The Second Annual Silly Season Challenge

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  • You are spot on with your comments, Amazon. Although I wouldn’t consider myself a royal watcher and don’t read tabloids, I do very much admire the Queen. CalifD, your mum was right. She (the Queen, not your mum) vowed to serve her country from that moment on and has executed that duty tirelessly at great personal sacrifice I would say. It will be a sad day (assuming I’m still alive) when she dies because she has been the only ‘constant’ entity throughout my entire life. It was only due to a simple twist of fate that she became Queen and I don’t believe it to be a title that she relished.

    Merry, I did a similar thing with going back for seconds of dessert at the Christmas dinner. That’s sugar for you, eh? Couldn’t help myself greedily taking more and then instantly felt quite sick. I seriously considered doing something about it but decided that represented an even greater problem. In my case, it wasn’t a waste thing because it was someone’s else’s house/food but I would have been the same as you wrt using things up. As you know, I can’t deal with wasted food. Long-standing issues.

    I think it’s great that you and your like-minded companions aimed to treat the Christmas meals like any other. There’s no excess required in putting on a great Christmas spread really, is there?

    My weight is down this morning and I hope it continues that way for the rest of the year (3 days!). I may fast again tomorrow just so that I can achieve my goal, it depends on what I see on the scales in the morning. CalifD, maintaining is hardest I think. Requires constant vigilance.

    Merry, did you manage to get together with Joffy over the holidays? If so, how’s he doing? Did you notice a big change in his weight since last year? He must look fantastic.

    Merry & Thin, I didn’t go back for seconds of dessert, I didn’t even have firsts as Christmas day the dessert was pavlova and boxing day it was plum pudding. I don’t like either of these. I really wish I could say that this was the end of the story. Given my expanding waistline I’m sure you’ve already guessed that I more than made up for the lack of dessert.
    On christmas day my nephew brought along the home-made confectionery that we always have for christmas. (Remember I’d passed the task on to him this year to avoid me eating it?) I think I ate about 10 pieces of it after lunch, while everyone else was having pavlova.
    On boxing day my cousin pointed out the crystal bowl of Haighes chocolates on the table when I refused pudding. If I’d found a runny centred chocolate first I might have stopped after one (not keen unless it’s caramel). Unfortunately I found the turkish delight (which I adore) and I ate quite a few of those. I actually had to get up from the table to stop myself going back for more.

    So don’t feel too bad for having 2 serves of pudding – even saying no to pudding doesn’t guarantee you stay away from the sweet treats.

    On a positive note, I have actually managed to have a very controlled NFD today. I just had dinner today – a vegetable fritata. I might have a handful of cherries for dessert. Tomorrow is a FD.

    I hope everyone’s post-christmas diets are going as planned.

    Day 28. My predictions yesterday about the snow and my weight gain both going quickly were wrong. Quite a lot of the snow went, then it froze. Some of my extra weight went, but not all of it. Later, when with luck it will be warmer I will try to get the car out. If I can get as far as the road through the village I’m OK. We are going out for a meal tonight, assuming I can get to the pub in question which also gets cut off by the snow. So until then, a careful NFD.

    Diverdog’s response to eating the forbidden foods he formerly ate was interesting. The kids left some chocolate when they went (unlikely, I know, but they did) and I ate it. I didn’t particularly enjoy it, my interior objected and I don’t want to do it again. I will continue to have a few bars in my emergency pack when I am on the hills, but the temptation to cheat and eat them when I don’t need that energy boost has, I think, gone.

    Thanks to all of you for posting your challenges this month. It’s very easy to assume that you are the only one having a tough time when in fact the majority of us are having difficulties sticking to plan.

    My B2B WFD’s are successfully completed. Day one was tough because of the carb cravings set up by four days of unrestricted eating. Day two was much easier.

    I’m pleased that I hit a new low of 161.6 lbs 73.5 Kg @ 5’10”.

    The carb cravings and joint inflammation I experienced from unrestricted eating is pushing me to make better food choices.

    The 2 day water fast is a good start to my next self experiment, following the plant paradox eating plan on NFD’s. Mostly veggies with the exclusion of all grains, fruits, pulses and nightshades. No cow dairy products. Pastured eggs, goat & sheep cheese, small fish and shellfish for protein. Plenty of avocado, gee, olives and coconut for fat. Sweet potatoes and other resistant starches. Fortunately I love all of these foods! FD’s will continue to be water fasts.

    Diverdog, well done hitting a new low weight so soon after christmas. I don’t envy you the new diet, especially the lack of pulses – they are the backbone of my diet.

    Penguin, this new found resistance to chocolate should be welcome. I too have found I can keep a block of dark chocolate in the fridge and just have a square occasionally. It has to be dark chocolate though, if it was milk chocolate I’d probably still be struggling to control myself.
    Is it Mallorca where you go for holidays? I noticed on the German news that they have fires there at the moment.

