Hello everyone
I am taking a break for a few days as sadly, my friend’s daughter’s treatment is being withdrawn tomorrow as she has not responded to treatment. She was admitted to ICU with Covid three weeks ago. I’m absolutely devastated- she is 33. I’ve know her since she was a little girl. 💔

Cathy

CCATHY so sorry to hear the news. My heart goes out to you and your friend’s family. Just heartbreaking isnt it,and absolutely devastating. Very sad to hear of any covid deaths,but even more so in one so young,and after such a worrying three weeks. Thinking of you all 💔💔💔xxxx

Cathy I am so sorry to hear about your friend’s daughter. She has been in my heart for a couple of weeks now. How awful that there is nothing more that they can do. Heartbreaking.

Sending so much love to you and the dear girl’s family. No words, just love XX

Cathy I’m so sorry to hear about your friends daughter, I have children around the same age and can only imagine what a difficulty time this is for her family and friends, you are all in my thoughts x

Also a belated thanks for your lovely post nominating me for an award. I didn’t see the post until this morning as it, and some other forum posts, were in my spam folder.

Take care Cathy x

Oh Cathy, what awful news, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what you and your friend and her family are all going through. Thinking of you all.

Cathy I was so sorry to read your sad news,my thoughts are with you all.Dawn X

Dawn, that’s just so sad particularly in one so young.
Love and hugs.
X B

Cathy, so very sad to hear your news. WIshing you and your friend lots of strength. xxx

Cathy,
I’m so sorry to hear about your friend’s daughter. My thoughts and best wishes are with them and with you.
Take care
Jennie xx

I am not active on this Easter thread as I host the weekly thread with SunnyB and sunshine girl but I had to come on here after reading Cathy’s post .
Covid is brutal and indiscriminate and I know how fearful and anxious you have been Cathy and this tragic loss is both terrifying and devastating for you and your friend’s daughter . I feel rage and desperate sadness that this should happen . However helpless we may feel, please Cathy, remember that you have a massive hug enveloping you and your friend to help you through this trauma .
So sad .
Wendy xx

DCT an Yowzer, just reading your posts about motivation.
A September wedding, how exciting! A wedding is always good motivation 🙂 it’s my 30th wedding anniversary in September, and yesterday I was going through some clothes I’d had in storage – one of them was my wedding outfit, it’s a cream lace outfit, pencil skirt and a fitted top. Anyway it’s size 12. I held it up and looked at the waist and couldn’t believe I was ever that small! Sadly at the time if you’d asked me how I felt about my body I would have said I thought my tummy, waist and hips were too big! I looked at the label and saw that it was to fit hips 100cm and waist 90cm, so if I could lose another 17cm off of my hips and 26cm off of my waist I could possibly squeeze into it again!! Maybe that could be my goal/motivation, fitting into my wedding outfit again. Not possible by September this year, but definitely doable by September 2022 (which would fit in with my daughters wedding).

And Yowzer – I think your motivation is great, we all should be living our best life, regardless of our age, and it’s easier to do that when you are fit and healthy.

I hope everyone else is doing ok. I’ve now now lost 5kg (11 lb), and 8 1/2cm from bust/waist/hips, the 5:2 (or 4:3) combined with 16:8 (most days) approach appears to be working thankfully.

Cathy, I hope you are ok, you haven’t left my thoughts, such a tragic situation x

Hi everyone

I love all the kind messages for Cathy on here. I’m sure they will be much appreciated when she’s ready to return. Even though there is nothing that we can do to help, I’m hoping that the big hug Wendy described is of some small comfort at this time.

SueBlue well done for your ongoing loss. Your new pattern certainly seems to be working really well! I tend to follow a similar pattern for maintenance but am not losing anything else at the moment, particularly as the bad weather limits the outdoor exercise I would normally try to do. So I’m wanting to do a 6 week boot camp during Lent. Not just for weight loss but also to try and re-evaluate some areas of my life and perhaps change some habits and ways of thinking.

