Hi everyone! Bit late to the party, but I’m back on the FD train as of today. It’s been two years since I’ve fasted regularly, but I need to make this work to get back to my old weight of 55. It’s been a couple of years of hard study, a pregnancy and new career craziness and tampering with other ways of eating. Fasting was truly the only way I got the weight off reliably.

I’m in Melbourne, so it’s nicely warm here, but I’m sitting with my hot tea and miso soup for lunch. Does anyone have a favourite miso brand from Coles or woolies?

I’ve really enjoyed reading this thread so far and so excited to be able to celebrate chirstmas but not feel heavy, in my belly or my brain.

Day 16. No fast day yesterday. No weight change.

Accents change with a change of environment. My north-eastern accent was always a little odd because before I was 20 years old I lived in six NE towns and a few miles made a difference. In the RAF it had to be moderated by the need to be understood over the radio. It eventually became a sort of mongrel English understandable by all but local to nowhere. Our daughter has lived on the Essex side of London since her marriage 17 years ago and now sounds as though she was born there. We thought our TV, which apart from the soaps was always “standard English”, ie southern, educated English, was killing local accents but it now has much more regional variety.

Cali, I buy the boxes that contain about 10 individual sachets. I keep them in the pantry. If I had a tub of miso paste that I’d opened I would also assume it needed to be refrigerated. Similar to jars of curry paste, that can be in the panty until opened then need to go in the fridge.

BusyMummaM. The year I lived in Hong Kong was a bit like this site – all of the native English speakers I associated with were Aussies except one from the US. (Sorry CalifDreamer and Diverdog, he was Texan) . When I got back to UK those who did not know assumed I had spent that year in Australia.

BusyMummaM, Well done on getting through that first FD. Most of us find that the FDs become easier as time goes on. I barely give them a thought these days, they are just part of my normal week.

A second NFD for me today and I’m hoping for a better result than yesterday when I overate in the late afternoon. On a plus note, the brunch I was meant to be attending this morning has been cancelled due to the unpleasant weather forecast (38C). My family was going to go to a local cherry farm to buy cherries and have morning tea at their cafe. Now I’ll need to make a trip out there later in the week to get the christmas cherries, but at least it’s easier to avoid the cafe if I go by myself.

That dinner does sound rather good Diverdog.

Thin, time to re-group and find a new strategy before Tuesday. No point worrying about last night, you can’t change it now. Is Tuesday a buffet as well or do you get to just order your own meal? If you can order you know how to handle this – look at the menu and choose before you get there. If it’s buffet, offer to be the designated driver so you don’t drink then it’s a little easier to make better choices. I always think that willpower decreases in direct proportion to wine consumption.

TAL, it’s funny as a kid I couldn’t stand beets, now I love them. So far this month I haven’t moved FD’s to accommodate social engagements. If it was someone that would be insulted by my not eating something I would switch them around. I usually don’t succumb to peer pressure to eat and I don’t feel deprived. I will be traveling from the 22nd to the 26th and I probably won’t do any FD’s but I will limit what I eat. Although I like to eat really well I don’t think of it as a feast as in a huge amount of food just high quality well prepared food. I usually skip dessert and I should have tonight. It was good but it’s the savory flavors I crave now, not sweet.

And yes my usual break-fast is two slices of sprouted bread pan toasted with Irish butter, a slice of cheese and four eggs over easy(all organic grass fed etc.). Washed down with a fruit and veggie phytonutrient drink. Everything is yummy after a water fast! LOL I know it doesn’t sound like a conservative meal, but a lot of high quality fat works really well for me. It also works with my caloric target for NFD’s

Day 17. NFD yesterday. No weight change.

The penalty for stealing a hot mince pie straight out of the oven is a burned (scalded?) upper lip.

Having a quiet NFD although I’m about to watch my football team stink up the field. A good excuse to drink heavily! I’m going to experiment and try to do a two day water fast on Monday and Tuesday. I’ve never gone more than 35 hours although penguin has assured me that it’s not that hard to do. Wednesday is my birthday and I want to indulge a bit.

