Good Morning SS Challengers

Its FD for me today so I hope I see some more downwards movement on the scale tomorrow. After a NFD yesterday (I can’t say it was a good one really) weight has gone down another 300g.

thin, thank you for caring. I ordered some lower alcohol beer (it’s also lower carb, not that I think that makes much difference) for myself today and this should arrive next week just in time for the holidays. As a bonus it is also 50 calories less per bottle! I will see how I go 🙂

Minka, so interesting about how you ate that truffle. I think I forget to practice mindful eating myself sometimes. On the weekend I ate some Camembert cheese that I had bought for a cheese platter for Christmas. Cheese really is a weakness for me and I should have bought it closer to the day instead of having that temptation right in my fridge at home. Anyway, before I knew it I had eaten half of pack. It was a small oval one but still!! I didn’t even really get to enjoy it as I just kind of shovelled it down. A bit of a waste really.

So after saying I am going to do B2B next week, my plans may also be getting derailed. I am definitely doing Monday FD but now my friend wants to go to lunch on Tuesday. It’s actually quite funny because it’s my work friend who I see all the time. She is finishing work at the end of this week and so will able to go for lunch next week and she has been complaining that we haven’t been to lunch for ages. This is because Mon/Wed I am on a FD, Tuesday is just a healthy low calorie eating day but a NFD, and Thursday is her night to eat badly so she doesn’t want to eat badly for both lunch and dinner that day. I don’t work Friday. Oh well, I will just choose a nice healthy lunch I guess.

I will be back tomorrow to report day after FD weight. Fingers crossed

Good morning all.

Minka & Thin, I have “barricades” that I never cross on FDs, so baking is actually sensible as I just know I can’t eat it. The trick is to get it frozen, packaged or out of the house before the next NFD – then the barricades are down and I have to rely on my unpredictable willpower! Yesterday I had the shortbread cooled and tied up in little cellophane gift bags before my FD was over.

Minka, I think you did exceptionally well with the chocolate truffle. Isn’t it hard to refuse food when others have made a special effort to provide something just for you? I really struggle with that one.

Cinque, your challenge is a tough one when you can’t eat fruit – that always helps me get closer to my 7 serves in summer. I suspect the reason they don’t want people to count root veg is that too many people would count fried chips most days and for some they would eat a lot of root veg and little else. I can’t see why a baked jacket potato or carrot sticks aren’t part of your veggies especially if they are accompanied by a wide variety of other veg.

Cali, as I’ll be a guest christmas day I’m not in control of the food, but I usually take your approach too and just have what I feel like. I think the joy of 5:2 is being able to enjoy the special events.

Quacka, cheese is a big weakness for me too. I have done exactly the same thing with cheese I bought for a platter. There was a time when I couldn’t trust myself to have cheese in the fridge at all. I’ve gotten better, but there are days that sound just like your camembert episode.

My FD was uneventful yesterday and I have just broken my fast with an early lunch as I have to drive across town shortly to an appointment.

Hope the fasters have an easy day and the rest of have an adequate supply of will power to handle our NFDs.

Cinque, starchy veg are often higher in sugar and in calories. As you don’t eat fruit you could probably afford to have a little more of the higher cal veg than most other people because you don’t eat fruit. I’d also be wary of using UK info as they lump fruit and veg together as 5 serves and they need some rules to deter people from having too many of those 5 serves as fruit. They are also setting guidelines for the eating issues they see in their country. If tv is to be believed (and it’s a big IF) an entire generation of Brits survived on hot chips, fish and chips, chip butties and the healthy option – baked beans on toast. Some limits on potato consumption (and legumes) might be required in those circumstances.
My dietitian did say that it was fine to vary the balance between fruit and veg across the year – I often have 3 serves of fruit and less veg in summer and often only 1 serve of fruit and extra veg in colder weather.
I know you want to do this right, but I think getting to 7 is an achievement in itself.

