Hi Jan/Femme Anglaise
Many congratulations on your fantastic weight loss – getting on for half a stone in total! And on completing your book – fingers crossed re a publisher.

My French is now less than my original O level standard sadly, although I do improve when we spend a few weeks in France (a good reason for going back repeatedly). I have tried to enrol in evening classes, but they always seem to get cancelled due to lack of interest, grrr. Do you recommend the Rosetta Stone course? I think I need to do a class with other people to get over being too embarrassed to open my mouth!

Sorry, I don’t know anything at all about hypothyroidism but I am sure there is someone on here who does!

Hi tangatawiwi, welcome to the club. I’m intrigued by your ‘handle’, which is as mysterious as my own sometimes seems to be. There must be a story behind it.

Femme anglaise/Jan, many congratulations on two counts, 1)a very gratifying weight loss and 2)finishing your book. I hope you find a publisher soon. I so admire anyone with the imagination to write fiction.

I’ve also got a book in the pipeline. As part of the MA course we each had to undertake a research project, the main purpose of which was to test our research skills. I was lucky enough to have my research lead me to a wonderful story.

My topic was the Glasgow Tenement House, which is a flat in a tenement in Glasgow, that is now a museum. My self-appointed task was to unearth the story of how the change from private home to museum came about. I was so lucky with the people I consulted in Scotland, they were so kind and so generous with their time.

The place was lived in by one lady for 54 years, during which time she never threw anything away, making the place a socio-historical goldmine. Ten years before she died, she was taken into care but instructed her solicitor to keep paying the rent as she was sure she would return one day. She never did. After her death the flat which had lain empty for 10 years and was in a dreadful condition was bought for a very modest sum by a young actress who restored the property almost single handed before handing it over, also for a relatively modest sum, to the National Trust for Scotland.

That’s only the broad outline but the project report interwove several very moving human stories. There was a moment when I in London and the now mature actress on an island off the west coast of Scotland were on either end the phone crying out eyes out at something very interesting and also very moving I had just discovered.

My lovely supervisor was so impressed with my findings that she urged me, once the MA was over, to seriously consider reworking it all as a book for the general reader, i.e. leaving out or watering down the ‘academic’ stuff that was required by the uni. And once the MA is done and dusted that’s what I’m going to do. No great expectations. Such a book would probably sell well at bookshops at National Trust for Scotland properties and a few Glaswegians might like it, but I’m not holding my breath.

Cheeseplease, I know exactly what you mean about being too embarassed to open your mouth to speak French. I’m like that with German. I work from German all the time and have translated books from German more than any other language. But because it’s a very complex and very orderly language – to make a sentence words have to be in the right order – I’m afraid to open my mouth in case I don’t utter a perfectly-constructed sentence.

Would I be right in thinking your husband doesn’t have this problem? Mine doesn’t. He speaks the most appalling gibberish but with a very good accent. Comparing notes with other women, I gather it’s a gender thing. We feel under pressure to get things right. They don’t give a monkeys!

Hi Hermaj
My husband is generally better at languages than I, he “gets by” in French, Spanish and Dutch and doesn’t get embarrassed at all and is happy to give it a go (thank goodness!) – although I do understand more French than I can speak – but understanding the response if I do open my mouth is a nightmare!

Your Glasgow tenement story is fascinating – what great research, and it sounds like it has all the components for an entertaining read as well. Good luck with that. Before we left the Midlands we set ourselves a quest to visit all the places/buildings/museums etc we never got round to when we lived there, and one of the most interesting were the back to backs in Birmingham, a 19th century court of working peoples’ houses and still furnished with possessions and objects from the times. Similarly the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, where it is possible to tour round a silver workshop where little has changed since the late 1800’s. These and your Glasgow Tenement House are fascinating and evocative insights into the histories of working people, and I find them far more interesting than yet another National Trust mansion of dubious merit (although some jewels are to be found amongst them of course!).

What an interesting life you lead Hermaj, rock on!

Smiffy that’s stunning weight loss – respect!

Good morning/evening everyone.

Smiffy, such good work. No wonder you’re so pleased.

Interesting discussion above about bad breath. From what I understand about biochemistry, I doubt that it comes from fasting unless a person eats nothing for >24hours because by then ketosis would be kicking in and ketones on the breath are BAD.

As others have said, and it seems to me to be more likely in most of our situations, to be due to not drinking enough. With enough hydration, the carbohydrate degradation products would be flushed out in the urine – yet another good reason for ensuring 2L/day of fluid.

Happy Wednesday all.

Hi tangatawiwi, there is also a Southern Hemisphere thread, if you are a New Zealander. Welcome to your new way of living = WOL or WOE = way of eating. 🙂

Go, Smiffy, go 🙂

Hermaj, Great story!