I experimented at the weekend with making some kimchi. Never done it before, but have been given some recipes by a friend so am giving it a go. I know fermented food is meant to be very good for you. So I’ll let you know how it turns out! I’ve also just discovered (at long last) Miso soup, which I know you mention sometimes Sue. Really like it, though will try to find (or make?) a less saltier version as it left me feeling very thirsty afterwards.

Anyway, hope everyone is ok and has a successful week on the bus X

I’m still travelling a bumpy ride but slowly (very)
losing the odd pound. I have lost two of the five pounds needed to reach my first goal on Happy Scales by next week – could to better!!!!!
I like the sound of boot camp for lent DCT, though I know that it’s will power that I really need! I will give it some thought over the next few days.
I’ll look behind the front seat to see if it can find my mantra and give it a polish!!
O.D.A.A.T.
X B

I too like the sound of Lent Bootcamp DCT!…but BUSYBEE I agree re willpower..my spirit is willing but my flesh is weak! We could give it a go tho..nothing ventured nothing gained!XX
CCATHY sending hugs ((((((( ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️)))))) to add on to WENDYS massive one…thinking of you and yr friend and her family XXXX

Hi everyone, bootcamp sounds good to me too.
Sueblue, 5kg, well done you!
I am still fiddling around with the same kilo which is disappointing but I’ve also felt my resolve fading away over the past week or so. Must try harder! Today I have fasted 21 hours so I’ll be keen to see whether that makes any difference tomorrow. Probably not!
Anyway, still here and still trying.

Hehe! Sounds like our bus will be very busy come Lent next week..a short sharp shock of a bootcamp will really mix things up and hopefully bring great results!
(Ps How long does Lent last? As an ex convent schoolgirl,I should know this)
Pps MARIET,well done on 21 hour fast,thats quite an achievement 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
XXX

Hi Yowser. Lent runs from Ash Wednesday – 17th Feb – till Easter Sunday. Traditionally 40 days but I think it’s actually 44 if you run up to Easter Sunday (4th April). So my plan is to do something up to Thursday 31st March – ie just over 6 weeks – then party!

My problem is I’m great at making wonderful plans then not sticking to them. I know that one of my main obstacles to losing weight is that I drink wine most nights. So, ideally, I should give that up for Lent. It’s only 6 weeks – how hard can it be?!

But then – being an idealist – my mind also starts racing with all these ideas about doing loads of things to cleanse my body and soul and mind and home …… and before long I’m exhausted before I’ve even begun!

So I definitely want to treat Lent as a bit of a boot camp where I make extra effort to cut out things that are bad for me, and put more effort into doing things that are good. It’s just a case of trying to get the right balance between challenging and achievable 🙀

Will keep you posted!

How is everyone else doing this week?

Hi BUSBUSTER Folks!

CCATHY thinking of you and sending weekend hugs xx

Thanks DCT for the heads up about Lent.
“My problem is I’m great at making wonderful plans then not sticking to them.” My problem too,DCT,specially when it comes to food! Also the big plans about detoxing mind,body and spirit…I exhaust myself with the excitement of it all,and either I dont carry out the plans or I drop them after a few days… thing is,where we go wrong, is we aim too high. Making small plans,baby steps,O.D.A.A.T. like the BEE says,is more effective in the long run. But I will still give bootcamp a go for Lent. Could work as somewhere in my DNA I remember all the giving -things -up -for -Lent that I did as a kid

Thought for today..
If you are what you eat,will I get thin if I eat a skinny person?🙂🙃

I agree DCT and Yowzer – I spend hours planning my weight loss journey, and every day I wake up full of enthusiasm but I’m so exhausted with the brain work I end up eating the wrong things or ‘treating’ myself.
The other main problem for me is the way I react to the scales. If I’ve lost weight I have a really good day but if I’ve gained I struggle to stick to the plan and often give in.
When I read back what I’ve written, I wonder if I’ll ever get anyway near my goal weight!!!!
However, I do keep in my head O.D.A.A.T.
X B

Hi folks! happy Valentines! Leaving flowers for all bus passengers! 💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐xxxxxx

Thank you for the flowers Yowzer – such a nice thought.
We celebrated with a nice meal and a bottle of pink fizz but for the first time in over 50 years there were no cards or flowers!
Talking of fifty years, who remembers D day on 15th February 1971 – that was decimalisation day?
Now that was a very confusing time!
Have a good week one and all.
O.D.A.A.T.
X B

BUSYBEE Im so glad you both had a nice Vals but thats a shame no card or flowers this year,after all those years XX
Decimalisation Day!!!! I remember it clearly! I was working for what we called “ the Corpy” then,now called City Council. I was in the Education offices in Dale Street ( the building’s now a swanky hotel,went in with some old colleagues for drinks and a reminisce just before first lockdown)
We used to take it in turns to go out to Sayers for lunchtime sandwiches..Dec Day it was my turn! Queued for ages as all of us,customers and Sayers staff,were totally confused by the “new money”! 😀😀
I miss the ‘ old money’! Threepenny bits,tanners,bobs,florins,half crowns!
My uncle used to give me and my two sisters half a crown pocket money between us…it worked out at 10d each.
My Dad gave us threepenny bits,then tanners as we got older!
Remember the sweets you could get for a penny? Four Walkers toffees,black jacks,fruit salads,and penny arrow bars!
Happy days! X 🥳🥳🥳🥳

Busybee and Yowzer, I remember that day too! I think it was even a Monday? But I was still at school and remember having to pay the bus fare in new money. I also remember this ongoing debate with a schoolfriend who was dead against it, and I was trying to explain that 10 was a much easier numerical system than 12. His final word was along the lines that because pennies were now counted in 10 not 12 (or 24 in fact) it was going to make everything more expensive.

Anyway, yes, I also remember those wonderful sweets Yowzer. Maybe that’s where my sweet tooth originated from? Fruit Salads were. my favourite. There was also a proper old-fashioned sweet shop in my town where the sweets were in jars and you could buy the quantity of your choice in little white paper bags. I just loved lime and licorice: can even summons up that taste now! I also loved sherbet fountains but they made me sick for some reason!

Two more days before Lent starts and I’m going to give my boot camp a try! I have set some mini goals for body, mind and spirit. The most relevant to this thread is to cut right back on sugar and alcohol. I hope I can make a go of it. I need to be as resolute as when I started this WoE in January 2017!

Hope everyone else is doing ok and has a good week. Cathy, lots of love if you’re reading this: been thinking of you X

Good Afternoon passengers!
May I jump on the Easter bus ? a bit late I know but I’ve had to get the head in gear first, with Lent starting for some of us on Wednesday this week i thought it was a good as time as any to get on board. I’m not a newbie, been on this route twice before, one time more successful the the other . I work in a secondary school so i know the next few months are going to be just as challenging as the last year, so I need to really get myself match fit lol. im hoping to really get on top of my health again with the support of the lovely people on here i hope. so ding ding , let the bus driver do his thing ! xx

DCT yes it was a Monday!
Sweet shops in those days were fab werent they…As a teen in the 60s I worked in one Sat mornings and Sunday all day,used to do my homework when not serving,and I had Radio Caroline on all the time. I remember those little triangular paper bags we got our sweets in,from the many jars on display.
There was a very posh confectionery called Matinee or Empire Selection..marzipan,fondant,choc etc..quite sickly but lovely too! Havent seen it since the 80s.
I’m looking forward to pancakes and chocolate tomorrow,plus bday cake and fizz as its Beau’s bday, then knuckling down to do a really good bootcamp…thats great youve set some mini goals DCT👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Can we do it! Yes we can! Be there or be square! 😀 (only joking,nobody will get thrown under the bus if theyre not in bootcamp mood! )
XX

Yayyyyy! TEAGRANNY welcome! Its never too late for the BusterBus. The more the merrier! Jump aboard and hold on tight! X

Welcome TeaGranny! Good to have you on board X

Enjoy your day tomorrow Yowzer. I might have a sneaky little maple syrup pancake then knuckle down too on Weds. one day at a time 😉

