before now. I hope the treatment fixes the blood clots as quickly as possible

I’m definitely having a better week at work so that is a massive relief

Take care all

Morning all

The weekend was good, it’s hard to believe that we’re almost into winter when we’re still getting sunny days in the high teens, usually at this time of year we’re getting frosts in the morning and temperatures around 9-13 degrees. It’s been a real Indian summer this year. Since I couldn’t ride, I went for a walk with my dad on Saturday, and spent Sunday doing some much needed weeding in the garden.

I don’t know if I mentioned it, but while I was in the Emergency room, there was a builder from work that I chat with quite often. I asked him next time I saw him if everything was ok, and he said that it was his wife that he was in there for. She went into labour at 26 weeks, but there was something wrong with the baby’s heart. They had been flown up to the Starship hospital on the air ambulance. That was what I was raising money for with my riding a couple of months ago, so I’m really happy that I could help out in some way.

I hope everyone had a good weekend, catch you all later.

Afternoon all

My weight was up 1.5 kilos this week, I was kind of expecting it after the stress of the last week. I wonder if my lung issue is partially responsible for my struggle to drop the fat, Lungs are pretty vital to the burning of fat. The chemical equation for fat is C55 H104 O6, when you’re burning fat, when you take in 78xO2 through your lungs, the body converts the fat and oxygen to 55xCO2 and 55xH2O which you then breathe, sweat and pee out.

Walking is going fine, I don’t have any issue with walking on the flat and downhill. At the moment I’m walking in to work, then catching the bus home. If I’m still feeling good by Friday, I might try taking the bus halfway home and then walking the rest of the way to see how I manage with that. This weekend I’m hoping to get out for a short bike ride on the flat around the harbour to see how I cope with that.

Turn, great to see you again. I love the area. We’ve stayed at the motor camp down by the lake at Twizel a couple of times, we always visit the salmon farm there too, some of their flavoured cured salmon fillets are delicious. There’s an annual frisbee golf tournament there every year too, called “Moonbase”

Well, I guess I’ll just keep on keeping on and slowly work my way back to fitness as my body clears these clots and I start being able to do more. I have a follow-up CT-scan in 6 months, my goal is to slowly build back up my fitness so that if I get the all-clear on that scan, I celebrate with an away bike trip.

Have a great day everyone.

Hello from cold old Melbourne,

Neil, so good to hear that story of the builder’s baby daughter getting good care in the hospital your money raised went to.

I also liked to hear of you going for a walk with your dad. A lovely thing to be doing.

Good luck getting that stress weight off this week. I noticed our Dr Norman Swan (on ABC radio Health Report) has moved to call it ‘fat loss’ instead of ‘weight loss’ which seems sensible. Not sure that the 1.5kg is fat, but fingers crossed some excess fat goes this week.

What a lovely prize you have for yourself if that 6 month CT scan comes back clear. Fingers crossed!

Turn, what an absolutely stunning photo! What a treat to be staying in that area.

Ha yes, I do agree with your experience and Gday’s research about body changes as we age and how our bodies manage excess food and stored fat.

Big congratulations for being into the 60’s I hope it feels lovely.

Gday, what an interesting time you are having putting in place your new routines. Hooray for going to be feeling satiated.

How I envy your good sleep! But actually my sleep last night was better than it has been all week, so I feel quite human, Yay. And the antibiotics worked so my infection has gone. Hooray. So I am off to do some of the things I have been too crook to do all week. Yippee.

I hope good things are happening for everyone.

Hello everyone.

Neil, what a worrying time you’ve have had. Very glad that you are now on an appropriate treatment regime. I think winter walking has it’s own charm – with the appropriate coat, hat and gloves! Walking to walk is a good way of fitting it into your day – I remember that finding enough daylight to exercise can be an issue for you in a Dunedin winter.

GDSA, thanks for all of that carefully researched information. Your description of where additional fat stores are deposited post menopause is certainly true for the weight I gained last summer, which was a change from previous experience. I’m still looking at what your research might mean for my eating and exercise – I know I need to increase my strength training.

Cinque, your mention of bean soup reminded me that I need to make another batch. I do rely on hearty veg & legume soups in winter.

Anzac, Sorry to hear that work has been so stressful, I hope you find the way forward soon.

Turn, good to hear the house build is still progressing. The spot where you have been looks lovely.

Thin, I’ve lost track of where you are boating at present. I hope it’s enjoyable and that you are getting some nice summer weather.

Hello to anyone I’ve missed.

I’m still doing at least 60k steps per week (plus gardening) and sticking to 800cal per day. Despite this, my weight loss has been really slow. I’m lucky if I lose 1-200g in a week. Initially my weight was bouncing around drastically – until I realised my scales were the problem. So I bought new ones which seem to be behaving normally.

On a happy note, I am a great-great-aunt again. My niece now has another grandson. I’ve been busy cooking meals for them the last couple of weeks.