Well Hello Ladies, if you read the time of this thread you are not miss reading it! I can’t sleep and I had no time to read back yesterday and I have been reading back since 3.30 now 4.15 am (slow reader) LOL.
I am now going to perform my greatest duty of the week, no, life, so far!!!!!!!!
It’s is with great pleasure that I award Smiffy with one Precious BooBoo’s wonderful awards. Smiffy You are the first to report that the FBD has worked and how! 1stone 1 lb.
So the award is the Greatest Barrier Crashing LOACA award.. Hip Hip Hooray. Well done and congratulations on sticking with it for six weeks.
I can see those black jeans going to be recycled soon and make sure you replace them with coloured ones. One the subject of jeans ladies, you will have read I was in my sixties before I bought my first pair, I bought a pink pair last Saturday my them my 6th pair to date. LOL.
Do you think I should wear the pink ones to meet up with BooBoo? Or should we stick to carrying a copy of Dr Mosley’s 5-2. LOL.
It’s warm Welsh welcome to tangalawiwi. if you ever get time to read back the 2614 messages on this thread you will be amazed how 5-2 can get us all talking ( auto type changed talking to sulking) LOL about our different lives and what we have in common and we can talk to our hearts content about our dieting journeys. It will also keep you out of the kitchen for a very long time. LOL. this is not a diet it is a WOL and I feel we can stick at this for life. What’s two days? We can do this, can’t we LOACA together?
Cheeseplease and hermajtomomi I am not a great reader of books but I love to read recommended ones so when you have your books published and we all purchase our copies you will then have a best seller on your hands. All joking aside I do read these posts and feel ashamed that I cannot even speak my own language. My hobbies are bowling, walking Nordic walking and when I retired I went to computer classes and loved it. I am now known as the (one to ask) by my bowling and other friends if they have a problem with their computers/iPads and if I don’t know the answer I will find out by hook or by crook. My hubby says I am like a dog with a born, I will not give up until I do.
I played bowls yesterday in an inter-club one to one competition. It’s the first to 21 shots and after 29 ends we were 20 all. Sorry to say she won but it was one of the best games I have played in thirteen years of bowling. I came home on a high and I had lost the game. what does that say about me I wonder?
It’s now 5.05am and no I am still not a bit tired and I am playing bowls again today at 1 pm in County came ( very special ) so I am going to have a drinking chocolate now and see if that might do the trick
Also ladies the builders finished yesterday and I was cleaning until 9.30 pm. I should be exhausted but I’m not.
OW’s and DW’s LOACA.
Hope Boo got my message with the telephone number to contact me. I will leave it again this evening just I case she missed it.
Bye for now ladies. JIP

Hi LOACA and all new Fasters on this thread,

As promised an update on my first B2B, back to back fasting…I thought it would be hard, but once I had got through day 1, day 2 was remarkably easy. I admit I had a stick of celery and a few cherries, ended up on 550 cals for both days but surely that is acceptable. The great news is I’ve lost an incredible 3.5 lbs, my best yet and I feel fantastic. However I did have a headache after day 2, mind you I had been doing the spotlight at our school production and boy it was hot! Going to look at the 5:2 diet meal planner app When I get home, I use the My Fitness app to record my intake.

Keep it up ladies, onwards and downwards Ali x

Thank you bayleafoz for your confirmations 🙂

I am happy you like my name. In fact, it is a reminder for me to finish writing a novel I started 10 YEARS AGO! However a friend reviewed (funnily enough, she is no longer a friend, I made the unpardonable mistake of not remembering a Skype appointment because I was worried about a medical problem and she has thrown me out of her life. I must admit it happened three times in 10 years, so she was probably right.) and said “it is not my type of literature” and my sister said it was “readable”, so I am not sure it is a very good piece of work 🙁 🙁

It is true that our stomachs shrink, at least I also have that impression. And I am also more aware of what I eat. The quick weight loss at the beginning was so wonderufl, however, that the slowing down is a bit depressing. Nonetheless, a friend of mine told me she didn’t loose weight for 4 weeks after the initial loss, but braved on and was successful.

About a high-protein diet. It is not very good for the body in the long run. A friend of mine who is a doctor as well as homeopath has told me it depletes calcium stores in the body in the long run. I followed it for 3 months nearly 4 years ago and lost 13 kilos. And I only put on 4 in all that time. And this was due to the fact that I was consuming many more calories than I should have as I am now aware.

The problem with exercising is that it makes me feel hungry!

Tangatawiwi, I love your name. But I don’t know what wiwi means.

ENJOY YOUR DAY!

CONGRATULATIONS CHEESEPLEASE!

