Hello I am wondering if anyone else is starting today? I am going to try getting back to 800 daily calories & have three stone to lose & painful arthritic knees🙁 I have previously followed 5:2 & still fast twice weekly but I have slipped back into bad eating habits although my fridge is packed full of fresh veg! My go to temptations are a glass of wine, Kelly’s ice cream or a mini Magnum! My husband is a Type 2 diabetic & successfully lost his extra weight three years ago following this diet but I then only lost 10 pounds & last year also completed the Fast 800 12 week programme & lost one stone but I have regained 12 pounds since January & Covid lockdown!. My knees are now very sore & I must do something to help myself & hope that anyone else is starting today & we could encourage each other?
Margaret

Hi Wendy, yes I’m starting today too. I did 5;2 about three years ago and lost 30K quite easily but over the last two years had personal issues which have set me back And have gained 12K, shock horror. I too have arthritic problems but in my spine, so weight loss is a must For ease of movement. I’m hoping the 800 is doable and I’m willing to give it a try, as well as it would be nice for my clothes to fit again.

Hello Puppluv
Thank you for your post and I am going to try to keep to a daily 800 calories. My husband and I still have two Fast Days a week usually on Monday and Friday when we don’t eat until around 6_0pm and have only coffee, tea and water until then. Supper tonight will be scrambled eggs and smoked salmon and a portion of an M and S roulade and I am clearing my fridge of left overs and tempting foods.
Good luck with the rest of your week 😀

I wondered if you still fasted being on the 800 golly, I’ll be hungry on those nights. Might just stay with the basic 800 for a week or two to get a foothold. I have been having very low carbs the last few days, and had no chocolate for six weeks! I thought that would be impossible, haha…..😂

My husband & I have played short mat bowls this morning that was very enjoyable exercise. I just had a small glass of kefir for breakfast so I could take an Ibuprofen & paracetamol & my knees have felt much less stiff & painful today. I’m wondering if my Fast Day yesterday may also have helped because fasting is reputed to help reduce inflammatory responses in the body? My husband likes the BSD homemade soups so I made spinach & broccoli soup with some added pancetta for lunch served with a spoon of natural full fat yoghurt because I have no sour cream. It was delicious & we had some stewed rhubarb with ginger for pud that’s another BSD recipe so I’m getting back into again cooking fresh food from scratch. My husband has sharpened my kitchen knives so it is easier preparing vegetables. For supper we are having some frozen breaded cod, so partly processed🤔 with lots of veg & I have some Brambly apples to stew. So far so good with my motivation high & I am not hungry. Roll on Saturday when I will weigh myself so only five days dieting but at least I’ve got started.

Saturday 17th October 2020
I have just weighed after 5 days back on this diet & have lost 3.5 lbs. I am feeling pleased with myself & have not really felt hungry. I would like to lose one stone as quickly as possible & sadly no family with our two granddaughters coming to stay next weekend because of wretched Covid because they live in higher tier London with me in lower tier Sussex. I suppose it’s good on the diet front because I usually push the boat out food wise & have cancelled my order of croissants that are usually served for breakfast with smoked salmon & scrambled egg!!
I have to write down everything I am planning to eat to keep track & mostly kept to around 800 calories & any puddings left in the fridge were gallantly eaten by my husband😂 He doesn’t need to lose anymore weight but also lost two pounds last week😀
I know I’m going to miss wine & ice cream but must try to stay strong!!
How are you doing puppyluv?