    I decided to try and put on one of my tighter pairs of jeans this morning (not the tightest, just the reasonably firm). The waist and hips fit reasonably, though not quite as comfortable as usual when sitting down. But the legs of these jeans are tight – I can especially see how swollen my knees are in these jeans.
    I also realised last night that my body is retaining a bit of fluid through the day – not a problem I’ve had for ages. It might be due to the humidity here. My ankles looked slightly puffy at bedtime and normal in the morning. When I was obese I used to have bad oedema. I retained so much fluid through the day that I’d wake with a full bladder at least once through the night. That doesn’t happen any more and it didn’t happen last night, which does mean that the fluid retention is slight. Hopefully a few days of healthy eating will help with this.

    FD for me. With my uncle in hospital my aunt needs help getting to appointments and doing errands today. Then I’ll take her to the RAH to visit my uncle. So I have about 5 hours of driving and waiting to do. If I don’t have food with me then I figure I can’t eat, so being away from the fridge is probably going to make it an easy FD. I’ve taken something out of the freezer for dinner so that I don’t have to cook when I return home.

    Interesting diverdog. I had to look up nightshades to discover what’s included. Congratulations on the new low.

    It’s been a month requiring constant vigilance for me. Quite a struggle actually but I’m so grateful for 5:2 because I am well aware of what the alternative meant. Having a ‘trigger weight’ has really helped me avoid that slippery slope. I still behave badly wrt food sometimes but quickly do something about it. The month isn’t quite over but I now finally feel confident that, by Monday, I will have achieved what I set out to do. Thank you everyone for the great support.

    I won’t be drinking on NYE, even if I can manage to stay awake until midnight. But I’m fasting tomorrow (Saturday) instead just so that I can join my neighbours in a picnic down at the river on Sunday evening. I will treat it like dinner and avoid any unhealthy offerings.

    Today (Thursday) was a FD for me. I was 58.9 this morning and hopefully I can lose some of that by tomorrow morning. I’m not sure I’ll be able to reach my goal of 58 by Monday morning’s weigh in, but I hope to be close.

    Congrats to diverdog on reaching your lowest weight. That’s a big accomplishment during this season of eating and temptation.

    LJoyce, tight jeans are usually a good test of weight gain or loss. But if you have any oedema, that can throw off your weight because some of it will be water weight. That makes it tough to know where you really are.

    Thin, I probably won’t be drinking on NYE either. I don’t want to feel crappy the next day and I don’t want the weight gain that it usually produces. I would rather eat my calories!.

    Ljoyce, although I like beans, peas and lentils it’s not a big deal for me. I’m far more upset by not having tomatoes and eggplant. I will eat them but only when they are in season locally and without seeds and skins as that is where most of the lectins are.

    I will also eat a bit of bread. I’m a very good baker and I will make sourdough baguette with organic white flour and natural yeast

    TAL, just breaking even this month is a big win!

    Califdreamer, great job, I predict you will hit your goal. Thin jeans are the bomb!

    Drinking is not a big temptation for me. I enjoy a glass of wine with dinner occasionally and a G&T in the heat of the summer. Although when I want to eat, two glasses of wine gives me permission to go nuts! Fortunately thats a rare occurance.

    I am nearing dinner on my FD and so far I’ve confined myself to cups of tea where I could get them. I was out for 6 hours today, being driver for an elderly aunt. So while she was at appointments I went for walks and sometimes found cafes where I could get a cup of tea. I managed to do quite a lot of walking which was excellent.
    I have a field mushroom with a veg & chickpea stuffing thawing for dinner.
    I realised that I’ve almost done three B2B FDs. I did proper FDs on Wednesday and today with calories <500. Yesterday was officially a controlled NFD but I mentally totted up the calories I would have eaten and I think it was around 600 – this was low because dinner was veg & eggs and it was the only meal I ate.
    Now, if I had planned to do 3 such low cal days in a row I think there would have been a subconscious rebellion. But knowing I could eat yesterday, and just choosing not to eat much, somehow felt different.

    Me too on the non-alcoholic NY eve. At this stage I am not going anywhere, so I’m expecting a quiet night.

    Now that we are fast approaching the pointy end of our silly season challenge I hope that you are all close to achieving your goals.

    We got out of the house last night, went a mile down the hill and discovered no one else had any snow. We went to our usual place (the one with the log fires etc) and both had the Dexter beef, red wine and shallot pie, which was excellent but is showing on the scales this morning.

    Westwings, I confirm they have Buttybach on tap, although with the pie I had Dortmunder Union.

    Diverdog, you don’t have a weight problem – that looks like a BMI of about 23!