Hello everyone,
PVE, I did go back to bed after my hot choc at about 5.30am tossed a bit but I think I had 90 mins I then got up at 8am and cleaned the rest if my house. I do not know were all that dust came from it must have been the builders. LOL
I did not fast yesterday so the sleepless night was just things on my mind.
Just had a shower and I am sitting in my conservatory with some melon before I get ready to leave for my afternoon of bowls, I play tomorrow too. So that will be 5 times this week without a break.
Got to go. No sign of BooBoo checking in yet must be enjoying the sunny Welsh air.Happy fasting.JIP

Go Cheeseplease. Atta girl! Incredible shrinking woman 🙂

Hi everyone and thanks for all your kind comments.

Thank you very much JIP for my beautiful award which will have pride of place on my virtual mantelpiece. In true award-acceptance-speech style, I would like to thank the LOACA for their support, my other half for joining me on this journey (ultimately to his advantage) and my dear old Mum who keeps trying to force feed me when I visit and is appalled to see me drinking black tea and coffee.

You should definitely wear those pink jeans to meet up with BooBoo JIP! It’s great that we can wear things at this age that the previous generation would never have dreamed of putting on. (That said, my 88 year old Mum has a leopard print onesie!) My next goal is a pair of pale turquoise crop trousers I bought a few years ago after losing a couple of stone, and only wore about 3 times before the weight started piling on again. It’s the story if my life!

It’s very strange not having to count calories every day now. I even had an M & S sandwich yesterday – the first bread in weeks – and I SO enjoyed it. True to what Michael says in the book though, I really didn’t want the packet of crisps I would normally have with it, and only fancied chicken and prawn salad for my evening meal, so he is right in saying you eventually automatically eat less on non-fast days. I’m not ruling out the odd indulgence and a glass or two of wine though, just eating what I fancy and hope that with my two fast days a week, the weight continues to come off.

AliH61 – that’s a fantastic result! I’m not sure if I could manage a back-to-back fast, though with my newly-discovered Zero noodles and the thought of a glass of something at the end if it (I too am partial to W Australian reds!) maybe I will give it a go if things slow up. Like you, I often wake up with a headache, something I thought was a thing if the past now I am not drinking wine every night, but I am pretty sure it’s because I don’t drink enough water. I am trying hard to up it, but so easily forget! I also use Myfitnesspal – it’s a great app.

LUVTOCOOK – good luck with that milestone barrier !

Cheeseplease – brilliant! It’s great when you finally see a shape emerging from a mound of blubber (at least, that was me!)

Femme Anglaise and Lovelife – keep up the good work, and good luck with the book. That’s a wonderful achievement. You too Hermajtomomi – it’s a fascinating story. As Lovelife says, it would make a great film.

NickyF – thanks for the input on bad breath! Having just had a salad with Spring onions in it, I’m definitely not nice to be near at the moment! It’s reassuring, though, that it seems unlikely to affect us with our way of eating. I must, must, must drink more water!

Off to do some gardening and hopefully burn off a few calories. Whether you’re fasting of feasting today, have a good one.

Smiffy x

Hi not sure if I can post a link in here. But I understand your dilemma. I would go on diets and gain weight. In January a friend gave me the Fast Diet and I read it. I decided to utilize parts of it and utilize Atkins principals to see if that would work. As of today, I have lost 50 pounds … about 150 days. There have been weeks of plateaus, but I persevered and continued to lose. I have coupled this diet with exercise and weight training which together with the diet have produced these results. Here is a link to weekly column I began writing about my journey … which I call Change the Trajectory … hoping to eradicate the words “loss” from my vocabulary because something “lost” can be found again.
http://www.wakeforesttoday.com/voices-letters/change-the-trajectory-life-plan/4504-a-shadow-of-my-former-self-a-sneak-peak-at-the-new-me.html#.U7QfbqtASyM

Hi and thank you to everyone for your supportive words, what a great bunch you all are!

Big hugs. Xx

Hello everyone. Precious BooBoo has been in touch. We only had a few minutes and we will be back in touch tomorrow.
BooBoo found my message with the telephone number of the Hotel we are staying at on Friday.
I did not get my confirmation email so I had not let them know that someone would be asking for my mobile number so poor BooBoo had to explain about our meeting. The lady from the hotel phoned me and asked if I was meeting up with someone and should she give my number. Well I have spoken to BooBoo and and she sounds very nice which I always knew she would. I am so looking forward to us meeting up please keep your fingers crossed for us. weather is not going to be very nice in Wales over the weekend but we won’t mind. Battery running out on iPad. Happy fasting back tomorrow. JIP

Sorry to disappoint you PVE, but a royalist I ain’t. 🙂 I’ve no great objection to Hermaj at Buck House, but I lean towards republicanism – not republicanism as in the USA, with George Dubya and his right-wing playmates – but the idea of GB being ruled by a democratically-elected president rather than by the royals with their so-called divine right. Now, if one of them was elected and won, provided s/he knew what they were at…

Meanwhile, Hermaj isn’t a bad role model showing how women in their late 80s can still hack it, but I wish someone would tell her the truth about the hairdo. A decent cut would take years of the good lady.

