Very overcast and chilly here today and I can really feel summer eeking out its last days in Sydney. Last night was the first in many months that I haven’t slept with 2 fans on me to keep me cool.
I hadn’t thought of Greek Yoghurt instead of sour cream, so I can now cook my Mexican meatballs which I have been avoiding cooking for a while as I didn’t want to use sour Cr.
I am going hunting for berries at the markets today as I want to get some before they are entirely gone and I don’t like buying produce out of season. It seems so wrong to keep something on ice for months on end just to sell it on demand.
Salma I was reading your Lentil recipe. I have never cooked lentils so want to give it a try. Do you serve it as an entire dish or add chicken of meat to go with it and does it keep in the fridge to be reheated. I am on my own so obviously the quantity is far too big for 1 person. It sounds so scrummy though that I have to give it a try. I am also going to have a go at your other recipe and hope that is one I can freeze. Thanks for sharing these.

Salma, yes please I would love your Greek Yoghurt recipe. I love being able to produce my own food such as sprouts, herbs etc. I used to have a vegetable garden till I realised I was feeding several families of possums and there was none left for me. I Tries covering it all up etc but they are far too cunning.
K-Lo I did mine last week, though for me it is very late and 2 years worth so off today to give it to the tax accountant to process.
Cheers all

Greek Yoghurt is KING! Funny isn’t it, a few months ago I wouldn’t have tasted it and don’t think I would have liked it if I had but I now love the slightly sour taste and especially how versatile it is.

Last night I made veal in a mushroom and mustard sauce and mashed some potato. I decided to try the GY instead of a bit of milk / butter and it was sooo good. Winner.

Cinque, I do hope you are on the mend and looking after yourself.

Hi ladies,
I’ve been absent .. Fell off the wagon and have been enjoying ice cream with chocolate sauce, french fries and even potato chips. I feel pretty bad about it. The weather is very slowly turning into Spring here and so I am getting out more.
I’m sorry you aren’t feeling well Cinque and hope your sore throat has cleared.
Salma I’m so sorry to hear about your Mum. Sending love and good thoughts your way.
I’m loving the recipes on here!
I like to use Kefir instead of yogurt.. It contains more probiotics than yogurt and is lovely on curry. It’s a mixture of watery and thick so not as appealing as Greek yogurt but the health benefits are worth it for me 🙂
doing some more planting of seeds in trays today … And my nettles are up. Will harvest some today to put into our spaghetti sauce for supper tonight. Might make a fresh nettle tea too!
Wishing all of you well!

I’m a 55 year old male. Soon to be 56. Was 86kg, now 82 after four weeks on the regime. Easier than I thought but one downside is my blood pressure seems to be high on fasting days. This being one of them.

Hello everyone,

Welcome TBM700. It is odd about blood pressure rising on fast days, you would think the opposite would happen, but I know it is a thing, there is a whole thread about it: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/high-blood-pressure-caused-by-52/
I hope yours settles down!

Love all the Greek yoghurt pleasure! I find when I make it I need to strain it for a couple of hours to get it to the thicker, creamier consistency of Greek yoghurt (and more straining to make labneh).

Salma, yay for your presentation! They hired the right person!

I understand about those sisters dynamics. There are actually five girls in our family of seven, and the dynamics were tricky in every direction. The family crisis brought things to a head, and four of us were able to grow together, and all the old tricky dynamics were able to be turned into strengths. Sadly our oldest sister thinks differently, also our brother (one brother has died) and so that is always a sadness.

Speckles and Briar Rose, thanks so much for your good wishes. My chestiness hasn’t got any worse, so I’m counting that as thanks to you! But I am tireder than ever. Little granddaughter is home with me, her parents arrive tomorrow. She is being so good but very clingy. I am amazed I have been able to write some posts (thanks to the Lah Lahs dvd!).

Briar Rose, my philosophy on the ice cream and chips is: enjoy them! Love every bite. Don’t feel guilty. We are allowed feasts sometimes. The trick is to have them occasionally and really love them when you do. It is a crime to eat something you really want, and to feel guilty instead of appreciating that you can do such a wonderful thing.
The worst problem is if they set off a junkfood frenzy, but a fast day helps with that.
The other part of my philosophy is to make sure that it is the BEST icecream, the PERFECT sauce, the most FANTASTIC chips and crisps, that way, the memory of the pleasure and satisfaction helps you pace out a healthy amount of time before you have them again!