    LJoyce. On a good day I can control dark chocolate. These were milk Chocolate oranges and Cadbury’s Roses. I don’t even really like Roses. About 20 years ago I was very fond of Chocolate Oranges, which the family remember so they buy them for me. They have not noticed that it is about that long since I actually bought one myself. We have been to Mallorca, but not for many years. We have got into the comfortable habit of going to Portugal, sometimes the mainland but more frequently Madeira. We will be in Madeira again very soon and later in the year we are going to Berlin. I was there when the wall came down – walking along the killing zone between what had been the two Berlins was weird. I haven’t been back since, it will be interesting to see more of the old east.

    Thinatlast. The concept of trigger weight is interesting. I have always had one, which over the 5:2 experience has steadily reduced. It doesn’t show on the scales, it is the weight at which my back starts to complain.

    Penguin, A hearty beef pie in front of the fire sounds like a perfect way to spend a cold evening.
    I agree with you on the Roses chocolate – I hate cream centres and that’s what they mostly are. Now, put a tin of quality street in front of me (nuts & caramels) and it’s a very different story.
    A trip to Berlin sounds nice. I did a whirlwind trip around central Europe in the 1990s, but didn’t get to Berlin. I’ll get back to Europe one day and start exploring some of the areas I haven’t been to yet.

    Diverdog, I concur about tomatoes and eggplant, I’d struggle to do without those, especially the tomatoes which I use fresh and in cooking all year round. Capsicums would also be a big sacrifice for me.

    Cali, sounds like you are awfully close to your 1st Jan goal. I hope you make it.

    I feel much more in charge of my food choices and portions. I feel like the indulgence phase, that seemed hard to shake before christmas, has finally ended. I’m just hoping this continues for a while until I’m sure my weight is stable again. I tend to skirt pretty close to the 80kg level far too often for my liking. I would like a bit more of a buffer if possible. I’m hopeful that I can use the warm weather this summer to my advantage. The hotter it is usually the less appetite I have. Not that I want a heat wave, just warm weather would do (at the moment I’m wearing both socks & ugg boots!

    Everyone seems to be doing well 🙂

    I’ve been more disciplined this Christmas and although I know I’ve eaten more than I should, it has been much less than in previous years. I suspect that the most likely outcome will be that I weigh the same as on Dec 1st rather than record a loss.
    I’ve not weighed myself yet and am hoping to avoid doing so until I’ve got a couple of FDs done and dusted but I’m struggling with that due to a cold virus, something that always makes me ravenously hungry.

    It’s 7 weeks to the day until I go on holiday so I have a new goal to aim for which should keep me on track.

    I can happily pass on soft centres too. My favourite Quality Street was the purple one with the hazelnut centre. I haven’t had one in decades.

    Amazon, where are you going for your holiday? (You might have told us).

    FD for me, the final one before Monday’s challenge weigh-in. I quite like Saturday fasts and it makes sense as DD works a 10 hour shift. I’m just so used to Sunday fasting, it seems natural. But as long as I have one weekend FD, it doesn’t really matter which.

    LJ, 34C here today so, according to your theory, warmer weather is on its way to you soon. I’m off for my walk before it gets too hot.

    Thin, My theory holds true – It’s still mid 20s here, but from Wednesday we have temps in the 30s forecast. I think I started looking west for an idea of future temperature when growing up in the Riverland. Whatever weather Adelaide was having we usually got a day later (but with less rain and a bit more heat). In that era the ABC was our sole source of weather forecasts and they didn’t give future forecasts for country towns other than the next day. Only the cites got temp estimates for several days. So you had to guess if you lived in a rural area. I’ve always noticed number patterns and I saw that the weather patterns didn’t just move east from Adelaide they mostly moved east from Perth. So I’ve been watching that ever since. I must admit I pay little attention to what’s happening to the weather up north as it so rarely has an effect on Adelaide. We do occasionally get a cold change that comes up through the Bight from Antarctica, but that’s not very common. Although you really notice it when it happens – quite a chill factor.
    Enjoy your FD. Hope the AirB&B neighbours are quiet this weekend.

    Amazon, hope you get over the cold soon. Think about your holiday, that should cheer you up. Very please to hear that you are on track for no weight gain over December – that always feels like a minor miracle to me – being someone who’s always usually gained weight in December.

    NFD today, although just cups of tea so far. I need to use some kefir so I’m planning a large kefir, fruit and psyllium smoothie to break my fast when I feel hungry.
    I’m really glad I did the 2 FDs and one CD after christmas. Those extra 4cms were finally gone from my waist this morning, so I can stop stressing. I will probably do yet another FD tomorrow so I can get back into my normal 5:2 rhythm with my preferred Sunday FD. I also have a lunch out Monday so can’t fast then and I hate getting to Tues or Wens before I do my first FD – I start to panic that I won’t fit in two FDs.

    My neighbour called in for a cuppa this morning and brought me a piece of panforte. I have added it to the container of treats that are hidden at the back of the fridge out of sight. I don’t want to eat any more “extras” this month – I’ve had more than my fair share of treat foods already.