Cinque, the guidelines the dietitian gave me listed legumes as a vegetable and also as a protein. I personally also think it could be counted as a grain too – especially when I’m using things like legume flours for baking. I tend to treat it as a floating serve that I can drop into any vacant spot!
I couldn’t find my saved link, but I think this is the booklet my dietitian referred me to:https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/the_guidelines/n55a_australian_dietary_guidelines_summary_book.pdf

Earlier this week my neighbour invited me to a christmas afternoon tea this Friday. So I moved my planned FD to tomorrow instead. Well today I got an email from someone who I used to work with and still have lunch with occasionally. He suggested we have lunch next Monday – you guessed it, on my next planned FD! However as my Friday FD has now become a Thursdsay FD, moving Monday to Sunday should be fine. For someone who does not like her planning being upset I’d say I’m being remarkably adaptable at the moment. I just hope that adaptability doesn’t extend to high cal parts of the menu.

Interesting to read of the cultural differences about the 5 veg and 2 fruit standard. I hadn’t realized that chips, crisps, onion rings, would count as a veg serving. Upon reflection I realize how few leafy greens I consume. Mr M makes my lunch every day and I know he adds at least 2 cos lettuce leaves. Sometimes I buy a bunch of kale though haven’t for some time! Yes, I can see the value of the plant food challenge next Silly Season!

I’ve definitely been hungrier than usual today and have struggled with cravings which haven’t come and gone like FD hunger pangs, but instead have been gnawing under the surface most of the afternoon! I’ve just been noting them and been continuing on my way without indulging. Since I’m not actually desiring sugar, I’m not sure the cravings are indeed ‘fall out’ from yesterday’s sugar hits.

I roughly tracked my calories again on My Fitness Pal today and I’m now over my 1400 TDEE calorie limit by at least 300 calories. I’m okay with that since I’ve only had foods I carefully thought out before ingesting. If anything the extra calories are from the larger than usual serve of crockpot beef and veg stew I had for dinner, which I portioned that size because I felt so ravenous. The extra dinner hasn’t helped all that much! Even with a full belly, the underlying gnaw is still there and at the same time I’m in no mood for a dark chocolate truffle. I just want the cravings to subside and feel satiated again. Usually I would have given into the cravings and known that I could get away with doing that because a FD is due in a couple of days, though this is part of my challenge and as much as it is challenging, I am enjoying it. I know that this is what I should be doing.

Thin and others, thank you for the congrats.

I’m actually living in the far north of Surrey, just outside of 2 London boroughs, so not close to Guildford at all! Surrey is a massive county which probably ought to be sub-divided, like East and West Sussex – IMHO!!

Anyway – today is a derailler alert day! How I did this I do not know – BUT I have scheduled 2 consecutive meals out at Thai restaurants, tonight and tomorrow – different friendship groups who just happen to like the same type of food! Now, I love Asian food of all kinds, but my body typically reacts with a huge weight gain the morning after…so I’m looking at a potential serious undoing of a lot of hard work (sigh). How to keep myself on track? A FD on Friday will help. So will small portions. Thankfully I won’t be pressured into drinking alcohol, as I have the legitimate reason of being the designated driver both nights. I guess this is just what happens, so mindful control is called for. That, and drinking lots of water – thanks for the reminder, Cinque!

FatFingers, I agree with LJoyce — try to avoid the rice. Every time I eat white rice, my weight goes up and then doesn’t go down easily.
And speaking of weight, after Monday’s Fast Day with the Beet/Bleu Cheese Salad [yes, using Feta would be fine, also Chèvre as a substitute for Bleu] I GAINED a pound! Impossible. Then yesterday [a Slow Day], we were taken to lunch by out financial advisor. I ordered a “Philly Cheese Steak” sandwich [open face, beef + melted cheese] of which I ate 1/2, along with 1/2 of my very good coleslaw. Sounded like a recipe for disaster, but today I weigh ONE POUND less. Go figure. But I’ll take it. Our Friday ‘tea’ with friends has been postponed to next week some time. So Friday night’s dinner will be Fish Cakes and I use my Fast Day recipe and portions for that, making Friday [usually a Slow Day] into a 1/2-Fast Day. ODH would not know this.