Hi Smiffy

Many thanks, I haven’t tried zero noodles I’ll have to look for them, and I do have some rice noodles. I also managed yesterday to get into a pair of Betty Barclay designer jeans I haven’t worn for over 4 years, felt really great. I think I didn’t drink enough yesterday and I got rather hot at school as I was in charge of one of the spit lights for the production. Was there again tonight but they managed to get a bit of a through draught for ventilation and I took along bottled water and a fan!! I’ll probably go a B2B fast again next week as then I have the rest of the week to eat what I like but sensibly. Will need to feel it up as in a couple of weeks we have a fish and chip lunch at school and then a BBQ In the evening!

Femme Anglais

I to watched that programme, however I did find the clip about the Inuits rather queasy. The top diet was full of fresh fruit and vegetables with little meat, mainly because they couldn’t afford it. I did try some of the local food when in Iceland earlier this year, and I can recommend the Kjotsupa, a lamb soup. I made it when we came back home and it was delicious. The Icelandic diet had little fruit or vegetables! I agree the best diets had little processed food and plenty of anti oxidant foods.

Ali x

Hi Ali
Be a bit careful with rice noodles. They have about 100 cals per serve whereas miracle/Shiritaki/zero noodles have about 7. Make sure you rinse them well and stir them in with whatever low cal veg/fish/pasata. But make sure you use lots of flavour. They are brilliant for bulking up on fast nights without the cals.
Enjoy
PVE

Oooo. Exciting! Are you within cooee of goal, Piper?

I wrote about a month ago. I am a lady of a “certain age” too!! I wrote about my fantastic inch loss after being very fit and “in control” of my body, but since going through menopause found I was putting on weight particularly around my middle!

I started this diet at the end of January and since then have lost a total of 15 inches off my body. I have just returned from an eight day holiday in Spain, where I did not do any low days but actually found my ability to eat even a two course restaurant meal GONE !

My husband was so impressed he is now thinking of joining me. He is not over weight but has thickened around his stomach and is anxious to lose a couple of inches of his waist line.

At 57, I have been feeling very uncomfortable in a bikini the last three or four years but this last week my husband has commented that I have the figure, I had when I was 30! I do exercise too, more toning than running as knees are not what they used to be.

What was a suprise after a week home and two low days I thought I would weigh myself, I have stayed the same weight for about 10 weeks, which has not bothered me as I know I have lost inches but suddenly the scales show I have lost 4 pounds!

That makes 10 since January. Not a huge amount of weight but I am very petite any way but feel Just right now at 5ft 2inches and 8stone 6 pounds.

My advice to everyone is be patient, maybe not rely on scales so much as thetape measure, particularly if you are hormonally all over the place like me.

Good evening to you all,, I can’t keep up with the posts on a daily basis but will pop in whenever I can ( work is crazy at the mo !)

I hope every body is doing well, I did my second day yesterday and hardly slept all night as my energy levels have gone through the roof!

The advice on here is so useful,, slowly but surely seems to be the message.

There is a well loved song called ‘ a quitter never wins’ by Williams and Watson. That’s us, winners not quitters!

Good night to all xx

Well, I am very glad that fast day is over. I don’t know why but today’s fast has been particularly hard, which I am finding a bit odd as I have now done ten of them. I was just hungry all day, could have gnawed my arm off! I kept busy, drank loads of water, kept reminding myself I can eat tomorrow but none of it seemed to work – although I still kept below 500 calories so that’s good. I feel like I have hit a brick wall – does this sound familiar to anyone? Maybe the novelty is wearing off? I hope not, as I am really chuffed with the disappearing me.

Hi Cheesy
I find it happens often. Sometimes I just cancel and start again the next day , others I find I need to change something (either the fast day food, when I eat it, or what I’m doing as eating avoidance)
I think it’s important not to get into a rut. Mimi suggests in the Beach Book that changing habits in any day to day task is integral to rethinking. Walk a different way home, sit in a different chair..helps to eat differently too.
Other times I just struggle on knowing I can eat whatever tomorrow. Amazingly I don’t.
I also don’t have temptation present. I actually threw some crisps out in the bin yesterday as I knew I would weaken….then I kept seeing them in the bin 🙂
Keep it up. Some good days, some tough, but great rewards.
Cheers PVE