Happy, I know the sweet allure of the pillow over the face lol!
This topic contains 11,643 replies, has 174 voices, and was last updated by Mr Data 4 months, 3 weeks ago.
Carol, I had the same situation for years, then Mr P started 5:2. With the weigh loss came a cessation of snoring. Bliss.
EDIT: Happy, you’ll be reported soon! Suggest he uses 2 pillows or at least change the pillow he is using.
Ffs, I was shocked, when we started monitoring, to find that Mr P sleeps like yours (I thought he was a poor sleeper as he wakes easily if I need him to) and that I was the restless one. Then Bay suggested I take my bp tablet at night instead of morning. Sleep soundly all night now, despite the cold weather. Thanks Bay. It works! P
Hi everybody – back from holidays and enjoyed reading all your posts. The temperatures are now more than 20 degrees lower than last week so I am quite happy to go to work again today.
Re snoring, I am a fellow sufferer and can totally relate to Happy and Carol. I must admit, I didn’t have the pillow idea yet, but you put this into my mind now….
This morning I felt keen to do my first fast day in two weeks. I am 1.5 lb above my arbitrary upper limit, but after reading all your BMI results I went to calculate what I had set as my weight range at. It turns out to be 19.14 – 19.53 which is probably why I am constantly at the upper limit of my range. Today I am BMI 19.88 and I am now wondering if I should adjust my range a bit with the upper limit more at BMI 20.
I chose my goal weight because this is what I was in my 20s and because I am quite fine boned. All my weight is around the bottom and thighs and if I gain it always settles there.
Anyhow, today I want to fast just to get back into it and for health reasons but above all because I have indulged in too many sugary treats making me want to re-set my system re carbs.
Welcome back, Lichtle – good to have you back. Well done for maintaining so well – and for getting straight back on the wagon – zap thos sugary carbs before they suck you in!
Re BMI: mine is currently a tad below ‘normal’ levels, making me officially underweight (as I was in my 20s, like you, L). BUT: I know I’m short on muscle, which we all know is heavier than fat; my body-fat %age is normal, so I’m not skinny/anorexic: and – most importantly, to me – I’m not a pear but definitely a rectangle who could easily be an apple, carrying any excess not only on my tum but possibly round my internal organs.
I propose to use this understanding of the limits, as well as the usefulness, of BMI: I think I need to work on muscle development and allow my weight to increase a bit as long as (and only as long as!) it’s muscle, and not fat, increasing. That seems to me to be intelligent use of information as well as technology (ie posh scales!). Not all medics think like that – they don’t go in for nuance, and their scales record only raw weight, so how can they? ( my middle DS, built like the proverbial brick facility, pure muscle from the neck down, not an ounce of fat anywhere, and with a BMI toward the upper end ok OK, has the same problem, in reverse!)
What say the 5:2 Oracles??
I’m no oracle, Fast, but, like you, my only fat is around my tummy and I know I don’t have much upper body muscle. Then again, I can do everything I need to in daily life including gardening, running, carrying grandkids, housepainting. To build up muscle would be a fruitless waste of time for me. Once developed, unless these muscles are used in everyday tasks, they will wilt again. I don’t want to be a weightlifter and I love my nicely defined, skinny shoulders and arms. As you know, I’m no gym junkie. I’ll just stick to sucking my stomach in, whenever I remember, to retrain those muscles. 😉 P
Ah, P, therein lies the difference: not being a gym bunny (I’m not!) but having to ask for help with lifting stuff, and being handed a gorgeous 6 month old last week, only to find I couldn’t shift her from one arm to the other….something which would have been second nature until recently. I too love my skinny shoulders – they’re fantastic, and I so wish I’d had them at 50 – and I’m not talking about body-builder, sand-kicking muscles, just the sort you speak about – adequate for what I want to do, and the level of fitness which will enable me to go on enjoying life. My poor old withered arms distress me, I admit. Trouble is, because left to themselves my muscles don’t talk to my brain, if I stop treatment and let them develop they become, not good servants but very troublesome and destructive masters! So perhaps you have a point: instead of working on them I should just accept that their wimpiness is the cause of my low BMI, and stop fussing. But it would be so nice if the surgery nurse (et al!) were informed enough to realise why it’s as low as it is, and stop fussing with me!
Carry on sucking in and pulling up – at least we can both do that!
Oh Fast, you don’t take any notice of tut tutting from “medical” people, do you? Just explain you are a clothes horse not a weightlifter!
