Hello Ladies, font of all knowledge food wise! Has anyone ever heard of nutritional yeast? Low fat low carb GF and apparently tastes like cheese 🧀

No Carol, I haven’t heard of it, but I hear it grows on you! 😀😀

Teeming rain here. I’m enjoying winter (at last) with lots of cold weather cooking. Have made a HUGE quality of beef stock to freeze for winter soups and had a couple of yum warm meals..
Zucchini spaghetti for lunch, mushroom osso bucco for dinner, plus a revamp of an old winter dessert. .. baked apple (cored and filled with dates, walnuts, cinnamon and a knob of butter. Served with double cream, it was heaven!!!!)
I hope noone is fasting 😉
Have a good weekend MCs P ☺

Sorry Carol. 😯
At present we are fasting 2 or 3 days a week, eating well at least 3. No breakfast, limited carbs, but proper, feast like meals. It just makes it easier on fast days.
Its interesting how satiated we both felt today after fasting until 1pm, then eating the zucchini spaghetti. Despite the cold weather, and lots of cooking smells in the house, neither of us felt like food until dinner at 7.30. I doubt that would happen normally on an eating day if we’d had a carby breakfast. Vegetables are magic food! What do others think? P

Hi Purple, funnily enough I was thinking today I must have been excluded from the site again, as sometimes happens for no apparent reason to many of us! 😄

Wise words about the jumper coat! I am plodding along with my food diary. No real insights there to explain why in the past 3 weeks I have suddenly jumped up half a kilo. I was going to put it down to the weather and keeping warm Purple, but you blew my theory out of the water.

Just puzzling when you go along eating the same things most of the time and weigh a certain amount and all of a sudden it changes.

One thing that has surprised me is the number of days per week I eat below TDEE without trying to reduce calories. On the 5:2 website it says my TDEE is 1500. I think that’s actually a little high, I r always thought my TDEE was around 1200 calories. Either way I am below both figures several days a week. Theoretically I should be as thin as a rake!

All I can think of is I need t go to two FD per week to reset but then think do I really want to lose that weight that badly. Doesn’t affect my clothes or how I look, just that I’ve got an ‘ideal’ figure in my head 😁

Hope the rest of the mob are ok!

True Purple! I just like looking at the figures! (Get it 😁)

All good here too 😀
Busy with guests last week, and generally busy late into the evening now the nights are light..l

Hi P,

These long days are exhausting though 😀 And this weekend I’ll have to do a couple of lare night slug hunts again. We’re finally due some rain tomorrow, which will be very welcome and is much needed! Our water tank is getting a bit low and the garden needs it too. The downside is that the rain and damp ground will release an army of slugs and snails from hiding… ☹️

Thinking about fasting today as I succumbed to four (yes,a very greedy four!) pieces off gingerbread yesterday. I did go for a run…but not far enough! I had even frozen the gingerbread. But sadly saw it in getting some bread out for poorly sick OH….

It was the Grasmere gingerbread P 😊

Slug hunts, Happy? Eeew. Can’t handle them but don’t mind snails as our lizards are fun to watch eating them (if you have a sick sense of humour).

Purple, I am grateful to be on the move again and can’t wait to be back in Africa, I just wish I had more support from the OFMs. DD would like to start a support thread on these pages for non-participating family members of 5:2 adherents. OH is pre-occupied with how my potential fasting on holiday will affect his stomach. The worst case scenario, he says, is that I gain a few kilos and have to return from behind (not an option for me). He has no answer for what the best case scenario might be because that might signal deprivation in his daily search for the supermercado. No, sorry that was Spain. This will be the hunt for the Spar.

So, just wondering whether breakfast to breakfast fasting is a viable option one day per week.

Thin, that’s priceless! Your poor OH worrying about his potential deprivation because you fast!

I’m with P. Skip odd meals. Eliminate carbs from at least some meals. Increase your activity too. You’ll be fine.

Hi Dragonmama
You must be down south too! Winter is simply an opportunity to rethink how we keep warm. Now that I am so much thinner, I need to wear more warm clothes, drink more hot drinks and get active…even if that involves running on the spot for a few minutes at a time!
Replace you starchy foods with more leafy food. Lots of tasty veg that are low gi (onion, garlic, chilli, tomato, bok choy, carrot, fennel, capsicum, broccoli, cauliflower) The list is almost endless. Go to the greengrocer and fill your fridge with these foods. Use full fat milk, unsweentened full fat yoghurt, cream, cheeses too. These are very satiating, so they reduce hunger. Make soups. They are warm, satisfying and very low calorie. A cup of Miso is excellent as a warm drink on a fast day. Fish is another excellent choice.
In our first year on 5:2, I got rid of all bread, rice, pasta, potatoes from our house. We learnt how to live without them.
Food is not the only solution for keeping warm. Pre-empt when you might get cold (like right now as the sun goes down at my house!) and plan appropriately so that you won’t turn to inappropriate food to keep warm.
Good luck and keep warm. P ☺♨

Hi thanks for the tips, I appreciate. I live in the Eastern Cape near Jeffreysbay/a bit more inland/about 30min away and surrounded by mountains so Very hot in summer and autumn but icy cold winter and spring. House is Old and High ceilings big rooms so impossible to heat up. Lucky we have fireplace at least that is a great help and we Lovve it.