Going quite well Wendy, been an easy week, but today has been a bummer, I guess I need one every so often 😩 bit of white bread roll and frankfurters, but down 1.2K so happy with that. As I get more used to the 800 I know it will become second nature, yet I have no sweet tooth calling me which is amazing, even chocolate biscuits with my nighttime coofee sit nervously waiting, but I leave them alone😂 You have had a fabulous loss, so I’m hoping for better next week. Oooo those croissants sound so yummm, I can almost tast it
,❤️

Well done puppyluv losing 1.2 kg I think that is nearly 3 lbs? 👏👏👏 I weigh in stones & pounds so haven’t gone metric yet!
It’s also very good losing your sweet tooth. Today I am allowing myself 900 calories & a treat of 100ml glass of white wine & a mini Magnum ice cream stick. For lunch I have just eaten fish pie with lots of veg & for supper it will just be soup.
After our first successful five days we need to keep going!
Good luck with next week!👍👍🍀🍀

Definitely Wendy keep going. From memory no loss doesn’t mean it’s not still working, just the body processing differently. I enjoy a whiskey and coke, and calculate that into my daily calories, I know they are empty cals, but I see it as a way of life, not a jail term without privileges 😃, so life goes on without suffering 😂😂and I find I still lose.weight. I don’t think of 5;2 or this 800 as diets, just a way of eating healthier without greed. Enjoy your week, I hope to post daily, to keep me honest 🌻

Hi both
Just wanted to pop on to say hi to Wendy1947 (Margaret).
Margaret, It’s lovely to see you back posting again. Like you, I stopped posting for a while but managed to put 10lbs on again during the initial lockdown so jumped back on in August (or Sept?). I’m now on the Countdown to Christmas thread but will come visiting now and again if that’s OK. I was thinking of you just the other week when I pulled out my Jane Fonda exercise CDs – a sure sign of Winter drawing in. Sounds like you’re having a great start – nice food! Take care xx
Puppyluv – I agree, even when things aren’t happening visibly externally all sorts of good things can be going on internally. Great idea posting daily. I’ll look forward to coming over and reading them.
Jennie xx

Hello Jennie
Lovely to hear from you😀👍like you lockdown also made me gain weight & I have been bouncing up & down in weight since January🙁 I know I’ve said it before but now because of Covid risks & my arthritic knees I must keep focusing & lose my excess weight.
I hope you are doing well & your family is also well? So far my family is keeping virus free & we all have to just keep on going keeping safe & well.
Margaret xx

HI Margaret-

I wonder if we’re close in age and co-morbidities. I was — well, let’s face it, the *world* was — hunkering down and giving way to comfort/anxiety/boredom eating. When I thought about my co-morbidities they included my age (73), my asthma and my weight (37 BMI). There was *one* I could change. So I started taking control of my eating back in mid-August. Not only is the BMI coming down (currently under 32 in 8 weeks), but with every pound I feel the difference in the burden my joints have been freed of. I’m also now on the barest minimum of asthma meds with perfectly clear lungs and the ability to exercise vigorously without any difficulty at all.

We’re going to emerge from this lockdown in our best shape yet! I’m soooo glad I did this!

Hello Rainey
Yes I was born in 1947 & will be 73 next month😀
Gosh very well done losing so much weight in 8 weeks 🌟🌟🌟👏👏 I doubt I will manage that but hope I can. My BMI is currently 31.4 & I need to lose 2.5 stone!! & I’m 5ft 3 inches tall 🙀 My main problem is osteoarthritic knees & occasionally my fingers join in & I had breast cancer twenty years ago & luckily still in remission. I gained weight taking Tamoxifen & have never really been able to lose that weight & have been trying ever since. It was almost as though my body became reprogrammed into that mode as though I was pregnant with accompanying side effects including new gynae problems so I had to have a D & C! It was all very annoying! However I’m still here & battling on & I have joined a Silver Swans Ballet class that’s now on zoom & enjoy short mat bowls that restarted a couple of weeks ago.
What do you enjoy doing?
Margaret

Well, Margaret-

Happy Almost-Birthday!

I wish I could say I enjoy gardening but, as I’ve just finished trying to take out a tomato plant that’s rooted in Hell, “enjoy” has taken on a new meaning. My arms are all scratched and itchy but I got that sucker onto the compost pile! And I made some room for lettuces and garlic. If I make some more room in the messy planting beds that have done their duty and are now finished, I could put in some potatoes (but then that doesn’t sound like the thing to do….). But there are lots of other jobs to do. Just got to get to them.