Sherry I hope that conversation went well. Excellent that you are the kind of boss that has made a workplace that allows this process to happen, as there will always be conflicts and crises. I just hope it is small issues easily fixed, and my heart goes out to you having to deal with it when you are so tired. I do hope the work issues and medical issues both settle quickly! Fingers crossed!

Well from the club of tired people I say farewell for now, It is only 9am but she has been up since half past 5!

Wow! It’s a ghost town around here today! Where is everyone? Just wanted to say a quick hello before heading back out to pick up the kiddo’s. Busy morning of kid drop off, shopping for Easter and groceries, and pilates (took a friend with me to do a duet…another way to save $ on pilates, Salma!).

Salma, another resource for you (I hope you don’t mind me adding ideas as they come to me!): You might want to get hooked into the Linkedin.com Alzheimers and Dementia Topics groups and check out Caring.com.

Hubby arrives late Thursday. Can’t wait. I’m tired! 🙁

Love to you all!

Sherry

Hi all
Cinque, hope you are feeling better now, it will be nice to rest up after g’daughter goes home to her Mum, but you are lucky to have had her for a few days.
We have son and DIL moving in next week while house stuff being done, plus dog, who is very bouncy. Think they will be with us about 3 weeks, so we have booked a weeks holiday in the middle! DIL is extremely messy so will have to bite our tongues.
Sherry, glad the talk with employee went well, always tough when you are where the buck stops and sounds like work to be done there. Thanks for the rec for the magnesium, started them again and feeling better at night tho did have a few twinges last night, think it relates to how low carb I go. Haven’t tried the glucosamine yet. I have been following an online summit and see Mercola is an interviewee today so will listen to that, I did look at his site but felt it was a bit heavy for me. That ice cream looks lush but am trying to avoid sugar- won’t manage it over Easter but until then….
Last ‘holiday’ Spanish class today, have also been listening to Michel Thomas intro disc and quite like it, have ordered the rest from the library and will load it onto my iTunes account to follow on with. Not sure if I will do any more classes.
Salma, that yoghurt sounds delish. Hope you are coping ok with your parents situation, day at a time and look after yourself, can’t stress that last bit enough.
Hola to everyone else, Susie

Hello Girls,

Just got back from an All School Fun Run where people (mostly the parents and grandparents of course!) donate $ per lap their kids run. The money goes to helping rebuild an orphanage in Haiti. A big group from their school is going over during Easter break to help out there.

It’s a very warm day today here- feels like summer is coming early! All my plants were withering under the heat and I had to spend a good half hour giving them an extra drink of water!

I’m super happy today! My weight has hit a new milestone….I’m in the 121’s…121.8! YAY! I haven’t been this low in almost 2 years (at which time I hit a low of 120.4 for a brief shining moment). I can feel my goal is in my grasp, but (sigh), Easter is on Sunday of course. Sweets are my big downfall so I will try to make something sweet (without sugar of course) that I can eat and not feel too terrible about.

Susie, my hat’s off to you for letting your son and DIL move in! That can be tricky, but as you said, it’s only for a short time (hopefully! you know how those remodel time estimates go!). My sister had her daughter and SIL living with her for about a year while they themselves did a major remodel on a home for them (it took so long because they did all the work themselves to save money and only on weekends). She had to bite her tongue with her daughter who’s very sloppy and just picked up/cleaned the stuff herself so there was no lasting damage to their relationship! The “bouncy” dog comment makes me laugh! Does it actually bounce or is it just hyperactive? Yes, with Mercola you just take what’s interesting to you/makes sense and leave the rest. That’s what I do with everything. There’s kernels of truth/wisdom and crap in everything you look at…you just have to sort through it! 😉

Carolina, how great your daughter is so talented! Sounds like a dance scholarship is in her future! Poor thing though! Hope she heals up soon with no lasting pains.

Ok, off to do household chores (ugh!) and then it will be time to pick up the kids and take my son to ukulele lessons and then his baseball game (they go till after 9pm on weeknights-way too late in my opinion!!!)

Adios!

Sherry

Hello!

Our last evening in Florida. 🙁 We’re going on a sunset cruise tonight and then up early tomorrow morning for a 7:30AM flight. We’ve had a great time, but back to reality tomorrow.

The wheels have really come off as far as my eating goes the past few days. I won’t go near the scale until Monday, so have a few days to reverse some damage.

My friends at home want to play golf this weekend, so I’ll be getting in some exercise.

Have missed talking to you all….I’ll be back in the groove soon!

Lori, lovely to hear from you!
I hope you really enjoyed all the things you have been eating! Then you can get happily back to your home regime, with golf added in for extra fun!
Best wishes for a good trip home!