For those of you going to restaurants, here’s my strategy. If there is a good appetizer selection [at yesterday’s lunch this was lacking], I order one appetizer for that course and follow it with another appetizer for the ‘main’ course. Splitting the dessert with ODH tops off the meal. This usually results in very minimal or no weight gain. Often enjoying a sparkling wine with ‘first course’ and another wine with ‘2nd course.’

Did you hear of the study that seems to show that eating a green, leafy salad daily forestalls Alzheimer’s disease? Eat your greens! I get one of my servings of green veg in a lunchtime smoothie: 8 oz milk, 1 oz spinach/kale, 1/2-oz date. Blended until smooth. I find it delicious and satisfying and it keeps the trains running.

Potatoes and lentils do NOT make it onto my list of vegetables! But I do include the breakfast Fruit Smoothie as one serving.
M-m-m-m….cheese! Eat it daily [1 oz] to keep up my Calcium and because I love it.

Quacka, with that beef stew — did you measure the volume of the finished stew? Knowing that and the total calorie count will make it easy to determine the food value of a ‘serving.’ Time consuming, I know, to work out all the ingredients, but then it is done.

Hello challengers

Have been a bit absent as had a difficult patch but back now and feeling very positive. My challenge weight is looking, well, challenging, as I have actually gone in the wrong direction….but I still believe it can be done. 88.2 this morning so 86 by the 3rd Jan – gulp – or maybe not so many gulps will help the cause

Have loved reading your posts. Good luck everyone!

My FD had the potential to be derailed, but I resisted.
I took my 7yo great-nephew’s birthday present and cup cakes over to him this afternoon and was invited to go out with them for dinner – to McDonalds. I explained that I was doing one of my two weekly “lean days” that are necessary to keep my weight stable. They were fine with that. I could have gone and just bought a salad but I was looking forward to a proper meal as I hadn’t eaten all day. I’ve just finished eating my lovely veggie stuffed omelette – much nicer than anything McDonalds could produce I think.

I don’t have a problem with shifting my FDs around to accommodate social occasions, but I still need to actually do 2 FDs and if I’d abandoned today it would have been just one this week as I have an afternoon tea tomorrow and the actual party for the birthday boy on Saturday.

The next week will be challenging, from tomorrow through to next Wednesday I have a social food event every day except Sunday (my precious FD). The only event I’m not worried about is dinner next Tuesday as it’s a family dinner that I’m hosting, so I control the menu. (My sister and brother in law are staying with me overnight so I invited all their children and grandchildren over for dinner.) It will be a simple chicken and salad dinner with a fruit platter and a pavlova for dessert (they all love pavlova and I hate it, so easy for me to stick to fruit).

I’m feeling much better now I a tummy full of dinner. Maybe a cup of tea would be good though.

This is becoming a dangerous week. So far we have had three festive meals. Because we have lots of different interests, OH and I keep Friday clear for some joint activity which frequently involves a lunch out for which there are no rules. Tomorrow there will need to be. Serious fasting Monday/Tuesday!

PS Meant to say, interesting research about greens and Alzheimer’s, thanks FM.
I found a link: https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/leafy-greens-linked-slower-age-related-cognitive-decline

Good morning SSCs

I actually feel leaner rather than bloated today. I think it’s the first time in over a week that I can say that. The cooler weather helps as my body hangs onto less fluid. Three consecutive days of either FD or controlled NFD helps too.