Actually, I *do* enjoy gardening or at least attempting to. My issue is I’m in very hot and very dry Southern Calfornia so 1/4 of the year I plant, 1/2 the year I have to stay indoors by the air conditioning and 1/4 of the year I’m ripping out what’s burned out. Guess what part of the year I’m in…

Meanwhile, I got a FitBit and it turns out doing this garden clean up has about the same cardio effect as the time I spend on a stationary bike. That was a bit of good news.

My other great love is baking. How ironic is that?! I used to make wonderful breads. Locked in, I’ve got all the time in the world to be making gorgeous things, but now I just *remember* them. Still read the baking and cooking blogs, though. No carbs in that!

Shall I bake you a virtual Birthday cake?

Hello Rainey
Ah lemon drizzle cake or carrot cake with a cream frosting yummy!!😀
On the sunshine front we have some here today in West Sussex in England but because it’s October we also have much lower temperatures but not frost yet. The tree leaves are changing so do look pretty & I’m pleased a couple of bushes in our garden are covered in autumn red berries so the birds have food. On the gardening front I don’t have much success but the lettuce & tomatoes I planted have done well with some tomatoes still trying to ripen but my runner beans that I planted in a pot produced few beans that were as tough as old boots. I don’t know what to do with the tomato plants once they are finished! Are they annual or perennial? Do I have to plant fresh seed or plants each year? I know that I do that for lettuce.
I have been rather sedentary lately firstly knitting pairs of pink hearts to give to bereaved families at my local hospital & now poppies to go on our village display that will be put up in a couple of weeks to form a waterfall effect over the yew arch outside the church for Remembrance Day. Then it will be making Christmas decorations to hang on a tree that they will have for the first time outside the church. I enjoy crafts & was part of a small beading group making jewellery that rotated around each other’s houses but of course Covid stopped that. During lockdown I went into cotton mask making overdrive making masks for my family & grandchildren so now some of my collected material will be used to make the Christmas tree ornaments. I have to have a new project on the go or I easily become bored & restless. My husband & I also enjoy visiting historic properties & I have studied Latin & regularly attended Ancient History classes before all that also stopped as well as the lectures from our local Arts Society. I now keep my brain ticking over with daily puzzles on the free ap WordScapes & studying a variety of free courses online with FutureLearn! I also enjoy doing the Jane Fonda dvd workouts for “wrinklies” & I also did her other ones when much younger “going for the burn”😂 I must admit she seems to be wearing very well!!
Oh well today is Fast Day for us & I have a Silver Swans Ballet class at midday. It’s supposed to be a dress up day for charity to donate money for research into the horrible Motor Neurone Disease that is still incurable. I have a Venetian painted face mask & with my long grey hair hanging down I will be The Venetian Witch😂🙀
I hope you, Puppyluv, & Jennie have a good week.
Margaret

Golly (Wendy) Margaret you have a busy life, when did you fid time to gain weight? Tomatoes come out and new seedling planted each year. I have just put mine in here in Australia . Yes MND is an awful disease, and you sound to be in for a fun time. Good luck with any fasting 🌻

Thank you Puppyluv & I will buy new tomato plants next spring😀 Gosh what an international group we are with Australia, USA & England.
Supper tonight will be griddled garlicky steak with a mushroom sauce, one sweet potato, 2 carrots, 1 courgette, a handful of spinach & for pudding one kiwi fruit. Total calories 754 including four coffees with a little milk so room for a small apple if I’m starving 😂 I am feeling virtuous having just completed 45 minutes with Silver Swans Ballet.
Good luck everyone & keep going.
Margaret

Hi Margaret – yes, we – my husband and I (oh, sound like the Queen) are doing well and my family are all doing well, too. I do worry about some of them at times but I try not to do it overly much. I remember someone on here saying something like ‘don’t bring your troubles forward or towards you’ so I’m trying to practice that! We’ve been luckier than some of our friends so really do keep counting our blessings. That sounds like a great community you have around you.
It’s a virtuous day for you, no doubt about it. The steak dinner sounds great.