Thank you Yowzer and Deamscometrue for a lovely welcome, and oooo pancakes any good ideas for BSD ish pancakes? as my official start is Wednesday 😉

TEAGRANNY no,I only know the traditional way of making pancakes. I know Slimming World used to have their own version,you could try googling…
Why not just have un BSD ones tomozz ,one last naughty blow out. After all,it IS Pancake Day,and its against the law not to eat them! Then on Wednesday buckle down to some hardcore BSDing until Easter?🙂🙃 XX

Hello everyone and thank you for your kindness and support at what has been a sad and difficult time. I am going to join you all for the Lent Bootcamp. I was doing so well at the start of February getting back into healthy ways and feeling so positive and optimistic and managed to get into ketosis very quickly and then had the sad news so took some time out. As we know, life has to go on and so I’ve dusted myself down and this seems the perfect time to join in again with you all. I haven’t been on the scales but will get on them on 1st March so hopefully any damage that has been done can be sorted before then. I’ve had time to reflect and to be honest I am not going to be too strict or harsh about a few pounds here and there. So Wednesday will be yet another reboot for me. Hopefully, I can settle into a more positive frame of mind. We do have lots to look forward to. Today was a beautiful, sunny day here in Manchester and it made me feel really positive so here I go again…….

Thanks everyone for being there for me – it means such a lot.

No pancakes for me tomorrow- I hate them- It’s a texture thing!

Well done to everyone who is trying hard, succeeding or like me going two steps forward and three back but are still here plodding away.

Hi Cathy lovely to hear from you and I’m so glad you are back with us again. And yes, the sun is so uplifting – makes me feel like spring is on the way.

Here’s hoping for some great results from the Lent Boot Camp – which conveniently fits almost exactly into the second half of our bus tour.

Teagranny I just use a very basic pancake recipe but with as little sugar as possible, and a bit of butter and maple syrup for the topping. They tend to be the thicker pancakes so you only really need one or two and that’s enough!

Keep going everyone. Let’s hope we all have a positive week X

CCATHY so pleased to hear from you and to have you back on the bus! Sending hugs! 💕xxxx

Happy Pancake Day all 🙂

Tea granny, I can recommend the Blueberry pancakes from the Fast 800 cookbook, I made them this morning for breakfast, there’s no sugar in them and I think they are something like 275 calories for 3 pancakes.
There’s a recipe for them in this article
https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-7103999/amp/The-fast-800-diet-new-summer-recipes.html

Cathy – so pleased to see you back on board, you’ve been in my thoughts constantly.

I’m joining in the Lent Bootcamp as although I’m still losing weight it has slowed down to 300g per week. Ideally I’d like to be discarding at least 500g (1 lb) per week at least, as that would be 2kg per month and I could reach my target weight this year. I have lost some centimetres off of my bust/waist/hips and thighs so happy with that.

I’m still enjoying cooking recipes from the Fast 800 books (as well as my original BSD recipe book). If anyone else has the original Fast 800 recipe book I can recommend the Ratatouille and Haloumi bake – it’s really tasty and filling, I add butter beans or other beans to mine. There is a similar recipe in the new Fast 800 easy recipe book, Zucchini and Haloumi.

Hope everyone else is travelling well 🙂

Hi everyone,sorry I haven’t posted for a while but I have been reading all of the posts.well done to everyone who is sitting firmly in their bus seat👍I’m restarting today (again!) as have been only halfhearted in my efforts so far this year.I know that if I can stick to Fast800 100% I get good results so that’s my aim for the next 6 weeks and I will hopefully be in much better shape for Easter.I seem to completely lose control if I have a day off so am going to try my best to only eat what I have planned to eat every day!🤞🤞🤞Dawn X

Happy shrove Tuesday everyone, 💐
Thank you for all the pancake ideas, I’ve made the ones in BSD book almond pancakes with cherries. We used forest forest fruits and Greek yogurt. & plain flour. Delicious 😋. Even fussy teen liked them. So all set for lent boot camp to begin tomorrow. Sending positive thoughts and lots of warm wishes for a happy and healthy lead up to Easter for everyone . 🐣