I’ve made a decision about the challenges for today and tomorrow that will minimise any damage from all the treat food. Today at the afternoon tea I’ll choose the one treat food that appeals most and just have that one thing with a cuppa. I suspect there will be plenty of conversation to provide ample distraction. I’m carefully planning today’s meals to be filling but healthy. I’m also planning a larger lunch than I’s normally eat so I don’t arrive at afternoon tea hungry. Tomorrow is a kids birthday party that includes lunch. My nephew’s wife always has healthy platters that contain raw veg and fruits along with the usual party pies etc. I will fill up on the healthy options and allow myself two small treats if something appeals. I’m allowing two as there will be lots of homemade baked goodies and I may want a savoury and a sweet item – they will be child sized so it should be fine.

Fastingme, I have all the medical appointments too! I’m retired and yet several of my commitments are pre-Christmas lunches with people I used to work with. (I’ve managed to schedule one of them in January as my calendar was getting ridiculous.
I suspect that one of the reasons Christmas is a bigger deal here compared to the US is that you have just had Thanksgiving and I’ve always felt that is a more important holiday to Americans than Christmas. I suspect in Australia, the fact that it’s summer here is also part of it. It’s holiday time when everyone wants to take time off work and all the kids are on the long school break. It’s not unusual for businesses here to close down for a week or more over christmas, and often well into January. So pre-christmas is the winding down period before holidays. I’ve also noticed that a lot of work events are often scheduled a week or two before christmas as there is an assumption that people will be too busy (or on leave and traveling) closer to christmas day. (If people are traveling to be with family the distances here can be huge – I know someone who spends several days driving to Perth for Christmas most years.)
I can’t help you on the level of Christmas cheer in the UK – Penguin can probably help you there.

I have a tendency to accept most invitations and opportunities for social interaction as there was a time in my life when I was more isolated and quite lonely and I don’t want to return to that situation. At the time my health was poor and I was struggling just to manage the demands of work, so I didn’t have the energy to do much other than work. I find if you say no too often, people stop asking. I’m in better health now and I’m retired so I actually have the energy to socialise.

Penguin, I hope your few days of christmas cheer don’t do too much damage. Your FDS usually produce an excellent weight loss so I have doubt you will keep your weight in balance.

Cinque, well done on getting to your 7 serves of fruit & veg. I am a bit worried by the leafy veg article – the median intake was 1.3 serves a day. That means eating more than that for a good mental decline outcome. As I am not a cold salad fan I struggle to average one serve a day. Maybe I need to reconsider merits of the green smoothie.

Minka, I think celery can count if you eat the top of the celery sticks that includes the leaves – I don’t mind them actually. Well done on the friendly scales – mine don’t know how to be friendly!

Thin, enjoy your indulgence today, including alcohol. Just don’t fall off the ferry on the way home if you’ve had one tipple too many. : grin:

Thin, a real penguin might go for a paddle today – there is a hard white frost outside this morning and the heating is working hard to get the house from our overnight setting of 14 C to our daytime 20C. I agree about the fish. Lunch, with luck, will be a cup of coffee and tonight will be salmon and veg. I have never experienced the cauliflower rice that keeps being mentioned but it doesn’t sound tempting.

I have quickly skimmed the posts on this and the SH site and will go through them more intently when we get back from what I hope will be a quick trip to town to buy the last of the Christmas presents we need for the grand-children.

We are Fasting today: Curried Tomato Omelette with banana for breakfast. Fish Cakes for dinner, with 2 vegetable sides. Gained 0.7 pounds yesterday, but still under the Target Weight and under my SSC starting weight. The gain was due to our little Festival Dinner yesterday which included an entire bottle of sparkling wine [Crement de Limoux, which is very good] and lots of Christmas Cookies. Usually I limit my wine to 5 oz/night so this was over the top. maybe that’s why I slept so poorly last night….

Thin, thanks for the tip about freezing cauliflower rice for individual servings. Must try that. BTW, I’m in New Hampshire, USA.

LJoyce, I’ve been on your ‘punts’ — in Canada. One on a river, one on the ocean! Brings back memories. Great strategy on choosing your favorite treat to avoid over-eating. Very clever.

Minka, I’m with you for a big “Ugh!” on overly-sweet treats, especially from a package. No flavor, only sugar. No wonder there is an obesity crisis.