Thin – I’ve noticed that some people’s accent adapts quickly to where they live and some resist all inclination to change – I would probably be one of the “need to fit in” brigade if I even emigrated – not that that is at all likely. Although when we experience summer heat waves I do dream about moving to a cooler climate – even Tasmania starts to look good. Although the south Island of New Zealand appeals more – a geographically stunning place.

I’m doing a much needed FD today. I didn’t eat any one thing over the weekend that was terrible – all good foods. I just ate too much on both days. I tried to not eat until late in the day but because I woke early both days that became a feat I couldn’t manage. How long I last seems to be relative to the time I got out of bed.

I have FDs planned for today and Thursday this week. The visit to the cherry farm has been rescheduled for Thursday afternoon – I’ll take my aunt and uncle out with me, but my cousins won’t be there – they’ll be working. As it’s a FD it solves the problem of what to eat – I’ll just order a pot of tea and allow enough spare calories to have a handful of fresh cherries.

Thin, The following info is based on the prices I remember from last year – they don’t change a lot from year to year.
At the cherry farm their export grade cherries (which are very hard to find in the shops) are priced by size – the bigger the diameter the more they cost. They also sort by variety, with each having a slightly different flavour. Depending on size they are $20-30 per kilo. In size they usually vary from 22-28mm, they go up in 2mm increments.
They also sell seconds (which is what most greengrocers and supermarkets actually sell) for $6 a kilo. The big difference for me is also freshness – these cherries are picked daily, so you get maximum fridge life from them – I never know how old they are when I buy them from the shops.
I am usually happy with seconds – which means small blemishes, or a missing stem, or any cherry which isn’t at least 22mm. I tip them out when I get home and separate those without stems as they don’t keep well – I eat these first. The rest keep just as well as the export grade cherries.
As gifts I buy the 1 or 2 kilo boxes of export grade cherries. They are very nicely packaged for use as a gift. I’ve promised my sister a 2kg box for christmas. I find the boxes easily keep for 2 weeks in the fridge, also it helps if you routinely check them over to make sure none have lost their stems – these need to be eaten quickly. When the stem is pulled out of a cherry it usually damages the skin just enough to make them go off quickly – you have 2-3 days to eat them before this starts to happen.

Going to the cherry farm each summer is a bit of a family ritual. Not just to support a local grower but to get cherries that are a better quality and fresher than I can find elsewhere. It’s also a nice outing, about a half hour drive from where I live. Cherries tend to be grown in the same districts of the Adelaide Hills where apple and pears do well, basically from Lenswood through to Lobethal. As you drive through the area, you see rows and rows of netted cherry trees up the hillsides. They use these incredibly log runs of netting to cover each row so the birds don’t eat the fruit.

Thin, After a bit of hunting I found a pic of the netting being put in place (although these are grape vines not cherries). http://vitiworks.com.au/project_post/bird-control/
When I was growing up absolutely everything was done by hand, but there are machines for harvesting, pruning and netting these days. Not suitable for all fruits though, although many vineyards are completely mechanised.

I meant to offer a bit of advice when buying fruit – for those of you who aren’t familiar with choosing fruit that will taste nice. Any stone fruit (plums, nectarines, apricots, peaches, cherries) will keep better if there is a stem still attached. These fruits (and pears as well) ripen from the stem area down. So you can tell that the piece of fruit will ripen reliably if there is a little bit of give to it around the stem. Whole pineapples and rockmelon (cantelope) will smell sweet and ripe if you sniff the base, if they are ripe on the inside. If they don’t smell sweet I don’t buy them.
You should see me in the green grocer, most fruits I need to hold in my hand to know whether they are worth buying and some I sniff – it must look odd, but I don’t like wasting money and good fruit is often expensive. The problem with growing up in a region that was known for it’s fruit production is that you know what fresh ripe fruit should actually taste like – it makes me very particular when it comes to the standard I expect. I find it extremely difficult to find fruit of the quality I took for granted growing up.

