The Maintenance Chatbox… come and share your success with us!

Welcome to The Fast Diet The official Fast forums Body Weight maintenance
The Maintenance Chatbox… come and share your success with us!

This topic contains 11,627 replies, has 174 voices, and was last updated by  hermajtomomi 6 months ago.

Viewing 50 posts - 8,501 through 8,550 (of 11,673 total)

  • Thank goodness for that! I was thinking of joining you, but the wine question was preying on my mind. Slow creep of the kgs, so I must do something different.

    Thanks for the link Happy. 😊😊

    Hi Carolann,

    I don’t know if this is going to work, but I’m sending you the link to my Facebook page on which this mugshot appears. If it does work it will you some idea what I look like. This is an amazingly flattering photo, taken professionally about 18 months ago but it’s what I look like on a good day, i.e. like my mum. On a bad day I look like my dad or, worse still, like my brother in drag.

    [removed by request]

    P, no one’s ever called me a powerhouse before. Thank you. It might seem like that when I’m using my favourite form of communication, i.e. writing, but I’m actually painfully shy and very, very uncomfortable in social gatherings and avoid parties like the plague, although I’m happy enough to give a presentation to a roomful of people, or chat one to one, or with a very small and sympathetic three or four.

    Happy, to make things worse, by unfortunate coincidence, the district of Cambridge we’re moving to is called, if you’ll pardon the expression, Trumpington. It’s been there since Anglo-Saxon times. Maybe back then the entire population was orange with bad hair.

    Oh, heck! The mind boggles about the original inhabitants of Cambridge. TrumpingTon was the village in a children’s programme years ago,,I recall.

    Great news about wine, Barata. Thanks for that.

    I’m suffering after those chips. Shouldn’t have had Them! 😁

    Pol. 🙋🏼

    Oh, Herm, you look great! And what an original graduation pic, better than being plonked in a bardic chair.

    Hello

    I also watched “Trust me I’m a Doctor” – was fascinated to hear the results of the tests re Keffir, naturally occurring Innulin in the diet and a probiotic drink – Keffir was the clear winner but I’m not a great one for dairy products in general…..but you never know I might try though I have no problems in that area…..
    I have heard about Skyr but again as not a dairy person not something I have experience of!

    Happy to be home again @pollypenny? – OH and I love a good curry too!!!

    @hermajtomomi – well done on your 4th anniversary – sounds like your move will be rather imminent – Cambridge is a great place to live – we used to visit often when living in BSE. Some great places to visit around – I’ll talk to the OH and let you know what we think are the best places but you need to go to Ely, Newmarket, Bury St Edmunds, down to Essex into Constable country i.e. Dedham Vale, Saffron Walden and Burnham-on-Crouch – as initial thoughts – you will enjoy exploring the area! I know the area you are moving to – Trumpington, near Cherry Hinton? I saw your link to your FB page – great pic by the way and you speak French?? I was brought up with French as my first language until I was 12 y.o then english took over……maybe we can meet up for a coffee when I visit Suffolk next time????

    Welcome @mountainwriter – I reached my goal weight at the beginning of December 2016 and I still do 2 FDs a week – these days I try to do water/tea with a dash of skimmed milk 36 hr fasts and then I eat mindfully on the other 5 days following 16:8 days – I don’t calorie count but I have a very low carb diet generally, although I do enjoy a slice of cake with coffee a couple of times a week and I still enjoy a glass or two of wine 3/4 times a week!!! Thank you @purple Vegie Eater and @happynow confirming that wine is allowed!!!!!

    @fastfastslow – good to hear that health wise you are on the up – I love my pilates and yoga classes too and I try to do an hour of yoga on my own as an extra each week – I have had to give up my “Happy Hour” aerobic class due to my knee injury but will hopefully pick that up when my knee if fully recovered in 3 months time????