    Chocolate seems to be a universal temptation. I like very dark chocolate ~85% and a very small serving is satisfying.

    My first NFD with eating restrictions went very well yesterday, however my OH brought home a nasty cold. I don’t usually succumb but last night I had a sore throat, sinus headache, chills and body aches. The only good thing is I don’t have any gastric distress and I have no appetite. So today is a unscheduled <500 calorie FD.

    I still feel nasty but I think it’s starting to break up a bit.

    Amazon and diverdog, hope both of you start to feel better. Have you ever tried a Neti Pot for a stuffed up nose? I use one the first sign of a cold and it seems to help. My doctor even agreed when I mentioned it once that it’s a good thing. My OH won’t touch it, thinks they’re weird. But my DS and I swear by them.

    Maintaining during Dec is definitely a win. I think that depriving ourselves too often can backfire too. The beauty of 5:2 is that we can go overboard sometimes. We just can’t do it everyday. I think everyone here is doing a great job.

    Agree with everyone that dark chocolate is easier to control than milk chocolate. And cream filled chocolates aren’t a favorite. I love carmel filled ones. Or nuts.

    Hi everyone from somewhere on a Freeway while Mr Merry is currently driving. We are on the way home!

    Congratulations to everyone who’se checked in so far. Well done to you! Ljoyce – I am impressed with how far you’ve come over the time since you joined the forum. You’ve handled Christmas well, with control, and enjoying the Silly Season and looking at your responses to cues so objectively, noting triggers, and working out responses.

    Thin – I’ll be meeting Joffy sometime in January. I’m looking forward to seeing him again, catching up with how we’ve both gone since we met last January, and this time Intesha is going to join us.

    I’ve found being on 2 threads a bit of a challenge, but I very much appreciate everyone here as we’ve supported each other through the Silly Season. 2 days to go!

    We’ve had dinner with friends last night, morning tea with a rellie ( weak tea only), lunch with more rellies, and I’ve gone fairly well. How lovely to have morning tea where none of us had anything other than a hot drink. Mr M and I both had just tea. No cakes or other sugar or carb laden things on the table.

    Back in the morning after I weigh myself……..,

    Thanks Merry, by boxing day I was feeling a bit worried, but the last few days my usual mental strength seemed to poke its head up again, just when I needed it.
    Dive home safe. Highways are dangerous places this time of year.
    Very glad to hear you are catching up with some of the other old timers – hope they are both going well.
    I’m also glad the cups of tea instead of food works well for you too. My FDs would completely fall apart without that trick.

    Cali – I agree with your deprivation comment. I think there is only so much of it that we can do until we rebel. And I think that threshold is lower at a time of year like christmas. Those messages about it being a time of feasting and indulgence are quite ingrained. At least they are for me.

    I’m nearing the end of my last NFD for the year. I intended it to be a perfectly normal day but I have still eaten less than usual. So far I had three pots of tea, a handful of cherries and a smoothie made from kefir, a pear, psyllium, cinnamon, a little stevia and lot of ice. It ended up more like soft icecream that I had to eat with a spoon. Dinner will be a rissole and a half serve of vegetable gratin.
    Tomorrow will be my final FD for the year. It will also mark the end of my first year on 5:2 as I started it on 1st January 2017.
    I’m pretty pleased with the progress I’ve made this year. It’s definitely felt like I was pedaling backwards at times, but overall I know I’ve made real progress with my eating, with fasting and my food choices.

    Thankyou all for your support and stories through December. I find that the mutual support on this forum has been critical to helping me make better choices.

    Hi everyone,

    I’m feeling much better this morning and am going to fast today.
    I’ve not been out for a few days so will get some fresh air this morning despite the fact that it isovercast and breezy. I’m sure a short walk around my local park will be beneficial.

    Thin, I’m going to Ecuador and am really looking forward to it.

    Joining this thread for the month has definitely made me more mindful about what I’ve eaten and I am so pleased that I’ve stayed in control and not given in to indiscriminate over eating which seems to be the norm at this time of year!

    I feel much better today, no sinus headache, chills, or body aches. I am still congested and I guess it will take another day or two to clear my lungs.

    B2B water fast and two days of eating on the plant paradox program has duplicated my observation of reduced pain in my right AC joint. It has been sore and stiff every morning for a year. Today, it feels normal.

    CalifDreamer, I have used a neti pot when I lived on the east coast and suffered from broad leaf tree allergies. I’ll have to pick up another one for occasional use here in Nevada.

    Check in before New Year tomorrow.

    Dec 1st 2017 – 65.3kgs and goal to be the same weight on Jan 1st 2018. Weight this morning, yay! 65.3kgs. Yay again! Strategies worked, I enjoyed everything.

