We have a site like that for our local area on facebook too Ply . I haven’t bought or sold anything there but some brilliant stuff .

Hello to all the newcomers ,this is a brilliant place to be .I am just back from the hairdressers getting my hair trimmed a wee bit .

Lost another pound . that is 18 pounds in 7 or 8 weeks. I just feel so good . We are going away to the lake district from Sunday until Tues . I will Fast tomorrow and fast again on Tuesday . I just feel so good . Never thought I would say it BUT I enjoy fasting . Great WOL and great encouragement from members of 5.2 thanks guys

WEE xx

My name is WEE as my internet name is weemam My boys are over 6 feet tall and I am under 5 feet tall . soooo they call me “the wee mam ”
I have met quite a few of my internet friends and they call me “wee” too lol xx

Since yesterday was a b2d fast.
I had fish dinner. And jumped rope for 12 minutes.

under tdee by 350 calories.
still tryinh to sort furniture and decor. At least I have things to do.

Went to bulk store to restock on dried fruits.
Will fast tommorrow and adf till next friday.

Hi Samm, Jojo, Hermaj, Cheeseplease, & everyone else

Samm – I too am new to this thread and have enjoyed reading your posts. I am so very sorry to hear your desperately sad news, and can only reiterate the feelings and good wishes of everyone else. My thoughts are very much with you and your family.

Thanks for letting us stay on this thread Jojo. I’m so sorry to hear of your plight and do hope the injection helps. Try and enjoy your rest – a great excuse to spend lots of time on here. I absolutely agree with you about holidays in the sun (maybe you should treat yourself to one after what you have been through), and I too am a sun worshipper. It’s OH who won’t go abroad, so the holiday home in Wales was a compromise as it’s near the sea, which I also love. I still have the odd holiday in the sun though as I have a couple of single girlfriends I can go with, but with the lovely summer we have had here, it has been win win all round. It’s great to think you were a go-go dancer in your younger days! Good for you !

Hermaj – thanks for the lovely story about your moggy. What a great age. I am also reluctant to be old before I am ready, which is why I will not stop having my hair coloured, my eyebrows waxed or my nails painted for a long while yet. And after losing (almost) 2 stone, OH says I look 10 years younger, which I’m definitely beginning to feel. I promise never to mention the word ‘senior’ again! As for spotty young men – I could bang on for hours about my abhorrence of being approached in shops by “you orright there?” I HATE HATE HATE IT! I usually just say “yes thank you” and just stand there in silence. Whatever happened to “Can I help you?”!

Tartan lass – like some of the other ladies, I’m not much into exercise classes, but I do love dancing and your Zumba sounds great! Don’t get despondent over the small weight loss, I’m sure you will find lots more will drop off by next week. I had a laugh at remembering the things people take off at the weigh-ins at slimming clubs. We’ve all done it – especially squeezing out the final wee! At one club I went to in the 80’s, one lady even took off a particularly heavy, lined skirt!

Hi Amazon – I’ve been making my own bread for years, have a machine, and usually make rolls which I freeze. However I have stopped doing it since we’ve been on the 5:2 unless we are entertaining, and it has made a big difference, apart from helping the weight loss. We used to feel very bloated even after eating very little, and particularly from my point of view, I would feel very sleepy. I still occasionally eat pasta, as I love it, and the only way to get me through this diet is not to give up the things I really enjoy. Fortunately I don’t have a particularly sweet tooth, apart from a nightly mug of Cadburys Highlights, so don’t miss cakes and biscuits, but there are many times I could kill for a bowl of Kettle Chips! OH treated me to afternoon tea yesterday, which had been booked before I started the diet, and although it was beautifully done, I could certainly have done with more sandwiches and less sweet stuff – there were scones with jam and cream, meringues, cheesecake, orange cake and pannacotta. I couldn’t eat it all but made a very good attempt! The one interesting thing is that I often get quite painful spasms in the gut after eating things with a high sugar content. This didn’t happen yesterday, and I’ve noticed it doesn’t happen with ‘home cooked’ cakes and puddings, only bought ones, and breakfast cereals. It does seem therefore that something is added to these which could be causing the problem. That said, I do have an ounce of mixed Branflakes and Fruit & Fibre on non-FDs with lots of fresh fruit and a little Greek yoghurt. It’s my favourite breakfast.