Hello!

Today is fast day. I’m hoping to get back to my pre-Christmas weight tomorrow morning….that would be a nice self esteem boost!!

Sherry, wow! I haven’t been in the 120s since high school!!! I bet you look amazing.

Cinque, good luck with the cozy quarters!!

Salma, going to Istanbul sounds exciting and fun. How far away are you? My husband is going to Croatia in May and he’s excited about that.

Lori, so glad you had a nice trip.

I don’t think my daughter will ever be a professional dancer but she loves it right now and she is rather good. I’m guessing she’ll stick with it through middle school but I kind of hope she scales back by high school so she can participate in clubs and things like that. She is busier than I’d like at the moment….

I guess I should make a plan for Easter and spring break as far as food goes. I should be able to limit myself at my inlaws….we’ll see about the rest.

Good luck to those fasting today!!

Hello!

We got home at Noon and it is 5:20 and I’ve just finished the unpacking and laundry! I’m so tired. We got up at 4:30 this morning to go to the airport, and it’s been a long day.

The past couple days have been a blur of mindless eating and I’m feeling poorly because of it. Hoping to back on a good path starting now.

Off to the golf course for the next 3 days. YAY!

Later!

Happy Easter to you all. I hope we all have an enjoyable time, be it with family, on hols or just socialising.

This morning I had a hot cross bun. I have planned for Easter this week by doing 3 fasts as I know if I dint have a hot cross bun I would be very disappointed and feel deprived. I am also going to High Tea at a friends on Sunday where we will play croquet and have real tea in real pots and she will make a lot of little cakes and things. So knowing that I am taking a nut slice with me as I know how many cals it is and will just keep an eye on what I do have. I will fast tomorrow as well as what I want more than anything is to maintain my weight over Easter.
Yes, the warm, hot cross bun was worth it! I may feel bloated later as it was carbs but lets wait and see. I am happy to go without chocolate as that is around all year, however I did buy myself a small egg in case I want it. I still have last years Lindt Bunny sitting on top of my fridge. I just know if I crack it I will eat the lot and it will make me sick, hence the small egg this year.

Cinque, how lovely to have the family with you. Don’t forget to say if you need your space as living on my own I know how important that can be.

Salma, I hope you have a good visit with your sister. Maybe you can plan outings to avoid food, or even show her how easy this is. I am sure she will be impressed when she sees you.

Lori, I hope the golf course is not an Easter Egg hunt LOL. As a child we had the golf course at our backyard and our eggs would be scattered around the golf course. I got a picture of someone spending 3 days with a giant eater basket, scouring the bunkers, trees and fairways for all the little eggs.

Oldearthworm, I am sorry you have not found / met a good psychologist. I had PTSD and when I started looking, I know most were family orientated or for kids only etc. So many had specialities then I found this wonderful woman who helped me tremendously. So they are out there, you just have to be specific for your needs and make sure it is their speciality. I agree that depression often comes with being overweight, no matter what age and menopause can certainly make it worse for some people. That is why this board is so great, we can all share with no judgement and the 5;2 or whatever sequence you want to do it in is healthy and natural and achievable for most.
I know myself that just talking on here, I have had many realisations about my weight- My long term goal is, I am going to release 30+ KG to get to a comfortable weight and I know that a lot of issues are and will continue to come up, but that is OK. I am ready to deal with anything. Gently.

Sherry, I don’t think I have EVER been 120 lbs. ( I forget you girls mainly don’t use KG)not even in school so well done you!!!

CC, is it ballet that your daughter does or a range of dance classes. You mentioned Point and I though ballet.
I learned ballroom, Latin and rock and roll for 5 yrs but not till in my 20s. Loved it and even did some comp but at the time it was so hard to find a partner as it wasn’t a male thing, there were about 8 females to every male. Nowadays there are more guys in classes then girls. Sadly I have had most of my back fused now and just walking any distance is a struggle but I dance in my head all the time and LOVE SYTYCD.

I must HOP to it or I will have spent all the day on the computer.
Cheers

Sherry. What do you mean the Easter Bunny is not real!!!!!!!
at 54 I still put out a plate for Santa and the reindeer…….

Yes, I have scratched that itch and am happy with that. What a good way to put it. In the past I would have had 2 each of the 4 Easter mornings. They start selling the buns and Choc Eggs as soon as Xmas is over which is pure madness but I refuse to even buy one before the correct time. Same goes with Christmas, I wont open gifts or eat Xmas treats till Xmas day.. I think holding off makes it all the more enjoyable.