    Last year I did a FD on NY Eve and sabotaged myself by going to a function not having eaten all day. All the food was heavy on carbs, fats, and sugars. Tiredness happens quickly and it’s one of my key triggers – I can interpret it as hunger, and give in easily at the sight of tempting food. Today I probably won’t eat till about 5-6pm, and dinner will be moderate and healthy low cal foods, like prawns or calamari, salad, or light veggies, low cal fruit like strawberries. Drinks sparkling water, tea, I may indulge just a little after that but it will be pre-chosen, and I won’t be going where there are lots of temptations.

    See you all on the other side of NYE!

    Amazon & Diverdog I’m glad you are both feeling better today.
    Wow Amazon, I don’t know anyone who’s been to Ecuador. Please post some info on your travels when you go.

    Well done merry, getting the exact weight right down to the decimal point is pretty impressive.

    I haven’t weighed yet, I’m leaving that until tomorrow morning. I did take measurements this morning and my waist 1cm smaller than it was a month ago and my tight jeans fit today, so I’m fairly confident that my weight is ok. I am still having some inflammation issues – which I keep tabs on by measuring my knees periodically – they are each about 2cm bigger at present. Unfortunately the inflammation has an impact on my scale weight. Knowing that my body measurements are where they should be is reassuring, as I know that whatever I weigh tomorrow, it’s unlikely to include any more body fat than I had a month ago.

    Today is my final FD for 2017. I am not going out tonight, so no drinks and snacks to tempt me.

    However quiet or merry it will be, I hope you all have a nice new year’s eve.

    CalifD, I’m afraid that is how I use 5:2 – feasting and fasting. In maintenance, continuing with two FDs has allowed me to occasionally have a restaurant meal or the odd indulgence. I know that it’s also shaped my eating behaviour over the 40 months I’ve been practicing it. My portions are smaller so, although I still don’t handle food waste well, I have learned to take less in the first place. I’ve also largely got over the competitive eating I used to do with my OH. I now just smugly think, ‘it’s your insulin’ rather than working out how I can get my ‘share’ of what he’s having. I’ve also learned that whatever I want today will still be there tomorrow. I will probably always be a version of the same person that got me into trouble with food but now I have a great toolbox to deal with it.

    Merry, that’s great that you and Joffy will meet – and Intesha too. I agree there was some duplication with two threads, sorry for that. But the extra support on this thread from people interested in the specifics of the challenge has definitely helped me get where I am today – under 60kg. I find this so much easier than the depression of dealing with a weight gain after the fact. Unfortunately, I feel I will have failed my own challenge when tomorrow rolls around as this street picnic at the river has grown to a share plate dinner. But at least I dipped into the 59s after my walk this morning so I sort of met it. And I will definitely weigh less than I did on 1 December when I was pushing my trigger weight so I’m very happy with that.

    Have just seen your second post Merry. I remember your NYE food drama last year as if it were yesterday! Congratulations for staying the same weight – even without your trusty travel scales. I hope we’ll hear a lot more from you next year.

    Good job with the measurements LJ, what a long way you’ve come in a year. Well done!

    Amazon, that is so cool. I understand Ecuador is fabulous for retirees. OH and I have been searching for a suitable spot in the world for a long time. A few years ago, we travelled to Uruguay for that very purpose. Two years ago, we did a preliminary recon. of Spain during the N. hemisphere winter. When I lived in San Diego, I always believed I’d end up in Mexico in my dotage. I will be very sorry to say goodbye to you and diverdog after tomorrow but I hope our paths will cross again in the corridors of this forum and now I will have a reason to come and seek you out. I can’t wait to hear all about it. For how long will you be there?

    Happy New Year everyone! And thanks so much for joining me here. You’ve been terrific.

    LJ, I had always thought you’d been here on 5:2 for a couple of years. Maybe it’s because you had been losing weight for a while before coming here. You also have so many great 5:2 tips and info. I had to look up “rissole” the other day when you mentioned it. I hadn’t heard of it before. The recipes I found are somewhat similar to our meatloaf, but with more vegetables. I like the size and the idea of cooking them on top of the stove in a pan with some cooking spray. They would cook quickly and be easy to store, freeze and thaw. I bet they would also be good with minced turkey. I’m going to make some later this week. Have you used them for FD meals?

    Thin, you could always start a Siily Season Alumni group to replace this one. 😁

    Hi everyone,

    I’ve not braved the scales yet but I’m wearing my skinny jeans which is a good sign 🙂

    I attempted a FD yesterday but it turned into a well controlled NFD. I think the difficulty was withdrawal from the increased amounts of carbs and sugar over the past week plus still not feeling 100% which weakened my resolve.
    I’m not fasting today but will ensure it is low carb which should help my New Years Day FD, and I feel well today.

    It’s been great to talk to all of you this past month. I’ve picked up a few tips and it has definitely helped me make better decisions regarding what I’ve eaten and when I’ve eaten it. I’m hoping I can take that forward and finally reach goal in 2018.