Glad to see our friends back and some new passengers boarding the bus. It seems a new found determination has arrived and our mantra’s have been taken out of hiding under the stairs for a polish!
After enjoying our pancakes tonight I am ready to start the Lent reboot and like you DCT, I aim to drastically reduce my alcohol and sugar intake, increase my walking a little each week and to be kinder to myself if I slip up from time to time!
I’ve given myself a good talking to and, as I always work better with a new plan, I will try my best to report a weight loss (? How much) by Easter.
O.D.A.A.T.
XB

TeaGranny your pancakes sound fab! I had a couple for breakfast with maple syrup: lovely.

Busybee I agree about a new sense of determination in this group. I’m raring to go as of tomorrow. Confess have had last swansong of wine and chocolate tonight.

AND I’ve done something either very brave or very stupid. Have just entered the virtual London Marathon for this October!! Now, I wouldn’t dream of entering the real one. I’m a relatively new runner and would be terrified. My daughter did it a couple of years ago and even being in the crowd was scary enough. But the virtual one you can do wherever you like and in as many chunks as you like over a 24 hour period. Easy hey …..

Those of you that have got to know me will realise I need a challenge or I get bored and wander off piste. But maybe this time I’ve bitten off more than I can chew …. am certainly too scared to tell anyone else I know just yet!

But Boot Camp starts tomorrow. Bring it on!!

I’m reporting for duty and ready to start the kick up the – – -!
Right, left, right left and off we go O.D.A.A.T.
X B

HI BUSYBEE 🐝 and all Busters ( Salutes!)…reporting to camp for some serious booting .
Anyone found slacking on the BusterBusBootCamp will be slapped around the face with a wet lettuce 🐰

Good thought to remember for all of us travelling on the BusterBusToEaster…
“We are not all in the same boat but we’re all in the same storm”
~ Peace.L💜ve.Good Health.Happi💕ness. ~

¸¸ 🐝*•.¸🌼¸¸.•*¨🦋¨*•.¸¸💞¸.•*•¸🌿.•*¨ 🐝*•

Hi all passengers on the Easter bus, happy Ash Wednesday too. , lovely sentiments yowzer. We off to a good start. Made the lentil tomato & ham soup minus the sour cream dip. From the book. Absolutely delicious and loads left for a couple days lunch. Nice to get in kitchen when home from school. Dog walked for 50 mins too. Hope everyone had a good day. In words of Captain Tom Moore “ Tomorrow WILL be a good day 😊💐

Hi everyone and thanks for the lovely inspiration Yowzer and Teagranny. Hope your OH had a nice birthday yesterday Yowzer?

Hope Day 1 is going well for the Bootcampers? So far I’ve had a boiled egg mid morning and a small bowl of soup for lunch. My crunch time is usually Pointless time, so will have a small glass of chilled tonic water and a handful of nuts then, and eat our evening meal earlier than usual to avoid any further temptation! I sense an early night may lie in store too: can’t do much drinking or snacking in bed 🙂

Good luck everyone X

Day 1 of the Bootcamp. I’m in. I have had a good day and by posting now, it should keep that way! So reporting gk yog and berries, salmon and courgette for lunch, and a very small beefburger with red pepper and broccoli. I did want to miss dinner, but recently that has led to snacking later on. So a healthier dinner and an early night should be the better way… Good luck one and all. I really really intend to stick at it this time. x

It sounds like the boot camp is off to a great start 🙂
Day 1 meals for me were Blueberry pancakes for breakfast (left over from the day before), Haloumi & ratatouille bake for lunch and a small serving of Thai curry with cauli rice for dinner.
The recipe I use for the curry is the one from the Fast 800 recipe book – Thai prawn curry – but as I have a shellfish allergy I make it with either Tofu or chicken, and add in whatever veg I need to use up (in this case zucchini, green beans and a little bit of carrot). It’s really tasty, and certainly doesn’t taste like a ‘diet meal’.
I didn’t manage any exercise as such but was spring cleaning and clearing out kitchen cupboards, so I was active at least.