Hi Rainey – that’s a great drop in your BMI. Good news about the Fitbit result for clearing the garden. It’s something I keep meaning to do, but then don’t. My husband tends to do it. I think I might try to do a bit more.

Hi Puppyluv – Hope things are going well for you this week.

Jennie xx

.

Hello everyone & hope you have all had a good week. I had a wobbly day on Tuesday & made the choice to eat some convenience food for supper of baked breaded chicken & low sugar baked beans followed by a treat of a mini Magnum icecream bar🙀 I felt quite low & didn’t want to be bothered cooking from scratch! However since then it’s been ok & today has been a Fast Day so for supper minced beef stuffed aubergine with Moroccan spices & pine nuts & steamed carrot & courgette. Pudding was a slice of honeydew melon & 70g of blueberries. Rainbow colours of purple, orange, green & yellow😀. Tomorrow is my weighing day so I will be disappointed if I have not lost any weight because I’ve certainly been many times hopping to the loo😂
I’m looking forward to my youngest son coming for lunch tomorrow & his favourite food will be not be ideal with hamburger in a wholemeal bap, salad & icecream & of course wine. I will also serve duck spring rolls as a starter so am owning up now!😬 I know it’s not low carb but next day I plan pork steaks with lots of veg. I never eat breakfast so I use those calories for lunch or supper so have a little bit of leeway but I must admit I find it difficult to keep below 800 calories each day. Oh well I will keep trying! Jennie I’m so glad that you & your family are keeping well👍
Margaret xx

Saturday 24th October 2020
I have just weighed & hurrah I have lost 2.5 lbs😀 I am looking forward to our youngest son coming today he lives & works alone so also good for him & we will probably watch sci-fi or adventure films together after the rugby my husband wants to watch this afternoon. I hope we might also watch Strictly Come Dancing that has just started again😂This morning is also our neighbourly coffee meeting in our front gardens all strictly Covid distanced & here in my area now in groups of six. We have the village Saturday morning walkers & joggers going past who are used to seeing our gathering & cheerfully wave as well as some horse riders that are lovely to see. We meet at 11-0 am & the rain will hopefully hold off until 12-0pm! This all started back in March at the beginning of strict lockdown & has become an important part of trying to keep cheerful & to check on each other’s welfare & share local news. We also all gathered for the Thursday clap for all the front line & healthcare workers with music since two of our neighbours brought musical instruments but that was discontinued a couple of months ago. Something similar may happen for Remembrance Day.
How are you all getting on?
Margaret xx

That all sounds like a love community you live with Wendy. Fabulous loss for you too, and lovely having your Son come home❤️

Haha, what DO Icall you, Wendy orMarg?

Morning Puppyluv my name is Margaret 😀

Hi Margaret 😃
Had a bit of an off day today, but didn’t eat until the 24hr had passed and was under 800 so hopefully the week following will be as good. It’s become very cold here in Country Victoria, so made a large pot of veggie soup, nothing nicer, half I’l freeze the rest will do for lunch. Have a good week 🌻

Gosh 24 hours not eating? and veggie soup sounds excellent👍I hope your week is going better.
I’m actually trying to find a good lower calorie & filling soup recipe at the moment. A favourite is sweet potato with lentils & pancetta but it’s over 300 calories so to balance the stuffed aubergine I’m making for supper it’s got to be lower than that. I will look on this site for soup ideas. I’ve had a couple of slightly higher calorie days going up to 1100🙀but still below my BMR so hoping to do better today & Friday is a Fast day. My husband & I did have two hours short mat bowls this week that was some useful exercise 😬😎
It’s rainy, miserable & chilly here with grey skies but supposed to be brighter tomorrow. Unfortunately the clocks went forward one hour last Sunday so it’s now dark at 4-30pm which I hate. I am definitely a summer not winter person & used to have SAD & bought a light lamp that really helped but that seems to have gone now perhaps due to my better diet😀
Oh well let’s keep battling on👍
Margaret xx