Also on a happy note I am just beginning to make firmer plans for next year’s travel. I plan to go to Scotland with a neighbour and a friend of hers. They are also planning to spend time in England, but I’ve already been so I plan to spend the time and money elsewhere – probably northern Europe as it’s easy to get to from Scotland. We are aiming for the northern autumn next year, probably September. We are trying to use trains where possible in Scotland -mainly because I hate bus travel and none of us want to drive ourselves.

It’s a lovely winter afternoon here. I need to go out an do some gardening. I waited for some decent rain to make the digging easier, so I have no excuse now. I have to dig up the clematis and move then to the front garden. I also have to dig up the root balls of the salvias from the back garden and prepare the soil for the new plants. I’m planting a camellia hedge and will be attempting to espalier it. Fingers crossed this works better than the salvias, which took up far too much space.

Take care everyone.

Good Morning Everyone

It’s been interesting to catch up on all your posts today.

G’day, good to hear that your new WOE/WOL is working for you already. I think it’s great that you have been willing to make these huge changes (after much research) and hope that you are able to get the results that you want. I will be following closely and keeping Dr Stacy in mind, especially if fasting stops working so well for me.

I understand how important strength training is and will be focusing on that now that I have returned from holidays. The only thing I worry about is the stress on my joints when lifting really heavy weights. The PTs at the gym say that building the muscles around the joints actually help to look after the joints but I have been concerned as I don’t want to ruin them (or exacerbate the pain in the joints that already hurt!). What sort of warm up will you do for lifting, G’day? Will you do a few lighter weights first and then go heavy, or just a quick overall warm up like on the treadmill or something?
I’m also going to look in to short interval training as I have never heard of it. I’ve hear of HIIT but have also read that is not great for females around my age (I’m 47) so I try and steer clear of it. This apparently has to do with raising cortisol levels also.

Neil, I’m sorry to hear of your health issues. I’m really glad that the doctors have been able to find out what was going on and hope that the medication works quickly for you. I’m even more grateful that your undiagnosed condition did not lead to more serious problems for you. I hope you are coping with not being able to exercise too hard, keep focusing on getting well again so that you can get back out there and do what you love!

LJ, so exciting to be planning travel for next year. I’ve heard Scotland is gorgeous although I would struggle with how cold it is over there. Where do you plan on going in Northern Europe?

Anzac, you gave the new job your best shot so if the your old job has vacancies don’t hesitate to go back. Work is only a means to living life, it’s not your life. You need to be happy in your job.

Hi thin, Cinque and Turn, also Cali if you are reading.

Well, we had a lovely holiday in the Maldives although I have been saying we have been to paradise and then to hell, more on that in a minute.
We stopped at Singapore for two nights on the way over – what an interesting city! I was worried that we wouldn’t like it as we are not really city people, instead preferring the great outdoors, but it was amazing. I can’t wait to go back there and see some more of the city and try some more of their yummy food! We bought a food called Bakwaa (not sure of the correct spelling) but it is like our beef jerky but is made from pork and not as dry. It’s very tasty.

The Maldives is just a gorgeous place, exactly like you see in photos and promotional travel material. We stayed in a beach villa right on a lagoon which was great as it was only about a 5 metre walk to the water. We went snorkelling almost every day in this lagoon and even though it looked like there wouldn’t be much life in it, it was actually the opposite. We saw amazing fish of all different sizes, colours, shapes, spots, stripes and even a combination of both. We also saw (and swam with) reef sharks, lobsters, sea horses, octopus, sting rays, sea cucumbers and these strange sea worms. Still haven’t looked up what they are but they are quite large and really long, longer than a sea snake. Every day that we went snorkelling, we would see different things. It was like going to a tropical aquarium but being able to jump into the tanks! It was truly amazing.
Mr Q surfed two to three times day and was absolutely stoked with the waves. He tired himself out so much that he was exhausted by the time we left and didn’t have the energy to surf anymore! An unheard of thing in our household, lol.
The Maldivian people are lovely. The surf guides were excellent and all the other staff were great too. The resorts provide many jobs for the locals including some interesting ones. Every day we saw women sweeping up all the leaves across the whole resort. They use brooms that look like they are handmade from reeds and just constantly and patiently sweep up the leaves. It keeps the place looking pristine but I wonder how they feel when they look back on the area they have just swept and there is a damn leaf or two on it already!
It’s also very hot in the Maldives. It’s only about 33-34 degrees but it’s very humid and when you are in the direct sun you get roasted. We have been to WA where it was 43 degrees but this is such a different heat. We expected the heat but were surprised at how ferocious the sun is. We used up a lot of our sunscreen ha ha