Weemam – it’s great getting into clothes that you haven’t worn for a long time isn’t it? And then when even those clothes begin to get lose, it’s the most tremendous boost. But nothing can beat the feeling of being more active and alive. I too suffered from painful knee joints, and have already said (though maybe on another thread) that it got to the stage when I was literally hauling myself up the stairs and seriously thought it wouldn’t be long before we would need a stair lift. Now I (almost!) run up and down without thinking about it.

NickyF – I had to smile at your theatre experience, and the comment made by your other half. It’s very sad though that as some get older and maybe less mobile, it is so easy to turn to readily-prepared food for convenience, with it’s high sugar, salt and fat content. Let it be a lesson for us all to try and learn!

Well, I started this post yesterday morning, and had such a busy, but fun, day, I have only just got around to finishing it. Sorry if I’ve missed a few later postings. Just noticed had one from Amazon – looks very interesting. Will read the link. Well done on your 3 FDs.

It’s another busy one today, going to see a friend who hasn’t been well this morning, going to the local village show this afternoon, and out with friends for an Italian meal this evening. Yumm – pasta! Maybe not in the circumstances!

Have a good day all

Smiffy x

PS – for the Zero Noodle lovers – my local Boots had them on offer at 99p yesterday, so I guess that’s pretty general throughout their stores at the moment.

Hi Smiffy and everyone else,

jojo, sorry you are having a rather painful time at the moment but glad you were able to enjoy the post-wedding knees-up. The 70s were a golden age for music, weren’t they? It was also the time I went to uni to do my first degree while also going through the hippy stage, with all the naughtiness of various sorts that entailed. Happy days!

When I shuffle off this mortal coil – hopefully not for a couple of decades yet – I want the first 15 minutes of Pink Floyd’s Shine on You Crazy Diamond from the album Wish You Were Here and maybe something by Queen, played before they lay me to rest in the woods in my bio-degradable box. I’d also like one of my younger rellies to read Philip Larkin’s “This Be the Verse”, the one about dysfunctional families which discretion tells me not to quote here.

Smiffy, I’m with you all the way about continuing to look good with such aids as hair colour, in my case half-head high/low lights. On the back of my head I’m still dark brown with not a hint of grey. Why is it some ladies of mature years opt for the blue rinse and pensioner perm? I don’t do the nails as I never have. I’m so cack-handed the nail varnish goes everywhere but on fingers and toenails.

Like you, thanks to good genes, good posture and good skin I look quite a bit younger than I am, even more so after losing around 2 stone on 5:2. I also have a very bad attitude.(I think jojo knows what I’m taking about). 🙂 While I’m still a bit porky in places, I now have wonderful shoulders which I’d love to show off, but sadly can’t do so because of the appalling bingo wings that go with them.

Don’t get me started on “are you all right?” instead of “can I help you?” In my case, at only 5’1″ it’s often “are you all right there, darlin’, sweetheart, my love, etc) I love the shock on their faces when I tell them I won’t put up with terms of endearment from total strangers. I’ve even set harrumphing emails to the management and it does seem to work. Strangely enough, the girls are worse than the boys.

The first time I was asked if I was all right, I remember thinking – do they think I’m about to shoplift, moon the customers, or throw up over the display?.

BTW thanks for the tip about zero noodles and Boots.

Finally, SAMM, just to say hi and let you know I’m here rooting for you and your family along with everyone else.

And not forgetting duck or m’duck in the Midlands!