Hi Margaret, I’m watching carefully how much and what I eat, but the scales aren’t too happy😡but I keep plodding knowing I am at least half to three quarter less intake than before. I must measure too. I have a sick dog at the moment so not concentrating on anything much but him. Back to the Vet tomorrow……$$$$$……but I adore him and he’s worth it. My soup is very easy, just veggies from the fridge, celery, zucchini, carrots onion even the last of a bit of cabbage whatever is on hand, plus a tin of diced tomatoes, fresh herbs and it’s delish and filling 😀no real recipe, sometime I add a tin of beans or chic peas, but it’s always yummy, and low cal. I cover the veg in either stock or water too. Add a stock cube if using water. Are you sticking to 800 cals or the 500 twice a week. I feel I did better on that, but will stay with the 800 a few more weeks 😀🌻

Hi Puppyluv
Thank you for your recipe that I will make using up my spare veg. I’m trying to keep to 800 calories each day with the Fast days on Monday & Friday slightly less & not eating until supper & through the day having water & coffee & generally all low carb. I do take a daily multivitamin pill & also a vitamin D tablet with k2 because of our winter lack of sunlight. I do write down what I’m planning to eat each day with the calories to try & keep control but circumstances do get in the way like my husband making a loaf of white bread today & me having a slice with butter on it!!🙀I fall down on the exercise front & need to start doing one of my exercise dvds to keep toning muscles. Losing muscle is a side effect of dieting & getting older which is a real pain.
I’m sorry to hear about your dog & hope your vet can can help get him better.👍
Keep plodding on👍👏👏
Margaret xx

Saturday 31st October
I’ve just weighed & disappointingly only lost 1/2 lb!!
It’s a horrible windy rainy day here so I’m feeling fed up & I made cupcakes for our neighbourly coffee meeting in our front gardens & it’s probably not happening now because of the rain but I will try delivering some cakes. It’s all rather annoying plus we are probably going into full Covid lockdown here in England from Monday because it’s exponentially spreading now despite other restrictions in the UK. So many stupid people ignoring wearing masks & not socially distancing 😥😡😡 putting us all at risk!!!

Hi Margaret – I’ve just typed a longer post to you which has disappeared (my internet went down) so will just hope that your afternoon is better than the morning – at least weather-wise.

Hi PuppyLuv – I can see where you get your name from – hope your dog is getting better and you’re going well, too.

Take care both
Jennie xxx

Hello Jennie
Yes thank you the weather did perk up a little & today some sunshine & showers are predicted. Now we are locking down again from Thursday & I know my husband & I are in the lucky position of being retired so going to work no longer affects us & I seem to have my grocery deliveries mostly sorted out. I am disappointed that our birthday dinner in November now has to be cancelled that has been booked at our local Michelin starred restaurant as a special treat as well as the meeting up in a local country park to walk with our granddaughters & parents.
Today I will be making spinach & broccoli soup that is a Fast 800 recipe that my husband & I like & also roasting lots of ratatouille type vegetables for lunch to go with lamb shanks & a little couscous. My problem with having groceries delivered is that I have to keep a close eye on use by dates, that I can’t choose, to use up my sometimes over ordered fruit & vegetables because it’s easy to get out of date order rotating between my garage fridge & the one in my kitchen. Some days we munch through large platefuls of vegetables rather to my husbands bemusement but it keeps our digestive systems happy😂 My freezers is full so I don’t at the moment have much room to freeze extra soup so I must review what I have today & plan my meals better. Oh well that will keep me busy😬
I hope you are doing well?
Margaret xx

How is everyone doing? Here in the England we are now in a second lockdown that is supposed to end on 2nd December but that is dependent on the infection rate coming down. I’m finding it more difficult to find food delivery slots after my last booked on 21st November & will have to go back to my midnight searches that I did in our first lockdown. I really only need fresh produce because I have full freezers & plenty of loo rolls😂
Oh well I am having another fast day today to try to rebalance any eating errors this week & hope I will continue to lose some weight. Unfortunately our special birthday dinner has been cancelled because of the restaurant having to close but we have rebooked in December & hope that will be possible. We just have to all be careful & stay safe as Covid continues to take it’s sad toll.