    Thin, I love to travel and have been to many places all over the world. I had been planning to go to Colombia but when I checked it out a few months ago the trip I wanted to go on was already fully booked and February is apparently the best time weather wise so I didn’t really want to go at a different time of year.
    I’ll need to book soon if I want to go next year but I’m already considering going back to Africa for another dose of wildlife.

    Or I could go back to Australia…………..

    Ecuador was also on my list so it got elevated to first place 😆

    I’ve been to Costa Rica and Venezuela and loved both countries and I’ve a friend who has been to Ecuador and speaks very highly of it so I know I’ll love it.

    Happy New Year everyone 😀

    Cali, if you are thinking I’ve been here a long time, it’s probably because I post too much! But you are right my weight loss journey covers about 5 years and started well before I came to 5:2 a year ago.
    A rissole as I know it, is similar to the beef patty in a burger, although usually a bit thicker and usually including a lot more than just minced beef. Most Australians just call them burgers these days, but my mum made rissoles not burgers and as mine are based on her recipe (with less fat and more veg) I still insist on calling them rissoles. My mum always cooked them in a frying pan, unless it was for a BBQ in which case my dad cooked on the BBQ along with the chops and sausages. When I make them, I usually do so in bulk. I use my oven with both the bottom element and the top grill (broil) element on. I oil a large enamel baking tray and cook them on high heat at the very top of the oven just under the grill element so that they get nice and brown. I find this a lot less work than flipping them in batches in a frying pan. I use the same mixture for making meatballs too, although I’ve never used it for meatloaf because I’ve never made meatloaf. Over the years I’ve gradually reduced the minced beef and increases the minced/grated veg that I include. They were very popular in the 50s-70s and every family seemed to have their own recipe. Some were crumbed but my mum didn’t do that and neither do I. I’ve seen some really old recipes for rissoles that use leftover cooked roast meat that was minced up and turned into rissoles by binding them together with breadcrumbs and egg – this version has never appealed to me.
    I’m sure you could use turkey instead of beef – I’ve not tried it as minced turkey isn’t a commonly available here. I’ve tried using lamb and chicken, but I do actually prefer beef in my standard recipe.

    Amazon, you sound rather well traveled, I’m in awe as I’m still at the stage of making future travel plans rather than actually doing the traveling.

    Still 2017 here, so I’ll confine myself to a rissole comment. To me they are a way of using up uneaten meat. Mince cold cooked beef, soften some onions, mix both with mashed potato to the shape of your choice and fry.

    It may still be 2017 here, but I have just seen an impressive Australian firework display on TV. Have a good 2018 everyone.

    Penguin, I just found the Aussie fireworks on YouTube. Spectacular! I love the way the started with the countdown. Wow!!!! Very impressive! Happy New Year! 🥂🍾🥂

    We watched the fireworks in Sydney Harbour and now watching Melbourne.

    Hi everyone & a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all.
    Just weighed in & measured – 200gm gone since 1 December, overall down 900gm since 1 October. Didn’t lose 1 kg for the challenge, though I’m happy with a loss.
    Hope you all enjoy today & look forward to catching up on other 5:2 forums.
    It’s currently 9am on 1 January 2018 where I live.
    Bye for now xx

    Happy New Year!🎉

    Hope you are all happy with the result of your Silly Season Challenge goal.

    Arelk – you have maintained for the month and have even had a small loss. That’s a good achievement. Well done! Pre 5:2 we all would have had a + something end of year result. I’ve just looked up your profile, which is not dissimilar to my figures, including the 10kgs off previously by changing eating habits. You can do this and I’ll look forward to seeing you SS challenge result this time next year.

    Weighing in at 65.4kgs this morning, and if I waited or slept another hour it would probably be 65.3, the same as yesterday. I’m very happy with my result. Mini- goal achieved. We had our lovely prawn & salad dinner and a small dessert and a couple of walnuts afterwards, blueberries instead of strawberries, and an inch of champagne in a flute. New Year celebrated happily but sensibly.

    2 functions today, catching up with people, which will be a challenge. Will take some food with me I think.

    Cheers everyone, and Auld Lang Syne.
    Onwards and downwards,
    Merry and Mr M

    Happy new year.

    It was D-Day for the scales. I weighed 78.2kg this morning, which is 0.1kg lower than 1st December. I’m rather glad now that I was so strict in the post christmas week – in the last 5 days I did 3 FDs and the other two NFDs were below my TDEE. While I’m no fan of alternate day fasting I don’t regret doing it as it means I’m starting the new year with no weight gain to deal. That’s a big improvement on last year when I was

    My December pledges were:
    – I will do at least 2 FD each week.
    – I will only add a third FD when necessary and sensible – to avoid any corresponding binge behaviour.
    – I will not stress about food, I will enjoy all celebrations and social occasions mindfully.
    – I will plan ahead where possible so that meal preparation is easier.
    – I will be active whenever possible, but as a minimum I commit to exercising at least 3 times each week.

