The recipe is from Delia Smith’s Summer collection and is available via deliaonline. It is her adaptation of an old French recipe for chicken in vinegar.

Purple, having visited Australia several times during your summer I can understand why the burning is carried out. It is an unpleasant necessity. I hope the air clears soon.

Morning all,

Yes, thankyou Amazon for the wonderful ‘sermon’, very fitting on a Sunday morning and very, very true, every word! I hope your dinner was lovely too, though I like the sound of the fruitcake!

Very pleased your team triumphed RT, lets hope mine can pull off a miracle this afternoon. I will be lighting the fire and settling in at 3pm. I fear we may lose Trav to another team, the ‘big american’ seems to have filled his shoes with great style. Yes, as matter of fact there was pink himalayan salt on the lamb, the roast was divine (keeping with the biblical theme). I think you need to cook a leg tonight to celebrate your great win! Wiwi it was not NZ but Victorian lamb actually, the wine was NZ though! I buy meat on line from a lovely young couple who run a small family business supplying grass fed beed and lamb, direct to the door. Its a bit more expensive, but so worth it, always perfect meat.

I did enjoy some roast spuds as well, so I think a sensible day is in order eating wise today…. have a lovely Sunday all x

P, I wish I could send you some rain. I emptied 70mm out of the gauge over the last couple of days. The weather is so balmy (in both its meanings). It’s just a few days til winter, all the doors are open today, the washing has been on the line, temperature has been up to 18 degrees.

The worm farm has been emptied of accumulated castings and pee: happy fruit trees and garden. Feijoas are still falling from the tree – it’s been a really good crop this year, lovely.

When we lived in the US many years ago, lamb was an occasional treat, HCB. (definitely not IS 🙂 ) I’m just about to put the chicken on to roast – hope there’s a little left-over meat for the soup tomorrow’s FD. And I have completed another bone boiling for stock, to be cooled and frozen in small portions. Some will be used in tonight’s gravy, and some in tomorrow’s soup.

No, and the prevailing wind is in the wrong direction 🙁 Love the whales!

It seems everyone is having a lovely weekend. Weather in very hazy here in Holland, but had a nice weekend reconnecting with friends. A bit shocking though as I went to a spa with a friend and everyone was naked! Being British this was a bit strange. Makes you wonder though, as there were all shapes and sizes and all the Dutchies didn’t care at all! And we are all worried about wearing bikinis on our holiday – when you get there and no-one else has the perfect body either I do wonder why we stress about it so much.

Off out again tonight for sushi with friends and again tomorrow night. We haven’t been in Europe for 2 months and only back for 2 weeks so have to pack all the social arrangements in! Fasting Tuesday and Thursday to suit my social calendar this week. I lost 2 kilo in the past 3 weeks so really happy. This does work, and I just have to commit to not falling off the wagon!

Have a lovely Sunday everyone.

💖
“Don’t take your eyes off the prize”
And that’s how I walked away from a beautiful brunch today without foods or drinks. It’s was a short social affair after church.
I had my fermented grape juice today for dinner but it was in my comfort zone.
Many blessings to all Fasters this week. I’ll try my best tomorrow 😘
Xoxo
HBC

Hi Jo,

Good to see your post. There must be something in the air. I am also reading The Obesity Code by Jason Fung, and Gut by Giulia Enders, and The Diet Myth by Tim Spector. I mean to say, why read one book, when you can dip in and out of 3 books at once. That’s me at the end of a fast day. It’s getting very cold here on the last day of Autumn.

It’s good to learn new things and to reinforce why we are doing 5:2 🌺🌺🌺

Cheers, Bay

Evening/morning all,

Glad you are feeling more positive Jo, as you can see from the last three posts, there is plenty of support on this forum. I hope you were not seriously depressed, but more frustrated and momentarily down. I am so glad Jason Fung et al are publishing the truth at last! Those of us with the tendency to enjoy sugar were all turned into sugar junkies by the food industry. But no more, we are wise to their dishonesty now!

Bay don’t you have 31 days in May in Canberra? Is that why all the pollies are ahead of themselves?

RT what a weekend of footy. Methinks my team are doomed for the rest of this season with so many injuries! I really enjoyed the game yesterday though, despite losing, the young players showed lots of real potential. I think poor Eddie is ready to quit!

I fasted well all day today, even managed to go to our big barn Costco to stock up on non perishables and completely avoided the ‘sugar’ aisles. Then I came unstuck big time tonight on sourdough breadstick! Proving that emotional eating is alive and well, the bread followed a favourable doctors report on a health issue for husband. Funny way to celebrate non imminent widowhood, by poisoning my own bod! Ah well, tomorrow is another (fast) day.

