Christmas, or any other big celebrations,should have been cancelled this year. Every time people start being social again, there are mass viral spreads. The human propensity to being social is our downfall.
My life is not being massively effected by our reintroduced restrictions as we weren’t doing anything or mixing anyway. There are advantages in carrying an injury at this time of the year, and the days of rain certainly puts a dampener on normal summer activities. My life is basically restricted to upstairs and downstairs. 😶
To a lesser extent, Amazon, with State borders slamming shut all around us, transporting of goods is becoming problematic again here too.
At least we are all getting pretty used to these sudden changes in our lives and have much greater understanding of how to react to increases in viral upswings.
Stay safe and look for any positives you can. P 🌲

Absolutely, Amazon!
I was even commenting, the other day, that the advantage of only being able to wear one shoe is 1/2 the sock washing and boot polishing! 😅🤣
I even happen to have a pork loin in the freezer, so Mr P and I can still have a roast for Christmas. And the rain will bring the temperature down to make it possible. 🙂🙂 Plenty of wine in the cellar to wash it down too. Keep happy, mate.

I’m just back from a doorstep catchup with my niece and it was all I could do to keep my composure. Fortunately the little ones were at the park with Dad or I think I would have become upset at not being able to give them a hug.

I got home feeling quite deflated and then checked my phone. I have a friend who I worked with many years ago. I have been unable to make contact with her this year and I feared the worst as she’s been in poor health and in and out of hospital for the previous couple of years. I received a text from a friend who also used to work with my friend many years ago and he has received a Christmas card from her. She has been living in a nursing home since May.
I am now sitting here with a huge stupid grin on my face having finished bawling my eyes out due to a mixture of relief and joy (plus pent-up emotions from seeing my niece etc) and am hoping to receive a card from her hopefully with new contact details.

I definitely have plenty of good liquid and there might be a few goodies in the cupboard to keep me happy.

I’m just back from a lovely evening with friends who are my support bubble.
My friend came to pick me up while her husband cooked a delicious chicken biryani for our dinner and he drove me home. I have been well fed, plied with wine and chocolate, had a delightful time with my friends and their lovely sons and come home feeling very relaxed and at peace with the world.

Today has been a good day despite not seeing my great nephews. My niece said we could facetime on Christmas Day when the boys open the presents I bought for them if it’s not too early but I’m not sure I want to witness the moment she finds out I bought her youngest a xylophone 🤣

Hello friends
I hope you are getting better Purple, and can enjoy Christmas fully.
Good to hear your news,Purple, Happy and Amazon. I have to read the thread a bit more fully to get more details
I have been largely silent for a wee while, and sorry about that. But not from indifference. I did manage a 6 day near fast in early December, but got distracted since then.
Ten days ago my new grand daughter was born in London. It wasn’t a very smooth arrival as she got into difficulties and my daughter had to have an emergency C section.
The wee mite is tongue tied so is having trouble feeding. All this has made me a
bit worried.
My knee is acting up, but the NZ health system considers that a knee that fails after I do 100 steps is not bad enough to be operated on. I guess I just don’t shout enough. In the new year I will look into that.
In the meantime, it’s Christmas and all the very best for a great Christmas.
xxxxxxxx Wiwi

Morning/evening all,

Wiwi,

Lovely to hear from you.
Congratulations on the arrival of your new granddaughter. I’m sorry to hear the birth was difficult and hope your daughter makes a swift and uneventful recovery and your granddaughter’s issues prove temporary.

Love and best wishes to everyone for a peaceful Christmas and a happy and healthy 2021 🤪🎄🎅🥂

Sorry to hear you’ve had a far from ideal Xmas, Happy. It’s very hard being separated from family, especially in your cold winters. I do hope the vaccination program is successful and we can all get back to some sort of normal life again.
I, too, have gained too much this year, even with fasting twice a week. I obviously eat more than I need (which is clearly precious little) on other days. I know I should only eat 1300 cals, but I’m no longer counting or recording, and it gets away from me.
Maybe next year, or the year after, when the world doesn’t seem so doomed. P

Hi P,

On the bright side… I’ve had a much needed break from work. The weather has been mostly fine, although very cold, so I’ve been getting a good dose of fresh air and exercise every day. And, through the magic of technology, I’ve been able to spend time with friends and family in their homes. Things could be worse.