    On reflection, I did not eat mindfully and overate often on NFDs. Consequently I mostly did 3 FDs per week because. I completely forgot about the exercise commitment, and averaged twice a week only. I did plan ahead and main meals went to plan, it was the confectionery, biscuits etc that were my downfall.

    The biggest thing I struggled with this month was an inherent belief that I was entitled to indulge in the christmas season. When I refused treats I felt deprived. Amazingly my thinking switched back to its normal mode the moment christmas was over. I’m now back to not believing I’m entitled to every treat I can see. That’s an enormous relief, because it’s the power of my thinking that always has the most impact on my eating.

    In conclusion I’ve done much better than last year, but there’s room for improvement for next year. I need to work on mindful eating – so that I can eat one piece of confectionery slowly and savour it, rather than scoffing ten pieces quickly and still wanting more.

    I’m so impressed by the number of people who have maintained or lost weight through December, your own progress helped inspire the rest of us – Cali, Arelkade, Merry, Diverdog, Thin, Amazon…

    Thankyou Thin for hosting this it provided very necessary support in the most challenging month of the year.

    Have a great 2018 everyone.

    Well it’s still only 6:20 PM here and I doubt we will be ringing in the new year as I’m recovering from a wicked cold. I’m sure I will be sleeping. I’m rarely sick and I don’t like it at all! At least the body aches, headaches, and chills are gone. I still feel malise and my nose is running like a faucet!

    December was very kind to me as I lost more than 5lbs to my all time low of 161.4 lbs @ 5′ 10″. The last two days have been NFD’s but if I ate 800 cals it was a lot. I don’t have any appetite and actually forced myself to eat a bit.

    Thank you for sharing your wins and challenges honestly. We all have good and bad days the important thing is to pick yourself up, learn from your errors and move on.

    After all it took a long time for us to accumulate all the excess baggage, it takes a while to get rid of it too.

    Happy New Year!

    I’m so glad to read how well so many have maintained and/or have progressed over the past challenging holiday month. Thank you Thin for again inviting us to join you on this challenge! Well done, LJ, Merry, Arelk and any others I missed. And Diverdog, hope you are feeling better soon, though the cold sounds difficult, great the scales are showing numbers worth celebrating!

    Since I haven’t written since before we left for holiday travels to Melbourne, I’ll write a not so brief ‘catch up’!

    Last I wrote I’d been anticipating a ‘customer’ Christmas party. This was a work day for me which meant joining in on a Christmas lunch with our company customers. I prepared for this by fasting the day before the lunch and actually planned to break the fast with the lunch served for the party. I did this and it worked well! I was able to skip the decorative chocolate ‘favors’ and bread roll and butter adorning each place at the table as we each took our seats. My first bites breaking the pre-function fast were bites of turkey, ham and roast vegetables. Later I joined in with eating the dessert served, which was Pavlova. This fasting strategy went very well and even though the sweetness of the Pavlova normally would leave me wanting for more sweet, in this instance, it didn’t! Yea! I thought so much of this fast the day before a sit down feast that I again attempted it on Christmas Eve.

    I say ‘attempt’ because it was a plan fraught with impediments and difficulty from the start! My planned Christmas Eve FD started with a 4 am rising time to ready ourselves to catch the plane to Melbourne. I’d only had a few hours sleep the night before that 4 am start due to last minute packing tasks I kept thinking of completing! Though I wasn’t at all hungry when we left the house at 5:30 am, by the time we reached our lunch destination at about 2 pm I was ravenous so did start to eat FD calories, though by dinner, I was even hungrier and knew I’d require more calories than what was left in the FD bank just to sleep well that night! So, at that point I aborted my effort and rightly so. Health issues still at times hover and threaten and can be fully triggered, if I’m too cavalier! Triggering of health issues would have meant no holiday for me, but instead fatigue and dragging myself around. No fun at all.

    I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to fit another FD into the travel equation, so for the duration of our travels I did skip some breakfasts when possible, which did help in the overall calorie count tally! However, it didn’t help that much!

    Mr. M and his family (unbeknownst to each other) gave me as Christmas gifts, boxes of elegant dark chocolates of various types. They are all aware that dark chocolate is the only variety I like or will eat.

    After unwrapping one of the boxes from Mr. M. I reflected on a conversation he and I had a few days prior to Christmas when I was perusing a label in the supermarket deciding to buy plain rather than a flavoured yogurt exclaiming that flavored would equate to more than the 5 gram sugar serving restriction that I use as rule of thumb to prevent blood sugar spikes. Mr. M promptly interjected, ‘Yes, but surely treats are healthy once in awhile!?!’ I replied, ‘I’m better off without treats! They just spike my blood sugar and trigger cravings!’ to which Mr. M. looked utterly crestfallen.