    I’m happy to join in the “no snacking or mindless picking” between 1st March and Easter but I’m with @pollypenny is wine is allowed? and yes @pollypenny and @happynow I’m also an avid Rugby fan – I’m looking forward to the Six Nations too – I have a good Irish friend still living in Bury St Edmunds and we text each other during the matches…….LOL I have to admit to divided loyalties when Australia joins into the fray……..I’m also a great cricket fan – poor England did not fare well in India over the Test, One Day and the most recently T20 but they always play better at home……

    What an amazing group of women on this maintenance chatbox – such varied backgrounds and yet so much in common as well – so glad to have “met you”

    Thank you, Pol. I didn’t want the traditional graduation photo as I thought (rightly as it turned out) I would look fat in traditional pose. I was about 7 kilos heavier than I am now. So I trawled the net for graduation photos, and found a delightful shot of a young Chinese women in academic dress seated at a desk in what looked like a law library with her elbow resting on a pile of books.

    What isn’t apparent in this one is that the photographer didn’t have a desk or table in the studio so my books, chosen to represent some of the high spots of the MA course, were stacked on a chair turned sideways so that the back was out of shot. What you see here is me kneeling on the floor, bum stuck up in the air. The laugh is absolutely genuine.

    Aha! I have found a source for kefir grains, and will collect them tomorrow. P, the shop says they have a starter pack for $10, which will only do a few repeats. I will talk to them when I get them, but does that sound right? There is a larger option.

    I will join you for the no-snacks. There’s not a lot to give up, as I don’t indulge during the working week, and today (Friday off – yay! ) after a 1pm break-fast I’m not feeling peckish.

    This danged weight is creeping up, and I’m putting it down to stress at work, and plan not to worry too much about it for now. If things don’t improve I will address it at the end of the financial year (two months). OH’s weight is also on an upward curve, nothing different in his diet. I am wondering if it could be as a result of anti-inflammatories that he was taking at the end of last year for a sore knee (which I tell him, and he won’t believe me, is the result of carrying too much weight around for the last forty years! 🙁 )

    Great to hear that your move is going smoothly, Hermaj. Fancy the district name, you wouldn’t read about it. POTUS’s Trump is concocted from some European name, so no relation. Love the story behind your photo 🙂

    From the home of the mighty All Blacks 🙂

    Barata, are you sure they are kefir grains? You only need one lot..about 1 tablespoon…it’s all you’ll need forever 😊😊

    That”s what I understood, P. I shall interrogate deeply on the morrow 🙁 .

    No hermaj you don’t look like the image in my mind lol! I can see you would be a little powerhouse like Purple said. My first thought after taking in that lovely Garmin, cheeky face was ‘what’s wrong with her weight, looks great’ !

    Fast, will you be setting up guidelines for the Lent challenge? Ie no mindless snacking or no snacking at all?

    I’m with the others – wine is a beverage not a snack! 😊

    I’m glad the Lent challenge hasn’t already started. We have been invited to a friends for lunch on Sunday and she told me today she would be serving store bought sushi as the nibbles. Would that count as a no no in the challenge and what do others do when faced with food at a friends that they wouldn’t normally eat? Do you eat one to be polite or refuse all? I wouldn’t normally eat white rice.

    Purple,,I’ve been in touch with JJ 😊

    Cheers 😊

    Surely nibbles before a meal out can’t be a snack? Snacks must be more than an hour away from a dedicated meal???
    I’m about to check out a bar…long dinner with friends…all part of a Friday night meal, you understand 😉😉

    Carol, if you ate something after your previous meal but before you arrived at your friend’s house, then I think that would clearly be a snack. But I’m with Purple, something preceding a meal (nibbles, amuse bouche, starter, antipasto, hors d’oeuvre, etc) wouldn’t be a snack. Obviously I wouldn’t recommend you preceded breakfast, lunch and evening meal with nibbles every day…We’d have to revise the definition for that 😀

    Got that Purple and Happy!

    Your Friday night sounds lovely purple. We just had corn chowder to use up some corn. Very tasty and filling but pretty high on the GI I think. Must find a bit more info about glycemic load as may not have been as bad as I think.

    I agree, P and Happy. Nibbles with a meal are part of it. But before breakfast – defies definition 🙂

    Sorry, folks, I wouldn’t presume to set guidelines for anyone else – I reckon each of us knows her own sins! The point is the self examination, as much as the self discipline to avoid them!

