Good morning fellow-fasters everywhere:
Emel, AO, RT and comespring in South Australia
Nama in Victoria
Bay in ACT
Purple in NSW
Barata in NZ
Jojo, Smiffy, HappyNow, Amazon, Hermaj, Lizzy, Wee and CakeyWakey in UK
Wiwi in France
Applepie in Spain
Ply, SAMM, Lori, HealthCoachB and Sarah103 in USA
DJ in Canada;
Hello rest of the world you know who you are.

RT, your beetroot relish sounds fantastic – will definitely give that a go. OH loves beetroot, as do I. Shameless scam of recipe? We all do it. Also love Coorong mullet but it has been a bit expensive of late at Cappos factory shop – I usually get the cheapest of Coorong mullet, silver (yellowfin) whiting or garfish. Also love Atlantic salmon but OH detests so occasionally stock up when on special and have in my Wednesday sandwich. Works out cheaper than canned fish, avoids any potential health issues associated with can linings and no rubbish to dispose of; win-win-win.

Interesting calculations on weekly fasted hours – mine not as good because I only skip breakfast for 4 days/week, but still works out at 74 hours for repair.

Hi comespring – good to hear from you. Agree, yesterday was just perfect. As you say, probably last hurrah of autumn; still warm today but cloudy with rain threatened.

Jojo, too bad about the bowling bees. Glad to hear your walk went well, despite pain. Your dinner sounds yum. Funny about smells; I have no trouble fasting at work but have to avoid walking past the kitchen at lunch time – the smell of toast and coffee drives me wild.

Haven’t heard from Lizzy for some time – hope everything OK.

Take care all and keep up the good work. n xx

Morning/evening all.

Back into my routine this morning with the full gym workout. I’m taking the car so I can do some errands on the way home and stock up with fresh foods. It is a miserable morning with wet weather forecast which will mean an afternoon with a good book.
Back to Tue, Thur, Sun fasting this week too. My clothes don’t feel any different so I can’t have gained much if anything, but I’m going to try to keep the calories down on non FDs to help me get back to 2lbs per week mode and get myself onto maintenance as soon as possible.

Have a good day/evening everyone.

Hi Fast Trackers
Nicky Emel comespring and Aussie O in South Australia Nama & Keirra in Victoria Bay in ACT PVE in NSW WiWi in France & Barata in NZ and Jojo SAMM HappyNow Amazon Herm Lizzy Ply Tartan lass Smiffy Lor_PA CakeyWakey and Hello World (You know Who ARE) 😆
Wow wow comespring step up to the stage and take a bow 24kg that is feeking awesome jojo nice to hear you have found the alexia of youth turned back the clock by 10 years you should bottle that and sell it a fortune awaits you I’m am very certain. I think everyone has a friend or college like your super woman forty looking sixty something year old who are really extra ordinary I have a few mates like that who after sheering sheep splitting wood fixing fences and of course playing in the B grade in the local footy after coaching the daughters netball in the morning servicing the car fixing the boat mowing Dads lawns cooking a weber building a pergola etc runs the auskick for junior football on Sundays still fit as a malley bull out the front running laps at footy training sort of George Clooney type of good looking rooster who did indeed end up with the hot looking chick what a coincidence I refer to these creatures as that guy who is just bloody good at being bloody good 😆
Peace RT

Back from the gym. It was really enjoyable. For the first time ever, I burned 100 calories on the cross trainer which was very satisfying. Next time I’ll be raising the resistance, and doing an extra minute.
I decided not to do any resistance work today as I’m planning to go to Pilates tomorrow, and I can do it afterwards.

I had a nice swim followed by 10 minutes in the jacuzzi which always seems like a luxury to me!

I then went to the supermarket and came home with lots of lovely fresh produce, English asparagus, English strawberries, peaches (alas not English) and lots of other green stuff. I found a bag of baby kale on the salad counter and am looking forward to trying it. I treated myself to some huge prawns which are on this evening’s dinner menu at chez Amazon 😛

Amazon I meant to say, the jacuzzi and the prawns both sound wonderful. Unfortunately no jacuzzi/spa where I swim. I have been thinking of trying a sauna – that would not involve much effort! I hate the heat, but if I followed it with a swim it could be pleasant? Any sauna fans around here?

Nama wow racking up weekly PB’s is amazing i have no doubt the body shape and mirror image is reflecting positive energy very zen like congratulations to you yes AO i havnt seen her in 3 days i do hope all is well there ??