    So, for better or worse, that’s what happened. I consumed the fine dark chocolate treats and vowed that they be fully consumed by the time we boarded the plane home! Mr. M. helped a some, though only a little since he reminded me that he prefers milk chocolate! Admittedly, I did enjoy them and they did trigger cravings. Yes, I did indulge those cravings along the days of travels with a visit with Mr. M. to Zumbo’s where we picked a couple of creations, neither of which were as memorable as last year’s ‘Raspberry Cube’! On another day shopping with a friend, we walked past Zumbo’s though did aspire to delicacies at French Pattiserie ‘Laurent’ where we each chose a ‘Monte Carlo’ because I was still on a dark chocolate rage! However, in a different mood, I would have chosen the ‘Rubis’!

    Amidst all the indulging, I was and am still able to fit into all my clothes with room to spare and just after consuming the ‘Monte Carlo’ I even pulled off a Boxing Day sale purchase of a ‘David Lawrence’ formal dress size 10, from David Jones, which I will wear to a wedding in Monterey, California in April! I’d been trying on size 12 frocks and my lady friend who accompanied me really liked this particular dress style, which had sold out in size 12. My friend coaxed me into giving the size 10 a try on anyway, and it fit (still does) perfectly and so I went ahead and bought it!

    We are now back home and I’m not surprised that with all my extra holiday indulgences, I weighed in 1 kg heavier than planned! Instead of the 58.1 or less, to which I committed as a goal, today on New Years Day, I weighed in at 59.1.

    It’s okay though! I’m celebrating New Years Day by fasting! …And it does feel good! As Merry often says, ‘Onward and Downward’!

    A good New Year to everyone. For nearly a month it has been my morning routine to read your posts and I have enjoyed your company. Most of you I will still meet – we encounter each other on a number of threads. As a challenge, I have failed. I end the month heavier than I started but after some years of the 5:2 I know why it happened and that it will go again. To borrow an expression “Onwards and downwards”.

    A late entry from me having finally read all the posts.

    LJ, what a turnaround for you to have gone from gaining 9kgs in December last year to a loss this December. Huge pat on the back for you and a little reward of some kind I think – not necessarily food.

    Good job Arelkade. And everyone else. Hope your NYE dinner went well, CalifD. Hope you feel better soon, diverdog. I will look out for you on other threads. You’ve had a very successful month. It’s been fun chatting with, and learning from, you.

    Minka, how exciting that you’ll be off to Monterey in a few months. And that you had a good time in Melbourne, ate sweet treats and can still fit into a size 10 dress.

    Amazon, happy travels. We went to Costa Rica for our honeymoon. It was an action-packed holiday including a violent mugging by a large gang & later involved some bent cops. But we still had each other at the end of it. We’ve been to Africa many times, sometimes for extended periods. Botswana is a country on our list of potential retirement options. A uni friend and I once travelled around Zaire as it was then, and then hitch-hiked from Nairobi to Cairo. Four years ago at Christmas, we unexpectedly found ourselves dancing in a kraal with the King of Swaziland and some of his 28 wives up to our ankles in cow poo. I absolutely love that continent. You never know what will happen next. I wonder where in Africa you have been.

    Back to reality. Thank you so much for joining me everyone. I do believe that this fasting way of life can be incorporated into absolutely anything, holidays, festivities, whatever. And together we’ve proven it. Like you Penguin & Minka, I’ve not exactly met my own Silly Season challenge for the reasons stated in my last post. Dinner last night was late and I’m up a little bit this morning from yesterday’s December low. But I’m down from 1 December even if not quite at 60kgs as I’d hoped. It is so good to feel in control of food rather than the other way around. Thanks again Dr M. for giving us this healthier way to live.

    Happy, Healthy, Fasty New Year all, see you on the other threads.

    I’m very happy!

    I’ve got through the silly season and I am 90.7kgs which is less than I started which is amazing.

    Well done everyone and Happy New Year!

    Hi everyone,

    It seems that everyone has coped well this past month which is excellent.
    I had hoped to lose a couple of pounds but am the same weight as Dec 1st and for me that is a good result and probably the first time in my adult life I’ve not gained weight over the festive season.

    I’ve started the new year with a FD and have some roasted squash soup lined up for dinner. I’m planning on getting rid of a few more pounds before my trip so will be working hard at controlling NFDs which have so often been my downfall.

    Thin,

    Botswana, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa,Tunisia and Morocco 🙂

    Good job Westwings. I hope you and Penguin run into each other some day.

    Amazon – similar! South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Swaziland, Sudan, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana & Zambia.

    Well done Ww, congratulations!⭐️

    Keep on the 5:2 path and you’ll have a great year. Happy New Year to you and have a happy and healthy 5:2 year this year.

    Onwards and Downwards,
    And if you fall off the horse get back on.
    Merry

    Thin, thank you for starting this SS Challenge. I think we all did well and I hope you’ll repeat it this year!

    Thanks CalifD, it was lovely to have you along. Yes, why not?

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