Hi everyone,

Happy,

I’m so sorry to hear things are so tough for you right now. Hopefully 2021 will bring a resolution to the situation.

I’ve eaten much less than usual and I find I am unable to graze non stop for several days in the way I used to. That is not a bad thing but it does not mean I’ve not overeaten.
I am also unable to down copious amounts of alcohol which is definitely a bonus as these days too much results in broken sleep and feeling decidedly under par the following day and so far both of those events have been avoided more by luck than judgement.

There is one piece of Christmas pudding left, a Christmas cake minus one small slice and lots of mince pies. There is also a box of chocolates as yet unopened as I received handmade chocolates and champagne truffles for Christmas.
The cake will keep for months, the mince pies are uncooked and frozen so no issue with them. The chocolates will keep until the end of February and the aim is to keep them until my birthday at the end of January.

I plan to get back to fasting next week and am considering an extended fast of 4-5 days once I’ve completed a week of ADF. I did this once before when weight loss had stalled and it really helped me to focus and get back into good habits that had been slipping. It will also depend on the weather, if it’s very cold it would be hell so it needs careful planning.

I had a FaceTime call from my niece on Boxing Day. She had kept back the gifts I bought for the boys and I was able to watch their delight as they opened them. The little one was overcome with joy at the sight of a new book and needed no tuition in how to play a xylophone 😆 The elder one thanked me for my lovely cake (I gave them a Christmas cake) as well as for his gifts.
It was so lovely to see the whole family and be able to talk to the boys 😁

I’m coming to terms with the fact London and possibly the whole UK will be going back into lockdown very soon as the situation here is dire. Boris Johnson and his team of buffoons are noticeably absent despite the crisis.

Nothing new there…….

Take care everyone and stay safe 🤪

Have a happy NYE girls. We are hunkered down with just us, Christmas lights and the telly, but we’ll still make sure we party. 🍻🥂🍸🍹🍾🍾🍷

Hi everyone,

Happy,

My niece informed me they had bought their youngest a gift of a set of mini musical instruments but a xylophone wasn’t included so they were already prepared for noise 😆

I’m cooking a small piece of gammon this evening which will last for several days and it is sitting in a bath of cider and aromatics.
I spent some time this morning making a huge slaw and a fruit salad making tonight’s dinner and that of the coming days healthier and lighter. I’m hoping gradually cutting down over a few days and eating less carbs and sugar will make getting back into fasting easier.

I don’t care much for New Year’s Eve as I’ve always disliked the idea that it must be celebrated at any cost and have had several disappointing evenings when I would have been happier at home watching TV. I’m not sure I want to stay up despite wanting to say good riddance to 2020 but I know I’ll be disturbed by messages if I go to bed before midnight.

When I put my recycling out yesterday afternoon I couldn’t help but notice the number of empty bottles and cans in some of my neighbours open top boxes.
I came straight inside and polished my halo………….

Happy New Year everyone and I will raise a glass to you all 🍾🥂

I sincerely hope the world manages to conquer this dreadful virus so we can all get back to some semblance of normal 🤪

Happy 2021 Fasting Friends. All the best for another year of taking control of our own health. P 😉😉

Oh dear, HCB. A not so happy new year.
Did you miss a word? Is it one of your husband’s parents in hospital? You must be very worried.
Stay safe. P

I’m desperately trying to stay positive by pretending it’s a normal summer. Not easy with COVID ensuring we don’t actually socialise any more and the cold and rain putting a dampener on activities anyway. Many here are reliving the horrific bushfires of 12 months ago that followed a terrible drought. Life seems to throw one crisis after another at us.
I’m trying to limit eating, but also not get too miserable. I still can’t walk properly, so, other than little local drives, as passenger, I can’t drive again yet, most entertainment is limited to sedentary activities in the house. 😐
Still, we WILL survive! P

How dreadful! Your husband must be very concerned. Didn’t they immediately test his wife too?
Waiting for the vaccine is not the solution. Isolation and fast widespread testing, tracing and contact work is the most important, at this time. Why can’t people just learn to tow the line, avoid each other and wear masks if they can’t? It isn’t rocket science! 😷 P

Hi everyone,

HCB, sorry to hear about your stepson.