Yes it does sound very British doesn’t it. We all wear Easter bonnets, so that is my job today to make and decorate one.
High Tea has become very popular here (unfortunately) but is a delicious way to gather with friends and have a long yarn while someone serves you little sandwiches, pastries, cakes and Tea from a pot. Thankfully each item is small so you just have to decide how many you want and which ones are worth the calories. It will be fun and I am very aware of what goodies are worth it.

Pleased to hear that hubby is flying home to you. You will have a nice Easter too then.

Back to Greek yogurt a sec. Just saw a recipe on the back of the miso box. Mix the packet with sour cream for dip. I bet it would work with yogurt as a dip for veggies

Hello….I had a really good fast day but didn’t quite meet my pre Christmas goal. I know there is a lot of fluctuation so I’m not too bummed. Effort will show in some way at some point. I do wonder if it could be related to having a glass of juice in the evening. I’ve noticed that sugars really cause water weight and I usually don’t have carbs on fast days but I did have that indulgence, even though it was within the calorie limit. Oh well….the biggest thing will be to not blow it over spring break!

Sherry, glad to hear you aren’t too tall with that low weight! I’m a bit over 5’7″ so I think that would be more like 140 something for me, which would be healthy and awesome, especially if it included more toned weight. I swear the flabby stuff is what bothers me. Do you ever see younger people who obviously weigh a lot more and yet somehow look toned? I’ve also fallen down on the exercise this week so I need to get back on the wagon…..my daughter has shut down any conversations about Santa, Easter Bunny, etc. She knows but doesn’t want it spelled out! She is not one of those kids eager to grow up too fast, which is good.

Lori, hope you have an awesome time on the golf course!! So glad you got back safely.

Speckles, my daughter is primarily ballet although she does jazz as well. She has practiced on pointe for a year but last weekend was her first performance on pointe. She is in a company that has seniors, apprentices and juniors. She is an apprentice and was the understudy for one of the seniors who was out for the performance, so it was kind of a big deal! I was never encouraged to dance so I still don’t feel comfortable doing it, which is sad. I “dance’ in the car a lot though!!

Cinque, you seem to have a great attitude about sharing space. You will probably remember this time fondly in a year or two!!!

TTFN!

Hello!

Husband is home but very tired. I let him sleep in but then dragged him out to do a little Easter basket fillers and grocery shopping. After all, stuff had to be done and I wanted his company after not seeing him for 2 weeks! He’s off with the boy at his night time baseball game now. I will not miss sitting on those freezing benches at night watching those games over the last few weeks…I’m ok for the Saturday day time ones…much warmer!

Spreckles, you’re so funny! Here’s hoping the Easter Bunny hides some eggs and a nice basket of goodies for you! 😉 You must indulge us with the details of which luscious little treats you partake in at high tea! Is it just the ladies in the family that go or the gents too? Again, sounds like so much fun!

K-lo, yes, I’ve had chip dips made with greek yogurt and they’re just as good as sour cream based ones.

Lori, as I always say, easy on, easy off with the weight. It’s when we let our indulgences sit and marinade for a while (keep eating crap!) that it seems to stick. You’re back to your healthy eating habits and the tubbiness should be gone in no time!

Carolina, so sorry the exact number you were wanting didn’t show up, but I’m sure it will any day now. My excitement over bridging into the 121’s was tempered today when my weight snuck back up to 122.4, but like you said, we have natural fluctuations and it will get where we want it to be soon enough! I know what you mean about worrying about blowing it over Spring break…for me there’s Easter of course and then we are going camping in our motorhome for three days. You know how that goes…sitting around the campfire with munchies, s’mores, glasses of wine! Good to hear your daughter doesn’t want to grow up too fast. One of my twins wants to grow up as quick as possible and hangs on everything my 15 year old does. The other twin, who ironically is just starting to “develop” is more immature and would be content being little forever! My 10 year old son jumps back and forth.

Cinque, here’s hoping your daughter and son-in-law find the housing they’re looking for soon! You posted pics of your granddaughter on Facebook? I’d love to see them. How do I connect with you? I’m a terrible “Facebooker” as Lori probably knows! I created an account and posted a picture of me once last Fall when everyone was on that bandwagon and haven’t done a thing with it since! 🙁
Does your granddaughter have any understanding of the Easter Bunny yet at such a young age? Is your daughter making up a basket for her or do you do an egg hunt? We will be hosting my 30+ family members for lunch and an egg hunt as usual. I just get yummy Mexican style roasted chicken, tortillas, beans, rice, guacamole, and salad from a local place and everyone brings an appetizer or dessert to keep it low key and simple.

