Well done FFS! My ‘amazing’ result after FD yesterday was a 300g loss! Traditionally I’ve always lost a minimum of 500g+ post FD. I am now surfing through my records working out my average weight trying to identify when the rot started to set in!

Carol – a loss is a loss! Well done, and don’t knock it!

Yes, it is bad news when a husband gets into the cache of food designated for other purposes! MY ODH used to raid the jar of chocolate chips. Then I pointed out that if he ate them, I couldn’t bake chocolate chip cookies. So he stopped. [He still gets into private stashes of mine. I need better hiding places.] One woman I know bought 40 pounds of bacon bits and put them in the freezer. In a few weeks, half of them were gone [!!!] and she says her husband did it. Bacon bits!?!?

You are losing, FSF! Good. Carolann, those 300 g will add up.

After a VERY mindful Fast yesterday, we both lost 1.5 pounds. So glad! Now I am logging in all the food I eat, hoping it will make me less inclined to stray. We’ll see how long that lasts. Maybe that would be a good Lenten penance — to log in EVERYTHING one eats for 40 days. Any one want to join in?

Beautiful snow yesterday. A friend called it ‘movie snow’, and that’s just what it looked like. The almost full moon was lovely last night so I decided to go out on the X-C skis for a bit. We used to love to do that many decades ago. So I took my skis and poles outside and could not get my left ski on. Not enough light to see either. Turned to open the door and turn on a lamp, only to find I’d locked myself out! So I went for a walk in the moonlight.
And now that it is daylight, I’m off to ski around the yard.

An interesting juxtaposition of life under a full moon! No oceans, electrical storms or snow here. It’s unseasonably mild but that’s as much as I can say!

The only secret stash my OH raids is where I’ve hidden the wine… although crisps disappear at an alarming and mysterious rate! He was a natural intermittent faster when we met, but has since got the hang of eating too much too often and has the middle age spread to show for it. He keeps saying he’s going to do something about it….

Meanwhile… I am determined to get serious and get rid of my extra 2kg!! I’ve had a good fast day today. I just need to make sure the non-fast days are similarly controlled.

F_me, I won’t join you in logging food either I’m afraid. I’ve never been a calorie counter, and I have little enough spare time as it is without writing down what I eat (a handful ot walnuts…and another…and another….and another…. 😊)

What a lovely pair of contrast Images! Fasting in the snow and purple dining in the balcony- both under a beautiful moon! It was magnificent last night. It looks very dramatic, seen coming up through the branches of our oak tree.

Herm, I know you delight in considering yourself a Miserable Old Bat, but you really should get your eyes tested, so that you can see that glass half full! Minus 3kgs per year is infinitely better than plus the same amount, which many of our contemporaries are settling for, and the recent 3kgs are stunning. No reason why they should come back, either – certainly not in full, even if there’s a tiny bit of slippage. 3 forward, 2 back is still forward! Well done you!

Funny you should mention eye-testing, Fast. One totally unexpected side effect of 5:2 has been improved vision. No change at all last year. This year only a tiny adjustment to the computer specs, no change on the others – reading and distance. And if anyone asks me why I don’t try varifocals, I did. And I felt so sick and dizzy I even stopped reading, which for me is equal to stopping breathing.

Pol, with my track record for maths, far be it from me to argue about metric-imperial conversion. But I do believe that 1 kilo = 2.2 lbs, so 2 kilos = 6.6 lbs, i.e. just under half a stone, not great for an annual average.

One thing that has made me more than a little cross. My size 12 denim jeggings were so difficult to pull on that I had to make a quick purchase of a pair of 14s, i.e. the weight gain was beginning to be felt. Looking forward to the day I can revert to the smaller size.

This is my 3rd attempt in 2 days to post! The others deleted, just as I was finishing long, wise posts!! 😉
In brief:
FM, you sent me to a map to view the coast of NH. So many familiar British place names, like here. Even a Portsmouth Naval Dockyard!!
Herm, I love your reference to Paul Simon’s lyrics. Very apt.
Have you considered my theory that initial weight loss comes off the whole body, but gravity steps in, slowly sliding any excess down to the waist, hips and thighs, leaving a scrawny face and shoulders? It would explain why our new post 5:2 clothes are getting a little snug around the lower body? P

Herm, your maths maybe dodgy, but your language is usually spot on. You said you’ve lost three kgs!