Penguin, I perceive that you are in a Northern Latitude, like me, since you mentioned frost instead of 38C temps like some of the others.

Good morning SS challengers

Saturday 7:20am

Weight this morning 67.2kg. I’m just hanging around this 67kg mark at the moment and I am happy with that. I only had one true FD this week but I have been eating lightly as much as possible.

Minka I was using MFP a couple of years ago before I started 5:2 but for some reason I can’t access my account now. I now use Calorie King which is very similar and I have entered the stew under ‘beef stew’ lol

LJ I like your strategy for being in control at the parties you are going to. It is good to have a treat or two. I think sometimes we can make a big issue of it if we say “I’m going to this party/lunch/ event and I’m not going to eat anything that is ‘bad’ food”. Then we get there and it all looks yummy and people are saying how good it is and then we abandon our idea and just go for it and end up stuffing ourselves silly. It’s all about balance. Good on you.

Penguin, your description of where you live has formed a beautiful image in my mind, like something from a movie. It sounds amazing.

FM thanks for the recipes. The Thai soup sounds like my kind of food! I love shrimp (prawns) and could happily eat them every day. I think I could find so many different dishes to put them in or even just have them cold with an icy cold beer. They are very low in calories too which is a bonus.

Regarding water, I try to drink at least two litres of plain water everyday. This doesn’t include tea, coffee etc. I have a couple of water bottles that I fill and then I know exactly how much I have had for the day. I sometimes drink more water especially on FDs and some days my body is just telling me it wants more. There was a time in my early 20s when I didn’t drink any water! I hated the taste but I trained myself to like it and I can really feel it if I haven’t had enough.

Veggies. I love love love them. I grow Kale and am still trying to grow Spinach. I have planted packets of silverbeet seeds and can never seem to get any to sprout. I had more success with a flat leaf type spinach that can be picked young and used in salads like the baby spinach the supermarkets sell. That crop has finished now and it will soon be too hot for spinach to grow. Well, maybe. It has been unseasonably cool here although very humid because of all the rain keep getting.

thin, we drove across to Perth a few years ago. We were one of the ‘get across as quickly as possible’ crew. It took 3 days with the last day being 11.5 hours of driving! We camped in a tent the whole time and it was 42 degrees minimum every day! We also saw some amazing things and I got to see my first ever live scorpion. I have a really funny story about camping going across there. It was our first night and we drove off the road to camp behind the tiny bit of scrub that was next to the road. We were also right next to a field that had sheep in it but we only found that out later that night. In the middle of the night I had to go outside to, well, make water as they say. I grabbed the torch and shone it outside the tent and the ground was covered in these huge beetles!! I think they were like a dung beetle of some kind but I’m not sure but they were really big and there was millions of them. I didn’t want to go out there but I HAD to so I kept sweeping the torch around in an arc to try and keep them away from me and to make some space to go in. Oh my goodness! OH was laughing so much. I finished as quick as a flash and then I literally dove back into the tent! OH was still laughing. Lol. The next morning when we were packing up we lifted up the tent and there was heaps of them under it, though nothing like the millions I had to deal with!
The next night we found a shelter to camp under as there was a big storm brewing. Luckily we found it because the storm was severe and it rained heavily most of the night. Other campers kept turning up all night and by the end of that night there was about 10 different lots of people under this one shelter.
On the way back over I got bitten by something that made the whole back of my knee swell up. When we got to Port Augusta I had to get some anti histamines which didn’t really help much at all. It could have been an ant. Aaaah ants…. there were millions of them too and they were also huge.

Well I best be off to go start the day. Have a great weekend everyone.

Oh and I loved what you said, thin, about this challenge being almost half over. We are all doing great 🙂

Just back from a very noisy kids birthday party. Although as it was mainly little boys there was just lots of yelling, not the high pitch squealing that a group of little girls can produce. My nephew has quite a large yard so they had room to hire an inflatable water slide – this is the one they hired https://www.jumpeasy.com.au/category/water-slides/43/shark-attack-waterslide with a huge shark on top. The kids loved it – if fact they were still loving it when I left.