We are in Central Scotland . Funny thing is I call my Hubby Pal . On facebook I call everyone pal . I am one of those people next to in at the supermarket … well anywhere actually . I am “A wee blether” as we say here . I remember our youngest granddaughter asking “nanny ,do you know EVERYBODY ” lol . I just might 🙂

Wee xx

Yes, Happy, I’m hearing a lot of Midlands “duck” lately. One half of my dissertation is about British New Wave Cinema of the late 50s and early 60s and of course, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, set in Nottingham, is one of the classics of the period.

“Bab” is a new one on me, Cheeseplease.

Where in Central Scotland are you, wee? Last year we had a wonderful week based just outside Perth. Does that count as Central Scotland? I have a particularly soft spot for Glen Lyon where you can drive for miles without seeing a soul, apart from a few Highland cattle, such beautiful creatures.

Bon voyage, BTW xx

Thanks for the explanation Cheeseplease . I had never heard of bab either ,

We are in Stirling. gorgeous place . I was born here 72 years ago .
The highland cattle are amazing . Tell you a wee story about them . We have a sweet factory near us McGowans the make highland toffee and on the front is a HIghland Cow . When I was little I thought the cows(coos ) as we say , made the toffee . When any of our family see them in a field . the shout out “toffee coos ” WE ARE all a bit mad lol .
Perth is Tayside & Central Scotland . Only 45 mins drive from us .Fort William is gorgeous too . We actually live on the battlefield of the battle of Bannockburn 1314

Wee xx

Evening all.

I thought the Independent article was very interesting and it goes some way to explaining why heart disease and diabetes are on the increase. So many people buy low fat items because they have been led to believe that they are healthier when in fact they are stuffed with sugar to replace the flavour lost by the omission of fat.
It is a non fast day today but I have still had an eye on the calorie intake. I’ve had about 1500 and am still full. A friend and I went out for a walk and had a late lunch. I had to say no to a dessert (and I love desserts and puddings)because I was so full after a single course. I love the fact that this eating plan is helping me to recognise when I am hungry as opposed to thirsty or just being greedy, and when I’ve had enough. I never want to find myself in that eaten so much I feel ill situation again.
Jojo, I wouldn’t be able to bake for guests and not eat any of it so well done to you.
Smiffy, the thing I miss the most are roasted and salted nuts. I have no control so just don’t buy them. I still eat cake occasionally but in much smaller amounts and less often. Too much bread etc makes me feel bloated too.

Thanks for the explanation of bab, Cheeseplease. I suspect the unpleasant little madam at the Back to Backs wasn’t a Brummy. I’m not sure that staff have to be locals to work at a National Trust property. She just came as a shock after the incredible amount of help I’d had from her Scottish counterparts.

jojo -If the necessity should arise I can teach you some very, very rude words and deeply offensive words Spanish. So any spotty Spanish youths had better watch out. Spanish obscenities are a mixture of blasphemy and bodily functions. Some of the most foul-mouthed Spaniards are the Basques and that includes the women, especially the well-educated ones. They are also among the nicest people in Spain.

I had the good fortune to work with a lot of Basques when I worked for the Banco de Bilbao and I even went out with one or two. The saying goes that you can tell which town or village a Basque comes from by the name of the saint on whom he performs his natural functions – if you get my drift. As for a rocket shooting up over the Channel, what can I say but “Way to go, jojo”.

Amazon, I know exactly what you mean by having eaten so much you feel ill. Not nice at the time, but a worthwile learning experience and one more step towards healthy and measured eating. Having pigged out on something, you are unlikely to do the same any time soon. Call it instinctive portion control. Obviously 5:2 is working for you, which is great. 🙂 It does for most of us, although sometimes not as fast as we would like. 🙁

Imright there with you amazon. Especially the treats. I’d be lying if I said I’m going all in on health and healing foods.