Hi Nicky spot on a bit of an inconvenience this work business can be hey 😉

Well done, Nicky and Nama. PB each of you. 😆 champions today.

I’m fasting and the weather is cold and grey. We had some welcome rain. Cleaning out my paperwork and the computing desk. Takes forever to dispose of paperwork, as it all gets read then filed or binned. Have eaten nothing all day. Am going to stop cleaning up and treat myself to a hot bowl of homemade vegetable soup.

Cheers, Bay 🙂

Hi Everyone,
Want to respond to everyones posts but I am off to bed. Comespring great job! where is Samm? Thinking about what works for me. I am still up 2 pounds and totally went over calories today. I need to go back to planning.. that seemed to work well. I big pot of veggie soup, like bay. is what I need.
Night all.

Morning all,

Well weekend away successfully navigated, although being ‘forced’ ( 🙂 ) to eat puddings has awoken my mostly dormant sweet tooth. There’s now a demon on my shoulder telling me to eat sugar today, but I’m not going back down that slippery slope. He can starve and wither away…until the weekend at least!

Nama, good work on the weight and resolve! Pork crackling avoided! I bow down before you, respect!

Nicky, congratulations also. You just keep chipping away at your weight, with no big song and dance! Quietly determined and committed. I hope you’re feeling the benefits and proud of what you’ve achieved so far, even though you aren’t yet at journey’s end.

Well, time to start the day properly. No fasting today, just trying to ignore the sugar demon!

Amazon!

5:2 poster girl no less! People will be pointing you out in the street next 🙂

And yep! No going back now!

Good morning/evening all

After crowing to everyone about how healthy I have been on 5:2, the lurgy has caught up with me. In bed feeling grim and achy with a nasty cough. Hey ho – it will pass, and at least the enforced rest means I can catch up on things here and dash off a few overdue emails.

Amazon – what a tremendously fantastic ego boost! You have done brilliantly.

Nama – what resolve you have! There is no way I could have resisted the crackling on the roast pork – fast day or non-fast day! I admire you tremendously. When you can say no to something you really love, it does give you such a virtuous feeling. I wish I could do it more often! I’m not feeling hungry with this bug, and I was going to have a fast day in any event.

I postponed my usual Monday fast day as there were leftovers In the fridge from a dinner party on Sunday which just HAD to be eaten! There is still some rhubarb orange and ginger meringue pie left but OH is going to have to finish that up. Fortunately I just can’t face it. Like Happy, I don’t really have a sweet tooth and don’t crave sugary things, but once started……..enough said!

RT – I think I’m going to emigrate……..!

Have a good one all

Smiffy x

Hi everyone, not been in here for a couple of days, so busy at work and so tired when I get home. Trying to keep up with posts but so many just can’t at the moment.

Not feeling 100% again, just hope it’s nothing nasty and just from being tired.

Hi AO, sorry to hear that you are under the weather, you must be chronically tired as you have such a busy life. I hope you can find time to rest and feel better soon.
Smiffy, sorry you’ve got the lurgy, get well soon.

It is great when others make nice comments, especially when they’ve not seen you before and have nothing to compare with. It has cheered me up and made me more determined.

Jojo, my upper arms are not so hot but I think they’ll tone up a bit as I continue to exercise and I’m not going to worry about how anything else looks until I’ve been on maintenance for a while as it is my understanding from those who are maintaining that the body continues to shrink for a while.

I am trying to silence the hunger dragon so need water, coffee and something to do for a couple of hours. I suppose I’m going to have to give in and do some housework 🙁

I make my own yoghurt and as a result eat much more of it than I used to and my digestive system is much healthier than it used to be. I suffered from IBS for several years and was always getting stomach bugs.

I love cheese and any excuse to eat blue cheese is good enough for me 😛

Jojo I think our Rouge Trader would like to be depicted by Leonardo Dicaprio as in the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” and SAMM might like to be Humphrey Bogart as in The African Queen. I would be happy to be Katharine Hepburn in the same movie! We need Hermaj back to write us a script…

I’ve been out in the garden between showers planting some new perennials plus Busy Lizzies and Nemesias. I needed to replace a couple of shrubs in tubs at the front of the house that didn’t survive the winter. It was a dry winter and I didn’t give them enough water. It looks good out there now, I have a trough filled with grasses and dark red geranims and trailing verbena plus some pots with a selection of annuals, lavender and a huge cordyline which is a very dark plum rather than green. I must give them all plenty of water.
I’ve also planted more annuals and a couple of flowering perennials in the nack garden to fill a few spaces, and it is looking good. The dwarf lilacs look and smell wonderful. Please can I have a warm and dry day soon so I can sit outside

Gosh Amazon you are a braver gardener than me – or is it because you are further south? I spent most of Friday and yesterday in the greenhouse potting up loads of geraniums, petunias and lobelia for the patio pots and tubs. I bought them as plugs a few weeks ago and they were desperate to be moved on, but I wouldn’t dare put them out until the end of May. I’m glad I did it because of feeling so rough today and good though OH is, I’m not sure I could trust him to give them the amount of water they needed! Like you, I’m praying for a spell of nice warm weather, without this persistent wind.