The verdict on my plans for dealing with yesterday’s afternoon tea and today’s party – probably a C- I didn’t stick to the plan but I didn’t go overboard either. At the afternoon tea I did manage to stick to one small portion. But last night I was baking chocolate shortbread decorated with smarties (for today) and three of the fell of the tray and shattered on the bench when I transferring them to the cooling rack. I am not good at throwing out food, so despite the fact that I don’t even really like chocolate flavoured shortbread, I ate all the broken pieces. It took what had been a successful day and made me feel a bit grumpy about the final outcome.
I had expected there to be healthy savoury food on offer today as my nephew’s wife normally does that in addition to the party food. However there was not, so I had a hot dog, a party pasty and a piece of homemade pizza. These were kid sized items, but it was still plenty of calories but it left me hungry. There was a fresh fruit platter which I helped myself to instead of having any of the cakes etc (that was a small win I suppose). I was so hungry still when I got home that I had boiled eggs on rye toast. (I should have had that before I went to the party I think – I’ll know for next time.) Dinner will at least be high in veg. I have a pile of things just picked from my veggie patch that I plan to cook to cover the next few nights meals. Tonight I’ll have them with a 1/2 serve of chilli con carne. I am looking forward to my FD tomorrow and quite hopeful that today’s choices won’t lead to an evening of continued overeating.

Thin, what do you mean “they brought the snake around” – do you mean that literally? I’d be running for home I think.

I hope everyone is having some success managing their christmas food challenges.

Good morning everyone,
Quacka, what a riot of a Nullarbor trip.
I went across with 4 friends, two motorikes and a holden stationwagon, when I was 19. I only remember the stunning splendour of the Bight, the glorious sky over the plain, arriving at Eucla in 51c degrees and drinking 10 glasses of water (talk about dehydration). It was wonderful.

Thin, fabulous celebration. Pity about the snake.

Great ferry/punt stories.

Minka I am also finding tracking helpful, even though it is counting veggies in rough and ready ways.

Yesterday I had a veggie free breakfast but my midday meal was roast pumpkin, and a cup and a half of salad with some Bolognaise sauce and gnocchi my sister made. It turns out the meat sauce was so packed full of veggies that it was another serve of veggies, so that is three and a half serves.
So yummy that I had it again for my evening meal with more pumpkin and grilled zucchini.
This would add up to 6 1/2 serves of veggies, (plenty of which were fruits) except I had a second serving (didn’t need it AT ALL, but delicious) to finish the leftover sauce and pumpkin, so that would be another couple of serves.

I have started my fast day still feeling quite full, oh well I will feel lovely and empty tomorrow morning.

Cheers everyone.

Challenge report

Weigh in this morning and my weight is unchanged from last week. So I remain half a kilo down from the beginning of December. I failed my exercise challenge this week. I did just 90 minutes of exercise.

Room for improvement.

Thin, the aviation Christmas party sounds like it was a good time – except for the snake. Most of what you gained was probably water, maybe from increased salt intake. I went from 59.2 yesterday morning to 59.9 this morning, likely from snacking. This is a difficult time of year with all the Christmasy treats available. My challenge was to not snack after dinner. But I may change that to no snacking after snacking. 😁
Cinque, I’ve always counted legumes as a protein rather than veggie. Eating from a rainbow of colors reminds me of Thin’s veggie platter that she took to the party last week. I liked the article on leafy greens helping to prevent dementia. My salads probably have 3 or 4 servings at least, for each of us. I don’t make one every night though. I need to change that.

LJ, your eating yesterday doesn’t sound all that bad to me. After all, it was a NFD. You didn’t binge, you just took part in the festivities and it sounds like you made up for it with a reasonable dinner.

Penguin, it’s even colder there than it is here this week. It sounds like you live in a very pretty area.