However, I feel I need to gain control over my weight, a personal goal to slim down to weight I was when I was 18 years fresh out high school. This may take awhile , I’m picking up tips and tricks . Really though it’s the food count that makes my scale move. I can eat too much health or healing foods and gain weight. No biggie, just makes the slim down take longer.

Can’t speak for anyone but myself. TDEE Everything gets close to the TDEE formula, but the math is sound and studies proven. Eat more than TDEE I gain. Eat less than TDEE I lose.
So I started counting my calories, at first on an app , but I’ve become so good at it I can just look at a plate and be very close every time. My tip is . Count grams of fats and proteins, but count calories of carbs. That cuts the learning curve way back. Just count the carbs. In that way if your carb menu has 800 calories of carbs aday. It doesn’t matter if it’s green beans or pistachio cake 800 is 800. In fact, there is no human requirement for carbohydrate. ZILCH! What there however is the glycemic index. Do you want carbs that gush sugars into the blood stream or trickle. Foods like oranges gush sugars and make my sugars spike. And I get hungry much quicker as opposed to oatmeal which trickles the sugars and I don’t get as hungry as soon. Yes I m diabetic and I eat oatmeal, but in small amounts on feed days. As I’m try to be low carb on feed days too. Starting to ramble.

I found that taking 4-6 months of counting carbs only got me to the point where I didn’t need apps anymore. I try to keep most meals around the 500 calories mark on feed days and 250 on fast days keeps it simple and easy to count.
The big meals and treats with friend and family. No I don’t count them , only because they are the exception these days.I enjoy the occasional treat. But I’m good enough at it enough to know. I know not to eat it on fast day, but on feed day , I get to let the good times roll.
Ice cream cone 400 calories. So I skip the bread and potatoes I skip the breads and potatoes and pasta a lot these days.

In which case, jojo, I won’t teach you anything naughty.

Here’s a sweet little song you may already recognise. It used to be – and maybe still is – sung on Spanish TV by a bunch of cartoon kids in their jammies ready for bed to mark the watershed at 9 p.m.

Vamos a la cama
Para descansar,
Para que mañana
Podamos madrugar.

Buenas noches, nena 🙂

Interesting conversation re talking to strangers.
I grew up all over Australia, rural, regional and big city. I talk to anyone, give everyone a cheery hello and strike up interesting conversations. I love the way total strangers try to find commonalities when briefly chatting.(like this forum)
My daughter, however, who grew up mainly in the big smoke, is horrified by the way I expect everyone to be friendly. I think the world of big cities is changing how people interact…stick to yourself, eyes down, iPod in the ears, mind your own business. Not a world I want to be in.
On our current travels across Aust it has been refreshing to find strangers greeting and talking as if old mates. PVE
PS Weemam, did you partake in the celebrations of the Battle of Bannockburn in July?

Hi Purple,

I think your very kind message about helping daughters in the classroom is addressed to the wrong lady. jojo’s the one helping her daughter to prepare for the new school term. She also has some interesting things to say about how much money gets wasted by education authorities in paying for stuff that could be shared and recycled among colleagues.

I’m also an ex-teacher. I wouldn’t say “retired”, though. I left teaching after a mixed 5-year career, the first third in a school for off-duty football hooligans for whom the idea of learning foreign languages was anathema, the remaining two-thirds in a highly academic private sector girls’ school, where I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.

While as a left-leaning lady I felt a bit guilty about going into the private sector,I also I felt I was paying my debt to British society, which had paid for me to train, by spending 99% of my time actually teaching and only 1% on discipline, rather than playing policeman all the time and trying to stop the little, and not so little, perishers at my previous school from climbing out of the windows. 🙁 In the end I left on very good terms. I simply wanted to switch to the job I still do and absolutely love.