Wearing a mask is not restricting someone’s personal freedom it’s being a responsible citizen and a thoughtful human being. We live in a me first world and it is frightening the number of people implying the lives of who have underlying health conditions or are over 60 are less valuable. How did we get to be this way? Those of us who’ve worked out how dangerous and destructive this is need to stand against it. The only way we’ll conquer this pandemic is to work together and be kind and considerate to everyone.

I’m fasting today for the first time in a couple of weeks.

I read yesterday Michael Mosley is doing the Fast 800 for a few weeks as he’s gained a few pounds and he wants to get his blood sugars back into the really healthy range.
He was chatting on Twitter yesterday to various people about the best time to lose weight is soon after gaining it and I guess his aim is to encourage people who’ve gained weight these past few months due to Covid restrictions and of course Christmas to do something about it.

Have a good one everybody 🤪

It sure is and I’m struggling but no surprise considering the diet I’ve been consuming for two weeks. Lots of rich calorific food, cake, Christmas pud, mince pies, chocolates, alcohol, all things I don’t have every day and usually I try to restrict myself to only one of them in the course of a day.

My aim is to get my body used to not having so many carbs/sugar laden items making tomorrow’s FD much easier to navigate.

It is a good thing I’m alone as I’m doing a more than passable imitation of a bear with a sore head 😆

Hi All,

Very bizarre but everyone’s posts from new years eve onwards have only just shown up in my feed. Belated happy new year everyone 😁

Amazon, that sounds like my diet over the last couple of weeks! I have emptied the house (OK, it was into me 😊) of Christmas cake, mince pies and chocolate and have done a couple of 24 hour fasts this week. Not very low calorie, but easing back in to it!

HCB, sorry to hear about your stepson. Fingers crossed for his recovery.

Happy New Year, Fast friends,
It’s great to hear such a level of enthusiasm from you all, except HCB, I am so deeply sorry for your situation. It’s such a worrying situation in the USA.
I hope it all improves there and Biden’s promises can be realised.In the meantime, be kind as Jacinda advocates and keep safe.
Hopefully Purple you are getting more mobile. Are there any treats left which you will be able to access easily soon? (smile)
I guess you are glad Christmas is over, Happy. Are you back to work today? It’s a public holiday in NZ still today.
Thanks for the mention of MM again, Amazon. OH has already paid the £78, and we are on Fast800 as from next Monday. I have been wondering if my knee op has been refused as my BMI is still over 30. I will ask the doctor tomorrow,and then go full steam ahead to reset my body. In fact I can do 10k steps easily with the help of anti-inflammatory meds the dr gave me. I wonder how long one can stay on them. Do you know?
We had a great Christmas and New Year with friends, and Wellington provided us with warm sun on Christmas Day. We are off to the extreme South West of NZ next week. Hopefully then we can go to the extreme north in February, if convenient with a fast friend I miss a lot. I’ll be in touch, Barata.
I will report on Fast800 as per MM.
Until then limited eating window is our preliminary step.
Our new baby in London is 3 weeks old today and the parents look a bit haggard. Poor things. The baby was born with jet black spiky hair, which is now being replaced with light-coloured hair. She is unable to breastfeed satisfactorily due to the tongue tie which they are untying in a few hours, poor wee mite, but at least if she can breast feed again that will be a plus. My daughter is not stopping her efforts, but the bottle is her main source at present. She lost 300g after birth.
Talk soon.
xx Wiwi

Hi everyone,

Well done Purple 😆

Hi Wi,
Great to hear from you.
I am considering 800 calories every day and I have a copy of BSD which is very similar to Fast 800.
I didn’t want to do it before as it would interfere with my social life but as I’ve put myself into lockdown for the next couple of months (the government will follow with a national version in a week or so after much dithering and stating categorically they won’t be doing so…..) it should be easier to stick to as there will be no walks with coffee and cake stops followed by pub dinners or meeting the girls for lunch etc for the forseeable future.