I will admit it takes regular carrying grandies around now to ensure I don’t stuff my neck muscles. And my crowd are not heavyweights. 😉
Sun just rising. Morning after an excellent fast (300 cals at dinner only). P 🙂
Come and live with me please, P, and be with me on my next visit, when she stands me on the scales and sniffs loudly and asks if I know I should be eating protein, fats and carbs, in a voice that implies I’m 70 going on 5!
Sun going down here – total symmetry. I’ve walked 11,000 steps and 5 miles, climbed the stairs 20 times (some benefits to the deteriorating memory which means I can’t get out of the house without repeated trips to collect stuff I’ve forgotten…) eaten 463 calories and burned 1600; done some pilates and a walk, sorted the online banking, had conversations and written emails about my mother’s ongoing situation, read a surprisingly good book, watched some scary but encouraging telly about the Nhs; now I’m off for my bath and bed. Have a beautiful day.!
Fast, I have never seen the inside of a gym but I am intrigued and tempted to give it a go one day when I am retired. Reading your posts, you probably do well to do the extra arm muscle building exercise to give you a head-start when embarking on day to day tasks like those Purple described.
I had actually not considered the fact that my muscle mass is lower than in my 20s when deciding on my goal weight. Why is it that I often read that as you age you should weigh a bit more than in your youth when in actual fact we should weigh less (minus the muscle)?
I am coming to the end of my first fast day (600 cals) not as great as I hoped as I had a few apples this afternoon and DH had cooked a lovely meal. He will be away for a few days this week, so I will take the opportunity to do another fast later this week.
Hi Lichtle,
Your fast sounds OK for first one after your hols!
Fast,
I’m with Lichtle, building some muscle in the gym will set you up better in the outside world when you actually need them.
I was a regular gym goer before we moved, especially over winter months, and I probably still would be if there was one close by. I suspect P’s climate is slightly more conducive to outdoor exercise all year!
Muscle is obviously important for lifting 6 month olds! But also for metabolism.
And weight bearing exercise is important for bone density.
And a little bit of muscle definition would set your slim shoulders off a treat 🙂
@judyf, sorry didn’t mean to ignore your great results this morning. Our posts crossed. Keep it up. I am not sure what Tim Tams are but by the sounds of it it is something sugary whichI would love,too. Good luck tomorrow or is it today???, if you are fasting. 🙂
Tim tams are a famous chocolate coated biscuit. Apparently if you shake them they contain no calories. I don’t eat chocolate, generally, so have never tried them.
I have had that niggling thought in my head for about a year, L. I’m the weight I was as a young woman, but should be much less due to less muscles. But then my scrawny bag of bones doesn’t collapse in a heap when I exert myself!
Gyms are like Weight Watchers…why pay for something you can do for free? I, too, utilise my poor memory and 2 storey house for fitness. P 😉
Hi All, my two bobs worth – I am a regular gym goer as well as doing other forms of exercise. To me the most important thing at my age is maintaining flexibility so that if I trip I can regain n my balance without hitting the concrete face first! I also like to be able to get up from the floor without having to crawl on to my hands and knees. We are meant to carry a bit of extra padding as we age to protect us against falls. I don’t think a bit of arm muscle goes astray myself and you can easily build that up at home Fast if you want to, just pumping a few times with a can of veg in each hand. I do the gentler type classes like yoga and body balance which utilise bearing your own weight rather than pumping iron which I think can often do more harm than good unless you are doing it perfectly right. The other benefit I find from gym is you get to do exercises you wouldn’t normally be doing in every day life. Whatever suits and fits!
Love the clothes horse comment Purple!
Hey hey 😉 I’m sure a clever girl, like you, and a husband with a shed could create a resistance “rowing” machine.
Actually Happy, if I am stuck inside, like yesterday, I run wildly on the spot while watching tv to make up the steps and stir the heart rate, as well as jumping up and running up the stairs. While driving any distance I do all sorts of mad dances and movements, including running and ankle moves as I use cruise control. Mr P finds it all very disconcerting. I’m very controlled sitting in a train though 🙂
I love all your discussions and finding it all so helpful. I don’t exercise much at all nowadays. I did go to a gym before I started work 8 years ago and then went to a Curves Gym but it closed down. I work 3 days and look after a grandchild one day a week. I have a treadmill that I don’t use often enough and at the moment I have a painful knee (usually quite fit)Hmm maybe I should move to a 2 storey house 🙂
P, you are absolutely right, and logical, about both gyms and weight watchers. But I guess in thee end it comes back, like everything else, to individual choice based on self understanding. I go to the gym, as well as doing pilates for balance and co- ordination, and to a dance class, because the structure of having an an appointment gives me the discipline to exercise which I know I otherwise lack. My DD and her DH go to Weight Watchers for the same reason. All of us using 5:2 could presumably have simply chosen to ‘eat less, move more’ (agreed, without the other benefits of fasting) – but couldn’t, or didn’t. So let’s continue to do what works for each of us, share it with each other in case it could benefit anyone else, and enjoy our new, s.lom lives
Hi Fast, I totally agree. We go through phases of being inspired by a friend’s idea or a gadget etc and we try it out and that is wonderful – life would be boring otherwise.