    For me, the guidelines will be:
    Wine is fine – as are pre-meal nibbles and post-meal 1 square of 90% chocolate – they’re part of a meal;
    What’s out are:
    Being persuaded by OH into a biscuit with every cup of coffee;
    Absent mindedly popping stuff in mouth;
    Cake and puds on days other than feast day;
    Nibbling ingredients while cooking (no, that’s not tasting) licking the bowl, tasting the first 3 biscuits out of the oven, eating the crumbs from the baking tray;
    And those moments standing in front of the fridge, wondering what I can shove in my mouth.

    Those will be enough for me to cope with – all habits lost and regained. If you’re shocked, I guess yours are just different!!

    Have to agree, Fast. No biscuits, cakes or puds. And our fridge runs very inefficiently – mostly empty 🙂 I haven’t mentioned, in and out of the forum, but I am so pleased you have finished your surgical attacks and can get life back on track.

    ‘night, all. The sun is well down in the Antipodes 🙂

    Morning from North Wales, folks.

    Barata, work stress was one of my problems with weight gain, not the work, but the lazy line manager. Hopefully, your end of F year will see the end of stress for you. And you’re probably right about anti-inflammatories effecting your OH.

    What a daft question I asked about rugby? Had I forgotten you’re a Kiwi. I’ve seen two games in the Millennium Stadium with them. In both cases we had the upper hand for 50mins – then fell apart!

    Fast, great guidelines. I hate biscuits, though, so no temptation. Puds, maybe, well ice cream, which I could eat every day.

    We had planned a trip to Chester to use my 20% off code and get some clothes for holiday in Thailand, but I have to stay in for delivery of replacement kindle. Ironing while I wait.

    Pol 🙋🏼

    Fast,,they sound like good guidelines to me, I’ll follow those too but also for me I’m going to add:
    no pre meal nibbles unless I’m out
    No post meal nibbles unless I actually feel hungry

    No I’m not sulking. Just having IT issues. I’ve attempted to send responses to Fast and AT, but either my computer or my service provider has decided that the 5:2 website is off limits. Let’s see if this one makes it.

    I’ve just been alternating between the day job – translating a book on the history of graphic design – and the online queue at the Barbican. For this year’s annual treat, I’m taking my gorgeous great-nephew to what promises to be a fabulous concert. We had agreed that instead of the usual show (last year it was Sunny Afternoon, all about the Kinks) we would find a symphony concert by one of the big-hitting orchestras.

    Now doing A-level music along with his sciences, he has moved from “Ugh! Classical music – dead boring” to genuine enthusiasm. This alongside the punk rock he and his band play – rather well, as it happens – at their increasing number of gigs.

    As symphony concerts go, it doesn’t get much better than this – the LSO (London Symphony Orchestra), conducted by the gorgeous Simon Rattle (one of my heroes) and an all Shostakovich programme. Our kid’s been studying Shostakovich and like me has become a massive fan.

    The concert is in September, only days before he goes off to uni. I’m so chuffed that he’s still up for escorting his batty old great-auntie around central London, carrying on a tradition that started when he was 13. The long conversations we have before and after the show are always as much fun as the event itself.

    Carolann, how DID you visualise me? Bet it was a sweet but eccentric little old lady who goes round whacking people with her umbrella. One male poster on another thread pictured me as a Miss Marple figure.

    Thanks for your good wishes, Barata. I already find myself apologising for the first syllable of our new home village.

    Fast, whether I mellow or not will depend of the patronisation quotient of the good people of Cambridge. I hope I don’t mellow TOO much and become sweet and biddable. That would never do.

    AT, thanks for your suggestions for places to go in and around Cambridge. I know Saffron Walden well – lovely town with its pargeting and timbered buildings – as my brother lives only a couple of miles outside SW. All the places you mention ring a bell but haven’t been visited for a while. The most recent of them was Ely where we made a brief stopover on the way home from a weekend in a rather strange hotel in Norfolk. We loved the cathedral and a rather nice teashop nearly.