Todays menu is all favourites from the Fast 800 recipe book – Pear and cinnamon porridge for breakfast (which I have in my morning break at work, so 10.30 or 11), Lunch will be the last of the Ratatouille and dinner will be salmon with broccoli and cherry tomatoes at around 6pm, then nothing other than fruit tea till tomorrow, well that’s the plan anyway 🙂 I don’t always manage 16:8 but at the very least I try to stick to 14:10.TRE.

I’m 41% of the way there towards my first big goal for this year. The predictions on Happy Scales are showing me as reaching it in May if I can keep discarding weight at 500g per week, and August if I lose at 300g per week, I know which date I prefer so I’m strapping myself in knuckling down for the next 6 weeks!

Good first day for me too – but I did find myself starting back at the weight I was a month ago!
I’ve also adjusted my goal weight on Happy Scales as I am a slow loser and don’t think I can lose 2lbs every week. My goal date was also May but now is July hopefully just before the family arrive from USA in August!!!🤞🤞
However for now I’m concentrating on just doing my best O.D.A.A.T. and have a vision of being slapped around the face with a wet lettuce by Sergeant Yowzer if I don’t conform!!!
X B

I just wanted to flag up to the group an interesting talk on the facebook group for InsulinIQ. which is the group run by Dr Bikman, For those who do not know Dr Bikman is an expert / researcher etc who is particularly focused on metabolism at a cellular level.

The most recent talk was on what insulin does to metabolic rate in the body. He talked through some research papers on the difference on metabolic rates of high carb v low carb diet. He also talked about the impact insulin has on fat cells willingness to give up their contents. –

He does a talk a week, these talks are only available for a month, so I will not add a link on the take a look at this thread. But wanted to alert people to a source of very helpful information. I think they are also available on the InsulinIQ website as well.

Thanks JGWEN and thank you DCT,a lovely bday was enjoyed! Trouble is ( confession time! ) Im still in party mood rather than bootcamp mode! I – must- do- better ! Or I’ll be due a slapping with a wet lettuce 😬xx

Hello everyone- I’ll have get in line for a slap with Yowser’s wet lettuce 🥬! I really haven’t been able to knuckle down to strict boot camp this week and I don’t feel now is the time for me to be ultra strict! So, as part of being kind to myself I am not going to beat myself up but will try hard and do what I can one day at a time. For me, losing weight is all a mental game and mentally, I don’t feel the time is quite right yet to be ultra strict. I was doing so well before Christmas because I was totally in the zone but I’ve really gone off piste! February saw me start off well but I am really struggling at the moment to get back to basics. I am definitely not giving up, I’ll never do that but I am taking things slowly. Well done to everyone who is in the zone. For those struggling like me, let’s just do our best every day. Even if we have a few off days, we can follow the 5:2 approach!!

CC, I think we should listen to our body and mind and sometimes that means us taking a step back.
Be kind to yourself, do what you can gently and eventually you will regain your strength and enthusiasm to carry on.
Love and hugs
X B

Hiii BusDwellers!
CCATHY we wont give you a slap,you’re exempt from wet lettuces. Just hugs for you. Take it easy O.D.A.A.T.as BUSY🐝s mantra says.X
I’m slapping myself round the chops coz I cant seem to settle into the booty zone. My get up and go has got up and gone. My Carb Monster is full of glee thinking she’s winning,but she’ll be dismayed to see me doing a lot better today.
DAWN now your Dads had his jab,and now theyre promising care home visits,hopefully things are looking up for him and you and yr Mum X
🌸 This is well worth remembering..I keep telling myself that food isnt a treat,get your treats elsewhere,which is what a wise person on here once said..I think it was either JGWEN or SUNSHINEGIRL or CALIFORNIAGIRL ( sorry) and its so true
“Eat to fuel your body,not to feed your emotions” xx 🌸