Ok, off to the local art supplies shop to buy my 15 year old colored pencils, paints, and canvases for her basket. She’s quite a good artist-very creative.

Good night and sleep tight!

Easter Sunday morning,
Up at 4am with a wideawake girl for an hour before her parents took over. I slept since then but I still feel especially tired. (She did go back to sleep too).
They’ve gone out for breakfast with friends so I can take it easy, but hopefully still get some things done!

It is Fast Day for me. Cruising.
(I’ve hidden some chocolate eggs at adult height for daughter and maybe SIL if there is not too much dairy in them. My daughter and her mum friends are organising a kids egg hunt later. But gd is 18 months old, no idea! Except we do play a ‘hiding things’ game, so she will get the hunt.)
Easter baskets are not a thing here (yet). Are they a bit like Christmas stockings only baskets instead, and including lots of Easter chocolate?

Sherry I hope your family day goes really well, it sounds wonderful!
Here is the link to my fb. Ask me to friend you so you can see granddaughter photos! https://www.facebook.com/joy.stevenson1

Lori, excellent golf news! And don’t you snap back to your eating plan beautifully! I hope you had great fun at Mr 4 year old’s birthday! Such a wonderful age!

Now I am off to a) stir my compost bin, b) put the bread up for its second rise c) henna my hair d) watch tv til the others get back!

Hello!

Sherry, I’m amazed you’re hosting a big crowd right after your husband returns!! Wow. We’ll have a basket for my daughter here in the morning and she is helping hide eggs for the younger ones at our church, assuming we actually make it. Then we’ll head to the inlaws.

Cinque, can’t believe it’s already Easter there!!!! I remember those toddler egg hunts….so precious. It is kind of magical poking around for brightly colored eggs…

Lori, glad you got to sleep in. I had a horrible night but that hasn’t happened in a while, thank goodness.

Salma, I made the lentils and rice tonight and it was very good! My daughter even ate it and she can be wary of some new foods. I had to get the onion out of hers, haha. It is similar in many ways to a traditional Southern dish called Hoppin’ John, which is rice with black eyed peas. Traditionally it’s made with onion and fat back, but I use olive oil. And it can be hot with red or black pepper. (It’s one of the New Year’s Day foods, along with collard greens, but I use spinach!!) I like it but black eyed peas are really hard to digest so I’m glad to learn about this!! It will be good when my vegetarian son is home in May….

So we decided to go to Pittsburgh to see him Tuesday through Thursday. We’re going to try to do some fun things, like New River Gorge and Falling Water on the way and there is an incline up Mt. Washington in the city. My daughter seems excited. We went on a cruise last year for spring break, so that’s kind of hard to top but we did tell her we’ll either go out West or to the Netherlands this summer so she’s happy….Although, she had some girl drama at school this week! I don’t think she is at fault but I am glad spring break has come!!!!!

Good Morning!

Another chilly start to our day and I’ll be bundling up to go to the golf course. I think we are a bit daft to be out there in this cold weather, although it does get pretty nice by the time we reach the turn. I had 3 layers on yesterday, which makes it a little hard to swing the club. 😉

DH is picking up a friend at the airport this morning while I head for the golf course. We’ll meet up sometime this afternoon! LOL! I may even make dinner for him tonight! I’m having a little trouble getting out of vacation mode. Reality will smack me in the face tomorrow when I return to boot camp AND work. Sigh…

Have a lovely day!

Good morning everyone!

Lori, I thought golfers were mad by definition! I hope it is a lovely day to be outdoors.

Salma enjoy your Istanbul feast days, and your time with your sister. Just the break you need!

Sherry your Easter sounds wonderful! I love the rhyme to find the baskets!

We are taking it a bit slowly for the granddaughter. Since she really has no expectations this year, my daughter is waiting until the others in her mums group can all get together and have a little egg hunt with all the kids.
So I hid the chocolates up high and in places only my daughter would find them, in memory of all the hunts that happened when she was growing up. I’d hide the little eggs all around the house, and we would still be finding the occasional one weeks later.
That might happen this year too!

Briar Rose, so good to see your post here! I bet you have been busy with interesting things! And how lovely to have a baking mum.
Has it been impossible fitting regular fasts in your weeks? It will feel lovely to be able to do a couple now. Good luck with them.

Sending cheers and all good things, for a lovely night, or day!