    It would be great to meet up for coffee in Bury St.Edmonds some time in the not too distant future. BTW, my OH is a Suffolk boy, born in Ipswich, although he hasn’t really lived there since he was a little boy.

    PS The reason I asked for the link to my FB photo to be taken down was because one of our 5:2 friends, whose opinion I trust, was anxious that it might put the closed FB group to which some of us belong into the public domain. However, I gather those who wanted to see the photo of Hermaj doing intellectual impersonations were able to do so.

    Hermaj, now you’ve bleedin’ gawn and dun it!

    Little cockney sparra?

    Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady…

    Or Mary Poppins ‘Feed the Birds Tuppence a Bag’…?!

    😀😀

    Wotcha ‘Appy. Nah, I ain’t yer actual li’le cockney sparra ‘cos I weren’t born wivvin the sahnd of Bow Bells, nor was me mum and dad. ‘e cum from Clapton ‘n’ her cum from ‘ackney, which vese days is fuller posh buggers.

    The tragedy is, the dead gaw blimey cockney accent, which I love, is considered very low, common and vulgar and from a very young age London kids with wannabe upwardly mobile parents are bullied into “talking proper”. My pompous twit of a brother still tries to correct my accent which I think can be described as “estuary” or “culchered cockney”.

    I was telling him about one of the Japanese kids I taught in Switzerland, a delightful, very bright 12-year-old who spoke near-perfect English having been thrown in at the deep end and sent to the local primary when her dad was transferred to London by his firm. It sounds cruel, but she claimed to have loved it. What was very appealing was to hear her speak with quite a strong Sarf London accent. “I hope you corrected her,” said baby bruv. He didn’t understand when I said I wouldn’t do that in a million years and spoil the poor kid’s confidence. What mattered was her excellent command of English, which together we tried, quite successfuly, to extend even further, not whether or not she spoke with a toffee-nosed accent.

    Just for fun, here’s a nice little cockney poem: http://monologues.co.uk/Anonymous/Bleedin_Sparrer_The.htm

    Love it Hermaj!

    And I love the thought of your Japanese student speaking broad cockney!

    Your brother sounds like such a joy 😀

    He’s harmless really, Happy, but a terrible snob. (He’s the Tosser’s dad BTW).

    The Japanese 12-year-old was great and one of my two favourite pupils. In fact our late moggy Tomomi’s twin sister, Maiko, was named after her. The other favourite, the original Tomomi, was only six and I used to teach her using Richard Scarry books which have wonderful colour illustrations.

    Because Maiko’s English, including grammar, was so good, teaching her was more like teaching creative writing. She would write a few pages at home, then we’d go through them together. She was a huge fan of Roald Dahl whom she once affectionately described as “a nutter”.

    Oh herm – ‘Cars and Trucks and Things That Go’, and Lowly Worm!!! 3 copies, loved (literally) to bits! Found a second hand one at Hay a few years ago, and presented it at Christmas – not another sound out of the (45 years +) lad all day….

    I just had a quick look on Amazon, Fast. Isn’t it wonderful? It’s not one that Tomomi had – more a little boy’s sort of thing. I like to think that her wee brother, Masatoshi, might have had a copy.

    We had loads of others, too, but I can’t remember the titles. But . C&T&TTG was no1 son’s absolute favourite. Shall now go and do nostalgia on Amazon…

    I have made a mad (but not impulse) purchase this afternoon, while killing time at the mall, waiting for a text from OH demanding to be collected from hospital appointment. I had been eyeballing it online and wondering…my walk took me past the shop and I ‘just popped in to look’…just one in stock in my size – charcoal grey cotton jumpsuit! OH will call it a ‘boilersuit’ and either love it or hate it – I think it’s the dog’s knees (as it were) and totally suitable for a retired vicar of 71!!

    Yep ‘Best Word Book Ever’ and ‘What do Peopple Do All Day?’: them’s the ones!!

