On we go throughout April, folks !

I am keeping my eye on my objective of being a fit Mamie ! I have seen scans and I found it very moving, imagining this little being growing and being my first grandchild. I can’t remember being so emotional wiht my own children but perhaps I was juggling a lot of stuff at the time.

JGwen, keep going with your research and I know that like SG, you will stand your ground when faced with contradictory medical ‘advice’ . You are incredibly resilient, one amazing woman !

In fact we all are ( no blokes at the moment !)
Just stay focused and don’t get too wound up if the scales don’t show the progress you wish despite your efforts.You are doing your body lots of good .Well being is everything.

That also means if you are going on holiday , don’t allow anything to spoil your enjoyment . A few excesses can be dealt with

Sunny and SG, pop in when you can but enjoy a restful break .

Wendy xxx

Hi Guys,

I did post earlier today but the occasional gremlins on this site were busy and the post disappeared when I hit submit.

I am on the home straight now with just 96.5 hours to go to the end of the fast. The good news is that all the talk online about hunger disappearing after 3 or 4 days are right. The bad news, my body is up to its usual tricks and it seems like it has chosen to focus on my arms rather than my waist this time. I also made a silly mistake, I treated myself to a packet of flavoured peanuts and a bar of chocolate as my easter treats and they keep on calling to me from the top of the fridge.

Thank you to those who made suggestions on medical contacts. As a matter of interest the doctor in America who talks on Dietdoctor does a 90 minute online consultation for just $1400 dollars. Through the links I have found a Manchester based cardiovascular clinic who are apparently open minded so after the bank holiday I will get in touch to find out more information. I have also discovered that its fairly easy to book a private echocardiogram if the local hospital do not agree to monitoring progress.

Two of my friends have asked how I have got on with the local cardiac department and cracked up laughing when I said I had already sent them emails with links to upto date research as the advice they had given me was inaccurate. They hadn’t expected anything else. I know its my Aspie brain coming to the front but I just do not understand why anyone in the medical profession would say with such conviction statements that are clearly illogical. Every cell in a heart is replaced over a period of 4.5 years so its completely illogical to suggest that its impossible to replace damaged cells with healthy ones.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their easter break.

Very well done JGwen for being brave & sticking to your guns !! 👏👏👏 as Dr Fung wrote medics are scared to change their minds or admit they are incorrect because of looking incompetent!
Thank you for setting up the new thread Wendy & wow a proud grandma to be 😀
I’ve had a very enjoyable weekend with our youngest son staying with us & us all being very wayward food & snack wise & I have just been brave & weighed myself. I’m 5.5 lbs heavier at the moment but getting back on track from now on playing a short mat bowls match this morning that is followed by a breakfast brunch. This will be a difficult week to keep to my usual WOE because of my nephews funeral on Thursday then staying from Friday for the weekend with our eldest son looking after our granddaughters. How on earth I have gained so much weight is ridiculous but I’m assuming some of it must be fluid retention but all I can do is take this week one day at a time.
I hope you both have a good week. Onwards & downwards 🤞🤞
Margaret

You will re-loose it Margaret and it will be mostly water. I am in a similar situation with the lost holiday weight regained over Easter. Oh well! One thing I have noticed is that both on holiday and over Easter while overindulging in carbs is that my hot flushes during the night have been very much worse. I am now wondering if there is a correlation between carbs and nighttime hot flushes. Has anyone else noticed this?

Hi everyone,
Margaret, you will likely lose the weight quickly if you get back on track. I know what you mean about not being tolerant of ‘ordinary’ food at pubs and restaurants. Every time I eat higher carb, my pain comes back, not just in my legs, but in the site of an old back injury too. Now that I’ve been able to document the connection clearly, I’m hoping that will give me the motivation to stay on track as much as possible.
Elle-Mae – yes I was having hot flushes at night in the summer when I wasn’t eating so well, and then they went away once I started eating lower carb in the fall again. I’m peri-menopausal though, so that may be why they haven’t returned even with my recent over-indulgence in carbs. The hot flushes were actually part of what got me back on track, as I watched a Zoe podcast about it and they are saying that there is a corelation between women who eat a diet with the greatest diversity of plants and less processed food and fewer hot flushes, and fewer menopausal symptoms in general. The easy way that I increased the diversity of plants was to add lots of different herbs and spices to things along with low carb seeds whenever I could.
Well, my Easter dinner was not too bad at all. Lots of veggies and the curried prawns from the local Chinese takeaway. There was a bit of chocolate and ice cream for afters, but hey, it was Easter after all.
It turns out that my manual lymphatic drainage session on Good Friday was one of the best ones that I’ve had yet. At first I thought all it had done was give me a headache, but I had a huge whoosh all weekend and even into Monday with so much fluid lost. I think that was all the fluid that had built up due to my stressful couple of weeks and some comfort eating. I’m decidedly less puffy now, so want to keep it that way.
We didn’t get nearly as much rain as was forecasted, but it was enough so that I could get out and take care of the weeds in the drive this morning with my propane torch and not risk setting the neighbourhood on fire. I’ve just come in for a bit of lunch and then I will head out to the library to get Dr. Rupy Aujla’s book Eat to Beat Illness. Hoping that will give me a bit of inspiration for cooking later in the week.