Sometimes we chance upon something that we can actually stick to (like 5:2) for all of us here. These life style changes have to feel right for us. Some need the routine and discipline of an organised group or a gym others prefer to free-style. It is a very personal thing and I agree, Fast, that it is great to share our ideas and concerns here on this lovely forum.
Years ago, I bought a re-bounder (Rolls Royce version) and absolutely love it as I think it goes with my personality. It is basically a mini trampoline and lots of fun. Since I have moved to this small “bungalow” 😉 I am sorry to say that I haven’t had the space to put it up for any length time as it lives in the guest bed room so it has to be moved to the shed every time we have guest staying which sadly breaks the routine every time.
Just an idea for you Fast as you are clearly trying to do exercises for balance – a re-bounder is great for that.
Hi All,
Sorry to be so out of touch, but I was recording this past Friday night, at a festival all day Saturday, at a theatre Saturday night, and at yet another festival all day Sunday. Then I had a job interview first thing in the morning yesterday. After all that I’m pooped to say the least! I have another interview scheduled for tomorrow, so things are moving along.
Speaking of this past weekend, just to reiterate, last week after two water/psyllium/supplements only fast days and before my only refeed day I reduced down to 3.7 pounds/1.7 kilos/.3 kilos BELOW my goal weight. I did this on purpose in anticipation of two back-to-back refeed days (Saturday–technically last week, and Sunday–this week). Well I’m thrilled to say it worked–at least for me. By yesterday morning I was still .1 pound/.05 kilos UNDER goal! I don’t plan to make a habit of this, but it’s nice to know such a thing is possible. I hope this helps.
HappyNow On the subject of your aerials, how long do you practice/perform for? It’s been a while since I’ve performed, but I practice thrice weekly for an hour at a time. And is it a whole body discipline or are there specific muscle groups you focus on? It’s definitely a whole body discipline, though some of the trainers don’t get it and try having me prepare by only working specific muscle groups–which doesn’t work particularly well. I do strength training thrice weekly (immediately BEFORE my aerial activities to warm up), and I also take an HIT (Tabata) class weekly. Apparently four times weekly (especially considering the below) is the minimum amount of workouts necessary for me maintain my goal weight properly. I hope this answers your questions. If not, please ask away.
All the best to everyone–feasting or fasting,
Jayney
Hi everyone
Sorry I’ve been AWOL. Been sick with a very bad head cold and feeling sorry for myself, so chose to crawl into bed and hide, and sweat it out. Arisen today and weighing at goal weight. Haven’t eaten much over the last four days. No taste buds at all and no enthusiasm.
My sister has a mini tramp or rebounder, and she swears by it. It looks like fun. I’ve wasted quite a bit on gym memberships before I realised that I always begin with enthusiasm and after six months, I’m bored. Each to our own. I will stick with walking, golf, gardening and scrubbing floors. Hehe!
Enjoyed reading all the posts to catch up. Haven’t the energy to respond. Thanks for your cyber friendship which I really appreciate.
Cheers, Bay 🙂
Litchie- this is my all time low doing 5and 2. In the last 13 years Ive reached my goal weight 2x- once doing WW and once doing the Dukan diet- hence my NEED to be in here in Maintenance. 5 and 2 is so much better as a WOL. I love that I can eat anything. Im also going on holiday in less than 2 weeks for 3.5 weeks, The last few years we have been away for 2 months and I put on 5/6 kg each time. This time we’ll be away for less time and I do want to fast at least once a week!! And yes I was inspired to walk around our block today-1/2 hour and its only the 2nd time Ive done it this year 🙁
Well done Judyf! I think you’ll find your weight won’t be a problem on holidays. As we’ve discussed on here before our perception of over indulgence has changed and the news is generally not as bad as we expected. I was away for 6 weeks last year and lots of eating out and drinking. I fitted in a FD once a week if I could and just monitored at other times and when I got back I’d actually lost weight!
Jayney good luck with your interview! What’s the position?
Bay, you will probably find you have dropped more weight when you weigh again. Sorry you’re feeling unwell, hope you’re better soon.