Hi
I have been in the garden all day. I never would have thought it possible to be able to do such hard physical work for 4 whole days. I have finished making the two raised beds. I have planted dahlias, gladioli and peonies in newly made flower beds. I have planted potatoes and strawberries. I have sown beans, peas, corn in eggshells for germination. Then I raked the 2000sq metre field for mulch.
Sorry to hear you are unwell, Smiffy and AO.
What are busy Lizzies?
Yes I like Russell Crowe to play RT. I think Jo Brand could play me, maybe.
Yes the news about stomach flora and fauna are interesting. I went out and bought some yoghurt and sauerkraut after reading some articles.
I discovered after cooking a meal for friends on Sunday, that deviating from the usual tucker made me extra hungry the next day. It was a few too many empty carbs, I think. Or maybe because I am a labourer at present!
xx Wiwi

Hello ‘dear friends’ as I have come to regard you as I have been reading your posts over the last 3 months; I decided I wouldn’t post until I had read EVERYTHING!
What a lovely group of people, perhaps invidious to single any one person out, but Jojo, your integrity shines out.
I have been doing this way of eating for 3 months now. I have taken a fairly relaxed approach as needing to lose about one and a half stones. Not that much compared to some, but my waist/hip ratio is poor. Very pleased to say I have lost 12 lbs in 3 months. Like many of you I never believed I could go without food for longer than 4 hours so it has been a revelation.
I retired in January after 40 years in social work, a job that positively forces one at times into comfort eating!
I am temporarily living in Surrey with my not exactly OH more NP ie New Partner. I was divorced 10 years ago and at the ripe age of 60 I met my soulmate. I met him online and can recommend the process, don’t believe all the negative hype about it.
Will write more as and when but just wanted to say Hi.

I just happened to be passing – won’t take my coat off, I’m not stopping – and am flattered that some kind people think I could write a script for a 5:2 Forum movie, However, I should warn you that because of the type of projects I’ve been involved in recently my writing style has changed considerably and therefore the screenplay might well, as they tell you on the telly, “contain violence and strong language”.

Also you couldn’t have a true to life movie of the forum without including some of the nutters and weirdos who at times have made life on here less than pleasant for some of us but have now happily disappeared into the ether.

On the subject of upper arms, as the possessor of truly repellent bingo wings, my feeling is not to obsess about such things. Do as I do, cover the buggers up! Simples!

Hi Folks,
I am still around!
It’s been nearly impossible for me to catch up with all my social networking and emails.

After a handful of guests in Florida, driving back, opening and cleaning the house (didn’t finish yet) I couldn’t simply do my fasting. It’s is horrible when you see all you pounds back plus more. My life is like that… always lot’s of obstacles believe me.

Yesterday I put my scale away, did my FD and cooked Dahl – rice and beans (Indian dish) roughly for my 500 calories. I will meet my scale again maybe once a week if not… will see.

Here in Connecticut I know more people and I belong to a Gym! Yesterday I walked Sasha plus house chores, today I was 30 minutes at the elliptical machine followed by 55 minutes of Yoga. Tomorrow I will do the elliptical plus pilates. The next FD is schedule for Friday.
The weather is beautiful up here right now and I see down under is getting cold just like Brazil… mother is complaining already about the cold nights.

Wishing you all “happy losing” and sorry to have missed the interaction of the group.

B

We feel a lot better just knowing what is happening . We now know what to expect ,he said it could take months but our imaginations were running riot . It was far better to be able to understand what was going on . he is quiet and he never complains and he didn’t want to worry me xx.

Wee,

So sorry to hear OH’s op hasn’t gone entirely to plan. Fingers crossed it resolves without further surgery.

When you say you’ve been doing a wee bit of comfort eating, is that ice cream by any chance…? Or is that only for celebrations… 🙂

You’re right Happy – they would fit the bill perfectly!