Thank you Elle-Mae & Arcticfox for your supportive comments. I’m more or less writing off this week food wise but will try to choose sensibly from what is on offer to me. This rest of this month is going to be tiring & stressful because of the funeral tomorrow then being away, study days out & I don’t know how I will cope with all the extra walking whilst up in London going to the British Museum ( granddaughters have been promised) & then away. To be frank I’m rather dreading it with my knees being so sore at the moment which is frustrating because I enjoy visiting museums, new places & learning more about Roman Britain in Cirencester. However I know I have much less to cope with health wise than some of you posting on here & I admire your tenacity & steadfastness!
Margaret

Margaret, can you get some kinesiology tape for your knees? There are a few different taping techniques that you can look up online and see if they work for you. Might work as a short-term stop gap.
I’m continuing to have a pretty good week. My legs are still feeling lighter and I find that really helps with keeping my energy levels up through the day, and then I don’t have to eat as much to keep going. I got a few cook books out of the library yesterday, so looking forward to trying some different meals.

Thank you Arcticfox for your suggestion I have never heard of kinesiology tape & will look it up! I have seen tape used on rugby players knees is that it? It’s very good that your legs are continuing to feel lighter👍
Margaret

I ended my first extended fast at 8 days and 1 hour. – Not because I was hungry, surprisingly all the stories of how hunger fades after day 3 or 4.

Unfortunately the medication prescribed by the cardiac department caused me to suffer from acid reflux and a tendency to feel like I want to vomit. Although I stopped it before starting this fast its still a problem. —– Waking up with acid reflux during the night was a problem that I could live with. But when I started to do the cleaning work to prepare the holiday let for the next set of guests yesterday, bending over to make the first bed triggered a session of vomiting. – The nausea passes when I have some carbs, so a piece of toast was enough to allow me to finish my work.

I can see noticeable changes in my arms and thighs. At one point during the fast I was horrified how my legs looked, definitely there was no way I could go swimming with the skin hanging in folds, but within a couple of days it had all shrunk.

In the video series where Megan supports someone through a 10 day fasts she mentioned that with patients who need an intensive period of fasting for health conditions their program is to have a 2 day eating window between fasts and then start another extended fast. That is what I am going to do.

Hey all, just catching up on this week’s news….hope everyone’s ok….I haven’t been on for a while because of some child/ family problems, and also not really managing to stick to much of a diet for the same reason…..however, I am working my way through C25k again following recovery from Covid mark 2, so that’s something. Just came on to say hi.
Tulip xxx

Oh no Tulip1 not covid again! My sympathies to you.
I’m having a family weekend & lunch out today with wine so the diet has gone to pot! But because we are in London I did wear my mask whilst on the tube but stupidly didn’t put it on when visiting the British Museum that was crowded so hoping to stay well until my husband & I get our COVID boosters next Sunday🤔
I hope you get a mild dose of COVID & soon feel well🤞🤞
Margaret

Ah Margaret, sorry, that was misleading- I had it start of Feb and I’m feeling good now, just building up my fitness and endurance again now.

Hope you stay well!

Tulip xxx

Thank you Tulip & pleased to hear you are not unwell at the moment 😀

Hi everyone

Sorry I am late setting up the new thread .I got in too late last night .It’s a bit hectic right now with daily visits to the clinic but hubby is doing well and will hopefully be able to come out for the weekend .He is fretting about the grass growing !

Good to see you back with us Tulip/Clare and really glad that you are feeling betetr.I have had a stinking cold which has turned into a very irritating cough but that’s trivial compared to what you have been through..I hope the child/family issues can be resolved without too much stress

Oh goodness ,JGwen , you are incredible with your determination and resilience and it is brilliant that your massive efforts are showing results .Acid reflux is yuk .I noticed that any sort of bread brings it on for me so I have learned my lesson .Please keep us posted on your progress .

New thread coming up xx