PS FD for Mr M and me today, and just water so far. 4.28pm now and going outside to fiddle with washing and use up some pre dinner time. 365cal dinner planned today and probably 600-800c for Mr M.

Day 18. Yesterday was an unplanned 300 cal semi FD. A light meal at lunch then an unexpected evening out. We went to a carol Service at the village church. It was followed by mulled wine and mince pies. By now I think you know I have a weakness for mince pies, but it is selective – I have been spoiled by OH’s which are very good. I declined the mince pies and wine on the grounds that I was fasting, which was accepted without comment. The fasting element of most of the major religions makes that one of the few places our habit is socially acceptable – a little old school, possibly verging on extreme but generally commendable. I am down one pound.

Monday and Tuesday are my usual fast days. I have had nothing since 1230 yesterday so I am already nearly nineteen hours into it.

Hi everyone,

I’ve had a quiet weekend at home. Saturday was a NFD and I ate wisely and avoided the temptation to open a bottle of wine and I fasted yesterday. After the disappointment of the scales on Thursday I’m even more determined to shift another couple of pounds before Christmas so I’m fasting again today.

I did some cooking yesterday as there were lots of odds and ends in the fridge, half a squash, a couple of carrots etc. A whole tray of mushrooms that I’s bought for something and not used. I made mushroom ragout some of which I’ll be having for dinner today and the remainder is in the freezer. I also made a huge batch of stock which has also been stashed away along with some roasted squash soup.

It’s a lovely if rather cold morning here so I’m going for a walk.

Hi Thin,

No not intentional. I said something under my breath when I woke up first morning away, into routine of loo, weigh, shower etc

You are not alone on single Fds, 2x per week non-consecutive. You may remember my experiment of b2b fasts last summer. 1st week OK, 2nd week OK, 3rd week and my body and brain well and truly let me know b2b fasts were not at all healthy for me. Never done 1 since and no intentions to.

Welcome to new people – we’re making the Silly Season less silly. Very enjoyable , yes, but not silly.

Merry

Hi Thin,
I hail from Herefordshire. UK.

I have got to the stage where I actually look forward to the fast days. I find them surprisingly easy to the point where I drink black black coffee and just have a slim a soup for lunch. I can then go through to breakfast the next day. I also drink loads of water.

I’m a huge foodie and I enjoy real ales and nice red wines.
It’s little wonder I was in the obese range on the BMI charts.

With 5:2 I can continue enjoying the fine things in life and yet I’m slowly getting slimmer. I’m in the middle of the ‘overweight’ range right now.
I don’t actually have an end goal target weight as such. My better half says I should go into maintenance when things ‘look right’.

There were a lot of Americans staying at the same resort as us last month. Most of them, with a few exceptions, made me look positively skinny!

I think 5:2 is totally amazing and genius. I used to do Atkins but last time it gave me gout for the first and only time in my life. No such problems with 5:2!

By the way, it was watching Dr. Moseley on the Horizon documentary Eat, Fast, Live Longer on YouTube that put us onto this.

Penguin.
Ross on Wye!

Is it ironic writing a good restaurant guide on a ‘diet’ website?

I know Whitebrook, but have never tried “The Whitebrook”. It sound s though I should.

I must admit I have been in Weatherspoon’s a time or three. For the Southern Hemispherians and US contingent, that is a national chain that does good cheap food and beer; our local branch has more character then many -I think it was originally a large Post Office building. It is very popular – some nights I had to use my old Rugby skills to get to the bar. I have eaten in the King’s Head but not for a couple of years. If I am going to Abergavenny the Angel is a regular. The Walnut Tree was great, also Michelin starred, but I haven’t been there for a while – you have to book too far ahead. I have never tried the Moody Cow, but it has a good rep. Folk law says the original owner named it after his wife. My first choice is the Lough Pool at Sellack – good old country pub, really friendly people very good food. As a pub you can walk in, if you want to eat a reservation is a good idea. Last time I was in they had Butty Bach. Again for the rest, Butty Bach is a local brew. It probably translates into standard English as Little Mate or Old Pal.