Lichtle, I love that expression ‘feeling poorly’ – so English! Over here we’d say feeling crook – doesn’t have the same ring to it somehow! 🙂
Well done everyone! Jayney, good luck: let us all know ASAP, won’t you? Bay, get well soon. Judy, Carolann is right: this diet goes on working after you’ve lost the weight – not quite magic as you have to do your bit, but surprisingly easy, so enjoy your holiday, without dreading the scales this time (it does help, if you have an OH, if they are on board as well – not necessarily doing, but at least sharing the maintenance. )
3 bits of good news from here today:
– went with a friend for a proper bra fitting yesterday (first one by anyone other than myself since losing weight, although I have self- monitored, and changed both band and cup size, on the way down.). Wonderful woman took one look, one measurement, promised to try every bra in the shop if necessary, and got it spot on with the first one – I now look (when I’m dressed, at least!) as if I have proper, perky breasts! (For those interested in such stats, the 5:2 journey has taken me from a 36D, via 34D and 32DD, to a 32C). I definitely recommend the proper, specialised experience, with someone who really knows her stuff.
– DH is within 4lb of his goal weight! He has had to work really hard, especially as his ability to exercise is limited and his head still thinks he burns 5000 cals a day, so huge respect! I’m proud of him
– and best of all, Mum is going into an extremely nice care home today (newbies to this thread won’t know the backstory; sufficient to say that folk here supported me hugely a month or two back when life was really difficult with this one). It’s only for 4 weeks’ ‘convalescence’ at present, but she will be able to stay permanently if she wants to – all we need now is for her to love it enough to be happy to do so. Nearly there – please!
Have a lovely day, Brits; sleep well, Aussies.
Hi Carolann,
Many thanks for your support. The interview today is for a contract Instructional Designer position. However, just FYI, “feeling poorly” indicates that the nerve endings in your fingers don’t work very well or some such, which probably isn’t the intended meaning (like feeling bad or unwell).
Jayney
Sounds like a very interesting job Jayney. I was wondering if it was connected with your aerial work. Let us know how you get on.
Beg to differ on the feeling poorly.,will wait for one of our English friends to confirm but am sure it’s another way of saying unwell.
FFS what fantastic news about your mother and also the ever decreasing boobs getting fitted properly! My size is pretty similar to yours and one of my ‘things’ is buying good underwear so I have a number of very good quality bras that I can’t bear to throw out. I am taking them to Canada 🙂 to give to my DIL who is well endowed! I look at them now and think gosh I must have had boobs the size of footballs! Lol.
Friend who came with me called from the next cubicle to ask if they’d managed to find mine – as she stuffed her glories into a G cup. Got her comeuppance when she realised she’d forgotten her purse, and I had to pay for her (very expensive ) bra.
And yes, ‘poorly’ in Brit-speak = ‘just a bit unwell’ – but use with care because ‘very poorly’ is sometimes a euphemism for ‘knocking on heaven’s door’!
Hi, Judy, FYE (For Your Encouragement ;-), I have just returned from holiday and I haven’t gained any weight, I was a lb above my maintenance weight when I left and came home the same weight. I didn’t fast, but did skip breakfast a few times. This week I am getting back to my maintenance weight with a couple of fasts.
Fast, we are so pleased for you on all three fronts. Absolutely wonderful that DH reached his goal weight, no doubt with your encouragement. Very sensible to have professional fitting not just for vanity but also very important to relief back strain. I am a similar size but unfortunately not symmetrical, so if it fits one side it doesn’t for the other. 😉 I have spent hours in the fitting room. However the best news is your mum, lets just hope and pray that she will come to realise that this is the best solution for her now and especially in the future. It would be so great if you could relax a bit on the mum front.
Thanks, Fast, just saw your confirmation re expression of “feeling poorly”. Didn’t realise I had to be careful about “very poorly” though. Since English is not my first language these fine nuances are sometimes lost on me. Better not use this expression anymore. 😉 Many years ago, when I had just arrived in England a relative of my husband had a serious motorbike accident and I was about to send him a get well card with a picture of white lilies… To be safe now, I don’t choose blank cards any more…
Janey, I am intrigued what you design as a “Contract Industrial Designer”? Cars, telephones, etc? Sounds interesting. You see I thought your main job was aerial work 😉 and initially not understanding what that means, I thought you flew planes in formation, trailing coloured smoke, or you were a stunt woman, jumping out of aeroplanes. 😉 I am relieved that your life is not quite as dangerous.
You must be logged in to reply.
10:45 pm
12 Jul 15