New Jersey and Pennsylvania are full of Welsh place names. The family live in Montgomery County, as did my grandmother. I’ve forgotten where you are in Australia, PVE, but of course New South Wales reminded many people of home.

We enjoyed Stan & Ollie, too. Strangely,,the last four films we’ve seen have been true stories, with Instant Family yesterday – very good. However, I am still astonished by Vice – it was a real challenge to Americans of a particular mind-set.

Weight ok. Varying by 2 lbs this week. Never another top wriggle, but under bottom.

Sorry, Pol and fasting. You absolutely correct. I’m also a rotten typist. The post should have read “3 kilos = 6.6 lbs”. My mistake was a typical result of dyscalculia aka number blindness.
Anyway, the 3 kilos are no longer valid – 2 of the nasty critters have returned since the last fast day i.e. Monday 18th.

F-M – don’t take the Lent refusals personally: we’re a lovely diverse gang of all faiths and none, calorie counters a wouldn’t-dream-of-its,and it works. Some of us have done no-sugar Lents – and Advents- in the past, others haven’t joined in. Nothing personal about it
Gorgeous day here – warm breeze, sunshine, spring flowers. I’m about to be dragged – kicking and screaming, you understand – to a spa day with a mate, so have had a caReful breakfast and been out with the n poles for an hour. I don’t do pools, have no intention of sitting in a jacuzzi so soon after a uti, so am taking a book, and loooking forward to lunch and massage. But the thought of a day without proper exercise didn’t appeal.
Have a good day, all.
FFS (Nb not FSF!)

Yea, gods, I’m blushing! My maths is terrible. Yes 3kgs is not quite half a stone! 😳😳😳

PVE, I’m intrigued by the name Llandgothlin. I suspect it’s a corruption of Llangollen, a lovely place best known for its annual international eisteddfod. Our neighbour’s son lives in your Newcastle and we met a lovely couple from there on our Thailand trip in 2017. I can’t see us ever getting to Australia. Visiting the gorgeous boys in New Jersey is the priority. We can usually manage another trip, though. Scandinavia this year.

Pol.

F-M, I always mentally process quantity and food type over each 24 hour period, but no longer count calories as the whole point of IF, in my mind, is to relax and enjoy a healthy life without making it seem a medical task.
My reaction was more related to Lent. My mate FSF knows where I’m coming from. 😉😉
The cyclone has moved away, the sun is shining, the ocean is sparkling. I think you would love my view, F-M!! P

Superb tapas lunch – inc fried almonds, chicken and a lovely fennel and orange salad – an hour sitting in the sun with a book watching other people swim (and mentally prescribing 5:2 for some!) and am still reeling from the most incredible back, shoulder, head and face massAge. I recant!

FFS, you spa day sounds amazing! I love anything like that although I’ve never done a whole day, but do try and have regular massages.

And a chocolate bar, Pol?

Great game indeed – fantastic last try. Well done!

We get so passionate about this particular game! Eddie Jones hasn’t helped either, very arrogant decision to drive down the busy M4 on a Friday night, missing captain’s training session on the pitch.
Still it could have gone their way. A battle until the end. Is your husband English, Happy?

We didn’t have dinner last night. Too worked up. I had two satsumas!

I live 5 miles from M4/M5 conjunction. Both motorways, and all the surrounding A roads, were jammed solid, hell on wheels, from midday onwards on Friday.

That was an emotional journey for you, PVE. Sounds sad yet full of ‘moving on’, which can be a good vibe. Did you sell it in anticipation of your move North? The missing backpackers — the ones from Germany and the other Brit/US? Tragic. Just about every year someone drowns on our vacation coast, but the bodies are always recovered. No one disappears without a trace like those lads.
As for your view — yes! it sounds fabulous. I would LOVE to see the coast line that you describe so well. But if I had to change our varied, ever-changing views for a single scene in the sub-tropics, sans snow; sans Fall Foliage…..I wouldn’t.