Hi Margaret sorry I’m an absentee of late, but my little dog had a heart attack over night (last week) and passed away. I’m gutted and still in shock, needless to say my eating plan has dissolved, but hope to get back to it next week. The virus certainly makes living a normal life impossible, here in Victoria we have had no cases for a week, but restrictions are still on. Our premier had been panned all the way with his tough rules, but it’s all paid off. I do hope things pick up on your side of the world.❤️

Dear Puppyluv
I am so very sorry to hear your news about your little dog & it is not surprising that you are very upset. I know what it is like to lose ones pets because one of my cats very suddenly died & we found her lying in the garden in the sun & my other cat became rather dotty & then had to be put to sleep because of congestive heart failure whilst I held her. It is devastating & I still miss them & it is so sad that dogs & cats cannot live as long as we do. I have black framed photographs of my cats on display that I can see with family photos because that is what they were! an important part of my family! as I’m sure so was your dog. Just try to remember the good times you had together😍😍
Margaret xx

Thanks Margaret, I get his ashes next week, which will sit with my “other boys” and they will all come with me when my time comes. They ARE family, it’s heartbreaking. I still have two (all King Charles Spaniels, as was Indy ) who got the chance to say good bye, rather than them fretting. Very sad house at the moment……but one day at a time 🐶😘

evira reported

I’m not doing well weight wise at the moment because of my & my husbands birthday celebrations last week that were not too excessive with two lunches that included starters, main course & pudding plus wine. However I gained 5 pounds in weight that I know must include carb fluid gain but it just goes to show how sensitive my body must now be to eating or drinking any extra carbs🙁 even though I am not pre-diabetic. I have today decided to take drastic action to help me lose more weight before Christmas & this year ends & have ordered some FAST 800 shakes to replace food on fast days. I am so fed up & my knee is again sore. Oh well I am back on track this week with a Fast day yesterday although I did feel hungrier than usual, no alcohol during the week with having some wine over the weekend & I will fit in an extra Fast day tomorrow so Fast days on Monday, Wednesday & Friday & trying to keep calories down on in between days. If I can’t relax my eating over the weekend I feel really deprived. Tonight for dinner it’s lamb shanks with ratatouille & a little spiced cous cous & Haloumi salad for lunch. I rarely eat breakfast & if I do it’s full fat Greek yoghurt with cranberries or blueberries or cinnamon porridge. Onwards & hopefully downwards because I must try to stay positive!

Happy New Year everyone!! I hope it will be a healthy & joyful one for you all.
My weight loss campaign, sadly for me still battling my weight gain, restarts on Monday having eaten our way through our festive leftovers! I spent yesterday in bed having woken with a bad attack of vertigo with everything whirling around. Seasickness tablets have calmed it down so I felt able to come downstairs to welcome in the New Year with a small glass of white wine. I feel much bettter today but still taking the tablets🙁 I am not much of a fan of taking any medication unless forced into it. I’m awaiting a possible melanoma biopsy result having has it removed from my midriff on 22nd December & my suture line is still slightly sore but healing well. The wonderful NHS saw me within 3 days under our Two Week Cancer Rule. Ironic I was a patient in the Dermatology Clinic that I had coordinated before I retired but the staff seem to have all changed so no familiar faces behind the masks.
We are at the moment listening to our recording of the wonderful New Years Day Concert from Vienna.
I hope this finds you all well & Covid free!!
Margaret xx