I do love veggies and do stock up but have to prepare food for other half all day and he is not interested in dieting. Has big tummy but otherwise thin. Looks like an Ant which swallowed a nickerball!! Hehe.

I Love 5:2!

Simple Dragonnama
Don’t see this as “dieting”, think of it as healthier eating….for both of you! Some people simply serve a bigger portion to their OH or add a few starchy carbs for him (bread, pasta etc). You can still have the same food. On fast days, do the same, but ensure yours is fast friendly in type and serving size. Remember, this is not a short term project…it is for life☺ It becomes second nature.
I’m also 64. I thought my goal was 65, but have found 58kg is completely sustainable. Been this weight now for over two years. We are in Sydney. Our old house also has high ceilings and lots of ventilation. Great in summer, but really needs the fire on at this time of year. P

I TOLD you that you knew what you are doing, Thin! That magic top line of 60kg! Mine as well. ☺ P

Hi Apricot, Thinatlast and PurpleVegieEater, so good to hear from you, thanks for all the tips and I know that I can be thinner so if I loose another 2kg it will be fine for me as I dont want to be thinner than that, I know then I dont look good.

I shall just keep up with 5:2 as I am doing and see where it will take me, even if I just sit at this weight I shall be happy.

This evening we had Cottage pie with Caulimash in stead of potato mash and we both Love it.

Thinatlast, it will be cold, but if you in a car you will most probaby be Ok but when you get out, that is when you will need a hoody or woolen cap and scarf and nice warmly dressed. You will most probably pass very near here as from Addo you will have to go via PE or Uitenhage and on the N2 to Cape Town, DONT stop ANYWHERE on the N2 please!!If you see a baby alone in the road, go just go, do not stop to help anybody along that road. Phone 10111 that is the police and tell them what you saw. Even if you have a flat, go to the nearest place, garage or town, there is problems on the N2 for some time now so please be safe, this is a VERY sincere warning.

When you get to the Western Cape you are Safer on that road up to near Cape Town where you must keep to the correct road, be very carefull not to take shortcuts!!!

I hope that you will enjoy this country and the other African countries on your trip, just keep in mind not to drive in the dark and heed all safety warnings.

Purple Vegie Eater, how tall are you? I am 5’9and a half inches. and congrats with your loss and maintenance, its fabulous.

Have a nice evening.

I see why Mr P never wants to visit Africa!
I’m fasting today, on a public holiday, so for motivation I’m wearing my tightest jeans 😊😊 They simply will not fit if I’m over 59kg! P

Well I’m going to fast today also and see if I can get back into good habits for the working week.

DragonMama, thanks for the tip on geese and ducks. I do have a fancy for some ducks, Indian runners for the entertainment value! Early summer I suspect they could do quite a lot of damage to vegetable seedling plants while searching for slugs though?

This weekend the frogs have all appeared, so I’m not alone slug hunting now 🙂

Hi Bay
Glad your fast went well. I weakened at 4pm with 40cal of veg patties. Just had a fast dinner and feeling good, but cold!

Good luck with your fast, just starting, Happy. Re Indian runner ducks, we had them years ago. They make an attractive addition to the farmyard scene, lay the occasional egg, if you can find them, and the drakes taste good. However, they aren’t very bright, make a lot of noise and tended to gather right at our front door stirring up mud with their beaks! Sadly, we lost the lot one night, despite them being locked in, to a rogue fox. Good luck 😉 P

Thanks Carol. I don’t do almond milk. Kefir would work too.
I usually just have miso to warm up, but I always have veggie patties on hand. (Bite Me brand, available in minor supermarkets and 22 cals each. Very satisfying.) I used to eat them with one Tom Thumb tomato and a lettuce leaf as a picnic lunch in my first year of fasting.
Minus 7 at the Snowy last night. No wonder it was cold here. P ❄❄

Ha ha Bay! I often spend time on a FD dreaming of what I will eat the next day when I can eat absolutely anything I want! 😄

Purple, the bite me veggie patties – are they in the frozen section?

A little light reading for those feeling the cold – or at odds with co-workers over the appropriate thermostat settings! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/06/13/dear-science-why-am-i-always-cold-indoors/?

Thanks Purple, I shall have a look for the patties. Beautiful today here also – 19 degrees ☀️

On ducks: my aunt on the North Yorkshire Moors had Khaki Campbell’s. They lay nice blue eggs, are sensible creatures, and used to go in a line to the beck from their duck house each morning when she let them out, back mid afternoon for their grain mash feed in the duck house, regular as clockwork. She never lost any to foxes. They look a bit like wild duck and have the brain of one too.
Try Pilates to avoid natural shrinkage! I’m still waiting to lose my half inch from 5ft 4.5ins, and some younger people in my class say they’ve grown! We only want shrinkage horizontally not vertically!

Not seen that cartoon, PVE, must look for it. Yes, they are cute. I also like the dear old Aylesbury, Jemima Puddleduck herself, but as Beatrix Potter indicates, they can get waylaid by foxes!

Hi Freddie
You seem to have an excellent attitude, shared by many of us. ☺ Fasting is not particularly fun, but a relatively easy way to stay healthy.
We found we replaced all our clothes, twice, in our journey to goal weight!!! The biggest expense of the exercise! There is no way I won’t make sure I stay this size forever.
It IS staggering how baggy clothes (and hats and rings and shoes) get as you lose the kilos!
You’ve done a great job. Keep it up
P ☺☺