    Does it have a dog collar, Fast? 😉😉

    I kept all the good kids books (Richard Scary, Dick Bruner etc) and have enjoyed reliving them with the grandkids.
    Love the fun with your accent Herm!
    I taught a little Japanese boy, Shinpei, who always stood up. He would only sit, despite being completely fluent in English, once I learnt ‘Suwatte’. 😊

    It was the Boy’s birthdayblast Tuesday – currently in Spain so we shan’t see him till later this week. Have just ordered 3 RS paperbacks from Amazonnfornhim. Am I completely daft?!!

    Probably 😉

    …and no, P, no dog collar, but I shall need advance notice of need for the loo!

    @hermajtomomi – you made me smile just imagining you having your photo taken……What a lovely relationship you have with your great nephew – hope you get to enjoy many more days out together – so special. I’ll let you know next time I head south to BSE for a visit and it would be lovely to meet either in Cambridge or BSE…..thank you

    Loved the discussions to clarity what constitutes a snack………LOL @fastfastslow – totally agree with you and luckily for me the OH is not into biscuits so we never have any at home and @barata my fridge sounds like yours as does my freezer I’m afraid – I love to cook fresh every day!

    Lovely day today up here – managed a 4 mile flattish walk with my walking group with not too much side effects – knee and hamstrings a bit achy tonight but thoroughly enjoyed being out with the group and enjoyed a good catch up over a cup of tea afterwards – black earl grey for me as on my second FD of the week.
    Planning on seeing Swan Lake by the Bolshoi Ballet on Sunday afternoon with my ballet buddies – then on Wednesday night we are going to see Woolf Works live from the ROH – in for a treat!

    I had several jump suits (or boiler suits if you will) in the mid-80s,Fast. At least two of them came from M&S. I could quite fancy one now. Are they back in vogue by any chance? I hear what you are saying about the loo, though.

    And no, you’re not daft ordering 3 RS paperbacks. Are there likely to be grandchildren or great-nieces/nephews any time soon. As if you needed an excuse 😉

    I’m pretty sure I and my esteemed consort, both old enough to know better, will be going to see Sing at one of our local fleapits. I’m a sucker for anthropomorphic pandas singing about never giving up. And good feature-length animations are one of the film genres we share. I like arthouse stuff and “think pieces”. Sir likes mindless violence with explosions and car chases, or very stupid comedies of the Carry On type, which make me lose the will to live. 🙁

    Fast,
    I had a onesie sleep suit many years ago, and dungarees, but never a boiler suit. But I understand they’re quite on trend!

    Re:empty fridges. My OH is away this week, and I had a bizarre experience – light turning on by itself in the night – my first thought (obviously!) was someone living in the loft and sneaking down in the night, but then I remembered the fridge is fairly bare! What are the chances of a low carb intermittent faster being holed up in the loft?!

    Feeling very ignorant! Never exposed to RS as a child, and never had children to find him. Would I appreciate him first time round as an adult?

    Could be worse, herm. A good friend of mine married, 3 weeks ago, the man to whom she was engaged 50 years ago, before they each married ANOther – both since widowed. Last week they had a 3 day holiday, and discovered for the first time (despite living together for the last year) that she likes scrambled eggs barely cooked, while he wants his like solid rubber. Nearly spoilt the honeymoon, I’m told..

    Short answer Happy…too many pictures for you. Stick to ‘chapter books’ 😊😊
    Great image of your nocturnal lurker. 😯

    You’d love him, Happy!! Lots and lot of colour, few words, humour and minute detail – the sort you keep coming back to. The sort of books parents love too, because reading them every night for years doesn’t get boring!

    Re sleepsuits: our youngest had a fleece all in one at about 18 months, to which he got very attached. Still wearing it at about 3, he was having to walk bent double as it was way too short by then. OH suggested cutting off the feet, to prolong its life a little longer: the response was total horror – ‘it’ll bleed!’

    Who or what turned on your light? (You have me worried!) those dang birds plotting a Chicken Run??

    Fast, I have no idea how the light came on. It’s a low light on the landing, with standard wall switch, and switch not next to another for accidental deployment. I never turn it on as we have an en suite, so no need to light the landing.

    As a scientist I know there must be a rational explanation, but at 1am alone in the house I couldn’t think of one!