So getting to the hell part of my story…it’s not pretty, sorry.
I got a bit sick over there with diarrhea. I forgot about brushing my teeth with bottled water and was just using the tap water. It could have been that or the food or a combination of everything. Anyway, I went to the on-site doctor and he gave me handful of pills and some rehydration solution and that fixed me up within a few hours and I could still enjoy the rest of the holiday.
That was nothing though compared to what happened next! So we had a 4 hour flight from the Maldives to Singapore,2 hour stop over and then 8 hours flight to Sydney. 2.5 hours into the flight to Sydney Mr Q started feeling really sick. He tried to make it to the toilet but of course it was occupied so he ended up vomiting everywhere in the little area that is opposite the toilet (maybe a galley or something similar). The air hosts/hostesses were amazing and managed to get him to the toilet after the previous occupant vacated it. Poor Mr Q had it coming from both ends. He was so sick the rest of the flight and vomited twice more times. Imagine being so sick and stuck on a plane for another 5-6 hours. We finally got home and then he was sick for another two days.
Then it was my turn. I ended up in hospital with gastritis and colitis. I truly felt like I was dying. I had to stay in the ED overnight while they got me under control. Three IV anti vomiting drugs and two bags of fluid (with the promise of a third if I didn’t start keeping water down) until I started feeling a bit better. 6 days later I’m still not 100% but am getting there slowly.
A horrible end to an amazing trip but we won’t let this stop us travelling. Surely we can’t be so unlucky to be sick a third time (in only three trips). Not that we have any plans yet but I’m sure there will be more overseas trips as we really enjoyed it. I even coped with the flying part ha ha.

Well, I better go and do some work. Take care all and chat soon xx

Quacka it should say Sprint Interval Training (SIT), autocorrect error saying short instead of sprint so no wonder you’ve never heard of it…lol.

It’s the same theory as HIIT except the intensity is ultra high – absolute maximum possible cardio for a maximum of 30 seconds then approx 1 min rest and repeat. Maximum 15 mins per session.

My warmup for all of my exercise routines is a series of stretching exercises such as hip openers, lateral steps, glides etc for the purpose of flexibility.

I’ve set the gym up so I can complete all 8 barbell exercises without needing to add or remove weights or change equipment over – luckily I have a lot of different weight plates and 4 barbell’s so each is now set up with the required weight for deadlifts, back squats, rows, bench press etc which makes the process so much easier. All of the lifts are compound exercises which are exercises that use a large group of muscles at once so more bang for bucks compared to lifts that only work a couple of muscles.

I’m currently lifting heavy but not as heavy as I know I can lift as it’s important to ensure I don’t go too heavy too quick. I’ll stay at current weights for another 2 weeks and then increase load.

Afternoon all

Weigh in this morning I was around the same as last week.

Quacka, yes exactly! Getting out in the fresh air, and being able to ride far enough that I can enjoy some of the scenery from our city has done wonders for my mood

https://imgur.com/a/FJxC7WQ
https://imgur.com/uGQn7UR

Have a god one everyone

Good morning from a fasty Thrupp, near Oxford. The sun is shining after a day of downpours but we couldn’t recall the last time it had rained. Yes thanks LJ, we did have some good, sunny spring weather, even a few towpath BBQs.

Anzac, that all sounds so stressful for you with work. I hope you get the job back with your old company.

Quacka, I enjoyed reading about all the marine life you met on your holiday. What a horrid ending to your trip.

Cinque, I hope you get many more good nights’ sleeps. I seem to go in spurts.

Neil, thanks for sharing your photos.

Chicken Korma for dinner, a tiny portion. I’m back on 6:1 and managing to stay below my trigger weight. I’m grateful that it works so well for me that I need look no further but hats off to those of you that are constantly aiming to improve.

G’day everyone. So much news to catch up on again. Neil, I’m so sorry to hear about your health problems, but glad you have good doctors who were able to diagnose the problem and that there are are medications that are helping. It must be hard to cut back on your busy workout schedule but walking that distance to work sounds like a good workout to me. I hope everything gets back to normal soon.

I’m back on the 5:2 fast again, actually for the past week I’ve lost 1 kg already and hope to see some more on the scales in the morning since today was a fast day. I’m going to do Mondays and Thursdays again, like Idid originally.

The pressure in my eye that was operated on went back to normal a couple weeks ago but I have to continue to use two different eyedrops twice per day for the foreseeable future.

Anzac, I’m sorry that the new job isn’t going as you hoped. Maybe something will come up up at the old place.

I have to get some sleep but just wanted to stop in and say hi to everyone, Cinque, LJ, thin, Quacka, Turnabout, G’day ,Lindsay and everyone else I’ve missed.

P.S. Hello CalifD, lovely to hear from you and pleased your eye is back to normal. Yay for the first kg gone on 5:2.

Afternoon all

Thin, the pictures came through fine. I like the pics of the cows beside the canal, you wouldn’t get that over here anymore, we have regulations to protect waterways that mean that cows need to be fenced off and not allowed within a certain distance from rivers and streams.

I’m struggling at the moment. My medication is giving me a couple of side effects, including itchy skin and insomnia. I’ve been overeating, and I’ve gained a kilogram in the last week. I’m at the time now where my dose is about to change, the pills are going from 15mg to 20 mg, but I’m only having to take them once a day rather than twice a day. I hope that this will help improve things.