Healthcoach I am in Melbourne, Australia. We have had Costco here about 5 years. Its Barata and Tangatawiwi who are the kiwis – Wiwi is actually bi national, she also hails from France. Its enough to confuse any newcomers to this thread. Myself, Purple, Bayleaf, Nicky, RT and AussieOma are all Aussies!

RT there wasn’t much to look at apart from a few walnuts although I hope your imagination was better!

Jojo do you into do 500 calories on fast days? I couldn’t cope with zero personally, which is why it’s easier to stick to it. The thought of eating nothing would be depressing for me. I find it challenging to be creative with the 500 calories. You can eat a ton of vegetables for 500 calories.

Just competed Gillian Michaels 30 day shred video and arms are hurting. I hate press ups!! Trying to motivate myself to do a second one but sitting on the sofa writing to you folks instead!

Back to Canada next week, and thinking of doing a 10 day detox again. Far too much socialising whilst in Europe, which is nice but I don’t think my liver is very happy!

Hi Anaide,
I am Brazillian as well however I have the book the Obesity Code which I am reading it right now.
I would say Jojo and many other good souls here have lots of experience, wisdom and good knowledge with fasting, losing weight and gaining back. This thread just turned 2 years and have lots of action.
The book is great but we need support to keep going. Stick around, post your questions and the smarties here will give you a boost of confidence.
Um abraço virtual bem grande 💖

Thank JOJO58 and HealthCoachB

Am Lowcarb two years ago, no longer suffer more with carbohydrates, removed all the grains too, have lost a lot of weight with it.

Thank you for the tips! I love you guys and your publications! I read everything!

Now with fasting I hope to return to lose again.

How lovely RT, enjoy!!! Love a good road trip, I hope you are in the XR6? Hope the sun is shining for you.

Hello,

To Anaide if I may add: be cautious with alcohol in take, prefer low glycemic fruits.

Per advise on my FD to keep myself busy with my forever cleaning I decided to organize a stupid bookshelf under the staircase filled with nonsense items. Old magazines, books, video tapes plus photo albums and many loose photos in envelopes. That was the most difficult and emotional task in ages. I’ve heard from friends that downsize their house that story in this case it’s just to have things in order. How slimmer and gorgeous skin I used to have. I never appreciated beautiful letters from my nieces and nephews back home and the ones no longer here … I had to stop because the tears were coming down. I’ve told my husband that specific project it’s gonna take some time! He totally understood 💖 O will go back maybe on a nonFd.

Still hot here! Did my 21:3 and planning to eat tomorrow only when my body it’s hungry.

Keeping strong here! RT – enjoy your zen mood.

Xoxo
B

Morning/evening all,

Ali, not sure what you mean by 10 day detox, but if you’ve been drinking lots of alcohol due to a busy social schedule all you need to do is not drink any for a week or two. Our bodies are very sophisticated machines and they don’t hang on to “toxins” they get rid of them as soon as they can without any help. A couple of weeks of 5:2 ensuring you make the healthiest choices every day and no vino is all you need 🙂

Dull and overcast this morning with heavy rain forecast. I’m off to the gym and am hoping that the tennis isn’t rained off again so I can spend the afternoon watching.

I’ve started reading The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living. There is a lot of detailed information regarding human physiology but it is fascinating. It follows the same line of thinking of other books we’ve discussed regarding the role of insulin in causing us to regain or have problems losing weight and another term “carbohydrate intolerance” is used. It is described as causing raised blood glucose, raised truglyceride and cholesterol levels and hypertension and of course weight gain.
As someone with high cholesterol levels and hypertension is has got me thinking.

Time to get moving

have a good one everybody 😜

JoJo
I’m so glad you’re here and you’ve inspired me to keep trying. Thank you. I put on 4lb this week and have been very down about it. I hadn’t thought about doing zero calories on a fast day but I’ll try it. I’m just all over the place and can’t seem to settle into it but desperately want / need to. I had awful binges for a few days and it effected my breathing and mood big time. I also have 3 stone to lose to get to’normal’ weight for height. I have so many books on sugar-free diets, fat-free, juicing etc etc – can you recommend 1 book that made a difference to you that got you really going on this way of life? I hope you can help because I honestly feel sometimes that this is all there is now – middle aged with no energy feeling rotten most of the time.
Many thanks all for posting your experiences
Aine x

Jo,

re: jogging. I get sore and hot joints when I start running again after winter, particularly if I haven’t allowed adequate recovery time between runs or I try and do too much too soon.

Knowing you, I suspect you threw yourself in, did too much too soon, now suffering the effects and going to give up altogether rather than just easing back, giving your knees time to recover and then carrying on sensibly?