The Covid situation is London is dire and getting worse across the country and unofficial reports from NHS staff suggest they are already struggling to cope and this is before we see the knock-on effect of families across the country getting together at Christmas.
I am very worried.

Take care everyone 🤪

P, your storm sounds dramatic, good to be watching it from indoors! Good work on the fast – that’s my aim for today, a proper low cal fast.

Amazon, well Johnson appears to have realised that, having waited too long at every turn, he really can’t wait any longer before bringing in full lockdown again. What a wholly unsuitable person he is to be PM (I can’t bring myself to refer to him as Leader).

At this stage, I’m not expecting that it will have any major implications for my work (yes Wi, first day back yesterday ☹) as we had made all the adjustments during lockdown 1 last year. But we’ll see.

Wi, I hope everything went well with the untying and your granddaughter starts to feed. That will be one worry lightened at least. Next stop, that troublesome knee!

Amazingly, Happy, we had no damage from the storm…we usually get branches down…and today was a stunner. We picnicked at the beach, then had a couple of weird heavy sun showers once we were home.
I’m finding fasting on Mondays are always easy. I’m much less committed on Thursdays. I hope yours went well. P

Good on you, Amazon.
Mr P’s blood sugar rose slightly over the past few weeks. He keeps a very tight rein on it, being a recovered diabetic. By simply insisting on him upping the vegetable component of every meal, it has dropped back again. It is amazingly simple. A bit like avoiding others to reduce viral spread.
I’ve done 2 very good 24 hour fasts this week. Hopefully they will help. My limited mobility certainly doesn’t. I’m getting very frustrated with my slow recovery.
P

Happy,

I bought the BSD book ages ago and tried it but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I was also trying to convince myself the blood test result was merely a temporary blip.

I’m now at the stage where I absolutely must get a grip and take more care of myself as I’ve been falling back into bad habits.

Yes the carrot burger is AJ’s recipe. I was researching uses for tofu and I found an article including links to 15 recipes in the on-line Guardian. The burgers once made and cooled can be frozen and the recipe makes 4 so you could make some and it wouldn’t be too taxing to cook one for yourself and a slab of flesh for the carnivore.
I’m very fond of carrot recipes, Hugh F-W’s carrot hummus is one of my favourites.

I’ve decided on 100 calories for milk/kefir, 200 for lunch and 500 for dinner which is 100 more than I’m used to and is very welcome.
It’ll be useful for when not fasting as I still need to work on portion control.

I made traditional hummus this morning and had it for lunch with carrots and lettuce. I like to dollop it on a lettuce leaf and roll it up into a bite size wrap. Not quite as good as dipping in tortilla chips or spreading it on crusty bread but neither items are on the diet sheet 😆

I’m also feeling determined and in order to beat the cold the thermals and thick socks are in use as is my ancient trusty hot-water bottle with a peach fun fur cover 🤣
The forecast suggests it’s going down to -3C on Saturday night 😱

Purple,

Well done on the fasts. It must be so tough when you are stuck inside unable to do too much.

Amazon,

I love hummus, and can happily forego the flatbread for carrot, pepper, cauliflower etc accompaniments.

I am going to make the tofu burgers…just as soon as I can get to the shops. The sky dumped over 10cm of snow on us yesterday which is more than my little (not 4WD) car can cope with.
And maybe I will just serve them up to xOH. I’m not quite sure why I bother preparing meals that he will like rather than what I want. Old habits I guess ☹️. I wouldn’t mind so much if he ever had a thought about what he wanted to eat, but tbf I guess that’s my fault and old habits for him too – he’s had over 25 years of not having to think about recipes or cooking.

Dreadful news about covid infection rates in London, I heard as many as 1 in 20 people in some parts. I hope you’re managing to avoid everyone!

I am fasting again today, this will be my third, but I’ve seen no discernible movement on the scales. I’m hoping I can force my body to remember how it used to respond to fasting (i.e. fat burning!)