Sorry jojo/hermaj over the mixup. I am having BIG eyesight problems, so limiting how well I am reading the threads before answering…always problematic.
Did another marathon drive today out to some ghost towns left over from the 1890s goldrushes here. It was meant to be a day off to rest from travelling across the country. Left eye nearly blind.
I look forward to reading your opinion on funding education jojo and, as a fellow leftie teacher hermaj, no wonder we hit it off!! G’night/morning P 🙂

No problem, Purple, I just wanted to be sure that credit went where it was due. What and whom did you teach, i.e. what subject(s) and to what age group? Sorry to hear your eyes are playing up. Especially when you need them for exploring all the interesting places you describe and for writing entertaining and informative posts about all things Australian for the benefit of us Brits. I’d hate to think your eyes were suffering because people like me ask daft questions about snakes.

Hi Amazon, sorry I didn’t realise you were already an experienced 5:2er. Enjoy your bacon sarnie. I don’t think I could follow a regime that didn’t allow for the occasional bit of bacon. Have you tried the East London trick of sprinkling malt vinegar over the bacon before “closing” the sandwich? I recommended it to fellow bacon-lovers on the forum and at least one or two seemed to like it.

Pre 5:2, what really got my goat was the fact that although I was careful what I ate and that I had, and still have, the good fortune not to have a sweet tooth, and as a non-driver I did a lot of walking, I still looked as though I lived permanently crashed out on the sofa in front of the telly munching cream buns, alternated with a pork pie or three.It was particularly annoying when doctors wasted valuable consulting time haranguing me about eating stuff I hadn’t touched in donkey’s years. Giving up smoking 12+ years ago didn’t help, although I took great care not to eat to replace the ciggies.

I’m guessing that it’s the intermittent fasting that has done the trick, changing metabolic rate and so on. Sorry, I’m no scientist. Also what makes it doable is the fact that you don’t have to be too strict on non-fasting days, without going mad that is, although even that isn’t irreparable. Not like other weight-loss schemes when you are half-starved for days, even weeks, on end and the scales won’t budge and you chuck the diet book out of the window and stuff your face with anything in sight!

hermaj, a survey of vegetarians who were previously meat eaters came up with the result that the thing they missed the most was a bacon sarnie!
I would imagine that the acidity of vinegar enhances the flavour of bacon. I usually spread my bread with brown sauce but I might give the vinegar a try.
SAMM, I find it easier to exercise on an empty stomach so I exercise first thing in the morning. I have only myself to please and I don’t work so it is easy for me to organise my day around the exercise, although occasionally I fail to get out of bed in time to exercise when I am going out for the day!
I think the 5:2 journey is slightly different for all of us, what works for me might not work for you or anyone else, but we just have to keep trying until we find what is most effective. You seem to have that worked out, so well done and I hope the weight loss continues.

Amazon, having just surveyed myself (a veggie albeit a pescatarian one) I can report I do not miss bacon sarnies even when my OH cooks himself a fry up for breakfast. This is of course an unrepresentative and highly biased sample! However, don’t know if you saw Dr MM’s recent Horizon programme about eating red meat, but the upshot seemed to be that the ingredient that was the devil incarnate was bacon- destined to reduce your life by x amount – or maybe it just feels like it for bacon lovers! Anyhow, as someone who hopes to get some additional health benefits from this WOE I am not going to sabotage it for the sake of some bacon :-))

Jojo, have you tried eBay for new togs? I have been running amok lately, a new cardie for £2.71, a Boden top for £7.01, I am getting addicted to it.

Happy rest of Sunday. X

JoJo ,
Did y’all know that acne can be a symptom of gluten intolerance?
Especially if it’s not only on the face.

Though not an indicator .no. Test other than going gluten free for thirty days.

I kind love bacon , bit knowing the harm the nitrates can do , I don’t buy it myself anymore. Unless I’m at 24hrs place , I love eating a huge omelet with bacon and cheese, and mushrooms and green peppers, and onions, and tobacco sauce. When I eat the bacon that way it doesn’t quite seem so evil.
But no more whole plates of it at the sunday buffet. I want those days to be gone forever.