Pol & Happy, glad your team won. We love our American football, but I think you Welsh and English and Europeans are even more passionate about your rugby and football. Glad it gives you such pleasure.

Happy, what is your new job? I knew it was new, but…. Good luck with it. Hope it is the right one.

After Thursday in bed [with the head cold] and Friday on the sofa [with the head cold], I am better now. Still going through tissues but no longer groggy, etc. The bonus was losing one pound wed-to-thurs and then 1.5 pounds thurs-to-fri! Of course it was simply lack of interest in eating as well as the body metabolizing all the calories to fight the cold. So yesterday I ate what I wanted and gained back the 1.5 pounds. Could never have stayed at that weight.
We’re having a ‘wintry mix’ here. Not sure if Church will be canceled, as several are, but not mine so far.
Happy Sunday.

There I go again — confusing Aussies with Kiwis. Ugh. Such an ignoramus. Sorry.
Thanks, PVE, I am improving in my health. Cough is 97% gone, nose mostly dried up.
My! You do have a varied climate — and all within picnicking distance of the coast! Very nice.

We had high winds all day [35 knots here] which toppled trees and caused power outages in other areas. [probably we won’t lose power since I filled a large bucket and several jars with water last night.]
Wind is still roaring in the forest. Will continue tomorrow.

Olivia Colman was worth staying up for in the Oscars last night. She was a hoot!
Happy new week, and good luck with all those chances to stay slim.

After a wintery week with gale southerlies, we have entered autumn in the SH with brilliant sun and high-teen temperatures – single figures overnight, though. There are places in the NH that have been warmer than here recently! 🙁

Yes, I’m the one moving north, to warmer climes and more family around. It will happen sometime this year. One of the delays is our older son, who lives with us, will need to be re-housed, and his business interests sorted. Fortunately he has given himself a deadline – his lady friend in Arizona is loosing her landlady/flatmate at the beginning of July so son thinks he might spend some time with her, try to get some driving work, see if the relationship is well-founded. She’s an old school friend from the time during the George Bush snr presidency when we lived in Philadelphia.

I’m off to play jumbo tennis with my workmates this afternoon, or at least to support the players and drink wine as I am currently having physio on a lazy quad.

Have a great weekend, all 🙂

Polly, happy St David’s Day! I attempted a batch of Welsh Cakes this morning. “Attempted’ because I have no idea what they taste like, so I forged ahead with the recipe. We liked them. Hope your national day goes well.

Barata, while you are starting Autumn, we are in no way starting Spring in the NH. Snow yesterday, VERY low overnight temperatures, and more snow tomorrow. My mother used to say, “As the days grow longer, the storms grow stronger.” Very true. What is ‘jumbo tennis’??

Good results from yesterday’s Fast, for both of us. ODH is in the throes of his cold and he is very unhappy. He wants to eat, and to eat carbs. But I guess he is metabolizing them while ill. He and I get sick so differently! I’m mostly better. 8 days is pretty good — ‘a cold’ is supposed to be over in 10+ days.

Have a great weekend, All.

Happy St David’s Day for yesterday, Poll 😊 The Sydney Mardi Gras is on tonight, so our multicultural tv station screened “Pride” last night. It is a marvellous film about a Welsh mining village during the 1985 miners’s strike being supported by gays from London. A heartwarming story with marvellous Welsh accents!
Our first day of Autumn sees us with mid 20s, threatening rain and an other hot week heading our way. The days won’t really get too much chill until well into April.
My fasts have been undermined by life over the past few weeks, with not much change on the horizon. Random eating patterns, keeping an eye on type and quantity is the go at present. Full fasts will resume eventually. 😉😉P

That could simplify things, B. 🙄
We got to 28 today, but poor Hobart had an all time March record of 38.8!
I ran into an old lady, who told me she has a glass of red in the middle of the night if she can’t sleep. Purely for experimental reasons, I’ll try it next time I’m tossing and turning. Good luck with the hypnotherapy 😪😪 P