You can’t embark on a new exercise program without experiencing aches/ pains. Your body is not used to the exercise. Unless you injure yourself and really do need to stop, a bit of soreness is to be expected I’m afraid!

Aine,

Read the fast diet book, it is full of useful information but bear in mind that when it says you can eat what you want on non fast days it means that no foods are prohibited, not that you can eat as much as you want. You need to stay under your TDEE.

In order to have gained 4lbs of fat last week you would have had to eat an extra 14000 calories so it is likely that most of it is fluid and food in transit. As Jo says don’t blame yourself, last week is over, so pick yourself up and start afresh.

If you’ve only just started 5:2 I would not recommend zero calories on a fast day. Give yourself time to get used to fasting and getting the amount of extra fluid you need right. If you feel dizzy, faint or have a headache try some salt, either as a hot drink eg Bovril or Miso or just take a couple of pinched of salt washed down with some water. You should also ensure that you don’t over eat on non fast days. I found the easiest way to do that was to plan my meals if possible. If you eat and extra helping of something don’t beat yourself up and allow it to develop into a binge just forgive yourself. One of the things I worked on was the speed I ate. I ensured that every time I ate even if it was an apple, I would sit down and eat it as slowly as I could manage. It makes a huge difference.
Once you’ve cracked fast days you can think about doing an extra one or zero calories but you must give your mind and your body a chance to get used to it.

As for daily weighing, opinion is divided on that. After a FD your weight has usually dropped but the following day it might have risen due to food in transit, and there are a myriad of other reasons why weight fluctuates on a daily basis. If you can cope with that weigh daily but I can’t and I only weigh myself once per week sometimes less as I want to see a smaller number than last time I stepped on the scales.

You can do it but this is a way of life not a diet and it takes time.

We are all here to give you support, encouragement and consolation when required 🙂

Back from the gym which was quiet at is usual during school holidays, but had to travel home through the monsoon 😮
I’m far too hungry to contemplate fasting today so I’ve had some Bircher muesli and will have one of my 350 calorie specials for dinner.

Jo,

Bircher muesli can contain anything you want to put into it. I use 20-30 g of porage oats soaked for a few minutes in some unsweetend almond milk, and then add a selection of seeds, nuts, dried and fresh fruit and a sprinkle of coconut flakes. I have some of my full fat home made yoghurt on top. It comes in at around 500-600 calories depending on what I add. I really enjoy it and have been known to have a small portion as a FD dinner 🙂

Rejoining the gym is a great idea if you can get value for money. I don’t have to book a class, it is a case of turn up and join in and although my hours are restricted to 9am-4pm if I want to do a class that starts later I just need to arrive before 4. I don’t know if many take advantage of that or not but there is such a good variety of classes in the mornings that it would be madness to turn up at the same time as those arriving after work.

When I get back from Cornwall I’m going to try to get myself out of bed earlier on a Tuesday so I can return to the 9am Pilates class, but it means travellong at the busiest time of day which I’m not too keen on 😖

I had a short post workout swim this morning after a lovely five minutes of stretching out in the jacuzzi which I had to myself 😄

Amazon,

I’ve been wondering for ages why you always say ‘Porage’ and not ‘porridge’ but didn’t like to ask! Today I may have had my light bulb moment 💡 You eat Scots Porage Oats?!

Happy, I’ve always spelled the word that way and “porridge” just looks wrong to me 😉

Wow Anaide that must be so difficult for you. Thoughts are with you. It’s good to keep memories though of loved ones.

Fasted today and was fine and cycled to the supermarket and back. Have a super social weekend planned again but head back to Canada on Monday to normality! Really missed my hot yoga class, which I find really makes my back strong and able to do other activities better.

Thanks Amazon, appreciate the advise. Really enjoying seeing all my friends though, although the weather is rubbish here in Holland. Is everyone else having a nice summer?

Excellent breakfast choice, Nama ☺
Burcher muesli is usually made with fruit juice and yoghurt. Clearly bought Bircher (eg in breakfast bars) is never a healthy option. The fruit juice and yoghurt would almost definitely be high in sugar.
We went through the full spectrum of weather on our way home yesterday. .. sunny walk on the beach (water 22deg), a late lunch with good Hunter white in golden sunshine overlooking the Hunter River, masses of rainbows, then torrential rain (at last) as we headed home. Cold and wet at home, sitting by a cosy fire with cockatoos screeching at each other in the dark and wet. They were obviously wondering what rain is!!!
Happy to fast today to check my weekend appetite 😉 P

Lots of typos 😭 Hope you guys get the picture 😱