    I did google it. Once you get past the paranormal, intruders, pranksters, electrical fires (now I’m feeling so much better!!), I did find a suggestion that the internal switch hadn’t fully switched off previously and from a near on/off had then over time flicked back into the on position. I don’t even know if that’s possible, but I like that suggestion best!!

    Fast, Ive been tempted by the pantsuits also but having to get to the loo quickly (in my case sometimes very quickly!) has stopped me so far. Enjoy yours it sounds lovely!

    Apart from a thanks button and a laugh button on here it would be convenient to be able to add photos too!

    Loving the back and forth chit chat.

    Hermaj FYI, I had a vision of a far more ordinary lady in my head. Nothing about you seems ordinary and I mean that in a very positive way!

    Hi Carol
    Did you get my email? P

    I shall have to wait till midday before wearing it, Carol – probably TMI for anyone who doesn’t immediately understand that!

    Good morning, from sunny North Wales.
    Oh, gosh, I could never wear a onesie or jump suit! The thought of having to strip off when I need the loo in the middle of a cold night! Urgh!

    We had a quick trip to Chester, hoping to take advantage of the 20% off and buy some summer clothes. Not mad, but we’re going to Thailand in April and I suspect nothing much fits from previous summers. Waste of time, most things were sort of Spring weight.

    OH is mad keen to make a tagine from our new Mimi book today. However, he intends to do two – meat and veggie! Coupled with rushing down to the rugby club both to watch the game and catch up with ‘the boys’ I envisage some grumpiness!

    For the fans, enjoy the rugby weekend!

    Pol. 🏉🏉

    Fast, your mention of Chicken Run reminds me of one example of the full-length feature animations that both I and Himself enjoy. I first saw it on my very first transatlantic flight from London to Boston. My favourite characters are the two cockney rats, one of them voiced by the wonderful Timothy Spall, a gaw-blimey Londoner born and bred who can do posh and a variety of other accents when required.

    As for your mates’ falling out over the texture of scrambled eggs, what’s wrong with them using TWO pans so that each can have their preferred consistency?

    Pol, I love tagines – lamb, chicken, fish, veggie, or whatever. I’ve managed already to crack two genuine Moroccan tagines, which now sit as ornaments on top of the kitchen cupboards. I’ve cheated a bit by buying a cast-iron one, at which your average Bedouin would throw up his or her hands in horror, but at least it’s not about to crack.

    Carol, what a lovely thing to say. Thank you. What should I do to be far more ordinary – blue rinse, pensioner perm, crimplene pastels, or what? And of course ditch the cap and gown, no doubt. Suggestions on a postcard, please. 🙂 🙂

    Well, I have to report that the tagine was fabulous! Layers of flavours, worthy of our favourite restaurant!
    I can’t swear that portion control was good enough and there’s enough for at least one meal in the freezer as well as tomorrow’s dinner. He took over the whole kitchen this morning and the smell was heavenly.

    Meat tagine and vegetable tagine, both from Mimi’s Fast Cook, and loads of brownie points earned.

    Pol. 💁🏼

    Mmm, I do like a tagine (although my iPad thinks I like a ravine!). My OH is very averse to anything sweet in savoury though, which seems to be a bit limiting?

    I found kefir drink in a Polish shop today. A little more sour than my natural yoghurt perhaps, and a bit lumpier, but in a coarse soft way not like cottage cheese!

    P, how much do you consume in a serving? I’m not fluent in Polish, but the bottle appears to suggest a serving is 200ml. That’s more than I’d eat of yoghurt in a sitting so just not sure.

    I added some to the hens’ mash this afternoon, they seemed to enjoy it! Lots of following me round hoping for more.

    Polly,

    Good Scotland/ Ireland match. Hmm, England, underwhelming…and lucky.

    Kefir should be smooth and creamy, slightly thick so it is slow to pour. A half or third of a glass. I could drink more, but only make 250-300 ml a day. We usually have 1 – 2 bottles in the fridge at any time.
    I like ravines too!! P 😉

Viewing 50 posts - 8,501 through 8,550 (of 11,673 total)

You must be logged in to reply.